An aquatic life spectacular

Thursday, 2.2.12

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY ALEX

HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY

Ok, that's family business over - we do miss them though, now and again.

Bloody hell, we bought a fleece each yesterday, it was damn cold and rainy. Who'd have expected that in February?

Anyway, back tracking swiftly to Rotorua, oh yes you could smell it and did it smell bad!


Hydrogen sulphide, obviously, drifting up through 'natural vents in the earth's thin crust.' That's the official spiel, what it really means is boiling water and steam, and I mean bleeping hot, bubbles up in pools, through rocks and cracks in the road. Roads and pavements have collapsed in some places and over it all this genteel little country town goes about it's business! Weird!


Jim, along with every other bloke, thought it was brilliant, a real farters paradise!

Our motel had a little room where the hot, not boiling, water comes up and you can bathe in it. Picture this, a shower sized room, a deep bath with loads of steam where you go in as a couple and lock the door behind you!! Are you thinking what I am? Do they change the water? Anyway it stank of rotten eggs so I politely declined the offer and gave her the key back!

Next stop - Wai-O-Tapu, a geothermal site, otherwise known as heaven and hell. We had to be there at 10.15 to see the Lady Knox Geyser erupt, which we managed by the skin of our teeth!


You then walk round the most peculiar landscape made up of pools of different colours, formed by the minerals dissolved in them, there was caves, bubbling water, waterfalls, etc, all gorgeous colours.





The best, and funniest bit, was the boiling mud pool, it was huge and reminded me of one of those computer games where you have to hit the one which is bubbling!


On from the weird, to the just plain beautiful. Napier, in Hawkes Bay, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and was rebuilt in the modern style of the time, art deco. It is like stepping back in time, very gorgeous, very glamorous and dead on Saturday night!!








The guy who owned the fantastic motel we stopped at was born in Knaresborough, lived in Chesterfield, moved to New Plymouth in New Zealand, retrained as a butler when he was 40 and spent several years working in LA and London as Rod Stewart's butler when he was married to Rachel Hunter. Doesn't get more surreal than that does it?!
Leaving the glamour of Napier behind we headed south over the mountains to Wellington, the compact little capital city. It has a pretty harbour, industrial type architecture and art work on the harbour front, it's edgy and alternative.





The locals call it 'Welly,' it's known as the windy city and, whoa, that wind bites. A trip on the cable car, a wander around the city, admiring the 'beehive,' the Parliament building and people watching in Civic Square and our brief city sojourn was over.





We had to be at the ferry terminal at 7.25 on Monday morning, oh joy! I don't have a great track record with car ferries and when I saw that the 'Kaitaki,' the Interislander car ferry had originally been 'The Pride of Cherbourg' which I must have vomited on several times in the early '90s my heart sank!

Three and a bit hours later, after sailing through the lovely Malborough Sound, and we were off at Picton, stomachs, well mine, still intact. I must have drifted off a bit, blame the sea sickness tablets, cos I woke up an hour along the coast, and what a spectacular coast. And here we are, in the wild and wonderful town of Kaikoura. It sits in the lee of the Kaikoura Peninsula wedged between the mountains and the sea. Just offshore the sea bed drops away to about 1600m deep. This is the Kaikoura Canyon which is rich in fish and stuff which attracts big mammals.

It chucked it down yesterday and the wind was cutting, hence the fleeces, I'm sure they'll come in handy on our travels of this island. We walked the peninsula, about 10 miles, and the sun came out, it was scorching. Point Kean has a big fur seal colony and we walked amongst them, keeping a wary distance!











We've just come back from, what has to be one of the highlights of our trip, a whale watching tour on a catamaran. Of course, this meant some hours at sea which entailed a visit to the nice pharmacist before hand. He sold me some of his own remedy sea sickness tablets and I am pleased to report I spent the trip watching a sperm whale, albatrosses, dusky dolphins and seals rather than hanging over the side.


