(Be sure to check out Helen’s writing at hellastrout.com. And for extensive descriptions of our travels, you can read Doug’s emails to his parents; I’ve added them to the bottom of this post.)
We last left you in Wellington, the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island. We spent the next three weeks on the South Island, where we enjoyed ridiculously gorgeous, stunning nature; from the northern beaches in the Abel Tasman area, glaciers and alps on the west coast, fjords of Milford Sound, and caves and boulders on the east coast, we were blown away by this beautiful island. A consistent refrain was “next time, when we come back….” There is just so much to do and see in this little country that even two months was just a tease.
We spent several days at a nice Airbnb in Tataka, at the north end of South Island’s Golden Bay, with a beach right there and several fabulous hikes just a short drive away.
We had the thrill of interacting with several seal pups at Wharariki (pronounced Farareekee) Beach, west of Cape Farewell (the northernmost point of the South Island). We arrived early morning for low tide, first walking through fields where hundreds of sheep and spring lambs were eating, bleating, and checking us out. I only wish I could have gotten close enough to touch those pink lamb ears!
We came upon six seal pups swimming and playing in an estuarial river. Our interests in one another appeared mutual; one even came part way up the bank to check Ella out. The whole scene was so heartwarming and absolutely delightful.
- Seal pup. Photo by Helen Strout.
We enjoyed a beautiful day hike on the coastal track of the Abel Tasman National Park, where the combination of beaches, hills, cliffs and tropical forests are stunning.
After tearing ourselves away from the Golden Bay area, we wended our way in the rain down the west coast to Punakaiki. The rain didn’t stop us from a 3 hour tropical forest hike, (the temperature felt anything but tropical), or from exploring the spectacular “Pancake Rocks”. The fire and food at the Punakaiki Inn next to our campground was a sanctuary from the cold rain, and a good place to read, write and play bridge (which our girls are picking up quickly!)
Next stop, Wanaka, via miles of striking alp views and gorgeous blue pools, glaciers, and waterfalls.
There’s a reason why Milford Sound is likely the most visited place in all of New Zealand. It is stunning. Some of the mountains you see tower 6,000 feet above sea level.
We’d heard Queenstown is a hopping place, and indeed it was. We were a distance from the raucous bar scene downtown, and able to enjoy some pretty special spots. Doug especially enjoyed the disc golf scene there and in Wanaka, where he played with locals on several occasions. He’s too humble (but I’m not!) to tell you he managed to beat all of his competition there, including some record setting pros.
From Queenstown we went southeast towards Dunedin, spending several days in Owaka. We stumbled upon a cool rental with a fabulous garden, cozy wood stove, and eclectic art. Once again, our host was great, with a cute dog. We enjoyed cooking a dinner for them one night, learning more about her and her 94 year old Mum (who had 12 children).
Nearby Cathedral Caves are accessible only during low tide, when you can walk deep into many caves. In one we were sprinkled by shrimp, and stumbled upon a yellow-eyed penguin family.
If you ever get to the Owaka area, be sure to check out the Lost Gypsy Gallery, a totally fun place with all sorts of moving art engineered by the owner. thelostgypsy.com
Several people had recommended we eat at Fleur’s Place in Moeraki. Fleur has been serving fabulous fresh food for 40 some odd years. The restaurant is perched on the water, where one can see the dory that brings in the fresh fish every morning. It was a delicious–albeit expensive–meal. www.fleursplace.com
What makes Moeraki famous is their enormous, spherical boulders on the beach. It took about 4 million years for the largest boulders to form to their current size, however the tiny fragments began forming about 60 million years ago
We had our last night of camping in our Jucy camper van (none of us were sad to leave it behind) before heading to Christchurch, where we organized ourselves for flying to Australia. In Christchurch we were surprised by the large amount of restructuring still occurring more than 7 years after their last major earthquake (with a magnitude of 7.1). While at our Airbnb Doug struck up conversation with a neighbor who gave us a few venison steaks, and brought Doug fishing early the next morning. No catch, but fun nonetheless, and a nice bookend to the amazing hospitality of kiwis.
As of October 30 we have been in Australia, where there are no major earthquakes, but lots of kangaroos and many venomous creatures. So far so good…and we’re realizing the risk is not as big as I imagined, thankfully.
Can’t wait to share our Aussie adventures with you all!
Love and misses,
Anna, Doug, Ella and Helen
Emails home from Doug:
September 14:
“Hey Mom & Dad,
I’m sitting on a deck in front of the Duke of Marlborough Tavern in Russell right now with Anna. She’s working on a glass of white wine and I’m sipping my first NZ flat white coffee, no sugar. I remember this drink as a highlight here for Laurie, and this cup doesn’t disappoint. I’ve got my rod parked next to me, though sadly still no fish have been caught to date. I’ve only casted a few times, in my defense, and I think I may have figured out what I’m doing wrong. Just chatted with a guy at a tackle shop called Screaming Reel and figured out I’ve been doing the slow, twitch-twitch, retrieve I developed as so devastating when striper fishing. Apparently the Kahawai and kingfish I’m fishing for now like their bait to be running away FAST, so next time I cast we should expect my luck to change. In fact, our plan is to head to the pier tonight after dark. I’ve been told the lights there draw in the bait, which in turn attracts BIG fish. Gulp.
It’s now Wednesday, 9/13, so we’ve been in NZ 11 days and just a week on the road. Last I wrote we were still in Samoa, and the last couple of days there involved traveling back to the busier island and a final night in Apia, then a taxi ride out to the airport on 9/2. The flight to Auckland was only 4 hours and we arrived around 6:30 (dusk) to a chilly drizzle that could have been April in NE. We caught an Uber to the Airbnb we’d arranged and spent 3 nights there organizing ourselves for 2 months of adventure in kiwi land.
Our first full day we picked up our campervan, basically just a big Toyota Hiace with an extra high roof (we can stand up straight in it) that allows for 2 tiers of sleeping. The back section has a small stove and fridge, and during the day beds magically transform into storage and seating. Our hearts did sink a bit when we first saw it’s cheerful (garish) bright green and purple, complete with the Jucy girl blowing kisses and large lettering proclaiming “the glass is half full, and the other half was delicious”. Strangely, at some point around day 4 on the road, our van came back into view after a cold, hail ridden coastal hike and we all agreed we actually liked this perky look after all. Funny how the mind adjusts, but now I expect we’ll always associate kelly green and purple with sanctuary from the storm.
That same first day we connected with our old First Fleet friends, Andy and Tish Riley, truly a highlight of our trip to date, and so timely after some feeling of letdown after arriving in cool, rainy Auckland after sunny, warm Samoa. The Riley’s live in a wonderful, rambling home on a hill north of the city, and the view off their deck overlooks a mile of spectacular coastline 1000 feet below. The home reminded me a bit of the Norris’ place, warm and comfortable and quirky, with a super friendly family of 4 (kids Cameron (17) and Ellie (21), along with Tish’s 90 or so year old parents, Jean and George. Our evening together was brilliant, and the extended dinner table (then chairs by the fire) scene extended til late. We’ve arranged to see them again this Friday on our way back south, and plan to spend 2 nights before heading over to the Coromandel peninsula (then on to Hamilton and Ben and Francesca the weekend of the 21st!).
