Some of Me Trips

Darren here. Here are some pics to my trips to Geraldton, Darwin and Wellington.

Geraldton is in Western Australia about 250 miles north of Perth on the Indian Ocean. When the canola is in bloom, as it was last week, the fields are lit yellow. Now is part of the 2-month green season. The rest of the year, I'm told, the countryside is red and dusty.   

The color didn't look real.

The purple is a weed that covers wide areas and looks spectacular next to the canola.

This is part of a memorial commemorating the WWII vessel HMAS Sydney that was sunk by a German cruiser in 1941, killing all 645 aboard. The tower is a replica of the bow of the ship. If you look closely, you can see the depth numbers.

View of the Indian Ocean from the HMAS Sydney memorial.

Darwin is in Northern Australia on the Timor Sea not far from Indonesia. The tropical climate keeps Darwin warm all year. It has in intense wet season that is preceded by unrelenting humidity. 

Fishing boat off the Darwin coast in the Timor Sea.

Never seen that before.

Sunset over the Timor Sea

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand situated on the Cooks Straight. It has a compact, good-sized city with epic natural surroundings. Food was amazing. 

Civic Center

Part of the Cook Straight that faces Southeast toward the Pacific Ocean. Cold Antarctic winds and currents come in from the South.

This is in the Wellywood suburb where the LOTR/Hobbit actors live during filming. We had second breakfasts at a restaurant around the corner. Ian Mckellen was not present.

Really great botanic garden

botanic garden

At the WETA cave.

This is the actual suit the guy wore.

So I signed up for a Lord of the Rings tour. Let me start again. I was the only person who signed up for a Lord of the Rings tour. Eight hours, one-on-one, with a highly enthusiastic guide. It was cool to see the filming locations around Wellington and I learned more than I ever wanted to know about LOTR, but it got weird after while. There is something disquieting about a man helping you don rubber elf ears and a plastic sword ahead of a woodland photo shoot. Surely the passers by were as creeped out as I was.     

Kayaks in Wellington harbor near Civic Center.

Australianisms Again

More Aussie-lingo
(pronounced "Ozzy" by the way, not "Aw-see" despite the misleading sss)

Gridiron (American football)
Versus (against)
Tips (tag - as in the childhood game, I got confused hearing my kids shout "I tipped you!")
Lead (leash)
Cubbyhouse (playset)
Smack (spank)
Tigger (tiger - actually I think it's still spelled with one 'g' but pronounced like Pooh's friend)
Quay (docks in Sydney, but pronounce it 'key' or you'll really give your tourist self away)
Specs (glasses)
Excursion (field trip)
Docket (receipt)
Sparky (electrician)
Chuffed (excited/stoked)
Telly box (tv)
Globes (light bulbs)
Mince (ground beef/meat)
On offer (available)
Smoker (pipe)
Lift (elevator)


And this is a fun one: FAIRY BREAD

white bread + butter + hundreds and thousands

I love the sprinkles here - more like fine threads of icing

 Or go ahead, cut off those crusts and bust out the cookie cutters 

when you're feeling extra fancy.

A party staple. Genius.

Funnies

Oh, the endless imagination (and energy) of children...

 With hidden surprises...

 Will, not to be outdone by his sisters' splits, check out the agony. And when Twister gets boring...

 Finally fatigued after about the 30th time...

 Our resident professional from the "Check Out Agency" scans all passers-by.

I just noticed why she's giving that face...ha. Even better.

Go Big or Go Home

Not only do Aussies seem "bigger" in general (every third bloke on the street looks like he could be a professional rugby player) but they have an intriguing love affair with "big things" as well.

Littered about the country are all kinds of huge, random, fiberglass structures the lucky traveler might happen upon.

Sort of like a much more difficult, yet rewarding version of your childhood ABC game. (Remember that one on roadtrips?)

For instance:

the big merino sheep

the big red elephant

Also seen, but not quick enough on the camera draw:

the Big Orange

the Big Clam

I plan on keeping a running record of the ones we happen upon, but here are some sneak peeks from travelers less caught by surprise (or hurried) than we:

Tickle your fancy?

Read/view/google to your heart's content or click here for their wiki page.

Retro Summer

There was a time when I gingerly flirted with the idea that I could actually pull off that "retro" look. I'd recently discovered a stash of 80's clothes my mom had kept and a few of them looked like what was flying off the shelves around town.

It was short-lived.

I got too embarrassed rockin' the teal tights or a purple plaid skirt because I couldn't commit to being consistently "retro" day in and day out.

But on my baby, it's another story. A stowaway bag of even more ancient clothes made it into our shipment - some of my baby clothes. We hardly needed another reason to drool over this girl...

Happy Birthday, little lady! 
Thanks for making our life pretty much perfect.

Birthday playdate with her little friend, Jack (they perpetually exchange colds now that she can't stop slopping kisses on him) and we played at the park straight after school until dinner.

She did not disappoint with the face in the cake routine, either. :)

I felt a bit guilty for not having one gift for her (4th kid gets the shaft - jipped on a baby book too...)

So we went to Lollipops Playland the next day.

Going down super slides & teacup rides with mommy beats a new toy any day, right?