Travel With Betsy

What Do You Think……..

………about this photo?

It’s a bit eerie with the fog outlining the edges of the mountain. Don’t you agree? The green in the foreground makes me think about a bright green forest that is bright with fresh rain. The dock in the background makes me think about taking a pleasure boat out on a leisurely afternoon. It’s interesting how one photo can evoke so many different thoughts and feelings.

These are the impressions I had of my tour of Milford Sound a few weeks ago as we visited our last destination in New Zealand. Add to that the absolute splendor of the surrounds of Queenstown and our last accommodation that overlooked Lake Wakapitu and you have the perfect ending to a perfect journey through New Zealand.

I think my traveling companions and I agree that Queenstown was the most beautiful place we had been on our tour of New Zealand. It was absolutely stunning. Even the drive to get there was spectacular.

The closer we got, the more captivated we were with the mountain ranges surrounding the waterways and the stillness of the water that gave a perfect mirror reflection of everything that bordered the water.

You could look in any direction and find a scene that was mind-blowing.

From one of 3 balconies in our apartment in Queenstown that sat on the edge of the lake, we could view the Remarkables Mountain Range.

In about 20 minutes, we could walk into the center of town where we found the typical small shops, restaurants cafes and generally laid back feel of a small lakeside resort town.

It was delightful.

As much as we liked Queenstown, though, we liked our visit to Milford Sound, the “fjordland” of New Zealand even better. There is speculation from the experts on whether Milford Sound is actually a “fjord” or a “sound”. By definition, the “fjord” has a narrower waterway than a “sound” and is outlined by high, craggy rock walls spouting waterfalls of all sizes.

Based on the book definition and my experience with the “fjords” of Norway, I deem this a “fjord”. But, who really cares? Regardless of what it’s called, Milford Sound is by anyone’s standards, a “must see” marvel when visiting south New Zealand.

The best way to experience this wonder is to travel through by boat. So, that’s what we did. As it turns out, in addition to renting cars, Jucy, our car rental company also has a couple of boats doing tours at Milford Sound. We had a good experience with Jucy so far, so why not give this part of their service a chance, too.

It was a fun afternoon…….beautiful……and, wet………

The captain of the boat we were traveling on reported that this is one of the wettest places on earth. He wasn’t kidding. The average rainfall is 264 inches per year and rainfalls of nearly 10 inches in 1 day are not uncommon. Not only did it rain for the duration of our ride, the captain of the boat took us right under a few of the waterfalls so that the spray from the falls could splash some of its water droplets on us.

In actuality, it was like taking a cold shower. By the end of the ride, we were all drenched. We came prepared, though, with our warm jackets, raincoats and ponchos.

We were a sight to behold, which made us all laugh. I am still laughing about our stylish attire. But, we were warm and dry…..relatively……

Despite the rain and the fog, we all went away with a vivid image imprinted in our minds of Milford Sound, our last place of adventure in New Zealand! What a perfect way to end our time there.

One day, when I am old and gray and no longer able to travel, I will call up the picture of Milford Sound that is stored in the depths of my mind. The picture will evoke many different thoughts and feelings.

And, it will make me smile.

By the way…..

….one last story……on things lost.

It’s a good one…..

The last leg of our New Zealand journey was in Queenstown……which I will tell you about in my next post. My friend, Lee, joined us there for the last part of our group travel experience. We spent about 4 days together there and then flew as a group to Sydney. On our way to the airport, we stopped in a small town called Arrowtown. It was really cute with lots of little shops and cafes to look at.

I highly recommend that you take a look here if you are in the area. In one of the small antique shops, Lee found an old map of New Zealand that she loved. Lee is a collector of old maps. This one was an old fashioned type that was printed on a fabric. You could open and close it by rolling it up on horizontal sticks attached at the top and bottom of the map.

It was nice…..and unique.

Lee called me into the shop to look at the map, and I agreed that it was something that she might like to have as a souvenir of our trip. She and I spent a bit of time evaluating the pros and cons of purchasing the map, carrying it on the next legs of the journey and then getting it home. It was a bit expensive. So, that was a consideration, too. Also, there would be lots of opportunity for the map to be lost or broken. It wasn’t heavy, but awkward to carry because of its length and shape. The sales woman in the shop encouraged her to buy it and assured her that she could package it up with bubble wrap so that it would be protected. It would still need to be carried separately from the rest of her luggage, but the packaging would protect it.

