A great Day trip to the Wellington Zoo

So Friday morning we got up and hauled our butts to crossfit as we had a big day and had to leave early anyway.  After crossfit we showered, ate and high tailed it to the three hour drive to Wellington.  We had a date with red pandas at the Wellington Zoo!  We were a little worried at the beginning of the drive as we had to be there by 11AM, and we got stuck behind a convoy hauling a huge steel beam.  There were 4 escort cars, one truck pulling and one truck pushing.  Watching them go through roundabouts was something else.  Since it was so large we ended up having to follow it for a LONG time (remember there are mostly 2 lane roads here, even the "highways" are like that).  We ended up being on time but it made the drive a tidbit more stressful than necessary.

The Wellington Zoo itself is not that large.  Its animals have huge enclosures though so that is nice.  Cec and I had scheduled the red panda encounter and it was everything I had hoped for and more!  We were taken in by a Ranger and told the basics.  We will sit on benches and the red pandas will crawl onto our laps and eat the pears and grapes out of our hands.  We WERE allowed to pat the heads, ears and backs but not to hug them.  Which, by the way, was SO much more than I expected!!!  We got to meet three pandas in total all from old to pretty young.  They all were so excited to see us, but when they were done eating then left and laid down for naps ASAP.  AWESOME experience. Here are two links to YouTube showing a few seconds of us actually feeding them because it's awesome!: here and here

(We are pretty excited to be here.  And not be rained on.  It literally rained the 4 days previous and the next 2)

(Here are our VIP backstage passes!)

(One of my new favorite pics of us.  As you can see, they literally crawl all over you.  Here are the yourtube links again: here and here)

(Here you can see some of the benches. Note the red panda is ready to eat!  We had to make sure not to sit on them!)

(They had nails that pushed into your legs, not painfully, but you knew they were there)

(They loved the treats so much they would lick your hands for the juice!)

(My new profile pic on facebook?)

(Cec's facebook pic?)

Now we also saw a few other animals there, although the panda encounter was by far the highlight of the tour!  

(One of the funniest things were all the "zookeeper says" warning signs posted around...)

(Like the "don't sit on the fence or you may die" in nice words lol)

(The characal exhibit was awesome and the kitties were really active)

(Ironically, we got a great photo of a wild tui as well!)

Winter days in Wanganui

So not many exciting things the last couple of weeks. Mostly holing up at home doing daily stuff. Crossfit, running, gaming, working, grocery shopping and such forth.  Winter here is much different than in Pennsylvania and Ohio where were from. It gets chilly like almost freezing daily. However, it doesn't usually get to the freezing mark. You wake up in the morning and it's cold. It wouldn't be that bad except the houses have no Insulation and single pane windows so it's like camping outside except with a roof. Whatever the temperature is outside is what it is inside. Then, the sun comes out and the afternoon is usually pretty decent. Pretty much like fall. Breezy and cool but nice. Then it gets dark by 6 PM, and It's cold again. We bought a space heater and have a fireplace so those usually do the job.   Today it got really crappy we even had hail!!!

(hail from our window, we aren't going outside. Hence the fuzzy picture/0

(This is what a mid afternoon looks like generally.  Its crisp but sunny and nice. I took this one at the local park)

(Our 3 major sources of heat.  There are panel heaters housewide but that is not cost effective.  We heat where we spend time.  Water bottles feel great on the back, the nice ceramic heater spits out a ton of heat, and the fireplace warms the living space.)

We've also been board gaming a bit lately. Cec and I play almost daily and we've gotten together with a few people in get together as well. The TV here isn't that great so it's books and games people!!

(Cranium fun times.  Nice oldschool party game)

(Cec and I at home playing kingsburg)

We both have been enjoying the cool afternoons for running (or walking, I got shin splints for the first time ever last week and they hurrrtttt!!!). Cec signed up for a marathon in November so he is on a training schedule! Luckily, a couple of friends here also enjoy this hobby so he gets some running buddy time every once in a while. I can't keep up with the sub 9 minute pace so I just take photos! 

(Running at Kowhai park near our house,  It is a great running/walking track that often has many puppies to see)

(Will, an RMO Cec knows from the hospital and cec out for a 6:50AM  half marathon training run.  I was sleeping in case you wonder why its a selfie.  I went out later lol)

Three days in Sydney

Most regrettably, we only had a few days in Sydney.  Sydney is one of my favorite mega-cities I've ever been to.  Phenomenal parks and green spaces, clean, "pretty" city.  Even the docks didn't smell like oil and fish, just salt and ocean.  How they did that is anyone's guess, but it was great.  We could have easily spent a week.  Luckily we did everything we really wanted to so it all worked out.  The first day we flew in we didn't land until about 4pm, so pretty much we just met Cec at the hotel.  The hotel was in the middle of the city, about a mile from both the main harbor and Darling harbor.  It also was right across from Hyde park and there was a subway right on the corner.  Great location and nice, super comfy rooms.

