I have been on the road for 28 days and far as I can remember this is the first morning yet when I did not have to set a wake up alarm! It felt so darn good to just sleep and not have to wake up to the beeping watch. But on the other hand I could not sleep in peace either as I'm sharing my room with at least 3 other people. Well there are 8 beds here, but I have no clue how many of them are occupied :) I could recognize at least 2 other people in the room and one bed being occupied over the night.
This dormitory style living has become such a natural thing already that nothing surprises me anymore. People entering the room at 3am and turning all the lights on, somebody waking you up in the middle of the night to ask if I've seen a black rain-jacket, people you have never met before starting to talk to you without any introduction just like they are your best childhood friends and so on and so on. At least nobody touches anybody else's things as far as travel bag or clothes left on the bed go - that is a real no-no. Privacy as far as bags/things and food goes is pretty safe around here. There are probably around, oh, I don't know, hundreds (?) of rooms being occupied with backpackers each keeping their little box or bag of food in common kitchen and nothing is ever touched that is not theirs. Pretty amazing, but I guess you do to others what you want to be done to you - everybody basically understands that they want their things to be left untouched and it would be nice if their food would be in the same place the next day as well.
Although I'm getting a bit tired of the dormitory life already - I'm waiting forward to my 3 nights in a hotel in San Jose. Later will probably camp over at my friends place. Staying in hotel has at least one negative aspect as well - total lack of social life and meeting people. I guess if I would be traveling for a long periods of time then the ratio would be about 1 to 10, meaning that for every 10 nights in hostels I could use 1 night in a hotel. In reality, that is pretty much what I have been doing here as well.
Allright but today I had real cultural day. Managed to get myself going by 11:30 and right after breakfast I managed to find myself in front of Auckland Art Gallery. Main exhibition showed works by Rita Angus. Friendly guy at reception explained me that she is a very famous NZ artist, but quite unknown outside the country. Spent probably around an hour there and got a quite good understanding of this lady's life. It was good to see all the paintings of places I've already been to :)
Plan for the day was to make my way over to Auckland Museum. Oh-uh, getting there was quite a hassle - I could not figure out how to get across those criss-crossing motorways that ran right next to each other. Looking at the map I had two options and both of those meant considerable walking. Picked one of them and ended up going up and down the stairs and getting stuck in little quads that did not have an exit on the other side. Finally found the correct bridge to cross, with a help of one local, and made my way towards Auckland Domain. From there it was just a short walk over the hill to the museum.
I had gotten a hint from UK-Canadian couple about getting the sonic music tour while I'm there. Well, this was the best thing ever! You get a little device where you get to choose tracks when you enter the room and of course there are headphones involved. Those headphones were wonderful, all the other noise was left out, all you had was music. So I was not able to hear all the screaming kids and loudly speaking Asian tourists (why oh why do they have to speak so loud all the time!). That was wonderful, thank you for the hint! Museum itself was very nice as well. It had 3 levels and I spent probably about an hour on each one of them. Last level was a bit depressing with covering WWI and WWII, but I guess you can't get over not around it in any proper museum.
History looks so different from this part of the world though. I'm used to much different way of presenting WW than what I saw today. Whole Europe just seems so tiny and in a way pointless when looking at it though the eyes of NZ (which is small itself as well of course). I guess it is just so remote and small compared to all the other big and much more influential countries around here (starting with Australia and continuing with Japan and rest of Asia). Once again it got my thoughts moving in totally different direction yet again. Traveling does wonders.
So I highly suggest Auckland Museum when visiting City of Sails :) By the time I had made my way back to City Tower around 6pm I was dead tired and spent the rest of the evening behind my computer and watching bit of TV. This is my last night in Auckland. I do have half a day tomorrow as well, but I'll probably spend it sleeping in in the morning (well sleeping till 9 is pretty good already, checkout time is 10 around here), packing once again and then just chilling and figuring out a way to get to the airport in time. My plane leaves at 15:05 tomorrow towards California, first to LA and then to San Jose. I'll arrive in destination tomorrow morning at 7am :) Bizarre huh :D Moving back in time - wohooo!!!!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Back to Auckland - 26.9
Today's goal is to get back to Auckland. I have bus tickets for tomorrow, but as I got my share of caving done already yesterday then I'd like to get back to Auckland now please :) The plan is to talk to the bus driver to let me on board with tomorrow's ticket (it is not possible to change the ticket).
North island time planning was a bit poor on my part :( If I would have planned it a bit better I would have made it to Raglan for 2 days as well. One of my current roommates was telling wonderful stories of this wonderful little town. I'm sad that I never got to see this great place. One more reason to come back here :D
In the morning I had about 3 hours to kill. Besides the regular every morning routine of packing my bag once again (I'm a real bro in that by now, do they hold any competitions in it anywhere :) ? ), I managed to have a wonderful banana-pancake and hot chocolate breakfast :) Bit of time in the wonders of world wide web and then to the visitor center to familiarize myself with caves in the local caves museum. Besides caves, it covered a whole lot about glowworms - I feel like a glowworm specialist now :)
Time for catching the bus got closer :) As I mentioned yesterday, I had an arrangement with a couple from UK-Canada who would give me a ride to Auckland at 2pm if I get stranded here. Then I would have another 2 hours to kill though, but that is better in any case than to spend another night here. Finally the bus arrived and bus driver did not even hesitate on taking me on board :) To Auckland I go :)
I was complaining previously that there is nothing to do in Auckland. Well, I gotta take my words back. Since the city is just spread out over a huuuuge area, it takes a while to get to the fun places around here. Now I'm finding all kinds of things to do, but most of them are not doable in 2h time :( or even not doable with less than 12h notice :((( For an example here one can go Canyoning! Found out about it through a couple from US. Also I was a bit suspicious about going to a museum here, couple from UK really praised it and suggested to take the music tour. So will try to get to that tomorrow.
Got to town at 5pm, again the check-in and then headed to town. With my few hours I managed to walk all the way up to Albert park and take a look at Auckland University campus. Next followed a random road to the port and went looking for -5C bar.
-5C bar is something Ave suggested me to go and check out :) Found that around the corner, right next to Lenin bar :) Lady at the counter gave me a discount (the prices increase at 6pm and I got there just 5 min past), entry includes one free drink and whole wardrobe to keep you warm in there. Wardrobe would be jacket, pants, boots and gloves. I just went for gloves and jacket. Come on, it is just -5 ;) Drink was served in a glass made entirely out of ice, the whole bar counter was made of ice as were the walls. Bar itself was quite tiny, I imagined it to be a bit bigger than that. There were couple of "couches" covered with animal skins and whole lot of ice sculptures. It was quite nice. I happened to be there with a group of NZ ladies who had come to town for the weekend to see a musical. They were all about to fall over when they heard that I'm traveling alone and coming from such far away country. Just like everybody else I meet, they were no exception in saying the famous sentence "you are the first person I meet from Estonia" :) So that is what it feels like to be a celebrity :D juust kidding!
My evening ended with coffee place that offers the best hot chocolate ever! They also offer 1h free internet usage with any purchase. I got 2h :) , because the guy who took my order forgot my blueberry scone in the microwave for 25 minutes, finally when I went to ask for it he was apologizing for 2 minutes in a row.
I've been anting to go to movies for the longest time already so decided to use my Xday (whatever they day is at any given time) evening for a movie. Movies selection is surprisingly poor for such a big city :( Managed to find one though - Quentin Tarantino's new movie "Inglorious Basterds". Very Tarantino as was expected, people die here and there throughout the movie - even main characters just die without warning, typical Tarantino. Great camera work and good setup of the story. Mr. Pitt is getting old though :) And his character was a bit too typical for him - would have liked to see something more original than that. But oh well, all in all it was good one.
North island time planning was a bit poor on my part :( If I would have planned it a bit better I would have made it to Raglan for 2 days as well. One of my current roommates was telling wonderful stories of this wonderful little town. I'm sad that I never got to see this great place. One more reason to come back here :D
In the morning I had about 3 hours to kill. Besides the regular every morning routine of packing my bag once again (I'm a real bro in that by now, do they hold any competitions in it anywhere :) ? ), I managed to have a wonderful banana-pancake and hot chocolate breakfast :) Bit of time in the wonders of world wide web and then to the visitor center to familiarize myself with caves in the local caves museum. Besides caves, it covered a whole lot about glowworms - I feel like a glowworm specialist now :)
Time for catching the bus got closer :) As I mentioned yesterday, I had an arrangement with a couple from UK-Canada who would give me a ride to Auckland at 2pm if I get stranded here. Then I would have another 2 hours to kill though, but that is better in any case than to spend another night here. Finally the bus arrived and bus driver did not even hesitate on taking me on board :) To Auckland I go :)
I was complaining previously that there is nothing to do in Auckland. Well, I gotta take my words back. Since the city is just spread out over a huuuuge area, it takes a while to get to the fun places around here. Now I'm finding all kinds of things to do, but most of them are not doable in 2h time :( or even not doable with less than 12h notice :((( For an example here one can go Canyoning! Found out about it through a couple from US. Also I was a bit suspicious about going to a museum here, couple from UK really praised it and suggested to take the music tour. So will try to get to that tomorrow.
Got to town at 5pm, again the check-in and then headed to town. With my few hours I managed to walk all the way up to Albert park and take a look at Auckland University campus. Next followed a random road to the port and went looking for -5C bar.
-5C bar is something Ave suggested me to go and check out :) Found that around the corner, right next to Lenin bar :) Lady at the counter gave me a discount (the prices increase at 6pm and I got there just 5 min past), entry includes one free drink and whole wardrobe to keep you warm in there. Wardrobe would be jacket, pants, boots and gloves. I just went for gloves and jacket. Come on, it is just -5 ;) Drink was served in a glass made entirely out of ice, the whole bar counter was made of ice as were the walls. Bar itself was quite tiny, I imagined it to be a bit bigger than that. There were couple of "couches" covered with animal skins and whole lot of ice sculptures. It was quite nice. I happened to be there with a group of NZ ladies who had come to town for the weekend to see a musical. They were all about to fall over when they heard that I'm traveling alone and coming from such far away country. Just like everybody else I meet, they were no exception in saying the famous sentence "you are the first person I meet from Estonia" :) So that is what it feels like to be a celebrity :D juust kidding!
My evening ended with coffee place that offers the best hot chocolate ever! They also offer 1h free internet usage with any purchase. I got 2h :) , because the guy who took my order forgot my blueberry scone in the microwave for 25 minutes, finally when I went to ask for it he was apologizing for 2 minutes in a row.
I've been anting to go to movies for the longest time already so decided to use my Xday (whatever they day is at any given time) evening for a movie. Movies selection is surprisingly poor for such a big city :( Managed to find one though - Quentin Tarantino's new movie "Inglorious Basterds". Very Tarantino as was expected, people die here and there throughout the movie - even main characters just die without warning, typical Tarantino. Great camera work and good setup of the story. Mr. Pitt is getting old though :) And his character was a bit too typical for him - would have liked to see something more original than that. But oh well, all in all it was good one.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Waitomo - 25.9
I've been hearing all those stories about the caves and all the fun things you can do in there, all the climbing and rafting and glowworms and so on. Everybody says this is the coolest thing in whole New Zealand and in the whole wide world in general. So I was getting all excited! Have gone through all the options, read about this and that, I've been thinking if I should do the half day or a full day trip and should I go to see the glowworms separately or not.
So, I get to Waitomo at 11:30. I get dropped off by the only booking office in this little village. I walk in and before I can really even say anything the lady behind the counter informs me that due to the rain in the past few days all the caves are flooded and trips have been cancelled. WHOOOTTT?!?!?! CANCELLED?!?!?!?! Argh. But she so pleasantly says that it all depends on the weather and perhaps I should come back in the afternoon to check the situation. There is nothing they can say about tomorrow as it depends on the weather. As I try to ask what time would the trips leave in the morning she keeps repeating the fact that the caves are flooded. Oh great. Finally I get the information out of her that the tours would not leave before 9am anyways.
Right, so I go and check-in to the hostel, I find the internet being nice and fast so I spend an hour or so behind the computer updating my travel log and photos. Trying to pass time, no going outside as it just keeps raining. Have started on putting the trip summary slides together already :( - sad face is because I'm realizing that at some point this trip will be ending :((( So finally the clock ticks closer to 2pm and I make my way to the booking office again.
I walk up to the same lady to acquire about water level situation - nope no change she says. Then she looks at me and goes, what were you interested in doing anyways? Oh so now you ask!?! This lady was not being very nice to me this whole time. So I tell her about my confusion about all those different trips and they all seem like the best thing since sliced bread. Then she goes and explains me how there are hundreds of caves (if I understood it correctly) and how there are many tour operators and they are mostly the same anyways. Lot of operators are doing combos, like all great X in one: 100m abseil (declining on a rope), climbing, walking, seeing glowworms etc. Advertising all sorts of different lengths of tours ranging from 45 minutes to 7h, lunch included or not, dry or wet - you choose and so on. VERY CONFUSING. So as it comes out not all of them include black water rafting and as it turns out, not all of the caves are flooded afterall!
After few calls to some operators she asks if I'm up to 3pm black water rafting trip :) Understanding that it is still raining outside I give thumbs up. 42 minutes later I've got my swimsuit and towel and I'm ready to go :) Group is only 4 people this time - which is so incredibly nice. We are given wetsuits, boots, belts and helmets. We get changed and head over to the caves by a minivan. Now getting to the caves is funny :) Minivan stops by this random field, we get off, open a gate and hike across a field full of cows (who try to attack us on our journey) making our way towards a hole in the ground - welcome to the cave :) 5 minute introduction and training follows and on we go. We are handed tubes (inner tires for floatation) and off we are :)
Now this thing is great! We go down the steps and enter the cave. Our guide gives us time to adjust to different light, he introduces the cave and gives bit of facts on history. We were down there for 1.5 hours and it went by in a snap! We get to jump off the edges and high rocks (he makes us do it back first), we are swimming in a 10m deep stream towards a slide, we slide down a 7m fall, he forms sorta train of us (you sit in a tube and a person in front holds on to your legs and you hold on to the legs of a person behind you) and we get to slide down the stream as he guides us in the dark, we see glowworms throughout the whole journey, we walk, we look at rock formations and bones. It is great. The whole thing is quite narrow so we bump off the walls as we straddle along. Water is also pretty cold - around 11C I'd say. And there are thousands and thousands of glowworms the whole way through. Apparently this is the longest stream there is in all the caves around here for black water rafting :) Anyways, it was pretty amazing :)
I have decided that I have had a pretty good chance to see the cave and do the rafting, I'm guessing the water level will not get much better tomorrow, so rest of the caving experiences need to wait till next time :) and most likely I'm heading back to Auckland tomorrow. Gotta see if I can convince the bus driver to take me on :D
If the bus driver won't let me go a day earlier then I can catch a ride with a couple from UK who moved to Canada a week ago :) They figured to take a 5 week trip while all their furniture is being shipped over by boat :), apparently it takes some weeks by boat. Met them in the evening after me and one of my roommates (who I met just the same evening) had finished dinner in the only pub in town :D There is nowhere else to go in this small place so all the locals and tourists were gathered there for dinner and drinks - so were we :) Later another guy from UK joined our discussion and the party continued :D Fun times!
So, I get to Waitomo at 11:30. I get dropped off by the only booking office in this little village. I walk in and before I can really even say anything the lady behind the counter informs me that due to the rain in the past few days all the caves are flooded and trips have been cancelled. WHOOOTTT?!?!?! CANCELLED?!?!?!?! Argh. But she so pleasantly says that it all depends on the weather and perhaps I should come back in the afternoon to check the situation. There is nothing they can say about tomorrow as it depends on the weather. As I try to ask what time would the trips leave in the morning she keeps repeating the fact that the caves are flooded. Oh great. Finally I get the information out of her that the tours would not leave before 9am anyways.
Right, so I go and check-in to the hostel, I find the internet being nice and fast so I spend an hour or so behind the computer updating my travel log and photos. Trying to pass time, no going outside as it just keeps raining. Have started on putting the trip summary slides together already :( - sad face is because I'm realizing that at some point this trip will be ending :((( So finally the clock ticks closer to 2pm and I make my way to the booking office again.
