dellyb

Greetings,
the tips and information from everyone here have been so helpful in planning our trips in the past that I finally have the time to write about our month-long vacation last November to New Zealand, Australia and Singapore in case it could help anyone planning a future trip. We are in our late 50's and I love doing research before we travel.

Our daughter was studying at the U of Melbourne so we took advantage of that "excuse" to take my husband's lifelong dream trip to NZ and Australia...
it was wonderful! I insisted on adding Singapore to the itinerary because my sister lives there (even though it was like flying from the east to west coast of US to get there from Perth) but I left much of the rest of the trip was up to my husband since I am quite happy to go anywhere.

We flew Continetal direct from Newark to San Francisco on Sunday, October 29, allowing 4-hour layover in case there were delays and then Air New Zealand premium economy to Auckland where we changed planes to fly into Christchurch. (My husband is 6'2" and will now only travel via premium economy when available.) It was a great flight, the flight attendants were very friendly and reponsive, and the food was very good (for an airline). Enjoyed meeting the woman sitting in the third seat next to us who was older than we are and was going to spend about 8 days on South Island hiking, kayaking and bike riding before going to a Pacific Island to teach with Global Volunteers.

We devoted 9 days to New Zealand and decided to spend them all on the South Island instead of seeing just a little of each island. Our 6:40 am flight from Auckland to Christchurch was cancelled but they put us on another flight leaving shortly thereafter and everything was fine. From the scenery alone on that leg of the flight we were growing more excited about the trip!

Landed in Christchurch on Oct. 31 and took van from the airport to the Chateau Blanc Suites which I had found on Trip Advisor. shared van with an interesting woman who lived on Martha's Vineyard and was there to teach a photography class. We stayed from Oct. 31 - Nov. 3 in Christchurch area because my husband was unsure of how we would adjust to time change and didn't want to drive a long time as soon as we arrived. In the end, we could have spent one less day there and would have been fine.

I've learned that when traveling abroad that it is nice to have an extra room so if one of us wakes up in the middle of the night while adjusting to time change, he/she can go into the other room to turn on the light and read or watch tv. It worked again this time, although we both adjusted quite well and quickly. This hotel is actually on the edge of a park a bit removed from the center of the city so we took a walk across a nearby park to the Arts Center which was a nice way to spend the mid-day. It used to be Catnerbury University and has wonderful Gothic Revival stone buildings turned into little shops and restaurants. Had good lunch at Megawatt-Urban Food Kitchen and walked around more, then took short nap and went out for dinner (can't remember name of restaurant). Two darling little girls staying at the hotel had make-shift Halloween costumes and went trick or treating throughout the hotel which was fun.

Next morning we walked into the business district and stopped to see what was in the different shops and markets. We live on NJ coast but the selection of fish in NZ was outstanding compared to here! A charming site down the street around 11 am - all of the children from the cathedral school marched two by two across the square and into the church. the girls uniforms were down to their ankles and the older girls had one kind of hat and the younger ones another. After a 15 minute downpour, we crossed the square and followed the children into the cathedral where they were having a special celebration of the cathedral's 125th anniversary so we lingered for that. Organ played "Happy Birthday" as the children left.

We then walked along the River Avon (really more like a large stream in the middle of the city) and had lunch closer to our hotel. In the afternoon we had a lovely time exploring Botanical Gardens and Hagley Park. I would have enjoyed going to Canterbury Museum but we arrived there just as they were closing. Went back to Megawatt-Urban Food Kitchen for dinner because my husband enjoyed it so much. Not as busy as it had been for lunch the day before so we had a nice chance to talk with the waitress about living in Christchurch. She, and several other younger people we met during the trip, had moved to New Zealand from Europe, intending to settle there.

the next day we took a bus ride to Akaroa which was a lovely ride with stunning views when one reaches the hill above Akora harbor because it is actually the rim of a former volcano. the bus driver was a young woman who does some pretty intense bike riding and has also decided to settle in New Zealand. She gave a great tour, pointing out sites along the way.

Akaroa is a lovely old harbor town which had been the site of a French settlement. We at lunch along the water and took an afternoon boat trip into the harbor where we saw Hector dolphins and seals. It was glorious weather.

Returned to the city and tried to go to a recommended restaurant near our hotel for dinner only to find that it had closed, so went to a strip of ethnic restaurants nearby and had a forgettable Thai meal.

Returned to hotel to find our daughter there to surprise us! Hadn't seen her since end of June. She had taken the week before exams began to travel around New Zealand with 2 friends and had come from Queenstown where she had gone bungee jumping as well as sky diving. I knew about the former but was glad to learn about the latter after the fact.

The next day we took the beautiful train ride on the TranzAlpine Express to Greymouth on the west coast and got our rental car to drive to Fox Glacier. The drive was quicker than we expected and we arrived at Fox Glacier in time to actually go see the glacier, drive around a little bit, dinner at Cafe Neve, and up early for the long drive to Te Anau. (If we had known that we would make such good time, we would have gone further than Fox Glacier since we've seen glaciers, although this was impressive.)

