NZ - Dec. 13, 2013 - Zip Lining in Rotorua, Hell's Gate Mud Pools, Mud Bubbles

I think our theme today is jazz hands and mud...

Still sporting sunburns we plastered ourselves in healing coconut oil shortly after our 6:30am wakeup and our early morning dip in the thermal pools.  On the road by 8:45am to make sure we got to our zip lining tour on time!  Turns out we were super early, but we were very eager and excited.

Our 3 hour adventure started at 10am.  We filled out paperwork, got weighed, and suited up.  We had two hilarious guides, Shane and Richard, looking after our group of 10 people.  We got into the van and started to get to know each other, and Shane blurted out that he hunts pigs.  I don't know what came over me, but I burst out laughing because I had no idea that hunting pigs was a real thing.  Unfortunately for me, I paid for my little outburst for the rest of the trip by getting picked on.  Whoops!

Photo credit: Ryan R

Photo credit: Ryan R

When we arrived at the site we had a short walk through a beautiful virgin forest (one of the last in New Zealand, so it's also a conservation site) and then headed up for our first practice zipline.  It was short and low, but exciting since it was my first time ever doing it.  As we went on, each one got higher and longer, culminating in the longest one which was 220m.  They explained to us that when we got to the end we had to catch this rope stopper thing, but when I got to the end I managed to forget completely, even though the guide yelled at me to do it, and so I ended up reversing all the way back to the middle of the zipline!  Which of course meant that the guide had to pull me in on the longest of all the routes.  Another whoops!

Photo credit: Ryan R

The next one after that was very steep and we had to be careful to avoid a tree.

On the last one they told us we could try to flip upside down while we were going.  Kat and I managed to do it, but Ryan R got tangled and somehow got his leg stuck in his arm, and Ryan P looked more like a limp starfish when he tried.  Then we walked over a bridge and got to pose by hanging off the side a bit.  Super hard to keep your balance!

Overall it was a really fantastic trip with tons of highlights.  Highly recommended, and it was totally safe.  Well, as safe as flying through trees on a rope can be.

For lunch we thought we'd check out Sulphur Point.  I don't know why we though that was a good idea...as you might expect it was a smelly place that was kind of sketchy and full of seagulls.  The rest of the park was beautiful though in Rotorua.

Photo credit: Ryan R

Our first stop after lunch was to try and watch people zorbing (a notoriously NZ thing), but unfortunately there was no one to watch.  Our group was on the fence about actually doing it, but in the end we chickened out.

Next, and most notably, we went to Hell's Gate Mud Pools.  Unfortunately, this was one of the most memorable parts of the trip.  For $75/each we got to sit in brown water for 20 minutes with a bucket of mud.  Wasn't quite what we were expecting, but we made the most of it.

Photo credit: Ryan R

Photo credit: Ryan R('s camera...)

Everything was going fine until we showered off and Kat messed up a contact lens.  We were sitting in the sulphur pools and she started to get really sore eyes, like when you cut an onion or get chlorine from a pool in them.  Except, MUCH worse.  Naturally she took out her contacts and we all decided to leave.  While we were changing it started happening to Ryan R as well, so I went to reception and they gave us some eye drops.  Her only advice to us was to get out of the area as quickly as possible because it was the sulphur in the air burning their eyes.  Not even thinking, I ALSO took out my contacts and that's when we realized that was the problem to begin with, so of course I died too.  While all three of us were crying like babies and couldn't open our eyes, Ryan P had to drive us all out of there.  What a gong show!

Kat and Ryan soon got better, but they had about 20 minutes on me, so by the time we reached our next destination, the mud bubbles, I still couldn't see but they were fine.  The mud pools were another free gem.  And also really supernatural...why was there bubbling mud??  So neat.  We were all really impressed how much free thermal stuff there was to do and see.

