Sporktastic Travel

Mama Ru's in Rarotonga

2010-09-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-01-23T21:56:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-14T20:01:00.001-08:00

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

2009-08-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-28T23:53:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-06T11:23:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-18T23:00:00.000-07:00

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

Milford Sound

2009-06-10T22:35:00.000-07:00

At some point I will sum up the trip, and give general tips, and I may make the point that combining New Zealand and Australia may not be the wisest idea. Sure, they are in the same general area, but they are different enough to have quite different weather patterns. If we had gone later, Australia would have been too hot, at least in parts. However, waiting another month or so might have been good for the New Zealand side of things.

Milford Sound is so beautiful that Rudyard Kipling called it the eighth wonder of the world. Mitre Peak is considered to be exquisitely shaped. The Maori say that the creators of the area had been practicing making all the other mountains and lakes, but this area was the last they created and was perfect.

We never saw Mitre Peak. The clouds never lifted enough for it to become visible. As you can see from these pictures, it was quite cloudy and foggy, and there was intermittent rain. Many things were hidden from view. As it was, we were lucky. Our initial plan was to kayak on the sound, but we started to have doubts about this being the right place to learn how to kayak, so we changed to a boat tour. If we had kayaked, we would have been nearly drowned by the rain, plus having a good chance of drowning ourselves anyway, so that worked out.

The reason we wanted to kayak is because tourism sites will frequently show pictures of dolphins swimming among kayakers (actually, there may only be one picture that gets shared), and you think, oh my gosh, what an amazing experience. It would be, but it also has kind of caused this myth to develop that the Sound is full of dolphins and you will definitely see them if you go. That is not true. Chris (who has kayaked with dolphins), says he sees them about every fourth trip. That is not bad odds at all, but you need to have expectations set appropriately. The only wildlife we saw on the cruise itself was a single seal.

That should in no way be seen as a criticism of the trip. It was not what we expected, but it was still beautiful. Often the fog made it eerily beautiful.

We got on the bus in Te Anau, but there were only five of us there (us three and a couple on their honeymoon). Everyone else had started in Queensland, and then returned there, which must have added four hours to their trip. I'm glad we did it that way. The downside is there was not much choice of seats left. I did not end up near my sisters, though we saw each other on stops.

There are several points of interest along the way. I think there normal plan is to do all the stops on the way when everyone is fresh, and then go straight back on the return trip. Some of the scenic viewpoints were so fogged in on the way, that we made a few extra stops on the way back. Again, I kind of liked it. That picture of the kea on the branch up above is one of my favorites. It's like something out of another world.

We saw many kea. We learned a bit more about the birds. One thing to know is that they are inveterate thieves. They will steal food of course (which is not healthy for them, but they'll still do it), but they will also go for shiny objects. So, you can shake your keys to attract them, but do not let them grab your keys, or you have just stranded yourself.

Some of the stops include Knob Flats, where you have glacier deposits, and the cataract, where the running water has carved twisted, fantastic patterns.

There are mountains between Te Anau and Milford Sound. There is dense vegetation below, but the timberline is fairly low, so you have trees, and then an abrupt stop to where it is almost all bare rock. I am probably not describing this well, but there are two related things that I want to describe. One is that at the upper levels there is nothing to absorb rain, so during rain waterfalls show up everywhere. That is unless it is windy, in which case the wind blows the water streams into the air, so you just have a valley full of misty bridal veils.

The other point of this is that apparently even the lower vegetation is not rooted very deep, so when a slide is triggered, it really clears everything away. We passed a recent slide, and one that had been there for a while, and I took pictures, but they just did not do it justice. There's a link to the main photo site if you want to take a look, but it just does not capture the scope.

You don't go completely over the mountains, as you pass through the Homer tunnel. This was another case of not being able to take an adequate picture. I wanted to convey how small it looks. And really, I guess it is not that small, because our driver told us that the bus could pass a car, though it is a bit touchy, and certainly two cars can pass each other. If two buses enter from opposite ends, someone will need to back up. (Once you emerge, you start going down steeply winding roads, and we actually did pass an accident, though we managed to get down safely).

I have mentioned before how having a guide with a personal connection can make a difference, and also how we had a certain amount of luck with our timing, like with the takahe and the echidna. We kind of hit the motherload here.

Our driver was Sam, and since he was a broadly built redhead, he can introduce himself as Samwise Gamgee and it seems reasonable, though he would be a bit tall for a Hobbit. He was holding a baby during the layover in Te Anau, and he said it was his baby, but then she was being held by a woman in the middle of the bus, so I thought it had been a joke. Then she was being passed around among a few other passengers, and she did get brought up to the front, and I thought, okay, she is his, and the passengers are all helping, which is nice. Will I get a turn?

In reality, yes, she was his baby, but also riding along was Sam's wife (the child's mother), and both sets of grandparents. That's kind of a sweet thing to have happen anyway, but also, the wife's parents had raised their family in the area, and had gone camping in Fiordland many times. Her father told stories about the area, and we got to see pictures of floods and avalanches that had occurred.

Sam's father told us he was one of the few births resulting directly from the Homer tunnel. The tunnel was a public works project started during the depression in 1935 (that was not just the US, much like the current financial hardships are not just us). His father and his uncle worked on the tunnel, his uncle bringing his father along on days off, allowing his father and mother to meet. Anyway, it all just added some extra color, and the baby was cute.

One other possible useful tidbit. Trekking is a very popular activity in New Zealand in general, and specifically in the Fiordland Area. You would think that the Milford track would be the big one, but the heavily recommended one is Kepler. Probably worth checking out.

http://www.kiwidiscovery.com/index.cfm/milford
http://www.fiordland.org.nz/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Tunnel
http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/great-walks/
http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/700

Te Anau

2009-06-08T19:51:00.001-07:00

Te Anau is the closest town to Milford Sound. It's not even that close (about 75 miles) but staying anywhere closer means camping, or possibly staying on a boat, so Te Anau gets a lot of its traffic from that. I suppose there are hotels, but it mainly vacation homes and rentals.

We had driven in the night before, and were going to catch a bus to Milford Sound for a boat cruise. We did not need to meet the bus until 11 (I think), so Chris wanted to show us the area around the lake.

This gave us a chance to view many native plants and scenery, but there were a few other enrichments. At one end of the trail there was a rehabilitation area for different birds. Most of them were species that we had seen at Rainbow Springs, but this was another view of them. We saw our beloved kea again, but I took so many kea pictures on the way to Milford Sound that I am holding off on that. Instead I have a picture of a kaka. (Most New Zealand bird names are taken from the way their calls sound: ke-a, ka-ka, more-pork. Of course, translating bird calls into human phonetics is open to wide interpretation.)

Probably the most interesting bird we saw was a takahe. This bird is highly endangered. It looks rather similar to the pukeko, but we found a sign that listed the differences between the two birds. Probably the best indication is that if you are seeing it in the wild, and not in a pen labeled takahe, then it is a pukeko. Takahe are just too rare.

Even with one in captivity, we were lucky to see it. Since the focus of this place was rehabilitation and then release, as opposed to display, the bird has plenty of places to hide and often chooses to do so, which is completely allowed. Chris had been there twice before without seeing it.

For some reason, for our visit the bird was running up and down the hill. I suspect it was some kind of pre-nesting behavior. I did not get great pictures due to the constant movement, but I do have one up here, as well as a picture of the giant takahe statue in the middle of town.

Looking at the photos, you can see the gorgeous scenery, and also how marshy and wet everything is. I liked the way that the water came right up to the trail, but it was not merely that. In addition, the grass was quite wet, and the area was fairly hilly.

Maria was still sporting a wound on the back of her heel, making anything other than flip-flops too painful to wear. Things were not quite as steep as Hobbiton, but evidently it was more treacherous, or the fact of it being milder lulled her into a false sense of security. She did a really spectacular slip, getting mud all over and around her pants.

Chris was amazed at how ladylike she was over it, not swearing at all. He has no idea exactly how miraculous that was, but it was the calming spell of the South Island (and the Scottish tour guide).

Not to worry. Chris ran ahead to get the vehicle back, and we rushed back to give her a chance to change before boarding the bus. He did not ask for it, but I took one of my handy emergency ponchos as we wrapped her in it, protecting the car interior.

I said there were two enrichments. At the far end of the trail (at least as far as we went, but you can keep going quite a ways) there are the bird pens. At the near end there is something like a discovery center. They have displays of plants and minerals, and information on the history and ecology of the area, including native lore.

We were able to pick up quite a bit of information here, and it also started one of the strangest odysseys of our trip. They have this series of educational children's books featuring native creatures learning things or resolving issues. Maria noticed one in particular, 5 Kiwi in a Kombi (this appears to be what Kiwis call a VW bus), that she felt was perfect to take back to her kindergarten class.

Maria asked me to buy it for her, but I had left my wallet in the car, and did not want to go get it. I said it was clearly a common book, as part of this series, so we would just buy it somewhere else. Well, let me tell you, we looked in every bookstore we encountered across New Zealand, including three in Queenstown and five in the Auckland airport. We saw many books in the series, but not that one. Eventually Chris needed to order it for her and forward it to the States when it arrived. Crazy.

http://www.fiordland.org.nz/Explore-Fiordland/Places-to-visit/Te-Anau.asp
http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/700

The turning point

2009-06-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite sites has been Television Without Pity, and one of my favorite recappers was Miss Alli (there have been a lot of changes now). Anyway, she would do the recaps of The Amazing Race, and she coined a term: Killer Fatigue Syndrome. She would use it to explain how people who had been good racers and good human beings would just start falling apart at some point. We may have been feeling this a little bit.

There had been many good moments on the trip, but there had also been disappointments, and frustrations, and things that went wrong. Certainly, there was some accumulated tiredness. After all, we had planned a very ambitious trip, being gone for a month and having activities or travel on every day, but when you are flying halfway around the world, you want to make the most of it.

Even though we had loved Tasmania, the stolen wallet made for some problems, and then after leaving there we had our issues with Southern Australia, and Julie and Maria were already talking about changing the flights and going home early. We made it out of Melbourne, and we had some good times on the North Island, but there was also getting soaked and stung in the Bay of Islands, being left behind by shuttles and getting catcalls in Auckland, and getting soaked again (differently) in Rotorua. Things were just starting to build up, and they were really skeptical about whether the South Island would be worth it.

That day did not start out auspiciously. There was a surprise airport fee, then a new change in the flight itinerary where we had to go through Christchurch before reaching Queenstown, and due to a grouchy old lady who seemed to have an issue with her seat on the already crowded plane, we arrived in Queenstown quite late.

Still, this was going to be the stop where we were met by a personal guide holding a sign with our name, and then we had rides and lodging all set. We got of the plane, and there was no sign saying Harris. We went to baggage claim--still nothing. The airport emptied out, and there was no one there.

I had been mostly responsible for creating the entire trip itinerary, so any time my sisters were not having a good time I felt guilty, and possibly hurt. Now they were really irritated, sure we were stood up, and would we really feel safe leaving the airport with some stranger anyway? It was not looking good.

It started to get worse as I realized that the paper I had saved only had email and web information, but no phone number. I had not really been thinking about phoning, because we didn't have cell phone access, and after all, he was going to be there, but there are times when it can be important.

I asked at the desk of another tourism company, and they had never heard of Back to Nature Tours. We asked for a phone book, and they didn't have one, but we found one somewhere else. There was no number. (I think the issue here is that we were in Queenstown and Back to Nature is based in Dunedin.)

Fortunately, they felt bad for us, and the started up the computer so we could get the phone number off of the web site. Armed with a small amount of change, I went to the pay phone, and I got a hold of someone. Chris was in town, but because the flight was late he had gone somewhere, and she wasn't sure, but she gave me his cell phone number. I called that, and it was busy, but I was sure the office was calling him, and if I just waited and tried again, he would answer. I paused, dialed again, and before it could connect a man walked around the corner and asked if I was Gina. Saved! Chris had been told that the flight was canceled, so was really unsure what to do, but he had been in the airport.

Even though I considered this to be a good development, I was worried about my sisters. They were in a foul mood, had just been talking about not trusting the guy anyway, and really wanted to go home. As we loaded into his rental, I was very concerned about how things might go. I was missing one completely important factor though. Chris was a delightful male with a Scottish accent.

Chris has lived in Louisiana, Scotland, and New Zealand, but listening to him it is the Scottish element that you notice, and indeed, all of his family is there. Our captain at the Great Barrier Reef, Gordo, was also Scottish, but at the time we were just thinking about how wonderful guys who flirt can be, and not giving enough credit to the Scottishness, which is extra wonderful.

My sisters were completely won over. Not only was there the accent, but Chris was smart, with a sly sense of humor, had a great knowledge of the area, and could converse well. He was a nice guy too, and I don't think that was just because he was paid to be so.

Therefore, even though we encountered more rain, cold showers, long restaurant waits, getting lost, and falling in mud (all or most of which shall be recounted), they never complained to him, or even very much to me, and it was a wonderful last leg of our trip.

I must give some credit to the South Island itself. It is such a beautiful place, and even the air you breathe is wonderful. I guess it is just very pristine. Everywhere we looked was so beautiful. There were mountains everywhere, and water. We drove from the airport to Te Anau that night, and halfway there we had Lake Wakitipu on one side, which seemed to go on forever, and then just as it ended Lake Te Anau popped up on the other side. Plus there were lambs everywhere, running around wagging their tails. So, really, we should have been able to enjoy it with or without Chris.

That being said, it does not hurt to have an intelligent, humorous guide along, and that goes double if he's Scottish.

Tamaki Maori Village

2009-05-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

The first thing that I need to do is apologize for the photo quality. Everything was coming out blurry that night. The temperature was a bit cooler, and certainly people kept moving, but I'm not sure that's a good explanation. I might just be better with nature photography.

Obviously if we were going to New Zealand, we had to go to a Maori feast. There are several options everywhere you go. In Rotorua, there are at least three. We had booked with Tamaki Maori Village in advance, if for no other reason than that I found information on them first, and they fit into our itinerary. The mean bus driver said Mitai was the one to go to, but he was mean, so what does he know. I don't really know anything about Mitai or Te Puia, so I'm just going to tell you how our experience went.

We had a pickup at our hotel and were taken to a central location where we were divided into tribes and loaded onto buses. To get you into the experience, you become a tribe journeying to the village. On the bus we picked a chief and we talked about rowing. (Talking does not sound as interactive as it was, but we were not actually rowing, so that's what I'm going to have to call it.) Also, protocol was explained for the process of being challenged and entering the village.

There were five buses, therefore five chiefs, so they stood out front while the rest of us stood behind and around them. Warriors came and issued the challenge, then, satisfied that we came in peace, we were allowed to enter the village.

This is probably a good time to explain the background. Tamaki Maori Village was started by the Tamaki brothers. Their goal was to get people out of the cities into a real village setting, which is why we had the bus ride (you can get the feast and show at hotel theaters). They couldn't find investors, so they sold their motorcycles (which they loved) to get up some funds, and built it up. My understanding is that it has been successful enough that the motorcycles have been replaced.

So when you get to the village, there are traditional structures set up, and demonstrations of weaving and food preparation and warrior training. There is time to look around and ask questions, and get photos with the cast members. This is the only real time to do that, as they disappear after the show.

The show was okay. I think it was more exciting at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii, but maybe this is more accurate. The PCC does have a bigger cast and a bigger space, but then they are throwing in other dances too, and this was all Maori, and only Maori.

After the show we went in to dinner. It was a buffet, and it would be reasonable to wonder what all was served, but I'm not sure I remember everything. I think there was lamb, chicken, and fish for meat. There were definitely carrots and sweet potatoes (which they call kumara). I think there were regular potatoes too, and different kinds of breads. It was good. The wait staff were fun, and there was a lot of good-natured joking and teasing (like making a special point of finding the Australians and British to show them where the bar was).

We had fairly good interactions with people. On the bus to Waitomo, we were with some Americans who were just know-it-alls, and complainers. One woman had been held up in customs because she forgot she had an apple in her pack, and it cost her 200 NZD. The man in the other couple spent a lot of time talking about whom he would complain to, and how he was going to complain everywhere to punish Qantas for a reservation issue he had, even though based on what he said it was at least partially his ignorance that caused it.

We did have some Americans at our table, but they were fine. Overall it was a very international group. In addition to the British and Australians (who did not seem to be drunkards), there were people from Fiji, and Taiwan, I think--lots of places that I don't remember. Everyone was pretty friendly.

It also gave us a chance to realize how lucky we were. We found people who had completely missed the cave tour because the rain kept coming, and people who had to spend an extra night in Queenstown because of snow, and who never got to see a kiwi despite spending a lot of money to do so. Yes, we had our issues in southern Australia and other places, but really we were doing okay. We had been able to see a lot and there was more on the way.

Also, we got a huge ovation on the way back. They have already done all the educating on the way out, so on the way back they have people give introductions, and sing. They skipped a few to get to us, because we were the only Americans on the bus and they thought we would be interesting (it was the chief's idea). I gave our names and origins, and said, "Just because people usually want to know, let me say that we are all voting for Obama" and they erupted into applause.

