blog on a bender

we went on a "bender" today. i don't know about luke, but anyone who knows me knows that a rachel-style "bender" is a very tame affair. basically, we went to several different places and drank beers at each place (yummy local beers--only the best for my benders!) and then had a shot of weird local liquor (tastes like toothpaste) and snuck mini bottles of rum and whiskey into the movie theater to mix with our cokes (we saw "zombieland," i recommend it--so funny). so, all in all, the "bender" didn't amount to much. but it was a fun day... and now we are awake and ready to tell you about new zealand...

Well, bender or no bender, we are really enjoying Nelson, NZ. But since we are about 2 weeks behind in our blogging, you won't be hearing about this friendly beery town just yet. Let's turn back the clock to when we were in Dunedin, just 2 weeks ago...

The highlight of our 3 days' stay in Dunedin was our trip on the Taieri Gorge Railway, which is far above an ordinary tourist train ride. Sure we saw the scenery just like everyone else who takes this popular ride, but thanks to Rachel, we got in on a sweet Christmas package deal... train, bbq, and barn dance all for one low, low price. It was brilliant.

it really was brilliant. the train itself was really old. we rode in an old wooden car with neat cushy seats and large push-up windows. we were in a car with just two other people, some nice ladies from auckland who shared their wine with us. the deal we got--train ride, bbq, barn dance--is usually for businesses or large groups, but we were able to get a spot anyway.

The train stopped pretty much in the middle of nowhere; we all disembarked to fill our bellies with meat before piling back on the train and continuing on. it was quite funny. i assumed we were going to some town for dinner or something, but the train just stopped and there was this little set up with three or four different kinds of meat, coleslaw, bean salad, bread, and bbq sauce! boy, can kiwis eat meat (and drink beer!)! everyone was piling their plates with it.

when in rome...

The venue for the barn dance was a shearing shed that smelled as if it had been full of sheep just that morning. this picture is of the back of the shed. they had a stage set up about halfway down the length of the building, as well as a raised area for a bar. a side hall acted as a serving space for tea, coffee and late-night savories.

And we commenced to rock our very socks off. you can just see me up in the front with my arms up. everyone got into it and was dancing. it was really great fun. and the band was playing all the great american hits: "brown-eyed girl," "rock around the clock," "blue suede shoes." who knew they loved to rock it old-school in new zealand!

oh, we can't forget your favorite and mine, the classic "achy-breaky heart!"

OK, moving on, here are some giant marbles some huge mythological kid dropped on the beach...

And a sea lion who dropped himself on a different beach. the sealions are really funny. they are huge, strong creatures who could really do some damage if they wanted to, but they really just want to lay on the beach in the sun. they let you get pretty close, but if you get too close they open their eyes and look at you in this way that says, "i am relaxing, don't bother me, i will crush you." it's a very persuasive look.

A lighthouse in the Catlins...

These two were taken on top of Key Summit in Fiordlands National Park. We spent 4 days in the park, which blew us away time and again... right up until the moment we left. Our next blog will include some more details about our kayaking trip in the Doubtful Sound.

Fiordland is full of ferns, and I am obsessed with them. The spiraling young fronds stopped me in my tracks every time I saw one. oh my gosh, luke loves ferns! he kept pulling out that camera over and over! i was starting to get a little jealous actually. really though, the different types of ferns are beautiful, especially now when they are all unrolling their fronds and bright green. i think the bottom one looks like a little plant dancer. a boogie fern!

And the lupines, ahh, the lupines. I'd better let Rachel tell you about the lupines... oh my goodness, the lupines were amazing! we were driving along the road to the fiordland national park, when we came across this huge pasture and riverbed completely covered in lupines. it was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. the colors were incredible, and the sheer numbers of flowers were like nothing i have seen in the wild.

you can hardly see it in this picture, but the lupines stretch for meters and meters. they are everywhere. we learned later that lupines are not native and are actually quite a problem because they are very fast growing and really hold the soil, not allowing the glacial rivers that run by to change their course as they normally do, thus creating problems for the wildlife that rely on the changing riverbed. we also learned later that a certain type of lupine creates a seed pod with seeds that are higher in protein than peas (though not as high as soybeans), are nitrogen-fixing, and are easy to grow, so agricultural extension agents here and in australia are starting to push them as a livestock feed crop.

You can't drive in New Zealand without stopping a few times for the sheep on the road. i love it!this is a boat trip across lake te anau in fiordland. we went across to go to some glow worm caves. the glow worm caves themselves were kind of like a disneyland ride, but the glow worms themselves are amazing creatures. they create these amazing "webs" to catch insects which they lure in with their little lights in their butts. aside from that, the boat trip itself was amazing, and just a taste of what fiordland has to offer (more of that in our next blog about the kayaking trip).