I walk up to the same lady to acquire about water level situation - nope no change she says. Then she looks at me and goes, what were you interested in doing anyways? Oh so now you ask!?! This lady was not being very nice to me this whole time. So I tell her about my confusion about all those different trips and they all seem like the best thing since sliced bread. Then she goes and explains me how there are hundreds of caves (if I understood it correctly) and how there are many tour operators and they are mostly the same anyways. Lot of operators are doing combos, like all great X in one: 100m abseil (declining on a rope), climbing, walking, seeing glowworms etc. Advertising all sorts of different lengths of tours ranging from 45 minutes to 7h, lunch included or not, dry or wet - you choose and so on. VERY CONFUSING. So as it comes out not all of them include black water rafting and as it turns out, not all of the caves are flooded afterall!
After few calls to some operators she asks if I'm up to 3pm black water rafting trip :) Understanding that it is still raining outside I give thumbs up. 42 minutes later I've got my swimsuit and towel and I'm ready to go :) Group is only 4 people this time - which is so incredibly nice. We are given wetsuits, boots, belts and helmets. We get changed and head over to the caves by a minivan. Now getting to the caves is funny :) Minivan stops by this random field, we get off, open a gate and hike across a field full of cows (who try to attack us on our journey) making our way towards a hole in the ground - welcome to the cave :) 5 minute introduction and training follows and on we go. We are handed tubes (inner tires for floatation) and off we are :)
Now this thing is great! We go down the steps and enter the cave. Our guide gives us time to adjust to different light, he introduces the cave and gives bit of facts on history. We were down there for 1.5 hours and it went by in a snap! We get to jump off the edges and high rocks (he makes us do it back first), we are swimming in a 10m deep stream towards a slide, we slide down a 7m fall, he forms sorta train of us (you sit in a tube and a person in front holds on to your legs and you hold on to the legs of a person behind you) and we get to slide down the stream as he guides us in the dark, we see glowworms throughout the whole journey, we walk, we look at rock formations and bones. It is great. The whole thing is quite narrow so we bump off the walls as we straddle along. Water is also pretty cold - around 11C I'd say. And there are thousands and thousands of glowworms the whole way through. Apparently this is the longest stream there is in all the caves around here for black water rafting :) Anyways, it was pretty amazing :)
I have decided that I have had a pretty good chance to see the cave and do the rafting, I'm guessing the water level will not get much better tomorrow, so rest of the caving experiences need to wait till next time :) and most likely I'm heading back to Auckland tomorrow. Gotta see if I can convince the bus driver to take me on :D
If the bus driver won't let me go a day earlier then I can catch a ride with a couple from UK who moved to Canada a week ago :) They figured to take a 5 week trip while all their furniture is being shipped over by boat :), apparently it takes some weeks by boat. Met them in the evening after me and one of my roommates (who I met just the same evening) had finished dinner in the only pub in town :D There is nowhere else to go in this small place so all the locals and tourists were gathered there for dinner and drinks - so were we :) Later another guy from UK joined our discussion and the party continued :D Fun times!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Rotorua - 23 & 24.9
Yesterday (the 23rd) I did not do much. The usual routine of packing and check-out in the morning. Used the internet for a bit to upload photos and then headed to town to catch the bus to Rotorua. It is raining - good day to sit in a bus :) Bus ride was 4 hours and there were few stops on the way. Arrived in Rotorua at 5 and I had Maori concert scheduled for 6.
Tamaki Maori village was the location we were taken. We got to see the local Maori village, their songs and dances, there was a huge dinner made on hot rocks just as it was during old times. The show was a bit too commercial just as the village setup and all the rest. But I guess that is what it takes as the culture is being preserved only commercially nowadays. Food was good and it was still interesting to hear the stories told during the show.
Also got to meet the people on our bus and it was good to hear about their experiences of what they have done and how has their trip been. As I said before, that is my favourite part :) There was a lady from Canada who came over with her daughter, for now they are traveling for couple of weeks and then the daughter will be working for a year on south island - at a chocolate factory!!! That would be fun!
So for today I had 2 plans: Te Puia and Hells Gate :) First a bit of introduction about Rotorua (as I love doing ya know) :D
Rotorua is New Zealand's most dynamic thermal area with spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools. City smells like eggs :) Due to the sulphur from the thermal areas. Apparently this is one of the most visited locations in the whole northern island! It is also important to note that today 35% of the population is Maori.
Now Te Puia is one of the most famous geyser parks in Rotorua, it is located a bit out of the city though. It has wonderful walks and main attractions being 500+ springs, most famous being Pohutu which erupts up to 20 times a day and as high as 30 meters. This location is also home of the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. I also visited kiwi house here and got to see that peculiar shy bird running around during it's morning exercise :)
Second activity for the day was Tikitere & Wai Ora Spa, known as Hell's Gate :) There I took the walking tour and saw the largest hot water fall in Southern Hemisphere, mud volcano, geothermal mud and sulphur lake. Why I went there was to enjoy the much spoken about mud baths. It was good of course, but when they say SPA, I get totally different expectations of what it is going to be like. It was very very basic and there was no SPA feeling whatsoever. Water and mud was all natural and very nice of course, especially considering the cold rain that was coming down mercilessly the whole day.
So ok, in the mud bath we were allowed to be only for 20 minutes due to the exfoliating effect, then icy cold shower followed :) Then we got to spend however long we wanted in Sulphur Spa, this consisted of 2 basic pools with muddy water, one was 39C and the other 41C. I spend probably about 1.5h total in there.
On my way back I met a couple who were on their honeymoon, the trip had been organized by their families - the trick was that they found out on their wedding day that they will be traveling for the next 3 weeks, departing the next day :) And the itinerary was not told, now they are opening a golden envelope every day to find out what they will be doing the next day :D How cool is that? I'd like a present like that one day :D :D
Getting back to the hostel I tried to do everything in my power to get rid of the eggy smell of my skin - to no result :) I guess it just has to wear off with time :)
As it is absolutely pouring outside I'll fill my time with watching some movies and keeping hot tea close by at all times :) Tomorrow morning I'll take a bus to Waitomo!
Tamaki Maori village was the location we were taken. We got to see the local Maori village, their songs and dances, there was a huge dinner made on hot rocks just as it was during old times. The show was a bit too commercial just as the village setup and all the rest. But I guess that is what it takes as the culture is being preserved only commercially nowadays. Food was good and it was still interesting to hear the stories told during the show.
Also got to meet the people on our bus and it was good to hear about their experiences of what they have done and how has their trip been. As I said before, that is my favourite part :) There was a lady from Canada who came over with her daughter, for now they are traveling for couple of weeks and then the daughter will be working for a year on south island - at a chocolate factory!!! That would be fun!
So for today I had 2 plans: Te Puia and Hells Gate :) First a bit of introduction about Rotorua (as I love doing ya know) :D
Rotorua is New Zealand's most dynamic thermal area with spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools. City smells like eggs :) Due to the sulphur from the thermal areas. Apparently this is one of the most visited locations in the whole northern island! It is also important to note that today 35% of the population is Maori.
Now Te Puia is one of the most famous geyser parks in Rotorua, it is located a bit out of the city though. It has wonderful walks and main attractions being 500+ springs, most famous being Pohutu which erupts up to 20 times a day and as high as 30 meters. This location is also home of the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. I also visited kiwi house here and got to see that peculiar shy bird running around during it's morning exercise :)
Second activity for the day was Tikitere & Wai Ora Spa, known as Hell's Gate :) There I took the walking tour and saw the largest hot water fall in Southern Hemisphere, mud volcano, geothermal mud and sulphur lake. Why I went there was to enjoy the much spoken about mud baths. It was good of course, but when they say SPA, I get totally different expectations of what it is going to be like. It was very very basic and there was no SPA feeling whatsoever. Water and mud was all natural and very nice of course, especially considering the cold rain that was coming down mercilessly the whole day.
So ok, in the mud bath we were allowed to be only for 20 minutes due to the exfoliating effect, then icy cold shower followed :) Then we got to spend however long we wanted in Sulphur Spa, this consisted of 2 basic pools with muddy water, one was 39C and the other 41C. I spend probably about 1.5h total in there.
On my way back I met a couple who were on their honeymoon, the trip had been organized by their families - the trick was that they found out on their wedding day that they will be traveling for the next 3 weeks, departing the next day :) And the itinerary was not told, now they are opening a golden envelope every day to find out what they will be doing the next day :D How cool is that? I'd like a present like that one day :D :D
Getting back to the hostel I tried to do everything in my power to get rid of the eggy smell of my skin - to no result :) I guess it just has to wear off with time :)
As it is absolutely pouring outside I'll fill my time with watching some movies and keeping hot tea close by at all times :) Tomorrow morning I'll take a bus to Waitomo!
Auckland: Waiheke Island - 22.9
Arrived in Auckland late last night. Got the hostel booked already in Christchurch times ago, but forgot to ask for the exact address. Luckily I got the travel guide - or so I thought :) Well I do have the travel guide and I managed to navigate to the address where the hostel is supposed to be, well surprise surprise, it is not there anymore. Helpful people guided me to the correct location - it had moved a year ago :) Anyhoo, got all checked in and to bed by 11:30 so all good!
I hadn't done really any research on what is there to do in Auckland. But I did know I wanted to head out of town for Rotorua and Waitomo - so got all that set up with help of locals. About an hour of sorting and booking and checking and set it was. Now I had a day to look around in Auckland. Figured that it should be easy - pick up couple of booklets, grab a map and head to town. Wrong :). All the booklets tell you are the museums and islands. Oh well, so I picked one of the islands. At least the ferry ride should be nice.
Ferry took about 40 minutes to get to Waiheke island. It was a beautiful little place. Great views, nicely marked hikes and beautiful beaches. Did about 3h walk covering Ocean View Road, Oneroa Bay, Beach Parade, seaside walk up to Newton Road, walk through the streets to the opposite shore, The Esplanade and way back through Oneroa to Matiatia Bay. It was great. Apparently the millionaires are quarreling over the best pieces of land here - I can see why, the place has wonderful views and nature.
Once back from the island walked around in town. There is not much to do in Auckland it seems to me, other than visiting the museums as it looks like. As I have another half a day there before I fly to California I did quite a bit of asking around of what is there in Auckland. 75% of people said that they could not find much to do either :) So my conclusion is that this really is a dump as described by people in south island ;) One of them actually gave me a question in this format: "why you going to Auckland? It is a dump. And there is nothing to do in north island - you should spend the time here instead!" :D :D :D Funny people! As I see then Australians really don't like New Zealanders, then again south island people in NZ don't really like north islanders. Now the question is who the north islanders despise :)
I hadn't done really any research on what is there to do in Auckland. But I did know I wanted to head out of town for Rotorua and Waitomo - so got all that set up with help of locals. About an hour of sorting and booking and checking and set it was. Now I had a day to look around in Auckland. Figured that it should be easy - pick up couple of booklets, grab a map and head to town. Wrong :). All the booklets tell you are the museums and islands. Oh well, so I picked one of the islands. At least the ferry ride should be nice.
Ferry took about 40 minutes to get to Waiheke island. It was a beautiful little place. Great views, nicely marked hikes and beautiful beaches. Did about 3h walk covering Ocean View Road, Oneroa Bay, Beach Parade, seaside walk up to Newton Road, walk through the streets to the opposite shore, The Esplanade and way back through Oneroa to Matiatia Bay. It was great. Apparently the millionaires are quarreling over the best pieces of land here - I can see why, the place has wonderful views and nature.
Once back from the island walked around in town. There is not much to do in Auckland it seems to me, other than visiting the museums as it looks like. As I have another half a day there before I fly to California I did quite a bit of asking around of what is there in Auckland. 75% of people said that they could not find much to do either :) So my conclusion is that this really is a dump as described by people in south island ;) One of them actually gave me a question in this format: "why you going to Auckland? It is a dump. And there is nothing to do in north island - you should spend the time here instead!" :D :D :D Funny people! As I see then Australians really don't like New Zealanders, then again south island people in NZ don't really like north islanders. Now the question is who the north islanders despise :)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
International Antarctic Center - 21.9
In the morning I just looked around in Christchurch, covered most of the city within 2 hours :) Before heading to the airport I stopped at the International Antarctic Center located right next to the airport. It has been suggest by all the sources and now I see why - because it was absolutely awesome! I read all the information leaflets and writings on the walls, it was so interesting. I watched all the movies shown, most of them even twice, just so that I could grasp all of it :)
At the Antarctic center I got to ride Hagglund - vehicle that is used to get around in Antarctica, it can go up and down on steep angles (also sideways), it can go over quite big cracks, if it falls through ice it can move in water for about 2 hours. Got to experience an arctic storm with winds up to 40km/h and see feeding of Little Blue penguins. Additionally I read up on the climate, ice forming, plants, animals, base stations, research, communication and much much more connected to this least known and coldest continent on earth.
Now you are gonna get whole lotta facts about Antarctica :)
Antarctica, South America, Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand once formed a giant southern continent called Gondwana. Over the last 200 million years Gondwana broke up and the continents moved to where they are today.
Antarctica is the driest and coldest continent on earth. The coldest temperature on earth -89.2C was recorded in Antarctica - so cold that if you went outside in everyday clothes you would die in less than a minute.
The highest wind speed recorded in Antarctica peaked at over 320km/h, blowing as hard as a violent tornado or cyclone. At these wind speeds all unsecured buildings, machinery and people are simply blown away.
Antarctica is almost entirely covered with a sheet of ice. The ice has been built up slowly over tens of thousands of years from snow falling on Antarctica. The ice covers 14 million square kilometers with an average depth of 2.3 km and contains 90% of the world's fresh water. Much of Antarctica's ice eventually grinds its way through the mountains and rocks, flowing downhill much the same way as liquid water, until it eventually reaches the sea. These rivers of ice are called glaciers. When it slides into the sea it forms giant floating glaciers called ice shelves, such as the Ross Ice Shelf.
Ice sheet is a broad, thick sheet of ice covering an extensive area of LAND for a long period of time. Ice sheets are also referred to as continental glaciers. Ice shelf is ice that is attached to land but projects out and floats in the SEA. Ice shelves form where ice sheet reaches sea level and extends across the water. Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. Because oceans consist of saltwater it occurs at about -1.8C
Antarctic fish's body temperature is the same as the water, minus 1.9C. Normally blood freezes at minus 1.1C, but antarctic fish have an antifreeze chemical called glycoprotein in their blood and their kidneys are adapted to conserve the antifreeze.
Lights in the sky, or aurora, are called Aurora Borealis in the Arctic and Aurora Australis in the Antarctic. I never knew there is a difference :)
The Antarctic Treaty is a unique legal agreement that ensures the use of Antarctica for peaceful and scientific purposes through international cooperation. It bans all military activities and promotes the freedom of scientific research on the continent. Treaty was first signed by 12 nations in 1959 and it has been ratified by over 40 nations since then. Estonia signed the treaty in 2001 :)
Many many countries have bases in Antarctica, few are year round ones and the rest are operated only during summer time. Almost all activity in Antarctica relates to science. There are over sixty research stations operated by scientists from twenty-four nations.
Winter means 6 months of darkness and summer 6 months of daylight. Scientists wintering over survive months without sunlight. They must be psychologically and medically fit to cope. In Antarctica body hair grows twice as fast, the body lays down more fat and during winter skin loses pigmentation.
At the Antarctic center I got to ride Hagglund - vehicle that is used to get around in Antarctica, it can go up and down on steep angles (also sideways), it can go over quite big cracks, if it falls through ice it can move in water for about 2 hours. Got to experience an arctic storm with winds up to 40km/h and see feeding of Little Blue penguins. Additionally I read up on the climate, ice forming, plants, animals, base stations, research, communication and much much more connected to this least known and coldest continent on earth.
Now you are gonna get whole lotta facts about Antarctica :)
Antarctica, South America, Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand once formed a giant southern continent called Gondwana. Over the last 200 million years Gondwana broke up and the continents moved to where they are today.
Antarctica is the driest and coldest continent on earth. The coldest temperature on earth -89.2C was recorded in Antarctica - so cold that if you went outside in everyday clothes you would die in less than a minute.
The highest wind speed recorded in Antarctica peaked at over 320km/h, blowing as hard as a violent tornado or cyclone. At these wind speeds all unsecured buildings, machinery and people are simply blown away.
