The old homestead...

Decrepit old house...

...and the new spin: "Lovely beach front cottage, move-in ready!"

While in the area for a doctor's visit at Miami Children's Hospital, we stopped by to see our old house on 29th street in South Miami.  Needless to say, it was kind of sad.  The grass is about 3 feet tall, there's graffiti on the electrical box out front, and it doesn't look like anyone's lived there for a couple years.  The tree house out back, as well as the tree it was built around, are long gone.  The only things that are recognizable are the front entryway and the (now much larger) bushy trees along the street out front.  It's a shame, since the street varies overall from nice houses to ...well, this one.


For what it's worth, it didn't look too bad all that long ago.  Here's the image on Google Street View, from probably a few years ago:

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Homestead Air Show 2010

Last weekend we made it out to the Homestead Air Show for the first time in about 25 years. The last time we were there was in 1986 (Facebook album):

This year, the weather was beautiful: clear skies, a brisk 65 degrees in the morning, then 75 degrees and breezy in the afternoon. Cooper was really excited to see the big jet planes, and maybe even Uncle Peter...

Check out a few of the best pictures below, and a bunch more in the Gallery.

Photo Gallery

Zoe's Walk

From Jessica:

This is Zoe's idea of a walk.  What a tough life.  She gets pushed around in the stroller with the wind blowing through her hair and her stick close at hand.  Just a little spoiled but we don't mind.  Enjoy!

Letters From Far Away

Sometime last year, while poking around the Woodland farm, Peter found a box full of letters that our dad sent to Grandma and Grandpa.  He wrote them while he was away serving in the Army during the Vietnam War and with the Peace Corps a few years later.  The letters give the impression that it was more like "serving time in the Army" and "on [a very frugal] vacation with the Peace Corps".


Reading through them, they remind me of the give-and-take that comes with email correspondence.  On one hand, the letters require several days between responses (that's +1 for email if you're keeping score).  On the other hand, there's no way to grasp the mood of the writer beyond the words themselves.
There's also little things that stand out, like the Hotel Granada's letterhead on the paper.  It gives a nostalgic air to the letter, and couldn't be reproduced in an email.

The letters are available through Google Docs.  If you would, please help me transcribe them into digital text files, either using Google Docs or whatever text editor you have at home.  Then just name your file to match the PDF that's there now and upload it to the same place.  Thanks ahead of time!

FNG Cooper Langley

Here are a few shots of FNG Cooper Langley in his JET PILOT costume.  Jessica & Peter gave it to him for his birthday, and it even has real patches from Pete's last deployment, squadron insignias, his name badge, shoulder stripes, and an american flag.  Jess, you're the best!

Of course, the first thing Cooper said was "Wow! Look at all the zippers - and pockets to put candy in!"  He then asked to put his helmet on.  I think there's also an oxygen mask and goggles in the line-up for Halloween night.  Should be a fun look!

Yup, he thinks he's pretty cool!

Baby nieces born October 12, 2010!

Two beautiful baby girls, healthy as can be!

...oh yeah, and Peter cried!

