G'day Mate

Only 4 more days and we're headed "down under." We've been diligently walking and doing bleachers in preparation for our New Zealand trek. It's been hot there - March is the end of summer, but they had a storm come through this week that brought snow to the mountains. It makes packing difficult but we will be prepared. Here is a map and itinerary for our trip. I will try to post along the way as I have internet availability.

We depart on March 31st and arrive in Brisbane, AU on April 2nd.

4/2 - 4/7 touring the east coast of Australia

4/8 - The Tui trek begins in Christchurch, New Zealand, heads to the Southern Alps for a hike in Arthur's Pass to Devil's Punchbowl, then down the coast to overnight in a tiny village (pop. 31).

4/9 - Hike Franz Josef Glacier

4/10, 4/11 - Fly to Siberia Valley in Mt. Aspiring Nat'l Park, backpack in the park to Lake Crucible, overnight in remote hut, take a jetboat back to Makarora, mountain bike for ~10 miles to Wanaka, then on to Queensland

4/12 - Hike Ben Lomond and free time in Queensland

4/13 - Hike Routeburn Track (mountains, rain forest, Milford Sound)

4/14 - Sea kayak Milford Sound

4/15 - Fly to Auckland and overnight

4/16 - Head for home

If you are interested in the tour we are taking, here is the link: http://activenewzealand.com/our-adventures/itineraries/tui/8-day-south-island-adventure-trip.php

As the Kiwis say: cheers!

Day 1 Australia

After very little sleep on the flight over and being in an opposite time zone, today was a herculean effort just to stay awake. We landed in Brisbane, AU at 6:20 am, spent about an hour going through customs and having our luggage inspected, picked up the rental car, then spent the morning at the beach and the afternoon inland.

Oh boy, driving on the wrong side of the road.

Checking out the water temperature.

Jelly fish covered the beach.

We saw all kinds of interesting birds.

This one is a bit difficult to see but it's bright green right in the middle of the picture.

Very unusual pine tree.

A big rock :)

Macadamia orchard.

Crikey mate, it's the crocodile hunter's Australia Zoo. We didn't go in since it was late in the day and the price of admission was $59 pp.

It's a beautiful and unique landscape.

Day 2 Australia

Today we headed south of Brisbane to Lamington National Park to bushwalk the rainforest. Our drive took us through the Canungra valley (wine country) and Tamborine mountain. We stopped along the way to watch people lawn bowling, a very exciting sport - NOT! Once in the park we decided on two walks: the Tree Top and Marons Falls. The tree top walk took us over a very rickety bridge and up a tree for a fantastic view. The Marons Falls walk was ~4.5 km through the rain forest, down to the falls and then back up. Whew! The only kangaroo we've seen so far was road kill. Australia has kangaroo signs along the hwy like we have deer signs.

Kim on the rickety bridge.

Me climbing up the tree (not my best side). You can't even see the top in this picture.

Views from the top of the tree.

Taking a breather by the Booyong tree.

This little critter gave me quite a start when he slithered across the trail in front of me.

An interesting tour bus.

Morans Falls.

The falls.

The trees look like twisted ropes.

We had to wait on a herd of Australian cows to cross the road.

After leaving the rainforest, we decided to drive over to the Gold Coast.

Love the sound, although like the pics, it's not the same as it is in person.

Me doing one of my favorite things.

Day 3 Australia

We started off the day at the market in Eumundi about 90 km north of Brisbane. It is a BIG street market with all sorts of things for sale. We didn't buy anything but enjoyed looking around.

 Next stop - the world's largest ginger factory.

The ginger soaks in syrup for several days until it turns a caramel color.

Have you ever seen so many lily pads? This was a very large pond that was completely covered with them.

Daddy, I took these flower pictures for you.

As we worked our way back down to the Brisbane area, it was time for bushwalking through more rainforest, starting with Mapleton falls in the Blackall mountains.

This tree looks like it's wearing a hula skirt.

I must admit this rainforest creeped me out a bit. The canopy was so thick that it was really dark.

The pictures don't show how massive these trees are.

Right before walking up to this swampy area we read a sign warning about a particularly venomous snake. I was thinking that I sure hope one didn't drop out of a tree when Kim said, "You almost expect a monkey to come screaming out of the trees." I don't think I was the only one creeped out.

We left the rainforest and stopped for lunch in the quaint little town of Montville. This was the view from our table. I had pumpkin, spinach and goat cheese quiche with a citrus and avocado salad. I know, rough huh? You can see the ocean in the distance, which is where we are headed after lunch.

The view from the other side of the table.

The Glass House Mountains.

The Glass House Mountains from the other side.

Back to one of my favorite places...

...as the sun sets on another glorious day. We've logged about 18 1/2 miles of hiking the last 3 days so tomorrow we will take it easy and do the hop on / hop off trolley tour of the city.

Day 4 Australia

I have very limited access to internet so will try to get 2 days worth posted. We packed up from our hotel on the coast and moved to our hotel in downtown Brisbane for the next two nights. After leaving the car at the hotel, we took off for the hop on / hop off City Sights tour. The bus goes to 19 different sights around the city taking about 2 hours. You can get off at any stop and get back on as desired. The ticket also allows access to the CityCats, which is Brisbane's public transportation on the river. Since the Brisbane river winds through the city, this is often the quickest way for people to commute to and from work. Brisbane is a city of ~2 million people and it's a school holiday so they are all out and about. I just thought the rainforest was creepy. I've never seen such apparel (or lack thereof). Anything goes and lingerie as outerwear seems to be the thing.

Downtown Brisbane. Annie didn't start until the week after we left.

These critters just love running in front of me.

Brisbane's version of the London Eye.

These birds are quite large and make the most awful screeching sound you've ever heard.

Baptist Church in Brisbane

Brisbane from the top of Mt. Coot-tha

The Brisbane River runs through the city.

We got off the bus at Chinatown to have lunch. Juniper this pic is for you!!!

View from the Story Bridge.

Story bridge.

We walked all the way across the bridge and back.

The CityCat (public transportation).

The line to get on the CityCat from these office buildings was like rush hour traffic.

The city from the CityCat at night.

The wheel at night.

Today was supposed to be an easy day so I wore my flip flops. Little did I know that we would walk over 10 miles. After being so careful to protect our feet (with all our bushwalks in the rainforest) for our upcoming New Zealand hike, I ended up with blisters on the tops and bottoms of both feet from walking in the city. This is not a good thing.