Tramp Down Under
4/24/2003-5/12/2003

My wife and I journeyed to New Zealand and Australia in late April and early May. My daughter is attending school at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and we used this as an excuse for a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

4/24 - Atlanta; LA

Atlanta to LAX via Delta; switch terminals to Bradley International; old with expensive food; Flights to NZ leave late evening so we had a wait. Flight left at 9:20PM, arrives Aukland NZ 5:20AM two days later. That is, there was no April twentyfifth for us.

26/4* - Aukland; Christchurch (* note, NZ and OZ use reversed dates)

Thirteen hour hop from LA to Aukland. That's a long time in a cramped position, and this was not one of those planes for which each seat had its own monitor with five movies to choose from. So things dragged a little, but we were able to catch a little sleep. We were served two meals: a late night dinner and an early morning breakfast. Decent airline food, and much better than what we got on the return flight.

The next step was to take an Air New Zealand flight to Christchurch. When we took our baggage through Customs, the Air New Zealand people asked if we wanted to catch an earlier flight. We were willing, but it required switching terminals--a "ten minute walk" to the domestic terminal that took longer and was a little stressful, given that we were dragging luggage and trying to get there before the flight left.

Anyway we made it and had a beautiful flight between the island, following the progress on the map and out the window. What a beautiful country: water, mountains, green fields, blue skies, and 20°C. (All temperatures will be given in Celcius from now on because that's what's used Down Under.)

At Christchurch airport, we used the Airport Information Service desk to contact our hotel transfer connection, who soon showed up. This was the first of many extremely pleasant interactions with the people of New Zealand.

We were able to check in early at the Heritage Hotel in Christchurch, the nicest we stayed in the whole trip, except for the other Heritage Hotel we stayed in Queenstown six nights later. Showered and shaved before venturing out on the town. (New Zealand and Australia use 220-240V electrical outlets with angled plugs. I had brought both a converter and an adapter plug that I used in England. With one exception, every hotel we stayed in had a builtin outlet the would support American electric razors. Most, but not all, also had blow driers in the room. But we still needed both the converter and the adapter for the curling iron my wife had brought.)

Chistchurch is a pleasant town, which was walkable from our hotel, with stone buildings and a nearby signature Cathedral. We ate a nice lunch at Le Cafe on Worchester Street. Learned that grapefruit juice is orange in New Zealand and doesn't taste like the Florida variety that I am used to. You can, however, ask for "pink grapefruit juice" and get something a little more familiar.

We then had a look through Earnest Rutherford's house. This Nobel laureate was from Christchurch before spending his academic career in England. The house feature some working equipment to demonstrate his ideas.

We then walked through the extensive Botanical Gardens and nearby Hagley Park. Even though it is Fall Down Under, we saw many varieties of flowering bushes and plants through out our stay. The park and gardens are bisected by the River Avon, and punts and other boats were abundant, either self-propelled or with quaintly dressed punters to do the hard work. Lots of bird life, including many varieties we had not seen before.

Back to the hotel, we tried to stay awake until 8:00PM to resync our internal clock. There is a ten hour difference between NZ and Atlanta, which made it 4:00AM when we finally gave in to our comfortable bed.

27/4 - Christchurch; TransScenic Train; Graymouth

After breakfast from a nearby Starbucks, we set off for the train to take us to the west coast. New Zealand consists of two main islands, North and South. We chose to visit the more scenic and less populated South Island, which is split by a North-South range of mountains called the Alps. On Sunday, the twentyseventh, we took the trans Alps train from Christchurch to Graymouth on the Tasman Sea. The weather was somewhat overcast, starting at 10° before warming up. But this did not keep us from being able to see the mountains and gorge as the train made its four hour trip. The seats were comfortable, a snack bar available, and one of the cars offered an open-air platform for better views and photographs.

Once the train got through the tunnel that went under the divide, the sun came out to even more beautiful scenery. Although this far north there was no snow on the mountains, there were lakes, gorges, and fields to view.

