Chasing Sunsets in Australia

Traveling through Australia has been quite an adventure. First impressions is that it is a lot like the US in some ways with crazy marsupials like kangaroos and Koala's everywhere, as well as bright colorful birds. And you can even eat kangaroo. It is a long way between places and the outback is as red and desert looking as you would guess from pictures. Uluru was spectacular at sunset and sunrise. The sunsets here are red orange and pink with vibrant blue behind, amazing. The big cities have a lot of character and all have big gardens somewhere in them with beaches too. We are now headed up to the Great Barrier Reef. Here are some excerpts from e-mails of what we have been up to. I will edit them to make more sense when I get to Colorado.

...

We flew into Melbourne and spent a few days with some family friends Ken, Ann and Angus. We even got to watch a footy (Australian Rules Football game) in the Telestra Dome. We checked out the city and even wandered down to St. Kilda. Then we took a flight to Alice Springs and got a rental car and headed to Kings Canyon, the Olgas and then to Uluru. It was spectacular. We also visited the Alice Springs Reptile Center.

We are back from Uluru and the red center and took off from Melbourne today to head down the Great Ocean Road. It is very beautiful and sunny here. We will be in Adelaide in a day or two. Judy is doing the flowers for another wedding on Saturday. We may see some kangaroos & Koalas in the crater of a volcano today. And the views of the ocean are great. The sea cliffs are amazing.

The drive up the Great Ocean Road has been beautiful. We even saw some koalas in the wild as well as some kangaroos and parrots, and emus. We went to Tower Hill which is the crater of a volcano today and hiked around. Along the Great Ocean Road we have seen lots of coast, surfers, and sea cliffs. We stopped last night near a formation called the 12 Apostles. We are now driving up through the Grampion Mountain Range. We should be in Adelaide tonight or tomorrow depending if we stop off at some caves. Tomorrow is also a National holiday here called Anzac Day (like our Memorial Day).

We got to Adelaide and spent a night with Judy and then 2 nights with Cath and Andrew in Adelaide. Yesterday we went to the museum and the main market in town. Then today we relaxed a bit and then went to the Cleland Wildlife Park where we got to feed kangaroos and wallabies and to hold a koala. Last night we went out to dinner at Windy Point restaurant with Cath and Andrew and nick and Ryan tried eating kangaroo. Then tonight we had a party with all the nurses that Cath works with to watch the finale of the Australian show "So You Think You Can Dance" It was amusing. Tomorrow we head out towards Mungo National Park. We are hoping that it doesn't rain on us as there has been quite a bit of rain the last few days here. Then we are headed on towards Sydney.

We headed out of Adelaide stopping off at the Pink Lakes on our way to Mungo Naitonal Park where we saw lots of roos and a long white sand dune called the White Wall of China. We are headed to the Blue Mountains tomorrow on the way to Sydney.

We have arrived in Sydney. We are staying with Sarah and will go check out some beaches and the harbor today. We are going out to dinner with Sarah's parents tonight in Kings Cross. On Sunday we will fly out to Cairns and Nick will head back to NZ. Ryan and I arrive back home on May 18th at about 11pm in Denver (ATA Hilo - Oak May 18th 8am-4pm then Oak-Den 7:25 pm - 10:45pm). Before that we will be leaving from Sydney on May 12th to Fly to Hawaii (Jet Star Mon May 12 17:55 - May 13 7:40am). We will write more about our adventures later.

Leaving the Land of the Long White Cloud

Wow things have gone so fast here in NZ. Today is the last day here. It is bittersweet. We have meet some cool poeple along the way and may never see them again. We have done and seen a lot! On the last road trip we took we realized there were quite a few things on the list of things that would have been nice to do or see that we just didn't get around to doing. Hopefully this is motivation to return here some day. As in all things in life the trip here was a balance of time, money, resources, and choices. Over all our time in New Zealand has been "Sweet As". Thanks to all the wonderful people we have meet along the way.

Now we are off to Australia for a month. Stay tuned...

There and Back a Tale of the North Island

I think this may be another marathon blog post, just breezing over what we have been up two for the past 2-3 weeks. It is all kind of a blur at the moment.

Ryan, Nick, Ina and I took a road trip of the North Island. Ina is a german gal that we picked up in Queenstown. She is a nurse and is nice and somewhat quiet. We left Qtown Sunday night and then went to visit the glaciers. Franz Joseph and Fox. It was windy the first night we camped near lake Wanaka and rained a ton the second night that we camped in Hokitika. Then spent a night with Moya and John in Christchurch. Then headed to Kaikoura and Picton and took the ferry accorss to Wellington. Kaikoura was amazing there was a nice walk an a Seal Colony.

