Jenny's Crazy Road

When driving from Twizel NZ to Queenstown NZ, we took a crazy road through a mountain range that led into Queenstown. This road was nuts, tons of switch backs with one side rock face and the other side a huge drop. Jenny was driving part of this road and we noticed about 3/4 of the way down the insanely steep hill that there were signs saying "Check Your Brakes." Why now? Why when we have made it this far should we worry about our brakes. Wouldn't it be pretty clear at this point if our brakes weren't the best?

Here's a shot from the high point of the road before we started the straight drop down.

Meet Biddy - Everyone's favorite knitter

This is Biddy.



We met her in Queenstown , NZ at the Warf Market on our last day in New Zealand. Biddy makes hats, scarves and other knitwear. She explained to us that she tends her own sheep, spins and dyes the wool and then makes her goods. I'm not sure if she sheers her own sheep but I'm going to think that she does. It just makes Biddy cooler. She told us that for some of her hats she uses fruit juice for dye. The results are some pretty loud hats and I have to wonder if you feel like a melting popsicle if it rains on your hat.

The best part though is that in front of each basket of hats Biddy had placed pictures of the sheep who provided the wool for those hats. If you click on the picture above you can see one of the sheep photos on her table.

Biddy is da bomb! Want to meet her, check out her web site!

Fancy Bathroom

We found this in Port Douglas.

Rainforest Habitat - Port Douglas

Owl in disguise.



This is a Kookaburra. Contrary to what I thought, it is by no means a marsupial. My bad, thought it was. Nope, it's clearly a bird. And when it is sitting in the old gum tree as the song goes, we learned that's another name for a eucalyptus tree.

Sydney Fish Market.

Check out the piece of fish in the pelican's beak. The pelican started to close in on Rosemary. We decided to head inside after that. And, Australians are serious about their food. This is one of many signs for sashimi and sushi queues.

Huh, I just noticed too that the Pelican has a bit of a Matrix thing going on with it's one leg up and wings spread out. Guess it was serious about protecting the fish slab.

Cassowary!

Reflections in the Tasman Sea

Mmm rubber

The Kea is a type of Alpine Parrot that lives in New Zealand. We first saw one on the way to Milford Sound when we stopped to look at a glacier. The bus for our tour had a partially see through roof, running along each side of the roof so each seat had a great view in pretty much all directions. When the bus pulled into the lookout spot the Kea's descended on the bus and sat on the roof. There are signs everywhere saying to watch out for the birds because they like to eat rubber, the weather stripping off of car windows and have also been known to attack hiking boots to get their rubber fix.

Kris and Dominic take out people with a paraglide chute

Brendan caught Kris and Dominic on video as they cruised in for a landing.

Melbourne and Geelong - Go Cats!

When we flew into Melbourne after Port Douglas. It was the start of our Great Ocean Road adventure. Sis and Rachel decided to be designated driver while Kris and I would be the designated kids-in-the-back.

It was dark and the front seat drivers immediately got lost. I think they made one correct turn before it all went wrong. Let me tell you pulling over for directions on the left is not easy.

Anyway we found the Western Road which turns into the Princes Highway which become Rt 101 (I always thought of soft rock when we drove on it) which is the Great Ocean Road. They have better highway names in Australia.

We were headed for Torkay where the resort was but by Geelong we were starving. We tried to stop at the restaurant on the Wool Museum for some food but they were closed for a private party. Stupid us! It was the AFL premiership and Geelong was playing against Port Adelaide!

We ended up at a diner like place called, of all things, Texas, watching the game and eating sandwiches. We didn't stay for the end but the Cats ended up winning and Geelong went mad with joy.

Victoria (the state) kept feeling joyful as the Melbourne Storm won the national rugby title.

We were in a sports mad country in a province with two winning teams. How can you go wrong? Kris and I bought Cats tees on the side of the road.

Signs

Photos from a friend

Hi,
Our teammate and friend Rosemary created a website with her photos from the trip. She is an artist and it shows in the pictures she takes. She has graciously said I can post the link.

We were not together for the entire trip but she traveled with the Wandering Wallabees to the races, a day in Sydney, Ayers Rock and Port Douglas.

Enjoy!

Jenny

Paragliding still rocks!

We are back from our amazing trip and catching up with bloging and pictures.

Here are two clips from my paragliding trip with my pilot Dominick. The first one starts my death spiral and the second one finishes it . In the first video you can see glimpses of a white parachute, that's Jenny! Check out my goofy grin. The wind got pretty strong and chilly in the last spiral. Everyone should try it.






Hmm..the videos look kind of dark in these clips, hopefully you are seeing much brighter shots as the day was perfect. Brilliant blue skies with few clouds.

Paragliding story

While I was waiting to take off on my paragliding trip I watched another pair of women arrive. (Paragliding seemed to be mostly women.) I watched as the instructor explained how to move forward towards the cliff and give a physical demonstration using one of them as an example. He held the strings of the glider as she tried to walk forward. I thought it was interesting until he paused, looked at the second woman expectantly and she responded with a flood of of non-English sentences and a great deal of hand gestures. Then it was a lot more interesting.

