Lorraine and I flew out of Logan on Mon., 9/13 at 3:00pm and arrived in Auckland, New Zealand at 5:30am on Wed., 9/15. What happened to Turesday? It evaporated into thin air as a result of the 16 hour time difference between Boston and New Zealand and due to traveling over the International Time Zone. Jeffrey flew to Auckland from Melbourne (pronounced "Melbin" by the Aussies). on Wed. afternoon to meet up with us. It was great to see him as he's been in Austrailia since July 3rd and we have been missing him alot. We spent 3 great days in Auckland. We toured the city; swam in a shark cage, (no kidding we have the pics to prove it!); saw a penguin colony (Lorraine's new favorite friends); took a ferry to an Waiheke Island (think New Zealand's version of Nantucket) which had 2 wineries, both of which were located on sloping hillsides overlooking the harbor with the Auckland skyline off in the distance - incredible vistas; and generally tried to get a feel for life in this country around the world from us. They are just coming out of the winter here so the weather is similiar to late March / early April.
On Friday, we flew to Melbourne and hooked up with Lorraine'sbrother Justin and sister - in - law Linda who are living in Melbourne for 3 years on a job assignment. They live about 25 minutes from Monash University where Jeff is studying.
On Sat. we headed for the coast and drove along "Great Ocean Road" which is about a 3 hour ride high above and along the coast line. They drive on the left side of the road here - iknd of scary when you are riding in the back seat. Very high, rolling surf almost the whole way. This area is popular with surfers and we saw quite a few at different spots along the way. Incredible scenery and breathtaking photo ops at almost evrey turn of the narrow, sometimes winding roadway. Along the way we stopped and got up close and personal with kangaroos and koala bears.We went by a few golf courses where instead of seeing a flock of geese on the fairway there would be several kangaroos of various sizes milling around - an odd but interesting sight.We stayed overnight on Sat. at a cliff top motel in a town called Apollo Bay. Again, incredible views. The outdoor balcony of our room overlooked sheep and cows grazing in lush green valleys below which rolled down to the ocean and the pounding surf - quite a sight.
This week we have spent time at Jeff's school which is about a 30 minute bus/train ride from Melbourne; spent time walking around the village Justin and Linda live in and yesterday we spent the day walking around Melbourne. The city reminded us of a less crowded NY City without the edge. There were a zillion retail stores, cafes, bars and restaurants. Very little jay walking and no honking horns.
Today we head to Sydney for a few days which we are excited about before heading home on Sunday.
Jeff is doing well. Monash is no cake walk - study wise. Alot of research and writing. He has traveled to the "Outback" and the "Gold Coast" and is leaving today for a 10 day semester break trip called "One Fish, Two Fish"which takes the group to 8 different locations (including the Great Barrier Reef) with awesome activities including skydiving, bungy jumping and snorkeling. As they say around here: "Not too shabby Mate".
As for Christo, he has landed safely in Florence, Italy and has settled in with his host family who is a 60 year old widow, whose name is" Maribella". Chris reports that Maribella speaks good english, is a very good cook (dinner every night at 7:30) who makes he and his roomate, Billy Solarno eat everything she cooks and finihes every meal with a plate of fresh fruit. We video skyped him last night. It was great to see him. He and his roomate are leaving Friday morning at 3:30am for Munich, Germany where they will meet up with friends from Loyola (who are studying in other countries) to "participate" in Octoberfest. The only glitch so far for Christo is that he broke his house key trying to open a bottle of wine (we thought we taught him the right technique?) and he is hesitant to tell Maribella.
Anyway all is well. We will post our impressions of Sydney after we get home.
That is it for now from Down Under.
We hope all is well with everyone and that when you are reading this you are having a day with "no worries mate".
John and Lorraine
