Today was another lazy day. We didn’t leave the hotel until 10 a.m. We stopped by Tanunda Bakery to get a mushroom and asparagus quiche and a cinnamon twist. We drove into Adelaide to go to the Central Market, 250 shops under one roof. There were some of the largest mangoes I’ve ever seen, about the size of a small cantaloupe. We ended up just eating at a Chinese restaurant dive, where I thought I poured soy sauce on my marinated duck with rice dish only to discover it was black vinegar. Ugh.

We ended up going to the Adelaide Airport super early only because we didn’t really want to do the in-town attractions, and the other attractions didn’t leave enough time to get back. I just went to the food court and had wonton soup with noodles at Billie Chu to make up for the disastrous lunch. I bought some chocolates at Cocolat and will buy the other chocolates at Haigh’s before we leave for home tomorrow. Tonight we are staying at Travelodge Hotel on Phillip Street.

Since I don’t have much to write, I will post Virgin Blue Voyeur magazine puzzles today and the answers after I get home to Los Angeles.

BRAINTEASERS
1. What item of footwear is represented here? issue 1, issue 2, issue 3, issue 4, issue 5, issue 6, issue7, issue 8, issue 9, issue 10.

2. Which of the hollowing sentences is the odd one out and why?
A. Altering the shape, she created a triangle.
B. Evil people are quite vile.
C. Some geese are called ganders.
D. Eastern New Zealand is nearest.

3. Find synonyms for each word in the six pairs. In each pair, the words should rhyme with each other, the first word being an adjective and the second a noun. For example, Depressed father = Sad dad.
A. Solid invertebrate.
B. Chubby feline.
C. Genuine repast.
D. Difficult poet.
E. Cowardly chap.
F. Improved epistle.

ODD ONE OUT
One word in each of the lists below does not belong with the other words.
1. Cow, Drake, Gander, Mare, Stallion.
2. Are, Bea, Den, Tea, Why.
3. Collar, Deal, Fence, Fluoro, Many.
4. Salt, Sick, Side, Son, When.
5. Marie, New, Purple, That’s, Woman’s. (Hint: Australian theme)
6. Cat, Goose, Man, Person, Tooth.
7. Blonde, Brunette, Fiancee, Master, Mistress.
8. America, Carolina, Dakota, Mast, Pole.
9. Frog, Newt, Salamander, Toad, Turtle.
10. Bard, Beaver, Denial, Events, Warden.
11. Ad, Ash, Beds, Fuss, Rest.
12. Drum, Gain, Male, Quick, Whine.

I forgot to mention yesterday at the Melbourne Airport lots of people were holding bags with Krispy Kreme boxes in them. When I inquired about it, the guy said, “There are none in Adelaide.” Simple enough answer to warrant bringing about 20 dozen boxes home.

In the morning we stopped by Angaston Bakery, Angaston’s only manufacturing bakery, whatever that means. Joe had a bacon and cheese roll and a coconut and apple Danish. I had a mushroom with ham and egg quiche. It was okay except for the pineapple bits in it. We then drove to The LEGO Man house. The LEGO Man in Angaston is Tom Lucieer, who has one of Australia’s largest private LEGO collections. When we arrived, the outside looked sketchy. We didn’t even bother to knock.

We continued to Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop in Nuriootpa, hoping to buy some picnic items, but there wasn’t anything in the selection we liked. One of the workers directed us to Barossa Valley Cheese Company, where we finally did buy some cheese and crackers. We tried to stop at Glaetzer Wines, but they had no cellar door and weren’t selling any wines onsite. So lots of driving around this morning with no real direction. GPS helped, but I wished the address numbers and street signs were better marked.

I did laundry and lounged in the room while Joe went on a wine tasting in the Barossa Valley. It was cool and overcast during the morning and afternoon, perfect for being lazy and recuperating from my Benadryl overdose. I took a nap and caught up on talk shows and old TV shows.

The Barossa Wine Region isn’t as pretty as Napa or Sonoma, but it’s quaint in its own right. Tanunda is the cultural heart of the Barrossa and its most German settlement. The four Lutheran churches in the town testify to its heritage and dozens of shops selling German pastries, breads, and wursts, not to mention wine, line the main street. Angaston is named after George Fife Angas, the Englishman who founded the town and sponsored many of the German and British immigrants who came here. It is full of jacaranda trees, and its main street is lined with stately stone buildings and tiny shops. Nuriootpa was used as a bartering place by local Aboriginal tribes long before it was the Barossa’s commercial center. Its name means “meeting place.”

