Australia
Cockle Bay

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    • Day 7

      "It's getting better all the time"

      March 11 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      To quote Paul McCartney and Robyn Plunkett "Its getting better........." And we had a pretty cruisie day.
      Our first night was pretty good, the bed was cosy and warm and we didn't fight about not having enough bed. Sometime during the night an animal scurried across the roof top and at another time a couple of animals had a very loud fight.
      It was misty in the morning and after breafast and a shower we went for a coffee at the jetty - coffee was great. Then we had a walk around wineglass beach - there were lots of people doing the same thing, some had bikes, some with fishing rods - a few swimming - the water looked great - but we will wait for a few more days until we are sure Covid has gone.
      We came back and sat for a while then had lunch. Nothing exciting, some wraps.
      In the afternoon it was quite warm, we headed up hill to a town area - the plan was for afternoon coffee, but the cafe with the reputation was closed for coffee, but we found some at a icecreamery.
      Then we walked home via a beatiful walkway along the rocky coastline - we dropped down into sandy bays and admired the colourful and rocky scenery.
      Gran is cooking her first meal of the gas stove - I cooked porridge with fresh dates this morning.
      We have booked a camp site north of here at St Helens - so will make our way there - but not until we have walked up to the Wineglass Bay lookout - see photo. It could be a tough climb, but we want to give it a go.
      Not a lot to say other than we did enjoy relaxing and getting more comfortable with this way of holidaying.
      The park has filled up from empty this morning and the internet goes so slooooooowww. Got 4 imaged up will try for a couple more later.
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    • Day 40

      Sydney - Citylife & Beaches

      October 24, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      Die erste Großstadt unserer Reise stand an - Samstag Nachmittag sollte es nach Sydney gehen. Am Flughafen in Christchurch eingecheckt und gerade auf dem Weg zur Sicherheitskontrolle wurde leider der Flug gecancelt. Glücklicherweise wurden wir sehr schnell auf den Flug 2 Stunden später umgebucht und sogar auf eine A380 Maschine von Emirates - ein cooles Erlebnis.
      Angekommen in der sehr zentralen Unterkunft ging es direkt ins Bett, da wir für Sonntag ganz früh eine Sonnenaufgangstour mit dem Kayak im Hafen von Sydney gebucht hatten. Das Aufstehen um 4:15 Uhr hat sich mehr als gelohnt. Die aufgehende Sonne mit der Oper und der Skyline im Hintergrund - schöner hätte unser Start nicht sein können. Später sind wir mit zwei Mädels, die wir bei der Kayak Tour kennengelernt haben, nach Manly mit der Fähre gefahren und haben dort den restlichen Tag verbracht. Abends ging es zur Oper, um eine Lichtershow zu sehen, die es dort anlässlich des 50. Geburtstag der Oper gab.
      Montag ging es nach dem Frühstück Richtung Bondi Beach, von wo aus wir eine Wanderung Richtung Congee Beach (ca 2 Stunden one way) bei strahlendem Sonnenschein unternommen haben. Abends stand dann noch Adis Geschenk an - ein Walk während des Sonnenuntergangs auf der Harbour Bridge. Auch wenn wir eine ziemliche Rentnergruppe erwischt hatten, hat es sich echt gelohnt und wir hatten einen tollen Blick von oben auf die Stadt. Ordentlich hungrig sind wir dann noch bei einem echt tollen Italiener gelandet.
      Dienstag sind wir nach dem Frühstück zum Bronte Beach aufgebrochen (Nähe Bondi Beach), da es uns hier am Tag zuvor schon bei der Wanderung so gut gefallen hatte. Wie an einigen anderen Stränden gibt es auch hier einen Salzwasserpool direkt am Meer, was echt sehr cool ist. Hier haben wir die Sonne bis zum späten Nachmittag genossen. Abends ging es dann nochmal Richtung Hafen. Direkt bei der Oper gibt es eine coole Bar mit schönem Blick und guten Drinks. Beim Italiener vom Vorabend haben wir dann den letzten Abend ausklingen lassen.

