Hello From Australia!

Hilary and I arrived in Melbourne, Australia on July 1st. We've had wonderful weather and have seen some good exhibits and a so-so movie. I've got about an hour and a half until my 9:00 p.m. bus to Canberra. I'll be sleeping on the bus and staying at the YHA hostel there on Thursday night before moving on to Sydney on Friday. Don't have much time (and the blogger website is displaying in Japanese, so I'm having a little trouble posting this), but wanted to check in. I'll be doing my New Zealand wrap up soon, but wanted to thank John and Sue for being the perfect hosts and for helping make my travels in New Zealand so much fun. More from Canberra or Sydney!

Quickie Hello from Christchurch

I'm in Christchurch now. We finally made it here last night from Queenstown. We had to wait until the roads were safe enough to drive on. We still had to have chains on part of the way through, but when we made it to the ocean we were okay.

I've been walking around the city this morning, looking at art galleries. When I finish up here I'm going to wander around and look for a bronze statue of some dogs, one is licking an ice cream that apparently doesn't look so much like ice cream... In about a half an hour John, Sue and Hilary will pick me up and we will all go to the airport for our flight back to Auckland.

More photos from there! Bye for now!

Me Somewhere In New Zealand!

Me Somewhere In New Zealand!
Originally uploaded by Tricia

View from our drive back to Queenstown from Wanaka.

I've been in Queenstown for three days now. I met up with Hilary and her parents at her grandma's house in Christchurch on Sunday. We spent two days driving to Queenstown and saw some spectacular scenery and lots of deer, cows and sheep. My favorite place on the way was Lake Tekapo. Beautiful blue water and the most simple beautiful church next to it.

Yesterday we went to Glenorchy where we went to a little possum shack store and perused the merchandise which included: possum nipple warmers, possum belly warmers, possum willy warmers, possum hand puppets, possum fur covered cd cases, bags of possum fur for your own use, and much, much more. Sue bought me some pellets to feed the sheep in the field next to the possum shop and I finally got to touch my first New Zealand sheep. Hil and I have been waiting for snow ever since we got to the South Island, and it finally did on our way back from the visit to Glenorchy. While we were headed to lunch at a cheesery (stop drooling Laura!) the snow started falling more steadily and we had to put the chains on the way. Conditions got much, much worse and we ended up having to stop for a while and then turn around. The whole trip (20 km) took us four and a half hours and we never had lunch!

Other things I've done since being in Queenstown: enjoy the warm, clean hotel with electric blankets, finish a big human maze at Puzzling World in Wanaka, eat apricot mango frozen yogurt, ride the gondola up the mountain and gaze at the amazing views, and watch Motorway Patrol (like COPS) on TV.

We were supposed to leave Queenstown tomorrow and drive to Christchurch for our flight back to Auckland, but the roads are all closed because of the snow. Sue changed our flights to Tuesday afternoon, so hopefully we will be able to make it to Christchurch by then.

I can see snow falling out of the window at the internet place I'm at. I'm going to grab lunch (probably Subway) and make the long walk up the hill to our hotel and hope that I don't slip! We might do indoor mini golf or see a movie tonight. Until next time...

Goodbye Wellington

Lambton Harbour
Originally uploaded by Tricia

View of the harbour from behind the Te Papa museum.

It's my last night here in Wellington. It was a very cold and rainy day. I spent most of the day walking around the city getting drenched. In the morning I went to the city's travel information center and booked my tickets for a ferry and train to get to Christchurch tomorrow. When I get there I will take a bus to Hilary's grandma's house where I will meet up with Hilary and her parents on Monday. It's going to be about a 13 hour journey because I have to take a shuttle from the hostel at 7:15 a.m. for the ferry terminal.

I spent most of yesterday at the Te Papa museum. I've never seen anything quite like it. It has five floors full of the most interesting exhibits, displayed so thoughtfully. My favorite part was a whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling. I wish I could have taken a photograph of it because I can't even describe how large it was in proportion to the little humans walking around under it. Amazing! I also discovered a new artist, Colin McCahon, and was quite taken by his panel paintings.

I was able to walk around a lot of the city today. I went to a few art galleries and museums, ate a strange bagel and rode on the cable car. At the top was a beautiful view of the city (including a giant rainbow) and what looked like a gorgeous Botanic Garden. About a minute or two after I got to the top and was about to walk around the garden it started pouring sheets of rain down on me. I decided I had had enough of the rain (4 of the 6 hours I was out on the streets it was raining) and headed back down the cable car within 10 minutes of being up there.

I also visited a Borders bookstore and saw a Real Simple magazine on sale for $16.99. I wonder if anyone actually buys it at that price! I think Good Housekeeping was $13.99. Sheesh!

Internet times almost up... will post again from Christchurch!

Dunkin' Donuts in Auckland

Dunkin' Donuts in Auckland
Originally uploaded by Tricia

Just for you Uncle Roy... you don't have a Dunkin' Donuts in Yuma, USA -- but there is one in Auckland, NZ. Maybe you should make the move?