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Lake Tekapo - Day 2!

7/27/2014

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.

Lake Tekapo - Day 1!

7/26/2014

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.

How I feel!

7/21/2014

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".

Visit to the U.S. Embassy in cold Wellington

7/15/2014

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.

National Refugee Resettlement Forum

7/11/2014

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.

Les Miserables

7/8/2014

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!

Wandering downtown Melbourne

7/7/2014

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.

In tribute to Jody's work with refugees

7/7/2014

While in Melbourne, Jody continued her work with international refugees. She attended and presented a paper at an international refugee conference. While wandering the streets of Melbourne I snapped this picture which pretty much says it all. Many thanks to Jody and all those wonderful people who work worldwide to increase the public's consciousness about the plight of the world's displaced peoples. This is so much on our mind as we see the unfortunate negative reaction to innocent children along the U.S. border. These children have done nothing to warrant such expressions of hate while trying to escape intolerable conditions in their home countries. How about a little Christianity people? Is that too much to ask?

Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary

7/6/2014

On a rainy Sunday, Jody and I traveled one hour outside Melbourne to the Healesville Sanctuary located in the historic Yarra valley wine region where we were thrilled to see kangaroos, koala bears, dingoes, wombats, and numerous other animals and birds indigenous to Australia. Healesville is world renowned for its work saving endangered animals from extinction and was one of the two major highlights of our trip to Melbourne.

Dingoe.

Birds.

Kangaroos.

My favorite, but don't know what he/she is?

Bats.

Duck.

Wallabies.

Royal Spoon Bills.

When we get home, this picture is getting printed and framed. I love it.

Koala Bears.

They are so funny. They eat a few leaves, get tuckered out, and sleep.

Emu.

Female Homo Sapien with hat and rain cover on.

I can't figure what this is, but it sure is funny looking.

The highpoint of our July Fourth - Jody and I visit the Sydney Opera House.

7/4/2014

The highpoint of our Sydney visit was a romantic evening of dinner at the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE and a performance of Verdi's RIGOLETTO. The performance was simply world-class. What a great climax to our trip to Sydney.

They had heaters outside the Opera House so we were able to dine in comfort with a wide selection of dining venues along the water's edge. Jody was in heaven. The place was packed with people having fun. No surprise. TGIF!

The view wasn't too shabby either. Behind us is the bridge I biked over earlier in the day.

We even had gawkers!

We got inside early to watch the auditorium begin to fill for the performance.

Obviously, I never tire of this bridge view. So, we end a magical evening and time in Sydney. Next stop tomorrow - Melbourne.