4/13/10 (gosford)

Gosford - Hunters Valley

We woke up to the sun shining and lots of bird chirping. We have seen some crazy looking birds and some of them sound like children talking. There is a bird that has a head that looks too big for its body to support and no neck. All the birds have very bold distinctive colors.

We arrived at the Australian Reptile Park where we were greeted with a cartoon crocodile figure who is supposed to represent Elvis. He is their resident crocodile who weighs about 2 tons and is over 5 meters long. The park is very well equipped with a huge picnic area and bbq grills. We saw all sorts of creatures: American alligators, birds, platypuses, koalas, kangaroos, emus, Tasmania devil, and more. The kangaroos and emus are not caged so they just run around the park, which was pretty cool. I had a certain image of how the Tasmania devil was going to look based on the cartoons I had seen growing up but they looked a bit different. They look like a huge rat and are quite strong. We went to various presentations about the animals to learn more about them. It seemed like the park does a good job in educating the public and they have very successful breeding programs. We saw the alligators, Elvis, and Tasmania devil feeding, which is quite a scene since you see the keepers dangle a kangaroo leg in front of them. My favorite animal was the koala and I even got to pet one of them. They were quite soft and fluffy. 

It was really cool to see animals that are so foreign to us. They look weird and interesting all at the same time. We don’t get see many of these animals in the states and to be so close to them was awesome. We even saw birds that look like turkeys fly up onto trees and jump around in them.

Next we headed to Hunters Valley to settle for the night. The valley is known as one of the best wine regions in Australia. We are looking forward to tasting some Shiraz and Semillon tomorrow.

4/12/10 (lane cove national park)

Lane Cove National Park - Wisemans Ferry – Gosford

We rented the campervan for 10 days just to explore the surrounding areas of Sydney so we could take our time. After we left the park we headed north towards Hawkesbury River. Australia has a very different topography than New Zealand. The land is flatter but still with lots of bushes around. The nice is that they have freeways and the roads aren’t so windy. We did notice a lot of speed limit cameras with signage telling you where they are located. 

We took the Wisemans Ferry, which takes you over across the river to Settlers Road. Settlers Road was built by convicts and leads you to a small town called St. Albans. There was an inn called Settlers Arm Inn in the town, which was built in 1836 and has a lot of character. We had a nice lunch consisting of chicken pot pie and Tooney beer. The town was quite small so we headed back to the main roads.

While in Australia, we really wanted to see koalas and kangaroos. We stopped at an information center and they said the only way to guarantee seeing them was at the Australian Reptile Park. Both Jon and I aren’t fans of zoos or any enclosed animal parks but it seemed like our best shot to see these animals. We decided to find a camper site close by the reptile park and go there first thing in the morning.

Finding camper sites proved to be a little more difficult than in New Zealand since there isn’t as many around. The information center suggested a Big4 site, which is a big camper chain. It was a very nice site designed for families with kids. They had big bouncy pillows, which Jon really wanted to jump on, and activities planned the whole day for kids. If I were a kid I would be in heaven.

4/11/10 (sydney)

Sydney - Lane Cove National Park

The alarm went off at 5am. I popped out of bed and packed up my camera gear, determined to get some cool shots of the Sydney Opera House. It was roughly a 25 minute walk from our hotel to the Opera House and I was out the door by 5:30 hoping to capture the sunrise. It looks like the Sydney bars close at 5 because I saw a lot of people stumbling around on the streets looking like they just rolled out of a bar after a long Saturday night. 

When I got to the Opera House I was surprised to see a large amount of activity right out front. They were setting up for the Sydney Triathlon and this was a good thing. Usually at these landmarks, security can be a little tough as soon as you pull out a tripod. They classify you as a professional and you need to get permission. With all the commotion I was able to set up shop pretty much anywhere and didn’t have to worry about getting kicked out. I spent the next two plus hours capturing several time lapse videos of Sydney harbor. It is quite a nice area! I also caught some of the triathlon and those guys are amazing. 

