I decided to revive the Travel blog for our trip to Germany. We will try to be good about posting pics and stories here, but if you know me, you know that I am lazy and forgetful, but we will try our best.
24 hours until takeoff and all systems are go.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Catching up on Sydney
Text by Sabrina, italics comments by Chad.
Sorry we haven't added to our travel journal recently. We've been so busy each day, and at the end each day I have been way to tired to write anything. All I can say is that we have been having an amazing time here in Sydney and enjoying ourselves immensely. This may be a really long post, bringing everybody up to speed. Sorry about that. I understand completely if you don't have a couple of hours to devote to reading this! After I get done rubbing her feet and feeding her grapes, she goes to bed with out telling everyone what a great day we have had.
We left off with us having purchased tickets to see a comedian performing at the Sydney Opera House. His name is Eddie Ifft, he comes from LA, and he was very funny. If you are an American comedian who can't get noticed in the crowded LA or NY comedy scene, take your act on the road. The rest of the world sees USA after your name and they assume you are funny. You also make a lot more money than a local comic. He was at the Opera House taping a video, so he made us laugh for over 2 hours. It was great fun. Before we saw the show we stopped for dinner at a Bavarian restaurant that was to die for! I don't get to eat German food often, so I was in heaven. It was some of the best German food I have had and the beer was yummy too! In fact, we both liked it so much we decided to go back there for dinner on our last night here. I don't know why the Germans have to flatten all their food, but it makes it so good! There is never anything that special about the German food we have had, it is just meat and starches, but it so tasty. They don't go nuts with the spices, they just use good ingredients. I can't wait to go back on Monday, especially because we are going to have Black Forest Cake.
Wednesday morning we were up and out of the hotel super early. We took a tour of the Blue Mountains. Rainy weather was fast approaching the area, so we decided we better go as long as the weather was still nice. That was a smart idea, because since then it has been raining off and on with monsoon type rain, flooding in the areas north of here, and really gusty wind. Wednesday, thank God, was a bit cool, but beautiful. Bob was our tour guide and he was awesome.
This is Bob our guide. He was passing out Kangaroo food for us to feed to the Kangaroos in the next area.
He was a walking book of knowledge about everything Australian and we loved asking him tons of questions. Bob first took us to a place called Featherdale Park. It is a family run animal habitat and it was here that we got to pet koalas and feed kangaroos.
We got one chance at a pic with a Koala and the snotty little bugger wouldn't look at the camera.
Koala's are shy and sleepy. They are lucky they are so cute.
Hey Buddy, you need some food?
Lazy Roos, Walla and Kanga.
They had amazing birds that just wandered all around the park.
We didn't get to stay very long because as a tour we had a schedule to keep and Bob made sure we stuck to our schedule. Sabrina forgot to mention that there were a couple families that couldn't be on time all day. They made us have to rush the whole day. They didn't meet the bus at the right time, they would wander off by themselves and just generally be slow moving. Just to add to the joy, they had two kids that wouldn't stop screaming and crying.
Tasmanian Devil
The Dingo ate my BABY!
The next stop was at a park where we got to have tea and cake and Chad learned how to throw a boomerang.
Look at my form! I was a natural.
Our next stop was at a place where we got to go on a short hike to the edge of the Blue Mountains and look out over the valley. AMAZING.
We had a stop for a great lunch at a Country Club, and then headed to another part of the Blue Mountains where we got to take a gondola down into the valley, tour throw a small, and very old rain forest, and then take the worlds steepest train back up to the top.
Into the valley.
The 3 Sisters
The train is so steep that we are laying on our backs as we go up the mountain.
All I can say is that I have never done anything quite like this before and I loved every moment of it. The next stops were at the town of Leura and then through the area where Sydney held the Olympics in 2000. At the end Bob dropped all of us off at the River Cat which is a boat that shuttles people up and down the Parramatta river. It was dark by now and we cruised up the river and into a gorgeous, all lit up, Sydney Harbor, where we hopped off at Circular Quay, grabbed some dinner, and headed back to the hotel. One of the things I love about Sydney are all the different people that are here and that we have been able to meet. In our tour group to the Blue Mountains we met people from New Jersey, Canada, New Zealand, India, Beijing, and Ireland. We were quite the melting pot! I too like the melting pot of travel, but the one thing that is wearing thin with me is Japanese, Korean, and Chinese tour groups. There can be almost 100 of them moving through the city like swarm of locusts. They push and shove, smoke like a factory, and generally disrupt the good times being had by everyone else. It reminds me of what people always talk about when they say the "Ugly American". Lately it seems that the Americans are the ones on their best behavior.
On Thursday Chad had to go to work for the day so I had a day of rest. I know it sounds strange that he would work on our honeymoon, but he has a big client here who happens to be a short walk from our hotel. This client has been having difficulty using the Winshuttle software so Chad went in for the day to help them out. I know teaching in person is always easier than trying to teach over the internet or on the phone and they really appreciated his help.
It was actually a lot easier to work with this client in person. They have a different kind of SAP system that we don't have at our office, so it makes it hard to experiment and work out issues when you can't use their system. It was also nice to meet someone I have talked to on the phone so many times. The people in the office were so nice and happy that I was there to help. It is never fun to work on vacation, but they made it a lot easier to do it. I had a lazy, slow morning at the hotel and then met Chad for lunch. Afterwards I strolled through the mall and stopped at a bookstore. This bookstore was so cool because not only was it huge, but half of the store was all in Japanese. I wandered around for quite a bit, bought a couple of books, and then decided to head back. I walked outside the mall and was shocked by the rain coming down. I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like it - and I live in Seattle now! It was like someone was throwing buckets of water out of the sky. As I stood in the doorway for a moment to figure out the best way to get back to the hotel I could hear people screaming in the streets because of the torrential rain. Cabs were impossible to get because everyone was grabbing cabs! For a moment I thought I would just have to tough it out and walk back expecting to get soaked, when I noticed a drug store that had umbrellas in the doorway. I'm sure they didn't waste anytime shoving those things to the front of the store! I ran in, bought one, and made my way back to the hotel. My pants were soaked, but other than that I was just great. Chad got home from work and we took off for Darling Harbor. It was still raining, but not nearly as bad as earlier. We stopped for dinner and then headed back.
