Saunders’ Down Under

November - December 2018
Australia and New Zealand 2018
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  • Day 12

    North to...... the Sunny Coast beaches!

    November 25, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Another travel day, but not too far, and now it’s time for a bit of R & R for our last 5 days in Australia. We flew out of Sydney and arrived at the Sunshine Coast airport around 12:30pm, picked up our rental car, and made our way to Alexandra Headlands, a beautiful beach town on the coast. Had a little problem with the GPS, which didn’t recognize the name of the town, so had to rely on a map 😳😳😳! After a few wrong turns, u-turns and a bit of stress, we made it to our condo, which is right across the road from the beach in this lovely place! Dropped off our luggage and walked over to have a look at the gorgeous beach, grabbed some lunch, then went to pick up wine and groceries. Went to the amazing pool at our complex and grabbed a few rays, then the clouds came in and it rained a little, but we were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow! We went across the road and sat on the beach for sunset, which was actually behind us, since we’re on the east coast of Australia, but the sun and cloud formation was stunning. I dipped my toes in the ocean and was pleasantly surprised at how warm the water is here! There are lots of funky restaurants along the main street, so we walked a couple of blocks to a little Mexican place and I had the best coconut prawn tacos, and Dave had the beef - delicious! Back to our condo to settle in for the night and make plans for tomorrow!Read more

  • Day 13

    Beautiful Beaches!

    November 26, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    So Dave got up this morning and headed across the road to the beach to take a couple of early photos! We were then on the road early to travel a little north of where we are staying, with our destination being Noosa National Park. We decided to take the coast road and stop at some beaches along the way. The first one we stopped at was Coolum Beach, an absolutely spectacular stretch of beautiful sand with turquoise waters, in a lovely little beach town. After spending some time on the beach, we walked back into town and had an excellent breakfast sandwich at a little cafe in Coolum. Our next stop was Peregian Beach, equally as beautiful with little sand dunes at the entrance to the beach - so lovely! We then drove to the town of Noosa, a bigger place than the first two, with a national park and amazing trails. Finding parking was a challenge in the park but we lucked out when we spied someone leaving! An interesting van in the parking lot made me laugh, so I had to get a pic (see photos!). We walked along the beautifully maintained trail viewing more fabulous beaches and interesting tree and plant life. Supposedly, there are koalas in the eucalyptus trees in the park, but we weren’t lucky enough to see any! ☹️. Lots of surfers on the beaches in the park, as well as sun worshippers. We stopped at a place called Boiling Pot, so named because of the witches cauldron effect made by the water flowing over the rocks. Walked a few kilometres, then headed back into Noosa for refreshments and a little retail therapy for me 😜. It was hot here today, around 32 degrees so good to stay hydrated, and lots of sunscreen was a must! We headed back to Alexandra Headlands around 2, picked up a few groceries, then went to the pool at our complex to catch a few rays. Went out for dinner and a walk, then back to our condo to rest up for a busy day tomorrow, when we meet Chelsea in Brisbane! 😊Read more

  • Day 14

    Brisbane Bound

    November 27, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    This morning, Dave got up at 4am to head over to the beach to watch the sunrise, and got some lovely photos. I wasn’t far behind, but watched from the deck of our condo! We were on the road just after 6 heading to the station at Landsborough to take the train into Brisbane, where we were meeting Jeff’s good friend, Chelsea, who has been in Australia for 2 months. Had to take some photos of the interesting place names en route - Burpengary and Beerburrum...? Hmmmm! We arrived in Brisbane around 9 and met up with Chelsea, and after having a coffee, she toured us around this lovely city. There are so many public walkways, green spaces and gathering spots for entertainment, food and drink, and just hanging out. Also some beautiful flowers, trees and plants along the way. The Main Street of Brisbane is pedestrian only with lots of shops, cafes and bars - a very people friendly city. We took the free harbour boat on a tour down the river, ending up not far from where Chelsea now works - a brand new brew pub called Felons (named in honour of 4 freed convicts who were instrumental in the discovery of Brisbane!). The pub is part of a large, and mostly as yet unfinished complex, which will eventually house restaurants, bars and event venues in an area under the bridge which is very reminiscent of Granville Island! We had a delicious lunch at Felons, including a flight of beers for Dave, a beer for Chelsea, and a cider for me - all made onsite - and Chelsea gave us a little tour of the brewery. We left there and took another of the pretty walkways and entered New Farm, a residential area with both old and new buildings and a nice community feel to it. We headed back into town to the train station around 3, said our farewells to Chelsea, and took the train back to Landsborough, then drove back to our condo. We headed over to the beach for sunset, went for dinner, then back to crash after a long, busy but awesome day!Read more

  • Day 15

    Its all happening at the zoo!

