 |
| Baseball Diamond at the SCG |
Baseball was born in Hoboken New Jersey. On June 9th, 1846 the first organized baseball
game was officially played in Hoboken. I
have loved baseball since I was five. I
remember my very first major league baseball game. My mom was waitressing and my dad and I dropped
my sister off at my aunt’s house and my dad and I were on our way to Philadelphia. We went to the old Veterans Stadium on the
corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue to see the Phillies. From then on we went to a few games a year. We also toured the baseball stadiums of the
east coast – Fenway, Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, and Shea Stadium to name a
few.
1993 was a big year for us in baseball. In the summer we went to Cooperstown, the
baseball hall of fame. And that October
the Phillies were in the World Series so I was lucky enough to see them play
the Blue Jays in game 3 in Philadelphia.
Another big baseball moment in my life was seeing the Red Sox win the
World Series in 2004 in Red Sox Nation ending an 86 year curse. I was also lucky enough to see a Red Sox vs
Yankee game at Yankee Stadium with my good friend Dan which is quite possibly one of the best sports
rivalries to watch.
By moving to Australia I have deprived myself from the
classic American game. I miss seeing
games but thanks to friends, family, and espn.com I can keep up to date with
the standings. But in March 2014 Major
League Baseball debuted down under and I finally got to see a live game.
 |
| Stars and Stripes - National Anthem at the SCG |
They transformed the Sydney Cricket Ground into a baseball
diamond and the games played between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks counted
towards the 2014 standings. The game was
great – there were homeruns, attempted steals, great catches, and great
pitching. Overall it was a great taste
of home since they even sang the National Anthem and Take Me Out to the
Ballgame for the 7th inning stretch.
 |
| Bruce - February 2014 Olympic Stadium in Sydney |
 |
| Auckland Night 1 |
Bruce Springsteen is a New Jersey native who continues to
grace the Southern Hemisphere with his presence. In the past 12 months I have seen five of his
shows in two countries. All three Sydney
shows and the two Auckland New Zealand were spectacular and unique. He always switches up the set list so between
all five shows I got a variety of 67 different songs. Some songs were only played once but then
there were some classics and fan favorites that made every show. I would have to say that the first night in
Auckland was by far the best show ever – the energy, the song selection, the
outdoor venue – it was perfect.
It’s always nice to have these little tastes of home between
visits home to remind a Jersey Girl of her roots.
So on Holy Thursday night Dave, Liz and I flew down to
Christchurch on the South Island. We
arrived very late so it was off to sleep for a few hours before beginning our
road trip in the morning. On Friday
morning we picked up our campervan, Gordo.
And we started on our journey...our
end destination on Friday was Franz Josef Glacier all the way on the west coast
(Christchurch is on the east coast). We made a couple scenic photo op
stops along the way and 7 hours later we made it to the Glacier Village. 
Saturday morning we were supposed to do a heli-hike on the
glacier. However due to the power outage, wind, and rain, the tour was
cancelled. A bit disappointing but I guess safety first. So we
decided after breakfast that we would just continue on our way down to our next
stop -Queenstown. But before leaving the glacier village we attempted to
drive to the base of Franz Josef Glacier but all we saw was lots of grey mist
and got soaking wet. We also walked
around the base of Fox Glacier and continued to get soaked. After a quick change to drier clothes
we left for the hopefully drier south. En route to Queenstown we stopped for some more
beautiful scenic photo ops and some lunch in Haast. We made it to
Queenstown for dinner time (another long day of driving - thank goodness for
Dave who drove every step of the way!). We ate at the famous Ferg Berger!
On Easter Sunday we took a beautiful walk through historic
Arrowtown and did the Tobin Track hike with beautiful views over Queenstown and
Arrowtown. The fall foliage was in full effect - just beautiful. Before
heading into Queenstown we had some Easter Sunday ice cream at the famous
chocolate place Patagonia. On Sunday
afternoon we did a walk around Queenstown then a gondola ride up to the top of
the mountain overlooking Queenstown. Up
there we did three luge runs on the mountain- lots of fun! We had a very
nice traditional Easter dinner - a lovely roast dinner at an Irish pub! We then made our way to our hotel – St.
Moritz. The hotel only had valet parking
so this is where the camper van that smells slightly of mold from all of our
wet clothes along the way plus who knows what from previous campers was valet
parked by staff of a five star hotel! (Note four days in and no one has slept in the camper yet!) Our hotel had a hot tub garden so after dinner
we hung out in the hot tub and I looked up and saw a shooting star so that was
really neat! The sky was so clear that it was full of many stars to gaze at.
On Monday
we went white water rafting in Queenstown before driving 5 hours to Milford
Sound. Queenstown is known for adventure sports – skydiving, white water
rafting, abseiling, etc. When we went to
collect Gordo from the valet after our rafting trip he said – and you guys have the camper – yes, yes
we do! We had some delicious Mexican
take out in Gordo while we drove to Milford.
During our drive we of course stopped for photo ops along the way. We arrived at the Milford Sound Lodge for an
evening of dinner and Skip-bo! 
