The day we started our honeymoon trip to NZ and AUS. We were all keyed up and excited since we’d been waiting for a year to go on this trip. We got into our rental cruiser car and headed off to LA. Got there a bit late due to lots of traffic, but finally boarded our long 12.5 hour flight to NZ.
Saturday, Nov 18’th, 2006:
Now what did we do on the 17’th? Well, we lost it over the pacific ocean on our flight to NZ. Quantas airlines was really nice.
The inhouse entertainment was pretty decent and I didn’t have to open any of my 4 books and Saritha didn’t play Sudoku till we landed in Auckland.
We went through customs at Auckland and boarded our connecting flight to CHC. CHC looks very English, with most houses with sloped roofs. Saritha liked the sing-song, very British sounding voice that the ‘Kiwis’ have to their accent. We then got to our distinctly English (Tudor) styled hotel, had lunch and slept for a couple of hours before heading off to explore CHC downtown. It started raining soon and we were soon forced indoors into a very nice café. After finally managing to get hands on an “all black” umbrella (rugby fans :-)), we walked to cathedral square. And guess what cuisine we went to for dinner? (This should be a question to test whether someone knows Saritha well). Of course, Thai, with a smile, i.e Thai Smile. (Imagine Saritha saying “Of course”, you’ll get the picture). The tom-kha tasted awesome after all that wandering in the cold. And then we headed back to the hotel (desi cab driver) as it was too cold outside and we were feeling a bit tired after the long flight…..
Sunday, Nov 19’th, 2006
Started bright and early with a nice cup of awesome English coffee. We went to the Gondola ride by Lyttelton harbor which was incredibly scenic from top. 
We then headed back to downtown CHC. We got off near Hagley park which is the 4’th largest park in the world. Lots of greenery, no wonder CHC is called the city of gardens of the world. Saw lawn tennis courts for the first time. Saritha really liked the rose garden which had possibly all colors a rose could possibly be in (yes, purple and pink too, brought back gruesome memories of Abhishek Bacchan’s weird choice of colors). We then walked through most of downtown CHC, ate fish ‘n chips by the roadside. We also ate awesome desi food in the Asian food court, thanks to a desi uncle we met on the bus.
We then took the southern encounter trip near Cathedral square. The only thing worthwhile was the two kiwis we saw in the dark. We were taken into a dark room which had recreated the nocturnal lifestyle of the kiwi. We were asked not to make any noises or take any pictures to avoid disturbing the kiwis.
We also searched around a bit for all black apparel that Raaghu wanted. All souvenir shops near downtown were really expensive. Then walked back to the hotel and sat in a hot sauna (not spa) for the first time. Strangely, the pain in our legs vanished after sitting for 5 mins in that wooden enclosure trying to figure out how it works. We then went back for awesome gourmet fish ‘n chips for dinner and called it a day.
Monday, Nov 20’th 2006.
We started at 7 by boarding the Great Sights bus to Mt Cook. The bus ride was really nice. Watched NZ countryside in all it’s splendour. The bus driver was really informative. Learnt that NZ was a pretty new country and the very first ‘settlers’ from England came here in 1850. The driver was pretty diverse in his monologue and talked about a wide range of subjects ranging from astronomy to the political mistakes by past NZ govts.
We saw Lake Tekapi on the way which was crystal clear blue. There was another desi couple in the bus who continued desis already tarnished reputation of making people wait during bus stops. The drive to Mt Cook was really scenic. Saw Lake Pukaki which was “milky blue” in color, simply the best lake I’ve ever seen. We then landed at the Hermitage and rushed quickly to our prebooked jet boat ride on the Tasman Glacier. That was the first time that we were seeing an actual glacier. The trip was really superb. Walked on an iceberg and plucked crystals from glaciers. The water was milky brown (due to rocks grinding against the icy glaciers). Learnt quite a bit about glaciers too. For instance, the top of a glacier is called a Nuvae. And glaciers actually move!!! The whole environment is pretty dynamic as the glacier keeps melting and sometimes shears off, causing the water levels to rise.