Sold!

So, for the rest of our time in Sydney and then Melbourne, Lee carried the map to each new place as we moved around. It was almost broken in the airport in Queenstown and then was almost left behind in the airport in Sydney. But, each time, the map was rescued, and we went on our way.

On Lee’s and my last 2 days in Melbourne, she and I rented a car and did a drive of the Great Ocean Road. We decided that we would take the train to Geelong, rent a car and then head out. Lee would be going home from here and I would be moving along to another apartment in Melbourne when I got back. So, we had to take our luggage with us. The people at Budget Rental Cars were so nice to come to the train station to pick us up.

But….we had some confusion on where to meet the driver. We walked around the outside of the station for quite awhile searching for the pick up point before we stopped at a bench and called Budget again to see where we were supposed to meet them. Just as we were doing that, the Budget person drove up and called out to Lee. He waved us in. We got in the car and went off to the rental office.

We were about halfway down the Great Ocean Road when Lee looked and me and said, “Do you see my map in the back?”

Nope. No map. We deduced that she had left it on the bench near the train station where we met the person from Budget.

I called the lost and found at the train station to see if anyone had turned in the map. They didn’t have it. I also called the police station. They were closed, which we both thought was quite odd…….

Lee was really disappointed. But, there was nothing to be done about it. The map was gone.

We finished our trip and went back to the train station the next day to get our train back to Melbourne. Before we boarded the train, Lee asked me if I thought she should ask one more time at the train station about her map. Why not? It wasn’t likely that they would have the map, but what did she have to lose?

In a few minutes, Lee was back……and, guess what she had in her hand?

The map.

Some kind person saw it sitting on the bench and brought it to the lost and found at the train station.   They were getting ready to send it on to the main station to see if someone would claim it when she made her inquiry.

What are the odds?!

This story gives me pause to think about how we touch people everyday without even knowing it.   This is not a life-changing event for Lee. But, having the map as a memory of her trip will probably bring up some nice memories long after it’s over. I’m guessing it will bring her joy….maybe the memory will come at some time when she really needs that in her life.

I commend this person for turning in the map even though he or she will never know the impact of the action. I am going to take a lesson here…..maybe we all should…..

Doing the right thing is always the right thing…..

So, this is the end….I hope……of the things lost and things found stories.

I’m glad this one had a good ending.

Things lost…….

And, things found…….

………or not…..

We have lost a few things along the way as we have traveled in the “down under”.

It happens.

We have been gone for a month and have been moving from place to place very quickly, which can create lots of opportunity to misplace our belongings. Things get left behind in different accommodations, things fall out of pockets, get caught up in the laundry………. and sometimes things drop to the depths of a purse or a backpack never to be found again…..at least until we get to the next place and dump everything out.   Every now and then we find something…..a hidden treasure….that we thought was lost for good.

It’s kind of like Christmas when we find things.

It makes me feel happy!

The first thing that was lost was my phone. This happened even before I left my local airport. My friends, Bob and Christine, were coming by to pick me up to take me to the airport. Before they came, I sat down in the lounge chair in my living room and took a call. As I was finishing up, they came to the door. I let them in, gathered my things and we were off!

When we got the airport, Bob said, “We will miss you.”

That was nice.

And, then, “How will we stay in touch while you are away?”

I said that I had my phone and I would be checking messages. They could call me if they wanted to. Then, I thought I would double check to be sure I had my phone.

No phone.

So, they kindly took me back home, and I got it. It was sitting right where I left it on the arm of my lounge chair. Ughh………This is when living in a small town pays off.   The airport is about 15 minutes from my home. So, it wasn’t too much of a hardship. But……did I really need to leave my phone behind?

When we got the car in New Zealand, most of us lost track of our phones at least once. More than one time, we did a “phone check” before we started out in the car. I’m happy to say that all phones that were thought to be lost were found.

The next thing that was lost was a bit harder to deal with. We were back at our accommodation where we were recovering from a grueling car ride in the driving rain and fog from Martinborough to Wellington when Gene announced that his Passport was missing. We all searched high and low. Each of us took a turn looking through his clothing…..clean and dirty. We looked through his bags, his pockets and his bed. We all searched the van and then ran our fingers in between the cushions of each seat on the van and in the side pockets of the doors.

