Better than Old Zealand...

Arrived in Auckland on the afternoon of the15th after a short flight over from Melbourne. Due to a sinus cold, Chris' ears failed to pop after the descent thus leaving him partly deaf for the rest of the day. Made the customs experience a little challenging but he was allowed in to the country. We wandered the central Auckland area and enjoyed a traditional New Zealand meal of Wendy's hamburgers. The next three days were spent visiting the Auckland Museum, Art Gallery, and taking the ferry across to the north shore. From there got a great view of the city and its surrounding volcanoes.
Early Tuesday morning we boarded our tour bus and met our fellow travellers. Climbed Mt. Eden before leaving the city and heading to the Coromandel Peninsula. Did a short hike to a beach with caves and towers of rock in the blue waters, and had our first swim since last year. On to Hot Water Beach, where, no surprise, hot water seeps up through the sand, and people dug holes in the sand to sit in their own personal spa. That is, until a wave of cold ocean water rushed in and flooded their pool. Were lucky enough to spend the night in our own personal caravan in the local campground.
Traveled on to the city of Rotorua, known for its geothermal activity and accompanying strong sulfur scent. We visited a Maori village built on and around a series of geysers and mud pools. Later on we went whitewater rafting over a series of waterfalls including a 7 meter drop.
Started the next day with a soak in some hot springs before kayaking down a whitewater river through beautiful, towering rainforest canyons. Made it through most of the rapids fine, until Jodi and a rock got to know each other quite well. And to make it even better, it was raining just about the entire 8 kms down the river. Stayed in a remote farmhouse surrounded by hills and sheep.
Unfortunately, the rain kept on and we were unable to walk the Tongariro Crossing, known as NZ's best one day walk. Instead, Chris went mountain biking through the mud and Jodi did a walk to a waterfall with some new Norwegian and German friends. Spent the rest of the day in the hot tub and hanging about the lodge. Our new Irish friend has fortunately perpetuated every Irish stereotype we have ever had. It's good to meet such people.
On our way to Wellington today, then aboard the ferry to the South Island tomorrow. Here's hoping this rain finally stops.

On to Victoria..

In awaiting our January 15th flight out to New Zealand, we have spent the last week seeing the sights of Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria and second largest city in the country.


On our way along the coast, we spent New Years Eve in the resort town of Lakes Entrance. We saw an impressive fireworks show out over the waterfront, along with the sounds of an 80's cover band known as 'Rockin Chair'. We then hiked around Wilson's Promontory National Park for a few days, taking in its natural beauty and trying unsuccessfully to spot a wombat in the wild. However, we did see an echidna, and are pretty sure that we heard a wombat or two nosing around outside the tent one night.


The hikes included a few short dayhikes as well as a 36 km overnighter that took us to the far side of the peninsula and back. On the far side we were in awe to find pristine white sand beaches and turquiose waters with not another soul in sight.
Had a stop in Warragul to stay with some of Jodi's family from her Dad's side, who are mostly known of but still unfamiliar to her due purely to distance. From there, down to Philip Island where the big tourist draw is the Penguin Parade. At dusk, hundreds of tiny fairy penguins return from the sea, cross the beach and find their homes, and sometimes offspring, in the grassy fields. We joined the crowds in the bleachers set up for this occasion, and marvelled at their beauty and laughed as the announcer said to be on the watch for "the fat chicks."
On to Melbourne where we've been subjected to 43 degree heat in a hostel with neither air conditioning nor room fan. Other than that, it's been great with lots of walking around the city, delicious meals in very large ethnic neighbourhoods, more free art galleries and various exhibits. Hopped a tram to St. Kilda on our first night, and saw a surprisingly good Japanese funk band, 'Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro', at a well known hotel bar, the Espy.
Onward now to New Zealand!

Happy New Year and on to part two..

