Monday, November 4, 2002

New Zealand & Australia 2002







October 31, 2002

Subject:
Australia and New Zealand notes
Hi all,

It looks like we'll have frequent
internet access on our big trip
starting election day.



First entry will likely be
from Great Barrier Reef country,
if we survive the air travel (Lucy may
kill me: since our frequent
flyer award travel is with American, we
have to fly Seattle-DALLAS-LA,
before the 14.5 hour flight to Sydney.
'Should be enough, ya think?
No, we're going to hang around Sydney
airport for 3 hours and catch a
3 hour flight north to Cairns, where I
have reservations in a youth
hostel.).

Until Queensland,

John

11/4/02

Subject:
John's log, #1, Cairns, North Queensland
Travel notes: if flying, hopefully
you'll find those new federal
employees more in stride. We were held
up at SeaTac for fear Lucy had
TNT in her new purse. The 90 minute
line to get through security at
LA Int'l stretched out onto the
sidewalk. I didn't sleep much on the
14 hour flight to Sydney, watched 3
movies on my personal screen in
the headrest in front of me. 'Arrived
not too bushed. Maybe a little
disoriented: I expected my first call
back home to be answered at
Noon. Instead, it was midnight!

Notes on the Great Barrier Reef:
Growing up in Oregon, I had to
eventually compare it to the Maine Coast.
While the lobster was special and
the fishing villages had history, the
coastline couldn't begin to
match Oregon's. So I feel about the
reef here after our exploration
today. The wind didn't help, but the
coral and the fish were less
spectacular than in our hemisphere--West
End Roatan (Honduran Bay
Islands) and Acumal (Yucatan). The crew
and others on the boat were
fun and Cairns (silent "r"--pronounced
like "Canes") is pleasant this
time of year. Friendly locals and
fellow travelers.

So, back to Sydney for a couple on
nights and on to New Zealand.

Later,

John


11/12

Subject:
John from North Island, NZ
Greetings from an internet cafe,
downtown Auckland. 11 p.m. Place is
packed. $1 for the first hour. Such a
deal. I could do without the
young gal next to me smoking, but ya
can't have everything.

'Just came from a delightful dinner with
a transplanted harbor gal
(read: Aberdeen country), now a shrink
here in New Zealand. I was
her sister's social worker a couple of
times. She brought along a
Kiwi friend, distant relative of mine,
last name "Lowry".

We spent the morning walking (ducking
rain showers--much cooler here
than E. Australia; very green, like the
Pacific NW), admiring homes
and parks, checking shops. Lucy's
jazzed--she bought some woollen cut
from the same material used for cloaks
for The Lord of the
Ring--unique gray wool. After lunch we
drove around looking at more
neighborhoods and parks in our rented
Mazda. 'Got one horn blast for
pulling in front of a car, but generally
adjusting to driving on the
left.

Following entry #1 from the Great
Barrier Reef, we spent a couple of
nights in Sydney. Our B&B was across
the harbor from city center, so
we had several ferry rides, landing at
Circular Quay, Opera House on
one side, Harbour Bridge on the other.
'Saw quite a bit of the city
via a bus tour, getting off as the
spirit moved us. 'Took in a ballet
at the opera house. Hemisphere makes no
difference--I sleep through
cultured events anywhere in the world.

In the morning we start our southward NZ
journey.

Later,

John

11/18

(#3 lost, apparently)

Subject:
John downunder #4
Hello from Queenstown, adventure capitol
of the world. 'More scary
things to do here than you can imagine.
I think I read that bungy
jumping originated here. Anyway, it's
big. No, I'm not even tempted.

Since last entry, we spent a morning in
Wellington before catching a
ferry to South Island. Beautiful city.
Lots of water, parks, lovely
homes perched on hills. A place I could
spend time.

'Took a shortcut just off the ferry.
'Cut the distance to 1/3, but
may not have saved much time as the 25
kph (that's 15 mph) curves
along Queen Charlotte Sound were
seemingly unending. You know that tv
commercial--the guy's ready to buy the
fixer house sight unseen
because he can drive up and down the
hill in his sports car? He
should come to NZ. Narrow, curvy roads
all over. Plus one way
bridges. Except for cities, traffic has
been very light.

Next day we caught a boat up the coast
at Abel Tasman Nat'l Park (NZ
has bunches of national parks). Hiked
back about 15 km to the car
('made it!). Rainforest with vistas of
the rugged coastline. Lovely,
but the Olympic National Park and the
Oregon Coast are in some ways
grander.

Last night we were at a youth hostel at
Franz Joseph, at the base of a
Mt. Cook glacier. Weather continues to
be cool (unusual for this time
of year here, but I like the fresh air).
We've had mostly sunny days,
great views of the mountains and the
pretty countryside. We're
holding up well considering my breakneck
schedule of seeing much of
both islands in 11 days. About 500 km.
some days (remember those
curves), but we still get in walks and
other breaks. We'll have less
travel the next two days--we spend
tomorrow night on a boat in
Doubtful Sound.

Later,

John

11/20

Subject:
John, downunder entry 5
Greetings from Dunedin, SE South Island,
New Zealand. A big player in
world economics last century. The hills
above the city are full of
beautiful old Victorian homes. On the
mountain across the bay we
bought woolen pullovers and sheep skins
right from the farm. I
commented to the farmer that NZ
certainly has lots of sheep. He
informed me the current population,
about 40,000,000, is quite a bit
fewer that the 68,000,000 some time ago.

Last night was spend aboard the
Fjordland Navigator, anchored up
Crooked Arm of Doubtful Sound, in
Fjordland National Park. Highlight
of our trip so far. While most of the
time the fjord is rainy and
shrouded in clouds (8 meters of rain a
year--7 times what we expect in
the rainy Pacific Northwest!), we had
spectacular blue skies. Snow
capped peaks around every bend in the
fjord. Fur seals, penguins and
porpoises cooperated by not being
bashful, the porpoises swimming
along with the boat for some time. We
also kayaked, checked out the
waterfalls and rainforest coming down to
water's edge. Staff and
fellow travelers friendly. We've met a
lot of friendly people here.

Picture taking, after a slow start, is
now rapidly using up remaining
space on our digital memory card. 'Did
some deleting earlier this
evening. 'Looking forward to more
versatility in sharing pictures
than the cumbersome slide shows of the
past. Let me know what you
want to see a shot of and I'll email it
to you when I get home.

Tomorrow we're up the coast to
Christchurch, port of departure for
Antarctica. The following afternoon we
fly to Melbourne, catch up
with our son, Nate. The semester
already over, he will just be
returning from Tasmania to greet us.

Hasta luego,

John