The Great Ocean Road & The Grampians

My third blog entry – a bit after the fact – but hey, I’m going to try and finish this thing even though we’ve already arrived home and are trying to overcome our severe jet lag!

Week three brought us to Australia and the Great Ocean Road and The Grampians.  The Great Ocean Road is a favorite tourist destination just a bit south and west of Melbourne.  (The name says it all as the road follows the Ocean in all its scenic splendor.)  The Grampians are an inland mountainous region west of Melbourne.  So we actually made somewhat of a loop, first taking in a segment of the Great Ocean Road, and than completing the loop through the Grampians and back to Melbourne.

The Great Ocean Road, apparently, has an official entry point.  It was one of those times when we drove right by the sign and I made Tom turn around and go back so we could have a photo of it!

Great Ocean Road

Scenic barely begins to describe the Great Ocean Road.  We wanted to stop all the time, but would never have made it to any destination if we’d stopped everywhere that beckoned.  However, we went through one small town where we just couldn’t pass through without stopping.  There was this wonderful white walking bridge that went from the roadside across a lagoon – there was even a group of kids having kayak lessons in the lagoon – they provided us with all kinds of entertainment.  And the Sulfur Crested Cockatoos were everywhere!  (Note the yellowish colored trees in the photos.  They are called Golden Cypress Trees – beautiful!)

Sulfur Crested Cockatoo

Kayaking Class

Bridge Across The Bay

Next significant stop was the Historic Otway Lighthouse

Grounds at The Otway Lighthouse

Otway Lighthouse

 While the lighthouse was interesting and photogenic, our favorite part was the drive in and out to the lighthouse.  The surrounding forest was pretty much all gum trees and a favorite habitat for Koala Bears.  As you probably know, Koala Bears will only eat Eucalyptus Leaves (which are found on the gum trees).  I could hardly contain myself when we saw our first little bear!  They are beyond cute!

Climbing To The Top

During this same day (it was a big one), we experienced the Otway Fly Treetop Walk.  This was a very fascinating place where one could do a zip line tour through the rain forest canopy or take a walk through the forest and up into the canopy.  Obviously, we opted for the canopy walk -J

Path Through The Rain Forest

Mushroom Family

Bridge Through The Rain Forest

Next To A Big Tree

Just for the kids (and adults, too), there was a short dinosaur trail.

Dino 1

Dino 2

The ascension to the forest top was accomplished by the use of metal walkways, or bridges as I like to think of them.

The First Bridge

These bridges were at different levels through the forest creating quite the dizzying effect when looking down.

Top Of The Tree Fern

Looking Down At The Trees

A Walkway Below

The two images below show a connector landing near the top of the forest and a view from the forest floor.

A Connector Landing

Treetop Walk From Below

Alright, so this is called the Great Ocean Road, but there haven’t been any actual pictures of the ocean yet.  We’re about to get to that.  The main ocean attraction is called the Twelve Apostles.  Early one morning, however, before making our way to the Twelve Apostles, we stopped off at a “non designated” lookout.  I actually liked this better than the Twelve Apostles.  We had the place to ourselves and it was beautiful!!!

The Big Splash

Hole In The Rock

Surf Over The Rock

After getting our fill at the “non designated” spot, we did move on to the Twelve Apostles.  This is a national park, and it was also beautiful, but lots more people. 

Twelve Apostles

 After passing the official sign for the park, we came upon this sign that I have included here especially for my sister in law, Pat. 

 

Snakes!

And finally, a couple of images of what is referred to as the Twelve Apostles.

Apostles Shoreline

Apostles Shoreline 2

One of our favorite little towns on the Great Ocean Road was Port Fairy.  Our B & B was located on a channel that went right out to the ocean.  Which means it was a local hangout for the water birds – especially the seagulls.

Yes, I'm Cute

The town was quaint – a visual (and a photographer’s) delight.

Port Fairy Home

Port Fairy Home 2

At the end of a peninsula, just down the road from our B & B was the classic Port Fairy Lighthouse. 