We wanted to go to Vintners Bar & Grill in Angaston for dinner, but like so many places we’ve been wanting to drive to, there was no actual address, only intersections. It was listed as Nuriootpa Rd. and Stockwell Rd. as well as Angaston Rd. and Stockwell Rd., but when we got there, it was actually something like Barossa Valley Rd. and Stockwell Rd. Plus most of the buildings and streets were not clearly marked either. I think major city signage has spoiled me.

When we finally reached Vintners, the menu was different from the one on their website, and I already had my heart set on risotto of exotic mushrooms, truffled parmesan & crispy leeks. Instead, we drove back to Tanunda to eat at 1918 Bistro and Grill, which was a better choice. First, because it used to be a house and was much warmer than the sterile place we left, and second, the menu had more items I liked.

We started with freshly baked bread with housemade parmesan oil along with local olives marinated in fresh herbs, garlic, and chilli. The parmesan oil was kind of bland, but the saltiness in the olives with the bread made up for it. My main was crispy pork belly with pickled squid, steamed bok choi, and green papaya salad. The skin could have been crispier, but the pork was nice and tender. Joe had the miso crusted kangaroo fillet with a mushroom, soba noodle & mizuna salad. The kangaroo was very tender and wasn’t too gamy. The dessert list wasn’t enticing; so we called it an early night. Besides, I still had cheese in the fridge and shortbread cream biscuits to finish.

We are off to Adelaide Central Market tomorrow and then onto Sydney.

Time to be on our way once again. We finished packing, checked out, and drove over to Marina Mirage to pick up a CD of Joe’s snorkeling adventures from yesterday. We stopped by the farmers market, but this one was kind of disappointing. It looked more like an overgrown swap meet. I liked the biscuits we had yesterday on the tour; so I made Joe drive me to Coles to look for them. They turned out to be Arnott’s Shortbread Cream, light shortbread biscuit with a rich vanilla cream filling that is not as sickeningly sweet as Oreos. Snack for the plane rides.

We breakfasted at the Java Blue Café near the marina this morning. It was too hot to do alfresco, and we luxuriated in air-conditioned space. The juice combos included Liver Cleanser (carrot, celery, beetroot, apple, and ginger) and Detox Delight (pineapple, apple, celery, ginger, and lemon). The Roast Pumpkin sandwich sounded interesting (semi-dried tomatoes, artichokes, aioli, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber). Australians love their muesli and it’s on almost every breakfast menu. I finally found a place that served sourdough, but it’s not the ultra sour kind back home. Their bacon is a combination of ham and bacon. I ate my bacon part and gave the ham part to Joe to have with his French toast.

The drive back to Cairns was uneventful. I finally got to see the parts that we missed when we arrived days ago under the cover of darkness. I think it was less scary at night. Made one stop just to take a picture of the waters. It’s not turquoise blue like New Zealand, but it’s pretty in its own right.

Since we were taking another plane to Adelaide right after our arrival in Melbourne, we asked the guy in Cairns to check the bags through to Adelaide. He sent a duffel bag through before he made the correction. When we were in Melbourne, there was this whole commotion with how the Cairns guy shouldn’t have checked our bags through since it wasn’t a connecting flight. But eventually everything got sorted out, and they printed our boarding passes to Adelaide. We had to go through security again, and they stopped me to do a random check, but it took less than a minute for him to swab my bag and me and put it through some analysis on the computer. I could have escaped it had I moved away faster when he was busy checking another guy. Oh well. All of our baggage did end up in Adelaide. Yea.

We went through THREE time zones today – Cairns, Melbourne, and Adelaide.

I think I was bitten by sandflies. The curious thing is the ones on my hand and wrist itch like crazy, but the ones near my eye and nose don’t bother me at all. At its worst, I could develop leishmaniasis, but I hope not. Other bugs have bitten me, but not as bad as the ones I think sandflies caused.

The drive from Adelaide to Tanunda only took a little over an hour. It was not a pitch-dark night. There was a moon and lots of clouds. One section of the road had yellow streetlights the same shade as the yellow light on the traffic signal. How odd. Most of the roads here are two lanes, some even going as fast as 110 km.

We are staying at Barossa Motor Lodge for two nights. The room is a big room with couch, table, refrigerator, and a king-sized bed. We have a sink with a separate spigot for hot and cold. Never understood that. We snacked all day today and skipped dinner. I’ll post more after a good night’s rest.

Joe went off snorkeling with Wavelength, and I breakfasted with the birds at the Rainforest Wildlife Habitat. There were exotic fruits such as star apple and paw paw. Birds flew all around you, landed on your table, and sat and stared at you. You could also go hold a python or a koala. I just took a walk through the wetlands, grassland, and rainforest area. I saw the tree kangaroos, emus, a cassowary, and wallabies.