In fact, our time in NZ so far (perhaps not surprisingly) has been punctuated by beautiful scenery and nice connections with friendly locals. Our first night on the road was spent at a campground (called a holiday park when it’s got more amenities) right next to the famous Kauri museum. The owner there let us use a cabin that slept Ann and me while the kids stretched out in the van. The weather has been unsettled since we got here, with each day featuring varying amounts of sunshine and sudden, hard charging rain/hail events that often only last a few minutes, along with a cold 30 knot wind. Day 3 we finally pitched a tent (our intended go-to sleep strategy) on the Karikari peninsula and Anna and Ella stayed dry there, if a bit cold. The next night, at a campsite next to Spirit Bay on the tip of Cape Reinga, I did an exact repeat of a miss-adventure Steve and I experienced at the same spot 30 years earlier. As I attempted to set up our dome tent around dusk, a blast of wind (and accompanying violent hail) almost tore the tent away and out to sea as I grabbed for an exposed pole, which snapped. I managed to get the tent taken apart and secured (in a sodden heap under the van) and we ended up having a cozy evening of dinner and bridge, followed by a surprisingly comfortable first night of us all sleeping in the van. (Turns out as we’re all in sleeping bags, the 2 small beds are actually adequate.) The following night we stayed at a Lonely Planet recommended lodge in Whangaroa and I managed to clean up the snapped end of the tent pole section with a hack saw. That pole is now about 4 inches shorter than the other 2 but should still function just fine.
Ok, so now it’s 8am Thursday and the answer is yes, I did catch a bunch of (7) kahawai off the pier last night. Beautiful scene featuring the southern cross and a chorus of kiwis and weka birds regularly calling up in the hills behind town. The wind had disappeared and everything came together with bait and predator fish as advertised. Nothing too crazy, the largest fish (kahawai look like a big mackerel) being about 8 lbs. We’ve got to pack up soon and catch the short ferry ride back over to Paihia for an 11am appointment with an energy therapist that will work on releasing one of Ella’s blocked chakras. Fingers crossed on that and will let you know.
So this first week up in the Northland has been pretty amazing. The cool weather’s been an adjustment with each day bringing us a bit of everything. The sun is really warm, and out of the wind could easily seem like (70’s) beach weather. But the shade is cool (50’s) and throw in a ripping wind and occasional sprinkles/downpours/hailstorms and it’s dressing in layers for sure and a bit hard to commit to long hikes on exposed ridges. We like Russell and have been here 2 nights. Quaint old fishing harbor with lots of history, reminiscent perhaps of some fishing towns in Maine with nice coffee shops, restaurants and a quiet, affluent vibe. And, of course, stunning scenery.
Cape Reinga was also a highlight, with the Pacific and Tasman Sea colliding right in front of us as we looked down from a lighthouse perched on a cliff. The wind truly howled that day so we didn’t stick around long but did feel the end-of-the-worldliness of the place and got to look over at a famous 800 year old tree the roots of whom the Maori’s say their departing spirits climb down. Also got to see the improbably large kaori trees on the west coast. Couldn’t actually hug one as we were expected to stay on raised walkways a respectful distance away but the mass of them is stunning. Not overly tall but fat, and hosting thousands of pounds of symbiotic foliage and animal life in their branches. Regarding the raised walkways, apparently the kaoris rely on delicate roots on/near the surface, of the forest floor (above the poor soil) for nutrients from leaf mulch so just a bit of walking around on the ground could eventually kill the trees. We’ve been consistently impressed with the quality of the trails in general, with extensive walkways and stairs (and on one recent hike chains bolted into the rock to hang on to) and nice signage and so forth. And lots of public bathrooms.
Better wrap this up. Tonight we’ll probably camp near Whangarei and hopefully explore our first NZ glow worm caves. And eat kahawai. Then onto the Riley’s for the weekend, then next weekend with cousin Ben and Francesca who said we should plan on spending 2 days doing stuff with them. After that we’ve arranged to work for a week or so on a ranch with a family who are friends of a woman we met in Karikari. They have 2 daughters (16 and 18) and need help with lambing and such on their farm. Wow. Will let you know how this all develops but prospects for more adventuring in middle earth seem good. And Helen’s pushing for a visit to Hobbiton, a major theme park sounding place south of the Coromandel peninsula. All this and a little schooling thrown in around the edges. Life is full.
Love you guys and glad to hear Miami escaped the worst of Irma. But poor Florida. Til next time,
Doug”
October 11:
“Hi Mom and Dad,
I keep saying I want to write but this traveling business is more time consuming than I would have thought. We are now in a small town perched just on atop the Abel Tasman national park, and that’s located just a few miles down from the very top west corner of the south island. The weather’s continued unsettled so 2 days ago we checked into an Airbnb for 4 nights, the plan being to get some work done while arranging various day trips around this beautiful corner of New Zealand.
True to plan, yesterday was a make and mend day, featuring laundry and homework for the girls. Today the weather’s clearing and our plan is to hike a 4 hour stretch of the Abel Tasman sometime after lunch, then tomorrow we’re heading right to the top (farewell spit) where it’s been reported a colony of fur seals (featuring many cutie babies!) has taken up residence.
So I think las time I wrote we were still up in the Northland. That whole stretch was pretty brilliant, basically sunny days punctuated by driving hail storms and wind. After leaving Russell a highlight was visiting a nearby waterfall (Rainbow falls) where Helen and I managed to climb along rocks to access a shallow cave behind the pounding cascade of water. It was truly thrilling, and I got to see Helen about as lit up as I’ve ever known her to be. The cave was brightly lit, and covered with a ridiculously green moss like vegetation. It was loud, and Helen worked her way to the front of the cave and practically under the torrent of water. I got some amazing photos and video and a trip highlight for sure. The next day also featured a cave, this time a (basically) dry one, though it followed a stream and went on seemingly as deep as ever you’d want to go. It was black, black of course, like can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face black, and we were blown away by the constellations of glow-worms hanging down from above. We brought in a tripod and set up Helen’s camera and managed to capture some pretty cool pic’s of the wormy glow. Fungus gnats, actually, in their larval stage, but glow worm has a nicer ring to it. They drop a sticky thread a foot or so down from their perch and other gnats are attracted to the light and captured, then drawn up to be devoured. The larva’s glow, interestingly, gets more intense the hungrier they are, and vic versa.
Then we were back at the Riley’s north of Auckland where we spent another 3 nights. Super family and great to be re-connected. Andy also go me connected with Marty Wood from first fleet days who now owns the Soren and operated her out of Sydney. Our plan is to connect when there in a few weeks. From Auckland we traveled straight down to Rotorua, a geothermal hot spot and full of bubbling, boiling phenomena. We stayed at an Airbnb for several nights while exploring various attractions, including a zip-line canopy tour, complete with some environmental education. There’s been more awareness in recent years of the destruction invasive animals are causing to the local flora/fauna, most notably from rats, possums (who were vegetarian in Aus but here are now omnivorous and twice the size of their Australian cousins), rabbits, stoats and feral cats. There are various pest eradication schemes in place to help restore the native species, as the invasive mostly have no natural predators. This zip-line company sits on a couple hundred acres and illustrated how their traps (which have evolved into high tech tools using Co2 cartridges that drive a retracting steel pin through the head of the specified target and can kill 10-20 animals before needing to be serviced) have helped to improve the area’s indigenous populations. Cool stuff, and makes one feel better about wearing possum fur and eating wild boar and venison. Also interestingly, it seems about the only introduced species that NZ is still glad of are their trout and salmon populations, which thrive in local lakes and rivers and mostly have had a benign influence (if you’re not some poor little native prey fish).
