track our trek

after 20 hours of travel from auckland, we arrived in johannesburg friday afternoon & went through our usual new airport routine: find an atm; get cash; get a local sim card; arrange transport to the hostel. michael and mandla from diamond diggers backpackers picked us up after a short wait, & we were off...once we checked in, we proceeded to sleep the rest of the day away! of course, then jet lag had us awake and ready to go around 3am...we spent most of the next day at the apartheid museum...the museum is really nicely put together and crammed full of information about south africa's history, both distant and recent. once again we arranged to be shuttled there and picked up by mandla. anytime we inquired about exploring the city on our own, or getting out for a walk around town, we were strongly discouraged..."joburg is much too dangerous...just tell us where you want to go, & we will arrange transport for you." yikes! we found it very difficult to get our bearings in the city, since we had to be driven everywhere; and we were overwhelmed by all the high security walls and razor wire everywhere! everywhere we turned people were living behind walls and fences and bars and barbed wire. it is very disconcerting! johannesburg's reputation for violent crime is notorious, and it's the first place we've been where the fear of crime seemed so palpable. on the other hand, we felt good to not be in the minority for the first time on our trip so far...people even speak to us in zulu or xhosa first here! we'll have to add more than 3 words to our vocabulary! jokes...

next we flew to christchurch and rented a car...i wanted to see the fiords and glaciers on the south island. of the country's 5 million people, only about 1 million live in the south island. we quickly discovered driving from place to place means winding your way for hours through incredibly beautiful mountains w/ very tiny towns in between...it's at least five hours of driving between each destination...and there are very few radio stations in between! in contrast to the north island's volcanic activity, the landscape of the south island has been shaped by the ice ages...mountains and glaciers and lakes formed from melting glaciers are everywhere! between christchurch and queenstown, we stopped for a night at lake tekapo, population 350. the lake's blue color comes from fine rock particles ground up by retreating glaciers. then we spent a couple of days in queenstown, including a day trip to milford sound. we convinced rahel, from germany to come along with us for the 4 hr drive each way. milford sound was a bit disappointing, because the weather was terribly cold and rainy, so we couldn't see much of the cliffs rising out of the water. but apparently it is cold and rainy there 250+ days out of the year, so we couldn't be too disappointed!

the highlight of the south island tour for me was the franz josef glacier...it is amazing to see all that ice up close and imagine the entire region covered with it hundreds of years ago! and the sound it makes when huge chunks break off is so loud! we'd had a couple of cold rainy days, so we opted not to pay for a walk on the glacier itself. (didn't want a milford sound repeat...) but the sun did peek out from the clouds long enough for us to get a few good photos while we were there...really breathtaking!

with only two weeks to spend in new zealand, we wanted to make the most of our time. the first thing we noticed when we arrived was how many more people of color there were than we encountered in australia....many more asian people, many maoris (native new zealanders) and even a few black people! we spent only a couple days in auckland...the country's largest city. (it took us a day to walk the city, including a three hour stop at the auckland museum!) the museum was actually quite extensive! three hours only got us through the first floor, which has some really nice exhibits about maori history and culture and other people of the south pacific...

we rented a car and headed to rotorua...an area that is a geothermal region on the north island. it is full of volcanic activity with boiling lakes and mud pools and hot springs and geysers. the landscape is wild!! reminds you that the earth can be very grumpy sometimes! we spent a day at waiotapu, hiking around lakes and collapsed craters. the water in the champagne pool comes from so far underground that it is 230 deg C at it's source!! at the surface it's something like 78 deg C! the superheated water is so hot it absorbs all kinds of minerals from the rock it moves through & then deposits them on the bottom of lakes. the downside...sulphur smell is very stinky! on the way back to auckland, we stopped at hot water beach along the east coast. when you go at low tide, you can rent a shovel and dig in the sand...just a few inches down you will find boiling hot water!! people dig their own hot tubs and sit in the sand! the surges were a bit too high for us to dig a proper hot tub that day, but all we had to do was dig our toes down a few inches to get to the hot water...hot enough to burn your feet!!

we took a one day guided tour from rainbow beach to fraser island...it is the largest island in the world made completely of sand! there is no bedrock or topsoil! we rode in a big old souped up bus w/ monster tires...a bumpy ride, but lots of fun...the island has got rainforest (who knew rainforest could grow in sand??) and several freshwater lakes and rivers and sandblows...we went for a swim in lake mackenzie...a huge freshwater lake in the middle of the island. the water was clear and deep and cool & a nice break from all the salt water of the beaches. the freshwater rivers break through the surface from the water table and eventually run out into the ocean...many of them are no wider than a couple feet and no more than 6-8 inches deep!

from noosa we headed north to rainbow beach and cheaper digs...armed with a couple of pitiful tourist maps and some vague directions from the information center, we somehow ended up on the 20k dirt road through the forest that you're supposed to have a 4x4 for! we eased gingerly along for an extra hour in our little red hyundai (offroad was not covered by the rental insurance) before we found black top again. lol! and we didn't see another soul for almost that whole hour! no worries...we arrived in rainbow beach a bit later than anticipated, but no worse for the wear... rainbow beach turned out to be a lovely (and tiny) little town w/ one strip plaza complete w/ 3 restaurants, a market, a post office, and a souvenir shop! we bunked our first night a pippie's beach house...a ramshackle little hostel where the receptionist showed us the bathroom and said, "it's a bit messy...do you want us to clean it for you, or is it ok like this?" jokes! we declined, and decided we'd rather wash off in the sea! (we moved next door the next night to much nicer digs for the same price.)

