Long Island, Whitsundays, December 2014

View from the balcony of our room to Happy Bay

Happy New Year! One of my resolutions for 2015 is more regular updates to the blog (or to get it up to date). For those of you keeping track it hasn't been updated in over two years, yikes! It isn't that we haven't been on any adventures (quite the opposite) but have been busy and behind in sharing it with our friends and family. There have been requests for updates, especially from my Grandma in Oregon who enjoys reading this. I've decided to start with the most recent trip and work backwards. I hope you enjoy and well wishes to you and your family for 2015.

Agile Wallaby

A view to  resort and Happy Bay

Between Christmas and New Year we had a three night vacation on Long Island in the Whitsundays in Tropical Central Queensland. It is high season because of the Christmas and New Year holidays and summer break from schools in Australia. Luckily I found an airfare special several months ago and decided to go for it a book the trip.

We flew into Hamilton Island airport and then took a 30 minute boat ride to our destination of Long Island. Tropical temperatures (30C/ 86F), nice sea breezes, and an amazing blue and turquoise colored waters were there to great us. There were also some local wildlife (wallaby, many birds, and geckos). In the water we were lucky to see some turtles, dolphins, and various fish (from the dock or when snorkeling). For us the main purpose of the trip was to relax and spend time together.

The water in Happy Bay was very calm (a few additional waves with an oncoming boat or jet ski) and quite warm (29C/ 84F) and even hot if you were swimming or standing the shallow water at low tide. So warm when I was swimming in from snorkeling into shore that I had to stop swimming it was to hot for me to stand it anymore!

The tide was quite dramatic varying by as much as 3 meters (9.8 feet) and the water would recede leaving a large section of beach exposed. We enjoyed watching the crabs digging away at the sand at low tide and did some snorkeling one morning at low tide as well.


Happy Bay at low tide

Happy Bay at low tide

Most of the island is a national park (there are two resorts) and there are some trails for hiking. Though most of the trails are within the forest and shaded, hiking anytime during the day was quite hot.


Sandy Bay beach


We did a few hikes including one afternoon out to Sandy Bay which was just over 4km (~2.5 miles) away. Once we arrived at the bay we were rewarded with a beach all to ourselves for the afternoon! The water felt great to cool off in after the hike. A boat or two passed by and a group on jet skis but otherwise it was very quiet and peaceful. 


Mudskipper

We also enjoyed "discovering" a new animal we hadn't seen before, mudskippers. These are fish that are able to walk and skip using their fins on land and breathe out of water through their skin. We were luckily enough to observe three of them playing where the waves lapped the beach or just above the waves on the wet sand.


Batfish

There were plenty of options for other free activities that we participated in including mini-golf, swimming or playing in the water, snorkeling, kayaking, peddling a paddle boat, lazing about in a hammock or sitting on the beach. We could have ventured off the island to Whitehaven Beach or to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef (both which we had visited a few years back with some friends on our first trip to the Whitsundays). We decided to just stay on the island and do a bit of exploring on our own.  Every afternoon the staff at the resort feed the Batfish (and a couple other fish and seagulls join in the action) at the end of the dock. There were close to a dozen when we watched and they are quite quick, even jumping out of the water!
 

Pandanus trees

Pandanus Bay

One night we ventured onto the hiking trails to go star gazing away from the lights of the resort. The main wildlife we spotted on the trail was cane toads. We ended up at Pandanus Bay and despite some clouds were able to do a bit of viewing with our binoculars or just with our eyes. Wandering around the rocky beach at low tide (with our flashlight and headlamp) we encountered "drop snails" as we referred to them. As we walked across the rocks covered in these snails they would detach and drop off the rocks in large numbers. We could hear them dropping all around us (likely from the light) to hide. The next day on our longer hike we stopped back to check out the beach during daylight at high tide.

It was just the right amount of time for us on the island and a great relaxing trip!



 

New Zealand- South Island

Little Blue Penguins

Last week we had an eight day trip around the South Island of New Zealand with Jenny's parents and aunt Sharon. Here are some brief highlights of our trip. 

Day 1. Christchurch to Oamaru.

We arrived into Christchurch, picked up our hire car, and immediately headed southwest down the coast to Oamaru. We arrived just in time to watch the nightly parade of the Little Blue Penguins in from the ocean at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. They were hilarious to watch and we were fortunate to see over 100 march in that evening. They are the world's smallest penguins and are found throughout coastal New Zeland and southern regions of Australia.We weren't able to take any photos of the penguins but here is an image I found online

Jenny & Sharon

Day 2. Oamaru to Manapouri. 

