Central Otago

I was able to sleep in a little bit this morning because my wine tour didn’t start until the afternoon, so I decided to go for a run when I woke up. The running path around the lake is beautiful and loops in and out of the trees. Unfortunately, I tripped pretty much immediately after I got to the path and scratched up my phone and cut up my hand, knee, and hip. It really hurts to walk and running in the cold air was making the bleeding worse, so I couldn’t push myself too hard. I kept going though because since I like Queenstown so much, I felt like I needed to run through it.

My wine tour in Central Otago was beautiful. All of the wineries were set at the bases of the mountains. It reminds me of the winery we went to in Italy. I was on the tour with two couples who were both honeymooning. It was kind of weird being with such a small group, but it meant that we got to know each other. We visited Gibbson Valley, Waitiri Creek, Peregrine, and Chard Farm. I didn’t really like any of the wines particularly much, except we did try a fairly sweet Riesling at Chard Farm that was nice, but it cost $38 a bottle L I found out that apparently the sweetness of Rieslings isn’t based on the climate, but instead of how much sugar the maker decides to siphon out of the grape. I must like really sweet grapes because the 7g of sugar wine still wasn’t enough for me. Apparently it can go up to 45g. Even though I didn’t like the wines, it was fun getting to know the couples.

The Central Otago region specializes in pinot noir and pinot gris because of its position on the globe. The 44^th parallel has been determined to be the optimum growing position for the grapes that go into pinot noir. That’s why the wine is so big in Oregon, Central Otago, and Burgundy, France. It’s also starting to get big in Tasmania, which sits on the 42^nd parallel, so it has somewhat similar growing conditions.

Doubtful Sound

I got up at the crack of down this morning, much to the dismay of my roommates who were just crawling into bed, so that I could meet up with my tour coach for the three hour drive to Lake Manapouri. Our group took a leisurely one-hour cruise across the lake to the hiking area on the other side where we were picked up by another coach and driven up and down the mountains to reach Doubtful Sound, one of New Zealand’s many fjords.

I’ve read so much about fjords in Scandinavia that when I started planning this trip to New Zealand, I knew I would need to visit one. Milford Sound is the bigger tourist spot around here, but I discovered Doubtful Sound, which is supposed to be more peaceful than Milford. I was pleasantly surprised that we saw only one other boat on our entire cruise around the sound. We spotted penguins, dolphins, and seals in their natural habitats and the captain even turned off the engine and requested silence from all passengers for a few moments on the sound so that we could hear how peaceful it is out there.

The sea was a little choppy as we got closer to the opening of the sound into the Tasman Sea, but it was beautiful and I’m glad our boat went all the way out to the barrier islands. Even though it made for a very long day, considering I left at 7am and didn’t get back until nearly 8:30, I think it was well worth it. Even after having to put up with a group of annoying Asian tourists and a family from Minnesota that kept trying to adopt me (seriously, the mom came over and asked if I wanted to hang out with them because her daughter was in college too! Gasp!). It seemed like older women flocked to me all day asking me if they could take my picture for me… it was a little weird.

I woke up from my nap on the bus back hungry, so I headed to a cute little diner called Cranky Franky’s that is down the street from my hostel. I ordered the macaroni and cheese and it was like no diner food that I’ve ever seen. It looked gourmet. However, the surroundings were complete fifties diner and they specialized in milkshakes. It’s funny how when I’m on the other side of the world little places like this make me feel at home because they play Grease Lighting and have cheesy décor. The food was fantastic though, albeit rather pricey. But I guess I’m getting used to the cost of eating out down under.

And on to Queenstown...

I didn’t want to spend anymore time in my hostel than necessary today, so when I woke up on my own at 7:30 because of a combination of the noise outside and the couple in my room, I took a shower and packed up.

I ended up getting to the Auckland airport three hours early, which was kind of a bummer because it turns out that they don’t have free wifi in the domestic terminal. I should have just hung out in the city and McDonald’s or something.

My flight to Queenstown was pretty unmentionable. There was quite a bit of turbulence but I slept through it and anything else that might have happened. I caught the Super Shuttle into town for $20, which was more than double what I was expecting for transport here. My hostel is right in the center of town though and it’s very charming. I was given a tour right after checking in around all of the facilties. Minus the fact that they’re shared, the kitchen, bathrooms, and bedroom are all nicer than my place in Sydney and I’m paying less than $30 a night to stay here. There’s also free international calling during reception hours and free wireless internet. It’s like someone realized I needed to hear the word free and decided to indulge me.