We didn’t find his Passport there, but we did find some other things from our trip, like extra Werthers caramel candies…which I was happy about….. and some things left behind by previous renters…..old food, paper, tissues…..you know, things like that. But….no Passport. After much searching and deliberation, we pronounced the old Passport gone for good.

Where did the Passport go? Who knows. The best we can figure is that it fell out of Gene’s pocket somewhere along the way when he pulled out his wallet. The Passport dilemma won Gene a flight to Auckland from Wellington where the US Embassy is located. There, he was able to get a brand new Passport. We all went on to Blenheim where Gene joined us later in the same evening.

On a lighter note, we have also lost some socks. It seems that in Australia and New Zealand…..just like in the United States….there is a place that we will never find where all of the lost socks go. Rose, another of my traveling companions, found a sock in the lint catcher of the dryer in one of the places we stayed. It was one of mine. I still don’t know where its mate is, so I am wearing it with another of my lone socks whose mate I have lost. What difference does it make if they don’t match?

We have also lost our patience as we have sorted through some of these losses…..and just sorted through traveling together in such close quarters. We have, after all, been tied together at the hip for several weeks now. Some days we were in the car for 8 hours and then in an Air B & B apartment or house after the drive. Other days, just together in the house. But, tied together we have been for the last several weeks. At this juncture, I’m happy to say that we have all found our patience.

I’m glad.

And…..just for fun I will tell you this little story. We also saw two men along the way who had lost their pants. I’m grateful that this was not the case with the men in our group. I’m not sure I could have stood the humor of this. But, when we stopped at a restaurant in Kaikoura for lunch, we saw a man in the line to order food who had lost the back of his pants. No kidding, the back of his pants had a slit right up to the waist. And, then in Christchurch we saw a man who had lost the front of his pants. He was holding them together, but there was not much left to the imagination. He had also lost his way and asked us for directions. I’m still thinking about him and hoping that he found his way to Pearce Street, wherever that might be.

Overall, I have to say that we have done pretty well. We have weathered our “losses” well and celebrated our “finds” even better.  I think we will go home with at least as much as we came with, which makes me feel great!  But, even better, we are all going home with a feeling of closer friendship for each other.

For, me, that’s the best part!

.

We saw 185 Empty Chairs

…..set up in a vacant lot in the center of Christchurch.

From a distance, the chairs looked like a big, white square. In fact, it wasn’t clear to us from our vantage point that we were actually looking at chairs.  But, as we approached we could see each chair begin to form and then separate…one from the next….. eventually lining up into perfectly symmetrical rows. From the distance, the chairs looked all the same. But as we got closer, we realized they really were quite different. All of the chairs were painted white. But, this is where the similarities ended. Each chair had a different style……each one representing the unique individual that was killed in the 2011 earthquake that hit Christchurch.

Around the world, there are many examples of memorials composed of empty chairs going back to the time of Dickens and Van Gogh. Most recently, there was a chair memorial set up in Bryant Park commemorating 911 and one in Oklahoma City to remember the victims of the Oklahoma bombing. There are others, too. I haven’t seen them. But, I did see this one in Christchurch a few weeks ago. It was quite moving.

I was humbled……

After spending some time among the chairs, we walked across the street to the “cardboard church”.

This church was damaged by the earthquake and was rebuilt with cardboard tubes and storage containers. It’s temporary….but, who knows for how long. I talked at length to one of the docents about the construction of the church. The cardboard idea was developed by the Japanese for use as a temporary, yet sturdy building material for use in situations just like the one faced by the people of Christchurch.

Without prompting from me, the docent talked about the consequences of the earthquake on the town. They are substantial. It takes a long time to reconstruct the buildings. But the real challenge is rebuilding the confidence of the people. They are moving out of Christchurch because they are afraid of more earthquakes, they are disturbed by the changes the earthquake created, and they are frustrated by the time it is taking to get their city back…..

……and, they are sad……..about all of the loss……….

I think the hardest part for people to accept, though, is that it could happen again……and, probably will.

The docent had a positive slant on the situation.   She said, “We just keep going on. That’s what we do.”

I guess that’s about all they can do.

We saw lots of evidence of the earthquake in the buildings in the town. There was a lot of devastation.

There was also a lot of construction going on all around, which made it difficult for us, as tourists, to negotiate our way….even with a map. But, negotiate we did so that we could see everything.

We enjoyed the city.

The Botanical Garden that we walked through from our accommodation to the central business district was beautiful.

And, we enjoyed the main square where the town was preparing for the Chinese lantern festival.

