Westport
Today is Sunday.. This will be a late post as I have to type this offline and hope I can find someplace to upload these blogs soon. The internet access we have had has been disappointing to say the least. At last nights attempt, I could read email, but not Reply because java-script was disabled, apparently by some virus checker on the rental machine!
Friday morning dawned in Kaikoura with a double rainbow over our caravan, in the mist between us and the mountains. This quickly gave way to another absolutely blue day, with intense sunshine on the bay. The mountains were in stark relief and the wind was gentla and cool off the Pacific. We packed up and drove our campervan out to the end of the peninsula to explore the rocks and tide pools before leaving this magical place. As we drove into the "carpark", we pulled up and saw a sea lion basking in the sun right in front of us. We walked down and watched him (or her) back-scratching with a hind flipper. He let us take a few pictures, then waddled off into the bay, rolling over and waving flippers, doing somersaults on the way out into the sea. We explored tidal pools for awhile, then climbed into the campervan and headed off into the center of the South Island.
I drove the first stretch up along the outer Kaikoura range. This started as a pleasant drive through the valley floor, studded with wooly sheep as far as one could see. Then the road began to climb up into the hills and mountains. This became more of a challenge, as the road twists and turns quite a bit. Just as you top a rise of a hill, you suddenly dive back down into the next canyon, going around hairpin turns and switchbacks, with Kiwi drivers and trucks barreling around the turns at 100 kph in the opposite direction, just to make it interesting. Then, at the bottom of the ravines, you come to the famous New Zealand "one lane bridge". Almost all the backcountry bridges are of this variety. As you approach the bridge, a sign with up and down arrows tells you whether you or the opposite driver has the right of way. If your arrow is bolded, you can run right across- assuming there is no one already on the bridge. If not, you must slow down and wait till the other side is all across. Vicki surmises that these bridges are one lane to keep costs down. New Zealands geology is such that flash floods and bridge washouts must be very common. Many of these bridges looked fairly new.
Once we climbed up onto the plateau, we came into "tussock country" with large basins and ranges covered with sheep farms. It has been do dry here that all this land was golden-brown colored; dotted here and there with trees and flowers in bloom.
As we drove up into the mountains, we crossed a divide and came into a river valley where the river was obviously in full flood stage. It was chocolate brown, roaring down the canyon, and full of tree trunks and logs. A bit farther up the road, and we came around the corner to find a long line of cars ahead of us. The drivers and passengers were all out in the road, talking and partying. In fact, the 3 or 4 cars ahead of us were having a group picture! One of the drivers came back and told us "Bridge is washed out up ahead by the flood, eh? Might be 2 or 2 and 1/2 hours they tell us. Might as well take it easy." Although we had planned to drive through the mountains to Westport, we decided at that point to double back to Hamner Springs, since we had just passed the turnoff.
Hamner Springs is a mountain spa or retreat popular with people from Christchurch. It is well known for its mineral springs and hot baths. We drove through the town, and found a wonderful campsite a few kilometers out of town. It was a former forestry camp, converted into a retreat center for the physcially and mentally handicapped. Since school is out now, they welcome campers. After making arrangements, we went back into town and took a baths in the hot springs. These were 39 to 42 degrees Centigrade, and very nice. Vicki and I even spent a few minutes in the sulfur pools. The baths were nicely remodeled, witth rock pools, little bridges and wonderful landscaping. We really felt clean after soaking for an hour. We found Liz some Internet access for awhile, and got some fish and chips for dinner. We returned to the campsite and listened to the birds singing in the trees overhead. It was a lovely site, very quiet (we were 1 of 2 families there).
About 4 AM I got up to use the facilities, and was just "gobsmacked" at the stars overhead. It was really the first time I'd seen them well- it was too humid and lighted in Kaikoura. Up in the mountains, the stars were spectacular, although I will have to work a bit to find my way around this Southern Hemisphere sky. Orion is prominent, but the constellation appears to be standing on his head, with Betelgeuse towards the horizon and Sirius well overhead. I could identify the Southern Cross, and the Milky Way. Otherwise, the constellations are completely unfamiliar.
