My Bucket List Trip to Australia and New Zealand

 Australia

I’ve been waiting to take this adventure since I originally booked it February 2020. It was cancelled by COVID twice (I booked it again in Spring 2021). Then in 2022 I decided I would try again with October 2024.  Finally…

Highlight tour of Australia and NZ, no kidding. I was on 10 flights for this trip; 3 to the first stop in Melbourne (Victoria), then up to Cairns (Queensland), back down to Sydney (New South Wales). Off to Queenstown (south island) and then flight to Auckland (north island) New Zealand with two flights back to the States. Ugh!!

Melbourne

At first glance Melbourne is very similar to Boston. Diverse, walkable with vast public transport, the Yarra River runs through it much like the Charles River, older buildings, monuments, a Chinatown. I was only here for a day and a half, but was able to walk much of the city and enjoyed the start of the journey (jet lag and all). My disappointment was not really experiencing anything that is Australia…that’s about to change.

There’s a whole area of building wall art by local artists. There's a whole street with "graffiti" type art up and down the street. This artist just started this work while when I captured his work.

Cairns

Feeding time

The Great Barrier Reef is quintessential Australia. Unfortunately my photos will never do it justice. One of the highlights of this highlight trips is the reef.  We took a catamaran to Michaelmas Cay and then a small boat to a beach near the reef. After donning a wetsuit (new for me in snorkeling) I was able to actually see the reef wildlife. Why the wetsuit? It’s not because the water is cold, it is because everything in the ocean here want to bite, sting or other wise kill you.

Turtle hung out all day at the boat

More “safe” was the submersible boat, very scary for me as I don’t like closed in places but it was amazing. Actually saw clams the size of my apt!

Looking down on one of the reef's

Cairns is a typical beach town. Food was okay. The tour was based on beef, more than seafood (my favorite). The tour set up a dinner for Brazilian BBQ. The meat lovers were very excited.

The beaches have several types of fish that can sting or otherwise hurt you and the water is full of mud, so there are local pools next to the beach.

Muddy tide water

Sydney

Sydney at night

Obviously the iconic opera house is outstanding and amazing at night. I opted for the harbor dinner cruise which was a mistake. It was terrible. The food was awful and being stuck in the bowles of the boat wasn’t good. It would have been better with music and being up on deck so you could really see the city. Would have much rather spent the money on seeing a show. 

No trip to Sydney would be complete without a trip to Bondi beach (in many films) where surfing is king. Saw a few people learning the craft. It is surrounded by shops and eateries.

Instead of hanging out shopping I went to the barracks used by the convicts sent to Australia from England. Many of the young men who were convicted and sent to Australia were under 20 and had only been convicted of steal bread or something to eat. 

It would have been great to see more information about the aboriginal (first peoples). One constant is the Aboriginal flag. Black represents the Aboriginal people, the yellow circle is the sun, giver of life and the red can mean red earth/sand of Australia. Some have said it can also mean the blood of Aboriginal peoples.

Another great part of the trip was when a few others scheduled a tour of the blue mountains and wildlife animal park on our free day. Blue Mountains Tours https://bluemountainstours.com.au/ was terrific. Their guide was local, a real plus, and the food was delicious. We had breakfast and lunch for the all day tour. Along with seeing the mountains and rain forest we took a gondola across the mountains for a full view of waterfalls showing centuries old formations. 

Three sisters

Along with seeing the mountains and rain forest we took a gondola across the mountains for a full view of waterfalls showing centuries old formations. 

We topped off the day trip with a visit to a wildlife animal park with koalas, kangaroos and nature habit birds.

I sleep 22 hours a day

New Zealand

View of the Remarkable mountains

Unlike many other places NZ have now embraced their first people, Maori. Although it would be wrong to say their is complete awareness and acceptance, but as opposed from many other places, I did see many more affects of their culture, people and life. I would definitely want to visit NZ again to see the country in its entirety.

Queenstown

After a full day cruise through the south island lake country we took a bus tour to Milford Sound. I had wanted to fly back to Queenstown but weather moved in and we had to take the five hour bus ride.

