Stinky little buggers... (Sydney, Blue Mountains)

But SO FREAKING CUTE!



Today I took a tour to the Blue Mountains, which is about an hour away from the city. What a great trip! Jed was our tour guide, and he was awesome: "Come to Australia! Everything will kill ya!"

First, we stopped at the Featherdale Wildlife Center. I fed the kangaroos and pet a koala and a walabee (wallabbe? Whitney, spelling?) - they are ridiculously cute, I think I said aww about every 3 seconds, pretty much whenever they moved, or breathed... My head almost exploded by the cuteness. Perfect start to the day. Then, we headed to the Mountains. They're "Blue" b/c the eucalyptus trees emit this gas that turns the surrounding atmostphere blue - they don't look blue up close, but from far away really are blue! I couldn't get a good blue photo, but here's one from Google:

It was really foggy up at the top unfortunately, so the pics didn't really turn out from up there. We hiked to the bottom, which is actually a rainforest - it doesn't sound that hard, but it's more than 1000 steps down! By the end, I was sweating like crazy... I probably smelled as delicious as the koalas and kangaroos! Once we got to the bottom, we took the steepest railway in the world to get back up - it was almost completely vertical, it was fun! Here's a pic of the Three Sisters- mine wouldn't load so I stole this from Google:

After spending about 2 hours there, we had lunch and then went down to Tizzana Winery. It was really nice! We tasted about 5 different wines, and learned about how the winery started - the guy married a nun and was chased out of Sydney! Whoops... so they started a vineyard, and the rest is history...

We had a little extra time after our tour, so Jed the Bus Driver (as he likes to refer to himself as) took us to the Sydney Olympic Park - it was really cool! It was slightly strange, though - I felt like there should be hundreds of people around, and it was eerily quiet. The structures were pretty, though (from Google):

He also taught us how to throw a boomerang - I suck! From there, it was on to the Ferry that took us back to Sydney. Now I'm headed back up to my room to pack up all my stuff - my trip is coming to an end! How sad... I can't believe it's almost over! I can't complain, though - it's been nothing but amazing. And I'm sure I'll be back soon enough...

Bendy and spinny. (Sydney)

I arrived in Sydney, and it's very beautiful city. It has quite a modern feel to it, and is clean and easy to get around :).

I woke up around 8:30, and just decided to walk up to the Opera House and just kinda wander all day. I first stumbled on Darling Harbour, a nice open area with lots of shops and restaurants on the harbor. It was raining, but it was really pretty nonetheless. Here's a nice pic, which I couldn't really get since it was rainy and cloudy:

I then walked over to the SydneyTower to see if I could go up to the top - unfortunately, they warned me that it was super cloudy and I wouldn't see much, so I decided to do "OzTrek" which is basically this 25 minute ride within Sydney that shows you all the places in Australia you could go... it's a nice way to plug the rest of the country, ha! The coolest part was that you sit in these moving seats and watch a movie that looks like you're flying through it - pretty cool.

From there, I walked over to St. Mary's Cathedral - what a huge, gorgeous church. It was beautiful inside, except I was slightly disturbed by the Asian tourists who (no offense to them) seemed slightly disrepectful. I'm not an overly religious person, but I was slightly offended by the Asian woman standing in front of this statue, posing like she was going to be on the cover of Time Magazine, all smiling and leaning on Jesus like it was nothing... I guess I can't judge her for it, but the statue pretty does clearly depict Jesus lying in his mother's arms... I dunno. It was just odd to me.

Anyway, from there, I walked through the Botanic Gardens, and they too were really pretty.

The road leads directly out to the Sydney Opera House, as well - what a site. It truly is something to marvel at - even if the front part is being worked on to prepare for Australian Idol finals on Sunday, ha!

Once I'd taken about a thousand photos of the Opera House, I jumped on the Manly Ferry (haha, makes me laugh every time) to go to Manly Beach. I took about a hundred more photos on my way, and then went to the beach and watched all these surfers. Looking out over the ocean is unreal - it sounds so stupid, but you never feel as small as you do when you're staring at a giant body of water, and all you see is horizon - it's crazy!