I, of course, called Adam right away. I haven’t spoken to him on the phone since Fiji, so it was pretty weird at first. It’s so nice not to have to deal with the issues of skype. I was worried about hogging the phone for too long though, so we didn’t chat for long.

I wasn’t really hungry, even though it was way passed lunch, so I decided to walk around the city and explore. I bought some bread, peanut butter, and apples so that I would have breakfast food in the kitchen and I got a couple of souveneirs from the cute touristy stores. Queenstown seems to be primarily touristic, but that suits me. I could imagine owning a lake house here, set at the foot of the mountains. It’s really beautiful.

I stopped at Patagonia Chocolates for a snack of ice cream. The waffle cone looked burnt but somehow managed to taste amazing with the ice cream in it. The chocolate was a little rich for me though. It started to drizzle and I pretty much walked the whole town including along part of the lakefront, so I headed back to the hostel.

I spent my afternoon reconnecting with the internet before heading out for a late dinner at Fergburger, a well-known burger joint in New Zealand. Luckily for me, there menu includes options for people who don’t eat beef burgers. I settled on the Sweet Julie minus the “salad” plus cheese. It turned out pretty good. There was some kind of chili sauce on it, so it was a little bit spicy, but I really liked the bun and actually ended up eating it like a burger instead of tearing it all apart. I passed out immediately after getting back. Contiki exhausted me.

(Also, I'm out of photo space on my blog, so for photos, check out my facebook!)

End of Contiki

This morning, we got up really early to head back down to Auckland. When we got into Auckland, we waited by the bus for nearly an hour while everyone chatted and some people checked into the hotel that Contiki had organized for those who were willing to pay for it. We decided to all get lunch, but that didn’t end up happening exactly. Instead, I went with a group down the street to check into our hostels and then we went for ice cream.

It seemed like it was going to be difficult to walk around in such a big group and actually do anything, so after saying goodbye to a couple of people heading to the airport, Jacob and I split off from the rest of the group and walked around town.

We tried to find the Victoria Markets but ended up walking way past them to a city on the top of College Hill. It turned out the markets were closed for construction anyways, so we didn’t miss much. We headed back to the city and found a cute little café where I could get some chips for a snack and sat and talked, then we stopped back at my hostel for a little bit so I could show him where I’m staying because he had never been inside a hostel. Finally, we ended up in a mall across the street from the Mercure, where everyone else is staying, and sat and talked for an hour or so. We ended up getting locked in the mall because there was no announcement or anything saying it was closing, the lights just shut off. Luckily, we were able to get out through a restaurant that was still open.

We met up with the rest of the Contiki group still in New Zealand for dinner at O’Hagan’s Irish pub. I had the most amazing steak with mushrooms, barbecue sauce, chips, and a glass of wine. There was no way I could finish it, so I took a doggy bag home for breakfast. While we were waiting for dinner to be ready, we all stood up and said our parting to the group. It was actually a really sweet evening, one that probably maybe the trip for me.

Jacob and I at the Sky Tower -- the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere

Most amazing steak, ever

Parasailing

We were in the Bay of Islands all day today, so I decided to go for a run because of the late rise. Surprisingly, I was able to run right after breakfast and not feel sick. It was a nice run too. Since we were staying pretty close to the beach, it wasn’t as hilly as it would have been elsewhere. I had to keep my run shortish though because I signed up to go kayaking along the coast with a few other people that morning. I ended up sharing a kayak with Ben from Tasmania and we shared life stories. The going wasn’t very rough except for when we had to maneuver through the mangroves.

After kayaking, I took a shower and met up with Jacob before we headed back into town to look at souvenir stores and pick up some ice cream at Movenpick. It had gotten really cold out, so I was freezing by the time we went down to the boat for parasailing.

Parasailing isn’t something that I would really pay to do again. It was okay and the view was nice, but if it had been much windier, I think I would have gotten motion sickness like I do on swings. I was frozen after being on the boat all afternoon, so I put on multiple sweatshirts before we went out with the old group for dinner at an Italian place in honor of our last night on the tour. It was an okay meal, but it took them forever to cook and it was kind of expensive, to me at least. I really don’t like spending more than $10 on a meal and since I always cook in Sydney, I’m still not used to the prices of eating out down here.

