Back to Kangaroo Point

The new balcony view

We have moved. Well it's actually almost two months ago now. Since William moved back to Sweden we really didn't need the size of the old apartment and especially not he cost.
So we have now said bye bye to the incredible river views at Riverplace Apartments

The old balcony view. Really miss it

and moved to a smaller apartment at Kangaroo Point, the suburb where we started our Australian adventure.
KP is still very central in Brisbane but it is on the other side of the river so i know have to catch the ferry every day to get to work.

The good old City Hopper that takes me to work

Although so close to the CBD it is much more quiet with lots of trees, birds and bats. It is located on a narrow peninsula in the Brisbane river and there is a nice boardwalk all way along the river leading to South Bank, the nicest part of the city. That's good because I'm trying to catch up with the running again and get a little bit fitter before going back to Sweden.

Cheers

Anzac Day

Veterans in the parade

Today it's a public holiday in all Australia. It's Anzac Day. Anzac stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps and the day is celebrated in remembrance of Australians that have been killed in wars from WW1 and forwards.

It's a big thing, Australia remembers it's Anzacs, and in all major cities there are dawn services at sunrise and then parades later in the morning.
I visited the Brisbane parade and was impressed by the number of participants. It lasted for about 2,5 hours and there were representatives from all the wars were Australia has been involved (more than you would think) and from the different military disciplines.
The parade never ended. Honestly I think there were actually more people walking in the parade than spectators watching.

A lot of music corpses created the parade atmosphere

This certainly is a very special day and unlike e g Australia day where you're supposed to be flat out drunk already at noon this day is celebrated more in silence and with respect. There is even a debate going on if sport events should be held on this day at all.
We don't have anything similar in Sweden and I guess that's because we haven't been in any wars since the 18th century. Yes we have had troops in other countries but they haven't fought to defend Sweden's freedom but under the UN flag to keep peace and that's not really the same thing.

Cheers

The crew from HMS Parramatta

Not really Anzac Day related but there is always room for a sweet Aussie girl

The West Coast

Beautiful Perth

Last week was 'sportlov' in Sweden so we took a week off here as well and traveled to Perth and the West Coast of Australia.
It's a pretty long flight, 5 hours,  from the east coast so most tourists don't make it there and Perth is called the most remote capital in the world. Capital of West Australia that is.
We managed to hit an extreme heat wave week. Autumn was supposed to start but we reached 41 degrees at the top with an average of maybe 35. Puuh, sweatty!
We had two base camps during the week, first three nights in Busselton, a seaside resort two hours south of Perth and then four nights at Scarborough Beach which is a popular beach area in the north eastern parts of Perth

Busselton Pier

Busselton showed to be a nice but somewhat sleepy town characterised by an almost two km long jetty reaching out in the sea. The water is very shallow so back in the days they needed this distance from the shore in order for the ships to dock. Nowadays it is a tourist attraction with a sea life center in the end where you can go down and watch the ocean life from big windows. Like an aquarium but from the inside.

Lamb racks with local beer at Cheeky Monkey

Mammoth Cave

Busselton is located on the edge of Margret River which i think is the second most important wine region in Australia. Of course we spent one day lurking around some wineries. Unfortunately I have to say I'm getting a bit tired of this. It's so standardised and all wineries have exactly the same ads, wine and dine, exclusive wine tasting and fine dining etc. They also always say 'buy our wine at cellar door prices', which mean you pay a price much higher than THEY would ever be able to get in a store with competition. But the food we had at Cheeky Monkey brewery (and winery) was really good.

Lovely west coast beach

In the Margret River region there are also a lot of famous limestone caves. We chose Mammoth Cave and that was well worth the efforts.

Margret river is also a popular surf spot as the waves are quite big in the sea here.

Prison cell. In use until 1991!

Perth showed to be a nice city with fantastic beaches very close to the central parts. The most famous ones are probably City beach, Cottesloe beach and Scarborough beach were we stayed. They are all amazing and it's not difficult to find your own little spot. It's a quite special feeling looking out and think that it's open sea all the way to Africa. Beautiful sunsets as well.

