Day 8-10 No Internet for Three Days

Day 8 - Slip Slidin' Away

OOPS forgot -- yesterday's images a la Patricia. (day 7) From now on they shall be appropriately marked with credit to Pat.


Before we go on with our comments, a word about accommodations. We, for the past couple of nights, have been staying in private houses that serve kinda like B&B's. Interesting thing is that there is no heat in the bedrooms. Some of the rooms have portable heaters and pretty much all the beds have heated mattress pads (I guess instead of electric blankets) which make them comfortable until you have to get out of them. The bathrooms have heaters which, we have discovered, if you leave them on and leave the door open (each room has its own bathroom) it is not so bad. Are we spoiled or what? It doesn't really ever get excessively cold here so I guess it is all what you get used to.

Mountain Reflections in the Lagoon

Morning Mist - Okarito Lagoon

So on to day 8. Glorious morning. We took a boat ride on the Okarito Lagoon. Birds galore, lighting, mist any photographer would die for. And amazing views of the glaciers, Fox and Franz Joseph, with reflections in the water. White herons, Pied Shags, Oyster Catchers, Spoonbills, Black Swans, lovely.

Franz Joseph Glacier

After breakfast we made our way to the glacier to do a little exploring. We did not get up onto the glacier. For that you need a guide and a kit full of stuff like crampons to climb the ice. We are not climbers, one of us doesn't like going up hill, the other doesn't like going downhill so we go level whenever we can. The glaciers are receding no question.

We stopped at Lake Mathieson for lunch where there were several Pukeko. These are birds with red beaks and blue chests and a white ass--black everywhere else. Always eating, hard to photograph.

Black Swans on the lake

Our travels took us down the coast to The Haast. We stopped at a lodge and took a walk through a temperate rain forest. The sun was setting so the light was perfect. Black swans by the dozens coasting around the lake with autumnal gold foliage as background. We saw Fantail and Bell Bird skittering around the trees above us, all kinds of ferns growing under around and on top of trees. The birds skittered, we clicked and sometimes there was actually a bird in the resulting image!

Lodging tonight was at another B and B. It was a little warmer and a lovely home owned by a woman that does beautiful photography of the local area. Being good board members as we are we left PWP info with her. Look for a rush of members for the organization!!!

Each day we drive further south and, like at home in our winter but opposite, it is getting colder as we go. Not cold mind you, but this morning as we took off the temperature in the car was 9* Celsius and 5* outside with beautiful frost on everything.

Until tomorrow, have a great day whatever day it may be!!!
Day 9 - Autumn Leaves

Glacial Lake (Patricia)  Outside Queenstown

See Left (Patricia) 

We started out in The Haast after a lovely breakfast and drove south towards Queenstown. There were lots of photo opportunities in this beautiful country including a braided river and Pleasant Falls. Without a thought of ruining our lunch we had a mid morning ice cream in Makarora. Lakeside at Wanaka for a picnic lunch in the sun of cheese and veggie sandwiches. Lake Wanaka is very much a tourist town reminding us of the towns in Colorado near the ski resorts. It was quite busy even at the beginning of winter which would be the end of the season for water sports.

Outside Queenstown - Mountain View (Patricia)

Lake Wanea and Lake Wanaka run side by side, so first you ride alongside Wanaka, then Wanea and then back to Wanaka.

The day was filled with a lot of mountain driving, curves and twists and turns and lovely vistas. Just before reaching Queenstown we stopped at an overlook and photographed a field of sheep in the distance, they were really quite still. John, our guide, said "don't you notice the sheep aren't moving?" . Yup - they turned out to be bales of hay. In our defense they were the rolled round bales not the square ones. And there was the OOPS for the day.

On our way to Arrowtown, where we were staying the night, there was a stop for more vista images and at a place that runs Jet Boats down a gorge, but not for us today.

Arrowtown (Patricia)

Then back to Arrowtown with a hillside of autumnal color and took some photos of the mountains in "bloom." Arrowtown is another tourist city in the winter because of the ski areas in the vicinity. Most New Zealand trees are conifers (some native, many brought in) so for much of the country there is very little in the way of colors in their Fall. All the deciduous trees are imports, so colors are rare and nowhere near as bold as we have in the Northeast. This hill of gold is a rarity here.