One down 3 to go

Posting from Auckland--one flight down and 3 to go until we are back in Philly!!

Wow!

For when we are all home together :)

Let's try it again... shall we..
Key Lime Pie Martinis
2 lime wedges
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) vanilla flavored vodka
1/4 cup (2 ounces) key lime liqueur
2 tablespoons pineapple juice
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Ice cubes
Graham cracker crumbs, for rimming the glass
Pour the graham cracker crumbs in a shallow dish. Rub a lime wedge around the edge of a martini glass and roll the edge in the graham cracker crumbs. Chill the glass for 30 minutes or until ready to serve.
Combine the vanilla vodka, key lime liqueur, pineapple juice, and cream in a shaker. Fill the shaker half full with ice and shake until well blended. Pour into prepared martini glass, garnish with a lime wedge and serve immediately.

Paragliding Rocks! (Part II)

Here are Jenny and Kris before we leave with Dominic and Brendan-hot New Zealand flight instructors.

Here is Jenny just before her flight-guy, Brendan, takes her into an inside death spiral over a preschool and lands in the middle of a rugby field!

Paragliding Rocks!

This was a fantastic experience. Nuff said.

What a month!

It is really hard to believe that our month-long adventure is almost over. Almost a year of planning went into creating this amazing trip. It has flown by so quickly as time seems to do as I get older.

We have experienced so many different things, some of which made it to the blog and others will be stories told in person. We have taken hundreds and hundreds of pictures in an attempt to capture and share the amazing things we have seen, knowing that only a fraction of the experience will be in those photos.

We will include some pictures with our many posts after we return home. It is going to take some time for me to organize my nearly 550 photos. So many places, including much of New Zealand couldn't be captured on film--the immenseness of the mountains, the incredible beauty can only be experienced first hand.

Our last day and a half will most likely include a hike, gondola ride, hang gliding for some, last souvenir shopping, lolly shopping :), and food tasting.

While this trip has been amazing, I will be happy to return home to my loved ones. Tomorrow we begin the last leg, 4 flights left of the 17--so hard to believe!

What an amazing adventure this has been--so what's next???

Aoraki/Mount Cook

The place we stayed at Omaua Downs was so lovely. It wasn't easy to top it but Aoraki/Mount Cook did.

We got up and the sun was shining on the far mountains. From where we were we couldn't see where we would end up that day. We got into the car and started driving to the park. Parks here are under DOC, Department of Conservation. Yesterday we were told that 1/3 of the South Island is national park. The ride took us past Lake Pukaki. This is the second of the two stunning lakes we say.

We stopped and took pictures and I had my first experience of the deceptive distances caused by the clarity of the air. We walked to the lake and it was a whole lot farther than I thought! This would be a theme all day.

We drove into the park and into Hooker Valley. The guy who ran the place we were sleeping at with his partner recommended a walk to Rachel. It was a 3 hour return walk that led over 2 suspension bridges and to a glacial lake with ice and maybe a view of Mt Cook.

What he didn't mention was the other lake, the glacier we walked beside, the mountains all around us, the fact the path not only led over two rivers but through a stream, and the Alpine Memorial to those who had died on the very same mountains.

Other things we were lucky enough to discover on our own were the views behind us the Lake Pukaki in the distance melting into a blue sky and clouds, the awesome roar of a avalanche in the distance, the look of blue ice under the snow, watching the clouds move in as the weather made one of it many dramatic changes, removing and then re-adding layers of clothing as we went through another micro-climate, seeing such brilliant colors in a landscape that I had stupidly thought was barren, and getting to talk to people from around the world as we walked.

After that walk we warmed up in the Old Mountaineer's Cafe with pies and chips. We finished our day at Mt Cook with a shorter trip to see the Abel Tasman glacier. That walk was much shorter but it was straight up! And the DOC had done such a nice job of making the path look like part of the landscape that I lost it and ended up going straight up the side at one point.

We were pleasantly tired when we got home and after a nice starchy dinner Kris and I took the star map (that Joce was nice enough to buy) outside to see if we could figure out the sky.

I am sure you can guess how well that went. The map is glow-in-the dark. But the print and images are little, very little. We were sure we had it down until we would look again and then it would be like, "Huh. I thought that was the Southern Cross."

We went to bed.

The journey back

We start the trip back on Saturday. It involves four flights and a whole lotta time zones. At this point we have been on 13 flights and been in, I think, close to 12 different airports. They have been good though and I'm looking forward to Air New Zealand's food. They do it right.

But first, two more days in Queenstown. On the agenda for today is paragliding for Jenny and I and/or luging if the weather doesn't cooperate. Maybe a little tramping in the hills of Queenstown and whatever else we find.

Penguins and Seals

Continuing the animal theme---during our nature cruise yesterday on the Milford Sound, we were hoping to see more wild animals and we did! We saw little brown seals sunning themselves on the rock and two seals having a bit of a face off--for warm rock space--the bigger one won!

During our time in Christchurch we went to the Antarctic Center, a really great museum which also has a penguin exhibit. So, we had gotten quite an intro to penguins and were hoping to see some in the wild.

