The Global Guy » Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific

Western Australia

Henry Malmgren — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 15:49:47 +0000

Western Australia had been the only part of Oz I hadn’t seen yet, so I decided to take a quick trip over to Perth and see what it was all about. Perth is a really nice city, and I think my second favorite in Oz, after Melbourne. At night especially, I got the feeling a lot of times that I could be in Austin. The weather was similar, people were strolling around downtown, bands were playing, and there were lots of trendy restaurants with people dressed in all different styles from super casual to seriously dressy without much regard to any kind of convention.

With only a limited amount of time, not nearly enough to see all of the state, I decided to concentrate on the southwest corner. I hooked up with a tour company who had a three day bus trip from Perth, down to Margaret River, Albany and then returning back to Perth. The first couple days were nice with lots of beaches, caves, and small hikes around the area. We stopped at a bunch of rock formations including one called the blow hole that had been carved by wave action over the past several thousand years. Every few minutes the waves would hit the formation in just the right way that would force air thru all the cracks in the rock which would then escape at tremendous velocities, usually with a huge rush of water that soaked anyone in the group that let their attention lapse.

Our third day was my favorite of the trip. We drove thru some forests that had some of the biggest trees I’ve ever seen in my life. Australia has a couple hundred varieties of eucalyptus trees, and the Karri and Tingle are two of the largest varieties. There’s a famous Karri tree called the “Gloucester Tree” that used to be a fire lookout back in the 1930s and its been preserved as a tourist attraction. It’s got a platform at the 61 meter level that you can still climb up to and look out over the forest. To get to the top you have to climb on iron bars sunk into the tree trunk in a spiral pattern all the way up. It’s an amazing view, although apparently only about a third of the people who attempt the climb actually make it. Of course I had a blast climbing it, and an even better time watching people chicken out about halfway thru the climb!

After coming down from the tree, we had lunch at a picnic area in the area. It started out pleasant enough, but then we got attacked by about 50 parrots swarming around begging for food. Eventually we realized that we were outnumbered, and we’d have to share our lunch with them if we wanted any for ourselves! We spent about an hour playing with the birds, posing with them for photos and feeding them sunflowers that the tour driver had tucked away on the bus.

Following lunch, we headed back to Perth, stopping for an hour or so at a couple of wineries in the Margaret River area. This part gets a little fuzzy (as do most winery visits!), but I do remember sampling several excellent varieties, including an interesting un-oaked cabernet, and a very nice shiraz. I’m guessing that Raytheon had always shipped some of the cheaper Australian wines down to the South Pole, so it was nice to see that Australia can actually do the wine thing quite well!

When I got back to Perth I still had another day to explore before I headed back to Canberra for a friend’s birthday party. I decided to take a ferry over to Rottnest Island a few miles off of Perth’s coast. It’s a fairly small island and is fairly unique for its lack of automobile traffic. There are a set number of cars allowed on the island, so the majority of road traffic is bicycles. It’s pretty easy to rent a bike when you arrive, and then the island is the perfect size for a relaxed day long ride, stopping off at a few beaches, and some nature areas. Rottnest was named by some Dutch sailors who landed on the island and thought it was infested by huge rats. It turns out that they’re called “quokkas”, and they’re little marsupial critters that have become tame as the number of tourists have increased on the island. I had one guy that followed me around for about a half hour while I toured a little nature boardwalk area….every time I turned around to take a look at him, he’d freeze, and then he’d hop forward everytime I took a few steps forward. I got a bunch of photos of the little dude before he finally got bored with posing, and wandered off into the bushes looking for something to eat.

Byron Bay roadtrip

Henry Malmgren — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 10:00:51 +0000

After arriving in Canberra, Australia, I immediately met up with an old friend, Virgina. She’s a great friend that I spent a lot of time with in Mongolia, and it was great to catch up with her and her room-mate, Rebecca, who also hails from Mongolia. We spent the first couple of days just hanging out, chatting, seeing a movie (I can’t believe I let them drag me to Bridget Jones 2 right after getting off of the ice!), and just generally letting me adjust to being back in a normal society again.

