A break from tales of New Zealand - ANZAC DAY

Today is Anzac day. It is a day of remembrance, like Memorial Day. People here take it very seriously. First there is a dawn service at the local war memorial then people have barbecues and things. Unfortunately it rained buckets today and areas of the park were flooded almost up to Pete's knees (yes, there is a drought, just not in Newcastle). There was supposed to be a neighborhood barbecue but don't think it will happen. I have been told that today is the only day that it's legal to gamble anywhere you want. That's because it's traditional to play a gambling game called "two up" - basically heads or tails with two coins - on Anzac day. So I am told.

The All Blacks

The New Zealand Football team is called the All Blacks. It's what we call rugby. They do a Maori war chant/dance called the Haka before every game. Haka means dance. When they play against other Polynesian teams both teams sometimes do their own. Check out the NZ vs. Tonga pre-game Haka on Youtube. Other New Zealand teams also do the Haka - we are hoping to see it when the NZ warriors play the Newcastle United Knights in Energy Australia stadium here in Newcastle on May 12. Stay tuned for the home video!

Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula

Christchurch Botanical Garden

First stop, Christchurch

Lots of potential for postcard-style photos in Christchurch, so I thought I'd put up a parking garage and a phone booth, below, for variety. They're pretty attractive for what they are.

Our NZ itinerary stops--places where we booked lodging--goes like this: Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown, Fox Glacier, Greymouth and back to Christchurch. There were many stops in between of course for sightseeing. Once we got to Dunedin we opted out of a night in Te Anau and the attendant trip to Milford Sound and decided to spend an extra night in Dunedin and head straight to Queenstown. The extra driving to Te Anau and the Sound just seemed like too much to handle. Yes, Milford Sound is touted as a must-see attraction, but you know what?, the South Island is chock full of spectacular scenery, and devoting an extra day to exploring Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula was well worth it.

Preparing for lift off

Setting off for 11 days exploring New Zealand's South Island during the Easter school holidays. Nicholas and Peter are standing in front of the pre-electronic era train schedule board at the Broadmeadow station, a short walk from our house in Hamilton, a suburb of Newcastle. The train stops on the board are rotated and changed by a foot pedal (not shown) at the bottom of each column. We're headed to Sydney Airport, about a three hour ride all told, to sleep over night in the Fomule One hotel, located next to the airport and across the highway from the "SUPREME" Rat & Mouse TRAP factory. A round-trip on the train from Newcastle to Sydney Central station is cheap, about $37 for an adult. However, the trip from Central Station to the airport, about five stops, is $10 each way on a recently built, privately operated train. We're told that Sydneysiders boycotted the airport train for a long time to protest the high fare. Convenience won out though once everyone realized how much time the train saved.

Our trip got off on the wrong foot when we left a backpack on a bench at the station. The next stop, Cardiff, came faster than I thought it would, and after fumbling with the tickets to give them to Sarah, the train door locked just before I could get off. About 10 minutes later I got off in Fasifern, in the middle of nowhere near Lake Macquarie. Everything worked out though--got the backpack from the station guys at Broadmeadow, met a very nice tennis-playing, New Zealand-native doctor from Newcastle (who has only been to the South Island once in his life) on the ride to Sydney, and got to our shoebox at Formule One about an hour after the rest of the family.