We spent 2 days in Welling after taking the ferry across from Picton Wellington is a huge city and parking can be an issue. Ryan and I went to the Museum the first day and then spent the day first at the Otari Wilson Reserve and then the Karori Nature Reserve where we got to see the predator proof fence. Lots of birds like Tui, Kaka, Bell Birds, Shags, ducks and more. And some semi wild Tuatara. We then took the cable car up the hill and walked back to the city through the Botanic gardens.

The next stop was Auckland. Ryan and I had lunch in the Sky Tower restraunt . The view was great and there was even glass panels in the floor to look down at teh city. Before that we spent some time at Mount Teranaki a volcanic area and then took the Forgottn Highway before spending a night at a Holiday Park on a serf beach called Raglan and went Kayaking in the bay.

We had an amazing 10 days on the North Island. After Raglan We then took a day and went diving at the Poor Knights Island one of the best dive sites in the world for diversity per square meter. Then we headed to the top of the North Island to see the Bay of Islands. Then we spent a day in the Coromendel Peninsula and went to the hot water beach. You can dig a pool in the sand where natural hot pools come up. Then we went to Rotorua. And saw some of the sulfur pools and guyers. We also went to the Museum. The next day we did a great walk of the Tongario crossing. Then we headed to Wellington and took the ferry accross today. We saw some dolphins and then drove to Nelson. It is raining today so we may not do the Abel Tasmin walk tomorrow. We will then head to Christchurch to head off to Australia.

Routeburn Track - Great Walk

Ryan, Nick and I completed our first Great Walk the Routeburn Track. The Routeburn Track traverses 32 kilometers of Mount Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks, part of Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. The road distance between the track ends is 350 K. So we decided to just hike to the summit from the side closest to Queenstown and come back on the same side to save on transportation and time. The hike/tramp/walk we did started at the Routeburn Shelter to the Routeburn Falls Hut for a night then to Harris Saddle and the Summit and then back down to the Routeburn Shelter. The first day was nice with barely a drizzle and the start of the second day the trail turned into a stream and there were water falls everywhere you looked. With the rain letting up in the afternoon. The last pictures are of the drive from Glenorchy to Queenstown and a rainbow.

Along the way through the rain forest we followed the Route Burn river and went over 6 swinging bridges. We saw too many waterfalls to count. We also saw some neat birds called rifleman that hop along trees and look like flying puffballs and a really tame New Zealand Robin. There were huge beech trees covered in moss and ferns in every type and variety. We also saw some fish in the crystal cool blue water, but didn't fish for any. It was a great experience minus the sand flies that attacked us in the car park at the end of the trail.

Here is an excerpt from an article that I found in the May 2005 National Geographic Adventure magazine

New Zealand's Routeburn Track - Trampling in Hillary's backyard.
By Peter Potterfield

Not a half day into the Routeburn Track, at a place called Key Summit, the peaks of Mount Aspiring National Park surround an open meadow set high on a rare triple continental divide. From there, three epic valleys—the Hollyford, the Eglinton, and the Greenstone—drain west into the Tasman Sea, south into the Southern Ocean, and east into the Pacific. On the horizon stands the imposing Darran Range, where Sir Edmund Hillary prepped for Everest. It's a portentous spot, itself reason enough for a trip to the other side of the world.

The Routeburn, one of New Zealand's nine "Great Walks," is less crowded than its world-famous neighbor, the Milford Track, and the scenic payoffs along the Routeburn's alpine stretches far surpass those of the lower, often cloudier Milford. The Routeburn's easily traveled route connects two of New Zealand's conservation jewels, Mount Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks, via a high alpine pass named the Harris Saddle.

To reach the saddle, you'll travel through valleys choked with rain forests reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest, except that in New Zealand's Southern Alps the green gossamer in the trees is goblin moss instead of lobaria, and the forest is twisted silver beech and red beech, not Douglas fir. The flora here is hyperabundant: Hikers who set out in December and January will witness an explosion of wildflowers, including the kotukutuku, the world's largest variety of fuchsia, and the Mount Cook Lily, the biggest species of buttercup on Earth.

