Phillip Island and Cirque De Soleil
Following the noise and excitement of the Formula One we decided to take a break from Melbourne for the day and head south to Phillip Island. The island is about a two hour drive from Melbourne and is famous for its penguin colony and the koala bears. We headed straight for the koala reserve first and were not disappointed. The reserve has built treetop walkways that allow you get right up next to the bears. It is impossible to not say "oh they are sooooo cute"!!!! One (stupid American) visitor became so carried away that they ignored the signs and began stroking them.
Me and Koala photo (oh well,stupid British tourist didn't read the no standing on railing signs either)
After the koala reserve we explored the island further before taking an early dinner at a "mexican" restaurant. Yet another country gets mexican food wrong. On goes my never ending quest to find good mexican food abroad. My time in south america clearly counted for nothing as I nearly died after eating some chilli seeds!! He is being overly dramatic about the experience per my superb nursing skills, but he did turn bright red and nearly choke. It was then on to the penguin colony for sunset to watch the penguins come out of the sea to retire for the night. We were both really excited about the prospect of seeing hundreds of penguins running up the beach. In actual fact there were less then twenty and they plodded rather than ran. We did get very close to view them making their way to the nests which made up for it. So what if the number of tourist out-numbered the penguins ten to one right?
It was then back to Melbourne for our last day in the city before flying on to New Zealand. After completing all the necessary travelers chores (internet and laundry) we went to see Cirque De Soleil which is touring there at the moment. If any of you get the chance to see the show DO IT!!! It was the best show I have seen for a long time and the performances were incredible. It was a wonderful way to end our last night in Melbourne. Alex and I are actually just perfecting our performance for the upcoming auditions (for those of you still wondering about our post-trip plans.)
Christchurch - New Zealand
A three hour flight from Melbourne took us to our next destination of Christchurch, New Zealand. After a slight issue at customs (always declare any foodstuffs you have, including peanut butter -me and Marmite -him!!!) we picked up the rental car and headed into town. We were spending four days at chez Palmer before picking up our campervan to tour the rest of NZ. Chez Palmer aka the wonderful Chris, Lynne and Finlay are some friends of mine from the UK who now live in Chirstchurch (don't think they could handle the crazy UK pace!!). Is was great to meet up with them again and experience some NZ family life. Aside from being whipped at golf by the bandit Palmer Sara and I spent the next couple of days exploring the city.
Christchurch is a large city but has a small town feel to it. Aside from exploring the city we visited the Antarctica Museum. Christchruch serves as the US base for supplies to Antarctica and so is an important jumping off point. The museum was excellent and even includes an "experience the Antarctica" exibit. Here you put on thick coats and are plunged into Antartic storms with temperatures of minus twenty six!!!!
Me and Sara in the Antartic
A million thank yous to Chris and Lynne for putting us up and giving us a great introduction to New Zealand. Thanks guys.
Me Chris and Finlay
Whale watching in Kiakoura
We picked up our campervan on Monday morning and set off for four weeks touring the South Island.
Our first stop was the town of Kiakoura about three hours north of Christchurch on the east coast. The town is famous for whale watching so we decided to spend two nights here and join an early morning whale watching trip. We rose at 7am to clear skys and set off to spot the mighty Sperm whales. We did not have to wait long before our first sighting. The size is amazing even from the surface and here we only see 10% of the whale! Overall we saw five whales spouting water and diving - amazing. Slightly different from whale watching in Hawaii. The boats here have GPS and a huge flat screen TV to watch your location and learn about the whales and ocean. In Hawaii you get a dirty old boat staffed with surfer guys and da kine shouting out Whale! Whale! when they see a spout!
Our first whale
On our way back to port we stopped at a seal colony and then ran into hundreds of dolphins. They were leaping into the air and swimming under the boat. It was all Alex could do to hold me back from jumping in the water to swim with them, although the people swimming with the dolphins have wet suits...I'm not going in without that. It will be a highlight of my trip and something I will remember for a long time.
Dolphins
We leave Kiakoura tomorrow and head further north to the town of Blenhiem to partake in some wine tasting and see if it compares to that Californian stuff!!! Stay tuned for more news of our travels soon..........
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