Mirror, Mirror on the Lake and Anchors Aweigh, Again

Lest I forget the water does not flow counter clockwise in the toilets as my brother Fred said it would in the southern hemisphere. but the hot and cold are on opposite sides of us here in New Zealand.

Today is Monday...I never know what day it is or what time it is...but that is nothing new!!! We were up early to start traveling again through the Fjordland National Park. Our first stop was Mirror rorriM Lake ekaL....
The mountains reflected perfectly in the water.
The mountains reflected perfectly in the water.

We continued driving the hairpin tours to get to Milford Sound where we took a boat like the Goodtime II on the water through the narrow fjords where we saw waterfalls, fur seals, birds and breathtaking scenery. After the cruise, we continued taking the hairpin curves to our next stop where we are now which is Queenstown...which is the home of the Bungy (look out below!!!) and where they filmed the Lord of the Rings movies.

Our hotel is terraced so every room has a lake and mountain view of the Southern Alps. Just spectacular!!!

Hope you are all thawing out at home.....I know I am thawed out here!!!

Stay safe and healthy.

Love,

Gloria

Back in the old travel saddle again and Ba BA white sheep everywhere

Thanks everyone for your comments. They are fun to read. I have limited internet time so most of the time I only have time to write the blog.

Today was a big travel day. We flew from Rotorua to Christchurch and then made another connecting flight to Invercargill. There we had lunch at their sports complex which was an international velodrome for indoor bicycling competitions. Although it is a tiny town, some big bank was there awhile and built and funded every type of sports facility possible. They have basketball, net ball (a game just for girls which a cross between hockey and basketball), rugby, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse just to name a few. They were practice bicycle timings on the velodrome when we were there. pretty cool.

Then we got on a bus and headed for Te Anau. So we traveled from 8 a.m until 5 p.m. Long travel day. Along the way, all we saw were sheep farms, dairy farms and deer farms....that's right they fence deer in and get big bucks for their venison and their antlers. Seem the Asian population grind the antlers and use it as an aphrodisiac!!! And they ship the venison to Europe...with all the deer in Ohio...this could be our way out of the recession!!!

We are now in the Southern Alps region of New Zealand so it is cooler. It was in the low 60's and partly cloudy today. Our hotel is by a beautiful lake in front of the mountain in the Fjordland National Park. Tomorrow we will journey to Milford Sound and take a cruise by the fjord.

Hopefully everyone is doing fine back home...wish you all could be here with me. Elaine is keeping me in line...today I talked to a young boy today who just came back from a week of swimming competition and won the gold medal in the backstroke for his age group ( he is in his 3rd year of high school). His goal is to be in the Olympics....who knows who I just met!!!

Well, take care and stay safe and healthy.

Love,

Gloria

"There she blows" and it stinks here!!!

Just thought I'd update all of you on the weather...yep, it's sunny and warm!!!!!

Today we started with a morning hike in the geothermal area like our Yellowstone National Park followed by a lovely cruise in a small motorboat on a beautiful lake. There is not as much of a safety conscious nature here. Everything is pretty open...like I saw some water in a small pool area and just put my fingers in to find it was BOILING!!!! Not too smart on my part!!! But no damage done. Beautiful views and we even placed a thermometer into the ground to find it was 185 degrees underground. Here, too, there are are seismographic equipment that can alert the public when the next volcano action will occur.

The lake is a controlled environment and we were the only ones on the lake. Just lovely and grand to take in all the gorgeous greenery. Lots of fern trees dot the hills...they look a lot like palm trees. Thus the New Zealand symbol is also the fern as the original Maori inhabitants used the fern leaves to mark their paths so they would know the way back.

Next we moved on to watch a spectacular geyser much like our Old Faithful. We also went to the Maori Cultural center to watch carvers and weavers in action. The weavers show us how they take leaves that they call flax but are very much like palm leaves and shred them and that is what they use to weave.

I am on a small break now then head to a traditional Maori dinner and entertainment..this will probably be similar to our Hawaiian luau.

Well, my internet time is limited and I must get ready to eat another meal!!!! In fact, that seems all I really do well is eat meals!!!!

Take care and stay safe and healthy.

Love,

Gloria

Glow worm by day, Glow worm by night!

Today the weather was...you guessed it...sunny and warm. We left Auckland by bus early in the morning and traveled most of the day to arrive at Rotorua, which is geothermal area much like our Yellowstone Park. We had a couple of interesting stops along the way. The first one was lunch at an apple orchard. While walking around the orchard, we had a chance to go to the section where they grow kiwifruit. It grows on a vine very similar to how grapes grow. It originally came to New Zealand as a Chinese gooseberry that got very big.

Our next adventure led us to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. We first went down 40 kilometers into the cave to see stalactites and stalagmites. Then when the cave was completely dark, we could start to see the glow worms, which are larva of flies thatare lumenescent (like our firefly). It is like a thousand blue lights on the top of the cave. It was really something to see.

I may have forgotten to mention that New Zealand and specifially Auckland sits on an active volcano. There are 11 seismegraphic stations around the city to note exactly when there would be any activity. When any activity would be noted, they have one month before it explodes to warn and evacuate anyone in harm's way.