Walking Wanaka and the Beer Factory

Last weekend we made a trip to the town of Wanaka. A beautiful town on a lake that looks out to Mount Aspiring. We walked around town taking in the scenery and then visited a couple of the tourist attractions. We went to Puzzle World through the illusion rooms and then the maze. We then headed down the road to the Wanaka Beer works for a tour and tasting. They had a small operation that had three beers on tap. The most popular being the "Brewski" pilsner. We then headed back to Cromwell to a BBQ for Nick and Ryan's bosses wife's birthday.

Milford Sound

We finally made a trip to the world renown Milford Sound and took a boat cruise.

"Milford Sound, also known as Piopiotahi in Maori, is located in the south west of New Zealand's South Island. Although called a sound, it is more accurately classified as a fjord. Milford Sound, the most famous tourist site of New Zealand, has also been called an eighth Wonder of the World by Rudyard Kipling. It is situated within the Fiordland National Park which is in turn part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site."

On the way to Milford we stopped in the town of Te Anau and had cinnamon rolls which were yummy! The drive to Milford Sound is spectacular. Just past the top of the divide before Homer Tunnel there is the Falls Creek hike. At the tunnel there were a lot of Keas. Homer tunnel is a 1 way tunnel with lots of traffic on both sides. Just after the tunnel is a stop off called the Chasm which is a big rock a river has carved out. We got to Milford with about an hour before our boat tour. We took a tour with Mitre Peak Cruises one of the smaller and more personal tour companies. It was nice because it wasn't full of bus loads of people. The big sights on Milford Sound are: 1) Mitre Peak, which is the tallest sea cliff in the world rising up to a mile high (1682 meters). 2) Copper Point, named for the copper in the rock. 3) St Anne Point, with the small light house that has been located there since the late 1800's. 5) The Tasman Sea. 6)Stirling Falls 155 meters high. 7) Milford Sound Underwater Observatory located in Harrison Cove. And the 8) Deepwater cove where the Aurthor and Cleddau Rivers pour into the sound. During our tour it was sunny, rained and was nice again. We saw lots of waterfalls and some fur seals. We also stopped off at the Milford Sound Underwater Observatory. It was an amazing place to see with fish and even some black coral which was white because it was still alive and has a symbiotic relationship with another creature that is white. The sea life in Milford Sound is similar to deep water enviornments because of the layer of fresh water on top of teh Sound from rain that doesn't let light through to the sea water.

On the drive out of Milford Sound we stopped off at the Chasm and then hiked up Falls Creek. We also stopped off at the Mirror Lakes and then went to the Te Anau Wildlife Park. At the wildlife park we got to see some rare birds such as the Takahe and a Kaka. And finally had a nice pizza dinner in Te Anau before returning to Queenstown.

Movie Scenery and Stars

We are settled in to Queenstown. Ryan and Nick are working at the vineyard this week and I am working in a restaurant called Halo. The weather has been great. We took a drive north of here to a little town called Glenorchy with a population of 215. This is where some scenes from Willow were filmed as well as the Isengard scene from the Lord of the Rings movies. In other movie news John Travolta is visiting Queenstown this week. We haven't seen him but one of the guys that works at the airport let us know. Last week Jack Nickelson was here. I guess this is a place a lot of movie stars visit. We will have to see if we see any while we are here. We are planning to take one of The Great Walks soon or maybe go to Stewart Island soon. Have a great week.

Update:
So, I finally got to see some movie stars in Q-Town. Feb 6th I was working the breakfast shift at Halo and got to meet Hugh Jackman (wolverine) & Liev Schreiber (sabretooth). They are filming the prequel to all the X-men movies here at the moment. They are really nice people. http://www.superherohype.com/x-men/

Road Trip and Good Bye to Sir Ed

It has been awhile since the last blog and a whole road trip from Jan 6th to the 13th and move down south to Queenstown. Ryan and I loaded up everything that we brought with us to NZ in the trusty "Tele" short for Telestar and hit the road on Jan 7th. We headed towards Mount Cook stopping at Mount Hutt, Methven and Gearldine to walk around and see the sights.

The first day we arrived at Mount Cook/Aoraki it was a bit overcast. Driving in we stopped at Lake Tekapo and then stopped at Lake Pukaki where some of the Lupines were still in bloom. We then settled in at the campground where you could see the base of a huge mountain and glaciers but the top was clouded in. We also visited the Hermitage Hotel which was built in 1895 and rebuilt and expanded over the years, which is probably the most famous hotel in NZ.

