May 19, 2008 - Matakohe to Manukau (Auckland)

May 19, 2008 – Matakohe to Manukau

 

Weather:  Mostly fine

 

Today we awoke with expectations of arriving at the Manukau Habitat (now Greater Auckland) office to hear that the building permit had been obtained and we can start to work building a house.  Some of the group spent a little more time at the Kauri Museum in Matakohe before driving on.  We passed on the museum having been there at least three times before and went on towards Auckland with a stop at Wartworth.  It’s another beautiful small town and we stopped at a café and had a relaxing lunch sitting at a sidewalk table.

 

Most of us arrived at the Manukau Top 10 about the same time and after getting our campsites secured for the next few days we drove over to the Habitat office and met with the ED Warren Jack, and construction supervisors Mike and Tish.  Alas, no permits yet.  After discussing all the work that was needed on the ReStore building and inside the shop areas we found more work available than we could do in the next two weeks.  Our work will be concentrated on painting the outside of the ReStore at the same time changing the colors to the new Habitat colors and logos.

 

 

 

The Habitat complex is a complex interlinking of building spaces.  The affiliate has their offices there in one building, the ReStore occupies two or three buildings with another planned in the near future, and also there is space allocated to workshops.  In addition to the Habitat facilities their property also has a Shell station that pays rental fees.

 

The painting that we will do will not only preserve and maintain the buildings and hopefully make the buildings more attractive to draw more customers creating more sales that will generate more funds for building more houses.  Yes we are helping to improve some families living conditions and build homes.

 

Tomorrow we start to work.

 

Todays Kiwi word of the Day:  She’ll be right – Things will be fine!

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May 18, 2008 - Pihia to Matakohe

May 18, 2008 – Pahia to Matakohe

 

Weather:  Extremely fine, about the best day weather wise to date.

 

Today we headed from Pahia on the Pacific side of the north island over to the west coast so that we could drive down through the Waipoua Kauri Forest to see the 2,000 year old Tane Mahuta kauri tree.  There is a small town on route 12 as you turn south called Opononi on a large inlet from the Tasman Sea called Hokianga Harbour. 

 

Joan and Marjory - where to next?

 

 

 

 

Opononi Inlet

 

 

 

Jay and Joyce coming back from inlet overlook.

 

Previous trips through here had always been on overcast gloomy days but today was a beautiful clear blue sky day and we enjoyed a different perspective of the area.  There is a huge sand dune on the north side of the inlet with the town spread along the south side.  Roy, Marjory, Joan and I were traveling together and we stopped for coffee at a café and sat and enjoyed the view for awhile.  As we made the turn to head south there was a turnoff to a viewing area that we decided to stop at and the view turned out to be spectacular.  It was high up on a bluff at the opening of the harbour.  We could see the waves forming far out to sea and then progressing into the beaches both on the south and north sides of the harbour inlet.

 

We continued on south along the Tasman through the Waipoua Forest and stopped to see Tane Mahuta.  This tree is awe inspiring and when you first see it as you’re walking through the forest you just can’t believe the size of it.  The girth is over 13 meters and straight all the way up to the canopy.  There is another tree that’s not quite as tall but has a larger girth at over 16 meters.  The kauri tree is now protected and it is against the law to cut them down.  They do a lot digging and searching for trees that were blown over and buried in low lying areas many years ago.  We stopped in Dargaville, a town in the middle of the Northland area generally considered the center of the kauri forest, to buy a few pieces of kauri wood to bring home.  The owner of the store is a wood turner who makes bowls and other art objects out of kauri.  He told us that he and another craftsman split the $100,000 cost of speculative digging a buried tree.  They did obtain enough kauri to last a number of years and he stores a lot of it in a couple of ex-shipping containers in the back of his shop and store.  He turns beautiful bowls that bringquite high prices, some into thousands of dollars.

