Blog 6

What a difference a dolphin tail makes…let me again explain, we stopped in Kaicura because we could swim in the open seas with the dolphins (which was incredible!!) But, had we not done that we would have been in Christchurch, as that was where our Butterfield and Robinson trip began… At the exact moment of the earthquake, we were in the sea surrounded by dolphins… as I said, what a difference a dolphin tail makes…

Our biggest problem was we had left half of our luggage in Christchurch when we went north. It would have been a minor problem, however my medications for the next ten days were in those suitcases. Talk about panic… but we went down to the local pharmacy in town and even though the doctors had left for Christchurch, the pharmacist was able to fill almost all the prescriptions, with the exception of one, which is not sold in NZ. He came up with some substitutes and said he’d get one of the docs to sign the forms when he got back to town. Talk about great customer service!

Moving right along, we were able to contact our B&R guides the next day. They had been in downtown Christchurch during the earthquake, but were all right and busily reorganizing the start point of the trip. They told us to stay put where we were and luckily our B&B had space for us for an extra night. We were then able to organize a special charter van to take us to Christchurch airport (outside the city) and our B&R guides arranged for us to be picked up and driven 70 km south, where amazingly, all but one couple made it. They lived in Australia and decided to stay home. Everyone else was already enroute and we all had stories to tell about how we managed to get to the new starting point. All I can say is B&R is amazing!

So, we met up with the group at lunch and then did a lovely afternoon ride. As you might imagine the gorgeous country club we were staying in was significantly understaffed – since many of the staff had family in Christchurch and had rushed home. We were asked to conserve water and we all helped with the evening buffet—which was supposed to be very short of food. I can’t imagine what they served on a regular night! But, prior to dinner we all showed up at the front of the club, were led to golf carts and went chasing after one another to where our B&R guides had set up a cocktail party—nothing simple in their planning!

The next day was rainy, so only a few of us rode and the others went on a jet boat on the river and then we all met up at a sheep farm for a great tour, wonderful lunch and a demo of sheep shearing. Probably one of the highlights was the pet sheep that had been raised from a lamb and kept wandering through the group, looking for pets and ear scratches.After that, a hearty few of us rode our bikes back in the rain.

There was a wedding in the upper part of the club that night so we had dinner in one of the smaller rooms downstairs –all lighted by candles. It was again a buffet and couldn’t have been lovelier. B&R is never stingy with the wine, and at some point the group of 20 of us began singing. It was great fun; until someone from the staff came down to tell us we were interfering with the wedding toasts. Of course that caused even greater hysteria—but we did take our singing (and wine outside.)

The next day was significantly better weather and we rode along old country roads to a delightful little town with a local al organic restaurant with great local food. One of B&R’s many traits is you never starve! The afternoon ride was a neat flat road, ending in a big hill. Most took advantage of the bus and sag wagon, but a few of us made the grade!

This hotel is especially cool. Each couple has its own condo… They have stocked each frig with wine, beer and the makings for incredible breakfasts—fresh smoked salmon, free-range eggs, muffins, bacon, etc. etc.

This morning we were told to dress for a boat ride on a glacial lake and take our bike clothes along. As Gary, our bus driver was driving along; he said he just had to make a quick stop at the little airport to pick up some gear. Yeh, right! Two planes were waiting and they whisked us all off to the most spectacular tour of the Mt. Cook and the Taisman glaciers. As we climbed above the clouds, the peaks and the glaciers just surrounded us. It was amazing.

The last time John and I were there I couldn’t get him on a plane, but it is truly surprising what group pressure can do. He was thrilled after the trip, but was very hesitant about the small plane prior to that!

Following that they did indeed take us for the promised boat ride. One of the side effects of the earthquake was that about 30 million tons of the iceberg broke off the main part and formed many small icebergs, so our guide told us we were really lucky to see the lake in the shape it was in. Some of the icebergs had rolled during the night and we were seeing fresh ice that was 6 to 8 hundred years old. It sure tasted fresh!

