Sunday, March 16, 2008

More of New Zealand...

The older blogs now have photos added just in case words weren't enough... As always, I've ended up with a few extra. If you're interested, read on...
1. Instead of Good Humor we saw "Mr. Whippy" and "Mr. Cool" (we found their ice cream to be a bit "airier" than what we're used to). 2. It seems to be norm rather than the exception for a town of any size to have bowling (lawn) and/or croquet clubs. 3. A dairy barn on the south island - one would assume the climate must be milder than upstate NY! 4. A backpacker lodge (it looked neat but just think of all that snoring, let alone being the unfortunate person who has to stash their stuff on the top bunk!) These accommodations are all over NZ - affordable & clean. 5. Perhaps more our style (it also had a neat little porch on the back). 6. We saw these camper vans from Wicked Rentals everywhere and each one was painted differently. Our favorite was one that read on the back - "Bring back Monica Lewinski". 7. Flowers, flowers everywhere. When was the last time you saw a heather that big?! 8. A poor little penguin hiding under a camper. 9. Sand flies! - "art" at the dock in Melbourne Sound.
1. The John's inspecting what NZ calls a fuse box. NZ is wired 220. 2. A pretty house. 3. The longest suspension bridge in NZ - no longer in service. 4. Proper croquet form (I think) We'll have to start working on this technique. 5. Pretty mushrooms. 6. In case there was any doubt why John chose NOT to take up sheep shearing as a profession. 7. More flowers... 8 & 9. We just happened upon NZ's wooden boat show one rainy day.
1. The Mussel Pot in Havelock, the green lipped mussel capital of the world (is there a competition?). John & I had mussels. The less adventuresome had fish. 2. That is a REAL car covered in old corrugated metal roofing to fix a rust problem - art depicting New Zealander's ingenuity. 3. Sheep are everywhere although there are now just over 30 million (that probably varies somewhat this time of year with leg of lamb on many Easter dinner tables...) 4. If you invested in fencing in NZ you are now a VERY wealthy person. They say there's enough fencing there to circle the world 20 times. 5. Eggs (when not purchased at the farmer's market) are found in the market on standard shelving - not in the cooler section. You can get "barn eggs" or "free range eggs" and one assumes both are very fresh. 6. New Zealander's love their coffee and it is good, strong, expensive and everywhere makes it to order by the cup with espresso machines. Note the NZ "fern" on the froth in this "flat white" cup of coffee. 7. A pizza delivery truck. 8. A pukeko bird - the babies hatch with what look like full grown feet. 9. "Hound logs" - every grocery store and butcher shop have loads of pet logs for sale for your favorite pet.
1. There are plenty of public toilets everywhere in all shapes and sizes. And they're all clean, no graffiti. This one even had a small sink with running water so appearances aren't everything. 2. Fish & chips is the "fast food" of choice. It's cooked to order and they tell you what type of fresh fish they're using that day. 3. Burt Monroe that the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" was based on was from Invercargil. These are some of his bikes at one of the world's best hardware stores. 4. The motels all offer washer & dryers but encourage everyone to hang out their laundry. This is some of our laundry. 5. The train station in Dunedin. 6. One of the neat old cars we saw touring around. 7. Penguin crossing sign. 8. Train crossing sign. 9. Check your brakes sign (they should have also added the need to rope up!)
And just a few assorted things without photos...
- Doorknobs are generally at the 4 foot level - I can't tell you why...
- Most roofs are metal, a few tile...
- All lights are compact florescent
- All electrical outlets have on/off switches. It sometimes took a while to figure out the reason the stove wouldn't work was because the switch to it was turned off. New Zealander's are VERY consciencious about energy saving.
- Most homes are modest
- They are big on shared parks and hiking trails and they are all beautiful
- Homes have large windows, no screens
- Small cars (when is America going to catch on?)
- The people are extremely friendly
- No one speeds. The national speed limit is 100 km. and everyone obeys it. John saw an article in the paper about someone clocked at going 167 km. They expect to catch them & the fine will be $10,000. They are serious about the subject.
- Sheep is their biggest agricultural product. Dairy cows are next and then deer.
- No billboards except perhaps near Auckland. There will occasionally be a sign reminding folks to drive safely. "Drink, drive, die in a ditch" and "This road takes loved ones" are examples.
- Manure is referred to as "poo". For example I saw a sign at a farm for "Pony Poo, $1 a bag" and the stores sell "Sheep Poo" for your garden.
- Picnic coolers are referred to as "chilly bags"
New Zealand is a WONDERFUL place to visit! When you go, plan to stay a while to make the trip worthwhile.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Home all too soon...