Saturday we had a little muesli and coffee or tea, and then went hiking. It seems every little town in this country has some "walks" nearby. We had seen some labeled as "nature trail" and "waterfall trail" just down the road from our campsite. So we drove to the trailhead, put on our hiking boots and set out. Liz was game for the Waterfall Trail, so we started up. And up. And UP. This trail rose along a mountain stream that was pure waterfall surrounded by ferns. We climbed at a steep pace for 1 and 1/2 hours up through the forest. I figure we went up about 1500 feet vertical elevation, and around several twists and turns in the canyon. In several places there were stairs to climb. However, it was a pleasant climb. The forest was Mountain Beech with many other trees mixed in, and it was full of birds. The birdsongs here are amazing- they sing extremely loudly, especially in the morning and evening. In the forest, we could never see the little bird singing however, sometimes they seemed only a few feet away, they were so loud. There are few insects, and no small animals. The stream is clear, and I could not see any minnows or fish in it. When we came out to the top, we had a grand view of the valley to the south. The trail then wound back into the canyon to a high waterfall coming down from Mount Isobel, that I estimated to be about 75 to 80 feet tall. It was in a grotto full of moss, ferns, and lichens. Quite beautiful and worth the climb. Once back down to the trailhead, we had a quick lunch, and drove on over Lewis Pass. We stopped in the little town of Reefton for ice cream, then drove through a beatiful valley in front of the Victoria Range. Vicki drove down the Buller RIver canyon, which features not only many one-lane bridges, but one section of "one-laned" highway, where the road literally hangs off the rock over the gorge, with nothing but wall to wall river below. To decide who goes first, one looks into the parabolic mirrors to see if any traffic is coming.
We rolled into Westport around 6 pm, and everything was closed. Westport is a port on the Tasman Sea, and looks like the south pacific towns in movies like "Mr. Roberts". The sidewalks are all covered with corrugated awnings, the single story cinderblock buildings are brightly painted in pastels, and there is one lane to the town, ending in the harbor full of fishing boats and the cement-loading port facility. We found a nice campground after having supper in a combination "Chinese restaurant/fish and chips takeaway" (which was really quite good). We had a nice walk on the beach whick featured roaring surf and dinner plate sized jellyfish washed up on the sand. Liz was bitten by sand flies at the end of our mountain hike, and she was having a lot of swelling and itching despite her Alavert, but she was being a good sport about it.
Upon signing in at Westport, the campground manager talked us into signing up for the Underworld Rafting tour in Charleston, just south of here. So this morning we got up at 0715 for shuttle pickup. Our guide, Sandy, who looked to be about 20 met us and took us to the "base camp". There we collected our wet suits, helmets and gear, and took a further shuttle down into the valley of the Nile river. This is a beautiful temperate rain forest, full of tree ferns and tall rata trees covered in red flowers. Several people told us the valley was used as an outdoor set for BBC series, "The Lost World". The river runs through a canyon of tall limestone cliffs, at least 200 feet tall. It certainly looked like a dinosaur could appear at any minute. The journey continued with a 2km train ride up the valley, through the rainforest. Once at the end, we were warned that this was "the last toilet break for 3 hours" and directed into the bushes. Then we put on our wet suits, grabbed our inner tubes, and then tramped about 1/4 km through the jungle and across the river. Next, we climbed 111 steps up to the cave entrance. This is the largest cave in New Zealand, and it was only discovered in the 60's. Its now part of a local National Park. Its still very wild, and very little changed from its discovered state. We started on the top level of the cave, and progessively walked down and deeper into the earth. The cave formations were exquisite; pure white flowstons in draperies, thousands of staws, and columns. I have never seen such beautiful draperies, and I've been in many caves, (including Mammoth Cave in Kentucky). We progressed down through 4 distinct levels, and took a break once to sit on our tubes and experience complete darkness, and complete silence except for the drip of the water in the cave. It was cold in there- 11 degress C. and we could see our breath. I was glad for the wet suit, as we tromped through mud and fell on our bottoms more than once. As we reached the lower levels, we came into a glowworm chamber. These insects are unique to the Southerrn hemisphere. The larva live on the roofs of caves or rock grottos, and spin sticky threads. They then attract flying insects by glowing, like a firefly, but with a steady light. In the dark, they shine like the stars in the Milky Way. In the dark cave passage, they were very special and beautiful. But the best was yet to come. The inner tubes we'd hauled all through the cave were now put to good use. As we came into the bottom level of the cave, after walking about 3 km through it, we entered a rivering passage. It was clear that the recent flooding here had washed stuff up into the tubes- there were leaves and branches, and a few logs. We then reached a dark underground lake. Here we plopped our bottoms into the inner tubes and set sail in an "inner tube" train through the passages leading out of the black pool. We turned off our lights, and as we floated backwards through the darkness, tens of thousands of glowworms became visible on the roof of the passages. Words do not describe the sensation of lying in the cool water and floating down this river of night. Finallly we rounded a bend and faint light of day began to appear. As we floated out of the gloworm's domain, gaps appeared in the roof overhead and sunlight streamed down, along with long lianas, ferns and the roots of trees precariosly perched on the edges of these skylights. Rounding a couple of more bends, we came out into an a small recess in the cliff face above with the river in front of us. To complete our trip, we plopped back into our tubes, and rafted down the river, over several fun rapids back to our starting point. A quick change, a train trip back to the shuttle, and a short ride up the hill took us back to the daylit world and a cup of delicious hot chocolate, tasting wonderful after a long mornings walk and rafting. Home again, a shower and the rest of day spent doing camp chores, making dinner, talking over our adventure and giving Liz's swollen foot a rest and wrap. Another wonderful day in New Zealand.
