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!