Hackett Travels

Hawkes Bay

hannahhackett — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 19:57:00 GMT

We had planned a leisurely drive up to Hawkes Bay from the ferry but as it ended up leaving Picton about 3 hours late we didn’t get into Wellington and get the car unloaded until after 4:30pm. At least we did get to see the Marlborough Sounds on the way out of Picton, the sea was a bit choppy but not as bad as it was forecast the day before! It was close to getting dark by the time we were back on the road on the North Island for the 4 and half hour drive up to Napier. We arrived about 9:30pm to our motel room with a spa bath in the bedroom!

Napier was levelled in a big earthquake in the 30s and was completely rebuilt in the style of the time so there are a lot of art deco buildings which were pretty cool. Once again it was raining heavily but we wandered round the town and drove up the hill to get a view of the bay and the town. Then we drove into the Hawkes Bay wine region to find somewhere for lunch before we drove over to Taupo. On the way to the winery we’d chosen, the engine light and traction control light came on in the dashboard, as well as the cruise control light flashing! We weren’t far from the winery so we carried on and called the car hire company from there. They told us it was a known issue with the Forrester and we could keep driving with it!

We tasted a couple of wines at the Black Barn Winery then we had a bit of a wait for lunch as the restaurant was busy so we drove up to the mountain lookout nearby for 360 degree views of Hawkes Bay. The rain had cleared a bit so we got a good view of the region. After a delicious lunch we drove on to Taupo.

North of the South

hannahhackett — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 19:53:00 GMT

After we left Franz Josef we had a couple days of driving, mainly in the pouring rain, to get up to the north coast of the South Island. We stopped in Greymouth on the coast and then up to Motueka ready to visit Abel Tasman National Park. On the way up the coast we went over a single lane vehicle bridge that is shared with a train track – if you’re on the bridge and see a train coming the other way you have to stick it in reverse and get out of the way! We also stopped at the Pancake Rocks where there are various bits of exposed rock and stacks with lots of lines across them like a big pile of pancakes and the scientists haven’t made up their mind yet exactly what they think made them end up like that. There are also some blowholes – while we were there it was pouring with rain and the seas were quite wild so it was pretty noisy and we saw some water shooting up through the blowholes!

It rained all the way up the coast but the day we planned to go to Abel Tasman it finally stopped, although it was still cloudy and cold we didn’t get wet! Abel Tasman National Park is on a strip of coast along the top of the North Island. The only way to access it is walking a long way along the coast and back or by boat/kayak. We got one of the boat shuttles along the coast, stopping to look at seals on the rocks and also Split Apple Rock which looks exactly like it sounds! Then we were dropped off at one of the bays and did a walk up the headland almost to the small lighthouse and then around to a smaller beach where we ate our picnic lunch. It was so peaceful and we were the only people there. Bet its very different in the summer, although the weather’s probably a lot better! This is the region of NZ that’s supposed to get the most sun – 2400 hours a year! Of course we didn’t really see any, although it did threaten to break through the clouds a few times.

After the boat picked us up and took us back to Kaiteriteri we drove along the coast up to Picton. We saw a bit of a sunset but then ended up coming into Picton around the scenic route in the dark! It was very windy around the mountains but we couldn’t see the view! We also had to stop at one point as there’d been a rock fall onto the road and there was a digger there trying to clear the road so cars could get through in both directions again.

There’d been some more bad weather in the Cook Strait and so once again we got a call to say that the ferry we were booked on the next day (10:30am) had been cancelled and instead we’d be sailing at 1pm. We walked down to the marina to have dinner and we could see why they were having trouble with the ferries – the winds were so strong that it was hard to walk against them and it was blowing open the door inside our motel unit!

Franz and Fox

hannahhackett — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 20:21:00 GMT

The day we left Queenstown actually started as a lovely day, we drove up past Lake Wanaka and through the Haast Pass and Mount Aspiring National Park. The scenery was just stunning, so many beautiful lakes and mountains everywhere you looked! We stopped at some waterfalls on the way as well. The weather got worse as we got closer to the West Coast and by the time we arrived in Franz Josef it was wet and windy! In our wooden room on the end of the block we could hear the gusts of wind and hail battering the wall. We drove into town for dinner and discovered the place we’d been recommended all dark, we could see people inside so we went in and discovered there was a power cut! I guess it must have happened in the few minutes we were in the car because the power was on when we left the room! We had a limited choice of dinner but they had candles and little lamps. It made me realise I haven’t been in a power cut for ages!

The strong winds and rain/hail carried on all night and the next morning. We were booked on a Heli-hike but there was low cloud and with the gusting wind it was cancelled. Instead we decided to go down to Fox Glacier and do the walk to the bottom of the glacier. The rain was coming in showers and we had our big coats so thought we’d go in a dry spell and hopefully not get too wet. We got as far as we could down the track until it was closed because of flooding. We nearly made it back to the car park before the heavens opened again, as it was blowing sideways only the front of our trousers got wet! We dried off over lunch and as the heli-hike was confirmed cancelled we thought we’d head down to the Franz Josef glacier in the afternoon in case we didn’t get to see it otherwise. This was a longer, more open walk along the river through a couple of hail storms! Needless to say we got absolutely soaked – jeans, socks, shoes wet through! There were some good views of the lower part of the glacier, although the top was covered in cloud.

