Today was our big excursion to Milford Sound / Piopiotahi. We were up and at breakfast at 7am, so that we’d be ready for our pickup from the bnb at 8am.
Chatted at breakfast with another couple staying at the bnb. They were also going to Milford Sound, but with a different operator. We had booked ours through the bnb. Sarah (our host) knows just about everyone in town so we figured she knew the best tour, and also could help in case of any issues.
Trips & Tramps picked us up a little after 8am. We were the last pickup on the way out of town so that worked well for us, avoiding the milk run.
The driver was really friendly and had excellent commentary along the two hour drive along the Milford Highway. We stopped at a couple lookouts and also a short walk at Mirror Lakes. Passed over the Divide, one of the three east-west passes in the Southern Alps.
Most interesting was the the Homer Tunnel, a 1.2km single lane tunnel. The weather is quite often different on either side. It’s also part of a
17km stretch prone to avalanches. They close the highway and trigger the snow a few times per winter.
I’m glad we had a driver as we pulled into the ferry terminal. There’s all kinds of signage for parking of various sorts. Our approach was easy - our driver dropped us off at the front door.
We got our boarding passes and lined up at dock 4 to board. There’s lots of sand flies here, the worst area we’ve seen so far. Heather had picked up some bug repellent at Pancake Rocks which is really effective against sand flies.
We rushed on board our catamaran after they opened the gates, following the drivers advice to sit on the port side. The boats stick to the left side as go down and up the sound (similar to driving on the left) so the views are better on port. There was only about 30 or so of us on board, so there was lots of room for everyone.
We ended up spending almost all of two hour boat ride out on the lower deck, sheltered from rain by the upper deck.
It was really cloudy and occasionally rainy the whole excursion, so we didn’t get to see the tops of the peaks, but it was still very impressive to see. It took about an hour to get to the Tasman Sea, where it got very choppy and we quickly turned around. Depending on the weather it’s possible to go further out to sea and see how the sound remained unknown to Europeans for so long.
We also stopped for seals, dolphins and some waterfalls. On the way back the captain eased near a waterfall. Heather and I stayed inside for this, but other folks remained on deck. The spray was like being in a car wash, it was so powerful. (A couple days later we were chatting with folks who went the day after us, and cause it hadn’t rained that day, the waterfall was just a whisper).
We got back to the ferry and boarded our bus for the journey back home. We stopped for a couple little walks, including Lake Gunn (with 500-year old beech trees) and Lake Mistletoe.
We were dropped off back at our bnb around 5pm. The excursion makes for a long day but it’s well worth the trip, one of the highlights of New Zealand.
We showered and went for dinner at The Fat Duck. It was really good. We booked there for Sunday night as the place we originally had booked is now closed Sundays.
Friday, December 16, 2022
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Te Anau, New Zealand
It was a slower start this morning, perhaps having had too much fun yesterday evening. We walked over to the bakery attached to Oliver’s (where we had dinner yesterday) to get some baked goods. We also bought some sandwiches for lunch, and granola, in case the gluten-free granola we bought earlier was also taste-free.
We ate on the little bistro table outside our little bnb. Between the yogurt and granola and fruit and pastry, we ate pretty good. Heather made herself a French press coffee, I had a tea. Unfortunately so far in NZ, tea has meant teabags and no teapot, which isn’t my cup of tea.
We were packed up and on the road exactly at 10am. Once again we really enjoyed the ease of packing up with the extra space in a car.
We retraced our route to Cromwell, connecting back up with our favourite Highway 6. There was considerably more traffic as we approached Queenstown. The highway turns south before entering town, but even there had the distinct feel of suburbia. From a tourist standpoint, Queenstown is more about adventure sports like white water rafting and bungee jumping, and not really our thing. We had decided to skip here when we did our planning, even though it seemed like half the Lonely Planet was the Queenstown chapter (maybe a bit of literary license on my part).
Anyways we were glad to finally turn south and see all the traffic melt away.
We drove through a few small towns which looked like they had a bit of character. Had our packed sandwiches at a roadside rest stop near Lowther.
We stopped for a coffee in Mossburn. I had intended to stop at Bracken Hall, which rated 4.6 on Google Maps, but instead mistakenly pulled in at the cafe before it, Dome Cafe. We ordered a slice of apricot cake based on the reviews for Bracken Hall. Fortunately for us, Done Cafe also knows their apricot cakes.
It was only 45 minutes to Te Anau from Mossburn. The drive changed back to farmland and some tall hedges again (similar to outside Christchurch).
We arrived at High Leys Lodge around 3pm. It’s a small bnb with just three rooms. Our room faced Lake Te Anau with the Southern Alps rising in the background. Yet another place with an amazing view (great job by our travel agent).
We’re here for four nights so spread our our stuff. The room had my new favourite thing in a hotel room, two luggage racks. It’s one of the longer stays we have in NZ, there’s three excursions we wanted to do (Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and the Glowworm Caves).
We had dinner in town at Redcliff Cafe. We had made reservations for all four nights in Te Anau based on recommendations from our host, Sarah. Redcliff is her favourite.
Dinner was pretty good, with fancy meals. Heather had the salmon with gnocchi; I tried the ribeye steak. The hit was the gnocchi. It’s also the only town where we have to drive for dinner; so instead I got a bottle of craft beer from the local Bottle-O to drink back at the bnb.
It was a mostly cloud-free evening, perfect for watching the sunset, having a beer and trying to catch up in my blog.
We ate on the little bistro table outside our little bnb. Between the yogurt and granola and fruit and pastry, we ate pretty good. Heather made herself a French press coffee, I had a tea. Unfortunately so far in NZ, tea has meant teabags and no teapot, which isn’t my cup of tea.
We were packed up and on the road exactly at 10am. Once again we really enjoyed the ease of packing up with the extra space in a car.
We retraced our route to Cromwell, connecting back up with our favourite Highway 6. There was considerably more traffic as we approached Queenstown. The highway turns south before entering town, but even there had the distinct feel of suburbia. From a tourist standpoint, Queenstown is more about adventure sports like white water rafting and bungee jumping, and not really our thing. We had decided to skip here when we did our planning, even though it seemed like half the Lonely Planet was the Queenstown chapter (maybe a bit of literary license on my part).
Anyways we were glad to finally turn south and see all the traffic melt away.
We drove through a few small towns which looked like they had a bit of character. Had our packed sandwiches at a roadside rest stop near Lowther.
We stopped for a coffee in Mossburn. I had intended to stop at Bracken Hall, which rated 4.6 on Google Maps, but instead mistakenly pulled in at the cafe before it, Dome Cafe. We ordered a slice of apricot cake based on the reviews for Bracken Hall. Fortunately for us, Done Cafe also knows their apricot cakes.
It was only 45 minutes to Te Anau from Mossburn. The drive changed back to farmland and some tall hedges again (similar to outside Christchurch).
We arrived at High Leys Lodge around 3pm. It’s a small bnb with just three rooms. Our room faced Lake Te Anau with the Southern Alps rising in the background. Yet another place with an amazing view (great job by our travel agent).
We’re here for four nights so spread our our stuff. The room had my new favourite thing in a hotel room, two luggage racks. It’s one of the longer stays we have in NZ, there’s three excursions we wanted to do (Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and the Glowworm Caves).
We had dinner in town at Redcliff Cafe. We had made reservations for all four nights in Te Anau based on recommendations from our host, Sarah. Redcliff is her favourite.
Dinner was pretty good, with fancy meals. Heather had the salmon with gnocchi; I tried the ribeye steak. The hit was the gnocchi. It’s also the only town where we have to drive for dinner; so instead I got a bottle of craft beer from the local Bottle-O to drink back at the bnb.
It was a mostly cloud-free evening, perfect for watching the sunset, having a beer and trying to catch up in my blog.
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Clyde, New Zealand
We were getting the hang of packing up our stuff now that we’d been in NZ for a few days. Having a car gives us an expanded storage - for example our hiking shoes stay in the car, and our jackets get thrown in the trunk on top of our suitcases. Much easier than having to cram everything in the suitcase. Plus with all the random short walks along the drive, it makes it easy to switch into hiking shoes and don the appropriate jacket depending on the mood of the weather at the time.
We had another nice breakfast, although I was still full from dinner and so skipped the eggs this morning. Said our goodbyes to Pete (who totally reminded us of our friend Stéphane).
It was another scenic drive further south along Highway 6. There’s a couple viewpoints along Lake Wānaka. It got even better at The Neck, a narrow strip of land connecting the lakes. We were the only car stopped at the viewpoint of The Neck, which we found odd as it’s one of the better views!
Then we drove a bit further to Lake Hāwea which if this wasn’t the quintessential picture of NZ then I don’t know what is. We stopped at a pullover, not an official viewpoint, for pics. There was the glacial blue lake with rocky mountains rising behind. In the foreground, sheep ran around a field filled with spring flowers.
There was a viewpoint a few km down the road but it wasn’t as good. The parking lot was also temporarily overflowing, a bit dangerous as cars were backing out into a highway where the limit is 100 km/h. In busy season it would be crazy.
The highway was getting busier, likely due to proximity to Queenstown.
Our lunch destination was in the heritage precinct in Cromwell. In the 80s, the construction of the Clyde Dam flooded out some communities. They preserved some of the historic buildings from the main street and reconstructed them on higher ground in Cromwell. Some are museum-like and others now house boutique stores and galleries.
It was 22C and sunny in Cromwell, we had left the clouds behind on Lake Wānaka. We had lunch at the Grain and Seed Cafe, splitting a sandwich and salad. We finally figured out the portion sizes :) decided to have a coffee later when we arrived in Clyde.
Walked along the pedestrian area in the Heritage Precinct. There were some interesting galleries and I did find steak knives in another (bnbs tend to have very dull knives). Got back to the car and drove to Clyde.
Found our way to our bnb in Clyde, took all our stuff in and then headed out for a tour of Clyde. It was just about 3pm, and most places close down around 4pm.
Checked out a couple art galleries just around the corner from us. They had some cool stuff, but nothing that jumped out at us. Then we tried to get a coffee. The first couple places we tried were just closing up. It didn’t look good for us, until we came across The Post Office, a cafe in an old post office. Had a coffee and a couple chocolate treats.
While there I googled the winery just up the street from our bnb and saw that they did tastings on request. So gave them a call, and asked if we could come by around 4:30pm. Sure enough they could schedule one for us!
So finished our coffees, went back to the bnb to freshen up, and then a two minute walk to the winery. At first we weren’t sure if we were there, until one of the owners, Chris (I had spoken with her on the phone) waved to us from the 2nd floor balcony. She was just doing some wine stuff and was in the white overalls that wine people wear when doing wine stuff.
Her husband, John, welcomed us into the tasting room. We chatted while he sorted out the tasting. He said normally Chris did the tastings but she was doing wine stuff.
Anyways we tried their Chardonnay, Rose, and their 2016 and 2017 Pinots. Chris had finished her wine stuff and joined us. They were interested in our itinerary, and suggested fish mongers in Invercargill to get smoked salmon and blue cod for when we’re in our self-catering place in the Catlins. Their winery, Clyde Village Winery, is very small, only 2,000 vines, but still award-winking. It was fun chatting with Chris and John.
