G'day Mates!!! Yes, that's right!! We've been traveling
again! This time our adventures led us to New Zealand and Australia for 3
weeks! We started with a 2 week cruise on Holland America's ms Volandam that
began in Auckland, New Zealand and ended in Sydney, Australia. After
spending a couple days in Sydney, we hopped a flight to Cairns for a Great
Barrier Reef adventure on the Reef Encounter - one of the very few catamaran
boats equipped to accommodate over night stays on the GBR!! This was such an
amazing vacation filled with so many "firsts", grab some popcorn and enjoy!
(Select the hyperlinks below to go directly to the journal entry
for that day.)
Day 1 - Arrive in
Auckland
Day 2 - At Sea
Day 3 - Arrival
in Tauranga, Day in Roturua
Day 4 - Napier –
Tuki Tuki Valley and Hawke’s Bay
Day 5
- Wellington - City Tour
Day 6 - Picton –
Marlborough Farms
Day 7 - Christchurch
– High Country Explorer
Day 8 - Dunedin
Day 9 - Cruising the
Fjord land National Park
Day 10 & 11 - At Sea
Day 12 - Burnie, Tasmania
Day 13 - Mary’s
Birthday in Melbourne
Day 14 - At Sea
and our 5k Walk for the Cure
Day 15 - Sydney - Bridge Climb & Opera House Tour
Day 16 - Sydney to Cairns
Day 17 -
Great Barrier Reef – First Dives!!
Day 18
- Great Barrier Reef, 2nd day of Diving
Day 19 -
Great Barrier Reef 3rd day and return to Cairns
After a very long flight, we arrived in
Auckland just before daylight. We took a city bus from the airport to the
wharf and set out to do some sightseeing. Since it was so early in the
morning, there were very few shops open. We spent a few hours around the
harbor/wharf area and found our ship and scoped out the boarding process we
would need to follow later in the afternoon.
We decided to spend some time walking
around the city and headed towards Parnell, a neighborhood known for its
coffee shops, art galleries and restaurants. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch
at a sidewalk bistro. The weather has been just perfect with lots of
sunshine and blue skies with temps in the low 70’s.
After spending a few hours strolling
around the city, we headed back to the port area and proceeded to begin the
ship check-in process. We had a nice day and are looking forward to a
relaxing evening and a day at sea tomorrow.
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Ahh, we slept like rocks! We woke early
to watch the sunrise and scenic cruise through the Mercury Islands Passage
and an up close view of the “Eye of the Needle” rock. It is summer here so
we are enjoying the extra long days and early morning hours. Our cabin/
luxury suite, or should I say “floating apartment” is spacious and well
appointed, with a lovely veranda for enjoying the calm sound of the ocean
and spectacular sunrises. After a nice leisurely morning, we attended a
brunch with our Captain and then spent the rest of the day touring around
the ship. Later in the afternoon we approached White Island, New Zealand’s
most active volcano. We enjoyed a unique vantage point from our cruise ship
and were able to see the volcano caldera, and witness regular burst of
steaming plumes and even smell the pungent sulfur!
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I was too excited to sleep, it was
barely 5am when I pitter pattered out to the veranda to see the land masses
starting to come into view as the sky lightened. I could see a very large
island and a narrow passage in front of the ship. After reviewing our
travel documents, I learned we were nearing the Bay of Plenty and the tall
mountain is called Mt. Maunganui, a popular hiking destination for the
locals. We were at port shortly after and ready for our adventurous day!
We kicked off our excursions with an hour long scenic bus ride from Tauranga
to Rotorua. This area of the north island is particularly famous for its
ideal weather and prime farming conditions. The lush green rolling hills are
quite picturesque, dotted with sheep, cattle and the occasional deer. The
small town of Te Puke is just a few miles outside of Tauranga and lays claim
to being the largest producer of kiwi fruit in the world. We passed by
numerous kiwi fruit farms, stands, and tourist centers as we made our way to
Rotorua. Kiwi trees are trimmed to be vine-like and resemble the grape
vineyards of Napa Valley wine country. Kiwi fruit is fairly sensitive to
the elements (wind and sand from the nearby beaches) so most of the farms
are protected by large columnar trees that surround the perimeter of each
parcel of farmland. Lake Roturua is a popular tourist destination and has a
substantial population of rare black swans. It is a popular fishing hole
for the locals, as well as the birds!
We arrived in Roturua and couldn’t wait
to get started on our off road adventure!! We hopped into our little 4x4
Suzuki Vitara and then remembered that not only would we be off-roading, but
we’d be driving a Kiwi vehicle with the steering wheel on the RIGHT SIDE of
the car! Ha ha! It was SO MUCH fun!! The off road track was well
designed and we were instructed through every treacherous move. Highlights
included lots of mud and standing water, using logs as bridges and 2 very
technical areas called “The Waterfall” and “The Luge”. The Waterfall was
our first big challenge during Mary’s turn behind the wheel. We approached
a sheer drop off of about 7 feet with running water below. Mary navigated
it perfectly, and we screamed the whole way down making a big muddy splash
at the bottom!! One of our final challenges came toward the end of the
course on my turn behind the wheel…. The Luge… OH MY…. Well, let’s just say
I am living to write about this, so it wasn’t as bad as it looked from the
top. The Luge has 2 metal tracks, almost like a slide, that you align your
tires to match up with. There is about a 12 foot drop off and the tracks
continue down, almost like a rollercoaster. As soon as we felt the weight
of the 4x4 shift and we began to nose dive, I slammed on the brake and Mary
pulled the emergency brake, and we slide right down the metal tracks – just
amazing!! WOW! I was very impressed with the little buggy and we
definitely had it mud splattered from wheels to rooftop!
After the 4x4 adventure, it was off to
The Agroventure Extreme Sports Park for more adrenaline riddled fun! We had
lunch while deciding which items we were going to tackle (maybe NOT such a
good idea to eat first in hindsight). There were many choices, from bungee
jumping to sky diving simulators, to high speeds jet boats and elaborate
swinging devices. We decided on the Agrojet and The Swoop.