Anyway, early (well, not really THAT early) on Sunday morning, Gin and I headed off on a road trip to Byron Bay. It took us a couple of days to get there, stopping at cute little coastal towns for the night, and visiting any "Big" monuments during the day. For some reason, Australians love to make huge replicas of everyday objects. I’d seen the big koala on my last trip to Oz, and this time we’ve seen the big banana, big prawn, and the big guitar.

Once we got to Byron it was nothing but beaches and fun. The first morning was spent doing a dolphin sea kayak tour that I really believe should be renamed the bluebottle jellyfish sea kayak tour. We didn’t see a single dolphin, but I got bit twice by jellyfish. I can understand the first sting on my leg while it was dangling from the side of the kayak, but it’s just really bad luck to get stung on the shoulder while paddling!

The next day we headed to the little hippy enclave of Nimbin. Everyone is so friendly here….we were approached lots of times on the street by the locals who wanted to sell us cakes and cookies. We bought some spice cake from a nice lady who asked if I was a smoker. When I told her that I wasn’t, she told me to only eat a little bit of her cake at first. It’s nice of her to be concerned about my health, but I don’t see how that has anything to do with cake. Anyway, a bunch of us ate some of her cake, and I really can’t say much for it’s quality. It tasted funny, and afterwards we all felt pretty mellow and giggly. I got really hungry afterwards, and was paranoid that she might have spiked the cake with something, but I’m sure that’s just silly.

The day after that I went diving and Gin hit the local stores for a shopping extravaganza. After lunch we headed out to Lennox heads for something that neither of us had done before….hang gliding! It wasn’t nearly as acrobatic or intense as I’d expected, but the views were incredible. The feeling of soaring in the air with only wind and no motor noise was great!

Finally we headed back to Canberra so that I could catch my flight to Perth the following Sunday. We stopped and visited with Virginia’s parents overnight, and I had a blast chatting with them all. They’re really good folks and the hospitality was amazing. Sunday night I had about an hour to catch a quick shower, and then it was off to the airport again.

Almost done with Australia

Henry Malmgren — Fri, 10 Jan 2003 04:24:10 +0000

Well, it’s been a busy week. I started out with a camping tour of Kangaroo Island which is the third largest island in Australia. Located off the coast of Adelaide, highlights include seeing penguins (finally!), koalas, seals, sea lions and of course kangaroos in the wild. We drove all around the island, checking out stuff like Stoke’s bay for swimming (the coldest water I ever want to swim in!), the remarkable rocks for climbing, and a huge seal colony for smelling.

After Kangaroo Island, I took the Oz Experience bus down the coast to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road. It’s a stretch of coastline I’ve been wanting to see ever since I got here. It completely lives up to its name, and I think that this, along with the Big Sur highway in California are probably two of the best road trips in the world.

I fly to Singapore on Sunday, and I’m finding myself really looking forward to it. I’ve loved Australia, but it’s time to move on to the next phase of this trip.

Mom’s Visit

Henry Malmgren — Thu, 02 Jan 2003 04:24:45 +0000

Mom has come and gone. It was a nice 10 day visit, but it’s time to get back into the traveling routine again. I met her Christmas-eve morning at the Sydney airport, but it took quite a while. Apparently the airline had lost her luggage, so I spent almost two hours in the arrival area trying to figure out what had happened. Luckily Qantas agreed to have the luggage delivered to our hotel in Canberra the next morning. Once that was settled, we rented a car and started out on the drive to Canberra. Mom wanted to go to Christmas Eve mass, so we found the local Catholic church after a couple of wrong attempts. We nearly had to have services with Methodists! The next day we were invited for Christmas dinner with some friends of friends, and spent a great afternoon drinking beer and talking about just about everything.

