~ Samoans & Sky Towers

It's a blur! This can't possibly be our last day here! I guess I'm glad that I'm feeling this way, rather than be glad to be leaving... it means our trip has been terrific.

Sky Tower

View from the tower

That's 600+ feet down, baby!

Today we had kind of a different experience - I had in my head that I wanted to attend a church service in Auckland today (and Ben and Tom were game too!) but had quite a time trying to find service start times between the internet and the yellow pages. I wish someone had told me that the reason they put "English" beside some church service listings is not to denote Anglican influence or something! Imagine our... (fright? chagrin? delight?!) at finding ourselves the only non-Samoans in a 100-strong Samoan-speaking service in Papatoetoe (for real - it's a somewhat run-down subdivision of Auckland). It was actually very neat to be there; they specifically translated several bits into English for us so we would know what was going on. It was really sweet to hear people singing with all their might and in great harmony, and to do our best to join in. It's extraordinary to experience worshipping God with people in a different language and culture, even if you know theoretically that it's happening all the time. They welcomed us to stay to lunch after the service, but we decided to head to downtown for a last good-bye to Auckland before heading out.

We went to the Sky Tower (the tallest building in the southern hemisphere) for a magnificent view of the city, did a wee bit of shopping, and headed to the airport. We returned our rented cell phones & vehicles, and everyone made it safely to the flight home (well - we hope that's the case - Patrick's staying through Monday to finish up the rally fun, so he won't hit Appleton till Tuesday morning). GOOD BYE NEW ZEALAND! WE LOVE YOU!

~ How do you say "Whangarei"?

Some quirky things about this country: the toilets (the flush is weird, and you often choose which kind of flush you wish to flush based on the... well, never mind), the outlets (most have switches that let you turn them on or off - we haven't quite figured out what for), the dryers (there are many fewer than washers - we think people hang their laundry a lot more than we do), the electric teapots (nearly every room - hostel to B&B - has one, along with instant coffee packets & tea), milkshakes (New Zealand food is marvelous, but they simply don't get milkshakes. They whip up some kind of flavored syrupy something that just doesn't compare. Ice cream is good and milk is mostly whole, though, so we're not holding that one against the country), road signs (very pictorially descriptive even though they're just using silhouettes and stick figures!), and, of course, they drive on the "proper" side of the road. Given that the roads are generally small, and only four-lane in the biggest of cities, this made for a neat bit of acclimatizing, even to the end of our trip. The nice thing about all these quirky things is that they're different enough to make us sit up and take notice, but they're not SO different that it's stressful to be here in any way. The natives are friendly - with the exception of Bad Santa ('nother story) - and we had nothing but positive encounters with any of them. The accent is heaps of fun. We got no end of mileage out of saying "speecial eeria" ("special area" - used by multiple tour guides to describe the place we were visiting), and I sent one of the kids at Simon & Shantini's off into peals of laughter by saying "I don't know" (instead of "I deeon't kneeah")! I think everyone else probably laughs too, they were just a bit more discreet about it. Oh, and "Whangerei" is a town that we stayed 2 nights in near the Bay of Islands, and it's pronounced "Fang-er-ay"! Who knew?! It's been fun that we came at the very beginning of the tourist season; people aren't weary of foreigners asking dumb questions. We really haven't run into tons of Americans here, either. Mostly other travelers have been from Europe, Asia and Australia.

Saturdays are lovely, yes? Although ours started with a 6:30AM knock on our door (from our overly friendly B&B host who wanted to say "goodbye" before they took off for the day), we managed to hold off till 11 or so before finally rolling ourselves out of Whangerei. The B&B had a washing machine in the bathroom, so we were actually able to leave with clean, if somewhat damp, clothes!

We arrived in Auckland and decided to crash the museum. We spent several hours looking at war memorial stuff, volcano stuff, and stuffed animals. I think one of the reasons that Tom, Ben and I make good travel buddies is that we all like museum-y type places (and actually read a good percentage of those little informational cards! I know...), and that we all like figuring out the flora and fauna (particularly birds on this trip) around us. I really think we would drive most people nuts. But we amuse ourselves and are relatively harmless, so we don't worry about it overly much.