 

 

Tane Mahuta

 

Dargaville has an airport that we have stopped at every time we have gone by that area.  The first year we stopped the runway was covered with sheep apparently used for mowing purposes.  I had talked with the manager who also did flight instruction there.  In the course of the conversation I explained about how we were there with Habitat.  We had a nice talk and he invited us back on any Saturday when the club meets there to fly and have a covered dish lunch.  We had never made it past there on a Saturday and today was Sunday.  Today he was there again along with another couple.  He is now retired andis at the airport full time managing things and doing flight training.  He remembered me from four years ago and at that time we were doing a Habitat build over at Waipu.  In the course of our conversation I told him and the other couple about my ride in a Tiger Moth down on the south island.  The couple said that they were going down there in another month and went on to explain that the Fox Moth that was in the museum there and still flown was the first plane used for mail service and people transport in New Zealand.  She went on to say that her grandfather was a gold prospector on the west coast beach back then and used to flag down the plane for a ride to Greymouth north of where he was prospecting.  Once again it was one of those interesting conversations with friendly New Zealander’s.  I was again invited to come back on a Saturday to hang out, take a ride, and share flying stories.  I found out that the airport had been voted the best small airport in New Zealand for the past year and has trained more pilots there than any other.  I can only hope that someday we go by on a Saturday.

 

From Dargaville we drove on down to Matakohe where the Kauri Museum is and spent the night there in the Top 10 Campground.

 

Another interesting and good day.

 

Kiwi Word Of The Day:  Jandals – flipflops (from “Japanese sandals”)

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May 17, 2008 - Pahia

May 17, 2008 – A Day in Pahia

Weather:  Mostly Fine

 

When driving through Whangerai yesterday we called David and Ann Reyburn.  David is the president of the Northland area and who had organized two of the Care-A-Vanner builds we had been on before in the Northland area.  One was in 2005 in Waipu on the Pacific coast and the other last year in Kaitaia at the bottom of the Ninety Mile Beach.  We consider David and Ann very good friends and always enjoy seeing them.  They suggested that they would drive up to Pahia and meet us at the campground and then take us to the current Habitat build that the Northland affiliate had just started.

 

The affiliate has a short term Global Village team arriving a week from Monday.  The Northland area has a high population of Maori and the affiliate has worked with them closely to address some of their housing problems.  This Global Village team will be staying in the Marae that is within walking distance of the construction site.  They will sleep on mattresses on the floor and their meals will be prepared by the Maori.  It will be quite an experience for the team.

 

Joan and I enjoyed our time with David and Ann and the trip to the site.  We stopped and had a very nice lunch at the Texas Diner.  The place is kind of in the middle of no where and from the outside made you think twice about stopping.  But once inside it was very nice with prints of Native American Indians on the wall.  Joan had an excellent burger and I had a steak.

 

 

 

 

David and Wayland checking plans.

 

 

 

Oyster Farm

 

 

 

 

 

It was great to see David and Ann and look forward to the possibility of seeing them in Phoenix next year.  They are considering a trip to Alaska where they would look up Tom who has a fishing boat there.  He helped on the Kaitaia build last year and we also got to know him.  A really fine person.  David and Ann also have friends in Phoenix that they haven’t seen for a while and would like to reconnect with.  Tom’s parents also live there so if David and Ann come to Phoenix we will also try to get there at the same time.

 

Well, it was a great day seeing friends and more of New Zealand.

 

Life is good!

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Aotearoa (A-o-tee-row-a) – Maori word for New Zealand meaning “Land of The Long White Cloud”

May 16, 2008 - Orewa to Pahia

May 16, 2008 – Orewa to Pahia

Weather:  Started out very foggy but turned fine.

 

The day started out with some sunshine but then the fog rolled in and by the time we hit the road it had become foggy.  We later heard that a number of flights in and out of Auckland were cancelled due to the weather.  We had a chat with a couple that was camped across from us and in the course of the conversation we think that we may have recruited a volunteer for Habitat.  He had been in the construction industry, retired and now looking for something to do.  They live in the area that we will be working on the house.  We left the phone number of the affiliate and invited him to come out to the site next week.

 

The drive up to Pahia was uneventful.  Just another day filled with beautiful NZ scenery.  We have never had a drive in New Zealand yet that failed to amaze us with beautiful things to see and nice people to stop and talk with.

 

We arrived at Haruru Falls Twin Pines Campground (close to Pahia) late in the afternoon, relaxed, and had a nice evening.

 

Another nice day in NZ.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Right as Rain – Perfect!

May 15, 2008 Auckland Habitat Welcome

May 15, 2008 – Auckland to Orewa

 

Weather: Mainly fine

 

Today we drove from Piha Beach back up to the Glen Eden (build site) suburb of Auckland and to the Baptist Church where the first of our welcome ceremonies were to be held.  We met the current, past, future partner families, construction manager for the build, and a number of others that volunteer and work with the affiliate.  A very large spread of food was laid out.  Ra and his family sang some songs both in Mauri and English.  A beautiful family that sings together very well.

