Farewell Honeymoon

Hancock Hotel- Well the honeymoon officially ended today at noon when I walked into work for the first time in a month.  I believe that is the first time in this blog that work was mentioned and what a month it was not thinking about it.

We had really figured out how to get around cities by the end of our trip so no more airport shuttles for us on our way out…we had mastered the Sydney CityRail and made our own way to the airport.  We had bought multi pass tickets that allowed us to ride any bus, ferry, or train in the city for a week but since we were only there for 4 days we were going to be throwing away 3 days.  So we decided we would find a young couple and give them away.  As luck would have it as soon as we got off the train we saw a young couple coming our way and asked if they would like our passes and explained what they could be used for.  The couple was obviously a little confused but also very thankful and I can’t think of a better way for us to end our time in Australia than by helping out another couple just getting started.

The rest of the next 26 hours was all flight, Entourage, eat, Entourage, eat, repeat.  Our first flight from Sydney to LA took about 13.5 hours but honestly was not that bad.  The layovers at the airports might actually have been worse because just sitting without getting closer to your destination is much more frustrating.  Our LA to Chicago flight went very smooth as well and we thought we might make it home without any problems.  Leave it to Chicago to change that up.  Once we landed we found out our flight had been delayed so we wouldn’t be leaving Chicago until 10 pm.  Luckily no further delays or cancellations happened and we did make it to Madison about 11 pm.

We were greeted by Joni, Kathy, and Pat and they brought much more than hugs.  They had looked at our list of things we were missing from back home and had chicken wings and a Captain drink all ready for us!  Can’t beat that kind of welcome home!

Just a couple days before coming home I told April I wished just once I would get off a plane and someone would be waiting for me with a  sign with my name on it…leave it to Bones to read my mind and come through

Sadly this is the last blog entry for the trip.  We had an amazing trip and really enjoyed keeping track of it on here.  A highlight of every day was checking to see comments and messages from everyone back home.  Hopefully you enjoyed following along as well and if anyone wants to hear more stories April and I have only talked to each other for a month so please…PLEASE let us know and we’ll tell you all about it J!

**INVITE**- We figured since we said farewell to the trip with a Sunday Funday we might as well come home with one too.  So, if you are in the area feel free to stop by the Hancock Hotel on Sunday 2/20.  We’ll be doing normal Sunday Funday activities like sitting around talking, eating, maybe some cards, and finishing with watching the Badger game.  If we have enough fun maybe we’ll even write one more blog just because we’re not ready to be done!

Net Ball!

Sydney CityRail Train to Airport-  After the Badgers amazing win we decided we needed to go to a sporting event on our last full day.  We saw there was a net ball game at the Sports Centre in the Olympic Park so that was our best and only option.  Now before this trip we had never heard of the game net ball and the only things we learned over the course of the month were from a couple posters and one highlight on a news station.  From those brief looks we knew the object was to put a ball through what looked like a basketball hoop with no backboard.  I also thought I saw women (this is a girls sport only) hitting each other so thought there was potentially tackling involved.  Based on those assumptions how could we go wrong…

We walked into the arena and it was fairly packed with people and there was a lot of energy so we figured it must be an exciting game.  That was the most exciting part of the next 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Not sure if we have a lot of net ball fans or players following our trip but let me apologize in advance if you are either of those things.  Net ball is quite possibly the most pointless and boring sport ever played by anyone…and I have watched several hours of cricket on tv on this trip so that is saying a lot.  We were right about the object being to put the ball through a backboardless hoop but could not have been more wrong about the tackling.  There isn’t just no tackling…contact of any kind is strictly prohibited.  I can’t really describe the game but my best attempt would be to say it is a combo of ultimate Frisbee (can’t run with the ball or dribble it, only can advance it by passing) and basketball (ball and hoop).  There were many parts of the game that were hard to watch but the worst was probably that one of the rules doesn’t allow the defender to block  shots.  So basically the entire object of the game is to lob the ball into your biggest player as close to the hoop as possible and then she turns and lays it in with no defense.  All the points scored were from 5 ft. or closer to the hoop and probably at least 80% by one player and only 2 total players scored per team.  Why does one person score all the points…well that is because she never leaves the basket area the whole game…just stands right by the hoop and waits for the ol’ lob pass so she can lay it in.  Oh and the person shooting can’t jump when they shoot….ok have to stop talking about it.

At least no backboard meant our view wasn't obstructed



Aussie's might come up with some strange sports but at least they sell beer and nachos!

