Daily Adventures

Walking around Melbourne for the day concluded this month long journey that we have been sharing. It has been a wonderful trip. We saw so many beautiful landscapes, met interesting people from all over the world, and participated in fun activities. If asked about a favorite, it is really hard to pick just one experience. But there are highlights that stand out as we look back. Heli-hiking on the Franz-Josef glacier comes to mind and petting Koala’s and Kangaroos was better than expected. We swung through the trees in the New Zealand rainforest and hiked to waterfalls in the Great Divide Mountains in Australia. We saw beautiful lakes, beaches and coastlines and enjoyed the iconic sites in the cities we stayed in. And of course we tasted wine everywhere we went!

We visited four wineries today in the Yarra Valley outside of Melbourne. The area we drove through was full of beautiful vineyards and farms with cattle and sheep. After the heat of the last couple of days, we welcomed the cloudy day that brought the temperatures down a bit. The wineries we visited were all small producers. One vineyard, Balgownie, was also a resort and spa with a great restaurant where we enjoyed lunch. Another vineyard also had a 15,000 seat music venue which recently hosted Matchbox 20. On the tour we enjoyed talking and drinking wine with several people in our group, one couple from Germany and another from Toronto as well as others. Overall it was a great, relaxing day.

Along the path between St. Kilda Beach and Elwood beach, we saw great views of the city skyline. After stopping for lunch at a cafe on the beach, we walked inland to Albert Park, a large green area in the city. At this park preparations were underway for the F1 Australian Grand Prix. The grandstands, fences, and tents were already up. Rod Laver Arena where the Australian open is held, is nearby in Melbourne Park. We walked for a couple of hours, but as the afternoon heat kicked in we called it a day!

Fitzroy Falls is in the Morton National Park that is part of the southern highlands region. The range of mountains is part of the Great Divide in Australia which include the Blue Mountains further north, but also ranges to the south of the Sydney area. Similar to the Blue Mountains, eucalyptus is a prevalent tree in this area. This area has not been impacted as much by the wildfires as previous forests we visited. Earlier in the day we stopped at the Symbio Wildlife Park where we were able to pet Koala Bears and Kangaroos. The park housed several of the indigenous animals to Australia; Koala, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Wombats, Emus, Tasmanian Devil, and Dingos as well as many bird and reptile species. After leaving the wildlife park, we stopped for lunch at Bulli Beach along the eastern coastline, south of Sydney. Getting to the beach required traveling along Sea Cliff bridge that has been built to replace a coastal highway due to its constant erosion and needs for repairs. The coast line is interspersed with rocky coast and sandy beaches. The sand on the beach we stopped at was sugar fine sand and the beach also had a salt water pool like the ones we saw by Bondi Beach. Tomorrow we say good-bye to Sydney and move on the Melbourne!

The tour of the Opera House provided many different and interesting details about the history, current uses, and structure of the opera house. On the tour we were able to enter the inside of the main concert hall, capacity roughly 2,700. The opera house was designed in the 1950’s, but the project was not completed until October of 1973. There was a rehearsal happening for the performance tonight so we were unable to take pictures, but the design was particularly interesting. Performances by the symphony are performed without amplification, so the design and materials in the hall play a role in the acoustics. The overall structure of the hall is designed to be like the inside of a person’s mouth or throat with the middle arching up, above. On the ceiling the acoustics are set to reflect the sound throughout the hall, with boxes protruding from the ceiling. The inside of the hall is designed of all wood. Soft, birch wood is used for the ceiling and seats. This wood absorbs sound waves. A hard wood is used for the walls and floors of the hall and they are intended to refract sound waves. The combination creates a great sound quality. Due to the design of the roof line outside, the inside area where the symphony sits is very tall, roughly 22 stories high. This structure prevents the artist that are performing from hearing their instruments in real time because of the time necessary for the sound to reflect back to them. For this reason, fabric panels have been used to redirect sound back to the artists so that they might hear exactly what they are performing. Recently the opera house completed renovations that brought the facility up to the latest technology standards, while maintaining the historical value of the site. The opera house if listed as one of the UNESCO world heritage sites. The space was originally commissioned to serve a diverse population and the site continues to provide programming for many different audiences.

This morning we spent a little time walking around Lake Tekapo before driving back to Christchurch. Lake Tekapo is a dark sky region. Last night we enjoyed a clear sky and were able to see all the bright stars of southern hemisphere. Today as we explored we came upon the The Church of the Good Shepherd. A church built as a memorial to the pioneers of the region. It is a cute church set in a beautiful setting with the surrounding mountains during the day and brilliant skies at night. Tomorrow we make our way to Sydney leaving from Christchurch early in the morning. Please enjoy a brief recap of our time on the south island with a few pictures from each day.

Today we awoke to a gorgeous sunrise over Lake Hawea. This area is an out of the way lake town. Our accommodation was directly on the lake, allowing for cool breezes and sounds of the water all during the night. From here we set off for our next destination about 3 hours north. While driving we passed by Lake Wanaka, a vibrant and growing town. After driving through an arid valley very conducive to wine growing, we came across Lake Pukaki, which turns out to be the bluest lake in New Zealand. Apparently the fine particles off the glaciers remain in suspension in the waters of this lake creating the deep, turquoise blue color. With Mount Cook rising in the distance behind this lake, the views were very impressive even from the highway! Did I mention wine growing? We stopped along the way at a winery that we just happened upon. Great tasting wine!