Port Fairy Lighthouse

About 10 miles away, was my favorite place in the entire area - The Tower Hill Reserve.  Tower Hill is an extinct volcano that is believed to have erupted about 30,000 years ago. Over the years, a shallow lake and several ponds formed in the crater, along with a diverse range of vegetation.  Within this reserve there are koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, emus, echidnas, possums, and several types of birds.  We liked the area so well that we actually visited twice!  Here are images from some of our wildlife encounters:

Paws On My Baby

Black Swan Fantasy

Taking Notice

Wallaby With His Breakfast

What's Up Doc?

Kookaburra

Speaking of kangaroos, I’m sure that Australia has more kangaroos than Wisconsin has white tail deer!  They are hopping everywhere, all the time!  Unfortunately, they often have fatal traffic encounters.  Signs like this were very, very common.

Kangaroo Crossing

After leaving the Great Ocean Road, we made our way to the mountainous region of the Grampians.  Unknown to us, until we arrived on the scene, was the fact that the area had suffered a massive bush fire in January.  (The middle of their summer.)  This would be just like a forest fire in our country – literally destroying all of the vegetation.  Most of the structures were saved, but even some of those were lost.  The fire had burned through the area less than 3 months before our arrival, but we were amazed at some of the green that had already popped up.  Look at the size of these ferns – in just under 3 months!

New Ferns

 Fortunately, the ONLY restaurant in the area did not burn to the ground.  The Wander Inn was run by this very unique Aussie couple – the woman was the best cook in the world, and they were both very interesting and full of information.  The grounds made for some fantastic photo opportunities, and because they fed the birds and the wildlife…  Well, you get the picture.

The Wander Inn

Kookaburra Portrait

 To top off our stay in the Grampians, we stayed at the most elegant and beautiful place – The Meringa Springs Resort.  They hadn’t had rain since the fire: and even though the ground was brown & the grass was nonexistent, it was still beautiful.  There were views of the mountains and a pond out back that attracted wildlife, especially the kangaroos.  This is one of the many kangaroos at the pond.

At The Pond

 There was a spectacular sunrise from the front of the resort and a great view out the back from the dining room.

A Cloudy Sunrise

Meringa Springs View

The unbelievable accommodations are shown below.

Bedroom With A View

Elegance

The Bath

That does it for our first leg of Australia.  Next is our stay in the Melbourne area.  But that will need to wait for another day.  Hopefully, a day sometime soon!

Melissa

New Zealand - Week Two

OK, OK, I know - it's been more than a week!  And who knows how much longer it might be before I actually get to post this entry.  It is Tuesday, April 8th - we arrived in Melbourne today, will be here for 8 days, and the place we're staying at has NO WiFi!  This is not good!  My goal in the next several days is to finish up the second week in New Zealand and see if I can't find somewhere to send off the finished product.  (Actually, we will be visiting with our friends Sarah & Corey & I have a feeling I might be able to use their internet to finally send this off -:)

Sooo...  I last visited with you on March 27th - when we were off to the town of Franz Joseph Glacier where we had a helihike tour booked for the next day.  Well, up to that point, we had experienced almost no rain or clouds, but that morning, the mountain was buried in cloud cover.  The helihike was cancelled because the helicopter couldn't fly.  Disappointing, as we didn't get to hike on the glacier, but not the end of the world.  We used the extra time to leisurely make our way to our next destination - a beautiful little resort called Bird's Ferry Lodge.  Bird's Ferry is located on the western coast of New Zealand in the northern part of the South Island.  More on that a bit later...

There were many wonderful and lovely experiences along the way...

Lake Matheson provided us with a very nice hike around the lake through rain forest and marshland.  We even managed to get there early enough in the day to see the mountains still reflected in the lake.  This is, apparently, one of the iconic sights in New Zealand.  We weren't disappointed!

At Lake Matheson

Lake Matheson Reflections

We had lunch by the sea where we were left breathless with the views and the seagulls entertained us nonstop.

