Abel Tasman Track

As we worked our way northward from Kaikoura, we learned about the Abel Tasman Coast Track (one of the Great Walks of NZ), and made plans to hike the 33 mile trail.  We were able to secure campsites for two nights along the track, with water taxi folks set up to take our heavy bags each day so we could hike with just a day pack.  On the third day they would pick us up at the end of the trail and transport us back to the beginning, where our car would be.  We were looking forward to hiking the coast trail with beautiful ocean views.  The plan was to visit various beaches along the trail and enjoy the New Zealand sunshine.  Ah, such a great plan!  I only wish it had worked out that way.

One thing we have learned during our stay here is that New Zealand’s weather is unpredictable – and it can be fierce!  New Zealand sits in the middle of the Roaring 40s, between latitudes 40 and 50 in the southern hemisphere, where there are strong westerly gale force winds throughout most of the year.  We have already spent a couple of nights with the wind shaking our tent like we were in a cyclone – I was sure the nearby trees were going to blow over onto us!  When we’ve mentioned it to the locals, they shrug and say it’s normal for this time of year.  Normal!  In the case of the Abel Tasman trail, when we booked the hike the weather was supposed to be “fine,” but as we got closer to the date rain and showers crept into the forecast.  It started to rain the afternoon before our hike and Daron and I hoped that the storm had arrived early and would be mostly gone by the time we started the hike the next day.  We were as ready as we could be and went to bed looking forward to the next day.

Daron walking down the flooded street

Neither of us slept that night.  It poured ALL night long – not a light rain, but poured!  And the wind!  If we hadn’t been in our tent I am sure it would have blown away.  The rain was more concerning because it never at any moment let up.  Our campground was near a stream and we both had thoughts of the stream overflowing and taking all the campers with it.  How do you get out of a tent when you’re washed downstream and it’s all zipped up around you?  These are the thoughts that kept us awake (and we did peek outside and check from time to time).  It got light out and we were both happy to get out of the tent, only to see that the campground had become a small lake.  Some campers had tried to leave and were not able to for some reason - neither of us was too concerned at the time (we were trying to pack up our wet stuff and get ready for the hike still).  We packed up the car, and started to head out ourselves, only to find a large campervan parked in the exit/entrance to the campground!  (What the heck!  Is this Hotel California?)

Tractors pulling empty boat trailers

We came to find out that the stream DID overflow and took the road to the campground with it!  We got out and walked the road (now a small river) in our sandals.  It covered the entire length of road and flooded a few buildings at the end too!  We walked through town to the water taxi place and asked what their status was – they were in the process of cancelling all their trips that day, focused only on evacuating people out of the park.  They refunded us our money and we walked back to the campground where our vehicle was stranded.  Shortly thereafter the rain stopped (finally!) and the stream subsided enough that vehicles could leave the campground.  We were so tired that we immediately left town and got a room nearby where we dried out our sleeping bags and tent, etc.  We both slept like a rock that night. 

We tried to leave the entire area the next day but the road to the town we were headed was washed out!  We later learned that lots of other places in the area had worse flooding than what we experienced.  Even though we didn’t feel like it at the time, we were lucky.  There were no fatalities, but some campers did lose their things when other campgrounds flooded.  Since we couldn’t get out of town we took a break to discuss our options.  Neither of us wanted to let Abel Tasman go, so we decided to give it another try (call us crazy).  We booked a water taxi to take us halfway into the park the next day so we could dayhike the best part of the trail.  We went back to the flooded campground to stay for the night, surprised when we got there that it looked like almost nothing had happened (besides some torn up asphalt). 

View from along the trail

Certain parts of the trail are tidal, meaning that you have to cross it at low tide, which makes planning the entire trip a bit tricky at certain times.  Luckily the section we were hiking had only one tidal area to cross, and it was going to be low tide when we were there.  The tides in that area are crazy – they vary up to18 feet from low to high tide!  It’s a challenge for the water taxi companies to get their boats into the sea when it’s low tide.  We had to all get into the boat while it was still on the trailer, then it was pulled across the low water area by tractor, and then backed into the water until it floated off the trailer.  Two tractors actually got bogged down the morning we were there (but not ours - phew!). 

This time all went well – the water taxi took us to our dropoff point along the trail and we hiked our way back to the beginning.  It was a beautiful blue sky day – we couldn’t have asked for better weather!  We had ocean views the entire way and stopped at various beaches to have a snack and lounge around.  Daron swam at one beach, even though the water was very cold (at least it was to me!).  The only oddity was the number of giant bumblebees in the area.  For some reason they seem to really like me – Daron said while we were hiking he kept seeing them circling my head (first the cicadas in Oz and now the bumblebees in NZ – lucky me!).  For those of you who think they can’t sting (like we did), they can!  I had one get caught in my towel and while I was folding it up, it stung me.  I thought I got stuck by a thorn until I saw the bee fly out.  I found out later that bumblebees were brought to NZ to pollinate the red clover, about 100 years ago.

