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Category: Australia and New Zealand

Queenstown – Skippers Canyon

Queenstown – Skippers Canyon

Queenstown is known as the Adventure Capital of New Zealand (and some say the world).  There are all kinds of possibilities – mountain climbing, rock climbing, jet boating, kayaking, hang gliding, tandam paragliding and bungy jumping.  In fact, commercial bungy jumping got its start in Queenstown in 1988. We rode on the Skippers Canyon Jet Boats.  We began our day as we traveled through Skippers Canyon to the launch area.  The drive through the canyon was incredible – it was…

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Queenstown

Queenstown

The day after our Midford Sound cruise, we drove from Te Anau to Queenstown.  Many of the pictures in this post will simply be of the beautiful scenery we saw along the way.  As you might expect, we saw lots and lots of sheep.  We also saw horses – frequently wearing a blanket or “rug.”  In warmer weather, this is to protect them from insects.  We  saw alpacas at a rest stop.  They are native to South America but were…

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Mirror Lakes, The Chasm and Milford Sound

Mirror Lakes, The Chasm and Milford Sound

After finishing our cruise on Marlborough Sound, we went back to the airport in Blenheim and flew to Te Anau.  Te Anau is in the southern part of New Zealand’s south island, just a little more than 3,000 miles from the South Pole.  Today our tour would take us to Milford Sound – and there would be incredible beauty every step of the way.  Our first stop was Mirror Lakes.  These are small lakes very close to the road on…

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Marlborough Sound

Marlborough Sound

We flew from Wellington to Blenheim which is located in the northern part of the south island.  We then drove via bus to Marlborough Sound.   The countryside was beautiful.  These are some of the pictures I took from the bus as we drove. When we reached Marlborough Sound, we took a lunch cruise.  Marlborough Sound is made up of old river valleys that are now filled with water from the Pacific Ocean.  The views are beautiful. While on the cruise,…

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Wellington

Wellington

We took an international flight from Sydney to Wellington, New Zealand.   While we saw iconic attractions in Australia, New Zealand featured beauty everywhere.   New Zealand is believed to be one of the last places in the world to be inhabited, with people initially coming from Polynesia – perhaps around 1250AD.  It is also relatively isolated from other parts of the world.  I had always thought of New Zealand and Australia as being relatively close, but they are actually about 1,000…

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Sydney

Sydney

The iconic tourist destinations in Sydney are the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.  They were both within walking distance of our hotel and we had a beautiful day to see them.  The bridge is built of 53,000 tons of steel and at its highest point, is about 440 feet above the harbor.  Construction began in 1924 and the bridge opened in 1932.  Eight hundred families’ homes were demolished to make room for the bridge.   Presently, the bridge…

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Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef

Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef

We flew from Uluru to Cairns, going from desert to rainforest.  Our first stop was the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway where we visited the rainforest in Barron Gorge National Park.  While on the cable car, we passed just over the top of the rainforest canopy (first picture).  We then hiked on a boardwalk through the rainforest.  The third picture is a Kauri Pine.  It is the tallest species of trees in Queensland and can grow to a height of 160 feet.  …

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Uluru (Ayer’s Rock)

Uluru (Ayer’s Rock)

We flew to Ayer’s Rock – now called Uluru – from Melbourne.  Tauck, our tour company, chartered a private jet for these flights, so our bus literally drove to where our plane was waiting – we boarded- and then we were off.  We visited in early October and enjoyed moderate temperatures in the low 80’s. This area is a desert so the landscape is very different.  The grasses are like cactus with “needles” serving to protect them.  We were told…

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Melbourne

Melbourne

We began the Grand Australia and New Zealand tour in Melbourne.  We stayed at the Langham Hotel on the Southbank Promenade. There are many restaurants along the Promenade and the walk along the Yarra River is beautiful.  We saw several teams rowing on the Yarra.  Pictured immediately below is the Southbank Footbridge which crosses the Yarra River. There are steps that took us below the bridge to a restaurant/bar called Ponyfish Island where we had lunch. On a walking tour…

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Independent Day Trips

Independent Day Trips

We recently returned from Tauck’s Grand Australia and New Zealand tour.  In my first post, I would like to share the independent trips we booked during our free time.  We arrived in Melbourne two days before our tour was scheduled to begin.  Before leaving home, I had booked the Great Ocean Road Tour through Go West Tours.  It was a long day, but well worth the time spent.  The Great Ocean Road Tour took us along the southeastern and southern…

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