New Zealand

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  We have been traveling here on the North Island in New Zealand.  We spent our first day (12/22) traveling to our accommodation in Owhango. On the 23rd we went to Whakapapa Village to do a little hiking.

Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka Mt. Doom) in the background

 

Mt. Ruapehu

Taranaki Falls (supposedly this was used in Lord of the Rings)

On Christmas eve we went white water rafting down the Tongariro.  Dad, Eric and I jumped off a cliff that was approximately 35 feet.  It took me a couple of tries to jump and even when I did our guide said there was a drag line on the ground from my foot saying, "No! This is a bad idea!!!". 

After Dad jumped. Our cliff was around the corner and much higher.

After I jumped. The water was freezing.

Christmas day we took a driving tour of the Forgotten Highway.  It is forgotten in the sense that they forgot to make the road big enough for 2 cars to drive down.

Before the super windy roads that made me want to yak.

Tallest waterfall on the North Island at 85 meters.

We also went to the coast to have a look at the Tasman Sea.

Black sand

Yesterday we started our drive back to Auckland.  On our way we stopped at the Waitomo Caves to see the glow worms.  You can't take pictures but trust us it was cool.

Next stop...Melbourne.

Leaving Freo

As planned we went to Rottnest (Rotto) Island yesterday.  When we got there is was quite windy and there were flies EVERYWHERE.  Seriously, I have never seen so many flies in one place before.  And I feel like I've seen a fairly large amount of flies in my life.  Anyway, the flies left us in peace around noon so we could enjoy the rest of the day.

West End

The awful flies.

Kendall and Erin came to the beach with us.

Today we packed, cleaned and took our nearly last walk through town.  I am definitely going to miss Freo.  It has been great walking down the street to get groceries, grab some brekky (breakfast), and going out for a drink.  I wish I could bring all of you here so we could enjoy the warm weather and friendly town.

Now, its time for the next adventure.  Mom, Dad and Eric should be leaving shortly for their long journey.  They get into Auckland before me on Tuesday. We are spending one night there and then driving to our destination.  So far we know we are going to be rafting on Christmas Eve and eating seafood for Christmas dinner.  We'll be in Melbourne on the 27th and then heading to Sydney on the 30th.  It's going to be an exciting couple of weeks. 

Last week

Well, you may have noticed that I have slacked off on my posting lately.  Sorry about that but there isn't heaps to tell.  Last weekend we spent time shopping in Freo, went to a Symphony at the Perth Esplande, checked in at Benny's, and layed out at the beach.  Kara's mom (Jodi) arrived on Sunday.

Symphony at Perth Esplande

Benny's

This was the final week of fieldwork. It is just crazy how fast it went by.  Seems like yesterday that we got lost and I got huge blisters trying to find the building.  Now we are professional bus riders that know exactly when to push the button for our stop.  People ask us for directions and we can tell them where to go.  I am definitely going to miss Freo. Anyway, this week I saw a couple of clients and then spent the rest of the time finishing reports.  We had our Christmas lunch yesterday at a lovely venue called the View.  In the arvo (evening) took Jodi to Kings Park. 

If you don't remember, the first week we were here we went to a little place called Rottnest Island. Well, this weekend we are headed back.  A pretty nice way to bookend our trip if you ask me.  Sunday will be time for packing and squeezing in a Sunday Session.  Monday will be finishing the packing, making a few last stops around Freo and then off to the airport.  Our flight leaves at 11 pm and we arrive in Auckland at 3:10 pm on Tuesday.  And then our real holiday begins.  One week in New Zealand, 2 days in Melbourne and then Sydney for New Year's.  I'm sure I will have lots of pictures to post and stories to tell.

If I don't get a chance to say it closer to the day, I hope you all have a Happy Christmas (that's what Aussies say)!  I'll be thinking of you all as we are grilling our seafood on the barbie and tramping through the mountains.

Margaret River

This weekend we headed 'down south' to relax in Margaret River (I hear all your questions about whether the river was cold and how did we manage to stay dry when we were in the river and you know what? I'm ignoring them!).  We picked up a car on Friday night so we could get started early Saturday morning.  I got the privilege of driving because I'm the most experienced driver and it may have had something to due with the fact that my age saved us $40 in insurance.

We spent Saturday touring at local galleries and lookout points.  Lots of fun jewelry and beautiful paintings.  Then we went to the windiest place I've ever been.  We're lucky we didn't get blown away at Injidup Point! 

Saturday afternoon we walked around the town of Margaret River, went to the southern most tip of Western Australia, stalked some kangaroos, ate some dinner, and then went to bed early to prepare for our tour on Sunday. 

The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is the farthest
south you can go in Western Australia.
It is here that the Indian and the Southern Oceans meet.

Photo by Amy Chapman

That is a boomer hopping away.

Hanging out on the golf course.

We stayed at a lovely little bed and breakfast called Bridgefield Guest House.  It is located on the outskirts of Margaret River.

 Sunday we went on our Bush Tucker Wine Tour.  It was great.  Lots of great wine, cheese, and chocolate.

At The Grove.  This was probably my favorite drink of the tour
even though it wasn't wine.

Oh, I forgot to mention the scrumptious Witchity Grub that came with lunch.  Our bus driver divided it into 3 parts for 3 lucky guests to try.  I bravely (or stupidly) raised my hand to volunteer.  It most definitely did not taste like chicken.  But I got a neat hat as a prize so it was totally worth it. 

What did I get myself into?

1-2-3 GO!

Trying not to make a too much of a scene at the lunch table.

Where is the wine when you need it??  I had to settle for water.

Monday we got up early to make a few last minute stops to places we had been the day before and to some new places.  It is such a great area with heaps of wineries to visit.  Once again it was a lovely weekend filled with great company, good food, and delicious wine.  Just 2 more weeks in Fremantle but plenty left to do both at work and in town.  Time has flown by.

The Great Australian Thanksgiving

The Great Australian Thanksgiving took place on the 27th of November.  The day couldn't have gone better(unless it had involved me sleeping in until noon).  We got up at 7, went for a little run and then got to work.  The pies went in first just in case the turkey made a mess in the oven we wanted to make sure the most important part of the meal got baked properly.  Then the 5.6 kilo (approximately 13 lbs) turkey went in the oven.  From there is was smooth sailing.  Toby came over to make the green bean salad.  Jay brought homemade ice cream.  Ben brought the beverages.  And Josh and Jill brought the snacks to get us through until the turkey was done.  It was a great Australian Thanksgiving.

Trying to figure out if we could take the smoke detector down
because it goes off if you even remotely burn toast. 
Fortunately, we didn't set it off all day!

Dinner was followed by a cat nap while watching A Christmas Story.

And then it was time for a traditional Thanksgiving day game of Cricket.  You read right.  We played Cricket!  It's just as weird to play it as it is to watch it. 

Learning how to be the bowler.

Sunday we recovered by going to the beach.  It was a beautiful morning.  I took a little nap and when I woke up I thought I was still dreaming because there were dolphins swimming around.  They were checking out the people snorkeling.  It was very cool.  Sorry no pictures, I was unprepared.  But now I've seen a whale (from a far distance), dolphins (at a closer distance) and kangaroos (right up close and personal).  Now I just need to find a koala.

On Wednesday Flick (Felicity) an OT from work invited us to go sailing with her and her parents.  Unfortunately the weather was not ideal so we took a tour of the Yacht club and had a delicious seafood dinner.  What a bummer huh?  : )

This weekend we are off to Margaret River to relax at the beach and take a wine/beer/cheese/chocolate tour!  I will be living my blog title by driving on the left side of the road.  Yikes!