Surfs Up

Dana is working this weekend so I occupied myself by visiting Bethells Beach and O’Neil’s Bay. Picked the right day as the sky was pretty clear and the temperature warm. Didn’t find any Sea Lions on this journey, although did find some surfers honing their craft late in the day. These guys must have been pretty confident because I saw a few signs suggesting there can be rough surf and strong undercurrents. And to my eyes this guys were pretty awesome, carving up some huge waves. Just another amazing Auckland west coast beach.

For additional photos click on link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/114612877246919085926/BethallsBeach#

Next trip for us is heading back to the US for a week and a half. Plenty to do, itinerary including a stop in Atlanta to visit Mom and Dad Morris and Huckle, stop in Boston to visit Mom and Dad Hines, a visit to Baltimore to attend Kevin Buck and Cassie’s wedding and a stopover in San Diego on our trip back to New Zealand. So don’t be surprised if you find pictures of more familiar surroundings on the blog in the next few weeks.  

Karekare

Made a return trip to Karekare beach this past weekend. Check out these pictures from the trip. The highlight was running into a sea lion that was lounging in the sun. There was another swimming in the ocean below, but didn’t get a good picture of him.

Can check out additional photos at: https://picasaweb.google.com/114612877246919085926/KarekareII#

Victorious

There was a huge sigh of relief in New Zealand around 11 pm last night. The All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup for the first time since 1987. With the tournament being held in New Zealand, and with the All Blacks largely considered the best team, having gone undefeated and really unchallenged until this game…..there was an expectation of victory. Everything around Auckland has been All Black in the last couple of days. The newspapers were about 95% rugby coverage (this in the month leading up to a national prime minister election in November).  Everyone has been wearing black. All Black flags hang out of most windows. To quote the rap song on the radio “Everything All Black, Everything All Black”.

Video of the pre game Haka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN65LHLYS10

The finals vs France were too close for comfort. The game ended 8-7, with the All Blacks coming up with a strong defensive stand in the waning moments. You could feel the nervousness in the announcers voices and all of New Zealand as the French tried to get themselves in position for a game-winning kick.

Highlights of the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snoWwdvLLMQ

There have been some great stories from this team. Rugby is a vicious game and there have been many injuries, providing a few guys not originally on the team a chance to play in the World Cup. The first five eighths position, the quarterback of rugby, has gone through four players for the tournament. #1 Dan Carter – largely seen as the best player in the world, went down early in the tournament. #2 Colin Slade – barely got through a game and a half before getting injured. #3 Aaron Cruden – can’t be much bigger than 5’8’’ 160 lbs, so by far the smallest guy on the field. Heart warming story of coming back from cancer recently to get called and perform well with the team in the Quarter and Semi Finals. Unfortunately he also got hurt in the finals, bringing in Stephen Donald, who hadn’t been in the All Blacks team picture at all until this week. He went from fishing to kicking the winning goal in the finals. Great story.

There was a great sense of pride among Kiwis today. A victory parade drew 250,000 fans downtown (pretty good considering Auckland has only 1.4 million people). We were happy to be here to experience the passion the Kiwis have for their national sport and their country.

Spring is Here

Auckland has seen more than its fair share of rain the past couple weeks, putting a damper any travel plans. The rain eased up a bit this weekend and we got out to Mount Victoria and North Head in Auckland on Saturday and Matakana north of Auckland on Sunday.

Mount Victoria and North Head are volcanic cones that had provide fantastic views of the surrounding area. They also had military bunkers from WW II.

Matakana is north of Auckland by around 40 km and is best known for wineries. The local scenery is reminiscent of Tuscany with green rolling hills littered with farmhouses. We spent the day indulging in the local culinary highlights, with woodfired pizza at the local microbrewery and organic ice cream in the center of town. Not exactly the healthiest day…..

Dana made a new friend.

Dangerous place for a chicken to be hanging out.....

The rugby world cup is winding down in the next week. France beat Wales last night in one semifinal matchup. Tonight all of New Zealand will be holding their breath as the All Blacks take on Australia in the other semifinal. The Aussies haven’t beaten the All Blacks at Eden Park since 1986. Win or lose, everything is going to be rugby centric around these parts for the next week. Lose and the Kiwis will be crying and rehashing the heartbreak. Win, and it’s speculation on the final against a France team that has been their nemesis in previous World Cups. Go All Blacks!   

Day 4: Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation

Our final day in Oz lead us off the beaten path. We ventured north to Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. The farther north you go, the farther you feel you are from civilization. To get there, you cross a river via ferry. Go another 25 miles and the road becomes restricted to 4WD, with rainforest surrounding you. We took a few short walks in the rainforest and out to the scenic spots where the rainforest meets the beach.

