The last few days in New Zealand were a mixture of busy and relaxing moments. We saw some awesome and colorful geothermal areas in Rotorua. For me, the smell was not so bad. For others, they were ready to regurgitate. We met up with some friends in Rotorua. The Waitapu Thermal Wonderland is quite the area to hike around - the views are lovely. Just outside of that area are these very cool looking mud pools. They burp and gurgle as they spew mud. Really fun to watch and listen to them do their thing. In the "wonderland", the Champagne pool [View Full Entry]

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Full body 7 mm wetsuits for two days in a row - really, what more can a person want :) It was cold water out on the Tutukaka Coast yesterday, and colder water today while exploring the Waitomo Caves. Both were fabulous in their own way. After diving the Great Barrier Reef, we had a semi-lazy day in Port Douglas before flying to New Zealand. We arrived in Wellington close to midnight, and wearily found our night's accommodations. The next day, we explored Te Papa, the well-known and highly recommended national museum in Wellington. It is definitely worth a visit. Lots [View Full Entry]

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I have heaps to tell about my travels over the last few days, and I am sure to forget about something. After Melbourne, I flew to Hobart which is a city in (on?) the island state of Tasmania. You truly need about two weeks to experience Tasmania. I saw what I could in the few days that I was there. The weather was agreeable. Still cold there, oh, and we had that whole tsunami warning while I was there. (Nothing happened, people.) There was a fairly amusing comic in the local paper: first picture - a person is standing on the [View Full Entry]

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The Great Ocean Road led me to Port Campbell. I stayed overnight there, and then headed back to Melbourne. I stopped at a few places along my return. I saw a few more of the limestone formations along the ocean. They are just so incredible to see, and the power of nature still impresses me (more waves, people :). The Otway Tree Walk is interesting. It is simply a walk through the trees, and at one point, I was standing level with the canopy. It's pretty awesome to see some of these trees and ferns. Along my return route, I stopped [View Full Entry]

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In the end, the 6 a.m. flight was a good choice. I did not go to sleep (my airport pick-up was at 3:15 a.m., so why bother?), so I was a wee bit tired when I arrived in Melbourne. The flight from Christchurch to Melbourne is just under 4 hours, so I was able to sleep for a bit. More importantly, I did not fall asleep while driving the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Port Campbell. When the rain started, I did get a bit tired. I think it was because I was just driving, and not popping out of [View Full Entry]

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When I booked the 6 a.m. flight to Melbourne, I was thinking - "Great, I'll arrive early and have loads of time to drive on the Great Ocean Road". I should have been thinking - "Hmmm, a 6 a.m. flight means I have to be there before 6 a.m. which means a really early morning." However, I did not think the latter, so my debate has become whether to just stay up, or try to catch a few hours sleep before going to the airport. The verdict is still out, but chances are good that I will just stay up. Fortunately, [View Full Entry]

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I had a really nice blog to send, and then the computer went all tempermental. I'll try to write more about the last few days later, but in a nutshell, here you go. Doubtful Sound was amazing. It was another sunny day, and we saw bottlenose dolphins. I drove up to Wanaka and went skiing at Treble Cone which was fabulous. Yesterday, I drove out to Mt. Cook - stunning! Today, I will most likely see more lakes and mountains as I make my way back towards Christchurch. I fly to Australia in a few days. I will be sad to [View Full Entry]

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One benefit of the rainy days is that I was graced with rainbows while driving on two different days, Timaru to Dunedin, and Dunedin to Invercargill. There was even a full one, from horizon to horizon. I'm not sure where to begin regarding the last few days. The sun was a welcome sight. Invercargill is almost on the tip of the south end of the South Island. Not a whole lot between it and Antarctica. I stayed with a couple that have a sheep and deer farm. It was educational hearing their stories about farming. And the smells reminded me of [View Full Entry]

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After a little internal debate, I decided to forget the buses, and rent a car. I was fully expecting to have a manual, and was kind of looking forward to learning to shift on the left. However, an automatic it is; I just have to remember to keep left. There is even a little sticker on the dash to remind me :) The two times I have to remind myself is when I am making a right-hand turn, and when I use the indicator lights. About half the time, I end up hitting the windshielf wipers instead of the turn signal. [View Full Entry]

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Tips for putting on a dry suit: wear layers (the suit keeps you dry, not warm), don't wear anything sharp (you don't want to puncture the suit), give yourself a bit of a wedgie (it needs to fit snugly), "burp" out the air (again, it needs to fit snugly). The plan today was to go swim with the Hector's Dolphins, the smallest and rarest of dolphins. Most of you know these are one of my favorite creatures, ever since I was little. Anyway, we headed out from Akaroa which is about 1.5 hours from Christchurch. The drive is nice. We saw [View Full Entry]

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