Ramblings from March to May 3, 2010 with a recipe

3/31/10

We watched Julie and Julia last night, which has inspired me to start blogging again. Since we returned from New Zealand earlier this month, it has been a whirlwind, so in reality, there has been very little time to sit and write. I still have tons of things to do that have been pushed aside until now.

We had a couple of days, after we got home, before Brian, our older son, flew in to help celebrate my Uncle Irwin’s 90^th birthday. My sister, Karen, drove over from the west coast of FL, and our other son, Steven, came up from the Kendal area; so, we had a houseful that 1^st weekend home from our seven week trip. 

The party was wonderful, from the music to the delicious food served. We ate, laughed, and danced. We got to meet May’s (my uncle’s lady) three sons from the Boston area, who were all in FL for the party. We look forward to seeing them again.

Brian stayed for the week, but Steven went home on the Monday, while I drove over to the west coast for a visit with my sister and good friend Reggi, at whose house we stayed. We had a great time talking and beading and exploring. Of course, much of the time was spent on food, talking about it, buying it, or preparing it. We went to the Whole Foods Market in Naples on our way home, to be sure we had organic food to cook. Reggi was away for the first couple of days, so we were cooking for only two, not that three makes a big difference, especially when you have two working together prepping and cooking, it takes no time at all.

04/20/10

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, and probably again, that it’s unreal how fast the time goes by. I really meant to write my blog on an almost daily basis but if you’re looking at the dates, it’s been close to three weeks since I last added anything. It’s been three weeks of walking in the mornings, yes! I’ve finally started to walk with my neighbor, Phil. We used to walk four or five times a week before my last surgery, but had stopped at that point, and now we’re back at it. It feels good to be up and out in the mornings. Walking with a buddy makes the time go quickly then too.

04/29/10

I got up from the computer to get a glass of water, and didn’t get back to this blog until now.

05/03/10

OPPS. Certainly didn’t write much on the 29^th, did I? I must have be distracted for the moment. Have you ever read about AAADD. Here it is, so you’ll know what I’m talking about:

AAADD

KNOW THE SYMPTOMS.....PLEASE READ!

Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder.

Somehow I feel better, even though I have it!!

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. -

Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden. 

As I turn on the hose in the driveway,

I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage,

I notice mail on the porch table that

I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table,

put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,

and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back

on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think,

since I'm going to be near the mailbox

when I take out the garbage anyway,

I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table,

and see that there is only one check left

My extra checks are in my desk in the study,

so I go inside the house to my desk where

I find the can of soda I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks,

but first I need to push the soda aside

so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The soda is getting warm,

and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the soda,

a vase of flowers on the counter

catches my eye - they need water.

I put the soda on the counter and

discover my reading glasses that

I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk,

but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter,

fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.

Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we watch TV,

I'll be looking for the remote,

but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table,

so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs,

but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers,

but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table,

get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to

remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

the car isn't washed 

the bills aren't paid

there is a warm can of soda sitting on the counter

the flowers don't have enough water ,

there is still only 1 check in my check book,

I can't find the remote,

I can't find my glasses,

and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,

I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day,

and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem,

and I'll try to get some help for it,

but first I'll check my e-mail.....

Can you relate? I can. This must be what happens to me. This is NOT an original, although it would be nice if I had written it. It was in an email sent to me and then I found it again on the internet in a joke site.

I find that I’ve started spending more time on writing my cookbook, so maybe I should just post that writing, starting with a recipe. Although, I’m working on the intro to the book, not recipes at the moment, but…..

Here’s one I’d love to share:

Ginger-Almond Spread

I use this as a base for a sandwich on a rice wrap, and then I add sliced cucumber, tomato, and avocado. Sometimes, I thin it down a bit and use it as a salad dressing. It’s delicious on steamed broccoli too.

½ cup almond butter, organic

½ teaspoon Real Salt or other Sea Salt

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated

½ teaspoon dehydrated organic onion

1 lemon, juiced 

1 garlic clove, chunked

Filtered water

Put all the ingredients, except the water, in a food processor and blend well. Taste and adjust the ingredients (sometimes I add more lemon juice or dehydrated onion). It will need to be thinned with some filtered water. Add a bit at a time, as you want to keep it thicker so it can be spread, and when needed, it can be thinned to use it as a dressing.

Bon Appetite.

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.

March 6

Addendum

This was supposed to be about food as well as thought, and I realize that I haven’t spoken about food very much. But, that’s the way it is.

