Melissa's Idea Garden

Well things are winding down. It is hard to believe we have been gone from home for over 4 weeks. But it really doesn't seem like it has been so long. The time has been flying by.

We had a lovely flight from Invercargill to Christchurch and then onto Sydney. Customs wasn't so bad and we really are becoming pros at handling the massive amounts of luggage.

We are staying at the Hilton Sydney in an executive suite. The rooms and service are excellent, though the suites aren't really meant for family accomodations.

We are right across from Queen Victoria Building and in the basement there is a food court. It is nice because the kids can get things from McDonald's and Daniel and I can have food like sushi and Indian...

Unfortunately, I had a headache all day yesterday and didn't do much except lay around and nap. Finally, I made myself go outside with Katrina. We went in search first of the swimming pool, but it is part of a health club and while we can use it, when we went down, all the lanes were filled with lap swimmers. So we walked to Darling Harbor and found a little playground, but it was really more for toddlers. The walk out did us good though, as my headache finally began to drift away.

We played some cards and turned in early.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:26 PM | Permalink

Today was an awesome day! We checked out of our hotel around 9. Then we headed to the Te Anau Wildlife Center. We took a walk through the woods. We also learned about and photographed some of the local birds. Some pictures are below. For more, you can go to this Flickr link.

Unfortunately it was to cloudy to fully appreciate the beauty of Lake Te Anau, which is the largest lake on the South Island, but what we did see was beautiful and serene.

We grabbed brekky and lunch from the local supermarket and then drove to Invercargill. It was only a 2 hour drive and we saw sheep, cows, deer and a little rain. The land grew flatter and flatter.

We checked into our hotel and it was a welcome place to visit. We each had our own room. The way the hotel was set up was there was a main door, then off of that two doors each leading to a bedroom. Each bedroom had a bathroom, tv, tons of space, and some kitchen facilities. After all of our togetherness, you could practically hear the rejoicing as we each went into our own rooms...

As you can see Daniel was thrilled with the accomodations!

After we got settled in, we left the room about 2:30 and headed toward Bluff. By going to Bluff and through it to Stirling Point we found oursleves on the southernmost point of New Zealand. Great opportunity for photos!

The Lord blessed us with beautiful weather today. We took lots of photos, and we walked out on the rocks off of the shore. We took photos of 2 lighthouses. We collected seashells. We hiked along an ocean walk and then part way up the bluff. Daniel and Katrina finished the hike up, while Jack and I hiked back to the car and drove to the top of the bluff for pictures. We were afraid darkness was going to come on before we made it back to the carpark. Check out this Flickr link for more Bluff photos.

To end our day, we went to Hell for pizza...boy did we have fun making jokes about that! And they have awesome pizza!!!!!

Hell Pizza - sizzling hot!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:34 PM | Permalink

Today we got up slowly. Daniel was tired and had a few complaining muscles after yesterday's adventure. Katrina and I were ready first, so we even got to get in an extra game of pool. When I was growing up, we had a pool table in our basement and I would spend hours there. I am not as good as I was back then, but it was still a lot of fun to play.

We left Fox Glacier around 10:00 and began the long drive to Te Anau (without stops, it was a 6 hour drive). Along the way we stopped several times to take photographs of amazing views. It rained off and on in between bouts of sunshine.

We saw sheep, cows, deer. We walked along the Tasman Sea and found some beautiful rocks and loads of driftwood. We saw green fields, icy crags, and rolling hills/mountains covered with everything from Evergreens to tufts of grass. We drove through valleys, admired rivers, streams, and waterfalls, and saw a rainbow. And we took photos of rain in a valley below, then later drove through those patches of rain.

We checked into the Fiordland Hotel into a family suite. It was clean and pleasant, very 'no frills'.

We ate dinner at a restaurant called The Ranch. I had New Zealand venison on wild mushrooms). The restaurant had an American West theme and it was packed with people! There were paintings of Native Americans on the walls as well as a painting of the Magnificent Seven. Kind of made us feel like we were at home.

After dinner, the kids and I went to check out the 'solar heated' pool. And believe me, they weren't talking about solar panels. The kids turned into popsicles the instant they hit the water. But the spa was wonderful and very warm! They also enjoyed jumping on the trampoline in the kids play yard area. Then we played Kings in the corner and Katrina and I practiced our bubble blowing skills.

What can I say? We were looking for a new diversion!

But seriously, we saw a lot of beautiful countryside today and of course took a ton of photos. Here are some. The rest are on Flickr.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 1:56 PM | Permalink

Today we got up and guess what? It was raining! We had about a three hour drive from Greymouth to Fox Glacier. A couple of times we saw tops of snow covered mountains, the rest of the time we saw green, rain, fog, cows, and sheep.

