A Kiwi Christmas

After our last blog we successfully sold our Toyota touring van in two days and Dave sold his first vehicle exclusively in French. Hopefully “Puff” will drive well for the two girls from France who are road tripping through Australia.
With the van off of our mind and our pockets deep with cash we went directly to a travel centre and purchased flights for the next part of our trip around the world. Looking for holidays? Maybe you just miss us? Here is our flight itinerary if you want to visit us somewhere: Hanoi & Halong Bay, Jan. 21-31; Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Feb. 1-Mar. 6; Greece, Mar. 6-April ?; and then Spain. We’re looking forward to our new adventures in the new year and are currently loving the new adventures as we finish off 2009.
Parents, Jen and Tony, arrived in Sydney on December 17th full of energy for their holidays, which is good for what we had planned for them. On their first night we toured Sydney Harbour in style on the Showboat Cruise. The cruise offered a three course meal, all you can drink, classy showgirls presenting dances and fashion from different countries, and beautiful sunset views of the Harbour Bridge, Sydney’s Opera House, and the city’s skyline and surrounding coast. The next couple of days was dedicated to exploring the Blue Mountains’ scenic views, towns, and the most memorable Empress Canyon. Although Jen and Tony put their wetsuits on backwards before we entered the canyon, they proved their athletic skills and sense of adventure as they scrambled through rocks and waterfalls, jumped into pools of water, swam and slid down natural rock slides, and abseiled 30metres down the final cliff. It was a fantastic day and we thank our good bloke Ken who provided us with most of the equipment necessary to make this outing possible. Cheers Big Ears!
By mid-afternoon the next day we arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand. Our hotel was nestled in the town’s Cathedral Square and city centre. We enjoyed delicious meals at local restaurants, shopped at the nearby market, won some spending money at the Casino, and rested our heads after very busy days. We spent two days bouldering at Castle Hill and were impressed with the view. Limestone boulders littered the vegetative foothills of the Southern Alps, a very beautiful place especially if you like mantles.
After our visit in Christchurch we were off to Takaka, at the far North end of the South Island.

We spent 5 nights, including Christmas Eve, at a lovely rental house with Jen, Tony, and our friends Brett, Jana, and Derek. Mom made an amazing bird and the Texas Holdem’ proved to be very exciting. Our adventures in Golden Bay were non stop including swimming and climbing at Paynes Ford, hiking and sea kayaking the Abel Tasman National Park and collecting shells on the beach. A highlight of our kayaking trip was watching seals swim and play on Adele Island. We got a little scared when a seal jumped into the water and charged our boat, missing us by only a couple of inches.
We took our time driving back to Christchurch for our flight back to Sydney. We made an overnight stop in Kaikora to watch more lazy seals and enjoy the views off the coast.
Back in Sydney we enjoyed dinner with Oli and his family at the “Braza”, a Brazilian BBQ restaurant that serves more meat than the cows we saw in New Zealand. It was a great meal in Newport that will keep Dave’s carnivorous appetite happy for a few days. For two nights, we stayed at a great hotel in the Darling Harbour and watched an amazing firework show at 9pm right out of our 8th floor window. We continued ringing in the New Year with dancing shows and music bands, and a midnight display of fireworks with a panoramic view just minutes from our hotel. It was a show that will never be beat.
Today we fly out to Tasmania for more world class climbing, camping, and Aussie wildlife.

Happy New Year! All the best to everyone for 2010!