TexanTransplant

I have one full morning left. Kristy’s working and so I venture out alone. It’s early-ish (before 10) so museums and such are not yet open. I head straight to the Royal Gardens, binoculars strung around my neck. It’s quiet out today, the Boxing Day shopping crowds have exhausted themselves, many folks are still on vacation and staying home with family, and most tourists have yet to rise. I meander through the park keeping my eyes searching and my ears perked. I want to get a good glimpse of the various parrots I’ve seen flitting around the park. I luck out. I near a large tree with bright orange blossoms flaring up amidst the greenery. And here I find my parrots. Rainbow lorikeets clatter all about the tree, in constant motion but there are enough of ... read more

Falling deeper We spent the previous afternoon and evening with friends of Kristy’s in Mollymook, a small ocean town. The friends are a Swiss woman and Australian man, a married couple trying out living in Aussie-land for a while before returning to Switzerland. It’s Christmas morning so the entire household (us, the couple, and grandparents) are focused on the six-year-old girl. Who's clearly bathing in the glow of attention. The baby isn’t old enough to realize what presents are, much less Christmas. This sunny, warm Christmas is throwing Karen, the Swiss wife, for a loop. It’s clearly hard for her to get into the Christmas spirit. I can understand. Christmas in the south of Texas always felt a bit off as well, even if it’s technically winter. After making the family breakfast, Kristy and I set ... read more

The Prom We rent a car in downtown Melbourne (Mellie?) and thank the powers that be that we had days of practice driving on the left in New Zealand. That would have been a harrowing drive out of the city otherwise! We’ve decided to head to “The Prom,” the nickname that locals affectionately use when referring to Wilson’s Promontory National Park. It’s one of Australia’s most beloved parks and is typically packed around Christmas and New Year holiday season. We read in multiple books and brochures not to ever, ever travel around this time of year since Aussies come out en masse to the beaches and the campgrounds, in the it’s-a-holiday-and-summer exuberance with which Americans celebrate 4th of July (no fireworks in the bush though…). But we have no choice and we’ll take our chances. Victoria ... read more

It’s our last full day in New Zealand and Kristy has arranged to meet up with a work contact from Christchurch. She met him at a conference in Texas in August after she presented on her dissertation work looking at the impact of introduced trout in alpine lakes. After the talk, this man (Angus) walked up to her, introduced himself as a professor from University of Canterbury in Christchurch, and said that her work fit well with the focus of his lab in the New Zealand alpine areas. And lo and behold, she was going to be in NZ in just a few short months! So today we’re headed to some alpine country so Kristy can get a good look at some lakes to see if she could potentially use them for study sites. I get ... read more

“Doing” the peninsula hike The only hike outlined in our Lonely Planet is “the” Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway. We drive to the end of the main road where the buildings turn into shack-like creations and then drop out entirely for a brief stretch and the road ends in a parking lot. We quickly ascend up the cliffside and look back toward the mainland. The flat east coast plain breaks abruptly upon the slate mountains where clouds still obscure the tops of the mountains. This would be spectacular with a clear view. It’s still catching with the contrast of grey, white, green, and the ever blue ocean. It’s windy as all get-out but at least there’s no mist! The path takes us along the top of the cliffs past Point Kearn, making us clamber over stiles into cow ... read more