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

Arrowtown

Our trip was almost over, but Chris was not going to just dump us at the airport when we still had a few hours. He took us to Arrowtown for breakfast.

Arrowtown was a gold rush town that saw the population surge and then fall, but it's not a ghost town now. It is now a charming small town with historic value. What we saw of the downtown was very pretty, and there is just a short walk from street parking to look at the remnants of miners' cabins and outbuildings. I think the second picture is of an actual mine entrance, but I am not positive.

The miners' settlement is just a stone's throw from the Arrow River (hence the town's name). It was blocked off so we could not get too close, and I don't really have any pictures of it, but this is where Arwen and Frodo crossed the river before the Nazgul were washed away. I believe it was just a matter of the ground being very soggy and dangerous, in combination with the high waters, so you might be able to go down to the river at a different time of year.

Anyway, we wandered around the settlement, had breakfast at the bakery, and then drove up to a couple of scenic overlook areas. It just gave us a chance to breathe in a bit more of the pure air, and to drink in more of the beauty of the South Island.

But all good things must come to an end. We did need to make our flight, so we did need to say goodbye.

When we were leaving for Australia, we had very short layovers where we were constantly on the run, and yet with the time zone change, we left Thursday and arrived Saturday. This trip was the complete opposite. We had a four hour layover in Auckland, and I think it was seven hours in Los Angeles. Despite that, we left on Tuesday and arrived just a few hours later, in a manner of speaking.

I'll never be a fan of long flights, but it's worth it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrowtown

Inside Queenstown

This post will probably be quite short, as I have already written about the Deer Park, and that was our highlight for Queenstown.

I had mentioned that the Deer Park has all of these adventure options, and that makes sense, because Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand. There is rafting, luge, bungee jumping, skiing (with or without helicopters), and sundry other activities, which is great, but not something that we were particularly interested in. We are lame in that way.

We had heard that Queenstown had good shopping, so that was something we looked at, but after wandering through many stores, we did not find anything we really wanted. (This included looking in three different bookstores for Five Kiwi in a Kombi.)

So, why go to Queenstown? Well, there are really two reasons for it. (That's two reasons for us. If you are into adventure activities, go for it. If you are more into shopping, I'd say our best luck there was Queen Street in Auckland.)

First off, for the places we wanted to go, it was the most logical airport to use. There is an airport in Christchurch, but that puts you considerably further north, and we pretty much stayed in the southernmost third of the South Island.

The other thing to think about is that it is absolutely beautiful. Those adventure activities work because you have mountains and rivers and lakes, and it was some of the most gorgeous scenery I've ever seen. That doesn't mean you have to spend a long time in the city. We basically had the one day, plus our trip out, and I'm not sure you can drive in any direction without seeing something breathtaking. Like the rest of the island, the air is fresh and pure, and being there just feels good.

Population-wise, it is somewhere between Te Anau and Dunedin. Dunedin like most university cities. A large part of the population is college students, but there are a lot of businesses supporting that, as well as the tourism, so you have a lot of regular residents. Te Anau is mainly vacation homes, that are rented out more as investments than used by the owners. There are some regular residents, but it gets pretty empty in the off-season.

Queenstown is based on tourism, but there are more hotels and hostels than vacation homes, so more support staff is needed. A lot of the tourists are young adrenaline junkies, so it feels more alive, but not homey. Most of the people who work there are from other parts of the country, and they are only there temporarily.

There were two interesting encounters. On our way back to the hotel for the night, we stopped in a grocery store, and as we were chatting in line a man behind us said, "Oh good! I was afraid the Americans would stop coming." He was referring to the news of economic disaster. Well, things had been fine when we left. I have no idea how they're doing now. I certainly didn't expect to follow the trip with ten months without income.

The other thing worth noting is that we found an excellent food court, and needing to conserve funds had both lunch and dinner there, in between checking out stores and such. (There is a lovely path around the lake that I only noticed after it was too late to explore it, so that was a regret. If you get there, take a walk around the lake.)