Had just enough time to shower and get to our dinner reservations at Oliver’s, about a five minute walk. (Everything is a five minute walk here).
Oliver’s is in a restored old building. It’s part of a hotel that was built from old stables. We had looked at staying there when we did our planning but it seemed overpriced. Better to stay at a cheaper bnb and then eat at the restaurant :)
Dinner was excellent. We had a drink afterwards in their bar area. The bartender was a big Raptors fan, of all teams. He said North American sports are big in NZ cause the games are at a convenient time for them to follow, around midday.
It was quite the turnaround for our time in Clyde. It wasn’t looking good at first in our desperate search for coffee, and then did a 180 with the winery tour and dinner and Oliver’s. A nice end to a full day (‘full day’ relatively speaking, from a vacation context).
We had another nice breakfast, although I was still full from dinner and so skipped the eggs this morning. Said our goodbyes to Pete (who totally reminded us of our friend Stéphane).
It was another scenic drive further south along Highway 6. There’s a couple viewpoints along Lake Wānaka. It got even better at The Neck, a narrow strip of land connecting the lakes. We were the only car stopped at the viewpoint of The Neck, which we found odd as it’s one of the better views!
Then we drove a bit further to Lake Hāwea which if this wasn’t the quintessential picture of NZ then I don’t know what is. We stopped at a pullover, not an official viewpoint, for pics. There was the glacial blue lake with rocky mountains rising behind. In the foreground, sheep ran around a field filled with spring flowers.
There was a viewpoint a few km down the road but it wasn’t as good. The parking lot was also temporarily overflowing, a bit dangerous as cars were backing out into a highway where the limit is 100 km/h. In busy season it would be crazy.
The highway was getting busier, likely due to proximity to Queenstown.
Our lunch destination was in the heritage precinct in Cromwell. In the 80s, the construction of the Clyde Dam flooded out some communities. They preserved some of the historic buildings from the main street and reconstructed them on higher ground in Cromwell. Some are museum-like and others now house boutique stores and galleries.
It was 22C and sunny in Cromwell, we had left the clouds behind on Lake Wānaka. We had lunch at the Grain and Seed Cafe, splitting a sandwich and salad. We finally figured out the portion sizes :) decided to have a coffee later when we arrived in Clyde.
Walked along the pedestrian area in the Heritage Precinct. There were some interesting galleries and I did find steak knives in another (bnbs tend to have very dull knives). Got back to the car and drove to Clyde.
Found our way to our bnb in Clyde, took all our stuff in and then headed out for a tour of Clyde. It was just about 3pm, and most places close down around 4pm.
Checked out a couple art galleries just around the corner from us. They had some cool stuff, but nothing that jumped out at us. Then we tried to get a coffee. The first couple places we tried were just closing up. It didn’t look good for us, until we came across The Post Office, a cafe in an old post office. Had a coffee and a couple chocolate treats.
While there I googled the winery just up the street from our bnb and saw that they did tastings on request. So gave them a call, and asked if we could come by around 4:30pm. Sure enough they could schedule one for us!
So finished our coffees, went back to the bnb to freshen up, and then a two minute walk to the winery. At first we weren’t sure if we were there, until one of the owners, Chris (I had spoken with her on the phone) waved to us from the 2nd floor balcony. She was just doing some wine stuff and was in the white overalls that wine people wear when doing wine stuff.
Her husband, John, welcomed us into the tasting room. We chatted while he sorted out the tasting. He said normally Chris did the tastings but she was doing wine stuff.
Anyways we tried their Chardonnay, Rose, and their 2016 and 2017 Pinots. Chris had finished her wine stuff and joined us. They were interested in our itinerary, and suggested fish mongers in Invercargill to get smoked salmon and blue cod for when we’re in our self-catering place in the Catlins. Their winery, Clyde Village Winery, is very small, only 2,000 vines, but still award-winking. It was fun chatting with Chris and John.
Had just enough time to shower and get to our dinner reservations at Oliver’s, about a five minute walk. (Everything is a five minute walk here).
Oliver’s is in a restored old building. It’s part of a hotel that was built from old stables. We had looked at staying there when we did our planning but it seemed overpriced. Better to stay at a cheaper bnb and then eat at the restaurant :)
Dinner was excellent. We had a drink afterwards in their bar area. The bartender was a big Raptors fan, of all teams. He said North American sports are big in NZ cause the games are at a convenient time for them to follow, around midday.
It was quite the turnaround for our time in Clyde. It wasn’t looking good at first in our desperate search for coffee, and then did a 180 with the winery tour and dinner and Oliver’s. A nice end to a full day (‘full day’ relatively speaking, from a vacation context).
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Makarora, New Zealand
I woke up around 4am cause the moon hit me in the eye, not unlike a big pizza pie. Literally, the moon was shining in through a side window directly on my pillow. I tried to take some pics through the window, which looked pretty good except for the double reflection in the window of the moon :(
The mountains in the distance started to get colour from dawn; it was really beautiful so I just lay in bed awake and watched. Heather woke up at some point and did the same. So we didn’t get much sleep but it was really pretty. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The sheep and cows woke up and started bleating and mooing. Eventually the sun rose over the peaks east of us.
We had a big breakfast, yogurt and muesli, poached eggs, toast with peanut butter and honey, and French press coffee. Pretty good for self-catering if I may say so myself.
When we were chatting yesterday with our host, Pete, he had suggested that we do the 2hr Blue Pools Track. Most folks just walk in 15 minutes to the Blue Pools; Pete thought we’d enjoy the full walk; he said it was his favourite in the area.
So we were on the road by 10:15am, still a blue sky. The track was just ten minutes north on Highway 6. There was just a handful of cars in the parking lot at this early hour. We were fully geared up for sun and sand flies.
The Blue Pools were nice. (Someone we met later on suggested that some people visit from areas that don’t have blue water cause of all the sediment in the water, and so blue water is really unique for them. For us it’s not such a novelty).
We were the only people on the track beyond the pools. We followed the marked trail through forest, and then later parallel to a farm, through meadows and fields of wild flowers. It was very peaceful. Fortunately it hadn’t rained recently cause otherwise the track would be very muddy.
We turned back after an hour, for a total walk of about 2.5 hours. It was really relaxing.
We had lunch at Makarora Country Cafe. It was just a couple minute drive from Wild Earth Lodge so we went home first to freshen up.
The rest of the afternoon we relaxed at our lodge. We had a washing machine and did several loads of laundry. We had been changing locations every day for the past week and this was our first opportunity to do laundry in a while.
We had scotch steaks (aka ribeye) with grilled asparagus, red pepper, onion, eggplant and mushrooms. (I definitely need to get an instant read thermometer. I overdid the steak slightly).
We sat outside again to finish the wine and watch the sunset. It really is one of our favourite places we’ve stayed.
The mountains in the distance started to get colour from dawn; it was really beautiful so I just lay in bed awake and watched. Heather woke up at some point and did the same. So we didn’t get much sleep but it was really pretty. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The sheep and cows woke up and started bleating and mooing. Eventually the sun rose over the peaks east of us.
We had a big breakfast, yogurt and muesli, poached eggs, toast with peanut butter and honey, and French press coffee. Pretty good for self-catering if I may say so myself.
When we were chatting yesterday with our host, Pete, he had suggested that we do the 2hr Blue Pools Track. Most folks just walk in 15 minutes to the Blue Pools; Pete thought we’d enjoy the full walk; he said it was his favourite in the area.
So we were on the road by 10:15am, still a blue sky. The track was just ten minutes north on Highway 6. There was just a handful of cars in the parking lot at this early hour. We were fully geared up for sun and sand flies.
The Blue Pools were nice. (Someone we met later on suggested that some people visit from areas that don’t have blue water cause of all the sediment in the water, and so blue water is really unique for them. For us it’s not such a novelty).
We were the only people on the track beyond the pools. We followed the marked trail through forest, and then later parallel to a farm, through meadows and fields of wild flowers. It was very peaceful. Fortunately it hadn’t rained recently cause otherwise the track would be very muddy.
We turned back after an hour, for a total walk of about 2.5 hours. It was really relaxing.
We had lunch at Makarora Country Cafe. It was just a couple minute drive from Wild Earth Lodge so we went home first to freshen up.
The rest of the afternoon we relaxed at our lodge. We had a washing machine and did several loads of laundry. We had been changing locations every day for the past week and this was our first opportunity to do laundry in a while.
We had scotch steaks (aka ribeye) with grilled asparagus, red pepper, onion, eggplant and mushrooms. (I definitely need to get an instant read thermometer. I overdid the steak slightly).
We sat outside again to finish the wine and watch the sunset. It really is one of our favourite places we’ve stayed.
Monday, December 12, 2022
Makarora, New Zealand
We drove further south on Highway 6 from Franz Josef to Makarora today.
First we stocked up on groceries for the next couple days at the local Four Square. The selection was small but worked well to source a couple dinners, including lots of fruit and vegetables. Our first use of our Esky (the brand name of coolers here, it’s so popular that the brand name has become synonymous with coolers, like Kleenex) and freezer packs that we had bought at Bunnings (a Home Depot equivalent in NZ) just outside the Christchurch airport.
The drive south on Highway 6 was spectacular yet again. We followed the Tasman Sea coast for most of the day before turning inland at Haast. We stopped at a few of the well-marked viewpoints (there’s markers 5km, 2km and 400m leading up to the viewpoints). Our favourite was Dune Lake lookout, which had a two-storey lookout tower you can climb for better views of the sand dunes. Also stopped at Fantail Falls, and walked to the Jetty Lookout at Matheson Park (there was a slight breeze and so no reflection of the peaks in the distance).
We arrived at Wild Earth Lodge in Makarora around 5pm. The lodge is one of our favourite places ever that we’ve stayed at. The backyard faced out to a large sheep grazing farm, and beyond that the Wilkin River and Mount Aspiring NP.
Sorted ourselves out, and then started on dinner. The bbq was a full grilling plate, rather than grilled. I did the salmon on the bbq, and Heather took care of the asparagus and potatoes. A little browned butter with caper sauce for the salmon, it was just like at home! Except the salmon was local - we will sometimes buy King Salmon at our local fishmonger in Toronto, sourced from NZ.
Finished off the wine lounging on the deck watching the sunset. One of the best outdoor decks we’ve had that could actually be enjoyed, with no bugs and a comfortable 15C.
First we stocked up on groceries for the next couple days at the local Four Square. The selection was small but worked well to source a couple dinners, including lots of fruit and vegetables. Our first use of our Esky (the brand name of coolers here, it’s so popular that the brand name has become synonymous with coolers, like Kleenex) and freezer packs that we had bought at Bunnings (a Home Depot equivalent in NZ) just outside the Christchurch airport.
The drive south on Highway 6 was spectacular yet again. We followed the Tasman Sea coast for most of the day before turning inland at Haast. We stopped at a few of the well-marked viewpoints (there’s markers 5km, 2km and 400m leading up to the viewpoints). Our favourite was Dune Lake lookout, which had a two-storey lookout tower you can climb for better views of the sand dunes. Also stopped at Fantail Falls, and walked to the Jetty Lookout at Matheson Park (there was a slight breeze and so no reflection of the peaks in the distance).
