Carnival and Santa Parade

Saturday was a busy day for us as we got up nice and early and headed to the gym for a morning workout. We then made a picnic lunch and headed off to the west coast to Piha beach. We've been here before, but decided that with the hot sun shining brightly it was a good day to go to the beach. We relaxed on the beach for a while and put our feet in the water, but not more (it was too cold for us).

We then got ourselves ready for the PwC Christmas function which had a theme of Brazilian Carnival. (We unfortunately didn't find any costumes to suit our styles, so we just got dressed up for the night) We began the night at Gareth's and Claire's for some pre-party drinks and then headed up to the big bash. It was amazing and the costumes that people had were very impressive. There were also some Brazilian dancers (scantily clad) and music which was played at various times throughout the night. Overall the evening was a great time and over 900 people were there. The quality of the video isn't great below, but take a look:

Today was another beautiful sunny day which began with us watching the All Blacks vs. England game (or at least the replay from the game which occurred over night) at 8am. The 75th Annual Santa Parade started at 2am and we wanted to make sure we watched this again this year. It was estimated that 250,000 lined the streets for the parade. It was a very long parade, but had some nice floats as you can see and SANTA at the end.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We hope that everyone is having a very Happy Thanksgiving. We look forward to celebrating with you next year. Our Thanksgiving dinner was a bit of a mess and we are happy that we got to have one earlier in the week with friends. The turkey didn't cook quite right, so we had some salad, rolls and chocolate pudding for dinner. Oh well!

It's almost the end of the month so Jeremy decided to trim his moustache for the last day of work. He's done a great job raising money for men's health! Great job Jeremy!

Only a couple days left

I'm sure everyone in the US is getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving in a couple of days. Erin and I will be celebrating tomorrow with some turkey, etc.

As we approach the end of the month, there are only a couple days left for my fundraising efforts. To date, I've raised $1,218.85 thanks to help from various individuals in New Zealand, Japan, US, and Germany.

I'm still hoping to raise some more money so if you can find some extra cash I'm sure it would be much appreciated. Thanks again to all who have already supported my wonderful MO.

Click here to see my profile and donate

Early Thanksgiving Dinner

Last night we gathered with 15 of Jeremy's work mates for a Thanksgiving feast. There were 7 Americans and the others were from Ireland, England, and New Zealand. The night was really fun as the "foreigners" were very interested in learning more about the holiday. They took the time to make traditional recipes like pumpkin, apple, and pecan pies as well as roasting a 22 pound turkey (which had to be special ordered as they aren't common here.)

Those of us who are American even struggled making our recipes as many of the ingredients from back home, aren't sold in NZ. I volunteered to make the stuffing and spend several hours chopping bread into tiny cubes. Fortunately, my hard work paid off and I produced enough stuffing to feed 17 hungry people. Jeremy picked the lucky seat at the table as he was the closest American to the turkey, so he was in charge of carving it. He did a great job!

Help Needed...

I've completed my 3rd week of growing a moustache and entering into the final week of growth for the Movember charity fund raiser.

To those who have already donated, I thank you very much. For those who haven't donated, I need your help. Please consider donating a small amount of US Dollars. When you log onto the page it'll ask you how many NZD's you want to donate, and just remember that the conversion rate is very favorable for those people overseas. The coversion rate for USD is about 2-1 (so if you say you want to donate $50 NZD that'll only cost you about $25 USD) WHAT A DEAL!
Please help support this great charity and the new month with a Moustache husband that Erin had to put up with.

Just click on the word DONATE to help support

Aboriginal Painting

When we were in Alice Springs we had a day to play around town before our flight to Port Douglas. We went into many stores searching for that perfect souvenir. We wanted to find something that would be very special to us and remind us of the wonderful time we spent in the Outback. It was really hot that day and to take a break from the heat and attacking flies, we stepped into Gallery Kukuwarri. Little did we know how much time we were going to spend in the gallery. We were poking around the different paintings, attemping to interpret them when the shop owner, Caroline, offered to tell us about any painting in the store, as she knew the artists personally. In short, the gallery works as a co-op and provides transportation, food, art supplies, and shelter for aboriginal artist to come to Alice Springs and work.

We were immediately attracted to two different, more contemporary styles and finally picked our favorite piece. This painting is by Jeannie Petyarre who was born in Central Australia but her work is famous around the world. She is part of a family of many famous aboriginal artists.

The painting is the Yam Leaf. The desert yam (yala) is one of the staple foods in Central Australia. In this painting Jeannie uses the colors to represent the changes through the seasons. Caroline, also provided us with four photos of Jeannie painting our painting. We feel that those photos make the painting even more special and "one of a kind".

Wellington

We've been here for 19 months and haven't made it to Wellington (the capital) so we figured it was time for us to make a visit. While down there, we went on a tour of the Parliment/Beehive, took the Historic Cable Car ride, relaxed on the waterfront, went to the great Te Papa museum, and had dinner with some friends.