Pit stop along the beach!

Abel Tasman National Park is at the north end of the south island and is protected by a long spit, so the bay is very calm.  It is named after Abel Tasman, who was the first European to see New Zealand, although he never set foot on it.  Abel was a Dutchman who was commandeering two ships looking for southern land and anything valuable it might contain.  In 1642 he sailed into the cove near the trail we hiked and the resident Maori people greeted them in their canoes with their traditional challenge, meant to find out if they were friend or foe.  A skirmish occurred and four of the Dutch crewmen were killed.  Abel Tasman sailed away and no European set foot on New Zealand for 127 years, when James Cook arrived in 1769. 

We had better luck than Mr. Tasman and thoroughly enjoyed our day on the trail.  I’m glad that we gave it a second try – it was well worth it! 

Christmas in Kaikoura

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas in Kaikoura, a small touristy town on the northeast side of the south island.  The name Kaikoura means “meal of crayfish” in Maori.  They’re called crayfish here, but they are actually what we know as lobsters (a saltwater spiny lobster).  A crayfish meal at a roadside stand goes for $70 NZD ($54 USD) - no steak included!.  Kaikoura has an abundance of marine life due to the Kaikoura canyon which comes within 2,300 feet of the Kaikoura coastline and at its deepest point is 5,400 feet.  The vast food supply from the cold deep water ensures the area is home to whales, dolphins, seals, and albatross.  There are several NZ fur seal colonies in the area.  Dusky dolphins (a small dolphin found in the southern hemisphere) inhabit the coastline and pods of up to 1,500 dolphins can be seen here. Numerous tours leave from Kaikoura, and for the right price you can swim with fur seals, or dolphins, or even go whale watching by boat or plane – the possibilities are endless!

Fur seal enjoying a beautiful Christmas day!

On Christmas day we took a hike across the Kaikoura peninsula.  It was a beautiful blue sky day and we shared the trail with many other tourists away from home during the holidays.  We hiked the trail along the cliffs going out there and walked along the coast on the way back (during low tide).  We saw lots of fur seals lounging on the rocks, looking very content in the sun.  We enjoyed our time spent outdoors and were grateful for the nice weather (even thought it didn’t feel like Christmas at all!).

New Zealanders get two days off for Christmas, and if Christmas falls on a weekend (like this year), they get Monday and Tuesday off.  All government offices are closed and many businesses too.  The same goes for New Years – they get two days off for the holiday, which turned out to be Monday and Tuesday this year since their normal holiday days (1^st and 2^nd) fell over a weekend.  The kiwis always associate Christmas with summer, and only recently have been able to get Christmas cards without all the snow and cold weather on them.  Some people hang Christmas lights on their houses, even though it doesn’t get dark until quite late this time of year.  It is summer vacation for the kids (last day of school was Dec 17^th), so this time between Christmas and New Years is a very busy travel time for the country. 

We miss our family and friends at this time of year and hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas!  

Yellow-eyed Penguins

Looking for a good place to spend the night...

We learned about the yellow-eyed penguin when we first came through Dunedin on the cruise ship. Now that we are more mobile than when on the ship, we thought we would do all we could to see them in the wild.  Our guidebook suggested a remote spot on Otago Peninsula called Sandfly Beach (we hoped it would not live up to its name – we took bug spray just in case!).  We drove to the trailhead where we made our way down a long steep trail to the beach.  At the far end of the beach was a blind set up by the Department of Conservation where people can view the penguins without disturbing them.  We were told that we would be able to see them anytime after 4pm, because that’s when they start to come onto land to spend the night. 

Surprisingly, they are great climbers

We made the trek to the blind and hunkered down, patiently waiting to spot the elusive penguin.  One hour went by, then two, and still no penguins.  Other folks arrived, while others left, and still no penguins.  At some point in the evening we figured they either decided to stay at sea for the night or they chose another spot to bed down, probably one with fewer people walking up and down the beach.  We cut our losses and took the long walk back to our car.  While crossing the beach we saw very distinctive footprints in the sand – definitely a penguin!  It must have come out of the sea and waddled into the sand dunes, where we were forbidden to enter, according to all the signs posted by the DOC.  We left the penguin alone, satisfied that at least we had evidence of its existence!

The next day, after more research, we decided to try the lighthouse by Moeraki for penguin spotting.  We made our way out there around 6pm and were not disappointed.  We saw a couple dozen of them overall.  These penguins are quite solitary – we never saw a bunch of them together.  One at a time they would come out of the water and spend time grooming themselves before heading into the bushes.  Try as we might, we never saw them actually exit the water – it was more like they would just suddenly appear on the beach!  We saw a few baby penguins too, all covered in soft brown fur, hiding in the bushes.  We kept a safe distance, having been warned that penguins will actively defend their nests (a penguin attack is supposed to be like being grabbed by a pair of needle nose pliers while being beaten with a pair of sandals!). 

