Oliver and the kiwi (fruit, that is)

We were driving through the beautiful scenery of the South Island when I realized it was a little too quiet in the back seat. Glancing back, I found Oliver beaming at me with a kiwi fruit in hand and mouth. He had managed to smash it to bits and it was all over his face and clothes. He was so happy, there was nothing to do but laugh along with him.

Oliver loves to grub...

get dirty, eat sand, and otherwise put anything in his mouth.

Australia - WA and the NT

The next part of our journey was a four and a half week road trip from Perth in WA, travelling up the West coast to Broome and Darwin. All told, we spent 7,000 kilometers in a VW camper van, a tent and one hotel. The following are things we saw along the way.

THE DRIVE

Although the roadside scenery seemed pretty similar all the way up the coast, it subtly changed from place to place... the color of the soil/sand, types of scrub and trees, termite mounds, etc. All of this is the Australian outback and it is beautiful.

TERMITE MOUNDS

All over the west coast were these massive termite mounds of all different shapes, sizes and colors. Huge things, designed to maintain internal temps during both day and night and able to withstand the frequent bush fires that roll through.

ROAD TRAINS

Road trains are essentially freight trains on the road, big tractor-trailers with two, three or four trailers as opposed to the singles you might see in the US. They put 18-wheelers to shame. One of the longer ones I saw had 90 wheels. They drive all day and night and don’t stop for anything so there are frequent encounters with local wildlife and livestock. To prevent any damage to the vehicles, they install huge bumper guards in front of the grill, and screens in front of the windshields. They push enormous amounts of air in front of them (like a train in a tunnel) so there’s a pronounced shudder when you pass one on the highway. Best thing to do is to slow down and edge as far away as possible without running off the road yourself.

This tandem parked next to us at a roadhouse on the way to Kununarra. Note the chink in the armor of the truck on the left.

This one had lots of wheels.

New Zealand - Auckland

After two weeks on the South Island, we headed up to the North Island to see Auckland and its environs. A bit weary of driving, we stayed local and walked our way around the surrounding neighborhoods, took a ferry across to a nearby volcano, and drove out to the western beaches. Here's a bit of what we saw.


These two shots are more from the S.I., just driving through more scenery.