Ben's cousin Frank lives in Auckland (going for his master's in genetic marine biology at the university here), so he met up with us at the museum as it was closing up. He gave us a mini tour of the university, and of the city, and we ended up in a Mexican restaurant comparing notes on the country. We also got to hear about his upcoming month-long trip around the South Island collecting rock crab species. Sounds like it will be really neat - he has only been on the North Island so far so we gave him what little perspective we could on various places there.
We're jealous! We would have loved even a bit more time there - I don't think any of us regrets spending two weeks there and one on the North Island. Though we would gladly take more time in either place if it were possible! (Photo is of Tom, Frank and Ben, inspired by some art we walked by at the university.)

Moray Eels and Blue Maomaos

Today was another “together” day (with the notable exceptions of P-diddy, who we all hope is having a marvelous time at the rally, and Serena, who went on a solitary quest to swim with dolphins!). Terry, Rachel, Ben and I had achieved PADI Open Water Diver Certification throughout the year in anticipation of our trip here, and Tom wanted to try a “Discover Diving” course, so the five of us headed out to Poor Knights Islands (one of Jacques Cousteau’s top ten dive locations in the world!) on the Calypso. Even with the wind in a not-great direction and the sky slightly overcast, we had a abso-stinkin-lutely aweso-blinkin-some experience. We got to see moray eels, scorpion fish, long- and short-tailed sting rays, blue maomaos, snot-on-a-rock (what it looked like – can’t remember the name!), lots of sea-slug-type beautifully decorated creatures, urchins, cool seaweed, schools of two-dot fish, red pigfish, and lots of other beautiful fish that we aren’t experienced enough to identify. The part Cousteau liked particularly was the Blue Maomao Arch that we got to swim down through – with the entry underneath a huge boulder. When we came through there was a huge school of – you guessed it, blue maomaos! - to greet us. (from Terry: As we reached the far end of the tunnel, sunlight came in through an opening in the archway, and illuminated the water like a cathedral – but instead of stained glass there was a wall of glimmering blue maomaos.) All in all the four of us got in two dives each, and Tom had a great first-time dive as well.

After our lovely diving experience, we met up with Serena, who (unfortunately hadn't been able to swim with the dolphins) and found a Turkish restaurant to eat in. We felt like SUGAR after that so found ourselves in the campervan with a 2-litre (think half gallon) ice cream container and a bunch of spoons. Unfortunately, we had no freezer, so we HAD to eat it all. Here's the proof! We can't believe that there are only two more days of this lovely trip (*sob!*), but it was definitely fun to have a chance to get together and swap stories on our most recent adventures.

(side note: we've added updates on the dates they occurred, so they'll be intermixed with previous posts below!)

~ Frodo and the Ring

Once upon a time, Frodo had a beautiful ring. He loved the ring very much because it told him what mood he was in. After a while, though, it started to have negative effects on him and the hobbits around him. He started to believe he had superpowers - invisibility and the ability to control others - whenever he would wear it. Finally his friends convinced him that the ring was evil and needed to be destroyed. The problem was that the only place the ring could actually be destroyed was in very hot, volcanic fire. Realizing that the future of the world was probably at stake, Frodo and his faithful friends booked a helicopter ride to White Island, a live volcano. Having never ridden in a helicopter or tramped on a volcano before, they were all quite excited at the prospect of saving the world and having a one-of-a-kind experience at the same time. Unfortunately for the world, however, upon arrival at the island the hobbits were so entranced with what they were seeing and smelling that they completely forgot about the more weighty matters. When they did remember, it was too late. They begged and pleaded with Mr. Frodo to throw it away, but being near the site of so much power and sulfuric stench, Frodo was too overcome to resist the ring's power. The other hobbits shrank from the only possible positive solution to the problem (jumping him and biting the ring from his finger) so they reluctantly hopped back into the helicopter with Frodo, now completely in the ring's power. They flew away from the island, grateful for the incredible experience, especially since the world's doom was now imminent. Sorry everybody...


















