Month: December 2018

It’s been a very busy time in Sydney.  It’s a large city and there is much to see and do.  I just barely scratched the surface.  After my whirlwind tour of the city the first day, I decided for day two, I would hop on the bus again and jump off at the stop near the Sydney Fish Market and just take a long leisurely walk back to my hotel and stop at several of the plans I had passed on the bus tour the day before.

The fish market was great.  There were several large warehouses where the wholesale trade takes place and then one large building open to the public.  There were many different vendors selling all kinds of fresh fish (If only I had a BBQ in my hotel room!) and there were all kinds of places to buy seafood to eat right there.  I was there about 10:30 am and the place was very busy.  I could have walked out of the building absolutely stuffed but I already had lunch plans.  However, I felt compelled to at least sample something so I got some grilled octopus on a stick – kind of like octopus kabobs!  Delicious!

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I then walked over to Darling Harbor, which was a little less than a mile away.  It’s a very picturesque little harbor with all kinds of shops, restaurants, museums – not to mention great people watching!  I wandered around a while and finally found a little cafe where I could have lunch and watch the world go by.   It was about a mile and a half walk back to my hotel but it took me through the Central Business District which was a beehive of activity.  Great fun!

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After grabbing a coffee back near my hotel, I walked over to the Sydney Opera House, which was just short distance away.  It really is a magnificent building.  I have heard from multiple sources that the Backstage Tour, although a bit pricey, is well worth the money.   Unfortunately, by the time I heard that, they were sold out for most of the month of December.  So, if you’re going to be in Sydney and want to do that, plan ahead!

The next day was the infamous Sydney Harbor Bridge climb.   It was fun and I’m glad I did it.  You get a stunning 360 degree view of Sydney when you are clipped to a catwalk 500 feet above the water!  I learned all kinds of factoids from the guide – including the fact that a new company took over the lease as of October ( after 20 years) so who knows how things will operate going forward.   The whole thing moves little slow for my tastes but it was still worth doing. You can’t beat the views!

Yesterday I took an excursion out to the Blue Mountains, about two hours outside of Sydney.  Unfortunately the weather was not very cooperative and we ran into some low clouds which put a little bit of a damper on things.  But, we were still able to see some very pretty country.  I’m sure when the sun is shining, the views must be spectacular.  We were able to take a few short little hikes and see some pretty country.

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On the way back to the city, we stopped at a wildlife park – I didn’t even know it was on the agenda!  It was fun to get up close and personal to some of Australia’s indigenous wildlife.  It’s interesting that there’s is virtually no wildlife ( including no poisonous snakes) that can kill you in New Zealand and here in Australia, there are all kinds of things that can kill you! 

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So now it’s time to wrap things up, repack my bags and get ready to head to the airport about 24 hours from now.  I suspect this will be the last post for a while.  It’s time for me to get back to the real world.  It’s been a great trip- no regrets.  But I’m looking forward to spending the holidays with Jordan and seeing some of my friends in LA before I head back to Montana- and begin to plan the next adventure!  So, thanks for coming along.  Bikingwithmike.com signing off!  Outbound soon SYD to LAX.  

First of all, I have to say these Aussies have their customs act together!  The only person I talked to during the whole process was an officer who asked me about my bike while I was waiting for my luggage ( I declared it on my customs form).  Once satisfied, he stamped my form and I collected my luggage and off I went.  It was entirely automated!  A piece of cake.  After having stood in many customs lines at various places in the world, I was seriously impressed!

It had been a long day so I grabbed a bite at a place near my hotel and settled in for the night.  I went to sleep thinking that I would just take it easy today – that didn’t quite work out!

My hotel is in an area called The Rocks which is near the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge.   I knew it was going to be warm today so I decided to take a little exploratory walk early.  One thing led to another and before long I was walking across the Sydney Harbor Bridge!  Great views.

When I returned I decided that one of Sydney’s “hop on/ hop off” busses was the way to cover a lot of ground.  Once again, one thing led to other and I found myself at the famous Bondi Beach.  I walked around for a while and was contemplating what to do about lunch when I stumbled upon one of the local surf rescue groups having a fund raising BBQ.  It seemed like a better way to spend money rather than at one of the local tourist restaurants so I grabbed a snack there.

