Greetings from Kiwi Land!

We arrived in Aukland, on the north island, on Wednesday and have been on the move ever since.  Our first impressions of New Zealand are of the spectacular green, rolling farmlands and cool, wet weather.

  

Kiwi bird

One of our first activities was a visit to the War  Memorial Museum which houses the largest collection of Polynesian artifacts in the world.

The Maori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand who arrived in the area between 1250-1300 A.D. Their warrior culture was thriving when Europeans began arriving in the 17th century.

After leaving  the museum, we spent time with Prince, a member of the local Maori tribe, and his wife who told us about some of their customs and modern-day challenges and served us golden kiwi and other snacks.  The kiwi was much sweeter than the ones we're used to. 

The traditional greeting is to touch noses twice.

A Final Look at Australia

*The first human habitation of Australia is estmated to have occurred 42,000-48,000 years ago by people from present Southeast Asia.
*In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia and claimed it for Great Britain.

Our hotel in Port Douglas

*Between 1768 and 1886, 162,00 people were transported to Australia from England as convicts to create numerous settlements. In 1788 the first fleet of 11 convict ships arrived at what was called Botany Bay, present-day Sydney.
*The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government.  Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia.  There are 3 branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial.

*Australia is one of the most expensive country's in the world to live in.  US $1 =AUS $1.25.  3 Krispy Kreme donuts cost Aus $10
A burger,  fries and a soft drink costs between AUS $15-20.
*The school year runs from February -December with 4 terms of approximately 10 weeks each.  The UN Education Index rates Australia first in the world along with Demmark and Finland. Government schools are free and educate 65% of the country's students.  Catholic and Independent schools educate 34%.

Bondi Beach, Sydney

*The socialized medical care is funded by a 1.5% tax on income over $15,000.

Sydney, our last stop

Sunday we flew to Sydney, our last stop in Australia before heading to New Zealand. Sydney is the capital of the state of New South Wales. Its population is about 4.6 million.  Because it is one of the most expensive cities to live in the world and the cost of the average home is 1 million dollars, about 75% of the dwellings are apartments.

It was settled as a penal colony (as was much of Australia) by England in the 18th century.  The city is best known for the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and fine beaches, to note a few.

Here are photos from Sydney.  (We've had beautiful weather, as you can see.)

Inside a mall

My crocodile burger.  Does NOT taste like chicken.  It was mild-tasting  and a bit salty. 

A special treat for us was a guided tour inside the Opera House.

Daintree Rainforest

On Saturday we went to the Daintree Rainforest which is near Port Douglas in the state of Queensland.

Area of The Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest 

We were very lucky to have had a private guided tour of an area of the forest that is located on private property.  The couple who own it were our guides and provided an amazing introduction to this "botanical Jurassic Park".  This Australian national park is the only place on earth where the forests are much like they were 100 million years ago.  The very first species of flowering plants bloomed here while dinasaurs roamed the earth.  A full 40% of plant species can be found here as well as a quarter of its reptiles, a fifth of its birds and a third of its marsupials and frogs.

Mel's photo

After the walk, we boarded a boat in search of the forest's elusive  crocodiles.

Mel's photo

The Great Barrier Reef

Thursday we made our way to Port Douglas in the state of Queensland.  On Friday we spent most of the day at the Great Barrier Reef.

I was trying to decide how to describe the Great Barrier Reef. I think our travel guide does a good job, so I'm going to quote pretty much verbatim from it. "The reef supports the most diverse ecosystem known to man, an ecosystem which has evolved over millions of years." The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world. It is larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on earth visible from space.

We took a boat out to a large pontoon where there were several options for exploring the reef.

The boat we took to the reef

These are views of the reef from the pontoon.

Mel and I snorkled.  Here's a photo of snorklers in the same area where we were.

Terri and Randall getting ready to snorkel

Our guide Darren snorkled with a Go Pro camera.  These are photos he took.

Giant clam