New Zealnd (North Island)

 

New Zealand's North island had been on our list for a while. We had visited South Island in 2016 and were so awestruck by the beauty of this country that we had ever since wanted to go to the North Island. We knew it would be more city-like and more touristy, and hence it fit the bill for us. We were travelling with our 3 year old and wanted a scenic, developed country with warmer climate during Thanksgiving break and easily accessible medical facilities. And this fit the bill perfectly, as we found direct flights to Auckland which weren't as pricey as we had imagined.

Our Itinerary:

Our driving route

• Day 1: Arrive in the morning ->Auckland sightseeing and stay 
• Day 2: Drive to Hamilton Gardens -> Waitomo Caves -> Rotorua
• Day 3: Day in Rotorua/Taupo
• Day 4: Day trip to Hobbiton.
• Day 5: Drive to Paihia
• Day 6: Day in Paihia/KeriKeri/Russell
• Day 7: Paihia -> Auckland
• Day 8: Day in Auckland
• Day 9: Fly out

Where to fly?

There is pretty much only one option. You fly in to Auckland. This is the most well connected airport in the country. From SFO, we have Air New Zealand and United Airlines flying direct to Auckland. It is 12-13 hours flight, but quite convenient. I know that United is planning to start direct flights to Christchurch from SFO soon, so that would be an option if you want to visit South Island.

When to go?

We went in November this time as well. Weather was pleasant. We needed light jackets in the evening and it is did drizzle a little on most of the days. No heavy rains that would interrupt your plans though. And it wasn't hot summer either. So it worked pretty well for us.

Where to go?

When going to North Island, the top destinations are Waitomo Glowworm Caves and Hobbiton movie set. That is the most advertised ones. Lake Taupo is a pretty lake and the town of Rotorua nearby is a small 'weekend getaway' type of town. We also wanted to go to a beach, so we went all the way to Paihia. We didn't Coromandel as there was some inaccessible areas that were under repair/construction. Other popular thing to-do is hikes, but we didn't look into it with a three year old in tow. We skipped hikes and the town of Wellington. Those are for next trip, along with Abel Tasman Park. More in the section towards the end, What's left?. This website has been the most useful in exploring what to do.

Auckland

At the Ferry Building

It is not the capital of the country and I have to remind myself again and again. It surely is the number one tourist entry/exit city though. It's a good city to just get your bearings after a long flight and do some 'standard' city- tourism. 

Where to stay:

Their main street is the 'Queen Street' and if you want to stay in middle of all the action, then that is where you'd like to stay. And closer to the pier, means closer to touristy-stuff. We stayed in a hotel on Queen Street first, but it was a bit far and we ended up driving and paying for parking, so we moved to a little farther accommodation for our second stay at the end of our trip. 

Where to eat: 

The best thing was the food. And we found an excellent Indian restaurant. Couldn't believe the food was so good at Jatt & Juliet. Rajma as good as home-made. And our daughter couldn't stop eating the noddle burger in spite of how spicy it was! 

What to do:

Our walking map

We spent an evening going to the sky tower, which is I think nth tallest tower in the world and the tallest in Southern Hemisphere or something. But having been to Burj Khaleefa and taking a elevator through the clouds and feeling dizzy looking down, this was quite meh! It is more like, you are there, might as well check it off your list. We took a stroll from Ferry Building to the Princes Wharf. Reminded me a bit of San Francisco Pier but smaller scale and less crowded. So, essentially strolling on Quay Street. You could also walk from Princes Wharf to Silo Park. Next stops would be going to Aotea Square and the Town Hall building. So we spent our evening walking around this route, approximately.

Walk Around this route. Place to see: Sky Tower, Silo Park, Princes Wharf, Ferry building, Aotea Square, Town Hall.

