Australia/ New Zealand Trip- Dec.30, 2008- Jan.21, 2009

We traveled to Australia and New Zealand with Gate 1 Travel, going to three major cities in Australia and traveling mainly around the South Island of New Zealand.  We had traveled around the North Island in a Volkswagen camper a few years ago, but felt with the vastness of Australia, an organized tour was the easier way to go.  We missed the freedom of wandering as our whims dictated, but really enjoyed the ease of travel that Gate 1 afforded.  We had plane flights and hotels booked, transportation from airports to hotels arranged and city tours included, with optional tours we could book through them.  Only five people were on the Australian leg of our tour, and we had one less when we headed for New Zealand, but still the tour ran as scheduled, with informed, entertaining guides meeting us at every juncture.  The hotels were great and well located and tours helped us get oriented to each city. Gate 1 is a good option for travelers who don’t require an accompanying guide traveling with them.

December 30-We’re Off

We spent the previous night at the Marriott Towne Place Suites in Manchester, so got up at 4:45 to catch the shuttle to the airport.  The waiting time went fairly quickly, but it was a three flight day, so the day as a whole seemed long.  Our first flight didn’t even offer water free, but the next two did drinks at least.  We had a little confusion when we found that two United Airlines flights were going from Philadelphia to Chicago at almost the same time, and we were waiting at the gate for the wrong one, but all went smoothly on the whole and we were able to carry on all our luggage in each airplane.

We were met in LA by Marijan Dravinski, our friend from the Tanzania trip.  He drove us to their home and we had dinner when Vickie came home from work- salmon Marijan smoked himself.  Then, after socializing for a while, we went to bed at 8:30 (11:30 New Hampshire time).

December 31- LA to Australia

We got up around 7:30, showered and had breakfast with Marijan, Vickie, and their son Andrey.  Vickie and Andrey left for work and we walked up the mountain trail behind their house.  Dick got a few bird photos as we went.  Then we drove down to see the La Canada float for the Rose Bowl Parade.  Lots of volunteers were attaching flowers to the float which had robots playing musical instruments.  We went back to the house for lunch, then drove down Colorado Boulevard to see all the people ready to camp out overnight for the parade the next morning.  Some of them had elaborate set-ups with tents, sleeping bags, grills, tables and chairs.

It was a bit busy on the roads to LAX, but we were there in plenty of time for the flight.  We spent our time reading, doing puzzles, and sharing a grilled chicken salad, and time passed fairly quickly.  The flight was off in good time, as were all the other 14 flights on the journey.  I watched Ghost Town, Juno, and Vickie Christina Barcelona and Dick slept a bit more than I did.  Thank heavens for movies! The flight was 12+ hours so there was lots of time to pass.  But the flight was empty enough that Dick and I could both have three seats to stretch out on, which helped immensely.  In the process of flying past the International Date Line, we lost January 1st and it was January 2nd.  We arrived in Auckland around 5AM and flew on to Sydney at 9, arriving in Sydney four hours later.  We were both a little spacey by then, but got through Passport Control easily.  At the baggage carousel we met Connie and Gene who were on our tour and finally found the driver to the hotel, who didn’t have a Gate 1 card to hold up, but had us on his pick-up list.

January 2 (Friday)- Sydney

It was quite warm when we walked outside the airport.  Our driver took us to the Grace Hotel where our rooms weren’t quite ready, but our tour representative was.  So we sat in the lobby and met the fifth member of our group, Susan, and heard about the optional tours available.  After talking it over, we signed up for the Penguin Parade and a tour of the Kuranda Temperate Rain Forest.  Then we were told our rooms were ready, so all went up to rest a little and plan the afternoon.

We decided to walk down King Street to Hyde Park, not far from the hotel.  We were surprised to see ibises everywhere in the park and Dick got photos of them and other birds.  On the way back we went down into a Food Court to check it out, then down a closed-to-traffic walking mall.  Then we headed back to the hotel, showered, and got ready to meet our driver for a tour-included dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant.

