We visited Larnach Castle - not really a castle but a castle-like home built by William James Mudie Larnach who was a banker and came from Melbourne during the gold rush.  It's now owned by a single family and is open to the public for tours.

There's always a cafe for tea!

 I was a little surprised to see so many succulants planted on the castle grounds.  Spring would be beautiful here.

It was a beautiful day and we're overwhelmed by the beautiful scenery - oh and then there's Bruce the Lion!

Out and About

We had a little driving tour of Dunedin the first morning

Dunedin was settled by the English and Scottish after the native Maori and by the 1850's 12,000 had settled here.

Gold was discovered and that increased the population, which today is approx. 130,000.

This is a view from atop one of the hills looking over the cit.y

Every view was beautiful.

 The city was actually planned in Scotland and is the sister city of Edinburgh.  It's especially evident in lots of the architecture.

On to New Zealand!

We arrived in Aukland with a short layover, then on to Dunedin. Ross and Julie Notman were there to pick us up.  Ross is a professor at the University of Otago and was key in getting Bruce's fellowship here.  Bruce has work with Ross in the past, including some workshops here two years ago. 

 I really like the wide back door.

 It was a rainy day but the back patio gets lots of sun

 Long hallway thru the center of the house with rooms on either side, then leading to kitchen in back

 Front yard is very simple

 Lots of big windows

 We had the fire going every day

Ross and Julie have recently renovated their lovely home --I really love the wide central hallway and the wide doors. 

Out of snyc

These pictures are out of sync - that's exactly how we were feeling the week we were in Australia.  Ready for sleep at 8 pm and wide awake at 5 am.....       

 Since I've shown no quilts yet, I thought I'd stick this one in - it's one I finished AFTER Bruce and I disassembled the machine on Salazar Trail.  I finished piecing when we stayed at Stan and Kris's house and quilted it on Susan Hall's machine( Thanks, Susan).  I carried it with me to California and finished the binding while staying at Grandma Katie's house.  Finally got it mailed off to Cynde Baack for BJ and Pam on our last day in Santa Cruz.  I like the Debbie Maddy pattern AND it was pretty easy.

Anyway, I was unable to get the computer up and running well til now, so I'm just adding all the pics ...the dates are off, as well..   is a The top one is a photo of the apartment we rented in 1999 when we lived here in Parkdale for a semester.  Mostly put up for the benefit of Brendan and Kyle - they'll get a kick out of it.

Golf (Nooooo...not me) in Melbourne

We had a lovely afternoon of golf at Brighton........no not me....I just walked the course.  It was a little chilly but so beautiful and we got to spend some time with a high school friend of mine, Brian Ludwig.  He is now an Aussie citizen and we try to spend some time with him whenever we're down under. 

GOOD ONYA MATES!

GOOD ONYA MATES!  We knew we had finally made it to Melbourne when we heard our friend, Gary's welcome!  After 29 hours of travel - including layovers in LA, and Auckland, we made it to  Gary and Brenda O'Mahony's home in Parkdale.  We travelled overnight and actually lost Thursday the 19 of July when we crossed the International Dateline.  They have a beautiful home near where we lived for awhile in 1999.  Here's their house:

And they have views of the bay.

Well, why not take a sewing machine as a carry-on?  I was reading Bonnie K Hunter's blog, "Quiltville Quips and Snips" where she discussed the wonderful bag she uses to carry her sewing machine with her for her travels around the country for lectures and teaching.  I bought the very same bag and it hold my 1951 Singer Featherweight and it fits under the seat in front of me!
It made it thru all security checks and only got looked at once by a security agent.  He just thought it odd that anyone would want to sew while travelling - he obviously doesn't know any quilters!

Here we go!

We are beginning our trip to Dunedin, on the south island of New Zealand where Bruce will be teaching and conducting workshops at the University of Otago and surrounding areas.    I'll tell you more about that area later, but first, we'll visit for a few days in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.    We're really looking forward to visiting our friends, Gary and Brenda O'Mahoney, (Bruce's former Aussie teaching partner), as well as others whom we rarely get to see.   I am hoping to use this blog to post pictures along the way and, of course, quilts!

Because it's winter in the southern hemisphere, we are prepared for some cold weather (sounds so great right now) and have packed accordingly and just hoping our bags don't weigh in over 50 lbs. which is our limit on Air New Zealand.  Since I'm planning to meet with quilters there, I just had to take fabric with me---didn't realize how heavy it can be.....oh well, just dump all those extra shoes!