The gym was almost full with people...I will never understand why

Our last night we had a pint of Toohey’s at Sydney’s oldest pub and called it an early night…I think we are officially tourism’d out.  Well that is except for this morning when we did a final walk around the Opera House and one last look at the bridge.  We currently are waiting to board our flight for LA that will last roughly 14 hours.  You might think we would be dreading that but actually we are a bit excited because we have 1.5 seasons of Entourage left and are looking forward to finishing it!

Pints at Fortune of War founded in 1828...no word if the digital juke box was there back then

Last views of Opera House and bridge

A few things we are really looking forward to when we get home:

-ESPN/Sportscenter, watching live Badger games, American style nachos, DVR, Captain Morgan (not Jamaican style), regular ketchup, tuna melts, working out/eating better, Super Bowl highlights and coverage and all Packer related things, family and friends obvi, chicken wings, clean clothes, driving our cars on a normal side of road, non runny scrambled eggs

Update:  We have arrived in LA! 

Bondi Beach, Olympic Park, and Bridge Climb

Sydney Marriott Hotel-  First of all let me start by saying it is 6 am here on Sunday and I am up to try to watch the Wisconsin vs. Ohio St. game because this hotel has ESPN.  The bad news is it is Australian ESPN so I am watching a random soccer game currently.  Also tried streaming it online but apparently that is blocked for some reason…just wanted everyone to be warned of my mood while writing.  April, if you want me to pay to be able to listen to the radio broadcast don’t say anything….YES! (not actually going to pull the trigger on that one though)

Anyway we’ve had a busy couple days in Sydney.  Our first full day was forecasted to be the best weather so we headed to Bondi Beach.  That is the other famous beach here and it did not disappoint.  Much like Manly Beach, Bondi is huge and beautiful as I guess most beaches are as long as it is hot and sunny.  There is also a walking path connecting Bondi to a couple smaller beaches so we checked that out and were very impressed.  No volleyball on this beach though so after a couple hours we did head back to Manly to check that out again.

My stomach and chest are already tan enough so that is why I am wearing a T shirt :)

The following day we took a ferry to the Sydney Olympic Park where the 2000 summer games were held.  (Badgers down 15 I should really just go back to bed) We were told it is a strange place to go because it is this huge area but hardly anyone is around.  When we arrived we did get that feeling a little bit but because it was a Saturday there were a few more activities.

One thing going on was the New South Wales State Swimming Championships at the Aquatic Centre.  The Aquatic Centre is the one building that I really remembered from watching those games because if I remember right it was an open air building.  Now either I was wrong or they just had it closed up because the weather was not great but it definitely was not open air on this day.  It was still a very cool building though and felt very Olympic if that makes any sense.  The swim meet was on a break so we didn’t see any live action but did see some results posted. (New South Wales is an Australian state so I would compare this to the WIAA State Championships if I was going to guess…the only problem with that assumption was that Japan was winning in the standings.  So pretty confused because if Japan ever wins a WIAA title I think Wisconsin is having problems.)

We also checked out the other buildings like the Tennis Centre, Field Hockey, and several other stadiums we couldn’t figure out a purpose for.   (13-0 run for the Badgers…glad I stayed up…also hate just watching score updates online…have no idea how things are actually going) The Tennis Centre had a lot of kids doing lessons and one of the other buildings had gymnastics going on so it seems like the buildings are being put to good use.

That night we had signed up to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge (ok I lied earlier when I said we didn’t have anymore death defying activities).  Pictures I’ve seen make the bridge seem a decent distance away from the iconic Opera House but really they are just about on top of each other so we knew it would be an amazing view from the top.  Luckily the rain stopped in time for us to do the climb and it was clear enough that we didn’t miss out on any of the views.  We did the night climb so the city was lit up as well as the Opera House and it really was worth doing.  Once we reached the top of the bridge the whole group is supposed to yell "Sydney" but our tour guide said he would let one of us pick what was said...so the entire 7:45 pm bridge climb group yelled "Packers!" once we reached the top.  I'm going to stick with thinking that it was the first time that had been yelled from the bridge.

3 for the tie!!!  Ok I’m going into full game mode now so might add more after it’s over…Nankovil for 2 and the lead!  Back and very excited…should have bought the online radio thing but oh well.  Should be a great last day after that!

Farewell to New Zealand

Sydney Marriott Hotel- We have arrived in Sydney for our last few days and are looking forward to spending a lot of time on the beaches before heading back to the ice and snow.  Our last couple days in New Zealand were spent in Auckland.  We’re done with the death defying adventure activities but did still manage to have some fun. 