Later that morning, Annie checked us out of our hotel and made her way over to the harbor to meet me. When she arrived we made the final decision to rekindle our camper van experience, this time in Australia. Annie had done a lot of research on the different companies and we decided to go with Apollo again. We had gotten the hippie from them in New Zealand and as a repeat customer, we would get a discount. After a quick lunch, we jumped on the train and headed to the Apollo office to pick up our Cheapa Camper. It is a little more expensive than the hippie but it is a luxury liner in comparison. The Cheapa is a full size van with an extended roof. I can stand fully up inside and it is quite an upgrade over our hippie days. It is a little more challenging to drive but with all of our New Zealand experience, I feel pretty confident about it. We are only going to have it for 10 days and then fly down to Melbourne to stay with Annie’s friend. Our rationale was this would allow us to explore some of the attractions outside Sydney like the Hunter Valley vineyards, the Blue Mountains, and some of the renowned beaches. It feels good to be mobile again. 

We drove back to Sydney and over the Harbour Bridge to North Sydney. We found a grocery store to stock up on food and supplies. Just over the bridge are some beautiful views of downtown Sydney and the Opera House and I talked Annie into letting me do one more time lapse as the sun set. They have this great little tiled sidewalk that runs along the water overlooking the harbor. We set up shop on a small pier and  that allowed me to get some great shots as the sun set. I have to give Annie credit because as it got darker a continuous stream of the biggest bats I have seen flew from downtown to a tree right above us. She handled it pretty well but they were huge! I am getting the sense that this is a pretty hard environment with the large bats, poisonous snakes and spiders, and saltwater crocs.

When I had gotten my shots, we were off to Lane Cove National Park just north of Sydney for our first night in the Cheapa. We both slept very well and have a ton of space which is really nice. 

Likes: Sydney Harbor, Cheapa Camper 

4/10/10 (sydney)

Sydney

We knew that Australia was big. It was ginormous that it even filled a movie title all by itself. We decided to dedicate a day to walking around Sydney and exploring the sites. We laced on our matching Solomon trekking shoes and we were off. We couldn’t leave without seeing the Sydney Opera House so that was our first stop. On our way there we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens, which reminded me of Golden Gate Park because of its rose garden. Seeing the Opera House was a bit surreal. Everyone has seen it on millions of postcards, ads, movies, etc that I almost couldn’t believe I was there. 

It was incredibly hot and though it was very sunny we could feel the UV rays hitting us. Jon felt a mild heat stroke coming on so we decided it was time to get some refreshments and lunch. We weren’t quite sure where to go and sat down on some steps to consult our guidebook. A lady stopped to ask if we needed help and offered us several suggestions. We chatted with her for several minutes. What a sweet lady! We took her advice on Darling Harbour where there were lines of restaurants all up and down the harbour. We settled on a brewery and had some burgers with chips along with a pint of their beer. For some reason we have been drinking a lot more beer which is unusual for us since we tend to lean more toward wine back home. Must be the hot weather.

After lunch it was time for our scheduled nap back at the hotel. We have become accustomed to naps and try to carve out time out our busy traveling schedule for them everyday if we can. I can’t tell you how many times we have pulled off to the side of the road and snoozed for a good hour. It felt so good. We are going to need to move to a place that will allow for siesta time in my work schedule.

Since we stayed in the night before we decided we needed to check out the nightlife in Sydney. We walked a few blocks from our hotel and there were clubs everywhere along with a few seedy places scattered in between. People were dressed to impress. We found a small Thai restaurant for dinner. It was probably one of the best meals we’ve had since we started traveling. I might even consider going back before we leave. We’ve noticed how pricey everything is but they were very reasonably priced.

When we got back to the hotel we came up with a game plan for Sydney. We couldn’t keep staying in hotels and decided the best option was to rent a camper….again! What can we say?! We are addicted to camper life. But this time we decided we would roll around in style and go for a bigger camper so Jon can stand up in it. We loved the hippie camper but it would be nice to have some more room.

4/9/10 (christchurch)

Christchurch - Sydney

For some reason Jon and I have a tendency to book really early flights, probably because they are usually the cheapest but it’s no fun getting up at 3am. We flew Jetstar, which is a budget airline and they are not kidding. We got the last two seats on that particular flight since we extended our trip. I’m not sure if that’s the reason for our seat assignment. We got the very last row of seats by the toilets and Jon barely fit into the seat. We usually reserve an aisle seat for him so that he can stretch his legs a bit but there were only the middle and window seats left. I felt so bad that he had to be crammed in there. Luckily, the flight was only 3 hours. And the airline didn’t even offer us water. However, we went through customs with no problems at all. 

