Dec 07

Happy 2008 everyone!

I was mostly on my own on New Year's Eve, but still it was worth it to see the amazing fireworks that Sydney puts on at midnight. I found one of the most perfect spots, across on the north side of the harbour, almost right next to the bridge and with views of the Opera House and all of downtown. It was a small bit of park, but it didn't get crushingly crowded by midnight, at least not where I was sitting, and the people remained mostly civil. I spent all afternoon there, getting a bit sunbaked. It was sunny and about 28 degrees (low 80s F), but I fortunately didn't get burnt, I just kept slathering on the sunscreen. It may have been toasty here, but I was for once glad to not be in Melbourne since the forecast there was for 42 degrees (about 108F). That's just too much... It was quite warm here though and I envied the people around me who'd brought umbrellas for shade. An older couple sitting behind me graciously offered me the shade in the tent they had set up, so I sat in there for about an hour til it was late enough in the afternoon to be cooler. I later got to know the group sitting to one side of me, an Australian guy and his Polish girlfriend and German friend, very international... He shared some of their champagne with me at midnight, very nice of him, and we all wished each other Happy New Year. The fireworks were unbelievable. Actually, they give you a teaser at 9, the "family fireworks" so people with kids can see something and then leave to get the kids to bed. But that was nothing compared to the midnight fireworks. About 5-6 barges are set up on the harbour and from where I was you could see 3 of them, one being rather close to our left. All the barges had the same fireworks going at the same time and just one of them was about the same as what Portland might do on the 4th of July. Then there was the amazing stuff going off on the bridge, which is the centrepiece, and eventually added to it all was stuff going simultaneously on the tops of 8 buildings downtown, which we had a perfect view of. The finale brought me chills, the bridge was lost in all the fireworks going off, including a beautiful curtain of sparks falling from the base of the bridge, there were all the barges letting off tons of fireworks, plus an added barge on the water right in front of us.... There was so much at once, it was incredible, everyone cheering, and when it was over a huge cheer and applause from the whole harbour. Definitely a memorable beginning to 2008.

I have today in Sydney, then I drive towards Adelaide over the next 6 days. My last road trip of the trip. =( I'm kind of looking forward to moving on from Sydney, looking forward to being back in Melbourne in a couple of days, though I won't have a lot of time there. Should hopefully see some amazing views on the way...

It was very weird coming back to Australia, I don't know what it was, maybe my time in New Zealand felt very long (in a good way!) and it felt like it was ages before that that I had left Melbourne, but coming back made my head feel weird. Plus I wasn't back in Melbourne, I was in new territory in Sydney and near there. Anyway, I flew back on xmas eve and drove up to the Blue Mtns and spent xmas there. Christmas day was a bit difficult. It was really foggy and you couldn't see much in the mountains, so my plans of spending the day going around to various sites was sort of ruined. I couldn't just pass the time in a cafe either because everything was closed, so I spent more time in my motel room watching tv than I would have liked to have done. I did join this free xmas lunch though that a group puts on every year in the town I was staying in, that was really nice, I chatted with a young couple from France and we got a free meal complete with ham and turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and veggies, then plum pudding for dessert. They had xmas crackers on the tables (for the Americans, these are cardboard things that you pull apart with a pop and they have silly little toys in them and jokes and a little paper crown) and I had to try to explain the joke in it to the French couple, heh. Fortunately there was ok weather on the 24th and 26th, so I did get to see the beautiful mtns (which is more like a canyon really), but it was more rushed than I had hoped. I think I got some good photos, so look forward to those.

Now I'm in Sydney and the weather is beautiful. =) I caught up yesterday with some people I know from Holland (for those who know them, I saw Hayley, Egor, Hassan, Jude, Carolyn and David) and we had a picnic at Mrs Macquarie's Chair and it was so gorgeous, a bit cool actually with a strong breeze from the water, but the Opera House and Bridge were behind me and there was blue sky. So lovely. I've seen a bit of Sydney, a couple of neighbourhoods, but I can definitely say I prefer Melbourne. Sorry Sydneysiders... I just feel more at home there.

The plan is to see the big New Year's Eve fireworks tomorrow, so if you see them on the news or something, know that I was there! Have a happy New Year's everyone and best wishes for 2008!

