New Zealand Vacation--2004

Sat. Nov. 6

Traveling by air is so fun these days. I set off the beeper both at the Monterey and Los Angeles airports, and had to be patted down. It really takes your dignity away, first of all, to have to take off your shoes, jacket, jewelry, etc., and then to be taken aside, patted down and still be setting off the alarms. I must have under-wires in my bra, as well as the bracelet I can't take off, because nothing would stop those beepers! What bothered me most was not being able to keep an eye on my items coming off the belt because they took me off to the side and kept giving me directions that I had to pay attention to---like raising my arms and holding them out sideways. I purchased a new neck pillow at an airport shop, it looks like a leopard-cute!

More waiting at the gate area in LAX, then the flight from LAX to Auckland a real trial---we were given seats in the middle, but Ned traded with a woman so he could have an aisle seat and she could sit with her husband. However, I still was scrunched between two other people. No leg room, no elbow room, the seat-backs had screens in them and you could individually choose a movie to watch, but I found them too close to view comfortably, especially when the seat in front leaned back. Decent dinner, and a great breakfast: quiche, sausage, tomato, fruit, juice, muffin, yogurt, coffee. The woman next to me, Carol, was going to New Zealand to teach a yarn/knitting workshop in Christchurch for a week. She spins yarn, translates patterns from Swedish, Danish and Norwegian into English for a knitting magazine. She showed me some of her work-on size 0 needles and about 12 color patterns---very intricate. The Guy on the other side of me-Alan, works in textile mill in Scotland and they throw away all the unused yarn endings there! We all exchanged addresses, and I told Alan he could ship his endings to me!

Monday, Nov. 8

Long customs lines in Auckland, going through Immigration Control. Then a crazy bus ride with all our luggage, which took us to the wrong terminal! We then had to race by foot to Qantas and just barely made our flight, but they double-booked our seats! They even booked me for a non-existent seat---the hole in front of the emergency exit! But we stood our ground with the stewardess who wanted us to move, and she had to make the other people find new seats. It was a short flight to Christchurch, where we were supposed to just stop, but they actually hustled us off the plane there and onto another. Again, a short flight to Queenstown. I sat next to a New Zealand man who was very down on his own government , and was pro-Bush. N.Z. has a non-nuclear policy and they believe they will never be invaded. He thought that was stupid of them.

Fantastic scenery, including snow-covered Mt. Cook and the Cook Range out the airplane windows. When we walked off the plane, we were awed by the beauty, which cannot be appreciated in the photos we took. We picked up our rental car - a bright red Mazda, got our bags, cleared Immigration (again!) and tried to get seat assignments for the return home in two weeks with Qantas. Couldn't do it. Ned had an interesting time with driving on the left-side. He kept saying "This is wrong!" "This is so wrong!" He bumped over a few curbs on the left side (mine!) as he got used to the width of the car. There were "round a bouts" to get used to too! I was trying to navigate our way into the town, but was stunned by the scenery. It was a wonderland of green-green, with a beautiful lake (Wakatipu). I could only say "Oh my God! Oh my God!" over and over, in between gasping whenever it seemed Ned might graze the parked cars on my side. He didn't. But those streets are so narrow!

With a little problem, we finally found our B&B - Brown's Boutique - great, a friendly proprietor who gave us lots of tour advice. We unloaded, and then walked down the street to the Café III, for yummy onion soup (with vinegar) and a potato salad including sweet potatoes, onions, etc.---delicious! $21 U.S.!!! We walked further into downtown, found a bank to cash travelers checks, then over to the lakefront, where we bought tickets for the lake cruise to a wool station, which was leaving in an hour. We hurried back uphill to our hotel, added sunglasses, a hat, and dropped off a couple of other things, then back to the dock with a quick stop at some wool stores. Wonderful Merino (a type of sheep) and possum fur combination yarns---but expensive. I found a sweater that I really loved the pattern for, and the clerk told me they had it at their other store in town, so we vowed to do that after the cruise.

The scenery on the cruise was lovely. Ned made friends with Bob, a crew member, who gave him a pin of the steamship (T.S.S. Earnslaw). We arrived at the Walter Peak High Country farm, where a funny guide led us first to see some red deer, then some bulls, then lambs. We got hand-feed pellets to the big animals, and bottle feed, and even hold the lambs. It was drizzly. Then we went to the "farmhouse" for a tea and scones and little pancakes with whipped cream and jam on top. Afterwards, we watched a demonstration of how the dogs - Sue and Moss, herded the sheep. It was amazing - a natural instinct, but guided with a variety of whistles. Then the guide sheared a sheep for us, and afterwards we watched a yarn-spinner and roamed their gift shop.

