1/2/08
Today we just went shopping and chilled out. We were feeling lazy, so we didn't plan any activities. So, tomorrow we take the long journey home (24 hours of travel), but we are so excited to go home! See you in the States! We're out...
Showing posts with label The Big Trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Big Trip. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Tauranga Day #6
1/1/08 – New Years Day
So, after last night, we were obviously hung over, so we were pretty lazy today, which was good because so many places were closed. It’s not like the U.S. where only professionals have the day off. Most of the stores and even some of the cafes and restaurants were closed, and the restaurants that were open charged a 15% surcharge because it was a holiday! Man I miss the U.S.!
We ate Burger King for breakfast, and finally we got out of bed at 1:30, showered, and then Jenny and I went to eat lunch and Paul went to the internet café to play WoW since our internet connection in our room is pretty low.
After lunch, Jenny and I came back to the room and watched a couple of movies. Around 7:00, we went to pick up Paul and he was coming back anyway, so then we went to dinner. We had planned to go to Volare, an Italian place that is supposed to be really good, but it was closed! I guess we’ll have to go tomorrow.
After dinner, we came back to the hotel, watched some tv, and went to bed. What a great lazy day.
So, after last night, we were obviously hung over, so we were pretty lazy today, which was good because so many places were closed. It’s not like the U.S. where only professionals have the day off. Most of the stores and even some of the cafes and restaurants were closed, and the restaurants that were open charged a 15% surcharge because it was a holiday! Man I miss the U.S.!
We ate Burger King for breakfast, and finally we got out of bed at 1:30, showered, and then Jenny and I went to eat lunch and Paul went to the internet café to play WoW since our internet connection in our room is pretty low.
After lunch, Jenny and I came back to the room and watched a couple of movies. Around 7:00, we went to pick up Paul and he was coming back anyway, so then we went to dinner. We had planned to go to Volare, an Italian place that is supposed to be really good, but it was closed! I guess we’ll have to go tomorrow.
After dinner, we came back to the hotel, watched some tv, and went to bed. What a great lazy day.
Tauranga Day #5
12/31/07 – New Years Eve!
Today Jenny and I went to Mt Maunganui to go to the beach and check it out for New Years Eve. We found out that they were having a free live concert along the beach road, but there is no alcohol allowed, so if you want to drink you have to buy tickets for the Sand Bar, which is a bar across the street from the beach. Unfortunately, you have to be there in person to buy the tickets, and since Paul wasn’t with us, we decided to go back to Tauranga, get Paul, get ready, and go back.
So on our way to the bus stop, a piece of glass got on my flip flops and I stepped on it really hard! I had to try 3 times to remove it because it was so lodged in there! Thankfully we had towels with us, so I was able to clot it. We got back to Tauranga and started getting ready. Then we got back on the bus and went back to Mt Maunganui.
We bought tickets, but we only stayed for one drink because we wanted to get something to eat. Almost all the cafes were closed because they didn’t have enough people to work! Thankfully, we found an open restaurant and ate there. Paul made friends with a Kiwi couple and then a Canadian couple joined us too. We had a lot of fun talking, but eventually we all went to the Sand Bar to hang out for New Years. The Canadian couple was here with their teenage kids, and the girl was at the Sand Bar with some guy. It was really funny to see then hanging out together.
At midnight, they had fireworks over the bay. They were pretty good, but not awesome. Soon after midnight we went to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Tauranga, but it never came! So we started walking through town looking for where it might be because we knew it was supposed to be somewhere. I was so drunk that I started crying because I had to pee and we couldn’t find the bus. What a drama queen! :-) Finally we found a secluded spot on the side of the road, so Paul covered me and I was able to go. I was much better after that :)~ Am I really 29?
Finally we saw a policeman and he told us where the buses were. On our way to the buses, Paul stepped on my flip flop and it broke, so I didn’t have shoes anymore. Thankfully I didn’t step on glass again :) We got so lucky. We got to the bus right at 2:00 and were able to get on (with tons of other people) so we had to stand, but it was the last bus, so we were so thankful. We got back to Tauranga and Paul let me wear his flip flops to walk back to the hotel, since his feet are so calloused that he didn’t have to worry about hurting them. What a night!
Today Jenny and I went to Mt Maunganui to go to the beach and check it out for New Years Eve. We found out that they were having a free live concert along the beach road, but there is no alcohol allowed, so if you want to drink you have to buy tickets for the Sand Bar, which is a bar across the street from the beach. Unfortunately, you have to be there in person to buy the tickets, and since Paul wasn’t with us, we decided to go back to Tauranga, get Paul, get ready, and go back.
So on our way to the bus stop, a piece of glass got on my flip flops and I stepped on it really hard! I had to try 3 times to remove it because it was so lodged in there! Thankfully we had towels with us, so I was able to clot it. We got back to Tauranga and started getting ready. Then we got back on the bus and went back to Mt Maunganui.
We bought tickets, but we only stayed for one drink because we wanted to get something to eat. Almost all the cafes were closed because they didn’t have enough people to work! Thankfully, we found an open restaurant and ate there. Paul made friends with a Kiwi couple and then a Canadian couple joined us too. We had a lot of fun talking, but eventually we all went to the Sand Bar to hang out for New Years. The Canadian couple was here with their teenage kids, and the girl was at the Sand Bar with some guy. It was really funny to see then hanging out together.
At midnight, they had fireworks over the bay. They were pretty good, but not awesome. Soon after midnight we went to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Tauranga, but it never came! So we started walking through town looking for where it might be because we knew it was supposed to be somewhere. I was so drunk that I started crying because I had to pee and we couldn’t find the bus. What a drama queen! :-) Finally we found a secluded spot on the side of the road, so Paul covered me and I was able to go. I was much better after that :)~ Am I really 29?
Finally we saw a policeman and he told us where the buses were. On our way to the buses, Paul stepped on my flip flop and it broke, so I didn’t have shoes anymore. Thankfully I didn’t step on glass again :) We got so lucky. We got to the bus right at 2:00 and were able to get on (with tons of other people) so we had to stand, but it was the last bus, so we were so thankful. We got back to Tauranga and Paul let me wear his flip flops to walk back to the hotel, since his feet are so calloused that he didn’t have to worry about hurting them. What a night!
Tauranga Day #4
12/30/07
Today we drove a rental car to Whakatane, which is about 1.5 hours away from Tauranga, to take a cruise to White Island, which is an active volcano! The last time it erupted was July 2000, so it’s still pretty active. It doesn’t actually spew lava, but it spits out huge rocks that are still somewhat liquid when they come out. Before it erupted in 2000, the whole island was very smooth. Now it’s covered with ash and rock. Some of the rocks that came out actually landed in the bay, which was really far. The island was used to mine sulfur in the early 1900’s, but they didn’t extract enough sulfur from the rock to make it profitable, so they shut it down.
The tour guide walked us around the island and showed us various places that were steaming and “hot spots”. It was really cool. Then we got to the center where the volcano erupts from. It was a huge lake that is super acidic and hot. The acidity of the water is -0.5 on the pH scale. We didn’t even know you could go negative on that scale! Originally that lake wasn’t there, but erosion in the crater and landslides caused the lake to grow from a small puddle of water. The water level rises and falls constantly based on the amount of stem coming up from beneath, and at one point it almost overflowed. Also, the color of the water apparently changes too. Today it was a grayish green, but sometimes it’s all gray, and sometimes it has been red!
The eruptions and landslides cause the landscape to change continuously. In the hot spots, there is water that is boiling because it’s so hot. Also, there is a stream that flows across the island. The water is very warm and is apparently safe (they told us to taste it but we didn’t!) but it’s hydrochloric acid with a pH of 2 (which is the same pH as Coke!).
After the island tour, they took us back to Whakatane and on the way we saw dolphins! They weren’t as big or as playful as the ones that Jenny and I saw on the cruise in Paihia, but we got some pictures and Paul got to see them, so that was really cool. When we got back to Whakatane, we drove back to Tauranga and dropped off the rental car. It was a long day, so we passed out when we got back to the hotel.
Today we drove a rental car to Whakatane, which is about 1.5 hours away from Tauranga, to take a cruise to White Island, which is an active volcano! The last time it erupted was July 2000, so it’s still pretty active. It doesn’t actually spew lava, but it spits out huge rocks that are still somewhat liquid when they come out. Before it erupted in 2000, the whole island was very smooth. Now it’s covered with ash and rock. Some of the rocks that came out actually landed in the bay, which was really far. The island was used to mine sulfur in the early 1900’s, but they didn’t extract enough sulfur from the rock to make it profitable, so they shut it down.
The tour guide walked us around the island and showed us various places that were steaming and “hot spots”. It was really cool. Then we got to the center where the volcano erupts from. It was a huge lake that is super acidic and hot. The acidity of the water is -0.5 on the pH scale. We didn’t even know you could go negative on that scale! Originally that lake wasn’t there, but erosion in the crater and landslides caused the lake to grow from a small puddle of water. The water level rises and falls constantly based on the amount of stem coming up from beneath, and at one point it almost overflowed. Also, the color of the water apparently changes too. Today it was a grayish green, but sometimes it’s all gray, and sometimes it has been red!
The eruptions and landslides cause the landscape to change continuously. In the hot spots, there is water that is boiling because it’s so hot. Also, there is a stream that flows across the island. The water is very warm and is apparently safe (they told us to taste it but we didn’t!) but it’s hydrochloric acid with a pH of 2 (which is the same pH as Coke!).
After the island tour, they took us back to Whakatane and on the way we saw dolphins! They weren’t as big or as playful as the ones that Jenny and I saw on the cruise in Paihia, but we got some pictures and Paul got to see them, so that was really cool. When we got back to Whakatane, we drove back to Tauranga and dropped off the rental car. It was a long day, so we passed out when we got back to the hotel.
