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Published: February 11th 2009
So we left off at my parents arrival in Australia. I met up with them in Sydney on the 11th of January. It was a bit emotional of a reunion and they were half asleep as I arrived after 11pm. But we of course stayed up chatting and catching up which was so great. I found it hard to believe that they were actually there sitting in front of me!! We finally got to sleep and the next day we were off and walked through the Botanic Gardens, through St. Mary's Cathedral, the Opera house and harbour. Then we caught a city bus to Bondai Beach...Sydney's main beach and it was packed and the water cccccoooollldd. But Dad and I braved it and waded in and walked along the beach. We had walked miles and were exhausted and headed back, ordered pizza and passed out! The next day we went to the top of Sydney tower for beautiful views of the city before we picked up our rental and we were off!
OF COURSE we had trouble getting out of Sydney...if you don't remember about Ryan and I's adventures driving in Sydney please refer to the appropriate prior blog entry.
Digeridoo
Mom and Dad are musiciansThe rental place said it is really EASY. I say bullsh$%. In Australia (and now New Zealand too) they change the name of their streets at almost every single intersection...so without turning at all we drove on about 7 different streets and one forked with no signs as to which to stay on...naturally we went the wrong way. And they of course don't use a logical system like numbered streets and avenues....nooooo that would make too much sense.
Anywhoo our next stop was the Blue Mountains...insert laugh here at the term 'mountains'. Really not even classified as foot hills, more like mounds. But beautiful nonetheless. They get their name from the blue haze they have at most times. We visited Echo point and the Three sisters who I aptly named Kim, Michelle, and Carla...I was the tallest of course. We used the information centres to help us with accomodation and the only reasonable place available was the family room at the hostel. Now I was hoping this would happen because I thought after 9 months of travel mom and dad should get at least a taste of how I have been living since then. And the hostels really
are quite nice to stay although I think they were still leary. But the YHA there was really nice and we had a family room with our own bathroom and a full kitchen at our use of course and they acutally really liked it there. And much cheaper than a hotel would've been. Cheapo Carla strikes again! And this was Mom's birthday and were hoping to find a nice restaurant, but since it was the middle of the week, most of the restaraunts were closed so we had to settle for a rather cheap chinese place which wasn't bad but not great.
The next day we went on the Scenic World Skyrail, Cableway, and Railway. We went down the world's steepest railway which used to be used during the coal mining days in the Blue Mountains. It was crazy steep, like a fair ride and I have a rather hilarious video of mom screaming most of the way down...please keep an eye on u-tube...just kidding mom. But I will be playing it when I return! We took the cableway over the gorge and it had a glass bottom in parts and we couldn't get mom to stand on it!
And we did a nice rainforest walk where we were astounded at the variety of vegetaion and dad...well naturally dad disappeared as anyone who has ever gone shopping or anything with him will atest to. But we took the skyrail back up to the top and off to the Hunter Valley Wine Region we went. It was a much longer drive than we thought but scenic. The next day we visited a few wineries including a tour, the cheese factory, bought some wine and headed off to Port MacQuarrie.
Needless to say I was obviously more comfortable driving on the left side of the road after doing it with Desiree and Ryan but Dad did give it a whirl after a few days. It was quite the role reversal and I felt how he must've felt when we were 14 and 15 and he was teaching us to drive. You feel so out of control with no brake on your side. I tried to emphasize how hard it is to judge the left side of the car when we are used to judging the right side. But naturally (and just like myself, Desiree, and Ryan) Dad continually hugged the
shoulder, sometimes nearly the ditch on the passenger side (and this is only highway driving at this point...wait for driving in towns in NZ). So I took over driving more of the time as my nerves just couldn't handle it! Also Dad continually forgot that the controls in the car were also opposite so we had the cleanest windsheild on the road everytime dad tried to signal a turn or lane change. And everytime I killed myself laughing because I remember how much it screws with your mind!! And Mom kept thinking we were going to crash because we were on the wrong side of the road! On the subject of driving other old habits die hard and of course I soon remembered what it was like learning to drive with my dad over 12 years ago. An alternate title for this blog entry could probably be "Slow Down Carla". And Dad LOVED all the Round-abouts (traffic circles)..."remember dad you have to go clockwise around them....look to the right, the other RIGHT Dad, yield, and then go, yes go...now yes now"...you get the idea...all a part of the adventure.