    November 28, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Started the day by going for a drive not far from our place called Point Cartwright, a place we had seen from our beach and decided to go explore. A lovely park, a water reservoir, a lighthouse, and another amazing beach on the other side! We looked around a little bit, then headed for the Australia Zoo, founded by the late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. Crikey - what an amazing place! We started out in Kangaroo Haven where the Roos just hang out with each other and love to be watched, fed Roo food, and petted by the visitors. We saw a mom with Joey in her pouch, although Joey looked like he was outgrowing that little space. Next we went through the Wetland area where we saw Jabirus and Emus, then off to the Koala Walkthrough, where these cuddly little marsupials were sitting around and sleeping in the trees after eating copious amounts of eucalyptus! Made our way back to the “Crocoseum” by noon for the Wildlife Warriors Show, where birds, snakes and saltwater crocodiles are showcased in an awesome display put on by some of the handlers. This zoo is enormous and after the show, we hiked back to the South East Asia and Africa areas where we saw tigers, lemurs, parrots, zebras, giraffes, rhinos and meerkats! Back to the central area, where there were red kangaroos, wombats, snakes and other reptiles. Then dingos, Tasmanian Devils (fast asleep - not like in the cartoons!), binturong and more crocs and alligators! (Just as a side note, it was around 33 degrees and sunny, so all this walking called for lots of water during the day - sweltering!!)

    By this time, we had to be back at the information area for me to meet with the guide for a Koala encounter... yikes! This is an add on to the zoo experience where a small group spends about half an hour cuddling koalas, having photos taken and learning more about these adorable little Australian icons! What an awesome experience! Our little guy was named Onyx and he was 2 years old, his mom and 2 sisters (Gemma, Ruby and Pearl) also live at the zoo along with about 65 other koalas, who are only on display 3 times a week for about 30 minutes each time - nice work if you can get it! Such lovely creatures, and I was so happy to check this experience off my bucket list! We could have spent so many more hours at this zoo - it’s a definite must do for anyone coming to Queensland. The animals are so well taken care of and the main goal of the zoo is conservation. We did have tickets to visit the Wild Life Animal Hospital, but ran out of time unfortunately.

    We got back to our condo and had quick showers, as we were meeting my friend Katie (who I met through Healthy Role Models) and her husband, Ben for dinner. We drove up to Coolum Beach and met them at the Coolum Beach Surf Club, which is only about 6 minutes from their home. Had a delicious dinner with them, and learned lots about this area, as well as many other parts of Australia. I had met Katie when she was in Nanaimo in June, as well as being connected through our HRM group, so it was very cool to be able to get together on the other side of the world! Said our goodbyes to them and came back to the condo, very tired but happy to have had such an awesome day!
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  • Day 16

    Last day in Oz!

    November 29, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    These were supposed to be our r & r days on the Sunshine Coast, but as you can see from the previous 3 or 4 posts, we’ve been pretty much on the go since we got here! So today we had no plans and decided to take the day as it came - slept in a little and had our coffees and breakfast without rushing around! We left our place around 10am and headed back out to Point Cartwright to get some photos of the lighthouse, the reservoir and the lovely beach. We then decided to go back up to Coolum Beach to explore the town a little. We got up there around 11:30 and poked around for about an hour, checking out the little beach stores and the cafes. Dave decided if we ever come back here, he’s definitely renting a surfboard for the day! We had lunch at one of the street cafes, then headed back to our place and went to the pool for a few hours to chill out! Down to the beach around 6 for a last sunset glass of wine, out for dinner, then back to get an early night - we have to leave here around 5am to drive to Brisbane airport for our flight back to New Zealand, so off to get some shut eye and anticipate the next leg of this trip!Read more

  • Day 17

    Farewell to this Land Down Under!