We arrived at Wild Earth Lodge in Makarora around 5pm. The lodge is one of our favourite places ever that we’ve stayed at. The backyard faced out to a large sheep grazing farm, and beyond that the Wilkin River and Mount Aspiring NP.
Sorted ourselves out, and then started on dinner. The bbq was a full grilling plate, rather than grilled. I did the salmon on the bbq, and Heather took care of the asparagus and potatoes. A little browned butter with caper sauce for the salmon, it was just like at home! Except the salmon was local - we will sometimes buy King Salmon at our local fishmonger in Toronto, sourced from NZ.
Finished off the wine lounging on the deck watching the sunset. One of the best outdoor decks we’ve had that could actually be enjoyed, with no bugs and a comfortable 15C.
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Franz Josef, New Zealand
We wished we had an extra day in Breakers Boutique (near Greymouth) cause it’s a relaxing place to stay, and there’s plenty to see just north. Unfortunately, when we were planning, they didn’t have availability for the two days. Oh well, I guess that’s for another trip.
We did start the day driving north 30 minutes to Punakaiki and Paparoa National Park to see Pancake Rocks. It was windy and drizzly (and for most of the drive today). There weren’t many tourists visiting today based on the car park.
There’s a nice boardwalk that takes you through the park. Pancake Rocks are unique - it’s hundreds of thin rock layers stacked on each other, with the Tasman Sea pounding away at them. Well worth the drive!
Stopped in at the tourist info centre which had some pretty decent souvenirs. Heather bought a t-shirt.
Then headed south on Highway 6. The drive, winding along the coast, is stunning - it’s a tourist attraction on its own. We had a list of suggestions for the drive to Franz Josef from Jan, our host at Breakers.
Because of the rain we decided against the treks and instead called in at Shades of Jade in Greymouth. Heather had liked their jewelry on display at Breakers. I bought a hei matu necklace, a stylized fish hook, a Māori symbol.
The jade folks recommended Monteith’s Brewery for lunch so we checked it out. The portion sizes were large. Should have split a sandwich and salad. Heather liked their cider. Bought a couple bottles to go so I could try their Pale Ale later on.
Debated getting groceries in Greymouth for a couple days out (Greymouth is the largest town we’ll be in the next few days) but decided to take our chances in Franz Josef.
The rest of the afternoon was driving with occasional stops for viewpoints, some spectacular, others okay. Filled up on gas in Hokitika at the NPD self serve. It was much easier figuring out how to be open the gas cap on the Corolla vs the Outlander we had in Tasmania.
The weather cleared as we arrived in Franz Josef. Most people come here to see the glaciers, but it looked a bit like a tourist trap when we did our planning, what with global warming causing the glaciers to recede. So it was just a transit stop for us.
Franz Josef reminded us of a ski resort town, with the focus here on getting tourists to take a helicopter tour.
Picked up some groceries at the Four Square in town (it’s a chain here). Our bnb is just on the outskirts of the centre, about a 5-10 minute walk. It’s surrounded by rainforest.
There were just a couple of restaurants to choose from, which didn’t take reservations, so we went early for dinner (6:45) and were able to get seated at Alice May’s. As with almost all restaurants here, they had a sign warning about how understaffed they were.
The food was excellent, Heather had the salmon and I had the grilled pork, and a bottle of local pinot noir. We would have preferred more vegetables. At least the next couple dinners we’re cooking ourselves.
We wandered about the town after dinner. It was still bright out, the sun only set around 9:15pm cause we’re a bit south and close to solstice. The Southern Alps looked nice at dusk, we were lucky the clouds had cleared.
We did start the day driving north 30 minutes to Punakaiki and Paparoa National Park to see Pancake Rocks. It was windy and drizzly (and for most of the drive today). There weren’t many tourists visiting today based on the car park.
There’s a nice boardwalk that takes you through the park. Pancake Rocks are unique - it’s hundreds of thin rock layers stacked on each other, with the Tasman Sea pounding away at them. Well worth the drive!
Stopped in at the tourist info centre which had some pretty decent souvenirs. Heather bought a t-shirt.
Then headed south on Highway 6. The drive, winding along the coast, is stunning - it’s a tourist attraction on its own. We had a list of suggestions for the drive to Franz Josef from Jan, our host at Breakers.
Because of the rain we decided against the treks and instead called in at Shades of Jade in Greymouth. Heather had liked their jewelry on display at Breakers. I bought a hei matu necklace, a stylized fish hook, a Māori symbol.
The jade folks recommended Monteith’s Brewery for lunch so we checked it out. The portion sizes were large. Should have split a sandwich and salad. Heather liked their cider. Bought a couple bottles to go so I could try their Pale Ale later on.
Debated getting groceries in Greymouth for a couple days out (Greymouth is the largest town we’ll be in the next few days) but decided to take our chances in Franz Josef.
The rest of the afternoon was driving with occasional stops for viewpoints, some spectacular, others okay. Filled up on gas in Hokitika at the NPD self serve. It was much easier figuring out how to be open the gas cap on the Corolla vs the Outlander we had in Tasmania.
The weather cleared as we arrived in Franz Josef. Most people come here to see the glaciers, but it looked a bit like a tourist trap when we did our planning, what with global warming causing the glaciers to recede. So it was just a transit stop for us.
Franz Josef reminded us of a ski resort town, with the focus here on getting tourists to take a helicopter tour.
Picked up some groceries at the Four Square in town (it’s a chain here). Our bnb is just on the outskirts of the centre, about a 5-10 minute walk. It’s surrounded by rainforest.
There were just a couple of restaurants to choose from, which didn’t take reservations, so we went early for dinner (6:45) and were able to get seated at Alice May’s. As with almost all restaurants here, they had a sign warning about how understaffed they were.
The food was excellent, Heather had the salmon and I had the grilled pork, and a bottle of local pinot noir. We would have preferred more vegetables. At least the next couple dinners we’re cooking ourselves.
We wandered about the town after dinner. It was still bright out, the sun only set around 9:15pm cause we’re a bit south and close to solstice. The Southern Alps looked nice at dusk, we were lucky the clouds had cleared.
Greymouth, New Zealand
We checked that our flight from Auckland to Christchurch was on schedule first thing when we woke up at 6am. One benefit of staying at an airport hotel is that they are focused on passengers catching flights. So no worries about breakfast at early hours.
It’s a three hour difference between Adelaide and Auckland so it felt like 3am for us, ugh.
Caught the 7am shuttle to the airport. We had no problems at self check-in, printing our luggage tags (our boarding passes were digital), nor getting through security.
Then the wait at the gate, hoping our flight wouldn’t be cancelled. flightaware.com showed the inbound flight was on schedule, which boded well. (It’s amazing how much flight-related info is out there on the web).
And then we boarded! Another full flight, although this was a shorter flight at only 85 minutes. We even got a hot beverage. We had checked that our luggage was with us before we departed, so there was no nervous wait for our luggage at the conveyor.
I picked up the rental car from Sixt while Heather gathered our luggage. Sixt was very organized, with our car keys and agreement all ready to go. When researching the trip, one of frequent complaints I had seen was car rental reservations with no cars, (I think there’s a Seinfeld for that). So it was a relief to see that our car was indeed there :) I planned the trip south-to-north to increase our car chances. It’s way more common to start in the north, so car rental companies normally end up with all their cars in Christchurch. It’s possible to get a big discount to drive the cars north for them; but this requires a bit of schedule flexibility which we didn’t have.
So took our ‘before’ pics of our Toyota Corolla rental, loaded up our luggage, and we were off on the final leg of our little adventure, six weeks in New Zealand, country number 97 for me :)
About Australia, it’s the first country we’ve spent a bit of time in and not used cash. We used tap everywhere. Usually we are in countries a little more off the beaten path, where access to the banking system isn’t ubiquitous and cash is needed, so I don’t think this will become a trend for us.
We were on the road by 11am, not far off our original plan of 10am, so the missed flight didn’t impact our itinerary much at all.
The drive from Christchurch to the west coast through Arthur’s Pass was spectacular. We lucked out with a beautiful sunny day as well. The folks at Breakers Boutique had given us suggested stops along the drive, from which we picked the ones most interesting to us.
The hedges around farms in Canterbury were huge, about 20ft tall and neatly trimmed.
First stop was at World Famous Sheffield Pies for lunch, where we had some savoury pies. Mmm good.
Next up was Castle Hill, with 4-storey boulders on a hill. It’s a pleasant 30 minute walk from the car park on track that loops around the boulders. We were surprised that the car park was full (we’re still in what would been shoulder season pre-covid) but it was a Saturday and it looked like there were some rock climbing clubs meeting.
Had a coffee in Arthur’s Pass, where we had our first view of kea, a mountain parrot, scavenging at the restaurant. You’re not supposed to feed them but I guess enough people do to make it worthwhile for them to hang out.
Last stop was at Deaths Corner, which has great views of the valley (we also stopped at another viewpoint, not on our lodge’s suggested stops, now we know why, lol).
Finally reached the west coast and turned north on Hwy 6. The highway runs most of the west coast of the South Island, and should be on lists of best road trips in the world. Today we just had 10 minutes on it to get to our lodge, but we’ll be driving most of its length over the next few days.
We stayed at Breakers Boutique. For some reason they had upgraded us to a nicer room, which was amazing. Too bad we just have one night here.
We dropped our stuff and walked down to the pebble beach. I’ve never seen so much driftwood in my life! Heather loves the sounds and sight of the ocean, and there was no shortage of that here. There’s a reason they named the place Breakers Boutique :)
We had the homemade pizza (it's the only item on offer - otherwise it's a 15 minute drive to town for takeout) and a NZ pinot noir for dinner and watched the ocean. It was a great start to NZ!
It’s a three hour difference between Adelaide and Auckland so it felt like 3am for us, ugh.
Caught the 7am shuttle to the airport. We had no problems at self check-in, printing our luggage tags (our boarding passes were digital), nor getting through security.
Then the wait at the gate, hoping our flight wouldn’t be cancelled. flightaware.com showed the inbound flight was on schedule, which boded well. (It’s amazing how much flight-related info is out there on the web).
And then we boarded! Another full flight, although this was a shorter flight at only 85 minutes. We even got a hot beverage. We had checked that our luggage was with us before we departed, so there was no nervous wait for our luggage at the conveyor.
I picked up the rental car from Sixt while Heather gathered our luggage. Sixt was very organized, with our car keys and agreement all ready to go. When researching the trip, one of frequent complaints I had seen was car rental reservations with no cars, (I think there’s a Seinfeld for that). So it was a relief to see that our car was indeed there :) I planned the trip south-to-north to increase our car chances. It’s way more common to start in the north, so car rental companies normally end up with all their cars in Christchurch. It’s possible to get a big discount to drive the cars north for them; but this requires a bit of schedule flexibility which we didn’t have.
