Christchurch

Hello all-

Today, our last day in NZ was, as they say, "mostly fine"! We started the day with a Starbucks coffee.  That was great as most of the cafes here make a coffee that is basically expresso (a Long Black) so we switched to a Flat White (which is more tolerable) but Jan especially does not like coffee with milk.  The Flat White when made right, comes out with a beautiful design of the New Zealand fern on the top which is made with steamed milk.  We appreciate it when it is well done.  It is an form of art. Anyway from there we headed to the "i site" which is equivalent to our visitor's centers.  We picked up a walking guide of the city and booked a punting trip for the afternoon.  Punting is very popular in Christchurch.  Since the Avon River runs through the city, they have boats that take folks on the river and the guy in the back punts his way down the river.  It is very similar to the boats one sees of Venice.  Anyway, on our walking tour, we saw many of the old sites of the city,  many that had scaffolding and supports-evidence of structural damage from the earthquake in September.  At 11:00, we went on a free tour of the Christchurch Cathedral.  It was very interesting to hear the why and how of building a cathedral in New Zealand when all other cathedrals are located in Europe.  Onward with more of our walking tour-again finding that some of the stops were closed due to the city council stating that the facility was not safe to have folks enter them.  We relaxed for a while in the beautiful, warm sunshine before going on our punting event, which was very relaxing, too.  The river is very clean so we could see eel, trout, and lots of ducks.  We looked at the boutique shops at the Art Centre (converted buildings from the old College of Canterbury)  A little bit of shopping for souveniers ended our day and now we have to go in and pack up our suitcases for our trip home. 

Thanks to all for tuning into our blog.  We hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as we have enjoyed telling of our adventures.  See you all soon!

Last legs of the adventure

We are now in Christchurch after spending some enjoyable time in Dunedin.  Dunedin, as we mentioned previously, is a very unique city with a lot of Scottish heritage.  On Saturday, we walked a bit and saw the First Church of Otago.  We decided to go to a worship service there on Sunday.  We were graciously welcomed by a couple of the members (all who were quite old) and also recognized, as were a few other visitors, by the pastor.  Afterwards we were invited for coffee and biscuits.  From there, we went over to the Botanical Gardens to walk through the Rhodedenrom  Dell.  The flowers (however you spell them) were huge and beautiful.  Wait till Uncle Fred sees our pictures!  The views from there of the city were amazing, too!  We then headed over to the Otago Peninsula where we checked into the Larnach Castle for the night.  It started pouring soon thereafter, so we checked out our room (also called the Rhodedenrom room - you would think we would know how to spell it after spending a night there!) and then proceeded to go on our penguin tour.  The weather cleared up for that.  We were sure happy about that because we walked through tunnels on the 70 acre private property to see endangeredYellow Eyed Penquins in their nest with some baby chicks.  Then we walked out to the ocean area and were lucky enough to see a penquin come up to the shore from the water and then waddle over the sand and up the hill.  It was so awesome!  Jan now does a great penquin interpretation!  We also saw a white faced heron, a sea lion, several fur seals and blue penquins.  It was a great tour!  We also drove up to the Albatross Center but did not view any albatrosses.  That tour is closed because it is their breeding time.  We went back to the castle to get ready for dinner in the Castle's dining room with other guests for the night.  It was a three course dinner.  The food was pretty good but it was more fun talking to the other guests.  We are all concerned with the miners in New Zealand who are still trapped in the mine with no recovery attempts yet after three days.  After breakfast in the castle stables, we took a tour of the castle and the grounds.  Very beautiful!  Lastly enroute we stopped at Moroaki Boulders-unique boulders that are completely round in structure.  They are just sitting on a remote beach with nothing else around - its a "mystery"!

Tomorrow we will tour Christchurch and then it's homeward bound!

