Melbourne, Victoria

After a fun-filled week in Sydney, we took an hour flight (on Virgin Blue) south-east to Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, Australia. Approximately 4 million people live in sprawling Melbourne and the Yarra River runs through the picturesque city, which is home to immigrants from all over the globe yet has a distinctly European vibe. We spent 3 days exploring Melbourne on foot and, thanks to some hot tips from longtime friend Josh Lent, who spent several months here, we caught many of the city’s awesome sights along the way.

Our accommodation was located a block away from the Queen Victoria Market, which is the largest open-air market in the southern hemisphere. The market has been running for over 125 years and there are 600 traders pushing everything from fake UGG boots to digeridoos to live baby ducklings (see photo). It took us about two hours to walk the entire market.

Later in the weekend, we walked along the Yarra River and caught a crew race in action. Along the South side of the river we walked through the South Bank, an area that boasts many nice restaurants and shops, along with the fancy Crown Plaza Casino and Entertainment Complex.

On Saturday, we headed to the beautifully designed Royal Botanical Gardens, also nestled beside the Yarra River. The gardens are the finest in Australia with an abundance of plant species, an herb garden and an Australian rainforest.

That afternoon, we walked around the city centre, including Collins Street, which is often compared to Paris for its designer shopping, nice cafes and and elegant architecture. To celebrate Thanksgiving (which is oddly not a hot topic here) we went to the No35 restaurant on the 35th floor of the Sofitel Hotel for a cocktail overlooking the city of Melbourne. The view was incredible, and the drinks were tasty too!

To finish up our weekend in Melbourne, we took in an Aussie A-League soccer match at Etihad Stadium, which is situated right on the waterfront in a newer area of town called The Docklands. The A-League is Australia’s national soccer league, and while soccer isn’t as wildly popular as rugby Down Under, it still has a serious following, especially in sports-crazed Melbourne. The game between the Melbourne Victory and the Gold Coast United was fast and scrappy, and a lot of fun. To the delight of the locals, Melbourne won 4-0.

More Sydney: Manly Beach

Sydney’s weather was back to its beautiful summer self on Wednesday, so we packed up beach bags and took a 30-minute ferry across Sydney Harbor to Manly Beach to soak up the sun. Manly is a laid back area north of Sydney that clings to a narrow isthmus between ocean and harbor beaches. It is awesome and we didn‘t want to leave!

A short and busy boardwalk called The Corso connects the beach and the ferry terminal, and is filled with burger joints, shops and bars. It was a perfect beach day so we spent several hours on the sand before setting off on the Manly Scenic Walk, a nice 10k walkway that snakes around the area’s coast.

We returned to Sydney in time for our favorite Happy Hour at The Australian Hotel in The Rocks. We’re leaving Sydney tomorrow to fly to Melbourne, explore that area and check out The Great Ocean Road.

Happy Thanksgiving!

More Sydney: The Blue Mountains

To escape the heat wave that gripped Sydney over the weekend, which peaked at a suffocating 106 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday, we took a 2 hour train ride out to a small town called Katoomba on Tuesday. Katoomba is the main jumping off point for The Blue Mountains, a vast foothills area 65 kms outside of Sydney. The Blue Mountains encompass three national parks and is a great place for “bushwalking” (or hiking in Australian) and scenery. Think of the Grand Canyon but full of trees and blue haze. The bluish haze that gives the foothills their name comes from a fine mist of oil given off by eucalyptus trees.

Unfortunately, Tuesday brought a thick mist to The Blue Mountains, which is common, so we weren’t able to take in the epic views from Katoomba’s many platforms. We mostly just saw huge white walls of mist. However, with lots of bushwalking trails in the area that are good in any weather, we headed into the bush to check out the rainforest and Katooomba Falls.

Coogee and Bondi Beaches

After a full day in the city heat, Saturday we decided to travel to Coogee beach (see left) for a relaxing day. The first thing we noticed (well, Krista noticed) was that women are allowed to sunbathe topless, which we were shocked to see. Very European! The water at Coogee was clear and bright with fun waves to play in. Despite the chilly water temp, we saw lots of swimmers, snorkelers and body surfers.