Our friend’s sister picked us up at the airport and dropped us off in the city to explore. We walked around CBD and found a huge underground mall with a food court. We hadn’t booked a hotel yet so Jon found an Apple store for us to use the internet. Very smart of him. Jon was able to find a hotel near the city center and we were pretty tired so decided to check into our hotel. The only challenge was that our friend had our luggage and we waited till she got off work to retrieve it. In the meantime, we took a much needed nap and explored the neighborhood around our hotel. The area is called Darlinghurst and it reminded us of the mission district back home with trendy shops and restaurants. There were lots of things right outside our hotel including a yogurt shop next door so kudos to Jon for finding this hotel.   

We were invited to go out with our friend but we were still feeling a bit tired so we decided to stay in. Jon reminded me that I’m middle-aged and not as young as I used to be. Is 32 middle-aged??

4/8/10 (hanmer springs)

Hanmer Springs - Christchurch

A bit of a sad day as it was our last day in New Zealand. It was incredibly cold the prior night in the camper and we were looking forward to the upcoming night in a hotel. We got a late start on the day cleaning out the Hippie. We went for some lunch in Hanmer Springs. It was a nice little town built around their hot springs and reminded me of a ski resort village in the US. After a quick bite, we hit the road. We passed through a beautiful mountain range that I wanted to try and capture on video. New Zealand roads aren’t always the best and when we pulled over on the sloped highway we were instantly stuck in the middle of nowhere. The nice thing about New Zealand is that almost everyone is really friendly and helpful. Within five minutes we had a handful of people on the roadside to help us and we were on our way to Christchurch. 

We had booked a hotel at the library in Kaikoura and you never know what you are going to get. The hotel turned out to be pretty nice and met our three requirements: clean, good shower pressure, and free internet. After a little difficulty finding the hotel we unloaded our gear and headed out to return the hippie camper. It was pretty sad moment. We had grown quite fond of our little camper van. The only real damage was a pretty massive crack in the wind shield. Fortunately we had maxed out on the coverage. The return lady was really nice and helped us line up a ride to the Christchurch airport. When we got back to the hotel we started our laundry and pack up. I downloaded the latest episode of Lost and got caught up with the blog posts. We also tallied the amount of money spent in New Zealand. Ouch! We will put up a blog post on the damage shortly. 

New Zealand was an incredible experience and vastly exceeded my expectations. It was tough to pack up but we look forward to our adventures in Australia. We went to bed early to get ready for our 3am wake up call for the ride to the airport and our next adventure. 

4/7/10 (kaikoura)

Kiakoura - Hanmer Springs

Epic day. Annie powered through and drove all the way to Kiakoura after arriving for a short while in Christchurch the night before. Kiakoura is an amazing place surrounded by snow capped mountains and located on the Pacific ocean. Kiakoura’s harbor is a unique area because it has a very deep ocean trench that makes it ideal for aquatic sea life including the rare albatross bird, sperm whale, occasional orca, and of course the dusky dolphin. The dusky are quite acrobatic and are know for the summersault flips out of the water and are very playful. 

We stayed a very busy Kiwi family park and the morning was a little quieter. We woke up and had breakfast and were then off to the local library to book our hotel near the airport for our final night in New Zealand in Christchurch. When we finished I had to try out my new camera gear I purchased in Christchurch and captured some of the beautiful scenery with a few time lapses. We were then off to the dolphin encounter for our final big New Zealand activity, swimming with the dolphins. 

We arrived early and had a quick lunch. Once we checked in they sent us to a room to get some serious wetsuit equipment. The weather was getting pretty cold and this meant the water was going to be chilly. We were a little concerned about Annie because there were no life vests and we would be in really deep water. They did have small paddle boards and that made both of us feel better. They warned us that the water was very choppy and inquired if we were prone to seasickness. After a short safety video, we were off to the bus. We took a short ride to the harbor and they had two boats waiting for us. They weren’t kidding about the choppiness. Our boat was getting blasted with huge swells and I started to get a bit queazy. Fortunately we spotted dolphins quickly and they stopped the boat. The captain sounded the horn to announce the propeller was off and send swimmers in the water. I strapped on my snorkel mask and waddled with my flippers to the edge of the boat to jump in. I was a little hesitant because I knew the water was going to be really cold and after the initial shock I quickly forgot about the temperature. I dipped my head in and five dolphins darted by within three feet of me. We stayed with this pod for about ten minutes as the dolphins took an interest in us and weaved throughout our group of snorkelers. We were instructed not to touch but to make noises to get their interest. It was quite funny hearing everyone as the dolphins checked us out. After a bit, we couldn’t keep up with them and so it was back to the boat to find a new pod. 

