New Zealand: Hanmer Springs

Photo gallery: Hanmer Springs

Our almost last stop on the South Island was Hanmer Springs, a year round holiday destination offering a variety of outdoor activities, many times awarded spas and great cafes.

There we went for one of scenic bush walks that led us to a top of a mountain from where a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside was magnificent.

That day we also spotted something unbelievable in this part of the world – a legendary Czech car Skoda 120L! We pursued it for several minutes but then the driver noticed us and seemed not to like it at all :).

New Zealand: Larnach Castle Gardens

Photo gallery: Larnach Castle Gardens

Welcome to the flower stroll!

You’ll see several carefully selected macro photographs from the gardens of Larnach Castle. We spent there more than one hour and really enjoyed taking pictures.

New Zealand: Dunedin - Cadbury - Larnach Castle

Photo gallery: Dunedin - Cadbury - Larnach Castle

From the west shore of the South island we straightaway moved to the opposite one, specifically to the town of Dunedin.

We have very sweet experience from there thanks to a fascinating guided tour around the Cadbury Dunedin chocolate factory accompanied by tasting Cadbury products along the way :).

We also explored Larnach Castle, the only castle in New Zealand (btw Australia has none). It was built in 1871 and is still privately owned. Instead of an interior tour we spent more than one hour in a glorious botanic garden adjacent to the castle. There we took many macro-photos, so I decided to place them into another photo gallery. We were thinking about staying in the castle overnight, but after all a camp fitted into our budget better :).

At the end of the photo gallery you can find several photos of aboriginal Maori people and their culture.

New Zealand: Milford Sound

Photo gallery: Milford Sound

Another part of our NZ’s holiday led to Fiordland. Milford Sound is one of NZ’s biggest tourist attractions.

We decided to visit the fjord on a boat. If there was sunshine we could catch a reflection of these peaks in the water. But unfortunately, downpour of water is almost guaranteed in this area, so we could admire just parts of high hills sticked out from the clouds.

Anyway, several hundred meters high cliffs grown up right away from the water was really amazing. The cliffs were adorned with many long waterfalls and funny seals together with incredibly low fog :).

New Zealand: Queenstown - Lake Wakatipu

Photo gallery: Queenstown - Lake Wakatipu

We spent an entire day on the way through the Queenstown region. Thanks to very good weather we could enjoy magnificent mountains rising up to the sky from fascinating blue lakes. We were stopping unusually many times just to take pictures, we couldn’t miss anything!

Although Queenstown is quite small, it is a centre of this region and its mountains are famous for excellent skiing conditions. We liked the town a lot due to many nice small streets fringed by pubs, cafes, boutiques and neighbouring scenery as well. We consider it to be the most beautiful town we have seen in NZ, maybe because it’s very similar to Alpine’s villages.

Then we continued along large Lake Wakatipu to the West. With a length of 80 kilometres, it is New Zealand's longest lake (and third largest). It is at an altitude of 310 metres.

Living on Bondi Beach - Summer 2006/07

Photo gallery: Living on Bondi Beach - Summer 2006/07

I published several photos from Bondi Beach that were taken during the summer.

Olympic Australia Tour 2007

Photo gallery: Olympic Australia Tour 2007

Here are several shots from the concert of the Czech legendary rock band in Sydney.

New Zealand: Franz Josef Glacier & Fox Glacier - Lake Matheson - Lake Wanaka

Photo gallery: Franz Josef Glacier & Fox Glacier - Lake Matheson - Lake Wanaka

During travelling to the south we passed by two magnificent glaciers: Franz Josef Glacier (12 km long) and Fox Glacier.

The weather was pretty bad that time so we moved on to the Lake Matheson, which is a great place well-known for the reflections of Mt. Cook on its surface. We managed to walk around it but instead of the highest mountain in NZ we saw cloudy sky.

Another part of our journey led around Lake Hawea to Lake Wanaka where we stayed overnight in our lovely tent again :)

New Zealand: Wellington - Picton - Nelson - Hokitika

Photo gallery: Wellington - Picton - Nelson - Hokitika

Several first pictures were taken in the amazingly green and formed country in the south of the North Island. We drove through it to Wellington to catch an early morning ferry to the South Island. After we arrived in Picton we drove to the town of Nelson and further inland to stay overnight in a campsite by two charming lakes in St. Arnautts.

The next day we reached the west cost and continued to the south. We visited Hokitika, a small town famous for its traditional source of Jade (also known as Nephrite, Greenstone, and Pounamua). There we found many artisans carving Jade into contemporary carvings of traditional NZ designs, modern designs or simple, beautiful jewels.