Tauranga Day #3
12/29/07
Today we went on a Tasting Tour, which included a stop at a local brewery called Brewers, 2 wineries, and a bar for cocktails. The brewery tour was okay. Our tour guide had to do the tour because the brewery owners had forgotten that we were going to be there! But our guide was very knowledgeable, so that was nice. Then we got to taste all the beers and they were really good. We all liked the Pilsener a lot, so we actually bought a 12-pack of it. Jenny and Paul really liked the Dark beer too, but I can’t drink much of that.
After the brewery, we drove out to Morton’s Winery. All the wineries in the region don’t actually grow their grapes here because the soil is too fertile, so they own vineyards in other areas, like Marlborough at the northern tip of the south island, and the Gisborne region in the north island. Morton’s had a lot of different varieties of wine, so we got to taste a lot, both whites and reds. We ended up buying Viongier (which we really like in Virginia too!), Chardonnay, Mercure (a red wine), Merlot Cabernet, and Montepulciano (an Italian-style red). We were all pretty buzzed after that stop.
Next we went to a little restaurant to eat lunch. The lunch was really good (Paul and I had open faced sandwiches that were really good). After lunch, we drove across the street from the restaurant up to a really nice lookout point that gave us great views of Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty. It was beautiful!
Next we drove to the other winery, Mills Reef. They seemed to specialize more in the red wines, but they were all pretty good. They had a lot of dry red wines, so Paul was in heaven and could hardly decide which ones to get. We ended up getting the Reserve Chardonnay, Reserve Pinot Noir, Reserve Syrah, and the Reserve Merlot Malbec. They had 3 labels, and the Reserve was the label in between. Their best label is Elspeth, which is actually sold in the U.S., but we actually liked the Reserve label ones the best, which is actually nice since they were cheaper. But at least we know this winery sells in the U.S., so hopefully we can find some.
After the winery, we drove back to Tauranga and went to a bar called the Naked Grape for cocktails. That was nothing special, but it was nice. That’s where the tour ended. That night, we went to dinner at a pizza place, which was actually pretty good because it was real Italian, and then we went to bed early.
Today we went on a Tasting Tour, which included a stop at a local brewery called Brewers, 2 wineries, and a bar for cocktails. The brewery tour was okay. Our tour guide had to do the tour because the brewery owners had forgotten that we were going to be there! But our guide was very knowledgeable, so that was nice. Then we got to taste all the beers and they were really good. We all liked the Pilsener a lot, so we actually bought a 12-pack of it. Jenny and Paul really liked the Dark beer too, but I can’t drink much of that.
After the brewery, we drove out to Morton’s Winery. All the wineries in the region don’t actually grow their grapes here because the soil is too fertile, so they own vineyards in other areas, like Marlborough at the northern tip of the south island, and the Gisborne region in the north island. Morton’s had a lot of different varieties of wine, so we got to taste a lot, both whites and reds. We ended up buying Viongier (which we really like in Virginia too!), Chardonnay, Mercure (a red wine), Merlot Cabernet, and Montepulciano (an Italian-style red). We were all pretty buzzed after that stop.
Next we went to a little restaurant to eat lunch. The lunch was really good (Paul and I had open faced sandwiches that were really good). After lunch, we drove across the street from the restaurant up to a really nice lookout point that gave us great views of Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty. It was beautiful!
Next we drove to the other winery, Mills Reef. They seemed to specialize more in the red wines, but they were all pretty good. They had a lot of dry red wines, so Paul was in heaven and could hardly decide which ones to get. We ended up getting the Reserve Chardonnay, Reserve Pinot Noir, Reserve Syrah, and the Reserve Merlot Malbec. They had 3 labels, and the Reserve was the label in between. Their best label is Elspeth, which is actually sold in the U.S., but we actually liked the Reserve label ones the best, which is actually nice since they were cheaper. But at least we know this winery sells in the U.S., so hopefully we can find some.
After the winery, we drove back to Tauranga and went to a bar called the Naked Grape for cocktails. That was nothing special, but it was nice. That’s where the tour ended. That night, we went to dinner at a pizza place, which was actually pretty good because it was real Italian, and then we went to bed early.
Tauranga Day #2
12/28/07
Today we booked some activities for tomorrow and Sunday and then we took the bus to Mt Maunganui to see the Mount and go to the hot saltwater pools. The Mount was really high, so we only climbed about halfway to the top, but it gave us a really nice view of the Tauranga Harbour. There were sheep everywhere on the Mount, and they kept bah-ing. It was really funny. I think they wanted to attack us, but they sensed our physical power and realized it would be useless :) New Zealand sheep are known for their crazy demeanors. Check this out:
http://www.blacksheep-themovie.com/
Too funny.
After climbing the Mount, we went to the hot saltwater pools. There are several pools that are just like swimming pools, but they are warm and salty. Kind of strange, but it seems to be really popular.
After that, we walked around some more and then took the bus back to Tauranga. That night we went to a restaurant called Coyota, which has southwestern food and I got tacos! They were pretty good for New Zealand, so I was very happy. After dinner, we just chilled there to drink because we heard that the Coyote was one of the hot night spots and it had a dance floor. Around 11, people started showing up, but they were all so young! I haven’t felt that old in a long time. It looked like they were all 18-20! Needless to say, we didn’t stay long, so we went back to the hotel around 11:30. That was long enough for me anyway. I’m so sad :)
Today we booked some activities for tomorrow and Sunday and then we took the bus to Mt Maunganui to see the Mount and go to the hot saltwater pools. The Mount was really high, so we only climbed about halfway to the top, but it gave us a really nice view of the Tauranga Harbour. There were sheep everywhere on the Mount, and they kept bah-ing. It was really funny. I think they wanted to attack us, but they sensed our physical power and realized it would be useless :) New Zealand sheep are known for their crazy demeanors. Check this out:
http://www.blacksheep-themovie.com/
Too funny.
After climbing the Mount, we went to the hot saltwater pools. There are several pools that are just like swimming pools, but they are warm and salty. Kind of strange, but it seems to be really popular.
After that, we walked around some more and then took the bus back to Tauranga. That night we went to a restaurant called Coyota, which has southwestern food and I got tacos! They were pretty good for New Zealand, so I was very happy. After dinner, we just chilled there to drink because we heard that the Coyote was one of the hot night spots and it had a dance floor. Around 11, people started showing up, but they were all so young! I haven’t felt that old in a long time. It looked like they were all 18-20! Needless to say, we didn’t stay long, so we went back to the hotel around 11:30. That was long enough for me anyway. I’m so sad :)
Tauranga Day #1
12/27/07
Today we flew into Tauranga and got acquainted with the area. We didn’t get in early enough to do any activities, so we just ate dinner and hung out a little. We went to a restaurant called Lone Star (not the same as in the U.S.) and I got a burrito. It was pretty good, but not great. After dinner, we went to an English themed bar called Crown & Badger. They had a live band, but they were playing some old music and old people were dancing to it, which was actually pretty amusing, but we eventually went back to the hotel because it wasn’t amusing enough to keep us there.
Today we flew into Tauranga and got acquainted with the area. We didn’t get in early enough to do any activities, so we just ate dinner and hung out a little. We went to a restaurant called Lone Star (not the same as in the U.S.) and I got a burrito. It was pretty good, but not great. After dinner, we went to an English themed bar called Crown & Badger. They had a live band, but they were playing some old music and old people were dancing to it, which was actually pretty amusing, but we eventually went back to the hotel because it wasn’t amusing enough to keep us there.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Paihia Week #2 – Day #6
12/26/07 – Boxing Day
Today, Jenny and I went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds to see an authentic Maori performance and then walk around to see a war canoe and the meeting house. It was a very cool performance. They did a lot of singing, and they played a game with wooden rods that they passed around, kind of like hot potato :) During some of the songs, the guys would make these faces, with their tongues sticking out and eyes really wide, to convey strength and hostility. The woman would shake their hands really fast, which represented the living and spirits coming together. They were all very good. Check out the pics:
In the afternoon, Paul, Jenny, and I went fishing. It was a little windy, so it was choppy, but we took Dramamine so we were okay. We went all the way out to where the bay meets the South Pacific Ocean, so there were some big Snapper out there. At first the fish kept taking the bait off of our lures without us knowing because the current was strong. Paul even caught a fish without realizing it! But we finally realized that they were biting as soon as our lines hit the bottom (which was 50 meters down) and we caught some good ones.
Jenny won by catching the biggest fish, but my big one wasn’t far behind. Jenny caught 2, one big one and one medium-small one. I caught 3 fish, one big one, one small one, and one tiny one that we threw back. Paul caught one fish that was medium-large. It was a lot of fun! A little windy, but not too bad.
When we got back to the wharf, our fisherman guide filleted the fish for us, but there was so much that we only took about half and gave the other half to an Australian guy who went with us but didn’t catch anything. We didn’t have much to cook the fish with, so we just sautéed it in butter. It was okay, so we didn’t eat all of it and gave the rest to the hotel owners. They were very thankful :)
The rest of the night we just chilled. Tomorrow we leave for Tauranga. Hopefully we will have good weather and be able to do a lot of activities. Can’t wait!
Today, Jenny and I went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds to see an authentic Maori performance and then walk around to see a war canoe and the meeting house. It was a very cool performance. They did a lot of singing, and they played a game with wooden rods that they passed around, kind of like hot potato :) During some of the songs, the guys would make these faces, with their tongues sticking out and eyes really wide, to convey strength and hostility. The woman would shake their hands really fast, which represented the living and spirits coming together. They were all very good. Check out the pics:
In the afternoon, Paul, Jenny, and I went fishing. It was a little windy, so it was choppy, but we took Dramamine so we were okay. We went all the way out to where the bay meets the South Pacific Ocean, so there were some big Snapper out there. At first the fish kept taking the bait off of our lures without us knowing because the current was strong. Paul even caught a fish without realizing it! But we finally realized that they were biting as soon as our lines hit the bottom (which was 50 meters down) and we caught some good ones.
