Our last full day in Tasmania we went on a tour to visit some Tasmanian devils and a stop in historic Richmond village on the way back to Hobart.
Just a short 30 minutes drive out of the city we arrived at Bonorong Wildlife Reserve. Bonorong is a well respected animal rescue sanctuary for many of Australia's endangered animals including wombats and Tasmanian devils. They are also home to koalas, snakes, lizards and kangaroos. The grounds are absolutely breathtaking - beautiful and the surrounding scenery is equally as stunning. However, your attention quickly shifts from the scenery to Bonorong's little residents.
When walking through the front gate each guest is handed a bag of kangaroo treats and man do the kangaroos know it! The brown paper bag makes a noise when you shake it and it is like ringing the dinner bell for the kangaroos. Watching them jump all the way across the field to you, it is impossible not to smile.
First, the guide showed us a wallaby. Then, we were introduced to the tasmanian devil and got to see a feeding. As the devil's jaws are extremely strong and can easily chomp through bone, it was highly recommended that we keep our hands out of reach from these little devils.
Before we left Bonorong, we had some time to spend with the kangaroos. Melissa is generally not fond of critters and the kangaroo is no exception, but she did finally find an unintimidating juvenile to hand feed.
If you take a close look at the one I am feeding, you can see she had a joey in her pouch.
Before we headed back to Hobart we stopped at Richmond which is a small picturesque village outside of the city. The village's claim to fame is its bridge which is the oldest bridge in Australia which is still in use. This bridge like many things in Hobart was built with convict labor. It was kind of strange as they kept pointing that out - guess that is better than today where everything is made in China? Before we left Richmond, we stopped at a nice cafe where I had an authentic Australian meat pie and sausage roll.
Our first evening in Hobart (Australia), we headed straight for Salamanca which is an area with a lot of small bars and restaurants. We had some Greek seafood our first night - the grilled octopus was amazing, I'm still talking about it!
Hobart happens to have a Hop on Hop off bus, yes A as in ONE bus. Oh well, we didn't get off as the city is small enough that you can walk pretty much anywhere you want to go. It was a nice and sunny day, but brrrrrr it was cold - never the less we sucked it up on the upper deck - go big or go home.
We arranged a shuttle to Mt. Wellington after the bus's first round was complete. Luckily we arrived a bit early and had time to head over to the pier for some fresh calamari and chips for lunch. The ride up to the top of Mt. Wellington was on a long and windy road. Once we got to the top, we had some spectacular views of the entire city and the Southern Ocean. After taking a few photos, we headed to the indoor observation deck because with the wind it was bitterly cold up there!
For dinner we were looking for fresh local seafood and found a great place on Trip Advisor - the Drunken Admiral. We couldn't make up our minds on what to get so we ended up ordering a few different things off the appetizer menu. The steamed mussels were our favorite! We also found a great local apple cider beer which Melissa even liked.
Our last morning we were very excited to head down to Australia's biggest outdoor market - Salamanca! The Salamanca market has hundreds of stalls and we headed down there with an empty stomach and boy was that a good move. Melissa quickly found the crepe stand and ordered a banana and Nutella crepe. The stalls had everything from Tasmanian wood and wool products to vegetable stands. It was a great way to spend a morning.
Before we headed off to the airport we went back to a really great pizza place we had found, also in Salamanca. We ordered the margarita pizza and then added octopus, shrimp, mussels, and anchovies (just for me), yum!
Last week we went to Noumea, New Caledonia for a few days, then stopped over in southern Australia on our way back to Hong Kong. Upon checking in for our flights in Hong Kong, Melissa got a rude awakening while checking out the baggage tags. She inquired as to why we had two baggage tags and was informed that they can only put three stops per tag, needless to say Melissa was not amused, but it wasn't all bad as we were in business class for most of the 4 segments.
After four flights we finally arrived in Noumea! As soon as we stepped out of the airport terminal we were shocked with the beautiful scenery surrounding us with green mountains and pine trees - definitely not what we were expecting. On the hour drive from the airport to the hotel, with its towering mountain peaks, we thought we were in Kauai again. The hotel room was okay, but wow- the private balcony was bigger than our room - very cool!
It seemed like every sunset in Noumea was absolutely perfect! Our first day we walked along the various beaches, but were severely disappointed as all the stores and a few of the restaurants were closed.. it was....Sunday. New Caledonia has a strong French influence, and like those French, these people don't like to work either. We found a cafe open along the beach and I ordered the Parisian baguette sandwich, but when I got it, I was shocked.. I didn't think I ordered the entire baguette!
Certain beaches were protected from the wind, but the ones close to the hotel were on the windward side of the island and received a constant and strong wind. The conditions were perfect for the windsurfers and kite boarders and the beach was packed with them.
Our last full day we went to the lobby to book Noumea's version of the hop on hop off bus, but were severely disappointed to find out it doesn't run on Mondays. Oh well, we went took the public bus to the town center for a walk about instead.
I am always on the look out for tikis to add to my collection and this particular tiki was everywhere! So naturally I had to have it. I took a photo of it and took it around to all the craft shops, but no luck. On our last day heading back to the hotel long after having given up on my tiki hunt we randomly stumbled across a store that had my tiki - victory!
After some shopping we picked up a panini (to share!) and found a ocean front park bench - cheap meal with great view... perfect!