The rain here has been insane. It starts and stops like someone is flipping a switch on the clouds. And when it is on, it is a deluge. Even with an umbrella, you can get wet cause the rain is all around you. It made me long for Seattle drizzle.
The cool thing about staying at this hotel is that because Chad is a Platinum member for Marriott we get to head to the executive lounge on the top floor and have breakfast each morning and dessert each night. This has been such a neat thing because we met a really neat couple who we have been sitting and chatting with the last two evenings. Their names are Ray and Lyn and they are native Australians from Melbourne. Lyn is a retired English teachers and Ray use to be a photo journalist with some great stories to tell. He photographed during World War II. They left this morning to head back to Melbourne, but before they left they gave us their address and phone number and invited us to visit the next time we come back to Australia. I will definitely be writing them when we get home and hope we can keep in touch.
Aussies are so friendly and genuinely nice. We have had the best service, the friendliest cabbies, and the nicest people to chat with. It has been so nice interacting with the Aussies this week. I would love to come back soon.
Friday was our day to spend with the animals. First we went to the Sydney Aquarium and wandered around looking at all of the fish. They have a great seal tank, but best of all were the sharks. You can actually walk under the tank and have sharks swimming over you. The best was this Manta Ray they had that was huge! Picture three Chad's standing shoulder to shoulder and that will give you an idea of how large he was. Hey, is that a comment about my weight? After lunch we headed to Wildlife World and saw all of their animals. They only have native Australian animals and we got to see spiders, snakes, various nocturnal animals, a large cassowary bird, koalas, and wallabies. It was a great time and we sure learned a lot.
What the hell is on my arm?
Sabrina likes the snake.
This morning we decided to head to Bondi Beach on a tour bus that runs through and around the city. Bondi Beach is great, but it was so windy we hopped back on the bus and stopped at the Sydney Cricket ground
Freaking Awesome!! If I could've only gone in.
and then walked into the Fox studios. The studios now house restaurants, shops, clubs, and movie theaters. We stopped for lunch and then decided to see Shrek III, which we both really liked, even though the theater was packed with noisy kids.
Why do people think it is ok to let their kids run wild in a movie theater? Why would you let them scream cry and talk during a movie? You are not at your own house!!
The funny thing was that there were two little kids, who were probably around three years old, running up and down the stairs during the entire movie. The running up and down the stairs wasn't the funny part, the funny part was the little boy who kept saying to the little girl, "C'mon, let me show you my wee wee!" Ah kids! After the movie we took the elevator up to the top of Sydney Tower and looked out over the beautiful city.
ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park from the Sydney Tower.
Darling Harbour and the Maritime Museum
The Harbour Bridge
It was raining and gusting so much when we left that we decided to just head back to the hotel, order pizza, and stay in for the night. I have to say that I saw the neatest thing today as we were out and about. There is a park across the road from the Cricket grounds and sitting on the lawn in the tree must have easily been around 100 yellow crowned cockatoos. I have only ever seen cockatoos like this in pet stores and they cost several hundred dollars. In Sydney they hang out like pigeons - it's the coolest thing and I was completely enamored with them following them around with the camera trying to get photos.
Just to wrap up things for the night, a picture of me at a Hungry Jacks. It goes a long with my NZ Burger King Photo. For some reason, BK is called Hungry Jacks in Aus.
Now I have to go watch the cricket. From England, on TV.
Someone better remind me why I don't just move here?
Sorry we haven't added to our travel journal recently. We've been so busy each day, and at the end each day I have been way to tired to write anything. All I can say is that we have been having an amazing time here in Sydney and enjoying ourselves immensely. This may be a really long post, bringing everybody up to speed. Sorry about that. I understand completely if you don't have a couple of hours to devote to reading this! After I get done rubbing her feet and feeding her grapes, she goes to bed with out telling everyone what a great day we have had.
We left off with us having purchased tickets to see a comedian performing at the Sydney Opera House. His name is Eddie Ifft, he comes from LA, and he was very funny. If you are an American comedian who can't get noticed in the crowded LA or NY comedy scene, take your act on the road. The rest of the world sees USA after your name and they assume you are funny. You also make a lot more money than a local comic. He was at the Opera House taping a video, so he made us laugh for over 2 hours. It was great fun. Before we saw the show we stopped for dinner at a Bavarian restaurant that was to die for! I don't get to eat German food often, so I was in heaven. It was some of the best German food I have had and the beer was yummy too! In fact, we both liked it so much we decided to go back there for dinner on our last night here. I don't know why the Germans have to flatten all their food, but it makes it so good! There is never anything that special about the German food we have had, it is just meat and starches, but it so tasty. They don't go nuts with the spices, they just use good ingredients. I can't wait to go back on Monday, especially because we are going to have Black Forest Cake.
Wednesday morning we were up and out of the hotel super early. We took a tour of the Blue Mountains. Rainy weather was fast approaching the area, so we decided we better go as long as the weather was still nice. That was a smart idea, because since then it has been raining off and on with monsoon type rain, flooding in the areas north of here, and really gusty wind. Wednesday, thank God, was a bit cool, but beautiful. Bob was our tour guide and he was awesome.
This is Bob our guide. He was passing out Kangaroo food for us to feed to the Kangaroos in the next area.
He was a walking book of knowledge about everything Australian and we loved asking him tons of questions. Bob first took us to a place called Featherdale Park. It is a family run animal habitat and it was here that we got to pet koalas and feed kangaroos.
We got one chance at a pic with a Koala and the snotty little bugger wouldn't look at the camera.
Koala's are shy and sleepy. They are lucky they are so cute.
Hey Buddy, you need some food?
Lazy Roos, Walla and Kanga.
They had amazing birds that just wandered all around the park.
We didn't get to stay very long because as a tour we had a schedule to keep and Bob made sure we stuck to our schedule. Sabrina forgot to mention that there were a couple families that couldn't be on time all day. They made us have to rush the whole day. They didn't meet the bus at the right time, they would wander off by themselves and just generally be slow moving. Just to add to the joy, they had two kids that wouldn't stop screaming and crying.
Tasmanian Devil
The Dingo ate my BABY!
The next stop was at a park where we got to have tea and cake and Chad learned how to throw a boomerang.
Look at my form! I was a natural.
Our next stop was at a place where we got to go on a short hike to the edge of the Blue Mountains and look out over the valley. AMAZING.