We were very lucky to have a beautiful morning on the day we were due to leave. We had a view of the mountains from the place we were staying, that we hadn’t even realised was there! Our heli-hike was on for the morning and we kitted up with boots, crampons and waterproof trousers before getting in the helicopter to be taken up the glacier. The views from the helicopter were amazing as we flew up the glacier and circled around the upper parts before landing in the middle section, well above where we’d walked at the bottom. After waiting for a couple more trips to bring the other hikers up we set off with our guide walking over the ice and snow. The storms had brought some fresh snow so we didn’t need the crampons and it made walking around and climbing up slopes easier. We walked around for a couple of hours, exploring the glacier looking at ice formations and a big waterfall where the sun was catching in the spray to make a rainbow. The scenery was totally stunning, the ice was so blue and it was an amazing experience. The guide told us that he’d been working there for 7 years and the glacier had retreated and changed a lot in the last 5 – the waterfall we saw used to be under the ice so they didn’t know it was there but a lot of it has melted in the last few years. As the sun came round we could hear the ice on the slope cracking as well as a couple small landslides on the sides. The guide also told us we were the first group they’d been able to take up there in about 5 days due to the weather so we ended up being pretty lucky with the day we had - a first time for everything!

I would definitely recommend it to anyone – just make sure you factor a couple of days there in case the weather doesn’t play ball!

Sounds and Fjords

hannahhackett — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Milford and Doubtful Sounds are the most accessible of many fjords in the south western part of the South Island in Fjordland National Park. It’s a pretty remote, pristine area that makes you feel very small in comparison to the natural drama and sheer size of everything going on around you! The guide explained that Doubtful Sound is actually a fjord – carved by a glacier and back filled by the ocean; as opposed to a Sound which is carved by a river and back filled by the ocean.

The pick up for the trip to Doubtful Sound was at 7am – it was dark and pouring with rain again! We also stood for 25 minutes out in the rain waiting for the coach – apparently it wouldn’t start! After a couple hours driving we were loaded onto another coach and taken to Lake Manapouri. Here we picked up our packed lunches and boarded a boat to take us across the lake. It was still pouring with rain and low cloud covered a lot of the scenery. It was an atmospheric trip across the lake, everything was shades of grey – the sky, the water and the mountains. After about an hour we got to the other side and boarded another coach for a drive up the road that was constructed to bring the materials in for the underground power station on the lake and down the other side to Doubtful Sound. The road is 22km and the most expensive piece of road in the country, costing $2 per metre to construct! We stopped at various lookouts and saw some massive waterfalls, swelled by all the rain. We couldn’t actually see Doubtful Sound from the lookout on the approach thanks to all the rain and mist!

We then boarded another boat for our 3 hour cruise on the Sound. I have never seen so many waterfalls – I reckon I saw more on that day than in the rest of my life put together! Everywhere there was water cascading down from the mountains, most of them temporary waterfalls brought to life by the sheer volume of rain that had been falling. Fjordland, this region, is one of the wettest places on earth with 16m+ of rain a year! For a bit of perspective, Cambridge gets about 60cm of rain and Brisbane gets a bit over a metre a year!

We didn’t manage to see the resident pod of dolphins but we did see some seals lounging on a rock and a potential penguin which I think was actually a cormorant. As we got near to the entrance where it meets the sea the weather cleared a little (it actually stopped raining for a bit!) and we even saw a little bit of blue sky. At one point they brought the boat right in to a cascade of water coming down a flat rock face and gave out cups so you could catch some of the water and taste it – its really pure having come straight from springs on the mountains. Chris managed to get some but got rather wet in the process!

After the cruise and the coach back to the lake we got to visit the underground power station. The coach drove down a spiral road 2km into the rock underground. We went into one of the rooms where we could see the top of the generators. Water is drawn out of the lake down through the rock where it turns the generators and carries on out through several more km of rock through a couple of tunnels to be discharged into the Sound on the other side of the hill.

It was a good day and a spectacular part of the world, although having seen the brochure pictures there were a lot more mountains around us that we couldn’t see for the mist! We saw so many waterfalls thanks to the rain but probably less of the scenery than we would have on a clear day.

Queenstown

hannahhackett — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 19:28:00 GMT

Queenstown is a pretty cool place, sandwiched between lake and mountains with a relaxed vibe, we really enjoyed our few days there. It helped that we were staying in a beautiful apartment with lake views, we actually ended up staying an extra night.

We arrived mid-afternoon on the 2^nd July after driving across the Lewis Pass from Twizel. As usual it was a bit drizzly but luckily the rain had melted most of the snow so at least the road was open and the drive wasn’t too bad. We headed up to the Skyline gondola which is a cable car up the hill behind the town, there’s also a restaurant, luge track and a bungy platform at the top! The views of the town, the lake and the mountains were amazing, it was a bit cloudy but they weren’t low enough to cover the mountains.

While we were up there we went to a Maori show which included a haka and some other songs. It was really good and interactive, though I’m not sure why the Chinese tourists in front of us bothered buying a ticket because they spent the whole show looking at their phones! It was dark when we came out so we also got a view of the city lights before we headed back down.

