Day 17: Auckland briefly, jumbo jet longly

We have returned to our native soil now. Currently I am drinking some tea, taking some sleepy vitamins and steeling myself for my return to work in the morning. Everything about the return was pretty uneventful. It was a long flight from Auckland to LA but not as long as LA to Melbourne was. Neither one of us got much sleep so a lot of movies were watched on the in flight monitors. I think I watched Angels and Demons, Adventureland, and something else but I don’t recall what. I may have been awake but I doubt I was coherent. Customs in LA was a breeze. I guess the trick is to declare anything that you possibly can and then the customs agents won’t feel the need to invade you. We also had pretty good train karma coming back from the airport with only one snafu at the Lawrence St. station which was closed for the weekend. Fortunately that only ended up being a two block detour to the 2,3 train that took us to Atlantic.

Auckland this morning – way way way back this morning was surprisingly nice. Most people say they find it bland and I suppose it was, but it was bland in a rather comforting way. We didn’t see much, just puttered around in Wendell through the downtown area and then up to Mt. Eden for a view of the city. Mt. Eden is actually a dormant or extinct volcano, I don’t recall at this point, but you can drive to the top and they have a nice path walking around the rim. No going down into the crater though as they had signs warning against it saying that the ecosystem was very fragile. We obeyed but it would have been cool to go stand at the bottom of a volcano crater.

From the rim of Mt. Eden you can see a 360 degree panorama of Auckland and it’s obvious that the area was once a hotbed of tectonic activity. You can see the volcanic cones rising all over the place. We counted at least ten but the guidebooks say there are many more. It was a very interesting landscape and much different than the general mountainous-ness of Wellington and the rest of what we saw of New Zealand.

From here we drove to Auckland airport, dropped off Wendell the rental, and got situated for our long flight. Thus concludes our honeymoon. We had an awesome time, had so much fun, and made so many great memories. It was fun to write up these entries each night and we hope you all enjoyed reading along. Until next time. . . .

Day 16: The last day

Today was all about the driving. We stopped at a few spots along the way to stretch our legs and exercise the camera. In order of appearance:

Craters of the moon is a volcanic thermal field that was somewhat active until the 1950s when a nearby geothermal energy plant went online and lowered the underground reservoir and thus it became less violent and geyser-y and more steamy and bubbly. It made sense when I read the informational signs but now that I’m typing it out the logic kind of defies me. It had something to do with the lowered water levels in the reservoir that changed the pressure coming out of the fumaroles and other such vents. It was pretty cool though. There were all these craters and rifts in the ground that had steam billowing out and boiling mud at the bottom. All the plant life was green at the tips but had a charred appearance otherwise. It was very weird that plant life could live in such an environment with the heat and the soil that was loaded with phosphorous and sulfur. (see the full set of photos here.)

We drove a little further and came upon a sign advertising another thermal field so we pulled off and drove down a dirt road for awhile before we came to some campground with alpacas, chickens, peafowl, and a sheep running around. We decided that feeding the random chickens and peafowl the remnants of our French bread from last night would be more fun than seeing another thermal field. Yep, you can tell we’re city folk, we live in an inhospitable environment but chickens are something new!

From there we proceeded up the road to the tourist city of Rotorua which you can smell before you actually enter. It is also in a volcanic region and the smell of sulfur hangs over the town. Our guidebooks indicated that the overseas tourists typically stayed in Rotorua which stank and was pretty tacky with the tourist trap clutter while the Kiwi tourists stayed in Taupo which had beautiful vistas and was generally a little sleepier. Unfortunately the weather made short work of those vistas as it continued to rain all day. We tried.

Anyway we stopped for lunch in Rotorua eating at The Fat Dog. Their menu seemed limited so I ordered the burger which ended up being ridiculously big and vertically unstable. It had two beef patties, lettuce, bacon, mayo, carrots, cole slaw, a fried egg, and string beets per the tradition down here. I would like to report that they’re onto something down here, beets on a burger is actually really good. I can’t really describe it and I admit that I don’t like beets, but trust me, it works. Kirsten got a disappointing chicken fettucine thing that really ended up being chicken noodle soup. After lunch we walked around town a bit and found a little ice cream shop. Even though it was raining and cold we got some more hokey pokey ice cream because it was worth it. I also picked up a bottle of RC Cola (I know, exciting right!?) that was strangely bitter. As we tried other sodas in New Zealand it became apparent that the Kiwis don’t seem to like them overly sweet as most of them had quite a bite to them, including the Coca Cola.

We then drove up to the North Coast and a little town called Waihi Beach which was very pretty and cold. There were also hundreds of shells washed up so we picked up a good collection while we minded the giant sand fleas that were everywhere.

Our final stop before it got dark was a nice little waterfall along the highway that had a turnoff and shortly beyond that there was a very impressive canyon through which the highway wound its way along the bottom. In fact we hadn’t planned to stop but once we passed the water fall and went through the canyon we decided to turn around and go see them again this time from a speed of zero miles per hour.

From there we drove straight into Auckland where the fearless mountain goat drivers suddenly turned into timid lambs on the multilane freeway and drove SO SLOW. We stayed in a high rise hotel on the north shore that ended up being one of the nicest hotels of the honeymoon. It was a huge suite on the 13th floor overlooking the ocean with an all glass balcony, a full kitchen with a dishwasher and laundry facilities, and a pool up on the roof of the low rise portion of the facility that we enjoyed that night after a nice lamb dinner from a restaurant up the road called Aubergine. Too bad we were only here one night as it could have been a nice little base to check out Auckland.

Tomorrow we have a couple hours to spare to check things out but not enough time to jump off the sky tower. They have one of those freestanding observation towers here where you pay about $20 and go up and enjoy an amazing view and attached to it they have something called the Sky Jump which looks pretty cool. You’re harnessed in to a cable system and jump off a diving board on the roof. You glide rappelling style down the cables and come to a controlled stop at street level. The videos all show the happy passengers landing square on their feet on a platform above the sidewalk. Looks awesome! I’m told that Las Vegas is to get a similar system sometime in the next few years so perhaps I’ll get my chance whenever I get over there again.

