November 2010
35 posts
WatchOne last thing before we leave
Testing the Coriolis effect. Would have used a toilet but they all flush too strongly.
Rotates counter-clockwise!
New Zealand Vacation - Day 8
Auckland
Our last vacation day was a short one. We only had time to have breakfast on the go, then made our way down to the waterfront and the maritime history museum they have. It’s a really nice museum outlining the history of both Maori and European settlers and the different technology they each used. However, since the Maori had no written language, a lot of assumptions had to be made...
New Zealand Vacation - Day 7
Rotorua - Waitomo Caves - Auckland
Happy 30th birthday Andrea!
Woke up early as we had a 2+ hour drive ahead of us to the Waitomo Caves for a 10:00 tour. In retrospect we probably should have stayed closer to Waitomo. I installed GPS apps on my phone for Australia and NZ and they have come in incredibly handy, but for some reason, they don’t do well with NZ highways. Each highway has a...
New Zealand Vacation - Day 6
Rotorua
Had a morning half day tour booked with a Maori guy named Huru. He was probably about 50 years old and grew up back in the time when the Maori language was banned in schools and at home, but it was obvious his parents had ignored that ban, as he definitely spoke English with an accent. He was full of tons of useful information as he drove us around to various volcanic hotspots in the...
New Zealand Vacation - Day 5
Christchurch - Auckland - Rotorua
Mostly a day for traveling. Left for the airport, driving through most of Christchurch to get there. Got to Auckland right on time, got our final rental car for the trip. A Nissan Sunny, which I think is just a renamed Sentra. We went with a lower budget local company for the rental this time, so although the car only has 90,000 Km on it, it seems like the car...
New Zealand Vacation - Day 4
Lake Tekapo - Christchurch
Once again had a bit of a slow start to the day. Enjoyed a take-out breakfast overlooking beautiful Lake Tekapo. Once again, we were joined by some bunnies. They must be able to live a nearly care free life, there are no snakes, no foxes, I’m guessing their biggest predators are eagles. There was a whole family of them in the grasslands in front of the lake,...
New Zealand Vacation - Day 3
Fox Glacier - Lake Tekapo
Magnificent! That’s just one of many adjectives I could use to describe the New Zealand countryside. It’s just incredible in so many ways. Add it to your bucket lists folks. We spent most of the day in the car but it was just an amazing day.
Woke up to a steady rain in the small township of Fox glacier, an alpine town set in a valley. We took our time...
WatchAndrea crossing a stream along the exit from Fox Glacier
New Zealand Vacation - Day 2
Arthur’s Pass - Punakaiki - Franz Josef Glacier - Fox Glacier
You’ll have to excuse the slower updates the past couple days. For the first time since I’ve known her, Andrea has become obsessed with a video game and has been monopolizing the iPad playing Where’s Waldo.
Alarm went off at 7am but had to snooze for a while. We had lost 3 hours in the last 2 days so it was...
New Zealand Vacation - Day 1
Sydney - Auckland - Christchurch - Arthur’s Pass
Had to wake up ridiculously early to catch our ride out of Sydney. Alarm was set for 3:15 but ended up waking up even earlier because I was worried about not waking up in time. The streets were nearly dead at that hour, but we got to the airport in good time and our Quantas flight was right on time. Arrived in Auckland within just under 3...
Australian Vacation - Day 12
Airlie Beach - Sydney
Had to clean the apartment a bit before we left, and realized how little this part of Australia recycles. We basically couldn’t recycle anything unfortunately. At least they are big on water conservation, even though we were in one of the wettest parts of Australia, their rainfall is very seasonal. Dropped the rental car off and took a bus over to the ferry. Of...
Australian Vacation - Day 11
Airlie Beach
Got picked up by some chipper Aussie bloke at 8am in some sort of un-armored personnel carrier. The ride over to the starting spot for our Jet ski safari was bumpy, cramped and uncomfortable but the guide made it all worthwhile. He talked the whole way about all sorts of interesting facts about the area and the wildlife and I finally got an answer to that burning question about why...
Australian Vacation - Day 10
Airlie Beach
Another early start today, had a shuttle bus pick us up from the apartment at 8am to head to the Airlie Beach marina to take a cruise of the Whitsunday islands. The only problem was that the weather was dismal. Despite this not being the rainy season, it’s going to rain for the entire week here.
The boat was another fast catamaran. All of the Whitsunday islands are closer to...
Australian Vacation - Day 9
Mission Beach - Airlie Beach
Got our breakfast made by the couple running the small hotel in Mission Beach. They moved out of Sydney a few years ago and started running their own Bed and Breakfast and also have 4 kids to boot. There are only 3 bungalows on the property, which were really nice. They had a pet parrot that once on your hand would immediately make his way up to your shoulder, just...
Australian Vacation - Day 8
Great Barrier Reef - Mission beach
Woke up at 6am for our first snorkel of the day. The idea is to catch the fish at the end of their nightly period of activity. High tide is always rougher for snorkelers, as the gap between the water surface and the coral is too large for the waves coming in from the ocean to break properly, so it makes for choppy waters. The first trip of the day was choppy...
Australian Vacation - Day 7
Cairns - Great Barrier Reef
Woke up at 5am since we had to make it from the rainforest resort down to the Cairns port for a 7:30am departure on our boat cruise. On the way out, we noticed that we had acquired another visitor in our room, a spider with a diameter of about 8 inches was right near the door handle. Luckily for us, there was another door, so I told Andrea not to look and we got out...
Australian Vacation - Day 6
Cairns
A bit of a mixed day. Woke up to the sounds of many critters and birds filling the air. Had a nice free European style breakfast courtesy of our Swiss hosts. Asked about some nature walks we could do. They recommended we take an hour long hike starting right on the property. There’s a stream that runs right along part of the property, so the first step was getting across that...
WatchOne of the locals at the Cedar Park Rainforest Resort
Australian Vacation - Day 5
Adelaide - Cairns - Tropical Paradise
Had an outgoing flight out of Adelaide at 11am. So we woke up and took our leisurely time getting ready. The hostel we stayed at was nice, and advertised a cooked breakfast for $5 which for Australia is really good. Went downstairs and ordered one from the counter, only to realize it should have been called a “soon to be cooked by you” breakfast....
Australian Vacation - Day 4
Kangaroo Island - Adelaide
Got on the bus with the same guide as the day before only this time we had to be ready by 7:30. We’ve been staying in the YHA hostel in a small town of 250 people called Penneshaw on the east side of the island. Although it’s right next to the ferry, this means we always have to get picked up first, over an hour before people in the more centrally located...
WatchHuge waves crashing down in front of resting seals at Flinders Chase National Park
Australian Vacation - Day 3
Kangaroo Island
What a feature packed day of touring Kangaroo Island! Undoubtedly our best day in Australia yet.
Got picked up just after 9:30 in a full sized bus by an Aussie with a good sense of humour. Everyone else except us was coming from the mainland this morning to start the tour, so right after picking us up, we went to the ferry dock and waited for the rest of the passengers. Some...
Australian Vacation - Day 2
Adelaide - Kangaroo Island
Woke up before the crack of dawn (3:30am) in the quiet downtown of Sydney. Stepped into some guy’s cab who was obviously having difficulties keeping his car running but made it to the airport no worse for wear. Good old Mickey Ds is one of the few places that’s actually cheap here, so we had a delicious breakfast there. Got back on a plane less than 24...