Sky Tower

And tonight was India-Australia cricket world cup final and we were so excited to be in a cricket loving nation where we could easily watch the match on our TV at the hotel. I had partly hoped that it would be India-NZ final and it would have been fun to be in NZ then as Kiwis are my second favorites, always. But nonetheless, we were here and it was India-Australia. So once we got done with all the sightseeing, we retired to our hotel, waited for the kiddo to fall asleep and turned on the match. But as the match progressed, and depression kicked in, we wanted to eat our emotions. And voila, DoorDash works awesome in New Zealand. We ordered some really good food from Curry-On. Spicy and satisfying. And then we figured we have almost lost the match, we just dozed off to avoid further depression! :D
There is also an Auckland Zoo for kids and we kept that for our last day of the trip. 

Hamilton

Charminar Gardens

Our second day entailed a long drive from Auckland to Rotorua via Waitomo. So, Hamilton was a natural stop for us. So we ended up at Hamilton Gardens. They are super cute small gardens based on various themes. I had picked the few gardens I really wanted to see so we had our work cut out for us. The gardens are free and you could get a map for $2. I really did like these gardens and would have preferred a relaxed stroll, but we were on a time budget as we had to make sure we reached Waitomo for our cave tour that we had pre-booked. It would take about and hour or two to see all of them. They are well maintained gardens and super cute. My favorites were, of course Charminar (India style), Alic in Wonderland and Egyptian gardens.
We then had lunch at a café located in Hamilton Gardens. It is next to a lake and the whole set up in very serene, right our of a storybook. Just that we were running out of time so just inhaled our food as quickly as we could. But this was a very quick and an easy stop. So glad we did it. 

Waitomo Glowworm Caves

At the cave exit

Now we were en-route to Waitomo Glowworm Caves. The drive get prettier and with overhead clouds, it was really beautiful. Once we reached, there was plenty of parking and everything is streamlined given that this is the most sought after tourist destination in all of north island. Glad we had bought tickets as there is quite a crowd. The tours are guided and well managed. No photography allowed, so I don't have pictures, but you do see very pretty glowworms. It isn't long and that is all there is to it. I am glad that my daughter remembers all of it and often mentions glowworms when she sees something shining in the dark, like, stars in the sky were glowworms according to her!
The tors starts with a walk into the caves. You get to see the limestone caves and take a walk through them with about 20 other people. And then once you get down inside the caves, there is a section where they turn off lights and you see glowworms, bright and shining and oh, so many! Its beautiful. THen you take a short boat ride to get out of the caves. This boat ride was pretty nice because it is all in the dark and there are glowworms above you in the cave's ceiling. Fun experience, overall. 

Rotorua

After the caves, we carried on to Rotorua. And the drive gets prettier closer to Rotorua. This is a touristy weekend-getaway kind of a town. Places to see, things to do and restaurants to eat at. 

We stayed at Quest Rotorua Central. It was a suite and they offered a mini kitchen, we we needed with the kiddo. So we made a quick stop at the grocery store and stocked up our kitchen fridge with milk, eggs, yogurt and other essentials.  

What we did:

Luge Ride

We spent one morning taking the Skyline Gondola ride up to the hill top and coming down on the Lugo Ride. this was so much fun. The wait gets a little tiring, but the ride is so much fun. We could have the kid sit in front of us on the Lugo and she enjoyed as well. We could have done this again and again, but given the wait, we just did it once. So you take the gondola to the top of the hill. Get in the queue for the Lugo ride, come down via the Lugo. Then take a chairlift back up. The queue for repeat riders is short, but we just skipped it. There are also other things you could do at the top, like various hikes, mountain biking, etc. We enjoyed the views of Lake Rotorua from the top and enjoyed our Lugo ride till we got down. 

We spent half a day at the pool at the Polynesian Spa. Rotorua is known for hot springs. There is this facility for families where you could just sit and swim in the hot springs water. They have various options you can pick from depending on water pH, views of the lake, etc. We picked the one that was most suitable for us as we wouldn't have done it for long hours and we know our daughter loves going to the pool. There was a cute little slide as well for the kids. The locker rooms were really neat and clean and well managed. 

