Saturday, October 25, 2014

We visit the Land of Kiwis


the gardens at the hotel
Carl loves the pool
 
On Tuesday, Aug. 19, we headed to Australia to visit Carl’s brother, Alan, and his family with a side trip to New Zealand.  We left MO. at 6:00am and we got to LAX at 10 AM, but since our flight to NZ wasn’t until 11 PM we went to a hotel for the day. The Travel Lodge was a 1950s design and decor and a great pool that we swam in before taking a nap then out to the airport.  We finally arrived in NZ at 4:30pm on Thurs. Aug. 21.  A long trip, many hours in the air!!

 


Our Van the "All Blacks"
The New Zealand rugby team
We rented a Wicked Van as it was cheap, $30/day, but didn’t realize they had not only weird paint jobs, but also some controversial saying painted on the vans.  They have a rep of renting to younger back backers, whose disregard for the local population has not helped the reputation. We got the most conservative paint job we could, The All Black, which is their national rugby team. It was a great van as the big game between Australia and New Zealand was during the week we were there, and New Zealand won.

 

Some scenery in NZ
We feed cattle on the way
At the first camp site I saw an ad for a tour of Lord of the Rings film sites so I signed us up. I gave her the credit card and found out I had signed up for an all day $250/person trip! A bit more expensive than I had thought, but we were signed up so the next morning we met the driver and found out we were the only ones on the tour, so we had a private tour drive of 4 hours with a stop at the Big Salmon for breakfast.

Edoras was on top of the rock and
the town was at the foot at the right
Leslie stands where the entrance was
At the film site for Edoras of the Riders of the Rohan,  nothing was left, but we saw pictures of what it looked like when they were filming and then hiked up to see the site. It was quite spectacular scenery, but only took us 30 minutes to hike and we were back at the tour van, where Carl found out it was the only site we were going to on the tour. We had a sword fight with some props and a champagne lunch. Then it was 4 hours driving back to the camp site through beautiful lightly touched fields, hills and farmland.

We drink champagne at the site
We sword fight at the site
 








A bueatiful island on the way back
The big Salmon stop

 
 
 
 
 
vinyards on the way


Carl meets a woman
We only had 5 days in New Zealand so we didn’t see as much as we would have liked.  We definitely will have to go back and climb the glacier as it was a three day round trip from our campsite. On the drive to Hanmer Springs we stopped and did some wine tasting. They have a vineyard area with a lot of wineries. At one we met a group of ladies traveling the tasting trail in a cute customized van.

The wine tasting room
 
inside the "wine mobile"


 
 
 
 
The ladies "wine mobile"
 
Three different temp hot tubs
some of the hot tubs
 
 We spent a day in the hot springs at Hanmer which was great! They have water slides and a dozen hot pools of different temperatures, and it was only $15/ person/day. We met a group of people heading to the US Antarctic Station. It sounds like an exciting experience. Maybe I’ll apply. There was also some hiking just outside the town so we hiked up a hill at the edge of town. The view was spectacular!

The view from the hill into the valley
The life guard thought it was colder
than Leslie did
 

 
 
 
 
steams between the pools
Carl enjoyed the water slides
 
 
 
 
 
 
Leslie with Admiral Byrd
Leslie in the streets during the 1800s
 
We also toured Christchurch and saw the damage caused by the earth quake of 2011 and the museum about them, there were 2 that year. There is also a free museum about the history of Christchurch which has a replica of a street in Christchurch in the 1800s among other exhibits.
Leslie got shock socks
 

The church damaged by the quake
 
Leslie and our van


 
 
 
 
 
Leslie boards the cross island train
The view on the ride
 
We took an all day train ride across the south island and back that was great! They had a narrative about the area throughout the ride and we had about an hour to walk around Greymouth, the end of the train ride. At the top of the Southern Alps, Arthur Pass, we had to add two engines to go down through a steep tunnel which was the longest tunnel in the world when it was built to connect the East to West coast. It is still the 4th longest tunnel in the world.

Athurs pass the high point of the trip
they add an engine to the train
 

 
 
 
 
Some of the mountains
one of the lakes
 
 
 
 
 
 
A yatch club on the lake
our tain winds through the valley
 
 
 
 
 
 
An antartic cat
The cat obstacle course
 
We turned in the Wicked Van and took a taxi to the airport early so we could go to the Antarctic museum. New Zealand is the staging area for many Antarctic explorations and stations. The museum is really neat! We took a ride on an arctic cat through an obstacle course that demonstrates the abilities of the cat. We also went in a room that simulates an Antarctic storm. They gave you clothes to wear in there as it was really cold!

