Byron Bay to Brisbane

March 30
We got packed up and decided to go to Murwullumbah to see the regional art gallery before heading into Brisbane. We were staying in Brisbane for the night before flying out to Ayer Rock or Uluru. Jane and John were flying home the next day. It had started raining that morning in Byron Bay. We got to Murwullumbah and the art gallery was closed due to road closures. We decided to retrace our steps back to the main highway and make our way to Brisbane. Good thing we did!! Brisbane got 8 inches of rain in a matter of hours and we saw many flooded area on our drive north. We saw one guy kayaking the fields. There were times that Forrest could hardly see the road from the torrential downpour but we kept going. We finally arrived and we're so relieved!! We walked down the street for lunch in the blowing rain and then when we returned to our hotel, John and Forrest took the car back to the airport while Jane and I caught the news over tea and Tim Tams. We learned they were evacuating parts of Murwullumbah and the flooding was prevalent all on the east coast. ( We have learned since then that the flooding was the worst since 1954!! The rain kept coming so we spent the rest of the day reading and then at dinner time we pooled our resources for our last dinner together. We also devised our " Best of " list which was fun to do. Here is our summary of our time together:

Best meal- Red Hot Green barramundi dinner
Best buffet- Earnslaw overlooking Wakitipu lake
Best activity- jet boating on the Dart river
Best purchase- Janes opal necklace
Best drive- Queenstown to Glenorchy and Wanaka to Rob Roy glacier
Best walks- Kepler track, Rob Roy glacier
Scariest moment- driving to Brisbane/ Meeting the man from Basque region on the beach/ seeing the news of the weather
Best wildlife experience- Featherdale wildlife park
Best " best " break- phone call cancelling sailing trip in time , talking with a guy for 30 seconds and learning about proximity of Byron Bay and finding the Outrigger
Best photojournalist- John
Best stranger we met- Queenstown trio of guitarists in the park/ Basque man/ Dave and talk about fishing/ Rosie, Richard and John in Lord Nelson pub
Best view from our place- Queenstown
Best access to activities- Byron Bay
Best Plan B- Byron Bay
Warmest hosts- Tricia and Dave
Best city experience- Opera house in Sydney
Best live music- Guy Kachel in Byron Bay
Favorite wine- Sauvignon Blanc in Byron Bay and Forrest Pinot Noir
Favorite Beer- 3 sheets to the wind at Hero of Waterloo
Best new sweet- Tim Tams dark chocolate and taking the Tim Tam Slam
Best new fish- Hoki and Barramundi
Food to avoid- vegemite
New food we didn't try- Moreton Bay bugs

A

March 29
Today we got up early to witness the sun rise on the beach, and it did not disappoint. We then walked along the beach for awhile before returning home to fix breakfast. Around 10 am we went our separate ways. Jane and John went for a long walk on the beach; Forrest went to hunt for "shades" to go over his glasses since he lost those in our kayak tumble, and Beth walked to the artist community and industrial area. That was disappointing, but a good walk occurred. I went to the beach upon my return because I was so hot. The others returned within minutes and had lunch. Then I had lunch and joined Jane and John at the pool. Forrest listened to his new CD from a guy we heard he other night and took a nap, and John went into town while Jane and I read our books. It was nice to have a relaxing, do whatever kind of day. We walked into town for another great dinner and then returned home and watched the news. Very low key day.

March 28
We had breakfast in our apartment and then drove to the lighthouse on the most easterly side of Australia. We hiked up to the lighthouse and then down the path to a lookout areas. We were able to spot many schools of dolphins from the lighthouse, which was fascinating. On our way back up to the lighthouse, we also spotted a wallaby in the woods. We also saw sea turtles from our view overlooking the bay and sea eagles. It was like being in a menagerie.  We spent the morning inthis area and then went home for lunch before heading off to our snorkeling event. There are some rocks called Julian's Rocks that are actually sacred to the Arakall aborigines. You can't go on them, but here are some amazing coral reefs around the rocks and an abundance of fish and Sean turtles. We thought this was the next best thing to the reef. Unfortunately, after watching the introduction video they told us the northerly wind was too strong and they would have to cancel our trip. We decide do to let it rest. Seeing coral reefs and beautiful fish was not in gen plan for this trip. So with our towels and sunscreen on our bodies, we went to the beach and played in the waves. It was a beautiful day and we loved being on the beach. After getting home and freshening up, we headed back to find dinner in a place on the beach. We ate at the Fishheads restaurant Nadia we all enjoyed fish dinners. We also enjoyed the drumming and celebration of the sunset and had N opportunity to get some beautiful photos. On our way we home we stopped for gelato.  It was a great day!

 March 27
We ate some pastries we got last night for breakfast and then went into the information center in town. Marlene was so helpful. Our Plan B became our Plan A. We signed up to go kayaking in the Pacific Ocean in the afternoon. We had one hour to grab a bite to eat and get ready. Mikes picked us up and took us to the beach. There we lathered the sunscreen and got our mini instructions. They were sea kayaks but there was no apron. We were destined to get wet. We had to paddle very hard to get over the waves and once we were past them, it was pretty calm. There was a wind working against us on the way to Watergoes Beach. We looked for dolphins and sea turtles. We saw a little sea turtle and some sea eagles, but no dolphins today. We stopped on Watergoe Beach and had tea and Tim Tams- a wonderful Australian chocolate cookie that we dipped and sucked the tea through the cookies. It's called the Tim Tam Slam. Then we gott ready to  paddle back. Jane and John fought hard to get over the surf on the way out, and made it, but not without Jane being tossed back in the back end of the boat and legs flying high. Forrest and I did not have trouble getting over the surf at this point. We all had to kayak surf over the waves getting back to the beach, and Forrest and I did not lean back enough  or in time. Our nose of our boat did a downward dove and we were thrown overboard! Jane and John successfully made it.
We were dropped off at home and we went right into the hot tub before showers. We could taste the salt on our skin and feel it in our hair.

