Christchurch, New Zealand (before the 2011 earthquake)

Punting Along Avon River 
- Christchurch, New Zealand

Chess in Cathedral Square 
- Christchurch, New Zealand

Home Along Avon River 
- Christchurch, New Zealand

Ice Cream Stand - Christchurch, New Zealand

Akaroa in Old Volcano - New Zealand

Christchurch, New Zealand (before the 2011 earthquake) (11/19-20/2009)

We visited this beautiful city before the 2011 earthquake and hope that it has regained its glory.

Called New Zealand’s Garden City with 1/8th of the city devoted to its many beautiful gardens. Christchurch is also described as the “most English” city in New Zealand with many reminders of England. Christchurch is located on the east side of the South Island. This picturesque city of 370,000 people is the third largest in New Zealand.

We recommend this a very nice walk we took through Christchurch visiting Cathedral Square, Art Gallery, Arts Centre, Canterbury Museum, and the wonderful Botanic Garden (see photos). 

The beautiful Avon River winds through Christchurch where you can see young men punting (pushing with poles) small boats along the river (see photo). It was just too romantic for Wayne. 

In many ways Christchurch retains the character of the USA in the 1950’s with quaint ice cream stands, grocery stores, etc. 

We also took a day trip to Sumner Beach and Akaroa gaining our first sights of New Zealand countryside (how do you say sheep everywhere?). Akaroa is a century old French settlement in an ancient volcano with beautiful country scenes (see photo).

Please see our 8 other blog posts on wonderful New Zealand:

New Zealand Auckland

New Zealand Milford Sound

New Zealand Napier Hawkes Bay

New Zealand Nelson Abel Tasman National Park Marlborough Wine Region

New Zealand Queenstown

New Zealand Rotorua

New Zealand Wellington (Capital)

New Zealand West Coast South Island Franz Josef Glacier Wanaka

 

 

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Melbourne, Australia

Downtown Melbourne, Australia

Twelve Apostles - Great Ocean Road, Australia

Koala bears in the Wild - Australia

Exciting Mix of Old and New 
- Melbourne, Australia

Downtown Melbourne at Night

Downtown Melbourne, Australia

Excellent Tram System - Melbourne, Australia

Great Ocean Road - Australia

Great Otway National Park - Australia

Melbourne, Australia (11/14-18/2009)

G’day, mate... welcome to Melbourne, Australia.

Located in the southeast of Australia, Melbourne is Australia’s second largest city and is a modern commercial and financial center. What a beautiful and fun place to visit!

Melbourne has experienced a major recent resurgence. Downtown Melbourne is a mix of fascinating new architecture among older buildings along a river (see photos).  

We had lunch in the historic Flinder’s Alley, visited the innovative Federation Square built over the central railroad tracks, strolled Southgate with its chic shops and cafes along the Yarra River, and visited the stately British-style reading room of the State Library of Victoria and the glitzy Crown Entertainment Complex where the movie cinema showed all Hollywood movies for $17! 

We also wandered Melbourne’s beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens, visited the Queen Victoria Market (a flee market spreading over 7 acres dating back over 125 years), and had dinner on Lygon Street. Melbourne even has a free hop on, hop off bus – truly a city of “No worries”.

In addition, we took a day trip around Melbourne’s countryside with the highlight being the 150-mile-long Great Ocean Road (see photos). The world famous attraction is the Twelve Apostles - breathtaking rock formations along the ocean. These are eight limestone sea pillars that reach as high as 230 feet. 

We also saw Koala bears in the wild (see photo). A wander through the ferns and tall eucalypts trees in the rain forest of the Great Otway National Park was amazing along with world famous Bells Beach, Port Campbell, and other beautiful places.

Some history... Concerned about the French getting a hold of this area, in the early 1800’s the British sent a party of convicts to settle the area gaining the name Melbourne in 1837. 

It became the center of Australia’s wool export trade. Real growth followed the gold rushes starting in 1851. Melbourne doubled in population in 1852 and soon after the Melbourne area was producing 30% of the world’s gold supply. 

By 1880, Melbourne became the second largest city in the British Empire, only after London, and became the capital of Australia. Much like what happened in America, the indigenous Aboriginal people were pushed aside. When the gold ran out, the economy crashed and Melbourne went into a long slump. By the turn of the 19th century, Sydney had become Australia’s largest city.

 

 

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Travel of half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips from weekend getaways to longer vacations and trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Capital)

Malyasian School Children 
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Petronas Towers
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Modern Mall - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Petronas Towers - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Aquaria (Aquarium) - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Old Railroad Station - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Central Market - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Capital) (11/12/09)

Famous for the tallest twin towers in the world (Petronas - 88 stories), Kuala Lumpur is the capital (since 1896) and largest city of Malaysia with an urban area population of 7.2 million.  

Kuala Lumpur is the fastest growing metropolitan region in the country, in terms of population as well as its economy.

Kuala Lumpur's steel-clad Petronas Towers (see photo) were featured in the movie Entrapment starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones (I’m sure the guys remember Catherine in the laser beam scene). 

Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur were completed in 1997 and were the tallest buildings in the world until the Taipei Financial Center was completed in 2003. They are still the tallest twin buildings in the world. The tallest building the world is now in Dubai - click here to see it.

Kuala Lumpur (known as KL) is a beautiful and clean modern city with modern shopping malls. The train station built in 1910 is really cool with its minarets, cupolas, towers, and arches (see photo). 

We also visited Kuala Lumpur's aquarium (Aquaria – see photo), the Central Market continuously operating since 1888, and the Petronas Oil Company exhibition - a Disneyland type place where afterwards you believe that oil exploitation is both good for the economy and the environment.

The outdoor restaurants lining the Jalan Alor, in Kuala Lumpur's Golden Triangle district, feature many types of food and around the corner is Changat Bukit Bintang, a sophisticated strip of restaurants and bars.

Some history... In so many ways (especially economically), Malaysia is far ahead of poor Indonesia. Malaysia gained independence in 1957 from the British who invaded in 1896 during a civil war among local warring parties. 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ---->

Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips from weekend getaways to longer vacations and trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!

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