The Final Days

Melbourne is a great city to see and we really enjoyed ourselves sight seeing. We decided that on Sunday we would head out and see some of the landmarks around Melbourne so we hopped on the tram and headed downtown. To be able to head out the door and hop on a tram to go anywhere you want is a great way to get around and something that we are not used to. When you are living close to the city center there is really little need to have a car. By taking the tram you do not have to worry about trying to find a parking spot or fighting the traffic.

Our first stop was at Victoria Market. This is a one stop shopping destination for sure. From vegetables to meat, fish, you name it, and you can find it here. The market place is large and you could spend all day there if you wanted to and have lunch and coffee at all the different locations throughout the market.

Girl's shopping for Fran's Baby Boy

Outside Victoria Market

After the ladies had enough shopping, we headed across the CBD towards the ANZAC Shrine. ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand is like Remembrance Day here in Canada and they have built a very large Shrine to commemorate those who lost their lives. It is a massive structure and is situated so that when you are looking down the street it is all you can see at the end of the road.

Michelle,Colby & Di at ANZAC Shrine

Time flies and before you know it and we will be off to Sydney soon and the ending of our trip. After we had finished sight seeing for the day we decided it was time that we had a few cold ales to keep us going so we hit Michelle and Colby's trap line of pubs in the area, tested a few Carlton Draught and Tui blondes. We had a great meal at one of their favorite Italian restaurants and then found another pub to finish the night off. The Canadians took on the Aussies in a pool game and the Canadians came out victorious with a 3-2 win over the Aussies. It must of been the beer and wine that gave us the edge.

On Monday, Michelle and Colby did up a great BBQ and Abe, Adama and Elias were able to come in and join us, so we had a great afternoon with friends. Tuesday we headed to the airport and caught our flight to Sydney for the final 4 days so we had to say our goodbyes with the hopeful knowledge that everyone will make their way back to Canada again soon and for some for the first visit.

Sydney is another large city with lots of activities and things to see. We have been extremely lucky throughout our trip and have only had the odd day of showers, but something is telling us that we are pushing the limit on our luck. Sydney greeted us with some soft showers but nothing that would keep us in doors. After getting settled in our apartment we struck out to explore. Chinatown was quite close so we headed over there and grabbed a bite to eat along the way. We came across the Capital Theatre and and checked out what was playing in case we needed a backup plan. The Broadway Musical WICKED was playing so we thought if the weather is bad we will come back and catch the matinee tomorrow.

Guess what, we woke to rain so we decided to head down to the theatre. As we were trying to buy our tickets the fellow told us to go around to the main foyer where we discovered they were holding an auction for front row seats. We both entered out names and 10 minutes later Dianna was called as one of the winners, so we got front row seats for $30 each. The show itself was very entertaining and well worth the viewing.

The next day we headed down to the Opera House and took the tour. It is a large facility and has 7 different areas that are used for venues. They host over 2500 events a year at the Opera House. There was nothing show wise during that we were interested in that day but during the tour we were able to watch and listen to a school practice for a musical event. All the kids playing their instruments and a choir of about 20 girls sounded pretty awesome in that theatre.

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

The tour itself was interesting and informative and we learned the entire story of the design and construction of the Opera House. We thought about doing the walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge but at $200 a head it just did not seem to have the same thrill as the Para-gliding.

Opera House from the ferry

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Friday was our last day and we got lucky with a hot and sunny day so we struck out to see another area we were told about called Manly Beach. We headed down to the Quay where all the ferries are located and took the ferry to Manly Beach which is about a 30 minute boat ride. The beach was long, fine sand and hot and it did not take to much imagination to picture how busy it would be in the summer at this location. Dianna and I sat on the beach and watched all the surfers trying to catch the big one so they could test their skills.

Manly Beach

Surfer riding the curl

After a great afternoon at the beach we caught the ferry back to downtown and headed back to the Apartment in Surrey Hills while walking through the Botanical Gardens. We had found a couple of great pubs in the neighborhood and decided we needed to wet the whistle and have a bite to eat as tomorrow would be a early and long day flying home to Canada.