Some note about traveling as an American with the dollar. Today the New Zealand dollar is about $.80. It used to be 3 to 1. As we shopped and did not buy, it became obvious that a 200 dollar sweater in NZ dollars would have been between 60 and 70 USD several years ago and we might have bought them.

We had a lovely dinner in one of the top restaurants in the country with a lovely bottle of wine and rack of lamb for both of us. It ended a terrific day except for accommodation for the night. They were less than satisfactory, but we were able to watch the Royal Wedding before bundling up (no heat) and going to sleep. Patricia had the main room with the heater, broken mattress pad warmer and leaky windows, Maddi the little room with big bed, working mattress pad heater but socket that would not handle the room heater we were provided. We both paid for Internet but never got it and were quite happy to pack up our kit bags and hit the road the next morning.

Day 10 - Sea Cruise

Left the igloo at 8:45 this morning to head out for the cruise on Doubtful Sound. We had to take a boat on Lake Manapouri to the bus to the three masted schooner we took for an overnight on Doubtful sound.

Lovely boat holding about 80 passengers, several of which were children. Many New Zealanders (they are offered a discount for the trip) but mostly international tourists, even ones from the States.

As we sailed through the fjord, the boat stopped and several people took the tender for a closer look at the shoreline and perhaps some fauna. Maddi was on one tender, Pat stayed on deck. They did see some blue penguins (I suspect blue from the cold water, but probably not) but that was about it. Several people went kayaking and when they were all done, some hardy souls went swimming. We sat in the lounge and played cards. The sunset was beautiful. Dinner was delicious and then it was off to bed, after all it was 9:30, way past our bedtimes.

A very relaxing 24 hours and tomorrow off we go to Dunedin and the crested penguins.

Day 7. Sunshine on my Shoulder. Makes Me Happy

So begins our second week on holiday. Still in New Zealand, but the sun is shining brightly. Last night the sky was lit up with stars unlike anything possible in New York or the surrounding suburbs. We saw the Milky Way, Orion's Belt and Sword (the sword was upside down), Alpha and Beta Centauri, Sirius, Rigel, Betelgeuse (without Michael Keaton), Magellan Clouds. Startling to say the least.








We headed south along the coast stopping at Pancake Rocks and Blowholes, which in the early morning light and high tide was lovely. Splashes of water spraying over the rocks.

Onward South towards Okarito stopping at a goat farm to taste the cheese and photograph the goats (one in a wheelchair having been born without the use of his back legs).

Next stop was at a woodcarver/photographer whose work in both wood and images was wonderful.

On to Okarito with a stop in between to look at greenstone carvings. In New Zealand, Jade is Greenstone. The booming village of Okarito is charming. The population is a whopping 30 permanent residents and everyone is just so warm and friendly. Our first stop was to explore the possibility of a night trek to see the elusive and nocturnal kiwi. We had several minutes of friendly banter about whether we were good enough to go on HIS excursion when we discovered it was not friendly banter at all. We failed miserably because we had the unmitigated gall to actually ask some questions. With a grumble and some unkind thoughts we moved on to meet another tour related couple who were quite nice. She took us on a tour of the village, starting with a walk along the beach and then through town and into the temperate rainforest. It is a beautiful place and the whole tour took about an hour.

Accommodation is the first floor of a beach front house this time with three bedrooms kitchen living room and dining area. There is a large lawn behind the house and before you get to the beach the grass is a bit flat. Tractor tracks. Nope, actually a landing strip. With hopes no planes are in the backyard in the morning.

Off to the beach for sunset while John, our guide and driver, made us a delicious dinner, we saw the beautiful sky once again and finished the bottle of wine. And relaxed for the evening anticipating the next morning's boat ride through lagoon to see the birds.

Day 5 - I'll Follow The Sun

Day 5 – I’ll Follow The Sun

Up at 6 and off to the South Island and to meet our guide John.  Another windy rainy day, out oby 7, arriving at the ferry way too early – but that is what we do.   Crossing the Marlborough Straits was fine – though they said the seas were rough the boat swayed gently from side to side. This is not the Staten Island Ferry – it is huge, 11 decks tall with cars and trucks and rail cars on board as well all kinds of amenities.