Cute penguin couple waddling up the trail together!

We spent a lot of time by the lighthouse, walking back and forth along the coast, watching the penguins come ashore, one by one, for the night.  We saw them climb steep mountainsides to get to the tall grass where they would lay down for the night.  My favorite part was watching two penguins waddle up a trail together, like a little old married couple.  They were so cute! 

The yellow-eyed penguin is only found in New Zealand and is one of its rarest penguins.  Its estimated population is somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000. It is a little over two feet tall and is the fourth largest of the world’s penguins.  Its distinguishing characteristics are its yellow eyes and the yellow stripe on its head that runs through the eye around the back of the head.   The penguins nest in forest or shrubland, preferring secluded areas.  They nest in loose “colonies,” near each other but not within sight of one another.  The loss of coastal forest in NZ has contributed to their decline, although their biggest threat is the introduced species of stoats (a type of weasel) and wild cats, which have been known to eat the eggs and chicks.

For someone who does not like the cold, it was interesting to ponder the life of a penguin.  They live in such cold places, swim in cold waters, and are exposed to cold rain and wind a lot of the time.  I can’t think of anything worse, and yet this is their life and they don’t know anything different.   They are perfectly suited for the life they live - that’s the beauty of nature for you!  

Still Here!

I know it's been a while since my last posting - Daron and I arrived in New Zealand on December 8th and have been moving non-stop, so I haven't had much of a chance to catch up.  I hope to soon, probably close to Christmas.  All is well - we're doing great and enjoying New Zealand.

You'll hear more from me soon! 

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Every tourist magazine rates Milford Sound as the number one sight to see in New Zealand.  It is in Fiordland National Park (kiwis spell it fiord, and not fjord like we do), which is the largest national park in New Zealand.  Milford Sound is actually not a sound at all – it is a fjord.  A sound is a river valley that has been flooded due to the land sinking below sea level, while a fjord is created by glacial action that leaves u-shaped valleys with steep cliffs.  The British called them all sounds (there are 14 in the park) because at that time they were not familiar with fjords. 

The Maori have a different story as to the origination of Milford Sound.  They believe that Tu-te-raki  (a godly figure) carved out the fjords with his adze, Te Hamo (a woodcarving tool).  He started in the far south and by the time he created Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) farther north, he had perfected his technique.  Piopiotahi was his greatest achievement.  The goddess of the underworld came to see Tu’s handiwork and was so alarmed at the beauty of Piopiotahi she worried that people would not leave once they had seen its beauty.  To encourage humans to leave the area she released the sandfly into Piopiotahi (I love that part – at least it gives the sandfly a purpose, one that they do well! J).

Resting fur seals

The underwater environment in the park is unique – the large amount of rainfall received there drains through the forest and becomes stained with tannins until it is the color of dark tea.  This freshwater does not mix with the seawater of the fjords but sits on top, limiting the amount of light that reaches into the depths.  This restricts almost all of the marine life to the top 130 feet of water.  This band is calm, very clear, and relatively warm.  As a result, light sensitive species that normally live at great depths are found much closer to the surface.  This gives divers the chance to see rare species at relatively shallow depths.

Our boat tour of Milford Sound was over two hours long – the day was misty and the sound/fjord had a mysterious look and feel to it.  The rock faces are so steep that during a heavy rainfall the vegetation will occasionally slide off into the water, leaving a “scar” on the mountainside.  We saw fur seals lounging on rocks, and got up close and personal with a couple of waterfalls (the small boat we were on went practically underneath one!). 

Cheeky kea!

The only other “wildlife” we saw was kea, which we saw while driving out of the area.  We parked at a lookout to view the scenery and were greeted by about four cheeky kea birds (that’s how they’re always described here:  cheeky!).  They hopped onto the roof of our car, as well our side mirror, and immediately started biting the rubber around our windows.  The kea are one of the few alpine parrots in the world.  They are quite large (about 19 inches high), are very curious, and highly intelligent – qualities necessary for their survival at high altitudes.   Kea have been known to use their sharp beaks to cut through the wool on sheep so they can eat the fat from their backs.  This trick almost led to their extinction, as they were relentlessly hunted before receiving protection in 1986 (can't get in the way of the sheep industry!). Contributing to their low numbers is predation of their eggs and chicks by possums.  Hopefully they will be able to make a comeback.

Our encounter with the cheeky kea was a nice way to end our Milford Sound experience! 