The next day we headed to the beach and I
took a 2-hour surfing lesson in the rather frigid ocean but it was an absolute blast and not really anything like snowboarding at all. I even stood up about 6 times or so...not for long mind you. And probably fell off about 200 or more times. I give props to mom who kept waiting and waiting to get a pic of me standing and at last was not disappointed. I drank about a gallon of sea water and had no idea how wimpy my arms actually are. When you lay on the surf board you have to basically go from laying to standing sideways in one movement...ya....right. I was pretty much completely wiped out (haha no pun intended) afterwards and ravenous as well.
We headed up the coast towards Coff's Harbour and unfornuately ran into some inclement weather (rain). But we stayed there for 2 nights and went to a place called The Big Banana including a really informative banana plantation tour. Did you know that they banana tree is not a tree, but an herb? And the banana is acutally classified as a berry? AND they cut down the plant after only 1 bunch of bananas are grown?
Well neither did I...well we both learned something new today!! But the rain continued and so did we. At this point I should mention that post-surfing I was basically so sore I was unable to sit straight up from laying. There is a reason hot surfer guys have washboard stomachs. Oh-my-God my abs hurt, and my pecs from attempting the push-up/just-and-turn movement required to get up.
On towards Brisbane we went and stopped at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast. It was really great. Very hand-on. We took a group koala photo and mom was instructed to "not-move-your hands". So what did she do...moved her hands and the trainer gave us supreme because mom wanted to pet the koala more. The koala "cuddling" they talk about isn't really cuddling, just holding and they take them away really fast. Mis-leading advertsing if you ask me. But we later got to hand-feed tons of kangaroo's. They sure know when it is feeding time! We also saw a free-flight bird show where these massive birds of prey are flown right over our heads! Very impressive! We saw more koala's, dingoes, wombats, and onto the lorikeet feeding. The lorikeet is a
very colorful tropical bird and the sanctuary started a program where the wild birds come in twice a day for a small feeding. There were literally hundreds of birds and if they got spooked they ALL took off at the same time, in the same direction. And naturally with all those birds around someone is gonna get shit on and yes it was me...but thankfully i was wearing Dad's hat! A neat thing we saw at the sanctuary was them making a new enclosure for rock wallabies because they use old scrapped up cars for the structure for making those really big rocks you see at the zoo. They put chicken wire around the old car and then sprayed cement in layers to get the desired affect! A very GREEN idea!
After the Sanctuary we headed to Brisbane and checked into a nice hotel and returned our blue bomb station wagon. We took a day trip out to Moreton Island the next day and it was absolutely gorgeous. Blue-green water, white icing sugar sand, and tons of sunshine. The island had sunk a few ships to help create a coral reef and to create a bay where boats could
moor. Well I learned a lot about teaching snorkeling in a rather short time. Picture this...two middle-aged people who have never worn fins, snorkels, or masks and their 27-year old daughter, by this time a senior snorkeller trying to teach them how to walk in fins (you have to walk backwards, very slowly, and carefully). Mistake #1: don't get them to put on the fins until they get used to wearing a mask and breathing through the snorkel. Mistake #2: don't take them to a spot where you have about a 50 meter swim against a bit of a current out to the snorkel spot. Mistake #3: Especially where the swim is through really deep water and your mom is not a swimmer (although we did have a life-jacket for her). So instead we snorkelled on the beach and saw a handful of color-less fish. It was really too bad that the tour that took us out to the reef by boat was full because I think the snorkelling would've been a much more successful adventure. But at least they got used to it after a few hours of snorkeling the beach and next time they can feel confident of
what to expect. And Aunty Betty...if you have never snorkelled I am now much more aware of how to teach someone. Thanks Mom and Dad for being guinea pigs and sorry at the same time!
