Archive for April, 2008
For my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary, they are going to Australia and New Zealand. As a special bonus, I’m going to be their driver and their guide, which means i’m hastily planning.
Usually, planning trips entails finding everything the travelers want to do and creating a map and mileage charts to figure out how long it will take and what will fit into the project time off. Train tickets, plane tickets, hotels, and other whatnot come afterward. Planning for this trip differs from other trips not only because i have to keep my parents in mind, but also because i have to plan around tickets and hotel rooms that have already been purchased. It feels as though there are “too many cooks in the kitchen”, but i’m sure i can make it work the way they want it to… or at least they will think it did.
Right now, i’m planning the New Zealand leg of the trip. We will be leaving on the 15th, arriving in Auckland on the morning of the 17th, flying to Christchurch on the 18th, and flying back to Auckland and then to Sydney in the afternoon of the 21st. That leaves us with 3 days to check out the South Island.
This is what i have so far:
Mileage for South Island
Christchurch to Greymouth – 159.6 miles (257 km)
Greymouth to Fox Glacier (Mt. Cook NP) – 124.8 miles (201 km)
Rail
http://www.tranzscenic.co.nz/ – click on the transalpine for the train between Christchurch and Greymouth
17th
arrive in Auckland – rest at hotel
18th
fly to Christchurch
take train to Greymouth
drive to Fox Glacier
19th
tour around the National Parks
20th
drive back to Greymouth
take train to Christchurch
21st
fly to Auckland
fly to Sydney
It looks like we are going to be flying and driving and riding a lot.
i’m in the states now trying to get better while trying to get ready for my bestfriend’s wedding this saturday. i have toasts to write and people to see, so, i’ve not had much time to blog. i’ll post what is good of the last bit of photos i have left over when i get a chance to edit them.
USGS page of our quake’s info
bryan was sleeping on the bed across from mine and i was reading when, i felt a shaking. i thought maybe it was the girls in the hall, but, when i looked up, i saw bryan’s slumbering body rocking back and forth on the bed and realized the girls in hallways don’t make whole rooms shake. he awoke and turned to looked at me with wide eyes. we both got up. “do you have your wallet?” “umm…” we grabbed out bags that were still packed from an earlier outing and headed to the door. i felt another rumble. i thought we would just stand there, but bryan went into the hall. i kept saying “doorway” to him and kept pulling him into the doorway, but he went back in to get the key. “i’ve got it.” it seemed that he knew what he was doing, so i followed him to the stair well and out the door to the street.
by this time, we were realizing that no one else seemed to be alarmed by the quake. everyone in the restaurants we passed on the street were still carrying on as if nothing had happened. there were people walking on the street with us, acting like everything was okay.
it occurred to us that we were the crazy foreigners who freaked out when there was a little rumble. i was starting to think i was crazy until i looked up the USGS earthquake site and found a little red dot over tokyo indicating a recent quake.
We looked to our right, and there it was, smoky and mysterious, smelling of meat and veggies. Our heart meters went crazy, and we knew our food destination was a few steps away. Everything we ordered was amazing, even the intestine soup.
In other news: the cherry blossoms are in full bloom in Tokyo.
We didn’t do much of anything other than shop in Shinjuku and eat food in the alley of food wonder. We did run into this Denny’s on our way back to the hotel and were overcome with curiosity. what would the differences be between the US and Japanese Denny’s? we had to compare and contrast, so, we climbed the stairs to investigate.
The greeting was very nice, with a waiter bowing and showing us to our table. The menu was extremely different from the menu in the states. most dishes were pasta and there were no hamburgers anywhere. the pancakes were only served with ice cream and could only be found on the desert page, along with crepes and mango slices. the service was amazing, per usual in all of Japan. the ordered a strawberry and ice cream crepe was not overwhelmingly sweet as would be anticipated in the states, but was just the right amount of sweet subtly mixing with the fruit and crepe.
Overall, Japan’s Denny’s is the winner… and so is Japan’s food in general across the board.
Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we leave for Hiroshima to sight see before moving on to Tokyo. I leave on Sunday for Fort Worth and i’m torn between excitement to be home and saddness for leaving. I really love this place. I’m really enjoying how different and the same everything seems to be here.
we have to wake up in 4 hrs… time for bed.