Post of Cuteness

Marathoning

For a few months now, Daniel has been training for the Hong Kong Marathon. Somehow, with his busy work schedule, he manages to find time to run 5ks and 10ks several times a week. The weekends are reserved for long runs. The longest of which had him running 20 miles between Tung Chung and Sunny Bay (round trip) with me following on a bicycle.

Race day is coming up in just about a week. Go Daniel!

Farewell Australia & New Zealand

The final stop (sniffle, sniffle) on our cruise was Tauranga, New Zealand. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful last day. The weather was warm and sunny. We decided to visit Mount Mauao (aka the mountain of many vowels) and enjoy the amazing scenery.

After our hike I decided that I needed more of a workout so I started lifting weights by the beach.

Our final day was a very relaxing one. A perfect way to end our trip. We left that evening for Auckland, New Zealand, where we disembarked and made our way back to Hong Kong via Sydney. 

We loved Australia and New Zealand. Where else can you climb the arches of a bridge, shear a goat, ride on a Puffing Billy, hug kangaroos, drink a cup of liquid chocolate, find yourself in an Antarctic wind storm and climb mountains all in one vacation? We are very happy we had the chance to visit while living in Hong Kong. 

This t-shirt pretty much sums it up! 

Hip - hop - hip - hop - apotomus

Year of the Tiger

We celebrated Chinese New Year in three ways:
(1) Playing Mario on the Wii
(2) Checking out the fireworks from Daniel's office building
(3) Visiting Disneyland which was decorated for Chinese New Year

It was a really fun break and great way to ring in the "Year of the Tiger."

Gung Hei Fat Choy!

Christchurch and Antarctica all in one day!

The next stop on the Diamond Princess was Christchurch, New Zealand. We decided to explore this port on our own rather than book an excursion with the ship.  We had a very busy plan for the day!

Daniel was training for the marathon during the trip. As part of his training he does a "long run" every weekend to build up to the 26.2 miles. He decided he'd do his long run in Christchurch. I think he was getting a little bored running around the ship deck so many times. So we made a plan. We wanted to visit the Antarctic Museum in the morning. We'd love to visit all seven continents during our travels, but I know that Antarctica might be a challenge. Unless Daniel signs up for this marathon. So until then we'll visit the Antarctic museum.  New Zealand is only about 2500 km away from the frozen continent. After the museum, which is located a bit outside of the main part of town (near the airport actually), we wanted to meet up and explore the center of Christchurch. So we'd travel to the museum together and after our visit Daniel would run into town and meet me there.

So that morning soon after the ship docked, we arrived in central Christchurch to buy our tickets to the museum and hopped on the "Penguin Express." Twenty minutes later we arrived and began exploring.

One of the coolest exhibits was "The Storm." We saw a blinking sign alerting us to the next storm in 20 minutes and we had to see what was going on. We layered up in the jackets, snow boots, and gloves they provide at the door and we entered an icy room with an igloo and some other fun stuff. It was freezing in there!! But the storm hadn't even started yet.

Once the storm started, the wind started howling and the temperature dropped significantly. We huddled close together to keep warm. This is what I looked like during most of the storm. Growing up in Buffalo should have prepared me for this! The storm was supposed to simulate a "warm" spring day in Antarctica. Yikes.

After the storm passed we left to explore the rest of the museum. They had some very cool exhibits, including a log showing pictures and temperature readings every day for the past year from scientists doing research in Antarctica. They also had the Penguin Encounter, where you could watch a feeding and get very close to these adorable blue penguins. The penguins were rescued because they all have injuries and couldn't survive in the wild.

After exploring the museum, Daniel left on foot and I hopped on the Penguin Express to get back into town. I actually had to make a trip back to the cruise ship before Daniel and I would meet up again. Since we knew he was going for a run, we packed very lightly for the day and instead of bringing our wallet and purse we just took some cash. We sort of underestimated the cost of the Antarctic Center (and didn't check the cost beforehand DOH!) so we only had enough money with us for admission to the museum and one trip back to the ship on the bus. Daniel would have run back to the ship but there was a tunnel on the way that did no allow pedestrians. Lesson learned - always bring a credit card just in case!

In the end, our plan worked out and Daniel and I met up again and explored Christchurch before the day drew to a close and we made our way back to the Diamond Princess.