The Agrojet is a 450 hp (0-60 in 4.5
seconds!) speed boat that skims the surface of the shallow water at speeds
of almost 80 mph on a very tight manmade obstacle course. Wow, we loved it
and neither of us could stop laughing for the whole ride, or maybe that was
screaming! LOL I think we need one of these in our backyard!!!
Then there is the famous Rotorua
Swoop….. are you curious yet??? Well, so were we, then we decided we were
just crazy enough to try it. Imagine a crane; you know the kind that they
put up tall buildings with?? Well, imagine being placed in a sleeping
bag-like body suit, laying flat, face down, parallel to the ground, then
being attached to a wire, and then being hauled up 120 feet by a crane!!
The views were spectacular! Then we remembered that there was only one way
down and that Mary had to pull the rip cord. I don’t remember much… other
than our screams as we dropped and then swung out at about a g-force of 3.
What an absolute thrill!! We feel like we’ve really been initiated “Kiwi
Style” and are ready for anything on this vacation now!
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Ah, another beautiful sunrise greeted us
this morning. The weather is really outperforming the expectations for us!
We enjoyed a leisurely morning on the ship before beginning our scenic tour
of the Napier area. The landscape is just divine, beautiful beach front
property, art deco downtown, and picturesque rolling green hills surround
the city of Napier. We boarded the bus and headed up the coast to a family
farm to learn more about the wool industry and sheep shearing. We were
warmly welcomed by the Gordon Family onto their homestead where they have
been farming and creating wool products for many generations now. We met
the 3 year old family pig that Mr. Gordon had raised from a tiny piglet, as
well as the family sheep dogs. We watched their prowess as they expertly
herded sheep without a single bark. Quite amazing to watch the stare down!
Then we learned about several types of shearing devices and lengths of
“haircuts” depending on the season. It was a wonderful visit and a great
learning experience. I can’t say enough about the warmth and openness of
the people.
Before boarding the bus, we were treated
to fresh scones and homemade biscuits, along with mounds of homemade whipped
cream and humongous bowls of fresh raspberry jam. Mary was in heaven, it
was all I could do to peel her away and get us back on the bus! We began a
scenic drive into Tuki Tuki Valley before climbing up Mt. Te Mata to take in
the fabulous views of the valley. The rolling green foothills, vineyards,
streams, Pacific Ocean and volcanic ridged mountains all make the whole area
feel like an elaborate Hollywood movie backdrop. No wonder the Hawke’s Bay
area is such a popular and fast growing spot for retirees and locals. Our
last stop of the day was to a famous local strawberry patch for fresh fruit
blended ice creams – YUM!!!! What a way to top the magnificent day!!
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We arrived in the windy capitol city of
Wellington around 9am, and oh my! It is really is quite a big city compared
to our previous 2 ports with a population around 200,000 people in the city,
and another 200,000 in the surrounding area. Wellington is situated on the
very southern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. This will be our last
stop on the North Island. Our adventure today consists of a guided walking
tour with all the city highlights. We were blown across the parking lot
around 10 am and met our guide Margaret. Wellington is such a diverse city
with so many things to offer. There are quaint little hilltop neighborhoods
bordering wonderful walking trails, parks and gardens - all of this
personality just a stone’s throw of a bustling high rise, city center.
Wellington is often compared to San Francisco for the similarities in
architecture, the hilly streets, brightly painted neighborhoods, the wind,
and the proximity to a huge fault line with frequent earthquakes. Oh, did I
mention it is VERY windy here??? Haha! We enjoyed learning about various
neighborhoods, parks and rose gardens before arriving at the central
government buildings called the Parliament. One of the famous Parliament
buildings is called the “Beehive” due to its architectural resemblance to a
beehive. Other Parliament buildings are designed with more of a traditional
Greek design boasting large columns and ornate pillars. After our guided
tour, we had several hours to explore Wellington on our own. We had a
lovely lunch at one of the trendy coffee shop/dining areas in the heart of
downtown, and then headed to the top of the city via a cable car ride! The
Wellington cable car recently celebrated its 100 year anniversary and runs
from the city center up to the top of the mountain to the botanical gardens
and observatory for spectacular views of the city, harbor, and much of the
surrounding area. The wind made it quite tough to stay on the top too long,
but we did have blue skies and plenty of sunshine, once again surpassing the
forecast for rain!
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We slept in today, and awoke to quite a
bit of fog as we made our way through Ship’s Cove to the small village of
Picton, our first port on the South Island of New Zealand. The weather was
cool and damp when we began our journey into the Marlborough region, known
for producing more than 50% of the regions wine. The rolling hills were
tinted green from the recent rainfalls as our bus climbed up the mountains,
over Dashwood Pass into Awatere Valley. Our first destination is Barewood
Farm, the 100 year old homestead and working ranch belonging to Carolyn and
Joe Farraby. It still amazes me of the openness of the New Zealanders to
invite complete strangers onto their property to stroll around the grounds
and their home! Highlights were numerous with wonderful conversations.
They almost had me talked into staying on for another 3 weeks (until our
ship comes through again) to learn how to shear sheep! We got to see the
well trained dogs round up several hundred sheep, and then the master
shearer demonstrated his technique up close and personal. Carolyn served up
an amazing lunch on the veranda and took us on a tour of her gardens which
were recently honored as “Gardens of National Significance”. As our
fantastic luck would have it, the sun was shining brightly by the time
dessert was served!
We departed the farm with huge smiles
and happy memories. After a nice drive back over the pass, we arrived at
our final stop of the day, Upton Oaks. Well, you’ve heard the term “fixer
upper” before?? You would not believe the “before and after” photos of
Sue’s one acre vision. Not only has she completely renovated her home, but
every single inch of the once bare one acre property has become a
beautifully manicured garden oasis. Wow!! It’s hard to even describe the
shear beauty of the formal English gardens, then the very informal romantic
gardens, and then there are the pool gardens, and veggies galore! Every
quarter of a turn presented a stunning array for the senses and bountiful
springtime blooms. It is easy to see how the Marlborough region of the South
Island is quickly becoming a popular destination among tourists and locals
too.