Every evening, our routine was to hit the playground next to the lake. And boy, was this some playground. Every fixture is so unique and fun. It was a huge playground and could accommodate many kids. There were climbing structures, swings, see-saws, and oh, plenty of other funky looking things. It was like Disneyland of playgrounds. And all the three evening we were here, we spent good 30-40 minutes at this playground. Convincing my daughter to go back to the hotel or for dinner became a huge task. Must-do with kids. 

There is just so much to do in Rotorua. There are plenty of canopy tours, ziplining, mountain biking, etc. There is also Agrodome, which is an animal farm with some shows and tours. We skipped as we thought it was way too pricey and probably won't be much fun for our kid.

Where we dined:

Rotorua had really good food. Good restaurants and variety of cuisines. They have a dedicated Eat Street which has only restaurants and is close to many other good restaurants.

• Our favorite breakfast place was  Le Café de Paris. We were here every morning.
• We had amazing Mexican at El Mexicana Zapata. Finger-licking good.
• We tried Italian at two restaurants, both were good. Urban Gusto and Leonardo's Italian Food and Wine.

Lake Taupo

We took a day trip to Lake Taupo from Rotorua. Its about an hour drive. The lake is beautiful and pristine. We didn't do any activity on the lake, but I guess you could do boat rides or stuff. We got here around lunch time. Just next to the lake is small marketplace with plenty of restaurants and shops. We spent some time strolling around the lake and then headed to our next stop Huka Falls. Park your car and it is a five minute walk to the various view points. It is a voluminous waterfall, icy blue in color, but not too high. It didn't take much time and next we were off to 'Craters of the Moon' thermal walk. Since this is the area of geothermal activity, that is one of the things you'd like to do here. We picked the one which would be easy for the kiddo. Honestly, it wasn't that great given all the geothermal activity you see in Yellowstone. But there are other thermal walks in this area which could be better I assume. I just picked the one easy for the kids. It took us about an hour to walk around the well paved walk and view some activity. I think Waikea Thermal Walk is the highly rated one here, so perhaps try that. 

Fun fact - Lake Taupo hosts the second oldest Ironman triathlon. Perhaps next time Sumit could sign up for that! 

Hobbiton 

This was another day trip from Rotorua. The drive is about an hour and you must, absolutely must pre book your tour. This is definitely a must-do whether you are a Hobbit fan or not. The sets are located near the town of Matamata and it is definitely very very beautiful. The tours are well organized and run on time. There is a café, toilets, etc. The tours start with a short bus ride to the location of the movie set. And it is so cute! The whole scenery is beautiful and something you'll definitely remember. We couldn't stop taking pictures. The tour ends with a nice ginger beer at the Green Dragon Inn. The whole tour took about two hours. They have now expanded the tour to take you inside the Hobbit homes, when we visited that was still under construction. 

Bay Of Islands

After we wrapped up from Rotorua, we were headed to Paihia as we were staying in this town.. We chose to drove as it was more convenient compared to driving. It took us about 6 hours drive time, but more in total with stops, it was totally manageable.  We stopped at some scenic waterfalls and vista points on our way. Had lunch at Hamilton and dinner at this cute little town close to Paihia, Whangarei.

Paihia

Paihia

This is a cute little town, with one street. Our hotel was located on the road across the beach. The view was very nice to wake up to. The weather was however a little chilly. So we wouldn't go to the beach for sure. We walked in the evening to a restaurant located on their main Wharf, Charlotte's Kitchen. The town is cute and well lit. There is also a playground located at the other end of the Paihia beach which was again quite unique and fun. And our daughter absolutely loved it. The market close to the wharf is the main area in this town and has plenty of shops and restaurants to offer. The most sought after thing-to-do is however, a cruise to the 'Hole in the Rock'

Hole in the rock.