So took our ‘before’ pics of our Toyota Corolla rental, loaded up our luggage, and we were off on the final leg of our little adventure, six weeks in New Zealand, country number 97 for me :)
About Australia, it’s the first country we’ve spent a bit of time in and not used cash. We used tap everywhere. Usually we are in countries a little more off the beaten path, where access to the banking system isn’t ubiquitous and cash is needed, so I don’t think this will become a trend for us.
We were on the road by 11am, not far off our original plan of 10am, so the missed flight didn’t impact our itinerary much at all.
The drive from Christchurch to the west coast through Arthur’s Pass was spectacular. We lucked out with a beautiful sunny day as well. The folks at Breakers Boutique had given us suggested stops along the drive, from which we picked the ones most interesting to us.
The hedges around farms in Canterbury were huge, about 20ft tall and neatly trimmed.
First stop was at World Famous Sheffield Pies for lunch, where we had some savoury pies. Mmm good.
Next up was Castle Hill, with 4-storey boulders on a hill. It’s a pleasant 30 minute walk from the car park on track that loops around the boulders. We were surprised that the car park was full (we’re still in what would been shoulder season pre-covid) but it was a Saturday and it looked like there were some rock climbing clubs meeting.
Had a coffee in Arthur’s Pass, where we had our first view of kea, a mountain parrot, scavenging at the restaurant. You’re not supposed to feed them but I guess enough people do to make it worthwhile for them to hang out.
Last stop was at Deaths Corner, which has great views of the valley (we also stopped at another viewpoint, not on our lodge’s suggested stops, now we know why, lol).
Finally reached the west coast and turned north on Hwy 6. The highway runs most of the west coast of the South Island, and should be on lists of best road trips in the world. Today we just had 10 minutes on it to get to our lodge, but we’ll be driving most of its length over the next few days.
We stayed at Breakers Boutique. For some reason they had upgraded us to a nicer room, which was amazing. Too bad we just have one night here.
We dropped our stuff and walked down to the pebble beach. I’ve never seen so much driftwood in my life! Heather loves the sounds and sight of the ocean, and there was no shortage of that here. There’s a reason they named the place Breakers Boutique :)
We had the homemade pizza (it's the only item on offer - otherwise it's a 15 minute drive to town for takeout) and a NZ pinot noir for dinner and watched the ocean. It was a great start to NZ!
Thursday, December 08, 2022
Auckland, New Zealand
We hadn’t planned to spend the night in Auckland but due to flight delays missed our connection to Christchurch :(
The day started in Adelaide. Our ADL-AKL flight was at noon, so we were able to get up at decent hour. We thought about upgrading cause it’s four hours but the flight had just economy seats, plus it looked to be completely full.
We got through security and then waited inside the terminal for our gate to posted. Then we realized we had to go through another set of security checks for international flights, including having to dump our water bottles again and fill up on the other side. Very odd.
The flight was delayed by an hour cause the incoming flight was late. We were flying Air New Zealand for the first time - the seats were really comfortable, no need for upgrades.
The flight attendants came by to all the transferring passengers to explain how they were hoping to rush us through our transfers. They arranged for passengers to disembark in stages - first the passengers on connecting flights across the Pacific, then connections within NZ (which included us). There were 40 passengers, including us, connecting to Christchurch, so we figured they would hold the flight till we got there.
Unfortunately as it was an international flight with a domestic connection, we had to first collect our luggage, pass through customs, get to the domestic terminal, pass through security, check our bags, and then board. In 55 minutes. (In the future, for international to domestic connections, I’ll probably plan to stay the night in between).
It was all going to plan. The cross-Pacific passengers disembarked, then us and 38 of our fellow passengers.
Our luggage came out the conveyor pretty quickly (we had already checked in the Find My app to confirm our luggage made the flight).
We had trekked in the Outback and declared our shoes as possibly contaminated with dirt, so got flagged through customs. We had to pull out our shoes for inspection, which was quick. The longer part was trying to cram everything back into the suitcase.
Then we walked over to the domestic terminal. The flight staff suggested walking instead of waiting for the shuttle as it’s just a ten minute walk. We recognized other passengers from the flight making the trek too. It was drizzly and very humid, quite the change for us from the arid climate in the Outback. I was sweating by the time we got to the terminal.
Tried to self-check our bags but the flight wasn’t coming up in the system. Then an Air New Zealand staff came over to inform us the gates were closed for our AKL-CHC flight :(
So 40 of us lined up to get moved to the next available flight (there’s multiple per day) and get our accommodation and meal vouchers.
Took us an hour of waiting to finally get rebooked, on the 9am flight the next day. As we were at the counter, the agents found out that the 8:30am flight that they had booked most of the folks ahead of us was now cancelled. Good thing we were on the 9am! Hopefully that would remain on schedule. Later we realized the weather had been bad in Auckland today and lots of flights had been cancelled. The line up for vouchers kept on growing with passengers from other flights.
We’ve been pretty lucky over the years that we haven’t had many missed flights. I think just one canceled flight in Borneo and Heather had her luggage delayed in Lisbon.
There were two other passengers staying at the same hotel as us. One of the other passengers didn’t want to wait for the shuttle, so took an Uber and offered to take all four of us. Very nice of her.
Finally got to the hotel at 10pm. The restaurant had just closed so we ordered room service. The friendly JetPark hotel people suggested we order at reception before heading to our room so we wouldn’t have wait long for our food.
It was a rather long day and we weren’t quite yet at our destination. Oh well.
The day started in Adelaide. Our ADL-AKL flight was at noon, so we were able to get up at decent hour. We thought about upgrading cause it’s four hours but the flight had just economy seats, plus it looked to be completely full.
We got through security and then waited inside the terminal for our gate to posted. Then we realized we had to go through another set of security checks for international flights, including having to dump our water bottles again and fill up on the other side. Very odd.
The flight was delayed by an hour cause the incoming flight was late. We were flying Air New Zealand for the first time - the seats were really comfortable, no need for upgrades.
The flight attendants came by to all the transferring passengers to explain how they were hoping to rush us through our transfers. They arranged for passengers to disembark in stages - first the passengers on connecting flights across the Pacific, then connections within NZ (which included us). There were 40 passengers, including us, connecting to Christchurch, so we figured they would hold the flight till we got there.
Unfortunately as it was an international flight with a domestic connection, we had to first collect our luggage, pass through customs, get to the domestic terminal, pass through security, check our bags, and then board. In 55 minutes. (In the future, for international to domestic connections, I’ll probably plan to stay the night in between).
It was all going to plan. The cross-Pacific passengers disembarked, then us and 38 of our fellow passengers.
Our luggage came out the conveyor pretty quickly (we had already checked in the Find My app to confirm our luggage made the flight).
We had trekked in the Outback and declared our shoes as possibly contaminated with dirt, so got flagged through customs. We had to pull out our shoes for inspection, which was quick. The longer part was trying to cram everything back into the suitcase.
Then we walked over to the domestic terminal. The flight staff suggested walking instead of waiting for the shuttle as it’s just a ten minute walk. We recognized other passengers from the flight making the trek too. It was drizzly and very humid, quite the change for us from the arid climate in the Outback. I was sweating by the time we got to the terminal.
Tried to self-check our bags but the flight wasn’t coming up in the system. Then an Air New Zealand staff came over to inform us the gates were closed for our AKL-CHC flight :(
So 40 of us lined up to get moved to the next available flight (there’s multiple per day) and get our accommodation and meal vouchers.
Took us an hour of waiting to finally get rebooked, on the 9am flight the next day. As we were at the counter, the agents found out that the 8:30am flight that they had booked most of the folks ahead of us was now cancelled. Good thing we were on the 9am! Hopefully that would remain on schedule. Later we realized the weather had been bad in Auckland today and lots of flights had been cancelled. The line up for vouchers kept on growing with passengers from other flights.
We’ve been pretty lucky over the years that we haven’t had many missed flights. I think just one canceled flight in Borneo and Heather had her luggage delayed in Lisbon.
There were two other passengers staying at the same hotel as us. One of the other passengers didn’t want to wait for the shuttle, so took an Uber and offered to take all four of us. Very nice of her.
Finally got to the hotel at 10pm. The restaurant had just closed so we ordered room service. The friendly JetPark hotel people suggested we order at reception before heading to our room so we wouldn’t have wait long for our food.
It was a rather long day and we weren’t quite yet at our destination. Oh well.
Adelaide, Australia
Today was mostly driving back the 500km to Adelaide from Leigh Creek. We first drove through the national parks in Flinders Range. Observed the yellow-footed rock wallabies bounding about the rocky cliffs, pretty mobile for two feet. It was a beautiful day today, 22C and sunny. We were extremely lucky with the weather during the excursion.
During the drive home we also finally saw kangaroo in the wild, which was on my list.
We got back into Adelaide just before 6pm. Said our goodbyes to Paul, who’d been our excellent guide and driver for the three-day excursion, and checked back into the Ibis.
At first we were thinking of something low key for dinner. Then Heather suggested Italian (we had met an Italian expat in Marree and she had said there was excellent Italian food in Adelaide). So we looked up italian restaurants in google maps, cleaned up and headed off to Osteria Oggi, where we probably ate too much :) it was all excellent though.
During the drive home we also finally saw kangaroo in the wild, which was on my list.
We got back into Adelaide just before 6pm. Said our goodbyes to Paul, who’d been our excellent guide and driver for the three-day excursion, and checked back into the Ibis.
At first we were thinking of something low key for dinner. Then Heather suggested Italian (we had met an Italian expat in Marree and she had said there was excellent Italian food in Adelaide). So we looked up italian restaurants in google maps, cleaned up and headed off to Osteria Oggi, where we probably ate too much :) it was all excellent though.
Wednesday, December 07, 2022
Leigh Creek, Australia
Today was our big descent to Kati Thanda Lake Eyre!
Paul (our guide) had been checking the satellite forecasts to make sure we didn’t get stranded in a flash flood. There was some storm activity southwest of us but nothing to worry about. Today was also much cooler - a forecast high of 32C, much better than the 38C we had yesterday. However it was really windy all day today. Luckily the recent rains had kept the landscape green so there wasn’t too much dust. Usually this time of year the heat has burnt off everything.
About 30 minutes in we spotted a couple of wedge tailed eagles, munching on roadkill. They flew up into the roadside bush as we drove up. Got some decent pics, although Paul teased me for having my camera buried in my day pack instead of at the ready.
By about 10am we were there! It’s a dramatic approach, as the first view is after cresting a dune a few hundred metres from the lake.
We had been comparing our various devices as we approached (the car GPS, Garmin, and our iPhones) to see the elevation. They varied from -24m to -8m (the official measurement is -12m).
There’s a car park, and then a path which descends to the actual lake. We started on a salt crust over hard sand, which eventually turned to softer sand. We walked out about 100m before turning back. It was super windy - it was really hard to walk back.
We also saw lots of chatters of budgies flying by, every few minutes. I didn’t know that budgies existed in the wild. I also had to look up the term for a group of budgies - chatter is appropriate, as you hear them before you see them, flashing green as they passed by. I took some random pics that you can recognize as green and bird-shaped, but not anything I’ll be submitting to National Geographic.
