KEA - Our Home Away from Home

Well we picked up our little camper and are off traveling NZ. It was kinda tight at first, and we had lots of laughs about it. Our first night, we made our bed, piled the covers on and crawled in for a good sleep. We spent extra to get a camper with AC and last night it was so COLD in Hokitika, we were freezing when we crawled out this morning. It is so good to stop at a scenic spot in the road and have lunch. Today we left Hokitika and headed out for Franz Joseph and Glacier Country. It was a great drive with lots of sheep, one lane bridges, dairy cattle and huge lakes. We arrived and checked into The Rainforest Holiday Park, then headed up to the glacier for a look. It was beautiful to see the glacier with the sun shinning down on it. Tonight we had spaghetti, garlic bread and NZ wine in our little home after a soak in the spa. Tomorrow we are off to Queenstown, a long drive, but we will be there for three days.
We have had a great time, so many laughs, it will a trip to remember.

Tranz Alpine Train

This morning we boarded the Tranz Alpine Train for a trip to Greymouth and back across some breathtaking country. The skies were gray as we left Christchurch, but cleared and we had great weather for our trip.
Tonight we had Mexican food in New Zealand, a different experience for sure, but the first seasoned food we have found. I tried to talk Dale into the Lamb Tacos, but he wasn't game. We found an internet cafe with what seems to be high speed near our hotel tonight.
In the morning we pick up the camper-van and head out on the final leg of our adventure. This will be a true test of the marriage, Dale driving on the wrong side of the road has proven to be a thrill.
We both keep saying "Keep Left"!
We have seen and done so much, but I think the best is yet to come, as far as scenery and beauty.

Kiwi Country

We have now arrived on the North Island of New Zealand and are in the town of Rotorua on a big lake surrounded by mountains. We arrived yesterday, landing in Auckland from Melbourne, Australia. We picked up our car and headed out to Thames, arriving at our resort, the Miranda Holiday Park a few minutes before it closed. We rented a chalet and enjoyed a soak in the Hot Springs. This morning we drove down the coastline, seeing lots of beautiful beaches, before heading inland to Rotorua. Tonight we are at Anne's Volcanic Motel.
In the morning we have a whitewater trip on the Kaituna River, with the highest navigable waterfall, a 21 foot drop. Hope it is fun! Tomorrow night we are attending a Maori Experience with a Hangi (meal) to learn about the original inhabitants of this country.
This area produces avocados, corn, kiwi, apricots, and the most beautiful heads of lettuce I have ever seen. We also saw many vineyards were grapes are grown for wine making.
The trip is going good, we are getting the hang of driving on the left side of the road, we are kinda finding that we enjoy hot tea, fish and chips are pretty good and all the electrical plugs must be turned on before using. We splurged today and bought a small bag of ice for a good cold coke, around here you are lucky to get a cube or two.
The weather is great, warm during the day and cool at night,

On Our Way to Melbourne

We are sitting in the Cairns airport waiting on our flight to Melbourne. The weather is sunny, but still very humid. We checked out this morning and drove up the Captain Cook highway from Port Douglas to Cairns. Our stay in Port Douglas was great, one we will always remember. Hope everyone has had a chance to view our professional wedding pictures, they turned out great I think.

Last Day in Port Douglas

Our final day in Port Douglas is drawing to a close, a wet one for sure. They don't call it the rainy season for nothing. The day after the wedding we went out to the Great Barrier Reef with Haba. It was a great trip, I got in three dives, something I will always remember. The visibility wasn't as great as I hoped, about 60 feet, the water was warm, no current..............but the colors of the coral are breathtaking.





I saw a huge Coral Trout, lots of big clams, lots of Clown Fish, Nemo is alive and well in Australia, a big turtle, lots of small fish, etc............ I had a great dive buddy, Louise from Holland, a very good young diver. Our deepest dive was 67 feet with the other two being shallower, but we did get in three and had a tasty lunch. Dale snorkeled will I was "Down Under"
The next morning we joined two other honeymoon couples for a all day trip to the Daintree Rainforest. We had morning tea on the beach, kayaked, swam in a beautiful pond with No Crocs, had a very good lunch in the rainforest, then took an hour hike with our guide in the rainforest. We boarded a boat and ended the day looking for Crocs, we only found three.
Today we went to the market in the square at Port Douglas, lots of local crafts, fruits and veggies. We returned to our studio to enjoy lunch on the porch then headed out to meet our photographer, Steve and his wife to get our wedding photos.
We drove up to Mossman Gorge, took a walk along the gorge in a gentle rain. Tonight we had dinner at the local Yacht Club at the marina while a heavy rain came down.
We leave Port Douglas in the morning and fly to Melbourne, for our last few days in Australia before heading out to New Zealand and the Kiwis.
Australia is so beautiful and the people are so warm and friendly. Our resort "The Pink Flamingo" has been everything and more, a great place for a honeymoon. We have made lots of new friends and invited so of them to come to Texas. I already know I will want to return to this beautiful country.