 I jumped back on the bus and finished he loop around the city.  Once back to where I started, I jumped on a boat for an hour long cruise around the harbor.  Upon returning from that, in spite of sunscreen, hat, etc. I’d spent so much time in the sun I felt like a baked potato so I found a nice cool restaurant and had my first real sit down meal of the day – at about 4pm.

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The nice thing about the hop-on/hop-off bus tour was that it allowed me to scope out a lot of the areas and sights relatively quickly so now I have a really good idea where I will go tomorrow.   And most of the places I want to go are within a mile or two so I’ll probably just take a walk and then if I get tired or sunbaked, I’ll jump on the bus.  I have to save a little bit of energy since the day after that I’m suppose to climb to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge!  As I vividly recall, when I was recently in New Zealand and I climbed up something high, I had to jump off into the water – hopefully that’s not the same drill here!  😃

I was trying to think of something interesting to do in “the adventure capital of the world” on my last day in New Zealand!  After reviewing many options, I decided to go canyoning.  

I spent two hours climbing around a canyon with a river running through it – zip lining, rappelling down cliffs, zip lining halfway across a river and then dropping into the river via rope, jumping off of a 25 foot cliff into a pool of cold river water, sliding down water chutes, etc.  

I was at least 20 years older than the next youngest person but managed to keep up.  And I jumped and some of the others did not.  All of that said, it was a real workout for me and I emerged tired and a bit sore.  It was a challenge but a lot of fun. Good group of people and tremendous guides.  What a way to wrap up a great visit to New Zealand.

Now I’m all packed and will head to the airport for my flight to Sydney in about three hours.  I have nothing planned in Sydney for a couple days and am looking forward to just chilling out and walking around the city.  

I decided to take a trip to Milford Sound as it is one of the iconic places associated with New Zealand.  I was a bit hesitant because, unless you fly ( more on that later), it is a very long day – about 13 or 14 hours door to door!

While I could have driven, it is a very long tortuous drive and I decided I’d prefer to look at the scenery if I was going to do this.  There are many tour operators going from Queenstown to Milford Sound, most driving large buses.  After a bit of online sleuthing, I opted to go with a Company, BBQ Bus to Milford Sound, and was very happy with the choice.  They operate small 16 passenger buses, have great guides/drivers who are very engaging and it made a long trip much more enjoyable.

The drive down to Milford Sound takes about 4 hours.  We made a few short stops along the way for photo ops and “ bio breaks”.  We had one longer stop where we had a very nice lunch of BBQ’d lamb and chicken kabobs.

Once at Milford, we boarded a small boat and headed out for a cruise that lasted about 1 hour 45 minutes.  Although Milford Sound has over 250 rain days a year and gets over 25 feet of annual rainfall!, we were extremely fortunate in that we had clear blue skies!  Perfect timing!

It truly is a beautiful place.  I was glad I made the trip.  After the cruise, it was time to hop on our little bus for the long trip back to Queenstown.  The other option for returning is to fly out of the little airport at Milford Sound.  They operate small, 12 passenger prop planes to and from Queenstown.  The 4 hour bus trip turns into a 45 minute flight.

That said, the flights are not cheap.  I think the driver said that they are on the order of $400NZ one way.  The flight back to Queenstown would have been more expensive than my trip to Sydney tomorrow.  However, on a day like yesterday with clear blue skies, it might have been worth it just for the scenery! Flying through the mountains would have been spectacular.  But, alas, I jumped on the bus and got back to my hotel in Queenstown about 9 pm.  It was a good trip – no regrets!

Today is my last day in Queenstown and my last day in New Zealand.  I hop my flight to Sydney tomorrow and will be LA bound one week from today.  So, I guess I’ll go see what kind of mischief I can get into today!

It’s been nice to stay in one place for a few days.  Queenstown is a beautiful place – the adventure capital of the world they call it!   On Monday afternoon I just walked around and explored the town a bit.

On Tuesday the clouds were low and it looked a bit gloomy but then it cleared up and I took the gondola up to one of the hills above Queenstown.  Fantastic views!  Just a stunning place.  It’s also the launching point for parasailing, bungy jumping, downhill mountain biking, etc.   Lots of adrenalin going up and down this mountain!

And today was my first Queenstown adventure.  I opted for one of the iconic jet boat rides.  It was a kick!  See video link below!  There are some jet boats that operate in the lake, but Shotover Jets has an exclusive license on a segment of the river and shooting through these canyons is the way to go!

http://Smileflingr.com/SHJT/SHJT5GUL75VN

Tomorrow it’s off to Milford Sound which is an all day excursion – but I don’t have to drive!

