All's well that end's well

Well, today is our last day. We made it safely down to Sydney and checked into our hotel. It's about 4:30 PM and we are thinking about dinner. Tomorrow at 8:30 AM we head back to the airport for our 11:00 AM flight to LA. Interestingly enough, we will arrive in LA before we leave Sydney! This will be our last blog post. As we reflect on our three week adventure, I'd say we had several really big highlights. Michael says the diving at the Great Barrier Reef tops the list with the luge in Rotarua a very close second! I'd have to add cuddling koalas and playing with the birds to that list. Overall, we've had a fabulous time. I wish we could go on for another three weeks! See you all soon!

Trains, buses, army ducks and skytrams

Well, our last day of activities began with a bus trip to a train. Our desitnation was Kuranda, in the mountains above Cairns. It was an hour and a half trip up the mountain in the Kuranda Scenic Trains passenger car. It was a slow journey though the views were phenomenal. Once we reached Kuranda, we had about an hour to tour around the town. We even managed to find a bird sancuary that was, in essence, a large aviary with lots of exotic birds. The reason Michael and I decided to enter was that they had Sun Conures! That's right, Julius' distant cousins. And there were LOTS of them. The guide mentioned that they are noisy, mischevious and demanded a lot of attention. In other words, they were just like Julius! There were many other birds and some of them would fly right up and land on you. We had a bag of food and we fed quite a few of them.

After the bird sancuary, we made our way back to the bus to go to Rainforestation. Here we experienced an army duck (circa 1945) ride through the rainforest - land and water! Those things are noisy! Every time the guide wanted to tell us something, he had to turn the thing off!

At 1:00 we were treated to a fabulous barbeque lunch with beef, chicken, salad bar, pasta, and a whole section I didn't even get to! Lunch was followed by a traditional aboriginal dance show, featuring several male performers painted up and dancing to the sounds of a digeridoo. That was followed by boomerang lessons (Michael was first up), a lesson in digeridoo playing and a spear throwing display! Finally, we wandered through the wildlife area and saw more kangaroos, koalas and crocodiles.

The very list item on the list of activities was a 7.5 km skyride! Yes, that's right! A skyride over the rainforest! The ride took about 40 minutes and the views were fantastic. Michael and I had a gondola to ourself for most of the trip down. Don't worry, we didn't push anyone out. There are two stations on the way down and the couple with us a the beginning got off at the first station!

Tomorrow, we fly to Sydney and the next day we fly back to LA (and then Vancouver for me). I'd say we have both loved our trip. It seems like a long time ago that we took that rainforest trek back in Auckland two and a half weeks ago! I wish it wasn't coming to an end.

Greatness in the ocean

Today Michael and I experienced the Great Barrier Reef. First we had a one hour motorcoach ride north to Port Douglas. Then a one and a half our cruise in a rocking, yet comfortable pontoon type boat out to the outer reef. On the way, we learned about our options once we reached the reef. We decided that while we could snorkel all we wanted for free, the most fun would be to pay to go scuba diving. So we did. We arrived at the reef platform/pontoon at 11:00 AM and began our ocean adventure by snorkeling for a while. It was AWESOME. There are so many fish that just swim right up to you and around your legs as you are standing on the snorkel platform. There are even these huge 3 ft long fish just watching you watching them! There was someone swimming around taking photos of everyone. We bought one of the two of us snorkelling. I took a digital photo of the print and am including it here. It's not as good as the print, but you get the idea! You can see we are having fun!. At 12:00 we stopped for our lunch which was a buffet served on the pontoon. And then our diving lesson. We had heard an introductory 1/2 hour briefing on the way to the reef so now all we had to do was don the weights, scuba tanks and masks. Then our instructor, Paddy, tested us on what we'd learned. Both Michael and I passed with flying colours! We then dropped, slowly to the ocean floor and began a little tour around the reef. We say Nemo's cousin along with sea slugs and hundreds of other fish. The coral itself was phenomenal! So intricate and delicate! Both Michael and I had underwater cameras so we took lots of pictures. You'll have to wait until we get them developed before seeing them. There was also another diver who videoed our little underwater adventure and, after looking at the footage on the cruise back to land, we decided to buy a couple of copies. We really had fun! After diving, we went out snorkelling again. There is just so much to see out there. Our 3 1/2 hours on the reef is only enough to wet our appetites! We both hope to come back again soon. However, it is time to rest now and get ready for tomorrow's adventures!