Anyway, I don't remember which meal it was, but we were there and Julie noticed someone familiar in line at McDonalds. It was John and Marie from the Great Barrier Reef.

This was without a doubt the farthest in between jaunts that we had seen anyone. There were people that we kept seeing all around Kangaroo Island and Adelaide, and one family we had seen in Port Douglas, North Queensland had also turned up in Port Arthur, Tasmania, but here we were in a different country--and climate!

With everything that had happened in between, it was almost surprising that we had recognized them, but we talked quite a bit, especially Marie and Julie. They were both a bit concerned about snorkeling, so they talked about that, and then Louise basically towed them both around for the entire time. (She was a strong swimmer.)

Anyway, it was exciting to see them. We chatted and got caught up. They were doing the adventure stuff, and had some close calls skiing, so that was fun, and then we talked about what everyone was doing next. After the second encounter, it becomes acceptable to exchange contact information, so we took e-mail address and promised to send them information on California (which was eventually on their itinerary--they were going a lot of places).

So that was nice. I was glad we ran into them. I kind of wish I had exchanged contact information with Vicky and Camille from Kangaroo Island. Yes, only ran into them at one thing, but it was a two-day thing. It could have counted. Maybe Peter too. (At least one of the Peter's. There were three or four.)

That was our last full day in New Zealand, but we had a good guide who wanted to make sure that we didn't miss any opportunities, so there was one more stop.

Deer Park Heights

Chris picked us up early in Dunedin, and we set out for Queenstown. He gave us a quick look at the town and our hotel to get us oriented, and then drove us up to Deer Park Heights. He was going to take us through the attraction, then drop us back in downtown to do some exploring on our own.

This was his first time at the Deer Park, but after we had worked out the things that we definitely wanted to do, he told us he would fill in some other activities to suit us as he got to know us. He had learned that we were complete suckers for animals, and somewhat interested in seeing places from The Lord of the Rings, so this place turned out to be perfect.

I have the web site at the end of the post, so you can check it out, but the page advertises safaris, where they will pick you up, and you can combine it with a jet boat or helicopter ride. This was not our experience at all. We drove up to the gate, inserted $20 NZD into the slot, and the gate opended automatically. Since we had four people in the car, this was a pretty good deal.

There were maps that you could take you give you an idea of the layout, and various feed stations with empty coffee cans, where you could put in $2 NZD and get the can full of food, thereby being able to feed the animals. Truly, it is a bargain.

The place does have its flaws. Some of the animals are penned, and some are not, but the areas are large enough that if they want to avoid you, they easily can. Therefore, we never saw any bison, though I believe we saw all of the other species. There are no attendants, so I suppose there can be a certain danger to that, though there are no carnivores. (Well, there were these very hairy pigs, but they were penned, and they did not seem particularly fierce. Some day they may find that they have to protect the animals from the people, but I hope not.) Regardless, we had a good time with what we did.

At the first area we had the pigs, chickens, ducks, and donkeys. I guess this was the farm area. Chris got some food (they called it "nuts", but it was more like kibble), and we started feeding the animals. He made a game where we tried to throw directly to specific animals, and scored points for each direct pass. Julie got all three, thus becoming the clear winner.

The donkeys were fascinating in that, rather than grazing at the food from your hands, they shaped their mouths into cups, expecting you to drop the food in. Well, if that's the way they want it.

We got back into the car and drove to the llama area. There was one baby (a cria) with its mother, and she was pretty protective. I was able to pet it, and then she herded it to the side so no one else could. This was a shame because the baby was so soft.

Really, all of the llama petting was made a little more complicated because of the other one pictured. If he looks kind of "in your face", well, that's because he was. He kept trying to get into the food can. We didn't have any objection to feeding him, but we wanted the others to get some too. What we ended up doing was taking a little to give to him and then passing the can to the next person. He kept catching on and going after the next can holder, but in between that we could feed and pet the others.