There were cool shaped ant hills on the shores. They were like cookie-cutouts, with vertical edges rather than a sloped side, I think because of the wet sand. Anyways they were cool to see.
We spent about 45 minute exploring Kati Thanda. We walked back to the truck over an abandoned rail line - Paul suggested we look for a railway spike as a souvenir. Once we found one we saw hundreds of them scattered along the former rail line. Got a nicely shaped one, rusty but still with the original point on the spike.
Stopped for lunch in Marree, at Marree’s Outback Roadhouse. One thing we both really liked about the excursion is that we ate at real places that locals frequent, rather than tourist stops. They have a real small-town feel to them (as you’d expect). It also does feel like you’re in the outback. The tumbleweeds blowing by probably add to the atmosphere too :)
Passed by the Lake Eyre Yacht Club, which started as a joke but is a real thing. We had read about it when researching the trip.
We had a few more stops in the afternoon - at the ghost town of Farina, Lyndhurst Ochre pits and the Aroona Dam. We saw some long-necked turtles and black swans in the artificial lake behind the dam.
We stayed overnight at Leigh Creek Outback Resort. Their diner was much more sedate than last night, although still pretty busy. It was steak night; we both had the Scotch steak, which in Canada we’d call a ribeye. The chef knew what he was doing - it was really tasty. We’ve been drinking Cooper’s Pale Ale on tap here in South Australia, the brewery is in Adelaide and it’s really popular.
It was a very full day of touristing, we fell asleep quickly.
Paul (our guide) had been checking the satellite forecasts to make sure we didn’t get stranded in a flash flood. There was some storm activity southwest of us but nothing to worry about. Today was also much cooler - a forecast high of 32C, much better than the 38C we had yesterday. However it was really windy all day today. Luckily the recent rains had kept the landscape green so there wasn’t too much dust. Usually this time of year the heat has burnt off everything.
About 30 minutes in we spotted a couple of wedge tailed eagles, munching on roadkill. They flew up into the roadside bush as we drove up. Got some decent pics, although Paul teased me for having my camera buried in my day pack instead of at the ready.
By about 10am we were there! It’s a dramatic approach, as the first view is after cresting a dune a few hundred metres from the lake.
We had been comparing our various devices as we approached (the car GPS, Garmin, and our iPhones) to see the elevation. They varied from -24m to -8m (the official measurement is -12m).
There’s a car park, and then a path which descends to the actual lake. We started on a salt crust over hard sand, which eventually turned to softer sand. We walked out about 100m before turning back. It was super windy - it was really hard to walk back.
We also saw lots of chatters of budgies flying by, every few minutes. I didn’t know that budgies existed in the wild. I also had to look up the term for a group of budgies - chatter is appropriate, as you hear them before you see them, flashing green as they passed by. I took some random pics that you can recognize as green and bird-shaped, but not anything I’ll be submitting to National Geographic.
There were cool shaped ant hills on the shores. They were like cookie-cutouts, with vertical edges rather than a sloped side, I think because of the wet sand. Anyways they were cool to see.
We spent about 45 minute exploring Kati Thanda. We walked back to the truck over an abandoned rail line - Paul suggested we look for a railway spike as a souvenir. Once we found one we saw hundreds of them scattered along the former rail line. Got a nicely shaped one, rusty but still with the original point on the spike.
Stopped for lunch in Marree, at Marree’s Outback Roadhouse. One thing we both really liked about the excursion is that we ate at real places that locals frequent, rather than tourist stops. They have a real small-town feel to them (as you’d expect). It also does feel like you’re in the outback. The tumbleweeds blowing by probably add to the atmosphere too :)
Passed by the Lake Eyre Yacht Club, which started as a joke but is a real thing. We had read about it when researching the trip.
We had a few more stops in the afternoon - at the ghost town of Farina, Lyndhurst Ochre pits and the Aroona Dam. We saw some long-necked turtles and black swans in the artificial lake behind the dam.
We stayed overnight at Leigh Creek Outback Resort. Their diner was much more sedate than last night, although still pretty busy. It was steak night; we both had the Scotch steak, which in Canada we’d call a ribeye. The chef knew what he was doing - it was really tasty. We’ve been drinking Cooper’s Pale Ale on tap here in South Australia, the brewery is in Adelaide and it’s really popular.
It was a very full day of touristing, we fell asleep quickly.
Monday, December 05, 2022
Roxby Downs, Australia
We had a hearty breakfast at the Ibis in Adelaide, checked out and met Paul at 7:30am in the lobby. Paul’s our tour guide and driver for our whirlwind three day excursion to Kati Thanda Lake Eyre, the low point of Australia.
This will be the 4th low point for us. Our first low point was the Dead Sea when we went to Jordan. A few years later we went to Lac Assale in Djibouti, more for the scenic excursion and because I’d also been to the high point of Africa. Anyways the Seven Low Points became a thing for us after that.
Based on the rest of our itinerary we had just three days and two nights to get to Kati Thanda and back. Paul (the company is just Paul and his wife, Astrid) arranged the custom itinerary, with about five hours driving per day, and interesting sights along the way. It’s a dangerous trip to self-drive if you don’t know what you’re doing in the outback.
At this point we still weren’t assured of getting there. Flash floods can close down roads for days; and the weather forecast was all over the place the next few days.
So we loaded up Paul’s Toyota Landcruiser, and started on our adventure!
Over the next three days Paul turned out to be really knowledgeable about almost everything in the region, including the history of towns, and identifying all the birds and animals that we spotted on the drive.
We had a fuel stop and coffee break once we got out of Adelaide. Mince pies are popular in the morning and Paul recommended them, so I tried one. Not my typical mid-morning snack but it was pretty good.
First highlight was Lochiel, a pink lake. The colour changed based on the sun / cloud cover; got some okay pics. My iPhone was better than my camera at picking up the colours.
Next we saw Germein, a former shipping town. There’s a 1676m long jetty to reach the drop off where ships can dock. It’s so long it had a railway track to assist with shipping back in the day. It was an photogenic historical stop.
As we drove inland, north from Adelaide, the farmland turned to desert scrubs above the ‘Goyder line’. Above this line, farmers aren’t eligible for relief funding in case of drought etc. The farms had perfectly straight crops, guided by lasers and GPS.
At some point we passed the marker for 'The Outback' which was also a place we wanted to get to, similar to how we wanted to get to the Sahara. we had googled the definition of the Outback and there's no set boundary - even Paul said it was basically 'inland'. The roadside sign was probably from the tourism marketing board, lol.
We stopped for lunch at Arid Lands Botanical Gardens. The temperature had started to creep up, it was now 32C with a forecast high of 38C. This is typical as we get into summer. We’re the last excursion for Paul before they shut down for three months over the summer - it just gets too hot, with highs in mid-40s.
Last sightseeing for the day was an outdoor museum in Woomera, with rocket launchers and aircraft. The coolest part for me was a second stage booster recovered from the outback. The region is still militarized for testing and launches - we passed by large off-limit areas.
We stayed overnight in Roxby Downs, a mining town. The restaurant was packed in the evening with off-shift mining crew drinking and eating.
This will be the 4th low point for us. Our first low point was the Dead Sea when we went to Jordan. A few years later we went to Lac Assale in Djibouti, more for the scenic excursion and because I’d also been to the high point of Africa. Anyways the Seven Low Points became a thing for us after that.
Based on the rest of our itinerary we had just three days and two nights to get to Kati Thanda and back. Paul (the company is just Paul and his wife, Astrid) arranged the custom itinerary, with about five hours driving per day, and interesting sights along the way. It’s a dangerous trip to self-drive if you don’t know what you’re doing in the outback.
At this point we still weren’t assured of getting there. Flash floods can close down roads for days; and the weather forecast was all over the place the next few days.
So we loaded up Paul’s Toyota Landcruiser, and started on our adventure!
Over the next three days Paul turned out to be really knowledgeable about almost everything in the region, including the history of towns, and identifying all the birds and animals that we spotted on the drive.
We had a fuel stop and coffee break once we got out of Adelaide. Mince pies are popular in the morning and Paul recommended them, so I tried one. Not my typical mid-morning snack but it was pretty good.
First highlight was Lochiel, a pink lake. The colour changed based on the sun / cloud cover; got some okay pics. My iPhone was better than my camera at picking up the colours.
Next we saw Germein, a former shipping town. There’s a 1676m long jetty to reach the drop off where ships can dock. It’s so long it had a railway track to assist with shipping back in the day. It was an photogenic historical stop.
As we drove inland, north from Adelaide, the farmland turned to desert scrubs above the ‘Goyder line’. Above this line, farmers aren’t eligible for relief funding in case of drought etc. The farms had perfectly straight crops, guided by lasers and GPS.
At some point we passed the marker for 'The Outback' which was also a place we wanted to get to, similar to how we wanted to get to the Sahara. we had googled the definition of the Outback and there's no set boundary - even Paul said it was basically 'inland'. The roadside sign was probably from the tourism marketing board, lol.
We stopped for lunch at Arid Lands Botanical Gardens. The temperature had started to creep up, it was now 32C with a forecast high of 38C. This is typical as we get into summer. We’re the last excursion for Paul before they shut down for three months over the summer - it just gets too hot, with highs in mid-40s.
Last sightseeing for the day was an outdoor museum in Woomera, with rocket launchers and aircraft. The coolest part for me was a second stage booster recovered from the outback. The region is still militarized for testing and launches - we passed by large off-limit areas.
We stayed overnight in Roxby Downs, a mining town. The restaurant was packed in the evening with off-shift mining crew drinking and eating.
Sunday, December 04, 2022
Adelaide, Australia
We had a couple connecting flights on Virgin Australia to get from Hobart to Adelaide. When we were returning the car in Hobart, we ran into the same car rental folks at the gas station, then in the parking lot and finally at the counter. So they had verified first-hand that we had fueled up :) probably had a laugh watching us trying to find the gas cap release on the Outlander.
It was a beautiful day in Adelaide. It’s a quick 15 minute taxi to get to the CBD. We stayed at the Ibis, which isn’t our typical choice for accommodation but we just needed something functional.
We were hungry so wandered down Rundle Mall, a pedestrian mall in the heart of Adelaide CBD. It reminded us of Singapore, with the blurring between inside / outside and private / public areas. It’s mostly international chains on Rundle Mall. Ended up at Harry’s Bar, which was across multiple floors in a beautiful old building. You go there for the location, not the food or beers. Sat out on the 2nd floor patio overlooking Grenfell St and had some pub food.
Around 5pm it was starting to get chilly so went back to the hotel. The travel day had messed up our meal times, so ended up just having ramen for dinner. There’s a decent amount of immigration in Adelaide and a good variety of different cuisines.
Repacked our suitcases for the Kati Thanda Lake Eyre excursion starting tomorrow and went to bed.
It was a beautiful day in Adelaide. It’s a quick 15 minute taxi to get to the CBD. We stayed at the Ibis, which isn’t our typical choice for accommodation but we just needed something functional.
