Blogs from Oceania
May 27th 2012
So here it is, my first morning waking up in Aussie and it's a bit colder than I was thinking it might be. It feels like the fall breeze back in Minnesota. I'm happy to say that I woke up feeling replenished and on Aussie time. I can only hope that I hold this feeling throughout the day. Kelly and I woke up this morning and went on a run through the hills of Goonebellah, and it was a beautiful hilly run. When I say hilly, i mean HILLY (or HELLY should I say.) We were able to give ourselves a nice running tour of the town, and got a feel for how far it's going to be to walk to the child center. It will be just a quick 20 minute walk. We went to ... read more
May 27th 2012
Another working week so if you are looking for a TravelBlog don’t read this. Also, no photos this week as I didn’t take my camera anywhere. 21st May It’s cold when I wake at half seven so I hit snooze and roll over. It’s 09h30 when I next check my phone and I was meant to start work at nine. I do manage to work 10h00 – 17h00, Kim and Julie are out of town and I have a clipboard of jobs to keep me busy. Making a sandwich for dinner and Regan sends me a text in Afrikaans. I call and end up taking a ride over there with bread and cutlery. She wants to know what answer I found to her question. She finds my donated clothing funny as it’s not an exact fit. ... read more
May 27th 2012
MILFORD SOUND Milford Sound was previously named Milford Haven, by a Welshman of course, but was later renamed Milford Sound. They got that wrong as well, as it is not a “sound” (which is formed by water erosion) but a “fjord” (formed by glaciation). What’s in a name though, the whole area is beautiful. The scenery really starts at Te Anau and gets progressively better the closer you get to Milford Sound. (For anyone with campervans, there is no “freedom camping” along this stretch but there are lots of suitable Dept. Of Conservation sites along the way. When we got into the valley, we found out that from May on, during winter, it was a legal requirement that vehicles carried snow chains. Guess who didn’t have snow chains! They were an optional extra by the campervan ... read more
May 27th 2012
Arriving in Australia was definitely a long journey! We left Minneapolis at about 5:45 P.M. on Thursday, May 24th. From Minneapolis, we had a 4 hour flight to LA. Then in LA, we boarded our 15 hour flight to Sydney. The plane was huge! There was a tv screen for each seat. We had our choice of about 30 movies & there was also tons of music. There was a map that showed the progress of our flight and the times at home & in Australia so that was pretty cool. The flight actually went better and faster than I expected. We arrived in Sydney and found out our bags were over weight and each of us had t pay $125-$150 dollars, depending how much our bags were over weight. We were slightly annoyed by this, ... read more
May 26th 2012
Nun nach langer Zeit mal wieder ein Blog. Leider geht es mir (mal wieder) nicht ganz so gut. Ich habe vor 3 Tagen gemeint mir die Treppenstufen vom Nahen zu betrachten. Das war wohl keine gute Idee, weil ich mir dabei die linke Schulter ausgekugelt habe. Naja...zumindest ist es diesmal nicht die Rechte. :-) Ich bin dadurch also momentan in ärztlicher Behandlung und kann nicht arbeiten. Bedeutet: Ich muss GAAAAAANZ viel Geld ans Krankenhaus abgeben, verdiene aber keinen Cent. Man schlussfolgere: Mal wieder eine Finanzkrise hier in Australien. :-) Naja...aber momentan geht es mir schon wieder besser und ich hoffe in spätestens 3 Tagen wieder anfangen können zu arbeiten. Aber von vorne... Ich bin vor reichlich 2 Wochen in Bundaberg angekommen. Ich hatte das Glück bereits nach 2 Tagen einen festen Job zu bekommen. Ich wurde ... read more
It's getting chilly
Published: May 26th 2012Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park
May 26th 2012
So... it's me again! I told a bit of a porky in my last blog. I did not in fact hike on Fox Glacier, it was on Franz Josef Glacier. Woops. But it was beautiful, I got the helicopter up to the top of the glacier mid morning and we walked around on the ice with crampons strapped to our boots for a couple of hours before coming back down. We also walked through (or rather slipped through in my case) some ice caves and walked over to the waterfall which is where all the liquid run-off from the Glacier descends the mountain. Included with the hike was a free trip to the local glacial hot pools so I took advantage of that by sitting in a pool that was 36 degrees for most of the ... read more
Temps mitigé à Hervey Bay et Bundaberg
Published: May 26th 2012Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Bundaberg
May 26th 2012
On passe la nuit à Hervey Bay près de la plage, nuit calme mais je me réveille un peu malade. On décide quand même de faire une virée à vélo le long de l’esplanade qui fait 16km. On trouve un bon prix pour la journée dans un hôtel de backpackers. Le temps n’est pas fameux mais ça ne nous empêche pas d’apprécier la balade. On s’arrète pour la photo devant un musée consacré à la chasse aux requins blancs, on ne le fera pas car on ne cautionne pas ce genre de pratique. Depuis 2004 c’est heureusement interdit par la loi en Australie. Le déjeuner est pris chez une mamie qui fait les meilleurs burgers de la ville, réputation justifiée ! Bien qu’on puisse les rendre à 19h pour le même prix, on ramène ... read more
May 26th 2012
We have had a good week getting here. After leaving Canberra, we drove to Wagga Wagga and then across some rather remote and boring countryside of ploughed paddocks, wheat stubble and no sign of life until we finally came to the pretty town of Tocumwal and the Murray River. The countryside was much more interesting once we crossed the river into Victoria. We had a look around favourite shops at Echuca and on then once to to Daylesford. Though it was cool there, it's always a nice area to visit - my favourite as always being Kyneton where I haunted the knitting shop and a couple of very nice gift shops. We had a couple of nights in the caravan park at Daylesford and drove around all the pretty little towns in the vicinity. We'd heard ... read more
May 25th 2012
Northland: Paihia- Maori meaning place of many pas (hill forts). Once there were many tribal wars. Every time blood was spilt, the tribes left the pa to find another. While built for defence, the main function of most pā was for the safe storage of food in pits, especially kumara, a sweet potato. They would dry out the kumara and bury it, then as they travelled they could always source food. These days Paihia is a bustling tourist town, with a ferry to Russell. the old capital of NZ, population of 2000 which rises to 70, 000 in the summer months. Paihia is the gateway to the Bay of islands and Cape Reinga, the very top of the North island. Russell, these days is a sleepy small town with around 1000 people. It has an interesting ... read more
May 25th 2012
Our Australia leg of our trip started with a week in Melbourne, where we got to stay with the lovely Komps. Whilst there we got to explore the city with the help of our lovely guides, aged 12 and 9! We also got a really nice day on the Great Ocean Road, so got see the 12 Apostles, The Grotto and London Bridge etc. We also took a day trip to Phillip Island to see the penguing and got to go on the Puffing Billy steam train. It was really nice to be able to spend a few days chilling in the house, to organise some more of our trip and just relax in front of the tv. We were also treated to some Australian goodies such as Twisties, TimTams and a range of ciders in ... read more