Graymouth itself has little to offer save the Gray river. And the return of clouds and cool breezes did not bode well. Also, our hotel, the Quality King, although adequate, was the least appealing of those we stayed at during our trip. However, our spirits lifted as soon as we began our van tour with Kea Tours. Our host was very knowledgeable and pleasant. We went North from Graymouth along the coast visiting overlooks of the ocean, a rain forest, the Pancake rock formations. The tour lasted for two hours and we were joined by two others. Overall, a wonderful afternoon.

Returning to Graymouth, we walked a bit through the town trying to find an appealing restaurant that was open open on Sunday. We settled for the 1-2-3 Cafe, featuring "Chicken Lasange" (batter-fried cheese and meet)-adequate but you should be able to do better when more restaurants are open.
 

28/4 - Graymouth; ; ???; Lake Matheson; Fox Glacier; Franz Joseph Glacier

The hotel in Graymouth, despite their soft bed, had a decent breakfast buffet, including fresh-baked muffins, hot from the oven. After checking out, we were picked up again by Linda from Kea tours for our trip south to Franz Joseph Glacier. Once again, the morning was a chilly 10° and overcast with a stiff wind, but once we got underway, the sun came out, the wind died and a beautiful day emerged. The tour is well-designed, with frequent stops for views and photographs. One stop was in the town of ??, where we had 45 minutes for stretching our legs and shopping. We most enjoyed the glass-blowing shop with beautiful pieces that you could see being fashioned before your eyes.

Another major stop was at the Fox Glacier. After a 30 minute walk, we arrived at the Glacier, which we learned to our surprise, was blue from the pressure of the ice. Like its companion at Franz Joseph, the Fox glacier has been retreating for hundreds of years. Panoramic photgraphs on placards annotated with topograph lines illustrated the position of the glaciers in previous years, giving a dramatic illustration of how the earth changes.

We stopped for lunch at a nice cafe at Lake Matheson. On our hike to the lake we saw many interesting birds, along with eels and ducks. In fact, interesting bird songs filled our trip to both New Zealand and Australia.

We ended our tour with a trip to a hill overlooking the Franz Joseph glacier, also dramatically receded from its extent 250 years before. On the trip into town, I got a recommendation for a restaurant that turned out to be the best of our trip: The Landing, next door to our hotel. Everything about the meal was delightful: interesting decor, the service, the prices, and the food. I had greenlip mussels, a New Zealand speciality; highly recommended.

On the way back to the hotel, we gazed up into the crystal clear sky to see the Southern Cross embedded into the Milky Way. An awesome way to end an awesome day.
 

29/4 - Franz Joseph; Knight's Point; Lake Hawea; Lake Wanaka

Next morning, on the walk to breakfast, it was still dark. In the NE sky, just above the tops of the mountains, was an unusual configuration of the night sky, with the cresent moon adjacent to a bright Venus, portending another great day. After a decent breakfast buffet, we boarded the Inner City bus for our trip to Lake Wanaka.

Before heading inland, we stopped at Knight's Point to view the Tasman Sea. Evidently Tasman explored this area and Australia for the Dutch well before Captain Cook opened up the region for the British.

We also stopped at a salmon farm at the haf-way point for a nice lunch. After which we also stopped at Thunder Falls to view the waterfall.

The direction of the trip was largely southward between to of New Zealand's largest lakes: Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka. Both lakes were formed by glaciers, and both offered spectacular scenery. The trip ended at the Lake Wanaka Resort, beautifully set on the south end of Lake Wanaka. We explored the immaculate grounds bordering the lake before ending the day with a nice meal in the hotel's restaurant.
 

30/4 - Lake Wanaka, ?? Island; Queenstown

The next morning started with a decent buffet breakfast at the Resort, after which we were picked up by a van along with another couple for a short trip to the marina where we would board a boat to explore the lake. The temperature was around ° with a stiff wind from the north. It turned out the wind produced a heavy chop against which we struggled for 30 minutes before deciding to divert to an alternative, and more sheltered destination: ?? Island.

The island, although uninhabited, did feature a naturalist station where efforts were being made to reestablish the Weeka bird. The bird is threatened by ferrets, which were introduced to New Zealand. Ferret trap populated the area.

