Day Trippers

As the number of weekends I have left in Australia dwindles, Adam and I are trying to get in the last few tourist activities in before I head back to the States. This past weekend we traveled over to Cronulla Beach, the location of recent race riots. Prior to the riots Cronulla was a very popaular and busy beach. Many of the local business have lost a lot of revenue this year and when Adam and I went to visit the beach was fairly quiet.

The 2005 Sydney race riots began with a mob confrontation which took place near the beachfront atCronulla. On December 11, 2005, approximately 5000 people had gathered in an ad-hoc protest to "reclaim the beach" from recently-reported incidents of assaults and intimidatory behaviour by individuals from certain groups of non-locals, most of whom were identified in the earlier media reports as Lebanese Muslim youths from the western suburbs of Sydney. The crowd had assembled following a widely-reported series of earlier confrontations, and an assault on three volunteer lifesavers which had taken place the previous weekend. In the week leading up to the major incident of the 11th, these confrontations and the subsequent circulation of anonymous calls (spread via mobile phone text messages and other means) to gather at the beach were the subject of much publicity and media commentary.

From the beach we travelled via ferry up to the town of Parramatta. Parramatta is a western Sydney suburb. It is located 25km of Sydney's CBD. Situated on the banks of the Parramatta River, it is a major government and commercial center, sometimes called Sydney's "second central business district". In Paramatta we took a couple of historical walks, one along the Paramatta River where there is an Aboriginal art display of the history of the area and the other in the town where there are many buildings still standing from the early 19th century. Sadly, the buildings were closed so we couldn't go in and explore which would have been wonderful.

From Paramatta we travelled to Olympic Park. While I am a huge fan of the Olympics, it's really boring to walk around a deserted sports park. That evening though a charity rugby event was being played at the Telstra Stadium and Adam and were able to get tickets. I have to say Australians do take their sports seriously. While neither of us were up on our rugby rules we had a fantastic time watching the St. George Dragons and the South Sydney Rabbitohs (I kid you not but people we waving flags of little white fluffy rabbits). While rabbits don't conjure fierce fighters the Bunnies actually came from 2 goals down to win the game 14 to 12.

The weekend came to end with a visit to Luna Park and dinner at Ripples (thanks to my beloved friends at colleagues - see photo below). The origins of Luna Park go back to Coney Island, New York, where in the late 1800’s a number of competing amusement parks sprang up. In 1903 an amusement park on Coney Island was opened and called Luna Park in acknowledgement of their successful ride. Soon Luna Parks spread throughout the world. American showmen, brothers Herman, Leon and Harold Phillips with J.D. Williams, opened Australia’s first Luna Park at St. Kilda in 1912.

Luckily Sarah's program allows her one day off per week, which is great for me as I get to hang out with a loved one during a week day. On this particular day we opted to explore the Art Gallery of New South Wales. During my previous visit I had only been able to see the awesome Pissarro exhibit but this time around we were able to view the other works of art on display, including some really cool installations. To the right is an installation made of clay from New South Wales, shaped by hand into little figures, and each piece was created by a different person.

As the gallery is in the Domain we took the time to walk through the park toward the botanical garden. Along the way we stopped to enjoy the view from Mrs. Macquarie's Chair. Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, otherwise known as Lady Macquarie's Chair, provides one of the best vantage points in Sydney. The historic chair was carved out of a rock ledge for Governor Lachlan Macquarie's wife, Elizabeth, as she was known to visit the area and sit enjoying the panoramic views of the harbor.

As we walked through the botanical garden to the Opera House (where we were headed for some lunch) we were able to watch to QE II head out to sea. That is one large boat. Then once we got to the Opera House we lined up with hundreds of others, and joined the ranks of the paparazzi, as we waited for celebrities like Russell Crowe (who we saw) and Tom Cruise leave a state sponsored memorial service for Kerry Packer. Unlike true paparazzi though, we remained pretty silent and didn't take any photos.

Kiwi Experience Part 5

Our last morning in New Zealand was spent at the Auckland Museum. What a fantastic museum! First we went to the Da Vinci machine exhibit where we were able to ‘play’ with some models of Da Vinci’s inventions. That was pretty cool.

Because New Zealand is part of the ring of fire, one of the exhibits at the museum deals with volcanoes. Auckland is the only city in the world built on an active volcanic field — the last eruption produced Rangitoto some 600 years ago. A highlight of the exhibition is the “Breaking News” story of an imminent eruption in Auckland. This culminates in an immersive experience in an Auckland livingroom which acts as a theatre for people, who will witness, through all their senses, the emergence, eruption and aftermath of a volcano in Auckland Harbour. It's an awesome experience and bit scary.

We started to explore the rest of the museum, but because we had to catch our flight back to Sydney were hardly were able to scratch the surface of what the museum has to offer. We’ll just have to go back sometime, plus we still have the entire South Island to visit.