After that it was off to lunch and then a 56 km ride. Only 6 people made it all the way. John made it forty and I was really proud of him. In all due modesty, yours truly made it all the way, but not easily!

After a bus ride back to our condos, we dressed for what they told us would be an average dinner in a small restaurant in town. Again, not true—on the way to the little town there was a lovely old house, all decked out to serve us a fabulous meal of freshly grilled salmon, lamb, beef and amazing salads. As always, the wine flowed. Some of us, after imbibing a bit decided to take the shortcut across the field back to the lodge…big mistake. We lost the path, wound up in a bog, loosing one of our trusty companions to a full fall in the bog. I can’t remember laughing so much in forever. Needless to say we finally found the right trail and made it back.

It is now almost midnight and I’m finishing a load of wash—remember most of our clothes are still in Christchurch in the quarantine area and we have only the few things we took north. It’s amazing what you can live without!

Anyway, excuse all typos, etc., but the good wine is still with me. It has been a fabulous day and we can’t wait to see what our guides have up their sleeves for tomorrow!

Blog 5

Saturday nigh had the most beautiful full moon and with the lack of city lights in the morning we were awaken by the brightness of Jupiter. What a beautiful night sky. We spent Sunday wandering around the town of Graytown. There are lots of antique shops and a smattering of boutiques as well. We found a lovely café on the main street and had lunch, then headed back to the house to clean it and pack up.

It’s fresh plum season and we went to a place with a wide variety of plums—some not found in the US. We bought some for Peter’s friends and then took a pile back to Elizabeth and Michael. (I must admit the pile was quite a bit smaller when we arrived at their house.)

We decided takeaway Thai food was just the answer, as Elizabeth had spent the day canning half her garden. The array of jars was quite a sight.

Our ferry was early Monday morning, but Elizabeth would not hear of our taking a cab. Talk about fabulous hosts!

It was a beautiful crossing without a cloud in the sky. At Picton we then took a bus, as they were working on the railway tracks, to Kaicura. We decided to stay and swim with the dolphins, since our next bike trip did not begin for another day and we had already really explored Christchurch.

We stayed at Bendemere, a lovely B&B with great ocean views. The little town is not much, but they did have a bike store and one of my cables had snapped—we sure have had our share of bike issues this trip! Dinner was pizza, and salad—just average.

The next day we rod our bikes to the dolphin swim place and were fitted with wet suits, snorkels and masks. Then we boarded a bus and driven to the other side of the coast (20 minutes) We rode out into the open waters (in a fairly rough sea. for around 40 minutes and then about ten of us slid off the back of the boat into this huge pod of dolphins. The aim is to make as much noise through your snorkel to attract the dolphins and get them to play with us. It was totally amazing. They were all around us. They just love to play. They don’t feed them or anything, they are just so curious. Both John and I found it a highlight of the trip.

However, as we emerged from our second swim, word had just come through about the earthquake at Christchurch. We headed back to shore and, like everyone else were just glued to the TV.

It is just awful. If we hadn’t stopped in Waikoura, we would have been in Christchurch, since that is where our next trip starts. Talk about the luck of the draw…

We stayed an extra day in Waikoura and have been in touch with our guides, who were in the middle of the quake. They are fine and have moved the start of the trip about 70 miles west of Christchurch. We arranged a shuttle to the Christchurch airport and B&R sent a car back to pick us up. At this point we didn’t know how many of our group have made it—

When we went north from Christchurch, we left our bike cases and most of our clothes in our hotel, which is in the cordoned off area. We have no idea if we will be able to get them back… so the adventure continues.

Stay tuned!

Thank you all for your notes. It does make us feel less far away! It’s scary and we are due to fly out of Christchurch on March 4^th  (not a chance!) So, we’ll see what happens!

Blog 4

I can’t remember if I mentioned that on the next to the last day of our bike trip both John and I had blow-outs of our rear tires… luckily neither of us fell, but we only had one spare tire! Guess who got it. So, for the second time on the trip we had to call Bike Friday in Oregon and arrange for another Fed X package delivery (which is not easy when the package has to cross the international dateline, go through customs and reach you when you usually are spending only a day or two in a place! Luckily, this time our plans called for a week in Wellington, so it all worked out. 

