Trip Report: A blitz tour of NZ and Oz in 3 Weeks
Mar 2nd, 2012 | 07:12 PM
#23
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nelsonian
It actually worked out quite well to enter NZ twice. On such a short trip, we were going to be flying between the north and south islands anyway. Then, since we were flying mainly on Air NZ which connects all of its North American flights via AKL, we'd have to work our way back to AKL for the inbound to LAX anyway (flights to/from Australia from/to LAX stop in AKL.)
An added bonus was that stopping in NZ both outbound and inbound gave us more chance to adjust our biological time clocks, since NZ is two hours closer to LA time than is Oz.
It actually worked out quite well to enter NZ twice. On such a short trip, we were going to be flying between the north and south islands anyway. Then, since we were flying mainly on Air NZ which connects all of its North American flights via AKL, we'd have to work our way back to AKL for the inbound to LAX anyway (flights to/from Australia from/to LAX stop in AKL.)
An added bonus was that stopping in NZ both outbound and inbound gave us more chance to adjust our biological time clocks, since NZ is two hours closer to LA time than is Oz.
Mar 2nd, 2012 | 07:23 PM
#24
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Songdoc, Libretto, glad you enjoyed it. Libretto, I would love to know who arranged to acquire such a collection for the gallery. All I can say is, WOW.
Melnq8 - argh! I can't believe I let that slip - you can bet our hosts at the ecolodge got the naming correct. All I can say to explain my goof is that the little fellows looked just so cute, like teddy bears.
margo_oz, I would love to hurry back. Unfortunately the piggy bank has been damaged by recent global economic volatility. Meanwhile I can dream of the next trip. Enjoy your birthday. I promise you will be well fed at the Ecolodge.
Melnq8 - argh! I can't believe I let that slip - you can bet our hosts at the ecolodge got the naming correct. All I can say to explain my goof is that the little fellows looked just so cute, like teddy bears.
margo_oz, I would love to hurry back. Unfortunately the piggy bank has been damaged by recent global economic volatility. Meanwhile I can dream of the next trip. Enjoy your birthday. I promise you will be well fed at the Ecolodge.
Mar 3rd, 2012 | 01:38 AM
#25
Joined: Apr 2011
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Congrats Sue....
Well done, and I can especially relate to the flight over this way, having done it a few time ourselves, and good to see that, in the end...it all proved worthwhile for you.
Great trip report, excellent coverage/visual imagery, and hopefully you'll do it all again one day soon, and even get some time in, up here, on the GBR etc.
Well done & cheers, mate,
Rick
Cairns & PNG
Well done, and I can especially relate to the flight over this way, having done it a few time ourselves, and good to see that, in the end...it all proved worthwhile for you.
Great trip report, excellent coverage/visual imagery, and hopefully you'll do it all again one day soon, and even get some time in, up here, on the GBR etc.
Well done & cheers, mate,
Rick
Cairns & PNG
Mar 3rd, 2012 | 06:24 AM
#26
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Greetings RalphR, I went to youtube and looked for a clip of Lake Quill and found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IpBtpNw2fs
Around 0.44 one does indeed see a lake that looked like the one I saw (the footage is from a helicopter that passed right over the lake, as opposed to a plane that flew past it, so the angle is a bit different, but it certainly looks the same.)Thanks for giving me a name to put to place.
RickPorgera
Glad you liked the report. I would indeed like to see Queensland, and also Kakadu national park and Darwin some day. The bird life to be seen sounds amazing. On the other hand I'd like to see Tasmania, but that of course is in the opposite direction. Decisions, decisions.
Now that I've done it, the flights are no longer so intimidating. I have friends one of whom goes regularly to visit family in Tasmania, and they don't even overnight in LA but do the whole thing in one go, as it were. Not to mention that plenty of people from Oz/NZ visit Europe, by taking marathon 22 hour flight itineraries with only time to change planes in Hong Kong or Singapore. Now, that is what I call being a road, or should that be, sky warrior. (Hmmn, best not to use that term within earshot of airport security...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IpBtpNw2fs
Around 0.44 one does indeed see a lake that looked like the one I saw (the footage is from a helicopter that passed right over the lake, as opposed to a plane that flew past it, so the angle is a bit different, but it certainly looks the same.)Thanks for giving me a name to put to place.
RickPorgera
Glad you liked the report. I would indeed like to see Queensland, and also Kakadu national park and Darwin some day. The bird life to be seen sounds amazing. On the other hand I'd like to see Tasmania, but that of course is in the opposite direction. Decisions, decisions.
Now that I've done it, the flights are no longer so intimidating. I have friends one of whom goes regularly to visit family in Tasmania, and they don't even overnight in LA but do the whole thing in one go, as it were. Not to mention that plenty of people from Oz/NZ visit Europe, by taking marathon 22 hour flight itineraries with only time to change planes in Hong Kong or Singapore. Now, that is what I call being a road, or should that be, sky warrior. (Hmmn, best not to use that term within earshot of airport security...)
Mar 18th, 2012 | 11:02 AM
#27
Joined: Jan 2008
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Sue, your report was so enjoyable. We just returned from a month-long trip to Sydney & Cairns(Pt. Douglas),South Island, NZ, and Fiji and are in the process of writing a report. We really enjoyed all the details in your report. Thanks so much!
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