One Night in Sydney

After a fantastic two weeks navigating windy roads and waving to sheep, it was time to leave the beauty of New Zealand behind. Our super-cheap flight back to the States left from Sydney, so we planned one last night there. The only downside: our flight from Christchurch to Sydney left at 7:45am…which meant we had to wake up at 5:15am to make sure we had enough time to drive to the airport, drop the car off, and check in for an international flight. All went smoothly, but we were super tired when we landed after a three-hour flight.

So where did we lay our heads, you ask? Nowhere big…just the Four Seasons overlooking Circular Quay in Sydney. We kept debating where to stay in Sydney for just one night, and Mike realized he had enough credit card points to book a fancy hotel:

We Make Ourselves at Home Quite Quickly. Classy.

View from the Room. Kinda Cool Watching Traffic on Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Slightly different than trying to drown out the sounds of a snorer in a hostel dorm room, yeah? Truth be told, however, we expected fancy extravagance from the hotel, and it was…just okay. The lobby and room were both fine but nothing special.

Our plan for that day was to sit by the pool and then nap. (We woke up super early. Don’t judge.) The sky was quite overcast, so we only sat by the pool for a bit. The nap came earlier (and lasted longer) than expected. We wandered around for a bit, grabbed burgers and fried pickles, and wandered around some more:

Bridge. Cruise Ship. Both Massive.

Amazing Sky.

Because of the late lunch, we split chicken schnitzel parmigiana for dinner from the same pub where we watched some of the Super Bowl. Dessert was a huge lemon meringue pie slice. Long story short: food was the priority that day in Sydney.

After a great night’s sleep in an overly big king-size bed, the next day’s plan was to sit by the pool before leaving for the airport that afternoon. The weather, however, did not cooperate. Not much sun was spotted, and it drizzled for a bit. Not exactly the last day in Sydney we expected… We wandered, shopped for groceries, and grabbed some Japanese noodles for lunch. We also worked in some time for a photo shoot by the Opera House:

Mike Contemplating Life at the Opera House.

Textured.

Hanna Lovin’ Life.

Before we knew it, our time in Australia had to come to a close. We left for the airport around 3pm and tried to mentally prepare for our nine-and-a-half hour flight to Honolulu.

Sydney from the Airport. Last Photo Taken in Oz.

Final Thoughts: New Zealand

It’s been over a month since we had to write one of these posts, so we are feeling a bit rusty. Bear with us please, and don’t expect anything earth-shattering.

New Zealand is just as amazing as we remember it. The even more amazing part: Hanna left the country without a trace of pneumonia. After the last trip, Hanna would always say, “Yeah, New Zealand was okay.” Mike would always tell her that the reason she didn’t love it was that she got sick. Hanna tried to refute this point. Hanna finally (FINALLY!) admitted that she didn’t like New Zealand as much last time because she had pneumonia. She admitted that New Zealand is quite beautiful and amazing. Lesson learned: Mike is always right.

There is absolutely no other country that we have visited in which we constantly remark about the scenery. Even sheep got sick of us praising the beauty. Though the roads are winding and often slow, a look out of the car window reminded us that the cliché is right: it’s not always about the destination…it’s about the journey.

While we did go back to places we liked, we are glad that we got to experience new things: canyoning and tobogganing in Queenstown, hot tubbin’ it up in Hanmer Springs, cruising through stunning Milford Sound, actually getting to see Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, and failing to swim with dolphins in Akaroa.

We meant to write a post that included random pictures from our drives around the South Island, but we are lazy and never did. So, uh, here you go:

Up on a Hill in Dunedin.

Proof of Mike Driving.

Sheep. Baa.

Cotton Ball Clouds in Milford Sound.

Clouds over Random Lake. (We Forget Where.)

Wood Structure in Hokitika.

Woods on the Truman Track.

Mike: Katie A in New Zealand

You probably thought that I have forgotten about these flying pig posts, right? Nope, untrue. It’s just that we were in Australia for about a month, went to New Zealand for two weeks, and then traveled back to Sydney before heading back to the States. Since we finished seeing New Zealand first, you’ll get this post and a Final Thoughts post before we wrap up Australia.