Antarctica is almost entirely covered with a sheet of ice. The ice has been built up slowly over tens of thousands of years from snow falling on Antarctica. The ice covers 14 million square kilometers with an average depth of 2.3 km and contains 90% of the world's fresh water. Much of Antarctica's ice eventually grinds its way through the mountains and rocks, flowing downhill much the same way as liquid water, until it eventually reaches the sea. These rivers of ice are called glaciers. When it slides into the sea it forms giant floating glaciers called ice shelves, such as the Ross Ice Shelf.
Ice sheet is a broad, thick sheet of ice covering an extensive area of LAND for a long period of time. Ice sheets are also referred to as continental glaciers. Ice shelf is ice that is attached to land but projects out and floats in the SEA. Ice shelves form where ice sheet reaches sea level and extends across the water. Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. Because oceans consist of saltwater it occurs at about -1.8C
Antarctic fish's body temperature is the same as the water, minus 1.9C. Normally blood freezes at minus 1.1C, but antarctic fish have an antifreeze chemical called glycoprotein in their blood and their kidneys are adapted to conserve the antifreeze.
Lights in the sky, or aurora, are called Aurora Borealis in the Arctic and Aurora Australis in the Antarctic. I never knew there is a difference :)
The Antarctic Treaty is a unique legal agreement that ensures the use of Antarctica for peaceful and scientific purposes through international cooperation. It bans all military activities and promotes the freedom of scientific research on the continent. Treaty was first signed by 12 nations in 1959 and it has been ratified by over 40 nations since then. Estonia signed the treaty in 2001 :)
Many many countries have bases in Antarctica, few are year round ones and the rest are operated only during summer time. Almost all activity in Antarctica relates to science. There are over sixty research stations operated by scientists from twenty-four nations.
Winter means 6 months of darkness and summer 6 months of daylight. Scientists wintering over survive months without sunlight. They must be psychologically and medically fit to cope. In Antarctica body hair grows twice as fast, the body lays down more fat and during winter skin loses pigmentation.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Akaroa - 20.9
Strange city-tour shuttle left Christchurch at 8:30. I say weird as it seemed just like a regular shuttle taking people from point A to point B, but at some point the driver started talking about houses all around us and giving out facts like population of Christchurch and so on :) It was strange, getting out of town we also switched vans and then we got one very talkative lady for the driver :) Anyhoo, as time passed and more facts followed I took it I had entered a tour taking me from Christchurch to Akaroa - this was completely fine with me.
Views were beautiful as always. As Lonelyplanet tourguide informs me, Akaroa is situated on the Banks Peninsula and its hills were formed by two giant volcanic eruptions. Historic town of Akaroa is the highlight of the peninsula, the name means 'Long Harbour' in Maori and is the sight of the country's first French settlement. Everything in the town is trying to re-create the feel of a French provincial village, with it's street names, houses and eateries - in my mind it was doing a splendid job at that, it was full of doll-houses located on pretty street names :)
On this weird shuttle-city-tour bus I met a group of 3 from Minnesota :), they had booked a trip to go swimming with dolphins. I headed to Akaroa to see the dolphins as well, but was not very keen on getting in the water at all (as it is cold here). After their talk about dry-suits and all the fun I figured to go and check it out from the tour providers. So as I found out there was still just one spot left on the tour, they were all out of dry-suits but wet suits would be fine as well they assured me. Apparently the water only gets up to 1 degrees around here even during the warmest time, at the moment water is fine with being 9 degrees :D Oh-uh :) Asking about other options to go out on the sea they still highly recommended swimming with dolphins as the best option - oh well, I guess I'm in then :)
The fuzz about the dolphins here is the fact that the smallest and rarest Hector's dolphins live at the waters around Akaroa, this is the only place in the world they are found at.
Had an hour to look around in this pretty town and then the show started! We were all given our suits, 3 people were doing the wetsuits thingie and others had dry-suits. Dry-suits looked so odd :) they were like astronauts :D Wetsuits were nice and thick, we also got boots + gloves + hoods + snorkels. Once I managed to put all the clothing on I looked like a Martian myself :) Few photos, safety talk and off we went. Long story short: we were chasing the things for 2 hours on very very stormy waters and in cold wind, we got to see the dolphins, but not swim with them. I'm kinda glad that we were not made to get in this freezing water. All looked fine in the shop, but once you are on the boat that almost tips over twice in 5 minutes with all those rough waves and the strong wind wants to blow your ears away - you really loose the interest in jumping in for a swim :)
We did get to see dolphins from the boat quite many times. They are little cute animals. We also saw a seal swimming and few tiny penguins. Tourguides took us over to see seals colony in one of the bays and we drove by a cathedral formulation by the cliffs. In the end I got to see everything promised on the other tours, only thing I did not get to do was swimming with dolphins in a 9 degree water :) For that we got refunded as promised, got hot-chocolate and a nice warm shower. I was happy in every sense :)
On our way back to Christchurch we got to visit the last cheese factory in the area, got to taste different cheeses and hear about cheese making. Rest of the way I slept - naturally :-P It is vacation after all ya'know :)
Tomorrow evening I'm flying on to Auckland. Check-out is at 10, will try to finally take a look at Christchurch itself as well and have a look at the ever so famous Antarctic Center.
Views were beautiful as always. As Lonelyplanet tourguide informs me, Akaroa is situated on the Banks Peninsula and its hills were formed by two giant volcanic eruptions. Historic town of Akaroa is the highlight of the peninsula, the name means 'Long Harbour' in Maori and is the sight of the country's first French settlement. Everything in the town is trying to re-create the feel of a French provincial village, with it's street names, houses and eateries - in my mind it was doing a splendid job at that, it was full of doll-houses located on pretty street names :)
On this weird shuttle-city-tour bus I met a group of 3 from Minnesota :), they had booked a trip to go swimming with dolphins. I headed to Akaroa to see the dolphins as well, but was not very keen on getting in the water at all (as it is cold here). After their talk about dry-suits and all the fun I figured to go and check it out from the tour providers. So as I found out there was still just one spot left on the tour, they were all out of dry-suits but wet suits would be fine as well they assured me. Apparently the water only gets up to 1 degrees around here even during the warmest time, at the moment water is fine with being 9 degrees :D Oh-uh :) Asking about other options to go out on the sea they still highly recommended swimming with dolphins as the best option - oh well, I guess I'm in then :)
The fuzz about the dolphins here is the fact that the smallest and rarest Hector's dolphins live at the waters around Akaroa, this is the only place in the world they are found at.
Had an hour to look around in this pretty town and then the show started! We were all given our suits, 3 people were doing the wetsuits thingie and others had dry-suits. Dry-suits looked so odd :) they were like astronauts :D Wetsuits were nice and thick, we also got boots + gloves + hoods + snorkels. Once I managed to put all the clothing on I looked like a Martian myself :) Few photos, safety talk and off we went. Long story short: we were chasing the things for 2 hours on very very stormy waters and in cold wind, we got to see the dolphins, but not swim with them. I'm kinda glad that we were not made to get in this freezing water. All looked fine in the shop, but once you are on the boat that almost tips over twice in 5 minutes with all those rough waves and the strong wind wants to blow your ears away - you really loose the interest in jumping in for a swim :)
We did get to see dolphins from the boat quite many times. They are little cute animals. We also saw a seal swimming and few tiny penguins. Tourguides took us over to see seals colony in one of the bays and we drove by a cathedral formulation by the cliffs. In the end I got to see everything promised on the other tours, only thing I did not get to do was swimming with dolphins in a 9 degree water :) For that we got refunded as promised, got hot-chocolate and a nice warm shower. I was happy in every sense :)
On our way back to Christchurch we got to visit the last cheese factory in the area, got to taste different cheeses and hear about cheese making. Rest of the way I slept - naturally :-P It is vacation after all ya'know :)
Tomorrow evening I'm flying on to Auckland. Check-out is at 10, will try to finally take a look at Christchurch itself as well and have a look at the ever so famous Antarctic Center.
Long way back to Christchurch - 19.9
Seems like every morning I got the same routine of getting dressed, packing and eating. This morning was no different. Wonderful thing about it is that I don't really need to pack as such since my back bag is half empty I just kinda throw my things in there and zip it up. Once in a while I need to clean and organize the bag, much like cleaning and organizing my apartment at times - just so that I would actually find my things in there :)
Last night ended up being a long one. SPA was nice and relaxing, my roommate (the German guy) was there with his friends and many other people as well of course. At some point it emptied out and then only few people were relaxing each in their own corner. Me of course was talking away :) Later drinks followed at a local bar. This is a town of 300 people and all the pubs and restaurants are totally empty as it is not the tourist season yet.
This night for the first time I saw stars! It was all clear and the stars were nicely visible.
As my beauty sleep was short I bet on getting some good sleep on the bus rides today. First bus was from Franz Josef to Greymouth - about 3h. Second bus was from Greymouth to Christchurch. I did get some sleep (on a first bus), but not a whole lot in total. Way from Greymouth on was very windy, our bus driver did not seem to care whole lot about client satisfaction and was driving very carelessly. At some point I was getting sick to my stomach because of all the sudden turns and deep wholes he passed through - so no I did not get much sleep there. For the most part that was probably even quite good as the scenery was very beautiful :)
Once I arrived at Christchurch, check-in followed. Then quick stop at the computer room, laundry and dinner. Now is the time to catch some quality sleep :) Tomorrow I'm planning on going to Akaroa for the day.
Last night ended up being a long one. SPA was nice and relaxing, my roommate (the German guy) was there with his friends and many other people as well of course. At some point it emptied out and then only few people were relaxing each in their own corner. Me of course was talking away :) Later drinks followed at a local bar. This is a town of 300 people and all the pubs and restaurants are totally empty as it is not the tourist season yet.
This night for the first time I saw stars! It was all clear and the stars were nicely visible.
As my beauty sleep was short I bet on getting some good sleep on the bus rides today. First bus was from Franz Josef to Greymouth - about 3h. Second bus was from Greymouth to Christchurch. I did get some sleep (on a first bus), but not a whole lot in total. Way from Greymouth on was very windy, our bus driver did not seem to care whole lot about client satisfaction and was driving very carelessly. At some point I was getting sick to my stomach because of all the sudden turns and deep wholes he passed through - so no I did not get much sleep there. For the most part that was probably even quite good as the scenery was very beautiful :)
Once I arrived at Christchurch, check-in followed. Then quick stop at the computer room, laundry and dinner. Now is the time to catch some quality sleep :) Tomorrow I'm planning on going to Akaroa for the day.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Franz Josef Glacier - 18.9
When I got up at 7am it was raining. Got over to the tour center by 7:45 and as I was guessing they have canceled the climb because of bad weather. Apparently there is lots of standing around and doing it in rain is just no fun, it also seemed that there were too few people registered for this one as well. So I got an option to choose any other tour - I went for the full day one.
At the tour center we were all given a coat, trousers, boots, crampons (kassid) socks, gloves and a hat. All this clothing was much needed once on ice - as I learned in a little bit :) So we packed ourselves in and headed to the bus that took us to the parking lot by the glacier. From the parking lot it was 2.5km walk to the ice line.
Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are one of the kind in the world as nowhere else at this latitude do glaciers come so close to the ocean. The glaciers development is due to all the moist air building up over the ocean and heading towards the island where the high mountains catch it. So at the mountains it falls down as snow and all this snow building up forms glacier that is constantly falling downward like a waterfall, melting at the bottom in the rainforest. The fall is quite deep, speed that the glacier is moving at is about 1.5m a day!
At the ice line we got to put on our crampons and off we went. Within 30 minutes on the ice we were all wet from head to toe. One helping factor was us getting stuck between two walls of ice. There were 8 of us in a group, the guide went first and then we followed in a single file. So there is this narrow passage way between two high walls we need to pass through. The walls are not even by any means, passage way is curvy and the bottom is rough - so it is difficult to walk. At the end of the passage way you needed to take few big steps up to make your way out of it. So there we are, the guide made his way up, but first girl was not able to pull herself up the steps. There was nothing to hold on to either and the walls were all slick. So there we stood all packed up. Passage way was quite narrow - you had to turn sideways to fit though, and hence walk sideways throughout to be able to keep going. Passageway was about 30m I'd say. But there we stood then. Our guide yells down at us that he will go and get the rope attached and throw it down so the first girl can grab on to it and keep moving.
As we stand there we are tightly packed between the walls. As it is raining there is water everywhere, it is coming down from both sides on the wall, standing there it is worse than in the shower :), water flows right down your neck and sides directly of the wall. Of course, this is not the most comfortable situation for a claustrophobic one like me :) Yeah, it was pretty tricky to stay calm there. But we made it out and after this incident I stayed well up front as I can get though tough spots, I can deal with anything as long as we are moving :)
I just can't believe they let us do some of the stuff on the track without any security ropes. I had hard time getting up and keeping my balance quite many times. "Don't look down" and "keep your body weight close to the ice" took you to places over here. Even if you wanted to use your hands you could not as your fingers were frozen and you could not feel your hands. We were given little axes though, those were great help, could at least lean on them and use them for balance.
There were 3 groups of us. 1st group was the fastest and went first, we were 2nd group and there was also 3rd group behind us. The fastest group was led by senior guide who also chose the track. At some point our guide just looks up and seems a bit lost. He turns to us and goes "I don't understand why he chose this track, nobody has been here for months" :) Oh goodie good :)
Another great moment arrived when we had just passed a tunnel and we see the next tunnel right in front of us, but between is a huge puddle of water. We see the track going on at the second tunnel, but the puddle is chest deep! Our guide was quite puzzled, he kept looking all over the place for an alternate route, finally we ended up finding one and just went around. But he figured that first group had passed it about 20 minutes ago and then the puddle was perhaps up to knees. Didn't realize that the rain is so heavy, saw many puddles later on as well, I guess they just fill up in no time.
The way up was about 2.5h. We did the whole trip a lot quicker than usual as we skipped many breaks (including our lunch break!), whenever we did take breaks they were very short as we were all wet and got cold quickly. Once we started our trip down I just looked at my feet and tried to remember what it felt like having toes :)
Way down was a lot quicker and it got warmer with every step. We were all just so indifferent, going through water up till half a leg nobody even bothered to lift the legs, just dragged ourselves through it. Once back at the tour center it was such a relief getting all those soaked things off :) Now everything was soaked. I was only dry from my hips to my chest I think - everything else was wet and cold. Now also all my documents got soaked. I wasn't smart enough and left the documents bag in the back bag - so all my documents were dripping wet once I took them out of the bag :( So if you know of a quick way how to dry off my passport quickly - please do let me know!
At first I was really bummed out that I did not get to do the ice-climbing, but at the end of the day I'm glad I got to go at all. It was absolutely awesome to be hiking on the glacier! Even besides the cold and rain - it was really something different and quite extreme!
Now I'm heading over to the local SPA - apparently this consists of some hot pools where water is from 36 to 40C - can't wait! 2 hours later my fingers are still not functioning quite well :)
At the tour center we were all given a coat, trousers, boots, crampons (kassid) socks, gloves and a hat. All this clothing was much needed once on ice - as I learned in a little bit :) So we packed ourselves in and headed to the bus that took us to the parking lot by the glacier. From the parking lot it was 2.5km walk to the ice line.
Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are one of the kind in the world as nowhere else at this latitude do glaciers come so close to the ocean. The glaciers development is due to all the moist air building up over the ocean and heading towards the island where the high mountains catch it. So at the mountains it falls down as snow and all this snow building up forms glacier that is constantly falling downward like a waterfall, melting at the bottom in the rainforest. The fall is quite deep, speed that the glacier is moving at is about 1.5m a day!
At the ice line we got to put on our crampons and off we went. Within 30 minutes on the ice we were all wet from head to toe. One helping factor was us getting stuck between two walls of ice. There were 8 of us in a group, the guide went first and then we followed in a single file. So there is this narrow passage way between two high walls we need to pass through. The walls are not even by any means, passage way is curvy and the bottom is rough - so it is difficult to walk. At the end of the passage way you needed to take few big steps up to make your way out of it. So there we are, the guide made his way up, but first girl was not able to pull herself up the steps. There was nothing to hold on to either and the walls were all slick. So there we stood all packed up. Passage way was quite narrow - you had to turn sideways to fit though, and hence walk sideways throughout to be able to keep going. Passageway was about 30m I'd say. But there we stood then. Our guide yells down at us that he will go and get the rope attached and throw it down so the first girl can grab on to it and keep moving.
