Linsey Lanier
Sally Kilpatrick
Sia Huff
Romily Bernard
Darcy Crowder
Marilyn Baron
Tami Brothers
Sandra Elzie
Carol Burnside
Debbie Kaufman
Maxine Davis
Tammy Schubert
Susan Carlisle
Pam Asberry
Lindy Chaffin StartAustralia and New Zealand – with Marilyn Baron
Planes, Trains and Automobiles: How I Spent My Summer Vacation
By Marilyn Baron
This month’s theme is Dreams. I don’t have anything specific to say about dreams and the subconscious mind, but I would like to tell you about the dream vacation I took last year in Australia and New Zealand.
Everything is topsy-turvy in Australia. Our winter is their summer, so in November, I spent my “summer” vacation in Australia and New Zealand. When I returned, someone asked me, “How was your trip Down Yonder?”
“Texas is Down Yonder,” I corrected, explaining that my husband and I spent two wonderful weeks Outback and Down Under with the Aussies and the Kiwis. We took a total of eight airplane flights and countless trips through immigration and customs (whose agents seemed more interested in invading fruit than actual invaders); a Tranzapline Train journey across New Zealand’s Southern Alps from one coast of the country to the other; and rented a car to drive down the West Coast of New Zealand.
Some of the highlights of our trip. During our visit we saw rain forests – the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest near Cairns in Australia – and stayed at a brand new hotel in the rain forest near the Franz Joseph glacier on New Zealand’s West Coast called the Te Waonui Forest Resort, where they served a five-course degustation dinner. I’ll have to look up that fancy word, but in Southern I think it means, when you’re through eating, you’re full as a tick. We also took a sailing and snorkeling catamaran trip to the Great Barrier Reef, a Milford Sound nature cruise in Fjordland, and enjoyed a gourmet lunch and wine tasting at a winery. We saw animals of all kinds, including seals, dolphins, penguins, koalas (our guide said they are not actually “bears”), crocodiles, emus, dingoes, fruit bats, kangaroos, wombats, even a Tasmanian Devil at the zoo, in wildlife parks or just out in the wild.
We noticed a lot of differences between the cultures. The British were reserved, the Australians boisterous, affable and friendly and we Americans were somewhere in between. When a French family on the deck of the vessel in Milford Sound was first to spot the dolphins, I exclaimed, “Zut Alors!” and the wife turned to me and corrected, “Non, Mon Dieu.” So much for my French.
There were other language differences. I had to translate Australian English to my husband. One woman at the Featherdale Wildlife Park asked, “Did you lose your jumper?” I thought she was talking about a runaway kangaroo but she was referring to my sweater, which I had dropped on the ground.
I couldn’t figure out kilometers vs. miles and Celsius versus Fahrenheit. Apparently, calculations of time also lose something in the translation. For example, an employee at the Auckland international terminal transfer desk said it was a quick eight-minute walk (just follow the blue line) to the domestic terminal. So we set off on what turned out to be a one-hour Bataan Death March. And it freaked me out to think that while we were in Australia we were 16 hours ahead of our family in the United States. Talk about time travel!
Some other differences: You don’t have to remove your shoes in the security line and their planes arrive on time and most often early. They say “Give Way” instead of “Yield,” and “Take Away” instead of “Takeout.” Their Entrées are Appetizers and Main Courses are Entrées. Over there, “Don’t Pass” translates to “Don’t Overtake” and their lobsters are called bugs. By the way, their shrimp are bigger and sweeter and taste like lobster. And although a lot of people said “Mate,” I was the only one who said, “G’Day Mate.” I did hear a lot of “No Worries.”
And of course, the biggest difference, they drive on the wrong side of the road.
Peculiarities: For the first week, we didn’t see one American. We think it was the state of the economy and the devalued American dollar that was the culprit. I was surprised to learn that only 10 percent of Americans apply for passports. We ran into people from France, England, Denmark, Thailand, Japan, a great number of Australians, but no Americans. We finally met an American couple who was, coincidentally, from Atlanta. After that, we ran into them three additional times and they were on our plane back to Atlanta.
We didn’t see many people of any kind in New Zealand, but we saw lots of sheep. My husband’s favorite line was, “You’re nobody in New Zealand if you don’t own sheep.” I never saw so many sheep in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I love sheep, but I think there must be more sheep than people in that country. However, New Zealand’s natural beauty was not to be believed.
Road Kill: New Zealand is plagued by an exploding possum population and they are taking advantage of that surplus by manufacturing clothes that combine Merino wool with possum fur.