Chocolate is a Divine Drink

When browsing through the shore excursions on the Princess cruises website before our trip, there was one that stood out immediately and we signed up for right away. In Dunedin, NZ they offered a trip to the Cadbury chocolate factory. How could you pass up that opportunity?!

Our ship docked in Dunedin in the early morning but there was a delay in getting everything set up at the port. We arrived in one of the the lounges to meet with our group for the day's excursion but they were not ready to go at the appointed time. We hung out in the lounge and snuck up to the buffet to get some extra food in the meantime. The more elderly crowd on the ship was not quite as patient as we were. We kept being told as soon as the bridge was set up to exit the ship and our bus was ready we'd be on our way. After about 20-30 minutes the "older" crowd got tired of waiting. Some of them started shouting "what's going on?" and "why aren't we going?" and a bunch of them started this slow clap. Not sure what that was supposed to do! Not to be rude, but these people are retired and are on vacation for most of the year at this point in their lives. What exactly are they in a hurry for?  I heard one guy come up to the poor lady in charge of organizing the group and yelling at her. Apparently, he really loves chocolate. We found the whole scene quite amusing, especially the clapping. We started randomly breaking into slow claps throughout the rest of the trip. Anyway, soon enough we were on our way and we didn't miss any of the day's planned activities.

We arrived at the Cadbury building and took a factory tour. We weren't allowed to bring cameras on the tour with us. I think because we might take pictures and start producing Cadbury chocolate in our apartment at home. The tour included several free samples (including a cup of melted chocolate, yummy) along the way and we were given chocolate as prizes for every question we answered correctly during the tour. Score!

We entered one building towards the end of tour where almost everything was covered in chocolate. The carpet and the winding staircase we took to the top of the room had chocolate splattered everywhere. It looked like there had been some kind of chocolate explosion. When we reached the top we found out this building contained their "chocolate fountain." The guide turned on a machine and a huge waterfall of chocolate poured from the top all the way to the bottom of the building, splattering everything along the way with chocolate. This included people if they stood too close to the fountain. They don't actually make anything with the chocolate in this fountain. It is purely there for the delight of the tourists.

After our tour we were free to explore the museum part of the building which took us through the history of Cadbury chocolate making. Here we are sampling one of the raw cocoa beans..

And hoping to catch a ride in the Cadbury car!

The final stop was the gift shop where we picked up chocolate to take home with us. Then, we boarded the bus to explore the rest of Dunedin. On the way out we each received a giant Cadbury chocolate bar as a parting gift. It was awesome!

After visiting Cadbury we took a scenic tour of Dunedin. One of the highlights was the old railroad station, where we stopped to explore for a while.  Overall this was a pretty sleepy town. Most of the towns in NZ are quite small in terms of population. The entire country only has around 4 million people (crazy if you compare that to the population of just Manhattan!) and you can go through huge stretches of pretty much unpopulated areas.  Part of this is due to the fact that it is literally in the middle of nowhere. The closest neighbors are Australia and Antarctica and both are a considerable distance away.  The country is incredibly beautiful though and part of the appeal is that it is not crowded or overpopulated. 

Notice my lovely new Cadbury visor? I wore purple that day in honor of our Cadbury visit. :-) We had a great day in the quiet town of Dunedin and had our chocolate fix for the rest of the trip. 

Fjordland National Park

After we left Hobart in Australia, we had two very restful days at sea before we arrived in New Zealand. Our first stop in New Zealand wasn't technically a "stop." We did some scenic cruising through Fjordland National Park. Specifically, we visited Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, and Dusky sound. The Fjords and the park as a whole are a World Heritage Site.

We arrived early in the morning and were pretty much cruising through one Sound or another for most of the day. The scenery was amazing and there were so many great vantage points on the ship. At the beginning of the day on our first stop in Milford Sound, we picked up some breakfast and juice and sat in the lounge at the very back of the ship.

Fjord watching can make you very thirsty..

We really enjoyed relaxing on the decks and hanging out in the lounges on the ship and taking in the beautiful natural surroundings. The ship was offering delicious hot drinks and blankets to keep everyone one warm. It was a little bit chilly in New Zealand, especially when compared to the warm summer weather in Australia. 

Daniel is training for a marathon and was training while we were on the trip. He had been running around the deck while the ship was at sea. The great thing about the scenic cruising day was that he had something very beautiful to look at while he ran around the deck over and over!

Kangas and Koalas and Devils Oh My!

