On the Road Again

Sunday we picked up our campervan - a size smaller than the one we had with Irene and Neil. It is the same size as the one we have at home.  We headed north from Auckland and thought we would be getting into a more sparsely populated area.  Well it is more sparseley populated but there are still lots of big towns. The countryside is so green.  There are many orchards, dairy farms, vegetable farms and wineries.  We had to get used to the windy narrow roads again as you can see.

About 3 hours north of Auckland you come to an area known as the Bay of Islands.  This is a beautiful area with about 140 islands( still doesn't beat La Ronge which has over 1000).  We took a boat cruise around the islands. Boat was quite large with two stories and held about 100 people but it looked pretty small compared to the big curise ship parked in the harbour.  On our boat tour we went to the famous Hole in the Rock.  However, it was a little too rough for the large boat we were on to go through that day. The boat does go through on a calm day with only about 2 metres clear on each side

An exciting expeelorience on this cruise was to watch the Dolphins chasing the boat.  They were jumping very high in the air but this was my most disappointing picture taking experience as much as I tried I could never get them in the air.  The best I have is the picture below.

We stopped on an Island that had a very nice Beach.  Did not have our swimming stuff so we just walked in up to our knees.

There is a chain of campgrounds in New Zealand called Top Ten and that is where we are staying.  Very nice campgrounds.  In the Bay of Islands we stayed at Russell which is a very old town and there must have been 50 campervans there.   We had to cross the Bay by ferry to get there.

The hardest thing about booking the campgrounds is to pronounce the names as the North Island is the real home of the Maori culture.  So most of the places have Maori names - sometimes they will have two names - a Maori and English. So the pronunciation of names is a challenge.  Wh is translated into the "fa " sound so here are a couple examples :  Our first night we stayed at Whangarerei which is pronounced as fanjery.  Tonight we are at Whatuwhiwhi which is pronounced fatufifi.  Not sure we got it right yet.

Over the next two day we will go to our furthest point -- the very northern tip of the Island  is Cape Reinga and is very sacred to the Maori culture and here you have the dividing line between the two oceans - Pacific ocean and Tasman sea.   It is about a two hour drive from where we are at tonight and there is a 90 mile beach going up the narrow peninsula to get there.  If we take a bus it will actually drive one way on the beach but we are not allowed to take the campervan on the beach.  So we are still deciding what we will do.  On Saturday we will head back down the other side of the North Island and back  close to Auckland.  We return the campervan on Sunday and the drop off point is near the airport so we will stay in an airport hotel Sunday night.  Early on Monday we will fly back to Sydney, Australia and spend one last day there before heading home on Tuesday. We will fly back through Vancouver and will be back home on Tuesday March 13.  It is hard to believe a two month trip away is coming to an end.

Touring Auckland

On Friday and Saturday, March 2 and 3, Rose and I toured around Auckland. We took a sightseeing bus and then spent time at the Museum and at Eden Gardens.  Auckland is actually built on and around old volcanoes so you see cone shaped hills and deep craters that I hope  you can see from the pictures

One of the highest hills is Mt Eden and that is where Rose is standing by the crater.  You get great views of the city from here.  At the base of the hill there is beautiful garderns - the Eden Gardens that we toured.

From another location on the bus tour we had another great shot of Aukland and you will see the Sky tower  which is the most prominent structure in the city and it is built right in the centre of the city.  It is is still the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere.

Also in the downtown area close to our hote was St Patrick' Cathedral - the major Roman Catholic church in New Zealand.  Sat night we went to Thai restaurant for the second time we really
enjoy the food.

We had planned to pick up our campervan on Satuday but they were forecasting a big storm  "weather bomb"  100 -120 km winds and alot of rain so we put if off until Sunday.  As it turned out the storm was not too bad in Auckland but it did cause a lot of serious damage in other parts of New Zealand.

Don's Study Tour

I haven't posted anything since February 18 as the next day the Health Study tour started.  Our group gathered together in Sydney - there were 7 of us from across Canada and one from Australia who organized the events.  We got to meet with the Consul General for Canada - see the Group photo at this office complex. There are also a couple of other people from Australia in this picture.

We spent our first week in Australia visiting people across the health system - Government, hospitals, clinics, and many health related agenices first in Sydney and then we flew to Melbourne to finish off the week. While in Melbourne Rose and I had a chance to tour the new Royal Children's Hospital that was just opened by the Queen before Christmas.  Quite an impresseive building as you can see from the pictures below.  One striking feature is they have a fish tank that goes up two storie  and is 8 feet in diameter and it is full of colour fish and coral.  I took a picture of the biggest fish in there.

At the end of the first week, the group had Saturday off do what they wanted.  However, most of our time was spent in the hotel as I had to write up a report on the previous week and that is the day Rose and I went to the new Children's hospital and at night we went to a live theatre show - Chorus Line.   On Sunday we flew to Auckland New Zealand.  We had a  great hotel in Auckland and the whole group was on the 27th floor and the on the top floor - 28th there was a lounge where we could have breakfast, wine at the end of the day and we could plan our next steps.  The views of Auckland were striking as you can see:

As in Australia we met with a wide range of people in the health system.  One big difference though is the attention that is given to the Maori people.  The approach has been quite different than in Canada with our First Nations people and it is working  much better.  While there are still many poor Maori people, you  find many prosperous Maori as well.  We visited a major clinic called Whanau House  where they are working with disadvantaged Maori families.  This is a brand new facility - see picture below.