Interesting experiences:
My favorite place in New Zealand was in Queenstown (named because “…it was fit for Queen Victoria”), a beautiful town with a lake surrounded by mountains. We witnessed (but didn’t participate in) activities like bungee jumping, jet boating, and paragliding to name a few. We chose to take a tame, but enjoyable, Vintage Steamship cruise around Lake Wakatipu, overlooked by the majestic “Remarkables” Mountain range.
Many people walked across the Sydney Harbour bridge. We didn’t do that but the magnificent view from our hotel room included the bridge and the opera house and most of the harbour.
My husband took his life in his hands on an open railcar where a contingent of Japanese tourists who were serious about their photography jostled for position in what he refers to as, “The Great Train Wars.”
The library at our beachfront boutique resort in Palm Cove, near Cairns, was threadbare. The books were outdated. There were the requisite Johns (le Carré and Grisham), the Daniels (Silva and Danielle Steele). As a matter of fact, her book was in Italian. Then there was a James (Michener) and a Tom (Clancy) and a host of other books by authors I never even heard of. I half expected to see a Joan Wilder on the shelf. It turns out that the netting draperies over the beds in that establishment were not for decorative purposes.
I had always dreamed of going to Australia and the trip exceeded my expectations. When we got home from this wonderful, but exhausting journey, my husband said he was going to burn his passport and never leave the United States. I know he had a good time because he took more than 1,200 pictures. The trip will provide a world of ideas and fodder for future stories. This was a memorable vacation but I think we’ll stay close to home for a while. It’s good to be back.
What was your most memorable trip?
Tags: Australia, Marilyn Baron, New Zealand, Travel the World
About the author
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Marilyn Baron | Marilyn Baron's debut novel, The Edger, a humorous women's fiction she cowrote with her sister, award-winning Florida artist Sharon Goldman, was released January 2012. THE EDGER is available at Amazon Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006Y3P12Y#_
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/123376
Barnes & Noble Nook Books http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-edger-marilyn-baron/1108321593?ean=2940013703957&itm=1&usri=the+edger+marilyn+baron
Her humorous supernatural e-short stories, "A Choir of Angels," "Follow an Angel," and "The Stand-In Bridegroom," are available from TWB Press at http://www.twbpress.com/thestandinbridegroom.html.
Marilyn Baron is a public relations consultant in Atlanta. She’s a PRO member of Romance Writers of America, and is the winner of the GRW 2009 Chapter Service Award.
She writes humorous women’s fiction, romantic suspense and paranormal. Her manuscript, “The Colonoscopy Club,” finaled in the GRW Unpublished Maggie Awards for Excellence in 2005 in the Single Title category and "The Edger," won first place in the Suspense Romance category of the 2010 Ignite the Flame Contest, sponsored by the Central Ohio Fiction Writers chapter of RWA.
She graduated from The University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. What’s unique about my writing? I try to inject humor into everything I write, from romantic suspense to women’s fiction. I like to laugh and I think my readers do too. I tend to feature older heroines, because let’s face it, we’re not getting any younger.
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April 29th, 2010 at 1:12 am
I have a feeling m most memorable one is just around the corner.
Will let you know when I return.
I can tell you really enjoyed your trip. Makes me want to go down under now.
April 29th, 2010 at 6:26 am
What a lovely vacation. I have always wanted to travel in that part of the world. Maybe one day…
The picture of the kola is gorgeous. When I was little, I cried every time a commercial for save the kolas came on board. I tried to convince my parents that we could keep them in our yard. Obviously, they ignored me. They just look so cute, cuddly and loveable.
I’m glad you enjoyed your trip. Did you go with a formal tour group or did you handle the arrangements all by yourself?
April 29th, 2010 at 7:53 am
Carol,
Can’t wait to hear about your trip that’s right around the corner.
Tammy,
We had a firm called Destination Australia and New Zealand plan the trip. They did a great job. It wasn’t an arranged tour but they made all the reservations in advance down to cars picking you up to and from the airport, arranged tours, etc. We felt like we were on our own but everything had been planned ahead of time. So it was an individual trip planner.
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Fascinating. It’s the diffferent culture and ways of expression that I find the most interesting when I travel. Oh, the places are neat too, but it’s the people that make it. My most interesting trip? I’ve traveled to Brazil, Haiti, Hong Kong, and Mainland China. I think my most interesting/favorite is going to be the next one I take – whereever that is!
April 29th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Wow! Debbie,Those are interesting places. I’ve never been to any of them. It is nice to look forward to the next trip.
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Marilyn,
I confess, I’ve never dreamt of visiting Australia. A dream vacation for me, believe it or not, is the Grand Canyon, Oregon, or the Great Redwood forest. None of which I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. I’ve been to very few places in my life. Driving up the east coast to see relatives in NY doesn’t count. We don’t stop on the way to sight see.