Flyboy Updates

        Sorry I haven't written you in a while.  But I just wanted to give you a quick update before I become a daddy.  I am just enjoying my day off.  Fridays are "no-fly" days out here.  It doesn't mean "no work" just no flying.  I had some meetings earlier today and some training, and the maintainers do a lot of maintenance on the planes.  So everyone stays busy.  However, it's slower paced and I have time to relax.  I am actually writing this email in my stateroom with my head phones plugged in listening to some music.  It helps me escape for a little while.
        Anyway, so there were big plans for today: the ship was supposed to have a "swim call"  For a couple hours, they were going to lower the elevators in the hangar bay and let people swim within a couple hundred feet of the ship!  Unfortunately, the winds picke dup and the seas were too high, and it was too risky to swim.  I was disappointed.  Not too many people can say they've swam in the North Arabian sea more that 100 miles off shore!  I was a little nervous to swimg though.  Over the past week, they have been training all our security forces to stand the "shark watch"  I think they are armed guards who are supposed to be force protection and security, but the nick name for these guys has been "the shark patrol", and they are supposed to fire their guns at the sharks when they try to eat us!! Yikes!  Oh well, it didn't happen.  Maybe next deployment . . .
        Also, last week we had a nice visitor to the ship.  Jessica Simpson was on a tour to meet and greet troops as part of her tour with the USO.  She stopped on the ship for about 24 hours.  She was supposed to put on a small concert in the hangar bay last week, and it was going to be aired on PBS on thanksgiving eve, but she didn't show.  I was in the crowd and we started joking around that "maybe she ate some of the food and got sick".  As it turned out, she really did get sick!! Poor girl was vomiting all night and didn't feel well at all.  What a bummer.  But she did get to sign a few autographs and sat in one of the Super Hornets.
        Other than that things are going well.  I am very excited for the arrival of my little ones!  Can you believe that Jessica is going to pop in four days!!  Speaking of "popping" I have a funny story about aviator lingo to share with you:
        So instead of everyone asking me "when is your wife due" in fighter pilot talk we usually ask the question "when does your wife pickle"  To give you some background I have to explain the word pickle.  When we are doing a bombing mission, we always talk about pressing that Air-to-Ground weapon release switch (actually it's more like a button as opposed to a switch)  And instead of calling it that big word, pilots refer to that switch as the "pickle" switch.  And used as a verb, when dropping bombs, we refer to it as "pickling" a bomb.  So when a pilot asks me if jessica had the baby yet, he asks "has she Pickled yet"  Pretty silly huh?  Anyway, I can't wait for her to pickle . . . . i am so excited!
        I also just found out that I am being nominated for a "first tour fighter pilot of the year award"  I don't know the official name of the award, but it's given by the association of naval aviators, and it is in honor of George Bush senior.  I was flattered to hear the news today, and honored that my squadron would submit my name for that type of award.
OK, that's all.  I know I didn't talk about work stuff, but it's better that way.  I will fill you in on all the stuff that went on out here on another date.  Right now I am just trying to get through, and do my job and make it home safely.
I love you guys and miss you too.  Any updates?  Any news?  I would love to hear from you guys!


Love, 
the daddy-to-be, 
Peter

Proud daddy-to-be

Are these booties allowed on the flight deck?

Fishing is Mean!

Dad's a little perturbed about Cooper's humanitarian side.  Can't blame him, I even heard Cooper say (clearly) that he "won't like fishing" when Dad asked him on Sunday.  To Dad's credit, he did go, ...and still loved it!  Here's Dad's commentary from an email he sent today:

I think I may be losing my best “fishing buddy”.  Chris and Chas and the kids came by this past week-end for a visit.  I took Cooper fishing in Bent Tree lake and we caught a duck as well as a few nice sized fish.  Granted, the duck catch was not intentional,  The stupid thing just got wrapped up in the line.  No hook in the beak or anything like that.   After I removed the hook and released the duck, Cooper announced that “Fishing is mean!”  My jaw dropped and I realized that he is a fish-hugger!  How could that have happened?   And we were tossing them back in the lake.  It’s not like we were filleting them or anything.

So Cooper is a work in progress with regards to fishing.  I also had him plant some bean seeds in my garden.  Maybe he’ll enjoy picking string beans from his plants, or maybe he’ll think that is mean also.  We’ll see.  Wish us luck!!

Fun Times on Lake Boca

COOL CATS ...sweating like pigs!

Here's Chastity and Cooper showing off their shades on our way to Bru's Room earlier this week.  What you can't see is the stroller with the twins behind me.  We actually had a lot of fun going out to a sports bar/restaurant with all 3 kids!

Miami Weekend

Stef's Guy

We just got off a Skype session with Stefanie, and she finally introduced us to her new guy - let's call him "The Kid From Down Under" (he's a younger lad!).  Anyway, Chastity thinks he's a hottie, and Mom thinks he looks like our cousin-in-law Pablo Sanders and can't wait to show him off to all the Mexicans.  Don't let that fool you though, Mom's still afraid of her traipsing off to god-knows-where for too long, even if he is cute.  I guess this next season in Thailand is going to be a lot of fun for these two, since Stef will be there for a full year without a break, but with year-long salary and benefits and a work visa.  We're wishing her (them) lots of luck!