We had read about many different wine tours in the Auckland area and had planned to go on one but for some reason decided we didn’t need a tour company to show us how to drink wine.  Turns out we didn’t need them to show us how to drink the wine but it would have been very useful to have them drive us around.

We got ourselves a map of Waiheke Island and were led to believe that walking around would be fairly easy.  What we didn’t realize was that the walking trails were very poorly marked so we never found them and ended up walking on the road most of the time.  The road not only was a much longer route but also did not have sidewalks or anything most of the way.  Luckily once we got to a winery they were all set to explain their wine and more importantly had water.

We are not huge wine drinkers but were looking forward to the tastings.  Of course the people giving out the wine are explaining all the acidities, fruits, tannins, etc…basically speaking another language.  My personal favorite is how every wine ends up being able to meet whatever need you might have.  Three explanations in and I forget I don’t love wine and am thinking maybe wine would be good on cereal? 

What else can a girl do when the wine glass they give her is dirty?

Our last night we had dinner at Tower.  The only way we could tell this was the Auckland Skytower and not Tower Junction (restaurant/bowling alley near April’s hometown) was that we were hundreds of feet up in the air and the all you can eat buffet had sushi on it. 



A view of the city (and the Skytower) from Waiheke Island

 Our favorites segments...food pictures and shout outs


Our dinner on the Milford Sound cruise



Sadly...no reference to Wisconsin, but we still had to try it



Our dinner from Fat Badgers...Atomic Pizza, Lasagna, and Cheesecake
(we were a little hungry)



The dessert buffet at the Skytower



We can't make this stuff up...we saw all 3 Pustina girls within 48 hours of each other

CHAMPIONS!

Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand-  A lot of times when a team wins a title people will say that the journey to get there was the reward or some other cliché like that…well our journey to watch the Super Bowl was definitely not a reward.  The game as everyone knows definitely was amazing though.

We woke up at 5:30 am to drive from Franz Josef to Christchurch where we planned to watch the game.  Google maps said it would take 4:47 (447…I  can’t make this stuff up) to do the drive so we figured leaving by 6 would give us more than enough time.  Our route was supposed to take us over the mountains on Arthur’s Pass and we were making great time when we came to that point about 2 hours into the drive.  The problem was that with all the rain (at that point it had been raining for over 36 hours straight since we had been there) mountain passes apparently become dangerous so it was closed.  The road worker said we could try Lewis Pass but it would add about an hour to the drive and we had no directions for that route.  What choice did we have though…we had a Super Bowl to watch.

Other than the continuous rain, we had no trouble getting through the Lewis pass thankfully.  The extra time did make it a tight race to get to a place with the game on though.  The drive ended up taking over 6 hours so we walked into a bar with 11 minutes to go in the 1^st quarter.  Not too bad all things considered.  We immediately made friends with Vince (fitting as the star of Entourage is named that) from Canada who had a Packers shirt on.  There were probably about 5-10 other people there as well who would become friends eventually.  One group of guys was from Germany and Denmark and one kid lived in Appleton for a while so he was a Packers fan.  His Denmark friends had no idea what was going on as they were “just trying to learn the game.”  I did not have the time or patience to teach them during this game. 

TD shots with our friends Germany (left) and Vince!

I won’t go through a personal recap of the game as you all watched it and know how great it was.  I will say when Woodson went down I said the only thing keeping him out was a broken bone…really feel bad that ended up being the case but so awesome the other guys stepped up.  I also want to publicly announce my love for Aaron Rodgers…I heart #12. 

After the game, we were apparently all partied out as we slept for 12-14 hours and the hotel we were at was shocked to find us still in the room after check out…sorry random hotel lady.  We spent the rest of our day in Christchurch walking around the park and then played a par 3 golf course.  Well I played and April caddied.  I think her yardage reads for me were off because I shot 12 over and some of the holes were less than 80 yds long.  It certainly was not my inability to hit the ball straight or in the air. 

Sweet swing! (ignore ball still on tee)

Fattest ducks we've ever seen hanging out on the course.

We are now headed to Auckland for a couple days before finally getting back to Sydney for the final stop.  There has been a lot of exciting things so far in the trip and we really can’t believe there is less than a week left.  We love reading everyone’s comments on here though so don’t be shy.  Checking for new comments is the first thing we do whenever we can find internet!

GO PACK GO!