After my two-hour nap, I went on a half-day Daintree Discovery tour. We drove through Mossman Gorge, a sugar town 20 minutes from Port Douglas. It has a high school, library, and council buildings. The hospital only has 18 beds and no maternity ward. We passed by a prawn farm and many sugar cane fields. There are only two golf courses up here, one of which is at the Sheraton. Crocodiles have been known to come onto the course to sunbathe.

The electric harvester that cuts the sugar cane strips the leaves to let them fall back into the field and cuts up the stems to be used for processing later. They tried to introduce cane toads into the area because the cane beetles were destroying the sugar crops; however, only after they had released them did they realize cane toads did not fly. They stayed on the ground and proliferated. One can lay as much as 40,000 eggs and have three clutches a year

We took a Daintree River cruise. One of the other boats was having a wedding party of about 30 people on it. We saw two crocodiles, a kingfisher, a bat, a python, and lots of flora. One of the palms was called the wait-a-while because there are barbs on the leaves, and if you get caught in them, you’ll have to wait a while to extract yourself. The female crocodile grows to about 3 meters, and the male crocodiles keep growing. The sex of the eggs is dependent on the temperature. Our boat guide said the other week two male crocodiles were at it, and they were watching from a distance. All of a sudden, one of the males took off after their boat and bit one of the metal railings.

After the cruise, stopped to have some refreshments of cookies, fruit, and drinks. Then we went on a hike in the Daintree Forest observing the various flora and fauna there. I saw one of those cassowary plums that cassowaries like to eat. They are shaped like avocados but are bright purplish-blue. The cassowaries don’t chew them; they swallow them whole, and the stomach acids digest them.

Joe drove into downtown Port Douglas this evening, saving us the $7 shuttle fare we paid last night. I wanted to stop by the Iron Bar to watch the cane toad races, but I don’t think they were doing them tonight. I caught a glimpse of it on YouTube, and it looked like they were using those party blowers to propel the toads forward. I feel sorry for the toads.

We dined alfresco again tonight. This time we ate at Salsa, which was recommended by my tour guide. We started off with garlic bread with pesto and cheese. I ordered the linguini with garlic yabbies and parmesan. Yabbies are a type of Australian crayfish, and when they came, I thought I had to work hard at getting the meat. Mercifully, they halved them, and I only had to pick the meat out with minimal effort. Joe ordered the wild barramundi, and it was cooked to perfection, very moist and juicy. It was accompanied with quinoa and ratatouille.

I got bit last night on the left side of my face, and it swelled up today. During the tour, I got two bites on the left side of my left eye, the right side of my nose, and below my right wrist. The latter bite started out as a pinprick and then became swollen to the size of a 1 ½-inch by 2-inch rectangle, red and inflamed. The other bites from today are swollen too. I took a Benadryl before dinner and was hoping to just shower and take another Bendryl after dinner until the fire alarms in our section sounded. It proved to be a false alarm, but the fire trucks are outside as I write this.

It’s okay that I am groggy tomorrow because it’s a travel day, over 1 hour’s drive back to Cairns, 4-hour flight back to Melbourne, 2-hour layover, 2-hour flight to Adelaide, and a 1 ½-hour drive to our hotel in Tanunda. It might even be a 1 ½-hour flight to Adelaide since they are in that weird half-hour difference time zone.

Time to go pack.

Friday we slept in until an hour before our 9:15 a.m pickup by Quicksilver. We went to Agincourt Reefs, situated on the very outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, which has 2,900 separate reef systems stretching over 2,300 kilometers. The sea floor drops away to where the water is more than 500 meters deep. Lunch was buffet style with many offerings: Queen prawns, drumsticks, salad, pasta, potatoes, beef stew, rice, cantaloupe, and watermelon. On the return trip we had cheese and crackers. I wish they let you eat during the 1.5-hour trip out there because three hours didn’t seem like enough time to leisurely do things when the buffet lunch took up one third of that time.

While Joe went snorkeling, I went on one of the semi-submersibles. These were cool because it was like I was in the middle of a huge aquarium. I saw fishes of all sizes, shapes, and colors, and lots of hard coral. Since we attended Reef Teach last night, I was able to identify most of the different coral and fishes. The water wasn’t as clear as I would have liked and I doubt the pictures I took are of great quality, but it was fun. I rode it twice. I also went to the underwater observatory section to see more fish.

