A trip to Oceania
We left the old world on a Boeing 747 belonging to Malaysia Airlines. The trip to Kuala Lumpur took us across all kinds of nice places like Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Iran. Lovely views of the Afghan mountain ranges at moonlight.
After 12 hours of backbreaking seating, four re-runs of The Incredibles and lots of strange airline food, we finally landed in Malaysia, only to have to wait for some hours in a deserted airport, waiting for the connecting flight to Sydney. Without any troubles we arrived there in the evening, after being thoroughly decontaminated.
Our Sydney hotel was located in the city centre, on Pitt street. This was a great location, as all the cool stuff was a short walking distance away.
Monday was a bit of a lost day. We walked around the city for a bit saw harbour bridges and strange opera places, but the skies were to gloomy for taking decent photo's. It was 21 degrees Celsius (probably Arctic by Aussie standards) and it drizzled a bit. We had a lot of fun looking at all the people; businesspeople with obligatory paper coffee-cup in hand; Asian kids with fully blinged-up import cars, and everyone in a car driving like he just killed someone.
On Tuesday we went to the Blue Mountains. We took the train there for a look of what Australian jungles consist of. Apparently of trees, rocks and Japanese tourists. Didn't see any wombats. Still not the best weather, but it did start to clear up in the afternoon.
Wednesday I had arranged to meet Roseability, but that morning I suddenly realised I didn't even know what he looks like in real life. The only thing I remembered was that he likes Indy music and has lots of hair. In the hotel lobby it became apparent this was enough for positive identification. We walked around the city and talked a lot about geek stuff. Nice to find out these internet people actually exist for real.
Thursday was when the real pretty weather started. We took the ferry to Manly beach and looked around for a bit. It's great that when in Sydney, you can go everywhere by boat. It's Very relaxing. (probably not when you're in a hurry, but we weren't.) Afterwards we walked around in some suburb, for a look of how the largest bit of Sydney looks like.
Friday I went on a fast harbour cruise with my brother, my dad had to take care of some conference things. Whilst burning our faces off in the sun, we wondered for a moment whatever happened to the hole in the ozone layer, but decided to not think about it to much. We got off the ship in Watson's bay to take some more pictures. Watson's Bay is an out of the way suburb at the tip of the Vaucluse Peninsula, known for astoundingly expensive water views. We saw 12 houses we wanted to buy, but couldn't afford any of them (also, we questioned whether there would be broadband internet access available).
Unfortunately, Saturday was our last day in Sydney. We lunched at a Dutch poffertjes shop, which can be recommended to anyone in the Darling Harbour area. We had to leave without seeing koalas and/or outback. On the positive side, we would be continuing our vacation in New Zealand.
After a short but interesting flight (It's fun to see the cabin staff running around when they only have 1 hour to feed a filled Boeing 747) we arrived in Christchurch. There we were picked up by Brett, who had graciously offered to let us sleep over at his home in Lyttleton. In the evening, Brett's son Jimmy took me and my brother to the local bar, called the "Wunderbar". Quite an intriguing place. The following morning, he took us on a scenic trip to Akaroa, a historic French and British settlement nestled in the heart of an ancient volcano. Great views were seen.
On Monday morning we set off with our rental car, heading for Queenstown. This trip took us across great views of the Southern Alps, the Remarkables, Mt. Cook, Twizel (not really great) and Bungy jumping loonies, before arriving at our destination. It has to be said that even though back home my brother had claimed to go bungy jumping, he never did. Bhah. Whilst being there amongst other things we took a fun trip in a jetboat across the Shotover river.
After returning to Lyttelton on Wednesday evening, we had a good night sleep before going on a day trip by train to Arthur's Pass. Looking for a quick route to the West Coast, Arthur Dudley Dobson surveyed Arthur's Pass in February 1864. Now it's a national park, and we did some nice nature-ish walks involving lots of sun, trees and a waterfall. After returning to the train station in Christchurch, we had dinner at Hay's, where they offered delicious New Zealand cuisine. If you're ever in Christchurch, eat there.
On Friday we went into Christchurch, and walked around the city centre, doing the usual souvenir shopping and sitting in the sun outside Starbucks, enjoying the live music.
Saturday was our last day on the South Island. We drove up to Picton, where, the following morning, we would be getting on a boat heading for Wellington. It was a nice road trip, taking us along the east coast, passing the Pacific, Kaikoura, some seals, and lots of great scenery. Some parts of the road looked a bit like one of the circuits in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, but that could have been the computer-deprivation talking.
The third and final part of the sage, in which the fellowship visits the smouldering ruins of the north island.
After a delightful morning boat trip through the Cook Strait, we arrived in Wellington. It being Sunday, most shops were closed, so we continued our journey in the direction of Rotorua. Before arriving there we stayed a night in the vicinity of mount Ruapehu. This was close to the location where Peter Jackson filmed the Mordor sequences for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As it said on a sign at one of these locations, the giant battle from the first film "Took place in parking lot #5". I believed them.
The north-island is a geological active area, as was apparent from all the hot lakes, geysers, and
other nasty stuff.
We concluded our tour in the Bay of Islands area. From there we went back to Auckland, for the journey home.
Visiting Australia and New Zealand was a great experience, only way too short. You'd need something in the order of four months in each country to really see it all. Nevertheless, both places have left me with a incredibly positive feeling and a hunger to get back there.