As we stand there we are tightly packed between the walls. As it is raining there is water everywhere, it is coming down from both sides on the wall, standing there it is worse than in the shower :), water flows right down your neck and sides directly of the wall. Of course, this is not the most comfortable situation for a claustrophobic one like me :) Yeah, it was pretty tricky to stay calm there. But we made it out and after this incident I stayed well up front as I can get though tough spots, I can deal with anything as long as we are moving :)
I just can't believe they let us do some of the stuff on the track without any security ropes. I had hard time getting up and keeping my balance quite many times. "Don't look down" and "keep your body weight close to the ice" took you to places over here. Even if you wanted to use your hands you could not as your fingers were frozen and you could not feel your hands. We were given little axes though, those were great help, could at least lean on them and use them for balance.
There were 3 groups of us. 1st group was the fastest and went first, we were 2nd group and there was also 3rd group behind us. The fastest group was led by senior guide who also chose the track. At some point our guide just looks up and seems a bit lost. He turns to us and goes "I don't understand why he chose this track, nobody has been here for months" :) Oh goodie good :)
Another great moment arrived when we had just passed a tunnel and we see the next tunnel right in front of us, but between is a huge puddle of water. We see the track going on at the second tunnel, but the puddle is chest deep! Our guide was quite puzzled, he kept looking all over the place for an alternate route, finally we ended up finding one and just went around. But he figured that first group had passed it about 20 minutes ago and then the puddle was perhaps up to knees. Didn't realize that the rain is so heavy, saw many puddles later on as well, I guess they just fill up in no time.
The way up was about 2.5h. We did the whole trip a lot quicker than usual as we skipped many breaks (including our lunch break!), whenever we did take breaks they were very short as we were all wet and got cold quickly. Once we started our trip down I just looked at my feet and tried to remember what it felt like having toes :)
Way down was a lot quicker and it got warmer with every step. We were all just so indifferent, going through water up till half a leg nobody even bothered to lift the legs, just dragged ourselves through it. Once back at the tour center it was such a relief getting all those soaked things off :) Now everything was soaked. I was only dry from my hips to my chest I think - everything else was wet and cold. Now also all my documents got soaked. I wasn't smart enough and left the documents bag in the back bag - so all my documents were dripping wet once I took them out of the bag :( So if you know of a quick way how to dry off my passport quickly - please do let me know!
At first I was really bummed out that I did not get to do the ice-climbing, but at the end of the day I'm glad I got to go at all. It was absolutely awesome to be hiking on the glacier! Even besides the cold and rain - it was really something different and quite extreme!
Now I'm heading over to the local SPA - apparently this consists of some hot pools where water is from 36 to 40C - can't wait! 2 hours later my fingers are still not functioning quite well :)
Palju õnne sünnipäevaks kallis isa!
Oi-lii oi-laa oi-la-la-la-laaa,
me õnne sulle soovime ja rõõmsasti kõik laulame
oi-lii oi-laa oi-la-la-la-laa!
uiiiiii :)
Palju palju õnne sünnipäevaks kallis isa!
Tuhat kallistust ka kaasa!
me õnne sulle soovime ja rõõmsasti kõik laulame
oi-lii oi-laa oi-la-la-la-laa!
uiiiiii :)
Palju palju õnne sünnipäevaks kallis isa!
Tuhat kallistust ka kaasa!
The wonderful Hobbit land :) - 17.9
Day started early as usual. I'm dreaming of a day when I can sleep till 10! Did you just notice how I said 10 :) not 1pm ;) Yeah, even 10 would be like heaven at the moment. Anyhoo, I had to catch a shuttle to the train station at 7:15, train leaves at 8:15. TranzAlpine train ride from Christchurch to Greymouth was really nice. Views were breathtaking! Hobbit land truly is great.
There were few unplanned stops here and there, resulting the train to be 10 minutes late in arriving to Greymouth. This was exactly the 10 minutes I needed in order to grab a lunch. Oh well, who needs to eat anyways right ;) Headed over to the bus stop, the bus was late as well - but there was no way to predict the time of arrival so I just stayed put there.
Bus from Greymouth to Franz Josef was a little minivan. It took about 3h to reach the destination. I guess it kept going south towards Fox Glacier as well, so as we all got off the bus one guy was left. He was thinking of going to Fox Glacier but as he saw everybody getting off here he just got off as well. We both ended up at the same hostel as we were wondering around and looking for a place to stay.
Evening consisted of a glowworm walk and a movie :) German guy had borrowed a flashlight and we tracked the location of glowworm habitat down on a map. It was around 8:30 in the evening and it was pitch dark outside. We had to make our way into the woods - oh it was creepy :) First we did not see anything, we kept going deeper and deeper into the woods turning the light off once in a while to try to see the glowy things. Well it was probably just few hundred meters, but in the dark it feels like forever. Finally there they were - there were tens and tens of little bluish lights under the trees, it was so pretty. Looking up there were stars and looking down the glowworms seemed like stars on the ground :) It was really neat.
Watched a movie once back a the hostel and then to bed. Movie was called something "Money", "True Money" perhaps? Point was pretty good, but I've seen much much better movies.
There were few unplanned stops here and there, resulting the train to be 10 minutes late in arriving to Greymouth. This was exactly the 10 minutes I needed in order to grab a lunch. Oh well, who needs to eat anyways right ;) Headed over to the bus stop, the bus was late as well - but there was no way to predict the time of arrival so I just stayed put there.
Bus from Greymouth to Franz Josef was a little minivan. It took about 3h to reach the destination. I guess it kept going south towards Fox Glacier as well, so as we all got off the bus one guy was left. He was thinking of going to Fox Glacier but as he saw everybody getting off here he just got off as well. We both ended up at the same hostel as we were wondering around and looking for a place to stay.
Evening consisted of a glowworm walk and a movie :) German guy had borrowed a flashlight and we tracked the location of glowworm habitat down on a map. It was around 8:30 in the evening and it was pitch dark outside. We had to make our way into the woods - oh it was creepy :) First we did not see anything, we kept going deeper and deeper into the woods turning the light off once in a while to try to see the glowy things. Well it was probably just few hundred meters, but in the dark it feels like forever. Finally there they were - there were tens and tens of little bluish lights under the trees, it was so pretty. Looking up there were stars and looking down the glowworms seemed like stars on the ground :) It was really neat.
Watched a movie once back a the hostel and then to bed. Movie was called something "Money", "True Money" perhaps? Point was pretty good, but I've seen much much better movies.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tasmania (Hobart) -> New Zealand (Christchurch) - 16.9
Today went in the name of getting from point 'A' to point 'B'. 'A' being Hobart, Tasmania and 'B' being Christchurch New Zealand. Oh it has been a very very long day. Up since 4am :(, that means only 4 hours of sleep due to BINGO night ;)
So the result was that I slept through both of my flights nice and easy. Managed to keep my eyes open for the last 15 minutes of the second one and got a great view on New Zealand from up above - it is gorgeous! Hostel check-in went smoothly as always, got to the city nicely as well. The rest of the day went by trying to figure out what is the best and most optimal time usage here, what can I fit in and what I should do. The plan for the next 3 days is the following:
Tomorrow I'll be taking the ever so famous TranzAlpine train ride. This is one the greatest train rides in the world - it will be traversing the Southern Alps between Christchurch to Greymouth taking me from the Pacific Ocean to the Tasman Sea. By Arthur's Pass there will be 8.5km tunnel on the way :) Supposedly the views are magnificent! From Greymouth I'll catch a bus to Franz Josef and stay the night there.
The day after I will be hiking and ice-climbing on Franz Josef Glacier :) There will be total of 6 hours ice time :D That should be fun! Staying the night in Franz Josef again, there is one hostel with sauna in it, will try to get a room there.
On the third day I'll be catching a bus back to Christchurch. I guess that will be a boring day, but I gotta get back here somehow. Then I still almost 2 days to look around here, on the 21st I'm off to the northern island, to Auckland.
It is very very nice to travel during off season: there is no problem on getting a room in a hostel, tours are not crowded, prices are lower - it is perfect. Almost. The only problem is the air temperature. I'd really like it to be a bit warmer than it is, even 5 degrees would do :)
But now, I'll head downstairs. They are offering free shots even in the computer room - can't even imagine what is going on downstairs at the bar then :) Gotta go and check it out :D
Hugs to all of you! Take good care of each other!
So the result was that I slept through both of my flights nice and easy. Managed to keep my eyes open for the last 15 minutes of the second one and got a great view on New Zealand from up above - it is gorgeous! Hostel check-in went smoothly as always, got to the city nicely as well. The rest of the day went by trying to figure out what is the best and most optimal time usage here, what can I fit in and what I should do. The plan for the next 3 days is the following:
Tomorrow I'll be taking the ever so famous TranzAlpine train ride. This is one the greatest train rides in the world - it will be traversing the Southern Alps between Christchurch to Greymouth taking me from the Pacific Ocean to the Tasman Sea. By Arthur's Pass there will be 8.5km tunnel on the way :) Supposedly the views are magnificent! From Greymouth I'll catch a bus to Franz Josef and stay the night there.
The day after I will be hiking and ice-climbing on Franz Josef Glacier :) There will be total of 6 hours ice time :D That should be fun! Staying the night in Franz Josef again, there is one hostel with sauna in it, will try to get a room there.
On the third day I'll be catching a bus back to Christchurch. I guess that will be a boring day, but I gotta get back here somehow. Then I still almost 2 days to look around here, on the 21st I'm off to the northern island, to Auckland.
It is very very nice to travel during off season: there is no problem on getting a room in a hostel, tours are not crowded, prices are lower - it is perfect. Almost. The only problem is the air temperature. I'd really like it to be a bit warmer than it is, even 5 degrees would do :)
But now, I'll head downstairs. They are offering free shots even in the computer room - can't even imagine what is going on downstairs at the bar then :) Gotta go and check it out :D
Hugs to all of you! Take good care of each other!
Tasmania: Mt. Wellington & Mt. Field National Park - 15.9
Our day started bright and early again - pickup was at 7:55, by now I already knew most of the people on the bus as they were on past 2 tours as well.
First stop of the day was Mount Wellington, it is 1270 meters above sea level and provides very good views on Hobart and surrounding areas. Of course for this the weather needs to be clear, not misty and rainy as it was when we made it up there. There was also unbelievably strong wind up on the mountain, wind mixed with rain :) Apparently in the afternoon the weather will be even worse so we made it up there as the first thing.
For the next stop we headed over to Mt. Field National Park where we got to take many walks in the woods, by the waterfalls, on the Mt. Field and by a lake. On the walk by lake Dobson there was quite a bit of snow on the ground still, so small snow fight was held :)
In the afternoon we got to see local Tasmanian animals in a wildlife park. There were Wombats, Platypuses (those we did not get to see though), Wallabies, Koalas, Tasmanian Devils, owls and other local animals.
Today our tour finished kinda early, we were back in town already by 5pm. Stopped by the hostel and then headed over to 5AUD pizza with others who we have been on couple of tours together and stay in the same hostel as I do. After dinner I used the chance and uploaded some photos, I still can't believe how expensive Internet access is here :( We had agreed to meet at the hostel at 8 and head over to northern part of Hobart for BINGO night :) There is really nothing better to do in Hobart on Tuesday night than to play BINGO - like 80 year oldies :-P There are couple of us who have to take 4:34am shuttle to airport to catch a 6am flight to Melbourne. Couple of brave ones are going to stay up the whole night :D, and I'm not one of them - any sleep will do, even if it is only 4 hours.
BINGO ended up being lots of fun. There were 8 of us heading over there, walk through the cold rain was not the most enjoyable one, but once there we had tons of fun. One of us even won one game and got a pitcher of free beer :)
I really like taking local tours. For one, you always get more stops than just the destination. For an example on a day we went to Port Arthur, we took a little detour and stopped at a town named Doo. At one point one of the families in the town named their house Doo-Little :) It took no time for all the people to start naming their houses as well. We saw all kinds of fun stuff there like Doo-Me-Too or Wee-Doo :) There were many and really funny ones, but I can't remember them. Another positive side is that as the tour guides do this for living they are full of interesting facts and stories that you can't read in the books, and this is not for the destination only but also for the whole trip - things you see out of the window when driving. You would also get adequate answers for any questions you might have about local life. For third, you always meet other travelers when on tours. Mostly you are stuck in a small bus for some amount of time so talking to people sitting close to you usually happens within the first 10 minutes of the trip :) And most of the time you end up going to dinner or spending other free time with them during your stay. Meeting other travelers is a good opportunity to find out about your next destination or share your thoughts on your previous destination. For one, I got quite a bit of insight on Christchurch, where I'm heading next - what to do there, where to stay and where to eat :) Good times I must say!
First stop of the day was Mount Wellington, it is 1270 meters above sea level and provides very good views on Hobart and surrounding areas. Of course for this the weather needs to be clear, not misty and rainy as it was when we made it up there. There was also unbelievably strong wind up on the mountain, wind mixed with rain :) Apparently in the afternoon the weather will be even worse so we made it up there as the first thing.
For the next stop we headed over to Mt. Field National Park where we got to take many walks in the woods, by the waterfalls, on the Mt. Field and by a lake. On the walk by lake Dobson there was quite a bit of snow on the ground still, so small snow fight was held :)
In the afternoon we got to see local Tasmanian animals in a wildlife park. There were Wombats, Platypuses (those we did not get to see though), Wallabies, Koalas, Tasmanian Devils, owls and other local animals.
Today our tour finished kinda early, we were back in town already by 5pm. Stopped by the hostel and then headed over to 5AUD pizza with others who we have been on couple of tours together and stay in the same hostel as I do. After dinner I used the chance and uploaded some photos, I still can't believe how expensive Internet access is here :( We had agreed to meet at the hostel at 8 and head over to northern part of Hobart for BINGO night :) There is really nothing better to do in Hobart on Tuesday night than to play BINGO - like 80 year oldies :-P There are couple of us who have to take 4:34am shuttle to airport to catch a 6am flight to Melbourne. Couple of brave ones are going to stay up the whole night :D, and I'm not one of them - any sleep will do, even if it is only 4 hours.
BINGO ended up being lots of fun. There were 8 of us heading over there, walk through the cold rain was not the most enjoyable one, but once there we had tons of fun. One of us even won one game and got a pitcher of free beer :)
I really like taking local tours. For one, you always get more stops than just the destination. For an example on a day we went to Port Arthur, we took a little detour and stopped at a town named Doo. At one point one of the families in the town named their house Doo-Little :) It took no time for all the people to start naming their houses as well. We saw all kinds of fun stuff there like Doo-Me-Too or Wee-Doo :) There were many and really funny ones, but I can't remember them. Another positive side is that as the tour guides do this for living they are full of interesting facts and stories that you can't read in the books, and this is not for the destination only but also for the whole trip - things you see out of the window when driving. You would also get adequate answers for any questions you might have about local life. For third, you always meet other travelers when on tours. Mostly you are stuck in a small bus for some amount of time so talking to people sitting close to you usually happens within the first 10 minutes of the trip :) And most of the time you end up going to dinner or spending other free time with them during your stay. Meeting other travelers is a good opportunity to find out about your next destination or share your thoughts on your previous destination. For one, I got quite a bit of insight on Christchurch, where I'm heading next - what to do there, where to stay and where to eat :) Good times I must say!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Tasmania: Freycinet National Park - 14.9
Today's trip took me to the oh so famous Wineglass Bay and Freycinet National Park. We were picked up at 7:25 from the hostel, once I stepped in the bus I already saw familiar faces from yesterday :) So nice to recognize people and actually know their names in a strange country. Anyhoo, ride to the Freycinet National Park was about 3 hours including few stops on the way.
Freicinet National Park was declared in 1916 - one of the first two national parks in Tasmania (along with Mt. Field). Our first view point was looking over Wineglass Bay - one of the most beautiful beaches in the whole world (as selected by some famous publication). It was truly pretty, white sand, nicely curved bay and bright blue water. Next stop was at Honeymoon Bay, apparently this is one of the only places in Tasmania where you can watch the sunset over waterline (I did not quite get that, of how it could be possible, but that is what I think the guide said). Our lunch spot was at Sleepy Bay - beaaauuutiful place, rocky but just beautiful. Last stop took us to the viewing point by the lighthouse - very nice views from there as well. Once done with that it was time to head back. On our way we did stop at a wonderful berry farm for an ice cream - yumm yumm :)
The drive there and back was a bit much, but I was sitting up front by the tour guide so I managed to use my ability to ask a thousand questions about life in Tasmania and in Australia in general (pour tour guide :D, that was 3+3 hours). Well and so did he as he is going to tour Europe for 4-5 months next year and was wondering if he should stop in Estonia as well or not :) I think I managed to convince him that he definitely should.