Mount Cook was really amazing they have a whole new museum at the Hermitage that was just opened about Sir Edmond Hillary. We were there just a few days before he passed away. He was most notably the most famous person in NZ. He passed away Jan 11th, 2008 at 9 am of heart failure at the age of 88. It was the passing of a legend. He was best known to be the first to summit Everest in 1953 with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on the eve of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation. He was also the first to complete a motorized crossing of the South Pole in a Ferguson Tractor. He started the Himalayan Trust to build bridges, schools, and airstrips. The news of "Ed's" passing was all over the news as well as documentaries about his life. We watched these mesmerized along with the Kiwis and other tourists that were staying at the Queenstown holiday park with us. One family from Auckland where he lived and grew up had seen him talk recently and said he was an amazing person. He had even signed the $5 bank note with his picture on it for each of the kids. He will be missed by this country but his legacy will last for a long time to come.

Waking up in the morning at the base of the mighty mountain we headed on a 4 hour hike up the Hooker Valley train where we passed over two hanging bridges. After the second bridge we had perfect views of Mount Cook. On the drive out of Mount Cook National Park we stopped off at Lake Pukaki again for the lake mountain views. After leaving there we headed to the Clay Cliffs near Omarama. After visiting the clay cliffs we headed to Omaru. Omaru has lots of buildings made of Omaru limestone that were built in the 1880's. We stayed at the Holiday Park here. In Omaru we got to see some rare yellow eyed penguins. The next day we headed south to the Moeraki Boulders. These are round stones on the beach that were formed 60 million years ago, as lime salts accumulated around a fossilized organic core.

Dunedin was the next stop that we made. There we visited the Octagon which is the main town center. We also went to the Otago Museum and then Dunedin Botanic Gardens. All the buildings in Dunedin are really beautiful there. The railway station here is the most photographed building in New Zealand. I am sure we will be back here some time during our trip. Next we drove out to explore the Otago Peninsula just outside of Dunedin. The winding roads along the beach were very cool. We also got to see some of the Royal Albatross that nest on the point as well as some Spotted Shags, Seals, and Sea lions. We then came through Cromwell an old Gold mining town and now a large area for fruit growing. Then we went to Queenstown. There we stayed at the holiday park to try to get settled here. Nick is staying at the Flaming Kiwi Backpackers and has a job at a Vineyard. Ryan and I found accommodations at Reavers Lodge that is at the top of the hill near the bottom of the Gondola that has great views of Queenstown. We are still exploring jobs but may work at the vineyard with Nick.

We took a short 2 day trip this weekend with Nick to go to the Catlands in the South Eastern corner of the South Island. On the way we stopped in Gore where there is a Giant statue of a brown trout. After lunch near the statue we were standing directly in front of the statue and asked a local to take our picture. She stepped to the side and got the three of us in the picture and not the fish. Duh, if you are standing in front of something like that isn't it obvious that you want the fish in the picture. We asked her to take it with the fish in it and even then she only managed to get the tail in the picture. Gore is also the country music capital of NZ as well as the Brown Trout capital of NZ. After visiting Gore we drove to Nugget Point which was a light house point that overlooked some rocks that look like nuggets. This is one place in NZ where three different kinds of seals can co exist unlike other places on the island. After Nugget point we camped at a beautiful point on the beach. The next day we visited Purakaunui Falls and Matai Falls. Then went to Cathedral caves. Then down to Curio Bay where there is fossilized forest of trees that is 160 million years old. Then we drove to Porpoise Bay and then headed back to Queenstown.

We are now getting settled in and will start jobs at the Dry Stone and Slucers Vineyards this week. It will probably be a week or two until the next travels or adventures. But I am sure we will have some living in Queensland which is the adventure capital of the world.

Sunny Beaches and Barbeques- Happy Holidays!

Happy New Year from New Zealand, the first country that gets to celebrate the New Year!

Christmas was a sunny day here in Christchurch. Ryan and I went to Moya and John's for a Christmas swim in the pool and had some Christmas cake. With the cake you can either make a wish or have a prayer. It was lovely to see Moya and John. Then we relaxed at home until the evening when Nick hosted a Christmas dinner for 15 people. There were 6 people form Colorado there, some German girls, some Kiwis, and some Aussies.

On Boxing day the day after Christmas Ryan and I decided to check out the Antarctic Center in Christchurch. They even had a room with snow in it and a bunch of little blue penguins.

On New Years Eve Libby and Caleb hosted a barbie at the house and had all their friends over to ring in the new year. We had a lot of great food and got to use the new deck.