I got back on the Ferry, and then went back to the Opera House for a ballet - it was amazing. I don't know much about ballet, but I've seen Centerstage just like the rest of us - the dancers make it looks so easy! And I never noticed this before, but in ballet, a dancer is never NOT moving - even if it's something subtle, like a head movement, but they are constantly in this fluid motion. It's really amazing how much control they have over their bodies - I can barely stand on my own two feet without crashing into something... The tickets I had were in the very last row of the top level, haha, but they moved us all forward b/c the seats in front of us were all empty, so I sat in better seats, woohoo!

After the ballet was over, I took a gizzilion more photos of the opera house in the dark... unfortunately, most of them came out blurry b/c I didn't have my tripod :(. Oh well... maybe we can claim that they are "art" - ha. After one last look at the Opera House, I jumped on the bus and headed back to the hostel. What a day!

Survived the volcano... (Auckland)

I walked to the top of Rangitoto, and it didn'w blow up - woohoo! Actually, it's not really one that even explodes anymore - they think it only exploded once for a long period of time. It was a good thing to do for a half day for sure - I've never seen anything like it, and I even took a piece of the lava with me - is that allowed? Hmm... I hope a customs doggie doesn't rat me out!

Plus, I cheated - I took a tour which is basically a little pully car up to near the top - then you climb the steps to the top top. It was a pretty big climb, though, took about 20 minutes? Sorry Phil - didn't see the cave?

No pics this time, it was similar to the pics from Mt. Victoria. The middle of the volcano was all covered in vegetation - I did see a Kiwi Christmas tree though (Pohutukawa) - that was kinda cool to see it growing out of the lava. Looks like this - thanks Google:


The views from the summit were really pretty - then it was back down to the buggy to get back on the boat. From there, I ate my last Hokey Pokey ice cream cone (sad), and then headed to the airport. I'm now in Sydney, yeah! Tomorrow will be a day full of touristy goodness, though. From what I've seen so far, it reminds me of NYC - big city, lots of people, lots of life - should be a good couple of days.

Anyway, tomorrow is Thanksgiving for me (day after tomorrow for you guys) - so Happy Turkey Day if I miss it!

Miss you all!

Away from the big city. (Auckland, Devonport)

From what I've seen of Auckland... not really a big fan. It's big and clean, but very metropolitan. Since I didn't want to pad around the city all day, I decided to take a boat to Devonport, which is about 10 minutes away by ferry. It was a nice little ride, and the town was very small and cute, and has amazing views of Auckland...

I also learned all about "Bruno," the city dog that thinks it's a person! His owners have tried to confine him, but he keeps getting away, and is known by the whole town. He gets on buses and boats all on his own - like a real life Benji. Too funny!

It wasn't a very exciting day, as you can tell, but it was nice to relax and just kinda walk around and wander. I did climb to the top of Mt. Victoria, which was a bit of a trek, and the views up there were even better than those from the ground:

Tomorrow, it's off to Rangitoto. It's a volcanic island about 35 minutes from Auckland :). More to come tomorrow! Miss you all!

(and congrats, Cowboys!)

Part Two (Rotorua)

Once I managed to figure out how to use the dryers at Base for my wet clothes, I got ready to go to the Mitai show. I was picked up by a large Maori man, and befriended a Norwegian guy that on the van. His name was "Magnus" - awesome name. Anywho, the bus fills up with a bunch of Germans, and we are dropped off at the Mitai tribal grounds. Once we were all seated (about 100 people), the large Maori man picked a Chief and he chose Magnus to represent our "11 tribes" (there were 11 countries represented). The performance began with a ceremony to prove that we come in peace - a Maori warrior did a scary "hiya!" dance and then threw a fern on the ground (I think it was a fern? I dunno). Magnus walked over, picked it up, bowed, and then we were welcomed by their chief b/c apparently that means we come in peace.

