Wildlife, wine and winding down

Well, my epic Australia trip is finally coming to an end.  On the one hand it truly has felt like I've been away from home for a long time, but on the other hand it is hard to believe that two months has already passed.  So much went into planning this trip and I really couldn't think past it to the point when the trip would be over and I would have to return to reality.  And I'm going to blissfully avoid thinking about that reality for two more days.

I've done a lot since I left the Outback, but I honestly just haven't had the energy to do a post about it.  Two months of moving from hotel to hotel and living out of a suitcase has finally caught up with me and I'm quite simply exhausted.  But it has been a fantastic ride and the exhaustion is completely worth it.

After leaving Alice Springs, I had a quick pit stop in the town of Adelaide for one night before heading on to Kangaroo Island in our rental car.  Apparently summer is the worst time to see animals in the wild.  So, while we got to see a good amount of crazy wildlife at reserves, the number of live animals we saw in the wild was probably matched by the number of dead animals we saw along the roads (which, in fairness, was quite a few).  I thankfully did not hit anything larger than a bird with my car, but I did have to stop on our last morning to let a huge kangaroo slowly hop across the road in front of us.

While the animals were somewhat lacking, the scenery on Kangaroo Island was beautiful.  The aptly named Remarkable Rocks and the tucked away beaches made our visit worthwhile.

Next we headed back to the mainland and up to the Barossa Valley, one of Australia's most famous wine regions.  Unlike the wildlife, the wine did not disappoint.  Between walking, a van tour and a bicycle provided by the cottage where we stayed (no driving for me in wine country!) I think I visited 7 or 8 wineries, all of which offered free tastings of countless varieties of wines.  And the wine was good.  Very, very good.  It's hard not to feel good about life when you're faced with endless free samples of wine...

It was also nice to leave the tour buses behind for a week and get behind the wheel.  Driving is one of the things I miss the most living in New York.  I've only driven in the city once, and you might have to pay me to get me to do it again.  But here, where the roads are uncrowded and the land stretches out for miles around, driving is great.  And after a week driving on the wrong side of the road even felt right.

And now I'm back in Sydney for my last few days.  As touristy as they may be, Sydney Harbour and the Opera House are still some of my favorite sights.  This is especially true at sunset (perhaps my favorite time of day).

And now comes my least favorite part, when I have to pack everything up to head home.  I can't say that I'm looking forward to the roughly 24 hours of travel that lie ahead of me.  It also still blows my mind a little bit that I will be landing in LA earlier in time than when I take off from Sydney.

But before we get to these less fun parts of traveling, I get to enjoy one more glorious day at the beach, soaking up the Australian sun...

No Ordinary Outback

My trip to the Outback has been a complete anomaly. I didn't see anything like what you might typically see on postcards, and instead I saw all sorts of things that "no one ever gets to see." It has been the best part of my trip yet.

My trip had a rough start - quite literally, as the landing into Ayers Rock airport was one of the roughest I've ever experienced, thanks to the remnants of Cyclone Yasi that had trailed all the way inland. Typically you never hear about a cyclone hitting the desert, but Australia apparently made a special exception for me. I'm told that Yasi was the largest cyclone ever to hit Australia, and the effects were felt all the way out in the barren middle of the country.

At first I was less than thrilled about the prospects of rain on my outback experience, since I of course wanted to see the epic blue skies and red rocks that I've seen in so many pictures. But after about five minutes of pouting, I accepted that there was nothing I could do about it. Besides, I had heard that exceptional things happen at Uluru when it rains, so much so that there was a photographer on my flight who was heading out specifically to see it in the rain.

It took all of five minutes to start hearing ad nauseum how lucky I was to be here in unusual weather. It seems that anyone who lives or works here is required to know and lovingly repeat the same statistic: only 2% of visitors get to see it rain on Uluru, and only 1% get to see the waterfalls cascading off of it. Now, as exciting as that might sound, after hearing it so many times it started to grate on me a bit. It would be like going to Niagara Falls only to see that it wasn't running, which may indeed be a fascinating thing that no one gets to see, but it seems far less exciting if you've never seen the normal thing and have travelled over 10,000 miles to do so.