Bit more facts: Tasman Sea is named after Dutchman Abel Tasman who was the first European explorer to chart this coastline in 1642, he also named the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed to Tasmania in his honor).
Now some facts about Hobart. The background story goes that yesterday I was trying to find a place to eat around 8pm - nothing was open in city center, nothing whatsoever, all was closed down. So on the street I ran into one family who we were at the tour with - they were trying to find a place to have dinner as well. And then we ran into my roommate from the hostel who was looking for the bottle shop (alcohol store). She gave us a hint that there is a good fast food place by the sea called Mures which should be open. We headed over there and whaddaya know, another couple from our 11 seat bus was there :) Apparently this is one of the only places open on a Sunday night :) Now the fact about the town is that there are barely no residential areas in town - it is all either hotels/hostels, shops or restaurants. All the locals live out of the city center so the center is usually quite deserted as soon as the shops close down.
A bit about my future plans as well. As I'm going to be in California and close to San Francisco I figured to check what Jenny (friend from college) is up to. I have not seen her for at least 6 years by now, some time ago she lived in San Fran so I figured to see whereabouts is she located now. Told her about my training for 2 days and my plan for a road trip south after my training. Got a reply that she is back in California and is trying to see if she can join me for the road trip :) I hadn't gotten any reply on my following e-mails with all my flight information and timetable for possible road trip, so an alarming e-mail went on the way. AND I got an answer today - turns out she had been traveling and hence was not able to reply. BUT! In her e-mail I see she has already taken Thursday and Friday off from work so we have a long weekend for our trip. Already before she mentioned that we can take her car. As San Jose is just 1h from her house she offered I'd stay at her place or her sister's place which is even closer to San Jose. In any case, she said, she'd meet me at the airport when I arrive :)
I was about to fall off from my chair from happiness :) I can't wait to see you Jenny!
So the day was full of looking at beautiful beaches and short walks to and from the locations. And evening brought some very good news as far as Californian activities go!
Freicinet National Park was declared in 1916 - one of the first two national parks in Tasmania (along with Mt. Field). Our first view point was looking over Wineglass Bay - one of the most beautiful beaches in the whole world (as selected by some famous publication). It was truly pretty, white sand, nicely curved bay and bright blue water. Next stop was at Honeymoon Bay, apparently this is one of the only places in Tasmania where you can watch the sunset over waterline (I did not quite get that, of how it could be possible, but that is what I think the guide said). Our lunch spot was at Sleepy Bay - beaaauuutiful place, rocky but just beautiful. Last stop took us to the viewing point by the lighthouse - very nice views from there as well. Once done with that it was time to head back. On our way we did stop at a wonderful berry farm for an ice cream - yumm yumm :)
The drive there and back was a bit much, but I was sitting up front by the tour guide so I managed to use my ability to ask a thousand questions about life in Tasmania and in Australia in general (pour tour guide :D, that was 3+3 hours). Well and so did he as he is going to tour Europe for 4-5 months next year and was wondering if he should stop in Estonia as well or not :) I think I managed to convince him that he definitely should.
Bit more facts: Tasman Sea is named after Dutchman Abel Tasman who was the first European explorer to chart this coastline in 1642, he also named the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed to Tasmania in his honor).
Now some facts about Hobart. The background story goes that yesterday I was trying to find a place to eat around 8pm - nothing was open in city center, nothing whatsoever, all was closed down. So on the street I ran into one family who we were at the tour with - they were trying to find a place to have dinner as well. And then we ran into my roommate from the hostel who was looking for the bottle shop (alcohol store). She gave us a hint that there is a good fast food place by the sea called Mures which should be open. We headed over there and whaddaya know, another couple from our 11 seat bus was there :) Apparently this is one of the only places open on a Sunday night :) Now the fact about the town is that there are barely no residential areas in town - it is all either hotels/hostels, shops or restaurants. All the locals live out of the city center so the center is usually quite deserted as soon as the shops close down.
A bit about my future plans as well. As I'm going to be in California and close to San Francisco I figured to check what Jenny (friend from college) is up to. I have not seen her for at least 6 years by now, some time ago she lived in San Fran so I figured to see whereabouts is she located now. Told her about my training for 2 days and my plan for a road trip south after my training. Got a reply that she is back in California and is trying to see if she can join me for the road trip :) I hadn't gotten any reply on my following e-mails with all my flight information and timetable for possible road trip, so an alarming e-mail went on the way. AND I got an answer today - turns out she had been traveling and hence was not able to reply. BUT! In her e-mail I see she has already taken Thursday and Friday off from work so we have a long weekend for our trip. Already before she mentioned that we can take her car. As San Jose is just 1h from her house she offered I'd stay at her place or her sister's place which is even closer to San Jose. In any case, she said, she'd meet me at the airport when I arrive :)
I was about to fall off from my chair from happiness :) I can't wait to see you Jenny!
So the day was full of looking at beautiful beaches and short walks to and from the locations. And evening brought some very good news as far as Californian activities go!
Tasmania: day at Port Arthur - 13.9
Today there are 500 000 people living in Tasmania, Hobart is about 200 000 in population.
First stop in the morning was to introduce a bridge that saved the locals from 1.5h drive to get to Hobart from neighbouring peninsula. A long story about ship bumping into the bridge, part of the bridge collapsing, accidents that this caused and how the ship lays on the bottom of the bay till this day followed.
So what I learned today is that most of the history here in Tasmania revolves around prisoners and everything here seems to be built by convicts (roads, houses, bridges etc.). Convicts from British Isles and its colonies had been transported all over the world between 1619 and 1875. First they were sent to West Indies and North America, after American Revolution other destinations had to be found. While most of those transported after 1787 ended up in Australia (Sydney), others were sent to Gibraltar and Bermuda.
Route to Sydney went between Australia and Tasmania, French had shown increasing interest for Tasmania and England saw a threat to their ships as soon as French would settle in Tasmania. So English dispatched two ships with 300 convicts, some soldiers and free settlers to make a settlement to prevent the French controlling the shipping lane to Sydney. Another ship was sent on the way from Sydney which established the first settlement at Risdon Cove in 1803. Risdon Cove being the 2nd oldest place in Australia. There were total of 70 000 prisoners sent to Australia and Tasmania from 1803 to 1853 and 99% of them would never return home. At the time Tasmania was seen as a one prison island - 70% of the population was prisoners.
Before Europeans arrived in Risdon Cove the locals had not seen foreign people for 12 000 years - this is known as the longest isolation in human history. Aborigines were isolated in Tasmania since it became an island and was separated from Victoria.
On the way to our next longer stop in Richmond there were more stories and pauses on the way. We saw the initial location, Risdon Cove, where Europeans landed and met local Aborigines in 1803. We heard about local prison, roads built by prisoners during old times, about famous convicts of the time and much more. Our guide was super! He was full of information and all sorts of facts. He seemed to know everything about different cultures, sports and TV shows :) When he heard I'm from Estonia he said immediately that the capital is Tallinn (he also mentioned Eurovision song contest and then mixed Estonians up with Latvians :) ). Most people just go blank when they hear a country named Estonia, few moments later they would go "and where is that?" :)
Bit more about Richmond - it used to be 3rd biggest town in Tasmania, as soon as abridge got built and traffic was not going through Richmond any longer it became a ghost town. There are one of the oldest buildings in Australia though, like the oldest existing Catholic Church in Australia, dating back to 1835.
On the way to Port Arthur - the most secured prison of the time - there were many stops, for an example the only sea canal in Australia, two passageways that led to Port Arthur and had to be crossed by escaping prisoners. So Port Arthur was absolutely the worst place where prisoners could ever end up at, only the worst convicts were sent there. Throughout the years there were many escape attempts, but only 2 groups (one 3 and other 7 people) are known to escape Port Arthur.
Once we arrived we had 3.5 hours to look around and take the ferry tour. Quite many of the buildings have been destroyed, but general overview was given which was quite enough. I was surprised how the prison worked - all convicts were trained up on different skills (woodwork, construction, shoe making etc.) and taught to read and write. This was all in order to prepare them for life after prison. But the stories about the amount and kind of work they had to do were horrifying of course.
After Port Arthur we drove by couple of scenic places on our way back. At the bus we learned about the life of Tasmanian Devils - those are native protected animals, they are about the size of a cat and live all around the island. As with many species they are decreasing in population and hence are protected.
This was a long long day, lots of walking and just exhausting. Me going to bed now :)
First stop in the morning was to introduce a bridge that saved the locals from 1.5h drive to get to Hobart from neighbouring peninsula. A long story about ship bumping into the bridge, part of the bridge collapsing, accidents that this caused and how the ship lays on the bottom of the bay till this day followed.
So what I learned today is that most of the history here in Tasmania revolves around prisoners and everything here seems to be built by convicts (roads, houses, bridges etc.). Convicts from British Isles and its colonies had been transported all over the world between 1619 and 1875. First they were sent to West Indies and North America, after American Revolution other destinations had to be found. While most of those transported after 1787 ended up in Australia (Sydney), others were sent to Gibraltar and Bermuda.
Route to Sydney went between Australia and Tasmania, French had shown increasing interest for Tasmania and England saw a threat to their ships as soon as French would settle in Tasmania. So English dispatched two ships with 300 convicts, some soldiers and free settlers to make a settlement to prevent the French controlling the shipping lane to Sydney. Another ship was sent on the way from Sydney which established the first settlement at Risdon Cove in 1803. Risdon Cove being the 2nd oldest place in Australia. There were total of 70 000 prisoners sent to Australia and Tasmania from 1803 to 1853 and 99% of them would never return home. At the time Tasmania was seen as a one prison island - 70% of the population was prisoners.
Before Europeans arrived in Risdon Cove the locals had not seen foreign people for 12 000 years - this is known as the longest isolation in human history. Aborigines were isolated in Tasmania since it became an island and was separated from Victoria.
On the way to our next longer stop in Richmond there were more stories and pauses on the way. We saw the initial location, Risdon Cove, where Europeans landed and met local Aborigines in 1803. We heard about local prison, roads built by prisoners during old times, about famous convicts of the time and much more. Our guide was super! He was full of information and all sorts of facts. He seemed to know everything about different cultures, sports and TV shows :) When he heard I'm from Estonia he said immediately that the capital is Tallinn (he also mentioned Eurovision song contest and then mixed Estonians up with Latvians :) ). Most people just go blank when they hear a country named Estonia, few moments later they would go "and where is that?" :)
Bit more about Richmond - it used to be 3rd biggest town in Tasmania, as soon as abridge got built and traffic was not going through Richmond any longer it became a ghost town. There are one of the oldest buildings in Australia though, like the oldest existing Catholic Church in Australia, dating back to 1835.
On the way to Port Arthur - the most secured prison of the time - there were many stops, for an example the only sea canal in Australia, two passageways that led to Port Arthur and had to be crossed by escaping prisoners. So Port Arthur was absolutely the worst place where prisoners could ever end up at, only the worst convicts were sent there. Throughout the years there were many escape attempts, but only 2 groups (one 3 and other 7 people) are known to escape Port Arthur.
Once we arrived we had 3.5 hours to look around and take the ferry tour. Quite many of the buildings have been destroyed, but general overview was given which was quite enough. I was surprised how the prison worked - all convicts were trained up on different skills (woodwork, construction, shoe making etc.) and taught to read and write. This was all in order to prepare them for life after prison. But the stories about the amount and kind of work they had to do were horrifying of course.
After Port Arthur we drove by couple of scenic places on our way back. At the bus we learned about the life of Tasmanian Devils - those are native protected animals, they are about the size of a cat and live all around the island. As with many species they are decreasing in population and hence are protected.
This was a long long day, lots of walking and just exhausting. Me going to bed now :)
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Sydney -> Tasmania - 12.9
Oe it was soo difficult to drag myself out of bed once the alarm went off. I got to "sleep in" till 8:30 :) No more waking up by myself at 7am, apparently. Packed my things and sat behind the computer for an hour or so, did the checkout around 10. It is so strange that checkout time for hotels and hostels is so early around here, very rarely they extend it for an hour, which is not whole lotta help :)
Then followed scheduled breakfast and last walk in town. As usual when somebody leaves there are sad sad goodbyes :( It is truly sad to leave yet another city and a friend behind once more. There are only that many goodbyes I can handle in such a short period of time - waaaa.
Airport shuttle was scheduled to picked me up at 12:30 from the hostel so I would make my flight at 14:15 to Tasmania. Now I get to the airport, I do the checkin and head over to the security check. Over here they ask you to take all metal objects out of the bag and set them on a tray - so for me this means my macbook and a camera. I open my bag and take out the laptop, next should be my camera, well, it's not in the bag! At the hostel I had kept all my stuff between two beds and it seems that I did not check the area carefully enough when checking out :( I had left my camera to the hostel :( I run over to the phone, having a bit over an hour till my plane takes off.
Meanwhile I almost lost my passport (when running from the security area to the phones), luckily one lady found it and walked around with it trying to match somebodys face to the photo :) Managed to find me quite easily as the terminal was almost empty. Anyways I call to the hostel and tell them my sad story. They could not figure out any way to get the camera to me at the terminal. One option would be to ship it for me to Tasmania, but I'm not sure how that would work. So basically the only thing I can think of is to grab a taxi and hope that the return trip can be made within 45 minutes - in Sydney that is :) I ruuuun to the closest taxi driver and tell my sad story. 40AUD (370 EEK) and 35 minutes later I'm back at the terminal with my camera :) I like happy endings :D
Flight to Hobart, Tasmania, takes 1.5 hours. Getting out of the plane we had to walk outside to get back into the terminal - it is sooo cold here :( Well, Australian winter again with it's 18C, but I tell you, it feels like 12C around here. Airport is about 10 minute drive from the city, I get dropped of real close to my hostel. Checkin goes smoothly as always and then I head to discover the town. As it is so cold here I wear all the warm clothes I have with me and it is barely enough :) In the evening it is probably close to 10C or something. Now I just have to say that this place seems totally deserted. I have read some comments about it being slow around here during winter time - yeah, so it is.
Then followed scheduled breakfast and last walk in town. As usual when somebody leaves there are sad sad goodbyes :( It is truly sad to leave yet another city and a friend behind once more. There are only that many goodbyes I can handle in such a short period of time - waaaa.
Airport shuttle was scheduled to picked me up at 12:30 from the hostel so I would make my flight at 14:15 to Tasmania. Now I get to the airport, I do the checkin and head over to the security check. Over here they ask you to take all metal objects out of the bag and set them on a tray - so for me this means my macbook and a camera. I open my bag and take out the laptop, next should be my camera, well, it's not in the bag! At the hostel I had kept all my stuff between two beds and it seems that I did not check the area carefully enough when checking out :( I had left my camera to the hostel :( I run over to the phone, having a bit over an hour till my plane takes off.
Meanwhile I almost lost my passport (when running from the security area to the phones), luckily one lady found it and walked around with it trying to match somebodys face to the photo :) Managed to find me quite easily as the terminal was almost empty. Anyways I call to the hostel and tell them my sad story. They could not figure out any way to get the camera to me at the terminal. One option would be to ship it for me to Tasmania, but I'm not sure how that would work. So basically the only thing I can think of is to grab a taxi and hope that the return trip can be made within 45 minutes - in Sydney that is :) I ruuuun to the closest taxi driver and tell my sad story. 40AUD (370 EEK) and 35 minutes later I'm back at the terminal with my camera :) I like happy endings :D
Flight to Hobart, Tasmania, takes 1.5 hours. Getting out of the plane we had to walk outside to get back into the terminal - it is sooo cold here :( Well, Australian winter again with it's 18C, but I tell you, it feels like 12C around here. Airport is about 10 minute drive from the city, I get dropped of real close to my hostel. Checkin goes smoothly as always and then I head to discover the town. As it is so cold here I wear all the warm clothes I have with me and it is barely enough :) In the evening it is probably close to 10C or something. Now I just have to say that this place seems totally deserted. I have read some comments about it being slow around here during winter time - yeah, so it is.