Anyway, back to the bike trip. The van carried a spare bike, but John decided that spending the morning in the van, reading the newspaper, talking with Alex, taking pictures and watching us all struggle with the very high humidity and heat as we rode some medium hills was more his style. To his credit, he did ride the mostly downhill afternoon part to Rotorua.

Rotorua was just a delightful small town with hot springs and quite a number of interesting Maori buildings to visit. We were ready for a rest, although I did explore by bike, John rejoiced in the fact that his was broken and spent time on the computer and walking in town.

So, back to Wellington…Thursday was another perfect day in Wellington. We went into the city with Elizabeth and I spent most of the day just riding around the city and getting familiar with the layout.  I made a much-needed appointment to get my hair done on Friday. That night we took Elizabeth and Michael to one of their favorite restaurants. I had a goat dish, made with tomatoes and slow cooked. It was terrific! As always, their desserts were just too good. It’s a good thing we’re riding or none of our clothes would be fitting at this point.

Elizabeth is head of a national department that is very involved in using ePortfolios to offer certification to those working in fields like tourism. Since John was here, she gathered about 20 of her colleagues from a variety of agencies—from K-12 through university and others to have a discussion. It was a good session and although I was the only one in biking shorts, I still participated and was only looked briefly as being sort of weird.

That night my cousin Peter picked us up and we went to their city house for dinner. Peter and Carol’s daughter has just moved back home and brings with her 3½ year-old daughter, Elinor. As you can imagine, I was in seventh heaven—she is a blonde, vivacious doll!

Dinner was lovely and we planned our weekend outing to their summerhouse in Greytown. It is about 1½ hour from Wellington.

Friday both John and I got our hair done and we received the four tubes and tires for the bikes, so we John’s bike fixed. We had lunch with Peter in the city and then went and did our share of the shopping. We found the specialty cheese shop and the liquor store. We both had backpacks, but we had to carry the extra tires separately, do we were loaded down. However, it was a lovely day, with only a bit of wind and we decided rather than put our bikes on the bus we’d ride back to Elizabeth’s house… hmm, a bit of wind, when you get out of town and riding next to the ocean turns into what feels like a gale—besides it was significantly further that it seemed in the car. Needless to say we were whipped by the time we made it up the last hill. But a good shower and a glass of wine were greatly restorative and by the time Peter and Carol picked us up, we were ready.

The drive over is through lush mountains and really delightful. Their house is great, with lots of antique fireplaces and a large garden that is yielding wonderful fresh tomatoes, beans and corn. Their fantastic plum tree is ripe with fruit and Carol’s jam is wonderful.

 Saturday was again a lovely day and we went to the equivalent of a country fair—the A&P Show (agriculture and produce). Peter and John drooled over the tractors—even though he has less than an acre of land—it’s just a boys’ thing!

I must admit I was taken by the knitting and the cake entries. We also watched some good horse jumping.  As usual, all the carnival-type food was crap, but we ate it anyway.

Today is Sunday and is again lovely, although it rained last night. We have been so lucky with the weather thus far…

I’m not sure what our plans are for the day, but breakfast calls, so more later.

Blog 3

So, today is Monday and we are on the 5½ hr. train trip to Picton and the 3-hour ferry to Wellington. The day was spectacular and we loved the ferry. John had Internet access the whole way across. He was in hog’s heaven.

A colleague of John’s who had visited us in Monterey met us and took us to the Intercontinental Hotel and then she and her husband took us out to a lovely dinner on the warf. The snapper was to die for.

The next morning we again boarded the train

Anyway, I had lots of time to dry out on the 5½ hr. trip to Picton and the Ferry.  The ferry was wonderful--

Blog 2

Met a lovely gentleman named Keith in the lounge who is involved in sports and computers. He has since contacted us and invited us to visit him in Auckland, which we plan to do!