We also visited interesting Glow Worm Dell. Glow-worm is a common name for various different groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. Simply, when you go to the dell you can see only small shinning dots in the dark :)

BBQ on Bondi Beach

Photo gallery: BBQ on Bondi Beach

I added several shots from a BBQ organized by me and Lenca.

New Zealand: Tongariro Crossing Track

Photo gallery: Tongariro Crossing Track

We spent one day in Tongariro National Park which is rich in cultural identity and has a dramatic scenery. It was granted dual World Heritage status, for its outstanding natural features and the cultural importance the peaks and rivers represent to the local Maori.

We made the 17 km long and 8 hours lasting Tongariro Crossing Track which spans the length of Mt Tongariro via two craters and several lakes. It was our most difficult trek in New Zealand but it a was challenge :). Finally it was an adventure and an unforgettable experience!

Tongariro Crossing is rated as the best one day trek in New Zealand and listed by many in the top 10 day treks in the world.

Queen Mary 2 & Queen Elizabeth 2 in Sydney

Photo gallery: Queen Mary 2

Sydney Harbour had never seen anything quite like it - the world's largest ocean liner Queen Mary 2 and her sister ship Queen Elizabeth 2 close behind! These two grand dames caused chaos in the city:

• there were crowds of people coming to have a look during the whole day,
• others in cars on all the main roads (in all lanes!) were stopping to watch QM2 so there was a critical traffic jam for the whole day,
• buses, trains and ferries had major delays,
  
• many commuters watching crafts in the evening spent up to 2 hours more on the way home than usual and some of them couldn't get home at all (they couldn't fit into regular means of transport,
• several helicopters were flying among the tall buildings in the city

QM2 and QE2 stayed in the city for almost one day. There was a spectacular firework as a celebration that many people considered to be even much better than the NEY's one!

There are some amazing facts about Queen Mary 2:

• Length: 345 metres
• Beam: 40.5 metres
• Height (Keel to Funnel): 71 metres
• Guest Capacity: 2592 lower berths, 3056 maximum capacity
• Crew: 1253

There are some comparisons of Queen Mary 2:

• QM2 is 147 feet longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall,
• QM2 is more than 3 times as long as Westminster Tower (Big Ben) is high,
• QM2 is only 117 feet shorter than the Empire State Building is tall,
• QM2 is as long as 41 double-decker London buses,
• QM2's whistle is audible for 16 kilometres.

New Zealand: Waimangu - Huka Falls - Taupo

Photo gallery: Waimangu - Huka Falls - Taupo

Early morning we went to Waimangu Volcanic Valley for a spectacular half-day trip including a hiking trail along a crater. The valley is made up by seven craters formed during eruption in 1886 (this is the world's newest geothermal eco-system). We walked around the craters and explored volcanic lakes, thermal springs, old soil layers and many other interests of the local flora and fauna.

During the journey to Taupo we visited Huka Falls, the largest falls on the Waikato River. The river, normally up to 100 metres wide, abruptly narrows to just 15 metres as it crosses a hard volcanic ledge. The impressive view of the "chute" with 220,000 litres of water per second is enhanced with incredible blue and green pool under the falls. The water is really clear like a crystal!

At the end of the day we spent several relaxing hours in the Taupo Hot Springs Spa where we played around in 35-41°C hot thermal pools as well as many times slid down the Giant Dragon Waterslide :)

In the evening we built up our tent in a camp in the highland near Lake Taupo.

New Zealand: Auckland - Bay of Islands - Rotorua

Photo gallery: Auckland - Bay of Islands - Rotorua

Our fourth night trip to New Zealand started on the North island.

We arrived to Auckland (from Sydney) in the evening having time just to visit the Sky Tower with spectacular 360 degree view from a staggering 220 metres above the city. Next morning we hired a car and drove several hundreds kms to the north.

Bay of Islands is one of NZ's most worthy attraction, punctuated by dozens of coves and filled with clear waters ranging in hue from turquoise to deep blue. There is an enormous historical heritage there as it was the first place of English settlement. This region has a long and proud Maori history and today has one of the country's highest percentage of Maori. It was the most northern place we have been to.

We visited Waitangi Treaty Ground with many features of Maori culture. It was there in 1840, that the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between Maori and the British Crown. We spent a night in Paihia, the hub of the Bay of Islands.

Next day we moved to the south, to 500 km distant Rotorua. Here we got a taste of NZ's most dynamic thermal area with spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mug pools all together with the strong impact of Maori culture.

