Parting is such sweet sorrow

Tours, regrettably, must come to an end and it always seems to come too soon. Just about the time we’ve been able to gather all these new people into our family, we have to say goodbye and go back to the “real world.” Bummer.

As last days go this one was spectacular -- especially because the weather was made to order. Tour Director Kait complimented us on having perfected our Sunshine Dance. Ample sunshine with a light breeze and beautiful clouds dotted the sky.

We started our day with a ferry ride to Waiheke Island. This afforded us great views of the Auckland skyline and the islands along the way. Once on Waiheke our first stop was the Rangihoua olive grove. We learned how olive oil is produced and were able to sample three varieties produced there. It was interesting to learn that in addition to harvesting the oil in the olives, every remaining by product of the process is used for some purpose. They are not filling up landfills with olive waste.
 

We toured the island on the way to the olive grove and then on our way to lunch. While the island has a number of permanent residents, the population swells during the New Zealand summer due to the array of beautiful beaches available. It is such a well-regarded location that tiny beachfront homes that used to sell for one hundred thousand dollars now go for one million dollars.

Lunch was at the Mudbrick Vineyard & Restaurant, which was situated on a hilltop with picture perfect views of the bay, and Auckland. Our host conducted a mini-wine tasting, giving us a sample of two whites and two reds produced there. Our three course lunch went down very well. The Lady who would naturally prefer to start every meal with dessert managed to wait until the end but as you can see was disappointed when it was all gone.

We returned to Auckland on the ferry with enough time to do a bit of Retail Therapy dockside before returning to the hotel.

With just enough time to rest and digest the midday meal, it was time for the famous Tauck Farewell dinner. Ours was held in the Chandelier Room of the Langham Hotel and, by golly, there in the middle of the room was indeed a chandelier. Clever how these rooms get named.

It was a time for picture taking, story swapping and last minute sharing. Tauck is absolutely brilliant at bringing together a diverse group of people and joining them in a unique traveling experience. This trip was no exception. While I’ve poked fun at some aspects of the trip, all in all it was an enlightening, educational and entertaining experience. Would that everyone could have the opportunity for this kind of travel. It would make us all better people.

And about the new friends we’ve made. What a magnificent treat. Yes, you have to get out of your comfort zone and reach out to total strangers. But strangers they are no more. We are already plotting opportunities to visit again soon and share these experiences again.

I’ll close now because it is 10:30 pm and we have to be up at 2 am to begin our trip home. The Lady who usually likes traveling with me has already asked me several times how in the name of all that’s Holy did I manage to get us on a 6:30 am flight. I keep explaining that this kind of expertise doesn’t come cheap. She rejoinders that I should enjoy retirement and not consider another career as a travel agent. Some people are so hard to please.

So, that’s all for now. I plan a wrap up post some time next week when I finally wake up in Atlanta. Thanks for coming along on this adventure with us.

Goodbye to beautiful Auckland!

On the Road Again

Unfortunately, when you need to get to here from there, days like today occur. A travel day.

After three glorious days in Queenstown, it was time to go. Regrettably, to get there from here required one of those unfortunate early early mornings. Up at 5:45, breakfast at 7, on the bus to the airport by 7:45. Just point me in the right direction and give me a little shove. I will become conscious sometime later today.

We were greeted by our charter plane at the Queenstown airport and, thankfully, did not have to undergo the usual security process. We just went directly to the tarmac and boarded our plane. This living like the 1% can be addictive.

Our ultimate destination today was Auckland, toward the north end of the North Island. Queenstown, you may recall, is in the middle of the South Island. The arrangements for today’s travel included what I call a touch and go visit to the town of Rotorua, which I could not remember how to pronounce so I kept calling it Rotorooter.

Rotorua is an interesting place. It stinks. That’s not an editorial statement to cast aspersions on the local populace. It’s a fact. It stinks. The town sits atop an active geothermal area. The area steam vents release stinky compounds into the air. You and I might say it smells like sulfur but Tom, our chemistry expert, says that sulfur is odorless. It is various sulfur compounds that actually smell. Bottom line, it stinks. In a very educational way, mind you, but the bottom line is ‘hold your nose.’

The town has two claims to fame. First are the numerous spas around town that cater to those who want to take mud baths or soak in hot stinky springs. Second is the Te Pula Maori Cultural Center which we visited.