We repeated this four times and each time you could literally reach out to touch the dolphins as they swam by. The final swim was my best. One particular dolphin took an interest in me as it swam by. We had eye contact for about fifteen seconds as I followed it around and it circled around for another look. I think we became friends on some level and it was a pretty amazing experience I will long remember. 

This was a really big moment for Annie after all her hard work learning to swim this past year and she did great. It was very hard for us to stay together while in the water. The waves were quite large and it made it very challenging but she handled it all very well. She got a chance to see many dolphins on her swims. I am very proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone and swimming in the deep water with these large animals in the wild. She had a really good experience but by the end of the day the sea water and rocky boat added up and she felt pretty sea sick. 

Once back on land, Annie started to feel better and we decided to make a run for Hamner springs. They are know for there hot springs and it was about an hour and a half away from Kaikoura. I am glad we made the trip because the landscape was quite striking as the sun set. We arrived in Hamner springs and found a camp site, quickly ate dinner, and were off to the hot springs. The place was packed and fortunately Annie somewhere in our travels had collected a coupon for a free upgrade to a private pool in the spa. We checked out the regular pools and then spent the rest of the evening in a private pool. It was really nice to get away from the crowd and have a little quite after our big day. When we finished, we were off to our final and very cold night in the the Hippie Camper.

4/6/10 (timaru)

Timaru-Christchurch-Kaikoura

Today was a drive day. We headed up to Christchurch and walked around the city center a bit. I was looking for a guidebook for Australia at second hand bookshops but found no luck. I was very fortunate to find one for New Zealand at a good deal and thought I would give it a try again. I’ve learned that I really like visiting the second hand bookshops. They are very quaint and I wonder about the people who have read the books. And it’s always good to support the locals.

Jon has been on a search for two items the last few weeks: Maori music and some camera gear. We happen to stumble across a used music store and he was able to find some Maori music, which he is hoping to use in our New Zealand video recap. The camera gear proved to be a little more difficult. There are a lot of camera shops around but none that really specializes in camera gear. We stopped in at a local camera shop and the shopkeeper was very helpful in locating a nearby store that had what Jon was looking for. Apparently there are very few around in the country and we were lucky that Christchurch had one. We stopped in the store and Jon was in his happy place. He did some camera talk with the guy and also got ND filters that will really help with his time-lapse videos.

We decided to make a run for Kaikoura so that we can spend the morning exploring before our dolphin swim at noon. The only concern was that we were only able to get one spot for swimming with the dolphins though the tour company assured us that it was very likely that both of us would get in. We kept our fingers crossed since it would be a bummer if only one of us would be able to do it.

We stopped at a Kiwi family campsite and had a great meal planned: bbq chicken, Moroccan couscous, green beans, and a bottle of Pinot Gris that we bought in Marlborough at one of the wineries we visited. However, when we entered the kitchen there were about 30 German teenagers. It was a madhouse in there and our hope of enjoying a quiet evening was going to be tough. We made the best of it and still enjoyed our meal.

4/5/10 (dunedin)

Dunedin-Moeraki-Oamaru-Timaru

Dunedin was a very interesting city with Scottish influence. There was a beautiful cathedral in the center of town. It reminded me a little of Nelson with all its shops though not as big as Auckland. It was Easter Monday and many of the shops were still closed so we didn’t have very good luck in our quest to explore. We stopped at the Cadbury chocolate factory but they weren’t offering tours since their plant was closed for the day. Nevertheless, we still got some chocolate while we were there. We also tried to check out a microbrewery that the girl at Invercargill Brewery recommended but it was also closed. Guess we’ll have to put that on the list of things to do next time we are here.

