On the trip up we stuck to the coast and drove up Indian Ocean Drive, and we returned via Highway 1.

As the photos below show we stopped at many cool and random places and had a great time.

You can download the paper and presentation I presented from my uni homepage.

Below are photos from around Perth that were taken on the day I arrived and during the evenings.

Overall, Perth is a nice city to visit. Fremantle, in particular, is particularly beautiful. The city feels like a cross between Wanganui and Christchurch, and it was a lot quieter than Sydney.

KiwiRail says the platforms are of a shorter length because of “constraints on keeping the line away from nearby apartments”, electric trains could run to Onehunga but people would only be able to travel in the front two of the three car trains.

Not only is Auckland 100 years behind most of the developed world in getting an electric rail system (remember that Britomart is the only underground diesel railway station in the world!) we can’t even get the size of the platforms right. This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

Meanwhile in Sydney next week sees the commencement of the 4th Metrobus route from Bondi to Chatswood with 80,000 people per week capacity. The Metrobus system in Sydney has been a great success with bus running so frequently they don’t need timetables. In Auckland there has been the Link bus for a number of years working on this system, but how about seeing it on routes like the Northern Express, Dominion Road (ARTA are launching the “B.Line” here), Great South Road, New North Road, Great North Road.

There is a reason why “Public Transport” in Auckland has been called an oxymoron and this stuff up in the length of the train platforms is yet another example of it.

During this time I saw, did, and ate:

• Ate Crocodile, Emu, and Kangaroo
• Ate Crocodile Curry
• Went on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway over the Barron Gorge to Kuranda
• Bought Mango wine
• Went on the Kuranda Scenic Railway back down the Barron Gorge
• Climbed the Red and Blue Arrow Circuits behind Cairns and saw a wild Wallaby
• Went on On The Wallaby tour into the Tablelands visiting a number of waterfalls, cycling about 15km and canoeing down a river where we saw Spiders, a Tree Kangaroo, Platypus, Turtles, and a whole lot of other cool wildlife.
• Went hunting through a riverbed to find rocks that can be used for face painting.

Right now I am very tired to go into anymore details about the trip. However pictures speak a 1,000 words, so here are 21 photos to speak 21,000 words. (Click on a photo to see a larger version).

To aide my fellow kiwi’s when they grow wings and come over here too I have been collecting a list of my most interesting and funny situations where kiwi slang/words have been greeted with blank confused stares.

• Blobbing / To Blob Out – This one even has its own entry in Wikitionary, To relax idly and mindlessly.
• Dairy – In Australia known as a Convenience Store.
• Flat (or Student Flat) – In Australia Flat refers to a type of house in particular a granny flat.
• Flatting – This word does not exist in Australia. The closest word with the same meaning would be shared housing. Somehow that doesn’t have the same ring to it as it’s kiwi counterpart. (Also I get the feeling that the whole right of passage going flatting coming of age type situation is different here.)
• Hori – I had a very hard time explain this one. Wikipedia explains it as used for something that is unattractive or shoddy
• I speak good England! – Not really kiwi slang as such, but more when someone says something with either terrible spelling or grammar.
• P – Pure Methamphetamine. In Australia known as just crystal meth.
• Paper – University term for the equivalent of a school subject, in Australia known as a course. Where paper in Australia refers to a research paper.
• Refill pad – This is a British English word, but here is known as a lecture pad or loose lead ruled pad.
• Sweet As – no worries.
• Toying / To Toy With – Messing with, teasing, playing games with.
• Tramping – Hiking or Bush Walking

I have also noticed some interesting differences in styles and behaviour. The three key areas would be:

• Clothing – Take note, black tshirts and jeans are not everyday wear. Shorts are very much in – mostly because it is too hot to get away with jeans all year round.
• Hug/Hugging – It is common to greet and say goodbye to friends in a social setting with a quick hug in New Zealand. I did this to a friend over here and they took three steps back not sure how to react. Looking into the background of this more it seems that this cultural difference stems from a combination of New Zealand’s large Pacific population and Eastern Europeans who both commonly greet with a hug and a kiss to the cheek (although the kissing has never been NZ culture to my knowledge).
• Sunglasses – Almost everyone in New Zealand will wear them whenever they are outside, not as common here.

There are also two good Wikipedia posts on New Zealand English and New Zealand Words.

In quick summary UNSW equals about 4 times the size of Auckland Uni, just massive.

Flight over was good, the plane before us was cancelled so we ended up with a 747 to take us over because of all the people.

Despite a few bumps leaving a very stormy Auckland everything went smoothly.

And even better I have free internet in my hotel room.