musosf

The dreaded day has finally come - we’re on our way out of New Zealand. But I decided I needed to make the most of this last day. I was up at 4:45am this morning for a quick shower, gathering up my things in the darkness and quiet and slipping out the door while the others slept. Why? To see the sun rise over the Pacific and answer the call of the Port Hills and the Banks Peninsula, who weren’t about to let me go without the courtesy of a proper visit. What a great morning it was. I chose this morning to play the new Kate Bush CD which I’d recently bought, and she was a perfect accompaniment to the dim orange sun, lush hills, still water, tranquil birdsong and deserted roads. Driving out along ... read more

When we visited New Zealand in April of 2004, Rich and I had taken a flightseeing tour on the South Island, visiting some of the locations where the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed. One place we visited was Mount Sunday, the place where the Golden Hall of Edoras (the Rohan capital on a hill) was filmed. On that trip we flew past it and viewed it from a few kilometres away; when I discovered a brochure for a company that takes you out there in a 4WD vehicle to stand atop the mountain, I vowed that I would do that someday. Today my day finally came. We drove ourselves to Methven this morning to meet our tour vehicle. A side benefit of this trip is that it gave us one last chance to plunge ... read more

Well, today is Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in New Zealand (although NZ doesn't celebrate it and since we're on the other side of the International Date Line it won't happen in the U.S. until tomorrow.) Today was supposed to be one of the most uneventful days of the trip: a long drive across plains and hills to Dunedin, with very little to do or see on the way. It turned out the drive took less time than we thought, less than four hours. I took the wheel all the way to Dunedin, to make up for doing little driving the last couple of days. In the process, I inadvertently raised everyone’s blood pressure as I executed a series of near-miss maneuvers while passing the many trucks and tractors along this typical two-lane road. Today included the “Presidential ... read more

André at the Birds Ferry Lodge had recommended we take the Crown Range road as a shortcut to Queenstown, and we enjoyed it very much. At the summit we stood outside, teeth chattering, looking at the gorgeous view of Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu and snow-dusted mountains as tiny flakes of snow fell around us. Then we descended into the valley. We went over to the Kawarau Bridge to take a look and possibly bungy jump, but there was a couple-hour wait so we decided to get lunch and try somewhere else. We ate at Gourmet Express in Queenstown - an homage to the American diner where we got burgers, steak sandwiches and chips (fries). Rich asked for mustard and was given “American mustard” or yellow mustard (I guess Dijon mustard is the standard everywhere else). We took ... read more

Rich and I got up early and met Alison, Andre’s wife, who cooked us a delicious breakfast featuring bacon and eggs, homemade muesli with freshly-made yoghurt, tomatoes from the garden. I tried some Vegemite on toast - VERY salty and definitely a taste I’m not likely to acquire. Then our fellow guests Penny and Greg arose, and it turned out they were from Santa Barbara so we were an all-California contingent. The property was wonderful - great vistas, lovely gardens, very warm hospitality. One mistake Rich and I made was not discovering the chocolates in the bathroom before turning on the powerful bathroom heater… As we enjoyed the common room, Alison excused herself to feed the calves. Penny and Greg said goodbye and hit the road, and about ½ hour later we said our goodbyes to ... read more