During an earlier cruise a few had been spotted but they are quite shy so the guide on the boat said that normally you get one glimpse at the top of their heads then they go under water. Well, lo and behold we got one of those glimpses really quick.

Wellll Jocelyn, Kris and I were not satisfied with that little glimpse and went into nature finder mode--searching the calm open waters for more penguins. Off in the distance there was something shiny. Throughout this trip we have all demonstrated our love of shiny things--easily distracted, sentences left unfinished, stepping off a walking path to investigate etc. Yesterday was no different.

We honed in on those shiny heads--not sure whether they were a dolphin or penguins and lo and behold they were penguins! The guide was so impressed with the ladies from Philly for finding them. We got great pictures of the penguins, one swimming on his back and one on his belly.

Yeah us!!

More Chicken Talk

On our boat tour of the Milford Sound yesterday, our guide was pointing out some seals bathing on a rock and a penguin in the water. I was looking around and spotted two more penguins swimming off the other side of the boat. I pointed them out to Rachel and Joce and the guide mentioned into his microphone that "the girl's from Philadelphia had spotted more penguins." He came over to say thanks for pointing them out and asked how we spotted them. I admitted it was because they were shiny. He laughed and said yeah, I have some chickens at home and they do that too. So once again, chicken stories were traded. Ahh chickens... they are the universal language.

Lambs lambs lambs

Yesterday we did a great tour of Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound which included a 4 hour bus ride each way and a 2.5 hour boat ride in the Sound. We seem to have some sort of weather karma--we were in Ayers Rock for one of the 3 days of rain, the sea was calmer then normal during our snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, and yesterday we had one of the few days of sun and calm waters at Milford Sound.

New Zealand is known for having more sheep then human residents and yesterday I believe we saw many of those sheep residents. Since it is spring here, it is also lamb season and oh they are cute. There must be some sort of lamb camp they go through to be sure they know how to be super cute when tourists pass by. They were seen bounding across the fields, curled up sleeping, there were two curled up with their heads together so they formed a heart shape (such a postcard) and we even saw several lambs perched on top of their mothers back!

There was an incredibly high cuteness factor in those fields.

Why yes, they are quite Remarkable

We went to Milford Sound yesterday, same trip that Joann posted about earlier. It was amazing, the scenery was like nothing I've ever experienced. Almost too perfect. Kinda like one of those disney backdrops where they cue the giant waterfall ans the boat passes by, but this was all natural. Milford Sound is in Fiordland National Park. We learned about fiords, sounds, New Zealand explorers and as it was the Nature cruise, lots about plants and animals.

On the 4 hour drive out to Milford we drove through a few mountain ranges and endless sheep land. One of the mountain ranges is called The Remarkables. And yes, they are. Huge snow topped peak es poking out above the cloud line. Fantastic!

Our bus had huge side windows and a row of windows on the roof so you could look everywhere. I saw tons of sheep and lambs and the little lambys spend here days frolicking. I saw lambs jumping, bounding, crashing ino each other and twice I saw a lamb standing on its mom. We read something that said New Zealand has far more sheep than it does people.

Lolly Lolly Lolly

So, since I seem to be quite food centered today, I'll continue in that vein. Kris and I have been on a bit of a lolly seeking adventure since we began this trip. I feel it is an integral part of any international travel adventure to check out the candy aisle and this trip the focus has been two-fold : chocolate and gummy items. Here gummies are called Lollies--well perhaps most candy is referred to as lollies.

We have tried everything from all natural gummies shaped as dinosaurs to a variety of sour lollies and yesterday's favorites--strawberry and peach lollies that tasted quite like fruit.

Even Jenny---who is seriously opposed to most things Jelly-like (especially items like twizzlers) has been seen enjoying the mandarin and peach lollies along the way.

In Queenstown there is a fun lolly shop that also has fudge in many flavors--lollies of all shapes and sizes, all flavors and yumminess--we'll be heading there before leaving town. ;)

More seafood adventures

We have had a running list of food items we have to eat while in NZ since well they are famous in this area of the world. I have been on a hunt for mussels and we learned about whitebait in Melbourne. It is sold at the fish counters and is actually juvenile smelt fish. It can be used either as bait or for human consumption (human bait? :) ) Traditionally it is lightly floured and then fried in a pan.

So, of course we had to try it. Last night we accomplished both of these tasks---the mussels (green lipped mussels) were super yummy in a garlic and white wine sauce.

The whitebait was interesting. The texture was a bit like baby eels, without the fatty 'ness. There was not a whole lot of flavor and I don't think I could have made it through a whole patty of it, but a taste was enough and now we crossed it off our list.

Ahh salmon....

On our way out of Twizel (near Mt. Cook in NZ) we passed a salmon farm--you could feed them for free and then buy either smoked or fresh salmon. Of course, we had to stop! Hesitant at first about feeding the salmon, we accepted the challenge. Walking over to a seemingly placid pool we searched for any visual sign of salmon in there. Finally one of us threw a piece of food in and wow!!! those salmon were huge and they were jumpers. Then of course it became quite the game to get them to leap and twist over each other to get the food.

