Port Douglas

After a long travel day we made it to Port Douglas Australia. We left Christchurch at 7AM and got to Port Douglas at 5 PM with a couple hour stop over in Brisbane. It was raining on our drive up. The gal on the plane said it has been raining for 3 weeks. Oh, brother. This is supposed to be our beach time. Actually we are pretty lucky, originally we had planned on being in Port Douglas the week there was a hurricane that passed through. I don't think we will melt from a little rain. Plus, the weather report said the weather clear up.


We stayed at the Veranda's apartments/condos. The price was right, and the reviews on Trip Advisor were good. So we thought it would be OK. Maybe a little dated. But it turned out to be a really amazing place. We were 2 blocks from the ocean. We had a super neat pool with a fountain as well. A great patio over looking the pool. And a grill. The place was fantastic.

Sue the property manager was really awesome. When we checked in she gave us the run down on the city. Where the grocery store was and good restaurants. She would let us know what day would be the best day to go to the Great Barrier Reef.

We dropped off our bags and walked straight over to the Tin Shed. Apparently there are a lot of clubs in Australia. I guess a place has to be a 'club' for them to have gambling. But you can join the clubs for free. And we could eat there as a guest. WEIRD. Anyway. The food was amazing. Linda and I shared Seafood Laksa, Bob had the Chicken Oscar and Mike had a Lamb Roast. Mike said it was the best lamb roast he ever had. I think it might have been the only lamb roast he has had. Linda had 2 glasses of champagne. We ate at this restaurant twice while we were in Port Douglas. It was that good.

The next day it rained all day. I mean ALL DAY. We left the condo in the morning for about an hour and walked through the shops. Then Bob and I read all day. Linda said it reminded her when she was little and mom would read and grandpa and grandma would take a nap on Sundays.

I suppose we needed a rest day. Although I would have rather been resting on the beach. I would have thought that after three weeks of vacation I would have been rested. But I don't think that Me or Bob or Mike or Linda can sit still. So everyday we were running around seeing all the sights. A rain day wasn't all bad.

Soaking up the scenery

Sailing on the south Pacific Ocean.

Just when we thought our driving on the crazy steep windy roads was over, we got one last chance. We drove1.5 hours down to Akaroa. It was actually a beautiful drive over the mountain and through the valley. Akaroa is a summer vacation land sort of like Duluth or Hayward. We booked a sailboat cruise through the bay and out to the Pacific ocean with promises of penguin, seal and dolphin sightings. The booking agent at the i-Site (information center) said we would not see penguins. We have wanted to see penguins since Dunedin, when they were out to sea.

The town was super busy because of the holiday weekend. It was impossible to find a place to park. Then we parked at the wrong dock, so we had to start all over again. Bob was nice enough to park the car while we ran down to the sailboat to let them know we were there.

We used the boat motor to motor away from the dock. We thought we would be sailing out, but we used the motor most of the way out. On our way we saw a seal swimming. I guess this is pretty unusual. During the day they are usually sunning themselves on the rocks. They search for food at night. It turned out to be a super nice fall day. The guide thought maybe he was taking a swim to cool off.



A little further out, we came across a small pack of penguins. Our boat crew was a bit surprised because the penguins were pretty close to shore early in the day, and they were also in a small pack. We were happy because we finally got to see the penguins.



As we approached the mouth of the harbour, we encountered our first group of dolphins. These dolphins were Hector dolphins, and are only found off of the coast of New Zealand. They are also some of the smallest dolphins in the world. They were pretty curious, and came close to our boat. It was quite a site to see.



Eventually we made it to the South Pacific Ocean, and the crew hoisted the sails and shut of the engine. The weather was nice and warm in the sun, but in the shade it was a bit cool. After a bit of sailing, we turned around and headed back in to the harbour. On the way back to port, we went by a fur seal colony and saw some more seals. We saw a few more packs of dolphins, and we even saw a mother with her baby calf swimming along. that was pretty special, as they came within about 6 feet of the boat, so everybody got a great view of the pair.

Our sailing journey came to an end after 3 hours. All in all, it was a lot of fun, the weather was great, and we saw a lot of beautiful animals. Once back on shore, we headed over to the main pier and we bought some fish sandwiches. There is a fisherman that brings his catch in to shore, and his wife cooks up the fish right there on the pier and serves up sandwiches. They were delicious! We ordered a Salmon sandwich, and also a lemon fish sandwich. They were served on ciabata buns. We grabbed a few beers and ate our sandwiches on the shore of the harbour. It was the perfect end to a great day.