This evening we walked to the Rails for dinner- a recommendation from Mikes. We also had the opportunity to listen to guitarist Guy Kachel, who was fabulous! After that we picked up some groceries, returned home and got the update on the cyclone.

March 29

Today we got up early to witness the sun rise on the beach, and it did not disappoint. We then walked along the beach for awhile before returning home to fix breakfast. Around 10 am we went our separate ways. Jane and John went for a long walk on the beach; Forrest went to hunt for "shades" to go over his glasses since he lost those in our kayak tumble, and Beth walked to the artist community and industrial area. That was disappointing, but a good walk occurred. I went to the beach upon my return because I was so hot. The others returned within minutes and had lunch. Then I had lunch and joined Jane and John at the pool. Forrest listened to his new CD from a guy we heard he other night and took a nap, and John went into town while Jane and I read our books. It was nice to have a relaxing, do whatever kind of day. March 29

Today we got up early to witness the sun rise on the beach, and it did not disappoint. We then walked along the beach for awhile before returning home to fix breakfast. Around 10 am we went our separate ways. Jane and John went for a long walk on the beach; Forrest went to hunt for "shades" to go over his glasses since he lost those in our kayak tumble, and Beth walked to the artist community and industrial area. That was disappointing, but a good walk occurred. I went to the beach upon my return because I was so hot. The others returned within minutes and had lunch. Then I had lunch and joined Jane and John at the pool. Forrest listened to his new CD from a guy we heard he other night and took a nap, and John went into town while Jane and I read our books. It was nice to have a relaxing, do whatever kind of day.

March 26
We received an email from the sailing organization but no details, so we tried to reach them that morning. We decided to go to Brisbane as planned and then go from there. We knew we were not going sailing, but we needed them to cancel to get our money back. They called us while we were checking in our bags to Brisbane and told us it was cancelled. It is the end of the rainy season and people have said it is usually chillier now, but these unseasonably warm days have created a new scene. We arrived in Brisbane thinking we were going to head a bit north, but Forrest expressed he didn't want to go north. We talked with folks on the airplane and decided we would head to Byron Bay, where Brian had taken a surf school camp two years ago. We got our car and we're checking it for dents, when we saw the name of the car. It was called "Storm". We had to laugh- you can't make that up. We drove for about 90 miles and drove on the Main Street going into town when we noticed a vacancy sign. Jane and I hopped out of the car and went into the Outrigger. They could give us a 3 bedroom apartment at a reduced rate. The beach was in the backyard and it was walkable to town. We felt like we'd had some guardian angels!  We unpacked a bit and walked into town and ate at a fabulous place called "Hot Red Green". It was a BYO place so Forrest got us wine and Beer across the street and Jane, Forrest and I were happy.

Sydney, Australia

March 25
Today after breakfast we took the ferry, train and bus to go to Featherdale Wildlife park to see kangaroos and koalas in their element. All of the animals in this wildlife park were native to Australia- a sharp contrast from New Zealand! We saw marsupials such as koalas, wallaby, kangaroos, wombats, walleroo, and many native birds and reptiles. We got to feed the kangaroo and pet the koala who was sleeping. Koalas sleep about 18-20 hours a Day! We also saw a joey in a Mom's pouch which was a lot of fun. We all really enjoyed this park.
We returned to town. and went to the Rocks market where there were many artists displaying their wares. Jane, John and I shopped and Forrest returned to the Hero of Waterloo bar and listened to jazz. Both Jane and Beth found some opal jewlry which was fun.  We met up an hour and a half later. Then we started to look for dinner options and walked up to Lord Nelsons pub- the oldest pub in Sydney- and shared a table with Rosie, Rich and John, who were from St Gambia, Australia. They have a crystal blue lake from summer to fall in their town, which is really a caldera. Stunning! They were in Sydney to go to the Opera House and hear Carmen. We talked with them for about an hour before heading out in search of food. We then had a wonderful barramundi fish dinner at the Cafe on the Rocks and were talking about our upcoming sailing trip in the Whitsunday islands off Airlie Beach. Barramundi is Australia's most widely eaten fish. It was then that we started hearing the news of Cyclone Debbie and realized we needed a Plan B.

 Forrest, Jane and John were quick to create limericks to note the occasion.
" We planned on a trip to go sailing
But the cyclone winds were wailing
We changed our plans
To play in the sand
Because we 'd rather be safe than bailing!"

" We planned to go sailing from Airlie
With blue skies and sun shining fairly
There wasn't a doubt
Our luck had run out
Storm Debbie had hit Airlie squarely".

"Debbie was the cyclone's name
She promised to bring lots of rain
She ended our crew sail
But we didn't have to bail
For Byron Bay is where we came."

March 24
Today we had breakfast at the hotel and gen took the ferry across the bay to take a tour of the Sydney Opera House. The design challenge for the Opera House was won by a Danish man named Utzon, who sadly, never got to see the result of his work. It was started in 1956 and completed in 1978- 17 years to complete! Over that time there was a conflict with the architect and the engineers and politicians and a new team took over. It wasn't until 1999 at they asked him to re- engage in the future of the Opera House and his son is now working on.