It was brilliant getting about 5 miles off shore, the catamaran bounced about and the spray was flying. We got to the canyon and waited and waited until eventually a huge sperm whale came into sight. It stayed on the surface for about 10 mins then dived with it's spectacular tail suspended in mid-air.





Sadly our photos don't do it justice. We were then lucky to find ourselves in the middle of a pod of dusky dolphins. Fantastic! They swam in synchronised style and right under the boat. On our way back to the Marina we came across a playful fur seal which entertained us for a while clapping it's flippers, rolling and placing them over it's eyes!





It was amazing, how will we better this. Well tomorrow we're on our way to Christchurch and praying for a calm introduction to this unstable city.



- Posted by Annie & Jim using BlogPress from THE iPad

Location:Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand

Love is SO fickle

Let me introduce you to Fred, our new friend, a Subaru Forester. I know the reg. is FLD but you know that dyslexic thing...

Two days in and I couldn't wait to tell you how gorgeous the North Island is, I know I thought I loved Australia, but it must have just been a crush cos this is the real thing. My husband just called me a travel tart!

We left Auckland and drove to the Coromandel Peninsula, passing through alpine type countryside, rolling hills, green fields, pastel coloured beehives, rushing streams and meandering rivers. Just gorgeous. The weather was hot, hot, hot!



What a relief - New Zealanders drive like Europeans! They drive a bit faster and overtake! Phew.

Whitianga is delightful, a small town on the coast on the peninsula with beautiful beaches and towering cliffs. Today we've been to Hot Water Beach where you can dig your own hot tub on the beach as its over a hot spring. From there we went to Cathedral Cove, oh man, paradise. It has gorgeous volcanic islands in the bay and the water is turquoise. Once again a hot, hot day.
















Tonight we have eaten some of the best fish and chips ever, sitting on the beach watching the ferry go backwards and forwards across the bay.







Unlike Australia, where it is dark by 8pm, it stays light here until about 9.30 which is fantastic for evening wanderings. Tomorrow we're heading for Rotorua, a town in a geo-thermal area. Apparently here it's known as heaven and hell, it's beautiful but smells of rotten eggs! I'll let you know presently.


- Posted by Annie & Jim using BlogPress from THE iPad

Location:Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand

A mini adventure

Hello from beautiful Auckland. Hope we find you fit and well and enjoying January.

Our 'killing time' trip turned out to be a little gem, we went south to a lovely coastal spot called Kiami with white sands and crashing waves. Its claim to fame is a blowhole where the sea comes crashing through a tunnel in the rocks causing spray to jet into the air.


Highlights were seven mile beach, nurse sharks in a protected bay where the rocks were black and yellow and massive pelicans perched on top of streetlights as if they were sparrows!






We've discovered on our travels that Aussies don't eat late and take-aways and restaurants close quite early. Somehow we'd forgotten that, and as the pizza place was the only one open, it was pizza on Wednesday night followed by pizza on Thursday. Oh well, such is life. The manager of the motel was a little full of himself - you know the type, he told us how good he was at his job, how much his new car cost, where he was going on holiday, how he never gets any complaints. We couldn't get away from him. However, when we eventually walked into our room unfortunately it hadn't been serviced! He looked slightly sheepish then when he had to knock and deliver towels, crockery, etc! We had a little giggle at his expense. Friday saw us driving further south to Booderee National Park which is jointly owned with the state park authority but Aborigine managed, you pay $10 to go into the park and are given a 24 hour pass. There is an Aborigine township and Jervis Bay which sells itself on having the whitest sand in the world. Not sure about that, white sand is white sand...
We ventured into the Australian National Botanic Gardens which are lovely but slightly ... brown! Apart from the ubiquitous massive blue and white agapanthus which grows like weeds everywhere, there are not many brightly coloured plants. However there was an area of tropical rainforest and, there, curled up on a log was a python. Nice!!