That said, Uluru in the rain is pretty spectacular. I may not have gotten to see the gorgeous sunset that I wanted, but I saw so many waterfalls over 2 days that I might be in the running for president of the 1% club. Thankfully the weather cleared enough at times that I was able to see the rock up close while still seeing the much fabled waterfalls.

I should probably clarify exactly how much rain I'm talking about here. A town near Uluru reported that between Sunday and Monday (coincidentally the two days I was there), they had as much rain as they typically have in a year. That's a whole lot of rain. 2010 was the second wettest year on record for this area. As a result, Australia's famous red center is currently abnormally lush and green. Again, not what I was expecting, but a pretty great thing to see.

The rain we got at Uluru the second night I was there ranks up among the most epic rainstorms I've ever been caught in in my life. The torrential downpour was so intense that the resort started to flood. Far from ruining my vacation, I had a lot of fun laughing and playing in the absurd amount of water rushing into the resort bar. People were really good sports about it, rolling up their jeans and walking through the floods in flip flops or just barefoot and having a great time.

Thankfully the floods and the storm cleared out just in time for the part of my trip that I was without question looking forward to the most - a sunrise tour of Uluru on a Harley. As I waited in the pitch black morning to be picked up, I got my first glimpse of outback stars. The elusive (to me anyway) Southern Cross was even shining down on me, and I took this as a sign that this was going to be my perfect morning. And it was.

I not only got to finally see the rock in somewhat normalish weather, but I got to take my first ever motorcycle ride. And I loved every second of it. I can definitely understand why people love it and make a lifestyle out of it. The rock was a brilliant red in the early morning light and I got to wear an awesome leather biker jacket, so really nothing could have been better.

I next moved on to King's Canyon, where I again got to be a statistical anomaly (Australians do love their statistics, so it seems). As we hiked around the rim of the canyon at sunrise, we could hear water rushing below - as sound which I'm told 99.9% of visitors would never hear. As we continued our way through the outback, we were surrounded on all sides by isolated storms and rainbows spotting the horizon. We even passed a lake that doesn't exist - as in my driver who drives this route all the time has never seen it before.

I spent my last night in the town of Alice Springs, where the usually dry river had a splash of water in it (which they reckon I was really lucky to see, but no percentages were provided here). To close out my outback adventure I took a sunrise champagne hot air balloon flight over a very green desert. Before the sun came up I saw the most amazing display of stars yet and could even see the Milky Way quite clearly, which was another first for me. The balloon ride was a great way to end what has been a fantastic five days.

Now, I would be remiss if I wrote this long of a post about the outback without mentioning my new nemesis, the fly. The Australian fly, particularly the small variety that lives in the outback, appears to have evolved over millions of years to become the single most annoying creature on the planet. These flies have a persistence unlike anything I have ever seen. No matter how many times you swat at them, they will not abandon their fervent desires to fly in your ears or up your nose or possibly even land on your eyeball. Insect repellent is powerless to stop them. They are without question the one part of this experience that I will not miss.

The rest of it, however, has been wonderful. The last five days have been one of those experiences that I will never forget. I feel great both physically and mentally. On the physical side, I hiked over 24 kilometers while I was here, and it dawned on me as I was finishing my last hike that it was just over 9 years ago that my back was in such bad shape that I couldn't walk. The realization was pretty powerful for me.

Another realization struck me out of the blue the other day - I was happy. Now, this may seem like a small thing, but for me it was huge. I was going along, just taking in the scenery, and a feeling of happiness suddenly crashed down on me like a ton of bricks. I'm sure I didn't just start being happy right at that moment, but apparently the feeling just crept up on me without my realizing it. Having been so unhappy for so many years, I had kind of forgotten what it felt like to just be completely and totally happy. Of course these things can't be permanent, and, as I was discussing with a new friend the other night, you can't really appreciate the happy times without the unhappy times, but for now I will gladly take it for as long as it lasts.

My days in the Outback have been a kind of escape from reality within the bigger escape from reality that is this whole trip. I embarked on this vacation with a sort of presumption in the back of my mind that this would be my only time I would make it over here. But there is something about the Outback that has gotten under my skin, and I have a vague, gnawing feeling that I might journey back here some day.

But of course, only time will tell just where my life will take me...