We were hungry so wandered down Rundle Mall, a pedestrian mall in the heart of Adelaide CBD. It reminded us of Singapore, with the blurring between inside / outside and private / public areas. It’s mostly international chains on Rundle Mall. Ended up at Harry’s Bar, which was across multiple floors in a beautiful old building. You go there for the location, not the food or beers. Sat out on the 2nd floor patio overlooking Grenfell St and had some pub food.
Around 5pm it was starting to get chilly so went back to the hotel. The travel day had messed up our meal times, so ended up just having ramen for dinner. There’s a decent amount of immigration in Adelaide and a good variety of different cuisines.
Repacked our suitcases for the Kati Thanda Lake Eyre excursion starting tomorrow and went to bed.
Hobart, Australia
On Sundays the Farm Gate Market closes down Bathurst St for a block between Murray St and Elizabeth St, just around the corner from our Airbnb. We could see the vendors arriving and setting up from our window, and then later people leaving with bags full of produce.
We went down to check it out after breakfast. It seemed like every second person had a huge bunch of basil. I’m not sure what they do with that much basil - maybe make pesto or jam? We’re leaving tomorrow so we didn’t buy anything, although lots looked good.
Later we walked twenty minutes up Elizabeth St to North Hobart, another little community full of cafés, restaurants and craft breweries. Had lunch at Raincheck Lounge and then sampled the beers at Shambles Brewery (the beers were so-so).
Walked back home and then later got ready for our big dinner at Templo. Templo supposedly kick-started the culinary trend here in Hobart (at least, according to the Lonely Planet).
We arrived a couple minutes before our seating at 6pm, and realized we were amongst the last of the 20 or so diners to arrive. It’s semi-communal seating - we were placed at a table for ten. Fortunately the other couples were just as unenthusiastic as us about meeting everyone else, we all just kept to ourselves.
The food was simple courses done really well. Also the wines were paired for consecutive courses so you didn’t feel like you had to finish the glass every course. I preferred the tasting at Aløft; but it was still great to eat here - it’s sort of an institution in Hobart.
Walked down to the waterfront after dinner. The lighting was really nice for pics.
We went down to check it out after breakfast. It seemed like every second person had a huge bunch of basil. I’m not sure what they do with that much basil - maybe make pesto or jam? We’re leaving tomorrow so we didn’t buy anything, although lots looked good.
Later we walked twenty minutes up Elizabeth St to North Hobart, another little community full of cafés, restaurants and craft breweries. Had lunch at Raincheck Lounge and then sampled the beers at Shambles Brewery (the beers were so-so).
Walked back home and then later got ready for our big dinner at Templo. Templo supposedly kick-started the culinary trend here in Hobart (at least, according to the Lonely Planet).
We arrived a couple minutes before our seating at 6pm, and realized we were amongst the last of the 20 or so diners to arrive. It’s semi-communal seating - we were placed at a table for ten. Fortunately the other couples were just as unenthusiastic as us about meeting everyone else, we all just kept to ourselves.
The food was simple courses done really well. Also the wines were paired for consecutive courses so you didn’t feel like you had to finish the glass every course. I preferred the tasting at Aløft; but it was still great to eat here - it’s sort of an institution in Hobart.
Walked down to the waterfront after dinner. The lighting was really nice for pics.
Saturday, December 03, 2022
Hobart, Australia
Today was our big visit to MONA, the Museum of New and Old Art. It could put Hobart on the map similar to how the Guggenheim Museum did for Bilbao. Almost everyone we met on this trip, when we mentioned we were going to Hobart, asked if we were visiting MONA.
We had pre-booked our tickets (it’s timed entry), as well as the dedicated ferry from Hobart harbour up the River Derwent. I upgraded to the ‘Posh Pit’ on the 25-minute ferry ride based on reviews that said it was worthwhile.
We were up early so had a leisurely breakfast at our Airbnb. Heather had a moka pot coffee, she’ll be an expert on every type of coffee maker by the time we’re done this trip! She had bought ground coffee beans from a little store on Bruny Island, which made great coffee. Also we had fresh mango, strawberries, blueberries and lychee, all local (Australian) and in season. Mmm good.
Wandered down to the waterfront, we were a bit early so checked out the Salamanca Market which is open on Saturdays. It’s huge, with dozens of stalls selling pretty high quality crafts. We didn’t have much time to browse, just as well as it’s too early in the trip to be accumulating stuff.
The MONA ferry lady was right on top of things as we arrived. Made sure we had our tickets ready on our phones, and that we had downloaded the O app, which we’d use to tour the art.
At 10:15am she lined us up, a separate line for posh pit and regular tickets. The lines were both about the same length - so much for the exclusivity! But as we boarded, the posh pit folks were seated in comfy chairs and then we had sparkling wine and canapés on the ride over :) plus, we were in the front half of the boat, for the all-important view of the approach to MONA. The complex sits mostly below ground level, and the entry is part of the experience.
Anyways the museum staff were very efficient at herding everyone. We had our passes scanned to enter, and then descended down three floors below ground level to start touring the gallery.
There were quite a few works that struck us, probably cause the gallery does try to be provocative.
Anyways it took us about 2.5 hours to get back to ground level. By that time we were out-galleried, so walked over to the various restaurants on-site. Had lunch at Moorilla Wine Bar.
I had originally booked our return ferry for 4pm but it was easy to change to 3pm at the ticket counter. Waited outside in the gorgeous weather (about 25C and sunny), and then caught the ferry back to Hobart. We had a cappuccino and assorted cakes in posh pit, which probably covered the cost difference :)
Walked back home. Hobart has a very compact walkable city core. Unrelated, people don’t jaywalk at all here.
For dinner, figured we’d just walk around Murray St and Elizabeth St and pick a restaurant that appealed to us, and hope we could get a table for two on a Saturday evening. We ended up at Dāna Eating House which was excellent.
We had pre-booked our tickets (it’s timed entry), as well as the dedicated ferry from Hobart harbour up the River Derwent. I upgraded to the ‘Posh Pit’ on the 25-minute ferry ride based on reviews that said it was worthwhile.
We were up early so had a leisurely breakfast at our Airbnb. Heather had a moka pot coffee, she’ll be an expert on every type of coffee maker by the time we’re done this trip! She had bought ground coffee beans from a little store on Bruny Island, which made great coffee. Also we had fresh mango, strawberries, blueberries and lychee, all local (Australian) and in season. Mmm good.
Wandered down to the waterfront, we were a bit early so checked out the Salamanca Market which is open on Saturdays. It’s huge, with dozens of stalls selling pretty high quality crafts. We didn’t have much time to browse, just as well as it’s too early in the trip to be accumulating stuff.
The MONA ferry lady was right on top of things as we arrived. Made sure we had our tickets ready on our phones, and that we had downloaded the O app, which we’d use to tour the art.
At 10:15am she lined us up, a separate line for posh pit and regular tickets. The lines were both about the same length - so much for the exclusivity! But as we boarded, the posh pit folks were seated in comfy chairs and then we had sparkling wine and canapés on the ride over :) plus, we were in the front half of the boat, for the all-important view of the approach to MONA. The complex sits mostly below ground level, and the entry is part of the experience.
Anyways the museum staff were very efficient at herding everyone. We had our passes scanned to enter, and then descended down three floors below ground level to start touring the gallery.
There were quite a few works that struck us, probably cause the gallery does try to be provocative.
Anyways it took us about 2.5 hours to get back to ground level. By that time we were out-galleried, so walked over to the various restaurants on-site. Had lunch at Moorilla Wine Bar.
I had originally booked our return ferry for 4pm but it was easy to change to 3pm at the ticket counter. Waited outside in the gorgeous weather (about 25C and sunny), and then caught the ferry back to Hobart. We had a cappuccino and assorted cakes in posh pit, which probably covered the cost difference :)
Walked back home. Hobart has a very compact walkable city core. Unrelated, people don’t jaywalk at all here.
For dinner, figured we’d just walk around Murray St and Elizabeth St and pick a restaurant that appealed to us, and hope we could get a table for two on a Saturday evening. We ended up at Dāna Eating House which was excellent.
Friday, December 02, 2022
Hobart, Australia
We were sad to leave our Adventure Bay lodge, it’s one of our favourite places we’ve stayed at. We timed it perfectly to leave, out the door at exactly 10am per the checkout time.
Stopped at few lookouts on the way back to the ferry. Two Tree Point was photogenic. As we were getting back in the car, a bunch of birds flew over (including some yellow-tailed black cockatoos) so Heather pulled out her binoculars and we bird-watched for a bit.
Caught the ferry back to the mainland. It was really busy going the other direction - locals getting a head start on the weekend. Just like cottage traffic back home :)
We drove to our Airbnb in Hobart, a little north of the centre, in the heart of cafes and hip restaurants. Checkin wasn’t for a couple hours at 2pm, so we just left the car in the Airbnb parking spot and then went for lunch. The parking spot was tricky to get into - it’s up a steep narrow driveway on top of the storefront below the Airbnb.
We walked towards berta for lunch, a place recommended by the folks at the hair salon (salons are pretty handy for getting input on local hotspots :) ). There was a pizza place on the corner (Medici) which looked and smelt awesome so we stopped there instead. Way back we had booked the chef’s tasting at Peacock and Jones for dinner, but we didn’t feel like a big dinner, so canceled and instead booked in at berta for 7pm. We also canceled the chef’s tasting at Dier Makr we had for tomorrow, cause we had the full day at MONA and we didn’t feel like we’d want a big dinner after that either. There’s waiting lists for both places so someone else can enjoy it :)
Walked around the pedestrian area a bit more. Stopped in at Woolworth’s which here is a grocery chain (when I grew up it used to be a department store in Canada) for breakfast stuff.
Finally made our way to the Airbnb. Our place is big, but rather spartan in furnishings. Did some laundry (one advantage of Airbnbs over hotels, especially for longer term travel).
Later went back to berta for dinner. It was very enjoyable, a small restaurant (seating about 16 for dinner). Halloumi was featured on a couple menu items - it seems to be common here in Tasmania. We may have over-ordered, but definitely less than an tasting menu :)
Stopped at few lookouts on the way back to the ferry. Two Tree Point was photogenic. As we were getting back in the car, a bunch of birds flew over (including some yellow-tailed black cockatoos) so Heather pulled out her binoculars and we bird-watched for a bit.
Caught the ferry back to the mainland. It was really busy going the other direction - locals getting a head start on the weekend. Just like cottage traffic back home :)
We drove to our Airbnb in Hobart, a little north of the centre, in the heart of cafes and hip restaurants. Checkin wasn’t for a couple hours at 2pm, so we just left the car in the Airbnb parking spot and then went for lunch. The parking spot was tricky to get into - it’s up a steep narrow driveway on top of the storefront below the Airbnb.
We walked towards berta for lunch, a place recommended by the folks at the hair salon (salons are pretty handy for getting input on local hotspots :) ). There was a pizza place on the corner (Medici) which looked and smelt awesome so we stopped there instead. Way back we had booked the chef’s tasting at Peacock and Jones for dinner, but we didn’t feel like a big dinner, so canceled and instead booked in at berta for 7pm. We also canceled the chef’s tasting at Dier Makr we had for tomorrow, cause we had the full day at MONA and we didn’t feel like we’d want a big dinner after that either. There’s waiting lists for both places so someone else can enjoy it :)
Walked around the pedestrian area a bit more. Stopped in at Woolworth’s which here is a grocery chain (when I grew up it used to be a department store in Canada) for breakfast stuff.