When that died down I had no idea what to sing, but the driver interjected and started us on "She'll be coming round the mountain." It was time to sing this because we were at the turnaround, and tour drivers often like to have a few extra spins. We went around at least four times.

Now, you may remember that we met a girl on the way to Rainbow Springs, and she did not have as full an itinerary, but I think based on our influence she decided to go to Tamaki, and we ran into her there. Also, she went to the museum (which we did not get to, but she recommended) and met a guy, and he mysteriously decided to go to Tamaki as well. Really they were both very nice, but it seemed strangely typical to see someone else picking up guys when we were not (no offense if you read this, Michelle).

And that will be a somewhat relevant point in the next update, which will be a bit of a transitional piece.

http://www.maoriculture.co.nz/
http://www.mitai.co.nz/
http://www.nzmaori.co.nz/
http://www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz/

Rainbow Springs Nature Park

2009-05-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

Obviously, it was important that we see a kiwi while we were in New Zealand. My first thought was the Kiwi House in Otorohanga, but it didn't seem to work out logistically. While researching Rotorua, I learned about the Kiwi Encounter at Rainbow Springs, and that seemed like the way to go.

We really made the right choice. Talking to some people on the way to the hangi later, they had paid something like $40.00 at the Auckland Zoo, and the kiwi never came into view. We saw several.

You may notice that I have no pictures of kiwi. In the encounter itself, you cannot take pictures. There are two other areas in the park where you can see kiwi, a night exhibit and a day exhibit. The only one where you can take pictures is the day exhibit, and there were no birds there when we looked. So admittedly for taking pictures of kiwi there are issues with Rainbow Springs too, but for seeing them it still works well.

We do have pictures of many other birds, because New Zealand is the land of birds, with it's only native mammal being the bat. (Well, that's if you are not counting marine mammals. I don't think the seals were imported.) Anyway, we got to see many native species here. We fell most in love with the kea, a native parrot with an engaging personality. We were able to see them in many places, but this was the first. The bottom picture is a kea, below the weka and a kereru.

The blue splash there is a little out of focus, but it is an albino trout. The lack of pigment shows them to be blue instead of white. Trout are not native to New Zealand, but a fishing enthusiast managed to introduce them, and they are a very popular game fish. Rainbow Springs grows them from hatchlings, and so there were pools with them at all different sizes, and eventually they are released into fishing spots.

The top photo is a tuatara. They can live to be around a hundred years old, but this one was fairly young, I think. They are famous for having a third eye, but that is sort of an exaggeration. It is not a full eye and it gets covered with scales within six months of hatching, but it may still absorb ultra-violet light.

There are different areas focusing on native species (birds and reptiles, as well as plants), the trout, and then there is an almost petting zoo like area focusing on introduced species. You can explore the park without doing the kiwi encounter, and I believe you can do the kiwi encounter, but both are worthwhile.

For the kiwi encounter you should book in advance, because there are a limited number of spaces. This is primarily to not stress the birds too much, but it also helps ensure that everyone can see without being too crowded.

The problem with the various introduced mammal species (stoats, possum, dogs, and cats) is that in addition to habitat destruction, they tend to eat the eggs and the newly-hatched, so Rainbow Springs will find eggs in the wild, take them, incubate them, and then raise the birds until they are big enough to not be easy prey. They then get released into the wild near their original spot. The birds are monitored, so they can tell you that they have hatched children and granchildren of eggs that were hatched there.

It may sound unnatural, but introducing carnivorous and omnivorous land mammals sent them way past natural, and as much as they have tried to root out the introduced species, it has not worked. Actually, if I recall correctly the stoats were introduced to cut down on the introduced rabbits. It is considered a citizen's duty that if you see a possum in the road you will make an effort to run it over (one reason I was glad not to be driving).

Anyway, with the encounter they show you a little bit of the reproductive style, then you move to the incubators and see the eggs, the hatchery where the eggs go when they are ready to hatch, the room where the baby chicks are, then bigger chicks, and there is even a section where they have some adults. They do take in injured adults as well. Most are rehabilitated and released, but there are a few who become permanent residents based on their odds of survival. So you see, we saw many kiwis, even if we do not have the photos to prove it.

From my last post, I had indicated that the previous day was a good tour, but we got soaked. My coat and regular shoes were still drying, so I was wearing no coat and the Tevas, and another wet day would have been kind of bad. Really, we did pretty well. It was mostly clear with occasional sprinkles, and we ended up being okay.

There were some transportational snags. There is a shuttle that goes from Tourism Rotorua to Rainbow Springs, along with other attractions, and we took that. The shuttle is supposed to be hourly, and we asked about getting back and the driver mumbled something about noon. We should have asked for clarification. We were ready to catch it at noon, and that is actually the one hour when it doesn't run. We should have asked at the park, where the people are helpful and have lots of pertinent information. Anyway that was a long wait, so we had lunch there, which I do not recommend. The food is not great and quite expensive. So do go to the park, and do the kiwi encounter, but plan out your return trip so that you get back in town for lunch. Or pack one, I guess.

The other things that was interesting was that we chatted with a girl on the shuttle who was going to the Agrodome. This is sort of a farm expo. It can be interesting, apparently, but is geared more for kids. We found her on the return trip as well, so that is when it is acceptable to change names and consider keeping in touch. Actually, I think we influenced her decisions, so we encountered her for a third time as well. More on that later.

http://www.rainbowsprings.co.nz/
http://www.kiwihouse.org.nz/
http://www.agrodome.co.nz/

Hobbiton

2009-04-27T22:48:00.001-07:00

Our trip to Hobbiton was one of our best tours, but it happened to fall on one of our worst days.

I have mentioned that often you don't really get complete information from a hotel listing. This was very much the case with our lodgings here, the Comfort Inn Gwendoline. First of all, they did have laundry, but it was only one washer and one very weak dryer. Also, the map showed it as being right on the main street of the town, and that was true, but it was a much longer walk from the center of town than we realized.

Still, we plan and leave lots of room for things to go wrong, so we arrived at Tourism Rotorua with time to spare. All of the major tours leave from here. They have an information center, gift shop, cafe with internet access, and ticket booth, as well as bathrooms, so it's really the hub of Rotorua, at least for tourists.

Danny picked us up, and he was wonderful. He was very friendly and considerate, he had an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things related to Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings, and New Zealand, and he got into the spirit of things.

He called us all hobbits, along with anyone else who would be joining us on the tour, and he would just not call anyone crazy, even though based on the stories, we would. Sure, people show up in costume, and you kind of have to expect that, but they had one person there who only spoke Elvish, and had her husband translate everything for her (I guess he spoke both English and Elvish). I would consider that person to be weird, but Danny would not say any such thing, and you could tell he has an affection for everyone who comes.

We had one other person in our van, and then met another person at the farm, so there was a total of five in our group. Danny did not end up being our tour guide for the actual set, but we'll get back to him later.

The film set is well worth seeing. You get a lot of behind the scenes information, and they do a good job of explaining how things were done. In addition, it is the only set you can see. All of the others were dismantled. Even with this set, they cannot make the holes look like hobbit homes, meaning they can't paint them in that manner or plant flowers around them. (Being able to paint the wood white was a compromise.) One of the girls with us had been on almost every Lord of the Rings tour in New Zealand (and the two she missed overlapped with other ones she had taken), and for those, basically they are pointing at a patch of grass or a tree and saying this is where the bed was. So this is definitely more interesting.

It was raining on and off (which will be important later). They provided umbrellas, but you are climbing up some fairly steep paths, and it does get a bit slick at times. It is not terribly hard physically, but I do recommend good shoes.

After the tour, they took us to to, well, I imagine it is a sheep shed, and not the sheep shed. They do shear sheep and feed lambs in here, but it is a small room and the farm has thousands of sheep, so they probably have larger facilities somewhere else on the property.

We got a sheep shearing demonstration, and they are fast and thorough. I think they said that to make any money you need to be able to do a sheep in four minutes. As a professional shearer, you can get very strong arm muscles, but will be lopsided if you do not switch sides regularly. However, you end up with very soft hands because you are constantly absorbing lanolin out of the wool.

We knew we were going to see a shearing, and then bottle feed baby lambs, but it did not go exactly how I imagined. I thought they would hand us each a lamb, and then a bottle. Instead, they distributed the bottles and released the lambs, leading to an itty-bitty stampede. Turns out that you don't need to guide the feeding very much. They know what they are doing. Yes, one did get hung up on the second bottle, trying to wrestle it away from his brother, before we helped him find the third bottle, and I think they all kept drinking long after the bottles were empty (you know, just in case they missed something). Oh, they were adorable.

There is a cafe and gift shop. Danny got us some food, and although normally only coffee and tea are included, this was one of those times when they allowed the substitution. I got a hot chocolate, and I think my sisters got Cokes.

The gift shop is pretty expensive. You can get a beautiful elven cloak made out of beautifully soft merino wool, but it will cost you. I bought a guide book for Misty, and a thing of Lanolin based hand cream.

Danny made a side trip for us to a statue of Gollum that they have in Matamata, and we made our way back to Rotorua. (He also taught us quite a bit about about the hot springs.)

Now, Danny offered to drop us off anywhere we wanted, so we could have had him take us back to the inn, but we wanted to check the internet and get dinner, so we just had him drop us off back at Tourism Rotorua. This may have been a mistake.

As we were checking e-mail, it started to rain. Well, it had been on and off, fine, we'll hang out a little bit longer. So we browsed in the gift shop and looked at the different tours. It was raining harder. Okay, we do need to get dinner, this restaurant we wanted to go to was only two blocks away, so we would get there and eat and then maybe it would clear up.

Not only did it not clear up, we couldn't find what we were looking for. We found a grocery store type place with kind of a strip mall/food court area, so good enough, we'll eat and hope that the rain stops.

Julie and Maria wanted to play it safe, so they tried the place with American style food, and thought it was gross. I had Indian food, and it was pretty good. Playing it safe gets you nowhere. Still, it just kept raining harder.

Although we were trying to conserve money, if I had seen a cab I would have gone for it, but there were just none to be had. So, we walked about two miles back, in the rain.

We got so wet, and later on I noticed that my clothes had kind of a moldy smell, and I wonder if the sulfur in the air was an issue. Anyway, the dryer was quite weak, and we already had most of our clothes spread out all over the room to dry, so we just had to spread out our coats and shoes as best as we could.

Still, it was a lovely tour. Maybe we just should have asked Danny to hit a drive-through on the way back to the Inn. I bet he would have.

http://www.hobbitontours.com/
http://www.rotoruanz.com/

Waitomo and the road to Rotorua

2009-04-13T00:00:00.001-07:00

We were not allowed to take pictures in the glowworm caves, so all of the photos are from the road there.

One thing that I should mention is that New Zealand is really a pretty small country. Our cab driver the first day was saying you could drive the length of the north island in eight hours, spend three on the ferry, and then he wasn't sure about the length of the south island, but others said you could drive it in eleven hours. Obviously if you were to go at this rate, you would not be seeing and enjoying things, but the point is that you can cover a lot of ground in a short time.

The reason I mention this is because there were various places that I had thought about going when I was planning the trip, but decided against because I did not think we had time. Suddenly, as we are on the tour bus I kept seeing signs for all of these places, and they weren't really that far away. It is a good reason to consider renting a car. On the north island, things are really close together, and you can hit more that way. On the south island things are further apart, but all of the scenery is really beautiful.

This particular tour was selected because it went from Auckland (where we knew we would be) to Rotorua (where many attractions are) and stopped at the Waitomo caves. Even with that, it might have been worthwhile to be on our own, because we only saw one cave, and there are three there (Waitomo, Ruakuri, and Aranui). Actually, there are multiple glowworm caves in New Zealand, though I think Waitomo is the best known.

I definitely think seeing one of the caves is in order. There's something eerily beautiful about the glowworms, like a mini-galaxy of stars. The thread of personal connection that we experienced at Waitangi continued, as our guide was the granddaughter of the Maori chief who had owned the land and discovered the caves. It's nice to have that history built in.

For this particular tour, you walk in part of the way, and see some things, and then load into a boat to ride further in. We did not get the full tour, as heavy rains had caused the water to rise about twelve feet. We later met another tourist who had to miss the boat ride completely, as the rain did not stop after we left. We still saw a fair amount.

The tour does not take very long, and our option included lunch. There is usually a cafeteria at Waitomo, but it had burned and the new construction had not been completed yet, so they took us to the Big Apple Cafe. The picture shows the sign only. The Cafe itself is a regular building, with a normal shape, and quite large. It's more like a reception hall than a cafe.

The tour option was a lunch buffet. We had our choice of meat from the grill, and then there was a table with different things you could take. There was not much variety, but the food was really good. Partly it was that there wasn't much of a selection, and partly it was that they were not doing a good job of keeping the different dishes filled, but my steak, pumpkin soup, and fried rice were all good. So, that may not sound like a glowing recommendation, but I would go again.

Other pictures include a view of Auckland taken from Kelly Tarlton's, a tree I shot from the bus because I found it very symmetrical, and two shots from the pitstop we made. The dog building has a kind of a tourist shop/information booth and the sheep is a cafe. If I remember correctly, it is the Slightly Sheepish Coffee House, and the dog is of course the Good Shepherd, for the tourists as well as the sheep.

The drive was not at all bad in terms of distance or rough road. The company was not great. We had a very nice driver from Auckland to Waitomo, who was friendly and gave good information. At Waitomo we switched drivers, and John seemed to kind of hate us. He wasn't outright rude, but there was this thinly-veiled contempt. To be fair, there were some other Americans on the bus, and at least one of them was quite overbearing and obnoxious. I can see that if you get enough of those, you could build up a distaste for it, but then maybe you don't belong in the hospitality industry.

Again, the point of all this is that you should just get a car.

http://www.waitomo.com/

Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Adventure

2009-03-31T23:24:00.000-07:00

I suppose in any place, there are things that locals do, and things that tourists do, and some attractions that work for both. In Auckland, Kelly Tarlton's is worthwhile for tourists, but reasonably priced and convenient enough that it also serves the local community well. I mention this because we went on a weekend, and I have to strongly recommend against that.

The place was packed. It was crawling with parents and children and a large group of Japanese tourists, as well as us. There were things about this that made our trip less pleasant.

For one thing, we were happy to learn that there was a free shuttle to Kelly Tarlton's. It's that van with the shark and two penguins on top. Not that big, huh? We were left behind by it twice, first on the way there and then for our return. The attraction was converted from an old water treatment plant, so is very much on the outskirts of town, and not walkable. When the full van passed us by on the way there, we grabbed a taxi. When it happened again after we exited, we took a bus. Nothing tragic, but both times we spent money that we had not planned on spending. I have to say, the van driver was not helpful. The shuttle is hourly, and they do not make extra trips no matter how many people are waiting. This might not have been a problem on a weekday.

We had purchased advance tickets, and when you go in, you are supposed to skip the line and go into the express lane. Unfortunately, both the express lane and the regular lane are handled by the same people, and the regular line is closer to the actual window, so you stand around waiting, realize you will be there forever, and then cut in while feeling very rude, even though it is pretty much what you have to do. Then they take your picture. Again, none of this would have been as bad on a weekday.

This makes the attraction sound like it's not very good, and that's really not the case. They just need to handle their flow better. Once you are in, there are a lot of things that are pretty cool. First of all, there are very few places in the world that have a giant squid on display. It is dead of course, but it is still kind of impressive. You get an idea of it's size, and they removed a section of one tentacle so you can get a closer look at the suckers and the talons that come from them. I would not want to meet one in the water. Fortunately, the odds of that are low.

They have a moving walkway that takes you through a tunnel under a large tank, with sharks and various fish, as well as several smaller tanks with things like piranha, seahorse, and lobster, as well as an octopus that we could actually see. I don't know if that is because they set up the environment better or we just got lucky, because usually when I am at an aquarium, the octopus is hiding really well. I did have the usual problems with aquarium photography, but there are more photos available (pictures 173 to 205 at http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/560). However, I want to spend more time on two things that were special.

So, in addition to the enclosed shark tank with the tunnel, they also have an open ray tank. There are clear, high sides so you can see them and hear them splashing, and maybe sometimes you could even touch them, but part of the tank had been sectioned off, and was being used for turtles.

An injured loggerhead turtle was being rehabilitated there, and was sharing that part of the tank with a green turtle and hawksbill turtle as well. Two of them were definitely being prepared for re-release into the wild, but for a while you could see them up close, and it covered the time we were there.

I love turtles. I don't know what it is, but they just make me happy. So we could watch these, and the loggerhead was quite lively. I know they can stay under for quite a while, but what he was doing was swimming from one side of the tank to the other and sticking his head up at each end. I think he was interested in the people. You'd think with all of that I could have gotten a good photo of his head sticking up, but he was moving too fast, and it was always blurring. Frustrating.