 

From the lunch we went to the local Maori Marae.  A Marae is the Maori’s ceremonial meeting house.  Before leaving the Baptist Church we were instructed as to the proper protocol to follow during the Mauri welcoming ceremony.  It is considered an honor to be invited to enter a Marae and we were very pleased that they gave us that invitation.  We were told that we might or might not be invited to enter the Marae as the ceremony might be held outside on the green in front of the Marae or we might be invited inside.  Eventually we were invited inside but the ceremony started as we were on the edge of the parking lot and in front of the large grassy area in front of the Marae.  We followed Ra’s instructions and waited until a Maori woman chanted an invitation to come across the grassy area to the Marae.  I had become the leader or “chief” of the tribe (Habitat group) and along with Ra went first with the others following.  With Ra’s instructions we crossed to the entrance to the Marae and were invited to enter and of course we removed our shoes before entering.  The Maori tribal representatives sat to the left of the entrance on cushions on the floor.  The Habitat tribe  sat on chairs to the right side of the entrance.  The acting Maori chief began by giving a welcoming speech that Ra later explained told about how their tribe had come to NZ, about their ancestry, and about their achievements.  Apparently since a lot of them had moved to that area of Auckland for work or other reasons from other tribes or ancestral lines they had joined together and became the tribe of the four winds.

 

The speech was in Maori as was the song that was sung next by the tribe.  Ra gave a speech in Maori and then it was my turn.  My speech was briefer but apparently acceptable after which we sang “This is the Day”.  I then placed a small peace offering on the floor between us which completed the ceremony and we were accepted.

 

The Maori chief then gave us a tour of the Marae and the adjacent school grounds (K-12) of which they are rightfully very proud.

 

After the Maori welcome a tour had been arranged by the Auckland affiliate of a community of 32 residences called Earthsong.  Adjectives such as Eco-Neighborhood, Permaculture, sustainability, and a touch of commune added in.  The housing units are a variety of sizes for a variety of family size.  The units are ecologically designed with solar heating of water, positioning to take the best advantage of the sun for heating during the changing seasons, etc.  They have a website at www.earthsong.org.nz  that we haven’t looked at yet but probably explains it well. 

 

It was a well planned day for us Care-A-Vanners by the hosting affiliate.  It was entertaining, educational, and very much appreciated by all of us.

 

The affiliate has had trouble getting the building permits issued for the build.  The bureaucratic system here is apparently worse than ours.  We mutually decided that the Care-A-Vanners would use the three days of travel we had planned at the end of the build now and then work right through to the end of the month.

 

After the Earthsong visit we drove up to Orewa from west Auckland.  Orewa is on the north side of Auckland and is a Pacific beach town.  We camped at the Top 10 campground at the south end of the beach.

 

 

 

A Habitat welcome lunch!

 

 

 

Ra and family.

 

 

 

It was a very good day.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Torch - Flashlight

May 14, 2008 - Rotorua to Pahia

May 14, 2008 – Rotorua to Piha Beach

 

Weather: Mostly fine

 

Today we had to hit the road again.  Some headed to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves but Joan and I decided to head directly to Piha Beach with a stop at the build site where we are going to work.  I had done Google Map directions to get there trying to avoid the main Auckland Motorway interchange but after driving the alternate route that I had selected I was starting to think that the Motorway would have been the better way.  The route was OK but a lot of winding around in suburban areas with traffic but with only two stops to ask directions were required.

 

We had a call and were advised during the day that the affiliate had not been able to secure building permits yet and we would not be able to start on the build the next day however they had a welcoming lunch for us, the partner family, past partner family, and a number of people from the local affiliate for tomorrow (Thursday).  So we decided to go on to the campground at Piha Beach and stay there at least one night and then if the permit didn’t come through we would go ahead and sightsee some more through the weekend and return to the Auckland area on Monday.

 

The trip down to Piha Beach from the build site was an adventure.  It was about 45 minutes of twisting turning roads but the most interesting was the last 15 minutes or so as you go down the side of the mountain to the shore.  It was the most beautiful scenery that you could find anywhere.  As the others got in I could tell that it would be a hard sell to stay there for the next two weeks.  The campground was not quite up to what we had been used to but would probably have been OK except the timeout on the motion detector for the shower room lights was set for about half the time that the control for the shower water was set for.  The shower timer we could deal with as it worked with a security card that also worked the gate to the campground so you could just reach out and swipe the card on the control again.  But no matter how much you waved your arms or jumped up and down in the shower you couldn’t make the lights come back on.  So you then had to walk back out to the entrance in the buff, wave your arms to turn the lights on, dash back to the shower, swipe your card by this time and then finish the shower.