We arrived in Fox Glacier before lunch. Daniel and Jack signed up to go on a 4 hour guided hike of Fox Glacier. Katrina and I stayed behind. We played a couple of games of pool at the hotel and then we went back to the room. Katrina watched TV and played Runescape. I got caught up on computer stuff.

The whole time Daniel and Jack were gone, it rained, and I am talking soaking, solid rain. They had been provided with rain gear and boots for the hike, but they still came home looking like drenched rats. They had an awesome time, however. They said they had to climb over 700 steps cut into the glacier and that their guide was from Iceland. Not sure if Daniel has posted the videos yet, but they took some videos and photos during their adventure.

As a side note, the constant rain caused Daniel's really nice camera to stop working. Fortunately, another hiker had the same camera and had had the same problem in the past - so he told Daniel to take the camera apart when he got back to the room and put it in a nice dry spot. Well, we had electric radiators and Daniel was able to create a nice warm environment for his camera and it is back to perfect working order (just something to remember should you ever run into that kind of problem).

We did one load of laundry - and it went smoothly! That was a nice change!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 1:46 PM | Permalink

Not too much to speak of on the 14th and 15th. We left Nelson amidst a rainstorm. We drove to Greymouth. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived and we just hung out. We decided to do laundry the next morning and that fiasco ended up taking us 5 hours to complete because of one bad dryer. I am really hating laundry on this trip!

So, after that, we took a walk along the wall which has been built between the river and the town to help prevent flooding. And that was about all we did the whole time we were in Greymouth. We were all feeling kind of grey...

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:17 AM | Permalink

Today was a fun day. We got up early and headed to the Ferry Terminal. We needed to be ready to board at 7:40 a.m. and we were all good to go by 7 or so. The Interislander is the ferry we rode on and it was huge! There were 10 decks. There was a playground (think big McDonald's playground) on the second deck, along with two movie cinemas and a cafe. Cars, trucks, RVs, were parked on decks 3 and 5. On deck 7, there was a family room with a couple of tv screens (one news, one cartoons), some video games and a few toys, plus plenty of seating and big windows for looking out, a cafe, a reclining room (chairs like you would see on an airplane, but nicer), and a small store. Then on Deck 8, there was another reclining lounge, a food court, and a restaurant. On deck 9 there were passenger cabins. On Deck 10 there was an observation/sun deck. Quite nice! I had never been on such a large ship before. It was really cool and the three hours flew by!

We landed in Picton and picked up a new rental car and had lunch at the Dog and Frog (no kidding!). The food was great!. Picton is a quaint little seaside town and it looked a lot like Mayberry. Only about 12,000 inhabitants. The water was so beautiful - it was turquoise.

Here is a picture or two.

After lunch in Picton, we took the scenic route to Nelson over a very crooked mountain road, with amazing views!!!

We arrived in Nelson at the Airport Greens Motel. We were met by a lovely lady and her baby. She and her hubby were running the motel while her parents were on holiday. It was one of the most reasonably priced places we have stayed at on the whole trip and they were so very friendly. They made us feel like they were really glad we were there.

While we have been here, there has been a story evolving over a missing two year old girl. They found her in a drain pipe where she apparently got into and drowned. Very sad and our hearts go out to the family.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:57 PM | Permalink

Today, we left the hotel a little before 10:00. Our first stop was a nearby laundry business that the hotel directed us to. While they offer laundry service at the hotel, the cost is by piece of clothing (for example: $9/pair of pants). This was not going to work for us, so we looked for a place that charged by the load. Well, we plugged the address into our GPS, Golem. But Golem pulled one of his normal stunts and told us we were there, when in fact, we were about 1 mile from where we needed to be. I got out with the three bags of laundry, thinking it was just a little way to go, and I kept asking in stores and being told it was just over there, then I would keep going and before I knew it I had walked about a mile, my arms were breaking and for my troubles, I was told that the place I was looking for had closed last month!!! The lady that told me that, then got out the phonebook and found a couple of other addresses for me before I began my trek back. Fortunately, Daniel had come looking for me in the car, so I didn't have to walk all the way back. We decided the laundry could wait one more day.....

Next we headed to Central Park because Katrina and Jack were keen to show their dad the Flying Fox ride and Katrina was really wanting just some playtime. The Flying Fox is an awesome zipline and the kids had a blast on it. I have some video and when I have better internet, I'll try and post some of these videos I have made. I did get some pictures of the kids climbing around.

After that, we headed to the Sheepskin Warehouse. In Australia, Katrina and I got some opal jewelry, that was our 'big' souvenir from there. Then here, we wanted something made from sheep (since they are everywhere. Katrina got some lovely boots and I am happy with my slippers. Plus I got a sheep wool steering wool cover to keep my hands nice and toasty warm!

Then we went to the TePapa Museum. This is a large museum and covers topics from all over New Zealand. Our favorite exhibits were the Colossal Squid (we saw the squid, watched a 3-D video about a squid and made our own squid that we can check out online), the Earthquake House (whole lot of shaking going on!) The volcano videos, the Golden Days movie with an animated junk store(golden days of New Zealand), and the native carvings.