Our tribe, the Tauck Tribe, led by Chemistry Tom, participated in a traditional Maori ceremony used to greet visiting tribes. The Maori tribe warriors stormed out to greet us in a very menacing way as Chief Tom stepped forward. We were all ready to cut and run at a moments notice and leave Tom to his own devices. He had been instructed to pick up off the ground the item the Maori chief laid down which would symbolize that we came in peace.  Heck, we came in a motor coach, what did they expect?

Tom managed to retrieve the peace symbol without insulting anyone and we were then invited into the long house for additional entertainment. The first thing we got to see was Tom and the Maori chief greeting each other by the traditional practice of gently touching noses. Twice! We were told that we were not to laugh at this gesture less something untoward might happen to Tom. That was a challenge. Think two NFL players meeting mid-field and gently touching their noses together. Twice. Our group showed remarkable self-control. This Tauck Tribe should consider volunteering for the diplomatic service.

These formalities having been completed, members of the Maori tribe then presented a short program of musical numbers for our enjoyment. The climax of the program was a presentation of the Haka, a warrior dance traditionally used to scare the bejesus out of one’s enemies prior to battle. In our case, it lost a lot of the scare factor since the guy leading the Haka was the same one that had earlier touched noses with Tom. Hard to get that image out of your mind.

After the short program, we were guided around the grounds to see the pools of bubbling mud and giant geysers. We also were invited to see two sleeping kiwi birds. They were exhibited in a special darkened room because these flightless creatures are nocturnal, which means, of course, that they sleep during the day and are active at night. These two must have tied one on yesterday because even though it was do dark I couldn’t see my face in front of me, those two kiwis were knocking back some zzzzz’s. And I can truthfully report that a sleeping kiwi looks just like a ball of feathers. In fact, since I couldn’t poke it, it may have been just a ball of feathers.

We then participated in that time honored Maori parting ritual of visiting the gift shop where we could by bottles of cooled mud used for a number of medicinal and cosmetic purposes. The Lady, who regularly shops at Ulta, declined.

I’ve poked some fun here mainly out of ignorance. It was enlightening to get a glimpse of a culture that has been on this island for hundred of years. The Maori were warm, friendly and they are justifiably proud of their heritage.

Leaving the Cultural Center, it was immediately obvious that it was probably time to eat again. Ever ready to boost our shriveling waistlines, Tour Director Kait had arranged for us to lunch at a dairy farm just down the road in Matamata. The family has a heard of 450 dairy cattle but also manage to run a lovely restaurant attached to their home. We were served a scrumptious meal of roast lamb, vegetables, salads and a sinful dessert. We continued to live our motto: when in doubt --- EAT!

Back on the coach, we headed for Auckland where, when we entered the city, we were given the traditional Aucklander’s greeting of bumper to bumper traffic. This is the Tauck way of telling you that the fun is done and you are heading home in a couple of days. The endless stream of cars certainly reminded us of Atlanta and our new friends from Los Angeles expressed the same sentiment.

And the perfect ending to a perfect day was DINNER! The Langham Hotel in Auckland sports a torrential buffet – it has eight separate cooking stations.

Make you want to touch someone’s nose.

A Peaceful Day

If yesterday was a day to get the adrenaline pumping, today was a day to return it to its proper place, where ever that is. High adventure was replaced with calm adventure.

It also turned out to be one of the most beautiful days we have had weather-wise.  During lunch, one of our waiters heard us talking about how wonderful the weather was today and he said, “Tough life we live here.” I agree.

The activity of the day was a trip on Lake Wakatipu aboard one of the few remaining coal fired passenger steamships in the world. It was a bit of an anachronism to see this large ship belching out thick black smoke into one of the most pristine atmospheres I’ve ever inhaled. Given how passionate the New Zealanders are about the ecology of their country, it was hard to understand how this ship could still be in operation. We learned that it was ‘grandfathered’ out of current environmental laws.

The ship is designed to allow visitors to view the activities of the engine room. We watched as the ship’s crew loaded shovels full of coal into three boilers that generate the propulsion steam. That’s not a job I’d want to have in the middle of summer.

Our destination after the 45-minute boat ride was the Walter Peak High Country Farm. The Mackenzie family owned Walter Peak Station in the late 1880s and are credited with developing many of the principles of successful high country farming during their years working the property. At its peak, the farm was one of New Zealand’s most famous with 170,000 acres, 40,000 sheep and up to 50 fulltime employees. The original homestead block of Walter Peak Station is now known as Walter Peak High Country Farm that we visited.