I befriended the right guy, that's for sure - since Magnus and I were chatting, the big Maori guy asked me to be the "chief's assistant" and run around and take photos for him. Throughout the whole night, I got front row, center seats! Cool!

The performance was great - we learned all about the Maori culture, how warriors prepared for war, how they exercised, etc. It was a lot different from the other shows I'd been to, and the Maori chief was really funny. There was one guy that I thought was going to have a heart attack he was flailing so much!

Then we got to eat this enormous meal from the Hangi, which is a huge hole in the ground that they cover with hot stones to cook meals. We had lamb, chicken, rice, potatoes, salad... it's probably the best meal I've had since I've been here!

After the meal, we went over to the glow worms - I was wrong about what they are, btw! Glow worms are actually insects, whoops! They're not rocks like I thought... we walked through this trail in the pitch dark, and there were these little itty bitty lights on either side of us - kind of like when you were kids and would smack lightning bugs when they were lit up so they'd stay lit up - oh wait, was that just me? Come on, you know you did that too... right? This is what it looked like (thanks Google):

And that was it! Very fun.

From there, I asked the big Maori guy who drove the van to drop me off at the Polynesian spas - the perfect end to a great day. This is what it looks like during the day, but at night it was the same:

There are 35 hot mineral pools here that are filled with the water from the natural springs in Rotorua. It was fantastic. I also was able to shower and everything there - much nicer than the hostels that's for sure :). Busy day, but it was lovely!

Making up for lost time. (Rotorua)

So today has been flying by, and it's only half over, woohoo!

First thing I noticed about Rotorua - it STINKS! Rotten eggs, yuck. It's all the sulfur in the air... I'm getting used to ig, but I occasionally get a pretty strong whiff and am reminded of how nasty it is, haha! Anyway...

I went to Hobbiton - I loved it! It's actually on the "Alexander Farm", and the family was really accommodating of all the crews being on their land. It definitely is strange to be on a set, though, since the films are beautiful... it's kind of bare and a little sad - kind of like all the hobbits left town or something. New Line also still owns all the actual facades of the hobbit holes, so legally the tours cannot cover anything but the shells of them. The shells are living somewhere with New Line right now, oh well! It was still fun though. Since it's kinda depressing, I won't post any Shire pics that show the hobbit holes themselves.

This one looks over where the party was held, though - gorgeous landscapes!

The three girls I was with were from LA, and they were nice, but um... this is going to sound incredibly stereotypical, but they were completely ditzy, and pretty whiny. I was amused by them, though. My favorite nugget of the day: "yeah, our bus is full of Americans - LA and New York! The two biggest, most diversased cities in the country!" I want to think she was kidding, but I think she believes that diversased is a word... She also complained about the tour guide talking about the Scouring of the Shire, and how it was all filmed but wasn't in the movies, blablabla - she hadn't read the books, and when asked if she was planning on it she said no. When the tour guide said that many of the hobbit holes were burned during the filming, she said she didn't want to "know the ending!" - yet she wasn't planning on reading the books? What? Again, I giggled a little.

One thing I found even more interesting - there is 100 hours worth of footage that is left for all three movies that are fully edited and ready to go - they just never made it to the final films. SO - the tour guide said that Peter Jackson might RE-release the films, all with completely new footage. Not one frame of film will be duplicated - I piddled a little. The LA girls didn't comment - I don't think they got it.

I did stand in Bag End, which made for a pretty cool photo:

After Hobbiton, I was dropped off at Base again, and then picked up 5 minutes later by Kaitiaki Adventures and was whisked off to the Kaituna River. I think this photo says it all - you can't miss me:


21 feet is a long way to go! While my face might say something different - I loved it. Before we set off, we said a Maori prayer to the River to ask for the gods blessing. The guides were really awesome - very hippi-like - and explained that coming to New Zealand is coming to a place where "peace prevails," no matter what's going on in the rest of the world... I like that.

