After checking out of our hotel, we returned to Mt. John to see what we couldn't see at night. We were so glad we did. What fabulous vistas that were completely lost to us at night. The perfect end to a great trip. What better way to start than with coffee at the Earth and Sky cafe. These Kiwis really know how to do this right. I get cold just looking at this. These are the three different observatories on Mt. John that we visited the night before. In the biggest one we had the privilege to look at Saturn, cut like a gleaming crystal in the night with its rings clearly visible. It almost looked fake. Lake Tekapo. The previous night view of the town in daylight. The church Jody visited in the morning. The Peppers Bluewater Resort where we stayed. Time to journey back to Wellington. Our extended trip "down under" is winding down. But still, there is some exciting stuff left in the month of August starting with Jody's birthday on August 1. Stay tuned!
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Getting suited up for the night sky tour. We were informed that these parkas were designed for use in climates as cold as Antarctica. The town of Tekapo from the top of Mt. John gleaming like a jewel in the night. if you're wondering about light pollution, there is none from the town. The town is outfitted with special lights that yield almost zero light pollution. That is why Mt. John is one of the top places in the world to see the night sky in all its glory. In fact, the trail of the car's lights at the top of the ground horizon creates more light pollution than the entire town does. We could not take pictures of our surroundings on the mountain as flash was not allowed. It was a moonless night, as we had planned. The above picture, as well as the several night sky pictures which follow, were all taken with Jody's DGSLR camera attached to a "ridiculously expensive" piece of astronomy equipment. Her camera was set to manual, wide-open aperture and time-delayed shutter speed by the Astrophotographer. The equipment was adjusted to the rotation of the Earth so the desired image remained in focus and stationary. Just incredible! The following pictures are simply breathtaking. The Milky Way Core - our galaxy - our home. Per Wikipedia, the Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. Its name “milky” is derived from its appearance as a dim glowing band arching across the night sky in which the naked eye cannot distinguish individual stars. The term “Milky Way” is a translation of the Latin via lactea, from the Greek γαλαξίας κύκλος (galaxías kýklos, "milky circle"). From the Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within the Galaxy. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610. Up until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that all of the stars in the universe were contained inside of the Milky Way. Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble definitively showed that the Milky Way is just one of many billions of galaxies Further down The Milky Way/Coalsack Nebula and the Southern Cross. Per Wikipedia, the Coalsack Dark Nebula (or simply the Coalsack) is the most prominent dark nebula in the skies, easily visible to the naked eye as a dark patch silhouetted against the southern Milky Way. Crux /ˈkrʌks/, located in the deep southern sky, is the smallest yet one of the most distinctive of the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for cross, and it is dominated by a cross-shaped asterism that is commonly known as the Southern Cross. Although visible to the Ancient Greeks, it was seen as part of the constellation Centaurus, and not defined or accurately mapped till the 16th century. The two Magellan Nebula. Per Wikipedia, the two Magellanic Clouds (or Nubeculae Magellani are a duo of irregular dwarf galaxies visible from the southern hemisphere, which are members of our Local Group and may be orbiting our Milky Way galaxy. Because they both show signs of a bar structure, they are often reclassified as Magellanic spiral galaxies. The Eta Carine Nebula. Per Wikipedia, The Carina Nebula (also known as the Great Nebula in Carina, the Eta Carinae Nebula, NGC 3372, as well as the Grand Nebula) is a large bright nebula that has within its boundaries several related open clusters of stars This entire experience was very moving to both Jody and me and was personally one of the main experiences on my bucket list. I am happy now that I've experienced this dream of mine.
After Jody's early morning photography session, we left for Lake Tekapo Springs five minutes away for an afternoon of tubing? and hot springs relaxing. Jody ready to "tube" down the long snow slope. My new favorite picture of Jody. And there she goes. After an hour of tubing, we needed a nice HOT HOT soak in one of the three hot spring pools, each one hotter than the least. The view from the hot springs. After a "rough" afternoon tubing and hot springing, we returned to our hotel for a great dinner in the hotel's restaurant. Here is the view from where we sat at dinner. I just had to order this triple-threat chocolate dessert for us to split. The dinner was gourmet all the way. Now, its on to Earth and Sky under a beautiful cloudless night.