However, I did mean to mention about the market that was in the town center when we arrived in Paihia on the 4^th. There was a woman selling fresh fish;  her husband is a commercial fisherman and had brought in tuna that morning. All I can say is YUM. I put a bit of wheat-free tamari and lemon juice on it and Art grilled it. That with a delicious mix of curried vegetables (broccoli, onion, carrots, red pepper, and a bit of fennel) and a big multi-thing salad made a great meal that night.

On the 5^th, the Cunard line’s Queen Mary was visiting on her world cruise. The locals put on an Art Festival in the same city center green area as the fair from the day before. They had some nice art and loads of interesting crafts, from knitted goods, to dyed silk scarves and felted ones, wood carving and turning, and lots more.

March 6

We were up early again in order to have our Maori cultural experience. What a time we had. We were the only people in the group, and our Maori hosts were wonderful. I can’t wait for you to see the waka, or great canoe, in which we traveled. Although we didn’t learn to paddle, as there were only the two of us, registered for that tour, and two of them and they used the faster paddles (small outboard engine, it was more than we ever expected. On the way to their Marae, or meeting place, Hone gave us a history lesson about his ancestors and their travels on the oceans. Judy was handling the faster paddles while we were engrossed. Once there, we were invited onto their sacred space and more info was divulged. We were also invited to talk about what brought to this place in time. It was all very moving. We found out that they’re good friends with Manu and Ata, the Maoris we met when we were at Bruce’s workshop almost two summers ago. While at the workshop, we had dinner with Manu and Ata one night, and on the last day, they did a healing ceremony for me/on me. Both are healers here in their country. Unfortunately, we had not been able to reach them before we arrive in NZ, and although I’ve emailed Ata a couple of times, we’ve never heard back. Judy said that she would call with Manu’s phone number; so, we’re hoping to still get in touch.

While still at the Marae, two others, who tend the land for the tribe, came over with tea and sweets, including delicious kiwis. They have a wonderful garden, tend sheep, and have roosters and chickens.

After leaving the Marae, we continued on the river to Hururu Falls, a local tourist destination. It was great seeing it from the water. It’s a nice waterfall but very short.

The tour was suppose to end between 12:30pm and 1:00. We didn’t get back until 2pm. It was a wonderful time.

On our way out of Paihia and Kerikeri, we stopped at Rainbow Falls, not far from where we stayed. Talk about a waterfall. Wow!!! There were a multitude of different falls from the same source of water, all different amounts. Another set of great photos you'll eventually see.

The ride north and west to Pukenui, where we’re staying tonight, was nice. We stopped in Mangonui, a lovely little town on Doubtless Bay. There was an artist’s co-op we ventured into. Kathy, who was manning it for the day, is a knitter and quite good. She’s also a sailer and Canadian. For years now, she and her husband have been living for 6 months a year in Canada and 6 months on their boat here in NZ. She was full of info on cruising grounds. Very interesting.

We’re at a BBH tonight in a renovated house over a 110 years old. Thank goodness the kitchen isn’t that old. I made a nice stir-fry of veggies and tempee over some rice noodles. I also baked the other Zimbabwe squash we had bought. It was as sweet as the first one. I have enough food for a whole other meal.

March 1 - 5

Can it really be March already? I let this go another day, so today is actually the 5th. We're covering so much territory, all of it great, and time keeps moving forward.

March 1


Before we left Lake Taupo, Peter had us follow him to show us the mural that he worked on in town. It was about 10 years old but still vibrant.  So, after that, off we went away from Acacia Bay towards Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Our first stop was at Orakei Korado, a totally natural hot springs, cave, with a thermal mud pools. You arrive at the center and have to take a short ferry ride across the lake to reach it. It's a walking tour that takes about an hour to an hour and a half to do. The place was amazing. It was totally natural and the scape looked so foreign. There were several geysers, none of the bigger ones went off when we were there, but we did see a couple, and the sulfur aroma was not too harsh. Again, great photos. The cave was a real hike both up and down and there were several mud pools, each had different size bubbles which plopped and then radiated out.

From there, we drove to Rotorua for a picnic lunch at the Gardens. We walked around a bit and drove around a bit and left. The architecture was really interesting, but we had decided that we wouldn't go to a Maori experience there. We were planning on doing something in the Paihia area, within the next few days.

We stayed in Whitianga with Servas hosts, Heather and Tony, both in their late 70s. What an inspiration they are! They're so full of energy and life. It was really a wonderful and interesting visit. They're world travelers.

