We have recently come back from having spent two months in Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia......At the end of our trip, and after having watched the Tennis Masters tournament in Melbourne late January, we returned to Vancouver, BC. We were so sad to leave downunder!
To start the trip in December, we flew from Vancouver to LAX and on to Papeete. It was pouring with rain in Papeete on arrival but we could smell the flowers and the warmth in the air. These rainstorms do not last long and before we knew it, it was too hot!
We cruised with Radisson's Paul Gauguin from Papeete for seven days visiting all the gorgeous islands........Moorea, Bora Bora, Taha'a, Raiatea.....it was a dream and the memories just linger on! The beauty of all these South Pacific islands is that they have kept their Tahitian heritage. Mostly French, American and cruise ship guests wandering the streets and the beaches and also a lot of international package tour guests. Amongst international visitors, we found many local families with children at expensive resorts on the islands.
On board the Paul , Marine Biologist Dr Michael Poole enlightened us all about the dolphin and the whale population of the South Pacific. Lecturers gave us interesting information on the Polynesian Legends and the life of Paul Gauguin. We felt like a 'one big family' on board the ship and everyone knew each other.
We arrive at Radisson's private island 'Motu Mahana' where a delicious feast awaits. This is an exclusive private white sandy beach featuring an open bar area, shaded palm trees and clear turquoise waters. It The tender brought us to the beach in the morning and everyone was excited about snorkling in these coral gardens!
In Bora Bora, the climax of the trip is the view of Fa'anui Bay from a traditional plantation high up in the mountains. We rented a car with another couple and drove around for the whole day visiting small villages and driving through steep terrain admiring the trees, the plants and the lifestyle of the local people.
All good things come to an end. We are at the airport waiting for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand.
Auckland is an awesome place! The people are just so warm and friendly. We stayed 4 days at the President Plaza suites at a very reasonable price of CAD100 which gave us an apartment with all the amenities within the unit. Our unit overlooked the water and we watched our next ship that we were going to join, coming into the port. We walked to the port and checked in for the Statendam (Holland America) which took us to all the major cities in New Zealand.
NAPIER is a very attractive touristic Art Deco, Spanish Mission style city.
On December 27, we arrive in Wellington. We walked a lot in Wellington. Right opposite Grey Street, we picked up a cable car and went all the way to the top. Stunning views of the harbour from above. Then we walked the trail to the Observatory and enjoyed the rose gardens and more amazing flowers.
PICTON was the next port of call. Quaint little town with lovely homes on the water. Active in the summer as it is also a ferry port and families visit other cities during school holidays.
CHRISTCHURT The port is called Lyttleton and a free shuttle from the port takes you to the town of Lyttleton. It is a very small place and nothing much to see or do. You can take a local bus number 28 which takes you to the city of Christchurch. A very beautiful city with nee-gothic style buildings. The English presence is vividly felt everywhere with pubs and red telephone booths like in England, the Museum, the Botanical gardens past Montreal Street is worth visiting. A french flare around Montreal Street!
DUNEDIN is the last port in New Zealand on this cruise before the ship heads for the scenic Fjordland National Park and Milford Sound. Dunedin (Edinburg) is a beautiful city with Victorian and Edwardian architechture. The port of Otago is 11 miles from Dunedin. Scottish immigrants came here in the mid 19 century. They also found gold in 1860 here. There are also yellow eyed penguins and with yellow bands on their heads.
MILFORD SOUND - We then arrive in the National Park. Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound. Fjords carved by the tremendous pressure and power of glaciers during successive ice ages, then later flooded by the sea, the ice melts and sea levels rise. This is a world heritage area and it is awe inspiring. The captain of the ship goes around again so we can enjoy this beautiful day and the magic scenery! James Cook called this doubtful sound because of the rough seas and we experienced two days of it crossing over to Burnie, the largest port in Tasmania. Burnie is small and quiet and windy!
MELBOURNE here we come! Friends met us at the port and we drove to St Kilda for coffee. He took us around the city, Toorak, Kew, Cantebury, South Yarra, where we had an Italian lunch.