Anyway, for now – goodnight!

Day 15: Riding Wendell from Napier to Taupo

It’s morning again and these days are going by so fast. It seemed like it was just the other day that we were in Mission Beach and were finally over our jet lag. Now we have just two more nights before we return to reality. Alas.

The breakfast part of the B & B was very good. The owner, Ruth, fixed up some nice kiwi (fruit this time), croissants, muesli, and other vegetarian fare for Kirsten and I along with the other two guests, a nice older gay couple from Palm Springs. Bizarrely, once we all found out we were Americans we couldn’t help but talk about the politics of our country. I’m sure our host was either bored out of her mind or perturbed at our sensibilities. Oh well, it was a delicious breakfast and a wonderful diversion to the endless hotel rooms. This was also the first time either of us had stayed in a bed and breakfast and we both liked it. It seemed like we were staying with friends rather than at a hotel and I suppose that’s the appeal.

The morning was spent nosing about downtown Napier in the daylight. We wanted to go to this town because after an earthquake leveled the place back in the 1930s they rebuilt everything in the art deco style. The guidebooks all tout it as the next best thing to Miami Beach if not better. The art deco is very nice but it’s much more subtle than the flashy buildings and neon of Miami Beach. At first I thought it was far inferior but as I began to notice all the little details, I changed my mind. It’s definitely an excellent collection of art deco architecture but to compare it to Miami Beach isn’t really fair to either city. It was more like the art deco you would find in the American west than the stuff you find on the coasts.

After a bit of lunch in a sidewalk café we took off in the newly renamed Wendell the Rental car toward the resort town of Taupo. This involved more mountain driving, this time over the Ahimanawa Range, which was not as beautiful or twisty and extreme as yesterday’s drive. We did stop alongside the road to see some waterfalls though that were quite spectacular if not a little far off. Once we got over the range it began to rain and never really let up all day so we couldn’t really enjoy the views across Lake Taupo today but hopefully tomorrow will be clear.

We spent our rainy day perusing the Taupo museum which had some very impressive Maori carvings and models of World War II planes. I pointed out the planes that my Grandfathers were involved with to Kirsten who smiled and nodded. They also had a very long wooden canoe that was half finished before it was abandoned for several centuries and even survived forest fires and volcanic eruptions. Needless to say it was pretty beat up but with a little patchwork it could probably be taken out for a jaunt on the lake.

After a wrong turn at one of the roundabouts we ended up going down a road to Huka falls which we decided to see rather than turning around. The falls were impressive in that they were like a horizontal Niagara Falls. It was a very large volume of water being forced into a very long and narrow chute. It didn’t descend far but the chute was probably an eighth of a mile long. It was an impressive display of turbulent hydraulics.

Our final stops for the evening were at a honey store where Kirsten bought two big jugs of honey that we’re hoping the customs officials will let us take home and we tried New Zealands favorite ice cream flavor – Hokey Pokey. It’s a sort of buttery vanilla flavored ice cream with chunks of crunchy caramel in it. It’s similar to pecan pralines but minus the pecans. It’s delicious!

The other stop was the grocery store as the restaurants in town didn’t seem to be too appealing. So we picked up a rotisserie chicken, a bottle of local wine, some bread and cheese, and some breaded yams that we sautéed in our kitchenette. It was a good dinner and now the Jacuzzi awaits.

Note that new photos and movies are up on our Flickr page (more to be added here to the blog later).

Day 14: Over the mountains and through the forests. . . .

We woke up to a beautiful Wellington morning today, so we rolled over and went back to bed. I blame the generous check out time of 11. All the other hotels we’ve stayed at have had checkouts at 10. So given the late morning, compounded with a need to run to the drugstore for some contact solution to get us through New Zealand, we got off to a late start this morning. Not a problem now, but it would prove to be an annoyance later.

After our pharmacy run (back to using the word pharmacy rather than chemist) and a short navigational and “you can do it” pep talk, we made our way through the city to the peak of Mt. Victoria which is sort of smack in the middle and has fantastic views in all directions. You can even see the entire airport and just how much runway the pilots have to contend with. Once you get out of the flat bit around downtown the roads are extremely narrow and are often times just wide enough for one car – yet they’re two lanes. Several times I had to pull part way into a driveway to get out of the way of cars coming the other way. We’re driving a runty model Corolla too, I can’t imagine trying to take Bernie through this town. The views from the top were magnificent once we made it up there and seeing some of the lots people built their houses on were impressive too. Some homes had their own incline railways that had garage door motors attached so they could get from street level up to their front doors. Others just had hand cranks.

After Mt. Victoria we went down and back up to the Wellington Zoo, mainly to see their one-legged kiwi. He got it caught in an opossum trap and had to be amputated. He seems to get around just fine now though. It seems that opossums are a serious pest in New Zealand though. The zookeepers also sternly admonished us to keep our cats indoors and dogs on leashes so they don’t eat the native wildlife which is also a big problem here. The kiwis are nocturnal, flightless birds that are quite endangered and difficult to spot in the wild but after seeing photos of them in our guidebooks, we really wanted to see one. We didn’t see much else in the zoo aside from some more fruit bats. They weren’t as large as the ones we saw in Brisbane but it was fun to get up close to them.

From here we meant to head on out to Napier and the wine regions to do some tasting and we got on the main road that took us around Mt. Victoria and into downtown but unfortunately once we got into downtown the road forked and we were in the wrong lane and ended up going back over Mt. Victoria because there wasn’t any place to turn the car around. Once we got back on that main road we made sure to get in the proper lane. Before we got on the main highway out of Wellington we passed the parliamentary buildings of New Zealand which were pretty cool looking. They call one of them the Beehive. I’m assuming because of the shape and not because the New Zealand politicians are as busy as bees, although they might be!

The two-lane highway up to Napier goes over the Tararua Range in a long stretch of looping, twisting switchbacks up and over. It made for a very exciting beginning to the drive. I was driving at what I thought was a slightly uncomfortable rate but the Kiwis have no fear at all! They were taking those corners like they were driving miatas while on drugs. Even the truck drivers!