The drive to Te Anau was absolutely beautiful and the road was quite empty. We would go through sections that felt so tropical with palm tress hanging over the road and then come out to areas that were stunning mountain scenes. We were told NZ has 45 million sheep which in the spring (remember seasons are reversed) increases to 60 million so it was charming seeing all of the lambs following the ewes around the fields...and each one was sweeter than the next. At some point, possums were introduced to NZ and have proliferated. They run into the road at night and get hit by cars so we saw a great deal of roadkill.

We arrived in late afternoon at Crown Lea Farm where we stayed for one night, then went on the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise, then returned to farm for a second night. These two days were one of the highlights of the trip! John and Florence Pine are lovely people, wonderful hosts and really enjoy having guests at their farm. We arrived in time for late afternoon tea and freshly baked muffins, then accompanied Florence to give milk bottles to some of the lambs that were rejected by their mothers or whose mothers had died, and then take a tour of the farm with John. At the highest point of the farm there are just incredible views of the mountains and lakes - I adore mountains so it felt pretty close to heaven!

There was another couple staying at the farm who were from England and had just gotten married the day before. They planned the wedding via the internet and had come alone to get married and then travel. We all had a delicious dinner (lamb, roasted vegetables, salad, yummy chocolate dessert) with John and Florence and the next morning, after a big breakfast, we left our luggage and just took backpacks, heading for Manapouri where we started the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise.

We had decided to take one cruise and, after reading all of the journals here and corresponding with Florence at the farmstay, we decided to go to Doubtful Sound vs. Milford Sound. It was a bit pricey but fabulous! the cabin was compact, clean and cozy, the food was good, and the staff was informative and friendly. The scenery was stunning - we saw dolphins, seals and penguins - and no other boats the whole trip. It was drizzling at the beginning but we had our raincoats and it didn't stop any activity. Some people went kayaking; we went out on boat with nature guide.

We did meet a fellow a few days later who had done a much different Doubtful Sound cruise that I did want to share with you. I think it was Deep Cove Charters. the captain can take up to 6 people. they see the bay and same scenery we saw but also go fishing and it's obviously a much more intimate group. He told us that the captain had seen a deer the day before he went and had shot it (we learned that deer are another non-indigenous nuisance, like possums), cleaned it, etc. so they had venison and the fish they caught for dinner.

the next day we returned and drove to Milford Sound which was another stunning ride where we had lunch and enjoyed the views, but my husband was not excited about immediately taking another boat trip to see more fjords - maybe next time. We had dinner at Olive Tree Cafe in Te Anau and returned to the farm.

the next morning, after another of Florence's wonderful breakfasts of fruit, yogurt, toast, muffins, eggs and bacon, we said farewell to the farm and headed for the southern scenic route.

Melnq8

Great report delly - looking forward to more.

dellyb

Thanks. It was such a spectacular and memorable trip that it's great to be thinking about all of it again as I write.

We left the farm and Te Anou and drove the southern scenic route which was also beautiful. I do have to note how much we loved the whole area of the Fjordland and Te Anou and we would have easily stayed there longer to hike and explore but it was time to keep moving. We stopped at the Southland Museum in Invercargill and saw some of the exhibits. We then drove through the Catlins where we again saw penguins and seals. We stopped at some of the recommended sites - Slope Point, Curio Bay, Nugget Point, and Purakaunui Falls but not the majority of them. At one site there is a small lean-to type of building with windows from which to view the penguins way above the beach. We were so fortunate that while we were there a penguin emerged from the ocean and walked across wide expanse of beach (it was low tide) way up into a grassy area. Other people who were there when we arrived gave up and left because it wasn't a usual time to see penguins and some people arrived after the penguin had settled into the grasses so they also missed his waddle across the beach.

We spent the night at another farmstay, the Catlins Farmstay with Murray and June Stratford. Once again, lovely hosts that really enjoy meeting new people and learning about where you are from and how you live. Both of the couples at the farmstays are such interesting people who moved into the areas where they live a long time ago, settled the farm, cleared the land, worked very, very hard, and seem to manage the farms alone except for certain times of the year when they require more help.

We had a delicious dinner at a nearby restaurant where a fellow from Holland who was also staying at the farmstay joined us. (That's how we found about the other overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound.) We stayed up when we returned, talking with June and Murray about life there and describing some of our family traditions. June made a delicious breakfast the next morning and we were then off to Dunedin.

It was a drizzly day when we got to Dunedin but looked like a fun city with some wonderful architecture. (My niece studied there this past January and really enjoyed it.) We stayed at the Mercure Leisure Lodge which is at the outer edge of the city near the university and had a nice first-floor room that looked out on gardens and lawn. We spent most of the time there preparing for our trip to Australia the next day by doing the laundry, catching up with email, etc. Unfortunately, the hotel's dryer wasn't too great so we finally had to take our clean wash to a laundromat to use the heavy duty dryers. My husband was somewhat frustrated about having to lug our wet laundry to the laundromat in the rain which took much longer than anticipated, so we just had dinner at the hotel.

In the morning, we had a 9:45 am flight to Auckland with a connection to Sydney where we arrived at 2:30 pm

Before writing about Australia I just have to add how much we adored everything about the South Island of NZ. The scenery is magnificent and unspoiled and the people are very friendly. It was wonderful to drive for an entire day and not have the view spoiled by billboards; to see lakes without any development on the shoreline. My husband loves the ocean whereas I prefer the mountains so NZ is perfect for us! My husband is still raphsodizing about it and even suggested retiring there. (Since our children are in the US, I suggested going for the months when it is winter here and summer there.) It is an extraordinarily beautiful place and I'm hoping that we really do return some day.