It was windy, but we ate outside at the restaurant, behind clear plastic curtains giving us views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.  We could see people making the climb over the top of the bridge as we ate, but none of us were anxious to do that.  The first course was prawns, with heads still on.  I wasn’t up for that so shared mine. The second course was filet mignon, which was delicious, but not on Dick’s normal diet.  We had thought we’d have several choices but the restaurant didn’t think that was their deal.  The meal ended with cheesecake and by then (7:30) we were all ready to meet our driver and head back to the hotel to begin working on our jet lag.  Dick and I were in bed by 8.

January 3 (Saturday)- Sydney

We had to meet the Circle Line tour bus in the lobby by 7:25, so got up at 6 and were at the restaurant by 6:30, only to find they didn’t open until 7 on weekends. So we went back to our room, packed for the day, and ate hurriedly when the restaurant opened.  Then we spent the next hour traveling around to various hotels picking up people to take to the central bus depot.  The Circle Line Tour bus took us around Sydney, pointing out highlights, then to the suburbs, ending at Bondi Beach which was lovely and only slightly plagued by ‘blue bottles’- miniature jellyfish that looked like tiny blue plastic bags, but delivered a substantial sting if messed with.

From there we returned to Sydney and went on a luncheon harbor cruise with Cook Cruises.  They had a very nice buffet which we visited early, then went up on deck to take dozens of photos of the Opera House from various angles, as well as the bridge, skyline, and old fashioned amusement park.  From there we walked around the harbor to the Opera House for our tour.  We saw it inside and out from every angle and heard its history.  Although we went inside both theaters, we weren’t allowed to take photos inside.  

When our tours finished, we finally got the sand of Bondi Beach out of our shoes and walked around the harbor.  We passed Aborigines playing the digeridoo and young boys dancing to it, and a man who entertained the crowd by leaping over seemingly insurmountable barriers. We passed through the Rocks Market with all kinds of handicrafts on display, then walked halfway across the Harbour Bridge, staying well below the bridge climbers who were climbing ladders, all harnessed together, on their way up to the top.  We took more photos of the Opera House and various other harbor views, then walked back and through the district known as The Rocks, eventually making our way back to the hotel.

We hand washed out some clothes and hung them all over the bathroom to dry, then Dick worked on his photos of the day.  I wrote some postcards and read.  After a very busy first full day in Australia, we were happy to have an early bedtime.

January 4 (Sunday)- Sydney

We got up and to breakfast around 8, then headed out to the Botanical Gardens.  We walked around, finding the bat trees by thinking we were headed to a duck pond from all the noise.  Overhead hundreds of grey-headed flying foxes hung from the trees, chattering very noisily and fanning themselves with their wings to cool off.  Walking further we saw sulphur-crested cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets, and kookaburras- all of which can be seen on Dick’s bird site (carolinabirds.org).

We walked down to the point to see Mrs. Macquarie’s chair, carved in the sandstone cliff by convicts in the early 1800’s so the wife of the then-governor could sit and watch English ships sail into Sydney Harbour.  The view was great and we waited our turn with loads of Japanese tourists to sit in the chair for photos. We walked back through the park, stopping to cool off and drink a Coke under a fig tree.

Then we walked to Circular Quay #3 and caught the noon ferry to Manly Beach, forty minutes across the bay from Sydney, near the mouth of the harbor.  I took off my shoes and waded, looking for shells, while Dick wandered in search of birds.  He found some cormorants to photograph and I found some neat shells and beach glass.  We got ‘take-away food’ at the ferry dock arcade and ate outside.  

Because I wanted to get to Paddy’s Market before it closed, we caught the 2:20 ferry back to Sydney and walked to our hotel.  After freshening up and resting a bit, we went on our way, me leaving a good bit before Dick, to walk to the market.  I went to the Queen Victoria Center first, a massive lovely old building which had a Christmas tree going up four stories.  I took some photos, then went on to Paddy’s Market map in hand, making only one wrong turn on the way.

I walked through all three floors, buying gifts and souvenirs, then walked back through Chinatown to try to see the Chinese Gardens.  They were closed but fronted on a neat recreational area.  I wandered around that, got totally turned around and took a very long way home.  A nice Chinese family finally got me headed in the right direction and I did make it back to the hotel, drinking a chocolate shake from Hungry Jack’s (Burger King’s name there, though McDonald’s is still McDonald’s) to keep my energy and spirits up.