Church all day

Where in the world is BobO, in church!

He just couldn't escape it today. Cathedral square is the city center in Christchurch. Today the church had an outdoor church service in the square. Our city tour started there. We got there a little early to look around and ended up sitting through a service.

Linda really liked the service. She has been asking all along if we could go to church on Easter. She got her chance. The preacher even brought tears to her eyes. Mike thought the preacher must have touched her!

Bob and I went on a bicycle tour of the city. Mike and Linda took the hop on hop off tram around the city. We got a personal tour of the city, we were the only two on the tour. It was Easter Friday. I think Easter Friday is a bigger deal then Easter Sunday. We felt bad that the guide came out on Easter Friday just to show us around town.

Linda liked the Maoi (native people) museum. Mike thought the botanical gardens was awesome. He thought he could spend a 1/2 day there. They liked the tram ride.

Deaths Corner

Bob drove us around Deaths Corner on Arthurs Pass

We got an 8:30 start on our long drive to Christchurch. The scenery really changed when we came out of Arthurs Pass. The rain forest is of course colors of green. The plains are shades of brown. Irrigation is normal on the east coast, where there isn't really even top soil for planting on the west coast. The rain washes it away.

The first 1/3 of our drive was on crazy windy roads by the time we got over the Pass and closer to Christchurch the roads are more normal. Still the main roads are only two lanes like Hwy 71 in Minnesota (1 in each direction).

We have seen quite a few bicyclers on our loop of the country. I guess New Zealand tourism board touts the country as being bicycle friendly. The cyclists were biking on the main roads which are narrow and windy up and down mountains. You could come around a corner and there would be a guy on a bike and you are meeting a car, the roads are barely wide enough for two cars. Plus the barriers on the cliff side of the mountain passes are a joke. You wouldn't catch me biking across this country. Mountain biking could be fun but not road biking.

We have been laughing along the way about the Toyota Corolla we rented. With all the mountains, a Toyota is the last car we would want. It was the last car left on the lot. We have really put it to the test.

Glacier Tramping

Hiking on Fox Glacier

We had a nice continental breakfast at the Homestay before our 1/2 day hike on the glacier. Rhubard grows all year long here, and they don't mix it with strawberries. We were not sure what the day would bring because of all the rain yesterday. The forecast was rain today as well. We got outfitted at the Fox Glacier Guides, with boots, rain jackets, rain pants, hats and gloves. The boots were pretty well used. Bob thought his had been resouled a few times and Mikes actually had a hole in them.

The five minute bus drive took us to the glacier river bed. There were 18 of us from all over the world. Hong Kong, Denmark, Switzerland, UK, US. We had to be able to understand the guides english. Even though the language in New Zealand is English it can be a challenge to understand them. We got lucky with our guide being from Ohio.



The tramp started out with 600 steps up and down through the rain forest before we got to the glacier. The steps were all different sizes/heights, this made it slow going. Plus we stoped about every 10 minutes to catch our breath. At one point we walked on a ledge of a cliff with a 100 meter drop. Chains were anchored into the rocks to hold on to. We were supposed to put everything in our pockets/back packs and keep on our hands on the chain. Mike had an infraction, he let go of the chain long enough to take a picture.



We stopped before the glacier and put cramp ons on. The glacier looks weather beaten, but it's actually slippier then we think. Two guys from the Fox Glacier Guides are on the glacier all day every day creating steps. If they don't chip away at the ice, the steps will disappear in about three days. One of the gals fell four times.



We were super hot and sweaty through the forest. We cooled off quickly on the ice. Especially with wet boots, sweaty clothes and the wind. We tramped on the glacier for about an hour. By the time we were leaving the ice there were three other groups of trampers climbing up the ice. I'm glad we decided to be the first group of the morning so there weren't so many other people around.

Back through the river bed, our guide had to radio a 'rock spotter' there is a guy who watches for rocks falling. We had to hurry through the 300 meters and be on the lookout for falling rocks.