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Happy Thanksgiving to you! We are
certainly in for a feast of experiences today, even if we are not home for
the holiday with family. Our morning adventure kicks off with a bus ride
deep into the high country surrounding the Waimakariri River Gorge. Upon
arriving deep into the back country, we climbed into a Hamilton jet boat for
an exhilarating ride up the river gorge. The views were spectacular, and
our drivers’ ability to expertly navigate the rapids and varying depths of
water was amazing! We hopped off the boat several miles upstream and
enjoyed fresh cookies and warm tea before climbing aboard our next mode of
transportation – a very unusual baja bus! Yes, a 4x4 all terrain passenger
bus-like mud and rock hopper! When our guide pointed in the direction we’d
be heading, I actually chuckled out loud because I really thought he was
joking. It looked like a rough hiking trail at best and I really couldn’t
imagine a vehicle making that trek. Well, I am here to tell you that these
odd looking 4x4 buggies can climb mountains as well as our local Rocky
Mountain Big Horn Sheep!! Haha! We climbed to the top of several passes
and enjoyed scenery that would otherwise be hidden if it were not for our
all terrain rides. We trekked along the original stage coach trails, saw
defunct railroad cars and old mining shacks. The rolling pastures are
dotted with sheep and baby lambs are just everywhere right now with it being
early spring. Since New Zealand is made up of 2 islands, there are no
natural predators, (no coyotes, scary snakes, etc) so the sheep are free to
roam the high country during Spring/Summer before being brought back down to
the farmsteads in the Winter months. It is also interesting to note that
most of the pesky animals and plants that Kiwi’s are currently dealing with
were brought in by other countries, particularly the settlers from England
that arrived in the early 1800’s. Rabbits and Opossum are the main
nuisances because they devour so much of the indigenous plants and trees.
New Zealanders actively seek new methods of controlling a few types of weeds
that are choking out trees and plant life on both of the islands. With the
weeds in full springtime bloom with pretty bright yellow flowers, it is easy
to visually see how damaging the weeds can be.
Whether the Kiwi’s will win the battle
with these pesky infiltrators is yet to be seen, but they are quite
proactive in measures of ensuring that no other issues arise. Upon
entering/exiting every port, each person is carefully searched and scanned
to ensure we are not transporting any items that can pose a threat such as:
fruit, sandwiches, seeds, soil, etc. Mary and I found out the hard way
when we arrived in the Auckland Airport and had our backpacks inspected by a
well trained Beagle. The cutest little Nazi in the world scoped out and
snagged our apples and sandwiches. We couldn’t believe it! Oh well, that’s
what we get for not eating them on the plane before arrival.
We continued on with our wonderful
journey through the high country and arrived at Flock Hill Station Lodge for
a well deserved lunch. From here, we had the most amazing and picture
postcard views of the rolling green pastures and the snowcaps of the
Southern Alps framing the pictures beautifully. It was a fantastic journey
and once again – something completely different than what we’ve experienced
on our other journeys.
We made our way back down the mountain
and into the city of Christchurch for a scenic tour of the city.
Christchurch is the most “English” looking settlement in New Zealand with
grand stone/brick universities and churches, beautiful parks and waterways
all looking like something transplanted directly from the Oxford University
campus grounds. We topped off the evening with a traditional Thanksgiving
Dinner in our favorite restaurant on the ship. Yet another lovely day in
paradise! Hope your Thanksgiving was just as fulfilling as ours!
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We awoke to a bright and sunny day, such
a nice change after several days of threatening weather. The temps are
still a bit brisk here as you might expect with spring’s unpredictability.
Dunedin is located on the southeastern tip, near the bottom, of the South
Island situated on a peninsula with Otago Harbor on one side, and the
Pacific Ocean on the other side. This proximity positions the town directly
north of Antarctica and provides an unusual and diverse mix of wildlife and
weather. Our morning began with a scenic drive over the ridge to the
narrowest point of the peninsula to view the 2 bodies of water. Truly
spectacular coastal views with rocky cliffs, rolling pastures (of course ….
sheep!) and sparkling clear blue water surrounding the land masses. Our
first stop led us to the Marine Studies Centre for an informative look at
what goes on beneath the surface of the local waters. We learned that just
a few miles off the shore, there is very steep drop with water depths
hitting several thousand feet bringing an abundance of marine life to the
area. Mary got to touch a starfish and clam then got “peed on” by a sea
cucumber!! Teehee! I was happy to be taking photos and not touching all
the little critters. ;)
After an informative visit at the Marine
Studies Centre, we were off for a boat ride through the harbor for some
wildlife viewing. Within minutes, we were gawking at the slumbering seals
that had made their way onto the beach during low tide for an afternoon
nap. It was so funny to see them peppering the beaches, completely asleep
and oblivious to the tourists walking up and taking pictures of them. We
had a few seals playing around our boat and curiously wondering what we were
doing. Then, we had a few dolphins swim several yards from us. Also, there
are lots of unusual birds in the area. We saw huge colonies of nests and
birds dotting the steep limestone cliffs of the peninsula. With the weather
being so warm, we headed out to the open Pacific waters in hopes of seeing
the large Albatross birds that make this area their home during the nesting
months. Luck wasn’t on our side though, so we never got a glimpse of the
huge birds with a wing span nearing 15 feet.