Okay. Just came back from a coffee nice coffee interlude with our hosts. We’re off now to the Abel Tasman hike so I’ll send this incomplete email and hopefully continue it later when we return. Love you guys and miss you and hope you’ve been enjoying a beauty Columbus Day time at the lake,
Doug”
October 24:
“Hi Mom and Dad,
So now we’re down in an area known as the Catlins, south of Dunedin. In fact, the only thing south of us from here, pretty much, is Antarctica. Cool. And guess what we saw today? In a cave? A family of blue penguins. At a place called Cathedral Caves, which can only be visited at low tide. And not the sort of caves you’d want to be trapped in if the tide was coming in. I’m very happy to be down here, in the south of the south. There’s a certain sense of symmetry that comes from having visited Cape Reinga up north, and now here we are with no land south of us til the bottom of the planet. Except Stewart Island, of course, but that adventure must be saved for our next NZ trip.
I just checked and last time I wrote I was still describing the scene up around Rotorua. From there we headed down to Lake Taupo and spent a few nights at a nice Airbnb within sight of the lake and walking distance of a free outdoor hot spring stream. Nice. The highlight there was a 19K mountain bike ride the 4 of us completed one afternoon, called the K2K. Famous spot in the biking world and I even used to know what K2K stands for. Fortunately, anyone who cares can now just ask their phone “what does K2K in Taupo stand for” and question solved. We had a nice bike guy drive us to the start, then pick us up at the far end. Somewhat more downhill than up, and mostly not too technical, but only relatively, as we are none of us expert, advanced biker types. Helen actually had a bike with an electric assist system which was pretty neat, but made her go faster than she wanted to at times. The bike was also about as heavy as she is and there were some wicked drop offs at times along with wicked hair pin switchbacks, so needless to say we were all relieved and elated to be done with the old K2K, thrilling as it was.
Then it was on to the south end of Taupo and a little town called Turangi, which they say is the trout fishing capitol of NZ. I didn’t, actually, but did visit an impressive trout hatchery-type facility, and did feed many grossly overweight rainbows and browns a bag of trout-friendly pellets. There were also some geothermal attractions that we sampled, but the big highlight there was the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 19.4 km tramp considered one of the world’s big day hikes. One challenge was that due to the earliness of the season no shuttles were yet running, hence no way for us with only one vehicle to make it across then get back to the start. Also, due to the earliness of the season there was much snow, so only experienced mountaineering type folks, or folks who paid for guides (with ice axes and radios and emergency beacons and such) were recommended to attempt the crossing. We decided to start the hike, then turn around as the elements dictated. It turned out, however, that one of our girls was having stomach issues that day, so breathtaking as the scene was, we only got up to soda springs, about 1.5 hours in, before feeling the need to turn around. Except it was decided that I would go on alone. There were others on the trail, so the logic was that it wasn’t like I was truly alone. I had a proper backpack (not just our usual day pack used for typical day excursions) and lots of extra cloths options, along with food and a phone I could use to contact Anna, but the plan was for me to complete the crossing and meet her on the far side. And complete it I did. What a day. It was mostly cloudy, and about 2/3rds snow covered, up to my knees at points, in fact. The other hikers I saw were mostly all with guides and carrying ice axes, but they really weren’t needed. When I got to the top of the Red Crater, the highest point on the crossing (except for a couple of side tracks up volcano summits, such as Mt. Doom from Tolkien fame), the clouds lifted a bit and I looked out on what I knew to be one of the iconic images of the hike, the Emerald Lakes. Except they weren’t there. I asked a guide, who was there explaining to his group how to descend the steep scree slope (leaning back, with knees bent) and learned the lakes actually were there, just not visible on account that they were still frozen and covered with snow. It was that kind of hike. Brilliant, even if a bit mono-chromatic with no emerald and much white, and seeing our green and purple Juicy van (complete with Anna!) at the end was all pretty memorable stuff.
From that stay we drove on over to Taumarunui, west of Tongariro national park, and spent about a week staying with 2 families we’d been introduced to through a woman we’d been introduced to by a guy me met. Funny how these things work. Both homes and families were great, the first featured a couple of teenage daughters which was pretty special. We first connected, actually, at their high school spring gala, and spent a cold-ish evening wandering between food stalls and games, including a mechanical bull, and a haunted house attraction with a scary haunted cheerleader that was actually Erin, our host’s younger daughter. While visiting, we did a bit of work on the farm, including weeding a garden, mowing part of a lawn, and scraping some of the long driveway to fill in some low spots. Then at the second farm we did some more weeding and mowing. That second spot was a proper ranch, with cattle and horses, and a river that is considered possibly the best trout location it the world. There I did wet a line one afternoon and was not disappointed, catching a nice rainbow even with my clunky spinning gear. Super-nice older couple there, she a big horse rider until recent knee issues and he an electrical engineer responsible for a good bit of Samoa’s power grid, along with more local power plant projects. And a nice place they had.
From Taumarunui we continued across the Forgotten Highway to the west coast and New Plymouth, dominated by Mt. Taranaki. This is where we called you from, Dad, on your 91st birthday, as we attempted an ascent of Fanthom Peak, just shy of the actual summit, but still a not-too-shabby 2K meters pretty much straight up from sea level as it’s right on the coast. Turns out the mountain has pretty good cell reception, and so nice to connect and hear your voice, and Steve’s, and Mom’s, all the way from North Hill. Further up the mountain that day it was actually crazy windy, like maybe pushing hurricane strength windy. Like the kind of windy that would just blow you over without even apologizing. No one that day actually made it to the top, in fact. I talked to one young strapping guy who said he crawled on hands and knees and made it up to within 100 meters of the summit before giving up. Crazy. And totally beautiful, with blue sky and clouds that would roil down the side of the volcano before shredding and reforming. And this was one of those conical volcanos, the sort you’d draw in a game of Pictionary if you were trying to get your team to guess the word “volcano”. It also turns out that in 2017 the Lonely Planet voted Mt. Taranaki the 2nd-best region to visit in the world. Whoa-ah. Didn’t find out where got voted number one, but still. Glad we got a chance to check it out. We actually spent 2 nights there, at a lavender farm in Opunake. The first night we visited their local art house theater and saw an Australian documentary called The Bentley Effect, all about fracking and the fight one community in NSW had against the powerful gas industry, and by extension the Australian government. Powerful, and uplifting as the protesters were ultimately successful. Great to see, and for the girls to see, and the director was there, along with one of the main characters, as they were traveling around the world showing their film. There was a great Q&A session at the end of the movie, and all left feeling inspired and ready to take on the powers that be to save this beautiful, fragile planet of ours.