We arrived in Christchurch on Thursday eve. It was quite a comedown from the Intercontinental to the Holiday Inn, but using points for 9 nights makes it much more affordable. The hotel is right in the middle of the city and all the Busker (street entertainers) events are close by. We went to sleep and John was woken by a 5.1 aftershock at 6 am—I slept right through it!

One would think it was winter-not summer here. It is blustery and cold! Given that, we had a leisurely morning, built our bikes and then went in search of friends from Oregon who were scheduled to be in town. We were able to meet up and scheduled to meet at the ice bar at 7pm. In the afternoon we went to a Busker show.

The ice bar is in a huge refrigerator (the ice was brought over from the U S—they say because it was cheaper). Anyway, everything is ice, including your glass, which is filled with vodka and juice, and tossed in a bucket when your drink is gone. It’s even light by a chandelier made of ice. Sculptures are fun and whimsical. You are given Ugg boots, a great parka and gloves, which you definitely need to hold onto your glass. It was a bit silly, but still fun. Had dinner that night in the Novatel. It was an excellent meal and it was fun to be with friends from home.

Saturday was a little less cold, but still cloudy. We went to a number of the venues for the buskers and got a feel for the city. John wasn’t feeling great, so I had diner with Charlotte, Gretchen and Howard at an Irish Pub.

Sunday was much nicer weather. The Oregon crew left early and we wandered by bike and realized that John’s bike had a problem. So, off we went in search of bike shops. At the first they didn’t know what they were doing and made it worse. At the second the young man suggested we wait until the main mechanic was in to look at it on Monday. So we left it and caught the free bus, which took all around the city.

Since it was only Saturday back in the states we called Bike Friday and explained the problem. They assured us that they could ship us a new part on Monday, should it be needed. We had a lovely pizza dinner at the Winney Bago that night.

One Monday it was back to the bike shop. They determined we’d need the part from the states, but they fixed it a bit until we could order the part the next day and wait for it to arrive next Friday. We spent the day, which was sunny and hot seeing all kinds of crazy acts. The best was the Black Street Boyz from LA. They were two black kids with a very funny act and good rapport with the audience.

In the evening we took the trolley restaurant car. It is a short trolley track and thus you go round and round downtown, but they cook the food right on the train, the service was excellent and the couple we met from England was just a delight. John then went to a burlesque show that he loved, but it had no interest to me. I went to the hotel and my good book.

Today, Tuesday, we both woke up to a strong “after shock”—the folks around town say they are getting used to them, but they are a bit disconcerting. We rode our bikes out to the train station to gather information about “popping” out to Graymouth, what is described as a lovely one-day round trip through NZ’s Alps. We also explored a supermarket and found lots of interesting products…they do love their pumpkins!

On Wednesday we again, went “busking” and biking. On Thursday we took the day trip to Graymouth. It was indeed a worthwhile trip. The train was ancient, but functional, the views amazing and it was sunny all the way—a special treat. We met another fun couple and wandered around Graymouth together.

Friday was our last day in Christchurch. We took a bus to Akarua. It was about a two-hour drive. The town has a French feel and we stayed in a lovely B&B. The wife was a teacher and we had lots to talk about.  ON one day we head a guy who ran bike tours take us to the top of a hill. He could not stay to “support” us, since his best mate was getting married, but he assured us it was almost all down hill and the little extra hill up was worth the view… well, I almost killed John, as it was our first day of riding hills and my decision to do the “extra bit” was nearly the straw that broke the camel’s back. Anyway, it was a beautiful ride—lots of ups, but then a great final “down” into town! The restaurant we found was perfect. We sat outside and the food definitely had a light French cuisine influence.

The next day was rainy and we took an earlier bus back to Christchurch. John had been told by Brendan’s friend that we had to find Hell’s Pizza—which we did. He is now a total addict.  We don’t think the names of the pizzas would fly in the US—example: Gluttony and Lust… but they are good.

Blog 3

So, today is Monday and we are on the 5½ hr. train trip to Picton and the 3-hour ferry to Wellington. The day was spectacular and we loved the ferry. John had Internet access the whole way across. He was in hog’s heaven.