And just so you know, you can make your own squid and follow its travels! It's great fun! And you can even make more than one!

I only took a couple of photos at the museum. I loved the carvings/wooden statues.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:12 PM | Permalink

Today we set off on a tour that included Lord of The Ring(LOTR) filming sights, a seal colony, a winery and other opportunities to see the scenery and lay of the land. This ended up being about a 10 hour tour and is the last one we are signed up for during our big adventure. The tours have been great ways to learn a lot and to have someone else drive so we don't have to go through the headaches of driving and figuring out where stuff was. Our tour was a small one today, only 8 people.

In the morning we visited several sites where scenes from the various LOTR movies had been filmed. Of course, there is nothing left of the elaborate sets, but it was still kind of neat to see where things had been. We saw where Helms Deep had been built (at a quarry), where Rivendell had been built, where Legolas stood guard on the way into Rivendell, the tree that the Orcs danced around, the field that Gandalf took off through on his way to visit Saraman (sp?) and the pillars that they walked by during their talk, where Frodo, Sam, and the others hid from the Ring Wraith under the roots of a tree (the roots were built out of styrofoam, but the forest was real), and we saw the white cliffs that the Fellowship passes after putting their canoes in the water. Here are photos of what the places look like now:

Hiding from the Ring Wraith.

Rivendell was built just past the bend in the river under the electrical pole.

The area where Legolas stood guarding the way to Rivendell.

The white cliffs that you see behind the Fellowship of the Ring after they put their canoes into the water

After lunch at a Cafe in Featherston, we crossed a mountain pass. The scenery was beautiful and there was gorse and broom everywhere (broom is the yellow flower that reminded me of forsythia). I spent part of my time looking at the scenery and part with my hands over my eyes. There were several times I wasn't sure that our tour bus was going to make the sharp curve...I was sure we were going hurtling off the road. I was so glad when we got down from the mountain!

Next we took a coastal road out to a seal colony. It holds the distinction of being the furthest north colony in New Zealand that breeds and lives here all year long. The road out was a bit treacherous. Our guide showed us where the road had been eroding away due to ocean action and where a house had been pushed into the sea when the sea took away the land underneath it. And then there were the rocks on the road that had fallen down from the bank on the left.

Then we got to the seal colony. We loved watching the seals on the rocks, the baby seals chasing each other, and some swimming in the protected pond. The longer you looked, the more you saw. And Katrina and I found shells! That was one of the things I really wanted to do on this trip, but I had been unsuccessful so far. I was so tickled to find all of these lovely and, to me, unusual shells!

After the seals, we drove back up the crumbling road, across the curvy mountain and over to Mount Victoria where we took some pictures of Wellington and visited a memorial to Admiral Byrd.

A view of Wellington>

On our day out, Katrina and I took 274 photos! I deleted close to 100 of them and then chose out the 48 I liked best. If you want to see the ones I didn't put here, you can check them out on Flickr.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:38 AM | Permalink

Only 13 more days left before we return to the U.S. That is so hard to believe.

We got checked out of the Chateau around 9:30, had breakfast, and then began the trek towards Wellington. It was a 4 1/2 hour drive. We were suprised to learn that roads to the east of the mountain were closed due to the snow. As we drove along, we saw rain, snow, sun and clouds. A little bit of everything! We arrived in Wellington and got checked into the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor. After getting settled, Katrina and I wandered around a bit looking in stores and scoping out the area restaurants. We ended up ordering Pizza from Pizza King (very good) and now we are watching a little TV before turning in. So far this evening, we have watched Spiderwick Chronicles, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, America's Funniest Home Videos, and Barnyard. Tomorrow we have a tour of some Lord of the Ring sites and a Seal Colony. Should be fun!

Here are a few photos from our drive today.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I took some pictures after we left Waiotapu and headed to Tongariro, but forgot to put them in the last post (which was long enough anywaye, so here are those photos!

So on to October 9th....

Today ended up being an unexpected day off. Since Daniel and Jack couldn't hike, we just ended up entertaining ourself around the Chateau.

We woke up around 8:20 and were ready to head out at about 9:40. We walked across the street to the historic Ferguson's Cafe. Then we visited the Whakapapa Visitor Center. We spent some time there learning about the area, the volcano, the possum (which is a pest here in NZ), and other interesting things.

Then back to the chateau. Time to gather laundry and catch up on it. It took about 3 hours (only one dryer was working, so it took a long time to get all the clothes dry), but I enjoyed writing postcards while I waited. Then Katrina and I watched "Home on the Range" in the Chateau Theater. After dinner in the Pihanga Cafe, Daniel, Katrina, Jack and I visited the library and played some cards and backgammon. Then Katrina, Jack and I went to visit the pool, but we didn't stay long. It was heated, which was nice. It was about 3 feet deep. It was in the basement and a definite add in...they had found a corner, poured some concrete walls and added water. It was in a corner and was dark and claustrophobic feeling.