We booked a morning cruise to the 'Hole in the Rock'. This was thankfully pre-booked as well, because the boat was full. A very comfortable boat, but with 200 people on board. It was windy outside, so we preferred to sit inside. It took some time to get to the view point, but well it is a Hole in the Rock and I wonder how you find them everywhere, Cabos, Italy, wherever you go! We did see some dolphins swimming along our boat on our way and that got everyone way more excited than the destination itself. We didn't do it, but I hear on a good day with calmer waters, they take the boat through the hole in the rock as well. 
The more interesting part of this cruise was that on your way back, they drop you to this island, Urupukapuka, for about an hour or so. And this is a beautiful, almost untouched island with plenty of hikes. There is a restaurant onsite, but no one resides on the island. We did hike to view point to see the other side of the island and got beautiful views. Spotted sting rays in the clear blue water at the beaches. This was definitely the highlight for us. 

Russell

First church in Russell

It is a small coastal town across the bay from Paihia. There are regular ferries between Paihia and Russell from the main Wharf. We took a ferry to get to Rusell, took about twenty minutes. There are only a couple of streets to walk around and 'the oldest church' of New Zealand that you could visit. We spent about an hour strolling around and on the beach. There is an old hotel, which has beautiful interiors and transports you to old English charm. Usually people go to Russell, have tea or lunch here at 'Duke of Marlborough Hotel' and get back to Paihia or Kerikeri. We just walked in, looked around and decided to get back on the ferry to go back to Paihia. 

Kerikeri

Rainbow Falls

Kerikeri is the main town in Bay of Islands. If you were flying in, this is the town you will fly in to. It is about 20-30 minutes away from Paihia. We spent about half a day in Kerikeri. There is much more to do and see here. Our first stop was the Rainbow Falls. It is just a few meters from the parking lot and offers three view points from the top of the waterfall. But you could also do a short hike and go to the base lagoon of these waterfalls. I found these to be prettier than the Huka Falls which are much more hyped. These are too high or don't have much water, but the whole set up is quite pretty. There is a popular stone store and a Parrot Place as well to visit, but we chose to go have lunch/dinner as we were all  hungry after that easy-peasy hike! :D

Mis-adventure in Auckland!

We drove back from Paihia to Auckland to spend a couple of nights here before we flew out back to San Francisco. Our plan was to spend a day at Auckland Zoo and to see the Auckland cricket stadium.

As we were headed out for the day, we wanted to grab breakfast at this bagel place. We ordered a veggie bagel and sure enough it looked just fine. But when our daughter ate it, she started getting hives, we know that she is allergic to nuts, but didn't think that a veggie bagel would have nuts. But the pesto in it is what caught us off-guard. What followed was the whole drill, Benadryl, followed by epi-pen and a visit to urgent care, then to emergency. And then another dose of adrenaline, followed by a few more anti histamines. And an overnight hospital stay. We are very thankful to the Auckland Starship Children's hospital for such good care and. The doctors and staff were so nice, calm and reassuring. They even accommodated us when there was no bed in the regular overnight stay ward. So thankful to them. And a lesson learnt the hard way. We are super careful always, but one slip, and it got us.

Anyhow, the kiddo was upset because we were headed to the zoo and landed in the hospital. So next day we made sure that we went to the zoo for a couple of hours before heading out to the airport. To make sure we keep our promise to her. 

Other notes:

• Visa: It is very easy to get Travel Authorization through their website. You have to upload your passport details and a photo. It took us only a couple of hours to get this once we took our photos. 
• Bookings in advance: We made most of our bookings for popular destinations, like the Waitomo glowworm caves, Hobbiton set and cruise to the Hole in the Rock in advance it turned out to be a wise decision. 
• Adventure Sports: New Zealand is the hub of adventure sports and you will find them in every famous tourist area. Be it Bungee Jumping, Mountain Biking, skydiving, zip lining, you name it and they got it. 
• Driving around: We rented a car and drove around. Very convenient, especially with a kid. Driving it on the left, India style.
• Play grounds: New Zealand has some great playgrounds. They have these unique structures to play on there has been enough thought put into designing these. 

When are we going next?

