Akaroa, New Zealand

Akaroa is a sleepy little French seaside village, 90 minutes outside of Christchurch. My friend Julie’s parents who live in NZ half the year recommended I visit this little town. So glad I did. The weather report for my 3 night stay looked gloomy, so I was thrilled to arrive early evening to blue skies and sun. I had a wonderful time walking through the small town, on the beach, and to the lighthouse. This was my kind of place with turquoise water surrounded by lush grassy hills, not to mention the French food (crepes anyone?)

The weather did turn the next couple days, preventing me from the kayaking and hiking I had in mind. But the town and seaside were still beautiful and peaceful with a constant misty rain and fog. I used this as an opportunity to slow it down and cuddle up, but did make it out to see a couple things. I went to another nearby bay, Le Bon’s Bay and walked on the beach with a cute guy from Wellington (more to come on this mother..lol) and also took in a local artist’s house called the Giant House. This was my kind of art! Not only was the old house itself stunning but she had made an elaborate collection of yard art out of tile that was colorful, playful, and funky. I just loved walking around and snapping pictures of it all.

My last day I was thrilled to wake up to blue skies and warm weather again so raced out to do the Skyline trail hike which raises 2,400 feet in elevation to the top of the grassy mountain behind the town and offers the most stunning views of the bay that Akaroa sits on, as well as the Pacific Ocean on the other side. It was the kind of hike I expected from New Zealand, crossing paths with sheep, cows, horses, birds and having a chorus of them all along the way. What a fantastic way to finish off a fantastic few days in Akaroa.

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Arthur’s Pass National Park, NZ

Arthur’s Pass is a couple hours’ drive West of Christchurch. I was excited to spend three days hiking in this National Park (one of 16 in New Zealand). I arrived at 9:30 the first day – with plenty of daylight left I set out on the most difficult hike in the area, Avalanche Peak. It was indeed challenging at 3,300 feet elevation gain in just 2.1 miles up (this basically means you are hiking straight up the whole time, on many occasions using your hands and feet to climb).

It was a sneaky hike also because there were 2 false summits. The moment you think you are about to reach the top, only to see a much higher peak in front of you that was hidden. Given the cold winter here, the tree line is quite low making the last 2/3 of this hike exposed to the sun. I thankfully had a ball cap to keep the sun off my head and face and had lathered up in SPF lotion (while I usually don’t burn the ozone layer here in NZ is thinner so the sun is very brutal). The upside to being exposed is you can take in the amazing views along the way.

 

I ran into a couple of nice guys from Israel who I spent some time at the summit with and on my way down I crossed paths with another guy who was from Seattle, small world. Otherwise, I had the hike to myself. This was one of those hikes that is mentally draining as, to prevent injury, you need to pay close attention to each step and just take your time. Once again I was extremely thankful for my trusty hiking poles. At the summit there were 3 Keas, a type of parrot. As you can see I went a little photo crazy with them but it was great fun! I was proud, exhilarated, and utterly exhausted when I completed the hike.

The next day I did two shorter and much easier hikes. One to Devil’s Punchbowl, which takes you to a viewing platform of one of the waterfalls yesterday’s hike towered over. I spent some time reading here while I waited for the sun to pop over the cliff so I could get a better picture of the falls. I then walked along Arthur’s Pass Walkway which took you through wooded forest and along a wildflower populated path. On my last day I completed a 1,600 feet elevation gain hike, Temple Basin, which takes you to the top of a winter ski lift area. While I loved having the hike to myself all day and my mountaintop perch where I had lunch and did some reading, it was not my favorite hike. The entire hike was made up of small to medium sized rocks on the path (last picture) making slipping and injury quite easy. If it weren’t for my patience and hiking poles I would have easily slipped 10+ times. In the end I had a very fulfilling few days of hiking in the beautiful Arthur’s Pass. I am most happy to report that my hip seems to be back to normal – finally!

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Christchurch, New Zealand

Finally I am in New Zealand!!!! First stop, Christchurch where I was lucky enough to couchsurf at a very experience couchsurfing host (he has hosted over 500 surfers). Paul offered me a clean room, cooked us great dinners every night and took me to the pub for a lesson in Cricket. We also had some great conversations about life and art. I spent my first day on a shorter hike over Bridal Pass which offered great views down at Christchurch. I then walked over the hill to Lyttleton where the port is. My host worked there and offered to pick me up at the other end. The views were lovely and gave me the first taste of what is to come in New Zealand. It was a very exposed hike so got quite hot.

