<sup>Melbourne is known as the cultural center of Australia, a title that Sydney is envious of and is constantly fighting to attain.  One of the ways that Melbourne showcases all of its creativity is by a unique type of street culture.  According to Wikipedia, "The city is sometimes placed alongside New York and Berlin as one of the world's great street art meccas, and its extensive street art-laden laneways, alleys and arcades were voted by Lonely Planet readers as Australia's top cultural attraction."



I was not only impressed by the abundance and ease of availibility of the arts in Melbourne but also the extent to which the visitors' bureau helps tourists to take it all in.  For example, Melbourne offers a free shuttle bus that makes different loops around and in the city which hits all of the popular spots.  Buses run about ever twenty minutes and function in the hop on/hop off style.  



To add to this, they offer a free tram as well.  One of the things that fascinated me about Melbourne was its enormous tram network - the largest in the world.  The city has kept a few of the original, old trams and uses them to give free rides to visitors.  The free tram makes a loop around the city and runs about every ten minutes.  Sean and I rode both the bus and the tram the first day to get our bearings and take it all in.




We also went to the visitor center in the main plaza to ask for other suggestions.  We were told that going on a walking tour of some of the more famous "laneways," "alleys," and "arcades" were a must-do in order to experience the true spirit of Melbourne.




The famous arcades of Melbourne are really just tiny rows and alleys of shops, cafes and restaurants.  Many of them have themes or are decorated in various types of street art.  We quickly found that it was necessary to have a map of the arcades as it was easy to get lost in the winding maze of alleys.  Because of these tiny creative networks, walking around Melbourne was unlike exploring any other city I had ever been in.</sup>



One thing that we both immediately noticed was the prevalence of cafes and gourmet and experimental coffee shops.  We had heard in New Zealand that Melbournians were definite coffee snobs and there was evidence of this all around us.  Sean and I decided that we would  buy one overpriced posh coffee each while we were there.  When I asked the waiter for the best coffee they had he brought me back a double espresso.  It's safe to say that because of those three little ounces, I didn't sleep for about a day and a half.  Coffee in Melbourne packs a powerful punch.


 



 

This Christmas was a happy one at the Sanderson homestead.  Sean and I spent Christmas Eve with the Sandersons and enjoyed a church service at Christ Memorial followed by a nice dinner and cookies and coffee by the fire. 



Christmas morning was spent with Sean's parents where we had breakfast and had fun opening a few gifts by one of the many trees set up around the house.  Then we headed back to the Sandersons for stockings, a big Christmas roast and nap time.  We drove to grandma's house in the evening to catch up with some of Sean's relatives as well as sample some of the coconut macaroon cupcakes and homemade caramels that Sean's aunt makes.




The next day we drove to Detroit with the Sandersons to see some of my extended family.  The highlight of the day was a big chili lunch followed by a rousing game of indoor croquet that my cousin, Chris, had devised.  We were only planning on staying for the day but got stuck in the big snow storm and had to spend the night.  The busyness and fun of the holidays continue as we look forward to spending time with my birth family as well as Marian's (Sean's stepmom) family.  Merry Christmas!

Bye New Zealand - see you in two weeks!

 While we were on the other side of the world in New Zealand, we wanted a chance to visit Australia as well (a country that really deserves a year of exploration all on its own).  We only had the time and the funds to be able to go for about two weeks and divided up our time in "Oz" between Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns (where the Great Barrier Reef is located). 



After our drive back down the South Island, we spent one night at our old flat with Kathryn and Andrew and left right away again in the morning bound for Melbourne, Australia.  Due to the nature of cheap flights, we arrived in the middle of the night and were deposited directly in the center of the city by the airport bus.  To save money, we only took small carry-on backpacks for our whole trip and from the center of the city we started the long walk to our hostel as all buses and trams were out of service.

The main, central plaza in the city

Oddly, there were a lot of people out and about.  To make matters even more strange, most were in bizarre costumes and masks.  I was already a little spooked being in a new city in the middle of the night with all of my possessions on my back so when someone lunged and roared at me in a gorilla costume I literally almost jumped out of my skin.  What kind of crazy freaks live in Melbourne? we wondered aloud to each other.  And that's when we realized that we had arrived in the middle of Halloween.

Melbourne was full of tiny alleys or "laneways" that were full of shops and cafes

Melbourne turned out to be our favorite city that we visited in Australia.  It's is a trendy city big into coffee, art, alleyways, old-fashioned trams and fashion.  There were hipsters on every corner and fashionistas strutting on all the sidewalks right behind them.  We had a couple of activities planned: a day trip on the Great Ocean Road and a day trip to Phillip's Island but overall I think our favorite thing to do was just walk around the city and check out the architecture, get lost in the alleys and drool over all the little artsy and creative shops.  Even after one day, I could definitely see why Melbourne is labeled one of the most liveable cities in the world.