(from Ben) After the Bagginses fled White Island, we chugged back into Rotorua to the Agrodome. This is a tourist attraction that puts on sheep shows and educates the fascinated on all the aspects of sheep shearing and sheep dogging. We were a little late for the shearing show, but the sheep dog demos were a lot of fun. We bummed around the grounds and checked out the exhibits on the different types of wool and the history of sheep shearing. After that, we motored up to the biggest city in New Zealand – Auckland. The drive took the rest of the day. On arrival to Auckland (pop 1.2 million), we were able to get lodging at a hostel just outside city center. We drove downtown and found out that parking takes eight eyes to find! Patrick had driven all day and was tired, hungry, and not a bit interested in navigating clogged streets. This was definitely a weary moment – not an ideal time to tackle a huge city. We wandered around downtown until we finally found a place called “Little Italy”. Angela and I split a delicious fettuccini dish, while Tom and Patrick weren’t as thrilled with their meals. But it was late, people were getting grumbly in their tumbly, and this place was a quiet spot in the middle of a noisy city. The only thing we heard was the peaceful screaming of the bungy swing across the street. We learned there that if you say “Earl Grey” quietly it sounds like “Peppermint”. :)

After dinner, we wound our way back to the hostel. Patrick found a pub to explore, and the rest of us were so tired that we stayed in and did little things like check email, and bathe.

hither and thither

Everyone we meet here is aghast that we only have 3 weeks here. People quit their jobs, take unpaid leave, get work visas, or do whatever else they have to in order to spend significant time in New Zealand. Many people from the Commonwealth (Irish & Canadian, that we've met so far) do a one or two year world-wide tour (it's a cool thing they work out with the airlines where they'll spend time in South America, Australia, Asia, Africa) and New Zealand is one of their stops. We try to explain that 3 weeks is a looonnng vacation in the U.S. but I don't think they're all that sympathetic to the Midwest work ethic! :)

Well, all 7 of us have regrouped a bit over the last few days. We had ferry tickets to cross from South Island to North Island today (Sunday), so we all ended up at Abel Tasman National Park on Friday night/Saturday because it's fairly close to the ferry departure point.





6 of us (Patrick decided the appeals of the open road, a half tank of gas, and a beautiful "alone" day were a superior way to regroup himself) decided to make a day of it and did a combination kayaking/hiking/sailing day. It was delicious. We started off with kayaking. It was in tandem kayaks, which some of us had to reconcile ourselves to a bit, but we had a lovely paddle of 2 miles or so in the Tasman Sea. We got in a quick, cold swim before they fed us a lovely little lunch. The hike was up a lot and then down a lot, but the view in the middle was fantastic, and then the sail was great fun. The wind was choppy and came off the valley in many directions, so it technically didn't end up being much of a sail, but the world was beautiful from that vantage point. The captain stopped twice so some of us could jump in the ocean for a while. The water was STILL cold but it was exhilarating! The second time only Serena and Ben were brave enough to venture out of their warm clothes (again!) to explore Split Apple Rock.

We ended up rejoining Patrick and eating Thai food (yum!) and then going our separate ways until today, when we met up for the ferry ride. That was three hours of drowsy lovliness. I think both groups are still trying to figure out how to maximize this last week in this too-big-and-beautiful-for-the-small-time-we-have place. Upon reaching Wellington, we wandered around the "beehive" (Wellington is the capital of NZ, and the beehive is the parliament buildings), then rode up a cable car to an outstandinging look at the city, and then finished up by meandering back down the hill through the botanic gardens. Wellington is a great town. Our groups ate at McDonald's (much to Tom's delight and Patrick's disgust!), then split for the night. We'll see if we end up meeting up again before we head back on Sunday.

Speaking of the two groups: I think I'm going to go back put a * in front of every post from the camper van (Terry, Serena, & Rachel) and an ~ in front of every post from the other group (Tom, Patrick, Ben and me). Don't know if that will be less confusing or not, but worth a shot!