      3 Tage Sydney gingen viel zu schnell vorbei - auch das Wetter hat es echt gut mit uns gemeint, 3 Tage lang wolkenloser Himmel und ca. 25 Grad.
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    • Day 10

      Last days in Sydney

      March 26, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      The remaining four days in Sydney have been fairly quiet. The weather has been hot, humid, rain, thunder, drizzle, mild, sunny, hot…………repeat, repeat. There’s been a lot of soccer played by Granddad and Oisin in the yard, Flynn is just learning to throw a ball so we’ve had games outside with him too. Oisin and I made up Lego farm bricks from the supermarket, just like the ones in NZ, they’ve just been introduced here. I collected them and made a great little farm which I gave away to a friend’s grandson but things are different here: I’d never seen a henhouse, drone or scarecrow in the NZ packages so great excitement to find them. Yes, I know – I haven’t grown up yet!

      We’ve visited a few playgrounds including a playland at Rhodes Mall, very impressed with that one and Flynn and Nan had some big races in the ball pit. A new adventure for me, lots of fun. There are three or four playgrounds within walking distance of Jen and Vince’s place, couldn’t resist a slide and swing at this one.

      We’ve had a drive around the neighbourhood, streets full of Federation era houses (early 1900’s), different sizes, some with wrap-around verandas, all brick with stucco on some, delicate stained glass in some windows – a contrast to the older Victorian houses we’ve seen, and worker’s cottages like Jen and Vince’s. So different from New Zealand architecture.

      Very excited to find an IKEA in Rhodes Mall, no time to get lost in the endless aisles unfortunately but we did buy our favourite ginger snaps which we knew as ‘Anna’s Biscuits’, always a must-buy at IKEA in Singapore when we’d go to buy one thing and go home with bags full of ‘essentials’ (okay, probably not really essential) for our apartment.

      Today we had a lovely walk along the Glebe shoreline, which is in a little cove (Blackwattle Bay) part of Sydney Harbour – you can just see the Harbour Bridge in my bigger photo if you look closely. And the close-up, I thought the Tanqueray Gin signage on the building was appropriate when you looked at the line-up of ‘gin palaces’ docked across the bay. Not envious of course. There are lovely new apartment blocks along the shoreline, gardens, parks, and a big playground where we stopped for a while before lunch.

      We finished with lunch in The Tramshed – as it sounds, refurbished tramsheds with a token old tram and the rest of the place has several restaurants, all sorts from Italian to Vietnamese. On Sunday there’s a small market in the middle with stalls for lovely candles, fresh bread, olives, handcrafts etc, and there’s also a good supermarket with an emphasis on fresh produce so we came home with focaccia and strawberries for tea.

      And that’s our nine days in Sydney, next stop Singapore and then on to Barcelona on Thursday. We’ll be back to Sydney late May. Please join us on our travels over the next few weeks.
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    • Day 49

      Napier, New Zealand

      February 6 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

      Bob went to breakfast while I worked on the blog.
      I also had a moment to give my cousin, Tamra, a call to inquire about my step-father's memorial service. She let me know that it was a very nice service and that it was great to see everyone. I am very sorry that I missed the service and have not been able to give my mother a hug.

      The ship arrived in Napier at noon.

      We went to lunch early as we had to be in the Star Theatre for a 12:25 PM departure.

      Our excursion for today was Cape Kidnappers Gannet Colony. Cape Kidnappers received its name from Captain Cook. On one of Captain Cook's voyages, he had included in his staff two interpreters in order to be able to communicate with the Maori. When the Maori saw 2 dark skinned people on the Endeavor, they assumed that Captain Cook had kidnapped them. The Maori decided to kidnap them back. They were successful in getting one of the interpreters off the Endeavor. Captain Cook then fired on the Maori killing them. Captain Cook was able to rescue his interpreter.

