North Queensland, Australia

The weekend after Thanksgiving we started our month of travel before heading home for Christmas. Since arriving to NZ, Erik and I had tossed around the idea of checking out an island or two in the South Pacific, however this seemed to be a bit out of our price range. Instead we decided to visit tropical Queensland (the northeast portion of Australia).

We spent most of our time in Port Douglas, which is a lazy tourist town north of Cairns. I had a great time in Pt Douglas, but it's not exactly a hotbed of social activity. What I mean by that is there didn't seem to be much to do at night. However our hostel had a fun bar and we met some nice people on our rainforest tour. We met up with them one night to hear some live music and have a few drinks.

The #1 item on my list in Australia was the Great Barrier Reef... Here is a picture of a very, very, very small portion of the GBR from the plane - so cool!


Anyway, we took a snorkeling tour of the reef one afternoon and had a ton of fun. The weather looked rather threatening on our way out, but the ocean was quite calm and by the time the afternoon rolled around there was some sunshine.

Here is a picture of us on the boat and of our captain - all of the tour guides were a riot.



(He sure is working hard!)

Our snorkel trip included 3 stops... I was bummed when we weren't able to see the "normal" stop #3. It was supposed to be the site with sea turtles, but the area was covered in jellyfish, so they turned the boat around and took us to a different place. However, we saw heaps of fish, beautiful coral, and some massive hundred-year-old clams.

Our other big adventure was a day-long tour of the Daintree Rainforest. There were only 6 people in our group (plus our guide). Everyone on the tour was very friendly and we all got along really well. I am not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point on the trip I became the guinea pig for all activities. I believe it began when our guide picked up an ant and asked "Who would like to taste this?" I was the only one to volunteer, so after that I was "volunteered by others" to be the first to try/do anything (such as tasting the exotic fruits, sticking my head in a tree, acting like I was going to get cut in half, you name it. By the way, tasting the ant involved sticking your tongue out so the guide could touch the ant's green butt to your tongue. It tasted like a chewable vitamin C tablet.)


(That little stunt probably had the highest risk of injury compared to anything else I have done here... but I survived!)

Another fun tidbit from the rainforest tour was that one of our fellow tourists kept calling Erik "Rick." At first I tried to emphasize Erik's real name by using it whenever I addressed him, but that didn't work. After awhile it was simply hilarious, and I became worried she might catch on and correct herself. Erik claims he didn't care... but I know better than to believe that. (Otherwise I would have started calling him Rick myself!)

Here are a few pics from the tour -

Bloomfield Falls w/ our tour group (we drove for an hour on a gravel road, through streams and all to see this... since I was in the backseat, I was not a huge fan of the driving part)


Cape Tribulation


Me swimming in Noah Valley (private land that the tour company leases - the water was perfect, nice and cool, and clear so I could watch for snakes... there were none)


After the rainforest tour we stopped at Hartley's Creek Crocodile Farm where we saw koalas, tons and tons of crocs, and a crocodile show. It was very interesting and there is no amount of money that could make me get into a pool with this guy!


The focus of the show we watched was on how easy it is for a crocodile to kill you... real family friendly.

The last thing I wanted to mention about Australia is to triple check your calendar if you ever decide to visit North Queensland. Killer jellyfish season had just started when we arrived, swimming was prohibited in coastal waters (ie. on the beach). This was awful. It was hot and humid, and you couldn't even dip your feet in since the jellyfish are known to be in ankle-deep water. The only place you could swim was in this minuscule netted area. (It's hard to see in my pictures that the deepest point in the netted area the water is barely above your knee.) This was also the least crowded we saw the area...


I cannot emphasize enough how disappointed I was about the beaches being closed. Look at all this beach... NO swimming on "Four Mile Beach" - What a tease!


Disappointed or not, the jellyfish didn't stop me from having some fun and building a masterpiece one afternoon...


...and true to Dillhoff tradition, I worked hard to save the castle from the incoming tide, but without my brothers' moat-building skills, the it fell quickly.

All in all, our Australia trip was great... to see all 200+ pictures (yikes!), check out the Queensland, Australia photo album -

Queensland, Australia

Yes, I do spend time in Wellington...

Seems like nearly all of my posts have been about traveling, so I thought I would share a little more about life in Wellington -

Starting with where I live -

My room - I affectionately refer to it as "the pumpkin." I will never have an orange room in my future house/apartment. This room is actually a converted dining room, which means it has a couple bonuses, but no closet!

Bonus #1 - the built-in hutch. The top middle drawer has built in cutlery dividers, perfect for socks and underwear!
Bonus #2 - the built-in wine closet on the left - pretty much only good for holding wine.

Our driveway/the house across the street. All the houses in this area are really nice. Andy (flatmate) and Erik like to call ours the worst house on the nicest block -
And we are real classy - Andy and Erik dragged the couch out to the driveway to show off their guitar skills.
We would have hung out in the backyard, but as you can see, the Wellington Motorway is cramping our style (ours is the one-story white house).
Everyday tasks

I forgot to mention in my NZ Observations post that most people in NZ do not use clothes dryers, so it's the old-fashioned, environmentally friendly clothesline for us. This is a pain when the weather is not cooperating because then we have to hang the clothes up all over the house... with so many people, space becomes a premium.
Birthday Party!