Cairns

Today we flew from Brisbane to Cairns (pronounced Cans). This is a great little city! Tropical weather (okay it's a little to hot for my liking) and lots of palm trees. We arrived around noon and after checking in to our little hotel/resort, we took a walk around the town. It's very touristy with lots of dive and boat tour options. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about that as our tour is already booked! We're going to the great barrier reef tomorrow! I can hardly believe it! Michael and I have been looking forward to this our whole trip. Besides the cuddle with the koalas, this will definitely be the highlight!

And for those Canadian culture lovers, here's a little note. Michael just turned the TV on and guess what's on! Corner Gas! It's good to see a little bit of home way out here!

The MOST adorable creatures in the WORLD!

Today Michael and I joined a "Best of Brisbane" tour. This began with a morning bus tour around Brisbane. While I can't retell all the history about all the landmarks, I will say that Brisbane is a beautiful city, especially at this time of year. The river winds lazily in a snake-like shape through the centre of the city. The weather is fabulous and all around are beautifully flowering Jacaranda trees. They are so beautiful! Our tour included tea and scones at Breakfast Creek Hotel, the first overnight resting spot for the first European explorers in the region. Afterward, we boarded a river cruise boat for a one hour trip upstream back to the downtown core.

After lunch, our driver took us out of town to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Let me begin by saying that those little koalas are the MOST ADORABLE CREATURES IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! They must have hundreds of them at the sanctuary. Did you know the little blighters sleep for 19 or 20 hours a day? There were many adorable ones in the most hilarious positions, but I've added a picture of one that both Michael and I chuckled over. He just looks so precious! Remember as you look at the picture that he is sleeping! We were fortunate enough to see many of them moving around and entertaining us. And, of course, this is where we got to cuddle with one. His name is Sumo and he is so cute. After cuddling with him for a few minutes, we went to the little store and bought a couple of bags of kangaroo food. We found about 50 or so kangaroos inside a walk-in enclosure and began feeding them. The walk right up to you and sniff your pockets looking for food! There was one mother about two feet away from me with her little joey hanging around her. I guess he got tired and crawled back into her pouch! He sat so cozily in there and poked his head out to see what was going on!

It really was a fabulous day! Now Michael and I are trying to figure out how we can adopt a koala and take it home!

Crocks Rule, by Crikey!

Today was yet another awesome day! It took the bus about an hour and 15 minutes to get us to the Australia Zoo, former home of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. It's not as big as I had expected, but it is a fabulous place. You really get to meet the animals up close and personal. Okay, so we didn't get to pet any crocs (thank goodness!), but we did get to pet/handle several others, including kangaroos, koalas, wombats, aligators (see the picture - he was only 7 months old!) and blue-tongues lizards. Michael's favourite were the kangaroos. There was a great crocodile show. The trainers are NUTS - they actually taunted the crocodile from only feet away! Absolutely crazy! Of course there are many other animals at the Australia zoo, including elephants, tigers, dingos, tasmanian devils, foxes, turkeys, walabies, echidnas and cassawaries. Of course, the most prevalent of all were the water dragons. There were dozens (maybe hundreds) of them running free about the zoo, ranging in size from 6 to 24 inches long! So tame and so cute! I never thought I'd say that a lizard was cute! As I am concluding this little missive about our zoo adventures, I wonder if I should mention the time we almost got eaten by a 24 foot long crocodile named Cameron! I guess not! I'll just include a picture! More excitement tomorrow!

Koalas and Kangaroos and Kimodos, Oh My!

Today we had a fabulous day. We took a Sydney Harbour Ferry to Tongaro Zoo! Despite the very changable weather again (rain, sun, wind, rain, wind, sun, wind, rain, etc.), we had a good time. Michael really liked the kangaroos, big and small. We even took in a seal show. The high (or low) point of the day was when we got locked in one of the exhibits and couldn't get out! Fortunately, it wasn't with the kimodo dragons or the crocodiles. We wish it had been with the koalas, but it was only with a few exotic looking birds. I think we were trapped for about 15 minutes before we got rescued. There was another couple with us so we weren't stuck in there alone!

For me (and Michael, I think), the real high light was seeing the Koalas. There were at the end of our circuit through the zoo. There was a little baby that followed it's mother up a tree and then nestled comfortably on her back. Extremely adorable!

We planned to go to an amusement park afterward, but it's closed today so we just made our way back to the hotel. It will have to be an early night for us as we will be picked up early tomorrow for our flight to Brisbane. We are looking forward to our three nights there!

Australia or Bust!

Well, the New Zealand museum was quite informative. The display on volcanos and earthquakes was most interesting. Did you know that a major fault line runs right down the middle of the country? After the museum, we wended our way to the airport. My fear of being late for anyting got us to the airport about 4 hours early, and then our plane was delayed too!