ElendilPickle

This is a wonderful trip report. Thanks for writing and posting it, dellyb!

Lee Ann

dellyb

thanks. I have benefited so much from other posters here that I wanted to finally give information that could be of help to others. I'm obviously leaving a lot out but describing a month-long trip could go on forever!

I do have to preface this section with a disclaimer that my husband is not crazy about cities and had always wanted to see the Australian Outback so my information about Sydney and Melbourne is not going to be too helpful compared to other posts. As I wrote at the beginning, this was his dream vacation and, since I love to go anywhere, I didn't insist on much in our itinerary aside from Singapore.

So, our Australian trip was Sydney, Melbourne (where we gathered up our daughter as it was the end of the semester), Coober Pedy, Uluru, Perth and then Singapore. I know, I know, we missed the Great Barrier Reef but there is only so much that one can do and, as much as my husband loves the beach, he does not snorkle or dive, and his top priority was to see the Outback. I really wanted to go to Tasmania and/or Kangaroo Island, too, but we had to make choices. I had read about the Mail Run in Coober Pedy and, once my husband, knew about it, we scheduled everything around that since it's only available 2 days a week. More about that incredible day later.

We flew Air New Zealand from Dunedin to Auckland, then Auckland to Sydney, arriving mid-afternoon. Went to our lodging - Simpson's of Potts Point - which is a fabulous B&B with nice selection of neighborhood restaurants. Our room was charming and the owners were delightful and eager to help. the common living room was beautifully furnished and the dining area was sunny with a very nice continental breakfast. It is in a neighborhood about 10 - 15 minute walk from the Opera House so we took a great walk down and around the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Opera House, then returned to have dinner in the neighborhood. (Sorry, can't remember where except it was recommended by the B&B, was on the main street, up a flight of stairs and had full length windows overlooking the street.)

The next morning, Friday, we walked down to Circular Quay which I thought was fascinating...ferries going in and out just like trains at Grand Central Station. We ferried out to Watsons Bay and strolled the walkway above the ocean. It was a gorgeous day to be at the beach. The fellow at the B&B had suggested a place for lunch at Bondi Beach so we caught the bus from Watsons Bay back to Bondi Beach. Unfortunately, the restaurant had been recommended to a zillion other people because it sits right over the ocean. they did not have hostess to take one's name or say how long a wait it would be; instead, one had to just go to a counter, order a meal, and, when the meal was ready, walk around and around looking for a vacant table - very "survival of the fittest" which is not my idea of a vacation. We saw how disorganized it was and left to have lunch at one of the little touristy restaurants across the road from the beach. I felt badly that there were much older people trying to navigate their way around that restaurant.

But, one of the reasons the fellow sent us to that area was due to a wonderful sculpture exhibit that was stretched along the walkway from Bondi Beach to Bronte Beach so we took advantage of that because it was going to be closing in the next few days.
Again, we ate at a little restaurant right up the street from the B&B. (I have a problem with certain foods and must have eaten something that didn't agree with me the first night so we just ate at local restaurants and didn't go further into the city for dinner while we were there.)

My husband had read about the view from Sydney Tower so we went up there on Saturday morning and it was a spectacular view. From there we walked to Circular Quay to take a Harbour Cruise. Although I had read that one can just take the State Transit ferries on the same route as the Captain Cook Cruises and follow commentary in a guidebook, I had been making mistakes trying to identify things from the guidebook on the ride to Watsons Bay. In addition, our B&B host thought that the commentary on Captain Cook's was much better so we took his advice and went to purchase tickets, but the cruise was unavailable that afternoon due to a private party. Instead, we took the ferry over to Darling Harbour for lunch and then spur-of-the-moment walked around to the National Maritime Museum which we both really enjoyed.

Sunday we went back down to the harbor for the morning Harbour Cruise which was great and had lunch at the very end of the pier under the bridge. Then we did a walking tour via the guidebook of the Rocks area before catching our 5:30 pm flight to Melbourne.

We stayed at the Melbourne Marriott Hotel which was very nice with good restaurant where we had dinner when we arrived since our daughter was still finishing papers for her classes. I can't tell you much about Melbourne, actually, because we spent the first day in our daughter's dorm room trying to get her luggage shipped back to the US. After reading on the internet how strict some of the airlines were about the amount and weight of luggage, and having been (mistakenly) informed that one of our flights was going to be on a much smaller plane, I was quite nervous about traveling with her two very large suitcases, her one carry-one suitcase, her large backpack that she used for travel in Thailand and NZ, etc. In the end, none of the planes were as small as I was led to believe and none of the agents at the airport were difficult about the weight of luggage (although we only off by a few pounds) so it might have been better to pay the fine for overweight luggage compared to what we paid to ship it back. Anyway, it was great to see her. A good friend of one of our sons was on a grand trip to Europe, NZ and Australia with his girlfriend after their graduation and they were also at my daughter's dorm doing their laundry so that was a fun afternoon. We took them all out for dinner along with some of our daughter's Australian friends as the university is near Lygon Street which is full of little ethnic restaurants, primarily Italian, since once guidebook called it Melbourne's Little Italy. One of the girls was so inquisitive and knew a lot about American traditions. When I remarked about that, she told me that she knew about others, too...all from watching the Simpsons!