Thanks Jimbo and Scugs for a great day out on the river. Gotta finish my laundry, and then off to a Maori Village for dinner and a show, and then heading to the Polynesian Spas to soak in the natural sulfur pools to end the day...

I'm a moron. (Queenstown, Rotorua)

I'm sitting here in Auckland writing this update. You might be thinking - "wait, I thought Cat was supposed to be in Rotorua today?" You are correct! I am. When I booked all my flights, I must not have been paying attention at all - I check my ticket this morning at 8AM for a flight at 11:50 - and it says "Christchurch to Rotorua"... yeah...

So anyway, 5 hours and a lot of Qantas fees later, I sit here in Auckland writing to you all as I wait for my bus to Rotorua. Good job, Cat. Anyway, what's done is done. Not a very exciting update today, sorry guys. Tomorrow will be fun, though - I'm going to my hometown: Hobbiton!

Miss you all!

Phil, this one is for you. (Queenstown, Arrowhead)

This morning, I did this (yes, that's me, just press play):



I swore I'd only do it once, and now that I've done it, I want to do it again! There's a fairly inexpensive one in Auckland... ???

After that, I went to Middle Earth again, this time with Nomad Safaris - it was really fun! We started off at the Remarkables Ski Field, and we saw more landscapes that were unreal:

We then head off to the Pillars of the Kings, which is actually the Kawarau River. While it doesn't really look like the movie:


The Fellowship is facing where we were standing. It's such a funky color blue, it was gorgeous:

The other side of this location is actually the bridge jump with AJ Hackett! I didn't even realize this morning...

Then we jumped back in the truck, and we headed to Arrowhead, which is where Isildur and his men are attacked by orcs, right at the beginning of the first movie. Movie:


Today:

We then drove into the Arrow River, on "The Road to Macewood" - we literally drove INTO it, too funny! I've never been in a vehicle like that before, it was really fun! The vents were open in the front seat, and I got soaked from the knees down, but it was all good - my camera came out unscathed, haha! This was the truck in front of us, to give you an idea of what we did:

And this is actually a road that locals drive on everyday to get from point A to point B - they all drive cars like this, but STILL! Pretty amazing!

Arrow River is also home to... "If you want him, come and claim him." Boo Arwyn, yes, but it was still cool! All the filming of that scene happened here, and then another image (Skipper's Canyon) was superimposed behind it. That Peter Jackson - so clever.

I also learned how to "gold mine" at Arrow River! I even have the gold to prove it... Okay, so I only have about 4 flecks of gold, but I sifted for it and everything... From there, we then headed to Skipper's Canyon, which used to be a big mining canyon. Not anymore, but it's still really pretty:

Then it was back to the hostel... the people I was with were nice, but they were oldies again. Only one woman was a fan like me, but everyone was friendly. Oh well. Back at the Hostel, I met a girl from Melbourne, Amanda, and we went back to FergBurger - that place is delicious, and cheap!

After that, we headed to Lick, my new favorite place in New Zealand. Minds out of the gutters, guys - it's a gelato place! And you all know how much I value my frozen treats... This is the "cream" of the crop (ha, get it? cream? ha...) - they have won awards for their gelato! I've found my new love (http://www.nzicecream.org.nz/awards07.htm).

Now it's back to the hostel to pack for my flight to Rotorua tomorrow. I have a feeling I'll be back to Queenstown soon enough, though, to Sky Swing, white water raft, Shotover Jet, and maybe do the Nevis Jump... They also have a ski slope...

Bye Queenstown, you've been absolutely everything I dreamed of and more...

A day of firsts. (Queenstown, Glenorchy)

So Friday, November 16th, was a day of firsts for Cat! It was her first...