Photo credit: Ryan R

20 minutes later we were back at our campsite and got to cooking an epic taco salad for dinner.  We half-heartedly had another soak in the thermal pools, but really we just needed to clean off even more mud and re-apply the coconut oil to our burns.  We were definitely early to bed that night, and everyone had sore eyes from crying so much.  What a day!

The Great Ocean Walk - Day 5 (April 12, 2013) - Another Snake Encounter

It was really nice to wake up in a bed, use a real bathroom, and cook breakfast on a stove, but we still had to prepare for the two days of hiking ahead.  We realized overnight that my water bag was leaking, so I had to head down to reception to see if they had any duct tape to fix it.  I was greeted by an awesome surprise - a baby wombat!  The owner had a 14-month old wombat wrapped in a pink blanket which I got to snuggle while she hunted for some tape.  The wombat's name was Dora, and she was about the size and weight of a watermelon, but really soft.  My goal for the trip was to see a wombat, so it was cool that I got to hold one!

Our driver picked us up at 8:40 am and we were on the trail by 9.  Our first animal encounter  was a group of these guys:

The day had lots of hills, and almost immediately Ryan started having trouble with his knee.  After half an hour he put a tensor bandage on it, and shortly after that he started taking Advil in hopes of keeping the inflammation down and not making it any worse.  Luckily I was feeling great, so it was my turn to talk Ryan through the hike.  To his credit he never complained at all though.  He's much better at this stuff than me!

Despite Ryan's trouble, I really enjoyed this day the best out of all of them.  A lot of the hike was through gorgeous gum trees, where I got to spend some time looking for koalas and birds and just enjoying the scenery.  It was different from the other forests we hiked through, so it was a nice change of pace. 

Once we were through the forest, we got to this grassy field with an awesome view. 

Through some more farmers fields, down another hill, then back up the other side brought us to the second beautiful view where we ate a delicious lunch and had a rest.  By this time Ryan was really starting to feel rough (though you wouldn't know it by the picture), so we kept tabs on how far we were from the road at any given point in case we had to bail.  Then we got the brilliant idea to find him a walking stick which helped enough to get him through the rest of the day.

Ryan must have been feeling a little bit better, because he got so into our conversation that he walked right next to this beautiful snake before noticing and yelling out to me!  I was walking behind him, so we were in the funny situation of the snake being on the path between the two of us.  Eventually, after we had plenty of time to take pictures and check him out, he slowly got off the path and let us continue. 

The last part of the hike was less eventful, but a bit rough.  Luckily there were lots of boardwalks so it was relatively flat hiking, but for once I got to return the favour and carry Ryan's bag for a little while.  Luckily we had learned by day 5 how to pack light!

We FINALLY made it to our campsite, which was extremely nice.  Unfortunately there was a 600 m walk to and from our trailer to get our stuff, so we only grabbed the necessities and then went back to setup camp.  The site had benches so we didn't have to eat on the ground, and it also had a "loo with a view" which was pretty cool.  The outhouse was on the top of a hill on a cliff, so they put a window in it so it was a really nice view while you did your business.

After dinner and a game of cribbage we were in our tent by 6 pm.  And boy were we smelly!  Let me tell you, the boots got packed away tight that night!

The Great Ocean Walk - Day 2 (April 9, 2013) - What did we get ourselves into?!

We woke up on day 2 feeling a lot better than we had expected.  We were stiff, but we were definitely ready for another day of hiking.  At 8:45am we were on our way, and the first hour of the hike was pretty much used for working out the sore muscles from the day before.  We kind of expected to get into a rhythm that day, but it turned out to be a lot harder than I expected.  Ryan did fine - it was mostly me that struggled.

We went up and down a few small hills, and through a nice forest that had been previously burned by a forest fire.  We also crossed our first "river".  Walk91 told us to bring extra shoes to cross the river, so not knowing what to expect we carried them all day.  Turns out the river was a trickle of water on a sandy beach (second picture below) so we jumped over it and never brought extra shoes again.