After visits to Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia, a flying pig found its home in New Zealand. It’s no secret that we love Queenstown, and I am sure that Katie A would love this little town too. Beautiful mountains, skiing and snowboarding readily available, perfection. We knew that we wanted to place a flying pig here but couldn’t decide exactly where to put it.

As we walked towards the lake one day, we passed a hostel that had a unique bench outside. This bench was special. This bench was made out of snowboards. Hanna and I smiled to each other, and I knew this was where Katie A’s flying pig would go:

Other Stickers Were Already on the Bench, So We Know This Pig Will Be There for a Long Time.

A Closer Look.

Out of anywhere we traveled during this trip, I don’t think there is another place that Katie A would have loved more.

Hey Paula!

One of Hanna’s most favorite things in all of Christchurch is located inside the Canterbury Museum. This museum has many areas: natural history (think giant stuffed animals behind glass), art, and cultural history. Hanna’s favorite part is tucked away in its own little spot.

Way back in the ancient twentieth century, a Kiwi couple named Fred and Myrtle Flutey lived in the southernmost town in the South Island. Fred would use paua shells (the shiny coverings of sea snails) as ashtrays and would then leave them all over the house, and this drove Myrtle crazy. She yelled at him to pick up the shells so she could vacuum. Fred’s solution? Nail them to the wall of their living room. The collection quickly grew, and the walls of the entire room were covered in shells. Word spread about their collection, and tourists would come to visit. Busloads arrived, and the Fluteys became Kiwi celebrities (clearly the Ice-T and Coco of their day).

After they passed away in the early 2000s, an exact recreation of their living room has been made in the Canterbury Museum…and Hanna cannot get enough of this sweet couple:

Paua House. Organ Music (Fred’s Favorite) Plays as You Walk Through.

We saw this exhibit three years ago, and Hanna would refer to the beautiful shells as “paula shells”. We have no idea why. Hanna’s one goal upon our return to New Zealand was to obtain a paula shell, and she is proud that Ms. Abdul is proudly in our backpack now.

Hanna and Paula. (No, Hanna Didn’t Steal a Shell from the Wall.)

The Paua House wasn’t the only reason why we like the Canterbury Museum. They currently have an exhibition about street art:

Love the Random Staring Child.

Included in the exhibition are about twenty pieces by Banksy. Back in October 2013, Banksy took over the streets of New York and left a new piece of art somewhere in the city each day. We saw a few of them, but our favorite story goes as follows: a table was set up in Central Park with Banksy originals. No one really knew it was his art, so only a few pieces were sold. Two were bought by a Kiwi woman who was living in New York at the time, and she only paid US $60 for each one. These paintings are now worth about US $325,000 combined. She has lent them to the Canterbury Museum as part of the street art exhibition, so it was cool to feel a little piece of New York while in Christchurch:

The Two Banksy Paintings on Sale in Central Park. If We Would Have Bought One Back in October, Maybe We Could Have Traveled Longer. Hindsight.

Banksy famously posted his own art in various museums around the world to see if people would notice. The Canterbury Museum took a cue from Banksy and placed things that shouldn’t be there in other permanent exhibits:

Mechanical Penguin.

Hello (Waving) Kitty.

Somehow SpongeBob Snuck into an Underwater Diorama. (We Know, We Know. Crappy Picture.)

Julius Haast (Founder of the Canterbury Museum and the Namesake of Our Favorite Kiwi Town) Was Somehow Able to Log on to Facebook in the Nineteenth Century.

We had a ball searching high and low for these aberrations. One weekend the museum hid 36 tokens in the adjacent gardens, and if you found one, you would win an original piece of art by a local street artist. Very cool indeed. We were bummed to find out that this took place the previous weekend…because you KNOW we would be all over that shit.

A Slacker Post

If you check the right side of our blog every minute of every day, you know that we are no longer in New Zealand. You may even know that we stopped in Sydney again after leaving the beautifulocity of New Zealand. The truth is: we are in Hawaii now, and we still need to wrap up New Zealand and Australia. The further truth? This is the first time in over two months that we are behind the rest of the world in time zones. We are tired and don’t feel like writing posts right now. They’ll come soon enough, reader friends.