So after a couple hundred miles on a bicycle, driving 340 miles on the North Island, taking a three hour ferry ride and driving 860 miles on the South Island I arrived in Queenstown today, three weeks and a day after arriving in Auckland.  This is my final destination in New Zealand but I will be here for the next 4 days just relaxing and playing ( starting with a jet boat ride in a couple of days)!

My car is completely unloaded, including my bike box, and the car is safely parked in the garage where it will likely stay until I make the 4 mile drive to the airport on Saturday.  I won’t have a rental car for the few days I will be in Sydney so I am hanging up my “driving on the left side” license for the time being.  It’s been fun.  It’s been an adventure and I’ve actually enjoyed driving here – most of the time!

The drive from Franz Josef Glacier to Queenstown was probably one of the most scenic highways I have ever driven.  There were times when the road was both windy and steep with occasional places with a posted speed limit of 15 kpm ( 10 miles per hour)!  And there were many one lane bridges which are so common here.  That said, the scenery was amazing for essentially the entire 250 mile trip.

At times you were driving through lush forests along the coast.  And then there were stretches where you’d be looking at soaring snow capped mountains or driving past huge, beautiful lakes.  At times the road reminded me of the Hana Highway on Maui.  Other times it reminded me of the Pacific Coast Highway in Northern California.  Throw in a little bit of the Beartooth Highway in Montana and you’ve got a really nice drive! They don’t call it “The Great Coastal Road” for no reason.

And the descent into Queenstown is definitely not for the faint of heart!  There were so many tight switchbacks that I felt like I was on a scaled up version of Lombard Street in San Francisco!

But I’m here and it’s now time to relax.  My apartment is a 5 minute walk to the main part of town where I have already found the Starbucks and several interesting looking restaurants.   Happy to be in Queenstown.  More in a couple of days.

 

 

I only had a little over a two hour drive today to get to Franz Josef Glacier so I took my time hitting the road.  I also stopped in Hokitika about 20 miles down the road to pick up a couple of things I’d seen in the shops the day before. After a cup of coffee at a local cafe, I hit the highway down the coast.  It was sunny so in spite of the windy roads, one lane bridges, and occasional tourist bus, it was a nice drive.

It was starting to cloud up some when I got to Franz Josef Glacier and I was concerned I’d miss the glacier. I was too early to check in to my room so I grabbed some lunch at a local cafe and then went back to check in.

I had toyed with jumping on one of the many helicopters for a look at the glacier but the clouds were rolling in and I wasn’t convinced the $300 or $400 was going to be worth it.

Option B – there is a road right outside of town that heads up toward the glacier and at the end of the road there is a trail up to the foot of the glacier.  The trail is about a 45 minute walk but I figured, “what the heck”.   I tossed my rain jacket in my backpack and off I went.   There were actually quite a few people on the trail.

Although I did feel a few rain drops, it didn’t really rain and the weather kind of cleared up a bit.  It was a nice walk and, unlike the helicopter ride, it gives you a good feel as to how far the glacier has receded over the years!  I don’t know how anyone could take that walk, see where the glacier was in the early 1900’s, see where it is now, and not be convinced that something is going on ( Global Warming is real!). It was a walk well worth taking.  Lots of pretty waterfalls along the way as well.

When I got back to my lodging for the night, the weather had cleared up and I had a beautiful view of the glacier right from my patio.  A nice end to a busy day.

According to Google Maps, tomorrow is about a 5 hour drive to Queenstown which, judging by all the squiggles on the map and the fact that it’s just a little over 200 miles, could be Mr. Toad’s Wildest Ride yet!

It was raining when I got up this morning but it started to ease up so I took a chance and headed for Hokitika Gorge which is about an hour drive away.  The gamble paid off as the rain stopped about the same time I arrived.  And I was there early enough to be the crowds and, in fact, at one point I had the swinging bridge all to myself.

The gorge is beautiful and the water is exactly the color it appears in the photos.  It was well worth the drive.

Afterwards I stopped for lunch in the little town of Hokitika, which is a very artsy place. They have many galleries and shops that sell works of local artists. This is also the heart of New Zealand jade ( also known as greenstone or by the Maori name – pounamu) country and there are several shops selling locally carved jade.

Tomorrow it’s a short two hour drive to Franz Joseph Glacier.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate so I can get some good views of the mountains.