We continued driving south along the coast and stopped to check out the Moeraki Boulders (near Moeraki). We were fortunate enough to have a low tide to fully appreciate and walk around the rocks (otherwise they would be submerged) and that the rain held off while we were on the beach. The Moeraki Bolders are very spherical rocks, like giant marbles. Here are few photos including one with a cracked open boulder (at left).

Jenny with her parents

We also stopped at a small cheese factory, Evansdale Cheese, and purchased some excellent cheeses en route to Dunedin where we purchased groceries and some supplies. It was lightly raining and we had our lunch not far from the beach outside town but it was extremely windy and quite cool so most of us just ate in the vehicle. We continued our drive passing through Balclutha, and Gore on our way to Manapouri (just south of Te Anau) where we spent the next two nights. We drove by a lot of farms, sheep with their little lambs, dairy cows, beef, deer, and elk.

Day 3. Milford Sound and Te Anau.

We headed out early in the morning to drive out to Milford Sound. There was heavy fog and low clouds when we left and a frost covering the ground. We stopped and took some photos on the way. We were very lucky that the air was calm so the reflections of the mountains in the mirror lakes (see below right) were spectacular.

On the drive towards Milford

Mirror Lakes (reflection)

Frosty grass with mountains

To get the Milford Sound (technically a fjord) the road passes through the mountains at Homer Tunnel. The tunnel is quite dark and narrow enough for one way traffic with a few wide spots if you meet oncoming vehicles (which we did on our return trip).

David & Jenny

Homer Tunnel

Milford Sound (Mitre Peak on right)

Sharon & Sandy

Richard, David, Jenny & Sandy

As it rains on average 182 days per year in Milford Sound we were expecting rain.The region receives nearly 7 meters (268 inches) of rain each year. Some guests on our boat cruise had been waiting 4 days to visit Milford Sound as it had stormed and the road was closed. However, as you can see we had perfect weather, one of only 3 nice days in the month of September (as we were told by the crew).  On our boat cruise we saw several waterfalls, fur seals, and were lucky enough to glimpse some Fjordland Crested Penguins as well (quite rare).

Welcome Home Cottage

On our return trip we stopped and had a picnic lunch and did a brief hike in the rainforest before driving back to Te Anau. We did a walk along Lake Te Anau in town and visited the birds at the free Te Anau Wildlife Centre. Sharon and Sandy did a glow worm cave tour that evening while the rest of us made dinner and enjoyed the roaring fire that Richard started in the fireplace at the cottage where we were staying. Luckily the cottage was much warmer today than the previous day (most likely due to warmer weather). Even for Minnesotans it was cold inside, we kept our jackets on indoors and ran the electric or propane heaters in our bedrooms (or pre-heated our beds with hot water bottles a new experience) when not in front of the fire. As nearly all places we have stayed at in Australia or New Zealand it was just single pane glass in the windows and likely no or little insulation anywhere. In the toilet room and the main entrance you could see outside through the gaps under the doors.

View of Queenstown from the Gondola

Day 4. Manapouri to Queenstown.

We packed up and drove on to Queenstown. We took the Skyline Gondola up to the top of Bob's Peak and then continued hiking on the Ben Lommond Track to the saddle and then on towards the summit. Parts of the trail were covered in snow, other in slush, and quite a bit in some very slippery mud. All of us overdressed and were way too warm (taking off layers as we went) while walking. We stopped and had a picnic lunch. The views over Queenstown, the lake and nearby mountain ranges were spectacular on this beautiful day. We continued on after the saddle and a bit further as a group.

Jenny's parents (Ben Lommond summit in background)

David and Jenny attempted to climb the summit (extremely steep and covered with snow, hanging onto rocks and clumps of grass) and looked over the ridge but did not make it to the summit. However there was no marked trail (possibly due to the snow).

We all made it back safely. David then went tandem paragliding (incidentally forgetting to give up the car keys). We all watched the various paragliders, solo and tandems land in a nearby football field and were able to watch David's descent. We spent the night at the Top 10 Holiday Park- Creeksyde which had double paned glass (a first) and was very environmentally friendly (truly) with newspaper scrap bags for composting food waste in their worm farm. 

Day 5. Queenstown to Franz Josef.

We left Queenstown and spent a good part of the day driving to Franz Josef (Glacier Country), taking the scenic and very windy route over the mountains (Crown Range) instead of the main highway. We then made our way to the West Coast and out to the ocean, following it northeast along the coast and inland to the Glaciers. The sand on the west coast is very grey and most of the beaches we came across were covered in pebbles (different sizes depending on the beach).

The West Coast is very rugged and reminded us of coastlines in Oregon, Washington (Olympic National Park) and California (Big Sur). We stopped at the beach for a brief walk around and at a lookout to take some photos.

Knights Point Lookout -looking North

Knights Point Lookout -looking South

We also stopped at Lake Matheson outside the town of Fox Glacier to do a walk around the lake and take in the local rain forest. The lake was very still so we had beautiful reflections of the mountains.