Blue Mountain National Park - 11.9
Pickup was at 7:25 and to gather all the people from the city seemed to take forever. Only good thing was that I got to see different parts of the city while the bus was circling the streets. Throughout the whole time our bus driver/tour guide was babbling about all kinds of facts and telling stories, laughing at his own jokes with rehearsed laugh. At first it drew me insane, by the end of the day I seemed to get used to it and actually even enjoyed some of the stories (if I was able to follow the whole story from start to end that is). One fact that I remember was that there are 4 million people living in Sydney and there are 180 nationalities represented (don't quote me on this as I have no idea where our tour guide got this information).
We made few stops on our way to the Blue Mountain National Park, it was about 1h ride to the park and we were going to make few stops at different locations. First view point was at 875m above sea level and the view was gorgeous of course. Got to take tons of photos :)
The story with Blue Mountains is the following: mountain range is mostly covered with eucalyptus trees full of essence oil, once the sun heats the area the fumes that evaporate from the trees seem blue in daylight. Simple as that.
Second stop in the park was to view a waterfall which is taller than Niagara as our tour guide knew to mention. Then followed lunch in a nice small crafty town called Leura. It reminded me of Ely in Minnesota - main street with small crafts stores, galleries, cafeterias and restaurants on both sides of the road. Oh and the hot chocolate there! Ooooh, that was a good one!
And now the real fun started! We were to take the scenic ride in the Blue Mountain National Park which consisted of:
- cable way that took us down the side of a mountain which was very very steep :)
- a wonderful walk in the rainforest down below
- railway back up on a 52% angle :D Apparently this is the steepest railway in the world
Railway ride was pretty scary actually :) Scariest part was towards the end when it made quite a big jerk. Once we got off the thing our tour guide said that they have had trouble with the railroad all day, apparently it was going only half the speed as usually and the jerk at the end was very much unexpected. But we all made it - phew :)
Before heading to the ferry there was also a park stop to try to find kangaroos in the wild. I have to admit it was semi-wild as it was still quite organized area with camp sites and parking lots. Surprisingly enough there was one kangaroo munching away on the grass right by the stream. It did not seem to be disturbed by the crowd at all and just kept munching away.
Last attraction (well almost ;) ) was to take a ferry back to central Sydney. Ferry was very similar to the CityCat in Brisbane, it did drive quite a bit faster though :) Ferry ride was 30 minutes and very much enjoyable. Arrival to Circle Quai was fabulous.
Made my way back to the hostel, took advantage of a 3AUD for 24h internet for about an hour and later met up with Aivar. Evening was a long one :) Had Domino's (yummm!), sat by the Opera House, walked all the way up to and over the so called "coat hanger bridge" right next to Sydney Opera House (Sydney Harbour Bridge is its official name I believe) - view was absolutely marvellous! Also checked out so nicely lit Luna Park on the other side of the bridge. It was a wonderful evening in lit up city with good company. Back at the hostel by 2:30 :)
We made few stops on our way to the Blue Mountain National Park, it was about 1h ride to the park and we were going to make few stops at different locations. First view point was at 875m above sea level and the view was gorgeous of course. Got to take tons of photos :)
The story with Blue Mountains is the following: mountain range is mostly covered with eucalyptus trees full of essence oil, once the sun heats the area the fumes that evaporate from the trees seem blue in daylight. Simple as that.
Second stop in the park was to view a waterfall which is taller than Niagara as our tour guide knew to mention. Then followed lunch in a nice small crafty town called Leura. It reminded me of Ely in Minnesota - main street with small crafts stores, galleries, cafeterias and restaurants on both sides of the road. Oh and the hot chocolate there! Ooooh, that was a good one!
And now the real fun started! We were to take the scenic ride in the Blue Mountain National Park which consisted of:
- cable way that took us down the side of a mountain which was very very steep :)
- a wonderful walk in the rainforest down below
- railway back up on a 52% angle :D Apparently this is the steepest railway in the world
Railway ride was pretty scary actually :) Scariest part was towards the end when it made quite a big jerk. Once we got off the thing our tour guide said that they have had trouble with the railroad all day, apparently it was going only half the speed as usually and the jerk at the end was very much unexpected. But we all made it - phew :)
Before heading to the ferry there was also a park stop to try to find kangaroos in the wild. I have to admit it was semi-wild as it was still quite organized area with camp sites and parking lots. Surprisingly enough there was one kangaroo munching away on the grass right by the stream. It did not seem to be disturbed by the crowd at all and just kept munching away.
Last attraction (well almost ;) ) was to take a ferry back to central Sydney. Ferry was very similar to the CityCat in Brisbane, it did drive quite a bit faster though :) Ferry ride was 30 minutes and very much enjoyable. Arrival to Circle Quai was fabulous.
Made my way back to the hostel, took advantage of a 3AUD for 24h internet for about an hour and later met up with Aivar. Evening was a long one :) Had Domino's (yummm!), sat by the Opera House, walked all the way up to and over the so called "coat hanger bridge" right next to Sydney Opera House (Sydney Harbour Bridge is its official name I believe) - view was absolutely marvellous! Also checked out so nicely lit Luna Park on the other side of the bridge. It was a wonderful evening in lit up city with good company. Back at the hostel by 2:30 :)
Long day in Sydney - 10.9
Alarm went off 5:05 in the morning, threw last things into the bag, checked out and met Ave downstairs at 5:30. Plane took off at 7 and landed in Sydney 8:30, I was all checked in at the hostel next to Alfred's Park by 9:30.
When I peeked in through the door of my hostel room one of my roommates just woke up and had a conversation with me without opening her eyes thinking I'm the other roommate :) She was a bit confused :) Anyways, from her I learned that there are 4 Estonian guys staying here as well. Met Vahur, Taavi, Oliver and Henri shortly when sitting in the quad, using 24h free wireless. Recognized one of them by the accent immediately :) 4 guys from Tartu who are here thanks to the economical downtime - good for them, they got a whole year to look around.
Online time is getting really precious here as it is difficult to find good internet and it is even more difficult to find the time :) After about an hour of cruising around in the wonderful world wide web I headed for a long walk towards city center just as David suggested - get on your walking shoes and go to explore the city he said. That I did.
Oh I just have to mention that it is kinda chilly here :( The more south I go the worse it gets :( I don't wanna know what is the temperature in Tasmania :(( In Sydney I need to wear long pants during the day and warm sweater during the night. I'm not liking that :( I wanna have the beach weather back!!! Darn this winter with it's 20 degrees in the shade! ;)
Back to the topic of exploring the city, here is what I saw during my 6 hour walk in this wonderful place:
First Alfred's Park, Hyde park and St.Marys Cathedral were on my way from the hostel to the city center.
Then got to Royal Botanic Gardens. WOW! I just mean WOW! Again, they have botanic gardens in the city center for easy access and for all to enjoy freely. I probably spent around 3 hours just walking along in there - it is gorgeous! And it is friendly. For an example, at the entrance they have big signs saying: "We want you to walk on the grass, have a picnic, smell the roses and hug some trees" :) How nice is that? There is also a rainforest walk there, made so that people would take couple of minutes to experience the rainforest and to forget about city life. It was all just so gorgeous.
At the Botanic Gardens park there were tons of runners, they were everywhere. Figured to ask from the locals if it is always like this or is it some special occasion today. I was told it is so every single day - people from close by offices come for a run during their lunch break, then go shower and back to the office :) How nice :)
With everybody running around I got worn out :-P and took a nap in the sun by the fountains. Ooh, there was also the coolest outside swimming pool at the Wooloomooloo (hii hii) Bay. Whadda name :D
At the end of the walk I made my way to the oh-so-famous Sydney Opera House. I gotta say wowee. It is gorgeous! It is visible from quite many different places in the city - and rightly so as it is seriously fantastic. After that spectacular view there came food stop by Circular Quay, watched a street performer ride the tallest unicycle ever and listened to local Digideroo music :)
Next my tour took me to Campbells Cove under Sydney Harbour Bridge, through warfs on Walsh Bay, to the top of Observatory hill and towards Cockle Bay. Stopped at King Street Wharf for a glass of cider and wondered how on earth am I gonna be able to keep walking :) I have been up since 5am, walked for good 6 hours almost in a row while covering most of Sydney - I'm tired.
Oh another thing I wanted to mention - they all talk like Schmike here :) Cheers mate!
Evening continued in the company of Aivar, friend of a friend who happened to be in town. Long talks about the world an beyond + getting lost in Sydney = me very tired and needs some sleep uuurgently!
side note: I'm doing my best to catch up on travel stories - stay tuned!
When I peeked in through the door of my hostel room one of my roommates just woke up and had a conversation with me without opening her eyes thinking I'm the other roommate :) She was a bit confused :) Anyways, from her I learned that there are 4 Estonian guys staying here as well. Met Vahur, Taavi, Oliver and Henri shortly when sitting in the quad, using 24h free wireless. Recognized one of them by the accent immediately :) 4 guys from Tartu who are here thanks to the economical downtime - good for them, they got a whole year to look around.
Online time is getting really precious here as it is difficult to find good internet and it is even more difficult to find the time :) After about an hour of cruising around in the wonderful world wide web I headed for a long walk towards city center just as David suggested - get on your walking shoes and go to explore the city he said. That I did.
Oh I just have to mention that it is kinda chilly here :( The more south I go the worse it gets :( I don't wanna know what is the temperature in Tasmania :(( In Sydney I need to wear long pants during the day and warm sweater during the night. I'm not liking that :( I wanna have the beach weather back!!! Darn this winter with it's 20 degrees in the shade! ;)
Back to the topic of exploring the city, here is what I saw during my 6 hour walk in this wonderful place:
First Alfred's Park, Hyde park and St.Marys Cathedral were on my way from the hostel to the city center.
Then got to Royal Botanic Gardens. WOW! I just mean WOW! Again, they have botanic gardens in the city center for easy access and for all to enjoy freely. I probably spent around 3 hours just walking along in there - it is gorgeous! And it is friendly. For an example, at the entrance they have big signs saying: "We want you to walk on the grass, have a picnic, smell the roses and hug some trees" :) How nice is that? There is also a rainforest walk there, made so that people would take couple of minutes to experience the rainforest and to forget about city life. It was all just so gorgeous.
At the Botanic Gardens park there were tons of runners, they were everywhere. Figured to ask from the locals if it is always like this or is it some special occasion today. I was told it is so every single day - people from close by offices come for a run during their lunch break, then go shower and back to the office :) How nice :)
With everybody running around I got worn out :-P and took a nap in the sun by the fountains. Ooh, there was also the coolest outside swimming pool at the Wooloomooloo (hii hii) Bay. Whadda name :D
At the end of the walk I made my way to the oh-so-famous Sydney Opera House. I gotta say wowee. It is gorgeous! It is visible from quite many different places in the city - and rightly so as it is seriously fantastic. After that spectacular view there came food stop by Circular Quay, watched a street performer ride the tallest unicycle ever and listened to local Digideroo music :)
Next my tour took me to Campbells Cove under Sydney Harbour Bridge, through warfs on Walsh Bay, to the top of Observatory hill and towards Cockle Bay. Stopped at King Street Wharf for a glass of cider and wondered how on earth am I gonna be able to keep walking :) I have been up since 5am, walked for good 6 hours almost in a row while covering most of Sydney - I'm tired.
Oh another thing I wanted to mention - they all talk like Schmike here :) Cheers mate!
Evening continued in the company of Aivar, friend of a friend who happened to be in town. Long talks about the world an beyond + getting lost in Sydney = me very tired and needs some sleep uuurgently!
side note: I'm doing my best to catch up on travel stories - stay tuned!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Brisbane: Moreton Island - 9.9.9 :)
Whatta date huh :) ?
So today I had a trip to Moreton Island. It is the 3rd biggest sand island in the whole wide world and known universe :D Island itself is about 35km long and 10km wide if I remember correctly. On the island you are allowed to drive only four wheel drive vehicles as you either drive on a sand road or directly on the beach.
Our tour guide for the day was Logan - born in New Zealand and now lives in Brisbane. He was a bit crazy driver which made the whole thing even more fun ;).
Our agenda was to do some sandboarding on the sand dunes and go snorkeling by ship wrecks. I had done sandboarding once before in Peru, but this was entirely different story. In Peru I was going down on a board in loose sand whereas here the sand was hard and oh the speed one acquired :) We were going down either on our stomachs or sitting on the board single/double. I tried the belly down thing twice and sitting double on the board once :) It was great fun! And yea, we were all covered in sand from head to toe immediately. Logan worked hard on giving us as much speed during takeoff as possible :D
Gladly the next thing in the agenda was soaking in the ocean :) Now to talk about soaking, I put on a wetsuit and a life jacket (tour requirements) and even that did not help with the cold. Water was probably around 18C - it was freezing. All I wanted to do was swim as fast as possible to get warm, that was not possible as I had this floating device (life jacket) tied around my body and to see the fish down below one needs to stand still. Oh I was shaking all over my body and managed somehow to get through the thing. Floating (not to say swimming) by the wrecks was pretty awesome, although nothing beats Great Barrier Reef, probably ever. After snorkeling there was lunch time and back in the car we went.
As the roads were very good on the day thanks to the rain few days back (rain evened out all the bumps) we were able to drive faster than usual (faster and with less injuries from knocking our heads in the roof, considering how our guide was driving, don't get me wrong it was awesome to race in the sand of course, but I could not imagine being in the car if roads would have been "normal"). So we managed to even make few extra stops - one to the lighthouse and then to the northern point beach as well. To get to the lighthouse we drove on the beach, not on the loose sand, but between the waterline and the loose sand - most of the time the beach was deserted and we got the whole huge beach to ourselves :) And those beaches here are huge!
The lighthouse was built on the northern tip of the island - view from there was absolutely wonderful. Beaches seem to go on forever with bright blue water and huge foaming waves hitting the sand. On the sea we saw dolphins! Apparently it is also the whale season so should have been possible to spot the waves as well - didn't see any though. Dolphins on the other hand were all over the place :)
After lighthouse we raced back around the northern point so that we would not miss the ferry - we made it of course :) Although we got to hear some stories of almost missing the ferry due to getting stuck in sand on the last minute :)
Got back to Brisbane around 6 and we had planned to get together with Ave for dinner as it is my last night here. Dinner was wonderful and cocktails were good :) We took the time to talk and talk and talk. I enjoyed this evening tremendously and was very sad once I realized it might be a while till I see Ave again :(
Ave will pick me up at 5:30am tomorrow morning and take me to the airport. My flight to Sydney is at 7am. This will be a very short night :)
So today I had a trip to Moreton Island. It is the 3rd biggest sand island in the whole wide world and known universe :D Island itself is about 35km long and 10km wide if I remember correctly. On the island you are allowed to drive only four wheel drive vehicles as you either drive on a sand road or directly on the beach.
Our tour guide for the day was Logan - born in New Zealand and now lives in Brisbane. He was a bit crazy driver which made the whole thing even more fun ;).
Our agenda was to do some sandboarding on the sand dunes and go snorkeling by ship wrecks. I had done sandboarding once before in Peru, but this was entirely different story. In Peru I was going down on a board in loose sand whereas here the sand was hard and oh the speed one acquired :) We were going down either on our stomachs or sitting on the board single/double. I tried the belly down thing twice and sitting double on the board once :) It was great fun! And yea, we were all covered in sand from head to toe immediately. Logan worked hard on giving us as much speed during takeoff as possible :D
Gladly the next thing in the agenda was soaking in the ocean :) Now to talk about soaking, I put on a wetsuit and a life jacket (tour requirements) and even that did not help with the cold. Water was probably around 18C - it was freezing. All I wanted to do was swim as fast as possible to get warm, that was not possible as I had this floating device (life jacket) tied around my body and to see the fish down below one needs to stand still. Oh I was shaking all over my body and managed somehow to get through the thing. Floating (not to say swimming) by the wrecks was pretty awesome, although nothing beats Great Barrier Reef, probably ever. After snorkeling there was lunch time and back in the car we went.
As the roads were very good on the day thanks to the rain few days back (rain evened out all the bumps) we were able to drive faster than usual (faster and with less injuries from knocking our heads in the roof, considering how our guide was driving, don't get me wrong it was awesome to race in the sand of course, but I could not imagine being in the car if roads would have been "normal"). So we managed to even make few extra stops - one to the lighthouse and then to the northern point beach as well. To get to the lighthouse we drove on the beach, not on the loose sand, but between the waterline and the loose sand - most of the time the beach was deserted and we got the whole huge beach to ourselves :) And those beaches here are huge!