Once we were back on land, we headed
back up to the peninsula hilltop for our next adventure – the Argo beach
tour! The Argo is a specially design 8 wheel all terrain sand buggy! Our
guide effortlessly navigated through sand, hills, rocks and mud to get us up
close and personal with some of the local wildlife. We saw one of the
rarest penguins in the world, who make this area home. They were quite shy,
so we only saw them from a distance, but still pretty amazing to see them
just hanging out on the beach. Then our guides took us up the cliffs to a
very active resting spot for a colony of seals. They were such hams for our
cameras posing here and there for us! We saw several baby seals playing in
the small tide pools near the rocks; some were snoozing and unaware of our
cameras snapping around them.
After all the outdoor adventures, our
tour guide took us back through the city of Dunedin, (the second largest
city on the South Island) and pointed out many of the local sights. Dunedin
really is an eclectic mix of things to see ranging from the train station
and breweries, to its famous chocolate factory and the “steepest street in
the world”. One of our first stops in Dunedin was the Taieri Gorge Railway
station, a beautiful train station completely renovated in an old Victorian
style design with custom designed tile mosaics throughout the interior of
the station. Really a spectacular site! Dunedin is known to be the most
“Scottish” area of New Zealand, boasting numerous pubs and local beers. It
is also home to the famous Cadbury chocolate factory, with a gigantic purple
Cadbury silo decorating the city center. I wish we would have had time for
that tour!!! We also got a glimpse of Baldwin Street, said to be the
Steepest Street in the World, even a steeper grade than anything in San
Francisco with a gradient of nearly 1 in 3- a 19 degree angle.
Dunedin is our last port for the New
Zealand portion of our cruise and we’ve really had an amazing time. Each
stop offered us a completely different glimpse into the world of the Kiwi
people. Our very last New Zealand adventure will be to cruise through the
Fjordlands and the famous Milford Sound on the north side of the South
Island before spending 2 days at sea on our way to Tasmania.
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Hello from the rough and rainy southern
tip of New Zealand. Due to extremely windy conditions and rough seas, we
were unable to cruise into Dusky Sound in the early morning. Our captain
apologized but decided safety was more important than scenery. We agreed! J
We continued up toward Milford Sound in hopes of the weather clearing and
the promise of cruising this stunning scenic cove. Lady luck was on our
side, and we were able to approach and enter Milford Sound. Breath-taking
barely scratches the surface of describing the terrain here. We learned
that Fjords are valleys created and carved by the tremendous pressure and
power of glaciers during successive ice ages, which are then flooded and as
the ice melts, the sea levels rise. The Milford Sound is the most
picturesque and one of the largest, clicking in at almost 10 miles to the
inner most part of this water filled valley. The rugged mountains
surrounding the Sound are lush and green with numerous waterfalls flowing
into the sea. It was misty and mystical, seeing snow capped mountains
protruding from the steep, majestic walls of the watery valley, and hearing
the thunderous roar of the waterfalls hitting the sea. Just amazing and
powerful… how small we humans are in the face of mother natures creations!
It was misty and rainy and yet so pure and breath taking that the weather
barely even phased us!
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As we passed the calm edges of New
Zealand and hit the open waters where the Southern Ocean and the Tasman Sea
meet, we hit very rough water and windy sea conditions. Some of the waves
and swells were more than 27 feet and splashing onto our 7th
floor veranda of the ship!! YIKES! Luckily for Mary and I, we were not
affected by sea sickness and the waves just lulled us to sleep! We spent 2
lazy days enjoying our luxury suite and taking advantage of spa treatments
of course – desserts!! J
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What a wonderful island! We learned
immediately that Tasmanians are quite proud of their amazing island, and
they should be! The small island is about the size of West Virginia (or
Ireland) and boasts some of the most fertile farmland in Australia. The
prominent export for many years was wood and paper products which really
taxed the environment and marine life. Now that paper goods are primarily
being manufactured in China, the island has been recovering, the beaches are
cleaner, the fish are coming back into the harbors and plant life is
growing. “Tassie” is finding new products to grow and export, including
poppies. It was quite interesting to hear that the poppies used to create
more than 60% of the world’s pharmaceutical grade Opium are grown here! Not
exactly sure what happens to the opium that doesn’t quite make the “grade” …
we thought better than to ask! :-0 We made our way via bus through
beautiful rolling hills and fertile farmland on our way to the area known as
Gunns Plains to check out their famous limestone caves and finally see the
glow worms. On our way through Gunns Plains valley we learned that the
valley used to be covered with a hops crop, used for making Australian
beers. Our guide said that it was an amazing site to see the 20 foot tall
stakes lining the entire valley covered with the vining hops plant. The
valley has been converted back to traditional farm ground now, with a
recent boom in the dairy and beef markets, the valley is now dotted with
bold Black Angus cattle and rolling pastures. We also learned that most of
the “chips” or potatoes that are used for Australia’s McDonalds French fries
are also grown here! Another fascinating tidbit is that the soil and
conditions are just ideal for certain varieties of tulips and some of the
famous Holland varieties are actually grown in Tasmania and then the bulbs
are shipped back to Holland. It is quite apparent that Tassies are very good
at rolling with the changes and making adjustments needed to stay
profitable.
We arrived at Gunns Plains Caves in less
than an hour and were met by a wonderful family that runs the tours.
Everyone seems to really love what they do and the area they live in… very
nice. The caves were originally discovered by a hunter in the 1800’s and
the family has been doing these tours since the 1990’s. The caves are just
incredible; the family has taken great care in preserving the natural beauty
but still making the sites accessible to visitors, quite a balance to
achieve. There are dimly lit pathways and stairwells with hand rails to
really guide you along but allow you to feel like you are still exploring a
great mystery. There is a stream running through the entire cave and I
guess a platypus came for a visit about a month ago! After viewing all the
striking formations in the cave (lots of pics, tough to explain without
seeing), we made our way to the glow worm viewing area in the depths of the
cave.