The section with the Spanish architecture that we spent a fair amount of time trying to find was really cute and filled with lots of little shops and restaurants.

And, the views of the city from the top of the Gondola were spectacular.

Christchurch is a great city filled with beautiful sights. But, the best story is the people who remain in the city to rebuild. They are taking each day as it comes…..slowly moving forward…….one foot in front of the other in order to rebuild their city and their lives.  It’s a story of tenacity and hope.

It won’t be long before things are back to normal.

At least I hope not.

Wine-a-Palooza….in New Zealand……

When my friends and I started talking about doing a trip to New Zealand and Australia, we decided that at least some of our trip needed to focus on wine.   I work in the wine industry in California, one of my traveling companions works in the industry in Virginia and some of the rest of us just like to drink wine! There was lots of interest in tasting wine among the group and since we would be in some of the major wine areas of the world, we would be remiss if we did not plan to have this tasty experience. At the halfway point in our adventure, I can say that we didn’t quite hit all of the wine regions in New Zealand. But we did make a good dent. And, as we are rounding up our time in New Zealand and heading to Australia, I am happy to report that we have had some extraordinary wines…….and were exposed to some exceptional scenery along the way!

If you know about wine, you will not be surprised to know that we had lots of Pinot Noir and even more Sauvignon Blanc. But, we also had some other things that I, frankly, wasn’t expecting. We had some fantastic cool weather Syrah, some exceptional wines made with Bordeaux varietals such as Cabernet and Merlot and some wonderful Chardonnay in the north island. And, in the south island, we also had some interesting Pinot Gris, which was quite different from what I am used to in my section of California. Here, they seemed to be smoother, less tart and a little more complex. Some of them even had some potential for aging, which is not typical.

For me, though, the most surprising taste sensation that we had was the Reisling. We had several “off-dry” Reislings that I thought were quite unusual. I have tasted Reisling in the Alsace region of France and in the Mosel region of Germany. But, it was years ago and I really didn’t remember the particular characteristics of the varietal. I got a good education here in New Zealand. Reisling has a bit of a nose of “petrol”, or gasoline, which at the front end isn’t that appealing. But, as you taste through, it opens up into something quite different. The Reislings that we tasted had a quality of spicy ginger in the front and then some stone fruit in the mouth and in the finish. The combination of the fruit and spice, along with the “Petrol” nose, was quite a nice pairing. The Reisling was my favorite and most surprising taste treat of all of the sampling we did. The flavors were quite unexpected….and very pleasant.

The other nice surprise was the Sauvignon Blanc. We found this to have much less of the tart grapefruit focused flavor that we are so used to in the United States. We loved this different style. The grapefruit was there, but it was much more subtle, and we found a creaminess that left a lingering finish that we really liked.   This seemed especially true in the Marlborough area.

Our “wine-a-palooza” started in the north island in the region of Hawke’s Bay, near Napier, which boasts a bit of a warmer climate. Opposite of the northern hemisphere where temperatures get warmer as you go south, in the southern hemisphere the temperatures get colder. So, the heaviest wines that we tasted were found in the north island. The Pinots were bigger and much more fruity and we were able to try some lovely cool weather Syrah and some blends of warmer weather Bordeaux varietals that were quite nice. We visited Elephant Hill Winery….

….which was near the ocean, and Craggy Range…

…..which was in a more mountainous region. Craggy Range won the prize for the best wines and the nicest tasting experience. This is also where we had the first of several of the tasty Reislings.

After Hawke’s Bay, we wound our way to Wellington and did some tasting in the Martinborough area. Here, we found Pinot and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as a sweet Reisling that we all really loved. It tasted like peach pie. Perfect for dessert! Our wineries of choice here were Ata Rangi

…Schubert and Martinborough Wines.

Blenheim was our first stop in the south island. It is famous for its distinctive Sauvignon Blanc. It was here that we got the best education on the wines of New Zealand. We had two prearranged appointments that were set up through industry contacts.

The first was at Clos Henri.  Check out this cool tasting room!

The proprietors of this winery come from the Sancerre region of France.

They do Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir….that’s it. And, it’s not likely that they will branch out. They like being able to focus on only a few varietals and they do them very well. Clos Henri does things a little bit differently than the rest of the vitners in New Zealand, which we found interesting.

