The slow route to New Zealand

I left Boulder way back on June 4, but I'm still not quiiiiiiite to New Zealand. (Almost there! We leave Sydney for Christchurch tomorrow.) Instead of charging straight for our new digs, we've been taking the slow but beautiful route, stopping over in Hawaii and then visiting my in-laws in Australia.

The Hawaii stopover was for two reasons. The first was jetlag mitigation: Hawaii is exactly halfway in effective time difference between Colorado and Australia, and I have learned from years of Australia visits that spending even one night at a halfway time zone is tremendously helpful in dealing with brutal jetlag. Especially if you're traveling with a kid. (Last time we returned straight from Sydney to Boulder, it took my son weeks to stop waking up from 2-4am every night, despite my best efforts to wear him out & reset his sleep schedule. WEEKS.)

The second reason: it's Hawaii! My son is very into volcanoes at the moment, so he was particularly excited for the chance to see Kilauea in action. Therefore we chose to stop for a week on the Big Island and visit Volcanoes National Park, plus enjoy some excellent snorkeling. (One day I plan to visit Kauai--I would love to hike the Na Pali coast--but that can wait until the kiddo is a bit older.)

We've had a lovely time, both in Hawaii and in Sydney. It's a strange sensation, having wonderful experiences even as I check the news and struggle with an avalanche of helplessness and outrage and sadness. ("Don't check the news," some might say, but I feel informed action is so vital these days that I cannot simply turn my back.) The beauty I see in reefs and bushland strikes all the more keenly to my heart, knowing that such ecosystems may not survive much longer. Yet I take heart in seeing my son ask how we can save and protect them.

So on that note, here's some of what we've seen and enjoyed on our journey toward New Zealand:

Sunset from Keauhou, Hawaii

Snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay

Pod of spinner dolphins at Kealakekua Bay

Giant manta ray behind our snorkeling boat--we did the famous night snorkeling with rays trip, and wow, it was worth every penny. When we were in the water, the rays would come within inches of us as they fed on the plankton drawn to the boat's lights. It was amazing to watch these gentle giants swooping in lazy flips and balletic turns at such close range. 

Southeast coast of the Big Island, windswept and wild

Punalu'u black sand beach, home to numerous sea turtles

Sea turtle entering the waves at Punalu'u

Lava in Kilauea's main crater. The pic doesn't do it justice--it was fountaining in constant motion, very cool to watch.

Lava at the Pu'u O'o vent, as seen from the air. We splurged for a helicopter ride. It was cool to get the aerial view, but I'm not entirely convinced the cost was worth it, given that the flight time is so short (about 45 min). Next time I might be more inclined to try the hike/bike ride out to view the lava entering the ocean at night. (Didn't do that this time because it was quite a long distance and I wasn't sure the kiddo would enjoy such a long hike given there's little to see until you reach the viewpoint.)

Aerial view of lava entering the ocean

Waves at Laupahoehoe park, which was one of my favorite spots on the Big Island's eastern side

Another view of Laupahoehoe

Waimea Bay on Oahu--we spent a lovely afternoon here with fellow author Kate Elliott, before flying onward to Sydney

Hanging out with Kate beside a tasty taco truck. (The finger is my son's; he needs a little more practice taking pictures)

Darling Harbor in Sydney

Morning in the Blue Mountains. I love hearing the kookaburras chortle their maniacal laughter. (I'm serious. It's really cool.)

First waterfall of the day while hiking the National Pass/Valley of the Waters loop

Cliff view 

One of the many waterfalls we passed

Another enticing waterfall

Last light on the Ruined Castle rock formation (right at center of photo)

Winter light on the Three Sisters

We got to meet up with photographer & SFF reviewer Paul Weimer, who was on his very first trip to Australia and New Zealand courtesy of the Down Under Fan Fund

And now, onward to new adventures...

Australia week 1: Blue Mountains, Galaxy Books, Epic & Grimdark Friends, and the Vivid City

We've been in Australia a whole week now and I'm finally over my jetlag. Or at least, I'm no longer drooping and exhausted at only 8pm! This is why we always visit for at least 3 weeks, so we can have a proper set of adventures after we've adjusted to the time zone. But jetlag hasn't stopped us from having plenty of fun with family and friends this past week. After an initial two days of intense rain and wind--which was amazing to see, as this type of weather never happens in Boulder!--we enjoyed a lovely day in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney:

The iconic Three Sisters. Rock climbing is no longer allowed on them, but years ago before the ban, my husband and I climbed the Second Sister. These days we have to be content with just admiring them from the various trails around them, but that's still pretty cool.

