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A Spiritual Moment!

“Palya”! Or… Welcome, and it’s another busy day in Australia with an early wake up alarm again at 5:00 AM.  We are heading for sunrise at Uluru, the heart of Australia! This 11,000’ red sandstone tower, taller than the Eiffel Tower or the Sears Tower in Chicago, a World Heritage and UNESCO site, towers above the desert floor commanding your view and respect.  A sacred place and also the site for their Creation Story multiple ceremonies are conducted here for aboriginal men, women, and young children. We see the pink and orange glow of impending sunrise as we near Uluru.  It stands quietly sentinel…waiting…as I walk to the lowest viewing area.  I want to see Uluru from the bottom looking up among the shrubs and grasses as generations of people have done before me.  I want to be still…and just be. It is difficult to explain how I felt or even write about it.  It was a spiritual moment, and even though I have loved every moment and adventure of this tr...
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The City of Sails!

Travel time equals learning time in an OAT adventure!  We are heading to Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand with 1.6 million people, one-third of the entire population of the country!  In the 1970’s, it was the 5th or 6th largest city in the world based on land mass, but the population was more spread out.  For years, there was only one road in and out of the city, but now there is a network of highways. Auckland means “a desired place to be” and the Māori fought over this land of 53 volcanoes, dormant for 600 years and now eroded into hills, with great soil, and two harbors only 6 miles apart.  The Māori built villages at the base of these hills, and if they were threatened, retreated up the “mountains”.  It was a place where they could feed their families from the soil and the harbors and also defend themselves. In the 1840’s while New Zealand was known as a “den of iniquity”, musket wars erupted with northern Māori trading with the French for guns....
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A Day of Lasts and Remembering!

It was a day of “lasts”…last morning in New Zealand, last breakfast made for me, last time to pack my suitcases.  I have thoroughly enjoyed waking up in the mornings to hotel breakfasts…some better than others…and conversation with my fellow travelers to start the day.  Some of us have been together for six weeks, and all of us are friends now.  It has been a fabulous group of people to travel with. I will not miss eggs; I have seen and eaten enough eggs for six months!  I will not miss beans for breakfast; although, I did try them a few times, nor broiled tomatoes.  I especially won’t miss limp “streaky bacon”!   I do not like and will never like nor miss Vegemite! I will miss trying new foods and drinks and need to Google how to make lemon lime bitters!  I will miss my “news ignorance” which I indulge in when I travel.  It has been especially pleasant missing US election drama. I will miss the electric hot water pot in each room with an ...
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