New Zealand is AMAZING. Absolutely pristine and exquisite. It's not hard to see why they chose it as the location for shooting Lord of the Rings - it has an almost other-worldly beauty and looks untouched except for an unobtrusive 2-lane road that you're on. We've seen so many gorgeous things just from the bus, but also yesterday did an hour-long walk around Lake Matheson that was absolutely gorgeous, and this morning some of us did a 3-hour hike up to, around, and back down from a glacier. I had, as my mother likes to say, put on ALL of my clothes since most of what I have is geared more towards an Australian summer than a New Zealand autumn (winter - it is COLD here). At one point I was wearing a t-shirt, long sleeved shirt, hooded sweatshirt, fleece and windbreaker, with a baseball cap and the hood of the sweatshirt tied over it. My hands and face were still cold, but at least my calves and feet were cozy from the huge woolen socks and thick heavy hiking boots they made us wear! One of my fellow tourists was kind enough to take a photo of me inside an ice cave and has promised to send it to me, so that was nice.
The people who didn't go on the hike did the heli-hike, which was a short helicopter ride up to a little further up on the glacier, an hour of wandering about, and then a helicopter ride down. I liked the full hike, even though my feet and ankles had taken a beating by the time I got back down to the bus. It's a unique environment in which a glacier lives peacefully alongside a temperate rainforest (read: BEAUTIFUL walk up - we walked through streams from waterfalls and wooded hillsides on either side of the glacier). I was also surprised to see moving water on the glacier, through cracks. Gorgeous.
Tomorrow's main activity will be hang gliding for me (other options are bungee jumping and sky diving and horseback riding - we're in Queenstown, adrenaline capital of the world where many crazy activities were invented).
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Christchurch, NZ
"I'm losing track of myself
All over time zone lines
And if I daylight save do I jump
Ahead or fall behind?"
~Carbon Leaf, "International Airport" (I thought of this especially when trying to figure out how to call my mom from Sydney after being in Darwin, after daylight savings started, and again trying to get my watch right in Auckland since the plane's handy screen told me something different than the pilot did about local time. But I digress.)
Christchurch reminds me very much of Krakow. I'm staying just off Cathedral Square which, not surprisingly, has a big cathedral in it, just like the town square in Krakow. I exited the hostel, passed a random film screening in the square and headed towards the beautiful sunset, and promptly got lost. I was just exploring though, so it was okay. I managed to find an ATM, dinner (take-away sushi that seemed to have mayonnaise in it? ew) and tomorrow's breakfast and then really couldn't find the square again. So I just retraced my steps. After eating the sushi and watching the film (which turned out to be The Eleventh Hour, interestingly) and a brief dip back at the hostel to drop off breakfast, I reoriented myself and found out I was irritatingly close to both the square and the hostel when I had turned back! But that made it much easier for the second, shorter wandering, so that's good. Christchurch is also very similar to Australia, same brands of many things, same expressions, etc, so it's easy to see how there are very fluid borders between the two.
Hmm, Sydney. Sydney was good. I had a smashing good time staying with my friend Adina. Too many stories to share, but most of the errands got done. Except for the camera - still MIA. When Adina gets it, she will send it on to me... so no photos of NZ for the moment. Fingers crossed for making friends on the tour, which starts tomorrow! The kids on the first tour were so nice, taking photos and being my friends on Facebook so I can snatch them off there once I'm home and share them with you.
I did get up at 4:30 to get the sketcho shuttle to the airport and, instead of sleeping on the plane like a rational human being, I watched Juno :) - so now I'm VERY sleepy and am getting up early again tomorrow, so I say it's officially bedtime! Ooh, but first, trivia! I'm going to give Adina an honorary congrats, since it shows she knows something about American history (she answered it in person :P). The answer was indeed Lewis and Clark - Burke and Wills were infamous ill-fated explorers of Australia's interior.
Ok, new trivia: About how many miles is New Zealand from Australia?
a) 300
b) 800
c) 1400
d) 2000
e) New Zealand is in Australia
All over time zone lines
And if I daylight save do I jump
Ahead or fall behind?"
~Carbon Leaf, "International Airport" (I thought of this especially when trying to figure out how to call my mom from Sydney after being in Darwin, after daylight savings started, and again trying to get my watch right in Auckland since the plane's handy screen told me something different than the pilot did about local time. But I digress.)