Jeremy and a Cute Sculpture at the Museum

Flowers in the Botanical Garden

Parliament

The Cable Car and the City
It was a busy couple days down there that's for sure. It sure is a windy city that's for sure. On Sunday when we got home, the USA and Korea were playing in the final of the first FIFA Women's U17 World Cup which was held here in NZ. We headed up to watch the game which was great. Unfortunatly in OT, Korea scored to win 2-1. (A girl named Hayley Brock is on the team and is from Acton, Massachusetts) There were some die-hard USA fans there as you can see.

It's a Girl!

We are so proud to become Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Erin again this year! Welcome to Mirabella Ann Mathews born November 14th at 8:04 pm! We can't wait to meet you in just a few weeks Bella!

End of Vacation

Since we are off on another trip tomorrow night, we thought it would be best to quickly summarize the last few days of our vacation. On Saturday we drove north of Port Douglas and took a ferry into the Daintree Rainforest. At 135 million years old, the Daintree Rainforest is the oldest rainforest in the world. Our first stop (nice and early because we wanted to beat the crowd) was the Daintree Discovery Centre.

A little lizard who joined us for the ride

The ferry over the Daintree River which is filled with crocs!

It turns out we were there in the off season, so we were the crowd, but it was nice to explore the place on our own. The Discover Centre has a big walkway that takes you through the forest and then a huge tower that lets you explore the different layers of the rainforest. It was really neat and there is certainly a lot to learn!

Green Ants

Croc warning signs were all over the place.

We explored the area for the rest of the afternoon and Jeremy took a swim in the Mossman Gorge before we headed back to our hotel.


Our last day in Australia we went to a market in town and then hung out by the pool after taking a long walk on the beach. It was really nice to just relax after being so busy! That night we headed back into town to enjoy the sunset, some mojitos and a delicious dinner to top off the vacation.

Enjoying the nice sunset and some cocktails

Monday was a big travel day for us as we had to fly from Cairns to Sydney and then on to Auckland. We were very lucky and were upgraded to first class on our flight from Cairns to Sydney! Unfortunately we didn't get a second upgrade for the international portion of the flight, but the flight attendant did come by and tell Jeremy that he was one of their top customers! Way to go Jeremy!

One of us gets way too excited when she goes to the Qantas Lounge
Next stop: Wellington for a long weekend. We are looking forward to exploring NZ's capital city.

Back on Vacation

Sorry it's been a while, we've been keeping busy with work events, a wedding, and the great spring weather. Back on vacation in Australia...

On Friday morning we took a daytrip to the Great Barrier Reef with Calypso Reef Cruises. We signed ourselves up for 2 Intro scuba dives that day. Jeremy is a certified diver, but I'm not, so we decided to do the Intro Dives so we could enjoy it together. I made sure I took my seasickness pills but my nerves almost got the best of me as I felt pretty queezy during the trip to the reef. I was certain that either I'd get eaten by a shark, left behind by the boat, or my head would explode from the pressure.

Our guide, Erin, was great. We had to pass a basic test with her before going very deep in the water. After three tries and some coaxing I was breathing under water and exploring the Reef. There was a very friendly (and BIG) fish named Marley that came to visit us on the dive. We also saw turtles and other amazing sea creatures. Apparently a shark swam by (not a man-eating one) but we missed that, unfortunately.

What a great experience! I am so happy that I let Jeremy convice me that diving is fun. Between our two dives, Jeremy snorkeled around while I sun-bathed. Here are some of the photos that we caught with our camera:

IT'S MO TIME!!

We are going to take a break from posting about our trip to Australia to get everyone excited about something new that I'm doing.

If you don't know it's MOvember. During the month of November a charitable activity that I've decided to participate in is where I will grow a moustache. I'm sure you are wondering what charity I'm supporting. I'm promoting the awareness of men's health specifically:

-Depression (Depression affects 1 in 10 men....Most people who experience depression make a full recovery. The first step is seeking help.)
-Cancer (Last year in New Zealand 2,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 600 died of prostate cancer - (that's nearly two each day))

I'm sure you are all wondering what I will look like with a moustache, so please click on the link below and donate: Donate to Jeremy's Mo and donate online using your credit card.

You can also track my fundraising status at my profile page: Jeremy's Mofile

The Zoo!

We headed north of Cairns to Port Douglas early in the morning in our rental car. We went to the Cairns Tropical Zoo for a couple hours on the way up north. We saw snakes, birds, koalas, crocodiles, wombats, kangaroos, and much more. Erin also got to hold a Koala here and we got a nice picture.

A massive crock having his lunch Us with a friendly koalaA bird in flight at the bird show Cute lizard

A sleepy koala in the maternity ward

We continued north along the coast (a beautiful ride) and stopped at Rex Lookout where 3 hang-gliders were taking off and "gliding" around.

