This year’s travel blog. We’re off to Oceania! Oceania? What’s that you ask. I’m calling it Oceania because its more than just Australia and New Zealand, which are two of the locations we are visiting, but also the Cook Islands, in the Polynesian South Pacific. So it’s Oceania!
Our travels will take us to Sidney, Tasmania, Melbourne, and both South and North Island of New Zealand. And of course, Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. That’s a lot of geography to cover, but we’re up for it!
I’m hoping to regularly update this page, and give you some travelogue and pictures during our trip. Feel free to follow along. And please post your comments below – we’d love to hear them!!
July 22nd
Sydney Day 1
We made it! That was a very long flight. Toronto to Los Angeles 5 hours – 2 hour layover – Los Angeles to Auckland 12 hours – 2 hour layover – Auckland to Sydney 3 hours. 24 hours travel in total, not including time at Toronto and cab to hotel in Sydney. But we made it! (side note – Air New Zealand gets good marks from us, aside from a small hot tomato sauce spill mishap that Lisa was on the wrong end of. Staff were friendly, flights on time, food decent enough, seats ok for economy if a little tight).
Arrived in Sydney at 8:40 am Monday morning, and took about 15 minutes to clear immigration and customs. Longest wait was for my bag, which I think was the last one off the plane. Lisa’s was amongst the first. Took a short 20 minute or so cab ride to the hotel (traffic was as bad as Toronto on the highway into the city) and got checked in. They had a room available for us even though we were checking in well in advance of normal check in time, so we were able to have a short refresher nap, a shower, some fresh clothes and we were ready to tackle Sydney on our first day!
Unfortunately, despite starting out with some energy, it didn’t take long for that energy to get used up. It was a nice sunny day, 20 degrees warm. We had a walk around The Rocks area (the original old town of Sydney), had lunch on a patio, walked under the Sydney harbour bridge, and back again over to the Opera house and through the botanical gardens. That took about 3 hours or so, and then I was flagging. So we were back at the hotel around 5pm.
Took a few photos of the things everybody takes pictures of in Sydney. We’ll get a good rest tonight and hopefully have a bit more energy to tackle the city on day 2 tomorrow.
July 23rd
Sydney – Day 2
A good sleep was had by all. Lisa turned in last night at about 7pm, and I, after a short visit to the rooftop bar for a beer, turned in about 8pm. Both of us, very tired, and I suppose jetlagged. But a good 11-12 hours or so of sleep put us back on track I think.
We both woke at around 7am, and after readying ourselves, headed out for breakfast around 8. After a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage and hashbrowns at a great breakfast resto (BrewCafe, if anyone is in Sidney and looking for a place to eat) we headed on foot to our first destination, the Sydney Wildlife Zoo.
Now, both Lisa and I are generally not big fans of zoos, and especially tourist-trappy kind of zoos. And the Sydney Wildlife Zoo is definitely one of the latter. Its located in the heart of the city, dockside one of the harbour areas, and shares a space with an aquarium and a Madame Taussaud’s wax museum. Clearly a tourist magnet. But, as one of the only locations offering a guaranteed spotting of a Quokka, Lisa was hooked. What’s a Quokka you ask? Well, its one one of the many types of marsupials they have down here in Australia. Looks like a tiny kangaroo. Or wallaby, or one of the other many hopping/jumping rodents that populate this country. And there it was, at the Sydney Wildlife Zoo. We spent a good hour and a half visiting with these various creatures – including the obligatory Koala’s.
After that, we decided to take a ferry to Manly beach, one of the beaches just outside Sydney. The ferry was right there just a bit down the wharf from the zoo. So we hopped on for the 45 minute ride to the beach.
Have I mentioned the weather yet? Here in Sydney, in mid-winter, it was a freezing cold 22 degrees celsius today. That is a Sydney winter. Sunny and 22 degrees. Now, admittedly it was a bit chillier in the morning, when we were walking downtown. I think it was 13 degrees when we set out. But by the time we arrived at Manley beach just after noon, it was a gorgeous 22 degrees. It’s funny, you see a wide assortment of attire, from shorts and t-shirts (a few at least, in the minority and probably tourists) to folks wearing jackets and scarves (not full winter scarves, but neck coverings nonetheless).
The walk from the ferry to the beach is about 10 minutes or so, along a shopping arcade. I thought it seemed very California like (palms in the middle of the street and all), and Lisa was reminded of Cascais, the seaside resort we visited in Portugal.
Arriving at the beach, we had a nice walk along the promenade, and then along a seaside path south of the main beach. Lots of beautiful looking houses right along the shore overlooking the ocean, a seawater pool, and many locals and tourists alike out for a stroll. We stopped for a bit and had some tasty and refreshing fruit popsicles to cool off, before turning around and strolling back and further along the beach front.
At around 3:30, we headed back to the ferry wharf and relaxed a bit with a couple of beverages right on the dock watching the comings and goings in the harbour, before hopping back on a ferry into the city. The sun sets at about 5:30pm, so it was already close to the horizon when we got back to the dock at Circular Quay, and headed back to the hotel.
Tonight, our plan is to head out for a bite to eat, and see a band at one of the local clubs. I was hoping to find a local indie band somewhere if possible, but the closest I could get was an indie band from New York City (Charly Bliss, in case you were interested). So we’ll see a NYC band here in Australia. That’s upside down.
July 24
Sydney Day 3
Today we availed ourselves of a package tour to the Blue Mountains. We could have taken the train or a bus on our own, but instead we did the touristy thing and went for the pre-packaged tour.
The tour consisted of three parts.