Before my hike (and a bit the next day) I spent some time in Hagley Park and botanical gardens. They were beautiful and housed on of the most beautiful and large rose gardens I have ever seen with 103 varieties. It made me a bit sentimental thinking about Grandpa Mac and his rose garden. We always loved the variety Double Delight which they had and it was extremely fragrant, just like I remembered.

I spent the entire next day walking around downtown Christchurch. As you may know it was devastated in 2011 by a large earthquake. I was shocked to see how much of the city still lies in destruction – but in a country with such a small population, getting the construction labor they need is hard and the virtually have to re-plan the entire city (and agree to what to do) which has been time consuming for them. Taking pictures of the town and destruction really touched me. In a way I even found it beautiful.

There was also a great deal of art around the city on sides of building and to brighten up the gloominess that could be in the middle of rubble. They had a white empty chair exhibit on one block representing the 185 people killed in the earthquake. The below chair was created by broken china that was donated by the public and took over a year to create. There was also a beautiful transitional cathedral that was built using cardboard, steel and concrete. Despite the destruction I still really enjoyed my visit to Christchurch. It was a cute little town (large by NZ standards, I suppose) and the people were as lovely as I expected. So excited about the three months ahead of me in this beautiful country.

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Melbourne, Australia

Before leaving Australia I went to visit Melbourne for 5 days. I decided to go the couchsurfing route again and was lucky to get a host who lives right in the middle of downtown in a highrise to accept my request. Bruce is a journalist who had very interesting stories to tell and put his love for cooking to the test by greeting me with the most amazing salted caramels. OMG!! I’m thankful for his generosity to give me a safe place to stay and great advice on Melbourne, as well as his home country New Zealand. I lucked out big time when I contacted a friend I had met at the hostel in Port Douglas, Teresa. She and her husband, Paul, live in Melbourne and she had offered to get me out in a car while there to see more of the city. They were so gracious in spending their entire Sunday taking me on a tour of the Peninsula, on a ferry ride across the Bay and then the long and breathtaking drive along the Great Ocean Road. We started first thing in the morning and got home at midnight. This trip was the one and only time I encountered the much hyped up snakes etc Australia is known for – I can’t recall the type of snake but apparently it’s a dangerous one.

The entire trip was stunning but the highlights for me were visiting an area they call the 12 Apostles, as well as, our drive through a nearby National Park where we saw wild Koalas! We had truly a great time visiting in the car and even sang a bunch of songs on the way back (reception was spotty and we wanted to keep Paul, our driver, awake). Once again the generosity of the people in this beautiful country made my trip that much better and very memorable.

The next day I got up very early to watch our Seahawks make it into the Superbowl. The game started at 7 AM local time but with all the adrenaline this game generated, I had no trouble staying awake. Thankfully there was a crowd of 10 or so Seahawks fans that were a great bunch. We had so much fun cheering them on and I can honestly say that none of us lost faith (even though we were pretty worried). I day I won’t soon forget as I am sure most of us feel who watched that game. In another random chance moment, I also ran into a football fan, Sophie, who I had sat next to in the bar the week prior in Sydney as her team, The Patriots, played just before us (enter boooos here). It was a crazy coincidence when she came up to me in the bar in Melbourne as she was visiting a friend in the city and her team played after our game. I love these chance encounters that happen while traveling. After the game I felt it was necessary to gamble a bit as I was in a casino and you can’t get much more lucky than we did that morning. I set a low budget of $50 given my travels and was lucky enough to play for 4 hours on that and come home up $100. A particular fun moment was when I bet on ‘12’ in roulette and of course it hit. Late that afternoon I joined my friend Eva for coffee who was also travelling through Melbourne, we had met a month or two earlier at a yoga retreat in Thailand. It was great to catch up, share our travel stories, and get to know eachother better.