NATUREWORLD!

here are some photos from our trip to natureworld! i am not sure if the wonder of the place comes through in the images, but it was a magical place! i mean, just look at the sign. luke and i are torn as to what the two tasmanian devils are doing in the middle there. i think it's a baby on it's momma's back, luke thinks it's something else not so sweet. you be the judge... the ducks and birds were mostly left in the open. this goose has a call very similar to a grunting pig. a little unsettling when the thing comes up behind you.

the famous kookaburra. and a pretty duck.

emus are big, tottering birds with goofy faces. they can run really fast, and like an ostrich, can do quite a bit of damage if threatened. so we got a little nervous when the thing came right toward us.

koalas don't do much except sleep and eat. we caught them sleeping.

wallabies are timid creatures, but we stayed in their area of the park for a while so they got a bit used to us and came quite close. there were some mommas with joeys in their pouches. so cute!

kangaroos, unlike wallabies, are very bold and will come right up to you. all the males (this one was the largest) were lazing in the sun and couldn't care less about us, but the females (with their joeys en-pouch) were very friendly.

as you can see from the next two pictures, the joeys are all twisted around in their pouches. various body parts stick out at any one time. but they seem to like it.

the coolest thing about natureworld is the tasmanian devil project there. devils are quite endangered because there is a disease that is killing them in large numbers: tasmanian devil facial tumor disease. public opinion has changed about these interesting little creatures, so people aren't killing them anymore, but unfortunately this disease is. natureworld has a growing population of devils in a disease-free area. the ones inside the park will never be released into the wild, but they also have a large area outside the park, called devil island, where they have devils that are wild. when a cure is found for this disease, these devils will be released.

tasmanian devils are marsupials, like kangaroos and wallabies. but unlike their cousins, they are carnivorous and eat mostly things that are already dead, though they are opportunistic hunters. they are squat little things that run really fast, and their jaws are powerful enough to bite right through bones of animals much bigger than they are (you can hear the bone-crunching action in the video below). they are pretty solitary creatures, though many will live in the same area. they are called devils because of the savage sounding noises they make when they feed--screeches, growls, and snarls--and the way they bite and claw each other when they are fighting over food. because of this, people used to think they were dangerous, but really they are timid and don't want anything to do with humans (though they will make off with a chicken from time to time).

and besides, how could you be scared of these two little babies?

all in all, we spent over four hours in natureworld (and almost two outside enjoying the surrounds and having a picnic). that's about three hours longer than they suggest it takes to walk through the park. we loved it. the animals seem really happy and well cared for, they are doing lots of good for the tasmanian devil, and the gift shop rocked!

if you are interested in more information about the tasmanian devil, what is happening to them, and what is being done to help them, check out the devil island project website: http://www.devilislandproject.com/

The Wild Island of Tasmania

A lot has happened since we last posted. i’d say! Our Tassie adventures were as varied as the island itself. From the beautiful sandy coastline to the ancient inland mountains, Rachel and I witnessed some of the most picturesque landscapes and the most unique wildlife on the face of the planet. yep yep.

From Hobart, we headed east to the coast, and the followed it northbound, stopping along the way a few times to take in the views. The weather turned cloudy and rainy, so that changed our plans a little bit, but we enjoyed the scenery from inside the car. And we had a few opportunities to get out and walk around. These two pictures were taken at Peron Dunes, near Coles Bay. The second is a fur seal, who was old and painfully arthritic, but was willing to pose for a picture or two before heading back out into the sea.


the dunes and beach were really beautiful while we walked at low tide during a break in the weather; one side of the beach was brightly overcast, while the other side was dark and foreboding—a big storm obviously on the way. the storm kept us from our original plans of camping at freycinet national park, but at least we got this one nice beach walk in. plus we got to see a big old fur seal. he was old and moving pretty slowly, but he was still majestic and neat to watch as he lumbered into the sea. this particular beach had a lot of dead sea birds on it—hundreds of them, all the same type of bird, and all looking as if they had washed up instead of fallen from the sky. we mentioned this to someone later, and apparently it is a new problem. it is not clear what the birds are dying from, but they are washing up at many beaches all along the coast.

After a night in the charming town of Bicheno, and a good long stretch at “East Coast Natureworld” (more about that later – it deserves its own post), we headed to the Bay of Fires to camp on the beach. i must say i was not too sad in the end about missing out on freycinet national park because otherwise we would have never made it to bicheno, which i loved. we got into town late and ended up staying in a little box trailer behind a gas station/takeaway shop. it was a funky little place with psychedelic bedspreads (there was a double bed and a triple bunk bed in our little unit—i can’t even imagine five people in there) and a no-nonsense owner who gave us great advice. because of him, we saw penguins coming to shore at night without having to pay for a tour, saw the “blowhole” a cool place where the waves come up through the rocks and looks like well, a blowhole, and we ended up taking his suggestion and having the best time at natureworld…

isn’t our tent cute? i think so, and actually it was quite color coordinated because the orange of the tent was about the same color as the orange algae on the rocks along the bay of fires. you can see a bit of it in the next photo, which luke took at sunrise. after we got the tent set up and had dinner, we took a nice walk on the long beach we had all to ourselves. still walking well after dark, we noticed little sparkles of phosphorescence on the sand after each wave. the amazing night sky above us and the green points of light on the sand below us made for a truly magical stroll.