We settled in at a table inside and continued our gin game – begun at JFK. We play gin when we travel beginning 10 years ago. We play during the game and tally up at the end.

Anyway – early on the boat, we of course wanted to be early off.  As soon as the boat stopped we went down to the level indicated for debarking. Nope – too early – they sent us back up 2 decks.  Then first call came – we went down again – Nope again,  first call was only for those going back to their vehicles – back up 2 decks.  Finally we got off to some mean windy weather but were met by cheery John who helped us fetch the luggage, loaded the van, got us all boarded and provided home baked brownies, baked by his wife and business partner Sally.  A short review of the day’s itinerary and we literally were off to follow the sun.  Rumor (and the weatherman) had it the west coast was sunny so that’s where we went. We could see the end of the clouds and pointed the car in that direction.

On our the way we passed a wine area of New Zealand and the grape vines were turning colors of trees in October in New England.  Fields of green and yellow on both sides of the road.

We stopped at Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park for a fjord-like view of distant mountains and our picnic lunch of sandwiches and a new fruit, feijoa. There was a group of Mallard ducks that came right up to the van – some male, some female with one set of feathers of each side ranging from bright teal to purple. We followed the Buller River through the Wairu River Valley and raced to see the Pancake Rocks at Pakaiku.  Got there a little late for good light so we will go back early in the AM.

Tonight we have a full 2 bedroom 2 bathroom house to ourselves.  Kitchen, living room with gas fireplace, WiFi, etc.  Both bedrooms have full glass windows (or a door) that look out directly to the Taznman sea.

Dinner at pub followed by a lesson on the southern sky (Southern Cross, Orion’s Belt, Milky Way) and then a quiet evening in the living room.

Day 4-rainy Days And Mondays

Rainy Days and Mondays


Our last day on the North Island, we awoke to rain which continued all the way south to Wellington. Rain does not stop the intrepid photographer and the fact that we didn't have to drive was very helpful.


First stop was Te Mata Peak a beautiful vista over rolling, undulating hills filled with sheep. The sheep are fattening up for the winter, their coats starting to get full and fleecy. No matter where or when you travel, rain puts a damper on the day.    

The Green Green Grass of (their) Home

Sheep

We had hoped, even planned, to go to Cape Kidnappers to see the gannet colony, but had been misinformed as to their presence at this time of the year. We missed them by about a month. Not only that, but it would have been at least a half day's adventure, which was not booked into our schedule. If you plan a trip to NZ plan at least 3 weeks or don't do the North Island. It's not big, but there is a lot to see and no super highways in between places of interest.


Today is ANZAC day, a national holiday in NZ. Celebrates the Australia/NewZealand Army Corps which fought at Gallipoli (great movie, by the way, if you haven't seen it, do so, Mel Gibson notwithstanding, before his crazy days).


On to Mt Bruce where there is a Kiwi sanctuary. It seems Kiwis are losing the battle of existence. Only 10% of their eggs hatch and stay alive. They are really cute, little balls of fur with really long curved beaks. We saw a baby about 12 weeks old about to be weighed. So their are Kiwi birds, Kiwi fruit, and the natives are called Kiwis, cute, no?
Rained all the time we were traipsing throughout the Reserve, ugh!

Poor Nocturnal Kiwi - this was 3AM for this little guy

Then on to Wellington for an overnight before we hit the ferry to the South Island. It rained most of the way to Wellington, but we arrived about 4:30 to a beautiful hotel near the waterfront. Interesting side note: big hotels charge for Internet and usually not wireless while the small motels we had stayed in along the way did not. But once again the laundry is free.


Best thing about Wellington: No Guide - we are free till tomorrow at noon when we pick up our South Island guide. Went for a walk, had Italian food and came back. So goodnight to you all, we are up at 6 for the next leg.


Just to let you know the division of labor here. Patricia is the techie that sets up the blog and the postings are on her account. We share the writing one day Maddi writes and Pat edits and one day the reverse. Since the laptop is Maddi's this trip the photo credits are hers and in case you have any funny ideas they are all loaded into Lightroom and copyrighted. Happy Reading from the Happy Wanderers.


And another thing of note - this is a country of truly OPTIONAL tipping.  For the most part there is no tipping anywhere including restaurants - which is an odd feeling - but welcome - for us Americans.