The next day we started early and walked to go pick up our city passes at the harbor.  The city passes were that thing where you can use them for the inclusions for as many things as you want within x amount of days.  We bought the 3 day passes.  We started off by picking up tickets for a boat harbor tour that afternoon (it needed prebooked).  Then, we picked up tickets for a hop on hop off tour (which we planned to use the next day).  Then we all went to the opera house as the first thing we wanted to do is take a tour.  We got tickets for the next booking, at 10 AM, but had to wait about 30 minutes.  We grabbed some coffee/tea and waited watching people and the harbor.  It was a pleasant morning.  Then we took an amazing tour.  Every person got a headset so we could easily hear the guide no matter where we were in line.  We walked through that amazing space and learned all about the construction, history and uses.  I'm not super into architecture but it was mind boggling. We heard a symphony practicing and the guide mentioned that there might still be tickets left.  Somehow it never occurred to us to look for tickets, so after the tour cec and I got some tickets for the next evening for a symphony.

(Mom and dad are all rugged up with their headphones ready for the tour of the opera house)

(Interestingly, the ceramic tiles are not all white.  They are a mix of off white and tan so that way its not to overwhelming when the sun hits it)

After that, we headed to lunch on the waterfront.  We even fed some seagulls (which are everywhere and reminding me of the finding nemo gulls... MINE....MINE).   Then we toured the Sydney museum.  It had a lot of history about the founding of Sydney and Sydney through the years.    We took a walk through the botanical garden.   We only saw a tiny tiny portion of it as it is huge.  There were a lot of people having lunch and walking as it was a gorgeous day.  To nice not to be out!

(Dad enjoys feeding the wildlife.  the seagull took the french fry right out of his hand)

(This tree was HUGE.  So many interesting places in the botanical gardens)

(Here I am by the tree for perspective)

Finally it was time for our waterfront harbor tour.  There was commentary about all the sights from the harbor and great views.  It was nice, but probably would have been nicer except for there was an american high school group there being obnoxious and very loud.  After the harbor tour we got off at the second harbor and walked to the skytower.  Its this large needle like object that you can look out and see the 360 views.  We also picked up a pair of free pearl earrings (they were trying to sell things but our card got us free ones, so why not?)  The skytower was nice, but everything else was more impressive to be honest.  Then we headed back to our hotel and ate at a seriously good Chinese-korean fusion restaurant.  You know its good when no one in there but you speaks just English lol.

(The boat tour made for some wonderful selfie shots)

(Mom and dad were impressed too!)

(It also made for some postcard-worthy photos of the opera house.  Cec seriously took like 100 just of the opera house)

cecil- I should have taken more! 

(Here is what the harbor looks like, Opera House on the Left, Sydney harbor bridge on the right)

(Skytower views!!)

The next day we started by walking to Darling Harbor and going to the tourist area.   There is  Madam Tussaud's, a zoo and aquarium  all in a row next to each.   Unfortunately, the time listed on the website was WRONG and we arrived 30 minutes to early.  We went to the Guylian chocolate cafe and had some murderously good chocolate items while we waited.   First, was Madam Tussaud's wax museum.  There was much entertainment to be had there.  We had fun messing around taking pictures with the famous wax figures (I mean who doesn't?).  Then we headed to the zoo next.  We caught a talk on Wobats, which cec and I are semi-obsessed with (see the Wombat video HERE).  They are like giant guinea pigs with adorable faces.  The zoo was actually quite impressive.  It was three floors and they had everything from a butterfly house, cassowary pen, kangaroo enclosure, koalas and echidnas.  They also had PLATYPUS.  Which are smaller than expected and 10000x cuter.  We actually caught  a talk on one of the Echidna's (See the Echidna video HERE.).   After that we walked through a giant aquarium. They even have dugongs which look an incredible amount like manatees.  If they didn't have signs with the name "dugong" right be the tank I would say manatee.  They had other great tropical tanks, tanks showing sydney harbors life, as well as the giant walk through tunnels.  Nice place.  

(Here is the triple-tourist threat.  Yea super tourist trap, but still great)

(Cec is so happy to have his chocolate waffle.  It was tooth achingly Delicious)

Cecil- the waffle itself wasn't like a regular waffle, it was quite light, and the vanilla ice cream and the chocolate dipping sauce were pretty dang good) 

(I had a peppermint hot chocolate.  It was great)

(I got to pose with the monarchy lol)

(And president Obama)

(Mom even took over his job!)

