Memories to Share

I can't believe I've been back only a week - I got back into the groove way to quickly. After much culling, I was able to select a handful of pictures from the over 1500 I took. I also included a couple of videos about the animals "down under".


Dancing Bird:



Kung Fu Kangaroo:

x

Slide show of pictures:

New Zealand

Australia

And now, the end is here, and so I face the final curtain...

One more WW2 story I heard in Cairns before I left: not many years ago, some men decided to make a path up to to top of the largest peak in Queensland, which is in the Daintree rainforest (mountains are not very big in Australia). Anyway, they made it to the top and spent the night in a cave. The next morning, they explored the cave and found old radio equipment in the back. It was reviewed by government officials, and determined that there bad been a Japanese lookout living in the cave during WW2, right in their backyard.

I didn't go to downtown Sydney because it was raining and I was done walking.

So I will go straight to my final impressions of Australia:
It reminds me a lot of the states with kangaroos everywhere and fewer high-rises (which is not to say I didn't enjoy my tours). They even have their version of rednecks.
I am impressed with how the Australian government and most of the people treat the Maori people and traditions. Most of the people have a high respect for the Moari history and traditions.
My favorite place I visited was Undara - it was cute, had wildlife everywhere, and provided phenomenal customer service (both in knowledge and courtesies). Besides, the snakes catching the bats was cool to see.
The flying fox bats were a trip. You could see them hanging in trees everywhere, in every city - on the highway off-ramps, next to the library, by pubs...it didn't matter. Then, when they took off for the night, the sky would be filled with bats and their Batman-type wings.
Ants were everywhere, from tiny ones (the size of a pinhead), to huge red ones over an inch thick. Everytime we left vehicle, we would comeback to find little ants crawling around. I wouldn't be surprised if some made it home with me (I will be washing everything).

I met an Aussie in New Zealand, and he told me NZ has the best scenery and Australia has the best animals. I have to agree about he scenery. As for the animals, I liked the Koalas (although you almost never see them in the wild), marsupials, and bats, but other than that I mostly saw reptiles, whereas NZ has penguins, seals, and albatross. I call the animals draw.

See you back in Cleveland. Mom and dad, don't forget to pick me up (payback for all those time you told me to drive safely).

A Final Chapter

For my last tour, I went to Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation (a cape within the rainforest, named by Captain Cook, the earliest Englander, who had much trouble, i.e. tribulations there). Once we went over Daintree river, we were in the rainforest area, and there is no electricity except for what people and establishments make themselves from water, windmills, generators, etc.

Our driver is very loquacious, as well as corny. I had to laugh ... throughout the roads in the rainforest, there were speed bumps and corresponding sign to watch out for cassowary bird (an odd looking bird, maybe 3-4 feet tall). Our guide's interpretation of the speed bump was that they were there to break the sound of a vehicle, and therefore alert the bird to get out of the way (and not a hint to slow down). At another point, he tells us he is going to put the microphone down so he can drive around the curves with two hands, then he proceeds to tell us about something off to the side for the next two minutes. He had a lot of interesting facts (although a couple were slightly wrong based on what others have with biology backgrounds have said). That being said, I would rather have someone who talked too much, than someone who didn't talk at all, like the bus driver up to Undara.

We walked trough the nature center in the heart of the rainforest. Because of everything else on our agenda, we only had one hour - it was not enough, unless your only goal is to say you've been there (which may have been true for some). I did learn some new facts about the flora in this rainforest, whether because what I learned was unique to here and not in other rainforest I have visited, or because the guide mentioned different things:

• There was a palm tree with new growth of limbs and flowers, which was white ... it looked albino. The reason it is white, is because his tree is pollinated by insects, which are attracted to smells, vs. A tree with colorful flowers which attract birds to pollinate.


• There is vine called "wait-a-while", or lawyer vine (it was nicknamed this for the same reason New Zealand named their lawyer bush, because of the hooks get into you and don't let go). It grows upward some, but will ultimately attach to another, stronger tree to support its height. It was used by the aborigines as a fishing rod - they put insects into the larger spikes and placed it in the water.


• Because the rainforests do not have seasons, plants grow all year long. So trees adapt differently, one examples of this is the various leaves we saw which were red,, purple, and yellows. Unlike home, where this would signify the tree was dying or liberating for winter, here the new shoots have this color.


• The web of the Golden Orb Weaver spider is so strong that a man walking into the web will not be able to break it. It is so strong, it has been used as a fishing line.

Lunch was barbecue outside. We had steak, fish, and sausage. There was also a bread called "damper", which is a heavy bush bread, which they would eat in the bush, and it would keep them filled for a long time. It reminded me of soda bread. We also had fruit. Most of the fruit I recognized, except one, the rambuttan. It is a hairy, red skinned fruit. I cut it through the middle, and the inside fruit was clear/white, and popped out of skin like an egg. Only unlike the yolk of an egg, the inside is a seed and inedible.

After lunch we stopped at local place for ice cream. She makes four flavors a day and selling small dips if each in a cup. The flavors odd, and she had examples of what the flavor source looked like on the counter: mamey sapote (kind of like strawberry), wattleseed (It looked like a hunk of thistle to me, and tasted like mild cappuccino), soursop (looked like a weird growth; tasted like a light lime flavor, but not exactly), and mango. It was ok, but mom and dad's is better.

After lunch I went on another crocodile cruise. They can't feed the crocodiles in this area. However, we saw a baby (about 2 years old), a female, and a fat male (about 15 feet long). So this is interesting, if crocodile eggs incubate at 32°, then males will hatch. If the eggs hatch at 31° or 33°, then females will hatch. Needless to say, we got a comment about women being both hot and cold... By the way, I fly home tomorrow after a brief stop in Sydney (I should have time to down to the wharf and take a round trip ferry ride).

I will post my final written blog late Sunday afternoon during my layover in Los Angeles and a link to pictures in about a week. The blog tomorrow will be my summary thoughts of Australia, like I did for New Zealand. I'll write it from the plane on what will literally be longest day of my life - I leave for the Cairns airport at 4 am and arrive in Cleveland 35 hours later at 11:58 pm...so I get a 39 hour day. I admit I have sometimes wished I had more hours in the day, but sitting on a plane and in airports is not how I would choose to spend them.

Interesting fact day 26: Cairns largest industry is not tourism (which would have been my guess, but it is actually the 2nd biggest industry). The largest industry in Cairns is sugar cane. They provide sugar throughout the world, including the US. As soon as you go out the city, there are sugar cane fields everywhere.

Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef

Today I went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We had gorgeous weather - my first day without rain in a long time. We went to Michaelmas Cay, which is really just a few yards of sand with lots of birds. But that was okay, since no one was focused on the beach...the reef was the main attraction.

