Northern New Zeland Cape Adventure- Part 2

After recovering from food poisoning and hanging out in Hayden's living room watching DVD's for a few days, we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Whit and Claire back to Auckland on Friday and the rendezvous with Ashley. After a quick lunch we headed to Whangarei to pick up Ashley Black of Austin fame and California up-bringings. Ashley is traveling through New Zealand until July and is another good friend we met through frisbee.

{In Hayden's backyard with my Valentine's Sunflower from Cara...still recovering}




Hayden lived up to being the greatest host to a traveller by lending us his car for a week long road trip to the northern cape of the North island. The plan was to drive to the Ocean Beach Hat tourney for a weekend of beach ultimate and fun and then to head north for a hike around Cape Reinga.

{Whit and Ashley hanging out at Ocean Beach}

Whit and Ashley were chosen for the Chocolate team. Claire and I were on the Tan team. And Cara was all alone on team orange, she was just happy she didn't get here third green jersey. There were 6 teams total and about 60 players at the tournament. It was the tournaments 5th year. Here is the weekend in quick summary: Nic from Switzerland (played with Cara and I in Hawkes Bay) was on my team again along with one NZ'er - Van, Nicko from France/NZ, Jordan and Bec from Canada/NZ, and Ben from the UK. Cara's team had a good mix of players as well. Team Tan's international strength led us to the finals after a tie in the go-to game against Team Green to face them again in the finals. Down 4-6 at half, we rallied in the second half scoring 7 in a row to win the game 12-8, coming away with some super sweet cooler bags as our prize! We met a lot of good frisbee people and had a great weekend at a beautiful beach. Besides the frisbee, the main highlight was seeing a pod of dolphins jumping high out of the water to celebrate the perfect weather and beautiful water.

Sunday afternoon we headed north and found a campsite in hilly farmland. We were a little worried a farmer would come along in the early morning and let us know we shouldn't be there, but it was not a problem and we all had a pretty good night's sleep. It was reassuring to know NZ doesn't have any animals or insects that can hurt you while we were setting up our tents at dusk in thick 3 foot high grass.

Monday we headed to the Bay of Islands to check it out and stock up on food for the week. Our next stop was Matauri Bay where we were told was camping. It turned out to be a camper van resort (not what we were looking for) but a beautiful bay where we stopped to have lunch, read, and go for a swim. After lunch we headed to the Manginangina Kauri forest to camp and relax for the evening. On the way to our campsite we stopped for some tree appreciation. In short, Kauri's are a super old tree with think trunks and cool adaptations which have helped them to survive all these years.

Tuesday we headed north to Cape Reinga. In Te Paki we rented sand boards and drove to the giant sand dunes for some "sledding." We made the most of our 4-hour rental. After each of successfully went down a huge dune headfirst...very fast! We started experimenting on smaller dunes with surfing, bobsledding, dual slides, and completed the first ever 5 person slide on 2 boards!
{We had a couple spills, but everyone came out injury free}














That night we camped at Spirits Bay, which would be the beginning of our 3-day backcountry hike. Our hike around Cape Reinga would take us 41 km's over quiet beaches, hills, sand dunes, streams, quick sand and tidal pools. We had beautiful sunsets, a little rain, amazing sunshine, cool (with one muggy) nights, treated water (boiling and iodine) and great camping meals. We experienced hitchhiking (to get back to our car at the beginning of the trail), the best fish and chips in NZ (at Waitiki Landing restaurant), and generous ice cream scoops after we finished the hike. It was a great hiking crew and we all got the most of our three days in the backcountry. It was our first backcountry trip, and we are excited for our next one on the South Island. Here are some pictures to show you some of the beauty we experienced.

After our walk we returned to Hayden's house to relax and get things together before our next adventures. Claire and Whit are on their way to London to start their European adventures, while Ashley, Cara, and I will make our way to the South island to play frisbee this weekend and then find some work and more walks!