There are 6 concert halls - three of them quite small and serve more drama fares. There is the large concert hall for music, symphony, and ballet and here is a dance theatre and drama theatre.

After the tour we waited for the rain to diminish and then walked to Town Hall to pick up our free walking tour of Sydney. The tour guide was delightful. She explained that she was a descendent of convicts and that her family had been in this country since the late 1700s. Many of the older buildings had been repurposed for retail space and there were many tunnels throughout Sydney underground the buildings filled with retail and restaurants. Queen Elizabeth building had been there since the 1800s, but acquired a statue and. Dog statue from Ireland, when they  broke free of England's hold on them. We also walked to a building that had a huge model city under glass in the floor. We walked on it and could really tell the scope of the city. Sydney has about 7.5 million people in it, including the suburbs.
After resting with a beverage, we went into the Rocks area looking for the Australian Heritage Hotel to enjoy kangaroo, and emu pizza. While we were sitting there the Premier from China  drove by in his police escorted caravan. The pizza was actually very good. We had the "Coat of Arms " pizza and the Australians we were sitting next to we're proud to say that they are the only country that eats the animals on their coat of arms.

Then after dinner we ventured to find Larry's recommendation, Hero of Waterloo bar to hear live music. It was fun and a very interesting old tavern. We took the ferry back to our hotel and went right to bed.

March 23
Well as I said, we sadly and fondly left New Zealand. We all really enjoyed ourselves and loved the country! We drove over the Crown Range Road through the Pisa mountains to get to Queenstown. We stopped at the Bradrona fence where there were hundreds of bras posted on a fence and a statement and request to support research for breast cancer. Across the road was the Cardrona hotel , which was developed in 1863 during the gold rush era and before they had a solid road there. The road is the highest sealed road in New Zealand. A man named Jimmy served alcohol in the hotel, but would watch how much people drank before attempting the road home. Inside the hotel, there was evidence of a mine shaft, old stone fireplaces and many antiques. They had a few rooms in this place as well. Adjacent to the hotel is an old school and church, where they still have music venues locally.
We arrived at the airport in time and said good bye to NZ driving  and hopped on he plane. We arrived in Sydney and went through customs. Both islands are very strict on what you bring into the country and provided many warnings to us to declare everything- we had to mention the shells and rocks we collected and the sheep fleese we got on the sheep farm. Jane forgot to mention hers , but they took my sheep fleece away. We took a cab to our budget 4 star hotel in Kirribilli, which was just across the bay from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

Wanaka

March 23
Leaving  Wanaka to go back to Queenstown and fly out to Sydney. Can't believe we have been here a month! What a beautiful country! It has flown by! We plan to cross the range of mountains called the Crown range and over the Remarkables into Queenstown today, stopping off in Cardrona.
Should be a beautiful drive.

March 22
Today we slept in  and then did laundry no hung it on the line to dry. Forrest went into town and found a guitar store to play music and I walked around Lake Wanamaker into town, pausing by the lake to eat my lunch. Jane and John started off on bikes, but John returned and dropped his off before walking into town. John stayed and shopped while Jane rode home and the three of us are sitting in the garden relaxing.

I challenged the group to write a limerick for our trip and John and Forrest have been busy doing that. We are going to read them the last night together. Jane had already challenged us to get the best sheep photo and we have been working hard on that. I think riding through the sheep on the way to the hike gave us many photo opportunities. My phone died, however, because in order to use he outlets, you have to turn each outlet on each time and I had forgotten to do that when I plugged my phone in for the evening. Definitely- advantage John - for sheep taking photos.

March 21
We had a typical breakfast of homemade muesli, muffins, fruit salad, coffee and tea  looking out over the garden.and then took off for our hike to the Rob Roy glacier. We had to drive an hour to get there. The last 15 miles were on a unpacked road where we had to wait for sheep to cross, before proceeding along the road. Jane was in seventh heaven surrounded by sheep! We then struck out on the trail . We crossed a swing bridge over a rushing river and then the next 330 meters were all uphill! The trail was in good condition so that was a plus , and it followed the river the entire way. It was by far the warmest day we have had!

We wanted to see the Rob Roy glacier and there were two vantage points to do so. We went to the lower and upper views of the glacier noting about 10 plus waterfalls coming off the glacier. The glacier looked tinged with blue from the lighting. We ate our lunch on the rocks overlooking the glacier and then started our descent. Jane and John stayed at the lower view and we met them on the way down.  It was an absolutely beautiful hike and wonderful drive. We drove through an actual sheep station ( they call them stations and not farms) and saw the herder working his two dogs to move the sheep.

We talked with the B and B owners for awhile and then went to dinner at the Water Bar. They were having a Quiz night, and before we knew it, Jane had signed our crew up and given us a team name. For the rest of the evening we were Paul Bunyon's Children.  There were 9 rounds to the game. There were many questions about cricket, rugby and NZ politics , and despite our distinct disadvantage, we ended up tied for  10th place out of 16 teams. We were happy with that. While we were playing we also wanted dinner. Forrest took our order, brought us drinks, paid and finally a server brought our meals after waiting for 45 minutes to an hour. We did receive complimentary wedges for participating in the game. Then John cleared the table. You don't tip in NZ so maybe tonight we experienced a little less service than usual.

Note:  I'm so glad we didn't make the extra effort to go to the west side to see the Franz Josef glacier when we could hike this beautiful trail to see one. There are 10 plus glaciers in Mt. Aspiring National Park and we saw one of them. We also learned that NZ has 9 Great Walks and Forrest and I were on 3 of them- Tongariro, Abel Tasman and the Keplar. All worth the effort.


