New Zealand: North Island

By a stroke of luck we got to fly business class to New Zealand.  Initially we were scheduled to fly directly to Christchurch and were going to do a circuit around the South Island.  Plans changed when JetStar kindly changed our flight from one arriving in Christchurch midafternoon to the middle of the night.  We weren't thrilled with arriving at 12:50am.  After some back and forth with JetStar, we cancelled the flight and booked a new one through Aerolineas Argentinas to Auckland.  What started out as an annoyance ended up working out well as we got to see a bit of the North Island and, as a bonus, we were upgraded for the three hour flight.

We only spent one night and the next morning in Auckland but did not feel like we missed much.  Our impression was that it might be a nice place to live, but is not that exciting for visitors.  It may not have helped that it rained while we were there and the hostel we stayed in had the dirtiest bathroom of anywhere we stayed in all of Australia and New Zealand.  We did have a walk down to the harbor and also took a look at the famous Sky Tower, the tallest man made structure in New Zealand.

Sky Tower

On day two we picked up our rental car - a bright blue Subaru Legacy ("Blue Sue")- and started our road trip.  Throughout our journey, Simon drove and I navigated the maps.  Neither was too taxing since there was hardly anyone else on the road except right in the cities and for the most part, the only navigated needed was just just getting us headed in the right direction.  At times we would go more than half an hour without  seeing another car.

Simon with "Blue Sue"

Our first stop was the Waitomo Glowworm Caves.  Local Maori people give guided tours of the cave every half hour daily.  Since it was low season, and I suppose we were a bit lucky, we were the only ones who happened to show up at the particular time and so enjoyed a private tour.   We were told the caves can have hundreds of people in them during the busy season, so we really appreciated the rare opportunity to view them on our own.  Obviously, the main attraction of the caves are the glowworms.  The glowworms are only about an inch long and just their back end lights up.   One part of the tour consisted of a boat ride through the "glowworm grotto" in complete darkness.  Thousands of the glowworms could be seen throughout the cave, mostly on the ceiling above.  It reminded me of fake stars on an amusement park ride - just thousands of tiny lights dotting the "sky."

Outside the Glowworm Grotto

Glowworm Caves Brochure (No pictures are allowed inside so this gives and idea of what it looked like.)

From Waitomo we continued on to Taupo, where we spent the night.  Lake Taupo is the largest lake in New Zealand. In the summer, it is apparently full of activity, but at the end of May, winter was approaching and It wasn't exactly "lake weather" so we mostly just had a walk by the lake.  We also managed to find the spot along the lakeshore where the water is boiling hot due to geothermal activity.

On the shore of Lake Taupo

Me as a honeybee

On the way out of Taupo, we stopped at Huka Falls and The Huka Honey Hive.  Huka Falls is a beautiful set of waterfalls on the Waikato River.  The volume of water often reaches 220,000 litres per second.  The Huka Honey Hive, a store based entirely on honey products, is just minutes away.  It has an educational center as well as a working hive.  We sampled more varieties of honey than I knew existed, as well as treated ourselves to some samples of some nice honey skin care products.  My hands smelled like honey for the rest of the day.
 

Huka Falls

After our night in Taupo, we journeyed to Napier.  Napier is known for its art deco architecture.  In 1931, an earthquake destroyed most of the city center.  It was rebuilt in the art deco style of the time and beginning in the 1990s many of the historical buildings were protected and restored.

Municipal Theatre

Soundshell Stage

Pretty Pink Bike

Our last stop on the North Island was Wellington.  Again, we had just one night in Wellington.  Wellington is known for being very windy, but we were greeted with a calm, brisk day.  We spent a few hours in the Te Papa Museum (Museum of New Zealand) and then walked along the harbor before heading to the pedestrianized Cuba St. for some savory pies for dinner.  Aside from the quite cold room we were in, we enjoyed our quick visit to Wellington.  In the morning, we scraped the ice from the windshield, drove to the ferry terminal, and got in line to board.  Another calm, clear day brought some beautiful views as we crossed Cook Strait to Picton on the South Island.