North Island, New Zealand: Part 1

We arrived in Auckland on Feb. 4th. Piers, from Brisbane, called a friend and fellow ultimate player Hayden Glass who graciously offered up his house, and the use of his car, for the following weeks. We had signed up for a beach tourney the 10th and 11th of Feb. so we decided to hit the road in Hayden's sweet ride and do some exploring before the tournament. What follows is our first road trip and tramp (Kiwi for "hike") in New Zed.

The skyline of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city and our home base for exploring the north island. This picture was taken from One Tree Hill, one of the 48 extinct volcanic cones that dot the city. It used to have a single tree on top, until some environmental extremist cut it down with a chainsaw because it wasn't a native species. You can see the remains of the stump in the foreground.





Our first sheep in New Zealand; One Tree Hill is still used as active pasture land, so they were all over it. Sheep are quickly becoming one of my favorite animals. Fun fact: New Zealand has almost 4 million people and an estimated 30 million sheep.









Cows have the right of way here...good policy.












The first place we stopped on the road was Kiwi 360, an ambitious collaboration of all things Kiwi (the fruit). I thought kiwi fruit grew on trees, but they actually grow on hearty vines, like grapes. They had yellow kiwis, mini kiwis, kiwi wine, kiwi jelly, kiwi face scrub, and a ginormous kiwi slice the size of a sfour story building that you could climb up in.













The road on our way to our campsite in Coromandel Forest Park.












We did a tramp called "The Pinnacles", an estimated 8-9 hour tramp on in the Kauaeranga Valley on the Coromadel Peninsula. We passed through a fern engulfed forests, crossed over raging streams, climbed boulders as big as buses, and climbed at least 2000 stairs. All in all it was about 12-14 kilometers up and down a mountain.








The weather was clear until we got to the top, which was a series of ragged peaks , hence the name "The Pinnacles" . By the time we climbed the mega stairmaster and huge Agrocrag sized boulders, the top was in a cloud. Luckily, we got a sweet view from right below the top before the fog started rolling in (left). You could see the sea and a string of islands to the west and beautiful valleys on all sides.





























Usually you can just ford the rivers on foot, but there had been a lot of rain recently so we had to cross the rivers on these single person wire suspension bridges. It was so Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, except there were no crazy zombies chasing us.

Yosemite Sam.



















The view from a hill above Hahei, NZ. This is a popular town for it's proximity to Cathedral Cove, the Hot Water Beach, and the Coromandel Peninsula Parks.











Mike did a tramp down to Cathedral Cove, a huge cave formed by two caves eroding together to form an arch.


















A fence post on the Cathedral Cove hike.















The track to Cathedral Cove. He got a little carried away with the camera, but it's beautiful.












Hot Water Beach near Hahei, NZ. At low tide, you can get a shovel (or a frisbee) and dig a hole in the sand which fills up with scalding hot water
from under the sand. You can make your own little spa. The only trouble is, low tide is not really "low", and every few waves, you get totally covered in cold water. It's a good equalizer though, otherwise the scalding hot beach water would probably burn your ars off. We came back at low tide, 6:00, the next morning to have the beach mainly to ourselves. The people watching here was fantastic.


Sunset at Hot Water Beach the morning we went to dig our spa.














Our team at the Boutique Beach Hat Tournament in Hawkes Bay. Specifically, we were on Waipatiki Beach, a secluded beach just north of Napier on the North Island. We were a green machine! Mike, Nick (from Switzerland), Sean (from San Diego), Becky, Nobi, and I ended up winning the tournament and winning some sweet shot glasses as prizes.




In order to get back to our campsite after playing on the beach we could either wade through waste deep creek or try to fit as many people as possible on a little homemade pontoon and try not to fall off.


















After the tournament, Mike and I drove to Rotaurua, the city famous for it's geo-thermal activity.There are hot springs, geysers, and mud pools everywhere! We stopped at Kerosene Creek, a creek that runs with steaming hot water...incredible...and just what we needed after a lactic acid inducing beach tourney. And it was free! Wee!

A black sand beach that we stopped and ogled at on our way to the tourney. Just north of Napier.