Jenny won by catching the biggest fish, but my big one wasn’t far behind. Jenny caught 2, one big one and one medium-small one. I caught 3 fish, one big one, one small one, and one tiny one that we threw back. Paul caught one fish that was medium-large. It was a lot of fun! A little windy, but not too bad.
When we got back to the wharf, our fisherman guide filleted the fish for us, but there was so much that we only took about half and gave the other half to an Australian guy who went with us but didn’t catch anything. We didn’t have much to cook the fish with, so we just sautéed it in butter. It was okay, so we didn’t eat all of it and gave the rest to the hotel owners. They were very thankful :)
The rest of the night we just chilled. Tomorrow we leave for Tauranga. Hopefully we will have good weather and be able to do a lot of activities. Can’t wait!
Paihia Week #2 – Day #5
12/25/07 – Merry Christmas!
Today we woke up and had some yummy breakfast. Then I went down to Reception to find out from Deb what the local access number was for our calling card and she said that they were making white bait with their breakfast and said she would bring us up some leftovers. White bait is this small white fish that is long and skinny and swims upstream on a local river, sort of like salmon do. Apparently it’s a big delicacy and has increased in price significantly to ~$125 per kilogram! People even guard their section of the river with shotguns where they catch the white bait because it’s so lucrative and some sections of the river are better than others!
So Deb brought us some plain white bait that had been browned and also some fritters that had white bait in them. It wasn’t bad, but it was kind of weird, so we didn’t really eat them, but at least we tried something very Kiwi authentic!
After breakfast and talking to my parents, we watched a movie and eventually played some tennis. It rained pretty much all day, but that didn’t bother us since we were just being lazy. It was a great Christmas.
Today we woke up and had some yummy breakfast. Then I went down to Reception to find out from Deb what the local access number was for our calling card and she said that they were making white bait with their breakfast and said she would bring us up some leftovers. White bait is this small white fish that is long and skinny and swims upstream on a local river, sort of like salmon do. Apparently it’s a big delicacy and has increased in price significantly to ~$125 per kilogram! People even guard their section of the river with shotguns where they catch the white bait because it’s so lucrative and some sections of the river are better than others!
So Deb brought us some plain white bait that had been browned and also some fritters that had white bait in them. It wasn’t bad, but it was kind of weird, so we didn’t really eat them, but at least we tried something very Kiwi authentic!
After breakfast and talking to my parents, we watched a movie and eventually played some tennis. It rained pretty much all day, but that didn’t bother us since we were just being lazy. It was a great Christmas.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Paihia Week #2 – Day #3
12/24/07 – Christmas Eve Day!
Today we went on an all day trip to the west coast to go to the Waipoua Kauri Forest. The Kauri trees are like the redwood trees in California. They are very old and although they don’t grow to be as tall as redwoods (they only grow until they are taller than the second forest canopy), they are super wide. We went to see Tane Mahuta, which is the Maori god of the forest. He is 2,000 years old and so incredibly huge. He actually has an ecosystem up in his tree limbs. He is 51 meters tall and his branches are so huge, he has like 30 plants and trees growing out of him. He is the tallest Kauri tree in New Zealand, but not the oldest. The oldest one is Te Matua Ngahere, who is the Father of the Forest, but we didn’t get to see him because he is protected.
We had a Maori guide who took us through the forest and told us of all the history. When we were at Tane Mahuta he did some prayers and singing in the Maori language. They are very spiritual. They have gods for many things, like god of the forest, god of the land, and so on, so they pray and sing a lot when they are there to say greetings to the god.
After the forest, we went to overlook the Hokianga harbour, which feeds out to the Tasman Sea. It was absolutely beautiful. On the other side of the harbour were huge sand dunes, which apparently were once in another location. At one point, there was a huge natural explosion of some sort that blew the sand dunes to the harbour. You can actually body surf down the dunes into the water, but we didn’t have time for that.
Then we ate lunch in the tiny town by the harbour, Opononi, at a little café that has really good burgers. Paul and I had a fish burger, and it was the best fish sandwich I’ve ever had! It had heaps (all the kiwis and ozzies always use the word “heaps”, like we use the word “tons”) of fish and just a little breading, and the tartare sauce was really good too. YUM!
In the town, there is a status of Opo the dolphin, who was a wild dolphin that came into the Hokianga harbour in the summer of 1955 and became so tame that kids could swim with him. He ended up dying in the winter of 1956, but before then, people would come from all over to see him. He would find bottles at the bottom of the harbour and bring them up and play with them. Dolphins are so crazy smart and playful! There was some controversy about his death. Some thought that some fishermen killed him with a little explosive that they used for catching fish because he was eating their fish. So sad.
After lunch, we drove to a car ferry so that we could drive back to Paihia on a different route to learn more history. Our driver knew so much history, but of course, I can hardly remember any of it! I have such a bad memory for those kinds of things. But we did go to this town where we saw the oldest bridge in New Zealand. It was so funny. It was about 6 feet wide and just went over a creek. It had a frame of rocks, but most of it was dirt and grass. Too funny.
There was a mother (Graces) and 2 kids (Gabby and Hester) with us on the tour, and the little girl Hester was so cute! She kept hugging me and Jenny and holding our hands. I totally want a little girl! Anyway, they made the trip more fun because they were really excited about everything.
When we got back to Paihia, we just took it easy because we were so tired from the tour. After eating a small dinner in the apartment (I was still full from lunch!), Jenny and I went down to the Village Green to listen to them sing Christmas Carols. It was a kind of strange, but fun too. One guy came out and did a rap about Jesus Christ. It actually wasn’t bad, but definitely a little strange. Then we watched Love Actually on tv and went to bed. It was a good day.
Check out our pics for the day:
Today we went on an all day trip to the west coast to go to the Waipoua Kauri Forest. The Kauri trees are like the redwood trees in California. They are very old and although they don’t grow to be as tall as redwoods (they only grow until they are taller than the second forest canopy), they are super wide. We went to see Tane Mahuta, which is the Maori god of the forest. He is 2,000 years old and so incredibly huge. He actually has an ecosystem up in his tree limbs. He is 51 meters tall and his branches are so huge, he has like 30 plants and trees growing out of him. He is the tallest Kauri tree in New Zealand, but not the oldest. The oldest one is Te Matua Ngahere, who is the Father of the Forest, but we didn’t get to see him because he is protected.
We had a Maori guide who took us through the forest and told us of all the history. When we were at Tane Mahuta he did some prayers and singing in the Maori language. They are very spiritual. They have gods for many things, like god of the forest, god of the land, and so on, so they pray and sing a lot when they are there to say greetings to the god.
After the forest, we went to overlook the Hokianga harbour, which feeds out to the Tasman Sea. It was absolutely beautiful. On the other side of the harbour were huge sand dunes, which apparently were once in another location. At one point, there was a huge natural explosion of some sort that blew the sand dunes to the harbour. You can actually body surf down the dunes into the water, but we didn’t have time for that.
Then we ate lunch in the tiny town by the harbour, Opononi, at a little café that has really good burgers. Paul and I had a fish burger, and it was the best fish sandwich I’ve ever had! It had heaps (all the kiwis and ozzies always use the word “heaps”, like we use the word “tons”) of fish and just a little breading, and the tartare sauce was really good too. YUM!
In the town, there is a status of Opo the dolphin, who was a wild dolphin that came into the Hokianga harbour in the summer of 1955 and became so tame that kids could swim with him. He ended up dying in the winter of 1956, but before then, people would come from all over to see him. He would find bottles at the bottom of the harbour and bring them up and play with them. Dolphins are so crazy smart and playful! There was some controversy about his death. Some thought that some fishermen killed him with a little explosive that they used for catching fish because he was eating their fish. So sad.
After lunch, we drove to a car ferry so that we could drive back to Paihia on a different route to learn more history. Our driver knew so much history, but of course, I can hardly remember any of it! I have such a bad memory for those kinds of things. But we did go to this town where we saw the oldest bridge in New Zealand. It was so funny. It was about 6 feet wide and just went over a creek. It had a frame of rocks, but most of it was dirt and grass. Too funny.
There was a mother (Graces) and 2 kids (Gabby and Hester) with us on the tour, and the little girl Hester was so cute! She kept hugging me and Jenny and holding our hands. I totally want a little girl! Anyway, they made the trip more fun because they were really excited about everything.
When we got back to Paihia, we just took it easy because we were so tired from the tour. After eating a small dinner in the apartment (I was still full from lunch!), Jenny and I went down to the Village Green to listen to them sing Christmas Carols. It was a kind of strange, but fun too. One guy came out and did a rap about Jesus Christ. It actually wasn’t bad, but definitely a little strange. Then we watched Love Actually on tv and went to bed. It was a good day.
Check out our pics for the day:
Paihia Week #2 – Day #2
12/23/07
Today, Jenny and I went down to the wharf to find out about different activities we could book. She wanted to find out about tours to the Kawiti glow-worm caves in Waiomio and the Waipoua Kauri (pronounced Cody) forest, which is on the west coast (we are on the east coast, but it only takes about 2 hours to get to the east coast because we are at a narrow point of the north island). We found out that there were no tours to the glow-worm caves, but we could rent a car and drive down there easily. So we called one of the car rental places and it was just this woman who lives in Paihia. The car was at the airport, so she came to pick us up and take us to get it. On the way to the airport, we saw 2 wineries, so we decided to go to one of them (Marsden) on the way from the airport to the caves.
