My sister is a blogger too!

My sister Cathy is blogging. http://catherine1844.blogspot.com/ /
She plans to blog about teaching in Florida. Check it out. Her grumblings about her state's state testing is similar to Texas' grumblings. I do enjoy being an Art Teacher.

Fantastic Murals In Philadelphia

I discovered a wonderful group of photographs of some murals in Philadelphia. Time magazine http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1649278_1421152,00.html has excellent examples. Sadly I am unable to link a photo from them. Early in my career (Pre-Teaching time) I participated in the creation of some murals. To be honest I don't believe they still exist. But I always keep a look out for murals. I would like to visit Philadelphia just to see these murals. As in my city, these murals reflect the minority neighborhoods. Visit http://www.muralarts.org/ to find out more of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program. They do have a tour http://www.muralarts.org/tours/. Sadly many people assume it is just another form of graffiti.

Photo album

I've uploaded more pictures of my trip to: http://picasaweb.google.com/sjsartist/NewZealandAndAustralia

Home at last

We flew home on July 5th. Don't ask me about time changes or what time it is or was in what country. All I know is that it took 14 hours to get to LA. We arrived together groggy and convince never to repeat such a long flight any time soon. David, Dea Jae and I took off for customs once we got our bags. Dad was last seen filtering through his bag. He had shipped two boxes home from Australia and packed his smaller bag into his big bag. He left his domestic airline papers in his bag. He called later that he made it through customs and to his flight okay. Us San Antonians booked it over to terminal 1. This allowed us to get some feeling back in our legs. Southwest won't let other airlines check bags to them. We had to push a cart the whole way. By this time we had been awake for 24 hours. 3 hours later we were flying to SA. I must have conked out most of the way. What was a 3 hour flight seemed go quickly. We arrived to cloudy skies and low temps (in SA terms). Nanette, my house sitter, was able to pick me up. She opted to stay the rest of her time at her sisters, so we headed there immediately. After dropping her off I picked up food and headed home. It was 6 pm before I actually walked into my house and was greeted by my 3 cats. Nanette did a great job. The place looks great and still standing. It's nice to come home to a clean house. I stayed up until about 7:30. I didn't sleep the whole night through. I'd wake up about every 2 to 3 hours, read a bit , eat a bit, and sleep some more. I got up made coffee around 11 am. I have a feeling I'm going to have jet lag for a couple of more days. But enough about my trip home, I've still got 4 days of trip left to tell you about.

July 1

We had another long day adventuring. We started out by being picked up by a coach to Kuranda Railway station. This train was constructed between 1886 to 1891. It was built for the miners. It says it was built by hand and but Dad is convinced that the tunnels were blasted out. Here is the history of their engineering feat.

Kuranda is a wonderful tourist trap. You arrive near the top. You have to walk up a pathway into shops and restaurants. It is an actual town so you get to see some of the locals. Just as in all societies, not everyone is picture perfect. We decided to eat right away and then explore. Dea Jae and I wander the shops. David and Dad took off on their own. I was impressed by the fact they have quite few artisans working in this town. It reminded me of Gruene Texas.

We took the Skyrail down the hill. We hopped on this box connected to a wire. The views were even better than the train ride.

We were dropped off at the Tjapukai (sounds like Chupakay) Aboriginal Culture Park. They have created a really nice set up for instructing people about this particular tribe in North Queensland. They are very different from the Ayres rock tribes. We began with video/ live action presentation. It talked about the "Dreamtime" origins of their people. I find that they remind me of how Homer wrote about the mythology of his people, dreamtime is the Mythology of Australia's native population. After the show we went to a musical presentation. They sand and danced. Tjapukai have also recorded their own music. After the presentation we went down to another area to learn about the didgeridoo. It is fun to see how each group introduces the instrument. After that we learn "Women's Business". A woman showed how many different plants are used for medicinal purposes. We then learned how to throw spears and boomerangs. I didn't do so good on the spear throwing but the boomerang actually came back. Not to my hands, but curved around for easy retrieval. We ended up in their last video. This was a really depressing view of how a culture was destroyed and reborn. It ended with hope for a culture needing to exist in the modern world.

We all enjoyed our day and bemoaned not having enough time at each stop. We headed back into Cairns by coach. Here is a picture of the view from my hotel room.

