Share memories and photos of our recent Elderhostel trip to New Zealand and Australia. The name of the trip was Gaudeamus! which means Let Us Rejoice! And indeed, the whole 5-week trip was a joy.
The first part of our trip was to 5 locations in New Zealand: Auckland,Rotorua, Queenstown,Te Anau and Christchurch.One of the first things we noticed about New Zealand was how green and beautiful the country is! And how the Kiwis (as New Zealanders call themselves) appreciate and enjoy their gardens. The climate is very agreeable, and they say, truthfully, "We can grow anything."
Our first stay,at a hotel in Auckland, was across the street from a beautiful rose garden. This was the first of many gardens that we visited in N.Z. and Australia, and in keeping with the theme of my pages, I will try to show you some of their glories.
In Auckland we visited beautiful Eden Gardens,created in an abandoned quarry. Native NZ plants were featured, with many Vireya rhododendrons.
Click on the small pictures below to see the full-size photo. Use the "back" button on your browser to return to this page.
|
|
|
|
|
| Roses | Vireya | Sharing the road | Sheepherding | Sheep Shearing |
There are 3.8 million people in New Zealand and 48 million sheep, so we saw many sheep, even sharing the road with some. Several days into our trip,we took a boat ride on Lake Wakatipu to a farm station at Walter Peak. We saw a great demonstration of sheep herding with a dog, and sheep shearing. We were able to feed and admire some of the lambs.
Members of our group photographed and fed these cute babies
 |
 |
 |
 |
Diane & Friend | Bud & Buddy | Lake Wakatipu | Walter Peak Garden |
Our trip continued with a cruise on the Milford Wanderer on Milford Sound to the Tasman Sea We enjoyed many beautiful waterfalls on Milford Sound.We spent 2 days in Christchurch before leaving for the interesting city of Melbourne, Australia. Highlights of our visit were a theatre perfomance of Les Miserables,a trip to Phillips Island and the Penguin Parade, a trip to the recreated mining town of Sovereign Hill, at Ballarat, and a special "Thanksgiving Day" dinner put on for us by our coordinator and the staff of the hotel.Then we packed up for our trip to Alice Springs the next morning.
Alice Springs is a fairly big town of 27000 residents in the middle of Australia.We visited the Old Telegraph Station which started the place, and the Flying Doctor service and the School of the Air which provide medical services and education programs for the folks who live on the stations (ranches) in the Outback We visited a desert wildlifepark which was nicely done and showed us great birds and nocturnal mammals and reptiles, and the succulent plants of the area.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Sturts pea | Koala | Grey kangaroo | Aboriginal art |