We're now a couple of days down the east coast of the South Island -- at a great hostel where the polished-wooden floor hallways are so long the folks provide razor-type scooters to zip up and down -- whee!
Highlights as we came down the coast: small town called Timaru with a great Immigrant's Museum, and info about a guy who "flew" before the Wright Brothers, but his flight was so short and uncontrolled that he didn't claim the title (300 yards, landing in the brush). More body surfing! And the Moeraki boulders, which need pictures to do any justice.
Off to a tiny town tomorrow night and then a track (NZ-speak for trek) for the following 2 nights, so it'll be a few days for more, but we'll work on getting photos posted after that. xo and ;-)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Finally blogging...
Only one person has actually *begged* us to start a blog, but many have asked...so here it is, finally! As those who have known me for years know, I used to send "travelogues" to a mass e-mail list, but that became problematic since spam-catchers dislike long d-lists, so I'm trying it this way.
It took so long for post #1 because I tried to "catch up" instead of just jumping in...really bad decision, it gets too much like pure "reportage" and not as much fun to write or to read, I'm afraid. Pop back here whenever you like -- I'll try to post bits fairly often, and there may actually be a way to have the system tell you when I've posted something new. And I'll try to make it more fun (the best way to do that would be to get Brian to post; working on it...).
Australia!
Australians are so amazingly friendly and so nice -- really the overwhelming feeling I have here -- nice may be an overused word, but it fits. I’ve been here before, albeit 14 years ago (my, that’s a big number), but nothing seems very familiar. And that’s a good thing, as the simple “drinking it in” feeling I get walking around a new place is one of my favorite things about travel. And of course I’m with Brian, and we’ve done many things I didn’t do in 1995, so it is a new experience.
We started in Sydney, but spent just one day exploring before heading a couple hours north by train to the seaside town of Avoca Beach -- our Singapore friends Luke and Susan had invited us to join Susan’s family for “Chrissy,” as Christmas is so charmingly called. (I hope no Australians think I’m making fun here -- it is charming to me.) Susan’s parents, siblings, and other assorted family members made us feel warmly welcome, and Christmas lunch was delicious, with traditional Christmas pudding (steamed cake) for dessert. The rest of our time there was spent body surfing, eating the town’s best fish and chips, meeting Luke’s family, fun conversation, and lots of quiz questions about Australia and the US (instigated by Brian, with enthusiastic participation from many extended family members). This was the second year in a row we’d shared Christmas with Luke and Susan and their 3 daughters -- we’ll miss you all next year (and Susan’s yummy Christmas pudding) -- although of course the invitation to join us in California any time still stands!
Next stop was even further north, visiting other friends on their organic cattle farm -- something like 30 head of cattle on 200 acres (no daily massages, but organically raised and lots of room to roam). I know Alyson from my term at London Business School (exchange program experience during grad school) -- she and Michael also have 3 daughters, wonderful, outgoing, independent girls. A river runs through their property, and we spent many wonderful hours tossing Isabella, Georgina, and Eloise around in the water. Since you know I always report the food highlights: Michael treated us to a great Aussie BBQ on the on the riverbank (including beef sausages from their cattle), we feasted on Alyson’s homegrown fruits and vegetables, and Brian made an amazing pot of lentils. The girls treated us to a fabulous dance routine, had fun with Brian on the trampoline and bicycles, and teased me mercilessly for the phrasing “this tent stake has serious problems.” I’ve asked the girls to pester their parents for a trip to Disneyland so they get to come to California -- Alyson/Michael, I hate to incite bad behavior in such well-behaved children, but it may be my best strategy to get you all to our neck of the woods!
And back to Sydney, where we enjoyed the city, had a great run through the botanic gardens (cockatoo and ibises!), took a gorgeous clifftop walk above the coast from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach. It wasn't all perfect -- we had colds which wouldn’t shake, were disappointed that the Harbor Bridge climb wasn’t possible due to preparation for NYE fireworks, had trouble in a step class due to the instructor’s Aussie accent (OK, Brian followed perfectly, I didn’t)….
On to Melbourne -- we were lucky to be able to stay in the Melbourne-suburb house of our Singapore friends Anthony and Loretta -- they have a friend house-sitting there, but there was plenty of room and Paul was incredibly generous to share his space and his fabulous cooking for days on end. He’s also the best Melbourne city guide you’ll ever find! Anthony and Loretta were in Melbourne for the holidays, but staying with parents rather than at home, and we had a great day with them (lunch at the house and a couple of hours at the beach). The next day we joined Loretta and the kids for a fun day at a wildlife sanctuary -- platypus, koala, getting to feed and pet a kangaroo. Melbourne was most impressive for the great architecture in the city center -- they’ve really done a great job of preservation, and there are delightful café/shopping/wandering laneways (arcades, alleyways) through the city.