 

The president and director from the Auckland affiliate drove down to the beach to welcome us and brief us on Thursdays program and we set the plans for the next couple of days.  It was decided that if the permit didn’t come through Friday we would return to the Manukau area on Monday and work at the Habitat ReStore there in Manukau.

 

After a walk on the beach (the movie “The Piano” was shot around this beach) at sunset and trip to experience the showers it was to bed and listen to the surf.

 

 

 

 

 

Piha Beach at sunset.

 

 

Habitat build site - waiting for permits and Habitat super Loo.

 

 

 

Rainbow over the loo.

 

It was another good day.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day: Smoko – Coffee break, mainly on work sites.

May 13, 2008 Rotorua

May 13, 2008 – Rotorua

 

Weather: Mostly fine

 

Today was Rotorua Day.  We actually stayed two nights in the same campground giving us time to do some sightseeing around town.

 

One of the reasons that we stay at the particular campground that we stay at is because of the mineral baths there and the soaking last night was very therapeutic for my cold.  This morning we all headed over to the Agrodome for the sheep show there.  We learned and saw 19 different varieties of sheep the king of them all being the merino.  The sheep show is interesting and includes: shearing of a sheep, milking a cow, feeding young lambs, sheep dogs herding geese on stage, etc.  Then it’s outside for a demonstration of sheep dog trials and then inside a smaller building for a demonstration of a mechanized wool processing machine.  It’s a good time there.

 

Across and down the road from the Agrodome is the Zorb facility.  We stopped in there and watched a number of Zorber’s go down the hill.  Looks like fun but not for me.  They put you in this big ball at the top of a hill and then give you a shove down the hill.  The ball is transparent plastic and about 12 feet in diameter with a smaller ball inside suspended with plastic strands.  You crawl into the inner ball through a short tunnel.  Once in there they strap you in so you basically can’t move.  As you go down the hill youmight have rotation in two different directions.  The other method is to go “wet” where they put water in the bottom of the inside ball and you lay in that as you go down.  “Wet” would be my choice if I was to do it since you’re remaining stable floating in the water and not rotating with the ball as you go down.  No one from any of the Habitat trips that we have been on have ever down this as far as I know.  A Zorb concession might be a good thing to have in the US as I have never seen one there.  Someone from The Morning Show did it live a couple months ago however so there must be one there someplace.

 

 

 

Zorber's

 

The Acreman’s, and Joan and I stopped in Rotorua and had lunch and then went to the Rotorua Art and History Museum.  Joan and I had been there before so we walked the grounds while Roy and Marjorie toured inside.  The grounds there are beautiful and we enjoyed the rose gardens (still blooming), all the different trees, and the bowling greens all finely trimmed.  We noticed a group of people that were having a lot of “fun” by the hot mud pool.  We had seen the pool earlier and it was guarded with a fence and there is a sign on it saying that it was around 210 degrees.  These people were taking eggs and putting them in mesh bags and then dropping them in the pool with a fishing pole and line.  They were working in teams and having to boil the eggs and then eat them.  Some were not so hard boiled.  We started talking with them and it turned out they were a corporate group doing team building exercises around the grounds.  They were in general having a great time.

 

In the evening it was off to the Tamaki Mauri Hangi feast.  It’s a whole evening of enjoyment put on by mauri’s starting with the bus trip from the campground out to their place outside of town.  It’s a great evening with a lot of singing, the buffet feast, and the indoctrination and education about the Mauri culture.

 

 

 

Bowling greens at art museum.

 

 

 

North Island Brown Kiwi.

 

 

 

 

 

Rotorua Art Museum.

 

 

 

Big Sheep Dog!

 

 

 

Wool Processing Machine.

 

Well we did a lot of things today but it was relaxing as well.

 

Life is good.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Lollies - Candy

May 12, 2008 - Napier to Rotorua

May 12, 2008 – Napier to Rotorua

 

Weather: Started cloudy then turned mostly fine.