~ Boo to the stinky plant

I really looked forward to seeing all the different plants and animals when I came to New Zealand. But I kind of guessed that they would be so out there, so varied and so different, that we wouldn’t be able to consistently identify them during our short stay here. But what with the nature walk on the first night of the Milford Track, the explanatory sign posts that the DoC puts in various places, and random information gleaned from people we’ve come across, we can positively identify most of the plants and animals common to the south and west of the South Island. I’ll try not to assume that because these things excite me that they will be equally interesting to the rest of you, so I’ll just list them here – and you can skip the list if it doesn’t interest you!

• Marble Leaf: a cool brush-type plant with… you guessed it… leaves that look marbled!


• Lancewood: a goofy long narrow-leafed plant that looks so different in juvenile form from the adult form that early botanists classified it as two different plants. Theory is that the moa (an extinct ostrich-type bird native to here) ate them, so they only sported un-appetizing leaves until they reached a certain height – beyond where the moas could reach.


• Pepper Tree: a bush that has glossy leaves. If you chew on a tiny bit of it, it really tastes like hot pepper – or like the first taste of Big Red chewing gum! It’s spicy enough that you really don’t want more than a bit at a time, but it is refreshing for when you’re walking through the woods.


• Beeches! These are the big trees that take over when forests here reach maturity. They’re everywhere and they’re beautiful. There are three types (red, silver and… mountain I think) here – and I don’t think they’re actually related to the beeches we know, they were just named that by English settlers because they reminded them of the beeches from home.


• Caposma (I think): a common, round-leafed brush plant that’s everywhere


• Manuka: a brush that is the first to grow in open places – so sheep farmers really hated it because it would start taking over their pastures. They introduced a blight which makes the stems black. The flowers are really popular and Manuka honey is highly valued here – both for it’s taste and because it has antiseptic properties.


• Ferns: there are heaps of types of those about. Some really interesting ones that we don’t know the names for but can recognize when we see them. One we have learned is the tree fern. It’s very cool and looks like a palm tree with fern leaves and fiddleheads at the top instead of palm leaves.


• and, of course, the Stinky Plant! Well – that’s not its Latin name. But the Latin name really does have the root “foetid” in it. If you crush the leaves of this lovely plant, it smells like – you guessed it – poo poo! Sometimes you can smell it walking down the trail, and (whether the plant is truly the source of the smell or not) shouts of “Boo to the stinky plant” suddenly echo up and down the track.

There are birds and other animals which I could list as well, but I think that should probably be enough to keep you going for a while!

Today we enjoyed New Zealand. We started out in Queenstown. It’s a tourist-trap type place. We wanted to go bungee jumping, but that didn’t work out with the small amount of time we actually wanted to spend there, so we ended up riding the gondola up out of town (BEAUTIFUL!) and racing carts down a luge track up there. We then headed out of town with stops at:

• Blue pools: a place where glacier-fed streams pooled. Amazing blue color that I’m quite sure the cameras won’t be able to pick up. The boys had fun skipping stones there, and I proved once and for all that I really can’t do that. :)


• Knight point: an amazing overlook to the Tasman sea. The color again was indescribable. Some neat tourists from Singapore lent us their binoculars, and Ben and Tom (and I think myself!) were able to see seals way down on a distant shore point!


• A random beach point where the sand was black. It was dramatic and cool. I proved once and for all that I can’t jump – I tried jumping a little stream and ended up soaking one foot and shoe!


• A random sheep pasture: we almost ran over a pukeko! Don’t ask...


• Fox Glacier: One of only two glaciers that actually descends into temperate rainforest. We walked right up to it and took heaps of pictures. It’s really hard to get the scale of something like that to click in your head. It was amazing.

~ Escaping to an island from an island

Greetings from the southernmost reach of civilization! Tom has a theory that Stewart Island is the last place you can find year-round residents on this longitude line (or at least till you get to the South Pole!). Speaking of which, here's a theoretical question for you. If you're on Antarctica and you want to give directions to someone so they can reach you, how do you do that? North is "toward the nearest coast", south is "toward the center", and east and west go in circles!