The highlight of the morning was our first snake encounter!  I was walking in front and somehow managed to completely miss seeing a 1 metre long copperhead snake on the path.  I walked right by it, and Ryan, who was only maybe 2 metres behind me, made the most ridiculous noise like a dog barking in pain.  I honestly thought he was being attacked by a wild dog.  Seriously, it was uncanny.  When he "composed" himself he finally managed to tell me it was a snake, but by that time the snake had escaped into the bushes.  Needless to say that Ryan never let me walk in front again, and we also stopped looking in the trees for koalas!  From that point on, every stick looked like a snake, and every little rustling lizard or bird made us look twice.

We emerged from the forest to walk through rolling hills and farmers' fields.  The snakes were replaced by cows, and it was a nice change of scenery.  We began to walk towards Cape Otoway Lighthouse, but the problem was that we could see it but it never felt like we were getting any closer.  That was where the day started to go downhill (unfortunately not literally) for me.

When we finally made it to the lighthouse we collapsed on one of the picnic tables, I took off my boots, and we ate a delicious lunch.  The lighthouse itself was down a long path, and neither one of us was keen to go check it out.  Eventually I gave in and hobbled down the path to get there, but Ryan didn't bother.  Later, back at the picnic table, an old man was giving us a hard time for not going UP the lighthouse.  That is something I will never regret.  The view was alright, but mostly it was just a really nice rest.

The next 11 kilometres were by far the hardest of the entire trip for me.  It really became a mental game - trying to ignore my muscles getting sore and trying to forget how far we still had to go.  Thank goodness for Ryan, because he's done a lot of hard slogs before and knew how to help me through it.  We also didn't bring any sunscreen that day, so the elements got to us a bit too.  This part of the hike was along the top of the cliff, so each time we got a view we could see where we had come from.  That's actually really cool, and gave us a great sense of accomplishment.  At one of our lookouts, we came across this glorious specimen:

This guy was motoring!  We forever dubbed that point "Naked Man Point", so whenever we looked back along the coast we always recognized that one and had a little giggle.

As you can see, the trail turned very sandy which made it even more difficult to walk.  Since we were up on the cliff, every once in awhile we got a good look at the trail ahead.  With the white sand trail, on low green brush, we could see the trail weaving as far as the eye could see, which reminded us of the Great Wall.  I thought we would never get to the end!  It was also prime location for snakes sunning themselves, and consequently Ryan saw 2 more baby snakes (one copperhead and one unidentified one).  Of course I didn't see them since he was leading and scared them away.

And the trail went on and on.  And on.  And on.  Until this happened:

Then some tears, Ryan took a few things from my pack, and we FINALLY made it to our campsite.  It was definitely a low point for me, but I'm proud of making it through eventually.  After that the trip got much better for me (and worse for Ryan), but in a 6 day hike everyone's bound to have their low point.

The campground was really pretty and set along a nice river full of birds.  We found our trailer, but then discovered our actual site was 100m up a hill.  We collapsed at a picnic table debating whether we should bring all of our stuff up the hill or not, but after a pep talk from a nice old lady who had to carry all of her gear for the entire hike, we just sucked it up and did it.

The other group of hikers up there was really friendly, and it made us want to get smaller gear so we could also do real overnight hiking.  At this point, though, our gear just isn't compact or light enough. 

Dinner was small since we weren't very hungry, so we split a can of soup and had some tea.  During the cooking Ryan managed to sit on a giant inch ant and got a painful bite on his butt.  Luckily it wasn't a scary red one and he was fine shortly thereafter, but we're not joking when we say they're actually an inch long!  That night it was almost impossible for me to move after my muscles seized up, and I wasn't really sure what was going to happen the next day.  I slathered myself with Tiger Balm, we creamed our sunburns, and did some stretching.  We decided to sleep on it, and hit the sack at 7pm hoping that I would be able to walk in the morning!  