We spent the next day doing all the tourist things in Canberra…the war memorial (amazing), the botanical gardens (Mom loved them) and the Telestra tower (yawn). That evening we headed down to the ski-town of Thredbo. The next day Mom wandered around town, and I decided to take the challenge of hiking up Australia’s highest mountain. I had heard it was an easy stroll, but I was disappointed with just how easy it really was. There was a steel grated sidewalk all the way up to the top, supposedly for plant conservation, but I suspect it was to make the mountain as accessible to as many people as possible. At the very least I can say I’ve now got bagged one of the seven summits!

The next day we drove down to Melbourne on one of the most fun roads I’ve ever been on! Lots of twisty spots thru green lush forests. We stopped in the town of Healsville on the way so we could see a wildlife rehab center. We weren’t really in the right place to see ‘roos in the wild, so this was Mom’s chance to get to see them. Once we hit Melbourne we started exploring the Queen Victoria’s market almost immediately. I got to be Mom’s pack mule thru the day, but she made up for it by taking us out to dinner that night. It was her first experience with Thai food, and I think she really enjoyed it.

The next day we headed to Sydney for New Year’s eve. We spent the day wandering around, checking out the opera house and the bridge. That night we saw the works at Darling Harbor, and then headed to bed right after midnight. Mom left the next day, and while I was sorry to see her leave, I was glad to get back to my travels again.

Byron Bay

Henry Malmgren — Mon, 23 Dec 2002 04:25:19 +0000

I spent three and a half days exploring Byron Bay recently. It’s a small town that lives on it’s counterculture. Wandering the streets at night you pick up a huge smell of incense and pot smoke in the air. It’s got much more than that actually…the people are friendly, the surfing is decent, and there is some surprisingly good diving. I booked a two dive trip to an area called Julien Rocks. At first it seemed disappointing…cold water, lousy visibility, and no coral. Then, I started looking around and noticing the size of some of the critters out there. There were HUGE rays, turtles, Wollongong sharks, and other big fish. It wasn’t the best diving I’ve ever done, but it was in my top 10 dives.

Anyway I’m in Sydney now, killing time for Mom to arrive in the morning. I’ve decided that taking the bus in 1st world countries is asking for misery. It’s so much easier to pay a little more and get to your destination 10 times faster, and without the disadvantage of fat smelly people.

Fraser Island adventures

Henry Malmgren — Fri, 20 Dec 2002 04:25:49 +0000

On the way to Fraser Island, driving with the Dutch girls, we had the most astounding meeting. We were packing up to leave our hostel where we’d stayed for one night. Suddenly the door opens, and Dar Gibson from the pole walks in. He stared at me, and I stared at him, not quite believing what we’re seeing. All of a sudden we realized that yes, it was really our buddy from the pole, and just started cracking up. We ended up going to grab some breakfast and chatting, but we didn’t have much time since I had to leave with the girls pretty quickly. Talk about a one in a million chance!

Well, Fraser Island was the cheapest and one of the best tours I’ve done so far. For $125 Australian, we got the use of a 4X4 Land Rover, all the camping gear, permits, and everything else to spend three days and two nights on the island. Basically, Fraser is the largest sand island in the world. Sounds boring, right? Not at all. It’s had time to develop an amazing ecosystem with the clearest freshwater lake I’ve ever seen. It’s got it all…great swimming, beautiful forest hiking, sand dunes, sharks, saltwater swimming, and the only true dingos left in the wild.

Day 1: The morning started at 5:45 am with an orientation from the company we were renting the Land Rover from. We packed up all the food and supplies, and headed off for the ferry to the island. We decided to start out heading for Lake Mackenzie, but first we had to get the hang of driving on deep sand. The road went thru a forest for a while,with lots of roots and branches in the road. The poor girls that were with us kept wishing that they had sports bras instead of bikini tops on…the roads were so bumpy that they were really not enjoying the ride. Of course us guys just sat back, grinned and enjoyed the view. When we got to the lake, we were all impressed with how clear the water was. I’d have killed for snorkeling gear! Myself and one of the girls tried to swim all the way across the lake, but gave up about halfway across because we knew that we still had a lot to see, and not much time. We drove along the beach for a while to our campsite at Indian Head on the north end of the island. That night we saw wild dingos and brumbies (horses) both wandering around the campsite.

