Where has the time going? Sam has reached his first birthday and we celebrated it on Sunday with a party. A small gathering of people joined us to eat cake with Sam and help him open his presents. He was lucky enough to have not one, but two birthday cakes (one being a Diary Queen Ice Cream cake!). Some of the highlights were clothes from Virginia, the Fireman Sam outfits from Granny and Grandad in the UK, the Noah Ark toy set from the Player Family and of course a cuddly toy from Uncle Scott. Also he now owns his first pair of shoes in preparation for future walking. Sam enjoyed the cake a little too much and as the photo shows looks a little guilty afterwards... although it was extremely tasty. Sam would like to thank everyone for his gifts and cards that arrived from around the globe.
The weather proved to be poetic as it snowed, exactly a year to the day when we were rushing to the hospital with Nancy in labour. That fateful night in 2011 also provided snow and a slightly worrying time for the car journey.
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Sunday 26 February 2012
New Zealand Roadtrip - Part 2
To conclude our blog post on our New Zealand trip here is the second part. We arrived into Queenstown which is the adventure capital of the country and filled by thrill seekers. We involved ourselves by taking the cable car to the top of the nearby mountain for spectacular views of the area. I made use of the lunge track and Nancy prepared herself for paragliding (one of her things to do on her 36 things list). It took Nancy a little while to convince herself to complete the tandem paraglide, but once onboard she enjoyed the relative (compared to skydiving) gentle ride down to the ground. It also turned out the instructor was from Canada and worked at Grouse Mountain. Sam and I were very proud and impressed that Nancy completed the paragliding.
After all the excitement of Queenstown, we took a flight up to the North Island and landed into Rotorua for a days visit. The city is known for its geothermal activity, and features geysers - notably the Pohutu Geyser at Whakarewarewa and hot mud pools. This thermal activity provides Rotorua with a distinct sulphur smell, not the most endearing thing we experienced in New Zealand. We visited a local Maori village which provided a guided tour of the thermal activity and did the traditional war dance of the Haka. This was certainly a highlight of the trip for Sam who was transfixed by the dancing and singing performance.
Next and final destination on our trip was Auckland, which is the largest populated city in New Zealand. We did have our worst experience with hotel accommodation (Kiwi International Hotel) in Auckland, but that aside we did journey up the Skycity Tower. At 328 metres, it is the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand and offers breathtaking views for up to 80 KMs in every direction. At the observation deck of the tower, Sam took the opportunity to sit on the glass floor in the observation deck and we watched people complete the Tower sky jump (another mad activity for thrill seekers). We ended our holiday by meeting up with some friends from Vancouver for a few drinks and Sam meet up with his buddy Lucas. All that remained was our long flight home (3 hours from Auckland to Sydney and 14 hours from Sydney
to Vancouver), although Sam certainly enjoyed his business class seat.
After all the excitement of Queenstown, we took a flight up to the North Island and landed into Rotorua for a days visit. The city is known for its geothermal activity, and features geysers - notably the Pohutu Geyser at Whakarewarewa and hot mud pools. This thermal activity provides Rotorua with a distinct sulphur smell, not the most endearing thing we experienced in New Zealand. We visited a local Maori village which provided a guided tour of the thermal activity and did the traditional war dance of the Haka. This was certainly a highlight of the trip for Sam who was transfixed by the dancing and singing performance.
Next and final destination on our trip was Auckland, which is the largest populated city in New Zealand. We did have our worst experience with hotel accommodation (Kiwi International Hotel) in Auckland, but that aside we did journey up the Skycity Tower. At 328 metres, it is the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand and offers breathtaking views for up to 80 KMs in every direction. At the observation deck of the tower, Sam took the opportunity to sit on the glass floor in the observation deck and we watched people complete the Tower sky jump (another mad activity for thrill seekers). We ended our holiday by meeting up with some friends from Vancouver for a few drinks and Sam meet up with his buddy Lucas. All that remained was our long flight home (3 hours from Auckland to Sydney and 14 hours from Sydney
to Vancouver), although Sam certainly enjoyed his business class seat.
Friday 24 February 2012
New Zealand Roadtrip - Part 1
We are now recovering from jet lag having returned to Vancouver Island following our New Zealand road trip. Our best intentions to update the blog along the way were dashed by a lack of quality internet wifi on the South Island. Now that we are home we can share some of the highlights from the last two weeks of our trip, which are in two blog posts.