SWAA: Mini-Putt, Lots of Trees, and The Cove

After an allergy-filled sleep at the Karri Valley Resort we had a buffet breakfast in a nice dining room overlooking the lake.  It was your typical breakfast but Ryan discovered these  delicious croissants that were so warm and squishy that we stole one for lunch (which of course would again be a picnic on the side of the road, so we also stole butter, an apple, and peanut butter).  I spotted a banana from across the room and made a beeline for it because they're so expensive here (down from $18/kg to $12/kg!), but turns out it was plastic.  Yet another disappointment at that hotel. 

Sorry, enough about the food.  Before we left we decided to play a quick round of mini-putt at the resort.  As a side note, no one calls it mini-putt here and they're thoroughly confused when I call it that.  I can't remember what they do call it though…  ANYWAYS without going into to too many details, Ryan kicked my butt but we were both very over par.  There was one hole that was a par 3 and I got it in two shots (picture victory dance) but then Ryan got a hole in one! (picture him not gloating and me pouting...and maybe hitting my club on things and stomping around like a child) 

When we were picking up our clubs from the "fun shack" or whatever it was called, there was randomly a tiny black lamb wandering around and being all cute following people.  As if that wasn't funny enough, when we went to return our clubs there was an 18 month old Western Grey kangaroo in a harness (without the leash) hopping around the shop!  Only in Australia can you have a kangaroo for a pet, but I still can't explain the lamb.

After our morning of fun we decided to head to Beedelup Falls, which supposedly had a suspension bridge over top of it.  We knew it was close to the resort, but when we showed up we could actually see the hotel from the lookout.  Turns out the falls were feeding into the lake we were staying on...oops.  Serves us right for being too lazy to do the short walk to the falls that the resort advertised!  Actually, it was kind of lame in the end.  The falls were really small but the suspension bridge was sort of fun.  They have random radio stations that you can tune into for a narration of the park you're in, and we should have listened when the guy said "some people from other countries can't believe we find these falls so exciting because they're used to much bigger falls…"  Seriously, it was like 3m high.

  

Now on to more exciting things, like the Giant Tingle Tree!  We went on a nice quiet walk through a tingle tree forest in Walpole-Nornalup National Park (which randomly had lots of info boards about dinosaurs) and saw these absolutely massive trees.  They're interesting because all of their important growing mechanisms are located in the outer layer of the tree, so when there's a forest fire they burn through the middle first and end up hollow but can still keep on living.

Moving right along, our last stop for the day was the Tree Top Walk.  Basically this was equivalent to climbing a giant tree, but it was wheelchair accessible.   This walk was very well done and absolutely beautiful, so Ryan and I took our time and decided to bird watch.  It was really cool because the walk took you up a slow incline, allowing you to see the trees and birds at all of the different levels.  At the top there was a long pathway 40m above the ground which was also really neat, and arguably much better than the 75m tree I climbed.  It was certainly more relaxing!

Throughout the day we had patchy cell reception, so we were a bit frustrated trying to find a place to stay that night.  We ended up calling this place in Denmark called The Cove that sounded nice in the tourist pamphlet we had.  They had one cabin left, which the owner explained on the phone was usually reserved for groups.  He suggested that we look at it before we committed but was willing to give us the single room rate.  Thinking he just meant it was for families, we were not phased at all and decided to stay there.  Upon arrival, however, we were warned again that maybe we should look at it.  The drive in was so beautiful and it was located in a very secluded forest, so stubbornly we again declined to look at it first.  Then the owner brought us to this:

Yes, that was the "A-Frame" we were staying in.  All by ourselves.  And the inside looked like this:

(pause for effect)

Yes, the table seated 25 and if you look carefully you can see some cots lined up on the right of the picture.  There were 19 beds in the cabin.  What  you can't see are the amazing sky lights all above the table, and how massive that fireplace is.  It was absolutely beautiful (and built by the owner and his family), so needless to say we stayed two nights instead of one!  We pulled two couches up to the fire, grabbed some blankets, and drank wine and played Ghost Stories (my favourite board game) all night.  And by all night I mean until like 9:30 when I passed out.  From being tired.  Not from the wine.

