Australia, Day 13-14

Joe and I traveled to Cairns yesterday. Unfortunately, it was raining when we got here. We walked around to a couple of stores and ate dinner at a burger place. We called it an early night and went to sleep. 

Today's weather was cloudy, but at least it wasn't rainy! We got up early and walked around the marina some before checking into our Great Barrier Reef cruise. It was a 2 hour boat ride out to the Moore Reef. We got to witness many people get sea sick!

When we got there, we were hoping for some sun, but it never came. Joe and I decided to snorkel first. We rented wet suits because it was kinda cold out on the water! I discovered that it is very difficult to take photos underwater, so I switched to video. 

The reef was not as colorful as I had hoped. Though it's not quite completely bleached, you can see that it is dying. One of the ladies near us said that she came a couple of years ago and that this is dramatically different from what she saw. One of the cool things was how close you were to it! I could reach out and touch it (but they warn you against this) so I just looked. You can apparently be fined a pretty penny (or 2,000) for touching the reef intentionally. 

When we were tired of snorkeling, we came inside and ate some of the lunch buffet (mainly the fruit). After that, we went on the glass bottom boat tour. We got the same type of views that we did snorkeling. 

You can see the reef areas from the boat because of the discoloration of the water. I really wanted to do the helicopter view, but it cost $300 so we opted not to!

We got back around 5:30 and decided to eat at a restaurant that our tour director had suggested. We will be flying back to New Zealand tomorrow!

Australia, Day 12

Hobbiton, Hobbiton, Hobbiton, It's where I wanna be! Today was our last day on the tour, but we got to finish strong with a visit to the Hobbiton movie set. It was a 1 hour journey by bus to get there, but we got to watch behind the scenes clips from the movie on the drive. It helped pass some time and get the excitement level up. Other than being a tad chilly, the weather was perfect (as it's been everyday of this tour). It was a pretty structured tour, so not much wandering off on your own, but it did take us past all the different hobbit holes, stopping for a while at Frodo and Bilbo's house and ending up at the Green Dragon. Plenty of time for pictures... and we took a lot. It was interesting to learn that the original styrofoam set had almost been completely torn down after the LOTR films. Even so, it was still popular as a tourist location. When it was time for the Hobbit movies, they rebuilt it with solid building materials keeping future tourism in mind.

 

 

 

 

After Hobbiton, we boarded a bus for Hell's Gate Geothermal Park. It was pretty much just a spa with a natural mud bath and sulfur hot tub. It didn't smell too good. Me and Joe probably shoulda passed on this one, but the girls seemed to enjoy it. 

 

We continued our learning about the geothermal activity in Rotorua by visiting the Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao Geothermal Village... or "Whaka" for short. We learned more about the Maori culture and got to see some hot springs. Some of them were hotter than boiling point so they were fenced off. They use the springs for cooking and bathing, it's an endless supply of free hot water! There were also some geysers, but none of them went off while we were there.

 

Tomorrow I lead the troops home while Rachel and Joe head off for more adventure. Unfortunately, they have to be in Auckland early in the morning for their flight. It's 3 hours away so they will be leaving around 1:30AM. Our flight is in the afternoon, so I get to sleep in a little (til 7:45 or so) and then we head home. Really not looking forward to the flight but will nice to be home!

Australia, Day 11

(Warning: Tired writer)

We didn't blog yesterday because we essentially spent the whole day getting from Australia to New Zealand...nothing too exciting to report. 

Today was our first full day in New Zealand. We had an early 6 AM start. We spent 3 hours traveling to Rotorua. We will be here today and tomorrow before the group travels home. 

We attended a sheep shearing show at the Agrodome. They brought out 19 different types of sheep! The guy that was conducting the show was quite funny, but he seemed cruel when shearing the sheep. I did not enjoy watching that demonstration. However, it did get better when they showcased their dogs and how they herd the sheep. 

Our tour director had told us that New Zealand was known for their many adventurous opportunities--and that is definitely true! After the show, we went to a place called AgroAdventure. David, Joe and I were a little hesitant to participate in one of their many activities, but eventually Davis and I decided to try out a ride called the Sweeb. You got in a monorail type vehicle and peddled your way though the course. When I was done, I told the lady she should of paid me for that workout! 

Next, we went to a place called OBO where you can zorb. This is where you get in a large inflatable ball and roll down the hill. I hadn't ever experienced anything like this, so I decided to participate while the boys sat and watched. It was amazing--except that you got wet and it was 55 degrees outside! 

Our last adventure of the day was at the Skyline gondola. We traveled up to the top of a small mountain and saw amazing views of Lake Rotorua. At the top, I decided to get on a huge crane/swing with the girls and fly high over the mountain side. David opted to try the luge race course. Both activities got high ratings from us! 