Sebastian and I going up

Bay of Islands

This morning came really fast. I was up before 6 and on the bus by 7. Breakfast wasn’t fantastic, so I was happy when I woke up from my bus nap and we were in Auckland. I wandered the streets with Scottie, Sebastion, and Jacob for a little bit. I feel like I have a possie or something. We went and got Burger King, even though it was only 10 in the morning. There wasn’t much else to do. We randomly found the hostel that I’m staying in when we come back to Auckland and I picked up a magnet from the souvenir store.

When we got back on the bus, we were joined by 25 more people on the same tour everyone else has been doing but going in the opposite direction. They got a whole little orientation to Contiki, which kind of made me feel weird about joining in Wellington and not really getting anything special. Then we were en route to the Bay of Islands.

The Bay of Islands is pretty nice. It reminds me of just about any other beachy island town. The group went to dinner at Shippey’s. It was this cute little boat set in the sand next to the ocean. The chicken burger I got with my wine was pretty good, but I ate way too much. 

Auckland as we passed through

Bay of Islands

Sheep and Glow Worms

This morning we were able to sleep in until 8am, which seems like a big deal because I haven’t been getting much sleep. First thing in the morning, we headed to the agrodome and learned about the local sheeps. It seemed very New Zealand, but at the same time, it reminded me of travelling around Ireland. We also watched a sheep shearing demonstration and the feeding of lambs. It would have been really boring except for the hilarity of the MC. Otherwise, I would say my Ireland experience with sheep and sheepdogs was much better.

Agrodome

We spent the rest of the morning driving to Waitomo. We stopped for lunch in a little town and I found a place to get a ham sandwich. Unfortunately, the Asian woman behind the counter didn’t understand me at all and I ended up with a cheese toastie and chocolate milkshake instead. It was alright though. Sebastion ordered way too many fries too and I ate some.

In Waitomo, we moved into our rooms and then Jacob and I went to the caves to see the glow worms. Everyone else went black water rafting, so it was just us in the caves. It was pretty cool though. We had a guided tour that wandered through and looked at the old stalactites and stalagmites that dripped water on us. The coolest part though was taking the boat through the river cave at the end. It was pitch black and the glow worms on the ceiling of the cave looked like the night sky. It was also a little creepy though. It made me think of the 7^th Harry Potter book when they locate the horcrux in the bottom of the well in the cave. Our boat even had a rope attached to it.

Glow Worm Caves

After the caves, we walked back to the hotel and hung out together since everyone else was rafting and the town literally had two little shops and both of them seemed to be closed. We lucked out though that there a playground where we could sit on the swings.

Craters of the Moon

We got back on the tour bus this morning and headed to Hoka falls. They were really pretty. Not exactly waterfalls, but some pretty raging rapids. Next, we stopped at a geothermal parkm called Craters of the Moon to see the craters. It was pretty weird how steam just seemed to be coming out of the ground. It also seemed like once I saw one crater I had seen them all though. I wasn’t exactly awestruck by beauty, but it probably doesn’t help that it’s pretty overcast today.

Huka Falls

Craters of the Moon

We took a short drive up to Rotoura afterward and everyone jumped off the bus to go zorbing. I went with Sebastion in the wet zorb because it was cheaper. I guess I should have went alone though because they only let doubles go on the straight course and the zigzag course looked a lot more fun. I wasn’t huge on zorbing, regardless, it just felt like sliding down a plastic water slide but enclosed. You can only stand up for the like the first few seconds too and it goes by really fast.

The zorb hill

We stopped for lunch in town after zorbing. Everyone wanted to go to a thai restaurant though, so I pretended like I wasn’t hungry and then picked up some McDonald’s fries after. Granted, I was hugely hungry, but I could have ate. I don’t really want the whole group to pick a restaurant based on my tastes though, and, as it was, I didn’t really want to eat in a restaurant and spend that much money.

We wandered around town after lunch, but there wasn’t much there, so we headed to the hotel and checked in. Skydiving got pushed back because of low cloud cover and, for a few minutes, it looked like we weren’t going to be able to go. It all worked out though. Eight of us headed to Nzone Skydiving and jumped out of planes J

All suited up

That's me!

I went 12,000 feet up because it was $100 cheaper than 15,000. There was 45 seconds of freefall. The scenery was beautiful. I was freezing the whole time because my shoes had holes in them and it was pretty cold. I’m so glad that me and Jaz went last though for our jumps because we got to see the sunset as we were going down. Ricky, my guide, pointed out some of the scenery after he pulled the parachute. There was a volcano and a gigantic lake. I felt like I could see all of New Zealand. I’m so glad I waited to go some place pretty instead of doing it at home. I got the video and picture package, so I’ll have the memories forever too. I’d definitely do it again except for the pain in my abs from the harness.

