End of the Road

For five years, BP.com has been keeping you updated on life Down Under. But that all comes to an end today, as we fly back to the U.S. to start life's next adventure - Tennessee. . .

NZ's South Island

With our days in the Southern Hemisphere numbered and the clock ticking, in mid-February, we opted to make a last dash to New Zealand while we're still in the neighbourhood. And thus with little planning or preparation, we jumped on a plane to Christchurch to begin a 9-day lightening tour of NZ's South Island.

We arrived in Christchurch late at night and crashed in a hotel by the airport for the night. We awoke early the next morning to take possession of our luxury 4-berth motorhome from Britz, which served as our accommodation and transportation for the majority of the trip. On the positive side, the motorhome had many of the luxuries of home. On the negative size, they didn't tell us that road conditions in NZ are such that just about the last thing you want to drive is a big, bulky, slow-moving motorhome with limited visibility. In any case, we departed immediately from Christchurch, delaying only a couple of hours to stock up on provisions and obtain a travel cot for little Malia (incidentally, Phil and Teds make a wicked one).
Our first stopover upon departing Christchurch was Lake Tekapo, where we stayed overnight at the Lake Tekapo Motels & Holiday Park. We spent the next morning hiking up to the top of Mount John, which provided great views of the lake and surrounding landscape. Then it was time to climb back into the motorhome to move on to the next destination: Mount Cook.
Getting to Mount Cook forces one to drive past the impressive Lake Pukaki. We spent the night on the lake's shore at Glentanner Park, which provided nice views of Mount Cook in the distance. It was also in Glantanner that we came to the conclusion that every other tourist travelling around NZ was from overseas. Up to this point, we'd seen huge numbers of European and Japanese tourists (particularly backpackers) and very few Kiwis or even Aussies. The next day, we awoke and headed toward Mount Cook village and tackled the 3-hour hike along the Hooker Valley Track that takes adventures up to the terminal face of the Hooker Glacier. There were a few other shorter tracks that looked appealing as well, but after 3 hours under the NZ sun with a baby on our backs, we opted to move on.

From Mount Cook, we turned south for the drive down to Wanaka, on the banks of Lake Wanaka (although we did stop for lunch, provisions and diesel in Twizel). While we were anxious about finding sufficient space in the caravan park, our fears were unfounded as we had our pick of sites at Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park. We spent the next morning walking around Wanaka, checking email at the internet cafe, and venturing out to Eely Point. We debated about whether to remain in Wanaka another night, but ultimately decided to push on past Lake Hawea and through Haast Pass, the gateway to the West Coast and the start of what would be several days of rather precarious driving. An island dominated by mountains offers few opportunities for making straight and level roads. This is not aided by the ubiquitous presence of bridges comprised of just one lane, forcing drivers to take turns in crossing waterways (an experience that can be fraught with danger, particularly when one is facing off against backpackers that haven't bothered to pay attention to the right-of-way signs).After spending the night in Haast Village (where we also had our introduction to the dreaded NZ sandfly), we headed north up the West Coast, stopping to check out the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. Each glacier visit involved a 30-45 minute trek up the valleys to the terminal face of the glaciers, although as argued in Lonely Planet, Franz Josef is definitely the more impressive of the two (but also the more dangerous). After the glaciers we pushed on up the coast, passing through Greymouth (which doesn't come highly recommended) to settle for the night at Punakaiki Beach Camp, where we scored the last available site.