Our daughter was still finishing papers so the next day we did a walking tour from a guidebook of Melbourne, past Federation Square, across the river and hopped on the trolley to St. Kilda which is by the sea. I always enjoy getting out to see more of the city than the business district so the ride through the suburbs was nice and we met an interesting fellow who had moved there from Texas. It was quiet at the beach as it was a weekday but we had lunch on the ocean and walked around the shopping district, then caught a trolley back. Although our daughter spent her last evening with her friends, we strolled towards the university again, past blocks of charming Victorian houses, and ate in a different restaurant on Lygon Street.

the next morning, November 15, we picked up our daughter and took an 8:45 am flight to Alice Springs. This next adventure was the second highlight of our trip and one we will truly never forget!

FauxSteMarie

I am doing a month long home exchange in Brisbane for August 2008 and am reading your trip report just to learn about Australia and New Zealand.

Thanks for posting!

cmcfong

Lucky you, Faux. Sounds great. Brisbane is fun.

This is a wonderful trip report, delly. Loads of fun to read. Thank you for posting.

FauxSteMarie

I have never been to Australia before. I do plan to take a trip to the GBR and may stop off in Auckland coming home fro 2-3 days if I fly Air New Zealand. I believe you can do that for no extra charge.

I would not try and do the South Island as part of the same trip as it would be too much. Maybe some day I can get a home exchange in NZ.

dellyb

Sorry, I didn't have time to write yesterday but was telling my husband tonight during dinner that I was summarizing the trip here and he agreed that the next part was one of our highlights which then started our reminiscing again about how great the whole vacation was.

We flew from Melbourne - now accompanied by our 20 year-old daughter - to Alice Springs where we picked up a rental car at the airport and headed south to Coober Pedy. I had seen read on these pages and seen in a guidebook a description the Mail Run which captivated my husband who, as I wrote earlier, had dreamed of seeing the Outback since he was a child. There is no easy way to get there. One has to fly from Adelaide or drive from there or Alice Springs or hop off the Ghan train ride in the middle of the night. We considered taking the Ghan but couldn't coordinate the train schedule with the Mail Run schedule and our itinerary, so we flew to Alice Springs and started driving.

We stopped at the first rest area, Stuart's Well, for lunch, which looked to me like it was right out of a film. Another American family had arrived prior to us and was chatting with the proprietor of the reststop. The next thing we know, he leaves and returns with Dinky, his famous singing dingo! The mother and daughter started playing the piano, and Dinky started "singing," eventually hopping right up onto the keyboard! If you google "Dinky Dingo" you can see a photo of him. The owner explained that they had adopted Dinky when he was a cub and he had started "singing" when his daughters were practicing for their piano lessons.

(An amusing aside: since I've been home, WNYC, the NYC public radio station has a feature once a week where listeners can send in a sound that they play and explain why the listener enjoys it. One week I was amazed to hear Dinky's singing as the sound that week...and delighted that I could appreciate it.)

So, we then piled back in the car for our drive to Coober Pedy. If you look at the map, it is a little more than half way from Alice Springs to Adelaide. Other notable facts are that it is the opal mining capital of the world and something like 60% of the residents live underground. Although we were driving through desert, there were plants, shrubs, in some cases with beautiful flowers all along the way. And we were very excited when we saw our first kangaroos!

I think it took about 6 or 7 hours to get to Coober Pedy. As we approached the town there were many fewer plants in the desert but lots of triangle-shaped piles emerging from the earth which are the opal mines. (Due to our itinerary, we only went on the Mail Run the next day and then went to Uluru so we never did a tour of the town or the mines.)

We stayed at the Desert Cave Hotel in an underground room. It is difficult to describe but it felt like walking down into the basement. It was like a cave drilled out of the rock and then they put some kind of brownish coating on the ceiling and walls, I think to keep fine plaster-like particles of the rock from settling on the floor or in one's eyes. When the lights were turned off at night, it was totally dark. Given the hour when we arrived, we had dinner in the hotel restaurant and looked forward to the next day.

In the morning we walked around the hotel parking lot to the underground bookstore for our adventure on the Mail Run. It was absolutely fantastic! Pete Rowe who conducted our trip has lived around Coober Pedy since 1966 and has a wonderful appreciation for the Outback and its history as well as incredible stories. In addition to being a great photographer of the Outback, he had a business conducting tours of the area and when the Mail Run to the large cattle ranches became available, he got the contract to deliver the mail and turned it into a tour as well. He has a large vehicle -like a huge Range Rover with immense tires - that holds about 12 people but the day we went we were lucky and there were only 9 of us. So we took off, bouncing towards Oodnadatta with the mail cart tagging along in back. The entire ride is on a dirt road that connects Coober Pedy to OOdnandatta, then to William Creek, and then back to Coober Pedy. It is usually about a 12-hour day but our group had such a good time that I think we were gone for about 14 hours.

We must have driven about 1 1/2 hours before we even got to the first ranch but Pete told us wonderful stories all along the way about the desert, the history of Australia, cattle ranches, the animals, colorful characters, etc. There is so much we learned I would love to write here!