March 20
We drove from Te Anau to Arrowtown to have lunch. Arrowtown is very close to Queenstown. Jane drove this morning and did a great job. We stopped to get some sheep photos, but otherwise went straight there. In Arrowtown, many of the original stone buildings built in the 1860's are now used by stores. There is also a Chinese settlement in Arrowtown. Many Chinese were working in the goldfields and then when it panned out ( no pun intended) they created a settlement holding odd jobs. Forrest spoke to a local landscape artist and compared notes about projects, which he found to be si,IKaren. We have been noticing that almost all house have the tin or steel roofs. We have yet to find out why.

We then drove to Kawarau Bridge to watch the people bungee jump off this bridge 40 meters. Unbelievable! Not surprisingly, most of the people were young! We arrived in Wanaka  around 6 pm and have a garden suite and studio rooms in a B and B. Trish and Dave run the B and B and were very welcoming. The views from our room are stunning. We have a patio and beautiful garden to look at before our eyes rise to the mountains and Rob Roy glacier. Horses are wandering the pasture beyond our garden walls . It is gorgeous! Tonight Jane and I just wanted to stay home and eat cheese and crackers and fruit and veggies, so the guys went to dinner. We are enjoying a nice evening at home.

Te Anau

March 19
We decided to go for a hike on the Kepler Track today and picnic on the trail. It was a beautiful track in the bush, lush with ferns, sounds of some birds and overlook views of the Wairau river. We hiked from Rainbow Reach to the Motorau Hut and had lunch. We crossed two swing bridges on route, but mostly the path was in the bush and flattish. Throughout the bush there are poison boxes aimed at killing stoat because they are killing the birds of New Zealand. The stoats were brought in to kill the rabbits, but we know what rabbits do, and the stoats were not very successful. The kiwis are trying to manage the situation by setting up these kill boxes to try and get a handle on numbers of animals they have in a region. They also have possum boxes but they get a much worse death. The locals tell us deer used to be a problem, until they had people in helicopters with guns and they would mass shoot about 300 deer from the sky and then sell their carcasses to China. Now a majority of red deer are in deer farms which they raise for meat and velvet on their antlers.  The possum were brought in to establish a fur trade, but then they started destroying the forests, so they are being killed. Their fur is used with merino wool to make warm clothing, since the possum fiber is hollow and it traps heats. There are no other predators to take out the stoat or possum, so humans have to manage the situation.

Upon returning to town, we grabbed dinner quickly. John and Forrest had a combo lamb and chicken meal in which they presented it on a 450 degree slab of granite and it cooked on your table. They said the idea came from Australia Andy more restaurants are doing it. We then hopped on a boat and crossed Lake Te Anau to go in the caves and see the glow worms. The cave was most fascinating with a river tunnel cut through the mountain. We walked through the cave and then got on a boat in the pitch dark to float to see the glow worms. They are actually the larvae hitched to the roof of the cave shining brightly like stars in the sky. It was very interesting. They create these threads that dangle below them to catch sand flys or moths which provide them energy for 2- 7 days depending on the size of the insect. Mother Nature at its' strangest. Their life cycle is only about 11 months long.
We returned on the boat watching a beautiful sunset.



March 18
Today we got up early to catch our 7:30 am ride with Terry, our guide, to Milford Sound.
Terry was so knowledgeable and interesting. He had been part of a northern Alpine hiking club and had spent time in the bush, so he knew a lot about the mountains, plants, orienteering etc. We were fortunate because there were only 11 of us on the mid size bus. There were 3 Australians, both groups from the Brisbane area, two Swiss from a town in between Zurich and Lucerne, two Chinese from Beijing and the four of us from Minnesota. They were a great group to travel with, and we learned a lot from them as well.

We drove to the head of Lake Te Anau first as the clouds still covered the sky after last night's late shower and looked over the lake, before traveling the countryside by farmlands enroute to the Fjordlands National Park. The drive through the park to Milford Sound was gorgeous. The last 25 mikes are jaw dropping incredible! Milford only has sunshine about 60 days of the year and we hit it just right. As we went through Homer tunnel, the sun broke through and there was nothing but blue skies overhead.

After the view at Te Anau lake we stopped at Mirror lakes and walked through the paths in a beechwood forest and wetlands to look at these lakes with mirror images. We also stopped at the Chasm. The Chasm is where the Cleddau river literally turns on its side and knifes through rocks sculpturing them along the way. On the track there are two bridges one crosses and on the way back you can see where the river plunges down the ravine. It is like looking through a keyhole at the river.

In order to get over the mountain we had to go through it. Homer tunnel is a unique tunnel in that it was started in1935 during their depression years and only completed in1954! If a rock fell and damaged the entrance to the tunnel and in essence blocked  the tunnel entrance all people in Milford would be stranded. And Milford Sound does not have the infrastructure to support people for weeks on end, and there is no real alternative that is quick in getting people out of there. Interesting thought. Thebes's tunnel is made primarily from the granite of the mountain and is almost a mile long. It is unique in hat it has an incline or descent, which was interesting. So as we approached Milford, we are descending in the tunnel to the other side.

We arrived just in time for our boat ride on the Milford Adventure. Normally it holds 140 people but there were only 39 on our boat, which was great.  Right away we saw porpoises running alongside the boat and jumping in the air. They seemed to enjoy running and jumping by us. Then we saw the furry seals on the rocks who were laying around sunbathing and posing.
We also saw a rainbow colored waterfall among many waterfalls. The Sound is well protected from the Tasman Sea and you can understand how it remained elusive to many from the direction of the sea.