Since last write, we've had a lot of time and not a lot of stops. We spent a few days in the Hunter Valley wine region, and had fun biking between wineries for tours and tastings. Only trouble was that neither of us was used to uphills on bicycles, and the generous servings of wine didn't make it any easier.
Spent 8 nights in Sydney, shared between Jodi's cousin in central Sydney on the harbour, and her parent's friends' beachhouse just north of Manly Beach. Days were spent wandering around in the sun, buying last minute Christmas presents, snorkelling with schools of squid, eating delicious kebabs, getting some serious haircuts, and exiting beach waters at the announcement of a shark sighting.
With a few days to spare, we headed down to Canberra, the nation's capital. Most memorable was the showcase at the art gallery of French Impressionists work on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in France. Saw Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, and many other works by amazing artists. They certainly look more incredible in person. Also toured the city, parliament house, national museum, and the war memorial.
Finally back down to Merimbula to spend Christmas with Jodi's family. It was very relaxing to sit and talk with relatives, eat more than our share of delicious food, take the kids to the wildlife park, and not be constantly re-setting up the tent. Did more snorkelling, played cricket, lots of swimming - even on cloudy Christmas Day - and some hiking. It was certainly a change from the past months on the road.
We're now on our way down to Melbourne to take a holiday from our vacation, and go to New Zealand for three weeks. Have finally worked out plan for rest of our trip. Will go across Victoria via Great Ocean Road, then out to Perth. From there, we fly to Thailand for ten days, then back across the miles of nothingness, and down to Tasmania for two weeks. That should put us at the beginning of April, and we'll have to face the reality of eventually going home.

South Queensland

It has been almost a month since the last blog entry, so we'll have to summarize. After touring Fraser island, we continued south and spent a few days camping in the Great Sandy National Park. With all roads in the campground being deep sand, we had to leave the car out on the side of the highway and walk everything in through the treeline rather than risk getting stuck. Then on to Noosa, where we had a trip booked to spend 3 days canoeing the Noosa river, with accomodations in a bushcamp. We realized we may be getting old when we didn't join the other 20 year old travellers in their nightly drinking games with cheap boxed wine (only $9 for 4 L). After returning to civilization, we decided to go for surf lessons. Amazingly, we both managed to get upright at the end of the 2 hour lesson.

Next up, no trip along the Sunshine Coast would be complete without a stop at the Australian icon, 'the Big Pineapple'.

Essentially what you would imagine, a 50 ft pineapple accompanied by gift shop, restaurant, pineapple farm tours and petting zoo. So we took our photos, learned all we cared to know about how pineapples are grown and processed, then back in the car and onward to the Australia Zoo. The zoo is known for being run by the late Steve Irwin and being home to the 5000 seat 'Crocoseum' and its twice daily crocodile feeding and wildlife shows. We were also able to feed elephants and kangaroos and pet a koala.

Next stop was Brisbane, capital of Queensland and third largest city in Australia. We managed find some delicious meals, some great live music in an underground club, and see a pro soccer game, the Brisbane Roar vs the Melbourne Victory. We did lots of walking along the beautiful Southbank riverfront, and visited the Queensland Museum and Art Gallery, both free.

Down then to Surfers' Paradise, one of many towns on a 35 km stretch of high-rise beachfront hotels known as the Gold Coast. We opted to visit the Dreamworld and WhiteWaterworld amusement parks. Our pass allowed us to go between the two adjoining parks, so we spent the morning on coasters and other rides and the afternoon at the waterpark. Best was the hydrocoaster, just like a rollercoaster with its ups and downs, but you're in an innertube on a waterslide.
Took a few days to go in to Lamington National Park, and did a couple of rainforest hikes. Both offered excellent views from the top of mountain ranges, and we were even treated to a nuber of waterfalls along the way.

There was plenty of wildlife in the campground, with wallabies feeding in the clearing at dusk, possums in the trees at night, king parrots and crimson rosellas attempting to steal our breakfast, and the bush turkey that managed to eat half a mango in the back of our car.

Spent the day after relaxing on the beach in the hot spring sun before driving down to visit some friends whom we'd met on our drive trip, and were spoiled to stay in a house with a real bed and a hot tub. Living out of your car makes you realize just how much of a luxury a real bed is, and a bathroom where you can leave your toothbrush there overnight, and not have to carry it back and forth across a campground each time. Hiked up Mount Warning, known as the place that gets the first sun in Australia each morning. Only 4.4 kms up, but it still took almost two hours of non stop climbing to reach the top.

