Picture-A-Week 2014 - Week 5

[pierces]

Celebrating Super Bowl Sunday, Daisy style!

 

 

 

Dave

[TLCOhio]

Pictures taken between Monday, January 27 and Sunday, February 2.

 

Sorry that the "best" I can do for this time period is New Zealand. Not much to see or do there?? And, there was all of this sunshine there compared to the cold and snow during this period back in Central Ohio where we normally have to live and survive. As noted in the live/blog below, we got off of the Celebrity Solstice early last month. Here are some from the Land of Kiwi in NZ. Many, many more on the full live-blog connected below.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Just back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 47,748 views for this fun posting.

 

 

From our group's Bay of Islands water fun in New Zealand, we got to do real sailing, including going out into the nearby Pacific Ocean! See the proof and success below. It was both a perfect weather day and such fun sampling this great region of northern NZ. One of the options for those in our Central Ohio group on this custom, private sailing was to help to do as much (or as little as desired) in helping make this sail experience happen. In the first picture, you can see John helping Captain Sharon in raising the front, jib sail. In the foreground of this picture, you can see Sharon from our group doing the cranking to raise and adjust the main sail. The second picture shows Captain Murray guiding the ship from this great vantage point on the back of the Zindabar. Was this exciting and scenic?:

 

 

 

 

 

In Rotorua in the late 1800's they planted a massive grove of redwood trees from California as a test site. These trees (and the pines from Monterey) grow at a rate about three times faster than in their native areas. Karen from our Central Ohio group is shown here enjoying these redwoods and giving some sense for their size and height after only about a hundred years of growth. These redwood grew well, but the quality of the wood was not as successful as they got from the pines. Log production of these pines is now one of NZ's most successful crops in their fertile soils helped by this volcanic enrichment.:

 

 

 

At Te Puia near Rotorua in northern New Zealand, this Maori performance starts its ceremonies outside and then we entered the Wahiao Meeting House. Fortunately (with some skill), I was in a prime front row seat to be able to get great pictures, video, etc. Plus, experience the quality for how these members share these cultural traditions.:

 

 

 

 

Here is one of the views from the dramatic geyser, water and bubbling rocks/mud as featured at the Te Puia thermal displays. Very interesting and tied to the activities of New Zealand. It is called the "Shakey Isle" because there is lots of steam, hot rocks and superheated water right under the surface of these lands. The biggest at Te Puia is Pohutu Geyser. Pohutu means "Big Splash"!! It erupts 10-25 times a day and shoot up to 98 feet in height.:

 

 

 

This is one of the many scenic lakes in the Rotorua area. This is the Blue Lake. Right nearby is the Green Lake. Both are wonderful and very inspiring. A narrow strip of land separates these two lakes and provided an excellent vat age point to enjoy these sights. The Green Lake is considered sat Sacred to the Maori people. :

 

[mnbruce]

Cool! Looks like fun.