After our weekend of fun, the girls went off to Hamilton Island and Melbourne, while David and I went to work. After they got back, we explored more of Sydney with some yum cha, bridge walking and some pool time. On Monday, Robin and Ali left to go back to the working world while Steph and I spent the rest of the week doing a combination of nothing (which was perfect) and exploring Sydney.
Instead of posting ton of photos, I'm going to leave the link to this awesome video that Steph made of her time in Sydney.
http://www.vimeo.com/785725
A couple of notes of the video.
1. We never had music to dance too. We just danced.
2. The kangaroo that is pushed over is my kangaroo. Yes, I was trying to cheat to win.
3. The Rocks corn is the most delicious.
Sophia/Eddie, Elaine/Jim and Chaos are here for the week. It's been awesome to see everyone in Sydney and show them aronud. We're all going to Cairns (Great Barrier Reef) this Thursday. I can't wait to see some pretty fish and coral. Hopefully there won't be any sharks!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Mardi Gras Party and Parade!
Steph, Robin and Ali arrived into Sydney on Friday, February 29. They came in an extra day early so that they didn't skip the leap year day while on the plane! After they arrived, we spent the day in Manly showing the girls around our area and trying to stay awake. We sent them off on a Manly to Spit Walk in the afternoon. When they returned, they weren't sure why they had decided to do a 6 mile hike after a 14 hour plane ride. =)
On Saturday, we headed into the city to explore the Opera House and the Rocks market. We got some corn on the cob which was delicious and did some dancing near the ferry. We rushed back to Manly so we could get ready for Gay Mardi Gras! Don't worry, we went all out by spending our money at Price War and Crazy Prices.
All of us had feather boas that were pastel colored and silver pieces in them. I spent the following week trying to vacuum those feathers and silver pieces up!! We also got safety whistles to be used in case someone got lost in the group.
Robin and I had on angel wings that are peeking out of our back.
Ajay, Dave and Charlie. I think Charlie is the odd man out in this group.
Alex, Jess and Casey. Casey's face paint was courtesy of me! What does the black things look like?
David and I are gay! (you know, happy)
The best costume of the night were the Hottie Police. The girls had found "hottie police" caps, garters, badges and leggings at a store and got matching gear to complete the outfits.
Ali had a light up tiara that was made for a little child's head. We got it to stay in her hair with some binder clips.
After the parade started, we headed over there from our friend's party. The crowds were already multiple rows deep. We had to walk down a couple of blocks before inching forward slowly to get a better view.
Finally, we were close enough to start seeing floats and people dancing in the parade.
Steph, David and I are smooshed in the crowd.
There were tons of people dancing around in the parade in so many different costumes.
As soon as the parade ended, we ran back to catch the ferry. Along the way, we saw lots of drunk people, heard lots of people peeing in the bushes and were able to get on the ferry in time! By rushing home, we were able to avoid the fights and drama that ensued in the streets.
On Saturday, we headed into the city to explore the Opera House and the Rocks market. We got some corn on the cob which was delicious and did some dancing near the ferry. We rushed back to Manly so we could get ready for Gay Mardi Gras! Don't worry, we went all out by spending our money at Price War and Crazy Prices.
All of us had feather boas that were pastel colored and silver pieces in them. I spent the following week trying to vacuum those feathers and silver pieces up!! We also got safety whistles to be used in case someone got lost in the group.
Robin and I had on angel wings that are peeking out of our back.
Ajay, Dave and Charlie. I think Charlie is the odd man out in this group.
Alex, Jess and Casey. Casey's face paint was courtesy of me! What does the black things look like?
David and I are gay! (you know, happy)
The best costume of the night were the Hottie Police. The girls had found "hottie police" caps, garters, badges and leggings at a store and got matching gear to complete the outfits.
Ali had a light up tiara that was made for a little child's head. We got it to stay in her hair with some binder clips.
After the parade started, we headed over there from our friend's party. The crowds were already multiple rows deep. We had to walk down a couple of blocks before inching forward slowly to get a better view.
Finally, we were close enough to start seeing floats and people dancing in the parade.
Steph, David and I are smooshed in the crowd.
There were tons of people dancing around in the parade in so many different costumes.
