Our Adventures

AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND FIJI

Hi Everyone,

Well we finally made it back; it was a great trip, but very tiring, seems just about everyone was catching a cold of some kind and that put a bit of a damper on the trip.

The countries we visited were so fantastic it is hard to explain all that we did and saw in those short three weeks. We were able to feed kangaroos and wallabies from our hands, see baby Joey's in their mommies pouch,

take pictures with Kola bears, and sit and watch four baby Tasmanian Devils play with there human mommy (what a blast that was).

Got to see 39 pound Rainbow trout, yes that's right 39 pounds. What a lot of fish to eat! They were so beautiful, and we also fed the white swans from our hands. All of the lakes seem to have black swans on them; they were so pretty to watch. Didn't see a lot of parrots, but did see a huge flock of cockatiels flying over Melbourne's city park. That was quite a sight.

We were also welcome by the Maori tribe on the island of New Zealand, what a welcome, WOW!! Scary!! Sure glad that we knew they were friendly up front, may have turned and ran for it.

Watched baby Kiwi's born and run around. I still think that was perhaps the highlight of my trip, to be so close to this strange little bird. They live up to eighty years and feed at night. Their eggs are almost as big as they are and the Daddy raises the two babies. Mommy just takes off to regain her weight and health as the egg is so big she can't eat for almost two weeks before she lays the first one. I could almost reach out and touch it. What a special treat!

We also went through an Arctic Experience, where we got to get up close and personal with several different types of penguins. I was told that there were babies as well, but didn't see them as we went through. Of course there were lots of fishes and sharks to see, you name it we saw it. Each of the cities was so different and beautiful in there own way.

I do believe that Sydney is one of the pretties cities in the world, but my lord is it every expensive. WOW and I mean double WOW!!!. We spent almost four days there exploring the area. The ship cruised mainly around the island of New Zealand and stop at several different ports. We also saw three of the New Zealand Sounds, which are magnificent to see. We cruised by the island called White Volcano, which was also a real treat as it was a huffing and puffing. (Oh by the way we went on a train called the Puffing Billy in Melbourne that was fun.) As we went by White Volcano we watched from the ship. This was real special, as it isn't always puffing smoke. While on New Zealand we were able to see some of there volcanic areas. They are so similar to what you see at Yellowstone, but still fun to watch.

After leaving the ship we headed for Fiji and several additional days of fun in the sun. The place we stayed had a super swimming pool! It looked a lot like a small safe piece of the ocean, with of course a swim up bar, but then why not!!! The weather was great in Fiji which was a blessing, as it hadn't been all that special while in Australia or New Zealand, so we made up for lost sun time. Some of us went out of other boats for snorkeling cruises. A couple made it out on a sailing ship for more snorkeling, but I was down in bed that day, the next day and the day we left for home. I had gotten strep throat and had to miss a couple of days. Monty was able to get out on a Jet ski with his sister and another friend. They went touring some of the outer islands, and also more snorkeling. I guess it was really great, from what they say. Sure wish I felt up to joining them, but perhaps another day.

That afternoon, Friday, we left Fiji at 7:30PM and arrived back at SeaTac the same day and the same time. Now just how did we do this??? We had crossed over the date line on leaving the United States and lost a day, so coming back we gained that day back. Interesting??

Can't wait to hear from each and everyone of you as to what you have been up to and how things have been going, we will have to try and make arrangements to get together soon.

Barbie and Monty