Part 1 was a visit to an Australian wildlife center, the Featherdale Wildlife park. Many of the same animals we saw at the Wildlife zoo in Sydney were there, but there were more of them, and you actually walked among the wallabies and kangaroos. They were literally all over the place. Also a vast assortment of Australian birds, most in enclosures, but many walking and flying around. And snakes and spiders too (which thankfully, you could not walk amongst).
Part 2 was the prime attraction, a visit to the Blue Mountains National park. The park, viewed from above, appears as vast (or vaster, which is not really a word) than the Grand Canyon. At least I thought so. A rainforest composed mainly of ferns and eucalyptus trees, it stretches out over 2600 square kilometers. From the top of the cliffs, we descended down into the forest via a short cable car ride, and then walked the 4km or so of boardwalk that has been built on the forest floor. The ride back up to the top of the cliffs was via a railway, which was originally built to transport the coal that was mined in the valley. A super-steep cable pulled railway. The air at the park was particularly refreshing and cool – about 8 degrees or so.
Part 3 was the trip back to Sydney, particularly the 45 minute cruise along the river feeding into Sydney harbour. It started at twilight and ended up arriving into Sydney harbour in the dark, with spectacular views of the city, the Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House.
A long day (bus pickup was at 7:45 am) but a worthwhile day trip from the City.
July 25
Sydney – Day 4
The weather has been so fantastic here in Sydney, we just couldn’t pass up another opportunity to spend another day at the beach.
Got up a bit later than the previous two days, had ourselves breakfast, then headed down to Circular Quay – a central transportation hub right on the harbour – to catch the local bus to world-famous Bondi Beach. About a half hour bus ride from central Sydney, Bondi Beach is the place to lay in the sun on the beach and to hit the surf and catch a wave. We didn’t do either, but we did enjoy the weather and the atmosphere!
Bondi has a bit less small-town-charm feel to it than Manly beach that we visited a couple of days ago. But it is a nice beach. And while there weren’t many folks enjoying laying on the beach, there were plenty of surfers in the waves. We had ourselves a walk up and down the beach, and Lisa tested the water – warmer than Lake Ontario in the summer was her verdict.
While we could have spent the day lounging, that isn’t our thing for this holiday. Instead, we hiked a trail that heads south from Bondi, along the coastline weaving in and out of numerous coves and beaches. It’s known as the Bondi to Congee coastal walk. It’s a paved and boardwalked trail, only about 6.5 km long, but many ups and downs as you meander up and down the cliffs and in and out of the coves. While it was sunny, the air was a bit cooler today, though on the trail you get quite hot in the sun, and cool in the shade. Most of time I wished I was wearing shorts, but times I was glad I had my long pants.
We stopped and had lunch at a small cafe about halfway along the trail, enjoyed the scenery and surfing, and took lots of pictures. At the end of the walk, in Congee, we sat down at the old Pavillion for refreshments. Hopping back on a local bus, we then headed back to the city. By the time we got back, it was too late to hit a museum, which was our original plan (everything pretty much shuts down at 5pm, and it’s dark by 5:30pm) so we called it a day and headed back to the hotel. Tonight, we’ll go out for dinner at a restaurant in The Rocks, then come back and pack our bags, ready for our flight tomorrow morning to Tasmania.
I’ve enjoyed our visit to Sydney. Though we’ve only scratched the surface of things to do here, we’ve got in some good visiting. The Darling harbour area and some of the other neighbourhoods are areas I’d like to explore more. But, that will be another day.
July 26
Sydney to Tazzie
Today we leave Sydney behind and travel on to Tasmania.
Woke up pretty early after an early bedtime the night before. A peek out the window showed the daily traffic jam into the City from the bridge. We strolled down to the Rocks to find somewhere to grab a pastry and coffee before returning to the hotel to finish packing up the bags. A nice brisk morning, about 11 degrees. Ordered an Uber, and we were on our way to the airport.
(Sidebar – planned to use Uber for our cab to the club the other night, but my app wouldn’t work because the phone number of my local sim card didn’t match the number on file – my Toronto phone number. After some back and forth with Uber help – which were almost immediate, to their credit – while we were at the concert, they indicated it was all cleared up. But at the end of the concert, it still said I needed to verify my local number. They finally cleared it up by the time we got back to the hotel – by conventional cab – and it worked just fine this morning for the ride to the airport.)
The flight from Sydney to Hobart is fairly short – 1.5 hours, or about 2 hours when you included all the taxiing time from the terminal to the runway to takeoff. Took off around 11:45 an we landed in Hobart just after 1:15pm. The Uber driver had warned us about the airline – Jetstar, a Quantas owned discount airline – but there were absolutely no issues. Smooth flight, friendly cabin crew, and no luggage lost (knocking on wood for all future flights).
Now for the test – driving on the wrong side of the road. We’ve rented a car for our time in Tasmania. It’s a Holden Captiva (look it up – an Austraila-only SUV). It’s been some time since I last drove a car on the left side, and the whole time we were in Sidney I was making mental notes to prepare myself. Turns out, as was the case previously, I didn’t really have anything to worry about. Once you get into the wrong side of the car, and start driving on the wrong side, it really is quite natural. The only real issue I had today was using the turn signal – it’s on the right side of the steering column (naturally), so I kept turning on the windshield wipers when I wanted to change lanes or turn. Hopefully that will become more natural too.
The drive from the Hobart airport to our hotel in downtown Hobart is about 20 minutes, and we made it to the hotel easily. Got ourselves checked in, and then went on our first sightsee – a trip up Mount Wellington for a view over Hobart and its environs.
