Mama Ru's in Rarotonga

We're taking a brief break from Australian itineraries to talk about a tropical island paradise where I have not been (yet!).

Some of you know that I have been helping a friend with content for a site for her mother's rental home. Someday I will blog about that on the main blog, and maybe we will even set up a Facebook page. For now, just allow me to introduce you to Mama Ru's Beach Bungalows.

Mama Ru's is located near Avarua on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. It actually goes in quite well with the Australia/New Zealand itinerary, because it is that part of the world. The most frequent vacationers are Kiwis, in fact, as they are relatively close and share a currency. We should be seeing more Aussies soon, as new direct flights have opened up. There are direct flights from Los Angeles as well.

If you notice that path between the fronds, that is the path from your bungalow to the beach--all of ten feet. That is one great advantage to Mama Ru's. And it's not just that you are right on a secluded beach. Rarotonga being a small island, you are never far from the coast. However, in some places it is open ocean and quite rough.

At Mama Ru's you have the reef acting as a breakwater and sheltering the beach. It makes for great snorkeling, not just because the water is gentle but also because you have all of the reef creatures.

Mama Ru's is a great place to relax and enjoy the beach. Ken and Joann knew they wanted someplace warm to spend their winters (hailing from Alaska), but there are a lot of choices out there. They settled on Rarotonga because of the natural beauty and the friendliness of the people. The island felt like home and stole their hearts. Give yourself a chance to feel that too.

For more information and bookings, please visit http://mamarus.com/.

The Australian Zoological Extravaganza

This trip will take a little longer than the other itineraries, but one of the most amazing things about Australia is the wildlife. Where else do you find such an abundance of monotremes and marsupials? At the same time, focusing on the land mammals exclusively would have you missing a lot. One of the things that really made me realize that I was on the other side of the world was how different the morning bird calls sounded, and one of my most gripping visual memories is of passing a flock of cockatoos grazing on a grassy hill in Tasmania--and that's just birds! So, this tour is going to go all over the country, and see many amazing things.

Now that I have said that it will be so different, it may be a bit surprising that we are starting out in Sydney again, with a trip to Taronga Zoo, but this makes a lot of sense. When I started planning the trip, I made a list of all of the unique species that I wanted to make sure that we saw, and visited the various zoo web sites to see who had what. Taronga had all but two (we will get to those later). That's not even to say that my list was complete, because as I was going viewing the web sites I was thinking "What the heck is a quoll?"

The point is, Taronga has the greatest species diversity, and if you go there first it can act as kind of a primer for the rest of your trip. Many of these stops will be in the wild, where what you will see and how close cannot be guaranteed. Get a good look at everything here, and maybe it will make spotting different animals easier, and fill in some of the blanks.

http://www.taronga.org.au/taronga-zoo.aspx

After the zoo, you may not really feel like you want to pay to go through Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium, and you certainly don't have to, but you may want to consider checking out the glass bottomed boat ride that the aquarium offers. They will take you out to see sharks for $5.00, and you can feed them for $25.00. It's just something to think about.

(We had not originally planned on either the aquarium or Wildlife World, but we had a scheduling change, and they were both okay and we got a discount for buying the tickets together. We did not do the boat, and I regret that.)

http://sydneyaquarium.myfun.com.au/Visitor-Information/Glass-Bottomed-Boat.htm

Now, let's talk about those two exceptions. Initially my list involved three macropods: kangaroo, wallaby, and wallaroo. Sure, I knew that there might be different types within those three categories, but I figured that basically you have small, medium, and large, all with big feet and tails. It's a little more complicated.

Yes, wallaroos are basically the mid-size macropod, but I had forgotten tree kangaroos, and not realized that there are other names that get thrown in there, like padmeleon and quokka and dorcopsis and even hare-wallaby. It ends up being quite a few species, and not all of them are even Australian. The two that are always called wallaroos (the Antilopecine is sometimes called a wallaroo and sometimes a kangaroo) are solitary and nocturnal and live in remote areas, making them not ideal for zoos or tourism in general. Basically, you may not be able to see a wallaroo on your trip, but you should still be able to see many, many macropods.

That takes us to the other exception. Brumbies are wild horses, rather like the North American mustangs. Like camels and dingoes, brumbies were brought over as domesticated animals, then went feral. (Dingoes were brought over so long ago they almost seem like a native species.) There are none in zoos, but you can manage to see them.

Most of this tour will be making a rough circle around the continent, but this stop doesn't really fit in well anywhere else, and it's as easy to get here from Sydney as anywhere else, so the next stop is the Snowy Wilderness.