Although they would let newbies scuba with just a short amount of training, I decided to snorkel. It was really cool, and pretty easy to do. The first time I was out for almost 2 hours. I wore a life jacket because I wasn't sure how easy it would be to swim/float for an extended period. The downside is I couldn't go far underwater. That worked for me. It was sort of nice to know I could just relax and enjoy. I bought an underwater camera and took some pictures - we'll see if anything shows up. The second time I went out, I did not use a life jacket, but I knew I had less than 30 minutes before we'd be called back to leave. I didn't even notice the difference.

The coral was not as bright as I expected, but it was cool to see all the different types of coral. It was pretty much all yellows and browns, with spots of purple, green, or blue that stood out and made it more special. There was one coral that was shaped like a giant clam at the top with purple in the middle. I kept trying to take a picture, and before I knew it, I'd passed it, so I would try to swim backwards (not really possible with fins), and then go forward again. But again I missed it...I must have done this 4 or 5 times before I got somewhat close to what I wanted. My luck, after all that, the picture won't turn out.

I also saw several fish. My favorite was a rainbow fish (my name). It was bright neon colors of blue, yellow, pink, and green. It's lips looked like someone had put a heavy layer of green teal lipstick on it.

After a fantastic buffet (this boat is known to have the best food), I went on a semi-submersible boat tour of the reef. This allowed us to go further out, and I could take pictures with my digital camera. We saw jailbird fish (black and white stripes), Mick Jagger fish (big lips), firefly fish (small, bright yellow), and a turtle (note, all names of fish are mine, and not official).

So that's it for today. My last tour is the Daintree Rainforest tomorrow.

Interesting fact day 25: Much of coral does not have color...most of the color comes from lichen (although some do have pigments). Also, coral needs light to look bright. They use huge lights to get the colors we see in movies and pictures.

My Lone Visit to the Lava Tubes of Undara

After a 5 hour bus ride, I arrived in Undara. I am not sure how much of the catastrophes over here have made it your way. There is the fires burning in Victoria, where many have been killed or lost homes. In Queensland, where I am, there were cyclones and excessive rains last week, leading to flooding of homes, and several streets north of Undara are still impassable. (This is a cool side note, they are doing a lot to raise money for those affected by the fires, and I heard on the news that many who were affected by the floods are committing their insurance checks to the fire victims; amazing how people can see through their own adversity to the people who have lost even more.)

So, I tell you all this to set the stage. This is the slow (i.e.. Wet) season anyway, but with the roads to the north being closed, I am literally the only person in this place. I ate my meals in this big outdoor dining area by myself. I did get VERY personalized service.

The site is surrounded by a national park and mega-ranches (think Texas). In a addition to my two planned tours, there were several hikes to choose from, a pool for relaxing, and the constant accompaniment of numerous birds. Besides the birds, they have the prerequisite kangaroos and wallabies, as well as my first view of wallaroos (they are all marsupials; kangaroos are the larger species, wallabies are the smaller species, and wallaroos are in the middle, this the name.

I went hiking after lunch yesterday. I got caught in the rain (which I was prepared for...I've learned to always be prepared for rain). On the way back, I turned a corner and there were about a corner dozen kangaroos, most of them taking shelter from the rain under a pavilion, not more than 25 feet from where I was standing. They ran off soon after they saw me, but I appreciated them pointing out the shelter to me. I sat out the rest of the rain in the shelter (joined by a kookaburra that sat just above the next picnic table) and soon the rain stopped (it typically does not last long). So I walked along the the tent/camping paths and ran into tons more kangaroos and wallabies. I was able to get as close as a single lane road without them running away, although they never took their eyes off me.

We (the guide and me) went out 4WD'ing instead of hiking tonight because of the flooding and rain. I saw a wallaroo for the first time - kangaroos are the big ones, wallabies the little ones, and wallaroos are in the middle, thus the name. These are the first wallaroos I have seen. Their ears are more rounded and their face more like a dog. The kangaroos and wallabies look more like deer (I wonder if they have similar genes and just developed differently).

We also visited a bat cave. Not THE bat cave, but one filled with hundreds of bats. We got there in time to watch their nightly exit (luckily I had a hat on). We also saw a few become dinner for the snakes that work their way over to the cave for an easy meal. But dumb as they are, one snake would catch a bat, then one or two others would fight him over the bat instead of getting their own. And their version of fighting is to grab a hold of the bat and/or other snake and hold on for dear life...so no one wins. I also got to see my first iguana (about 4 feet long!) green tree frogs, and cane toads (Mary Lang, are you jealous).

I had crocodile for dinner. I had narrowed it down to that or Emu, since I had not tried either yet). The crocodile was ok, I'd eat it again if someone served it to me, but I don't think I would choose to order it again...kangaroo is better. I don't know how to describe it, except maybe a cross between shark steak and chicken (though I can't really say it tastes like either).

This morning we (again, the guide and me) went on a half day tour, so that I could catch the bus back to Cairns. First we visited the rim of a volcano that last erupted thousands of years ago. From the top you could see quite a distance. Although the land is mostly flat, there are around 160 extinct volcanoes in the area that are just suddenly there (the last volcano erupted over 40,000 years ago, so there was no risk to me in that front. Supposedly, this land was once a mountain range the size of the Andes, but erosion and time have mad it pretty flat. Many of the volcanoes were eruptions that went straight up with a bang (think Hollywood movie volcanoes) and tended to make tall, thin mountains. The other kind oozed lava for years and created fat mountains and the lava tubes this area is known for. Undara was thus kind of volcano. It oozed lava for 20-30 years. The top layer would harden, but the lava underneath continued to flow downhill, leaving lava "caves", or as they call them, tubes, behind.

Next we visited three different lava tubes. They can be VERY long, and boardwalks have been built to make it easy to walk through. Unfortunately, those who built the boardwalks did not plan for the amount of rain they have seen here - this is set up to be a record rainfall year. So the caves were all flooded (only the 3rd time this has occurred), so I could only walk part way through (darn...my slightly claustrophobic side was not terribly upset).

Okay, I will admit to having medium expectations for Undara. Instead, it became my favorite place in Australia so far. The other SC group and how much they would have enjoyed it - this was the kind of experience I was expecting in Brisbane. I wish I could have had more time here for exploring. The staff were extremely knowledgeable and accommodating, the food was fantastic (I think I gained weight again, although I did turn down the pavlova), and I got to sleep in a converted train car (it was really cute).

Okay, I've rambled way to long.

Interesting fact day 22-23: Within 6 weeks of a kangaroo's pregnancy, she can choose to hold off the remaining gestation period for up to 2 years. Kangaroos will do this if they think there will not be enough food for the baby. A bonus (but sad) additional fact, a mother kangaroo will abandon a baby if she thinks there is not enough food for both her and the baby.

A Day Of Rest in Cairns

Arrived in Cairns later than expected due to a new computer upgrade that was causing problems (they did not have a valid passenger list...I'd hate to be on that IT team).