Jocelyn thought she was far enough away from the rest of us who had food, but alas no, we very nicely tossed the food to the far side of the pond where she was so she too could enjoy the show!

Sooo now to the yummy part. We also bought a half of a salmon--smoked of course! and oh wow it was by far the best smoked salmon I have ever had. They use rum in their smoking process--hmm that must be the reason!

Yummmyyyyyy

Blown Away

While in Melbourne....

As my previous post said, while we were in Melbourne we drove to see the 12 Apostles which were 12 rock formations along the coast--there are only 8 standing now as the previous ones crumbled into the sea--the most recent last year.

The day we went was a blustery rainy day--the weather report described the winds as "Gale Force Winds" and well um yeah they were gale force!! At times on the walkways to view the Apostles and Thunder Cave and other lovely sites, we literally had to fight to stand upright and I feared for the few small children that were not tied down. No joke the winds were that strong. It was incredible to be walking along and feel the wind pick up your feet as if to blow you down--yup I experienced this--wow!! Mother nature is super strong!!

The yummiest wrong turn ever!!!

It is getting challenging to remember what we did post and what we didn't considering our internet access has a been a bit sketchy as of late. Soooo, I apologize if this is a repeat--but well it was a great experience so no harm in repeating it!

Way way back when we were in Melbourne and travelling the Great Ocean Road, we spent a day driving to see the 12 Apostles. As was our normal course of action we tried to take a different route each time we went out. This time we were taking an inland route that was supposed to get us to the 12 Apostles quicker then the Great Ocean Road----well it did but we sort of took a wrong turn and oh boy it was a great wrong turn!

A few days earlier I had been reading about cheesemakers in the region and really wanted to visit one of them. And lo and behold we found ourselves right at the turnoff for the Apostle Whey Cheese Factory. It was 9am and they didn't open until 10, but they had a public bathroom and well we needed it. It was a small farm with the owners house right next to the shop, so he saw us waiting for the bathroom and came out and offered to give us a tasting, which of course we accepted.

Our timing was quite fortuitous as well because a huge rainstorm (hail and horizontal rain) came in about 2 minutes after we got inside. So, we were able to watch the storm from the relative warmth of the shop while tasting really delicious cheese.

Yeah!!! such a lovely wrong turn!

Gus and I

As Kris said, we stayed the last two days at Omahu Downs--a small farm--where we rented a cottage. The views were incredible of a mountain range in the distance with fields nearby. The owners used to live in the cottage that we were staying in and had adopted their black lab dog Gus while they still lived in the cottage. So, he considers it a second home.

Yesterday morning, Gus and I hung out on the porch watching the sun come up fully over the mountains. He was a definite help with my feelings of missing my canine nieces (hi to Summit and Knox). Who by the way are going to be famous and will be featured on October 22, 2008 of the 365 Day Dog calendar!!

Mouth Gaping Open

Where do I begin? I can't begin to describe the beauty and majesty of New Zealand. Bill had tried to give me an idea beforehand, how incredible this country is, and it was a good try but..... I think I have spent most of the past 4 days since we arrived with my mouth slightly or fully open in awe of my surroundings. The mountains are tremendous, in stature and beauty and they seem to be endless. Some have snow on the top and others are seemingly barren with scruffy trees or alpine pine trees, grasses and low bushes. Sheep are everywhere and cattle is mixed in.

We drove past Lake Tekapo a few days ago and oh my gosh!! The water was such a brilliant turqoise and the mountains framing it were topped with snow and seemed to go into the clouds.

Amazing truly amazing.

and it never ends--we have driven for hours across the southern island and it just keeps getting better and better. Wow!! Amazingly enough this place dwarfs Colorado (my other favorite mountain area) and I never thought that was possible!

Does a chicken need a passport?

Yesterday we went hiking, or tramping as they say here, in the Mt. Cook area near the Tazman Glacier. It was amazingly beautiful. We found a fantastic farm stay for our lodging that was a cabin on a working farm run by a younger couple. We got to talking with them and learned that they were getting 9 chickens delivered this week and were a tad nervous. Well, who knew my recent chicken ownership would assist in conversations in New Zealand. The owners and I had a fun chat about chickens and they showed me the coop they were building. These chicken are going to be living the high life. This coop is tricked out. The chickens were supposed to arrive yesterday but things got delayed a bit and we had to start our travel to Queenstown. So I didn't get to see them but the owners told me that they were much more excited for their arrival now that they heard some stories. Hmm...maybe Biggie FiNu and Triple Threat can go on an exchange program.

Nabed by the customs beagle

We are in New Zealand this week and our postings have been a bit slow as we have had some limited access. When we arrived in the Auckland airport over the weekend we had two food bags with us that needed to be consolidated before we went through customs to get rid of the contra ban meats, chesses and fruits. Most airport give you an option to dispose of the dreaded contra ban items before going to get your luggage but either we didn't see it or that isn't an option in Auckland. Once past the first screening and while waiting for our baggage, I heard someone yelling "Sit, Kwiss, good girl." And a lot more use of the name Kwis. I started looking around cause it sounded like my name but no, it was a customs beagle dog going crazy over our two food bags. We had to show the food to the customs lady and the declaration card and she took the suspect meat, cheeses and fruits. Then Kwis, the sniffing beagle spent some time sniffing around Rachel's bag. Rachel was food free but her bag was used to carry the food a few days before so the customs lady said, "oh, ok she must just smell like meat then." Good times in the Auckland airport.