This could easily be the most expensive stop on the itinerary, depending on how long you want to stay and how much you want to do. I would probably try a quick stay, but try both horseback riding and fly fishing while there. The downside is that they cannot guarantee that you will see a mob of brumbies on the trip, but you are in the right area, with people who are familiar with them, and it should be a good chance. You're in a beautiful place either way. Also, they do have their own horses so you will definitely be able to see some kind of horseflesh, with chances at a lot of other types of animals who are in the area, whether you are able to spot them or not.

http://www.snowywilderness.com.au

If your orbit of Australia goes counter-clockwise, a next logical stop could be Cairns to access the Great Barrier Reef, or maybe you want to go somewhere else. The reef is not really that close to mainland Australia. It is closest to Cairns, about three miles out. Therefore, any access from here, or other ports, is by boat. I prefer reef exploration from shore, as you can stay in more shallow water, which has been gentler in my experience. You can manage this by going to a reef island, though the accommodations there will be more expensive. I would like to try Lady Elliott Island:

http://www.ladyelliot.com.au/

It's not the only reef island, but it looks good. As long as we are in that area, I am interested in Fraser Island too:

http://www.fraserisland.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_island

There is lots of wildlife here, including a chance at Brumbies, though there just aren't that many left. Still, from a financial point of view, you are probably either going into the Snowy Wilderness and then doing a simple reef trip from Cairns, or going to the two islands, which are at least close together. (You could fly to Fraser from Sydney, and then go into maybe Bundaberg for a connection to Lady Elliott Island. Hervey Bay is also in this area, and a popular departure point for whale watching tours, but those also happen from Sydney, Perth, and Southern Australia.)

Whichever you choose, your next stop should probably be Port Douglas. The Rainforest Habitat was the first place we visited on our trip, and it has some things to recommend it. One is that you can actually hold a koala--this is illegal further south, and still strictly regulated in Queensland. It happens really quickly, so focus on holding the koala, regardless of whether they get a good picture of you or not (yes, they will be taking a photo, and you will buy it). That being said, the grasslands area was also a nice chance to get close to the animals. I was able to touch a kangaroo and an emu, and you can feed the animals here as well.

This is also where we got our best look at a cassowary. If you explore the Daintree area at all, you will see many signs and statues of cassowary, and you may even get lucky and catch sight of one roaming through the rainforest, but there are just no guarantees. They are pretty rare.

Breakfast with the Birds is okay, but the birds can be pretty pesky. A lorikeet nipped at me when I wouldn't let it steal my waffle (you're not allowed to feed them), and bird kind of like a stork, but smaller, was going after the rivets of people's jeans pockets. You just need to decide if that would be part of the fun for you.

http://www.rainforesthabitat.com.au/

Now that you have arrived in Port Douglas for the Rainforest Habitat, you are in the gateway to the Daintree Rainforest and Kuranda Village. You have great viewing opportunities here for crocodiles, birds, and fish. There are at least ten companies offering croc-spotting cruises. We went with Bruce Belcher's 1 hour cruise as part of an all day tour booked with Gary's Safaris. We saw four crocodiles, a large snake, a kingfisher, and other birds. Gary's web site does not seem to be working now, but there might be something to be said for not booking in advance. The main street in Port Douglas is full of touring companies hoping for your business, and you might be able to get a better deal live. Or, you could find that very frustrating. Here are just a few links of activities but not companies.

I tend to think that I would take one day to start at the Bat house, then loop back through Daintree forest, a crocodile cruise, and Daintree Village, then give a separate day for Kuranda, and you should be able to see quite a bit this way. There are option for barramundi fishing, but it's a little disconcerting how often people mention seeing crocs while doing that. Sure, I would take a cruise specifically to see crocs--I'm just not sure about adding the element of competing with them for the fish.

http://daintree.info/101thingstodoindaintree.htm
http://austrop.org.au/environ/bathouse.html
http://www.kuranda.org/

If you want to see camels (not a native species, but now a regular part of the landscape), and perhaps take a camel trek, you are going to be looking central. There are several short camel trips offered at Uluru (with a bit of effort you can find some cattle, another non-native species here), but most of the camping trips originate from the Alice Springs area. We did not do this, so I can't really make a recommendation, but here is one company:

http://www.austcamel.com.au/explore.htm

Heading out West again, our next stop is Shark Bay. You probably think you are here for the sharks. Well, you may see some sharks, but the real treat here is the stromatolites. You could argue that these do not even count as animals--they are ancient structures built by microbes--but they are kind of cool, and not something you can see everywhere:

http://www.sharkbay.org/

As we move into the South there are still plenty of mammals about, but you start getting some really unique opportunities for seeing birds. One good place to stop is the Eyre Bird Observatory. Sadly, there is not great web information available on this. This is probably because it is not really a tourist attraction--it is a scientific observatory, but you can visit, and possibly even participate in a project. Anyway, these are the links I could find:

http://www.dundas.wa.gov.au/highway
http://www.southaustralia.com/us/pdf/SA_Experiences_birdwatching_fact_sheet.pdf

The next few areas are very much geared towards tourists, so if that's what you need, no fear. As you get near Adelaide, there are a couple of good destinations. For whale watching, head into Victor Harbor:

http://www.victor.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=437

In addition, you will want to spend some time on Kangaroo Island. Sure, there are kangaroos here, and there are koala here, as well as many other previously mentioned animals (and this was where we saw the echidna), but you also have a chance to get great views of two other animals: sea lions and pelicans.

