Category Archives: Australia

Our trip to New Zealand: Cromwell

Posted on October 14, 2014 | 2 comments

Our next stop was Cromwell from Wanaka. It was a lovely drive through wineries to Cromwell.

Cromwell is another historic town that has a history in the 19th century gold rush days. The town is located right on the banks of the Lake Dunstan, where you can enjoy boating, swimming or kayaking. There are plenty of contemporary restaurants, accommodation choices and shops in Cromwell, but the heart of the town is Old Cromwell Town, which is full of restored buildings and even 150-year old miner’s cottages.

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As we were driving, we knew we had reached Cromwell when we saw some giant fruits.

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We stopped there, had coffee and cake, took few photos in front of the giant fruits and drove on to Old Cromwell Town.

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The story is that when Lake Dunstan was being constructed (it is a dam) the locals knew that the original Cromwell was going to be drowned. The citizens of Old Cromwell, knowing the town was going to be drowned decided to move some of the buildings to higher ground.

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Initially, eight buildings were chosen from the old commercial area due to be submerged by the advent of the new hydro lake. These buildings were to be relocated further up the main street to a site above the new lake level – and so began ‘Old Cromwell Town’.

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Now Old Cromwell has a superb cafe called the Grain and Seed café, which serves excellent coffee and homemade food, as well as other shops and art gallery.

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As we walked around the area, we saw a small area of residential dwellings of the 1880’s period and the preserved ruins of some of Cromwell’s original buildings. It was really awesome to see all the old things and imagine how people used to live in those days.

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Some of the things are so old that I had almost forgotten that there existed such old ways of printing newspaper or the manual workings of blacksmith with coal fire and all.

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After enjoying the great place, we headed back to the hotel at Queenstown. We had another big day planned for the following day which involved a trip to Glenorchy. Will be writing about that in my next post.

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Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate  your favorite blog .

Nominations open for NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2014

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Our trip to New Zealand: Wanaka

Posted on October 9, 2014 | 6 comments

While we were in New Zealand, we rented a car and decided to go for a drive. Our first stop was Wanaka.

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Wanaka is a town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated at the southern end of Lake Wanaka, adjacent to the outflow of the lake to the Clutha River. It is the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park.

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Wanaka is just over an hour’s drive from Queenstown and it’s simply stunning. Driving over the hills on he winding mountain route – Crown Range Road – via Cardrona will take you on the steepest gradient on a highway in NZ. It was really scary as the road was zigzag and you could not see anything coming from the other side. I think I would not have gone that way if I had known that the road was so dangerous because to drive on that road , not only do you need to drive carefully but you pray that anyone coming from the other side is awake and careful as well.

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But the drive was worth the trouble as on the top of the hills, we saw snow. We parked the car and it was really windy but we still managed to walk for a while and enjoy the place before running back to the car.

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After that we drove by some beautiful small farms and ended up on the shores of Lake Wanaka at a lakeside cafe and just sat and enjoyed the view.

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Lake Wanaka is not as deep as Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown so it is possible to swim in it during summer without freezing your bits off. There are a number of ways to enjoy the lake with a host of kayaking and boating options available. We just decided to walk around and enjoy the place though before deciding to go for lunch.

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We were not sure what to eat and finally found a nice Korean place where we enjoyed noodle soup and stir-fried chicken.

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After lunch we drove to The Anzac Memorial Cenotaph which is a very short quick drive from town.

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From here we saw the marvellous view beyond the town and straight down the lake.

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We spent some time there and made our way to the Puzzling World.

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Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World is a tourist attraction near Wanaka, New Zealand. It started out as just a single level maze in 1973, but over the years expanded to add overbridges to the maze design (thus creating the world’s first 3-D maze), a large “puzzling café” where guests can try out several puzzles, five large rooms of optical illusions, the Leaning Tower of Wanaka (which has a backwards clock that was started on the eve of the new millennium) and other attractions (such as the Roman Bathrooms) that ascribe to their theme of “puzzling eccentricity”.

