Day nine

    Another glororious day come to an end. We are sitting on the veranda, in front of our log cabin at the beach. With a glass of wine and listening to the waves crash on the beach a short distance away.
Our day started in Wiapara, We got packed up and left Dick and Vivian's place around 9 am. I'm sure they did a little happy dance as we drove down the road. We stoped for out dailey scone and tea as a place called Springs juction.
    I only got up to 100 kpm twice in the whole days drive across the south island. The roads were never straight more that 200 meters at a time. You just can't speed here.
We went south after lunch out of Greymouth, and went across the most scary bridge that I have ever seen, It was a one lane bridge that you also had to share with a train, the little car that we have keep falling into the rail track lines, Thank god it was only 300 meters long.
     After we got checked in we went down to the beach and had a good walk, Mom got up close and personal with the Tasman Sea. As we were looking at some rocks that were covered with mussles a big wave came in and said hello.
after we had supper we went back to the beach and watched the sun go down.

This morning we were told of a tsunami warning coming this way,  It is suppose to hit the other coast.  We are safe and heading inland, so don't worry.  All is well here.  sorry for no pics....

Day Eight

The temperature has dropped from 37 on the day we arrive, down to a wopping 25 today,  It rained most of the night. 


we started out the day at Torlesse Winery.  The Wiapara area is trying to reintroduce native plants back into the area.  They have a great start on the little gully behind the Winery.

The wine is really good as well....

This is the Catherdrel in downtown Christchurch.  It's a very old and beautiful area.  There is a Royal Flower shop starting this weekend so all the tents and fences were going up.  We had lunch around the old Univercity of Cantebury.  They have turned it into the arts centre with lots of local artist having studios there.

We then walked thought the botanical gardens. It was so beautiful.  Some of the trees were hundreds of years old and huge.  I mean really biggggg.....  We crossed over the Avon river and saw some people boating.  What a great way to spend the day.

This begonia was the size of a soft ball.  That was the small ones in there.  I have never seen so many begonias oin one place before, Just hundereds of them.  After the gardens we stoped and had a beer and saw a small part of the curling.  We got the rental car and drove back to Vivian's.  It's a little strang to be driving on the wrong side of the road,  But when in Rome....

I hope to be off early tomarrow,  I would like to be on the other side of the island by lunch.  We will see...

day Seven

              
               These flowers are the size of your head........

this morning we did laundry, and then we headed into Christchurch.  We headed out see the two extint Volcanos that make up the harbour around christchurch.  The name of the little town inside the crater on the sea is called Akaroa.  It was an old whaling town founded by the French in 1840.  Lots of little shops and galleries.

this is the view from the end of the dock looking at the South heads of the volcano rim.  We just had the best day, not a cloud in the sky.  We sat and had lunch at a littel take away by the beach.  Mom found some great gifts here.  Thats all I can tell you about that.  The day was a lot of driving, but the temperature is starting to drop a littel (in the mid to high 20)

Mom's feet have returned to normal so we are good to go.  We get the car tomarrow, and then our real adventure starts.  I think we are going tospend the day in the city, and see the churchs.

talk to you tomarrow. 

Thanks Ann, Love you....

Day Six

I went with Vivian this morning, and helped her clip the nets that covering the vines. It' hot and dry in the morning. Mom had swollen feet again so she stayed at the house. We headed back to the house for lunch.

Then we headed out for a tour. We went down to the beach. We had a walk along the beach and then over to an old pub for had a beer. then headed up into the hills and a swing through the farming area.

We saw lots more sheep. Then back to the vineyard. The temperature has dropped a little

and the wind had gone down.

Day Five

I'm a little confused, and over zealoust about the pictures. I'm going to sort all that out.

This morning we set out to the ferry, We ran across the street from our old hotel/hostel. It's very early and the wind is blowing a gale. We have to catch a bus over to the ferry. There is a full boat.

You can see the picture of Mom on the upper deck, from the post yesterday.

from the ferry we got on an old train, and took that down the coast, it was beautiful. I'm glad I booked the train and not another bus.