In the late afternoon we took a 5km coast walk from Coogee to Bondi beach. The walk was very scenic and closely followed the coast line with several great beaches and parks along the way. We passed a few small beach towns, all of them reminding us of La Jolla with the rocky coast and the beautiful homes. Check out the pictures!

Sydney, Australia

We arrived safely to Sydney, Australia the evening of November 19th, and even though the sun was setting, we decided to check out the centre city. It is strange to think that more people live in Sydney than in the entire country of New Zealand, and it definitely felt cosmopolitan after the rural South Island. Sydney is Australia's oldest, biggest, and most diverse city.

The first thing we noticed when we got off the plane was the change in weather from New Zealand. It was 33 degrees Celsius in Sydney, which we soon figured out was over 91 degrees Fairenheit. Sydney was in the middle of a heat wave which is uncharacteristic given it's so early in the summer.

We explored the city at dusk and took a few shots of Circular Quay in Sydney Harbor, and the iconic Opera House and Harbor Bridge. It's a great place to people watch, so we returned the next morning to see it in sunlight too!

The roof of the Opera House is 67 meters high and made of over one million Swedish tiles. There are approximately 2,400 events held per year at the Opera house including dance, concerts, opera, theatre and private events. We walked around outside the entire Opera House and outside the main entrance, crew-hands were setting up an elaborate outdoor stage for the Australian Idol finals this weekend.

We admired the Harbour Bridge from the Opera House, across Sydney Harbour. Even though this bridge was built in 1932, it took the city of Sydney 60 years to pay for it ($20 million). This bridge leads to North Sydney, the business district.

Next, we headed to Darling Harbour to see the Sydney Aquarium and walk around the cafes and shops. We had to take multiple breaks from the heat and humidity for ice cream and to watch the Sydneysiders on lunch break.

After checking out Chinatown and one of the city's busy main streets, George Street, we walked back to a historic area of Sydney called "The Rocks". This is the first area of the city to be built by the convicts when they arrived on these shores in 1788. On Friday nights in the summer (it is summer now) there is an outdoor market on the streets. We walked through the shops and stopped by one of Scott's old Sydney haunts, The Lowenbrau Keller, for happy hour. Conveniently, the well-known Australia winery Yellow Tail happened to be offering a tasting in The Rocks, so we stopped by and tried their new varietal Bubbling Rose, a sparkling wine.

New Zealand in a Nutshell

New Zealand Fun Facts:

- There are 4.2 million people and 40 million sheep in New Zealand.

- There are 3,100 glaciers over 100 meters long in New Zealand.

- Current exchange rate is something like $1 USD = $1.32 NZD.

- New Zealand is 268,680 square kilometers, roughly the same area as Colorado.

- Throughout our 10 days with a rental car, which we named The Silver Fox, we drove 2,208 kilometers (approximately 1,368 miles). Krista only got us lost twice.

New Zealand Superlatives:

Best city/town:

Krista - Queenstown. Even though I would never take part in the adventure sports, I loved the walks and shops in this town.

Scott - Queenstown. I would like to visit in the winter - loved Christchurch too.

Best attractions or activities:

Krista - Botanical Gardens in Christchurch and hiking Mt. Iron in Wanaka

Scott - Rugby finals game in Christchurch and Milford Sound

Most overhyped attraction:

Krista - The West coast glaciers

Scott - Geothermal springs in Rotorua

Best decision made in New Zealand:

Krista - To stay in Wanaka for an extra day to catch the All Whites soccer game. Also, selling back our New Zealand Lonely Planet to a used book store in exchange for the Australia Lonely Planet.

Scott - NOT searching high and low to watch the Pats/Colts game at a pub with satellite

Best purchase made in New Zealand:

Krista - Khahi dri-fit pants that zip off just above the knee and become shorts. Apparently these are called "convertible pants" by the savvy travelers. Now Scott and I have matching pants - we have always been so stylish.

Scott - 3 liter box of red wine (portable!) for $17.99 NZD

Biggest surprises about New Zealand:

Krista - Very rural - the “highways” are one-lane roads through mountain ranges and farms. The population of New Zealand is far less that I expected. Lastly, I simply cannot get over how many sheep and cows are in this country.