Our guide dimmed all the lights and sure
enough as our eyes adjusted to total darkness, little yellow dots began
appearing all around us. There were hundreds of glowing spots, looking much
like the night stars on a clear night. We learned that these were really
not worms at all, but fly larvae!! And the glow attracts bugs to the light,
and the bugs get caught in the long string-like silky webs and provide
nourishment for the fly larvae – or maggots! LOL! So… really, we came on
the tour to look at glowing maggots! The guide had a good chuckle at the
whole idea as he explained how the several caves in the region tried to
decide how to market maggots and decided the pattern really looks worm-like
and that glow worms would probably be something more interesting since
tourists had been drawn to the glowing caves for years anyway! We all had a
good chuckle as he said I bet you are still staring up into the darkness at
the glowing dots with our mouths wide open in awe… I think I actually heard
20 pairs of teeth click together immediately as we all realized what “could”
happen! J We really enjoyed the caves, the information and even the “glow
worms”.
Then it was onto the Wings Wildlife
Park. Our first stop led us to a family of Tasmanian Devils!! We saw 3
females snoozing away in a log, with a curious male happy to wake up for a
snack. Oh, did I mention the “snack” was a possum leg ala road kill style?
Devils love road kill and really provide a beneficial service to the food
chain by keeping the forests clean. They certainly eat some nasty looking
food but seem to really enjoy it. Kinda glad we really can’t get too close
to them; I imagine they don’t smell all that great! Within a few minutes,
the girls all came out and it was quite entertaining to watch them all
feasting together on possum parts. Before long, they were content and went
back to snoozing and we spent time walking around more of the wildlife
park. There were so many unfamiliar animals to what we see in the USA.
Australia is home to the largest variety of marsupials (animals with a
pouch) in the world. We learned that the only marsupial in the continental
USA is the North Carolina Opossum. We saw lots of variety of birds,
including a very friendly Macaw who happily did all kinds of tricks for us,
it was really funny – almost as if everybody comes to see the Devils across
from this bird’s cage, and it was making sure we knew how entertaining it
was as well!
Then we saw the CUTEST little Joey “Roo”
as they as they call baby kangaroos. This one was about a year old and was
orphaned when its mom was hit by a car. Evidently this little Joey has
really bonded with people and follows the staff around the park, likes to be
held like a baby and lets everybody hold and pet it. Joey’s latest
challenge has been to try and sneak into the restaurant when somebody opens
the door. We learned that he is very fond of pancakes!!
Next we ventured over and got to pet a
baby koala bear! WOW, what soft fur and sleepy looking little critters!
They really do look like they could just nod off for a nap at any given
moment. We learned that they sleep approximately 20 hours a day and can
really pick up speed if necessary. You sure wouldn’t know it from looking
at one!
Then we shared a wonderful moment right
before we left with the sweetest little Wombat. These are interesting
looking little marsupials, with delicate features and the sweetest eyes. You
could say they might resemble the body shape and size of a piglet but with
soft hair like a bunny. The little wombat seemed to be quite drawn to us,
and came up to the edge of the pen for a few last pets before we had to
leave.
We saw many other striking critters and
had an amazing time in just a few short hours. We’d definitely like to go
back to “Tassie” and spend more time enjoying the park and the beautiful
island.
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Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to
you, happy birthday dear Marrrryyyyyyyyyy, Happy Birthday to you… and MANY
MORE!! 6:30 am came quickly for the birthday girl as she answered the door
to find room service had delivered balloons and a birthday cake. Yahoo!!!
What a fantastic way to start the celebratory day! After a leisurely morning
and several happy birthday wishes and songs from crew members, guest passing
our room and our new Aussie buds, we were on our way to Melbourne for a day
of wild life viewing. We were specifically on the hunt for kangaroos and
koalas in their natural habitat. To honor this special occasion, I made
sure everybody we met knew it was Mary’s Birthday and she was even a great
sport and let me tie a balloon to her backpack (or “bick pick” as it sounds
with the local accent.)
It was educational to observe the
animals in their natural habitat and lent an entirely different perspective
from the day before. Well… Mary would say it was about as interesting as
watching paint dry. We were quite a distance from them and were very glad
we’d had such an up close and personal experience the day before or we may
have barely noticed the little nocturnal dots high up in the trees. (Yes,
there is a bit of sarcasm in this statement…)
Then it was back to the ship for more
Birthday Celebrating!! We invited our new Aussie friends over to our cabin
for a pre-dinner birthday toast, then to our favorite restaurant, the
Pinnacle grill. The staff at the Pinnacle performed their culinary art once
again and our dinners were just amazing. But that was only the beginning.
You should have seen the Birthday Girl’s eyes light up when they brought out
a small cake and a handmade birthday card with messages from the entire
staff that we’d come to know and love over the past 2 weeks. It was really
spectacular and Mary had a blast!!! We’d partied through almost every
possible time zone in the world and she enjoyed almost 48 full hours of
celebrating her big day. She plopped in bed with a gigantic “perma grin” on
her face.
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Well, no rest for these vacationers!!!
After a long night, we were up, bright eyed and bushy tailed for our next
adventure. It was a perfect weather day with mild temperatures and plenty
of sunshine. Yes, you read it right – we are “At Sea” for the entire day so
you may be wondering what exactly we could be getting into on a relaxing day
like this?? HA HA!!
Well… in our daily mail a few days back,
we learned about a “5k Walk for the Cure”. This partnership with Holland
America and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was forged a few
years back and every cruise now offers passengers the opportunity to
participate. Our Aussie friends had also signed up so we decided to meet
and do the walk together. I was really surprised at the nice turnout of
participants; I bet there were hundred people joining in on the fun. The
walk consists of 11 laps around the boardwalk deck. About midway through
the walk we saw several whales off the side of our ship! Then not long
after we saw 5 dolphins playing in the ship’s wake! It was really a fun
time and a great day for sightseeing as well as supporting a worthy cause.
We donated our time and $15 dollars and did all 11 laps then celebrated with
pink lemonade. We also each got a t-shirt and a cool pink breast cancer
awareness bracelet. Well, I got few more “presents”... exactly 4 blisters
for not wearing any socks inside my sandals on the walk. OUCH!
The rest of the day was pretty mellow.