First, they practice dry farming. This means that they don’t irrigate the plants at all, which makes the vines struggle to stay alive. It also keeps the juice in the grapes from becoming too diluted. They are left with much more intensely flavored juice than that which comes from the grapes that are irrigated. This is the strategy that is used in Sancerre for Sauvignon Blanc.

Clos Henri also plants more vines per hectare than the other vintners in New Zealand do. Then, they focus on trimming back the vines so that there are only a few clusters per vine. In farming wine grapes, the idea is that when there are fewer clusters per vine, there are fewer grapes. So, there is more energy focused on the grapes, creating more intensity in the flavor of the juice. The other New Zealand vintners achieve this by planting fewer vines per hectare. In this case, there are more grapes per vine, but less vines. Theoretically, the energy in the vine is less concentrated in the grapes.

The other set appointment that we had was at Greywacke.

This was the product of some former Cloudy Bay employees that decided to break off on their own. It is a husband and wife team. The husband, Judd, was the former wine maker at Cloudy Bay and the wife, Kimberly…..

worked in hospitality. They don’t have a traditional tasting room, but we had a private tasting in a small house with a pool in front, that served as the tasting room.

We had primarily Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot here. We also had a very nice Gewurztramier. These folks are also doing some things differently. They make a Sauvignon Blanc to meet the expectations of the general public that is quite grapefruit focused and tart. This is what people want and they need to make money, after all. But, this is not what they want to be known for. They were much more interested in producing a Sauvignon Blanc that could be aged. In fact, they poured a 2011 for us that had seen some oak. I loved it! They will be continuing to try this over the next few years to see exactly how long it would hold. My guess is at least 5 more years…..maybe more.

We rounded up our New Zealand tastings in the Otago area near Queenstown.

This area is most famous for its Pinot Noir. Here, we found Pinots that were most similar to those of Burgandy. They were lighter and light cherry in focus….with a little bit less of a tart cherry feel than those of Burgandy. They were also much more earthy in quality than those that we found in the northern areas. We visited Peregrine….

and Chard Farm….

We found things at both places that we really liked. One of the treats of our visit to Chard Farm was the challenging drive up the dirt road to get there and then the spectacular view. It was breathtaking!

At this point, I want to recognize the wives of my tasting buddies who were not interested in tasting wine. They were real troopers in going with us in some cases and staying behind in other cases. My hats off to them!

Our New Zealand wine-a-palooza is over now and we have moved on to Australia, where we will continue our exploration. We are planning to visit the Yarra Valley, McLaren Vale and the Barossa.

I’ll let you know what we find!

Wine-a-palooza forever!

“I’m Going on an Adventure”……

…at Hobbiton…..the movie set of the movie “The Hobbit”…..

I am going to say right up front that I don’t know anything about the Hobbits. I haven’t read the books, and I haven’t seen the movies. And, I have to admit that I wasn’t that excited about seeing the movie set. But, my friends are big fans of the books and the movies and really wanted to do this……and it was on the route to our next destination. The fact that we were all traveling together in the same car made it an easy decision.

I have to say that it was one of the most pleasant surprises of the trip so far. I still don’t know anything about the story of “The Hobbit”. And frankly, I doubt that I will read the books….or see the movies. But, it was well worth the effort just to see the beauty of the set and to learn a bit about these unusual characters.

The set was a miniature, old-fashioned looking town that was lush and green with lots of flower and vegetable gardens.

We wandered through the town, winding our way up and down the dirt streets of the small town. When we got to the top of the hills, we could look out to the rolling countryside and see sheep dotting the bright green grass that was visible as far as the eye could see.

We saw huge oak trees that I would guess were quite old.

In addition to the real trees, the tour guide pointed out one fake tree that was made for the movie with something like 200,000 silk leaves. If they hadn’t pointed it out, we wouldn’t have known that it wasn’t part of the original scenery. It was very realistic.

We are here in the New Zealand fall, so we also saw lots of pumpkins hiding among their leafy vines as we walked along. The caretakers of the property were participating in a local contest to see who could grow the largest pumpkin. Some of the pumpkins were huge!

I was quite amused by the small “holes” that served as the homes of the “hobbits”. They were built into the sides of hills.

The only thing visible from the walkway where we stood to view the “hole” was the small front door. The sides of the hills where the doors were inserted were the same bright green grass as the surrounding fields. All of the houses had pretty gardens and some indication of the occupations and interests of the different “hobbits”.

