Category: An Odyssey Down Under: Australia & New Zealand

An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand Day 20

Tuesday, February 25

We spent the morning at the Taronga Zoo. It is Australia’s largest zoo and is located on the shores of Sydney Harbour. It was founded in 1916 and consists of approximately 69 acres. We were in smaller groups for our tour of the zoo with one of the zoo’s docents.

  • The entrance to the zoo
  • Our guide

Just a few of the many animals that we visited at the zoo!

  • Koala
  • Koala
  • Koala
  • Platypus
  • Tasmanian Devil
  • Fiordland Penguin
  • Fiordland Penguin
  • Fiordland Penguins
  • Fiordland Penguin
  • Fiordland Penguin
  • The various penguin species
  • Emu
  • Tree Kangaroo
  • Zoo keeper talk for our group
  • Black-necked Stork
  • Tuatara
  • Southern Cassowary

From the zoo we had a great view of Sydney across the harbour.

Looking at Sydney from the Zoo.

We took the ferry from the zoo to cross the harbour. We then had a tour of the Sydney Opera House! Our tour was hurried because security was being put in place because the Israeli prime minister was attending the opera this evening. No photos are allowed in the 11 various theaters .

  • One of the lobbies
  • Looking up toward the ceiling

It was great to have the tour this afternoon because this evening we are attending the opera, “Don Giovanni” in the Joan Sutherland theater! At intermission you are permitted to take photos.

  • Our group!
  • We’re ready to see Don Giovanni!
  • The balcony in the theater.
  • Our seats on the main floor, row K!

It was an evening we won’t forget!

An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand Day 19

Monday, February 24

Our morning started with a lecture by a history teacher that shared with us all about Australia’s past and some of her family history as well, which was interesting because of the convicts on her husband’s side.

After the lecture we boarded our motorcoach for an exploration of the City of Sydney and its eastern suburbs. Our first stop was Dudley Page Reserve which is a park in Dover Heights.

We also stopped at The Gap which is an ocean cliff on the South Head peninsula and it faces the Tasman Sea. It is located in Watsons Bay which is another eastern suburb.

Macquarie Lighthouse

The original Macquarie Lighthouse was built in 1818. A replacement was built on the original site in 1883 and it continues to operate.

Bondi Beach was where we had lunch and enjoyed the views! Bondi Beach is one of the best beaches in the world. There were a lot of people enjoying the sand and surf!

  • Bondi Beach
  • Bondi Beach
  • North Bondi RSL- for lunch
  • Bondi Beach

Our afternoon was free. We went back to Sydney and Kay got ready to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was a beautiful afternoon and warm. It was a highlight for Kay during our stay in Sydney.

  • looking at others who are doing the climb
  • the entrance
  • on our way up
  • Here we go!
  • at the top of the bridge
  • part of the way
  • Sweating but so happy!
  • I did it!
  • My certificate!
  • Stats about the Bridge Climb.

We rode public transportation to get to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

Our ride!

Dinner was on our own this evening. We used an app to find a restaurant that offered a gluten free menu. We walked from our hotel to King Street Wharf at Darling Harbour where we enjoyed a delicious Italian meal sitting outside on the patio at Casa.

An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand Day 18

Sunday, February 23

Our morning started with a lecture giving us an introduction and overview of Sydney. Then we boarded our motorcoach that took us down near Sydney Harbour and our site coordinator led us on a walking tour. We were excited to get our first glimpse of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

  • First glimpse of the Sydney Opera House
  • First glimpse of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
  • looking back at Sydney

On our walk we passed by the Writer’s Walk. There are 60 circular metal plaques along the path. They honor the lives and works of well-known Australian writers and some overseas authors. Each plaque contains quotes from one of the author’s notable works and some information about the author.

Sydney Writer’s Walk

From there we strolled to The Rocks which is Sydney’s oldest historic neighborhood of laneways.

  • Statue of William Bligh- the 4th Governor of New South Wales
  • Cadmans Cottage- a former water police station and sailor’s home, built in 1816

The Rocks was the first European colony and was established in 1788 when ships filled with convicts came from England to settle the colony of New South Wales.

“First Impressions”
A sandstone relief created by Bud Dumas in 1979 as a memorial to the convicts, soldiers, and settlers of The Rocks

We also passed through the Nurse’s Walk. The Nurse’s Walk was created in 1979 to honor the nurses that worked in the hospitals in this area in the late 1700s and early 1800s. It runs into Suez Canal which is a laneway that was constructed in 1840 and it was an area where the street gang, Rocks Push, would hang out.

We walked up several flights of stairs and then down a street to the Australian Hotel for lunch. It is one of the oldest pubs in The Rocks.

  • Australian Hotel
  • The meat on the left side of the pizza is kangaroo!

After lunch we had a cruise on the Sydney Harbour! It was a relaxing afternoon with beautiful scenery.

