Kia Ora!

Hello everyone...sorry for the lack of postings recently. We're hoping to remedy this with a few postings over the next couple of days, including this one to bring you up to date on the last week or so.

Debbie actually left one stop out of her last blog post. After Queenstown we didn't head straight back to Christchurch...first we drove to the west coast of the south island to go see some glaciers! Because we were waiting for the right wind at our paragliding location for so long in Queenstown, we didn't get out of town until later than we were hoping and wound up arriving at the Fox Glacier (which we were only planning to do a quick look-see at anyway) around dusk. We were literally the last people in the parking lot when we left. We arrived in the tiny and quaint Franz Josef Village (the town near the second glacier...named, funny enough, Franz Josef, after the Austrian emperor...I guess the glacier was "discovered" by a German explorer) around 8pm, grabbed a quick dinner (good timing too since everything shuts at 9pm) and arrived back at our hostel in time for a black out! The whole town was blacked out...possibly either from a rock slide or a car accident knocking out the main power line. We wound up making the best of it by wandering into the pitch black TV room and finding the first Americans we had run into in over a month. We'd just been saying how we had come across almost no Americans travelling in Australia & NZ, and then there they were! And even funnier, it turns out that this couple is from San Luis Obispo/Arroyo Grande, which we thought was a pretty good coincidence, particularly since the last American friend we hung out with (Nicki) in Melbourne is also from SLO and of course we have a few really good friends from there! We never actually got to see what these people looked like (at one point the guy came over to us with his cell phone and held it to our faces so he could see us, but didn't do the same for him and his wife), but we talked for a good hour or so.

Anyway, the next morning we got up bright and early, drove over to the glacier parking lot, and hiked to the terminal face of the glacier...about an hour's walk. The glacier is much smaller than it once was (they have signs along the road in showing you where it used to be), but it's actually growing now so it should continue getting bigger for the next little while. You can't climb on the glacier without being on a guided hike, and the track we took doesn't get you right up to the ice, but we were still impressed...how many times in life do you get to see a glacier afterall? We stayed at Franz Josef for about 2 hours, then booked it back to Christchurch through some amazing alpine scenery.

Debbie's last post left us about to catch the train north from Kaikoura. We enjoyed that ride (it was a beautiful day so the scenic element of the ride was on full display. The train drops you in a town called Picton at the northern end of the south island, where you catch the ferry to Wellington. The ferry was quite an experience...the journey is about 3.5 hours, so they make the most of it with a cruise-like ship. This thing had a cafe, a restaurant, a bar, WiFi, a luxury lounge, two movie theaters, a sun-bathing deck, a children's play area, etc. We mostly just lounged (Debbie wandered around a bit and took in the scenery), but did enjoy a delicious meat pie.

Our visit to Wellington was brief, and marked by some not-so-great weather, but we mostly enjoyed it. We spent one full day there: Easter Sunday! The highlight of the city is the Te Papa museum, a really well done museum about New Zealand, its history, natural history, Maori culture, etc. We spent a good four hours there, then went across the street to a brew pub for lunch. Now, the rules in NZ for Good Friday and Easter in terms of alcohol sales are pretty funny. You can't sell alcohol straight out...the only way we were able to get beer was by ordering food, which entitles you to a couple of beers. We even stretched it by asking to share a sandwich and get two beers...but the law-bending waitress finally obliged. Afterwards we went to a modern art gallery, where we saw some cool stuff including a short documentary on a modern-day Maori tribal leader who got a full facial tatoo in his 60s as a means of demonstrating his cultural heritage in the midst of modernity. That night we enjoyed a traditional NZ meal of USA Southern/New Orleans food. Okay, so not traditional at all for NZ, but delicious corn bread, fried chicken and key lime pie nonetheless. And hey, the restaurant was the top-recommended one in our guidebook!

The following day we grabbed a rental car, drove up to the Mt. Victoria overlook (more of a hill than a mountain, but good views of the city), then headed up the coast and then inland to National Park Village. Pretty much everyone who goes to National Park does so to do some hiking in Tangariro National Park, and we were no exception! We decided to challenge ourselves with a 19.4 kilometer walk (about 12.125 miles) on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, reportedly the best one-day trek in NZ. We enjoyed it, though the weather was a bit dodgy for much of the hike (fog, clouds) so the views weren't as great as they normally are supposed to be. But the trail takes you past Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings (an active volcano!) and by these really beautiful lakes. We wound up getting stuck in a massive rainstorm during the last kilometer or so, and our socks, boots, backpacks, etc. are still drying out...but we survived the challenge and managed to complete the hike in about 5.5 hours! Even with the bad weather, we're glad to have gotten to do some trekking in this beautiful country. We also met some nice people from our hostel on the shuttle bus to/from the trailhead, and enjoyed some beers and dinner with them after the hike.