So Katrina and I got dressed and went to the library. We enjoyed reading a book in front of the fireplace and drinking a cup of hot cocoa. It was an awesome way to spend an evening!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:55 AM | Permalink

Woke up at 8:22 this morning, then showered. We headed down to the included breakfast buffet. It was awesome! A couple of interesting items, there was fried, battered fish on the buffet, cloudy apple juice (looks more like pear juice to me), and 'kidneys' which looked like mushrooms to me, but there were mushrooms in another container... And of course kiwi!

We packed up and left about 10:30. Before checking out, we looked at the sulphur flats/bird sanctuary behind our hotel:

We drove about 30 kilometers, then stopped to visit Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. I took a bunch of pictures here, but not many showed up well, so go check out the website. We spent a couple of hours on the walk here and we enjoyed seeing and learning about this active geothermal area which was full of bubbling mud pits, water that was 212 degrees, and the beautifully colored pools (colored by minerals). Out of the photos I took, some of the best were ones of the kids. Jack would race ahead to a bench, sit down and pretend to be a statue, then Katrina would come along and strike a pose with the statue. Those pictures and a few others are below.

After a visit to the souvenir shop, we got back on the road. We were headed to the Whakapapa Village where the Chateau Tongariro rests on Mount Ruahepu.

Unfortunately, weather was moving in and we couldn't see much of anything. The mountain/volcano behind the Chateau was hidden in fog and clouds. Daniel and Jack had to cancel their planned hike on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing because of the weather. Snow was expected overnight along with gale force winds. Ice equipment was required to take the hike. It just wasn't good conditions for people not used to that kind of situation. Daniel was really bummed.

We got checked into this beautiful and historic Chateau. We had a family room. It was a bit...shall we say cramped? But, considering this building is over 80 years old, and that most people who come spend their free time hanging out in the very beautiful lobby, it wasn't surprising. We told them at least it was bigger than a room we shared in France with Bruce and Charles (they had to climb over our bed to get into theirs).

We had stopped at Burger King for the kids around 4:30. So Daniel and I made reservations in the Ruahepu Dining Room. We had to get out dress clothes to go. The dining room was beautiful and elegant and the food was amazing (I have a video of the Chateau which I hope to share sometime). I honestly thought my tongue had tied and gone to heaven! After dinner, Daniel and I walked through the lobby a bit. The plush chairs, piano player, snooker table, fireplaces, library, tables for chess/checkers and backgammon were all welcoming and designed to please the guests.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:16 AM | Permalink

We arrived in New Zealand today. It was so nice that we didn't have to get up until 5:30...way better than 2 a.m. We arrived at the airport at 7:30 and then the going to another country ordeal - customs out of Australia, we were in lines for over an hour, then we had a hike to the gate, then we had about 30 minutes to find a place to eat. By the time we found a place, stood in line and got our food, we had 10 minutes to eat before going to the gate. Then the plane ended up boarding 20 minutes late! That will teach us to rush!

The plane was very plush! We had complimentary headsets, comfortable eats, had our own monitor and we could choose from movies, music, games, tv and learning about NZ. I watched 3 episodes of Boston Legal. The legal part is a bit of a stretch from what little I know, but I enjoyed watching William Shatner.

We were served lunch (with chocolate ice cream). there were pillows and a candy was handed out when we landed. Cupholders were on the seat in front of us next to the monitor, which made it way easier to hold onto your drink and not spill it. The only down side was the older gent sitting next to me who kept his elbow in my side pretty much the whole trip.

So we landed at the Auckland aiport at about 2:30:

We then spent 90 minutes in lines. First we had to get approved by the customs guy. He verified that we were who our passports said we were. Then we had to get past another lady who asked us questions about our customs forms. Then we had to go through quarantine as Jack and Daniel had freeze dried food with them for hiking and Daniel had hiking boots with him and Katrina had collected a few shells in Australia. We were inspected and cleared, then our bags had to be x-rayed. Finally, we got the rental car. It took us a while to get out of Auckland though because of rush hour traffic and construction.

We grabbed food from Subway (I had a lamb sub sandwich) and from McDonald's, then we headed to Rotura. The countryside is a lot like home. There are rolling hills, cows, sheep, pastures, lakes and everything here is green. It is more beautiful than home though - more untouched and
'natural'. Other things we noticed on our drive were that the yucca plants here are huge! They are 5-6 feet tall and wider than I am with my arms outstretched. We also noticed a hich concentration of livestock per acre. At home you would see maybe 20 cows in a spot where you would see 80 here. And there were huge piles of tires.

Here is one photo that I took on the drive to Rotorua.