Next stops were Byron Bay for some good beach lounging and a kayak trip to see wildlife. Only managed to spot three dolphins, but we did manage to tip our kayak after surfing a wave, and had a fun time trying to climb back in again, Chris with only one contact lens left, amongst all the big waves. Finally on to Coffs Harbour, home of the Big Banana. did a dive trip out to the Solitary Islands, and swam with many grey nurse sharks. We even managed to get within 10 feet of some of these big creatures. It was an incredible dive.

Now we continue down to Sydney to stay with some friends before heading to Merimbula again for Christmas with Jodi's family.

Fraser Island

Thursday morning we were picked up bright and early for our ferry across to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. We had booked onto a 3 day 2 night tour, and opted to stay an extra night on our own at the end. As soon as we arrived, we were loaded up onto a 40 passenger 4WD bus, and headed off to the sandy "roads". Travelled to Basin Lake, a small lake with no rivers flowing in or out of it, then walked on through a rainforest. Even though the island is completely made of sand, there is enough decomposed organic matter on the floor to allow 40m tall eucalyptus and satinay trees to grow. A small river flowed through it that was so clear you could see the white sand perfectly on the bottom of it. Also managed to spot three goannas along the way. Back on the bus we drove in to Lake Mackenzie, a beautiful lake with pure white sand and again, crystal clear water. The sky reflected on it and you could see multiple shades of blue across the lake. Spent some time swimming before heading off to our lodge for the night.
Friday morning we went across the island to 75 Mile Beach, also known as the Great Sandy Highway, a legal roadway with road signs stuck into sand dunes. Pulled into Eli Creek, another freshwater stream that flows out into the ocean, and as narrow and shallow as it is, has a current strong enough to pull you along it. Up to the Maheno shipwreck, a passenger liner and later WWI hospital ship that eventually got washed into the beach and could not be rescued. It sits right on the edge of the beach, though now it is more than halfway covered with sand. Drove further along the beach up to the champagne pools where waves crash over a row of rocks in the water, and the sea foam gathers and feels like champagne bubbling up all around you. From there, on to Indian Head, a high point along the shore and one of only three actual rocks on the island. Spotted a stingray and several turtles in the ocean down below. From here, the water appeared to have taken on a green colour before fading to blue further out. Drove back down along the beach and eventually home, where $10 jugs of beer at happy hour awaited our return.
On our third day, we went out again through the dry deep sand of the island and came to Lake Wabby. It is flanked on one side by a giant sandblow that looks like a desert, and you can run down the side of it to jump into the lake. Crossing the sandblow wasn't so easy after our swim, but we made it out to the eastern beach and found our bus waiting. Had lunch at another resort, then due to some impassable roads making our planned destination unreachable, we went back to Lake Mackenzie for an afternoon of swimming. Driving home was an adventure in itself, as the bus got bogged down in deep sand, and eventually, after all the men on board had pushed it both forwards and backwards in attempts to get it out, the driver eventually was able to back the bus way down the road, then came barrelling across the soft section as we all stood on the side cheering him on. It made both of us quite happy to not be the ones doing the driving. Went for a guided night walk that night, found a golden trapdoor spider who is quite poisonous, and a 60cm red eel swimming in the lagoon.
On our last day, we did some hiking and found an old Z-Force Commando training site. It was used during WWII to train special forces and many ruins still remain. Spotted dingo tracks on our way back along the beach, but were never able to find a dingo itself. Eventually took the fastcat back to Hervey Bay, and were both so glad to have been able to get across to such a unique island.

Sailing...