I decided that I would drive (instead of Paul, since he drove the whole time in Ireland) and it was really weird driving on the left side of the road. Luckily, the roads here are much wider and nicer than the roads in Ireland, so it wasn’t too bad. Also, it was just weird to drive in general since I haven’t driven a car in 2.5 months! So we stopped in the Marsden winery and tried a few whites but only one red. We ended up getting a Pinot Gris for me and Jenny, a Sauvignon Blanc for Paul (which has a taste of capsicum, which is red bell pepper, in it and that was too weird for me and Jenny), and 2 bottles of the Syrah. YUM! It was really beautiful there and we wanted to come back that evening for dinner, but they only do dinner on Saturday night. So sad. So Jenny and Paul had a glass of wine (I didn’t have one since I was driving) and we walked around the vineyard a little.
Here are some pics at the winery (the plant at the end was actually in the woods at the glow-worm cave):
After the winery, we drove to Waiomio to go to the glow-worm caves. Apparently, one of the towns we passed through, Kawakawa, has these famous toilets in the street that are all different shapes and made of all recyclable material (some European built them), but we couldn’t find them, so we didn’t get to see them. Oh well.
When we got to the glow-worm caves, we realized it’s just a little family operation, so one of the sons of the family were taking us on the tour through the caves. He is a descendent of a Maori tribe that found a woman in there hiding from her husband over a thousand years ago and they have inhabited the land around the cave since then.
The glow-worm caves were really cool. These worms are super tiny, like the size of a sewing needle, and just the tip of them glows. The glow comes from the oxidation of their poop! How funny is that?!? (or am I just juvenile for thinking that glowing poop is funny? :)) The glow is used to attract insects, like flies and mosquitoes, to the glow-worm’s web, which is just a few web strings that hang down vertically, but it is sticky like a spider web, so when the insect gets caught in the web, the worm just pulls up the web and eats the insect. Weird.
Our guide said that we were only viewing 30% of the glow-worms during the day, and at night 100% of the glow-worms come out and you don’t even need a lantern to go through the cave because the glow-worms completely light it up! Too bad we couldn’t see that. They aren’t open at night, so only their family gets to see it.
There are some stalactites hanging down from the ceiling of the cave that are limestone and are still growing (unfortunately some people have broken some of them off :( so sad) and if you touch the ones that are still growing, the oil on your hands could stop it from growing.
After the cave, we drove back to Paihia and did some grocery shopping and then went back to the apartment and just chilled out. Then we went to dinner and watched a movie afterwards. We are such lazy bums. We pass out early every night :)
Look how pretty it is now!
Today, Jenny and I went down to the wharf to find out about different activities we could book. She wanted to find out about tours to the Kawiti glow-worm caves in Waiomio and the Waipoua Kauri (pronounced Cody) forest, which is on the west coast (we are on the east coast, but it only takes about 2 hours to get to the east coast because we are at a narrow point of the north island). We found out that there were no tours to the glow-worm caves, but we could rent a car and drive down there easily. So we called one of the car rental places and it was just this woman who lives in Paihia. The car was at the airport, so she came to pick us up and take us to get it. On the way to the airport, we saw 2 wineries, so we decided to go to one of them (Marsden) on the way from the airport to the caves.
I decided that I would drive (instead of Paul, since he drove the whole time in Ireland) and it was really weird driving on the left side of the road. Luckily, the roads here are much wider and nicer than the roads in Ireland, so it wasn’t too bad. Also, it was just weird to drive in general since I haven’t driven a car in 2.5 months! So we stopped in the Marsden winery and tried a few whites but only one red. We ended up getting a Pinot Gris for me and Jenny, a Sauvignon Blanc for Paul (which has a taste of capsicum, which is red bell pepper, in it and that was too weird for me and Jenny), and 2 bottles of the Syrah. YUM! It was really beautiful there and we wanted to come back that evening for dinner, but they only do dinner on Saturday night. So sad. So Jenny and Paul had a glass of wine (I didn’t have one since I was driving) and we walked around the vineyard a little.
Here are some pics at the winery (the plant at the end was actually in the woods at the glow-worm cave):
After the winery, we drove to Waiomio to go to the glow-worm caves. Apparently, one of the towns we passed through, Kawakawa, has these famous toilets in the street that are all different shapes and made of all recyclable material (some European built them), but we couldn’t find them, so we didn’t get to see them. Oh well.
When we got to the glow-worm caves, we realized it’s just a little family operation, so one of the sons of the family were taking us on the tour through the caves. He is a descendent of a Maori tribe that found a woman in there hiding from her husband over a thousand years ago and they have inhabited the land around the cave since then.
The glow-worm caves were really cool. These worms are super tiny, like the size of a sewing needle, and just the tip of them glows. The glow comes from the oxidation of their poop! How funny is that?!? (or am I just juvenile for thinking that glowing poop is funny? :)) The glow is used to attract insects, like flies and mosquitoes, to the glow-worm’s web, which is just a few web strings that hang down vertically, but it is sticky like a spider web, so when the insect gets caught in the web, the worm just pulls up the web and eats the insect. Weird.
Our guide said that we were only viewing 30% of the glow-worms during the day, and at night 100% of the glow-worms come out and you don’t even need a lantern to go through the cave because the glow-worms completely light it up! Too bad we couldn’t see that. They aren’t open at night, so only their family gets to see it.
There are some stalactites hanging down from the ceiling of the cave that are limestone and are still growing (unfortunately some people have broken some of them off :( so sad) and if you touch the ones that are still growing, the oil on your hands could stop it from growing.
After the cave, we drove back to Paihia and did some grocery shopping and then went back to the apartment and just chilled out. Then we went to dinner and watched a movie afterwards. We are such lazy bums. We pass out early every night :)
Look how pretty it is now!
Paihia Week #2 – Day #1
12/22/07
Today Jenny got here! YAY! We are so excited to have her here. And the weather has really improved too, so it’s going to be a great last 2 weeks. Even though she had been traveling for 24 hours, she was ready to go, so we decided to go get some lunch at a café downtown and then go on a cruise where they take you to see dolphins and then go to the Hole In the Rock (Paul didn’t feel like going so Jenny and I just went).
It was a beautiful sunny day (don’t worry, I put on sunscreen :)) with a little bit of a strong wind, so it was a little choppy out there. I was a little nervous about getting sick (after the whole scuba diving trip craziness) but I ended up being fine. On the way out of the bay, they showed us different islands in the Bay of Islands. There are about 120 islands in the bay, one of which Captain Cook from England set his first anchor at when he was discovering New Zealand after discovering Australia previously.
Everything was really beautiful. Finally we got out to an area where they were seeing a dolphin pod (which is a group of dolphins traveling together). Usually these pods only have about 12-15 dolphins, but this pod had about 50 dolphins! They said that the pod would probably break up in a few days since they usually don’t travel with that many together, but today we got the benefit of having all those dolphins around us. And we were so lucky because the trip that had gone out this morning didn’t see any dolphins!
Dolphins are obviously very smart, and they can tell the difference between boats because of the noise the motor makes, so they get used to the boats that go out there. However, the company we went with (Kings) had just bought the boat we were on, so the dolphins were really curious about it because they had never heard it before. So they were swimming all around our boat! It was so cool! They were doing jumps, sometimes just regular jumps and sometimes they were jumping backwards or sideways, and sometimes 2 of them did several jumps in a row together, even the mommies and babies! These are wild dolphins but they were doing tricks like they had been taught them in Sea World! Amazing. They are just so naturally playful.
They even had some really young babies with them that were so cute. The babies actually have 2 mothers swimming with them, one of which is an Auntie dolphin that takes care of the baby when the mother has to go off to find food. And these dolphins were really big, like 10 feet long! And a couple of the babies were only about 3 feet long. They were too cute.
When the boat started moving faster, the dolphins would get into the boats wake, really close to the boats propellers, and ride the water that was funneling into the middle of the boat, so they were just being pulled along. They absolutely loved it! When we really started getting some speed, a whole bunch of them came into the wake, and they were doing big jumps! It was so cool! Unfortunately, Jenny’s camera had run out of batteries by that time, but I don’t think it would be possible to capture that anyway. Too bad we didn’t have a video camera.
Anyway, after we left the dolphins, we went to the Hole In the Rock, which is a big island rock at the edge of the bay (which feeds into the South Pacific Ocean). On a calm day, the boat could go through the middle of the hole, but today there was a lot of white water in there. A small boat went in and was really being knocked around, even on the other side of the rock, so we were glad we didn’t go through there. The hole was made from the ocean waves pounding against the rock because the rock is really hard but it’s brittle, so it can break off easily. There is another hole that is forming in the other side of the rock, and they said it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a complete hole.
On the way back to the wharf, we saw some other pretty islands, but the dolphins were definitely the highlight. That night we went out to dinner and then just hung out and took it easy. Tomorrow we will plan the rest of our week here. YAY!
Here are the pictures we took on the boat tour:
Today Jenny got here! YAY! We are so excited to have her here. And the weather has really improved too, so it’s going to be a great last 2 weeks. Even though she had been traveling for 24 hours, she was ready to go, so we decided to go get some lunch at a café downtown and then go on a cruise where they take you to see dolphins and then go to the Hole In the Rock (Paul didn’t feel like going so Jenny and I just went).
It was a beautiful sunny day (don’t worry, I put on sunscreen :)) with a little bit of a strong wind, so it was a little choppy out there. I was a little nervous about getting sick (after the whole scuba diving trip craziness) but I ended up being fine. On the way out of the bay, they showed us different islands in the Bay of Islands. There are about 120 islands in the bay, one of which Captain Cook from England set his first anchor at when he was discovering New Zealand after discovering Australia previously.