All this visiting and enjoying-of-spots takes time, and by now in our journey I was starting to watch the calendar and be only-too-aware that our stay in NZ was not going to last long enough. Does 2 months sound like a long time to visit a country? One thing we seem to be learning as we travel together is that we’re not particularly interested in just sightseeing, stopping at vistas to take pictures and tick off spots to be able to say been there,…. But the other way of traveling, digging in and experiencing a place, does take time, and there is so much to see. I expect this tension will follow us all year as we make our way around the world together, falling in love with one area after another, and people and their communities.
Our next stop, Wellington, was no exception. There we stayed 3 nights at an Airbnb where we were downstairs in an amazing home, perched on the side of a steep hill, while the couple with grown-no-longer-living-at-home kids were upstairs. Gina and Tony were amazing, and we hope they come visit us sometime in Maine. He’s a film director, and she a wardrobe designer, and they met on a movie set somewhere. He still travels the world, most recently producing an advertisement for rural driving-safety financed by the Australian government. Wellington is a beautiful, world-class city, with multiple (free) museums and art galleries, along with lots of green spaces and full-on natural scenery. Also windy, locals say, but we got to see the sun and a tranquil bay, which they also say is about as good as it gets. On our last day, before taking the ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton, Gina took us on a walk behind their home where the girls got to crouch under the same tree that Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry crouched under to escape notice of the ring-wrath in the first Lord of the Rings movie. Wow. And not a sign or notice board anywhere to let you know it was really that tree. Turns out Peter Jackson lives in Wellington, along with his place, Weta Studios, now responsible for many big-league films, including Avatar and the new King Kong movie.
Our ride across the straight to the south island was smooth. Not like Tony’s, who had recently bought a boat in the south island an sailed it with 3 mates to the north. The day he crossed, they got to the entrance of the straight and encountered big waves, so decided to wait a bit. Later that day, the forecast predicted calmer seas so they went for it. Almost immediately they got slammed with giant waves that broke their pilot house windows and somehow caused an engine fire below decks. Somehow the adventure didn’t end tragically and they all survived, though that stretch of water is one of the world’s worst for nautical ship wrecks. Anna, Ella and Helen actually slept in the van for most of the 3 hour sail, while I stood near the bow and admired the view. Towards the end of the sail Anna emerged from the van, deep in the below decks, trying to orient herself. A nice deck hand helped her out, also explaining that no one was allowed in the vehicle/cargo area of the ferry while under sail. Never did figure out why. Bad air, perhaps? Anyway, together we soaked up the Queen Charlotte Sound leg of our sail, then drove down to Blenheim, where we spent one night before driving over to Golden Bay, north of the Abel Tasman. There we spent 4 nights with another nice host-couple, who lived upstairs from us, and we experienced a classic north-of-the-south island scene, including a day tramping on a 10 km stretch of the Abel Tasman itself. So beautiful, though much of our trip, actually, has felt like a rehearsal for our next visit, when we’ll arrive later in the year and experience their summer season, when we can actually get in the water and splash and get wet and everything. As it was, the AT was spectacular, and sunny and warm (ish). Mid-60’s, perhaps? Have I mentioned that the sun here is warm, and the shade is cool? The other highlight during our stay in Golden Bay was an early morning trip up to Farewell Spit, the north-most point in the south island. (This spit stretches east off the top of the island and impressive 26 km, and is responsible for many whale strandings.) We visited a spectacular beach (Wharariki) just west of there at low tide. It featured seals, both large and small, making Helen think of Africa, I think mostly just for the volume of large mammals out doing their thing in the wild. Our first, best, encounter was right at the start, following a trail in across a sheep paddock to where it crossed a tidal stream. There we found several adolescent seals frolicking in the water. Ella found a trail down to the water’s edge and the rest of us watched, mesmerized, as the seals were all attracted to her standing there silently. She eventually got right down to the water’s edge where the seals came up to her, so that she could have touched them as they reached up to sniff at her. After a while all 4 of us worked our way down to them and we all had a big, inter-species love fest, checking each other out and proclaiming undying adoration for one another. These were young seals, and very curious and frisky, and oh-so cute. We actually didn’t realize quite how young until later, when down on the beach we saw the big ones, maybe 300 lbs, vs our little guys who were more like 50.
After Golden Bay, we drove west about 5 hours (long, beautiful drive day) to the west coast and a place called Punakaiki. True to its reputation, the west coast was wet. We had a nice, wet, coastal hike and visited the big attraction there, a crazy limestone formation of pancake rocks and blow holes. After 2 nights camping (all 4 of us in the van together) at a holiday park, we drove south along the coast, past 2 glaciers ( the Franz Joseph and Fox) to the end of the west coast highway in Haast. The glaciers were a bit sad, btw. Though still spectacular in their way, information boards showed the path of their retreat over that last couple of hundred years. As recently as 1965 they were in pretty good shape, then retreated only slightly until about 2008 when they high tailed it up the mountain, so are now mere shadows (as Uncle Ken once described himself) of their former selves. Though raining for a good bit of our drive south, we woke up in Haast to sun, and a spectacular drive over the alps (featuring several stops at oh-so scenic rest stops and short walks) to Lake Wanaka. There we stayed at yet another Airbnb in the town of Wanaka, described a quieter but no less stunning version on Queenstown, just a mountain range to the south. We went on several key hikes, including a long one to yet another glacier (the Rob Roy), all in stunning sunshine. A nice, dry, settled stretch of weather was finally upon us. We next seized on this unexpected lull in the wet to visit the famous Milford Sound, driving about 3 hours to the south, through Te Anau and on up an amazing stretch of road to just below Milford Sound. Lake Te Anau, incidentally, is a closed-in fiord that is long and over 400 meters deep in spots, making it twice as deep as Loch Ness (also a closed-in fiord) in Scotland. Who knows what monsters lie in a lake that deep? Not sure if you knew this, but the whole Milford Sound area actually has no sounds, only fiords. (Turns out fiords are created from glaciers while sounds are the result of river erosion.)
Anyway the fine weather held for our picnic there, then our night camping at a department of conservation (DOC) site, poised to descend on Milford Sound the next morning. And get up early we did, driving over the final divide and through a ridiculously spectacular one-lane tunnel, 1.5 km long, dark and dripping, to the coast on the far side. You may have heard that Milford Sound is famously wet. In fact, they get about 7 meters of rain a year, making it one of the wettest spots on earth. Couldn’t prove it by us. We caught a 3 hour cruise on a small (maybe 40 passengers) boat out on the sound, while the guide, an American marine biologist, gushed about what a beautiful day it was. We saw seals, a penguin, and several impressive great waterfalls. The mountains go straight up from the water about 2K meters and were mostly visible, in and out of passing clouds. They’re granite, very hard, and have eroded little since the last ice age 10-15K years ago. One consequence, interestingly, is the phenomenon of “tree avalanches”. You know how it works. Lichens on the cliffs attract mosses which attract seedlings which grow into trees which all cling to each other with an impressive great network of roots. After so many hundreds of years there’s quite a forest growing right on a near vertical granite cliff until…that’s right, one of the top trees gives way, then the whole house-of-cards-forest collapses, tumbling into the sound/fiord and leaving a bare granite cliff, ready to start the cycle again.