Since so many of us went skydiving, we ended up a little bit late showing up to the Maori cultural dinner. Luckily, they hadn’t started without us. We ate a “traditional” Maori meal that was cooked to health standards instead of being cooked in a dirt pit. It was great in terms of substance, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the taste. I think everyone was amazed by how much I ate though after my lunch issues.

Lake Taupo

My roommates came home on Tuesday night and I was passed out. I remember having a briefish conversation with them, but I don’t really know what was said. I wouldn’t be able to tell you any of their names, for sure. They seemed nice though.

On Wednesday morning, I met up with my tour group for breakfast. It felt kind of awkward because I just wandered in, grabbed some food, and sat down at a table with two girls and this guy. Everyone kind of seemed to know each other already because of the dinner the night before. I later found out though that some of the group has been together for ten days already though. Apparently,, the tour that goes all around New Zealand is also this tour, they just meet up along the way. The only other new guy person who joined up in Wellington was the guy I sat with at breakfast, named Sebastion. It’s funny that I sat down next to him by complete chance. Everyone seems to think we came together though now.

After breakfast, we all got on the bus and headed to Lake Taupo, which was about a five hours drive from Wellington. Along the way, we stopped at a small café called Flat Hills and I picked up a mother. My jet lag was really not helped by my roommates coming home and waking me up, not that I blame them. I did go to bed at 8pm. Behind the café, there was a few corrals with sheep. I also found a baby duckling that looked injured, which was kind of sad. It’s really hilly here and I realized that parts of the  hills look like trees were clear cut from them because they just kind of stop growing in a straight line. I’m not sure why it’s like that, but I feel like it doesn’t have to do with clear cutting, so there must be a reason.

Sheepy in Flat Hills

On the drive to Taupo

Beautiful mountains :)

When we finally got to Taupo, I went straight to the Lake Taupo bungy jump with a few others from the group. The adrenaline was pumping through me long before I took the jump over the river, but I was surprisingly not that nervous. Everyone thought I was nervous though because I wasn’t really talking much. To be fair though, I didn’t feel like I knew any of them. I didn’t touch the water when I jumped because I didn’t want to get wet. It was pretty thrilling though. Jumping straight down wasn’t bad, but the bouncing around after was kind of annoying because I felt like I was going backwards. It also didn’t help that I couldn’t see because my glasses weren’t on. I’m surprised by how easily it was to force myself off the jumping point into the open air. I bought a video of my jump too. Everyone thought I was pretty frozen while I jumped, but I don’t really know what else I was supposed to do. What, am I supposed to wiggle around or something? I would love to go bungy jumping again though, it was really fun.

The jump site

After everyone had jumped, we got a ride from the company back into town and went shopping for our cross dressing costumes for the boat party that night. I lucked out and didn’t need to buy anything because I was able to borrow a tie and beanie and put my hair up in it. Someone donated a mustache to me too, even though I was just going to draw one on. We had dinner on the boat, but it wasn’t very good. It felt like it was just thrown together, which was kind of disappointing since the cruise cost $69.

Wellington

My second flight to Wellington wasn’t too bad. It was on Qantas, so the plane was nicer, and we were served a full lunch because it was an international flight. I got carded when I ordered a vodka and orange with my lunch, probably because I had my hair in pigtails and was watching the Disney channel. I’m doing surprisingly well at staying awake considering I only got about three hours of sleep on the first flight. It was only three hours to Wellington, so I didn’t get any on that one.

I caught the airport shuttle for $20 directly to my hotel because I didn’t realize there were other options until I was already being dropped off. Apparently, there’s a bus that runs nearby too that I could have taken instead. I didn’t really have a moment to think though because the shuttle driver pounced essentially the minute I walked out the door of the airport.

I dropped off my things and, since my three roommates had checked in but weren’t around, I headed out to walk around the city. Wellington isn’t very pretty. Flying in, it looked gorgeous to see the islands. New Zealand is all rolling hills and houses hidden away in the trees. However, on the ground, the city is just kind of dirty. I walked all the way to the other side of the city to check out Katherine Mansfield’s birthplace. I couldn’t go inside because it was already closed, but I took some pictures of the outside. Then I headed back down to the waterfront and checked out the Wellington wharfs. They don’t seem to be nearly as big as wharves in Australia. Granted, I’m not sure where they even go.

