Category Archives: Adventures

Kiwi Weekend

Adventures, Travel

On some of our trips back to the US, we flew on Air New Zealand and connected through Auckland, but never with enough time to leave the airport. Auckland seemed like it would be an interesting city to explore so we planned a short trip to do just that.

For those unfamiliar with the location of Auckland, NZ

(fun fact: maps without NZ is a thing)

It’s only a 3 hour flight, but in the summer there is a 3 hour time difference. We left Brisbane at 6pm on a Thursday and arrived into Auckland a bit after midnight. A short cab ride took us to our Airbnb (free w/ credits left over from the Japan debacle) which was on the 30th floor of a downtown building. It had some great views!

Views for days

Our plan Friday was to explore nearby Waiheke Island – a 40 minute ferry ride away – mostly known for its wineries. Don’t worry, we managed to find a few breweries as well! We started off a bit slower than desired as the 3 hour time difference took more out of us than expected. But, we made it to the ferry and over to the island for some adventuring after acquiring much needed coffee.  It was beautiful and a world away from the hustle and bustle of the city. After getting back into the city late, we found that there wasn’t much open, but luckily the one thing that was ended up being a delicious dumpling restaurant. 

Departing Auckland

 

Winery lunch!

 

Peaceful island

 

Beer!

 

Waiting for our return ferry

Saturday was for exploring around Auckland, apparently without our camera. We found some craft beer bars and interesting shops around town.

Cheers!

Sunday our flight wasn’t until after 7pm, so we had the day free to explore. We stuffed our luggage into a locker at the ferry terminal and then headed over to see the Sky Tower and check out the Sunday market there.  As we walked around we came across floats that were being set up for the (unexpected because it had been delayed from the week before) Santa parade. Some were quite elaborate!

Roar

After that, we hopped on a train to head to One Tree Hill for a bit of a hike to take in the views.  On the way there we stopped at a Malaysian restaurant to fuel up – I had Laksa and it was delicious! One Tree hill is part of a large park complex, so quite a few others had the same idea on this Sunday afternoon.

View from One Tree Hill

We then headed back into the city to relax a bit before catching an Uber to the airport for our flight back to Oz.

City View

 

Blizzard of Oz

Adventures

After returning from NZ to Brisbane, Jeff and I re-packed our stuff for a trip starting the next morning to see Sydney and Melbourne with a drive between to ski in Australia. Sara would be left behind in Brisbane to decompress from Handel overload and to start getting familiar with the area to figure out where we should live.

Using my Qantas points, I booked us business class tickets from Brisbane to Sydney and Melbourne to Brisbane. With the business class tickets you get access to the business class lounge before the flight. Anyone who knows me knows I love free stuff and airport lounges have so much free stuff!

We arrived into Sydney where I had booked the same hotel Sara and I previously stayed at since it is in a great location in Circular Quay and easy to get to with public transport.  Our room was ready early so we were able to drag our bags and Jeff’s skis in and set out to explore Sydney.

Traveling “light”

We grabbed a beer at the Opera House and then jumped on a ferry to Manly.

Ripper day

Jeff took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to swim in the seasonably cold Pacific Ocean.  We tossed the Frisbee a bit on the beach before Jeff decided to try Australia’s Mexican food.  He thought it was acceptable, I agreed, but I hope he doesn’t now think it is easy to find good Mexican food in Australia.  It is not.

Frisbee!

We headed back to the city to explore the casino and a few more neighborhoods of city.  I think Jeff got a pretty good 24 hour tour of Sydney.

Obligatory Sydney photo

The next day we got some breakfast and then headed back to the airport to collect our rental car for the 6 hour drive up to the Snowy Mountains.  We stayed in a small town called Jindabyne which was just outside of the national park the ski area is located in.   Jeff counted 25+ kangaroos “sleeping” on the side of the road.

Scenery

The next morning we were up early to head to Thredbo to get in some Australian spring skiing.  They’ve had a good winter snowfall-wise and even had some late season storms to leave us plenty of snow with some fresh powder when we arrived.

Makin’ freshies in the pow pow

The weather was all over the place that day – sunny, cloudy, snowy, rainy.  The one constant was the wind.  It was quite blowy.

Jeff making turns

We made it to the “Highest Lifted Point in Australia” – so we’ve got that going for us.

Not sure it was worth the t-bar ride.

All in all it was a great day of skiing in Australia – I had very low expectations going in.  We got a lot of runs in and the snow was much better than anticipated for so late in the season.

Cozy lift

Another day, another long drive, this time to Melbourne.  It was about 7 hours to get from Jindabyne to the hotel I chose in South Yarra.  Upon arrival, we visited a few of my favorite haunts for dinner and drinks.

Drinks at the Local Taphouse

The next day was a busy one full of trying to visit friends.  We started by meeting up with Dorota and Wojciech for some lunch at the South Melbourne market.  Then we met Tiff, Andy and Sofia at another great spot that Andy found.  After that it was off to show Jeff another one of my favorite Melbourne spots – the Stomping Ground brewpub.

Next we went to St Kilda so Jeff could see where we first lived when we moved to Australia and the scary clown we had to go by every time we went for a run.

Before we headed out the next day, we toured a bit around Melbourne, taking in the street art and views by the river.

Where’s Jeff?

A nice day for exploring Melbourne.

After our exploring we headed to the airport for our flight, enjoying lots of free food and drink at the lounge again!

Sara picked us up at the airport, then the next morning we took Jeff back for his flight back to the US.  It was a great visit.  Who will be visitor #5?