Port Douglas offers a wide range of outdoor adventures like Cairns but in a more laid-back tropical setting. I hear Cairns can be a little sketchy, but probably nothing compared to what happened in Melbourne this week. http://www.theage.com.au/national/police-say-machete-attack-was-payback-20091124-jhd3.html?autostart=1

Tourists like Port Douglas because it’s close to the north’s wild rain forests and the Great Barrier Reef. Most of the hotels here have Resort in its name. For example, we are staying at the Mantra Treetops Resort. It’s surrounded by the melaleuca rainforest, lots of free-flowing waterways, and lily ponds. There was a crane in the lily pond catching his dinner and a cockatoo preening himself on a tree branch in front of reception. I have yet to see the Ulysses butterfly with its iridescent electric blue wings. At night tiki torches light the wooden paths.

We dined at Nautilis tonight. I ordered the duck liver parfait with gherkins, quince, and toasts. I much prefer pate, which is more solid than the creamy version I got. I also had baby bugs (type of slipper lobster) and blue swimmer crab tortellini with a side of green beans, zucchini, and asparagus in herbed butter. Joe had the 600 kg whole coral trout deep fried. It came right-side up on the plate with its mouth displaying tiny teeth. The paw-paw salad side reminded me of daikon with Thai dressing. He also ordered rocket (arugula) with walnuts and goat cheese. I originally wanted to get the mud crab, but I didn’t want to spend my entire dinner cracking the shell. Had I known Joe’s trout would have been work, I might have joined him in the labor.

Tomorrow I’m off to Daintree.

Thursday we got up at 6:30 a.m. this morning so that we could heat up rice, barbeque pork, and roast duck for breakfast. Why have a kitchen with a microwave, dishwasher, and stove if you don’t use it at least once? I wish we were in one of these when we stayed five days in Sydney.

We left at 7:30 a.m. for our 9:45 a.m. flight, but it had started to rain, and traffic was horrendous. The cab driver finally took side streets, and we got to the airport a little over an hour before our flight time. By the time we checked in bags and got to the gate, we had only a half hour to spare. Our cab driver was very nice to get us there with enough time and turn off the meter so that we only paid $A70 for the ride. It could have been almost double.

The takeoff was delayed at least 15 minutes because of the weather anyway. Whew! I hate cutting it close. They made announcements of no hot liquids upon takeoff and to unbuckle seatbelts during the refueling process. I like the different flight rules for each country. My favorite so far is not having to remove shoes, jackets, and sweaters at security. The funniest one was the attendant who said “’D’ as in Delightful” and “’F’ as in Fantastic” when announcing plane sections that could board. Today’s Virgin Blue fun game was to check the bottom of your cup for a happy face with the admonishment to be sure to finish your drink first.

Queensland doesn’t observe Daylight Savings. When we got to Cairns, they were an hour behind Melbourne. It was sultry and humid. The airport is really small, but they are working on adding a new terminal. It’s so small that the car rental places were right on the premises. First thing we did was find a Laundromat and did our laundry. Then we parked near City Place, walked to the Cairns Library, and relaxed for two hours before we had dinner.

We dined alfresco at Raw Prawn on the Esplanade. I ordered garlic pepper prawns with green beans and rice and also a side of chips, and Joe ordered the king prawns. I liked my dish a lot, but Joe’s prawns were about 4-5 inches each and tasted a lot like lobster. When you dipped the pieces in butter, they were heavenly. One of the menu items was Hop, Skip, Hump & Jump (kangaroo, crocodile, camel, and emu). After dinner and relaxing by the shore, we headed over to the Main Arcade area to attend Reef Teach, a 2-hour discussion of the Great Barrier Reef, fishes, coral, dangerous creatures, and taking underwater shots. Informative and entertaining.

I don’t really understand roundabouts. Sometimes we have trouble counting the exits. Sometimes, it says take first exit, and there are no really exits but to go straight. It’s quite confusing. Joe missed a turn on a roundabout on the way to Port Douglas, and we ended up going up Black Mountain Road only to have to come down again. The road was very tortuous and dark. I hated it going up, and I hated it more going down. I’m sure the view would have been fantastic in the daytime. This detour delayed us about half an hour. We finally got to Mantra Treetops by 10:30 p.m. It was a long day.

