Author: Robin Busalacchi

Auckland, the City of Sails

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As mentioned in the previous post, Frank and I spent last weekend in Auckland. We hadn’t planned to visit another big city so soon after Australia but the draw of a Christmas Parade was enough to change my mind — and then Frank’s!

We discovered that the city is much more than tall buildings and lots of people. What makes Auckland unique is its geography. The region lies on an isthmus between two harbors with almost 2,300 miles of coastline. It is the only city in the world built on a still-active volcanic field and the region is dotted with 48 volcanic cones, many of which provide panoramic views of the city and harbor. A lot of the nearby islands are part of Auckland City and one of them, Rangito Island, was formed by two eruptions just 600 to 700 years ago. (More about volcanos at the end of this post.)

Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city and is home to 1.4 million people (30% of the country’s population).  They all live within a half an hour of a beach, which may explain why 1 in 3 families own a boat and why the city is known as the “City of Sails.” Frank was impressed by all the activity along the waterfront. I was a fascinated by the volcanos and how hilly the city was — even more so than San Francisco. We were surprised to find out that Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world but weren’t surprised that it was recently rated the world’s fourth best city in which to live!

More about volcanos: You are probably wondering why anyone would live here among all these volcanoes. While the volcanos in the center of the North Island (i.e. near Taupo), are more explosive and are the result of the movement of tectonic plates, the volcanos in the Auckland area are far less dramatic. The Auckland Volcanic Field is monogenetic, which means each volcano usually only erupts once. The field itself is considered active but dormant. There is no way to predict where or when the next ‘bubble’ of magma will rise to the surface and create a new volcano but no one seems to be that worried about it.

Auckland Christmas Parade

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Dedicated to Jane, my parade buddy…

The Search for Mount Frank

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The perfect birthday at Orakei Korako

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Awoken by an emoji-filled “Happy Birthday” text from Andy and a yummy flat white from Frank; and ending with nice long chats  with Nick and Jenny, a wonderful dinner and a stunning Lake Taupo sunset, I could not have had a nicer birthday! The weather was picture perfect — 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Frank and I spent the day at a magical place, the Orakei Korako Cave and Thermal Park.

It was a short 40-minute drive from Taupo. We took the ferry across Lake Ohakuri and did a 2-hour hike around the park. The rainbow of colors, the geysers and the steam from thousands of hot springs reminded me a little of Yellowstone but with caves and much different foliage (i.e. palm trees).

 

Kia Ora New Zealand!

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Kia Ora or hello New Zealand! We arrived here late Thursday night. The bags are unpacked, the phones and internet are connected (as you can see), and we’ve located the grocery store, a church and a place for Frank to swim.

Our home for the month is the charming “Little Black Bach” (pronounced “batch”). Bachs are small holiday homes. This one is in Wharewaka, a small suburb overlooking Lake Taupo — a whole different world after the hustle and bustle of Melbourne!

Lake Taupo is in the middle of the North Island. It is New Zealand’s largest lake — 120 miles around, and was formed by debris descending and creating a hole after one of the earth’s most intense volcanic eruptions! We can see the lake from our place and can walk to the edge in about 3 minutes. The nearest city is Taupo, which is ten minutes away by car. It has a population of 23,000 people and pretty much everything we need.

The challenges of travel

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We arrived in Lake Taupo late Thursday night after what should have been a short day of travel. Because we didn’t have a set flight out, Melbourne airport staff told us we couldn’t fly into New Zealand. They said we would be turned away at NZ customs and deported, plus that airline would get a $10,000 fine for allowing us to fly! We had to purchase two tickets (refundable since we still aren’t certain of exact dates or even where we are going after NZ).

This was in addition to us having to repack our bags, making sure there was <23kg in each larger bag and <7kg in our carry-ons. Can you tell me why it makes a difference? Weight is weight. I don’t understand why it has to be distributed a certain way — other than the fact that the airlines wants to charge for extra bags. Couldn’t they look at the total and divide by number of persons flying?