We're having fun just chilling here. There are about 3 cafes and 400 year-round residents here. You can't take your car on the ferry; not that you'd need it. All you need to do is blink while you're walking and you'll miss the town! Oh - and that's all there is. The roads go a bit out from here, but there isn't another town, so there's no where else that they go. People do week+ tracks around here, but walking tracks are all you'll find on the rest of the island.

We've heard and seen some neat birds here - Patrick's gone off today to another, SMALLER island, Ulva Island, which is a bird sanctuary (all the introduced predators that have threatened the native species in the main islands have been eliminated from there). I'm guessing he'll have plenty to share when he gets back. We're all hoping to see a kiwi bird in the wild, but the odds of that are pretty slim. We'll see!

We're staying in a fairly interesting hotel; it began operating in the 1880's, burned and was rebuilt in the 1920's, and it feels like it hasn't changed much since then (toilets & showers are separate from the rooms!). The only pub in town is located on the first floor. It definitely gives you the sense of stepping back in time.

We'll probably begin making our way up to the NW corner of the South Island. Expect news of a bungee jump in Queenstown!

(oh, and I've finally got a few of my pictures uploaded to Flickr, so click on the New Zealand set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladybugblue/.

~ quick update from the Trackers

Did we ever mention that they call "hikes" "tracks" in New Zealand? So the Milford Track (seriously - read a bit about what they say about it - it's amazing to go on a hike that people have been traveling the world to do for over 100 years!) is really the Milford hike. Our group just got back from one of the most incredible nature experiences of our lives. OK, I know I'm speaking for the whole group, but I really don't think they'd disagree with me too much. It's early Monday morning now. We got back last night, did laundry, and crashed. We're heading to Stewart Island, the third biggest island in New Zealand (still much smaller than the other two), today, but we hope to take it somewhat easy there and pull together the daily updates we journaled on the hike. We have ongoing discussions about what's too much - trying to live here, and not just breathlessly slamming from one amazing experience to the next - and it's really a challenge to figure out that balance. This place is amazing, and I'm feeling so priveleged to be here. The group has been fun too - it's great to experience all this stuff with people who are so fun! That being said, words - and even pictures - don't do well at bottling this up. So I can say this truly: I wish you were here! (Especially now that we're all showered and laundered!).

~ Milford Track - Day 4

Did I mention that Clinton Hut, where we stayed the first night gets an average rainfall of 3m per year? That’s like 108 inches! But that’s nothing to where we stayed, near the pass, the second night. They get 6m a year. But that’s nothing to where we stayed the last night, at Dumpling Hut. They get 9m of rain a year. So we finally got to hike in the pouring rain, and really test the seaworthiness of our gear. I’ll just say that some of it held up better than other bits, and that my passport will never look the same again.Today we had to change our ambling ways. We had a six hour hike to get done in six hours in order to make the last ferry out of here. In pouring rain we made our way across and through stream after stream after stream. I would estimate that there were 20-30 bridges that we crossed, many of them full of crashing water, and there were probably 10-15 streams we had to cross that didn’t have bridges. So no one’s feet were dry by the end. The views continued to be absolutely spectacular, but this time we couldn’t take as many pictures because of the pouring water. We reached the ferry stop and debated about whether to change into dry clothes. We couldn’t resist, but then ended up having to run through a waterfall (literally!) to get to the ferry! Oh well. After a hour wait for a two-hour bus ride, we were able to grab fish and chips from a Te Anau shop, and then book it back to Invercargill for our night’s stay. Tomorrow? Steward Island!

