finishing up new zealand and australia (plus 7 tips for traveling down under)

Okay, the super-quick catch-up post. Well, probably not super quick, but it should cover a lot of ground.

So, after Dunedin, we went to Hanmer Springs where we soaked in thermal hot springs ranging from 35-42 degrees Celsius (the hottest ones steaming with the pungent aromas of sulfur). Hanmer Springs itself was a tiny town (surrounded by snow-covered mountains, of course), with more cool NZ cars.

We took a quick hike through some misty trees...

and then took the bus (with more beautiful NZ scenery)...

to Christchurch, where we visited the lovely botanic garden, featuring more gondola-like punting down the Avon River and a beautiful fountain, in addition to all of the trees and flowers.

We spent our last night in New Zealand in Christchurch and stopped by the Art Center in the morning before rushing off to the airport.

The Art Center used to be the University of Canterbury, but it has been converted into all these tiny art galleries. Though it’s sad that it’s no longer a university, I thought the buildings and grounds were beautiful and the space conversion was very, very cool. Here is the old chemistry building, in honor of my partner:

And here are some of the art installations on the grounds:

From Christchurch (bye, New Zealand!), we flew to Sydney, hung out with one of my old Aussie friends from middle school (yay, TAS!) and headed straight to Newcastle in the morning. Newcastle was a cute town with some beautiful beaches, but I was most taken with the Blackbutt Nature Reserve we visited, as we hadn’t seen much Australian wildlife until then. When we were in the outback, we saw sign after sign telling us to watch out for kangaroos, but we didn’t see even one. Go figure. And the Blackbutt Reserve was free, which was pretty awesome.

We saw beautiful birds, mostly wandering out in the open, but my favorites were in a (large) cage:

My partner liked the black swan best:

These peacocks were wandering around the picnic area, and I thought this synchronized pecking was funny:

I've seen quite a few peacocks in my day, as they're native to where my mom lives in California, but the male peacock we saw at Blackbutt was the most magnificent I've ever seen:

The poor wombat was pacing back and forth. I think the peacock eyeing him made him nervous.

We saw red kangaroos and grey kangaroos...

and even little wallaroos (between a large (6') kangaroo and a little (2') wallaby, at about 3' tall):

My favorite, though, was the koala:

I'm not a stuffed animal person or one of those cooing 'how cute' types usually, but man, these koalas are irresistable. No teddy bear could ever match how cute they are, and they are the perfect size for snuggling.

They just sleep and look peaceful while curled into a little ball, or they stuff eucalyptus leaves in their face when they're awake.

We got to see a koala with its baby, which was pretty much the cutest thing ever. They are about the size of a hand:

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise in Newcastle the next morning...

and discovered that the Aussies are a lot smarter when it comes to train seat design, as these seat backs could be swiveled to face either direction, allowing passengers to face forward no matter which way the train is going. Nice. I’d love to see those everywhere.

Continuing on, we took the Intercity train back to Sydney and set off for Bondi (pronounced Bon-dye, not Bon-dee, oops) Beach for our last day in Australia.

The beaches reminded me of perfect California beaches, and we had a great view from our hostel roof:

Bondi had some neat graffiti art and some great mosaic walls:

We enjoyed a nice sunset on our last night:

When the sun went down, surfers started coming in:

We got to meet up with a couple from our diving course in the Great Barrier Reef who were living in Bondi, and we really enjoyed hanging out at this little bookstore café, Gertrude & Alice:

We hung out at a swanky German bar after that, rounding out a perfect last day in Australia, and then said goodnight to Bondi (and goodbye to Australia) before catching an early flight back to L.A.

So, here are seven things we learned from spending a month in Australia and New Zealand:

1. Travel in Australia is best by plane, as it really is a huge continent, and there are several good discount airline options: Virgin (V Australia, Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue, etc.), Jetstar and Tiger.

2. Just remember to bring food/water on your flights, as the discount airlines won't give you a thing (you can bring empty water bottles and fill up after going through security). The discount airlines also have really, really strict baggage requirements (7 kilos for carry-on bags, and yes, they check) and charge for checked bags (less if you pay ahead of time than at the airport).

3. If you're flying from the States, Qantas' Aussie AirPass is worthwhile (and Qantas is a great airline with terrific service-- and the only way (so far) to fly between Alice Springs/Uluru and Cairns).

4. Campervans are cool to rent for the experience, but they will not necessarily be a cheaper option, once you pay for your insurance, petrol, etc. For visiting Uluru, though, it's nice as it gives you freedom and flexibility. You can also look into relocation specials that can be either free or really cheap if you're going the against typical tourist traffic-- i.e., down the Gold Coast rather than up.

5. In New Zealand, you can travel really well via bus or train. I'd recommend the TranzAlpine for a scenic train ride, but for everything else, the buses will be cheaper and give you many more options-- and the hop-on-hop-off tickets are great. We went with Intercity, which is a big coach bus that was comfortable, punctual and reasonably priced, and we heard that Atomic/Naked (smaller buses) is a bit cheaper and also decent. The other two, Kiwi Experience and Magic Bus, are more expensive and more like party buses for 20-year-olds (which wasn't what we were going for this time around). 

6. Our favorite place in Australia was Melbourne, and we would definitely spend more time there next time. For guaranteed (free) wildlife, I'd check out the Blackbutt Nature Reserve.

7. We loved everything about New Zealand, but I'd say Te Anau was my favorite place, especially for the glow worms, and tramping on Fox Glacier was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Phew! I thought I'd be able to do it all in one mega-catch-up post, but I think I'll have to break it up into two parts.