On the return we did a short hike to look at Marians Cascade, which is a beautiful waterfall descending from Lake Marion, which is a lake nestled under Mt Christina.

Note:The early Europeans named plants for how they tasted or smelled or they took the Maori name and translated it into English. There was a stinkweed plant, which really smelled like an outhouse and a pepper plant that the Maori used as an anesthetic by chewing the leaves. It was hot, spicy and numbing in the mouth.

Also on our trip the Chinese couple, Amber and Ryan, had travelled extensively to many places including Yellowstone. They said, "This is beautiful, but Yellowstone is Jesus Christ". They thought that was phoenomenal. They also kept a pet ferret and dressed it up. Other people have raccoons as pets.




March 17
We left our beautiful place in Queenstown and headed to Te Anau. The roads were winding but not too narrow. We stopped at several points to take pictures. Jane challenged us to a photo competition for the best sheep photo, so we looked for places that we could take a photo. Forrest enjoyed the three of us competing.

We stopped at Brackens for venison pie and salmon pie for lunch and then headed into town. Birch wood cottages is a couple blocks from the Main Street in Te Anau and close to the beach and Lake Te Anau ( pronounced tay ah no) Ray and Leonie are the owners of the Birchwood and he owns Fjordland journeys, which we booked for seeing Milford Sound. Ray used to be a sheep farmer and lived in the same house for 58 years until he divorced and decided the love of his life was a woman he had known for 40 years. The two of them married  and run these businesses. The cottage has two bedrooms, a lounge and kitchen and a separate toilet and sink area. It also has an apple tree with ripe apples and picnic table in the backyard. Forrest has eaten the apples and said it's quite good.

We walked into town and around the lake toward the river for a couple hours, which was beautiful. Then we went to dinner at a local popular spot and enjoyed a great meal before heading back.

Note: many rooms and many homes rely on electric heat for when it gets cold. It warms up pretty well during the day, but night can be chilly. In he places we have stayed they have had portable heaters in the rooms or hung on the walls for cold weather use, but the homes aren't insulated like ours.

Queenstown

March 16
We had breakfast this morning overlooking our beautiful view before walking to town. Jane  and I went into the first home built in Queenstown, which is part museum like and part art and gift store. It was fun to see it. Then we took the TSS Earnslaw steam boat to a former sheep station on Lake Wakitipu, which is now a demonstration site for how the farms worked. We had a huge meal on the terrace on the lake and then learned about the sheep herding. The farms usually have two working dogs- one called a hunt away dog which rounds up the sheep, and the other is a collie which uses his voice to intimidate the sheep and get them moving. They ran the sheep across the hillside as we watched. The farm had 20,000 merino sheep and 35,000 rowleigh sheep. The wool produced from merino  is used for clothing and the wool is very soft and light, whereas the other wool is rough and coarse and is used for household goods and carpets.The other sheep station, Mt Nicholas and this one provide most of the wool for the brand , Icebreaker, which seemed comparable to our Smartwool.

The steamer we travelled on is a coal fired steamer and the only one remaining in the Southern Hemisphere. We watched them load the coal and work very hard at stoking and shoveling the coal into the burners. The Earnslaw first voyaged in 1912 on the lake and took sheep and horses and people up and down the lake. By the way, the lake's name in Maori means sleeping giant because it looks like a man sleeping on his side. Interestingly, this is the year of the fateful Titanic, and we were told that maybe part of what happened to the Titanic had to do with a fire starting out first in the coal deck. ( We also noted on this boat the last of lifeboats, but luckily it wasn't an issue)

Upon returning to Queenstown we went to the Queens garden and met some young people from London, Germany and Quebec who were playing guitar. Forrest said that he would trade them a song for a song. So the guy from London started to play a song and afterwards, Forrest played a song and so it continued. It was a nice way to spend an hour and it gave Forrest a chance to work on his callouses. Jane had just been saying she wanted to hear live music, so she got to do that.

March 15
We drove to Glenorchy this morning to go on jet boats down the Dart river. We had to stop several times to take pictures, because it was so beautiful. In fact, the writer of NZ Frenzy called it Glen- orgy- it is so unbelievably beautiful. The road to Glenorchy wasn't built until 1962 , and it wasn't paved until 2000!

 We walked around a lagoon walk in Glenorchy for a couple hours and had lunch on the trail before heading back to catch our jet boat.  The town of Glenorchy was comprised of a few lodges and restaurants. In the middle of town is the jet boat operation. The jet boat holds about 12-14 people and is driven by skilled drivers. They have to do 120 hours supervised training and have psychological testing to ensure they can respond appropriately on the river. The boats can run in 4 inches of water and are propelled by sucking in water. The boats can turn on a dime and often he turned and did a 360 which sprayed us all. We went about 60 miles an hour and were told to hang on because it can be bumpy at times.We rode 40 kilometers or 25 miles into Mt. Aspiring National Park.

Two thirds of South west NZ are covered with beech trees and are a different variety from the US species. Te Wahipounamu World Heritage is comprised of four of NZ's national parks: Westland National Park, Mt Aspiring National Park, Aoraki/ Mt Cook National Park and Fjordland National Park..  Milford Fjordland was just on the other side of the mountains or about 10 kilometers from where we were, but it will take 5 hours for us to drive it.. We rode up the river as far as we could go and then turned around to head back to an area called Paradise. There were female little ducks with white heads and brown bodies sand the male ducks were all brown. Besides that, there was little wildlife seen. Supposedly there were some rainbow and brown trout in the river.

We then hiked in a beech forest, which had been used by a local farmer to graze cows and sheep, but can no longer be used due to its UNESCO status. That farmer now rents out his property to Hollywood. There were several movies and commercials photographed here besides Lord of the Rings.

