Posted 5:40 PM by MelanieandSteve
HELLO, FROM SYDNEY AREA. HERE IS OUR SECOND POSTING TODAY INCLUDING HIGHLIGHTS SINCE 18 JANUARY 04

We are writing this Blog from the comfort of the generous home of Tahnee and Darren, two great new friends introduced to us by Melanie's Parents. Tahnee and Darren have taken us in to their gorgeous Sydney suburb home and shown us all sorts of fun and adventure. But Before Sydney, we digress...

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FINAL DAY OF CANBERRA:

-The HIGH COURT (Mel's other most important Canberra destination), Australia's version of a Supreme Court. Attendants at every door and hallway took limitless time to volunteer information and answer our endless list of questions and curiosities. We spent hours bending their ears and picking their brains.

-WAR MEMORIAL: Ultra informative tour with motivating war time stories gave life to lifeless displays. Tour ended with a light and sound show enacting airplain warfare and the sinking of a Japanese submarine. The museum doors closed ceremonially with a moving bag pipe lament played near the tomb of the unknown soldier.

AND THEN, SYDNEY:

- Sydney is gorgeous - lots of harbor water, bustling all over with outdoor people walking talking and shopping, and lots of architectural eye candy: the opera house, the harbor bridge, the sky scrapers... It's good looking.

- On the other hand, the roads and traffic are aweful -lots of one-way streets, "no right turns", and too many toll roads, and impossible parking (where $20 is a very cheap parking spot price.)

- NO SHORTAGE OF THINGS TO DO: We got here during the "SYDNEY FESTIVAL", a week of celebrations, theater events, and 'heaps' of fun, culminating with the nation wide "AUSTRALIA DAY", a day of play coming up on the 26th Jan. The three-day-weekend events go on all over town, ending in fire works displays on the harbor. We've gone to two free theater events including URBAN SAFARI with it's Lion-King-Style puppeteering of ancient Gondwonaland animals, and EORA CROSSING, a modern dance and acrobatics show on the roof tops of the Sydney Museum with all the enthusiasm and creativity of Cirque du Soleil, but not so much of the skill.

-TAHNEE AND DARREN'S, TOOK US IN LIKE FAMILY: Til now, email acquaintancces, now personal friends, Tahnee and Darren made us feel like family.

-BOATING AROUND SYDNEY HARBOR: Tahnee and Darren took us out cruising the Sydney sights in their harbor boat. Relaxed by the sea water, refreshed by cool evening breeze, and away from the city traffic, we got to know the Sydney you never want to forget.

-NICKS IN DARLING HARBOR, THE UNSURPASSED SEAFOOD PLATTER: We parked the boat in front of this Darling Harbor gourmet seafood restaurant dined like royalty - perhaps one of our most amazing dining experiences ever.

-A DAY IN BONDI BEACH: Known for it's appearance in many a surfer movie, Bondi Beach was a tribute to beach culture with a world of fun dining cafes and a chrystal white sand beach.

-THE BRIDGE CLIMB: Thanks to a passing lightning storm, our daytime bridge climb got delayed by the company until the time of the more desireable twilight climbs. The sunset was gorgeous, and the clean rain-washed air was clear and refreshing. But the excitement of the storm stayed with us as bolts of electricity continued to strike down a safe distance away. We were the first post-storm group back on the massive 134 meter high bridge with a view all our own. Our private bridge climb adventure was unforgettable. Thank you Sara and Dad for an Awesome Christmas gift.

-MANLY BEACH: We braved the 3-day-Australia-day-weekend traffic to get to this other must-see-Sydney Beach spot. While this area was a little more dressed up than Bondi, we both agreed we liked the culture of Bondi Beach better. But a good time was had dining at a beach café and hanging out on the shore as the clouds rolled in for what soon became a rumbling thunder storm back at the house.


NOW WHAT?:
We've been putting a bit of energy into planning a guided trip to Asia in the longer term. In the shorter term, we're expecting to head off to "the river" for some H2O Skiing with Tahnee and Darren this weekend. We haven't water skiid in quite some time, it will be good to get our feet wet again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:
-Megan R. And
-Keith C.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY TO ALL

Posted 5:38 PM by MelanieandSteve
THIS ENTRY WAS WRITTEN ON 18 JANUARY 2004, being posted later.

Here are some highlights and lowlights since last blog entry of 2 Jan 04.

LOWLIGHTS
-We had to bid farewell to Tia Mel on January 4. We shared so many fun adventures.
-We wished Tia Mel was there for the next several days of our own adventures.
-The outskirts of Melbourne did not impress. But first impressions aren't everything.
-Car break downs, see Australia Highlights below.