South Island feelings of inadequacy

Last night Sis and I went to a Maori concert. It was neat. There were 7 performers who sang and danced. We got to see them do a haka. Haka are the preparation for battle. Performing one gets a warrior ready to go berserk. Recently the haka has been used by the All Blacks before games. I guess it didn't work Sunday. All Black lost to France and a lot of people have been upset. (I find it fantastic that the link above is from Al Jazeera English-everybody loves rugby!)

The concert performers were mostly young and I was thinking this could be a great summer job. They have to do two shows a night but their days are free!

On the way back we were talking to the the bus driving who told us South Islanders don't feel quite equal with North Islanders. He said it was because the bigger cities, the financial city and the capitol are all in the North. He says people ask him where he is from and when he says the North they say with mingled disgust and envy, "Oh, Auckland." (He isn't from there but it's like saying you are from the US and people replying, "Oh, New York.")

He said part of the reason was in the entire South Island there are 1 million people. And that a third of them live here, in Christchurch. 1 million people in the whole island. He said the North has 3 million which is still small but only 1 million people? That's got to be less than Mount Airy!

Today we are leaving Christchurch to drive to Twizel and Mt Cook

According to the guide books we will be driving through county used in the filming of Lord of the Rings. Edoras and the battle on Pellinor fields.

This will be my first time driving to on the left. Think good thoughts for me.

10 down 4 to go..

I head off this afternoon back to Auckland, and then tomorrow the loooooonnnnnggg trek back to the US.

At this point I have 10 flights down, and 4 left to return me to Philly.

Types of transportation used this trip:

• Planes
• Trains
• Cars & buses of all sizes
• Boats
• Parachute (paragliding)
• Gondola
• Shoe leather

This will be my last blog post until I get home.

Looking forward to reading the rest of the adventures from the rest of the Posse.

Rainbows over lambs

Ok so on the trip back from Milford Sound, (13 hours round trip) I saw 2 complete rainbows, they lasted really long, but I could see where the started and where the ended, so cool. It looked like we drove through the arch of the one, and the lush green with white sheep speckled landscape so cool.

Milford Sound

My trip to Milford Sound happened on Friday!

I was met in the morning by a cab that took me to the bus, it was raining. I had inquired to why it was canceled the day before, and the response was a nonchalant, "there was an avalanche, the road was blocked, but it's open now".

So Tracy our driver collected us and off we went, through Kingston and to Te Anau to pick up a few more people and stop for a Toilet use, it's a big bus but there are no facilities on board. Then from Te Anau into the Milford sound with one more toilet stop, this was all total a 4.5 hour trip just to get to the Sound.

So the Milford Sound (actually a fiord), is you guessed it, a world heritage site! and with those come Dragon Boaters apparently as there was a woman from the Masters Canadian team on the tour with me.

So on the one and only road that runs into Milford Sound, the terrain changes dramatically as we pass through 3 valleys. One was very lush and technically a rain forest. Still raining... Then we get to a safety check area, and we pull over and our driver gets out and shows the safety guy that we have chains for the bus. Gets back in and we are off.. A few miles down the road we pull over with a bunch of other vehicles and those chains get put on, I'm watching cars come back from the Sound covered in snow. All chained up, we are off, up the mountain we head. We creepped along, I was looking out the window and watched an avalanche slide down the side of a far off mountain so cool looking. Up through the snow and into the next valley, we pull over to take the chains off, although we are still in area where you can see snow all around, but the road wasn't slushy here. As soon as Tracy jumped out of the bus, I looked up and behind us to check out the mountain, and ohhh crap!! Avalanche, really close, it slid gracefully down and across the road behind us, and we were sprayed by the snow, but not enough to be more than a spray, the road behind us only ended up with a dusting of snow on it. But that's close enough for me.

Off again, and finally there and on to the boat, it's now sleeting.. On the boat ride, I saw so many pretty and large waterfalls, one nice benefit of the rain! I've a nice collection of waterfall shots.

We headed out the sound and into the Tasmanian Sea, the water so clear and turquoise. We saw 4 bottle nosed dolphins, Albatross, and a female yellow crested penguin. I've a picture of the dolphins, but I couldn't zoom in well enough to get the penguin.

The water was really choppy and the swells as we headed into the Tasmanian Sea were huge and rolling. A few people on the boat were a bit green, but I found my spot out toward the port side stern, where I was out of the wind and the spray and could get some great photos.

Back to port and back on the bus, at this point the rain had lifted out at sea, but not on land, we were off, and no chains needed on the bus this time, what a change in weather in that short time, as we headed back into the mountain it stopped raining and some of the overcast had lifted so we could see the landscape.

Home we go! There were rolling hills of sheep with their young in the paddocks close to the road, they were cute. A few were startled by the large machine some were playing, a group of six lambs tried to race us. There were packs of red deer and smaller elk and cows.

