Rotorua

Sean and Kailani on the luge

Hangi Feast

Maori Show

Watching the green rolling hills with sheep and cows at our campground at the Waikite Thermal Pools

Wai-O-Tapu

08.31.08: From Papamoa, we drove into the Lake Rotorua region. I read in our Rough Guide how you can smell the sulfur coming from miles away, so my nose was on guard. I didn’t smell anything until we finally came right into town. Then, I looked to the side of the road to see a sign that said “Wastewater Treatment Facility”. So, I’m still not sure what I was smelling…

We stayed at the Top 10 Blue Lake Holiday Park (Campground), just a few minutes from the city of Rotorua. It was set right across the street from Blue Lake. There were pine trees on one side of the lake that were obviously planted. It’s pretty strange to see trees growing on a mountain in rows. I read somewhere that they are actually California pines that were planted as an experiment to see how they would grow. Apparently, they ended growing four times faster than in CA. On the other side of the lake is native bush mixed with ancient cycads. It’s quite an interesting mix.

This region has been a popular tourist spot for years because of all hot springs in the area. Because of this, it’s grown to have a number of other tourist activities to do as well. After settling into our camp sight, we were given a perplexing number of brochures to look through. But, we finally settled on a small but diverse list of categories to conquer: hot springs, Maori culture, thrill ride and animal experience for Kai. After, we went on a walk on a trail that went around the lake. Sean and Kailani stopped to throw in a fishing line out while I continued around the lake. Unfortunately, there were no fish when I got back to them. So, we went back to the campground and made dinner. The campground had DVDs available for rent and it was refreshing to see a movie that we’ve never seen, Madagascar.

The next morning, Sean went fishing again. Kailani and I stayed in the camper and ate breakfast. She insisted we watch Madagascar again. I’m glad that we needed to return it after that. Although it’s a good movie, I’m sure if we bought it, it would have been watched a zillion times by now. Again, Sean came back with no fish. But this time, the trail was closed for “Tree Felling”. I think that’s what they call when they purposely clear trees from the forest so they don’t fall down on their own and cause an accident.

Later that morning, we headed down to town to a store called The Outdoorsman Headquarters. Technically, Sean still needed a fishing license in order to fish at the lakes. Luckily, we were camping at a lake that’s OK to fish in, because he found out that it’s illegal to fish at the next lake over, Green Lake, since it’s Maori land. I started browsing through their selection of New Zealand merino wool thermal insulating clothes. The weather had turned cold that morning (FREEZING!), so timing was just right. I ended up picking a camisole made by Icebreaker. Still, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t also get a long sleeve shirt. It’s so incredible warm and soft! If you are in cold weather, I’d definitely recommend this stuff! I also strolled into their footwear department. I was still wearing my Keen sandals with socks. My toes were also freezing. For two weeks in Australia, I (as well as Caitlin and Tutu) had been on the hunt for some new Uggs, but never found anything that looked like good quality or style. Later, we found out that Uggs was actually bought by an American company. I guess that’s why there is a better selection of Uggs in the US than in Oz. Go figure! Anyway, at the store, I found a great pair of Merrell boots with fuzzy detailing and lined with Thinsulate. (No sheepskin, but that’s OK.) Nothing was cheap, but definitely worth it.

From there, we went to the Skyline Skyrides, took a gondola 200 meters up to the top of Terawera Mountain for great views of Lake Rotorua and then did some luge rides down. There are a number of places in town where you can get your adrenaline kicks: zorb, sky diving, bungy diving, etc. I’m sure Sean and I would be up for all of it. But, it was nice that we actually found something that was for the whole family. We all had a fun time. Kai was able to ride tandem on the luge. So first, she went with Sean, then with me, then with Sean again. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the greatest. It was misty up there and it kept looking like it was going to start pouring. But from a positive perspective, it motivated us to go down faster. At first, I was wondering if it’d be too much for Kai to handle. But after every ride, she kept asking to go again. We might have an adrenaline junkie in the making. When we were done, we got back into the gondola to go back down the mountain. It started raining pretty hard, so I guess we were just in time. Later that afternoon, we went back to the campground so Sean could go fishing again, this time legally. Unfortunately, the rain never let up.

The next day, we checked out of our campground at Blue Lake and went to the Waikite Valley thermal pools. The great thing about there is that they have a campground attached to their facilities and if you stay at the campground, you can bathe for free. As you are going to Waikite Valley, you take Highway 5, named The Thermal Explorer Highway. As you go, you can see big clouds of steam coming all up and down the road, hence the name. At the campground, we settled in and had lunch before jumping into the pools. Sean had the lamb stroganoff with couscous and I had some kumara and something (I can’t remember, but it was a Maori name) soup. We were impressed with both. The stroganoff sauce had a kick of cinnamon, which I think disguised the normally gamey flavor of the lamb well. At the pools, Kai found a friend to play with, another two and a half year old, Hannah, who was half Kiwi and half Cambodian, from Rotorua. Her parents owned St. Andrews bakery in town. Just as some other locals that we met there said, they preferred this place over others like the Polynesian Spa in town because it’s much more sedate and less crowded.

Later that night, we went to a Maori show and dinner run by Mitai (equivalent to a Hawaiian luau). There, we saw a performance of traditional Maori dance, music, song and chants. Then, ate a hangi dinner, where the chicken, lamb, potatoes, kumara and bread are steamed to perfection in a Maori earth oven (which I think is heated by hot springs). After dinner, we ended the night with a bush walk around the village where we saw glow worms and spring water pool that bubbled up several million gallons of water daily, and had freshwater eel and trout living there. Although it was not the most intimate way to experience the Maori culture, it was still fun and interesting.

The next day, we went to the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, where Sean wanted to see the Lady Knox Geyser that goes off every morning at 10:15am sharp. No, it doesn’t naturally go off at the same time every day. In fact, naturally, it would go off any time between 24 to 72 hours. But every day, a ranger puts a soap-like substance into it (I’m sure, some kind of surfactant), which releases it’s surface tension and makes it go off. We all did our “oh’s” and “ah’s” and then walked around the rest of the park to see more bubbling thermal hot pools. You can see several different colors in the water and on the land, depending on the presence of what minerals there are. The rest of the landscape was a mix of native bush with what appeared to look like a holocaust zone.

In the afternoon, we went into town to the Rainbow Springs Nature Park for the Kiwi Experience. We toured a conservation center dedicated to reviving the rapid extinction of the kiwi bird. We learned everything you want to know about the kiwi, went through their working nursery and got to see live kiwi in their nocturnal room up close without any glass barriers. I was so proud of Kailani in the later environment, as it was absolutely necessary to be quiet. She wanted to see them so bad, she did exactly what she was supposed to. Later that afternoon, went back to the campground to have lunch in their café (more well-done deep fried Dory and chips for Sean, and a chicken burger with mango chutney for me) and bathe in the hot pools again. It was so nice there, we couldn’t get enough!

Our last morning in town, we went to Hannah’s parent’s, St. Andrew’s Bakery, for a quick “takeaway” breakfast. Sean had the best steak and mushroom pie he’s ever had. I had egg rolls that were so good, Kailani, who has never cared for them, stole the rest of what I had. After stopping by the local New World to stock up again, we were off a couple hours back toward the coast to Whakatane.

Papamoa Beach

08.30.08: After leaving the winery in Bethlehem, we hit the nearby town of Tauranga. Past that was a stretch of beach along a peninsula. Because it was lined with pine trees, it reminded us of Manly Beach in Australia. Although this is a surfable beach, again the water was flat. Just our luck! At the very tip of the peninsula is Mount Manganui. It seems like such a strange sight that there’s this little volcanic mountain that sticks off the end off that tip of land, but there it is. You can hike up it. As well, there’s a campground at the base that has hot springs. I wasn’t too keen with the fact that they were chlorinated, so we passed and went further down the road.

