Trip to New Zealand and Australia

Doris came with me on a recent business trip to New Zealand and Australia. We started out in Auckland, where Ford New Zealand's offices are, but when my business was finished there, we flew to the south island. This is the most picturesque part of New Zealand, and we were blown away by its unspoiled, breath-taking, desolate beauty. We rented a car and drove from Christchurch to Queenstown, and we were very impressed by the lack of billboards and developments (vacation resorts, shopping malls, restaurants, etc.) along the way. It struck me that this is probably what Colorado looked like before being overrun by tourists. I'm including just a few of the many pictures we took.

An interesting statistic about New Zealand is that there are just four million people, but 50 million sheep! So, not surprisingly, we encountered huge flocks wherever we drove.

Queenstown itself was gorgeous, and the pictures below were taken from a mountain peak overlooking Queenstown, which we accessed by cable car. We really enjoyed watching tourists paraglide off the mountain into the valley below.




We didn't try paragliding ourselves, but as you can see we did take a downhill "luge" ride on the mountain—on asphalt, though, rather than ice.

After our mini-vacation in New Zealand, we headed to Melbourne, where Ford Australia's offices are located. Doris enjoyed shopping while I worked. We then headed to Sydney for a few more days of vacation. The highlight there was the Sydney Sky Tower. Many cities around the world now have observation towers that look much like the Space Needle in Seattle. The one in Sydney, however, is unique, since visitors are able (starting only about six months ago) to walk OUTSIDE the top of the tower, rather than just view the city through thick Plexiglas windows. I'm posting a couple of pictures showing the amazing views we had on a spectacularly clear day. (Please ignore, if you can, the fact that the cap and strap I'm wearing to keep my sunglasses from falling off the tower make me look like Rocky the Flying Squirrel.)


Other memories from our trip:

• It was so nice to be in English-speaking countries again. The struggle to communicate in Thailand does wear on you after awhile.

• While driving from Christchurch to Queenstown, we passed a sign saying we were at the 45th parallel. I recall a similar sign in Michigan, but that, of course, referred to being 45 degrees NORTH of the equator. Looking at a world map, I doubt we'll ever get as far south again as we did while in southern New Zealand.

• We were in Australia when it was time to change clocks to account for DST. This is confusing enough when the month of April signals spring. In the southern hemisphere, April brings fall, not spring. Nevertheless, we chanted the "spring forward, fall back" mantra until we figured out which way to adjust our clocks.