An academic Family Doc and his family's adventures on a 6 month working "sabbatical" in New Zealand.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Kaikoura
I've blogged a bit on my laptop the last few days, but can't figure out a way to upload them, so I'm writing this in an Internet Cafe in Kaikoura, New Zealand, while the girls are taking a well deserved nap. {I will add the missing blogs later when I can}.
Tuesday: we got up, ate a great breakfast in the hotel, the Chateau on the Park, and on return from breakfast our bags had arrived (24 hours late). We had just enough time to check them in and then we and walked down through same park to Christchurch Hospital, where I had my final interview for my "Registration"- same as medical license- with the Professor who runs their residency program. He had few questions for me, was very nice and helped me through the paperwork. His advice for rural practice: "be careful of your distance with patients" in a small town. He also wanted to know if I was used to prescibing generics, since the NZ government contracts for a formularly of approved drugs, and Brand names can be very expensive. After the inteview, we took a quick look at the hospital- very nice, and like all hospitals the world over, shadowed by a giant construction crane building a new wing. Wandering down thru the rest of the park in to the center of town, we watched an Asian grandmother and her grandchild float past on the Avon River, part of "punting in the park". Visited ANZ bank where we were told to come back at 3 pm for an interview to set up a new bank account. We visited the Christchurch cathedral and walked through it- very interesting history- the stepple's been toppled 3x by earthquakes. Rode the Tram through the town center. The Tram is actually a guided tour of the town, and was quite helpful at getting us oriented. Visited the art museum, where an exhibit of "Japonese" influence on fashion was showing. The kimonos were quite beautiful. Liz like the dress designed like a Zen sand garden, with the pinned pleats. Capped off the afternoon (after visiting the bank again) with a walk through the Botanical Gardens on the way back to the hotel. This was wonderful- I was surprised and delighted at every turn. Turn the corner, and there is New Zealand native forest, turn again and a giant redwood tree, at least 150+ years old. Turn again, and a wonderful rock garden with herbs and small shrubs appears. One more turn, and a beatiful lilly pond, reminiscent of Monet's painting, complete with stone bridge. It was quite beautiful.
Yesterday we awoke in the hotel and reorganized; checking the viola and a bag of mostly SHOES to lighten our load. The shuttle came and we rode out to the airport, where we spent about 2 hours getting the check out and instructions on the campervan rental. I got to be first driver, since Vicki admits she does not know right from left. I tentatively drove out about 3 km. to a local grocery store, where we stocked. Then we took Route 1 north, out of Christchurch through stunning landscapes toward Kaikoura. Everything is browned here due to the heat and drought they are having, but the hills rise right up out of the plain and then there are sheep everywhere. We also saw herds of deer, and 1 flock of about 100 ostriches. Only saw 2 llamas. I drove for about 1.5 hours, which was as thrilling and scary as any driving I have ever done- my first time driving on the LEFT hand side, on mostly 2 lane roads, with huge lorries (trucks) coming the other way.
