Australia - Gold Coast

After 2 fun weeks in NZ we flew to the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia. My brother lives there and we were excited to spend 2 weeks there and get a taste of Aussie.



Here is Paul and Mum at the Gold Coast airport getting ready to go through immigration. Australia is really meticulous about what you can take into the country so their immigration is strict as. Paul got pulled over randomly (I think its because he had a US passport) and he had a few goods that he forgot to declare. The immigration officer was really nice though and let him off without a fine. Ahh ya gotta love the aussies .... actually not really.

Hanging out at Raglan ...

A favorite beach for me growing up and still to this very day is Raglan. Many times I would drive out there with friends have a great time and just hang out. We drove out to where they surf and walked around on the rocks and enjoyed the great view.



I love the beach. It just makes me forget about everything and the sea has such a calming influence on me.



I love this picture of my niece and I walking down to the beach. I have been so close to my niece ever since she was a baby and every time I see this picture it just reminds me of how much I'm close to her and how much I love her.



The following pictures show how we each contemplate at the beach. My niece is a dancer and this is how she best thinks ....



.... Paul's thinking is so influential and radiant it shines abundantly through him. I've never seen anything more wonderful and ....



.... me well nothing special just contemplating my life the simple way.



I love the beach, but I love it more when I'm there with people who mean something to me in my life.



When life sucks and your life is nothing but hell, pack a lunch, good book, ipod and escape to the beach :)

NZ Bilingual Elementary School

Because Paul teaches elementary school we wanted to visit a school while in NZ. A very nice lady (Mona) who worked with my brother set up a visit to go to bilingual (English / Maori) elementary classes. It was so cool cos when I left NZ schooling was all in English. So I was just as excited as Paul was and it was great.



The Bilingual kids practice maori cultural traditions in the classroom. We got a maori welcome by the kids first thing in the morning and then we got to visit their classrooms. I loved all the work on the wall ....



... and the bright colours used for posters and pictures. It really brought the classroom alive.



Here is one class that we visited and the kids were so smart for their age.



Here is the other class that we visited (younger kids) and they were a similar age to the kids that Paul teaches. They had really good handwriting, very motivated, fun to chat with and the class was so much fewer in numbers than what Paul has to teach. Some of the biggest differences Paul noticed was that the recess and lunch breaks were longer, school started later, classes were smaller, teachers really get a break time where they can eat, break and be ready for the next block of instruction. This was a great visit!

Some more fun in Auckland: Museum, Sky Tower, and yes more jumping

A must in Auckland is to go to the Sky Tower. It is attached to a casino, restaurants and bars. Going up the Sky Tower is a highlight and you get a great panoramic view of the city. There are glass panels on the floor that you can walk over and get a view of just how high up you are.



Here we have a view from down on the waterfront in Auckland. In the background you can see the Sky Tower (tall skinny thing) and that is where we headed to.



Not only can you see the great views you can also jump off the tower (I know). It;s kinda like a bungy but it is guided because it is right in the middle of downtown with buildings and the business district. So while you are up in the lookout portion of the tower there is a screen that says "Jumper in 2 mins" (I know sounds like a suicide viewing). So everyone gets ready to see the jumper and they actually stop the jumper right outside the viewing deck so all the tourists can gasp, take a picture, nearly faint, laugh etc... So the poor guy is just hanging there and then in no time he just drops. You can apparently jump almost anyway in NZ.



We managed to get into the Auckland Museum for an hour before it closed and it has been years since I have been there. Its huge and on a hill located at the Auckland Domain. Its quite a sight to see. This is us out the front and ....



... this is a better view of the front where you can see just how huge it is. We managed to see most of the NZ section which consisted of culture, traditions, early schooling, famous kiwi people etc ....

Rotorua - Mean Maori Mean

New Zealand has some beautiful scenery. I forgot just how green this country really is. While driving to Rotorua there is a stretch of road that is just covered with punga trees, rich green foliage and its just a beauty to drive through.



While in Rotorua we drove around and did a bit of sight seeing. Rotorua is famous for its sulphur geysers and the lake. So we drove around and got a few snaps.



That night we went to "The Mitai Village". This is where you get to experience some maori cultural traditions. We got picked up from our motel on a shuttle. it was a cold night with a little bit of drizzle but it stopped once we got there.



The whole cultural experience consisted of hangi (maori dinner cooked under the ground), watching maori warriors canoe down the river, maori show including explaining of maori tatoos, dances, traditions and then a bush walk to see glow worms at night. In maori tradition you have a chief that talks on behalf of all visitors so they asked for a volunteer to be our chief. Of course I volunteered Paul (much to his unliking) but he did such a great job. Here are some pics of the night.



Paul being told what his chiefly duties consist of. He had to lead us all in, accept the warrior challenge and pick up the token saying we came in peace, give a short speech thanking them for inviting us and then the traditional hongi (pressing noses).



This is when the maori warriors came down the river on a canoe. This was quite stunning to see as they werr chanting and so we couldn't see them initially but could hear them. They had fire torches and we were all watching on the side of the bank.



Paul and I next to the long canoe (waka) which is at the entrance of the Mitai village.



This is art of the show where we saw cultural dancing. These are the women swinging the poi balls.



This is after Paul had accepted the token on behalf of all of us visitors. He was an awesome chief and did such a great job.



Haka more cultural dancing with the men doing the haka. This place was awesome and we met some cool tourists people from Aussie,USA, Spain, Canada etc. We had a great time.