The sea lions can be found at Seal Bay. The beach is full of them. Now, you are not supposed to get too close (besides having the right to not be molested, they have big sharp teeth and are faster than they look), but you have a great view from the acceptably close range, and there are lots of them. Regular beach tours are provided, and there is an information center, so even if you are not visiting as part of a tour there are resources available.

For pelicans, the pelican man does a daily feeding in Kingscote, and again, you can get very close--close enough to possibly need a change of clothes, actually. You get a great view of the birds and learn a lot about them.

http://www.tourkangarooisland.com.au/default.aspx

You can also see little penguins on Kangaroo Island, but you can just as easily see them at Phillip Island, with some other good wildlife based attractions. Phillip Island is a good day trip from Melbourne, and you should take advantage of the aerial koala tour, and you can learn a lot at the Churchill Island Heritage farm. (After Seal Bay, the Nobbies part won't be that impressive--they're much farther away.)

http://www.penguins.org.au/

There's just one last stop. For our own trip, one disappointment occurred in Tasmania. We loved Tasmania, and we did some cool things there, but we pretty much stayed in the south, landing in Hobart and taking an overnight trip to Port Arthur. At one stop we were looking at tourism brochures, and out that there was a Platypus House, up north, that had platypus and echidna. To add insult to injury, the map on the brochure showed a Seahorse World as well!

Anyway, I think a fun way to handle this is to take the ferry (of course, I like boats) from Melbourne to get yourself to Tasmania, and head to Tamar. There is a double deal where you can get admission to both attractions, or a triple deal where you can also add the Beaconsfield Mine and Heritage Centre. You could probably do both in one day, and then plan for a scenic drive down to Hobart.

http://platypushouse.com.au/index.htm
http://www.seahorseworld.com.au/

There are several options for seeing Tasmanian devils, but we really liked Bonorong, and with a boat tour you can probably see dolphins and whales here too. After all, there are lots of things you can see everywhere, it's just what you see where you go.

http://www.bonorong.com.au/index.html

The Big Three, Plus One

After watching the Penguin Parade, our guide Steve told us that we had just seen one of the top three attractions in Australia. People asked what the others were, of course, and he named the Great Barrier Reef and the Rock as numbers one and two. Fortunately, we had already seen the other two. It was our last day in Australia, and I think we would have been really bummed to find out that we had missed something big.

I was surprised, though, that no mention was made of the Sydney Opera House. Other people told us that it was the most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere, so that makes it kind of an attraction, right? So I think that needs to be the plus one.

Here is an itinerary that will get you all of the "Big" ones, with some room to work in others:

We start out in Sydney. It is worthwhile to grab a performance inside, and there is plenty of variety available, with eight different performance halls. Check out schedules online:

http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/homepage.aspx

Even if you decide not to, you can tour the house during the day as well. That won't take an entire day, so think about working in another activity. You may wish to check out the Royal Botanical Garden, and get a picture at Mrs. MacQuarie's Chair. For more of a sense of history, tour the Rocks. It's kind of like Colonial Williamsburg, but with more pubs! (Well, I'm kind of assuming that; I've never been to Colonial Williamsburg). Or, to see the broadest selection of animals, head on over to Taronga Zoo. You can also get a great view of Sydney Harbor on your way up. Get your access to any of those points from the Circular Quay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Macquarie%27s_Chair
http://www.therocks.com/
http://taronga.org.au/taronga-zoo.aspx
http://www.sydney.com.au/quay.htm

Your next stop will be to fly up to Cairns. Although the Great Barrier Reef stretches for about 2600 kilometers, most people get to it from Cairns. At Cairns, it is only three miles from shore, and that is as close as you get unless you go to one of the resort islands.

Your big decision will need to be how you want to experience the reef, with the most common options being by snorkel, scuba, or glass-bottomed boat. We were very pleased with Ocean Free tours, and they offer all of those options, but you will see that there are many companies providing those services. It's the main reason tourists come to Cairns. Just remember to put on lots of sunscreen and keep reapplying--that sun is fierce!

http://www.oceanfree.com.au/

If you want to add in here, you may wish to consider driving an hour up to Port Douglas. Here you have easy access to the Daintree Rainforest (a world heritage site), the Rainforest Habitat (the only place where we were able to hold koalas, and also where we first pet kangaroos), and Kuranda, the rainforest village.

http://www.daintreerainforest.com/
http://www.rainforesthabitat.com.au/
http://www.kuranda.org/

Once you are done with Cairns, it is off to the Red Center for Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru. I don't necessarily suggest that you climb the Rock, but you can look at it. Because of the vibrant reds, a lot of people like to watch the sunrise or sunset there. There are many different touring options, not just for Uluru, but also for Kata Tjuta and Mt. Connor.