Today is my only free day in Cairns. I was going to lay poolside, but figured I'd see if their library had wifi. I thought the library was just a couple of blocks away, but found out my hotel is farther from the main drag than I thought (like 8 blocks). I also found that, not only does the library not have wifi, but they charge market rates to use the interest, and you have to buy a minimum of one hour (in all the places I visited, this is the first library to charge for the
Internet.

While I was there, I walked along downtown. I was not impressed. It reminded me of a typical American seaside town from 20-30 years ago, just with a large Asian influence. It's not pretty, nothing is free, and it's a totally tourist trap. The biggest commerce I saw was selling tours and activities for those visiting. To make it worse, the beaches here are not that great, at least today. It really does seem to be just a jumping off point for day tours in this area.

I found a pub with outdoor seating and an early bird special for pizza and "a pint", which was just what I needed (both the pizza and the beer). It started raining right as I was getting ready to go, so I asked for a bag so my stuff would not get wet. All they had was a garbage bag, so I walked to the hotel carrying a garbage bag filled with my day pack and some things I had bought. I got a few odd looks, especially because it stopped raining almost immediately. I'm guessing I looked like a bag person.

So I'm going to have an early night. Tomorrow I leave for a two day tour to the Undara lava tubes. It sounds a little cheesy to me, but if I'm willing to get into it, it will probably be fun. Here is a link to their website if you are interested: www.Undara.com.au.

Not sure if there will be an opportunity to use the Internet or not (I'm guessing there will be), but worse case I will be back in Cairns in two nights.

Interesting fact day 21: ok, I give. I did not learn any interesting fact today, nor do I have one saved up from a previous day. Look for one tomorrow (or whenever I next get to a computer).

Goodbye to Kakadu

Yesterday we got caught in a huge rainstorm, soaking both our clothes and backpacks. We laid out everything to dry, even putting fans on the stuff. However, because if the humidity, not only did nothing dry, but everything that was dry became damp. So we went swimming today (I don't quite understand the logic either, but it actually helped). I felt so waterlogged leaving the camp, with wet stuff strewn all over the seat next to me. While we were swimming, some of the clothes finally dried (though we had new wet clothes to replace them. But the cool water of the "watering hole" (which was actually the bottom of a waterfall), felt great. We went to two separate places (again, not sure why we didn't stay at one longer, but I liked the second one better...other than the risk of alligators. I guess the risk really existed at both sites, just the 2nd had a huge sign reminding you. As our guide says, with 7 of us in the river, we only have a 1 in 7 chance of being the one attacked, assuming there is one there (I tried telling him the probability calculation doesn't work exactly like that since any one of us getting bitten is an independent variable, of course, once one goes down, the rest will run, so, assuming we can run fast enough, I guess that 1 in 7 is not a bad estimate...you can imagine the look I got at that point. Ah, it's ingrained).

So, one thing I find interesting in Australia is the controlled burning they do, and the importance if it to the ecosystem here. The idea of burning forest land started with the aborigine. For a while the Europeans stopped the practice, but that actually hurt the ecosystem, so now it is done regularly. One benefit is that it allows old grasses to be burned away so that new grasses can take their place (within 2-3 months the grass will be fully recovered). In addition, there are some trees that rely on the burning to survive. We saw a tree that has a seed pod that is hard, and will only open naturally under extreme heat. I've seen some limited control burns in remote areas if the states, but this is on a bigger scale and not limited to national parks. In Kakadu, 50% of the grasslands are burned each year. I remember our guide in Brisbane talking about burning as well, but I did not understand that it was intentional (I have seen some controlled burning of parks in the states, but I thought it was rare, and not an annual event).

Unfortunately, an unplanned fire is all over the news here. The state of Victoria (I'm not going there) has had a fire blazing and doing extensive damage - 120 people so far, 700 homes, and it's still blazing. Jordan, our guide is from there. He has heard his dad's okay, bit is calling friends to make sure their alright.

So, the trip is over. It amazes me how we can start out as strangers, yet after three days of hiking, eating, and playing together, you become "friends", even though in the real world you would never have interacted and you know you'll never see them again. I always start thinking we are so different, but in the end, a shared experience and the mutual love of travel creates a bond, despite age, culture, language, etc.

Oh, by the way, I have a new card game for when the Busic clan gets together for games. It is easy to learn and can be played with a larger group of people (I just have to come up with a G rated name for it).

On to Cairns early tomorrow (5 am; the airport transportation is picking me up at 2:45...good thing time has lost all meaning over here).

Interesting fact day 20: there is a species of ant here that is orange in the front and green on the end. They bite if they get on you, but according to the locals, the green part tastes like lime. Several tried it - I'll try new things on vacation, but I draw the line at eating an ant.

Wet in Kakadu

I found an Internet int he middle of nowhere!!!

But first a detour: "happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Deanne, happy birthday to you" (just imagine me singing).

Now on to how I spent my last two days...

I left for my tour of Litchfield and Kakadu parks with six other people from Sweden, France, and Australia. There was one couple (Sweden), but everyone else is traveling alone and doesn't know anyone, like me. Coincidentally, three are from France - this means I hear as much French as English, since there is an equal number of both, including the guide.

There first thing we learned was to throw out the itinerary. It was written for the dry season, and right now is their wet season. During the wet season, dirt roads get rained out and paths become too wet. According to the guide, you can't know which places are open for sure until 6-8 hours ahead of time.

The downside of it being the rainy season is that you are always wet - whether because it's currently raining, just finished raining, you sat on something wet from the last rainfall, or your stuff just refuses to dry due to the humidity. The benefits are worth it though: no crowds and, best of all, the waterfalls are bigger - and we are seeing tons of waterfalls.

We see termite mounds everywhere. Many are similar to those I saw in Peru, but two types of mounds in Litchfield are different: the cathedral, which can be more than 20 feet high, and the magnetic, which are thin like tombstones and are built facing east and west to deal with temperature fluctuations. What I did not know is that not all termites eat trees (or maybe I just forgot). They have grass eating and "scavengers", as well as the tree eating kind.

Today and tomorrow we go around Kakadu. We drove over the South Alligator River, which starts in the park and flows north into a gulf. Well, sometimes...when the tide in the gulf is high, then the currents switch direction and flow south.

This morning we hiked around an aboriginal art site, Ubirr (pronounced U-beer). To get there we drove through two flooded sections of the road, each 1.5 feet high. Our biggest risk was getting stuck if the flooded areas rose to over 3 feet before we returned (there's only the one road in and out). Luckily, the rain held off until afternoon - although we did get a great view of the storm coming in across the park.

The rock art was very cool, but I will admit to having a difficult time distinguishing some of the more complex pictures - I took photos of the art and the signs with the descriptions so I could figure it out on my computer monitor when I get home.