Routeburn Track

At the start of the track

After arriving in Christchurch, we worked our way south and spent a few nights in and around Queenstown, the main tourist hub in the area (it rained half the days we were down there, about par for us!).  This area is so amazingly beautiful!  In many ways these mountainous areas remind us of Colorado.  The main difference here is the forests are full of beech trees instead of pine.  Pine trees are not indigenous to New Zealand, although they were brought here eventually and are now a crop.  Whenever we see a mountain covered with pine trees, upon closer look, we notice that they are all the same size and planted in very straight rows. 

One of many swinging bridges we crossed

Hiking in New Zealand is called “tramping” and trails are called “tracks.”  New Zealand has a well organized agency for their federal lands called the Department of Conservation, or the DOC.  The DOC has created these great multiday tracks with modern huts along the way for sleeping, so you only have to carry a daypack on the trail.  They are all over the country, but the most popular ones by far are in the southwest (which is the coldest, rainiest, and most mountainous part of the country).  Reservations for huts and campsites open months in advance and book fast for the summer.  The DOC’s website is a wealth of information as are their information centers.  Their trail guide management is genius:  they sell their trail pamphlets for $2 each, just enough to keep people from picking them up and discarding them (if they were free), but cheap enough that you can’t complain about the price when you really want one.  Nine of the tracks they’ve created are called Great Walks – these are considered the best of the best.  One of them, the Milford Track, is considered to be the best hike in the world.  It’s meant to be hiked in the rain (which is no problem since the area it’s in is very rainy).     

Before setting up camp

We were able to get one night in a campground on the Routeburn Track, one of the Great Walks, on a day that was forecasted to be “fine,” which I hoped meant “sunny and warm.”  The Routeburn is a 20 mile one-way track that normally takes three days to hike, staying in two huts along the way.   Our plan was to stay in the campground one night, hike to the high point on the trail for the view, then hike back down to our campsite, collect our gear, and hike out.  On the first day we drove out to the trailhead were hiking to our campsite by early afternoon.  The forest seemed unnaturally quiet – we heard very few birds.  Later we found out that the introduction of rats (brought by the Maori when they first came here), then stoats (a type of weasel brought over to kill introduced rabbits, typical story), and then possums (from Australia), has had a devastating effect on the bird population of New Zealand.  There were many stoat and rat traps along the trail as we hiked.  It was strange to not see any pine trees or even pine needles on the ground.  I have to admit though, that the beech trees are quite beautiful in their own way, and I liked walking on their tiny leaves that had fallen on the trail.  It didn’t take us long to reach our campsite where we set up our tent and had a quick meal.  In the evening the sandflies got so bad we retreated into our tent before the sun even set!  The sandfly is this annoying, persistent bloodsucking insect whose bite leaves an itchy welt, just like a mosquito – except there are lots of sandflies all over the place (they pretty much swarm you!).  They are really only a problem if you’re standing still – they can’t keep up with you if you’re walking, and a breeze keeps them away too.  After experiencing both, I would rather deal with the mosquito than the sandfly, any day! 

View from Conical Hill

We camped in this beautiful river valley with rising mountains on all sides and a waterfall nearby where the river came down the mountain.  We kept looking at the field, expecting to see elk or deer, and had to remind ourselves that New Zealand doesn’t have any large forest mammals.  This also means there is nothing to be afraid of while hiking – no bears, wolves, mountain lions, or snakes.  The British introduced red deer to the island, and subsequently the deer tore up the native forests.  Fairly recently the deer were hunted relentlessly by helicopter until they were all removed – now they are raised domestically for their meat.  As we’ve been driving around we’ve seen fields of red deer, enclosed by fences.   It’s always a strange sight to see; we’re used to seeing only wild deer, and not herds of them enclosed by fences.

Another spectacular view from Conical Hill

This far south the sun doesn’t set until after 10:30pm and it was still light at 11:00pm.  We crawled into our lightweight Aussie sleeping bags and basically froze all night long!  Both Daron (aka the Heat Machine) and I were sore in the morning from being curled up all night trying to keep warm.  We got an early start on the trail just so we could get unthaw our limbs and get warm from moving!   

The trail went up above treeline where it lingered a bit and went around a large alpine lake.  There was a day hut at the saddle, where a side trip to Conical Hill (our destination) started.  Conical Hill took us an hour to scramble up, but it was well worth it!  We had a 360 degree view at the top and could see the Tasman Sea in the distance.  We had a beautiful blue sky day with no wind – it couldn’t get better than this!  We lingered at the top, eventually making our way down the trail back to where we left our tent.  We broke down the tent, repacked our backpacks, and hiked to our car, where we munched on all the nibblies we left in the trunk.  

Mission accomplished!       

Hello New Zealand (again)!

Having fun at the Antarctic Center in Christchurch!

We’re baaaack!  :)  Our first few days here in New Zealand have been very different than when we were here on the cruise ship in October.  We did not need a visa to get into the country either time, but this time we did need to show that we had a ticket leaving the country before they would let us enter.  We knew this ahead of time and were able to book a flight to Thailand leaving Auckland on January 17^th.  That gives us over five weeks in New Zealand, which should give us plenty of time to see all that we want to see!