Outside Perth there is the smaller city of Fremantle, a charming town which was once the first settlement on the west coast. They have a prison built at that time that we visited and that was really fascinating and frightening. It's hard to imagine the terrible life inside those walls. And the most scaring thing was that the prison was in operation until 1991! Still with the same cells.

Little Creatures logo

No visit to Fremantle is complete without going to Little Creatures brewery. As you know Little Creatures is my favourite aussie beer. The brewery was a bit smaller than expected and we didn't go for any tour but they have a restaurant which showed to be really good. I also bought a six pack of the six different sorts they produce and there is no question that it is the big seller Little Creatures Pale Ale that you should go for. Pretty damn good it is!

Outside Perth there is also a small island, Rottnest, that is a must to go to. There is, almost, no car traffic on the island so what you do is that you rent a bike and cycle around. Also on Rottnest there are a few really nice beaches and you can also snorkel. The island has got it name from the quokkas, the cute animals that you see everywhere. They are actually marsupials like kangaroos, but the first Europeans thought they were giant rats.

Quokkas

So what's the verdict on the west coast. Well in general I think it's a bit more relaxed. People are friendly. Beaches are wonderful. Great wines (and beer) are produced at your doorstep. Roads are excellent. What more could you wish? Would be a nice place to retire.

 Cheers!

New Zealand part 6 - The North island

Wellington

Yeah so Wellington has a fantastic location in a naturally protected bay that is almost like a lake and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. Nothing to complain about there. But the city itself, well I guess boring is a good word. Imagine a mid size swedish city with the typical 60's concrete colossus and you're quite close. The fact is you don't go to NZ for the cities at all. It's the nature.

Having that said there actually are some newer and more cool buildings, especially the museum of New Zealand that is quite spectacular both on the inside and outside and really worth a visit.
During our two days in Welllington we also visited the Zoo, mainly to get a glimpse of the famous Kiwi bird, but it also turned out to be a nice little zoo in general. That day was also warm and sunny which was totally opposite to the day we came when it was 13 degrees and raining. Again weather reminded of Swedish summer!

Art Deco in Napier

Next stop was Napier, a smaller town on the east coast most renowned for a long beach and for having been destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in a special art deco style. Yeah sounds more exciting than it was and the memory that lasts most in my mind is the absolute excellent thai restaurant that we visited.

Smelling water hole in Rotorua

Now it was time for Rotorua, maybe the largest tourist attraction on the north island. Rotorua is known for its hot springs and strong sulfur smell. I thought it was quite cool with all the boiling water and mud holes but Annika just couldn't stand the smell so we had to leave early next morning and headed off to Hobbiton.

New tenants in Bilbo's house

Hobbiton has become a gigantic tourist attraction, or trap some people would say. You can not get there on your own but have to go on guided tours that cost a fortune. However we actually thought it was worth it. It's cool to see the scenery for such famous movies and it is a very beautiful spot. It was also interesting to hear stories and anecdotes from the recordings. For example the doors to the hobbit cabins have various sizes so that the actors standing in front of them shall appear at different sizes.
There is also a huge man made oak in the area where all the leafs had to be painted individually twice to get the right colour. Peter Jackson wasn't happy enough first time.

We spent our last night in Auckland, the biggest city in NZ. Auckland has grown by 20% a year the last decades and many of those are "islanders" from Fiji, Samoa, Cook islands etc. Also many brits and other europeans have immigrated so there certainly is an international mix of people. Unfortunately a bit too many of them are living on the streets. We visited the famous sky tower which together with the big Westhaven marina with all sail boats are the most exciting things you do in Auckland

Auckland. Westhaven marina from the Sky Tower

Another Hobbit hole

Huka falls outside Taupo

So in general, what's New Zealand like? Well for us now living in Australia it's a bit like coming home to Europe. Weather and nature is similar. Most things you can see in NZ you can also experience in Europe. You have the fjords in Norway, the moorelands in UK, the agricultural flat landscape in Denmark, the lakes in Sweden etc. Still it's a nice country with friendly people and easy to find your ways around.If you want the nature experience the south island is where you should spend your time.