The farthest place I’ve ever been was to California for nationals. RWA’s yearly conferences are the only times I truly travel and they’re not really vacations, though I have a blast none-the-less.
I’ve always wanted to see Scotland. The romances I read as a teen and young adult made me long for the moores, kilted men and sexy brogues.
But I have yet to leave the United States.
I said I’d never dreamt of going to Australia…that is, until I read your post.
My God, what a fascinating place. I didn’t realize there were rain forests down under. I always thought there was just miles of red clay, heat and Dingos. Your post shows me a different Australia then the one my ignorant untraveled mind fabricated.
I now want to see that lovely land mass with all my heart. Truthfully!
Hopefully I get there and other places on Earth one day.
You know, along with romances, you should try your hand at writing a few travel peices. You have a true gift for making the place your talking about sound like heaven.
Thanks so much for the post.
Have a brilliant day!
Tamara
April 29th, 2010 at 8:51 am
Thanks, Tamara. I would like to be a travel writer. That would combine my love of travel with my love of writing. Actually there are supposed to be places like you describe in Australia, Ayers Rock, the Outback, etc. But I didn’t go to those places. You can’t see everything in such a short amount of time so I wanted to see the most beautiful scenery and I love the beach and anyplace on the water.
I’ve never been to Scotland but I have been to Ireland and that’s beautiful too. But it was much different from the way I had originally pictured it.
My husband now wants to see places in the United States, national parks, etc. so those will be the next places we visit.
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Tamara,
I was also surprised to find out there were rain forests in Australia, and glaciers. The whole trip was really a surprise. Since we’ve been we’ve noticed that some of the films we see were made in Australia and that’s interesting. I’m watching the TV series, The Pacific, and we recognize some of the places or at least we think we do.
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 10:38 am
WOW Marilyn, I totally forgot that you went to Australia. You have talked of going for years. Sounds like a wonderful time and full of adventures. 8 airplanes rides to complete your itinerary. You surely needed me there to help with your luggage like old times traveling the world on business. I will never forget trying to make the connection from Norway to Paris in the Amsterdam airport. We had to have run 2 miles completely across the airport. We made the flight, but were half dead when the plane took off.
I agree with Steve – there is so much beauty within our country to see. You know my 11,000 mile motorcycle trip 5 years ago around the U.S. and Canada brought me to every beautiful spot in America. There is so much to see that it would be hard to recommend my favorite Park or area, but the one spot that sticks in my mind is the road from Cedar City, Utah to Moab, Utah. The road winds through Bryson NP, Canyon Lands NP, Arches, Escalane NP. Oh my gosh, at each turn of the road your breath is taken away and your socks are knocked completely off. Southern Utah and of course my beautiful State of Arizona are like no other place on Earth. Visit America the Beautiful. No truer words have ever been written.
Thanks for sharing your blog with me. Hope to see you again soon when I am back in Atlanta.
April 29th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Marilyn –
What a wonderful trip to NZ. I felt the same way when I got home from AU – ready to stay home a bit, but I didn’t spend any time playing. I’d like to go back with my hubby and spend time in both places.
Of course, I agree with Art – I love riding my motorcycle across this country and see things I’ve never seen.
thanks for the super travel review of NZ.
April 29th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Great post, Marilyn! I loved this view of Australia and New Zealand. Seriously. I had no clue about the rainforests and glaciers. Like Tamara, I thought it was lots of open ranges and red, red dirt. But it still is one of my top favorite places I want to see.
Tammy, I had that Koala fever when I was a kid, too. Had several stuffed animals and was positive I would save them all one day. I hear they are pretty vicious if you aren’t careful. But you couldn’t have convinced me back then…grin…
Thanks for a great look “down under”.
Tami
April 29th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Australia is on my short list,but until I hit the mega millions so both boys can go to college & we can also travel, it will have to stay on the list. Had to laugh at the French lady correcting your french! When I was in Paris, I used my NewOrleans french everywhere, & they spoke back to me in perfect english. Correcting my french, of course.
Ah well…the food was superb!
April 29th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Art,
It’s great to hear from you. Yes, I did need you to carry my luggage. Believe me, we talked about it when we were there. Running to catch a plane? I can’t do that anymore. I’ve wanted to go to Australia since you and I created the collateral for the Sydney Olympics.
Dianna, thanks for visiting the blog. You travel a lot. I knew you were in Australia but didn’t have enough time to really see the country.
Tammy, Koalas were my favorite. They were so cute. The ones we saw were very tame and you could get close to them.
