When they say Great they mean it!

Still no access to down load any pictures!
Entering the dramatic beauty of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)is an extraordinary experience.From the moon the GBR is the only living structure visible on earth! It is a national treasure and also a World Heritage Site. The reef truly engages all your senses, lifts you up, and takes you into another realm. Sharing the wonder and creatures of the world's largest living entity, experiencing its breathtaking color and majesty is something I've wanted to do my whole life. Seeing nature at its most perfect is an awakening and quite simply a memory I'll hold for a lifetime. The friendly crew took us to a reef at the very edge of Auztralia's Continental Shelf to an underwater world that is a dazzling kaleidoscope of color and life.This particular reef is called Agincourt Reef. The scuba dive crew was awesome, and I have to admit I did have a bit of panic as we practiced the use of the air 2 regulators. But "no worries mate", the instructors were very good, and once you start swimming through that reef vibrating with hues, stripes and shimmerings of a myriad of fish and coral you forget everything (even to breath sometimes). Butterfly fish, parrot fish, angel fish and elegant nudibranchs dance before your eyes and coral gardens beckon you to explore. I got to touch a giant clam, pick up a sea cucumber, and run my hands through some spaghetti coral. Yes it feels like wet spaghetti. I spotted a Cuttle fish, which I was later told is rare on the reef. Clownfish snuggle into the embrace of sea anemones, and I swam through billowing clouds of neon colored damsel fish. Am I blabbing on to much? I can't help it, it was so incredible. Scuba diving can't last forever, only as long as you have air, so we did have to return to the real world above the waves. The boat offered a huge buffet lunch, then it was off to snorkel in the unique ribbon reef with its clear, pure water. It was a dream come true out on the reef, a day of discovery. The best day yet.

Yes Virginia there really is a platypus!

We went out in the late afternoon for a rainforest wildlife tour. The drive took us through sugar cane fields to the Atherton Tablelands an area that featuresa range of habitats including lush tropical rainforest and volcanic crater lakes. It is a World Heritage site which means it must fit strict international criteria to get that designation. While we still had daylight we spotted wallabees, and several rainforest birds. Then to a quaint Tea room restaurant on the edge of a crater lake, Barren Lake. Delicious local coffee, and scones were served. Yumm. From there a short walk took us to twin Kuwra trees. These things are huge! I do have pictures. At dusk we patiently waited alond a stream fed pond for the elusive platypus. After a good 30 minute wait we spotted him, and he repaid our wait with a bit of showing off directly in front of us. We stopped for dinner in a lovely Swiss/ Italian restaurant. Again I was so impressed by the food and the wonderful friendly people. Oh I forgot to mention Mary Lou and I were the only people to book the tour so we had our very, I mean very, knowledgeable guide to ourselves. It was completely dark now so we drove deeper into the rainforest to "spot"(with lights) some creatures!As we walked along mountain tracks, we were lucky enough to see Lumholts Tree Kangaroo with a baby joey. We also spotted 4 of the 6 endemic possums. These are not at all like the possums back home. We went to a few other sites getting higher and higher up in the mountains to an elevation of @ 1200 meters. More wallabees, the Red legged melon paddy, a flying Fox (one of the largest bats) and several other bats and night birds. Awesome. Thursday the Great Barrier Reef!!