We were treated to a demonstration of the shearing of a Marino sheep. Using a set of air driven clippers our host scalped that sheep in about five minutes. We understand that a professional shearer can do about 300 sheep in a day. That, my friends, is a fast haircut.

We also saw a demonstration of one of the farm dogs working a small group of sheep. The dog responded to voice commands and whistles of the shepherd to move the sheep around the lot. It was obvious the dog was in control by the way the sheep quickly moved as he intended.

And in the interest of expanding our waistlines, we were served a generous and tasty lunch. Pictured above are (l-r) Denise, Betsy, Bert, Me, Ellen & Tom.  Breads, salads, vegetables and meats including beef, chicken, lamb and sausage, and, of course, dessert. The Lady who would always eat dessert first if given the option, chose Sticky Date Pudding.

After the return trip on the boat to Queenstown, the Lady who still had shopping adrenaline pumping in her veins insisted on another round of Retail Therapy. I most cleverly involved our new friend, Betsy, in the conversations about the afternoon shopping plans and, before you could say, ‘Bob’s your uncle,’ she volunteered to accompany us on the afternoon’s campaign. Part two of this stealth operation was to negotiate my early release from this mission. Success – I had only to join the team for one store and my work was done. Sorry to have used you like that, Betsy. Sometimes you have to resort of this kind of chicanery when you live with a lady who is an Olympic shopper.

We said farewell to Queenstown this evening with a lovely dinner in our hotel’s dining room. I’m beginning to realize that international touring is an extended series of meals punctuated by enough sightseeing to camouflage the gastronomic excess. Gee, only eight more hours until we eat again.

This has been a re-charging three days in Queenstown with very reasonable wake up calls each day. That all ends in the morning. The call will come at 4:45am as we hit the road again for the North Island. We fly to Rotorua in the morning and visit the Te Puia Maori Cultural Centre and later drive to Auckland.

I look forward to you coming along.

Bonus photo -- view from the bridge as we return to Queenstown shown above.

It Definitely Was the High Road

You know you have entered into a new realm of high adventure when the ride to get you started is death defying itself.

On the schedule for this morning was 1) A Jetboat ride on the Shotover River, 2) A helicopter ride to Bob’s Peak and 3) A gondola ride from Bob’s Peak back down into Queenstown.

Trouble is that the Shotover River where the boat ride would occur is at the bottom of Skippers Canyon some 13 terrifying miles from Queenstown. The road down into the canyon was recently described in a New Zealand Herald article as being rated one of the world’s most dangerous roads. It got an overall road fear factor of 7 out of 10. I would have rated it a 35 out of 10.  

The roadway was about 1 & ¾ inches wider than the vans tire tracks. Guard rails? You are kidding, right? Hairpin twists and turns next to 500 to 1000 foot drop-offs were right beside my window while the driver told stories of landslides that closed the road periodically.

The Lady who took her pain meds this morning seemed oblivious to it all and she’s the one who gets nervous driving over the 17^th Street bridge in downtown Atlanta. I think my heart was pumping pure adrenaline instead of blood.

When we finally got to the Jetboat Ride you could have hung me over the back of the boat and dragged me through the water and I would have been ok with that. Anything but getting back into the van.

The Jetboat ride, which any other time might have looked terrifying, was, instead, mega cool. The boat reached speeds of 50+ mph and we did some fantastic 360-degree wheelies several times. Amazingly, the water in the River was only inches deep in most areas and zooming through the narrow canyon was spectacular. The Lady who’s hair must never get wet was cocooned in her poncho and successfully ended the ride looking like she just came off the modeling runway. She is amazing.

Imagine my delight when I discovered that we would not have to return to Queenstown via the Terror Road. Instead, that’s where the helicopter came in. It picked us up just above the river landing and whisked us up and over that dreaded Skippers Canyon road and delivered us to the gondola station on Bob’s Peak. Oddly, the idea of falling out of the sky never came close the earlier fear level of falling off the side of the mountain road. The helicopter ride was smooth as glass and as gentle as the road trip had been jarring. The Lady who has been fighting motion sickness from time to time on this trip, declared helicopter flight to be a marvelous thing.

From Bob’s peak we had a magnificent view of Queenstown below and the mountain ranges in the distance. And, after winding us up on the canyon road, and whirling us onto Bob’s via helicopter, our final adventure of the morning involved settling gently back down to earth via a gondola ride.

We paid further homage to the retail gods during the afternoon and I gloried in walking where the greatest fall I could sustain was three inches off the curb. I confirmed today that I am truly a flatlander.