Leslie in the cold room
 
Carl slides down the ice


 
 
 
 
 
Carl stands on both poles
Leslie in an "ice cave"
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Then it was time to head to Brisbane Australia.

 

 

Friday, October 10, 2014

We land cruise East


It’s been a while since our last blog. In our last blog we had finished our trip West, and now we head East to visit friends and family.

 
Kathy and our family at Chez Louis


Leslie with the Steckman-Pusitari
family in NJ
Eric, Kelly, and the girls, Tali and Cloe, were also heading to Newport to visit, and met us at our favorite way stop for the trip, the Chez Louis. They stayed a day before continuing on to Newport while we headed to NJ to visit other friends.

 

Alice with Kelly and the girls
We visit Extreme Brewery in Newport
 
After a stop in Long Island to visit my father and cousin Cindy, we take a series of ferries to finally arrive at Newport also. We stay at my cousin Alice and John’s house for an all too short stay in Newport to visit friends.
The Hood party
what a night in the hood
 
We don’t get to see everyone we would have liked to, but Warren and Nancy, neighbors from our old  neighborhood, throw a neighborhood party and most of the “hood” attend. It was a great time! Warren went diving and got a bunch of clams which he cooked up and everyone else brought snacks to create an unforgettable night!

Our great neighbors
 
We visit the Tipsy Sea Gull
We go to dinner with Dave and Janice



The Concert at Newport Beach
The Mulvanys catch up to us from
the Bahamas
 
While at Newport we got to see a concert on the beach and met up again with old friends of ours who have also started cruising and whom we saw at Georgetown Bahamas during the boat delivery, Greg and Lizanne.

 

The Monument in Plymouth
The substatue of Morality
The need of Justice
 
While Leslie was visiting a friend from Mass., I got together with Kelly and the girls and we headed to Plymouth to see history. We saw Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower, and also the Monument. Leslie and I have taken our boys to Plymouth several times while they were growing up and went to all the sites, we thought. However, we had never heard of the Monument. It is the largest free standing granite statue in the world and is about 2 miles from the Rock sitting in a little park in the middle of a residential district. It was built in the 1800s and symbolizes all that is needed to have a free people governed by the people. We had never heard of it before so we went to visit it. It sits by itself in the park. There are no brochures on its history or meaning, no vendors or park buildings, no signs to talk about it, just a bar code sign to scan and I guess go to a web site. It features a central figure, 36 feet tall, representing Faith, with four seated statues surrounding her representing Education, Law, Morality and Freedom. There are a number of smaller figures shown in relief around the base representing various other virtues as well as depictions of the Pilgrims and their journey. It is an impressive monument that is all but unknown. An a relative of Kelly’s is listed on the monument!

Education
 

 
 
 
 
The girls at the Rock
The Mayflower
 
 
 
 
 
 
On the way back Kelly introduced me to IKEA
The Fisher Household
Leslie pets the "birds" in Meredith
 
We also went up to New Hampshire to visit the Fishers and timed it perfectly as their son Eric got married that weekend and the whole family was there. They had about 45 people in the back yard for a picnic and about 30 stayed overnight in the house, we got the blow up bed in the TV room. An absolutely super time!

Eric and I go to an 3 gun shoot
We take the girls to Cabelas
 
Then it was time to head back to St. Louis and we got to watch the girls for a few days as their school started after Kelly had to go back to work. The big surprise was a live show of Bill Cosby.  Kelly and Leslie got us tickets as a father’s day gift but it happened in Aug.

Eric makes Tali a paint shirt for school
 
Tali's first day of school with friends


 
 
 
 
Eric and I see Bill Cosby
We visit Lego Land
Madison and Cole love the rides
 
Once they were back in the groove we headed to Tampa Florida to watch Aron and Katie’s kids, Madison and Cole, as they just moved down there for Aron’s new assignment in the Army and wanted to do some unpacking without the kids underfoot. So we took the kids to Legoland one day and the Tampa museum another day, but were rained out the last day so we helped the kids unpack and set up their rooms.

Madison and Cole with Pirate show
players
Madison and Cole at the Lego
Daytona Speedway
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aron setting up the house
Madison loves unpacking
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
With the East leg finished, we packed for our trip to Australia, but that is another story.