Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog (NZ Mt Cook & Tasman Glacier)

Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.

Today I’m heading into the middle of the South Island, Mackenzie country. Dotted with sparkling lakes and clusters of huge mountain ranges—including the tallest mountain in New Zealand, Mount Cook, this area is blessed with some of the most stunning scenery in the country.

Highlights:

Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo is very pretty, and so is the quaint old Church of the Good Shepherd which sits on its shores. We visited on a gorgeous day, so unfortunately there were tons of other tourists around.

Mount Cook. Some amazing scenery on the way to the mountains, including the turquoise blue of the lakes. 

Tasman glacier. The visitor centre at Mount cook told us there was only a short walk of 20 minutes to see the Tasman glacier. However, the sweet lady forgot to inform us that the track was nearly vertical and designed for mountain goats without a fear of heights – ie. Someone who wasn’t me. However I made it to the top and the view did justify the terrifying climb. We overlooked Lake Tasman, and were treated with the amazing sight of icebergs floating in a hidden lake. The icebergs didn’t look that big until you caught sight of the tiny tourists boats circling them far below.

Thinking about icebergs and snowcapped mountains makes me want to go back there—especially after the scorching hot weather we’ve had over the Christmas holidays!

Tracey.

Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (Past Christmas fun)

Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.

We've been fortunate as a family to experience both a White-ish Christmas in Canada last year, and also many happy Kiwi Christmases full of sun and laughter. I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite past Christmas photos.

The first photo was taken of my baby girl (who is now twelve) on her first Christmas...awww

Here are some later photos taken of my two lovelies through the years. They are wonderful kids and I love them to bits. It's so cool seeing how our kids grow so much every year...

This is the last Christmas Day I got to spend with my mum in 2009. 2010 we spent with my husband's family, and 2011 we spent with relatives in Canada. Mum was so happy to spend Christmas with her two Grandchildren, even though she wasn't in the best of health even then.

This was the Christmas we spent with my husband's family in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, Canada. Another very special time with family.

 And this is what Christmas is like for us Kiwis in beautiful New Zealand...

Merry Christmas everyone. And no matter where you are in the world, give your loved ones a hug come Christmas morning.

Tracey.

Tis the Season to be Jolly...Or Is It?

I lost track of the days this week. For some reason by brain said, “It’s only Tuesday, you can squeeze writing your Wednesday blog in between the twelve-year-old’s school prize giving and the ever-growing to-do list for our trip to Thailand in less than two weeks.” Then, hello, I realized it was Wednesday morning, not Tuesday morning after all. Crud. Because I have no idea what to blog about. So bear with, I’m spinning this off the top of my head.

So. Christmas is less than a week away and like everyone else, we’ve been doing the mad rush of shopping, Christmas functions, end-of-year BBQs, school events, Nativity plays etc etc. My tinsel’s kinda lost its sparkle.

Christmas always used to be my favourite time of the year. Love the decorations, the surprise and wonder of it all, and coming up with cutesy tricks to play on the two kids (like magic jellybeans in the letterbox that if planted on Christmas Eve amazingly turn into candy canes by the next morning). My mum also loved Christmas. In fact, she wouldn’t let us take the Christmas tree down until late January, and probably would’ve been quite happy to have it up all year. But mum passed away in February. And like a lot of families this year, Christmas will never be the same.

How do we get through that first Christmas without them? I’m taking a leaf out of Bear Gryll’s motivational speech from a couple of weeks ago: Family, Faith and Friendship. I’m going to stick close to my remaining loved ones, remember the baby placed in a humble manger 2000 years ago, and appreciate each and every one of my friends.

Have a wonderful Christmas, and if you too have lost someone near and dear during 2012, a special hug from me to you.

Tracey.

What I’m reading this week: Animal Attraction – Jill Shalvis. I need my to-go to author for a comfort read. Distraction guaranteed. 

What I’m watching this week: Comedy Gala stuff. Love stand-up comedy – it truly is the best medicine.

This week’s favourite quote: “Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. Maybe  Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more.” How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Dr Seuss.

Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (Mesa Verde National Park)

Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.

Today I’m heading to Mesa Verde National Park, a fascinating and beautiful national park at the bottom of the state of Colorado. I first caught a glimpse of this national park in a National Geographic magazine before we went to the U.S.A in 2007, and decided that if I ever made it to America, this place was on my Bucket List. I’m so thankful I got the opportunity to see it.

Highlights.