Mt Wellington is about 1270m high, and at the top, it’s a quite brisk 2 degrees or so. Quite a change from the Sydney weather we had experienced so far. And while Hobart itself was a fair bit cooler than Sydney, the top of the mountain was downright cold. There is even snow up there. But the views over Hobart and beyond are quite spectacular, as you will see from the photos below. Well worth the long and windy road to the top. And to top it off, we spotted a wallaby happily munching on the local greenery at the top. On the way back down, we also came across an unguarded chicken crossing – see picture below. The main rooster made sure we stopped to let his flock cross the road.
Once back in Hobart, we headed out for some fresh seafood for dinner, then walked back to the hotel. Nightime comes even earlier here in Hobart – it was dark by about 5:20. Tomorrow, we visit the weekly market in Salamanca, and see what other adventure we can get up to.
July 28
Tasmania Day 1-2
I missed making a post yesterday, so catching up today for both days.
Yesterday was Saturday in Hobart (it was actually Saturday in a lot of other places too). Saturday in Hobart means it’s Salamanca market day. I actually planned our time in Hobart so that we could be here on a Saturday to attend the market. The Salamanca market is Australia’s largest outdoor market, held every Saturday in the Salamanca district of Hobart, which is the old docks warehouse areas. It was a very crisp morning of about 3 degrees when we went out after breakfast, but the weather was fine and we were prepared.
It is a very large market, probably spanning a distance of about ½km, with somewhere about 300 or more stalls. We spent about 2 hours walking among the stalls, picking up a few trinkets, and enjoying the smells of the food stalls and the overall atmosphere. It was busy, but not so busy you couldn’t walk easily. I overheard someone say that in the summer, it’s so busy you basically shuffle along with the crowd like sardines in a can.
After the market, we had lunch at a seafood restaurant on the docks, then we went for a 90 minute Hop-on-Hop off open double decker round trip tour of the city. It was cold, but we still wanted to sit on the top open deck to see the sights. We were both quite numb by the time we returned to the starting point, but we got a good feel for the City. Hobart is a fairly small city of about two hundred thousand, and the whole of Tasmania only has about five hundred thousand people. It has quite a small town feel to it. Though to me it was a good small town vibe.
After the bus tour, we took in their very small maritime museum (one room) and then headed back to the hotel to rest up a bit before heading down to the Salamanca area again for some dinner.
After dinner, Lisa was feeling quite tired, but I still had some energy left. Nights leave very little options for things to do in winter – even Sydney didn’t have much happening after dark other than bars – but there’s always the movies. Hobart isn’t getting the first run movies as soon as they are released, so there weren’t even very many options in that department. But I landed on a documentary on the life of Michael Hutchence, the former lead singer to Australian band INXS. The theatre was in North Hobart, which was only a 25 minute walk from the hotel, so I made my way over there, paid $20.50 AUD for the ticket (yikes!!) and watched the movie. I somehow doubt this movie will make it into North American theaters, so don’t hold your breath – or bother if it does – it wasn’t very interesting in the end, and didn’t even have much INXS tunes in it. And spoiler alert – he dies in the end! Walked back to the hotel after the movie, along the very quiet streets, and turned in for the night.
That was Saturday, today is Sunday. Our Sunday plans involved a drive to the Tasman peninsula.
The Tasman peninsula is about a 1.5 hour very windy and up and down drive outside of Hobart. You drive north of the city, loop around to the east and head back south down the peninsula. The main target of this drive was Port Arthur, and old penal colony on the peninsula, that is now a National Historic site. The site has remnants of some of the buildings from the time, though a lot of the buildings were burned to the ground during a brush fire in the late 1890’s. It is quite an expansive site, so we toured for about 3 hours or so, including a guided walk and a cruise in the bay just off the site to see a few of the other associated sites – such as the island they buried their dead on, and the location of a boys prison.
On the way back to Hobart, we also stopped at a couple of parks to see a blowhole, an arch, and a devils kitchen. These are all natural cave/cliff formations along the Tasman peninsula. We also stopped to see some rock floor formations on the edge of the Tasman sea known as tesselated pavement. The weather was wonderful, a bit warmer than yesterday and totally sunny, so it was a perfect day for this day trip.
Back at the hotel now, updating the blog before we head off to find somewhere for dinner. Hope you enjoy the pics!
July 29
Tasmania – Day 3
Do you like your art staight-forward and easily interpretable? Do you like it to make sense and somewhat followable? If so, then MONA – Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art would not be for you.
MONA is a fairly new (since 2011) art museum in Hobart that has gained quite an international reputation. About 25 minutes up the Derwent river from Hobart central, it is usually visited using the MONA specific ferries – two camouflaged (I have no idea why) catamarans that make the trip every hour or two from the main wharves of Hobart. That’s the way we travelled too. Aside from the interesting exterior paint job, these ferries are also a bit different from your normal ferries, sporting tigers you can sit on for the ride, monkeys hanging from the deck ceilings, and psychedelic coloured windows. The ride is advertised as part of the experience of visiting MONA, and you can probably get an idea of what the museum is like from the ferries that take you there – not at all a “normal” museum.
Cut into the sandstone cliff-face, the museum is a warren of passageways that lead to various galleries and displays of different – and I mean different – things. No traditional artwork here. For example, one of the exhibits is titled Cloaca. It’s a machine designed to mimic the human digestive system. Each day it gets “fed”, and each day, on cue, it “poops”. We didn’t hang out for the pooping. Very interesting museum MONA, and I recommend it if you are visiting Hobart – unless you like you art straight-forward.
July 30th
Tasmania – Day 4
Things I learned about Tasmania:
- Winter in Tasmania is not cold, but not warm either.