The train ran right down the coast. We could see beach and the seals most of the way.

As we got closer to Waipara the train conductor, came to us and said they could not find our bags, after an hour they came and said they weren't on the train. I manaded to find them in the luggage car. ( An old lady is not suppose to carry a backpack).

We were very happy to see Vivian waiting at Waipara.

We had a good look around the vineyard, They have done a great job around here. The vines are great too......

Day Four

Just as I think I have the blog figured our........

travel day, We did some running around in the morning (Norma you will be getting a package at my house in about 2-3 weeks, don't open it)

We got on the bus around noon and spent most of the day on it. We saw so much change in the land scape. We went from tropical to mountain scrub bush. Then we went by three active vocanos , that had snow on the top of them. Then we went through desert, and we saw the New Zealand army running around in a tank, Yes a tank in the desert. then we went through farm land, Lots and lots of sheep, cows, pigs, horses, hay, potaoes, garlic, you name it we saw it today.

As we drove into Wellington I was a little sad, I remembered the street in Johnsonville were I shopped but it so changed. When we got down town in Wellington, I was lost. The whole ski line is different. Mom thinks we are back in Saskatchewan because of the wind. The locals do call the place" Windy Wellington".

We got to the hostel, went out and had pizza, and then off to bed. We have to be up early to get the ferry down to Waipara.

The Wind is still blowing

The room we had last night, You could swing a cat and hit four walls. But it was in the right place and the right price. we got up this morning and went over to the train station and got a bus over to the Ferry .

Day three

Sorry that I has taken me a couple days to post, The internet we had was so slow and expensive that it cost a $1 a picture. So not many pictures. Anyway there is our day three.

We decieded to spend another day here, There is so much to see and do. So we packed up and moved to another rooms, because ours was booked for tonight.

We booked a tour out to a famous geyser called lady Knox, Her dad was Famous in the late 1800's. then on to the Thermal wonderland. We saw some great stuff. There was a geyser pool that was orange and one that was Lime green. The color was spectacular.

Any one for a mud bath

this is the true color

this pool was even more lime the clouds rolled is as we got to it...

I then booked our bus too, and our Hostel, in Wellington. I couldn't get a morning bus so we have to wait around until noon tomarrow.

we spend the rest of the day just hanging out with the characters, that live in hostels. Their was two sisters from Holland, One guy from chile, one from Switzerland, and one form England

Boy.......... Was I ever that young, We still had a great time listening to there stories.

day 2 continued

I 'm still trying to figure out this thing!!

the park was all thermal so we took a stroll around. They have all these soaking pools along the way. We found one that was only about 18 inches deep and soaked our feet, It was heaven. It did wonders for mom's swollen feet. We met all sorts of people doing that , two men from Britain now living in Spain, and a local man and his son (Ryder).

We then headed back to town and had a coffee at a french cafe, I felt like I was back in Paris. We just wantered around the city and saw all the must sees. The have a lively down town area. We stoped in and toured the Museum, that is housed in an old Spa, Very Victorian in nature. In todays time it would be a gold mine.

We tryed to find the elusive Canadian coffee. We tryed Starbucks (no go), Then went to Mcdonalds, Mom almost had a heart attack over the service, She was so mad that she walked out and let me handle it. We did get a coffee, and it wasn't half bad. Not sure Canadian Coffee is worth it.

The rest of the day was spent cooking supper and typing up the blog, Hope you like it.

here Mom is kissing strange Men, I think the time change hs done something to her.

day 2

this is a picture of the dancing at the Hungi last night. They can be very scary when the stare and stick out their tounges.

day two started early, we're haveing trouble sleeping past 5am. finally got out of bed around 8ish, We headed to the local farmers marketin a beautiful park and had breakfast. We bought some fresh friut and vegies. Mom found some local jewlery and a little glass Kiwi bird.

End of first full day

the hungi last night was great.... Wen got picked up at the Hostel just before six and taken out to a family run village/Hungi. We were greated by the Uncle and taken into the dinning hall. We sat with a couple from Germany, a couple from Iceland and two girls from Malasia.

