After 6 weeks in "the land down under", I'm now in "Middle-Earth", better known as New Zealand, or as the Dutch named the place, "Nieuw Zeeland" which means "New Sealand"! My first stop in the country is here in Auckland, NZ's biggest city of 1.2 million people. It's very cosmopolitan, just like other big cities in Australia, but there's a certain charm to it that makes me feel like I'm in a very small, more intimate country. Though the country is bigger than Britain, there are only 4 million people in total, more than a 1/3 of which live here in Auckland! To paint a more vivid picture, there are currently roughly 40 million sheep in New Zealand! How impressive is that? There are ten times more sheep than humans. I've always wanted to learn more about the Maori people who first inhabited this area around 800 years ago and I figure there isn't a better time than now, here in New Zealand! The Maori are actually descendents from people from areas of the Polynesia and it's still up for debate exactly where in Polynesia they came from and when they came over. Some people say as long as 1,200 years ago but there is evidence to suggest an even later date than that. That said, New Zealand was declared a British colony in 1840 and the country fell into near constant warefare with their colonists for most of the 19th century. I've been waiting to visit to NZ for about 10 years. I can't wait to hit the ground and explore every angle possible! We're heading down to Wellington, NZ's capital next week, followed by the South Island's Queenstown for the 3rd week. Let's check it out! An interesting fact about New Zealand:They became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. This was in the year 1893.

Driving around in the more rural areas of Australia gave me a different perspective on life in Australia. First of all, the roads are often shared with any number of animals, including sheep, horses, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, or the occasional wombat. Because of this, the speed limit is often set at 65 Kilometeres/hour, or roughly 40 Miles/hour, on roads that I guess would have a higher speed limit if there weren't so many animals around. Adding to this danger is the fact that many of these animals are nocturnal! Driving is already dangerous at night, can you imagine a few 'roos jumping in front of your car along a road with no lights?

For myself and the whole cast and crew of "5 Takes" the last week here in Australia was up to each person as to how they wanted to spend their time. A few people headed back up to Sydney to catch some of the sights they missed the first time, several headed to Western Australia while others headed north for warmer temperatures. I, on the other hand, headed further south to Tasmania, the lonely state that almost always goes forgotten! It's the only state not a part of the continent and because it's the last stop before the South Pole, it's quite cold! I heard that it was the more natural, untouched state, the place where you can explore a varied landscape of rocks, woods, and lakes, and just as many kinds of animals. As you can guess, I was incredinly keen on checking out the famed Tasmanian Devil. In fact, it was my main goal for the island. I had heard of this cancer that was killing off the species so I wanted to learn more about efforts to control the disease and thus save the Devil. Well, not only did I learn about what was going on, but I was also able to feed a pack of hungry Devils with my bare hands! I'm very excited to get the video edited to show everyone so keep posted! Overall, I loved Tasmania and wished I had more time. It's really quite different from the rest of Australia in several ways. It has a rugged coastline, steep, challenging mountains, small, friendly towns that make me think of small New England towns, great food, and, of course, the Tasmanian Devil! All in a fairly small state.

Wow! Through Discovery Education I was able to hold the very first live webcast Thursday morning, Melbourne time! What an experience! I was able to interact with two classrooms filled with so many amazing students who were interested in nearly every aspect of Australian culture. The photo below is where I held the webcast from. It's not your everyday internet cafe, though. The owner, Anne, was super nice to allow me the space to work from. But the thing is that it was so incredibly easy to do. All you need is internet access and a phone. And just like that I was chatting live with two classrooms. Here's the entrance to the internet cafe... and here's the inside!

Cricket is just one of the few sports they have here in Australia that I was never really exposed to growing up. I've always been intrigued by the game...the sophisticated English outfits, the 5 day games, the tea time. Is it really a sport? Well, I had a lesson in proper batting technique today in Melbourne and I cannot wait to show the video. It's similar to baseball in that you have to swing at a ball, but there are very distinct differences: For one, the ball bounces once before you can hit it, and even then the ball is traveling incredibly fast, just as fast, if not faster, than a baseball pitch. Oh, and the "pitch" is called bowling, not pitching. And there is no real strike zone, instead there are pins called wickets that stand behind the batter that the bowler is trying to knock down. Not only is your job to hit the ball, but as the batter you have to also protect the wickets! Batting was far from easy. Keeping my eye on the ball through the mask was very difficult. I'm excited to try it again sometime in the next couple of weeks! I'm hoping to show some improvement so that I can play in a real game!