I could barely stay awake on the cruise back, but struggled to stay up until 9 p.m.. We found the yarn shop easily, bought my sweater pattern and also some merino yarn to make a scarf ($14 NZ/skein) and some bamboo needles to knit it with. Ned wanted a meat dinner, so we went to a British Pub-style restaurant, where he had a steak and I had their salad bar. Several very unusual salads. We climbed the hill homeward after Ned's ice cream sundae, and talked briefly with another American couple who were outside in the garden of the B&B. We showered and hit the bed about 8:30 p.m.---almost goal! Their shower took up the whole bathroom. Everything gets wet - one way to keep the toilets clean, I guess. But the toilet paper and towels also get damp, and the floor stayed wet a long time.

Tuesday, Nov. 9

I was feeling groggy since I took a Tylenol PM in the middle of the night to go back to sleep. This was a suggestion of someone, and it worked. We had breakfast in the B&B's charming dinning room when it opened at 8:00 - wonderful food! A great 3-egg mushroom/sausage omelet that Ned and I split. Also, wonderful warm raisin-bran muffins, croissants, dried and fresh fruit, yogurt, etc. Had breakfast with two other couples, one being the couple we talked to last evening. Then we headed out of Queenstown en-route to Arrowtown. On the way, we stopped to see the jet boats on the Shotover Gorge River, and we ended up going on the ride. I was scared at first, because the boats head right toward large overhanging rocks along both sides of the narrow river, and then they whip sideways just as it seems you'll hit the rocks and head off. We did several 360% spins and my hair was soaking wet. I don't know why I bothered to curl it that morning! We were wearing plastic covers and life jackets, but the people in the first row got soaked anyway.

We continued on to Arrowtown, which reminded me of San Juan Bautista - old little shops, wonderful fur and yarn goods. Deep South brand ice cream---we never tasted a creamier vanilla! Ned ended up buying himself two cones during our short time there! I had a few bites. We will look for this brand on the rest of our trip. I bought several little varieties of unusual candies in a candy store---lots of English candies - anise soft wreaths, banana buttons, strawberry foams, cinnamon hard candy.

We continued on, and soon came to the bridge - Kawarau Bridge - where they had a 43-meter high bungy jump. This is where Bungy jumping was invented. After seeing the the bungy is attached to a full body harness and not to your ankles, Ned decided to do it, so I went on the observation deck to watch and take photos. The other people on the deck watching were all in their 20's and 30's, and they thought it was amazing that Ned, who is 60, was jumping. They were using the excuse that they were too old! Ned did a lovely dive - perfect form - a ten! He had not been even the least bit nervous! I was surprised to see that after hitting the bottom and practically touching the water, he bounced back up again to about 2/3 the height, and then again, a third time, slighter lower. He was grinning ear to ear. They picked him up in a raft, and he flopped on the bottom of it like a caught fish, while they took off his harness, but he was still grinning the whole while. Of course, then he had to climb up hundreds of steps to the observation building. He said that was the hardest part of it all! They gave him a T-shirt and a video, and they showed us the video on an overhead screen first. Then we went into a big dome and watched an 8-minute multi-sensual "movie" about bungy jumping---shown on about 80 TV screens all around the dome, while our platform turned, and spray and wind hit us as if we were jumping too.

We then drove another hour and a half through lovely green fields of grazing sheep with mountain backdrops. We stopped for a snack and a look through another woolen goods store. We saw a bad motorcycle/car accident scene - the bike was totally mangled and its rider lying in the middle of the road with several people attending to him. We made it to Twizel about 4 p.m. A "country inn", but it was disappointingly a large motel, not unlike many in the U.S. We took a break there to write in my journal, and Ned played with his GPS/computer hookup. At about 6 pm, we left to explore Twizel, which wasn't much. One "shopping boring 1960's ­looking necessities - and all closed up for the night. The one main road made a complete circle around the town, and every house in the town was perfectly boring, uninspired rectangle, with minimal landscaping. They actually all looked like mobile homes, but they weren't. We explored for a half hour, then ended up back at our hotel (the only place in town to eat) for the buffet dinner, sharing the dining room with a busload of seniors. We also checked out the helicopter trips to Mt. Cook and the glaciers, but I wasn't keen on the idea, and it was about $450/person besides, so we decided not to go to Mt. Cook at all on this trip, but to get up early the next morning and head for Christchurch, which was a pretty long drive anyway, without the side excursion to the Mt. Cook added in.

