Category Archives: Travel

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Dinner For Two At Lake Tekapo

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Okay … so it wasn’t really dinner for two. We had dinner lakeside at Lake Tekapo last night with a large group of folks who all pitched in making a big cookout for about forty people. I made my grandmother’s potato salad with John’s help (tons of chopping) and we had a lot of compliments even though it was missing a couple of ingredients.

Here are a few our dinner companions post meal and cleanup waiting for a little Hokey-Pokey ice cream for dessert. Hokey-Pokey is said to be a favorite flavor of travelers through New Zealand and I have definitely become a fan.

Update:

We’ve just arrived in Christchurch where I am posting this now from an outdoor café. This is our last stop before we fly to Auckland to spend a couple of nights before leaving for Christmas with my family in Atlanta. It’s been a wonderful trip and Christchurch looks at first glance as if it has enough charm to continue adding to the memories we’ve been busy making.

 

 

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Still Thinking Of You From Dunedin New Zealand

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As Mariellen pointed out in a comment on my last post, I have managed to wean myself  somewhat from my computer. I have been a bit busy with my camera with 8622 photos at present and we still have a week to go in New Zealand.

I sit down to write a post and while trying to decide which images to include I get lost in my photographs and you get nothing. That combined with difficulty in getting a connection at times makes it seem like I don’t care about you. Of course you know that’s not true and I will be back soon.  I have so much to tell you.

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Putting Our Feet Up At Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks

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We left Punakaiki yesterday after spending  four nights there resting from days spent exploring all there was to see in that lovely place. After asking a local how many people actually live there, I discovered that the number was even smaller than I had imagined.

She said that she was not exactly sure, but somewhere between 30 and 100 people lived in or close to Punakaiki with most providing services in some way to people like us who come to stay for a few days or those who pass through quickly stopping only for a few posed photos in front of the famous Pancake Rocks. I am going to show you some of what you miss if you think all Punakaiki has to offer are pancakes without syrup.

You can see that the rocks resemble a stack of pancakes from where they take their name.

John and I had the good fortune to be able to stay at a sweet little place just down the beach here about 30 steps from the sea.

In addition to some lovely sea views there was a path along a river in a park not far from where we were staying.

There was almost no one around until we spotted this man in the bushes photographing the river with a baby on his back. I had just snapped the photo below when I saw him and realized that he was photographing his wife and son on the river.

Our day trips included some cave time for me with John keeping an eye on the tide coming in while I went exploring. I’ll show you what I discovered next time.

One of my favorite photos of John lately … taken at sunset not long before I took the picture below.

Punakaiki Beach At Sunset

 

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Two Minutes For 29 New Zealand Miners

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A Memorial For The Miners In A Greymouth Shop Window

I woke this morning in Greymouth, New Zealand to the smell of a coal fire burning. John and I were staying in a place that heated its hot water with a coal-burning stove so I assumed that was the origin of the familiar scent.

In the Cornish village where we live in the UK some people still heat their homes with coal and the smell filters through the air more and more as the weather turns colder especially late at night.

This morning was different. Waking in a town where 29 coal miners lost their lives 10 days ago made me keenly aware of how the scent of burning coal might be affecting the families and friends of the men who died in the Pike River tragedy.

I cannot image the pain they must be feeling. What I can do is pause for two minutes to honor their lives and memory with the rest of New Zealand when everything stops for 2 minutes at 2:00 pm today during a memorial service for the miners. I have a feeling that I will be thinking of them even longer … linked as they are now for me with the scent of winter and the security of home.

Two minutes at 2:00 pm.

 

 

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Caught With My Pants Down By Dolphin Watchers

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Yesterday was quite the adventure beginning with a four-hour hike up and down some pretty serious hills seeing views like the one below.

We were stepping lively in order to meet our boat pick up so we could get back to Picton. You haven’t heard from me in a few days because we have been tucked away in an isolated place with very limited internet access. It was dial-up and could only be accessed from 4-6 pm each day. I almost broke out in hives when I discovered that which is a clear sign that I am way too attached to my internet connection.

The Cougar Line (no jokes please) is the boat that picked us up and later brought us back from a location so special it deserves a post of its own later. Note the front of the boat. You can’t see it, but a door lifts up and opens allowing people to walk up steps from the inside to the deck above.

Three guesses where I was when the boat slowed and the hatch opened? Do you see the skylight opening above the toilet … when people climb up those steps and stand on the walkway they are right over the skylight and able to look down into the ladies toilet.

We were safely far enough from shore that I thought I had time to whip into the loo for a quick break before reaching our next passenger pickup stop. Imagine my surprise when we slowed down and I saw a head appear above me.  Any concern I had was quickly forgotten by the sight that greeted me on my hasty exit from the toilet.

As you can see no one was really paying ANY attention to me. When I stepped out, I saw that our boat was surrounded by about twenty dolphins who were having a great time jumping in and out of the water.

See the dolphin breathing above … they were so playful swimming right next to the boat as you can see below. I was giggling like a little girl at times because I was tickled to see them so close.

The photograph below gives you idea of how close they were to the boat and there were times they got even closer. I was surprised how close!

