Sorry to be a negative Nancy – I just had really high expectations.  I’m sure there are much better places to view the Great Barrier Reef in all of it’s natural beauty.  There were some really great aspects of our trip – I saw some beautiful coral (my favorite had bright blue tips which you can kind of tell from the picture I took of it – see below), I got to see a lot of beautiful fish (even though I hate to eat fish, I love to swim amongst them) and we got to wear some pretty awesome jellyfish suits!  The Irukandji jellyfish is a silent, mysterious, nearly invisible killer found in the seas off northern Australia.  They can be as tiny as your thumb tip – you don’t see them before they sting and potentially kill you.   Also, because the tide was going out, we wore life jackets because the water was swirling around the reef – we didn’t want to be inadvertently sucked toward the coral and hurt any of it.  We made friends with the boat photographer and got some AWESOME pictures taken (see previous post).

When we returned from our day at sea I was exhausted – something about the humid, salty air got to me and I slept for about 13 hours straight.   Monday morning we all packed up and went to the airport.  And, get this, it was perfectly sunny and beautiful out.  There were butterflies all over the place, playing into the majestic beauty around us.  Luckily, we got to see the island for a few hours in all of it’s sun-filled glory.  Weather can’t be controlled but it really does change your plans while on vacation.  It was great to spend the time with Gav and my parents and do some relaxing.  I read two books, The Great Gasby and The Life of Pi and really caught up on sleep.  We also got to sit each night and either watch the sunset (if there was a break in the clouds) and/or listen to evening animal symphony at dusk.  Two things I wish I did more often.  Taking the time to sit and think is definitely underrated, especially when you have such a gorgeous view to enjoy.

All in all – it was a fun trip but we all agreed that New Zealand was our collective favorite. 

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Great_Barrier_Reef_-_Part_2.zip (14.9 MB)

We took a big boat (called “Fantasea”) 20km out to the reef.   The rockiness wasn’t so bad but the crew was very prepared for sea sicknesses – the seas had been bad for about two weeks and this was the first day that the waves were around 3 feet instead of 9+.  They were stationed all around the boat with barf bags… what a job that must be!

The journey out to the reef was soothing – we stayed inside to stay dry from the sometimes driving rain and got out there within an hour.  Just as we arrived, the rain stopped!  We decided to start our day by taking a glass bottom boat out along the reef.  Gavin and I had done a similar trip recently at Disneyland on the Finding Nemo ride. Hahaha – not quite the same as a glass bottom boat at the Great Barrier Reef. 

I consider myself extremely lucky to have done a fair share of snorkeling growing up as a Trojan.  It’s one of my parents’ favorite things to do in the Caribbean.  Even as a tiny tike, my dad would gear us up and plop us in the water and we’d be on our merry way.  We’ve been lucky to see a lot of coral in some remote places and sadly, the portion of the Great Barrier Reef that we saw (Hardy Reef) was pretty damaged.  The water was very cloudy (was it from the crazy rain and high seas?) and without the bright sun, the coral was dull.  I even saw an inexperience swimmer kick and subsequently break off a large chunk of coral.  Depending on the type of coral, it can take 1 year for .2 - 1 inch per year to grow back.  We think that they block off areas of the Great Barrier Reef for these types of adventures so that they keep the human destruction contained to small areas.  I wish they would have blocked off all the areas on top of the coral and instead only permitted people to swim alongside the edge of the coral to keep people from mistakenly breaking off pieces.  I’m not sure why they don’t do that.  As they day went on and the tide got lower, the reef actually became exposed (you can see it in a few pictures).  It was quite remarkable to look out in either direction and see a string of coral as far as the eye can see.

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Saturday we met the morning rain with a bit more frustration – the seas were still too rough for kayaking and weren’t able to go out.  BUT, they were letting people rent hard-bottomed dinghy’s, so we went down to the marina and went out for a few hours exploring the bays and inlets around Hamo.  I like the picture of Gav, Dad and my Mom in the small boat.  We got caught in a downpour, but it was hot enough for it to be almost relaxing and the white caps weren’t too bad.  Sadly, on an island where everything is built for beautiful weather, there was not much to do except, read, eat, drink and watch movies in the humid stickiness.  Saturday evening the small apartment felt a bit too small for all four of us and the rain tension came to an all time high – but everything was eased by Sunday morning when… the seas calmed down to 3 feet and we were able to go to the Great Barrier Reef!!!