The next day we were bound for the Outback and I must admit I was rather nervous. I had booked us into a backpacker's tour which was of course a ton cheaper than the big fancy schmancy tour companies but also involved a less than top-of-the-line bus, sleeping outside in a swag, and was much more rustic. Well without a doubt Mom and Dad were the most, shall we say...life experienced of the group but I think in the end they loved talking to all the young people on the tour. And although I know no one would say they'd do it again, we were sure glad we did it! And that goes for everyone on the tour. Let's start with the heat. Holy mother of god I have never been so hot in my life. And the tour didn't exactly mention how much walking in the crazy heat we were going to do. Mom and Dad elected to mostly stay on the bus
or in the shade instead of walk, and I can't say I blame them. They weren't the only one's either. It was over 35 degrees at 9am and at the highest reached nearly 50 degrees as we left Alice Springs on the last day. And on the last day the 3 of us and a swiss girl who had heat stroke the first day did a nice gentle walk around Kings Canyon which was lovely and relaxing. Seeing Ayers Rock (or Uluru depending on who you talk too) was fascinating and really glad we went and learned so much about it. We also went to the Olga's which were more random rock formations in a complete desert and inhospitable environment. It is no wonder why no one lives there. A welcome relief was when we got to our second camp ground and they had a pool! It was so so great. And we had a lovely meal and a camp-fire but no one sat near it because it was still so dang hot. At least at night it cooled down a bit and we rolled out our swags (a 2 inch foam cushion in a vinyl sleeping pouch) but we
just slept on top of our sleeping bags, dad in his gauch (as most guys were). But surprisingly they were quite comfortable although we had to get up before sunrise (4:30 am) each day to beat the heat and start our walks early, we slept not too bad. And the thousands of stars were something else. A highlight on the way back to Alice Springs was the visit to the camel farm. We all took camel rides and it was a riot!! Again we have some great video of mom. Dad and I rode at the same time on the same camel. We were the first to go and were not expecting the thing to start running. Well poor dad wished he had been wearing a more supportive undergarment as we bounced up and down on the hard saddle. ouch!
OMG the FLIES. I haven't mentioned the 10 billion flies in the outback. I had bought us all fly nets to wear over our heads and boy did we need them. They go in your eyes, nose, mouth, ears...anywhere it is warm to lay eggs apparently. So icky icky gross and annoying. And of course they were in our
food as well. We were never so glad to see a proper bed and to be indoors when we got to Alice Springs. We stayed at a motel and the overly kind owners gave us a ride into town for our g-bye dinner. Overall from my perspective I loved the tour, and I was so proud of my 60-something parents for doing so well and humoring me. I am not sure if they will let me plan anything for them ever again, but you know...it's all a part of the adventure!!
We went back to Brisbane and the next day headed to New Zealand. I was quite excited to go to the last country on my itinerary and also I was done in Australia having been there for nearly 5 months. We landed in Christchurch and picked up our motor home the next day. A note to anyone coming to New Zealand, we highly recommend NOT renting a motorhome. Rent a car, a small car only. Their roads here are very very very narrow, windy, steep, and virtually all the bridges (and there are TONS of them) are one lane so you have to slow down and yield for
all of them. It was hairy scary at times and Dad hit his imaginary brake about once every 15 minutes or so. But we did see some lovely great things in New Zealand. We stayed on the south island and headed north from Christchurch up to Kaikoura on the east coast known for it's accessible wildlife. The drive was stunning and the scenery was very different from Australia; reminding me of home a lot more with the hay bales in the fields and mountains. We stayed 2 nights there and unfortunately it rained all day but Mom and I did go on a whale-watching scenic flight on a little 8-seater plane. We saw 3 sperm whales which was great! We headed west to Hanmer Springs and enjoyed the stinky sulphur and mineral thermal pools there. At one time I suggested that maybe mom wanted to buy herself a nice calendar for home and she blondly replied that the dates would be off by a day...sigh...mom the TIME is ahead not the actual date! HEHEHE!! Sorry mom THAT was really funny!