The lighthouse was built on the northern tip of the island - view from there was absolutely wonderful. Beaches seem to go on forever with bright blue water and huge foaming waves hitting the sand. On the sea we saw dolphins! Apparently it is also the whale season so should have been possible to spot the waves as well - didn't see any though. Dolphins on the other hand were all over the place :)
After lighthouse we raced back around the northern point so that we would not miss the ferry - we made it of course :) Although we got to hear some stories of almost missing the ferry due to getting stuck in sand on the last minute :)
Got back to Brisbane around 6 and we had planned to get together with Ave for dinner as it is my last night here. Dinner was wonderful and cocktails were good :) We took the time to talk and talk and talk. I enjoyed this evening tremendously and was very sad once I realized it might be a while till I see Ave again :(
Ave will pick me up at 5:30am tomorrow morning and take me to the airport. My flight to Sydney is at 7am. This will be a very short night :)
Brisbane: Lone Pine Koala Santuary - 8.09
For some odd reason I have woken up every morning close to 7 and I'm wide awake. This morning was no different. As we are meeting up with Ave at 9:30 I had way too much time to kill :) So I decided to have a long and good lunch at the center of the town - 1h breakfast plus people watching :) Nice to look at all those people rushing around all around, running to offices :-P and I get to just sit there and not think about work :D Finally walked over to the south bay area, met up with Ave and we headed to the boat that took us over to Lone Pine Koala Santuary.
It took about 1h by boat to get to the santuary. Boat ride was very nice. Along the way we were given way too much information about the river and every single house on it ;) Some facts that I remember:
- it is 19km from the city to the santuary that we will travel
- boat is called MV Mirimar and is the oldest boat of it's kind that is still in service
- Mirimar was built for this purpose and has been servicing on taking people to Lone Pine Koala Santuary for decades, there used to be no other way of getting there due to poor infrastructure
- now this is rather interesting one: river of Brisbane changes direction 4 times a day due to tides :)
Once at the santuary we had a bit more than 2 hours to look around. Santuary itself was not very big, but it had all the animals we wanted to see - the native ones. We got to see possums, LOTS of koalas, we got to hold a koala :), we got to pet a kangaroo (or perhaps it was wallaby, no idea :) ), we got to see a wombat, I got to see all kinds of venomous snakes, there were lizards and whole bunch of different kind of birds. All in all it was wonderful. I learned quite a bit about koalas while there. For an example that there is only one kind of koala breed in Australia, they are just different color depending on the region. In Australia one can find 800 different types of Eucalyptus trees, but koalas feed off of only 50 types.
Our way back was again by the boat. Once back we attempted a bit of shopping again, but somehow we never got on the mood for that. Gathered my computer and other things from the hostel and headed over to David's house for a dinner with his parents and Ave. It was a very nice evening, they are great people and it is so nice to talk to locals - to ask questions and get their perspective on the culture, this is my favourite part when traveling.
Today was a very good day!
It took about 1h by boat to get to the santuary. Boat ride was very nice. Along the way we were given way too much information about the river and every single house on it ;) Some facts that I remember:
- it is 19km from the city to the santuary that we will travel
- boat is called MV Mirimar and is the oldest boat of it's kind that is still in service
- Mirimar was built for this purpose and has been servicing on taking people to Lone Pine Koala Santuary for decades, there used to be no other way of getting there due to poor infrastructure
- now this is rather interesting one: river of Brisbane changes direction 4 times a day due to tides :)
Once at the santuary we had a bit more than 2 hours to look around. Santuary itself was not very big, but it had all the animals we wanted to see - the native ones. We got to see possums, LOTS of koalas, we got to hold a koala :), we got to pet a kangaroo (or perhaps it was wallaby, no idea :) ), we got to see a wombat, I got to see all kinds of venomous snakes, there were lizards and whole bunch of different kind of birds. All in all it was wonderful. I learned quite a bit about koalas while there. For an example that there is only one kind of koala breed in Australia, they are just different color depending on the region. In Australia one can find 800 different types of Eucalyptus trees, but koalas feed off of only 50 types.
Our way back was again by the boat. Once back we attempted a bit of shopping again, but somehow we never got on the mood for that. Gathered my computer and other things from the hostel and headed over to David's house for a dinner with his parents and Ave. It was a very nice evening, they are great people and it is so nice to talk to locals - to ask questions and get their perspective on the culture, this is my favourite part when traveling.
Today was a very good day!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
discovering Brisbane - 7.09
Started off from Noosa on Monday morning around 10am, made it to Brisbane in a bit more than 2 hours. I was dropped off by my hostel, meanwhile Ave went back home, so I had close to 4 hours on my own. What to do what to do :) Decided to explore the city a bit.
From my hostel they gladly gave me the map of the city and already drew some lines on it where I could go for my exploration trip - so I followed the lines on the map :)
First stop was Botanic Gardens. What amazes me is that they have set botanic gardens up in the city center in one of the local parks - how nice is that? The same was in Hong Kong. This is perfect setup as it is easily accessible by everybody. Another amazing thing was that I saw tens and tens of people using the grass areas in the park for structured workout grounds. When I say structured I mean they were doing all kinds of exercises there - using cones for marking down different workout stations, doing jumps over the cones, doing squats with weights and on and on the list goes. Plus there were many many runners and step-walkers.
After Botanic Gardens the line on the map took me to the South Bank of Brisbane river. Park runs all the way alongside the river with beautiful recreation areas, gardens and a beach :) Yes, there is sort of an artificial beach built by the river - kinda nice, it is small, seemed clean and well organized with all the little fountains and passage ways. As Ave told me this is total tourist attraction and locals don't ever go there. A big sightseeing wheel is also located by the river. South Bank park ends with arts centers and state library. Never made it to the art galleries and exhibitions unfortunately, perhaps in Sydney I'll have time for that.
Our plan for the evening was to shop a bit, have a snack and head over to the movies. Met up with Ave by Queen Street Mall and started our shopping tour, but whaddaya know, most of the shops were closed by 6pm :( Ended up having a nice dinner in the middle of the pedestrian walk and cake at a local cafe shop.
By the time we arrived at the cafe shop it was dark outside already. We made ourselves feel like at home by the corner of the shop where there was a glass wall facing to the river (river was still one block away, but we were facing towards the river). As we were chatting away and killing time I kept noticing how the whole sky lit up from time to time. At first we did not pay whole lot of attention but the lightning grew bigger and bigger with every minute. About 30 minutes later everything grew really quiet outside, like the air was standing still. I guess most of you can already guess what came next :) Very extremely strong wind followed by harsh rain. Our seats were perfect for observing the storm, the only worry we had was how are we going to get to the movies if it is raining like mad outside. Anyways, at the time the rain arrived we were keeping our fingers crossed that those huge glass walls are strong enough as what was going on outside was absolutely crazy. People seemed to fly around outside due to the strong winds and horizontally pouring rain. It was a disaster outside, rain came in waves and people tried to run to shelters as fast as possible, whoever was left outside was soaked within seconds. We kept enjoying the view and counting down minutes to head out and be prepared to get soaked as well. about 1h later when we had to head out the rain was gone :D
Move we went to see was called "Young Victoria", sweet movie. We were both expecting whole lot more drama and tears, but that never happened.
From my hostel they gladly gave me the map of the city and already drew some lines on it where I could go for my exploration trip - so I followed the lines on the map :)
First stop was Botanic Gardens. What amazes me is that they have set botanic gardens up in the city center in one of the local parks - how nice is that? The same was in Hong Kong. This is perfect setup as it is easily accessible by everybody. Another amazing thing was that I saw tens and tens of people using the grass areas in the park for structured workout grounds. When I say structured I mean they were doing all kinds of exercises there - using cones for marking down different workout stations, doing jumps over the cones, doing squats with weights and on and on the list goes. Plus there were many many runners and step-walkers.
After Botanic Gardens the line on the map took me to the South Bank of Brisbane river. Park runs all the way alongside the river with beautiful recreation areas, gardens and a beach :) Yes, there is sort of an artificial beach built by the river - kinda nice, it is small, seemed clean and well organized with all the little fountains and passage ways. As Ave told me this is total tourist attraction and locals don't ever go there. A big sightseeing wheel is also located by the river. South Bank park ends with arts centers and state library. Never made it to the art galleries and exhibitions unfortunately, perhaps in Sydney I'll have time for that.
Our plan for the evening was to shop a bit, have a snack and head over to the movies. Met up with Ave by Queen Street Mall and started our shopping tour, but whaddaya know, most of the shops were closed by 6pm :( Ended up having a nice dinner in the middle of the pedestrian walk and cake at a local cafe shop.
By the time we arrived at the cafe shop it was dark outside already. We made ourselves feel like at home by the corner of the shop where there was a glass wall facing to the river (river was still one block away, but we were facing towards the river). As we were chatting away and killing time I kept noticing how the whole sky lit up from time to time. At first we did not pay whole lot of attention but the lightning grew bigger and bigger with every minute. About 30 minutes later everything grew really quiet outside, like the air was standing still. I guess most of you can already guess what came next :) Very extremely strong wind followed by harsh rain. Our seats were perfect for observing the storm, the only worry we had was how are we going to get to the movies if it is raining like mad outside. Anyways, at the time the rain arrived we were keeping our fingers crossed that those huge glass walls are strong enough as what was going on outside was absolutely crazy. People seemed to fly around outside due to the strong winds and horizontally pouring rain. It was a disaster outside, rain came in waves and people tried to run to shelters as fast as possible, whoever was left outside was soaked within seconds. We kept enjoying the view and counting down minutes to head out and be prepared to get soaked as well. about 1h later when we had to head out the rain was gone :D
Move we went to see was called "Young Victoria", sweet movie. We were both expecting whole lot more drama and tears, but that never happened.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Weekend at Noosa
Noosa is this wonderful area about 2h drive north from Brisbane. David and Ave took me there for a weekend. Here is the information I got from web:
"Noosa is a little piece of exclusive city suburbia located on the Sunshine Coast, 178 km north of Brisbane and with a present population of around 10 000. Noosa's resort area commences at Peregian Beach in the south and extends north through Marcus Beach, Sunrise Beach and Sunshine Beach to Noosa Heads. All are bordered to the east by the Coral Sea."
You'll find one wonderful beach after another one here, there are many of them and seriously gorgeous ones. Right next to the beach there is a national park with koalas living in it as well - it is just the most beautiful place one can imagine. Beaches are semi-private as the crowd is gathered just on the main beach and all the other 4 beaches next to it are basically deserted. Shore is sandy for quite far off the waterline, water is bright bluish-green and waves hit the shore with rhythmic humming - just like a paradise.
We arrived in Noosa around 1pm, dropped our things off at the hotel and headed to the beach. The beach took my breath away - I had already forgotten how beautiful the Pacific really is! Right by the beach there is Noosa National Park - we took a wonderful walk there, for about an hour, wondering on the coastline between eucalyptus trees (oh the wonderful smell of eucalyptus!). For dinner we voted for Thai kitchen - food was wonderful. One of the strange things was that the restaurant was not selling any alcohol, we wanted to have win with our dinner, so they gladly guided us to a liquor shop to bring a bottle back from there and enjoy that with our dinner. Just remembered another strange custom here - eating places offer lunch only till about 3 or 4pm and then the kitchen gets closed for couple of hours :) Food is served again from 6 or 7pm, which means if you would like to eat around 5 o'clock, it is quite complicated to find a place that serves food.
Currently there is also Noosa Jazz festival in town so right after dinner we got to listen to some live jazz in a nearby restaurant - what a treat!
This morning our plan was to sleep in as late as possible and then head to town for late breakfast. Guess what time I was wide awake :) 7:10! So much about sleeping in this time. Good thing was that I found free wireless randomly extending to my room - 2 hours flew by in a snap :D
HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY! :D :D yeap, today is fathers day here in Australia! Due to that fact all eating places were extremely crowded :( We still squeezed ourselves in and had long breakfast outside with ocean view - perfect start for our great Sunday. My breakfast consisted of a giant muffin and some hash-browns. Now the muffin, it was absolutely enormous, I have no clue how they manage to make such big muffins at all, it was huuuuuge, I could barely eat the whole thing :)
Next step was to rent a surfboard :), this went quite smoothly. As soon as we found free sand in the madness on the beach, I hit the water with the board and did not come out till 2h later :D So that was an experience I must say - water was extremely crowded with all sorts of surfers. Lot of them seemed to know what they were doing and I still found a quite big crowd of inexperienced ones like me :D Either way, my accomplishment was that I hit 2 really good waves and I got up on the board twice :D The problem was though that I could not align those 2 events :) All in all - I loved it, to be in the water with the board. I do realize that I need a whole lotta practice, but it is the best of the best to be in the water on the board!
The rest of the day went by sipping wine, listening to live jazz music, walking around by the river and by the ocean (of course, our favourite thing to do!).
Tomorrow morning we will head back to Brisbane, packing will have to wait till tomorrow as I'm dead tired. I have no idea when I'll find internet again so you have to manage with my twitter updates for some time again!
be good to each other and take care!
"Noosa is a little piece of exclusive city suburbia located on the Sunshine Coast, 178 km north of Brisbane and with a present population of around 10 000. Noosa's resort area commences at Peregian Beach in the south and extends north through Marcus Beach, Sunrise Beach and Sunshine Beach to Noosa Heads. All are bordered to the east by the Coral Sea."
You'll find one wonderful beach after another one here, there are many of them and seriously gorgeous ones. Right next to the beach there is a national park with koalas living in it as well - it is just the most beautiful place one can imagine. Beaches are semi-private as the crowd is gathered just on the main beach and all the other 4 beaches next to it are basically deserted. Shore is sandy for quite far off the waterline, water is bright bluish-green and waves hit the shore with rhythmic humming - just like a paradise.
We arrived in Noosa around 1pm, dropped our things off at the hotel and headed to the beach. The beach took my breath away - I had already forgotten how beautiful the Pacific really is! Right by the beach there is Noosa National Park - we took a wonderful walk there, for about an hour, wondering on the coastline between eucalyptus trees (oh the wonderful smell of eucalyptus!). For dinner we voted for Thai kitchen - food was wonderful. One of the strange things was that the restaurant was not selling any alcohol, we wanted to have win with our dinner, so they gladly guided us to a liquor shop to bring a bottle back from there and enjoy that with our dinner. Just remembered another strange custom here - eating places offer lunch only till about 3 or 4pm and then the kitchen gets closed for couple of hours :) Food is served again from 6 or 7pm, which means if you would like to eat around 5 o'clock, it is quite complicated to find a place that serves food.
Currently there is also Noosa Jazz festival in town so right after dinner we got to listen to some live jazz in a nearby restaurant - what a treat!
This morning our plan was to sleep in as late as possible and then head to town for late breakfast. Guess what time I was wide awake :) 7:10! So much about sleeping in this time. Good thing was that I found free wireless randomly extending to my room - 2 hours flew by in a snap :D
HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY! :D :D yeap, today is fathers day here in Australia! Due to that fact all eating places were extremely crowded :( We still squeezed ourselves in and had long breakfast outside with ocean view - perfect start for our great Sunday. My breakfast consisted of a giant muffin and some hash-browns. Now the muffin, it was absolutely enormous, I have no clue how they manage to make such big muffins at all, it was huuuuuge, I could barely eat the whole thing :)
Next step was to rent a surfboard :), this went quite smoothly. As soon as we found free sand in the madness on the beach, I hit the water with the board and did not come out till 2h later :D So that was an experience I must say - water was extremely crowded with all sorts of surfers. Lot of them seemed to know what they were doing and I still found a quite big crowd of inexperienced ones like me :D Either way, my accomplishment was that I hit 2 really good waves and I got up on the board twice :D The problem was though that I could not align those 2 events :) All in all - I loved it, to be in the water with the board. I do realize that I need a whole lotta practice, but it is the best of the best to be in the water on the board!
The rest of the day went by sipping wine, listening to live jazz music, walking around by the river and by the ocean (of course, our favourite thing to do!).
Tomorrow morning we will head back to Brisbane, packing will have to wait till tomorrow as I'm dead tired. I have no idea when I'll find internet again so you have to manage with my twitter updates for some time again!
be good to each other and take care!
Cairns to Brisbane
Last day in Cairns was spent packing and looking around in town. Ave's friend David suggested to take a skyrail at the rainforest, so I had planned that in for the day, but missed the last pickup by 30 minutes :( Which was ok as I was not willing to get up any earlier and my packing took time as well. So instead I just walked to town, spent time at the main square listening to live music again and just laying in the sun. It was a nice and relaxed morning. Headed back to the hotel by 3 and headed to the airport.
