Australia Day Celebrations ,Melbourne

Taking advantage of the free open day at Victoria's Governors house, here are some photos of the residence, inside and out. My "other half" commented that some of the furniture and fittings seemed a bit worse for wear and needed some maintenance and replacement.

Greenstone Jewllery

Here are some examples of Pounamu or Greenstone Jewellery. A the colour of most Greenstone varies from a deep green to almost black green. Jade tends to be a lighter, whiter colour. The following article on Greenstone's mineral composition from the New Zealand Encyclopedia gives a concise discussion of the mineral composition and Maori legends around the stones. (note the 1966 date of the encylopedia articles)

Welcome to my book and travel log

One of the perks of life is being able to travel occasionally to the great areas of the world. My last trip was to the west coast of the USA to take in the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. On the way there, we also sampled the delights of LA, Disneyland, Universal Studios and Las Vegas.

I am now planning the family trip to wonderful New Zealand. We intend spending most of our time in that world famous Art Deco city, Napier. But we also have a little time for a side trip to Rotorua. Unfortunately a blog cannot convey the stench of that unusual geothermal town but hopefully a few pictures and descriptions will describe what it is like.

So here's to our Easter Holidays. May they roll on quickly.

But for now here is part of our life at home - a balmy evening at Melbourne docklands.