Catching up

Internet access is few and far between! So I'll attempt to catch up a bit here. Before I even got to Nelson NZ, and Abel Tasman national park, I missed my flight out of Whangarei because of fog. Air travel and me on this trip has been a problem, and I thought the Maori Tonga I received would help with that , but I was corrected in that assumption, and told the Tonga is for safe travel, not good luck in traveling. Damm. The bad luck did continue, as I found out something even worse than getting stuck next to a crying baby, extreme body odor. Wow, I had bad de ja vous of France. Finally got into Nelson after a 3 hour delay, and a roaring headache (holding your breath while flying not a good idea). My luck changed!! My driver was waiting, which I was concerned about since Iwas late and the other teacher I was meeting made the earlier flight. Gordon, my driver, was a pleasant Brit, and collected my luggage, whisking me off to the Mercedes S300 to drive the hour out to Marahau NZ to the chalet we had booked! Beautiful area, nestled between 2 National parks, and a mountain range. Unfortunately the computer access I have right now does not allow me to upload my pictures!
As I mentioned earlier the 1st hike was cancelled, which was a good thing really as a monsoon rain fell throughout the day. On and off between down pours we did manage a walk or 2. the 2nd hike on day 2 was awesome. We were taken by boat up the Tasman sea coast, past seal colonies, bird, and marine sanctuaries. The water is a beautiful aquamarine color, and the coast varies from rocky cliff face, to sandy beaches. the hike was a 4 hour trek up and down the coast, mostly in rain forest, some along the beach, and a varying altitude levels. Absolutely the best hike I've ever taken. Rounding corners would bring into view a waterfall, a stunning lagoon, and of swinging bridges suspended over rushing rivers. Surreal. I slept like a baby.
Tuesday we talked Gordon our driver into picking us up early and taking us into Nelson to look around. Nelson receives the most sunshine of anywhere in NZ. It is a harbor town surrounded by mountains on 3 sides, which protect it from the wicked southerly weather. We made it back to the airport in time to begin our 10+ hour journey of traveling to Australia. Entering both NZ, and Aus. require anyone entering to either country to fill out a form, with the usual stuff, but also a couple of questions asking where you had recently traveled, i.e. farms or coastal ares are of concern, so of course Mary Lou and I got pulled aside at immigration and asked to produce our tramping shoes which they carried off to some unknown location, but soon returned with the shoes nice and clean and packed in a plastic bag.
Got into Cairns @ 11:00pm, checked in to The Bay Village Tropical Retreat and crashed.

Rain!

Sunday, Our tramp was cancelled so we walked Abel Tasman when we could, but really spent the day inside. Bummer.

Catch up

Well I've been traveling in the south island so away from the computer, and access is going to be limited for awhile. I'm using a cyber cafe computer today! Let me get on with what has been happening in the last few days.
Very exciting that I did get out to Poor Knights on Friday! The weather was OK, but the weather out on the water is nothing like the weather on land. W had an issue with the original boat we were going to take out, so thank heavens we were upgraded to the large summer boat, complete with showers! The 50 minute ride out to Poor Knights was a test of composure. My biggest fear was the I would throw up, and a few of my ship mates came close! A good analogy for the ride would be like being on a roller coaster in a car wash! The boat would hike straight up in the air and coming crashing down!! Finally we arrived and anchored in an alcove for our first dive. The dive site took us along a ridge called the gentle forest, named so because of the gentle flowing seaweed under the surface that would swing in the current. A lot of various fish of all sizes. Past the wall was the biggest sea cave in the world Rikoriko beautiful! The fish were different in the cave and the water was filled with what I thought were tiny jellyfish, but I found out were sea combs, and no a jelly at all. The second dive took us to "middle Arch" filled with sea serpents, or morays! A lot of snappers, and fish of all colors!, This dive was a bit colder, even with the wet suit on. I was glad to get out of the water and take a hot shower to warm up. The ride home was much more pleasant and calmer. I sat on the top deck with a couple of Scottish bloaks watching the Poor Knights fade off the back of the boat. An awesome day!!

Diet?

I'm starting this post a bit backwards, starting with last night! Jakki and Peter impulsively decided to go out for dinner. We ended up at a rather high end restaurant called the Schanpper Rock. Yes after the fish, but the spelling difference is the difference the Kiwi's have to distinguish 2 kinds of snapper found around here. Any way I ordered pork back steak with bacon served on a bed of spatze, topped with a shredded vegetable medley, surrounded by coriander pesto!! The presentation was beautiful. We all were busting at the seams, and when offered dessert we rolled our eyes, that is until the waitress mentioned the chocolate mousse! There is a story behind the Schnapper's mousse and Peter. Peter was providing the restaurant with various fresh herbs from his garden, so for his last birthday the restaurant staff gave Peter a huge bowl of mousse! Peter said it took 4 days to eat it all!! Well needless to say we had the mousse. Incredible, I'll say it is my new favorite usurping my #1 dessert choice, cake!!
My school day was as fun as ever, with an added bonus of spending the afternoon with Quent, the current instructional technology teacher. Quent has been using a green screen and Movie Maker with his classroom, and so we walked through the process. This is of special interest to me because I just purchased a green screen for Oakwood. In discussions with Quent we also planned some "pen pal"(digital form) like stuff with his class and one of mine at Oakwood! Hopefully we can video conference at some point next fall!

