New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii with Kym
During Sep 28 through Nov 27, 1987 we took a trip to Hawaii (4
days), Australia (3 weeks) and New Zealand (5 weeks), here are
Betsy's trip notes.
9-26 Sat. Bus to Chicago - scenic route to Ohare. San Francisco
packed, terrible. Talked with Sue & Pat. Qantas to Hawaii,
excellent flight. Wined and dined free. Royal Grove #606 a/c pool
two and a half blocks to the beach.
9-27 Sun. Jet lagged to the max, Waikiki Beach. Naps. Safeway trip.
"brown house".
9-28 Mon. Bus to Hanauma Bay. Gorgeous, Diamond Head snorkeling and
fish. Circle trip.
9-29 Tue. Hula show no go. Aquarium nix. Parks, okay, junk laying
around. Rick AWOL
9-30 Wed. Botannical Garden. Kym played in the Banyon Tree forever.
Chinatown with market. Ate with chopsticks. Ala Moana Mall. Swung
with a little girl and her Mom and sang Christmas carols. Slept and
bussed to Honalulu Intl. Airport with hula girl (Kym wearing pink
t-shirt with hula girl on it).
10-1/2 Good flight to Sydney. Little rocky. Kym angel, star of the
trip, she slept most of the way. Noisy, obnoxious Texans. Nine and
1/2 hour trip. Arrive Sydney tired and crabby. Five hour layover,
one hour flight to Melbourne. Plane full, lots of kids, Kym wild.
Bus hotel search disaster. Pommes Hotel. Vic $65 Lygon St. - mod
squad. Tiana's Coffee Shop - cool with good, cheap Italian food.
Crash to the max, Kym and Rick.
10-3 Sat. St. Kilda and Geraldine. City gate, park and Blesington
St. gardens. Lovely old Victorian English homes with gardens. Beach
- warm. Fresh prawn dinner.
10-4 Sun. Windy and cold - rain. Betsy sick. Rick downtown museum
with Kym.
10-5 Mon. Park. Penguins. Damn Cheap Car Rental. Rick foot in mouth
about how far we were going to drive with rental. Drive to Phillip
Island. Nice drive. Watch the Fairy Penguins come onto the beach
from the ocean. They waddled up on the beach and share rabbit holes
in the sand with the local bunnies. Kym wild and greasy fish and
chips.
10-6 Tue. Downtown, Obnoxious George (restaurant) with good food.
Missed bus, Rick mad. Back to St. Kilda. K & B to museum
bathroom three times in one and 1/2 hours. Home to prawns. Train
strike (10-5/10-6) Australian TV - blood and guts first, then
sports, then finally the news, and then society news.
10-7 Wed. Park. Train - yay! Jan and Adam (with red hair) and Carly
(from Hobart, Tasmania). Kym and Adam played. Kym hit head and
slept. Bus from Wodony to Canberra. Bus trip was awful, Kym puked
two times. Karate kid on the bus TV. Betsy puked once. Exhausted.
Carotel, eight bunk beds in our room. Clean $30. Smoky heater.
Quilt - giraffe.
10-8 Thu. Climb fence to catch the bus. Do laundry. Ate like pigs -
honey and peanut butter and marmalade and Vegamite. Bus to town,
long long walk over a hill. Brightly colored little birds (like
little parrots) would fly up when you walked by. Good ice cream.
Water squirt ?? National Gallery - ran through Aussie art. Foreign
Affairs Monument. Merry-go-round. Lunch - pigged out. Bussed to
Carotel, slept.
10-9 Fri. Long walk in cold early AM to bus. Train to Sydney,
Amanda COA L.A. man. Sydney train station with balloons for
railroad week. Kings Cross - Red Light District. "Poor little
mate". Kym's pinched finger in elevator door. Botanical gardens and
rocks. 
10-10 Sat Zoo and Kym slept at the zoo. Emu, echinas. Bondi Beach,
Kym had a riot. Italian dinner, back home and Rick goes out. Kiwi
in gay bar and lots of Swedes.
10-11 Sun. Manley- puppeteers, playground, beach like Mackinaw
City. Deep well. Slept on train to Brisbane that night.
10-12 Mon. Heather. Kym fever. Doctor at beautiful train station.
Elizebeth Hotel with George (little boy), grocery shopping. Fever
that night with cough.
10-13 Tue. Lone Pine Santuary. Koalas - not drunk. Kangaroo's and
Kym-aroo's, mulberry bush. Kym sicker with constant fever at night
of 104 degrees F. Cowboys in Australia are Jackaroos and cowgirls
are jillaroos.
10-14 Wed. Doctor Leithan - Kym with bronchitis - get's Amoxil. Kym
sick and crying. Slept for 3 hours that day. Fever gone by dinner.
Cold wet rainy weather.
10-15 Thu. Train to Maryborough. Big disappointment. Wet and cold.
