June 2-3

It’s now Tuesday night and I thought I’d update the last few days even though we won’t be able to post today.

Yesterday (Monday), was our last day in New Zealand. We didn’t fly out until noon, so Ted and I went downtown Queenstown and ate breakfast at The Bakery again. Took our time and then walked around for a bit before we headed to the airport. Security within New Zealand airports, flying domestically, is extremely lax in some airports. We were surprised when we flew from Hamilton to Christchurch that we or our bags weren’t even screened.

Having some free time yesterday, I had a hard time putting down the book I brought along to read, “Pillars of the Earth”. Hopefully I can finish the book before we return home (I’m 400 with 600 to go!). While I spent time reading on the plane yesterday, Ted caught up on South Park episodes he downloaded to his iPod.

We made it into Brisbane, Australia last night around 6, welcomed by rain. Brisbane received 4” of rain yesterday which will bring the town out of a Level 6 water restriction. Not sure what level 6 consists of, but we heard plenty of talk on the radio about it today. Apparently, with all the rain, they will be allowed to water their lawn, and wash their cars certain times during the day. Brisbane, along with other cities here along the coast are in a huge water crisis and sounds as if it will only be getting worse as more people move into the city. Our B&B hosts from New Zealand said some haven’t been able to water their lawns for over four years!

Today Ted and I drove North and stopped at the late Steve Irwin’s Australian Zoo. Spent about five hours walking and exploring everything from croc’s to kanagaroo’s to dingo’s. As you can see by the pictures, we were even allowed to pet the roo’s! They also had a snake area, and I only counted 11 venomous snakes that live in Australia. Yikes! Another picture you’ll see is a replica of the salt water crocodile which can grow to 27 feet. I think he could take Ted in one bite.

From there we drove another two hours to Hervey Bay to stay the night. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we’ll drive 500+ miles up the coast to the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsunday’s consists of 72 small islands and is the start of the Great Barrier Reef.

Random Notes:

I don’t think we ever mentioned the condition of the roads in New Zealand. I don’t believe we saw a pothole the entire trip. All of their roads are like new, and it seemed as though we ran into road crews every 30 miles (and I’m not exaggerating either) on the North Island making minor repairs. It was incredible the number of road crews out fixing the smallest of cracks or holes or what have you.

Stopped for a few groceries in Australia tonight. Good news: 24 pack of pop was on sale: $9.99 originally $17.00. A savings of $7.01! What a bargain.