 |
| Sydney Opera House |
Australia and New Zealand aren't on the same continent, but for travel purposes, they may as well be. If you are coming from a distant place, it takes a very long flight to get to either of these two countries, but they are a (relatively) short flight from each other. New Zealand has always been one of our favorite destinations, so we added it to our itineary whenever business took us to Australia.
New Zealand
Below are a few more New Zealand locations and events that were not included in that trip.
 |
| Auckland skyline with the Sky Tower and Port of Auckland, North Island, New Zealand. |
 |
| Sheep grazing on the costal hills of Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand |
 |
| Tama-te-Kapua Meeting House, centerpiece of the Māori village of Ohinemutu, Rotorua, New Zealand |
 |
| Wellington Harbour. Before crossing the Cook Strait to the South Island, New Zealand. |
 |
| Mary and the Moeraki Boulders, Koekohe Beach, South Island, New Zealand |
 |
Our camper in the Milford Sound campground, South Island, New Zealand.
In 2005 we rented a camper in Auckland and explored both Islands, turning it in in Christchurch. |
 |
| Doubtful Sound, Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand |
 |
| New Zealand is famous for it's sheep. Here a herd blocks our road on the South Island. |
 |
| Red Pokers on the New Zealand South Island in February. |
Australia
Colonial History
Sydney is the largest city in Australia and the site of the first British settlement on the continent. On our first trip to Sydney, we went to the Museum of Sydney to learn about the history of the area. Since Sydney was founded as a British penal colony, we learned a lot about the British prisons of the time.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, British jails were holding facilities for those awaiting trial, debtors, and vagrants. These undesirables filled the penal system to overflowing, so tens of thousands of prisoners were sent a to North America as indentured servants. When the Revolutionary War closed off America, Britain began looking for alternate destinations for prisoners. In 1770 Captain Cook explored Australia and claimed it for Britain. Between his reports and a desire to prevent French settlement, Britain chose Australia as its new location for penal colonies. Eleven British ships arrived in Sydney Cove in January, 1788 with about1400 settlers, approximately half of them prisoners.
Native people had lived in the area tens of thousands of years. Their relationship with the new arrivals began with curiosity and diplomatic attempts, but it rapidly deteriorated as smallpox ravaged their population and their land was confiscated by settlers. They avoided the settlements near Sydney and fought attempts by the new arrivals to expand further into their territory.
Over time, the growing British colony exhausted the available farmland around Sydney. The Blue Mountains to the west were seen as an "impenetrable barrier" to expansion by the British, although the native people had been crossing this "barrier" for thousands of years. After a decade of failed attempts, a British party finally discovered a route across the Blue Mountains in 1813, and the land to the west was opened to British colonization.
Blue Mountains
We heard from our friends in Australia that the Blue Mountains were a great opportunity for photography while we were in Sydney, so one weekend we took a train from Sydney to Katoomba, a Blue Mountains tourist center two hours away. We stayed for two nights and joined a day-long photo tour which stopped at six scenic locations, giving us a quick overview of the expansive mountains, steep ridges, and waterfalls west of Sydney.
 |
The Three Sisters, seen from Echo Point in Katoomba, Blue Mountains, Australia.
Note the footbridge from the cliff on the left to the first "Sister". |
 |
| Mary at Mount Hay, Blue Mountains, Australia |
 |
Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains, Australia
On the right is a steep stairway carved into the cliff giving access to the area under the falls. |
 |
| Mary overlooking Jamison Valley, Blue Mountains, Australia |
 |
| Leura Cascades, Blue Mountains, Australia |
 |
| Megalong Valley, Blue Mountains, Australia |
Sydney
The central business district of Sydney is in a sheltered bay about 20 miles from the ocean. The Circular Quay at north end of the business district is the transportation hub of the city, connecting it to public ferries, busses, light rail and the cruise ship passenger terminal. Sydney Opera House and the Royal Botanic Gardens are on the east side of Circular Quay, and the iconic Harbour Bridge is on the west.
 |
| Ferry docks at the Circular Quay in Sydney. The Opera House and Botanic Gardens are to the east, about 20 miles into the Harbour from the ocean. |
 |
Sydney's Circular Quay connects ferries, light rail, trains, and the overseas passenger terminal.
|
 |
The iconic Harbour Bridge spans the Sydney Harbour to the west of the Circular Quay.
|
 |
| A tug boat brings the Queen Elizabeth into dock at the base of the Harbour Bride on the west side of Circular Quay, |
 |
| West of the Harbour Bridge, the skyline of the Central Business District dominates the skyline. |
 |
| The famous Bondi Beach is on the ocean about 20 miles East of the Circular Quay. |
 |
| Bondi Beach is home to many banksia marginata shrubs which have beautiful blooms in February. |
Tasmania
Melbourne
Brisbane
Perth