We drove down the coast until we came upon another Top 10 campground at Papamoa Beach. We didn’t spend more than a night there, but do have to give mention of what great beachfront facilities they had there. The playground had what they called a “jumping pillow”, which was a big inflated “pillow” set into the ground for kids to jump on, just like the one at our campground in Ondres, France. (See Kai on it in blog entry dated March 12, 2008.) The bathrooms were worth mention too, with details like the marble tiled floors/walls and Hans Grohe faucets.

The next morning, we went to a café for some good stomach-filling Sunday brunch, another one for some free internet time and a Happy Birthday call to Sean’s mom. And then, we hit the road again. For the first time, we headed inland, towards Lake Rotorua.

It seems like, since we’ve come south of Auckland, that there are generally more people than in the Northland. But still, this country is so peaceful and less populated than so many other parts of the world. This, along with all the beautiful scenery and beaches, it is really starting to make me feel like I’m more relaxed than I’ve been in years! Yes, we ARE enjoying New Zealand immensely!

Hahei and Hot Water Beach

08.28.08: From Auckland, we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula and headed to a place called Hot Water Beach. The New Zealand Surf Guide said there was a campground there, but our camping atlas didn’t show one. We were hopeful when we saw the little tent picture on the road sign pointing that way, but couldn’t find anything when we got into town. The town itself was very cute. There were probably only three businesses, a café, a market and a surf shop, and the rest were cute little cottage style houses mixed with modern-designed houses nestled on the cliffs in the cove surrounding the beach. Again like Muriwai, it reminded me of Aptos, but less country and more as it was being re-built with nicer houses in the 90’s. We stopped to ask one of the locals about the campground and found that it had closed a year or two ago. Also while we were talking to him, we found out that a swell had just hit the day before. That day, the waves were barely breaking. Just our luck! And, as Sean would say, “We should have been here yesterday!”

Considering how beautiful the weather was and I hadn’t used our new board yet, I decided to paddle out and catch a few ripples. This beach was named one of the 10 Most Beautiful Beaches in the World and that it was. After I got out of the water, we watched the sun set while some guy fished at the shoreline with a bottle of wine. We thought “What a life! What else do you need besides a bottle of wine and a fishing pole?!?” Finding another campground was not an issue. There was one a couple kilometers down at the next beach called Hahei.

The next morning, we headed back to Hot Water Beach. But this time, not for waves. New Zealand is literally a hot bed of geothermal activity and Hot Water Beach is one example of this. Underneath the sand, there are reservoirs of water that are heated by hot volcanic rock below that. So on a low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand and, if you’re lucky, it’ll fill with hot water. As we approached the beach, two of the three local shops advertised they had spades for hire (shovels for rent). We should have grabbed some. Instead, we went straight for the beach to check it out. There were already several holes dug, some of which had bathers sitting in them and others were empty. It took some testing to see which holes had the right temperature. Some of them were too hot and others were cold. Finally I found a good one that wasn’t too hot for Kailani. The hole was shallow, so I dug deeper with my hands as I sat in it. After a while, I got pretty good at shimmying my feet and butt into the sand to get deeper into the water. Kailani had a great time jumping in and out of the holes and playing in the sand. Sean made friends with another bather, Manu from Hamilton. The next thing I knew, they were picking mussels off of a 10-15 foot rock that sat about 10 yards out in the ocean. Sean also met Manu’s friends, who were out getting paua (abalone) and sea urchins (don’t remember the Maori name for that one). After learning that you didn’t even need to dive for the paua, Sean ended up trying his hand at it, but no luck. The tide had started to come in by then. Manu’s friend was also nice enough to give Sean a couple urchins for us to try. For how big and spiny they are, it’s surprising how little you actually eat from them. But, they tasted good.

We decided to leave for the campground and cook the mussels. Unfortunately, we had no more white wine. I looked in our atlas and found a nearby winery. As we got close to Purangi Estates winery, I had some uneasy feelings about being in a pretentious wine tasting room after spending my day rolling around in the sand. But as we walked up to the building, it was so rustic that I was surprised that it was still standing. We were also the only one’s there, so no worries. We met Danny who was doing the pouring in the tasting room. I believe it was his family who owned the winery. He started talking with his fast New Zealand tongue, and we could only get 50% of what he was saying. Somehow, I caught something about surfing and fishing at Hot Water Beach yesterday, and then realized he was talking about me. Ah yes, who else would it be but the guy fishing with the bottle of wine? He was a very interesting guy to talk to, not only about wine, but he had some interesting stories and tidbits about all things native and the history about New Zealand, feijoas, Maori and kauri trees to name a few. And, he wasn’t afraid to tell the truth either. The winery made a small selection of wines from grapes, but also made quite a few fruit liqueurs. Mostly, because the growing conditions on the Coromandel Peninsula are really not the best for a huge variety of grapes, but there are other fruits that are grown that they can ferment. The feijoa liqueur seemed to be a popular one. After talking with Danny for a while about the quality of what we put in our mouths nowadays, I finally asked him if they use any sprays on their grapes. As it turns out, they’ve been growing organically for over 20 years, before “certified organic” was even invented. They just haven’t bothered to pay to be certified, probably because they are such a small winery. So after a fun visit, we left with some Sauvignon Blanc for our “Hottie Rock Mussels” and a bottle of Merlot Malbec. Back at our campground, the mussels were great and I had some Pitango Tomato, Basil and Ricotta Risotto to go with it. This place definitely has our vote as one of our favorite spots!

The next day, we hit the road again, this time heading a couple hours south down the coast. As it got closer to lunch time, we were getting hungry. We ended up stopping in the town of Bethlehem at the Mills Reef winery. I read that they had a café, so thought we could do some tasting and lunch. This winery ended up being the exact opposite atmosphere as the last. It had some gorgeous gardens and nice outdoor pavilion area and their “café” seemed more like THE place to go for a weekend brunch celebration. There were several well-dressed large groups eating there, probably celebrating birthdays or something. Luckily, we got a table outside and away from the crowds. I got the macadamia and panko crumbled fish and chips and Sean got a dish with fish, shrimp and scallops, prepared three different ways. It was all very good. Kailani wasn’t hungry, but played around in their pavilion area (as long as we could encourage her to do so). The waitress was nice enough to bring a few tastings of their best wines to our table because I knew it was probably not going to be a good idea to spend any bit of time with Kailani in their tasting room. We ended up with a couple glasses as well as leaving with a bottle of their 2007 Hawke’s Bay Pinot Gris Reserve.

I’m usually a red wine drinker, but I am growing fond of the New Zealand whites, at least so far. They seem to have more flavor and complexity. Or, perhaps there is more seafood around here to go with it. I’m not sure. I seem to have better luck with the bottles from the wineries, rather than ones from the grocery store. I’m sure it’s for several reasons. However, it sounds like a good idea to make it a point to get wine from there. If anything it’s more fun that way!

Auckland: Part 2

08.27.08: From Houhora Heads, we hit the road for several hours towards Auckland until we were back at the Westfield mall in Otewa Valley, the northern suburbs of Auckland. Going back to the same ole New World Market made it quick stop for groceries. After, we hit The Reservoir again for another pretty good dinner of oysters on the half shell, BBQ ribs and a salad. Again, we were impressed. The oysters were topped with some kind of seaweed slaw with a hint of mint, and dab of wasabi mayo. It was quite an interesting combo, subtle enough in taste to just compliment the oysters. The ribs were nothing worth merit, but the side that it came with was really good. It was a casserole made with chorizo, kumara and tomatoes. The sweet of kumara and the spicy of the chorizo in a tomato sauce rather than the usual milky/cheesy sauce was a surprising change of pace. Later that night, we found our way to a campground in North Auckland, the only non-waterfront location so far (and the second non-beach location) and crashed for the night.