Another interesting and unique feature of the area is the deep water corals and fish that populate the sound, this due to a 2-6 meter layer of freshwater on top of the salt, cutting down on the penetration of sunlight and fooling these deep water flora/fauna into an area a hundred meters or so above their normal comfort zone. We actually got to visit a floating marine center that had a cool, spiral staircase that went down about 30 meters to a viewing room where we saw deep water black (actually looked pretty white…who knew?) coral. And other neat deep ocean stuff. That was a fine day. Later we drove a couple of hours back over to Queenstown where we spent another 3 nights at yet another lovely Airbnb.
Okay, this email is quite long enough. We’ve had dinner now, a fine quinoa and vegan sausage affair that Anna chef-ed up, with a salad featuring fresh greens from our host’s extensive garden. We’re all lounging about and thinking about tackling the apple-rhubarb crisp that Anna also cooked. I’ll describe more of our Q-town adventures later. And I haven’t even begun to describe my various encounters with the local NZ disc golf community, with whom I’m quickly becoming a known part of. Consider yourselves now mostly caught up, however, as we are currently just a few hours south and only a few days on from that amazing stretch of the Wanaka/Milford/Queenstown leg of our travels. We’ve been missing you lots lately. Anna, particularly, has been remarking on it, but tonight it was Ella, saying at dinner how much she misses the lake and sad that we won’t have more Christmases together at Maple Rd. Sad stuff for sure. Do hope you are both feeling snug and content in your new North Hill home and look forward to hearing from you soon,
Love, love, Doug”
November 2:
“Hey all,
Sorry to miss you, Mom & Dad, when we called yesterday. I gather Steve had just driven you home, but so good to see S & L’s cutie faces and get caught up (just a little) on life in Natick. Crazy wind storm you all had. Did you hear that Portland/Cape Eliz got hammered pretty hard? I read over 500K lost power in ME (more than the famous ice storm of 1998) and as of yesterday Cape was still in the dark and Halloween had been postponed until Saturday.
Here on the other side of the world it’s also been a bit windy. Don Norris, in fact, was excited that we got to experience a classic Sydney weather phenomenon our first day called a “Southerly Buster”. Our Airbnb is in Narrabeen, about 40 minutes north of the city. We checked in late Sunday night, then woke up to a beautiful, hot (92F) Monday right on a crashy wave beach which we all enjoyed, swimming/body surfing in the coolish (67F) water. Then towards evening thunderstorms came in, along with a howling (40+ knot) southerly wind that came tearing up the coast, blowing the pounding wave spray sideways along the beach. Dramatic stuff, and though it died down somewhat by the next morning, it’s been pretty breezy ever since and the waves have kept building, so that now we’d be challenged to swim unscathed. The temps dropped as well, so that Tuesday we had a high of 65F. A classic Southerly Buster, as I’ve said.
Our place is also about 10 minutes from our Norris cousins, and we’ve now gotten together twice, first for dinner at a local VFW hall on Monday, then on Tuesday Don picked us up and we drove 40 minutes north to a beautiful bush walk in a national park, followed by lunch at an iconic beach restaurant on Palm Beach. Ever since leaving Australia 30 years ago I’ve been dreaming of seeing the amazing creatures again, and that day we got to tick of 3, a wallaby, some sulfur crested cockatoos and a flock of rainbow lorikeets, possibly the prettiest bird I’ve ever seen. That evening Don and Ariel showed up at our place and the 3 girls went out to a Halloween dinner together while us 3 elder types hung out with pizza and beer and wine. Christine has been away on a field trip with her 5th grade students and when home again will be straight out with grading til she gets a break this weekend. Our plan is to see Don and Ari again Friday for snorkeling at a marine sanctuary in Manly, just north of the city (it’s supposed to get back up to about 80F tomorrow). Then Saturday we’ve been invited to a BBQ gathering at their place, where we’ll finally get a chance to connect with Christine. Ari (her nickname is pronounce Air-y) is great, with a full schedule of university classes and also a (6 year now) job at McDonalds (who currently pay her $26 AUD/hr, $8 more than the national minimal wage, which is, interestingly, the equivalent of almost twice our current US minimum wage). The girls figured out that Ella is now almost exactly the age Ari was when they last saw each other at the Bunny Club in 2012. Don’s great as well, with classic Norris wit and curiosity of all things natural. He’s been a wealth of information and has strong opinions on most everything, from potential solutions to our world’s numerous challenges to good local beer recommendations.
Just backing up a bit, I believe I left you in my last email down in the Southland, beating off penguins and sea lions as we stared moodily across the southern ocean towards Antarctica. On our last night in Owaka we invited our host, Noel (short for Noelene), and her 92 year old mother over for dinner, a big vegetarian curry affair that Anna chef-ed up. They were fascinating guests, the mom a rancher who was recently recognized by the NZ govt for successfully managing all aspects a major farm operation while the men were off fighting in WWII. Noel did a short university stint studying wool fibers, a skill that’s required to determine if a particular farm’s harvest will be destined to make sweaters or rugs. She eventually raised a family in WA north of Perth, before eventually returning home to help care for farm and mom.
On 10/26 we drove up the west coast, past Dunedin to an amazing lunch spot on a wharf in Moeraki called Fluer’s Place. Look it up. It’s crazy famous now and our seafood (Helen had some tasty vegan option) meal was about the best I’ve ever had. When I spoke with Steve yesterday he said “more pictures!” so I’ve included a couple of the slightly less famous Moeraki boulders on a beach just north there, geological curiosities known as “spherical concretions”, 55 million year old pebbles and shells that gradually got covered with limestone and more recently have dropped out of an eroding clay cliff to lie scattered like giant’s marbles across the sand.
We spent that night camping for a last time in our Jucy van, then arrived in Christchurch to a final NZ Airbnb on Friday. Saturday was spent emptying the van and re-organizing/paring down our gear in preparation for the flight to Aus. I met a neighbor that day who, after a nice visit at his place, provided us with fresh venison he’d recently shot (grilled that night along with fresh veggies, yum) and a plan to go trout fishing the next morning. Our fishing excursion was meant to be a day-long affair, but I woke up Sunday early (5:30am) to read an early check-in alert, just before heading out, stating that our flight I’d thought was Monday at 6:45pm was really on Sunday at 6:45pm. So fish we still did, but at a closer venue, and in the afternoon returned our van and headed to the airport to begin the next chapter of our Overseas Adventure. (OAs incidentally, are what typically young Kiwis and Aussies do after they’re done with school. It’s a common term, OA, and an expected right-of-passage in this part of the world.)