March 2


In the morning, Tony took us around Whitianga, from down to the beaches to up the hill, showing us a fabulous view. It's a cute small town with an organic market - not every town has one. The beaches were lovely. Our next stop with Tony was to a Kauri Grove about 40 minutes away towards Coromadel Town. We hadn't seen Kauris before - they're huge and their bark is very different from everything we've known. It almost looks like scales of a fish. The scales fall off from time to time, and that's how the trees protect themselves from vines growing on them and suffocating them.

Back home to Heather we went. She had been expecting us and fixed us lunch. This is really unusual when you stay with Servas hosts. Usually, they make breakfast and one dinner, and you, as the travelers, either take them out for dinner or cook the second night. Even when you spend the day together, which sometimes happens if they're not busy and your plans can accommodate it, you will rarely have lunch at home. With Peter in Taupo, when he took us around, we took him out for lunch, which is usually what occurs. Heather and Tony were generous with both their time and efforts.

We left them after lunch to go to Cathedral Cove, a truly amazing place. It was about a half hour drive. But then, it's suppose to be a 45 min walk - not for us. It's a bit rocky and steep in certain areas, so it took us a bit longer to get there, and then again, to go back. However, we did make it in both directions, as one woman said to me as we had just started the trek and she was just finishing it. And, of course, we were there for a while, Art taking photos and me practicing a bit of Chi Gung. The beach is beautiful and there is a natural big arch worn through the rock at the end of the beach, which opens onto the next beach. It was a huge archway and really felt like a Cathedral when you were inside it.

It was necessary to go within about 1 1/2 - 2 hrs of low tide, and this was right after the tsunami was expected, after the quake in Chile. We weren't sure what it was going to be like, as we had heard that the tides were faster than usual in turning around. It was fine when we were at Cathedral Cove, but we were a bit late getting to our next destination, Hot Water Beach. We got to see people in the pools they had dug, but the tide was definitely in and started to wash away the pools in which they were sitting. The idea there is to dig a pool out and warm/hot water fills in, so you can sit in your own hot spring pool. So we saw it but didn't get to participate.

On the way back to Heather & Tony's, we stopped at a potter's home studio, advertised on the main road. It was really interesting, as they had built their own home and it was all art. It had been featured in a magazine, and we were able to see the article. We had a great time talking with them but didn't buy anything.

I cooked dinner for Heather & Tony, a very vegetable pasta dish (rice pasta), large salad, and I made an herb butter, but the bread had been made by Tony.

March 3


We left Heather and Tony and drove to Coromandel to explore a bit. It's a neat little town, but we really liked Whitianga better and were glad that we had stayed where we did. We went to see a couple of potters just north of town, and I finally bought something but not a mug, which is what I usually buy on a trip. I have a whole collection of different mugs and really remember buying each one at an art show or on a trip. so, they bring back memories. I bought a neat small rectangular dish and I can't wait to use it. Petra, the artist, uses a couple of different types of glazing techniques, and I particularly liked the salt glaze.

Near Petra, we had lunch at a really great organic cafe; the salad was wonderful with some pear in it and lots of veggies. Art had the vegetable lasagna.

Then, we had to buggy. It was a really long drive, and we didn't have any reservations for the night's stay, as we didn't know where we would end up. We wanted to get as far north of Auckland as we could. We ended up in Orewa, a seaside resort area. It was really tough getting a room, but we finally found one right on the beach. Our room opened onto a lawn, which we had to cross to get to the beach. It was a lovely night but really late when we finally ate dinner.

March 4

Chi Gung was lovely on the beach the next morning. Our room had been like a studio with a sitting area, queen bed, and small fully equipped kitchenette. There were 2 packages of chocolate chip cookies and envelopes for hot chocolate. Art was in heaven.

We left and headed north, sort of. We kept taking the coast roads, which were filled with beautiful agricultural areas and seascapes. We had a picnic lunch under a tree on an estuary in Mangawhai. What a lovely spot. There were several houses sharing the same view.

We had to drive through Paihia to pay for the tour we were going to take on the 5th; it was a full day cruise called the Cream Trip, as they really do deliver groceries, including dairy products, and the mail to the outer islands in the Bay of Islands. We're staying at BBH in Kerikeri, and it's a Farm Stay, an orchard farm. Lovely place and nice people.

