and the long haul to Australia, we figured to roll two vacations together. New Zealand Take the New Zealand tour with Overseas Adventure Tours. We expected a fast, time-efficient overview of the country. Australia Visit Sonia, Albane, and William for the first time in a few years. Do Christmas. Do Heron Island (on the southernmost Great Barrier Reef).
Brisbane to Auckland December 4-20 Tour New Zealand. Buses, plane flights, one helicopter, two tour boats, one ferry, one jet boat, one taxi, and plenty of walking. December 20 - January 5 Fly Wellington to Brisbane. Drive to Casa de Yuen’s. Drive to Binna Burra. Christmas in Brisbane. Fly to Gladstone, ferry to Heron Island, and return. January 5 - January 5 Fly Brisbane to LA to San Diego.
used. Been to Cuba, Tanzania, Europe, and the Americas. Time to try them in the South Pacific. Visas We’re gringos. We don’t need no stinkin’ visas. Right? . . . almost Car Rental What with the modern internet, we can contract with someone who contracts with someone else, who contracts with a company that actually has cars. Then if something goes wrong, the car guy can tell us to call the next guy up the chain, etc. But, hey, the price is right! Hotels and Local Arrangements OAT organized New Zealand, and Sonia organized Australia for us.
Pahia - our home for a few days The Pahia Pacific Resort was a block from the Bay. The main street in town runs along the beach. There were loads of college aged kids who seemed to be on the Kiwi analogue of Spring Break.
maybe ... But I also recall that the so-called beeches are not real beeches. Or are these cedars? In the end, we never did keep most of the trees straight.
the Maori into ceding much of their ownership of the islands to the Queen. It is still a contro- versy as to whether the Maori translation was true to the En- glish version. Lots of Chiefs signed the treaty thinking it was a win, but ...
the Maoris and at- tracted the attention of early European set- tlers. Victorian era homes in San Fran- cisco were built with Kauri wood. Sadly, few of these giants remain.
of cultural and historic interest. There is a recreation of the trenches of World War I — ac- tually an invention of the Maori stemming from the British inva- sion. There are carv- ings. There are even two fighter aircraft from World War II.
display of Robert Ellis’ work. His miliary training included analysis of aerial photographs and is evident in his work. Although born in England, he was transplanted to New Zealand.
with the farmer and his wife. The previous slide shows the inte- rior of their home — stuffed game heads and knotty pine. The next slide is their dog. A lot of the dairy product exported from New Zealand is pow- dered milk. The milk market has its ups and downs we learned.
land- forms made this tour rather interesting. Hot springs bubbling up here and there — even hot dirt in places. Did we mention that there is a gift shop?
community. In her small town there were many churches — LDS, Baptists, et cetera. She took us to the school where we were greeted with enthusiasm, curiosity, and a HAKA.
of waterfalls evident. The pass was closed by snow just a few weeks earlier. There are tree avalanches – that’s right, trees with shallow , interlaced roots on steep slopes become too massive and ... whoosh!
and lots of rivers. But they tend to be braided rivers - shallow and shifting. To navigate them a shallow draft boat is needed and the swift water requires a fast boat - hence the jet boat.
morning clouds sent us on a hike towards the base of Franz-Joef glacier. After that the helicopters were fly- ing, so we took off. We saw the Franz- Josef, Tasman, and Fox glaciers and Mt. Cook.
are still at work. You can see the railcars moving coal. But this is a lat- ter day tourist town, too. The dude in the doorway is ‘in charac- ter’ as an old timer. He will tell us that the town was the first in the Southern Hemi- sphere to have munici- pal electric power.
earthquake struck. It severely damaged New Zealand’s second-largest city 185 people died Many, many buildings were made uninhabitable It may take a CENTURY to fully rebuild.
Really Strong Winds The climate is like San Francisco — cool and maritime, but wetter and windier. Nice Victorian Architecture Special Effects for Movies
are bigger than you are. The Cave — home of many beloved creatures — shows off New Zealand’s Mod- ern Movie Industry. And naturally, we had to take the tour — ac- tually a movie short documenting the rise of the FX business in New Zealand.
of fine exhibits. This giant squid is of a specie that lives very deep in the ocean. There are fine exhibits of cultural objects, of geography, and of New Zealand history.
refused to sell us extra insurance — something about third party booking. Google Maps got us to the chateau. Brisbane Stayed in the Yuen’s spacious home. Acres of wood flooring. Binna Burra The Yuen’s treated us to a pre-Christmas trip to a mountain resort. Christmas Party hardy with Sonia’s friends and family. Heron Island Five days on an atoll in all.