peeps in the tour group that were fast enough to get out of customs quickly. can u believe that they didn't take us to the hotel 1st to wash up?! 12 hrs on the plane (+ the 6 hrs it took us to fly down from san jo & wait for the next flight!!!). grrrrg!!!!
views of auckland from above mt. eden
the sky tower, where we spent the nites of auckland at
that hill, way down yonder, is called one tree hill
meet bessie
i think this is a port in auckland where we got dropped off before going into the aquarium
here are some penguins standing around...
and here are some penguins swimming
rn't those lobsters HUGE?!
a view from our 1st hotel room at sky tower. we then had to change to a different floor b/c the 1st floor was a smoking floor.
pretty christmas tree in the hotel. i think they like to decorate christmas w/ blue over there. no complaints here!
a totem pole at the waitomo caves
1 of the signs at the caves. i believe these peeps all went to the same school together.
some of the stuff we looked at in the caves
a part of our tour group
looking back at the cave that we just rafted thru. it was so cool! there were a bunch of glowworms on the top of the cave, & it looked like a dark nite filled w/ bright stars =D
some scenery after the boat ride
some scenery behind the place where we had lunch
some individual flowers taken. rn't the colors pertty?!
some waterlillies
had enough plants? how 'bout some animals!
here's to LKS
"say hello, donkey"
yay! bambi's mom is still alive!!!
the bus we took to go see the maori village. our bus driver thought we were canadian just cuz our tour guide was canadian. he told every-1 to sing a song from their country. when he got to canada, no 1 spoke up (mb b/c no 1 is canadian!!!). he then started singing "oh canada," their national anthem by hiimself. cool that he knew it. but annoying that we kept being told we were canadiens. b-4 we got off, we had to say bye, the maori way. what does that entail, u ask? well, u shake hands w/ your right hand & put your left hand on the other person's shoulder. u then touch nose to nose twice. yup! invasion of my personal space!!!
hey! i'm locked in!
architecture in the village
this is the extremely long name of this place. it's maori. yeah, try pronouncing that! did u know that "waka" means bus? "waka waka"
a hut that the maoris used to live in
scenery of the geysers. it was so cold outside, but of course, being near the geysers made it much warmer.
they consider this their christmas tree b/c it's always in bloom during christmas time
another pix of our tour group. u shoulda seen our guide. he looked like he was made of cameras =D
some more scenery
n/e-1 up for a scalding mud bath?
rn't i strong?! b afraid...b very afraid!!!
nah...nah! come & get us!
the process of shaving sheep. that guy had the sheep right where he wanted him. the poor sheep looks so cold! don't worry! their skin doubles w/in 24 hrs, so they'll have their wool back in no time!
got milk?
it was so cute watching those lil girls feed the lamb =D
the lamb was soooo cute!!!
those horns r quite scary!
some more sheep!
n/e-1 up 4 some rainbow trout?
how 'bout some duck?
if not...how 'bout a lizard?
the silver fern is the national tree of new zealand
a mini waterfall
this is either a redwood or sequoia from the states
a tui bird
an emu
what a pretty day? or mb i should say...what a pretty 10 seconds!
some dusk sceneries from the beach next to our hotel. man, did it smell like rotten eggs (the sulfur) in rotorua.
christmas day, on our way back from rotorua to auckland
black swans
a maori love story, kinda like romeo & juliet, took place at this island
unfortunately, the set to the hobbits was closed (being christmas day & all), so the following fake sets will have to do =(
the story of the hobbits
i have like 4 of these pix w/ allen in a different spot in the background each time. i can make a flip book!
some cool structure in front of some bldg on the way back from our wonderful korean bbq lunch
MELBOURNE
took about a 4 hr flight to melbourne (pronounced "mel-bin") on the 26th. know what the australian salute is? it's swatting flies away from your face. apparently, australia is quite popular for the flies' summer vacation!
welcome to the melbourne museum
a really giant rubix cube. this is the children's museum
had the hardest time getting my mom to take some decent pix
at church
it's a mini eiffel tower in melbourne. below it are some theatres.