The following morning, we checked out the popular tourist attraction in Punakaiki - the miraculous geologic phenomenon known as the "pancake rocks". Then it was back in the motorhome for the drive on to Nelson. We briefly entertained the idea of stopping off at the Buller Gorge swingbridge, but we quickly realised this was a cheap tourist trap and moved on. We arrived at our luxury accommodation in Nelson - the home of Mahren and Craig, which provided spectacular views. Having a home without wheels allowed us to unwind a bit, do some laundry and eat in style. We also used Nelson as a base for venturing out for a hike in Abel Tasman National Park and the neighbouring towns of Kaiteriteri and Motueka, before coming back to roost in Nelson for another night.
After two nights in a proper bed, it was back into the motorhome for the last dash to Christchurch, with a planned overnight stop in Kaikoura. The drive from Nelson to Kaikoura was a bit tedious (particularly after over a week on the road). Nevertheless, we passed through what looked like promising wine country, and Kaikoura proved to be a funky little
up-and-coming town, where we would have liked to have spent more time (travellers note: the 132 km road from Blenheim to Kaikoura is largely devoid of any living creature or retail opportunites). The numerous seal colonies around Kaikoura are a popular attraction and apparently it's a good jumping off point for whale watching as well. We particularly enjoyed the Alpine Pacific Caravan Park - despite (or because of) it's small size, we found it to be the best equipped park we encountered on our trip.

From Kaikoura, it was an easy drive back into Christchurch where we unloaded the motorhome and handed her back over to her owners. In total, we covered over 1,700 kilometres despite neglecting a number of popular locations such as Dunedin, Queenstown, and Milford Sound. That just demonstrates how much good stuff the South Island offers. As such, we're keen to hit those spots we missed in a future trip and tackle one of the multiple multi-day tracks that exist on the island.

Under the Weather

Another day, another extreme weather event in Melbourne. This Labour Day weekend was characterised by two days of severe thunderstorms that brought flooding and hail to Melbourne, much like the event back in mid-February. Saturday's storms shut-down Southern Cross Station when hail stones tore holes in the roof causing water to pour in. Meanwhile, the races at Flemington were called off almost as soon as they got underway. Sunday afternoon saw a repetition of Saturday's weather, with tornadoes reported in central Victoria, and heavy rains in Melbourne from dusk til dawn.

Howard Ascends to the ICC

Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been nominated as the next vice-president, and eventual president, of the International Cricket Council. This is undoubtedly a feather in the cap for Howard who is well-known as having nothing less than an obsession with the sport. However, one wonders whether this is an step up or a step down from his last job in Canberra.

Tunick in Sydney

Over 5,000 people bore all on Monday as part of a Spencer Tunick photo shoot commissioned by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Happy Birthday to Uta

Friday marked the anniversary of the Uta's birth, leading to a weekend of celebration. We started off Friday morning with breakfast at the Abbotsford Convent - Malia wanted to get dressed up for the event. In the evening, Malia was dropped off with the volunteer babysitters and Uta and I headed to Chadstone for a bite to eat and a bit of cinema. The birthday weekend was wrapped up on Sunday night with dinner at Tony and Lia's

For Those about to Rock. . .

Over the next three days, AC/DC will be playing two shows in Melbourne. I, sadly, will not be attending either show and thus will miss out on what can only be described as a cultural experience of epic proportions.

The Annual Downpour

Each year, Melbourne gets hit with at least one truly memorable storm (e.g., this event in 2007). This year, that storm fell on February 10th, and, just as with previous storms, Melbourne quickly began to resemble a scene out of Waterworld (which, by the way, is one of my top picks for 'worst movie ever').

Fair Dinkum Aussie

On this year's Australia Day, I was just one of 78 people from 38 countries who turned up at the council offices of the City of Yarra in order to officially become citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia. The ceremony itself was relatively straightforward, but rather inspiring at the same time, particularly given the extensive rhetoric devoted to supporting the concept of diversity in Australia. While Australia's Liberal party continues to attempt to use immigration and multi-culturalism as a wedge issue, it's nice to see that many value the contributions that Australians (regardless of their origins) have made to the nation.

We celebrated my new citizenship in a traditional Australian manner - a day at the park followed by a few shrimps on the barbie (OK - it wasn't shrimp, but close enough, right).

