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.