Wednesday, Nov. 10

We left early, turned on Botticelli opera music on the Ipod, and headed off toward a knockout scene of a snow-capped mountain range, partially hidden by fog, with emerald-green pastures and sheep in the foreground. Frolicking spring lambs everywhere. It was one of those "It doesn't get any better than this!" moments. For the next several hours, we traversed amazing scenery, with a stop at a salmon farm, where we were the only visitors (It was 7:30 am!), and the caretaker gave us some tubs of food pellets to feed the fish and set us loose on our own. We also stopped in various small towns for snacks - meat pies for Ned, and several yarn and woolen goods stores. I bought enough yarn for three sweaters, and Ned came close to buying a merino/possum sweater for himself. Had lunch in one small town---Ned had lamb, I had tomato-vegetable soup.

We arrived at our B& B in Christchurch about 2:30 and soon set off again on foot to see the city centre. We were not too impressed. It seemed to be just another big city to us, and we much prefer smaller towns. It does have some pretty, old buildings and some lovely gardens around the river area, but mainly tourist-type stores, and lots of Thai, Indian and Oriental restaurants. It was also getting cold. We got back to our B&B, rested ? hour, then drove back downtown to Hay's - a restaurant that specialized in lamb dishes. Ned kept waiting for a great lamb experience and he got it there. I had a steak and it was also great, as was their potato (done up like an au gratin casserole), and their veggies---sweet mushrooms, asparagus, beans, spinach. Back to the B&B, where Ned downloaded his photos to the laptop, and I wrote in my journal and knitted on my scarf---I thought that I might want to start wearing it soon, it was getting so cold! We decided not to hang around Christchurch in the morning, but to head to Kaikoura, where the whales and the dolphins hang.

Thursday, Nov. 11

We had a continental breakfast at the B&B, then we got lost trying to leave Christchurch. We ended up buying an atlas of New Zealand, which made all the difference in the world. It was a couple-hour drive to Kaihoura, a beautiful coastal town, with the look of Santa Cruz or Capitola to it. We had lunch---Ned had crayfish, which is really rock lobster to us. I had spicy cottage fries with sour cream. We made reservations for a whale watch boat tour at 4 pm. After lunch, we went out to our B&B, The Point, which was a lovely farmhouse with sheep, a dog named Todd, chickens, a veggie garden full of sheep turds, and lovely gardens surrounding the house. We then drove out to some seal rocks, which didn't really have many seals, and were very far out, but we walked out a bit on the flat rocks, then back to the B&B for a short rest---reading, etc. I had finished my new merino wool scarf in the car and was grateful to have it for our boat trip, which was really cold and really rough. But the catamaran was very neat and comfy, and they were very safety-conscious. We only got up close to two whales after going about 20-25 miles offshore. We did see the second one dive, with his flukes in the air, a great sight! We arrived back about 7:30, had a quick dinner at The Craypot---me---tomato bisque soup, Ned - fish and chips, then back to the farm for bed.

Friday, Nov. 12

We woke early and went for a walk to Seal Rock and climbed the hill for a great view. Back to the B&B for breakfast---muesli, coffee, orange juice, yogurt, banana. A beautiful drive along the coast to Picton, where we would take the ferry to Wellington. We were too early for our reserved crossing, so we wandered the town and had Ned's Deep South ice cream and later, meat pies. We dropped our rental car off early, and then waited in what turned out to be two hours in the ferry building. The ferry was an hour late leaving. I crocheted, Ned read. We got great seats on the ferry though---at a little table right on the stern. After two hours, it became cold, and we went inside a stateroom. I continued to crochet, and Ned read. We talked with a couple from Kuala Lumper---he is a young obstetrician, she is a dentist. We exchanged emails with them in case they ever visit California. We had to pick up all our bags again and get a new rental car. It turned out that our B&B was in a town north of Wellington about 20 minutes. There was a horrible traffic jam there in Paremata, and the address was slightly wrong, so it took us a long time to find the B&B. Didn't arrive until about 7:30 pm, and then we had to leave again to get dinner---close by at a combination sports bar and Indian restaurant! The two had merged and they offered two different menus. We had Denny's-style roast beef, gravy, potatoes and veggies---just okay. Back to our room---we had the whole upstairs floor of their house to ourselves, and bed.