Pics - Church in Dunedin, Jan among the boulders, Flowers at Castle, Penguin walking up from the beach; Nesting penguin

Dunedin

Hello all-

Today we left Queenstown and drove to the east coast Scottish city of Dunedin. Took a walk around the city to see many very cool old buildings including the train station! We also took a tour of the only authenic Chinese Garden outside of China. The Chinese immigrants played a very importnat role in the early years of Dunedin. Dunedin's sister city wanted to commerate this and worked in partnership with Dunedin to develop this garden. Everything was brought over from China including the craftsman! It is very well done. Unfortunately it was raining for most of the day today, so some of the features were muted. I will send pics when I am able. We are stayng on the beach in the south part of the city. The Pacific ocean is right outside our door. Late this afternoon, all of the surfers and sea kayakers came out as the waves are huge! Fun to watch them "take a ride".

Well we are off to take a walk and get some dinner..... Hope to see some penguins tomorrow.

D&J

Doubtful Sound

We have returned from our overnight cruise on the Doubtful Sound.  After a bus trip of a two hours and a boat trip of 60 minutes with another bus trip down a narrow road between the two bodies of water, we finally reached our cruise ship.  There were 66 passengers for the night.  After an intro, we were given keys to our cabin.  Ours had two twin beds, a small counter, and a bathroom with a tiny shower along with sink and toilet.  We then gathered up on the other decks (three in all) to view the sights.  There was a steady rain coming donw which created an amazing amount of waterfalls coming from the gigantic mountains that just rise out of the water.  The crew was very nice and the food was very good.  The rain continued to come down though which made viewing out on the decks difficult.  Nonetheless, activities continued as normal so around 6:00 PM, the crew asked who would like to go for a swim, kayak trip or in tender (dingy) boat ride.  Jan had wanted to kayak but with the rain and her glasses getting all spotted up, we both agreed that the tender ride would probably be best.  We went out with the nature guide on the cruise boat and she took us to the shoreline and pointed different things out.  We also saw some fur seals out near the Tasman Sea but any other wildlife was difficult to view.  You will be able to see how nice and wet we were with the picture below.  After a great dinner, they had a slide show for us to see the different life under the water.  We both slept really well with the lull of the boat and in the morning enjoyed a good breakfast, a little sun, and then a beautiful rainbow from the sun's reflection on the wet mountains!  It was very cool when the boat turned its engines off and we all were asked to remain quiet for five minutes.  It was like being in a primevil forest.  We also enjoyed talking with folks from all over the world.  After a long ride home via boat and bus, we are now back in Queenstown planning to leave tomorrow for Dunedin.

Pics - The first three were taken in a vertical position, so you have to turn your head sideways - sorry!
Doubtfull Sound
Us in the tender boat
Waterfalls
See the rainbow?

A day at the farm!

Hello all-

Today we took the boat over to Walter Peak where we observed a fellow shearing a sheep.  It was quite amazing how quickly he completed the task.  From there, we watched as their border collie rounded the sheep and brought them down to the area.  Since sheep and cows roam freely in New Zealand (there are no barns around), the need the dogs to gather them in when it is time for shearing or to the market.  Afterwards we enjoyed a very expansive barbeque meal.  The grounds were lovely so we enjoyed walking through those.  Jan also enjoyed the spinning of the wool demo.  She finally found some possum, merino wool, silk yarn.  You would think New Zealand would be loaded with the availability of yarns with all the sheep around , but, no, it has been a real challenge to find any.  There was a wee bit of yarn at the sock knitting museum we visited a few days ago, but definitely nothing like we have in the States.

After our return to Queenstown, we toured the gardens of the city and that was very enjoyable.  The weather is a bit cool and cloudy but so many of the spring flowering bushes and roses are in bloom in New Zealand.  They are so much more healthy than by us so we are turning our heads all the time in their beauty.  So far the rest of the afternoon we have been going in and out of the shops.  Either we are sick of looking at the shops or the beautiful merino wool blend sweaters which run about $200, are still not appealing to our budget.

We are saying goodbye for at least two days because tomorrow we take off at 8:25 AM for an overnight cruise in the Doubtful Sound.

Here are a few pics -  Dave at the Queenstown Harbor; Looking out our hotel room balcony; sheep herded by the sheep dog who only uses his "eyes" to herd the sheep. He does not bark, unlike Kelsey!