You will pretty much have to end up staying at the resort. There is camping at the cattle station, but those people have their own transportation, and you will be driving for miles of desert to get there. Take the plane and stay at the resort. There's some gouging, but it could be worse, and you don't need to stay long. Unless you want to spend time exploring hiking and exploring all three formations, you can arrive one day, see what you want, and leave the next.

http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/

On leaving Ayers Rock, you will head to Melbourne. Now, any where there are fairy penguins (also known as little penguins and blue penguins), there will be a parade where they will cross the beach in groups at sundown, trying to get safely ashore. This spot is the best known, and they have bleachers and park rangers, and you know that you will see plenty of penguins. This actually happens on Phillip Island, not in Melbourne proper.

There is a lot you can do on the island. We were actually not impressed by the Nobbies. Yes, there are seals out on that rock, but you can't see them without a telescope. However, there is also a koala area, farm area, and a racetrack. The penguins don't start coming ashore until dusk, so even though you do need to get there and find your seat, they are a nighttime activity and you have the whole day.

We went with adventure tours, which picked us up in Melbourne and drove us to the island, stopping at Maru along the way. Maru is a nature park just before you hit the bridge to Phillip Island. If you have not seen a kangaroo or koala at this point, Maru is a good choice. You can pet and feed the roos and wallabies, and feed the emus as well, and you can see many of the other animals even if you cannot touch them. They also had a good selection of birds.

Remember, this tour is the one where you are making sure to cover the basics, and you will feel silly if you have not seen the main marsupials. Fortunately, your odds are good. We saw kangaroos in Port Douglas, at Taronga, and in the wild at Mt. Connor, and then at Maru. Koala do not spread quite as far in terms of natural habitat, but every zoo and wildlife park has some. Just remember to get them in.

The adventure tour did not visit the koala conservation center or Churchill Island for the Phillip Island trip, and I had not realized they would not, so if you book with a tour, make sure you understand the complete itinerary.

http://www.penguins.org.au/

Since you are going to be in Melbourne, you may also want to visit the Victoria Market. Everyone said this was the best place to get souvenirs. I wish they had mentioned that it was closed on Wednesdays. Because we tried going on a Wednesday, we can't really vouch for it. Keep that in mind.

Melbourne does have an international airport, so you can arrange your departure home from there, without needing to go back to Sydney. You can easily cover the basics within a week, adding more time if you want to do more of the add-ins mentioned, but you know, there is always more to do.

The Temple Tour of Australia

One challenge of our trip was that we were trying to cram so many things into such a short amount of time (well, a month is not short, but for what we wanted to do, it was), that you do have to give some things up. One of those was that we did not make it to any temples.

Part of that was transportation, because temples generally are in suburbs and don't have tour buses going to them, and part of that was that at the time Julie and Maria were not endowed yet, so it just made sense. Still, I thought it would be fun to concoct an itinerary based on temple locations. This will get you to Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth--sort of. Actually, you will need to get to Carlingford, Kangaroo Point, Wantirna, Marsden, and Yokine. Bet you haven't heard of any of those yet. Don't worry--we have a plan.

It may be unfair, but for this particular itinerary I am picturing the travelers as an older LDS couple, or maybe two such couples. In each city they will want to do a temple session, but they will also want to see some of the local color, without it involving any really strenuous activities or wild parties.

We start off in Sydney.

On your first day, it is reasonable to worry about how the air travel will affect you, and whether you will need a rest day. It may vary by individual, but our experience, and that of friends who have gone at different times, is that the flight was not nearly as tiring as you would expect. We were certainly stiff after all of our time aboard the plane, but we came out alert, and functioned normally during the day. It may be helpful to stay somewhat active and out in the fresh air just to be safe. Put yourself in an environment conducive to drowsiness, and it just might win out.

Exploring the Royal Botanic Gardens may be the perfect solution. It involves fresh air and exercise, and you can catch a guided walk at the visitor's center. You will also be in the right area to catch a photo opportunity at Mrs. Macquaries chair, one of the most popular picture spots for tourists.

You are also close to the most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere, the Sydney Opera House, and must pay it a visit. Tours are available, and not a bad idea, but you should really treat yourself to a performance there. There are eight performance halls with extensive offerings, so on any given night you should be able to find something that works. This should fit in well after your temple session, so you have one day for touring, one day for the temple and evening entertainment, and the you will head to Brisbane.

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/
http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/

Sydney to Brisbane is doable as a drive (about 11 hours), and you will need the car, so you may want to consider driving. There will be another stop where the long drive is more important, so flying is perfectly acceptable.

The obvious choice for sightseeing is the Australia Zoo. The Crocodile Hunter is gone, but this was his place, and you will get to see the main Australian animals, plus several from Asia and the Galapagos. Naturally, there are crocodiles.