As soon as the parade ended, we ran back to catch the ferry. Along the way, we saw lots of drunk people, heard lots of people peeing in the bushes and were able to get on the ferry in time! By rushing home, we were able to avoid the fights and drama that ensued in the streets.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Queenstown
After leaving Wanaka, we drove through a very windy road up into the mountains and then back down. There were some amazing views of the mountains as we drove down.
After arriving in Queenstown, we checked in and went to the famous Fergburger for dinner. This place has delicious burgers. If you get the chance to eat there when you're in Queenstown, you should definitely try it!
The next morning, David, Dad and I went up the gondola to look at the views and try out the SkyLuge. At the top, there was a display of what the gondola cars used to look like. Wombat wished he had been able to go up one of these classic ones.
Below is the view of Queenstown. It's located right next to a lake. From the top, we saw people parasailing, which was fun to watch.
Here's the chairlift for the sky luge that we were going to go down. The SkyLuge has two small tracks where you can race down in these small luge cars.
On the way up, you got a beautiful view of Queenstown. We were able to get a photo of Dad on our way up for the first time!
This adventure was LOTS of fun. I'd also recommend definitely doing the SkyLuge if you can.
After lunch, David and I broke off from Mom and Dad to go canyoning. Here's our group posing in front of the Canyon track that we were about to go on.
We had to go into the water before our saftey speech. The water was cold!
After a short hike, we went ziplining across the canyon!
Then, we waited in line to go to down rappelling. Look at how big our instructor was!
Besides ziplining and rappelling, we did some jumping into some pools.
We were able to get a shot of us with a waterfall in the background in between some of our activities.
One of our final things was to dive/belly flop into a shallow pool. I was so excited to go in!
Finally, after we finished the canyon track, we jumped in excitement!
In our final day in Queenstown, we walked around a market and relaxed. It was nice to spend some time with David's parents before we headed off to our respective destinations.
After David's parents left, we had a couple of days to ourselves before Steph, Robin and Ali came into town!
Side note: Please be careful on clicking on comments, random people have been adding comments that say "See Here". Please don't click on them since we most likely don't know them.
After arriving in Queenstown, we checked in and went to the famous Fergburger for dinner. This place has delicious burgers. If you get the chance to eat there when you're in Queenstown, you should definitely try it!
The next morning, David, Dad and I went up the gondola to look at the views and try out the SkyLuge. At the top, there was a display of what the gondola cars used to look like. Wombat wished he had been able to go up one of these classic ones.
Below is the view of Queenstown. It's located right next to a lake. From the top, we saw people parasailing, which was fun to watch.
Here's the chairlift for the sky luge that we were going to go down. The SkyLuge has two small tracks where you can race down in these small luge cars.
On the way up, you got a beautiful view of Queenstown. We were able to get a photo of Dad on our way up for the first time!
This adventure was LOTS of fun. I'd also recommend definitely doing the SkyLuge if you can.
After lunch, David and I broke off from Mom and Dad to go canyoning. Here's our group posing in front of the Canyon track that we were about to go on.
We had to go into the water before our saftey speech. The water was cold!
After a short hike, we went ziplining across the canyon!
Then, we waited in line to go to down rappelling. Look at how big our instructor was!
Besides ziplining and rappelling, we did some jumping into some pools.
We were able to get a shot of us with a waterfall in the background in between some of our activities.
One of our final things was to dive/belly flop into a shallow pool. I was so excited to go in!
Finally, after we finished the canyon track, we jumped in excitement!
In our final day in Queenstown, we walked around a market and relaxed. It was nice to spend some time with David's parents before we headed off to our respective destinations.
After David's parents left, we had a couple of days to ourselves before Steph, Robin and Ali came into town!
Side note: Please be careful on clicking on comments, random people have been adding comments that say "See Here". Please don't click on them since we most likely don't know them.
Wanaka - The Drive and Puzzling World
After the walk through the glacier, we set off to Wanaka! On the way, we stopped at some lookout points and admired the beautiful colored water.
About halfway there, we stopped at Haas to get some lunch. You'd expect Haas to be a town around the size of the glaciers, but it was actually smaller. There was only 1 restaurant by the edge of town. It was called Antler Lodge (or something to that effect). Inside all the taps were made of antlers.