Of course, there was nothing inside the “hole”. It was all for show. So, we couldn’t go all the way in. But, we could stand in the doorways…those of us who could fit, anyway…..and get some pictures of ourselves, which, of course, I did.

The “Hobbit” life is not the life for me.  From what I could get about the story, life for them could be somewhat complicated, especially when they were on a great adventure. Obviously, I like the adventure part, but not the complicated part. Even though some of my great adventures can be complicated, I don’t usually find myself getting into a physical altercation of any type. My adventures usually just require some problem-solving and thought.

I kind of like it that way.

So, I am now off to the next adventure, which will include tasting the Sauvignon Blanc wines that are famous in New Zealand.

This is my kind of adventure!

Stay tuned!

Banished from the Maori Tribe……

What?!

Well……

I wasn’t really banished. But, I did get a very strong reprimand…..a few days ago while touring a Maori village in Rotorua.

You might be wondering what kind of horrible thing someone would need to do in order to be scolded….and potentially cast out from a tour group.

It was a very high crime, indeed.

I was smiling….and getting ready to break out into one of my famous laughing jags… Our guide for the Maori village tour saw this, approached me and told me that there was no smiling or laughing allowed here. And, if I didn’t stop, she would escort me out of the gathering.

Wow! These Maori’s take their rituals very seriously.

Now…..

…..you might question what could possibly be so funny during this very somber event. I was laughing about one of my traveling buddies, Gene. He, and several other men were elected to be High Chiefs of the small tribes of tourists that were formed for our tour experience and dinner.

One of Gene’s duties as chief was to greet a Maori warrior in the traditional fashion. After the tribes of tourists had all assembled, several warriors arrived by kayak in our gathering area at the entrance to the village. They disembarked and did some kind of a war dance in front of the grouping of chiefs that involved protrusion of tongues, bulging of eyes and the emission of some very stern vocalizations. When the dance was over, each warrior stood before a chief. Gene, and the other chiefs, were instructed to approach the warrior that stood in front of them, pick up a long leaf, and then retreat by backing up. Gene tucked the leaf into the front of his jeans. After the chiefs had moved back into position, one warrior approached each chief and they rubbed noses and touched foreheads.

To top it off, somewhere in the middle of this experience, Gene and the other chiefs were also required to do a war dance. This also sent me into ripples of giggles.

If you know my friend Gene, you will know why this is so funny. Gene is not a touchy feely kind of guy. He doesn’t even like giving hugs…..and, he doesn’t dance. So, the visual of him rubbing noses with a tattooed faced stranger that had just exhibited his warrior prowess by extending his tongue and bulging his eyes was just too much for me. The dance and the leaf tucked in the jeans added another element of whimsy. I just couldn’t contain myself.

After I was admonished for exhibiting my amusement, I did manage to get myself under control so that I could take the tour, hear the Maori stories, play some of the Maori games

….and have my dinner, of course.

The Maori Village visit was more than a bit touristy. I’m glad I did it, but I would not do it again.…unless, of course, Gene came along. But, we did get some good information about the culture, which was nice to have.

It seems that the Maoris came to New Zealand on vessels similar to catamarans to escape overcrowding the Tahitian islands. They set up small villages of thatched huts near waterways and traveled throughout the village in kayaks. Their children’s dexterity was developed through the games that we learned about and participated in.

We also learned that the facial tattoos that we saw on everyone were something of a family “crest”, indicating which family in the tribe they belonged to.

In ancient times, the tattoos were applied by digging out the skin in intricate patterns and then cauterizing the wounds with hot sticks that had been heated in the fire. They let the wounds heal and then repeated the process several times. The description reminded me of branding an animal. I’m not sure I could get through it.

YIKES!

Their food was cooked in a hole in the ground under a layer of hot coals, which is how our dinner for the evening was prepared.

We enjoyed our dinner and a show performed by the actual Maori tribe. Best of all, we got to see Gene perform the war dance one more time before it was all over and we left to go back to our Air B & B.

Gene is glad it’s over.

And, I’m glad I can smile and laugh again without reprimand as I re-invigorate my comical view of the world.

It is, after all, one of the best parts of travel……finding humor in the everyday…..

Keep smiling!

Driving with Jucy……

New Zealand is the home of extreme adventure activities. Bungy-jumping, white water rafting, zip-lining……and more……are readily available all over the north island where we have visited. I even saw a place where one can stand up inside of a giant plastic ball and roll it down a hill while inside.

Hmm…..not for me!

