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New Zealand

Our first destination was the north island of New Zealand. We arrived in Auckland the night of November 24th, and spent the 25th exploring the city. We circumnavigated the city, several neighborhoods, and the Domain, logging almost 10 miles of walking in all. We retired to the Shakespeare Tavern (Auckland's oldest microbrewery) to sample the local brew.

James' jet lag avoidance tips:

Arrive at night, and stay up for most to all of the flight.
Walk on your first day until your feet give out.
After your feet give out, don't call it a day - take the bus. Keep going.
End the day with the local brew.

The next day, we picked up a car and headed south to the Waitomo Caves to see the resident glowworms, where the cave boat tours weren't running due to high water (did we mention that it rained a lot on this trip?). We did get to see some glowworms, and then headed on to Rotorua, a geothermal hot spot (like a semi-touristy collection of Yellowstone boiling mud ponds, geysers, and the aroma of sulfur).

Hanna started celebrating her 40th birthday here. But it still wasn't her birthday yet in Portland, so she continued to celebrate as we headed north to Hahei on the Coromandel Peninsula. Here, we took in the scenery with a hike to Cathedral Cove, explored Hahei and Whitianga, and dug ourselves a sand hot tub at Hot Water Beach.

On to Oz

On our fifth day in New Zealand, we packed up and headed back to the Auckland airport (really way too soon) and flew west across the Tasman Sea. We had rain or drizzle every day (not unusual in NZ) and were looking forward to reliably fine aussie weather. After a pit stop in Sydney to change planes and hang out with Erin on our layover, we jetted off to Adelaide. We spent two days and three nights exploring the city, and its many parks. Highlights included the Botanical Gardens, National Wine Centre, a tram ride to Glenelg to sit on the beach, shopping, and the food scene (with a large public market and more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in Australia).

We picked up a car and headed out for our next destination, Kangaroo Island. En route, we stopped in the McLaren Vale for lunch and a little wine tasting. We picked up a Shiraz and a Zinfandel (yes, Aussie Zin) from Kangarilla Road for later consumption.

We boarded the evening ferry to Kangaroo Island, and drove on to Kingscote to get dinner before the sidewalks rolled up (there are only two main towns on a 100 mile long island) and then on to our accomodation in Emu Bay.

Over the next two days, we drove around the island seeing the sights: Stokes Bay, the Parndana Wildlife Park, the honey farm, Flinders Chase National Park (containing Admirals Arch and Remarkable Rocks), Little Sahara, and Seal Bay.
On the road west of Parndana, we stopped for a large koala in the road. Hanna got out to shoo him off the pavement, but he insisted on posing for photos first.

We headed back to Adelaide, turned in the car, and hopped on The Ghan for the overnight trip north to Alice Springs. We have now used Planes, Trains, Ferries, Cars, Busses, Trams, and our feet as transport on this trip.

We had an afternoon to explore Alice and lounge by the pool to escape the heat. The next day, we went to the Desert Park on the way out of town and then drove out to Wattarka (aka King' s Canyon) National Park, via the Ernest Giles 4WD road. We stopped along the way to gawk at roadside camels and the Henbury Meteorite Crater.

We stayed at Kings Canyon, took a hike into the canyon in the morning and then headed on to Uluru and Kata Tjuta (aka Ayer's Rock and The Olgas).

We saw sunset and sunrise at Uluru, hiked the Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta, and did a few short hikes at the base of Uluru. (No, we didn't climb the rock. The Anangu people prefer that you don't.)

James almost left to rot in the Red Centre

A malfunctioning (at least we hope that's what happened) chemical residue detector at Connellan airport found traces of TNT on James' belt. Read all about it here.

Finally, it was back to Sydney for a visit with Erin, Pieter, and Saskia, some shopping, and the requisite Wagamama visit (see previous vacation). Despite thundershowers, we ventured out to Manly Beach. Our final day, the sun came out and it was beautiful. We got a stroll around the waterfront at Circular Quay, but then we had a plane to catch...