We arrived in Port Douglas and checked into the Sheraton Resort and were shown to our lagoon room. It was a great room with a nice balcony overlooking one of the lagoons. We relaxed at the pool with couple of drinks. We then headed into town for a dinner and found a place on the water and got a great table to watch the sunset. It was an early night to bed as early the next day we were going SCUBA DIVING!!!

Back in non-vacation times:

Happy Birthday Jake!!!

Final Day in Alice Springs

Today was our final day in Alice Springs before heading to Queensland (Cairns for 1 night) and then traveling up to Port Douglas. We had a leisurely day in the town and spent most of our morning in an Aboriginal Art Shop. We spoke with the owner and found a painting that we loved. We bought the painting and will be getting it frammed shortly and will post a picture of it in a week or two. In addition to the actual painting, we were given 4 shots of the artist actually painting our picture, very cool.

We took a mini hike up ANZAC hill right in the town which commemorates the individuals who fought in the various wars and also gives a nice view of the town from the top.

" The Alice"

The McDonnell Ranges outside of Alice Springs


As you can see, we are FAR from home!

We then headed to the airport, relaxed in the lounge, and then headed to Cairns. We got there late at night, so didn't end up doing very much besides having a couple drinks and relaxing. Stay tuned for our adventures in Port Douglas...

In other news:
Today in Auckland was the Auckland City Marathon. It starts at 6:30am and all the runners come right by our place. We watched and cheered for the people all morning long. Erin was a very good cheerleader and has red/sore hands from all of her clapping. Here are some crazy runners that we saw:

The Flintstones

"Borat" in his mankini - bare bum and all!

The runners from the 10k coming around the corner past our house.

Final Outback Day

After a good night's sleep under the stars, Erin and I headed out to try and watch the sunrise. Unfortunately the flies were crazy and we forgot our fly masks, so we didn't last very long.

We got on the road reasonably early again and headed to Kings Canyon. It's sometimes referred to as the Grand Canyon of Australia. It was an amazing place, but from a size point of view, it's very much smaller than the Grand Canyon. We went on a 4 hour walk around, in, and over the Canyon. There is generally a pool of fresh water that you can swim in, but because they haven't had much new rain in the recent months, the water wasn't the most sanitary. Tony described it as "skanky".

King and Queen of the Mountain

Our friends from Japan. They didn't speak much English but did root for the Red Sox!

On the way home we drove most of the 4 hour trip on a dirt road through the barrenness which is the outback. We ran into a bunch of wild camels, saw a pretty big lizard crossing the road, and saw a famous singing dingo. Dinky the Dingo is world famous, is in the new trivial pursuit and we saw him in person.

We made it back to Alice Springs and unfortunately our tour has come to an end, but not without 1 last night out with the tour group. We decided to meet up at 8:00pm for dinner, drinks, and what turned out to be a bunch of dancing and mingling with locals. We spent our night at Bojangles and around 2am we were all kicked out of the bar, said our goodbyes, and parted ways. Overall a great tour!

On another note: Here in Auckland today, we had some visitors from the US. My cousin Jo-Ann and her husband Tom were in Auckland for a couple of days at the end of their 4 week trip around New Zealand before flying back to Seattle. We had a great dinner at Sails, enjoyed looking at the ships, and some great conversation.

Outback Adventure Day 2

It was an early morning up on day 2 as we had to pack up and leave before sunrise as we were going to be watching sunrise as it came up over Uluru. Packing up was quick and easy...except...when rolling up the swags my lovely wife left something in her swag. It was a sad day when we left as we had lost our red winding flashlight (torch) which I received for a Christmas present from my parents a few years ago. It was sad, but hopefully the next person to use the swag found it and is putting it to good use.

The sun rising next to Uluru

After watching the sunrise, we headed to The Olga's (Kata Tjuta). There was a walk through the 36 domes called the Valley of the Winds which must be done in the early morning because the heat gets so extreme that it's closes at 11am. We walked for about 3 hours and it was beautiful and relaxing as there were very few people around.

Hiking through The (VERY WINDY) Valley of the Winds

We then headed to have lunch and on towards our destination for sleeping that night.

Jeremy leading the boys in gathering fire wood and then helping Tony load it to the top of our truck

In order to get to our campsite, we drove off road for about 5km's and finally came upon a little hut, and campfire where we were staying (very remote). There was a bathroom which only had 3 walls and a shower which was heated by a fire that we would have to light (no showers were had that night or morning).

The flushing toilet in the middle of nowhere

That night we enjoyed some more Kangaroo tail and also were able to get some good shots with the tail prior to being cooked up.

Moustache?

Mr. Kangaroo Ciaccia

We also saw a brilliant sunset and were able to snap some nice pictures.

Another few beers by the fire, and listening to a few Outback stories from Tony and it was time for sleeping. A few of the guys in our group were snoring, so Erin and Christiana (Germany) had some trouble falling asleep, but finally made it to bed.

Stay tuned for our 3rd day which included an adventure in "Australia's Grand Canyon".