A colleague of John’s who had visited us in Monterey met us and took us to the Intercontinental Hotel and then she and her husband took us out to a lovely dinner on the wharf. The snapper was to die for.

The next morning we again boarded the train for the 5½ hr. National Park. Train is comfortable, but very basic. There is a food and drinks car, which is nice!

The Chateau at National Parks is ancient but picturesque—they are in the process of restoring parts of it. The food was delicious. They had the best breakfast buffet!

A small gale was blowing, but I did manage to ride to the end of the road (6 km up) to the ski lift.  John decided that ten minutes up was just about enough… The ride down was freezing and I hardly needed my breaks in the gale.

The next day was our first day of pouring rain. I decided to ride the 25 km back to the train station, while John took the luggage and he back in the shuttle. All I can say is that in that much rain—Gortex is a joke!

Anyway, I had lots of time to dry out on the 5½ hr. trip to Picton and the Ferry. The ferry trip was wonderful. He sun was out the water calm and John had Internet for 3½ hrs.—he was in hog’s heaven!

We stayed in Auckland for a night and then rented a car and drove up to Omaha Beach, 1½ hrs. north of Auckland to stay with our new friend Keith and his wife. Their home is close to the beach and we finally began to experience summer. The swimming was lovely and the beach was white sand and went on forever. I had a great time biking although it was really flat, but there was no traffic. Dinner was a group cooking experience and the local produce made it special.

On Sunday we enjoyed relaxing and finally got our act together enough to head for a local specialty ice cream store and a beautiful sculpture garden and winery. We then drove back to Auckland.

On Monday we met up with our group for our Coramandel Bike trip. Talk about a small group there were just four guests and Alex, our guide. Heidi who was 61 was from the German speaking part of Switzerland and Gunther who was about 78 was originally from Germany, but has lived in South Africa for the past 40 years. They did not know each other before the trip.

Heidi was vivacious and charming, while Gunther had a hearing problem and did not interact much with the rest of us, although by the end of the trip he was more a part of the group.

There were two speeds in the group—mine and the other three. I did the hills and the others did the down hills… John was a happy camper—he had riding companions and no pressure from me. I was also content, as the scenery was grand and I could set my own pace. For most lunches we picnicked—Alex made a mean salad, using all local veggies and there were good cookies and chocolate—we were all happy campers. The mileage on a day varied and what each rider did varied as well. I averaged about 65-85 km a day. We had fantastic weather, except for the last day when the humidity was just about 100%.

We wound up the trip on Monday in Rotorua. It’s on a pretty lake and we stayed an extra day, just to relax and catch up on laundry.

WE decided to take the bus from Rotorua back to Auckland—that was our first travel mistake! It was hot crowded and ran really late. Burt we survived and our friend Elizabeth was again there to meet us. This time she took us to their beautiful home overlooking Karaka Bay. It is spectacular and it has wireless! We made a “grazing’ dinner and enjoyed a bit more of the local wonderful New Zealand wine.

Today is spectacularly clear, with a light breeze. Michael and Elizabeth are at work and John and I are catching up on correspondence—like this blog!

Miss you all lots, but wouldn’t trade this experience for anything!!!

5 Relaxing days in Sidney

We had a lovely and relaxing visit to Sidney.  WE loved the Intercontinental and our view of Sidney harbor from the 30^th floor. We walked all over the city, found hiking boots that would fit over my sore foot and visited the Powerhouse Museum. Talk about lazy…we hardly left the hotel--we had two terrific buffets in the hotel-wonderful food, free wine and great service.

It was a short stay in Sidney and today (Thursday in Australia) we packed up and made an early flight to Auckland. Again, the flight couldn’t have been nicer and the flight attendants adopted me and set up a wine tasting especially for me—if my typing gets sloppy, blame it on the fine New Zealand wines…

We are now sitting in Air New Zealand’s domestic club awaiting our flight to Christchurch. They are serving high tea, so, more from me later!