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.

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.

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.

Samson & Delilah

Samson & Delilah won a range of awards at the Australian Film Institute Awards last night. The film, which took home the Camera d'Or in Cannes earlier in the year, took home the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography awards.

Group of Death?

Australia has drawn a fairly rough road to the World Cup. The Socceroos opening match will be against Germany on June 13 - rumour has it that Germany has a reputation for being a tough opponent. That will be followed by games with the other members of the group, Ghana on June 19 and Serbia on June 23.

A November for the Record Books

Although the Australian summer officially only started on December 1, summer weather has been with us for at least a month. November came to a close with another entry for Melbourne's record books. The city's average daily maximum temperature for the month came in at 27.4C, blowing the previous record of 25.5C set back in 1862 out of the water. The month included 10 consecutive days above 30 as well as one night where the temperature never dropped below 28C. Fortunately, the extreme temperatures were accompanied by extreme rains that offerred a temporary reprieve from Victoria's Big Dry.

A Week of Firsts

I used my attendance last week at an adaptation forum as an opportunity to take the family on short trip to Sydney. So mom and dad packed up Malia and her grandmother and headed east. The trip marked a number of milestones in Malia's life including the following:

1) First trip on a plane

2) First trip to another city

3) First stay in a hotel

4) First swim in the ocean (well, she put a toe in at least)

5) First ride on a boat (the ferry to Manly)

6) First ride on a subway

Granted, Malia is unlikely to remember all of this excitement, particularly because she slept through most of these experiences, but it was good preparation for her first overseas voyage later this month.

An American Takes the Helm of New South Wales

As of this morning, the State of New South Wales has its first female Premier, American-born Kristina Kerscher Keneally. The Premier-designate will replace Nathan Rees who, in recent months, was more commonly referred to as the 'dead man walking'.

Qantas: "The Spirt of Australia"

from The Age, October 30, 2009:

"Spirits and full strength beer have been banned on intrastate Qantas flights in Western Australia because drunken mine workers have become too unruly."

enough said. . .

Malia's First Halloween

Actually, I don't think it's fair to say it was Malia's first Halloween, given she largely slept through the entire day (heat makes little persons sleepy, I guess) and even she had been awake, I don't think she would have gotten the whole concept.

Brekkie on the Bridge

The Premier of New South Wales launched the first annual Brekkie on the Bridge last week - perhaps an attempt to elevate Sydney's standing on the cultural ladder. 190,000 people allegedly applied for the 6,000 picnic spots on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was covered in genuine grass turf. Rumour has it the event will be repeated next year - assuming the Premier is still in office. . .

Only in Australia. . .

. . . could a group of guys go on television in blackface and subsequently argue that the skit didn't have any racial implications - the logic being that if the perpetrators don't find it offensive, then it's not (and hey - they did it back in '89 and people loved it. . .). Given Australia's own humble origin, I'd think its people would be more sympathetic to culturally sensitive issues. However, it seems that approximately 75% of the population didn't see anything particularly racist about this shtick. Fair enough - it probably wasn't intended to be racist - yet it still managed to offend nonetheless, and anyone with 75% of a brain could have seen that coming. Australia continues to have an image problem in this department. Just when the tourism boards make progress in branding the nation as a friendly, open and diverse environment, some clowns step-up and do something stupid.

Aussie Nobel

Elizabeth Blackburn has won the 2009 Nobel Prize for medicine. Blackburn was born in Tasmania and is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, but currently works at the University of California - San Francisco. She shares the prize with Carol Greider at Johns Hopkins and Jack Szostak of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend with Malia as we tried to introduce her to the neighborhood. Thanks to her baby carrier, she travelled with us to Richmond Market on Saturday morning to buy some veggies and she got to take in the sweet aroma of her first sausage sizzle. She also entertained numerous visitors including the local Maternal and Child Health nurse (who confirmed that Malia is rapidly gaining weight) as well as Emma, Jeremy and Ady. The highlight, however, was Malia's trip to the Royal Children's Hospital, where she was the guest-of-honor in an educational clinic on infant mental health and behavior. She put on quite a show, demonstrating skills even her parents hadn't seen before, such as tracking objects and rolling herself over.