This vacation has been our most ambitious one yet. There were so many factors to consider. Everything had to be timed perfectly, and so far everything has worked out. We just have Adelaide, Sydney, and Los Angeles left. By the time we are done, there will have been 3 loads of laundry, 8 flights, 3 car rentals, 8 cab rides, 3 wine tours, at least 6 major excursions, 4 time zones, and 12 hotels. We visited four parts of Australia and drove from coast to coast in New Zealand. We didn’t book everything before this trip and ended up booking on the go, which is stressful and expensive. I do not even want to look at the bill for this trip, especially the phone part of it. As of the moment, we still don’t have our hotel in Sydney for our final night.

Off to see the Great Barrier Reef now. Will try to post tonight, but we only get E here, not 3G, and it's very slow.

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the States. Though I feel awkward in face-to-face interaction at tournaments, I am glad that I can communicate to you via written form.

Tuesday before we left Twizel, Anne, the host of the B&B we were staying at, made us a wonderful breakfast that surpasses most of the other B&B fares. There were toast, coffee, juice, yogurt, fresh fruit, bacon, eggs, hash browns, and tomatoes. I even took a small package of shortbread cookies for the road trip. We went back to the Mackenzie Country Inn to catch up on emails and do more booking for Australia. We left around 11 a.m. for our 3+-hour drive to Christchurch. On the way there, we saw the beautiful mountains of Mount Cook and other ranges near Lake Pukaki. In Lake Tekapo we had to slow down because some trunk was moving a house. Everyone took pictures. I’ll have to post one later.

This time in Christchurch, we stayed at Copthorne Hotel. After checking in, we went to mail about 5 kg of stuff home, which cost about $NZ90 and will take about three weeks. We returned the car to Budget and learned we logged 2,040 km on this trip – too bad we couldn’t get many radio stations, and those we did get were always running news or commercials. Joe rented a car with only one power plug; so I couldn’t power the computer. I did get some Zyzzyva studying while in the car though. My favorite snack was Bluebird green onion chips.

We had a simple dinner at Mum’s – I had agedashi tofu, sashimi, and rice; Joe had spicy pork with all the Korean BBQ accompaniments. I just vegged for the night and watched some TV on the six channels available – Master Chef Australia, some Australian shows, and half of Mr. Brooks – before turning in early to get up at 4:30 a.m.

There were a lot of quirky signs in New Zealand. Here is a sampling:

If I wanted your opinion, I would give it to you.
Condom vending machine - $NZ1 for 2 – no rubber no hubba hubba.
Fatigue kills – rest and drive.
Fate doesn’t decide your speed; you do.

DRINK
DRIVE (with D I E letters in red)

Wednesday we got to the airport at 5 a.m. for our 7 a.m. flight. The line for Air New Zealand was about 50 persons deep, but our line was mercifully short. There was a $NZ25 departure fee for person and two more customs forms to fill out. The plane ride was smooth, but the airline attendants seem to make a lot of announcements. There was a Wellington band onboard, and one of the trumpet players entertained us with a rousing rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In” as well as sing “Happy Birthday” to one of the passengers. The airline attendants had us also play the seat pocket game, where we all organized the contents of the seat pocket. That’s one way to tidy up the aircraft between flights.

We arrived in Melbourne early, about 8:45 a.m. and by the time we got through customs, it was about 9:15 a.m. The cab ride to the hotel was $A50. We are in the Medina Executive Northbank Hotel. We were too early to check in, but they took our bags so that we could wander the city. First stop was the 7-Eleven to purchase an all day metro pass for $A6 to ride the bus, trains and trams. Then Joe and I separated to see the different sights.

I took the tram to South Melbourne Market, the oldest continuing market operating in Melbourne. They are only open Wednesdays and Fridays-Saturdays. (Note: our original plan was to arrive in New Zealand a day earlier and leave a day earlier, but since everything was pushed back one day, we had beautiful weather for Milford Sound, and I was able to go to this market. The only thing amiss was we were in Twizel on Monday when most of the restaurants were closed.) There were lots of eateries of different ethnic foods and aisles upon aisles of wares.

I bought a pork dim sum dumpling for $A1.50. It was like 3-4 of the regular sized dumplings rolled into one and deep fried. It just hit the spot as the first food of the day. I also bought a bag of shrimp chips for $A1.40. I loved making shrimp chips as a kid. You bought a box of these chips that looked liked translucent colored plasticized slices. You threw them into a vat of oil and poof, they would magically turn into airy chips. I don’t care that they look and tasted like shrimp-flavored Styrofoam because I grew up with them as a kid, and it’s a comfort food for me. We also used to get them when we would order the Peking duck dish. Too bad we were not here for the holidays. Among the festivities are the singing butcher, Christmas carolers, and Christmas stalls.

