Last Leg of the Trip : Takapuna NZ

Only a month left before returning to the States. Oskar and I are in the last leg of our AUS/NZ trip, which lands us in Takapuna, a northern suburb located 20 minutes north of Auckland.

The first week here we had off to get settled in at our apartment and take some daytrips around the north island. The south island would have been nice to do, but we would have had to of flown, which was out.

I've put in some pictures below of; Matakana, )an 1.5 hour drive north east of Auckland), Goat Island (on the east coast north of Matakana), Lake Taupo (3 hours south of Auckland in the center of the island), Lake Rotorua (about 1.5 hours east of Lake Taupo), and finally Raglan ( a surf beach on the west coast). It was a great week off and we got alot of sights in.


Picture 1: This is the view of Downtown Auckland from our apartment building in Takapuna. To the right is The LakeHouse Art Center, where I currently have an exhibit up.


Picture 2: Matakana Market on the weekends. I had some incredible blueberry icecream at one of the shops.


Picture 3: Goat Island with volcanic black sand beaches and tropical fishes. A popular beach to go snorkeling at.


Picture 4: Lake Taupo. Freezing cold fresh water that runs down from the surrounding melting snowcapped mountains.


Picture 5: Sunset at Lake Rotorua. Very warm water that is surrounded by active, steaming, bubbling, geisers.


Picture 6: And finally, one of my favorite beach towns ever Raglan. Turquise water, mountians, beautiful Samoan people and a layed back surfer atmosphere.

Brighton Beach Huts

This little colored houses that line Brighton Beach, a suburb outside of Melbourne, are one of the few things that make this town unique. They are little bather houses that families purchase so that when they come to the beach they can have somewhere to change into their bathers, store their sand toys, or just sit and relax. They measure, on average, about 10ftx10ft in size. Most recently one was bought on Sorrento Beach (a neighbouring beach about an hour south) for a whopping 350,000 dollars. Wow. Nevertheless they do make a beautiful photograph.

Bye Bye Sommers

With the Asia-Pacifics Regatta complete we are leaving Sommers today and heading north to Sanderingham.
Oskar and Kevin finished 7th overall. They had some great and some not so great races. You can see their full results at
http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/race-results/2008/tornado/SGrp2.htm
The event in Sanderingham is Sail Melbourne and will begin on Monday.

We had a relaxing time in Sommers and really enjoyed the couple, Steph and Barbara, that we stayed with. After all of the hotels we've been staying in lately it was nice to feel like we were at home. Below I have put a picture that Steph took of a bbq that they had prepared for us. Pictured from the right is Barbara, Oskar, Tino (one of the German sailors), Kevin, Rob, Niko (Tino's brother), and me. I've also put in some pics around Sommers, mostly koalas and one of Steph in the garden with the watertower in the back drop.

Koala in My Backyard

We are currently staying with a family in Somers. Oskar's regatta, the pan asian pacifics / sail melbourne, is being hosted by the Sommers Yacht Club. Sommers is about an hour drive south of Melbourne. Alot of people come here for summer holiday and weekends. It's a tiny town couple of kms in length and only streches as far back as 2 blocks from the beach. It has 1 general store where you can grab a coffee, paper, or sandwich. Sommers is located on Mornington Pennisula which is filled with winerys, golf courses, and beautiful beachs. It's also close to Seal Island where monstrous great whites have been found and Phillips Island where you can find penguins marching in from the sea every sunset.
Anyway, Somers has alot of koalas that inhabit their Eucalyptus trees and we were lucky enough to spot a male in our backyard yesterday. It slept most of the day but occasionally woke up, stretched his head back, and made a deep snorting sound. Maybe a mating call? This morning he was gone though, maybe to go and find his girlfriend.

More Yummy Graffiti

Graffiti Alley

Located in the heart of Melbourne around the CBD district we found lovely treasures like the alley below.

National Gallery of Victoria

The National Gallery of Victoria was a delight. The archectiture created beautiful grid-like shadows across the interior. The water wall at the entrance of the gallery was an interactive magnet inviting people to touch, photograph, or just watch. And towards the back of the gallery, prior to entering the sculpture garden, visitors were invited to lay on the carpeted floor and gaze up at the impressive stained glass ceiling.
For more information about the gallery go to http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/

I love Melbourne

What is not to love?
Arts and Culture are bountiful. Excellent coffee, international restaurants hidden in alley ways, an experimental art scene and avante-garde architecture are what makes this my favorite city in Australia. It's beaches are not as pristine as Sydneys but Melbourne offers top quality food, art, and an anything goes attitude. Open doors to immigration have given the city a mix of greek, italian, and spanish influence.
The city is growing and the landscape is changing. Exciting recently finished projects include: Federation Square, Melbourne Museum, Webb Bridge, Centre for Ideas and the Melbourne Gateway.

Made it to Melbourne

Oskar and I were going to take the coastal road from Sydney to Melbourne which would have been 14 hours and split over a 1 nites stay. But after 2 hours of hauling the trailer that carried the coach boat, worrying about the bad transmission during ascents and not even seeing water views from the road we decided to take the express route. Once on the highway, driving was easy. Unfortunately when it got to 1 in the morning and we were looking for a hotel to crash in there was absolutely no vacancy. We pulled off at one of the few and far between gas stations to ask the gas attendant if he knew of any. His reply was that this was the busiest strip of road in Australia and we had no chance of finding a bed to sleep in. So we drove for a couple more hours then pulled off and slept in the car... yuck. We left Sydney at around 8pm and arrived Melbourne 11am.

Since we arrived a day early we did not have a hotel room booked for that evening. We really lucked out and got a great room at "Cosmopoltan Hotel" in St. Kilda. The service was incredible, staff happy, and our room (for 120 AUS) was the nicest I've stayed in for the price. King size bed with soft sheets, a flat screen tv, modern clean furnishings and a slick bathroom fully stocked with luxury soaps, gels, and shampoos. Wireless internet was 15 bucks a nite, parking was free, and there was a restaurant in the base of the hotel that provided room service. I'd highly recommend anyone visiting Melbourne to book a room at The Cosmopolitan. http://www.cosmopolitanhotel.com.au/
The neighbourhood is St. Kilda, which I absolutely love. Melbourne itself is a great surprise. Arts, Culture, and the quality of food/coffee as if you were in Europe.

So we were lucky enough to sleep 1 nite in The Cosmopolitan. We are now housed in the hotel down the street "Easy Stay" on Aucland street. A big disapoint after our great experience at the Cosmo. Staff at Easy Stay were short and curt. They were strigent on check-in times... We arrived 1/2 an hour early and they wouldn't let a check in. They charged 8 bucks a night for parking. Internet was available if we plugged into the phone line and had a AUS IP address (no) then they charged 75 cents per call/connection that you made. Our room was disapointing with white wash walls, no design attention, and starchy sheets. The bathroom was nice with enviro-friendly pumps for all shaving cream/soap/moisture/shampoo. The street noise was awful and our view was of a white-washed brick wall. Double Yuck, Considering that this hotel was the same price as the Cosmopolitan.

Avoca Beach

5 minutes drive from Terrigal is Avoca Beach. An incredibly beautiful beach, clean pristine and only a handle of people were there when we visited. Marsh land on oneside which reminded me of the Florida Everglades and great surfing ocean on the other made this my favorite beach that we have visited since coming to Sydney.
Less developed than Terrigal interms of a downtown with restaurants, its a brief drive and a doable bike ride down to Terrigals' center. Well worth a visit.