We had a stop for a great lunch at a Country Club, and then headed to another part of the Blue Mountains where we got to take a gondola down into the valley, tour throw a small, and very old rain forest, and then take the worlds steepest train back up to the top.
Into the valley.
The 3 Sisters
The train is so steep that we are laying on our backs as we go up the mountain.
All I can say is that I have never done anything quite like this before and I loved every moment of it. The next stops were at the town of Leura and then through the area where Sydney held the Olympics in 2000. At the end Bob dropped all of us off at the River Cat which is a boat that shuttles people up and down the Parramatta river. It was dark by now and we cruised up the river and into a gorgeous, all lit up, Sydney Harbor, where we hopped off at Circular Quay, grabbed some dinner, and headed back to the hotel. One of the things I love about Sydney are all the different people that are here and that we have been able to meet. In our tour group to the Blue Mountains we met people from New Jersey, Canada, New Zealand, India, Beijing, and Ireland. We were quite the melting pot! I too like the melting pot of travel, but the one thing that is wearing thin with me is Japanese, Korean, and Chinese tour groups. There can be almost 100 of them moving through the city like swarm of locusts. They push and shove, smoke like a factory, and generally disrupt the good times being had by everyone else. It reminds me of what people always talk about when they say the "Ugly American". Lately it seems that the Americans are the ones on their best behavior.
On Thursday Chad had to go to work for the day so I had a day of rest. I know it sounds strange that he would work on our honeymoon, but he has a big client here who happens to be a short walk from our hotel. This client has been having difficulty using the Winshuttle software so Chad went in for the day to help them out. I know teaching in person is always easier than trying to teach over the internet or on the phone and they really appreciated his help.
It was actually a lot easier to work with this client in person. They have a different kind of SAP system that we don't have at our office, so it makes it hard to experiment and work out issues when you can't use their system. It was also nice to meet someone I have talked to on the phone so many times. The people in the office were so nice and happy that I was there to help. It is never fun to work on vacation, but they made it a lot easier to do it. I had a lazy, slow morning at the hotel and then met Chad for lunch. Afterwards I strolled through the mall and stopped at a bookstore. This bookstore was so cool because not only was it huge, but half of the store was all in Japanese. I wandered around for quite a bit, bought a couple of books, and then decided to head back. I walked outside the mall and was shocked by the rain coming down. I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like it - and I live in Seattle now! It was like someone was throwing buckets of water out of the sky. As I stood in the doorway for a moment to figure out the best way to get back to the hotel I could hear people screaming in the streets because of the torrential rain. Cabs were impossible to get because everyone was grabbing cabs! For a moment I thought I would just have to tough it out and walk back expecting to get soaked, when I noticed a drug store that had umbrellas in the doorway. I'm sure they didn't waste anytime shoving those things to the front of the store! I ran in, bought one, and made my way back to the hotel. My pants were soaked, but other than that I was just great. Chad got home from work and we took off for Darling Harbor. It was still raining, but not nearly as bad as earlier. We stopped for dinner and then headed back.
The rain here has been insane. It starts and stops like someone is flipping a switch on the clouds. And when it is on, it is a deluge. Even with an umbrella, you can get wet cause the rain is all around you. It made me long for Seattle drizzle.
The cool thing about staying at this hotel is that because Chad is a Platinum member for Marriott we get to head to the executive lounge on the top floor and have breakfast each morning and dessert each night. This has been such a neat thing because we met a really neat couple who we have been sitting and chatting with the last two evenings. Their names are Ray and Lyn and they are native Australians from Melbourne. Lyn is a retired English teachers and Ray use to be a photo journalist with some great stories to tell. He photographed during World War II. They left this morning to head back to Melbourne, but before they left they gave us their address and phone number and invited us to visit the next time we come back to Australia. I will definitely be writing them when we get home and hope we can keep in touch.
Aussies are so friendly and genuinely nice. We have had the best service, the friendliest cabbies, and the nicest people to chat with. It has been so nice interacting with the Aussies this week. I would love to come back soon.
Friday was our day to spend with the animals. First we went to the Sydney Aquarium and wandered around looking at all of the fish. They have a great seal tank, but best of all were the sharks. You can actually walk under the tank and have sharks swimming over you. The best was this Manta Ray they had that was huge! Picture three Chad's standing shoulder to shoulder and that will give you an idea of how large he was. Hey, is that a comment about my weight? After lunch we headed to Wildlife World and saw all of their animals. They only have native Australian animals and we got to see spiders, snakes, various nocturnal animals, a large cassowary bird, koalas, and wallabies. It was a great time and we sure learned a lot.
What the hell is on my arm?
Sabrina likes the snake.
This morning we decided to head to Bondi Beach on a tour bus that runs through and around the city. Bondi Beach is great, but it was so windy we hopped back on the bus and stopped at the Sydney Cricket ground
Freaking Awesome!! If I could've only gone in.
and then walked into the Fox studios. The studios now house restaurants, shops, clubs, and movie theaters. We stopped for lunch and then decided to see Shrek III, which we both really liked, even though the theater was packed with noisy kids.
Why do people think it is ok to let their kids run wild in a movie theater? Why would you let them scream cry and talk during a movie? You are not at your own house!!
The funny thing was that there were two little kids, who were probably around three years old, running up and down the stairs during the entire movie. The running up and down the stairs wasn't the funny part, the funny part was the little boy who kept saying to the little girl, "C'mon, let me show you my wee wee!" Ah kids! After the movie we took the elevator up to the top of Sydney Tower and looked out over the beautiful city.
ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park from the Sydney Tower.
Darling Harbour and the Maritime Museum
The Harbour Bridge
It was raining and gusting so much when we left that we decided to just head back to the hotel, order pizza, and stay in for the night. I have to say that I saw the neatest thing today as we were out and about. There is a park across the road from the Cricket grounds and sitting on the lawn in the tree must have easily been around 100 yellow crowned cockatoos. I have only ever seen cockatoos like this in pet stores and they cost several hundred dollars. In Sydney they hang out like pigeons - it's the coolest thing and I was completely enamored with them following them around with the camera trying to get photos.
Just to wrap up things for the night, a picture of me at a Hungry Jacks. It goes a long with my NZ Burger King Photo. For some reason, BK is called Hungry Jacks in Aus.
Now I have to go watch the cricket. From England, on TV.