After I had my snack, I took the tram to Fitzroy to walk along Gertrude Street to go to Books for Cooks, Australia’s specialist independent new and secondhand cookery bookstore – over 28,000 books. It was fun just browsing through all the different categories of books. I then headed down to Wellington to catch a tram through Bridge Road in Richmond, one of the many shopping districts lined with cafes, restaurants, and bars. I didn’t actually shop, but it was fun to look at the different styles in the window.

I was hungry and rode the tram to Collins Street and walked to Bourke Street, where Chinatown was. I ate at Ajisen Ramen and had their signature dish. The Kumamoto ramen’s Tonkotsu soup contains collagen extracted from boiling bones for hours on end; so this soup can actually defeat aging and improve the absorption of calcium. Ajisen Ramen is also the largest ramen chain in Singapore. Along with the soup, I got an order of salmon sashimi, six fat slices wrapped to form a flower cluster with pickled ginger and wasabi in the center. Very nice.

After eating lunch, I wandered down farther Bourke Street and saw a Haigh’s Chocolate outlet. I wanted to bring some South Australia chocolates home, but since we still had a week left in our trip, I opted to wait until I get to Adelaide to make the big purchases. I did have a dark chocolate peppermint frog though. The David Jones on Bourke Street also had their windows decorated for Christmas. In Sydney, they were decorated in more traditional Christmas scenes with Christmas music piped in. These windows were decorated with the Olivia Helps with Christmas scenes. For those of you who don’t really know children’s books, Olivia is a rambunctious, creative, and lovable little pig created by Ian Falconer.

I ended the afternoon by taking the City Circle tram, which goes around the central business district and over to the Docklands, a unique waterfront development, before heading back to the hotel. I finally got to see the room. It’s huge – two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two TVs, remote temperature controls, a large living room, kitchen, and a balcony – all for $A148.65. It’s bigger than most apartments. I took the bedroom with the balcony view and the TV.

Joe bought a USB for $A90 for 1GB so that we could get Internet anywhere that Vodafone has it. I spent time getting all that set up so that I can have connection for the rest of my stay in Australia. I wish we had thought of this two weeks ago. The Internet prices in NZ were ridiculous, sometimes as much as $NZ30 a day; I saw one sign that was $NZ1 for 6 minutes and 43 seconds. It rivals $NZ3 for a glazed donut with chocolate icing.

I browsed through the day tours and seriously thought about doing the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island, but the bus ride and tour takes over 6 hours, and since we have done so much and still have another week of activities, I opted out. It would have been nice to go see the fairy penguins come to shore while you watched from a special skybox with your own ranger and a person doing color commentary on the journey. The YouTube clip is enough for now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFO_vCEHQUs

Dinner was at Mekong Vietnamese Restaurant. One of the signs in the window attests that Clinton had two bowls of soup there. We ordered fresh spring rolls, I ordered beef and brisket rice noodle soup, and Joe had the charbroiled pork rice noodle soup. The spring rolls were very fresh. The rice paper wrapper is yet another Asian plasticized product. It’s brittle when it’s dry, but when you soak the wrapper, it becomes malleable. You can wrap up main ingredients of shrimp, rice vermicelli, bean sprouts, lettuce, basil cilantro, mint, and other stuff to create your own spring rolls.

I’m relaxing tonight by watching more Australian TV. Tonight’s fare is Celebrity MasterChef Australia. Cooking competition shows in Australia are addicting. It made me so hungry that I had to go get some duck. I would have loved some Lord of the Fries fries too. Oh, well, can’t eat too much since I have to sleep “early” tonight.

Another early flight tomorrow, and we are off to Cairns and Port Douglas for three days. Great Barrier Reef, here we come. Yea!

Saturday we went to the Otago Farmers Market at the Railway Station. I had a lamb kebab, most delicious, and a pie with beef, mushroom, and red wine jus; Joe bought a lemon brioche and an almond and chocolate croissant. As is the custom in New Zealand, it rained for 15 minutes.

We drove to Te Anau and arrived at Kingsgate in about four hours. We had dinner at Redcliff Inn. I had battered oysters and lamb stuffed with sweetbreads, roasted potatoes, marinated tomatoes, and cauliflower puree with Swiss chard while Joe had pork rillettes with toasted ciabatta slices and apple chutney and a seafood stew with local seafood. So far I haven’t been overly wild about dessert, but the popular thing here is pavlova, a meringue-based dessert.