We keep hearing about tours to see Glow Worms. We wanted to do one while we were in Te Anau, down by Queenstown. It had rained so much the caves were closed for glow worm viewing. Trish at the B & B recommended we tramp through a route outside town. It was only 20 minutes long. She recommended we do it while it was raining, we were in a rain forest after all. After dinner we went down to the path it was after 8PM so it was dark. We saw glow worms. Imagine a glow similar to a fire fly, only it's a worm. It was neat, I'm glad we didn't spend $100/person on a glow worm tour.

Rainy Day

In the backseat of the car on our way to Fox Glacier.

We spent most of the day driving. Bob, Mike and I took turns. The roads are really windy and slow, it helps to take turns so no one gets too fatigued. It rained for about half the 5 hour drive. So far we have been pretty lucky with weather, it has only rained on the days we were driving. Most of the drive was through a rain forest. Yes, the glacier is in a rain forest! This area gets anywhere from 5 to 12 meters of rain per year which adds up to 200 rainy days. On our way into Fox Glacier we saw signs for the glacier but it was too foggy to see them. We had to have our picnic lunch sitting in the car along the side of the road. We might have even gotten lucky with the rain on the drive this created tons of waterfalls.





We arrived at the Homestay around 4PM. The town is about as big as Eagle Bend, a population of 300. The only reason this town exists is for tourism. Folks come here to tramp on the glacier. We stayed in the main house with the hosts. Mike was a little uncomfortable with this when we arrived. Now he has a new BFF. We spent a few hours with the hosts, they were able to answer Lindas one million and one questions she has asked us along the way.



They are so far in the middle of no where that getting groceries is a 7 hour drive (round trip). With all the rain there are lots of rock slides that close the roads.



Food and groceries are super expensive. Out of the few restaurants in town nothing was less then $22, and that was a vegetarian meal.

We have decided the Kiwi's are as nice as the folks from Iowa. They are very helpful and seem to be honest.

Fjordland

Milford Sound

Today we left the condo by 6AM to drive about 300 km from Queenstown over to Milford Sound.

The GPS led us on a wild goose chase, 45 minutes into the trip we realized we were traveling in the wrong direction. Just what we needed so early. We had pre-booked/paid for the tour. Leaving so early gave us a little extra time for stops along the way. Even though the speed limit is 100kph there is little chance of going that fast. We made it in the nick of time.

Milford Sound is one of 14 Fjord's located on the western side of NZ's southern island. We left for our cruise at 12:30, and were told by the nature guide on board that this was the best weather they have had in the previous 8 days. We were also fortunate just to get out to Milford sound. About a week prior to our cruise, there were heavy rains that caused rockslides that closed the roads out to Milford Sound for a few days.

Milford Sounds was beautiful. The mountains that form the Fjord ranged in height from 1500 meters to 2000 meters. The depth of the water in the Fjord was over 700 meters deep. At one point we were only about 50 feet from the side of the side of the mountain, and the water was still 130 meters deep.

The enormity of the Fjords is difficult to show with photos. In order to really experience their size, one must be surrounded by the Fjord. Cruising along the water next to a mountain that is 1.5 miles high can make you feel pretty tiny. Other boats look like tiny bath toys when seen next to a 150 meter waterfall.

Our cruise had a nature guide on board who gave us a lot of great information about the Fjords and the area. Milford Sound gets about 7 meters of rain a year. All of that rain makes a lot of great waterfalls on the mountains. Because of all of the rain, and because the fresh water from the rain is less dense than the saltwater from the sea, the top 5 meters of water in the Fjord is actually a layer of fresh water on top of the saltwater.

Looking at the mountains, one has to wonder how all of the trees and foliage can grow on the side of the mountain. Only about 25% of the trees are actually anchored into the side of the mountain. The other 75% of the trees and shrubs are anchored into these roots. It's a bit of a precarious system. Occasionally the system fails, and there is a landslide of trees that washes down the mountain side.

Geologically, the area of Milford Sounds is quite active. The Fjords were formed by plates pushing up on each other. The mountains are continually growing at a rate of the thickness of a fingernail per year. Additionally, there are approximately 2000 earthquakes in the area per year.

The cruise lasted 2.5 hours. We made it out of the Fjord, into the Tasman Sea, and then back to port. It was a great cruise and a great day trip.

Adventure Capital of the World

Luging on Bob's Peak.