We enjoyed time with our new friends, said goodbye to our crew and
restaurant buddies, then got our bags all packed for an early disembarkation
and our adventures in Sydney on our own. It was sad to go and say goodbyes
and yet we were excited for all the other adventures still to come!
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RRRRRRRRRRRRriiiiiiiiing!!! That was
the startling sound that awoke us at 5am to say, “HURRY and get out on your
deck with your cameras because we are just rolling into the Sydney Harbor
and the Opera House is so close you could reach out and touch it!!!” WOA,
what a magnificent sight to see as the sun was just starting to color the
Opera House and the city skyline of Sydney. With our barely awake “peepers”
we stumbled around our deck and took in the beautiful and striking city. It
was still quiet and as sleepy as we were but that would all change in just a
few hours, it was Friday after all and this is a bustling city of 3.5
million culturally diverse people!
We quickly noticed that the temperatures
and humidity had also climbed while we were sleeping. It was very muggy and
at least 80 degrees with an equivalent humidity reading. What a striking
change from the very cool, almost cold temps of New Zealand and the Southern
States of Australia.
After enjoying our last breakfast in our
luxury suite, we said our goodbyes and set out to find our hotel. Lucky for
us, Sydney is a very well designed and “walking-friendly” city. I’d booked
our reservations at the very centrally located Sydney Hilton, only about a
20 minute walk from the Harbor. We checked in, relaxed for a bit then got
our bearings and reservation paperwork together for our day’s big
adventures. First on the list is the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb, then off
to the Opera House for a tour.
Yes… you read it right!! We are going
to climb up to the top of a very tall bridge that crosses the Sydney Harbor.
You know, the one with a 6 lane freeway and a train going over it? Yeah,
that’s the one!! Haha! There are only 2 bridges in the world that provide
this kind of adventure and we couldn’t possibly pass up this opportunity!!
Woohoo, let the adventure begin!!!
We arrived at The Bridge Climb location
and began our briefing. The whole process was very organized. We were
given special jumpsuits, lanyards for our “sunnies”, and a toolbelt/harness
with all kinds of gear including a 2 way radio and headset. By the time
we’d finished our instructions and we were all geared up it looked as if we
were going to walk on the moon. They’d placed a rigging line for us to
latch onto so we were always attached to the bridge with a safety line
throughout the climb. We started up several flights of steps and across
various catwalks. At one point we were level with the freeway as cars
zipped by. You might think doing something like this would be quite
exhausting with tons of steps, but honestly – there were so many
stopping/resting sighting seeing points that I didn’t even get tired. The
views of the city, harbor and surrounding inlets were just amazing. The
Climb definitely provided a unique perspective that you would not see in any
other way! We spent a little time at the summit of the bridge, standing at
450 feet above the water before beginning our decent. Upon arriving safely
back at the “launch station our guide told us congratulations and then let
us know we’d actually climbed 1,337 stairs! WOW!!! We picked out a few
photos provided from the climb, and of course a couple souvenirs then made
our way around the scenic harbor to the Opera House for our next tour.
The Opera House is just as striking in
person as I’d imagined. The unique exterior design, looking much like sail
ships, is covered with over one million “self cleaning” ceramic tiles that
were made in Sweden. We learned that the government launched an
international design competition in 1955. It was won by a Danish architect
named Jorn Utzon and the building of the structure began in 1958. Once he’d
won the design contest, there were still many concerns on how to actually
build the structure. To this day, it is still known as quite a modern
miracle in architecture due to the ground breaking building techniques that
were used. Once inside the Opera House, the attention to detail is just as
striking as the exterior. There are 5 performance spaces inside, and many
events are held around the exterior spaces as well. The largest of the
theatres is The Concert Hall seating 2,679 people. Our tour guide asked if
anyone would like to come down front and center to sing and Mary
volunteered!!! What a brave soul she is!!! She popped right up and made
her way to the front of the stage and sang a beautiful rendition of “Till
There Was You” for our group of approximately 35 people. WOW!!! How
amazing is that??? Mary got to sing in the Sydney Opera House!! COOL!!!
After yet another thrilling adventure,
we were starving. Now absolutely on our own, we didn’t have the “Mother
Ship” of endless food and goodies to sustain us, so we had to figure it out
on our own. As it was Friday evening and about 6:30 pm, the city was very
lively. We’re still not really sure if something special was going on or if
it is always like that on the weekends. There were literally thousands of
people roaming around, some dressed in formal wear for the Opera House
events, others in what appeared to be Halloween costumes, and other tourists
looking much like us: amused and confused by the flurry of activity. After
searching for an open seat in one of the harbor cafes and reviewing many
menus trying to decide what we were hungry for, we decided on burgers and
chocolate shakes. YUM!! I know, all the foods in the world at our
fingertips and here were are, wanting a good ole fashion American hamburger.
It was YUM YUMMY and hit the spot perfectly! After dinner, we had a scenic
walk to the Hilton, jumped in the shower and fell fast asleep when we hit
our pillows.
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Good morning from Sydney! We enjoyed a
very lazy morning in our beautiful hotel room on the 24th floor,
overlooking the city center. Actually, we were quite sore and absolutely
exhausted and physically could not drag our sad, sorry carcasses out of bed
any earlier without moaning in agony. So we decided to rest up before our
flight to Cairns in the afternoon. It was nice to not be rushing anywhere,
even if it meant seeing less of the area, it was worth it. We’d definitely
like to come back to Sydney and spend about a week seeing the rest of city
and surrounding area.
Upon arriving at the airport, we learned
that once again our bags did not meet the necessary weight requirements for
internal Australia flights. Ughh, or Bloody HELL as the locals would say!
Although we’ve been in English-speaking countries on this vacation, we
really wish we would have spent some time learning our metric conversions.
Everything is measured in kilograms instead of pounds, and meters instead of
feet, and Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. We have a general understanding of
the conversions but it still takes time to do them in our heads. After
paying extra to get our luggage out of hock, we boarded our flight to
Cairns.