We flew into the big city of Christchurch on the south island of New Zealand at about 3pm.  Going through customs was no problem – we declared everything, just as they suggested.  We had nuts and seeds from Australia (bought at the grocery store as a snack), as well as fresh veggies (carrots to snack on), and declared them all.  We ended up eating the mixed nuts as well as the carrots on the plane ride over, and I ended up un-declaring them by the time we disembarked.  The cute little beagle in the airport that sniffs out offenders could somehow still smell the carrot that used to be in my bag, even though I told him that HAD a carrot, but ate it.  His official-looking master seem satisfied, gave him a treat, and they went on to locate other offenders.  Our tent was another story – they took it away, unpacked it, treated it with something, and packed it back up for us.  They even thanked us for keeping it clean (I actually thought it was quite dirty, but that must mean they get some REALLY dirty ones!).  Everything went through the x-ray machine after that, and then we were ready to get the rental car.  We picked up our cheap (but hopefully trusty) little 1998 Nissan Sunny rental (both NZ and Australia have car models I’ve never heard of before, probably because they’re for driving on the left side) and then we were on our way!

Daron at Lake Tekapo

We’ve been in New Zealand three days so far and one thing Daron and I have both noticed is how friendly and genuine the people are.  They have been so incredibly nice to us.  The other thing we’ve noticed is how much cooler it is here than Australia.  We were told that it had been nice up until the day we arrived, which is when a cold front moved in.  Hopefully it will move on soon!  Our sleeping bags are very light (it was all we needed in Australia) and I’m afraid we’re going to freeze here.  We picked up a cheap blanket, just in case, as well as some inexpensive cooking items to use in the camp kitchens as we’re traveling about the country.

We are getting a better exchange rate here, which is nice.  The prices of things seem about the same as Australia, but this time we’re getting $1.30 NZD for each $1.00 USD.  Every little bit helps! 

Our plan is to spend two to three weeks exploring the south island, and then take the ferry across to the north island where we’ll finish up our time and be ready to fly out of Auckland on January 17^th.  Can’t wait to go explore!  

Farewell Australia!

Santa arrives via kangaroos in Australia!

Today we leave Australia and head to New Zealand.  It is bittersweet – we are SO excited to be heading back to New Zealand, but sad to leave Australia.  We really enjoyed our time here and hope to come back one day.  There is so much to see and we only scratched the surface.  We loved exploring how Australia was different than the U.S., from the insects to the birds to the plants.  We saw cockatoos and lorikeets everywhere we traveled across the country, and never got tired of seeing them, even though the locals find the cockatoos loud and annoying.  We saw bats all over the place too, which was a treat.  At one campground we ended up moving our tent to another site because they kept us up all night eating fruit from a nearby tree.  All the plants are very different here; even the palm trees are different from what we’re used to seeing.  The birds make different sounds than what we are used to hearing too. I loved being woken up in the morning by all the strange bird sounds.  My favorite is the crazy laugh the kookaburra makes!  It is amazing all the subtle differences you don’t think about until you’re experiencing them. 

My favorite emu pic! 

One thing we really liked was Australia’s campgrounds, or caravan parks as they’re called here.  They have tent sites as well as powered sites for campervans, but they also rent other accommodations such as a trailer without a bathroom, or one with a bathroom (called “ensuite”), all in various sizes for families, couples, etc.  The caravan parks have communal camp kitchens with various ways to cook, from toasters to gas burners, and sometimes even stocked with dishes and pots and pans.  It made traveling very easy here.  If it was pouring rain (as it seemed to be a lot!) we could rent a small trailer for less than we could a motel room.  We would have a dry place to sleep and could use the same camp bathrooms as the campers.  Plus we could always cook a hot meal without having to purchase dishes, etc.   

Whatever money we saved on accommodation we ended up spending on gasoline (or petrol, as they say here).   We paid anywhere from $1.20/liter to $1.80/liter, which works out to be about $4.50 to $6.80/gallon. Yikes!  I won’t complain about the gas prices in the U.S. again!

Yummy scones!

We pretty much gave up coffee while we were here since nobody here sells drip coffee and buying lattes and cappuccinos every day gets expensive!  Tea is big here, probably due to the large British influence, and so we started drinking tea, sometimes with milk.  The campgrounds and even hotel rooms all had plug-in water boilers (not sure what their official name is) so a person could easily make tea.  I have learned to enjoy a cup of tea, and most especially with scones (my new favorite!).  The scones are pretty much like a biscuit, but they always come with great jam and this yummy thick cream on top – they’re SO good! 