We found Sudima Hotel around 8 p.m. After we got checked in, Katrina and I headed to the heated pool. It was naturally heated and the temperature range was 88-97. It was in a building, but the roof overhead was a partial one so that we could look out into the sky. When Katrina and I arrived, there was a boy of about 12 in the pool. We talked with him for a bit, then a father and 2 sons came in.

We struck up a conversation and it was almost 2 hours before I was able to get away. He gave me lots of information (information overload), but I know his goal was to help people enjoy his country.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:48 AM | Permalink

Just wanted to chime in and say that we are doing well and are currently touching base in Sydney. Yesterday, we spent the day packing up (trying to rearrange luggage so it will be easier to sort as we are traveling through NZ. Most places we will only stay one night). We also had to get to bed early as we had to get up at 2 a.m. because we had a taxi coming at 3:30 a.m. to take us to the airport for a flight that left Cairns at 5:45 a.m. and arrived in Sydney at 9:45 a.m.

We are checked in here at Sydney and it is just another low key day. Some more rearranging of the luggage and we were able to leave two bags with the Hilton where we will be staying in two weeks when we return from NZ. That much less to lug around for the next couple of weeks:) YEAH!

Tomorrow, we have a 9:30 flight to NZ and will be there for 12 days. Not sure how much we will be online during that time. We will touch base when we can.

And I leave you with these pictures to show what happens when people start buying hats to protect themselves from the sun....

Jack models Daniel's two hats, my hat, Jack's two hats, and Katrina's hat.

Katrina models her hat, my hat, and Daniel's two hats.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:33 PM | Permalink

Today was absolutely spectacular! We were up at 5 (today, Katrina was the one who was the hardest to get out of bed). In spite of the fact that we were ready to leave at 6:35 a.m., it was still 6:50 by the time we got downstairs to the vehicle and out of the building. It was like old home week when we got to the Tusa 5. There were several crew members there today who had been there on Friday and they were all pleased to see us back again. Considering the number of people that take their tours, it was nice to be remembered.

I just want to take a moment here and say that Australians are excellent at customer service and people back in the States should take some lessons. They make a real effort to learn the names of the people on the tours. We had a snack at a cafe after we got off of the boat and one of the ladies came and talked to us and asked us how our vacation was going, where we were from, what we had been up to and before we left she gave us a coupon for a complimentary drink with lunch should we come back. This is pretty indicative of the courtesy we have been extended everywhere in this country. It makes such a big difference to walk into a store, onto a tour, and have people treat you like you are more than just a customer. The funny thing is that here in Australia the minimum wage is twice what it is at home, and people here don't expect tips. But their service is so supreme, we have found ourselves giving tips on several occasions. I just can't stress enough what a wonderful experience it has been to be here and how wonderfully we have been treated.

Now, back to today. We knew our way around the ship today and it was nice to be able to help others when we saw them stuck or looking for something. We settled in and the ride today was calmer than Friday's. I didn't see anyone get sick.

We arrived at today's first spot on the reef and were given 2 hours to snorkel. It was absolutely amazing! We saw so many cool fish and other ocean life! I didn't want to get out at the end of two hours (but I was a little cold). Then we had lunch, a reef lesson, and we were off to another site where we got to snorkel and dive for an hour. If possible, it was more spectacular than the first site. There were these amazing canyons among the coral. I could have spent hours there, but we had to leave.

During our two dives, I saw a stingray, 4 giant clams, and a green sea turtle (I followed him along for about 10 minutes), and tons of other sea life. The kids saw the clams, but missed the turtle and stingray and weren't very happy with me.

Today, we took photos with our underwater camera, but it is 35 mm film and it will be a while before we get it printed. But the photographer was awesome and got some good photos of all of us which I am going to share with you. They also provide pictures of oceanlife on the reef and I will share a couple of those too for fun! Today was soooooo awesome!!!!!!

The Markham clan at 7:40 a.m.

An enthusiastic Yumi - today's activity director.

Daniel is suited up and ready to dive!



Daniel is having fun diving!

Katrina is really a fish!

Jack really got into the snorkeling!



Katrina never misses an opportunity to be in front of the camera!

Here is one of the giant clams I saw! It is huge! I bet as big as a normal size dining room table!



Jack at the second site

The photographer caught up with Melissa at the second dive site

Katrina made a friend on the boat. Lillee from Canaberra, Australia.



This looks like the sea turtle that I wam behind for several minutes.

Watching these creatures in their natural environment. Being part of their world was one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced. The feeling of being totally alone, the thrill of swimming through schools of fish, the joy of watching these fish swim about and eat - all of it is indescribable and I will remember it forever!

So today, I drove us home. I did quite well, except everytime I wanted to turn, I kept turning on the windshield wipers (they are on opposite sides of the steering wheels here). Daniel took a couple of photos to commemorate the occasion...