After returning to the resort and checking out, we were transferred by van to Queenstown and the Heritage Hotel overlooking Lake W??. Our room contained a balcony overlooking the lake, and a magnificant panorama took our breathes away. We used a hotel-provided bus pass into town for a walk and dinner at the Boardwalk restuarnt on the ?? Pier. Although the restaurant had been recommended by two different guidebooks, one of our meals was cold and with the wrong salad dressing. Also, the restaurant was overpriced.

1/5 - Milford Sound

Queenstown is located near the south end of the South Island and is the closest city to New Zealand's famous fjords. After a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, we visited one particular fjord called Milford Sound. (As explained to later, Milford Sound is misnamed--sounds are scoured by rivers, and fjords are scraped out by glaciers. Milford Sound should really be Milford Fjord.) To get to the fjord requires a four-hour bus ride, enlivened by a well-informed driver who had been making the windy, mountain crossing traverse without incident for 32 years! Moreover, the drive was ocassionally broken by stops for tea, photographs, or short hikes.

The morning was inauspicious with a temperature of 10° and a heavy overcast. But the driver was optimistic that once we got over the divide, conditions would improve. In fact, the conditions turned out to be ideal. The rain that had accompanied the clouds spawned a myriad of dramatic waterfalls that would disappear within hours of the rain's ending.

The actual tour of Sound was via a cruise boat including a decent on-board lunch. Queuing to board the boat, we experience the minor irritation of gnats, easily defeated with a mild application of bug spray. Once underway, the bugs were left behind. The cruise, with the nascent waterfalls, was even more dramatic than the photos used to market it. The crusise proceeds outward to the edge of the Tasman Sea, sighting seals, and briefly dipping into a permanent waterfall.

After finishing the cruise, the bus trip back went almost without incident. The one exception was when a line of traffic stalled in a tunnel because another tour bus could fit!

2/5 - Queenstown, Aukland, Sydney

Friday was a travel day for us, flying from Queenstown to Sydney via Aukland. Sunrise in Queenstown was brilliant, reinforcing just how beautiful New Zealand can be. The low angle of the sun provided deep contrast, and the snow capped mountains counterpointed by the lake. Once we got into the air, however, the overcast prevented seeing much of New Zealand.

After paying our $25, per person, New Zealand exit tax, we boarded our Quantas flight for an uneventful flight to Sydney.

Our ??? hotel in Sydney was also on the water at South Quay (pronounce key), but we had opted for the less-expensive room without the view.

3/5 - Sydney

After a quick breakfast at Starbucks across the street from the hotel, we were picked up by a van for a transfer to the bus station. The bus we took provided a half-day tour of Sydney and its environs. The temperature was 20°  and the sky a brilliant blue, perfect for a day of sightseeing. The tour included a park with a view of the harbor, and another of the beaches Northwest of the city. Although the driver did provide some interesting historical tidbits, the main commentary seemed to be about the real-estate prices of each of the sections we drove through.

The bus returned us to South Quay (pronounced Key) near our hotel, where we boarded a boat for a luncheon cruise around the harbor. Awesome views slightly outweighed the aweful food.

Returning to South Quay, we decided to skip the afternoon bus tour and opt to walk through the nearby Sydney botanic garden. In addition to the interesting assortment of unusual trees some of which were adorned with flying foxes, there was an unexpected sense of peace and quite in the middle of the country's largest city.

We also walked through the nearby section of town called The Rocks, combining trendy shops and restraurants with constant access to the harbor and its views, somewhat similar to Baltimore's Innter Harbor.

As we returned to the hotel, we also did some shopping for opals, of which Australia is the main source. We found a reputable store called the ??, with staff patient enough to convince us that the earrings we settled on wered worth the price we were paying.

Back at the hotel, we asked the conceirge for a nearby informal and quiet restaurant. What we got, The Waterfront in The Rocks, was nearby, but it was also expensive and noisy, with only mediocre food.

4/5 - Blue Mountains

For breakfast, we tried the buffet in the hotel and were rewarded with our best breakfast yet. This and another bright sunny day had us in good spirits for our excursion to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. The bus ride out took several hours through the Sydney suburbs before reaching the foothills and their forests. Here we stopped for an unclose and personal look at some wild kangaroos along with a family of ducks. Another stop had us at an overlook together with some interesting, rocks eroded by the wind.