I should also note that kiwi refers to New Zealanders, a flightless bird that is a national symbol, and a tasty fruit. Try to keep track as all three will be mentioned at some point.

After leaving the mountains there was little interesting aside from sheep everywhere we looked. The drive also took much longer than we anticipated and we arrived in Napier well past 7:00 and well past closing time for the wineries. That ended up being fine since they seem to take drunk driving very seriously here and we actually went through a checkpoint where they checked my breath. Of course I, being American was expecting to blow into a little tube like they show on the movies and when the police officer holds this machine up to be face I start blowing at it even though there was no tube while the police officer asks me my name and address. Since I was in mid blow I didn’t respond quickly enough and Kirsten starts yelling at me in an inarticulate and panicky sort of way. Startled I turn toward her and shout out my name and the beginning of my address before lowering my voice and turning back to the device the cop was holding in my face which promptly blinked out the verdict of “No Alcohol.” Apparently it can detect it from speech and there is no tube involved. I look up at the cop who was laughing at us and wished us a nice holiday. We thanked him and drove on, but not smoothly as I overcorrected in lining up with the turn and slammed the left front tire into the curb.

Driving on the left eventually got easier and the only problems I was having was maintaining my side of the car on the right side of the lane. Even though I knew I was supposed to be in the left I still wanted to be on the left side of the lane. I gave the rumble strips a work out.

Once we got to Napier and settled in at the Green House Bed & Breakfast, we walked down the hill that the house was located on and into town. Dinner was at a place called Lone Star and seemed to be the best option open for dinner. I had the lamb and Kirsten had some sort of delicious bean dip. We ambled around town a bit more before staggering up the big hill back to the B & B for the night.

Day 13: We’re driving on the wrong side of the road!

Brisbane Airport’s International Terminal is amazing. Lots of light, lots of space, and very comfortable and functional furniture, this is an airport I wouldn’t mind being delayed in for awhile. Our flight today was aboard Air New Zealand which was a nice respite from the no frills Virgin Blue and Jet Star. Even though the flight was only a little over three hours, they still served us breakfast and I’m still kicking myself for not getting a mimosa like all the other women. Don’t judge me, they looked delicious!

Wellington’s airport is ridiculous. It’s a single runway and taxiway between two hills with houses crowded up right next to it. We could see the control tower up on stilts, on one hill, in a neighborhood. Not only is it narrow but it’s also bracketed at both ends of the runway by Wellington Bay. The terminal itself is nice and functional and we breezed right through customs and got our rental car with no problems at all.

Being a passenger on the left side of the car and riding in the left lane is dizzying enough but actually doing the driving is REALLY disorienting! It’s really like learning how to drive all over again. Nothing is where it should be and you have to visualize each turn before you make it. Remember to check your new blind spots, your mirrors are not in the right place and neither is the gear selector or the turn signal. When I went to move out of park I rolled down the window. When I meant to indicate a right turn I turned on the windshield wipers. But eventually we made it to the hotel incident free.

The Mercure hotel is very nice and Kirsten was happy that we have a bathtub here after shower loving Australia (where water conservation is extra important). We went for a long walk around central Wellington which is very compact and manageable. The geography is a lot like Pittsburgh but the architecture is more modern. The harbor seems to be everywhere the hillsides aren’t, and aside from the downtown area there doesn’t seem to be any flat land here. Also, the New Zealand accent is much thicker and I finally feel like I’m in a foreign country.

We also rode the incline cable car up to the botanical garden and walked around up there. We were quite taken with the R2-D2 birds up there that we later learned from a postcard are called Tui. They have a bullfrog like balloon on their throat and they make all sorts of R2-D2 sounds, telephone rings, fax machine beeps and buzzes, laser beam blasts. It was hilarious! There were also a flock of what looked like ducks that were screeching (not quacking) away as they flew by – they turned out to be parrots.

From there we meandered our way back through downtown back to the neighborhood our hotel is located, Brooklyn, and had a pizza at Hell (thanks to a recommendation from our wonderful friend Phaedre). I had the Lust and Kirsten had the Greed. We even had some lust and greed leftover for breakfast tomorrow morning. How devilish.

Day 12: An ambitious day

Today we went a little crazy and made plans to go to not one, but two, major theme parks. Since they were both on the small side and only a mile from each other and connected by a bus service, it IS possible to do it. But the fact that they are both only open until 5 makes it pretty tough. Plus the Australian ride capacity mindset works against you as well.

We headed to Dreamland first because they had fewer rides that interested us. We weren’t real sure what the unifying theme was for this park but there were sections associated with the American west, surf culture, Nickelodeon, Australian animals, and tigers. Upon entering we were greeted with a sign indicating that one of the roller coasters, the Tower of Terror, would not be running that day so that was a bummer. Scratching that, we headed to their second biggest coaster, Cyclone, which interestingly was moved to Dreamland from Luna Park Sydney.

Cyclone is a steel coaster that after several twists and turns, goes upside down twice for the big finish. The loading operation of only running one train, only using one side of the station for loading and unloading meant that the line for this moved pretty slow – even first thing in the morning. The ride itself was pretty rough and uneventful as well. Once was enough.

We then walked over to their motorcycle themed coaster which had cars that you rode in like a motorcycle. The restraint closed over your back as you hunched over the handlebars. It then launched the train into a series of high speed figure eights. It was a bit short but a lot of fun and was the best ride we rode at Dreamland. We debated on riding again but decided to continue riding other rides instead.

We also rode their family friendly coaster, Runaway Reptar which was tame although it had a few speedy bits. Then I rode (and Kirsten declined to ride) the Giant Drop which is attached to the side of the Tower of Terror and uses the same structure. The Giant Drop is one of the tallest freefall rides in the world and it hoists you up in a chair with your feet dangling to a height of 390 feet before letting you fall back to earth. At the bottom a set of powerful magnets bring you to a smooth stop. Yay technology! The view from the top was pretty incredible and once I brought myself to actually look around I could see the tall towers of Surfers Paradise along the coast off in the distance. The drop itself was a hoot and lasted a good long time.