Tasmania

Our week in Tasmania has drawn to a close.  Despite a couple of odd tour guides that made the trip at times rather awkward, we really got to see all the highlights of the island.  And they were worth seeing.

In essence, Tasmania is all about wildlife and beautiful views.  We got to take in our fair share of kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons and birds, and of course the Tasmanian devil.  We even got to see a Tasmanian Tiger Snake (extremely poisonous) nonchalantly meander across our path.

Although we had some rainy weather, Tasmania is still an undeniably beautiful place.  There are plenty of mountains and lakes and waterfalls and rainforests to keep a person busy for at least a week.  My favorite part, however, might have been the rocky East coast.  We also go treated to a beatiful sunset on the West coast on our second to last night.

Despite all the pretty scenery, I have to confess that my favorite thing this past week was probably hand feeding kangaroos at a wildlife preserve.  It's a pretty surreal experience to watch a kangaroo hop straight up to you.

Now I'm off on a solo trip to the outback for the next 5 days.  Along with the reef, I was looking forward to this part of the trip the most, so I'm really excited to get there.  It looks like I might even be spared the typical 100+ degree temperatures (if you can believe weather forecasts).

And I also feel like I've now become a total cliche, as I'm blogging in an airport.  But free wireless is free wireless - thank you Sydney airport!

Off to an interesting start...

Well, the first few days in Tasmania have been interesting. We spent two days in the town of Hobart before starting a tour around the rest of the island. Hobart is a quaint town with docklands and boats and lots of seafood. There is also a famous outdoor market on Saturdays that offered me the chance to make my requisite vacation jewelry purchases. But perhaps the most entertaining part of Hobart was meeting a couple of Australian bikers belonging to the motorcycle club that rivals the Hell's Angels. I must say they had fine taste in wine.

And today our Tassie tour started with a bang. Our tour guide for the first part of the trip is, well, odd. He means well, but has a way of saying and asking the most awkward things. He also apparently thinks I look exactly like Britney Spears. From the way he says it, I can tell he means it as a compliment... Our "tour group" consists of me, my friend I'm traveling with, our tour guide, and a man from Sri Lanka who barely speaks and will only be with us for the first three days. Our guide was kind enough to play Lady Gaga for us as we drove along (which led to only one awkward moment when he asked me specifically to explain what a "disco stick" is - I managed to change the subject as quickly as possible).

Our first night we have stopped in what might loosely be called a town. After a quiet group dinner and a trek in the rain up a muddy hill past a field of goats, our only real option for entertainment was snooker and ping pong. That is until we discovered the hotel's fabulously bizarre movie collection. The winner out of all the available titles was "C.I.A. Codename: Alexa," a stellar action flick from 1992 starring Lorenzo Lamas and O.J. Simpson. I think this might be a fair indication of what our nights will be like for the week to come.

However, we did get our first taste of the beautiful Tasmanian scenery today, which bodes well for the rest of our trip. And it really is the odd moments that keep traveling interesting and serve as funny stories down the road...

Melbourne

Melbourne was a welcome break from the constant moving from place to place that has been so much a part of this trip. The city itself doesn't really have any distinctive features or landmarks to offer, but there is a sense of energy and worldliness that is lacking in a lot of the smaller towns. The weather was also pretty great the whole time I was there, which always helps.

Melbourne has been taken over by the Australian Open. I think I may have watched more tennis in the past week than in the rest of my life combined (including watching both favorites lose early). The city had a great set up in the main square, broadcasting the matches on a big screen so everyone could sit and watch outdoors.

My visit to Melbourne was also timed to coincide with Australia Day. While the festivities do not rise to the level of our Independence Day, and we were told that Aussies are light on patriotism, there was still a fair variety of Aussie pride events to take in, including a parade, fireworks and a barbecue hosted by our Melbournian friend.

The following day I took a day trip along Australia's Great Ocean Road, which runs along the southern coast west of Melbourne.  I again had gorgeous weather and got to see a lot of spectacular beach scenery.

One stop in particular was my favorite - Loch Ard Gorge, with a beautiful white sand beach situated between towering rock cliffs.  The sun was warm and the sound of the waves was so soothing, I could have sat there for hours.  As I've mentioned before, I can't think of anywhere better to clear my head than on an uncrowded beach, and the gorge was no exception.  (Indicentally, my head needs a lot less clearing than it did even six months ago, as much of the stress and static has mercifully melted away over the last few months).