On our return to Queenstown, Jane drove for the first time and did a great job. Forrest had been driving and both made the predictable error of turning on the windshield wipers when they wanted to turn on the blinkers. They are located opposite of what we know.

Notes: Jane is called Jen; Beth is called Beeth and Forrest is referred to as Forrest Gump. John is a well known name here.

March 14
We left Nelson and flew to Christ Church and then went through security again and hopped on a plane to Queenstown. It is located in the mountains and is a beautiful airport. Jane and John were there with a sign saying, " Kia Ora". Well, they were going to do the sign if they had had paper. At any rate, it was a welcomed reunion. We got our car and headed out to find our place on Earnslaw Terrace. We have two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living room overlooking a stunning view. We settled in and then walked 15 minutes down the hill into Queenstown for dinner.

Nelson

March 13
It rained last night but luckily was only drizzling when we walked through Queens Garden for breakfast. We are staying at an airB and B but the wife is gone and we think the husband forgot its a B and B. At any rate, we had a delightful breakfast overlooking the river and the Queens Garden   in the Suter Gallery cafe. Afterwards we looked at the exhibits at the Suter which contained many classic and contemporary pieces from Kiwis as well as artwork from the Nelson Art Society. As was the case with my cousin, these are amateur artists who are quite good and who offer their work for sale. Forrest and I then parted ways. He went to play guitar at two different stores - got in about 2 5 hours playing today to keep those a callouses, and a I took the bus to Tanuhanui to see the Wearable Art Museum. They have a show every year in Wellington where they announce the winners of this competition  in which all the materiasl  are non- conventional. People made outfits with electrical wire, cords, plastic foam, clock part's etc. It reminded me of Project RunWay when they do the non- conventional challenge. I returned to the city of Nelson and perused the shops and art galleries. Then Forrest and I had a fabulous authentic Italian meal at Baggato where they had just finished making the homemade ravioli and noodles. Early dinner for us and back to our room.

Note: This  air B and B is in a great location and has a  great bed, but that's about it. I think in nice weather one could relly enjoy the garden and deck, but with the rain, we are pretty much confined to our room. There are two bathrooms we can use- one without entering the house in the laundry room, and the other one in the house. We have generally had good experiences but this has not been our best one. Dan and  his Dad are very nice, but it just feels more intrusive.

March 12
We went to Motueka market this morning, but very few vendors showed up due to early morning rain. It had stopped by 8 am, so we walked to a little bakery in town before heading to the Motueka Museum. In this town of about 8000 this little museum was quite good. The night before we had had appetizers at Sprig and Fern and Forrest had one of their craft beers, a Scottish ale on tap. We learned that this building was the home of Harry Hart who had built a bakery and run it from 1925-1970 with help from family members. The original ovens were in the museum along with baking artifacts.Harry had also fought in Gallipoli.  The museum also held an exhibit on the Maori in the region and that was very interesting. Just like many of our Native American tribes, many of these iwi ( tribe) joined other tribes over time either through conquest or necessity.  There was a timeline beginning in1900 until 1970 noting the rise and fall of the tobacco industry in this region. It completely died out due to economic forces. Our driver this afternoon showed us where the tobacco fields had been and we could see now they are growing hops and have become one of the major industries for all the NZ beers.

While waiting for our Trail Hopper bus we talked with three young people from France and Germany who have been in NZ since October working on a sheep farm. They were also picking blueberries on another farm nearby.

We arrived in Nelson and found our air B and B. Dan is a mussel farmer and his wife is an artist. Dan's Dad is visiting from Dunedin. They were very welcoming. We decided to  hike to the center of New Zealand , which is the geographic center of the country. Seriously. On our way we met a couple who spend 6 months here and 6 months in England. They had been retired for 30 years! They had seen 48 of our states in a camper van and have been doing this split between the two countries for the past 7 years. They gave us a ride to the base of the Botanic Reserve.  We hiked to the top with our little guide we met on the way. She was 10 years old and was visiting a friend of her Mom's when her Mom told her to go hike the mountain. She had competed in a triathlon that day and was now climbing this large steep hill with great energy. She told us which path to take to get to the top the fastest.😀She asked where we were from and said she wondered if the US and USA were the same country. She was such a sweet girl and for 20 minutes up the hill she told us about her aspirations to be an actress and how she is currently taking classes at Theatre Royal in town. The views from the top were stunning. We could see Abel Tasman, Rabbit island and what looked like a sand bar called Boulder's Bunker. This was caused by a natural geologic feature that looks from a distance like a horizon line. Apparently you can drive out there.

We descended and went through Queens Garden which wound its way around Maitai river. It was beautiful! There were some huge gorgeous trees- Bunya, Campher, Bhutan Banyan, Eucalyptus, and huge fern trees. There were some boys playing in the river pulling up eels which was creepy. Ducks and swans were abundant. From Queens Park we walked through Nelson to dinner at Mac's and enjoyed a great meal.

Note: in this area we noticed that people have letter boxes and then junk mail boxes in front of their houses. Most are free standing or hung on a yard fence.

Motueka and Abel Tasman

March 11
The rain came today and has been raining all day. Good news for us. We lingered over coffee, read emails, did laundry,and I did some work for my class at UST reading and commenting on journals. We had an early afternoon lunch and plan on going into town later. We are only 2 blocks from the Main Street. It has been a nice way to relax.