We came across a lot of sheep and young lambs while in New Zealand (more than any of us had seen in our lifetimes combined). There are approximately 31 million sheep in New Zealand and just over 4 million people. This photo was taken outside the town of Fox Glacier (courtesy of Sandy).

We stopped in Fox Glacier to book our half day guided glacier walk for the next day (very glad we did this in advance) before heading to our accommodation in the town of Franz Josef where we spent the next two nights.



Day 6. Fox Glacier and Gillespies Beach

Kea (alpine parrot) with walking poles, Glacier (background)

In the morning we headed back into Fox Glacier (town) and were outfitted with heavy socks, boats, and other outwear (hats, gloves, jackets etc) if you wanted them and crampons (packed with) for walking on the ice. We were bussed out to the parking lot near Fox Glacier and then were led by our guide, Dave, up the walking track. Before getting onto Fox Glacier we were offered walking poles and fitted our boots with crampons. We had beautiful clear sunny weather while on the glacier.

We walked along stairs cut into ice by our guide and walked into a couple of moulins and into a crevasse which gave us a much better and look into the glacier and the ice (see photos below). It was really cool to be up so close to the ice. You could hear the glacier move and the water moving through the glacier and see the blue color of the ice come through in some of the features.

Ice steps being cleared by guide

Mountain Woman

Walking in a crevasse

The clouds were rolling into the mountains and we could tell it was raining (see below). We felt a few drops of rain and it was already time for our group to finish up on the glacier.

We all made it back to the bus and they drove a few minutes before the torrential downpours began.  Lucky for us we were nice and dry. We decided to head west to the ocean and visit Gillespies Beach as it was sunny in that direction. Fortunately for us the weather held and we stayed nice and dry and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon. The beach was full of nice smooth skipping stones which Richard worked on returning to the ocean (definitely at least a lifetime's supply). 

Gillespies Beach

Group- Old Mining Tunnel

Beach Pebbles

Day 7. Franz Josef to Punakaiki 

Franz Josef Glacier

In the morning we walked on a trail to get a closer look at Franz Josef Glacier, before continuing our drive north. We stopped in Hokitika to walk around, visit the beach briefly and stores selling jade (which can be found locally and some of which is also carved locally). We made it up to Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks) and Blow Holes (~1hr north of Greymouth) in time for the high tide. This is supposed to be the best time for viewing the blow holes, however as the sea was as calm as glass there wasn't much spray on the rocks. Loud thundering noises could be heard as the waves cut in and under the rocks which was really cool. The rocks themselves, composed of even layers of sedimentary rocks (previously at the bottom of the sea) were like nothing else we had seen before. The area around the pancake rocks was heavily vegetated with native flax and Nikau Palm trees.

Pancake Rocks

West Coast

Nikau Palms & Flax

After dinner the group split with the guys staying home and walking down to the local beach. The gals drove about an hour north to Cape Foulwind to visit the fur seal colony there and take in the sunset. Luckily unlike the name, the coast was quite calm that evening and we did see some fur seals (8-12). At sunset we had the beach entirely to ourselves.

Cape Foulwind

The twins

Mother & Daughter

 




  

Pebbles- Truman Beach

Day 8. Greymouth to Christchurch.

After breakfast we headed down to the nearest beach (8 min walk from where we were staying) called Truman beach which was covered is very small pebbles. There were some interesting rock formations and caves on the beach as well. 

Cave and waterfall- Truman beach

Then we drove back to Greymouth and attended church there, followed by a brewery tour at Monteith's Brewing Company and cider and beer tastings. Afterwards we headed to the beach and had lunch on the rocks before dropping off the rental car and boarding the Tranz Alpine Scenic Train. The ~4 hour train ride took us through some spectacular country and it was nice break from driving as Jenny and David were the sole drivers for the trip. We arrived in Christchurch where the weather was much cooler than when we left hours earlier. Just on the shuttle drive from the airport to our hotel and our few block walk to dinner we could see that Christchurch is still rebuilding from the devastating earthquakes from February 2011 though we didn't get a chance to visit the hardest hit central downtown area which still is contained within an exclusion zone.

Day 9. Goodbyes

We were up quite early to catch our 4:30am shuttle to the airport for our 7am flight back to Brisbane. Jenny's family's flights didn't depart for a few hours later to Auckland but we all took the shuttle together. It was too early for them to check in for their flight so we hung out and said our goodbyes before we had to separate to go through security. It was great for Jenny to see her family as it has been nearly 16 months since she saw them last (during her last trip to MN). Overall, it was an excellent trip and a good but brief tour around the South Island of New Zealand. We would highly recommend it to anyone who has not visited yet.