For dinner, we ate at a Maori feast. We got to go through and experience this indigenous tribe's culture. One of our favorite things in New Zealand has been watching their rugby team and this tribe participate in the haka. If you don't know what this is, I highly recommend you google a video! 

David and Joe doing the haka! 

Australia, Day 9

Today was our last full day in Sydney (and Australia). We had another busy day, and we were already pretty tired to begin. First we started with a walk to the opera house. We had a tour, but only got to see a couple of the rooms. There was some pretty interesting history surrounding the design and construction. The architect left the project midway and never came back to see it completed, even though he lived a good while after it was finished. I found a good book about it in the gift shop... I'll be ordering it on Amazon. 

 

 

 

Then we took a water ferry and headed to Taronga Zoo. We took a short detour to Fort Denison located in the middle of Sydney Harbor. It was a fort built to guard the Harbor, but took too long to build, so it never really became anything more than a landmark. It was a nice place to take pictures of the opera house (you know, in case our other 300 pictures don't turn out...).

 

At the zoo, we took a gondola to reach the top of the hill, and then worked our way down to see the animals. Nothing too interesting, but the giraffe exhibit had a pretty good view. I took a picture of a chameleon for Emma. Pascal from Tangled is a chameleon, so we'll see if she makes the connection. We finished the zoo with a rather odd presentation by a local aboriginal man, we did get to pet a lizard which was somewhat interesting.

 

 

 

 

We finished up with a dinner at the Australian Hotel located in "The Rocks" district of Sydney. It was recommended by our guide for its local pizza choices. Me and Joe had a crocodile, mushroom, olive pizza and Rachel had a cheese pizza. We walked back and stopped at the Sydney Eye which is a huge tower/observation deck in the middle of the city, similar to Seattle's Space Needle. Surprisingly, it was one of the only places that didn't offer good views of the Opera House. Rachel got a good shot of Hyde Park which we walked through each day to get to our hotel. 

 

Tomorrow we leave at 6:30 AM to go to the airport and fly to New Zealand. 

Australia, Day 8

This morning we left for a short city tour which ended at Bondi beach. We all opted to do the 90 minute surf lesson. How cool to learn to surf at a world renown beach! 

David and Joe were pros. They both got several good waves in. I, on the other hand, got an A for effort :) I could stand up on the board.....for about 2 seconds before I would fall backwards! By the time I got a hang of it, I was too tired to get my feet up on the board anymore. My surf instructor told me I'd sleep good tonight after all that work!

After our surf lesson, Joe and I immediately headed over to the Sydney Bridge Climb. This was an activity Joe had heard about and really wanted to do. We had to wear special jump suits with belts that had all kinds of utility items hooked to it. They didn't allow us to take anything, including cameras, up with us. 

Climbing wasn't as nerve wracking as I would of thought. We climbed the bottom of the bridge, right above all the cars, before climbing the top arch. We did get to go all the way to the peak and take photos! We missed sunset by about 20 minutes. 

After climbing, we had a 40 minute walk back to Darling Harbor to meet up with Dave. He had been on a harbor cruise while we were climbing. We ate at a steakhouse in the harbor. Joe got seared kangaroo and we all tried a little of it! (It wasn't too bad, but I'll stick to steak haha)

But the time we got back to our hotel, I thought my legs were going to fall off! But that won't stop me from getting up for an early walk to the park by the opera house!

Australia, Day 7

Today was another travel day. From about 7AM to 3PM nothing happened. Both of the stops were gas station rest areas. It was our driver's last day on the tour and we were sad to lose him. We'll get a new driver in New Zealand. 

 

When we arrived in Sydney the first stop was the Opal Museum, pretty much a tourist trap where they show you a 7 minute video on opals, and then lead you into the $howroom. Rachel thought they looked like mood rings. We didn't stay long so that was a plus.

Then we headed to the Darling Harbor for a group dinner at a restaurant called Blackbird. We all agreed it was the best meal so far on the tour. Me and Joe had spaghetti and Rachel had the Caesar salad. 

After dinner, a large portion of the group headed off to see the Sydney Swans. Me and Joe debated going, but we still really don't understand rugby, and we didn't want to be stuck at the game, especially on our first night in the city. We decided to do some exploring on our own. We headed down to "The Rocks" and got our first good view of the opera house. Then we headed back to Darling Harbor and took a ride on the Ferris wheel that overlooks the city and got some ice cream. Finally, we headed home by taking a stroll through Hyde Park. We did roughly 18,000 steps from 3-9pm today. 