Then returned back to our beautiful hotel which has an awesome view of Mt Cook. Food here is very limited in choice and extremely expensive. Saritha though is out on a mission, to drive the fish population here to extinction. Fish ‘n chips again for her.
Tuesday, Nov 21’st, 2006
Can smell more fish ‘n chips being reheated in the background as I write this section looking at the beautiful sunrise from our chalet window at Mt Cook. I got up at 5.30 am (can u believe it !!!) to see the sunrise. It was really superb. More to come later as we’re off to do some hiking nearby. 
The hiking to Hooker valley near Mt Cook was awesome. We hiked for 4 hours and crossed 2 draw bridges (those bridges with wooden planks across freezing water 30-40 feet below). The most awesome thing we saw and heard were the two avalanches on Mt Sutton near Mt Cook. We could see massive chunks of snow come crashing down with a huge rumbling sound. The sight of Mt Cook at the end by the lake was simply breathtaking. We then caught the bus to Queenstown and reached there in the evening. Walked around queenstown downtown and ate food at this nice Indian restaurant, Sheyas (after all the bad food at Mt Cook).
Wednesday, Nov 22’nd, 2006
We started really early for our trip to Milford Sound. This is located in the southwest part of NZ and is called fiordland. 
The Milford fiord is the place where the surrounding glacial ice melts and meets the Tasman Sea. The drive to the place was very scenic. We crossed tropic of Capricorn. Saw so many waterfalls along the way which was basically snow melting from the snow-capped mountains. The cruise was awesome with a nice buffet lunch. 
The highlight was the huge waterfalls under which the cruise ship stood for 10-20 mins.
Thursday, Nov 23’rd, 2006
The Dart River Safari started at 12.00 noon and so we could wake up late in the morning.
This safari involved getting on a jet boat and speeding across the dangerous and choppy dart river at 45 kmph. The driver, Dion, was pretty crazy too. He would drive as if he was attacking the rocks and turn away at the last moment. This was a 1.5 hour drive through 38 kms of the dart river and this really got our adrenaline going. Jet boats were invented in NZ and they are strange, coz they don’t have a propeller. It’s basically a pump fitted with a V8 engine. Got sprayed with a lot of water too. 
After the ride, we were then taken on a small walk into the heart of fiordland. We entered the partially hollow stump of a tree which was 900 years old !! Wow, that tree has seen quite a bit….We then headed back early in the evening to Queenstown and decided to exploit NZ’s awesome Indian restaurants for the third time in a row. But little India, the restaurant we went to, was disappointing.
Friday, Nov 24’th, 2006
Said bye to Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu, the lake that breathes. There’s a nice story by the Mauris, the native people of NZ as to how that lake was formed. Supposedly, there was this huge giant who used to trouble the Mauris. One day, he kidnapped the chief’s daughter. So the chief offered his daughter in marriage to whoever freed her from the giant and got her back safetly. There was one guy who was previously rejected by the chief for marrying his daughter. This guy knew the giant’s trade secret, i.e he slept when the western winds blew fierce. So he went across the mountains, killed the giant and got the girl back (Hindi movie story, with lots of potential for lots of songs) and lived happily ever after. Poor giant was killed by setting him on fire. This melted the snow caps and fell into the hollow in the land created by the giant’s dead body and that’s how Lake Wakatipu was formed.
We then took the long bus ride to Franz Joseph Glacier. The drive again was very scenic, especially along the west coast near Tasman sea and near the Haast pass. The bus was right next to the sea at one point with no barrier separating the waves from the bus. The drive through Haast pass felt as if we were driving through clouds that were crying (waterfalls all around). We then went to our beautiful accommodation at Glenfern villas which was this nice house with an awesome view outside. Also, caught up on some Ashes cricket too..:-). We then took the shuttle to Franz Joseph glacier and saw the glacier from far as the rain had blocked off access to the walkways and we didn’t have that much time too. 
We went back and Saritha finally yielded to her desire of cooking again, looking at the awesome kitchen. J So she made some chicken curry and we had that.