Ahaa, yes we need one more trip. Perhaps when our daughter is old enough to bungee jump!! We want to do a few more hikes, especially Abel Tasman Park, I also wanted to visit Dunedin and east coast of the southern island. Perhaps, after another 8 years! :)

Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns)

We always knew that Australia was going to be a family and fun trip because we have a lot of extended family, mostly cousins settled in different cities. Hence, we planned accordingly and spent some time with them. Also, a must to-do was to dive in the Great Barrier Reef. And it took us a while to figure out where to go for that. More on it later. Here is our brief itinerary:
Day 1 -> Arrive in Sydney. Sightseeing. New Year fireworks at midnight
Day 2 -> Fly to Melbourne. Drive around
Day 3 -> Sightseeing Melbourne. Philip island.
Day 4 -> Drive to 12 Apostles.
Day 5 -> Fly to Cairns.
Day 6 -> Snorkel/dive in Great Barrier Reef
Day 7 -> Sightseeing Cairns
Day 8 -> Fly to Sydney
Day 9 -> Sightseeing Sydney
Day 10 -> Drive Great Ocean Road
Day 11 -> Fly out

When to go:

Well, Australian summers are our winters, so this is a good place to celebrate Christmas and New Year in summers if you'd like. Only catch is that if you are interested in Great Barrier reef diving and/or snorkelling, this will be jellyfish season. We used stinger suit provided to us by the company that took us for diving and it worked just fine. So, this may be something to look out for.

Flying in and out:

We were getting good deals on tickets to Sydney, so we picked that as our fly in/out city. Other cities, Melbourne and Cairns are very far from each other and you would have to take domestic flights between cities anyway, so just fly in and out of any that works out. Though keep in mind that since our flights included a stop over at Auckland, we needed a New Zealand visa on our segment from Sydney to San Francisco. But since we didn't have that, and we had no clue that we needed a transit visa even if we didn't plan to get out of the airport, we had to rebook our return flights, else we wouldn't have been allowed to board.

Domestic flights:

We mostly took JetStar and Qantas as those times worked best for us. Most of the airlines are good and have similar rates and luggage restrictions. Note that the domestic airlines do weigh your carry-on luggage as well and you need to make sure that your number of items and the weight are within their specified limits.

SYDNEY

New Year's Eve and half a day:

New Year fireworks

We flew in on 31st December morning and luckily got our room early in the morning even though our reservation had check in time of late afternoon. Since we were jet lagged we were ready to step out as soon as we freshened up. Now Sydney goes crazy on 31st to watch the fireworks over the Sydney bridge and the Opera House. There are some spots which are crowd favorites and people settle in their spots with their garden chairs early in the morning. The most favorite spot is Mrs. McGuire's Chair. Its a bit of a walk from the downtown, and people start queueing up pretty early in the day and plan to camp out all through the night. There are other popular spots too and you could just google for them or ask one of the many volunteers set up by the city. Its pretty decently well organized. Anyway, our plan was to roam about the city during the day and then head up to Google's office to see the partial view of fireworks from their terrace. Its a separate story that we fell asleep, thanks to jet lag and woke up at 11:40pm only to scramble out of bed and beat the traffic and make it to the terrace at 11:58 pm, just in time for the fireworks, haash!

MCA Cafe

Downtown all lit up!

We started our city tour from St. James Station and roaming around the Sydney tower area, ate Indian food at the Chachu's street food. From here we went to the circular quay. Walked around the area and went to the MCA cafe to get good views of the Sydeny Opera House. Take a note, THIS IS the place to get good pictures of the Opera House and some views of the bridge. From here walk around the Barangaroo area for options to eat as this place has plenty of different restaurants and this is the commercial area of the city. We had had a long day and we retired for the day to our hotel and decided to take quick nap before heading out for the fireworks to the Google Office. But, the jet lag had set in, and we have no clue, when the alarm went off, when we switched it off. Before we knew, we were sleeping all through the evening and I luckily just got up to look at the time as I felt it was dark outside and it was already 11:40 pm! Only 20 minutes to go for the New Years. We have never been so quick to get out of the bed and get ready and get out in Uber. With all the traffic and everything, we still managed to make it to the rooftop at 11:58, just in time for the fireworks. We don't have that typical picture of the bridge and the opera house and the fireworks (for that you need to be at the MacGuire's chair), but we have a few decent ones. Not bad huh!
"The Rocks" area which has old quaint shops and some nice little restaurants. Generally a good area to wander about. From here, you could also explore the

