Sydney Opera House

One of the fabulous things we did in Sydney was visit the Opera House.  These are pictures of it as we went by on the ferry.  The same evening we went to a concert.  It was the opening gala with fireworks.  Vladimir Ashkenazy was conducting and Roger Benedict, the principal violist, was the soloist for the final number, Berlioz's "Harold in Italy."  The orchestra was fabulous and so was Roger.  The next day he gave a great master class.

The Opera House was fantastic both inside and out.  Architecturally its amazing and every nook and cranny is interesting.  The roof tiles glimmer in the sun.  Inside is spectacular too.

  Even the bathrooms are interesting.  For example, when you wash your hands, there isn't really a sink, the water just slips down (caught by a tray situated underneath).

If anyone is interested in learning more about the Opera House this site is interesting:

http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/about/house_history_landing.aspx

For learning about Roger Benedict, this is a good site.
http://rogerbenedict.wordpress.com/

Working in Sydney

The Viola Congress was held at the Sydney Grammar School, which dates back to 1825.  The walls inside of the main building are covered by paintings of the Headmasters and lists of the Prefects back to the beginning.  It reminded us of Hogwarts!  The woodwork inside was beautiful.

 

Sydney train stop

Mark and I went to Sydney last weekend and saw some pretty great things.  The train stop at Museum station was pretty fabulous and looked like it was straight out of a Narnia movie.  This stop is at the Hyde Park area of downtown Sydney.  It was a lovely trip and Sydney was at its best and most beautiful.  It is kind of like San Diego with a dollop of London in everything!

Grey scarf

I finished the scarf I started on the plane.  It will always remind me of the moody weather here.  Love it.

Claudine

Windmills

Claudine and I went for a hike in the steep hills above Makara beach and saw a windmill “farm.”  It is quite windy here in Wellington so it is a good place for it!  The windmills are up on a ridge overlooking the ocean. 

 You can walk right up and touch the windmills.

They are huge and the sound they make as the blades go round is captivating.

Gun Emplacements

Claudine and I visited the Fort Opau Gun Emplacements on the coast NorthWest of Wellington.  In 1941, increasing German activity in the Pacific motivated the New Zealanders / British to build a fort in the steep hills the overlooking the Cook Strait. 

Paua Shell Treasures

We have been collecting treasures from the sea and have these three small Paua shells that are just lovely.  The two photos are of the same shells but they are taken from a slightly different angle, which results in quite different colorings.  It’s like looking at a hologram.  We intend to put these in a shadow box to remind us of our beach walks.

Possum Yarn

Yes, I am still knitting.  I don't have lots of time for it, but still do a little when I can.  Here are some mitts I recently made with yarn from New Zealand.  It is a Zealana brand yarn made right here in Wellington from their "Kauri" line in the Ponga Fern colorway.  I love how it resembles the colors I see in nature here.  For the knitters out there, it is lovely to work with and I can highly recommend it as a quality yarn.

New Zealand is famous for its sheep and high quality yarns.  One of the yarns unique to the area is Possum Merino.  This project is made out of this type of yarn.  Its luxurious, amazingly soft, has beautiful loft and halo to it.  It usually comes as a blend, with about 60% wool and 40% fur (the yarn above is a bit unusual in that it is 60% NZ Merino, 30% Possum and 10% silk---the added silk gives it a bit of strength, drape and sheen).

Possum yarn has a bit of a sad story to it.  The possum here is not to be confused with our marsupial opossums at home.  It is like a rat and a terrible pest that is not indigenous to New Zealand.  Once it got NZ from Australia (along with the rats) it started to destroy the environment.  It likes to make its home in the forest canopy and eats it to the point of destruction.  They were introduced in the 1850's, and had no natural predators here, so they spread like wildfire, and are now considered a plague.  Possums continue to be responsible for decimating native forests and endangering the rare bird populations, such as the kiwi.  It is a kill fibre, part of the fur industry.  No one wants possums here, and there is even a government elimination program.  The motto is, "Save a kiwi, knit with possum."

I am happy to knit of course.  I will keep saving the kiwis as best I can.

Claudine

Koru

From Wikipedia: The koru is a spiral shape based on the shape of a new unfurling silver fern frond and symbolizing new life, growth, strength and peace in the Maori language.

We have a fern tree in our backyard and it sent out a new frond this week.  It is strangely appealing and repulsive to me.  It kind of reminds me of an alien life form or something.

The koru shape is found all around NZ.

Air NZ's logo

In jewelry

 

 In glass sculpture

Grandma Helen

Dear Grandma Helen,
I miss you every day.
The flowers nestled in the corners of our back yard remind me of the songs you used to sing to me.
Love,
Claudine

Sunday Afternoon

We had a very full Sunday afternoon after church.

Claudine made some oatmeal bread.

 Jonathan and Julia made delicious chocolate peanut butter cupcakes.

Evelyn did a little "reading / singing" in the Children's Songbook.

Claudine and Mark went for a long walk / hike.  We saw some really interesting trees and houses.

They build houses on the side of steep hills.

The garage with the red door belongs to the blue-gray house way up above, connected by the stairway up the middle.  This is a pretty common situation here given how they build on such steep hills.  

Mark took pictures.