Our Little Visitors

Our Feathered Friends

First Visitors

Last week one morning we woke up to these feathered friends talking and squeeking very loudly on our balcony railing. The colors on these parrots are fantastic. They carried on quite the conversation amongst them. Very special to see.

We also have had several kookaburras sitting on the powerline just past our balcony. These pictures are of one bird only. Once we had two kookaburras sitting on the same line and the conversation they had was really cute. They talked and laughed as kookaburras do. Really something to watch and listen to.

Our Weekend in New Zealand - Continued

Our Weekend in New Zealand continued - Sunday Sept 14 & 15, 2008

Hell's Gate Natural Geo-Thermal Reserve & Wai Ora Spa

Hello to everyone from Hell's Gate. This was truely a magnificent sight to see. It reminded us of how maybe the surface of the moon would look like. The water in all the different pools continuously bubbles all the time. Let us take you for a little tour guide through the gates of Hell.

This is the most active geothermal field in the Rotorua area. The reserve is set in a 50 acre area with quite the variety of geothermal pools, boiling mud and steam rising from the earth. This is a 2.5km walk around the area with hot water pools in excess of 100C. A Maori princess "Hurutini" lost her life trying to save her people and this led to the naming of the area as Tikitere. The Maori used this area as a place for healing and revitalising for over 800 years.

Playwrighter, George Bernard Shaw saw this area and looked at the "hell like" landscape and gave the reserve its name.

This is a sign that you see as soon as you start on the walk through the geo-thermal area. Not likely that we were going to litter!!

The activity levels of these pools varies throughout the year. They are very active like young children and thus the name. There is a thin crust of earth that can be seen hence the danger of walking off the path.

This pool looks like black mud or ink. It has a temperature of 120C. There are three different types of geothermal muds - black, grey & white. The black mud like in this pool has been used in the treatment of arthritis and rheumatism.

This is the only example of a mud volcano in New Zealand. Mud formations usually only reach a maximum height of 1 meter. This mud volcano currently has a height of 2.4 meters and is growing. It does erupt about every 6 weeks or so but usually at night.

The steaming cliffs pool is the hottest on the reserve. At the surface the water is 122C and one meter below the temperature is 145C. The boiling water at times can reach heights of more than 3 meter above the surface. It was hard to take a picture of this for the steam rising was thicker than fog at times. We took a video of the steaming cliffs but it was too large to download.

This is a Maori wood carving. We saw this on the start of our bush walk. Matthew it is up to you to figure this one out for we forgot what it is! Let us know what you find out. It is amazing the vast contrast in landscape as you go from one part of the reserve to the next. You need to walk through this luscious landscape to view the rest of the goe thermal reserve.

The "Kakahi Falls". This is the largest hot water fall in the Southern Hemisphere. Its temperature is approximately 40C, that of a nice hot shower. These falls hold a special place for the Maori people. The warriors used these falls to bathe in after battle. The sulphur in the water acted as a salve for the wounds and scratches that the warriors received in battle.

During the bush walk there is an amazing contrast from that of the geothermal area. From what seems like barren land with steam and bubbling mud to lush jungle like greenery. This bush walk contains many examples of the native New Zealand plants. The beautiful colors of these shrubs and their flowers are due to the fertilizing effect of the sulphur produced from the geothermal activity.

The flax was the most important for the Maori. It was used for baskets, clothing, binding for wounds, buildings, canoes, tools, and weapons. It also has medicinal purposes as well. An example is to aid a toothache and dressing for wounds.

The Silver Fern is New Zealand's national emblem. The Maori warriors used it to mark their path. The leader of the warriors would turn up a leaf. The underside (silver) would reflect and guide the rest of the warriors. The last warrior would then turn down the leaf so no one would know where they have been. For the Maori the fern has always meant going to achieve something, a goal.

The black tree fern was used for both food and medicinal purposes. The stem and trunk was used for food. The young fronds for skin inflammations. The pith for sore, swollen feet. Gum for diarrhoea.