We drove on and saw more animals. I had never heard of a thar before, but they had them. They're a lot like goats.

Back to the information sheet, one side was a map that showed the roads and the general areas where the different animals could be found. The other side had the list of species and information about them.

The map side also had numbers for different filming locations. Most of the footage shot here was for scenes set around Rohan, so it was primarily for The Two Towers, and then the scene in The Return of the King where Gandalf is riding away with Pippin. That picture of Maria was taken where Aragorn fell over the cliff after the wargs attacked.

One thing that we thought was odd was that there was an area on the map designated "Movie Set". I mean, wasn't the whole thing? We understood better when we turned and came across a Korean prison. Lo and behold, there was an actual set left standing from the movie, The Rescue. I vaguely remembered seeing ads for a film where a bunch of navy brats go in to rescue their parents when the government won't, because, you know, that's likely. I also thought I remembered Sean Astin being in it, but it was actually Kevin Dillon and the kid who played Skippy on Family Ties. I guess for Sean I was thinking of B.R.A.T. Patrol, but that's okay, he was in a different movie that filmed here, even if he wasn't in those scenes.

What was funny was that Chris had just been saying that they ought to have some sort of coffee stand or something in the park, so once we saw that, the obvious thing was to put in a bento stand. In reality though, the set is falling apart, and is fenced off because of how dangerous it would be. Maybe it's just as well that the Rohan set was taken down.

We did have one more animal encounter that I want to share. The last animals we fed were the feral goats. "Feral" makes them sound more ferocious than they are. All it means is that domestic goats went into the wild, and kept breeding, and it does not make them particularly dangerous, but they can be food aggressive, just like tame goats are.

Anyway, we went in, and started feeding the goats. Maria had the coffee can, and this one goat was following her around, and stuck his face right into the can, and she got scared and dropped it. Now all of the goats went for it.

That could have been funny on its own, but then Chris said "Now that's two dollars wasted." There could not have been more than an inch of food left in the can, because we had been using it at many stops. But the Scots are cheap, and it's funny.

We had a good time.

http://www.thedeerpark.co.nz/

Sunday in Dunedin

Although we were discouraged by our failed attempt to go to church, the fact that we had managed to find our way back to the motel may have given us a false sense of security in our ability to navigate. We changed clothes, and started walking in what we believed was the general direction of downtown. It wasn't.

After wandering around in residential tracts, we wandered into a little convenience store, talked to the clerk there, and decided to call a cab. This part actually went quite well. Our cabbie was prompt, got us right into town at a reasonable price, and gave us helpful advice about getting back when the time came. Every now and then, something has to go right.

Dunedin was founded in 1841 by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland. Their spiritual guide was the Reverend Thomas Burns, a nephew of the poet Robert Burns. That statue in the town center is of Robert Burns.

The Scottish influence is felt in other ways. Dùn Èideann is the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. Chris told us that Dunedin was planned following the basic design of Edinburgh, including using the same street names. However, the street names were not used in the same order, so maps are not interchangeable.

We had the cab take us to the Octagon, because it is the center of town, and so an easy starting point for getting around. It worked out even better than we thought. You have the statue here, and a small park area, but many attractions are just a stone's throw away, so we were able to see a lot in a short amount of time.

We started out at the Art Gallery. In addition to the art exhibits, they have a video library where you can see historic footage, documentaries about the area, and even works by local filmmakers (they had a large Peter Jackson section).

Next, we started off towards the First Church Otago. Under the architect's original design, it was going to be a beacon on the hill. While he was away, they moved it, considerably lower down. This was quite disappointing for him, but it is still a very pretty church, and probably easier to get to this way.

Going down one more block we arrived at the Settlers Museum, and took in the exhibits. I think we ended up being most intrigued by the transport gallery. In addition to vehicles from several eras, you could see early drivers training videos. It was just kind of a fun departure from the typical museum exhibit.