They were fun to watch, and it was worth going, but it also led to a brush with horror. Obviously, they had to capitalize on the turtles, so they had what they called Turtle-topia going on, with games and contests and a focus on children. Again, I am sure that we would have been better off on a weekday, but on this day, in addition to the coloring contest, there was live entertainment for the kids. There was a man on keyboard and a female singer, and this was probably their big break, getting a step up from birthday parties, but oh, the garish, multi-colored cheesiness. I couldn't get good pictures of them either. They were jumping around too much, and I think my camera was rebelling.

I will say they were enthusiastic. Sure, the song "I Love Turtles" may have been adapted from something else (like Elton John did with Candle in the Wind), but I think the song about how to make a baby turtle (no it wasn't dirty, nor at all accurate) and the one about plastic bags were probably written specifically for Turtle-topia, so good on them.

The other feature is really the one we went for. You see, there were many places with Antarctic Adventures or Discovery points on our trip. A lot of Antarctic expeditions depart from Australia and New Zealand, so it makes sense. However, this was the only one with a penguin habitat.

The exhibit is closed off, and you get into a snowcat type vehicle and go around on a track. The light and temperature patterns are set to mimic the seasons at the South Pole, so the colony of King and Gentoo penguins housed there are on the same breeding cycles as the birds in the wild. (When you are walking through the exhibit of Scott's cabin, there are also portholes where you can look in at the birds, but we did not make the most of this because we were trying to escape the mob. Weekend.)

Honestly, the area was a lot smaller than I pictured, but we did get to see both King and Gentoo penguins without going to Antarctica, so that is that. Since the humans are in the vehicles, all the birds see is the car going around, which does not seem to phase them. I thought they seemed a little crowded, but then they do that in the wild, so maybe they like it that way.

One factor that probably leads to the crowding is that to control the temperature while still connected to the rest of the building, they have to have these passageways in between. To keep the customers from getting bored during these steps, they have added some features. On the way in, they put in a tunnel where the wall rotates around you to similate a whiteout. This is quite similar to the avalanche simulation found on the Universal Studios tram ride. There was another parallel.

As we left the penguins behind, exiting that area, I saw another penguin in the new chamber, and was wondering if there was a separate group. Now, although penguins can stand quite still, the nerd in me was puzzled becasue it looked like an Adelie penguin, but it was too big, and they weren't supposed to have Adelie's anyway. Then I saw the seal, and realized I was looking at models because they would never let a seal anywhere near the penguins. Then we went back to Universal, as an animatronic orca rose out of the water with a seal in its jaws. Frankly, it was a bit more impressive than poor old Bruce (Jaws). Then there was some 2-D CDI footage of killer whales, and that was pretty much the end of the ride. Nonetheless, it was fun.

There is one other thing to know. As you are exiting, you are underground, and one arrow points to cars and one to buses. The way you take is actually which side of the road you come up on, and it is not a great road to cross so this is really kind of important. The shuttle bus is with the cars (if you can get on). Buses really just means the coaches that you're on if you are coming with a tour group. If you are going to catch a public transit bus back in to town, you want to be on the car side as well.

http://www.kellytarltons.co.nz/home/page.aspx

Waitangi Treaty Grounds

2009-03-22T19:04:00.001-07:00

I already wrote about part of this day, spent in the Bay of Islands, from the road. There is a picture of the boat here, and you can read the account of our time on it at http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2008/10/bay-of-islands.html.

The ride was not great, but it was only part of the trip. First we stopped off at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

On the way, they played a video about the history of the area, so I had some background. One downside to being relatively close to a large penal colony is that you are the first logical stop for anyone who escapes or is released. New Zealand started having a problem with lawlessness, and the Maori made a treaty with England to establish law and bring order to the area. The chief donated a flagpole.

One of the tidbits they will tell you is that the original Waitangi treaty is unique in not having sprung from a war. This sounds nice, except much like English-Native American translations, some concepts were understood differently by the two sides, and so conflict arose from it, including the flagpole being chopped down by the Maori multiple times. You can see the current flagpole in the photo with our guide.

I'm afraid she was much more boring than she should have been. When we were looking at the waka (war canoe--that really long boat that I can't fit into a single frame), there was another guide talking to a couple, and he was obviously so much more engaging. Fortunately he offered to jump in and she accepted, and then the history came alive. I suppose the personal connection could have been a factor. His grandfather helped carve the boat, and his father and he had both paddled it (to give you an idea of the size, it can hold 150 people, and requires at least 100 paddling to get it to move). Still, the female guide was a descendent of Abel Tasman, who discovered New Zealand, so she could have felt connected. Maybe he was just more charismatic.

So, your guide can make a big difference; no surprise there.

For the site itself, I have to say I found the house museum boring, although the garden was nice. However, there is a lot of history there, the grounds have a lot of native plants, and you have two great examples of Maori craftmanship. One is the waka, and the other is the marae.

This is the traditional meeting house, and you will find them all over. However, the one at Waitangi was built to bring the different tribes together, so every tribe of the North Island contributed a pair of carvings. The pair face each other, and they are generally husband-wife pairs or father-son pairs.

Apparently there is only one South Island tribe, and they have a different relationship with the North (don't know what that means, it was the girl guide), so instead of a pair of carvings they donated a throne. Still, everyone contributed something.

The Bay itself is okay, but we simply did not fall in love with it the way we did with the South. More on that later.

http://www.waitangi.net.nz/

Maru and Phillip Island

2009-03-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

This was our last day in Australia. Really, our last six days were all supposed to be with Adventure Tours, as we went to Kangaroo Island and back, along the Great Ocean Road, being dropped off in Melbourne Wednesday night, picked up in Melbourne on Thursday for the day trip to Phillip Island, and then leaving Friday. I've already wrote about what happened to the Great Ocean Road part of the tour.

One thing I am doing now as I write these is also sending feedback or thank you messages. I just posted reviews for the two Melbourne hotels, and now I need to contact Adventure Tours with my feedback. This is what I will say. They do offer good tours, and the prices are decent. It is not necessarily obvious from the web site how much roughing it is involved, or how active the tours are. The adventure makes it sound like things might be a little dangerous or exhilarating, but they are not. They are grueling.

The itineraries are exactly right for someone who is backpacking and staying in hostels between hikes. Now, if you are going to one place, and doing some exploring there, you might be able to get yourself around cheaper, but when you have several stops in the same general area, having a company that is taking you on the road and arranging your lodging and meals can be a really good thing. Our Kangaroo Island guide, Peter was great. Our Phillip Island guide, Stephen, was not quite as on top of things, but still got the job done, and was a really nice guy.

So really, I only have two complaints. One is the inadequacy of the web site, which was really pretty common for this trip. The other is that they just never picked us up on time. This was bad enough in Adelaide, where we were being chatted up by drunks at 6 in the morning in front of our hotel, but the concierge did keep checking on us, and we knew we were in the right place.

In Melbourne, we were on a street corner that was nowhere near our hotel, and there was no specification for which corner, and it did not look like a place where you would get picked up. Two of the corners were right by strips of grass leading to an underpass, one was by the side of a building that I think was a museum, but am not sure, and the other was by a mostly vacant building. There was no phone near by, and we did not have cell phones there, so as we waited for an hour (they said noon, but be there 15 minutes early, and he came at 12:45), it was really nerve-wracking. Plus, it was clear later that there would have been other stops that would have been closer to where we actually stayed, so I guess when they assigned that, we can add them to the list of people who have no idea where the Albany is.

Honestly, punctuality does not seem to be the most valued trait Down Under, and I don't mind being a little bit casual and laid back, but when you are afraid of being left behind, it's hard to relax. Fortunately, we did get picked up, so that was a help.

Given the chance to do it over, I am not sure I would take this particular tour of Phillip Island, because there is a lot we did not see. The island is most famous for the Penguin Parade, which I highly recommend. Other primary attractions include the Nobbies (some rocks with seals), Churchill Island Heritage Farm, and there is a Koala Conservation Center of which one feature is that you walk along a boardwalk through the trees, so you can look down or across at the koalas instead of up.

We only saw the Parade and the Nobbies, and honestly, you don't get a very good look at the seals. They're too far away. Instead, before leaving the mainland we stopped at another wild animal park, Maru. Maru was not bad at all, but I'm not sure that getting the three-attraction pass for the Island wouldn't have been better.

Maru is small, but they do have a wide variety of animals, especially birds. I have lots of pictures on our Shutterfly site.

I don't know if they do this with everyone, or only tours, but we all had to pass through the photo opportunity, where they took our pictures with a koala. You could not touch the koala, but they did hand you some leaves to feed it. My sisters avoided posing, but I went for it so I could feed the koala, and just never checked out the picture. I did get to feel it pulling the leaves from my hands, so that was kind of cool.

One thing Stephen pointed out was the new babies board, and he showed us an albino kangaroo, which he said was quite rare. I saw the joey, but then he stuck his little head back in before I could grab a photo, and never stuck it back out. I then saw a larger white one, which I thought might be the father, except he was kind of small. When he started trying to climb into the pouch of another kangaroo, I decided that was not right. In the end, I counted at least five white kangaroos. It may be rare in the wild, but it does seem to be a trait that gets passed on pretty easily.

The kangaroos there did not really respond to the chest scratching like at Bonorong, which was a little disappointing. They still took the food, but did not seem to care about the contact much. The emu were more amusing, because they were behind a fairly large fence. They would keep popping their heads up and pecking at the food we would put on the fence, so there was kind of a whack-a-mole vibe going on. I happened to get a shot of two heads up simultaneously, but it was usually one or the other.

There were many koala, but this one just looks so unkempt and seedy, I kept focusing on him. He was like the koala Gary Busey.

We had lunch here, and then drove to the island. It was the weekend of a big motorcycle race, so there were bikes everywhere, which was kind of cool. We did go by the track and see a few practice runs.

As I said, at the Nobbies we did not get a good look at the seals. We wandered around the visitors center, and it was also a rest stop where they offered us biscuits and tea. This was important, because there were a lot of sea gulls around, and you are not supposed to feed them, but they have never agreed to the rule. Anyway, two of the girls on our bus ran afoul of the gulls. One got near a nest, and saw the egg and was interested, but came under attack. Another went to help, but was carrying a biscuit. They had to make a speedy retreat. Now, with the pelican feeding, you would think it would remind me of Finding Nemo, and "Mine! Mine! Mine!", but visually, it reminded me more of The Birds. Suddenly, this moment was very much like the birds.

As you can see, two pictures are not from Maru. The surfer, well, I just thought he was attractive, but also I liked the image of him striding out of the surf. The penguin was the only penguin I could photograph there.

You see, no photography or videography is allowed at the Penguin Parade. The flashes are bad for their eyes, and if you tried just banning flash photography people would keep messing it up, whether intentionally or not. So, if you see a penguin anywhere else on the island, grab a picture then while it is fair game. This little guy was under a boardwalk at one of our stops.

What kind of a penguin is he? For a long time they have been called fairy penguins, but that name has gotten a little controversial. Little penguins and blue penguins also works, but I am afraid that my indecisiveness causes me to think of them as little blue fairy penguins. Big name for a small bird.

I do recommend seeing the parade. It is the number three attraction in Australia, after the Reef and the Rock (see, we got all the big ones). There are bleachers on the beach, and you go before dusk and the park rangers talk to you a bit, and as it gets darker they start coming ashore.

Being small, and vulnerable to predators, as it is time to come ashore they wait near the edge and then start crossing the sand in groups. It's amazing how dramatic it is. You wait and wait, and then you start seeing little groups coming into sight, and they are adorable. One got separated from its raft, and I was just watching and waiting for it to finally clear the little hill and make it safely back. It did. There was also one with a limp, and apparently the rangers do look out for injured birds, so it was probably fine as well.

Little penguins do not go out to see every day, but they do get more active at night regardless, so as you work your way back along the paths you see and hear penguins everywhere--more than you would have expected from the numbers coming ashore. You still can't take pictures, but even though they say no recording, I imagine a sound recorder would be okay, and might be worthwhile. They make a lot of noise.

We happened to be there while the short-tailed shearwaters (mutton birds) were there. These are migratory birds that come from the Aleutian Islands, and there were just thousands of them. That part of the night was really amazing.

When it was over we made our way back to the bus, and Stephen got us pizza for dinner. It was okay, not great, but hey, he dropped us off a block in front of our hotel, so we did not have to spend an hour traveling at midnight, transferring between two trams. No, he had never heard of the Albany or Millswyn street either, but I still had the map, and fortunately, Millswyn connects to a pretty major road.

The next morning we left for New Zealand.

I should mention, although Melbourne was full of disappointments, there was a lot of really beautiful architecture. I didn't really get any photos, and again, I'm not sure I'd go back, but it's worth pointing out.

http://www.penguins.org.au/
http://www.marukoalapark.com.au/
http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/497
http://www.phillipislandcircuit.com.au/

Things go South

2009-02-27T12:29:00.001-08:00

I once worked with someone from Florida, and we were talking once about whether it was considered to be part of the South or not. She said that northern Florida is very much Southern, but as you go further south, you start hitting retirees from New York, so the north is south, but the south is north.

We did not have good look with southern continental Australia. We did have a good time on various islands that were further south, and technically South Australia is a specific region, whereas when we were further east, we were in Victoria. Sorry if it gets a little confusing.

The point is, Tasmania could be considered far South, but it is an island, and it was beautiful, and we had a great time there. Kangaroo Island is in the region of South Australia, but is still an island, and despite some hardships there were good times. Phillip Island is in the state of Victoria, and is so close to the mainland that you go by bridge instead of needing a ferry, but still, it is an island, and that was a relatively good day. The points in between were full of disappointment.

From Tasmania we flew to Adelaide. Part of the problem may have been that we heard really good things about Adelaide, that it had a really nice feel, and we were told that we would love it. We did not love it.

It was crowded with mall rats and clubbers, and we were accosted by more inebriated people there than anywhere else on the trip. I know it was the weekend, but still. We were able to accomplish some important errands there, like getting on the internet to see that my transfer had gone through to Julie's account, allowing me to have cash again. I was able to buy a wallet and a new memory card, and new batteries for my glaucometer, all of which was very necessary, but we don't go on vacation to shop. Businesses that we thought looked interesting turned out to be closed when we got there. We had the opposite of good feelings.

Now, we did not worry about this too much, because we were only there Friday, and then we were leaving early Saturday morning for Kangaroo Island. (Most of the inebriated people were encountered while we were waiting for pickup, 6 AM Saturday morning, as they were coming away from dancing and cards. Some were outside the mall the previous day, but most of them were here. A pair of them tried hitting on my sisters.) Well, the bus did come, we went to the ferry, and that has already been explored.

When I wrote from the road, I mentioned that our tour group was a mini-United Nations, and that we had bonded quite a bit from our two days together. We all sat in nearby rows on the ferry back. The husband in the Taiwanese couple was in the front, and he looked back over us all and said "A team." (Which was pretty good for him. They did not speak much English. It did not matter for most of the trip, but it is why I can't tell you their names.) We did feel like a team.

It all fell apart when we got on the buses. They started dividing us up by which hotels and hostels we were going to, so that split us in half. Then the bus ended up being really crowded, and struggling for seats we ended up separating more. I should have sat with Victoria, but I was trying to at least be near my sisters, and that didn't work out either. I didn't see her again.

Since I did not end up near my sisters, I did not know that towards the end of the ride, Maria needed to visit the bathroom twice, and was actually getting quite sick. We got dumped at the hostel and checked in there around eleven, and we were supposed to be at the pickup point for the next leg of the journey at 6 AM the next day. Maria was sick as a dog, and the next three days were going to consist of long bus rides and long hikes. It was not looking good.

This is why at midnight, Julie and I were searching airfare and hotel rates, trying to see what alternatives were workable to get us out of Adelaide if we could not manage the scheduled tour. Unfortunately, the hotel we had already booked in Melbourne for the end of the tour did not have availability, and booking anything for the next day is difficult, but we finally arranged a flight to Melbourne and a hotel.

I went to the tour and let them know we wouldn't be coming, which they appreciated, but it was too late to refund, and that's what I had expected. She did say if we had travel insurance they should cover it, but we didn't. Maria woke up feeling a little better, but Julie was not feeling great. Handling a short trip to the airport and a short flight did seem possible though, so we thought it would just be extra time in Melbourne. Not exactly.

Well, it's not really a surprise when the main airport for a city is not in the middle of the city. However, we did not realize exactly how bad the urban sprawl of Melbourne was, and not knowing the geography, we ended up at a hotel that was quite close to the airport, and close to absolutely nothing else. This led to several problems.

The first issue was that the cabbie launched into a huge lecture at us for wasting his time, and that we should have told him where it was sooner, I guess so he could have decided to not take us. The funny thing was that I had specific the name of the hotel and the street (Best Western on Ardlie) when I first gave him the location, but he was not listening at all. The upside of being lectured on taking a short cab ride is that it is a short cab ride, but we were nonetheless a little irritated. I was watching the meter and thinking about how I was not going to tip him. It ended up on $14.00 and he looked at me without blinking an eye and said $16.00, but maybe it was the airport surcharge. I gave him the exact amount. I thought about telling him that if he had not been a jerk he would have gotten a good tip (which would be true, we are excellent tippers), but I just wanted him gone.