Finally made our way to the Airbnb. Our place is big, but rather spartan in furnishings. Did some laundry (one advantage of Airbnbs over hotels, especially for longer term travel).
Later went back to berta for dinner. It was very enjoyable, a small restaurant (seating about 16 for dinner). Halloumi was featured on a couple menu items - it seems to be common here in Tasmania. We may have over-ordered, but definitely less than an tasting menu :)
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Bruny Island, Australia
We weren’t sure what we wanted to do today on Bruny Island. Started with a casual breakfast with yogurt and granola and baguette slices with butter and the honey we bought yesterday. Watched the wallabies bounce around and munch on grass.
Decided against a longer trek, mostly cause they either involved crossing streams and getting our feet wet or loosely-marked trails. Instead booked the lighthouse tour for 2:30pm.
We first drove back to the neck, a 3km skinny stretch of land between the north and south parts of Bruny Island. Climbed up the stepped boardwalk at the Truganini Lookout for great views of both sides of the neck. The Adventure Bay side (exposed to the ocean) had big waves as opposed to the Isthmus Bay side which was super calm.
It’s possible to observe the little blue penguins here at sunset, but we didn’t want to be driving at night with all the wildlife about the roads. (We’ve booked another place in NZ where we can watch them, it’s in town so we can walk home after.)
We had lunch reservations at 1pm at Bruny Island Premium wines near Lunawanna, so figured we just head there early and see if we could get seated. Had a very tasty lunch, including crayfish, wild scallops, and pork belly. Heather had their Reserve Chardonnay; I was driving so just had a sparkling water. We also got a picnic platter for takeaway for dinner.
Then drove south to Cape Bruny for the lighthouse tour. The road turns to gravel just past Lunawanna. There’s also a permit required to enter the national park - there’s a QR code posted at the entrance and you buy it online. We think it’s on the honour system as nobody actually checked for it.
Got to the parking lot with about five minutes to spare before the tour started, and then realized it was still a five minute walk uphill to the lighthouse :( made it up in time though.
The guide was a gentle old soul (we didn’t ask, but I suspect he was a former lighthouse keeper). There was just four of us on the tour (they limit it to ten).
Learnt some things about lighthouses I didn’t know - for example, each lighthouse along the coast revolves at a different frequency, so they can be used as navigation aids. The Cape Bruny Lighthouse we visited was retired a few years ago and replaced with an automated LED / solar powered lighthouse nearby; the old one is now just for tours.
We were glad we took the time to drive down to take the tour (it’s about an hour from our Airbnb).
Drove back home and then relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Later had our picnic dinner and called it a night.
Decided against a longer trek, mostly cause they either involved crossing streams and getting our feet wet or loosely-marked trails. Instead booked the lighthouse tour for 2:30pm.
We first drove back to the neck, a 3km skinny stretch of land between the north and south parts of Bruny Island. Climbed up the stepped boardwalk at the Truganini Lookout for great views of both sides of the neck. The Adventure Bay side (exposed to the ocean) had big waves as opposed to the Isthmus Bay side which was super calm.
It’s possible to observe the little blue penguins here at sunset, but we didn’t want to be driving at night with all the wildlife about the roads. (We’ve booked another place in NZ where we can watch them, it’s in town so we can walk home after.)
We had lunch reservations at 1pm at Bruny Island Premium wines near Lunawanna, so figured we just head there early and see if we could get seated. Had a very tasty lunch, including crayfish, wild scallops, and pork belly. Heather had their Reserve Chardonnay; I was driving so just had a sparkling water. We also got a picnic platter for takeaway for dinner.
Then drove south to Cape Bruny for the lighthouse tour. The road turns to gravel just past Lunawanna. There’s also a permit required to enter the national park - there’s a QR code posted at the entrance and you buy it online. We think it’s on the honour system as nobody actually checked for it.
Got to the parking lot with about five minutes to spare before the tour started, and then realized it was still a five minute walk uphill to the lighthouse :( made it up in time though.
The guide was a gentle old soul (we didn’t ask, but I suspect he was a former lighthouse keeper). There was just four of us on the tour (they limit it to ten).
Learnt some things about lighthouses I didn’t know - for example, each lighthouse along the coast revolves at a different frequency, so they can be used as navigation aids. The Cape Bruny Lighthouse we visited was retired a few years ago and replaced with an automated LED / solar powered lighthouse nearby; the old one is now just for tours.
We were glad we took the time to drive down to take the tour (it’s about an hour from our Airbnb).
Drove back home and then relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Later had our picnic dinner and called it a night.
Bruny Island, Australia
When we had planned out our trip, Hobart was the only city about the middle of the trip that had an Aveda salon. It’s hard to find stylists that can cut curly hair, at least with the Aveda name there’s higher probability, plus Heather had her colour code from her stylist at home so it was easy to match the colour. So this morning Heather went to her cut-and-colour at De Stilj Hair, the local Aveda salon in Hobart.
In the meantime I went grocery shopping, as the next couple days we’re staying at an Airbnb. We’ll have a barbecue so I was looking for lamb. The favoured cut here seems to lamb shoulder so that’s what I went with. It was super cheap! $7 AUD.
Closer to noon I went to get the car from the carport. When we arrived a couple days ago at 9pm it was a 30-second drive; midday it took me 15 minutes to drive around to the front of the hotel.
Anyways it was much easier to pack up cause we weren’t taking a flight, so no concern about where liquids were packed and how many bags we had. Loaded up the SUV and we were off on our next adventure!
Followed google maps to get to the ferry to Bruny Island (not sure how we got around before iPhones). The ferry crossing was about 20 minutes and so smooth we didn’t even realize we had left!
Once on Bruny Island everyone makes the same stops - first lunch of fresh oysters at Get Shucked, then onto Bruny Island Cheese for groceries (wine, cheese, baguette, craft beer) and a coffee. Next to Bruny Island Honey for more groceries. Our last stop en route to our Airbnb on Adventure Bay was Bruny Island Raspberry but the season is a bit late this year :(
We finally arrived at the Airbnb and unpacked. That’s when we realized the place is surrounded by wildlife - dozens of wallabies grazed in the fields around us.
So I had the surreal experience of grilling lamb while wallabies munched away at the grass metres away from me. The wallabies just went about their eating ignoring me.
Dinner was excellent. The cheese folks only had one red varietal which was a Pinot noir but it went really well with the lamb. All the ingredients I had picked up earlier were tasty too. While we were eating Heather noticed a white wallaby bounding by! Supposedly these are hard to spot. It was a nice finale to the day.
In the meantime I went grocery shopping, as the next couple days we’re staying at an Airbnb. We’ll have a barbecue so I was looking for lamb. The favoured cut here seems to lamb shoulder so that’s what I went with. It was super cheap! $7 AUD.
Closer to noon I went to get the car from the carport. When we arrived a couple days ago at 9pm it was a 30-second drive; midday it took me 15 minutes to drive around to the front of the hotel.
Anyways it was much easier to pack up cause we weren’t taking a flight, so no concern about where liquids were packed and how many bags we had. Loaded up the SUV and we were off on our next adventure!
Followed google maps to get to the ferry to Bruny Island (not sure how we got around before iPhones). The ferry crossing was about 20 minutes and so smooth we didn’t even realize we had left!
Once on Bruny Island everyone makes the same stops - first lunch of fresh oysters at Get Shucked, then onto Bruny Island Cheese for groceries (wine, cheese, baguette, craft beer) and a coffee. Next to Bruny Island Honey for more groceries. Our last stop en route to our Airbnb on Adventure Bay was Bruny Island Raspberry but the season is a bit late this year :(
We finally arrived at the Airbnb and unpacked. That’s when we realized the place is surrounded by wildlife - dozens of wallabies grazed in the fields around us.
So I had the surreal experience of grilling lamb while wallabies munched away at the grass metres away from me. The wallabies just went about their eating ignoring me.
Dinner was excellent. The cheese folks only had one red varietal which was a Pinot noir but it went really well with the lamb. All the ingredients I had picked up earlier were tasty too. While we were eating Heather noticed a white wallaby bounding by! Supposedly these are hard to spot. It was a nice finale to the day.
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Hobart, Australia
We were up pretty early, probably due to the one hour time difference. This was the first time on this trip that we didn’t have to go outside for breakfast!
The continental breakfast was pretty standard. Tea doesn’t seem to be much of a thing here :( I ordered eggs benedict from the hot menu cause I was hungry from our ‘dinner’ last night.
We hadn’t planned much at all for Hobart, aside from booking the visit to MONA. So we browsed through the pamphlets and map from the hotel and decided to start with walking to Salamanca, an artsy area down by the waterfront. It’s sort of like the Distillery in Toronto, with lots of galleries and trendy cafes.
Next we walked over to Arthur Circus, which is a cluster of restored cottages, a very cute neighborhood.
It was about time for lunch, so we stopped in at a random café (Perch) where we had an excellent smoked salmon bagel and coffee. They take their coffee seriously here in Hobart, every corner has a cool café.
After lunch headed over to Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. We really liked the exhibition on Tasmanian Aboriginal people, and another about the Antarctic. (Oh I forgot to mention, on the Virgin Australia flight from Sydney to Hobart, the pilot started with a land acknowledgment).
The museum closed at 4pm and we joined the last patrons crowding into the gift shop just before close.
Relaxed back at our hotel and then got ready for dinner. Hobart is a foodie town and I spent the last few months researching the restaurants to try out. Tonight we had booked the chef’s menu at Alœft.
The host greeted us with a disapproving how can I help you? and became much friendlier when it turned out we did in fact have a reservation.
The courses ranged from very good to amazing. The setting was also very cool, overlooking the harbour.
We tried to roll ourselves home except it was uphill. Walked a bit past our hotel, to get more of a walk after dinner. An excellent start to Tasmania :)
The continental breakfast was pretty standard. Tea doesn’t seem to be much of a thing here :( I ordered eggs benedict from the hot menu cause I was hungry from our ‘dinner’ last night.
We hadn’t planned much at all for Hobart, aside from booking the visit to MONA. So we browsed through the pamphlets and map from the hotel and decided to start with walking to Salamanca, an artsy area down by the waterfront. It’s sort of like the Distillery in Toronto, with lots of galleries and trendy cafes.
Next we walked over to Arthur Circus, which is a cluster of restored cottages, a very cute neighborhood.
It was about time for lunch, so we stopped in at a random café (Perch) where we had an excellent smoked salmon bagel and coffee. They take their coffee seriously here in Hobart, every corner has a cool café.
After lunch headed over to Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. We really liked the exhibition on Tasmanian Aboriginal people, and another about the Antarctic. (Oh I forgot to mention, on the Virgin Australia flight from Sydney to Hobart, the pilot started with a land acknowledgment).