On to Queenstown

Today we drove through the rain forest in rain!  Passed on seeing the penquins because of the rain.  It finally  broke up a bit as we drove into a town calleed Wanaka.  We decided to stop there and enjoy a wine tour.  It was gorgeous with the Southern Alps right in front of us.  - The drive to Queenstown is one of the best in NZ. The snow capped Southern Alps, to the flowing rivers to beautiful blue lakes, to the deep and awesome gorges, to the one lane bridges - What a drive it was. We passed a number of places where they filmed Lord of the Rings.  Now we are in Queenstown which is basically a shoppers delight and adventure paradise- bungy jumping and the like.  We decided we have attempted enough with the hike.  Here are some pictures to prove we did it.  Pictures in reverse order are: Rippon Winery in Wanaka, Wanaka Lake and Southern Alps, J&D on top of Glacier, Group heading down from the top, Blue Ice Crevices. Tomorrow we get to see sheepshearing and have a BBQ at a farm and the next day it is off to Doubtful Sound for an overnight cruise.  Everyone says it is just beautiful.

Signing off here at the Global Gossip Internet Cafe......
D&J

We did it!

Just wanted everyone to know, we succeeded in our mission to hike a glacier!  It was an awesome experience.  Arriving at the center, they fitted us with overpants, a Gortex raincoat, socks and boots.  They indicated that we did not need hats and gloves that day.  Then 52 people piled into a bus which took us about 10 minutes up the road to the entrance of where one can view the largest commercially guided glacier in the world.  We trekked through more bush (rainforest) before coming to a two mile stretch of path through rocky terrain.  That was the farthest that sightseers can go to view the glacier.  The day had turned cloudy but already we could feel mist forming and further on our way up, we did experience pesty sprinkles that was very annoying to Jan as they spotted up her glasses.  From there, the four guides divided us into groups of 13.  We ended up with Jimmy who had just finished training.  He was a charming young man who during the winter teaches ski lessons and who was working here for summer employment.  He was equipped with a ice axe as everyone who ventures out on the glacier needs to use the axe on the trail as the glacier is constantly moving and changes dramatically from day to day.  We continued on a path up the terminal face of the glacier switchbacking up a rather narrow path of a foot or so.  That seemed to take a long time but eventually we reached a point where he instructed us to put on our crampons.  Those look like old fashioned rollerskates (for those of you who are reading this and remember those!) but serve as  snow shoes would having reinforcements of prongs that gripe  the ice.  From there we started on the ice formations-up formed steps and inclines into ice that had hues of blue where the water from the glacier was melting.  We traversed through ice caverns that were not visible even a week ago. At his point, Jan's hands got cold and she wished she had some gloves.   In all, we hiked 9 kilometersand ascended to a height of 400 meters above sea level. We have some awesome pictures that you will have to wait to see as we are on this computer at the next accommodation and are not going to use up the time here to load them down. The worst part was when we reached the bottom of the glacier and had 2 miles to go to the bus.  After giving back our gear, we jumped in the car to drive down to Haast which has some of the purest beaches and rainforest in the world.  We just made it in time for dinner which turned out to be a wonderful four course meal that lasted almost two hours.  This place is situated in a very remote area and the host loves to involve the guests in many excursions.  His favorite to go see the penquins who nest on one of the beaches.  We were hoping to have enough energy to go see them before we left but are unsure even this morning, if we can muster that up.  Maybe after some breakfast. 

Glacier walk today

Hello everyone-

This afternoon we are taking a  5 hour glacier hike up the terminal face of the Franz Joesph Glacier. We are really looking forward to taking this hike. It is partly sunny compared to the rain we experienced yesterday at this time of day.  Luckily it cleared up by the time we arrived in Franz Joseph so we were able to drive over to Fox Glacier and took an hour and a half hike around Lake Mathieson (on a clear morning one can see beautiful reflections of Mount Cook there).  It was pleasant hike.  We met a couple from Germany there, who like us, were surprised by the little one sees of Christmas here.  I suspect that is probably because it lands in the middle of summer here.  We ate dinner at a little cafe where we had a great pizza with salmon, spinach, red onion, cream cheese and sun dried tomato pesto on it.  Someone questioned what type of food we are experiencing here.  Mostly similar to ours but with a lot of Indian flair.  After the glacier hike, we travel to the town of Hasst to stay the night.