 

Today we drove through Taupo over to Rotorua.  It’s a pleasant drive starting out through some lower mountains and across some plateau areas and then down into Taupo.  The sun was out early and the first part of the drive through the hills was really neat with the sun being low it highlighted all the undulations in the hill sides.  The hill sides were bright green and you could see all the Hobbit Houses there.  Didn’t see any Hobbit’s moving about though.

 

The green pasture hills turned into forestry areas where the main crop is lumber.  We drove through many miles of patchwork quilt areas where clear cutting had been done and trees replanted.  The squares were of varying maturity and stretched as far as you could see.  Then we came to an area where they had not replanted and the scrap from the cutting had been put into very large piles.  This left large areas of field that had been leveled and planted with grass.  Joan and I thought that maybe the land was going to be developed for housing but Jay (team member) says that the land is being converted back to pasture land.  It would be interesting to know the story behind this conversion.  Are the forestry companies required to convert the land back for ecology, maybe more money in cattle than lumber production, etc.?

 

Then it was down into Taupo at the top end of Lake Taupo.  The downtown area along the lake is especially nice with manygift shops and then more stores further back of a more supportive nature such as groceries, pharmacies, etc.  Along the shore runs a beautiful city park and is a nice place for enjoying the view of the lake with the snowcapped mountains beyond.  At one point on the lake is a golf tee for driving balls out into the lake.  They have a hole set up on a platform and apparently if you can put a ball into the hole there is a substantial prize.

 

Just north of Taupo we stopped again at the overview for the wellheads for the geothermal power generation plant.  Totally amazing place.  They are currently using around 59 wells. The wells are about 6,000 feet deep and the superheated fluid (their term but water) comes up at around 240C and then travels through pipes (big ones) to the power plant about 5 km away at 200 kmph.  We crossed paths with the Krohn’s there and then headed on up to Rotorua. 

 

 

Lake Taupo

 

 

 

Taupo Public Toilets - very nice!

 

 

 

Taupo ducks!

 

This evening after our devotions and meeting I went and soaked in the mineral baths at the campground.  That’s very relaxing and hopefully will have some medicinal effects on the cold I have been trying to shake.

 

Another good day.  Tomorrow the Farmshow and Hangi Feast in the evening.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day – Pot plant – potted plant (not marijuana)

May 11, 2008 - Wellington to Napier

May 11, 2008 – Wellington to Napier

 

Weather:  Mostly Fine, a littler warmer 10C

 

Leaving Lower Hutt we have about one hour of mountainous driving providing some white knuckles on Joan’s side of the cab.  She’s the one sitting on the edge of the road with the thousand foot drop offs.  We kid about the guardrail being 2x4’s with #10 wire strung between them.  Actually I don’t think that it’s a guard rail but the fence for the space below.  Now that I think about it though I don’t know how you could put cattle into those areas for grazing.

 

Once you get over the mountain range it’s a very nice drive with more and more vineyards as you get closer to Hastings and Napier.

 

Napier is the city that was pretty much destroyed in a 1931 earthquake.  It was rebuilt in the style of the time which was Art Deco.  It was discovered over the years that the city had more attraction to visitors as the Art Deco city than if newer construction reverted to contemporary architecture.  As a result new construction or renovation of existing structure is done in the Art Deco style resulting in a very unique city.

 

 

 

Joan's steak dinner. 

 

At the campground we had an informal Happy Hour and a number of toasts to our ladies for Mother’s Day.  Joan and I had decided to maintain our custom of eating dinner at the Acous seafood restaurant in Napier and everyone else decided to join us.  The restaurant is in what was the original Masonic Hall and maintains the Art Deco style.

 

 

Our favorite waitress there now is Rebecca.

 

 

The day ended well.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Loo – Bathroom of course.

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May 10, 2008 - Picton to Wellington

May 10, 2008 – Picton to Wellington (Ferry)

 

Weather:  Mostly Fine for the crossing, seas a little rough.

 

Upon arriving at the ferry line up area around 9AM for the 10AM ferry the ticket taker at the gate advised us that the ship was going to be late by about 2 hours due to storms.  Hmm!  She said that we may want to go back to town for a while or go have coffee in their terminal using the free coffee coupons that she gave us.  We opted for the coffee so we left three of the Kea’s in the queue climbed in ours and drove back around and over to the café at the terminal. 

