Tour Leader’s Blog

Today was our cruise on Milford Sound, the most western area of New Zealand. Milford Sound is thought to have been discovered by iwi Maori more than 1,000 years ago, whose highways were the waterways. We traveled by coach through the scenic Fiordland National Park. Des Jolly, our driver/Guide, interprerted the history, flora, waterfalls and wildlife during our drive to the sound. Fiordland National Park is one of the wettest places in the world, with Milford Sound averaging more than 6 meters or 237 inches per year. We enjoyed our 2 hour luncheon cruise in beautiful sunshine with a temptature of 25c or 79 F.

Ruth Mumaw remarked that the scenery enjoyed on the cruise was magnificent. Howard Brenneman commented that he can see why this mountain range is called the southern Alps - the highest point is Mt. Little at almost 7,000 feet. Muriel Quenzer was out on the deck when the Captain brought the ship in close to Stirling Falls and got sprayed by the falls. Ron and Marcia Haarer were the scribes for today and everyone was pleased that they were able to record the beauty we saw for our tour diary.

We are off to Lake Wanaka for the night and then back to Christchurch. What an awesome day for Bernadine Mast to celebrate her Birthday.

~ Wilmer Martin

Our group worshiped this morning at the First Church of Otago (Presbyterian). This is always an enjoyable experience as their former pastor (now working at the church’s head office) studied under John Howard Yoder and had a deep appreciation for Anabaptist theology.

This afternoon we enjoyed the 4 hour train ride on the Taieri Gorge Railway. This is the longest tourist railway in New Zealand and travels along the banks of the Taieri River, through numerous tunnels, across over a dozen viaducts and climbs along the Taieri Gorge.

Henry and Mary Dueck said the ride through the gorge is a wonderful experience and has some similarities to the White Pass in the Yukon. Other tour members deemed it “one of the highlights of the tour” (Willi Vogt) and “Spectacular” (Bernadine Mast). A wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

~ Wilmer Martin.

Today, Valentine’s day, we visited the Great Barrier Reef and Green Island. It was a wonderful day, we enjoyed the sunshine in a glass bottom boat from which we could view fish and coral. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef in the world and has the world’s highest marine life diversity, with over 450 type of corals, 1,500 types of fish and 4,000 types of mollusks. All these species are protected by law.

After arriving on Green Island, our group walked on the sand, swam, snorkeled and enjoyed this marvelous area of God’s creation. Ron and Marcia Haarer were walking along the shore and saw a “Fish Boil” or feeding frenzy. This when a large school of fish are swimming together while feeding. They observed a shark swim through the fish boil and the fish jumped out of the water. Other tour members went and watched this fascinating scene as the shark would rest on the coral and then feed again and the fish would fly out of the water. God’s creation and the food chain cycle were a joy to observe.

To top off the day we had a delicious Balinese meal followed by a birthday cake for Marcia. We say goodbye to Australia tomorrow and hello to New Zealand.

~ Wilmer Martin

Yesterday, traveling from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock, we offered a prize to the first person who spotted a wild camel. Geoff, our driver guide, told us 300,000 wild camel roam the out back. They are very dangerous and their numbers grow every year. Bull camels are deadly beasts that man should respect, as it can kill you instantly. These are odd looking creatures, they look like they were developed by a committee. Shirley Ratzlaff (witnessed by Bob Miller) won the prize. The temperature was 39 Celsius (105 Fahrenheit) so we drank a lot of water and made sure to use umbrellas and sun screen.

At our dinner buffet we had a choice of a variety of meats including kangaroo, camel, lamb and more traditional meats. Tomorrow we are off to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.

~ Wilmer Martin

This morning our group worshiped with the Mennonite Church of Hope at Marmong Point.

Mennonite Church of Hope

Pastor Foppe Brouwer invited guests interested in doing church planting to come and speak with the group. Three couples attended and joined in the fellowship. Sue Miller directed the group as we sang two Hymns and Wilmer Martin gave the morning sermon. During our fellowship meal Foppe asked that we take a prayer request back to North America. It is his wish that God send someone to assist him in Pastoral Leadership as Foppe is now 78 years old. Our group was encouraged by the spirit of welcome given to us.

We returned to a sunny hot Sydney and a few people went to do more shopping at the Rocks area. Tomorrow we fly to Alice Springs - we are off to the outback.

I’m pleased to announce that Helene Mathies, Margaret Heinrichs, and Muriel Quenzer won Janet’s Auzzie word game.

~ Wilmer Martin