Saturday, Nov. 13

We had an early breakfast with the host couple, Margaret and Devon, then set off for Wellington, parked and asked directions to the cable car---New Zealanders are so friendly - they can't do enough to help you. We bought two delicious small chocolate bars while we waited for the cable car to open, then took a 10 minute ride to the top and the Botanical Gardens. The Gardens had wonderful rhododendrons in bloom---every color imaginable. Also heard an amazing bird, which we later learned was a tui. He had a call which started out like a fog horn, then changed to a sweet song.

After touring the gardens, we went back down the cable car, then found our way by car to the Cuba Mall to find a knitting shop I knew about from the internet. I bought some yarn there to make a hat, and Ned looked at merino yarn and cardigan patterns, but wasn't happy with any of the patterns, and just the cost of the yarn would have been over $200. We got directions to a knitwear shop downtown that the clerk told us would be less expensive, but after walking another half hour to it, it was the most expensive we had seen yet! Back to the car, and we drove back to Paremata to a craft consignment shop that we were told about. They didn't have a sweater that Ned wanted either, so we headed off toward Martinborough over Upper Hutte and a mountain range that was scary. Martinborough is a very small town with nothing but wine bars and taverns. Our hotel was wonderful though---old fashioned. After we walked through town a short bit, we took our books and our knitting out to the hotel's garden and sat in lawn chairs for a couple of hours. I almost got my whole hat knit in that time. Then we dressed up for an early dinner in the Hotel dining room. I had a wonderful spinach cannelloni, butternut squash and a couple greens on top that they called a salad. The waiter suggested Light Harvest Riesling as a substitute for my White Zinfandel, which apparently is only a California concoction. The Riesling was very good. Ned had venison and fennel (looks like celery, but tastes kind of like anise). Then we hopped in the car to search out an ice cream cone for him, but only found an ice cream bar at one of their franchised Four Square Markets (sort of like a 7-11).

Sunday, Nov. 14

We left Martinborough too early for the hotel breakfast - about 7 am. We had a lot of driving - about 4 - 5 hours to get to Napier. When we did, we found a Possum Fur shop where Ned finally found the sweater of his dreams, besides some other goodies. We had been stopping at every town all day looking for a shop with a good merino/possum fur cardigan sweater for him, at a reasonable price. Then we walked through the city centre with its art deco style, had a late lunch at a café - Ned had fish and chips with a very sweet catsup (Dr. Pepper's). We tried to find it later at a few stores, but could not. I think it's a commercially-sold brand. I had a sandwich on an unusual roll with chicken, apricot and toasted brie - yum! We walked around some more, spotted where Rotary meets, and discussed going there for lunch the next day. We got directions out to our farm-stay, and met Dianne and Barry, the hosts there. It is a lovely, lovely farm---loads of flowers, many acres. He is training some wild horses - Dianne took me to see them, while Ned watched rugby on the TV with Barry. Then we studied our guidebooks and Ned napped. Then we went over to the house and joined Dianne, who was knitting for her coming grandchild. Soon, her neighbor Rod, and his guest, June, from Wisconsin, came to join us for dinner. Dianne prepared roast lamb, potatoes, carrots, and a local sort of sweet potato. An appetizer of ? avocado filled with shrimp was also served, and homemade blueberry pie with "Hokey-Pokey" ice cream (vanilla with a sort of butter brickle inside). Lots of political talk - Ned was in seventh heaven, because the others were also anti-Bush (or appeared to be). Bed at 9:00. It rained all night with a nice sound on the tin roof of our new little guesthouse that we had all to ourselves.

Monday, Nov. 15

After breakfast with Barry and Diane, we stopped to look at Rod's kiwifruit farm, but didn't see him. He grows the golden kiwifruit, which are sweet and less astringent than the green ones. We went back to Napier and found the sheepskin factory that Dianne and Barry told us about, and we bought and had several items shipped directly home from there. When we walked in the building, one of the employees asked, "Are you Mrs. Estabrooks?" Ned had apparently left his pillow at the farm, and Barry, knowing that we intended to visit the sheepskin factory, brought it into town. Because he knew the way, and we didn't, he beat us there! Ned was happy to get his beloved pillow---he had to leave it somewhere at least once on every vacation we take!