So, now we checked in and received our second lecture of the day on how horrible it is to book through Travelocity, because it always messes everything up and (the desk clerk) always needs to end up talking to them on the phone to get it billed right. I have been booking through Travelocity for several years, and that has never been a problem, and I did ask at the desk later, and they did not actually have an issue billing it, so I feel like maybe the real problem was her, but okay.

The next issue is that being in the middle of nowhere, no one would deliver to us. Well, actually none of the places we called even knew where we were. There was a restaurant attached to the hotel, but it was really overpriced. Julie and I tried walking to find something, and we found a grocery store with not much, a restaurant that was closed Mondays, and restaurant that was closed permanently, and a pub with no take-out. We also found a bakery, but none of the fare was practical. Eventually, we were able to get a hold of Dominos. Those people deliver anywhere, though I was really sick of them by then.

Things were starting to where us down, and I started getting persistent queries about changing the tickets and going home early. I was resisting, but I understood where it was coming from.

There was one thing that the hotel really had going for it, and that was a shuttle to the mall. We decided we would spend the next day at the mall. The day after that we could head to our real hotel, and things would be better then for sure.

Actually, the mall was the best thing that happened to us on the southern mainland (well, Maru wasn't bad, but that kind of goes with Phillip Island.) We wandered around different stores. We had a food court where we could have some variety of inexpensive food. We had material for reading and writing so we could use our time somewhat productively, and when the time still seemed to drag a bit, we went to see a movie. "The House Bunny" was better than I expected. You kind of have to take it as a fairy tale where Hef is not a disgusting old man, but they do set it up that way with the opening narration. Anyway, that worked out, and we had an okay day without having to hike anywhere.

We were not sure what would be the best way to get to our other hotel, so I discussed it at length with a different desk clerk, a nice one. We had initially been looking at the train, but we were worried about proximity to the actual hotel from the station, and she had never heard of the Albany, where we were going, or the street where it was on. She looked up the address and photocopied the map, which ended up being very helpful, because no one had ever heard of the Albany.

Worried about that, we decided to go back to the airport instead, and take the hotel shuttle. They had never heard of it, so would not let us have door-to-door service, just a drop off in their main neighborhood. Okay, we would take another cab. That driver had also never heard of the Albany or Millswyn Street, but with the map and his GPS we made it, and he had no complaints about the trip being short. We did not end up being at all near the train station, so we probably made the right call, though we felt like we were just throwing money away.

I'm afraid the Albany was kind of a dive. They had a rock and roll theme going on, with classic 70's photography of musicians, including the stones from a time when Keith Richards did not look old and dessicated (I was not born yet), so maybe it was appropriate to be a dive. The bathroom was nasty, the room was narrow, and the elevator could not be trusted. The staff was nice though, and I heard one guest arranging a return trip, so maybe it was just us.

Anyway, we still had an extra day (we should have been on the last leg of the Great Ocean Road tour), so we had been told that the Victoria Market was the place for souvenirs. We had held off on buying things because of the luggage limit for the Great Ocean Road tour, which of course we had missed anyway, so, okay, we would make up for it here. The next day was another all-day tour, and then we took off for New Zealand the following day, so this was pretty much our last chance.

We asked for directions, and followed them, in the process learning how to get tram and bus tickets and ride them. I should mention that in many cases this has you standing in the middle of the road on a very narrow strip, and that Melbourne seemed to be the place where we were most likely to die. We didn't though. We managed to find our way there, constantly referring to the map, and as we arrived we learned in was closed Wednesdays. I guess we did feel that it would have been nice for the staff to mention this while they were giving directions. We ended up just going into a regular souvenir shop one block away from the train station, where we probably overpaid.

The other indignity of Melbourne was that we selected the Albany because when we were booking it listed laundry among the amenities, and I had calculated that we would need to do laundry here. We could have done it at the Best Western, but that would have thrown off the number of days before the next chance, plus it was three dollars a load, so we waited. The Albany used to have laundry, but they closed down the room. So we ended up toting a very heavy bag many streets away to a laundromat where it was four dollars a load. Curses.

We did find a nice restaurant there. While the loads were going we were looking for dinner, and most of the restaurants were really pricey, but we found one, Piazza Navona, that was affordable, and the pizza ended up being really good. So, if you are ever in South Yarra, Melbourne, consider it. It is near the corner of Toorak and Punt.

As you can see, the pictures we have of this stage of the trip are very boring. There is a newspaper office that you can see from the Best Western (notice the rolled up newspaper sculpture standing next to it), a plastic Oregon Christmas tree (of which I do not see the point) in their equivalent of Wal-mart, the plane shot (which I could have taken anywhere), and the pig statues from Adelaide.

We were gone for a month, so it's reasonable to expect that there would be some snags, but it was getting irritating.

The Pelican Feeding at Kangaroo Island

2009-02-10T12:57:00.000-08:00

Whatever we did on our second day on Pelican Island, it all needed to result in our arriving at Kingscote Wharf before 5. The reason for this is that the pelicans are fed precisely at that time, and you want to get there a bit in advance so you can get good seats.

My mention of seats should not imply bleachers. There are rocks that you can sit on, and the birds make free use of these rocks as well. You will notice some white splatters. You can sit on the rocks or stand in the area right behind them, but if you are not squeamish, go for the rocks. I actually got brushed with wings.

I am sure there are people who will be against the practice, but the pelican man, John, takes a cooler full of fish and tosses it to the birds at 5 every day, rain or shine, tourist season or no. This means that the birds are there every day at five. So, yes, he is feeding wildlife, but the amount that they get is not large enough that they are losing the ability to hunt and fish on their own. I found the experience amazing, and I think the pelicans are coming out okay. If you go to Kangaroo Island, I definitely recommend attending a feeding.

I know we have pelicans in the U.S., including in Texas, but I have only ever seen them wild when out of the country: brown pelicans in Mexico, then Australian pelicans here. Notice the yellow patches around the eye.

John was a wonderful showman. He taught us lots about pelicans with a very droll delivery style, as well as demonstrating different behaviors based on where he threw the fish. So, we got to see a landing disrupted, and sea gulls being chased by pelicans, as well as random squabbling.

Check out the throat in the bottom picture. This bird got a large clump of fish headed down the wrong way, and couldn't swallow. He kept sending it back up to his pouch and trying again. What he really needed to do was actually send it outside and start over, but there was no way he was going to do it there, surrounded by competition. Even opening his bill a little would be an invitation to another bird to try seizing it forcefully. Eventually he had to leave the area. Gross perhaps, but pelicans are not big on table manners.

Obviously, one had to think about Finding Nemo there, only instead of many gulls and one pelican, the gulls were outnumbered and outclassed. Also, no cute little clownfish in the cooler, which was just as well.

I know I haven't conveyed how fun it was, but trust me, it was. The birds are cool, and John really sold the experience. He does ask for a contribution of $3.00 AUD per person, but I think it's well worth it. (It is voluntary, but you'd have to be a bit of a grinch not to do it.)

As always, more pictures at http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/. The Kangaroo Island pictures are in the Southern Australia section.

Seals and Sea Lions

2009-01-29T11:23:00.001-08:00

I saw both Australian Sea Lions and New Zealand Fur Seals both in Tasmania and on Kangaroo Island. In Tasmania they were viewed from the boat on the cruise around Eaglehawk Neck, so we were on the water, they were on shore, and I had not yet learned to use my zoom feature. On Kangaroo Island, we saw seals at Cape du Couedic, where we were up above and they were down below, so I couldn't really get any good shots. This is the same reason I don't have any pictures of the dolphins. (If I had gone further on the Admiral's Arch trail, I probably could have gotten some good shots.)

So, every single picture I have up there is from Seal Bay, where not only were we right up close to the critters, but I also randomly figured out how the zoom worked. (I did a lot of experimenting with the camera. I know I should read the manual, but somehow it does not happen.)

Since this is Seal Bay, you might expect that the animals there would be seals, but they are sea lions. Does the distinction matter? Eh, probably not that much. They are all pinnipeds, and the term sea lion covers seven species in six genera, whereas if it was one species, or even one genus, okay, that would be totally clear. Basically, if it has ears and long front flippers and can walk on four flippers on land, we will call it a sea lion. I would have thought that gives them an advantage on land over non-sea lion seals, but those guys can kind of book it on land too, at least more than I was expecting. This is actually important, because you might look at a seal and think it can only wriggle over land, and feel safe taunting it, but they will surprise you. And they've got some teeth on them.

This is not to say that I thought they looked fierce--they looked adorable, and I was snapping picture after picture because I could not stop thinking how adorable they were everywhere I looked.

Sea lions (at least the nursing mothers, but I think all), will go out in the water for three days eating all the fish they can, and then come back and collapse for a long nap. In the picture of the one pup nursing, you can see that the mother is conked out, and this was pretty typical. Our guide said that usually everyone is conked out, but we had a lot of active pups playing around with each other. They were chasing and splashing in the surf, and so fun to watch. With the one group of sleepers, you can see the changing pelt colors as they mature.

We started off at the interpretive center, and this is where Maria saw the echidna puggle and started fretting that they were going to kill it. I told her that if it needed a mercy killing, it probably would have happened already, and they wouldn't have shown it to everyone, but she was really uptight. Peter assured her it was safe, and they had a wildlife expert there who rehabilitated injured and orphaned animals all the time, but it's funny how neurotic she can be.

I did not see the puggle, because I had gotten caught up in this display on ocean pollution, and did not even know they had brought the baby out. So, while Maria was finding something new to worry about, I was getting sick over pictures of dead animals, choked on plastic or strangled by fishing line. (I picked up every little piece of plastic I saw at Vivonne Bay.) It was a cheery little place.

As we started off to the beach, we started hearing really loud calls. At first I thought it was gulls, but it was the sea lions. Their calls were higher than I would have expected, but it was the young pups playing. If it were adult males fighting or looking for mates, it probably would have sounded different. I tried to record a sound clip, but it didn't take (one more reason I should read the manual).

We were instructed to stay in a group and with our guide. This is meant to protect the sea lions from humans being idiots, but also to keep any one person from becoming an easy target for a sea lion. As our shoes were filling up with sand, Maria went back onto the platform for the walkway back to the center. She was not far from us, but suddenly one young sea lion came charging from the shore. They do sometimes go pretty far inland, and people have found them in the restrooms.

This one ended up coming down the area between us, cutting her off from us (and closer to her than to us). She began to be a little nervous. Peter just suggested that she not move. The sea lion stayed there for a while, but eventually did move back to the water, and no attacks happened. I did wish I'd brought my video camera, but you know, I'll get other chances because I'm sure she hasn't learned a thing.

(To be fair, after Maria's heel got cut up on the first day, she never got to the point where she could where anything but flip flops while we were gone, so she never had really good foot support for the entire trip. So, let's say that's the reason she did not stay completely with the group.)

Anyway, Seal Bay was a definite highlight of the trip. Even allowing a respectful distance, you are so close, and at least for us they were very entertaining. Going when you have adolescents is probably a good idea. We were there in late September.

One other thing I should mention. The guide book said that Kangaroo Island has a lot of sharks, and Peter kept saying we didn't need to worry about them, which, really, we were on land most of the time, so of course. However, we did press a bit, and what he told us is that yes, there are some around, and it is going to be mainly where there is food. So, even if it were allowed, Seal Bay would be a terrible place for swimming or surfing. It's just a really great place for watching sea lions.

Kangaroo Island, Day 2

2009-01-14T21:53:00.001-08:00

We woke up early the next morning. The shower wasn't great, but if any woodland creatures had made their way in, they made it back out by the time we got there, so that's all I can ask. Honestly, my sisters and I may have been the only ones who showered. We were definitely the only ones who changed clothes.

After a quick breakfast we headed on over to the Remarkable Rocks. "Remarkable: is a word that we came across a lot on the trip. We had already been to Remarkable Cave, here were the rocks, and there would be a whole mountain range in New Zealand called the Remarkables. In each case, it means something different.

Remarkable Cave is remarkable because it shows you the shape of Tasmania. The Remarkables are remarkably beautiful. The Remarkable Rocks? Well, it's just kind of amazing how those twisted shapes could come about from the granite. You can climb around quite a bit, but there are areas that you should not go past as it becomes very dangerous, and Peter told us of at least one death. The orange you see is from lichen, not from iron like the sand and rocks at Uluru.

We next headed over to Cape Du Couedic, which has several attractions. There is an old lighthouse, and the remains of the lighthouse keepers' cabins and storerooms. There is also the Admirals Arch.

As you look out at one point, you will see two islands off shore. These are the Casuarina Islands. If you go down this walkway and stairs to see the Admiral's Arch, you see that this spot of land is only tenuously attached to the rest of Kangaroo Island. Someday it will collapse, and there will be three Casuarinas. It is fairly stable now, but I wouldn't want to be down there during an earthquake.

From the Cape you can get a good view of a colony of New Zealand fur seals, but what was most exciting for us was that while we were at the storehouses, we could see a pod of dolphins in the water down below. We were so far up that they kind of just looked like black crescent moons, but it was still kind of a thrill.

We had lunch over at Flinders Chase National Park, and an enormous crow was watching us, trying to find a way to subtly check out our meal. Their information center is pretty good, and you can see a lot of pelts and things. I was mainly interested in that because Peter had told us they had an echidna skin, and I was curious about the spines. They are kind of like sharp, brittle bones. They are hollow, and the tips were off, so it was not as sharp as what you would find on one in the wild, but yes, it is formidable. Probably not as painful as a porcupine, but much more than a hedgehog.

The last hike was Snake Lagoon. I went about halfway, and did not find it particularly pretty, but I at least needed to try it.

It might have been more beautiful a few years ago. The stumpy plants you see with the grassy tops are Xanthorrhoea, or yakka. On December 6th, of 2007 there was a series of lightning strikes. I can't remember if it was fifteen strikes that started seven fires, or there were fifteen fires, but acres and acres were burned. Yakka grow slowly, perhaps an inch a year on their own, but in times of stress they will shoot up these spikes, as shown, and then they can pollinate and send out seeds, and try and create some new life in case the old ones die off. After the fires, there were spikes everywhere.

We also stopped off at Hansen Bay to take a look at that beach, which was quite nice. It was important that we make the pelican feeding at 5, but that will be its own entry also. Then it was back to the ferry, where we could eat dinner and look for penguins while we waited for the boat. There did seem to be one little penguin around, but I couldn't get a good look.

I'll post separate entries about Seal Bay and the pelican feeding before we get into our trip back, and Melbourne and Adelaide and everything that happened there.

Kangaroo Island, Day 1

2009-01-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

We saw and did so much on Kangaroo Island that I can't do it justice in one posting, and even so, there are lots more photos than you will see here, so don't forget to head over to http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/.

From Hobart we flew to Adelaide, but I will treat Adelaide with Melbourne and it will make more sense. Adventure Tours picked us up in Adelaide by bus. We took about a two-hour ride to the ferry, and then the ferry crossing was forty-five minutes.

Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It was discovered in 1802 by Matthew Flinders, and named for the large mob of kangaroos that came to greet the ship. I don't know how large the mob was, but there had to be at least thirty-seven, because that's how many they killed for food.

It's really pretty unspoiled. The island is settled, but even the main town is fairly small, so you see wildlife everywhere.

One thing that was interesting about Tasmania is that it was the first place where we ran into other Americans. When I posted about Kangaroo Island from the road I mentioned that our tour group was like a mini-United Nations, but that seemed to be the case with many of the other tour groups too. There was lots of international flavor.

Our first stop was Prospect Hill. You can see two photos from my highest point, showing how far up I had made it (that's our bus below), and how much father there was to go. Remember, the thing about Adventure Tours is that there is a hike every couple of hours. They go to neat places, but it's kind of brutal for the less fit. (No wonder there were no other Americans!)

Our next stop was a eucalyptus oil distillery. They also did tea tree oil and emu oil, and they talked about the properties of all three, but the presentation on the manufacturing focused on the eucalyptus oil. They did have a father emu and two chicks nearby, and there was a lot of eucalyptus around.

The distillery is owned by a married couple and the wife is also a certified wildlife carer. she had a young joey sleeping in a sort of sling hammock, as pictured. Eventually he woke up, and later on he started hopping about.

Actually, he broke my heart a little. As he got more lively he started approaching people, and he seemed to want something. They tried offering him bits of food and water, but of the main two people he was approaching, one had on a loose vest, that was kind of hanging in the front, and the other had a camera around the neck, also hanging. Yes, I think he was trying to find a pouch to crawl into, and it wasn't really something any of us could pull off. Later on at Seal Bay there was one solitary sea lion pup that kept crying and trying to get some attention, and I was really starting to cry for all of the orphans in the world.

We had lunch at the distillery. On this trip everyone helped with the meal preparation and clean-up, so it had more the feel of a family camping trip, except that we were still getting to know each other. I think a lot of the bonding happened at dinner that night. At this point, we were still learning names.