                                        

After Melbourne our ship headed to Hobart, Tasmania for the last Australian stop on our cruise. Tasmania is located below the main continent and is Australia's only island state. We visited the lovely city of Hobart. The city has a pretty small population and our tour guide portrayed a very laid back and quiet existence there.  We took a guided tour around the city and then made our way to Bonorong Park for what I would consider one of the highlights of our entire vacation. I knew that we would be seeing kangaroos and koalas at the park, but I had no idea how many kangaroos we would see and how close we would be able to be with them. The entire park was filled with kangaroos! I loved watching them hop around. We were able to feed and pet the kangaroos, which was very cool.

We even saw a little baby in a mother's pouch!!

It is funny because we talked to several Australians during the cruise about how thrilled we were to see the kangaroos. They laughed because to them kangaroos are not only not terribly exciting (because they are everywhere), they are also a big nuisance. They run out into traffic and cause car accidents the way deer do in the United States. For this reason you will see many "Kangaroo crossing" signs on the Australian highways.  

After our visit with the roos we visited a very famous resident of Tasmania. Can you guess who it is?

Last but certainly not least we visited with this cute and fuzzy little koala. Everyone was crowded around him and wanted to pet him. I was surprised that he seemed so calm with all of the attention so I asked the park ranger if koalas like people petting them. He said that if you pet them near their head they can get angry and bite a chunk out of your hand. As he was saying this I saw people walking up to the koala and petting his head! When it was my turn to visit Mr. Koala I kept my hand far from his head just in case. He really was very cute so I think maybe it was worth the risk of a koala bite. 

We had an amazing day at Bonorong and were talking about it for the rest of the trip. I would have brought a little kangaroo home if I could, but I don't think it would have cleared customs. I highly recommend this park if you are in Hobart!

Home Home on the Stead

The first stop on our Australia/New Zealand cruise was Melbourne, Australia in the State of Victoria (Sydney is in New South Wales). We decided to book one of the ship's shore excursions at this port of call. We chose to visit the Warrook Homestead and ride on the Puffing Billy, which is an authentic steam gauge engine still being run a little bit outside of Melbourne.

We had a busy day at the Homestead...

Feeding the calves

Herding sheep

BAAAAAAA....

and then watching those sheep go for a haircut....

Post haircut, looking very sheepish

After a busy morning we had a delicious lunch on the farm (surprisingly it wasn't lamb!) and were given some time to explore on our own.  We used our time to make some new friends.

After our farm adventure, we left to ride on the Puffing Billy steam engine. The Puffing Billy train line was built in the early 1900's and used to settle the rural land in Victoria. After a landslide covered part of the track and newer technology was developed, the Puffing Billy was closed down and nearly torn up. Then a group of volunteers organized to keep the train running and preserve the Puffing Billy. Today it is a very popular tourist attraction. We rode on the train for one stop and although it was a bit smokey (they don't call him Puffing Billy for nothing), we had a fabulous time hanging out (quite literally) and enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way. 

Billy was really steamed about something!

We're on a Boat (again.. but this time a really big one)!

On our third day in Sydney, we boarded the Diamond Princess for our twelve day cruise! We love cruises for many reasons. Since this could very well be our only trip to Australia/NZ, we wanted to see as many cities as possible during our trip. On a cruise, you can visit many different cities and even countries without having to take multiple flights and unpack your bags. You board the ship at the beginning and can relax the rest of the vacation. We even enjoy the days that the boat is at sea because you can relax and enjoy the activities they offer on the ship.

Then of course there is the food. Obscene amounts of it. On our honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean we had breakfast, at least one lunch, afternoon nachos, dinner at the fancy restaurant, and ice cream every day. And sometimes the midnight buffet or room service. On this Diamond Princess cruise our eating habits were similar except that they did not have a nacho bar and the ice cream was soft serve (boo!). They had amazing slices of pizza to make up for it though. So yeah, we ate well during our cruise on the Diamond Princess. However, we also ran every day on the treadmill, around the deck, and sometimes even onshore. The more you work out, the more you can eat! :-)

Late night snack delivered to the room. Hey, there's a salad in there so it's healthy!

Dinner at the fancy restaurant on the first night

The ship was docked in Sydney Harbor right next to the bridge and opera house. So we spent the first night before the boat took of enjoying night views of the city from the deck.  We were so excited to continue exploring Australia plus all of the fun things to do on the cruise ship. Next stop - Melbourne!!