HIGHLIGHTS IN QUEENSTOWN AREA, NZ
-DINNER IN: Before Tia Mel Left, her friends Del and Carin, in NZ on their honeymoon, joined us at the Q-town house for homemade food and then s'mores in the fireplace.
-MOVIES: LORD OF THE RINGS, ABOUT TIME: Appropriate to being in Middle Earth, we finally saw Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, and thought it clinched the trilogy - it inspired us to do some Middle Earth Exploring in the days to follow. See log of LOR sightings at end of this entry.
-QUEENSTOWN HILL HIKE: Gorgeous hike with Tia Mel on her last day here up Queenstown Hill with 360 degree views and photos to die for.
-BUNGEEEEE!: On Tia Mel's last day here, we squeezed in a thrilling bungy Jump off the AJ Hacket Bridge, the worlds first commercial bungy bridge. Steve did a flip, Mel PH did her best to dunk head first into the Karawau river, and Tia Mel did a swan dive - - all wore ankle ties. Way to see Mel off.
-PREP AND RESEARCH: After dropping Tia Mel off at the airport, we went LOR hunting - We stopped at the local book store to buy the LOR Locations book, and began scavenger hunting.
-DEER PARK HEIGHTS AND MANY LOR SIGHTS: We started with a 5KM hike that day, 800 meters up, steep and long, to site of many a scene, most noteable is Aragorn's Cliff. This was where Aragorn was dragged off in the second movie into the river far far and steep below. In reality, the drop off from the hill was only a matter of feet before it reached just more grass and rocks. The river below was spliced in by the film makers. Coincidentally, however, it was the same river that we had bungied into that morning.
-THE REMARKABLES MOUNTAIN RANGE AND OTHER HIKING AND HUNTING: Decided to stay on a little longer in Queenstown and did more LOR Hiking and hunting, including climbing "The Remarkables" mountains to an alpine tarn (lake).

HIGHLIGHTS IN OTHER PARTS OF NEW ZEALAND
-TOWN OF DUNEDIN: At the Tairoahead Peninsula, we went to the wildlife reserves for Yellow Eyed Penguins and the 3 meter wing spanned Albatross.
-TWIZEL: more LOR sites, and we met two Orcs and had them autograph our locations book.
-MT COOK: the highest mountain in NZ. Hiked in the sun to two mountain tarns across the valley from Mount Cook the first day, enjoying the gorgeous view of Mt. Cook across the way and listening to the alpine 'music' of avelanches crashing on the distant mountain. Each one sounded like a crash of thunder.
-HOOKER GLACIER- The tarns hike yesterday only whetted our appetite for Mt. Cook Hiking, so we camped overnight and in the morning hiked up to Hooker Glacier on Mt Cook. The weather was crazy with torrential rains and 130KM/hr (80 mph) winds. We were drenched, but the lake at the base of the glacier, full of ice bergs, made the discomfort worthwhile. There was a fatality on the mountain during that storm when a woman in a tent was picked up and blown 60 meters through the air.
-METHVEN: outside this city we found Edoras, from LOR.
-AKAROA: This quaint peninsula outside of Christchurch was full of charm and friendly people. We layed out by the beach, and had a gormet dinner.
-CHRISTCHURCH AGAIN:Liked coming home, we were back where we started in NZ. We visited the weekend outdoor markets and enjoyed some worldly foods, we sold our car, and we went to an educational Mauri Experience for some cultural learning and we saddly bid NZ farewell. Maybe the most gorgeous country in the world.