The food didn’t seem a whole lot different than what we’re used to, besides seeing kangaroo meat in the grocery stores.  We tried vegemite, an Aussie favorite, and didn’t particularly like it.  It tastes like a concentrated beef bouillon cube – very salty.  We saw vegemite rolls in the grocery stores – they’re like cinnamon rolls, but with vegemite rather than cinnamon and icing (yuck!).  It’s also placed in restaurants on the table next to the jelly so you can put it on toast.  Vegemite is made from brewers’ yeast extract and is a by-product of beer manufacturing (thank goodness they took it out of beer!).  It is one of the richest known sources of B vitamins (except for B12).  Regardless, it must be an acquired taste. 

Having fun with Uluru  :)

The Aussies themselves have been nothing but great to us!  They are so friendly and outgoing.  We really enjoyed all our interactions with them.  Many of them had been to the U.S. before and if they hadn’t, they knew a lot about our country via the TV (I don’t know if that’s good or bad - probably bad.  I'm thinking of The Simpsons...). Most of their TV shows are from the U.S.  Our entertainment culture is everywhere, from their magazines to their movies.  They know way more about us through the TV than we do about them, that’s for sure. 

Not only did we meet lots of Aussies, we met travelers from all over the world.  It’s very easy to travel here – they have fabulous visitor centers (called i-sites) that are full of info and helpful people.  In addition, Australia has a strong backpacker culture and network.  If you are under 30, you can get a visa that allows you to travel and work here for 12 months.  We met lots of young people who were picking fruit for a week or two to fund their travels.  We met others who worked for months bartending or doing retail jobs in the bigger cities.  Most of them were from Germany and the Netherlands, but we also met people from France, England, Korea, Ireland and lots of other places.   There is a whole network here for them to access, from buses to youth hostels to travel deals.  If I was a young person (or I should say younger person since I hope I’m not old yet!), I would definitely come here to work and travel.  Such a great experience and you would meet a wide variety of other people to travel with (why didn’t we know about this way back when?)!

The trusty rental car we drove halfway around Oz!

We loved their accents, as well as some of the words they used.  Some favorites were:  mozzies (mosquitoes), brekkie (breakfast), ute (utility vehicle), Rice Bubbles (Rice Krispies), nibblies (snacks), coldie (beer), prezzies (presents), and fair dinkum (genuine or true).  Time for some nibblies and a coldie!  :)

We will miss the land of Oz, that’s for sure!  We are grateful to have been able to spend so much time here (and still just scratched the surface).  On to our next destination:  New Zealand!   

Great Ocean Road

The London Bridge

Our last excursion during our time in Australia was to drive the Great Ocean Road on our way back to Melbourne from Uluru.  This is a 151 mile long road along the south coast, just west of Melbourne.  The first part of the drive was quite dramatic – lots of tall cliffs and arches with great ocean views.   One of the first formations we saw is the London Bridge.  It used to be two arches side by side, with one connected to the mainland, until one day in 1990 the arch closest to the mainland collapsed, stranding two tourists who were on top of the second arch, which was now an island in the sea.  That must have been scary for them, wondering if the second arch they were standing on was going to collapse too!  They were eventually rescued by helicopter.  We also saw the famous twelve apostles, which appeared quite dramatic in the fog/haze.  I don’t think we could take a bad picture of them – they were so beautiful.    

The Twelve Apostles

That area is also known as Shipwreck Coast – we learned that over a 40 year time span, 80 ships wrecked on that 75 mile stretch of Australia (most of them took place in the 1800’s).  Back then navigating that area was difficult due to numerous barely hidden reefs and frequent heavy fog.  Daron and I hiked to Wreck Beach, a little out of the way spot where two anchors from old shipwrecks were located.  It was a little eerie because we were the only people there.  Walking along the beach you could see how treacherous the reef could be.

While driving out to a lighthouse we discovered a colony of koalas!  They were sitting in the crooks of the gum trees, just being their lazy selves!  Some had little ones with them - they were so cute!  One adult koala was even in the crook of a tree branch that was hanging right over the road!  They definitely didn’t seem to be too concerned with us – I think they knew they were safe so high up in the gum trees!

Old anchor on Wreck Beach

Of course after seeing them I was curious about koalas and had to find out more.  The koala is a marsupial (like the kangaroo) and fills the same ecological role as the sloth of South America.  This makes sense after seeing them – they are the most laid-back, lazy things I’ve ever seen!  The brain of the koala is extremely small, like two shriveled walnut halves floating in a brain cavity filled with fluid (they do look completely spaced out).  It is thought that the koala’s brain shrank over time due to a diet low in energy and nutrients (the body needed the energy more than the brain did).  They used to live in the rainforest; as the climate cooled the eucalypts covered most of Australia and the koala adapted to its new environment.  Eucalyptus leaves are high in fiber but low in nutrients.   In fact, eucalyptus leaves are toxic to most species.  The koala’s digestive system is specially adapted to detoxify the poisonous chemicals in the leaves, although it takes a lot of energy to do this.  In order to conserve energy the koala sleeps a lot, up to 16 hours a day!  The aborigines noticed that the koala doesn’t drink water (it gets what it needs from the gum leaves), and their name for the koala translates as “doesn’t drink.”   Interestingly, the koala is one of the few mammals (besides primates) that have fingerprints.  Their fingerprints are very similar to ours.  When the Europeans first saw the koala, they called it a koala “bear” because it seemed similar to a bear, but in reality the koala is nothing like a bear – in fact, its closest relative is the wombat (which is another Aussie animal we wanted to see but never got the chance, except as roadkill).