While we were driving back to Auckland from the Northland, I read about a couple of places that I wanted to check out. So, when we woke up the next morning, we needed to plan how to get there. Waikete Island, aka The Wine Island, was the first place. You needed to take a ferry to get there and it was pretty cost-prohibitive to take our camper on the ferry. So, we thought about just going as passengers on the ferry for the day. But, I couldn’t find any information on public buses over there. Also, there were not guarantees that wineries would be open for tasting because it was low season and many are only open on the weekends. So, we scrapped that idea. If I’m lucky, maybe we’ll try to go there again when we’re back in Auckland to return the camper, before we fly back to The States.

But getting to the other spot, Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and Antarctic Adventure was a piece of cake. So, we checked-out of the campground and drove further into the city to get there. This was definitely another place for Kailani. They had some of the HUGEST stingrays we’ve ever seen. And, although it’s not the first we’ve been to, Underwater World has the world’s first transparent underwater walk-through tunnel. We saw sharks, stingrays, fish and turtles swimming around and over us. And best of all, because Kailani’s been watching two movies recently, Surf’s Up and Happy Feet, both of which feature penguins as the main characters, it was fun to see their rare Fiordland penguin conservation area. To view them, you get to ride a Snowcat (that’s specially geared towards being a ride) around this loop where the penguins swimming and hanging out on the ice. Overall, it was a short but fun little trip.

Afterwards, we were hungry for lunch and seafood sounded great. We headed back towards the Auckland CBD (Central Business District) to find some food. Considering we were right there near docks, it was a bummer that we never found a seafood restaurant. Instead, we found a food court near our parking lot and ate some Thai noodles. They were worth eating and we were pretty hungry by then, but definitely not anything special.

From Auckland, we hit the road again. This time, we were headed a couple hours southeast then northeast to the Cormandel Peninsula. Again, it was easy driving, not hard to navigate with our road atlas, and we went past more rolling hills with lots of sheep, although more cattle were starting to appear as well. We also went through a scenic reserve forest that was absolutely stunning.

Houhora Heads

08.26.08: Houhora Heads was really just a place to stop over on our drive back down south to Auckand. It seemed like a nice little beachside campground on the east coast of the Northland. But, we only had time to eat dinner and crash. Again, I think there was only one other camper on the grounds. In the morning, Sean woke-up early and went fishing, but got skunked again. Then, we headed back towards Auckland.

Shipwrecks

08.25.08: We again headed from the east coast to the west a couple hours, this time to Shipwrecks Bay, aka Ahipara Bay. After going through more rolling hills with lots of sheep and some farms, it felt like we were getting further from civilization. Then as we got towards the bay, there was a small town where most of the houses were built in the same style as mobile homes with mostly corrugated siding. A few kilometers away, there was a small town as well. I noticed that many walked around with bare feet in the local Pac-n-Save.

Before getting to the campground, we saw that most were driving right onto the sand to hang out. We did the same. There was a break in the rainy weather and it was clear and sunny for a change. So, Sean and Kailani played in the sand for a while, while I put together chicken and chunky Thai satay sandwiches for lunch. As the tide came up to the campervan, we decided to move to the Te Kohania Camping Ground, which was only a couple feet up in elevation. This was Maori land, so they collect a “koha”, aka “fees”. It was definitely the most rustic campground we’ve stayed at so far. There were no electrical hook-ups, kitchen or laundry. And, I preferred to use our own bathroom facilties rather than what I saw. Besides the groundskeeper, I think there was only one other camper staying here. The swell had supposedly hit, so Sean surfed later that afternoon. It looked a bit mixed up and crazy for my taste and I was lazy, so I passed.

The next morning, we woke-up and looked out the window to see a group of about five dolphins frolicking in the ocean right in front of our campervan. Though we’ve seen this several times in Santa Cruz, it’s still always an awesome sight! Sean ventured out to do some fishing while I stayed back waiting for Kai to wake-up. Instead of fish, he came back with another bag full of mussels and some pictures of sea lions that were hanging out right there on the rocks at the bay’s point. He also noticed the swell was dying, so he jumped out surfing again. When Kailani finally woke-up, I fed her breakfast and we went out to get a closer look at the waves. As we were walking over the rocks on the bay’s point, I would have probably tripped right over a baby sea lion had Kailani not spotted it out for me. This beach was definitely teaming with life! Getting a closer view of the guys out in the water, it was looking pretty fun. I was ready to do a quick jump in water after Sean. But wouldn’t you know it, it started to rain again. So instead, we jumped into the van and fixed ourselves another awesome lunch of mussels steamed in Ascension Voigner, butter and a squeeze of lemon. Shipwreck’s definitely got our vote for “best spot” so far!

After lunch, we drove up to Cape Reinga, the furthest north you can go on the North Island. (New Zealand is broken up between two islands, The North Island and The South Island.) The Northland is what the northern part of the North Island is called. And basically, it looks like a long rectangle dangling off the south part of the North Island. Somehow, it appears like a straight shot up to Cape Reinga. Not quite! It was way more twisty and windy than we though. And in fact, we went through the Raetea Forest which contained the Maungataniwha mountain range. But finally, we made it there. There is apparently a lighthouse right at the tip. As well, you are supposed to be able to see where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean by difference in the color of the water. Unfortunately, there was road construction at the end of the road that blocked our view. At least, we were able to see each side of the tip. Seeing the vast Pacific Ocean out there brought up thoughts of how the ancient Polynesians crossed it in forty days with seventy five canoes. Boy, were they brave! We headed back down south, stopping halfway at Houhora Heads to spend the night.

Huruku Falls and Waitangi Treaty Grounds

A view of the falls from our camper.

A carving in the Marae (Maori meeting house)

Ngatoki Matawhaorua, the world’s largest war canoe

08.23.08: As we left Mangawhai towards the highway, I was got a call from Caitlin. The school year was starting at Sonoma State, there were things I need to take care of and I hadn’t been connected to the internet since our first day in New Zealand. It didn’t appear that any of the other campgrounds had internet access, except for the second one we stayed at in Muriwai. And there, when the groundskeeper let me on his computer, the keyboard all the sudden stopped working. So, I passed. Along the highway, we found a lodge that had a huge banner advertising they had internet. I walked in to find an internet “machine” where you stick $2 coins in and it gives you a certain number of minutes. I stuck the money in the machine but it wasn’t connecting me. I asked for help from the lady tending bar only to find that it was broken. She refunded my money, but we were out of luck with the internet.

As we continued our drive, it didn’t rain hard, but it was steady. So we just bee-lined it all the way up. Our next stop was the Huruku Falls campground, which sat inland, next to a river and waterfalls. The view of the waterfalls right from our camper definitely gives this place some merit! AND as if by luck, this campground offered wifi. So with access to the internet, I spent most of the afternoon catching up on business again as well as finishing up on some blogs from Australia. Sean and Kai explored outside, enjoying the sounds of the rushing waterfall and feeding the local ducks the leftover ends of my Pitango 7 Seed Sourdough Spelt bread. That night, it rained so hard we could barely sleep!

The next day, we woke to some very rushing waterfalls. Sean originally wanted to fish, but the water was rushing way too hard to even do that. The water looked like chocolate milk. So after getting dressed, we went to the nearby Waitangi Treaty Grounds. It was along the coast and we did see a couple surfers out in the water enjoying the new swell, although I personally didn’t even see anything breaking out there.

