Sunday 19 May 2013

The North Island! Glow Worms, Waterfalls, and Biking the coastline. Part 1 of our NZ Adventure.

New Zealand...

On April 13, 2013 we flew out to Auckland, got out rental car and checked into our hostel. It had already been a really long day and we just wanted a good meal and a cold beer! We wandered around downtown Auckland and found this awesome pub chain ~The Belgian Beer Cafe. We went to The Occidental and had the best night! They had german beers on tap in 500ml glasses and an amazing menu. We ordered Blue Mussels in Chili Lime Sauce, and Fish and Chips and shared the lot. The mussels were HUGE and so delicious and we both agreed the Fish and Chips was the best we had ever had. We have some family back home who would have really appreciated this place ;) 


The next morning we headed towards Waitomo to do some Caving and see the glow worms. After a big OOPSIE in the the directions... and a whole lot of fast driving and amazing skills (by Adam) we made it to our Caving excursion center and headed out! We went with a company called Waitomo Adventures and did their Tumu Tumu Toobing trip! We drove up a moutainside to some very scenic farmland and stopped in at a shed to change into wetsuits, jackets, booties and rainboots. We put on helmets and headlamps and were ready to go:) 



We climbed down a ladder into the cave and began our journey. We learned about stalagmites and stalactites and learned that for them to grow overhead it takes about 1000 yrs for them to grow 1cm. There were some so wide I wouldn't be able to wrap my arms around. These caves were found when farmers would lose cows or sheep and would go looking for them. They would find them in holes/caves and since then 1000s of caves have been discovered.


Once we got deep into the caves, we turned off out headlamps and saw millions of glow worms. They were unbelievable. We walked around in the dark looking at them. And later we tubed through the cave with them above us, and the silence of the water around us (until I started singing Sweet Child of Mine). 



The glow worms live a pretty simple life. For the first months of their life they dangle strings to catch food. They eat the food, and then their bums start to glow (from the waste of the food). I know this definitely takes all the romance out of them... glowing poo... Anyhow, when they become adults they only live for 2-3 days and that's the end. Regardless, they are still pretty amazing and cool to see. After three hours of caving, tubing, jumping off rocks into the water, and a short (and very cold swim) we emerged just over a km away from our drop in point. We loved it!

After grabbing some food, we drove to Rotorua and checked into our hostel. That's when I started to get nervous for the next day! 

In the morning, we woke up and wondered around Rotorua, ate breakfast in a French Cafe and got ready to hit the Kaituna River with River Rats. Once we got there, we got all geared up in wetsuits, fleeces, helmets and lifejackets. Armed with our paddles we got on the bus to the drop in site. On the ride they gave us a few safety tips...
      1. Hold On
      2. Get in the fetal position if you can't swim back to the raft and ride down the river looking for a place to get out. 
      3. If you fall out and have to ride a waterfall, curl into a ball and think happy thoughts. 

THIS DID NOT HELP WITH HOW ANXIOUS 
I WAS FEELING ABOUT RAFTING A 7M WATERFALL...

Before the trip :) 

The first two waterfalls we rafted. 


The succession of photographs from the 7m waterfall :)















 WE MADE IT~ AND IT WAS EPIC AND AWESOME!! 
Good thing I didn't waste more than 8 hours being scared for my life... 

After riding the big waterfall, we got to jump out of the raft and ride down some rapids on our own. It was really fun and the water was great!

Us paddling in for some surfing...



We finished off our great day by hitting the Polynesian Spas in Rotorua. We splurged and chose the Lake View spas.. which were amazing. There was four spa pools that overlooked Lake Rotorua and were varying temperatures of 36,38,40, and 42 degrees. We spent 2 hours relaxing and trying them all out. 




After Rotorua, we drove off to Napier. The scenery in New Zealand is so beautiful. We had to pull over and take pictures along the way :) 

Our lovely Ruby Ruby Ruby RUBY. A good lil rental car that ended up seeing approx 3000km. 


Napier is a beautiful town on the east coast of the North Island. They have a lovely coastline, lots of seafood and many wineries. We did a cycling tour of the coastline that ended with 2 wineries. The trip was 35km and a great ride; the weather wasn't the greatest but the rain held out until we were happily drinking wine which was great! The two wineries we visited were Elephant Hill and Clearview Estates. Elephant Hill was a large german owned winery with some good wines. But Clearview Estates was the real gem! We loved it there. It was older, rustic and fabulous. The wine cellar manager, Cushla, was fantastic! She helped us find some wine they were practically out of, and she did a great job with the tasting and was incredibly friendly and helpful. We are pretty excited to take those bottles back to Canada :)




This massive orchard we biked by. It was incredible.




Napier ended our quick tour of the North Island... the next day we took the ferry to the South Island :)



Monday 13 May 2013

Back to Sydney...

Here is a bit more of Sydney...

