Keas

On the final leg of our little vacation we drove to Queenstown and stayed with Mark Baxter's twin brother Paddy and his wife Maria. It was great to meet them but they were off for their own trip but were kind enough to let us stay in the gorgeous home and borrow their dog for a night. I still can not get over those glaciers. How cool! So we reluctantly said goodbye to Kristen and Angie as they took off for the Routeburn Track and Milford sound and we looped back north on our way to Westport. The first Night we stayed at Lake Tekapo, a beautiful aquamarine color lake that I could not capture well on film near as well as a road sign. Though they had a stunning little church on the edge of the lake plus a statue to honor the sheepdogs which made settlement of the valley possible. FYI, New Zealand has 4.4 million people and only 31 million sheep so the 20 to 1 ratio myth is busted. It is only like 8 sheep per person. And 2 cows per person. Dairy has well overtaken sheep economically. We did stop at two wineries in the Central Otago district that had very good pinot noirs and nice Rieslings. Then we were off over Arthurs pass, the highest of the three roads that cross the SOuthern Alps of the South Island in search of the elusive mountain parrot, the Kea. We took a few short hikes to waterfalls in this tiny little mountain town but did not see a kea until the next morning when I think on was looking for a morning wake me up. Unfortunately the Wobbly Kea Bar was not open for the Kea to get a drink. We felt fortunate to have seen one of the 3000 or so Keas left but upon leaving town and stopping at an overlook: We found out why Keas are called the clowns of the forest. Luckily we shooed them away from our nifty little corolla before permanent damage was done. Then we were off to Westport. It was all downhill from there.

Hokitika

We left the Baxters and drove with the Girls back to Westport where we wanted to show then where we lived and worked. They were quite impressed with how friendly our coworkers are! We did not have but one night here so of course we dined at the Dennison Dog and enjoyed the local fish. The next day we were of on our adventures, including a stop at our favorite walk Cape Foulwind Because, after all, how can you pass up the opportunity to watch fur seal pups! They are already so much larger than our first visit when we had just arrived. From there we continued south and enjoyed again the Pancake rocks and the blow holes at Punakaiki and Truman Track through the rainforest down to a pebble beach. Our goal was to drive part way to the glaciers and Kayak the next day at OKarito lagoon to see the White Herons. Hokitika made for a perfect stop We stayed right by the beach with a sweet little drift wood art sculpture display. But one of the most amazing travel coincidences of our lives, in the Hokitika grocery store , Carolyn ran into friends of ours from Boulder, Kay and Jack Fellows. We had no idea they were traveling in New Zealand. The odds of running into a neighbor in a little off the beaten track town 8000 miles from home is quite Low, we could not believe it. We enjoyed evening tea, actually take out fish and chips and wine, and then caught a beautiful sunset from Hokitika beach. Then we checked out the glow worms. You will just have to take my word for it, but imagine a star filled night sky stuck under some heavy rainforest canopy.

Kristen and Angie Visit!

Kristen and

How would you like to fly for what seems like an entire day across the Pacific Ocean and end up on a fabulous deserted beach. Well Kristen and Angie were able to do that! Our daughters had planned to visit us early on in our stay in New Zealand as they wanted to do one of the Great Walks of New Zealand before the summer season was over. Our friends Mark and Linda Baxter had the great idea that they should fly into Nelson and we should all have a couple days on Awaroa Bay on the Tazman Bay in a beach house. So we picked the girls up in Nelson from the airport and the caught a water taxi, as the house is only accessible by water, to Awaroa. A great way to overcome Jet lag! The house, called a Batch in New Zealand, was great but though we were there only for a couple days, it seemed like a lot longer. We kayaked in the estuary, watched birds, went swimming, waded across the river to the next beach where Mark knew we could swim out and harvest some fresh green lipped mussels. Angie now knows Marks Secrets to the Perfect Mussel preparation, though it might help that we collected the Mussels about two hours before dining. On the boat trip back to our car for the drive to Westport, we were lucky to see a little Blue Penguin swimming around as well as a Gannet, a great large sea bird. Unfortunately our stay at Awaroa was all too short , though we were anxious to get back to Westport and show the girls where we having been living and working. We are getting pretty good at driving the twisting hilly roads through the Rain forest to the west coast. Most of the time , of course, we stood on one leg.