We enjoyed the 3 hour flight with some
magnificent scenery- very cool clouds and touched down in Cairns shortly
before 6pm. Well, if we thought Sydney was hot and humid, we hadn’t
experienced anything yet!!! Even at 6pm, the “thermie” was registering
about 32C or low 90’s with dripping humidity levels. It was clear that we’d
be in tank tops, flip flops and shorts for the duration of our vacation.
After a quick and informative cab ride to the Hilton in Cairns, we learned
that our hotel had the best restaurant in town. Yey, that’s great because
we were hungry again!
After checking in and dropping our bags
off, we decided to take a walk around the hotel and surrounding areas. The
Hilton is a truly beautiful resort with tropical décor, including a sandy
lounge inside the lobby. The whole city of Cairns has a completely different
vibe of any place we’d been in Australia. It feels much like the islands of
Tahiti instead of a mainland town; the people are very laid back and dressed
down in their beach attire (compared to the business dressed people of
Sydney for sure!)
We had a fabulous meal outside on the
waterfront under the lighted palm trees as the sun was setting. Amazing…
after dinner, we took a stroll down the boardwalk that runs about 4 miles
from the Hilton to the main area of the town. We scoped out our meeting
place for our Reef Trip and enjoyed the live music coming from the many
sidewalk bistros on the lively Saturday night before heading back to our
hotel room for some shut eye.
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Our wake up call rang at 5:30 am and we
bounded out of bed with excitement! Woohoo, we’re heading for the Great
Barrier Reef (GBR) to scuba dive for the first time ever!! What a great
place to try it out huh? The GBR is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the
World and is known to be an amazing “fish bowl” with a large variety of sea
life and coral calling the area “home”. Upon arriving at the shuttle boat
that would take us to our overnight boat, we met our personal guide for the
entire adventure, Maddy. We could tell right away that we were really going
to along well. But of course, since Maddy is also a Gemini, would you
expect anything less?? Haha, the “Four of us” ganged up on Mary and she’ll
never be the same.
We got the “Gold star” service as Maddy
brought us an awesome breakfast of eggs, grilled tomatoes and bacon, fresh
squeezed orange juice and proceeded to give us a run down of the next couple
days. We departed Cairns and traveled for about an hour before arriving at
our first site to start with some snorkeling. Our boat dropped anchor at
Saxon Reef on perfectly still ocean water. We learned later that these
“glass” days only happen about 6 or 7 times a year, the crew was drooling
and could hardly wait get into the water with us. We were grinning from ear
to ear with our good fortune and continued amazing weather! Wow, the water
really did look like glass – we could see the sandy bottom and coral down at
40 feet as clear as if it right below us.
The water temperature is just perfect,
hitting about 81 degrees and was a welcomed relief to the searing temps in
the direct sun. We spent about 2 hours snorkeling around the colorful reefs
and schools of fish – just beautiful! Mary got to try out the underwater
features of her new Olympus Stylus 1030. Wow – it takes incredible photos,
the detail and clarity underwater exceeds any expectations we had!! Maddy
dove down and picked up a sea cucumber and began petting it, then handed it
to me. It was huge, probably close to 2 feet long and instantly relaxed in
my hands, getting all limp. Awe, how sweet huh?
After a bit of lunch and a rest after
our snorkeling session, we transferred over to our new “home away from home”
boat that we’d be living on for the next 3 days. The boat is quite
impressive with a capacity of about 50 passengers in 20+ rooms configured
with bunk beds, twins or even a few queen sized rooms in spacious cabins.
There are a couple of luxury suites on the “top deck” and you know how we
like to spoil ourselves so you can guess where we stayed!! J Our
accommodations were very nice, we were on the 3rd floor, situated
on front right side of the boat with our own private bathroom and a deck
right outside our window – very cool!
We dumped our stuff off in our room and
headed downstairs to the Saloon for our first dive briefing. As we learned
boat rules, and the dos and don’ts - The boat relocated a little north and
dropped anchor at Norman Reef, one of the 4 reefs that we’ll be exploring
over the next few days.
We got suited up and plopped into the
water. The scuba gear weighs a lot more than I expected and is quite bulky
feeling until you enter the water, then it is easy to forget you are lugging
around about 50 extra pounds. Mary caught on immediately and really owned
her, “I am a Dolphin” mantra. I had a tough time getting used to breathing
through the regulator, something about it was just freaking me out at
first. Leaving the security of the water surface also made me panic! Maddy
is such a great instructor and really helped comfort me and got my breathing
evened out. Soon, we were swimming down about 30 feet below the surface
with all the rest of the fish!! Mary was having a great time with her new
camera and got some amazing pictures and underwater video footage too! We
spent about 20 minutes below the surface before completing our first dive. I
was happy to see the sun again! It was really cool, but at this point Mary
and I were still not sure if the sport would grow on us, or if we’d still
just prefer to snorkel.
Our next dive time was about an hour
later and I knew that I definitely wanted to go again and see if I could
work out my breathing and be more comfortable. We really enjoyed the second
dive and saw a HUGE sea turtle on this one!! Mary got a FANTASTIC
underwater video of it swimming right in front of her! WOW!! Ok, I am
starting to think this diving thing might be pretty cool! Lugging around
all the gear is a bit of a nuisance, but you just can’t get this up close
and personal with the fish from the surface of the water. They seem to
scatter more when we are snorkeling; I assume they’ve been trampled on by
too many tourists to really hang around long. From the depths we can get to
in our scuba gear, the fish seem to be just doing their thing and are not
really affected by the sight of us floating around with them. We saw fish
lined up in the cleaning stations where other smaller fish are “cleaning”
them by eating all the algae from their scales. Very entertaining! We saw
giant clams, huge varieties of schools of fish of every size, shape and
color. Beautiful arrays of coral, from shades of pinks to purples to bright
bone-like white antler colored coral. Maddy went down and stuck her fingers
in their big wavy mouth of the giant clam and it immediately clamped shut,
probably disappointed that it wasn’t the dinner they’d hoped for!