  • We had this room and the front of the boat just for our group.
  • Sydney Opera House
  • Sydney Opera House
  • Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge
  • Sydney
  • Pinchgut- the island originally was called Rock Island
  • Circular Quay in the distance
  • Sailing in the Harbour
  • Opening to the Pacific Ocean
  • Bradley’s Head Lighthouse
  • Individuals will dive from these rocks!
  • Admiralty House- the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia

This evening we walked from our hotel to have dinner at a restaurant along Cockle Bay Wharf. On our walk we passed “the nest” building in Darling Square. It is a mixed-use building and was designed by a Japanese architecture firm.

“The Nest” in Darling Harbour

Below our pictures from our walk around Darling Harbour at Cockle Bay Wharf.

Our first full day in Sydney was packed-full of educational learning, experiencing the area, and sightseeing!

An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand Day 17

Saturday, February 22

Today is our last day in New Zealand. Our morning was spent with Dr. Hamish Campbell exploring the bays of Wellington’s coastline.

  • Dr. Hamish Campbell

We also saw the Wahine Memorial. The Wahine was a passenger and vehicle ferry that was caught in a really bad storm as it crossed the Wellington Harbour and capsized.

  • You need to watch out for Little Blue Penguins!

We also visited the Taputeranga Marine Reserve. It is a protected area of sea and coast and covers about 2100 acres!

In the Reserve we walked over to where the Wellington Fault line runs through it.

We made a stop at Mt. Victoria. It is located east of central Wellington and there were some wonderful 360 degree views from the hill.

A memorial to Richard Byrd is located at Mt. Victoria. He was an American polar explorer and aviator and he used New Zealand as a base for his Antarctic expeditions for 27 years.

After two weeks exploring New Zealand, our next stop was the Wellington Airport for our flight to Sydney, Australia. We fell in love with this country and hope to visit again!

Goodbye New Zealand!

An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand Day 16

Friday, February 21

Today began with visiting Zealandia. We had an excellent docent who took us through the park. Zealandia is an urban ecosanctuary that is completely fenced and encompasses 560 acres. There are many native New Zealand animals, trees, and plants that we were able to see. When New Zealand was inhabited by the Europeans in the 1800s, this area that is now the western slope of Zealandia was not good farmland for the settlers so it was left to become a forest again. The eastern slope still has remains of farming and human impact but slowly plant species have returned thanks to the ecosanctuary.

  • Entrance to Zealandia
  • Our docent
  • Glowworms can be found here.
  • A male hihi
  • Pied Shag
  • takahē
  • takahē
  • kākā
  • Stitchbird
  • tuatara
  • tuatara
  • A class of students on a field trip.

We walked through the Cable Car museum.

  • Our group leader is demonstrating where he would sit as a kid.

At lunch we had the opportunity to drink the Taha Tonic drink. Taha is made from natural ginger, manuka honey and pure New Zealand water. It was delicious!

This afternoon we had a guided visit to Te Papa Tongarewa: Museum of New Zealand. On our walk to the museum we saw many sayings and poems along the Wellington Writers Walk along the harbour.

Along the Wellington Writers Walk

After our tour we had some free time to explore the museum on our own. Below is a slideshow of some of the exhibits that we visited with our guide!

  • Base Isolation system quake braker that is being used under the building
  • Base Isolation system quake braker
  • Moa Egg
  • Colossal Squid
  • Colossal Squid close up
  • The Treaty of Waitangi

On our own we went into the special exhibit: Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War. It tells the story of the Gallipoli campaign during WWI. It tells the story through eight New Zealanders eyes during this time. The giant sculptures are 2.4 times human size. This exhibit was well done and very emotional.

We also stopped in the Earthquake House to experience a simulation. Where we live, the chance of a high magnitude quake is slim.

We left the museum and walked over to the Wellington Museum.

  • The Wellington Museum

We didn’t have much time before the museum closed so we focused the majority of our time going through the special exhibit: Suffrage in Stitches. This textile work was created for the 125th anniversary year of the women’s suffrage in New Zealand. Its length is the same as the original petition and it consists of 546 individually fabric panels that were designed and tell the stories of those that signed the petition or relatives that influenced the 546 makers of the panels.

Suffrage in Stitches Exhibit

An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand Day 15

Thursday, February 20th

Our day began with a walk to New Zealand’s parliament buildings in Wellington. We had a docent who led us on a tour. No photos are allowed inside the buildings. The pictures I have are from our walk and outside the buildings.

The crosswalk signal is Kate Sheppard, a leader of the Women’s suffrage movement.
  • Parliament House
  • New Zealand Parliamentary Library
  • The Beehive
  • WELLINGTON CENOTAPH
  • Playground in front of the Parliament buildings!


After our tour of parliament, we walked over to the Supreme Court of New Zealand. The court was in session so we couldn’t tour the chambers but had an informative talk in the lobby area. There were windows where we could peek in and see the lawyers and judges. It was an interesting morning.

Below are pictures from inside the old Supreme Court building. We were allowed to take pictures in here.