Exiting the museum, we had a choice to turn left or right. We sort of intended to go to the classical Chinese garden, and we thought right looked more promising for that, because all we saw to the left was a shopping center. Well, it turns out the garden was left, just set back from the road. We had heard mixed reviews on it anyway, but I think the real issue is that some people like classical Chinese gardens and some don't. If you like the Portland one, you would probably like this one and the one in Sydney. It's just a guess.

Now, I can't say that going right was a mistake, because suddenly everything else is right there. We had explored this area a bit with Chris the previous day, but we were able to go over it again at our leisure. Here you have the historic courthouse and jail, the Cadbury factory, and the Dunedin Railway Station.

The station is quite famous, and commonly referred to as either the most photographed building in New Zealand, or the second-most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere (following the Sydney Opera House). In addition to the elaborate gingerbread architecture on the outside, there are all sorts of flourishes on the inside, from mosaics and stained glass to wrought iron work and statuary. Tour trains still depart from it, but is has very much become a tourist attraction more than a working train station. There is even a sports hall of fame on the second floor. I would have liked to have taken more pictures of it, but my batteries were running low, again.

That was pretty much our last stop of the day. We casually worked our way back up to the Octagon, caught a cab back to the motel, did laundry, ordered pizza, and watched the Simpsons movie on TV. Monday would be Queenstown, and Tuesday we would head back to the States. Our trip was quickly coming to a close.

I have to say, Dunedin is a lovely spot, with a lot to do, and on those grounds I recommend it. Still, and this may be heresy, I think the Octagon looked more like a hexagon. Maybe I just needed to stop and count.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin
http://dunedin.art.museum/
http://www.firstchurchotago.org.nz/
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/otago-settlers-museum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin_Railway_Station

Why we never went to church on vacation

To be fair, growing up we never went to church on vacation. In fact, stake and general conferences were treated as vacation days. I didn't even know there were Saturday night sessions of stake conference until I was on my mission.

So the habits were not really there, but it was also rarely an issue. The most common vacations my sisters and I take are ones where we leave on Monday and get back on Friday night. I did look up meeting information for when we were in Hawaii, but it didn't work out.

In this case, we were going to be gone on five Sundays, and that was a lot of Sunday to miss. Not only would missing that much church not feel right, but I thought it would be really cool to meet members in other places. Maybe they would suggest places we had not thought of going, or take us home to use their internet, or become pen pals. It was worth trying.

I had to eliminate two of the Sundays right off of the bat. On our third Sunday we would be with the tour group on Kangaroo Island, traveling with them. One the first Sunday we could have had some free time, but there was no branch in Port Douglas. The closest unit was in Cairns, over an hour away by car, which we did not have. (We had already booked all of our air and ground transportation while I was looking.) Still, that left us with three Sundays, and I had the addresses of the meeting houses and the meeting times.

Our first chance was in Sydney, on the second Sunday of our trip. I had printed directions, and it was supposed to only be a few blocks away. We got up, got dressed, and started off. We had an address, and a building name. It looks like the local branch did not have their own building, so they used a room in a public building. No problem, except that the building did not seem to be at the spot we expected.

What was there appeared to be a police station, but hey, at least there were lots of officers we could ask. We did, and he was not positive, but he thought it would be two blocks in the direction he pointed out. Now, it was a very warm day, and the part of Sydney we were in was quite hilly, but okay, we at least had to try. We trudged on in our uncomfortable Sunday shoes, and found the street, and there was nothing there either. There was a race of some kind, though, so there were lots of runners, and officers controlling the crowds, and we asked again.

Oddly, these directions did not work either, and we had kind of circled back to where we started from. Maybe that means that we had been close the entire time, and all we needed was to have gone at a slightly different angle, or one street over, but we were thoroughly stumped, and now hot, sweaty, and tired, so we gave up. After all, our other two times would be in New Zealand, where there are a lot more members, and people would be more familiar with the church, so this was a fluke, and regrettable, but the other Sundays would be different. Well, they were different anyway.