I want to put up many sea lion pictures, so I am not going to write about Seal Bay now, but it did actually happen on Day One, the Saturday. Our step after that was Little Sahara.

With a name like that, you would probably expect lots of sand, and you would be correct. There are very steep sand dunes and the purpose of the stop was to go sand boarding. I had been amazed at the amount of sand that ended up in my shoes at Seal Bay, so when our guide Peter suggested going barefoot, I thought it made sense. I found the sand to be difficult walking though. I probably should have worn my Tevas at both places. Of course, the other problem with the bare feet was that they were completely unprotected from the very bloodthirsty insects. They were shaped like mosquitoes, but way too big. So I guess my advice for here, other than being in shape, is wear flip flops and bug spray.

We stopped by Vivonne Bay, mainly because it was voted Australia's best beach in 2002. It was nice, but we all ended up liking Hanson Bay better (that may have been Peter's influence on us). It was pretty, but kind of different. There is a creek leading to the beach, and maybe it is because of the fresh water coming into the salt, but the rocks are all mossy green, and whether it is land vegetation or sea vegetation is hard to say.

Our last stop before camp was Hanson Bay Koala Sanctuary. This should not be confused with Hanson Bay, though clearly they are in the same area. Really, it's just a stand of tall eucalyptus trees around a trail, but as you look up you see gray balls of fluff, and it is kind of exciting. It was our first time seeing koalas in the wild.

Well, wild may be a bit of a misnomer, since it's a sanctuary, but at the same time, it is not a zoo. No one is feeding them, and they are free to leave. At the same time, why would they leave? There's plenty of eucalyptus, and I don't think koala move much more than they need too. Because of the toxins and nutrient levels in the leaves, they need to sleep twenty hours a day and eat three and a half hours a day. With only half an hour for migrating, you need a pretty compelling reason.

You should notice a red tag in the koala ear. This koala has been spayed or neutered. They aren't native to Kangaroo Island, but once brought there they thrived, and became a bit of a pest. Some farmers started shooting them, but you can imagine how well that went over, so now they have a big sterilization program going on. Peter volunteers with this, and he will tell you that people look at a koala and think it is all cute and cuddly, and it is not. Well, I'll concede that they might not be cuddly, but they are still really cute.

You may notice it was dusk here, and so as we got to the farm and started cooking dinner, night had fallen. The rooms were cabin style, but joined together, and the kitchen and dining area was a separate building. We were advised to make sure to have the doors to the bathrooms closed, because the walls of the bathroom did not go all the way up or down, and you could end up with company. (Julie and Maria hated the accommodations, by the way. They would not get into the bed because they didn't trust the sheets, but they were freezing, so when I woke up they were huddled together in a single bed for warmth.)

After dinner we visited for a while, and those of us who were interested took a nocturnal nature walk. We didn't have to go far to start, because a possum had snuck into the dining hall, and was sitting very still up in the eaves. I guess it thought we wouldn't notice, but we did. (They look completely different from the North American opossum.)

As we actually left the building, we only made a small circle around the property, but we saw lots of animals. There were some birds, wallabies, another possum, and two large kangaroos grazing, that let us get pretty close without caring. Even then, they did start to move away, but not in a panicked manner. It was all very good-natured.

I did crawl between the sheets, even though I did have some concerns about what might be in the shower the next morning.

http://www.tourkangarooisland.com.au/
http://www.adventuretours.com.au/2-day-kangaroo-island-tour/

Bonorong

2008-12-29T18:39:00.001-08:00

When we first arrived at our resort, the rooms weren't ready. As we were waiting I was reading the local paper, and there was an article about how they were recruiting wildlife carers. They get a lot of orphans from roadkill, and as we traveled to Port Arthur and back I did notice a lot of roadkill, which was sad, but Bonorong ended up being very educational about the entire issue.

First of all, Bonorong is built around rehabilitating wildlife and re-releasing into the wild whenever possible. They may not always have all species represented, depending on what is happening, but we got to see a lot, and our guide just taught us so much about Tasmania and each of the animals and about conservation.

One thing that he did not spell out, but I realized while we were there, is that having the mammal population be marsupials is what gives you the high incidence of orphans requiring care. With regular mammals, if you hit the mother the babies are probably hidden somewhere in the woods, and you will never find them so they will either survive or not without human interference. In Australia, the babies are on-board.

First of all, you can do things to avoid hitting wildlife. Watch out for areas near water, where there are clearings in the woods, and I believe at dips in the road. These are likely animal crossings, so reducing speed and keeping your eyes open is a good idea. The other hazard is roadkill. There are scavenging animals that will come to clean up, and if dinner is in the middle of the road, that puts the diner in danger too. So, if you do hit something in the middle of the road, please drag it off to the side.

If you kill an animal, scoop the pouch and check for babies. The best thing you can do for them is keep them warm, and putting them in your shirt may be the best way to do that, as it will be the closest thing to Mum. At this point there are numbers you can call to figure out the next step, including calling Bonorong. If I lived there I am sure I would become a carer, but generally without that training you will probably not be able to feed them well, so call someone who knows and keep them warm until them.

Those numbers can be useful if you non-fatally injure an animal too. The grimmest part was that he was explaining that if you fatally injure but do not kill an animal (so it is going to die, but hasn't yet), the kindest thing you can do is a solid blow to the back of the head. This seems to have scarred Maria, because later on Kangaroo Island she saw an orphaned echidna puggle at a wildlife center and she kept worrying they were going to kill it. Since they were in the process of rehabilitating it, and letting people see it, I think her worries were groundless, but she really feared for its life.

Anyway, I'm not sure if we were different because we came in a group, but we went in, got our little bags of food, and the guide (pictured with the wombat, Pixie) went through the different pens telling us about each animal. He truly had an encyclopedic knowledge of them. He went over their unique characteristics, what their rehabilitation is like, similarities to the other animals, and habits in the wild. We really learned a lot. We found the wombat information especially interesting, maybe because we just hadn't known much about them before. Then we got some free time to wander around.

Possibly the best thing he told us is that you can pet the kangaroos on the head or back, and they won't mind, but they will think you are telling them to be off. What they really love is being scratched on the chest.

It may be breed specific, because the kangaroos at Maru (Phillip Island tour) did not seem to care for it, but this mob loved it. I would take some food from the bag and put it in my left palm, letting the kangaroo eat. Then, as it was finishing, with my right hand I would start scratching the chest, and the kangaroo would just bliss out and lean into my hand, and it was amazing. Obviously, this took both hands so I have no pictures of it, but it is the best!

Obviously, more pictures are up on Shutterfly, but here we have a koala, wombat with keeper, a devil, Cape Barren Geese, and an absolutely adorable little kangaroo joey. (I had always thought of joeys as baby kangaroos, but it looks like that term is for all infant marsupials, and puggles is for all infant monotremes and one poorly advised dog mix).

In case anyone knows that koala are not native to Tasmania, and wonders why they are at this rehabilitation place, a sanctuary on the mainland had a fire, and Bonorong took in a few to help. That's one thing right there-- it is an amazing place to visit on its own, but you can also really feel like you are supporting something worthwhile.

http://www.bonorong.com.au/joomla/index.php

A Tale of Two Cadbury's

2008-12-22T19:35:00.001-08:00

We visited the Claremont Cadbury factory on an all day tour that also included a lunch cruise on the Derwent river, Bonorong Wildlife Park, and the historic town of Richmond. On the day we toured the Dunedin factory we went all over the Otago peninsula, including Sandfly Bay, Penguin Place, and Larnach Castle. I feel like it makes more sense to treat the two Cadbury locations together, and cover the other locations separately.

Claremont was highly recommended for Tasmania, so we had always planned on going. One thing I noticed in the guidebooks was that pretty much every city of note in Australia has at least one candy factory, zoo, botanical garden, and antarctic exploration-themed attraction (well, the last one may be more in the Southern part of the country). Going to all of them would be silly, so you need to look for the better, more highly-recommended ones. I wouldn't have minded checking out the other fudge factory around Hobart, or even Haigh's Chocolates in Adelaide, but only Claremont was must-see.

I love bringing food as souvenirs, because I have a natural antipathy towards more knick-knacks and dust collectors, especially for a trip that you didn't take, but was merely taken by someone you knew. With food souvenirs, you eat them, ideally you enjoy them, and then they are gone. (Flowers are also good. You enjoy them for a few days and then they die.)

We thought bringing back chocolates for people would be good, but then we had a concern. One of our tours had a limit of 15K luggage per person. We were just below that with our clothes and toiletries, so stocking up on chocolate in Tasmania could put us over, and carrying it all over the country for another two weeks did not sound like a great idea anyway.

By pure chance I noticed that there was another Cadbury factory in Dunedin, so while setting up our south island of New Zealand tour I asked our guide to arrange a stop by the store, no tour necessary. He said we should probably go for the tour, which was fine, so our plan was to stock up on chocolate there, and we would only have to port it around for two days. We did not realize the vast inequality between the two factories.

First of all, Claremont does not really have a tour. They used to, but stricter safety and health laws made it too onerous, I guess, so now they just give you a talk, and you have access to the gift shop, the chocolate shop, and a cafe. That being said, it was a great talk. I suppose it depends on who your guide is, but ours had so much personality and she knew everything about Cadbury and chocolate-making and consumption. Also, they had Freddo there. The picture of the cow (source of the cup and a half of milk that goes into every bar) and of the frog are from Claremont. (Our guide is in the picture with Freddo, though it is blurry.)

Also, the store is amazing. It is huge, they have all sorts of products we have never even heard of here, and they have specials on different days, where even though the prices are generally pretty good, some prices will be better. You can buy a five kilo box of chocolate for $40.00 that would be a $100.00 value. (They will mail it for you, but I was sure that would be expensive, and this was between me losing my wallet and getting money transferred.) On your way in they give you a chocolate, and on your way out you get a parting gift of a box of favorites that basically allows you to sample everything. It was really a wonderful experience.

There are ways in which the Dunedin factory is more set up for visitors. They have all sorts of displays and a film, and you can actually tour the work floor on week days. (We were there on a Saturday, so that was not an option for us.) However, it just wasn't as interesting. It was our guide's first time, so maybe we are not being fair, but you did not get as many interesting facts, they handed out some candy but not as impressive, and the store was much smaller and more limited. Also, they make a big deal of the chocolate waterfall, but it was kind of overrated. I thought it would be a constantly flowing fall, but what they do is take you into one of the big silos pictured and turn it on so a big rush of liquid chocolate flows down in front of you and then stops.

Regarding the stores and gifts, at least with the Dunedin factory there is a strong focus on distributing what is made locally. This makes sense, but what they make in Dunedin is apparently the Perky nana (imagine banana-flavored Laffy Taffy covered in chocolate), Chocolate Fish (strawberry marshmallow covered in chocolate), and Crunchie (it's a bit like Violet Crumble in texture). Their candy is gross. We didn't end up getting many people souvenirs, and checking every store to try and find more Cherry Ripes. They were everywhere in Australia, but quite rare in New Zealand.

Now, seeing the work floor might be interesting, so if I were ever to be in Dunedin on a week day, I would probably go for it, and certainly if I am ever in Birmingham, England I will give that tour a shot, because I am nothing if not open to new experiences, but for now, Claremont is the best, and you should buy a lot of chocolate given the chance.

http://www.cadbury.com.au/
http://www.cadburyworld.co.nz/cadburyworld/home.html
http://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/CadburyWorld/Pages/CadburyWorld.aspx

http://www.weblogoz.com/20030618080557375.htm
http://www.hiba.com.au/
http://haighschocolates.com.au/factory_tour/visitors_centre.html

The Eco Cruise

2008-12-16T16:27:00.001-08:00

We checked out of the inn Wednesday morning and waited for our bus pickup. We had a different driver, but the one who had dropped us off had called her to make sure she knew exactly where to get us, and again we were just getting great service. While they were rounding up the rest of the passengers she sent us into a sort of restaurant/bar where we could get free tea and coffee and use the facilities. Well, this time when we went to buy water they comped us for that since we hadn't taken any tea or coffee. Yay!

They had two boats, and we ended up on the Silver Gull. Cold weather gear was available. Used to colder temperatures, we declined it, and it was nice that it was not mandatory like at the Bay of Islands. We did wear our coats and gloves, and there was a breeze, but it felt pretty good to us. If we had wanted it, there were jackets, pants, and I saw one person wearing an ankle-length coat.

One of the pictures above shows our sister boat, so you can see the set up. It has some surface similarities to the Excitor in the Bay of Islands, but we were much more sheltered. Maybe it was the covering or a difference of the prow-I don't know enough about boats to say. It was definitely a more comfortable ride. There were still bumps and spray, but they were fun.

I took a lot of pictures trying to capture the beauty of the place. I'm not sure how much justice I did, but there are a few here. At first I was mostly impressed with the striation. Clearly these were sedimentary rocks. Then I started noticing different outcroppings jutting out. I kept thinking of cathedrals with spires and buttresses and pipe organs, and realized I wouldn't have been a good explorer because I would have just kept naming everything Cathedral Rock over and over again.

Actually, not everything looked like a cathedral. Two of the more unique formations are shown above. You can probably guess which one is the Candlestick. That is a sensible name for this narrow shaft stretching up between thicker cliffs (though you could still call it the spire or the bell tower). What did not show up is that there is a rope stretched out from the cliff on the left to the Candlestick, because people climb that thing. When our captain told us that, I could only think that it was crazy. Isn't rock climbing exciting enough without it being over rough, cold water?

The other one shows the middle in a group of three rocks. Actually, they are all connected so it is really just one rock with three peaks. Anyway, it kind of looks like a basset hound face. Actually, the rock on the right is a little bit similar, but not as well defined. The rock on the left looks nothing like a basset hound, but maybe it could be the middle rock's rump.

We also found several caves and went in to a few. If you check out the full collection of Tasmania pictures, you will notice that there are bits of the boat and people's heads in almost every picture, but you get the idea.

We got to see many seals and gannets, but the definite highlight was when we saw the whale. At that time of year, there were no guarantees, but suddenly the boat stopped, and people were pointing, and there was the tail of a whale waving back and forth.

I imagine that often with whale watching someone will glimpse a fluke or a side, and if you are looking at that moment you see it, otherwise too bad. In this case, he just kept bringing the tail up, waving it, then taking it back in the water, I don't know how many times. That should have made it possible to take a picture, but my timing was off, I guess, so I gave up and just watched. The important thing is that everyone got to see, and we were just spellbound by it.

I guess you could call it magical. I remember at the time thinking that it was something, and settling on the word sacred. Right as I thought that, I heard the captain talking to another passenger and say it was really special. I'm still not sure what the best word is, but we were there, and so close, and there is a feeling of connection that is outside of the every day. Eventually, I saw the back of the whale (it appears to have been a humpback) kind of come up and then go back under, and it was gone.

The captain joked that now he needed to charge us extra, but then later he was saying he really wanted the trifecta. We had seen seals, we had seen a whale, and he needed to find us dolphins. He was not able to find us dolphins, but I still have to think he did okay.

We came back into Port Arthur, and the rest of the passengers were going to tour the historical site, but we had done that already. I suppose they could have easily left us on our own for a couple of hours, but our driver took us to Eucalypt for lunch, and then she drove us over to Maingon Bay so we could look around a bit there.

Maingon Bay is home to Remarkable Cave. What makes it remarkable is that it is somewhat in the shape of Tasmania. I swear I saw it, but I could never get the angle quite right to photograph it, so my pictures don't complete the outline. Nonetheless, kind of cool.

When it was time, we headed back into Hobart, but since we were going through Seven Mile Beach our driver dropped us off there, saving us a good hour of public transit (and at least $9.00 AUD).

We traveled by some wonderful scenery on the way. We had been surprised by the calla lilies on the prison site, but they were growing all over the countryside. We also got our first glimpses of frisky lambs running around in meadows (we would be seeing a lot more of those). The most surprising thing for me was probably seeing cockatoos in the wild. Here they are exotic anyway, but if you imagined somewhere they could be native, you would think more tropical. In Tasmania, they were kind of like crows or ducks.

That day was also the first day we had run into any other Americans. On the bus back there was a couple from California. They were nice, though he was a bit of a know-it-all (he worked at IBM, but I'm sure that's unrelated). We would encounter more Americans the following day, but it was also interesting how many of the tourists were Australians there. Generally we were running into people from Europe and Asia everywhere else. We did see a group from the Middle East at Eucalypt whom we had earlier seen at the Rainforest Habitat. That was our biggest travel coincidence until we found John and Maria from Cairns in Queenstown. (Otherwise, seeing people from a bus one day at the airport the next day was happening all the time, and there was one group of three men who followed us all over Kangaroo Island.)

Regardless of travel coincidences and demographics, I have to say that it was just a really good day. I don't know that I had ever thought of granite as particularly beautiful, but it was. Great scenery, great wildlife, and absolutely excellent customer service.