  • Our guide for the Supreme Court
  • In the lobby
  • Inside the courtroom
  • The steps the prisoners used to get up to the courtroom.
  • Old government building
  • The royal coat of arms
  • Turnbull House

We walked to the Thistle Inn for lunch. It is New Zealand’s oldest surviving tavern, 1840, and is operating from its original site! The sea used to be in front of the tavern but due to earthquakes and land reclamation the shoreline is now several blocks away.

  • The Thistle Inn
  • Our server telling us some of the history.
  • Inside the inn

Our afternoon was free so a few of us took the cable car up to visit the Wellington Botanic Garden.

  • Entering the station
  • Where we board the cable car

The garden was established in 1868. We enjoyed strolling through its gardens and along the many paths.

  • The Bee Lady Sculpture
  • This lawn mower is a sculpture.
  • One of the sculptures
  • The rose garden
  • A bee enjoying the rose

As we left the Botanic garden, we walked through the Bolton Street Cemetery. It is Wellington’s oldest cemetery which dates back to 1840.

  • As a retired educator I thought this statement on their education building was powerful!

From the garden we walked toward Wellington’s harbor and enjoyed a beverage and then had a delicious meal at a nearby restaurant with some of our group.

  • Wellington Harbor
  • An interesting boat along our harbor walk
  • Where we had dinner.

At one point we walked through Wellington’s train station. It was great to see the reference to Harry Potter with the Platform 9 3/4.

An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand Day 14

Wednesday, February 19th

Today we leave Queenstown and board our motorcoach. IMG_5191 Our first stop was along the road that goes up to the turn for the Skipper Road Lookout.  From here we could see the Coronet Peak and ski resort, the Remarkables, Cecil Peak, Walter Peak and Queenstown.

We stopped at the historic Kawarau Bridge which is the site of the first commercial bungee jump.  We watched several people bungee jump over the river.  That is not a thrill either one of us has any desire to try.

Our next stop was Arrowtown which was a former gold mining settlement.  We walked through the Chinese settlement.  In the 1880s the Chinese goldminers lived very modestly.  Watch the slideshow below to see some pictures of the settlement.

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Later we walked around the main street in town where the Europeans had settled and enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant.

The main street of Arrowtown.
Loved this mailbox!
Dave enjoyed his soup!

After lunch our motorcoach dropped us off at the Queenstown airport and we flew to Wellington which is located in the southernmost part of the North Island.

Wellington is the seat of NZ government. Tomorrow we will be learning all about their government.

When we arrived in Wellington our site coordinator gave us a quick orientation to the city as we drove to our hotel.  Once we were settled at our hotel, we had a lecture about local life and politics!  Our group was very interested in how well the New Zealand political system works and how the U.S. should take a good look at their system!

An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand Day 13

Tuesday, February 18th

This morning we took a walk first thing with our site coordinator from our hotel through the Queenstown Gardens. IMG_5159 It was a hilly walk, downhill and uphill!

After wandering through the gardens we walked back to the dock where we will board a boat to cruise across Lake Wakatipu to the Walter Peak Farm. Our boat was the vintage TSS Earnslaw.  It was built in 1912 and is a twin screw (propellers) steamer, which means it is steam-powered that is propelled by two screw propellers.  It is also the only remaining passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship!

The view from the ship to our destination!IMG_0322

At the Walter Peak Farm we saw a demonstration on sheep shearing and how the working dogs are trained to herd the sheep.

The farm has a buffet restaurant where we enjoyed lunch and then had some time to explore the farm before boarding our boat to head back to Queenstown.

The rest of the afternoon we explored Queenstown and got a lot of exercise walking up and down the hilly streets which were really steep in some areas.

Our last sunset in Queenstown overlooking Lake Wakatipu!sunset 2:18

An Odyssey Down Under: Australia & New Zealand Day 3

Saturday, February 8th

We landed at the Auckland airport around 9:00 AM but we waited about 10 minutes to get to our gate because we were early.  We went through customs, got our luggage and put it through the X-ray machines.  Our driver met us outside the baggage claim.  He took us to our hotel.  It all went smoothly!

Our hotel until Wednesday.
Beautiful hotel and room.

Our hotel, the Grand Mercure, was in a great location.  Our room wasn’t ready yet but we checked our luggage and started our own exploration of Auckland.  We headed up Queens Rd. and turned left onto Wellesley and stopped at Albert Park.  We strolled up and down the hills of the park and enjoyed the warm, sunny weather and beautiful flowers!

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a small market and got some water to have in our room.  When we got back to our hotel we found out our room was ready!!!  Yea!  We took showers which helped to revive our senses and it was wonderful to be in fresh clothes.

We left our hotel again and walked along the water as close as we could get because of construction.  Three big cruise ships were in port, Princess, Viking, and Azamara.  IMG_8591Princes Wharf was an area that we walked around and then decided to have a glass of New Zealand wine at a bar called Sardine.  It was located along the water.

After enjoying the harbour we walked back to the hotel to get ready for a group happy hour and dinner at our hotel.  Our group consists of 22 as well as our site leader, Len and our group leader Robbie.  It was a wonderful evening but we were happy to get to our room and get a good night’s sleep!

IMG_0456
The view from our hotel room!