We couldn't resist to visit one of several local spas, so finally we spent a great evening in Polynesian Spa including twenty seven hot mineral pools (this spa was voted as one of the top ten spas in the world in 2004, 2005 and 2006). The outside 39 - 42 degrees Celsius hot mineral pools are just on the shore of the Lake Rotorua - it was simply fascinating!

The Magic World of Czech Illustrators for Children

Photo gallery: The Magic World of Czech Illustrators for Children

The special exhibition has recently taken place in Sydney… Even in the Czech Republic I’d never seen a similar thing :). Almost each of these illustrators is world known and has won many international awards.

On one spot we saw the most popular pictures from fairytales by such names as:

• Adolf Born (e.g. Max and Sally, Puss in Boots, Pipi Longstocking),
• Karel Franta (e.g. Punch in Hell),
• Stanislav Holy (e.g. Mister Pip’s Walk),
• Vladimir Jiranek (e.g. Bob and Bobbek: Rabbits from the Hat),
• Josef Lada (e.g. K.J.Erben’s Fairytales),
• Zdenek Miller (e.g. The Mole),
• Radek Pilar (e.g. Rumcajs),
• Odrej Sekora (e.g. Book of Ferda The Ant),
• Zdenek Smetana (e.g. Stories of the Stump Cottage),
• Jiri Trnka (e.g. Arabian Nights),
• Helena Zmatlikova (e.g. Jenicek and Marenka), and much more.

The translated titles of fairytales are so funny, aren’t they? So sit down comfortably and go back to your childhood…

NYE 2006 in Sydney

Photo gallery: NYE 2006

The New Year's Eve in Sydney was spectacular!

During the day we went to the beach from where we moved to a club (made in an old English style) in the afternoon. Then we visited our good friends and late after midnight we went for a walk to the beach where a huge dance party had been on. Unfortunately we were too tired to start dancing :)

There were two fireworks - a "family" one at 9pm and a bigger one at midnight. We watched it from a hill several km from the city - a marvelous show! It included 7 main firing locations placed around the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Thanks to our location we could see most of them.

There was about one million spectators celebrating in the city. Crowd of people began to arrive early in the morning to gather around popular spots to watch the fireworks.


Several interesting facts about the fireworks and bridge effect:

• Approximately 11,000 shells, 10,000 shooting comets, and a total of 100,000 individual
• pyrotechnic effects.
• More than 60,000 metres of wires and cables.
• Equates to 91,000 kg of equipment.
• In excess of 3,000kg of explosive devices.
• 6,000 hours of design and preparation by the crew of 35.
• Fully digitally launched, requiring 12 computers.

The organizer said, that the Sydney NYE fireworks display was regarded as the largest and most technologically advanced annual fireworks display on the planet.

Christmas time in Jervis Bay

Photo gallery: Jervis Bay

We spent the Christmas time in Jervis Bay that is about 200 km south from Sydney.

Jervis Bay is a serene beautiful stretch of coastline full of beaches, bushes, lakes, cliffs, forests and little villages. We have been to many of these places and met interesting animals in the nature.

We stayed a couple of nights in a camp in Booderee National Park where kangaroos, parrots, possumes and many other animals lived around us.

Among others we explored the Hyams Beach with the whitest sand in the world o), and an aboriginal village as well.

We spent the Christmas Eve on the beach next to our camp, where a group of dolphins appeared and started playing just twenty meters far from us. A simply exciting show!

So that was really unusual Christmas :).

Kiama and surrounding

Photo gallery: Kiama and surrounding

We spent Christmas on a trip to Jervis Bay driving through several small towns and along spectacular beaches. We also saw vast green highlands very similar to the Czech landscape. All these destinations are about 150 km south from Sydney.

Kiama is a pretty seaside town famous for its blowhole that can spout up to 60 meters high. Very impressive!

Berry is a small town with countless numbers of coffee shops. We had to stop and taste some of local goody :)

Seven Mile Beach is a beach more than 11 km long!

Unless we saw many "sitting Santa Clauses" on buildings we wouldn't know it was a Christmas time.

Xmas

Photo gallery: Xmas

There are several photos from sunny Christmas Sydney.

Enjoy the Christmas time!

Palm Beach

Photo gallery: Palm Beach

The Palm Beach is the northernmost of Sydney's beach suburbs, about 40 kilometres from city center. It's considered a "trendy" suburb and boasts some spectacular homes as well as it's popular thanks to great surf conditions.

In my opinion this is one of the best beaches in Sydney.