For nearly three weeks Kyle Emard and I were in New Zealand and Australia. I flew nonstop from Los Angeles to Auckland in New Zealand (about 11 hours) on Qantas Airways (747-400 jet) and the trip was really very long and tiring but I managed to sleep some of the way since it was an overnight flight. After arriving to Auckland I took the shuttle bus to downtown Auckland where I checked in at the hostel. I did not plan to stay at the hostel (Auckland City Hostel, 18 Liverpool Street in downtown Auckland at email: yhaauck@yha.org.nz but at the urging of Kyle I decided to give it a try and we made the right decision to stay at a hostel which was very nice and clean. It was very cheap and we had our own private bedroom but the bathroom was down the hall which was not bad. It was clean and I realized that staying at hostels would save you alot of money if you travel for a very long time. For more information about hostels, you can go to www.hiusa.org and become a member before you can book room reservations.

I arrived two days before Kyle came to meet me as he had to attend classes at Gallaudet University. After a long jet flight and a nap at my hostel, I met a wonderful deaf guide, Sara of New Zealand Tours (nzdeaf@hotmail.com She took me to the deaf club at Auckland Deaf Society, 164 Balmoral Road, Balmoral, Auckland and I was very lucky to get there in time to meet many cricket deaf players before they flew to a cricket tournament in India. I also met many wonderful deaf and hard of hearing people at the club including Chris Blum of Sprint Relay New Zealand. (I met Chris a week earlier when he gave a presentation about New Zealand at CSUN so I was well prepared to go to New Zealand after listening to the presentation).

Sprint Relay donated food for the people who came to the deaf club that night and it was very nice. The following day Sara took me on an escorted tour of Auckland in her car. She was very good in ASL and spoken English. I did not realize that there were more than 40 volcanoes around the city of Auckland itself and I saw a few of them including the one at Mount Eden with a volcanic cone. It was breathtaking and beautiful. Auckland is a very beautiful city and if you go there you must also visit a town called Parnell inside Auckland. It reminds me of Georgetown in Washington, DC. Sara also took me to see a cafe owned by deaf people called Star Sign Cafe, 365 Dominion Road, Balmoral, Auckland (email is starsigncafe@lycos.co.uk). It was a small cafe but interesting. Sara and I had a very good homemade banana cake with whipped cream and coffee. After a wonderful day with Sara I returned to my hostel to pick up my car rental for the remainder of my trip in New Zealand. At first I was really very nervous because the driver's side of the car is on the right side and you drive on the left side of the road that are different from the USA and most of the world. I managed to have a test drive then I became used to it.

The next day I drove myself to the airport to pick up Kyle who flew from Washington DC and Los Angeles. Thanks to

Sara, I felt like I knew my way around Auckland and showed Kyle where Sara took me the day before.

After spending some time in Auckland, Kyle and I drove to Rotorua, the volcanic plateau in the central North Island of New Zealand (New Zealand is composed of two big islands called North Island and South Island and we were on the North Island) Rotorua is a very hotspot of New Zealand's angry natural forces-one of the world's most active geothermal areas as we saw towering geysers, hissing steam, boiling mud and evil smells (sulfur) were constant companions as we traveled along the Thermal Explorer Highway from Rotorua to Taupo as well as Mount Tarawera where they filmed Lord of the Rings. We saw the mountain and the plateau where they made the film and it was like being on the moon.

It was summer down in New Zealand and in Australia so we enjoyed the warm weather and the sunshine when we were there.

We saw the Hangi and cultural performance of the Maori Indian tribe in Rotorua (Te Puia Attraction) and it was good. We also visited the Te Wairoa, the Buried Village, the most haunting sight of our trip since it was the place of the 1886 volcanic eruption. Many people in the village died when their houses disappeared under mud and ash but we were able to see some remaining houses that were covered with lava rocks. We saw many Maori carvings at the Buried Village so be sure to go there if you are in New Zealand on the North Island. (Go to their website at www.buriedvillage.co.nz for more information) We also took a lovely hike to stand in the spray of the magnificent Te Wairoa falls. Also in the Rotorua area we visited Polynesian Spa www.polynesianspa.co.nz which was New Zealand's leading international thermal bathing facility and saw many Japanese people there. We relaxed in several thermal pools of hot and warm geyser water . We loved it and saw many seagulls nearby. Speaking of the birds, we were very very very lucky to see the kiwi birds the day Kyle arrived to New Zealand as I wanted to stop the car and take pictures of the beautiful Auckland Harbor and we saw two kiwi birds walking on the beach!!!!!

Of course, we ate kiwi fruit almost every day in New Zealand as they were very delicious. We also bought a kiwi drink and it was very sweet. Speaking of visiting Therman Wonderland in the Rotorua area, we visited Wai-O-Tapu and it was the BEST!!!!! We took the walk there and saw many colorful thermal activity including boiling mud pools and mineral elements. The area is associated with volcanic activity dating back thousands of years. See their website at www.geyserland.co.nz

Kyle wanted something excitement so he took the jet boating, a high-speed trip on rapid waters near Rotorua for 30 minutes. I took the videotape of him on a high speed jet boat from the hill. He enjoyed the trip and you can see the website at www.rapidsjet.com. Go there if you can as it is one of few places on earth where you can experience the jet boat on river rapids.

Kyle and I were in New Zealand for about a week and we realized that it was not enough at all. When I visited the deaf club many people told me to stay much longer and to see the South Island as well. I was told that the South Island is more beautiful than the North Island BUT we did find the Noirth Island very beautiful. So I figured out how more beautiful the South Island was!!!!

This was not the only time for me to visit New Zealand as I have plans to go there again several more times in the future since I fell in love with New Zealand. If you love National Parks and the beauty of the country, then New Zealand is for you. I am also planning a tour for deaf and hard of hearing people to go to New Zealand and Australia. Let me know at brucegross@aol.com if you are interested to join on the tour.