Here is a picture of me with Susan and Corey. Corey is Sarah's older brother, and Susan is another friend of Corey's. We all went to a Japanese restaurant for Corey's birthday, then hit the dance floor for a few hours - it was a ton of fun. Mount Victoria (Wellington)

Mt Vic is one of the city neighborhoods, and it is located "above" Oriental Parade (OP is right along the harbor - a put up some pictures of that area when I first arrived). One weekend Erik and I decided to take the time to hike up to the lookout... it was a gorgeous day and the views were amazing. It was the first time I had seen the harbor from the other side.

Here I am consulting my trusty map to make sure we are on the right course -

This is the view from Mt Vic towards the Pacific Ocean - if you look carefully, the Wellington airport is nestled in on this little strip of land. Given that Wellington, NZ is also known as the windy city and there isn't much shelter from the elements in this spot, it is no wonder that plane landings can be rough!

Some sailboats out enjoying the beautiful weather. On a clear day, I have been able to see the snow on the Rimataka mountains in the background.



A more current update...

I am actually in Queenstown, NZ at the moment. Erik and I just got back from a week in Queensland, Australia seeing the tropical rainforest and Great Barrier Reef (updates to follow). We have a couple weeks to tour the south island before heading home for the holidays. Then it is back to Wellington for a few more months in 2008!

Christchurch (part II)

Picking up where I left off... (Sunday & Monday, 21-22 Oct)

Erik and I hitched ride with Mona to town to do some sightseeing on Sunday.

We started at the Arts Centre, which was actually the same area where we went to see the Glass Menagerie. During the day on Sundays there is a nice outdoor market with food and arts/crafts. They also had some live music in one of the courtyards -

And here is a statue that I really liked - if I had written this entry more timely, then I would remember what it symbolized or paid tribute to... however I do know that it is a Maori sculpture. Erik and I hope to take some time to visit some of the Maori heritage sites in the future.
After the market we made our way towards the city center - this is a picture of the Avon River, which runs through town.
Naturally, we couldn't go to Christchurch without seeing the church - here is Cathedral Square with the Christchurch Cathedral (built in 1865).
And one of my favorite stained-glass windows:
After spending the afternoon in the city sight-seeing, we walked over to our rental car agency. It wasn't too far of a walk, but it was really nice to see some more of the city. Everyone around here says that Christchurch is the "most British" area of New Zealand. I definitely agree. These buildings reminded me of London, however there were significantly fewer people on the street!
Since we picked up the car somewhat late, we decided to keep close to Jorgen and Mona's so we could be on time for dinner with Aunt Charlotte. We were also a bit tired from our busy day on Saturday (Jorgen really wore us out!) ... so we decided to take the gondola up to Mt. Cavendish Reserve.
I took this picture from the gondola - it reminded me of the Rimutaka Hill road that we took on our first weekend trip, except this road has a straight portion AND a guardrail! I also took this picture because I loved the scenery beyond the curve (which is the estuary of the Avon and Heathcote Rivers).
The views from Mt. Cavendish were amazing - this is Lyttelton Harbor. The harbor used to be a crater lake which eventually eroded until it joined the ocean. Hard to imagine that the entire area is the result of a volcano.
Oh, and this is me at the gondola gift shop - I was bored... but had no problem entertaining myself!
A picture of us in with Lyttelton Bay in the background -
And on a hike along part of the Crater Rim walkway -
Here is a photo of looking down towards Christchurch - those are the Southern Alps in the way background. And don't miss the cyclists coming up the mountain - I see people riding like this all over New Zealand. It's amazing how fit some of these athletes are - I recommend the gondola.

Monday we headed over to the Banks Peninsula... for those of you that are somewhat familiar with NZ, the Banks Peninsula is the little bump on the east coast of the South Island. Like I mentioned earlier, this entire area was formed by two giant volcanic eruptions. This is a photo of the map at the gondola gift shop - hopefully it helps give you a feel for what I am talking about...

Note - The "You are here" is the gondola shop at Mt. Cavendish, which overlooks Lyttleton Harbour.

Note - The large blue bay at the bottom of the map is Akaroa.

Before driving down into Akaroa Harbour we spent some time on the summit road there - and look at what I found! I just love these little lambs.
Here are a couple pictures of Akaroa Harbour - everything was very blue, but I think this picture looks a little too blue, but believe me, it was gorgeous!
(I love all the hillsides here...)

Our plan for the day was to take the catamaran cruise out into the bay... things were up in the air for awhile since it was really windy, but we had a nice time walking around town. Akaroa is actually the site of the first French settlement in NZ - I'd say they picked a good spot (in fact, if not for some quick thinking by the British to plant their flag in Akaroa just before the French arrived, the South Island may have ended up as a French colony).
Thankfully the wind died down a little bit - emphasis on little - and we were able to do the cruise. The cruise was a couple hours long and took us from the dock to the harbour entrance, and back.