We were served a great lunch at the Hydro Majestic Spa, complete with its overlook of the mountains.

The high spot of the trip back was a stop at the Fernbrooke Nature Preserve, including its baby wallaby and lots of other interesting animals.

Back in dinner, we had a nice pizza at Zia Pina in the Rocks.

5/5 - Sydney, Brisbane

Next morning was raining in Sydney, but we were leaving for Brisbane, where it was sunny and warm. We took the train from the Brisbane airport to the Roma Street Station where we rolled our log a short distance to the Explorer's Hotel. We had booked this one ourself and opted for an inexpensive, centrally located hotel. The modest room was clean but one of the door locks and the window lock were broken and there were some ominous oil drops in the elevator.

Our daughter was attending class this semester at the University of Queensland and we met on the City Cat for a quick jaunt across the river to the South Bank. Brisbane is locate on the winding Brisbane River, and one of the best ways to get around is to take the City Cat ferry. Besides being inexpensive and running promptly and frequently, it also avoided traffic and gave a nice view of the city's well kept environs.

Our hotel was in a section of the city north of the river about four short blocks from a ferry stop. The next stop down stream was the South Bank, a park area that included an extensive lagoon (swimming and waterplay area), a Buddist padoda, and lots of space for walking or sitting within view of the river. Nearby were restaurants and shops.

Our daughter took the ferry in from her apartment up river and we joined her for the short trip to South Bank. Unfortunately, we had all forgotten that the 5th of May in Austrialia is Memorial Day, and restaurants were either closed or charged a surcharge. Fortunately we were able to find a nearby Mediterranean restaurant (??) that was open and had no extra charge. We had a nice reunion meal before using the City Cat to return to our respective abodes for the evening.

6/5 - University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane

Another perfect morning had us eating the first of three breakfast buffets at our hotel. This was part of our package, but although adequate, was fairly threadbare compared to others that we had had. After breakfast, we took the City Cat upriver to the University of Queenland where we had arrange to take a short tour. The University had a pleasant setting together with striking sandstone buildings. The parklike setting on the river, with plenty of greenspace, seemed a nice match with the Australian ambiance we had come to expect. We had lunch under a canopy of trees at the campus bookstore (Wordsmith's) before heading back to town.

In town, we walked through the nearby botanical garden. After returning to the hotel, we did a little wash in the hotels laundry to tide us over with clean clothes for the rest of the trip.

For dinner, we journed back toward UQ to meet our daughter near her apartment for dinner. The restaurant was the Thai Garden, and after some pleasant negotiation, I was able to obtain an adequate meal without MSG.

7/5 - Lone Pine Preserve, Brisbane

Today we were headed for the Lone Pine Wildlife Preserve. Although there was a special bus, it ran to $33A per person. We decided to take a much more reasonable ($4.50) city bus which left from the nearby Queen Street Mall. We needed to use the Information Center inside to find the right bus stop, upstairs at street level. But once on board had no trouble arriving at our destination.

Lone Pine is the place for koalas in Australia, with over 130 residents. Koalas are a small marsupial which seems spontaneously cause women to ooh and ah. For a $15A donation, you could have your picture taken holding one and take as many others as you wish. In addition to koalas, there were lots of kangaroos, wallabies, and birds. We had a nice lunch at the sanctuary's cafe before taking the last bus (3:30) back to town.

As this was our last night in Brisbane, we took our daughter and her friend to Pier 9, and trendy seafood restaurant overlooking the river. The food was excellent.

8/5 - Brisbane, Cairnes (pronounced Cans)

The last stop on our tramp was further north in Cairnes. We had a window seat on the right side of the plane, and the weather cooperated to give us a great view from the air of the Great Barrier Reef. Our hotel in Cairnes overlooked the water and its adjacent city park. After arriving and getting settled, we walked through the park, which included a lagoon and yet more bats. Cairnes is very much a tourist town, and we hoped to find one of several recommended restaurants with no so success. So we settled for an adequate pizza.