After the tourney we needed to get the car back to Auckland to pick Hayden up for our next adventure, another beach tournament north of Auckland in Whangerai Heads. Our plans to spend a few days in Rotarua exploring the area were abandoned when Mike came down with food poisoning Sunday night from something he ate at the tournament. So we hauled it back to Auckland so he could have a comfortable place to stay in between trips to the bathroom. He was a soldier, and we spent the next few days watching movies at Hayden's and occasionally venturing out for sustenance and nature while Mike recovered.


View of city from Mt. Eden, the tallest and most scenic of the Auckland's volcanic cones.












A view across Mt. Eden's crater at sunset.

Best of Australia!
*Check out our last two weeks in Oz in the finally updated post below this one.

As we leave this nation of paradise, I've compiled a list of the "Best Of's"...things that were my favorite of something we did a lot, things that were uniquely Australian and totally awesome, or things that stand out as being favorite moments on the trip. Links and pictures provided when possible.

Best...:
Phrase of Encouragement: "Good on-ya mate!"
Tim Tam flavor: Caramel
Dessert: Pavlova
Beer: Beez Neez
Non-beer: Lemon-Lime Bitter
Way to order coffee: Flat White (Espresso with lots of steamed milk)
Hostel: Tim's Place- Halls Gap, Victoria
State: Western Australia
Home cooked meal: The Ride house (Perth, WA) Lisa, James, Elizabeth, Georgina, and Charlotte
Restaurant: Vegie Bar, Melbourne, Victoria
Beach: North Sydney beaches
Sunset: Yuragir National Park



















Body of Water: Lake McKenzie- Fraser Island, QL
Native animal: Platypus, Wombat a close second
Native animal that can kill you: Saltwater Crocodile
Form of transportation: The Wombie (our campervan from Adelaide to Alice Springs)
Tournament: Melbourne Hat Tournament
Campsite: Yuragir National Park
Waterfall: Protestor Falls, Nighcap National Park
National Park: Litchfield, Northern Territory (too hard!)
Cityscape/skyline: Sydney
Most interesting/creepiest city: Coober Pedy
Hike: Glow worm tunnel- Newnes, NSW























Island: Fraser Island
Museum: National Museum of Australia- Canberra, ACT (closely followed by Museum of the Northern Territory- Darwin, NT)

The last three months have been one adventure, beautiful vista, and good beer after another. I'm very sad to leave as I'm positive that I could easily live happily in many of the places we've visited in our time here; if only I could transplant all of my loved ones to live in paradise with me. But alas, it is time to move on to the lush alpine meadows and staggering glaciers of New Zealand. Life is tough sometimes, but you've just got to get through it. =)

G'day mates,
Cara

Brisbane to Cairns: A whirlwind trip up the northeastern coast

With our time in Australia running out, we decided to see the Eastern coast with an all out 11 day tour beginning in Brisbane and finishing over 1600 kms later in Cairns. We experienced everything from wrestling goats to SCUBA diving on a reef in the Whitsundays and nearly everything in between.

Along the way we met some great people from Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, and England. The Hansen family (Soran, Gitte, Jesper, and Michael), Gitte and Ida from Denmark, Sandra (a frisbee player!) from Switzerland, Pierre and Cajsa from Sweden, Carol and Simon from Ireland, and Amy whom we met later in the trip from England. Without these new friends the trip would not have been as memorable. We hope to see them in our future travels and when they travel to the U.S.

We'll let the pictures do the talking:
Our first day we hiked a fire lookout for the Glass House Mountains, just north of Brisbane. As you can see in the picture, the land is mostly used for tree harvesting.
Rounding up cattle and sheep on a working ranch in Kroombit, central Queensland. I swear Mike was a cowboy in a former life. We got to herd them into their holding pens and yell cheesy things like "Ippp! Ip! IP! IP!" and "Get along little dogie!"