March 5

We had to be dockside by 9:15am, for a 9:30am departure. It was a beautiful day today, although it started out cool on board, as the catamaran cruises at about 14 knots and the wind was from the south. Luckily, we had brought something to put on, but quite a few others hadn't. We visited a multitude of the islands in the bay, not getting off but navigating past slowly. Our skipper was not only a great skipper but also gave a lot of history along the way. We went to Hole in the Rock, at the very end of the Bay of Islands, and cruised through it. It was really a treat. We were sitting next to two other couples, a young couple from Melbourne, Australia, and one a bit younger than us from Reno, NV. We had a lot of fun just talking as well as watching the sights. When we arrived at one of the islands, everyone got off. Art and I joined John, the Maori guide, who did a walking tour to give us the history of his tribe and that place. During the trip, we chased to an area where a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins were playing. We must have followed them for almost a half hour. It was great. We could see one baby and its mother; all the others seemed grown. I love dolphins. When we were cruising in the 80s and would see dolphins, all seemed right with the world; it was such a serene feeling.

We're still in Kerikeri tonight.

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.

Feb 18-20

Feb. 18

Last night, we stayed in studio type cottage behind a woman’s home. Erin was lovely and I’ll keep her info for anyone who might be interested in staying in Lake Tekepo. She had a vegetable garden and fresh herbs she was more than willing to share. I ended up using some fresh mint of hers, and I almost pulled a couple of red beets, but decided not to cook our dinner last night, instead, I made a big salad using left over quinoa for our protein. The weather continued to be rainy and raw. After having our salads, we took a drive around the small town and had taken a left turn at an historic site sign. There was this lovely small stone church built around 1840. There wasn’t enough light to take good photos, so we decided to stop there first thing after leaving Erin’s in the morning.

So, that’s what we did. We stopped at the church and have great photos. It’s right on Lake Tekepo and while looking at the altar, you can see the lake, which is quite large. Every site is so amazing.

Then, off to Aoraki - Mt. Cook, to take the Tasman Glacier tour, or so we thought. It was still nasty out, drizzling and raw, and they had cancelled the 8:30am and 10:00am tours. They were going to take the group to the starting point, about a half hour drive, but they weren’t sure they would continue with the tour. So, we oped out. Instead, we went to the information center, which was the most beautiful set up of its type I’ve ever seen. It was a wonder in and of its own. Photos to follow.

After spending a bit of time there, we drove to the blue lakes for a sight of the Tasman Glacier. We stopped for a picnic lunch at the camping area near the start of the hike to the blue lakes. At this point, it wasn't drizzling, just really overcast and nasty out. 

I thought I would do the 30-40 min walk, but as it was still so raw and once again it was drizzly, I decided not to. I took a rest, closed my eyes, while Art took the hike. So, I got to see photos when Art came back; he told me I had made the right choice, but I still felt like a wuss. However, it WAS good energy management.

Tonight, we’re in Wanaka at X Base, a youth hostel. It’s relatively new, and although the rooms are small, they are very nice, and are en suite (with bathroom). It was hard to find a place to stay here, and I can understand why, as it’s a lovely town with an abundance of outdoor activities. We’re signed up for a boat tour, which includes going to glaciers and walking to waterfalls. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the weather has broken and it will be warmish and sunny, although not too warm.

We had dinner near by our hostel and it was really cold out with a strong wind, although it had been beautiful out when we arrived in Wanaka. We had left the rain a bit further north.

Feb 19

Woke up this morning to an absolutely beautiful day – sunny with no clouds visible. The temperature was just bit cool but promised to get warmer.

We got picked up for our jet boat trip to the glacier around mid morning. There were eight of us on the trip. It was so neat, and although the sun was out, we were going so fast that it was really cool/cold on the water. It was about an hour’s trip up the river to see the glacier (from afar), which had two waterfalls coming form it; we were told that it was 3.5 kilometers across, but it looked much smaller, also that the ice was 150 meters deep. So gorgeous. On the way to the place where we were going to hike across a meadow, we passed a couple of mountains that were used in scenes from all three of Lord of the Rings movies. The meadow we trekked across had cows, which had swum across the river from where they were suppose to live, and we had to watch out for the cow patties, not a difficult thing to do as they are so large. At the far end of the meadow, we found a fabulous water fall we could walk up to. It was a magical trip and the scenery was spectacular.