The sheep that we saw weren't Marino they were some cross breed ones that were breed to have twins to increase profitability. The marino sheep won't have their young for a few more weeks and are still up in the mountains.

What an awesome trip!

Farmers Markets!

We are also doing a tour of Australian and New Zealand Farmer's Markets. They are fantastic. More on this later but so far we have hit two of the biggest in the country, Rusty's in Cairns and the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne.

Tomorrow we are going on a foodie tour of the Queen Victoria Market. Kinda like a behind the scenes tour with samples. The respect that Australians have for their farmer's markets is amazingly impressive.

Victorians love their homeland!

Since arriving in Geelong (pronounced Ja-long) we have been asking for recommendations of what to see along the Great Ocean Road and boy do the residents love to talk about their home. They will give you a long list of sites to see and about how long it will take to get there.

Interestingly enough they agreed on the sites and totally differed on time--some said 4.5 hours to the furthers site, others said no no just 2 hours, maps said 1.5 hours or 4-5 hours on and on---needless to say we just sort of figured it out as we went and well I guess they could all be right depending on how quickly you take the turns on the Great Ocean Road.

We were open to Kangaroos!!

So, Rosemary often said "I am open to seeing Kangaroos" and well we all were. Soooooooooo, this week while exploring the area near our time share in a rural part of Victoria (near Geelong, near Melbourne) we were out driving at dusk and I said " I would love to see a Kangaroo in the wild" and well I looked out the window and there one was!!! Well a few actually in a field .We stopped the car so I could get a picture and they stayed relatively still until I had taken the shot and then I thanked them and they hopped away.

We saw a few more during our adventures that evening!! Sooooo coooool!!!!!

umm... do Koala's snort?

Jenny, Rachel and I went fora hike in the Otway National Forest to seem some spectacular waterfalls. On our way down into the valley we heard a low, guttural snorting sound. Rachel asked if it was a dragon and mt first thought was wild boar (because when we were all traveling in Germany for the last dragon boat World's we had to cut through a forest to get form the train station to the race site and we were warned to watch out for wild boar). Jenny's response was that it must be a frog since we didn't hear anything moving.

So on we walked. We were in a rainforest area and the ferns are gigantour!

On our way out, Rachel happened to look up, way up as the trees are hundreds of meters tall, and spotted a Koala sacked out on a branch. Ever seen a Koala sleep? It's great, then loose all form and become little sacks of fur.

We started looking around at other trees and spotted one more Koala. Then we heard some rustling in the underbrush and Rachel got a little panicky, said "Snake"a lot and started moving us all away. The glimpse I got was of some part of a rather large red snake headed up the hill. That was the end of our nature watching for that day.

We're still not sure what the sound was but I'm going with Koala.

Too much to Tell!

My keyboard has a stuck space bar and it is making me crazy!

I have so much to say and very little time. Here is a list:
Kuranda and the Railway/Scenic Skyway
Rusty's Market in Cairns
Meat Pies!
At the Great Ocean Road
Geelong Wool Museum
Go Cats!
A diner called Texas
The strange noises at night outside
The strange noises next door
Farms everywhere!
The variety of Asian sauces in the grocery stores
Filling up a gas tank-scary!
First sight of the sea!
Lighthouse at Airey Points
Lorne and waterfalls and more nature than we could handle
Trampoline park!
Night driving and bugs on the windshield
12 Apostles and Gibson's Steps and a wind out of the Weather Channel!
Nap Info along the roads
Arrows on the highway for foreigners pointing the direction to drive
Colac and feeling back in the 1950's
Port Campbell's inlets and the crazy waves
Crazy weather! Sun, rain, hail, sleet and sun again!
Thunder Cave!
Otway Flyway!
Instant soup at the Safeways in Curry, Pumpkin and Prosciutto, Pumpkin and Ham and Cream of Pumpkin. Campbells' make canned pumpkin soup here.

Melbourne
Pixar!
Queen Victoria's Market

More later!

The Uncoordinated One Triumphs!

Well, I decided that since this was an adventure of a lifetime, I was going to be brave and volunteer to drive during our Melbourne week! Oh yes, me one of the more uncoordinated people I know, elected to get into a right side car and drive on the left side of the road and attempt to keep my good friends and the strangers around me safe!! Oi vey!!

What an adventure this week has been--just driving alone.

The mantra has been---STAY TO THE LEFT and LOOK RIGHT, THEN LEFT THEN RIGHT

oh boy--the first few days my hands hurt from gripping the steering wheel so hard and my normal wonderful sense of direction was shot because i turned wherever jenny said to and just focused on staying to the right side of the lane--that was the hardest part--the instinct is to to drift left--oi vey!!

oh and the stems on the steering wheel that have the blinkers and the one with the wipers are reversed so that has been pretty funny--turning on wipers when yo uwant to turn!