But I say, who needs to take part in one of these extreme adventures?! All you need to do is to drive 5 people and their respective pieces of luggage……

…..through New Zealand in a “small-ish”, bright green and purple 8-passenger van.

It’s a sight to behold and an interesting challenge!

The driving pattern here is a very different and intriguing experience for those of us with “right side” driving orientation. The traffic pattern moves on the “wrong” side of the road. Or, at least it’s “wrong” from the perspective of an American driver. Add to this the curving roads of the mountainous terrain and the narrow winding city streets and you have the makings of an “extreme adventure” extraordinaire!

This thrill will last you a lifetime!

Driving was one experience I definitely wanted to have while still with my group in New Zealand. I am hoping to drive in Tasmania at the end of trip when I am on my own, and I wanted to have some time to practice while I still had some people to help me with navigation.

I have now had lots of practice driving and navigating which is equally as challenging. In fact, we have all had lots of practice on everything. And, we have all made the same mistakes.

Because the driving is on the left side of the road……..

……the cars are also set up to accommodate this. In the front of the car, the driver’s seat is on the right and the passenger’s seat is on the left. Similarly, the levers on the car are reversed as well. The turn signal is on the right side of the steering column and the windshield wipers are on the left side. This works fine until a driving challenge rears its ugly head and there is a need to act quickly to turn on the turn signal. All of us have turned on the windshield wipers, instead of the turn signal, over and over again…..and left them on as we averted the predicament…whatever it was. Sometimes we even accelerated the pace of the wipers as the event mounted in urgency, thinking we were turning the turn signal on or off…..or possibly thinking it would help. I, of course, immediately break into a laughing jag every time this happens to me, which is debilitating.  It’s also not helpful! I am laughing right now as I am writing this thinking about how silly we must all look as we do this. But, there is nothing to do about it! It’s all part of the learning curve.

I will also add that the windshield wiper on the back window is permanently turned on. We can’t figure out how to turn it off.   It’s OK. We have needed to clear the back window, as it has been quite rainy here. So, we just let it go at its intermittent pace.

The other thing that is easy to do is to drift off too far to the left. The driver’s position in the car is situated near the middle line on the road. So when a large truck comes at you from a distance, it seems that the truck is going to make direct contact with the front of the car. The natural instinct is to move away from it to the left. In my effort to move away from the oncoming trucks….and cars….. I have, so far, hit a traffic cone and run into a curb. One other of us has done this, as well. And, we have all run into the ditch on the left side, which is also disorienting.

The other major challenge is the traffic circle. It’s fairly easy to drive on the straight away following the lines on the road or the car in front. But, once you hit the traffic circle, all bets are off. The shuttle driver that brought me in from Auckland told me this would be the hardest thing we would do. He was right.

We have all had challenging roads to negotiate on our turns as “chauffeur”. Yesterday, I had a double whammy. We went over the mountain pass from Wellington to Martinborough. This was a 2 lane delight….with minimal passing lanes that allow for faster drivers to move ahead of those who are more cautious. The road was reminiscent of Route 1 in California, with its cliff-hanging winding roads boasting a deep drop to the bottom that was very close to the side of the car. To top it off, it was pouring rain. As we got closer to the top, we thought we were driving in fog.  It was a grouping of clouds. Very low visibility. I spent a lot of time pulling off the road for others to pass.

I also had the pleasure of driving up the San Francisco-like narrow and elevated streets in Wellington. At one point yesterday, I was going around a curved street that went up a  hill. It allowed for 2 way traffic.  But, it was only 1 lane wide.  There  were cars parked up on the curb on the left facing away from me and right side parked cars facing towards me. At the curve, I had to pass through a space with an allowance of about 6 inches on either side. As I looked over this situation, I said to my 2 traveling companions,

“I don’t think I can do this.”

They both started to get out of the car to take the wheel. But, I declined. I wanted to be able to maneuver this. And, I did. But, it wasn’t easy.

What I can say is that all of these shenanigans have caused a great deal of laughing among the group, which does not improve the driving.  But, it does improve the quality of the moment!  I can also say that by the end of our time together, everyone in the group, except for our companion who opted not to drive, will be an expert on left side driving by the time we leave.

The one thing I can’t say is why the other drivers move away from our bright, lime green Jucy car with the voluptuous lady painted on the side when they see us coming.

I just can’t figure it out!

Look out everyone……

….we are driving with Jucy!