After a relatively non-eventful flight from NZ (if you can call being shaken awake by turbulence whenever you started to doze uneventful) we landed in LA 8 hours "younger". Strange, but true, we left NZ at 7:35 p.m. on Tuesday and arrived in LA at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Yesterday we flew on to NJ and today drove on to NY to find that dreaded word SNOW! After enjoying warm weather for the last month, it was rather a shock to the system, 8 hours younger or not!

Just to entice you to check out past blogs early next week, I'm posting a couple of photos now...

South Island....
and not to be outdone, the North Island...


Fishing...
A kiwi orchard...
And a little competition for Tillie, the VW...

Monday, March 10, 2008

We're off... almost

It's hard to believe our time in NZ has gone by so quickly. We spent our last couple of days touring north of Auckland going from the east coast to the west coast and back again. Everytime we think we've seen all types of scenery we find something new... this time the giantic sand dunes north of the Bay of Islands on the east coast. Absolutely incredible! Then we drove on to the last forest of virgin kauri trees - enormous, amazing! They're only 1500 years old or so and still growing. John is hugging one of the babies. Then it was back to the west coast again...

This morning we packed up, then spent a few hours at the Auckland Botanical Gardens- a great place to while away a few hours (much better than the next 12 hours we expect to spend on the plane!). The only good thing about the trip back is that we're leaving at 7 at night, today which is Tuesday in NZ, and arriving before noon on the same Tuesday in LA. I'm sure we'll feel younger for the experience!

Next blog will be stateside...

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Northland...

So was the fishing successful? Yes, in that the John's can now say they went fishing in New Zealand and saw fish. And even though they didn't catch anything (the minimum size to keep was over 2 feet) they had a good time trying and supported the local economy.

Moving on to kiwi country we took a fascinating tour of a kiwi orchard. Unfortunately, we're just before harvest season (or perhaps I such say fortunately for they might have commandeered us into helping with the harvest - 20,000 laborers are needed for the 10 week harvest season that starts in April). All along we thought the kiwis we'd been buying in the markets were from NZ when, in fact, we've been eating Italian kiwis. Take a closer look at the photo to the left. The tall shrubs are windbreaks that you see planted all over NZ - it must be a VERY windy country! We never did see the machine that keeps them trimmed. To the right is the kiwi orchard. The crates through the opening are only a tiny tiny part of the crates that will be used for harvest. And the round thing to the left is the "kiwi cart" that you ride in for the tour (Tourism is BIG business in NZ!) The kiwi season lasts until the beginning of June and kiwis can be kept in cold storage for up to 8 months. NZ has the equivalent to a patent on golden kiwis so if you find those in the market you can rest assured they came from NZ.

We also visited Goat Island where NZ has one of its oldest marine reserves. Even from the rocky shore you can see scores of fish. If you have a wet suit and snorkel you can swim with the fish. It was beautiful and great fun.

A note to John & Judy's staff... we've found a new name for their collision repair business -- "Twinkle Tow Panelbeaters" (much more memorable than Red's Body Shop!)

Only two more days in NZ... the time has flown!

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Casting practice...