Once I got used to this whole process, I
really started to enjoy looking around at the massive coral configurations
and the schools upon schools of more varieties of fish than I could ever
identify - the scenery is just amazing down here.
After a successful and lovely day in the
water, we were ready for a great evening of relaxation. Maddy had prepared
an incredible table up on the top deck of the ship, with candle light and a
perfect view of the sunset. We enjoyed a fantastic 3 course meal that
rivaled the menu of our favorite restaurant on the cruise ship. Wow… it
just doesn’t get any more perfect than this. I can’t wait to see what
tomorrow brings!
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Good morning from the GBR! We departed
Norman Reef early and dropped anchor at Saxxon Reef. Each reef offered a new
perspective with the types of fish and coral being very different at each
one. We’ve had the chance to dive on both the “wild” side, or open
water/ocean side and the lagoon side (usually the calmer side). The water
was a bit more choppy this morning, but still very calm with great
visibility. We did 2 dives in the morning, with our second dive being a
“boat drop, drift dive”. This means we hopped aboard the smaller glass
bottom boat and launched our dive from the edge of the boat (back flipping
into the water, “James Bond” style and proceeded to stay in the current and
make our way back to the Reef Encounter boat. It was a fun way to explore
and sight see new terrain on the Reef. After 2 fantastic dives, we were
feeling very comfortable and confident with our gear and the water.
We took a break and relaxed for a few
hours of the afternoon, enjoying the lazy lull of the boat rocking and great
conversations with fellow new divers on the boat. By late afternoon, we’d
moved to the Hastings Reef (Wild side) we were ready for our next dive that
would get us warmed up for our night dive – WOO HOO!! Hastings Reef seemed
to have a few less fish but much more varieties of coral. The weather
seemed to be cooler today, maybe I’m just getting used to the humidity? But
the sky was looking a bit more overcast and some of the clouds looked like
rain. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Mother Nature provided a great lightning
storm for our night dive? Ha ha!
Instead of dining on the romantic table
for two on the top deck, we enjoyed dinner with our fellow mates in the
Saloon to keep us on track for the night dive time frame. The sun was
setting as we got our gear on and prepared for this new experience. My heart
was racing with anticipation! Wow, we are doing a night dive at the Great
Barrier Reef – I could hardly believe it! We jumped into the darkness with
only our flashlights to guide us. The ambience was surreal and mystical. I
instantly felt more relaxed than ever… my breathing steady and slow, I
couldn’t believe how “comfortable” I felt. I wasn’t scared at all, if
anything it was almost nurturing and womb-like to me and I felt safe. We
started exploring, seeing the terrain from the daytime take on a whole new
personality. The crustaceans were busily trekking around, the fish were
sleeping. We’d seen a cave during our earlier dive and Maddy was determined
to see what might be sleeping in it now that night had fallen. Sure enough,
we panned our lights around carefully and there was a turtle snoozing
away. How cool!! We were briefed heavily to be courteous of our fish
friends – they don’t like bright lights in their eyes anymore than we do!
Shine briefly and keep your lights moving at all times. We also learned that
too much, “flashlight in the face” can cause turtles to become disoriented
and not know which direction the surface of the water is when they need to
surface for oxygen. We saw another turtle shortly after, swimming around and
we pointed our lights to the surface of the water to emulate the moonlight
and help the turtle get re-oriented.
We saw lots of little green glowing eyes
of the crustaceans, but no red eyes of possible predators. Maddy also
showed me how to dim my light and wave my hands quickly through the water –
I was suddenly surrounded by glittering sparkles of the microscopic plankton
that is everywhere. Wow, it was like millions of miniature fireflies
surrounding me in the water. What an amazing experience!!
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Day 19:
Great Barrier Reef 3rd day and return to Cairns
Good morning from the wet and wild GBR!
We heard the rain really pounding the boat last night and Maddy said we got
about 2 inches of rain! Wow! We enjoyed “breakie in bed” of granola, yogurt
and fresh peaches. I can’t believe this is our last day already! The Reef
Encounter experience has just been amazing, what a way to top off an already
magnificent vacation. We were completely relaxed and ready to make the most
of our last 2 dives on the GBR.
Our first dive of the morning was
another “James Bond” style boat drop on Hastings Wild side. This time we
weren’t doing a drift dive, we’d be diving in the area around the glass
bottom boat, getting back in and then returning to the Encounter. This may
have been our longest dive yet with times around 35 minutes exploring. I
didn’t want to get out of the water. Only one more dive left… The boat
relocated to new Hastings location called The Coral Garden/Fish Bowl. This
was one of the most amazing dive locations yet. Wow, the underwater world
of coral and fish communities in this area is spectacular. We enjoyed
identifying many now familiar fish: clown, trigger, sweet lips, parrot,
lots of LBT’s (or little blue fish), and tons of giant clams and sea
cucumbers. We even saw a sting ray and several puffer fish throughout the
adventure. It was a perfect ending to a perfect vacation.
We got back on the Reef Encounter, had
lunch, packed up our gear and transferred back onto the shuttle boat filled
with many people on a day trip to the reef. If only they knew what they were
missing out on! The stillness and rhythm of the water when you have that
much quality time is just immeasurable. I would do it again in a heartbeat!
As Cairns came into view, we said goodbyes to our new friends and thanked
Maddy for making this experience so incredible for us. Her guidance,
patience, warmth and friendliness made it a trip of a lifetime! Thanks
Maddy!!
We enjoyed a pleasant evening in Cairns
before saying our final goodbyes to Aussie for now. We’ll definitely be
back! We couldn’t stop smiling and talking about all the new experiences -
our hearts are full of happiness, our minds are rejuvenated and our spirits
are soaring. May your travels be just as fulfilling!
Until the next adventure, may you enjoy every moment of every day.
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