Yeah...okay...we're having fun.  Whatever...

SOOOOOO, this is what stay at home moms do to their children for a free meal at Chick-Fil-A!!!

Kia Ora from New Zealand

From: Stefanie Langley
Mon, Jul 12, 2010

Hi Guys,

It's been a while I think...funny that in this country I never seem to have any down time...ever!  Just came off of a two week volunteer project in the Bay of Plenty region, and it was awesome! 

They asked me to fill in last minute as a project leader in New Zealand since they didn't have enough staff available.  We worked with an organization named Kuaka, a non-profit conservation organization that has its hands in nearly everything. There were 34 volunteers with me and 2 other project leaders. We (the leaders) co-led the project, which was strange and new since I'm used to being on my own. All 34 of us shared meals and a lodge, and we worked all day together. The only time we split into our smaller project groups were when we did the group discussions and journaling sessions. 

So...Kuaka. In the Bay of Plenty region in the northern island. We stayed in a lodge in the middle of NOWHERE. We had to keep a fire burning in the boiler room to keep the hot water running for us each day. We had bunk/dorm style accommodations since the lodge is usually a summer camp site for kids in NZ. We know why no one would ever choose to stay there in the winter...each morning it dropped down to 3-4 degrees! Even in my sleeping bag I still went to bed shivering each night. We were surrounded by bush, the nearest civilization was a 20 minute bus ride through farm land. No phone, no internet, only a little electricity--it was brilliant! 

In New Zealand there's a huge problem with possums. They've overtaken the natural environment since they were introduced by the Aussies in the late 1800s and caused a chain reaction of terrible events---loss of habitat, vegetation and native bird species.  New Zealand conservation programs are basically a system of killing raids: kill the possums, stoats, rats, rabbits, deer, pigs... you name it, if it was introduced and let wild by accident, it's being eliminated by the department of conservation. A few boisterous boys thought they'd go for a joy walk through the bush the first night and try to hunt possums. I had to arrange a search party with another leader and find them in the pitch dark of the bush. SCARY STUFF! It's so easy to get lost in there, there are no set tracks or paths. We eventually found them and I yelled at them. Pretty much the only way you could die in New Zealand is from getting lost in the bush with hypothermia killing you...and they tried to do that on the first night! 

Talk about starting a project with a bang! The two weeks blew by so fast! We planted somewhere around 5,000 trees: tea trees (manuka), white pine (kahikatea), flax, cabbage trees...it was a massive tree planting project working in three different sites. We were trying to create an eco-corridor. There was a section of forest being logged, until a few years ago when they found evidence of a pair of highly endangered north island brown kiwis. Now it's been established a protected area, and they're trying to re-plant the bush, remove the invasive species and encourage the population growth this pair of kiwis might bring. We planted an eco-corridor between one national park and a section of the loggers' protected area now. It was awesome how efficient groups can be in getting the job done!

There was some nasty weeding that we tackled, blackberry bush, grouse and japanese honeysuckle. The blackberry and grouse bush thorns were nasty and they got everywhere! I kept falling into pockets of them and getting thorns in VERY awkward places   The honeysuckle was a nightmare to get rid of, since we had to hack away a forest of it with saws and shovels since it was so thick!

We also got to spend some time on a Maori marae. The marae is the most sacred "temple" of a Maori village. It's where all the ceremonies and meetings are held, and it's also a community centre. We had to initiate ourselves into the Maori village, the traditional way. The "powhiri" (pronounced po-firi) is when the village elders sing you welcome into the village and present you with a gift to determine if you are friend or foe. The "were" (challenge) is a weapon, if you grabbed it you would have been killed and eaten instantly (obviously this doesn't apply in practice today), but if you sing back and offer a fern instead it was understood that you came in peace. Once welcomed on to the marae we had to memorize and sing some Maori songs and phrases in show of respect.  Then stepping into the marae we learned about our village.  The marae itself is shaped to represent their ancestors: the ribs, the spine, the face, and the belly which is where we sit inside to show respect. The last night we went back to the marae and did a cultural performance exchange: they sang and taught us songs and dances in Maori and we taught them the cha cha, line dancing, and sang songs like "Amazing Grace" and "At Last". It was heaps fun!