So back to our new car. I’ve been pondering for some time how best to get around over the next 3 months. You’ll remember one of the basic challenges of this plan to travel from Sydney to Perth is that it’s a whopping great long way to travel over vast swaths of un-inhabited desert and such. Meet the solution, a screenshot from the carsales.au website I’ve been using to research options. This is the car we’re buying:
It’s a 2006 Toyota Landcruiser Prado. This one has a manual transmission, runs on diesel, and comes equipped with a bull bar (for deflecting kangaroos), a snorkel (for crossing croc-infested rivers), a pair of spotlights (the better to see creatures-of-the-night), a winch (surely we won’t need that?), a VHF (CB) radio (for communication in an emergency), a roll-out awning and a fold-out/pop-up roof tent that sleeps 4. In the back we’ll have a proper little plug-in fridge (under the hood are dual batteries), and I’m thinking we’ll just use my camping stove and fires to cook our meals, though we could also get a bigger gas stove. We also need still to buy assorted cooking gear, along with jerry cans of water, but I think that’s about it. Curious, of course, to see how everything fits, as we won’t be in actual possession of the car til Saturday morning. We may decide to get rid of a few things, like maybe one of our 2 tents. And let’s hear it for roof racks. This is a private sale, btw, and is costing us just over $15K USD. Nice guy bought it 4 years ago and is now paring down following a recent divorce. Over the past few days I’ve checked a bunch of options online and got a pretty good sense as to what I was looking for. I then sent enquiries to 3 sellers and this was the first one I actually arranged to see. The price is good, compared to other similar offers, and I’ll get it inspected by a mechanic, but we gave him earnest money yesterday and we’re basically pretty (very!) excited.
On now to Gumtree, another website used by Aussie’s to sell used stuff, and other assorted errands as we pull ourselves together for adventures-to-come. Oh, and it’s Ella’s birthday! Helen just emerged and is making Ella a special breakfast, then there is a birthday excursion for mani-pedi’s and I think maybe Ella is getting her nose (re) pierced. And tonight Ari is taking Ella out-on-the-town and all is well down under. Love, love, love to you all and love,
Doug”
November 19:
“…I just checked and my last email was over 2 weeks ago, when we had just bought a new car shortly after arriving in Sydney. That whole first week in Australia was busy, not surprising as we were setting ourselves up for a 3-plus month driving adventure around the continent. We are all so pleased with the vehicle, which wasn’t yet in our possession when I last wrote. It’s a Landcruiser, actually a 2006 Toyota Prado GXL to be specific. And you know it’s got a manual transmission and uses diesel fuel. It has, in fact, two 90 liter fuel tanks which gives it an effective driving range of 1200 km’s, though filling it at the pump takes a while and costs close to $200 USDs. It’s got an air intake snorkel that allows for river crossings and I bought 2 new tires so now all have great treads, hybrids that allow for a quiet, comfortable paved road experience as well as capable off-road. I bought an air compressor so can now reduce tire pressure when needed and still re-fill when back on paved roads. We also bought a 60 liter fridge that is powered using a new “house” battery that’s designated for the purpose while not driving. On that note, during our 4 day camping stretch over my birthday, we quickly drained the house battery and tried using the 2nd, “crank” battery to keep our food cool. Turns out just idling the vehicle doesn’t really charge batteries well and is actually not good for the engine. Despite (we thought) being careful, we managed to drain the 2nd one as well and ended up needing help from a camping neighbor to get our car started again. This neighbor, a friendly bush-Aussie named Art, not only jump started us but hooked our house battery up to his generator for a few hours, re-charging it and allowing for cold beers and tofu over the remainder of our stay. Lesson learned, and my first (online) purchase upon returning to civilization was a 160 watt portable solar charger, specifically designed for charging 12V batteries while camping. It’ll be waiting for us at the Norris’s when we get back down to Sydney next weekend, and should (theoretically) provide enough power (at least on sunny days) to keep us happily off-grid indefinitely. Water’s the other big limiter, of course. We now have two 22 liter water tanks in addition to our 4 one liter bottles, but learned (this last camp had no fresh water access) that one tank is really only good for about 1 ½ days consumption for the 4 of us. We made due with just the 2 over 4 days but really conserved, using ocean water to wash dishes and hands and (of course) nothing extra for a quick rinse-off shower. There’s still room, barely, for more tanks on the roof so I’ll pick up another 1 or 2, though our vehicle is starting to remind me of Jed’s as his family headed off to Beverly Hills.
I’ll attach a couple of images, and maybe will send another couple of emails with attachments (seems if I try attaching too many it keeps an email from sending) so you can get some visuals, but let me also quickly describe the 2 other big features of our new ride. First, it has a roof tent. This is permanently attached to the roof rack and the hard floor hinges closed to quite a low profile while stored. It then folds open, revealing a double mattress in a comfortably ventilated tent on top and off to one side of the vehicle, along with a retractable aluminum ladder for access. From the cantilevered half hangs an attachable canvas annex, fully enclosed with a soft bottom and also nicely ventilated and equipped with a 2nd double mattress. We’ve also kept one tent for now, thinking it may be nice to spread out occasionally, along with 2 thermarest pads. This will also be nice for quick (one night) camp stops, as the annex section of the roof tent is a bit more complicated to set up than the simple dome tent.
The other cool feature of our new ride is a retractable awning called a Foxwing (brand name) canopy. It unfurls from the opposite side of the car as the roof tent and is quite spacious, creating a shade zone well out from the side and completely around the rear of the vehicle. Wow. So we’re now configured to camp comfortably for extended periods without needing to pull a trailer. Very cool and I’m fine with the compromise of spending time up on the roof with ropes lashing half our gear, and also a useless rearview mirror. Our side mirrors work well enough on the road and the Prado has a reverse view camera to assist the driver when backing up. Last thing I’ll say about the car is how nice it is driving, so quiet an comfortable after that clunky, shuddery NZ Jucy van. We’ve been remarking how lovely it is to be able to all talk again while driving, compared to the campervan where back seat passengers were out of comfortable earshot from the front area. So bring on Australia, we’re ready for a major road trip.
Getting back to a few notes on what we’ve done since arriving, we spent our first 11 days split between 2 Airbnb’s on Sydney’s northern beaches, one in Narrabeen and the other in Manly, and both close to the Norris’s who featured heavily over several nice excursions and shared meals. Manly was especially nice as we were right in the middle of things with easy walking to great restaurants and beaches, along with the ferry terminal connecting us to Circular Quay (this right next to the harbor bridge and opera house). We took the 30 minute ferry ride into Sydney twice, exploring a bit of the downtown area and botanical gardens, and generally gawking at all the big shiny buildings and those glowing sails on that crazy iconic opera house.
We finally dragged ourselves out of Sydney and spent our first night camping in a gum forest near the Wisemans ferry crossing area a couple of hours northwest of the city. That first morning waking up outside and hearing all the birdsong was pretty special, then later on while hanging out a couple of big monitor lizards (goannas) strolled through our camp. The 2nd one we surrounded in a big open area and had a good inspection (and cool video footage) of the impressive great brute of a thing (though we later learned we haven’t yet seen the really big ones, like they have on Komodo). That night we arrived for a 3 day stay at Peter and Annie Coe’s place in Port Macquarie. So nice to re-connect after overlapping with them at Tim and Joyce’s Airbnb on Zanzibar. They are both lovely, as remembered, and fantastic hosts, setting us up in their downstairs area and showing us around their beautiful coastal town. Our second night (Saturday) we joined them at a friend’s impressive home for a concert, something they do every month or so, showcasing local and traveling musicians. All the guests (there were maybe 30) are asked to donate $20 and the money goes to the artists. Our concert featured a German folk group (Aussie born guitar player and his east German accordion playing partner) called The Beez. They spoke eloquently and sang powerfully (along with a slide show) of their time together in Berlin around 1988 during the end of the wall. What an amazing historical period and so educational as they gave us their personal account, along with historical perspectives on this surreal event. The girls (along with everyone else) were rapt and enchanted, and they both spent time at the end of the evening chatting with the musicians. The whole east/west Berlin and cold war phenomenon was, not surprisingly, something they were as yet unaware of, and some good learning took place that night in a form so different from the usual college lecture hall. Here’s a link to their site https://www.thebeez.de/ or google to hear music if interested.