July 2

We flew to Sydney 11 am. Jetstar flew an Airbus plane. Quantas is a great company for flying us around. We are fed about every hour. On Jetstar, you have to buy everything, even the sodas. At least on Southwest...we actually fly for peanuts. We were picked up and taken to the Grace Hotel. Our driver have us great advice about eating out. Sydney had these food courts all over the downtown. The Grace is in the middle. We dropped off our bags and walked down to the Queen Victoria Building. This is an incredible building filled with shops and a fabulous food court. it is also a maze. For actual information about QVB I've linked you to wikipedia text. I couldn't take a good enough picture of the place. Here is a picture

July 3

We had only one scheduled event and that was at 2. Dea Jae and I went to the Rocks. We enjoyed the old city architecture. This is prime real estate in Sydney and it was almost destroyed in the 70s.

We went into the Contemporary Museum of Art. This has a young museum collection. I was fairly impressed by their displays. Sometimes it is good to come across works that "Way Out There" to get your creative juices flowing. We were impressed by how Matthew Ngui created his work on tubes. We ate at the Gumtree cafe and met up with Dad and David at the Circular Quay to pick up our boat for the "Coffee Cruise". The boat gave us view of Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and Fort Denison. It cruised up to the Middle Harbour. We saw palatial waterfront homes, parks, beaches and marinas. We even saw a nude beach! (nudes included bu not photographed).

We took the bus back to the hotel and got ready to have dinner this Boyd's son John, his while Carol and two children Michelle and Steven. Carol worked all day and managed to cook an excellent meal. The kids were on holiday so they stayed up with us as we chatted. It was nearly midnight before John took us back to our hotel.

July 4th

Dad sent off two boxes to Davenport and then we headed for the Opera House. We took the "lift" tour. This allowed us to see the place without climbing all the stairs. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the actual theatres but I managed to get a few interesting shots.

We took a cab back to the Hotel. I escaped from everyone and headed to the QVB. I met up with David and Dea Jae in "Victoria's Basement" but took off again on my own. I made it up to the top and surrounding city blocks before heading back to the hotel. I re-arranged my suitcase and crashed by 8. Woke up at 3 am to head home.

Our trip so far

On Saturday we went out to visit Boyd's daughter's house. Bit (short for Elizabeth) lives north of Melbourne. It is a bedroom community that enjoys winding hills and beautiful parks.

Guy, Bits partner enjoys taking people out and about. The house is situated on a hillside. The land above it is rough and steep. Poor Dave pulled a muscle (more on that later). Here is a view looking down on their roof.

After dinner we piled into two cars and drove around. First stop was looking at refuge for kangaroos. It was a wonderful surprise. We we were very close to them. Dea Jae sat off to the side and suddenly a mob jumped by her.

Guy guided us through this old mining community. It was quite beautiful. Guy drove us back to Melbourne (via many detours).

Sunday I got up and investigated the open market by the Arts Centre. This is where arts show their wares by the river. It had many of our typical craft fairs. I walked across the street to investigate the Royal Botanical Gardens. This is a park that opens at many gates but too huge to try and manage from one end to another. I then headed back to the hotel to pick up Dad and we returned to the gardens.

David and Dea Jae spent most of the day in the emergency room. Check with Dea Jae's blog for more details. He was on crutches. He was to stay off it for a couple of days. Luckily we were to fly the next day.

We flew into Alice Springs on June 25 stayed over night. While we were there we went to the "Red Centre Dreaming Show" It was neat to have experienced two very different native groups. The group we saw did more of a regional demonstration of the music and dance. Much of the clans around Alice Springs are private and don't share with us tourists. Maori dances were very much the "Warrior" dance while the the Aborigine group danced about their environment.

Next morning we took a coach to Yulara. The drive had some stops along the way. Camel rides and tea shops. We got a good commentary about the desert as we drove. Let me tell you the changed about every five miles. We stopped at Outback Camel Farm and continued to Atila (Mt Conner). Atila looks like it could be bigger than Uluru (Ayres Rock)

Yulara is a resort town that caters to Uluru. Since the land was transferred back to aborigine hands all of the hotels and restaurants next to the rock have since closed down. Some of the areas are closed out to visitors. This resort was created to give tourists a way to get to the park. We arrived in Yulara long enough to wolf down a meal and hop on another coach trip.

We started at Kata Tjuta. This is a cluster of 36 giant rock domes. This was created from eroded sediment. We stopped at a spot that had a short walking path into the Walpa Gorge.

We returned to the coach to head to the sunset viewing of Ulura. These coach tours have created this stop where we can have wine and canapes while we view the sun setting on this huge rock.
Truly a religious experience. The next morning we went to see the sunrise and visit around the base of the rock. It is cold in the desert.

To cap off our wonderful stay in Uluru was the "Sounds of Silence" dinner. It was cool to look at the skies at night. We had wine and canapes on top of a sand dune to the sounds of a didgeridoo, really called a Yirdaki. Yirdakis are not found in this area but tourist love the sound and so you find them everywhere. Sand here is so dark a red it is like walking in rust. These dunes don't move much and have a lot of vegetation on them. We walk down to eating area. We had a great speaker about the sky and had three telescopes.