Rotorua is steaming with geysers and mud pots so it smells of sulfur and stinks a bit. I just came back from the whirlpool to relax my muscles. Tomorrow will be hiking and cruising on the lake as well as going to a traditional Maori hangi (dinner cooked in pits in the ground)

Take care and stay safe and healthy.

Love,

Gloria

Dorothy, you are not in Kansas anymore!

Today was a big lecture/field trip day on learning about kinds of facts about New Zealand. A professor stayed the day with us to explain about the geology, weather and biology in this island nation.

It was another sunny day here but rather windy by the lake and ocean where we were. If you like oysters, New Zealand is the place for you as they were growing everywhere on the rocks where we were at low tide. A lot of asians or polynesians go down and get dinner right on the beach!!!

The word kiwi here is a term for the people of New Zealand or a brown flightless bird. Kiwi the fruit is known as kiwifruit. There is a lot of English influence and we have morning and afternoon tea here as well as all the British terms like loo for bathroom and lift for elevator. Yield traffic signs say "Give Way". And, of course, they drive on the other side of the road. Then the original inhabitants Maori had words for things that they still use like:

Aubergine for eggplant
Capsicum for bell pepper
Courgette for zucchini
pawpaw for papaya
kumara for sweet potato
and other English word used include:
crib for vacation house
dairy for a convenience store
road maggot for a camper van
car park for parking lot
entree for appetizer
tramping for hiking
take-away for take out
straight away for right away

New Zealand has about 4 million people along with about 40 million sheep. So lamb is the big food to eat here besides shellfish. I have had lamb for dinner the past two nights. It is really quite mild and very good. I guess it is all in the butchering and preparation, and they are the experts here.

The Queen Mary 2 was here in town today, as well as the international lawn bowling competition. The price of gas here is $1.77 per liter and a small bungalow was being advertised for $359,000. That was all big news here today!!

Tomorrow we leave for Rotorua which is their geothermal area...I am not looking forward to the smell!!!

Hope everyone is staying warm and healthy.

Love,

Gloria

Anchors aweigh!!!

Today was another sunny and warm day (70 degrees) in Auckland. Since New Zealand is an island nation, there are more boats per person here than any other nation in the world. And since the they are big participants in the America's cup challenge, it was appropriate to take a sailing cruise around Auckland harbor. What a blast!! When they talk about smooth sailing...it really was!!! Our tour group split into two 50-foot sailing yachts and sort of had our own little American Cup challenge. But in the harbor there was a racing competition going on for time and places on the international level. We had to tack (sort of go in a zigzag pattern) in order to avoid getting in the way of the official competition. Most everyone took turns steering. It was a blast!!

We then went to one of the highest points in Auckland called Mt. Eden where we had lunch as well as great views of the city. While there, we toured the Garden of Eden as well as view the construction of Eden Park, a stadium that will hold the world cup for rugby in 2011.

Afterward we were on a guided tour of the Auckland Museum to learn about the original inhabitants, the Maori, and view artifacts that were in meticilous condition. The museum is a modern facility and allowed you to touch and take pictures of some of the objects which is very unusual for a museum.

Lots of good food....I will probably gain weight as if I had taken a cruise. Lisa, I will need to cleanse my system when I get back home!!

Hopefully you are starting to thaw out. The sun feels nice and warm here!!

Stay safe and warm.

Love,

Gloria

The eagle has landed!!!!

Kia Ora from New Zealand!!

We left Cleveland, Ohio, with cold and lots of snow on the ground at approximately 5 p.m. on Sunday and finally landed with lots of sun and a temperature of 68 degrees at 9 a.m. on Tuesday New Zealand time (which was 3 p.m. Cleveland time on Monday). Talk about jet lag!!!!! I am wearing Joe's watch which will stay on Cleveland time. So based on that, the trip time total was 22 hours.

The jet was huge!!! It seemed like there was at least 700 passengers on the plane. It was also a double decker. Food was great, and you can have all the liquor you want!!!!!

We met a lot of interesting people. On the plane from to LAX, we met Janine who grew up in Avon and went to OSU. She now markets the CW network to local stations. She is an adventourous soul a nd has backpacked to southeast Asia and has traveled to many other places in the world including Australia. She told us we have to do the Sydney Harbor bridge climb!!

Then Natasha from Calgary is the host of a wine show in Canada, and she was coming to film six episodesto be taped here in New Zealand and Australia. Also we talked to a couple from Indianapolis who is coming to hike, tour and visit for the next two months in both New Zealand and Australia. You will never guess who he worked for??? He was in collections for the IRS. Is it a small world or what!!!

The time flew by as I talk to about anyone about anything. We met our group and Elaine and will be having lunch shortly and then do a walk about in downtown Auckland.

As I look outside my hotel window, a cruise ship is docked just a couple of blocks away. So many reminders of Joe that I can't help but feel he is here with me.

Just wanted to let you all know we arrived safe and sound.

Stay warm!!!! I know I finally am!!!!

Love,

Gloria