The museum closed at 4pm and we joined the last patrons crowding into the gift shop just before close.
Relaxed back at our hotel and then got ready for dinner. Hobart is a foodie town and I spent the last few months researching the restaurants to try out. Tonight we had booked the chef’s menu at Alœft.
The host greeted us with a disapproving how can I help you? and became much friendlier when it turned out we did in fact have a reservation.
The courses ranged from very good to amazing. The setting was also very cool, overlooking the harbour.
We tried to roll ourselves home except it was uphill. Walked a bit past our hotel, to get more of a walk after dinner. An excellent start to Tasmania :)
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Hobart, Australia
It took us three days in transit to get from Yasawa Island to Hobart. It’s possible to do it in two days but it was good to have the admin day in Nadi to use the higher bandwidth wifi to upload pics and download offline maps, and to switch from our tropical Fijian stuff to our cooler weather clothing. Plus it also gave us a buffer in case of flight delays.
First was the flight from Yasawa Island to Nadi. The plane taxied up a slight hill to get a running start :) haven’t seen that before. It was also quite the approach on landing - the pilot dropped down over the hills and then made a 90* turn to square up with the runway about 10 seconds before landing! It seemed more complex than the landing in Paro, Bhutan (supposedly one of the hardest places in the world to land).
It was just as hot in Nadi (33C) although we had much better a/c, and we spent most of the next day inside sorting out what to pack for NZ and Tasmania.
It hardly seemed like a month had already passed and that we’d completed the Fiji part of the trip. We did learn more about the culture and way of life compared to other countries - it was similar to Bhutan that way.
The next morning we had a very early start to fly to Hobart. We settled up and brought our left luggage to reception the night before, so all we had to do in the morning was get up at 4:45am, and wake up and leave.
It was easy to catch the boat shuttle across the river - it was busy ferrying staff coming in for the day. Our taxi driver was waiting and we whisked off to the airport.
We had bid for an upgrade for the Nadi-Sydney flight cause it was almost five hours, and we had started to hear more coughing amongst the guests at the Doubletree. Fiji Airways calls this a ‘Bula Bid’ (Bula is the catch-all phrase for welcome, cheers, bless you, etc), which I always misread as ‘bully bid’ in reference to house offers in Toronto.
Anyways our bid wasn’t accepted. I had looked up the flight on expertflyer.com and it showed two seats still available in business. So we asked at checkin how much it would cost to upgrade, and it was cheaper than our declined bid! So we upgraded for fairly cheap, and made our way to the Fiji Airways lounge for some breakfast.
I napped most of the flight (it was actually a lie-flat seat, which I was surprised for a mid-haul flight). Food was not so good (should have filled up in the lounge, lol).
We arrived in Sydney around 12:30pm, an hour behind Fiji. Got a nice pic of the Opera House from the plane just before landing.
We had previously filled out our Australia ETA app so entering Australia was fully automated. It’s such a difference from entering Canada at Pearson.
We collected our luggage and then waited for the shuttle bus to get to the domestic terminal. It was beautiful outside, about 23C and sunny.
We had about four hours to wait for the flight to Hobart. Had a craft beer and a sandwich at a little airport restaurant, which hit the spot.
It was only a 90 flight to Hobart, we arrived around 8pm. The airport is about the same size as Charlottetown’s. I went and picked up our rental car while Heather waited at the carousel. The Enterprise folks were super quick so I rejoined Heather at the carousel (it’s pretty casual here). With AirTags it’s far less stressful waiting for our luggage cause I could see the luggage was actually in Hobart.
The Enterprise folks had upgraded us to a big SUV, although we would have preferred a compact car. Oh well, at least there was no concern about fitting the luggage in the trunk (we’re traveling this leg with one suitcase each, and our weekend packs for carry on).
Followed Google Maps to get to our hotel in the centre of Hobart (on Murray St :) ). My phone battery was dying but managed to make it there with about 4% remaining.
Checked in, parked the car in the nearby car port, and then rushed to the hotel bar before they closed at 10pm. Had a drink to celebrate the start of the Australia leg of the trip (and country number 96 for me :) ). The kitchen had closed so snacked on a probably not-so-healthy bag of salt and vinegar chips and roasted nuts. It was a long transit day, it hardly seemed like we had started our day in Nadi.
First was the flight from Yasawa Island to Nadi. The plane taxied up a slight hill to get a running start :) haven’t seen that before. It was also quite the approach on landing - the pilot dropped down over the hills and then made a 90* turn to square up with the runway about 10 seconds before landing! It seemed more complex than the landing in Paro, Bhutan (supposedly one of the hardest places in the world to land).
It was just as hot in Nadi (33C) although we had much better a/c, and we spent most of the next day inside sorting out what to pack for NZ and Tasmania.
It hardly seemed like a month had already passed and that we’d completed the Fiji part of the trip. We did learn more about the culture and way of life compared to other countries - it was similar to Bhutan that way.
The next morning we had a very early start to fly to Hobart. We settled up and brought our left luggage to reception the night before, so all we had to do in the morning was get up at 4:45am, and wake up and leave.
It was easy to catch the boat shuttle across the river - it was busy ferrying staff coming in for the day. Our taxi driver was waiting and we whisked off to the airport.
We had bid for an upgrade for the Nadi-Sydney flight cause it was almost five hours, and we had started to hear more coughing amongst the guests at the Doubletree. Fiji Airways calls this a ‘Bula Bid’ (Bula is the catch-all phrase for welcome, cheers, bless you, etc), which I always misread as ‘bully bid’ in reference to house offers in Toronto.
Anyways our bid wasn’t accepted. I had looked up the flight on expertflyer.com and it showed two seats still available in business. So we asked at checkin how much it would cost to upgrade, and it was cheaper than our declined bid! So we upgraded for fairly cheap, and made our way to the Fiji Airways lounge for some breakfast.
I napped most of the flight (it was actually a lie-flat seat, which I was surprised for a mid-haul flight). Food was not so good (should have filled up in the lounge, lol).
We arrived in Sydney around 12:30pm, an hour behind Fiji. Got a nice pic of the Opera House from the plane just before landing.
We had previously filled out our Australia ETA app so entering Australia was fully automated. It’s such a difference from entering Canada at Pearson.
We collected our luggage and then waited for the shuttle bus to get to the domestic terminal. It was beautiful outside, about 23C and sunny.
We had about four hours to wait for the flight to Hobart. Had a craft beer and a sandwich at a little airport restaurant, which hit the spot.
It was only a 90 flight to Hobart, we arrived around 8pm. The airport is about the same size as Charlottetown’s. I went and picked up our rental car while Heather waited at the carousel. The Enterprise folks were super quick so I rejoined Heather at the carousel (it’s pretty casual here). With AirTags it’s far less stressful waiting for our luggage cause I could see the luggage was actually in Hobart.
The Enterprise folks had upgraded us to a big SUV, although we would have preferred a compact car. Oh well, at least there was no concern about fitting the luggage in the trunk (we’re traveling this leg with one suitcase each, and our weekend packs for carry on).
Followed Google Maps to get to our hotel in the centre of Hobart (on Murray St :) ). My phone battery was dying but managed to make it there with about 4% remaining.
Checked in, parked the car in the nearby car port, and then rushed to the hotel bar before they closed at 10pm. Had a drink to celebrate the start of the Australia leg of the trip (and country number 96 for me :) ). The kitchen had closed so snacked on a probably not-so-healthy bag of salt and vinegar chips and roasted nuts. It was a long transit day, it hardly seemed like we had started our day in Nadi.
Friday, November 25, 2022
Yasawa Island, Fiji
We joined the organized excursion this morning to Sawa-i-Lau Island, to swim in the limestone cavern popularized by the 1980's movie The Blue Lagoon.
It was another excursion heavily discussed about what to wear / bring. The resort suggested masks and fins. From what I had researched the main cavern was accessed via stairs, and then you could swim through and underwater tunnel to the second (dark) cavern. The second cavern didn’t have any appeal for us so we just took our masks and water shoes. Once again we chose wisely :)
We had another beautiful sunny day with minimal wind. Cause we were sunscreened up and had on our water shoes, we walked along the beach to the activities bure instead of calling for a ride.
Over half the guests had signed up for the excursion, 14 of us in total. We split into two groups for the 30 minute boat ride around the south end of the Yasawa Island to Sawa-i-Lau Island.
It’s a very scenic ride, passing by several beaches that the resort drops folks off for a private beach lunch, one of the signature excursions here. (The idea of being on a hot beach with minimal shade and no way home except waiting for the boat also had no appeal for us. To each their own though).
We arrived on the beach near the cavern. There was a group from another resort already there so we browsed the craft stalls on the beach for ten minutes or so until it was our turn.
The first cavern was okay, it’s cool as an excursion but I wouldn’t plan a trip to Yasawa just to see it. We didn’t bother with the second (dark) cave. Obviously there’s nothing to see there; I think people like the excitement of swimming through a 10’ tunnel, which was about 2’ below sea level based on the tides when we were there.
The water was still smooth for the boat ride back. We’ve been extremely lucky with lack of waves whenever we’ve been in boats so far this trip.
Got back around noon; showered and then had lunch. It was another hot sunny day so we didn’t do much the rest of the day.
Overall we were glad we came to Yasawa Island resort. The main attraction for us was the white sandy beaches and the isolation - there’s only the one resort on the island. The bures were a bit rustic, the food so-so, but it’s a great place to just watch the waves :)
It was another excursion heavily discussed about what to wear / bring. The resort suggested masks and fins. From what I had researched the main cavern was accessed via stairs, and then you could swim through and underwater tunnel to the second (dark) cavern. The second cavern didn’t have any appeal for us so we just took our masks and water shoes. Once again we chose wisely :)
We had another beautiful sunny day with minimal wind. Cause we were sunscreened up and had on our water shoes, we walked along the beach to the activities bure instead of calling for a ride.
Over half the guests had signed up for the excursion, 14 of us in total. We split into two groups for the 30 minute boat ride around the south end of the Yasawa Island to Sawa-i-Lau Island.
It’s a very scenic ride, passing by several beaches that the resort drops folks off for a private beach lunch, one of the signature excursions here. (The idea of being on a hot beach with minimal shade and no way home except waiting for the boat also had no appeal for us. To each their own though).
We arrived on the beach near the cavern. There was a group from another resort already there so we browsed the craft stalls on the beach for ten minutes or so until it was our turn.
The first cavern was okay, it’s cool as an excursion but I wouldn’t plan a trip to Yasawa just to see it. We didn’t bother with the second (dark) cave. Obviously there’s nothing to see there; I think people like the excitement of swimming through a 10’ tunnel, which was about 2’ below sea level based on the tides when we were there.
The water was still smooth for the boat ride back. We’ve been extremely lucky with lack of waves whenever we’ve been in boats so far this trip.
Got back around noon; showered and then had lunch. It was another hot sunny day so we didn’t do much the rest of the day.
Overall we were glad we came to Yasawa Island resort. The main attraction for us was the white sandy beaches and the isolation - there’s only the one resort on the island. The bures were a bit rustic, the food so-so, but it’s a great place to just watch the waves :)
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