Our first stop at The Grounds was their café for lunch. I heard great things about their meat pies last year while doing some travel research. It struck me as strange that a café adjoined to a big tourist spot would get such good merits. But, there were more locals than tourists enjoying their Sunday brunch there, so that was a good sign. I ordered the smoked eel and kumara (a NZ sweet potato that you see on menus everywhere) cakes on top of a salad with farmhouse cheese and a glass of Sauv. Sean got the scallops on top of a homemade ravioli with a Steinlager (which he says tastes different than in The States). And, Kai got the chicken nuggets, chips (fries) and a Phoenix Organics apple and feijoa juice. The feijoa is a green fruit that is related to the kiwifruit but doesn’t have fur. To me, it looks like a small mango and tastes like a soft tangy pear. Anyway, all was phenomenal! (…except for maybe the chicken nuggets, which were “standard”.) Afterward, we still had some room to try the lamb pie, which was good, but nothing like our first dishes.

The Waitangi Treaty Grounds is described as “the most symbolic place in New Zealand for Maori (original natives) and Pakeha (non-Maori, usually white)” because it was here in 1840 that Queen Victoria’s representative William Hobson (U.K.) and nearly 50 Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi. The short version is that it was supposed to afford Maori protection and guarantee them rights over land and resources. After the treaty was signed, the settler population grew, demand for land increased, and the government passed laws that gradually stripped Maori of control of their affairs. This led to the New Zealand Wars of the 1860’s. From my perspective, the first part sounds very similar to the history of the US, where white men came in and declared land as theirs, when natives were already living on it, then “gave” it back to them. Later, they wanted to take it back.

Anyway, the Treaty Grounds consisted of the Treaty House, colonial style, built in 1833-34 and has displays on how the settlers, aka “white folk”, lived back then. Also, there’s the Maori meeting house, built between 1934 and 1940 as a cooperative effort between all Maori tribes, rather than one single tribe. That had some pretty cool tribal carvings inside. Also housed on the grounds is the Ngatoki Matawhaorua, the world’s largest war canoe built from two huge kauri (New Zealand native trees) by five northern tribes and measuring over 35m in length. It seats 80 warriors and is traditionally launched very year on Waitangi Day, a New Zealand national holiday. We basically ran from one sight to another, because it was consistently sprinkling and looked like it would rain harder at any moment.

So far, New Zealand seems like it’s hard to unbury it’s history, especially anything before when settlers came. So I’m glad that we learned a bit more about it. However, I’d still like to know more about it’s native Maori culture. So hopefully, we can dig up more as we explore the country.

As we headed back to the campground for the night, we stopped by a grocery store. I ended up finding Primal Earth organic shave gel for Sean who had been in need of some for quite a while. When I got back to the campground, I read the label to find that it was made locally and was impressed by what and how it was made. I wish I would have seen what other products they had available! I think they also have a shop in Wellington, so I’m hoping I run into these products again.

Mangawhai Heads

08.22.08: The Mangawhai Heads campground was located right near the ocean waterfront, next to the boat docks. Again, along with one other couple, we were the only campers there. But during the summer, I’m sure this place fills up with boat owners. We were really only using this as a stop off for our drive further north. So, after eating dinner, crashing for the night, doing laundry and a quick trip to the playground before the rain came again, we were on the road again.

Unfortunately, the past few campgrounds haven’t had recycling facilities. A chain of campgrounds called Top 10 that have some of the nicer facilities, advertise that all of their campgrounds have recycling. We bought a membership with them that gives us a discount whenever we stay there, but they aren’t everywhere we are going. Hopefully, that pays off. Still, I’ve been saving up our empty containers, bottles and used paper. Luckily, in a tour book our rental company gave us, I found a listing of recycling facilities in the Northland. It came in handy as we were on our way back to the highway. We found a facility and were able to still get that stuff where it belongs. Yea!

Pakiri Beach

Sean and his partially filled bag of mussels.



I know it's alot of sheep pictures. But, there are alot of sheep here!

08.20.08: In the morning, Muriwai beach was gray and rainy again. Sean woke up early and checked out the beach – stormy seas. So, I didn’t even bother. Although it is a surfable beach, it was obvious there was nothing happening that day. There was only one other family at the campground. They were Kiwi and had two little boys. The father was also taking a year off work to spend time with his kids. They mentioned that the country’s going on 50-something days of consistent rain and it’s the wettest winter they’ve ever had. As a matter of fact, we ended up hearing this from many people. I’m pretty sure all the Kiwis think the island’s going to flood out soon. But, we also hear hopeful news that the wet spell should be ending soon.

Even though we really didn’t do anything, going to Muriwai still had it’s benefits. While we were leaving, we saw another surf shop called Hardcore in the nearby wine region of Kumeu. They even sold surfboard blanks for shapers. Bryan not only gave us a great deal on a 7’6” board that would do us just fine (mass-manufactured in Thailand, not hand shaped), but he threw-in a bunch of extras like fins, wax, a loaner copy of the New Zealand Surf Guide and an offer to buy back the board when we’re done. True New Zealand hospitality at it’s finest! Also in Kumeu, I stopped by a store called Green Grocers, a natural foods store. They seemed to sell mostly gluten-free packaged foods, no fresh produce, which I could have used. But I got some rice and quinoa pasta, sauce and some Ecover biodegradable dish soap. It’s good to see at least there were stores like this in operation. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to try any of Kumeu’s wines. But hopefully, we will when we come back to return the book and sell back the board. I like what Bryan had to say about the local wineries, “If you own land here, what else are you going to do with it besides have sheep or grow grapes?”

From there, we headed about an hour and a half further north and back to the East coast towards Goat Island. We were heading further out of the Auckland area and more into green rolling hills with mostly sheep and some cows grazing. From there on out, the “freeway” turned into a two lane road going through the hills, sometimes becoming the main road of a town, and every once in a while, it would go through mountainous forest.

Unfortunately, the campground we were heading to at Goat Island was closed for the season. It would have been great to stay in that area. Consequently, there were no goats. But, the waters between mainland and the island were sooo blue and clear that snorkeling is offered there. Anyway, we had nothing to do but head further north where we found a campground at Pakiri beach. It wasn’t too far from Goat Island and just as nice. Besides one other guy who consequently was also from The States, we were the only camper there again. That night, we ate one of several heat-and-eat packets of Pitango organic soups/risotto (Tomato Soup, Vegetable Minestrone and Carrot, Leek and Spinich Risotto) that I got from New World at the mall. They aren’t half bad and fit into our tiny fridge quite nicely. If we find more, I’m sure we’ll be stocking up on more.

The next day, Sean woke up early and tried his hand at fishing while I slept in. I guess I was still catching up on sleep after waking up early so many times in Australia, something he doesn’t seem to need as much as I do. After he came back empty-handed, we all ventured to the beach. Sean talked to one of the guys who worked at the campground and got a tip that there are some mussels growing on the rocks between Pakiri Beach and Goat Island, a 20 minute walk down the sand. It took some foraging, but we finally found those Green Lipped beauties, along with one sole clam that I found. With a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from New World on hand, we steamed them in that, along with a bit of butter and lemon juice. Boy was dinner great that night!

The next morning, we packed up and hit the road. We were out of Sauv (what the Kiwi’s call it) and just in case we ran into more mussels, we decided to stop by the Matakana wine region on the way towards the highway for another bottle. We ended up at Ascension Winery, which also had a café. So, we did some tasting and then had a great lunch: oysters on the half shell, squid fritters (essentially like crab cakes, but cut-up squid instead of crab) and a bowl of chunky split pea soup. Meanwhile, Kailani, who would normally be a terror in a tasting room, was able to play with the toys in their kid’s play room. It was great that we picked a place that proclaims to be a family winery! With a bottle of dry, crisp Voigner for mussels and some Holy Cow Waiheke Island Merlot Malbec for drinking, we hit the road again.