I spent the next day walking the city. While the Australian Open (tennis) was happening, I wasn’t so inclined to spend what little time I had there so I skipped that. I did take my friend Sallie’s recommendation to go to a creperie in an area called Fitzroy. It was an AMAZING crepe and the area of Fitzroy was fun to explore (it’s a hippy part of town with some great old buildings). I even popped into a meditation clinic and mediated in their lovely room. As always, I had a ball just buzzing about and taking pictures. The weather was a bit hot, but cooler than normal this time of year so I considered myself lucky.

My stay in Melbourne was coming to an end soon. I decided to spend a great part of a day walking on the Southbank of the river along several parks and then met up with Sophie and her friend Dina to visit the botanical gardens. We had a great time getting to know each other and debating a bit about the upcoming game (Go Seahawks!) It was quite a hot day so nice to have the occasional shade of trees in the park. Afterward I went to a lovely part of town called St. Kilda, mainly to visit the big and beautiful beach there. I loved this beach as it had a large grassy area as well as lots of big rocks to just sit on and take in the ocean. I even saw someone para surfing and a dog on a paddle board..lol

The last day I had booked a trip to Philip Island, a couple hours drive from downtown. We visited a few beaches to birdwatch and look for other wildlife and then visited a wildlife sanctuary where they rescue injured and sick native Australian animals like Koalas, Kangaroos, Dingos, and Wallabies were out walking around in the open so you were able to get pretty close and see them in a somewhat natural habitat. A very fun experience for this animal lover. The exciting conclusion of the tour at dusk was to see the penguin parade – the Little Penguin who make Philip island home. At dusk these cute little guys work up their courage to make a break from the water in large groups to their homes. Hundreds of these cute little guys with bellies so full they can barely walk, parade up and right by for you to see. I will be adding pictures of them later as you were not allowed to take pictures but they provide some to you to remember the experience. Given internet is harder to come by here in New Zealand I haven’t been able to download them yet.

As this is my last stop in Australia, I just wanted to summarize my thoughts on the country here. First of all the people are so amazing. Warm, helpful, courteous, and just treat each other with a level of respect I’m not used to seeing. The quality of life seems very good with lots of well cared for public parks and priorities in the right place. The beaches are like nothing I have seen before and there are SO many of them. I never tired of the accent and the silly sayings/words that were new to me. Thank you to everyone who made my stay in Australia so wonderful. I have always wanted to visit this country and I will never forget my visit here.

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(Some of) The Beaches & Parks of Sydney

One of the things I loved most about the city of Sydney was the parks and beaches. Twice, I walked a 6km stretch of the Eastern Beaches Coastal walk – another one that my mother would just LOVE. This walk starts at Bondi beach which had to have thousands of people on it the first day I visited (1/1). The walk proceeds along the sandstone cliffs and clifftop parks to Tamarama, Bronte, and Clovelly beaches, Gordon’s Bay, and commences (well at least mine did) at Coogee beach. I ended my walk with a swim at Coogee which involved playing in the HUGE waves. This was a fun but a bit violent experience, they were so powerful. The beaches here surrounded with green foliage and sandstone cliffs were breathtaking. The amount of beaches (and people visiting them) in all of Sydney was just crazy and I didn’t even see the half of them.

Hannah (my friend from Chengdu) and I also took the ferry over to the cute town of Manly. The ride gave us great views of the Operahouse and islands in Sydney Harbor. The town itself where we had lunch was very cute. We also did a long (and VERY hot) walk from Manly beach to the North Head and Quarantine Head which offered great views of the nearby cliffs and city from across the harbor. We were more than relieved to take a dip in the water at Spring Cove near the end of our walk.

My hosts were just a 5 minute walk to the large (40 acre) and beautiful Hyde Park. I spent many days in this park, walking, jogging, doing yoga, meditating, people watching, and bird watching (there was one tree usually full of colorful parrots. It is the home of St Mary’s Cathedral and was also the temporary home for the Sydney Festival Village. It was so great to see everyone regularly enjoying and using the parks in Sydney which were incredibly well maintained. I loved seeing signs at all the parks that said things like – please use our park, we invite you to walk on the grass.