      Our tour began with a brief tour of Napier. The city of Napier experienced a devastating earthquake in 1931. As a result, the most of the building in Napier are of the art deco style. These buildings have been listed as historic buildings so they continue to be preserved.

      After driving through downtown Napier, we began our drive to Cape Kidnapper. We had just left Napier when Bob's seatmate decided that Bob's shoulder was a excellent place to nap. We find that as soon as we get in a vehicle and it begins to move, it is like Pavla's Bell. For this population, it means naptime. Another need for the Neptune's guest is frequent comfort stops. So, we made a brief restroom stop at the Gannet Safari's office because we would be in a remote area for 2.5 hours.

      Next, we passed through a gate and entered a cattle/sheep station which also has a very exclusive resort and golf course. The resort was beautiful. We were told that the green fees for this course is $1,000. Definitely beyond our budget for green fees.

      A portion of the cattle/sheep station and the adjoining property have developed into a conservation area where effort are being made to remove non-native predators of native birds. The importation of non-native predators is a huge problem for the kiwi species because they cannot fly. It is estimated that there were once about 12 million kiwi, but by 1998 the population had plummeted to fewer than 100,000 birds. By 2008 that figure had fallen even further, to about 70,000. Today it’s estimated there are around 68,000 kiwis left and unmanaged kiwi populations continue to decline by 2% every year. The conservation efforts in the Cape Kidnappers area has been very successful in increasing the number of Kiwi. Due to limited area in Cape Kidnappers that is good habitat for the Kiwi birds, this area has now reached capacity for Kiwi population. Consequently, they are now relocating Kiwi to re-populate other areas.

      As we came to Gannet colony, the entire bus said a collective, "Wow". We watched the birds for about 30 minutes before returning to the Gannet Safari office where we were treated to an excellent snack.

      We then drove back to the ship. We were greeted at the ship with 1930's area music and a display of automobiles with their owners dressed in period attire.
      The ship departed shortly after our return.

      We enjoyed a glass of wine on our balcony while watching the sail away. We were able to observe the gannet from the water as they were fishing.

      Since we spent so much time on our balcony, we were late getting to the World Cafe so the two of us ended up having dinner on the Aquavit Terrace.

      Although we would have liked to have more time in downtown Napier, overall it was a great day.

      You all may be wondering what is happening with our blog as you get notification of a post. I start the post on my phone during our tour. I make quick notes. In order to transfer my notes, I have to post it on my phone. I then edit it on the computer. At times I have not had an opportunity to process/download photos, so I have to post the footprint and edit it later. I will try to be better about having all information ready before I post/edit the footprint.
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    • Day 9

      Fiji Water

      November 9, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

      We discovered where Fiji bottled water comes from today: downpours. We felt so grateful that we had almost an entire week of perfect weather that a little rain on our departure date was no big deal. As we packed up, I grabbed my phone and checked email. There, I read that our 2:40pm departure time was delayed to 5:10pm. Luckily, we’re in Fiji, where everything is always OK. I called the car rental, and they were happy to extend our rental a couple of hours at no cost. Although my preference would have been to be on time, the delay now allowed us to drive leisurely to Nadi, stopping anytime we felt compelled to do so.

      We left our little bure around 9am and hit the road. The first stop was the auto shop for air in the tires. I hit a Goliath pothole yesterday, and the front tire was looking low. Once we were road worthy, we drove to the cultural arts center to pick up souvenirs. The large complex has a good size pond out front that is covered with water lilies. Half of them were vibrant red and the other half were an unadulterated white. A bridge carried us from the road to the cultural center, and we stopped frequently to look at the lilies. They were so perfect that they could have been mistaken for replicas.

      Our drive to Nadi was beautiful. A large portion of the drive is along the coast, where the rode winds along the lush, green hillside that overlooks the crystal blue ocean water below. The dark clouds were thick over the mountains to the north, and I finally understood how large rivers found the water to drain into the ocean. The highest elevation on Viti Levu is over 4,ooo feet, so the rain travels a long way to pass under the frequent bridges that we crossed. In the lower elevations, we were fortunate not to run into rain, despite the cloudy sky.

