Before we left the Mt. Cook area we decided that we had to get in 2 more hikes in the morning.  We packed up our stuff and drove 8 km to see the glacier lakes as well as the Tasman glacier.  A warning sign told us that there might be delays on the trail because of trail construction.  Well,  it was Saturday and no one was around.  As we started up the hill there was stair frames but no filling to complete the  stairway.  Up a short series of steps, we went left to the “Blue Lakes”.   After following a small trail & “bouldering” significant portions  (bouldering is “walking” over significant boulders vs. a trail), all we saw was 3 small  green murky lakes.  It was certainly not  worth the “death-defying” effort put forth to climb over the significant size boulders!  We finally ended up on a gravel/rock road.  After following it up the canyon for an hour further into the hills, we gave up and turned around.  No real “blue glacier lakes” were to be found.

Next stop was back up the hill to the “Tasman glacier views”.  We started from the parking lot again and up the hill we went discovering that the construction stair frames went all of the way up the rather steep hill – quite difficult to maneuver. We did it and struggled more to get down than up.  The views were nice but, frankly, not worth the work.

Then — off to Lake Wanaka, a 3+ hour drive.   We saw lots and lots of sheep & scenic farmland along the way.  Once we got to our “chalet” (which was adorable) in Wanaka, we were dazzled by the view  of the mountains & lake.  The downtown, which was a 5 minute walk for us,  was thriving with bars & restaurants.  What a cute town.  We dined at  Alivate, an Asian-fusion restaurant, while  overlooking beautiful Lake Wanaka with the snow capped mountains in the distance.

We arrived at the Hermitage Hotel at Mount Cook Village late Thursday afternoon with dark, rainy skies overhead.   Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is the center of New Zealand’s South Island and has been designated a World Heritage area.  The national park boasts having the highest mountain, Mt. Cook, and the longest glacier.  On Friday, we woke to 35 degrees (Lesley donned 6 layers of clothing for the hike!), cloudy weather upon the mountains and some blue sky peaking through the clouds.  We started the day by “tramping the hooker” (Tramping in NZ is hiking).  The Hooker is the Hooker Trail to Hooker Lake & Glacier at the base of Mt. Cook (22,218 ft. high).   It is a very well-known hiking trail and is one of the most popular hiking trails in the area with three swinging bridges.   The swing bridges are great fun especially if there are a number of people walking across the bridge at the same time,  The 6- mile round trip walk from our hotel started off in questionable weather.  Clouds surrounded the nearby mountains and we still weren’t sure if Mt. Cook actually existed!.  As the day progressed, the clouds broke, the sun came out and Mt. Cook came into view.  It was a spectacular site.

During the day,  we continued to hear thunderous sounds  as avalanches erupted on the surrounding mountains.  We tried to get them on camera, but most of them were obscured by the mountain clouds.

After hiking to the Hooker Lake below Hooker Glacier at the base of Mt. Cook, we hiked several other trails.  6 hours of hiking later, we called it quits and went back to The Hermitage to reward ourselves with drinks.  It was a phenomenal day in the South Island.

On Tuesday,  we flew from Auckland to Wellington, the capitol of New Zealand.  The following morning,  we took the Interislander Ferry from Wellington across the Cooks Strait to Picton (the northern most tip of the South Island).   The Cooks Strait connects the Tasman Sea with the South Pacific Ocean.  We were shocked at the size of the ferry; as, it holds over 1500 passengers as well as numerous cars, trucks, etc.   The trip is often hailed as one of the most beautiful ferry trips in the world.  Unfortunately, it was raining and foggy the entire 3 1/2 hour trip.  Well… can’t win them all.

We then drove 4+ hours from Picton to Christchurch, the 2nd largest city in NZ.   This was the first time David had driven on the left side of the road.  Although David is usually an excellent U.S. driver,  he initially acted like he was a first-time driver!  At first, it was “kind of” hilarious watching him struggle to drive on the “wrong” side of  road.  After we had a near miss (not that close!) when David had a memory lapse and veered off to the right side of the road, it wasn’t so funny!   Unfortunately, Lesley could not go into her usual sleep mode while driving and had to be keenly aware of making sure we were always on the correct side of the road.  The drive along the coast was stunningly beautiful and the farmland is extensive.  Cows, sheep, deer & reindeer abound.  We stopped and walked 10 minutes up a stream to a beautiful waterfall.  The unusual item about this waterfall is that seal pups swim upstream from the ocean to the pool beneath the falls.  One seal pup was there when we arrived and we watched one come up stream while we were there.  These were ambitious pups – it is a long and rocky stream.  We still don’t know why they do it – unless it is just to get away from the old folks!

