Hi everyone: Well, we have managed to touch down in our beautiful snow-covered city a few days ago. Just prior to that we had a wonderful few days rest (after a tough 3 weeks) on the beaches of Fiji. It really is a paradise, with absolutely perfect weather, royal blue very warm oceans, the friendliest of people and altogether an enchanting place. We did however have an interesting day enroute to Fiji. While I won't bore you with the details, suffice it to say we got in about 12 hours later than expected due to a screwup by the airlines, and [View Full Entry]

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Aki ora: I think I left you guys at Mt. Cook and then the fiords. Well, we thought this trip was amazing - but then we came to Queenston. This area is for those who have a lot of testerone they have to get rid of. Here you can go bungy jumping (where it was first created) from a 100 year old bridge over a narrow gorge with rocks on either side. You can also go on a luge (which David and I did) - this was fun - going down a cement half tunnel on little go carts that is [View Full Entry]

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Kia ora: New Zealand is so different from Australia, very narrow passages where literally the Pacific Ocean is on one side and the Tasman Sea on the other. Very lush, lots of rain, but not while we are here. First we went in our lovely coach bus for a ride into the country after leaving Aukland, the largest city out of both North and South Island. We stopped at a dairy farm (3rd generation) where we learned all about milking cows, and then had a most delicious lamb lunch (something wrong here - at least we didn't have to look lambs [View Full Entry]

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Aki Ora (Hello in New Zealand) Nothing new to report since my last blog - flew over to NZ and to Auckland, and just had another amazing dinner experience - the real New Zealand lamb done to perfection. But I have a chance to send you some pictures, especially the giraffes from Sydney and I thought you would get a kick out of them. "talk" soon". Lots of love Ruthie & David [View Full Entry]

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G'day mates: This will be short and sweet - in the airport awaiting our flight to Auckland NZ. Had a blast in Syndey - had a Pin ch me moment having dinner in the opera house restaurant and then seeng the premier of the AUstralian Symphony together with the composer as a tribute to the Flying Doctors 80th anniversary. Then last night we saw Billy Elliot - just opened in Sydney. Gorgeous botannical gardens, took a cable ride around the city and the zoo - oh my - indescribable. Saw a bunch of giraffes with the longest tongues - must have [View Full Entry]

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G'day mates: Amazing past couple of days. Sat. we went by boat for an 1 1/2hr. ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. We snorkelled all around the reef just the two of us, and saw spectacular coral and beautiful fish, a huge clam, a shark and lots of other goodies. Then in the afternoon we went on another snorkel dive with a marine biologist. Those pictures were taken with an underwater camera and we can't send them right now but they were great and we had a ball. The weather has been absolutely spectacular. About, 75, navy sky - no [View Full Entry]

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G'day mates: Wed. Nov. 21 Well - we have been having a great time. Met our group on Mon- 26 in all including us. For those of you who know how I love baby beef at Yitz's it was fun to see Yitz and his wife on our tour from Toronto - small world eh? (that's Canadian for you Americans). Got to explore Melbourne in more detail - had a cruise on the Yarra river which runs through the city, gorgeous architecture, beautiful parks and botanical gardens. The weather is perfect but tons of little flies which get in your mouth [View Full Entry]

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G'day mates: Well after a great uneventful 20 hour flight, we landed in Melbourne at noon Sun. - I think that's 4 in the mroning about 4 days ago your time! Anyway, sky was blue and it was absolutely gorgeous out. We were taken to the "beautiful beautiful" Langham Hotel, exquisite in every way. We had a free day today because our tour doesn't start til Mon. so first we went to see some lovely botannical gardens. Then we started wandering around the fabulous architecture all along the Yarra River which our hotel banks on. The architecture was a mix of [View Full Entry]

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