They then took up for a little walk through the woods to a fresh water Geyser. It came out of the ground at 5 C and is 98% pure, There was bottles sitting on the table when we got back to the dinning hall.

We then saw the Maori Warriors paddle a canoe up the river that the Geyser created. Chanting/singing they pulled in and got out of the canoe. We were then ushered up to a large cover seating area that looked out over a recreated village.

We met the Chief and his whole family. They put on a really great show. They showed us some dance and singing with both Men and Women. They showed us the Hauka and fighting skills and told us about the history. They also showed us the face tattos and what they ment.

Then we went in and had supper. They had chicken and lamb with some salads and potatos and Kumara (my favorite).They then took us to see the glow worms, Not sure about all that....

Mom's feet are still a little swollen, so we have decieded to not go to the Geysers tomarrow and stay another day here.

All in all a good first day. I can't give you pics with this conection....Sorry

Were here!!!!

We arrived in Rotarua around noonish. We had a very eventfull night. The plane was on the full side (very full side), We got 2 seats in the middle so Mom sat on the outside and I got the middle seat. The Man that sat beside me was so much like Uncle Harvey, that I wanted to call him Harvey all night.

You should have seen Mom trying to get out of her seat. There was only 8 or 9 inches between the armrest and the seat in front of her. she tryed to back out, and tryed to climb over the arm rest. She finally settled on the climbing over. She got really good at it over the next 14 hrs.

We found our bus to the city and then on to Rotarua. We drove through some beautiful farm land, it was mostly climbing all the way. They grow lots of corn here. There was way more cows that I remember, Mostly dairy. The also raise deer and elk, and a lot of race horses.

I managed to find a very chatty man to sit with on the bus, so Mom got to nap. When we arrived, we found our hostel. It's like a hotel. IT have big double glass doors as you enter and there is a double bed and a single bed with a big shower and toilet area. The Guy who ownes the place is a hippy from the 70s. It's like a home away from home......

Tonight we are on our way to a Maori feast. So we are just waiting for the bus to come and get us. Will have more pics for you tomarrow

On our way

We left Calgary in a snow store, Arrived in Vancouver to green grass and sunny skiies. We are jusst waiting for our flight to Auckland. So for so good, No trouble in the Airports, Mom even made it through.

Talk to you from New Zealand...

TTFN

I'm on holidays Yah Hoo.......

OK, I have a glass of wine in one hand, and the rest of the place is a disaster. I have until noon to take care of all the other chaos.

For every one that asked about Mom, She is on the mend. (the cat is OK too).

We leave out of Calgary @3pm and then out of Vancouver @7pm, We arrive in New Zealand @ 7am on the Friday.

Wow

what a first day....
the family arrived about 2 and we watched the Olympics most of the day.
In my infinite wisdom, I thought that Mom and I should get used to sleeping in the same bed.
All was well until about 11 pm. That is the time that Mom, the cat, and Arjen started to vomit. That lasted until about 5 am. The rest of the house got up then, and Mom and Arjen slept on and off most of the day.
I sure hope that what they had, I don't get. I can just see myself in a plane bathroom......
What a great day at the olympics.

arrival of the crowd

the crowd should be here in a couple hours, I'm getting excited now.

One more day

I think I'm ready... Laundry, dishes, packing, grocheries, dusting, vacuuming, done and ready for the company to arrive tomarrow noonish.

two more days

The time is ticking away and I still have so much to do

3 more days until Mom arrives and the adventure begins

Mom arrives on Saturday, and we leave for New Zealand On Wednesday.

I tryed to post yesterday and I'm not sure were it went

Olny Eight more days now... Mom is so excieted that she is already not sleeping.

Pauline's Surpirse party was a great time. All but one of her sisters made it there. Sorry I don't have any pictures for you. My camera battery died and I had the charger already packed and forgot it at home. How am I going to survive in one piece?

10 more days

We Have only ten days until d-day.