The next day we woke up to torrential rain and low cloud so decided to chill out for a bit rather than get soaking wet walking into town. All we’d planned for the day was exploring the town so we waited until late morning when it had cleared up a bit and walked down through the gardens to the edge of the lake and the town centre. We had wanted to take a trip on the lake in the steamer but it was out of the water for its annual maintenance. We also visited the famous Fergburger for a late lunch (it was too rammed earlier!) and had what Chris described as the best burger he’d ever had, definitely worth the half hour wait and no need for dinner that night!

The Thursday was the day we’d booked to go to Milford Sound – we went for the flight option (flying from Queenstown to Milford Sound, quicker and more spectacular than hours on a coach!) and the agent had suggested that day would be the best option weather-wise. When we got up and got ready for our 11am pick up it was looking promising, a fairly clear day with no low cloud in Queenstown. I tried to call up for our weather check but the lines were busy so in the end we just went out to wait for the bus. By 11:15 with no bus in sight it wasn’t looking good so I headed down to reception, they called up for me and it turned out it had been cancelled! L The bad news was that it also wasn’t looking good for the next few days and we only had one more day in Queenstown. So the flight option had to be abandoned and the manager persuaded us that Doubtful Sound was a better trip – less tourists and a bigger Sound, just as spectacular and less time on a coach! We booked on for the following day and instead transferred our afternoon jet boat trip to that day!

Our jet boat trip to Skippers Canyon started with about an hour in a four wheel drive bus up into the mountains on a dirt road carved into the side of the hills by Chinese workers in the gold rush days. We got a great view over the mountains and valleys around Queenstown before we drove into the canyon. The road was pretty precarious and prone to landslides! After we finally got down into the canyon, we stopped by the river and they kitted us up with big waterproof coats, hats and gloves and we got onto the jet boat. It was really awesome fun! The river was fairly high thanks to all the rain so we did stop in a couple of places to look at some of the gold mining machinery and bungy bridges. It was incredible shooting along in the canyon, only centimetres from the rocks, plus 360 spins! It was very cold on the face and we did get a bit wet but it was really good. After the boat trip they took us to a local house for hot drinks and to have a look at their collection of historical artefacts that the family had found in the canyon – a lot of gold mining and farming equipment. Then it was another hair raising trip back to Queenstown, meeting a couple of cars and a digger on the one lane road high up on the hill!

Mountains and Lakes

hannahhackett — Mon, 8 Jul 2013 19:59:00 GMT

From Christchurch we drove to Twizel in the Southern Alps. This is where the New Zealand of the adverts and Lord of the Rings began for us! We didn't have to get far out into the countryside before we were surrounded by snow on the ground! Luckily the roads were clear and we made it up into the Alps. We drove via Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki - turquoise glacial melt lakes surrounded by mountains. Its the ground up material from the glaciers that makes the water look turquoise. We had lunch in Tekapo in a pub overlooking the lake, it was a beautiful day with the sun shining and kids playing in the snow.

The next day we planned to drive down Lake Pukaki to Mount Cook, the highest mountain in NZ which we'd glimpsed from the visitor centre on the drive. When we got up the sun was shining again and we called the Mt John Observatory to book onto their stargazing tour as we'd been waiting to make sure the weather was ok. However, the closer we got down the lake to Mount Cook the worse the weather got and when we arrived in the village you couldn't see the mountain for the low cloud and drizzle, not the mention the strong winds. We went in the Hermitage Hotel to the Sir Edmund Hillary centre, had a look around at the exhibit and watched a couple of the films about space in the planetarium. When we emerged for some lunch the weather was still terrible so we aborted the original plan to do some walking and after lunch went back into the theatre to watch a documentary about Edmind Hillary. So having driven all the way there we didn't get to see the mountain and the weather was too bad to do any walking - at least we learnt about space and climbing!

We headed back to the motel to eat before the stargazing tour but it wasn't looking good as it was still really cloudy. They'd suggested we call to confirm before we left Twizel as it was about half an hour drive but I couldn't get through on the phone so we went anyway. When we got there the woman in the office explained that it was cloudy over the observatory and it would be a 'cloudy night' tour where they just show you around the facilities and tell you about the telescopes etc without seeing any stars. We were a bit disappointed but decided to go anyway. Just before they got back to pick up our tour there was a call to say there were breaks in the cloud and we might get to see some stars!

The area around Lake Tekapo is an international dark sky reserve, as there's so little light pollution (not many people living in the region!) it makes it perfect for an international observatory. They also don't allow lights on the hill so the bus drove part of the way with only side lights on and we had red torches at the top. We did get to look at some of the stars through the smaller telescopes. The big one wasn't in use as it was too windy. While we were up there the winds started picking up and the domes were banging in the wind so we had to cut the trip short as the winds can get very strong and it might get too dangerous to drive back down. They had gusts of 100kph while we were up there - it was quite hard to walk upright! The strongest wind gusts recorded in NZ were recorded here (250kph), before the gauge broke in the wind! It was pretty cool though and we probably only lost about 15 minutes of the tour, we were just glad that the cloud cleared a bit and we got to see some stars.

Photos: Christchurch

hannahhackett — Fri, 5 Jul 2013 20:27:00 GMT

Quake City

hannahhackett — Fri, 5 Jul 2013 18:52:00 GMT

Christchurch is a bit of a city in limbo at the moment. It may be over 2 years since the Feb 2011 earthquake that destroyed the heart of the city but that event still defines life in the city and probably will for a generation, until the memories of the day and the 'old' city start to fade to the background. To drive around the inner suburbs you'd think everything was back to normal, and individuals can't live in limbo for that long so people are getting on with their lives but the city centre is still pretty eerie.