June 28th we flew out of Ayers Rock Airport and flew into Cairns. Cairn is pronounced "Cans". June 29th we took a coach trip ride up to coast to Port Douglas to board Quicksilver Outer Barrier Reef boat tour. Part of me wished I had done some snorkeling but I feared I'd get too cold and not warm up later. But the day was beautiful. I couldn't get good pictures from the glass bottom boat.

Today June 30th is our free day. Tomorrow we head for Kuranda Rail, Skyrail, Tjapukai. I'm sure I'll have more to say.

I hear it has been raining in SA.

Ayers Rock

I'll give you more information when I hit Cairns. We flew out of Melbourne to Alice Springs. We stayed over night and took a coach trip to Ylarra. Ylarra is a resort outside of the big rock. We saw the suunset and rise on the rock. We will see the stars tonight ooooooooooo. I just wanted to let people know we are alive and well.

Heading to Australia

I'm writing this on Friday June 22

On June 18th was a free day. We had nothing scheduled and took advantage of it. I photographed what we saw out of our windows. Cool.

We took advantage of the hotel's washing. We to walked down the into the downton of Queenstown and explored their shops. David left us to go to Arrowtown to explore the old rush. Dad returned to the hotel after lunch. Dea Jae and I walked around and explored the more "arty" gift shops. We walked along the beach of Lake Wakatipu.

We ate dinner in town and called a cab to take us back to the hotel. Early night.

Tuesday June 19 Queenstown to Christchurch

When booking your extensive look of a country add up all the hours you are on a coach. We were picked up in front of our hotel around 8:30 and headed north to Mount Cook. Awesome landscape. It was a bit foggy and frosty. The temp was around -1 degrees C, which is about 32 degrees in our world. When it fogs during such cold weather, dew freezes on everything. It builds up and everything looks like they've been flocked for Christmas. I worked at it but I think I got a decent picture of Mount Cook.

We made a few Tea Stops along the way. We pulled into Christchurch around 6:20 p. m. We didn't get to see much of this town.

June 20th we flew out of Christchurch to Auckland and then switched plains for Melbourne around 6 pm. Another early night.

June 21th we met up with Boyd. He took us down to Federation Square. This is an art center of a variety of different galleries. Boyd wanted us to see their Aborigine gallery.

The architecture of this building looks quite spectacular next to the old buildings around it. Inside the windows look like sculpture. It was easy to get around.


The Aborigine art is quite different from the Maori. I've taught it in my classroom. Depending upon which kind of image you're looking at. Their work is very detailed. They can use dots to form a shape. They can use fine lines to fill a space up. Dad was quite impressed by it. We took a free bus around the down town. We got off and ate lunch with Boyd's sister. We seperated at this point and we explored on our own.

I walked down to the Fitzroy Gardens. It was quite windy but very beautiful. I continued on and ended back at the Federation Square. I finished up the rest of the Ian Potter galleries. They've done a good job of represtenting their Australian Identity. Like the US, they have had to struggle with the European influence and establish their own eras of art. I did see a few modern pieces I liked.

We ended up back at the hotel. David, Dad and I ate together while Dea Jae 'pooped out" back in our room.

Today we are planning to go to the "Victoria Markets"

June 15th continued

I'm back. It is June 18th at 3:20 p.m.

After visiting Te Puia we hopped on the coach and headed out of Rotorua to the Agrodome
This was a slice of sheep farming. They had a show that introduced the different kinds of sheep. There are sheep for their fur, food and even milking (ugh). The Mirano is the big sheep on the top of the sheep pyramid. The softest fur comes from them. Two types of dogs are used in herding the sheep. One is very quiet and another is very loud. Sheepdogs are very important. They also walk across the back of sheep. I spent too long in the gift shop and missed the herding demonstration held outside.


We stayed at the Agrodome for only an hour. We moved on to Rainbow Springs Nature Park
This park had a clever way of a guided tour. They had a hand held device that spoke a commentary at each stop. You entered the number and it began. They had many different languages available. It is a park that shows endangered species of plants and animals.

We headed back to the hotel. Our coach drove us around the parks of Rotorua and was back at hotel by 12:30.This was not enough time for any of our stop that morning. We ate lunch and took a cab back to Te Puia. I explored more of the Maori buildings.

David and I headed for the downtown, while Dea Jae and Dad stayed at the hotel. Rotorua is definitely a tourist town and has a quaint shopping center. I picked up some longjohns and wool scarf. I was fearful of how cold it would be in the south island.

