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Just after midnight, Saturday 8 June 

Wow!!!! 

Last morning

Ok so my addiction is getting worse. I've branched out to mocha; here they pronounce it "mucka". I don't care what they call them.....they're yummy, not as sweet as ours. And Rick had his flat white ;-). See the "silver fern" design in the cup on the right? It's the official symbol of NZ.

The Pacific

 

We took the city bus out to Sumner ('burb of Christchurch). It was a gloriously sunny day and we thought it a great way to spend our last full day on holiday.

The water was a bit chilly--cramping the feet chilly. 

Nothing but open ocean all the way to South America--opposite side from our recent visit to the Tasman Sea in Greymouth. The area has lots of those beautiful Norfolk Island pines.

Ended the day back in Christchurch at a great pizza & beer place in town. Travel to Sydney tomorrow.

Travel day

We are scheduled to leave Greymouth on the train at 12:45pm....back to Christchurch by 7pm tonight. It stopped raining--whew--but is still very cloudy. We'll see what we can see on the train :-)

No exaggeration, my amateur meteorological calculations estimate 5 inches of rain while we were here. It's a rain forest!! 

Here's a look at the view as we came east across the mountains. It was snowing and much colder than when we went west a few days ago.

Rainy day

So after the beach we went into town and found ourselves at James Speight's pub--yum! The perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon. Great beer, fish chowder, and the Stanley Cup playoffs on the tube. 

And out the window...

We walked along the flood wall of the Grey River towards the ocean. We didn't get all the way (raining too hard) but we could see the waves from the ocean coming back into the river...never saw that before. Rick said maybe the tide was coming in. Most tidal rivers I've seen just kind of flow into the ocean. From what we could see, it was more of a clash, not a flow :-)

We wandered around town a bit but it continues to RAIN so we came back "home" for hot showers. Time to chill. 

The Tasman Sea

Last night it rained all night--I mean RAINED!!! You could hear the waves crashing and the wind howling but we were comfy and cozy. And outside it's not nearly as cold as it sounds/looks, thank goodness.

This morning I had to see the Tasman Sea. It's a short walk from where we're staying. Open ocean all the way to the tip of South America...and it looked that way today. 

The stones on the beach--some of them are the green mountain jade the Maori people carve and used for traditional weapons. When they are dry they look like rocks but when wet (or polished) they are wonderful colors of green. 

Wonder how many rocks United Airlines will allow in my carry-on bag?

From Christchurch to Greymouth

This morning we set-off from Christchurch (East coast) to Greymouth (West coast) via he Tranz-Alpine rail.  

While we were at the train station we witnessed the most wonderful sunrise anyone could imagine.  The following photos were done with my I-Pad (no filters were used).

Here is a photo of us just before boarding.

The next set of photos show some of the beautiful scenery while en route.  We climbed from sea level to ___ meters (___ feet) above sea level.

Here is a photo of Chris enjoying the views.

We made several stops along the way to pick up passengers and for some photo shoots.  The trip across the "Southern Alps" is 300 km (200 miles). 

We spent much of the trip, especially the climb, on he "observation car."  It is open -- without windows -- and very windy (so much so that my woolen hat blew right off the train at about 60 mph). 

The views, however, were spectacular. 

And here is a picture overlooking one of the glacial rivers with a rainbow adding to the natural beauty of the landscape.

After coming down the mountains to sea level we spent the afternoon at our hostel which is the nicest one we have been at yet.  Unfortunately, it has been raining so we have not wandered too far from our lodging.  (In the meantime, I am already trying to figure out how I am going to carry Chris back onto the train on Tuesday because she already told that will not want to leave -- and we haven't even explored the town yet).