 

 

 

Australia, Day 6

Posting for Joe:

Today we went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast. While there we were able cuddle a koala and get our picture taken.  We also got to go into the kangaroo habitat and feed them food and pet them. We took a few selfies with them. It was a great experience, better than anything I have ever done before.  The wombats decided they didn't want to grace us with their presence so we decided to go visit the dingos that they had on the grounds.  Dingos are a mix between a wolf and dog.  

Rachel and I saw that they had some Tasmanian Devils in their habitat.  So we walked our way up to where they were.  Much to our dismay they were sleeping their houses so we couldn't see them. After a little bit more exploring we had to come across their area again and one was out of his little house.  He definitely did not look like the Tasmanian Devil from The cartoon Looney Tunes.

Byron Bay was our next stop on the trip.  We had about an hour and a half to spend in the town.  I must say the people we met there were really friendly.  They asked us where we were from and wanted to know about the trip.  When we told one of the girls that we were from North Carolina she mentioned that her grandmother lived in Hickory, North Carolina. 

Our trip ended at a smaller hotel called the Seabreeze Hotel. Not our best accommodation, but it's only a pit stop on the way to Sydney!

Australia, Day 5 (David & Joe edition)

Today was our second optional adventure. Rachel went heavy on the optional while me and Joe decided on the adventure. It was another 4WD tour, but this one focused more on the tropical locations on the Gold Coast. This tour definitely had more of a touristy vibe, but was still worth it. On the drive up to our first stop, the driver informed us that the Gold Coast was home to a newly booming movie industry. He mentioned a few movies that were filmed/filming here: Unbroken, the new Pirates of the Caribbean, Thor, and Aquaman... I'll need to check those out when I get home and see if I can recognize anything.

We started off with a quick walk through an area known for its heavy kangaroo population. Sure enough there were plenty. It was good because prior to today we really didnt get any good looks. We had seen a few small blobs on the side of the road while traveling but none up close. We also got to see our first koalas in the wild. There were a couple resting up in the trees.

 

After the quick walk, we headed into the rainforest to see a waterfall. It wasn't too strenuous of a hike and the view was pretty good. Unfortunately my cell phone camera doesn't really do it justice. 

 

Then we hopped back onto the bus and headed to lunch. After a less than stellar hotel dinner and breakfast, it was a pleasant surprise to walk up to a "barbeque" which is what they call "grilling out." Me and Joe both had the steak which was awesome. We also got to try some kangaroo. It was prepared like sausage and tasted ok... nothing too weird, nothing too good.

After lunch we got to try out throwing a boomerang. It was a little tricky, but after a few turns, me and Joe both had a few throws start to come back. No one was able to throw it perfectly and catch it, but one of our girls had the best throw of the day, so that was cool.

 

For the last stop of the tour we went on a swinging bridge "tree top" walk. The swinging bridges were kind of a bust, but there was a ladder on one of the trees that took you up to the very top of the trees for a pretty unique view. 

 

 

We got back around 5:30 (already dark due to it being the shortest day of the year today) and met up with Rachel for dinner. We walked around the shops of Surfer's Paradise and then settled on Hard Rock Cafe again. Our tour guide was encouraging us to check out an apparently very important Rugby game (NSW vs. QLD) to take in some of the local culture. After dinner, we stopped in a local pub to check out the action. The people were definitely excited. Can't say the same for us! We're tired. Looking forward to heading to Sydney tomorrow and hopefully getting some good wifi. Blogging has been a struggle these last two days. 

Rachel's Day 5

Today I deviated from the group tour and had a "me day" or as Caroline and I like to call them...a "treat yo self" day! 

When I got up this morning, I did a bit of laundry at the hotel. I'm not sure I actually packed enough to get through this trip. Because the weather is usually warm in the day and chilly in the evening, you almost have to wear two different outfits each day! 

I explored Surfers' Paradise, shopped, got my nails done, and then sat out at the beach. Though I'm a little sad I missed the kangaroos and koalas, I really didn't regret my stress free day! 

Australia, Day 4

Posting for Joe:

Today we said goodbye to Fraser Island. I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the island. Some of the things on the island were things I learned about in geography class in college. 

 

We left early in the morning and caught the ferry back to mainland Australia. We are now back on our tour bus headed to Surfers Paradise. The ride will be the equivalent of driving from North Carolina down to Savannah, Georgia. 

 

We arrived in Surfers Paradise around 3:30pm. It has the feel of Myrtle Beach. The city has high rise hotels and shops that line the streets. There is even a small shopping mall across the street from our hotel.  The hotel we are staying at sits right on the river and we are about two blocks from the beach.

 

This afternoon we had a demonstration on how to play a didgeridoo.  According to the guy giving the demonstration if the didgeridoo is long it is easier to play, but if it is a short one it is a little bit more difficult.