March 7-9

Once again several days have passed, and we’re now sitting in Fiji Airport, at 8PM on the 9^th, waiting for our connection to LA and then Miami, where we will arrive at almost midnight on the 9^th. We’ll have traveled over 31 hours in total, from when we left this AM for the airport in Auckland.  It will be good to be home with memories of such a magical trip.

March 7

We were up early again as we had a lot of territory to cover on this our next to last day before traveling home.

Our first stop was at Cape Reinga, an amazing spot. It’s the only point I know of where two oceans meet, The Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. We have pictures showing waves coming from two different directions meeting and crashing against each other. Wow!!! The walkway you followed was lovely to walk, with signs explaining about how the Maoris view this place. They believe that it’s where their spirits go before going beyond. The flora is different and a bit stunted due to all the salt water. There’s a lighthouse at the point which isn’t very tall in relationship to others we’ve seen, but on this point, it doesn’t need to be, as its light can be seen for miles around.

Once we returned to the starting point, there were a few Maoris asking/selling the planting of about five different types of plants, to help keep the soil from eroding and some had fruit for the birds to eat. It was a package deal of the plant you chose actually planted, a postcard of Cape Reinga, a card with the exact longitude and latitude of your plant, and a pen, all for 20.00 NZ, about 15.00 US. So, after planting the plant we went to our car and found a flat tire. One of the Maori men helped us change to the spare, a donut type thing. It was on Sunday, mid afternoon, and no place was open by the time we could get down to them to fix it, so we had to deal with that tire until Monday. Luckily not a big deal.

Given that, we still went exploring. We stopped at Spirit Bay where we had a picnic lunch. It was a beautiful bay with a gorgeous beach; I found some treasures for my bead embroidery.

On the way down the Cape, we also took a road which lead to the starting point of the Ninety Mile Beach tours, which drive along the sand dunes. It wasn’t at the beginning of the dunes, as you could see sand in both directions for as far as you could see. Quite impressive!

Our drive down to the Ferry across the Hokianga was a very pleasant one. The ferry holds up to about 27 vehicles and takes about 15 minutes to cross. On the crossing, we were parked next to a couple from Montana. Good conversation – this was their third trip to New Zealand.

The views on the road down to Kaihu, where we were staying for the night, were beautiful. Such eye candy all over the place, from the gorgeous water views to the peaceful pastoral ones. It just never stops. No internet at that stopover.

March 8

WE had driven past the Waipou Forrest the night before. Our original plan had been to stop there on our way south for the night, but due to the flat tire, we didn’t arrive at our destination until close to 8PM, so we hadn’t had time to stop to see the Kauri trees. Our goal was to see Tane Mahuta, considered the granddaddy of the Kauri trees there. Talk about massive. In the parking lot, we met a young Israeli man whose camera had broken and had wanted a photo of himself in front of Tane Mahuta. So, now we have to email him the photos we took of them.

Another stop in the forest was at the Four Sisters, four Kauri trees whose bases have grown together but whose trunks are separate. We walked all around them, as it started to rain.

After going north, we then had to go south to have the tire fixed in Dargaville. It was a nice town and it didn’t take as long as I had thought it would to fix the flat, which was due to a nail we had hit.

By that time, it was around 2pm and we wanted to go to Gulf Harbour to see the marina there; it’s a 1000 slip marina. Immense!!!!!!!!

Finally, we arrived back where we had started, with Meryl and Michael, our ATC hosts in Northcote, just north of Auckland. We went out for dinner in Takapuna, about 8 minutes away. The restaurant we tried had a special on Mondays all day, a kilo of mussels done is one of five ways. So, we had one order of mussels and one order of a lamb shank, last chance for NZ lamb. Both were delicious.

March 9

So, today. We had packed last night for the most part, but still needed to tweak it a bit. I travel with my own packer, who is amazing – great spatial vision. We were up early to finish up and then left after breakfast by 9AM, as the airline required that we arrive three hours in advance. We’ve been traveling ever since and still have hours to go. At least this leg is at night, about 11 hours, so we should be able to sleep.

See you soon. We’ll talk.

Feb 21 - Feb 28th

Feb 21

It’s now the night of the 24^th and who remembers what happened four days ago. So much, in reality, and all our experiences have been magical. I’ll have go back and see if I can reconstruct our days.

It’s good that I’m keeping an itinerary; otherwise I wouldn’t know where I was on which day. So much is packed into each one.  We spent the 21st in the Dunedin area. There’s so much to do there that it was hard to choose. This will be a stop on our next trip.

