Back to our US road trip! After New Mexico, we finally got to Texas where we spent a few weeks in Dallas, Austin, and Houston. For a few days, we stayed at my aunt and uncle’s ranch in Driftwood, which is a little south of Austin. El Rancho Escondido is home to lots of cows, donkeys, and dogs. Austin the Australian Cattle Dog even has his own Facebook page.
“In July 1947, something happened northwest of Roswell during a severe thunderstorm. Was it a flying saucer? Was it a weather balloon? What happened?” – Roswell, NM government website
Another stop on our little American road trip was the International UFO Museum & Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico. Whether you believe it was aliens or not, it’s definitely worth the cheap entry fee. There is so much to read, it could take hours to get through it all.
I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but damn, that whole situation in 1947 sure was strange!
We went to the States to visit family last month. We decided to take a little road trip from Los Angeles to Texas, to have some time to ourselves before spending every day seeing as many family/friends as possible.
Our first stop: the Grand Canyon! There was snow EVERYWHERE. It was magical. But, we didn’t get to hike like we wanted to.
December 7th, 1941. “A date which will live in infamy.”
I’ve been saving this post for today (it’s still December 7th in America!). When we went to Hawaii earlier this year, we got to see Pearl Harbor. Actually, for my family, it was a must-do. The number one thing we had to see. When we got there, I was surprised at just how much there was to experience. There are some exhibits that show the lead up to the attack, and President Roosevelt’s famous speech. Then you are ushered in to a theatre, where you watch an amazing short documentary about the attack. Hearing and seeing the USS Arizona explode in actual footage from that day is something I will NEVER forget. It absolutely shook me. The USS Arizona Memorial itself was closed, but they drove everyone by it in a boat.
Also, we didn’t tour the USS Missouri, but we got to see it. That is something I’ll never forget, too.
1,102 sailors and Marines are buried with the USS Arizona. 2,403 people in total died in the attack.
Never forget.
Just some sunset photos from our last day on Kauai. Taken at Hanalei Bay Resort. We had the best view!
I cannot say enough good things about that resort. We aren’t resort people at all, but we loved it. It wasn’t crowded, the beach was close, and the pool bar was awesome. Can’t wait to go back!
The drive up to the top of Waimea Canyon in Kauai is so exciting. The curves are scary but each one offers a new amazing view. When you get to the lookout and see the incredible canyon, it just takes your breath away. Next time we visit, I want to do a lot more of the hikes!
We went to the Luau Kalamaku at Koloa Plantation. An extremely touristy activity, but it was actually awesome. The performers were amazing!
The plantation grounds also house a rum tasting room which I highly recommend.
In a last minute adventurous decision, my family signed up for an ATV tour at Kipu Ranch in Kauai. It was really beautiful and really, really dirty. We left completely covered in a thin layer of dirt.
A lot of movies were filmed on this ranch, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, and we got to swing on a rope into the river where the opening scene to that movie was filmed. We saw a beach from a distance that supposedly has a lot of skeletons from when Hawaiian warriors tried to take Kauai from its last king. We also saw taro farms that have been there for a very long time.
Overall, it was an awesome tour, and the guides made it really fun. I highly recommend it!
My husband and I met up with my family in Hawaii recently. We had many adventures, and my next few blog posts will be photos from that trip!
Every Friday night, the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort puts on a fireworks show. It lined up pretty perfectly with some palm trees on the beach. I’m not that great at firework photography, and I used the wrong lens, but here are a few of my shots 🙂
We have lived in this city almost 2 years, and we still do the tourist things. Everyone thinks we’re tourists anyway because of our ‘accents.’ I love the Queen Victoria Night Market because you have tons of local shops and food all in one place. Clothes, art, books, souvenirs; they have everything, in all different price ranges. You can get drinks, dinner, and dessert (see sangria, nachos, and Nutella loukemades below). There is also entertainment, like live music and street performers. Most weeks even have a theme; this one had flamenco and salsa music.
Today is the second to last summer night market! I already can’t wait for the winter one.
The band is Malcura. They were awesome.