A day in Sydney:

QVB

After we got back from Melbourne, we decided to spend a couple of days in and around Sydney. For the day in Sydney, we started with a late lunch at "The Canteen" in Barangaroo. Good Indian food and a very vibrant area during lunch for office-goers. We love grabbing coffee from local cafeterias on our vacations and that what we did before heading out to QVB, Queen Victoria Building. It is a really pretty building and you feel you have been transported back to Victorian times and somewhere in England, Even the nearby area has some statues and building architecture which reminds you of the old English architecture.

View from Mrs. McGuire's chair

Next, we took the bus to the art gallery and walked all the way to Mrs. McGuire's chair. It really is the best view of the bridge and the opera house. Highly recommend it. From here, we walked along the shore through the botanic gardens to the Opera House. We didn't go inside, or didn't watch any show here, just roamed around and took pictures of the opera house and the bridge.
Next we took a ferry from Circular Quay to Manly. Walked to the Manly beach. Its like a cute little promenade by the beach. Walked along the beach. Some of the beaches in Australia have really good waves if you are into surfing.
After spending some time at the Manly beach, we decided to take the ferry back and walk to Mrs. McGuire's chair as we wanted to take sunset pictures here. After that we walked back to the nearest train station and headed back home. Our day had a lot of walking, but the views and the vibe were worth it.

Grand Ocean Road to Wollongong and Kiama:

Kiama Blowhole

We had one day before we flew out, so our plan was to drive the Ocean Road all the way to Kiama and then return and spend some time in Sydney. We left after breakfast and just before we hit the Grand ocean road, there was a lookout. We spent some time there admiring the cliffs and some para gliders. Grand Ocean Road is good, but if you have been to Hana Hwy in Hawaii or Hwy 1 in California, this wouldn't live up to your expectations. The route we took was mostly a coastal route with some vista points. Our first stop was the sea cliff bridge to take some pictures.

Next up, we drove straight to Wollongong lighthouse. This is a scenic area with cute little shipping dock. Wollongong beach was also close by. We then grabbed lunch at JJ Indian in the town. This was a decent restaurant and food was good. Next we drove to Kiama blowhole. You have to wait for a bit for the water pressure to buildup, and its a bit crowded. But was a pretty cute thing to capture on camera. Well after that, it was time to head back to Sydney.
We were excited to visit the Bondi Beach. Such a huge beach and so crowded! The beachy shops are across the road from the beach. Can't believe there is a such a lively beach next to such a big city. A lot of surfers at this beach, a lot of volleyball and such a warm sandy beach. We were headed to Paramatta next to meet our extended family for dinner. Australia does have some nice restaurants, I have to admit. We ate really good Italian food at the Mama's and Papa's Italian restaurant.

Bondi Beach

Some pointers for Sydney:

• We had Mexican food at Mejico. I really liked their food, but it was a bit expensive restaurant.
• Commuting via buses and trains is super convenient. use google maps to route.
• You could also climb the Sydney bridge in Sydney. You have to make reservation in advance. It sounded like fun, but I wasn't up for the vertigo challenge.
• We didn't plan to visit the Sydney Cricket Ground, but we should have, as we heard later than Indian team was practising in nets the day we were near SCG.

