Sydney on a Little More Sleep

With the last four days in Sydney we set about walking every square inch of the downtown. While some may think, 'impossible,' my sore feet beg to differ. We made sure to take care of the obvious things first: checking out the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and getting the requisite pictures. And while those where impressive, I think one of our favorite parts of the city were the extensive Botanical Gardens. Getting to wander in downtown and take a break in the shady comfort of the gardens was really nice.

Random Highlights:
1. Sitting in an internet cafe late at night listening to Chinese kids use a strange English/Chinese/gamer's-speak pigeon while playing some video game
2. Realizing we were not the target market at our hostel when they advertized an "all-you-can-drink-in-an-hour" socializing event. The idea of drinking mass quantities with a group of somewhat over-determined 19 year olds didn't suit us.
3. Exploring the funky neighborhoods of Newtown, Darlinghurst and Kings Cross and sampling the wonderful bookstores.
4. Trying "authentic" Mexican food in Newtown prepared by Spanish people. Closer than we thought..
5. When it is really hot outside and there is the offer of a free tour WITH air conditioning, you will tour almost anything. To wit: we toured the Governor's House, which is akin to a Samoan touring the Kansas Governor's house. Perhaps not the most relevant history to ours, but not a bad tour or way to cool off.

-d

Sydney on No Sleep

Our intro to Sydney was a little bumpy. After waiting for the free hostel shuttle at the airport for nearly 2 hours and checking into our room, we decided to walk around and orient ourselves to the city a bit. Sydney is a huge, bustling, international city--something we hadn't experienced for a while. We wandered off map and got pretty lost. Ironically, in our darkest hour, we came across Glebe Road. We knew we were doomed if Sydney operated any way like Northern Virginia. When I first moved to DC, our friend Tom gave me a driving tour of Northern Virginia, announcing at nearly every turn another Glebe Road, which still perplexed us to this day. Fortunately, Sydney only has one Glebe Road (or we couldn't find North, South, East, and West Glebe before we panicked and quickly asked for directions.) We're looking forward to some sleep and staying here a few days to do some more non-Glebe-related exploring.
-d

The Return to Wellington and Goodbye to New Zealand

We returned once again to our friend Dan's in Wellington to pick up where we left off, namely hanging out with him and his flat mates on the back porch drinking wine and talking about American politics, religion, kiwi culture, and classic rock. It was great to unwind and have real conversations after feeling like complete tourists for so long. Thanks again Dan, David, and Shannon!

We ran into our second bit of nasty weather as we made our longest drive yet--Wellington to Auckland in 10 hours. Since we needed to be at the airport the following morning at 4 am, we decided to sleep in the airport--a mixed bag that made us long for the austere comforts of 'Delicious V.' We hope we'll only need to repeat this experiment in insomnia a couple more times in the coming months.

--K & D

So Long, South Island

Our first time through the port town of Picton, we stopped for little more than email. But this time, we spent a little more time in its environs. Notably, we splurged on "pizza" and followed that mistake with a wonderful hike through the Queen Charlotte Sound. The hike took us up to some beautiful views of inlets and bays and gave us a chance to bid a fond farewell to the crazy plants of the South Island--we'll miss you, giant ferns!
-K & D

Two Nights in Nelson

One of the main advantages of staying in one place for more than a day is that you can start to develop little stories about the place and its people. To wit: On our first day in Nelson, we took care of some stuff in an internet cafe staffed by one slightly condescending tech guy who looked down his nose at a German tourist who didn't know how a certain type of software worked. OK, standard enough. It seems that this type of person has worked in each of the internet cafes I've been to. But, on day two of wandering the streets of Nelson, I happened to glance into an empty shop selling what looked to be standard teeny bopper clothing and who should be standing dejectedly behind the counter? That's right, our condescending computer guy. I couldn't help imagining that he treated the young clientèle with the same contempt, perhaps telling them that certain halter tops were certainly not in style anymore.

The second half of our Nelson stay was not completely filled with people watching, though. We decided to take a stab at one of the most popular treks in NZ--the Abel Tasman. Unlike the trails that had occupied most of our hiking time in NZ--the Abel Tasman is relatively easy hiking along the coast in a more tropical setting. Once we started what was going to be a 5 hour hike, we got pulled astray by the beach that wound next to the trail. So instead of the long walk, we decided to stroll through the rocky shallows along the beach. After getting marooned in an inlet due to our ignorance of the tides, and wading rather than walking back to the beach, we finished the hike by taking another ill-conceived walk through the muddy estuary. A few lost flip-flops later, we were off for a night in Picton, our last stop on the South Island.
-d

The People Have Spoken--And Shame on You

In a resounding (11 to 10) vote, the people have voted to let Mark Groner, mid-30s Hollywood, CA resident, buy a fannypack. Whether this vote indicates encouragement or malice, we may never know. But for those who voted yes, I want you to look into your souls and ask, "did I consider Mark's wife and young child for even a second before casting my vote?" I'll let your conscience be your guide...
-K

Pancake Rocks and Glowworm

The west coast of the South Island is one of the least populated parts of NZ. Initially, we weren't sure what we should do on the drive north from the glaciers, but we got a great recommendation from the folks in Christchurch to stop in at the megalopolis of Punakaiki. Although our map would indicate this was a samll town by the font size, it's really just a DOC visitor's center, two cafes, and some accomodations.

Though the town is tiny, it makes up for its size with all of the fantastic hiking and scenery nearby. Our first hike was to Fox Caves and it had to be one of our favorites. Although it didn't start out at all challenging (the 2 river crossings we were warned about were basically dry), it got progressively harder as we neared the cave. After sliding around on moss-covered rocks for 20 minutes, we came to a warning sign for slippery rocks. If you're Dennis, this would put you into a giggling/cursing/ hysterical state, but the sign bore out. The last ascent to the cave is over large, wet, moss covered boulders. Pretty treacherous, but exploring the huge cave was a great reward for the efforts.

We then checked out the pancake rocks along the shore of Punakaiki. The rocks are still one of nature's mysteries according to the signs, plus they're pretty.

Although we didn't wait till dark for our next caving experience as advised, we also explored Punakaiki Cavern, turned off our headlamps, waited in the pich black towards the back of the cave, and saw a glowworm. We'd seen dozens of glowworm caving tours since we've been in NZ, and this was the only cavern so far that was free. In retrospect, this was probably because it contains one dodgy glowworm, but we were still really excited to see him/her/it!

-K