New Zealand 5 - 16 November

Kay and Ian, Cheryl and Joe, Nanette and Gary, Anne and Nick fly into Queenstown. We love the adventurous things to do, and this buzzing, internationally-peopled town. It's easy to fill in our 3 days here.
The Shotover River jetboat ride is great, zooming along at up to 80km/hour, though the rain at the end feels like icicles on our faces

The view from the gondola and up the hill is beautiful

 

Anne fulfills a dream to para-glide, we're content to be the cheer squad

Our main adventure is a 5 day bike ride along the Central Otago Rail Trail, with Trail Journeys. They provide bikes and book our accomodation, we sort the rest.
It's stark and very sparsely vegetated to begin, with snow topped mountains in the distance

Going through the tunnels require strong nerves - no light reaches the centre, and our torches aren't quite good enough...

We stay in small motels and guesthouses, mainly eat at local pubs, and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere - no locks needed around here, on bikes, cars or doors

These little ex-waiting rooms are welcome shelter on our last and longest - 50km - day. It's cold and rainy, there's a head wind, and the gravel track is boggy. 

Made it!

It's a old train trip to Dunedin, where it continues to rain, but eating chocolate at Cadbury is great,

 

as is visiting the ornate railway station

And we walk up the worlds steepest street

A bus takes us back to Queenstown, where we spend our final day cruising along the lake to a sheep station  

New Guinea 3-13 October 2016

36 friends from Torquay Probus flew to Brisbane to catch Princess Aria. 

2 days at sea with about 1600 others. Lots to keep us busy and happy!

Visited cultural festival Alotau, 

Milne Bay memorial to those killed in WW2 

Kitava - too rough for tenders

Rabaul - tour to coconut oil factory, hot springs. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption.

Kiriwina - largest of the Trobriand Islands. Lots of market stalls and dancing, plus a very different type of cricket match! A couple of local lads from different villages decided to fight over a lady, so machetes and blood sent people running in all directions …

Conflict island - owned by Australian as a resort for cruise ships to visit. Sun, swim, snorkel. 

2 days back to Brisbane 

Back to Alice

They breed them tough up here, and people do crazy things. 

We see two men walking

Lots of cyclists - this Japanese guy was covered in blisters, on his quick trip north

The variety bash cars roared past, though they stopped at each roadhouse for a beer or two 

If I stand very still they won't even notice me 

And the ultimate fun, the Henley on Todd. Here the navy annihilate the vikings 

Kakadu, Leliyn (Edith Falls)

There is evidence to show that humans have been here over 50,000 years. 

Rock art has been dated to 20,000 years, and educates each generation about creation stories, the food available in the area and much more. 

Ubirr site - Namarrgon lightning man, and his children now in grasshopper form. When they appear in the bush, the locals know it's nearly storm time, so they should find shelter

Time to dance

At Yellow Water the fish are jumping, ducks have their heads down to catch them, cockies are shrieking and fighting. Huge paperbarks stabilise the soil, provide leaves for medicine and flavour, and bark for shelter, warmth, food wrap, seats, torches, bassinets, shrouds…

Pandanus - the leaves are used as food and medicine, the fibres are woven into bags and mats, the fruit is eaten and makes firelighters 

Green ants use silk from the larvae of another colony to stick together these colonies. Just takes a tap and they all come scurrying out, ready to be eaten as a huge (tiny!) lime flavoured vitamin c shot 

Er, crocs, yes lots of them, safely observed from a boat. The cheeky ones get relocated or eaten, according to the wishes of the local owners. There are certain waterholes that are cleared each season so visitors can swim. The rest of them hang out in any patch of water they want…

At least 3 lurking here

And these people are just watching, and wondering if the crocs will get the fishermen…

Gunlom swimming hole - there's an easy pool at the bottom, then a challenging rock hopping ascent brings us to this beauty at the top. Worth the walk??!

Edith Falls, close to Katherine. This one is definitely worth the 1km walk up. We score a great campsite for 3 nights, with shade and grass, thats nearest to the huge plunge pool.  We can also go for a bike ride along the quiet road in, before it gets too hot. And there's a cafe with acceptable coffee.  Think this is our favourite spot for the trip …

Jimbaran

Back to this beautiful beach just south of the airport for the last week. 

There's beer and corn as the sun sets

 

A cremation is a cause for celebration, but makes for a traffic jam as the procession fillls most of the narrow roads

Beautiful flowers are everywhere 

Last minute indulgences (just remove the zero and ignore the k!)

An amazing dinner at Cuca:

Smoked butterfish with beetroot yoghurt, zucchini pickles, red potato straws and parsley crumbs for Ian 

 Pulled pork buns, Cuban baby corn

Caramel apple with black pepper ice cream, caramel mousse, panna cotta, spiced seeds

plus many more…

 

The colourful chaos at Jimbaran fish market

2 white faces at a local school