We actually didn’t make it that far. Just down the road from Matakana was a place called Sheep World. Just as the name suggests, it’s kind of a cheesy theme park dedicated to sheep. But, I figured that Kai likes to see animals and she was a trooper at the winery, so this stop was for her. We made it in time for their daily sheep show. And again, because it was off-season, there was only one other family attending. The guy that ran the show basically showed us what they do at a sheep farm, how they use the dogs to herd them and demonstrated how you sheer a sheep. Sean volunteered to “sex” the sheep. No, it’s not what it sounds like! Each sheep was marked a different color (on a real farm, their ears would be clipped to indicate their sex) and he had to put each sheep into their appropriate pen as they came at him: pink are girls, blue are boys and no color indicated a hermaphrodite. I got picked for the sheep shearing demonstration. The sheering tool was essentially a really burly hair clipper. So, after 12 years hairdressing, it didn’t feel all too different, except I had to hold down a sheep with a dense afro. I’m sure that the last part of the show was Kailani’s favorite. We were able to feed the lambs (baby sheep) with milk bottles. Since there were so few of us, we were able to feed two rounds of lambs. Both times, the youngest lamb of the bunch went to Kailani, who was also the youngest human of the bunch. After the show, we took a bag of feed out to the farm, and visited all the other animals: alpaca, pigs, goats, chicken, donkeys, etc.

We hit the road again, this time to find one more place to stop at, the town of Wellsford. This time, it was a shorter stopover. We just needed some groceries. I was pretty stoked to find an organic butcher. I’m not sure why it was named Tidal Flow, considering they only sold chicken, pork and beef. But, we did pick up some awesome Scotch Filet steak and sausages. Luckily, the campervan has a freezer within the fridge. So, we were able to keep it in there until we were ready to eat it. Also next door was a Four Square market. This chain seems to be the standard in smaller towns.* There was only one package in stock, but I got some Naked Naturals Chunky Thai Satay sauce that ended up being a great compliment to our leftover roasted chicken. We spread this in lieu of mayonnaise (we didn’t have any) for chicken sandwiches as well as on crackers, again with leftover chicken, and both were quite yummy.

* In larger areas, you can find a New World and in medium populated areas, you usually find a Pac-n-Save, which seems to be the same as the chain in The States. Both Pac-n-Save and New World are owned by the same company.

Auckland Area, New Zealand

08.16.08: We finally arrived to Auckland, although 4 hours later than expected. Air New Zealand gave us some food vouchers at the Sydney airport plus dinner on the plane, so we were well fed. We found a shuttle and went to our hotel to crash for the night. I found The Centra hotel on the internet. Not that it was anything spectacular, but for a refreshing change, our recently remodeled room was just like what the pictures looked like.

In the morning, it was cold and rainy. I took advantage of using the internet from a real desk, and did some bill-paying and other business that I was badly behind on. I figured it won’t be as easy once we get into our campervan. We also called Jucy, our campervan rental company, to change our pick-up time and ask for a ride to their office. For some reason, they scheduled us to pick-up at 5pm, but we had to check-out of our hotel at noon. They were happy to move it to earlier as their offices close at 5:30pm. They also didn’t have a problem with picking us up. So we sat in the hotel lobby for at least 45 minutes while Kai bounced off the walls. When I called to see where they were, they said they couldn’t pick us up because we were near the airport and our campervan was at the Auckland city office. She offered to call a pre-paid cab to take us there, but that wouldn’t work either because we didn’t have a car seat for Kai. I sure wished we had that nice car seat we donated in London. But then again, there was no use lugging it for 3 months throughout Asia, where they would insist she sit on our laps in cramped shuttle buses anyway. She was understanding when she saw that we had requested a baby seat with our rental. So in the end, someone at their airport office picked us up with a car seat and took us to their airport office. Then, we jumped into a cab with the car seat, and went to the Auckland city office.

It seemed like, by the time we finally got the campervan, it was just about 5pm. But, at least we got there. Seeing the campervan was a bit of a disappointment. The older white Toyota Hi Ace high top looked a bit chintzy compared to our European Ford Nugget (Dodge Sprinter body with Mercedes diesel engine) with Westfalia camper kit. It was either that it wasn’t laid out as well, it was older and a bit more beat up, didn’t have as much storage space or because it was tagged all over the outside with their logo and “cutesy” tag line. But, somehow we were able to fit all our stuff in it and didn’t see all the bangs and scratches when it was full. And, when we got on the road, we saw that all the other campervan companies that we considered also had logos. We only had to live in it for a month. And the best part, this one had a shower, toilet and hot water. That has definitely been a bonus when you have a toilet-training two year old. And, she’s finally starting to do better with the toilet-training, now that we have our own toilet.

Our first few days with the camper was nothing all too exciting. I guess we needed a couple days just to get set-up and rest. Some time around this point, Kailani also got a mild case of the sniffles, followed by me. So, that was also a reason to take it easy. From Jucy, we took the camper to our first stop, The Warehouse, a discount housewares store. Considering the weather, I knew that we needed more than the one thin comforter that Jucy supplied. They also only gave us two of every eating item (plates, cups, spoons, etc.) and there were three of us. So, we walked out of the store with some extra kitchen supplies, a coffee press for Sean and a nice New Zealand wool-filled duvet on sale. I took the duvet out of the box and it totally smelled like farm. But it did keep us warm. After a week or so, the smell dissipated. After a late lunch at a nearby pub, our next stop was a campground that was recommended by Joel at Jucy, in Orewa, a beachside suburb about 20 minutes away from Auckland. We got a nice, beach view spot. But, it was already dark. So, we checked-in and went to New World, one of New Zealand’s chain grocery stores. I was happy that I was able to find some Venerdi 7 Seed Sourdough Spelt Bread and organic yogurt. But, the rest was pretty standard stuff.

The next day, we still had a couple things we needed to get: a SIM card for our cell phone (Vodaphone was closed both at the airport upon arrival and near the Warehouse), an iPod charger (My adapter fell apart in Thailand. At least, the camper’s stereo had an aux line, but my iPod’s so old, it doesn’t keep charge anymore.), and I was hoping for some more socks for Kai and I. We found the nearest Westfield shopping mall. (Yes, the same company that owns shopping malls in California also owns some both in Australia and New Zealand.) I was wondering how difficult it was going to be to find the stuff we needed. But right off the bat, there was an Apple store right at the entrance. iPod charger? Check! The rest wasn’t too hard either. I was stoked that I was even able to find Smartwool socks, which I prefer because they fit me well AND at a decent price. I was shocked at how expensive wool socks were in Australia (about $40-45 USD/AUD), hence me still needing some. There was just one thing I couldn’t get, a SIM card. For some reason, both Vodaphone stores in the mall were sold out. Maybe fifth time’s a charm?!?

After shopping, we decided to eat a late lunch before heading back to the campground. We ended up at this restaurant at the mall called The Reservoir. And THIS, of all places, is where we started to really experience the great food and wine of New Zealand. I suppose it could have been a fluke, but the New Zealand Green Lip Mussels in Thai Red Curry sauce accompanied by a Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc was absolutely phenomenal! And, that’s only the beginning!

The next morning, we packed up and checked out of the campground. After finally hitting a Vodaphone store that was both open and stocked, I finally got a SIM card…for $35. Ouch! They were only $3-5 USD in Asia. But compared to Australia, everything else seemed to be back to a “normal” price, besides that.