Day 2: We woke up with the sun at about 5:15 am. We wandered over to a beach near the camp called the champagne pools. Last night we’d gone up to the cliffs overlooking this beach where we saw sharks and huge manta rays in the water. We’d been warned not to swim in the ocean, except for very specific places because of these sharks. The champagne pools however were a protected area where the sharks didn’t like to intrude into. It was amazing looking…the waves were crashing over rocks, exploding in the morning air! After playing in the water for a while we packed up and headed down the beach to check out the old wreck of the Maheno. This ship was driven ashore during a storm back in 1935. It had been sold for scrap, and was being towed to Japan when the storm hit, and the two rope snapped. It’s now buried 5 decks deep in the sand, and is one of the more unusual attractions on the island. After getting our fill of photos, we headed down to Eli creek for lunch and floating down the river. After lunch we wandered down to an area called Rainbow Valley for some hiking along the sand dunes. We stopped by town for ice and some more supplies, and then camped on the beach, spending the evening goofing around and playing drinking games.

Day 3: We started out heading for Lake Wabby, known as the disappearing lake. The lake is bordered on one side by a huge sand dune that is slowly moving into the lake bed. In another hundred years or so, the dune will have filled the lake in completely. Lake Wabby is also one of the more difficult lakes to visit on the island. We had to hike thru the woods for about 40 minutes way, but the weather was perfect and there were hardly any mossies. On the return trip, we skipped the forest and hiked down the dunes. It was fun and pretty, but my calves complained about it the next day. Finally we headed to Lake Boomangin, which is a shallow clay lined lake that has water that has been stained a reddish colors by the tea trees along the shores. Perfectly safe to swim in, but it was really strange to look at. Suddenly someone looked at their watch, and we realized we were late for the ferry. We were officially two hours away from the dock, and only had 90 minutes to get there. Luckily traffic was completely non-existent, and we just barely made it.

Sailing the Whitsundays

Henry Malmgren — Sat, 14 Dec 2002 04:26:51 +0000

I’ve spent the last three days lazing about on a sailboat thru the Whitsunday group of islands. The beaches and water were exactly what I’d been dreaming of for the last several months at the pole. Compared to the rest of Australia, this has been the lowest amount of energy I’ve had to expend at all! We basically spent the time sunning ourselves on the deck, snorkeling at various pit stops, and walking along white beaches with sand so fine that it squeaks when you walk on it.

Both nights we moored closely off shore, and camped on the beach. The weather was perfect, and after cooking dinner we had some Irish guys on the trip who were always great entertainment.

I’ve decided to head over to Fraser Island next, catching a ride with two Dutch girls I met on the boat. It’ll be a day or so of driving, but I think it’ll be fun.

The Oz Experience

Henry Malmgren — Thu, 12 Dec 2002 05:29:29 +0000

In order to get down to Sydney, I’ve booked with a company called "The Oz Experience" They specialize in multi-day bus trips stopping at interesting places during the evening. I’m a little older than their target audience, but its been a lot of fun. The only real complaint I’ve got is that their drivers are way too hyper for 8:00 am! The first day we left Cairns, and headed to the town of Kuranda. We took a cable-car over the mountains and into the local rain forest. We wandered around the forest on boardwalk paths for an hour or so, just appreciating all the green colors and earthy smells…at least I really enjoyed this..maybe I’ve got extra appreciation because of the recent deprivation.