This park was dwarfed (and adjacent to) the 74 acre Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens which run from Hyde all the way to the harbor/opera house. I also spent many days enjoying the various parts of this park (it was also in the same area I watched the NYE fireworks from). The water features; ponds, large open grassy areas, monuments, oriental gardens, herb gardens, palm gardens, rare and succulent gardens, begonia gardens, and a rose garden complete with water features. It is beautiful, colorful, and well used by the people of Sydney and its visitors from all over the world. It was definitely one of my ‘happy places’ on many occasions during my stay in Sydney.

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Sydney, Australia

When this trip was just starting to form in my mind – Sydney was one of the places I knew I wanted to visit. In part because I have a few friends from Sydney, all who are just lovely people, so who wouldn’t want more of that. In fact, having met some of their friends and family during visits to Seattle, I was looking forward to seeing them again. I was blessed with amazingly good fortune when my friends Zoe & Sam suggested I reach out to his parents to see if they would be around to host me (they travel a LOT themselves). Luckily, Alan & Libby were going to be in town and welcomed me for as long as I wanted (which they may regret because in the end I stayed 2 weeks..lol). This was a much needed ‘break’ in all the travel and I definitely slowed it down a bit. I know I say this about all of my hosts, but it is SO true – they were AMAZING!! They made me feel so welcome and comfortable in their beautiful home (a gorgeous bright and open condo on the 15^th floor in conveniently located Surry Hills – you could even see the harbor, opera house and cathedral from their place). They are clearly experienced hosts. Libby even had a box of maps and brochures of all the things, walks, areas, I might want to do while in Sydney. We even did one of these walks together to Botany Bay. I could go on and on about all the things I loved about them & staying at their place but will just end this by saying the life and relationship they have created together is so lovely and inspiring.

I did a lot of great things while in Sydney. A bucketlist item was being able to climb to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge at Sunset (thanks to a generous and loving friend who gifted this to me). We got all suited up into our unflattering outfits, strapped in, did a little practice and off we were. We then climbed through a series of stairs and walking bridges to get to the top steel arch of the bridge, then worked our way to the tippy top and back. It really wasn’t as scary or hard as you might think. The views were stunning and it felt so free to be up there with the water and open space all around. I walked across the bridge another day and went up to the top of one of the pilings to take additional pictures – so some of these are of another group climbing to give you a sense of the climb and the view from the bridge. (if you look closely at some of these far away shots of the bridge you can see the little dots (people) at the top. The later walk offered to great opportunities to shoot the city, opera house, and luna park.

I visited the area around the Opera House a few times including the well situated and overpriced Opera Bar. One night I even got to see a show, Masquerade, in the Opera House thanks to the month long Sydney Festival that started during my stay. The festival offered all sorts of plays and musical acts shown around town. Each day you could go down early in the morning to try and score one of a few $20 (US) tickets to the shows. I was lucky enough to get to two. Truthfully Masquerade was pretty awful and I left at intermission to take in this great live band and take some amazing pictures as the sun was setting. But it was still cool going to a show at the Opera House. The other show was in the famous Spiegeltent at the center of the festival grounds in Hyde Park. This show, Between the Cracks, was amazing!! The one woman burlesque show (with piano accompanist) was her in the nude (but well painted) and was a crass combo comedy/singing act. She had great comedic and musical talent. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I was lucky enough to meet back up with the friends and family of my friend Luis from back home, while in Sydney. Just like he always does, they took fantastic care of me and are just amazingly loving and generous people. Lexi & Mo took me out to an amazing lunch at Fratelli’s and later out to a Thai dinner (and forced me to have gelato..lol). I had enjoyed their company and conversation while they were visiting Seattle and it was great to spend more time and get to know them better. They also are expecting their first baby soon which is exciting! Luis’ family also had us all over for the most amazing Paella dinner cooked by his brother Juan (with Mo’s help), the best Flan made his mom, and homemade cherry spirits made by his Dad. I had spent a lot of time with Emma during her 6 week stay a while back in Seattle and really bonded with her, it was so amazing to see her again and meet the rest of the family, I only wish we had more time together. Thankfully I was lucky enough that they took me out to a fantastic Italian dinner the next week so we had one more time to share lots of laughter, good food, and drinks.