Driving further south it all becomes a bit Skeggy, you know holiday camps, water parks and loads of kids. We've managed to avoid children thus far, except from at a distance, so decided to leave the coast and head for the southern highlands to enjoy a wee drop of Scottish hospitality. We found a lovely little apartment to stay in at Bundanoon attached to a house called Glow Worm Retreat! The owners, John and Rosemary, were fab, we were invited for dinner and shared a barbie with them. You can never have enough steak! Or sausages! Or wine! The next day we had a look at Fitzroy Falls, a long walk, uphill, eventually took us to the west rim of an enormous valley. The falls dropped over several different escarpments which became clear as you walked further round the rim.







Gorgeous. That night Jim decided to walk into the woods at the end of the garden which took him to a gully, to see the glow-worms. I was watching tennis on telly and couldn't be bothered. John had told us there were loads of wombats living down the side of the path. They make huge burrows. He had been gone, with his torch, for about 30 minutes when he appeared at the door panting and looking as if he had run a marathon. 'What's up, is something chasing you?' I asked, very concerned. (Ha-ha) 'No,' he replied, nonchalantly, looking behind him. He obviously wasn't keen on being in the woods on his own in the dark, imagining he was being chased by rabid wombats!!

We said bye bye to Dippy on Sunday, after 10 weeks, and settled into the Holiday Inn at Sydney airport. More tennis then.





Bye Sydney, bye Australia.

A 3 hour flight, non-eventful apart from being in cattle class on Quantas' budget partner, JetConnect, a 20 minute bus trip and a 10 minute walk to the hotel, put watches on 2 more hours and off we went to explore Auckland. We're now 13 hours in front of the UK. The sun was shining, it was a beautiful evening and we stumbled on a great Mexican restaurant, bliss - a change of diet!

Tomorrow we begin our New Zealand adventure.

(This blog will be published as soon as we can get wi-fi access, don't know when that'll be though)


- Posted by Annie & Jim using BlogPress from THE iPad

Location:Auckland, New Zealand

Just the two of us...

Before I start, forgive me whilst I say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIAM - 25 TODAY!

How can that be, where did the years go?


Anyway, here it is, our last day in Sydney and we're pretty pleased it's arrived cos we've got seriously itchy feet. We've loved being here, loved time together, loved time with our sons individually but it's definitely time to go. Alex left yesterday at 5.35pm, he arrives at Heathrow at 5.55am this morning, or 4.55pm Oz time. I was so jealous, I really wanted to get on a plane, obviously not to the UK though, that would be just stupid!


He text this morning to say the toilets at Bangkok airport have gone downhill, he was seriously impressed with how clean they were on the way here!!

Over the past few days we've visited the zoo, Manly, Cremorne Point and the Domaine in Sydney. The harbour bridge was closed for repair work over the weekend so we walked over it and partook of coffee at the Opera House bar. We've bought boomerangs and a didgeridoo, kangaroo jerky, soft koala and kangaroo toys and sent them all back home with Alex!



















An electrician has just been to fix the bedroom ceiling fans - which is handy as it's our last day after 5 weeks here! The apartment is packed up, everything back into cases and tomorrow morning we're off. We've got 4 nights before we need to return the car to the airport so have decided to head south towards Batemans Bay. Well, to be honest we'll just see where we end up. I know that I shouldn't, and I do still feel incredibly lucky to be here, but it's almost like killing time until we leave Australia. It's time to see another country.

Data collected: (some figures are approximate)

Number of dead kangaroos on road: 70
Number of snakes in grass: 4
Number of times breathalysed: 3
Number of times stopped for speeding: 1
Number of times should have been stopped for speeding: 15 (hmm)
Number of middle aged men in budgie smugglers: 100s (yeuch)
Number of fit blokes in board shorts: Kept getting distracted and losing count
Percentage of English programmes on telly: 75
Number of 'big icons' in towns, e.g., sheep, lobster, banana: 40
Number of times experienced slow service in cafes: 30+ (all orders delivered in order, regardless of whether it's 2 coffees or 6 main courses)
Number of inept ticket machines which only issue 1 ticket at a time, no multiples, and take ages to go through the process and where the queue is massive: 24 or at every ferry wharf
Number of G'days: 500
Number of great coffees: 100
Number of amazing views: 1000s