Oh, by the way, I have needed the sleeping bag, but we're staying in permanent tent camps, which means solid floor and beds with mattresses. I am actually finding them nicer than some of the places we stayed on the Brisbane leg. Other than that, it's a camping type of thing with a big tent to cook and hang around in. Everyone kicks in to help with dinner and clean-up, although our guide does a lot of the work. Tonight we had kangaroo and buffalo meat.

Interesting fact day 19: there are more than 1,000 species of flies in Kakadu (and I think every one is after me). Seriously, ants have been rampant in Australia (from tiny ones that are always in the vans to ones over one inch long). But I have decided they are not nearly as annoying as the flies in Kakadu. At one point, I looked down and had eight flies on my shirt alone. They tried to go up my nose, in my mouth, and I think it will take a while for the sound of their buzzing to leave my ears.

And Now The Camping Leg of the Trip???

This entry will be relatively short, since it is a travel day. However I wanted to get an entry out before I go on my Kakadu tour. I am not expecting to have internet access until I return (sometime late Monday for me; it's Sunday evening as I write this - not sure if you need to convert days or not).
So we all separated today. Mary Lang headed home to SC, the other three are also going home (SC) after a quick stopover in Fiji, and I left for Darwin, AU.

I will miss their company - I can't believe we only met a couple of weeks ago. It feels like we've known each other longer.

Oh, and don't be surprised if I come home with their southern accent, and not an aussie/kiwi accent.

So now I am off to a three day adventure tour. Not sure what I'm getting myself into, but after the last four days, I can handle anything.

The tour write-up sounds great. I'll be seeing waterfalls, crocodiles, and aboriginal rock art, all while enjoying some "4WD action". My first clue that this is not a luxury tour (not that I asked for one) came when they asked me if I wanted to rent a sleeping bag or had my own (we sleep in a lodge one night and a permanent camp site the next). The second clue is that I am limited to one backpack and a day pack (luckily I have both).

Oh well, I have camped out many times and likely slept in worse conditions. At least tonight I get one more night in a nice hotel - variation of a last supper.

All kidding aside, I am looking forward to the next three days, presuming the rain ends (this is Australia's wet seasonal and just to prove it, it started pouring rain about 20 minutes after we landed).
So unless I get an unexpected surprise, expect to hear from me in three days. Oh, and pray for good weather!

First four days in Brisbane, Australia

Sorry for the gap in emails. We were in no-man's land for four days. Likely have a few more days like this in the final days.

We started out with a hike in the Brisbane woods. We saw wallabies, a smaller version of the kangaroo, hopping around - they were fun to watch. We saw lots of birds - magpie, rainbow lorakeets, parakeets, and more. But the best was the kookaburra. I have many memories of the kookaburra song from childhood. I was surprised some of the group had not heard the song before. I tried to sing it for them, but all l could remember was my mom's version that involved me chasing after our parakeet.

We saw kangaroos on a golf course (can you imagine having to wait to play through because of kangaroos?).

Over the course of the two days we saw tons of birds and animals. Probably my favorite animal is the koala bear, but the most ubiquitous are the kangaroos and wallabies (they're everywhere).

One night we stopped at a huge group of bats (the stench gave them way). There were literally hundreds of bats hanging from this clump of trees. Every once in a while, one of the bats would decide he wanted someone else's space, and a battle would pursue (sounds like some people I know). Because this was their sleeping time, we didn't see many bats flying around (darn ;).

Last night, we saw a bearded dragon (think 2 foot lizard with personality) on the street with a broken leg. We took it back to the cabins we were staying to take care of it until morning, when we could pass it to someone in the area to take care of it. This led to the quote of the day from Kelly (add southern accent here): "I don't want anything else in this vehicle that has more legs than I do."

We've seen some cool trees, as well. The trees here seem different than back home. Many of them have bark that peels off or is stringy. The colors are different as well, with red, white, and green showing up alongside the brown trees. For one, the paperbark tree, the bark curls off it and what is left is an off-white, soft, sort of a cork-feeling trunk. Also, there is a form of eucalyptus tree that has a red-orange trunk (the various eucalyptus, also known as a gum tree, are a dominant tree types here).

But there were two highlights of this leg:

1. The B&B we stayed at Monday night - The owners were very gracious and their view was phenomenal. We had breakfast on there front porch, with around two dozen rainbow lorakeets (purple heads; green backs; yellow, red, and dark blue bellies).
2. David Fleay Wildlife Park - we drove all over looking for possums (theirs is very different from ours), koalas, and platypus. In the end, we did not see any of these until we entered this wildlife preserve for threatened species. We got to get up close and personal with one of the koalas.

One last comment before I end, WE MISS WYNSTON. There were many things he did as a guide that, at the time, I recognized was special and appreciated. Now, having had a different experience, I realize there were also small courtesies I took for granted.

Interesting fact days 13-16: kangaroos cool themselves using evaporative cooling. Basically, they lick their arms and wave them to cool down.

Goodbye New Zealand

This is our last day with Wynston (will get another guide in Brisbane). He has spoiled us for the next guide.

We spent the day traveling to the airport and ultimately Australia.

For the Gordon boys, who are interested in WW2 history, l saved some of that history I learned along the way for today since I knew it would be a traveling day:

• NZ was the first to declare war on Germany (because of the 12 hour time difference to England).
• At any point in time, 100k soldiers out of a then population of 1.5M were fighting in the war.
• Because of the more rural, tougher upbringing of New Zealanders, they were considered excellent soldiers, which led to more difficult missions, and a higher death rate.
• NZ sent tons of produce to feed American and English soldiers fighting in the South Seas.

So here's my traditional last thoughts about NZ:

• Conservation is huge in NZ. 30% of the land in NZ is owned by the conservation department. This includes 14 national parks.
• I love all the hiking that is available. One of my favorite features about Arizona Has always been the roadside turnoffs to go hiking, and this has even more opportunities.
• The south island is very hilly (although there is a plain region). At any point you cam look up and see 6-7 layers of hills and mountains. Unfortunately that 3D perspective does not translate well to pictures.
• I love all the unique flora and fauna. I find it very cool that NZ wants to protect that.
• I have felt extremely safe here.
• NZ knows how to eat. I swear I've gained weight on this leg.

I fell again this morning on some wet steps. This gives me a new personal best at 5 times falling within another country (the steps were always surfaces wet or muddy). I have bruises everywhere. But this morning was the worst, as I hit my little toe hard. It's swollen, but I don't think it's anything major. In my head I could hear Tim asking if I could wiggle my toe (I can't wiggle my good toe) and Michele telling me to put as much ice as I could tolerate on it. The flight attendants were great - providing an empty row of seats, ice, pillows to prop my foot, etc. After 4 hours of that, it is still sore, but better. Given all of the hiking in front of me, it better get well soon.