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Friday we met the morning rain with a bit of frustration but during the clearing explored the island and the beach and rented a few movies.  Check out the picture of a crow and a parrot fighting over a fallen coconut.  The parrot did a great job warding off advances by the much bigger and menacing black crow.  The picture of me is pretty much where I sat the whole trip – in a comfy chair on the deck enjoying the view and the sound of rain, rustle of leaves in the forest or the birds at dusk.

The four of us made burgers and had beer/wine (a staple for this rainy trip) and relaxed – hey what else is there to do?!  Oh and watched Office Space –

Peter Gibbons: Our high school guidance counselor used to ask us what you'd do if you had a million dollars and you didn't have to work. And invariably what you'd say was supposed to be your career. So, if you wanted to fix old cars then you're supposed to be an auto mechanic.
Samir: So what did you say?
Peter Gibbons: I never had an answer. I guess that's why I'm working at Initech.

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A few days after getting home from New Zealand, I was packing our bags for our next trip to Hamilton Island in the Whitsunday Island chain about 20km from the Great Barrier Reef.  Thursday morning we woke up early to catch a 3 hour flight across Australia to the east coast.  Our co-workers and friends here in Australia spoke very highly of Hamilton Island (or as they call it “Hamo”) and we were excited to get to our tropical oasis.  Unfortunately, the forecast called for rain the entire 5 days we were planned to be there.  UGH.  We hoped and prayed that we would luck out and that it wouldn’t be too bad.  Sadly, the rain did not stay away.

About one quarter of the island is covered in hotels, townhomes and a small village – the rest is lush forest.  The interesting part is that everything is owned by the same developer, so it’s almost like you’re on a cruise ship because everything is accessible to you.  We rented a two bedroom town home that had a golf cart with it, which was fun because that was our primary mode of transportation.  Our first afternoon, we went to the activities desk to book our trip to the Great Barrier Reef, sailing trip and kayak rental but to our complete dismay, most water activities were cancelled for the next two days.  WHAT!!  I kind of freaked out and told everyone that I didn’t care if there were 9 foot seas, that I was going to the Great Barrier Reef no matter what (I mean you don’t travel within 20km of one of the seven natural wonders of the world and not see it due to 9 foot seas).  Come on people, get out your Dramamine!!   We booked the Great Barrier Reef trip for Sunday and said a little prayer that the seas would calm down in three days.  We also booked our kayak trip for Saturday (though that ended up being cancelled :- ( )

It was hot, humid, and rainy so we went for a big lunch and beers to get us in the island spirit.

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The view from the airplane as we left New Zealand was incredible.  Here are a few pics.   Even though we covered about 300 miles in New Zealand in less than 48 hours, we both left feeling relaxed, rested and stress-free. We flew up to Sydney and then back to Melbourne and arrived home at about 7pm that night – enough time to get us ready for our short work week.

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Sadly, we only had until 1:00 to sight-see around Queenstown because our international flight left for Sydney > Melbourne left at 3:00, so we decided that we would take the Gondola ride up to a high point in Queenstown to check out the mountainous view – which are aptly named “The Remarkables”.  Queenstown is known for their adventure activities, such as bungee jumping, sky diving, paragliding and any other risky activity.  If we had more time, all of us would have loved to do the paragliding but since we only had a few hours, we decided to ride the mountain luge down the steep hills.  The air was very crisp and clear and we were lucky that we didn’t see any rain but instead clear skies (it was forecasted to rain).  After a few hours in the peaks above the small city, we took the gondola down to the base, went back to the hotel to pack up and went downtown for a quick look at some of the boutiques.  Then it was off to the airport.  Mom and Dad dropped us off (they stayed on a for a few days in New Zealand and then off to Sydney before we met them back in Melbourne to again fly off to Hamilton Island for our Great Barrier Reef trip).  They got to go out to Milford Sound, ride a boat through the river area and then take a helicopter ride back to Queenstown.  Wish we could’ve stayed for that!!

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I’d say I’m a pretty calm person.  Beautiful sights, new places intrigue me but I don’t remember many times in my life where my breath has literally been taken away by seeing something/someone (like the day I met Gavin… awwwwwwwwww). Both of our hotel rooms faced a hill/driveway entrance to the hotel, so we had no idea what we were about to encounter when we went downstairs at the hotel for breakfast.

