Oceania Trip | Australia + New Zealand

9/07
I slept for less than 2 hours. This was because I was still packing all my stuff before my parents and sister arrived. In the early morning I went to the airport to pick them up. When they arrived we went to the hotel to leave everything and then we took a taxi to UTS. We visited the university and walked to Gumal. They saw the place were I was living. Silvia and Miguel came to say goodbye and met my family.



Tom and Jake prepared a nice barbecue on the rooftop. We had lunch with Asun’s parents and sister, Tom and Jake. Everybody tried kangaroo, steaks, salad, onions, mushrooms and capsicum. It was great. Though I had to say goodbye to two of my best friends…



Later on that day I went with my family to Sydney Tower, Darling Harbour and Sydney Aquarium. We had dinner on the Finger Wharf at Wooloomooloo. We had crab, onion soup with steak and oysters.



10/07
Since I was my family’s guide in Sydney, I took them to the Taronga Zoo. It was a very nice day so the trip on ferry was very enjoyable. We saw many Australian animals and some that were not too Australian. Then we came back to Sydney and walked next to the Sydney Opera House. We bought some souvenirs and then we walked to the hotel to get changed into formal clothes.



At 6 we left the hotel and went to Rockpool; an excellent restaurant of modern Australian cuisine. The food was soooo gooood! Then since I had bought some tickets to see The Barber of Seville a few months ago we went to the SOH. We arrived very late but could get in a few minutes after we arrived. My family was very tired after that, so we went straight to the hotel.



11/07
After being ready we took a cab for taking the Bridge Climb tour on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The preparation took very long, but once ready we started to climb it. The view from there was really good, though the weather was not. After climbing more than 1000 steps we got to the top of the bridge! It was cold out there and was starting to rain. Then we went back to the bottom and the tour finished.

I called some of my friends that were still in Sydney and met them in the Fish Market. Su Min, Koldo, Manu and Gordon arrived and met my family. We had lunch together (calamari, oysters, prawns, surimi, and fish with chips). After lunch, Gordon had to leave.



Since the Fish Market was closing so we decided to go to Queen Victoria Building (QVB) on George St. Manu and Koldo came with us and Su Min came to join us later. We went walking in Martin Place and had a coffee. Then it was getting late and we went to the hotel to wait for our taxi. When it arrived I had to say goodbye to my friends and then we left. We took a flight to Melbourne and when we arrived we went straight to the hotel.

12/07
In Melbourne we first went to visit the Anglican Church that was next to the hotel where we were staying. Then we walked to Federation Square and then walked next to the Yarra River. A few minutes later we found an interesting building, which later on we realised it was the casino. In the main entrance it had some lights that large pieces of glass reflected them. We just walked inside and saw some nice restaurants.



We did not know what to do and we found a bus that went around the city, just for tourists. We took this bus and saw some interesting places of the city. We hopped off in front of the Shrine of Remembrance monument. It is a nice landmark of the city and you could see the city skyline from there. We then walked to the Botanic Gardens and went inside. From there we had a sight of the Olympic Stadium and other Olympic buildings. After leaving the Botanic Gardens we took the bus and arrived in the famous Victoria Market. In my opinion it is almost the same as Paddy’s Market in Sydney, but this one is open air. They were closing so we took the bus again and then went to the hotel to leave all the things we had. Then we took a cab and went to the casino again for having lunch/dinner. We ended having lunch in an Italian restaurant. It was pretty good.



After lunch we went walking back to Federation Square and wanted to go inside the Pixar Animation Exhibition, but then we decided not to go. Instead, we had a coffee and sheltered ourselves from the rain. After a while I called Asun and found that she was near where we were. We met with her family and went shopping for some souvenirs. They came from a trip that they did in the Great Ocean Road. Then we went walking to the hotel and had some drinks. Later on, Asun and her family left… We planned to meet next summer in Spain. I am going!



13/07
On this day we had a flight at 6:25pm, so we could not do much. We woke up and took a taxi for St. Kilda. I have been there before, but when it was summer. This time it did not look that good. Nobody was in the beach and the weather was not helping. We walked in the main street and went inside some shops. Then we took a cab to the casino, yeah once again, where we had lunch in a seafood restaurant. I ordered mussels!!! After this great lunch we went back to the hotel and took the cab for getting to the airport. In there I had dinner at Hungry Jack’s! (Australian Burger King).



The flight was not very long. It was a 3-hour flight. We arrived at 11:30pm to Christchurch, New Zealand. We rented a car and after registering we went to take it. It was soooo cooold outside! We did not know the temperature but when we saw the van we rented we realised that it was at least zero degrees! The car was entirely frozen! There was ice everywhere and was hard to open the doors of it. We put the things in the car and drove to the city. We found the hotel and went to sleep.



14/07
We woke up and had breakfast in the hotel. Then we drove towards Franz Josef passing through Arthur’s Pass. It was a nice and sunny day. Though we found snow and icy grass all the way to the mountains. While driving up the mountains we saw more and more snow. We stopped at a place where I stopped on my first trip to New Zealand. It was in a Lake that is not that nice but this time it was frozen. We did not follow the indications that it was not a good idea to drive beyond a point and stopped there. I went walking to the lake and walked on it with some difficulties. Then I went back to the van and had a problem. It was stuck! It took a lot of effort to take it out because the ground was very slippery and there was a lot of snow that trapped the front wheels. After a while we managed to release it and drove safely.