Here’s a picture of a turtle instead:

Just Punched a Turtle. #YOLO

CHCH

Our last stop in New Zealand was the first city we saw on our previous trip: Christchurch. We were driving to Auckland when a major earthquake struck Christchurch in February 2011. We have seen pictures of the massive damage, but we weren’t sure what to expect upon coming here for the first time since the quake.

Truth be told: it’s heartbreaking. The center city feels like a construction zone and ghost town. Many streets are closed as road crews repair streets. Many buildings are boarded up and left inhabited. Entire buildings are just gone. Granted we have only been to Christchurch once before, we can only imagine how it must feel for locals to see their city destroyed:

Damage.

Right in the Center City.

With devastation, however, comes rebuilding, and Christchurch has done an absolutely amazing job at this restart. Public art dots the city, and Re:START Mall (shops in large shipping containers) replace destroyed stores:

Such a Unique Shopping Area Which Brings a Modern Touch to an Area of Devastation.

The Christchurch Cathedral is a symbol of the city and survived many prior earthquakes, but unfortunately a lot of it didn’t survive after the February 2011 quake:

January 2011: Christchurch Cathedral.

March 2014: Christchurch Cathedral.

Most buildings surrounding the cathedral have collapsed or are considered condemned. We knew that the cathedral was heavily damaged, but we had no idea how much damage was done to its surroundings. We couldn’t quite wrap our heads around the devastation and that this was a place we had been before. Unreal.

Since the cathedral is unable to be used for services, a temporary cathedral has been built nearby. Created by a Japanese architect, this church is made mostly of cardboard tubes, wood, and steel, and it’s been built to sustain earthquakes:

Cardboard Cathedral.

Cardboard Tube Beams.

Across the street from the Cardboard Cathedral is a remembrance of the 185 people that lost their lives in the February 2011 earthquake. 185 white chairs (each one different, each one unique) hold a single flower, and viewers are encouraged to sit in the chairs to remember the victims:

White Chairs.

A Sea of White Across from the Cardboard Cathedral.

When we were here three years ago, Christchurch was trying to back on its feet from earthquakes in 2010. There was visible destruction in certain areas, but there was still a vivacious feeling in the center city area. It now feels almost like a war zone in parts. Whole blocks are gone or destroyed, waiting for their turn to be fixed. Our hearts really go out to the citizens of Christchurch because almost everywhere you look is a reminder of destruction.

Here’s to You, Christchurch.

Mike: Swimming with Dolphins

Well, it was a nice nature cruise.

One thing I didn’t do during our last trip to New Zealand was swimming with wild dolphins in Kaikoura. We were woken up by seals outside our tent, but that’s as close as I got to marine life. Instead of returning to a place we have already been so that I could swim with dolphins, we decided to make the trek out to Akaroa, a harbour town near Christchurch that was settled by the French.

We can see how this town is charming during warm summers, but we arrived off the winding roads to gray skies and rain:

See? Gloomy.

See? French.

See? French Pier.

Hanna was worried about getting seasick and thus had no desire to meet new dolphin friends, so I headed to the wharf the next morning and wetsuited up. One of our guides (who looked exactly like Ben Affleck) said that although the weather had been rainy for the past few days, they still have seen loads of dolphins. Often times dolphins will swim right between people as they like to play.

While most of the group stayed inside the boat, I took my place at the bow (just like Leo and Kate). Luckily skies were blue as we headed out of the harbor:

Boat Captain.

Danish Child, Danish Dad, and Ben Affleck.

I’m glad I stayed outside because I got to see little blue penguins and albatrosses. In your face, inside people. Once we got out to open water, we had our first glimpse at Hector’s dolphins, one of the smallest and rarest species of dolphin:

Endangered Species. These Guys Are Only About Four Feet Long.

The excitement was palpable, so the captain stopped the boat as more dolphins came to investigate. A pod of about seven dolphins surrounded the boat and seemed eager to play. We all went to the back of the boat and jumped into the chilly water. (Weirdly enough this water was actually warmer than the canyoning water.) The thick wetsuit definitely was a welcome relief, but the dolphins quickly disappeared. The captain and guide told us to use our snorkels to blow bubbles or sing songs since dolphins can feel vibrations. After about ten minutes of treading water, we still had no luck: the dolphins didn’t return.