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We took some fun photos there. From there we drove to Cromwell, more on it in next post.

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Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate  your favorite blog .

Nominations open for NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2014

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Our Trip to New Zealand : Arrowtown

Posted on September 30, 2014 | 4 comments

One of the days while we were in New Zealand, we went to a small town near Queenstown called Arrowtown.

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From http://www.newzealand.com/au/arrowtown/:

“Arrowtown is a living historic settlement with many stories to tell. Wander the tree-lined streets of restored cottages and explore gold mining sites. One of the most picturesque settlements in New Zealand, Arrowtown sits alongside the gold-bearing Arrow River. The town was established in 1862, during the height of the Otago gold rush. People from all over the world, mainly Europe and China flocked to this town to claim their fortune. The settlement grew quickly as pioneers constructed cottages, shops, hotels and churches, more than 60 of which can still be seen today. “

It was a beautiful drive from Queenstown to Arrowtown, a lot quieter than Queenstown and I personally found it a lot more relaxing.arrowtown (16)

Once we got there, we parked and went for a walk along the river.

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Arrowtown has many easy hikes or walks you can do. We decided to hike the track called Tobin’s track. It is an easy uphill hike, which takes about 1 hour to get to the top. But once up there, you really get unsurpassed views of Arrowtown and the surrounding mountains. From here, we could also see Lake Wakatipu from a distance. We met a few people running or jogging there as well as few tourist who were there just to enjoy the town.

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There is also a fantastic path from Arrowtown to Kawarau Bridge (the home of the Bungy Jump) that follows the Arrow River.

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After the walk, we headed back down to the town. We went to the town centre where they had boutique style shops, an old sweet shop, a hotel that could pass as someone’s house and lots of historic character. It felt like we went back in town time.

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History has been preserved here in a way that you can actually reach out and touch. At the information centre, you can grab a pan and search for gold the exact same way people did it more than a hundred years ago, or walk amidst the restored original buildings and explore the Chinese part of the settlement.

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The town was really pretty and I could have sat there forever with the beautiful mountains in the background with snow on top, it was paradise.arrowtown (2)

On our way back to Queenstown from Arrowtown we drove through many beautiful green farms where sheep, cow and horse were roaming freely. That is the best part of New Zealand, beautiful landscape, greenery and easy drive everywhere.

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Overall, we had a great day and the weather was on our side with the sun shining in the blue-sky the whole day.

More from New Zealand soon.

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate  your favorite blog .

Nominations open for NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2014

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All my bags are packed for New Zealand

Posted on September 5, 2014 | 8 comments

Imagine me doing a happy dance while writing this post. Yes, we have booked another trip. It is not going to be a long trip but still we will be going away for few days to beautiful New Zealand. Next week , this time I will be in the plane going towards my destination.

If you have been reading my posts, I had written about our North Island trip. This time we will be going to South Island. I have been there before and it is really, really beautiful and I can’t wait to enjoy the place with AS. New Zealand is known for its many landscapes, you can be at the beach, the snow, the mountains or the city in a short space of time. You can hop in a car, drive for an hour or two, and feel like you are on a completely different planet.

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It is the start of spring in New Zealand right now so it should be perfect to experience some snow if we are lucky. We will be going around Queenstown and driving along absolutely, breathtakingly, stunning towns and mountains. Queenstown is the epitome of outdoor offerings, solidifying its status as the extreme sports capital of the world.

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Something about holiday and me agrees so much that as soon as the planning stage is started, I have this high endorphin rush in my body making everything nice and happy around me.

I am already dreaming about the green and picturesque New Zealand :). My head will be filled with new memories and my cameras sure will be very busy capturing the beauty.

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I love going to New Zealand as it is just 3-4 hours away from Sydney and I am able to surround myself with beautiful things and beautiful people. The country’s landscapes have left an indelible mark on my memory from my past visits and I know this trip will not disappoint me either.