Queenstown is dubbed the adventure capital of the world. This is the birth place of bungee jumping. It is a multi million dollar industry here. There is also luge, river surfing, para sailing, para gliding, hang gliding, abe sailing, hang gliding, just about anything a person can dream up.

Today we walked down to the city center. We took a wrong turn and a 30 minute walk turned into 1 hour. It was a beautiful morning. A flying acrobatic show was going on, it was raining para-gliders doing neat tricks. They could go head over heels, so the sail was below their bodies.




















We crossed a cemetery on our way to the Gondola to Bob's Peak. Ironically it's the mountain the bungee jumpers and para-gliders are on. We joked that a person could dig his own grave on his fall from the bungee platform. Bob and Mike wanted to watch the view on the way up, which was fine with Linda and I.



We each signed up for 3 luge rides. From the top of the Gondola we had to take a chair lift to the start of the Luge ride. We all went down the scenic route the first time. Bob took off like a bullet, I was behind him and quickly pulled over for Mike to pass. The track is switch backs down the mountain. You can see over the side of the mountain on the way down. It's pretty scarey. Linda and I both got stuck behind some lady, she wouldn't get out of our way.



Bob luged down the advanced track on his second ride. Mike, Linda and I stuck with the scenic route. Linda started out before me, I quickly caught up with her, she got stuck behind someone again, I tried to push her to get her started. I think she got a bum cart.

We all gave the advanced track a go on the third ride. This is where we really let our hair down. It wasn't that this track was that much faster, just that there were not so many people/obstacles in our way.



At the bottom of the luge we had to rack our carts on the conveyor belt, they would hook onto the chair lift and ride up. While I was doing this, some idiot kid decided to slam right into my ankle which pinned it between two carts. Then his idiot friend slammed into him like bumper cars which rammed my ankle again. Boy was I mad, yes the teens got a mouth full from me, then Mike. I tattled on them, but they didn't get kicked out and kept on being idiots.

We went to the lookout bar at the top of the gondola for a beer. We had a great view of Queenstown and the flying acrobats. We figured out where the para gliders were launching from, we walked over and watched for close to an hour. It was pretty cool.



In the picture below, Linda was taking a picture of a mom and daughter that were going to tandem para glide. Mike actually said, I hope this isn't your last picture!



Our walk back was the short route, but straight up hill. The city is built on the side of a mountain. This makes Duluth look like it has ant hills.

Grilled steak and potatoes for dinner then a dip in the hot tub with a glass of wine.

Surfs up

River surfing in the Kawarau river.

Today we had a leisure morning. The folks at Mad Dog River surfing recommended we have a big breakfast/lunch, we would need all the energy we could get for the surfing.

Bob fired up the grill for hot dogs. All four of us left the condo at the same time. Bob and I walked down to the meeting point for river surfing, about 30 minutes. Mike and Linda took off in the car for their excursion.

After a 45 minute drive we got our gear for surfing. Full body wetsuit, booties, life jacket and helmet. We got to read comments previous customers had written about surfing. I wasn't nervous until I read the comments. Folks wrote about how hard and tiring it was.

On our way to the entry point we stopped for a quick training session. We had to prove we knew how to swim. I wouldn't call it swimming with all that gear on. We basically had to show that we could scissor kick to turn ourselves around out of an eddy and dunk our heads in the water. Apparently some of the folks that start this adventure don't want to get their hair wet. The training was pretty tiring. This paired with the comments gave me an anxiety attack.

I should mention that the point of our entry into the river was a place we stopped along the road for a photo op, it was beautiful.

The guide said go, we were supposed to stay in a line behind the front guide and in front of the back guide. There were 5 of us. They will take up to 16 at a time. We hit the rapids right off the bat. After lots of bumping and kicking each other we came out the other side. This is a contact sport. It's impossible to stay in a line. The second rapids was a grade 3 on a scale of 1 to 6. Going into the rapids there was someone right next to me. I got dunked. I wasn't sure if I was kicking him, he was kicking me, his board was whacking me or my board was whacking me. When I came out my board was flipped over and upside down. Thank goodness there were only 5 of us.

After the 3 rapids we floated down fast moving quieter waters. A jet ski had been left on the side of the river. The guides pulled two at a time down the river to the end point. Bob and I were last. Just the two of us were floating in the big river.