And now, safely in my hotel room, with the blessed short-term memory of the elder generation, I can declare the day a smashing success especially since nothing got smashed.

If anyone offers, next time I’ll probably choose the low road.

From Hokey Pokey to Mister Whippy

There is just an inexhaustible supply of adventures when you travel with the Grants. As reported yesterday, we tasted a New Zealand favorite ice cream called Hokey Pokey. Today we experienced another treat courtesy of our new friends Betsy and Bert. More about that in a minute.

First, to bring you along, we traveled this morning from the resort town of Te Anau to the city of Queenstown, also a favorite vacation destination on the south island of New Zealand.

In an ongoing effort to help you understand how amazing the landscape is around here I’ve been trying out words. The best I came up with today to describe the scenery we viewed is ‘vast’. I’m posting a panoramic photo today to try and show you what I mean.

The air is so clear that you seem to be able to see forever and the combination of the large valleys and the rugged mountain ranges draw your eyes in an ever-sweeping motion. I’m beginning to understand how some people choose to live out in the middle of nowhere just to be a part of this landscape. It continues to be stunning.

During our 2.5 hour coach trip, our driver/local guide, Ian, educated us on the fine points of raising sheep as well as throwing in a bit here and there about cattle and deer farming. We learned that as an industry, sheep farming is down to about half of what it was 20 years ago. Today’s big thing is dairy farming. We still saw flock after flock of sheep that, because they have just been sheared, looked kind of naked. Cute, but you want to go find them a coat because they look cold.

Queenstown bills itself as the high adventure capital of New Zealand. You can sky dive, parasail, zorb (Google it), jet boat, zip line, bungee jump (it was invented here) and other things too scary to mention. We are going to be here for three days so if you want to offer up your suggestion as to which form of mayhem I should subject myself too, post a comment or send me an email. The winner, if convincing enough to get me to do it, will receive a valuable prize, or something made of possum fur.

For those people with too much sense to consider any of the activities above, like the Lady who sleeps safely next to me, there are several streets packed with fun shops to visit, although I don’t think she give prizes for suggesting a shop.

So, back to the ice cream adventure. One of our favorite travel activities with new friends is travel-adventure story telling. The stories are meant to induce horror or envy. Our friends Betsy and Burt (B&B) were telling us an envy story. On a trip to an auto-racing event in the English countryside, in the midst of torrential rains, they discovered a soft serve ice cream truck called Mister Whippy. This ice cream immediately vaulted into the category of ‘to die for.’ It was such a highlight of that trip that they wanted to see if they could repeat the adventure on this trip since they had learned that Mister Whippy was available in Australia and New Zealand. They’ve been on the lookout since our trip started but have been disappointed day after day. They identified one outlet in the suburbs of Auckland and planned to find it when we got to that city.

Imagine my surprise when, having been mightily impressed by the intensity of their (really Betsy’s) desire for a Mister Whippy, I rounded the corner on the streets of Queenstown and saw the sign pictured here. The Lady, who is always up for an ice cream, and I quickly searched and  found B&B and informed them of the discovery. Not withstanding the prospect of spoiling our dinner, we navigated quickly to the Mister Whippy location where B&B purchased a round for us all. I will say that Betsy did not oversell the quality and tastiness of Mr. W.  I, of course, was awarded the Gold Star for ice cream intelligence gathering and acute observation.

So, having experience both Hokey Pokey and Mister Whippy in a matter of two days, I guess its ok to offer up my body for a mortality testing high adventure in the next few days.

As for the Lady who used to think she could lift large suitcases, she is recovering nicely. Daily retail therapy seems to help. Finding a comfortable sleeping position still eludes her but a major dose of Advil provides some relief. As always, she presses on.

Oh, I almost forgot. When we got to our hotel this afternoon, I looked out of our window and saw it -- The Cloud, The Cloud, The Long White Cloud.

Too Awesome for Words

We traveled today to Fiordlands National Park and if the vistas get any more spectacular, I won’t be able to stand it. This is the New Zealand everyone talks about when they say, “You're not going to believe how beautiful the country is.” As it is, the sights we saw today almost defy description. But I’ll try.

It's not that I’ve not seen mountains, or valleys or waterfalls, but the combinations in close proximity that we saw today are unprecedented for me. The landscape is pristine and because of the relatively small population of New Zealand everything we saw was unspoiled. Our drive through the park lasted about two hours and there was a breathtaking view around every corner.