Our last evening we went to a restaurant we passed every day and were intrigued by its name Stone Grill. Yes, it is pretty self explanatory but it was a really unique cooking/eating experience which was perfect for our last night. Melissa went with the seafood which had tuna steak, salmon, shrimp and scallops.
We had an evening flight on Sunday which gave us enough time to take a Manila city tour that morning. Our first stop was the American Cemetery and Memorial. The memorial is a beautiful 152 acres in the center of downtown Manila. There are over 17,000 marble headstones of known and unknown soldiers and a memorial for over 36,000 missing American and Filipino soldiers who died during World War II from different campaigns. It has the largest number of graves of any cemetery for US personnel killed during World War II. Our guide told us that the Philippine Government gave the land to the US and that the grass was flown in from the US. The memorial has detailed murals of the Pacific campaign and large marble slabs with the names of the Americans that are buried there.
Our next stop was the Walled City of Intramuros, Fort Santiago and the beautiful Spanish gardens that surround it. The fort was constructed in 1663 and gave us a feeling like we were in Spain.
St. Augustine Church was our last stop of the day. This old church has been rebuilt 3 times due to fire and war, but the original building was complete in 1607. If you look closeley at the ceiling it looks like it is carved, but infact is just painted to look 3D.
We found an airfare we could not resist and decided to spend the weekend in Manila. This is not our first time to the Philippines but we have always just passed through Manila heading straight to the beach!
After clearing customs and hitting up an ATM, we started looking for the taxi line. We were approached and led to a taxi desk, paid the 1200 Philippine Pesos and we were off to the hotel in Makati. We got to the hotel around 11pm and were informed that we were getting the last room in the hotel. I felt sorry for the other 6 reservations that would not have a room that night. To get a head start on the next morning after checking in, we slid down to the concierge desk and booked a tour to Tagaytay for Saturday and a Manila city tour for Sunday.
After breakfast we were picked up by the guide and were very surprised when we were informed we were the only ones on the tour to Tagaytay. Manila has HORRIBLE traffic! After observing for a bit, you will quickly notice a few major problems on the road, one of which being that no one obeys rules of the road and the traffic lights don't work, another being those damn jeepneys. What is a jeepney you might ask? They first came about in the late 1940s when the American military sold surplus jeeps to locals and they were extended to hold up to 20 people. They are the most popular mode of transportation in the PI. Since the jeepneys are owner operator they pull over to pick up and drop off wherever they want.
Our driver stopped by one of the original jeepney manufacturers, Sarao. He explained to us that the body of the jeepney is handmade from sheet metal and most of the parts are reconditioned from older vehicles. Interesting also is that the seats are made from coconut fiber.
Down the production line they had jeepneys in various stages of completion from body with no wheels to ones all painted up and ready to clog some Manila city traffic!
American Army Jeep before the conversion
A Sarao custom from 1945
After the Sarao factory we stopped at Las Pinas church to see the bamboo organ. Our tour guide was a nice young boy who was volunteering at the church in order to practice his English. He showed us many of the church's original constructions like the tower bell. The church's organ was made in 1824 and is almost entirely made out of bamboo. When we thought we has seen it all to our surprise, our guide told us we had to wait for a minute and the organist began to play for us - that was pretty neat.
Back in the car again and back in the traffic, we headed toward Taal Lake. Looking out the window I saw a restaurant with a sign saying "Now every Juan can eat." Our guide explained to us that Juan is what locals call themselves so its frequently used in local advertising campaigns. After nearly 2 hours we finally reached Taal Lake which is famous for being on the island of Luzon, with Volcano Island, which also has a lake, which also has an island inside that lake too. The large lake was created when a massive volcano exploded and fresh water collected on the volcanos remnants.
The guide got us settled for our buffet lunch and pointed out Halo Halo, a local delicacy and told us we should have that for dessert. I usually take that as a cue for me to fill up on everything else.
The Filipinos eat a LOT of pork. More than half of the dishes were pork just cooked different ways. This was our first introduction to Filipino cuisine which we really enjoyed. When we were finishing up the guide asked us if we tried the desert and when we said no, he proceeded to get a cup for us to try.
Melissa got suckered into this local treat which consists of shaved ice, evaporated milk, kidney beans, chunks of coconut, several types of gelatin and even more unidentifiable ingredients. Halo Halo apparently means "Mix Mix" as in you have to mix all of that stuff together!
Our last stop was Peoples Park in the Sky. The palace was built with the intention for President Regan to visit but before his trip to PI there was a political assassination and the Regans cancelled their trip to PI and the palace's construction was never finished. Now the building looks like it is about to fall over, but it does give you some amazing views of the area.
After admiring the views for awhile we jumped back in the car and prepared ourselves for the 2 hour drive back to Manila.
Just a short 30 minutes drive out of the city we arrived at Bonorong Wildlife Reserve. Bonorong is a well respected animal rescue sanctuary for many of Australia's endangered animals including wombats and Tasmanian devils. They are also home to koalas, snakes, lizards and kangaroos. The grounds are absolutely breathtaking - beautiful and the surrounding scenery is equally as stunning. However, your attention quickly shifts from the scenery to Bonorong's little residents. 
When walking through the front gate each guest is handed a bag of kangaroo treats and man do the kangaroos know it! The brown paper bag makes a noise when you shake it and it is like ringing the dinner bell for the kangaroos. Watching them jump all the way across the field to you, it is impossible not to smile. 