SWAA: Jewel Cave, Bicentennial Tree, and Pemberton

Our last day in Margaret River started really well, with a delicious breakfast at the hotel and a trip to the local Saturday market.  As I said before Margaret River is well know for its local produce, so it was great to see the local market and pick up more food for our picnic lunch.

Our first destination for the day was Jewel Cave, but along the way we drove through what I'm going to call the "fairy forest" (actually called State Forest No. 45).  I knew one of the main attractions of South Western Australia was the beautiful karri tree forests, but this was the first time we had truly driven through one.  Someone had accurately captured the mood of the forest by "editing" this road sign, and it didn't seem like anyone was keen to fix it.

Our other main reason for going to this area of Australia was because it is wildflower season, and the forest floor was just starting to become blanketed in flowers.

The Margaret River region is home to about a dozen limestone caves, and Jewel Cave was supposedly the best show cave in the area.  If you have any questions about the cave, as usual, ask Ryan.  It was difficult to get good pictures, but it was definitely a beautiful cave system.  Unfortunately because it's a "show" cave they had some weird lighting effects and laser lines to point out certain features, which kind of cheapened the beauty of the cave. 

If you look closely, it kind of looks like a karri tree forest.

After the cave we headed to what was my personal highlight of the trip: the Bicentennial Tree in Warren National Park.  Now this isn't just any tree; it is the tallest climbing tree in the area.  Soaring to 75m high, the Bicentennial Tree is equipped with a re-bar spiral "ladder" and multiple platforms, originally used for spotting forest fires.  Those of you who know me know that I am a wuss - I don't take dangerous risks and I really don't do anything I don't want to do.  For whatever reason, ever since hearing about this tree, I just knew it was something I had to climb.  I never even climbed apple trees as a kid, so I have no idea what possessed me to do this!  To put this in perspective there were no guides, no ropes, no harnesses, and no safety net.  Really, this kind of thing would never pass safety standards in Canada and I can't believe it's allowed to exist here.

Now to set the scene.  Ryan and I rock up, all confident and ready to climb this thing.  There are a few weary people at the bottom watching their friends/family climb, but the place is relatively deserted.  Without much hesitation, we both start the climb to the first platform, about a third of the way up the tree.  Once at the platform we look at each other and go "yup, that's all I'm doing!" and "boy that was insane"!  Really, it was pretty damn scary.  At that point we're both shaking in our shoes working up the courage to go back down, but as I become more confident I realize I'd be mad at myself if I didn't just suck it up and finish what I started.  After a few more minutes, I was ready!  As Ryan headed back down, I worked my way to the top.  Surprisingly the first bit was the hardest, and once I got into a rhythm I was completely fine.  Ready for a picture?

The bottom arrow is the first platform, and the top arrow is the top platform.

 If you look really closely you might be able to see me in a red shirt on the top platform.  Now for some pictures from the top!

You can see Ryan at the bottom.

View over all of the trees from the top.  It's bleached out, but I could see massive sand dunes in the distance.

This was my descent from the lowest platform.  I was feeling brave enough to take a picture!

As you can see the view from the top was kind of underwhelming, but that's not why I climbed the tree.  And although I probably wouldn't do it again, I'm glad I did it!

With my feet firmly back on the ground we headed for our hotel that evening: the Kerri Valley Resort in Pemberton.  Because it was Saturday night we had to splurge since lots of places were fully booked for the night.  We ended up in a large 2 bedroom cottage in the middle of a  beautiful forest on a lake.  I know to Canadians lakefront property isn't that exciting, but in Australia it's a novelty if it's freshwater.  We didn't know what to expect so we were kind of shocked when we showed up to this:

Quite a bit more lavish than we were expecting!  Overall though the place was way overpriced and I was allergic to it so it must have been mouldy.  They had also fully booked their restaurant, so we had to have take-out for dinner instead.  That aside, we got to enjoy another lovely evening of wine, board games, and chocolate, this time with a lake and a fire place.

Ryans "classy" face