Centaur

After a search spanning almost 70 years, the wreckage of the Australian hospital ship Centaur, which was sunk in 1943 by a Japanese submarine, has been discovered off the coast of Brisbane.

Cowboys and Indians

The past two years have witnessed rising tensions between Australia's Indian population (particularly in Melbourne) and, well, everyone else, due to what appears to be a trend toward a growing number of violent attacks on Indians. Personally, it's hard to conceive of how one would choose Indians as a population that merits being the target of aggression, but such is life. And of course, the more the media makes of the violence, the more others are tempted to single out Indians. At the moment, it appears that Indians have replaced Muslims as a subpopulation that some feel it is acceptable to discriminate against. I myself have witnessed some of Australia's less progressive youths practicing their Hindi on public transport - but only as a means to insult any Indians they might stumble upon. When bogans are going to the trouble of learning foreign languages just to be assholes, you know you've got a problem.

The backlash has been quick and substantial. Australia has rapidly developed a reputation for being less than welcoming to Indian students, with applications for Australia's educational institutions (which depend upon fees from foreign students) down substantially. There has been almost a 50% decline in applications for Australian higher education from Indian overseas students, and an approximate 25% drop in education visa applications in general. However, there is obviously uncertainty regarding how much of these changes in statistics can be attributed to recent violence vs. policy changes in visa allocations (including a crack down on fraudulent visa applications) not to mention the global financial crisis.

Nevertheless, the situation appears likely to grow worse before it gets better, particularly if the media circus continues to remain in town.

For some of the media stories, go here.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Our Christmas holidays were marked by extremes, meteorologically speaking. We boarded a plane in Melbourne in mid-December on a day where the temperature hit 39C (102F). We then travelled for 24 hours and landed in Hamburg, Germany where the temperature was -5C (23F).

We spent our first few nights in Hamburg in Winterhudeas guests of Pia, where we recovered from our jetlag and caught up with various Hamburg friends of old (e.g., Torbin and the Tanyas). Malia was fitted for some cold weather gear (of which Uta and I were quite jealous), which allowed us to venture out for strolls in Eppendorf , for dinner at Landhaus Walter in the Hamburger Stadtpark, and of course for visits to the Weinachtsmaerkte.
From Hamburg, we headed north to settle in with Buebi and Karin in St. Peter-Ording, just in time for Christmas, dropping in on Wacken to introduce Malia to her Urgrosseltern. St. Peter-Ording was cold, windy and snowy - perfect conditions for a cozy Christmas, something we've missed for the past several years (it's hard to get into a Christmas mood while grilling shrimps outside on the barbie).

Christmas isn't Christmas without plenty of friends and family. Fortunately, during our stay we were joined at various times by Oma & Opa; Katrin & Matthias; Tim, Merit and Nico; Bjoern, Nella, and Finn; Manni and his 'Liebling'; Halli & Kirsten; and Juergen (the insurance dude). We ventured out daily in Dorf, Ording and Bad, although the cool weather kept strolls to a minimum. We also made a day trip to Husum, for a bit of shopping, although Schmidt proved to be a rather difficult department store to navigate, particularly with a stroller. New Years was spent nestled comfortably into the Dittmer homestead eating tasty morsels and watching the spectacle at the Brandenburg Gate unfold on television (everyone there looked realy, really cold).

The return trip was a test of patience and a battle against the elements. Our flight from Hamburg to London was delayed for an hour, and our subsequent flight out of London was delayed by several hours while we waited on board for the plane to be de-iced not once, but twice. Fortunately, we managed to make our connection in Singapore, but or luggage didn't. Nevertheless, we were happy to be back in the land of warmth and blue skies, although we arrived back just in time for a classic Melbourne heat wave, with temperatures heading into the upper 30s (upper 90s F) to low 40s (100+F). As such, our trip ended much like it began.

Overall, it was an extremely relaxing and rewarding holiday season. The Preston family was treated like royalty, although Malia was, of course, the real star.