second time around

Greetings from Middle Earth (not the Middle Kingdom). My apologies for the long delay in the blogging, but I have been too busy living the dream to write it down. I thought the Australians loved their sheep, nothing like the Kiwis! They seriously love their sheep.

Well I figured that I had dodged the bullet when I got on my flight back to Sydney one day before Quantas went on Strike. I didn’t realize that Poe’s American Airlines flight to New Zealand was actually a Quantas flight code sharing with American. So no flight for her. Fortunately the government forced Quantas back to work and it only delayed Poe a couple of days. I holed up in a hotel in Auckland since it was cold, raining like hell and windy. I used the time to look a bit ahead for planning Bali and Thailand. Hoping for the floods in Thailand to clear up. Poe finally got in Thursday and we spent a wonderful sunny day at the Auckland Botanic Gardens. The temperature was perfect and the plants a nice treat, spring is coming in well here. The next day we hit the Auckland Museum and learned some Maori history and New Zealand plants and animals. Did you realize that the only indigenous mammal in New Zealand is the Bat? All others are brought in by settlers. Humans have only been here since around 1000 CE. They had the world’s largest Eagle, the Haast’s Eagle until about 600 years ago when their main food the Moa bird was hunted to extinction by the Maori. The eagle was only 15 Kg. But had a 70 cm Talon span which allowed it to rip through the neck or pelvis of the Moa which were flightless 4 meter (12+ foot) tall and 230 kg. (510 pounds). Some kind of birds!

Flying on to Christchurch we had a chance to check out the roped off center of town which was destroyed in an Earthquake last year. Pretty incredible, it looked like pictures of a war zone. It was Guy Fawkes day, where British celebrate the capture and execution (of course after torture) of Guy Fawkes in 1620 when he tried to guard the gunpowder hoping to blow up the king and start a revolution. Not so weird or anything. Then off over Arthur’s Pass to the west coast of the South Island. It had snowed like crazy three days before and they needed chains to go over the pass then, but had cleared so we had Beautiful blue skies on the first half and wonderful views of snow capped peaks. The west side is foggy/cloudy with mist and winding road. Coming down we pulled into an overlook parking area and saw two parrots on the fence. Poe whispered, “Do you think we can get closer?” As I eased around oh so slowly we opened the windows to get a picture. The Kea (parrots) hopped off the fence and ran/hopped toward the car in an attack formation. “shut the window, shut the window” not in a whisper. They jumped up onto the car and started pulling at things. Turns out the Kea are the smartest bird in the world and love to tear things like wiper blades apart. We pressed on to Franz Josef Glacier for a couple of nights. The west side of the Island is like Washington State, lots and lots of rain as the wet air from the Tasman Sea hits the mountains.

The Glaciers were very cool and the forests thick and deep temperate rain-forests. I thought that the Australians were frugal with their use of asphalt on winding mountain roads, but the Kiwis are downright cheap. Poe had a few moments of puckering while we drove the South Island. Up through the passes and down through the hairpin turns (believe the sign that advises 15 and that is kilometers per hour not miles per hour!) The rivers and lakes have “stone flour” or super tiny particles of stone ground up by the glaciers long ago which makes them a wonderful turquoise color at times and at other times a deep, deep blue. Strikingly beautiful. Went to a Kiwi research center and saw some six week old Kiwis. In their wisdom the early settlers brought over animals to populate the islands for hunting and such. The rabbits got completely out of control so they brought in Stoats (a sort of weasel) to eat the rabbits. The stoats however prefer the much easier to catch flightless New Zealand birds Kiwis and such. So they are very endangered now. Also they brought the brush tailed opossum for a fur trade. More dead birds! The deer trash the forest but the export of venison was a big industry so now they farm the deer and have cut the wild population down to size. Just as in Washington some Scots missed their homeland and brought a wee sprig of Scotch Broom plant to remind them of home. Now the islands are covered in this expanding mess of bright yellow blight. Ain’t we smart?

A hard decision is whether to see the more dramatic Milford Sound or the more intimate and quieter Doubtful Sound. I found the solution though, do both. Even though we had a car, we took the two hour bus ride from Te Anau to Milford Sound so we could enjoy the view and not have to drive the road. It was spectacular from lake and fields through the Beech Forest and then Rain forest into the mountains and to the fjords. The driver kept telling us that we were unlucky to have the perfectly clear blue skies and dramatic vistas instead of rain. He thought the temporary waterfalls created by heavy rains were more dramatic. I was OK with the sun. It rains there 200 days of the year. The sight of Milford Sound was dramatic and something to experience. We had a group of Dolphin swimming along side the boat for a long time, the fur seals were out sunning and there were plenty of permanent long, long waterfalls.