Christchurch reminds me very much of Krakow. I'm staying just off Cathedral Square which, not surprisingly, has a big cathedral in it, just like the town square in Krakow. I exited the hostel, passed a random film screening in the square and headed towards the beautiful sunset, and promptly got lost. I was just exploring though, so it was okay. I managed to find an ATM, dinner (take-away sushi that seemed to have mayonnaise in it? ew) and tomorrow's breakfast and then really couldn't find the square again. So I just retraced my steps. After eating the sushi and watching the film (which turned out to be The Eleventh Hour, interestingly) and a brief dip back at the hostel to drop off breakfast, I reoriented myself and found out I was irritatingly close to both the square and the hostel when I had turned back! But that made it much easier for the second, shorter wandering, so that's good. Christchurch is also very similar to Australia, same brands of many things, same expressions, etc, so it's easy to see how there are very fluid borders between the two.
Hmm, Sydney. Sydney was good. I had a smashing good time staying with my friend Adina. Too many stories to share, but most of the errands got done. Except for the camera - still MIA. When Adina gets it, she will send it on to me... so no photos of NZ for the moment. Fingers crossed for making friends on the tour, which starts tomorrow! The kids on the first tour were so nice, taking photos and being my friends on Facebook so I can snatch them off there once I'm home and share them with you.
I did get up at 4:30 to get the sketcho shuttle to the airport and, instead of sleeping on the plane like a rational human being, I watched Juno :) - so now I'm VERY sleepy and am getting up early again tomorrow, so I say it's officially bedtime! Ooh, but first, trivia! I'm going to give Adina an honorary congrats, since it shows she knows something about American history (she answered it in person :P). The answer was indeed Lewis and Clark - Burke and Wills were infamous ill-fated explorers of Australia's interior.
Ok, new trivia: About how many miles is New Zealand from Australia?
a) 300
b) 800
c) 1400
d) 2000
e) New Zealand is in Australia
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Notes from Sydney
I stepped off the plane in Sydney to a cool, dry, refreshing breeze - what a change from Darwin! Ok, let's back up. Dinner Tuesday night was indeed crocodile - it was prepared like chicken fingers and tasted a lot like chicken with a little fishy taste to it, and a little tougher, but good. I enjoyed the second half of the trip a lot, especially once the group shrank and gelled. We were one night in Katherine, where we took a river cruise through the Katherine gorges (saw a live crocodile!), and two nights in Kakadu National Park, where we took another cruise, a hike in the rain to see Aboriginal art, and generally took it easy. Some nights Nicky and I hung out with the girls, some nights we hosted poker night for the boys - it was nice to have a girl friend who would play with the boys with me! Also she is my age, where the other girls are younger and the boys are older.
Anyway, then we were in Darwin for a night, and used it as a base on Wednesday, the final day, for our day trip to Litchfield National Park, which was great. Our first stop was the termite mounds, which frankly gross me out so I'm not going to talk about them. Then we got to do the fun stuff, which was swimming and hiking in waterfalls! We took about an hour and all jumped in the pool. There was actually a really strong current so we had to aim for a rock and grip onto it carefully! But the water was cold and clear and felt great. Then we took a 1km hike around the upper part of the river that feeds the waterfall, then back to the bus. We also stopped at another waterfall but couldn't go in because the water levels were so high that crocodiles had been seen there, though we didn't see any. Then lunch, then back on the bus and to Darwin for the official end of the tour.
Luke and Michelle dropped of Jonas, Jens, Phil and me at the hotel we stayed at the night before and where Jonas, Phil and I were storing our bags until our flights out that night and Jens had booked another night. We puttered around a bit, fiddling with our hastily-packed luggage from the morning and gathering things for the afternoon/evening, then headed out to the internet cafes. I finally wandered back to the hotel around 6:30pm, where Jens let us each use his shower before our final group dinner, which was really nice. The girls begged off early and the rest of us killed time at the club until it was time to leave for the airport. Jonas, Phil and I ordered a cab (ah, small-town Darwin) and made tracks. Jonas' flight was right away but Phil and I were both flying through Brisbane about ten minutes apart, on our way to separate destinations, and we were able to keep each other awake until boarding shortly after 1am.