Lunch, wandered around town for hours. Chinese dinner, slept in
womans lounge from 8PM to midnight. Roaches everywhere, Kym still
sick. Train to Rockhampton.
10-16 Fri. Sunny. Kym has terrible tantrum on walk to motel,
throwing herself down in the dirt. "CARRY ME! CARRY ME! I CAN'T
WALK!" Downtown mall with playgrounds and buskers. Laundry.
Simpson's. Hitched a ride with an electrician to the beach. Nice
beach. Dinner, Italian take-away. Downpour at night, first rain in
five months.
10-17 Sat. Early AM monsoon. Bus to Yeppoon. Beach and played.
Rocky Bully. Dinner and playground. Rick to bar after dinner, drank
with a racist. Rain to Mackay at 4AM.
10-18 Sun. Arrived in Mackay - slept. Hot, hitchhiked to beach with
guy who was out all night. He was coming home from the bars at 10AM
and afraid to go home to his wife. Playground fantastic. Beach,
speedboat, ice cream. Talk with Greg - corvette and muscle cars and
Montana.
10-19 Mon. Bus to Kohuna Resort. Beach, lazed around the pool.
Lunch.
10-20 Tue. 4AM train to Townsville. Midnite stroll to train, slept
on train and arrived at noon. Downtown. Ferry to Magnetic Is. to
Yolang. Tropical barnyard. First felt Chris move (4 months
pregnant).
10-21 Wed. Gorgeous beach. Met Frank, Jane, Samantha, and Tim
Dowling. Box jellyfish. Bus to Nelly Bay. Air conditioned old girl.
Went with Dowlings to Florence Bay, Radical Bay for drinks.
10-22 Thu. Left on noon ferry after walk. Even longer, hotter walk
to hotel. Playground with train. Pool. Downtown and had a nice
dinner. Kym put a knife in her eye but okay.
10-23 Fri. AM flight to Auckland. Good flight service. Kym sick at
very end "little bloke got sick" so they wisked us through customs.
Free champagne. Bus one hour to downtown - city tour. Looked for
hotel - Shakespeare Tavern - Aachen House B & B. Tiny room,
crashed.
10-24 Sat. Bowling Green, big breakfast. Victoria Market. Dinner
10-25 Sun. Motat - Kym and Rick enjoyed Auckland Chinese take-away.
Cheap ice cream at dairy.
10-26 Mon. Rick picked up camper. Guests: Carly, Peter, Jill and
friends, husband, John and wife, George from Scotland, Jean and
Don. Rick took forever, K & B took a long walk. Rick and van
arrive after four hours of waiting. Yay! Nice drive to Orewa. Ocean
with beach, traffic all in the opposite direction. Strawberries.
Walk on beach, nice camp.
10-27 Tue. Laundry - shopping, playground. Whangarei, Kym's first
trampoline. Fish, good.
10-28 Wed. Shopping in Whangarei - Chinese clothes - Falls lunch.
Drove to Pahia in the rain. Dead resort town. Panorama Rosort.
Rain. Trampoline with Kym.
10-29 Thu. Went to Waitangi. Keaty House. Canoe house. Kari-kari
citrus orchard, tangelos. Doubtless Bay, Kym loved it - disecting
jelly fish with Dad. Talked with fisherman. Gave Kym a bath
outside. Drove to Whangarei, public park. German girl with hearing
aide X 2.
10-30 Fri. Drove to Auckland. Lunch at University Club! Stayed at
barnyard trailer court with goat, talking bird, cows in pool. Kym
loved it.
10-31 Sat. Went to Rotorua, stopped a lot. Picnic lunch. with
spaghetti at the Glades. Stayed at Blue Lake. Witches Hat.
11-1 Sun. Went to Rotorua. Bike ride, black swans, hot springs,
sulphur in the air. Tour through hot spring site with Maori stuff.
Craft fair X2. Nice park with pool. Kym splashed then crashed at
Blue Lake again.
11-2 Mon. Blue Lake to Lake Tawo for lunch at park, picnic. Lake
Tawo looks like Lake Tahoe. Drive around lake, then desolate drive
to Tongaroro National Park. Camped at base of Mt. Ruapchu. Old
hotel. Walk up mountain, Kym ran, singing "I will take the low
road". Cold night. Made no-bake cookies.
11-2 (rick) Shopoing in Rotorua, slow drive to chalet, stop in
Taupo - nice park with view of Lake Taupo. Walking tour of Taupo,
window shopping.
11-3 Tue. Drove over hilly, curvey, lumber roads to West coast.
Highway 30. Free camped on beautiful black sand beach Pukearuhe,
north of New Plymouth. White Cliff Walkway and sheep. Family
fishing.