The Manuka tree has many medicinal purposes such as to treat fever, colds burns. It was also used as a sedative and for body stiffness and more.

Hell's Gate also has a wide variety of spa treatments. We decided to take in the "private" mud bath. The water was nice and warm and the mud - well we'll say no more on that!!


After the mud bath we went into the sulphur pool. It was hot but refreshing at the same time. Nice to soak the body after the walk around the reserve.

After we left Hell's Gate & Spa we were on the road again. Here are a couple of pictures of the wonderful mountains we saw in New Zealand. Just breathtaking.

We stopped for the night in a small town of Levin. It was late at night so we didn't get to see much until morning. The tree on the right is a lemon tree. It was just behind our room. Nice room and reasonable as well.

How would you like to wake up to sheep in the morning. Our motel room was at the end and beside us was a sheep farm. First thing in the morning we went out for a "conversation" (smoke) (hence the lovely hair) and were greeted by the sheep.

Monday morning we started on the road again. Our last day in New Zealand for our plane was leaving early afternoon. We stopped at "Otaki" Beach which was not too far from Wellington where we had to catch our plane. Really nice beach but it was pretty cold and windy that day. There was lots and lots of shells which I would of liked to bring home but you cannot remove them from the beach let alone bring them back to Australia.

Clam shells on the Otaki Beach.

That concludes our trip to New Zealand. We cannot express enough how beautiful it was and the sights & tours we experienced were a thrill of a lifetime. We hope the pictures give you a taste of New Zealand. We strongly suggest that anyone coming over to Australia take the extra couple hour flight to see New Zealand. This is only the northern island that we saw and only the tip of the iceburg. We hope to go back there and see more of the northern island and take in the southern island as well. It was so worth the trip. Just to let you know that we took over 400 pictures of New Zealand. We will have to show more to you when we see you next.

Take care everyone and there are more posts coming in a couple of days featuring our little visitors, another beach trip and a new category "Same but Different".

Love always,

Bryan & Maureen

Hello Everyone! - Sept 24 5PM - Aussie Time

Just thought I would write you all a little note to keep everyone up-to-date on things over here.

Spring is here! Last weekend the weather was fantastic with tops of approximately 25 and 31C. Very nice indeed. Saturday we went and closed the deal on our new vehicle. We purchased a Hyundai Tucson. We should get it by the end of the month. Then we went to Shelly Beach. It was really really busy. It kinda gave us an idea of how the Summer will be.

We did a little bit more shopping on Sunday and bought a cappuccino machine. We were getting tired of paying $3.75 and more per "Flat White" - which is kinda like a cappuccino. We would of had a machine basically paid for already. So, now we can make all the flat whites we want. Be assured we'll make you guys one when you come over too. We also bought a microwave. Funny how you miss things when you don't have them. We bought some microwave popcorn yesterday and we're looking forward to having that!

After shopping we just went home and tried out our new cappuccino machine. It takes a bit getting used to.

Monday morning was not a good one. Bryan left for work as usual and came back up to the unit a couple of minutes later to inform me that our garage was broken into. Our garage is two floors underground. The intruders busted a small window in the back seat, passenger side. They took our GPS unit and later we found out Bryan's wallet as well.

Bryan called the police right away and later that morning they sent a forensic policeman and he did the whole CSI thing. He tried to dust the outside of the car for prints but the perpetrators wore gloves. He did spot some blood on the broken window and he was very excited about that. He is going to send it off for DNA. He was very positive about getting the perpetrator. They also had quite the spending spree that night as well. They went to quite a few other Sydney suburbs and went from 7-11, to several petrol stations to McDonalds to a tobacconist to EB Games. Little do they realize that several of the places they went have CCTV and the police will be getting their video tapes. They are good as caught. There was 17 break-ins that the forensic went to that morning. We were just one of many. Rest asured everyone we were told that Westmead is a good area to live in. We had to take back our hire car and get another one. This time we gave them my driver's licience and now I can drive!! Good for me but not so good for Bryan. I have driven a couple of times this weekend and I think I am doing not too bad but I guess I still have some improving to do! Not so easy to drive on the wrong side of the road and sit on the wrong side of the car.