Everything was really beautiful. Finally we got out to an area where they were seeing a dolphin pod (which is a group of dolphins traveling together). Usually these pods only have about 12-15 dolphins, but this pod had about 50 dolphins! They said that the pod would probably break up in a few days since they usually don’t travel with that many together, but today we got the benefit of having all those dolphins around us. And we were so lucky because the trip that had gone out this morning didn’t see any dolphins!
Dolphins are obviously very smart, and they can tell the difference between boats because of the noise the motor makes, so they get used to the boats that go out there. However, the company we went with (Kings) had just bought the boat we were on, so the dolphins were really curious about it because they had never heard it before. So they were swimming all around our boat! It was so cool! They were doing jumps, sometimes just regular jumps and sometimes they were jumping backwards or sideways, and sometimes 2 of them did several jumps in a row together, even the mommies and babies! These are wild dolphins but they were doing tricks like they had been taught them in Sea World! Amazing. They are just so naturally playful.
They even had some really young babies with them that were so cute. The babies actually have 2 mothers swimming with them, one of which is an Auntie dolphin that takes care of the baby when the mother has to go off to find food. And these dolphins were really big, like 10 feet long! And a couple of the babies were only about 3 feet long. They were too cute.
When the boat started moving faster, the dolphins would get into the boats wake, really close to the boats propellers, and ride the water that was funneling into the middle of the boat, so they were just being pulled along. They absolutely loved it! When we really started getting some speed, a whole bunch of them came into the wake, and they were doing big jumps! It was so cool! Unfortunately, Jenny’s camera had run out of batteries by that time, but I don’t think it would be possible to capture that anyway. Too bad we didn’t have a video camera.
Anyway, after we left the dolphins, we went to the Hole In the Rock, which is a big island rock at the edge of the bay (which feeds into the South Pacific Ocean). On a calm day, the boat could go through the middle of the hole, but today there was a lot of white water in there. A small boat went in and was really being knocked around, even on the other side of the rock, so we were glad we didn’t go through there. The hole was made from the ocean waves pounding against the rock because the rock is really hard but it’s brittle, so it can break off easily. There is another hole that is forming in the other side of the rock, and they said it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a complete hole.
On the way back to the wharf, we saw some other pretty islands, but the dolphins were definitely the highlight. That night we went out to dinner and then just hung out and took it easy. Tomorrow we will plan the rest of our week here. YAY!
Here are the pictures we took on the boat tour:
Friday, December 21, 2007
Paihia Week #1
12/14/07 – 12/21/07
When we flew into the Kerikeri airport (which is the biggest airport close to Paihia), we couldn’t believe it was actually smaller than the Airlie Beach airport had been! I mean, it was ridiculous. It was one airstrip and one small building with a baggage claim sign outside of the back of the building where they drove our luggage up to us on the luggage cart so we could take it off. I know the Airlie Beach airport didn’t have a baggage claim either, but this was even smaller and funnier.
Luckily, there was a shuttle waiting outside that we took to our apartment in Paihia. It was about a 25 minute drive and our shuttle driver and his wife talked to us about the things we could do in Paihia. We got to the motel and checked in and found our apartment to be very nice.
There are tennis courts across the street that we can use and our motel provides us with rackets and balls for free, so that is nice! We ended up playing tennis about 3 times this week and we actually did better than we thought we would since we haven’t played in about 6 years. One of the days we had to play with this couple staying in our motel because all the courts except for 1 were being used and we were both going to the courts at the same time. The lady was in her 40s and the guy was 50 and they were awful! At one point the guy ran up to the net to hit a ball and totally slid on the sand (there is sand on the court) and scraped his knee bad. We were hoping that would cause them to quit, but he couldn’t act like a wuss, so they kept “playing”. Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and we quit. It just wasn’t fun because they were so bad!
Other than tennis, we didn’t really do anything except take a bike ride because the weather was so bad, and also because we were waiting for my sister to come into town before we did the major fun stuff. But finally, Thursday ended up being a beautiful day, so we rented kayaks and paddled around the bay of islands. I gotta tell you, kayaking takes a LOT of upper body strength, which I don’t have much of, so it was tough. But we took a break at one point on a secluded beach and reminded us of the Corona commercial because our kayaks were chillin’ on the shore and we were sitting on the beach eating and drinking. We took pictures of it, but they are on a disposable camera because our camera won’t turn on :( so we can’t upload them until we get home and get them developed and then scan them. Totally sucks. But my sister is bringing her digital camera, so we will have pictures of the stuff we do with her, thankfully.
Anyway, after we ate on the beach, we walked down the beach (all 75 yards of it) and picked up pretty stones. Finally we got back in the kayaks (after I got my tank top completely soaked in the water trying to wash sand off my butt, and of course I got even more sand in it!) and started back to the shore. It was a long way! But we made it.
That night we realized how sunburned we had gotten. We have been so careful this entire trip, and then we totally forget to put on sunblock in the one place that doesn’t have an ozone layer above it! Can you believe that?!? Apparently New Zealand is so close to the South Pole, which doesn’t have an ozone layer, that it doesn’t have an ozone layer either, so the sun is much stronger. But of course the weather is so cool that you can’t even tell! It was in the upper 60s when we were kayaking, so you just can’t tell how badly you are getting burned. Needless to say, it’s Saturday and we are still in pain :) Oh well. You live and learn. And now we have aloe and sunblock! At least it’s cool enough that we can cover up our burns and still be comfortable.
So today my sister is coming into town and she is going to keep us very busy, which is good since we haven’t done much this week. We promise to post to the blog more often now and post pictures too. I just uploaded the winery tour pictures to the winery tour blog, so that’s something :)
When we flew into the Kerikeri airport (which is the biggest airport close to Paihia), we couldn’t believe it was actually smaller than the Airlie Beach airport had been! I mean, it was ridiculous. It was one airstrip and one small building with a baggage claim sign outside of the back of the building where they drove our luggage up to us on the luggage cart so we could take it off. I know the Airlie Beach airport didn’t have a baggage claim either, but this was even smaller and funnier.
Luckily, there was a shuttle waiting outside that we took to our apartment in Paihia. It was about a 25 minute drive and our shuttle driver and his wife talked to us about the things we could do in Paihia. We got to the motel and checked in and found our apartment to be very nice.
There are tennis courts across the street that we can use and our motel provides us with rackets and balls for free, so that is nice! We ended up playing tennis about 3 times this week and we actually did better than we thought we would since we haven’t played in about 6 years. One of the days we had to play with this couple staying in our motel because all the courts except for 1 were being used and we were both going to the courts at the same time. The lady was in her 40s and the guy was 50 and they were awful! At one point the guy ran up to the net to hit a ball and totally slid on the sand (there is sand on the court) and scraped his knee bad. We were hoping that would cause them to quit, but he couldn’t act like a wuss, so they kept “playing”. Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and we quit. It just wasn’t fun because they were so bad!
Other than tennis, we didn’t really do anything except take a bike ride because the weather was so bad, and also because we were waiting for my sister to come into town before we did the major fun stuff. But finally, Thursday ended up being a beautiful day, so we rented kayaks and paddled around the bay of islands. I gotta tell you, kayaking takes a LOT of upper body strength, which I don’t have much of, so it was tough. But we took a break at one point on a secluded beach and reminded us of the Corona commercial because our kayaks were chillin’ on the shore and we were sitting on the beach eating and drinking. We took pictures of it, but they are on a disposable camera because our camera won’t turn on :( so we can’t upload them until we get home and get them developed and then scan them. Totally sucks. But my sister is bringing her digital camera, so we will have pictures of the stuff we do with her, thankfully.
Anyway, after we ate on the beach, we walked down the beach (all 75 yards of it) and picked up pretty stones. Finally we got back in the kayaks (after I got my tank top completely soaked in the water trying to wash sand off my butt, and of course I got even more sand in it!) and started back to the shore. It was a long way! But we made it.
That night we realized how sunburned we had gotten. We have been so careful this entire trip, and then we totally forget to put on sunblock in the one place that doesn’t have an ozone layer above it! Can you believe that?!? Apparently New Zealand is so close to the South Pole, which doesn’t have an ozone layer, that it doesn’t have an ozone layer either, so the sun is much stronger. But of course the weather is so cool that you can’t even tell! It was in the upper 60s when we were kayaking, so you just can’t tell how badly you are getting burned. Needless to say, it’s Saturday and we are still in pain :) Oh well. You live and learn. And now we have aloe and sunblock! At least it’s cool enough that we can cover up our burns and still be comfortable.
So today my sister is coming into town and she is going to keep us very busy, which is good since we haven’t done much this week. We promise to post to the blog more often now and post pictures too. I just uploaded the winery tour pictures to the winery tour blog, so that’s something :)
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Queenstown Day #7
12/11/07
Today we went on a wine tasting tour. It was awesome. We were actually the only people on the tour, so we got really personalized service. Our wine tour guide was from England and moved here around 4 years ago. We were supposed to go to only 4 wineries, but she ended up taking us to an additional winery. The region around Queenstown grows mainly Pinot Noir grapes because it really likes the extreme cold conditions. It's also really known for growing the Pinot Gris grapes too.
The first winery we went to was called Peregrine, after a type of falcon, and we got 3 bottles from there! Our first stop! We got a 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, and a 2006 Rose. Typically Paul and I don't really like those types because the ones we have tried are usually not flavorful enough and are too acidic, but these were excellent.
At the next winery, Carrick, we got a 2006 Chardonnay that was really good. The next winery wasn't very good though. We really wanted to get a good Pinot Noir, but theirs were very dry and not very flavorful. But the next winery, which was not on the original schedule, had an awesome 2006 Pinot Noir. The winery was called Rockburn, and the girl working at the counter was actually from Michigan! We didn't get any wine at the last winery, but we had plenty with 6 bottles! All of which we have to drink before we fly to Paihia because we are already at our baggage weight limit :) But I don't think we'll have any trouble drinking it. They actually have some BYO (Bring Your Own alcohol) restaurants here, so we are going to take wine when we eat out.
