Tour Leader’s Blog

Our days in New Zealand have gone by quickly. Before we left Dunedin we climbed the steepest street in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Jane did not want Bev to climb so she went ahead with the group. However, Bev had his picture taken at the top with her. What a beautiful view from the top!

We also enjoyed the Rose Garden in the Botanic Gardens of Dunedin. As we crossed the Taieri Plain, the countryside became more rolling with lots of grassland and huge paddocks of sheep, dairy and deer. We observed farmers harvesting grain and moving sheep to other paddocks with sheep dogs. What a picture!

In the town of Clinton we picked up the presidential highway to Gore where we enjoyed lunch in the Old Post Office Cafe. We wondered if President Clinton enjoyed his visit here as much as we did?

On our way to Te Anau, we learned about deer farming and saw many herds. Deer meat and velvet from the antlers are shipped to Japan. Te Anau is the gateway to Fiordland.

On Tuesday we traveled to Milford Sound. Des Jolly, our driver-guide helped us appreciate the Fiordland National Park with stops that allowed us to breath the fresh air, to drink its waters and to take pictures. The cruise on the Fiord was spectacular. The sun and blue sky helped us take good pictures.

Today we enjoyed visiting Arrowtown and watching bungee jumping where it all began in 1987. Everyone volunteered to pay for Shirley to jump but she, even though tempted, did not accept the offer.

Lunch at Mrs. Jones’ Orchard was delicious with such fruits as tasty apricots, cherries, plums and other fruits.

Mount Cook had a scarf and hat on (covered with a cloud) and therefor was not as spectacular as the postcards but still great to see.

We must now pack our suitcases for our flight home tomorrow. We will leave New Zealand in the evening and arrive in Los Angeles the same day but in the morning, the wonder of crossing the international date line.

~ Wilmer Martin

Greetings from New Zealand. This is our third day in this country with 4 million people and 40 million sheep. What a beautiful country with so many shades of green! Tourism is a major industry. All the locals are so welcoming and want to talk with you and are interested in the country where you live.

We enjoyed our drive across the Canterbury Plains. Our favorite driver/guide Des told us that this is New Zealand’s largest farming area. Al Wiens phoned an acquaintance from British Columbia who moved to this area and works for the Canadian company McCain Foods. He told us that the 1,000’s of cows that we saw are part of corporate farms. Many of them have 40-50 thousand cow herds in size.

At the town of Moeraki we walked on the beach to observe the huge boulders. How did they get here on the beach?

In Dunedin we are staying at the Leviathan Hotel, the old hotel across the street from the magnificent railroad station, the most beautiful station in the southern hemisphere.

This morning we worshiped with the First Church of Otago (Presbyterian) for a meaningful service on the first Sunday of Lent.

At the Octagon in Dunedin we enjoyed our lunch while listening to bagpipes being played. Many school and town groups from across New Zealand participated in this contest with a parade taking place this afternoon at 4pm.

We are now enjoying a wonderful sunny ride through the Taieri Gorge on the Otago Central Railway historic train. What a delight!

Tomorrow we leave Dunedin. There is so much more to see on the South Island.

~ Wilmer Martin.

On Monday we flew to Alice Springs in Central Australia to experience the outback. What a change from Sydney! We were prepared for the hot temperature since we had unusually warm weather during the first week of the tour. Our driver-guide has done a great job interpreting the outback. At the School of the Air we were impressed how all children of Australia receive the same education through this school even though they live on a remote cattle station. Albert Hildebrand said they need this program in Paraguay.

At the Flying Doctor Service, a program begun by the Presbyterian Church over 70 years ago, we were reminded that universal health care is available for all the people and regions of Australia. It requires a fleet of more than 30 planes providing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week health care. Today they are still a charity but also receive some funding from the federal government.

On Tuesday we left Alice Springs to travel by coach 525 kms to Ayers Rock. We were told that there are more than a million wild camels in Australia. Leona Krause won the prize for seeing the first wild camel. Many persons rode a camel at the camel farm. You should have heard the camel complain when John and Al both sat on and rode the same camel!

We saw three great rock formations: Mt. Connor, the Olgas and Ayers Rock. We were especially welcomed by the flies. Bev said you have to ignore them. Fred and Shirley ignored her advice and bought fly nets. They were followed by at least 5 other tour members.

This morning we were on the coach early to drive to see Ayers Rock at sunrise. It was interesting to compare the view with seeing the sunset last evening.

We are now flying to our last region of Australia - Cairns. This is a rain forest area and where we will experience the Great Barrier Reef. We will travel by boat to visit the Reef in the morning.

~ Wilmer Martin

We continue to enjoy sunny and above average temperatures with each day being in the upper 30s to low 40s Celsius.

Traveling through the Snowy Mountains, Al Wiens won the prize for seeing the first kangaroo in the wild and John Krause the prize for the first emu. It was so exciting to see the many kangaroos. We learned that in the National Capital Region around Canberra they had to cull many kangaroos due to over population.

Our guided tour of Parliament House was so informative. We were impressed with the commitment of the schools to bring all Grade 6 or 7 students for a two-day tour of their nation’s capital and Parliament. We saw many students.

In Sydney, Albert Hildebrand was impressed with its cleanliness and how alive the core of the old part of the city is. This city of more than 4 million people enjoys a spectacular harbour. On the Harbour Highlights Cruise we had great views of the Harbour Bridge and the world-famous Opera House.

Tonight a number of tour members are enjoying the Sydney Symphony in the Opera House’s Concert Hall.

Tomorrow we will leave Sydney to go to Raymond Terrace and meet Foppe and Alice Brouwer, pastors of the Mennonite Church of Hope. We look forward to worshiping with them on Sunday.

~ Wilmer Martin.

It is hard to believe that we are already in our 6th day of our Australia and New Zealand tour. This year our tour members are not only from North America but also Paraguay.

For those of us from North America, we left cold weather to enjoy the sunny 33-41 Celsius temperatures in the state of Victoria where it has been unusually warm.

At this time people are remembering Black Saturday. It was one year ago when they had the tragic Bush fires when close to 50 percent of the state of Victoria was on fire. In one day 173 persons died with 150 of them dying in their cars.

We were amazed at how the bush is coming back to life. Nature heals itself. The trees and tree ferns are green again and everything is beautiful as the sun reaches the forest floor. People are rebuilding their homes. The people of Australia are banding together.

Last night we had our Aussie barbeque with Lazy Harry. He told us stories and sang folk songs as he interpreted their culture. One song, “We Want To Say Thank You,” was to the Volunteer Fire Department.

Leona Krause won the prize of one of Lazy Harry’s CDs for the best audience participation.

At Healsville Sanctuary we saw the signature animals and birds of Australia.

Today we travel Bush as we cross the Snowy Mountains to Cooma. Wilmer tells us to watch for kangaroos and emus in the wild as we will surely see them today. Janet has prizes for the persons who sees the first one of these animals in the wild and has a witness.

We enjoyed seeing the little penguins at Phillip Island on Monday night. Each area of this beautiful country is unique. Their people are so friendly.

~ Wilmer Martin