Then it was Vicki's turn. If my driving was a thrill ride, her's was a horror ride. Not because of her skills, but because the road soon turned into twisting, turning, switchbacked mountain roads and it began to rain. We were also following a tandem truck carrying a load of sheep. They do NOT have guard rails in this country,and I had great views over the edge down into many ravines on the way here. Liz was sleeping in the back (motion sickness) but kept getting woken up with shouts of "shoulder, shoulder" or "truck, truck". It was a relief to come down out fo the mountains and down to Kaikoura and the turquoise blue of the Pacific. We camped in a Top Ten Holiday Park here (its a brand name, like KOA), made ourselves a dinner of lamb steaks, "roasties" (pototoes, kumara, etc) and salad, and fell into bed, listening to the drizzle.
I was up at 0700 today to find a beautful clear, blue sky day with minimal breezes. We had a quick cup of tea, took our meclizine and headed down to the Dolphin Swim HQ here in town. (read prev. posts about this plan). Our check in was 0820. After a bit of delay waiting for the "0530 swim" to return, we had our briefing and climbed into our clammy wet suits, hopped on the bus to go to the harbour at South Bay. We went around the peninsula here to the North Bay first, but the dolphins we found there were swimming extremely fast- about 20 knots and not in a mood to play with us. So back around to South Bay, and Liz was a little green around the gills despite meds, but was a trouper in the 1 meter seas. South Bay was calmer, we went down coast about 15 km and found a pod of resting dolphins. Then, its jump off the back of the boat into the cold seas when the horn sounds, and swim out and "entertain" thge animals. There is no baiting or other enticing of the dolphins, which are wild animals. They will come to you only if you are of interest. The tour suggests things like diving down (see Dec 11th pic) or singing. Since I knew dolphins were intellilgent, I picked the first part of a Bach Partita to hum and sing. And zoom, here come 3 dusky dolphins up out of the green deep to look me right in the eye. My heart started pounding; what an adrenaline rush this was. I dived down and swam around and just enjoyed watching them on this beautiful day. We were called back to the boat after only 10 exhausting minutes, but then moved around and had 3 more similar swims with the dolphins. On my last swim I dove down and sang and had 3 of them circle me twice about 2-3 feet away. This place, Kaikoura, is really stunningly beautiful, much more than pictures can ever show. And this was certainly a wonderful experience. Liz prounounced it "very cool". We are going to rest up overnight and try to figure out where the wanderlust takes us next, as from this point out, we have NO PLAN (very hard for a High "C" person like me to deal with, so I will put on my "I" hat and be impulsive, inquisitive, and spontaneous. I am SO glad to be here. The last 3 days have been truly intense living.
I've blogged a bit on my laptop the last few days, but can't figure out a way to upload them, so I'm writing this in an Internet Cafe in Kaikoura, New Zealand, while the girls are taking a well deserved nap. {I will add the missing blogs later when I can}.
Tuesday: we got up, ate a great breakfast in the hotel, the Chateau on the Park, and on return from breakfast our bags had arrived (24 hours late). We had just enough time to check them in and then we and walked down through same park to Christchurch Hospital, where I had my final interview for my "Registration"- same as medical license- with the Professor who runs their residency program. He had few questions for me, was very nice and helped me through the paperwork. His advice for rural practice: "be careful of your distance with patients" in a small town. He also wanted to know if I was used to prescibing generics, since the NZ government contracts for a formularly of approved drugs, and Brand names can be very expensive. After the inteview, we took a quick look at the hospital- very nice, and like all hospitals the world over, shadowed by a giant construction crane building a new wing. Wandering down thru the rest of the park in to the center of town, we watched an Asian grandmother and her grandchild float past on the Avon River, part of "punting in the park". Visited ANZ bank where we were told to come back at 3 pm for an interview to set up a new bank account. We visited the Christchurch cathedral and walked through it- very interesting history- the stepple's been toppled 3x by earthquakes. Rode the Tram through the town center. The Tram is actually a guided tour of the town, and was quite helpful at getting us oriented. Visited the art museum, where an exhibit of "Japonese" influence on fashion was showing. The kimonos were quite beautiful. Liz like the dress designed like a Zen sand garden, with the pinned pleats. Capped off the afternoon (after visiting the bank again) with a walk through the Botanical Gardens on the way back to the hotel. This was wonderful- I was surprised and delighted at every turn. Turn the corner, and there is New Zealand native forest, turn again and a giant redwood tree, at least 150+ years old. Turn again, and a wonderful rock garden with herbs and small shrubs appears. One more turn, and a beatiful lilly pond, reminiscent of Monet's painting, complete with stone bridge. It was quite beautiful.