Wellington Harbour

Wellington Sunrise

View from the ferry

Australia: Sydney

We had a really enjoyable time in Sydney.  On our first day there, a friend of Simon's family picked us up and treated us to breakfast at a lovely restaurant on the bay.  We watched the sea planes land as we enjoyed our breakfast sandwiches.  After breakfast, we took a short hike to the barranjoey lighthouse for some magnificent views encompassing both Broken Bay and the Tasman Sea.  We strolled back to the car along Palm Beach.

Later that day, after saying our goodbyes to Penny, we had a walk around "The Rocks", the oldest area of Sydney.  We then stopped in at the Museum of Contemporary Art to view a bit of Christian Marclay's "The Clock."  The Clock is a 24 hour video comprised of thousands of movie clips each representing a particular time of day.  The movie clips have been put together so that they are synchronized with real time.  After being kicked out at closing time, we walked around Circular Quay and I had my first "up close" view of the Sydney Opera House.

On our second full day in Sydney, we set off for Blacktown and the Featherdale Wildlife Park, just 45 minutes outside of  the city by train.  This was obviously the most exciting part of our trip to Sydney for me since I got to pet koalas (holding them is illegal) and feed kangaroos.  We also heard the kookaburras laugh,   I held an owl, and we watched the cute Little Penguins gobble down their morning fish.

In the afternoon, after Simon pulled me away from the animals, we headed back to Sydney and caught a ferry to Manly.  The scenery was magnificent as we cruised across the the harbor and got views of both the Harbour bridge and the Opera House.  From Manly, we walked 9.5 km along the Manly Scenic Walkway to Spit Bridge.  Once we arrived at the Spit, we caught a bus back to the ferry terminal and cruised back.

After a good night's sleep, we got up early and took the train to the Blue Mountains.  We spent several hours hiking through the very green and damp vegetation, taking in some great views, and passing a few waterfalls along the way.

On our last day in Sydney we took it easy.  We strolled through Darling Harbour and visited the Maritime Museum.  We then walked around Circular Quay and through the Royal Botanic Gardens.  In the gardens we spotted a whole flock of cockatoos hanging around in one area.  We took a closer look and saw that you got the most attention from the cockatoos if you had something for them to eat.  I broke up a piece of granola bar and held it out.  I was quickly swarmed.  It wasn't until we were leaving that I saw the sign warning not to feed the birds because "they bite."  Finally, we strolled over to a grassy hill close to Mrs. Macquarie's Chair and watched the ships cruise in and out of the harbor as the sun went down.

Before moving on to our next adventure, a quick note about our accommodation.  Since rooms were pricey in Sydney, we stayed in a four person dorm.  For the first few nights, our roommates were a couple who looked like they had been living there for weeks.  Their things were spread out all over the place and they had massive suitcases and boxes packed full.  Each time we came back to the room they were cuddled on the bottom bunk watching Japanese tv shows (at high volume) on their lap top.  The first night, they kept the lights on until 1am.  One afternoon we came back and they had completely cleared out.  Talk about fast packing...That night we thought we had the room to ourselves, but in the middle of the night someone came in.  He then left again before we got up.  That was our ninja roommate.  Our next roommates were a pair of 20-something guys. As we were settling in for bed one night, a cell phone started to ring.  We quickly learned it belonged to the guy on the top bunk as we heard a SLAM as he fell to the floor.  I don't think he was injured by his fall.

Australia: Uluru

We flew to Ayers Rock Resort via Sydney.  Flying over the "red center," we could certainly tell how it got its name.  There was just nothing to see for the majority of the flight, except red dirt and a few very long straight roads.  Then in the middle of miles and miles of flat land, there was Uluru.  We were really lucky to be on the side of the plane with a view of Uluru as we flew in.

Uluru from above

Ayers Rock Resort Airport

It was a massive change to go from the high humidity of Vietnam and rainy Melbourne weather to the hot, very dry climate of Uluru.  The days hit the upper 80s and low 90s.  The nights, however cooled to the upper 40s.  Aside from the dry air sucking every bit of moisture out of my skin, I thought the weather was perfect.  In summer, it is so unbearably hot that visitors are warned about dehydration and cautioned to finish any outdoor activities (i.e., walks around Uluru) by 11:00 am.