Back to Te Anau and it started raining. Rained all night and the next morning while we took a short bus hop to a 45 minute boat ride across Lake Manapouri and a ride up over Wilmot Pass on the gravel road to Deep Cove the end of Doubtful Sound. We boarded the overnight ship and it stopped raining. The waterfalls were pretty amazing to see, sparkling sheets and raging torrents everywhere. Doubtful is more covered with trees and ferns which is in itself incredible as it is solid granite. There is virtually no soil, the plants all grow with tiny roots in minute cracks in the rock. We saw fur seals, and plenty of penguins (yellow crested and little blue like I saw in Philip Island Australia). Food was great, company was great and we slept well. The next morning the sun was out and the views were striking. As soon as we got up they announced on the speakers so we ran out to watch the dolphins jumping and playing around the boat. More penguins and Shag birds (cormorants) all morning.

We got back to Te Anau and drove on up the pass to Queenstown. It is full of young people and adrenaline rush activities; jet boats, mountain biking, climbing, rappelling, kayaking, white water rafting, bungy jumping and hang gliding on thermals. So we did our laundry and drove out of town. We did peek over the rail of the Kawarau Bridge, the birthplace of Bungy jumping. I decided it probably was not in my best interest to jump, I might like it too much. Going up the center of the South Island toward Aoraki/Mt. Cook we stopped for coffee and chatted with a local. We were getting a little burned out on spectacular mountain scenes and crazy blue lakes. She told us not to head up to Twizel and instead to go to the East coast to a town called Oamaru. What a great choice. Oamaru was a thriving port in the mid 1800s and has 20-30 great old buildings left in town. We got in early enough to go to the Little Blue Penguin colony research center and watch them come in at dark. This was not a gentle waddle up a sandy beach like Philip Island Australia. These guys ride BIG waves crashing onto a steep rocky shore and hop on up to their burrows. It was pretty cool. In the morning we had a plate of cheeses at the Whitestone Cheese factory and watched them empty a vat and separate the curds and whey. Then around the town and enjoyed the buildings and the amazing artwork (welded statues) all over town. Google Steampunk HQ to see what I had to put my $2 into.

Finally we dragged ourselves away and up the coast to a small town of Akaroa. It is inside the caldera of an old volcano the side wall of which is blown out, connecting to the sea creating a huge, huge harbor. The drive in was quite the puckering road with switchbacks and fortunately the tour busses passed us going the other way before we got to the steep descent. On the way out the next day we took the “summit road” and found out the first road really was the wide and straight one. Akaroa is a French city and was lovely. We bumped into some friends we had been on the Doubtful Sound overnight with and just marveled at the views. We went to the Giant’s House and toured the gardens (beautiful) surrounded by the giant mosaic artworks (mind boggling). In the afternoon we headed back to Christchurch to overnight before flying to the North Island.

After getting to the city we went to the place we had stayed before and it was full, and the one next door and the two down the street. We drove over to the main motel street in town and found one after the next “no vacancy” finally we stopped to ask if ther was something going on in town and the very nice lady explained that since the center of Christchurch was trashed and all the big hotels shut down the motels are full every night and without advance booking we were SOL. God smiles on fools; she made a call on the off chance of a cancellation and found us a room. Later checking in I overheard the desk clerk telling someone that all the motels help each other and there are no rooms in all of Christchurch, they could try Akaroa (a two hour drive).

A morning flight to Auckland, pick up the rental car and off to Rotorua, the area with lots of Geothermal activity and Maori culture. We got in and the very nice duty manager Darren told us all about the various activities around the area. We were just in time to go to a Maori village show and Hangi (earth pit cooked dinner). It was a bit “touristy” but a great show none the less, good dancing and lots of fun. The food was excellent and we saw some glow worms and silver leaf ferns. The next morning we slept in, had a breakfast at the “Fat Dog Cafe and Bar” before we went on to Waimangu Valley. It was an amazing 4 km walk through a valley created in 1886 by several volcanos erupting and creating the most recent geothermal area around. There are pools and steam vents and incredible views. It was a great walk and we saw very striking colored pools of boiling hot water with algae and silica forms.

Poe’s last full day in New Zealand was pretty good, we got over to see the glow worms in Waitomo caves which was interesting. The roof of the cave is covered with bioluminescent worms which look like a million stars at night. We couldn’t do the “pretty” cave tour because it was booked until later in the afternoon, but that left us time to drive up through Cambridge and take a left on Buckland Road which led us to “The Shire Rest” and a tour of Hobbiton. They recently finished shooting the Hobbiton scenes for the new movie “the Hobbit” and last week opened the set for tours. It was pretty cool seeing Bag End, the party tree and all the rest of Hobbiton in perfect condition. We took loads of pictures but have a confidentiality agreement to not put them on the web.