Ms Statendam enters the harbour passage (Gap Bluff) and docks at Circular Quai in awesome Sydney with her Opera House and Harbour bridge in sight. We take a quick $15 ride to the Holiday Inn in Djarling Harbour where we stayed at the Holiday Inn which is a practical location. We walked to Market City, China town and interesting Djarling Harbour where you find the most wonderful restaurants one after the other. We took a ferry to Manly Beach and enjoyed a sunny day and walked the bustly town for hours. An aquaintance we made on the ship, drove us to Watson Bay for a fish meal at Doyles restaurant on the water. We walked across the street from the restaurant to a lookout point and had a magnificient view of gap bluff. This is where we sailed in before docking in Sydney. Then he took us on a scenic drive to BONDI BEACH.
Another acquaintance we made on the ship was Astrid and she drove us to visit the Kuala Park and Newport Beach. We had lunch at the Newport Beach Hotel with a view of the marina. We drove around Mount Colah and St Ives which are beautiful residential areas in the suburbs of Sydney.....email us at
nargisg@shaw.ca You can also get in touch with us through our website
http://www.travelwithexperience.com Australia is amazing! From Sydney we flew to the gateway of the Barrier Reef - Cairns! The Australians are amazingly friendly and Qantas is just great to travel with. Another couple of days at the Holiday Inn and our first tour we booked through the hotel with Trek North to see Daintree Forest. This is winter time in Cairns and it is not exactly warm there. The coach takes us to Palm Cove where the beach is beautiful and there are very expensive shore properties in between rainforests. Honeymooners like to come here and in fact we had one on board the tour! Then on to Daintree forest and we got an awesome guided walk through the forest and river. Another short drive to the Daintree river cruise where we went searching for crocodiles. The best time of the year for this is July/August. The tour includes a scrumptious lunch at Daintree restaurant. Here, Richard the owner of the restaurant serves us Burramundi and chips and many different tropical fruits. He explains in detail their origin. It is pouring rain in January, their winter and long awaited rain for the forests to survive. After lunch we drive to the Sanctuary where we enjoy an hour of walking in the rain through the rain forest. Fresh air and the fragrance of the forest just takes your breath away! It just doesn't seem real. We took pictures of amazing birds, crocos, Kualas and kangaroos (joey).
Port Douglas is a beautiful town and we drive to the lookout point where you see miles and miles of white sandy beach. Here we see the 'Lipstick' properties that are so expensive and owned by many hollywood stars. Lipstic is a flower which many smear on their lips and it does not come off very quickly. In Port Douglas, there are many beautiful shops, bars, restaurants and we had an hour to walk around. On our way back to Cairns, we stopped at a sugar mill and a pineapple field. Back in Cairns, we took a walk to the city market and the very appealing downtown with lots of places where one can eat.
A tour to the Barrier Reef is next on the list. We picked up a catamaran served by Great Adventures to Green Island and the reef. It took an hour to Green Island and another hour to the reef. Here we enjoyed snorkling, and semi sub tour of the Coral Reef with marine biologist Juri who gave us so much interesting information ! Unimaginable what you see at this reef! Rotbarsch, sharks, Queensland fish and more fish in unbelievable colours.
We fly from Cairns to Townsville. Not a city to visit unless one has to. The town was dead during the day on a Saturday, possibly because the tourists were visiting Magnetic Island which is a famous attraction for snorkling and diving. The town quickly came alive in the evening with old and young packed in restaurants and pubs. We rented a car and drove to Airlie Beach which is approximately 250 km. A good three hour ride and we arrive at the Airlie Beach Hotel. CAD115 for a town view room and $159 for an ocean view. A lot of young people, many Europeans and back packers. We took a Blue Star ferry to Day Dream Island and Hamilton Island. A couple of hours at Day Dream gives you enough time to take a tour of the property and a nature walk. A family oriented island with birds, iguanas and harmless snakes have also been spotted in the rain forest.
The very popular Hamilton Island is interesting. You can rent a buggy and drive around the island but we took the free shuttle that took us around and we got off at the Reef Hotel. Right next to it is a private Sports Club with a magnificient view of the water. 'Members only' at this club.