Arthur’s pass looked a bit different than the first time. Maybe it was the weather that was so good. Anyway, we stopped for having a hot chocolate and continued driving. Some waterfalls were completely frozen and could be seen everywhere. We made a stop in a nice lookout. In there, we saw two keas (alpine parrots) that were looking for food. The view on there was very nice.



We planned to walk on the glacier on the next day, so we booked in an i-site at Greymouth. The guy in there helped us to find a place to have lunch. It was in a café. We had pizzas. Then we drove to Punakaki National Park for visiting the Pancake Rocks. We arrived in the afternoon so we saw the sunset after doing the walk. Then we just drove to the hotel in Franz Josef and slept.



15/07



We had breakfast in the hotel and rushed to the office of the glacier tours. We were the last ones and hurried up to take all our things. After putting on all the equipment that was needed we took their bus and arrived in Franz Josef glacier. We walked to the glacier and then we put on the shoe spikes for walking on it. The experience is amazing. Without them you would just slip and go to the bottom. The weather was also very good; it was perfect. After doing half of the walk we made a major stop and had some snacks before continuing. We continued and the guide took us to a warm hole. This is a hole in the glacier that has two exits. I was the only one in my family that went inside it. The hole was really small; I could barely fit in with all of my clothes on. I had to push myself to go to the other side of it. Then I just climbed up and went out. We continued walking and saw some blue ice on the way back. I really enjoyed this tour.



After the tour we went back to the small town and drove to Lake Matheson. It was a great day for going there because it was sunny. We did the walk and saw the snowed Southern Alps reflected on this mirror lake. We walked back and bought some food for lunch. We drove to Queenstown passing Wanaka and Hawea lakes. There was a lot of snow on the edge of the road. Once we arrived we saw the town and went to the hotel. We had dinner at the hotel and went to sleep.



16/07
We had a flight to Wellington early in the morning, so we did not have breakfast and went straight to the airport. The van that we rented had a thermometer and saw that it was -6 degrees outside! We got lost in the way to the airport and almost missed the flight. We arrived 20 minutes before the airplane was supposed to leave. Anyway, the flight was a bit delayed because it was frozen and they had to defreeze it. The view from the airplane window was amazing!



We had to make a transfer from plane to plane in Christchurch and almost missed this one! They waited just for us! Then we took off and I fell asleep. A few minutes later we were landing in Wellington. New Zealand’s capital is also beautiful. It is located south of the North Island, on a green and mountainous area. As soon as we arrived we took the other rented van and drove to lake Taupo. The weather was much warmer than in the South Island but felt a bit chilly. We had lunch in an Indian restaurant and continued driving. We saw the highest mountains of the North Island (Mt. Ruapehu) and loads of sheep! When we arrived to Taupo the weather was not that good; it was cloudy. It was a beautiful lake, but did not stop for too long because it was getting dark.



I drove to Rotorua where we planned to sleep. We did not realise but as soon as we got off the van we experienced a very unpleasant smell. Rotorua has the worst smell ever! Sulfur! I’d been told that it was this way but did not think it was that bad. Anyway, we left the things in the car and went to the town. We did not stay long there because it was almost impossible. Therefore, we decided to have dinner in one of the restaurants of the hotel. This time it was Japanese food. Then we just went to sleep because today we travelled a lot of kilometres (two flights and 6 hours driving).



17/07



We woke up and I went with my mother to Wai-O-Tapu National Park. My father stayed with my sister in the hotel because she was not ready and I wanted to see a geyser in action (only at 10:15am everyday). So, I drove to the national park that took us 20 minutes. We arrived just in time and saw Lady Knox geyser. We took some pictures and went back to pick up my father and sister and take them to the national park. We saw many craters and lakes in this park. Some were brilliant green, yellow, green, and others had the edge reddish. Everywhere there was smoke coming out of the ground. We also saw some mud pools as well.



After walking around all this national park we went to Te Puia National Park. In here we saw a Maori Village and our guide was Maori. This park was not as incredible as the other, but we learned some history of New Zealand. We also saw the biggest geyser in the Southern Hemisphere, which is Pohutu. What impressed me the most of this place was that we saw two kiwis (birds). They are huge! Then we drove to Auckland, making a stop somewhere to have lunch.



In Auckland we drove on the Harbour Bridge by mistake and then back to the city. It looks like if you were in Australia. Anyway, we found the hotel and left everything there and then went for a walk. By far the most interesting place to visit is the SkyTower. It is supposed to be taller than Sydney Tower but not on the deck where visitors actually go. Though, I really liked this tower. It has a glass floor on the lifts and on the deck. Then we walked a bit around the city centre and had dinner in another good restaurant in the hotel.



18/07
We were supposed to go around the city for a few minutes, but we were going to catch an international flight and could not do it. Therefore, we went straight to the airport getting lost in a place that was confusing and could not follow the signs. Anyway, we arrived in the airport and after 1.5 hours queuing for checking-in due to the inefficient work of the Air Tahiti Nui personnel, we could take our flight. Another bad thing of the flight was that it was delayed…