I left home with New Zealand as the number one spot on my list of where I wanted to see, based on the crazy beauty of the landscape and the rave reviews from everyone who ever came here. Now that I am set to move on I must say that it did not disappoint. The Kiwis are wonderfully friendly and giving people, always ready to help with advice or whatever you need. The landscape spans everything there is; spectacular mountains, fjords, waterfalls, rainforest, pastoral hills, evergreen forests, beautiful beaches and an amazing palette of green colors everywhere. The spring coming into bloom was just overwhelming and next time I will come in the fall to see those colors. Next stop: Bali.

My last bit of time in Melbourne was fun. I went to the Melbourne Museum and saw the “King Tutankamun” traveling exhibit. The detail work of the jewelry and carvings was exquisite. Given that these were done 1350 BCE or thereabouts, the workmanship is unbelievable. I took a walk through the “rainforest” that they have growing in a very cool outdoor atrium in the center of the building. The “wildlife” section was quite small but very well done. In a room maybe 15 meters by 20 meters by 10 meters high they had about 300 stuffed animal specimens all around the room on the walls and stages. In front of each section and at a few places in the center of the room were large touch screens with pictures of the area of animals. If I touched an animal it popped up a big picture and information about the animal. Worked wonderfully.

I had a nice flight on Quantas back to Sydney which was good, because 3 days later Quantas stopped ALL flights because of ongoing labor disputes. I took the ferry to Manly Beach (it is Australia there is no “Wimpy Beach”) so I could see the Sydney Harbor and the iconic view of the Opera House. I had some fish and chips on the beach while watching the surfers and again with the seagulls. One of the blighters actually flew in and took 1/2 a french fry right out of my hand as I was putting it to my mouth! It was quite windy that day and the sailboats were out in force which impressed me as it was mid-week. They love their harbor here and love their sailboats. Flying in I could see literally thousands of them moored in a series of inlets and bays all around the Harbor.

A rental car and off to the west of Sydney to the Blue Mountains and a town called Katoomba. The blue mountains are so named because of the bluish haze as one looks over them caused by the mist and eucalyptus oils in the air. They reminded me quite a lot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Kentucky. Of course when I arrived and went along the scenic cliffside drive which is at 3500 feet elevation what I noticed most was that the cloud level was 2500 feet and I could see about 15 meters (48 feet) out into the Jamison Valley. It stayed like that the entire day and into the night. But that actually turned out to be great. I was staying at the Carrington Hotel which was built in 1885 and was a wonderful throw-back experience. I checked in early and took the elevator (with the outer and inner door that you open seperately) to my room with a view, on the top (3rd) floor. The rest of the day I shot some billiards on their classic table, sipped on a schooner of Guinness and read in a nice overstuffed chair in the Henry Poste Room. The place was a wonderful sense of the past. During dinner (a very tasty lamb duo) they had Nat Cole, Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra playing in the background and I was loving it.

The next morning I drove on to the Jenolan Caves. For those of you who don’t know or remember I would refer you to my blog post of June 6 “Carlsbad Caverns” to get a sense of how I feel about Carlsbad so you can understand when I say Jenolan Caves are the tiniest, tiniest bit less impressive than Carlsbad. The drive in is exciting as well. The last 10 km or so the road is one way from 11:30 to 1:45 to allow the buses to come in. That is good, because although around the curves they paint a striped line down the center of the asphalt to show the lanes, it is still only 2 1/2 meters (8 feet) wide!! Only once did several cars have to stop and help guide the local bus and the up-bound pickup truck back and forth for ten minutes to unwedge and get past each other. Once you reach the caves, the road goes right through a short but large cavern. I spent the day walking up and down steps and trails and saw three large caves. These caverns are not as large as the “big room” at Carlsbad (which is 1220 meters long 191 meters wide and 110 meters high) but are very impressive. The walkways here are quite narrow and lots of tight passages through to other cave rooms which put you very close to the formations. And the formations (speleothems) are spectacular, especially the Helictites which defy gravity and grow sideways and sometimes look like bushes. These are spectacular caves. At lunch I had a pair of Rosellas pestering me for some of my chips, what is it with the birds in Australia? And while I am at it, what is it with the Australians and chips (french fries)? They have chips with every meal at every restaurant. The only time I ever saw mashed potatoes was on a shepherd’s pie. Never saw au gratin, scalloped, boiled or any other kind except for the occasional adventurous change of “wedges”.

I drove back to Katoomba to find that the sun was out and the views were great. I particularly liked that the Jamison Valley is totally undeveloped so there are no roads or towns or logging areas, just a large carpet of trees all through this huge valley.

Back to Sydney and last night I had a great Indonesian dinner with Johan and Lily from my China tour. They live here in Sydney and they took me to a lovely Indonesian restaurant and treated me to a great sampling of their foods. They are transplants from Indonesia. It was very nice to see them and maybe someday they can visit me in Orlando. All in all Australia has been a great time; the people are warm and helpful, the scenery spectacular and the wildlife plentiful. Tomorrow I am off to New Zealand where I will meet Poe and together we will explore what I hope to be an astoundingly beautiful place.

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