I also wanted to try to get on the log ride but after standing in line for a bit and barely moving, we gave up and made a run through the Australian animal exhibits and saw the tigers doing tigerly things. We got to see a couple of cassowaries, dingoes, saltwater crocodiles (they are so freakin big), and wombats. Kirsten found a Tasmanian devil although I missed it. They also had a petting area for kangaroos. The one that I was scratching seemed pretty happy until some Japanese tourist came up and yanked his ears. I hope something bit him later. And if something hasn’t, I hope something will. The park was also overrun with ibis and little water dragons (lizards).

After that we left Dreamworld and caught the first bus over to Warner Brothers Movie World which is themed like a movie studio park such as Universal Studios. The rides here approach Disney in their thematic level with the notable exception of the Lethal Weapon roller coaster which was so brutal it may possibly be the worst I’ve ridden. Fortunately Kirsten did not ride because she has me to warn her of these things. I knew it would be rough but not that rough!

The other two big coasters were a lot more fun though. Scooby Doo’s Spooky Coaster was an indoor coaster that had a lot of great surprise drops and turns and may have been our favorite coaster of the trip. Superman Escape is a very high speed coaster that is themed to a subway system that becomes trapped underground due to an earthquake – the ride actually does have a long twisting tunnel at the beginning past subway stations that are collapsing around you. Finally you stop and Superman shoves you out of the ground and straight into the sky and then takes you on a short, but very speedy whirlwind tour of the front entrance of the park. Superman was Kirsten’s 100th coaster and her favorite part were the Pocket Police who made darn sure that there was absolutely nothing in your pockets (note: this is sarcasm - she was actually very cranky, annoyed, and swore to never ride it again). They had a person standing at the end of the line assigning seats and having everyone turn their pockets inside out out. Nothing may go on, not even if your pockets button, snap, zip, or weld shut, you cannot bring anything aboard, not even tissues or pocket lint.

After the coasters we also rode the Looney Tunes River Adventure which involves leaving Australia and going to Hollywood and then going back to Australia in the ride. It was tricky logic to follow but a fun ride with a little twisty slide at the end. The Road Runner Roller Coaster was their family friendly coaster which was very similar to the one at Dreamworld. The Wild West Falls, which was a very well done log ride with a huge drop out of a very tall Disney style mountain, and a float through a ghost town. The detailing on this ride was really well done, as was the detailing on the next ride, the Batman Adventure. This was a simulator style ride where we piloted hovercrafts and engaged in aerial battle with Batman and Batgirl against the Joker, Catwoman, and Mr. Freeze. The ride itself was standard fare but the preshows in Bruce Wayne’s library and down in the Batcave were very well done.

Finally we capped our day with two additional rides on Scooby Doo and Superman and took in the Shrek in 4D movie. Shrek was an excellent show and all the 3D and 4D effects (tactile effects such as spraying water, puffs of air, seat cushion buzzers, etc, to enhance the movie) were well done. All in all it was a very fun day and Movie World more than made up for Dreamworld’s disappointments.

After the park closed and we caught the long train ride back to Brisbane we decided to head to Verve again for dinner because it was so good and we didn’t feel like doing any additional walking around. They did not disappoint either.

Tomorrow we catch the early flight to Wellington, New Zealand where we have a rental car waiting. Yep, wrong side of the road driving for us. I’m nervous but that seems silly, right? I mean, just last week I was jumping off huge slippery rocks into a river potentially teeming with saltwater crocodiles. Driving on the left should be a cinch. Knock on wood. . . .

Day 11: The rain in Brisbane falls mostly on our manes

Not much action today because it was another travel day; this time from Sydney to Brisbane which is our last Australian stop. The trains and planes were uneventful if not expensive. It seems that in Australia it costs around $15 to get downtown from the airport no matter which city you’re flying into. In Sydney and Brisbane the trains run out to the airport and the process is pretty easy. Melbourne and Cairns has bus service and it’s a bit tougher and requires some pre-arrangement – hence all the cab travel there.

Anyhow, Brisbane is quite different than the other three cities we’ve traveled to in that it doesn’t seem to be a tourist spot. Aside from the train from the airport things have been noticeably cheaper and the pace much less frenetic. It seems to be a sleepy Midwestern city to the vibrant Sydney and Melbourne which both have a much busier feel. It probably has a lot to do with all the tourists heading south to the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise rather than staying in Brisbane proper.

After settling in at our swank hotel The Portal, we took a late afternoon/early evening stroll. Since it is only spring here, the sun sets early so it’s dark by 5:30 or 6. We first strolled along the Brisbane River along a walkway that was quite popular with joggers and bikers and had lots of little cafes and bars along the way. We ended up eating at a place called The Verve which was a new age-y Italian place in the basement of some office building. It was actually quite nice and cozy with all exposed brick and dark lighting. The food was great, we hadn’t had food this good since that Mexican place in Melbourne, and it may have even been better than that! I had a chicken and bleu cheese risotto and Kirsten had a chicken and goat cheese gnocchi. Excellent. It also may have been the cheapest meal we’ve eaten this whole time that wasn’t fast food. Australia has a minimum wage of about $15/hour and it really drives the prices up in the service industry. But you can’t complain too much because at least the workers are actually making a living wage.

Then we walked outside and got across the street before the sky opened up without warning and began raining in a torrential fashion so we ducked into a Belgian Beer Garden to keep dry. This was a very nice bar, quite affordable, and very spacious. After a beer apiece and after the rain had passed we continued walking down to the historic end of Brisbane. As I walked past the old parliamentary buildings and rowhouses I got to wondering how much of this was around when my Grandpa spent time here during World War II. Something to ask him when I get home.

At one point we left downtown and walked onto a university campus that wasn’t on our maps, but directly across from the campus was the botanical gardens. Now, because it’s well after dark at this point we got treated to some nocturnal life that seemed completely uninteresting to all the students leaving their night classes but was very interesting to us. We first saw some sort of marsupial climbing around on the trees with a youngster attached to her back. She eventually made her way down to the ground and walked along the path completely oblivious to the college students who were likewise oblivious to her. Basically I think we saw the Australian equivalent of a squirrel. But it was exciting! [update: later we discovered that these were possums - which are not the same as American opossums.]