Reflecting upon Australia - it is jaw droppingly beautiful, has very diverse environments and the animals are gorgeous but sometimes weird. The Aussies are friendly and helpful, but very different in the cities to the small towns. They are surprisingly compliant and are very controlled, both at local and federal level. Gun crime is high, in rural areas and in the cities, a series of drug related drive by shootings has occurred in Sydney whilst we have been here. The weather is gorgeous but changeable. Binge drinking is a problem but the culture and all social events have a drinking focus. Salaries are very good and staff levels are high which results in a high cost of living. Beaches are stunning and family life is clearly important, families gather together in parks and on the beaches, having barbies and picnics. Food is not great, portions are large and there is a lot of steak and fried stuff. Overall we have enjoyed our adventures around Australia, our favourite bits have been the Great Ocean Road, Melbourne's parks, the Barossa and Sydney's hidden coves, not forgetting the drive across the barren middle.

Time to go - see you in New Zealand!



- Posted by Annie & Jim using BlogPress from THE iPad

Location:Lindsay St,Neutral Bay,Australia

Rocking Sydney

What a fantastic weekend - it was Sydney Festival's first night and the city rocked! The centre was closed to traffic and there were bands, acrobats, theatre, dancers, street artists, light shows, food stalls, etc all over the place. We started in College Street and watched a soul band called Electric Empire, then wound our way through the circus caravans, past trapeze and acrobats to Hyde Park where Norman Jay and his London double decker bus was playing some grand tunes.










The figure on top is Jay Kay from Jamiroquai shaking his stuff. Police are ever so slightly heavy handed here, confiscating booze and tipping it out, prowling round in groups of 5 or 6, not talking to anyone and certainly not enjoying the party. They're all weaponed up, couldn't see that happening in Europe, where I am sure they would be relieved of their guns!!! Norman Jay was doing his best, shouting, 'even the police dance in Notting Hill!'

At the cathedral we watched an amazing theatre production about climate change where the stage, suspended but flat at the start, gradually became vertical and raised high above the crowds. The actors performed on wires in front of projected images onto it. Pretty jaw dropping stuff.

We finished the night at a street party, where the whole street was transformed into a club, music courtesy of the Trocadera Dance Palace, complete with a big blowsy drag queen. Brilliant.









On Sunday we dragged ourselves out of bed and went on a behind the scenes tour of the Opera House. What a beautiful building, and loads of stories to tell. Liam loved it - obviously!















After a leisurely breakfast we walked round the market at Kirribilli, finishing off with a barbie, hope you like the arty farty photos!!

















A perfect weekend!

We said goodbye to Liam on Monday, we've had a brilliant time and were really sad to see him go. We dropped him off at Sydney airport in the bright sunshine for his 4.25pm 6 hour flight to Singapore, followed by a 16 or 17 hour flight to Heathrow arriving at 5.05am on Tuesday. (How can that be?!) He text to say he'd decided to change out of shorts and T-shirt into jeans at Heathrow, big mistake! Freezing on the bus between terminals!





I am getting worried now, the time is going so fast! We've spent a few hours this week planning our New Zealand trip, first hotel is booked, we've decided on a car rather than a camper van, and booked it. Ferry between north and south island is booked. We're getting excited all over again.

Yesterday the temperature was well into the thirties and we spent it walking around the headland at Manly. It was truly gorgeous, very rocky and scrubby with swamps sitting on top of rock. Weird! Very moonlike landscape, well what I imagine, if they have swamps on the moon!!











We're going to pick Alex up tonight, guessing he has plenty of tales to tell judging by the photos posted on Facebook! We've got the pleasure of his company for the weekend then he's off back to sunny Sheffield next Monday leaving us to pack up the apartment and say goodbye to Sydney. Seems ages since we got here, yet not long since we were panicking about the keys, if you know what I mean. Christmas has become a distant memory.

Off to the library now to use their printing facilities. Speak next week!

- Posted by Annie & Jim using BlogPress from THE iPad

Location:Lindsay St,Neutral Bay,Australia