Notes: we noticed on the way to the park a lot of apple trees growing . They trim their trees so much that we had to look very closely to even recognize that they were apple trees. On the beach in Abel Tasman we noticed literally no trash coming onto shore. The water taxi folks were all so helpful, funny and positive. They get to be on the water all year and seem to love their jobs!

March 10
We got up early to grab a ride to Marahau where's we grabbed a water taxi to Awaroa. We started by loading the boat while it was in the trailer driven by a tractor. They drove it down to the waterfront and backed us up into the water. It was high tide and the water came right up to the edge of the road. On the way to our stop at Marahau, we stopped at two islands, Adele and Tonga to see furred seals. We saw babies and their mothers basking in the sun and swimming and jumping  in the water. New Zealand has designated these islands as reserves so the seals are protected.

We went by Anchorage, Torrent, Bark, Onehutui Bays before we landed at Awaroa Bay.  We noticed a lot of dead trees above the bays on the hills. Apparently it is a strategy of the Abel Tasman foresters to kill certain trees introduced earlier to get the native tree growth developing. The hills have northern pines , fern trees and strong tall hardwood trees.

 We unloaded and started our hike back over the hills to Bark Bay where we would catch a water taxi back to Marahau. It was a beautiful hike. We rose above the bays and then met the bays and crossed the beach before we hit the trails again. We chose the high tide trails so we could have a vista but it added a few minutes to our hike. On certain parts of the track, one misstep and you ended up plunging a couple hundred feet. Forrest said it caused his hands to tingle. This walk was the Coastal Track walk. I loved it because we were immersed in the woods and then overlooked the bays before descending to the beach, so it was the best of hikes with such variety. It also was in good condition.
I went a little further to Medlands Beach while Forrest stopped in Bark Bay and spent time "counting seashells by the seashore."  Seriously, he saw a starfish, crayfish and snails moving around in he sand and then diving into the sand. We waited about an hour walking around in the water and on the low tide beach area before the water taxi picked us up. We waded into the water and climbed onto the boat. Each taxi held about 16 people. We saw only a few people hiking our way on the path but somehow there were enough folks to fill 2 this at the end of the day. We got back to Marahau and ordered Chinese Take Aways and took it back to our place for dinner to enjoy with our bottle of Forrest wine. Although they predicted rain for today, we enjoyed sun the entire day!

March 9
It's mind boggling, but we are ahead of Minneapolis about 18 hours so the posting dates don't match. Crazy! A little post script to last night. We went to the pub in town and asked to share a table since it was so crowded. We enjoyed dinner with Lin and Mike Turnball, an English couple from Chichester, where we had visited with our exchange student a couple summers ago. In the small world category it got better- they also lived in Plymouth, MN for three years when he worked for a company there. We spent 2.5 hours with them and thoroughly enjoyed talking politics. It is so interesting talking about issues that are really affecting the whole world- immigration, trade, independence as countries etc.

So today, Thursday, we left the Olde Mill  and took the bus to Nelson. We passed through Havelock 30 minutes from Blenheim. Havelock is a cute little village known as the mussel capital of the country. We passed over two saddles getting over the mountains to the sea below. When we finally arrived in Nelson the driver explained that the height of the tide in certain spots was 19 feet high and the tide recedes leaving mud banks for miles.  That is why there are warnings everywhere about the danger of tides. We hopped on a trail hopper bus in Nelson to Motueka. Until Mapua Bay there were only 3 of us on the hopper. In Mapua Bay we picked up cyclists who had ridden the Taste Trail from Kaiteriteri to Mapua. The cyclists if they had continued would have had to take a ferry to connect the trail to Nelson. I also learned on this journey that there are deer farms all over NZ. They raise the deer for the velvet antlers that the Chinese pay good money for. They also raise them for venison. They say it is a common food eaten here, but we have yet to see it on a menu.  We arrived in Motueka and walked about 5 minutes to our lodge .  The Equestrian lodge has no horses but it has a lot of gardens and flowers and we have a deck to look out on the large yard. We also have a small kitchen so we have taken advantage of that! Motueka is very near to Abel Tasman area. Tonight we ate Indian food at "Simply Indian" in town which was fabulous.
We have an early start in the park tomorrow.

Note: The intercity  bus system is great and the Trail Hopper bus was helpful in getting to the Tasman area. Both operate near the isites or airports. Motueka is larger than Kaiteriteri but a little farther away from the entrance to Abel Tasman. In either case you have to take transport because there is limited accommodations in Marahau.

Wine country

March 8
Breakfast at the Olde Mill with the other guests was most interesting! One of the couples was from Lithuania and the other from Canada. They were traveling south to north and since we travelled north to south, we shared stories. I gave the Canadian couple by NZ Frenzy North island book- one less thing for me to lug around. Mac and Janice were wonderful hosts this morning serving homemade muesli, toast, fruit and local marmalades and honey. Honey has become a big product here in recent years. And we are reminded that bees were also brought here by foreigners- they aren't native.

After breakfast we got prepared to do some biking and wine tasting. We ended up tasting wine at four different wineries, passing by over 14 wineries and traveling about 15 miles by bike in a head wind. We didn't mind however, because it was a gorgeous day with the sun shining. We visited Gibson Bridge winery- very small husband and wife operation producing 2500 cases to a large mass produced winery Alan Scott with large exports primarily to the U.K., Australia, Papua Guinea airport, and locally. We had to stop by the Forrest winery, and tasted "Bubbles for Beth"- no lie! It was owned by John Forrest and his wife Bridgett. Here we had 6 samples from a sparkling wine, Rose, Chenin Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir and Doctor's Laurent. We tasted sparkly, white to red.And we also visited Bladen winery where the brother of the owner, John, was such an informative person. He taught me how to use the spittoon for wine tasting, and it really helped differentiate the flavors on my palette. Forrest has a much better sense of taste than I so didn't use that technique much. Tonight we walk back into town for dinner in the local pub.