However, if you are worried that it is a bit too commercial, and maybe want to explore the town at your own pace, consider the Brisbane City Sights tour. With tours like this, I like to go around the full circuit first, hearing everything, and then decided where to get off. They will give you the lay of the land, and get you access to local buses and ferries. They might even be able to give you some tips about making your way to Kangaroo Point, so take the city tour on your first day, and then go to the temple the next, or maybe even that evening.

http://www.australiazoo.com.au/
http://www.citysights.com.au/home/default.asp

Driving from Sydney to Brisbane is okay, and driving from Adelaide to Melbourne is recommended, but from Brisbane to Perth, you will definitely want to fly (plan on about a four hour flight). You are heading all the way across the country, to the far West end. Many visitors never make it to the West Coast at all, let alone Perth--the world's most isolated capital city.

Our tourist side is going to visit the Perth Mint. Although the area was isolated, a gold rush made it reasonable to build the mint in 1899. You can take a historical walk, watch a gold pour, and view the world's largest display of gold bars.

It won't hurt to spend a little time exploring the outdoors as well, so you may want to wander by the Swan Bells. This is a glass spire bell tower on the Swan River. Stop by at the right time and you can hear them play, or get a bell handling demonstration.

http://www.perthmint.com.au/
http://swanbells.com.au/

Adelaide is next. If you are going through a guidebook, you will see that pretty much every major city has a zoo, botanical gardens, a candy factory, a museum, and often an aquarium and an arctic exploration center. Obviously going to each one in each town would be overkill. For chocolate, the Haigh's tour may not be the best known (that would probably be the Cadbury tour near Hobart, Tasmania), Haigh's is the oldest chocolate maker in Australia, since 1915, and they offer free tastings. Since Adelaide is known for it's food and drink, partaking of something local makes sense.

This is also a good place to take in some more history, especially in regard to the Aboriginal people. The South Australian Museum has the largest collection of Aboriginal artifacts in the world, and gives a straightforward account of their interactions with white colonists. Just round the corner is the library and the Migration Museum, and next door is the Art Gallery. Nearby in the other direction is the War Memorial and Parliament House, so a lot can be seen and learned in a small space.

http://haighschocolates.com.au/
http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/

Now, between Adelaide and Melbourne is where we are going to make the big exception to flying between cities. You are going to keep your rental for the rest of your time in Australia, and get to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road.

Well, actually, you may not want to keep your rental, because this is also an area where you do have the option of several coach tours. Several different companies offer options of one or three day tours, either going one way between Melbourne and Adelaide, or doing a round trip loop.

Assuming that you have used rental cars in each city to this point, you have had a chance to get comfortable driving on the other side of the road. However, you will be going through an amazingly scenic area, and there may be some advantages to letting an experienced driver take the wheel and point out attractions. At the same time, by going with a tour you are letting someone else call the shots, choosing where and when to stop and how long to stay.

The first thing that comes to mind at the mention of the Great Ocean Road is the Twelve Apostles, and you do want to see those, but there are many things worth viewing. The limestone coastline has been sculpted by wind and waves coming straight from Antarctica, and there is a lot to see. Pay specific attention along Bay of Islands Coastal Park, where features include the Arch, the Grotto, London Bridge, the Bay of Martyrs, the Bay of Islands, and Worm Bay. You may want to stop off in Loch Ard Gorge and see the Blowhole.

Not every attraction is a coastal formation. You will also be traveling near Otway State Park and National Forest, and Grampians National Park. There are some rugged hikes to be had, but you can just take a leisurely drive nearby and soak up the scenery.

Having just sampled local chocolates in Adelaide, consider stopping for some local organic cheese at the Mousetrap. Also, stop off in Geelong for the Wool Museum. Sheep have been an important part of Australian history, and you can learn all about the sheep and wool here, and see fun things like a knitted tea party.

(We would have a tendency to also try and swing by the Condah Pub, because we met the proprietor and we liked him a lot.)

http://touristnews.standard.net.au/timboon/ti_eat.html
http://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/nwm/
http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/
(This site has some information, but I recommend adding to it with a guidebook, or checking sites like wikitravel, lonelyplanet, or viator.)

The last stop is in Melbourne, and if you are in Melbourne than you really do need to head over to Phillip Island and see the Penguin Parade. There are tours that will pick you up in Melbourne and take you here, but simply getting the 3 park pass will give you plenty to do, and you should find exploring the island on your own to be fun. Remember that the penguins start coming ashore at dusk, so however early you get there will be more about how much time you want to spend at the other attractions, but you will definitely be coming back after dark.

In Melbourne itself, I do recommend Piazza Navona, Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria, on Toorak Road. It was good food, and not terribly expensive, which could not be said about the other restaurants in that area.

There are two big things to remember about this kind of a tour. One, you need to check ahead to see when temple closures are. You're not going to feel good about going halfway around the world to visit a temple and then not being able to get in. Sure, you wouldn't miss all of them, but there's no reason to miss any with some advance planning.

Also, it is reasonable to assume that you are going to want to go to church on Sundays. Don't just take the meeting time and address from the web pages--call and ask! We learned this by sad experience.

Now you may be wondering if this temple tour can be expanded at all. Well, you can easily fly from Melbourne to Auckland, and get yourself to the Hamilton Temple. This would not add too much additional cost or time. You can refer back to my overall guide for the North Island for ideas on what to do, but the Kiwi House in Otorohanga is certainly close by, and would be an easy stop. Adding New Zealand would make perfect sense.