Day 3 - Rotorua to Napier

Champagne Springs

Day 3 – Mountain Greenery

Nothing like a good night’s sleep in our next suite with bedroom and living room with pullout couch, kitchen and bathroom with full spa.  Up early, got a bunch of things done and were all ready to face the day. Open the door and take a deep breath of fresh air – ah, not quite. This is a hot springs town and you get a deep breath of rotten eggs. Feh.

After room service breakfast we went off to see this smokin’ town.  Hot bubbles are all over the place – some had bubbly water and some bubbly mud.  Left to our own devices we only got a little lost in a park of steam but in the end all was well.  Off to Taupo – another lake and on the way stopped at another hot springs park Wai-O-Tapu. The pools here were a lot more interesting and one in particular called Champagne Lake had some wonderful soft colors as the chemicals rose to the surface and settled near the shore.

Sheep on a HIllside

Then off to Taupo and a lakeside lunch followed by a long drive to Napier. Some reading, some napping and some more fabulous scenery watching and photography.   

Mountain Greenery

We arrived at Napier for another multi room suite (tonight was Pat’s turn to be the grownup in the big bedroom) and we went out for a walk in this Art deco town on the beach.  Not as dramatic as South Beach but pretty cool.   Had a lovely fish dinner and then retired for the evening ready for tomorrows marathon drive to Wellington.       

Day 2 - Auckland to Rotorua - Raindrops Keep Falling on Our Heads

Seat 11K 

OOOPS – we just discovered the image from the plane. In case you didn’t hear enough about the Air New Zealand trip here is Patricia’s seat 11K.

Anyway after a very long night in our beds we were up at the crack of dawn and went down for the breakfast that really was.  Our buffet!  We checked out and met Peter our driver and guide in the lobby.  Nice guy – late 60’s scuba dives, climbs mountains, used to be a teacher and school principal.  Good training for guiding us.

The good news – we are in an English speaking country

The Bad news – we haven’t a clue what Peter says half the time. Pat gets every other word, Maddi every other story.

The Green of New Zealand

This was a driving day but it gave us an amazing glimpse of how green and lush this country is. They have trees that were always here, trees that were brought in from all kinds of places and vines that kill trees and then become trees themselves.  They have trees that are so clever they grow up absolutely straight and when the branches fall off they take the knot with them so the lumber is “knot free”.  The Kauri tree, straight as an arrow with no waste and lasts forever as siding, just paint it every so often.

We saw all the most unusual animals like cows and sheep and horses! and a deer farm , some alpacas,  but the setting they were in was spectacular: hills everywhere, trees and ferns that give texture to the all the shades of green.  New Zealand has no indigenous grass – you would never know it by the never-ending carpet of the stuff that is everywhere.  The colors are so rich – even in the gray skies and rain.

We had fish and chips for lunch at an adequate little place in a 3 store strip mall and were introduced to the Island’s special treat called Hoky Poky Ice Cream: vanilla with these sweet crunchy caramel balls in it.  They know not of two chaps named Ben and Jerry. The Gilman/Ring rating - NWTC (Not Worth the Calories). 

The main reason we came to Rotorua was to experience some Maori culture, going to a Hangi dinner with typical Maori food and some entertainment.  Not knowing we needed to have reservations and not knowing we needed to be in Rotorua by 5PM, we decided to take the scenic route.  This gave is some beautiful scenery but we missed the dinner.  No Hangi for us. However, Rotorua Lake in the mist is beautiful. The Falls nearby are as well.  As nightfall approached we reached our motel (with a spectacular bathroom) and had a lovely Thai dinner.      

Yellow Kiwis

On the way to Roturua we stopped at an Open Pit Gold Mine.  HUGE pit goes down 12 stories, they don’t use it anymore but it was quite a hole.  Gold in NZ is in pits not alluvial (look it up, if you must).  Next we stopped at a Kiwi farm, not the birds the fruit. It seems they have developed a yellow kiwi, which is bigger and sweeter than the green ones.  We have not tasted it yet, not ripe enough, but we did steal a few from the ground and hope they are edible today.