Leaving Cairns, we continued our journey south. Our first stop of any interest was Magnetic Island, a 20 minute ferry ride from Townsville. From there, we booked a hostel for a few nights, found a home for Wally, then boarded the ferry across incredibly choppy waters, which made for a wet and interesting ride over. On the island, there were many beaches that seemed to have great coral and snorkelling, so we loaded up our gear and went walkabout. Much to our dismay, it was still quite windy out and after 15kms of walking through bush trails, we found not a single beach where it was calm enough to snorkel. Thankfully, it was a nice day and we at least were rewarded with some beautiful views. That night, we went for another walk up through old forts and gun placements from the Second World War. This walk is known for it's great koala spotting, and we were lucky enough to spot two on our travels. One way far up in a tree, and another was more mobile than either of us had ever seen - sliding down one tree, climbing out a branch, then hopping into another tree to eat. We even managed to get within 10 feet of this one.
A few nights later, we landed in Airlie Beach, a very popular backpackers town. We had booked a sailing trip for Jodi's birthday, and loaded onto our boat, Freight Train, on Friday morning to head into the Whitsundays. On Jodi's birthday the next day, she was lucky enough to visit Whitehaven Beach with incredibly white silica sand as far as they eye could see, drive the sailboat, do a scuba dive into a small coral reef, snorkel with a turtle and giant napoleon wrasse, and watch the sunset across the waters. She figures this was a birthday that will not be forgotten and probably never repeated again. We even managed to snorkel again the next day and find a huge potato cod along with scores of other tropical fish. All was good until the boat engine quit, and with no winds to sail by, we waited on the boat for three hours to have a repair crew come out and get us on our way back to shore.
We headed south some more along the coast, eventually reaching Rockhampton, the self proclaimed Beef Capital of Austraila. Went out for a terrific steak dinner for Jodi's Birthday in a 130 year old pub, and found their free zoo and botanic gardens.
From there, on to the sister towns of Agnes Waters and the Town of 1770, named after the historic landing of Captain James Cook. We did a day trip out to Lady Musgrave Island, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, and it was fantastic. Toured the island where Jodi managed to get herself pooped on by a Noddy Bird, and was assured it meant good luck. Snorkelled again, feeling so glad to have bought our own gear in Cairns, and found three green turtles at a "cleaning station" where fish come and clean their shells for them. Also saw more unicorn fish, clown fish, sea stars and cucumbers, and thousands of others all showing off their bright colours. Later, did a glass bottom boat tour, where we found a black tipped reef shark and a hawksbill turtle, which is apparently quite elusive.
Next up was a stop in Bundaberg, home of the Aussie famous Bundaberg Rum. We took a tour of the distillery, and learned how they turn molasses from the abundant local sugar cane into delicious rum. A few samples later and we were feeling just great. We even got in a game of mini golf and 10 pin bowling that night.
Currently in Hervey Bay, working out details for a 4 wheel drive tour to Fraser Island. Spent the afternoon in a pub celebrating the Melbourne Cup, known as the race that stops the nation. Entered a sweeps, and Jodi got the 2nd place horse, winning herself $14. Fancy hats and all, it was a fun day out.

Diving in the Great Barrier Reef

The PADI Open water dive course started with two full days of pool and classroom training. There we got to learn and practice the skills needed to become certified divers, as well as getting to know our classmates from all over the world. While visiting the dive shop to select our rental equipment, we convinced ourselves to invest in our own masks, snorkels and fins. After having tried the rental equipment in the pool, we decided to explore the reef in comfort.
We then boarded our boat at 7:00 am Thanksgiving morning for three days out on the Great Barrier Reef. After three hours of sailing, we reached our first dive site where we suited up and hopped in for our first of four training dives. Although these training dives required us to practice the skills we had learned in the pool, we were still surrounded by thousands of tropical fish, sea creatures and coral. Highlights included seeing reef sharks, sea turtles, cuttlefish, parrotfish, and of course, the clownfish. After a couple dives searching, we were able to find Nemo. After completing the fourth training dive we became certified divers, and were free to spend our next five dives on our own.
Over the course of three days, we dove in three different reefs at a total of five dive sites. Everywhere we went, the coral landscape stretched on forever, and was full of purples, pinks, greens, yellows, all sparkling in the sunlight from above. It was great fun to go off for our fifth dive, as we could do as we pleased and follow our own trail. There was some concern over getting lost, but a quick pop to the surface would reassure us that we really weren't that far from the boat. On these dives, we were also able to linger around spots that really interested us, play with coral that would retreat into itself if you got too close, and spend time watching fish as we pleased. We also got to go for a night dive - after they fed the sharks off the back of the boat, no less. Using flashlights, we discovered a different world, with sleeping fish under coral, little crabs skittering about, and Jodi even saw a turtle that was bigger than a kitchen table sleeping under a rock.
All in all, it was a phenomenal, if exhausting, experience. We saw a world so completely different from anything we'd seen before, and we can't wait to get back down there again.