Christchurch actually experienced a larger earthquake of R7 in September 2010 but the epicentre was deeper and further away, although there was damage there were no injuries or deaths. The R6.3 of February 2011 was closer to the city, shallower and because of the way it travelled through the earth it created more ground shaking, causing a lot of damage in the CBD, huge liquifaction in some suburbs and 185 deaths in collapsed buildings.

You'd think after 2+ years things would be back to 'normal' and although the roads in the centre were just about all open (the last cordon actually came down the day we left), almost all the buildings were fenced off as unsafe, while others are in the process of demolition. I guess one of the issues is that in any city, planning of developments takes time to get agreement and finance etc so imagine having to do that on every site in the middle of the city.

We were wandering round the CBD on a Saturday morning and there was hardly anyone about, apart from demolition teams working. The cathedral is still there half collapsed while they work out whether they can keep it standing. We saw quite a few old brick churches around the city that were damaged and being held up with steel bracing. While some of the damaged buildings are 60s monstrosities that it won't be a shame to replace with something better, its sad to lose so many heritage buildings.

The positive aspect is that they have a plan in place for a swish new city centre with low rise buildings, open spaces and more riverside areas. In about 10 years it'll be a new city, I just hope the residents can keep the faith that long.

We walked around and as well as the damaged buildings, we saw the container mall (where they set up a load of shipping containers and made them into shops - that area was busy!), the memorial of empty chairs for the people who died, the new inter-denominational cardboard cathedral in progress. There was even punting on the river - we felt right at home!

Other places worth a mention - Willowbank wildlife park where we saw lots of native wildlife, including some kiwis! Also the International Antarctic Centre was fascinating, we rode in a Hagglund, experienced an Antarctic storm, a 4D movie and saw the Little Penguins being fed!

The people of Christchurch have been 'doing it tough' but there's light at the end of the tunnel and its amazing to see the innovation and creativity that's emerged in the aftermath to raise money, improve morale and take advantage of new opportunities. I wish them well and hopefully we'll be back one day to see what rises from the rubble.

Sea Lion pups!

hannahhackett — Thu, 4 Jul 2013 19:47:00 GMT

Also at Kaikoura, Jodee tipped us off about a waterfull just outside the town where the seal pups hang out inbetween feeds with their mothers. There's a rocky stream that leads up from the sea and the road runs along the coast so its only a few minutes walk inland to the base of the waterful and there were dozens of baby sea lions playing in the water, resting on the rocks or climbing back up from the sea!

Its amazing what steep slopes they can get up - some had climbed up the steep rocky walls by the waterfall to find a place to chill out!

There were some very cute ones sitting on the rocks by the path just watching people go past and some in the water play fighting with each other. The light wasn't great so it was difficult to get the moving ones on camera without being blurred but Chris had the video camera so we captured some of their antics!

It was so cool to be so close to them and they weren't bothered about the people at all. I've uploaded a few photos in the gallery to show you the cuteness!

Photos: New Zealand

hannahhackett — Thu, 4 Jul 2013 18:43:00 GMT

Wine and Birds

hannahhackett — Thu, 4 Jul 2013 17:41:00 GMT

The reason for stopping in Blenheim is that it is Marlborough wine country! We booked on a wine tour but Rupert had written us a list of some of his favourite wineries all over New Zealand so when the driver asked if there was anywhere in particular we'd like to go on the tour I handed her the list! I was thinking she'd include a couple of them but she took us to all of them, which was 8 in total! Pretty sure its the biggest day wine tasting we've ever done.

It was a really good day and we tasted lots of great wine, most of them are also sold in the Uk as well so we can stock up when we get home! Of course we bought a few bottles to see us round New Zealand as well.

The next day we drove down to Kaikoura on the East Coast. This place is famous for all kinds of wildlife watching and its also in a pretty spectacular spot, bordered by snowy mountains on one side and the sea on the other. It was very cold when we were there and the dolphin watching cruise wasn't going out that day as the weather had been bad and the dolphins weren't hanging around. Instead we went on the bird trip to see some albatross and we were the only people booked on the trip. It was a pretty small boat and the waves were quite big but being so open helped to keep away the sea sickness! The guy took us out a way from the shore, there were a few smaller birds following us. When we stopped he put out a basket that contained a big ball of fish liver and then the birds all started arriving!

There was a rescued Giant Petrel that came out on the boat with us as it was due to be released. When we stopped the guy opened the box and let it out onto the water. Initially it was looking ok but then after it had drifted off a bit it looked like it was struggling - flapping its wings but not getting anywhere. The guy said that if it looked like it wasn't doing too well then the others would probably start attacking it so then the task was to try and catch it again! It was a bit tricky but he managed to grab it without getting bitten and it went back in the box to go back to the rescue place.

We sat there for a while watching the birds, including several huge albatross! There were various different kinds including the biggest one, a Royal albatross. One female hogged the food, chasing off various others, although the smaller birds and the giant petrels did get a look in. It was amazing to see these huge birds gliding over the water and they were very curious - some of them just sat bobbing in the water watching us for most of the time we were there. We tried to spot some seals on the way back but the rock they were usually on was empty. We were very cold when we got back and feeling a bit odd from the sea sickness tablets but it was worth it!

