Murray River...well, it was fine for about 1 day, but then it got to be like driving through Saskatchewan for 4 days...boring!!!  Arrived in Canberra, capital of OZ, and toured around the parliament buildings, war memorial (beautiful) and gardens.  We had great accomadations here and warm weather.  From here we travelled east to the ocean and Jervis Bay.  Spent 2 nights here at a small hotel, where the owner Garry gave us lots of ideas for things to see.  We enjoyed our stay here as it was less driving around and more relaxing.  From here we drove north on the coast through Kiama which is a beautiful port town...beautiful harbour and a "blowhole", which was fairly active when we went through.  Then we headed in land to the Blue Mountains and stayed our first night at a guesthouse that we had booked on line and it was badddddddddd!!!  We checked out and found a great motel that we stayed in for 2 nights.  This area is beautiful...the gorge is like the Grand Canyon except it is fully treed.  We did some hiking in this area and it was great.  Then we headed into Sydney for 2 nights, which most people will tell you is not long enough, but we got a good feel for the city.  The harbour is gorgeous, we took a ferry to Manly Bay which was amazing....gorgeous beach, surfing contest on the day we were there and it was loaded with people, but still enjoyed it.  We spent 2 days, 6-7 hours each day, touring around, so needless to say we got our exercise and with the weather being around 28 and humid, we were like dishrags at the end of the day.  Now we are heading north on the coast and will probably stop in Port Macquarie today and plant ourselves for a couple of days.  We have a timeshare booked in Coffs Harbour starting Feb 24th for a week and then another timeshare in Surfers Paradise for another week after that.  We are really looking forward to that...spending some beach time. 

So far so good...I am loving OZ.  The people are very friendly and the weather is warmer, which makes it more pleasant for touring around.  We stayed right downtown Melbourne, right in the middle of the action, which was great.  Merlbourne is a city with lots of character in their old buildings, chinatown, markets and parks.  Had some great Thai food there as well.  Then we travelled down the Great Ocean Road which was beautiful, with a rugged coastline and lots of quaint towns along the way.  We spent sometime in Adelaide...really enjoyed the Glenelg suburb, where the beaches were beautiful and some gorgeous hotels along the coastline.  We are now travelling down the Murray River, which reminds me of the Mississippi River in New Orleans, slow moving and brown.  We have seen lots of koala's (adorable), emus and kangaroos....I have more kangaroo pictures than you will want to see!!!

" I " enjoyed NZ...the country is very green and lush, and the people are wonderful.  I enjoyed the South Island more than the North, although we drove to the very north tip of the north island to Ninety Mile beach and the drive along the coast was beautiful and Ninety Mile beach was incredible.  Enjoyed Napier, Gisborne, Rotorua (didn't smell the day we were there) and the Coromandel area.  We started on the South Island in Christchurch and it was eye opening to see the destruction wreaked by the earthquakes.  It is a testament to the character of the people who are still living there, as there are aftershocks almost everyday.  We woke up in the middle of the night twice because the earth was moving...lol.  We moved onto the Nelson area where we spent a day hiking in the Abel Tasman Nat'l Park, which was gorgeous...right along the coast, along beautiful beaches and blue, blue water of the Tasman Sea.  Then the drive from Westport to Greymouth was the most beautiful drive on the island.  Rugged coastline with the pancake rock formations and blowwholes.  We rolled in to Queenstown in a torrential downpour, but the next day it cleared up and we were able to tour the town, which reminded me a bit of Banff, that kind of atmosphere.  From there on to Milford Sound which was beautiful.  We had a gorgeous day and because of the rain the day before, there were all kind of waterfalls on the rock faces.  We also had a gorgeous day when we drove by Mt. Cook and we could see it clearly in all it's glory.  On to Dunedin, which had a lot of historic buildings, which I love.  Then back to Christchurch to fly to Australia.  
On the negative side, we experienced cooler and wetter than normal weather, which was a bit disappointing.  And it is expensive...they charge you for everything.  I think if they could charge you to breathe the air they would!!!  I think that is what frustrated Glen the most about NZ...and you know when you hit Glen hard in his pocketbook he doesn't react well....lol!!!!!