Our flights were good and the return trip from Sydney to Vancouver was only 14 hours with a 1 hour lay over in Vancouver to clear customs and then 4 hrs to Toronto. After 3 hrs we caught our flight to Halifax and were greeted by Paul and Kathy who drove the weary travelers home. Thanks again guys for the pickup.

Well that ends the current travels of the Berry's who now have to face the cruel realities of going back to work tomorrow. But that won't stop us from planning our next great escape so you never know where we will end up.

Melbourne

Melbourne and area has over 6 million people so that gives you some idea on the size of the city. After spending a few days with Abe and Adama, Dianna and I hopped on the Train and headed into the city to look around for the day. We met up with friends and say the Central Business District and sampled a few beers and sights.

The Central Business District

The following night Michelle had arranged a special evening for us all so the six of us headed into the city and caught the Dinner Tram that drove around the city while you had a fabulous meal. Great night with good food and friends.

Left - Inside the Tram Car  Right -  The Dinner Group

Nice drink of Whiskey  -  Right - Great Dinner

The following day Michelle and Colby picked us up in Frankston where Abe lives and we went down to the bottom of the bay,caught the ferry to the otherside and headed down the Great Ocean Drive. 

Left & Right - Along the Great Ocean Road

Colby and Michelle had arranged a holiday home at Seperation Creek which was just the ticket. With a tour guide that knew where to go we saw some areas that I would never have driven into.

Left - Entrance to the Great Ocean Road - Right - View from Home at Seperation Creek

We located Koala bears , Kangaroos and various birds in our travels.

Left - Cuckodoo that ate lunch with us.  Right - Koala Bear sighting.

Left - So what do you have for me!!  Right - Just taking a rest.

We are back in Melbourne to explore for a couple of days and then fly off to Sydney for the last leg of our journey before heading for home on the 29th.

Time to go see some more.   Cheers

On to Australia

Well we knew it was time to leave Queenstown on the morning of the 13th when we woke up to rain. We had a great time in Queenstown and spent the night at Melissa's work watching her slave away at the bar. We got a chance to meet her co-workers and boss and had a great talk with them all. We said our goodbyes and the next morning hit the road towards Christchurch and drove into sunny skies. We had a nice drive and decided to spend the night in Ashburton only an hour away from the airport.

Left - Scenery heading to Ashburton  Right - Abe - Adama - Dianna at Arthurs Seat

Next morning we took our time and made our way into the airport, dropped off the car and checked our selves in for the flight. It was a 3 1/2 hour flight to Melbourne and we gained back 2 hours of time.
Michelle and Colby met us at the airport and we drove into the city and went out for a great Italian supper then headed our to Frankston to Abe and Adama's.

Left - Elias & Dianna  Right - Gorilla at the zoo

Last night Abe put on a BBQ at his place and we met up with some old friends from Sierra Leone who we had worked with over the years, talked about our experiences and had a great evening. Today we toured around the bay some of Frankston's and had lunch at the marina. Tomorrow we will hit the zoo with Elias, Abe and Adama. Nice and relaxing.

Left - Elias and a furry friend  Right - New baby at the zoo

The Melbourne Zoo is worth the trip if you ever make it to Melbourne. We had a great day and everyone had a great time getting to see the animals that call the Zoo home.

Anyway guys nothing more exciting at the moment so will see you all later.

Doubtful sound Trip

This was a spectacular trip and highly recommended to anyone that should venture to this part of the country. Since there were three of us we wanted to stay together in the same accommodations so we had to take a Quad bunk in the lower decks. Hos til style living which we figured we could handle for the one night.

Our adventure started off with a 2 hour drive from Queenstown to Manapouri the start point for the Doubtful Sound trip. Just the drive itself through the mountains and along the lakes was breathtaking. I could have stopped every 5 minutes to take another photo. They have some vast farm lands along this route as there appears to be a large valley running down between the hills.
Upon arriving in Manapouri we checked in and waited for the boat to return with the overnighters from the previous night. Manapouri Lake is also home to a large hydro electric dam that produces 15% of the countries power. They did not have to actually dam anything as the lake is quite a distance above the sea level and they built huge tunnels from the lake down to the sea level and have about 7 large turbines running inside the mountain.
Once the boat arrived we struck out across Manapouri Lake on a site seeing boat that took us about 1 hour to reach the dam. Once we arrived at the dam they transported us via bus across the road that the was made during the construction of the dam which was 22 km long and took about 40 minutes. Quite a ride down and up again on this gravel road. We reached the doubtful sound and were boarded onto the our floating hotel. We checked into our Quad share room and even gained an extra young lady from Montana. Two bunks on either side and very cozy. Turns out the young girl from Montana snores..oh well only one night.