Welly!

hannahhackett — Thu, 4 Jul 2013 16:33:00 GMT

We started our travels in New Zealand with a visit to Jodee and Rupert in Wellington (for those that don't know, Jodee and I worked together at PwC in Cambridge before she took a secondment to Wellington and never came back!). We arrived on Sunday 23rd June to a beautiful, sunny crisp day. You wouldn't have believed that just a couple of days earlier Wellington had its worst storm in 40 years!

Jodee and Rupert took us for a drive round the city and up to the two main lookouts at the wind turbine and Mt Victoria for some amazing views of the city and harbour, as well as a rising super-moon! They also have some amazing views from their house at the top of a hill - I can see why they didn't want to come back to Cambridge!

The next day we walked down into the city centre, via the botanic gardens. We just had a wander around past the Parliament and the CBD, did a bit of shopping for thermals - we'd forgotten what cold was after over 2 years in sunny Queensland! Frosty mornings are a bit of a shock to the system when it barely gets below 15 degrees in Brissie!

We also organised our ferry ticket for the next day and went down to the harbour. We stopped for a beer/mulled wine and an amazing mini cheese fondue to warm up before heading to the office to grab a lift home and save walking up the hill!

We'd booked on the 2:30pm ferry to the South Island for the Tuesday but the storms had damaged one of the ferries so we'd been warned that it wasn't due to leave until 5pm. This gave us a bit more time to sort out our hire car and also have a good look round the big museum Te Papa. We looked at the earthquake proofing in the basement and stood in the earthquake house inside that simulated a R5 earthquake. It was a really good museum, interactive and good features on natural history (a giant squid!), geologoical NZ and also history. We could have done with a bit more time to see more of the exhibitions but we went back as we'd been told to be at the ferry terminal by 4pm.

We turned up at 4pm to an empty terminal! Turned out the ferry was further delayed and wouldn't be leaving til about 8pm! Rupert came to the rescue and picked us up after work and Jodee cooked a quick dinner so we could eat and get warm before we went back. It finally left about 8:30, only 6 hours late! Unfortunately by then it was dark so we didn't see any of the scenery on the way, arriving in Picton at about 11:15pm, where we picked up the hire car (which was covered in ice!) and drove to Blenheim and bed!

Quokka spotting

hannahhackett — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 21:04:00 GMT

I'm a little behind as the last few days have been a bit hectic but thought I should close the chapter on WA.

The couple days after we left Coral Bay were pretty uneventful as we were just driving back down the coast. Some very long straight roads, a lot of road trains and grey nomads, plus a van that had hit a stray cow!

Our last full day in WA (21st June) we were back in Northern Perth and spent the day at Rottnest Island. Its about a 45 minute ferry ride off the coast from Perth. You can just about see the city skyscrapers from the island but (at least in winter) its a world away from the city. There are no private cars allowed on the island so most people cycle or get the bus around and its still fairly unspoilt. As we didn't have that long we did the bus tour to get an overview of the island. It took us around all the bays and we stopped at various points including one of the lighthouses. Its a beautiful place with clear blue seas and secluded beaches, would be perfect in summer (tho also very busy!) but it was a bit too cold for snorkelling when we were there, although the sun shone all day.

After the tour we came back to Hotel Rottnest for lunch. While we were waiting for our food, into the pub hopped a Quokka! It just casually hopped around the tables looking for leftovers and the staff just ignored it. It said hello to us a few times and eventually headed back outside where a few others had turned up. It was kind of a cross between a large rodent (they were originally mistaken for giant rats) and a small wallaby - definitely seemed a bit guinea pig like in the face to me! They were very cute and we went for a wander after lunch to spot a few more and then just chilled out waiting for the ferry back to the mainland.

We flew back to Brisbane on the 22nd, just in time for the Lions match which we watched on a big screen next to the English pub in the city. It was a great atmosphere and luckily the right result for us! Can't help but think if Quade Cooper had been on the pitch things might have been different but luckily the Aussie coach holds a grudge!

Getting up for our flight to New Zealand the next day was rather painful but also sad to be leaving the place that's been home for over 2 years. We'll be passing through in transit on our way back but this was the end of our Aussie adventure. Its been a truly brilliant time, we will definitely miss Brisbane and Australia but I know that one day we'll be back! Now on to New Zealand...

Whale shark encounter

hannahhackett — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:43:00 GMT

We've spent the last couple of days in Coral Bay - a small beachside village in Northern WA and pretty high in the running for my favourite spot in WA. The Lonely Planet says population 190, though there's a lot more tourists than that, mostly families on a beach holiday, older people caravanning and of course some international tourists there for the whale sharks at this time of year. The whale sharks visit from about March to July every year for the coral spawning on the Ningaloo Reef, although they're the biggest fish in the ocean they feed on the plankton that feed on the coral spawn!

We arrived on Saturday afternoon after about 3.5 hours drive from Carnarvon, across the Tropic of Capricorn and via a detour to see some blowholes on the coast (holes in the rock that the waves force water up through to create a kind of geyser effect). After all the rain on the Thursday/Friday there was a lot of water by the road and some across the road on the way up! The sun was shining though and we caught another beautiful sunset on the Saturday at Coral Bay.

