Like Melbourne, Auckland has lots of bays, inlets and islands. We've been making use of the ferry system to explore a couple of them. The city is attempting to expand its fledgling metro rail system, so may streets are torn up with that activity, and only 1 of the 3 metro train lines are running. The bus system works well, however, and we were able to make effective use of it to buy a bike for my upcoming Auckland to Christchurch bike ride. New Years Eve here was fun, as there was an amazing fireworks display
Alexandra will be heading back to the Philippines next Wed, and I will depart on my trip on Thursday Jan 9, morning.
Click here for route map .
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Down Under, another Summer Solstice
We touched down in Sydney, and immediately flew to Brisbane, which is directly north, but has a 1-hour time zone shift, because they did not adopt daylight savings time, and Sydney did.
We spent the next 3 weeks meandering our way down to Melbourne where we spent 10 nights before flying down to Auckland, where we are now.
Highlights of our travels in chronological and geographical order (North to South) :
Tambourine Mountain area: Several parks and some lovely waterfalls. Unfortunately, most of the streams that have rock pools for swimming had too little water to swim in, but the rain forests were beautiful (80% of the original Australian rain forests vanished after Europeans arrived), and the Koala bears, cockatoos and other wildlife unique to Australia were very interesting.
Central Coast Area:
Especially enjoyed the laid back coastal towns of Port Macquarie, and Port Stephens / Nelson Bay areas.
Sydney:
It's surrounded by water. This strikes you when visiting the Sydney Tower Eye. We enjoyed the city life, restaurants, and parks, especially the Botanical Gardens, and various municipal ferry rides up the river.
Melbourne:
The highlight of our stay was a visit to Phillip Island, where we went to see the Penguin Parade, which occurs after sundown. Click here for video. We also got to watch pelicans being fed, and seals nursing their pups
(a boat ride out to an island with thousands of seals.) and playing in the water.
Spent Christmas in Melbourne. then off to Auckland on Dec. 28.
We spent the next 3 weeks meandering our way down to Melbourne where we spent 10 nights before flying down to Auckland, where we are now.
Highlights of our travels in chronological and geographical order (North to South) :
Tambourine Mountain area: Several parks and some lovely waterfalls. Unfortunately, most of the streams that have rock pools for swimming had too little water to swim in, but the rain forests were beautiful (80% of the original Australian rain forests vanished after Europeans arrived), and the Koala bears, cockatoos and other wildlife unique to Australia were very interesting.
Central Coast Area:
Especially enjoyed the laid back coastal towns of Port Macquarie, and Port Stephens / Nelson Bay areas.
Sydney:
It's surrounded by water. This strikes you when visiting the Sydney Tower Eye. We enjoyed the city life, restaurants, and parks, especially the Botanical Gardens, and various municipal ferry rides up the river.
Melbourne:
The highlight of our stay was a visit to Phillip Island, where we went to see the Penguin Parade, which occurs after sundown. Click here for video. We also got to watch pelicans being fed, and seals nursing their pups
(a boat ride out to an island with thousands of seals.) and playing in the water.
Spent Christmas in Melbourne. then off to Auckland on Dec. 28.
The last of the Northern Hemisphere - Executive Summary
I took a long break from updating the blog after finishing the bicycle trip in Madrid. The first item of business was to sell the bike. Happy to say, I sold it for about 100 euro less than I paid for it (200 E after accessorizing). That turned out to be reasonably inexpensive for a 1-month bike rental.
Alexandra joined me in Madrid on Sept. 25, and we remained in Madrid for about a week before departing by train to visit:
Segovia (2 nights) : Highlight - Cathedral
Toledo: (2 nights) : Highlight - Jewish Quarter
Valencia: (5 night) : Great aquarium, bike friendly, fabulous beaches and good restaurants
Then rented a car to get us to Seville by way of:
Granada
Cordoba
and finally departing to Porto, Portugal from Madrid, which we reached by high-speed train from Seville. A few nights in Porto, followed by 5 wonderful nights in Lisbon finished up our stay in the EU, just before our 6-month French visas expired. We high-tailed it out of the Schengen area on Sat. Oct 20 to Casablanca. Had a lovely dinner with Alexandra's friend, Wendy, from Cebu, who works there. Then proceeded to Rabat to visit Soukaina, who invited us to join her family for dinner. We met her and Chaymae, her sister at the Hassan Tower.
They live across the river in Sale. In spite of the gathering dark storm clouds, we took the "ferry" (a large row-boat) across the river, and got soaked by a violent downpour just after disembarking. We were soaking wet, with our destroyed (from wind) umbrellas by the time we got to their house. They lent us some dry clothes, and her dad spent most of the time we were there trying to iron my jeans to dry them out. Dinner was a feast of Lamb Tajine, sweets, Tea, and wonderful Moroccan hospitality.
Alexandra still wears the pink pajama bottoms that Chaymae gave her.
We then took the train from Rabat to Marrakesh. Stayed there for 5 nights, then left for a 1 night stopover in London before flying back to SFO.
Arrived in SF on November 1 and settled into an AirBnb in Mountain View for the next 10 nights. Checked in on the house. It's still there. Then departed for DC to visit my nephew and d'Niece (Baltimore). Then took the train to Philadelphia, did a drive-by in Allentown, where I grew up, and then went to a family friend's 90th birthday in Phila before departing for Denver, where Janine, our daughter, now lives. We spent her birthday there and had Thanksgiving at my cousin's place nearby, then departed for the new new world, Sydney, Australia.
Alexandra joined me in Madrid on Sept. 25, and we remained in Madrid for about a week before departing by train to visit:
Segovia (2 nights) : Highlight - Cathedral
Toledo: (2 nights) : Highlight - Jewish Quarter
Valencia: (5 night) : Great aquarium, bike friendly, fabulous beaches and good restaurants
Then rented a car to get us to Seville by way of:
Granada
Cordoba
and finally departing to Porto, Portugal from Madrid, which we reached by high-speed train from Seville. A few nights in Porto, followed by 5 wonderful nights in Lisbon finished up our stay in the EU, just before our 6-month French visas expired. We high-tailed it out of the Schengen area on Sat. Oct 20 to Casablanca. Had a lovely dinner with Alexandra's friend, Wendy, from Cebu, who works there. Then proceeded to Rabat to visit Soukaina, who invited us to join her family for dinner. We met her and Chaymae, her sister at the Hassan Tower.
Alexandra still wears the pink pajama bottoms that Chaymae gave her.
We then took the train from Rabat to Marrakesh. Stayed there for 5 nights, then left for a 1 night stopover in London before flying back to SFO.
Arrived in SF on November 1 and settled into an AirBnb in Mountain View for the next 10 nights. Checked in on the house. It's still there. Then departed for DC to visit my nephew and d'Niece (Baltimore). Then took the train to Philadelphia, did a drive-by in Allentown, where I grew up, and then went to a family friend's 90th birthday in Phila before departing for Denver, where Janine, our daughter, now lives. We spent her birthday there and had Thanksgiving at my cousin's place nearby, then departed for the new new world, Sydney, Australia.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)