(Played basketball with Yoa ming)

(Cec Danced with MJ)

(Did I mentioned how obsessed we are with wombats?  Like seriously they are adorable)

(Great nautilus tank)

(Can you spot the fish in this picture?  He's big and called a "Rock fish")

hint- look at the "rock" on the bottom

(Me with the Manatee....err dugong)

(One of our favorite pictures from the trip.  Soooo pretty)

After all that fun we grabbed lunch at another place on the second harbor.  We got a pitcher of pimms lemonade and enjoyed the views with the buzz.  Even mom likes the pimms lemonades lol.  Then we got on that city bus tour I mentioned.  Regrettably we couldn't take the part out to the beaches because mom and dad had to catch their flight to HAWAII!  Its ok though, because after we helped my parent's to the subway (It was much much cheaper and faster than taking a cab) we hot footed it back to Sydney's main harbor and the opera house.  Cec and I had a Hollywood symphony to catch!  The Sydney opera house has like mind numbingly good acoustics.  There are no microphones anywhere and everything is made to help sound travel.  We were sitting in the nosebleed section and still could hear everything well.  The set started with star wars main theme and it was worth it just for that.  It made my chest shake.  They started with star wars because that was the symphony that really re-popularized the use of symphony in movies.  After that it was all stuff from 1930-1950.  Things like Gone With the Wind, Psycho (seeing all the violins do the shower scene was entertaining).  They even did stuff from the Tom and Jerry the cartoon.  There were two musicians in the percussion section whose job it was just to make the cartoon noises like breaking plates and other cartoon noises.  The theater laughed out loud watching them make the sounds.  Totally worth the money and the time.  

  

(We were so excited to see this.  Especially with Cec's love of soundtracks)

(A very excited selfie in the opera house)

After the show, we were starving so we went to the first place we saw on the waterfront that didn't look packed.  Now it is the off season, like winter, there so why all the people you may ask?  Well a thing called "VIVID" was going on. Quoting wikipidea VIVID is: 

"Vivid Sydney is an annual outdoor lighting festival with immersive light installations and projections in Sydney. Part of the lighting festival also includes performances from local and international musicians and an ideas exchange forum featuring public talks and debates from leading creative thinkers.

This winter event takes place in central Sydney over the course of three weeks in May and June. The centrepiece of Vivid Sydney is the light sculptures, multimedia interactive work and building projections that transform various buildings and landmarks such as the Opera House and Harbour Bridge in and around the Sydney central business district into an outdoor night time canvas of art.^[1]"

We really enjoyed eating dinner while watching the sydney opera house be lit up with animation.  The link for that is HERE, and totally worth the 1 minute.  Its hard to describe what it looks like.  The buildings across the harbor also looked like pain was being poured down them.  There was music and other light displays everywhere.  Had we had more time I would have liked to explore it.  Now we hadn't planned to travel during this festival but it was a really pleasant surprise. 

(A pic of the bridge lit up for VIVID.  Seriously, the video gives an impression of what the opera house looked like.  It was impossible to photograph but somehow the video worked (IDK).  The link for that is HERE again)

 The next morning we took the subway down to the harbor after checking out and storing our bags.  We were about to fly to Brisbane in the evening and we had a zoo to visit!  The Tauranga zoo was across the harbor so we got on a hop on hop off tour boat (included on our pass) to get there.  Unfortunately our nice weather had left us that day and it was cloudy and raining.  The Zoo was nice, but I liked the other one better.  It was awkwardly shaped and hard to navigate.  It was also more like a "regular" zoo with animals from all over, where the other one was all Australian.  There were a few highlights.  Their kangaroo walk though was huge and had like every type of wallabee and kangaroo.  They also had a little blue penguin enclosure (yes, the same ones we fed in Hawk's bay they are in Australia and NZ).  Cecil was wearing a yellow hat and two penguins found it extremely interesting, see the video of cec playing with penguins HERE.  After the zoo we got back on the boat.  WE made a mistake reading the confusing-as-all-get-out time sheet they gave us so we had to ride the boat for like an hour before getting to our location.  We could have gotten on a different boat (apparently they have 2 hop on hop off boats with the same name but 2 different paths) and spent more time in the zoo, but whatever.  The next stop was the Chinese garden of friendship.  A real gem in the middle of the city, see the video HERE.  We walked around and got tea and Chinese sweets (according to the sign) before heading back to the hotel to get our luggage!  We had a plane to catch to brisbane.

(We had to have raingear on as the weather turned south.)

(This Kangaroo may be my spirit animal.  On a side note, he was HUGE)

(This penguin was staring at CEC's yellow hat.  The video I find hilarious, and re-linked here: HERE )

(Chinese garden of friendship is so nice in the city.  Like a peace in the calm)

(the birds liked it here too!)