Other views along the way were quite beautiful including the Southern Alps with lots of snow as well as much of the coastline.  The water is a beautiful blue – similar to glacier water in Montana & Canada.

On Tuesday we flew to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital and the southernmost city on the North Island.  The only “interesting” matter about our flight is that NO ONE was ever asked for an ID.  You had to have a boarding pass but that was all Air New Zealand required.  Interesting…..

The Wellington Airport was attuned to the “Middle-Earth” promotion (the filming of J.R. Tokien’s books were filmed here) – see pictures below.  It was quite the display.

We spent the remaining part of the very rainy and very cold “spring” day discovering the charming capitol city.  The picturesque capitol hugs the ocean.  Unfortunately, due to the inclement weather, it was challenging to take pictures.  Our hotel room in downtown Wellington overlooked what is probably the ugliest national capital building anywhere.

Dinner at The Thistle Inn, a 175 year-old pub (2nd liquor license issued in NZ) near downtown Wellington, was great.  Once a month, the owner invites any musician to play in the bar for the evening.  Sometimes only one or two show up, Tuesday night brought  a sizable group of around ten or eleven individuals.  It was great fun listening to them sing and play their instruments; and, we even did a video (to follow)!

On Saturday we decided to walk along the harbor to Achilles Point, 7 miles (each way) from our Princess Wharf location.   Whenever we have the opportunity, we will always opt to walk so we can really “experience” an area.   While the walk was flat and quite stunning, 14 miles was a little tiring.  The beaches were lovely and we stopped in Mission Bay for lunch.   The mostly contemporary homes that dot the coastline were spectacular.   At Achilles Point, the Auckland Fire Department was practicing rescue techniques off the cliff, just east of Ladies Bay Beach.  Ladies Beach has become a popular nude beach for Auckland’s gay community.  With the fire department swarming the beach, there were few others on that beach.

While Melbourne is also on the coast, the central business district (downtown) area is the highlight of the city.  The CBD is filled with very charming alleyways and old Victorian arcades with lovely boutiques along with great cafes and restaurants.  On the other hand,  Auckland is a boat-lover’s dream and is purely focused on beautiful waterfront precincts, boating and ferrying to the many interesting islands off the Hauraki Gulf.   It is also known as the “City of Sails”.   Interestingly, Auckland is one of the few cities in the world to have two harbors on two separate major bodies of water (We did the 12+ mile walk the other day from harbor to harbor).  The one thing that both cities have in common is the outstanding dining establishments.   We have had lots of great seafood and tasty lamb.

On Friday, we rode the 40-minute ferry to Waiheke Island, the most densely populated (& very hilly) island off Auckland in the Hauraki Gulf.  It is a vacation destination with 8,500 full-time residents swelling to 50,000+ in the summer; and, the second. largest island after the Great Barrier Island.  Waiheke Island is 36 square miles and almost 12 miles long with almost 83 miles of gorgeous coastline!  Only about 1/3 of the island is readily accessible.  The ocean-front/view home prices are astronomical like certain areas of the U.S.  The island is so picturesque with acres of sheep and a few cattle crazing by the  ocean along with very attractive homes that are part of the many vineyards on the island.

Art of all types is very strong on the island and sculptures are everywhere – a bi-annual sculpture festival draws 40,000 visitors.  While the island is primarily filled with “holiday homes” (small vacation properties), there are a growing number of larger homes of all types.  In addition, the island is home to 25 vineyards.  Wine tours abound.

After a  2-hour bus tour of the island, we chose an oceanside restaurant in the main town of Oneroa.  It was  delightful.  David, once again,  had a beautiful lamb dish.   We decided to walk back to Matiata Harbor (the ferry) on one of the many trails noted on the tourist map.  This very scenic 5+ mile trek (“tramping” is the local term) led us through forests, up hills, along the beach, through horse & sheep filled fields (often climbing over fences) and along steep cliffs above the ocean.  Some of the trails were small paths while other parts had stairs, bridges and gravel paths.  It was an absolutely spectacular treck and almost as beautiful as the hike around Cap Ferrat in the French Riviera.  It was a truly memorable day!

Today, the sky was fairly black and it looked like it was going to rain any minute.  The one thing we have learned traveling thus far is to not let weather get in the way of any of our activities.  With that said, we decided to “tramp across New Zealand” on the famous Coast to Coast Walk.  It is an extensive 16km walk (about 10 miles) that starts very close to our Pier and takes you through downtown,  the sizeable Auckland University campus along with many picturesque parks and quaint neighborhoods.  The walk eventually ends on the other coast of Auckland; and, one can rightfully claim that they have walked across New Zealand!