Yesterday we drove from National Park to Rotorua, a geo-thermal village replete with hot springs, geysers, mud baths, and Maori cultural attractions. Last night we attended a Maori cultural experience, which included a show (the haka, the Maori challenge dance used to intimidate others, was the finale...and I got to go on stage to learn how to do it!), dinner out of a hangi...a steamer of sorts that uses the steam from the geothermal pits, and spectacular night-time views of two erupting geysers. Today we're taking it easy...heading to a spa shortly for a little hot springs and mud bath/exfoliating massage action. Tonight there are some night markets here, which should be cool, as we've definitely found the food at markets to be most reasonably priced. And maybe we'll even pick up some Maori goodies! Tomorrow we're off to Auckland, our final NZ stop (with a brief planned stopover on the way for Debbie to Zorb...that is, roll down a giant hill in a big plastic ball). Sunday we fly to Sydney, spend the night there, and then head to Tokyo the next day!

More posts to come in the next few days including roses (highlights) and thorns (low points) from Australia and NZ. In the meantime, Kia Ora! (which means hello, but can also be used as good bye!).

G'day from Melbourne

G’day from Melbourne!


G’day from Melbourne! We’ve spent the past six days here in lovely Melbourne. When we arrived on Tuesday we learned of a disturbing trend that is taking place, wherein everywhere we go is hit by some sort of cataclysmic weather condition that somehow doesn’t affect us (for instance, in Sydney there was a massive rain storm that some called a hurricane, which hit after we were in bed; after we left Brisbane, southern Queensland was wracked with storms and flooding; and just before we arrived in Melbourne they had a huge storm that caused tons of flooding and also featured golf-size hail that demolished cars. The Melbourne storm is expected to result in $500 million in insurance claims, the fifth largest insurance event in Australian history!). Meanwhile, we’ve had perfect weather here. It’s been cooler than the tropical coast, which is a nice respite from the heat and humidity.

Anyway, we’ve been all over town and have done lots of stuff. On Wednesday we met up with Nicki, a friend who we know through Talia, and her boyfriend Nick. Nicki just moved to Melbourne a few weeks ago, so we got to spend a lot of time with her exploring her new city. They were great guides, taking us on the first day for coffee in the small beach town of St. Kilda (Melbourne is known for its café culture, so of course it was the first thing we had to do!), then strolling through downtown, grabbing a beer, and winding up the day on top of the Eureka Tower, from where you get 360 degree views of the city. That night we also caught a free movie at our hostel called Kenny, a funny Australian cult classic mockumentary about a guy who works for a port-o-potty company.

Other highlights of the last few days include the Queen Victoria Market, a huge outdoor market where we tasted wine, breads, spreads, cheeses, and delicious Tasmanian smoked salmon; the Old Melbourne Gaol (pronounced “jail”), where infamous bushranger (the Australian version of an outlaw) Ned Kelly was hanged…I’m now reading a classic Australian book called The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey, a historical novel written in Ned Kelly’s voice; Lygon Street in the neighborhood of Carlton, Melbourne’s Little Italy (where Debbie accidentally got the largest ice cream cone EVER); the Melbourne Museum, where we wound up with a private tour (nobody else showed up) of the Aboriginal section by a really nice elderly woman who taught us a lot about Aboriginal culture…and where I learned for the first time about the Stolen Generation – aboriginal kids who were taken from their parents by the government as late as the 1950s so they could be raised by white families; the Royal Botanical Gardens; my first Belgian beer garden; the Rose Street Artists Market, where Debbie bought a pair of earrings; Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, where we had coffee and lunch at a café and then found a brew pub where we enjoyed an amber microbrew; Federation Square, the funky center of town; Birrarung Marr, a waterside arts park; and the Immigration Museum, where we learned about Australia’s anti-immigrant past (fairly pro-European…not all that different from the USA’s history in terms of immigration).

Most importantly, last night we went with Nicki to an Australian Rules Football game! It was sort of a big game…the superbowl of the pre-season, between the Western Bulldogs (who I rooted for, and who won by 40 points) and the St. Kilda Saints (who Debbie rooted for, and whose fight song is “When the Saints Go Marching In”). We even understood most of what happened in the game. Rather than trying to describe the rules, I’ll just link to the Wikipedia page about it. But suffice it to say that the game involves no helmets or padding, tackling, kicking the ball while running, dribbling, and three goal areas. It was awesome.

Finally, I’ll also throw in that we went to a free stand-up comedy show the other night. We got in free because we are YHA hostel members, and since it was free for us they decided to put us right in front (never a good thing at a stand-up comedy show). Needless to say, Debbie wound up on stage at one point, where before leaving the stage she was asked by the host (a fat comedian missing numerous teeth) to give him a kiss on the cheek…only to find that he turned at the last minute to kiss her on the lips! Yuck! He gave us free drinks after that though, so all wound up okay. Debbie was a champ about it :)

We’re leaving here tomorrow…renting a car to go drive the Great Ocean Road, Australia’s version of PCH. We’ll be on the road for three days, then returning here for a night and flying to Uluru on Thursday. Very excited!

Side note: Later that day we went to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival where we gorged ourselves on Cajun food (or the Aussie version), churros and crepes, then learned some Bollywood dance moves (it was international day). It was awesome!

Posted by Mike...even thought it doesn't look that way.