Rick

An unexpected surprise

Yesterday after first leaving our hostel we came across this familiar animal.  We are not sure if they are called "Canada Geese" down here or something else.  When we find out, you will be the first to know.  Rick

Rick at work

Here's a photo of our favorite blogger at work. We are in the re:start mall area, with our flat whites ;-)

Today is Saturday June 1. Rick just realized we go home in one week :-(

Christchurch NZ

Hi everyone, we are now on "holiday" in Christchurch NZ.  We had a great flight over the mountains, but unfortunately we were not quick enough to get a photo of the snow-capped "Southern Alps."  (We both had our cameras packed away in the overhead compartments.  Hopefully, we will get a couple photos on our return flight to Sydney when we leave.  We will make sure to take some photos when we travel across the "trans-Alpine" train on Sunday and Tuesday.  So stay tuned...)

In the meantime, we are staying at a "backpackers' hostel."  These are very interesting accommodations.  Chris and I first tried it when we visited Rotorua on the north island of NZ.  These hostels are all over AU and NZ.  They are budget accommodations where travelers can share dormitory type rooms with multiple people in one room with a shared bathroom or private rooms with private baths like we have.  Our rooms in both Rotorua and here in Christchurch are very nice.  The rooms have been very clean and the workers at them have been incredibly friendly and helpful.  The travelers and workers at these hostels tend to be young, most of which are either recent graduates of high schools or universities in Europe.  Many of them work for a few months at these hostels for rooms and a little pay before moving on to some other community.  Chris and I both wish we had known more about this when we finished undergraduate school.  Unfortunately, American college graduates do not take advantage of this opportunity to travel. I do not know if it is because they do not know about it or are just not interested.  I will have to ask some of my students when I get back.  In the meantime ... Christchurch.

If you recall, Christchurch was devastated by two earthquakes a little over two years ago.  These earthquakes hit about six months apart and leveled a major part of the CBD.  As a result, 83% of the CBD has been or will be razed.  The community has been devastated.  The people have said that everyone in the community knows someone who did not survive the quake.  The community, however, is determined to rebuild itself -- sadly, it is going to take a long time.  Some are saying it is going to take more than a generation.  Most of the streets in the CBD are empty as well as most of the stores.

Many of the buildings are completely gone.  In some cases they tried to save some of the historical aspects of the architecture by preserving the facades.  The city is filled with shipping containers that are being used for a variety of purposes -- and in this case to support one of the facades of a building (below).

In other parts of the city, the shipping containers have been used for a make-shift mall called the "re:start mall":

Sadly, one of the most familiar sites in Christchurch is the Anglican Cathedral located in the center of the town.  It managed to survive the first of the two earthquakes with some minor damage, but was severally damaged in the second.  The Anglican Church decided to raze it (after deconsecrating it), but the community wants to restore it to its former glory.  For now it sits quietly in disrepair...

After wandering around town for a bit longer, we decided to head for home (i.e., the hostel).  Along the way we came across a couple of interesting statues that survived the quake ...

First, James Cook who first discovered NZ ...

Next, Queen Victoria -- remember Christchurch is the most British-like of their colonies ...

And the Maori (Maw-dee) influence in the area ...

And one last picture of Chris this afternoon sitting in the warm sunshine at the shipping container mall. She is smiling because she is "officially on holiday."

Tomorrow we have a couple of trips around town planned so stay tuned.  Rick

World's Happiest Country

Did you see this? Australia was named "the happiest country", beating out Sweden and Canada, and the U.S.

You need to "cut and paste" this URL:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/28/business/oecd-quality-of-life/index.html?hpt=hp_c5

Aussie Aussie Aussie....oy oy oy

;-)

30 May, Sydney....time to go

It has been a wonderful experience, working with so many different folks across NZ and Australia. I find it hard to believe that my work responsibilities are done now ;-)  Many many thanks to the University of Newcastle's RIDBC Renwick Centre - Greg Leigh (Director) who approved this endeavor and Trudy Smith (Manager, Continuing Professional Education) for making all this possible. She organized all the presentations with a variety of entities. The Fulbright application process included a lot of paperwork and details. Trudy handled it all with aplomb. 