Frank took care of the tickets while I repacked and weighed, repacked and weighed. We thought we were good when we realized the agent screwed up our ticket — Christchurch to Auckland instead of Christchurch out of the country! Of course, we missed our flight but a helpful agent put us on the next one without any additional charges, thank you very much. When we got to New Zealand, did anyone inquire whether we had a return flight out of New Zealand? Um, no.

All in all, we were only delayed about 4 hours — more of an irritation than anything else. Traveling has its challenges, but the rewards make it more than worthwhile. If this is the biggest hassle of this trip, knock on wood, we will consider ourselves lucky. Because really, how can anyone complain? We’re in New Zealand!!!

Final Thoughts on Oz

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As we say g’bye to Melbourne, I’ve compiled a miss mash of things that surprised us, impressed us, intrigued us or just made me giggle — keeping in mind, this is strictly from the point of view of a middly-aged, Midwestern female . . .

Let’s start with the way Aussies talk. Before coming to Australia, I always thought Australians sounded a lot like Brits. After a few months, I realize it’s much different. Aussies are much more casual and have a slang all their own. They shorten words whenever they can. They also use “ee” and “o” to end some words. Breakfast is brekkie, the “trendy” Salvation Army store is Salvos, university is uni and, my favorite, sunglasses are sunnies. A friendly greeting is “ow ‘ya going?,” thank you is “cheers,” pissed up (drunk); and the often heard “fawk’ this” or “fawkin’ that” — you can probably figure that one out!

The other day, Frank and I were watching TV and after a couple back-to-back commercials, we looked at each other and said “Whhaaaattt?” The first kept referring to “getting rid of those annoying ‘mossies.”” We finally figured out they meant mosquitos(!). The second was the new rump steak wrap at “Macca’s” (McDonalds!).

I read an interesting article about the word “mate.” Guys can use this word to address any other male (young or old) when they are being friendly, when they are annoyed or angry, even in lieu of a forgotten name. It’s a great word. There is no one all purpose female equivalent that is consistently situationally/age/socially appropriate that doesn’t sound overly familiar or even condescending (hon, dear).

There are many small bakeries around Melbourne and there seems to be a correlation between how good the bakery is and how crabby the person behind the counter is!

The tram drivers are great — friendly and helpful. The bus drivers aren’t. We figured it’s probably the bus drivers are required to make change and have to deal with traffic (they don’t have a dedicated track like the trams do).

When you see an Australian doctor, you call them by their first name. At the school across the street, students call their teachers by their first name! And instead of a shrill bell, they play Beatles’ music to call the kids inside from recess.

One day, we were watching a cricket match, trying to figure out what was going on when a kid rode by and said, Cricket? That’s the most boring sport ever!” Did you know matches can go on for days? After trying several times, I still don’t get the rules nor the attraction. I think I agree with the kid.

Kids here love basketball and the NBA. A lot of adults wear sports hats – NY Yankees, Red Sox – but if you ask them if they’re a fan, many don’t have a clue what the logo represents. We saw a guy with a red Badger shirt, “They had a big win today!” The guy replied, “I don’t know. Someone sent me the shirt.”

Just after our flight took off  for Cairns, this tall, older woman stands up and is noticeably upset. There’s an alarm blaring. It seems to be above us. She’s opening the overheads. She thinks it’s our bags. “No, we didn’t pack any electronics.” What could it be? Is it something with the plane? She finally gets the attention of the flight attendant. They are befuddled when the woman reaches into her pocket. It was the alarm on her cell phone!

When you get a haircut at a barber, they offer you a complimentary beer!

Frank and I were happy to escape Wisconsin’s crazy election season but very disappointed not to  receive our absentee ballots in time to vote. It was disheartening to see that 2/3rds of Americans didn’t take the time to vote. In Australia, voting is mandatory. You get a ticket if you don’t vote and a larger fine if you go to court and can’t offer a good excuse. And yes, they do have the nasty  negative TV commercials here, too.

