Morepork's VirtualTourist Home Page

To explain my photo of the OWL. It is the native Owl of New Zealand & is called the 'Morepork'. My mother said that one followed her in the car the night I was born, so I have adopted him as my motto! Isn't he cute?
KIWI took this shot in her garden.
I have recently discovered that I was calling the OWL the wrong native name. The correct name is RURU. My apologies.

My Travels have taken me many places despite the fact that I didn't begin to move till I was 45yrs old.!
The rest is history.

FRENDSHIP

A friend is like a tower strong,
A friend is like a joyous song,
That helps us on our way. When golden ties of friendship bind
The heart to heart, the mind to mind, How fortunate are we!

For friendship is a noble thing;
It soars past death on Angels wings
Into eternity.
God blesses friendships' Holy bond
Both here and in the great beyond:
A benefit unpriced.
Then may we know that wondrous joy,
That precious ore without alloy;
A friendship based on Christ.

Tourists don't know where they've been,
Travellers don't know where they're going,
The traveller sees what he sees,
The true traveller is he who goes on foot & even then he sits down a lot of the time.
Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember & I remember more than I have seen.
Disraeli.
If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religions & avoid the people, you might better stay at home. Mitchner.

The beauty of the South Island has to be seen to be believed.
The Fjiords, the snow-capped mountains the Lakes the streams,
Magnificent scenery.
The ski-fields & glaciers are a picture to behold.
Many back-country sheep stations cover thousands of acres & the sheep-dog is a symbol of dedicated sheep mustering through the years.
My photo taken in the McKenzie Country is of 'Old Shep' an example of faithful bond between Man & Dog.

Here is a verse written by Thomas Bracken on the ship on arriving in OTAGO Harbour with the early settlers in the 1880's.

"Go trav'ler , unto others boast
Of Venice and Rome,
Of saintly Mark's majestic pile,
and Peters'lofty dome:
Of Naples and her trellised bowers:
Of Rhineland far away.
These may be grand, but give to me
Dunedin from the Bay.

O never till this breast grows cold
can I forget that hour'
As standing on thevessels' deck
I watched the golden shower
Of yellow beams,that darted
From sinking king of the day,
and bathed in a mellow flood,
Dunedin from the Bay".

For I dipt into the future, far as the human eye could see,
The vision of the world & all the wonder that would be.
Saw the heaven fill with commerce,
Argosies, of majic sails.
Pilots of the purple twilight'
are dropping down with costly bales.

Alfred Lord Tennyson,
Locksley Hall 1842,
60 years before the first flight.!

Every flyer who ventures across the oceans to distant lands,
Is a potential explorer,
In his or her breast burns the same fire'
That urged adventureres of old
to set forth in their sailing ships for foreign lands.

Jean Batten.

Courage.
Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace,
The soul that knows it not, knows no release,
From little things;

Knows not the livid lonliness of fear,
Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear
The sound of wings.

How can Life grant us boon of living
,compensate for dull grey ugliness
& pregnant hate,
Unless we dare.

The souls' dominion? Each time we make a choice, we pay
With courage to behold the restless day,
And count it fair.

Amelia Earhart. .......

We are Pilgrams on a journey,
We are travellers on the road,

We are here to help each other,
Walk the mile and bear the load.

www.owlcatraz.co.nz

Captain James McCrae. To-day, October 5th. 2007, is the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Passendaelle. New Zealand lost 1700 soldiers in one day !
It has taken all this time to highlight to us Kiwis what really happened that day.! Our soldiers were at the mercy of the the British Generals who ordered them 'Over the top ' to certain death !
My fathers' cousin was a Captain so I'm including a photo of him, taken with King George V. He was marching his troops out of the trenches when a car pulled up & an officer got out & said "The KING wants to inspect your troops!" This photo appeared on the front page of the London Times.
He fortunately survived to return to New Zealand.