Franz Josef Glacier

Rainforest Retreat, Franz Josef, New Zealand- For most activities we have done on our trip, we have been able to book them the day before or even the day of, but one of the only ones we knew we had to book in advance was the Franz Josef Glacier Guides.  Like many other things we’ve gotten ourselves into we didn’t really know what to expect but just heard and read a lot of good things so were still excited even if we didn’t know exactly why we should be.

The one thing we did know was that hiking the glacier was supposed to be a pretty difficult task so most people would probably rest the day before…that didn’t fit into our tight schedule though.  On our last day in Queenstown we wanted to do one of the many hikes that take you into the surrounding hills/mountains near the town.  There are many to choose from and we picked the Queenstown Hill Summit track because it said ‘Medium difficulty’ and that it would only take 2-3 hours.  We soon found out that medium difficulty to people that live in mountains is much different than medium difficulty to two people that have lived in Wisconsin their whole lives.



A Nintendo mushroom we saw on the trail



The walking track was a lot of vertical and almost no flat but once we were committed we couldn’t turn back.  The reward of course was the view from the top of the hill where we could see all of the surrounding areas.  No rest though as the hike down is almost more difficult than up because of all the different muscles being used.  We were very glad we did the walk but also a little nervous it might not help us make it over ice walls the next day.

We made it to the top!  You can see Queenstown to the right of us

It took about 4.5 hours to drive from Queenstown to Franz Josef and started raining about 2 hours into that drive.  It has been almost 24 hours since we arrived and it has literally not stopped raining that entire time.  I have to say we have been extremely lucky with weather our entire trip.  Most days we’ve had activities planned have been all sun and warm with the rain being reserved for the days we’ve been driving or riding on a bus…really we couldn’t have been luckier.  Today was a reminder that everything is not always bright and sunny.

Apparently it rains a lot on the glacier so it was not out of the ordinary.  The Fran Josef Glacier Guides provide a full rain suit with pants, jacket, gloves, and hat…we would need all of them.  We were hoping the rain would lighten or even stop at some point during the 6 hours we were on the ice but it was a pretty steady driving rain, the kind that you can hardly look up in.  I guess that might have helped our focus though as we were walking on an enormous block of ice. 

Actually walking on the glacier was a lot more nerve-wracking than I expected.  When there is a lot of rain it washes away all the man made steps and paths the workers carve out before letting people walk on it so our guide had to carry an ice pick to help us make our way.  It is not a job I would want as he was constantly hammering away at the ice.  There were several times we had to cross very deep cracks where you knew you only had to step across a one foot space but just seeing how far down it was if you missed made you question if you were going to make it.  The coolest parts were probably squeezing through the cracks where ice would be over 20 ft. high on both sides of you and the path we were walking on was probably only a couple feet wide. 

The timing could not have worked out better to be exploring this glacier as we are thinking about starting our own glacier tour company on the Nechvatal Hancock Glacier conveniently located right outside the front door of the Hancock Hotel.  Our test guests Joni and Matt shared some pictures of their experience.  $20/person and you can do all the shoveling and snow removal you want (snowblower not included).  Seriously though, a big thank you to Joni, Matt, Uncle Gary, and our friendly neighbor for taking such good care of our house while we're gone!

Happy Birthday Mom K!

Rainforest Retreat, Franz Josef, New Zealand- Due to the large time difference we get to live most days twice…one here and then again the next day when we check to see what is going on back home.  This allowed us to have plenty of time to celebrate Kathy’s birthday!!

After our long day of jumping off bridges we had planned on going out for dinner but realized that was not the best way to honor this birthday.  The hotel we booked guaranteed lakefront views but somehow we got lucky enough to have a walk out balcony that included a grill.  If there is one thing we knew Kathy would want to do for her birthday, it would grilling out on a deck (preferably hers but she might even make an exception if she saw this deck). 

We found a grocery store in town and after 5 minutes of standing in front of the ground meat deciding if beef/lamb mince or beef/steak mince meant hamburger…we were on the way back for the bday cookout.  Oh, we did also manage to find some of our New Zealand beer of choice, Speight’s Gold Medal Ale. 

The burgers turned out great (beef/steak was the correct choice) and it was definitely one of our favorite meals of the trip.  After dinner we got ready to hit the town for more celebrating.  We saw some deals for a bar crawl called Big Night Out and figured that would be the best way to see as many places as possible.  The deal was advertised as a free drink at 6 different bars, pizza, discounts on drinks, and other random fun for $25/person.  With drink prices so high we figured we couldn’t go wrong…but when something seems too good to be true it usually is.