Downtown Wellington

Katherine Mansfield's Birthplace

I passed a museum, Te Papa, that I’ve heard a little bit about and sounded interesting, but I got there 15 minutes before closing, so once again, I couldn’t go inside. It’s a bummer because the museum was free except for special exhibits too.

I found the nightlife and pub strip downtown, but I didn’t want to wander into one of the places alone, so I ended  up just getting some McDonald’s so that I could use their free wifi and calling it a night. It wasn’t until I got back to the hotel that I saw someone had posted a sign saying the Contiki group was going out to dinner together. I feel like I missed out on things before I even got here too. It looks like a group of guys went biking today as well and they grabbed dinner together last night too. I didn’t realize that the group would start hanging out before the tour actually started. It’ll be interesting to see what the dynamics are like tomorrow when everyone is together.

Swan Valley

For our final day in Perth, we booked a wine tour through Swan Valley, which is the second oldest wine valley in Australia, beat out only by the Hunter Valley (which I’ve already been to). My mom isn’t huge on wine, especially red, but I still managed to get her to try most of them. Our tour also included cheese and chocolate tastings. In total, we stopped by three wineries, a microbrewery, and a chocolate factory. I think my favorite tasting of the day was the Late Picked Sweet Verdehlo from Houghton Winery. It was just the right kind of sweet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t buy any bottles because I have absolutely no room in my suitcase. It’s going to be interesting if I end up wanting to buy something in New Zealand for sure, but at least that’s the last leg of my trip.

My mom and I at Jarrah Ride Winery

Outside Charlies Estate Winery

After the wine tour, we wandered around the city a bit more. There were a lot fewer people than when we had gotten picked up for the wine tour from the central bus terminal. Perth really seems to be a 9-5 city, which is kind of sad. It makes me wonder where everyone goes for nightlife.

It was getting pretty chilly out though, as the sun went down, so we hopped on the train and headed back to the hostel. We walked down by the ocean one last time before picking up our bags and catching one of two buses to the airport. The bus driver was extremely helpful in telling us where we could get off to catch our transfer and avoid the downpour outside that had started a few moments after we stepped on the bus.

We killed time in the Perth domestic airport (which is actually rather small) until my flight left at 11:45. I said goodbye to my mom. It was fun to have her visit, but now it’s time for me to venture on to Wellington.

I slept for most of my flight to Sydney and woke up just in time to see the landing, which really is quite spectacular. Since the Sydney airport sits right on the ocean, it looks like you’re about to land in the sea. It was only a four hour flight though, so I was quite tired as I bored the airport transfer bus to the international terminal (which costs $5.50!). At the check-in counter for my connection to Wellington, they requested proof of a departure ticket from New Zealand. I hadn’t realized I needed one, but, thankfully, the Qantas counter was able to look up my flight information and print it off for me in case I need it again. I rechecked my bag and then had to go through customs in order to leave the country. It was really quite peculiar. It’s like they’re keeping tabs on everyone’s movements; they even stamped my passport.

I have a three-hour layover, so I stopped at bought a ham and cheese toastie from Krispy Kremes that I found for cheap. My eating and sleeping schedule is going to be completely screwed up by the time I get back from New Zealand because I doubt that I’ll eat at regular times there.

Fremantle

This morning we woke up naturally at 7 because we had gone to bed so early the night before, so we went for a run along the seawall. It was pretty quiet out, but we still passed a decent amount of people and were able to watch the kite boarders and surfers out on the ocean. Luckily, it wasn’t too hilly of a run either, at least compared to my runs in Sydney.

We spent the majority of the day in Fremantle, which is a town down the coast from our hostel, about ten minutes by train. It wasn’t very busy when we got there, but the town definitely picked up speed around lunch. We made a visit to the Roundhouse, which is the oldest building in Western Australia. It’s where “sick” prisoners were kept when Perth housed convicts from Britain. The building is built right on the coast, but since there aren’t any windows inside, the prisoners didn’t exactly get to enjoy the view.

On the way to the Roundhouse

The Roudhouse

To continue our tour of Fremantle’s convict history, we paid a visit to the prison, which was operational from the early 1800s to 1991. We took a guided tour through the cell houses, church, administration offices, and outdoor yards. The treatment of the prisoners really was quite terrible. All of the buildings on the premises and the wall surrounding the prison were built by the original prisoners. Even after everything was built, the prisoners went to work every day to earn their keep and the ability to buy small trinkets from the prison store, such as tobacco, canned goods, or (if they saved up enough) a secondhand color television with terrible reception. The only changes the prison went through over the years were slight, including addition of electricity to the cells (for use between April and November) in the late 1900s. Each cell, by the prison’s closure, had two occupants, but still only one tin for water and one for a toilet. Apparently, prisoners would sometimes confuse the buckets before electricity was installed.