Saturday, Nov 25’th 2006
Started from Franz Joseph on a wet Saturday morning. We met two girls on the bus to Greymouth. They were pretty talkative. We then caught the Tranz Alpine train from Greymouth to CHC. That train ride was very scenic. It went through a lot of tunnels way up in the mountains. And saw some glaciers and lots of waterfalls, which seems to be the backdrop for most of southern NZ. We then landed in CHC in the evening, ate dinner at the aweosome thai restaurant, Ann’s Thai and crashed for the day.
Sunday, Nov 26’th 2006.
The time to bid goodbye to beautiful NZ had finally come. We went out in the morning hunting for souvenirs. I found a Kookoburra cricket ball J. And we brought some nice Mauri arrows too. Then caught the long flight to Cairns (CNS), Australia. I could see the Ashes fever all around me, even TV screens at the airport were showing the first test live. Landed in CNS at night @ the colonial club resort. 
Monday, Nov 27’th 2006.
This was our vacation day from our vacation, i.e the day of no activity. This day really rejuvenated us. Even doing laundry was not so boring after all. We walked around a bit near the lagoon area of downtown CNS and also planned a bit as to what would be the best way to see Great Barrier Reef, the main reason we came to see Australia. 
Tuesday, Nov 28’th, 2006.
Our first day of activity in Aus. We headed off to Green Island, a nice island just off the coast of CNS which is part of the inner barrier reef. The cruise to Green island was very nice. We could see why it was called Green Island. The entire island looked as if it was surrounded by emeralds from far. We then landed on the island and I snorkeled for the first time ever.
I was amazed by the amount of biodiversity lying beneath on the ocean floor. Though I didn’t go too far off into the ocean as I hadn’t got a life jacket, whatever little I saw gave me the urge to go back and explore the outer barrier reef which was supposed to be more beautiful and diverse.
We then boarded the glass boat which gave us a nice view of the marine life and corals around Green island. The best one was the ‘sucker fish’ which just kept attaching itself to the glass boat. After having lunch, Saritha decided to have a go at snorkeling. She actually managed to float a bit and was enjoying it before some water entered her nose and she really panicked. (For those interested, I can give a demo of how she panicked J)
We then headed back to our resort (the return cruise was really peaceful), relaxed a bit by the poolside before calling it a day.
Wednesday, Nov 29’th 2006.
We did the Kuranda rainforest trip this day. Started early in the morning and took the train to Kuranda village. The train stopped inbetween at Barron falls which looked pretty spectacular. We then did the jungle walk in Kuranda before taking the skyrail cable back to CNS. The skyrail cable ride was pretty awesome and gave us a nice aerial view of the rainforest. This is the longest skyrail cable in the world (about 7 kms) and is a testimonial to the amazing engineering work done. This skyrail was built by ripping out the trees and replanting them right next to the skyrail with minimal loss of flora. We then went to Tjapukai (pronounced as Ja-bu-gai) village which showcases the aboriginal culture of the Tjapukai people. This was a nice experience. We got to throw spears and boomerangs. And I played the Didgeridoo (Di-giri-doo) on my first try. This is a long, hollow wind instrument which produces a deep, resonating sound. I want to buy one to replace the alarm clock (would love to wake up Saritha on weekends using it J)
Saritha has actually given up on me on our honeymoon trip as I announced plans of staying back and joining the Tjapukai people
Thursday, Nov 30’th 2006.
We started early in the day and took the scenic bus drive to Port Douglas. From there, we took the QuickSilver cruise to the Agincourt Outer Barrier reef. We reached there and took the semisubmersile boat that gave us a glimpse of the amazing biodiversity at the outer reef. It’s a whole new world out there. For people who’ve seen ‘Finding Nemo’, this is the real deal. Looks every bit as colourful.
We then did the oceanwalker trip which involved wearing a helmet and walking on a ramp 4.5 meters (13-14 ft) under water. We enjoyed this experience. We got to touch a sea cucumber and were swarmed with a huge fleet (???) of fish, which we got to touch.
I then went off snorkeling. Since I had a life jacket on, I could venture pretty far off and could see most of what was shown in the semisubmersile. To put it simply, this was one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever done in my life.
We then headed back to downtown Cairns and had food at a decent Indian restaurant, Spicy bites.