But even better than that, the botanical gardens also has a LOT of flying foxes. We stood under the trees watching them flapping around from limb to limb and out over the park, squawking at each other, and generally being exciting to us (again, the college students didn’t care) for at least a half hour. Flying foxes are the world’s largest bats and as the name implies they look remarkably similar to foxes with reddish fur on their heads and distinctly canine faces and their wingspans looked like they were around five feet. They eat fruit and see quite well because they don’t rely on echolocation. It was amazing watching them fly overhead because they’re SO big and watching as they crashed into the trees as they landed because they’re SO big! Graceful and birdlike they are not but they are ridiculously cute and I want one.

So that was all very very exciting to us and we walked back to The Portal and found that we had paid the price as our shoes were just caked with bat poop. So we washed our shoes off and cleaned out our treads with a q-tip and ended up plugging up the sink with poop which we had to clear out and dump into the toilet. There are still lots of little undigested seeds all over the bathroom that just sort of went everywhere. Maybe now I don’t want one so bad. Perhaps just a plush toy version would suffice.

Day 10: Road Weary

Well it happened one day earlier than we wanted it to. We were hoping that tomorrow would be the resting day. We would arrive in Brisbane in the early afternoon and have the rest of the day to vegetate and rest up but we didn’t make it.

The morning started productively enough with some laundry being done for the second half of the trip and then we headed off to Luna Park to ride the rides we didn’t get to do last night. This time we took the train over the Harbor Bridge rather than walking it and it was much faster.

Luna Park was fun. The views of the bridge, the opera house, and the skyline are great and the atmosphere is really wonderful. It’s a great caricature of the Coney Island of old which it was always emulating. We rode the Wild Mouse first, my 211th and Kirsten’s 95th. It was fun and one of only a few left in the world that are made of wood. The cars were placed high up on their suspensions and would tilt outward a little on each hairpin curve but aside from that it was a pretty standard wild mouse. From there we went into their funhouse appropriately named Coney Island. In it they had the usual funhouse gags like a mirror maze, shifting floors, a rotating barrel, and some very steep slides that you rode down on in a sack. They also had a social mixer, or a joy wheel which basically acts as a centrifuge and riders sit on the wheel and the wheel rotates at greater and greater speeds and throws riders off and into the padded walls that ring the wheel until there is only one left. I’m not sure what usual operations are like but kids had taken over on this one today and we didn’t dare try to bully our fat American selves onto it. I’ve seen videos of them running with adults on them though and they look like a rough and tumble (and completely fun) time.

We also rode the ferris wheel with a twerpy little kid who ran ahead of us as we were getting onto the gondola and jumped in. The ride operators were as befuddled as we were but sent the three of us along even though we made it clear that he was not our child. Kirsten was annoyed and I just ignored him. He just ignored us too and instead shouted down to his PaPAA! PaPAA! The entire ride. I don’t know if they necessarily knew he was up there either.

After Luna we took the ferry back to Circular Quay and that’s when we unraveled. We poked around in the Rocks some more with every intention of heading back to the Quay and catching one of the ferries that left for Manly Beach and walking around in the Botanical Gardens looking for the flying foxes. We even canceled our dinner reservations for a steak place that night after getting hamburgers and deciding we needed a break from eating out. So instead of doing all of that and getting a feel for Sydney outside of the downtown area we found a supermarket and bought a kangaroo steak and a bottle of wine and took it back to the hotel to cook in our kitchenette. The kangaroo is a little gamey and tastes very similar to venison. Good, but not the best steak I’ve had. Very tough though, you’re gonna need some jaw muscles to chew it up. Kirsten would like to note this may also be her fault since it was her first time cooking kangaroo and may not have done the best job but I think it turned out just fine.

Tomorrow we leave for Brisbane and what was supposed to be our resting day. We’ll see if we stick to that or if we find something to do while we’re there. We definitely have to surrender to Greater Sydney though; we’ll have to save any outer activities for a different visit far in the future.

Day 9: Introduction to Sydney 101

Ah Sydney, you’re a somewhat familiar face, with your Opera House and your Harbor Bridge. We sort of slept in and got a late start this morning but eventually we got out the door of our hotel, Napoleon on Kent. It’s called that because it’s on Kent Street and it’s short, squat, and lurks under the freeway, just like Napoleon.

We had our usual breakfast of champions in the hotel but wanted to get an early lunch before our afternoon activity. So we walked up to an area called the Rocks which is under the downtown approaches to the Harbor Bridge. This is the original Sydney settlement and it’s called the Rocks because the buildings and streets are built on terraces hewn out of the rock. Like I said, Sydney is hilly. We ended up at the Baker’s Oven where we both opted for a second breakfast. It was filling but not exactly tasty. Kirsten’s bacon was the best part of the meal. Oh and the two tropical birds that were hanging around looking for handouts. We walked around in the Rocks for a bit after eating and wandered through a little market that was going on before we walked around the inner harbor to the Sydney Opera House where we had tickets to today’s matinee performance. What did we see?

We saw the Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform the music of Star Trek (and 2001 and Transformers). It was incredibly nerdy and incredibly fun! And what better way to see the Opera House than to see a show there. Although technically we were in the concert hall and not the opera theater but what are ya gonna do?

The Opera House is beautiful and very small. It looks enormous on the outside but that’s all vertical space. The actual auditoriums are tiny. I was surprised that for the interior, the architecture has held up well and is not showing its age and overall, the place has been very well maintained. Interestingly, the shells on the outside lose their delicate appearance when viewed up close. They’re made of thick tiles overlaid on a very serious concrete structure.

After the show we walked around the downtown area a bit stopping in the two Victorian arcades they have here, the Strand, and the Queen Victoria Building which was the better of the two. We actually managed to do a little shopping while we were there too.

After we dropped off our loot at the hotel and changed clothes for the chilly evening temperatures, we headed out to Cockle Bay (or Darling Harbor – it seems to have two names) for a dinner at a Malaysian place with good reviews called Chinta Ria. It was pretty good, but we’re getting a bit tired of Asian food. We’re going to try to track down an Australian place tomorrow night although they’re surprisingly difficult to find.