The fourth Sunday was in Auckland, and it was just stupidity that we missed it, which was a shame because we had already had one stroke of luck. You see, this was the first Sunday in October, so it was General Conference. I was worried that would throw things off, because maybe they would not be on their regular schedule, watching the broadcasts. Still, with the time difference, maybe they would tape the broadcasts to play the following week. However, we were lucky because their normal meeting time was 9 am, and that would coincide with the Saturday morning session of conference, so we could not lose either way.

Ha! Well, this one was entirely our own fault. Again, with the time change, and also with being out of our normal routine, sleeping in strange places, we had automatically been waking up at 4 or 5 every morning. Since we would not have to be up until 7, we did not bother setting the alarm, which felt like kind of a luxury. Well, maybe it was that we had been traveling enough to adjust, or the beating that we took in the boat at the Bay of Islands, or just the switch from Australian time to New Zealand time. Somehow, we slept until 8:30.

Okay, we felt bad, but on the next Sunday we actually had a ride to church, because our tour guide had arranged it, so this time we were going to make it for sure. There were just two problems. One was that if we had gone in Auckland, we would have seen that they were on the normal schedule that week, and maybe we could have asked how conference generally worked so we would have an idea of what was different. Having missed that, we were uninformed, and since the people who were helping us get to church were not members (it was actually the motel owner who drove us), they could not advise.

The Dunedin Mornington branch meets at 9. We got up, got dressed, and somehow I knew that I must not wear my church shoes. The Sunday hike in Sydney had shown me that. My sisters disagreed with my decision to wear sneakers with my skirt, but I stood firm. This turned out to be handy.

Our landlady drove us up, and since it was basically a straight shot to the motel, we assured her we could walk back. The parking lot was empty, but it was not quite 9 yet. We should have worried more, but she let us out and drove off. We went to the door and noticed a paper with the conference rebroadcast schedule.

I really do not understand why, when one branch meets at 9 and the other meets at 12:30, the first conference session would be aired at 2. Tell me the sense in that. But that's what it said.

Well, there was no way we were going to stand in a parking lot for five hours, so we started down the hill, making the long march back and feeling pretty stupid. I was glad to be wearing sneakers though, I'll tell you that.

As we started our walk, Maria said, "That's it. We are never going to church on vacation again!" I told her that wasn't the answer. I think the real solution is that you always need to call first. Find a number for the branch president and confirm the meeting times. Ask him for directions. Maybe even see if someone can give you a ride. I can assure you that have the building address and meeting time only seems like enough.

Penguin Place

I have a soft spot for penguins, and we got to see many different types on this trip. Well, okay, it was mainly four types. Regardless, this was definitely the best setup. Sometimes I have mixed feelings about animals in captivity, but these were free. In the wild, you often can't see them very well. We had excellent views. Getting too close to wildlife can be bad for the animals and the humans, but this was really low impact.

It is all possible due to an elaborate network of bunkers. Actually, I asked one of the guides if the owner was former military, and he wasn't, but the blinds do have military origins. I think they were bought as surplus. Anyway, the blinds are linked by covered trenches, so you are always underground. I don't think the penguins are necessarily unaware that they are being watched, but they are never touched or approached, and they seem to feel pretty comfortable.

The land was a sheep farm, of course, much like Hobbiton. However, it is also coastal, and Yellow-eyed Penguins would come ashore and breed. If I understood correctly, the sheep are still there, but routed away from that part of the property, and the shelters and tunnels went up. The breeding population has more than doubled since they started.

That is not a huge increase, but considering all of the issues that native birds have had in New Zealand, it is not bad. They are solitary breeders, so each pair wants a certain amount of space. Also, as the newly hatched birds mature, they may not all choose to come back to the same area to breed. Once they pick a breeding spot they will be very consistent, but I think they said that does not happen until the birds are three years old, and they can end up somewhere else. However, if one bird has been coming back regularly, and then stops, that probably means it is dead. The crew there keeps track of the breeding pairs, and hatchlings. (We also learned that the same pairs come together season after season, but "divorces" do happen.)