So that's it for NZ. I will miss this country a lot - I wish it was closer.

Interesting fact day 12: NZ separated from the land mass Gondwana 40M years ago (this mass included all the southern hemisphere countries), and was able to grow untouched by humans until the Maori arrived ~ 1000 yrs ago. This means the indigenous flora and fauna is unique from what you would find anywhere else in the world.

Mt Cook and the Glaciers Beckon...

We left at 6 am this morning to drive to Mr. Cook and the glaciers. It was worth it - Aoraki National Park (formally Mt. Cook) was beautiful. There are over 20 mountains in the park, the largest of which is Mt Cook (12k ft). There are also numerous glaciers. There were so many and the park so vast we only saw the larger mountains and glaciers, and a sampling of the others. We were not able to get as close to the glaciers as we did in Norway (mainly because of time - you have to hike in to them). But these were bigger and more numerous in a relatively small area, than those we went to in Norway.

After a quick lunch we started off on a 4.5 mile hike to get a closer view of Mt. Cook (mom, you'll be glad to know they listed the avalanche advisory as low). The walk included climbing over rocks, up and down hills, and over two suspension bridges. We had gorgeous weather, sunny with some wind (I did not know it was possible to walk into the wind both coming and going). But this also meant we were dustyl tired, and sweaty when we returned - but I kept up with tje others (my asthma really is better out here). The view along the way was unbelievable, and well worth the effort.

The path we walked was called the Mueller lake lookout, because it goes to Mueller Lake, which is formed by run-off of the Mueller glacier. Elyse and Adam - bet you didn't know they named a glacier after you.

Okay, another quote I saw today that fits: ...my tiredness meant nothing; for me it had been a day of triumph. Sir Edmund Hillary, describing his reaching the top of Mt. Cook in 1947. (and, no Bart, you do not want to climb this mountain, as it is 10k feet from the base camp to the summit).

Interesting fact day 11: studying the lichen and plants on glacier moraines (land previously covered by glaciers), they are able to determine the advance and decline of the glaciers in previous centuries.

Another perspective on the fjords...

We traveled through fjordland to Milford Sound. These fjords seem different from Norway in that there seem to be more forests, almost tropical (due to all the ferns and lichen), and more wet. According to our guide, it rains 2 of every 3 days year (7 meters, or 275 inches per year).
There are tour buses everywhere. This is the most tourists we've seen since we started. It's the 2nd highest tourist site in NZ, after Queenstown. But we got pretty good at avoiding the crowds.

We stopped to hike in the woods around Lake Gunn. It's a temperate rainforest (as opposed to a tropical rainforest). Lichen is everywhere, it covers the ground and trees. The forests are NZ beech trees, but they are nothing like our beech trees. The Latin genus for the tree means "false beech".

We saw a couple of interesting plants. One that has tiny prickles is named the Bush lawyer (because once a lawyer gets his hooks in you...). Plants like these are why local trampers have picked up the fashion trend of wearing long underwear under their shorts. Another, the tutu plant has leaves that are poisonous to elephants (thus why no elephants exist in NZ ;). The seeds are poisonous to humans (although the juice and pulp is fine). The third, the Horoeka is interesting because the leaves go through three life cycles, which distinctly changes their look. They call the different life stages: infant, adolescence, and adult. At one time, these were thought to be 3 different plants. We saw one tree that had older (adult) leaves at the top, adolescence leaves in the middle, and newer (infant) leaves at the bottom. Most of the time you only see inevitable of the eyes of leaves but every once in the while you see a combination tree.

In order to get to Milford Sound you must drive through a mile long tunnel called Homer's pass. It's amazing it got built at all (although it did take almost 20 years to build, including a 9 year break during WW2). Most of the workers were depression era men who were required to work to receive some meager federal money. The conditions were rough, as they dealt with flooding, snow, and avalanche. For almost 5 months of every year the sun was hidden behind the mountains. But without these efforts, we would not have been able to enjoy Milford Sound since it is the only road to the area.

We arrived at Milford Sound mid-afternoon for a 2 hour cruise. It was hazy, and rained during most of the trip, but that added an interesting look to the view (very Lord of the Rings). Because of the rain, we got to see several temporary falls on the trip. It was different than what I saw in Norway. As I mentioned above, I think there are more trees here, although I just may have that impression because we drove through the fjords, whereas in Norway we took boats through the fjords. Just like Norway there are tall, thin falls, but here there are also wider falls and multi-layers of falls. Behind the haze, there is a 2nd layer of cliffs higher up that also had waterfalls. Also, these falls are mainly fed by the vast amount of rain and the glaciers, while Norway's is mostly fed by snow melting. Lastly it is not unusual to see dolphins, seals, or penguins at the base of the falls (we saw all except a penguin).

There was one falls called the bridal falls (it is roughly the same heighth and and width as bridal falls in Niagara Falls). In another falls, they referenced it was 3 times the highth of Niagara Falls, and then proceeded to take us into the falls, much like the Maid of the Mist. They definitely seem to be entranced with Niagara Falls back home.

The best way to sum up the day is with a quote from David Henry Thoreau. This was mounted on a sign at The Gorge, our last stop before Milford Sound. After a 15 minute walk through woods, we arrived where a river dropped several feet. The cool part was how the river had sculptured interesting shapes into they rock. The quote was: "the finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time".

Interesting fact day 10: bats are the only land mammal indigenous to NZ (dolphins are also indigenous).

Jan 29 (I'm to to date again!!!)

Left Stewart Island for the mainland this morning. It was raining, and once again the water was rough.

We stopped by the Southland museum, which was a natural and historical museum for this area and the sub-antarctic islands. There were tuataras there. The tuatara looks like a lizard but is not. It is a reptile that is of an order that goes back to the time of the dinosaur - this is the only survivor from this order and are unique to New Zealand (NZ). The tuatara lives a long life (one at the museum was over 100 years old and had children for the first time). They don't have teeth but there jawbone has serrations in it. They have a third eye on the top of their skull, which can only be seen when they are born, after which it is covered with opaque scales.

In addition to the tuataras, they had examples of Maori artifacts, information about the seal and penguin trade of the 19th century (it was cross what they did to turn these animals unto oil, and really sad how .any were killed), and the history if exploration in the sub-antarctic islands.

Passed by the southernmost McDonald's (or at least it used to be - we were debating if it still is). I couldn't get Wynston to stop. It would have been cool to have been to both the northernmost (Roveniemi, Finland) and the southernmost. Oh well, if a new more southern one really has been built, I can just go there.

Drove from Invercargill to Te Anau. The land we passed through is considered The best farmland in NZ. This area has 2% of the population and 12% if the GNP for NZ. Besides farming, the area is also known for tourism and aluminum.

We had a short day today. After museum and several hours of car time we arrived in Te Anau. We made a quick stop before the hotel at a park that had several of the birds of the area in cages.

