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Australia & New Zealand trip
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Australia & New Zealand trip

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär

    Round done

    26 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Here's a review of the course.
    First off, this course is apparently the one that started it all for New Zealand, as it is their first course.
    The course for the most part is pretty short. There were a couple of "par 4's" in there, but mostly par 3's that had some trees to contend with.
    There were several holes on a rather steep slope that was a bit of a pain too. The course is SUPER BUSY and you occasionally have to work around non-disc people as they wander off the paths and into the fairways.
    Brenda and I rushed the start of the game quite a bit and our scores suffered. Once we got into it though, scores settled out somewhat. It was the first time playing in a while for Brenda, so there were some rust to knock off. Plus, she brought discs that she didn't care all that much for, just in case she lost one.
    I brought some of my backups with that in mind too, but mostly I was able to play with discs I would use on courses at home. Brought 5 discs with me and only used 3 in the round.
    Shot even overall, so not bad. There were several holes that I could improve, so I think getting an under-par round is totally possible.
    One of the holes was fun as you got to tee off from the top of a boulder. Was a pretty entertaining way to make use of space.
    The course had several forehand friendly holes too, which I always like :-)
    Navigation wasn't too bad as they have arrows pointing which direction to go next. There was only one hole transition that messed us up, but there were other people to point out the right direction, so we were only off course for a moment.
    We might get a chance to have another round there, but we will see. Plus there might be a course that we can check out on the other island.    Läs mer

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär

    Second round disc golf

    27 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Played Solo and made some nice shots. Scored better than yesterday.

    Brenda ran the camera took some good pictures and even recorded a "near ace" on one of the holes. I threw it well, it hit the top rim / chains of the basket, but did not stay in.

    Easy birdie though, so I guess that's good.

    Even though there are a few par 4 holes, there aren't all that many where you can really launch the disc. Tee pads are shortish, and many of the holes are more like approaches.

    That plays nicely to my forehand strengths so it was fun. Never had to worry about losing a disc, and even though the course goes around the perimeter of the peninsula there wasn't any worry about throwing into the water.

    Probably the best scenery around a course I have ever played.

    Since we played early in the morning, no one else was playing and not a lot of walkers either which made the round that much more relaxing.    Läs mer

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär
    Steak n cheese pie for him and Veggie quiche for me

    Luge fun

    27 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Took gondola to top of the mountain. Beautiful views and nice day for a ride. We took ride up, had 6 rides on luge each, and had lunch up there too. The luge has 2 tracks: red and blue. Everyone had to take at least their first run on blue track. So we did that, got our lesson (easy) and did the rest on red. Very fun indeed.Läs mer

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär

    Walking

    27 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We tried the famous New Zealand Hokey Pokey Ice Cream. It's ok, but not sure we would turn ourselves around to get more of it.

    It's a vanilla base with round honey toffee balls.

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär

    Saying goodbye to Queenstown

    28 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We're in the airport waiting for our flight to Aukland and I think we're already missing Queenstown. What an amazing place. While we wait though, we will be working on our review blog posts.

    Hope everyone is doing well back home and we're headed to our last location before heading home.

    ~ David    Läs mer

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär

    Brenda's Queenstown Top n Bottom

    28 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Now that we finally have better WiFi I can enter my Queenstown highlights and disappointments. Like David, Queenstown has been my fav location so far. Didn’t really disappoint so those are ones I really needed to stretch for.
    TOP 6:
    1. Flight back from Milford Sound. Great views. No, amazing views. And we didn’t have to sit in the bus another 5 hrs back.
    2. The views of the mountains surrounding the city. The Remarkables range was truly remarkable and even had snow on it for us.
    3. The Luge rides. We did 6 each and of course I tried to go as fast as I could. Even caught some air a few times going through the dips section.
    4. Seeing the new Thor movie with David. Not going to spoil anything to say what I thought of it, but will say that it was so fun to see how happy it made David to see the movie early. He was like a kid on Christmas.
    5. Milford Sound boat ride. It is a truly beautiful place with lots of high fjords and waterfalls. We even got to see a dolphin🐬, penguins 🐧 and seals .
    6. The weather. It was a bit drizzly when we arrived the first evening but nothing to keep an Oregonian off the streets. The rest of our days there were quite good regarding weather.

    DISAPPOINTMENTS
    1. Somehow hurt my back so I wasn’t able to play disc golf the second time when it wasn’t busy.
    2. The 5 1/2 hr bus ride to Milford Sound.
    3. Continuation of #2, very twist road so took motion sickness pill. Part way through it wasn’t doing the trick so I took the full dose (Total 2 pills). Well that fixed my sickness but then I got really dizzy and sleepy. Not a fun feeling. Fortunately wore off by boat ride.
    4. How expensive NZ is. Seems more so than Australia. It is what it is.
    ...that’s really it    Läs mer

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär

    David's Queenstown Top / Bottom 6

    28 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    This one is going to be both easy and a real challenge. There were so many tops, that picking 6 might be hard, and so few disappointments and again, it might prove challenging.

    Anyway, let's get it going :-)

    1. The scenic flight from Milford Sound.

    So, given the option of taking a 4 hour bus ride on twisty roads that you've already seen the scenery and you're not stopping, or . . . a 45 minute flight of breathtaking vistas, opt for the flight!

    We were so lucky that the flight went at all. All the morning flights were cancelled due to bad weather, but it broke just in time for us to take our sound tour, and crtainly in time for us to take our flight.

    The tiny plane gave Brenda and I a chance to be on either side and get totally different views. Plus, it got us "home" early enough that we could go out and do more fun stuff, something that we would not have been able to do if we rode the bus back.