After spending a wonderful week in New Zealand, Kyle and I were sad to leave Auckland, New Zealand for Australia to begin our journey for two weeks. We really enjoyed exploring New Zealand very much and would love to go there again hopefully in 2008 with our deaf tours.

The flight from Auckland to Sydney took about two hours then we changed planes in Sydney for Cairns in Northeast Australia. After a long flight from New Zealand to Sydney then Cairns we finally arrived to Cairns in North Queensland and rented a car to Port Douglas. We had our atlas and some maps but we got lost and ended up in rainforests in the village called Kuranda instead of Port Douglas on the coast. We were glad it happened because we discovered the rainforests and the beautiful waterfalls so we took an unexpected hike for a few hours. We got to see some koalas and kangaroos as well as some beautiful butterflies and birds enroute. We visited the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary and it was a MUST to go there since we saw many colorful butterflies there. You can visit the website at www.australianbutterflies.com. Also in that area is the Kuranda Koala Gardens where we saw some koalas. After a few hours we finally arrived to Port Douglas for the night and it was a lovely town to visit. Port Douglas is the closest town to the Great Barrier Reef by boat where you can see many beautiful fish if you go scuba diving or snorkelling.

Cairns is truly a tropical city. There are many shops as well as restaurants and we had breakfast there before we continued our trip south along the beautiful Bruce Highway to Townsville for the night. We did make some stops on the way including swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean. Townsville was OK but not that impressive as it reminded me of oil refineries in Long Beach, California. We found a nice Greek restaurant and the server told us we must go to Airlie Beach on our way to Brisbane. The next morning Kyle and I left early from our motel and drove all day and arrived to Airlie Beach before nightfall. We actually planned to spend only one night there but because it was so beautiful and full of excitement we decided to stay there for 2 nights instead. There were many college students there on their winter break and we were lucky to find a room at the Best Western Motel in town and close to the beach. Airlie Beach is a small village but there were many boats to take people to Great Barrier Reef to go scubadiving or snorkelling. We heard about Whitehaven Beach in that area that we must take the boat there since it is off mainland Australia on an island. Kyle and I wanted to go snorkelling and visit Whitehaven Beach so we found a fantastic tour boat called Mantaran Tours. (www.mantaraycharters.com) and first visited the Whitehaven Beach which is a National Park. It was the most beautiful beach we have seen on earth as the sand was very white and the water very light crystal-blue that you could see underwater. After arriving the Whitehaven Beach we took a short hike up the hill to have a view of the beautiful island. Kyle and I took many pictures and fell in love with it. Then we went swimming on the beach for more than an hour before the boat took us and the rest of people on the tour to another location about an hour away (Mantaray Bay) to go snorkelling. We were served delicious buffet lunch on the boat after we went swimming at Whitehaven Beach.

Whitehaven Beach is part of the famous Whitsundays locations. I truly enjoyed my experience snorkelling as I saw many colorful tropical fish and corals under the water. Kyle loved the sport too. We also saw some big fish coming to our boat after we went back on the boat and the crew threw rocks at them to keep them away. They were not sharks but they were really big.

If you visit Australia, be sure to go to Airlie Beach in Queensland and take the boat to Whitehaven Beach as well as go snorkelling. You would have a great time!

Kyle and I enjoyed stayed at Airlie Beach for 2 nights then we continued our trip south in our rented car (All the way from Cairns to Brisbane) and stopped for the night in the Bundaberg area. During the day we saw many farmlands growing sugarcanes and some wine vineyards. We even stopped to buy a bottle of wine and drank it at night. The next day we left early and drove to a village called Noosa Heads and spent the night there. It looked like La Jolla in California and we stayed in a lovely townhouse that was close to the village and the beaches. Noosa is a very beautiful village not too far away from Brisbane and go there if you are in Australia. During the day we went hiking at Noosa National Park and saw a live koala up a tree. We also saw beautiful colorful birds in that area. The hike was very pleasant as you could see the beautiul Pacific Ocean from where you were walking. At the end there was a beach with huge waves that some swimmers went swimming and surfing. There were many surfers in that location. After spending two days and one night in Noosa, we continued the drive south and finally arrived to Brisbane. We checked in at the beautiful hotel in downtown Brisbane. We were amazed to see a washing machine in our bathroom but we did not need it since we already washed our clothes in a laundry a few days earlier. Brisbane is a very beautiful city lined with parks and trees. We also visited the Botanic Gardens and saw beautiful plants and trees.

The next morning we went to the airport to return our rented car then flew to Sydney, our last destination in Australia. My former student, Cynthia Polchow Hall came to meet us at the airport and we stayed at her house with her husband David Hall in Sydney. Kyle stayed one night then flew back to the States to return to Washington,DC and I stayed another night in Sydney before returning to Los Angeles. While in Sydney we visited the famous Opera House and enjoyed walking around it. We also saw the Rocks section and saw many markets selling beautiful art work. Downtown Sydney is beautiful and we visited the Oxford area with many shops and restaurants. Cynthia took us to a restaurant called Balkan and it was one of the best I have eaten. It is at 209 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst nsw 2010 in Sydney. Go there if you are in Sydney.

We enjoyed spending about 10 days in Australia and a week in New Zealand. I have plans to go back again since I missed the South Island in New Zealand as well as many parts of Australia especially the South and the West.

I also would like to have a tour of the deaf visiting New Zealand and Australia in 2008 for about a month since I already had a tour with deaf and hard of hearing people visiting Africa and Costa Rica in the past.

Let me know if you would like to join on our organized tour to Australia and New Zealand in 2008.