11-4 Wed. Caused a commotion at the Mimi School with picture. Rain
in New Plymouth. Dirty kids in park. Downtown, beautiful botanical
garden with play area, tea house, red Chinese bridges, azaleas,
rhododendron. Lacey and Cecily, Emma and Lee. Camped at Opunake on
beach with California couple. Tarnaki vanished behind clouds.
11-5 Thu. Some views of Mt. Egmont in AM. Stopped at Hawera - busy
place - Wanganui with "best kids park in the world", camped on
beach at Turkakina.
11-6 Fri. AM flat tire. Rick fixed it like a pro. Shopped in Levin
then to Wellington to Newmans for new spare. Walked around town,
stayed in parking lot in Lower Hutt for $22.50. Outrageous price.
Clean facilities though and a trampoline as always.
11-7 Sat. Up at 6AM to queue on standby for ferry. No sweat.
Beautiful trip, 3 hours long. Kym in playground on ship. Land and
play at Picton. Met some South Africans in a road race. Queen
Charlotte Drive - the best! From Picton to Havelock. Tea rooms.
Camped free at Pelons Bridge. River and swinging bridge. Outward
bound swimmers. Boys brigade. The birthday boys.
11-8 Sun. Rainy ride to Nelson, morning tea (pancake) at Chez Ellco
- poke around town on this sleepy, Sunday. Then out to Maitai River
Camp (bus park) to laze around in the rain. Make chocolate cookies
with Kym. Kym on trampoline. Rain all night.
11-9 Mon. Nelson booming on Mondays, buy scallops, tarakihi.
Marathon drive in rain, late lunch, stayed on road side south of
Greymouth.
11-10 Tue. To Holitika. Shop, lunch (mussell soup) to Manapua Lake
with steamer, playground. Water at bar with slain cat. Kym swam
twice. English couple.
11-11 Wed. Kym played in playgound. Rainy ride to Fraz Joseph,
walked half way to glacier (Kym too heavy). To motor park, rain,
rain.
11-12 Thu. Rainy ride to Fox Glacier. Sun came out! Walked to
glacier - big. Lake Matheson for lunch, camped on beach with
Canadian year long traveling family. Jade and big waves on beach.
Lots of sand flies then mosquitoes - got into van.
11-13 Fri. Rainy morning, over Haas Pass. Talked to road
construction cheif with weathered face. Beautiful drive, between
two lakes, shepherd on road, lunch at Wanaka. Kym played with
locals. Stopped at garden rest stop, Kym miming. Then Queenstown --
$8.80/2, no charge for Kym. Nice view of lake and mountains. At bar
for one - Brit, Ausie, Alaskan bartender who hates U.S. and Aus.
11-14 Sat. Laundry. Crankton Arm, walk. Kym on trampoline. Shopping
in touristy Queenstown to Te Anau and very nice camp on Te Anau.
11-15 Sun. Cold, hot-cocoa morning - off to Milford Sound. Kym gets
car sick. Beautiful blue-sky drive, prehistoric tunnel. Lovely
cruise around Milford Sound. Afternoon interlude then back to lake
Te Anau just north of yesterday.
11-16 Mon. Morning playground and ice cream in Te Anau, cloudy for
lunch, nice drive to Riverton, old English couple, Vancouver pair -
very windy and cold antartic air.
11-17 Tue. To Invercargil. Park - magnificent! Get fish and cookie
mix, to Papatowai - Department of Conservation camp - nice. English
pair again. No oven.
11-18 Wed. Bye to English . Rustic playground with adult
teeter-totter, walk to falls. To Balclutha, Kym went to toddlers
kindergarden, nice time! Taieri mouth via spectacular road to free
camp south of Bruces Rocks - windy, very nice.
11-19 Thur. Calm nice morning beach combing at rocks. Dunedin -
walk, water show, library, info. Tour Otago Penisula and seals at
end of Pilots Beach, to Larnach Castle, stable, garden, peacocks,
organ, free laundry, great kitchen and view therefrom, cookies.
11-20 Fri. Betsy toured castle, Dunedin shopping and botanical
gardens and drove to Katiki Beach.
11-21 Sat. Kym played, played, played on beach. Moercki Boulders.
Oamaru Park with pools and peacocks. Met Wojtek and Hannah -
invited to tea at 3PM, very enjoyable time with Wojtek and Cecilie,
all went out to eat at Chinese restaurant. Wojtek - veternarian
from Poland via Uganda. Cecilie - CPA-like from Poland who loved
Reaganomics. Kym going strong last night camp at Oamaru AA camp,
Ore.
11-22 Sun. Playground again. Good-bye to Oamaru. Gardens at Timaru.
Chips and fish (flounder) and ice cream. Pick your own
strawberries. Ashburton Camp at Rakaic River mouth - gravel pit.
11-23 Mon.
11-24 Tue.
11-25 Wed. Fly from Christchurch to Sydney.
11-26 Thu. Fly from Sydney to San Francisco.
11-27 Fri. FLy from San Francisco to Chicago O'Hare.