After dinner we walked over the Harbor Bridge to Luna Park, which is the local amusement park. Along the way we saw that Sydneysiders seem to prefer the 80s miniskirt as the eveningwear of choice and are already pretty blasted at 8:30. Perhaps it’s the young drinking age, but holy underwear, I haven’t seen this many young drunks since tailgating in college. Anyway, Luna Park is located in North Sydney and we mistimed the walk and got there too late to actually ride anything but the lights were very pretty and we ended the evening watching some fireworks that were going off across the harbor at the Opera House. We’ll go back again tomorrow to ride the rides and this time we’ll take the train rather than do the long walk again.

Day 8: North to South

Not a whole lot to report here from Sydney. Today was a travel day and in the order that we did things, here we go:

Woke up, Kirsten is feeling almost recovered.

Walked down to the beach for one last opportunity to soak it all in before we take the Greyhound back to Cairns.

Riding in the greyhound I had my forehead pressed against the window hoping for a glimpse of the elusive cassowary and just as we were leaving the state park that surrounds Mission Beach I saw one walking along a path leading into the forest! It was very pretty and exciting! I clapped my hands.

I also saw an emu standing in someone’s driveway.

Cairns is a tourist trap and we’re glad we didn’t stay there. My ravioli at Pasta Fasta was pretty good though but I burned the heck out of my tongue on Kirsten’s soup. And the nice European lady at the Didgeridoo Hut showed me how to play a Didge. The circular breathing is very tough. But yeah, Cairns is like Miami.

Burger King tastes a little better here than back in the states. Although here he has been stripped of his royalty and is known as Hungry Jack. Who knew that the Burger King’s name was Jack. King Jack to us Americans!

Virgin Blue is only mildly better than Jet Star. Nothing at all like Virgin Atlantic.

We’re glad to be in Sydney, it’s hilly! We will do laundry here and many other fun things, starting tomorrow.

Day 7: My Solo Voyage

Sometime between the excitement of the reef and this morning, Kirsten came down with some sort of stomach bug that had her unable to participate in today’s rafting. Fortunately it was probably the choice day to get sick as the rafting, while very cool, paled in comparison to the reef or even to the Road tour a few days ago.

So I set off on my own to join Raging Thunder’s Xtreme Team of morning rafters on the Tully River. The guidebooks say that it’s the best guided rafting in Australia and possibly the southern hemisphere. They also all consistently said that the Xtreme tour was worth the extra few dollars as you are able to get ahead of the rest of the tour groups and get to participate in a few side activities. More on that later. Once again I was the token American, although there was a solo Canadian from Vancouver also on the Xtreme tour. I didn’t get the nationalities of the other two rafts but mine consisted of two Frenchmen, two Aussies, myself, and our guide, Mauricio, a self-proclaimed Patagonian. In my ignorance I don’t recall which part of South America that’s in, Chile or Argentina. Something to look up when I get home.

The bus ride out to the launching point was a trifle alarming. The guides put on a ruse about how they were the worst rafters and that’s why they were put in charge of the Xtreme team, because they were so bad (and dangerous). That’s fine, I can go for that kind of ghost story around the campfire stuff, but when they started talking about the saltwater crocodiles, I started to get some apprehension going. They pointed out the warning signs posted along the road warning about estuarine crocodiles being present and said that while they had only seen them a handful of times, they did seem attracted to the rafts and new exactly how to flip them over. Moreover, they didn’t have a plan on how to deal with them other than not to be the last person to shore. Ha. That’s a riot. Suddenly I was a little glad Kirsten was back at the hotel and I had to remind myself that if it was too dangerous, these guys wouldn’t be doing it.

I had been whitewater rafting before in Tennessee with my Dad and sister 14 years ago on the Ocoee River – the same river they used for the rafting competitions in the 1996 Olympics so naturally I would be comparing the two experiences. We got in our rafts and paddled around a bit and got familiar with Mauricio’s commands. Forward, Stop, Backpaddle were all pretty easy. We also mastered Hang On which meant grabbing the oh no ropes and ducking into the raft as well as the Jump Up and Down command which involved a lot of bouncing in place to get us over rocks that had beached us. The command instructing us to move around on the raft such as to the right or left or front or to squat down on the floor proved a little tougher but we managed.

Then we were off. The rapids came at a pretty relaxed pace with just a bit of paddling to get us into position for each one. The stretches in between were either placid pools or gentle rapids require no paddling. It was actually pretty relaxing compared to the furious paddling we were constantly doing on the Ocoee. It gave me ample time to enjoy the scenery. The river started out in a normal forest but descended into a rain forest. At times we were going through deep canyons that seemed to be hewn out of one solid black rock. I think I read somewhere that this was all basalt. Whatever kind of rock it was it was very impressive. The greenery was very pretty and impressive as it towered above us. We coasted along like this with a few points where the guides invited us to jump off boulders into deep pools and to shoot the rapids on our backs relying on our lifevests to keep us afloat. The first half concluded with a dip under a waterfall before we stopped for a hamburger and hot dog lunch on the banks. Australians like to eat their burgers with beets and carrots.

The second half of the day was similar to the first with the exception of a few water dragon sightings. They look like iguanas so anytime a city boy like myself sees a big ol lizard is pretty exciting! So it was a fun trip and the rain forest was stunning – even when it rained. All things considered though, I think I would have rather had a second day on the reef. Thankfully no crocodiles were seen.

Later that evening when I was out running errands for my sick wife I walked along the beach for a bit and saw some Bluebottles, or Portuguese Man-o-War jellyfish washed up. They are such a vivid shade of blue they look like party streamers attached to a tiny bubble of cling wrap. I’m glad we never went swimming as they have a very nasty sting.

Day 6: Cuttlefish, stingray, and shark, oh my!

Swimming at the Great Barrier Reef is like visiting a different planet.  Everything is perfectly normal until you put your eyes underwater.  One second you see the sky and the boat and other people on the boat and the next your eyeball to eyeballs with a school of fish.  And beyond that is another school.  And beyond that another.  And beyond that is the reef itself.  It was like being in the tank at the best aquarium in the world – although I suppose that is exactly what the ocean is.