- Roads are rarely straight, and prefer to loop left and right and up and down. Even if it looks like there must be a more direct path.
- Lots of wallabys get hit by cars, probably precisely because of the curvy nature of said roads.
- Despite being on the ocean, the seaside does not seem to “smell” of the ocean. Maybe it’s just a time-of-year thing.
- Tasmanians are quite friendly. Maybe this is an Aussie-wide thing. Probably.
We’re leaving the island state today, headed back to the mainland (which of course is really just a bloody big Island itself). We finished off our time here with another road trip. This time we headed south of Hobart, to Bruny Island, about a 1.5 hour drive from Hobart.
A long and curvy road (as noted above) and a 25 minute ferry ride took us to the island. On the island, there are numerous vistas of the ocean, cliffs, beaches, and a lighthouse right down at the southern tip. There’s also a penguin viewing area, but alas, not the right season/time to see the penguins. The island is also known for its local cheeses but we didn’t really see many signs of this delicacy. In fact, just like the penguins, much of the island seemed closed. Wrong season – I suspect the place is lousy with artisan cheese stands during the summer.
But we did take in some nice vistas, had a few walks, and filled up the car at the only petrol station on the island. We then headed back to Hobart for a pizza meal, before heading back to the airport, returning our rental car, and waiting for the check-in kiosks to open (we were very early for our flight).
So we say goodbye to Tasmania, and welcome to Melbourne for the next leg of our adventure.
Aug 2
Melbourne
We’ve only been in Melbourne for three days but it’s time to move on.
We arrived quite late on Wednesday night – actually it was about 2am by the time we were settled in our hotel room. The flight from Hobart is quite short – only about an hour and 15 minutes – but by the time we had gathered our luggage, found the taxi stand, driven into the city from the airport and checked in, it was 2am.
Slept well though and were ready to tackle the sights of Melbourne by 10am on Thursday. After a late breakfast at a cafe in the lane close to our hotel, we headed downtown. My first impression – this town is a lot like Toronto. Coming from quiet little Hobart, the streets here are definitely big city, and bustling. Lots of people on the sidewalks going somewhere. Down by the train station, tons of people coming and going.
Our first stop was a two hour ride on the Hop-On-Hop-Off double decker bus. Just like in Hobart, it was a start to help us get our bearings of the city and give us ideas on where we might want to visit. After the bus ride, we took a stroll along the Yarra river, which too was bustling with locals and tourists alike, and took in lunch on a patio in the sun. Spent a bit more time walking the streets before heading back to the hotel for a rest.
In the evening, we met up with a friend of mine from Victoria, who moved to Melbourne about 8 years ago. Chantal took us for a tour of the Melbourne Night Market, which is an outdoor market they hold in the city every Wednesday night, with loads of food stalls and arts vendors. They have wood fires going (it’s about 7 degrees or so in the evenings here) and fake snowflakes. And again, tons of people. The three of us had dinner together and did a bit of catching up. After dinner, Lisa and I headed out to the burbs to catch a band – Alvvays – a Toronto band that happened to be playing two dates in Melbourne while we were here. We’ve actually seen them twice before, but they’re a good band, and we enjoyed the show.
The following day, Lisa had booked us on a trip to the Penguin Parade. What’s the Penguin Parade you ask? Well, it’s really just what it sounds like. At an island about 2 hours outside of Melbourne, there is a conservation area where penguins – they are Little Penguins (that’s their breed, they are fairly small at about 30cm tall) – nest when they come in from sea. Every night, just after dusk, the penguins come out of the ocean en masse, and head to their dens for the night. The nature conservatory has set up protected areas for them to nest, and also set up viewing areas for us humans to watch them as they come out of the ocean and up the beach. It’s a penguin parade! It all sounds very touristy, but in fact, learning about the conservatory it is clear that their priority is protecting the penguins while also providing scientific research. Having the paying public come to watch is how they fund it all. And it was quite fun to watch them all trundle in just after dusk and head in various directions to their dens. Some of them actually go quite far up from the beach to nest – I’d say more than a half of a kilometer for some of them. Photography is not allowed due to the potential to scare the penguins so unfortunately I can’t add any photos to the gallery. You’ll just have to imagine what it looks like to see about 200 or so of these little guys waddling across the sand and up through the foreshore to their little penguin houses.
Finally, today was another day exploring Melbourne. First, we re-visted the Queen Victoria Market – the site of the Winter Night Market the other night – for a daytime visit to the market. It is quite a large market, with the fruit, veggie, meats and seafood areas quite similar to the St. Lawrence market. But there is also quite a large non-foods section, with vendors selling everything from t-shirts, to fine jewelry, crafts, souvenirs, fine wool coats, leather goods, and more. Very much like an English market.
After strolling the aisles for an hour or two, we hopped on a local tram, and headed for the sea again. The St. Kilda area of Melbourne is right on the shores of Port Phillip Bay, the large bay the Melbourne rests on. Here, there are lots of beaches and marinas. Being winter – and nowhere near as warm as it was in Sydney – the area was fairly deserted of tourists and people in general. But we had a nice stroll along the beach, and up through the very quiet residential streets off the beach on the way back to the tram. A very different feel that downtown Melbourne.
By the time we arrived back in Melbourne, it was already getting late. But our Friday night was not complete without … a visit to the laundromat! After almost two weeks of travel, it was time to do a bit of laundry. And what better time than a Friday night!
And that was our time in Melbourne.
Aug 4
Queenstown and Lake Tekapo
The weather finally caught up with us.
