Australia and New Zealand 2019-2020

Australia and New Zealand 2019-2020

     This trip started with the world at the old-normal and ended as a new-normal.  During our last month in New Zealand, March,  the Corona-Virus 19 became only topic of news throughout the world.

     But let me start at the old-normal in November, 2019.

     11/27/2019, the day before Thanksgiving we left our home in Alamosa, Colorado via bus to Denver, Colorado, train out to the airport and on to San Francisco airport, Auckland airport and finally Perth, Western Australia airport.  Suddenly it is 11/29/2019 and we lost Thanksgiving.

     Perth, located on the SouthWestern edge of the continent is the only substantial city on that edge.  It is as if San Francisco existed but LA, Portland and Seattle did not.  But it is still 4 time zones away from the Eastern Edge of Australia.   At any rate, it is big enough to have good public transportation and services but not a mega-metropolis.  We enjoyed the largest city park in Australia (even includes what they call some bushland), downtown warft and outdoor art, and the suburb of Newcastle which is occasionally host to America's Cup races.

Perth CBD from city park.

      After the city of Perth we rented a car to drive down the coast to the Margaret River area known for it's wines and smaller towns.  Again AirBNB in a cozy apartment in Albany within walking distance to town without ever seeing our host.

      Driving back to Perth saw a little of rural Australia before flying from Perth to Melbourne on 12/17/2019.

     Melbourne is a much larger city than Perth but we again did an AirBNB exploring the CBD (Central Business District), learning how to use the Melbourne trolleys (like the ones in New Orleans) and watching street performers and organized Christmas performances in downtown Melbourne.  At this time we had a balcony looking at the buildings of Melbourne from about 8 miles out and could notice smoke (or absence of) from the wildfires.

Melbourne Skyline.  Bars and restaurants along the river.

     This time we could take the train  from Melbourne to the small town of Sale, Victoria where we spent several days.  I rented bicycles from our AirBNB host and we rode to nearby towns on empty rural roads and to see the opening of a really old rotating bridge that was built in pioneer days and restored just a few years ago.

      The town of Sale was only about 75 miles from the massive bushfires just East of us at the time we were there.   Several times saw extra fire trucks etc. thru town headed to or from the blazes that distroyed many homes and left a number of holiday visitors headed to the nearby beach to escape the flames.  Australian Navy sent ships to rescue as many as possible.

     Returning to Melbourne then on January 6,2020 we then flew to Hobart, Tazmania and after one night at a backpacker hostel in Hobart met our rented campervan in Launceston.  This was a thirty year old Toyota Combi (never imported to US but seen around the world) that had been re-fitted for camping.  About the size of those short US school buses.  At any rate we drove around Tazmania for about three weeks seeing National Parks, hiking trails etc.  There are so many camper vans in Tazmania that cities have small open fields available for them with dump stations and water available.  These are usually free or with small fee.  Returning the campervan in Launceston we spend two days then flew to Sydney.

  The Gorge within the city of Launceston.

     Now Sydney really is a big city.   On January 26th we went to the Sydney Harbor for Australia Day which roughly equates to the US 4th of July.  Probably the last crowd in the 100,000s we will join for awhile.  Fantastic fireworks, live music at the steps of the Opera House.  We sat on grass across the bay from the Opera House but could watch the stage on Large screen TVs set up around the grounds.

     Train up to the Blue Mountains which are only a 1.5 hour ride from downtown Sydney.  Fabulous hikes, good food .....sort of a Blue Ridge tourist area with vacation homes for those who can escape busy Sydney.

Blue Mountains

     On February 4th we left Australia for New Zealand.  We were in Australia for sixty nine days with a cost of US$9,771 or $141.61 per day. (Not per person,  for two)  This does include the cost to get to Australia from Denver with the proviso that the Denver-Perth airfare was primarily paid with United Frequent Flyer Miles most of which were earned by everyday spending and signing up for 50,000 mile bonus to change credit card. (One way tickets for the two of us was 80,000 miles plus less than US$100.)

      In New Zealand we flew into Wellington, the countries capitol and mid sized city at the South end of the North Island.  At the capitol we had to find a motel at 2AM (Wellington is known as Windy and our plane had to make two approaches.)   Next day stayed at an AirBNB in a close in suburb of Wellington,  Activities included more museums and the headquarters of the movie studios that made special effects for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  In New Zealand and Australia the society is still mourning the WWI debacle of Gallipoli.  Their museum on the waterfront produced by the above mentioned movie studios with 1.5 life sized statues is stronger and more moving than any museum I
have seen anywhere.

Along the Tazman Strait in downtown Wellington.

      After Wellington we took a ferry to the South Island and stayed several days in Picton for hiking to the waterfront harbor and out to a point showcasing the fjords of this part of New Zealand.  We also took the mail boat ride into the coves of the bay where mail and groceries are delivered to homes only accessible via water.

      From Picton heading south to Christchurch we took the New Zealand rail "Scenic Coastal Train."  Christchurch is still recovering from their earthquake of 2012 and the city seemed strangely quiet.  We rented an auto to visit other parts of the South Island including the University city of Dunedin,  camping along the way with a tent, quilt and camping pads purchased in Christchurch.  We went to the East side of the island to rain and fog and mountains and raging rivers.  Also considerable bike trails. This included stops at Fox Glacier, Greymouth and over Authur's Pass.  Returning the auto to Christchurch we flew to Auckland were we rented another car after a few days of  exploring Auckland.