~ Milford Track - Day 3

Today we got a good start – for us – our targeted start of 9:00 AM. That may not seem early, but to have cooked breakfast, cleaned it up, packed everything, and be ready to go by then – for four people – IS an accomplishment! Today should have been illegal. We were told to expect rain, increasingly, throughout the day. We didn’t get more than a drop till 4:00 PM. Since today involved crossing the MacKinnon pass, that meant we had absolutely stellar views of both the valley which we had just come through for the last 2 ½ days, and of our path for today. I hope the pictures will capture those views somewhat. It was hard work – going up 500m along switchbacks, and then – even harder! – coming back down 1000m (I know – you’d think going down would be easier. You don’t get as out of breath, but it really is harder in terms of navigating around rocks and “controlling” each downward step). The vegetation was great – we saw huge fuchsia trees – the biggest in the world is here, apparently – a few wekas (a flightless bird that’s sort of a second cousin once removed to the kiwi bird here), and heaps of keas.This morning around 6:30 I was awakened by a series of loud cries that sounded like a cross between a loud, distressed cat meow and a creaking door. A mob of keas was convening on our roof, with some birds soaring out to nearby trees and back again. I had a view of the helicopter pad from where I slept, and could see them occasionally congregate there as well. The kea is an alpine parrot, which no one seems to officially call pests, but they do eat rubber. (Including car parts and boot soles and rain jackets. They seem to have it out for the Danes in particular – one of their boots got it the first night, and one of their jackets the last.) But later today as they cried and soared across the valleys between the hut and the pass they really were beautiful, and their cries were perfectly fitted to the terrain and the far spaces. We took a detour to see Southerland Falls. That was brutal on our feet – even without packs – it was well worth it. We actually swam, well dipped actually, in the frigid spray. Probably the scariest thing we’ll do here (so far anyway)!The group has been awesome. We get along well, travel well, and laugh with and at each other well. The rain is starting to really pour, and I’m tired, so I think I’ll call it a night!

~ Milford Track - Day 2

We talked today about pitying everyone who couldn’t see what we did today. And I suppose to some extent I do. I mean – we ran out of words, and not long after we started approaching the limit of our digital cameras’ memories & batter power! One of my family’s favorite quotes is, “more isn’t always better, Linus, sometimes it’s just more.” So we spent the second half of the day trying NOT to take pictures. Trying not to capture EACH new breathtaking view. But really, the people who truly need pity are those who see what we saw today without having anyone to share it with. We experienced today together. And we are also incredibly, amazingly rich in that we have you, back home, interested in what we’re experiencing here and in what we find so much difficulty expressing. So THANK YOU for being here with us in some sense.Today was a fun walk. We think we’ve figured out how to do this. This track is not difficult, and we’re not allowed to go further than a preset distance as a part of how they have configured these walks. So many of the group take off, book it to the next hut, get there about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and then hang out in the hut for the rest of the day. We have been getting half-way decent start times, but we take our time as we hike throughout the day. So we take time to really enjoy views, to look for birds we can hear and hope to see (in spite of how convinced Tom is that they’ll be hideously ugly when we do see them!), to eat, and (in Ben’s case today!) to swim. We (Ben, Tom, and I – Patrick had some painful weird ear thing happening after getting water in his ears swimming) went on a nature walk last night with the hut ranger from Clinton hut, so we spent a bunch of the day i.d’ing plants & mosses we had learned about from him. He also took us on a little night-hike to see glow worms so we stopped this morning to see what they look like during the day! The rain didn’t settle in till 3 or 4 this afternoon (and it’s pretty much a given for much of this hike, so that’s really good), so I can’t think of a way to improve on the day. Except that I burned the rice. :) We spent the evening playing games with Katie & Angelo from Perth (Australia) and Roger, from Victoria (also Australia). Joerg, who made us nervous because he didn’t get here till 9 or so tonight, also joined our table at the end. They play O Heck! in Australia! Woo hoo! Ben & Tom tied for the win, which is a pretty good accomplishment in that big a group.