Instead of having more beef at a sheep ranch, I choose to take my own tour of Lake Wakatipu, again with a native to learn the history of the area, followed by my choice of dinner of green lip mussels and a glass of Prosecco sitting right on the pier. Topping off the day with a visit to the Kiwi Park seeing the Kiwi (no pics as they are nocturnal and don’t like flash or light), and other native NZ birds. Great day!!!

Topping off the day with a visit to the Kiwi Park seeing the Kiwi (no pics as they are nocturnal and don’t like flash or light), and other native NZ birds. Great day!!!

Me after a 22 hour flight

At the park I attended a native bird demonstration on many of varieties. So many I can't even keep track.

Auckland

Are we finally here at the end??? Auckland is the northern largest city (Wellington is the capital). Started off the last day or so with a trip to Mission Bay. The beaches in both Australia and New Zealand are some of the best I’ve ever seen.

One of the last tour trips was to Waiheke Island known for their wine, New Zealand calls this island one of the best areas for production. What I didn’t know until the trip was the fact NZ is also known for their olive oil. We did an olive oil tasing and two wineries. It was a beautiful day, one of the best for the trip. About 10,000 people live on the island year round and can swell to over 30,000 in summer (our winter).

I had almost a full day before the plane, as many people either did the extension to Fiji or back to the States. I decided to take a long walk across town to the Auckland Museum and Art Galley for some cultural exploits to see Maori (first peoples) art and literature.

Now, back in the States and re-living many of the adventures from the trip. So many other photos and thoughts I'm still going through.

Time to get your Halloween on...

Halloween in Charlotte

Halloween in NoDa is really something to see. Everyone does up their neighborhoods to make it fun with street parties, 5K's and everything in between.

I love Halloween but haven't celebrated it in the last few years. I got inspired by my new friends Stephen and Dina and decided to do it up right this year as Beatlejuice.

Here are a few pics to get your Halloween on.

My impression of Lauren Boebert

Beatlejuice cane

Celebrating with the Riddler, Wednesday and Candy Floss at the Cork Vault

NC road trip...kind of

It had been sooo loooong since I had a break, I was really looking forward to taking the last week off before the long Labor Day weekend. I decided I would to outside my comfort zone and rent a car for a road trip to see some of North Carolina. 

I’ve lived in Charlotte for almost 9 months and really haven’t seen anything else of the state. I decided I would go to Asheville and then drive across the state to Wilmington. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out the way I planned.

After a shaky start learning to drive a car again…I took off for Asheville, Located in the blue ridge mountains, the drive from Charlotte was really pretty and reminded me of my youth in Colorado for our family treks through the Rocky Mountains. Although not nearly as high as the Rockies, the Blue Ridge is quite lovely. I was hoping for cooler weather, but it was still very hot!

Asheville

I stayed in downtown Asheville, a mixture of art community with college town feel. UNC Asheville is very close to downtown. In between the college town bars are quaint bistros and shops, there are several art galleries, circling down to the French Broad River to the River Arts district, filled with small artist studios. 

Momentum Gallery

Many buildings had murals

Even the city hall buildings had a very artsy feel

River Arts District

There are several sections in the district combining studios and galleries; from Riverside Studios to Urban Art, Wedge and Roberts Studios closer to town, next to the Depot Studios followed around to Riverview Station on the way to the famous Biltmore Village.

After several hours of walking I was glad to get back to the hotel and relax. I started watching the news and realized Wilmington was being hit with a storm and then the hurricane from Florida was going to hit during my stay. At that point I decided to cancel Wilmington leg of the trip. Needless to say, I was disappointed, but didn’t want to get caught in bad weather, so back to Charlotte the following day.

River rafting on the French Broad

Rosie's Garden

Great place to have an ice tea or glass of wine

I’d heard about Rosie's Garden and wanted to check it out, so here are some photos of this beautiful place in the heart of Charlotte. Not Wilmington and the beach, but I’ll get there someday.