Sunday we actually got to sleep in until 9 a.m. because we were staying TWO days. The usual checkout time in New Zealand is 10 a.m. We ate breakfast at Pop Inn Café and then boarded the BBQ bus to go to Milford Sound. On the way there we stopped at Mirrows Lake, Falls Creek, and The Chasm to do some walks and view beautiful waterfalls. There were also waterfalls off the mountains and evidence of snow avalanches and tree avalanches. Lunch consisted of sausage, kebab, macaroni salad, and cole slaw. The Homer Tunnel was completely dark, and you had to wait 15 minutes on either side to enter. Once we got to Milford Sound, we rode the Spirit of Milford around the lake. We saw a Fiordland Penguin hopping along the rocks, keas foraging for food, and seals sunbathing on the rocks. There were many stunning views around Milford Sound, which is technically more of a fiord.

Monday we did an 8:30 a.m. cruise of Lake Te Anau and take a tour of the Aurora Caves to see the glowworms. The cave is only 14,000 years old; so there were no stalactites or stalagmites. The tour inside the grotto was neat. One had to crouch around the rock formations. We rode in a punt, and it was amazing to see the glowworms’ butts glow, emitting pinpoints of light akin to constellations. They are quite territorial. If one glowworm gets too close to another glowworm, the more dominant one will as a first warning knock the other one off and as a second warning eat him.

On the four-hour drive to Twizel, we stopped by Gibbston Valley, where Joe tasted wine and we bought some bread and garlic and chive cheese. Most of the restaurants in Twizel (about half a dozen) are closed on Monday. We ended up at the Mackenzie Country Inn and paid $A12 for 24-hour Internet access so that we could book the rest of your trips in Australia and catch up on emails. I had battered blue cod fish with chips and vegetables while Joe ate pork belly with vegetables.

We are back to Christchurch tomorrow and then leave for Melbourne on Wednesday.

Due to my being rushed and getting spotty Internet service, I give you this quick recap of the last two days.

Yesterday Joe got up at 5 a.m. to swim with the dolphins in Kaikoura. He said that there hundreds of them. He did three different swims with them, but since I didn’t go along to view it, I have no pictures to prove it.

Then we were off to Blenheim so he could do a wine tour of Marlborough Valley. I’ve been under the weather the past week. I had the stomach flu before I left for Sydney, and fighting the insect bite has worn me down. I just decided to rest instead of explore. Joe said that to counteract the frost, the wineries use windmills and occasionally helicopters to bring in the warm air.

We had dinner at the restaurant at Hotel d’Urville. I had the Western eye fillet mignon wrapped in “pestelles” streaky smoked bacon. Joe had the West Coat dry-aged “bone-in” ribeye. Both were divine, but since we had a four-hour drive back to Christchurch, we didn’t get appetizers or desserts.

This time we stayed at the Holiday Inn City Centre in Christchurch. It was a great room, but we were only there to sleep the night and got up today at 7 a.m. to make the four-hour trek down to Oamaru. On the way down we stopped by the Ashford Art & Craft Village. At the café, I got a delicious bacon and egg filo. At the yarn store, I picked up six skeins of 4-ply baby merino wool to give to friends.

We went to the Blue Penguin Colony in Oamaru. The Blue Penguin is the smallest species of penguin. They are about 16 inches tall, weight about 2 pounds and have a slate-blue plumage. The tour was a short 45-minutes, and they did not allow you to take pictures. We saw some penguins and chicks hiding out in their nests, and one was roaming freely on the grounds, but that was about it.

On the way to Dunedin, we stopped in Moeraki to see the famous boulders unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach. “These boulders are grey-coloured septarian concretions which have been exposed through shoreline erosion from black mudstone coastal cliffs that back the beach. They originally formed in ancient sea floor sediments during the early Paleocene some 60 million years ago. The boulders weigh several tons and are up to three metres in diameter.” We also drove down Lighthouse Road to see whether we can view any yellow-eyed penguins coming in from the shore, but it was too early.

We checked in at the Scenic Circle Southern Cross Hotel in Dunedin before we headed out to the Otago Peninsula to Penguin Place, home of the yellow-eyed penguins. I was frustrated with the Garmin GPS because it does not like to show you just streets – it usually requires an intersection or an exact address. Plus it doesn’t give you a good overview of the area to realize where you are going. Maybe we haven’t learned to use it. Joe drove us there as fast as he could without driving the car into the peninsula and we did make it by 6:20 p.m. or so for our 6:15 p.m. tour.

Penguin Place was definitely better than Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. We took a bus out to the reserves, went into several of the penguin hides to view the penguins, observed penguins returning fro the beach, and also saw sheep, horses, rabbits, ducks and ducklings. We had two hours of pure enjoyment and were able to snap as many pictures and film as much as we wanted.