We went with Calypso Diving which is a snorkeling and scuba outfit here in Mission Beach.  Since this is the low season we were only with 18 other people including the crew.  There was one other American couple from Chicago and the rest were German, Japanese, and Australian tourists and was pretty evenly split between the snorkelers and the scuba divers.  The reef is actually quite far out in the ocean and when we reached their selected location we could not see any land.  They gave us snorkelers a few instructions.  The best coral is over there, the best fish are over there.  Don’t go over there because that’s all dead coral.  Don’t go out to where the waves are (an impossible distance), and DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!  Alright, now off you go.

So that’s how we came to find ourselves with our first shocking encounter with the invisible ocean world just underneath the surface.  We decided to check out the coral first since the tide was going out and Nigel, the instructor, said it can get tight over there.  Now we had heard from other sources that took reef tours that left from the regional capital of Cairns (pronounced “cans”) that when you snorkel the reef it is still a good 20-40 feet down and the only way you can get closer is to scuba dive.  That was not the case here.  The coral here was so shallow that we really had to flatten our bodies against the surface of the water to get by in some stretches.  Some people didn’t make it and came back to the boat with scratches from the coral which looks soft and fluffy but is actually razor sharp.  It went on and on for as far as we could see and we swam pretty far out from the boat.  And it’s so pretty!  We saw so many different varieties of coral and sponges and anemones and starfish and sea cucumbers and giant clams, as well as millions of tiny little reef fish and a cuttlefish.

After an hour or so out over the reef we swam back to the boat for a sandwich and pasta salad lunch provided by the outfit.  We ate, we swapped stories, we reapplied sunscreen, and then we jumped right back in.  This time we decided to go check out where the fish were which was along the reef wall as it descended into the lagoon we were calling base.  The lagoon itself was probably 60 feet deep and had a sandy bottom so there was a lot to see.  The fish over there were a lot bigger.  The funny thing was though that the bigger fish were more skittish and kept a wary eye on us as we swam by while the schools of smaller fish were very curious.  There were times when I would be completely enveloped in small fish, many of them peering into my goggles.  These were not your run of the mill, brainless goldfish!

Kirsten and I would drift apart and then come back together again before drifting off again.  It was during one of these apart phases where I watched a line of larger fish getting a tune-up from the little surgeonfish that clean off their dead scales and such.  Some were even allowing the fish to swim into their gills and their mouths!  I swam back to find Kirsten and we both burst excitedly into the air.

“I saw a shark!”

“I saw a. . . wait, what?”

“I saw a reef shark, it was like three feet long and it was just swimming by!”

“Awesome!”

“Yeah!  What’d you see?

“Um. . . some fish getting cleaned by other fish.”

“Oh that’s neat too.”

“Yeah.”

But then later I saw a huge stingray rise up from the lagoon floor and flap along until it found another resting spot where it promptly covered itself up with sand and disappeared.

It was an absolutely amazing day and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  The whitewater rafting has some big shoes to fill if it wants to keep up with the Great Ocean Road and the Great Barrier Reef!  We’ll give you the lowdown on Raging Thunder, tomorrow, same bat time same bat channel.  Sponsored by: Kellogg’s Nutri Grain cereal.  Once you try you won’t be able to live without it!  And by Vegemite, it’s like putting concentrated beer spread on your toast!  You’ll learn to like it, young whelp!

Day 5: It Gets Better

4:30 is just way too early. Not only is it an ungodly hour, it is too early for hot water, breakfast, and public transportation as well apparently. We were forced to take an early morning flight to Cairns in order to catch the Greyhound buses leaving for Mission Beach which is our next stop. This is ending up being an expensive day. Since the buses weren’t leaving we had to get a cab to the airport ($70) and our flight to Cairns was about Jet Star which despite its slick logo and attractive flight attendants, is the same as the nickel and diming Spirit Airlines in the US.

My tone is cranky because we were told at the gate that our backpacks were too large to fit in the overhead bins and we would be charged $80 each to check them. Nice. I could fit one of these many three year old children whose parents are allowing them to run up and down the aisles playing tag or something while we are in midair into the overhead bins with no problem. Every five or ten minutes or so one of them trips and faceplants and then screaming ensues. After that the cycle begins again. Nevermind the five dollar drink, when do we land!?

Okay so we landed and disembarked through the very strange Cairns airport campus. The building containing the jetways was separate from the building where the passengers wait which is separate from the arrivals hall which is separate from the baggage claim. And by separate I mean we had to go outside and walk around on pathways. Welcome to the University of Cairns International Airport! But once we got our bags and caught our taxi to the center of Cairns and were seated aboard the Greyhound bus I finally felt the grumpiness start to lift. And after an hour and a half of driving through corn and banana farms (yeah I didn’t know they could co-exist either) we arrived at Mission Beach.

Mission Beach is, as advertised, a very sleepy little beach town. Actually a lot sleepier and rural than we were expecting. We were kind of expecting a little beach town nestled on a few blocks between the beach and the rainforest sort of like what can be found on the Lake Michigan coast (minus the rainforest) or even like the coastal towns we drove through yesterday. Mission Beach is much more rural – more like what I imagine coastal Maine would be like – as in, there isn’t hardly anyone there! But no matter, we went and checked into our hotel, the aging but beautiful Mission Beach Resort that is a throwback to the Motor Lodges of the 1950s. Our room opens up into a private patio on a grassy common area with a natural rock swimming pool/hot tub as a centerpiece. Coconut palms are everywhere!

After getting settled and doing some grocery shopping we walked down to the beach which was a little bit of a hike but not bad at all and it was through a quiet neighborhood. The beach is tremendous. It stretches in both directions as far as you can see and there are maybe 20 people in sight. The water is warmer than the air which is breezy, the waves are gentle. Bali Hai is off across the bay in the distance. Actually it’s called Dunk Island but when I first saw it I immediately thought of the musical, South Pacific. Bali Hai, my special island. . . .

We walked along the beach barefoot through the gentle surf until we reached the next little neighborhood where we got dinner at some Greek/Malaysian place that was just alright. But the people were very friendly and there was a cat named Sookie who kept us company while we waited.

