Friends tour Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti

Feb 27, 2007 05:02:27

Ann Parish and Belle Harris recently returned from a monthlong trip to New Zealand, Australia and Tahiti. While much of the trip was by motor coach, the women tried out several other modes of transportation. Starting in New Zealand, they sailed in Auckland Harbor, rowed under the glowworms at Waitomo Caves, walked among the sheep at the Agrodome, rode luges and a sky gondola in Queenstown and took a train from the New Zealand west coast over to Christchurch. On Christmas Day, the Midlanders flew from New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia. They took a bus to Phillip Island to see the Fairy penguins, ate lunch on a Victorian tram, rode a camel in Alice Springs and took a huge catamaran out to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel. In addition, they went by train up into the rain forest to see kangaroos, butterflies and koalas, rode an Army duck (an amphibious motor vehicle used during World War II) through the forest and into a pond, took another sky gondola over the top of the rain forest, and celebrated New Year's Eve in Cairns. In Sydney, they climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and toured the Opera House. Ann and Belle stopped in French Polynesia (Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora) on the way home -- snorkeling and paddling a sea kayak. Upon her return to Midland, Ann had dinner with Joyce and Joe Baressi and Jan and Roger Artley to share pictures and travel advice with the couples, who have planned a trip to many of the same places.