If you have never been to New Zealand, please look at my photos and posts from past visits and I am sure you will want to be there too.

I am sure I will be updating my blog with our new experience once we are back.

It’s FRIDAY again so have a great weekend everyone and take care.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Our Story : Our first Australian holiday: Brisbane – Part 29

Posted on August 27, 2014 | 2 comments

This is a continuation of my previous posts. Please read the previous posts here.

Our life in Sydney was going smoothly and we were going to different places around Sydney all the time. One long weekend we decide that it would be fun to go out of Sydney and we decided to go to Brisbane.

We booked a serviced apartment that was walkable distance to city. The hotel had the view of the beautiful Brisbane River and Southbank.

After we checked in we went to the Southbank for a stroll. The Southbank, with its lovely location by the Brisbane River, has something for everyone, from endless dining options to free swimming in the man-made lagoons.

As we were walking The Arbour, a kilometre-long walkway awning located in the Parklands, we enjoyed the breeze and the warm day. The Arbour has won multiple awards for its architecture and is comprised of 443 curling, galvanised steel posts that are each clad with vibrant magenta bougainvillea flowers. It also has a ribbon of yellow steel running along it to provide shade and weather protection for its patrons.

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Then we spotted the famous Nepalese Pagoda.

Peace Pagoda (4) Peace Pagoda (1) Peace Pagoda (2)Peace Pagoda (12)As per Wikipedia the Nepalese Pagoda is one of South Bank’s most treasured attractions. Originally brought to Brisbane as the Kingdom of Nepal’s contribution to World Expo 88, the three-story high Pagoda is now located in the heart of the Parklands. It features 80 tonnes of hand-carved Nepalese timber and took more than 160 Nepalese families two years to build. It is also one of only three Nepalese peace pagodas in the world located outside of Nepal.

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We were happy to explore the pagoda as I could see the detailed work the craftsmen had done. They also had a big bell and stone elephant outside the pagoda just like the temples in Kathmandu. It was so peaceful when we sat down inside. There were many other people around admiring the Nepali architecture and it made me so happy. It was a great decision to leave the pagoda there.

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By then we were tired so we decided to have dinner in a nearby café and went back to the hotel to rest.

Peace Pagoda (11)The next morning when we woke up, it was a bit gloomy day and perfect for walking so we decided to go for a walk around the city after breakfast. We started our walk again in Southbank, past the Arbour, the Nepalese pagoda (stopped for a while to take some more pics) to go to The Wheel of Brisbane. The Wheel of Brisbane offers astounding 360-degree panoramic views of South Bank and beyond, all from a comfortable, climate-controlled gondola.

Brisbane (2) Brisbane (3) Brisbane (15) Brisbane (9)From there we kept on walking for almost an hour until on the banks of the river we reached the Story Bridge. There were people who were climbing the bridge and it looked fun. By then, we had been walking more than an hour and both of us were tired and so we rested in the park.

Brisbane (8) Brisbane (17) Brisbane (7)We decided we should go to the CBD to have dinner and to shop around. I was a fun day and we had a great time exploring the city and enjoying different food.

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The following day we decided that it would be good for us to take a train to the Gold Coast for some more fun. The Gold Coast is a coastal city in southeaster Queensland on the east coast of Australia. The city is 94 kilometres south of Brisbane.

Unfortunately from the time we reached Gold Coast till the time we left it was raining. I wanted AS to enjoy the Dream world, SeaWorld and Wet and Wild but due to the weather we decided to leave that for another time. Instead, we went for a walk along the beach and explored the vibrant shopping malls. I loved the environment they have there. We also ended doing some shopping before we came back to Brisbane.

The following day we had our flight back to Sydney so we just relax in the morning enjoying the views and eating some amazing food.

Brisbane (4) Brisbane (1)The holiday was as perfect as it could be and it was as I had always imagined. Having a partner with you and not in some city half way around the world made a great difference because this time we caught the same plane to the same destination unlike many times before.

More in the next post. Till then take care everyone.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Go to Part 30

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