We did a lot of cool things as a group: climbing mountains, hiking in the bush, heading to beach towns for the weekend, horse back riding in the hills, and the weather was just perfect sunshine every day. The only time it rained was once when we were in the bush setting up rat tunnels laced with peanut butter. We placed ink pads inside, and we were tracking/targeting areas where we could identify rat prints. Later on the department of conservation will go in with poison and rat traps to take them out since they're destroying the vegetation. The turned into an epic day of adventure, slipping and sliding down muddy hill banks and getting lost in the dark for a while!

Now I'm back on tour, and my boss is tagging along for the first week to 'check me out' I guess. Of course my crappy luck has kicked in already. Our jet boating activity in Queenstown was cancelled since the river was frozen ice---first time in years they've ever had that happen...I'm so tired of people telling me "this is the first time in years that this has gone wrong..." I've broken all sorts of records in New Zealand for how much can go wrong! Haha

I'm in Franz Josef now, and tomorrow we're on for a full day glacier hike  should be cold and rainy----yippeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Lots of love, will try to get in touch and skype soon!  I just haven't had time to catch my breath here....this email took me 5 days to complete since I've only had about 20 mins to myself each day!

-Kia Ora,

Stef

Fwd: 24 week pics

From: Jessica Langley

Here are some pictures of me and the girls at 24 weeks along.  My uncle took them while we were up in salisbury at my grandmother's 90th b-day.  Hope you enjoy them!  The belly continues to grow each day and everything is checking out healthy.  We made it down to miami in one piece and have my first ultrasound appt on monday.  Peter is doing well as well.  I send him weekly updated pictures of the belly and get to email daily.  Hope all is well with you all and that you enjoy the belly.

Love,
Jess

Balding (but Happy) Early On

From Peter:

Just a quick note. We are going to soon be in "tax-free" zone.  The weather is getting really hot . . .. .so I decided to shave my head.  Attached is a picture for your enjoyment.

If you are wondering, I am staying very busy and so far I am having a great time.  The comraderie is great, the sights never get old, and the mission is going to be exciting.  Stef, how is the time off before the next tour?  Mom how are you enjoying the summer off?  Dad, hjow are you enjoying mom?  (that was a weird question . . ) and Chris, you will soon have an aunt closer to home to help out with the kids!!

Clark, is this still your email.  I have this one saved my my last deployment.  If not, Christian, can you please call clark and get his new address, or forward this to him for me.  Also, if it's different, please give me his most current email . I would like to keep him up to date on stuff.

I miss you guys.  Also, the other picture is of me in my jet right before taking off for the airshow in France.  It turned out to be a blast.  The announcer of the airshow was able to link up our radio communications to the crowd.  So what ever we were saying in the jet, the crowd was able to hear.  I wonder if the Frenchies were able to understand us???  Anyway, for good measure, when I did my "high speed sneak pass" I said "boooonnnnjour"

OK, miss you guys.  Talk to you soon.