It sounds like the prison was finally closed down because in 1988, the prisoners decided to call attention to themselves. They managed to overpower two guards and unlock all of the cell mates in a division before piling up their mattresses and blankets in the doorway. Since they had two guards as hostages, they decided to demand payment of Hungry Jacks (which is like burger king) for all of the inmates. Surprisingly, they were given their demands and the prisoners released the guards. However, they then decided to set the mattress pile on fire and burnt a hole into the roof of the prison. The fire trucks were called but they couldn’t get them through the gates of the prison as the gates had been built only to accommodate horse and buggies. Some of the prisoners were injured in the fire but no one died. Those who were injured managed to sure the state of Western Australia and won compensation money, contributing to the demise of Fremantle prison for a more modern facility in a neighboring town.

Inside the cells

The Fremantle Prison

The guillotine

The whole tour was rather interesting. It was my mom’s first time visiting a gaol. I seem to manage a visit to them every time I travel, somehow. They are quite fascinating to hear stories about though.

We stopped at Dome for lunch, which appears to be a sort of chain restaurant around here. You order at the counter and they bring your food out to you. I thought the chicken foccaccia we ordered were really good. The iced chocolates they served looked decadent too, but I didn’t get one because the sun was blistering hot (and blinding), which tends to make me stay away from dairy.

Before catching the train into Perth, we stopped at the Fremantle and E-Shed Markets to have a look around. I had found a book written by a local Western Australia in the secondhand bookstore earlier, so I just picked up some postcards of the area to round out my souvenirs for the trip.

In Perth’s central business district, we wandered around a little. It was like a ghost town on a Sunday, but we managed to find Kings Park (which is like Central Park, but a little outside of the city). We were pretty tired from walking all day, so we didn’t make it all the way to the botanical gardens, but we did find a nice outlook over the city and the inlet that Perth surrounds.

On our way back to the train station, we stopped in a couple of smaller parks and by the Bell Tower. It’s probably the weirdest bell tower that I’ve ever seen—a straight blue glass point that shoots up into the sky. Apparently, they play bells there. I really liked the way it was built in the middle of a little fountain though with a boardwalk leading up to it. The chain-link fence surrounding the boardwalk was stuck with locks that looked similar to the locks of love I saw in Italy. Some of them were shaped like bells and others were just basic combination locks, but most of them had writing on them. I’ve always thought it was a really cute idea, but I particularly liked the location of these locks because it seemed so random.

The Bell Tower

Chains outside the Bell Tower

Random Kangaroo Statues

View of Perth

We caught the train back home shortly after dark, exhausted once again. I have no idea how I’m going to manage adjusting to the time zone in New Zealand.

Cottlesloe Beach

We got up at four this morning to head into Sydney and catch our plane. Between the walk to the train station, two transfers and another 20 minute walk to the domestic terminal (so we could save $24 instead of getting off the train in the airport and paying the access fee), it took us just under two hours to get to the plane. The Sydney airport is both cool and weird. All of the check-in process, at least for domestic flights, is automated. You check-in and print your boarding pass, but then you’re in charge of stickering your luggage and putting it on the belt yourself as well. It was a little confusing for 7:30 in the morning, but we managed.

I was picked out for a security check when we went through security, so I had to step aside. All they did was wave a wand over me and my bags though, so much simpler than the US. By the time we walked down to our gate, the plane was already boarding, so we didn’t even have to sit down. It’s amazing how quickly things move when the process is automated and there aren’t any lines. I wonder if it’s the same situation later in the day too.

Our flight was pretty boring. It takes four and a half hours to get from Sydney to Perth, but there’s a two hour time difference (Perth is two hours behind Sydney, putting it 12 hours ahead of New York) so we made sure to get some sleep on the flight in order to prepare ourselves. Granted, with as early as we woke up, I’m not sure we helped much. Even though it was a domestic flight, we were still served an in-flight meal of cereal or eggs as well as a granola bar for a snack. I really love the service on international airlines.

Stepping off the plane, we managed to pull our bags off the carousel right away and headed to the bus stop outside. It took a few minutes to find, but that was okay because the buses here don’t run as frequently as Sydney and it only picks up about every half an hour from the airport. It’s nice though that our tickets only cost $4 each and allow us to transfer between other buses for two hours.