Lazy koala!

We wrapped up our trip on the Great Ocean Road with a visit to Bells Beach, which is well known in the surfing world for its powerful break.  It is where Patrick Swayze’s character in the movie Point Break went to surf at the end of the movie during a big storm.  We saw a few surfers the day we were there (it was a beautiful blue sky day); the waves were big but not too impressive. We ended our drive at Melbourne, where we awaited our flight to New Zealand.

 I can’t believe our time in Australia is coming to an end!  

Coober Pedy

Welcome to Coober Pedy!

On our way back from Uluru, we stopped one night at Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world.  It is located in the Outback, about halfway between Alice Springs and Adelaide.  Opals were discovered here in 1914 and the place hasn’t been the same since.  The name Coober Pedy comes from the aboriginal word “kupa,” for white man, and “piti,” for hole.  About 3,500 people live here, many of them underground, where the temperature is a constant 75 degrees. It is a cosmopolitan city, with 44 nationalities represented (lots of people from various countries trying to make their fortune).  Many aborigines mine here too, with a large field of opals discovered in 1945 by an aboriginal woman. The town has underground churches, an underground campground, underground motels, and a golf course without a blade of grass (interestingly the golf course has reciprocal rights with one of the world’s greatest golf courses, St. Andrews in Scotland). 

Daron on Mars, or the Moon, you decide...

It was HOT when we got here, but we did some touring around before completely melting in the heat (the gal that checked us into our place told me this was nothing, it was only spring now and wait until summer!  Ugh!).  We visited the dog fence just outside of town.  It is the longest fence in the world, stretching 3,300 miles.  It separates the rich sheep growing areas in the south from the dingoes of central Australia.  Near the fence is the Moon Plane, which they claim looks just like the moon.  I think it looked more like Mars, but I haven’t been to either place, so who knows?  The desolate landscape here has starred in many movies, including Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Ground Zero, Pitch Black, and Red Planet.   

Underground church

We talked to a few locals who told us that it is hard to make a living mining opals, especially with the high cost of diesel fuel and expensive mining permits.  Many of the miners do other jobs in town in addition to mining.  Ninety percent of the opals found here are “junk” opals that are not worth anything.  Besides all that, they just love it here!  They told us the people are genuine and many of them can’t imagine living anywhere else.  There is a strong sense of community here.  The tourist industry I’m sure will help the town somewhat too.

As a tourist they will let you go “noodling,” or digging through the waste piles of dirt looking for opals missed by the miners.  You can’t use any tools, if you do you need to purchase a mining permit.  It was reported that one German tourist found an opal a few years back worth $5,000!  We did not do any noodling during our stay, instead opting for air conditioning and a nice meal. 

The Red Center



Uluru at sunrise (love our bedhead hair!)



The week in the timeshare gave us time to plan the rest of our stay here in Australia.  One place we did not want to miss, even though it’s very difficult to get to, is Uluru (AKA Ayers Rock), in the center of the continent.  It’s very expensive to fly there, so we decided to drive from where we were staying outside of the Melbourne area.  We had a very ambitious plan, one which I’m happy to say we accomplished!  We spent two 13 hour days just driving – only stopping for gas – in order to make it there.  The first day we were mostly driving westward along the Murray River, so the scenery was interesting – lots of orchards, vineyards, and farmland.  The second day we were headed north into the Outback – the scenery was pretty much the same scrubland for miles and miles and miles and miles.  The road was straight, with the occasional curve here and there, just to make sure we were paying attention.  It had one lane going each way, and was paved (or on bitumen, as they say out here).  There wasn’t much traffic, just the occasional road train (semi trucks with three trailers attached – they create their own windstorm as they go by you!).  Twice we saw wild emus in the desert alongside the road, which was a bonus!  On the advice of our guidebook, we topped up our gas tank whenever we came across a station in the Outback, just in case.  The distances are so great, and the stations are so sparse, you’d hate to run out of gas out there!  On the second night of our trip we camped at Curtain Springs Station, just outside of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, where I got up in the middle of the night to pee, and was absolutely amazed by the stars!  I’m not even sure how to put it into words – there were just so many of them filling the sky, almost more stars than sky – it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before!