We finally made it to Sydney - we could even see the famous Opera House out the plane window! Michael was particularly excited about arriving in Aussie land. His eyes were quite big when we touched down!

This morning we took the double decker subway two stops to start our walking tour of the Rocks area. This is where the first convict colony was established. Rather than living in prisons, the convicts were allowed to live in homes but were kept on a short leash. If they were to steal food from the government store houses, they would be executed! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you were), no one wanted the hangman's job, so the first convict to be convicted of stealing government food was pardoned on the condition that he took the hangman's job!

During the walking tour, Michael saw a shop with boomerangs in it, so as soon as the tour was over, we hoofed it on back to the shop and he bought three! He is now a very contented young man!

In the afternoon, we joined a bus tour that took us all around the city. The weather all morning had been quite inconsistant. First rain, then sun, then rain, then sun again. It was nice to be in a warm bus for a while. Our guide took us past Hyde Park, the Botanical Gardens several interesting churches and a very wealthy neighbourhood where a home recently sold for 47 million dollars! We also were taken to some interesting spots to view the Sydney Opera House before heading out to Bondi Beach. The weather here was quite strange. We arrived with sunshine, but once on the beach, a storm rolled in and we just made it into a surf shop before getting drenched. By the time we had to get back to the bus, the rain had stopped! The wind, however, is another story! We almost got blown off our feet! And the sand from the beach stung as it hit our faces. There weren't many surfers - I think only three brave souls dared paddle out into that raging surf! I hope they survived! We barely did! This picture was taken by our bus driver on the road away from the beach so we don't look as windblown as we were down by the sand. Now, however, we are home in our cozy hotel and looking forward to tomorrow's adventures. Hopefully it will be a bit more sunny and less windy!

Mt. Doom and beyond

Okay all you Lord of the Rings fans... here's where you can get a little jealous. It was a clear morning, yesterday, so we headed over to Mountain Air and took a flight on a little 4-seater plane. The goal was to tour around Mt. Doom! Problem was, that by the time we got up to 5000 feet, the clouds had rolled in so our pilot suggested a tour to the north to see Lake Taupo and environs. We said yes and off the plane went. On our way back toward the Mountain Air runway, the sky around Mt. Doom (or Mt. Ngauruhoe as it's known outside Middle Earth) cleared and despite the fact our flight time was up, our pilot directed his plane upward and we got an up close and personal look at the volcano! It was a bit different than in the movies because it was covered with snow, but you certainly can tell it's Mt. Doom.

We then headed South for an hour and a half to Wanganui for a quick lunch at a great little Chinese place (I like showing off my Mandarin ability to the Chinese servers!). The road to Wanganui was narrow with lots of twists and turns. It was a two lane highway with a speed limit of 100 KMH! These Kiwis are lunatics!

After lunch it was another 3 hour drive to our hotel in Wellington. It might have been faster if I hadn't gotten lost in the downtown area. I really don't like driving on the left side of road in a busy downtown area. It's so confusing!

Today we got up early and were picked up by the Rover Tours company. Our guide, Randall, took us and a gal from Ireland on an all day Lord of the Rings tour of the city. We saw all kinds of locations for the film, including the spot were the Hobbits found mushrooms, where the Fellowship rowed down the Anduin in Elvish boats, the quary where Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith were located and finally, Rivendell. Randall gave us all sorts of ideas for photos, and we were able to get some shots that match those in the movies. The tour also included a brief stop at the Weta Workshop! We weren't allowed to see in the workshop, but they have a small museum/gift shop you can go into. I wish I had more room in my luggage for one of the little miniatures!

Tonight is our last night in New Zealand. It has been a great trip so far. Tomorrow morning we'll probably visit the New Zealand museum before heading to the airport around 2 PM for our flight to Sydney. Michael is really looking forward to Australia. Something about boomerangs, I think. :-)

Sheep and Stinky Mud

A sheep shearing show. That's what we started our day with. Our host introduced us to abou 22 different breeds of sheep. Some with horns curled around their eyes and some with dreadlocks! Afterward, we went to a thermal pool. It is a region with geysers and boiliing mud pools. In the misty rain, it was hard to see the geysers, but the mud pools were unmistakable. The whole region smelled of sulpher. Quite noxious! Imagine 100 rotten eggs and them times that by a billion. But it certainly was interesting. We couldn't figure out why people would want to stay in the hotel overlooking the mud pools. To each his own, I guess.

We then carried on south toward Taopo. Lake Taupo is huge! We wanted to rent a boat and go see some Maori cliff carvings, but we couldn't find one. Oh well. I guess my post card will have to be enough.