Flight to Brisbane was about 2 hours, the plane was fully packed so it was a bit claustrophobic there. And again, I managed to sleep a full hour on the plane! Without any pillow or anything - I'm so proud of myself :) what an optimal time usage huh?
Once I arrived in Brisbane Ave was at the airport to greet me - it was soooo nice to see her. For the first couple of hours we both talked as fast as we could like we are about to run out of time or something :D We seemed to have a world to catch up on. Ave had prepared a nice meal with wine and dessert, which we had over at David's parents house. We were just talking and talking and talking away until it was time to go to bed. I did get to meet David's parents - very very nice and cheerful people.
I don't know much about Brisbane to update you on quite yet. I'm sure the city is big and I'm sure it is beautiful :) More facts and stories about the town later on!
Oh right, there was a little incident with my hotel booking :) Apparently the booking I did was not valid or something so once we arrived at the hotel all the rooms were taken and my booking did not show up anywhere :( As all the people are so nice here the lady in charge arranged one room for me late at night - people were moving out around 9 and then she asked an hour or so for cleaning it. She gave me the spare key and promised to take my bags in there herself - by the time I got to the room a bit before 11 all was arranged and done. Whatta nice lady.
Flight to Brisbane was about 2 hours, the plane was fully packed so it was a bit claustrophobic there. And again, I managed to sleep a full hour on the plane! Without any pillow or anything - I'm so proud of myself :) what an optimal time usage huh?
Once I arrived in Brisbane Ave was at the airport to greet me - it was soooo nice to see her. For the first couple of hours we both talked as fast as we could like we are about to run out of time or something :D We seemed to have a world to catch up on. Ave had prepared a nice meal with wine and dessert, which we had over at David's parents house. We were just talking and talking and talking away until it was time to go to bed. I did get to meet David's parents - very very nice and cheerful people.
I don't know much about Brisbane to update you on quite yet. I'm sure the city is big and I'm sure it is beautiful :) More facts and stories about the town later on!
Oh right, there was a little incident with my hotel booking :) Apparently the booking I did was not valid or something so once we arrived at the hotel all the rooms were taken and my booking did not show up anywhere :( As all the people are so nice here the lady in charge arranged one room for me late at night - people were moving out around 9 and then she asked an hour or so for cleaning it. She gave me the spare key and promised to take my bags in there herself - by the time I got to the room a bit before 11 all was arranged and done. Whatta nice lady.
Friday, September 4, 2009
First photos are up!
I have uploiaded first set of photos, find the link on the right hand side menu (right below Twitter updates). Enjoy!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
cairns - day 3 - whitewater rafting
All the tours start way too early. When I headed out of my room at 6:40, the tour guide was already running around the hotel nervously. Picking up all the rest of the group took another 30 minutes. Tully is located south from Cairns and is about 1.5h drive, Tully river is the best white water rafting place around here - river is winding through a rain forest with numerous waterfalls and other scenic areas. Today we are going to be passing about 9km on level 4 rafting river, maximum commercial level is 6 - adrenaline kick will be a nice one :)
Upon arrival we were divided into groups and lectured for about 30 minutes on all the safety regulations. Safety was mostly common logic - when in the water after falling in stay close to the surface as the current is quite strong and don't wanna get hit by the underwater rocks, keep the helmet and life vest on, when raft flips over get away from underneath as quick as possible etc. Once on the raft, our instructor Teddie went though some more safety regulations and moves we need to know before heading towards the rapids. Teddie was this short buff guy, he has been competing with Australian team all over the world as we found out. But oh those Aussies. He had scars all over his face and arms and legs, everywhere. And so on the first level 4 rapid he goes "do you all see that big triangular rock in front of us? yeah, that is where I got those 2 scars above each of my eyebrows - also broke upper 4 teeth when smacking my face on it full speed. that was my first rafting ever" we all looked at each other with horror :) He'd also give us good introduction when approaching another complicated rapid, one goes like so "see the edge there? 4 people have died on this one" :O, we all look at each other with frightened eyes. Aren't they suppose to tell us those things on our way back in the bus :D ??
Anyhoo, rafting was an absolute blast. Our team kicked ass - we did not flip over once, no one fell overboard and we were mostly fastest getting through the rapids. We ruled :) Later we got to see the DVD that was made, basically in all other rafts someone went overboard and I guess all other rafts flipped over sooner or later.
Wonderful times, we were back in town around 6pm. Now I have registered myself for 24h Internet, uploading photos and blogging is in progress. I'll probably get the photos organized tomorrow. Right now I'm gonna head to town to go for tea with Ave's friend and grab something to eat as well. Tomorrow morning is for resting :) My plane to Brisbane leaves at 16:40.
Tadaaa!
Upon arrival we were divided into groups and lectured for about 30 minutes on all the safety regulations. Safety was mostly common logic - when in the water after falling in stay close to the surface as the current is quite strong and don't wanna get hit by the underwater rocks, keep the helmet and life vest on, when raft flips over get away from underneath as quick as possible etc. Once on the raft, our instructor Teddie went though some more safety regulations and moves we need to know before heading towards the rapids. Teddie was this short buff guy, he has been competing with Australian team all over the world as we found out. But oh those Aussies. He had scars all over his face and arms and legs, everywhere. And so on the first level 4 rapid he goes "do you all see that big triangular rock in front of us? yeah, that is where I got those 2 scars above each of my eyebrows - also broke upper 4 teeth when smacking my face on it full speed. that was my first rafting ever" we all looked at each other with horror :) He'd also give us good introduction when approaching another complicated rapid, one goes like so "see the edge there? 4 people have died on this one" :O, we all look at each other with frightened eyes. Aren't they suppose to tell us those things on our way back in the bus :D ??
Anyhoo, rafting was an absolute blast. Our team kicked ass - we did not flip over once, no one fell overboard and we were mostly fastest getting through the rapids. We ruled :) Later we got to see the DVD that was made, basically in all other rafts someone went overboard and I guess all other rafts flipped over sooner or later.
Wonderful times, we were back in town around 6pm. Now I have registered myself for 24h Internet, uploading photos and blogging is in progress. I'll probably get the photos organized tomorrow. Right now I'm gonna head to town to go for tea with Ave's friend and grab something to eat as well. Tomorrow morning is for resting :) My plane to Brisbane leaves at 16:40.
Tadaaa!
cairns - day 2 - great barrier reef
Gathering for the tour started at 7:30, boat took off from Marlin Marina finger A at 8am.
The Great Barrier Reef is 2700km long reaching north to south right by Cairns. It is formed of batches of corals, which need shallow salt water and lots of sun to grow. There are various different types of corals (~400 types) and lots of sea animals (~4000 species of mollusks) and fish (~1500 different types) living alongside of it. We were warned many times not to touch the coral. Apparently it is not the crowds of tourists or global warming that is dangerous, but the touching - we wear lots of sunscreen and if that gets on a coral by our fingers, it dies :(
Our first snorkeling stop was about 1h boat ride away, called "Wonder Wall" located on the outer edge of Upolu Reef. It is just like a wall in the ocean - on one side is the coral and on the other side the wall goes into depth of the ocean. It is nothing compared to what I saw in Hawaii on Molokini island. Everything is much closer here, there are more different kinds of fish and the water is clearer. We are also allowed to swim around more freely, which I like :)
Once everybody gathered back on the boat the crew held a guided tour on a glass bottom boat. This way they were able to tell us all about the marine life and forming of coral reef. For an example I found out that even the corals sleep :) Right, they have feeding time when they are moving about with water, just like tall grass is moving in different directions with the wind, once the coral goes to sleep, it gets leathery look and is not moving around any longer. We were also explained of why coral dies and how dying coral helps to reproduce for the living coral.
Second snorkeling sight was by Upolu Cay, located about 30km from Cairns - a sand patch that rises out of the sea once the tide goes down. This we did after lunch as before lunch it was still under water :) That was my favourite! Little sand hills in a bright blue sea next to dark coral patches all around. As the sand was piled up there was very shallow water for about 50m down the stream, in shallow areas the water was extremely warm - I just laid there and did not wanna leave, ever :)
While snorkeling I saw nemo fish, turtle (from a distance this time), many different kinds of other fish (some were huuuge and some were tiny, some where plain and some were bright blue, like a colorful fish tank), saw a huge stingray (probably about 1.2m long) and a shark (can't remember what it was called, could it be black shark perhaps? it was also a bit over a meter long i'd say). Stingray and shark were hiding under a huge coral - one on one side and the other one on the other side, apparently they like to hang out together usually :) And of course many many different kinds of corals - some shaped like huge plates, some like fingers, some like cabbage. Corals were in many different colors and with lots of different types of fish swimming all around and inside of it. Snorkeling and staring at the complicated coral/fish/mollusk setting was like staring at an always moving art piece - you just stare and you are not able to take your eyes off as with every second the art piece changes.
On the way back we were served more food, cheese, fruit, snacks and cake. I happened to chat with couple of Germans - it is always my favourite part :) Also the crew was great! There was 6 of them total, two had worked on the boat just for 4 months, one moved here from London and the other one from Canada. Both of them said they got enough of the cold weather :) One of them expressed it in this format: it is 29C, water is 25C and it is WINTER at the moment!
After the trip I got back to the hotel, idea was to take a quick shower and quick nap, then head to town for dinner and a concert - nope that did not happen. I kept pressing snooze for about 20 minutes after that I gave up, had a quick snack and headed to bed for good :) Apparently adjusting and catching up on sleep takes a bit more than one 13h sleep ;)
The Great Barrier Reef is 2700km long reaching north to south right by Cairns. It is formed of batches of corals, which need shallow salt water and lots of sun to grow. There are various different types of corals (~400 types) and lots of sea animals (~4000 species of mollusks) and fish (~1500 different types) living alongside of it. We were warned many times not to touch the coral. Apparently it is not the crowds of tourists or global warming that is dangerous, but the touching - we wear lots of sunscreen and if that gets on a coral by our fingers, it dies :(
Our first snorkeling stop was about 1h boat ride away, called "Wonder Wall" located on the outer edge of Upolu Reef. It is just like a wall in the ocean - on one side is the coral and on the other side the wall goes into depth of the ocean. It is nothing compared to what I saw in Hawaii on Molokini island. Everything is much closer here, there are more different kinds of fish and the water is clearer. We are also allowed to swim around more freely, which I like :)
Once everybody gathered back on the boat the crew held a guided tour on a glass bottom boat. This way they were able to tell us all about the marine life and forming of coral reef. For an example I found out that even the corals sleep :) Right, they have feeding time when they are moving about with water, just like tall grass is moving in different directions with the wind, once the coral goes to sleep, it gets leathery look and is not moving around any longer. We were also explained of why coral dies and how dying coral helps to reproduce for the living coral.
Second snorkeling sight was by Upolu Cay, located about 30km from Cairns - a sand patch that rises out of the sea once the tide goes down. This we did after lunch as before lunch it was still under water :) That was my favourite! Little sand hills in a bright blue sea next to dark coral patches all around. As the sand was piled up there was very shallow water for about 50m down the stream, in shallow areas the water was extremely warm - I just laid there and did not wanna leave, ever :)
While snorkeling I saw nemo fish, turtle (from a distance this time), many different kinds of other fish (some were huuuge and some were tiny, some where plain and some were bright blue, like a colorful fish tank), saw a huge stingray (probably about 1.2m long) and a shark (can't remember what it was called, could it be black shark perhaps? it was also a bit over a meter long i'd say). Stingray and shark were hiding under a huge coral - one on one side and the other one on the other side, apparently they like to hang out together usually :) And of course many many different kinds of corals - some shaped like huge plates, some like fingers, some like cabbage. Corals were in many different colors and with lots of different types of fish swimming all around and inside of it. Snorkeling and staring at the complicated coral/fish/mollusk setting was like staring at an always moving art piece - you just stare and you are not able to take your eyes off as with every second the art piece changes.
On the way back we were served more food, cheese, fruit, snacks and cake. I happened to chat with couple of Germans - it is always my favourite part :) Also the crew was great! There was 6 of them total, two had worked on the boat just for 4 months, one moved here from London and the other one from Canada. Both of them said they got enough of the cold weather :) One of them expressed it in this format: it is 29C, water is 25C and it is WINTER at the moment!
After the trip I got back to the hotel, idea was to take a quick shower and quick nap, then head to town for dinner and a concert - nope that did not happen. I kept pressing snooze for about 20 minutes after that I gave up, had a quick snack and headed to bed for good :) Apparently adjusting and catching up on sleep takes a bit more than one 13h sleep ;)
cairns - day 1
Flight from Hong-Kong to Cairns was 7h, went by in a snap. Got some good movies in and short sleep again. Arrival was great as always, after so many hours of flying any destination probably seems like the best one ever :) Once out of the plane had a small chat with immigration about my finances, when I'm expected back at the office (thought I can forget about the office for now, but nope), why I'm here, when did I start planning the trip and what sort of visas do the people hold that I'm gonna visit. Nothing too surprising I guess, customs was smooth as well - including the cleaning of my hiking boots. I've heard from various people of how they are very careful about the soil that gets brought in here with various shoes, so they deep clean them :) so they did for mine as well, my hiking boots came back nicely packaged :D
After 36h of traveling I figured I should just stay awake as long as possible. Napping in the middle of the day won't work for me as I won't be able to get out of bed, this in turn would mess up the whole rhythm of sleep. Only way to manage staying awake would be walking around. Quick shower at the hotel first, change of clothes and to the town I went.
Cairns is a small place as seen by locals, about 130 000 people (town size is expected to double within few years). My hotel is located 1.5km from the center - there is a nice Esplanade connecting this area to the city center, just about 1.5km walk. Town itself is nice, many eating places, a big mall, quite large marina, parks, water Laguna and little arts shops. Laguna is great - it is located right by the sea, but as the sea is not very suitable for a swim (muddy shore and not very inviting, I found also warning signs about alligators), they have set up a shallow pool with all sorts of fountains for people to swim in. During the day it is packed with people.
At the moment there is Carin's Festival ongoing with a tight program. Happened to find one outdoor live music performance in city center, in the evenings there are pub performances all over town - perhaps tomorrow I'll catch one of those too.
While working on staying awake and walking around town I booked my next 2 days. Tomorrow I will be going to explore Great Barrier Reef and the day after there will be white water rafting - a bit more of an adrenaline kick :) Both are day tours including lunch and a tight program. While looking for a place to have dinner I ran into 2 Estonians on the street :)
Managed to keep myself busy till about 4 in the afternoon, by the time I got back to the hotel the time was 4:45. Bit of unpacking and then preparing for tomorrow's trip, I was done at 5:30 and that is when I fell dead on the bed. Tiredness took over and my 13h beauty sleep started :)
After 36h of traveling I figured I should just stay awake as long as possible. Napping in the middle of the day won't work for me as I won't be able to get out of bed, this in turn would mess up the whole rhythm of sleep. Only way to manage staying awake would be walking around. Quick shower at the hotel first, change of clothes and to the town I went.
Cairns is a small place as seen by locals, about 130 000 people (town size is expected to double within few years). My hotel is located 1.5km from the center - there is a nice Esplanade connecting this area to the city center, just about 1.5km walk. Town itself is nice, many eating places, a big mall, quite large marina, parks, water Laguna and little arts shops. Laguna is great - it is located right by the sea, but as the sea is not very suitable for a swim (muddy shore and not very inviting, I found also warning signs about alligators), they have set up a shallow pool with all sorts of fountains for people to swim in. During the day it is packed with people.
At the moment there is Carin's Festival ongoing with a tight program. Happened to find one outdoor live music performance in city center, in the evenings there are pub performances all over town - perhaps tomorrow I'll catch one of those too.
While working on staying awake and walking around town I booked my next 2 days. Tomorrow I will be going to explore Great Barrier Reef and the day after there will be white water rafting - a bit more of an adrenaline kick :) Both are day tours including lunch and a tight program. While looking for a place to have dinner I ran into 2 Estonians on the street :)
Managed to keep myself busy till about 4 in the afternoon, by the time I got back to the hotel the time was 4:45. Bit of unpacking and then preparing for tomorrow's trip, I was done at 5:30 and that is when I fell dead on the bed. Tiredness took over and my 13h beauty sleep started :)
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