Jocelyn has been my co-driver this week and has done an amazingly good job as well!

i am very proud of us and am a little scared that i won't know how to drive when i get home! Ummmm Bill--do you think you could drive me to work my first day back? :)

The Great Ocean Road

First off, Kudos to Rachel and Jocelyn for driving this past week. Driving in Australia is quite the adventure. We went along the Great Ocean Road, which runs along the coast outside of Melbourne. The coast line is dramatically jagged and jutting out from the surf are huge limestone formations. This area has a rich history of shipwrecks and after seeing the intensity of the surf and the crazy rocks, I can see why.

The Great Ocean is just part of the adventure. This area is also part of the Otway National Forest. So throughout one day we saw ocean and dense forest. Amazing mix of scenery as they are separated by huge farming areas dotted with sheep.

Woollamalloo

It's fun to say.

Try it, I'll wait.... fun right?

It's a neighborhood in Sydney where we stopped to have Meat Pies at Harry's Cafe De Wheels. A Sydney Institution. This was during our first week of the trip and it sparked a Meat Pie tour of the country. Yummmy. Pies. Not just meat, also veggie, fruit, sweet, savory. Mmmmm...Pie.

ergh!

Not fair. Jojo has constant internet access. THe rest of the posse has fly by night access.

We are headed to New Zealand on Saturday.

Flat out

Notes for the posse on their way to Queenstown

• Enjoy the Views :)
• Internet and Phones
• There are many places, this town is made for backpackers.
• I've been using the global gossip on Beach St. between Rees & Camp Sts. There are phones and a cafe here too. E-mail is $3 per hour and less if you use the card.
• Grocery Stores
• There are two larger grocery stores on Gorge if you have a car.
• In town there is Alpine Grocery at Beach & Athol Sts.
• There is an All day All Night, on Beach & Rees Sts. but it's very small, but has prepared foods and pies for fairly cheap.
• Tours
• There are "i sites" for tour and booking info at almost every corner.
• If you get better weather than I did, the Milford Sound is "must do" here. I went through Real Journeys, because I was leaving from Queenstown, and it takes about 13 hours, to do the trip. There are cheaper trips and if you have a car it's even cheaper if you leave from Te Anau.
• Arrowtown
• The Merino wool is cheaper here, check out a place called the "outlet shop" I got a shirt for 50% off. Otherwise the pricing here is pretty much the same as in the US for the product.
• Arrowtown is small but the touristy gifts were a little cheaper. And it's a neat mining town.

- Kris... Check out the Remarkable Sweet shop :)

• Food in Queenstown
• The Starbucks is at Camp & Church streets
• Other dining, there are many cafe's and bars here, make sure you explore the side walkways, many are tucked in.
• The Lone Star on Brecon Street (not the chain) was really good and they offer half portion meals, which I couldn't finish so you know that was huge. And the "chips" were awesome!
• If you go to Lucciano's on the Wharf say "Hello" to Debra or if you go to the Minibar say hello to Adam, my hosts here in Queenstown.
• Enjoy the Views
• The Gondola to the top of the mountain is fun, it's $21 to go up and return, I've been told if you hike up the trail they usually don't check your ticket to come back down...
• For $28 you can take the Gondola up and Luge down.
• For a lot more you can do what I did, and take the Gondola up and paraglide down (cheaper and more time in the air than bungee).
• There are MANY hiking "tramping" trails, if it wasn't raining so much I'd be on them, pick up a guide sheet in town, some of the paths are not well marked, but the guides make it easier to follow the route.
• Big Red Bus to Arrowtown, $38.. not needed if you have a car but pick up the map it indicates Lord of the Rings filming sites.
• Lastly if you have time and haven't seen anything about the Maori Tribe take in the show, it's a fascinating culture. I saw what I wanted to see in Rotarua.

Soggy

Ok so.. I should be out in Milford Sound today, and not sitting in an internet cafe..But the weather thought otherwise. It's a lovely 8 today which converts to about 46 degrees, and raining pretty steadily and snowing in the mountains. Actually kinda cool to see it snowing up there.

My trip was canceled because one of the roads to get to the sound is closed. They were going to let me know this evening if I can re-book for tomorrow. But the weather doesn't look like it's going to let up until Sunday.. And I leave on Saturday. So tomorrow will be my last chance to go to the sound.

Since I got up bright and early, I decided to head into town, it hadn't started to rain yet so I walked into to town, headed over to the Starbucks for some drip coffee, which is fantastic, as much as I've found I like the flat whites, a good drip coffee is enjoyable. I sat there and watched the town come to life trying to sort out what to do with my day and watching the rain pick up.

I walked over to an "i site" and saw that I was just in time to catch the big red bus to Arrowtown, so off I went to Arrowtown, stopping at the birth place of bungee (no I haven't jumped yet), then to Gibson's Winery and Cheesery, for a tasting of both. Cute winery, the cheese was awesome. Then off to Arrowtown which was one of the first Gold mining towns in New Zealand. Then back to Queenstown, the trip took about 3 hours, but it was fun, and worked well despite the rain.

Paraglide

Today was a beautiful day in Queenstown. So I headed up the mountain on the Gondola to see the view from above.