We arrived in Whakapapa Village (note, the Maoris pronounce the "WH" sound as a "F" - now say the name of the Village again! ;-) ) in time for dinner. Then crashed with some Numb3rs DVDs.

This morning we took a leisurely walk in the alpine setting to a waterfall. The air is really crisp up here in the mountains. I wish it were a little clearer so we could have even more amazing views. They say it should be clearer tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get some great pictures then.

After the walk, we went back to Turangi, about 47 kms north of where we are and found the fabulous "Adventure Mini Golf". Michael won by two strokes. Beginner's luck, I say. We just drove back to the Village and up the mountain to see the ski lifts about six kms up the mountain. There's still snow and boy, is it wicked cold up there with the wind. It's about 2:20 PM and we plan to just hang out the rest of the day with more Numb3rs and some cards. I won't tell you what we've planned for tomorrow. Let's just leave that a little surprise!

Kia Ora!

The Maori evening was fabulous! Our tour left from downtown Rotorua and for the 15 minute bus ride we were taught some Maori vocabulary (“Kia Ora” means hello, welcome, greetings, enter, etc.), history and cultural cues. When we arrived at the site, we were greeted with an aggressive display of weaponry and facial expressions designed to intimidate the visitor. This is how the Maori tribes greeted each other for hundreds of years. After we were “accepted” by the host tribe, we were allowed to wander through the village and see the huts and lifestyles of the Maori. In the meeting hall, we were entertained by song, dance and more weaponry displays. Absolutely fascinating! Finally, we were taken into the dining hall for our feast which consisted of lamb, chicken, baked potatoes, and other, unrecognizable foods. There was a stuffing-like concoction that didn’t quite please my palate, but that lamb was sure tasty!

Yesterday, we visited Paradise Valley Springs Animal Park. This was indeed a highlight so far, despite the misty rain. We purchased a couple of bags of food pellets and began our walk through the park. There were many pools of trout, and a wide stream filled (and I mean FILLED) with wild trout. Michael liked feeding them and watching the swarming fish fight for the pellets! Just as we were getting low on pellets, we rounded a corner and discovered the wallabies. They are about a foot tall and so soft and adorable looking! A couple of them saw us and hopped right up to the edge of the fence. They knew we had food which they ate right out of our hands! We ran out of pellets fast, so Michael went back to the shop to get two more bags! He was so happy and excited when feeding those little cuties. We counted nine wallabies in total. What we didn’t know until we had finished seeing the whole park was that three of those nine were new mothers and had babies in their pouches. I wish we’d seen the little ones!

We then drove to the Skyline Skyrides. This is a gondola that takes you up a small mountain. Unfortunately, it was still raining lightly and the visibility wasn’t that great. However, at the top of ride we found the Luge track. This is a three track system (scenic, intermediate and advanced) of winding cement paths that run part way downhill. At the bottom, you take a chairlift back up to the top of the track. You ride on a sled-like luge that sits low on the ground. We bought four rides each and boy was that fun! Even in the rain! In fact it was probably better because there weren’t many other people riding so we almost had the whole place to ourselves. The only drawback was that we got a little wet (okay, so we got a LOT wet). But it was definitely worth it. I believe this was Michael’s favourite day on our trip so far. And don’t worry; we went straight back to the hotel afterward and changed into dry clothes!

Shire talk

After confusion over which car rental place to go to, we finally got our car! It's a Mazda 6. Very nice. I'm having fun getting used to right hand drive on the left side of the road. Fortunately, no accidents (yet)! Our late start got us into Matamata later than expected, but we still made it in time for the last Hobbiton tour of the day. A minivan, dubbed "Frodo", picked us up in town and took us to the Alexander sheep farm. We were first given a sheep shearing demonstration and then we were given bottles of milk and got to feed some little lambs! Some of them were VERY hungry! We got back on the bus and drove to the middle of the farm. This is saying something because there are about 12,000 sheep on the farm, most running around large paddock type fields! In the middle lie the remains of Hobbiton. It was rather surreal walking around Hobbit holes, and standing under the party tree. Our guide provided lots of interesting details about the construction, filming and deconstruction of the site. Most of the structures are gone, but some shells of Hobbit holes remain. We actually got to go into the entrance of Bag End! It was pretty awesome. And the views were spectacular! Rolling green hills with little dots of white (the sheep) all around for as far as the eye could see! Fabulous! I tried to upload some pictures, but it is taking too long. I guess you'll just have to wait and see them when we get back!

The tour ended at about 6:00 PM and then we had to drive all the way to Hamilton to find our Motel. I think we found it about 7.