I also spent a couple days just walking around Sydney exploring, listening to street music and taking pictures. They have a lot of amazing old buildings including art deco style. One nice area was The Rocks, which silly me I thought would be actual rocks, but instead it is a very old part of town from around 1790 where they used local sandstone to construct the buildings. I also visited nearby Circular Quay, & Kings Cross. I had company to visit Darling Harbor as I met up with my friend Hannah I had met at the hostel in Chengdu China. We had lunch and then went to nearby Chinatown to relive China together (less the spitting and pollution). It was great to catch up with her and hear about her travels over the last couple of months. One of my last days I took in the Art Gallery of New South Wales which had a great Pop Art exhibit.

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Blue Mountains National Park, Australia

When learning about my love for hiking, several people had told me I can not miss the Blue Mountains National Park – a couple hours train ride from Sydney.  I hit the couchsurfing jackpot for my first official couchsurf (through the website as opposed to introductions from friends) a lovely family in Blackheath.  The home itself was gorgeous and eco friendly – they had built it themselves – it was a clear labor of love in all the details.  The location was amazing, just a stones throw from the National Park border, giving me easy access to all of the big hikes in the area from my front door.  But what I will remember most is the lovely family who live here; Marsh, who is my age and his two children Tilly (going into 8th grade) and Huon (going into 6th grade).  The quality of life this family has chosen for themselves was amazing.  They treated each other which such kindness and respect (yes the siblings argued a bit but there was such clear love amongst them – this series of photos w/ them on the hammock captures it well). There was no TV in the house, lots of lovely music playing and the kids each earned 30 minutes of screentime on their computer (usually spent playing Minecraft when I was there) but otherwise entertained themselves by reading, helping around the house, or just relaxing. The family also curled up on the couch each night together to watch a movie on their computer (the old James Bond movies were showing during my stay).  The warmth, love and kindness that shined from all of them was so inspiring.  Did I mention they have pet Alpacas : )  Sadly I learned Alpacas don’t really like being pet – so I just admired them from afar. Their fruit trees also gave me the perfect opportunity to photograph the colorful birds I saw in this region.

I was anxious to get out on the trails.  This trip was a big test to see how my injured hip was healing and whether it would handle the loads of hiking I have in mind in New Zealand.  The first day I headed out for the Grand Canyon hike.  Unlike home, all of the hikes here start at the top above the cliffs so you get the elevation gain on the way back up.  The weather was very cooperative giving me a cool day in the 70’s.  The hike reminded me of home in ways given all of the lush green, moss and crisp feeling as deep in the gorge was a lot cooler.  A saw some pretty flowers along the way as well as colorful butterflies and birds who managed to mainly escape my camera.

The trail itself was fun a combination of steps and trails, some carved into the sandstone.  The colors of the cliffs against the lush green were breathtaking.  Most of the trail follows a creek that runs at the base of the gorge. It was a great first hike and happily my hip held up quite nicely. 

Day two I went on a more challenging hike that took me first along a stream that ran near the house and then to the base of a huge waterfall – Govett’s Leap. This hike was near the one I did yesterday so featured the same breathtaking cliffs of the Blue Mountains.  The trail itself was a bit dodgy as there was lots of water spraying down that was leaking thru the sandstone cliffs above causing a bit of mud and water on the steep stairs that made up most of the hike (this ice cold water was an amazing treat on the way back up as all those stairs sure do make you hot).  The trail was also quite narrow at times.  Thankfully a good portion of the hike had railings installed to help guide you and keep you from plummeting into the valley below. I had a nice lunch at the base of the waterfall and continued down the the floor of the valley before starting my ascent up and up and up to the top again.  It felt so awesome to do a challenging hike again with good elevation gain.

Day 3 I took the train 20 minutes away to another part of the park in a town called Wentworth Falls.  I hiked down to the base of another beautiful waterfall.  This town was a bit more popular so I didn’t have it to myself but still enjoyed the hike which involved a LOT of stairs.  After 3 days of hiking in a row my hip was hanging in there and I seriously felt like a caged bird let free.  I so missed being out on the trail and the Blue Mountains were exactly the kind of terrain I love.  It was a bit sad to leave Blackheath the next morning.  Not only did I love it here – but the family I stayed with made  me feel part of their family while I was there.  I am forever thankful for their graciousness in opening their house to me, feeding me, showing me a great way of life and making me feel right at home. 

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