    November 30, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    And hello again to New Zealand! We were up at 4am Queensland time to drive to the Brisbane Airport for our 8:30 flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. We were a little late leaving and in the air around 9:20 to see some beautiful views over the Aussie coast! Had a really good flight and made up for lost time arriving in Christchurch about 3 and a half hours later. Now, the time difference between Brisbane and Christchurch is 3 hours, so it was almost 4pm NZ time when we landed. Picked up our rental car and got to our hotel before 5. Checked in and dropped off our luggage and headed out to pick up a few breakfast groceries, brought them back to our condo, then left on foot to check out the town. Christchurch was pretty devastated by 2 earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, and there is still lots of evidence of that in the downtown area, particularly Christchurch Cathedral which is still undergoing major restoration. We walked down some lovely pedestrian and tram only streets, including New Regent Street with its lovely pastel coloured buildings and many cafes and restaurants. There is a tram that meanders throughout the city, and even stops in the lobby area of our hotel - very cool! Had a bite to eat at Joe’s Garage and continued walking past the Bridge of Remembrance, the River Avon, the Isaac Theatre Royal, the government building and the damaged Cathedral! Getting a little tired by then, and it started to drizzle (definitely not the 33 degree weather we left behind!) so we headed back to the condo and are listening to a sax player across the street at one of the restaurants under the lovely glass awning outside our place! Looking forward to a good nights sleep before tomorrow’s adventure!Read more

  • Day 18

    Christchurch and beyond

    December 1, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We decided to go to a place called Godley Head on the coast today, Dave had an idea how to get there, but of course the GPS had other ideas and wouldn’t take the place name to find us a route! Eventually got that figured out, then the silly Garmin kept turning off. Good thing I travel with a mechanic, who figured out the fuse to the outlet had blown, pulled over, replaced it, and presto, we were on our way!! When we got to the turn off for a Godley ahead, we were on a very long, winding narrow road, one side with a ditch, the other with a cliff drop off, so you really had to watch for oncoming cars and a place to pull off to let them by!! We eventually got there, and were treated to some spectacular views, looking down over Sumner beach, across the inlet, and of course, sheep! The terrain is wind blown and quite barren, and reminded me of parts of Wales or Scotland. There is an old WW2 military base up there, with lots of old buildings and gun batteries along the coast. On the way down, we saw lots of mountain bikers heading off down the trails, which are out in the open hills and totally different to the ones Dave rides at home.

    We ventured on to a small town called Lyttleton which is the main port town in the area. There were some cute little stores, and a farmers market going on today so we strolled through there for a while, then stopped for lunch at the Lyttleton Arms pub - huge British influence here! Headed back to our place, where I crashed for almost 2 hours - I think the time change and the busyness of the last 2 weeks caught up with me! Dave took off for a walk through the lovely Hagley Park, and by the time he got back, I got my second wind and was ready to go again!

    We decided to go back to the park (which is huge, actually bigger than Hyde Park in London), and walked along the River Avon for quite a way, coming out at the beautiful rose garden. We could hear music not far away so went to check that out. There was a big Wine and Food Festival happening in the park, with food trucks, wine vendors, live music and tons of people! We talked to a very nice security guard at the gate to ask her what was going on, told her we were visiting from Canada, and she said, “go ahead on in”! The festival was almost over anyway, but we got to spend an hour walking around, watching the shenanigans of the wine filled attendees, listening to the music (by a famous local artist named David Dobbyn), and checking out the food trucks. By this time, we had walked over 12km today, so picked up some dinner to have at our place, rested our weary legs, and had our first quiet night in!
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  • Day 19

    Sunday in Christchurch

    December 2, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    We started the day off with a Skype call to Jeff to wish him a Happy New Zealand Birthday - a day early for him though! Took off in the car to see some more Christchurch sights - our first being an area called the red zone. This used to be a populated area with up to 10,000 houses, which is now has just grass and trees. The houses were hit hard by the earthquakes, condemned and eventually taken down as they were alongside the Avon River, and the earth beneath them suffered liquification. Many people lost their homes and it is amazing to see the open space and roads where sub divisions used to be. From there, we drove out to a seaside town called New Brighton. Today was a wet, windy, drizzly day and even more so at New Brighton where the ocean was angry! I’m sure on a sunny day, this would be a gorgeous beach!

    When my family lived in England, the Hamilton family who lived next door to us, had emigrated to Christchurch back in 1963. I decided to look them up, and it turned out their home was only about 15 minutes from New Brighton, so off we went for a visit!! We found the house and amazingly, Enid, the Mom, remembered us from Kendal Drive. Her youngest son (of 4 boys) Rory was over to see her, so we had a really nice time catching up on all the people from the old neighbourhood, as well as what our families are doing know. Enid lives in a lovely retirement complex, so the four of us went over to the clubhouse for lunch and more chatting! It was so nice to catch up, although sad to find out her oldest son Colin, who was my age and my best friend back then, had passed away 2 years ago from cancer - and interestingly was living in Edmonton at the time. Small world! We said our farewells, then Dave and I headed back to our place then off again to Hagley Park, where we walked through the lovely gardens, stopped at the architecturally beautiful Christ college boys school (looks a bit like Hogwarts), and took a walk through the museum, which in parts is very similar to the BC Provincial Museum in Victoria! Went off for a bite to eat,and are now packing up to get ready for our road trip to Westport tomorrow, with stops along the way!
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  • Day 20

    Northwest to West Coast of South Island!