Friday, Dec 1’st 2006
Time to bid goodbye to Cairns. Got up in the morning and wrote most of what we did over the past few days sitting by the resort pool. More to come later on…
Reached Sydney at 8 in the evening. Our hotel, Hotel Ibis, is overlooking Darling Harbor which looked beautiful. We took a nice walk around Darling Harbor taking in the Friday night party atmosphere.
Saturday, Dec 2’nd 2006
We started exploring places in and around Darling harbor by taking the monorail. We first went to downtown Sydney and walked around Queen Victoria building. We then went to the Wild animal park, saw some creepy insects, reptiles, wallabies (which is a marsupial like the kangaroo) and the sleepy koalas. We then went to Paddy’s market and looked around for some souvenirs. Then went to the opal cutters place in downtown Sydney and brought some rare solid black opals. Saritha got her anniversary gift too J
We then went back for a while to our hotel and then headed off to Chinatown, walked around there a bit and then headed all the way back across Darling harbor. We saw some fireworks and just missed the night show by the latest Australian Idol (yeah, they have the singing program down under too).
Sunday, Dec 3’d 2006
This was our day to explore most of Sydney using the red Sydney Explorer and the blue Bondi explorer buses. We saw circular quay, opera house, harbor bridge, king’s cross before hopping off the bondi explorer at Bondi beach. We soon realized why Bondi beach is one of the most famous beaches of the world. The long scenic walk hugging the coastline gave us some astounding aerial views of Bondi beach. We walked all the way till the next beach seeing some nice limestone rocks on the way. I haven’t seen a much more scenic beach than this one. We then hopped off at the Sydney Cricket Ground which was closed for inside tours as it was a Sunday. I however saw a guy who looked like a celebrity I had seen before. I initially thought he was some Australian cricketer who was not on the main team. He actually waved back to us, since we were pretty much the only other people there at the stadium. And also honked his car at us and waved to us again on his way out of the stadium. Maybe he had a bet with his girlfriend as to whether we recognized him or not. Later on the next day, after seeing his photograph, I realized it was Robbie Williams, the former lead singer of Take That !!!. He was due to perform at the Aussie stadium the next weekend.
On our way back, Saritha decided that my wedding anniversary gift would be a tour of the Sydney Cricket ground the next day. I was thrilled on hearing that J, and after repeated confirmations as to whether she wouldn’t be bored by it, we decided that we would take the tour the next day.
We then headed back tired to our hotel and tried to be a bit adventurous by opting for Nepali and Indo Chinese food. That put us off chicken for the next few days.
Monday, Dec 4’th, 2006
We started off by heading to the cricket ground. I enjoyed each and every moment of the tour. We first saw replicas of pitches from all over the ground which the main cricketers use before touring to get used to the foreign conditions. Then walked to the adjoining Aussie stadium which hosts rugby matches. It also hosted some soccer matches during the Sydney Olympics. And it was being prepared for Robbie Williams show this weekend.
We then walked back to the cricket stadium and entered the members pavilion which has a lot of history behind it. Walked into the Aussie dressing room and saw the old fashioned table at which the cricketers hold their team meetings. Then saw the dressing room lockers. Glenn McGrath had made a reservation himself by autographing one of the lockers.
We then walked onto the pitch and saw it being rolled in preparation for the next Pura cup match. The final ashes test there was still a month away.We then took the 3d tour in the museum which was very well presented. Lots of cricket memorabilia like Bradmoan’s bat, ashes urn replica etc were over there.
After the nice experience at the SCG, we went on the ferry cruise to Olympic park, host of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.(I was making this into a sporting venues day..:-). But couldn’t go to the main village as we didn’t have much time and the village was a long walk away from the ferry dropoff. We then headed back to downtown where we saw the premier of the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale. We saw a red carpet event for the first time. Recognised Daniel Craig, who’s the new 007. We then went to Sydney towers and took a final aerial view of the beautiful city.
Then had our wedding anniversary dinner at Blue Fish, the awesome Italian restaurant with a nice view of Darling harbor. We had one of the best Italian food we’ve ever had.
Tuesday, Dec 5’th. 2006
Bye bye to Sydney and back to USA. End of the best trip of our lives.
posted by Saritha at 7:44 PM
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