What about the Pacific Islands? Well, that is going to add to the time and money considerably. Also, you are increasing the temperature range, so it may make packing more of a challenge. But if you are looking at that, your other options are Suva Fiji, Apia Samoa, Nuku'alofa Tonga, and Papeete Tahiti.

Have a great trip.

Places we missed

With such a vast trip, it’s hard to feel like you have covered everything. I liked working out the itinerary for someone else going to the North Island, and reviewing the South Island as a whole made sense after that. It also feels like it makes sense to do a nice blog summing up Australia. It’s just so much harder.

I’ve decided the way to do it is to create a few itineraries with different themes, rather than trying to do it so much by region. If you are planning your own trip it would probably make more sense to pick a few items from each itinerary, rather than having one that is all animals or all geographic marvels and hiking, but that will vary by taste. You can’t see it all without being gone a long time. Yes, Australia is the smallest continent, but it is still a pretty big country, and you will miss some things. That actually leads to two good points.

One thing that became clear as we spent time in New Zealand was that it would be totally worth getting a car. Things are close to each other, and you can see a lot more that way. This does not hold true for Australia. There are some places where driving can be good if the area is scenic and the distance not too bad (the Great Ocean Road comes to mind), but overall you will just spend hours and days driving. That’s not to say that it won’t be beautiful or interesting, but it may not be the best use of your time.

The other point was that we did miss things, so before stringing together itineraries including things we saw and things we didn’t, I wanted to go over some of the places that we missed.

First of all, we did not make it to the West Coast at all, or really any of the Western half. Most of what we did centered along the East Coast, though Adelaide and Uluru are central. Now, part of that is because when I was going over the places that we wanted to see, there were just more places in the East, and a several hours flight without a real objective didn’t make much sense. However, I can’t help but feel that we were missing something, because I am sure there are differences between the two coasts and I know nothing about them. Given a chance, I wouldn’t mind spending some time in Perth, Darwin, and Shark Bay.

Also more in the Northwest, the Bungle Bungles (Purnululu). They are rather like enormous orange and black striped beehives made out of rock. People didn’t even know they were there until the 80’s, so it’s almost still frontier out here, but basically I would want to go because they look cool.

Coober Pedy: Coober Pedy is fairly central. One attraction is that if you wanted to do a camping trip on camelback, most of those tours start from here. Also, the guy who inspired Crocodile Dundee lived here, and you can see his house, and it’s the opal capital of the world, so you can buy opals and learn about the mining.

Kakadu National Park: This place has it all— waterfalls and gorges, biodiversity, rock art—just tons to see and do. Actually, there’s a uranium mine too, though I’m not sure that you really visit that part, or should. However, it is fairly primitive. You will be hiking in and camping, and you have a long drive in.

Kuranda: The sad thing is we did have easy access, and could have easily gotten transportation from our Port Douglas lodgings, but there was just too much to do, and we had already scheduled other things. There is a sky rail and gondola for transportation, and then when you get to the village you can watch Aboriginal performances and view art, and we heard good things about it.

Brisbane/Gold Coast: Actually, I’m not sure that we would have wanted to go here so much. We looked at this area because there were a couple of big park/zoo things, including Steve Irwin’s. Ultimately I guess we decided that they seemed too touristy. I mean, we ended up seeing plenty of crocodiles in other places, and sure, seeing tigers is cool, but Australia is not really the place to look for them.

Fraser Island: This is a world heritage site off the Southern coast of Queensland. You can spot a lot of sharks, and explore dunes and really beautiful terrain.

Lady Elliott Island: This seems like a nice spot to stay and get in some good snorkeling. When I wrote about the Great Barrier Reef I think I mentioned that I didn’t really like snorkeling off a boat, but the Great Barrier Reef is too far off shore for you to wade in anywhere off the mainland. Still, there are several smaller islands where you can wade in, and I think that’s the way to go. And you’d be crazy to wade in off of Fraser Island.

Hanging Rock: Again, this is a place where we were nearby, but we just didn’t have the time to make it happen. But, you know, I’ve seen the movie now, and I want to go even more.

Launceston: Now that we know that there is both a platypus place and a sea horse place, how can we not want to go?

Sydney: Yes, we went to Sydney, and we saw some things, but we missed the Royal Botanical Gardens, and I think a stop at the Rocks would have been good. Honestly, I don’t feel at all drawn to the bridge climb.

I’m sure there are other things that I’m not even thinking about, but those are at least some.

The South Island of New Zealand

From my review of the north island, it may be clear that I realize that we could have had a better itinerary. We did good things and had fun, but there were certainly things that we missed or instances where our timing could have been better (like not being in Auckland over the weekend, where Kelly Tarlton’s was packed and Sharondelier was closed).

