Lake Tecapo

Along the route to Queenstown we stopped in the town of Lake Tecapo. The kids enjoyed stretching their legs by stepping in mud and throwing rocks into the lake.

The glacial lake is an unusual color due to ground rock (rock flour) which causes the water to appear milky.

We also visited the Church of the Good Shepherd located on the shore. John took the following picture highlighting the mountains in the background which are some of the highest peaks in New Zealand.

Accommodations!

Rydges Hotel - Christchurch

Wanaka Edge Suites

Rydges Hotel - Queenstown

The view from our balcony in Queenstown. It was very chilly.

Once in a Lifetime

The past two weeks the kids had a school break and so we took advantage and went on holiday to New Zealand, Fiji and up to the Great Barrier Reef for what was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Milford Sound, New Zealand

Yanuca Island, Fiji

Mossman Gorge, Queensland Australia

Football, Football, Football, Football and Football

It's late fall here in Australia and in the Norton household, fall means football. The problem is here in Australia "Football" can refer to 5 different sports: Football (the real football), Soccer, Australian Rules Football, Rugby Union, and Rugby League (yes there are two types of rugby in Australia with different rules). Very confusing, why can't they just adopt the proper naming conventions we have developed in the U.S.?

In the absence of real football down here we have adopted Australian Rules Football. The best way to describe the game is that it is like "Smear the Queer" or "Kill the Carrier" with teams. Which is to say; it is a free flowing, physical game with very few rules. It's awesome. Melbourne is crazy about the game, 10 of the 16 professional teams are from Melbourne. One of the first things that everyone asks when you meet someone for the first time is "which team do you barrack for?" (you don't say "root for" here, it has a very different meaning). So we had to choose a team. We chose the St. Kilda Saints as our team, which has turned out to be a good choice, they are 12-0 so far this season. John and Colin have been to several games and last week to celebrate the Queen's birthday (they still do that down here) the whole family went to the Melbourne vs. Collingwood game with friends.

Melbourne - A Whirlwind tour

What do you do when you have guests come from overseas and they need to stay awake for 12 plus hours, when all they want to do is sleep! To start you introduce them to four attention seeking children who insist on showing off all of their treasures acquired here in Australia.

You take them to the Queen Victoria Market and let them buy souvenirs and goodies (including an outback hat) to help exceed their luggage weight allowance.

You take them to the top of Rialto Tower (well really just to John's offices on the 52nd floor).

You drive them to Brighton Beach for views of downtown and the world famous bath houses.

You take them to our awesome apartment to watch the game of the day - cricket during the summer months and Australian rules football during winter months.

You take them to the Beach Park to sit and watch the children play and you enjoy the sunshine.

And finally, you end the day watching a fantastic sunset back at the apartment.

Only in Australia

One of my favorite things to do is to go to the library. Being surrounded by hundreds of books (excites my reading nature) that you can check out for free (excites my frugal nature) is awesome. The most important discovery that we made when we moved to Melbourne is the Toy Library. Every two weeks we check out new toys that have included very large toys (car, spinning toy built for two, a Little Tykes kitchen, etc...) and very small toys (Tasmanian Devil, Echidna, platypus, and possum figurines). The kids love playing with the new toys and when they start to lose interest we return them and get new ones! Awesome!

Only in Australia

We won't go into the details here, but this picture (courtesy of Grandpa) was taken in a men's public bathroom. Use your imagination if you need to.

The Great Ocean Road - Numero Dos

I drove with John's parents and the kids along the Great Ocean Road in one day. I thought it was neat the first time, but I was not too keen to go along the road again, but have since decided that this is one of my favorite sights of Australia. We enjoyed the following sights:

The Bay of Islands

The Grotto

Loch Ard Gorge

London Arch (formerly known as London Bridge)

The Twelve Apostles

A Post

Still living and breathing, but not at all keen to blog! However, due to the constant queries from John regarding the updates on the blog and to an actual interest from some of you...here is a post.
We went out to the Dandenong Ranges on Saturday and enjoyed a few bush walks and some incredible views of Melbourne. The air was crisp and cool and it smelled of burning leaves. It was a perfect fall day.

Sassafras

We spent a gorgeous fall day in the quaint village of Sassafras at the foot of the Dandenong Ranges. This village is only 40 minutes away from Melbourne and is surrounded by temperate rain forest. We went on two bush walks through trees and to a waterfall and then spent time at lookouts over Melbourne and the Yarra Valley.

View of downtown Melbourne

View of Yarra Valley

Only in Australia

Have you ever been driving down the freeway in the middle of nowhere and a 50 foot tall crustacean suddenly appears on the side of the road? Well me neither, at least not until I came to Australia. These animal monuments continue to astound and amaze us.

Flash Back Friday

Check out those legs! I love a man that can pull off a skirt! John was in Edinburgh, Scotland last year at this time.