Still moving north...

You will be relieved to know we can now eat a kiwi properly... slice it in half around the middle (not stem to end), then scoop out pieces with a small spoon and eat it. Much, much easier and neater than peeling it.

We spent yesterday in Hanmer (spelled correctly I might add) Springs, home of thermal springs for the south island. It also has, as does everyplace in NZ, any number of walks & trails to take. Judy & I had our picture taken at the top of the hill on the edge of town just as proof that we actually made it to the top (a walk steeper and longer than we had envisioned!). Of course a good walk also gives you an excuse to "take the baths" and, if you're like Judy, enjoy one of their massages (it's a wonder we were able to peel her off the table once it was over, she was so relaxed!) We are all, of course, completely rejuvenated!). The town runs the baths and they do a very good job of it with several different soaking pools of different temperatures and different levels of minerals. We did most of them and John even joined the kids in the water slide portion (now we know where to send him every few years for a "redo").

Today we stopped at New Zealand's longest swinging foot bridge. I'm the one that's afraid of heights but this didn't bother me at all, I guess because the wire rope hand holds on either side were plenty study. John, however, was petrified and almost didn't do it. He's such a card that the rest of us had a hard time taking him seriously. (It took a couple of beers at the local hotel to set him right again!) I was even up for taking the chair swing back across the gorge (look to the right of the bridge in the photo to see someone just starting across) but $20 for a 15 second ride was too steep for my blood plus there was a 50/50 chance we might have to carry John back across....

Back on terra firma the John's are gearing up to do a bit more trout fishing. We'll see if we eat tonight or not...

Traveling north...

Good news for Karol... haggis does exist in Dunedin (although we chose NOT to imbibe!). And one brewery makes a type of beer named Brewski ( KK thought he had dibs on that name....) And there's always the statue of Robert Burns ("head" pigeon is optional...)

We had hoped to see Royal Albatross (BIG birds - they stand almost 4 feet high with wing spans up to 9 or 10 feet) but the winds weren't blowing well and apparently they need a LOT of wind to get airborne. However, we did see plenty of sea lions, enjoyed the beautiful coastal drive shared with an antique Jaguar group, all driving their cars with the hoods down. The road is probably narrower than it looks, hugging the shore for several miles without guardrails (not for the faint of heart...)

Yesterday we stopped for lunch at the Criterion Hotel, a very old pub in Oamuri and wandered around their wool district. Most of NZ's wool goes to China (doesn't everything?). The photo shows one of their wool warehouses and you can just make out the bales of wool through the doorway.

Last night we were in Timaru, a large port city. We were not all that impressed until we went for our evening walk and happened upon their croquet club (one of 3 clubs they have). Two of their members were having a round of croquet golf and invited us to watch. Looked like fun so perhaps we need to do a bit of leveling to our lawn back home so we can "give it a go".

Our friends Paul & Inez had highly recommended we take in the Pegasus Bay Winery for lunch so, closing our eyes to the prices today, we munched our way though the most enjoyable lunch we've had so far sitting at a table on their lawn on a beautiful day and enjoying a bottle of wine.

Springing along...

One cannot go to Queenstown without at least going to look at where bungy jumping started and watch a few of those crazy folks continuing the tradition. If fear of heights doesn't stop you then perhaps the tariff ($160 per jump) will. We watched 3 people (all women, all young whatever that means) jump. Another young woman jumped holding as tight as anyone could to her male tour leader. And another young woman chickened out (she did more than I would have done just by standing up on that bridge on the ledge). It was exciting to watch I must say.

On to beautiful Te Anau where we stayed on a lake for two nights so we could take a day cruise on the fiords at Milford Sound. If you take the word spectacular and notch it up ten fold it doesn't begin to describe the beauty of the sound. We were lucky as they were in a drought (their 8th day without rain - it rains about 190 days out of the year) and just had a pleasant cloudy day. Straight ahead in the photo is the small town of Milford Sound with it's own small airport. We were in awe of the pilots who were able to fly between the mountains and land their planes!

Driving out of their rugged, rain forest area we went the scenic route (not that everything in this country isn't scenic!) to flat Invercargil (where we had tried to get on a Habitat build but they already had enough volunteers by the time we called). This is the house the volunteers worked on - good job!

The tourist books don't give very high marks to the city but we found it delightful. It's filled with parks and their Queens Park in the heart of the city is fantastic complete with all sorts of gardens (the roses are spectacular right now), an honest to goodness croquet court, and even a small animal park for children. The kids were quite impressed with how much John could sound like a pig.

Leaving there we again took the scenic route along the coast through the Caitland area. For this trip, it's as far south as we will go (or have ever gone in our lives). Many of the settlers here (there still aren't many) were from Scotland. And you can see why since it looks very much like Scotland with great hills and pastures filled with sheep going down to the sea. They seemed to have forgotten how to make haggis (perhaps a good thing) since it doesn't appear on any menus.