One thing we did not get to see may be worth checking out. I saw signs for a place called the Tessellated Pavement. We did not go there, but I asked our first driver about it, and he explained it is a part of the coastline with geometric designs. I am posting a link for a picture that may not be a particularly good representation, but it's something.

http://www.tasmancruises.com.au/tours_cruise.php
http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/259
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadlyphoto/2328810335/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:TessellatedPavement.jpg

Port Arthur

2008-12-11T22:01:00.001-08:00

I have to say, we had wonderful weather for our trip to Port Arthur. It had been so rainy and gray the day before that we weren't sure what we were in for. It was definitely cool when we left (and we left early), but the sky was blue, and rain wasn't even an option.

We took to public bus to downtown Hobart, and then a tour bus from Hobart to Port Arthur. Fortunately both drivers were really nice. We were worried we would need to transfer to get to the right spot, but the first driver told us exactly what we needed, and even recognized us the next time he saw us, which was basically three days later.

People were nice, and they were also very trusting. I had communicated with the company by e-mail, and asked about payment, and they just said to do it when we got there. That morning we were leaving before the office was actually open, but the driver said we could pay in Port Arthur. We did go to the office there to drop off the other people on the bus, but he said they were busy, so we could just pay the next day, and he would take us to our hotel. (We did finally convince someone to take our money the next day.)

He dropped us off at the Port Arthur Comfort Inn, and we checked in. We had just brought overnight bags, travelling as light as we could. The Inn has a gate that lets you right on to the Port Arthur property. This is where the second issue of people being really trusting came up.

Our package was for the Ghost Tour, plus dinner, the night's lodging, and breakfast the next day. This was booked separately of the Eco-Tour, which was the ground transport to and from Port Arthur plus the boat ride we were taking the next day. We hadn't booked day access to the site with anyone. So there we were on the grounds, not having paid. We intended to pay, so we started heading off to where we thought would be the spot, only we ended up going in the wrong direction. I talked to one of the volunteers there, and he pointed us in the right direction. He also said we should look around first. We felt like that was kind of him, but we were not really comfortable. Perhaps we should have said that out loud, and he might have explained the issue.

The issue is that the site is enormous. There are more than thirty buildings on over forty hectares (just under a hundred acres). after walking to one corner of the property, then reversing and pretty much going to the exact opposite corner, we were pretty done for. So, we paid our admissions, but did not take the included walking tour which would have been good for the information. If we had gradually wandered about the property, making our way there while checking out the various buildings, we would have gotten more out of it, and I am pretty sure no one would have stopped us.

We did go on the included boat ride around the harbor. For extra you can get off on either of the two islands, which we did not do, and we also skipped the interpretive center. We still saw a lot, just not as much as we could have if we had been wiser.

The other thing the one volunteer had mentioned was that we needed to see the separate prison no matter what, as it was the basis of the modern penal system. From the map we saw that it was near the other cafe.

There are two places that sell food on the property. One is where we paid our admissions, and we had gotten a snack and a drink there. Since the other was near the separate prison, and closer to our hotel, we decided we would eat lunch there, and at this point we would have been all over the property even if we did not go in all of the buildings. The only problem was, we simply could not find it. We found things that seemed like they should be near, but we couldn't find the separate prison or the cafe. We decided to go back to the hotel and eat, but then we found out that the restaurant is only open for limited hours, and there is no store, and we were finally in an area with no Domino's. Wouldn't you know, my blood sugar was low. (If we had made it to the store the night before, we would have gotten some power bars or something, but we hadn't. We aren't usually that irresponsible.)

I ended up eating the complimentary chocolates that came with our package, and just resting. It seemed more productive than hiking back and trying to find food, then have the other hike. Really though, it was a beautiful day, and a beautiful site, and the chocolates were good, just not ideal nutrition.

We made it to dinnertime, and it was pretty good. Basically, it is a three course meal, but you choose three items off the menu and they are not too fussy about sharing or which specific areas of the menu you order from. The dining room would have a great view, but it was already quite dark by 6:00.

Our tour started at 8:15, so we headed over and waited for things to get started. The tours are pretty flexible for the guides. There are several buildings they can choose from, and a time frame, but not a set route. We started at the church, then went on the the vicar's house, the doctor's house, underneath the surgeon's house, and then ended up in the separate prison, so we got to see it after all. And no, I did not suddenly understand how we missed it.

It is a ghost tour in that they do tell you about things people have seen and heard, but they aren't really established stories, like this is the legend of old so-and-so. They will tell you the history of the specific building, and what type of haunted activity is normally reported, and then usually give examples of things people in their own tour groups have told them. Sometimes they will tell stories from other guides, but for our guide at least, there was really one story from someone else that she shared.

What was interesting is that it is usually not everyone seeing it or hearing it, but someone coming up later and sharing something. For example, one night a man came to her and said he did not believe in ghosts, but while she was talking in the church he saw a shadow of a man bend down behind her. Another woman heard him say this and said "Yes! Did you see him pick up the tool?", which he had not, but the interesting thing about that was that there were two deaths during the construction of the church. One was a fall from the roof, and the other was one convict striking another with a tool. She had not told them that story.

I personally have no sensitivity to ghosts. I certainly don't deny the possibility of anyone seeing or hearing anything at any time, but I am not going to see or hear it. So, finding out that even if three people in a group heard footsteps, and some did not, was interesting. It may relate to the size of their front temporal lobes and electromagnetic fields in the area. I don't know.

The thing that was very important for them, and they kept stressing, is that any other ghost tour in Tasmania they will have costumed characters and special effects, and they don't do that. She kept repeating, these are real people and real stories and we don't want to mock that. Since in most cases they are stories that were told to the guide by someone they had guided, and often someone who had been very frightened by it, I can see that and the respect is good. So, I shall not tell the other stories I remember (but I know them!).

I can't say that the tour was ever scary, though some of the stories certainly would be scary if they were happening to you, but it was interesting and that is usually what I'm going for.

That was pretty much it. We hiked back up the long trail, went to bed, and were up early to have our breakfast and check out, ready for our Eco-tour. However, I think there are some important lessons for whoever goes next:

1. Have some food on hand.
2. If you are going from the Inn to the site, don't go straight! Hang a left to get to the main building and buy your tickets, then head through the interpretive center, join your tour, and take your boat ride. Stop at buildings along the way and pace yourself. There is just a lot to see.
3. For the Ghost Tour, it is not a bad idea to have a flashlight. They have lanterns during the tour, but on your way to and from the tour it is not well lit. Honestly, I think they just don't think too much about people coming from the hotel, so they don't really plan for that.
4. I made a point of reading "For the Term of His Natural Life" before we got there. The site does not seem to have a high opinion of the book, but it's still a pretty good yarn and I suspect there is quite a bit of truth to it.

http://www.tasmancruises.com.au/tours.php
http://www.portarthur-inn.com.au/
http://www.portarthur.org.au/

Under Down Under

2008-12-06T18:47:00.000-08:00

Every time I thought the name Tasmania, I would mentally break into the theme for the cartoon. The cartoon was okay (not as good as Animaniacs, or even Tiny Toons, but still okay), but the Tasmania it showed is nothing like the one we found.

I have to say, it was one of our favorite places, and one of the first spots where we truly started to feel homesick. The trees and sky and weather was so similar to Oregon that we started to feel a few pangs.

One thing that was kind of funny for us was that whichever region we were in, people would make fun of the other region. When you get out of North Queensland you find out that they are all drug users, and the Southerners are too busy and unfriendly, and out West they are just weird, and not really Australian. (Once you get to New Zealand, the Kiwis just make fun of the Australians as drunkards, and not too bright. Maybe only people from North Queensland go to New Zealand.)

Anyway, as we were waiting for our shuttle to the airport to go to Tasmania, the desk clerk was telling us that Tasmania was really rough, and people take the law into their own hands, and everyone has big fences to keep out the Tasmanian devils, which are the size of pit bulls. However, the guy at the airport was telling us it was all great seafood and wine, which excited us terribly. No, no, yes but not because of that, and not even close to that big. (Now, our shuttle driver to the airport was pretty rude and inefficient, so that fit in with our pattern of finding transportation in Sydney to be frustrating.)

Regional pride was strong in Tasmania too though, as the north and south fight. One notable fact is that it is the only state to have two expos because they aren't willing to share. We stayed pretty much south, but we felt bad about that when we found out that near Launceston (up north) there was a Platypus House and Seahorse World. On the return trip to the airport we were telling our cabbie we felt bad to have missed the north of the island, and he told us we were not missing much (being a southerner). However, when we told him why, he admitted that he had been wanting to go there too. So regional rivalry is strong, but must still make way for seahorses.

Tasmania is actually quite different from everywhere else though. I think I would say it is more English than Australian. I don't know if I can say that, because I have never been to England, but it just seems less Oz.

We were staying a stone's throw away from Seven Mile Beach, a beautiful place where you might see whales and dolphins and platypus, although we did not. We did hear something rustling in the bushes one night, which might have been a wombat, but I don't know.

There were a lot of vacation homes in our area, as you have the beach with biking, fishing, and horseback riding, but there are regular residents too. Students do tend to wear uniforms, and they ride the public buses to school. Teenage girls still seem to get in pairs and shun one, and boys roughhouse, so I guess sharing the bus with commuters and tourists doesn't spoil their fun.

Once again it was a Worldmark resort, so we were fairly removed from things. Our first day we tried walking to the store, but it turned out to be more like two miles away than two blocks (or a block is a mile) and it started to pour before we had gotten very far. The houses actually had nice big golfing umbrellas in the closets, but we had not noticed. I guess it was funny. So many times the previous week I had been tempted to just dump my coat, and now I found myself wearing it and the gloves. We did make it to the store, but in the end we were there for four nights and we had Domino's deliver to us for three of them. The other night we actually stayed in Port Arthur, and dinner was part of the package.

I will be going over the different areas in other posts, but here is the itinerary. We arrived on a Monday, got wet trying to get to the store, so ended up watching television and ordering Domino's.

The next day we had one tour take us over to Port Arthur. They are normally a day tour, but we wanted to do the Ghost Tour at Port Arthur, so we booked a package with that and overnight accommodations (that included dinner, so no Domino's), and hooked back up with our other group on Wednesday.

That tour involved a boat tour around Eaglehawk Neck, and then we got to go to Maingon Bay, eventually landing back in Seven Mile Beach. Our tour driver courteously let us off at our resort instead of taking us into Hobart. We had taken the bus there the previous day.

Thursday we bussed back into Hobart for a tour that started with the Derwent Cadbury World, took us for a lunchtime harbor cruise, then headed over to Bonorong Wildlife Park, finishing up in the historic town of Richmond.

Friday we left the resort at 4:00 AM because our flight was at 6, but the airport was small we really could have put it off. In fact, security was not even open when we got there. From there we took off to Adelaide.

It is a beautiful island, with nice, friendly people who don't seem at all lawless. There are fences, but this seems to be to keep domestic animals in, and the devils are about cat size. They have enormously strong jaws like a pit bull, but that's about it. We really need to make it to Launceston though.

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

A Night at the Opera House

2008-12-01T22:40:00.001-08:00

I believe I made it fairly clear that when we grabbed the cab to the Opera House, we were pretty tired, hot, and just not feeling great, or even particularly fond of Sydney (and this is before my wallet was stolen). However, things quickly took a turn for the better.

The Opera House is right on the water, and there is a bench that runs all along the sea wall. We had about two hours to kill, so this gave us time to cool down, write out some postcards, and just relax. In front of us was the Opera House itself, to the left was the Sydney Harbor Bridge with Luna Park right below, and to our right was the Sydney skyline. We watched the sun go down and the people come and go.

One reason we had made sure to eat before heading over was that we had been told that there was a restaurant right there, but got the impression that it was rather expensive. Actually, the area appears to be full of restaurants and clubs. Based on the dress, most of them are rather upscale, but there were lights and laughter and pretty clothes, so it was a great place to people watch.

Actually, we were getting pretty nervous about the pretty clothes. I thought we should dress up, but Julie read on the web site that casual dress was acceptable, and this meant we did not have to go back to the hotel. Well, we did not see much in the way of casual clothes. We quickly realized that the group that was making us feel the worst was really a wedding party, but still most people were a little dressy.

Now, there are really eight performance halls, so on any given night you will see people who are not going to the same event as you, and to be fair, we did find other people who were dressed casually--some worse than us. Nonetheless, we were in the minority. We got a few looks, and one woman even called upon deity as she stared at us. So, it is true that casual dress is allowed, in that it does not get you kicked out, but I don't really recommend it. I have to say, once the music started I didn't really think about it.

Before I get to the show I should talk a little about the building. We did not bother taking the tour because we were attending a show, but that probably would have been worthwhile just to see the entire thing and learn some history. Looking up the link I see that the architect, Jørn Utzon, just died last month.

I believe it is common knowledge that the design of the building is meant to evoke the sails of the ships in the harbor (mostly not sailing ships now, but you get the point). The actual design came from sections of orange laid out. The nautical theme continues inside. The restroom stalls (at least in the ladies room) curve in and out like waves (weird sinks though), and the roof of the concert hall was hung with clear rings reminiscent of life preservers. Apparently you are not supposed to take pictures inside, but I thought they just meant not to take pictures during the performance, so I did snag a few interior shots. My interpretation makes more sense.

I remember calling the Opera House ugly once, greatly offending Brian who thought it was beautiful. I think it is somewhere in between. There are certainly places that I find more beautiful, but it is striking, and it does fit in with the harbor. Also, the acoustics are good, which really is important.

The show was wonderful. I have told many people how complicated planning the trip was. Partly that was due to trying to get the best fares and spend the least time in the air, but some of it was also trying to work it so that we were being efficient but still ending up in Sydney on the 20th. We knew we wanted to attend a performance, and there were a lot to choose from, but this one was the most appealing of all.

Gianluigi Gelmetti (linked to our own James DePreist via the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra) had been with the Sydney Symphony for fourteen years, but was stepping down. This was his farewell performance, filled with his favorite pieces. The clincher for me was that he was going to conclude with Bolero. I know it has its detractors, but it stirs something in me, and I was thrilled to get to hear it.

I don't actually make it to the symphony that often here. I do a lot of opera and ballet, so I am hearing the pieces live, but as the background to singers or dancers, where they are hidden in the pit. It is something to be viewing the performers, and focusing on them, especially in a piece like this that starts off with just a few musicians, more gradually joining, until it is a symphony of bows gliding and fingers plucking and mallets descending. And there was no smoke or flashing lights or any cheesy stagework dressing it up--it was just the music in its purity. (I'm dissing Andrew Rieu there.)

Now, going in, along with the "Arrivaderci, Maestro" sign, I did notice the net full of red, green, and white balloons suspended overhead, so I was expecting those to fall at the end. I did not see the confetti cannons. So, there is that powerful buildup, crescendo, and BOOM! Suddenly the air was full of confetti and streamers everywhere. I had garlands of it around my neck. I mean, we were in the fourth row, but it seemed to go everywhere. Still primarily the red, white, and green color scheme, but there were also silver streamers and some purple and gold confetti mixed in. People were swatting the balloons around, and everyone was just kind of into it and having a good time. And then Gelmetti came back and did an encore with the William Tell Overture. That's a fun piece.

So that was pretty much it. We had to wander out quite a ways to get a taxi back to the hotel. This is not because they don't come down there, they do, but there are so many other people also hailing cabs that you need to get ahead of the crowd. We made it okay.

The rest of Sydney was already covered, so when I write next we will head to Tasmania.

http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianluigi_Gelmetti

Welcome to Sydney

2008-11-25T15:51:00.001-08:00

Sydney actually got off to a bad start and had plenty of problems. Nonetheless, we had one of our nicest evenings there, and we would go back.

The real problem was logistics. When we were planning the trip, things looked very walkable, and for some people it might actually have been walkable, but we found that it really wore us out. Our travel plans may have been too ambitious, at least for the budget we wanted to keep. It was definitely the area where our plans least matched our reality.

The first bad start was that we encountered a really rude taxi driver who refused to take us from the airport. He was at the front of the taxi rank, so we were directed to him and then he started pitching a fit about how there were too many of us. I will admit, he did have a smaller car, with a smaller trunk, but I think the real issue was more one of style. It was more of a town car than a cab, and based on how he was dressed I think he has this image of himself as more of a chauffeur, picking up wealthy businessmen with one bag for the trunk, and one briefcase for the seat, and excellent tips. Anyway, he was arguing with the airport person in charge of the taxi rank, and we're thinking that we really don't want to ride with him at this point, and finally she directed us to another car. He'll be lucky if he doesn't get banned from the airport, because they will remember that attitude, and airport access is very important for cabbies.

The other driver was fine, but we did not give him a large tip because he took three wrong turns getting to our hotel, and we kept watching the fare get higher while this was happening, so we were just not off to a good start. In addition, we were finding that Sydney was huge and traffic was bad. We didn't think we would need a cab again until we left Monday morning, but we turned out to be wrong about that.