Kiwi Experience Part 4

Our last stop on our tour before heading back to Auckland was Lake Taupo. Taupo is in the center of the North Island and the city is around the northern shores of Lake Taupo, New Zealand’s largest lake. Taupo has become something of resort town and a hub for adventure travelers, bungy jumping and skydiving being big draws. Lots of people visit Taupo for the fishing, apparently some of the best trout fishing in the world is at Lake Taupo.

Our one fully day in Taupo we spent on the Tongariro Crossing. We were picked up at 5:45am for a 1.5 hour drive to Mangatepopo, the start of the 17km (one way) hike. The crossing is often described as the best one-day hike in New Zealand, and provides an opportunity to experience some of the volcanic areas of Tongariro National Park (home of Mt. Doom). The park is part of Taupo volcanic zone and in 1995 and 1996 Mt. Ruapehu (the highest and largest of the three volcanoes in the park) erupted.

Unfortunately, while the weather forecast indicated that the weather would clear (it had been pouring buckets of rain the day before) and the hike would be open, the rain continued until nearly the end of the trek. When we were probably about 3km from the end the sun appeared and the sky cleared, but until that point it was cold and rainy so we really didn’t get to see much of the park. I have to say at one point I though we must have looked like Sam and Frodo walking and climbing to Mt. Doom as the terrain we just as it appeared in the Lord of the Ring. I wish I had been able to get a photo but the weather was just too miserable.

Needless to say, after such a long hike, my legs felt like lead, it’s a good thing they next day was mostly spent on the bus heading back to Auckland.

Kiwi Experience Part 3

From Rotorua we traveled to Waitomo, and very small village known for its caving. The afternoon was spent checking out Marokopa Falls (3rd largest falls in NZ), the 'Natural Bridge' and Ruakuri reserve.

Since we weren’t in the mood to get outfitted in wetsuits to go black water rafting (floating in an inner-tube through a cave) we opted for the dry tour of the cave. We went to Ruakuri cave and took a tour on a newly constructed pathway through several cave systems.

During the tour we saw many glowworms illuminating the ceiling of the cave. The glowworm is found all over New Zealand, many in caves, and they have a blue-green glow. The glowworm isn’t actually a worm at all but the larval stage of a fungus gnat that attaches itself to the roof of the cave and produces silk like threads which hang down. Drawn by the chemical light small insects get ensnared in the threads and the glowworms drawn in the threads to eat the bug. It’s actually pretty amazing that any insects would fly down into the caves at all given how cold and dark it can be.

Kiwi Experience Part 2

The next day we headed towards Rotorua, a city renowned for its geothermal activity and its Maori cultural experiences. One our way to Rotorua we took a brief break at Matamata, a town better known worldwide as Hobbiton. We didn’t have the time to take one of the many Lord of the Rings tours being offered from Matamata but perhaps that is something we’ll do next time were in New Zealand.

New Zealand is located on the Ring of Fire, an arc stretching along the eastern edge of Asia, to Alaska and along the west coast of America. Situated along this arc are more than 75% of the world’s volcanoes. The Ring of Fire is the border of the Pacific Plate and other tectonic plates that form the earth’s crust. Where these plates meet, they move and create a large amount of energy that is released as a geothermal activity.

During our stay in Rotorua we spent almost a full day at Te Puia, a geothermal park and cultural center. The Whakarewarewa geothermal valley is adjacent to Te Puia and we were able to walk around and tour the hot mud pools, the geysers, the kiwi house, the Maori village and craft centers (wood carving and weaving).

I wish we had been able to photograph the kiwis but because they are nocturnal (like so many of the animals in this region) the enclosure was dark. Kiwis are flightless, their feathers are more like fur, and about the size of a chicken. I was pretty amazed at their size, I was expecting something small and fluffy. Kiwis are hardly seen in the wild and there are several kiwi breeding programs all over the country to ensure the Kiwis’ survival.

At Te Puia we were able to see a Maori ceremony and a group of Maori performers entertained us with Maori songs and dances. We also sampled a Maori hangi for lunch. A hangi, refers to the Maori cooking method where meat and vegetables are steamed for hours in an earth oven. Until Europeans settled in New Zealand there weren’t any mammals in the country, and so birds played a big part in Maori diet (and a great deal of clothing was made from bird feathers).

There were many things we wanted to see and do in Rotorua but since we only had week to travel around the North Island the buried village (something like Pompeii) and other geothermal parks will have to wait until we return to New Zealand.

Kiwi Experience Part 1

After nearly a week of relaxing on Waiheke Island we were more than ready to start our tour of the center of the North Island. We boarded the bus early in the morning and stopped at Mt. Eden (one of many dormant volcanoes in Auckland) for some spectacular views of the city before heading straight for the Coromandel Peninsula, on the east coast. The peninsula boasts some gorgeous beaches and a gold rush history.

We stopped in the afternoon at Hahei beach and spent the afternoon sea kayaking to Cathedral Cove. The water was so amazing, warm and unbelievably clear. Sadly, we didn’t see any sting rays or dolphins, which live in the area.

The night was spent in Whitianga (Mercury Bay), a popular summer holiday destination.