I arrived in Brisbane with precisely five minutes to kill (waiting in the restroom line) before my connecting flight. The good thing about these tiny airports is that it's very easy to have a connecting flight! The second gate was right after the first, and in Adelaide it was the very same gate and plane. Love it. I also got to watch the sunrise during the landing in Brisbane, which made up for being SO completely out of it after 3 hours' sleep! The flight to Sydney was more turbulent but I really couldn't manage to stay awake long enough to get worked up about most of it! I easily found my pal/hostess, the lovely Miss Adina of Miss Adina's Amateur Chauffeur Service, and we made tracks to her house where we laid out a plan for the day. We tackled some of my errands, with varying degrees of success, and took a ferry ride from Watson's Bay to Circular Quay. Now I am SO ready for bed! Fingers crossed that we'll see my camera tomorrow...! It was a lovely day of exploring and I am looking forward to being up for more tomorrow :)
Anyway, then we were in Darwin for a night, and used it as a base on Wednesday, the final day, for our day trip to Litchfield National Park, which was great. Our first stop was the termite mounds, which frankly gross me out so I'm not going to talk about them. Then we got to do the fun stuff, which was swimming and hiking in waterfalls! We took about an hour and all jumped in the pool. There was actually a really strong current so we had to aim for a rock and grip onto it carefully! But the water was cold and clear and felt great. Then we took a 1km hike around the upper part of the river that feeds the waterfall, then back to the bus. We also stopped at another waterfall but couldn't go in because the water levels were so high that crocodiles had been seen there, though we didn't see any. Then lunch, then back on the bus and to Darwin for the official end of the tour.
Luke and Michelle dropped of Jonas, Jens, Phil and me at the hotel we stayed at the night before and where Jonas, Phil and I were storing our bags until our flights out that night and Jens had booked another night. We puttered around a bit, fiddling with our hastily-packed luggage from the morning and gathering things for the afternoon/evening, then headed out to the internet cafes. I finally wandered back to the hotel around 6:30pm, where Jens let us each use his shower before our final group dinner, which was really nice. The girls begged off early and the rest of us killed time at the club until it was time to leave for the airport. Jonas, Phil and I ordered a cab (ah, small-town Darwin) and made tracks. Jonas' flight was right away but Phil and I were both flying through Brisbane about ten minutes apart, on our way to separate destinations, and we were able to keep each other awake until boarding shortly after 1am.
I arrived in Brisbane with precisely five minutes to kill (waiting in the restroom line) before my connecting flight. The good thing about these tiny airports is that it's very easy to have a connecting flight! The second gate was right after the first, and in Adelaide it was the very same gate and plane. Love it. I also got to watch the sunrise during the landing in Brisbane, which made up for being SO completely out of it after 3 hours' sleep! The flight to Sydney was more turbulent but I really couldn't manage to stay awake long enough to get worked up about most of it! I easily found my pal/hostess, the lovely Miss Adina of Miss Adina's Amateur Chauffeur Service, and we made tracks to her house where we laid out a plan for the day. We tackled some of my errands, with varying degrees of success, and took a ferry ride from Watson's Bay to Circular Quay. Now I am SO ready for bed! Fingers crossed that we'll see my camera tomorrow...! It was a lovely day of exploring and I am looking forward to being up for more tomorrow :)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Up the Track
Yes... with 7 hours of driving per day, you would think we'd see something exciting. Anything, really. What did we see? Lots of kangaroo roadkill. Coupla birds. Termite mounds (seriously - huge and gross). Yep... that's about it. Pretty boring. I did get to ride shotgun/guest DJ a couple of times, and got to talk to Luke, which was fun. It was interesting to watch the countryside change and the trees (and termite mounds) get bigger as we moved into an area with more water.
We stopped one night in the middle of nowhere called Banka Banka for some swag camping and some of the girls made a horror film on their digital camera that they called "The Banka Banka Bloodshed" starring Luke as the Banka Banka Butcher. I also managed to leave my camera behind in one place and it will be sent along to my friend that I'm staying with in Sydney. I'm looking forward to having it back! Needless to say... photos will be delayed... :(
Ok, that's all I have time for. Tonight's dinner is likely going to be crocodile - saw some on the various river cruises we took in the past couple of days! :) One more night in Darwin and then the tour is over and I make my way to Sydney!
We stopped one night in the middle of nowhere called Banka Banka for some swag camping and some of the girls made a horror film on their digital camera that they called "The Banka Banka Bloodshed" starring Luke as the Banka Banka Butcher. I also managed to leave my camera behind in one place and it will be sent along to my friend that I'm staying with in Sydney. I'm looking forward to having it back! Needless to say... photos will be delayed... :(
Ok, that's all I have time for. Tonight's dinner is likely going to be crocodile - saw some on the various river cruises we took in the past couple of days! :) One more night in Darwin and then the tour is over and I make my way to Sydney!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Tour 1, Part 1
aka "There once was a tourist who swallowed a fly..."
The flies here are horrendous! They're not lazy like they are in the US - these buggers want water, and they want it NOW and they don't care if they get it from your sweat, your eyes, your ears, your nose, or your mouth. Most of us have pretty quick reflexes but our tour guide, Luke, definitely swallowed one while giving us a talk.