On our way out of town we stopped at Baldwin Street, which is the world’s steepest street. There were lines of cars parked at the bottom of the street and people walking up. I have to admit it was pretty steep though Jon believes that San Francisco has ones just as steep. After you walk up the hill you can get a certificate verifying you have done so. We decided people just have to take our word for it.

Today our goal was Timaru, which is about 180 km from Christchurch. Along the way we stopped at the Moreaki boulders. The boulders are almost perfectly spherical and at low tide you can see them along the beach. Some of the boulders were about 4’ tall. The outside looks like honeycomb shaped pieces glued together and it’s hollow inside. Really cool looking boulders. The guidebook says that the boulders were part of the cliff and as the cliff receded the boulders were exposed. 

After that we came to Oamaru where you can see the yellow-eyed penguins and the little blue penguins, which are often called fairy penguins. We decided to check out the yellow ones again to see if we can catch more of them. We spotted a few along the beach. There was a very enthusiastic man showing Jon where one of the penguins was resting and since we don’t really know how far is a meter it was hard for us to spot the penguin. The man got a little upset at us for not being able to see it. Jeez. But finally after some searching we were able to spot the little yellow fellow.

Oamaru is also the first or last place along the east coast depending on which way you are traveling that you are likely to see the fairy penguins. In Oamaru, there is a colony where you can almost be sure to see them. It meant that we would be staying in Oamaru till after dark but we figured it was worth it since you can only see the fairy penguins in New Zealand and certain parts of Australia. We waited until dusk and sat in a 350-seat stadium along the coast waiting for the little ones to come back in after a day of fishing. There were about 34 of them in rafts of 10-14. They are quite adorable and it was hilarious to see them scooting up the cliff toward their colony. When they are going down a hill it looks like they are about to tumble over. They measure to be 30 cm or as the host described it one ruler long and they weigh 1 kg. We are glad we stayed to see them. It was definitely worth it.

We were still determined to make our way to Timaru and made it safely there by 9pm. We checked ourselves into a camper site and settled in for the night. I was pretty tired so I was fast asleep while Jon was surfing the net. He came across a program for the Mac that he had been waiting for so he was very happy. The program will allow him to fix the bumps in his time-lapse videos. 

Like: Baldwin Street, Moreaki boulders, fairy penguins, program that will fix Jon’s time-lapse

Dislike: stores being closed

4/4/10 (catlins coast)

Catlins Coast-Nugget Point-Dunedin

It was a cloudy morning but the sun was making its way. The weather is definitely starting to get cooler as we enter the fall season and feels like it’s about 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Luckily we have a warm comforter. It’s also nice that we changed our clocks for daylight savings so it’s not so dark in the morning.

We had set our eyes on Dunedin since we are now in the final days of our trip and still have to make our way past Christchurch to Kaikoura to swim with the dolphins. We also really wanted to see the bottlenose dolphins, yellow-eye penguins, and the little blue penguins. It’s hard to catch a glimpse of these creatures but we were feeling hopeful. First we made a quick stop along the Catlins Coast to check out the Cathedral Caves. We timed it quite well since you can only go one hour before or after low tide. Jon was more adventurous and scaled both caves while I stayed on the outskirt of the first cave. However it was me who ended up getting my shoes and pants wet. How did that happen?

Our next stop was Nugget Point to try to catch the yellow-eyed penguins. They are quite shy so there was a shed built along the mountain for people to view the penguins. We were in luck! We spotted two of them. As they moved inland they would wobble along but if they got to a step to high for them they would jump up. It was quite funny to watch them.

Along the way to Nugget Point there were huge pastures of sheep so Jon got this crazy idea of shooting from inside the car to use as B-roll for our New Zealand video. I was driving the car while he was in the camper bed with his camera outside the side window. We got some beautiful shots since the sun was setting so hopefully it will make it into the final cut. I forgot where I was for a moment and drove on the wrong side of the road for a good 400 meters. Luckily no cars were on the road. Yikes!

On a really cold day sometimes all you want to do is stay in and snuggle underneath the covers, which we decided to do for the night. We rented The Fastest Indian from the campsite. It is a great story and made me appreciate the real life motorcycle that we saw in Invercargill.

We didn’t catch the dolphins or the blue penguins so hopefully we’ll catch them along the east coast.

Like: yellow-eyed penguins, The Fastest Indian, B-roll of the pastures and sheep