A Diary of Stefanie's Updates

From Stefanie:
April 27, 2010
Hey Guys,
Now that training is over and all this information has been drilled into my head (and dreams too!) I would like to give you a taste of what I can do...
Are you ready? READY FOR THE ADVENTURE OF YOUR LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND?! 
-- Day 1-3  Queenstown: Welcome and settle in. Take a few cruisy days in this atmospheric town-laid back cafes, art-house cinemas, boutique shopping...all within walking distance of our centrally located Hostel. 
Now...if you're feeling a bit more adventurous I'd like to show you a whole other side...the Adrenaline Capital of the World! Queenstown, the home of bungy and famous world wide for the wildest and craziest bungy jumping drops imaginable! If you want to do the highest here it is - 134 metres (440 feet) above the rugged Nevis River!
Or try the The Nevis Arc: The World's Highest Swing! Located next to the Nevis Canyon... Swing Forwards, Backwards, alone or with a friend. You will be suspended high above the valley floor and be released or release yourself. Experience a massive rush of adrenaline as you find yourself accelerating through the valley at mind blowing speeds in a 300 m Arc!
How about skiing and snowboarding? Some of the best ski resorts are easily minutes away with group rates available that are absolutely unbeatable! 
Queenstown also has gondola rides, horse back riding, luging, caving, hiking, and some scenic cruises to delight...Lord of the Rings buffs? Take the tour and visit the scenery straight from the films! 
-- Day 4-5  Franz Josef: Glacier Hiking! That's right, we get to go hiking on a big chunk of moving ice! Strap on your crampons, gear up and try to stay warm as we squeeze through tight blue ice crevices and ice waterfall terrain!
On the drive to Franz Josef we'll make some interesting sightseeing stops: we'll take a forest walk through the Kahikatea trees (the tallest trees in NZ dating nearly 200 years old!) and we'll also hike to the shore where if we're lucky we're going to see Hector's wild dolphins...the world's rarest dolphins who often visit these shores this time of year!
-- Day 6-7:  Nelson: This is our prime sky diving destination spot! Get ready to fling your body 13,000 ft from a plane and parachute down the mountains! 
We also have a full day of activities included here: sea kayaking the prime coast of NZ's Abel Tasman's National Park; quad biking (ATV 4 wheel drive!) the pristine forest and hiking the shores, up the mountains to spectacular viewpoints of the island's terrain!
-- Day 8:  Hold on tight as we take a ferry from the South island to the North island, this ferry is 3 hours long, but sweet as with a built in cinema, restaurant, game room, and lounging area...quality comfort travel...as long as the weather cooperates! 
-- Day 9:  Wellington, we have the opportunity to do something really special here. We get to visit the Te Papa museum, the icon of NZ's history and culture, whose Maori name affectionately translates to 'Our Place'. We have the privilege of a private viewing, before opening hours with our guide to really get a feel for all things NZ.
-- Day 10:  We travel to Rotorua...but first! We make some interesting side trips to the Greenstone 'Jade' Factory for an education about the Maori art of stone carving; Punakaiki-the famous pancake rocks, which we'll see on a wild and windy day to really see why Mother Nature is the boss!; then Foulwind's Seal Colony-a local hangout spot for NZ wild fur seal bachelors as they groom, fight, and beach out within an arm's reach of the hike to the shore!
-- Day 11-12:  Rotorua, full days of included activities here, including white water rafting Grade 5 rapids! Paddle your heart out and try to stay warm as we paddle 14 drops, including 2 waterfalls (one of which is a 7 meter drop!) This is the world's highest commercially rafted river in the world, and we have the best guides taking us out today! 
After the rafting, we're going to Hells Gate, an active geothermal park reserve where we get to soak our muscles in warm mud pools and heated baths, with a local teaching us about Maori lifestyle and how the Maoris traditionally lived off these geothermal hot spots. 
We'll spend one evening getting up close and personal with Maori culture- in our Tamaki Brothers cultural dinner and show. Enjoy a traditional Hangi feast, with our meal being cooked in the Earth (pacific islander style), traditional songs and dancing too! Learn the Haka and scare the crap out of your friends when you go back home! 
-- Day 12-13:  We travel to Waitomo. But with some pretty fun stops along the way...strange and yet undeniably entertaining we will stop and partake in a Gumboot throwing festival---yes, you heard me right Gumboot throwing...Then we'll stop at a truly magical place the Kiwi Encounter, a non profit working hatchery and nursery--we'll get up close and personal to these cute little birds, NZ's national icon, and learn why they are so dangerously endangered. That being said, no touching! If you want to hug a real Kiwi, hug our local guide Lina! 
And right before we rock up into Waitomo...we're going to try another NZ oddity: Zorbing! That's right! Like a hamster, we're going to lock you and your friend up in a bouncy plastic ball and tumble you down a hill....safely! Only Kiwis could come up with such good, ridiculous fun! 
-- Day 13:  Waitomo: here in Waitomo we have a real treat...Black water rafting! Imagine inner tubing in complete darkness, in a cave, with the only light showing the way coming from the magical world of Glow Worms. All lights off as we abseil 40 meters in the heart of a black cave, and tube our way through an underground river and learn all about these magnificent creatures! 
-- Day 14:  Auckland: catch your breath for a free day in NZ's vibrant city, the most multi-cultural city in NZ and home of the Sky Tower! Excellent place to shop til you drop for all those last minute souvenirs for loved ones back home.
-- Day 15:  We'll part ways as the group flies home, back to America, back to Canada and back to the UK. I'll be flying back down to Queenstown to pick up my next group at the airport and start the tour...all over again!