      We eventually arrived at the Nadi airport and returned the car. We debated if we should check-in immediately or have a cup of coffee first. Prudence won out, so we walked to the airline counter to get checked-in. The airport staff examined our passports and tapped at the computer. “Do you have you ETA’s for Australia?” I indicated that I didn’t know what an ETA was. “It’s your visa to get into the country.” Now, a lot of things were going through my head, and I found myself searching my mind for someone or something to blame, but I realized I had ignored an email that the airline sent me a week ago that said something about travel documents. (This is highly unusual for me but in my defense, the pandemic set my traveling skills back. I’m out of practice.) Panic gripped my stomach, and I’m sure my face was flush because I was breaking a sweat. My emotional state must have been obvious, as the customer service guy reassured me. I just needed to get on the app, put my info in, and come back to the desk when I received the confirmation email. He even helped me get on the airport WiFi and find the correct app.

      We lugged our bags to the wall, where I plugged in my phone. My battery was running low, and the power cord was giving me fits. I was nervous that I wouldn’t have enough juice to download the app and get the info entered, but it worked. I answered the 50 questions and poked in the necessary information, such as confirming twice that I didn’t currently have tuberculosis. Once I progressed through all the screens, I hit the submit button: “You will receive a response in the next 12 hours.” What??? Are you kidding? I might need to wait 12 hours for a response? I only had two hours before check-in closed. I’m sure my blood pressure rose a bit, but I kept telling myself that the customer service guy didn’t seem too worried. For the moment, I just focused on holding my phone cord at the right angle to ensure electricity continued to flow to the battery. I also realized that being stuck in Fiji wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Several tense minutes passed but then the golden ticket appeared in my email box. I opened the email from the Australian government and realized it was simply a confirmation receipt that they received my money and application. Thankfully, the ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) came in a few minutes later. Once Kim’s document followed, we were on our way to Australia.
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    • Day 16

      Hiking the Grand Canyon

      November 16, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

      Yes, Australia has its very own Grand Canyon. Not quite as grand as our canyon, but incredibly beautiful. Lauren picked us up around 7:30am and we drove about 90 minutes to the trailhead, where we encountered one other car. One. As in 1. If this hike was in Colorado, you’d need a reservation for it.

      The trail started with a solid number of stairs going down, down, down. Each step triggered a terrible thought, “You’re going to have to walk back up these.” Despite having had surgery in late May, the recovery for my ankle has been slow, and the hardest challenge in daily life has been stairs. I figured the worst that could happen would be a really slow ascent on the way back. Or a search and rescue helicopter.

      We’d been waiting to see black cockatoos, and Lauren pointed one out. I didn’t even know there were such birds, but they are really pretty. Kim tried to get a few pictures, but he was elusive, so she gave up. As we continued to lose altitude, we entered into the dampness. Ferns and mosses were abundant, and water seemed to drip from everything. We caught up to a small waterfall, which I imagine is a large waterfall, when there is rain here, but it’s been dry. I walked gingerly down the wet and slippery stone stairs, trying to stay upright while taking in the views. After traipsing through a small cave with our torches, we rounded a corner to find a wispy waterfall. I named them Schweitzer Falls, since we could walk behind them. Actually, the trail took us around the backside of the falls, and continued to follow the river downward. We came to an information placard that showed the surrounding cliffs. We were actually halfway between the top of the canyon wall and the floor. From this location, rock climbers will gear up and drop to the bottom. The whole area looked like Jurassic Park, with luscious, large green ferns, and deep, menacing looking holes below. We walked just a bit further and decided to turn around, so as not to push my ankle too hard.

      As I suspected, the walk back up the canyon was taxing but doable. There was so much to see that stopping regularly was built into the ascent. After passing the falls again, we ran into a a couple who were looking for birds. He had a camera with a serious lens on it, and Lauren struck up a conversation that went something like, “How you going? Looking for the cockies? We saw black cockies on the way down.” “Yeah, we heard them and thought they might be cockies. We’re from Victoria and our cockies sound a little bit different. Our black cockies are smaller than yours.” I will spare you the other 50 ways they used the word cocky, but it was weird to hear that word in the wild.