On the other hand, I feel like we did really well with the South Island. We covered all of the main places that we were interested in, and the order we went in made sense. To be fair, we had help from Chris with planning that, but he was building on our input. If we did not end up being that impressed with Queenstown for shopping (the best shopping was actually in Auckland, on Queen Street) and activities, we certainly loved our hotel and the views. Besides, the airport is there. Christchurch has an airport too, but Queenstown is closer to Milford Sound and Dunedin, and those are places that you definitely need to go.

Dunedin is absolutely great. Downtown is very walkable, with multiple attractions nearby, and the outlying areas have good stuff. The areas between Queenstown and Te Anau, and between Te Anau and Milford Sound and beautiful, and make for great drives. It is very much worth the time.

Again, you need to have your own ground transportation. Having Chris as our escort was great, but you could probably drive yourself as long as you can remember which side of the road you are supposed to be on. If you are relying on buses, you are going to miss a lot. Yes, you can pick up a tour from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back, but you are going to be on that bus all day, except for the couple of hours where you are loaded onto the boat. I don’t know how you would get to Dunedin. (For Back to Nature, Chris’s outfit, a lot of their tour groups come from the cruise ships.)

There are areas where I could have enjoyed spending more time. I would have liked to walk around Steamer Wharf in Queenstown. We would have enjoyed that more than shopping—we just didn’t know in advance. The path around Lake Te Anau had promise too. Actually, I think if we had kept going it ends up being a track. There are several tracks in the area, and if you have time and just want to take long walks, that’s the way to do it.

Of course, what you must do and shouldn’t bother doing is different for everyone. Someone who wanted to bungee jump, then go white water rafting and do mountain luge, would love Queenstown. It’s a perfect place for adrenaline junkies. We love animals, so the deer park was our favorite place there. Therefore, one place that I regret not knowing about on the south island is a penguin colony on the Banks peninsula, near Christchurch. We probably would not have had time to include it anyway, but it’s something I would have at least considered if I had known it existed.

If we had more resources, including time, then exploring some of the smaller islands would have been really tempting. Specifically, I would be interested in Stewart Island and the Chathams, but that’s really a different kind of trip—more for scientific research than vacationing.

I can think of one completely practical, touristy thing we could have thrown in, and that would be the Taeri Gorge Train Ride. It departs from the railway station in Dunedin, and we were there twice. It would have been completely doable, and it looks like it is very scenic. The two days we were in Dunedin were pretty sunny, so that probably would have been nice.

Speaking of weather, you may remember that I mentioned Milford being all fogged in, and that when we were at the Royal Albatross colony there were only two albatross around. We were there in the second week of October. Going a little bit later might have been better in many ways. However, any later for Australia would have made some places way too hot.

Well, it's pretty traditional to pair Australia and New Zealand together, because they're in the same part of the world, and if you are going to spend that long in a plane, you might as well make the most of it. That being said, there are some differences between the two, in climate and mood, that may make it worth separating them. Well, Tasmania and New Zealand are probably a good match, but I might recommend pairing the rest of Australia with Fiji instead.

Anyway, wherever you go or don't go, and whenever, I have no reservations about recommending Back to Nature Tours. They were great:

http://www.backtonaturetours.co.nz/

The North Island of New Zealand

Now that I have gone over all of our stops on the trip, I thought I should do some summing up posts. I have a coworker going to New Zealand in September, and two friends there right now. For some reason, everyone is just doing the north island. Well, here is the message I wrote up for Richard and Mercedes to help them plan. It is a pretty good overview of what is there:

The areas are listed roughly in a North to South order. For our getting around, we flew into Auckland and took a taxi to our hotel. We had a bus tour that took us to the Bay of Islands and Waitangi Treaty Grounds one day, used taxi and city bus to get to Kelly Tarltons the next, and then another bus tour took us to Rotorua via Waitomo.

In Rotorua, we got transportation with the tour to Hobbiton (they were great) and with the Hangi, and there was a local shuttle for Rainbow Springs. Then we flew out of Rotorua to get to Queenstown. On the buses I could see road signs for all the places we were skipping, so I know you can do a lot more if you are driving yourself.

For hotels, we only stayed in two. In Auckland we stayed at the Rendezvous hotel. It was nice, but it is more for business travel (all the airline staff stays there). It was not convenient for attractions or food. If you go down a few blocks to Queen Street, there are restaurants and shopping, but there is nothing you can get to that fast, and they don’t really even have any vending machines to speak of. You can probably do better.