From Orewa, we headed about an hour away to Muriwai, stopping at a surfboard outlet on the way. I forgot. There was ONE more thing that was on our shopping list, a surfboard! Sean saw a nice, new board that he liked. But the price seemed a bit too high for. So, he decided to wait and see what else there was. As we drove from the west coast to the east coast, the landscape went from suburban neighborhoods to gentle rolling hills to a the beachside community of Muriwai, where there was only one or two small markets and a handful of mid-size houses probably built around the 70’s-80’s against the hill going towards the beach. It reminded me of the area of Aptos, CA that’s west of Highway 1 and east of La Selva, without any of the recent-built large houses. By the time we got to the Muriwai campground, it was late afternoon. We tried to take a walk on the beach, but the weather was still a bit cold and gray, and then started to rain on us. So, we ended up having an early dinner, “movie night” and lots of needed rest. Hopefully, things start to liven up a bit!

New Zealand

We've been in New Zealand, but I haven't had the time to write about it yet. But, will do so soon..... Much love to all, The Riola's

Lower Hunter Valley and Departure from Australia

Spot the native animals in the vineyards. How often do you see that?!?




08.14.08: After being spoiled by all the availability of good wine for 2 months in Europe, then not really anything for 3 months in Asia, we got to Australia and I was happy to drink some good stuff again. I wish I could have done more wine tasting in Europe. So, I suppose I was on a mission to do some in Australia. Outside of Sydney is a big wine producing region called the Lower Hunter Valley. We couldn’t really find a good mode of transport on our own, so we ended up booking with Boutique Wine Tours. (Caitlin was lucky enough to enjoy the wine also, as she was old enough to drink in this country!) We had to wake up at the crack of dawn AGAIN, and I was seriously ready for another day of rest. But we had to meet the coach at Circular Quay at 7:50am, which meant we had to leave our apartment to walk to the ferry by 6:30am. Luckily, all we had to do was stumble (from lack of sleep, not from too much wine…yet!) on with six others and sit there for a couple hours drive. The tour took us to a handful of smaller boutique wineries, a café for lunch, as well as The Smelly Cheese shop and a chocolatier for cheese and chocolate tasting too. The nice thing about the tour is that they also took requests. So, I inquired about organic wines and voila! They took Sean, Caitlin, Kailani and I to an organic winery, Tambourlaine, while the others went to some of the other wineries nearby. It was great to ask the winemaker some questions. We found out that it took them 12 years to finally become certified and they are still on their way to becoming biodynamic. I was always under the impression that, because organic wines don’t have pesticides, which are made from sulfides, that the wine would contain less, even though there are still some sulfides that naturally develop during the fermentation process. As I found out, their wines have about 80% less sulfides. Good to know for anyone that can’t usually drink wine because of the sulfides…

Fortunately, Kailani took a brief nap during our first winery tasting. It must have been the early morning wake-up. But, during our last winery tasting, Kailani, who was so patient with all of this boring wine business, finally had it. I took her outside to run around while the rest of the crew was inside tasting, and finally decided to give her a snack. But she got a bit crazy, bounced her chin off the pavement and got a pretty good war wound. I’m just glad it was only pavement rash and she didn’t break a tooth or bite her tongue! Luckily, the rest of the coach decided that she was such a good girl, that she deserved to pick which DVD to watch on the ride home. So, Happy Feet it was. That kept her entertained until she fell asleep again. Just like the other nights, when we finally got back to Sydney, took the ferry to Manly and walked back to our apartment, we collapsed for the night.

The next evening, Friday, Caitlin and Tutu were flying back to Hawaii. And, Sean, Kailani and I were flying to Auckland, New Zealand the day after that. But, someone else had dibs on our apartment, so we had to move out again. Luckily, Manly Surfside had another apartment available down the street, but it still meant we had to move, which was still a minor annoyance with all our luggage in tow. When we went to check-out/check-in, were “bumped” to another apartment, a 3 bedroom 2 ½ bath “luxury” level one. Too bad it was just the three of us for one night, instead of all five of us for the entire week! Still, it was nice. After shopping for a few more last things on The Corso, Caitlin, Kai and I trekked to the Manly ferry while Sean and Tutu took their luggage, plus one large duffel bag of our Bali artwork and our summer clothes, in a taxi. This time from Circular Quay, we took the train to the Sydney airport for one last dinner with Caitlin and Tutu. By the time we took the reverse route, got back to the apartment and packed up our stuff a bit tighter, it was late.

And, of course...we had to wake up at the crack of dawn AGAIN, one last time, to get back to the airport for our 11:30am flight. It was so early that the Manly ferry wasn’t running yet. Luckily, the Manly JetCat, a faster catamaran, still ran at 7am on a Saturday morning. Taking that just meant that we couldn’t use our week-long pass, and we had to pay for another ticket, but at least we got there. Go figure, that when we arrived at the airport and stood in line for what seemed like forever, we finally get to the ticket counter to get told that they cancelled our flight due to bad weather. Luckily, there were still seats left on the 3:30pm flight. While waiting, we already got two different contacts from New Zealanders on the same flight as us who told us to contact them when we get there. Talk about a friendly country! Anyway, all I kept thinking was that I could have been sleeping in our luxury apartment for a few more hours if only they we had a phone number for Air New Zealand to call us and tell us of the news. Oh well!

I’m very grateful that we again got lucky with weather while in Sydney. Although it was cold, at times bone-chilling cold, it didn’t rain with the exception of an hour or so when we were shopping at The Rocks weekend market, and we were under a tent at the time. Unfortunately, we didn’t get lucky with the waves. They were small the only day we went surfing. And, it got flatter the rest of the week, except of course, the last day we were there. But then again, we ended up with more than enough to keep us occupied. As far as a cancelled flight from Australia to New Zealand due to bad weather, I guess it tells you what we are in for when we arrive.

* I also want to give a big thanks to Gabi, who told me about Port Douglas. You are right. It was a nice place!

Dim Sum with the Au's, Sydney Wildlife World and Aquarium

From left to right: Aunt Patricia (my mom's sister), me, Caitlin and Leanne

Left to right: Kailani (hiding behind a toy), Tutu, me, Caitlin, Aunt Patricia, Leanne and, the belated birthday boy, Uncle Henry



Kailani with "Bruce"

The underwater tunnel at the Sydney Aquarium

08.13.08: After a lazy morning of recovery from the day before, we finally made it on the Manly ferry to go back to Sydney. First, we met my Uncle Henry, Aunt Patricia and Cousin Leanne for a dim sum lunch in Chinatown. I’m so very grateful that we finally got the chance to see them! It had been years, but all still looked just as young and healthy as ever. They walked us over to the Darling Harbour area, where we parted ways and entered the Sydney Wildlife World.

The first part of this “zoo” was all the scary, deadly, yucky bugs and snakes that Australia is inhabited with. Then, it got better. After that was a display of the nocturnal animals, then kangaroos, koalas and butterflies. At the kangaroo area, we had the pleasure to meet an indigenous guide, Jimbinyan (I know I’m butchering his name!) who was a delight to talk to and gave us a brief didgeridoo lesson. Hopefully, Sean and Tutu remember what to do when they get home with use theirs. Anyway, if you see a new movie come out called To Hell and Back, he has the starring role.

Next door, we entered the Sydney Aquarium. Of course, Kailani especially liked seeing the coral reef exhibit, where Nemo, Marlin and Dorie live in the anemone. They also had a great walk through tunnel where the sharks (aka “Bruce”…for Kailani), stingrays (aka “Mr. Ray”), turtles (aka “Crush” and “Squirt”) and other sea creatures swam around you. If you don’t know about any of the names that I’ve mentioned, you will have to see the movie, Finding Nemo.