This will have to be a quick update since the cafe I'm in is about to close... I've not really been up to much in the past few days anyway, just carrying on driving down the coast. I'm now in Dunedin, the last stop I have in New Zealand before I go back to Australia on Monday. New Zealand has been amazing, I only scratched the surface and that was memorable in itself. Almost every drive was so scenic from forests to beaches to deserts to one sheep-dotted hill after another, and many times a few of these landscapes next to each other. I felt I really missed the big mountains, either behind cloud or because I had to miss out on the West Coast, but there was so much else that was gorgeous. Tomorrow I'll see more wonderful views because I'll be taking a train up a river gorge which should be beautiful. I really like Dunedin and the drive here was lovely, very hilly with the ocean popping into the background at times. Dunedin actually has the world's steepest street, beating out San Francisco. Fortunately I am now rid of my little car with its dodgy parking brake and I just have to hoof it up the hills.

A couple of nights ago I stayed in Christchurch, which I was not impressed with. It also was a very frustrating city to drive around and frankly I was glad to leave it. I wasn't impressed with the area it's in either, Canterbury, it's mostly just flat farmland. Last night I was in a little town called Oamaru which was on the ocean and had its own share of hills. I stayed there because there is a blue penguin colony and you can watch them come ashore at night. You can also do this on an island near Melbourne and it's a big day trip thing to take, but it's 2 hours away and a bit expensive with a tour company driving you there, so I never went. Now I got to see the same little guys for a much cheaper price. They were very cute, they're the smallest penguins, hardly a foot tall.

As this will be my last post from NZ, a couple of memories: the small airplane that flew in right above me as I was driving and freaked me out; I thought a large truck was trying to pass me at first. The pickup truck I was driving behind for I don't know how long before I realized there was a cow riding in the back of it (don't worry, I wasn't blind, there was a piece of corrugated iron blocking most of the cow from my view). A couple of hawks or eagles, some large bird, flying almost right in front of my car, swooping in on something along the road. There were one or two sheep and the occasional cow. A ton of very friendly people who were always keen to help me.... It's a lovely little place here and I'll definitely be back. And I know I haven't told the stories yet about the dolphin trip and the Maori dinner, but they'll have to wait until later.

It has been a very rough past few days for me. On Friday evening, I think I started to come down with the flu. I got to the hostel I was staying at, unpacked the car, and just felt exhausted, so I took a nap. I woke up feeling miserable, I felt warm, but also had chills, and I ached everywhere. So I took some ibuprofen to keep away the aches. I probably took a bit too much though, and often without food, and so about a day later my stomach felt horrible as well. I wasn't throwing up, but I had really bad stomach cramps. By now I was in Wellington staying with the sister of Angela, my friend in Auckland, so that was good, I was in a more comfortable place than a hostel. But I had to take the ferry the next day to the South Island and I was not looking forward to traveling anywhere, let alone on a boat. Fortunately I made it through the travels that day, I only had 2 short car trips and the ferry ride is 3 hours, but the water wasn't too rough and I could just rest. I then stayed with Angela's parents near Picton, who live in this amazing house with unbelievable views of Queen Charlotte Sound. I wish I could have enjoyed being there a bit more because by the time I arrived I was feeling horrible. They took good care of me though and let me stay a second night because I wasn't up to driving 6+ hours to the West Coast like I had planned. Instead of heading off to Greymouth on the coast, I visited the doctor to get checked out. She figures I inflammed my stomach with the ibuprofen, so learn that lesson, kids. Take paracetamol instead or eat food with ibuprofen or you will be in stomach pain hell. I got some medicine to help heal my stomach and the doctor outlined a diet for me for the next few days, working my way from liquids to mashed bananas to rice and mashed potatoes. Supposedly within 2-3 days I should be back on normal food. What is so hard though is that I actually have an appetite, unlike when you have a stomach bug and can't even think about food, but I really can't eat much or my tummy protests. Half a banana and it's all grumbling about it. So I'm not turned off by the idea of food, it even smells good, but I can't actually eat it. Yeah, this is probably my own personal hell. I'm in this seaside town and they specialize in crayfish and other seafood dishes, but I can't try it, even though it sounds good. It's so frustrating! But I don't want to be ill again....

