Greetings all,
Happy year of the snake to everyone! Certainly not my favorite Chinese year animals, but then again, no one asked me and it's been around alot longer than we have, so I'll just go with it!
This year, as has become usual, we left China and all the firecracker smoke, noise, dumplings and all the Chinese people moving about to be with family to take a winter break. If you've watched the news, you've seen the pollution has been especially bad...and we concur...it has been bad! It has also been cold, so our choice of vacation destination was to get clean, warm air...we chose a cruise in New Zealand and Australia. Below you will find a few pictures that briefly describe one of the best vacations we have ever had...so relaxing, so warm and so clean! Even though some of the pictures are stunning in my opinion...they don't do it justice!
We started our cruise in Auckland, New Zealand and ended up in Perth Australia, then flew back to Auckland before coming back to China...I've tried to put these photos in order, but didn't make it some times...so you'll just have to read the captions!
 |
| 3 pinguins at the pinguin reserve |
 |
| The railroad station at Akaroa or Duneden, New Zealand |
 |
| The Railroad station at Akaroa or Duneden (I can't remember which!), New Zealand |
 |
| The pinquin reserve on the coast of New Zealand |
 |
| Through the weeds, there are 3 pinguins...can you find them? |
 |
| The Pinguin reserve on the coast of New Zealand |
 |
| Outside the pinguin reserve in New Zealand |
 |
| The albatross nesting area on the coast of New Zealand |
 |
| The Larnach castle in New Zealand |
 |
| Lanarch Castle in New Zealand |
 |
| Heading in to the fjords (sounds) in New Zealand |
 |
| The view from Larnarch Castle in New Zealand |
 |
| Sarah on the steps of Larnach Castle, New Zealand |
 |
| The Celebrity Solstice heading into the Sounds of New Zealand |
 |
| The sounds of New Zealand |
 |
| Sarah and Rod coming into the Sounds in New Zealand |
 |
| The Sounds of New Zealand |
 |
| Milford Sound, New Zealand |
 |
| Milford Sound New Zealand |
 |
| Rodney Miller coming into the harbor at sunrise in Sydney, Australia with the ionic Opera house in the background |
 |
| Sarah Miller in Sydney, Australia at sunrise |
 |
| Rod and Sarah in Sydney Australia at sunrise |
 |
| Sarah and Rod getting ready to climb the bridge in Sydney Harbor, Austrailia |
 |
| Sarah & rod inside the opera house in Sydney |
 |
| Sarah & rod in our seats at the opera house in Sydney |
 |
| Sarah at the opera in Sydney |
 |
| The Queen Victoria mall in Sydney...the classiest mall we have ever seen! |
 |
| Another view of the Queen Victoria building mall in Sydney |
|
 |
| The staircase in the Queen Victoria building in Sydney |
 |
| The clock in the Queen Victoria Building mall (with the Chinese New Year dragon) |
 |
| A close up of the window in the Queen Victoria Buidling |
 |
| Rod in front of one of the windows in the Queen Victoria buidling (can you tell I liked this place?) |
 |
| The Sydney Opera house as we sailed away from Sydney |
 |
| Lots of sailboats in the Sydney |
 |
| A cockatoo in Tasmania |
 |
| A roadsign in Tasmania |
 |
| Some kangaroos in Tasmania |
 |
| Sarah and some kangaroos |
 |
| Rod feeding the kangaroos |
 |
| Momma Kangaroo and her Joey |
 |
| A koala bear in Tasmania |
 |
| A close up of the tasmanian devil |
 |
| just a pretty bridge in Richmond, Tasmania Australia |
 |
| Rod beside the bridge in Tasmania |
 |
| A nice church in Tasmania |
 |
| Rod with an electric dulcimer player in Adelaide |
 |
| Sarah (with newly purchased hat) in Adelaide Australia |
 |
| Formal night on the boat |
 |
| Some of the flowers outside of Albany, Australia |
 |
| Some of the whitest beaches in the world outside of Esperence, Australia |
 |
| Sarah on the beach outside of Esperence Australia |
 |
| White beaches outside of Esperence |
 |
| Another tasmanian devil |
 |
| Happy Valentine's day in Albany, Australia in a 1958 Jag! |
 |
| 2 jags making the tour in Albany Australia |
 |
| Rod sitting in the jag before we take off on our tour |
 |
| There was a choir on the cruise lead by a musician from the acapella quartet Jason Mincer |
 |
| The jag over heated on the way up a hill...no problem, get the 2 liter coke bottle, fill her up and move on! |
 |
| Coming into the port in Freemantle, Australia, I spotted some tires made by the good employees at the Michelin earthmover tire plant I used to manage in Lexington, SC..very proud of the team in Lexington to ship tire all over the world! |
 |
| The card our choir gave to Choir director Jason |
 |
| The tires spotted at a distance! |
 |
| The beach outside Perth, Australia |
 |
| The monument in Eden park in Perth |
 |
| Rod and Sarah at the war monument outside Albany, Australia |
 |
| Rod in Eden Park in Perth, Australia |
 |
| Rod beside a big tree in Eden park in Perth Australia |
 |
| The Solstice Choir |
 |
| Ending up the vacation with a good run in Albert Park in Auckland, New Zealand |
 |
| Rod & Sarah in Albert Park, Auckland, New Zealand (just before Chinese lantern festival)...ahh...what a nice vacation! |
So, that is but a few of the pictures from our vacation down under...it was probably a once in a lifetime deal for us...so nice, so memorable and so clean, fresh and relaxing...and so needed!
Have a great day everyone and thanks for your continued prayers and emails!
Sarah & Rod Miller