We ended up having to take three separate buses to get to the hostel we’re staying in—Ocean Beach Backpackers. Our first bus took us into the city where we transferred to the Cottlesloe/Fremantle line. The bus driver on our second bus was very helpful in directing us to a better place to get off so that we could transfer to a bus that would take us directly to our hostel. It all worked out and we were let out right outside. It took almost two hours though.

Our hostel is decent. We decided on getting a private room and we ended up with three beds in it—two twins and a double. I’m not sure why they gave us such a large room, but it’s probably all they had. The hostel is basically right on the water; all we have to do is cross the street. That’s not to say we have an ocean view though. Our room looks out into a courtyard that the hostel surrounds. They do charge a lot in deposits for things though. We had to pay a $20 key deposit and $15 each for towels. We’ll get it all back, but it still seems steep on top of the room charge.

We spent the rest of our afternoon walking along the shops on the oceanfront. There are a lot of fish and chips takeaways as well as a few nicer restaurants. We ended up getting sandwiches and chips (that’s fries in Aussie) from the convenience store/takeaway place. They were pretty good, although they squished the croissants our sandwiches were on when they toasted them. We went to the grocery store nearby too and picked up some Shapes—which are like a chip-like cracker in a variety of flavors--(to feed my mom’s new addiction), apples, and popcorn. Finally, we checked out the train station which will take us to Fremantle tomorrow.

Cottlesloe Beach

Cottlesloe Beach

The sun was starting to set, so we took some pictures along a boardwalk we found that juts out into the sea. It started to get chilly because of the wind though, so we grabbed sweatshirts before heading down to the beach and sticking our feet in the Indian Ocean. The sand was actually colder than the water, but it was really pretty with the sun setting.

I pet a koala!

We woke up really early this morning to head into town and meet our Blue Mountains tour bus. Unfortunately, we had to sit at the bus stop by my townhouse for about 25 minutes because the bus we were supposed to be on into the city decided to not show up. There were a few other frustrated people with us at the bus stop. I managed to get message Adam on facebook from my phone and get the number for our tour company, as they didn’t provide it in their confirmation e-mail, and call them to let them know we were running behind. It turns out it didn’t matter though because our bus was completely full and skipped the last couple of stops so we still made it to the meeting point on time. We had to wait yet again though for our tour bus to show up 25 minutes later. Overall, a lot of waiting and a little too much excitement considering it was still before 8am.

Our tour today was great. We headed out into the Blue Mountains, which is the mountain range that surrounds Sydney. It was different from the area I travelled to on Saturday though. We stopped at Featherdale Wild Life Park first where we were able to pet koalas and feed kangaroos. My mom even held a snake! There were a bunch of other Australian animals there as well. We located the dingo, wombat, kookaburra, Tasmanian devil, wallaby, and a few penguins, among others. I was surprised by how friendly all of the animals were, and how free. The koalas were climbing the trees right above our heads.

My mom held a snake!

This koala was super photogenic

My new friend, Mr. Kangaroo (or mrs!)

Penguins in Australia! 

After the wildlife park, we stopped at Wentworth Falls. It was a bit of a walk down some stairs to get to the lookout point, but it was beautiful. You can see out over all of the mountains and across to the actual waterfall. We took some pictures and climbed on all the rocks before getting back on the bus and heading to our lunch stop in a quaint little town. My mom and I ended up eating at Red Door, which was a small café. I finally found a place to get an iced chocolate, which I heard is all the rage in Australia (that might be a complete lie). It was pretty good; basically just a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup decorating the glass, a little bit like a liquidy milkshake. I paired that with a ham and cheese croissant. We popped into the bookstore and bottle shop across the street to kill some time as well, but we didn’t find anything.

The mountains near Wentworth Falls

Wentworth Falls

Three Sisters was next up on our tour. It’s a rock formation located in the Blue Mountains. We stopped at a lookout point in Katoomba and took some pictures. It is really weird how the rocks just managed to end up in that formation, but at the same time, I expected them to be more off by themselves instead of just next to the side of a cliff.

Three Sisters

As we were leaving Katoomba, we stopped in the rainforest. We took a scenic railway journey down into the forest. It was actually surprisingly step considering our rail car didn’t have any seatbelts. I guess I didn’t really consider the 52 degree angle fully beforehand. We got a little bit lost wandering along the paths in the forest, but we spotted some really strange trees. There were information plaques on the mining that used to be done in the area too, so that was interesting to find out about. Luckily, a nice couple pointed us in the right direction and we made our way back uphill to ride the scenic cable car to the top. This ride went a little bit slower than the railway so we were able to take some more pictures of the mountains as we ascended.