We boarded the train early this morning on a gray and cloudy day in Christchurch. The train ride included a scenic viewing area and nice breakfast and lunch served at our seats along the way while we enjoyed the views out the windows. The ride begins on the Canterbury Plains and passes through the mountains on the west side of the island. The train cuts through the narrowest part of the south island, stopping at Arthur’s Pass at 3,000 feet, a national park about halfway through the journey. The mountains on either side of the pass reach up to 6,000 feet. We ended the train ride in Greymouth a gateway town to the west coast. From there we rented a car (more left side driving, stay left, look right) to reach our hotel for the night in Hokitika. I was particularly excited for this destination because of a book I read in preparation for this trip. The book is called The Luminaries and it is set in Hokitika in the 1860’s during New Zealand’s gold rush. The book talks about the difficulty that ships of the day had in entering the port at Hokitika because of the shallow straits that exist offshore. Tonight we walked along that same shore and could see exactly what the book was depicting. Our evening ended watching the sunset on the Tasmanian Sea as we sipped an Otago Pinot Noir.

We visited a geothermal park in the Taupo Volcanic zone. After taking a ferry across the Waikato River we then were able to follow a boardwalk throughout the park that connected the various geysers, hot springs and mud pools. The board walk was created because the water that is running from the various geothermal phenomenon is very hot and dangerous to walk around. It is estimated that roughly 20 million liters of water flow into the river each day. Lake Taupo itself is a volcano crater that is surrounded by other, smaller volcanoes and these geothermal areas exist between the Taupo and Rotorua areas. Earlier in the morning we enjoyed walking around the lodge where we are staying. They have fantastic gardens that include vegetables and herbs as well as flowers and even a koi pond.

The ziplines we enjoyed have been set up in a conservation area where efforts are underway to restore the indigenous trees and forest that have been affected by invasive animal species like possums and rats. Originally New Zealand’s wildlife was mostly bird species, as people settled the island nation other species were brought and have endangered the birds and the forests. The zipline tour operator we were with today have been trapping and removing the invasive animals in this forest in an effort to revitalize the birds and the forest. After a morning of flying through the trees, we set off south to Lake Taupo. Our accommodation, Lake Taupo Lodge, has beautiful gardens and spectacular views of the lake. For dinner we enjoyed the dining and shopping district of the town of Taupo.

Hobbiton is one of the most visited attractions in New Zealand. The attraction is basically the movie set for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie series. Hobbiton is the land of the small hobbits. The site was scouted for the movie because it depicted the setting described in the Lord of the Rings books; there was a high hill for Bilbo Baggins house, a large tree for the site of the community parties, and a large lake by that tree. All surrounded by rolling hills. After filming the original movies from 2001 to 2003, the set was mostly torn down. However many fans would visit the area to see where the films were made. After the sets were reconstructed in 2012 for the Hobbit movie, the creator decided that leaving the sets and operating tours of the area would be a good idea. Since then the sets have been maintained and even added to for the Hobbiton tour of the movie set. As we toured the land of the hobbits the weather threatened rain most of the day, but held off until we reached our next destination in Rotorua. We then got cold wind with rain. We did manage to stop down by the lake to get some views before ending our day.

The peninsula is to the east of Auckland about two hours away. Once on the peninsula we began the day with a hike to a lookout point above the town of Tairua. The morning was actually drizzly rain and very misty, but the view was still beautiful. From there we made our way to Hot Water Beach. This site was unbelievable. Hot springs are below the sand and at low tide you can dig a hole and get hot water. In the picture to the right, the rings in the water are actually from the water boiling. Don’t worry, when the water got too hot for us, we hopped up and jumped into the cool ocean water. From here we went to see Cathedral Cove, a well known rock formation on the beach. We were unable to get close because a cyclone that hit the area last year destroyed the stairs that led to the beach where this rock formation is. The scenery all day was absolutely beautiful and dramatic. We also learned a little more about New Zealand and its history. The Coromandel region is an important part of the history of New Zealand. Long before European settlers landed there, a polynesian people from islands east of New Zealand arrived in the Coromandel Peninsula. At the time the stars, path of the sun, and migratory patterns of birds were the only tools to navigate to this new land. Once here these people named their new land Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud. This began the long history of the Maori people. There is an effort today to revert the name of New Zealand to its original native name.

Day 0 – Marina Del Rey

While stopping in LA we visited the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Very interesting museum especially if you enjoy watching movies. The museum has displays that explain each of the elements of making a movie from the producer to the casting director, script writing, special effects and many more. Each display gives examples of that element and shows the results with movie clips of award winning movies we all know and love. One display went through the process of creating the sound for a scene from Indiana Jones. It showed how each level of sound is created from capturing the actors dialogue to adding in prop handling, footsteps, and music. Another display gave examples of the Mario Puzo book, The Godfather, being transformed into The Godfather movie script. In another installation, different Oscar awards through the ages were on display. Amazingly the design for the Oscar award has remained the same since the first one given in 1929. The installation also projected clips of famous Academy Award acceptance speeches from throughout of the years.