Some pictures attached - river and Southern Alps, Lake Mathesion, Tasman Sea

Greymouth

Hello all-
Today we took several "bush" walking (tramps) around the area. We are in a coastal rainforest climate, so lots of very lush vegetation. The ferns and lichens are really neat to see in their native surroundings. We also visited a historic mining area and mom made it across her second suspension bridge. Dave took in a brewery tour (Monteith's), a popular NZ beer. Dave did sample a number of styles, many too his liking! Jan found a nice piece of Greenstone (Jade) that we to be able to have polished and use as a decoration at the house.

Tomorrow we are off to take a guided trek on a glacier.

That's it for now - we are off to walk the beach and to try to catch a sunset
D&J

Friday, November 12

We are sitting in a beautiful B & B on the Tasman Sea with the waves crashing as I type this.  It is overcast but not raining so we are hoping to get a walk in on the beach this evening as the tide will be out by then.  Today we headed south down the west coast of the South Island.  We had sunshine until the end (in fact, the only day we had rain was that first morning outside of Auckland-pretty good for the first 18 days of our trip, I would say!) Anyway, once again we went through mountains (amazing how many mountain ranges there are in this country!) so we had to wind around the road and take it slow.  Three times we had to pass this slowpoke because we made a stop to eat and to take a rest break. As you might guess bu now it is very difficult to pass on the curvy and narrow roads.  We stopped in Punakiki which is right on the coast.  The waves there were huge and broke against the different rock formations causing them to smoke and then spit water.  It was a sight to see!  Luckily we hit that right around high tide.  We also took a break to eat by a beautiful gorge.  Whoever said New Zealand is beautiful was certainly correct!  One glorious sight after another!

Will try to send more pics!
D&J

Pictures

Golden Bay

Hello all- It is Thursday afternoon and we are enjoying some great weather here in Nelson on the South Island. Today we took a water taxi up and around Abel Tasman national park and then did a 2 1/2 hour tramp (hike) from one bay to another through the mountains! The pathway was very narrow (at best 3 feet across) and we went up major steep paths with inclines down a long, long way.  Add on top of that, a swing bridge that we had to cross so that added to the height factor! On the way up the coast, we saw dusty dolphins at play and happened to come upon a seal who was having fresh octupus for dinner -  very fun to watch. Normally one only sees the seals warming themselves on the rocks.

Backtracking to yesterday- It was a travel day as we took the ferry across from the North Island to rhe South. The ferry is quite large, big enough to take a whole lot of semi's and railroad cars, plus all of the regular cars and camper vans. (Dave wants to now paint his engine for his train that he sets up at Christmas with "KiwiRail"-the rail car being loaded on the ferry) We enjoyed sitting in the club class section. Jan sat and talked to a fellow who was retruning from Wellington after placing his father in an assisted living center so she now knows all about how the system works here in NZ with senior problems.  Upon arriving at Picton, we picked up a red Ford Focus and made out way up to Nelson, enjoying the views along the Queen Charlotte Drive.  The only problem we ran into was finding our hotel.  Once again we had to traverse mountains to get to Nelson and the sun was setting.  Our accommodations were at the outskirts of town and we ended up to the end of the ocean point before backtracking to get to our hotel.  It certainly was not lit up like ours in the States but it turned out to be very nice.  Only problem is that we did  not grab something to eat on the ferry so the oatmeal we took along on the trip served as our dinner.  Luckily we rose early this AM to grab a decent breakie!  (A little Australian talk thrown in there for you!  We are a bit sunburned but loving the warm temperatures.  That's it for now.  Down to Greymouth tomorrow and maybe a wine tour along the way.
New Pics coming.......

Wellington Area

Today is the 9th and we woke up to a nice cool, but sunny day. Took the city bus into the downtown area and are planning a ful day of exploring the city. Cable car, Botanical Gardens, TePupa Museum plus a bit of shopping. We are staying in a camperpark in the city of Hutt, about a 30 minute bus ride away. This is where we will drop the campervan off tomorrow morning and then head back down to the harbor and take the ferry across to the south island.
Yesterday we had a full day of driving going from Hastings to Hutt. We saw beautiful countryside and went through a major mountan range - Quite the experience driving on the narrow roads in our campervan! We both were a bit tense as we wove our way through the mountain road. Along the way we did see several general  locations where scenes from the  Lord of the Rings occured. Very cool to see.  Also enroute we made a stop at the Tui Brewery.  Dave really enjoyed tasting some of the local brew.  We grabbed a bite to eat there, too. Last night we took a evening walk along the Hutt River - It was unique, in that a good part of the walk went right through a golf course! We walked on a raised walkway, and had to watch out for the golfers!. Fortunately, there were only a few out on the course.