Pamela,
Thanks for commenting on the blog. We hope you come back again soon.
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Marilyn, I love learning new words so had to come back and look up degustation. According to Wikipedia, degustation is a culinary term meaning “a careful, appreciative tasting of various foods” and focusing on the gustatory system, the senses, high culinary art and good company.
I don’t know about that careful part, but I’d say it definitely means you’re full as a tick afterwards. LOL!
April 29th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Saw your blog link from facebook. Enjoyed!
April 29th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Carol,
Thanks for looking that up. There were certainly various foods at the table.
Darlene,
Thanks for stopping by the blog. Come back and visit again!
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
First, you cannot imagine how much I ADORE reading about people’s travels, Marilyn.
Secondly, “boo” to the French lady who corrected you.
Second and a halfly, don’t you love wine tasting? What kind of gourmet lunch did you have?
Third, I can’t believe only 10% of Americans get passports. That shocks me. Course, we’re such a huge country; traveling from one end to the other is a real lesson in differing cultures.
Lastly, I think I have two favorite trips. Maybe three. The first was during my year abroad in Spain. During spring break, we took a train to Greece–poor-student-style which means minimal showering and crusty socks. We arrived in Santorini only to stay in gorgeous villa for $5 a night. I’ve never seen a more beautiful place. It was sunny, the food was fresh and the beaches warm. I think I actually purred.
Another favorite trip was to Dubai. Talk about culture shock. First of all, I was so delirious from jet-lag, I felt like I’d landed on Mars. Secondly, it’s so sandy, I couldn’t ever figure how the men kept their crisp white robes so clean. In the evening, we went for a walk around the marina, and I kept smelling the most exotic smell. Turned out to be something called “Oodh”–300 yr. old bark from a desert tree that they drench in Arabian oils then burn on charcoal blocks. Wonderful trip.
As for my last favorite, England always is my home. I’ve only been a couple times, but I really feel connected to everything in it.
April 29th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
I love to travel, and I’ve had too many memorable trips to pick just one. I loved the trip my mom and I took through the Southwest–I would recommend that one to anyone. We also went to Britain, France, and Spain–that trip was great, but I would like to stay longer in Paris. Hubby and I have taken great trips to Boston, Los Angeles, and New Orleans–we’re shooting for Hawaii, the FL Keys, and Missouri next. (Yes, Missouri.)
April 29th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Hi Marilyn,
Your trip sounded fabulous. My daughter & family went and came home raving and wanting to return.
I’ve been a few places out of country (besides Mexico & Canada)but we have traveled most extensively in the U.S…..and I’m always ready to hit the road again. We have a beautiful and diverse country.
Thanks for the road-trip review.
Sandy
April 29th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Marilyn,
Loved your post. You make it sound so wonderful that I could almost forget the long plane ride!
Would love to see some of those 1200 pictures!
Tamara, I went to Scotland and rented a place on Isle of Skye. So calm and peaceful. The kilts were nice too
When I got back my hub looked at my pictures and said there’s a picture of a sheep, and there’s a picture of a sheep, and there’s . . . But I loved it. If you go to the Grand Canyon, I recommend riding train from Williams, AZ to GC. You can spend night in GC and ride train back. Great.
Marilyn, where is the next trip going to take you?
April 29th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
J,
I’ve never been to Dubai and I’ve been to Spain only to start a cruise from Barcelona, but that’s a place I want to go back to. I wanted to visit The Prado museum in Madrid.
I was also on a 6-month student abroad program in my junior year of college and I lived in Florence. I remember a long train ride, but only to Nice. It was about 9 hours and Spain would have been a lot longer. The fact that you went all the way to Greece was amazing. My husband and I took a cruise of the Greek Islands and Santorini was one of the highlights. It was so beautiful.
We’ve also been to England a few times and I love it there too. My husband’s favorite place was Churchill’s War Room. He’s a WWII buff. My daugther is going to London this summer with a friend. They have tickets to Wimbledon. It sounds like a great trip.
I can’t remember exactly what we had at the wine tasting, but all the dishes were local dishes. I’m sure one of them was sheep.
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Sally,
Missouri? Actually my husband’s mother was born in Hannibal, Missouri.
My mother, sister and I did a Mediterranean cruise (the one that started from Barcelona) and that was fun.
Hawaii is a nice place to go. And I love Paris too. I like to go anywhere, just to be in a different place.
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Sandy,
Yes we talked about traveling in the country today at lunch. I’m looking forward to it. I think we want to visit Boston and New England and Eastern Canada and the national parks.
I think traveling in the US will be less exhausting.
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Brenda,
You can’t possibly forget that long plane ride. I think it was about 23 or 24 hours. I saw about 7 movies.