    December 3, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Left Christchurch early this morning to drive north west on the South Island up to Westport. Only direction not included here is east!! It was cloudy and drizzly when we left, and we thought there wouldn’t be much to see, but the weather improved greatly as we got up into the mountains of Arthur’s Pass and we had some magnificent views along the way. The drive would normally take about 5 hours, but we made lots of stops along the way to drink in the scenery and take lots of photos. The roads are windy, and there are lots of one lane bridges where the traffic signs advise drivers who has the right of way - can be a bit scary on the crazy corners! One of our stops was at Otira Viaduct, aka the Death Corners, and you can see why from the photos! Saw a beautiful bird at that stop, known as the Kea (or Mountain Parrot). These birds are unique to the South Island of NZ, with less than 5000 of them remaining in the wild - we were pretty lucky to get photos of them! We drove by a crazy hotel called the Otira Stagecoach Hotel, and had to make a u-turn for photos and a look inside. So many cool antiques, stuffed animals, a cool old bar, pianos and a talking parrot (who totally went silent if you looked at him) inside. Funny thing - they had a big screen tv and were watching “Ellen” in the lounge!

    As we got to the west coast, we stopped numerous times to look at the gorgeous beaches - absolutely stunning with the blue sky and turquoise water. We then arrived at a Pancake Rocks - so named for the layered formation of the sandstone which makes the look like a stack of pancakes! There is a fantastic paved trail which takes you all around the best views of the rocks, including the Blowhole, where the ocean crashes against the rocks in a small cove and blows the water way up. Spectacular! We drove the rest of the way to Westport, checked into our motel, and drove over to a Carter’s Beach, and the lighthouse at Cape Foulwinds, which were both very pretty, but nothing compared to the other scenery from today! On our way back, we drove the whole town of Westport (which took maybe 5 minutes!). It’s a small town which once relied on the now closed cement plant for industry, but still ships coal from the area. By the time we were crossing the street to go for dinner, the sidewalks were pretty much rolled up for the night (at 6pm) and many of the stores were closed! Just here for one night, then heading to Nelson in the morning.
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  • Day 21

    Westport to Nelson

    December 4, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    Raining in Westport early this morning - time to head out of town to Nelson! We took Highway 6 out of town - a single lane highway with lots of one lane bridges, which can be pretty scary along the way! There was one bridge in particular on a pretty scary bend along a rock face - when we drove it, we followed a big truck and trailer, so figured we’d be ok - pulled off the road after the bridge to watch other cars approach, and at one point, there were two heading towards each other!! I guess there was enough room for them to pass each other, but nevertheless it was still crazy to watch!

    As we kept driving through the rain, we saw a sign that said “Swing Bridge”, so decided to stop and take a look. It was actually a bridge suspended over a river (and apparently the longest swing bridge in New Zealand). The bridge is 360 feet in length, and spans the Buller Gorge, swinging about 60 feet above the Buller River. We paid the $10 each to walk across, then took the short 15 minute loop walk back around through a lovely forested area, then back over the bridge - in the pouring rain!! Pretty cool experience!

    Back on the road, we continued our drive to Nelson, arriving there just after noon, to a lovely sunny day. We were too early to check into our hotel, so took the footpath from the harbour to the lovely downtown area, which was a short 12 minute walk. As in a lot of towns we’ve visited, the main downtown area is pedestrian only, with lots of restaurants and cafes along the street. We were on Trafalgar Street, and at the end is a set of stairs leading up to a clock tower and a beautiful church. We stopped for lunch on Trafalgar Street - the place we ate at had crazy milkshakes - shake, whipped cream, donut, more whipped cream, cookies and candy!! More calories than anyone needs in a day!! We had a browse through a few stores, then went back to check into our lovely hotel suite.

    I had a bit of a snooze, while Dave went for another look around town, then we drove into Nelson to have dinner at an Asian fusion restaurant, then back home to plan our day tomorrow - hoping the weather is good as there are some beautiful bays and beaches not far from here that we want to explore!
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