Official Lord of the Rings tour. This was pretty tame, but we hit some great sites! Here's what we saw:

• Remarkables (from afar): this is where the fellowship was shot leaving the Mines of Moria, in the back of the Remarkables. It's also in a few different shots in the movies. It is one of two mountain ranges (at least I think two?) that run straight north in the world.
• Deer Park Heights: this is where Aragon is dragged off the cliff by the warg; where Hama was killed; where Legolas does that gravity defying (random) jump; where Gimli falls off the horse as they flee Rohan; where Eowyn gives Aragorn his "tasty" stew. This is it from the movie:

This is what it looks like today (thanks Google images)

• Mt. Earnslow (from afar): this is the highest peak near Lake Wakatipu, and where they filmed the fellowship trekking through the snow: "It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little thing."

• 12 Mile Delta. Ithilien: look out for the Oliphaunts!

Movie:

Now:

• Mt. Aspiring National Park. This is Amon Hen, where Boromir tried to take the ring from Frodo, and then was killed by the Orc at the end of the first movie.
  

• Paradise Valley. Isengard was in this big lot, and we went 4-wheel driving in it! We also saw some ducks and other native New Zealand birds here. This is also where Gandalf rode through on Shadowfax. The farms here have many "stars" of the movies, too - the horses in this area were all used in the films!

This tour was pretty cool, and convinced me to buy the book I wanted - woohoo! I also met a really sweet Japanese girl - Chiaki was great!

We ended up hanging out later in the day, too, after I...

Paraglided! Yes, that's me out there, attached to a nice Swiss guy named Michael - he was super cool! It was AMAZING - I've never seen anything like it... After essentially running off a very steep hill, I was mesmerized, it was so peaceful! Of course, Michael reminded me about 10 seconds before we took off: "It is quite unnatural to fly, you know, without an airplane..." Thanks Michael from Queenstown Paragliding! I will post more from the CD I got...


Here are the pics from the company:





I met up with Chiaki again, and we went to the...

Kiwi Birdlife Park. This place was really cool actually! It was set up really well - you were given a map to follow the trail, and an audio player that guided you through the whole thing. It was very cool! I learned a lot about the natural wildlife here. At the beginning of our tour, there was a "show" and I learned about...

• Tuatara - not a reptile, but the closest thing I've ever seen to a dinosaur - they were alive when dinosaurs were around, creepy! They live to be 100-200 years old, and this little guy is 9 years old:

• Larakeet - these are really pretty parrots that are super smart! People get them as pets, and often will realize that they can't take care of them... they then release them into the wild, which is TERRIBLE because they breed quickly and then eat all the food that other birds should be eating! Greedy little guys. They are cute, though...

• New Zealand Wood Pigeon - they are dying off because of the possum population in NZ. New Zealand had ZERO mammals species on this island, therefore many of the birds don't fly too well (kiwis are a perfect example - their wings are about 3 cm long, and they're about the size of a chicken). When possums were introduced, they started multiplying very quickly, and all of a sudden, there are now 70 MILLION possums here, eating about 20-30 thousand pounds of plants, bugs and wildlife per NIGHT. This means that several bird species, including the Wood Pigeon, don't have enough food to eat. To put this into perspective... there are 70 million possums, 40 million sheep, and 4 (yes, FOUR) million people in this country. Hence why several Kiwis have told me to take "2 or 3 thousand back to the US when I leave..." These pigeons were actually really pretty - nothing like our flying rats back home...

We saw a lot of other birds, too. Unfortunately, the Kiwi bird I saw was not facing the window at all, so all I saw was a Kiwi's butt. Oh well! After the bird show, there was a Maori Cultural show - very cool! They were really nice, and their voices were so powerful!

Chiaki and I then went to eat at ChopChop, a noodle house in Queenstown - yummy! It was great. From there, we went to another Maori Cultural show back at the top of the Queenstown Gondola - it was interesting! I volunteered to participate in the show, and I learned how to swing the "Pua" which are essentially these little pillows on a string, and you swing them around in rhythm - I was terrible! I'm sure all the little Japanese and Korean tourists enjoyed my flailing around, though - I even managed to smack myself in the face once or twice. Whoooops...

After this long day of firsts, I went to bed finally. It was definitely one of the best days I've had so far, and I loved every second. Saturday will be just as adventurous, I think... more to come later when I return from Middle Earth!!