• 旅行の開始
    2023年10月16日
  • And so it begins.....

    2023年10月16日, アメリカ ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    It's Monday morning and we're boarding our first flight to Dallas. Then, a 4 hour layover. Then, a 16.5 hour flight to Sydney. We will cross the international date line and miss Tuesday on the way there and arrive on Wednesday morning.

    We are soooooo excited!!!!
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  • Bondi Beach

    2023年10月19日, オーストラリア ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    We spent today touring by Hop-On-Hop-Off bus. Still managed 5 miles of walking. We played in the sand and water of Bondi Beach. Had drinks and lunch at a rooftop bar. Finished up with meeting the rest of our small group and dinner of Spatchcock and King Prawns. Now enjoying a paddle of beers at the Sydney Brewery, which is located in our hotel. When we arrived back in our room, the hotel had placed bubbles and chocolate with a note saying Happy Anniversary!!! Very nice.もっと詳しく

  • Sydney Opera House and The Rocks

    2023年10月20日, オーストラリア ⋅ 🌙 68 °F

    We took a private tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was so cool. There are 6 individual performance venues under those roofs. The entire roof of the shells are individual tiles!

    After that, we toured the area near the Opera House, Called "The Rocks." Lots of history there. It was the first settled area and populated by prisoners brought over by boat. It is called The Rocks as the entire area is limestone, and it had to be carved out.

    From there, we walked across the harbor bridge and got some more great views.

    We ate Kangaroo for lunch and Barramundi fish for dinner!
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  • Native Animal Refuge

    2023年10月21日, オーストラリア ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Part 1: Morning. What a day! Started with a trip to Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park. A small native animal refuge. Lots of interacting with the animals!!! We got to pet and feed koalas, kangaroos, wombats, goats, birds, ... we were giant kids!!!もっと詳しく

  • Harry's pies on wheels.

    2023年10月21日, オーストラリア ⋅ 🌬 75 °F

    Part 2: FOOD. We went out of our way to get a traditional Aussie Meat Pie. Tiger Pie-beef pie topped with potato mash, pea mash and gravy!!! YUMMM. Then, another location for Bug Sliders, Cuttle Fish strips, Beef Cheeks, and Aussie Wine. So good. Brian wandered into craft brewery territory and hung out with the locals for the afternoon.もっと詳しく

  • Cairns

    2023年10月22日, オーストラリア ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    Just arrived (note, "Cairns" is pronounced "Cans.") Such different scenery. We had the afternoon to just relax, so we did not take many photos. Our new travel buddy Dave is a retired firefighter from St. Louis, so I grabbed a picture of us together!

    Tomorrow is Great Barrier Reef day. Hope to get a few good photos!
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  • Great Barrier Reef

    2023年10月23日, オーストラリア ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    OMG!!! SO COOL! We took a catamaran out to two different points on the reef. Both were so amazing. I was surrounded by schools of small fish as well as a school of giant Humpnose Parrotfish. I saw sea cucumbers, starfish, living coral... and I found Nemo as well as his relatives!. I was the last one out of the water and spent a total of 3 hours snorkeling. We took a submersible to look at the reef. But it was better to just be in the water!. We topped off the day with dinner on the water. I ordered the Yabbies! Yummy, and ate amazing FRESH calamari and more kangaroo.

    Tomorrow is the rainforest!
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  • Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas.

    2023年10月24日, オーストラリア ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    Apparently, Nitamarie is very appealing to the birds of Australia! The animals , especially the birds, are very friendly. One of the black cockatoos decided she was his bestie! He settled on her shoulder and they walked around together for a while. Then we got to hold a koala for a minute for a photo.

    From there, we entered another section where she was adopted by another beautiful bird. This one claimed her with his mating dance!!! He bit Brian for getting too close! The kangaroos here were a lot more outgoing than our first refuge. It was a short, but enjoyable trip with the animals!
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  • Auckland New Zealand

    2023年10月26日, ニュージーランド ⋅ 🌬 68 °F

    We got to our hotel in Auckland around 2 am this morning! (That will be our longest travel day until we come home.) It is overcast and windy.

    We had an amazing walk about with an elder from the indigenous people here in Auckland, the Maori. He did a traditional welcome, taught us some native language, and explained their beliefs and traditions. It was really amazing. Very inspiring.

    We then visited the ANZAC war monument.

    Dinner at Neptune's on the water. There was quite a build-up to this spectacular NZ ice cream...and it was just 'another crappy cup of vanilla'...
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  • Waiheke Island

    2023年10月27日, ニュージーランド ⋅ 🌧 59 °F

    Today, we took a ferry to Waiheke Island. I think i remember that it is the 3rd biggest island of NZ... it was a pretty rainy, foggy, overcast day. But that did not mean it wasn't beautiful. (It is an expensive place for real estate! ) We visited a very nice vineyard and winery. Tasted a few wines and ate a lovely shared plate of finger foods. Beautiful mosaic work done by the owner as a reminder of his home in Barcelona. From there, we went to Allpress, an olive orchard, olive oil press, and producer. Tasted some great oils and honey.

    After returning to Auckland, we went out with our new friends, Dave and Jeannie, and bar hopped!! Beer for Dave and Brian, wine for Nitamarie, and Coke Zero for Jeannie...(she may never fall asleep!)

    Todays interesting food... White Bait Fritter...

    Tomorrow, we are off to Rotorua...so excited for this! Love to all!
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  • Rotorua day 1

    2023年10月28日, ニュージーランド ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    We got on a bus and drove from Auckland to Rotorua. Beautiful country. Cows, lamb, horses!! Along the way, we stopped at Hamilton Gardens. A beautiful collection of themed gardens. Everything here is in early spring, so it's very beautiful! The best was the Surrealism Garden...it had moving trees, oversized items, and just fun. The Egyptian Garden was a very close second.