They also had antlers all over the tops of their bar area.
After Haas, we drove along two large lakes for a long time.
When we finally reached Wanaka, we headed straight to the Rippon winery. Their winery had the most gorgeous views of Lake Wanaka. Here's the view from their cellar door.
This winery would be a great place to work. Look at the background that you'd get to stare at when you're dilly dallying.
As the sun sets, it would illuminate the mountains in the background.
The next morning, David, Dad and I went on a super long mountain biking ride along the water. It was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. All of our bums were sore from the bike seat for the next couple of days! After lunch, we went to visit Puzzling World.
The first thing we visited was the illusion rooms. The room that I'm currently in has all these concave faces that look as if they are constantly looking at you and sticking out of the wall.
We also went into this room, where the floor was sloped 15 degrees. It was hard to walk around, but there were some fun illusions. Look at how David was able to stand tilting forwards so easily.
We thought this room was fun since it made me look like I was a giant compared to David.
We had to get the reverse photo as well to prove that I actually have not grown THAT big while I've been here. =) The cool thing about the room was that they had a video delay so that after you left the room, you could see yourselves in the room. In case you didn't have some parents sitting at the window waiting to capture your photos.
After the illusion rooms, we headed into the life-size maze. This was a lot of fun. It reminded me of Amazing Race a bit. We split up and decided to try and race through the maze. You had to find all 4 corners of the maze before heading to the exit point.
David and I ended up finishing relatively quickly and were trying to help Mom and Dad through the maze. Eventually they gave up and came out of the emergency exit.
Even the bathrooms were fun to play in.
Right before we left, I almost sat on the tower! Ouch!
After our fun time in Wanaka, we were heading to Queenstown, which was our final town in New Zealand.
About halfway there, we stopped at Haas to get some lunch. You'd expect Haas to be a town around the size of the glaciers, but it was actually smaller. There was only 1 restaurant by the edge of town. It was called Antler Lodge (or something to that effect). Inside all the taps were made of antlers.
They also had antlers all over the tops of their bar area.
After Haas, we drove along two large lakes for a long time.
When we finally reached Wanaka, we headed straight to the Rippon winery. Their winery had the most gorgeous views of Lake Wanaka. Here's the view from their cellar door.
This winery would be a great place to work. Look at the background that you'd get to stare at when you're dilly dallying.
As the sun sets, it would illuminate the mountains in the background.
The next morning, David, Dad and I went on a super long mountain biking ride along the water. It was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. All of our bums were sore from the bike seat for the next couple of days! After lunch, we went to visit Puzzling World.
The first thing we visited was the illusion rooms. The room that I'm currently in has all these concave faces that look as if they are constantly looking at you and sticking out of the wall.
We also went into this room, where the floor was sloped 15 degrees. It was hard to walk around, but there were some fun illusions. Look at how David was able to stand tilting forwards so easily.
We thought this room was fun since it made me look like I was a giant compared to David.
We had to get the reverse photo as well to prove that I actually have not grown THAT big while I've been here. =) The cool thing about the room was that they had a video delay so that after you left the room, you could see yourselves in the room. In case you didn't have some parents sitting at the window waiting to capture your photos.
After the illusion rooms, we headed into the life-size maze. This was a lot of fun. It reminded me of Amazing Race a bit. We split up and decided to try and race through the maze. You had to find all 4 corners of the maze before heading to the exit point.
David and I ended up finishing relatively quickly and were trying to help Mom and Dad through the maze. Eventually they gave up and came out of the emergency exit.
Even the bathrooms were fun to play in.
Right before we left, I almost sat on the tower! Ouch!
After our fun time in Wanaka, we were heading to Queenstown, which was our final town in New Zealand.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
To Fox Glacier We Go
After our short time in Christchurch, we had a long drive ahead of us to make it to the glaciers. The best way to drive was to go through Arthur's pass, which meant we saw lots of mountains. On the way up, we stopped at this point to look at the strange rock formations that were randomly spread out.
How did these rocks get on these mountains?
We walked to the base of the where the rocks started, but since we had a long drive, we weren't going all the up. Look at the amazing mountains that we were surrounded by.