At the end point they had lots of activities waiting for us. Cliff diving, a rope swing and sliding into the river. Bob jumped off the 7 meter cliff, I chickened out and jumped off the 5 meter cliff.
After each jump/swing/sliding into the river, we had to climb up the rickety ladder on to the rickety plywood platform and do it all over again. OSHA would not approve of the setup. Thank goodness they weren't around because we had a great time.






Mike and Linda went for a drive up to Mt Coronet. This is a popular ski run. They shared the sights with 800 Chinese people. They got an amazing picture of one sheep on a hill. This is an unusual sight, usually there flocks of hundreds of sheep. I think this one was lost.



The condo doesn't have a furnace. Just a few space heaters and a wood fireplace. Apparently most residents here are not Kiwi's. This is a big resort town and the houses were only built for summer. They do get snow, but it's gone the next day.

Albatross, Penguins & Sealions Oh My.

Where in the world is BobO, taking a picture of Mike on a table on a hill at Sandfly lookout, looking out for penguins and sea lions.

Breakfast this morning was fresh crossiants, fruit and bread. We got to try VegiMite. We have an uncontested vote, it is NOT edible! Mike might have eaten an entire loaf of fresh raisin bread! We have been able to make coffee at all the accomodations we have stayed at, and so far it is always with a french press not a coffee pot. The one other guest at the B&B was from Chicago. She was working at a Museum convention.

We took a city tour of Dunedin (Dun-Eden). Dunedin is a college town with about 100,00 residents plus + 30,000 college students. It is home to the worlds steeptest street. The best thing about the town, it is home to Cadbury. We have been trying out all the different kinds of Cadbury chocolate.

After the city tour we hit the Pick & Save for meat and cheese for our lunch. We drove out to the Otago penninsula for bird watching and a picnic.No penguin sightings, they were out to sea. We drove a little further to the worlds largest Albatross colony. These birds are enormous with a wing span for 3 meters (about 10 feet). We got to see one of them flying around. The real sight is to see the whole colony flying, it wasn't in the cards for us today. They were not active.

We took the high road back to town. We stopped at Sandfly lookout. Supposedly there was a hike down to the water to see a colony of penguins. Bob and I started out on the hike. We stopped about 1/2 way down questioning whether we should keep going because it was raining/hailing out. The beach looked like it was 5 minutes away. It didn't seem to get closer the farther we walked. It was 40 minutes straight down hill in the sand. At the bottom we saw some lazy sea lions on the beach. No penguins. We will have to try our luck at penguin sightings when we get back to Christchurch.

We started back up hill, where we saw Mike & Linda right behind us. The walk back up hill in the sand was life threatening. I heard Mike call out, "I might have the Big One". Mike & Linda had a whirlpool tub for two in their room. I picked up bath salts at the Albatross center gift shop. They were much appreciated.

The drive was pretty scarey. Very narrow and windy roads. Similiar to the cliff drive we took in Ireland. Mike said if this is a pucker drive, then this is pucker point. The speed limit is 100kpm (62mph) Bob drove 50kph.

It was quite a bit cooler. We could see our breath in the morning. I wore all the clothes in one day that it took me one week in Australia to wear. Tank top, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, tank top, and a fleece. I even grabbed a hat & gloves.

Hug a Koala

Australian Zoo.

We set out for the zoo. It's about 1 hours drive from Brisbane.
It's the zoo Steve Irwin worked at. I don't think any of us thought we could spend an entire day there. But we did. The charm of the Australian zoo is the interactivity. There are not a lot of animals, but we got to get up close and personal to the ones they had. The majority of the animals were native to Australia.

They have scheduled activities for most of the animals, we ran from one place to the next. We got to feed the elephants, pet the Koalas, pet the kangaroos, got buzzed by birds of prey, watch a crocodile show. We saw tigers but missed the show. We had to choose between feeding an elephant or watching the tiger show.

The animals were super active. I think the keepers do things to keep the animals moving. For example. I think they were placing food in the panda cage so we got to see them walking around instead of lazily sleeping on a branch.

We stopped at Woolworths, it's the grocery store chain, and picked up dinner. Tonight we cooked parsnips and spaghetti with Italian sausage for dinner. We ate on the patio overlooking the city.

Warm day with a few sprinkles. Not to hot.