    From there, we stopped at a Kiwi Hatchery. A kiwi is a flightless bird about the size of a chicken. They are nocturnal and close to extinct, so we only got to see the ones being medically checked. The size of egg they lay is crazy big!! Equivalent to a human birthing a 34 pound baby! No thanks!

    Dinner and drinks at the hotel. We are gearing up for tomorrow, when we will watch the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team compete for the World Cup!!! Our tour leader is VERY excited!
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  • All Blacks Rugby World Cup Finals!!!

    2023年10月29日, ニュージーランド ⋅ ⛅ 46 °F

    We were in an Irish Pub at 7:30 am this morning to cheer on the New Zealand Rugby team battle for the World Cup. A very big deal! Our tour leader Michael is plays in a league with one of the national team players!! Unfortunately they lost, but it was fun!!

    The New Zealand tradition is to perform a Haka, a war dance that shows tribal pride and welcome to strangers, before each match.

    After the match, we continued our way to experience the Day in the Life of the Maori people. We will perform our own welcome to our greeters. Wish us luck.
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  • Day in the life of a Ngati Manawa Commu

    2023年10月29日, ニュージーランド ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    After seeing the All Blacks rugby team get defeated (by the referees, of course), we headed about an hour outside of Rotorua to Murupara, home of a landlocked Maori tribe. We were greeted with many prayers and customs.

    We performed our song we practiced...imagine singing a child's song in a foreign language! It was fun. We were then greeted with the traditional nose touch and hand shake.

    The Maori cooked us a traditional hangi meal. Meat and vegetables are placed on a pit lined with white hot stone. It is covered with cloth layers followed by a mound of dirt. We all ate family style together. We learned the Haka done by the rugby team and the story behind it. We played a traditional game and song. They very sincerely welcomed us into their community and family.

    We spent the evening on our own and went into town for dinner. Tomorrow it is Hobbiton Day!!!!
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  • Dinner with a local family!

    2023年10月30日, ニュージーランド ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    We were hosted by a local Maori family tonight. What a delight, inspiration, and blessing!! These native people are so proud, so confident, so welcoming, and so giving. Their children are right there by their side. Besides the food being incredible, their entertainment is amazing as well.

    Tomorrow, we head for the south Island to Christchurch. Hoping for better weather!
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  • Christchurch

    2023年10月31日, ニュージーランド ⋅ 🌬 59 °F

    We left the North Island and flew to the South Island. We took a propeller plane from Rotorua Airport. There was basically no security as you could walk in and out of the airport at will.

    Anyway, we are now in Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island. We have beautiful green fields on one side and the Alps on the left side. It was a really windy and drizzly day, but we still walked the town. It was devastated by two earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Rebuilding is going slow. The waterway through town had eels that just hung out by the edge of the sidewalk waiting to be fed. Creepy!!

    Our tour leader put me in charge of the Halloween party. So I wore my Jack-o-Lantern shirt as did one other person on the tour. Brian and I walked out of our room to find Halloween caution tape up over our door. The tour bus was also strung up with streamers. I instructed the group that we would be doing a trick or treat (white elephant). Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! We started by having to guess the Halloween themed word on your back. Then, onto gift exchange. It went very well, and there were lots of funny tricks as well as treats!

    Tomorrow is life on a sheep farm and maybe ziplining!
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  • Canterbury sheep farm!

    2023年11月1日, ニュージーランド ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    What a fun day. We got to sleep in. Then, we took a bus into the area of Canterbury to a sheep farm. We were able to learn about the types of dogs used and trained for sheep herding. Then we got to watch them work. We then got to play with a few alpacas and take a few photos....the white one is a real ham!. We watched the farmer shear a sheep and even got to help a bit!. Brian was the sheep sorting worker of the day. He managed the right sort. Then they served us an amazing herders' lunch and let us wander around and meet the rest of the animals. We then headed back to Christchurch.

    We had time to take a punt on the Avon River. A punt is the pole used to push a flat bottom boat on a shallow river that has a slow current. This is the only place besides England that has this ability, per our punt pushing captain. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The river is full of eels that are like well trained fish that are used to being fed.

    We were on our own for dinner so 8 of us took an Uber to eat at Smoke 'n' Barrel, a restaurant owned and operated by Cory Blackburn, the nephew of our Noblesville friend Dave Purcell. He took great care of us at the restaurant and even delivered our food personally! A big board of smoked ribs, brisket, lamb, beef cheeks, and veggies. Sooooo good! Really fun day. Long bus ride tomorrow heading to Dunedin.
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  • Oamaru and Moeraki Boulders

    2023年11月2日, ニュージーランド ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    Today, we left Christchurch to travel by bus to Dunedin. We stopped for lunch and explored Oamaru. This is an old Victorian area known for its white limestone buildings. It is also known for the seals that hang out on its rocky shores and the place where the blue penguins come home at night to eat and hang out.

    Onward to the Moeraki Boulders. These are fascinating! Almost perfectly round and naturally made. Very cool to see and interesting to read about.
    We made it to Dunedin in time for dinner and laundry!!! There is a washer and dryer in every room. On a 23-day trip, this is a really exciting feature!!!
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  • Larnach Castle and Baldwin Street

    2023年11月3日, ニュージーランド ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    We are halfway through Day 19! Today, we started with a drive around the Oamaru peninisula to the only castle in NZ. Very pretty castle with spectacular views. We stopped at Saint Clair Beach and watched some surfers.

    Then to Baldwin Street. Why??? Because it is the steepest street in the world. And we walked up to the top..

    Why?? Because it was there! We spent a bit of time at a railroad museum and now out on our own.

    Next: see what we find in Dunedin NZ.!😉
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