MELBOURNE

Outside Melbourne station

We arrived in Melbourne in the afternoon. We rented a car and headed to our friend's place where we were planning to stay. After sumptuous homemade lunch, we headed out for a drive through the hidden Kangaroo valley and spotted quite a few kangaroos! So much fun seeing them hoping around. They are huge and turned out much bigger than I had expected. Next we were heading out to Williamstown for a drive through. Some lovely views of the city downtown from here and some coastal beaches to drive by or you could even stop and take a stroll. Lovely seaside views! And we called it a day.

A day in Melbourne:

Spotting Kangaroos

We started our day with a pre booked tour of MCG(Melbourne Cricket Ground). We parked near the Jollimont station as there was plenty of parking there during the weekday. We walked up to the ground and totally enjoyed the tour. The ground is quite big but I guess ground in India are even bigger. There are some statues of cricketers outside too if you want to take pictures with them. There were views of the tennis courts being prepped for the Australian Open from the top floor of the ground.  Next we were headed to the downtown and after we managed to find parking somewhere on the street(super expensive) we headed out toFlinders street and Collins street. Then we walked to St.Paul's Cathedral and took pictures of the Victoria station. By this time we were tired and hungry and went to Bodega underground for Mexican food. Food in Australia has been rarely disappointing. Then we walked to the Bourke station and Chinatown and grabbed some coffee. It was about time for us to now leave for Philip's island to see the penguins. I was super excited! It was quite a drive and we had planned to stop over at Nobbie Point for some views. Totally worth the time. Lovely views of the coast. Next up was the penguin parade. The Philip island penguin parade was totally

MCG

Nobbies Point

commercialized. And crowded. We got tickets and grabbed seats and waited, and waited and waited. Penguins didn't return till it was almost dark and the visibility was quite low. There were lights to see the penguins, but it was very crowded and after they arrived in a few groups, we decided to head back as it was quite a long drive too. It wasn't a bad experience, but go prepped with a blanket, food and be ready to wait. You can't take pictures yourself, but can download them from their website. Hence, I don't have any pictures of the penguins, but of the crowd waiting to see the penguins.

Waiting for penguins.

What we skipped were the Grand prix circuit and the chocolate factory.

Drive to Twelve Apostles:

Twelve Apostles

We were planning to go visit the famous twelve apostles today. It was a long drive especially since we were planning on taking the long coastal route. The drive was long but decently scenic. We stopped at a small beach town for lunch. Had pizza at Italo Cafe followed by coffee at a local cafeteria. And off we were to the apostles. There were quite a few Vista points on our way. And it was super hot. But more than the scorching heat, what bothered us were the flies. Way too many flies made everything annoying. For twelve apostles, there is designated parking for tourists and
designated pathway to walk. A further south, there is a pretty beach and you can take he stairway all the way down to the beach as well. On our way back we decided to take the shorter route instead of the longer scenic one. Once we got home, after dinner, we wanted to go checkout the Crown Casino in downtown. The casino was nice, but nothing compared to casinos in Vegas. We spent sometime playing poker and roulette but were so tired by now that decided to head back and get some sleep before flying out Cairns the next day.

CAIRNS (Great Barrier Reef):

Welcome to Cairns

We landed sometime early in the evening. The humid weather was so welcoming compared to the dry heat waves of Melbourne. Hired a cab to our hotel which was a little far. We stayed at the Hilton Cairns which I thought was located well. It is a typical beach town and the vibe is so touristy. biryani to go for our early morning breakfast. We walked around the city pool area. There is no access to the beach or the water from here. Beaches are located a little further out from the main town of Cairns. This is however a very touristy and a well developed area to stay. While walking back to the hotel, we saw so many bats flying all around as our hotel was located near a small park with lots of trees and I guess bats were heading out for the day.

Along the coast

I got into my tropical clothes and we headed out for dinner. Very walkable market area with plenty of pubs, cafes and restaurants. We grabbed dinner at Spicy Bites. Dinner was pretty good and since we were leaving for our snorkelling/scuba diving tour in the morning, we also got some

Snorkelling/Scuba Diving:

Ready to find Nemo!