Daron partway up Uluru

Driving into the park for the first time, Uluru was a magnificent sight, quite the massive monolith!  It is 1,142 feet above the ground and 2.2 miles long.  Coming from Colorado that doesn’t seem very high, but after traveling through the flat desert for so long it really stands out.  It is believed that two-thirds of the rock is below the surface.  We were at Uluru at a special time – they had an unusually wet spring so the desert was quite green and full of wildflowers.  It hadn’t been this lush for years.  We felt very fortunate to see it like that.  Equally fascinating are Uluru’s traditional owners, the aboriginal people who refer to themselves as the Anangu.  In the harshest environment I can imagine, they have been able to survive and thrive.  We learned about how they were able to do it, from digging over a meter in the sand for honey ants (a treat for them!), to sucking nectar from certain flowers like a lollipop, to gathering seeds and fruits.  The desert was their grocery store and pharmacy and they knew how to utilize everything.   It is believed that aboriginal people have lived in the Uluru area for 22,000 years.  The aborigines here maintained their traditional lifestyle longer than aborigines in other parts of Australia, due to the remoteness of the area.  Uluru wasn’t opened up to tourism until the 1940s, which is when life changed forever for the Anangu.  They were not recognized as the traditional owners of Uluru until 1985 when the land was handed back to them, with part of the agreement being that they would lease it to the federal government for 99 years.  We were told that of our $25 per person entry fee, they get only $1.20. We also learned that of the 300 or so Anangu people left, about 60% have diabetes, due to the change in their diets to a more Western one (white sugar, white bread, etc). 

Hiking Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta

Most movies on Australia only show the desert aborigines, likes the ones here at Uluru, but the truth is at one time this continent had numerous tribes all over it, from the mountains to the rainforest, each with their own language, customs, foods, etc., and all very different from each other.  It is thought that the aborigines originally arrived by sea to northern Australia 50,000 years ago.  As the Europeans moved in, starting in 1788 with the first boatload of convicts, the aborigines were pushed out of their traditional lands.  It took a long time for the Europeans to make it into the harsh red center of Australia, so the tribes around Uluru were the left alone for much longer than the others.  There are many reserves across the country set aside for the aborigines to live on; to visit them you need to purchase a permit.

Giddy Diggin' sunset at Uluru! 

We got up close and personal with another Australian creature:  the fly!  The flies are terrible around Uluru, and from what we gathered they weren’t that bad during our time there, which means they can get worse!  They aren’t like the regular American fly that is easily scared off by a wave of your hand – these flies stick to you and crawl all over your face.  They try to get in your mouth and ears and eyes – ugh!  And if you manage to scare them off, they come right back, right away – they are very determined to be as annoying as possible (and it works)!   It’s a joke out here that everyone is doing the “Australian wave,” which is when you’re waving your hand in front of your face to try to scare off the flies (usually unsuccessfully).  Everyone out here, including us, was doing the wave.



Plates full of local favorites...

Besides the flies, we thoroughly enjoyed our time at Uluru, and tried to see all different facets of this great monolith.  We watched the sunrise turn the rock a glowing orange; we walked the seven mile trail around the base; we watched the orange rock get darker at sunset; Daron climbed to the top of Uluru; and we listened to an Anangu elder speak at the cultural center.  We splurged and had a nice buffet dinner with all the local animals as entrees:  kangaroo (very good), crocodile (chewy), and barramundi (yum).  Unfortunately, they were out of emu – I guess it is very popular.  We also hiked amongst the nearby rock formation called Kata Tjuta (aborigine for “many heads”), where we came across a bunch of wild camels in the distance.  Kata Tjuta consists of 36 domed rocks, with the tallest one being 650 feet higher than Uluru.  It is also very impressive.  Both sites have important spiritual significance for the Anangu. 

Dinky the singing dingo sharing his favorite tune!

After leaving the Uluru area, we headed to Kings Canyon to do a much-recommended bushwalk around the rim.  The trail veered off to a permanent waterhole in the canyon aptly named the Garden of Eden.  It was a nice cool spot, a literal oasis in the desert!  From Kings Canyon we headed to Alice Springs to check it out.  Alice Springs is the main town here in the middle of the Outback.  As we pulled into town we noticed it was unlike anywhere else we had been to so far - lots of aborigine folks were hanging out all over the place.  We have seen very few aborigines in the other towns we’ve visited so far, so it was good to know they’re here (our guidebook says only 2% of Australia’s 2.1 million population is aborigine).  Alice Springs has lots of aboriginal art for sale, much of it quite beautiful.   After our quick trip to “a town called Alice” (anyone remember that song from the 80s?), we headed back down the endless road, towards Melbourne.  We made a stop at Jim’s Place, a station along the way where we saw more emus and got to hear Dinky, the famous dingo, sing for us!  

That’s the Outback for you, full of surprises!