we spent another couple days lazing around the beach (rainbow beach's waves are as cool as noosa's.) on our second day we discovered the beautiful carlos sandblow, a huge moving sand dune system! we watched the sunset from there & wished we could stay forever!

in brisbane we "hired" a car and drove north two hours to noosa...it was dp's debut driving on the wrong side of the road...at the rental car place, a family was returning a brand new car with a smashed up left front end...seemed like it might've been their debut on the wrong side of the road too. we opted for the full insurance coverage! and it wasn't so bad...dp was a pro. the worst problem was turning on the wipers every time he wanted the turn signal. jokes! noosa's a lovely beach with crashing waves & hot hot sand. unfortunately, it's a bit high end w/ upscale shopping and beach-front accommodations for $500/night! arriving at 3pm with no prior reservations at the height of holiday season once again left us paying $120 for a night at a place 20 mins away from the beach. sigh...but we made the most of it, taking advantage of the pool and hot tub after a long day of being tossed around by waves on the beach!

we spent a nice day just outside of brisbane at the lone pine koala sanctuary...it's a sprawling zoo that has lots of animals that are found all over australia, from koalas to kangaroos to poisonous snakes to cockatoos and wedge-tailed eagles. there were lots of presentations about the animals, and we got to feed the kangaroos and lorikeets! (although the kangaroos didn't seem too interested in eating the kibble daryll was offering.) it was neat to see all the koalas in their different stages of development...breeding males are housed together; females with babies are housed together...they even keep the young ones from 1-2 years of age in the "koala kindergarten!" we watched a sheepdog show and learned how different dogs herd sheep. and we saw a "birds of prey" show with cool birds like a barking owl (it says "wuf-wuf") and a wedge-tailed eagle.

we spent 3 lovely days relaxing on the beach in coff's harbour. the views were beautiful, the weather perfect, and the water a bit chilly. (the tasman sea is not as warm as the south pacific.) then just when the rain arrived in coff's harbour, we decided to head north to brisbane. we found brisbane to be another charming city, though a bit sleepier than sydney. alas, we still can't get a break with prices here in australia...guess we'd better get used to it! one thing we really like about both sydney and brisbane is the public architecture. the south bank of the brisbane river is built up with art galleries, libraries, performing arts centers, public parks, and even a little artificial beach! we even watched a performance for the flipside childrens circus (what kid wouldn't want to join the circus if they had the chance?) we visited the gallery of modern art...our favorite exhibit was the indigenous art exhibit...our biggest regret this trip is that we don't have enough time or money to make it to the outback & see and learn more about aboriginal culture. the australian east coast is curiously devoid of it...in many ways it could be like moving from city to city and beach town to beach town at home. we've seen very few black people, and when we do, they are often either working menial jobs, or performing indigenous music or dance on the street...sound familiar? i'll tell you...the european culture of oppression is just the gift that keeps on giving...we're told we'll find that indigenous culture is much more prevalent in new zealand, so we're looking forard to that. unfortunately, this place is vast! a trip to ayers rock in the center of the country would either take 3 days each way by bus, or a $400+ for a roundtrip flight!...next time we'll come with a bigger budget!

after an overnight greyhound bus ride from sydney, we arrived in coff's harbour, a beach town to the north, on new year's eve. the bus ride was luxurious compared to what we've been used to thus far, with seatbelts and footrests and a pretty smooth ride! jokes! we checked into our backpackers hostel & headed out to see the beaches. coff's harbour has a couple of beaches to suit different tastes...one that's in a bay & very calm, one that's got good waves for boogey boarding, and one that's good for surfing. after a leisurely afternoon on the beach, we showered up, and signed ourselves up for the hostel's "punch night." - all you can drink happy hour in honor of the new year...not exactly our style, but we decided to be sociable...then we headed back to the beach to watch the fireworks over the jetty. watching fireworks on the beach was a first for both of us, and we really enjoyed it, in spite of the fact that the show started at 10pm...we might've expected it to start at midnight to properly ring in the new year! a few of us walked back to the hostel afterwards in hopes of watching the sydney festivities on tv, only to find the place deserted, with the television off (on timer) for quiet time after 11pm...ah well...we made the most of it with the handful of folks there & did our own countdown to midnight. lol! i can't believe it's 2007!! we hope all our friends and family rang in the new year in the company of loved ones! and may 2007 bring you peace and many blessings!

after a long overnight flight from bangkok, we landed safely in sydney. we felt a bit nostalgic about leaving southeast asia, not the least because of the difference in cost of living...arriving in sydney just before new year's having booked accommodations only 2 days in advance left us paying $75/night! yikes!!! so it was destined to be a short visit in sydney while we made plans to head as far outside the city as possible to try and ease the impact on our wallets! it feels a bit surreal to be back in a place that feels familiar...by that we mean that everything is in english; and the city is expansive, clean and modern; and drivers and pedestrians obey traffic laws. we were flabbergasted the first day when a driver stopped to let us cross in the crosswalk! we're still looking in the wrong direction occasionally when it's time to cross the street though...heaven help us if we decide to rent a car while we're here!
sydney is quite a pretty city! there are lots of parks and charming neighborhoods that remind us of parts of san fransisco and brooklyn and philadelphia...we walked all day our first day, down to the harbour to see the sydney opera house and the botanic gardens. we took a ferry ride around the city & visited the aquarium. we relaxed by the pool at our hotel and explored a few sydney neighborhoods like glebe, newtown, and kings cross. all in all, it's a pretty sleek city! we'd love to come back, when we've got more money to spend. lol! alas, after 2 nights and 3 days, we have to press on.