Moving on... We're back in Alice Springs for a couple of nights. The first four days of this tour are a loop between Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon and back to "the Alice", so we actually had five of our fifteen desert us yesterday. I don't have too much time, so I'll just list off the highlights and do details (and photos, and videos) later: Ayers Rock at sunrise and sunset (and learning about its Aboriginal history), a 3.5 hour "walk" (did I mention Luke is crazy?) up to and then around the rim of Kings Canyon, a sunrise hot-air balloon ride (!!!!! my favorite!), Dinky the Singing (and piano-playing) Dingo, sleeping under the stars at Kings Canyon, playing with a python and his lizard friends (I got some good photos of me and the other kids wearing the python!), and cooling off in hotel pools in the afternoon.
I'm a little surprised we haven't seen any wildlife along the side of the road, or from the balloon. Tomorrow we start our killer trek "up the track" (aka the Stuart Highway). With seven hours of driving per day, we're sure to see something, right? Luckily we have been stopping every hour or two to do whatever touristy thing we come across (there's not too much out here but I'm sure we've done it ALL) so it won't be too horrible ;) We're camping out at Banka Banka tomorrow night and then back in civilization at Katherine.
Trivia: Congrats to Deb - the BBC addiction has paid off!
New Trivia: Famous Australians Burke and Wills can be compared to which two famous Americans?
a) Washington and Jefferson
b) Simon and Garfunkel
c) Franklin and Edison
d) Lewis and Clark
e) Ren and Stimpy
The flies here are horrendous! They're not lazy like they are in the US - these buggers want water, and they want it NOW and they don't care if they get it from your sweat, your eyes, your ears, your nose, or your mouth. Most of us have pretty quick reflexes but our tour guide, Luke, definitely swallowed one while giving us a talk.
Moving on... We're back in Alice Springs for a couple of nights. The first four days of this tour are a loop between Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon and back to "the Alice", so we actually had five of our fifteen desert us yesterday. I don't have too much time, so I'll just list off the highlights and do details (and photos, and videos) later: Ayers Rock at sunrise and sunset (and learning about its Aboriginal history), a 3.5 hour "walk" (did I mention Luke is crazy?) up to and then around the rim of Kings Canyon, a sunrise hot-air balloon ride (!!!!! my favorite!), Dinky the Singing (and piano-playing) Dingo, sleeping under the stars at Kings Canyon, playing with a python and his lizard friends (I got some good photos of me and the other kids wearing the python!), and cooling off in hotel pools in the afternoon.
I'm a little surprised we haven't seen any wildlife along the side of the road, or from the balloon. Tomorrow we start our killer trek "up the track" (aka the Stuart Highway). With seven hours of driving per day, we're sure to see something, right? Luckily we have been stopping every hour or two to do whatever touristy thing we come across (there's not too much out here but I'm sure we've done it ALL) so it won't be too horrible ;) We're camping out at Banka Banka tomorrow night and then back in civilization at Katherine.
Trivia: Congrats to Deb - the BBC addiction has paid off!
New Trivia: Famous Australians Burke and Wills can be compared to which two famous Americans?
a) Washington and Jefferson
b) Simon and Garfunkel
c) Franklin and Edison
d) Lewis and Clark
e) Ren and Stimpy
Friday, March 14, 2008
Melbourne (etc) Photos Up!... later
Disclaimer - internet was not helpful so I didn't upload hardly anything. Sorry...
I am uploading as we speak! It was a bit of a fiasco as apparently cameras and the internet don't play well together (meaning it's a darn good thing I bought that USB drive, even though it's full now and I'll just have to keep deleting stuff - oh well) so it was tough finding a place to get it all done. (I know, doesn't seem like it should be a fiasco, but trust me. It was.)
Anyway, on to funner things: Trivia! Deb wins the prize (and bonus points!), the capital of Australia is Canberra, in the appropriately named Australian Capital Territory, which, like DC, was carved out of two states: New South Wales (where Sydney is) and Victoria (where Melbourne is). Apparently people think you're nuts if you go visit there, as it's quite a boring place, so that's where the similarities end.
So, I haven't come up with a new trivia question, so I'll just pull an "easy" one out of my back pocket and hope that the next time I get to the internet, I'll have learned something new! New trivia question: Who is the Prime Minister of Australia? (Bonus points if you can name the guy who preceeded him.)
Today I basically took it easy, although I did get up early to hike across town and call my mom on Skype (again, a fiasco - don't ask). It's good to have one day to decompress and not be out in the boiling heat. I have no doubt we reached our high of 40C (105F). What a way to kick off the Grand Prix! Hope everyone down there's got plenty of water and sunscreen. We can hear the pre-racing whine all the way at the hostel!