Scott - Colder than expected for springtime; sparse and expensive Internet; not as cheap as 2001!

Most helpful suggestion we can offer for YOUR trip to New Zealand:

Krista - Get recommendations from the locals - some of our best adventures in New Zealand came out of chatting up the Kiwis.

Scott - Concentrate the majority of your time on the South Island, rent a vehicle and stay as long as you can get away with it.

View New Zealand in a larger map

The Sleepy Banks Peninsula

After a road trip across the South Island back to the East coast, we passed by Christchurch and headed for Banks Peninsula on a tip from some nice local folks we met along the way. The Banks Peninsula was formed by two big volcanic eruptions, and it’s home to a bunch of small bays and harbors that make for low-key summer and weekend retreats. The main town is called Akaroa, 83 kilometers from Christchurch. It’s a historic place with a heavy French village influence, since it was the first and only French settlement in New Zealand. Like many places here in NZ, it’s postcard worthy scenery everywhere, with rolling hills sloping into greenish ocean. The big thing to do here is swim with the world’s smallest and rarest dolphins, Hector’s Dolphins, but we decided to leave that - and the cold ocean water - to the experts.

We read about a nice place to stay in the remote area of Okains Bay, not too far from Akaroa. In the middle of nowhere but walking distance to the beach, we spent two very quiet and peaceful days here. And by nowhere, we mean dial-up Internet and a single general store that sells jelly and ice cream and not much more. We did a lot of walking around the beach and caught up on some reading. It was completely relaxing and a nice recharge before heading off to Australia.

New Zealand's West Coast Glaciers

On Sunday, we drove through Mount Aspiring National Park on our way to the two main glaciers along the west coast, Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph Glacier. The area had been dumped with rain the previous night, so there were a lot of gushing waterfalls along the mountainous roads as we drove through the park. We reached the glaciers in the afternoon -- they’re only about 20 minutes apart from each other.

This part of New Zealand is extremely remote with less than 1% of the population living here. Along the coastal route we drove, the towns are very tiny and mostly isolated. We visited the Fox Glacier first, the smaller of the two, and then made our way to the more imposing and popular Franz Joseph Glacier. Some 15,000 - 20,000 years ago, both of these glaciers reached the Tasman Sea, but over time, they have gone through various periods of advancement and retreat. Interestingly enough, the Franz Joseph Glacier has actually advanced an average of 70cm each day since 1985. We got a little wet as we learned these fun facts about the glaciers, but they were quite a sight nevertheless.

We stopped by Hokitika for lunch and ate facing the Tasman Sea. Scott had a VIP seat!

Weekend in Wanaka, New Zealand

Reeling from our time at beautiful Milford Sound, we packed up the Corolla and drove northward, heading in the direction of the glaciers along the south island’s west coast. We’ve done quite a bit of driving here in New Zealand, but they let you drive pretty fast and the scenery is very entertaining so we’ve enjoyed the journey as well as the destinations. We’ve posted a photo from along the roadside (see right) to give you an idea of why we‘re OK with receiving radio reception only 5% of the time.

To break up the drive, we stopped at a small resort town called Wanaka, north of Queenstown. Wanaka is a lakeside ski town in the winter and aboating and beach hang out in the summer. Since it is spring, we found it somewhat sleepy and totally charming. After settling in, we walked to the nearby Mount Iron and hiked to the summit for an awesome view of the area. Then, we wandered around town and enjoyed some happy hour beverages outside in the blazing sun.

We liked Wanaka a lot so we decided to stick around for another day, figuring the glaciers would probably still be there. We were glad we extended our stay in Wanaka because we enjoyed a local farmer’s market in the morning, saw a recreational cricket match in the town’s main park and then bellied up to the bar to watch the All Whites, New Zealand’s national football team, defeat the favored Bahrain squad in a World Cup Qualifying match. This is a very big deal here -- the kiwis are going to the World Cup in South Africa next year. This also marks the first time we’ve ever watch a full soccer game…!