 

After getting our caffeine fix we headed back and got to the line up area again.  It was about 11AM and the ship had arrived.  We began getting little warning signs that all might not be well out in open water.  The illuminated weather sign was showing STORM in red.  OK, nothing to worry about because the ship got here OK and they’re going back to Wellington.  We waited patiently for the signal to drive on and we got our motorhomes all loaded without any problems plus cars, semis, etc.  We all headed up to the upper decks to find a place to sit and enjoy the trip.  Uh-Oh, another ominous sign.  There were sick sacks everywhere – on the tables, chairs, in the bathrooms, everywhere!  A subtle hint I guess that we might be expecting some rough water and that theydid not want their boat soiled.  Maybe I should put one in my back pocket just in case.  Naw! 

 

Joan and I were hungry and it was after noon now so we went directly to the café, got a nice toasted pinini and something to drink and went back to where the others were and had lunch.  By this time the boat had started moving out through the sound from Picton. 

 

The water was smooth going out the sound but as we got into open water it did start getting a little rougher with some whitecaps and rolling action but it’s a big boat and we didn’t suffer too much.  At one point though when they asked for the owner of the BMW with a certain license number to report we had visions of the car sliding around down in the hold banging into our KEA’s.  Might have just been a car alarm or something.  The rest of the trip I read my book and tried not to think of the movements of the boat.  Jay said later that he was starting to feel a little green and was glad when we docked.

 

Joan and I and Roy and Marjorie went directly to the campground while the others stopped in Wellington at the TePapa Museum, also known as the People’s Museum of New Zealand.

 

Well we all made the crossing OK and unscathed albeit a couple hours late.

 

Life is good!

 

Kiwi Word of the Day: Crook – Be Ill or Sick

May 9, 2008 - Greymouth to Picton

May 9, 2008 – Greymouth to Picton

Weather:  Rain on and off, same with the sun.

 

Today was the longest driving day of the trip so far.  From Greymouth to Picton is slightly over 400 km or about 240 miles.  You normally wouldn’t think of this as a long drive but the early part of the trip is getting back over the Southern Alps and it is rather slow going.  Once you get past them it is a straight shot down to Blenheim and Picton following a river valley and an amazingly straight highway.

 

Upon leaving Greymouth we follow the coast north stopping first at the Pancake Rocks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi from us!

 

These are very unusual layered rocks that look like they were stacked up but are the result of years of wind and sea erosion.  For any geologists reading this I think they are called dolomite rock.  A worthwhile stop and then just a little further we stop at the fur seal colony.  This year there seemed to be more pups than usual and all in all probably more than a couple hundred.  They are fun to watch – some just laying around sleeping in the sun, a mother nursing a young one, a mother apparently weaning a youngster that seemed a difficult task for both as evidenced by a lot of yelling back an forth, one of the younger seals chasing a weka bird over and around the rocks, and some just playing.

 

 

 

 

Contest - count how many there are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the seal colony Hiway 6 turns inland and over the Southern Alps.  Along the way there is a rest area that we’ve stopped at before to stretch our legs.  This time there was a couple there from Nelson, a town at the north end of the south island and not far from Picton.  They had a strange dog with strange coloring. 

 

 

 

 

As it turned out it was part collie and part poodle.  It turned out that the man was an expert woodworker and had worked on shipbuilding (older sailing ships).  They had worked in a Boston on a project there.  It never fails that you meet some really interesting people in the least expected places.

 

As we got closer to Picton we started going through vineyards.  It is an incredible site with vineyards all the way from the river valley to the side of the mountains.  We drove for miles and miles with vineyards on both sides of the road.  There were thousands and thousands of acres of vineyards.  For the most part other than an occasional odd one all the vineyards were expertly manicured with mowed grass between the rows and with the vines all espaliered in line with the rows.  Just beautiful to see.  A lot of these are new vines just a couple of years old and most also have a rose bush at the end of the row.

 

Everyone arrived safely in Picton and it was another good day.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Brekky  -  Breakfast

May 8, 2008 - Fox Glacier to Greymouth

May 8, 2008 – Fox Glacier to Greymouth

 

Weather:  Started out in rain and fog but ended mostly fine 10C.

 

Two days ago we had gotten on route 6 just outside of Te Anau and we have been following it ever since.  Route 6 is the main north-south highway that crosses over the Southern Alps on the north side of Fiordland National Park and then continues north up the west coast of the south island eventually ending in Picton on the northeast corner of the south island.  It is one of the most scenic highway in New Zealand.  The ocean and surf views along the west coast are especially beautiful.  There are very few straight stretches of highway anywhere on it.  On the Queenstown to Fox Glacier part we always have a contest counting one lane bridges between team members.  Even though the team leaders count may not be right it is the right answer for the contest.  This year the answer was 28.  You have to aim well going across because they are usually quite narrow also.  The interesting one’s are where you share the bridge with railroad tracks also. 