As I lay in bed preparing in my mind for the day's activities, I pondered the possibility of another cloudy night and no night sky tour. I formulated a contingency plan for us to remain in Lake Tekapo and bite the bullet to increase spending for lodging and delayed flight plans. Jody agreed to cross that bridge when/if we came to it. Once we assessed the day, our hopes rose as we saw virtually no clouds in the sky. The weather report was clear for the next several days. Jody decided to leave our room while it was still dark to observe the sunrise and early morning around the lake. I passed and slept in. I knew that I would be busy enough that day. Jody's first morning picture on Day 2 makes me feel like I'm in Alaska. The small Church of the Good Shepherd in the early morning light rests peacefully at the water's edge. Despite the early hour, there were other stalwarts around the lake, including many photographers. The dog statue is a monument to the dogs among the sheepherders. As the morning progresses, blue sky and hardly any clouds. Looking good for tonight! Pictures of our room, as well as a visitor we enjoyed.
On Saturday morning, July 26, 2014, Jody and I flew out of Wellington to Christchurch on the South Island as the first stop in a weekend retreat to mutually celebrate our birthdays. The final destination was Lake Tekapo to have some fun tubing, lounging in the hot springs, and the "Piece de resistance", hopefully a clear night to view the night sky from the Earth and Sky Observatory on top of Mt. John. Entering Christchurch air space. As we drove in our rental car from the airport to Lake Tekapo we became increasingly excited as mountains all of a sudden became very WHITE and loomed larger and larger in our field of vision. Along the way we passed a deer farm where they stood up and watched us while we paused to take pictures. We arrive to this, our first view of Lake Tekapo. Our lodging at Peppers Bluewater Resort. The view from our room. Sunset. Jody at MacKenzie's Restaurant across from the resort where we had a terrific dinner. Following dinner we made our way over to Earth and Sky for our 6:45 pm trip up to Mt. John to view the night sky. Unfortunately, it was not to be. The cloud cover was too heavy and we decided to try again the next night. Fortunately, Earth and Sky allows you to roll over your reservation when conditions are not good. However, staff said that the next night's weather was not promising either. We left rather disappointed and concerned that we may not get to see the night sky as we had planned. We only had one more night in Lake Tekapo before leaving Monday morning for our return trip to Christchurch and then home to Wellington.
I just got this quote from one of my favorite actors and fictional characters today and it pretty much sums up everything I've felt over the last seven months of this wonderful journey "down under".
Jody freezing outside of the U.S. Embassy in Wellington where we got to go this evening for a reception to honor one of the State Department members who is preparing to leave for two years and be stationed in Saudi Arabia. He's also taking his family. Think I would pass on this assignment.
On Friday, July 11, 2014, Jody presented a paper at the National Refugee Resettlement Forum. The forum was held at New Zealand's national Te Papa Tongarewa Museum. I was able to attend as well. It was great to see so many international faces coming up to Jody after her talk to express their gratitude over the contents of her words and the relationship to their own experiences and work. Our good friend and Jody's work associate at the Ministry of Business, Judy Altikaya, introduced Jody. In Jody's Power Point presentation, I was surprised to see a slide pop up of my home town, Baltimore's refugee resettlement center. Jody provided her Kiwi audience many positives when comparing their work with refugees compared to the same work exhibited by the U.S. Government. I'm looking forward to the culminating presentation of Jody's seven months of refugee research and her recommendations to the New Zealand Government on August 19, 2014 in Wellington.
The climax of our tour of Melbourne was a wonderful Chinese dinner at the YUM CHA CAFE next to HER MAJESTY'S THEATER where we saw a live performance of LES MISERABLES. It was especially a real treat for Jody as it was many years ago when she saw a live performance and the stage work and technology has dramatically improved over the intervening years. Just a wonderful, stirring and emotional performance of a great musical. A delicious Chinese dinner with my sweetheart at the YUM CHA CAFE! A terrific finale to our tour of Melbourne. Now, back to Wellyworld! Oh, one more thing! Jody and I were so in love with the Koala bears that we met at the sanctuary .Jody desperately wanted to bring one home. So, I managed to get her her very own Koala the morning of our departure while she was busy attending her international refugee conference. Please meet our Koala, "Healey", who has now become a permanent resident of our bed in Wellington. I don't mind!
Melbourne was just not as spectacular as Sydney, but it certainly was interesting. Following are some of the sights around Downtown Melbourne. Chinatown. The Melbourne Cricket Club stadium where Jody's Conference was held. Not the comic book Batman. While wandering downtown, we stopped into the theater where Les Miserables was being performed. Hmmm! Could this be in our future? The town certainly seemed to be going nuts over Les Mis as the following several photos attest. Parliament. While Jody attended her conference, I was able to enjoy a major film museum in downtown Melbourne. About the only picture I wanted to take was of Mad Max's iconic car from the Australian movie, MAD MAX. While I'm no longer a big Mel Gibson fan (Why? Because he's friggin' crazy, that's why). I still enjoyed the movie. Our rooms in Melbourne. Very nice.
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