Yesterday we awoke in the hotel and reorganized; checking the viola and a bag of mostly SHOES to lighten our load. The shuttle came and we rode out to the airport, where we spent about 2 hours getting the check out and instructions on the campervan rental. I got to be first driver, since Vicki admits she does not know right from left. I tentatively drove out about 3 km. to a local grocery store, where we stocked. Then we took Route 1 north, out of Christchurch through stunning landscapes toward Kaikoura. Everything is browned here due to the heat and drought they are having, but the hills rise right up out of the plain and then there are sheep everywhere. We also saw herds of deer, and 1 flock of about 100 ostriches. Only saw 2 llamas. I drove for about 1.5 hours, which was as thrilling and scary as any driving I have ever done- my first time driving on the LEFT hand side, on mostly 2 lane roads, with huge lorries (trucks) coming the other way.
Then it was Vicki's turn. If my driving was a thrill ride, her's was a horror ride. Not because of her skills, but because the road soon turned into twisting, turning, switchbacked mountain roads and it began to rain. We were also following a tandem truck carrying a load of sheep. They do NOT have guard rails in this country,and I had great views over the edge down into many ravines on the way here. Liz was sleeping in the back (motion sickness) but kept getting woken up with shouts of "shoulder, shoulder" or "truck, truck". It was a relief to come down out fo the mountains and down to Kaikoura and the turquoise blue of the Pacific. We camped in a Top Ten Holiday Park here (its a brand name, like KOA), made ourselves a dinner of lamb steaks, "roasties" (pototoes, kumara, etc) and salad, and fell into bed, listening to the drizzle.
I was up at 0700 today to find a beautful clear, blue sky day with minimal breezes. We had a quick cup of tea, took our meclizine and headed down to the Dolphin Swim HQ here in town. (read prev. posts about this plan). Our check in was 0820. After a bit of delay waiting for the "0530 swim" to return, we had our briefing and climbed into our clammy wet suits, hopped on the bus to go to the harbour at South Bay. We went around the peninsula here to the North Bay first, but the dolphins we found there were swimming extremely fast- about 20 knots and not in a mood to play with us. So back around to South Bay, and Liz was a little green around the gills despite meds, but was a trouper in the 1 meter seas. South Bay was calmer, we went down coast about 15 km and found a pod of resting dolphins. Then, its jump off the back of the boat into the cold seas when the horn sounds, and swim out and "entertain" thge animals. There is no baiting or other enticing of the dolphins, which are wild animals. They will come to you only if you are of interest. The tour suggests things like diving down (see Dec 11th pic) or singing. Since I knew dolphins were intellilgent, I picked the first part of a Bach Partita to hum and sing. And zoom, here come 3 dusky dolphins up out of the green deep to look me right in the eye. My heart started pounding; what an adrenaline rush this was. I dived down and swam around and just enjoyed watching them on this beautiful day. We were called back to the boat after only 10 exhausting minutes, but then moved around and had 3 more similar swims with the dolphins. On my last swim I dove down and sang and had 3 of them circle me twice about 2-3 feet away. This place, Kaikoura, is really stunningly beautiful, much more than pictures can ever show. And this was certainly a wonderful experience. Liz prounounced it "very cool". We are going to rest up overnight and try to figure out where the wanderlust takes us next, as from this point out, we have NO PLAN (very hard for a High "C" person like me to deal with, so I will put on my "I" hat and be impulsive, inquisitive, and spontaneous. I am SO glad to be here. The last 3 days have been truly intense living.
Monday, January 05, 2004
Arrival
It was 28 hours after leaving Cedar Rapids that we touched down in Christchurch. I figure "Sunday" for us lasted about 6 hours, before we crossed the date line. Four takeoffs & landings. I put on my old TED hose in LA before boarding the long flight to Auckland, and I'm glad I did. (Took a baby ASA also). Twelve hours is a long time to sit in the plane, even on Air New Zealand. We had a 747, very nice. All the headrests had covers on them: "Air New Zealand, the Airline of MIddle Earth". They have footrests, which I hadn't seen before- very helpful at preventing leg cramps and soreness from prolonged siting in one position. I also noticed that they had about twice as many attendants as most US airlines. And the food was very good. When was the last time any of us had airline food at all, much less good food? I slept most of the flight- about 7 hours. Vicki couldn't sleep at all, due to about 2 hours of moderate turbulance near the beginning of the flight. She watched movies and documentaries on the monitors all night long. The tea for breakfast was wonderful, as we watched the orange and crimson sunrise under a deep blue-black field of blue at 60,000 feet. Then there appeared a few craggy small islands in the sea below, havens for wildlife; then finally the green hills and fields of the North Island and we were skimming over the bay to land at Auckland.