Christchurch, like all major New Zealand cities is strategically places on a protected bay.  One night we camped on the hills across the bay from Christchurch.

     From Auckland we traveled first North then South within the North Island with stops near  Hamilton, Rotorua and Taupo.   We ended in Napier which is a nice beach side town.  It was severely damaged by an earthquake in the 1920s and was rebuilt in the Art Deco style which they successfully flog at every opportunity.  Even clothing stores selling 20's dresses and suits for the events to go along with their festivals.

The band shell in Napier.

   We planned to drive back to Auckland from Napier on Thursday, March 26th, turn in auto at airport and take off back to the states.   But the COV-19 caused a complete lock-down to be announced as of Wednesday at midnight and an e-mail from our auto rental company said that if the car was not back by 5PM Wednesday we were renting it until the lock down was over.  Also, our flight out of Auckland on the 26th was cancelled.   So, we hurried back to Auckland a day early, got a hotel for one night and returned the rental car.   Then made reservation to fly out Monday 3/30 (on Air New Zealand, United not flying to Auckland for now) and found an AirBNB in the CBD. 

     So, as things settled down we received an e-mail that our AirBNB for the next day was now ready and knowing that New Zealand was REAL SERIOUS about their lock down we decided to abandon our hotel and walk down to the AirBNB and sneak in an extra night.  (But then no refund for the hotel so it all cosmically evens out.)   Kitchen, bigger room, outdoor patio same price and we watched the streets of Auckland empty out.  Empty streets, Empty buses driving around etc.
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    Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and it is time to head to airport for newly scheduled flight to LA.  We took the train to a bus stop (we were only ones in our train car and train free to eliminate contact with ticket sellers), bus to airport (Nearly only ones in bus) and Airport where we were apparently the only flight out of the International terminal that evening.  And received a e-mail from the State of Colorado bus service that the route we planned on taking from Denver to our home in Alamosa was shutting down immediately.  Thru the magic of the International Date Line, we left Auckland at 11 PM on Monday and planned to arrived Denver at 9 PM Monday.   Quick searching reviewed that the little airline that flies Denver to Alamosa has a flight leaving at 11PM Monday with $50 seats. (Only twice the bus and eliminating a $125 hotel room.)  Booked it with a doable but close connection in Denver.

    So we leave Auckland at 11PM local time Monday and arrive LA about 10AM local time Monday.  Just chatting up a United person after going thru customs and immigration we learn our scheduled United Flight to Denver is cancelled but there is an earlier flight we can get on!!  Done and the tight schedule in Denver is fixed.    On to Denver....all good but our flight to Alamosa is delayed by a maintenance issue.  At 2:30 AM on Tuesday 3/31/2020 we are in Alamosa and a friend (Thanks Franki) hands us keys to our car that is at the Alamosa airport.

    We ended up spending 54 days in New Zealand and US$7,443 or $137.83 a day.  This included housing, rental car. food,  camping, souvenirs etc.  It would have been a little more per day but only grocery stores during their lock down!  Remember is does not include substantial airfare to/from USA as this was done with credit card award miles.  It does include internal country flights and from Australia to New Zealand.

     Once we returned to the USA we self quarantined in our home for 14 days due to being on two fairly full airplanes for a total of 14 hours.   We did have a couple food deliveries from friends.

     So that is the logistics of our four month trip to Australia and New Zealand. Now some observations:
1)   Citizens of both countries are very friendly, helpful and well traveled.  We would often hear of their trips to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, LA, Las Vegas or New York.  We need to get them out of the big cities every once in a while.
2)   Often after a neutral conversation  they will quietly question, "What do you think of your President."  When we express our personal displeasure they always say "Oh, we've had guys like that too."
3)   With the Australian dollar at sixty US cents and the New Zealand dollar just a little bit below that travel is very reasonable in both countries if you are converting US$.  It may not always be that way.
4)   Both countries are actively promoting off road bike trails which are best suited to mountain bikes although New Zealand has some substantial rail trails.  Roads in rural areas are almost always narrow with only a hint of a shoulder.   Due to their geography both countries have limited through side roads with less traffic so the main two lane roads tend to have considerable large truck traffic.  Any bike travel should be done with good planning and an understanding of the infrastructure.  One good website is www.walkingaccess.govt.nz.
5)   Tent camping opportunities are limited as the assumption that as a visitor you will rent a camper van that includes toilet facilities on board.  Apparently in the past there was an issue with wild camping without toilet facilities so their solution is to provide dump stations and fresh water if you have the equipment for it.   But bring your own facilities seems to be the norm.
6)   AirBNB is very popular in both countries and can offer a reasonable deal if you are flexible.  Some are great....some are not so great but we found all of them tolerable.   But then we slept in the car a couple times too!
7)   Have I seen enough and don't want to go back?  NO.  Go back to see more?  YES.    Try a little motorcycle across the outback?  YES.