We made our way through the Park to Milford Sound for a lunch cruise. We learned that the Sound is misnamed. Because Milford was created by the action of a glacier, it is actually a Fiord not a Sound (that additional information is from Bert who helped me yesterday with the definition of ‘sound’). Sounds are created by the actions of a river. The mountains around Milford rise straight up out of the water in some cases as high as a mile. The boat’s skipper pointed out that these mountains have no top soil so the trees you can see entangle their roots together for support and if one tree falls, it can take down a chunk of the forest.

The cruise lasted about two hours and then we were back on the bus and returned to our hotel through the park.

The town of Te Anau where we are staying is a summer vacation spot. We arrived toward the end of the season so things were pretty quiet. We are at the Distinction Hotel, which the locals rate at five stars. I’d give it 2.5 but the Lady who has to put makeup on every morning and “do” her hair proclaims that this bathroom has the best lighting and mirror of any of our accommodations thus far on the trip. Priorities folks, its all about priorities.

Of course, after we returned from the morning’s tour we checked out the local shops. The most unusual items for sale that I noticed were clothing created with Possum Fir. This is a classic case of making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Europeans brought possums to New Zealand. Trouble is, they have no natural enemies here and left to their own devices, they have multiplied to choking proportions.  Credit some entrepreneur with the idea to kill them and use their fur to create clothing products. They also combine possum fur with Merino sheep wool to create even more exotic products. There is still an excess of possums around so eliminating them by any means is encouraged. Can you say “road kill extravaganza?”

After a lovely dinner at a local Italian restaurant, we sampled what is supposedly a New Zealand favorite – Hokey Pokey ice cream. And yes, it was so good, you really wanted to put your left foot in, take you left foot out, put your left foot in and shake it all about. You get the picture.

We head north tomorrow to the town of Queenstown where a number of adventures await us.

Living Like the 1%

Today is another travel day and its time to learn some New Zealand geography. NZ is made up of two large islands, conveniently named North Island and South Island. You with me so far? We have been staying in Wellington, which is at the south end of the North Island. Today, we first flew to Blenheim, which is at the north end of the South Island. I know its tricky but stick with me.

Our flight was unusual in that we were on a chartered plane. No security lines today. Our motor coach drove right onto the tarmac and stopped right that the bottom of the plane’s stairs. Our coach driver laid out the red carpet for us. This was a taste of what it must be like to be a part of the 1%. I must say I could get used to this. There also was no one counting or weighing baggage.

Now, to be completely transparent, we were not flying a jet aircraft. It was a twin engine Convair 580. Now this is what the 1% were flying in the late 1940’s . Still and all, it was a lovely trip, very smooth and since we only flew at 24,000ft, we could see much of the beautiful New Zealand landscape we passed over.

From Blenheim we took a short bus ride to the port town of Picton where we boarded a boat for a lunch cruise on Marlborough Sound. Since vacationing tends to focus my mind, I immediately realized that I really did not know what a “Sound” is. My new friend Bert inquired of the Captain and reported back that a Sound is a large body of water that is surrounded on two sides by land and gets shallower the farther into the area you go. A sound can have one or many bays which are protected inlets interior to the sound. I feel so much better now that I know.

We traveled into one of the Marlborough Sounds and visited a green-lipped mussel farm. That’s mussel, not muscle. No pecs and abs here. The mussel farm consists of long rows of rope suspended vertically in the water with growing mussels attached to the rope. Over a twelve month period they grow to maturity as the farmer periodically adjust the number growing on the rope to give each plenty of space. The areas selected for these farms have to be in locations that get sufficient tidal movement to keep plenty of fresh sea water flowing over the mussels.

There are also a number of salmon farms in the Sounds as well.

Our lunch consisted of fresh green-lipped mussels and fresh salmon, all cooked right on the boat. It was one of the best meals of the trip. I’ve not consumed a lot of mussels but I can certainly recommend ones from New Zealand. They are splendid. Now the Lady who is mostly vegetarian but does eat seafood could not be convinced to try the mussels even after a bit of wine consumption. Her loss is all I can say. However, she did quickly latch on to the dessert as you can see in the photo.

After lunch we re-boarded our charter aircraft and headed further south to Te Anau. Located almost at the bottom of the South Island, Te Anau is near the Fiordlands National Park which we will visit tomorrow.