Yesterday we drove the "Forgotten Highway" from Stratford to Turangi. Those folks who think the south island is the more beautiful of the two have probably not taken this route. The terrain is very different from other places in NZ with very steep but relatively short mountains ridged in circles with paths made by the sheep over years and years and years. (If you look close at those little white spots - those are sheep.) Lots and lots of sheep but very few people.
We stopped in Whangamomona - it declared itself an independent republic a few years ago - something about a feud between districts as to who got to claim them, so they just declared themselves independent. If you choose you can even buy a passport from them. Other than a cup of coffee and perhaps a meal at the hotel, there's really nothing else except scenery for a couple of hours in either direction. It's probably not more than 40 miles either way but the road is so narrow, windy, steep that it takes a looooong time to get any where. If you're looking for peace and quiet this is definitely a part of world you should consider!

Last night and tonight we're in Turangi, the "trout fishing capital of the world". We did have one the biggest rainbow trout I've ever seen for dinner last night. Over two feet long - I even had to cut off the head so it would fit on the grill. (Sorry to report that the John's did NOT catch him... it was a gift from our motel owner.) However, the men have been out plying the waters and have SEEN some fish thanks to the loan of some waders and proper outfitting by the shop across the road. Dry fly fishing is not really done here. Instead they use some sort of two fly system where one fly drops to the bottom and the other floats on top dragging the other along. They have 3 more hours left on this fishing license so we'll see what happens. WAIT! Is that Judy in the photo? Did she catch a fish?! I'll never tell...

The motels here are interesting - much different than we have in the states. We've been staying almost exclusively in what they call "2 bedroom units" that are like small apartments. Really very convenient for us. The shopping sections of towns are nice as well - what our downtowns were like 30 or more years ago before the US developed a love for malls. The buildings are interesting (a mix of styles) and the shops are locally owned although most things are expensive by our standards. Judy was just reading an ad this a.m. for a Kitchen Aid mixer - $899 NZ but that's still at least twice as much as we'd pay. Luckily we aren't in the market for such a mixer...

Monday, March 03, 2008

Underneath a volcano...

We have now arrived on the north island and spent yesterday in Wellington, the nation's capital. Took the train in from our motel as the stop was just behind our motel which made it very convenient (although a bit noisy at times in our room - okay it was a lot noisy at times in our rooms!) However, the motel was neat in that it was named for the "Bucket Tree" in the yard - one of New Zealand's protected, historic trees. This one, even though it looks like one tree, was at one time multiple cypress trees planted together. The result now is a gigantic tree and the "officials" keep the tree pruned so it looks like a giant inverted bucket. There were three cars, including ours, parked under it with room for more. A really magnificent tree.

Anyway, windy Wellington (very windy!) is charming. We spent most of the day in the Te Papa Museum, the country's national museum. Very unique both in terms of the building and the exhibits. They make an effort to display and educate on all things uniquely New Zealand. We were won over immediately by the sculpture display on the 6th floor which included a 1962 VW van (steering wheel on the right side of course) pulling a Westphalia camper. It wasn't Tillie's yellow but the nice green you see.

Today we've been traveling north to spend the night in Strafford underneath a volcano that hasn't erupted in 350 years which means it's long overdue to blow again. No one seems concerned so we aren't either. It does put us in easy driving distance of where the John's want to go fishing tomorrow. Judy & I have already decided we'd rather do laundry!

Saturday, March 01, 2008

On to the north island...


For the first time since the first day we arrived we had rain which is good for NZ as many parts of the country are under a drought. The two John's once again came up with no fish so we relied once again on lamb for dinner. Judy & I went with them to take pictures but ended up never leaving the car and even then, we killed hundreds of sand flies that managed to enter with the doors were open. Sand flies are a bit like black flies and are AWFUL and bite!!! If you heard about two women going crazy in NZ in a car, that might have been us. We were semi-hysterical by the time the guys returned (they took the bug repellent with them...) Okay, I did find one photo of the guys (or should I say blokes) leaving the river they were fishing on after we left the lake. For some reason all the sand flies seem to have been at the lake and we weren't bothered by them here. (Of course the fish weren't bothered by the John's flies either...)

This morning we went to a wonderful farmer's market before coming to the ferry terminal. Fresh organic omelets, fresh fruit crepes, breakfast sandwiches with great bacon & veggies. And we loaded up on fresh fruits & veggies for the trip north. The produce down here has been
GREAT!!!