We had a bite of lunch once back in Wanaka, then took off to head into Queenstown. On the way, we stopped numerous times for photo ops, as usual. We made a stop in Arrowtown, an old gold mining town that has been restored. The original names on the buildings aren’t the shops that are in the buildings now. It was quaint and we were glad we’d stopped. On to Queenstown, where the first place we went was to the gondola up the mountain. What a ride with a view overlooking the lake! It was incredible. We decided not to have the buffet dinner at the restaurant at the top of the mountain, but we walked around and enjoyed the scenery. We ended up having dinner at FINZ, a seafood place on the wharf, really nice. The oysters were about the best I’ve ever had. We both ate the turbot, which was really unusual, as we usually order two different things, so we can share. They were excellent. Then, onto Cromwell to sleep, about a 40 minute drive from Queenstown. It was a long enjoyable day. And the weather was exceptional.

Feb 20

We got up and out relatively early. They also had an old town center, like Arrowtown but not like Arrowtown, made up of restored buildings from the gold rush era of the 1860s, 1870s. It was much smaller and had a small museum in the old newspaper building, showing old printing presses too. A lot was preserved.

When we left Cromwell, we ambled through Clyde, where they had a small group of vendors outside the iSite, or information center; there were some very good craft artists there. We asked about a place to have a picnic lunch and were told that by Shaky Bridge would be a nice place. With a name like that, we couldn’t resist the stop. By this time, it was really hot out, but we were able to find a bit of shade, so we could enjoy lunch. After eating, we walked across the bridge, and it was only a little shaky. It was first built for the gold miners to cross over the river.

Greg, the jeweler we had met in Akoroa, had told us to go through Taieri Mouth on our way to Dunedin. So, we did, and the scenery was wonderful. The South Pacific Ocean runs along the coast of this small town, totally untouched by tourists – there was a real fishing fleet, not for tourists, and we would have loved to have gotten some fresh fish, but all was closed.

Tonight, we’re staying at a backpackers place called Hogwartz, showing lots of influences of Harry Potter. Lovely big kitchen, so I cooked a broccoli, garlic, and fennel sauce for pasta. Yummy.

Good night.

Feb 14th - 17th

Feb 14

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Ours was low key and another wonderful day in NZ.

We started the day slowly, which was wonderful, having breakfast with our host, Stephen. Then, we were off to an outdor market, very few organic items there at two vendors, but it was interesting to see what they did have, lots of food stuff, such as honey from their own hives, and olive oils and marinated olives from their own groves. Even fresh fish, both fillets and whole fish, was being sold; so was fresh meats. We bought a whole local fish, as I planned on cooking dinner. Stephen had to work, so it was just the two of us for dinner. I baked the fish, stuffed with sliced garlic, fresh thyme, and fresh rosemary; I put a bit of olive oil and the garlic and fresh herbs on top of the fish as well, and covered it with aluminum foil. Yum! I served it with cauliflower which had been steamed with whole cloves of garlic and the all of it mashed with a bit of salt and pepper to taste, and some fresh greens, like kale but not kale, which I had sautéed with a bit of olive oil and garlic. Tasty. The cauliflower is suppose to be a healthy mashed potatoes, and we like the dish even more than we do mashed potatoes.

Our afternoon had been spent with Stephen until he had to leave around 2:45pm. Then, we left to take a look at Christchurch. We plan on going back on Tuesday, as there is much to see and it’s mostly all in the same area downtown. It was fun driving around exploring. We’re going to take a walking tour to start, when we go in again.

Feb 15

Akaroa is a harbor town a bit east out of Christchurch. It was settled by the French, so, it still has that influence. As usual, we took our time getting there, stopping to explore galleries and taking photos along the way. It’s so incredible as all the vistas here are eye candy. Before reaching Akaroa, we stopped at Hilltop Cafe for lunch, where the view was indescribable; the sight of the many coves and small towns along Akaroa Bay, with a peninsula in the middle of the Bay is so difficult to describe – Art took several photos which will be put together as a panoramic photo, so you will see it too. Go to their web site to see what it looks like. Lunch was delicious; Art had green-lipped muscles (I kept a half shell for my bead embroidery project) in a garlic sauce, and I had a fabulous tomato basil soup. I got the recipe, from Laurie, the owner, and it will be in my cookbook; I need to tweak it a little bit and hope it will be as tasty as theirs was.

Finally, we arrived in Akaroa, a really nice small town with lovely galleries, clothing stores featuring merino wool and possum combinations, and a great waterfront. We got there too late for any of the harbour cruises, but it was so raw and cold out that that was fine. We walked around, in and out of stores, walking along the water, and holding hands. We went into one store, Brereton Jewellers , featuring blue pearls, which are farmed using abalones (called PAUA here), so the colors of the mabe pearls are gorgeous and their luster is high quality. Think about the colors in an abalone shell where the colors range from a fuchia, to greys, to greens, and to shades of blue. Really lovely. Greg, who is one of the jewelers, making settings for their mabe pearls, was informative, both about the pearls and suggestions for us of where to go sightseeing further south. You can see what they do at the above link.

