Heading Home

Our trip is fast coming to an end and this will be my last blog. It seems so long ago that we headed off of the train on Circular Quay in Sydney surrounded by heat, the Sydney bridge ,the amazing Opera house and digerios ( long hollow painted tubes used as musical instruments with a unique sound) . We have seen and learned so much about Aussie and a small amount about NZ. Now I want to try to condense the trip into the goods, the bads and the uglies ( if there were any!!) Sydney is a city worth seeing with 3 specific areas, the Circular Quay, Darling Harbour and Chinatown. We spent time in each. I loved the koalas and wanted to cuddle them ( the girls who had their pic taken with them told me they smelled – after all they are wild animals) The kangaroos are also fun to have around especially if they have a joey in the sac. Many of the joey’s are quite big and you wonder how they can crawl back in after getting out to play. The kangas are smaller than I expected. The birds of Aussie were beautiful with multi colors, especially the lorikeets. The kookaburra was loud and you had to laugh when you heard him.

The beaches are hard to describe. The sand so white and fine and the water aqua blue and brilliant. The beaches stretch all up the east coast with surfing on many of them . I felt like I was watching Hawaii 5 O – waves crashing in, tanned lifeguards and young, healthy surfers.

Backpacking and staying in hostels soon became a way of travel, thanks to our daughter Kim for being so keen on it . No we weren’t the oldest people there!!! In fact the YHA( youth hostel association) which we became members of and stayed in when possible were great and hosted all ages and even families. Having laundry facilities and full kitchens can make continuous travel doable.

Our bus tour was an amazing way to see as much of the country as possible in a short amount of time. No there were no gray haired ladies with canes!!! 8 on a minivan  with a knowledgeable driver/guide was the way to go.

The negatives about Aussie certainly included the humidity – can’t imagine jogging,(of course Peter did) gardening or trying to work outside. Of course I wouldn’t garden in Aussie with all the snakes anyway. The thought of crocs in every creek, spiders in dark places , stingers ( jellyfish) on many beaches and the ever present sharks waiting for supper made you wonder how people don’t live in fear.

We did see the less appealing side of hostels as well as the good. Stay away from hostels called X Backpackers as they really do cater to the young – loud music until the wee hours. Sleeping in bunkbeds, 5 to a room became a way of life ( me with the girls and Peter off with the guys)

The devastation from Yasi was such an eye opener. We have to pray that a level 5 hurricane ( cyclone) never comes through Canada. We are so fortunate to live in Canada .

It is now Wednesday afternoon and we are sitting in the VIP lounge drinking champagne and realizing that it is time to go home. Yesterday at noon the earthquake hit Christchurch and even though we were far away in Auckland which is on the north island while Christchurch sits on the south island it has emotional affected everyone. . We have been watching TV and reading about it constantly and the devastation is tremendous. At this point they are still recovering bodies. A cyclone, flooding and earthquake in the countries we are visiting are more acts of nature than the average person deals with in a lifetime let alone one holiday.Now the snakes and sharks are looking tame.

We took a bus from Te Puke to Auckland yesterday and spent the afternoon checking out the city. This morning we boarded a Grey Line tour bus for a 3 hour tour of the city. What a great way to see the sights with no stress.

                           Crater on top of Mount Eden in Auckland

                          Over looking Auckland from the top of Mount Eden

The trip is almost over and soon we will be in the air. Lots of wonderful memories and pictures to soon be shared. Thanks for following us on our adventure. As we started out “ the journey through life is not to arrive at the gravesite with a well preserved body but to slide in sideways yelling “ Holy shit what a ride” It has been an adventure and hopefully it is only the first of many!!!!! And Peter just shook hands with David Suzuki in the VIP lounge which made his day.

