Watching Venus and Serena

Last night at Federation Square, with a crowd! Tonight's match should be exciting as well. Federer/Nadal.  We were thinking about buying tickets but then we decided to buy a car instead.  Expensive!

John and Sarah Enjoy Some Wine And Cheese

In the back courtyard of our house in Melbourne. Wine courtesy of the Gill's friend's son who is a winemaker in Leongatha, VIC. Dirty Three Pinot Noir.

Friday Nights at NGV - David Hockney

Probably the best art exhibition we have seen. Mostly recent work (past 15 years) and includes over 80 portraits from his time in LA, large landscapes from Yosemite and his first home Yorkshire (a yuuuuge [thank you Donald Trump for teaching me how to really say huge] landscape of trees in late winter), then a stunning array of works done on an iPhone and iPad - plus a number of large scale videos that were fabulous. See next posts :).

If this comes to an area near you, don't miss it.

Somebody Couldn't Resist the Trampoline

In the kids play area at the Australian Open.

Speaking of Bike Superstars

That's Aussie champion Cadel Evans (in jeans), winner of the 2011 Tour de France, being interviewed before the start of the race, and 2016 Tour winner Chris Froome in his Team Sky colors right after the starting gun. 22 laps, 116 kilometers.

Race Melbourne

Australia Day yesterday had all kinds of events, including the first Race Melbourne bike road race. This is a prelude to bike superstar Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and appears to be the kick off to the 2017 professional cycling tour that will culminate in the Tour de France in July. It's simply amazing how fast they go and how close together they are. Sooooo dangerous. The course was the same course used for the Melbourne Grand Prix formula one race held in March and took place in Albert Park, right across the street from our house. So fun to wander out and stumble on this 10 minutes from the start. We saw them setting up for something that looked like a marathon the day before but it was for this race.

Federation Square

Did someone say champagne?

At the Australian Open.

Bragabonds Auckland to Melbourne

It wouldn't be ...

3 Hour Ferry from Picton to Wellington

Views galore.

Great House in Blenheim NZ

Plus, 5 nights without moving!

Marlborough NZ

Flat as a pancake, great biking. A few vineyards with hilltop killer views over the valley and straight out to the sea.

The main town of Blenheim has a charm rating of about 1/10 so it's all about the vineyards. And they are great!

Kiwi

We never did see one, as we did on our last trip here, but can never resist a cheesy photo. Kiwi can't fly - they have teeny vistigial wings, which are no help.

They had few predators until Europeans brought rabbits and possum and dogs and so forth. They are heavily protected which makes NZ quite unfriendly for dogs. They move mostly at night so cars are also a big source of Kiwi deaths.

In 1982, sheep:human ratio was 70M:3M

It has dropped since then, as farmers switched to dairy, but there is still a 6:1 ratio and they export over $5 billion per year.

Haast NZ

Haast's claim to fame is the first whitebait canning plant in NZ. So there you have it.

Stopped here to break up the drive. Seriously nothing to do or see, but our hotel had a decent restaurant and bar which was rocking because really, there is no other place. Well there is one other place but the buffet was pretty scary looking. They had antlers hanging from the rafters and a great deer sign with cutout to make images suitable for framing :)

West Coast of the South Island of NZ

Puts Australia's Great Ocean Road to shame.

Franz Josef Glacier

Hiked to the base of the Franz Josef Glacier in the pouring - and I do mean pouring - rain. This is the only place in the world where you will find a glacier ending in a rain forest. It was an amazing sight even in this weather. 

How About a Guardrail?

I've been driving roads like this for a month now. Beautiful yes, but often with no shoulder or guardrail so who can look? Driving requires a lot of concentration especially since many days were rainy. First picture shows the coast road, west coast, South Island of New Zealand. Second shows a small section of the Buller Gorge pass which is only one car wide, goes around a blind curve and has no way to let you know if anyone is coming in the opposite direction. Carved out of the rock it's a sheer drop to the river.

Franz Josef: Random Alpaca and Sheep

At our house near Franz Josef. They also had a trampoline and other unexpected things to go with the rain.  That picture where they look disinterested in me is simply because I didn't have food.  When we approached with a 2$ bag of feed, it was an entirely different scene.  The sheep and alpaca came running from all over.

Tauranga Bay, South Island

After days with lots of rain (over 6 inches just last night at Franz Josef Glacier - it is the only place on earth where a glacier meets a rainforest) we headed north on our way to Marlborough, which is the sunniest place in New Zealand.  The halfway point is around Westport, a town described by one travel book as ".... with nothing to attract a passerby" and they were right.  However, we stayed just south of there in a place called Carters Beach, close to Cape Foulwind.  Had great walks on the beach (miles of beach with only 2-3 people around) and then to Tauranga Bay, with a short walk to a fur seal colony.  Then dinner at Bay House, looking out over the beach and ocean shown below close to low tide.  Beautiful big sunset then a full moon after dinner!

Blue Pools

On the Haast Pass, in Mt. Aspiring National Park, the Blue Pools are amazing in both color and clarity. The trail to the pools ends in a swing bridge which may not look too high, but trust me, it's high. It was pretty cool with a light drizzle falling and the water was absolutely freezing.

Blue Pools: But of Course There Was Swimming

Blue Pools: Then the Jumping Started

No idea how deep the rocks were below the surface or exactly what depth they needed from this height, but these kids assured us before they jumped that they "heard it was safe".

Rippon Vineyard, Lake Wanaka: Continuing the Theme . . .

. . . that wineries are located in the most beautiful places in the world, this is the Rippon Winery, Central Otago, New Zealand. This is a biodynamic vineyard with a very nice Sav Blanc which was very different than what you'd find in Marlborough, as their vines are planted in soil with tons of very mineraly schist rock.  Also a great Pinot Noir which is more common to the Otago valley and did we mention how great it is with dark chocolate?

AJ Hackett Bungy

First tried in the U.K but brought to fame by entrepreneur AJ Hackett in Queenstown, NZ, the bungy jump is the iconic NZ adventure sport. At only 143 feet it's hardly the tallest Bungy in the world - check the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado at over 1,000 feet - but the AJ Hackett Bungy is special nonetheless. Spent an hour there watching people jump. From terror to elation the emotions are written across their faces as they prepare to jump into the void. Check some of them out in these next few posts.

More AJ Hackett

Mr. Confidence. Looks like he does this for a living.

These Two Were Not So Sure

But They All End Up the Same Way

Grab the pole, get pulled into the boat, climb back up.

And It Felt Like Flying