The whole entire route is desert with brush, grasses, and occasionally a watering hole with trees where the cattle congregate when they are thirsty. We saw more kangaroos and some cattle. These really are free range cattle! They walk and walk looking for grass to eat and when they are thirsty, have to walk back to the watering hole so the beef is leaner from all that exercise. The first ranch had several buildings - very basic and functional - and just a very small patch of grass by the house that seemed to serve as a patio...otherwise, everything was desert.

A girl had come up from Adelaide to work for the family, cooking and cleaning, so she was the only person that we saw as she came out to get the mail and chat with Pete. Then we climbed back up into the vehicle and headed for Oodnadatta. Peter passed around the menu and called in our luncheon order to the Pink Roadhouse there. (One couple had been warned that it would be preferable to bring their own lunches but we weren't aware of that advice.)

Oodnadatta was a thriving community when the railroad was running there but it was very quiet when we were there. It appeared that the government and people in the area were trying to improve conditions for the Aborigines there, especially for the school children.

We then headed out towards William Creek, delivering mail to several other ranches. At one we stopped for afternoon tea for a small price that is donated for cancer research because one of the rancher's wives, who was the sister of the woman offering tea, died of cancer. We also went to the largest cattle station in the world, Anna Creek, that is larger than Belgium. We ended up around dinner time in William Creek which is the smallest town in southern Australia and seemed to consist of two restaurants, only one of which was open, and everyone in the town must have been there. (I read it has 8 - 10 residents.) The bar area is completely "wallpapered" with memorabilia that people have tacked to the walls - expired passports, expired licenses, college ID's, business calling cards, hats, etc. with underwear and t-shirts hanging over the beams. As it was getting late, we all just ordered something easy for dinner so that we could get back on the road.

I had brought with me two baseball hats for our daughter and myself in case the sun was too strong and I noticed that there were some tacked to the wall. One of them was pink and inscribed on the front was "Rebuilding New Orleans" because I had gone there in October as part of a group of 1000 women to help rebuild some neighborhoods. (they were very interested that I had actually been to New Orleans.) I wrote our names and indicated when we were there and they tacked it on the wall. When I told them how much my sons would love doing the Mail Run and seeing the bar, they told me that whenever the boys come - even if it's not for 20 years - the hat should still be there!

So we piled back into the jumbo vehicle to drive back to Coober Pedy. I finally had my turn to sit in the front with Pete and we stopped several times for photos of the sunset as well as to actually pile out once again when it was dark to look at the starry sky...unbelievable! We also had a great conversation about volunteering and some of the work he had done to help set up systems to rescue opal miners.

So, that was our fantastic time on the Coober Pedy Mail Run. We went way out of a normal itinerary to do it but it was one of our favorite experiences and we would do it again in a second.

Melnq8

Wow, dellyb, what a great sounding tour. I've always wanted to visit Coober Pedy, now I'm gonna have to!

cmcfong

Delly, this is wonderful. You seem to be a most remarkable woman.

RalphR

Delly, I'll second that..a wonderful report. I'm kicking myself for not thinking of the Mail Run when my wife and I visited Coober Pedy last August. I love the Outback and, after reading your report, I know it would have been right up our alley.

We drove to Coober Pedy from the south via the Flinders Ranges and Adelaide. It certainly is a very interesting and unusual place, all those holes and piles of rock in all directions as you mention. We also stayed at the Desert Cave Inn - spent two nights and thought it was quite nice (and with the pitch-blackness and quietness of our room at night, a place for a great night's sleep!) . Our highlight was the afternoon tour offered by the Desert Cave. This took in a few sights around town (like the grassless golf course), one of the mines, a chance to do some opal "noodling", the Dog Fence, and finally enjoying a spectacular sunset at the Breakaways, an outlook over the vast expanse of desert to the north of town. Like you, we met some interesting characters such as the local mining couple my wife befriended and from whom we bought an opal.

Going on the Mail Run will give me a good excuse to go back.

Ralph (CT, USA)

FauxSteMarie

The Coober Pedy Mail Run is not something I will get to do when I home exchange in Brisbane in 2008, but it sure was interesting to hear about.

Thanks for posting!

dellyb

Sorry for the spelling and grammatical errors in yesterday's section about the Mail Run. I clicked "edit reply" and made some changes and additions but somehow they didn't transfer when I posted it. Just to clarify, I had the pink hat from New Orleans with me; it wasn't one that was already hanging at the bar. I also wanted to add that if one takes the Ghan, one needs to arrange in advance to be picked up in the middle of the night near Coober Pedy and we had read that the driver makes a fire along the railroad tracks so that the engineer of the train knows to stop which sounded exciting and quite 19th or early 20th century.

We got up late Friday morning and had breakfast at a coffee shop in Coober Pedy, then headed back north, eventually turning west towards Uluru (Ayers Rock). We had discussed whether or not to go there but a good friend of mine had lived in the area for several years and encouraged us to go since we were nearby. The topography changed as we headed west, with more rises in the landscape and more vegetation. We also, sadly, passed a dead camel by the roadside.