Cliff Palace tour. Ancestral Pueblo people lived all around the Mesa Verde area. The Cliff Palace dates back to the year 1200, and it is an amazing and surreal experience just to see it, let alone walk through it. Archaeologists are not sure what Cliff Palace was used for, though they are pretty sure it wasn't an ancient housing estate like some of the other nearby structures. They think it may have been a community meeting place where folks came to talk and trade. To get to Cliff Palace you have to go down a series of metal steps and then steep, uneven steps hacked into the sandstone - still a better deal than the tiny hand & toe holds that the Ancestral Pueblo used to scale up and down the cliffs! To get out of the Palace, you had to edge through a narrow crack and up steep stairs & finally up 3 ladders, by which time you were out of breath because of the altitude.

Balcony House tour. Originally we thought it would be too hard for our kids (lots of ladders, a crawl space to get through and steep steps) but after talking to a couple of rangers (who told us it was usually the adults who had a hard time with these things, kids were fine) we thought we'd go for it. The kids had a blast climbing up the 60 ft almost vertical ladder, while poor me quivered and silently cursed below. We were told before we went up that the only way back now was via a walk out with a National Park Ranger. So humiliation in front of the tour group or falling to my gruesome death on the rocks below (and possibly encountering a tarantula which the lovely NPR pointed out!). Hmm. I chose the ladder. But boy, was it nice to be on solid ground, even if that ground under my feet was 800 year old reclaimed ground! The view from the top was worth it to, and it was just awe-inspiring and such a privilege to be in a place with so much history. 

Spruce Tree House. We walked down a long, winding hill to see the Spruce Tree house (another one dating back to the 1200's and it was a place where people lived). Note the before and after photos of this walk – we were knackered! Spruce Tree House had a Kiva that we could climb down into, complete with a reconstructed roof, so it really gave you an idea of how these people lived. A Kiva is a ceremonial structure sunk into the ground and we saw lots of these in Cliff Palace and Balcony house, but all of them had no roof surviving the test of time. 

Museum. A very informative and interesting amount of informational displays about the area. So cute watching my two kids get their Junior Rangers badges – this time they had to repeat the Junior Ranger pledge before getting it.

We spent a fantastic day on the Mesa, and I’d love to go back there in summer to see some of the other tours that were closed for the season. 

Tracey

Some Pre-Christmas Chuckles...

Thirteen days until Christmas! Unbelievable how fast the last few months have ripped by. Here are some funny LOLcats to get you in the holiday mood…

Tracey

Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (Savannah, Georgia)

Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.

Today I’m heading to a gorgeous old city of the south—Savannah, Georgia.

Highlights:

Skidway Island Park campground. This was a lovely campground surrounded by a forest of trees draped in Spanish Moss. We visited the Interpretive Centre in the park where they had reptiles, a baby alligator, plus a bullsnake, which we held and tentatively patted. Bullsnakes are non-venomous constrictors, and this particular snake was a girl called Beau. Beau was rescued from a drug lab bust. Beau was hard case reptile and ended up threading herself through the the park rangers belt loops! 

Mrs Wilke's Dining room. Mrs Wilke's is a Savannah must see - popular with both tourists & locals. Mrs Wilke (who is now deceased) opened a boarding house in the 40's serving up traditional Southern home cooking. People eat around huge dining tables and pass dishes to each other, just like you would if in someone's home. We knew we were in the right place when we rounded the corner and could see the queue of people - luckily we had arrived early otherwise we could have been waiting a long time. Locals at our table told us sometimes the queue extends around the corner! Once inside we were shown to a dining room table that seated 8. The main meat for the day was fried chicken (yum) but there were heaps of bowls of other things (most that we couldn't identify, but it was fun tasting!), and I tried a little of everything. From what I could identify (or guess), we had cabbage, black eyed peas, squash, okra and tomatoes, green beans, baked beans & bacon, beef stew, macaroni cheese, cornbread, corn muffins and glasses of sweet iced tea. For desert there was banana pie or cherry cobbler. 

Chippewa square. Parts of the movie 'Forrest Gump' were filmed here, and after watching the DVD the night before, we tried to figure out where the park bench that Tom Hanks sat on would have been.

Carriage tour. The carriage was pulled by two draught horses (one white, called Charlie, and one brown called Justice). It was really nice just cruising in the carriage with the horse's hooves clopping. We wove in and out of the many Savannah squares (filled with lovely old oak trees and more Spanish Moss - except one, Wright Square I think, that doesn't grow the moss - local legend is it's because this square was used for executions...) and past historic buildings, while our tour guide entertained us with humorous stories and the history of the buildings and squares.

The accents. Oh my Lord, the southern accent just makes me go weak in the knees!

The heat. While I’m writing this the weather here isn’t the warmest. The day we visited Savannah the temperature was a humid 38 degrees and we were HOT. But the homemade ice cream from we bought from one of the stores cooled us off nicely.

There were plenty of other sights in Savannah that I would’ve loved to see, but we ran out of time. Truly a gorgeous and historic city, I’m looking forward to visiting again one day.

Tracey