Bonus pictures courtesy of my husband: a performer chose me as an ‘assistant’ and I had to basically pull the sword out of his throat. It was so weird and I was thoroughly embarrassed. I cannot control my face in most situations, so here you can really see me freaked out. Haha!
In continuation of my New Zealand posts (here and here):
We spent one day in Milford Sound (probably not enough). The first half of the day was kayaking. I didn’t take my camera for that. We saw penguins and a dolphin swam right next to us! It got really windy, though, and it was a lot more work than I thought it would be. After that, we went on a hike to the top of a mountain (the Key Summit Alpine Walk on the sign below). It was absolutely beautiful, and I wanted to just share a few pictures from the top! The last one is me; my husband took it.
My husband and I just turned 30, and to celebrate we went to the south island of New Zealand for a week (as you do). For the first couple of days we stayed in Christchurch. I had no idea how much the earthquakes affected it; the whole city was under construction! Still, we loved Christchurch. There is so much to see and do. The new buildings are awesome and there are some really good restaurants. This post is dedicated to what we mainly did there: sample the local alcohol 😉
We started at a Mexican restaurant (we’re from Texas, we just need Mexican food sometimes). They had all kinds of tasty margaritas, but their salsa was just not spicy enough for us Texans. The next day, we went on a wine tasting lunch tour in the Waipara Valley, which was AMAZING. We had so much fun and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Drank some awesome white wines, and met some hilarious people.
Featured places:
Mexico Restaurant
Canterbury Leisure Tours
Waipara Hills Wines
Greystone Wines
Torlesse Wines
Stay tuned for a couple more posts featuring our trip to New Zealand!
My husband and I took a trip to the Great Ocean Road for our anniversary. Even though the weather wasn’t great, everything was beautiful! We even saw some koalas.
We started in Portland and drove all the way back to Melbourne in three days.
We took the dogs for a long walk at R.J. Hamer Arboretum. They loved exploring, and got pretty muddy! There are so many more walks in the Dandenong Ranges that we want to see.
We explored Cataract Gorge in Launceston. It’s such a cool spot so close to the city. The walk goes to the historic Duck Reach Power Station.
I recently went on a road trip through Tasmania with my family. I have so many pictures so I’m splitting them up into a few blog posts. First up: Cradle Mountain National Park! We walked around Dove Lake and then went up to Marion’s Lookout. One of the hardest but most beautiful hikes I’ve ever done!
Last month, I got to photograph a tour by No Fixed Address. Their mission, from their website:
“We are offering competitive, world-class walking tours, delivered by experts who are considered homeless or living in supported housing. As our guides are from the streets, they’ll be able to comment on not only the history of the city, but also delve into the
impacts of historical events that affected our society.”
Our tour guide, Pete, showed us parts of Melbourne I didn’t know existed! It was a great time and I highly recommend it as something different and interesting to do in this city.
I met up with a photography group to go check out some classic car shows this past Saturday. These were taken at the Souvlaki Hut Charity Car Show and Rockabilly Rats, Tatts N’ Pinups at the Waltzing Matilda hotel. There were a lot of American cars that were good to see. I was extremely happy to learn that rockabilly music is popular here and people know how to swing dance!
A few scenes around the beautiful city of Melbourne (my new home!)
St. Kilda Beach
St. Kilda Beach
Melbourne Star
view from the Star
view from the Star
Royal Exhibition Building
Royal Exhibition Building
Just a few shots from the Melbourne Museum. We learned about the history of Melbourne, and then we went to the Human Body exhibit, the Wild animal hall, and the Darwin to DNA exhibit. I predict many more visits to this museum in the future!
One of the greatest things to do in Melbourne is visit the Queen Victoria Market. It’s the largest outdoor market in the southern hemisphere, and it has absolutely everything you could think of. From home goods and clothes, to all kinds of fresh foods, to live chickens.
These were taken on two different days: a busy Saturday and a Wednesday winter Night Market. We plan on doing all of our grocery shopping here 🙂
Previous Hawaii posts here: 
Christina Hardcastle photography 