Last night we had a lovely dinner in Franz Josef and then drove to Hokitika and stayed at a wonderful farmstay called Kaniere Farmstay. It was a nice place with two rooms and a kitchen. They had some cows from scotland called Belted Galloway Cattle. They were very furry with messy hair. We drove around Hokitika a bit in the morning and checked out the tea room with the "largest teapot collection in New Zealand" They served some very nice pancakes there. We also visited the Jade Factory and the local library was having a quilt display so we stopped in a took a look. Next we drove to Greymouth and spent some time at the local McDonalds using the internet access there. Greymounth is where the TranzAlpine Railway terminates on the West coast and they ... read more

Followup from yesterday. HELL was great! Good pizzas with names like Lust, Pestilence, Greed, Mordor, Gluttony. They have really cool pizza boxes that you can punch part out of and fold it into a coffin (to take home your "remains".) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Pizza This morning, we woke up early and drove out to go horseback Riding in Glenorchy (near Queenstown). http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Queenstown,+NZ&ie=UTF8&ll=-44.771355,168.409081&spn=0.173538,0.31929&t=h&z=12&iwloc=addr&om=1 If you have seen Lord of the Rings, the mountains in the background are seen in the following scenes: - Isengard (black tower where Sauraman lives) - Lothlorien - Misty Mountains (opening sequence and others) - snow scene (where Boromir tries to take ring) - Lighting of the signalling beacons (sweeping through all the surrounding ... read more

Got out of the Airport at 6AM or so (local time). Shared a Van ride with a US Olympic hopeful Windsurfer. She was very nice, and gave us some good pointers for New Zealand travel (like you don't have to tip!!). Her gear was also VERY heavy... a full board and sail, plus wetsuits, and spare parts. We helped! Got to the Number One House B&B in Auckland. it is just under the bridge (literally) across the harbor from Downtown. A spectacular view in the morning.. it should be very nice at night too. Walked 3 minutes to the Ferry and after a 10 minute ferry ride, was in downtown Auckland. Walked around Auckland for a bit, looking for breakfast. Then we were looking for phone options. Passed by a large gathering of people protesting something. ... read more

Today we drove up the beautiful cough california Salinas Valley to Tony's Mom's house in Pleasanton. Had a wonderful evening with Grandparents. Michelle seems to be taking the idea of being with Grandma for a while pretty well. The morning was spent frantically packing and cleaning the house for Jen (Cousin acting as housesitter). Chris and Tony tried to squeeze in an hour or 2 of WOW, but there was a big patch Tuesday and it took upwards of an hour to download and install on Anne's machine. Tony Leveled (18) while waiting!!! No more WOW till December (begin withdrawls). Michelle was being her usual charming self at dinner. She made us all double over with laughter at least 3 times during dinner. Tony Warned grandparents that they need to be stoic while driving, because Michelle ... read more