Blogs from Oceania - page 11

Just testing... read more

Hallo zusammen, Neuseeland hat mich wieder. Nach nunmehr 5 langen Jahren bin ich doch noch einmal nach Neuseeland zurückgekehrt. Dieses Mal ist es mir doch etwas schwerer gefallen und es sind auch sehr, sehr viele Hürden auf dem Weg dorthin aufgetaucht, die es zu meistern galt. So manches Mal wollte ich das Projekt Neuseeland aufgeben und einfach sein lassen und ich kann heute noch nicht genau sagen, ob es am Alter liegt oder dem Mindset oder ob es sonst irgendetwas ausgelöst hat. Es hat sich einfach so angefühlt; So als stimmt etwas nicht; etwas war einfach falsch im großen Bild. Es erschien mir sogar bis kurz vor dem Abflug in Frankfurt als eine saudumme Idee noch mal nach Neuseeland aufzubrechen. Und natürlich taucht dort die Frage auf wieso das so ist, und viele haben gesagt, das ... read more

Tour Days 94-95 – First, I knew Australia was big just by looking at a map; however, I didn’t realize just how big. When compared to the contiguous 48 states (the lower 48), the United States is 3.2 million square miles (8.1 million km 2) while Australia is about the same – 3 million square miles (7.8 million km 2). Initially, I was planning to rent a car and drive around Australia; however, I discovered a web site, campermanaustralia.com, which has several road trip variations for discovering Australia. The web site prefaces the trips on digesting Australia and not just sniffing this diverse country. The straight-forward trip, the “Circumnavigation Around Australia,” is 17,100 km (10,625 mi.) takes 244 hours of driving time and requires 3 months or more. Of course, just following the coast omits the ... read more

Tour Days 88–93 – The plan was to make the journey from Melbourne to Adelaide by rail, The Overland. I had a hotel reservation walking distance from the main train station, Adelaide Railway Station – the central terminus of the Adelaide Metro railway system. The Overland, as well as the Indian Pacific, uses Adelaide Parklands Terminal which is 4.2 kilometers or 2.6 miles from Adelaide Railway Station. I strive for attention to detail but, fortunately, missed this one. Had I recognized the difference and booked a hotel near Adelaide Parklands Terminal, that is if there even IS a nearby hotel, I would have found myself in an industrial area. As fate had it, my hotel, and Adelaide Railway Station, are in the heart of the older part of the city, and I found a lot of ... read more

After a quick overnight in Papeete, it was a 2.5 hour flight to the Cook Islands. We spent a week on Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands. It is a beautiful tropical island, almost completely surrounded by the beautiful turquois lagoons. There are about 10,000 people on the island, so has a very rural small town feel to it. Renting a car, it took @40 minutes to drive completely around the island on the only 2 roads. We spent our first 4 nights at a small guesthouse, and then splurged 2 nights for a beautiful oceanfront room to celebrate New Years Eve. We enjoyed just meandering around the island, stopping at small shops along the way. We watched a lovely older couple attempt to teach 3 Asian women the traditional art of tano(?), basically block ... read more