Now Listen Up!

The Tasman Sea

Someone along the way told us that we should stop at the Bushman's Center.  After stopping, we weren't quite sure what the attraction was suppose to be.  It was quite the eclectic setup, but also a pretty scary looking place!  The picture, in no way, does it justice -:)

The Bushman's Center

Than there was the little historic ghost town - Ross.  Australia and New Zealand had a "gold rush" just like we did in the U. S.  Took a few minutes to look around, have some fun and eat our lunch.

Panning For Gold

Saloon Dancer

We arrived at Bird's Ferry Lodge in the afternoon - this was my absolute favorite place in all of New Zealand!

Birds Ferry Lodge

It will be very difficult to describe Bird's Ferry.  Andre and Alison built their home/lodge on 40 acres way off the beaten path.  There is open country with ponds as well as rain forest on the property. Andre has created a network of hiking trails around the area, as well as several gardens and greenhouses.  He collects old "stuff" and it was artistically displayed everywhere we walked.  It was like living in a fairy land for a day and a half.  They grow most of their own vegetables and fruits (and than serve the yummy stuff at Alison's home cooked meals).  Greenhouses are called "tunnels", and they had 4 of them!

The Tunnels

There were fruit trees - all kinds of them - lemon, orange, grapefruit, peach, apple, as well as raspberries.  Alison made all of her own jams and jellies AND home baked bread that she served for breakfast and dinner.  (I have no idea how she had the time to actually run the lodge!) 

Bridge Over The Pond

Creativity

Andrea gave us a 2 hour guided tour through the rain forest and around the property.  It was fantastic and we learned all kinds of facts about New Zealand and it's flora and fauna.

Let's Row

Creative Arch

Enter The Garden

Floats At The Pond

Rain Forest At Bird's Ferry

All this, AND they also had numerous birds in several places on the property.  The parakeets were actually in an aviary that Andre had created, but the ducks and other birds hung around because they made a point of feeding the ducks.  I'm working on my "moving object" photo skills.  So these birds gave me plenty of practice!

Bird's Ferry Duck

Weka

New Zealand Parakeet

The Resident Rooster

Momma Duck

Guinea Fowl

Pukeko Bird

Sunday rolled around and we hated to leave, but the next adventure needed our participation, so after another of Alison's home cooked, fantastic breakfasts, we were off to The Wilderness Lodge at Arthur's Pass.  But first, along the way...

We hiked out to the Pancake Rocks which hug the edge of the ocean.  No one seems to know exactly how these rocks were formed, but the result is a layered effect that looks like stacked up pancakes.

Pancake Rocks Detail

Pancake Rocks Sculpture

Pancake Rocks & The Sea

Than we couldn't resist one more hike through the rain forest and out to the ocean.  The rain forest can look somewhat different in different areas.  Sometimes it's an old growth forest with huge trees and other times, the trees and other vegetation are much smaller.  But one thing is always the same - it is very lush, very dense, and very beautiful!

Rain Forest Trail

Rain Forest Bridge

At the end of the forest trail, right before arriving at the Ocean, we were able to get up close and personal with a New Zealand Fantail.  It's a cute little bird that flits around catching bugs in the air.  (A really good thing!)

Fantail

The ocean didn't disappoint and provided us with more stunning views of the Tasman Sea.

At The End Of The Rain Forest

As we were driving through the mountains, we passed through the small community of Moana and decided to take a closer look.  It was Sunday afternoon and there were several sailboats out on the lake - quite lovely with the mountains as a background.  We watched the boats while standing on a bridge that went over the railroad tracks which passed by their cute little train station.

Sailing On Lake Brunner

Moana Train Station

I had been looking forward to this last stop (before Wilderness Lodge) for quite sometime.  Everyone had been telling us about the Kea Bird - a wild New Zealand parrot - that by all accounts was quite cheeky.  Well they didn't disappoint!  I kept being disappointed that I hadn't seen one sooner, but everyone said not to worry, we would FOR SURE see them at this pull out at the top of the mountain pass.  One can count on them being there because they've been fed & associate food with the people.  Nothing new about that huh?  So here they are...