Before the long drive back down the South Island we had planned one day just to hang out and rest.  We stayed in a little town called Havelock, the Green-Lipped Mussel capital of the world, and enjoyed the fresh seafood along with being right next to the ocean. 




During our free day we went out to eat instead of eating out of the car and enjoyed some wine tasting with a cheese platter.  It was a pretty big day.




The following day we got up early to pack the car and start driving.  We didn't take the most direct route back down to Queenstown but rather chose the most scenic one and decided to head up Arthur's Pass - one of the highest mountain passes in New Zealand.




It was a clear and beautiful day and we enjoyed the spectacular mountain views along the way.  The peaceful day was topped off with camping in a DOC (Department of Conservation) basic campsite in the middle of nowhere and being the only ones there.  It was the last time we camped in New Zealand just the two of us and the last time that we slept in the back of the car as the rest of our time we were either in Australia or traveling with my sister.   The month driving around the North Island of New Zealand had gone way too fast and we had had a great time.  I was sad to see this part of the trip end but excited to see where other adventures would take us.

Our route through the sounds

After spending a month on the North Island, we camped one last night in Wellington before our early ferry ride back to the South Island.  We had one last activity planned at the tip of the South Island before heading back down to Queenstown to leave for Australia - a mail run in the Marlborough Sounds.

The small port of Picton

 The Marlborough Sounds are an intricate and beautiful web of islands and peninsulas many of which include areas that are totally wild.  Access to much of the sounds is difficult and some are only reached by boat.  Surprisingly, there are quite a few private residences and a few bed and breakfasts which manage to survive in such isolation.  Even though the sounds are only sparesly populated, the government stil has to get their mail to them somehow.  Instead of requiring them to come in and check a P.O. box, they send a "mail run" ship out a few times a week to deliver the mail.  They allow a few public passengers to accompany the mail ship so Sean and I signed up for one. 

Our tiny mail boat

Our postman was a animated and friendly local who had the mail boat driving business down to a science.  He pointed out interesting spots along the way such as past shipwrecks, Maori legends and wildlife all while navigating through relatively rough seas.  I couldn't believe that we didn't get lost; as we moved deeper and deeper into the sounds I completely lost all sense of direction.

Pigs waiting patiently for their treats after the mail gets delivered

Our particular mail run was fairly intense - we boarded the boat at 1:30 and were told that we wouldn't get back to our port in Picton until 6pm.  It took all that time just to deliver mail to ten different families - crazy!

An over eager customer

For most of the mail run we were snoozing, enjoying the scenery and sipping on coffee.  But hands down my most favorite part of the trip was watching the interactions between the postman and the locals.  And the locals not only included humans but pigs, goats and dogs as well.  As we neared each dock, the postman called the family on the radio to alert them to meet him at shore.  As we got closer and closer to each dock there was always some sort of pet either waiting excitedly for our boat or running down the beach in great anticipation.

Pigs waiting on the docks

Meeting the local dogs

The goats, pigs and dogs were so excited because the postman kept a stash of treats right inside his window which he doled out generously.  He told us that though he had been bitten a few times his favorite part about delivering the mail was seeing all of his animal friends.  The only major problem he had had with this was when a huge pig got too excited and jumped on the boat.  He said it was next to impossible to lift it back up to the dock and now keeps the main door closed.

Shores of the Sounds

 Taking the scenic mail run cruise proved not only to be a beautiful way to see the Marlborough Sounds but a rather entertaining way as well!

 

The main reason I wanted to venture into the caves was to see the glow worms.  Glow worms are found only in New Zealand and are easiest to find and see in caves.  Though they sound magical and beautiful like fireflies, the glow worm is actually just the larvae stage of a flying insect.  From far away the glow worms look awesome but up close they look pretty gross - more like phosphorescent maggots. 



The glow worms of New Zealand produce a chemical reaction in their rear ends that causes a glow because they are trying to attract food.  It all starts with a type of fly that hatches in the water under the rocks of creeks and rivers.  When the fly reaches a certain stage in its life cycle, it emerges from the water and flies upward using the stars in the sky as guidance as to which way is up. 

Glow worm nets and webs

Since there are creeks and rivers that run through the cave systems in New Zealand, the flies live there as well except instead of flying upwards toward the stars, they fly up toward the glow worms (which really look like stars) and get caught in their sticky nets.  The glow worms then eat the flies, grow big and fat and can eventually form their own little cocoon to begin to fly themselves.

Glow worm up close with his rear lit up

It can be very tricky to see glow worms because they only light up their butts when it's dark out.  Caves are a good way to see them as they are dark all the time.  But when a group of cavers appear with bright headlamps, the glow worms promptly shut themselves off.  To see them again, one has to wait patiently in the dark and watch them get brighter and brighter.  This makes it next to impossible to photograph a glow worm.  To take the pictures that you see on this blog, our guide had the shutter of his camera open for 30 seconds and told us to sit very still.  I thought the results were pretty cool!