Our trip out into the sound was very interesting. Unfortunately the weather was cloudy and the clouds/fog was low and made it hard to take good photos but the views were breathtaking. We saw from a distance in the water Blue Penguins swimming along. These are very small penguins that are only about 6 inches long. We travelled for a couple of hours taking in the grandness of it all and reached the Tasman Sea. Now the boat we are on is not designed for the open waters of the sea as it is mainly a flat hulled boat so the Captain only took us into the mouth of the sea where Captain James Cook had made his decision not to sail into the Sound as he felt it was to narrow and he may loose his wind and not be able to get out. Hence the name Doubtful Sound stuck. There are two rocks out to the south of the entrance called the Hares Ears named by Cook as a land mark for the entrance to the sound.
While out in this area we had the chance to observe some Fur Seals that were lounging on the rocks at the mouth of the sound. They looked pretty safe there to me as the weather would certainly protect them from anyone trying to get to close. Apparently sealers would come from all over the world including Canada at one time to hunt the fur seals.
We made our way back up into the sound and the Captain found a nice quite spot for us to Moore for the night. It is completely dark here by 6pm so there was nothing else to see at the moment, but they had a huge spread laid out for us for supper and it was Delicious. We took the opportunity to meet lots of people from all over and actually quite a few Kiwi's were on the trip.
At the crack before dawn the Captain fired up the engines which you felt immediately (0630 hr) and began advising us about the beautiful morning we had lucked into. The showers which are clean and private are also unisex so I had to try and beat all these Asian girls to the showers which are Unisex not not separated as to gender. I left the girls and the snorer in the state room and headed up on onto deck to grab a coffee and see what the Captain was talking about. He must have had good eyes as the only thing I saw was the Moon and stars, which in the long run I guess told him the sky was clear and we would enjoy the clear morning.

As the sun peaked over the mountains the scenery was breath taking with the low mist fog hanging around the mountain tops and sitting on top of the water. We had a great breakfast and then took in all the scenery nature could offer us. We went into one of the arms and when we came to the end the Captain shut off everything and we sat and listened to the birds and took in the views. To many photos to add into this blog.
On our way further down the sound we came across a pod of about 20 bottle nosed dolphins who decided to follow the ship's bow and put on a little show for the passengers. The Captain claims that he has not had such a good day for several months and thanked us for the great weather. The dolphins were very entertaining jumping out of the water and doing a little dance across the water for us. They stayed with us for over 30 minutes.
By 1200 noon we were back where we started from and headed back to Queenstown. If you ever get the chance take this trip as it is well worth the money and time.
We will be travelling for a couple of days and Internet may become sparse so see you when we see you.

Queenstown the first few days

Well let's see we arrived in Queenstown on the 7th and it has been pretty much full on since our arrival. After checking into our Motel/Apt we touched base with Melissa and then went to get some groceries. We met Melissa later in the afternoon down town and she showed us the downtown area. Let's see how best to describe Queenstown, small European style village, tourist spots every 5 feet, right down on the lake waterfront with cafes every 2 feet.


It has a great feeling to it and I can see how it could easily be described as a happening place. Now fortunately for us it is the fall and their slowest time of the year so we have not had to battle the masses and have really enjoyed walking the town. Just prior to our arrival Queenstown was under water along the waterfront. Heavy rains had raised the lake level to the point that they had to sand bag most of the businesses along the waterfront and the bags were still in place upon our arrival, but you could see that things were slowly coming back to normal and the bags were being removed by the town workers on a daily basis. Apparently this is unusual for Queenstown. Since Melissa had to go to work that left Dianna and I on our own for the night so we decided to have supper at Emily Flemmings workplace a restaurant called Bella Cucina. We had a great feed and chatted with Emily who was flying off to Wellington to meet up with her mom the next day.