The first bar did give us a free drink of our choice and we thought we made a great choice.  The free drink at the next 4 bars was shots of different fruit juices or at least that’s what it tasted like.  The drinking age here is 18 though and those kids sure seemed to think they were good….we decided shortly after entering bar number 5 that we were too old for this scene and our money would be better spent on food to eat while watching Entourage.  One huge Fergberger later we had successfully eaten our month’s quota of beef/steak mince.  Overall a great night celebrating in honor of Kathy’s birthday!

Mmmm...cranberry juice!

Fergberger w/cheese

Awesome Foursome

Breakfree the Waterfront Hotel Rooftop Deck-  My whole childhood my mom would ask me “if (insert friend) told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?” whenever I complained someone was getting to do something I wasn’t allowed to do.  Well for the first time today my answer was yes and the person doing the telling to jump was April.  I knew April really wanted to bungy jump on this trip and I just tried to not bring it up and hope she would forget…she didn’t.  I have to say it was quite the experience and neither of us have any regrets about our choice to do it.  

Our destination for the jump was Kawarau Bridge which is the site where bungy jumping first started.  The bridge is 43 meters (just guess on how many feet it is…I started calculating at noon and gave up at 8 pm)  above the Kawarau River and like everything else in the area is very scenic.  Of course because I was the one that was more nervous about doing this it meant that the workers chose me to go first (actually they have two bungy ropes depending on weight and I was on the heavy one with no line and April the lighter one with a huge line).  I never had any doubt that I would jump but actually forcing myself off the platform in that moment of truth was a little difficult. 

April had a much longer wait but that was no big thing for her.  I had no time to think about anything and was gripping the bridge for dear life…April had all morning and when she gets up there she is cracking jokes with the workers (we have a video, but it wouldn't upload).  Everyone was very impressed with her perfect swan dive form (no video evidence to show my form but let’s assume it was similar).  It was the most adventurous start to a day we’ve had and it truly was just the beginning.

Our next thrill ride was on the Shotover Jet Boat.  I knew jet boats were popular here but really had no idea what they were really all about.  Watching the safety video on our way to the site we realized we would be going at speeds up to 75 km/hr (conversion please)  in between narrow rocky cliffs on a river.  They tell you how much training the driver has had and how safe it is and then you meet the driver and somehow it always works out that you get the one that seems to have that crazy look in his eye.  You know that one…where his mouth says the boat only goes 75 but his eyes say…I wonder if we could hit 100?  Anyway it ended up being a lot of fun and not nearly as scary as anticipated.  The boats are so powerful they can do 360 degree spins and other sharp turns almost like a really big jetski. 

Our transportation from jet boating to our next activity was actually an activity in itself.  In order to get to the starting point for rafting we took a helicopter over the mountains.  Neither of us had been in a helicopter before and weren’t really sure about the whole thing.  About 30 seconds into the trip we found out this wasn’t just a leisurely ride.  Without any warning the pilot did a sharp turn that made it feel like we were going upside down.  Since we had never experienced it actually made us think we were going down.  Once we realized this was normal the rest of the ride became a lot of fun.  We flew right down the river valley in between the mountains and it was a whole new view of the area.  We both got off saying we wished the ride was longer but also both felt a little car sick…or helicopter sick I guess so maybe it was good it was a short ride.

Once we started rafting we had a lot of fun..but the getting ready and waiting around part was not so great.  The first step in the process was getting our wet suits where some guy looks at you and picks out one of 6 possible sizes.  Apparently when my guy looked at me he saw a 5’6” 130 lb. guy because wow was that thing tight.  Of course if you say anything their only answer is that it is supposed to be tight.  Oh really, what about breathing…is that something I should be able to do?  Anyway, it was uncomfortable.  They are also full body and black so extremely hot especially on a hot and sunny day (this is where people stop feeling bad about our complaining right?).  We actually put all that on before the helicopter ride and because that was much faster than the buses some other people took we had a fairly long wait once we reached the river.  Finally after an extended safety talk that pretty much makes you think no one should ever go rafting we were on our way.

Our guide was very friendly and made the 2 hour trip entertaining.  Although he did separate us when assigning seats for which he felt really bad halfway down the river when we told him we were on our honeymoon.  After lots of jokes about needing a break from being near each other, we could concentrate on surviving the rapids.  Luckily our boat was pretty good and no one fell out or got hurt. 

So at the end of the day we were happy to have survived the Awesome Foursome and more importantly to be able to tell my mom next time she asks “well if April tells you to go jump off a bridge, would you?”…Yes Mom, yes I will!