We arrived in Queenstown NZ, after our early morning flight from Melbourne. Flying in, there was scattered cloud, and we had a great view from on high of the snow capped mountains surrounding Queenstown, which is on Lake Wakatipu on the South Island. After getting through customs, immigration, and bio-security (they are very serious about their environment here, and don’t want any contaminants coming through – they checked the bottom of our boots for Australian dirt!) we had a short 5 minute walk to the off-airport car rental agency. Sun was shining, and it felt much warmer than we had been in Melbourne.
The hotel was a short 10 minute drive from the airport, and we got ourselves checked in. Then the heavens opened. The rain came, and it kept coming. After waiting a bit, we decided to head into Queenstown proper despite the rain, and have a walk round. The town is quite small, so it doesn’t take much to see it all, and most of it seemed to be adventure-tour storefronts in any case! Row upon row of them – ski tours, helicopter tours, snowboarding tours, some kind of wacky speed toboggan tours, bungee jumping, and so on. This really is a town for jump offs for the adventurous (and not surprisingly most of the people in town seemed to be the young ski-adventure types). Before we got totally soaked, we found a nice restaurant on the waterfront for some dinner. Our waitress didn’t have a local accent and when we were paying our bill I asked her where she was from – Muskoka!
After dinner, went back to the hotel and had a fairly long sleep (I’ve been fighting a bad cold for the last few days and really needed the rest).
In the morning, we got up early, and made the call to the company that we had booked with for a flight to and cruise on Milford sound, to confirm. Well, the weather gods got us again. Due to the weather, the flight was not going to happen today. I suspect it wasn’t so much the weather here in Queenstown, as the weather at and on the road to Milford Sound. They had received a fair bit of snow in the last few days and in fact the road into Milford Sound was closed. With no tourists getting there that way, and probably with no way for the folks running the boat cruises there to get to work, I suspect that was the main reason our flight to the Sound was cancelled. Oh well, we’ll have to do that one next time we’re here.
So instead, we hopped in the car and headed to our next destination – Lake Tekapo – a little earlier than we had planned. I was a little worried about what the roads might be like since they wind through alpine passes, and there had been warnings of snow in the area, but it turned out they were just fine. No snow on the roads today. Before arriving at Lake Tekapo, we took a small detour for a drive to Mt Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand. The drive to the mountain was beautiful, with views of all the peaks in the national park, and driving alongside glacial Lake Pukaki. We had lunch at a restaurant at the mountain base (which is as far as you can go by car), and while we were eating our meal, clouds rolled in and it started to snow. By the time we had finished lunch, there was about a centimetre of snow on the road, so we headed out fairly quickly since we didn’t want to potentially have to put the snow chains on the car. Interestingly, they don’t seem to have snow tires here. Instead, everyone carries snow chains (required by law in certain areas) and use them when it snows instead. Even for just a little bit of snow. Weird. About ten minutes after leaving the restaurant, the snow started abating and there wasn’t much on the road at that point – we out-ran it.
The drive into Lake Tekapo from Mt. Cook was about an hour or so and we arrived at our motel there and checked in. Had a walk along the lake edge, over to a small stone church, and back to the motel as the sun was setting.
For the evening in Lake Tekapo, normally, one might think there is not much to do in a tiny little village in the wilds of south New Zealand. But there, you would be wrong. Lake Tekapo is in the middle of a Dark Sky Reserve – one of only four dark sky reserves in the world. Lisa had booked us on a star observing outing given by the Dark Sky Project, a scientific group dedicated to stargazing or astro-tourism. We and about 10 others took a bus for a short trip out to small observatory, set in a man-made crater to block wind and light, to observe the night skies. We were rewarded with virtually cloud free night (in fact, the only cloud seemed to be blocking the small amount of light coming from the 13% new moon) and an awesome view of the universe. I have never seen the sky in this way, with the milky way bright above us, and so many clearly visible stars and galaxies. The guide was an astronomy student, who had lots of interesting information, and trained the telescope on a few of the most interesting or at least popular night sky objects. Of course, pictures are impossible, so I just have my memory to remember the breathtaking night sky view.
Hopefully, that clear dark night bodes well for the weather on the rest of our trip.
Aug 5
Christchurch
Not much to post today really. We made the drive from Lake Tekapo to Christchurch, about 4 hours of driving. Made a stop in Timaru, where there was a chance of seeing seals on the beach. But the only seals we saw were each other.
Arrived in Christchurch and made our first stop at the gondola ride to the top of Mount Cavendish for a view of the Christchurch area from on high. Weather was great, and view was clear, but the actual scenery from the top wasn’t really that impressive. I had thought that Christchurch was a smallish city right on the water, but it’s actually quite spread out over a very flat area, so the view, while impressive, wasn’t particularly beautiful or anything.
After tackling the mountain, we made our way into the city to find our hotel. Our hotel is kind of interesting, as it has a tram that runs right through the middle of it. The tram (note the singular) isn’t a public transit type vehicle, but rather a tourist ride through the city. We didn’t ride it but we can certainly hear when it makes it’s way through the hotel!
We had a short walk around the city after checking in, and visited The Quake museum, which is a museum about the large quakes they had here in 2010 and 2011, the latter of which did some major damage to the city. Overall, I don’t think Lisa nor I were particularly awed or even impressed with Christchurch. At least what we saw of it.
But at least we had the weather!
Aug 5
Christchurch to Picton
The last leg of our South Island NZ road trip today.
The first half of the drive was along the east coast of the island, but inland somewhat, so the scenery was mainly farmland, rolling hills, and the snow topped mountains off to our left. We arrived at our first stop, Kaikoura, after about two and a half hours.