Winston wanted us to see them in case we do not tomorrow. One of my favorite was the kea. It is extremely intelligent, seems to have a lot of energy, and gets easily bored, which means it tends to be mischievous (I know some people like that). One of the keas seemed to be playing hide-and-go-seek with an empty cage and appeared to be dancing past the connecting doorway.

Interesting fact day 9: the takahe bird of NZ was thought to be extinct (4 birds had been found prior to 1940). In the late 1940's a colony of the birds was found in fjordland. Only a few hundred exist today.

Jan 28 (yesterday for me)

Arrived at Halfmoon Bay on Stewart Island last night. The land is hilly, like much of New Zealand, with the highest point reaching 3200 feet.

After dinner, we went searching for kiwis. Kiwis are a flightless birds that are unique to New Zealand. They are an odd looking bird. Their body is like small volleyball (about 8" in diameter), their legs are at least as big as a man's fingers (really big for a bird), while their head, on the other hand, is smaller than a tennis ball. Their beak is really long, and they are the only bird with nostrils on the end of their beak, which helps them smell out food buried in the sand. The feathers on their body look like over-gelled hair, while the feathers on their head looks like wild hair, almost like he stuck a foot in an electrical socket.

We saw two kiwis really well on the beach and several more in the woods on they way there and back. Our guide put a torch (i.e. Flashlight) on the birds, and each let us with them watch them eat sandhoppers for 30 minutes it so. As long as we stayed back and were quiet, they completely ignored us.

The other highlight for me was the stars. We took a 45 minute boat trip to a remote island to search for the kiwi. So once it got dark, the sky was filled with more stars than I have ever seen. We could see the Southern Cross and an upside-down Orion. But the best was our ability to see the milky way and two Magellanic clouds that are actually other solar systems, only visible in the southern hemisphere. At one point I also saw a satellite pass overhead.

This morning we visited Ulva Island, which is a protected habitat. We hiked for a couple of hours, stopping frequently to look at birds and plants. We saw New Zealand parrots on a branch, then one flew away for food, while the other hopped into a knothole in the tree to care for the chicks we could hear. We also saw New Zealand robins (they look different from ours at home) and they were pretty fearless of us - at one point they jumped on someone's shoe.

We had a picnic on the beach before leaving. There were some weka birds nearby. They are aggressive when the food comes out - obviously they are used to getting tourist crumbs. There were two adult birds and one started chasing the other off, both had their feathers ruffled up running down the beach (I now get the term "ruffled feathers"). Of course, this did not keep the chased bird away for long. Pretty soon, the chased bird crept back, and the bigger bird chased him off again. They must have put on this show at least four times before the chased bird found other hikers to distract him. Then junior weka came out and the mama who "won" helped him find food. Once Bill (Margaret's husband) turned away for a minute and the weka jumped up on his picnic take seat to steal his sandwich. Bill rescued it just in time.

In the afternoon we went on cruise around various islands. The islands are filled with rata trees, which, I think, makes the islands look like clumps of broccoli.

We saw several species of albatross. Albatross are the great gliders. The other birds flutter (?) wings often, but the albatross' wing span is so great (3-5 feet across) that they can not use them for extended periods. They are expert at catching the wind, which allows them to soar fast and far with little effort (they can soar for hours without beating their wings).

One took off beside the boat - it was a trip to watch. They paddle their feet, start moving their wings, and appear to walk on the water for several steps before they finally take off - just after they lift off the water, they remind me of a cartoon character that steps off a cliff, feet moving in the air, but not getting anywhere. Their landing is a little better, but still more clumsy than other birds. However when they get in the air and start soaring, they are gorgeous to watch.

We also saw both the blue and yellow-eyed penguin and several seals. Some of the younger seals were playing in water, diving, and doing back flips. They could have been mistaken for dolphins except they did not have the dorsal fin.

Interesting fact day 8: the kiwi female will lay an egg about 1/3 the size of her body and takes up 66% of their internal cavity (ouch). The male will incubate (sit on) the egg for more than 2 months.

Jan 27 (yesterday for me)

I am writing this one day late. I will try to get today's blog out later this evening, but it may not get out until tomorrow. I am on Stewart Island and their are only two Internets on the island.

Well, the weather caught up with us. We have had a cloudier day with intermittent rain (which never seems to last more than 5 minutes). But the worse is the southeaster that has blown in. We tried to have a picnic for lunch, and the wind made it hard to eat. To make it even more fun, we had, as Winston (our guide) said, a picnic table for hobbits - it was no higher than mid-thigh.

But I digress...this morning we drove along the shore toward Invercargill, and ultimately Stewart Island. On the way we saw lots of animals and unique geology.

The lower south island of New Zealand has a unique geological formation called a "syncline". Synclines are parallel ridges that are created from one part of the land squishing against another. Several of these ridges run parallel across the land out to the see, creating multiple bays along the coast. We visited Nuggets point, which is one of these ridges and named for the plops of rock just off the coast. The wildest thing was when we noticed that there were fur seals on the top of one of these rocks that must have been 4-5 stories high. How they climbed up there, I don't know. Especially given how clumsily they move around on land.

Next we drove to Purakaunui Falls. It was about a 10 minute walk though the woods to get there. As we were walking along, I could almost imagine I were walking through the Amazon jungle again. There were fern trees (I didn't know they came in a tree form as well), orchid plants, deep forests, etc.

Wynston informed us that he had been over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Given mom and dad living so close to Niagara Falls for so long, I have watched many documentaries about the falls and called him on it. So he proceeded to take us to Niagara Falls - New Zealand style. It's not nearly as big as ours in NY, really just a couple of rocks causing a few bumps in the water. But I guess he was right about going over a barrel on it.

As I have mentioned before, there are tons of sheep here. They just cover the hillside. We are seeing more cows in this area as well. One type of cow looked a lot like the sheep because of its color (sort of off-white). Soon after, we saw a cow with black front and rear, and off-white in the middle. These were deemed "oreo" cows by Margaret, another lady in our group.

The last stop before we headed for the island was Curio Bay, where we went to see one of the best fossilized forests in the world, lucked into a close visit with a fur seal, and had a fantastic show from a yellow-eyed penguin. The fossilized forest is the remains of trees from the Jurassic period, which were covered at least 4 times by lava. On the beach, you can see remnants of old tree stumps and tree trunks. The penguin (considered the rarest type of penguin in the world) walked out of the water and up the beach not too far from us. I got a video of him walking and jumping over the rock.

We took a one hour trip on the ferry to Stewart Island. The waves were so choppy it was like an extra long roller coaster ride. It was fun for me, but not for some of the others who struggle with seasickness.

Going on a hut for kiwi birds tonight. More on that tomorrow.