One suggestion he made was that we skip Lyttleton and go to Sumner to have dinner, which is what we did, and the drive there was gorgeous, taking the long way back to the Hilltop Cafe before continuing on to Sumner. We actually ate dinner in Christchurch, as the restaurants we found in Sumner didn’t suit what we were interesting in eating. However, the trip was worth it for the fabulous views we had.

Another special day in NZ. We really like it here a lot and highly recommend others to come explore.

The following was added on another day.

The 16^th

The 16^th found us in Christchurch.

We spent the morning with Stephen at home. He gave me a healing session and it was amazing. I’ve been having some discomfort with my left hip; I had trouble crossing my ankle over my right leg. Now I can do it easily. I felt a softening and an opening while he was doing his energy work. Yes!

We left him close to noon, so we could get to Christchurch for the 1PM guided walking tour. It was a beautiful sunny day in the high 60s – what a day for a stroll. It was very informative and I really like the architecture, much of which is Gothic. We ended up near the Botanic Gardens, so that was our next step. I really liked much of the Gardens, but a goodly portion was open spaces with huge trees around; some were Sequoias, which was a big surprise.

Then, off to another market, an organic market. It’s a bit different here than in the States. A health store is strictly supplements and an organic market can be either just produce or both produce and other products. I’ve found other items here that I’m enjoying, such as chick pea flour chips.

We got back to Stephen’s in time for me to make a dinner of quinoa with rosemary and olive oil, the combination of leftover cauliflower and greens, steamed fresh broccolini from the Sunday market, and cold leftover fish, which was really tasty cold.

We’ve tried to watch some of the Olympics but they’re showing only very short bits at night. If you want to see them, you need to be up at 5:30AM, which I’m not planning on doing any time soon. Our days are too filled with wondrous sights and events to have to cut them short due to getting up early and being tired.

Feb 17

We had hoped to leave Stephen’s by 10am and were only 20 minutes late. I needed only some hummus to round out our supplies, so we went looking for an organic market we had heard about to see if we could score some there. We found it and the veggies and fruits were great – we ended up buying some more fresh produce, but that’s all they sold. So, we were then on our way to Lake Tekepo. However, we had to pass through Rangiora and I needed a head, so we stopped at the market. While there, I took care of business, Art bought some more wine and water, and I found my organic hummus. Good score.

Today was a bit warmer than yesterday but very overcast, so our trip to Lake Tekepo was not as long as it could have been. We stopped once to look at a river, which was such a beautiful shade of blue, not quite a turquoise. Actually, Art shot some video of it as well as a couple of stills.

Miracles do happen – I mentioned that I wanted to find a picnic table for lunch that had toilets near it, as we hadn’t seen anything like that on this leg of the trip. I closed my eyes for a few minutes and low and behold, around the bend was exactly what I wanted. It was too cool to eat at the tables but we used the facilities and ate in the car under some lovely trees.

We next stopped at a place that advertised jewelry with a big sign out by the road. We drove in to see a house with a smaller building next to it, designed the same as the house. A lovely lady greeted us. They import silver jewelry and some hand made from a woman in Christchurch. It was okay, but the best was that we started to talk. We were going to Lake Tekepo so we could take the Stargazing Tour tonight. There’s a great observatory here on Mt. John, and they do night tours of the sky with powerful telescopes. While talking, she gave us a postcard from the tour, and what a sight it was. We all live with too much illumination around us to see our night skys clearly. Unfortunately, it’s raining, so they canceled the tour for tonight. We’re soooooooo disappointed. On the other hand, it means an early night and a good night’s sleep so we can rise early and be ready to leave for Mt Cook and the Tasman Glacier Tour tomorrow.

One other tidbit. We saw a sign for Hanging Rock Bridge, which caught our fancy. It was only 11 kilometers down a side road, so off we went. We stopped at an historic site of an old Kiln from the 1870s. It was big and looked a bit like the tower of a castle – just the tower, not the whole castle. The view opposite it was beautiful – more photo ops. Continuing on, we finally reached Hanging Rock Bridge and decided that we missed something, as the bridge was nothing special. The countryside was. I started to think that we had wasted our time, and then it hit me that it wasn’t wasted, as we were together, talking and laughing.