Kaikoura was a point of destination due to its beach of New Zealand fur seals. Apparently it is a favourite spot for our kin-in-name to have themselves a rest from their long days fishing at sea. And we weren’t disappointed. Pulled into the parking lot at the point and right there in front of the car was a tired fella resting himself on a rock, quite far away from the surf that was pounding the rocks down the way. We had a walk along the rocks to see if we could find any more. We were entertained by a little guy swimming around in the surf and occasionally jumping up onto the rocks, but that was all we could see. That was, until we were headed back to the parking lot. Our mistake was looking for these guys closer to the water, because apparently, they prefer to lie in the sun in the grass closer to the car park. Or even plop themselves right on the boardwalk that runs from the parking lot along the roadside. Someone – presumably not the seal himself – had courteously put an orange safety cone near him so people wouldn’t trip over him.
After our seal excursion, we hopped back in the car for the last half of the drive to Picton. Most of this drive was right along the coast line, hugging the rocks and the ocean. There were a lot of roadworks along the route, many of them still working to make repairs due to the earthquakes from 2010/11. We were also treated to some fabulous beach views and more seals sunning themselves on rocks.
After a few more winding up and down kms, we arrived at our hotel in Picton. Picton is where the ferries from the South Island depart for the North Island. But before we make that trek, we’ve got a day of winery tours scheduled for tomorrow. If my blog writing is a bit wobbly tomorrow, you’ll know why.
Aug 7
Marlborough Wine Tasting
Went on a wine tasting tour today. Lisa had booked a half day guided wine tasting tour of the Marlborough area wineries. But because it’s off season, the tour company only offered full day tours, mainly since our hotel in Picton is a little off the wine tour beaten track. So we upgraded to the full day tour.
We were met at our hotel by Cameron, the owner of Hop-n-Grape tours at 9:45am, and headed out to pick up three other folks for the tour (they happened to be an American couple who have been living in Alice Springs for the last 6 years, and an American who is living and working in Sydney). We visited 5 wineries over the course of the day, and got to see the behind the scenes operations at one of them. Each stop had at least 5 wines to sample, so we had a fair bit over the course of the day (enough to make most of us “happy”, but not soused). If you know me, I’m definitely not an oenophile, so while I enjoyed most of the wines (though sweet desert wines are not for me), quite frankly, comparing a Sauvignon Blanc from one winery with the Sauvignon Blanc from another was lost on me. That’s more Lisa’s department. But a fine day was had by all.
Back at the hotel now for our final night on South Island.
Aug 8
Picton to Wellington
Today we crossed the Cook Strait to North Island.
Our ferry trip was booked as part of our NZ car rental, so we made the short 50 meter drive from our hotel in Picton to the ferry terminal and took our spot in line. Interestingly, most of the car rental companies don’t allow their cars to travel between islands. So you normally drop it off at the ferry terminal, walk on the ferry, and pick up a new car at the other end. But our car rental company allows for travel between the islands, so we could drive on the ferry.
Which itself was interesting. When we checked in, the attendant asked how my driving skills were. I said they were good, so she said, great, you will be backing your car onto the ferry. Which is what I had to do. We were on the same deck as the rail cars (which they have on the ferry too!), and those of us parking on that deck had to back up onto the ferry. Never had to do that before. A strange way to load cars, but hey, they’ve been doing this for a while so there must be some reason for this method of loading.
The ferry takes 3 hours to travel between Picton and Wellington (our ship was the Aratere, which means ‘quick path’ in Maori). It’s not a particularly nice ferry (not as nice as BC ferries in my opinion), but it was a comfortable ride, not a lot of other travelers, and there was a cafeteria on board for some lunch.
we arrived in Wellington just before 2 pm and were at the hotel in about another 10 minutes. Wellington is another city, like Hobart, that is built on hills and valleys. No roads are straight, and they are super narrow. But we managed fine (I still haven’t been able to convince Lisa to get behind the wheel and try driving on the wrong side of the road. But I will before we leave). Had a bit of time to kill before our next appointment in the city, so we took a drive up to the top of Mt Victoria for a bird’s eye view of the city and the Bay that Wellington sits on.
After that sightsee we headed across town to Zealandia, where Lisa had booked a night walk. Zealandia is a nature sanctuary of about 225 hectares at the top of one of the hills, right beside Wellington. The sanctuary has a 2 meter high fence entirely surrounding it, which keeps out all non-flying animals. It is intended to preserve the area just as it was before the first humans arrived in New Zealand, bringing their nonnative pests such as cats and rats and dogs with them. Did you know that New Zealand has no native mammal species (other than a bat)?
The night tour provided an opportunity to see some of the nocturnal birds and animals in the sanctuary. Of course, the one bird everyone wanted to see was a kiwi, and even though the guide didn’t promise we would see one, we were in fact rewarded with seeing two of these funny little flightless birds during our walk. Also saw some other birds, some iguanas, and glowworms. Well worth the price of admission.
Tomorrow we head off again northwards on the next leg of our North Island tour.
Aug 10
Wellington to Rotorua
Over the last two days, we’ve covered a fair bit of territory.
We headed out of Wellington Friday morning, with our first target town of Napier, which is a town on the eastern side of North Island, about half way up. Lisa had read about this town as having been devastated by an earthquake in the early part of the 20th century, and having been completely rebuilt in an art deco style. The town is clearly a summer resort town, so during our visit it was quite deserted, especially on the beach where we stopped for a bite to eat from an Airstream trailer converted into a cafe. We had a little drive around the town (which indeed had many one and two story buildings nicely art decoed) and also had a drive to the top of the local hill ( a recurring theme of our town visits) for a look over the vistas. Then we were off for our destination for the evening.