Melissa driving on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road and getting away with it!

Jack's response to the knowledge that his mom is driving!(Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jack!)

On the way home, we snapped this photo...I am telling you Australians think of everything! Tired of your family? Got family that just won't go away? Just call the Family Removal Service!

Hope you have enjoyed this lengthy presentation!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On this trip, we have experienced pretty much every mode of transportation: cars, 4WD SUV, 4WD tourist coach, buses, subways/monorails, trains, planes, ships, sky cable cars, and trolleys. We could be in a remake of the movie classic Trains, Planes and Automobilles!

So today, we were off on a great tour! We were picked up at 7:45 and driven to the Fairweather Station. Once there, we were checked in and given our tickets for the train. We were in carriage 9, seats 45-48. The Kuranda Scenic Train was something that Australians we met in Alice Springs were telling us we really must do. And that was lucky for us as we had booked this trip months ago. The train ride took about 1 1/2 hours to take us from Freshwater Station to the village of Kuranda. We drove through rain forest (which was fun to drive though, but probably even prettier during the rainy season). Here are some photos from our train journey.

Melissa looking out of the train.

At one point, we were on Horse Shoe Bend. We could see the front of the train and the back of it! Note all of the people with their cameras out of the window taking pictures of other parts of the train!

This is one of the photos of Barren Falls. These falls are spectacular during the rainy season. But locals here say that this is the driest Dry they remember and there wasn't much water flowing today. But still it was spectacular.

The train track we followed had 15 tunnels that had been carved by hand 100 years ago. It was and is quite an achievement considering that it not only went through the mountains, but the jungles as well.

We got off the train in Kuranda. This is basically a touristy stop. There were shops, several cafes, and zoo type places (a butterfly place, a bird place, a place to pet and hold koalas...you get the picture. We had about 2 hours to look around. The kids and I went to the Butterfly Sanctuary. We figured we had seen koalas and lots of birds, but not so many butterflies. Daniel took a jungle walk first, then went to see the Butterfly Sanctuary later. On his jungle walk he found a friend, but you'll have to visit What To Fix to find out what he saw.

Anyway, taking photos of butterflies is tough! They don't often stay still long enough for you to focus on them. But I did get a few that turned out well, I thought.

Next, we went to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. This was about a 7.5 km ride over the tops of the rainforest between Kuranda and Cairns. We had to switch cable cars about 3/4 of the way through and during the switch, we got out and took a short walk into the rainforest. Here are some of the best pictures from that part of our day.

After our ride on the Skyrail, we were ushered into a restaurant in the Tjapukai Aboriginal Village for a buffet lunch. The chicken cacciatore and fish with dill sauce was awesome. The desserts were amazing as well...rum balls, chocolate orange mousse, creme brulee, and more. Anyway, after lunch, we began our tour of the Aboriginal Village. It started with a performance in the dance theater, then we got to try spear throwing and throwing the boomerang, and then we learned about bush foods and medicines and about the didgeridoo. Lastly, we saw the Aboriginal Creation story and a short film touching on the aboriginal history. The whole afternoon was very interesting and information. I have a couple of photos below. I also have videos, and will try to up load them. We are having a hard time here uploading videos though.

For more photos from our day in Kuranda and Tjapuki, you can visit me on Flickr.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:23 AM | Permalink

What an amazing adventure! We were up at 5 am this morning because we needed to leave by 6:30 to drive to Cairns (we are staying a little way up the coast at Trinity Beach). Well, it was hard getting going. I won't mention any names, but one of us pretty much had to be pulled out of bed because she just couldn't wake up...must have been the motion sickness pills! Anyway, after a few false starts that included being slow moving, me being unable to find the room keys that had the remote for the garage and Daniel being unable to locate the dive papers, we actually left at 6:50. We got to Cairns and parked where we thought we were supposed to....only to find we were literally a mile from the boat...Fortunately, we had planned an extra hour into our travel this morning, so we were still on the boat in plenty of time.

This is a nice boat...here's a photo:

I just want to say that this experience was so, so, so very different than our experience in Myrtle Beach! And if you come to Cairns to dive, I highly recommend Tusa

First we got checked in and found a seat. We ended up at a table with two girls from San Francisco who were here in Cairns for a few days. Turns out one of them, Karen, actually lived in the same building Daniel lived in the last time he worked in San Francisco! Isn't that Incredible!

After we were checked in, we were encouraged to have a cookie and coffee or tea or water. This was morning tea. We were also warned that the trip out to the reef was going to be a bit bumpy and we should take some medicine if we had a history of being sea sick or if we had never been out on the ocean before. They offered either ginger tablets for free or two motion sickness pills for 1.00. I had taken another motion sickness pill before leaving the apartment, but decided that adding ginger to the mix would be a good idea. Especially since we were moving and I was already feeling a little queasy and we hadn't gotten out to the bumpy part yet.