    2. The gondola and Luge.

    I was a bit unsure how it was going to go and if my hand would be ok with it, but it turned out fine. We each got 6 rides on the luge and it was the perfect amount. Just enough to make us feel satisfied with the fun and also give us a chance to get some footage of us riding. No chance to film while you're on the track, you're just too busy.

    3. Thor Ragnarok Movie - Don't want to say too much since everyone back home can't even see it yet, but it was quite exciting to go to the movies and see something before the States :-) Plus, we both enjoyed it quite a bit. Two thumbs up!!!

    4. The views in general. Everywhere you look is an incredible view and our hotel the "Bella Vista" lived up to the name. We could look out our sliding glass door and watch the tandem paragliders come in for a landing in the school's recreational field right next door. Plus the lake, the steep range with areas that always have snow, just so nice. Even the disc golf course affords fantastic views.

    Speaking of which . . .

    5. Disc golf!!!

    Pretty fun course and all sorts of trees to deal with. Oregon disc golf did a good job of prepping for this kind of challenge.

    I brought just the right discs too. First round was a lot of fun with Brenda, even though we felt a touch rushed at the start. I know Brenda was disappointed about not playing the next day, but it was really nice of her to take some pictures and do some filming. Without that, I wouldn't have gotten my "Near Ace" on film.

    Beautiful course and good diversity.

    6. The water and the general relaxed pace. Pretty easy going here. It is totally a tourist town, so everything is catered to tourists. I was surprised just how tasty the tap water was. Didn't even feel like it needed to be filtered. Easily my favorite location we have been to thus far.

    Ok, now the bottom ones . . . .

    1. Queenstown is NOT pedestrian friendly.

    Pedestrians appear to be treated like a pest. You don't have the right of way, and about the only place people will stop and let you cross is if you're crossing at the designated school zone cross walk. Other than that, you're on your own and good luck.

    2. Not getting an Ace on the disc golf course. Soooo close. Just an inch (er . . . millimeter) lower and I think it would have stayed in. Oh did I mention I was going to have trouble coming up with my bottom 6?

    3. Hokey Pokey Ice Cream - Not quite as good as I was hoping it to be.

    This is the #2 flavor in all of New Zealand, so high expectations (Vanilla is #1). It's tasty, but not better than the gellato we had in Sydney.

    4. Dealing with the sunburn carryover from our last place. Got some soothing gel, but it was still tender during our stay.

    5. Special New Zealand honey. Again, I think it was hyped a bit too much. Considering how much they charge for it, I was expecting something spectacular. Glad we got a free sample and didn't have to pay to try it.

    6. You know what . . . that's it! Anything else would be really slight and not do the town justice :-)

    This place is amazing and I can recommend it to anyone / everyone!

    Pictures will have to wait until I get my entire setup going. We're getting ready to board, so I best wrap this up anyway.    Läs mer

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär

    Waitomo Cave lodge

    28 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Checked in. It's a cute place.
    Don't want people to get the wrong idea about how the driving went, but Brenda and I will be sleeping in different beds tonight. Only because that's the way the bed and breakfast is. Two twin beds and we actually face each other, so we could play some long distance catch or something.
    However, this post will also cover the driving.
    I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but it has gone much smoother than I thought it would.
    I make sure I remind myself to "Keep Left" and the other big thing that helps is to keep in mind that you go clockwise through the roundabouts. Still not a fan of them, but they haven't been too much trouble.
    I do feel like I don't have as much view of the road and that's just because I am so used to looking to the right. The rear view mirror in the center left takes a bit to get used too as well.
    While the foot pedals are in the same location as what we're used to, the wipers / turn signal are of course reversed.
    Thankfully it was raining, so at least when I tried to signal, the windows needed cleaning anyway.
    Left turns are simple, the right turns take a bit more focus.
    Brenda did an awesome job of navigation, and we only got off track once, which was easy enough to get back on.
    The Subway stop came at just the right time as I was in need of a food break and just a rest to break up the drive by a bit.
    Driving the highway is certainly a lot easier than "in town" stuff (haven't done much, but it forces you to make decisions quicker). I think a few more goes at driving and it will be a bit more relaxing.
    Tomorrow though, we are going to do our glow worm tour. Since it's supposed to rain, we're taking a nice long underground tour. We should get to see 2 different caves, have a smaller tour of 12 people and we get to take pictures! :-)    Läs mer

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär

    First cave exit

    29 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Saw some awesome glow worms.

    Thousands and thousands. It looks like a blue starry sky. No twinkle, but varied intensity of light based on how hungry they are.

    The more used to the dark you get the more worms you see.

    At the end of our cave experience we did a fun experiment. We covered one eye and exposed the other to bright light. The shut off the light and looked around with the exposed eye. You could see lots of glow worms.

    Closing that eye and opening the other, suddenly you can see 5 times as many.    Läs mer

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  • Sallee FamilyAustralia & New Zealand tripResenär

    Red Rock Thermal Hotel

    29 oktober 2017, Nya Zeeland ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We arrived safe!

    The Wi-Fi is really bad here so updates might be a bit spotty.

    If you visit here, the very first thing you will notice about the town is that it smells.

    There is all sorts of geo thermal activity (The Yellowstone of New Zealand) and with that comes a distinct sulpher smell. Thankfully the water does not, so we're good to go there.

    We will be here a few days and have all sorts of activities lined up. Already have tickets for the Maori culture center which includes a show and dinner as well as a tour of the thermal area and seeing some Kiwi birds.

    There is also a really nice path to walk near the lake and some more Disc Golf!!!

    We will see how much we can work in during our time.    Läs mer

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