This morning we rose early and headed south. Our first stop was the Kiwi House in Otorhunga. It had been recommended by our Motel staff in Hamilton. And we are glad we stopped. Have you seen a Kiwi bird? Funny looking thing. Kiwi House had a number of aviaries and reptile cages. Michael enjoyed himself, though he was worried about bird droppings!

15 minutes past the Kiwi House found us at the Waitomo Glowworm caves. We weren't allowed to take pictures here (or at the Kiwi House), but I'll tell you that it was AMAZING! It was like little green LED lights littered all across the limestone ceiling! The tour through the caves included a boat ride in near darkness with hundreds of thousands of glow worms above us.

We are now in Rotorua. In about an hour we will be picked up for a feast/performance in traditional Maori culture. But I guess I'll have to tell you about that next time!

Rainforest Trek

Today was phenomenal! We met our tour bus at the front of our hotel. They took us around the City of Auckland, pointing out spots of interest and historical significance. Did you know the city is built on 48 dormant volcanoes? Anyway, the highlight was a one hour (definitely not enough time) stop in the Auckland Museum. We particularly enjoyed the Maori exhibits.

As good as the morning was, the afternoon was even better! Our Bush and Beach tour (there were only three of us on the tour) took us way out west (an hour’s drive) to the Tasman Sea. We hiked to a waterfall and then down to the beach. It was so beautiful with the tropical rainforest covered hills giving way to sandy beach and waves good enough to surf on! Michael was lamenting that he hadn’t brought his swimsuit! Turns out it was okay, because it started to rain (imagine, rain in a rainforest!). It was quite a brisk, damp walk back to the bus. Of course, by the time we got back it had stopped raining!

Our guide next took us to a rainforest hiking area where we trekked through the jungle. He pointed out interesting vegetation and wildlife (mostly birds) native to the region. Michael was particularly taken with the bluish-white creek running through the forest. We learned it got is colour from the large amount of iron in the water.

It has been a long and exhausting day, but we are stoked! We can hardly wait for tomorrow’s adventures!

We arrived!

Well, we finally made it. After 7 years of planning, Michael and I are on New Zealand soil! But before I tell you about our first day, perhaps you should know about our adventure getting here! My flight to LA was delayed 2 hours and when I arrived at LAX, I couldn't find Gord and Michael! If any of you've been to the LA airport, you know how big it is and how almost impossible a task it would be to find someone there without cell phones! Well, miracles do happan and after trapsing across 4 or 5 terminals, I saw Michael in terminal 2! Then Gord and Carol! I was SOOOOO happy.

We were able to hang out for a while before Michael and I had to say goodbye and work our way through the security station. This would just be a simple sentence moving our story forward but wait! Put on the brakes... Michael got strip searched! Okay, bit of an exaggeration, but it got your attention, right? All was going well, our bags were scanned as well as our shoes (did you know they make you take off your shoes now and put them with your carry on items through the security scanner?) Michael was ahead of me and when I turned around to go through the scanner myself, I saw Michael quarentined in a little holding area. I was told they wanted to inspect the tension bandage around his wrist (injurred his wrist slightly last week playing soccer). A big (and I mean BIG) security guard came over and took him to the side. He ran a small square of cloth all over the bandage and stuck in in a machine. I guess they were 'sniffing' for explosives or drugs. All this while Michael had to stand in his bare feet!

Well, we got through that little adventure only to wait for our plane which was delayed. The flight was long but uneventful. Qantas is a great airline to fly with! They treat their passengers well. We arrived in Aukland without any difficulty and found our shuttle to our hotel. After checking in at 7:00 AM Sunday, we cleaned up and headed out to the Antarctic adventure and Aquarium. In short, there were lots of turtles and penguins. Oh, and I must not forget the sting rays and sharks. We particularly liked the moving walkway through the aquarium tanks with the sharks, fish and stingrays swimming all around us!

Our second stop was MOTAT (Museum of Transportatin and Technology). Lots of planes, trains and automobiles. Oh yeah, trams, bicycles, telephones, camers and fire engines too! Michael got to fly a Vampire jet (okay, it was only a flight simulator!)!

After returning back to our hotel (we were very tired - Michael didn't sleep much on the plane), we rested before going out for a bite to eat. As I type, Michael has CRASHED into bed. I hope to be there soon too.

The Day Before...

Tomorrow Michael and I leave on our grand adventure to the South Pacific! Look out New Zealand! Here we come. Okay, first I have to meet Michael in LA, but that should go without a hitch - then the 13 hour flight! Yikes! We will hit the ground running on Sunday morning at 6:00 AM local time (Saturday, 11 October, 10:00 AM PST). I'll try to write more then!