After rounding up sheep and cattle we had our own little rodeo. We were split into teams and a goat was let loose in the ring. Each team had to catch their goat, get it to the ground and in branding position, and then "brand" the goat with a branding rod. It wasn't a hot rod, so mainly we just chased goats around like fools laying out right and left and trying to drag them by their horns to the holding area. One goat cleared a 6-7 foot fence...it was crazy!
Another part of the rodeo was a mechanical bull ride. The boys had some trouble with this one.
Me playing cowgirl.


Mike Baywatch running into McKenzie Lake, a freshwater lake on Fraser Island.


Ely creek, a spring fed stream that runs into the ocean. Fraser Island.

Our behemouth transport around Fraser Island. It's a large island, 70+ miles long and 15 miles wide on average, and is entirely made of sand...the largest sand island in the world. So obviously, some crazy 4 WD is required to get from place to place. What makes it so fascinating however is the water. It holds more water on and in it than the Sydney Harbor, which is huge, and the water is all filtered through the sand making it completely clear, fresh, drinkable water. It's also the only place left in Australia with pure dingos left that haven't interbreeded with domesticated dogs.
Driving along 70 mile beach in our monster truck. When a large wave came in, it looked like we were going to be carried away to sea. Riding in this thing was like a roller coaster.

A shipwreck on 70 mile beach, Fraser Island.

Our sweet mode of transportation for three days sailing the Whitsunday Islands, and group of reef studded islands off the coast between Arlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef. The Alexander Stewart.

All the crew up on deck. Popular activities on deck were: reading, eating, tanning, playing chess, drinking, and napping.

The first stop was Whitsunday Island, the largest island of the chain and home to the famous Whitehaven Beach. We climbed a lookout to view the beach from above at low tide. The sandflies were as thick as molasses...you practically had to run to stay away from them.

Team Sizu. Mike and I in our "Stinger Suits" on Whitsunday Island. These jellyfish suits supposedly protect you from getting stung, except for the gaping wholes in everyone's face, hands, feet, and crotch areas. I guess you aren't supposed to worry about your face, or crotch, being fatally stung by a bluebox jellyfish.

Ida, Carol, and I giving our best glamour shot on Whitehaven Beach in our sexy stinger suits.

We did a lot of snorkeling and saw some really cool stuff, but we also got dropped off at a local scuba diving boat and got to do a dive. It was incredible, and enough to make us want to get certified and live the winter months in the Carribean. The snorkeling was awesome too though; we saw a shark, some sting rays, tons of huge clams, jellyfish (good thing we had the stinger suits), every color and size fish, and lots of mind blowing coral. One of my favorites was seeing a clown fish chillin' in an anenome.

All of the crew at dinner on Magnetic Island.

Ida taking the "Tour de Franzia" which we introduced to the Europeans to much fanfare. They call bag-o-wine a "goon" here, so a bit of explaining was necessary.

Traveling with the Hansen family, from Denmark, really added to the fun of our trip. Jesper, Michael, Gitte, and Saren.

Pierre and Cajsa, from Sweden. Sorry Kristiane, they were really cool! =)

We explored the Atherton Tablelands, a range just outside of Cairnes on our last day of the tour. This "curtain fig" tree was one of the highlights. It has an aerial root system, which explains the tenticle-like things handing down...it's not moss.

This salty was in a crocodile farm our tour stopped at. After the guy in the pen fed him, the crocodile ate the rake that was holding the food out. It was pretty awesome.

The cassowary bird, the world's most dangerous bird, is only found in the very northeastern part of Australia. It looks like a combo between an emu and a turkey, and has a 5 inch razor sharp claw on both feet. When threatened, it jumps up and karate chops it's enemy with it's razor claws. It's been known to disembowel people...dun, dun, duuuuhn!

Simon, from Ireland, chowing down on his plate of beefy goodness while Sandra (Switzerland) and I look on.

Port Douglas, north of Cairnes.

I know...it all looks the same! This is just north of Cairnes, on our drive up to Port Douglas and Daintree.

Swimming in the Masman Gorge. It runs too fast for crocodiles so we took a dip.

Masman Gorge, Daintree National Park. The view upstream from where we were swimming. As you can see, white water rafting is one of the most popular activities up here in nothern Queensland.