9/5 - Port Douglas

We had two days in Cairnes, and it turned out that both of them involved visits to Port Douglas, two hours up the scenic costal highway. The first day involved a somewhat cramped van; while the second day had a larger bus. But both days featured informative guides.

For the 9th, we were visiting the Wildlife Preserve in Port Douglas. Our breakfast in the hotel featured some local fruit, including Po Po (papaya), star fruit, and kiwi, along with excellent pastries.

The Reserve had three section, each with an informative guided tour. The rain forest section had lots of interesting birds; the mandatory koala section, and the grasslands, featuring emu, BIG crockadiles, and a wallaby joey emerging for the first time from its mother's pouch. We had a nice lunch under a tent, and after returning to Caines, a nice dinner in the hotel.

10/5 - Port Douglas, Great Barrier Reef

This was our last day, and we saved the best for last with our trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Needless to say, the weather was again perfect. This required another trip to Port Douglas, which suggests that we should have looked into staying there rather than Cairnes. Cairnes is the departure point for a 30KM boat ride out to an anchored platform in the reef. The boat was very comfortable, including both inside and outside areas for sitting. Tea/coffee were provided and other drinks/candies were available at surprisingly modest prices.

During the boat ride out, an announcement offerred the opportunity to partake in a 45 minute snorkling excursion with a naturalist. Another possibility was to go scuba diving, even with no prior experience! We had been warned not to scuba within 24 hours of flying, so I opted for the snorkling (for an extra $35A). In addition, I chose to pay the $5A fee to obtain a wet suit. This was more to protect again a coral infection than to protect from water temperatures that would not have presented a problem.

We took a small boat 100 meters away from the platform, before donning our masks and fins and entering the water. I had asked for and obtained special magnifying goggles to compensate for my extreme myopia. This worked just fine. The water had a few waves, but once you were looking down at the amazing coral, they were completely forgotten. The pattern was to follow the naturalist who would ocassionally point down at an interest fish, shell, or coral formation after which she would return to the surface to explain what we had just seen. The water was probably 5-7 meters deep and crystal clear. The formations, fish, and shells were overwhelming. I highly recommend the additional expense of this option.

There was a choice of a morning or afternoon excursion, and I had chosen the morning. Upon returning, we had a nice buffet lunch from which I concentrated on the sea food selections. After the lunch, we took a 30 minute ride on a boat with glass walls through which we could view the coral and learn something about what we were seeing. Aside from the fact that my pictures from inside the boat did not come out very well, the view was great.

Returning to the platform, I decided to try the water again. A marked off section was available for snorkling from the platform. I found this to be not nearly as interesting as what I had seen from the excursion.

The trip back enabled us to see a little of what Captain Cook saw when explored this way several hundred years before and nearly became imprisoned by the reef. After an uneventful ride back to Cairnes, we settled for a decent sandwich on the esplanade restaurant called Driftin.

11/5, 10/5, 11/5 - Cairnes, Brisbane, Aukland, Los Angeles, Atlanta

At 3:30AM on Mother's Day, our alarm awoke us for the start of our return from OZ. Our flight from Cairnes to Brisbane left at 5:00AM. We had a short layover in Brisbane before our hop to Aukland. On the flight from Aukland to LA, we had exit row seats, which gave us a little more room to stretch out. Also, each of the seats had its own screen, and a choice of five movies. Because, I don't sleep well on planes, I ended up seeing three, and still had plenty of time for two meals, plenty of reading, and a few short naps.

The flight from Aukland, left in the middle of the afternoon. Because it was going eastward, an hour's flight meant two hours on the clock. But before we could get to midnight, we crossed the International Date Line, which sent us back to late Saturday night. Another hour or so put us back into Sunday for the second time.

Other than this, the flight was uneventful. After a short layover in LA, we boarded our last of eleven flights to home in Atlanta. After 31 hours of traveling we arrived home to a night's sleep in our own beds and several confused days as we adjusted to our ten hours of jet lag.

Summary

Perfect weather, perfect arrangements, beautiful scenery and animals, pleasant people. A thoroughly enjoyable and memorable journey.