You see, not only is Sydney quite large, but it is built upon many hills, and unfortunately we started each day with pointless uphill walks. Friday night, when we arrived, we did not see any restaurants around and we were tired, so we ordered in and it was really expensive. We wanted to eat cheaply after that, so for breakfast we tried to find a McDonald's. The guy in the mini-mart with internet seemed to know where one was, so we started off in that direction, and climbed up and up and up without finding any food, but suddenly finding ourselves in an area of rainbow flags, manpris, and no other females. Nonetheless, we did find a Hungry Jack's here, and we just went for it. (Hungry Jack's is Burger King, but someone in Victoria owned the name, so they just call it Hungry Jack's, even in the other states.)

That out of the way, we started towards the waterfront. On the way down, we found another Hungry Jack's, so that whole uphill trek was completely useless, but we didn't know. So we kept on walking, made it to Darling Harbour (where we found a McDonald's, but too late), and started getting back to our original plans of going to Taronga Zoo. Our plan was to visit there, then explore the Botanical Gardens, including sitting in Mrs. MacQuarie's Chair, and then head over to the opera house, where we were attending the symphony. It was all on the waterfront, so seemed feasible. We were so very wrong.

We did make it to Taronga, and I highly recommend it. The reason it was on our list is that it has the widest selection of native animals that we found. Everyone has koalas and wallabies and kangaroos, but if you want to see platypus and echidna it gets a bit less likely, and it was one of only two places where we saw dingoes. The nocturnal exhibit has lots of smaller things too, like quoll, possum, bandicoot, and bilby of multiple types. You can't necessarily get the best looks at them because it is very dark in there, but still, we did see them.

In addition, the set-up itself is quite interesting. "Taronga" means good view, and the entire place is built on a hill. You can get there by bus or boat (or car, but boat is the way to go), and the Sky Safari carries you up to the top of the hill, where you then work your way down. On your way up, you have an amazing view of the harbor, including the opera house and the bridge. All in all the zoo visit was pretty good.

As we made our way back to Darling Harbour, we realized we were in no way up for walking to the gardens. The coastline is not smooth, so walking from Point A to Point B is not done in a straight line. If you followed the coast, you would be wasting a lot of steps. As it is, you can go to the main road, follow that to the finger you need, and then go out, but somehow it did not appeal.

We had not really looked at the Sydney Aquarium before, but it had gotten good reviews, and it was right next to Wildlife World, and if you bought a pass to both you could get discounted admission, and they were right there, so that's what we did. We went through the aquarium that day, and we were going to save Wildlife World for Sunday. This was good, because it was becoming clear that we were not going to do the bridge climb.

I had started worrying about it on Thursday, and was just getting a bad feeling of dread about trying it. I know a lot of people had recommended it and said they were fine doing it, but I couldn't shake the feeling that we shouldn't go. I hadn't really said anything to my sisters, but they ended up being on the same page. I don't really know what that was about, but I eventually started thinking that maybe my blood sugar would have plunged at some point while I was up there, because that happened a few times on the trip, but never anywhere that would have been as bad as halfway up the bridge. They probably could have gotten me down safely, but possibly have ruined the climb for others. Also, I might not have caught on right away, because generally my low blood sugar symptoms are that I feel weak and break into a sweat, and I might have thought that was just the climb. Anyway, we didn't go.

I'll do a separate posting about the symphony, but basically after the aquarium we hiked up to the street and found Golden Arches, ate there, then just grabbed a cab to the opera house, and took one back.

Our useless hike the next day was to try and find church, at which we failed, but there is a whole saga with church going there that should be treated separately. We headed down to the harbor again, did Wildlife World, and we should totally have forced ourselves to go to the gardens then, but we were tired and there was an IMAX theater right there, so we decided to try that instead. That's where I lost my wallet.

So, for recommendations, I think the first thing would be to stay on the waterfront if you can. Most of the attractions are there, and so logistically you save a lot by being there. It's probably more expensive, but I'd at least check that out.

Taronga Zoo is definitely must see if you want to spot the different types of animals. It is the best place for it, and the sky safari may only be a short ride but it is awesome. The Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife World are okay, but not spectacular. If I were to choose only one of the two, I would go for the Aquarium.

For transportation I would seriously recommend looking into the train system, which probably would have helped us a lot. Or just bring plenty of money for taxis.

We probably could have asked our concierge to point us towards transportation and restaurants, but when they welcomed us they were very helpful in directing us to shopping that was very expensive, and I guess we just didn't want to see the horror in their eyes as we asked where to find Mickey D's. I know it's not exactly good food, but sometimes cheap can really be valuable, and it is tasty.

When we were hanging out before the show, my sisters were saying they would want to come to Sydney again, and I was surprised because we'd had the most trouble there so far. However, I think their point (which I don't necessarily agree with) was that we gotten a pretty good view of Port Douglas, Cairns and the Reef, and Ayers Rock, and so they didn't feel a need to revisit there. I think they felt like Sydney was unfinished, or at least that it could have been done better.

One thing we discussed was coming back and trying the bridge climb again, but I realized that I don't really want to. I can see where it is cool, but it seems more like something that is cool to have done than would be cool while you were doing it. Of course, I am horrible going uphill or upstairs, and even getting much fitter I think I will still kind of be that way. I'm not ruling it out, but it is not a priority.

I would want to try for the gardens and the chair again, and also we found out about a tower that would give you a good view and also has this attraction that I think would be something like Soaring Over California, only it would be over Australia, and I would like to try that. However, it is not a city that I fell in love with, and I don't think that will change.

http://www.darlingharbour.com/
http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/
http://www.taronga.org.au/taronga-zoo.aspx
http://www.sydneytower.com.au/

Mt. Conner Safari

2008-11-17T14:17:00.000-08:00

This was really one of our nicest tours in Australia. Your tour guide can make a huge difference, and if you go you might not be lucky enough to get Leroy, who only does this part time (we actually got him on his last day before heading back to his other gig, radio host and proprietor of the Greenhills Hotel and Condah Pub in Condah, Victoria). However, it is a good company, so probably their other guides are good too, and the scenery was amazing. With this post more than any of the others, I hope that you will check out the other photos on our Shutterfly site, because a lot of them came out really beautifully and I can only choose five for the blog postings. They are mixed in with the Ayers Rock Resort photos under "The Red Centre".

Leroy picked us up at the resort at 2:00 PM. Mt. Conner is about 88 km southeast of Uluru, and is not part of the national park. Instead, it is on private property, part of the Curtin Spring cattle station. Perhaps because of this, there is less of an effort to change habits of referring to it by the English name and going back to the aboriginal name. However, we did ask and you can also call it Attila. Leroy said the natives called it the land of the ice men, and as it was once part of Antarctica, they seem to know what they were talking about.

Since you are on private property, we had to stop off at the station to pick up the keys, and there is a gated entrance that you need to go through. At the station there is a roadhouse, restrooms, and camping, and they have some cages with various native birds. I said "hello" to one white cockatoo several times, having been told he would greet me, and he just kept looking at me and said nothing. Then, as I started to walk away he began saying, "Hello! Hello!" I guess he takes a little while to warm up to you.

Just to be clear, the cattle station itself is very large, but most of it is just land for the cattle to roam over, along with assorted wildlife, and occasional corals and watering holes. You can buy land for a dollar an acre if you will buy a million acres at a time, but in country this dry, I suppose you need a larger spread to support enough food. Where we stopped is right near the road, and I imagine may be the only buildings on the entire spread, though you could probably roam around for days without being sure. Anyway, if you are into camping, that could be one way of seeing the area without staying at the resort, and it looks like they have rooms too.

Anyway, we picked up the key and got in through the gate. All this time Leroy was talking via radio with the other driver, Brady. He mentioned something about spending an hour at the lake, so I had in mind that we would be going to a lake, only I was surprised that there might be a lake in such a dry area.

As we got closer, I noticed a low, flat area that I thought was it, only it seemed awfully white, and bright. The temperature surely wouldn't have allowed for freezing, so what was going on? As we got there, it was just a sheet of salt.

There was water there once upon a time, but below the surface there were salt deposits and a layer of porous black mineral. When rains come now, that combination causes the water to leach more salt up to the surface. I imagine it's a lot like the Bonneville Salt Flats, but I have never been there.

Leroy told us that it's official name was Lake Swanson, but there are also references to the Amadeus Salt Lake Chain, so that may indicate that there are more of these lakes around. It was pretty impressive, and makes a great backdrop for pictures. Maybe it's gross, but I did feel compelled to break off some salt crystals and taste them. It was salt all right.

We headed out for some kangaroo spotting, and saw two. Granted, we had already seen kangaroos at the Rainforest Habitat, and we were going to see more in every zoo and park on the trip, but there is still something cool about seeing them in the wild. One of the pictures up there has one of the kangaroos, but it is pretty tiny. I still had not discovered the zoom feature yet.

I had mentioned earlier how the crocodile spotting was a bit reminiscent of the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, only real. This was a bit like the Indiana Jones ride, only real. There are parts where the road is quite smooth (and notice how red it is), but as we started heading up to the lookout it kept getting rockier, and rougher. We kind of like it that way, and were laughing a lot. The really rocky pictures are from up at the lookout. It's good that there are all of those rocks around, because Mt. Conner is just slightly shorter than Uluru, and Mr. Severin's wish is that by the time he dies it will be taller. They are working on a cairn at the top, so every time they go up, they grab some rocks on the way to add to the top. I bet with Hugh Grant they could finish in a day.

There was still a lot of plant life everywhere. The most populous was probably the mulga, but we also saw a 400 year old desert oak (which is a type of acacia, nothing like an oak as we know it, except that it is tall and strong).

Our next stop was an old homestead from the original settler. The current family, the Severins, have been there since the fifties, but there were two families before that. The first guy started out in a hole in the ground that is still there, and I suppose we could have poked around, but I just know it was full of snakes-probably extremely poisonous ones.

We drove to the top of the hill where the house once stood, then wandered at our leisure down to the old windmill, corral, and water tank. The other vehicle joined us, so we got to talk to the other passengers a bit. They were a couple from the Isle of Wight, and a family of three (two parents and a young daughter) from Melbourne. Our guides set up tables where there were drinks and snacks while we watched the sun set. Brady also did some demonstration with a whip, and if I had known we were going to get a chance to try it I would have paid more attention. I did not do well.

There was wine, of course, but also some juice. The food was bread that you could dip in olive oil and then these crushed seeds. I think they were wattle seeds, and the name for them as a dish was something like woogamooga, but I am just going to call it bush tucker.

After sun set we drove back to the station for dinner. They started us off with pumpkin honey soup, which was excellent. We were served pumpkin soup in many places afterwards, but this was the first time we had it, and I thought it was the best we had (that was the honey element). Then we had steak, and finished off with a choice between bread pudding or I think lemon something. Almost everyone had the bread pudding so I can't really picture the other one.

We finished off by looking at the stars for a bit, then headed back to the resort. You can't really stop and look at things at night, but the animals are a lot more active. I think I saw five kangaroos and a dingo, but everything was just whizzing by. I could see where camping out there at night would be great, though I'm not sure how safe it would be.

Throughout the trip my sisters and I would discuss where we would go again, and a lot of the best experiences would be ones you wouldn't repeat, because they were great and they were done. It would not make sense for us to take this specific tour again. However, there is a lot more that we could do in the area, with more hiking and camping.

I definitely recommend seeing it at least once. There is a wild beauty with lots of variety, and so far I would have to say it is like nowhere else on earth.

http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/161
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Connor
http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/mount-connor-safari/
http://www.curtinsprings.com/

Greenhills Hotel and Condah Pub
5205 Kenly Highway
Condah, Victoria (between the Grampians and the Great Ocean Road

Ayers Rock Resort

2008-11-12T16:30:00.001-08:00

Just so you know, you may need to click on the sunrise pictures to see any detail of the actual rocks.

I hope you can see that it is an extremely beautiful place. There is a high iron content in the soil and it is just red sand, everywhere. Since it is dry and sandy, I guess it is desert, but there is nothing deserted about it. There are trees and shrubs everywhere. The whole place is teeming with life, though it does become more obvious after the sun goes down.

People come primarily to see Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock. The rock is important in the dreamtime folklore for the local aboriginal people. There is another large rock formation nearby, Kata Tjuta, also know as the Olgas, but really, people come for Uluru. Because of this, there is an airport and a resort and tour companies and buses, all of the local industry focused on that tourism.

The two formations are part of a national park, but everything tends to revolve around the resort. Even the locals who work in the area frequent the restaurants and bars of the resort. There are a few things that the resort does well. For one thing, there is a free transfer between the airport and the resort, and there is also a complimentary shuttle between the various areas of the resort (there are five different accommodation options, plus a shopping area), the camel farm, and the park. Different tour groups pick up at the resort, so while you are there transportation is not an issue.

The downside is that everything is very expensive. Of course, everything has to be brought in from miles away, so that accounts for some of it, but the lodging prices are pretty bad, maybe running about triple the price of what you would pay for equivalent lodgings elsewhere. Oddly, the food prices are where I would have expected to be gouged more, and they weren't as much higher, proportionally. We tended to find food and beverage prices pretty expensive anyway throughout the entire trip.

So, if you can pack some non-perishable sealed foods when you go, it can be a good thing. Fortunately, you can see everything in a relatively short period of time. And you definitely should go. It is beautiful. You probably just don't need to spend very long there.

We stayed at the Outback Pioneer Lodge (the only one cheaper than camping). You can reserve individual bunks in rooms of twenty or four, with restrooms similar to what you would have at a campground. If you don't mind hostel living, that should work for you. We ended up with a private room, which was four bunks and our own bathroom. It was better than the bunks, but still not great. However, Outback Pioneer is entertainment central if you want live music or something, and they do have one of the most interesting restaurants.

At the Pioneer BBQ and Bar, you can purchase meat and grill it yourself. That is somewhat innovative, but it is really the meat selection where they stand out. In addition to your normal beef and chicken, you can also purchase kangaroo, crocodile, emu, or barramundi.

We never ate there. Julie was always worried that various things were going to make her sick, with Maria not being much better. I am a bit more adventurous, but I have my limits. If there had been a buffet where you could try the different items cooked by someone who knew what they were doing, I would have tried them all. As it was, food was too expensive to risk blowing your budget one something you wouldn't be able to finish. Also, everyone warns you that if you overcook kangaroo it gets really tough, and as a first-timer I would be almost guaranteed to overcook it.

I will say, we found mixed views on eating the native wildlife. Some people would point out that kangaroo meat is much healthier, with no cholesterol, and it controls the population, all of which is true. At the same time, others who admitted the point about cholesterol would admit that they still couldn't bring themselves to eat "Skippy". Oddly, I think all the ones for eating kangaroo were men, and against were women, but we didn't poll everyone.

For tours, you can book through the Voyages site, but you may find some crucial information missing. We had an issue with this where we had planned on going on a camel tour and it did not work out. You may wish to look up the actual tour provider and try and get more information through them.

You will see a broad selection of sunrise and sunset tours, because that is how people really like to see the rock. We did not book one of these, and I was glad later upon talking to some people on our Mt. Conner tour (next entry), because they said it was pretty but you were with 2000 other people jostling for position. However, this is one thing that was great about the Outback Pioneer Lodge. There was a lookout in the middle of that area of the resort, so I decided to try it.

The day were were leaving (we only stayed two nights), I got up in the dark, pulled on some clothes, and grabbed my camera. Julie and Maria each took turns waking up, telling me not to do anything stupid, and then falling back asleep. (It's not exactly synchronized nagging because they were at different times and neither heard the other one.)

I headed up the path, and with a very short climb I had an excellent view of both Uluru and Kata Tjuta. The only sound was birdsong. Eventually another couple joined me, followed by one lone man, but we didn't disturb each other so we were able to watch the sunrise in peace. Sure, if everyone starts doing it that won't be any good either, and I don't know if the other areas have similar views, but it's worth a shot.

http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/
http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/uluru/index.html

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

2008-11-04T22:30:00.000-08:00

I mentioned that we had a beautiful drive into Cairns, but there were a few difficulties, mainly caused by our being on the extreme outskirts of town. Our driver told us on pickup that we would have to pay another $16 each (which took every last bit of our cash), and although we passed all sorts of businesses and restaurants in Cairns, by the time we got to our location there was nothing nearby, and the office was closed.

After ringing the phone outside the gate several times, we were able to get a voice over the intercom directing us to a lockbox where we could get the keys. With the keys was a note asking us to come in during office hours the next day to officially check in. Unfortunately, our next day's excursion meant leaving before the office opened and getting back after it closed. Then, the following day we would have to leave for the airport before office hours.

We were worried about this, but the immediate concern was getting some food. There were two menus in the room, but one restaurant was closed Mondays and the other did not actually deliver to our location. We finally called Domino's, and that would be the first of many times we had to rely on them. (I got really sick of pizza. Domino's isn't that great anyway, and the cheese and toppings tasted funny there.)

Actually, most of the Worldmark locations were kind of out of the way. We have a friend who has a membership, so we got a good deal, the rooms were nice, and having laundry in the room was wonderful, but they are definitely better for people with cars.

