http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Sarah-Tom/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Sarah Tom en-us Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:25:44 +0000 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:25:44 +0000 After touring France and spending some time in the area around Nice and along the Riviera a couple of years ago we decided to take it easy today while we were anchored off Villefranche. We slept in and finally took a tender off the ship in the early afternoon. We had a nice lunch and walked the streets and beach of this beautiful seaside town. Once again the streets were narrow and curving carve http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Villefranche-sur-Mer/blog-195998.html What a packed day We pretty much ran through the whole city of Rome today. Once again we splurged for the shiprsquos transport to and from the city. Since the ship docked in Civitavecchia we decided it would be most prudent to rely on the shiprsquos transport rather than the trains. We were dropped at St. Peterrsquos square and grabbed a cab to the coliseum. The cab ride was crazy the d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-195992.html Although we had a bit of a late start today it was a busy one. We decided to take the shiprsquos tour ldquoFlorence and Pisa on your ownrdquo in order to maximize our time and have the chance to see both sights. We boarded our airconditioned coach at 930 and headed straight to Pisa. Once there we had 45 minutes to explore the Field of Miracles and take pictures. The tower really is leani http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-195986.html The ship docked in Naples and our internet directions for today were perfect. We found our way to the Circumvesuviana train station easily and purchased our roundtrip tickets to Pompeiihellip we were there before 10am Train tickets 3 Euroshellip Guidebook 8 Euroshellip Audioguide 6.5 Euroshellip Admission 22 Euroshellip experiencing Pompeii in personhellip Priceless.We were b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Pompei/blog-195982.html We woke up this morning at anchor in the caldera at Santorini Greece. After going up the wrong set of elevators we decided to eat breakfast at the Aqua Spa instead of the main restaurant fewer people healthier food all round a good mistake Because we were getting ashore via tender boats we had to get our tender tickets in the theatre we picked up our tickets and were on tender 3 and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Santorini/blog-195977.html After a full day at sea our next stop was Athens. We were docked at Pireaus on the day of our 10th anniversary. After making our way to the Piraeus metro station after taking a bit of a detour due to inaccurate directions from the web we purchased round trip tickets cheap and hopped on the train to the acropolis. We walked out of the train station and looked up hill to see the Parthenon w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-195966.html We woke up this morning in Croatia Grabbed a quick breakfast at the Ocean Grill on the 10th floor great buffet and then jumped on a shuttle to the Old Town of Dubrovnik. We paid to tour the entire perimeter of the old town along the top of the city walls. The town is all stone with clay roof tiles ranging from yellow to deep red. The fortifications at each corner of the town are tall and imp http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Dubrovnik/blog-195953.html Getting to Venice was supposed to be easyhellip but this time we got turned around in the subway station rather than above ground and then had to deal with unbelievable crowds and signs pointing us the wrong way to check in at the airport We did catch our flight with MyAir and they didnrsquot charge us for being slightly over the weight limit on our luggage but we had to wait an extra hour http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-195191.html Our flight from Toronto to Amsterdam was relatively short but felt much longer due to the group of 40 teenagers who felt no need to be quiet or even sit down during the redeye flight. Luckily KLMrsquos entertainment system is fantastic and we were able to catch up on several movies each while trying to get a little sleep. We transferred planes in Amsterdam nice airport but since smoking i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-194909.html Day 1 Tuesday May 8 After teaching in the morning I arrived at the airport by 200 for the 450 plane. The team made it through security with no issues and we just hoped we had packed our skates safely. Tried to sleep on the planehellip but at 5pm itrsquos rather difficult. Day 2 Wednesday May 9 Arrived in Paris on time 615am. Not much sleep for any of ushellip the plane was real http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Aquitaine/Bordeaux/blog-159533.html Routeburn Track Day 1 December 18 2006We were packed and ready to gohellip most of our luggage was stored at the hotel and the few belongings we were taking with us were packed and on our backs. We were picked up at our hotel and whisked by bus to the start of the Routeburn track. We enjoyed the views from the bus all along as we drove north along the banks of Lake Wakatipu. The mountains wer http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Routeburn-Track/blog-113460.html Queenstown to Fox GlacierDecember 24 2006After a nightrsquos stop in Queenstown to do laundry and reclaim our luggage we hit the road and headed west. We had to climb up out of the valley and pushed our little rental car to itrsquos limit We made it all the way out to the Tasman Sea in a couple of hours. We stopped briefly in Arrowtown an old goldmining town and then again in Wanaka. We http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fox-Glacier/blog-113462.html We departed for Queenstown NZ on the morning of December 16 when our luck was certainly with us. First we knew we were way over on our luggage allowance for air New Zealandhellip thatrsquos what happens when yoursquore returning from a year away and are restricted to a domestic luggage allowance. We were allowed 40 kg total and registered a massive 76 kg We also needed to bring our didger http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-113459.html Now that our report cards are written and marking is pretty much finished we took one of our last weekends and headed southwest to the best caves in the world. Our friends Carolyn and Terry organized the entire weekend and it was quite the treat to not worry about planning driving or navigating We left school at 330 on Friday afternoon and arrived at Caves House just in time for dinner. The http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Jenolan-Caves/blog-106325.html We spent our last few days in Tasmania centred in Hobart. Saturdayrsquos Salamanca Markets lured us for most of the day where we made a few good purchases and served as a good day of relaxation. Sunday was spent exploring the ruins of Port Arthur Australiarsquos most renowned penal colony. We learned all about Australiarsquos convict past and the Port Arthur site in particular.With the ai http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Port-Arthur/blog-94171.html On our way to the east coast we took a down day in Launceston where we relaxed at Cataract Gorge Park for the afternoon. After our day on Cradle Mountain simply walking to the park from the car was an experience We needed a full day just to stretch out our muscles.We intended to do a good walk at Freycinet National Park the following day but our plans were delayed due to rain wind and nearly http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Freycinet/blog-94170.html Today we headed north toward Cradle Mountain. The weather was still cool and a little rainy but we decided to brave a 10km Montezuma Falls walk. The track was along the side of a mountain with a river running far below it was cut out of the rainforest in the 19th century an originally used for hauling timber and ore. We were quite thankful for the early morning rainfall as it made the trek a l http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Cradle-Mountain/blog-94169.html Although the heat in the centre of Australia was entirely manageable because of the low humidity it was great to be greeted with cool fresh air when we arrived in Tasmania.We enjoyed a relaxing night in town with a real bed and headed out the next morning toward Strahan on the west coast stopping along the way for a few bushwalks. Our first stop was at Mount Field National Park it lured us http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Mount-Field/blog-94167.html Our final day of adventure in the red centre started with some unbelievable fourwheel driving into Palm Valley. We drove over huge boulders through dry rocky riverbeds and deep sand.Palm valley is an oasis in the middle of the desert a tiny bit of rainforest left over from when Australia was part of the large landmass called Gondwana. There were permanent waterholes and palm trees In the dese http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Palm-Valley/blog-93992.html Our fourth day began with a helicopter ride over Glen Helen Gorge. We had tried to get the ride in at sunset the night before but the helicopter had been overbooked. Debora stepped in and got us a 7am ride before departing this morning. We only paid for a 6 minute ride but I know we got close to 10hellip and it seemed to last forever. We saw some beautiful sights the rocks along the gorge we http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Wallace-Rockhole/blog-93990.html