In Rotorua we stayed at the Comfort Inn Gwendoline. They were very nice, but the room was a little dumpy, and since we primarily picked them because they said they had laundry, we were very disappointed to find one washing machine and one very weak dryer. Also, it is on the main road into town, but way at the end. You can do better here too. Also, there are cool things to do in and around Rotorua, but it is a sulfur spring, and it stinks.
Places to go:

Waipoua Kauri Forest:
We did not make it here, but I would have liked to. I guess this is their equivalent of redwood or sequoia forests, only the trees are famous more for getting wide than tall.
http://www.natureandco.co.nz/land_and_wildlife/regions/northland/for-park/visit-waip.php3

Bay of Islands:
This is a bay with many islands. It is considered very scenic, and there are different boat tours you can do. It is good to see, and this was the only place where we saw dolphins. That being said, we hated our boat ride. It was the Excitor Fast Boat tour, and the way it was built we were constantly being stung in the face with salt water, to where we could barely keep our eyes open. There are lots of other boats available; don’t take the Excitor if you go. You do get whales and dolphins in the area, so some tours may be specifically for that.
http://www.bayofislands.net/

Waitangi:
You can learn a lot about the history at the Waitangi treaty grounds. The meeting house Whare Runanga is on the grounds, where the carvings represent all of the island tribes, and an amazingly long boat (can carry 150, takes at least 100 to paddle), as well as a nature trail with native plants labeled.
http://www.waitangi.net.nz/

Muriwai Gannet Colony:
You can get some good bird watching here, and you are in exactly the right time of year for them (August and September).
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/sights-activities/scenic-highlights/coastal-highlights/scenic-highlight-details.cfm/businessid/69652.html

Coromandel Hot Water Beach:
At low tide you can dig your own hot springs and take a warm bath.
http://www.aatravel.co.nz/101/MustDo_Hot-Water-Beach.html

Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Adventure:
There is an Antarctic habitat set up where you can take a snowcat ride and see King and Gentoo penguins. That was pretty cool, and although you may see some wild penguins on the north island, all the main penguin viewing areas that I know of are on the south island. Then they have an underwater walkthrough area with different sharks and fish, a ray tank, smaller aquariums with other animals, and they have a dead giant squid on display. It was pretty good, but don’t go on a weekend. There is an hourly shuttle from downtown Auckland to it, and the shuttle is free, but if they are crowded, they will just leave when they are full, and that was frustrating for us. Still, much worse on weekends.
http://www.kellytarltons.co.nz/home/page.aspx

Waitomo Glowworm Caves:
There are actually three caves here: Waitomo, Ruakuri, and Aranui. We only went into Waitomo, which is where you see the glowworms, and part of the trip is by boat. It is worth seeing, but we only got a partial tour because there were heavy rains, and the water was getting too high. That could be a real possibility for you too. I wouldn’t have minded seeing the other caves, but we were part of a tour, and it only covered the one. In addition to regular cave admissions there are rafting trips and adventure options, so that may be something to think about.
http://www.waitomo.com/

Kiwi House:
This would be one place to see kiwis and other birds. We did not get there, but it was another place I would have liked to try.
http://www.kiwihouse.org.nz/

Temple:
There is a temple in Hamilton, and if you are driving, you could easily get there.
http://www.lds.org/temples/main/0,11204,1912-1-47-2,00.html

Hangi:
This is the New Zealand equivalent of a luau, and you should really try and get to one. I imagine that many towns have them, but for some reason all of the ones I know are in Rotorua. We went to the Tamaki Maori Village there, but there were at least two others.
http://www.maoriculture.co.nz/
http://www.mitai.co.nz/
http://www.nzmaori.co.nz/

Rainbow Springs Nature Park:
If you are in Rotorua, we do highly recommend this one. I don’t know if it has as many different types of birds as the Kiwi House, but they have some good ones, and trout and reptiles, and non-native animals that the European settlers brought with them, and the Kiwi Encounter is great. You see kiwi eggs and chicks and adults, and learn a lot. Auckland has a zoo where you are supposed to be able to see kiwis, but one woman told us they paid $40 there and never saw one. We saw many kiwis here.

Rotorua in general:
We only did the hangi and Rainbow Springs here, but we heard good things about the Rotorua Museum of Art and History, and that the Agrodome was more for kids. Mount Tarawera and the Buried Village could have been cool, but we didn’t go or talk to anyone who went.
http://www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz/
http://www.agrodome.co.nz/
http://www.mttarawera.co.nz/

Hobbiton:
We really enjoyed this tour. Not only was the tour of the movie set interesting, but then we got to see a demonstration of sheep shearing, and bottle-feed baby lambs, which I am pretty sure you would love. I think we saw the most sheep between Rotorua and Matamata.
http://www.hobbitontours.com/

Not sure if you are fans at all of Split Enz, Crowded House, or the Finn Brothers, but there may be two more points of interest if you are.

Te Awamutu Museum:
The Finn brothers were born in this town, so the museum has an exhibit on them. It would probably be a very short side trip, but it’s fairly close to some of the other towns.
http://www.tamuseum.org.nz/

Sharondelier:
Neil’s wife Sharon designs chandeliers and jewelry, and has a gallery in Auckland. Actually, she seems to be moving away from the jewelry, but when we were planning the trip she had earrings and necklaces too. It is only open on weekdays, so we were not able to make it.
http://www.sharondelier.com/

Let us know if you have any other questions. I have blog accounts of the places we went at http://sporktogo.blogspot.com/. I was writing about the North Island from basically March through May. Also, I did two updates from the road back when they were fresh.

http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2008/10/bay-of-islands.html
http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2008/10/rotorua-stinks-literally.html