As the boat began to leave the area, some of the dolphins seemed to want to stay with us and picked up speed swimming along beside us for a short while longer. It was a highlight seeing so many at one time. I’ve seen a few in the past, but nothing like yesterday.

I will try not to let so much time pass before my next post, but some of you will be cooking and eating turkey with friends and family in a day or two so you won’t be reading blogs anyway.

It will be Thursday here in about three hours and while I doubt I’ll be having any turkey or dressing I will spend some time thinking about all the people and things in my life that I am thankful for. I don’t have to have Thanksgiving to recognize the gifts in my life and I hope whether you celebrate Thanksgiving where you are or not, that you have the gifts of friends and family around you each day.

 

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On Being Different

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For at least the last four years, I have been getting notes from The Universe. Most of the time I rush past them when they show up in my inbox but occasionally one stops my finger from pressing the delete button too quickly.

This is the one I received yesterday.

Well, actually, Elizabeth, you were different.
You didn’t want a perfect life, a typical life, or even a normal life.
You wanted a one-of-a-kind.
How we doing?
~The Universe

If you asked, I would have to say that I think The Universe is doing alright by me.




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Hot Steppin It Through New Zealand Thermal Parks

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I’m moving quickly this morning before we leave for Wellington and wanted to give you a look at two thermal parks we had a chance to see recently. I wish I had more time to describe it in detail, but time is short so what I say will need to be as well.

If I were to say smelly, scalding, and beautiful in its varied colors and even the barren bits then you would have a pretty good idea of the experience. I forgot to say that there is a strong scent of rotten eggs in the air … overwhelmingly so in places, but worth seeing if you ever get the chance.

The dried surface can look crusty and firm, but can be very thin and dangerous in places. I have included a couple of shots of some who chose to disregard the signs to get a better shot. Although I am not always known for following the rules, on this occasion I did.

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Mother Love – Quietly Sharing The Wisdom

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Today I had a chance to meet a blogging friend that I came to know several years ago through her powerful words and images. She begins and ends blogs from time to time deleting posts as she changes her creative direction, but she is always constant with a wisdom that goes well beyond her physical years.

Hay short for Hayley is mother to four daughters the eldest of which is poised and ready for her teen years … a time that most mothers worry will be their undoing. It hardly seems possible that a woman who looks as young as Hay could have had time to birth the girls who are just as darling in person as they have appeared in photographs on her blog pages in the past.

Although I am eighteen years older than Hay and technically old enough to be her mother, I always, always, learn something when we communicate online and now in person like today. Mothering a new little life to adulthood is difficult and most of us just stumble our way through much of the time trying to do the best we can with what we know.

Some women seem born to be mothers and they nurture quite naturally a larger circle than the children at home who call them mom. They pass out reassuring words and alternative possibilities like cookies and juice at a blood drive and do it in a way that seems as easy and natural as breathing. Hay is one of those who can shift your focus with her own honesty and soothe a worried mind with only a word or two.

She and her husband Roger took time today to come down to Rotorua so we could get together for a little while. I so appreciate having a chance to hug and share stories in person. I have said this before and it is still true it really is wonderful and affirming when people you get to know through blogging turn out to be just as you imagined they might be in real life.

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Mt Eden April Fool’s Prank – Truth Or Fiction

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You hear a lot of stories on the road and this one made me curious as to whether it actually happened as the story was told or if it is perhaps an urban legend gone wild. If any of my readers know the truth, please share it in a comment below as I can’t find a confirmation on the internet.

The Story: About eighteen years ago some University of Auckland students decided to play a big April Fool’s prank on the people around Auckland. They dropped a bunch of old tires into the crater of this long dormant volcano and set the tires on fire in the night so people waking up the next morning were greeted with what they perceived as smoking volcanic activity and before you could say boo, people had packed up their cars to drive to a safer place away from the impending doom. All roads were jammed with traffic and by the time someone walking their dog had taken a look into the crater and verified the hoax it took hours for the traffic to clear and many people were forced to take the day off.

Truth or Fiction?

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Cathedral Cove And Other Places For Daydreaming

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While out walking a couple of days ago on our way to a place called Cathedral Cove, I spotted what looked like the perfect place to take a nap. From a distance I could see a place in the trees close enough to see and smell the sea, but not exposed in the way one would be on the beach.

We were walking past in a hurry to reach the beach when I told John that I was going back for a photograph. I told him that I wanted to be able to remember it so that if I had insomnia as I sometimes do, I could picture myself there in the grass and focus on that instead of whatever might be keeping me awake.

After a snap or two of the napping place under the trees,we set off once more in the direction of the white cliffs above.

We walked an easy and well maintained path that was shaded with Ferntrees so large that I felt as if we were in a jungle part of the time.

Once we were almost there, we climbed down a long series of steps until we reached the sand on the other side.

John wasted no time in popping out for a bit of sun and photographs, while I stayed closer to the rock wall in the shade.

Yep, that is me sitting in the shade in my hat and even though you can’t see it, I’m wearing a good bit of sunscreen too. If you look a the photo below you can get a glimpse through the cave.