Taupo is a small town on the edge of Lake Taupo, a large lake formed in a volcanic caldera, smack dab in the middle of North Island. We didn’t arrive until fairly late in the day, so we didn’t do much there, other than take a walk along the lakeshore into town for dinner, and back. This place too is clearly a summer destination, though I understand there is some good skiing in the area, though there didn’t seem to be any instantly recognizable hills or mountains in the area. It was fairly quiet here.
In the morning, we started out along the Thermal Highway. Of course, with NZ being on the edge of one of the continental plates ( it is part of the ring of fire), there is a lot of geothermal activity, especially on the North Island (we didn’t see a lot of it in evidence on the South Island, but they totally sell it up here). Along this route there are numerous parks and spots advertising thermal springs and nature areas. The first one we stopped in, just outside of Taupo, was billed as “Craters of the Moon”. The park had a 3km or so path that snaked through high and low brush between numerous steam vents and bubbling pools. Interesting, but not super impressive. Lisa remarked that she didn’t know there was so much vegetation on the moon.
The second one we stopped at was actually a preplanned stop (the first was a spontaneous stop – who could resist Craters of the Moon!). Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland was supposed to be a must-visit on the Thermal Highway. It certainly was a more impressive (and longer walk) than Craters of the Moon, but still was mostly just streaming vents and bubbling water, with a few mud pools thrown in. Not dissing it, but nothing we hadn’t seen already (including during our Iceland trip).
Our final stop of the day, before our hotel, was yet another thermal park – Te Puia. The difference with this one however, was that it included a Maori cultural center, and we had booked a sitting at a Maori dance cultural performance. The geothermal part of the park was perhaps a bit more impressive again than the Thermal Wonderland, but mostly more of the same – steam vents, bubbling pools, and a few more bubbling mud pits. But it also had a somewhat impressive geysir going for it, which regularly went off a couple times an hour. We did manage to be there when it went off, and it didn’t disappoint – it spewed a 30 meter high jet of water (two actually) for a good 5-10 minutes or so.
After our walk around the park, we lined up for our Maori performance. We and about 100 other visitors waited outside a traditional Maori wharenui – a communal house – and greeted by a Maori elder who told us what we were going to see today. Then, somehow, I got chosen to be the Chief of the entire group, and got to be welcomed by the Maori tribe, accept their invitation to their gathering, and Lisa and I were escorted into the Whearenui ahead of everyone else. I then had to go up on the stage and greet each of the four Maori warriors with a handshake and a double nose tap on behalf of “my people”. Normally, not my thing, but I did kind of enjoy being the Chief!
The performance consisted of some traditional dances and singing, and at one point the Chief (me) and other men from the tribe were invited up on stage to learn and perform the traditional Maori Haka, or war dance. Needless to say, I wasn’t a very scary warrior. Lisa has some video, but it gets a little off-centered as she apparently was laughing too hard at my Haka ineptness to focus properly.
As we left the heavens opened, and we made our way to our hotel in the town of Rotorua. Because of all the geothermal activity in the area, there is a very pervasive smell of sulphur, but you start to get used to it after a while. Sort of.
And that was the last two days.
Aug 11
Worms
And caves and ocean.
I’ve noted how when we arrive in cities, we have often traveled to the highest peaks to get a view. Today, we went underground instead.
Leaving smelly Rotorua, we travelled a relatively short 2 hour drive to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. Waitomo is the site of a number of cave systems, the most famous of which is the Glowworm cave. For those that might not know what glowworms are, they are small worms (maggots actually) that produce a bioluminescence at their tail end, which attracts small flying insects into the sticky webs they dangle from their bodies. They are found mostly in damp overhanging rockwalls, or in this case, in caves. There are a number of caves at Waitmo, and we entered two of them. The first was Ruakuri Cave, which was a one and a bit hour guided walk through a cave system with all the standard cave accoutrements – stalactites, stalacmites, drippy bits and running underground streams. There were even some glowworms thrown into this cave also. A fairly impressive cave (especially the entrance, which was a man-made 20 foot wide tube that you descended down along a spiral pathway to the main cave entrance) but nothing we hadn’t seen in other cave tours (of which the Seal family has done many!).
After that cave was the prime attraction – the glowworm cave. This cave has been a tourist attraction for more than 100 years, and includes a silent boat ride through the glowworm grotto, a water filled cavern with thousands of glowworms lighting up the ceiling. Frankly, this cave was a bit of a let down. The glowworms were impressive and all, but not knock-your-socks off impressive. And because of all the rain in the area over the last two days (today was a good day to be underground as it was unrelenting downpours), the boat ride didn’t do its usual ride through a tunnel and exiting the cave because the water levels were too high. We did laps on the underground lake then disembarked in the cave and had to hoof our way out again.
Overall though, not a bad way to spend a rainy day.
After the caves, we had a leisurely drive over to the west coast of the island and visited Ngarunui Beach, a popular surfing beach. The weather had cleared up on the coast and we had some beautiful views of the sand and surf, and some surfers.
That was our Sunday. Tomorrow, we head to Auckland for the last two days of our time in New Zealand.
Aug 13
Auckland
Auckland is another city that I could live in. Vibrant downtown, lots of activities, interesting neighbourhoods. But we were told that housing prices here are 4th highest in the world. Oh well.
We arrived in Auckland after a two hour drive from Hamilton. The drive wasn’t particularly interesting, with much of the scenery very much like Ontario – a 4 lane motorway most of the way, green farmland, lakes and rivers, and lots of cows and sheep. Ok, maybe the sheep are not as plentiful in Ontario.