We will get up early tomorrow and Trudy will take us to the airport for the beginning of our holiday in NZ (beginning in Christchurch). 

I'm posting a few fun photos. Yesterday we took the bus into Parramatta to see the new Star Trek movie. Look at the photo of Rick at the bus station and look at the second photo, the lorikeet in the tree just above his head!! They are my favorites - such beautiful colors.

The cinema is in a 4-story mall. Look at the mega-screen....lots of advertisements. 

And just wanted to post 2 more photos - of course, my flat white which was served in a cup that said "coffee is my life" (how did the barrista know???). And the second, lemon-lime bitters....which will probably replace gin & tonic as my new favorite summertime drink ;-)

And last, this is building our flat is in, on the campus of RIDBC. The landscaping is lovely - especially the huge Norfolk Island pine trees - I used to have one as a potted plant back home!! I hear that the ones on Norfolk Island (sitting off the NE coast of Australia) are really huge.

So, time to wash some clothes, re-pack, clean up and move on. Hopefully, we will continue to have some access to wifi and will continue to post from NZ. We are due home in Rochester on Saturday night June 8 around midnight. The time has flown by!!!

Darling Harbour in Sydney

Today, after a quick breakfast with Chris, I headed down to Darling Harbour in Sydney.  This is a much smaller harbor adjacent to "Sydney Harbour" that everyone is familiar with because of the Opera House and Bridge.  And of course there is always something to force a change in the plans.

First, after going to the local 7-Eleven to purchase an all-day bus pass, the bus is half an hour late.  I did not say anything, but some of the other riders were not happy because they had to be places "on-time."  As for me, "no worries, mate."  So I arrived at the Parramatta Ferry Terminal with plenty of time to spare even enough time for a flat white.  Yum!  But within a couple minutes of the scheduled arrival of the ferry, an announcement is made that there is a work stoppage for the ferry and the ferry service (at least to Parramatta) would not be running until later in the afternoon.  Now the question is, do I return to North Rocks where Chris and I are staying, or attempt to make it to the train station for a long, slow (and somewhat confusing) ride into the CBD and Darling Harbour.  So I figure, what the heck ... Go for the train ride.

At the train station, I found a very helpful worker who gave me great directions.  So after arriving at the Town Hall, it is a fairly short walk down hill to Darling Harbour.  Once there (more than 2.5 hours after leaving our flat in North Rocks), it is a very pretty place.  It is quite touristy.  This is where the Sydney Convention Centre is located...

As well as the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Centre...

And the National Marine Museum...

One of things I did enjoy was the Monorail.  Sadly, it is in its last month of existence.  For a long time, the city was known for it but tourist have stopped using it.  In fact, the couple who shared a car with me were an elderly pair from Queensland AU who had never been on it and wanted to do it before they ended the service.  I did two laps around the CBD on it.

And after wandering around some more along the docks, it was time for me to head home.  Fortunately, the ferry service was up and running so I had (possibly) my last ride up the Parramatta River.  This is what a "river cat" looks like if you have not seen an earlier picture.   I think a couple of these on the Erie Canal would be great for tourism, and help cut down on the traffic in and out of Rochester.  ;-)

Here is a final photo of me heading up the Parramatta River for the last time.  You can see the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

And after a series of meetings for Chris today (while I played), tonight we had a wonderful Chinese dinner with Trudy and a new friend, Breda.  (I certainly put the three of them -- Chris, Trudy, and Breda -- through the paces having: (1) Chris sign ASL to Breda and interpret back to Trudy and me in English, (2) Trudy sign Auslan to Breda and interpret back to Chris and me in English, and (3) have Breda flip back and forth between ASL and Auslan.  Too bad we did not get all of that on film.  :-)

Well ... that is it for another episode of "Chris and Rick 'Down Under."  Stay tuned ... as our return trip to Sydney is starting to wind down.  Rick