some scenery in melbourne
finally some kangaroos!!!
i thought i was closer to roo, but i guess not. can't help it. ti made me scared to go near them!
this 1 was scary!!!
wallaby
look at the ducklings! too bad 1 was left behind =(
n/e-1 up 4 some turkey?
a lazy, sleeping wombat. reminds me of quite a few peeps!
at the penguin parade. waited til the sun went down (around 9-ish) & watched groups of penguins travel up the water onto shore. that wasn't as fun b/c we were sitting so far. but on the way back inside, u could c the lil penguins up close waddling, fighting, playing, etc. such cute lil things!
the nicest hotel that we stayed at. too bad we spent the least time in this hotel. i luv the couch next to the window. nice place 2 read.
now, for that long, treacherous ride to canberra. what a waste of time...especially when we could've taken a straight flight to sydney. grrrrg!!! the only thing 2 c in canberra were embassies, if u're even interested in that!
CANBERRA
the aboriginals set this up b/c they wanted their own embassy although they shouldn't need 1 b/c they're represented by the australian gov't
the old parliament house
the australian crest. the kangaroo & emu r both used b/c they cannot walk backwards, thus suggesting australian's progression
some scenery in canberra
back at the hotel, the kids played cards til late (good thing k gave me those care bear cards right b-4 my trip!). had lotsa fun! my face was red & burning up. i just thought it was cuz i was hot & laughing a lot or just drunk. who knew i was blowing up into a fever. felt HORRIBLE the next day. i think allen felt the same way i did. the whole trip up to sydney was disastrous! i was lying down on 2 seats when all of a sudden the bus driver decided to slam on his brakes! rolled down to the ground. apparently, a kangaroo had to cross the street. aye-ya!
we took a railway thing where we were caged up & went down a steep track. scary, but cool sights!!! i think this is a pretty good view of the blue mtns
um...something about 3 sisters turning into rock. but don't really know why or the full story cuz 1. i was dying & 2. i was dying.
some more scenery of whereever we were
& now off to a wildlife park...
wallabies
a southern cassowary
i believe they're both pelicans...unless 1/both look like an egret
some birds
some sleeping koalas
a koala that's actually awake!
trying to pose w/ the koala, meanwhile it's sitting on its branch pooping
emu
some of the penguins that we saw at the penguin parade
a tasmanian devil. took me foreva 2 take this pix b/c the thing wouldn't stop runnin around!!!
some albino kangaroos
some peacocks, including an albino 1
SYDNEY
reunion dinner at a chinese restaurant. hadn't eaten for about 2 dys prior 2 this b/c my fever kept coming & going. so we saved 3 seats 4 lana, kim, & allen, but they didn't end up coming. so these 3 guys from canada came & sat down. the 1 sitting next to me was so scary. he kept coming closer & closer, to the point where he was almost sitting on my chair. he was totally interested in bi, who was sitting on the other side of me. he was even more interested in her when she said she liked hockey & liked watching them fight. good thing i kept my mouth shut =D the guys from brisbane, across the table, thought that we knew these guys from b-4. yeah right! so yeah...scary peeps! reminds me of the guys i met at pleasure island. i know canadians r friendly, but still. i need my space (or as jen puts it...my "bubble")!!!
finally well enough to take pix of sydney!
sydney opera house. definitely not as nice as son's pix!
finally a group pix of the kids
a group pix of our tour + some extra peeps
opera house + bridge
catholic church in sydney
some more scenery in sydney
bondi beach (pronounced "bundy")
at the gala. it was so boring! the entertainment was so horrible. that guy showed up again & went straight for bi. c...i told u he liked her =D after dessert, went back to our hotel room to play cards. felt bad for leaving the brisbane guys there, but i was sick of being there!
gambling after the gala
at the powerhouse museum was an exhibit of lord of the rings. it was pretty cool! there were drawings, cels, & the clothes from the movies. in addition, they had lil movie clips depicting how things were made &/or done. also, finally met up w/ son.
this is the convention center where the convention was held. our hotel was right next to it.
the harbourside of darling harbour, in front of our hotel & the convention center
they had 2 firework shows, at 9 & at 12. we had thai for dinner & just sat & watched the fireworks from our table. it was so cool! wonderful shows! to the distant left were 2 other firework shows, 1 being at the opera house. the other was probably at the rocks. it was nice. although it was far in the distance, i could still c a lot of it =)
early start on new year's to the airport. they had really cute structures there!
harry potter made of legos
a pix from the airplane. the clouds look so fluffy!