After our hour was up there, we headed south, driving thru lush greenery on both sides of the road. It was a nice change to see after the stark red center around Alice. Our next destination was the Johnston River Crocodile Farm. These guys raise crocs for both their meat and skins. For extra money, they give tours, and we happily let them show us around. It’s amazing to me how fast these animals can move when they want to. Being around them, you get a very strange feeling…an almost primordial sense of danger that seems to awaken some long dormant danger instinct. Looking into their eyes, you feel that they’d like nothing more than to eat you, and they wouldn’t have a second thought about it. One cool thing at the farm was that they’re raising cassowaries. I’d read about these birds, but never seen one before. Ugly, but in an interesting way.

We stopped for the night in Airlie beach. It’s got a beautiful coastline, but due to the box-jellyfish, it’s another forbidden beach for swimming. The town has taken care of the problem by building an artificial lagoon that’s netted off of the ocean so it’s safe for swimming. Later that night a bunch of us decided after way too many beers that it would be a great idea to go skinny dipping around midnight. Luckily the local magistrate thought it was funny too, and let us go with just a warning.

Advanced dive certified!

Henry Malmgren — Tue, 10 Dec 2002 07:00:00 +0000

I just upgraded my dive license to a PADI advanced card. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, and what better place to do it than on the Great Barrier Reef! I flew from Alice Springs to Cairns, and somehow I got upgraded to first class on the flight. Unfortunately I was pretty hung over from the party the last night of the Ayer’s rock trip, so I wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as I should have, but the food was still amazing.

Anyway, I booked a live aboard trip out to the reef for three days. The cost of the certification was only an extra $35.00 US, so I couldn’t say no to that. During the class I ended up with a great dive buddy named Caroline who was extremely competent, and a pleasure to dive with.

The first day we did four dives, including one night dive. There was tons of animal and fish life, but I was disappointed with the quality of the corral. It was later explained to me that in order to see the best of the reef, you have to spend a good bit of money to get out beyond the standard tourist sites. Next time I’ll make sure I take advantage of this knowledge.

The 2nd day we moved to a different spot. While the boat was traveling, we finished up all the book work for the certification. We did another four dives, including one of the best dives that I’ve ever had a camera on. This spot was a lot better than the first day; we saw a white tipped reef shark, surprised a sea turtle, and encountered the biggest potato cod I’ve ever seen. On our night dive that evening we came around a piece of coral and nearly ran right into a sleeping white tip shark. I don’t know if the shark or our group was more startled!

The third day was three more dives and then back to shore. By this time I felt like I’d finally gotten rid of my Antarctic tan, and had finally dropped all my winter weight.

Uluru or Ayers rock

Henry Malmgren — Fri, 06 Dec 2002 04:28:31 +0000

I’ve just gotten back from a 3.5 day trip to Ayers Rock. It was great! The people were fun, and the scenery was breathtaking. Day one we visited Kathleen springs since it was stormy at our primary destination of Rainbow Canyon. No big deal though…the real highlights of the trip were the next couple of days. We spent the next morning hiking in King’s Canyon with some spectacular gorges and waterfalls. That afternoon we started to do the walk around Ayers Rock when it started raining. The rock turned from a deep red to gun-metal grey and waterfalls just appeared out of nowhere. Apparently we’ve been very lucky to see this…not many people get to see the rock during a rainstorm.

The third day was the best. We finished the base hike, and visited the cultural center. After killing an hour there, the rock was finally dry enough for the rangers to open the climb. Only four out of 12 people (including me of course) actually made the climb. It was tough going for the first third, but the views were well worth it.

We got a lucky bonus…there was a total eclipse of the sun and we were in the path where we got 88% of the sun blocked out. It happened right before sunset, but it was awesome to see the sky get dark and then light again as the eclipse ended. There was something in the air that evening because we were treated to the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. We weren’t expecting much, so no one had a camera.

Last night was the after trip party, and I’m still recovering from it. It was a great ending to hanging out with some fantastic people.

Aussie Safari!