I'm off to bed early tonight for a 5am start tomorrow to get me to the airport for my 8am flight to Alice Springs and the start of my first tour the day after. Fingers crossed for NO fiascos!
I am uploading as we speak! It was a bit of a fiasco as apparently cameras and the internet don't play well together (meaning it's a darn good thing I bought that USB drive, even though it's full now and I'll just have to keep deleting stuff - oh well) so it was tough finding a place to get it all done. (I know, doesn't seem like it should be a fiasco, but trust me. It was.)
Anyway, on to funner things: Trivia! Deb wins the prize (and bonus points!), the capital of Australia is Canberra, in the appropriately named Australian Capital Territory, which, like DC, was carved out of two states: New South Wales (where Sydney is) and Victoria (where Melbourne is). Apparently people think you're nuts if you go visit there, as it's quite a boring place, so that's where the similarities end.
So, I haven't come up with a new trivia question, so I'll just pull an "easy" one out of my back pocket and hope that the next time I get to the internet, I'll have learned something new! New trivia question: Who is the Prime Minister of Australia? (Bonus points if you can name the guy who preceeded him.)
Today I basically took it easy, although I did get up early to hike across town and call my mom on Skype (again, a fiasco - don't ask). It's good to have one day to decompress and not be out in the boiling heat. I have no doubt we reached our high of 40C (105F). What a way to kick off the Grand Prix! Hope everyone down there's got plenty of water and sunscreen. We can hear the pre-racing whine all the way at the hostel!
I'm off to bed early tonight for a 5am start tomorrow to get me to the airport for my 8am flight to Alice Springs and the start of my first tour the day after. Fingers crossed for NO fiascos!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Quickie
Hey all, just a quick little post. The only downside to having free internet vouchers is finding a YHA hostel in the city to use them at! Went on a wild goose chase today so I'm resorting to my own hostel on the opposite side of the city, but hopefully will spend some quality time at the YHA tomorrow, uploading photos.
So what are these photos from, anyway? Sunday evening at this hostel in Melbourne, I met a crew of people who were heading for the Great Ocean Road by rental car the next day, and were gracious enough to give me a seat. It was a great trip and we had fun, despite a MASSIVE bout of what my family likes to call "curvy road disease". But all's well that ended well and I got some great photos of a place I had resigned myself to missing out on.
Tuesday one of those new friends and I hit the town: museums, Federation Square, and Botanical Gardens. It was a good day but I walked my feet off! Yesterday (Wednesday) I was on my own (Becca and Deb, I take it ALL back, I prefer being on my own!!! More on that later) and had a good healthy wander about town on my own. I first met up with the kids at the Melbourne office of the company I worked for in Brisbane, and we had lunch. Then I went to the Sofitel Hotel, whose 35th floor ladies' restroom has a pretty good view of the city (random, I know, but it was recommended by a coworker who used to live in Melbourne). I got a tad turned around in the gorgeous Fitzroy Gardens and finally made it back to the hostel.
Today I also headed off on my own and managed to hit St Kilda (was pretty much unimpressed but did have a lovely raspberry and mango sorbet in an attempt to escape the heat for a bit - it was in the upper 30s today - I think that's over 100F) and sadly that's all I can remember right now - internet time's about to be up! Photos soon~
So what are these photos from, anyway? Sunday evening at this hostel in Melbourne, I met a crew of people who were heading for the Great Ocean Road by rental car the next day, and were gracious enough to give me a seat. It was a great trip and we had fun, despite a MASSIVE bout of what my family likes to call "curvy road disease". But all's well that ended well and I got some great photos of a place I had resigned myself to missing out on.
Tuesday one of those new friends and I hit the town: museums, Federation Square, and Botanical Gardens. It was a good day but I walked my feet off! Yesterday (Wednesday) I was on my own (Becca and Deb, I take it ALL back, I prefer being on my own!!! More on that later) and had a good healthy wander about town on my own. I first met up with the kids at the Melbourne office of the company I worked for in Brisbane, and we had lunch. Then I went to the Sofitel Hotel, whose 35th floor ladies' restroom has a pretty good view of the city (random, I know, but it was recommended by a coworker who used to live in Melbourne). I got a tad turned around in the gorgeous Fitzroy Gardens and finally made it back to the hostel.
Today I also headed off on my own and managed to hit St Kilda (was pretty much unimpressed but did have a lovely raspberry and mango sorbet in an attempt to escape the heat for a bit - it was in the upper 30s today - I think that's over 100F) and sadly that's all I can remember right now - internet time's about to be up! Photos soon~
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