As I'm sure you've read in other posts or know from your experience, the company that provides lodging at Uluru has a monopoloy on hotel accommodations and they are quite pricey - certainly pricier than my husband wanted to pay. We ended up staying at the most expensive hotel, Sails in the Desert because they had a 3-day special that made it less expensive than some of the other rooms. So we arrived in the mid-afternoon at what was supposed to be a 5-star hotel and we had to wait for an exceedingly long period of time for someone to welcome us, unload the luggage, offer to park the car, etc. Finally we went inside, checked in, and, while in the main lobby before going to our room, wanted to confirm reservations we had for the breakfast camel ride in the morning as well as the Sounds of Silence dinner in the desert one night (which my friend had also recommended). The woman who managed that information was not helpful at all and, instead of making a quick phone call to another section of the resort which could supposedly help us, she told us to walk over there. I didn't mind taking the walk but the lack of effort to be of service was not impressing my husband.

By now it was mid-November and quite hot in the Outback, especially at mid-day. It was also time to do the laundry again which became another production. The dryer was so slow that my daughter and I had to go to dinner at the Gecko's Cafe without my husband because we needed to get to sleep early in order to make the sunrise camel ride for which we were picked up around 5:30 am. (Since our daughter had gone bungee jumping and sky diving in NZ and elephant riding on her spring break in Thailand, she did not want to miss a camel ride.) I was amazed at the number of people up at that hour to either catch buses to the airport for flights or to take tours of different sites in the area.

The fellow who ran the camel ride was another interesting guy. He had us mount last so we were right near him and we had a chance to find out more about him, camels, the area, and the vegetation. I think he said that most camels have one hump, even though we see more photos and pictures when growing up of camels with two humps. The former are from Africa and western Asia and the latter from northern and eastern Asia. He also explained that the circular drawings in so much of the Aborigines' art derive from a certain plant that looks like large circles from above. We did not literally see the sun rise over Uluru but had a nice ride just afterwards and returned for billy tea and beer bread. There was an older man staying at the camel area for several days who was getting ready to leave as he was riding a camel around the country and we enjoyed speaking with him.

We then went over to the Cultural Center at the national park which was very interesting and gave a wonderful overview of the significance of the area to the Aborigines. We drove around the Uluru, noting places we had read about. I would have liked to actually walk around Uluru but it was very hot by then and on at least one of the days, climbing the rock was closed due to the weather (although I wouldn't have done that out of respect for the Aborigines' wishes that people not climb it). We were told that they close it quite frequently due to heat or potential rainstorms in the summer because it is quite difficult to
rescue people.

That evening we drove back out to see the sunset at Uluru. It really is magnificent and mysterious at the same time and it was wonderful to learn about its history and meaning to the Aborigines.

We had dinner at the hotel that evening and, thank goodness, our waitress was very attentive and charming which please my husband, given the lack of service on our arrival.

The next morning, Sunday, I got up early and went over to Kata Tjuta (many heads) which is a cluster of very large rocks with various gorges and chasms to hike through the Valley of the Winds. Most people who are part of a tour must stop at a certain point but those hiking alone can keep walking so I did the entire route which was very rewarding. That afternoon we went back over the Kata Tjuta to take photos from the viewing site. In the evening we did the Sounds of Silence dinner which was pricey but enjoyable. We had an interesting group at our table, including a young woman and her father from Germany and she had just completed the semester at the University of Melbourne, the same as our daughter. The stargazing program after dinner was very good (although not quite as stunning as the sky on the Mail Run). The next morning I arose early again to go on the Malu Walk along a section of Uluru with a park ranger which was fascinating.

That afternoon we flew to Perth which I will write about tomorrow or Tuesday.
Overall, I really enjoyed Uluru because of the education it affords one about the Aborigines' history, culture and beliefs which are the essential to understanding Australia.

dellyb

Bummer! I spent time yesterday and this morning writing about the end of our trip and accidentally pressed some button on the left of the laptop that wiped out the entire report. I'll try again but will have to break it up.

Two things I haven't mentioned: we were traveling in November so the stores, businesses and cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Singapore were putting up holiday decorations and displays. We returned from dinner on Nov. 11 in Sydney to find that the owner had been inspired to get out the Christmas decorations because a major deparmtnet store had done so.

I haven't written much about the food either. Almost all of it was good. We usually ate at local restaurants and did not seek out places renowned for gourmet cooking or famous chefs. As I mentioned, I am quite limited in what I can eat (no sugar, nothing fermented, including wine, try to avoid wheat, etc.). My husband was "vacation" eating and I didn't realize that I was keeping up until my clothes started feeling snug within the very first week. From then on I was more deliberate and would frequently order a side dish of vegetables when he ordered a first course which were usually fresh and delicious. I only gained two pounds on the trip - we walked a lot - and think it was due to the eating we did exploring the different cuisines in Singapore that my niece insisted we try.

So, sadly, the end of our trip was in sight as we boarded the flight to Perth. We stayed at the Saville Park Suites which was, again, a little removed from the city center, requiring us to walk more. We had a nice suite on the first floor with 2 bedrooms, living, dining and kitchen area and patio out to a grassy area. Surprisingly, we had more connections to Perth (the most isolated city in the world) than other place in NZ or Australia. One of my closest friends in NJ is from Perth and a woman with whom I grew up who is one of my sister's best friends lives there. She is highly sensitive and suffered intensely from an environmental illness so that she eventually ended up living in Alice Springs where she regained her strength and then moved to Perth where she appears to be thriving.