Henry Malmgren — Sun, 01 Dec 2002 04:29:03 +0000

Well, I’m back from a six day trip out to the outback of the Top End of Australia. It was brilliant! We had about 9 people on the trip, and they were all great. I’ll try to summarize the trip here:

Day 1: Darwin to Litchfield national park. We went swimming in three different waterfall filled rockholes. Got to take a close look at some of the biggest termite mounds I’ve ever seen. These things are huge..maybe 2 meters tall, and shaped like a cathedral. Apparently they can grow for up to 70 years. I saw my first wild wallaby, and a bunch of other animals. At the end of the day we were taken to an aboriginal show where we supposedly saw "authentic" dances. This was the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever seen. It was so touristy and fake that I couldn’t keep from laughing. Their music was great, but the dances were just cheesy. At the end of it we talked to some of the performers, and they kept wanting to talk about American movies like "Terminator" and "Rambo".

Day 2: Took a cruise on the Mary river system down the rock hole billabong. Saw lots of birds, and a few crocs…both fresh and saltwater varieties. Afterwards we moved on to a site in Kakadu national park. We went to view the Ubirr rock art site, and saw some amazing scenery. Parts of Crocodile Dundee were filmed here, and it was great to recognize some places. There were lots of wallabies at camp, even some tame enough to pet and hand feed.

Day 3: We got up early and took a 4WD to go see Jim Jim falls. We went on a 5 hour hike to the top of the falls, and had a great time. It was hot hiking, and I went thru about three liters of water there and back. We found an amazing swimming hole that made the hike worth it. We got lucky because the next day they shut down the path to the falls for the season. When the rains come (we’re at the start of the wet season) the track gets too bogged down to make it safely there.

Day 4: Slept in a bit after our long hike the day before. We checked out the Nourlingie rock art site, and found more swimming spots. Some were absolutely gorgeous with lots of ferns and plant life all around. Another one was a lot of fun with lots of holes in the rocks that you could swim thru. The third one actually had a freshwater croc population in it, but we didn’t see any.

Day 5: Drove all morning to get to Katherine Gorge. We took a 5 hour canoe trip down the gorge and had a blast. My shoulders are still sore from all the paddling we did. That night we were treated to the most intense electrical storm I’d ever seen. We also had a great party that night to celebrate the last night of camping.

Day 6: Two more swimming holes…one at Katherine Springs and one at Edith Falls. Driving back to Darwin we saw a herd of wild buffalo on the side of the road. Pretty cool!

Anyway, I’m about to get on a plane to Alice Springs. I’ve got another camping trip booked around Ayers’ Rock, so I’ll update again when I get back from that.

Heat and humdity in Darwin

Henry Malmgren — Sat, 23 Nov 2002 04:29:35 +0000

Ok, it’s hot here…really hot. Actually it’s probably close to Houston heat, but I’m not used to it at all. There is a beautiful ocean right nearby, but no one can go in it due to the box jellyfish swarms that happen here about six months out of the year. Apparently while it is possible to die from a sting, you’ll just most likely wish you were dead. I’ve spent the morning booking a six day camping tour of the Kakadu national park and other highlights of the Northern Territory. I’ll leave on Monday morning, so I’ve got a day and a half to kill. Right now I think I’m going to go sit by the swimming pool and wait out the worst of the heat. All I need right now is a margarita and life could be very close to perfect.

Haggas Honking Holes

Henry Malmgren — Fri, 22 Nov 2002 04:30:15 +0000

Haggas’ Honking Holes is a tour company’s name for a great underground adventure trip. You start out in the town of Waitomo where you head for the company’s headquarters. After a quick test where you have to crawl thru a small tunnel to make sure you won’t get stuck underground, we all boarded a truck to head out to a local sheep farm (owned by a guy named Haggas) to find the cave entrance.

We started out at a changing room in a sheep barn where we were all issued wet suits, helmets, harnesses, and headlamps. We got a bit of instruction on rappelling safety, and then started hiking toward the cave entrance.