I am still trying to get a few more things organized in our unit. We still need some bedroom furniture and a couple of other items but our unit is really starting to feel like home. Bryan is very busy with work but he is enjoying it too.

I should have the last segment of New Zealand done sometime this week so keep checking the blog. I appologize for not having the wedding slide show posted yet but I am still trying to figure out how to post a powerpoint presentation or how to change a slide show into a video. I'll get there though! Perseverance!!

I hope you all are doing well. We are just fine over here. Take excellent care of yourselves and of each other. Send emails and keep in touch. That's all for now.

All Our Love Bryan & Maureen

Our Weekend Together in New Zealand

OUR WEEKEND TOGETHER IN NEW ZEALAND

September 12 - 15 2008

BED & BREAKFAST - WAITOMO

Our weekend together started with staying at a wonderful B&B on Friday night. It had a fantastic view of the surrounding hills and a garden area that all gardens would die for. Take a look at the Rhododendrum. They grow like trees in New Zealand. The climate is just perfect for them. The hostess of the B&B said that she keeps on cutting it down but cannot keep up with its growth. This B&B is a place that we would highly recomment to all travellers.

WAITOMO (WHY-TOE-MO) CAVES - THE SPELLBOUND TOUR

Only 12 people at a time are allowed on the tour. This is a picture of our tour group and the tour guide was kind enough to take pictures of us.

BOAT TOUR THROUGH THE FIRST CAVE - GLOWWORM CAVE

The first cave that we went through was the one filled with "Glowworms". Glowworms are just that, worms that glow. Once in the boat we all turned off our lights and started into the cave via the boat in total darkness. The darkness did not last long for once your eyes get adjusted to the dark you start seeing the wonderful sight of the "Glowworms".

DENSLEY PACKED GLOWWORMS ON THE CEILING OF THE CAVE

Pictures taken from the website Glowworms larva & threads

It is unbelievable to see these. The only comparison that we can think of is that of the "Milky Way". Thousands and thousands of glowworms. A truly magnificent sight to see.

The "Glowworm Cave" was chosen for Sir David Attenborough's recent "Life in the Undergrowth" and "Planet Earth" series.

SECOND CAVE - "THE CAVE OF THE SPIRIT"

The second cave is one that we walked through. The pictures just do not give it justice. I appologize for the quality of the photos but I am still trying to figure out how to work a few things with the camera.

This picture on the left has bones of a very old primitive bird that was discovered.

The picture on the right is our group at the "cathedral" area of the cave. It is a HUGE cathedral style opening in the cave.

The picture on the right is "guess who"? We are at the opening of the cave. Nice guide we had for he was more than happy to take pictures of whoever and of whatever the tour group wanted.

OUR BUSH WALK

After the two caves we went and had a bit of lunch and decided to take our tour guides suggestion and take in a bush walk. I was OK with this for New Zealand has no natural preditors. No poisonous snakes or spiders. The walk was estimated to take 30 minutes but it took us much longer for we had to stop and explore our own caves that we found and take many pictures. It was well worth the walk.

Left: A view of the countryside before we went on our walk.

Right: The route we took on our walk.

Left: Bryan doing some of his own cave exploring.

Right: " TARZAN" - The vines were incredibly thick.

Left: The ferns in New Zealand were super huge!

Right: Us having the time of our life!

This concludes the caves and our bush walk. The next on the agenda is the awesome natural goethermal places - Hell's Gate - that we saw along with mud baths etc.

Keep checking the blog for it should be up within a few days. Take care everyone and I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

All Our Love Bryan & Maureen