New Zealand

                              Standing under David &Pat's kiwi plantation,nearly ready to harvest

 

                                       David & Pat on the beach 5k's from their home

Saturday morning after a leisurely breakfast surrounded by David’s magnificent gardens we headed off to Taupo which is about 2 hours south of Te Puke. On the way we stopped to see the bubbling mud. Amazing how the crust of the earth in NZ seems to have areas where the heat escapes. The mud was literally spewing into the air as it bubbled. You would not want to be sprayed by it. In Taupo we met Liz and Laurie, good friends of Pat and David. Taupo is a beautiful town built on a lake that provides lots of water activities for the community as well as an amazing view of mountains which host a ski hill in the winter.   After lunch we continued to tour taking in the Haka waterfalls – a stunning aqua blue color. Then it was on to a prawn farm and eventually fish and chips on the beach. A wonderful warm couple, also great hosts. The next day after a quick shopping trip for the ladies we headed back to Rororua where Pat’s daughter and her family hosted us for lunch. They also live on a lake and have a wonderful view. The names in NZ all seem to have a Maori background and many I don’t even attempt to pronounce.

In case you thought we had adopted the New Zealand accent in our last blog we have to apologize.  Peter was typing in bed after a night of no sleep on an overnight flight and a few New Zealand drinks and he sent it to publish without editing. We both laughed when  we tried to read it. We are settled into the New Zealand climate and enjoying the cool mornings and evenings where you have to wear a sweater. What a change after the steamy, sweaty month in Aussie. New Zealand is a beautiful country. Very lush with huge fern trees covering the roadsides . Yesterday we headed off to an Agrodome for a sheep show. Sheep and kiwis are definantly the two main industries in this part of NZ. We were introduced to at least 12 different varieties ( I loved the shaggy merino) and watched a demo of sheep shearing as well as the dogs rounding up the herd. We then headed off for an afternoon show in a Maori village – music and dance  set in a village with bubbling sulphur hotsprings.AS I look out the window while writing I can see kiwi trees in all directions. They are hanging with thousands of unripe kiwi. I had no idea how prolific one tree (vine) can be.  Last night Bill and Julie’s, a  couple we had met at Pat and Peter’s were over for dinner. Today we are off to Taupo to see more of the North Island

Bound for New Zealand

The last day in Cairns ,Australia was a quite day after saying goodby to our new found family and the McCaigs. We wandered about town  and visited the casino. At 6.pm it was time to head to the airport for our 9:pm flight . We were a bit early as upon our arrival we thought the airport was closed . There was

only one person in the whole airport and we thought it must have been evacuated for some unknow reason, but soon several people show up and an hour  later a desk open up  and we were quickly put through the customs and onto the plane for a 4.5 hr flight with a 3 hr time change.   We got on a tour bus at 7:30 am and headed out on our way for a new but short adventure out to Cormandel ( the north east coast of NZ.)  We had thought Aussie land was hilly but this area was so hilly and mountainous it put some places of the rockies to shame.  We soon arrived at the hot water beach where we sat in small hand dug pond in the sand . Some places were so hot it would burn your butt or feet. in that beach area there was a crack in the earths surface where water flowed down a crack  to the volcanic molten lava below where it was supper heated and force itself back to the surface as boiling water . It was actually pretty nifty.  After some time there ,we continue on and spent the evening in Cormandel town. The next morning was a short trip 57K's to Thames were we saved the best part of the trip for last . We met the Clarkie"s and the place we'll stay for the next 5 nights

The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef

Today was the last destination on our adventure tour with our new found family. We headed out to the Great Barrier Reef on a 60 ft. catermaran  with 3 levels.  We were first served a nice breakfast of pastry and fruit as it cruised at about 25mph toward the reef. It took about 1 1\2 hrs to reach our first snorkelling spot.  We donned our masks and stinger suits and in we jumped to see the beautiful coral and fish. It wasn’t long before we were served a lovely lunch while we changed locations then more snorkelling and some of us went off in a glass bottom boat to see marine life from above water level.   It was all too short a time before the day was ending and we were headed to shore to back up our belonging and head out for our last meal together. 

      That evening we all met at an Italian restaurant to have a great meal and say our last goodbyes along with an exchange of addresses and e-mails.  There were a few tears as we all separated to continue out on with our own itinerary. That evening we also said goodbye to Marilyn and Murray as we each head out on our own, they to the interior to see Ayers Rock and us off to New Zealand to begin  our long awaited visit with Pat and David.