Our Wedding "Down Under"

Well we are now man and wife, for better or worse, in sickness and in health.....etc. As you can see from the photos Dale had a brief moment were he felt faint! These Australians weren't quite sure what to make of this crazy "Texan".
It was a beautiful ceremony, very special, written as if Natasha has known us all her life. We changed plans because of the weather and moved the ceremony to the beautiful gardens at "The Pink Flamingo". After the ceremony we went with Steve and Anne, our photographer and witnesses to Four Mile beach for some great photos--I hope. Later we enjoyed a very romantic dinner at the Salsa Restaurant. When we went back to our studio we found a congratulation message from the staff and a cold bottle of bubbly in the frig for us.















This morning we were up early for a day of diving and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. I will be posting later to my blog about that part of our adventure. The guys on the boat wished us much happiness and gave us two bottles of bubbly to celebrate our vows. The bubbly here "Down Under" is pretty darn good!

Our Wedding Day

February 14, 2008 has finally arrived and our wedding ceremony is only hours away in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia. We arrived at our resort "The Pink Flamingo" yesterday after a brief drive up from Cairns..................on the wrong side of the road. Dale did pretty good, only making one minor error. Port Douglas is tropical, lush and very green after getting lots of rain this year. We had a meeting with our Wedding Celebrant, Natasha and talked with Mike our photographer and all systems are GO. This Natasha is much prettier than the one I sent you photos of in Sydney and smells much better.
We went for a walk of Four Mile Beach this morning after breakfast on our patio. The resort is lovely and I will post pics as soon as I can find a WiFi connection. I am off the have lunch, that Dale is preparing and then the preparations begin for the nuptials.
We have caught up on our sleep and will look better in the photos I hope, the plane ride to get to Australia is a killer, but worth the trip from what I have seen.
Dale did try to talk Natasha into adding "Obey" into the vows, but had no luck!

Good Day Mates!

We arrived in Sydney, tired and in need of a hot shower, but in true traveler form we hit the ground running. We walked down to Darling Harbor which was buzzing on a Sunday afternoon.
Sydney is a huge beautiful city that is breathtaking. We walked around the Harbor, took in some street performers, grabbed some fish and chips, and realized we were actually in Australia after months and months of planning.
Monday morning we walked down to meet out coach tour of the city highlights, our first upclose encounter with the impressive Harbor Bridge and a stop at the famous Sydney Opera House.
We enjoyed lunch on a harbor cruise on the Captain Cook and spent the afternoon walking around Darling Harbor. We grabbed a ferry at Circle Quay for a trip back to Darling Harbor and our apartment at the Goldsbrough Apartments.
Tomorrow morning we are off early to the Blue Mountains outside Sydney, breakfast at a Wildlife Preserve with kangaroos. It is suppose to be a great tour and the Blue Mountain area is sure to be another highlight.
The weather has been fantastic..not to hot and not to cool...almost perfect!

LAX

Well we are sitting at LAX waiting for our Quantas flight to Sydney. We drove into Houston last night, had a great dinner, a good night's sleep, and a casual breakfast this morning before meeting Dale's brother. Harlo dropped us off at the airport for our flight on Continental.
The flight was pretty easy and the time passed quickly. Now we have a long wait until takeoff at 10:45 Pacific Time. We plan on grabbing something to eat before we board.
Hopefully we will have good seats with plenty of leg room.
The next time I will have the opportunity to blog will be in Sydney, Australia.

Final days until trip

Counting down, our final days until we takeoff for Australia and New Zealand. It is hard to believe that the time has finally arrived for this trip of a lifetime. We are busy this week making sure everything is ready and taken care of.
I have begun to get out the suitcases and lay out my clothes, trying hard not to pack to much for the trip.

Happy 80th Birthday Mom!

On Saturday night, February 2, 2008 we surprised Mom with a birthday party at Sky Restaurant. Mother arrived and was shocked to find her children,all the grandchildren and even all the great grandchildren, plus lots of friends. She couldn't believe some had traveled so far to help celebrate her 80th birthday. Nick and Laney had driven down from Iowa, with Landry and Haper, the newest great grandbaby. Jo and Eddie David had come in from Hot Springs, Arkansas to surprise Mom, their third trip down to Texas this month
We enjoyed drinks before dinner and caught up on the latest in everyones lives. Dinner was delicious and enjoyed by all. The menu included steak, shrimp, snapper, and chicken with all the trimmings. After dinner we served chocolate birthday cake, which was yummy!
Lots of pictures were taken, including the famous stair-step picture re-creation of many years ago when the grandkids were much younger. Lanell had gather a bunch of old photos of Mom and made of memory board which everyone enjoyed. The grandkids with children had all made scrapbook pages of the great-grandkids and put them in a special scrapbook for Mom. She loved it and will love to show off her brood.
A good time was had by all and we pulled off the surprise.
Happy Birthday Mom!