We were too early to check into the hotel, so we headed for the Auckland museum as the first stop. The museum sits on top of one of the hills of Auckland (of which there are a number, and in fact are all remnants of extinct volcano peaks) with an impressive view of the parkland and city around it. Inside the museum, it has one floor dedicated to natural history of New Zealand, one floor dedicated to New Zealand war history (actually the original intention of the entire museum) and one floor dedicated to Maori history. It was an ok museum, but nothing too special.
We then headed to the hotel and checked in. The hotel is located very close to the waterfront and port area, right in the CBD (Central Business District, which Australians and Kiwi’s call their downtown), so is in a central hive of activity. After checking in, we went for a self guided walk around the city, before ending up at a gin and whisky bar. The bar was quite empty, so we got the full attention of one of the bartenders, who brought bottle after bottle of the hundreds of types of gins and whiskys they had on the shelf, for us to “sample” with our noses. Of course, a few of them we also sampled with our tastebuds too! Who knew there were so many kinds of gins!! As for whiskeys, I actually sampled (with tastebuds) a Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. If any of you know bourbons, you will know that Pappy Van Winkle is considered one of the most premium bourbons, and comes with a premium price too. I didn’t sample the 20 year bourbon, which goes for $315 NZ dollars for an ounce (and also your name gets added to the Pappy Van Winkle club on the wall, along with Pink, the singer), but the younger 12 year old version (which still goes for a cool $60 for one ounce). While it was a nice drink, my palatte is clearly not refined enough to appreciate it that much more than the $12-15 bourbons I usually drink.
After a good nights sleep, we then hit the town again for our final day in New Zealand. We figured we’d do the hop-on-hop-off bus tour in Auckland like we did in Melbourne and Hobart, to get a sense of the city. We did do one hop-off during the bus tour, at the base of one of the other volcano-hills in the city, Mt. Eden. A 10 or so minute hike from the bus stop took us to the top, with a view of the ancient, tiny and grass covered caldera of the volcano, and a 360 degree view around Auckland and its environs.
At the end of the bus ride, we made the short walk over to the ferry terminals, for a short 15 minute ferry ride to one of the suburbs of Auckland across the bay, Devonport. Devonport is a quaint little seaside village (yes Claire, it was!), and clearly, like other places we’ve visited in Aus/NZ, more of a summer place than a winter place. But we hiked yet another volcano-hill here too, for another different view of Auckland from across the water.
As an upgrade to the hop-on-hop-off ticket for this tour, we also opted for a combo ticket that included admission to the Sky Tower, Auckland’s wanna-be CN tower. After the boatride back from Devonport, and a short stop to do a little souvenir shopping, we headed to the tower.
Lisa described the look of the tower as like the Kerplunk game (anyone remember that?). And it does (see pics below). Some great views again from the top of the tower, and we stayed there while a storm blew in over the city and night fell. Then, a nice dinner, and back to the hotel to pack for our early rise tomorrow to catch our flight to Rarotonga.
So long New Zealand. You’ve been a great host and we’ve loved you!
Aug 16
Rarotonga
Rarotonga. The largest of the islands in the Cook Islands chain of little dots in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Arrived Tuesday afternoon, after a three hour flight from Auckland that left on a Wednesday morning. The international dateline is the reason for that weirdness.
We were met at the airport by our transport to our hotel and had a short 15 minute ride to Sanctuary Roratonga. It’s a small adult’s-only hotel, with its own little beach that opens onto a lagoon that’s been designated a nature preserve. Our room is on the first level with a walk out the patio doors onto the beach. And it’s warm here! ( Not hot, about 24C, but warmer than we’ve been the rest of the trip. Which was by design of course).
Over our three days here, we’ve done some snorkeling (lots of fish in the lagoon), walks on the beach, a short go at stand-up-paddleboarding, a bit of floating in the ocean, lazing by the pool, and a walk to partake of a little mini golf (which was thwarted due to the lack of a credit card machine and our lack of cash!). It’s been a lazy end to our trip to the southern hemisphere. By design.
Hope you’ve enjoyed following along with us on our trip to Oceania. We’ve had a great time, and it has truly flown by. But it must come to an end, and come Monday, it’s back to reality.
And to start planning the next one!
Postscript – Places We Ate and Slept
I am looking for Darryl with the penguin!
Becareful of the snakes anf hope you have a smooth journey.
It looks like you are coming into great weather!
Gorgeous photos! I didn’t know that Australia was so beautiful, can’t wait for the rest of your trip.
Wow, beautiful landscapes & very cute critters!
You know a tourist is turning in NZ, AU, and UK when it is sunny and they have their wipers on. You don’t even need to see the rental car sticker. I found after adjusting to NZ and AU I was doing it back in CA.
It looks beautiful! It’s a shame about Milford sound but looks like you got amazing views despite that! And the dark sky reserve sounds just up your alley so glad the weather held out for that! Love you!
I also wanted to say, we get a lot of crossover with new Zealanders who like the snow, that chase the winter! So a lot of our ski instructors and people working at resorts in Muskoka and whistler and from New Zealand! Don’t know why you’d want to chase the winter though! Love you!
I like the idea of the seal putting the cone there himself! He took that safety course you had to take dad! Was practicing his safety moment!
I love that y’all are practicing the double thumbs up move! And thanks for the picture of the surfers! Are those stalactites called “curtains”? The ones built on a slanted surface that you can see light shining through?
Thanks for the vicarious trip down under. Next time take me with you!
“Sanctuary Roratonga. It’s a small adult’s only hotel” what’s the height limit?