Sunday we got up early to go on our boat trip to try and swim with a whale shark. We started the day with a practice snorkel, getting in and out of the boat in the way we would once we found a whale shark and following the guide. Then we sat on the boat in our short wetsuits trying to stay warm while we waited for a call from the spotter plane - we had to be ready to go at any moment as they warned us everything could happen quite fast so I kept the wetsuit on rather than trying to get dry and warm!

I didn't have a watch on but I think it was only 30-45 minutes before the boat suddenly accelerated and we were off to find our whale shark! There were 19 of us on the boat and only 10 snorkellers at a time are allowed in the water with the shark so they put us into 2 groups. The way it worked was that the boat got fairly close and then one group jumped off the back of boat and swam over to where the videographer was indicating the shark was. They had about 5 minutes swimming alongside then they surfaced, the boat dropped the other group off and came to pick up the first group - and repeat! You have a maximum of an hour to swim with the shark providing it doesn't swim off or dive so they just cycle through that process as many times as possible in the hour.

We were lucky in that the shark was swimming fairly slowly (for them!) and hung around for the whole hour so we got 6 goes in the water with it. We also had an 8m whale shark, which was massive!! They do get bigger but that's about the biggest they see around there.

It was just an amazing experience - one of those where you're not quite sure who is checking who out, as the shark could have been gone with a couple flicks of its tail (they can swim faster than the boat could go) or it could have dived down and left us all on the surface. But it carried on swimming slowly around while we looked at it and it looked at us! It had various fish swimming around and under it while it cruised along. On the second time we went in we were right in front of it and they told us to swim to the side and get out of its way as quickly as possible and to keep going because they can be attracted by bubbles so might follow! I went the opposite way to the others and it did feel like it turned my way so I was frantically swimming to get to the side of it (you're supposed to stay at least 4m away). It exhausted me but then I had an awesome view as everyone else was on the other side!

Getting in and out of the boat repeatedly and in a hurry was a bit of a hassle in fins/snorkels, I did get kicked a few times and ended up with various bruises but it was worth it! I have some photos from my little compact in the waterproof case, they're not amazing but they give you an idea of what it was like so I'll upload one, we have the DVD from the videographer which I have no doubt will be much better than my snatched photos while swimming furiously and trying to get a shot past the other swimmers!

Once we were finished our hour with the whale shark we had lunch and then headed back to moor up by the reef and do a bit more snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef. On the way there I spotted a spurt of water coming out of the sea - it turned out to be several humpback whales! The boat slowed down and we watched them for a few minutes, I think there were at least 3. An extra bonus to an awesome trip! As we'd found the shark fairly early we were back at Coral bay by 2pm! We went down to the beach for sunset again and it was really awesome - there was a bit of cloud around to catch the colours and it was beautiful!

We had an extra day to play with and when we got to Coral Bay and liked it, we decided we would stay there an extra night and have a day on the beach on the Monday. We extended our stay when we got back from the snorkel trip and of course the next day dawned grey, overcast and windy!! So we didn't get our day on the beach but it was still nice to chill out and have 2 straight days not driving anywhere! We also managed to plan most of our NZ trip, although we didn't have internet or phone signal there so still need to book it all up!

We're now back in Carnarvon on our way back down the coast. We'll be back in Perth by Thursday afternoon and planning to go to Rottnest Island on Friday. Coral Bay has definitely been a highlight of the trip - just a lovely, chilled out place and of course all the amazing marine life!

Shark Bay (oo-ha-ha!)

hannahhackett — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 09:20:00 GMT

Just a quick one before we head to Coral Bay as I'm not sure we'll be able to get online up there.

Thursday - the early bird catches the fish! We went to watch the pelican feeding and only one turned up so she (we think) got all the fish! A couple more turned up briefly right at the end, until a dog wandered past and scared them off. Must be my upbringing on Roald Dahl but I find them fascinating, they're such odd looking creatures and surprisingly graceful in the air despite how big they are!

We left Kalbarri after the pelican feeding to drive up to Monkey Mia. Mostly a lot of straight, boring road until we got to the Shark Bay, world heritage listed region where there were a few things to stop for. First up was the Stromatalites of Hamlin Bay. If you're not sure what they are google them but basically they're growths of cyanobacteria that generate oxygen and scientists think they created the right atmosphere for larger life on earth a couple of billion years ago! Its very rare to find such large living colonies of them now but the very salty conditions in this bay keep predators away. It was a very peaceful spot with a boardwalk out over the edge of the pool so you could see them close up.

Next up was Shell Beach - exactly what it says on the sign! It was a large beach completely made up of little shells. Closest to the sea they still look like shells but as you get further up the beah they get crushed and compacted. They actually mine them sustainably for building materials. Something in them didn't agree with us though - we sat down briefly on the shells and then afterwards both had itchy rashes where our skin had touched them! Luckily they went down after a couple of hours.

By this point there was a large grey cloud approaching but we managed to get to the lookout at Eagle Bluff and spot some rays down in the water before it started raining. We passed through Denham on our way to Monkey Mia.

Monkey Mia is famous for its friendly dolphins and apparently gets 320 days of sunshine a year and only 200ml of rain - but of course being Brits on holiday we copped a large amount of that rain in the less than 24 hours we were there! It was drizzling a bit when we got there, started torrentially just after we got back from dinner at about 8pm and carried on all night (I woke up several times and it was still going!). It slowed to a drizzle again about 7:30 in the morning. It put pay to our plan to go out on a boat and try and spot dugongs but we did go down early in the morning for the dolphin feeding!