Blue Mountains vista

Katoomba Falls in fine flow after the recent winter rains

Next we headed into the city for a real treat: meeting New Zealand fantasy author Helen Lowe in person for the first time! I love Helen's Wall of Night series, which is grand-scale epic fantasy with a really neat sf-nal twist to the backstory. I just finished the 3rd novel, Daughter of Blood, and am already counting down the days until she publishes the fourth and final book. Helen and I have been "internet friends" for a while now, so I was delighted that she was able to fly over to Sydney for a brief visit during our stay here.

Helen and I after a lovely lunch beside the Opera House in Sydney

Two epic fantasy authors and an epic fantasy tree...couldn't you see this tree in Lord of the Rings? 

Then Helen and I headed over to the excellent Galaxy Bookshop--oh Sydney-siders, you are so lucky to have a bookstore like this in your city! Immense SFF selection combined with friendly and knowledgeable staff...it is reader heaven. Helen and I signed Galaxy's stock of our books, and I provided them with two precious print copies of The Labyrinth of Flame, so now Galaxy is the only bookstore in all of Australia (or probably even the entire eastern hemisphere) that has two full signed Shattered Sigil trilogy sets.

Helen and I with Craig and Allison, the awesome Galaxy Books staff

That night, Helen and I met up with local (and awesome!) epic fantasy author Ben Peek, Adrian Collins of Grimdark Magazine, and reviewer/writer Durand Welsh at the infamous Spooning Goats bar. That was really fun too, as Ben, Adrian, and Durand are all fascinating people and it was great talking with them about books and publishing and all kinds of other adventures. Adrian is gearing up for running his Kickstarter for the Evil is a Matter of Perspective anthology (which I have a story in, yay!)--the launch is June 15, so stay tuned.

Me, Ben Peek, Adrian Collins, Durand Welsh, Helen Lowe

And after spending a fun-packed day taking the kiddo to the Maritime Museum (he LOVES going on the WWII-era ships there) and the Darling Quarter playground, we saw some of Sydney's Vivid festival. This is a 2-week night-time extravaganza in Sydney's central business district where all kinds of light shows and light-based art installations are available for free viewing. The projection shows on the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Opera House were particularly stunning:

For the full effect, you'd need a video...the flow of "paint" on the building is constantly changing

The projections on the Opera House "sails" constantly change, too...it's really beautiful

The Harbor Bridge, alight

Overall a terrific week, and this weekend we head off to the Whitsundays for snorkeling and a 3-day sailing adventure on a tallship. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

Back in Boulder

You might remember me talking a while back about my "next big adventure": a month-long trip to Australia and Hawaii.  Astute readers will have guessed from the pics in my last few posts that April was Adventure Month for the Schafer family.  An awesome adventure it was, too!  Not only was it wonderful to see my husband's family and friends again in Sydney, but we had plenty of fun bushwalking (as the Aussies call hiking) in both the Blue and Snowy Mountains....

Bushwalking in the Blue Mountains

...not to mention spelunking in Jenolan Caves (which were fantastic! I'd never been to Jenolan before and it was well worth the visit)...

Squeezing through a tight spot. Thankfully, this part of the cave had no enormous lurking spiders. Other parts...well, I'll tell that story when I do a full-on Thursday Adventure post about Jenolan.

...and yes, we saw plenty of kangaroos.

Curious kangaroo checking us out in the Blue Mountains.

After spending 3 weeks in Australia, we flew to Maui and spent four lovely relaxing days swimming and snorkeling at Keawakapu beach.  (Oh, and for our one big touristy thing we did a dive in an honest-to-gosh submarine, which our 4-year-old son LOVED.)  Stopping in Maui was pretty much the best way ever to break up the grueling return trip from Sydney to Boulder. I mean, just look at this view:

View of Keawakapu Beach from our condo

Even so, the jetlag we're suffering upon our return is nothing to be sneezed at (though not nearly so epic as what we experienced the times we flew straight home from Sydney!).  When a four-year-old can't sleep, well, nobody sleeps.  You better believe I'll have more pictures and stories from our travels to show off over the next few weeks, but right now, I'm gonna get some shut-eye.