And that's it...that's exactly what I will be doing, back to back, for the next 3 months. Not bad for someone who's never seen it before, huh?




May 1, 2010
Hi Guys,
Oooooohhhh...so much to update, where do I begin?! 
I guess we'll start with Thursday. Thursday I took a walk around Sydney city with prima Ale and her baby Daniel. We started off with a quick lunch at the Sydney Fish Market, a series of warehouses with all the fresh daily catches overlooking a harbor. We bought a dozen fresh Pacific rock oysters (raw, with lime of course), fried calamari, and some fish Kebabs (dipped in sweet chili sauces.) I'm pretty sure this was the first time I have eaten raw oysters, and I loved it! The sky was bright blue with big puffy white clouds, the weather was warm and all the sail boats were anchored in the harbor...it was just a fantastic outdoors meal! (Fighting the sea gulls for my calamari was a pain... geez they really are obnoxious out here!)  


After that we wandered around Darling Harbor and snuck a peek past the Sydney aquarium and wildlife world, then took a ferry from Darling to the Circular Quay harbor (home of the famous Opera House.) The ferry was fantastic (even better than the sunset harbor cruise last week because the views of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge in the sun were just incredible!) 


At Circular Quay we hopped on the trains back to Ale's house and I packed a rushed bag for a weekend in the bush! Two trains later and nearly a 2 hour journey, I arrived in Windsor to start my weekend reunion with the high school group I led in Thailand last winter. Of course, the 18 year old boys wanted to meet up and go straight to the pub. And that we did, drinks on them the whole night and some embarrassing videos of me singing Karaoke to Ace of Base's "All that she wants." All in all they were very well behaved :) 


I am seriously impressed with Aussie hospitality...I have never felt so welcome as a foreigner before! The boys (Brendan, Gilly and Pat) & their families have opened up their homes, become tour guides/chauffeurs, offered me food and drink for free. It's just incredible how polite everyone has been! 


Anyways, Thursday night ended without drama and Friday morning the boys took me to the Blue Mountains world heritage parks. The mountains and the valleys turn blue because the oil from all the Eucalyptus trees mixes with the mist and creates a blue tint. They boys taught me everything they knew about Aborignial myths and folklore surrounding the mountains and told me great legends of the Rainbow Serpent who carved the Australian landscape that Aboriginals still believe today. We took hikes, scenic railway cars, gondolas and drives through the parks and it was massive! We stopped for lunch in a local park and took a break from all the sightseeing to teach me rugby...and I'm pretty good at it too! 


They also took me off the beaten path to a local spot, where we hiked through massive bush to a look out point called Glenbrook, and watched the sunset mix with the blue mist...we told ghost stories and scared ourselves to death as we hiked out of the bush in near dark back to the car! **I keep forgetting---all of the world's deadliest animals live here...gotta be more careful and stop letting high schoolers make all the decisions!**


Today (Saturday) I've moved in with Margie, one of the high school teachers who came on the trip. She's taken me in and showed me around her village, Hawkesbury. It's all farmland out here and she took me to her dad's farm (45 acres!) who raises all sorts of strange animals: chinese silky chickens and alpacas to name the strangest. I got chased by a herd of alpacas today since he thought it would be funny to hand me the food bucket (city slicker that I am and all that!)