And yes, you’ve heard it before. This is beautiful countryside. It’s lush and green with crystal clear air. Oh, yes, and traffic jams are defined as two cars arriving at an intersection at the same time. Not many folks around here (a total of 4.25 million in all of New Zealand) – but lots of sheep.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Wellington, New Zealand: Politics, Gardens, Long White Cloud, Wandering and A Playful Dinner

Wellington is the Capital of New Zealand. So it’s a government town with a slice of University thrown in. We started our day on a driving tour of the city as we made our way to the Parliament buildings. Unlike Parliaments in other former British colonies, New Zealand only has one chamber.  There are 121 members of Parliament, some representing geographical areas and some representing various political parties. Like many government complexes around the world, NZ has thing about people taking photos in their building. Now, mind you, there were cameras all throughout the building and we were told that Parliament sessions are fully televised, but we were not allowed to take any pictures. Go figure.

Also, due to other activities in the building, our tour was very brief (some might say mercifully). We did get to see the house chamber which looks like most legislative chambers you may have seen. Perhaps the most interesting area on the tour was the basement and the reason it was interesting had nothing to do with politics.

You may or may not recall that New Zealand has an earth-shaking problem. Earth shaking, you know, earthquakes. Wellington lies directly over a major fault. With respect to that, the populace is constantly shoring up buildings to help withstand the odd shake or two.

What we saw in the basement of Parliament House (built in the early 1900’s) were building isolators that will prevent ground movement during an earthquake from destroying the building. They installed isolation pads throughout the buildings foundation area and then essentially cut the original foundation away so that the building “floats” on the isolators. During a quake the building can shift from side to side on the isolation pads essentially allowing the earth to move under it without directly affecting the structure sitting on top of the pads. The technology, invented here, is being used around the world in earthquake prone areas.

Our tour continued with a cable car ride to the top of one of Wellington’s hills. Our guide pointed out that most of the houses we saw built on the side of the hills had no road access. Owners have to park at the bottom of the hill and walk up to their houses. Some residents have installed private cable cars up into their homes. This is truly a testament that if people want to live somewhere, they will build and live there. Even the fact that one day the earth may shake them all down to the bottom of the hill is no impediment.

We visited the Rose Garden in the city Botanical Gardens. Although we are at the end of the season (Winter starts in June) there were still many roses still blooming. At the edge of the rose garden is the Begonia House, a building totally dedicated to Begonias.

Last stop on our tour was the New Zealand national museum, Te Papa, a very modern and well-designed museum that presents exhibits of New Zealand’s past and present. A significant portion of the museum is given over to the Maori, the country’s indigenous people.

It was in the museum that I finally got some intel on the long white cloud thing. The phrase is attributed to Kuramarotini, wife of the legendary Pacific voyager, Kupe, on first sighting Aotearoa, New Zealand. She is quoted as saying  “A cloud, a cloud, a white cloud, a long white cloud!” So see, be careful what you say the first time you see something. People may be quoting you for centuries.

The tour ended at lunchtime and we were free to wander. The Lady who expects me to know everything ( I mostly do ) wanted to visit that area of “cute shops” the local tour guide pointed out during our city ride. The expectation was that I had paid attention and could get us back there. So, I expertly wandered us boldly around and eventually stumbled on to it. Downtown Wellington reminds me of 1950’s era US downtowns:  a grid of store-lined streets. Not a mall-like building in sight. Some older buildings had been renovated to enclose a series of shops but it was mostly street-level places of business.

Back in our hotel, we checked email, rested a bit and pondered dinner. Neither of us was super hungry so we headed for a nearby grocery store, shown in the photo above, where we constructed a playful dinner: garden salad and a bowl of pineapple and mango.

Tomorrow we head south to Blenheim and a visit to Marlborough Sound. The lunch menu is built around the famous green-lipped mussels & wine. The Lady who eats mostly salads is not real sure about this -- the mussels that is, she's ok with the wine. Maybe if she drinks enough wine she won't mind the mussels. Check back tomorrow for that exciting episode.

The Play’s the thing, and on to the 'Land of the Long White Cloud'

When last we visited, I begged your pardon for not giving you a full accounting of the day so I could get to bed and prepare for a very early flight. Thank you for that.

So, about the evening. We had a light bar-food dinner at the oldest pub in Sydney, the Lord Nelson. The bars around Sydney are hopping places in the early evening and Lord N’s was no exception. 

After dinner and a twenty-minute walk back to the waterfront, we attended the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House (there’s that name again) for a play called “Noises Off.”

It is a classic British farce involving lots of cast members running wildly around a two-story set with many doors.

The premise of the show is that we are watching a traveling theatre company first as they rehearse for an initial performance, then a second time about half way through the multi-city run and then a third time at the final performance.