This is a great place to support. Not only do you see penguins, but they can use the money. Even though they are very much helping with conservation, it is a private endeavor, and so there is no government funding. They just love the penguins, and have a chance to do something about it. They will sometimes get an injured bird shipped to them for rehabilitation, and the government may do some compensation for that, but really, no one is turning a large profit here.

That is one thing, in that although generally it is hands off, if there is a sick or injured bird they will try to help, which is how they have some ability to treat penguins from other areas. It is very much wildlife rehabilitation though, with the goal of re-release. There are no zoo connections because there are none in captivity. Usually the penguins you see in zoos are more social varieties.

Even if they don't wind up in huge mob scenes like the Emperor Penguins, they can co-exist with another species. You may notice that one of the pictures is of a mother duck and duckling. The father and other ducklings were around too, getting some swimming in. One penguin approached the pond, and you could see he wanted to go in, but the father was eyeing him suspiciously, and he hesitated. Eventually he did go in, but not too close, and there were no confrontations. And, what surprised me greatly was that in this situation, the penguin swam like a duck. Usually I see them launching like mini-torpedoes, so it was interesting to see a different mode.

There is also a picture of how the landscape plays out, so you kind of get an idea of what you were walking through, and how far it extends, and yet it still doesn't stick out that much.

The other manmade intervention you will notice is that the birds are in nesting boxes. Some did just set up under bushes, but in general they seemed to be very comfortable using these wooden a-frames for shelter. Anything to make it easier, I guess. They are considered threatened.

http://www.penguinplace.co.nz/
http://www.penguin.net.nz/species/yep/index.html

Larnach Castle

Remember, this was still our first Saturday in Dunedin, and it was a day just jam-packed with activity. I took many pictures at the castle, and being limited to posting five per blog, wanted to give Larnach a fair shake. It still may be worth checking out the main photo site.

If you do, the extras will primarily be pictures of the different plants. The gardens have a large assortment of native plants, and then there is a section of more tropical/desert plants, like aloe vera, and other sorts of plants in between.

There is also a bit of an Alice in Wonderland theme. It is not overpowering, but in addition to the statue of Alice playing croquet, shown above, there is a Cheshire cat, the King of Hearts, and the Duchess, and there is a throne for the Queen of Hearts, which I photographed by itself and with Julie in it. (There are also two photos of Maria in a seat built from a stump, but I could not get her to stop laughing. Maybe I should have quit saying funny things.)

We just kept finding different things. There was a row of arches leading to the castle, but they were not in line with the parking area. Checking the other end, there is a duck pond, and a white statue that you would think is a sleeping duck or swan, but then you read the plaque and it was actually representative of the boat of the soul after death, or some such nonsense. It made so much more sense for it to be a duck. Incidentally, the ducks were busy grazing, and had clipped a narrow border around the pond. Well, why should they get out to eat if they didn't have to?

We wandered around a bit more, and found this small tent-like structure. We thought maybe it was for the ducks, and peeking inside we saw little white feathers, which seemed to back that up. However, turning another corner we found these fluffy white hens, and the tent was their home.

Our admission to the grounds was included with the tour. We could have paid extra to go inside the castle, but ended up not doing so. I did snap a picture of the inside though, and that is up above. I'm sure it would have been fine, but we had places to go and things to do, and I've seen old furniture before.

http://www.larnachcastle.co.nz/index.pasp
http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/788

The Otago Peninsula

We really found that people in the hospitality industry will go out of their way for you. They kind of have to, but it can still be handy. So, when I wrote to Back to Nature tours asking about one specific day trip, Chris wrote back asking if there was anything else he could do for us at all. I had concerns about hitting all the different points on the south island, so I asked for some advice there, and he offered to book all transportation, accommodation, and tours. That is how we ended up with a personal guide.

The tour I was initially asking about was pretty much the Discover the Peninsula tour. It looks like they have made a few changes to the package, but the main points are the same, and that basically ended up being one day for us, our first in Dunedin. I'm going to write separate posts for Larnach Castle and Penguin Place, but this is everything else that happened that day.