Other quick highlights of our time in Port Macquarie was a koala hospital, where we got to tour a facility dedicated to rehabilitating injured and sick koalas, many of whom live in the area right around town. We also got a fine fruit bat fix, seeing many hundreds hanging from trees in a colony on a board walk marsh area right down town. Amazing. We got to see them clearly, as it was daytime and the trees weren’t tall, and many were actually flying from spot to spot, and chattering to each other and squabbling, and some even had babies on their chests.
Then this last Monday we drove 3 hours north to a coastal camping area recommended to us by the Coe’s. Yuraygir national park encompasses the largest stretch of undeveloped coastline in NSW and we spent 4 nights there, 3 on a remote site only assessable to 4WD vehicles. This site required driving (at low tide) down a 2 km stretch of wide, hard beach and then across a 80 meter (shallow) tidal estuary, along with navigating long swaths of soft sand dune type tracks (a bit like driving in deep slushy snow). Pretty freaky stuff and only attempted after a ranger (our first morning there) basically insisted that we really needed to check out this 2nd camp and that our vehicle was more than capable of handling the terrain. So glad we took his advice, and spent the next 3 days blissing out under sunny skies and a spectacular coastal beach scene. The water was still a bit cool but basically lovely, especially up the estuary where the shallow water baked in the sun. Snorkeling we saw tropical fishes and rays, and Helen startled 2 sea turtles feeding on seaweed. Walking up the beach following that snorkel a woman fishing said she watched a pod of 7 dolphins who were checking us out, though sadly none of us noticed them. Still nice to know we were observed and that they were so close. Another day we saw a group of 20 or so dolphins feeding in the surf quite close to the beach. We could watch as their bodies were clearly defined in the translucent waves, and every so often one would leap out of the water, presumably just for the pleasure of it. This was how I spent my birthday this year. That day I fished (unproductively) in the late afternoon while Anna and the girls produced a wonderful camp dinner of burritos and a lovely guacamole. Then later, sitting around the fire I got to blow out candles off a yummy cake they also somehow created from scratch using our single burner camping stove. Truly one of my best birthdays yet.
I’m going to wrap this up now. On Friday we packed up, and after getting a jump start from Art drove back up the beach and back to civilization. We’re now staying at an Airbnb for 4 nights in Byron Bay, the eastern most point of Australia and about half way up the coast, just on the edge of the Queensland border. So nice to take hot showers and catch up with internet stuff, along with exploring this hopping tourist town. It’s Sunday now and A, E and H are just leaving to walk around downtown. I’m going to grab some lunch and hit the local hardware store for jumper cables, a vinyl patch kit (there’s a hole in the roof tent cover), white gas, some contractor bags and a voltmeter. Hope you all are having a fine Saturday night and hope you can feel the love coming up from down under,
Doug”
November 19:
“Hi all,
So great getting to hear your voices yesterday, Mom and Dad. We’ve been thinking about you, the Sherrill family and especially John and Tib since you let us know John’s intentions to no longer medically intervene over his various medical crisis. I hope he is now comfortably ensconced back in their Hobbit home and this next stretch is peaceful and natural for the whole family. John seems to keep working his way into our conversations, like last night at a restaurant in Byron Bay when we all sampled a Mediterranean garlic sauce that came with Anna’s chicken dish. It reminded us, of course, of John’s famous garlic soup event. The girls asked lots of pertinent questions regarding flavor, other ingredients used, and general popularity. It was agreed the soup was not one of John’s finer culinary moments, but perhaps one of the only few in a long life of fine cooking. That then made me reminisce on that amazing catfish-on-muffins meal with remoulade that he and Anna chefed up for breakfast 2 summers back. I think she and he both have the gift (Ella seems to have it as well) of knowing, without recipes, a general alchemy for combining ingredients that will work well together. And that all makes me think of Thanksgiving this week at the lake and how we’ll all be aching to join our circle there. If we have phone reception we’ll plan on calling, maybe an hour or so before your planned mealtime. I can message Steve to get a time, and maybe we can even sign a hymn or 2 together with us on speakerphone. Our plans for this week are still solidifying, but Friday morning (our time) we’ll either be waking up at a camping site (in which case we may not have phone coverage) or staying with friends of friends north of Sydney, in which case we should be good for a long-distance-lake-connection.
I just checked and my last email was over 2 weeks ago, when we had just bought a new car shortly after arriving in Sydney. That whole first week in Australia was busy, not surprising as we were setting ourselves up for a 3-plus month driving adventure around the continent. We are all so pleased with the vehicle, which wasn’t yet in our possession when I last wrote. It’s a Landcruiser, actually a 2006 Toyota Prado GXL to be specific. And you know it’s got a manual transmission and uses diesel fuel. It has, in fact, two 90 liter fuel tanks which gives it an effective driving range of 1200 km’s, though filling it at the pump takes a while and costs close to $200 USDs. It’s got an air intake snorkel that allows for river crossings and I bought 2 new tires so now all have great treads, hybrids that allow for a quiet, comfortable paved road experience as well as capable off-road. I bought an air compressor so can now reduce tire pressure when needed and still re-fill when back on paved roads. We also bought a 60 liter fridge that is powered using a new “house” battery that’s designated for the purpose while not driving. On that note, during our 4 day camping stretch over my birthday, we quickly drained the house battery and tried using the 2nd, “crank” battery to keep our food cool. Turns out just idling the vehicle doesn’t really charge batteries well and is actually not good for the engine. Despite (we thought) being careful, we managed to drain the 2nd one as well and ended up needing help from a camping neighbor to get our car started again. This neighbor, a friendly bush-Aussie named Art, not only jump started us but hooked our house battery up to his generator for a few hours, re-charging it and allowing for cold beers and tofu over the remainder of our stay. Lesson learned, and my first (online) purchase upon returning to civilization was a 160 watt portable solar charger, specifically designed for charging 12V batteries while camping. It’ll be waiting for us at the Norris’s when we get back down to Sydney next weekend, and should (theoretically) provide enough power (at least on sunny days) to keep us happily off-grid indefinitely. Water’s the other big limiter, of course. We now have two 22 liter water tanks in addition to our 4 one liter bottles, but learned (this last camp had no fresh water access) that one tank is really only good for about 1 ½ days consumption for the 4 of us. We made due with just the 2 over 4 days but really conserved, using ocean water to wash dishes and hands and (of course) nothing extra for a quick rinse-off shower. There’s still room, barely, for more tanks on the roof so I’ll pick up another 1 or 2, though our vehicle is starting to remind me of Jed’s as his family headed off to Beverly Hills.