Immigration went very well. Then we watched an entire, full 747's worth of luggage unload, and NONE of our bags on the carosel. That is a lot of bags to watch and never see one of your own. A check with the Air NZ agent reveals that United messed up and our bags are still sitting back in Los Angeles. The good thing about this was it made clearing Customs easy; they will just check out bags when the do come in and promise to deliver them to our hotel in Christchurch. The most interesting thing on arrival, and the most fun to watch, was the Biosecurity dog. A lady came in with a small beagle which proceeded to sniff all the luggage that came off the plane, looking for any biological material that might carry harmful pests into New Zealand. Non-native organisms are a really big problem in the ecology here, and an economic threat to N.Z. agriculture. The beagle went nuts over the little old lady in front of me, who happened to have "forgotton" the two apples in her backpack, which were promptly confiscated.
Then the last flight from Auckland south to Christchurch. I was able to look out the window at Farewell Spit, Golden Bay and Able Tasman National Park, and then the foothills and peaks of the Southern Alps appeared briefly before being lost in the clouds. The geography is quite wonderful to look at from above. We came in over the Canterbury plain, the large agricultural area on South Island, which is currenlty have a heat wave and drought. Most of the fields are brown.
Christchurch is called the "garden city", and the small part I've seen certainly deserves that nickname. Our hotel has wonderful gardens with koi ponds. After taking one of the 10 best showers of our lifetimes, we walked through one suburb to a local mall- to buy a few clothes to hold us over till the luggage arrives, and also to get something to eat. This is an area of very neat, one level houses, all with gardens full of flowers in bloom, subtropical tress and bushes, and a wonderful moist marine breeze. We hope to see more of it tomorrow, but for now, we are watching a cricket match on the telly, and tyring to stay awake at least until 6-7 pm so we can get on the local time here. Its good to be here, finally. Its been a really long two days.
It was 28 hours after leaving Cedar Rapids that we touched down in Christchurch. I figure "Sunday" for us lasted about 6 hours, before we crossed the date line. Four takeoffs & landings. I put on my old TED hose in LA before boarding the long flight to Auckland, and I'm glad I did. (Took a baby ASA also). Twelve hours is a long time to sit in the plane, even on Air New Zealand. We had a 747, very nice. All the headrests had covers on them: "Air New Zealand, the Airline of MIddle Earth". They have footrests, which I hadn't seen before- very helpful at preventing leg cramps and soreness from prolonged siting in one position. I also noticed that they had about twice as many attendants as most US airlines. And the food was very good. When was the last time any of us had airline food at all, much less good food? I slept most of the flight- about 7 hours. Vicki couldn't sleep at all, due to about 2 hours of moderate turbulance near the beginning of the flight. She watched movies and documentaries on the monitors all night long. The tea for breakfast was wonderful, as we watched the orange and crimson sunrise under a deep blue-black field of blue at 60,000 feet. Then there appeared a few craggy small islands in the sea below, havens for wildlife; then finally the green hills and fields of the North Island and we were skimming over the bay to land at Auckland.
Immigration went very well. Then we watched an entire, full 747's worth of luggage unload, and NONE of our bags on the carosel. That is a lot of bags to watch and never see one of your own. A check with the Air NZ agent reveals that United messed up and our bags are still sitting back in Los Angeles. The good thing about this was it made clearing Customs easy; they will just check out bags when the do come in and promise to deliver them to our hotel in Christchurch. The most interesting thing on arrival, and the most fun to watch, was the Biosecurity dog. A lady came in with a small beagle which proceeded to sniff all the luggage that came off the plane, looking for any biological material that might carry harmful pests into New Zealand. Non-native organisms are a really big problem in the ecology here, and an economic threat to N.Z. agriculture. The beagle went nuts over the little old lady in front of me, who happened to have "forgotton" the two apples in her backpack, which were promptly confiscated.