Once we unpacked, we walked to the railroad station and caught a train out to the suburb where my friend lives to have dinner with her and her husband. Their community is on the ocean so we first met them to walk the dogs above the beach which was just wonderful. The area is booming economically and they are seeing a lot of houses being knocked down to build larger ones, just as we are here around NYC. It was great to learn about her life in Perth, her work, etc.

the next day we took a boat tour of the harbor, ending up in Fremantle which is the largest port in western Australia. Much of the town also has beautifully preserved British Colonial buildings so we really enjoyed walking through the town where we also ate lunch and did some shopping. (You will notice that I did not write much about shopping. That is because my husband is not a shopper. We came home with wool/possum socks for our sons that we picked up in 20 minutes in Te Anou and purchased a few items in Fremantle like Australian suede bush hats and some items with Aboriginal drawings - that's it.) We spent the afternoon at the Western Australian Maritime Museum that was interesting, especially the section on shipwrecks. We took the train back into the city and went to a revolving restaurant on top of the tallest building which our daughter couldn't resist after our friend described it.

The next day - our last one in Australia - we walked back to the harbor for a trip to Rottnest Island. My husband loves, loves, loves the ocean and beach and it was a glorious day so we decided it would be a great way to spend the last day. We were accompanied on the boat by scores of graduating high school senior (for whom the Australians have a nickname that I can't remember) who were going to the island for the day or longer.

The boat docks right at the shopping area so we bought a picnic lunch and boarded a bus which travels the only main road of the island, stopping at all of the beaches since cars are not allowed on the island. While finding lunch, we saw a quokka which is a wallaby-like marsupial that the first discoverers mistook for rats. Rottnest means "rats' nest" in Dutch, although I didn't seem the similarity.

The bus driver was kind enough to recommend a beach where the winds were fine and where he had not dropped lots of high school kids and we found ourselves at a little cove with bright sun, fine, white sand and beautiful blue, clear water with only one other family sharing the beach. It was a lovely end to our vacation in Australia and we regretted having to leave to catch the boat back to the mainland.

Given our flight to Singapore at 8:15 am the next morning, we had dinner at the hotel and packed for the last part of our vacation.

Melnq8

dellyb -

Shame you can't drink wine, as OZ and NZ have some wonderful drops.

Regarding the high school kids - I've heard the term "schoolies", but I'm not sure if that refers to the kids themselves, or school vacation. I'm sure an Aussie will clear that one up.

I love WA but have yet to visit Rottnest. We generally head south towards Albany, Margaret River & Pemberton. In three visits to WA, we feel we've barely scratched the surface. So much to see and do! Will just have to go back I guess.

I've enjoyed reading about your adventures. I'm interested to see what you did in Singapore, as I visit there often.

Keep it coming....

dellyb

You are so right about my missing having wine and you can imagine what it does to our visits to Italy! I will sometimes have a few sips but any more isn't worth it in terms of how poorly I feel.

My daughter is a camp counselor in Maine this summer so I'm waiting to hear back from her about the name given the high school seniors but schoolies sounds familiar.

So, now we were off to the last leg of our trip, visiting my sister and her family in Singapore. As you can imagine, part of the reason for our visit was to relax and catch up with her and her family so we probably didn't do as much sightseeing as others might do.

Crossing the International Date Line is good reason for any of our family to visit my sister so one of our sons who had been traveling in China, Vietnam and Thailand for his college graduation present had been there two weeks before with a friend and my niece who studied in NZ in January stopped there, too. From Australia, it was sort of like being in NYC and insisting on visiting someone in California, but it was wonderful to see her home, know her routine, appreciate the culture in which she is living, etc. My sister, her husband and her children are extraordinarily generous hosts and were so delighted that we visited them.

We arrived in the early afternoon and were amazed that there was a garden full of orchids in the airport. Lovely plantings and bushes hug the road from the airport into the city and beautiful flowers cascade from bridges. My sister told us that when the country become independent from Britain and was beginning to attract financial investment, the president had the road from the airport to the city landscaped that way to impress upon visiting financiers and businessmen that it was a successful country worthy of investment.

My sister's husband is Singaporean and they live in a Singaporean neighborhood vs. one full of ex-pats from other western countries. They built their home with a very strong Asian influence which is, suprisingly, unusual for Singapore. The weather there is hot and humid all year long, just more so in the summer. The downside is that my sister's hair is always curly with some frizz but the upside is that her skin looks great!

We unpacked and then went to the zoo for the elephant show. (My daughter loves animals and now has a special fondness for elephants after her trip to Thailand.) Unfortunately, it started raining on the way which forced cancellation of the elephant program so we just did a driving tour of the city. The activity at the waterfront was most impressive. There were many tankers and freighters and rows and rows of equipment that is used to unload container ships...much more than one sees around NYC. My parents have visited several times and my father said that the busy harbor reminds him of Pacific ports in WW II.

We ended up at the renowned Raffles hotel, treating my daughter to a Singapore sling. My daughter and niece hopped out of the car on the way back to visit a shopping district that has a store with blue and white china. My mother frequently brings little gifts home from there and my daughter wanted to find her something there.