Since I stayed in Picton for an extra day, it kind of screwed up my plans for the South Island. I was going to drive down the West Coast, past Mt Cook (tallest mtn in NZ), and to the Fiordland area in the SW and see Milford Sound, which is supposed to be astoundingly beautiful. But it's a very long drive and I needed each day that I had to make it without needing to drive 7-8 hours or more a day. I can't do that now, esp since I'm still not 100%, so I've modified my plans to where I drive down the East Coast, via Christchurch, to Dunedin, where I return my car. You can do that in only a couple of days and since I have quite a few days before needing to be in Dunedin I can take my time. So I am now staying in a town only a couple of hours from Picton called Kaikoura, which is known for its whale and dolphin watching. There's supposed to be some lovely mountains just to the west, but I wouldn't know because it's a miserable gray day and it's been raining since I left Picton. This is supposed to be the sunnier coast. Never mind, the clouds hanging in the hills was kind of pretty and the ocean manages to be a bit blue-green, despite the gray (Oregon's coast doesn't do that). And I was sort of happy to realize I'd be driving along the Pacific! Like, the same ocean I know, way, way far away from Oregon, but it's still the Pacific. =) I stopped and watched some seals on some rocks near the highway today, that was cool. Also I shelled out for a more proper room in a B&B instead of a hostel so I can be more comfortable for a couple of nights till I really feel better. I'm in a wonderful place in a former convent (I also stayed in a hostel in Melbourne that was a former convent; maybe I should see how many convents I can stay in), so definitely happy there. Yeah, not what I imagined I'd be doing and I'm sad to miss out on the scenery of the West Coast, but sickness has a way of screwing things up that way and the new route should still have some good things to see.

I did have one day of adventure before getting sick, I went dolphin watching and to a Maori dinner, but those stories will have to wait for another time since I should go now.

I don't have much time to write now, so a quick run-down on the past few days:

Auckland: I had a great couple of days in Auckland with my friends who live there. Unfortunately the weather was a bit miserable, esp the day we planned to bum around the city, but I still saw quite a bit and liked what I saw. Also got to see a black-sand beach, very lovely, I miss beaches like that, more like Oregon beaches, except for the black-sand bit. Also saw a band from Portland play, which was a great show and fun to see a gig in another country.

Waitomo Caves: There are a few caves in one area a couple of hrs south of Auckland where you can just go on a little tour, or do adventure stuff like abseiling, black-water rafting (going on a inner-tube in the dark), and rock climbing. I did the easy options, mostly because they were cheaper. So I went to one cave that had all these limestone formations, it was amazing, and there were only 6 of us on the tour, plus a very friendly guide, so it was all just cool. I think I got quite a few good photos. They think the cave might actually extend much further, but there was a cave-in at some point and they can't get past it. The cave is actually fitted out with lights, so you don't need a lantern or head-lamp, plus it even had a locking front gate. Funny to head out turning off the lights as we went and the guy locked the cave behind us... The other cave features glowworms, which are larvae of bugs that hang sticky strings down to catch other bugs in, then they pull the bug up and eat it. But they glow as well to help catch the bug. There was a river in this cave and you go on a boat through the dark and the ceiling is full of these glowing blue points of light. It's like a lot of blue stars. Absolutely beautiful and we were very quiet because noise makes the worms dim their light, so there was only the sound of the boat a bit and distant dripping water. The tour was marred though by a school group that joined us, a bunch of cynical teenagers who didn't give a damn, but I tried to ignore them.

Thermal area: Today I headed towards the thermal area of the north island of New Zealand, there are a few places where you can go to see geysers, mud pools, multi-coloured pools, etc. I went to one recommended as being a bit more off the beaten path and it was gorgeous. I came down the road and first I noticed this lovely lake and then across the lake, a bunch of steam rising into the air. A boat takes you across to the thermal area and yeah, it's just steaming everywhere. Little holes by the path are just releasing steam and there's boiling water coming out of other holes. There were mud pools as well, which I find meditative to watch, in a silly kind of way because it is kind of humorous, the sound they make. In this place there is also a cave with water in it, it's not boiling, but steam comes off it and I dipped a finger in and it was like a warm bath. The water is very clear at the edges, plus there's no wind disturbing it, so you can't really see where the pool begins. I saw an older German guy dunk his whole right foot in the water because he thought he was just stepping on rock. The whole area did stink though like rotting eggs because of the sulfur. It was ok usually, but if you got a cloud of steam blown your way, it was quite choking. And now I'm in a town called Rotorua which is surrounded by these areas and the town has a general sulfur smell. Blech, but the town is pretty cute and is on a big lake.