So, next up: the U.S., Mexico and a day in the Netherlands.

the cure to mosquito bites!

Okay, I'm really, really behind now. Four continents behind, to be precise. Eek.

BUT! I offer you my cure to mosquito bites as compensation for my tardiness.

Background: I am one of the biggest mosquito magnets I know, and when I get bitten, the bites turn into hot, tangerine-sized bumps. I'm usually into peace and love, but I really wouldn't shed a tear if mosquitoes disappeared off the planet. Forever. And did I mention that my partner and I are taking anti-malaria tablets every day?

Right. Now, cut to my present-day state of mosquito zen, and my loathing for mosquitoes has diminished because I've finally, finally found a solution to the itchy bites that works for me. I must give credit to my brother-in-law, Than, who started this craziness with clear tape, but here are my solutions, depending on the various types of mosquito bites:

- somewhat itchy bites are fine with plain old anti-itch cream (1% hydrocortisone, generic is fine)
- Benadryl itch-stopping gel is another good option for normal bites
- tape (yes, plain clear tape) works on small bites

But the real winner, which works on the itchiest and largest of bites, is duct tape. That's right, plain old duct tape. Just cut, rip or bite off enough to cover the bite, and it will stop itching. Almost immediately. I know that this isn't the sexiest remedy for mosquito bites, but it works.

When they say duct tape is mystical and magical and does it all, it really is and does. You can even make flip flops and shoes out of duct tape. It's a travel and backpacking must-have.

So, I hope you'll forgive my slow posts. (Our local internet café was suffering lots of blackouts, but we've splurged on a USB modem, so we should be connected to the world from now on. Ooooh, fancy.)

Now, my next (monster) post will get us all caught up on our travels (New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., Mexico and a quick day in the Netherlands). And after that, I'll be able to tell you all about Tanzania, where I am now.

So, stay tuned, and in the meantime, may you never suffer from itchy bites again!

And please, let me know if it works for you!

(Other popular natural remedies include taping pennies onto bites, rubbing banana peels on bites and dabbing clear nail polish on bites, but I haven't tested these yet. I also came across a popular prevention technique which I'm curious about: rubbing dryer sheets on exposed skin to ward off mozzies. Anyone tried this and/or know if this works?)

dunedin

Dunedin is known as New Zealand's Scottish town, and its buildings remind me of large gingerbread houses.

But first, another bus ride. While I was sleeping, my partner took some photos of reflections that created interesting designs:

We saw remnants of an old stone bridge right next to the (newer) one we drove across:

We saw more rolling hills of sheep...

the perfect screensaver through the bus windshield...

and giant fruits and vegetables:

In Dunedin, we stayed with the sweetest couchsurfer, Timo, an anthropology professor who studies death and evil. Needless to say, conversation was endless and fascinating.

It was so nice to meet another couchsurfer who really felt like an old friend. And it was also really nice to stay in a beautiful home (rather than in a grubby hostel).

We had a lovely room with windows on all sides (and a funky zebra print bed):

Not to mention our sunset view:

(One would be hard-pressed to guess, when seeing Timo feeding ice cream to random cats on the street and playing with his neighbor's dog, that he studies death and evil. Of course, maybe he just couldn't stand being such a sweet and gentle guy, he had to go and study something macho. Heh heh. Kidding, Timo.)

As you may have guessed from our staying with a young, cool professor, Dunedin is a college town, and as such, it's adorable (and colorful), has a wide range of ethnic restaurants (especially yummy Satay noodles) and a bit more diversity:

When we walked by this intersection a little later, we saw two guys climbing out of the window and onto the balcony. If you look closely in front of the green building, you'll see a guy sitting on a couch playing a guitar.

One unique feature about Dunedin that I thought was neat: the center of town is an octagon (map link), with larger octagonal rings around it. Around the octagon were attractive museums, churches, cafés and the like:

As we walked around, we found the train station (which resembled a fancy gingerbread house):

Considering it was winter, the delicate poppy-like flowers in front of the station were amazing:

The University of Otago was another fancy gingerbread building, and there was art everywhere. If you look in the canal in front of the university, you'll see three paintings just hanging there.

This sculpture in front of the university sign is of a gorilla (made of old car parts, I think) dominating an old car:

Even the Dunedin prison was beautiful:

We went to the Otago Settlers Museum, which was free and had neat exhibits on Maori history and culture and the evolution of transportation in New Zealand.

The best part: it was a hands-on, climb-in and climb-on kind of museum:

I was surprised to discover a terrific exhibit about Chinese settlers in New Zealand. A lot of them came for the Gold Rush (right after California's), and while it was mostly men at first who came to work, send money home, and then move back to China, eventually, families began settling here, too.

We also went to the Chinese garden, which was beautiful and tranquil. Like the Peabody Essex in Salem's Chinese House, this garden was put together in China, taken apart and reassembled by Chinese artisans in Dunedin.

I still got a kick out of the more formal English, and seeing signs like "Trundler Park" made me smile. (They're referring to the grocery carts.)

It seems like Kiwis don't like to cook, as there are take-out places everywhere. While many of them are Asian of some kind (Chinese, Thai, Korean, Cambodian, Indian...), lots of them are like this one, with Chinese food, fish 'n' chips and burgers all in one place (with a convenience store to boot):

One night, Timo drove us to the top of a nearby mountain, where we had an incredible view of Dunedin and the water. It was really cool to see the sun set and the city lights come up.

Then, Timo took us to his favorite Italian restaurant (which was excellent). And, finally, before turning in for the night, we stopped for some traditional New Zealand hokey pokey ice cream (vanilla with chunks of sponge toffee) and walked up the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street.