We started in Sydney, but spent just one day exploring before heading a couple hours north by train to the seaside town of Avoca Beach -- our Singapore friends Luke and Susan had invited us to join Susan’s family for “Chrissy,” as Christmas is so charmingly called. (I hope no Australians think I’m making fun here -- it is charming to me.) Susan’s parents, siblings, and other assorted family members made us feel warmly welcome, and Christmas lunch was delicious, with traditional Christmas pudding (steamed cake) for dessert. The rest of our time there was spent body surfing, eating the town’s best fish and chips, meeting Luke’s family, fun conversation, and lots of quiz questions about Australia and the US (instigated by Brian, with enthusiastic participation from many extended family members). This was the second year in a row we’d shared Christmas with Luke and Susan and their 3 daughters -- we’ll miss you all next year (and Susan’s yummy Christmas pudding) -- although of course the invitation to join us in California any time still stands!
Next stop was even further north, visiting other friends on their organic cattle farm -- something like 30 head of cattle on 200 acres (no daily massages, but organically raised and lots of room to roam). I know Alyson from my term at London Business School (exchange program experience during grad school) -- she and Michael also have 3 daughters, wonderful, outgoing, independent girls. A river runs through their property, and we spent many wonderful hours tossing Isabella, Georgina, and Eloise around in the water. Since you know I always report the food highlights: Michael treated us to a great Aussie BBQ on the on the riverbank (including beef sausages from their cattle), we feasted on Alyson’s homegrown fruits and vegetables, and Brian made an amazing pot of lentils. The girls treated us to a fabulous dance routine, had fun with Brian on the trampoline and bicycles, and teased me mercilessly for the phrasing “this tent stake has serious problems.” I’ve asked the girls to pester their parents for a trip to Disneyland so they get to come to California -- Alyson/Michael, I hate to incite bad behavior in such well-behaved children, but it may be my best strategy to get you all to our neck of the woods!
And back to Sydney, where we enjoyed the city, had a great run through the botanic gardens (cockatoo and ibises!), took a gorgeous clifftop walk above the coast from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach. It wasn't all perfect -- we had colds which wouldn’t shake, were disappointed that the Harbor Bridge climb wasn’t possible due to preparation for NYE fireworks, had trouble in a step class due to the instructor’s Aussie accent (OK, Brian followed perfectly, I didn’t)….
On to Melbourne -- we were lucky to be able to stay in the Melbourne-suburb house of our Singapore friends Anthony and Loretta -- they have a friend house-sitting there, but there was plenty of room and Paul was incredibly generous to share his space and his fabulous cooking for days on end. He’s also the best Melbourne city guide you’ll ever find! Anthony and Loretta were in Melbourne for the holidays, but staying with parents rather than at home, and we had a great day with them (lunch at the house and a couple of hours at the beach). The next day we joined Loretta and the kids for a fun day at a wildlife sanctuary -- platypus, koala, getting to feed and pet a kangaroo. Melbourne was most impressive for the great architecture in the city center -- they’ve really done a great job of preservation, and there are delightful café/shopping/wandering laneways (arcades, alleyways) through the city.
Next on the agenda: road trip! We drove out the Great Ocean Road, an indescribably scenic drive along the Southern Ocean coast – looks a lot like California’s northern coast (Mendocino etc.) (oops, I guess that’s a description to those of you who know that coast!). Went out to Adelaide via the coast and back to Melbourne inland. We had some fabulous body surfing, beautiful coastline, random stops for hiking, a gorgeous sapphire lake at Mount Gambier, a couple of nice days in Adelaide (chocolate factory tour, great architecture, wine center, immigration museum). Hit the wine country (Barossa Valley, great reds, yummy kangaroo fillet and paté and roasted chicken and German bakeries), crossed through desert, stopped in the Grampians (red mountains, great hike to Pinnacles lookout, aboriginal art, terrific youth hostel, kangaroo hopping by while we were walking just a few feet away!).
Back to Melbourne, more city fun including the Mid-Summa festival (gay-oriented outdoor music fest) and a fabulous exhibit at the library about the history, art and imagining of books, from earliest times to new forms.
Two observations: 1) I thought this was impossible, but Australians have actually found a way to have too much cheese in a dish. I have actually left a little pile of feta behind after a plate of pasta with spinach and pumpkin, and a big pile of goat cheese after a beet/lentil/green bean salad. Hard to believe, I know! 2) Australian cars have some really ugly colors. Not only new ones, the trend seems to have started a while back, but in general it's relatively new, shiny cars which have disturbing shades of rotten pumpkin, muddy mauve, mustard yellow (French's and Grey Poupon both, take your pick), gaudy aqua. Is it possible this is going on the US and I just haven't noticed? Once I started noticing, they were absolutely everywhere....
Sad to leave Australia... on to:
New Zealand
Only in Christchurch so far -- loved this city last time I was here, and it's really cool now because the Buskers Festival is on. Street performers everywhere -- musicians, jugglers, unicyclists, contortionists -- brings sights like a very pink-clad woman coming out of the hostel elevator with her collection of hula hoops, packed in a custom bag.
It seems like an interminable amount of our time in Christchurch has been spent planning for onward travel. High season can be a pain -- trying to make all the jigsaw pieces fit together without too much changing plans, backtracking, or giving up on something because the dates just don't work. But we're getting there -- we leave tomorrow for two weeks through the southern-most part of the South Island, including hiking the Hump Ridge Track (3 days/2 nights, one of the few tracks for which we don't need sleeping bags and camping gear, which we didn't bring along)...hmmm, maybe it's bad to say what we will be doing...we'll go do it and then I'll report back instead. xo and ;-)
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