I kept my eye on the barf bags (they didn't tell us to throw up over the sides) and concentrated on relaxing. I tried not to watch as several other people on the ship grabbed bags and headed to the back deck... I was terrified that I would end up suffering through the whole day, but the ginger kicked in and my stomach calmed down and after 90 minutes, we were at our first reef stop.

We had brought our own equipment, but they provided booties, flippers, snorkels and masks if you needed them. They also provided us with short wetsuits which add to buoyancy as well as give warmth. Also, on the way out to the reef, they told us what to expect and they briefed the divers and the snorkelers in separate groups. Once we were anchored at the reef, we were let loose. We got into our wetsuits, defogged our masks and then prepared to enter the water. The staff put our flippers on right before we got in. They had noodles for those who didn't feel like they were strong swimmers. I used the noodle and the wetsuit on my first time in because I was a bit concerned. I hadn't really swam in the ocean before.

We could see so many fish and the coral was beautiful. We were at the first reef for probably 90 minutes or more. I goofed because I saw several people back on ship and thought it was time to go in, but once I got out and settled, we ended up being there another 45-60 minutes. I didn't take the underwater camera on the first go around because I wasn't sure how it was all going to go. It took Jack a little while to get comfortable, but then he seemed to enjoy it. There was more of a current at our first stop and we didn't see as much, but still we were happy. Katrina was like a fish in water. She was having a blast! When we got out of the water, the staff helped us by removing our flippers. The whole time we were in the water, staff was keeping an eye out. It was just an amazing experience all the way around.

Next was the buffet lunch and a Reef lesson where we learned about some things we had seen and would be seeing at the next stop. Then we moved off to Blue Lagoon. This site was beautiful. The water was calmer here and there was so much more to see. I left the noodle behind this time and had a lovely time just snorkeling around and watching the fish go about their business. Still didn't take any pictures, wish I had. I didn't take the camera this time because I hadn't seen that much the first time out. I will do better when we go again on Sunday. Katrina didn't wear her wetsuit the second time and did fine (several other people didn't wear the wet suits either, the weather was pretty warm). I stayed out the hole 75 minutes this time and wasn't ready to go in when our time was up. It was awesome!

Then, we had afternoon tea (cakes and drinks) and headed back to dock. Then we had to walk the mile back to the car and drive home. I was so tired that I couldn't even do dishes... I went to bed at 8 and by 8:05 I was asleep.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:31 AM | Permalink

Today was kind of a do nothing day. We slept in a bit and piddled around (translated, caught up on emails and blogged), then we went to lunch at Hungry Jack's. That was probably the most interesting part of the day. I ordered an Aussie hamburger. It came with a few unique extras: pickled beets, fried egg, and bacon. It tasted pretty good!

Then we went to a 24 hour medical center. Daniel and I needed to get Dive Medicals here in Australia in order to dive, even though we had gotten clearance back in the states. Daniel passed fine. I didn't because of a medication I am on. Apparently, it falls in a gray area of possibly causing problems when diving and the doctor was unwilling to sign off on me diving. But snorkeling was okayed.

We stopped by Woolworth's to get groceries, then got back to our apartment around 4:30. Daniel and Katrina went to the beach for a little while. Daniel said the water was a bit colder than he expected, the sand was coarser than we are used to and the shore drops off pretty quickly (meaning you don't have to walk 50 feet out to get wet above your waist. Then they came up to the pool and I went down to meet them. Daniel came up to the room and I stayed with Katrina for a bit.

Before going to bed, I took 2 motion sickness pills in an attempt to keep from getting sick during the boat ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. When at Myrtle Beach, one of the instructors tole me that I might want to try taking it the night before I go diving since taking it an hour before didn't help me. I went to sleep pretty quickly after that!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:27 AM | Permalink

Today was kind of a do nothing day. We slept in a bit and piddled around (translated, caught up on emails and blogged), then we went to lunch at Hungry Jack's. That was probably the most interesting part of the day. I ordered an Aussie hamburger. It came with a few unique extras: pickled beets, fried egg, and bacon. It tasted pretty good!

Then we went to a 24 hour medical center. Daniel and I needed to get Dive Medicals here in Australia in order to dive, even though we had gotten clearance back in the states. Daniel passed fine. I didn't because of a medication I am on. Apparently, it falls in a gray area of possibly causing problems when diving and the doctor was unwilling to sign off on me diving. But snorkeling was okayed.

We stopped by Woolworth's to get groceries, then got back to our apartment around 4:30. Daniel and Katrina went to the beach for a little while. Daniel said the water was a bit colder than he expected, the sand was coarser than we are used to and the shore drops off pretty quickly (meaning you don't have to walk 50 feet out to get wet above your waist. Then they came up to the pool and I went down to meet them. Daniel came up to the room and I stayed with Katrina for a bit.