 

The Greymouth Top 10 campground is one the nicest campgrounds that we stay at and is right on the beach.  It has nice showers, laundry, TV room, etc.  Plus it’s just a short walk to the beach as it’s in our back yard so to speak.

 

The Rush’s and Joan and I decided to go on a tour of the Monteith Brewery in town. 

 

 

It took about an hour and a half and was quite interesting.  I don’t think that we’re ready to try making any beer at home however, at least not until we study up a little more.

 

 

 

Joan getting fermented.

 

 

 

The yeast at work.

 

 

 

Sampling takes a while.

 

Afterwards we all went to eat at the Union Hotel which was suggested by the tour guide at the brewery.  They have a good buffet there at very reasonable prices compared to other restaurants we have been to here in NZ.  After we were in the restaurant for a while Joan and I were having feelings of déjà vu and that we had eaten in a place just like it somewhere.  They have kind of a unique way of ordering and delivering your food.  Well, long story short,we had eaten there four years ago.  It was a bizarre kind of feeling until we got it all figured out.

 

All in all a good day.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Rattle your dags – Hurry up!

May 7, 2008 - Queenstown to Fox Glacier

May 7, 2008 – Queenstown to Fox Glacier

Weather:  First half of day mostly fine and then rain and more rain.

 

Today’s drive from Queenstown up to Fox Glacier was pretty much uneventful.  We started out in partial sunshine and ended up in continuous rain.  Just north of Queenstown we stopped at the AJ Hackett bungy jumping center but they were just opening up and no jumpers in sight.  It was cold and gloomy so we didn’t hang around.  Since Joan wasn’t interested and I wasn’t interested (too cold, weak excuse huh?) we headed for Wanaka and points beyond ending up at Fox Glacier.  The trip over Haast Pass was wet and rainy but no snow.  We got into Fox in the daylight and stopped by the glacier but we only walked part way to it.  Way too wet.  We couldn’t get any worthwhile pictures.

 

Everyone arrived safely so it was a good day.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Hottie – Hot Water Bottle

May 6, 2008 - Te Anau to Queenstown

 

May 6, 2008 – Te Anau to Queenstown

Weather:  Mostly Fine, 7C

 

Today we drove from Te Anau up to Queenstown which is a relatively short drive of 166km.  We went directly to the gondola for Bob’s Restaurant and purchased the tickets for the team.  Dawn had already made the reservations for us. 

 

 

Kingston Flyer Locomotive - talked to mechanic about an hour.

 

 

 

Downtown Arrowtown

 

 

Kingston Flyer Car

 

 

 

Lake Wakatipu south of Queenston

 

 

 

Rush's enjoying view of Lake Wakatipu

 

After checking into the campground Roy, Marjory, Joan and myself all loaded into our RV and drove up to Arrowtown which is about a 20 minute drive north of Queenstown.  Arrowtown was a gold mining town originally and is a quaint little town now with a lot of nice shops and an interesting museum telling the history of the gold rush in the area.  You can still pan for gold in the stream there and the story is that a few years ago someone found a nugget that they ended up selling on eBay for $12,000.  We didn’t even try.

 

Later it was back to Queenstown and a trip up on the gondola to Bob’s Restaurant overlooking Queenstown.  It’s a great sight at night with all the lights on in the town.  Of course on the way up you can enjoy watching the paragliders floating down to town and the bungy jumpers that apparently try to jump towards the gondola on their giant rubber band.

 

The restaurant was a little disappointment this year as they were remodeling their main dining room and they had put the buffet and dining into a smaller area and no live entertainment.  They still had a lot of food and very large selection of desserts.  We left overstuffed.

 

Life is good.

 

Kiwi word of the day:  Chilly Bin – Picnic Cooler

 

 

May 5, 2008 - Milford Sound Trip

May 5, 2008 – Milford Sound Cruise

 

Weather:  Beautiful (fine as they say here) and about 6C.