Oh yes – in case today’s song title didn’t give you a clue – it rained on an off all day.  We learned a NZ saying  - if there is enough blue sky between the clouds to make a Dutchman’s pants (those balloony things) then it is clearing up.  Well, there was enough blue for some guy in Holland to get two new suits but it kept on raining anyway.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

COME FLY WITH US - April 20

COME FLY WITH US

Some things start out great and fizzle – others the other way round.  Maddi scheduled a car service for 12:15PM on line, because that had the best rates of course, and the clever car company had no place for another stop – essential for Patricia to get to the airport too. Maddi – careful to be sure all would begin well -made sure to let then know in the comments section about  second stop.   A sedan was ordered and all seemed well.

Did they send a sedan – Nah

Did the driver get out of the car to help with the luggage at Maddi’s w/o some prodding – Nah

Did the driver know that there was another stop – nah

But we got to the airport in plenty of time and relaxed and nibbled in the first class lounge for a bit then boarded the flight to LA.  Ms. G in First Class and Ms.R in Business. Short story – not very interesting

After a brief layover in LA at the Hoo Hah lounge for Air New Zealand we boarded the flight to Auckland.    We were booked for Business Class. Talk about HOO HAH.  We boarded first, of course, and walked into a brand new Airbus with lavender lighting to our white leather and silver Individual metal/plastic pods.    Oh me oh my – where to begin.  White leather seats with a small brown footrest that could double as a guest seat should you have a guest. Sooooo many toys and so little time. TV screen with games, movies, huge selection of music to build your own playlist,  and a gigunda dining tray that slides tight into the wall.  The whole cabin looks like a 2 row herringbone with 4 seats across. And oh my ,the service.  Suffice to say there was a window in the bathroom – better than many NY apartments, and when dinner was over for Pat while she watched and for me when I was off to the facilities the cabin staff flipped to seat around, put a mattress down gave us 2 pillows and a comforter and off we went to sleep.  The service was incredible and we agreed that with all the flying we have done this was probably the best flight we were ever on.

Arrived in Auckland just fine and found everyone so far about as pleasant and friendly as possible. We have a two bedroom suite in the center of town – with a washer and dryer yet – (we will do laundry just for the hell of it) and we go to explore Auckland.

Auckland – Day 1    The Wayward Wind

We have a song theme here – if we can be very creative ---- maybe a movie or show title as we progress!

Let’s start this blog by saying we are both seasoned travelers having been to, between us, over 125 countries (some together some not).  And as the title of the blog suggests, this is our 7^th and final continent.  When we travel we are looking for the distinctiveness of that country in which we find ourselves.  We live in the greatest city in the world, we have towers and harbors and restaurants and museums and parks (you get the picture) so if you send us to a city it best be very special.  Local color as it were.  So, on to our first day in New Zealand.

Arriving on Good Friday did not help our day in Auckland (which is all we had).  It’s a national holiday so most stores and restaurants are closed.  It’s getting on to Fall so the visitors were not large in number.  We didn’t have to wait on line for anything.  Suffice it to say that the highlight of our stay in Auckland was the hotel room.  Rather, suite, if you don’t mind. Two bedroom, two bathroom suite with laundry room, kitchen, and living room and flat screens abounding.  Per today’s song title, the weather was not conducive to wandering either.  Drizzled a lot. 

The good news – receptionist told us we had breakfast included BOTH days.

Auckland from the Ferry

Sailboats In Auckland Harbor

The bad news – it wasn’t true

Here's a beauty that's only $2.5 Million - beach views
call me!!!!!

Conveniently, our hotel was located in the Harbor area and we were able to walk to it where we took a harbor cruise.  Not the prettiest harbor in Christendom! Reminded Pat of Toronto and Maddi of Seattle, but not as nice. And it was breezy on the water to say the least. There we took a ferry to Devonport, an island/peninsula with lovely and VERY EXPENSIVE old Victorian houses - also known for its view of the harbor and Auckland! We had a nice lunch of fish and chips, which we shared because otherwise we would have run out of money on day two (very expensive country).

We went back to the hotel, did laundry, because it was free and we just had to! And the next thing we knew, we were both asleep by 6PM.  Here it is 6AM on Saturday, our guide is picking us up at 9AM and off we go to see more of Auckland (maybe) and on to Rotorua, (Roto Rooter in our lingo)one of the reasons we are on the on the North Island.