I know what you're now thinking. If I'm planning to go down under and don't have time for both Aussie and NZ, which should I pick?
Well, it's like choosing between Örebro and Stockholm. NZ is a great country and well worth a couple of weeks time but Australia has so much more to offer and is so much more different from home.

Selfie or Mauri art?

Cheers

New Zealand part 5 - finishing off the south island

From Franz Josef and the glacier country the journey continued north. As mentioned earlier this is quite remote areas and you don't see too many villages or spectacular nature attractions except for that the the see views in some spots offers quite a nice scenery.

Western coastline

Typical NZ roadside

One thing that is spectacular though all over New Zealand is all the ferns that grow along the road sides. Actually New Zealand's official country symbol is a silver fern and in 2015 there was a referendum to also change the NZ flag to a new one incorporating the silver fern instead of the british flag. Unfortunately, my opinion, the proposal lost

Could have been the new NZ flag

Pancake rocks

Our next stop was in Panukaiki or pancake rocks as they are called in daily speak. Some strange rock formations that was well worth a visit.
In Panukaiki we stayed in a rainforest resort that was something different to any other accommodation we've ever used. It was literally small individually designed cabins scattered in an area of lush forest. It felt like living in a tree house with leaves just a meter outside the windows. Quite spectacular and really cool. The backside however was that it was very damp and smelled mould. Definitely worth a one night stay though.

Found it!

Trying to locate our cabin in the forest

After a cafe pancake (of course!) breakfast we continued to Nelson which turned out to be a quite big city in the north east region. Not too much to see or do around but we stayed two nights and chilled.
On the way we stopped to have a look at the wild seal colony at Tauranga Bay.

Cute friend from Tauranga Bay

Nelson

On the way out from Nelson we stopped at a skywire atraction. It was a steel wire stretched between two mountains, 1600m long and as most 150m above ground. You travel in a 4-chair carriage and start freewheeling at about 85 km/h and then a motor takes you the last bit to the end. After that you're going backwards exactly the same way and speed.

Getting ready for the ride. Jackets and funny caps were borrowed

What it felt like? Imagine going very fast in a ski lift. Quite cool.(And also cold in the speed wind)

We were thinking Picton from where the ferry to north island goes was next door to Nelson bur it actually takes 2 hours to drive there. We chose the scenic way and that was worth the little extra effort with windy roads as you get beautiful views of Marlborough sounds. This area is also known as the best wine district of NZ producing really nice white whines, we fell in love with the Shingle Peak chardonnay. However Sauvignon Balnc is their signature grape.

Leaving south island

The ferry to Wellington takes 3,5 hours and this day was really windy so the journey was quite unpleasant with hard winds from the side. It felt like the boat was leaning 10 degrees the entire way.
eventually we ended upo in what has to be one of the worlds best protected natural harbours, Wellington. No doubt why they decided to place the city there. Time now for adventures on the north island.

Cheers

New Zealand part 4 - the glacier explorers

The explorer with the Franz Josef glacier as backdrop. Not easy to see, I know

Leaving Wanaka we went west towards the sea driving through cold rain forests. Well that might not be the correct name but since it's on the hill side leading down to the coast it rains a lot and since most of us imagine a rain forest as something warm I just want to tell that this is very lush and dense vegetation without being hot and steaming. Along the way there were plenty of waterfalls and we followed a beautiful river for a fair bit.

The mid west side of the south island is a quite remote area and not many people live here. Only a few farms along the road and almost no towns at all. The main attraction here are the glaciers especially Fox and Franz Josef. The unique thing with these two is that they end up only a couple of km's from the coast and only on a few hundred meters of height so they are very accessible. Or maybe I should say they were. The sad thing now is that only in the last 3-5 years the mouth of both these glaciers have moved several hundred meters upstream probably due to global warming.

