Australia & NZ
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The Adventure Capital of the World – Queenstown
More Details: The Adventure Capital of the World – QueenstownQueenstown’s claim to fame, perhaps among others, is that bungy jumping was invented not far from the town. By now, taller and scarier jumps have been created in Queenstown and elsewhere but that original bungy jump exists in the same bridge. Now, I am not sure if Queenstown is indeed the adventure capital of the…
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Flying onto and Hiking a Glacier in New Zealand!
More Details: Flying onto and Hiking a Glacier in New Zealand!The village of Franz Josef on the west coast of the southern island of New Zealand (whew, that’s a long “address” to give for a village) exists to share the Franz Josef glacier with those who want to see it. This glacier and neighboring Fox glacier are 2 out of 3 glaciers in the world…
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Along the Great Ocean Road and within Melbourne
More Details: Along the Great Ocean Road and within MelbourneDistances in Australia are enormous and, perhaps, they feel more so because there are a lot of vast empty lands in the middle (as opposed to us in the US where we have Kansas in the middle!). Yet my trip to Melbourne from Sydney felt short indeed as it does not require traversing the country. …
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New Zealand – Traveling from Christchurch to Franz Josef
More Details: New Zealand – Traveling from Christchurch to Franz JosefIn order to get to the village near the Franz Josef glacier on the west coast of NZ, I had to take a train across the mountains in the center of island (which are called unofficially the southern Alps, hence the train is called the Tranz Alpine train). This train cuts through the plains of…
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Arriving in the Southern Island of Middle Earth: Christchurch, New Zealand
More Details: Arriving in the Southern Island of Middle Earth: Christchurch, New ZealandThere are so many awesome places in New Zealand but I feel Christchurch, though not one of the top 2 cities in NZ, may be the best place to hit first on a trip over (Dunedin is not far behind!). The arrival I arrived in Christchurch on the eastern coast of the southern island of…
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Tasmania – The Lakes, the Mountains and the “Tinas”
More Details: Tasmania – The Lakes, the Mountains and the “Tinas”Planning the Day We hit the lodge breakfast (which gets high marks!) and planned our course of action for the day. The lodge offered a guided walk to Crater Lake at 1 PM but we thought that would waste a little bit of time waiting until then to do a 3 hr hike. We also…
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Of Mountains, Caves, and Wine – Leaving Sydney Is Hard to Do
More Details: Of Mountains, Caves, and Wine – Leaving Sydney Is Hard to DoSo today I leave Sydney. I have greatly enjoyed seeing friends and getting to know this awesome city. I am actually sad at leaving it and wish I can come back some day soon. But I am off to see other friends in Melbourne and that is helping me depart. I have packed all the…
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A Perfect Day with Friends – Human and Animal – in Sydney
More Details: A Perfect Day with Friends – Human and Animal – in SydneySaturday was a perfect day. Blue skies without a single cloud and a nice temperature neither too hot nor too cold. Just right for a day at the zoo with friends! The Taroonga Zoo on Sydney Harbor The Taroonga Zoo is blessed with a location like no other zoo that I have been to: it…
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Getting to High Places in Sydney – The Harbor Bridge
More Details: Getting to High Places in Sydney – The Harbor BridgeAlright, so I didn’t really rough it or suffered, but I did climb to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge today (134m from the top to the water). A pricey outing, but well worth it if you can part with the money! 10 years ago, this landmark bridge was opened to visitors who wanted…
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How to Explore Sydney’s Outlying Areas
More Details: How to Explore Sydney’s Outlying AreasDay 2 of my Sydney visit began with many options on things to do. However, my legs felt like they needed some rest after all the walking on day 1, and it was alternating between rain, drizzle, and no rain. So I opted to get on the Explorer buses that go on two different routes…