Dick and I got directions from the concierge to get to the train station for tomorrow’s excursion to the Featherdale Wildlife Park and called it a day.

January 5 (Monday)- Sydney

We took photos inside the hotel on the way to breakfast- which was moved to a different dining room.  Then we walked to the Town Hall Train Station and caught the train for Blacktown, a 45 minute ride.  From there we waited for the 725 bus out to Featherdale Wildlife Park.  The bus dropped us off just across the street from the park and we paid our entry and were met immediately by a wallaby mom and baby (small kangaroos)  that were hopping around inside.  They were very friendly and posed for photos with everyone.  We saw lots of koalas, wombats, dingos, several kinds of wallabies, and red and regular kangaroos.  There were also a huge numbers of birds, the most spectacular and huge- the emus and cassowaries, but the smaller birds were in large cages with very small grid fencing that made taking photos very difficult.  Even so, Dick took about 400 pictures and I took loads too.

We had fish and chips and a veggie burger (guess who had what) at the concession area, then did a last sweep around, hoping to see the Tasmanian Devils out, but they were still asleep in caves.

At 2:30 we left to reverse the process and return to Sydney. We bought some rolls and returned to the hotel to get ready to leave very early the next day.  I even ironed some of the clothes we washed, and we began packing up.  Dick tackled the many many photos the day had produced and we passed the time easily until bedtime.

January 6 (Tuesday)-Sydney to Cairns

We were up at 4:35 to meet our bus to the airport at 5:05 in the hotel lobby.  The hotel provided us with a boxed breakfast- yogurt & granola, two small muffins, orange juice and a strawberry.  When we checked in at Jetstar, we had to check all our suitcases.  The flight went to Townsville where we had a couple of hours layover before continuing on to Cairns on Quantas.  The flight attendants offered an apple and water on that flight- better than US Air.  Our driver took us to the hotel by about 12:45.

We unpacked a little, then went out past the swimming pool- which had a sandy beach at one end- and out the back door which left us a block from the waterfront.  Along the road we walked under a very noisy tree and knew from past experience to look up for all the bats hanging there.  There was a long esplanade along the water and a mudflat out from it.  Signs warned of crocodile danger if you wandered out on the mudflats.  Dick loved it because there were lots of shorebirds there, including spoonbills.  Across from the water was a great playground including water park and kids were splashing in all the fountains.  The end of the esplanade toward the marina had a town swimming pool- huge, with fountains and a sandy beach area like the hotel’s.

We ate fish and chips outside at a waterfront restaurant, then wandered back to the hotel.  Dick began working on photos and I went back out, did internet in the hotel lobby then roamed the town.  Cairns was larger than I had thought, with ornate mosaic benches and all kinds of stores including plenty of souvenir ones.  I looked for T shirts saying ‘I swam the Great Barrier Reef’ but didn’t see any.

Dick went off to check out the waterfront birds when I got back, and I followed him out after a while.  He found a fellow birder- retired from England- and sat on a bench talking with him and getting bird identifications.  We bought a Hawaiian (Tropicale) pizza and ate at a park picnic table, guzzling from a bottle of ginger beer at bought at the local market.

We continued along the waterfront where there was a small beach and I picked up a couple of stones there.  Dick had found a tree full of rainbow lorikeets roosting for the night and showed them to me.  I got an ice cream and we walked home, back under the bat tree, past the swimming pool, and to the internet terminals where I found Rob’s resume awaiting my comments, which I gave.

Then we returned to our room, having made the most of our first half day in Cairns and very much looking forward to our snorkeling trip to the reef the next day!

January 7 (Wednesday)- Cairns- Great Barrier Reef

We got up, showered and had breakfast.  (Digression about breakfast buffets at the hotels:  There was always loads of fresh and canned fruit, pastries, hot eggs, pancakes, bacon, potatoes, etc., cold meat and cheese, nice breads, multiple fruit juices, cereals.  We enjoyed the variety.)  