Scenic Railway

The rainforest is pretty intense

Our final stop on tour was at the Sydney Olympic Stadium Park. It really is quite huge. It apparently cost $3 billion to build on top of the $4 billion spent in roadwork and maintenance to the city. However, they installed solar panels around the stadium to cut costs on some of the electricity used to power the lights and the nearby Olympic Village. They turned the torch circle into a fountain and put up a decorative mindfield of poles to honor the volunteers and medalists, so we took a few pictures. The stadium is used for concerts and conferences now.

Where they kept the torch

In commemoration of the volunteers and medalists

Sydney Olympic Stadium

We took a harbor cruise back to Darling Harbour from the Olympic park wharf. It was actually a pretty informative cruise given by Captain Cook Cruises. Every time we passed a major landmark, we were told something about it, which is much different than when I took the government ferry to Manly. It was interesting to learn though. My mom didn’t get seasick either, which is good.

We walked around Darling Harbour after disembarking, but neither of us were hungry so we caught the bus back to my house instead.

Bridge Climb

My mom arrived yesterday and I picked her up from the train station after my tourism class ended at noon. We managed to get her luggage up to my townhouse without too much difficulty, but going grocery shopping was definity tiring. Her jet lag was really starting to show when we entered the windowless mall to shop. She was really surprised by the prices of things too, especially of multi-packs of soda. We found probably the only store in the mall though that sells Mountain Dew and bought a 2-liter, so hopefully that will last us until Perth.

We bought a bus ticket after putting the groceries away and having lunch then wandered around campus for a bit before returning for dinner. I finally let her go to sleep around 9. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too early or she’ll never break the cycle of jet lag.

This morning, we woke up around 8 to head into the city for the Bridge climb. It was a beautiful day, thankfully, and after walking around Circular Quay, we headed into the Rocks for our climb. There’s actually quite a bit of equipment that they make you take up onto the bridge with you. You have to wear a one-piece suit (clothing underneath optional) as well as clip-ons for any glasses, a hat, a headset, and the latch that hooks you to the tethers on the bridge.

Our group for the climb was rather small, with only two other people, so we were able to jump ahead of another group and spend a bit more time enjoying the scenery. It really is a pretty view. I was able to point out places I’ve been on the harbor to my mom and give her sort of a map of the city. Our guide was pretty informative too. I just can’t remember any of the cool things we learned off the top of my head.

Our Bridge Climb photo

We spent about two hours up on the actual bridge and got our picture taken. I actually really like the group shot, which is good because it’s the only free one that you get with your climb. After coming back down, we walked over to one of the pylons of the bridge because it has a museum and lookout point inside it. If you do the bridge climb, you get into the pylon for free, so we thought we would check it out. We were able to take some pictures of the harbor from the top since we couldn’t do that on the bridge.

Views from the pylon

Next we headed over to the opera house and wandered around the grounds. I hadn’t realized that each of the “fins” of the opera house is actually a separate building nor had I realized the “fins” are made of ceramic-like tiles. It was quite strange. We took some pictures of the layout before heading over to the botanical garden. My mom thought a lot of the trees over there were pretty strange, so we took pictures of those as well as some sunset shots of the harbor, the bridge, and the opera house.

The tiles of the opera house are pretty peculiar

They're actually separate buildings

We headed further inland to see St. Mary’s Cathedral and wandered inside. We couldn’t stay long because mass was about to start, but it’s huge. It’s really pretty too, but I’ve seen enough old churches over time to not really be awestruck anymore.

We tried to go to Jacksons on George for their happy hour, but it was pretty strange. We went into the bar to order but she told us the cocktail special was only upstairs. However, there was absolutely no one upstairs. It was confusing, so instead we left and went to Lowenbrau, which is a German biergarten in the Rocks. I had sparkling strawberry wine and my mom had a Lowenbrau original and we both had a pretzel. They gave them to us with butter, which I thought was actually a really good pairing.

Sparkling Strawberry Wine and Lowenbrau Original with our Pretzels

After our snack, we headed back to the bus stop and caught a ride home, completely exhausted. We didn’t walk nearly as far as I have before but the bridge climb was quite a bit of stairs, so I think that’s what made us so tired.