Once at the the snow last night left it's evidence on the tree tops, it was so pretty. After checking out the view from the lookouts I walked over to the paraglide folks to see the prices. I was thinking of maybe doing this on Friday... After talking to the guy he told me that there was a snow storm coming in for tomorrow and after 5 pm today the winds and the weather probably wouldn't allow any gliding until Sunday...Humm, I leave Saturday.. He then said, you don't get a better day than today, and I have a pilot how bout now? Sure.. Away I went with Clarke, we took the luge chair lift up the mountain, walked over to a take off point.


Clarke looked at the winds and said, up for a hike? So I said sure. He tossed our gear in the back of a 4-wheeler, radioed someone about running it up the hill, and we were off.. up into the mountain o n a hill that was fairly steep, and becoming more and more snow covered as we went up. about 15 minutes later we are the top of the mountain, such a view. After setting up the gear and getting my harness on, a quick review of the commands and off the side of the mountain we ran, he said we were about 2000 feet up.


We floated over the newly snow powdered pines and out over the town, it was fantastic!


Closer to the landing site we did a spin and then Clarke asked if I was up for a fast spin, of course I was! So in a fast spiral we headed towards the earth below, so much better than a roller coaster.


Ahh, what a great time! Much more fun than riding the Gondola back to the bottom.

Burr

I'm now in Queenstown New Zealand. When I landed yesterday in the small airport in a valley it was quite interesting; we came in and circled, I didn't see anything that resembled an airport, then we circled again, and turned into a valley and there was the landing strip, it started at the edge of a cliff. But it was a nice gentle landing.

It was raining when I arrived and only about 45 degrees. Last night I dug out my layers and my raincoat and went to wander the town. I booked a tour of the Milford Sound for tomorrow so I'll be there all day. It's a coach ride out and then about 4 hours on the sound in a small boat, then the ride back, which I think it's about a 4 hour drive. So it'll be a long day of scenic sights and hopefully some animals. The brochure claims that their are penguins out there.

After some dinner I walked out to head back to my fabulous hosts' place, and there was fresh snow on the mountains, and it had started to clear so it was really pretty.

Today it's still chilly but no rain, let's hope that's the way it is tomorrow too for my boat ride.

Rotarua

I am currently in the North Island of New Zealand. I met up with Paul and Judy at the Sydney Airport and we arrived in Auckland together.

I am thankful that folks figured out we were on the same flight and headed to same place, as Rotarua is 3 hours south of Auckland. Paul and Judy rented a car, so we traveled here together. Julie and Rosemary were already here, the arrived the day before and took a couple of buses to get here.

I'm staying at the same hotel as Paul and Judy. When we checked in my on-line registration hadn't worked so they didn't have me reserved; no worries, they had plenty of room and the receptionist said that the system still had some flaws. To apologize they gave me an "upgraded" room, I was hoping for a suite, but instead I got a terrace room that looks out in the direction of the lake and is right near the pool. All good. I get to the room and there is a bit of irony to it. Since my travels to Australia, I've been sharing rooms with 4-6 people. Now I have a room to myself and well it has a king bed and two twin beds, and probably the largest room I've been in yet, and it's just me...

So today Julie and Rosemary were headed back to the airport to fly home, Paul and Judy drove them back, so I opted to go exploring. I went the Wachereraru, which is a Maori Thermal Village. I took a guided tour, it was really fascinating how they used the hot springs, really hot springs 110 was the coolest one, they used it to cook, bath and for medicinal purposes. Tonight I'm headed to Mitari which is another Maori Village to have dinner (thanks Julie and Rosemary for the recommendation).

Paul and Judy have graciously offered to drive me back to the airport tomorrow morning, Paul is going to be an expert driver after all those miles!

Who's the more fit driver???

Because of my flight time to fly out of Sydney to head to Auckland New Zealand, I had to fly in the day before. Jen hooked me up to crash at her cousin's house (thanks Jen!).

I caled Evelyn, Jen's cuz the day before I left to check in, and found out that she was going to be having dinner at friends... No worries, I was given the address and directions on the best way to grab a cab to get to the friends house.

Back in Sydney...Train to Wynard station then a cab to the house, all went smoothly. At the friends' house I arrived in time for dessert, yum! So I was introduced to the United Nations of friends gathered for dinner, only one true Aussie in the bunch... Canada and the US were well represented.

So since it was a dinner party and the group were fine coniosuiers of wine there were a few bottles consumed before and while I was there. I was offered some, I drank water mostly and had a glass of white wine. Then there was the cheese tray, and of course with cheese goes a good brandy, scotch or whiskey.

Then we moved into the sitting room and watch the rugby match between Australia and Canada... Aussie, Aussie, oy, oy, oy.. Australia won! And wow, I actually have a better understanding of the game!

There was some discussion during dessert on how we would get back to Evelyn & David's house were I was staying the night. The options were to walk.. ride with one of the other dinner guests but none of them had enough space in the car, and then it was realized that I hadn't really been drinking... So which is better for a short trip across the neighborhood, a buzzed ex-pat or the American who drives completely opposite... The car was an automatic so the backward American, yes that's me drove home. I did fine, just kept saying in my head stay left, stay left.. I even made it down a narrow street, with mirrors in tact. AND I got to drive in another country.