Someone better remind me why I don't just move here?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
The bus trip of Sydney
This morning we got up and had some breakfast at the Executive Lounge at the top of our hotel. We had the best views of the city. The park next to the hotel is great and we could see the bridge, opera house and even the Olympic Stadium. Tomorrow we are going to take the camera to breakfast.
After Breakfast we got on the Hop-on Hop-off bus and saw some of the city.
These are a couple shots from the bus.
This is where we ate lunch. It is in what they call The Rocks.
This is where the convicts used to live in the old days. Now it is just tourist traps and souvenir stores.
mmm, Bailey's Ice Cream
More of the Rocks.
The Sydney Opera House.
Circular Quay, where the ferries come and go.
The happy couple across the Quay from the SOH.
The Harbour Bridge.
We wanted to do the bridge climb, but those vultures want $160 a piece to take the bridge climb tour.
An artsy look at the Opera House.
Sitting on the steps.
Tonight we are going back to the Opera House for a comedy show.
Hopefully we will get some pics of Sydney at night.
After Breakfast we got on the Hop-on Hop-off bus and saw some of the city.
These are a couple shots from the bus.
This is where we ate lunch. It is in what they call The Rocks.
This is where the convicts used to live in the old days. Now it is just tourist traps and souvenir stores.
mmm, Bailey's Ice Cream
More of the Rocks.
The Sydney Opera House.
Circular Quay, where the ferries come and go.
The happy couple across the Quay from the SOH.
The Harbour Bridge.
We wanted to do the bridge climb, but those vultures want $160 a piece to take the bridge climb tour.
An artsy look at the Opera House.
Sitting on the steps.
Tonight we are going back to the Opera House for a comedy show.
Hopefully we will get some pics of Sydney at night.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
G'Day from Sydney
It's me Chad in the regular text this time. Sabrina is busy unpacking.
We wanted everyone to know we are in Australia and at the hotel. This Hotel is light years ahead of the Crowne Plaza in Auckland. This is a Marriott and Sabrina loves it, so I am happy. It is close to the subway station and across from Hyde Park.
We will be here for 8 days, so no more driving and changing hotels. I am happy just to be in a nice hotel room that I don't have to pack up and leave tomorrow. Hopefully we can get some sleep and settle in here.
We want to get out and see all the sights of Sydney, so this should be a good base camp.
Tonight we are going to go to the Hard Rock Cafe so I can continue my mission of seeing all the Hard Rocks in the world. Another pin and another shot glass for the collection.
I am very lucky that Sabrina puts up with my kind of crazy.
We will post some more pics soon.
Hope all is well where ever you are.
Chad and Sabrina
We wanted everyone to know we are in Australia and at the hotel. This Hotel is light years ahead of the Crowne Plaza in Auckland. This is a Marriott and Sabrina loves it, so I am happy. It is close to the subway station and across from Hyde Park.
We will be here for 8 days, so no more driving and changing hotels. I am happy just to be in a nice hotel room that I don't have to pack up and leave tomorrow. Hopefully we can get some sleep and settle in here.
We want to get out and see all the sights of Sydney, so this should be a good base camp.
Tonight we are going to go to the Hard Rock Cafe so I can continue my mission of seeing all the Hard Rocks in the world. Another pin and another shot glass for the collection.
I am very lucky that Sabrina puts up with my kind of crazy.
We will post some more pics soon.
Hope all is well where ever you are.
Chad and Sabrina
Kia Ora from New Zealand
Text by Sabrina (Smart ass comments by Chad)
I know you all want pictures, so check out the gallery:
http://picasaweb.google.com/crbates/HoneymoonNewZealand
We will keep adding pics next week as well.
Our Hotel.
Friday morning we woke up early and got ourselves ready to head to our next destination. Chad went to check us out of the hotel and nearly had a stroke when they tried to charge him $129 in internet fees. The guy working the hotel desk the night before had told Chad that there was a flat $25 fee - he was new to his job and some discussion with hotel management Chad was able to persuade them to only charge us $25. It's amazing here how large hotels don't offer internet service to the guests. Oh well! The manager kept trying to get out of living up to what the guy working the desk the night before had told me. She logged on to the website that the guests use and looked for the Terms and Conditions. She asked if I would take a discount and I said "Yes, to $25". She kept trying to talk me into paying the whole amount. I guess she thought I was just some tourist that doesn't stay at a lot of hotels. Boy was she wrong!
Our next stop was the city of Napier located on the east coast of New Zealand at Hawke Bay. Many years back the town was demolished (by fire I think). The residents of Napier decided to rebuild their city in the then popular Art Deco style. The city is definitely a beach town and the views of Hawke Bay are gorgeous. We had planned to stay 2 nights, but being winter made it a kind of dull place to be, and unfortunately the place we had booked a room at was almost as bad as the Crowne Plaza a few nights earlier. We decided to stay only one night and head someplace new the next day.
My wife doesn't like my hotel choices. I feel like I am apologizing most of the day for a pick I made over the internet. I think I should just let her pick the accommodations from now on. As long as it has a TV and isn't to expensive, I am ok with it. I think I am have just learned not to look to close to hotel rooms. Any one who has been a business traveler learns to look for the big things but ignore the little things.
Sabrina's trigger is stray hair, mine is blood stains. There have been a couple rooms I have stayed in that I wish the only problem would have been stray hairs.
On the other point here, Napier was BORING. We did almost everything there was to do in about 20 minutes. This included Opossum World. This is the weirdest store I have ever seen in my life!! It is a possum fur store, which is odd, but they take it one step further. They have a possum safari. This is a tour of "the ecological nightmare that opossums are in NZ." This shows you how they kill possums and the damage that possums do. Think a 100 stuffed possums in various states of death. Sabrina walked us in there and she was horrified the whole time we were in there. It was really horrific, but more than that just WEIRD!
SATURDAY
Us at Napier
We woke up in Napier and wanted to check out the National Aquarium before heading to our new stop in Whakatane (pronounced - Faw-kaw-taw-nee). The word "National" would make you think this has got to be a really large and fantastic aquarium. In Vancouver we visited the Vancouver Aquarium and really enjoyed it and were impressed by it. Not quite so with the National Aquarium of New Zealand. We drove by it the night before and thought it looked a little on the small size. I mean the building wasn't much larger than a small supermarket and yet they were boasting about having dolphins and such. At first Chad was convinced that it must be all hidden underground and that the building on top was perhaps just the entrance. This was not the case - it is really itty bitty. New Zealand needs to work on their aquarium! We decided to jump the Napier ship and get out of town. The local tourist information office helped us book a B&B in Whakatane, so we were on our way.