We had booked our tours with Seastar Adventures. Our overall experience was excellent. Very well organized and excellent guides. They had stinger body suits for everyone to wear and avoid jellly fish stings as it was jelly fish season. We were off to a small island, more like a strip of land in middle of the reef where the boat was parked and we all got off with our respective guides for snorkelling and scuba diving. I wasn't keen on scuba so I opted for snorkelling, but Sumit was scuba diving. The water was surprisingly clear and not as muddy as I had anticipated. We got some look at the fish inside and I kept looking for Nemo or Dory! I spotted one Nemo. Yay!! After about an hour or so in the water, all the divers and swimmers were back and we were served lunch. They had decent veggie options, so no complaints. next we were headed back to Cairns. I think we got back late in the afternoon, so still had a few hours to explore Carins, even though there isn't much to explore in this tiny little town ^_^
The evening after our snorkeling trip we spent walking around the esplanade. Went to a Indian brothers for dinner and then had coffee later at one of the cute little cafes.

A day in Cairns:

We had the entire day to ourselves and we wanted to just chill and take it easy. My favorite holiday breakfast is pancakes, so we found a breakfast place, Helga's pancakes which has excellent reviews. A tiny little diner a few blocks from our hotel and had good breakfast options. Pancakes weren't anything out of the world, but pancakes are pancakes.

pancakes

We also thought of getting a massage as there are quite a few massage parlors around, and there were a few with very decent reviews, but we somehow, decided to give it a miss.
Next up was visit to a Koala! The reef Casino has a Mini Zoo on its top floor and you get a chance to take picture and pet a Koala. So we headed straight to the Reef Casino. After our pictures, we grabbed lunch at Flinder's Grill in the Casino and watched the cricket match. It is so much to travel in cricket loving nations, because you can watch matches playing their sports bars, restaurants, etc.
Next up was short run along the coast. They have a well paved path for joggers and walkers. Once we returned, it was almost evening and the city was getting lively with all the hustle bustle and pubs and shoppers. We had found Spicy Bites really good, so we decided to have dinner here once more.

Koala picture!

Another place recommended for breakfast is Jafflehead. Also, there are plenty of branded shops and beachy outlets for you to shop in Cairns. If nothing else, you can spend entire day roaming around and shopping.

Other things to do in Cairns:

• SkyRail Rainforest Cableway: This is located about an hour or so outside Cairns. You can take a train to go here or drive here. We hadn't rented a car and weren't interested in visiting a rainforest, so we skipped it.
• Kuranda Scenic Railway: To get to the rainforest you take the Kuranda railway which is supposed to be an attraction in itself.
• Palm Cove: One of the more popular beaches. Since Cairna is not really located by the beach, you need to get out of the town to access a beach and this was one of the more popular ones.

OTHER POINTERS FOR AUSTRALIA

• Uluru Rock: Its a popular touristy thing to do in Australia, but it is far from any of the main cities and we would need a few days to fly in and out and visit the Ayers Rock.
• Brisbane/ Gold Coast: This is popular for beaches and amusement parks. We weren't interested in either and decided to keep this for our next visit to Australia
• Blue Moutain/Three sisters: It is a popular day trip from Sydney, but most of friends and family discouraged us saying there is nothing much to do/see and its not even blue. haha! Three sisters is a rock formation in the blue mountain park.
• Transit Visa: Check for transit visa regulations if you are flying through New Zealand. It looks like you need a transit visa even if you don't plan to get out of the airport. And the rule is applicable only when you are flying out of Australia. We had to rebook our return flights because of this.
• Opal card: Can get at any grocery or general store and is used for using public transport in Sydney. Makes life a lot easy if you take public transport.
• No id check at the airport: Surprisingly, there was no id check at the airports.
• Food courts at the airport: Have plenty of options and good ones. In general, food in Australia is so good, and the food courts at the airport also surpass expectations.
• Weather: It was so hot in Melbourne one day that they couldn't turn on the airplane engines and that delayed our flight! But it got chilly in the night. So prepare to face multiple weathers in the same day.