The four of us met at the elevator and went down to the restaurant.  As we were standing at the entrance, trying to figure out whether we’d do the buffet or each order something (and we were all laboriously talking through this decision), something bright, vibrant and blue caught my eye.  I interrupted the conversation and said, “Oh my goodness look at that view.”  We all turned to look.  We were completely taken over by the gorgeous sun-filled vista of early morning, autumnal light over Lake Wakatipu.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  It only took me a second to fall in love with Queenstown!

I had a pink lady apple (a really sweet New Zealand apple) that morning and I think those two things (the taste and the view) will also stay together in my memory.

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After about 3 hours of driving, we came to Mount Cook.  We hit a bend in the road and the beautiful lake Tekapo.  The four of us got out of the car to stretch our legs and came across a very old church perched on a hill overlooking the lake and the mountain covered in snow.  The majestic surroundings and the beautiful wedding taking place at the church were calming as we decided to make this our place for our lunch picnic. 

After a delish lunch (we’d had our breakfast café make us sandwiches for the trip), we once again got on the slow winding road towards Queenstown.  The landscape changed in the middle of the southern island and the bright green hills had yellow grass.  The hills were also much older and rounder compared to what we drove through in the morning – with sharp mountainous ranges off in the distance.  However, as we drove south, the autumn leaves because more vibrant – mostly yellows and spots of bright red.

As dusk approached we stopped for a bit at a country farm to get some yummy fresh treats and marvel at the scenery.  I love the picture Gav took of mom in front of that very tall coned shape tree.  There was nothing else like it in the area and it came out of nowhere.

About an hour outside of Queenstown, we drove through steeper hills filled with wineries.  In the early darkness, you could make out more and more houses as we approached the very small city (about 30,000 people if you count all the surrounding districts).  We easily found Hotel St. Moritz right within the main downtown area.  It was a dark night and you could tell there was a lake out there but you had no idea how big (because there were no houses/lights on the other side).  We checked into the beautiful new hotel (HIGHLY recommend this place and again, found an outstanding deal on lastminute.com.au) and walked downtown to enjoy a well deserved dinner (after about 8 hours of traveling) in a pub.  Thank you Gavin and Dad for splitting the drive!!!

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New Zealand is by far one of the most beautiful places in the world.  Remember the scenery in Lord of the Rings?  It truly exists.  It’s a place that almost everyone we talk to speaks highly of and for good reason.  The people are friendly, the landscape is divine and the activities are limitless.  I am a country mouse and this was mecca.

Since we are working, we only had 48 hours to explore the entire country, so we decided to pack as much into those hours as we could.  We picked the southern island since we’ve heard so many wonderful stories from friends and families adventures about this nook of the world.  Friday evening, we took a four hour flight from Melbourne to Christchurch.  Due to the time difference, we arrived in the small city about mid-night, picked our rental car (got to love the Camry) and headed for our 5 star hotel in the city centre (we got a tremendous deal on the hotel suite through lastminute.com.au - it had two bedrooms).  Mind you, most businesses in this part of the world close at 6pm, even hotel concierges, so we had to make special arrangements for the hotel manager to greet us and check us in.   We woke up early the next morning and found a beautiful breakfast café a few blocks away.  Christchurch looked something like Manchester, NH (though Christchurch has 5 times the landmass and 4 times the population – about 400k people).  Big enough to be called a city but small enough to make you realize that this “big” city in New Zealand really wasn’t big at all. 

After our gourmet breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, got into the rental and started the long drive down to Queenstown.  If you drive straight, the journey would take about 6 hours, but we knew we would be making lots of stops, so we had about 9-10 hours ahead of us.

It took a full hour to drive out of Christchurch and the surrounding suburbs - lots of strip malls and industrial buildings.  Once we were out of the ‘burbs, it got quiet really fast.  There is gorgeous farm-land lining the two lane “highway” (I say it in quotes because it really is like a back New Hampshire road) all the way across the southern island.  The four of us enjoyed some great car conversation as we drove through the beautiful landscape.  No GPS was needed in this area of the world because there aren’t many other roads around, except farm paths between pastures.  Interestingly, we did not come across forests – almost all land is harvested for livestock or agricultural needs.  As far as you can see, there are rolling hills of sheep, horse, deer, and plants.  Spots of farmhouses and dusty lanes dot the horizon.  It was one giant postcard vista at every turn.

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