My final day in Melbourne was spent exploring the city's famous laneways and alleyways.  Many of these serve as a platform for amazing displays of graffiti and street art which has been commissioned by the city and is highly artistic.  I took so many pictures that it is hard to narrow down my favorites, so I'll just post samples of the various styles. It really has to be seen to be believed.

But like all good rests, this one had to come to an end. I'm now in Tasmania and will start a tour of the island tomorrow.  I will again be moving from place to place over the course of the next week (although on a much more reasonable scale than New Zealand).  The flight in hinted at some pretty spectacular scenery to come.

I officially have three weeks left on this trip.  Everything I've seen and done has been great, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't getting a bit tired.  Since I didn't start missing home at any point during my three week trip to Europe, I wondered how long it would take for those thoughts to start creeping in.  The answer seems to be about a month.  I wouldn't say that I'm ready to go home yet, but I have started missing some of the friendly faces back in New York and I really wouldn't mind a night in my own bed.  By the time this trip is done, I think I will be ready to go back (which isn't a bad thing - I would be more concerned if I never missed any of it at all).  But there are still some fantastic things ahead in the next three weeks, so it's time to put aside those thoughts for now... 

New Zealand - The South Island

Two weeks sounded like plenty of time to visit a relatively small country. I kind of thought that all the people who kept telling us that two weeks wasn't long enough were crazy, especially since two straight weeks of vacation is pretty difficult to come by for most people I know in the States. As it turns out, they were right. Trying to see all of New Zealand, or at least all of its highlights, in two weeks is a challenge. We have made an admirable effort to get it all in, but the only way to do that is to be constantly on the move, spending a lot of time in transit between spread out towns and sights. Frankly, I am exhausted after two weeks.

Having said that, I wouldn't have done it any differently. Unless you have the luxury of spending a month here, there is no other way to go about it. Everything we have seen was great, so I wouldn't have wanted to cut anything out.

As promised, the South Island is even more spectacular than the North Island was. The scenic trains between the ferry and Christchurch and then between Chirstchurch and the West coast through the Southern Alps offered amazing views.

  

  

My previous estimate that New Zealand had about a million sheep was grossly inaccurate. In fact, it has 35 million sheep. And I'm fairly certain I've seen at least 5 million of them personally.

From the train, we continued on to the glacial region of New Zealand. Having passed a few days since OGOing without undertaking any adrenaline-inducing activity, I was due for an adventure. On the South Island this came in the form of glacier hiking. We were supposed to hike Fox Glacier, but due to bad weather and recent glacial instability there, we had to change our plans and instead hike Franz Josef Glacier. Apparently Franz Josef is much more stable and their hikes go even if it is raining, as it was on our hiking day (my knowledge of glacial stability being zero, I trusted them on this).

We got suited up in head-to-toe rain gear - very flattering over 3 other layers of clothing - and hiked through a desolate field of gray rocks and hills before getting onto the glacier itself. For this part we got to use crampons, which are boot attachments with 10 spikes on each foot for climbing up massive mounds of packed ice. It was definitely a unique and challenging experience, but the up close views of the glacier were totally worth it.

From the glaciers on, the weather only got colder in the Southern towns and we haven't seen much in the way of sunlight for days. The exception was our first night in Queenstown and the surrounding lake region. The mountain lakes are a shade of blue that I have never seen outside of tropical oceans. We also got treated to a spectacular sunset in Queenstown.

The cult of adventure that permeates New Zealand is hard to resist. I even found myself signing up for hang gliding, only to have that plan thwarted by rain. But this country is heaven for anyone who is an adrenaline junkie.

After leaving Queenstown, we headed back to the West coast to Fiordland National Park, which Kiwis universally seem to agree is the most beautiful part of their country. I can't say that they're wrong. We took a cruise through Milford Sound which was pretty amazing. Apparently it typically rains 200 days a year there, but we were lucky enough to have a nice day.

Our final destination in our whirlwind tour was Dunedin, a town in the South that is known for its penguins and other wildlife. Despite cold weather, we got to see an abnormally large colony of fur seals (even the people at the reserve were impressed) and the rarest penguin in the world (there are only 1600 pairs left in the world and we saw 5 of them in the wild).

