G'Day, Mates!

This Christmas, John and Alison and their family invited George and me to come with them on an adventure to New Zealand and Australia--and what a wonderful adventure it was! 

After flying for 24 hours--that's actual flying time--it doesn't even include time spent in airports--we were mighty glad to arrive in Auckland, New Zealand.  We entered this new world  through a gate which had been created by the Maoi people, along with their greeting.

  

At least we were in a country which spoke English--at least I thought that--but, sometimes the British accent left us scratching our heads.  By the end of the trip, we were a bit better at understanding!  Anyway, we knew the name of the hotel where John and Alison would be, but had no idea of where it was, so to our happiest surprise, the kids were there greeting us as we got out of Customs.  And just outside, there was Johnny driving a New Zealand car  with the steering wheel on the wrong side (hah!) and us hoping that he remembered to stay on the opposite side of the road--unlike when we drove with him in London!  (George thought we were gonners on that occasion!  Hah!)

We soon discovered New Zealand was a country of beautiful rolling hills, pristine beaches, and lots of sail boats. 

After arriving at a beautiful hotel in New Zealand, we were able to get some much-needed rest. 

It was so great to see the kids and know we were going to be able to spend nearly three weeks with them!

Our adventure with the Wildes really began the next morning when we visited a sheep ranch just outside of Auckland.  Sheep are certainly part of New Zealand as it has 45 million sheep in the country and New Zealanders proudly boast that it is the finest wool in the world.  The sheep outnumber the country's human population by more than 11 to one! 

A sheep rancher showed us how they trained their dogs which are an intregal part of the sheep ranching.

These sheep look so organized and behaved . . .

Here's the reason!

They don't dare move a muscle!

Big brothers are so cool!  They carry along little ones without ever complaining--it was really amazing! 

Then the rancher showed us how they sheared the sheep.

Alison volunteered to help. 

Good job, Alison!

Now the fun part for the little ones--they brought in about 10 little lambs and they got to feed them.

We were all thoroughly entertained!

Now everyone got to hold little lambs--if they wanted to.  My kids all know that I love to look at animals, but no holding!

There were lots more animals to see, too.

They actually had a whole herd of pink sheep--I'm not sure why, but they were fun to see.

We left Sheep World to board the Diamond Princess which would be our home for the next 13 days!

Of course, we had to tour the ship to get acquainted with it.  Here Tyson is in front of the gingerbread village with Santa overhead.  This was December 22, so the ship was very festive for Christmas.

The dining room.  Can you ever think you would get tired of eating?  It actually happened to all of us!

The kids' favorite dessert was called a "Volcano."  It was huge!

And little Preston would keep busy by putting together his blocks while we all ate.

 

While we were at sea, the kids loved to play basketball or tennis.

Grandpa could still show them a thing or two on the basketball court.  He's not over the hill yet!  Good thing it wasn't from the three-point range!  Hah!

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, December 24

Our first port was Wellington, New Zealand.  Now George and I aren't "Lord of the Rings" fans and have never seen the movie, but John and the older boys loved the book and movie, so we did a fascinating tour of where most of the movie was filmed.  The director, Peter Jackson, is from there, so he knew precisely the best places for the film to be made.  After the tour, George and I decided we definitely were going to have to watch the movie.

Going into the forest areas where "Lord of the Rings" was filmed. 

Our guide was actually in the film, so he would stop and show us exactly where the action happened and he even had scrapbook pictures of the movie to line up with his explanations of the filming.

Parker skipping some rocks across a river. 

Dad Johnny packed Preston so much of the way, too!

Crossing a swinging bridge.

The forest was just beautiful--all in its natural state.

Doesn't Parker look just like Orlando Bloom?  This is the exact spot his photo shot for the film was taken.

Bracken, Parker, and Preston with our guide who was one of the elves.  Obviously, he isn't short, but he said he got the part from his great moves that looked like elf moves!  I have never seen anyone so excited about a movie or book in my life!  He lived and breathed it!

 CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - December 25, Christmas!

What a coincidence to be docked in Christchurch (Lyttleton) on Christmas Day.  After the kids found that Santa had even found them aboard a ship--

We all sat down while John talked about the prophets here in the Americas who prophesied of the coming of the Christ as told in The Book of Mormon and then he read of the actual birth of our Savior as found in Luke 2.  No matter where you are for Christmas, it is such a loving time to remember the Savior and what his life has meant for each of us.  John also read a beautiful old tale about a husband and wife who had no money and the husband sold his precious gold watch to buy beautiful combs for his wife's hair, while she cut off her long locks of hair to buy him a gold chain for his watch.  Grandpa and Grandma (George and I) then shared some thoughts about Christ and this beautiful time of year.  All in all, we had a very spiritual Christmas along with all the fun.

     

Then the present opening began. 

(I found this little book at the bookstore and just had to get it for Preston because he is always smiling.  I didn't even think about the kangaroos in it, but it became his favorite book to read each night by his mommy since he was seeing so many kangaroos on the trip.)

Santa brought Tyson something he loves to do!

Alison told me Tyson wanted a book about bugs.  He seemed to be real pleased with it and was always finding little creatures wherever we went.

The boys wanted Ipod gift certificates. 

Grandpa and Grandma Wilde sent each of the boys some money--they were very excited about that!

Bracken wanted a Tim Tebow jersey.  He's a Gator fan, too!

 

This was sort of a funny joke.  When we went to the Caribbean with John and Alison several years ago, Alison wanted to buy a huge sombrero to take home.  How they would get it there, I don't think anybody knew, but she wanted it so badly.  I talked her out of it, and she kept reminding me afterwards how she should have bought it.  So, when I went back to the Caribbean with my family in January, I bought her one that I thought she could get home!

John calls "People Magazine" Alison's second Bible, so this is a pretty easy present to buy for her.

To Alison, From Amy - She laughed and laughed when she saw this little "Hello, Kitty."  They loved "Hello, Kitty" when they were younger, and now they take every opportunity to remind each other about it.

John got his new favorite game from Santa.  We tried it out while we were on the ship.  It is really fun but takes quite a long time to play.

We gave John a beautiful scrapbook of our adventures in China which my sister Joyce had put together.  Their whole family loved it!

 

George and I got Ugg slippers from the Wildes.  They are the softest slippers ever!

What a fun Christmas morning!

We then got off the ship and headed for Christchurch, a beautiful little town on the South Island of New Zealand that is considered New Zealand's most English city.  It even has a river named the Avon River running through it. 

 

We boarded a festive little trolley which took us all around the town.

See what I mean about Tyson and the bugs?!

The botanical gardens were just breath-taking!

Look at tiny Tyson below this huge tree.

Going into the rose garden.

I just had to take the picture of this most beautiful tree.  It reminded me of what the Tree of Life must have looked like in Lehi's Dream in the Book of Mormon.  Don't you think?

There was even a park area for the kids to play in.

This Gothic-style Cathedral is the center of town. 

Too bad, George, this big ice cream cone has no ice cream in it!

 

Back at the ship, Santa arrived in a vintage car.  We needed Doug there to tell us what kind it was!

Then all the children got to go talk to Santa and his "helpers."  Elves aren't what they used to be!

Afterwards, the kids got to decorate cookies and do all sorts of crafts.  Tyson was in seventh heaven!

This was Tyson's favorite teacher at the Kids' Club on board the ship.  He loved it there!

This is the gift Santa gave to all the children.

Then it was off to eat Christmas dinner.  Cassie!  You would have loved this appetizer--most of us not so much!

Good-bye, Christmas 2009.  May we strive to keep the feelings the whole year through!

More Australian adventures to follow!