The Beautiful Kea Parrot

Kea Portrait

Soooo, they're really cute and quite willing to have their picture taken, but they also like to chew on rubber - like the rubber around car windows, etc.  Tom said that we had to leave when one of the birds started chewing on the windshield wiper!  (Imagine that...)

The Destructive Kea

For the life of me, I can't remember the name of this bridge - but it was a really, really long bridge - quite famous in New Zealand - and we passed over it as we finished our trip through the mountain pass.

A Long Bridge

You heard about Wilderness Lodge at Lake Moeraki in the first installment of this blog.  The Wilderness Lodge at Arthur's Pass is owned by the same people.  Both lodges are located in a beautiful setting with many things to do and lots of opportunities to learn something new about New Zealand.

Wilderness Lodge

The lodge at Arthur's Pass is a working Sheep Farm with 3,000 sheep.  So not only is it located in a beautiful mountain setting with hiking trails through the beech forest, along the streams, and into the mountains, but there were plenty of opportunities to learn about the sheep.

Arthur's Pass Wilderness Lodge

View From The Lodge

During our full day there, Michael (the owners son & manager at Arthur's Pass), gave us a personal, guided hike through the beech forest.

The Beech Forest

Following the early morning forest hike, we had an awesome Wilderness Lodge breakfast and than took a hike into the mountains.  Tess, one of the resident sheep dogs joined us on the hike, and it was really fun to hike with a doggie after being dogless for 4 years.

Fields & Mountains

Tess, The Tramper

Probably the highlight of our stay at Arthur's Pass was the "sheep demonstration" late that afternoon.  The dogs job is to gather up the sheep and bring them directly to her owner.  Tess did exactly that.  She still had plenty of energy after our 6 mile hike - unlike yours truly (and she's 13 years old)!   

Rounding Up The Sheep

At The Pasture

Finally, we watched Michael sheer a sheep - a BIG sheep.  Would you believe that sheep are very docile animals?  He grabbed the sheep set him on his butt, and the sheep stayed right there!

Sit

There were several reasons for this, but at Arthur's Pass they sheer all their sheep manually - no electric sheers - unbelievable.  I believe the main reason was because they could more easily leave about an inch of wool on the sheep so they were kept warmer through the winter months.  The photos below (I hope) depict, at least somewhat, the procedure of separating the sheep from his fleece.

In Position

Getting Started

The Fleece Starts To Separate

A Patient Sheep

A Strong Hand

Partially Undressed

Only The Legs Left

Nothing Like a Good Haircut

The Completed Fleece

BTW:  These sheep are Merino Sheep.  They provide the finest, most sought after wool - the kind of wool your Smart Wool socks are made from!

On Tuesday morning, before leaving beautiful Arthur's Pass, we took one more early morning hike before breakfast and before heading off to Christchurch where we needed to catch a plane the next morning for Melbourne.  We had only driven a few miles before I called out the all to familiar, STOP.  It was just a quick stop for a short photo opp of a pretty roadside lake.  (How could I resist?)  ***Tom has been very accommodating and deserves a very large medal for his patience with my "camera requests"!

Roadside Lake

We made one other "tourist" stop before Christchurch to visit a place called Castle Hill.  Castle Hill is a collection of quite fascinating rock formations.

Castle Hill

Castle Hill Rock Formation

Christchurch was a quick visit.  I think we were actually there less than 12 hours as our plane on Tuesday morning left at 6:00am, and in order to get to the airport on time, we needed to get up at 2:45am!  With all the flights from here to there and the various time changes, we're never quite sure what day of the week it is, much less what time of the day it is!

That does it for New Zealand.  I can't image loving a country more than this one.  New Zealand had beautiful people, beautiful scenery, fantastic food, and awesome adventures!

Hopefully, you'll hear something about Australia in the very near future!  Until than, thanks for following along...

Melissa & Tom