We met in the lobby at 8:05 and had a short bus ride to the docks.  Our boat was from Ocean Spirit Cruises.  The trip began with a funny safety talk- covered all the bases but very enjoyable.  They had ginger pills available for people to take if they thought they might be seasick.  The boat anchored off Michaelmas Cay, with a small boat to take us to shore in groups.  Dick and the others left for the island after getting snorkel gear that fit- including renting neck-to-ankle suits for protection from the sun and possible ‘bluebottle’stings.  Dick spent the early part of his time photographing the nesting sea birds on the island, then he snorkeled.

I took the tour guide-recommended first ride on the semi-submersible boat that went out from our boat.  You sat below the water level and saw the corals and fish at very close-up range.  Often the boat seemed to almost touch the reefs.  I took quite a few photos of the corals and large fish.

Back on the main boat, it was buffet time so I ate: fried fish, fruit, salads, and such.  
  
Then I took the boat to the beach, put my camera in its waterproof bag and hit the reefs.  The scenery below was wonderful.  The corals were amazing and varied, from spaghetti coral that waved in the currents to brain corals and staghorn corals.  They took front stage from the fish- which were lovely too.  Amazing giant clams had vivid blue ‘lips’ sticking out from their shells and I swam with a ray for a short time.

When I got on the last tender for the boat, Dick was going out on the semi-submersible.  I wandered around the boat, listening to a singer with a guitar for a little while.  Champagne was passed out as we headed back to Cairns, and the sails were hoisted- a very pretty sight, but rockier trip, as we went back.  

We got back around 5 and walked along the waterfront while Dick got more bird photos.  We bought fruit and ice cream and ate ‘dinner’ back in our hotel room- nuts and chocolate Digestive biscuits among other courses.  Dick did the laundry and worked on his photos while I did email.  We both agree this was the best day of the vacation.

January 8 (Thursday)- Cairns- Kuranda Temperate Rainforest

We met the bus to the Kuranda Scenic Railway outside our hotel in the morning.  The old  station was ornate and very interesting, with a museum showing how the many tunnels and bridges were constructed by men in the days before machinery existed to make the job easier.

The train trip took us over the bridges, through the tunnels and around many twists and turns.  We stopped to see falls, then arrived at Kuranda town.  Dick went ahead quickly so that he could go through Bird World there, while I wandered through shops and the market.  It was all provided for tourist, but neat to walk through.  The highlight of Dick’s trip through Bird World was having a bird land on his head and stay there for photos.

When our time in Kuranda town was over, we rode a bus to Rainforestation.  The first activity scheduled for us there was a walk through their nature park, where we saw some of the same animals we’d seen at Featherdale- koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, and a crocodile who was destined for a lonely life because he had eaten every female croc provided for his consideration.

Our second event there was a ride through the rainforest on an amphibious vehicle left over from WWII.  The guide was very knowledgeable and identified water snakes, poisonous plants with thorns that kept you in pain for six weeks, and plants and ferns that were simply pretty.  Next we had a buffet lunch.

Then we went to a show of Aboriginal songs and dances, such a the Mosquito Dance,  the Warring Dance, Snake Dance, Cassowary Dance, and Kangaroo Dance, accompanied by drums and the digeridoo.  Then the Aborigines took us on what was called a Dreamwalk, where they showed skills such as digeridoo playing, spear throwing and boomerang throwing and let members of the audience try their hands at them.  Dick did a great job of boomerang throwing, but did it too quickly for me to get a photo to commemorate it.

Our last adventure of the day was a ride on the Skyrail which took about a half hour to descend back to the outskirts of Cairns.  In light rain we went down the mountain, stopping at a station where we could photograph the waterfall we saw from the train earlier.  We saw Sulphur Crested  Cockatoos on top of a tree as we passed over.

We spent about an hour back in the hotel, working on photos and beginning to pack up for the morning.  Then we walked into town and ate at a Chinese restaurant.  Even in the town, we could see thousands of bats taking off for their evening hunting.  We bought some souvenir T shirts and went back to the hotel to try to sleep early, with another very early morning ahead of us.