Flying Home with Class!

Literally.

Somehow Pat was able to get us in First Class for the "longest" leg of our trip. He told the kids they'd probably never fly that way again! I thought Business Class was pretty nice, but Pat thought this was awesome. Our seats actually folded down into beds!

Farewell Melbourne

We are on our way home to Minnesota. Here are a few pictures of the kids and their last day of school in Australia! That's the surpise!

Technical Difficulties

Some people have been wondering what's been going on lately? We have some more pictures to post as soon as we get the camera fixed (and a surprise too).

New Zealand - Bay of Islands

Once we finally made it to the Bay of Islands, we just "hung" out and enjoyed the view and the "cold" pool. The pool was not heated, and surprisingly it was actually pretty cold.
This was a failed retaining wall at our hotel - more evidence of all the rain here.

We took a ferry to a town called Russell, and climbed up to Flagstaff Lookout. The views were once again amazing.

This is Long Beach which was also in Russell.

I had the afternoon to shop, while Pat took the kids to an Adventure Park in Paihia that is actually run by some Olympic gymnasts. Apparently Pat tried the tight rope!

One highlight of this trip was our Dolphin Cruise. We saw 3 or 4 pods of dolphins, and Taylor and Pat actually got to swim with them.

This is a boom net that is used to quickly move everyone to where the dolphins are swimming. Taylor and Pat are on the lower left. The kids also got to ride in it for fun at the end of the cruise.

We also got to cruise through this big "hole in the rock".

As part of the cruise we also got to have lunch on this small island. We packed our own lunch and ate it on the beach. You can see our boat anchored in the distance.

This is Pat doing a swimming start! We did a small hike out to see Harura Falls.

This is the view from another hike. it was the lookout from Lady Besloe.

Pat and Brody are enjoying the view from another hike.

New Zealand - Auckland

We started our trip to New Zealand in Auckland - it really is a pretty big city. We took a ferry to a town called Devonport, and walked up Mount Victoria. It is an extinct volcano. The 360 degree views from the top were beautiful - just like a postcard. In fact, we now understand why people say this is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Here are some pictures from the sky tower. This is the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere. Riley wanted to bungee jump from the top, but you had to be 10 years old.

Here is a picture of Mack - the resident dog at our hotel. Hopefully Brandy and Bailey won't be jealous!

On the drive to Paihia, we stopped at Sheep World. They showed us how they use the herding dogs to round up the sheep. It was really amazing how well the dogs were trained! Pat even had to help "sort" sheep. It was pretty funny. They all came flying through the chute, and he had to move doors on the gate to send them into the right chute.

We even got to bottle feed this 1 week old lamb. Riley was upset because the lamb got poop all over her pants!

We arrived in New Zealand shortly after the 100 year storm. There were many signs of the storm, such as this farm that was flooded.

TBA

FYI - we're currently in New Zealand for Holdiay!

Brandy and Bailey (and Nuki, Josh, Alex, and Shanny)

Obviously we miss Brandy and Bailey, but as you can see they are spoiled rotten at Sherry's house, and they've made themselves right at home! Who would have thought that Sherry would have allowed the dogs on the furniture!


Brandy still likes to "sun" herself.

Alex and Bailey nap together and Brandy sleeps in bed with whoever will let her in. Kurt finally started shutting his door.

Christmas picture? Josh, Shanny and Alex all have their smiles on! I'm not sure about the dogs?

Brandy only does this to people she REALLY likes. Shanny should feel privileged!

Some things never change.

Wow, I hope they want to come home again!

Easter Program at School

Since they teach religion in the schools here, there was an Easter program at Riley's school for the kids Prep Year through Year Two. They all made their own "Easter bonnets" and paraded through the school. After that they sang songs for the audience. It was alot of fun!

As you can see, I was having some problems with the camera.

Mail Delivery

We have been waiting forever to "catch" the mail man delivering our mail. He doesn't come at a consistent time every day, but we finally got him. This is one of those things we giggle about every time we see it. They actually deliver mail on these little motorcycles! They just drive them right down the sidewalk.

2007 FINA World Swimming Championships

This year Melbourne was the host for the 12th annual FINA World Swimming Championships. I'm not sure why Pat (six-time All American swimmer in college) didn't want to attend any events? We did however attend the "festival" downtown that was centered around the event. There was music, street performances, and children's activities. They even had synchronized swinging! Yes swinging, not swimming.

This group of tribal dancers/singers were from the Solomon islands. We weren't sure what they had to do with swimming, but they were fun to watch anyway.

Didgeridoo

Yes, didgeridoo is a word......

Apparently, a didgeridoo is the oldest wind instrument in the world. The Aboriginal people believe it is the second oldest sound, the first being the voice and the second the didgeridoo. The traditional purpose for the didgeridoo was for playing during a corroboree. A corroberee is an Aboriginal dance ceremony performed to help bring water to the land. The longer the didgeridoo the deeper the sound. You can see that ours is about the same height as Brody.