Back in Dunedin we had dinner at The Terrace Sports Bar. I had the marinated mixed grill of pork, lamb, chicken, and beef along with the surf and turf of prawns and scallops. It came with great fries and aioli dipping sauce and seasonal vegetables of carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli. All the meats came out on this stone grill that cooked your food. Joe had the salmon fillet with awesome basil risotto. I am definitely feeling much better after all that wonderful food. Before I leave New Zealand, I must have lamb chops.

We loved driving down the coast of New Zealand today. Lots of beautiful scenery, lots of greenery, dozens of hectares of land, great views of the water and mountains, and hardly any traffic. The weather was cool, not too hot, and there was a small rainfall, but overall, it was just breathtaking. Next stop is Te Anau and then Milford Sound, where they have the Fiordland Crested penguins.

We spent our last day in Sydney going to Bondi Beach. The water there is light blue instead of the dark blue and green found in California. Must be the algae. We also stopped at Gertrude and Alice, a nice cafe bookstore. Our final meal was at the Sydney Fish Market, where I feasted on 100g of fresh salmon sashimi for under $A6. Joe got a platter of calamari, soft shell crab, scallops, and shrimp that was delectable as well.

The flight to Christchurch went smoothly after another customs delay regarding visas. It was very cold, probably more than half the temperature we experienced in Sydney hours before. By the time we got to the Hotel Grand Chancellor and checked in, it was past 1 a.m. The hotel was much nicer than Park Regis. Too bad we couldn’t really enjoy the room. We probably got about five hours’ sleep before we headed out again to drive to Kaikoura, a peninsula town 1.5-hours' drive away.

Joe wanted to go swim with the dolphins, but the weather was cold and overcast with six-foot swells. He rebooked for tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. I could go watch, but I’d rather sleep in. Some insect in the Blue Mountains bit me near my left middle knuckle. It swelled and spread to the surrounding knuckles and halfway down my hand. It was quite a sight and itched like crazy. Since then I have taken three Benadryls, which has helped some. At least the itching has stopped.

Our original plan was to do the dolphin tour in the afternoon and then drive up to Blenheim for the evening, but with the schedule change, we are bunking in at the White Morph Motor Inn. We entered the room via the plate glass door. It’s a huge room with almost the same sized bathroom with more switches than one would ever need. There is even a switch to warm your towels while you shower. There’s room for a couch too. So far there have been two spiders. Let’s hope I don’t get bit again.

If you haven’t figured it out, I love gift shops, and I enjoyed browsing the one in Dolphin Encounter. They had scarves for $NZ75 and beanies for $NZ50. I decided I wasn’t that cold. I saw lots of cards of birds, one of them being the tui. Plus there were lots of items of the kiwi, a flightless bird native to, and the national symbol of, New Zealand. The trivet looked interesting, but we only have so much room left in our suitcases, which are already taken up by two boomerangs.

Breakfast today was simple bacon and eggs with toast, and my eggs were perfectly poached. Their concept of bacon is not by slice but rather a cross between traditional bacon and Canadian bacon. I’m not sure whether I have embraced this variation yet. I slept the entire afternoon away because I was so groggy from all the Benadryl, but I woke up in time for dinner. Kaikoura is a small town; so there were not a lot of choices for dinner unless you wanted to drive. We are still trying to get used to driving on the left side of the road. Your center of balance is off, and every time you make a turn, you keep chanting, “Keep left. Keep left.”

We ended up at the Bayside Blue Café. I started off with white onion and parmesan soup with a small piece of toast and caramelized onions on top. It was very good, hit the spot for such a dreary day, and quite filling. I also tried the salmon risotto balls, but for whatever reason, I have been disappointed with risotto balls. I like rice balls, but the risotto balls never seem to have much flavor. I’ll stick to fried mac and cheese balls instead. Now that’s yummy.

Okay, back to my entrée. I ordered the New Zealand green-lipped mussels. They were huge and tasted great in the broth, but I prefer the regular sized mussels. Joe had half a crayfish, one of Kaikoura’s specialties. They range anywhere from $NZ45-$NZ60 for half of one. This one was cooked in garlic butter sauce, and it was good, but lobster would have been better. We also got a side of asparagus with cashews, which complemented our meal well. We went back to the motel to have butter shortbread cookies.

The menu listed definitions of food terms such as fusilli, pesto, and ragout. The funniest thing is brownie was listed and was described as an American-style dessert. There is also a 15% surcharge on holidays.

Off to Blenheim tomorrow so that Joe can go on a Marlborough Valley wine tour. I’ll have to think of something to keep me entertained.