Weather following me?

Another wet and extremely windy day. I'm anxious that I won't be able to get out to Poor Knight's Island if this weather lingers. Since I've been here I sleep like a rock. Peter and Jakki are sure it is the salt air. Went for another tramp last night as the weather did clear for a bit. Today I'm getting a personal overview of the New Zealand education system from the principal Rick. The rest of the day Quinten the year5-6 teacher is going to show me how to use a green screen! I'm very excited about this as I just purchased one for Oakwood. We are also going to create a Maori pronunciation PowerPoint for me to take back. Here come the kids!!

Wet, Wet, wet

Monday was a miserable wet day! I shouldn't complain considering the rain that Oshkosh has had. Kids were trapped inside all day, and by the end of the day they were restless. I was in Jakki's room all day with her release teacher. Here release = substitute in U.S. I know all the kids names now, and they have resorted to calling me Mrs. N. I guess Neuser is not an easy pronunciation. One of the children, Tom, has a artist mum, and she casts necklaces using the beach shells as cast molds. She then weaves them into a muka flax braid. Flax weaving is a traditional Maori art form, and one that surprised me at the variation in forms and textures. Charmain, another parent, is nationally know here for her weavings, particularly "kete" (Maori word for 'basket' - is made from flax...the Maori have created kete for a long long time and vary in size, shape, and use). She is also a healer, and offered her services to massage my back which has been out of wack! She set up in the lounge, aka living room at Jakki and Peter's and I was in heaven for an hour and a half! Charmain offered to pick up a necklace from Tom's mum for me as you can only get to her studio by boat. Now I have another Kiwi treasure to remeber my time here.

Experiencing new things!

We had rain most of the weekend, but I did manage to go for some awesome walks along the beach. No words can describe the unbelievable views. Each corner around a bay or stretch of beach was more wonderous. Time just melted away as I walked and walked. Not a soul did I meet. Around one bend a beautiful call, followed by a clatter drew my eye to the bush that rises behind the sand and lava rocks. I finally spotted a black bird with what I thought was carrying something in it's beak, but no, this bird has a pouch on it's neck. I later found out it was a Tui bird. I did finally make back to the house, where I ended up having an experimental breakfast. I tried: Vegamite- yuck, Midgimite- yuck, and lime marmalade- yumm. I'm going to seek out a vendor for the marmalade when I get back to the states.
Next we headed into Whangarei for souvenirs, and groceries. Had good luck with some Kiwi souvenirs, and interesting experiences in the grocery store, particularly in the produce section. Jakki, and one other costumer explained what some of the vegetable were. Of special interest was what the Kiwis call yams. Nothing like our yams at all. They are only the size of your thumb, and come in yellow, and red. Jakki bought some feijoa, a yummy fruit you eat like a kiwi fruit, but has a citrus flavor. We needed to pick up groceries to cook up some dishes to take to "the" Rugby. Whenever anyone talks about sports here they add "the". The soccer, the cricket, and the rudby, the most popular sport by far. The national team is the All Blacks. The fanaticism is comparable with Packer fever! Fellow teachers, and guests were invited to come to the school to watch the rugby on an LCD screen in one of the classrooms. 22 people showed up. Great fun, with loads of food, including the crawfish we caught! I still don't quite understand the game, but I am now a fan. An interesting thing happens at every All Blacks game, the team performs a Haka, a traditional Maori dance meant to intimidate the enemy.
We ended the evening with Karaoke, and yes they did convince the American guest to have a go at performing, singing Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash!! Unfortunately this was captured on film.