I hope Paihia and Tauranga have good wine too! YUM!
Check out our winery pictures.
And here is a picture of the paragliders outside our hotel, our hotel at night, and Queenstown at dusk:
Today we went on a wine tasting tour. It was awesome. We were actually the only people on the tour, so we got really personalized service. Our wine tour guide was from England and moved here around 4 years ago. We were supposed to go to only 4 wineries, but she ended up taking us to an additional winery. The region around Queenstown grows mainly Pinot Noir grapes because it really likes the extreme cold conditions. It's also really known for growing the Pinot Gris grapes too.
The first winery we went to was called Peregrine, after a type of falcon, and we got 3 bottles from there! Our first stop! We got a 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, and a 2006 Rose. Typically Paul and I don't really like those types because the ones we have tried are usually not flavorful enough and are too acidic, but these were excellent.
At the next winery, Carrick, we got a 2006 Chardonnay that was really good. The next winery wasn't very good though. We really wanted to get a good Pinot Noir, but theirs were very dry and not very flavorful. But the next winery, which was not on the original schedule, had an awesome 2006 Pinot Noir. The winery was called Rockburn, and the girl working at the counter was actually from Michigan! We didn't get any wine at the last winery, but we had plenty with 6 bottles! All of which we have to drink before we fly to Paihia because we are already at our baggage weight limit :) But I don't think we'll have any trouble drinking it. They actually have some BYO (Bring Your Own alcohol) restaurants here, so we are going to take wine when we eat out.
I hope Paihia and Tauranga have good wine too! YUM!
Check out our winery pictures.
And here is a picture of the paragliders outside our hotel, our hotel at night, and Queenstown at dusk:
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Queenstown Day #4
12/8/07
Today we went sky diving! It was so awesome! Paul has already done it once near Lake Anna in Virginia, but I had never done it before, so I was a little nervous. Strangely, once we got to the airfield and were getting suited up and everything, I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. They put you in this harness, and my sky dive trainer partner strapped me in really tight, so I felt very secure.
The plane we had to get in was really small. There are no seats, so we all just had to sit on the ground between the legs of our trainer partners. There were 4 of us going and each of us had a trainer partner, and I was getting videotaped, so there was another sky diver taping me, which made 9 of us in this tiny plane, and that’s all that would fit. As the plane was climbing higher and higher, my trainer was showing me how many thousands of feet we were in the air, and even 4,000 feet was really high! One of the guys was only jumping at 9,000 feet, so we let him out first, and I think that’s when I really started getting nervous :)
Since we were at such a high height, they gave us these small tubes for oxygen, in case we got dizzy. Paul didn’t hear what his trainer said about how to use it, so he put it in his mouth and started sucking the oxygen from it. His trainer looked at him a little funny, and then Paul looked at me and saw that I was holding it in front of my nose, not sucking on it with my mouth! :) So he realized that’s why his trainer was looking at him funny! And he proceeded to take it out of his mouth and hold it in front of his nose. Too funny. :)
Finally we got to 15,000 feet. There was one girl going out ahead of me and once she was out of the plane, my trainer pushed me forward really fast. Then my videotape diver went out and was holding onto the side of the plane waiting for us. Then we had to get ready to jump out. I had to sit on the edge and dangle my feet out, which were blowing completely sideways because of the wind! Then my trainer rocked me and him back and forth and then pushed us out of the plane.
It was really fast, and since I didn’t have any control over whether or not we jumped, it was easy. :) The first few seconds my stomach definitely dropped because of the acceleration, but once I got to terminal velocity, it was great. My helmet and goggles were coming off a little because of the wind, but other than that, it was awesome. The views were absolutely spectacular and the rush was amazing. My videotape guy took my hand and spun us around really fast. It was really cool. We haven’t been able to get the video in a format that we can upload to the internet yet, and the video won't do screen shots right, so I can't show you any pictures yet :(
After he pulled the parachute, he kept pulling on the chute left and right to spin us around really fast. My trainer let me help pull the chute, but he was pretty much doing all the work :) It really made my stomach jump because it makes you look straight down and it’s spinning you so fast. It was so cool!
When we landed, my trainer did everything for me, so all I had to do was lift my legs and then put them down once we hit the ground. I was glad I didn’t have to do anything except enjoy it. I’m so glad I did it, and Queenstown was definitely an awesome place to do it because of the mountain and lake views. What a great experience.
The rest of the day we just chilled out because the sky diving actually took a lot out of me. That was enough excitement and activity for the day for me. I can’t believe they do it 10-15 times a day! I guess you would get used to it though. Paul said it was just as awesome this time as it was the last time, and I can imagine it would be. I would definitely do it again. It sucks that it’s so expensive!
Today we went sky diving! It was so awesome! Paul has already done it once near Lake Anna in Virginia, but I had never done it before, so I was a little nervous. Strangely, once we got to the airfield and were getting suited up and everything, I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. They put you in this harness, and my sky dive trainer partner strapped me in really tight, so I felt very secure.
The plane we had to get in was really small. There are no seats, so we all just had to sit on the ground between the legs of our trainer partners. There were 4 of us going and each of us had a trainer partner, and I was getting videotaped, so there was another sky diver taping me, which made 9 of us in this tiny plane, and that’s all that would fit. As the plane was climbing higher and higher, my trainer was showing me how many thousands of feet we were in the air, and even 4,000 feet was really high! One of the guys was only jumping at 9,000 feet, so we let him out first, and I think that’s when I really started getting nervous :)
Since we were at such a high height, they gave us these small tubes for oxygen, in case we got dizzy. Paul didn’t hear what his trainer said about how to use it, so he put it in his mouth and started sucking the oxygen from it. His trainer looked at him a little funny, and then Paul looked at me and saw that I was holding it in front of my nose, not sucking on it with my mouth! :) So he realized that’s why his trainer was looking at him funny! And he proceeded to take it out of his mouth and hold it in front of his nose. Too funny. :)
Finally we got to 15,000 feet. There was one girl going out ahead of me and once she was out of the plane, my trainer pushed me forward really fast. Then my videotape diver went out and was holding onto the side of the plane waiting for us. Then we had to get ready to jump out. I had to sit on the edge and dangle my feet out, which were blowing completely sideways because of the wind! Then my trainer rocked me and him back and forth and then pushed us out of the plane.
It was really fast, and since I didn’t have any control over whether or not we jumped, it was easy. :) The first few seconds my stomach definitely dropped because of the acceleration, but once I got to terminal velocity, it was great. My helmet and goggles were coming off a little because of the wind, but other than that, it was awesome. The views were absolutely spectacular and the rush was amazing. My videotape guy took my hand and spun us around really fast. It was really cool. We haven’t been able to get the video in a format that we can upload to the internet yet, and the video won't do screen shots right, so I can't show you any pictures yet :(
After he pulled the parachute, he kept pulling on the chute left and right to spin us around really fast. My trainer let me help pull the chute, but he was pretty much doing all the work :) It really made my stomach jump because it makes you look straight down and it’s spinning you so fast. It was so cool!
When we landed, my trainer did everything for me, so all I had to do was lift my legs and then put them down once we hit the ground. I was glad I didn’t have to do anything except enjoy it. I’m so glad I did it, and Queenstown was definitely an awesome place to do it because of the mountain and lake views. What a great experience.
The rest of the day we just chilled out because the sky diving actually took a lot out of me. That was enough excitement and activity for the day for me. I can’t believe they do it 10-15 times a day! I guess you would get used to it though. Paul said it was just as awesome this time as it was the last time, and I can imagine it would be. I would definitely do it again. It sucks that it’s so expensive!
Queenstown Day #3
12/7/07
This morning we just hung out in the room and made some plans. Then we went into town and went to Monty’s brewery and restaurant, the official brewery of Monteith’s beer, which is a really good local beer. We both had a really good Cajun chicken sandwich. In Australia and here in New Zealand, they say “salad” for the lettuce, tomato, and other toppings for sandwiches. The description for the Cajun chicken sandwich said it had cheese, bacon, and salad on it, and the salad on this sandwich not only included lettuce and tomato, it actually had shredded carrots in it! Very strange, but it was really good. We also had a few Monteiths beers and a shot of tequila, but they aren’t much into tequila, or anything Mexican here. I miss my Mexican food and drinks! Another good New Zealand beer is Tui’s. The beer here is definitely better than Australian beer, and we just like New Zealand better than Australia already. I mean, Australia is great, but we really like New Zealand so far.
After lunch, we went on a flight and cruise to Milford Sound, which is one of the sounds in the Fiordlands on the southwest coast of the south island of New Zealand. The flight was in the smallest plane we’ve ever been in. Even smaller than the little plane we were in when we took the little flight tour to the Grand Canyon from Vegas a couple of years ago, which had a 2-seater bench on one side, an aisle, and then a 1-seater bench on the other side. This plane only had a 2-person bench. That’s it. It fit 10 people, including the pilot! But it was more fun that way. And we picked the best day to go in terms of weather because it was in the upper 70s and completely sunny with hardly any wind. However, in areas where we were going between mountain tops, there was enough wind to push the plane up and down, so our stomachs dropped a little. It was fun :)
The views from the plane were absolutely beautiful. This area is just breathtaking. All the lakes and rivers are a deep turquoise and there are mountains all around, some with trees, and some just rocky, and some with snow on them even now. When we got to Milford Sound, we got on a big boat and took a cruise in the sound. The sound is not super long (only around 13 km) but it’s super deep (300 meters)! But the lake outside of our hotel, Lake Wakatipu is even deeper, at 400 meters, and is the 3rd largest lake in New Zealand.