My sister has two women from China who live with them and help with the cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc. What a dream! We were out until about 6:30 pm, arrived home and dinner was almost ready. Most people wouldn't have stayed out entertaining until that hour because they would have had to go home to start dinner. It was also time to do some laundry again but this time there were no problems...we just gave it to the two women and got it back in the morning, folded and ironed.


On Friday I was up in time to take my nephew to school which is quite a distance from their home. On the way back, my sister and I stopped at the wonderful Botanical Gardens for a walk. I noticed the contrast of passing a group of young western women jogging and then several groups of Asian men and women doing tai chi, one group with fans and another with swords. My sister sometimes joins one of the larger tai chi groups and some of the people recognized her as we walked by. We enjoyed the gardens and were heading home when my niece called - she had given a lot of thought to the variety of ethnic foods in Singapore and what we should try - so we had to stop in the Indian section to pick up some special crepes, some plain and some filled with potatoes along with sauces for dipping. (I wrote to her to find out what they are called but haven't heard back yet.)

By then, it was Thanksgiving night in the US so the rest of the family in Singapore had been on Skype with our family in the US who were all together for the holiday. We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday in Singapore with my brother-in-law's family which was great.

We went to the Asian Civilizations Museum for the afternoon which was a wonderful insight into the histories, religions, societies and cultures of the people of Asia. I really enjoyed visiting that museum as I have been trying to expand my understanding and appreciation beyond western civilization over the past several years.

For dinner we went to a restaurant on the beach for chilli crab. (We did have to use bug spray to enjoy sitting outside for the evening.) My sister started by ordering some first courses, one being a Chinese shrimp dish that my niece, who had recently been volunteering in an orphanage in China, insisted she not order because they bring live shrimp to the table and pour alcohol over them which dulls or kills them. My sister insisted that my niece was mistaken and she was describing a different dish so while we were busy talking, the waiter came with a large bowl of shrimp, poured something over them and they started leaping up in the bowl!

Finally the chilli crab arrived and it was delicious. Large hard crabs are cooked in a tomato chilli sauce which also has shredded crabmeat in it and it is served with fried or steamed Chinese buns to sop up the sauce (we tried both).

Saturday was our Thanksgiving celebration. We went to the zoo in the morning which was great as one strolls along seeing the animals in more natural habitats. We finally saw the elephant program which demonstrated how elephants have helped people move, push and pull things vs. a circus performance. We returned home to cook for Thanksgiving dinner just as we would have done in the US with some dishes having an Asian influence. It was a lovely dinner with my brother-in-law's sisters and their families.

Sunday we went to church in the late morning and then to a new hotel where my brother-in-law had invited their good friends to join us for a Chinese banquet. The food was delicious and the company stimulating - a great afternoon.

We spent the afternoon relaxing, visiting, and preparing for our trip home the next day. The Singapore Air flight from Singapore to Newark is the longest commercial airline direct flight - 18 hours - and the whole plane is either premium economy or first class. I am very patient and have had a position in the past few years where I have had to travel frequently but after about 15 hours even I was a little antsy even with watching movies on the individual screen, reading, eating, talking, napping, and working on some needlepoint. Singapore Air has a wonderful reputation and it was fine but we found the attention, food, etc. better on Air New Zealand premium economy.

I also forgot to mention that during the first part of the trip I was reading "In a Sunburned Country" by
The author lived in England for a long time and has a fabulous sense of humor that makes one laugh outloud sometimes. He is fascinated by Australia and the book is full of great information.

Highlights: As I mentioned, visiting my sister in Singapore as well as our friend in Perth was wonderful because we were able to see where they live and be part of their daily lives. We adored NZ, especially the Te Anou area, the Doubtful Sound cruise, and the visit to Crown Lea Farmstay. My husband had thought this would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip and we would never have such an opportunity again but we now have every intention of returning there and, as I mentioned, maybe even spending U.S. winter months there when he retires. The Mail Run was exceptional and we would repeat that in a heartbeat. My husband loved Perth, too, I think because it is more laid-back and smaller than Sydney or a similar US city.

dellyb

Sorry, I still can't work the edit feature. The book, "In a Sunburned Country" is by Bill Bryson. It has a different title in Australia.

We are off to Sicily this year so I will be visiting the Europe Talk section to plan that trip but look forward with great anticipation to returning to New Zealand and Australia.

Melnq8

dellyb -

I love it when posters decide that their 'once in a lifetime trip' was just the beginning! So much to see and do in OZ and NZ - I sure hope you can go back for more some day.

I fly the Singapore Air route from SIN to LAX a few times a year - it's the second longest commercial flight in the world and also only business class and executive economy. It's frightfully long at 16.5 hours - don't think I'd survive the 18 hour flight to Newark, but you gotta love that it's a direct flight!

Enjoyed your report almost as much as you enjoyed your trip!

kiwi_rob

For anyone who enjoys the Outback and the Aussie sense of humour, I recommend that you pick up a copy of Len Beadell's CD or tape called "The Shepparton Talk". It used to be available from ABC shops in Australia but, on the last few occasions that I have enquired, it was out of stock. Alternatively, it can be ordered on www.beadell.com.au
It is real gem!