 

As a footnote to yesterdays comments about the Croydon Aircraft Co. I wanted to comment that in the shop there was a bright red Beechcraft Staggerwing biplane having it’s annual inspection.  It was also there last year at this time having last year’s annual done.  The interesting part is that the owner is an American and a retired airline pilot in his early 70’s.  He is going to fly it back to the States by way of Europe and take 2 to 3 years to do it.  Would that be an adventure or what?

 

Today we went on the Milford Sound Cruise.  The bus picked us up at the campground at 9:30AM for the ride to Milford Sound which takes about 2 hours.  It sure is better on the bus than driving the motor homes out there.  Then we take the boat which includes a buffet lunch on board.  This trip the weather was beautiful with not a cloud in the sky.  Coming back in the Sound we saw a lot of dolphins, probably 30 or 40.  We had never seen them on the trip before.  No fur seals this time though.

 

 

 

Joan Searching?

With the weather so nice a lot of the charter planes were flying in and out of the Milford Sound airport.  The planes looked so small flying along the vertical mountain faces that line the Sound.  The airport is at the inside end of the Sound and it appears that there is only one chance at landing straight in.  As we were leaving though it appeared that it may be possible to head into the inside end of the Sound and still be able to make a 360 degree turn and get back out.  Very interesting!

 

 

 

 

 

Milford Sound

Life is Good.

 

Kiwi term of the Day:  Knackered - Exhausted

May 4, 2008 - Dunedin to TeAnau

 

May 4, 2008 – From Dunedin to Te Anau

 

Weather:  Mostly fine day (NZ term) cool, about 7C.

 

What an exciting day it was for me (Wayland).  We had stopped a couple of times before at the Croydon Aircraft Co. close to Mandeville on highway 94 in past years but this year was different.  It’s just past Clinton and Gore by the way heading west.  At Croydon they rebuild any antique aircraft made of wood and fabric from the ground up.  There is a building where they do the rebuilding which currently has about 10 planes in various stages of reconstruction.  They also have a new museum building where they have a number of vintage aircraft on display.  I think that I counted around 4 or 5 DeHaviland Moths and 3 or 4 other twin engine vintage craft beautifully restored.  They have a Fox Moth that was the first aircraft used for mail delivery in New Zealand.  All the finished aircraft there are in perfect condition and are flown.  It is really cool to just wander around in their buildings and look at work they’re doing and the aircraft.  They also have a beautifully conditioned grass airstrip that they fly from.

 

What was different this year was it was Sunday, it was a beautiful day, and they were giving rides in a Tiger Moth biplane.  The Moths were post WWI and used by the Brits for training.  This was the day to go for a ride in a Tiger Moth.  Ryan was the pilot in command and sat in the rear seat and I got to ride in the front seat.  This is an open cockpit biplane so Ryan loaned me a leather sheepskin jacket and a leather helmet with goggles.  Very cool attire.  The only disappointment was I didn’t have a long white scarf. Oh well!

 

 

 

 

 

Ryan got me all belted in and then hand propped the engine, yanked out the chocks, climbed in the back seat advanced the throttle and we started taxiing in the grass. Ryan lined it up with the runway, the tail popped up quickly and off we went.  New Zealand is even more beautiful from the cockpit of a bright yellow biplane flying low.  We followed the Mataura River back to Gore where he gained a little altitude and then said over the intercom those great words “you’ve got the plane”.  I did a few turns and some up and down and then at Ryan’s direction headed towards a low mountain ridge that runs parallel to the river.  Ryan took over again and put us at tree top level along the ridge.  He said that many times there are wild mountain goats to be seen there but none today.  As we were heading back to the airport he put the plane into a shallow dive and then pulled up into a loop and then after going around once went directly into another loop.  What a thrill having never done any aerobatics before.  It’s interesting seeing the horizon disappear beneath you then all blue sky and then the horizon appear upside down, then all earth and then the horizon back to normal.  After that a roll and then down into a right hand pattern, line up with the runway, a slip to reduce airspeed (no flaps), kick it straight, and then a smooth touchdown.

 

 

 

Ryan and I walked back to the office chatting about flying and then he put the time in my logbook and signed it.  I have been taking my logbook along to New Zealand every year with just this sort of thing in mind and finally made it.  It has taken a while to get down to earth and wipe that silly smile off my face.

 

What can I say other than – Life is Great.

 

Will tell about the red Staggerwing at Croydon and pilot in another installment.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Bach or Crib – A small holiday (vacation) home.

 

What could be prettier than NZ sheep in front of the Southern Alps?

 

Our team at the Olive Tree in Te Anau.