Maybe in Oz

I've been supporting New Zealand as part of my job for almost seven years now and just finally travelled there for work a couple weeks before Christmas.  Normally I would have jumped at the chance to go, but we had our house electrical appointment scheduled for that week so I tried to get out of the trip.  Unfortunately, and fortunately, I couldn't and found myself meeting a coworker from the US there for a couple days in New Plymouth.   Auckland from the plane Auckland from the plane Phil and I had driven past New Plymouth while on vacation - enough to see the Mount Taranaki Volcano that stands out from the surrounding green fields.  A good way to get through jet lag is to go for a walk, so after meeting up with my coworker we took a short drive to the base of the volcano and had a nice walk along the base.  The top had been covered with clouds, but for a few brief minutes the clouds parted and we finally got to see the peak. The clouds finally pa...

Last weekend we flew to Sydney to meet up with our friend.  She was headed home to San Diego from Thailand and stopped here on the way.  We're very glad she thinks Australia is on the way home from Asia, though considering her return flight was cancelled and she had to fly back via Canada I'm not so sure she'd think that any more :)   The view from our flat Saturday morning we met up with a couple Sydney friends and went for a stroll in Manly.  It was a beautiful morning, warm but not scorching (unlike Melbourne that day) and the water was nice and clear.  We walked along the coast to Shelly Beach and then went up onto the cliffs for a bit.  Then we had morning tea at a cafe across the way. With our friend in Manly Sydney friends Walking along the cliffs Shelly Beach For lunch we stopped at Four Pines Brewing and had some tucker and a few bevies.  Thoroughly sedated, we said goodbye to the Sydney friends and went back for an aft...