After leaving Christchurch with our rental car we headed west across the Island and in the opposite direction were the competitors of the Coast to Coast race. This is where the race competitors traverse the South Island of New Zealand from Kumara Beach on the Tasman Sea to Sumner Beach on the Pacific Ocean. The competitors cycle 140 kms, run 36 km (including a 33 km mountain stage that crosses the Southern Alps) and kayak 67kms of the Waimakariri River through the Grand Canyon of New Zealand, the Waimakariri Gorge. The winners usually take ten and three quarter hours to cover the 243kms. Crazy people if you ask me, but we passed the leading guys on their bikes.
After a few hours in the car, dodging the cyclists we arrived into sunny Hokitika which had the most fantastic beach. We enjoyed our packed lunch and Sam crawled around naked chasing the local seagulls. Back in the car we reached our main destination of Franz Josef, this is where the magnificent Franz Josef Glacier is, which is widely regarded as the gem of New Zealand's West Coast. The next day we ventured out to walk some rough terrain to reach the face of the glacier, which we achieved with Sam in his stroller. We received a number of quizzical looks from other people of the trail. We followed this up the next day by visiting another glacier (Fox Glacier) which was about 23 KMs south of Franz Josef. Both glaciers provided amazing views in all directions - mother nature at her best!
From the glaciers we drove for a few hours to reach Te Anau for a nights stay and the next morning we drove to Milford Sound - a fjord in the south west of New Zealand. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in a recent international travel survey. Rudyard Kipling is quoted as calling Milford Sound as the eighth Wonder of the World. We took a boat ride out into the fjord and traveled out to the ocean, en route we experienced the amazing waterfalls, dolphins jumping out of the water and sea lions. That evening (with Sam asleep and being looked after by Nancy), I took the opportunity to visit the Te Anau Glowworm caves. After disembarking the boat, I joined a nature guide that accompanied a group of us into the caves which have been carved out by the force of the river that flows through them. The result is a twisting network of limestone passages filled with sculpted rock, whirlpools and a roaring underground waterfall. Deep inside the caves, beyond the roar of the water, we were taken by a small boat into a silent hidden grotto inhabited by thousands of glowworms. In the subterranean darkness, they produce a glittering display similar to thousand of tiny turquoise neon lights. An extraordinary light show.
New Zealand Road Trip part 2 post will appear shortly....
After leaving Christchurch with our rental car we headed west across the Island and in the opposite direction were the competitors of the Coast to Coast race. This is where the race competitors traverse the South Island of New Zealand from Kumara Beach on the Tasman Sea to Sumner Beach on the Pacific Ocean. The competitors cycle 140 kms, run 36 km (including a 33 km mountain stage that crosses the Southern Alps) and kayak 67kms of the Waimakariri River through the Grand Canyon of New Zealand, the Waimakariri Gorge. The winners usually take ten and three quarter hours to cover the 243kms. Crazy people if you ask me, but we passed the leading guys on their bikes.
After a few hours in the car, dodging the cyclists we arrived into sunny Hokitika which had the most fantastic beach. We enjoyed our packed lunch and Sam crawled around naked chasing the local seagulls. Back in the car we reached our main destination of Franz Josef, this is where the magnificent Franz Josef Glacier is, which is widely regarded as the gem of New Zealand's West Coast. The next day we ventured out to walk some rough terrain to reach the face of the glacier, which we achieved with Sam in his stroller. We received a number of quizzical looks from other people of the trail. We followed this up the next day by visiting another glacier (Fox Glacier) which was about 23 KMs south of Franz Josef. Both glaciers provided amazing views in all directions - mother nature at her best!
From the glaciers we drove for a few hours to reach Te Anau for a nights stay and the next morning we drove to Milford Sound - a fjord in the south west of New Zealand. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in a recent international travel survey. Rudyard Kipling is quoted as calling Milford Sound as the eighth Wonder of the World. We took a boat ride out into the fjord and traveled out to the ocean, en route we experienced the amazing waterfalls, dolphins jumping out of the water and sea lions. That evening (with Sam asleep and being looked after by Nancy), I took the opportunity to visit the Te Anau Glowworm caves. After disembarking the boat, I joined a nature guide that accompanied a group of us into the caves which have been carved out by the force of the river that flows through them. The result is a twisting network of limestone passages filled with sculpted rock, whirlpools and a roaring underground waterfall. Deep inside the caves, beyond the roar of the water, we were taken by a small boat into a silent hidden grotto inhabited by thousands of glowworms. In the subterranean darkness, they produce a glittering display similar to thousand of tiny turquoise neon lights. An extraordinary light show.
New Zealand Road Trip part 2 post will appear shortly....