The drive to Whakatane was one of the most beautiful I have ever been on, but, IT TOOK FOREVER. We ended up driving almost the entire day. Poor Chad was behind the wheel the whole time and I was a nervous co-pilot because I am still getting use to being the passenger on the other side of the car. Our B&B in Whakatane was really nice, but after eating dinner I was so tired I was asleep by 7:30! Needless to say it wasn't the most exciting night of our honeymoon.
My wife is a great navigator, but a bad co-pilot. We haven't gotten lost in almost 900 miles of driving in a different country, but she is nervous. Every time I move a little right in the lane, she has a heart attack and starts making this awful noises. I look over expecting to see her turning blue, but she is just looking out the window. She sees the guard rail and she thinks she is about to exit the car the hard way. The problem is, New Zealand doesn't build roads like the US does. The US has BIG cars and trucks to worry about, NZ justs puts roads where ever they will fit. We drove down a road yesterday that was paved into the side of a hill. If the hill went out into the roadway, the road got very narrow for a couple feet. It was especially scary when a loaded semi came at me in the other lane. Not the best time for passing traffic. So when the lanes narrow or someone in the other lane comes across the center line, I move to the left, Sabrina hyperventilates and I have to reassure her that I am not trying to kill her.
The place we stayed in Fuckatawnee was really nice. It was my first time at a B&B, and I actually liked it. The room was nice, the bed was comfy and best of all Sabrina liked it so I didn't have to look for another place to stay. We went to town to find some dinner, but when we got to town at 5pm, nothing was open. We thought that the place was like Napier and closed for the season. We drove around looking for any signs of life. Finally we found a couple places down the street from the town. One place didn't open till 5:30, so we thought would go back and see if this was the case of some other places in town. It was and most actually didn't open till 6. We tried to find something a little bit local maybe some seafood, but after looking around we picked the Irish Pub. It was really good. I got some cider and we had a nice dinner. I wanted to get back to the room so we could watch the NZ v. France Rugby Test. NZ destroyed France, but the funniest thing about watching the match was that the owners of the B&B had to be watching the channel that the Rugby was on for me to see it in our room. It was on, but after about 10 minutes of the game, they turned the sound off, so I had to watch the remainder of the match with no sound. This worked out since my wife was asleep in bed next to me.
SATURDAY
I am not as short as I look.
This morning we were up and on the road by 9:00 am. We were hoping to make it back to Auckland in time to do a little site seeing. The drive today was much better and quicker than yesterdays and we were even able to stop in Rotorua one more time. Since I really didn't want to go back to the Crowne Plaza we booked a night at a cute little B&B in a cool area just outside of downtown Auckland called Ponsonby. You can check out the site at: http://www.greatpons.co.nz
We dropped our stuff off, had a cup of tea, chatted with the owner a bit, and then headed out the door to walk around downtown and get some dinner. We walked around the Marina area, stopped for drinks at a russian bar called Lenin, walked up to the Sky Tower, and then had dinner at a place called Degree. The dinner was really neat because you get to cook your own meat on a hot (and I mean REALLY hot) stone that they bring to your table. All in all in was a nice evening and I enjoyed holding hands and strolling around the city a bit. I love the fresh smell of being near the ocean. We headed back and now we are holed up in our cozy room, watching TV, and listening to the rain coming down outside.
I can't believe I paid money to cook my own food on a hot rock. Will someone check my head when I get home? In spite of that, it was some of the best chicken I have had in a long time. Maybe I should start cooking all my food on a hot rock.
So that it from New Zealand. More when we get to Oz.
Next stop, Sydney, Australia!!
I know you all want pictures, so check out the gallery:
http://picasaweb.google.com/crbates/HoneymoonNewZealand
We will keep adding pics next week as well.
Our Hotel.
Friday morning we woke up early and got ourselves ready to head to our next destination. Chad went to check us out of the hotel and nearly had a stroke when they tried to charge him $129 in internet fees. The guy working the hotel desk the night before had told Chad that there was a flat $25 fee - he was new to his job and some discussion with hotel management Chad was able to persuade them to only charge us $25. It's amazing here how large hotels don't offer internet service to the guests. Oh well! The manager kept trying to get out of living up to what the guy working the desk the night before had told me. She logged on to the website that the guests use and looked for the Terms and Conditions. She asked if I would take a discount and I said "Yes, to $25". She kept trying to talk me into paying the whole amount. I guess she thought I was just some tourist that doesn't stay at a lot of hotels. Boy was she wrong!
Our next stop was the city of Napier located on the east coast of New Zealand at Hawke Bay. Many years back the town was demolished (by fire I think). The residents of Napier decided to rebuild their city in the then popular Art Deco style. The city is definitely a beach town and the views of Hawke Bay are gorgeous. We had planned to stay 2 nights, but being winter made it a kind of dull place to be, and unfortunately the place we had booked a room at was almost as bad as the Crowne Plaza a few nights earlier. We decided to stay only one night and head someplace new the next day.
My wife doesn't like my hotel choices. I feel like I am apologizing most of the day for a pick I made over the internet. I think I should just let her pick the accommodations from now on. As long as it has a TV and isn't to expensive, I am ok with it. I think I am have just learned not to look to close to hotel rooms. Any one who has been a business traveler learns to look for the big things but ignore the little things.
Sabrina's trigger is stray hair, mine is blood stains. There have been a couple rooms I have stayed in that I wish the only problem would have been stray hairs.
On the other point here, Napier was BORING. We did almost everything there was to do in about 20 minutes. This included Opossum World. This is the weirdest store I have ever seen in my life!! It is a possum fur store, which is odd, but they take it one step further. They have a possum safari. This is a tour of "the ecological nightmare that opossums are in NZ." This shows you how they kill possums and the damage that possums do. Think a 100 stuffed possums in various states of death. Sabrina walked us in there and she was horrified the whole time we were in there. It was really horrific, but more than that just WEIRD!