We ended the Study tour on Thursday with a final wind up dinner with the Group. Rose participated in all the social evens and even in some of the study sesions.  She took some of the picutres so that is why you don't see her.

I had final meeting on Friday and then Rose and I toutored around Auckland.  The rest of the Group left to go back to Canada except for a couple who decided like us to stay on for a little longer for a holiday.

Back in Sydney

After taking Neil and Irene to the Cairns airport on Wednesday, Rose and I dropped off the motorhome and rented a car.  We then went back to Ellis Beach and spend the next three days at the cabin on the beach.  The sound of the ocean and the views were impressive.  The breeze off the ocean made it feel a little cooler even though it was 34 - 36C during the day.

Ellis Beach and Bon Voyage

After finding our RV campsite by the cabin at Ellis Beach we headed into Palm Cove about 5 km away and found a nice restaurant for our Valentine meal.  This was our last dining out together.  The next morning we were up early had a picture on the beach and headed for the airport in Cairns where Irene and Neil took the plane back Sydney.

Saying goodbye to Irene and Neil was hard as we have been living together in very close quarters for the last 5 weeks.  Everything worked out so well for us and now Rose and I will it find it very different on our own.

Irene and Neil flew from Cairns to Sydney and had one last night in Australia.  They made good use of the time by going back to Darling Harbour and found out Rod Stewart was having a concert there and at the last minute they managed to get tickets. We spoke to them by phone later that night and it sounded like they had a great tinme - what a way to end therre Australia trip.  Today they left at noon on the plane to Vancouver - another 15 hour flight.

Bananas, Mamgos, Coffee

On Tuesday Feb 14 we left the Atherton tablelands travelling though very good agriculutural land for bananas, mangos and coffee among many other crops.  This area is  extensiely irrigated from Lake Tinaroo - a man made lake created in the late 1950 very similar to Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan.  Our impression is that this lake is used much more for irrigation than is done in Saskatchewan. Note the plastic bags or bunch covers as they are called. These cover the banana bunches to protect them from insects and disease. It takes 9 months to grow a banana. 

There are many mango trees and you can see the trees are loaded.  So we are surprised at the prices as the cheaspest we have seen mangos in the store is about $1.98 per mango which is not that much less than at home.

Of course we had to stop at a coffee plantattion so Irene could get her coffee fis.  The Jaques plantation we visited was started by the Jacques family who came from Tanzania in Africa. The plantation is near Mareeba which is known as the coffee capital of Australia as in this area is where 70% of the coffee in Australia is grown.  They now have 90 acres with about 90 000 coffee trees.  They were one of the first plantations to introduce a mechanical harvestor which they invented themselves.  See the picture and you will note the machine is very high as it must go over the plants which are 6 feet tall and rubber arms knock the ripe beans off the vines which then drop on the side conveyers. Something like a grain cart goes alongside the harvestor and coffee is then processed ending up in large 1000 lb bags.

The coffee beans grown in clusters as you can see from the green beans in the picture.  The beans turn red when they ripen.

While at the coffee plantation we came across a new boad game which is from Africa called Mankala.  Rose is learning the game.  Guess where you might see one of these games in the future??

In this area there are many large volcanic rocks and red soil.  The soil is very rich so that explains all the different plants that are grown here.  These large rocks are quite porous.

After leaving the coffee plantation we headed back for the coast which means going down the mountains to the costal plain.  The curves and switchbacks made for an interesting drive but the views were spectaculor.  

Once down on the coast we looked for our last RV park and this time we picked one at Ellis Beach which also has beach front bungalows so Don and Rose could spend a few more days here after Neil and Irene leave.  See the RV parked by the cabin.

Atherton Tablelands, Dairy Farms, Crater lakes

Left the ocean coastal regions and drove up the mountains onto what is called the tablelands.  It is only about 50 km from the coast but the climate is very different.  Not quite as hot and not nearly as humid.  Really a perfect climate for camping as hope you can see from our campsite.

Plants are still very tropical and lush as you can see.

Took a drive around the area on Sunday and you can see the beautiful countryside with vegetable crops

Many  dairy farms in the area and we stopped to visit one which happened to be during milking time - note cows on the rotating platform - can milk 42 at a time and notice another 150 lined up to be milked.  They were being sprayed down with water to both to keep them cool and keep the flies away. At this dairy farm - Gallo Dairy and Cheese they made cheese and chocoloate.

In this area there are two crater lakes caused by volcanic activity - these are small round lakes but very deep - 215 feet.  Many kids swimming in it but once you are 4 feet from shore you are over your head.

These lakes are in a tropical rainforest area so the flowers are something else.

In the area this is huge curtain fig tree.  A fig plant is really a parasite tree that grow on other trees and then shoot their roots down like a curtain.

We decided it was so nice in the Atherton area and the weather is just perfect that we were just going to laze around for a day at the campsite.  Spent time in the pool and generally did nothing all day.

This evening we went to a nearby pond where playtypus can be found.  We saw turtles but no playtypus - Neil and Irene did see one but jut for a minute. You can only see them at dusk as they are nocturnal animals.. Can you see one in the creek?

\Tommorrow - Tuesday Feb 14 - we are heading back to the coast and plan to spend our last night together at Ellis Beach near Palm cove.  We are planning a night out for Valentine's day. Wed am we are taking Neil and Irene to the airport in Cairns and they leave on a noon flight to back to Sydney.  They will spend one more night in Sydney and leave for home on Thursday.  Rose and I will stay at Ellis beach until Saturday when we will go back to Sydney.  My study tour role stars on Sunday and will go for two weeks.