Trump

Friday. Art Day in town with Mrs. Tuhaka's kids! We even had a tour of the Whangarei Public Library! It is a beautiful building, housing one of a kind New Zealand books in the refridgerated archive room, and all signage is in English, and Maori. Look for the picture I have posted. Before we headed off though I had breakfast on the beach. This is truly a tough gig. Whangarei has wonderful art galleries, and art shops. I was very nervous going into an all glass and ceramic art shop with 10 6 and 7 year olds!! We ended the day at the Town Basin which is a well planned public area along the harbour. It was a long day, but a fun day. No rest for the American guest though, right after school it was out to sea to catch crawfish. Well this is not the crawfish I'm used to in Wisconsin for sure!! In the states these really would be called lobster. The only difference Peter (crawfish diver extraordinaire, school caretaker, and Jakki's husband) is that these do not have the big claws. See the photos!
Returning to land we changed and headed off to the Sports Complex which you have to be a member to go to. We enjoyed a beverage, and the best meal I've had since arriving in NZ! It was a luscious pan fried flounder in a lemon herb sauce, and the presentation was almost to lovely to ruin with a fork! Awesome, awesome day!

Time is flying

So much is happening, it is hard to find time to sit and catch up on these posts. Tuesday at the school brought the traditional Maori Powhiri. Very interesting to be welcomed in such a fashion. Traditional call to gather, seating of the guests, and children, a welcome spoke, in Maori of course, songs, welcome words, and then we speak to the crowd including introductions and well wishes. Close with a song, and "long handshake". Handshake with children, forehead touch, or kiss on the cheek with the adults.
That is really a quick explanation, it is more involved than that but really hard to put into words. Wedensday I was given the oppportunity to explore some of the classrooms, and an technology inservice! After school Jakki and I went out for a "paddle" in the bay across from the school, using the school's kayaks. We tramped around the sandspit, a sand island accross the bay, and collected shells, and sand dollars. We spotted a sting ray as we paddled up against the tide toward town, and had a relaxing glide back letting the tide carry us!
That's all for now. Today I go with Jakki's class into town for an Art Day!!

Whangarei

Finally arrived at my school placement, much to the surprise of the school!! They were not expecting us until tomorrow! "It's all good" though. I got a tour of the school from the principal, but the whole time I keep glancing toward the beautiful ocean bay right out the front gate of the school!! Oh how awesome to work in such a setting. Jakki my host told me that the bay is treated like the school's swimming pool. They have several kayaks, access to a couple of outfitter canoes, boogie boards, and an assortment of sand toys. In the office resides a "Dolphin Bell". This bell is rung whenever anyone spots dolphins in the bay, and all the children come out of class and watch or even get in the kayaks and row out to them! Could my day get any better than this? Oh yes!!! another teacher, Anna, volunteered to take Jenn (another U.S. teacher) and myself "tramping". Tramping in NZ= hiking in US. The tramp began at the ocean edge, and wound up beautiful bluff, (Imagine heavy breathing here) to over look the most incredible vista of hills, cliffs, and ocean I have ever seen in my life. I'll post pictures tomorrow, but they will not even remotely capture the spectacle. I'm already in love with this country, even though I've only been here less than 48 hours. Tomarrow Jenn and I will participate in the school Powhiri, a traditional Maori welcome. The elements of the powhiri serve to ward off evil spirits and unite both visitor and host in an environment of friendship and peace.
For now time to alleviate the wee bit of jet lag I still have.

Finally in New Zealand!!

Arrived into Auckland Monday June 9th, losing Sunday forever over the International Date Line. Jet lag and the time difference did take a bit of a toll yesterday, but was able to explore the city a bit. Auckland has a beautiful harbor, lovely people, and wonderful restaurants!! I'll add more later as my ride to my school placement is here!

A matter of hours!

So off Ill go in less than 24 hours! Today is my last day at school, my son's graduation tonight, and off early to catch my flight to L A. Packing is complete, (I hope I have everything!). I'm especially looking forward to meeting my hostess Jakki. We have communicated via e-mail, and I know my experience is going to be awesome! I'm hoping for minimal jet lag, and good weather with no delays!
TAHUTI MAI!

Only a few days!

This is the last week for me at school. The end of the year is hectic for me as I need to account for all the media center materials, in both schools as well as the equipment, and close down the computer labs! As a Steward of the citizens investment I inventory all materials purchased through tax payer monies.
Packing for New Zealand has become a bit of a challenge. The travel agent informed that although internationally I can take 75 lbs, domestically in New Zealand, and up to Australia I'm allowed 44 lbs. So I'm trying to "make it work". Today I'm sending questions for the students in NZ from my students here, as well as some "All about me here in Oshkosh" writing the 2nd graders did.