On the way to the glaciers, we stopped at this small town to look at some stores. David had been seeing sheep all day long that he decided that he wanted to be like one.
Jade from New Zealand is a big thing, but it's actually different from Chinese jade. They also tended to carve different shapes to represent different meanings. If you look closely, you can see my little friend hiding in the jade.
We ended up spending the night at Fox Glacier, which is the lesser known location of the 2 glaciers. Both of them are pretty close to each other. I would only recommend Fox Glacier because Lake Matheson is 5 minutes from the town.
We got to cross this bridge to get to our walking path. The bridge was fun since it would move around while you walked on it. If a lot of people were walking at once, it made you feel as if you were drunk while walking!
The key to coming to Lake Matheson is to come in the early morning. It's when the lake will be calm and the sun won't be too high in the sky. Then you can get some amazing photos with the reflections of the mountains and trees.
After we finished circling the lake, we drove to the parking area for Fox Glacier. We had decided to visit the glacier from a distance for free instead of paying NZ$85/person for a 4 hour hike and walking on the actual glacier. There was this stream running from the glacier and I think this sign was telling you to go swim in it.
Watch out for the falling rocks by posing as if you were a body builder.
The glacier is just a mountain of ice hidden between these two mountains. It seems to magically appear.
This was as close as we could get to the glacier. The weather was significantly colder closer to the glacier and in the shade compared to when we were in the parking lot.
I was a rebel and went past the boundaries, but I made sure to do it after the tour guide left the area so I wouldn't get in trouble.
To get to the base of the glacier, we had to cross this small stream. It seemed like a good family photo moment as we hopped across back towards our car.
Finally, to give you all some perspective of how big these mountains were and how small the path was. That blue figure in the bottom middle is David sitting on a rock waiting for us.
After we explored the glacier, we were off to Wanaka!
Sorry about the delay in posts. Between all the visitors that we've had, I've been working a lot so it makes it harder to commit to posting every day. Hopefully I finish up New Zealand by the weekend so that I'm not so far behind!
How did these rocks get on these mountains?
We walked to the base of the where the rocks started, but since we had a long drive, we weren't going all the up. Look at the amazing mountains that we were surrounded by.
On the way to the glaciers, we stopped at this small town to look at some stores. David had been seeing sheep all day long that he decided that he wanted to be like one.
Jade from New Zealand is a big thing, but it's actually different from Chinese jade. They also tended to carve different shapes to represent different meanings. If you look closely, you can see my little friend hiding in the jade.
We ended up spending the night at Fox Glacier, which is the lesser known location of the 2 glaciers. Both of them are pretty close to each other. I would only recommend Fox Glacier because Lake Matheson is 5 minutes from the town.
We got to cross this bridge to get to our walking path. The bridge was fun since it would move around while you walked on it. If a lot of people were walking at once, it made you feel as if you were drunk while walking!
The key to coming to Lake Matheson is to come in the early morning. It's when the lake will be calm and the sun won't be too high in the sky. Then you can get some amazing photos with the reflections of the mountains and trees.
After we finished circling the lake, we drove to the parking area for Fox Glacier. We had decided to visit the glacier from a distance for free instead of paying NZ$85/person for a 4 hour hike and walking on the actual glacier. There was this stream running from the glacier and I think this sign was telling you to go swim in it.
Watch out for the falling rocks by posing as if you were a body builder.
The glacier is just a mountain of ice hidden between these two mountains. It seems to magically appear.
This was as close as we could get to the glacier. The weather was significantly colder closer to the glacier and in the shade compared to when we were in the parking lot.
I was a rebel and went past the boundaries, but I made sure to do it after the tour guide left the area so I wouldn't get in trouble.
To get to the base of the glacier, we had to cross this small stream. It seemed like a good family photo moment as we hopped across back towards our car.
Finally, to give you all some perspective of how big these mountains were and how small the path was. That blue figure in the bottom middle is David sitting on a rock waiting for us.
After we explored the glacier, we were off to Wanaka!
Sorry about the delay in posts. Between all the visitors that we've had, I've been working a lot so it makes it harder to commit to posting every day. Hopefully I finish up New Zealand by the weekend so that I'm not so far behind!
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