Then the last flight from Auckland south to Christchurch. I was able to look out the window at Farewell Spit, Golden Bay and Able Tasman National Park, and then the foothills and peaks of the Southern Alps appeared briefly before being lost in the clouds. The geography is quite wonderful to look at from above. We came in over the Canterbury plain, the large agricultural area on South Island, which is currenlty have a heat wave and drought. Most of the fields are brown.
Christchurch is called the "garden city", and the small part I've seen certainly deserves that nickname. Our hotel has wonderful gardens with koi ponds. After taking one of the 10 best showers of our lifetimes, we walked through one suburb to a local mall- to buy a few clothes to hold us over till the luggage arrives, and also to get something to eat. This is an area of very neat, one level houses, all with gardens full of flowers in bloom, subtropical tress and bushes, and a wonderful moist marine breeze. We hope to see more of it tomorrow, but for now, we are watching a cricket match on the telly, and tyring to stay awake at least until 6-7 pm so we can get on the local time here. Its good to be here, finally. Its been a really long two days.
Sunday, January 04, 2004
The Day Arrives
I'm writing this from the Air New Zealand terminal at LAX, waiting for them to call the flight. The last two days have been busy, to say the least. We've been "packing" all week; but didn't really put things into the suitcases until New Years Day night. Liz had a New Years Eve party and slept in late the next day. Leah and I went to see The Return of the King because I just couldn't leave for N.Z. without seeing it. Then we came home and started packing suitcases. We did this by getting everything out all over the living room floor and then trying to arrange it by "needed in the Caravan" vs. "needed in Winton later on". We got it down to 5 checked suitcases, and a carryon each, plus Liz's viola. Although two of the suitcases are huge. The universal packing list was really helpful, although mostly for being able to discuss what to take, what to buy there (flip-flops for example) and what we will just get along without.
After packing Thursday night, Liz stayed up till 4 AM and took Leah to the airport. She left at 5 AM and was back in Cleveland by 10 AM. Liz went to bed about 6. Then Friday morning the plumber showed up an hour early. Vicki had just put a load in the wash- we didn't expect them till 9 AM. I had to wake poor Liz back up and tell her it was "now or never" to use the bathroom. To winterize the house, we had the plumber drain all the pipes and blow them out. This meant no more water to wash clothes, house or hands. Worse, he put antifreeze down all the drains, so we couldn't even use the toilets. We cleaned up and finished preparing the place with a few runs to Vicki's mom's place in between. We set the thermostats to 50, turned the alarms on, said a prayer and left. The neighbors and friends will keep a close eye on the place. We have spent so much time planning and preparing that it is just a relief to finally be on our way.
I'm writing this from the Air New Zealand terminal at LAX, waiting for them to call the flight. The last two days have been busy, to say the least. We've been "packing" all week; but didn't really put things into the suitcases until New Years Day night. Liz had a New Years Eve party and slept in late the next day. Leah and I went to see The Return of the King because I just couldn't leave for N.Z. without seeing it. Then we came home and started packing suitcases. We did this by getting everything out all over the living room floor and then trying to arrange it by "needed in the Caravan" vs. "needed in Winton later on". We got it down to 5 checked suitcases, and a carryon each, plus Liz's viola. Although two of the suitcases are huge. The universal packing list was really helpful, although mostly for being able to discuss what to take, what to buy there (flip-flops for example) and what we will just get along without.
After packing Thursday night, Liz stayed up till 4 AM and took Leah to the airport. She left at 5 AM and was back in Cleveland by 10 AM. Liz went to bed about 6. Then Friday morning the plumber showed up an hour early. Vicki had just put a load in the wash- we didn't expect them till 9 AM. I had to wake poor Liz back up and tell her it was "now or never" to use the bathroom. To winterize the house, we had the plumber drain all the pipes and blow them out. This meant no more water to wash clothes, house or hands. Worse, he put antifreeze down all the drains, so we couldn't even use the toilets. We cleaned up and finished preparing the place with a few runs to Vicki's mom's place in between. We set the thermostats to 50, turned the alarms on, said a prayer and left. The neighbors and friends will keep a close eye on the place. We have spent so much time planning and preparing that it is just a relief to finally be on our way.
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