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Bye Bye Bertie

My father, Bertie, passed away in early June after fighting colo-rectal cancer for over five years. He was a fierce and stubborn man who went out on his own terms surrounded by family and loved ones. I was blessed enough to be able to spend several weeks with him this year (3 weeks in February, 3 weeks in March and a few days in June before he passed).

My sister and I organized a lovely celebration of life. We started out with a simple, but loving ceremony at St. Cross Episcopal Church.

We all walked over to Kimberly’s house where we had a beautiful lunch catered for everyone. We put together these fun and fabulous collages and Kimberly created the stunning floral bouquets.

We had cousins attend that we have not seen in decades. It was so much fun getting to know them again.

More friends and family

A few hours after the luncheon, immediate family headed to Long Beach. We boarded The Angels Ashes boat called Orion and headed out into the bay. We scattered his ashes in a sea of rose petals.

Slowly the tide took both the ashes and petals out to sea where hopefully my dad will protect us on our sailing journey.

Afterward, the Konis family and I went to have dinner at the Yard House.

A Time for Reflection

My good friend Kathryn took me to the Huntington Library. They are famous for their amazing rose garden (my dad loved roses). Also known as Bertie’s buds.

On the grounds they have beautiful bridges, sculptures, and nooks to hang out and reflect.

They also had gorgeous Chinese and Japanese gardens that too our breaths away.

It was a long and heartbreaking few weeks after he passed. I know that is he is in a much better place, is no longer suffering, and is free. But my selfish side just breaks. I am so grateful for the time we had together. I will miss you dad, aka Bertie.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind live events. This blog posts occurred in early June.

Orakei Korako Geothermal Pools

We visit Orakei Korako Geothermal pools where we see geysers, hot springs, and bubbling mud pools. After seeing the Craters of the Moon we did not have high expectations, but were we wrong.

We arrive at the facility where we watch a short video then board the small boat to cross the lake. You can see the small boat in the top photo right side and the geothermal grounds are across the way by the trees.

Immediately we are hit with a very strong sulfur smell and higher temperatures. But what surprised us the most were the absolutely stunning colors.

The Hochstefter Cauldron on the lower right corner was the first geyser we came to. We then passed by the devil’s throat and a few other spectacular bubbling pools and smaller geysers.

Next we passed by the Golden Fleece White Paint Scrap which looks like a little snow mound. The top right corner shows you the Artists Palette which really does fit its name. As we continue down the trail we pass by several boiling mud pools and lots of quiet steam baths.

The Path around the Geothermal Pools

We climb 90 stairs to see the Ruatapu Cave which had steam shooting all the way to the top of the roof of the cave. It is amazing to me to see the vast fields of hot springs and then you turn the corner and are in beautiful forests and gardens.

As you can probably tell, we were all captivated by the Orakei Korako Geothermal pools. The cost was $45NZD which includes the boat ride and it is well worth the money!

I sat and watched this one geyser for 15 minutes hoping for the wind to blow the steam sideways to expose the vent and I finally got it!

Really impressed by the beauty of these geothermal pools. So much more color, vibrancy, and activity than the Craters of the Moon. Truly awe inspiring.

Events from this blog post occurred in mid-March. Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind live events. We visit the spectacular Huka Falls in our last blog post so be sure to check it out.

Huka Falls in Lake Tapu

The Waikato River, New Zealand’s longest river, moves gracefully north from Lake Taupō between banks 100 metres apart. Just before the Huka Falls, the river enters a shallow ravine of hard volcanic rock. The effect is nature’s large-scale equivalent of a fire hose feeding into a very fine nozzle.

This causes over 200,000 liters of water to gush through causing amazing rapids and beautiful falls.

At Huka Falls you can witness the phenomenon of natural hydro power with more than 220,000 litres of water per sec barreling over 11meter high waterfall.

It is simply beautiful and awe inspiring to see the rapids come from a serene lake and end in an equally peaceful river.

I simply could not get enough of this stunning sight. The falls are only 11 meters high but the mere fact that the water is moving at such a rapid pace takes your breath away.

There is a short, well marked trail that is well protected by high railings. We enjoyed the spectacular views and light mist that dusted our faces. As we were leaving the parking lot we found another little trail that took us lower and closer to the falls. It gave us a great view of the falls.

I highly recommend a visit to the Huka Falls are they are as impressive as they are beautiful.

Events from this blog post occurred in Mid-March. Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind live events. Did you catch our last blog post where we visit the Craters of the Moon?