Margie's an artist, so her home is filled with antiques, paintings and sculptures. She's taken me to a few local art galleries, mostly Aboriginal, and also took me to the oldest church in Australia for Devonshire 'High' Tea: scones, teas and biscuits. It's all farmland out here, but it's got the flavor of English countryside...and culture, definitely! It's strange though, because the oldest church in Australia was built, by and for, the first generation of convicts who were kicked out of England and sent overseas to serve their sentences...these Aussies are so proud of their convict heritage it's hilarious! 


Margie's partner, Peter is a great character too. He's a Vietnam war vet who lost his leg. He's into model building, so the house is decorated with model sail boats, air craft carriers, planes and trains he's been building for years. His latest project is a massive life-size replica of a Super Marine S-5 plane built in 1927 (a forerunner for Bristish Spit Fire which they say won the Great War.) In his garage (between the two antique Jags) he's got the guts of a plane being built and I keep thinking...this is Peter and Dad's idea of a playground! His friend helps him build it, and he's another vet (Navy) and once they got wind of our family and the military background they couldn't get enough story sharing out of their systems. Hopefully in two years time they'll finish the plane and have it ready for displays in museums or air shows. 


I must have said something right, because Mom and Dad you're invited to stay here with Margie and Peter if you ever come to visit me in August. You would LOVE it out here! They have a huge property, overlooking the valley and the lowlands, and in the early am you can see wallabies hopping around their back yards foraging for foods...so cute!


Tomorrow is the high school BBQ. All the kids and Margie have put together this Thailand reunion tomorrow, and the kids are great...they're all so excited about introducing me to their parents! It'll be great to see them and spend the day with them and for some reason they're insisting on me sticking around until Monday morning to visit them at school. Margie's arranged it for me to come by and speak to the kids, and also help out with recruiting for ISV's high school program that's hopefully happening again this November from this same school. (Who knows, the politcal mess in Thailand seems like it's only getting worse these days.)


Monday afternoon I will be back in Sydney city and back with prime Ale where she's promised a visit to the famous Taronga Zoo, and pancakes in the oldest district known as the Rocks overlooking the Sydney harbor...yumm.



May 20, 2010
Hi!  Been out of touch for a while, but that's because the madness of another ISV tour leading season has officially begun.  Everyone's been wound up real tight, especially since the groups are being cancelled out of Thailand this year and we're picking up the slack here in New Zealand.  (Can not believe how lucky I am that this change of country happened to me...if I were in Thailand right now, I'd be out of a job!)


I'm in Wellington right now. We took a 20 minute flight to get here, on one of the those really small and terrifying planes with propellers that look like a strong wind will just knock the wing off.  On the tarmac, I stepped one foot onto Wellington soil and was immediately knocked down by the wind...flat on my ass, in front of everyone.  Yes that's right, the local nickname here is 'Windy Welly'---haha, I get it now.


Wellington is the nation's capital at the stepping point between the North and South Island....the mountains up the West coast of the South island were once connected to the range up the East coast of the North Island. So Wellington, is located in a natural tunnel--where winds travel between the mountains, channeled through Cook's Strait (waters separating the islands) creating a powerful 'funnel' action of mother nature!


We're on site inspection now, so I'm driving a rental car with Nikki (my boss) and Lina (fellow Kiwi tour leader).  It's been ok, Nikki is a real pain in my ass and she's got some serious control issues. She's on a power trip, and it drives me up a wall. Lina is nice, and we get on well enough which is good because we might lead a couple tours together.


So far I'm going solo, and my first tour starts in less than a week--52 people all by my lonesome, traveling through a country I barely know!

We started our tour in Queenstown (bottom tip of the South island) and have worked our way up the West coast: mountains, lakes, wineries and gold mining history. I finally hiked a glacier--Franz Josef! It was awesome: ice tunnels, crevasses, blue waterfalls, and ice climbing...I'm hooked! The only other glacier in the world that leads into a rainforest is in Patagonia, so it's pretty special.