Leaving Bay of Fires, we headed inland towards Launceston, stopping off for a couple bushwalks and some (yummy!) cheese-tasting. we saw two really nice waterfalls that day. the first one was a short walk from the road and came roaring down a huge cliff, hitting rocks along the way and creating lots of little cascades. it was really lovely, but was like many waterfalls we had seen before. the second one was breathtaking, and very unique. it took us a while to find it, and we were a little worried about the rental car on the road up to the falls, but i am so glad we stuck it out. the falls came shooting off a cliff and then just running down the side of a smooth rock face to meet the river hundreds of feet below. the path the water made as it came down the rock face was somehow calming and captivating. Rachel and I were both impressed by the tree ferns which grow in the rainforest valleys in Tasmania. I was especially captivated by the fist size (big hairy man’s fist) fiddle-heads.

And we spent a night in Launceston, whose claim to fame is BOAG’s brewery, Cascade’s northern rival… their store and tour area is called boag's center for beer lovers, which is a great name. cascade is better beer, but boag's has better marketing.

Well, on to Cradle Mountain National Park. Before we even went into the park itself, we had seen wombats, wallabies , possum, tasmanian devils, and even the ever-elusive duck-billed platypus. It was getting on dark, but I managed one picture that captured the moment… look closely at the second one, and you’ll see little joey’s outline. this evening was magical. we went for a walk outside the park near our campsite and ended up down an old logging road into an abandoned camp. it was sad--big old logs everywhere, pieces of rusting machinery, dilapidated sheds--but it seemed that the forest was slowly reclaiming the area, so i guess that is good. on our way back, we saw so many animals. the platypus, which luke was so hoping he was going to see before he left the country, was amazing. slick as a seal, but with this crazy beak! it swam right toward us so we could get a good look, then dipped down and was gone. womats, wallabies, birds of all kinds. as we were walking, i was thinking how this walk would be complete if only we saw some devils. no way, i thought. then bam, there they were. must have been a dozen of them running around. they are so fast! as you'll see in our naturworld post (coming soon), devils have bone-crushing jaws, so we were a little spooked, but they are scared of people, so things were fine. we felt pretty lucky to get to see all we saw that night. our karmic reward for our natureworld visit, and for not obeying the "no trespassing" signs!

And the next day, in between rain showers, we walked around Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain. Not to the top… but close enough to feel its presence.

cradle mountain is one of the most visited places in tasmania. it is the home of the overland track, a 6-7 day walking trail that thousands of people do every year. the park has actually had a lot of damage from all those walkers on the trail, so they have put in strict regulations--a high fee to walk the track, a lottery for spaces, a limit of hikers leaving per day, etc. all that money and energy is going to good use, i have never seen a park and trails so well managed. we didn't have time to do the whole overland track, so we just went into the park for a day and did a few good hikes.

That night, we were visited by some friends in the campground… i love marsupials!

And we can’t let the fauna hog the spotlight, Tasmanian flora is incredible too. The first is a Waratah, which were blooming all over the island while we were there. Second is the King Billy Pine tree (or as much as would fit in my viewfinder), reputed to be about 2000 years old. I wanted to see the Huon Pines, which grow to over 4000 years, but we didn’t have time to make the trek to where they grow.

We left the park after about two days, and made our way to a little town called Deloraine, where we met some new friends. Bonnie and Damian were so great, and we immediately felt at home with them in their newly acquired home. We even celebrated Thanksgiving with them (which, to be honest, I had almost forgotten about… I know, how un-American).

i could gush all day about how great our time with bonnie and damian was. friends of a friend, they made us feel instantly welcome. our visit inspired bonnie to throw a thanksgiving party, which was lovely. the food was delicious, the company grand, and i got to have a nice thanksgiving, which i didn't even realize i was missing (lavanah, you would be proud: i made a delicious gravy for the turkey!). on sunday, the day before we left, we all enjoyed a regular lazy american sunday together, which was fantastic. we had a late breakfast, lounged, napped, watched a movie, had a late dinner. all in all, our visit was so wonderful, we didn't want to leave on monday morning. thank you again and again bonnie and damian, you were the cherry on top of our tasmanian sundae!

our last day was a whirlwind. on the way to catch our boat, we stopped at a raspberry farm, a cheese maker, a cherry farm, a huge variety shop (they give you a map when you walk in, that's how big it is. we wandered for an hour), and a chocolate maker. lots of samples that day, yum! then, on to devonport where we caught the "spirit of tasmania," a cruise ship that runs between melbourne and tasmania. we did an overnight cruise, then caught a plane to new zealand.

And then we cruised… we acted like total tourists on the boat. taking self-portraits, buying tea towels and spoon rests in the gift shop. it was decadent, and so much fun!

Goodbye Tasmania, Hello New Zealand!