We are finding that the "locals" are generally very friendly and most helpful to us, especially as they find out we are touring from the states.
That's about it for now - hope all is well back in the states!

Pictures along the journey......

Rotorua and Napier

Hi everyone-

It is Sunday afternoon here in napier NZ. Napier is an "Art Deco" city having many buildings restored to the age of the 1930's.
Backtracking on yesterday. We started off the day with a visit to the Kiwi Encounter, which was very cool. There is a major effort going on to save the Kiwi's. They have many predators and in danger of becoming extinct within the next few decades if nothing is done. We then went to a geothermal site, saw a gyeser, mud pools, and hot thermal springs. This site also had an active Maori meeting house and is a center for teaching the ancient maori arts of wood carving and weaving. In the evening we went to a Maori "Hangi" dinner and performance. Very educational and entertaining, plus the food was great!. Over 13 different countries were there. We met some folks from Minnesota and got sat with some people from Finland who invited us to come visit them.  We have their email address so beware that may be the next place we are off to.

Drove down through the mountains today with a quick stop for lunch at a cafe in the middle of the mountain range.  Now in Napier.  The weather has been good.  Only the little rain that we started with in the beginning of our stay here in NZ.  It was very difficult for Dave to drive our big motorhome in the driving rain, on the left side of the road, with all the curvy roads, and oncoming traffic, but he now is a pro.  The countryside is amazing with sheep and cows grazing on grassy hillsides. 

Here are the pics you have been waiting for: well, I have to figure out how to do these so, look for a new post......

Rotorua, New Zealand

I know-it has been a long time since we posted last.  Let me say that "Twlfth Night" at the Sydney Opera House was great.  We did not get to see the actual opera house but we did get up to the lobby area and enjoyed the views of the harbor.  Our play was on a smaller stage which we very much prefered.  There were only eight actors who switched roles on occasion.  That made the play confusing at times but overall we did follow it along enjoying many of the takeoffs they did off the Shakespearan play.

Thursday was our first bad day of the trip.  We had to wake up early to catch our shuttle to the airport (6:00 AM) The driver was at the wrong hotel so we got a late start.  He proceeded to pick up more folks-one who was not present, but upon calling in, he turned back to get-resulting in our being late to the airport.  Then we mistakenly put the wine that Russ bought us at the wine tour in our carry on, so security took it.  Our flight was fine but once in Auckland, we stood in line to go through customs for an hour and a half.  Then we grabbed a cab which is what our travel agent told us to do, and proceeded to get totally ripped off by an India taxidriver.  Once at the camper place, we found out they had a shuttle!!!  Needless to say, by then we were ready to give up.  After that, though, things got better.  The gal at the camper place was extremely nice and even gave us an awesome map of New Zealand for free ($25 value).  We left there with a spanking new, huge traveling trailer equipped with fridge, TV, microwave, king size bed, etc.  We have yet to figure some of the things out.  After stopping at a grocery store, we finally figured out how to get on the motorway and headed down about a half hour to a RV park (Holiday Park here in NZ)  We bought ourselves an extra bottle of wine because we definitely needed it and felt so bad because we were definitely looking forward to the one Russ bought (we had tasted it at the winery-Sorry, Russ :().

This morning greeted us with rain but we felt much better after a decent night's rest.  We headed down the coast and stopped at a little town that was full of murals on their buidlings.  The "i" center (visitor's center) told us about a Haiku walk that was delightful.  Onward we stopped at Kiwi360, where the world's largest supply of kiwis are grown.  We went on a grand tour of the orchards and now we will never look at a kiwi the same again!  Now we are in Rotorua where we will spend two nights and go to a "hangi" (a Maori dinner and concert) tomorrow night.  The scenery and roads are unbelievable-very curvy but lush with all kinds of greenery.  Sheep and cows are all grazing on the hillside. 