Today we were in Nelson, kayaking around the Abel Tasman Bay. I saw wild NZ fur seals and Pukekos---flightless birds related to the Kiwi. Most of the indigenous birds are flightless because they had no natural predators and were not evolved for the need to fly away. The only native mammals to NZ are two species of bats: short and long tailed. All other animals have been introduced by European settlers in the 19th century, with some pretty devastating effects.   


...The sheep...70 million sheep in this country...you can't throw a stone without seeing one. It's getting annoying every time we get held up in 'stock traffic' when herds of sheep sit on the roads and refuse to move no matter what you throw at them!


I'm learning Maori- history, legends, myths and most importantly the language. It's confusing hey, with words spelled like Aotearoa (a-yo-tea-yah-row-ah) "Land of the long white cloud" and the true Maori name for New Zealand. Ihenga (I-hee-na) and Arawa (adi-wah) and Ngati Tuwharetoa (nati- too-farry-to a) are tribal names, hangi (hawng-ee) traditional foods cooked in the earth on heated stones,  and hongi (hong-ee) the Maori greeting.


Our bungy jumping operator Priel is Maori, and my first day in Queenstown she grabbed me and pressed her nose to my nose for a good few seconds. I flinched as I thought she was kissing me, then remembered this was Hangi---the greeting. That's gonna take some getting used to.


Tomorrow we're off to Rotorua to white water raft a class 5 rapid off a 7 meter waterfall...in freezing cold water...wish me luck!  Tonight I gotta get back to work---late nights and early mornings are making me sick again---but unless I get all my history and information (and pronunciation right!) Nikki's going to fire me.




May 26, 2010
Some cool videos from the Maori cultural dinner we go to: hakas (traditional dances) by the local maori tribe. the war haka (the second video) is famous for the NZ All Blacks rugby team do it before every match against their enemies.


Really cool to see in person---if you look carefully you'll see the dancers bulging out their eyes and sticking out their tongues: the eyes mean for intimidating their enemy, the tongue literally translates to "after I kill you I'm going to eat you!"


Maoris, despite how fun loving and gentle they are today---they were an island nation of cannibals the first Europeans were greeted by back in the day.





May 27, 2010
Zorbing and white water rafting!
haha check it out!!!!

June 3, 2010
So...Nelson, New zealand--- the sunniest spot in the country! I've stripped down a couple layers here, down to thermals and shorts and only one long sleeved shirt :) Woohoo!


Last night was a huge travel day from our glacier hiking capital (Franz Josef) up the western coast of the South Island to the famous Golden Bay. We stopped at a greenstone 'jade' factory to learn why this stone is so precious to the Maori tribesmen. Greenstone can only be gifted, to buy one for oneself is considered extremely bad luck, and to receive it as a gift means you've become someone quite important to your people, your tribe, your family. They believe that greenstone holds the power of past ancestors, and every piece carries the mana "power/ life force" of its previous owners. They are in dress, costume, tools and most often as a sacred symbol of rank for warriors. 


After that we stopped at the Cape Foulwind NZ fur seal breeding colony again---I will never get tired of seeing baby wild seals playing in the sun! 


And on to Nelson, our kayaking, quad biking and sky diving destination!  We had a huge drama last night, our catering company completely failed me and I suddenly had to shop, buy and cook dinner for 54 people...pizza, salad and pasta...I pulled that together in just under an hour, and I'm quite proud of that! My group is awesome, patient and understanding so we all got involved and had a great bonding fest last night. 


Today was another day though, and a damn good one if I may add! I went kayaking for the full day. After a beautiful 2 hour hike through forest, ferns and coast lines, and while kaayking around the bird sanctuary of Adele island a group of wild seals swam up and around our kayaks and we even spotted NZ penguins, incredibly rare to catch a glimpse of!  


After kayaking, straight to our sky diving operator. I got a great video and over 100 photos taken of me! SKYDIVING! I can't find the words to explain the rush or how beautiful it is to sail through the air at 13,000 feet!  Hopefully the pictures say it all :)