All of our stops were on the Peninsula, just outside of Dunedin. We first went to Larnach Castle, the only castle in the whole country. It looked like a castle with a tower, from which the view was incredible, overlooking the Bay and almost all the way to Dunedin. It was really a manor home. The gardens surrounding it were beautifully done. We only had time to visit a couple of them, as we had reservations for the Albatross Experience.

The Albatross tour is run by the DOC (Dept of Conservation) and is situated above the nesting area of the Royal Albatrosses. They study them and have been for years. We saw three nests but weren’t rewarded by seeing any chicks, as the nesting birds never got up to stretch while were there. We did see an albatross fly, as one of the young adults was circling around the area. It’s really interesting, as the birds fold their wings in thirds when at rest. Their wingspans are about 3 meters wide. They had a video camera watching another area we couldn’t see directly, which was of the duck-billed birds. We did see a number of those.

Then, we had about 20 minutes to get to our next tour, Nature’s Wonders, where we were in 8 wheel drive vehicles, on roads where we traveled up it felt like 60 degree roads, so the 8 wheel drive was really needed. All we saw were in natural environments. We saw fur seals with their pups. One pup was so cute – they were all so cute – as it moved from rock to rock, up a steep incline, following some birds. I was afraid it would slip and fall, far to the water, but it was sure footed (flippered). As it approached the birds, they flew away. What a surprise? The little fellow (maybe it was female, but who could tell?) slowly made his way down again. We got to see some blue penguins who were hiding in rocky caves, as they were molting and weren’t waterproof at this point. At another spot, we viewed a couple of yellow-eyed penguins. The land is all owned by one family, who has been giving tours for the last 40 years. They whole family work it, and they were there; we were talking to a man before the tour started who turned out to be Dad. The older son, a real cutie, drove our vehicle. Of course, he paid most attention to the two beautiful young girls from Germany.

It was a full day.

Feb 22

This was a travel day. We did go to the Art Museum in Dunedin in the morning and then left for a long drive. Our ultimate goal was Hanmer Springs, but we didn’t plan on making it until the night of the 23^rd.

We did have an interesting experience on the way. We passed a house with wonderful stained glass windows – Art hadn’t seen it, so we turned around and went back. We got out of the car and I was walking towards the house while Art shot some photos. I heard people talking inside, so I called Hello. Turns out that a young couple own this old Church, because that’s what it was. The stained glass windows weren’t the originals, although parts of the originals were used in the new ones. They had bought the property, which included the church, and had built their house on it. Now, they were renovating the church into a guest house. It was fantastic, with Gothic arches throughout. I really loved what they were doing with it. We talked further, and she is an artist with her studio also on their property, just a short walk from the church. So, off we went to her studio. Really nice work.

Feb 23

Hanmer Springs. We got there around 6pm, and after checking in, we dashed off to the hot springs for which they are famous. It was great. Soaking in the hot water, then going into cooler water. The place was so well done and so attractive.

Feb 24

We traveled to Kiakoura, which is on the coast. We got there in time for our Whale Watching tour. We got to see two whales at different times, another seal colony, and a couple of different types of albatrosses. It was a great tour. After the tour, we were going to travel on, but as we hadn’t made any reservations, we decided to stay in Kiadoura. It was charming, and although it was touristy, it still called to us.

Feb 25

We booked for Picton to make the 2pm Ferry across to Wellington. However, we did have time to stop at a scenic overlook, which turned out to be a fabulous spot to watch a seal colony. More pups!!! There was a natural pool made by the rocks, high in the rocks, and there was a whole group of about 8-10 seal pups playing in the pool. They were such a treat!!!

On the crossing, we did some planning on where to go & for how long on North Island.

Once we arrived, we returned to our Servas hosts in Lower Hutt to pick up the bag of foods we (I) had left there when we first crossed to South Island. It was really nice touching bases again with them, but we had decided we wanted to be in Wellington, near Te Papa, the wonderful museum, which we were going to visit on the 26^th.

We ended up staying at a BBH, backpackers place, where neither of us liked the energy, but we figured it was only one night. There were also a lot of smokers, which we hadn’t seen before. It was a big place and maybe that had something to do with it. Anyway, it was only one night.

Feb 26

After visiting Te Papa, which was wonderful and took most of the day, we headed out to Palmerston North and lovely Servas Hosts, Robyn and Kevin Salisbury. We really enjoyed their company and were sorry that we only planned on one night with them. We were their first Servas Travelers. They told us they were spoiled for anyone else, a nice thing to say. We’re hoping that they will come visit us in FL.