The cave started with a steep climb down to the first rappel, about 30 meters, the highest one in this cave. It followed a narrow waterfall, but it was not necessary to get wet, except for walking in the stream. Some sheep bones were found along the way. Sheep sometimes fall into the holes, and one guide said he once rescued one. The cave was beautifully decorated, with stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, cave coral and soda straws everywhere. The guides warned not to touch the "pretty white stuff", the delicate formations common throughout the cave.

The second rappel was a wet one down a short but strong waterfall. Rappelling down a waterfall probably sounds like more fun than it is at the time, especially when you are directly inside the water. At the bottom, we had to find where the water was flowing, and follow it. This took me a minute. It turned out to be flowing through a low crawl-space. This passage, like some others we would come to, was so low I could not keep my face completely dry.

We slid down one waterfall, aided by a guide with a rope at the top. We got a close-up look at some glow worms. We saw soda straws a couple feet long. When we got to the deepest part of the cave, 65 meters below the surface, the stream went through a submerged passage, which the guide said could be passed by holding your breath for 30 seconds. We headed back up at that point via a different route.

We raced with our guide through one winding section, and stopped for hard toffee candy bars and lemonade. Then we came to a free climb, which was not too hard. I went first, and got the job of attaching the safety line to each person at the next big ladder, calling "up rope" to the guide at the top when they were ready to climb.

Then there was a series of tight climbs and crawls, where we followed a rope through a series of narrow passages with some steep parts. After more climbing, we emerged under the waterfall we first rappelled down. More ladders and climbs brought us to the exit, just over the hill from the entrance.

Unfortunately due to the extreme wet and rough conditions, I couldn’t bring my camera down with me, so the picture is stolen from a promotional brochure. Such is life!

Rotorua

Henry Malmgren — Tue, 19 Nov 2002 04:30:54 +0000

After Molly left I headed up to Rotorua, a geothermic active area on the North Island. The first thing you notice when you get to town is the stink! The whole place has a sulfur smell that just overpowers everything. After a few hours you start to get used to it, but I can’t imagine actually living here. The first afternoon I wandered around town just checking it out. All the sewer grates had steam coming out of them, and every so often you’d see steam actually coming out of fissures in the ground.

The next day I went out to the Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland. It’s a park where there are tons of geysers, hot pools, mud lakes, and other geothermal features that you can walk around on boardwalks, keeping safely out of reach of the water. One of the most unique things in the park is called the Lady Knox Geyser. The geyser was discovered by prisoners in the early 1900s when they were on a work release program. They were planting trees nearby, and they found a hot pool that seemed ideal to wash their clothes in. A few minutes after they tossed some laundry soap in the pool with their clothes, the pool erupted nearly 20 meters high, spreading their clothes all over the area. Now, it’s understood that the detergents in the soap disrupt the surface tension of the underground water causing the geyser to erupt. Rangers at the park recreate this every morning at 9:15, and it’s quite a sight to see.

That afternoon after seeing the thermal area, I headed down to the Kaituna river to go white water rafting. The big draw here is the presence of the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. The seven meter (21 feet) Tutea falls is an amazing experience. Our guide was great at psyching everyone on the raft up about it, and the actual plunge was a rush. It only lasted less than a second or so, but the feeling of falling was intense! The whole trip was about an hour, but the water was so cold that any longer would have started to suck.

The bay of Islands

Henry Malmgren — Mon, 18 Nov 2002 04:31:24 +0000

We’ve moved on to a place even farther north in NZ called the Bay of Islands. We took a bus up here for a very pleasant four hour ride, and then found a neat little coastal town to stay in. Went diving yesterday with one of the local outfits. Very cold water compared to the Caribbean diving I’m used to, but it was great to be back in the water again. I’m too far south to get any hard corals, but we saw lots of soft corals, eels, lobster, and other new types of fish I hadn’t seen anywhere else. On the way back the dive operators took us around the various islands, including the famous "Hole in the Rock" island.

The weather has been ranging all over the place. It’s been fairly warm during the day, but cold and rainy at night. I got my first good sunburn yesterday, but I think it’ll fade pretty fast.