Queenstown from ontop of the Gondola .








We had a good night's sleep and as Melissa was going to be working a double shift, we decided to head up the Gondola to get the bird's eye view of Queenstown, and it was not disappointing. We hiked the upper trails along the hills and watched the Paragliding take off from the top of the hill and swoop around the airspace till they landed in the park below. Looks like a lot of fun. From here we decided to stop at the Old Mans Cafe where Melissa was working and have a quick bite and a coffee. Service was pretty good as well I might add.

Chico's Bar & Restaurant








After leaving there we headed out to see the famous bridge where Bungee jumping originated called AJ Hatchett's. We got to watch and video a couple of young girls who were brave enough to take the plunge. There was a lot of screaming going on but they had fun. We found a nice winery Amisfield on our way back to the Apt and stopped in and sampled the finer wines of the Otago region and then went home to make a nice supper for the two of us.

Mothers day, what do you do for your mother on mother's day. Dianna already got her gift of a nice hand blown necklace on the West Coast so we decided to have a nice breakfast and then head out and do a little hiking on the Queenstown Walking loop. Before heading out we were able to reach Betty up at Donna's and had a nice chat with her. The hike was about 2 hours long and took us to the same level as the Gondola across the valley and boy it got the heart rate going as it was a steady climb the whole way up. We met a number of people along the way and then sat and watched the para gliders take off from above the Gondola sight. It was amazing to watch them as they just floated along in the air over the town, so we decided it was time for us to take the plunge and join them. We headed down the mountain and made our way over to the Gondola and up we went. Dianna was nervous at first as she is not a lover of heights to begin with and it has been over 30 yrs since I did anything like this. After a short talk with the guys at the top we paid our two bits and decided to see the fat lady dance. I went first strapped nicely in front of soon to be pilot of this light weight piece of fabric. We had to change sides as the wind shifted on us at the top of the hill but once were set we both struck out running down the hill till the next thing I knew the legs were running but only catching air. There we were floating across the sky line of Queenstown like so many others that we had watched. Dianna and her guide Gavin who turns out to be from Toronto had to change sides three times to catch the right wind. Gavin was willing to make the ride interesting for her by doing lots of turns but she only wanted the gentle ride down. It was fantastic that she did it , what a way to spend mothers day floating across the skies. She is still reliving the flight over an over again and is really happy that she did it.

It is supper time and we are going to head out for supper with Melissa at Chico's the restaurant that she works at down on the Mall. Tomorrow morning we are heading out for an overnight boat trip to the Doubtful Sound where hopefully we will see some dolphins , seals and great fiord scenery. I will fill you in more on that trip when we get back. Have a great Mothers Day to all you mothers reading this.
 
Photo's to follow. I do not have access to the Para-gliding photos at the moment as I do not have a disc drive. Will put some on after we get to Australia.

Wanka to Arrowtown

Well it had to happen eventually. Dianna and I had plans to hike Iron Mountian this morning in Wanaka only to wake to rain which quickly cancelled that excursion for the day. Wananka it self is a fantastic spot which seems to sit around a lake at a relativly high altitude considering the roads we travelled later to get down to the arrowtown. It is like sitting inside a postcard as every way you can turn is a picture perfect shot of a set of rolling hills or a moutain. Wanaka is a ski area and caters to skiers in the winter and boaters and kikers in the summer, a real tourist town for sure.

Left - stunning view during our drive across the Crown range to Arrowtown.
Right - Switchback road down to the Valley Floor.

You have never seen a place to set up for backpackers. They have buildings the size of hotels that are outfitted with bunkbeds and dorm style living for all those travelling on a limited budget and let me tell you these places are full of kids from all over the world.

We had a nice quiet drive from Wanaka over to Arrowtown by going over the Crown range pass. Arrowtown is an old mining town that has kept the look over the years. Kind of like Dawson city in the Yukon. We never got a hike in today but did get settled in our apartment in Queenstown and met up with Melissa before she went to work. We are just trying to put together a overnight trip on a boat out to the Doubtful sound. Looks like Monday. tomorrow is suppose to be nice so we are going sight seeing.

Left main street Arrowtown

Right - Chinese village in arrowtown