Friday 10 February 2012
Arriving into NZ & Landing in Christchurch
We had a full day of traveling to leave Sydney and arrive into Christchurch, New Zealand. A bus from Bondi Beach to the nearest train station, two trains to Sydney airport, flight to Auckland and then another flight onto Christchurch - situated on the South Island of NZ. At this point, a special mention for Air Zealand - I have been on numerous flights with different airlines over the years, but Air Zealand comes up top. Nancy wanted to mention that the business lounge had a dedicated kids room, full of toys. While the flight itself was made easy due to very attentive staff who even provided an extra seat in business class for Sam to sleep on and the endless flow of champagne was a nice touch.
Anyway, back to our travels we arrived into Christchurch about 7pm local time and made our way to our motel room. Our bus driver gave us some of the local highlights and provided us with some of the recent history relating to the earthquakes Christchurch has suffered. The city has experienced over 10,000 earthquakes since 4th September 2010 with the largest (and most infamous) earthquake last February. This shake was very shallow but rated as a 6.3 magnitude directly under the city centre, which resulted in claiming 185 lives and caused serious damage to thousands of buildings. According to the local newspaper, Christchurch was hit by five significant after shocks between 7pm Wednesday and 6pm Thursday, this week! (Extra note... just as I finished this blog post we experienced an after shock for ourselves).
Today, we wanted to see the city for ourselves and so we walked around the nearby Hagley Park with a very English styled Botanic Gardens, including a rose garden, ducks and a playground for Sam. We then toured the local museum which had interesting exhibits relating to NZ dinosaurs, local Maori culture and expeditions to Antarctica. We then wandered to the city centre to find the earthquake damage zone - an area that has been cordoned to the public for health and safety risk from the damaged buildings (see photo). We did then see a set of shops that have been restarted in metal shipping containers as temporary accommodation. Our general view of Christchurch is that it was quiet, almost a ghost town, which I suppose is understandable given the circumstances. Next is the start of our NZ road trip, as we pick up a car and head to the Pancake Rocks and Glaciers....
P.S For Kris, note that Sam is wearing his Vancouver Canucks t-shirt proudly in one of the photos!
Anyway, back to our travels we arrived into Christchurch about 7pm local time and made our way to our motel room. Our bus driver gave us some of the local highlights and provided us with some of the recent history relating to the earthquakes Christchurch has suffered. The city has experienced over 10,000 earthquakes since 4th September 2010 with the largest (and most infamous) earthquake last February. This shake was very shallow but rated as a 6.3 magnitude directly under the city centre, which resulted in claiming 185 lives and caused serious damage to thousands of buildings. According to the local newspaper, Christchurch was hit by five significant after shocks between 7pm Wednesday and 6pm Thursday, this week! (Extra note... just as I finished this blog post we experienced an after shock for ourselves).
Today, we wanted to see the city for ourselves and so we walked around the nearby Hagley Park with a very English styled Botanic Gardens, including a rose garden, ducks and a playground for Sam. We then toured the local museum which had interesting exhibits relating to NZ dinosaurs, local Maori culture and expeditions to Antarctica. We then wandered to the city centre to find the earthquake damage zone - an area that has been cordoned to the public for health and safety risk from the damaged buildings (see photo). We did then see a set of shops that have been restarted in metal shipping containers as temporary accommodation. Our general view of Christchurch is that it was quiet, almost a ghost town, which I suppose is understandable given the circumstances. Next is the start of our NZ road trip, as we pick up a car and head to the Pancake Rocks and Glaciers....
P.S For Kris, note that Sam is wearing his Vancouver Canucks t-shirt proudly in one of the photos!
Thursday 9 February 2012
Last Day In Sydney & Walking the Bridge
After much debate Nancy convinced me that completing the Sydney Harbour Bridge walk was a once in a lifetime experience and so my last day in Sydney involved a bus trip back to the city centre from Bondi. I checked in for 9.25am for the "Bridge Climb", which is a 3 ½ hour guided journey to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The climb took me along the outer arch of the Bridge on catwalks and ladders all the way to the summit, 134 metres above Sydney Harbour. There were about 1400 steps as part of the climb, but it was certainly worth it as the opportunty to witness 360 degree views of Sydney, including east to the Sydney Opera House, west to the Blue Mountains and the Harbour city surrounds. This was an expensive experience but was something to remember.
Next stop on our holiday is Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealand.
Next stop on our holiday is Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealand.