HIGHLIGHTS IN AUSTRALIA:
-OZ AGAIN: picked up Chester the van. Glad he started up. But not glad the next morning when we realized he'd sprung a leak. It's not easy to find replacement parts for a '77 van.
-MELBOURNE: Spent a vanless day on a BRIGHTON BEACH while Nissan worked on Chester. Life's not all bad. The beach was very peaceful and a good place to rest and adjust to our new time zone.
-ST KILDA: we stayed 3 nights in the part of town on the outskirts of Melbourne. We thought it would be fun because it was a beach area, but mostly it made us think Melbourne wasn't so great. Kind of a seedy area with sub par places to stay.
-FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX: Across from our hostel was Albert Lake with it's 5 KM track around it used for the Grand Prix. Melanie couldn't resist the opportunity to run the track in the morning so she could say she ran the grand prix. She and many another jogger enjoyed the sunrise, and ducks, and city view topped with hot air balloons.
-CITY CENTER OF MELBOURNE: Now we're talking. What a cute city. Great Architecture. Plenty of things to do. Visited FEDERATION SQUARE and it's supermodern architecture. Road the FREE TROLLY to tour and learn about the whole city, Took a tour of TOWN HALL ending with a walk into their ORGAN HALL with a 5 million dollar organ built by an American. By coincidence only, we were treated to a concert when an organ tuner sat down at the bench, dwarfed by the huge pipes, and lit up the room. We got shivers. We did a walk through THE ARCADES full of stylish cafe's and shops in quaint alley ways. And we strolled through BRUNSWICK AND SMITH STREETS, an eclectic area of town full of lots of style and every type of worldly quisine. This reminded Melanie of Hollywood, or Venice Beach, or her so loved Pacific Beach back home.Ä B g < ²
-THE FULL MONTY: Saw the broadway show at the art center. Their Slogan: If you liked the movie, you'll love the musical. So True. We LOVED it and laughed all the way through.
-MOONLIGHT THEATER: the movie, Pirates of the Carribean was clearly not the highlight since Melanie fell asleep in it. But the fun festive picnic on the grass before hand full of thousands of social people was as good as it gets.
-GLENROWAN: Ned Kelly's last stand: famous australian outlaw had his last gunfight here and now the town survives on his tourist procedes.
-CANBERRA: and the ACT, Australian Capital Territory (Australia's equivelent to Wash DC). Amazing to see a city built by an entirely "Purpose Driven Plan". A little bit like Wash DC, every building is strategically positioned and placed according to the Capitol City Plan - designed, incidentally, by an American. There is Tons to see here. We are still here. So far we've rented BIKES and peddled the city and it's lake, spoken with PROTESTERS outside Old Parliament asserting the rights of aboriginals to be recognized as their own nation, attended a "STORY TELLING" evening at the park with local folklore, attended an evening JAZZ CONCERT at another park, toured PARLIAMENT and learned all about Aussie government (this was Melanie's primary goal while in the ACT), went to the NATIONAL LIBRARY, and spent a couple hours browswing the very multi media'd and creative NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA.

NOW WHAT:
-MORE CANBERRA: There's more to do in Canberra, so we'll be here at least another day before things get a little crazy and we start bouncing North and South seemingly at random, but not really. We'll see if we can confuse you.

LIST OF LORD OF THE RINGS SITINGS: WE FOUND: (only for the LOR fans to read.)
-The River Anduin [the Karawau river]: (bungied into it even)
-Amen Hen [Closeburn] only a couple kms from the house we stayed in. Frodo, Gollum, and Sam watched the battle between Harad and the rangers of Gondor here, and Sam and Gollum spoke about how to cook Coney's here.
-Auditions: At the highschool in [Queenstown] where we parked, 500 people a day lined up to audition for parts in the movie.
-in [Deer Park Heights], viewed river Anduin running toward the Pillar of Kings, sites of Gandolfs publicity shots, Place where Gandalf rode to Minas Tirith on the west road to Gondor, the exit wall to the paths of the dead, the rock wall where the Warg Scout Jumped off and Killed Hama, where Gimli was thrown from his horse to the amusement of Eowyn, Aragorn's cliff that he was dragged off, Where Legolas did his jump onto his horse before battle, Where Legolas fired the first arrows at Wargs coming over the hill, and the lake where Refugees of Rohirrin were led.
-[Lake Alta hight up in the Remarkables mountains:] Where Aragorn led the fellowship when they lost Gandalf down the steep slopes of Dimrildale towards Lothlorian.
-[Glenorchy']: saw the misty mountains, saw where Gandalf rode to Isengard, saw the forests of Lothlorian.
-[Routeburn]: Saw Isengard in it's non-digigally alterred state.
-[Arrowtown]: the Ford of Bruinin where the Nazgul charged as Arowyn ferried frodo across the river.
-[Mount Sunday] near Methven, saw Edoras.
-[Twizel] Met living orcs, autographs.
-[Near Twizel] saw the fields of the battle of Pellenor.
-Other Regions we coincidentally enterred with LOR significance: - [Otaki], the woods and trails of Hobitan, [Wellington] the center headquarters of filming, [Paraparaumu] close ups shot for the battle of Pellenor, [the southern Alps] are the Misty Mountains.

-HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
-Corey Y, and congrats on your engagement.
-Kennis B
-Vicki L
-Toni P
-Stacy K
-HAPPY ANNIVERSARY #1 to Kennis and Greg B
-CONGRATS TO Elspeth G and baby Merryn.