      The trail became more populated on the way up, and we passed several other hikers. As we got to the top, we ran into a couple with their abseil gear on their backs. They were headed down to the very bottom of the canyon; wish I could have seen that GoPro video.

      We popped out of the canyon and drove immediately to the little coffee stop we saw on the way in. Kim was delighted to see gluten-free ANZAC cookies. I told her she had to have one, since she was in Australia. ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. The story I’ve heard is that the ingredients don’t tend to spoil, so they were easily shipped to the military personnel. I was also told that they are the first things kids learn to cook, since the recipe is fairly easy. I don’t know if any of that is true but they sure are yummy! The coffee place was a tiny trailer parked in a woman’s driveway. Somehow during our conversation with her, she invited us to take a look around her backyard. The well-groomed lawn was adjacent to a healthy vegetable garden and a moderately sized chicken coop, from where she collects butt nuggets. The picture says it all.

      We motored down the road to the Three Sisters overlook. The Three Sisters are another rock formation in the area. According to indigenous legend, they represent three sisters who lived in the Jamison Valley as part of the Katoomba tribe. Apparently, the overlook is a popular tourist attraction, as heaps of commercial buses filled the street and car park. We walked around the overlook but decided against the two hour, round trip trail. I was a little too tired for that. Instead, we decided to grab lunch. Lauren navigated through Katoomba to the Glass House. The cafe is in a converted glass greenhouse, surrounded by pine and gum trees. Colorful flowers bloomed on the property, making for a pleasant dining experience.

      It felt like a full day, but we arrived back to our Air BnB by 3pm. We ran a couple of loads of laundry and packed up some of our items. We’ll be headed to Long Point for a very relaxing weekend.
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    • Day 6

      Trains, boats and planes

      March 22, 2023 in Australia

      Wednesday 22nd – a lovely day out with Oisin and Jen while Flynn was in day care, it was lots of fun from start to finish. We walked ten minutes to get the train so that was exciting for Oisin. First stop was the NSW State Library, we’d been there before and would go again. It has the most beautiful reading room in the middle of the original building with richly coloured stained glass, an art gallery with a portrait section (even has two Gottfried Lindauer paintings of Māori), landscapes and generally paintings describing the settlement and history of the state.

      The old entrance/exit has huge old pillars outside and in the lobby on the floor there’s a stone map of the Pacific showing Abel Tasman’s voyages including (as seen in the photo) his 1642 expedition where he mapped the top of the south island and lower north island – easy to see our Nelson home and Farewell Spit. And the doors are huge with brass or bronze (not sure which) panels depicting Aboriginal life and also portraits of important colonists who contributed to the founding of Sydney.

      The main reason for going to the library though, was for a small exhibition of children’s books highlighting their illustrators and how they went about their work. There were lots of books with an emphasis on diversity but also well-loved Australian books. Oisin was very excited to see the Grug and the painting of its house. https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/imagine-t…

      We headed down the hill to Circular Quay and had lunch at an Italian place Pete and I had been to last year, friendly service, good food – and the peach and passionfruit spritzer was pretty good. Oisin and I spent time looking at the big buildings and watching the ferries come and go, very exciting for the boy.

      I love seeing the old sandstone buildings and got a few photos. There’s so much history in Sydney, well worth a visit and a lot to see especially around the Rocks area and the gardens near Circular Quay but that’s just the start. We’ve been here a few times now and see something different each trip.

      After lunch we walked along towards the Opera House then headed home on the train again – Oisin was pretty tired and well ready for his bed at 7pm.