The set up: A real estate agent brings his ‘girlfriend’ to a house his company is managing and he thinks no one is there. Unfortunately for him, the housekeeper is there at the beginning and soon the couple that owns the home unexpectedly returns as well. About two-thirds the way through the play a burglar breaks in and at some point we learn that he is the father of the real estate agent’s girl. All of these people are running in and out of doors, just missing each other and wondering why things keep moving or disappearing.

As you might imagine, the performance get hilariously ragged when it is presented the second and third times. During the second performance, we learn about the various ‘relationships’ that have developed among the actors (and resulting jealousies that occur) and in the final performance we see the actors actively trying to torpedo each other during the performance. Of course cues are missed and lines are forgotten or adlibbed. Since we have seen the play twice now, we know what should be said and when things go wrong. You can’t help but laugh but also don’t want to laugh so hard that you miss anything.

One interesting wrinkle in the staging is that for the second ‘performance’, the set is turned around on stage and the audience sees what goes on back stage with the actors continuing to present ‘out front.’ It just gets crazier and crazier making it funnier and funnier.

All in all, it was a delightful evening at the Sydney Opera House (name dropping concluded, for now).

Today started with a 4:45 am wake up call, not good on any continent or day. We headed to Sydney Airport at 6:45 in the ever-pouring rain. We had to process out of Australia and process in to New Zealand and because of NZ strict entry procedures, this time we had to handle our own bags.

Trouble was brewing when we retrieved our bags from the carousel – they were very wet. It would seem that they sat out in the open on the tarmac in Sydney for some time. The Lady who washes my clothes and takes extra care of hers was not amused. Her luggage was soaked through to several layers of clothes inside. Quantas does not get even a ½ Star rating from her. It didn’t help matters that all of my stuff was bone dry. You know, misery loves company.

In spite of all that, we are delighted to be in New Zealand. Wellington, the capital where we landed today, is a beautiful place. It is surrounded by lush green hills with houses dotted all over. We are staying at a small boutique hotel right on the waterfront where we have a great view of the harbor.

We were treated to a welcome dinner here in the hotel. What did I have, you ask? Beef Wellington, of course. I asked, and learned, that the dish was not invented here but they claim it and have made it a signature dish in the hotel restaurant. That works for me.

Now about that ‘Long White Cloud’ thing. I don’t know why New Zealand is called that but you can be assured it is on my list of questions to ask tomorrow. I will dutifully report back to you in tomorrow evening’s post.

A Free Day

Photo above: View of the Opera House from our hotel. Today is not really over but I’m going to do one of those journalistic things like writing someone obit before they die. That’s because we are attending play tonight at the Sydney Opera House (name dropper, I know) and it is going to be way late when we get back to the hotel. Add to that the fact that we leave for the airport at a thoroughly disgusting 6:45 am leaves me unmotivated to write today’s blog at the end of the evening.

But don’t despair. I’ll fully report on our fashionable attendance with the Austrialian hoi polloi at the Sydney Opera House (See that. Got that name in again.) It will just be one of those time-delayed things.

But about today. Today was a “Free Day.” If you think about it, it is quite clever of the tour companies to lure you at substantial cost half way round the world and then say, “Alright then, sort your own selves out for a day.” Right profitable for them, I’d say.

But the jokes on them. I am delighted to have this day. I hope you’ve been able to feel the exhausting pace we’ve been keeping. It was so nice to arise at a reasonable hour, have a leisurely breakfast and then proceed with absolutely no planned activities.

Today was special because of our visit with a friend we made in earlier travels. One of the wonderful unintended consequences of world travel are the people you meet. In 2010 when we were on a Baltic cruise, we met Audrey Penney who is from New Zealand.  When we realized that we would be passing near her home in Nelson, we began to plot a way to have a face-to-face visit. Now, popping in to see her is like being in Atlanta and popping in to see someone in Asheville. Not really that easy. And as it turned out, we were not going to have enough free time to pull it off. Dash it all! In subsequent email correspondence, Audrey said that since we were not going to be able to get together, she now planned to visit her daughter and grandchildren in Sydney. Bingo! Turned out that she would be in Sydney when we had our free day.

So, Audrey took a ferry in from North Sydney and we had a lovely visit. We caught up on all our travel stories and talked to her about the areas we will be seeing in New Zealand. It was perfect.

The remainder of the day until know was spent wandering. Downtown Sydney is a perfect place to wander. Just across from our hotel is the Botanic Garden so we strolled through part of it.