The Rain Forest

The Rain Forest

A long drive in the van (550 K’s) brought us  from Magnetic Island through the hurricane struck devastation area where it looked like an atomic bomb struck a 100 K area  . Complete forested  areas were cleaned  off right up to the peaks of mountains along with many roof tops and yachts piled up like dominos .As we proceeded north we soon started to see less and less destruction and more and more  lush areas. It wasn’t long before we arrived in the most beautiful jungle we have ever been in.  A rain forest as we discovered really does mean rain. It was coming down in buckets when we arrived that evening with water flooding and washing out parts of the road it continued pouring  all night . It stopped  raining in the morning  and soon changed to bright sunshine just in time for us to enjoy an ocean kayak and breakfast on the beach where we had to chase away  a wild pig and her 5 piglets .  When we returned to camp it was time to pack up again and be on our way to Cairns (our last stop on the tour).  Tomorrow we will be white water rafting and then out to the Great Barrier Reef for our last day with our group. 

The next Day

White Water Rafting was a whole lot of fun.  We all ended up in the water at some point down the fast moving river. It was classified as a level 4 river. Everyone survived the thrills and spills . Tomorrow we head out to the  Great Barrier Reef for some of the best snorkelling we will have .

Arlie to Magnetic Island

After leaving the Whitsunday Islands we headed back into Airlie for another 2 nights. We still can’t head north as the roads and some areas are impassable. One of the highlights of the Airlie Beach Resort was that every morning the Lorikeet parrots came in to feed and it was amazing to see. The owner had obviously been feeding them for a long time and all the guests could hold out food and hundreds of the beautiful birds landed on your arms, head, etc. Great fun if you don’t worry about what birds do when they eat!!!!

We  headed up to a waterfall where we spent the morning hiking and swimming – very much in the wilderness .

The next morning we again fed the parrots before heading off 300km up the coast to Townsville, an area that was definently hit by the hurricane. It was an interesting drive through  hundreds of acres of sugar cane , some coffee plantations and citrus orchards.

We arrived by ferry on Magnetic Island, an area that was hard hit by the storm. The hostel had just reopened and the town was just full of sand and debris. It will take months to clear everything away. Everywhere you look there are trucks and front end loaders shovelling sand off of roads and trying to clear streets and beaches .Some areas had sand drifted 4 ft high of sand from the shore line. It is such a mess. The pool where we are staying had 1 ft of sand in it.

We spent the morning hiking up to an old fort used to defend Australia against the Japanese during WW1 .Normally the area would have been a home for koalas but all their food trees (gum trees ) were stripped of their branches so they had moved on to areas with more food . Most of the hiking paths are full of debris and closed to the public. Tomorrow we start the trip north through the hardest hit area of the cyclone. The roads are open but sections apparently near impassable. It should be an eye opener for all of us.

Whitsunday on the Boat

After a few days in the outback at the farm we were on the road again. After 700km our next stop was a town called Airley Beach. This is a small town that caters to sailing adventures to the Whitsunday islands. After the hurricane that passed through in the previous   week we weren’t sure if they would be up and running but we were lucky. The boat was a 60ft yacht and we were the only ones on it which was fun. They had a crew of 3 and we were extremely well looked after. We sailed, motored overnighted in quiet bays, hiked, and snorkelled over a two day period. One of the highlights was when Mel, our captain, caught  a meter long shark on his fishing line and reeled it in with a lot of help from Peter, Murray and his crew. It was released back into the ocean. Peter particularly enjoyed the sailing as it brought back memories of his  Catamaran. The captain even allowed him to take the helm as we sailed back today. 3 days in the sun certainly browned us all up even though we are using oodles of lotion. Tonight we are back in Airley and the gang will go out for a seafood dinner tonight. We don’t know what is ahead for the rest of our trip. The main highway to Cairns is currently destroyed in places and cut off to traffic. One of the areas we were to spend 2 days, Mission Beach, was totally destroyed so we await news of where we go. Whatever it will be a new adventure.