Wellington March 5-7

March 6
We drove to Wellington to drop off our car and go by foot for the next week. Wellington is a beautiful city that is known as windy Welly. It is located on a major fault line and endured considerable damage from the most recent earthquake near Kaikoura. Several buildings had structural damage. The quake was felt as far north as Rotorua!

We visited the Te Papa museum and learned a lot about NZ. Te Papa means " treasure box" and it was quite interesting and creative.What surprised us the most:
The WaitangiTreaty was developed by the British and translated by a missionary into Maori to establish sovereignty of British rule. Over 500 chiefs eventually signed the treaty. Unfortunately, there wasn't a word in Maori for sovereignty and the realization of signing over sovereignty and control of their lands was a horrible solution to peace between settlers and Maori indigenous people. With the gold rush and more immigrants coming in, the government bought Maori lands and sold them for a much increased price to foreigners.  It wasn't until 1995 that the Queen apologized to the Maori for what they had done. Now Maori have preemptive rights to land sold.

We also learned that there are no native mammals on NZ. All of the animals were brought in- rats, dogs, etc. They have many native birds with very little color and they have a lot of reptiles including a three eyed one that we saw. We also saw many brown huge reptiles called     The Kauri trees that were native to NZ were forested by the Europeans so much that most of the land was prepared for farming and left little bush.

The sails used by he Maori were made of flax woven cloth. That was amazing. There were large weapons made of jade or greenstone or pound until in Maori. They considered them to have powers.  We were able to enter a Marae, which is the spiritual center of the people, but whose purpose was for family business. The Marie's often embody an ancestor, so out of respect you couldn't take photos. There are seats for everyone and you must sit during a meeting. There were beautiful carvings throughout the marae.

We stayed in a bed and breakfast run by  an art gallery owner. She had the place decorated with very different and cool art. She talked about the housing problems in Wellington and the emphasis of purchasing collectives which are apartment buildings with various rooms and shared collective spaces for cooking, doing laundry etc. they are also looking at tiny houses.

We met Dave and Jeanne Reichert for dinner tonight. We first met them in Auckland and compared travel notes to make the connection. We ate at a Malaysian restaurant on Cuba street, which is known for its variety of restaurants. There is quite a heavy influence of Asian and Indian food in this area. There are many Polynesian immigrants in NZ- mostly from Samoa, the islands of Tonga, Nuie, Vanuatu etc. More recently, there are more people from Somalia and Afghanistan. NZ has always had a favorable attitude towards immigrants and many of the people we spoke with are outraged at the recent developments from Trump regarding immigration.

March 7
We boarded the Kaiteri for the 3 and1/2 hour ferry trip to the South Island arriving in Picton. We traveled through Cooks Strait linking the two islands. Apparently Marlborough Sounds with their rugged rocks protruding like fingers and the many bays were formed when the sea flooded the deep river valleys during the ice age. It's beautiful and rugged.
Arriving in Picton, we took a interislander bus to Blenheim and were picked up by our hosts from the B and B. It was rainy today, so it was a low key day and a good travel day. We walked to dinner at the Cork and Keg- a hopping local pub, where we watched a cricket game that everyone was watching and tried to understand it. I won't go into it here, but it is like baseball only that they get runs, have innings and use a bat and ball. After that, I'm lost! Our B and B co- guests are from Ottawa, Canada and Lithuania

Ramati Beach/ Wellington March 4-5

March 4

We drove from Tongariro National Park south to Ramati Beach. On the way we stopped at Bulls, NZ, which had some great signs and made us chuckle, a town where they were having a gumboot festival, a small town that if you blinked you'd miss, but they had wool items that were gorgeous, Foxton and Foxton Beach that had a windmill in town- Dutch- and many many farms where sheep and cattle grazed on the rolling hills. Gorgeous drive and we are happy to report- uneventful. We arrived at my cousin, Jan's house around 4 pm. She and her husband, now deceased, had built this home about 15 years ago on the property where they had had a summer home. It was very beautiful with wide open rooms and doors and windows that bi-folded open, so the entire room felt connected to the outdoors. They don't have many mosquitos to worry about.

Jan had appetizers waiting for us and then a huge lamb roast, roasted vegetables and he traditional New Zealander dessert of pavlova with fruit and cream. Pavlova is like a meringue- egg whites and sugar. She also made a chocolate mousse. We looked at family photos and read letters sent by my parents years ago after their visit.

March 5
On Sunday on our way to Wellington we stopped at Kapiti Gallery where Jan's work was hung and David Reeve's work was showing. David was the cartographer for the Lord of the Rings movies. Such fun to see. That totals thus far two artists we have had contact with who had something to do with these movies. Then on to Wellington where we went around the entire harbor from one side  to the other. We went to some art galleries on the harbor and then toured Zealandia, which is a nature reserve in the middle of the city. We saw some native birds of New Zealand- the Tui, Pekabu, wood pigeon, and many three eyed native tuatara lizards. They were ugly and scary with a majority of their teeth on the lower level. I have all those photos on my other camera. These are all from my iPhone. If Mom and Dad get hungry and they can't find food, they eat their young!!

We then drove to Lower Hutt and met Jan's daughter and family. Both Lauren and Tim are educators, so we talked a lot about schools, policies, issues etc. it was Lauren's birthday so we shared some cake with Lauren, Tim, Jonathan and Alastair Griffin.