Ayers Rock Resort encompasses about five different hotels, a police station, a fire department, and a "town center," consisting of a few souvenir shops, a small grocery store, a bank, and two restaurants.  We stayed at the Outback Pioneer Lodge.  The Resort area is too far from Uluru to walk so it's necessary to book a tour or a return (expensive) bus ticket to get there.  We decided to spend one day exploring Uluru up close.  We boarded the bus to be there for sunrise and then walked the entire base of Uluru - about 6.5 miles.  It is possible to climb to the top, but Uluru is sacred to the local Aboriginal people and they request that visitors do not climb.  We thought we should respect their wishes, but I was suprised how many people didn't feel the same way.

Uluru at sunrise

The longest train of caterpillars I have ever seen

The kitchen cave 

Simon and I taking a rest during the base walk

Simon and I in front of Uluru

In addition to the magic of Uluru itself, another highlight of our visit to the area was that I finally got to ride a camel.  It was only a short ride in a circle around an arena (reminding me of pony rides for kids at a carnival or petting zoo) but I loved every minute.  The camel I rode was named "Bumble."  After the ride, we hung around the "camel farm" for a while and visited other friendly camels.  We were struck by how much healthier and well cared for they looked than the camels we saw in Egypt.

The rest of the week we entertained ourselves by watching various demonstrations, learning about Aboriginal art (and creating our own), and watching the Uluru sunset from the lodge "lookout." We also spent a lot of time by the pool, where we were treated to the same five or six songs again and again and again.  I still get them stuck in my head from time to time.

 

Uluru at sunset (view from the lodge "lookout")

My masterpiece

Aboriginal Dance Demonstration

Australia: Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne around 6:30am.  After finding our way to the hostel (no more cheap hotel rooms on this trip!), we checked in and then immediately headed out to explore the city.  I indulged in my first latte in weeks (so satisfying!) as we walked to Federation Square.  We had a look in the information center and then went over to the Shrine of Remembrance, a memorial for Australian veterans.  From the top of the memorial, we got a nice view of the city.  Unfortunately, it also started to rain and continued to rain all day.  After the Shrine of Remembrance, we walked to the Queen Victoria Markets, hoping to get under cover.  We had a look around the stalls which ranged from souvenirs to fish to fruit to pastries, and sat down to consult our map.  A friendly man next to us made some suggestions and we were off again walking toward Little Italy.  Eventually, the light rain we had been trying to ignore had started to soak through and we gave in and went back to our little dorm room.

Queen Victoria Market

Shrine of Remembrance

City view from the Shrine of Remembrance

On our second day in Melbourne, the rain had cleared and we took the tram to St. Kilda by the sea.  Since it was Sunday there happened to be a market along the promenade where locals were selling all kinds of crafts.  We walked right past Luna Park so decided to go in and have a look around.  Much like the Santa Monica Pier, it's free to go in; you just have to pay for rides.  We entertained ourselves for a while with the fun mirrors.  After Luna Park, we carried on and had a walk along the beach and out to the pier where there was a great view of the harbor and the city center in the distance.  After lunch we took the bus back to the city center and visited the Royal Botanical Gardens.  Before heading back for the night, we stopped off at the National Gallery of Victoria for some culture.

Fun Mirrors!

Luna Park

Botanical Garden

View from St. Kilda Pier

9 Hours in Singapore

On the way to Melbourne, we had a nine hour layover in Singapore.  I doubt there is a better airport than Changi International to be stuck in for nine hours.  Anyone with more than five hours until their flight can sign up for a free city tour.  We boarded a tour bus and were driven around the city for about an hour.  Back in the airport, we explored all of the gardens: the orchid garden, the butterfly garden, the sunflower garden, and the cactus garden.  We found the "rub art" center, grabbed some crayons and paper and created masterpieces.  Changi also has a movie theater, a swimming pool, video games (even Wii), and sleeping rooms.  It's practically impossible to get bored at Changi International.  Having had no western food for weeks, we had Subway for lunch and Burger King for dinner.  Burger King has never tasted so good.  Before we knew it, we were boarding our overnight flight to Australia.

Simon creating a masterpiece

Rooftop sunflower garden

Orchid Garden

City view while on the free tour