Kowhai Park (Wanganui): The Best Playground in the Word -- Ever! 12 November 2010

Roger was born and grew up on Anzac Parade, a lovely street on the east side of the Whanganui River in Wanganui.  Roger has for decades proclaimed that "Wanganui" means stinking hole in the Maori language, but the current official word is that it means "large bay" because of the big bend in the river near the city center.  It is reported that the big bend was the home of the Taniwha, a being that lives in deep pools in rivers, dark caves, or in the sea.  The Taniwha symbol is common in Maori bone carvings.

Across the street from the old Clark Family home, literally a hop and jump away, is an attraction that has entertained Seymour, Melissa, Ted, and Ashley for decades, Kowhai Park.  Ashley recently researched the subject (wanting to show her friends what a good place it is) and found a website proclaiming Kowhai Park the "best playground in the world."  She agrees.  So of course we had to take Grace to see the old family haunts;.

When Roger lived there, it was an empty field which was used to provide overnight accommodations for sheep being driven down the road on the way to have their throats cut at the freezing works.  He and his friends often played football (rugby to us) and cricket there.  After he went to university, construction began with a whale to entertain children.  This was followed over by the construction of a large number of playground structures based on storybook characters.  The shoe of the Little Old Lady who lived there, the spider who scared Little Miss Muffet, the Flintstones' dinosaur, Goldilocks's Three Bears, sea serpent swings (say that three times).  An old Pirate Ship to play on, a castle to play in, and a Tot Town Railway to ride on.  The most impressive wooden jungle gym we've ever seen, and a Flying Fox to boot.  Recent additions to the park (not there ten years ago) include a modern Skateboard Park and BMX track.

Since Ashley wants to show off Kowhai Park to her friends, we've include a bunch of photos  below, starring Grace.  Happy trip down memory lane, Ashley!

A Track and Field Meet! 12 November at Newtown Park, Wellington

Roger has never met a track and fied meet he didn't like.  When it's a track meet in Wellington where his granddaughter is competing, wild horses couldn't keep him away.

Grace along with her team from Roseneath School competed against a number of other Wellington primary schools.  Gracie's events were the vortex throw, the quoit throw,  the high jump, and long jump.  Granddad was so proud!

Grace and Granddad

Warming Up for High Jump

And she's over!

And it's a fair jump!

Australian Sign Update

We love signs.  We collect signs from all countries.  (Some of you may be familiar with our collection of Chinese signs on our family website:  http://bossclark.com/China2005/Signs.htm.)  On the road from Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation, there was two signs we wanted desperately to photograph.  One was a warning sign to beware of Cassowaries; we wanted to add it to our collection of Australian warning signs on our  blog.  The second sign was a "beware of hump" sign (known in the US as a "road bump" sign that had been the subject of graffetti.  Our bus driver, however, refused to stop the bus to let us take the pictures!  We must admit that the road was narrow and there was little ability to pull over.  We were saved in Wellington, however.  Kathy Webber, a Kiwi we met here, was kind enough to let us take her picture off Facebook and use it for our blog.  Hope you like it!

Wellington: Capital of Middle Earth

Every time we return to Wellington (and remember, Roger lived here for a decade or so), we are struck by what a picturesque, livable capital city it is.  We are not alone: Lonely Planet ranked it the 4th best city in the world to visit (after New York, Tangier, and Tel Aviv).  Roger disputes the ranking!  Lonely Planet called Wellington  the ‘coolest little capital in the world’ – and they’re not talking about the wind chill  The prevailing wind is an unpleasant northwesterly but the really nasty southerly comes up from time to time from the Antarctic.

Our daughter Melissa lives near the top of Mount Victoria, one of the many high hills around the city, with a spectacular view of the harbour.  At night, the view below is magical.

Grace at Oriental Bay at the foot of Mt Victoria

 The irony: when we arrived in Wellington, Melissa was in the States!  So while she drove our car, we drove hers.  We think we got a pretty good deal, as we had full-time custody of our granddaughter Grace.  Dance lessons, drama classes, track meets: we didn't realize how much we missed those activities!

Mount Victoria from Oriental Bay

The hills that surround Wellington present a challenge: for driving, living, parking. You have be a mountain goat to get places on foot, and there are even some dwellings that have private cable cars up the slopes.  Imagine using this parking place:




Wellington's coastland is extremely irregular, with numerous smaller bays and peninsulas.  Here is a view taken from Mt. Victoria looking away from the city towards Evans Bay (in the foreground) and the channel to the sea (in the background).

Mt. Victoria is, of course, named after that legendary Queen Wikitoria who appeared in statuary (not statutory) form in our prior blogs from Australia.  In the interest of comparative studies, here is Wellington's version of Her Royal Majesty.

Farewell to Australia: November 7

All good things have to come to an end.  So our sojourn to Australia had to come to an end.  Our last night in Alice Springs we went to the Sounds of Starlight Theatre, which bills itself as a "spell-binding musical and visual journey through ancient landforms, history and space of Australia's Outback."  A great show: we never thought we would appreciate didgeridoo music!

On the seventh, we bid farewell to Australia, and took off from Alice Springs for New Zealand via Sydney and across the Tasman Sea.  Having been disappointed that we didn't have a camera when we flew into Uluru,  Amy made sure she had both a camera and window seat for the outbound flight.  It was difficult to really capture what we saw out the window, but we tried.  There were so many pictures to chose from, we thought this collage might give you an idea -- bearing in mind that the real thing was 1,000 times better: without the sun glare and windows interfering with a fabulous sight!