July 12 - Cairns

It's hard to believe that we made the last leg of our journey today. We bid good-bye to Sydney this morning, but not without a little glitch before we left.

Check-in was going fine until the computer said one of our group didn t have a ticket. Name came up, but no confirmation number. It took me a couple minutes to remember where I filed it, but I found it,  and we were all good.

We had a visit by Nick's mom and brother this afternoon. They are in Cairns, too, so they asked if they could drop by. It was great to see some faces from home.

This evening we went to the Night Markets. They are kind of a cross between food court, outlets, craft center, tourist shop and flea market. It was pretty interesting. We all could eat wherever we wanted, and everyone seemed to have a good time trying new things.

The "strange experience of the night" has to go to the fish spa. It had about 10 square glass cubes with fish in them. The participants would sit for 15 minutes with their feet in the water while the fish nibbled the dead skin away. EWWW!!! The reactions of the students who decides to try it were priceless! Even Mr. B got in on it. They wanted me to try it. Not today, not tomorrow,  not ever! I won't get a pedicure because I don't want someone touching my feet. I surely don't want a bunch of little fish nibbling on them!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

July 4

Happy Independence Day from all of us! Just wanted to let you know that the hotel internet hasn't allowed me to publish yesterday's blog. It's ready to go,  complete with pictures, which are the hold-up, I think. Anyway,  I'll post it as soon as I can. Reminder: no internet for the next couple of days.  If I can send text through my phone, I will.
Read more

July 5 - Council, Bath, Thermal Valley, Marae

Image
We had a full day of varied activities. We started out by meeting with Council member Trevor Maxwell. He is responsible for cultural exchange and tourism. He shared that all of the tribes in New Zealand stem from seven original tribes. Tourism has become a major component of Rotorua's economy. I was very proud of our students. They asked good questions and had good discussions with the councilman. Then we went to the Blue Bath for a swim. The water was fed by the springs and was nice and warm. We pretty  much had the pool to ourselves. We also had lunch at the Blue Bath dining room. It was a variety tea sandwiches that were very tasty. On our way to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley we stopped at Waiotapu geothermal pool which had bubbling mud.  It was so funny to watch the mud spurting up all over the pool. We hiked through the Waimangu Valley and saw Frying Pan Lake,  Echo Crater and Inferno Crater Lake. It is such beautiful country. We learned a Maori song to sing dur...
Read more

July 8 - Hobbiton

Image
Our last day adventure in New Zealand was spent on the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings set. The farm where the filming was done is absolutely beautiful. It looks so peaceful with the sheep grazing all around it. Basically, the lodgings were empty shells, with nothing in the interiors. But, the details in the exteriors were amazing. Even though I'm not a fan of the movies, it was a pretty neat experience. The site is a 1250 acre sheep and beef farm with 39 Hobbit Holes. At the end of the tour we were treated to a mug of ginger beer. Our last night of lodging is in Hamilton, and it will be a very short night. We have to stay in Hamilton,  about 2 hours from Auckland, because all the hotels are booked up for tonight's game. I know many of the students want to see at least the beginning haki of the All Blacks game. How much of the game they actually see will be determined,  as we are leaving the hotel at 4:00 a.m  to get to the airport. As you can see, I'm up-to-date in pictures ...
Read more