The highlight of our day was a stop at an exotic fruit farm. This was a unique experience. An older couple staked out their spot in Cape Tribulation as their paradise away from civilization and started an exotic fruit farm and bed and breakfast. They scoured the world for little known fruits that could grow in a tropical climate and brought their seeds to their rainforest home. Here is the list of odd fruits we sampled:

West Indian Lime, Breadfruit, Jackfruit, Pommelo, Black Mulberry, Yellow Sapote, Solo Papaya, Davidson Plum, Star Apple, Soursop. Some of these names are a bit deceiving. The Davison Plum tasted nothing like a normal plum, it’s extremely sour. The breadfruit was super starchy, like a potato. The two best in my opinion were the Jackfruit and the Soursop. The Jackfruit is native to Southeast Asia and is apparently the national fruit of Bangladesh. It’s got a sweet banana type taste but more juicey with a slimy texture. The Soursop is native to Central and South America. This one has a little bit of a slimy texture as well, but a creamy, citrusy, sweet taste. I’m sure these fruits are probably not coming to a store near you soon….but if you get the chance, try the Jackfruit and Soursop.

From left to right clockwise in the bowl: Mulberry, Yellow Sapote, Soursop, Pommelo, Solo Papaya, Star Apple (purple one), Star Apple (middle green one), Davidson Plum and West Indian Lime. The Jackfruit is at the top of the picture outside of the bowl with its stem showing.

Our exotic fruit ‘coach’

Additional pictures posted here:  https://picasaweb.google.com/114612877246919085926/CapeTribulation#

Day 3 – Great Barrier Reef

The Reef is actually pretty far away from the Australia coast. It took an hour and a half to motor out there. The Aussies take great pride in the reef and are focused on maintaining its beauty. I was expecting to get out to the reef and see plenty of other boats filled with snorkelers and divers, but that wasn’t the case.  We visited three different reef sites and saw only one other boat. I think they regulate which tour operators can visit which reef sites and that keeps down the total impact on each individual reef site. It also provided for a better experience as you really felt like your boat was alone in the ocean.

The colors and diversity of the reef were pretty impressive. Plenty of bright colored coral and exotic fish. The Great Barrier Reef is much more impressive than the reef we visited in Belize. We were able to see turtles, reef sharks, stingrays, giant clams and much more. My camera wasn’t prepared to capture the action at the reef as it wouldn’t do well underwater. Thankfully the tour operator provides pictures of the day. Here are a couple to give you a flavor of what we were able to see:

The guides were marine biologists and had some interesting insights into the reef. The local ecosystem of rainforest, mangroves and the reef are all closely inter-connected and each couldn’t survive without the other. The rainforest provides essential nutrients that make their way to the reef, the mangroves filter the runoff and nutrients from the rainforest into format compatible for the reef, and the reef provides shelter for the mangroves and rainforest by preventing large waves from making it to the shore. The coral in the reef also produces a sulfide when tempatures reach certain levels that is released into the atmosphere and produces rain clouds that in turn water the rainforest.

The reef also plays a role in the creation of sand. Turns out that the parrot fish eats the coral, takes some of the nutrients, and then disposes of the remainder which becomes…..sand. Dana and I each heard this from different tour guides. I heard that nearly all the sand in the area is a result of this, Dana heard 30%. So maybe the right answer is between the two, either way, that’s a whole lot of sand.

Check out more photos from the tour operator: https://picasaweb.google.com/114612877246919085926/GreatBarrierReef#

Check back for Day 4. We visit Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation: where the rainforest meets the ocean.

Day 2 – Atherton Tablelands

On day two we explored the Atherton Tablelands west of Cairns. It was a pretty rural area (you get used to that in New Zealand and Australia) and the landscape was either rainforest or dairy farming. We explored a little of each. In the Wooroonooran National Park we found a bunch of beautiful waterfalls within the rainforest. Here are a few of the highlights

While in the Tablelands we also stopped at Mungalli Creek Dairy, which promotes their bio-dynamic farming principals. I had never heard of bio-dynamic farming, but turns out it’s a type of organic farming that focuses on a holistic approach (The farm acts as one unit and doesn’t take any outside inputs. So there is a focus on using manure rather than artificial fertilizers). Well past my gardening 101. Whatever they are doing it works. We sampled their greek yogurt and it was amazing. Unfortunately they only distribute in Australia.

Day three up next….Great Barrier Reef. Check back for that one.