Till later.  Now it is time for dinner.

Melbourne Cup!

Hey - we forgot to tell you that everyone in town last night was celebrating the horse race. The gals were dressed in heels (many at the 4" height), and were dressed to the nines. The hats were very fashionable in true racing design and Dave enjoyed the "mini" skirts. Couples were everywhere and the celebrations were in high gear for the day and night!!! Fun to see and be a part of.
Mom

Sydney news

Hi everyone-

Busy day here in Sydney. We are staying in Darling Harbor, so walking is the order of the day. Have been to the fish market, Starbucks in the Circular Quay and the Rocks. Took a ferry to the Tarango Zoo. Jani loved seeing all of the Aussie animals. The "Walkabout" was great! Kangeroos and emus along with Wallabees roaming in the open.  Most of the animals were taking their afternoon nap so we did not have a lot of interaction with them-still, it was a great experience!  Last night we hiked up to the Opera House to see it at dusk and then had an awesome "Catch of the Day" dinner at a restaurant in the harbor.  By the time we finished , it was dark and the ferries and cruise ships were lit up.  It was quite a sight to see.  Tonight we are heading to the Opera House for our anniversary gift from the kids.  They have treated us to "The Twelfth Night".  We are certainly excited to see the inside of the Opera House.  The weather cleared for us today with temperatures in the seventies.  Yesterday and tomorrow had or are expected to have showers so we definitely lucked out.  Tomorrow we take off for New Zealand!

We are back in Freo

What a road trip!  Dave is now used to driving on the left side of the street and Jan's mantra is "Left, left, left" although Russ is trying to get her to say "Look right, stay left!".  We certainly covered the territory in the southern part of Western Australia.  On the way to our destinations, we took time to stop at some different wineries and partook of some of the wonderful tastes of this area.

Our first stop on Saturday was in Albany which is on the southern most part of Australia that jets out into the Southern Ocean.  We saw some magnificent surfs on the coast as we hiked around a wind farm ablaze with wildflowers.  Russ treated us to dinner that night at a local brew pub even though he himself was not feeling the best.  He still was suffering from the chills.   Needless to say, he did not mind spending his weekend with his two old folks and their early bedtimes since he was feeling under the weather.

The next day we took off along the southern coastline.  We happened to find out about a little spot called William Bay from the local visitors center and what a little gem it was!  Beautiful white sand, turquoise water, and great outcroppings of rocks which some of the locals were using as diving boards.  It was hard to pull ourselves away from such a beautiful place.  Luckily we got sick of the Australian flies which  love to continuously land on your face even when you shoo them away.   Onward to the Tree Top Walk and a walk through the Ancient Empire, a forest with 400 year old tingle and Karri oak trees.  Some of those trees were over 10 feet across and over 125 feet tall.  Some of them were hollow upwards into the trunk due to fire, fungus, and various other reasons.  The TreeTop Walk was intended to create a bird's eye view of the forest although it was hard for Jan to relax at those heights especially with the added swag of the cages.  Onward to Pemberton, the heart of the forest region.  Forests are very rare in Australia but we felt like we were in Wisconsin with all the forests we drove through.  Southern Western Australia is that only area in Western Australia that has a significant amount of forest. Imagine that and compare this to all the wooded areas in the US!  Our last stop of the day was to Augusta, where the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet.  Dave and Jan enjoyed traversing the massive rock formations by Australia's tallest lighthouse, Cape Leeuwin, while watching the sun set. It is interesting to note that Western Australia is more than 4 times the size of Texas.

Today found us heading north through the Margaret River area, which according to the Lonely Planet is one of the top ten spots to see in Australia.  It reminded us of Door County except when we drove out to the coast and saw some awesome surfers.  The waves there were again huge!  We saw 20" high swells!!!

So we now are back at Russ' apartment, doing some wash and getting ready to pack up for our flight to Sydney tomorrow.  We are invited to a "barbie" at Russ' boss' place tonight.  Russ' latest flame is coming beforehand to meet us.

That's about it for now.