We crossed a band of my bucket list and saw The Counting Crows. The BEST part was we got to see them perform in The Sydney Opera House. It was an amazing experience. The Main Hall has seats that are made so that the acoustics are the same regardless of the number of people in the seats. It is a small intimate venue and the sound was incredible. They even serve the drinks in glassware that you can carry into the hall with you. We loved everything about the night: the sound was great, our seats were amazing and the Counting Crows were epic. 
OUR GREAT SEATS! 
The Main Concert Hall
 Setlist:
1. Sullivan Street
2. Untitled(Love Song) ~ Great Cover! 
3. High Life ~Awesome!!
4. Four Days
5. Hospital
6. Colorblind
7. Four White Stallions
8. Friend of the Devil (Cover)
9. Catapault
10. Recovering the Satellites
11.Round Here ~Unbelievable version! Epic!
12. When I dream of Michelangelo
13. Big Yellow Taxi (Cover)
14. Time and Time Again
15. Goodnight LA
16. A Long December ~Epic! 
17. You ain't going nowhere (Cover)
18. Rain King
ENCORE
19. Washington Square
20. Hanging Around ~Awesome!
21. Holiday in Spain

*A great Setlist but you are probably all thinking what I did... where the heck is Mr Jones????*


We also hit the Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbour as well. It was AWESOME! Adam thinks it is the best aquarium he has ever been to. Some of our fav's include...
Adam's Favs:
1. Fish with Glowing Eyes: Their eyes glowed green in their black tanks. 
2. Dugong: Related to Manatees.. very cool creatures.
3. Walk through SHARK tanks.

She's Fav's:
1. Fish with Glowing Eyes: Come on they were really cool!
2. Crab Tanks: We saw a crab that was over 6ft wide and like 5ft tall. It was insane!!
3. Blue Penguins and the Walk through tanks as well. 

AND THEN IT WAS TIME.....

THE SYDNEY BRIDGE CLIMB!!!!

Adam's parents and sister and brother-in-law got us gift certificates to climb the Sydney Bridge for Christmas. We are so GLAD they go them for us:) When we arrived they got us all suited up in jumpsuits, fleeces, hats, hats, hankerchiefs, lights and headphones. We went through some practice ladders and ramps and were ready to go! 

Our tour guide Billy was THE BEST! He was originally from the UK, and works in television and movies now. He is a guide part time and had heaps of great stories and facts! They helped keep me from being too scared :) 

We walked through the Bridge Pylon. An interesting concrete creation with wood, rocks etc in the walls; they used whatever they had to construct it. There even used to be a boot in the wall that was cut perfectly in half but some fool pulled it out (and was fined hugely for defacing the pylon).  We patted the granite, wished for luck and headed out to 4 of the scariest ladders I have ever seen. The 4th one was especially scary because you are straight above the road, you cannot see anything around you but the cars underneath (gulp). 
However, after you get off the ladders, you forget about being scared, about the heights and you are just amazed. We had a twilight climb so we got to watch the sunset (it only takes like 90 seconds from the top of the horizon to being gone), and walk down in the last of the light of day and beginning of night. 
Our guide told us lots of interesting stories about the Bridge in terms of its history, and stories of celebs on the Bridge Walk as well. 
  • The Bridge took 7 years and 356 days to complete.
  • It saved the economy by providing part time jobs that helped families live (although it was a very dangerous job and children as young as 16 were given positions)
  • Surprisingly (due to the lack of rope, harnesses, or safety gear of any kind), only 5 people died in the making of the bridge.
  • The last man to fall off the bridge fell 63m. Right before he hit the water he dropped his tool belt to break his fall. When they pulled him out of the water his boots were split and pulled up around his thighs. He broke a few ribs, had a few bruises and was back at work within 5 days. 
  • The Park Hyatt Hotel (which you can get a beautiful view of while on the Bridge Climb) has the rooftop pool where Rod Stewart was caught cheating on his wife Rachel Hunter with Penny Lancaster. Rod revealed this to his tour guide while climbing the bridge, noting that the Paparazzi who took the photo was on the bridge when he got the shot. 
  • Matt Damon and Robert De Niro were two celebrities who did not expect the star treatment and who just jumped on a regular climb with other tourists. Other celebrities have been known to be more particular (snobby), demanding the Bridge be shut down for them to do the climb.
  • 2.9 million people have climbed the Sydney Bridge.  


 After our climb, we hit Lord Nelson's Hotel in The Rocks. It is Sydney's first hotel and also has a great microbrewery. A great end to a great day. 

The next day... 
With your Sydney Bridge Climb you also get a free pass to the Pylon on the Bridge to walk up and get an amazing view of Sydney Harbour while also learning more about the history of the Bridge. If you can't do the Bridge Climb, this is a must do!! We wandered around the Rocks, and took some pictures of places we hadn't seen before and took a bunch more shots up on the Pylon :) 


Some neat flat doors in The Rocks.

The Pub we were at on New Years.


Hey we climbed that!! 













To finish off a beautiful sunny day we took the ferry to Manly and laid on the beach until the sunset.
This is the Prime Minister's house in Sydney. Ironically enough there is a cannon under the Sydney Bridge aimed directly at it...

This used to be a place for prisoners but is now a restaurant/cafe that is also rented out for private functions.