Feb 27

Before taking off for our next stop, we attended a Farmer’s Market with Robyn and Kevin. It was huge, but they produce wasn’t organic. Still, it was interesting and we did buy some produce.

Then, we headed north to Acacia Bay, next to Taupo, on Lake Taupo, and our next Servas Host, Peter Cox. We took the long way there. Instead of going straight up the inside of the Country, we headed for the coast, going through Hastings and Napier. We stopped at a winery for lunch before getting to those two towns, and lunch was lovely.

I keep meaning to mention Cattery to you. A kennel is where you can board a dog, and a cattery is where you can board a cat. They are separate places, although sometimes one place advertises itself as a kennel and cattery. I just love the word – Cattery. Thought I’d share that with you.

Have you ever had a Black Boy peach? It has a dark skin and is purple on the inside. Neither of us cared for them, but it may have been that they weren’t completely ripe.

Before we got to Taupo, we passed a sign saying Scenic Overlook. That was all. So, we decided to take a look at the scenic part. It turned out to be the most fantastic waterfall – actually it was one source of water for three falls. Incredible. Pictures to follow. Yeah, yeah, I know – where are the photos? They’re coming.

Feb 28

Peter is a dear. He took us around to see Huka Falls. It was a true force of nature. Lots of photos of this one. Then we went to a place where they blow glass, but no demonstrations were going on. We had a delicious lunch there. I had wanted to go to the Mosaic Sculpture Garden, and the artist was a friend of Peter’s. It was incredible, as she had created a whole living room outside made of mosaics!  

Our afternoon was filled with sailing on Lake Taupo in Peter’s 22 ft. boat. The winds were light, but it didn’t matter. He took us to a cove where some years ago an unknown Maori had carved a huge, and I mean huge, Maori face on a tallllllll rock. There were also carvings of a big lizard and other creatures on the rocks at the base of the tallllllll one.

I needed lemons, so Peter went to his neighbors and picked a couple for me. I cooked a delicious stir fry dinner.

That’s all for now.

FIJI at Last

This was written on January 26th, and now it is January 30th, the first time I've been able to upload from my computer.

OMG – we’re in Fiji!

The flight took almost 11 hours, but I slept off and on for about 5 ½ hrs of that time. Got to watch a movie, Bandslam, which was entertaining if not the best movie I’ve ever seen. I also read and finished an easy read book, nothing great or I’d tell you about it. What can I say about airline food? I’d ordered a gluten-free meal and my dinner was smoked salmon on two rice cakes with a leaf of lettuce. I took the salmon off the white rice cakes and put it on one of my millet, brown rice, flax seed crackers from Sami’s Bakery, which I order on line. They have great pizza crusts and a nice spinach wrap I use too. My breakfast then consisted of eggs with a bit of chopped tomato and a bit of chopped spinach and was tasty, much to my surprise.

We arrived at 5:15AM at Nadi Airport in Fiji. Our hotel, Club Fiji, sent a van to pick us up. By 6:30AM we were in our room, Bure 4, (a bure is a small place, some have walls and some don’t) as I had booked our room for the night before, so we could have early check in and have a place to put our heads down for a bit before the day really started. We slept for another hour and a half, got dressed, and went on a ½ day tour, which took us to the Sleeping Giant Gardens, which Raymond Burr, who played Ironsides, had planted. You can’t imagine the colors of all the orchids. Art snapped photos of maybe two dozen compositions I’m going to play with when I have time using my Chinese inks and brush painting. Then, the tour, we were in a taxi for two, took us to Laukota, a small city, to the market. It was really two markets, one fresh veggies and fruits, and the other handicrafts. I was impressed with the food but not the handicrafts. Not that they don’t have beautiful hand made items here, but the market was really small and I saw very little that was of interest. Although, I did like the tapas which were made from tree bark; we just don’t have anywhere to hang one. We also stopped at First Landing, which is now a resort, but is the place where Captain Cook first landed in Fiji, at least I think it was Captain Cook. They’ve developed the small island, just of the mainland of Fiji, into the shape of a left foot. Very picturesque to see. Glad we stopped. Back to the hotel for lunch, where there was very little on the menu for me to eat, so they made me a piece of grilled MahiMahi and some salad on the side – wonderful.