SATURDAY
Us at Napier
We woke up in Napier and wanted to check out the National Aquarium before heading to our new stop in Whakatane (pronounced - Faw-kaw-taw-nee). The word "National" would make you think this has got to be a really large and fantastic aquarium. In Vancouver we visited the Vancouver Aquarium and really enjoyed it and were impressed by it. Not quite so with the National Aquarium of New Zealand. We drove by it the night before and thought it looked a little on the small size. I mean the building wasn't much larger than a small supermarket and yet they were boasting about having dolphins and such. At first Chad was convinced that it must be all hidden underground and that the building on top was perhaps just the entrance. This was not the case - it is really itty bitty. New Zealand needs to work on their aquarium! We decided to jump the Napier ship and get out of town. The local tourist information office helped us book a B&B in Whakatane, so we were on our way.
The drive to Whakatane was one of the most beautiful I have ever been on, but, IT TOOK FOREVER. We ended up driving almost the entire day. Poor Chad was behind the wheel the whole time and I was a nervous co-pilot because I am still getting use to being the passenger on the other side of the car. Our B&B in Whakatane was really nice, but after eating dinner I was so tired I was asleep by 7:30! Needless to say it wasn't the most exciting night of our honeymoon.
My wife is a great navigator, but a bad co-pilot. We haven't gotten lost in almost 900 miles of driving in a different country, but she is nervous. Every time I move a little right in the lane, she has a heart attack and starts making this awful noises. I look over expecting to see her turning blue, but she is just looking out the window. She sees the guard rail and she thinks she is about to exit the car the hard way. The problem is, New Zealand doesn't build roads like the US does. The US has BIG cars and trucks to worry about, NZ justs puts roads where ever they will fit. We drove down a road yesterday that was paved into the side of a hill. If the hill went out into the roadway, the road got very narrow for a couple feet. It was especially scary when a loaded semi came at me in the other lane. Not the best time for passing traffic. So when the lanes narrow or someone in the other lane comes across the center line, I move to the left, Sabrina hyperventilates and I have to reassure her that I am not trying to kill her.
The place we stayed in Fuckatawnee was really nice. It was my first time at a B&B, and I actually liked it. The room was nice, the bed was comfy and best of all Sabrina liked it so I didn't have to look for another place to stay. We went to town to find some dinner, but when we got to town at 5pm, nothing was open. We thought that the place was like Napier and closed for the season. We drove around looking for any signs of life. Finally we found a couple places down the street from the town. One place didn't open till 5:30, so we thought would go back and see if this was the case of some other places in town. It was and most actually didn't open till 6. We tried to find something a little bit local maybe some seafood, but after looking around we picked the Irish Pub. It was really good. I got some cider and we had a nice dinner. I wanted to get back to the room so we could watch the NZ v. France Rugby Test. NZ destroyed France, but the funniest thing about watching the match was that the owners of the B&B had to be watching the channel that the Rugby was on for me to see it in our room. It was on, but after about 10 minutes of the game, they turned the sound off, so I had to watch the remainder of the match with no sound. This worked out since my wife was asleep in bed next to me.
SATURDAY
I am not as short as I look.
This morning we were up and on the road by 9:00 am. We were hoping to make it back to Auckland in time to do a little site seeing. The drive today was much better and quicker than yesterdays and we were even able to stop in Rotorua one more time. Since I really didn't want to go back to the Crowne Plaza we booked a night at a cute little B&B in a cool area just outside of downtown Auckland called Ponsonby. You can check out the site at: http://www.greatpons.co.nz
We dropped our stuff off, had a cup of tea, chatted with the owner a bit, and then headed out the door to walk around downtown and get some dinner. We walked around the Marina area, stopped for drinks at a russian bar called Lenin, walked up to the Sky Tower, and then had dinner at a place called Degree. The dinner was really neat because you get to cook your own meat on a hot (and I mean REALLY hot) stone that they bring to your table. All in all in was a nice evening and I enjoyed holding hands and strolling around the city a bit. I love the fresh smell of being near the ocean. We headed back and now we are holed up in our cozy room, watching TV, and listening to the rain coming down outside.
I can't believe I paid money to cook my own food on a hot rock. Will someone check my head when I get home? In spite of that, it was some of the best chicken I have had in a long time. Maybe I should start cooking all my food on a hot rock.
So that it from New Zealand. More when we get to Oz.
Next stop, Sydney, Australia!!
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Getting Started in New Zealand
Text by Sabrina Comments by Chad
SUNDAY
We dropped Drifter off with Jon and Alicia and crossed our fingers hoping that she will be a good dog while we're away. We stopped at BurgerMaster for grilled cheese sandwiches (we wanted a good last meal in case our plane dropped into the Pacific never to be seen again) before heading home and finishing up the packing. Jim and Sue dropped us off at the airport and we were on our way!
The flight to New Zealand took forever! We flew from Seattle to LA, and then LA to Sydney. At the airport in Sydney we had already traveled for 24 hours and still had to get to Auckland. Needless to say sleeping on the flight over was not easy. The lady sitting next to me did not seem to have a problem though - she was a walking pharmacy and spent the majority of the flight popping various pills she seemed to pull out from all sorts of pockets in her purse. When she wasn't passed out next to me, she was talking my ears off about her round the world trips she takes to buy horses. Chad luckily had a woman sitting next to him who appeared to be about 99 years old. I didn't sleep a wink and Qantas' in flight entertainment was on the blink, so I couldn't watch any of the 100's of movies in the guide. They showed a couple movies but it was hard to catch them at the start. The guy in front of me also laid back so far, I couldn't even drink a cup of water without getting his hair wet, so I couldn't open my laptop or read a book.
MONDAY
Who knows where Monday went!