~ Milford Track - Day 1

This morning started quite nicely – we didn’t have to leave our hostel till 9:15 so we had time for showers (the last for quite a while!) coffee, breakfast, and a wee bit of blogging. The computers here have been somewhat frustrating – slow! – and fussy about payment. We’ve managed to get blogs out there each day, but I would really like to get photos as well. Hopefully things will be better Sunday night – they have tons of the computers at the hostel where we’ll be staying.I’m sitting on the top bunk in a hut on the Milford Track. This hut holds 20 or so, so people and sand flies keep coming and going, but it’s a friendly, well-lit place so it’s all good. There’s a nature walk at 5, and we may try to play some cards before we go.To get here involved a bus ride with a slightly sassy and informative bus driver, an hour-and-a-half ferry ride, and a leisurely 5K walk. Oh and TONS of incredible scenery. The ferry had lovely seats inside, but we spent the entire ride on top, bracing for the wind, lurches, and occasional spray. Patrick & Ben took some incredible photos, and I got to know Mette, a girl from Denmark. She is funny and interesting. I did have to assure her that we did know that Denmark is not a province of Germany NOR the capital of Sweden, as other Americans she has met have believed.We took our time getting started on the walk, and Joerg (pronounced Yerg), a German guy who’s been in Australia and now works for the NZ DoC (Dept. of Conservation – the ones who run this walk) waited up for us and wandered the 5K with us. He’s going to be a Visitor Center guide for them, based out of Queenstown, so he’s taking this hike to be knowledgeable about it when giving recommendations. He’s great to talk to because he knows a lot about the area. He had to wonder a bit at 4 crazy Americans who get excited about ferns growing out of trees, the color of the undersides of the beech trees here, goofy lichen and fungi, and pretty much every view we stumbled across. I’m guessing we put him over, though, when Ben, Patrick & Tom hopped into swimsuits and then jumped 10-15 feet into the clear, frigid Clinton River which the Milford Track has been following so far. What with pauses for lunch in an achingly remote & beautiful valley (with helicopters hovering in & dropping off supplies for a luxury hut, and beautiful black-and-white ducks that wave yet to i.d. soaring overhead) and to wander about the river’s edge to skip stones and climb on rocks, there’s really nothing to complain about. Even the sand flies – though they made Ben’s lip swell up – are nothing to stable flies, so we refuse to complain about them!

~ Nondescript Birds

Today was meander about New Zealand day. We started out bumbling around Dunedin - looking for breakfast, antique shops and an internet cafe. More or less successful, and with several longing glances backwards (what a sa-weet town!), we headed off to seek our fortunes on the road to Te Anau (where our 4-day Milford Track hike will begin). We think we found them in the mountains that continued to become larger and more snow-capped as the day went on. It's becoming increasingly hard to think about leaving this place, and we have yet to see the most beautiful (at least, according to report!) sights. This is sheep country. There are domesticated deer and cattle in the pastures about, but mostly, mostly there are sheep. Some have been sheared, and there are many little lambs. I know! You wouldn't necessarily associate sheep with beauty, but seeing the steep, grassy hills covered with them really is amazing!
We needed to reach Te Anau in time to get our Milford track tickets, so once we had done that, we took a long hike along Lake Te Anau. Tom had purchased a "wildlife of New Zealand" book, and when we found a bird with a pretty song was quick to find that it was "possibly the most nondescript bird in New Zealand" - a grey warbler. It did sound pretty. :) They had a bird preserve halfway along the walk, so we wandered about, learning about parakeets, takahes, pukekos, keas, more-porks, and a strange-looking game bird that was introduced to the country in the mid-1900s, the Canada goose.
After an Italian dinner (well, pizza IS Italian!), we headed out to the Barnyard Backpackers hostel - a sweet series of cabins laying along a ridge overlooking a valley and mountains. We watched people herding sheep and deer in their pickup and watched the sun disappear behind the mountains.
We leave tomorrow at 9:15 AM for the Milford Track adventure; so won't be posting anything from our group till next Sunday (our time!)
ps - it's morning now. The clouds hug the mountain sides. The one place we need to go is up. And the time is now. To visit the clouds in such a place... I am reminded daily of the majesty of it all, and of my luck. Oh well, time to go romp in the mountains :) (patrick)

~ The Best Dinner North of Antarctica

Well, it's officially embarassing. I think I'm picking up a Kiwi accent. Half the time I do it purposely. The for the other alarming half it's not conscious at all. My traveling buddies smile and are tolerant, but it DOES make me wonder when and how it will end.