Tuesday 7 February 2012
Hanging Out at Bondi Beach
Nancy's internet research found us an amazing place to stay at Bondi Beach, literally overlooking the ocean and the famous stretch of sand. So for three days we have an ideal location to explore this beach community, our initial impression is that the Bondi area is a bit "hippy" but relaxing place to stay. The weather has been windy, which is perfect for the surfers, less so for keeping a sun hat on Sam. Bondi Beach is one of Australia's most famous beaches and among the world's most well-known beaches. The beach is roughly a kilometre long and is patrolled by life guards who make swimmers stay between the yellow and red flags. There was even a prime-time television show about these life guards and what they have to deal with from the beach-goers on the TV last night.
Yesterday we walked along the sea wall from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach, this was approximately 5KM in length. As you can see from the photos, this provided some spectacular views of the ocean and coastline. The only downside was the the number of steep steps that we had to carry Sam and his stroller over. We returned on the bus and ended the day trip with a gourmet burger, Sam had the perfect view of Bondi Beach and the passing traffic. We then walked along the length of the beach at dusk (with the stroller) to get back to the apartment.
Yesterday we walked along the sea wall from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach, this was approximately 5KM in length. As you can see from the photos, this provided some spectacular views of the ocean and coastline. The only downside was the the number of steep steps that we had to carry Sam and his stroller over. We returned on the bus and ended the day trip with a gourmet burger, Sam had the perfect view of Bondi Beach and the passing traffic. We then walked along the length of the beach at dusk (with the stroller) to get back to the apartment.
The Start of Our "Down Under" Trip
We have been in Sydney for a few days now, after our near fifteen hour flight from Vancouver, our first hotel was in the downtown area. A twenty minute walk took us into the heart of the all the action and to the classic Sydney tourist locations. On the first afternoon in the rain, we made a beeline for the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House - both were amazing places to visit and photos don't quite do them justice. Also en-route we toured through Hyde Park and Botanical Gardens.
Day two involved a significant amount of walking and utilizing public transport, especially the harbour ferries. The sunshine broke out so it was ideal to see the Darling Harbour area, including Dragon Boat racing, The Rocks market, the Observatory (situated on a hill with an exceptional view of the bridge). We then took a ferry over to Manly to chill by the beach. Sunday involved a relaxing morning, followed by another ferry ride to Watson's Bay, which is recognised as Australia's oldest fishing village, having been established in 1788. We toured along the cliff-side walk for views back to Sydney city centre and out to the ocean - Sam slept through most of this.
Next stop is Bondi Beach, where we have an apartment booked for three days and I will post again with more photos.
Day two involved a significant amount of walking and utilizing public transport, especially the harbour ferries. The sunshine broke out so it was ideal to see the Darling Harbour area, including Dragon Boat racing, The Rocks market, the Observatory (situated on a hill with an exceptional view of the bridge). We then took a ferry over to Manly to chill by the beach. Sunday involved a relaxing morning, followed by another ferry ride to Watson's Bay, which is recognised as Australia's oldest fishing village, having been established in 1788. We toured along the cliff-side walk for views back to Sydney city centre and out to the ocean - Sam slept through most of this.
Next stop is Bondi Beach, where we have an apartment booked for three days and I will post again with more photos.
Saturday 4 February 2012
Planes, Trains and Automobiles to get to Sydney, Australia
Just a quick blog post as we are using a local internet cafe in Sydney with no wifi access in our hotel. We should be back online tin the next day or so as move to a different apartment near Bondi Beach. So we arrived safe and sound after using planes, trains and automobiles - car to the ferry, ferry to Vancouver, flight to Sydney, metro train to city centre and our legs to the hotel. Flight was fine and Sam was at his best for nearly 15 hours - the other passengers in business class even commented how fun/cute he was on the flight.
First couple of days in Sydney, we have toured all the classic sites in the city - including the harbour bridge, the opera house, ferries in the harbour, Manly Beach, the Rocks, Sydney observatory, a local Aussie pub, etc. We have a bunch of photos but we will have to share them another time when we have more time and Internet capability.
For now we are safe and sound, enjoying our selves "down under" (in spite of a little sun burn). We are off for another day of sight seeing, trip to the beach and water park for Sam.
First couple of days in Sydney, we have toured all the classic sites in the city - including the harbour bridge, the opera house, ferries in the harbour, Manly Beach, the Rocks, Sydney observatory, a local Aussie pub, etc. We have a bunch of photos but we will have to share them another time when we have more time and Internet capability.
For now we are safe and sound, enjoying our selves "down under" (in spite of a little sun burn). We are off for another day of sight seeing, trip to the beach and water park for Sam.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