The Long Ride to Dunedin

We named our room the "flying beagles" room. Our first night we left our windows open and had the light on, not realizing that this time of year they have tons of grub beetles. Before we knew it, we had at least a dozen bugs flying around the room, that looked and sounded like bees. I braved it out for about 2 minutes before I ran out of the room. Kelly, one of the other ladies, is highly allergic so she was getting as far away as she could. Mary Lang, a biology professor who was also allergic, was trying to swat the "bees" out with a towel. I was on my way to get Wynston, our guide, when Mary Lang killed one and realized they were not bees. When we told Wynston about it the next day, he told us they were grub beetles and had a good laugh. My guess is it would have been even worse if we had gotten him late at night to get rid of the "bees". Of course it didn't take long before someone messed up and called them "flying beagles", hence our room became known as the flying beagle room.

So today was largely a driving day. We left at 6:30 am and drove about 8 hours from Kaikoura to Dunedin. (By the way, the Maori came from Polynesian islands, so syllables typically end on the vowel, and all letters are pronounced.)

The landscape in this area is interesting. This is the driest area of New Zealand, so they planted hardy grass which looks like wheat until they get rain, when it quickly turns green. The side of the road is also dotted with tons of sheep (think merino wool), cows, deer (raised for the venison), and even alpaca.

Once in Dunedin, we drove about an hour out to the end of the Otago peninsula to take a boat ride. To me it was not nearly as good as yesterday. I got a better look at a blue penguin, and saw an albatross flying. But the albatross and seals we saw were much further away than yesterday, and we did not see any new animals.

Tomorrow we head to Stewart Island on the tip of New Zealand for a couple of days. We should see kiwis birds there.

By the way, I added my pictures off the seals to yesterday's blog.

The Flying Albatross of Kaikoura

Walked to the beach this morning which is just over railroad tracks and through some tall grass. The beach is pretty much black gravel, which gets in your shoes and hurts your feet, so it's not really fun to walk to the water. However I found some rocks and sat down on them to enjoy the early morning.


After breakfast, we went on a cruise to look for albatross and other marine birds. We saw various species of albatross. I all caught was that the pink nose ones were called "wandering albatross" and the others were different forms of royal albatross. The wingspan on these birds are huge. The captain of the boat put frozen fish livers off the back of the boat in a case to attract the birds. At the end, he poured out the remaining food, and there was a feeding frenzy with several bird fights.


On the boat ride back, we kept seeing pools of dolphins playing in the water. Unfortunately they are so fast I did not get a good picture. One of the guys from England that I met on the cruise said he saw some yesterday and they were doing back and front flips. We also saw a group of seals sunning themselves and even a penguin (we're supposed to see more tomorrow or the next day). I was surprised how small this species is.

In the afternoon we went for a walk on the Kaikoura peninsula. While the beach this morning was gravelly black rock, this waterfront was huge white limestone rocks. At one time the peninsula was a separate island, but over the years, silt came down from the Kaikoura mountains and filled in the water with land.

All the big rocks on the beach reminded me of Nova Scotia. We have been seeing tons of seaweed in the water, and we finally got an up close view. It was really thick and strong. The wet seaweed was probably 3-4 inches wide and a quarter inch thick. It was really strong and felt like rubber. The dried seaweed reminded me of really, really well-done bacon (but bigger). Wynston, our guide for this trip, picked up a bit of seaweed stalk (didn't know it existed) and carved out a 2-inch diameter ball, which he proceeded to bounce all over the place. It was like a super ball bouncing very high all over the place.

The view was unbelievably gorgeous. We walked along the water on the big rocks for about an hour, then climbed up on the bluff for a bird's-eye view and walked back. Winston, our guide on this trip picked up

Pictures: Kaikoura peninsula (top), albatross fight, fur seal, Find the seals (so how many seals can you find in this picture?)

And on to the South Pacific Ocean

Spent the night in the Nelson Lakes region at a cute place. This morning hiked along the Rotoiti lake and the woods above it. Rotoiti lake is at the northern edge of the Southern Alps. After being in Norway's fjords last year, where the mountains were forced by the glaciers, I expected the Southern Alps here to be formed in the same way, but I found the the mountains were formed by teutonic plates and shaped by the glaciers. The Indo-pacific and Australian plates pushed together and lifted sediment to create the mountains, then the glaciers came along and reshaped the mountains and created lakes. There are some extinct volcanoes in other areas we will be visiting, but not in the Alp region. We saw a black swan and a few mallards in the lake. The woods were filled with fallen trees, many with the root system intact. It seems the trees here have a very shallow root system, so when a strong wind blows into the woods, trees fall over.

Also got to see the honeydew I wrote about yesterday. The insect burrows into the tree, eats the sap, and excretes a sweet, sugary substance through a filament which hangs down the tree. The filament is about as long as the second knuckle on my pointer finger. The honey is eaten bu various birds, insects, and other animals. Each drop of honey is not much bigger than a pin head.

We drove several hours to Kaikoura, on the eastern coast (touches the South Pacific Ocean). Just before we reached Kaikoura we stopped at a site of a fur seal colony. Although many of the seals were enjoying the warm sun, few (especially the babies) were playing in the water and on the rocks. One poor fellow seemed to be looking all over for his "mum" (as they say down here). He kept climbing rocks and going over to an adult, then tryingAgain with the next adult he found. I don't think he ever found his mom, but he got distracted by another baby and began playing.

Interesting fact day 5: mammals are not indigenous to NZ. All the mammals that exist today were brought by Europeans in the 1800's or later.

Hiking in "Lord of the Rings" land

Started the tour today. After picking up everyone, we went to Kahurangi National park, outside Woodstock. It is home to Mt. Arthur, one of the sites from Lord of the Rings. After a picnic lunch, we hiked 3-4 hours to the first tramping huts. Tramping is what they call multi-day hiking trips. Little huts are set up along trails in New Zealand for trampers to use to rest, sleep, etc. We hiked mostly through woods, although every once in a while we had breaks in the trees with fantastic views. I took pictures, but you really can't capture the beauty on a one dimensional picture. We also saw several small birds - I was amazed how unafraid they were of us. Several times we went to get closer, making noises that would typically scare off a birds anywhere else, but these just ignored us.

We got into a conversation about how some things that attach themselves to the trees are symbiotic and do not damage, but may help the ecosystem. On the other hand, when people bring in new flora/fauna from other countries they can damage the relationship. The have an insect that bores into one of there trees and creates a honey that is eaten by butterflies and the like. But when wasps were brought into this country (I have no idea why somebody would want to do that), they started eating the honey and stinging those who originally ate it.

I also learned a bit about the Moari, or indigenous people. Surprising to me was that they only arrived in New Zealand a little over 1000 years ago. But they are considered indigenous because the Moari beat the Europeans who did not settle here until 1840's.