They've been doing 'dolphin interactions' there for a long time, basically they feed the dolphins up to 3 times a morning, but only small amounts of fish and only when/if they come in to the beach. The guests can wade into the water (below the knee) and watch, with a few people selected to feed them. We were there at the start time of 7:45 in the rain and wind, a couple of dolphins showed up and then went again. We had to wait a while until they reappeared properly about 8:45. Then there was a larger group of at least 5 or 6 and 3 of them came right in. It was really cool to be just a metre away from a dolphin that's swimming along eyeballing you! They swam around looking at us for a little while before they were fed. We didn't get to feed them but it was amazing to be so close to them while they checked you out! There was also a curious turtle nearby who kept popping up for a good look at what was going on! (the picture above is one of my many photos of the dolphins!)

Nothing much more to report from yesterday, we just stayed in Carnarvon and are driving up to Coral Bay today, where we're going on a trip to try and swim with whale sharks tomorrow - fingers crossed for a bit of sunshine and some sharks!

Heading North

hannahhackett — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:17:00 GMT

No internet access yesterday so I'm catching up on 2 days again.

Yesterday we drove north from the edge of Perth and visited The Pinnacles on our way up to Geraldton. The best way to describe this place is hundreds and hundreds of tall, slim rocks sticking out of the ground, or 'pinnacles'! There are large ones, small ones and all different shapes. We walked around some of them and then drove the track that went around the site. They're quite amazing to see going on and on over several hills like a whole army of rocks. There were also a couple of massive dunes nearby, like big hills but not right on the sea. I'll post some pictures when I can.

We stayed overnight in Geraldton, checked out the red and white lighthouse this morning and then carried on up the coast road to the Kalbarri National Park. On the way we stopped off at a pink lake - it was huge and has algae that makes betacarotine, giving it the colour. It was the middle of the day so quite a lot of relfection on the water but you could definitely see a pink tinge!

In the National Park we went to several coastal lookouts along the cliffs and coastal formations - a bit like the great ocean road for anyone that's been there. Spectacular coastline with big waves roaring in. We then drove through Kalbarri on our way to the gorges. Unfortunately the road to Nature's Window was closed as they're tarmacing it, which I was a bit disappointed about as I'd seen photos and it looks very cool - google Nature's Window Kalbarri if you want to check it out. Instead we went up to another gorge and had a walk down to the river, which was more of a pond, I guess its been a bit dry here lately. We did get back to Kalbarri in time for another beautiful sunset, while we were waiting for the sun to sink into the ocean we amused ourselves watching the pelicans trying to steal the fishermens' catch on the beach! We're getting up for the pelican feeding in the morning so hopefully will get to feed one too!

Tomorrow's going to be a lot of driving on our way up to Monkey Mia so maybe won't post again until after we've seen the dolphins up there.

Photos: WA Misc

hannahhackett — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 22:51:00 GMT

Various pictures from our trip

Happy birthday to me!

hannahhackett — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 22:23:00 GMT

Thanks to the R&D team's generous 30th birthday present of experience vouchers I got to tick something off my bucket list this morning - we got up very early to get to Northam airfield for a hot air balloon ride over the Avon Valley!!

Luckily the rain had stopped overnight, although it was a bit foggy and cloudy first thing this morning which made the drive there in the dark interesting! We waited at the hangar for a bit while the pilot checked out the best sites to start/end our flight with the fog/winds and then about 16 of us got in the minibus to go to the launch site. They took the basket and balloon off the trailer and started inflating the balloon using big fans. Once it was fairly full they used the burners to finish it and lift it up.

We got in the basket in our allocated places and soon we were off! We lifted up over the trees at the edge of the field and started floating over the countryside. It was very noisy when the burners were on and very peaceful when they were off. After a little while the pilot took us up through the layer of cloud into the sunshine. It was beautiful above the clouds in the sun, we got up to about 4000ft at the highest and the cloud started to clear below so we could see bits of the countryside as well.

After nearly an hour we started to come back down. We were supposed to land at the airfield but the wind speeds were too high so we went on a bit further to another field. We beat the car and trailer to the site and the pilot touched down in the field - we did bump a little and the basket leaned over to the side but the pilot righted us. Once the trailer arrived he got a few of the men to get out and then he just lifted the balloon slight off the ground and they helped guide it onto the trailer.

We then all headed back to Northam for a champagne breakfast! It was an amazing experience, photos and video to come in due course! Thanks for the vouchers team!

Plus, if anyone ever doubted that I can get bitten anywhere - I actually got bitten by a mosquito while up in the balloon!

After breakfast we went back to York to take a look around in the daylight and then drove back to the coast. We're staying in Burns Beach tonight in a lovely modern B&B surrounded by lots of new, expensive houses! We also finally got our first ocean sunset of the trip - every other day has been cloudy or wet at that time but today was a beautiful day and the sunset was worth the wait!

Tomorrow we start our trip up the coast to see the whale sharks :)

Always take the weather with you...

hannahhackett — Sun, 9 Jun 2013 20:21:00 GMT

What I realised today is that you can be in the most beautiful place but if its grey skies and torrential rain it still seems desolate and miserable!

Back to that later as I've got a couple days to fill you in on!