We has spent the night in Te Anau, so we started the day with a three hour road trip. We needed to get it out of the way some time. We arrived in Dunedin right about lunch time. Chris dropped us off at a Chinese restaurant while he went to go make some arrangements for us. I wish I could tell you the name of the place, but seriously, the only English word I saw anywhere was "restaurant". It was an orange building, and reasonably priced, and might have been on the west side of town.

I almost forgot, our Dunedin Cadbury tour happened on this day also. Well, I already wrote about that, and suffice it to say that while New Zealand is wonderful and magical, Cadbury is much better in Tasmania.

Now, Chris was customizing things for us, so I may mention things that we did that are not normally done. A lot of their business is picking up cruise ship customers, where they have fairly strict time lines. Still, Back to Nature Tours is very accommodating, so it might be worth asking.

Right across from the Cadbury factory is the train station and other historic buildings, as well as a museum and Chinese garden. I will write about these more later, because we did some exploring on our own the next day. Chris also took us to the university campus to look around, and to see Baldwin Street, which he told us is the steepest street in the world. Wikipedia says there is some dispute about that, but as you can see, it is quite steep.

We started off for the peninsula proper, with Chris telling us about the local history and ecology. After Larnach Castle, we headed over to Sandfly Bay. This sounds like an unpromising name, especially as our bug bites from Kangaroo Island had barely stopped itching, but the issue is not sand flies. Instead it is that there are frequent high winds, and so the sand flies. This was definitely true.

In two of the photos you can see Lion's Head Rock, which is a local landmark. Some people also think it looks like a baboon's head, but the locals see a lion, and I can see it too, so that's what I'm sticking with.

As we approached the bay, we passed two men and a dog on a tractor. They were sheep farmers. When we came back, they were gone, but there was a sheep outside the gate, and it seemed disturbed to be separated from the rest of the flock. We are helpful people, and have a lot of compassion for animals, so we felt bad for the sheep and wanted to help. We asked Chris if he could open the gate for the sheep.

There was a look on his face which I did not understand. I thought perhaps it meant that we were overreacting, and the sheep would be fine without our help, and maybe he thought we were a little crazy. It was not that.

Chris tried to prepare us, that if we wanted to muster the sheep, we would all need to get out of the car, and close off different angles. It all seemed rather complicated, when I thought that all he had to do was go and open the gate. Still, this is what he said needed to be done, so we got out, and he moved a little forward, and the sheep bolted and completely escaped our perimeter.

I know sheep have a reputation for being stupid, and maybe that is true, as this one could not see that we were trying to help. What I will say is that they are skittish and fast, and that is why you need dogs. Three confused Americans? Not so helpful.

(Incidentally, we were told earlier that if you find a stray sheep, you can take it. You need to allow some time for the owner to claim it, but you can eat that sheep. Well, this law is less useful knowing how hard they are to catch.)

As stated, Penguin Place will be its own post, but there were a few other stops. One was the Royal Albatross Colony. This is another case where going a bit later could have been helpful. We were right at the start of the breeding season, so there were only two albatross there. That number would be increasing over the next few weeks. Still, we did see those two. (And sea gulls. Lots and lots of sea gulls.)

We also made a few stops for other bird watching at random places. We were on a peninsula, but rather than jutting out into the open sea, it goes out a little and follows the shoreline, so you have this rather large inlet with some good shelter, and you get all kinds of sea birds and shore birds. I can't even remember all the types we saw.

There was one bit of wildlife I will remember for sure though. At one point Chris got out of the car and found four little crabs so we could have a race. He drew a circle in the sand, divided it into quadrants, and set each crab in the middle. Mine was the first one to make it out.

All in all, it was a very good day. We did a lot of different things and had a great time--so much so that it will require three posts total to do it justice (four if you count the Cadbury one).


http://www.backtonaturetours.co.nz/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Street,_Dunedin