A moment to comment on the Maori Culture. I may get some of this wrong. New Zealand did not have people until the Maori migrated between 9th and 13th Centuries. They came in 7 boats, creating 7 tribes. 5 in the north island and 2 in the south. This warrior race had to adapt to a world of no mammals. They created cloaks out of feathers, weave with grasses, carved weapons out of green stone and carved fabulous stories in their meeting houses. I am surprised to no clay work. They had an oral history until fairly recently. They had a hierarchy system until them saw how kings and queens ruled. They fought for their land as the British expanded. Today the Maori have TV shows that speak their language; they own land they lease out to developers ; they created a tourist economy that helps keep their traditions alive.

June 16, we flew out of Rotorua to Queenstown. We got in around 4:30. Ate dinner and crawled into bed. We are staying at Copthorne Hotel

June 17 we got on a coach from the hotel headed for Milford Sound. We shared our coach tour with about 20 other people. We followed along the edge of Lake Wakatipu, through Kingston and Mossburn and had tea at Te Anau.


There are too many pictures to post at this time. I will be creating an album posting once I get back to Texas. Here are a few pictures.
We arrived at Milford Sound for a cruise into the fiord. This was truly a religious experience. Here are some more pictures.

Once back on land we headed back to Queenstown. Long day. Crashed.

Heading South

It is Monday June 18 at 10:50 am

Sorry about the long time between blogs. We found that our last two hotels were not Internet free. I will try and give you a run down of the trip so far.

On Thursday June 14th we headed south from Auckland to Rotorua. Our coachman, Peter, gave us a wonderful commentary as we drown through the hills and valleys. We stopped for tea in the farming province of Waikato. Stopping for "Tea" seems to be the standard term for "Potty Breaks". I'm sure that these little towns try to get contracts with touring buses. This particular tea stop was at the spot where a fierce battle between the Maori and English. Maori won this battle. It was just the 4 us until we stopped at the Waitomo Caves.

These caves have a glow worm that hangs from the ceiling of the caves. They glow to attract insects to their sticky treads. We walked down the Cathedral Room. It is a large room that often holds concerts and weddings. We took a boat into the darkest part of the cave to see the glowing warms. They were like stars. We were lucky to see the caves. The rain had risen the river too high for boats to pass.

We continued our coach tour through Lake Karapiro and the Fitzgerald Glade.

We arrived in Rotorua about 4:30 p.m. We stayed at the Heritage Hotel. I was glad to have more than one day in the room. I was able to go through my suitcase and put things in the drawers.

We were picked up at 6:00 by coach to the Tamaki Maori Village for a Hangi and Concert. Our driver picked up other travelers along the way. He was a Maori man who did commentary and jokes with us. Each tour bus had a "Chief". The chief was invited to the feast. 4 different warriors came out and did a intimidation dance. The Te Wero. It was a "challenge" to see if our chief would break. Once we were welcomed, Pohiri, into the village we toured around an enclosure to that was a mock up of a village. The show was wonderful.
The Waikato and Haka is a performance that had the Maori introducing songs, dancing, chants and weapons. It was a good way to introduce the Maori Culture to us Gringos. We didn't get to eat until 8:30 and we didn't get back to the hotel until 10:30. A long day.

June 15
Another coach picks us up. The first stop was the coachman showing us where his village was. It was just behind our hotel and his clan did the Waikato and Haka hotel at the hotel. He then took us to Te Puia Thermal Reserve. Rotorua is literally steaming everywhere. This particular spot is set up to show the geysers and the boiling mudpools.
It is also the site of the Maori Arts and Crafts Institutes.
They train students from all 7 clans weaving and carving. Master carvers must know all 7 clans' designs.I have more to say but I'm paying $2.50 and hour. I've typed over an hour. I'll be back with more postings.

Auckland

We ate a delicious breakfast at the Fortuna Restaurant at our hotel. Sky Tower Hotel is a beautiful absolutely beautiful. It has local art throughout the place. http://get.in2.net/index.php? is the link for the place. We decided to take a trip on the bus to the Auckland Museum.

http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/ It is a wonderful old building dedicated to the soldiers of New Zealand. We were guided by a Maori docent into the War Memorial area of the museum. We did see some extraordinary photographs by Lee Miller. She was a war correspondent through WWII. The museum also has a excellent Maori collection. We returned to the hotel to crash for a bit. David watched the Spurs Game in the bar. Go Spurs Go. Dea Jae and I walked down to the Victoria Park Market. This is a cute shopping experience filled with local art. It is a group of buildings that share an alley like road. http://www.victoria-park-market.co.nz/index.cfm

Tomorrow we start our "Big" tour. See Ya!