As soon as we pulled out of the harbour and got in the main area of the sound, the wind picked up like crazy! It was ridiculously windy. Thankfully we brought jackets and beanies, so we kept warm. There are a lot of waterfalls on the walls of the cliffs, most of which are temporary (meaning they are only around after it has rained), and one of them was blowing sideways because of the wind. That’s how windy it was!
The sound empties out into the Tasman sea, and when we got out there, there were 2 penguins just chillin’ in the sea. On the way back through the sound, we saw a bunch of sea lions laying on a big rock. Every time we see seals or sea lions, they are always just lying around all lazy. What a life. Well, I guess they do other things too, but we never see that part :)
After the cruise, we flew back to Queenstown. When we were taking off, it was so windy that it pushed the tail end of the plane (where we were sitting) to the left. It was really funny. When we got back to Queenstown, we walked around town a little and then we went back to the hotel and ate leftover pizza from last night (it was even better cold!) and hung out.
Check out the pictures of the Milford Sound flight and cruise views. This land it just so absolutely beautiful. And so untouched.
This morning we just hung out in the room and made some plans. Then we went into town and went to Monty’s brewery and restaurant, the official brewery of Monteith’s beer, which is a really good local beer. We both had a really good Cajun chicken sandwich. In Australia and here in New Zealand, they say “salad” for the lettuce, tomato, and other toppings for sandwiches. The description for the Cajun chicken sandwich said it had cheese, bacon, and salad on it, and the salad on this sandwich not only included lettuce and tomato, it actually had shredded carrots in it! Very strange, but it was really good. We also had a few Monteiths beers and a shot of tequila, but they aren’t much into tequila, or anything Mexican here. I miss my Mexican food and drinks! Another good New Zealand beer is Tui’s. The beer here is definitely better than Australian beer, and we just like New Zealand better than Australia already. I mean, Australia is great, but we really like New Zealand so far.
After lunch, we went on a flight and cruise to Milford Sound, which is one of the sounds in the Fiordlands on the southwest coast of the south island of New Zealand. The flight was in the smallest plane we’ve ever been in. Even smaller than the little plane we were in when we took the little flight tour to the Grand Canyon from Vegas a couple of years ago, which had a 2-seater bench on one side, an aisle, and then a 1-seater bench on the other side. This plane only had a 2-person bench. That’s it. It fit 10 people, including the pilot! But it was more fun that way. And we picked the best day to go in terms of weather because it was in the upper 70s and completely sunny with hardly any wind. However, in areas where we were going between mountain tops, there was enough wind to push the plane up and down, so our stomachs dropped a little. It was fun :)
The views from the plane were absolutely beautiful. This area is just breathtaking. All the lakes and rivers are a deep turquoise and there are mountains all around, some with trees, and some just rocky, and some with snow on them even now. When we got to Milford Sound, we got on a big boat and took a cruise in the sound. The sound is not super long (only around 13 km) but it’s super deep (300 meters)! But the lake outside of our hotel, Lake Wakatipu is even deeper, at 400 meters, and is the 3rd largest lake in New Zealand.
As soon as we pulled out of the harbour and got in the main area of the sound, the wind picked up like crazy! It was ridiculously windy. Thankfully we brought jackets and beanies, so we kept warm. There are a lot of waterfalls on the walls of the cliffs, most of which are temporary (meaning they are only around after it has rained), and one of them was blowing sideways because of the wind. That’s how windy it was!
The sound empties out into the Tasman sea, and when we got out there, there were 2 penguins just chillin’ in the sea. On the way back through the sound, we saw a bunch of sea lions laying on a big rock. Every time we see seals or sea lions, they are always just lying around all lazy. What a life. Well, I guess they do other things too, but we never see that part :)
After the cruise, we flew back to Queenstown. When we were taking off, it was so windy that it pushed the tail end of the plane (where we were sitting) to the left. It was really funny. When we got back to Queenstown, we walked around town a little and then we went back to the hotel and ate leftover pizza from last night (it was even better cold!) and hung out.
Check out the pictures of the Milford Sound flight and cruise views. This land it just so absolutely beautiful. And so untouched.
Queenstown Day #2
12/6/07
Today we woke up and just bummed around for a while. We were a little slow after going out last night :) It wasn’t a crazy late night by any means, but you know, we’re getting old ;) For lunch we decided to go to Fergburger, this awesome burger place that supposedly has the best burgers ever, and they DO! They are absolutely huge (check out the picture below) and so yummy. You don’t even have to put ketchup or anything on them because they have such great toppings. SOOOO YUMMY!
Check out how huge they are!
After eating, we went to a few stores in town and went back to the hotel room to chill out for a while. Paul played World of Warcraft and I just watched tv and read and stuff. Then we went to dinner at a pizza place called “The Cow”. It was definitely better than the pizza we had last night. And these 3 guys were sitting at the table next to us and they got an order of garlic bread, which was pretty big, and they each got a large pizza! One of the guys ripped right through his pizza, another guy got through his pretty fast too, and then the third guy was definitely struggling with his. By the time we left, he was leaving the crust off of the pieces he ate and his friends were calling him out on the pieces of crust that had too much pizza left on them. It was funny. Boys are silly :)
We went back to the hotel and watched a movie (well, I watched a movie and Paul passed out) and then went to bed. We’re so crazy!
Today we woke up and just bummed around for a while. We were a little slow after going out last night :) It wasn’t a crazy late night by any means, but you know, we’re getting old ;) For lunch we decided to go to Fergburger, this awesome burger place that supposedly has the best burgers ever, and they DO! They are absolutely huge (check out the picture below) and so yummy. You don’t even have to put ketchup or anything on them because they have such great toppings. SOOOO YUMMY!
Check out how huge they are!
After eating, we went to a few stores in town and went back to the hotel room to chill out for a while. Paul played World of Warcraft and I just watched tv and read and stuff. Then we went to dinner at a pizza place called “The Cow”. It was definitely better than the pizza we had last night. And these 3 guys were sitting at the table next to us and they got an order of garlic bread, which was pretty big, and they each got a large pizza! One of the guys ripped right through his pizza, another guy got through his pretty fast too, and then the third guy was definitely struggling with his. By the time we left, he was leaving the crust off of the pieces he ate and his friends were calling him out on the pieces of crust that had too much pizza left on them. It was funny. Boys are silly :)
We went back to the hotel and watched a movie (well, I watched a movie and Paul passed out) and then went to bed. We’re so crazy!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Queenstown Day #1
12/5/07
Today we got up and went to the airport and flew to Queenstown. It is absolutely beautiful here. Queenstown is a small town on a huge lake, surrounded by mountains, and full of restaurants and bars. It reminds us of Blacksburg :) The weather is also so nice. It’s definitely a lot cooler here because it’s so much farther south than we were in Australia, and it’s a nice change from the heat.
Our hotel is really nice and has beautiful views of the mountains and lake. Check out the views:
When we got to our room, we decided to go down to the hotel bar for a snack and a few beers before we unpack. There weren’t many people in there, so we started talking with the 2 bartenders and they were really cool. One of them, Sarah, told us about a bunch of restaurants and bars to check out, so now we have a good idea of where to hang out.
After a few beers and some yummy nachos, we took showers to freshen up and went out to eat. We went to a place called Winnie’s and had some pizza, hot wings, and beer and wine. It was great. And what’s also great about this place being so far south is how long the sun is up. It rises around 6 am and doesn’t set until after 9 pm! We were so used to getting up early and then passing out between 9-10 pm because the sun set so early in Australia, but with the sun staying out so late, we didn’t get tired early, which was nice. We actually didn’t go to eat dinner until 8:30 or so.
After dinner, we walked around the town to different bars, but not much was going on. Most bars are open really late, some even as late as 5am, so it seems like people get a late start in going out, which is kind of a problem for me since I get tired early :) but I’m trying. We went back to Winnie’s eventually, since there were actually people there, and we played some pool. Then Paul walked me home around midnight and he went back out for a few hours without me.
We decided that we like Queenstown so much we are going to extend our time here and skip Nelson, which is a small beach town at the northern tip of the southern island, which is where we were going to go sky diving, but we can have a great sky diving experience here, in the extreme sports capital of the world. YAY!
Today we got up and went to the airport and flew to Queenstown. It is absolutely beautiful here. Queenstown is a small town on a huge lake, surrounded by mountains, and full of restaurants and bars. It reminds us of Blacksburg :) The weather is also so nice. It’s definitely a lot cooler here because it’s so much farther south than we were in Australia, and it’s a nice change from the heat.
Our hotel is really nice and has beautiful views of the mountains and lake. Check out the views:
When we got to our room, we decided to go down to the hotel bar for a snack and a few beers before we unpack. There weren’t many people in there, so we started talking with the 2 bartenders and they were really cool. One of them, Sarah, told us about a bunch of restaurants and bars to check out, so now we have a good idea of where to hang out.
After a few beers and some yummy nachos, we took showers to freshen up and went out to eat. We went to a place called Winnie’s and had some pizza, hot wings, and beer and wine. It was great. And what’s also great about this place being so far south is how long the sun is up. It rises around 6 am and doesn’t set until after 9 pm! We were so used to getting up early and then passing out between 9-10 pm because the sun set so early in Australia, but with the sun staying out so late, we didn’t get tired early, which was nice. We actually didn’t go to eat dinner until 8:30 or so.
After dinner, we walked around the town to different bars, but not much was going on. Most bars are open really late, some even as late as 5am, so it seems like people get a late start in going out, which is kind of a problem for me since I get tired early :) but I’m trying. We went back to Winnie’s eventually, since there were actually people there, and we played some pool. Then Paul walked me home around midnight and he went back out for a few hours without me.