I’ll attach a couple of images, and maybe will send another couple of emails with attachments (seems if I try attaching too many it keeps an email from sending) so you can get some visuals, but let me also quickly describe the 2 other big features of our new ride. First, it has a roof tent. This is permanently attached to the roof rack and the hard floor hinges closed to quite a low profile while stored. It then folds open, revealing a double mattress in a comfortably ventilated tent on top and off to one side of the vehicle, along with a retractable aluminum ladder for access. From the cantilevered half hangs an attachable canvas annex, fully enclosed with a soft bottom and also nicely ventilated and equipped with a 2nd double mattress. We’ve also kept one tent for now, thinking it may be nice to spread out occasionally, along with 2 thermarest pads. This will also be nice for quick (one night) camp stops, as the annex section of the roof tent is a bit more complicated to set up than the simple dome tent.
The other cool feature of our new ride is a retractable awning called a Foxwing (brand name) canopy. It unfurls from the opposite side of the car as the roof tent and is quite spacious, creating a shade zone well out from the side and completely around the rear of the vehicle. Wow. So we’re now configured to camp comfortably for extended periods without needing to pull a trailer. Very cool and I’m fine with the compromise of spending time up on the roof with ropes lashing half our gear, and also a useless rearview mirror. Our side mirrors work well enough on the road and the Prado has a reverse view camera to assist the driver when backing up. Last thing I’ll say about the car is how nice it is driving, so quiet an comfortable after that clunky, shuddery NZ Jucy van. We’ve been remarking how lovely it is to be able to all talk again while driving, compared to the campervan where back seat passengers were out of comfortable earshot from the front area. So bring on Australia, we’re ready for a major road trip.
Getting back to a few notes on what we’ve done since arriving, we spent our first 11 days split between 2 Airbnb’s on Sydney’s northern beaches, one in Narrabeen and the other in Manly, and both close to the Norris’s who featured heavily over several nice excursions and shared meals. Manly was especially nice as we were right in the middle of things with easy walking to great restaurants and beaches, along with the ferry terminal connecting us to Circular Quay (this right next to the harbor bridge and opera house). We took the 30 minute ferry ride into Sydney twice, exploring a bit of the downtown area and botanical gardens, and generally gawking at all the big shiny buildings and those glowing sails on that crazy iconic opera house.
We finally dragged ourselves out of Sydney and spent our first night camping in a gum forest near the Wisemans ferry crossing area a couple of hours northwest of the city. That first morning waking up outside and hearing all the birdsong was pretty special, then later on while hanging out a couple of big monitor lizards (goannas) strolled through our camp. The 2nd one we surrounded in a big open area and had a good inspection (and cool video footage) of the impressive great brute of a thing (though we later learned we haven’t yet seen the really big ones, like they have on Komodo). That night we arrived for a 3 day stay at Peter and Annie Coe’s place in Port Macquarie. So nice to re-connect after overlapping with them at Tim and Joyce’s Airbnb on Zanzibar. They are both lovely, as remembered, and fantastic hosts, setting us up in their downstairs area and showing us around their beautiful coastal town. Our second night (Saturday) we joined them at a friend’s impressive home for a concert, something they do every month or so, showcasing local and traveling musicians. All the guests (there were maybe 30) are asked to donate $20 and the money goes to the artists. Our concert featured a German folk group (Aussie born guitar player and his east German accordion playing partner) called The Beez. They spoke eloquently and sang powerfully (along with a slide show) of their time together in Berlin around 1988 during the end of the wall. What an amazing historical period and so educational as they gave us their personal account, along with historical perspectives on this surreal event. The girls (along with everyone else) were rapt and enchanted, and they both spent time at the end of the evening chatting with the musicians. The whole east/west Berlin and cold war phenomenon was, not surprisingly, something they were as yet unaware of, and some good learning took place that night in a form so different from the usual college lecture hall. Here’s a link to their site https://www.thebeez.de/ or google to hear music if interested.
Other quick highlights of our time in Port Macquarie was a koala hospital, where we got to tour a facility dedicated to rehabilitating injured and sick koalas, many of whom live in the area right around town. We also got a fine fruit bat fix, seeing many hundreds hanging from trees in a colony on a board walk marsh area right down town. Amazing. We got to see them clearly, as it was daytime and the trees weren’t tall, and many were actually flying from spot to spot, and chattering to each other and squabbling, and some even had babies on their chests.
Then this last Monday we drove 3 hours north to a coastal camping area recommended to us by the Coe’s. Yuraygir national park encompasses the largest stretch of undeveloped coastline in NSW and we spent 4 nights there, 3 on a remote site only assessable to 4WD vehicles. This site required driving (at low tide) down a 2 km stretch of wide, hard beach and then across a 80 meter (shallow) tidal estuary, along with navigating long swaths of soft sand dune type tracks (a bit like driving in deep slushy snow). Pretty freaky stuff and only attempted after a ranger (our first morning there) basically insisted that we really needed to check out this 2nd camp and that our vehicle was more than capable of handling the terrain. So glad we took his advice, and spent the next 3 days blissing out under sunny skies and a spectacular coastal beach scene. The water was still a bit cool but basically lovely, especially up the estuary where the shallow water baked in the sun. Snorkeling we saw tropical fishes and rays, and Helen startled 2 sea turtles feeding on seaweed. Walking up the beach following that snorkel a woman fishing said she watched a pod of 7 dolphins who were checking us out, though sadly none of us noticed them. Still nice to know we were observed and that they were so close. Another day we saw a group of 20 or so dolphins feeding in the surf quite close to the beach. We could watch as their bodies were clearly defined in the translucent waves, and every so often one would leap out of the water, presumably just for the pleasure of it. This was how I spent my birthday this year. That day I fished (unproductively) in the late afternoon while Anna and the girls produced a wonderful camp dinner of burritos and a lovely guacamole. Then later, sitting around the fire I got to blow out candles off a yummy cake they also somehow created from scratch using our single burner camping stove. Truly one of my best birthdays yet.
I’m going to wrap this up now. On Friday we packed up, and after getting a jump start from Art drove back up the beach and back to civilization. We’re now staying at an Airbnb for 4 nights in Byron Bay, the eastern most point of Australia and about half way up the coast, just on the edge of the Queensland border. So nice to take hot showers and catch up with internet stuff, along with exploring this hopping tourist town. It’s Sunday now and A, E and H are just leaving to walk around downtown. I’m going to grab some lunch and hit the local hardware store for jumper cables, a vinyl patch kit (there’s a hole in the roof tent cover), white gas, some contractor bags and a voltmeter. Hope you all are having a fine Saturday night and hope you can feel the love coming up from down under,
Doug”
Strout Family Year of Travel 
Love the pictures! And stories! Such a great family and school adventure. Really nice of you to share.
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Thank you, Sis! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! xoxo
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I have been to Wellington and I agree that it is the hippest town! I want to go back again. I miss you already, Wellington.
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