      We ticked the train box, ticked the boat (ferry) box, and the plane box? Ashfield is under the flight path to and from the airport so planes are frequent but you get used to them. And we'll be heading that way ourselves in a few days.
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    • Day 3

      Flug

      December 31, 2023 in Australia

      Hallo Liebe Klasse. Wie geht es euch?
      Um 08:00 Uhr sind meine Familie und Ich zum Flughafen Zürich.
      Dort erfuhren wir das unser Flug von Hongkong nach Australien 12 Stunden Verspätung hat. Wir wahren ein bisschen verärgert.
      nach dem Flug von der Schweiz nach Hongkong hatten wir statt 2 Stunden 14 Stunden Aufenthalt. Als Entschuldigung durften wir es uns in der Business Lounge gemütlich machen. Dort gab es mehr als drei Restaurants.
      Nach 14 Sunden ging es endlich nach Australien. Nach 9 Stunden Flugzeit kommen wir in Australien.
      danke für eure Kommentare.
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    • Day 1

      Family time

      March 17, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      17 March 2023, 36 degrees – Welcome to Sydney!

      Here we are in Ashfield, Sydney, with Jen, Vince, Oisìn and Flynn…….so happy to be here.

      Leaving home and closing up the house for ten weeks has been a bit daunting but Kate and Ian are keeping an eye on it. Chris and John delivered us to the airport and the adventure began on Friday morning 17 March.

      Auckland airport was an eye-opener, thank goodness our bags had been checked all the way through from Nelson to Sydney because it took us close to 90 minutes to go through from a line-up outside the shops and a very long queuing race just to be able to scan boarding passes, another queuing race to scan passports then finally through to the baggage x-rays where only one carousel was working so that was the cause of the bottleneck.

      And then they pulled Pete aside and went through his backpack with a fine-tooth comb, no doubt because of all his electrical cords and things! Either that or he just looked really suspicious?

      Qantas wasn’t too bad, a full flight, on time, they fed us. From the airport it was easy to get on the train to Central, then on to Ashfield. Vince picked us up at the train station and here we are!

      So this first week is family time, the real travel won’t start until we carry on to Singapore on Monday 27th so keep an eye out then. We had a great time on Saturday morning at a playground in the huge Olympic Park, wandered round the lake and saw giant carp and eels, a couple of pelicans. Pete’s nephew Gareth came for dinner and took a family photo, a hot day so bare tummies were the best thing for the boys.

      Sunday morning we were out early to Ashfield Aquatic Centre, all six of us in the water and the grandparents loved it, including in the little paddling pool with its sprinklers and fountains, great fun. In the afternoon it was off to a mall for an airconditioned playground experience, Jen and I were shoe-shopping when…………..EVACUATE, EVACUATE………..sirens and hooters………….EVACUATE!!! Vince could see the kebab shop with smoke billowing out and a hose stuck into the ovens! We went to the top floor and waited because the carpark was jammed, but then went down again and carried on playing and shopping – it was quite strange because some shops shut but most didn’t, the barber had kept on cutting hair, business as usual pretty much so we carried on, roasted only by the temperature outside when we got home. Thank goodness for aircon in the bedrooms of Jen and Vince’s little 1880’s cottage.

      I’ll check in with you in a few days, fingers crossed for cooler days! In the meantime there are lots of stories being read, songs sung, balls kicked around the back yard, and so many cuddles and snuggles given and received, so special.
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    • Day 4

      Hopp On-Hopp Off Tour

      January 1 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

      Hallo liebe Klasse.
      Heute Morgen beschlossen wir auf eine Hopp On-Hopp Off Tour zu gehen.
      Dafür mussten wir von Manly mit der Fähre nach Sydney.
      Auf der Fahrt sahen wir die Harbour Bridge und das Opernhaus.
      Bevor wir mit der Tour starteten holten wir uns noch ein Eis.
      Danach stiegen wir ein in den Bus ein, in dem Bus gab es Kopfhörer bei denen man die Sprache ein stellen konnte und dann alles über die Häuser erfahren konnten.
      Liebe Grüsse von Sol
      PS ein Foto ist für Frau Schläpfer
      danke für eure Kommentare aber warum Niammm niamm
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    Cockle Bay

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