On Friday we went wine tasting in Margaret River with Bushtucker tours. Chris pretty much mapped the whole thing on Facebook so you probably already have an idea where we went but I'll tell the story anyway! We visited 3 lovely small wineries - Stella Bella, Adinfern and Cape Grace. Stella Bella is where they make Skuttlebutt Kate if you're reading this! The manager there was very surprised to hear that I'd drunk some in a restaurant in Brisbane - they seemed like a pretty small place! They all made some really nice wines and we did go back for a couple bottles to drink on our travels. We also had lunch at Adinfern, prepared by our driver it was a bit of a ploughmans' style lunch and very good. He also produced a Witchetty grub for someone to try! Chris and I didn't volunteer but one of the Australian guys on the tour did, which upset his daughter a bit! Both he and the guide said it tasted pretty good - he compared it to cream cheese!

In the afternoon we went to a brewery where Chris sampled some beers and I sampled the cider, as well as a chocolate factory and a dairy. We may have come away with some chocolate and cheese as well! It was a really good day, great wine and great food. Good day to be inside as well as it was mostly cloudy and drizzly.

On Saturday we explored the region a bit - visiting several caves and finishing up at the lighthouse. We went to Lake Cave, Mammoth Cave and Jewel Cave. All beautiful caves with some amazing formations, you'll have to wait for the photos as we don't have free wifi today! All involved a lot of stairs though and then we went down to the tip of the cape, to Leeuwin lighthouse. We did the tour there - another 176 steps up/down the lighthouse! It was very windy and looking quite grey out to sea beyond the lighthouse. While we were inside the guide said that there was a storm forecast later. It pretty much arrived as we walked out of the door at the bottom of the lighthouse! The coastline had disappeared and the rain was torrential! It was a bit of a walk back to the visitor centre and the car park and although we both had coats on we didn't have hoods and it didn't really matter because our jeans, shoes and hair/faces were soaking wet almost straight away! It was about half an hour soggy drive back to the guesthouse and our clothes/coats/shoes weren't even fully dry by the morning as the best we could do was leave them in the bathroom with the heater on.

By this morning there were blue skies again, we packed and headed out to Hamlin Bay (thanks for the recommendation Liz!). By the time we got there there were threatening skies out at sea again but managed to get a few photos with a bit of sun breaking through the crowds. It was a deserted little beach with a collapsed jetty. It would be a beautiful holiday spot in the summer, I had a quick wander on the beach but made it back to the car as it started spitting with rain. Not much longer after that the heavens opened and it rained heavily for the rest of the day! We drove up the coast but it was too wet to see much of the coastline and then we drove inland, past Perth and up to York where we're staying tonight. It wasn't very good driving conditions - heavy rain and bad visibility but Chris got us here in one piece! Off to bed soon as we've got an early start tomorrow, just hope the rain holds off for a special trip in the morning!

Perth Mint is mint!

hannahhackett — Thu, 6 Jun 2013 18:39:00 GMT

Today is Chris's birthday!!! Its been a bit hard to make it birthday like apart from opening some cards this morning but we're heading out to have a nice dinner tonight.

This morning we visited the Perth Mint. It was set up in 1899 as a branch of the British Royal Mint to refine gold from the Western gold rush and create coins and gold bars. They still make commemorative coins there. There was a brief tour and then we watched a guy pour a gold bar from molten gold! We also discovered our weight in gold - apparently Chris is more valuable than me at $2,933,144, though I was still worth $2,034,672 in gold! They have a gold bar there in a box that you can put your hand in to try and lift it - at 12kg through a hole in a box it wasn't easy! Apparently its worth about $580,000 at current gold prices, definitely the most expensive thing I've ever held in my hand!

As we were about to leave I decided that I would like to use the coin striking machine - you put a $2 coin in the machine and you could watch it mechanically stamp a brand new gold coin with a Perth Mint design. It was fairly old school and seemed to be mechanically powered by a rotating wheel behind. I put the coin in and we both watched closely as it stamped the coin but then as the little sweeper came out to push it along and out of the exit shute, the coin hadn't popped back up out of the slot so nothing came out! I explained to the guy that worked there that I appeared to have broken it but he said it had happened before and they just needed to turn it off and get it to restart/reset. They tried this and the sweeper arm again came out but the coin didn't pop up. The guy was querying if there was even a coin in there but I assured him there was - he then asked me to put another $2 coin in the machine. I hesitated, something in the back of my head suggested maybe it wasn't a great idea but I followed orders!

IT WAS NOT A GREAT IDEA!! The machine pushed another blank coin out on top of the first one and stamped down, it didn't come back up and a defeaning screeching sound started coming from the machine like pressure was building up and something was about to give! We all (Chris, a couple of Mint employees and me) backed away quickly!! Luckily the guy who had suggested it had the thought fairly quickly to hit the emergency stop button! He then radioed 'an urgent page' for assistance and explained to us that 'I've sent for the guy who fixes my mistakes'! They did pay me back the $4 that I put in the machine and after I asked they found me one that been made earlier so we ended up getting one for free and both got the giggles after we walked back out into the street! I can see the headlines - British tourist ruins coin striking machine! (It doesn't take much to make the news here!)

Anyway, after that we headed to the coast for a bite to eat and on down to Margaret River where we're staying in a lovely little guesthouse that seems very peaceful. Wine tasting tomorrow...