We continued over the Southern Alps of the South Island to the west coast. We stopped at a place
called Shantytown which is a recreated gold mining and logging town kind of like Fort Edmonton. It was interesting and actually reminded me a lot of Dawson City in the Yukon with it's gold panning history. There we rode a steam train, panned for gold, and Dad was taken back to school by the strict school mistress. He had to write with straight pens and ink and even got a report card. We were proud! We enjoyed the day and continued on to a place to Hari Hari where we pulled off for the night.
The next day we drove through some more very windy, narrow roads with rainforest on either side virtually enclosing the road like a tunnel. It was really beautiful and eventually stopped at a place called Alexandra after a brief stop in Wanaka and it's beautiful lakes. We also passed several glaciers enroute but needless to say Mom and Dad didn't escape Canadian winter to see bloody snow and ice. It was a long drive day and then headed to Dunedin back on the east coast. Here we went on the Taieri Gorge Railway which took 4 hours through the beautiful gorge. Then we went
on a glow-worms and city lights tour where we drove on the steepest road in the world (Baldwin Street). It is so steep (grade of 1:1.266 or 38 degrees) it is made of concrete because the ashphalt wouldn't stick when it got warm. We had a bit of a uphill walk to see the glow worms but they were worth it! Wow hundreds of the little suckers lighting up like a Christmas tree! And we were the only ones on the tour so it was personal and our guide was very knowledgable about the area and was quite funny too.
The next day we had another harrowing drive up to the only mainland Albatross colony in the world and it was so windy up there I thought we literally would blow away. I had to dig my heels into the ground to keep the wind from pushing me. Yikes! But we learned a lot and although we didn't see any albatross' it was very informative. But we headed back to Christchurch along the much flatter east coast and we're happy to be back. Another thing about camping in New Zealand they don't charge per site, but per person. We
were paying as much as $54 a night to camp. I would recommend renting a car and stay in motels or cabins at campgrounds. But it was nice to have all our things in one spot even though the rental place forgot to put propane tanks in our motorhome so we didn't have hot water or a stove to use. Thankfully the campground had camp kitchens to use.
Once back in Christchurch we arranged a Dolphin cruise and gondolla ride over the city for our last day. It did not disappoint and we saw many wild Hector's dolphins and even a wild blue penguin. Then amazing views of Lyttelton harbour from the gondolla. Given it was our last night together we wanted to go out for a nice meal. I happened to see an advertisement for the Tram Restaurant. Christchurch has kept one tram line running for tourist and converted an old car from 1920 into a restaurant and you ride around the city while you eat. It was a great great last night, a lovely meal, and great company from the lovely girl from Hong Kong who was traveling alone and we invited to join us. So the
next day Mom and Dad finished up their souvenir shopping and were off to the airport before I knew it; a month had come and gone. And I went to the internet cafe here to ponder our trip and start blogging about the great times we shared.
Looking back now on their time here I realize that my type of travel is not exactly what my parents would prefer at this stage in their life...but I am so happy they were able to come and see some of it with me, and realize how much work traveling can be. It is definately not a vacation when you need to always figure out where you want to go, how to get there, where to stay, where to eat. It may be tiring but it is part of the adventure!
One last thing to share was an absolutely INGENIOUS thing we saw some travellers do to keep the weight of their carry-ons and checked bags down. Our flight over to NZ was on a budget airline and they were sticky with the weight limit of checked and carry-on bags. These 2 people who were on their way home to NZ
had "pillows" they were carrying on since you can carry on pillow extra...but they weren't pillows. They were pillow cases full of books and other heavy items! Absolutely brilliant! But if too many people do it they will catch on...I share this information to be used in an emergency ONLY!!
Well that is the end of Chapter 9 of this adventure. Now I am on my own for about 3 1/2 weeks before my Aunt comes to join me to tour the north island but until then plan to lay low and chill out. Thanks again Mom and Dad for a great time! See you soon! Love you!
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desiree
non-member comment
Your photography is AMAZING!!! you are sure doing an awesome job of caputuring your trip...can't wait to scrapbook when you come home...remind me to tell you about a neat way to organize and display your pictures so you don't have to scrapbook the WHOLE year! later chickie! Des