We had made reservations for massages on the beach for late afternoon. It was so peaceful and there was a lovely breeze under the bure (here it was open with a thatch roof). And best of all, it was relaxing. After my massage, I went first, I went back to our room and took a nap. Traveling is tiring. Art came back after his and we both slept a bit more, showered, dressed and went in for dinner. The main area of Club Fiji is all open. You first go to the reception area in the front and to the left is an area with a wide screen TV for sports or to watch DVDs. Next to that is the restaurant. The chairs are really comfortable and each has a bolster cushion to lean against. Many of the views are of the beach, water, other islands, and the sunset, which was a bit disappointing after the spectacular sunset we saw from Brian’s kitchen our last night in LA. Here, there were a lot of clouds and no fabulous colors; in LA, the oranges had a touch of pink to them and then as they started to dissipate, the orange intensified and so did the pink to a deep fuchsia, which I’d never seen before. We did not get a photo of it, I’m sorry to say.

WE ordered only Fijian items for dinner. I had two appetizers for my meal – one was Kokoda, which is a local white fish marinated in coconut milk and lime juice with a bit of spices and raw vegetables in it; it was served cold and was wonderful. My second item was Palusami, which consists of tomatoes, onions, and spices wrapped in taro leaves and steamed. I envisioned these packets of leaves folded around the inner ingredients, but it was a soft mixture of the steamed items, almost a mush but a nice texture, served with white rice. This was very tasty too, and Art liked this item better than the marinated fish. He order a dish called Ika Vakalolo, which was also the local fish cooked in coconut milk with lots of vegetables in it, served with fried cassava on the side. It was extremely flavorful.

After dinner, we checked out, as we have to leave for the airport at 6AM tomorrow morning and reception will be closed. We’re now back in our room, Art is sleeping, and I knew if I didn’t start writing things down, I’d never get to it. So, off to bed for now. I’ll write more later, as I can’t post this until I have an internet connection.

Reminiscing about LA:

Our last night at Brian’s was a delicious one. I was feeling really tired, so I took a nap, and he cooked dinner by himself, which he usually does with Grace as his sous chef, except I usually work with him when we’re visiting. He made my lemon Chicken recipe, so easy and delicious – I’ll write it down at the end of this blog entry. With it he made broccoli rabe in olive oil and sliced garlic – wonderful, and I love the flavor of a bit of bitter in the greens. Then, I had roasted an eggplant earlier in the day, and Brian made a pasta sauce, as he had a friend over who was vegetarian, of eggplant, zucchini, onion, red peppers, and fire roasted diced tomatoes which he served over my rice pasta; I can’t think of the pasta brand, but it’s very good as it doesn’t get soggy. I’ll have to add the brand at a later date. Dinner was yummy.

On Sunday the 24th (we flew out at night on a 9:20PM flight), we met our oldest friends for brunch. It's been so long since I wrote that I may have already written about this, so I won't again.

Wednesday, the 27th

We flew on that early morning flight to Auckland, a three hour flight; after our other flight, this one felt as if it went very quickly. Luckily, it was uneventful, the best kind.

We were picked up by our car rental company and it proceeded to take 2 hours to get our car. We went through three before we were satisfied. The first had a wet trunk and we felt it wasn't a good idea to travel that way. The second one wouldn't start so they changed the battery, and it still wouldn't start. Not an auspicious beginning. Finally, the third car came and it's fine. I do have to tell you - DON'T RENT FROM QUALITY CAR HIRE, as their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

Finally, we were on our way to Meryl and Michael Hartshorn's home. They're members of ATC (Affordable Travel Club), a  good group to join., which allows you to stay with people for up to 4 nights at 20.00-30.00/night. Our hosts were lovely and spent a great deal of time helping us deal with the issues of finding a cell phone and planning out our trip. Although we're still winging it, they made lots of suggestions. When we first got to them, we were too tired to do any sightseeing, so we rested a bit and then went out for dinner by ourselves. They provided breakfast both mornings we were with them.

Art and I really like staying with people. We've been members of an organization called Servas since the early 90s, which was first formed after WWII, to promote peace around the world. Servas members are either hosts or travelers, and you don't have to be one in order to be the other. Joining them allows you to stay up to two nights in people's homes; no money is exchanged, and they provide two breakfasts, one dinner, and you either take them out for dinner or cook for them in their home. It's a wonderful organization. We first joined when we were going to Italy and we were travelers. We had such a good time that when we came home, we joined as hosts and have been host ever since. For the last 3 years we've been day hosts and haven't had anyone call. Oh well. Hopefully they will this year! Staying with people really gives traveling a whole different flavor, one we really love. Some of our most treasured moments were because of Servas hosts making suggestions of what to see and our changing our plans to follow their suggestions.

I'll write about our first sightseeing day in Auckland a bit later. Off to bed for now.