We decided that we like Queenstown so much we are going to extend our time here and skip Nelson, which is a small beach town at the northern tip of the southern island, which is where we were going to go sky diving, but we can have a great sky diving experience here, in the extreme sports capital of the world. YAY!
Sydney Day #3
12/4/07
Today actually turned out to be a nicer day, in terms of weather, than yesterday, so we were able to go to Watsons Bay today. We had breakfast in the hotel and then headed to the train to get to Circular Quay. We got on the ferry around 10:30 am and headed to Watsons Bay. It gave us a beautiful view of the entire city of Sydney. I think this would be a really nice city to live in because you don’t have to live right downtown to have access to the harbors. What’s great is that the water comes so far inland, that it makes several harbors, so you have access to the water from many places.
Watsons Bay is a really small town that used to be a fishing village and is on a very thin peninsula that separates the harbor from the ocean. The wharf is on the harbor side of the peninsula, and on the other side, there is a steep cliff face that borders the ocean. When we got off the boat, we walked across the “downtown” area (which was all of 50 yards or so) and walked up to the gap. We had to walk up some small trails to get to the cliff face, and there were some beautiful views. But it was really hot and the flies were killing us, so we didn’t stay there long. This is why we knew that doing “outback” adventures and hiking stuff would not be for us. We hate the heat, the bugs, and especially when being forced to exercise or exert effort :) So we walked back to the wharf, ate a snack and had a beer, and then caught the ferry back to Circular Quay.
Here are our pictures of Sydney from the ferry and Watsons Bay views:
When we got back to Circular Quay (it was only a 20 minute ferry ride), we had a glass of wine (it was so good we had to have it again; it’s called Cloudy Bay and it’s New Zealand wine) at the oyster bar we ate at yesterday and then we went back to the hotel and just chilled for a while. At night, we went to eat at a nice Chinese seafood restaurant that had tanks of live seafood (huge crabs and lobsters and fish!) that you could just pick out and they would cook it for you. We didn’t actually do it, but we saw waiters constantly walking by with clear bags of live seafood. It was cool. After dinner, we just went back to the hotel, packed, and watched tv.
Today actually turned out to be a nicer day, in terms of weather, than yesterday, so we were able to go to Watsons Bay today. We had breakfast in the hotel and then headed to the train to get to Circular Quay. We got on the ferry around 10:30 am and headed to Watsons Bay. It gave us a beautiful view of the entire city of Sydney. I think this would be a really nice city to live in because you don’t have to live right downtown to have access to the harbors. What’s great is that the water comes so far inland, that it makes several harbors, so you have access to the water from many places.
Watsons Bay is a really small town that used to be a fishing village and is on a very thin peninsula that separates the harbor from the ocean. The wharf is on the harbor side of the peninsula, and on the other side, there is a steep cliff face that borders the ocean. When we got off the boat, we walked across the “downtown” area (which was all of 50 yards or so) and walked up to the gap. We had to walk up some small trails to get to the cliff face, and there were some beautiful views. But it was really hot and the flies were killing us, so we didn’t stay there long. This is why we knew that doing “outback” adventures and hiking stuff would not be for us. We hate the heat, the bugs, and especially when being forced to exercise or exert effort :) So we walked back to the wharf, ate a snack and had a beer, and then caught the ferry back to Circular Quay.
Here are our pictures of Sydney from the ferry and Watsons Bay views:
When we got back to Circular Quay (it was only a 20 minute ferry ride), we had a glass of wine (it was so good we had to have it again; it’s called Cloudy Bay and it’s New Zealand wine) at the oyster bar we ate at yesterday and then we went back to the hotel and just chilled for a while. At night, we went to eat at a nice Chinese seafood restaurant that had tanks of live seafood (huge crabs and lobsters and fish!) that you could just pick out and they would cook it for you. We didn’t actually do it, but we saw waiters constantly walking by with clear bags of live seafood. It was cool. After dinner, we just went back to the hotel, packed, and watched tv.
Sydney Day #2
12/3/07
Today we got a late start because we had bought 24 hours of internet last night to watch the game (which we didn’t get to do), so we decided to post our blog entries and upload pictures to our web albums. Our initial plan for the day was to walk through the city to the Royal Botanic Gardens and then have lunch at another harbour, Circular Quay. However, before we left we called Claudia, which is a girl who we met in Airlie Beach and lives here. She couldn’t hang out with us, but she told us that we should catch a ferry from Circular Quay to Watsons Bay, which is a bay off of a small peninsula that faces the ocean (downtown Sydney is not right on the ocean, it’s more inland and the water from the ocean comes inland and makes all the harbours), so apparently the view is really beautiful, especially at a place called The Gap, which is a steep rocky cliff looking out at the sea.
So we decided to take the train (which is like the metro, but more elaborate and nicer) to Circular Quay, have lunch, and then take the ferry. We ate outside at an oyster bar, which was really good (we had a shellfish platter that had crab, crayfish, oysters, mussels, and bug – yes, I said bug; weird huh? it’s like a cross between a lobster and a crab, but I like crab better), and we had views of the big bridge where you can do the bridge climb.
For those of you who haven’t heard of it (and I hadn’t before we came here), the bridge climb allows you to strap yourself into climbing harnesses and you climb with a group up on the very top of this huge bridge (we took pictures of the bridge, so you can see how big it is). We have decided not to do it because it’s super expensive (~$200 each) and we have so many other things to see and you can’t take cameras up there, so we would have to buy pictures anyway! While we were eating lunch, huge storm clouds rolled in and all the groups on the bridge climb started racing down the bridge. It was pretty crazy to watch. Thankfully, they made it down before the rain came, which was extremely heavy, so we went inside the restaurant to wait it out.
By the time the rain passed, it was pretty late, and we had actually missed the last ferry to Watsons Bay, so we decided to walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens and go to Watsons Bay tomorrow. The Royal Botanic Gardens were really pretty, but what is up with the flies in Australia?!?! In Airlie Beach and here, the flies have been really aggressive. They land on you constantly, and fly in your ear. It’s so annoying!
Anyway, after walking through the gardens, we took a break in the hotel room and then went to eat dinner at a sushi restaurant. It was really good. After dinner, we went back to the hotel room and just lounged around. Of course, we went to bed early again :) Seems to be a common theme with us now. But that’s fine with me. Tomorrow we’ll get up early and catch an early ferry to Watsons Bay. It’s supposed to be cloudy tomorrow, but hopefully it won’t rain.
Here are the pictures we took of the harbour and the botanic gardens:
Random thought:
How to spot an Irish person: The “h” eating “t’s”.
Apparently, Irish people don’t know how to say the “th” sound, so they would say 3:30 is “tree tirty”, or more likely “half tree” (Europeans and Australians would say “half three” for 3:30 instead of saying “three thirty” or even “half past three”). However, Irish people do know how to say the “sh” sound, so it only seems to be the t’s that eat the h’s :)
Today we got a late start because we had bought 24 hours of internet last night to watch the game (which we didn’t get to do), so we decided to post our blog entries and upload pictures to our web albums. Our initial plan for the day was to walk through the city to the Royal Botanic Gardens and then have lunch at another harbour, Circular Quay. However, before we left we called Claudia, which is a girl who we met in Airlie Beach and lives here. She couldn’t hang out with us, but she told us that we should catch a ferry from Circular Quay to Watsons Bay, which is a bay off of a small peninsula that faces the ocean (downtown Sydney is not right on the ocean, it’s more inland and the water from the ocean comes inland and makes all the harbours), so apparently the view is really beautiful, especially at a place called The Gap, which is a steep rocky cliff looking out at the sea.
So we decided to take the train (which is like the metro, but more elaborate and nicer) to Circular Quay, have lunch, and then take the ferry. We ate outside at an oyster bar, which was really good (we had a shellfish platter that had crab, crayfish, oysters, mussels, and bug – yes, I said bug; weird huh? it’s like a cross between a lobster and a crab, but I like crab better), and we had views of the big bridge where you can do the bridge climb.
For those of you who haven’t heard of it (and I hadn’t before we came here), the bridge climb allows you to strap yourself into climbing harnesses and you climb with a group up on the very top of this huge bridge (we took pictures of the bridge, so you can see how big it is). We have decided not to do it because it’s super expensive (~$200 each) and we have so many other things to see and you can’t take cameras up there, so we would have to buy pictures anyway! While we were eating lunch, huge storm clouds rolled in and all the groups on the bridge climb started racing down the bridge. It was pretty crazy to watch. Thankfully, they made it down before the rain came, which was extremely heavy, so we went inside the restaurant to wait it out.
By the time the rain passed, it was pretty late, and we had actually missed the last ferry to Watsons Bay, so we decided to walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens and go to Watsons Bay tomorrow. The Royal Botanic Gardens were really pretty, but what is up with the flies in Australia?!?! In Airlie Beach and here, the flies have been really aggressive. They land on you constantly, and fly in your ear. It’s so annoying!
Anyway, after walking through the gardens, we took a break in the hotel room and then went to eat dinner at a sushi restaurant. It was really good. After dinner, we went back to the hotel room and just lounged around. Of course, we went to bed early again :) Seems to be a common theme with us now. But that’s fine with me. Tomorrow we’ll get up early and catch an early ferry to Watsons Bay. It’s supposed to be cloudy tomorrow, but hopefully it won’t rain.
Here are the pictures we took of the harbour and the botanic gardens:
Random thought:
How to spot an Irish person: The “h” eating “t’s”.
Apparently, Irish people don’t know how to say the “th” sound, so they would say 3:30 is “tree tirty”, or more likely “half tree” (Europeans and Australians would say “half three” for 3:30 instead of saying “three thirty” or even “half past three”). However, Irish people do know how to say the “sh” sound, so it only seems to be the t’s that eat the h’s :)
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