After some shopping and dinner at Darling Harbour, it got late really fast. After some annoyance trying to get back to Circular Quay with as little time and walk in the cold as possible (because taxi drivers couldn’t take all five of us in one cab and were a bit rude about it), we finally made it back home for another late night collapse. As you might be able to tell, the afternoon’s attractions were really more for Kailani than for any of us. But, I think we all enjoyed it as well.

Katoomba and the Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains
(It's named after that becaue the Eucalyptus trees give off a blue glow when the sun rises.)

Scenic World glass-bottom cable car

View of the waterfalls from Scenic World

(I wish I could have taken a picture of what you see through the glass, but my camera doesn't do well through glass. So, you'll have to use your imagination.)

This must be an old car not in use anymore. But, it gives you an idea of what the incline is like.

08.12.08: We woke up at the crack of dawn again and took the ferry to Sydney where we took the train to Katoomba, a small town in the Blue Mountains, which is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. From there, we booked a hop-on, hop-off “carbon neutral” trolley tour. I asked the drive what made it carbon neutral and he had no idea. I’m guessing that the company pays for carbon offset. It included a ride down into a canyon on Scenic World, a glass bottom cable car over 600 feet above ground. From there, we took a ride down The Katoomba Scenic Railway, the steepest incline railway in the world. (52 degrees) I believe this must have been originally used for transporting coal before it became an amusement ride, as there was a lot of old coal mining displays when you got down there. After a brief hike though the rainforest, we took a ride back up the other side of the canyon via another cable car. If I were to describe Katoomba and the Blue Mountains from a Bay Area native’s perspective, imagine taking a 2 hour train ride from San Francisco to the Grand Canyon. Instead of the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, there’s rainforest. Now, imagine taking a cable car across the Grand Canyon, but the floor is glass. You get the picture. It was absolutely stunning to get out of the city and there’s this HUGE canyon. As you took these rides down, it just kept getting better. The only drawback was that the air was so chilly. I don’t know if that could have caused a stunning reaction too. But I don’t think so though!

After that, we jumped back on the trolley and headed to the next town over, Laera, for a late lunch. By the time we were done there, we caught the last trolley of the day back. The driver took us through more areas along side the Blue Mountains for more fabulous views. After that, we headed back to Sydney then Manly so we could stumble into our apartment and crash.

Manly Beach and Sydney: Part 2

The view from our Manly Surfside apartment

The view of the Opera House from the base of the Harbour Bridge

The view of the Harbour Bridge from the Opera House

08.08.08: We boarded a late evening plane from Cairns back to Sydney. By the time we arrived, retrieved our luggage from storage, got a taxi and got to Manly, it was about midnight and we were beat. The apartment we booked for the week was not available for the first night (what’s up with nothing being available that weekend?!?), so we checked in to a “family studio” (a room with 3 beds) at Manly Backpackers. I’m glad we didn’t decide to stay there for the week, because it was a pretty tight fit and the place wasn’t all too well maintained. There was a sign indicating that you need to shut the bathroom door while showering or else the smoke detector would go off and you would be charged minimum $250 for a fire department visit. But when poor Tutu slid the door, it would just fall off the tracks!

The next day, we spent most of the next morning “moving” from there to another apartment with Manly Surfside. Check-out at Backpackers was at 10am and check-in at Surfside was not until noon. So, we had brunch at The Corso, Manly’s main pedestrian street. Afterwards, we found a weekend market, selling handmade crafts. Sean and Kai picked up some Uggs for a decent price. (I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t get a pair myself! It’s two weeks later and I still have only one pair of shoes, Keen sandals with socks…what a fashion statement!) When we were finally able to get into the apartment, I was ready to collapse. Unfortunately, we had to pass on going to my cousin Richard and family’s house for the celebration of his dad, Uncle Henry’s birthday. Luckily, the apartment was MUCH more equipped than the first, and was right across the street from the beach. We all LOVED waking up in the morning to a view of the beach, even though there were no waves all week. Later in the afternoon, I finally worked up enough energy to rent a board and go surfing in the little waves with Sean while Kai hung out with Tutu and Caitlin. It’s fairly rare for us to go out together. Usually we have to “take turns”, so it was a treat. Luckily we went, because it got even smaller later in the week and we would have been too busy to go anyway.

On Sunday, we took in the typical Sydney sights. We started by taking the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay and then walked over to The Rocks, a historical neighborhood, for lunch. After lunch, we strolled through their weekend market which sold more handicrafts. At the end of the market was the base for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Originally, Sean, Caitlin and I thought about doing the “Bridge Climb”, where you could tie yourself to a cable and walk over the top of the bridge. Tutu doesn’t do heights and volunteered to watch Kai. In the end, it would have taken several hours and hundreds of dollars, so we just walked the pedestrian sidewalk halfway across, back and over to the Opera House. It was just as well because it was a windy day anyway. At the Opera House, another UNESCO World Heritage site, we opted for a tour. It proved very worthwhile as we got to see the inside of the big auditorium, made of native timber from floor to ceiling, marveled at the architecture of the inside of the building which is just as impressive as the outside, and heard the tragic story of how the building’s architect still to this day hasn’t seen the completed building. (Note: I was so impressed with the Opera House that I told Sean if they hired me to do event planning and we could live in Manly, I might just do it.)

Monday came and we realized we still had yet to book flights or a campervan in New Zealand for the upcoming weekend. So, we ended up taking a “day off” to go online and get stuff done, and then do some shopping along The Corso. As it turned out, I finally found not one, but THREE health food stores in Manly. Their selection of organic foods seemed to be limited to non-perishable stuff. Unfortunately, we already stocked up for the week at a big grocery store chain, Coles, which has a very limited selection of organic food. But at least, it was good to see that Manly residents DO have more of a selection than the conventional grocery store chain.

Kuranda

Kuranda Rainforest via Sky Cable

Kuranda Scenic Railway

Caitlin and Kailani's new koala friend

Sean and Kailani feeding a wallaby (essentially, a small version of a kangaroo)


08.08.08: On our last day there, we had one more tour. This time we went south, past Cairns, to Kuranda, also considered a World Heritage site. The first part of our day, we took a cable car up over the rainforest canopy. You could get off a couple times on the way up and view different parts of the forest and scenic views like huge waterfalls. At the top of the cable car was the town of Kuranda, where you could eat lunch and explore for a while. So, after our meat pies, Tutu went in search of a digerido. Sean, Cait, Kai and I went to a Koala Sanctuary. It’s one of the few places where you can actually hold one. As we found out later, it’s illegal in the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is. I’m not sure if it’s for humanity reasons. But, the gals at The Sanctuary told us that each koala is only held for a few hours per week, and the koalas didn’t seem to mind. They normally sleep for 20 hours a day and the one Caitlin held barely even woke up! Also there, we got to feed wallabies, which are smaller versions of kangaroos. It was pretty fun. Kailani still keeps asking to go back! After our time in town, we boarded the Kuranda Scenic Railway train, originally built in 1891. We snapped off many pictures as it was very scenic: going through the hills, seeing into a valley of rainforest, and going past more waterfalls. When we were finished, the driver was able to take us to the Cairns airport for our flight back to Sydney. How well did that work out!

Overall, we had a great 6 days up in North Queensland. After almost every local told us that it was pouring rain the week before we got there and the weather was again supposed to pick-up the day after we leave, we really felt like we lucked out. So far, we were able to see three UNESCO World Heritage sites, all of which were well worth it. And, there’s still more to come!