FIJI - "BULA"
this is something i saw from the plane, & when i stepped off, i had a chance to take the pix. it looked so cool. but man, was fiji HUMID! i didn't think i was going to make it!
a really pretty tree. my mom says they have a lot of these in vietnam
this looks like the same flower found in hawaii
the dock & boat that we took to beachcomber island
beachcomber island. had a nice relaxing afternoon. granted, the pork had gnats flying all over it, but everything else was cool. walked around the whole island, took a lil boat & saw fish & coral through the clear bottom, & read. very relaxing!
some view from the balcony of my hotel room
had a difficult time climbing this tree w/ flip flops, but finally got it =D
at the sheraton fiji resort
various colors of hibiscus
some more flowers
petals on the ground
can u spot the frog?
some fiji scenery
i'm almost as tall as the palm tree!
never did find out what this was growing on the tree
this was crazy! u look up, & this is all u c!
the beach behind our hotel
isn't the water dirrty?! we had to walk thru this & climb rocks to go c a tiny, ugly waterfall. prior to this, we did have a good lunch though! most of the food was made w/ coconut juice/cream. we even had chicken that was buried & made under ground. kinda like (um...loosely translated) beggar's chicken, like in the chinese movies. it was pretty good! then we took a motor boat up the river to this wonderful place. o yeah! & on the way there, we had a flat tire. had to stand outside for a while in the spit rain, while the mosquitoes were having a feast w/ me.
they considered this a waterfall. to c the big waterfall, u had to get in the water (which was pretty deep b/c ppl were diving off the rocks) & climb up the rocks using a rope (& being like tarzan). there was no way i was getting in that water!
i had the hardest time climbing this log, but then i found a rock to jump off of =D should've climbed the log to the middle, so i could be above the water, but being in white shorts & flip flops wasn't the greatest attire for doing so. i then lost my flip flop down the river...good thing some-1 was downstream to grab it =D we then took a boat raft a lil down stream. oh my goodness! quite scary! they kept adding more peeps on our raft & u could c the bamboo start to spread. aye-ya! it didn't look stable at all. & they kept making me scoot down, so i was sitting on the end. then the guy who was rafting us kept dropping water on me. i think he was having a good time annoying me. then our side of the raft kept dropping in the water, & i got my rear all soaked. got so wet after that! so by the end of the day, i was tired & dirty. great, i know! talked to this girl from melbourne. it was so weird cuz she was born in hong kong, yet has an australian accent after 10 yrs in melbourne. had the hardest time understanding her. it's a good thing i'm not staying in va that long...may come back w/ a southern accent =) took about 3 hrs to drive back & made every single stop possible. stopped b/c we thought we had another flat. stopped again to switch bus drivers. stopped yet again to get gas & 1 other time 4 who knows what reason. just barely got back to the hotel in time to change & get back on another bus to go to the airport (nope! no shower!). got to the airport, & guess what! a 4 hr delay! what a joy! by this time it was like 10-11 pm. so u could c every-1 grab a row of chairs & just sleep (yup! did the same thing). almost bought a roxy australia backpack, but they didn't have the size i wanted. oh well! so took a 12 hr flight back to la. waited there for another several hrs cuz of course, the flight was delayed!!! & then FINALLY got back home! only to come back to reality & all of the troubles that were left behind. what a joy, i know! u know what my mom was telling me yesterday? if we hadn't have gone to the convention (cuz it was so expensive), we would've gone to thailand/vietnam...in which case we probably would've been in thailand when the tsunami hit. not something to think about!