This means you can no longer enter any of them by foot, you need a helicopter. So that's what people do. "it's sad they're melting but put me in a fucking petrol stinking helicopter so I can see them before they're totally gone"  hmmm

Until now we had been very lucky with the weather but this day it was raining cats and dogs. Hmm wonder if anyone outside Sweden has ever heard that expression. It was in the English schoolbook when I was a kid and all Swedes in my generation know this proverb but I've never heard any native English speaker use it. If any natives reading this please leave a comment!

The first glacier if you come from north is Fox. After a few kilometers on a small road though the forest we find the parking. It was now raining really heavily so we decided it's not a good idea to do the walk so we decided to continue to Franz Josef hoping for the rain to stop and at least check in to our hotel first. So we did and speaking to the motel owner we realised there was really not anything else to do than the glacier so we decided to defy the rain and go there anyway.
I was quite pissed off about the weather when we got there because it destroyed something I've really been looking forward to but things took an unexpected twist.
What an experience it was! Yes we got wet as drenched rats but what a scenery. We walked up a valley, actually the river that constitutes the end of the glacier and there was literally water pouring down everywhere along the hillsides. Hundreds of waterfalls and almost no other people around. It was so beautiful and we felt so small, one of my biggest nature experiences ever! It took us 45 mins to reach the glacier or rather the end of the walk. You're not allowed to go further and actually it's really not possible if you don't want to risk your life. As said a couple of years ago the ice would now have been at our feet but now it was maybe 300m away and because of the rain we didn't see much of it, only the contours. In the end that didn't matter that much, the nature experience was great anyway.
This was new years eve and on the way back we totally soaked found a chinese take away where we bought or new years dinner and had it in the motel room :)

Cheers

Waterfalls everywhere

Beautiful

The path to the Franz Josef

The west coast main road

New Zealand part 3 - Fjordlands

From Queenstown the next natural main tourist attraction is Fjordlands.

This is a huge national park covering the south western area of the south island. Within Fjordlands Milford sounds is the most popular attraction. It is a part of the ocean winding between high steep mountains to the little village of Milford. You can reach it with one day trips from Queenstown but then you have to spend like 6 hours in each direction driving or by bus. We had our base in the beautiful town Te Anau located on the bank of the big Te Anau lake.  From there we joined a tour bus to Milford Sounds. The drive in itself is about two hours but we did many stops at beautiful attractions along the way that we would have missed if we drove ourselfves so it was definitely worth it. We also had a very experienced and funny guide. So in the end it was a full day trip with lot of amazing nature to see. To the right you see one of the big waterfalls gushing into the sound.
Only thing is that if you have been to Norway and seen the Norwegian fjords New Zealand is actually still a light version. Still well worth the trip though.
Outside Te Anau there is also a big cave with glow worms that we of course visited. A cool experience starting with a boat ride over the lake and then walking narrow paths some hundred meters into the cave where small boats took in total darkness took us to the glow worms. A must do if you're in the area.





So what more is there to say about Te Anau? Yes they have a pie shop with really good pies. I had the venison pie and that was actually the first meat pie that I have really enjoyed!

After two nights in Te Anau it was time to head north again and next stop was in beautiful Wanaka. Wanaka was like Queenstown crowded with backpackers. It seemed to be a partytown this time of year whereas it definitely is a ski resort in the winter. You could tell from the shops.

Main restaurant street, Wanaka

After Wanaka the trip continued to the Glaziers on the west coasts. More about that in next post.

Cheers

Lake Te Anau

Lake Wanaka (The water is really cold brrr)

Lumsden eventually became the most southern spot where we put down our feet

The famous seals living in Milford Sound

The Kea birds are not shy

In Te Anau even a parking lot can be beautiful

One of many streams on the way to Milford

Another nice spot in the Fjordlands