Lower Isles, Great Barrier Reef & Port Douglas

A little too small for all of us to eat, but at least he caught one!

The island we went to at the Lower Isles, Great Barrier Reef

08.06.08: We again woke up early for another snorkel cruise to the Great Barrier Reef, this time to the Lower Isles, a different part of the reef. The boat, The Sailaway, was more of a large yacht with sails with an intimate crowd of probably around 20-30 passengers. Just like the rest of the week, the weather was excellent and it was looking like another epic day of snorkeling. I had the seasick bags on hand and was on guard with Kailani. But, I also made sure to feed her breakfast well in advance, and she seemed to be doing better. Unfortunately, halfway out to the reef a gentleman started having medical issues and we had to turn around and go back to Port Douglas. The slow boat seemed to take forever when we needed to get back for medical help ASAP. When we finally got back, the cruise company offered to reschedule the trip or to continue the day on another boat that hadn’t left shore yet. Since we only had two more days left, we took up their offer for the later. So our next boat, part of the Quicksilver’s mega-fleet, held at least a few hundred passengers. But, at least the day was not completely lost. It took us to a tiny little island where there were shuttle boats that took you from the mega-boat to the island, or you could jump on a smaller glass-bottom boat and view the reef without getting wet. The later was quite convenient for Kai. Although the last part of our day, she finally decided to swim out, with the aid of a noodle and her sister, and swam over the reef (with no snorkel). I was pretty proud that she made it out!

Thursday ended up being a slower day. I’m sure we would have collapsed had we not had this day! Tropical Nights didn’t have room for us anymore. But, they located rooms for us next door for our last night. So, after packing and moving, Kailani spent the afternoon with a babysitter. Kailani keeps asking for “a friend to play with”, so she was excited to have someone to come and play with her. I’m sure she didn’t expect that “friend” to be so grown up. But, Julie brought some different toys to play with and they had fun. Meanwhile, “the girls”, aka Tutu, Caitlin and I, went shopping in Port Douglas. Although I didn’t get anything, it was nice to not have to chase Kailani through a store, putting everything she puts her hands on back. Sean took his new fishing pole that he got for dirt cheap from the outlet mall in Sydney to the pier, where he made a friend to fish with. The rest of the day, we popped open a bottle of wine, lounged and went to a local pizza place for dinner. Kailani made another friend to play with. This time, she was the same size as Kai!

Daintree National Forest

"Scarface"


Cape Tribulation


From left to right: Gloria, Tutu (aka Grandma Karen), Caitlin, Sean, Kailani and Baby Bear (Kai's beat-up best friend since last December, who's travelled 14 countries without a passport!)

08.05.08: We did another full day tour, this time up North to the Daintree National Forest, anther UNESCO World Heritage Sight. The tour company, Tony’s Tours, didn’t allow children on their “standard” tours, which usually hold 6-8 passengers. But, because we had 4 adults plus Kailani, it was cheaper to charter our own car, rather than the four of us going and getting an all-day babysitter for Kailani. We quickly found out why they don’t normally allow children when Kailani had a temper tantrum getting into the car seat and kept squirming out. I guess she really got used to not having to sit in one for the last 3 months in Asia. Chris, our guide, could not drive without her being in her seat, and had to pull over several times. But finally, with the help of movies on the PSP, she cooperated. Our first stop was a stroll around the Mossman gorge. Chris explained the evolution of the forest, pointed out several indigenous plants, toxic fruits and how they were used as medicine. We also had a rare sighting of a platypus. Then, we jumped on a boat cruise up a river for more crocodile sightings. This time, there were more crocs cruising around and the driver could get us up pretty close. He all knew them by name, ie “Fat Albert” and “Scarface”. Fat Albert WAS pretty huge! Next, we drove up the road and stopped for tea and a stroll on the beach at Cape Tribulation, where Captain Cook sailed his damaged ship for repairs. It was very scenic. We also saw a HUGE lizard just cruising around the picnic area. It must have been at least 6 feet long. It’s so hard to believe that those things are allowed to just roam freely amongst us tourists! Our next stop was for a picnic lunch, swim in the river and stroll through a private area in the Daintree National forest. Lunch was grilled steak, sausage and fish, several salads and damper. The later is a non-yeast bread, offered throughout Australia but the best was our first. It is eaten with butter and “brown syrup”. The bottle didn’t say what it’s made of, but it tastes like honey. Of course, you could also eat your damper with vegemite. But after a micro-taste of the stuff, I opted for the mystery syrup. The swim was in freezing cold water. But, Chris guaranteed that crocs won’t be swimming with you. They are smarter than us humans, and don’t swim in water that cold! I’m pretty sure we burned off our lunch trying to stay warm in the water. Later, Chris, who was getting married to a Thai woman two days later, gave us more commentary of all the indigenous animals and plants, the later was 80-90% toxic to humans. He pointed out soo many plants, trees and creatures in the forest walk that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Overall we were very impressed with the day, especially with the information we learned from Chris. Hope he had a good wedding!

Outer Great Barrier Reef

The Poseidon

08.04.08: Early Monday morning, we were off on a boat out to the outer Great Barrier Reef for a day of snorkeling. We all felt that seeing this 8th wonder of the world and UNESCO World Heritage sight was an absolute must before it might not be there anymore. When we were in Ko Tao, Thailand, we heard how there used to be so much more reef, but how it’s dying because climate change has increased the water’s temperature by 1 to 2 degrees. What a sad reality that is! Although the boat we were on, The Poseidon, seemed a bit too large for our taste carrying probably 100-150 people, it was nothing compared to another boat, The Quicksilver, which carried more like 300. And, we did like the fact that it made three various stops that was determined on the conditions of the day, which meant that they didn’t always stop at the same place, thus minimizing damage to the reef. The great thing about when we went out was the fact that it was whale sighting season. And as luck had it, we saw whales three different times: on the way to the reef and twice on the way home. The first time, we saw at least 5 whales as close as 15-20 feet, warming their bellies by lying on their backs. Even the crew was excited and taking pictures. After that was the journey to the reef. I was pretty tired that morning and, although I’ve never gotten sea sick before, was feeling a bit green. Perhaps, I overdid it on the wine the night before, after not having anything “good” for several months in Southeast Asia. But somehow, I never expected poor Kailani to beat me to the punch (considering no issues after several boat rides throughout Asia), losing her entire breakfast as she was sitting on her poor sister’s lap…facing her! After cleaning up both girls, we finally made it to the reef. Kai and I decided to sit it out. But, Tutu, Caitlin and Sean had a great time snorkeling. Our second dive sight, the water was 24° C (72° F). Didn’t sound too cold, but with the wind, was still way too cold for Kai. She was just not going to jump in! I got to jump in for both sights #2 and 3 and they were both pretty spectacular. Caitlin sighted a squid at sight #2. At sight #3, it pretty much resembled “The Drop-Off” in the movie, Finding Nemo, which we’ve been traveling with and have probably seen at least 1000 times. Basically, we can almost recite the entire movie. Anyway, Sean dove down the deepest he’s ever been. And, he got to touch the largest clam he’s touched, probably at least 4 feet wide. After he got out, I went out. Caitlin and I had fun exploring together. We found several large clams as well and anemones that housed several “Nemo” clownfish. I tried my hand at diving as well. But, I can’t compare to Caitlin, who can go down about 30 feet after learning on her kayak/camping trip to Palau with Tutu last summer. On the way back, we had two more whale sightings. The last was also pretty spectacular because it was a mother and a calf. Overall, we all had a great day. Even though Kailani got sick in the beginning and didn’t get to go out in the water, I think she had a great time just being on the boat and seeing the whales.