We woke this morning to the sound of pouring rain, but by the time we had rolled out of bed, taken showers, had a lovely breakfast at our B&B, and gotten our stuff to the car, it had cleared up quite nicely. The day wasn't warm exactly, but it was sunny and beautiful out. We started out at the International Antarctic Center (which included a romp in the "Storm Room" - nothing like the real Antarctica, but enough like Wisconsin winters to be fun, Tom trying to eat a live penguin and failing miserably because of the darn cuteness of the thing, and learning all sorts of bits about Antarctica that we never knew [like that it's the dryest continent on earth, with fire being one of the biggest hazards of the place!]). That brought us to lunch time, where we met up with the other group and tried for the second time to eat at a highly recommended restaruant, Hay's (the Indonesian last night was second choice when Hay's was closed yesterday), found it still closed, and wound up eating at a comfy little pub. Then we went for a grand, long walk along the Avon River, which ended in the Botanical Gardens with a quick glance through the History of Christchurch Museum. The gardens were incredible - and I, at least, am hoping we get another shot at them before we leave the South Island - many of the roses (including some blue ones!) look like they're about to bloom. The trees were HUGE! We bid the other group farewell - we probably won't hook up with them again till we finish our 4-day hike next Sunday or Monday.


We then took off for what will definitely be a highlight of our stay in this incredible country. Neil (a friend of mine from Appleton) grew up in Christchurch, so when we called his sister Caitriona yesterday, she invited us for dinner this evening. Wow. We met her, her husband Ian, her (and Neil's) mum Alice, and her son Sam. They were so fun and informative. We talked for hours and they fed us an incredible meal (rack of lamb, venison sausages, foccacia bread, asparagus, roasted potatoes and tons more), followed up with a New Zealand specialty that Ian had made: Pavlova topped with boysenberries. I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a picture of it, but it was lovely - merengue topped with homemade whipping cream and fruit. If we had to leave NZ tomorrow, that visit alone would have made coming here worth it!
Tomorrow we have no certain plans whatsoever - we just know that we want to end up in Te Anau (on the opposite side of the island) by Wed!

Be a tidy Kiwi

As you may or may not know, New Zealanders refer to themselves as Kiwis. Kiwis (non-human ones) are small, flightless birds native only to NZ. "Kiwi" is also what they (the humans) renamed the fruit to when they wanted to market it worldwide! When we were in the food court of the Manakau shopping center today, Terry bought soda in a can and we had fun reading its label. My favorite - their encouragement not to litter (presumably with that can), came with the appeal, "BE A TIDY KIWI." That is an obligation and responsibility that we will undertake to discharge as honorably as we possibly can during our stay here.

And, yes, we've made it safely here to Christchurch. Today was a day of travel. We had a delayed flight in Appleton, a long layover in LA, and then got to Auckland later than expected - so took a short jaunt to the Manakau shopping center before hopping on a flight to Christchurch. So if we count wait times, the journey here took us... (calculating here...) 36 hours. Of course, New Zealand is 18 (although I think it's 17 now that Daylight Savings has presumbly struck back there) ahead of Wisconsin time, so between the mad travel changes and adjusting to being on the opposite side of the world, we're pretty bushed tonight.

We went to dinner tonight at an Indonesian restaurant (incredible!), and then barely made it back to our respective resting spots for the evening. *yawn!*. G' night!

... and we're off!

Already delayed flights and other normal travel weirdness have struck, but all of us are here, have tickets, and are happy to be on our way! Some of us thought it would be fun to try to stay up all night last night watching Lord of the Rings and packing, others were muche more smarte. We won't say who was who!

Finally, something to talk about

The weather!! New Zealand time & weather are now on the blog sidebar. I only want to include weather from one city (because of how much space it takes up!) - and since we start off in Christchurch, guess we'll use that one!

Well, we know we're going. We know things we'd like to do. We even have a few tee-niny reservations made. But we have a heap of planning still to do! Yikes!