I made one more foolish mistake, which was that I had not brought my e-mail confirmation with me. So far no one else had asked for one, and there did not seem to be any crucial information on it, but it would have been helpful. The bus that picks you up is taking people to multiple different tours, so that can help keep you straight. The rule ended up being that if I had it I did not need it, but if I did not have it someone would ask, so just always have it with you. Fortunately, we were on the manifest and it did not end up being a big problem.

So, yes, we had lodging and transportation and organization issues, but the boat ride was great. It was a nice little sixty-foot sailboat, and I have to say that our crew really knew what they were doing. They were fun and funny (Louise's orientation talk was a lot of fun, but still told you everything that you needed to know) and they really took good care of us. Moreover, it was just beautiful.

I have three different pictures posted that show water, and I'm still not sure that I have done it justice. It was this incredible blue green that just kept getting bluer. Our skipper Gordon saw me looking at the water about midway and told me that it gets progressively bluer as you get out. At first I thought he said aggressively bluer, and I like that-this is a really in your face blue!

I think I've stated before that I love being on boats, and it's still not getting old for me. I don't know a lot about them really, but he seemed to me that he handled the boat very well. This was especially evident on the way back. We were able to go almost the entire distance without using the motor, only trimming the sails as we got into the harbor. For most of that, we were riding at a 45 degree angle, and it was perfectly comfortable and fun. As cheesy as it sounds, my cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much.

The reef is about three miles out from Cairns. This particular cruise goes out to Pinnacle Reef, and you can either snorkel or scuba in the morning. They feed you lunch and then start taking people over to Green Island in the tender. How long you can spend on the Island depends on whether you want to go back in the water in the afternoon, but that is an option. Lunch is included, along with mornings snacks, afternoon fruit and cheese, and then they brought around a tray of cakes. This is good, as being in the water takes a lot out of you.

(One thing that was frustrating, but it was everywhere, is that pop and water are never included. Almost everyone gives you free tea and coffee, and a lot of tours, including this wine, also serve free wine, but never anything that we drink.)

In terms of our experience level, I had sort of snorkeled before in Hanuama Bay, but Julie and Maria never had. To further complicate things, Maria could not go in the water that day. This is where their exceptional service really came through. Louise towed Julie and another first-timer, Marie, around the water for pretty much the entire session. They held on to a life preserver and Louise dragged it around while pointing out fish. In addition, Gordon gave Maria her own private ride in the tender to use this periscope-type thing and view some of the fish for herself. He forever won her heart by calling her "sea kitten".

(Actually, he had already won both her and Julie's hearts by playing some Duran Duran and, when they mentioned their appreciation, letting us know that he has sailed on Simon's boat, Drum.)

I actually got towed a little myself. I jumped in the water and started waiting for Julie, and she just never came and never came, so I went to her. I had promised to stay by her, but since Louise had it covered, she didn't need me, and I could swim a bit on my own.

I thought the snorkeling would be one of the highlights of the trip, but that part was not great. My mask did not fit well so I kept getting water in it, and then when I would try and get it out a wave would usually wash over me in the process, and the first time that happened I had my mouth open, resulting in a salty coughing fit.

At the Bay you just waded into the water, and it was pretty sheltered, so I find that works better for me. Here it was deeper, and there was more current, and I think that is probably better for scuba than snorkeling. Also, before I go again I should probably just by my own mask and get it fitted so I know it will be right. That being said, there is still just something magical about seeing those brightly-colored fish flitting about. Flitting out of camera-view, actually. I have no talent for underwater photography, and you will notice there are no fish photos here. You can wade into the water from Green Island, but that would mean you are staying at a very pricey resort.

One reason that we chose this particular cruise was because of the stop at Green Island. The book A Town Like Alice is a family favorite, and Joe and Jean visit the island in the book. At the time, it was just grass huts and beach, and a chance to go out in a glass-bottomed boat. I'm afraid that time is long past.

Now there is the expensive resort, with expensive restaurants and shops, and Marineland Melanesia, kind of a theme park (no rides, just crocodiles). It's pretty small, but the island itself is small. You can walk around the entire thing, and if you go, that would probably be the best use of time.

We had several errands that we were trying to accomplish. First off, we wanted to find a place to change clothes so that Julie and I would not be in our swimsuits for the rest of the day. We did find a changing room, so that part worked out.

We also needed to try and contact the office of our resort to work out checking in and checking out. We found a pay phone, and were able to work things out there too. We were going to need to leave a little bit of cash for phone calls (there was a charge for local calls pretty much everywhere), but we could put that and the key on the counter, and it would be fine.

That meant that the last errand was that we needed cash. I had $200 US that I was hoping to exchange, but the hotel exchange rate was highway robbery. Okay, we were at sea so I guess it was piracy. Regardless, I think that day it was $1.20 AUD to $1.00 USD, and they were offering something like $0.87 on the dollar. No way. However, there were also no ATMs. We ended up having to charge our drinks on the boat and wait for cash until we got back into Cairns, making small purchases to get change. Really, there just is not much in the way of amenities on Green Island, at least not cheap ones.

Anyway, at least we were dressed again, we had all seen the reef regardless of individual difficulties, and we could just enjoy the trip back. I already mentioned that it was a nice cruise, with good wind and water, but there was more unexpected fun with our crew. Gordon got a phone call, and his brother John (visiting from Glasgow) told me that it was the captain of the company's other ship (Ocean Freedom). He seemed more interested than would be expected, but he knew what was coming.

Louise started passing around the leftover cheese for ammunition, and we were warned to be ready to fling as the other ship came along side. I remember wondering if this was really going to happen, but in fact it was. Ocean Freedom met up with Ocean Free, and we threw cheese at each other.

Ocean Freedom had several advantages over us. They were bigger so they had a better trajectory, motorized so they could go faster and, with more passengers, they had more cheese and more cheese flingers. I regret to say this still did not prevent them from using the serving tray to launch the cheese rather than flinging by hand. I consider this to be cheating.

They took another pass before heading back to port. We came through okay. John took some cheese to the head, but was not badly hurt.

One other caveat about Cairns-the sun is ferocious. We applied and reapplied sunscreen and we all still got burned. For Julie and I it was definitely in the water. Maria had part of her face in the sun. It was funny because Peter told her she was halfway to lobster, and normally that would be that you are pink on your way to red, but for her, it was really that half her face was burned. Basically, you will burn in eight minutes, and they are not kidding. When we arrived at Ayers Rock the next day people asked if we had just come from Cairns.

In summary, loved our boat, loved our crew, the cruise company was good, but don't really know anything about Cairns, found Green Island disappointing, and still working out snorkeling. I will probably never try scuba, but you just never know.

http://www.oceanfree.com.au/index.html
http://www.worldmarktheclub.com/

The rest of Port Douglas

2008-11-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

I do recommend Port Douglas as a place to go. Looking around it reminded me of Hawaii, with lush tropical rainforests going up to sandy beaches. It is also a key location for many attractions, like the Daintree and the Barrier Reef. Some things that we were near but did not get to see were the Daintree Discovery Center (with an aerial walkway), the Bat House (where they nurse injured fruit bats), and of course we did not try the jungle surfing. We thought it sounded expensive and a bit too wild, but the seventy-year old couple in our car did it, and they were fine. We would have missed the nature walk and beach, but it's something to think about.

We also missed Kuranda Village and Sky rail. We heard great things about it after we had set our itinerary, and there was just no room to add it in, so that would definitely be something to consider. You have access to Kuranda from Cairns as well, but I will not be writing much about Cairns because we were only there the one day, which was spent entirely on the reef.

For things we already did, I don't know that it would make sense to repeat the Rainforest Habitat, because we explored it pretty thoroughly, but there is defintely more to see in Daintree, and on another cruise you might see more crocodiles, and if you go at a different time of year to the fruit farm, there might be different fruits in season. We don't need to do those things again, but we could. (Also, despite being just blocks away from Four Mile Beach, we never actually went out there.)

Port Douglas is basically a holiday town. It was initially a fishing village, but now there are a lot of holiday homes and resorts where even native Australians come. There is one main street which is pretty much all restaurants, souvenir shops, and tour booking centers.

This street was the home of Wicked Internet, where we ended up almost every day. It makes perfect sense to combine an internet cafe, video rental, and an ice cream shop in a vacation town, but I just think the buying and selling of used books is a stroke of genius. We were able to sell all of the books we had read on the plane and get some internet time, and then if we had needed new books we could have bought them there. Perfect.

We stayed in the Port Douglas Motel, which had a stop for the Rainforest Habitat bus right across the street, and then the main street with all of the shops and restaurants was right around the corner. That was an excellent location.

The Motel was not great, but it is more that it is not really a motel. There is no daily service, you have to pay for extra towels, or for using more beds than you said you would, and there are no outbound phone calls for ordering food or confirming tours. You can call room to room, and the rooms are relatively cheap and comfortable. I think it would work really well for Australian families who are driving there and have cell phones, but it was not ideal for us.

Away from the main town there are several large resorts that seem very nice, though transportation could be an issue. We stayed at the Rendezvous Hotel in Auckland, and while there saw that they had one in Port Douglas that sounds great, but it would probably cost more. If you are looking at any of the resorts, check transportation options. For tours you can generally get picked up, but you will need to get into town. Actually, the motel right next to ours looked nicer, but I never caught the name.

For transportation between the Cairns Airport and Port Douglas, we used Sun Palm transport. I did not like the online booking process, because I was not sure what stops to select, but setting it up at the airport was fine. On the way there we were with several people, and so we did notice the scenery but were not really focused on it. On the way back we were the only three, so we were more focused, and also it was sunset and it was amazingly beautiful. The road goes along the ocean the entire way, and as we watched the sky turn red, and the sunset and the moonrise, it was just gorgeous. It was the first time that I really noticed that the horizon looks bigger there. Somehow it seems wider. I asked our captain about that later, if it was just me or it really did look bigger. He said he didn't know, but to him the sky seems higher there. We were about thirty degrees closer to the equator there than I usually am, so maybe that's what does it.

Downsides to Port Douglas are just part of being tropical. There are bugs everywhere. You have to empty your trash daily, and not allow standing water to collect. There will still be bugs if you do this, but less chance of being overrun with them or catching a horrible disease from them. Also, people are kind of on island time. You will go to a restaurant, and they just didn't open that day, or they are coming in late. It's okay though, because there are lots of other restaurants, and it's unlikely that everyone will take the same day off. You just need to be relaxed, because North Queensland also stands for Nothing Quickly.

http://www.kuranda.org/
http://www.portdouglasmotel.com.au/
http://www.rendezvoushotels.com/port_douglas/
http://www.sunpalmtransport.com/

Port Douglas: Daintree Rain Forest

2008-10-28T18:06:00.001-07:00

We booked a day trip with Gary's Safaris. The specific trip that we booked does not exist anymore, as the times and distances involved were cutting things a little too close, but they have various other tours available. Our tour ended up being all right.

We started with an early morning hotel pickup in Port Douglas, and began the drive to the Daintree Rain Forest. On the way we passed through the town of Mossman and went by several sugar cane fields. It was harvest times, so we saw fields at the height of their growth, fields that had just been cut, and one field that was being harvested as we passed. There were birds circling ahead as the harvester's disruption tends to release a buffet of bugs, mice, and snakes. There is a small railroad just to get the sugar cane from the fields to the mill, so we saw the tracks and rail cars as well. We could also see exactly where the cutoff for Mossman Gorge was, though we did not go there.

Through the town there are several cassowary statues. As important a figure as it is in the ecology, the cassowary population had plunged to around 54 in 1993. Currently the population is estimated at around 500, which is a huge improvement but still a fairly vulnerable population. The locals do really care, and as our guide, Ian, would talk with various other people they would mention sightings, and the progress of orphaned birds. We did not see any live birds, but that is fairly normal. Sometimes you get lucky, but generally they are fairly shy, and probably better off with less contact.

You take a ferry across the Daintree River to get into the forest, and from there the roads go up and down and twist around. I was glad we had Ian driving, especially since every time a car pulled in front of us, I was expecting a head-on collision until I would see it was going in the same direction as us. It is just weird being on the left side of the road.

Several people live in the forest on small farms, which is allowed as long as they follow the rules protecting the environment. They do have a reputation for being kind of hippies, possibly with some crops that are not strictly legal. Ian says whenever there is a brush fire everyone goes out and inhales.

In the rain forest there are several signs for cassowary crossings. There are also several enormous speed bumps dotted with other bumps. These not only slow you down, but also make a noise to warn the birds that there are vehicles around. Because some warning is in order, there are signs warning of the speed bumps that basically show a thin rectangle with a semi-circle above it to designate the bump. In many cases there is a cassowary crossing sign and a speed bump sign on the same pole. My assumption is that someone saw this, and imagined how the bump part could kind of replicate a cassowary stomach, and came up with this very special sign. Regardless of origin, it is funny, and has a valid point. This picture is also significant in that it is the only time I was caught on film for this trip. I got myself in the mirror without realizing it.

I also found the other warning sign amusing. We were not there during stinger season, so that was not a concern, but I still enjoyed the warning sign. There is a bottle of white vinegar there for emergencies, but they add blue dye so people don't steal it for cooking.

The section of beach you see shows where the rain forest meets the reef. The rock is the old Great Barrier Reef, before the water receded and the rain forest grew out to it. The natives considered it a very mystical place, and called it Kuji, where the spirits walk.

We walked through the forest and over Myall Beach, then met up with the couple who went tree surfing (which we did not do) and they took us to lunch at Whet. We took in some more views, then headed over to Cape Tribulation Exotic Fruit Farm for the fruit tasting. At the restaurant, the farm, and the ferry, pretty much everywhere, Ian knew everyone. I suppose in the tourism business you have to, but it does seem like a tightly knit community. It is mainly full of people who tried passing through but couldn't leave or felt they had to come back. They call it getting cape-trapped.

In the picture you can see pummelo, key lime, kaffir lime, black sapote, sapodilla, soursop, malay roseapple, star apple, and I think we have a sweet sop in there too. We tasted all of those (only juice from the limes) plus baked breadfruit and frozen jaboticaba (it is very refreshing to take a frozen one and just suck on it). I have always been curious about breadfruit, so that was nice to try. The really squishy looking one is the black sapote, also called chocolate pudding fruit. It looks like chocolate pudding, but then people expect it to taste like chocolate, and it does not, so they are disappointed. It isn't bad, but it is more of a brown sugar flavor, I guess. I would try any of them again.

Our final stop was crocodile spotting on the Daintree River with Bruce Belcher's One Hour River Cruise. It was a bit like the jungle cruise at Disneyland, only real.

The Daintree River is about 140 kilometers long, with a population of about 70 adult crocodiles. So, I guess one croc every twenty kilometers isn't too bad, but I didn't see anyone swimming. We saw three, plus an enormous python hanging in a tree, and some birdlife, including one tiny kingfisher.

I had not yet worked out how to use the zoom on the camera, so I don't have any great pictures of the crocodiles--just some long shots. However, one of my favorite things about the river is that there where beach hibiscus all along the banks, and the blossoms would drop off and float along the river, so here is a picture of one of the trees as well.

http://www.garyssafaris.com.au/
http://www.capetrib.com.au/
http://www.daintreerivercruise.com/

Port Douglas: The Rainforest Habitat

2008-10-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

I have already written a bit about the Rainforest Habitat from the field, but I wanted to add some details and some photos. For the previous post, you can link directly to http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2008/09/port-douglas.html.

For their official site, visit http://www.rainforesthabitat.com.au/.

The big attraction here was that we could hold the koala. Most places where they offer koala pictures, you are just near the koala. Here it actually rests on your arms, though they do it so quickly that I don't actually have a memory of it. The problem is that they are taking your photo and they are trying to get you to look and smile. I would advise focusing on the koala, because it just goes too fast.

They are adorable creatures, but not terribly social and cuddly. Also, They sleep twenty hours a day, so they aren't very energetic either. We were lucky because as they were doing the keeper talk Gumnut woke up and started showing off a bit, growling and asserting his male dominance (they are fairly territorial), so we got a good idea of how they move and sound. They do not sound like they look. They make very guttural noises, that sound like something bigger. It's kind of like a cross between a pig and a bear, if you can imagine that.

I am including a picture of him, and some of the crocodiles. The crocodiles are impressive to me in terms of just how invisible they can become. The next day on our river cruise, it was even more apparent, and the ones we saw there were not even trying to hide. One apparently grabbed a camper in Queenstown the day before we left Australia. I say apparently because they did not find any remains. You need to respect them.

I also have a picture of a cassowary. These highly endangered birds make the rainforest what it is through their seed distribution. They are also pretty good in a fight. You might think it is the bony crest on their head, but those claws are also very powerful.

I considered the Rainforest Habitat to be a good value. Regarding the Breakfast with the Birds, that was also good, but you need to remember that it will be pitched combat with the birds and decide if you are up for it. Regardless, they have some great animals, you get in close, and the keepers were really knowledgeable about the animals. If you are in Port Douglas, it is worth a visit.