We also go to see the most Eastern point in New Zealand, which is the third place in the world to see the new sunrise each day. Apparently this peninsula was quite packed on New Year's Eve when we switched over to 2000.

All in all, it has truly been a fantastic visit. It's hard to comprehend that I still have a month to go in Australia, and that I haven't done most of the things I have planned for there yet. Mostly I am excited to return to sun and warm tempuratures, especially since I didn't really pack appropriately for the colder weather we've been having, and ecstatic to not be on a bus again for a while. I'm also thankful that we managed to get out of Christchurch without any earthquakes (they had 2 within 24 hours of our being there).

So, now on to Melbourne to kick back and relax for a bit, and maybe even be in the same hotel for multiple nights in a row...

New Zealand - The North Island

After six sweltering days in Cairns, we found refuge from the heat and humidity in New Zealand. After an absurdly short "overnight" flight, we arrived in Auckland at 4:40 a.m., where we promptly took a nap. Refreshed, we set out to explore Auckland, which is the largest city in New Zealand. Kiwis from other parts of New Zealand seem to have a universal disdain for Auckland (perhaps because it's "the big city"), but I thought it was quite charming. Picturesque and set on a beautiful harbor, there is a buzz about the place while still being laid back. They also had divine seafood, including the largest mussels I've ever seen in my life.

Our next stop after Auckland was the geothermal town of Rotorua, where we spent two nights. The ever-present faint smell of sulphur aside, Rotorua was much nicer and more fun than I ever would have expected (I admit that I really had no expections for this town at all). There were so many things to do in Rotorua that we could have spent a week there and not accomplished them all. Our short stay including everything from a Maori cultural dinner to a sheep shearing demonstration, all within a span of 24 hours.

One thing that became immediately clear upon arriving in New Zealand is that there is no shortage of adrenalin-inducing activities - they will seize every feasible opportunity to throw you in the air or down a hill and see to it that you enjoy it. In retrospect, this is not surprising from the country that invented bungy jumping. Our activity of choice, and one of my favorite parts of the trip so far, was OGOing (also known as Zorbing, but there appears to be some bad blood between the OGOing and Zorbing folks, hence the new name). Essentially, OGOing or Zorbing consists of climbing into a giant plastic ball filled with water and rolling down a hill.  And it is great fun.

We also tried out the Fishpipe, which is the same plastic ball on a stationary machine being spun around even faster so that it feels like a perpetual water slide.

I had been looking forward to Zorbing for weeks leading up to this trip, and it was everything I hoped it would be.

After Rotorua we made the long trek down to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. The scenery along the way was fantastic. Every day we pass something that served as some setting for the Lord of the Rings movies. Most of the references are lost on me, but it sure is pretty. For any LOTR geeks out there, here are some pictures of The Shire and Mt. Doom (or so I'm told).

New Zealand is not like any place I've ever been, and it took me a few days to figure out a way to describe it. In the end, I have decided that it most resembles an unusual mash up of Iceland and Hawaii, with about a million sheep thrown in. It is rugged and geothermal, with glaciers and volcanoes, while at the same time being tropical with a strong Polynesian vibe. The Maori presence can be felt everywhere. Driving down the highways gives a good sense of the competing aspects of New Zealand. About 75% of the place names are Maori (like Whakarewarewa or Ruapehu or Paekakariki), with the other 25% being very Anglo names that pop up in between (like Hastings or Wellington). But as odd as the combination sounds, it works. It is a beautiful country with very friendly people.

Yesterday we left the North Island and headed to the South Island, which supposedly has even more spectacular scenery than we've seen thus far. If the train ride to Christchurch is any indication, I believe it.  It is difficult to contemplate that within the same week that I was sweltering at the Great Barrier Reef, I will be climbing a glacier. I really have no concept of what day it is a this point.

One thing that New Zealand does not have, however, is an Apple Store. This is somewhat unfortunate, since my iPhone up and died on Green Island, for no apparent reason. I'm trying to view this annoying turn of events as a sign that I'm meant to really disconnect while I'm here.

And maybe it's working - I have to confess that I can't remember the last time I felt this relaxed and unstressed...