TUESDAY
We landed in Sydney in the early morning and waited at the airport for our flight to Auckland. All of this went smoothly and our luggage arrived without any problems. We hopped into our rental car and headed to the city centre to find our hotel. They drive on the left hand side here in NZ. I have never done this in all my travels to England, so I was kind of looking forward to trying it. It is a lot harder than I thought. When you learn to drive on the right, and then drive on the left, you have to think about everything you do. They moved the turn indicator to the other side of the steering column, you have to look in the opposite way for traffic when you turn. And as Sabrina has reminded me a couple hundred times, I let the car drift to the left. It made the drive around Auckland a little scary and very tense. Our original plan was to stay at the Crowne Plaza the entire time in New Zealand and to spend our time site seeing around the city and surrounding area. This plan did not last 24 hours since I had a complete melt-down and Chad had to check us out of the hotel. The first hotel room had two double beds and was the most depressing place I have ever seen. I told Chad it looked like the kind of hotel room you would want to have when you were planning on offing yourself. We weren't two thrilled with the two small beds seeing that it is our honeymoon, so Chad went down to the front desk and requested another room. The new room had a better bed, but was gross and dirty. The carpets were filthy, the cover on the bed was stained with blood and other random, unknown stuff, and the sheets and pillow had strange peoples hair on them. GROSS!!! I don't need fancy (I will camp any day of the week) but I do need clean. The next morning Chad thought we should pack our stuff and head out of Auckland. I had to go down to the front desk 4 times to try and find a decent room. The last time, I decided I might have to kill someone in the hotel to get a clean room. No one makes my wife cry on our honeymoon.
WEDNESDAY
We got up, had breakfast, and decided to drive to the town of Rotorua. Leanne (our wedding photographer) is a native Kiwi and suggested this as a good place to visit. Boy was she right. The drive from Auckland took about 3 hours and was beautiful. New Zealand is beautiful. We got to Rotorua, which is a nice sized city located on a very picturesque lake, and checked into our hotel. Clean and nice - Thank God! It was time for lunch, so we went to Fat Dog Cafe in downtown Rotorua. The place was great. Very eclectic and the food was really good. Fresh breads, veg, and meat. They made a chicken sandwich that was a work of art. We walked around town, checked out the visitors center, and the headed back to our hotel for a dinner and show of the native Mauri people. The meal is called Hangi and is cooked with steam that comes up from the ground. Rotorua is a geothermal area with natural hot springs and geysers. Steam can be seen coming up through the ground all over the place. The dinner was fun and the show afterwards was great. They asked Chad to play the visiting Chief, so he got to get on stage and be part of the show. He made quite an impressive Chief and even got to rub noses with the Mauri women at the end of the show. I got to get on stage to learn a native dance womens' dance and Chad got to learn something called Haka - which is the presentation of the warriors before going into battle. There is a lot of eye rolling, knee slapping, and sticking out of the tongue with the Haka. If you know me, you know I can't dance, so guess how this went. I am lucky I didn't fall over and take out the whole stage.
THURSDAY
This morning we had breakfast in bed and then headed to the Rotorua Art and History Museum. Check it out here: www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz
After the museum we stopped at McDonald's and grabbed a quick lunch. I know some of you may wonder why McDonald's when we rarely even eat there in the states, but there is a good reason. McDonald's in New Zealand has something called a Kiwi burger and I really wanted to try something I couldn't have at home. Don't worry, it's not actually made out of kiwi the fruit, or kiwi the bird. It is a regular hamburger, the only difference is that it comes with beets on it. New Zealanders (and I've heard Australians too) love to put beets on their food. It's fine with me since I like beets, I can't say Chad has the same enthusiasm. I don't eat beats on my salad, why would I sully my burger with them? I had a Big Mac, which was just like home.
After lunch we went to Whakarewarewa - a thermal village. Check it out here: www.whakarewarewa.com
This is one of the coolest places I've ever seen. It stinks! The Mauri people who live here work hard to preserve their culture and it is fascinating to see how they live on top of these thermal geysers. Cause it stinks like matches and farts all the time. There is steam every where that you walk and the smell is not the best. That is being nice. It is really the worst smell that didn't come from a sewage plant. I did get to try corn on the cob that is cooked in the geyser water - it was very tasty. We had a terrific tour guide who's family has lived in the village for several generations. It seemed like everybody who passed by our tour group was either a cousin or an auntie - talk about close family ties! The guide was a great guy and funny too. It is interesting to have someone show you around an area that they actually live in. Especially when the whole village smells like matches and farts and he acts like it smells like roses.
Our next stop was the Skyline Skyrides - a gondola that takes you to the top of the mountain with beautiful views of Rotorua and the lake. Check it out at: www.skylineskyrides.co.nz
They have luge rides at the top. At first I was hesitant to go, but once I got started I had a blast. Once you luge down to the bottom you hop on a chair lift and head back to the top to do it all over again. I could have gone all day! By the time we were finished the sun had set and we got back on the gondola for the ride down with moonlit view of the area.
After a great dinner and a quick stop at the store we headed back to the hotel room to write this post. We ate at a place called Lone Star, which we decided was the NZ take on America, like Outback is the US take on Australia. The food was good, but some of the menu items would never be found in a Texas restaurant. They also had something that I have never found in a Texas restaurant, good service!
Tomorrow we're headed to the town of Napier which is on the coast and in the New Zealand wine area. Three of my favorite things - the ocean, wine, and my Chad all together. It doesn't get much better than that! So far NZ is great. We have really enjoyed the people, the food, and the scenery. The hotel in Auckland is the lone set back, but I think that actually made the trip better. Getting out of Auckland has been a great turn of events. I do hope to have a day there so we can see the big sites.
Soon I will be posting some pictures, if I can figure out how to get Blogger to work.
SUNDAY
We dropped Drifter off with Jon and Alicia and crossed our fingers hoping that she will be a good dog while we're away. We stopped at BurgerMaster for grilled cheese sandwiches (we wanted a good last meal in case our plane dropped into the Pacific never to be seen again) before heading home and finishing up the packing. Jim and Sue dropped us off at the airport and we were on our way!
The flight to New Zealand took forever! We flew from Seattle to LA, and then LA to Sydney. At the airport in Sydney we had already traveled for 24 hours and still had to get to Auckland. Needless to say sleeping on the flight over was not easy. The lady sitting next to me did not seem to have a problem though - she was a walking pharmacy and spent the majority of the flight popping various pills she seemed to pull out from all sorts of pockets in her purse. When she wasn't passed out next to me, she was talking my ears off about her round the world trips she takes to buy horses. Chad luckily had a woman sitting next to him who appeared to be about 99 years old. I didn't sleep a wink and Qantas' in flight entertainment was on the blink, so I couldn't watch any of the 100's of movies in the guide. They showed a couple movies but it was hard to catch them at the start. The guy in front of me also laid back so far, I couldn't even drink a cup of water without getting his hair wet, so I couldn't open my laptop or read a book.
MONDAY
Who knows where Monday went!