Before going to bed, I took 2 motion sickness pills in an attempt to keep from getting sick during the boat ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. When at Myrtle Beach, one of the instructors tole me that I might want to try taking it the night before I go diving since taking it an hour before didn't help me. I went to sleep pretty carefully after that!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:10 AM | Permalink

Let me preface this by saying that if you like animals and you are in Cairns, you really, really, really should make this event part of your trip here! We had so much fun!!!!!

So we arrived at the Cairns Night Zoo and were checked in. One of the first to greet us was Sam - the Sulpher-Crested Cockatoo (he liked being scratched behind his ears and told us so by saying 'scratch' and tilting his head to the side.

After we were checked in, we were allowed to grab a drink while we waited for our food to be served. We had water (we have been drinking tons of water here), but beer, wine, and sodas were all available as part of the evening's events. Next came a Swaggie with a Didgeridoo and gave everyone a lesson and a chance to play. Video will come at some point. Then the buffet was ready.

Freshly grilled steak, grilled chicken, Spanish mackerel, sausages, baked potatoes, the world's best cole slaw, pasta salad, green salad and crusty bread. Then the desserts came out. Pavlova with fresh fruit salad and lashings of whipped cream. I was too stuffed to try it, but Daniel said it was very good. Jack tried grilled chicken, a baked potato and the pavlova. He didn't like any of it, but at least he tried it!

While we ate, Dave sang us some songs. Our particular favorite was Country Roads! I feel sure he sang it for us (as he sang it when near our table), but later he seemed surprised to learn we were from Virginia. We bought his CD as we enjoyed his songs so much. Not so sure that Sam liked the music though, he got a bit agitated a couple of times, screeched and flared his crest!

Next we were given torches and a bit of a talk on what to expect and what we could and couldn't do and off we went.

So imagine, dark night and about 30 people walking through the zoo with small torches (flashlights) with lights about the size of a quarter. When we all shone our torches in the same spot, we could see really well, otherwise, it was hard to make out much of anything. We could hear animals moving, snorting, and growling in enclosures as we walked past, but if the zoo guides didn't shine their lights in, we didn't either because we didn't want to disturb the animals in there.

First we saw a couple of dingos. He didn't seem to care for us much. Howled quite a bit and paced back and forth. We did see two Cane Toads in his dinner bowl, so maybe that's what he was howling about. If you don't know about Cane Toads, you should check out this critter that was introduced here in the 1920s and is an environmental hazard numbering in the hundreds of millions today. It has wonderful defensive mechanisms, but there aren't any creatures in Australia that can overcome them, so they reproduce unchecked.

Then we got to see some cassowaries. A lovely bird (at least the blue neck and head which were what we could see in the dark), but not a friendly one. Apparently, it's claws are like a velociraptors. If it becomes angry with you, you might find your insides on your outside!

Next we went to an arena where we learned about cane toads and my daughter volunteered to hold a Black Headed Python!!!! It was about 8 feet long (I think). Katrina loved it and said that Jasper was heavier than she had expected! Afterwards, we all got to pet it.

Then we were taken to see the salt water and fresh water crocodiles. We watched as the salt water crocs jumped out of the water to grab a dangling treat. They can leap up pretty high. Our guide told us that as long as we watched the warning signs and used common sense, we were in no danger of being attacked by a croc. An average of two people are killed each year in Australia from crocodile attacks. Meanwhile, an average of 13 people are killed each year in Australia when a vending machine falls on them! He also said that the rumor that crocodiles are able to chase you are ridiculous. He said a person can easily outrun them. The salt water male crocodiles could not be in an enclosure together (or they would tear one another apart). The fresh water crocodiles though had no problems with being territorial and there were about 35 of them in an enclosure!

Next we went through the reptile house. Tons of snakes, lizards, geckos and skinks and some of us got to pet blue-tongued skink while we talked with Billie, one of the guides. He said he had wanted to work in a zoo since he was a kid and he started out by volunteering as a teen and has been working in a zoo for years.

Then, it was off to cuddle the koalas. This was so awesome! Daniel and Jack got video. We each got to pet each of the koalas. Their fur is thick and somewhat coarse. They were very attached to the guides and held on to them much like a youngster does a parent. It was definitely a highlight of the evening!

Next it was time for damper (bread made in the coals of the fire and drizzled with honey) and billy tea. We enjoyed this around the campfire while feeding and petting kangaroos!!!! Another really awesome thing to do.

Then, back inside for more music and dancing (videos will follow). Those three hours at the zoo were packed full of fun! Before we left, we perused the gift store and picked up some lovely souveniers, but not before we got to pet a Wombat! Huge! And soft! And cute!

This evening was definitely a high spot of our trip!!!!!

Oh, don't want to forget the photo I took of a kookaburra while we were visiting the opal shop. He was very good and sat in a nice pose while I stood about 2 feet away for a picture!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:49 AM | Permalink