We're now in Dunedin for the day before heading north along the eastern coast. Again we seem to very lucky in avoiding the rain!

Zigzaggin across New Zealand

Words cannot describe how beautiful and how diverse New Zealand is. Christchurch (like all the guidebooks say) is very English which they promote (don't look for us on the boat - we opted to "stroll").
After touring around Christchurch (John even took us to a bit of Sunday service in the cathedral where we learned not to "smack the kids"...) we headed to South Bay area to give the guys some driving experience on the hairpin curves on narrow roads on verrrrry steep grades. There are encouraging signs on all these roads - our favorite to date... "The Faster You Go, The Bigger Mess You Make". But the views have been spectacular (enjoyed more by the passengers than the drivers). Judy & I sit in the back seat so we can keep an eye on the "Keckerheads" -our new name for the John's because they both have the same Keck family head when viewed from the back (and they have matching hats of course).
Anyway we've gone from flat plains to dry, California type mountains that lead to the sea, west across Arthur's Pass that looks like something out of our west with pristine lakes and steep, sharp mountains, to the Tasman sea on the west coast and inland again to areas that looks like the dry country north of Boise with high mountains ending in lakes. The difference with all this is that everything is so close together. This morning we were at the foot of a glacier in what looked like the Alps (except for the giant ferns growing everywhere) and tonight we're in Wanaka which is hot and much more arid. In the photos, the bay above is on the east coast, then the mountains in the middle, and then the pancake rock formations on the west coast.

The other curiousity is the lack of people and traffic. Less than a million people live on the whole south island and 2/3 of the western part of the island is owned by the government. Therefore... almost no development, few houses or villages for that matter, no billboards, all the bridges are one lane (whoever gets there first goes first) but most times there's no one coming so it's no big deal. One bridge we went over was used not only for car traffic but for the train as well - one assumes the train has priority.
The food here is wonderful as everything is in season and we've been able to keep stocked with fresh fruit and veggies from local stands. The motels come equipped with kitchens so Judy & I have been cooking the dinners to save a few dollars as food is very expensive. For example the simple fish and chips lunch we had today was $13 NZ dollars = about $11 US & that's per person for only a single portion of fish and some fries. A beer is $6.50 or more out. So we're drinking in. (The photo is NOT fish & chips but one of the best salads I've ever eaten!)
Tomorrow we head toward Queenstown and Melford Sound.
PS - Fur from possums is used here to make sweaters, socks etc. (usually combine it with merino and/or silk). Possums are not the same as our opossums. These are hairy little beasts a bit bigger than a cat with soft fur.

We have arrived!!!

Spent the day in LA prior to leaving at the Getty... incredible buildings as well as the art it contains! (Sorry, Wynne - we didn't get to your exhibit in Culver City...) And, as you can see in the photo, John couldn't quite warm up to the idea of going au natural in the California sunshine!

Thought seeing all that art would wear us out so we would sleep on that verrrrrrrrry long (12.5 hours followed by another 2 hours) plane rides. No such luck (but did get caught up on all those movies we'd missed in the theaters...). We think "No Country for Old Men" will get the Oscar - you heard it here first (or maybe not...) (Resting on my laurels!) This photo demonstrates the body's reaction to spending all those hours on a cramped airplane!

Anyway, back here in NZ where it is now Sunday morning we are listening the beautiful cathedral bells before going to hear their choir. Yesterday when we arrived it rained and blew all day so we went to the Anarctica Museum. Saw some of the world's smallest penguins being fed (except for Tubby who weighed in at twice the others and insisted on being hand fed on land) (Am sure this photo makes that perfectly clear. Can you believe this was the ONLY photo I took there? Must have been jet lag...) To experience the arctic weather it was only 17F with the breeze blowing in the "experience room" (it was much colder than that when we left NY!!!) - we skipped that part.

And, since it was so rainy and we were so sleepy, we bought local lamb and veggies and cooked in - a wise choice. It was John & Judy's 45th wedding anniversary but they were pushing zzzzz's by 6.

Today it is beautiful, sunny and warm for exploring Christ Church. We can see already why everyone loves New Zealand.

And we're off...

It's hard to believe that only two days ago we were in New York where the morning temp started at a balmy 1 degree with a not-so-gentle breeze. New Jersey was better (15) plus we were lucky enough to take to the air before the dreaded snow/ice reached Newark. Judy & I and our two John's are now in sunny LA where we (Judy & I that is) can show off our newly polished toes and we can pluck fresh limes from our friends' backyard tree. Life is good!

Tomorrow it's off to New Zealand for adventures from the world down under!!!