TUESDAY
We landed in Sydney in the early morning and waited at the airport for our flight to Auckland. All of this went smoothly and our luggage arrived without any problems. We hopped into our rental car and headed to the city centre to find our hotel. They drive on the left hand side here in NZ. I have never done this in all my travels to England, so I was kind of looking forward to trying it. It is a lot harder than I thought. When you learn to drive on the right, and then drive on the left, you have to think about everything you do. They moved the turn indicator to the other side of the steering column, you have to look in the opposite way for traffic when you turn. And as Sabrina has reminded me a couple hundred times, I let the car drift to the left. It made the drive around Auckland a little scary and very tense. Our original plan was to stay at the Crowne Plaza the entire time in New Zealand and to spend our time site seeing around the city and surrounding area. This plan did not last 24 hours since I had a complete melt-down and Chad had to check us out of the hotel. The first hotel room had two double beds and was the most depressing place I have ever seen. I told Chad it looked like the kind of hotel room you would want to have when you were planning on offing yourself. We weren't two thrilled with the two small beds seeing that it is our honeymoon, so Chad went down to the front desk and requested another room. The new room had a better bed, but was gross and dirty. The carpets were filthy, the cover on the bed was stained with blood and other random, unknown stuff, and the sheets and pillow had strange peoples hair on them. GROSS!!! I don't need fancy (I will camp any day of the week) but I do need clean. The next morning Chad thought we should pack our stuff and head out of Auckland. I had to go down to the front desk 4 times to try and find a decent room. The last time, I decided I might have to kill someone in the hotel to get a clean room. No one makes my wife cry on our honeymoon.
WEDNESDAY
We got up, had breakfast, and decided to drive to the town of Rotorua. Leanne (our wedding photographer) is a native Kiwi and suggested this as a good place to visit. Boy was she right. The drive from Auckland took about 3 hours and was beautiful. New Zealand is beautiful. We got to Rotorua, which is a nice sized city located on a very picturesque lake, and checked into our hotel. Clean and nice - Thank God! It was time for lunch, so we went to Fat Dog Cafe in downtown Rotorua. The place was great. Very eclectic and the food was really good. Fresh breads, veg, and meat. They made a chicken sandwich that was a work of art. We walked around town, checked out the visitors center, and the headed back to our hotel for a dinner and show of the native Mauri people. The meal is called Hangi and is cooked with steam that comes up from the ground. Rotorua is a geothermal area with natural hot springs and geysers. Steam can be seen coming up through the ground all over the place. The dinner was fun and the show afterwards was great. They asked Chad to play the visiting Chief, so he got to get on stage and be part of the show. He made quite an impressive Chief and even got to rub noses with the Mauri women at the end of the show. I got to get on stage to learn a native dance womens' dance and Chad got to learn something called Haka - which is the presentation of the warriors before going into battle. There is a lot of eye rolling, knee slapping, and sticking out of the tongue with the Haka. If you know me, you know I can't dance, so guess how this went. I am lucky I didn't fall over and take out the whole stage.
THURSDAY
This morning we had breakfast in bed and then headed to the Rotorua Art and History Museum. Check it out here: www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz
After the museum we stopped at McDonald's and grabbed a quick lunch. I know some of you may wonder why McDonald's when we rarely even eat there in the states, but there is a good reason. McDonald's in New Zealand has something called a Kiwi burger and I really wanted to try something I couldn't have at home. Don't worry, it's not actually made out of kiwi the fruit, or kiwi the bird. It is a regular hamburger, the only difference is that it comes with beets on it. New Zealanders (and I've heard Australians too) love to put beets on their food. It's fine with me since I like beets, I can't say Chad has the same enthusiasm. I don't eat beats on my salad, why would I sully my burger with them? I had a Big Mac, which was just like home.
After lunch we went to Whakarewarewa - a thermal village. Check it out here: www.whakarewarewa.com
This is one of the coolest places I've ever seen. It stinks! The Mauri people who live here work hard to preserve their culture and it is fascinating to see how they live on top of these thermal geysers. Cause it stinks like matches and farts all the time. There is steam every where that you walk and the smell is not the best. That is being nice. It is really the worst smell that didn't come from a sewage plant. I did get to try corn on the cob that is cooked in the geyser water - it was very tasty. We had a terrific tour guide who's family has lived in the village for several generations. It seemed like everybody who passed by our tour group was either a cousin or an auntie - talk about close family ties! The guide was a great guy and funny too. It is interesting to have someone show you around an area that they actually live in. Especially when the whole village smells like matches and farts and he acts like it smells like roses.
Our next stop was the Skyline Skyrides - a gondola that takes you to the top of the mountain with beautiful views of Rotorua and the lake. Check it out at: www.skylineskyrides.co.nz
They have luge rides at the top. At first I was hesitant to go, but once I got started I had a blast. Once you luge down to the bottom you hop on a chair lift and head back to the top to do it all over again. I could have gone all day! By the time we were finished the sun had set and we got back on the gondola for the ride down with moonlit view of the area.
After a great dinner and a quick stop at the store we headed back to the hotel room to write this post. We ate at a place called Lone Star, which we decided was the NZ take on America, like Outback is the US take on Australia. The food was good, but some of the menu items would never be found in a Texas restaurant. They also had something that I have never found in a Texas restaurant, good service!
Tomorrow we're headed to the town of Napier which is on the coast and in the New Zealand wine area. Three of my favorite things - the ocean, wine, and my Chad all together. It doesn't get much better than that! So far NZ is great. We have really enjoyed the people, the food, and the scenery. The hotel in Auckland is the lone set back, but I think that actually made the trip better. Getting out of Auckland has been a great turn of events. I do hope to have a day there so we can see the big sites.
Soon I will be posting some pictures, if I can figure out how to get Blogger to work.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Getting Ready
We are only a couple hours away from heading to the airport, but I wanted to get this blog started so I won't forget.
Hopefully you will all find our posts interesting, funny and full of beautiful pictures.
I think we have just about everything ready to go. Gas turned off, everything unplugged, dog put down, everything packed, lets hit the road.
See you on the other side of the world.
Hopefully you will all find our posts interesting, funny and full of beautiful pictures.
I think we have just about everything ready to go. Gas turned off, everything unplugged, dog put down, everything packed, lets hit the road.
See you on the other side of the world.
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