We headed back onto the boat and zoomed off to another location. Same situation. Dolphins zoomed up near the boat:

Hector and His Friend Hector.

After we prepared to jump in the water, the dolphins disappeared. We waited a few minutes on the back deck of the boat for them to return. Nope, they were gone like the wind. The same thing happened again and again. The guides were extremely apologetic and explained that because these are wild dolphins, they couldn’t guarantee swimming with them. One guide (who didn’t look like Ben Affleck) went on a long rant against Sea World and how much he hates their form of “entertainment.” Made me chuckle after working there for years in high school and college.

About two hours had passed, and unfortunately it was time to head back in. We did stop near the rocky shoreline to see baby fur seals, but I left my camera inside the boat. Whoops. Sorry.

Moral of the story: I saw the world’s rarest dolphins but didn’t get to actually swim with them. (The surprising news: we all got a partial refund since no real swimming occurred.) Penguins, dolphins, albatrosses, and fur seals…not a bad day though, right?

Punakaiki, Westport, and Hanmer Springs

We keep running behind on our blog. Though we have continuously written posts daily (YOU’RE WELCOME), we are not posting according to where we actually are. In an effort to catch up, we’re combining a few stops and towns.

PUNAKAIKI: We stopped to see the Pancake Rocks on our last trip and loved them so much that we had to stop there again:

Scenic.

Pancakes.

It’s a Scientific Mystery How The Lines of the Pancake Rocks Formed.

Some Stupid Beach Where Some Kiwis We Know Got Engaged.

WESTPORT: Not much to say about Westport. We stopped here to break up the drive, and we stayed in a hostel full of young backpackers. Hostel experiences like this remind us that we are getting older. Luckily we opted for a private room here. A pack of German bros kept talking about going to a house party, and then the word quickly spread to other cliques in the hostel. All we kept hearing was “HOUSE PARTY! HOUSE PARTY!”…no, we didn’t go to der haus party.

Hanna read and napped in our room, while Mike headed to a beach full of rocks and driftwood:

Beach.

Mike Sat on This Stump Reading His Hostel Acquisition of Russell Brand’s Booky Wook 2.

HANMER SPRINGS: On our way from the West Coast back over to Christchurch, we decided to stop in the mountain resort town of Hanmer Springs. We enjoyed seeing a new place and treated ourselves to their famous thermal pools. We spent the afternoon relaxing in pools of varying temperatures that ranged from 28-42 degrees Celsius. (You can convert that yourself, Americans. We’re feeling lazy.)

Nice Warm Pool. Nice Background, Eh?

A Really Awkward Picture of Mike in a Hot Pool Near Nature.

Super Shallow Pool. Perfect Place for Sunbathing. We Spent a Good Amount of Time Here.

Mike’s favorite pool of the day was the aquatherapy pool that was for adults only. (No, it wasn’t that seedy. Get yer mind out of the gutter.) Picture a circular pool that had jets all the way around. In the center was a hot tub that had even stronger jets. After long days of driving, the jets felt awesome on Mike’s lower back and calves:

Mike’s Favorite Pool.

Hanna enjoyed the lazy river…along with all of the other children. She held on to a foam floatie toy, while Mike held on to her ankles. Strong currents pushed us around the looping river and frequently knocked us into kids. Sorry, guys.

Hanna’s New Zealand nemesis, the sandfly (essentially a gnat that bites like a mosquito), decided to be extra vicious that day, so we didn’t stay in the pools as long as originally planned.

Hokitika in Pictures

We Stayed in the Beach Town of Hokitika.

Beach Picnic: Rosemary and Sea Salt Bread with Sundried Tomato, Basil, and Cream Cheese Dip. So Good.

Rocky Beach.

We Headed Out of Town to the Hokitika Gorge. A Jungle Pathway Led to a Rickety Bridge Over Turquoise Water.

The Bridge Shakes Violently When You Walk on It. No More than Six People Are Allowed at One Time.

Ferns.

It’s Typically Cheaper to Buy a Two Liter Carton of Ice Cream than It Is to Buy Two Cones. Don’t Judge Us. We Have Done This Twice Now.

