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Rambler’s Blog –PatnChuck Pacific Adventure 2016 (February 12 - April 12, 2016)

A word about this blog…. It has been our goal in recent years’ lengthier travels to record for posterity a diary of travel stats, pictures, and personal reflections. So, when we can no longer indulge in trains, planes and automobiles we may relive fond memories. We have invited a few friends and family to ride along through this travel blog (a combo of blather and log), risking exposure to bad puns, spelling errors and sore feet complaints.

It has been our dream to visit Australia and New Zealand for years. Our Australian friends who we met while living in Scotland, the Knights, have invited us many times. With Chuck finally retired it’s time to go! We have planned a whirlwind tour of the Pacific. We are fortunate to front load the tour with a diversion to Alaska and extra time in Sydney staying with friends and time at Palm Cove Resort near Great Barrier Reef. We are able to back load the trip with 5 days in Oahu (Honolulu) for R&R before returning home.

For Oz and NZ we chose a AAA tour as it offers the most comprehensive experience in a good amount of time. We fly from point to point through Australia which is similar in size to the US (New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, Victoria and Tasmania) and bus tour through North and South Islands of New Zealand. We have several opportunities to learn about the Aborigine and Maori native people. We chose the fall season, taking a chance with transition weather but much less heat and being present for the grape harvest at some of the famous Oz, NZ wineries. Their seasons are reversed from ours and they live a whole day later in time. And then there are Oz opals that know no season!

This trip is particularly special because of being with family, old and new friends. We will visit Brenna and Zach in their new Anchorage home and have a baby shower for little scooter due in May; we will visit Phyllis and Ray Knight in their Killara home north of Sydney; we will stay overnight with a native New Zealand family; and we will meet travelers along the way.

Onward and upward. We enjoy knowing friends and family are with us in spirit. We will lift a few glasses of great southern hemisphere wines and ales, meander through cities, mountains and desert, and have a few shrimp on the barbie!

Pat and Chuck

* We may not have daily access to Internet so updates may be delayed, but once they appear they will be in sequence
* The blog includes pictures based on the day’s blog, sometimes delayed depending on schedule and access.
* A map of our route appears on the Homepage.

Monday, April 4, 2016

April 4

Breakfast early of local bacon and eggs we gathered the night before.  The rooster crowed at 3:30AM but luckily we didn’t hear him. They have their own honey and homemade jam.  Back to the hotel where we leave immediately for a Rotorua tour and the Te Puia culture center.  We learn more about Maori culture, including hand weaving and wood sculpture.  They have a geyser field called Whakarewarewa thermal village, here and we are in time for the big one blow. About a third of the height of Old Faithful but it has a double vent.  We are surrounded by live geysers of steam and bubbling mud pots.  We see the oven the Maori have constructed using the steam.  Lots of sulphur in the air!  We are also able to see a kiwi bird couple behind glass.  Then we drive to the Agrodome with more sheep demos.  It is by far the best show we have seen out of the three sheep shearing demos.  They display 18 different breeds of sheep with very large rams.  They shear a sheep and demo different kinds of sheep dog.  One breed actually runs over the backs of the sheep to get to the front of the herd.  Then the audience gets to milk a cow and bottle feed lambs.  It’s very enjoyable.  Back in town our bags are in our room and we set out for a walk around Rotorua.  The lake has a pumice shoreline and several black swans.  We stop at the historic and ornate government for a bite on the lanai.  The town park of bubbling mud pots not very impressive.  We take the bus to the Maori village, Tamaki.  A fabricated village set in the forest.  We watched and participated in the ritual dances and training maneuvers of their people.  We are taught many of their words.  Chuck tries his hand at war dance.  We have a meal cooked in a charcoal pit that is delicious.  The bus driver from the village is incredible she knows songs from all countries and we sing all the way back.  While we are singing She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain, the driver circles a roundabout 4 times!  She’s very entertaining and makes us all laugh.  Fall into bed.  Tomorrow is our last full tour day.  The early days of the trip seem like distant memories.
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