Now we are getting ready to attend the performance at the Sydney Opera House (Three times. Brilliant!) We are joining Bert and Betsy for dinner at Lord Nelson’s Pub and the performance.

So, for now that’s it. I’ll get back to the keyboard during the flight tomorrow to Wellington, New Zealand. Talk to you later.

Yummmm! Sydney Tastes Good

An almost perfect vacation day – eating our way through another international city. More about that later.

First thing this morning we headed 25 miles into the Sydney suburbs for a visit to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. Opened in 1972, the park covers seven acres and contains a wide variety of Australian wildlife.

The highlight of our visit was the opportunity to be up close and personal with iconic wildlife species: Koala and Wallaby.

Koalas are champion sleepers. With their sharp claws and compact bodies, they snuggle into the fork of a tree and rest on. With the help of one of the park’s trainers we had our picture taken with a Koala that was mostly awake. To say that he or she was basically unimpressed with us is an understatement. We were tolerated long enough to snap several photos. Cute, right? No, not the Koala, us!

From Koalas we moved to the Wallaby enclosure. In there we were able to hand feed some of the several dozen of these small creatures. They look like miniature kangaroos but the difference is

that Wallabies have a long pointed snout instead of the short stubby snout of a kangaroo. We were given an ice cream cone full of grass to feed them and were told to pour a little into our palm and reach down to their level and let them eat out of our hand. They responded immediately and especially like it when all the grass was gone and we fed them pieces of the cone. Their coats are very hair like and quite coarse. The Lady who never gets her hands dirty even fed a couple.

We continued walking around the park and saw wombats, kangaroos, a tasmanian devil, and an amazing array of wild birds. It was a fun experience to learn a little more about those very native Australians.

We left the park and headed back into town for our foodie tour but with one short detour.

We visited the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics and heard the story of how the Aussies presented a very profitable set of games. For example, the athletes’ housing was constructed in such a way that the units could easily be converted into apartments with kitchens after the games. The entire athletes’ village was pre-sold to locals so, in effect, were entirely paid for before the games even began. Several of the large venues were designed with removable sections that were sold to surrounding communities, disassembled after the games, and re-assembled in new locations. The remaining venues are in constant use now for sporting and other special events. Much of the Olympic site is now populated by mid-rise office buildings and has a bustling daytime population. Very impressive.

Now on to this Foodie Tour. We were able to visit five neighborhoods around Sidney and to sample foods that attracts Sydney locals.

The first was the P.R. Raineri Deli, an authentic Italian deli which has been around Sydney for the last 35 years. Peter and Sarina Raineri, now in their 80’s still run the place. We samples antipasto dishes including olives, cheeses, bread and cured meats. Our entire bus crowded in and pigged out. The samples were delicious.

Next we headed to the Sydney Fish Market which overnight and into the early morning functions as a wholesale market and during regular daylight hours becomes a retail fish market. There, after a quick tour around the building, our guides set a table for us with oyster, prawns, calamari, fried fish and some fresh fruit. Talk about fresh seafood - this was the best.

To cleanse our palate, we next visited Messina Gelato in the Darlinghurst neighborhood. Messina daily offers over 40 unique varieties of gelato. The Lady who thinks gelato is close to heaven had one called “Carimino” which included salted caramel with fudge, meringue and almond biscotti. To die for, she proclaimed. I had the “Slab” which was a light peanut butter gelato with chocolate covered peanuts. Yummmm.

With palates well cleansed we moved on to Harry’s Café d’Wheels, a food cart emporium of famous Australian meat pies. While the Lady initially protested and wanted to have another Messina gelato instead, she eventually chose a Harry’s vegetarian pie and managed to do great damage to it while thoroughly enjoying herself. The individual pies are topped with mashed potatoes, peas and gravy and are served piping hot. I sampled the bacon and cheese pie with great gusto.

Finally, what foodie tour would be complete with out a sampling of Aussie Beer. We moved to the Old Fitzroy Hotel in the district of Woolloomooloo (Aussie children learn to spell Woolloomooloo in the same we learn to spell Mississippi). Garry, the owner, gave us a quick history of this pub, one of the oldest in Sydney and then served samples of three locally brewed beers and explained what in the brewing process was changed to create each unique taste. It was a fun ending to great eating experience.

Tomorrow is a free day and the Lady and I will be having lunch with Audrey Penney, a friend we made on our 2010 trip to the Baltic. We are very excited to see her again.