Auckland is quite hilly.  (The downtown area actually looks like a combination of San Francisco and Seattle.)  We not only bounded up to the top of Mount Eden, the highest point in Auckland,  but also managed to climb up a  number of other hills and mountains on our walk.  In the middle of the city, we found sheep & cows grazing in Cornwall Park.  It is still spring in New Zealand,  so the sheep are not sheared yet.  They looked quite hefty with all of that wool!

We thought that we would find a number of neighborhood restaurants for lunch.  Unfortunately, the trail is focused on the numerous parks along the way.  When we were starving, we finally found a small village with a number of Asian restaurants – we chose the Malaysian restaurant.  It was fine but clearly not as cheap as we found in Asia.  After completing our walk without a drop of rain, we then walked another mile+ to a train station to get back to our pier.  Our total walk probably exceeded 20km – great exercise but we were happy to get back to our apartment, drink champagne and watch the sail boats and setting sun.

We opened the door to our apartment on Prince’s Wharf and we were totally  bedazzled by the view-it felt like we were on a cruise ship!  Our abode was a beautiful & sizeable one-level property right on/above the harbor.  In the evening, the Kiwi’s are busy sailing with lots of sail boats breezing right by our deck.  Prince’s Wharf is full of bars and restaurants that have been hopping each night – and it’s not even the weekend yet!  We are so mesmerized by the gorgeous views and all the boating right in front of us.  It is spectacular!

We took the short, 15 minute  ferry ride to Devonport, a peninsula across the harbor.  This small town is quaint, super charming with lots of restaurants and an interesting walk to two of the highest peaks in the harbor.  Lunch was great with David having his first taste of NZ lamb with a fabulous lamb salad.  So yummy!  Davenport reminded us of Chatham, Massachusetts.   Although the architecture In Davenport is more Victorian than Cape Cod, it was absolutely delightful.   The peninsula was simply beautiful and many kiwis commute daily to live in this spectacular community.  We took about a 5-mile hike around the peninsula and had many oohs and  aahs in terms of all the adorable homes.

We then visited the famous Auckland Fish Market late in the afternoon.  It was a short walk from our apartment and is on another wharf.   The primary retailer sells whole fish – a little too much for our short stay.  Instead we bought Lemongrass fish and Lesley prepared a gourmet meal.

On our last full day in Melbourne, we were off to the beach with the temperature hitting around 80 degrees!   Yesterday, it was in the low 60’s and it was quite chilly; since we have been in 90 degree+ temperatures for the last 6 weeks in Asia.    We trammed it to Saint Kilda Beach, south of central Melbourne.  After a  yummy vegetarian lunch (2 days in a row!) in Port Phillip, we wandered around the main street full of restaurants, bakeries, bars & clothing stores.     Obviously, Aussies can’t get their fill of those 4 categories.  It was a lovely beach community.  The” manmade” beaches had white sand which has to be continually dredged up from the ocean due to erosion.   Nonetheless, the beach was very picturesque.

Walking back to our apartment along the beach was an enjoyable stroll of 4-5 miles; however, we did take the tram back for the last few miles which delivered us just around the corner from our apartment.  It was a very relaxing day and a perfect way to end our Melbourne sojourn.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we are flying off to New Zealand,  specifically Auckland for 7 days.  After visiting the North and South Islands of New Zealand, we will be traveling back to Sydney.

Sunday is a busy day in Melbourne.  We toured the Polly Woodside, an early 1900’s sailing cargo ship that is housed at the Harbor on the river.  Had we not had it included in another museum ticket, we probably wouldn’t have gone.  It was sort of interesting but…..

After lunch in one of the alleyway cafes, we headed south to Chapel Street via tram stopping at another market, Prahran Market, on the way.  The Prahran Market was a smaller version of the South Melbourne Market.  Why can’t we have these type of markets in Utah?

Upon arriving on Chapel Street, Lesley went nuts because of all of the great boutique clothing shops and lots of top quality shoe stores.  The great (or not so great, depending on who is writing) of a long trip is that Lesley can’t buy anything!!!  Why not ship back, David?

The Melbourne Cup is now the second largest horse race globally behind the Kentucky Derby.  It is horse racing season now with lots of activity around town leading up to the Cup in early November.  Dressing up for the key races is important and we have seen a few women’s hat shops that clearly are focused on the social race fans.

We walked back to our apartment, through the picturesque Royal Gardens and stopped for people watching and drinks on the river promenade.  It was a most delightful  and very relaxing Sunday afternoon in “beautiful”  Melbourne.