We often heard complaints about Melbourne’s very “changeable” weather — 90’s one day, rainy and 50 the next; plus a really strong wind — but it never really bothered us. Just never leave the house without a jacket. Thinking about the snow and cold back home, we figured a cool, rainy day in Melbourne beats a subzero day in Wisconsin.

I’m sure I’ll add more things as we remember them but that’s all for now. Next stop: New Zealand!

 

Marvelous Melbourne!

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To say we’re a little sad to leave Melbourne is an understatement. It’s exceeded our expectations in every way. Melbourne is a funky, eclectic and artsy city. The CBD (Central Business District) is always jumping and rest of the city is divided into distinct pockets, each with its own character and vibe (St. Kilda, our base and our obvious favorite!).

I’m not alone in my admiration. When you see rankings of the best places in the world to live, half of the cities are in Australia and Melbourne is is often #1.

In other posts, I’ve talked about Melbourne’s passion for the arts, parks and athletics, its easy-to-navigate transportation network and its schools. I should also mention its beautiful gardens, unique Victorian architecture, the winding Yarra River and a wide street grid with its labyrinth of narrow lane ways (full of restaurants, bars and shops).

The city has over 4 million residents and is truly multi-cultural (over 140 nationalities). They also maintain a strong respect and recognition of their indigenous peoples.

One day, a young boy on the tram told us that Melbourne is “the most boring place ever.” I guess most kids think that about where they live but we found Melbourne anything but dull. During our two month stay, a day never went by when we were at a loss for something to do or when we failed to discover something new.

Let’s Roll!

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Coastal Road Trips, Kangaroos and Koalas!

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Melbourne sits at the north point of Port Phillip. The Mornington Peninsula sits an hour southeast of the city and the Great Ocean Road runs to the southwest. We traveled to both. In addition to fabulous scenery, a highlight of each included seeing unique Australian wildlife in their natural habitat. Friends from back home introduced us to a lovely couple from Melbourne, Pete and Margie, who graciously spent the day driving us to and around “the peninsula.” The area is known for its historic seaside villages — full of galleries and cafes, pretty beaches and amazing scenery. Most visitors are Melburnians who camp, rent villas or stay in private beach houses. It was during this trip that we saw the colorful beach houses mentioned in a previous post. On a last-minute, impromptu stop we also saw a group (or mob) of kangaroos! I approached them slowly. They stayed still and posed for the crazy lady with the camera. Two had a little joey in their pouches!

A few weeks later, we took the Great Ocean Road, this time with me behind the wheel. The weather was beautiful and the drive spectacular — instead of a planned one-day loop, we ended up staying overnight at the far end. The 151-mile, zig-zagging drive along the coast was well marked for lookouts and we hit most of them. Every time, we took a corner there was another breathtaking sight! Away from the coastline, we passed through the rain forests of the Otway Range to the southernmost tip of Australia. This was when Frank tried driving — his first time on the left side of the road. It didn’t take long (a half hour?!) before I drove him nuts with my nervousness — there’s a reason he taught the boys to drive and I didn’t. His timing, however, was perfect as he decided to pull over just as we saw a group of people staring up at the fragrant gum (eucalyptus) trees. Koalas!! Although there is no word for a group of koalas (they are pretty solitary animals), that is what we saw. In a one block span, we saw about ten koalas up in the trees! Many were sleeping, which they do for 18-22 hours a day. That’s because the eucalyptus leaves are hard to digest and sleeping conserves energy. We were told koalas get drunk on eucalyptus leaves but found that it was just a myth. We were lucky to view many other koalas who were actively climbing around. They seemed unfazed by the tourists who were so excited to see them!

After a good night’s rest and a yummy breakfast in Warrnebol, we drove back across the state of Victoria, passing through acres and acres of rolling sheep and cattle farms. The area has been settled by many Irish immigrants and is said to be similar in landscape to Ireland. The wooden street signs (named for the various ranches) were a testimony — Flanagan, Duffy, McCormack, etc. It was a lovely and leisurely ride. We went along the base of the Grampians before heading back to the city, happy to savor the landscapes by avoiding the monotony of a “more efficient” highway route.