What we call Moari, are actually more than 160 tribes. The name Moari started when the Europeans arrived. The tribes looked at them and called themselves "Moari", or "normal" , and the Europeans "pakeha", or "different".

Interesting fact day 3: kiwi fruit was "stolen" from China in the 1940's, and originally had a different name. In the early 80's to increase sales and market it better, they came up with the name kiwi (which is also a bird and slang for the people of NZ).

Pictures: view from hike (top), Mt. Arthur, and unique tree

I Found the Center of New Zealand

Left early this morning for Nelson. In Auckland, I was shocked to hear I only needed to arrive 1/2 hour before my flight, and checked with someone else just to be sure. When I got to the airport, I understood why. The domestic airport is a completely separate building from international (which was like any bigger airport). When I walked in, there weren't any lines because 1) they don't have check-in counters, just dozens of kiosks, 2) not many people seem to fly domestic (may have to do with the size of the country), and 3) there is no security line.

Nelson reminds me of a small town from the fifties or sixties. It's safe for kids to run around and everyone moves at a slower place.

Even the airport reminded me of the old days. Because there are no security checks, families were there waiting with those about to take off. They even have an observation deck up some stairs where you can stand outside and watch planes come and go. But the best was when they told me my luggage would be out in front of the airport near the taxis. It was a very small airport - just one big room. I've been in small airports before, but never one that didn't have even one baggage carousel. At least the airport stayed open for more than just my flight (in both Finland & Croatia the airports only stayed open for my flights).

The city itself reminds me of a larger version of old Westerville. I almost feel I've stepped back in time. I went for a walk along the water this morning and met a father and son fishing. The father mentioned he moved here from England because of his son - I can see why - it would be a great place to raise kids.

The only thing I found strange about the city is that even though the city is on the Tasman Bay, the city center was built further up a river, away from the sea. Between the city & the sea is a park and outdoor sports field. On the other hand they do know how to make the most of their rivers. A walkway covered with trees, bushes, and flowers runs along it throughout the city.

So after a lunch outdoors on the main street, soaking up the sun and watching people., I headed for the center of New Zealand - this is literally deemed to be the center of the country. I was told it would be about 20 minutes to get to the park, the didn't tell me the center was on the top of a mountain. I figured it would be a nice walk, and then I'd hit a couple of other parks that looked interesting. Hah. It was at least a 30 minute hike up the mountain. Then I decided to stay and get my money's worth. It really was beautiful up there. Although I'm not sure which was worse, my lungs on the way up or my knees on the way down. Getting old sucks. But it was well worth the effort.

I met my first American at the top - Ryan from Chicago. Ryan is around my age and is in the middle of 6 mos here. He's been living cheaply, and often earns room & board by working on farms. He's been all over the south island and is now heading to the north island. I have to admit, I'm a bit envious, but don't think I could do what he's doing.
So that's it for today. Tomorrow I meet up with the other four on the trip. More later...

Interesting fact Day 2: the sun always seems to be directly overhead. When I started my hike this morning, I noticed the sun was overhead (about 11 o'clock). Now it's 6 pm and the sun's still overhead (about 1 o'clock). I wonder if it has something to do with how far south I am.

Pictures: downtown Nelson, river path, me at the center of NZ, center of New Zealand from bottom of hill, view from top

I'm here...

I'm sitting out by the pool in Auckland enjoying the 74° weather. I arrived a couple of hours ago, around 3 pm on Jan 21 - for you guys, that would have been 9 pm on Jan 20. I am a day ahead of you because I crossed the international dateline. I feel like I should be able to predict what tomorrow will be like for you...

The flights were better than I expected (it helps to have low expectations). Several of my flights arrived 20-30 minutes early, which also helped. I spent most of the flight to Los Angeles talking to a young lady returning home, which made the 4 hours go fast. The 14 hours (was supposed to be 14.5) to Sydney was not bad either - I was able to sleep about 6 hrs, watched a couple of movies I brought with me, ate several times (or at least picked at it), and talked to several other passengers.

Thank goodness for the movies I brought...the movie situation on the overseas flight was even worse than I expected. They showed four movies on overhead screens one right after the other (i didn't realize any airlines still used overhead monitors on longer flights). Since I went to sleep right after dinner (it was after midnight in Cleveland), I missed all the movies. They showed a few TV shows after the movies, but all we got the last 2.5 hours of the flight was a picture of the plane over the water. On the last leg from Sydney to Auckland, NZ, i flew New Zealand Air. What a difference! Even on this 4 hour flight we had our choice of over 60 TV shows and 20 movies, as well as several video games. The food was great too.

One girl I met on the flight to Sydney told me she was just finishing a "round the world" ticket. Good thing I didn't know about it ahead of time or I would have been tempted to do that. Basically you pay a flat amt (in her case 4000 Australian dollars), and can go to up to 15 cities anywhere in the world within a twelve month period. Her only limitation was the number of total flight miles (I think it was 30k). It works on any one of several airlines.

So today is a light, boring day, laying by the pool, going to the gym, and making it to happy hour at the hotel bar.

I leave early tomorrow for Nelson on the south island (Auckland, the capital is on the north island). I'll have the day to myself, then join up with the other 4 people the next morning. That's when the fun really starts.

Interesting fact day 1: i knew that they drove on the "wrong side" of the road here, but I did not realize they flipped the hot and cold spigot too. The hot water is on the right side of the sink.

Ready, set, go...

Welcome to my journey to New Zealand and Australia. I always enjoy writing back home because it makes me feel like I brought all of you along with me on my trip.

So, I am packed and ready to leave (see picture). I have learned from my Kenya trip, and packed a change of clothes and toothbrush in my carry on. I have several books in my bag, which I will pass on to others or some way get rid of before I return so that I have room for souvenirs. I also use the bags that squash the air out for my clothes on the way home to get more room.

I will be gone for 4 weeks, which is the longest I have been out of the country since college. It will take me 30 hours to reach Auckland, New Zealand - 24 hours in flight and 6 hours in layover. Hopefully I have everything I need to keep me occupied for this long.

My plan is to write daily, assuming I can find a computer. I am likely to write in the evenings, and given that I will be anywhere from 15 (Australia) - 17 (New Zealand) hours ahead, that means I will likely be writing in the middle of your night (if I did the time change correctly).

Here is a summary of my itinerary:

1/19 Leave Cleveland

1/21 Arrive Auckland, NZ (I've gained 17 hours)

1/22 Arrive Nelson, NZ

1/23 Meet up with rest of group and begin first leg of trip, a tour of the south island (we go all over)

2/1 Fly to Brisbane, Australia for 2nd leg with group

2/6 Fly to Kakadu National Park, Australia (rest of group will return home)

2/10 Fly to Cairns, Australia, sight of the Great Barrier Reef

2/15 Leave for home, arrive in Cleveland late at night (I lose 15 hours)

Keep me in your prayers for safe travel.