I’ve never been to Scotland, but it sounds lovely. I remember on our trip through Ireland we were on a one lane road and sheep were blocking the road. It was neat. I think I will dream about sheep tonight.
Since I will end up having to have knee surgery I can’t really travel that much for now. Our next trip is to our condo in Florida which is always relaxing. As I said before, I would like to see New England. We went to a wedding in Boston and really enjoyed it but I’d like to see more of it.
I enjoyed hearing about your recent trip to Italy.
Marilyn
April 29th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Galciers in Australia too?
I had no idea.
I read that it took 23-24 hours to get to Ausie-ville. YIKES. We drive 15 hours 2wice a year to go to NY so I don’t have to get on a plane for 2. Myhusband hates driving, but I can’t fly. I get really sick.
Oh no…how will I go all the way to Australia? I was already planning to have someone knock me out like they used to do to Mr. T on the A-team so that I’d get on the plane for Scotland.
I guess I’ll have to be in a 24 hr coma when I finally go down under.
I can’t wait to travel to exotic places on day, but I truly want to see the amazing sights in the US first. (I can drive to all of them)
Next time I see you I’m gonna drive you crazy asking about your travels.
Hope you don’t mind!
Luved hearing about your trip.
Tamara
April 29th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Marilyn,
This was a great post. I enjoyed reliving my trip to Austraila, New Zealand and Fiji. My mother and I went to visit her pen pal in Caines about seven years ago. I’m going to email her and tell her to read your post. It was great fun remember what all we saw. We also went to Alice. Did you get way out there? I have a book called “A Town Called Alice” that you might like to read. Love story and adventure in Austraila. Remind me to tell you a story about Japanese tourist and my children sometime.
April 29th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Tamara,
Yes, I was surprised to see a glacier. You can walk almost up to it and look out onto it or take a helicopter over it. We did the helicopter on the glacier in Alaska so here we just hiked up a trail and looked at it. But you can see if from the dining room of the hotel which is in the rain forest. That was freaky to have a rain forest next to a glacier.
I guess you can take a cruise to australia, but you’d have to fly somewhere to get to it. Or possibly I don’t know if you can fly to the West Coast and get on a boat?
Susan,
We stayed in Cairns for four nights. It’s where the Great Barrier Reed is. It’s really a neat place and they have a rain forest there or near there that we went to.
We didn’t go to Alice or Alice Springs, not sure what it’s called, we mainly stuck to the coast of Australia and then went to New Zealand.
I’d like to hear about your trip sometime.
Marilyn
Marilyn
Yes it is 24 HOUR TRIP.
April 30th, 2010 at 11:21 am
You aren’t anyone in New Zealand if you don’t own sheep. I had to chuckle when I read that line. I remember a college friend’s mom lamenting, “You aren’t anyone in Western Nebraska if you don’t own cattle.” Her family didn’t own cattle.
Great post! Sorry I’m a day late.
May 1st, 2010 at 5:52 am
Oh, Marilyn. How lucky you were to go and how lucky Australia and NZ were to have you visit. I love that we mentioned the Thunder From Down Under in Sally’s dream post and alas, no mention here. I love the picture of you with koala. You look awesome and happy! Next time don’t forget to see the naked men.
My most memorable trip. Brienz, Switerland. I was 15 an in awe. I love Venice. I love the mountains in Jamaica where it is darker and quieter than any other place I’ve been. I love Georgia. So many amazingly beautiful places near by without have to take a 24 hour trip. Thanks for sharing.
May 1st, 2010 at 10:08 pm
What a delightful post, Marilyn. I almost feel like I’ve been there. I’d love to see all those animals. The picture with you and the koala is adorable! And I’d love to try some of those shrimp.
I once heard Tasmanian Devil’s cry at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago and understood why they got that name. It’s a pretty freaky experience.
I’ve been to France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. Some of that got into a book I wrote years back. But I agree with you. There’s no place like home.
May 4th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Anna,
Thanks for commenting. I never heard that line about the cattle, but that’s neat. Yes sheep were everywhere, even adjacent to the airport as we were taking off for home.
Nicki, I loved the koalas. I saw dozens of them at the game preserve and you could go right up to them.
Naked men? Didn’t go to that part of Australia.
I also love Switzerland. Where is Brienz. I’ve been to a lot of cities in that country but not that. I think Switzerland is beautiful. And Venice is also one of my favorite cities.
Linsey, thanks for commenting. Where did you go in Germany. I’ve been to Munich a couple of times but my husband wants to go to Berlin.
I just love to travel. I love the change of scenery.
Marilyn