Beach at Sunset.

Rocks.

Fush ‘n’ Chups for Tea.

We Didn’t Get to Watch the Oscars Live, and Most Hostels Don’t Have Unlimited Internet. Our Solution? We Sat Outside the Hokitika Library at Night to Watch the Oscars Days Later. We Are Thankful for Free WiFi at New Zealand Libraries.

Beautiful Sky.

All you get is one story: we also went to a glowworm dell at night. Glowworms are amazing little creatures. We parked off the side of the road and walked up a pitch-black walkway. All of a sudden, the darkness is speckled by little lights that look like stars in the night sky. Absolutely amazing.

So you actually get two stories, though this one is more of an offshoot to Story #1. We also saw glowworms when we were by Franz Josef Glacier. We borrowed a flashlight (excuse us—TORCH) from the hostel and wandered up the road to where glowworms are said to hang out. The pathway led into forested darkness. Though we had a flashlight, it was kinda terrifying walking into jungle. We weren’t sure if we were in the right place, and the female of our pair wanted to head back. We saw two girls with flashlights across the road and knew they must be glowworm lovers too. We started chatting with these two Germans and made a pact to venture into parts unknown together. We started walking and could see a flashlight coming at us. An older couple had spotted glowworms a bit down the path. We continued our quest and ultimately spotted a trickle of glowworms. Since you’re supposed to turn your light off to see them better, we complied. There were only a few glowworms (much less than Hokitika), so we admired them for a few seconds and then turned the light back on. What we didn’t realize? A man taking pictures was standing in the dark right in front of us. Clearly he had his camera on long exposure, and we just ruined his shot. Whoops. Quite scary that this creepa was standing in the forest in absolute darkness. Hope he nabbed a good pic though!

Glaciers! Yay!

We left the beauty of Queenstown behind to drive up the West Coast. We needed a pit stop, and we joked that we should stop in Haast. You may remember that we raved about this thrilling metropolis on our last trip. No? You don’t remember anything about Haast? Here’s a reminder. Our feelings about Haast remain exactly the same:

The Scenery Is Pretty, But This Is Pretty Much the Extent of Town. (This One’s for You, Henry’s Dad.)

After a four-hour drive, we made it to Fox Glacier. All we remember about this glacier was being able to see it from the parking lot. We also remember rain. Lots of rain. Lots and lots of freezing rain. Luckily this time around, it was sunny when we pulled up. We were a bit confused because we couldn’t see the glacier from the parking lot:

2011: Glacier View.

2014: Similar View.

Either that was just snow when we were there last, or the glacier has retreated significantly. Crazy, eh?

In order to see the glacier up close and personal, we had about an hour return hike:

Glacier Now.

Most of our pictures are just of rocks and truly aren’t that interesting. Sorry.

After viewing Fox Glacier, we drove half an hour north to Franz Josef Glacier. We are glacierologists. As it was still raining last time, we knew that we wouldn’t be able to see it and didn’t make the trek in.

In order to walk on either glacier, you have to book expensive tours. Though we are glacierologists, we didn’t really care enough to drop a bunch of money to see ice (don’t hate us):

Guided Glacier Walks.

Instead we did a couple of unguided walks at Franz Josef:

Jungle Before the Glacier. Weird Juxtaposition.

Franz Josef Glacier.

Snow on Glacier. Glacial Snow.

Our favorite part of the day was seeing reflections in another mirror lake:

We Can’t Get Enough of These Mirror Lakes.

Just Can’t Get Enough.

Our biggest mistake occurred when we checked into our hostel at Franz Josef. Both the owner and another worker asked if we stopped at Lake Matheson. With a dumb look on our face, we said no. They both said that this lake is a huge mirror lake…and that it would have been an absolutely perfect day to see mountain reflections. Neither of us felt like making an hour return trip on winding roads back to see it, but we’re bummed we missed it. We love mirror lakes, can you tell?

You picture glaciers as clean snow and shimmering ice, but these two had a lot of gray debris. It’s not that they WEREN’T impressive; it was just hard to grasp the size from our vantage point. Who’s paying for our helicopter tour into both during our next trip here?