This is the photo while we were on our way out towards the Pacific Ocean. The trip was great when we were moving along, but when the captain stopped, it was less than pleasant for me. He let us bob up and down (and up and down) while everyone scrambled to take pictures of Hector dolphins and fur seals. The wildlife was really cool, but once I had seen it, I was ready to fire up the engine again and get moving. Instead, we stuck around... I think this is one of the last photos I took the rest of the day - which means that I really must not have been feeling very well because I love to take pictures. I know that the water does not look very rough, but I was feeling every wave...
See? Even though I am smiling, I am very uncomfortable here.
At this point I went to the back of the boat and down the steps and tried to relax... by the time we made it back to Jorgen and Mona's (which included an hour-long nap in the car) I was feeling better. Sorry, no pictures of the ocean wildlife from me - but I am sure there will be others in the future.

Take care everyone!

Christchurch (part I)

For the Labour Weekend (Oct 19-22) we ventured down to Christchurch to visit Erik's family. It was great to finally meet Jorgen & Mona, especially after hearing all about them from Erik and Carsten.

We were able to do a lot while we were down there, so I have split this trip up into two posts...

Jorgen is also the Danish Consulate for the South Island. From talking with him, this means that he helps Danish citizens living or visiting NZ, entertains/hosts important visitors, and a variety of other things. It's not a full-time position like the ambassador, but it seems to keep him busy when he is not tied up at his real job. It also means that they have this awesome seal outside their house .
We arrived rather late on Friday night, but on Saturday we had a reasonably early start to check out the Craigieburn Range (which we could see from the Schousboe's porch!). Jorgen drove us out on some of the backroads, and on our way we passed through the Rakaia Gorge.

This is looking to the left (from the bridge)
And this one is looking straight-ahead / to the right

At this point we turned off of the paved road and spent the rest of our time on gravel/dirt roads. It was so nice of Jorgen to take us out, plus he knew exactly where is was going, well most of the time :) , so there wasn't anything for me and Erik to do except take in the sights and listen to some of Jorgen's stories. I really enjoyed hearing about when Erik's family used to live here or hearing about all the trouble that Carsten used to get into!

By the way, this area was about an hour outside of Christchurch.

The weather looked a little dicey as we were approaching the mountains, (notice the shift from blue sky to clouds in this picture) - but that didn't stop us!
Sure enough, not long after we pulled away from the Rakaia Gorge is started to rain. But neither rain nor fence held us back -

I am pretty sure he was thinking, "This rain is cold, and you two are just sitting there, warm and dry inside the car, laughing at me, and now I see you are taking my picture. Awesome." Ha!

We drove a little further to check out Lake Coleridge. Even though the weather wasn't cooperating, you can still see that the lake is this amazing blue... if it had been a clear day, you would be able to see snow-capped mountains on the other side of the lake.
Then we took a break and had lunch at the Schousboe's cabin in Castle Hill. Our lunch was delicious - real apple juice, pate, pastrami & Danish cheese. Yum!

Within minutes of finishing lunch, the sky cleared. I was really excited about this and proceeded to take an obscene number of photos.

This one was just behind the cabin -
And here's another one I took from inside the car -

And then we arrived at our next destination, the Cave Stream Scenic Reserve - a 596m long limestone cave. This is Erik and Jorgen walking down towards the river basin. If you look at the bottom right you can see where the underwater river comes out of the cave (it's a little hard to see because it is shaded). We did not go into the cave - it sounded a little too cold for our taste.
This picture was taken looking in the other direction, but halfway down the slope to the creek -

And this one was taken at the park entrance (there's a tiny sign in there at the bottom) -

Then we headed over to Kura Tawhiti Conservation Area. All of these limestone boulders used to be on the bottom of the ocean, and now here they are - that's me trying to climb up. In case you were wondering, that is about as far as I got...
But these people were far more successful (see some people walking with a big red things strapped on the one guy's back? The red thing is a mat they put down on the ground wherever they are rock climbing.) Climbers are not permitted to use any equipment in order to preserve the area - not even cleats on their shoes.
And I took this picture because I would like to live on this farm - looks like a sweet gig to me!

No clouds near the top this time, so, guess what I did? I took yet another picture.
After the limestone boulders at Kura Tawhiti we headed back to Christchurch. This is the main road heading back to Christchurch (instead of the gravel ones we took on our way up) - it was amazing how quickly we were out of the mountains and back on flat land. (Christchurch is flat as a pancake - with the exception of a few spots which will be in my next post.)
Once back in town we had a lovely meal at home with Mona, then the four of us went to see Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie at the local theater. It was a lot of fun, and we were very, very impressed by the Southern accents. It felt like I was watching the play in Missouri!

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Hope all is well with everyone - I hope to post about the second half of our trip soon!