Glow Worms, Flies, and Marathons in the Rain

As I'm currently trapped on a bus for the better part of 9 hours, I thought I would take some time and update my blog a bit. Since Mom and Dad left us in New Zealand, Sreve and I have been busy. We did some exploring on the North Island of New Zealand, stopping in at Hobbiton, the real set for The Shire in all the Lord of the Rings movies. The totally awesome part was that since they're due to start filming the prequels to the movies anytime now, The Shire was picture perfect, complete with all the tiny gardens, the pub, and Bilbo's house at Bag's End. Since The Shire is on a sheep farm, as part of the tour we got to watch a local sheer a sheep in a minute flat, a feat which I'm sure took years upon years of practice.

We then made our way south to Rotorua where we went zorbing, which for all those unfamiliar with this weird and crazy activity, is where you shimmy inside a huge plastic ball, which they put some water in, and then you roll down a hill, slipping and sliding all over the inside all the way down. It was a blast! But way too short! Steve and I laughed the whole way down the hill.

A few days later, I dropped Steve off at the airport and headed to Waitomo for a few days spent in the glow worm caves. I took a tour where they kitted us out in wetsuits, gum boots and hard hats before we descended into the darkness, following a river into the depths to see glow worms light up the caves. They're really interesting creatures, actually a larvae of a type of fly, whose poop is luminescent and attracts prey toward the larvae for speedy devouring. If you don't think about that fact, it really is a beautiful sight. The glow worms look like stars of the Milky Way against the complete darkness you find yourself in. Oh, p.s. the water down there was FREEZING!



I had a nice welcome back to Australia. Going through customs, I decided to be good and declare all my food and tell them that yes i had been frolicking on a sheep farm whilst in New Zealand…I mean, it's New Zealand…you can't really avoid the sheep. anyway, the guy who looked over my stuff coming in was really nice and actually knew where Indiana was (the home of David Letterman!!!) and he knew we were Hoosiers! I have to say, he is the first Aussie I've met who had anything other than a vague idea of what Indiana might be.

From New Zealand, I went directly to Alice Springs so I could see and experience what Aussies like to call "The Red Centre." Alice Springs is out in the middle of nowhere, thousands of miles from any other town of note and still 5 hours from the major attractions that draw people to the area, namely Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and King's Canyon. I spent a day roaming the town, not much to see there, before I headed out on a 3 day camping trip to see the three natural wonders I mentioned above. It was a great experience, even though I went by myself. Our driver forced us out of our comfort zones and made us sit next to new people every time we stopped so, by the time we rolled up to Uluru, we were all laughing and chatting like old friends. We spent the next 3 days hiking, taking pictures, eating BBQ, sleeping in swags under the stars, and generally having a fantastic time with the exception of battling flies away from us every second of the day. Many thanks go out to the inventor of the fly net. After my trip, I officially declare it the best invention since sliced bread.



From Alice Springs, I moved on to Canberra, one day late due to a flight cancellation….boo! I met Steve there, where he had been slowly dying of boredom since his arrival there a week earlier. Canberra is a pretty nice city, though it doesn't seem anything like a country's capital. It's actually a bit sleepy. I played the tourist and spent a few days walking around seeing Parliament, the National Museum of Australia, and the National Gallery. Then, yesterday, it was time for Steve's big marathon. And you know what? It was the only day during my entire stay in Canberra, that it rained. Go figure. The conditions were miserable. Cold and rainy, but 4,000 people showed up to prove they could master the marathon and Steve was one of them. He finished in 3 hours and 9 minutes, qualifying for the Boston Marathon! I was so proud of him, mostly because to me, running 42 kilometers sounds like death. The cold and rain slowed him down a bit but he still did an awesome job.





So that was yesterday. Today we're headed to Melbourne and then, renting a Wicked campervan, we're touring the rest of the south coast over to Perth, where we're planning to crash at a friend's place for a while. That should take us to the beginning of May. Lots to do. Lots to see. Let the next adventure begin!

And We're on the Move

It's been a whirlwind rush the past 5 weeks, since Steve and I pulled up our roots at Lennox Head and hit the road and airways. The month traveling with mom and dad was pure luxury, staying in true motel rooms and eating out at restaurants, and of course having them visit as well :) It was a bit surreal to see them get off the plane in Ballina, to know that they came half way round the world to see us.

We spent a week in Lennox Head relaxing, checking out the weekend market at Bangalow, puttering up the river at Brunswick Heads, and watching Mom and Dad hang glide over Lennox. From Lennox we flew straight to Perth where we collected our rental car and headed out for a day's worth of driving north to Cervantes (rhymes with panties) where the most interesting part of the town is the water tower, where Steve and I wriggled through the fence and climbed up to the platform to watch the stars buffeted by gusts of wind that threatened to knock us off. However, it is near The Pinnacles, an eerie bit of the desert littered with thousands of rocky columns of various shapes and sizes reminiscent of an abandoned ancient miniature city.

The next day we resumed our journey up to Denham and Monkey Mia where a pod of female and young dolphins show up like clockwork every morning for their feeding. You're not allowed to touch them, but you do get to stand in the water within 3 feet of them and it provoked such a sense of awe to stand in their presence.

Our next big stop was back down south, past Perth in Margaret River, a cute town nestled near the sea and a collection of caves, which we checked out. We took a wine tour from Margaret River, spending a day shuttled between 5 different wineries and a brewery only to discover that we are not wine connoisseurs or even great appreciators of wine. We know what we like and don't necessarily want to drink anything else.

Next up was Melbourne and The Great Ocean Road, famous for the 12 Apostles, soaring rocky pinnacles jutting up out of the sea right off the coastline. We spent the night in Warnambool where we watched one of the most delightfully cheesy laser light shows ever which detailed the fate of an English ship that sank a mile from the southern coast, leaving just two survivors and an oversized statue of a peacock to wash ashore.

From that adventure, we boarded another plane, this time for New Zealand, one of the most gorgeous places on Earth. We checked into the Langham Hotel, a 5 star institution, complete with mints on your pillows, robes, and the option of dinner at the in house restaurant that had the best buffet ever with sushi, steaks, fish, crepes, home-made naan bread, and lots of desserts. Then we headed to Queenstown on the south island, one of my new favorite cities. It sits on the edge of lake Wakatipu, surrounded by mountains and peopled with lots of people who love the outdoors. We took a day tour to Milford Sound to see the fjords gouged out of the land by glaciers and rode the ferry out to the edge of the Tasman Sea, marveling at the towering sheer mountains that rose up around us.

Then we spent half a day climbing on Franz Josef Glacier suited out in our boots and crampons but otherwise sweltering hot as the sun beat down on us. It was amazing to see the crevasses and ice formations in the glacier and knowing in the back of your mind that this mass of ice is what carved out the gorgeous New Zealand landscape.

And the next day we left Mom and Dad at the airport in Auckland, waving good bye to them as we headed off to rent our own car and they trundled back inside to get on their flight home.