Advertisement
Published: November 10th 2007
... watched him throw up dinner to his little chicks. Such a good dad!
But I'm ahead of myself.
I'm sitting in a little internet kiosk at our camping ground in Dunedin, New Zealand (southeast coast of South Island) as we're finishing Day Two of the Big Honkin' Motorhome Experience. Once again internet is somewhat limited; I have to pay by the minute and I can easily run out of $2 coins just catching up on my internet stuff. Thus, I"m going to type real fast and we'll see what comes out...
To quickly sew up Australia: we had so much fun on the Great Barrier Reef we decided to spend one last day there, this time at a lovely resort on Green Island. For us, it was the perfect blend of spoiling luxury and the beauty of the reef, especially when all the day tourists have to boat home and just a few overnighters remain at the resort. We enjoyed a sunset champagne (juice for kids) as the sun set, then after dinner went out on a stargazing/turtle watching/crab catching nature walk. Never in my life have I seen so many stars, as the island is pretty far from any city and the evening was clear and dark. I never did find the Big Dipper, but could see Orian's belt, so I must have been close...
THe next morning we woke up a little early and went snorkeling while the water was so calm and clear. Around the island we saw all sorts of cool fish, including the Nemo clownfish, and Grace can now proudly say that she came FACE TO FACE with a black-tipped shark! She nearly climbed on top of Steve, yelling and spashing, but doggone it she survived. The shark hightailed it out of there as soon as it saw Grace - are 11-year olds their natural predators?
We also saw more large turtles - I just love those guys.
Next day we flew down to Sydney, and spent the next 3 nights there. We all felt that it is a fantastic city; a great blend of old and new architecture and so much stuff to do. We of course visited the Opera House, and learned quite a bit about the history and architecture. I could spend a whole day just looking around at the cool angles and brilliant touches. Did you know that there are over 1,000 rooms at the Opera House?
It was also the day of the Melbourne Cup, a horse-racing event that gets everybody gussied up in their finest duds (think Ascot) and they crowd into large venues and drink wine and watch the race on TV. Evidently it's a big deal; we just enjoyed watching the women walking around in their funny hats!
After Sydney we flew to New Zealand, which is where we will be for the next 3 weeks. We landed in beautiful Christchurch, and anyone who knows me know that I was compelled to visit the 2 museums covering the Antarctic. I dragged the whole family along and I think they even enjoyed it.
In Christchurch we picked up our campervan, otherwise known as The Home, where we will be sleeping the next 12 nights. Lord help me; I love my sink and toilet to be at least 12 inches away from the rest of the world, not RIGHT THERE! Actually, it's a nice motorhome, well designed so that all 4 of us can look out the front window.
Our first night out we stayed at a charming little town (reminded me a lot of Astoria, OR) called Oamaru. After a great dinner in a super-cool cafe, we went for the evening penguin watch. A penguin guy led us down this path on a cliff facing the South Pacific, and we could watch some of the 12 breeding pairs of Yellow Eyed Penguins returning from the sea to bring their full bellies back to their little chicks for feeding. THis guy knew of one place where we could quietly walk up and watch the daddy penguin sitting atop his chicks. He moved around once, and as he stood up, the chicks started begging, and then the dad sort of reverse-gulped and the next thing you know, the chicks were feeding from his mouth! It was way neat-o, and we came at the perfect time to see this; in the next few days the chicks will get too large to safely view.
We also saw some of the 12 pairs coming in directly from the ocean - it was about 8pm and that's when they return from the sea to feed (urp) their chicks. So cute to see them waddle up from the water. They nest right up an incredibly sheer cliff; we saw one penguin hanging about about 100 ft above the beach on a cliff. Amazing!
Then back to the Home, where we survived our first night (short mattress!) and then, at 7am, Steve pulled up anchor and off we went, with the 3 of us remaining in our beds. "I was born to this," he said to me as he excitedly pulled away...the rest of us bouncing gently with the road...
So now we're in the darling college town of Dunedin. We toured the Cadbury Chocolate factory (which supplies 85% of the New Zealand market and features a 2-story chocolate waterfall) and drove out to the Otago Penninsula, which was idyllic. Views of the water everywhere you look, even from these amazing fjord-like heights.
Running out of change so my internet is going to disappear soon. Tomorrow we're heading for Milford Sound, where we will spend the next 3 nights. I hope to get some photos up, but if I can't, they'll have to await our return to Guatemala.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.112s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 10; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0862s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Eric
non-member comment
constellations
The Big Dipper "Ursa Major" is a northern polar constellation so it's not seen in the southern hemisphere. Orion is an equatorial constellation so it can be seen "down under"! I just saw a documentary on bridges. Apparently a person can walk to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Was thinking of you guys when I saw that.