There are also a lot of birds here! The owner of the restaurant pointed out to us the butcher birds that were making a huge racket. We heard something that sounded like a monkey laughing. I think it’s a laughing kookaburra because I just love to say “kookaburra.” We also saw what looked like a curlew? Gonna have to check the books on that one. No cassowaries yet though even though we are apparently in the thick of their habitat, which is exciting since they are supposedly more rare than giant pandas or Bengal tigers. We’ll keep our eyes peeled.

A great finish to a stinky beginning. I guess that evens out to a good day, right? So tomorrow, let’s see what this Great Barrier Reef is all about.

Day 4: Wow! Just wow!

Today we woke up bright and early for an all day bus tour of the Great Ocean Road.  If you ever find yourselves in Melbourne, make sure you schedule in a day for this, it is absolutely phenomenal and is easily the best thing I have ever done on any vacation to date.  We went with Go West tours who came highly recommended and were environmentally minded (carbon offsets and all that) but it seemed that there were many other tour groups that stopped at all the same places.  We can say that Go West did provide a solid tour though and we highly recommend them.  Our group was limited to twenty passengers and the driver, Stu, was very engaging and humorous and had a very thoughtfully picked out soundtrack that he played over his ipod.  Also thoughtful, was the fact that they handed out foreign language translations on ipods to the non-english speakers on our tour.

A little background, the Great Ocean Road is similar to the Pacific Coast Highway in California in that it runs along the very dramatic coast of the Tasman Sea and the Southern Ocean in the Australian state of Victoria.  It was built by returning veterans of World War I and then continued as a sort of WPA type job during the Great Depression years of Australia’s history.  If I remember right, it was finished in 1939 and essentially links Melbourne and Adelaide.  Since then, more efficient roads have been developed and this one is relegated to the tourists now.

Leaving Melbourne you actually have to drive a ways down to Torquay and through the city of Geelong which is home to the Australian Ford factory.  It was surprising to see that they are still manufacturing cars in an Albert Kahn era factory rather than a modern plant.  But anyway, the first stop was Bell’s Beach which is famous for its surfing and annual surfing championships.  Even though it’s winter down here and the sea was a nipply 10 degrees Celsius, there were still quite a few surfers.  The scenery was spectacular both on the beach and in the parking lot as several surfers changed into and out of their wetsuits right in the parking lot.  Modesty is not so much in the lingo I suppose but the tourists were all agog!

From here the road hugged the coast which got progressively more and more impressive.  The hills started out rolling but soon became mountains draped with greenery and the road cut its way along the side at times high up on a cliff and other times down at beach level.  At one point we began chasing an intensely bright and sharp rainbow for at least 20 miles that, depending where we were facing on the road, seemed to hover a couple miles ahead to just a few hundred feet in front of us.  In these close encounters, everyone was straining to see if the end of the rainbow perhaps really did exist.

In the hour and half before lunch it’s hard to remember what order things came at us, but in this short span of time we witnessed a whale playing out in the surf doing somersaults and backflops and spouting away in the waves.  We drove through a eucalyptus forest where we saw several koalas hanging out  in the trees.  We stopped at a roadside dinner where colorful tropical parrots had congregated and alighted on our arms, heads, and hands expecting to be fed birdseed.

Giddy with our experiences we stopped for lunch in Apollo Bay – a charming village stretched out along the road alongside a crescent beach framed by two forested headlands.  We ate at a little sandwich shop called Nautigals.  It’s a pun, get it? Nauticals?  Naughty Gals?  Funny right?  Forget it, I’m telling a story here.  We had very tasty foccacia bread sandwiches and then walked down to a little bakery and bought a large cupcake that would cause most cupcake crazed New Yorkers to keel over in a heap, i.e. it was really really good.

After Apollo Bay, the road turned inland into the Great Otways Forest which started out as a eucalyptus forest but soon became a cold temperature rainforest.  We got out and took a half hour hike down into the thick of it and marveled over how the landscape kept changing so fast as we drove along.  Little did we know. . . .

After the hike we had about an hour’s drive through the rest of the Great Otways Forest and then past rural Victoria which is almost completely used as grazing land for sheep and cattle.  When the road reacquainted itself with the coast the topography had changed dramatically.  Instead of rolling mountains, we were now driving through desert scrubland which terminated in an unbroken line of sheer limestone cliffs that dropped 500 feet or more down to the ocean below which crashed and churned with more fury than we have ever seen.  At times the waves would break against the cliffs with such force that the spray would reach halfway up the cliff face.  The name Shipwreck Coast seemed to be well deserved.

We stopped at three locations along this stretch of coast that were named, in a national park sort of way, for their sculptural appearances.  The Twelve Apostles were a group of rock sentinels standing out in the ocean that had been separated from the rest of the land by being stronger than the surrounding limestone and eroding at slower rate.  There were many more than twelve and they extended for miles in each direction down the coast.  We were able to walk along a boardwalk at the top of the cliff and look out at the Apostles and watch the waves and feel the wind.  At this point the island of Tasmania was no longer forming a protective barrier and these winds were coming across thousands of miles of unbroken ocean from Antarctica – and they felt like it too!

The Loch Ard Gorge was named for a ship that sank near it called the Loch Ard and featured a fjord-like gorge that was shaped like a funnel with the narrow end being the entrance to the sea.  The water blasting through that opening was unbelievably violent.  We took stairs down to the beach in the mouth of the funnel from the top of the cliff and sat and watched.

Finally, we stopped at a location called London Bridge which looked very uncannily like the London Bridge with its series of natural arches but today only one of these arches remain as the others collapsed in the early 1990s.  It was a very spectacular sight as well and was the perfect way to end the tour.  From there we turned into the interior of Victoria and drove for about an hour past the cattle and sheep ranges to the town of Colac where we stopped for a quick fast food dinner.  Asian again, Kirsten liked hers better than I liked mine.  We returned to Melbourne at about nine that evening and were dropped off at our hotel.

Tomorrow is a travel day and we have to catch a 7:30 flight to Cairns.  It’s going to be a very early morning.

(Again, I think we are behind on the photos, check back later on for those).