After the factory, we went back to the city centre, stopped and visited Diane at her volunteer job at a thrift shop, walked the town a bit more, stopped briefly at the museum where I bought a sheepskin afghan made to look like the extinct Moa bird, and had it shipped home. Ned went to an internet café to check up on email, while I wrote in my journal and dug through my suitcase to find my Rotary banner. We then went to the Rotary meeting - very enjoyable. Many friendly people, lots of buffet food, including yummy spareribs and a glass of wine, all for only $11 N.Z. Met a "tramping" (hiking) friend of Dianne's, a Rotary exchange student, Laia, from Brazil, and the speaker was a handsome 46-yr old consultant who told us about his Mt. Everest marathon experience---running almost straight uphill routes for 5 days between Kathmandu and Nepal, with armed guards and police on each side of them to protect them from terrorists! He came in 14th of 47 runners. He talked about the altitude and extreme cold and not wanting to eat, but needing to carb-load.

After the meeting, we hit the road for the Gisborne area - four hours of switchback roads through a mountain pass. We never actually saw Gisborne, because we needed to head for our farm-stay, which was out of town, in Whatatutu. Jenny and Chris and their two sons, on a gorgeous 1,800 hectares, about 12 - 15 dogs (some working dogs, some pets), 5 cats, birds, peahens, cows, a pig or two, etc. After we unloaded and changed shoes, we took a walk up the road with Chris and his son Alex and about 8 of the dogs---it was very muddy and started to drizzle, and then rain quite heavily on our return. Dinner was great conversation with just the adults dining - we had lamb chops, cottage potatoes, asparagus, salad and cheesecake with strawberries for dessert. Ned, who doesn't like cheesecake (!!?) had Tip Top branch French Vanilla ice cream with his strawberries. Bed about 10 pm

Tuesday, November 16

Breakfast and our usual early start, this time for Whakatane (pronounce FA-ka-ta-nee) where we hoped to take a dolphin cruise to a volcano island. We drove through a beautiful gorge with tree ferns and a couple waterfalls, and got to Whakatane about 10:30 am, but no more boat trips were going out. It was too rough. We had some hot meat pies - mine was chicken and sweet potato, Ned - steak and kidney, while we walked through town a bit, then we took our books and journal over to a grassy knoll near the water and read in the sun a bit. Then we drove out to a boat launch area when it became cooler, and tried to read in our car there. We continued on to a beautiful spot overlooking the water and a stature of a woman (in Titanic-pose) built on a rock in the harbor. Then we headed toward our farm-stay, which also had a gift shop (The Red Barn) and café. The gift shop was mainly yarn and knitted goods, and I was in heaven. I bought more yarn and some needles and a needle case. The hosts, Jim and Kathleen Law, are retired dairy farmers - delightful senses of humor. Kathleen had done a skydive on her 70th birthday. She is a knitter, a spinner and owner of the store, so we had several fun hours looking at raw wool (we had planned to have me try my hand at spinning, but ran out of time, as she also had to prepare our dinner). I looked through many of her knitting magazines, and made photocopies at the store of several patterns. I also made photocopies of some of the patterns I had with me that I had brought from home. Her husband, Jim, went "balling" - sort of outdoor bowling, so we ate late---8 pm. Dinner was a delicious beef stew, pumpkin, squash, potatoes, green beans, and a compote of custard, fruit and rum pudding (we didn't care much for that).

Wednesday, Nov. 17

After the usual type of B&B breakfast and a quick photocopy of more patterns, we set off - we had to go back to the Titanic-pose statue in town and take that photo again, because Ned lost yesterday's photos while transferring them to his Ipod. We then headed toward Rotorua and the Maori are of Whaka, with its geothermal steam vents, geysers and mud-pools. A strong sulfur smell was in the area, but you got used to it after a bit and didn't notice. We took a walking tour through the Maori village led by a Maori woman. They have communal bathing there in the springs each morning before they open the village up to the tourists. They cook their food over the steam vents, and we watched how they painstakingly made grass skirts, and hiked trails on our own on the property.

Then we stopped at a gondola ride up a mountainside in Rotorua, had lunch at the top, and took a luge ride down the hill, and a chair-lift ride back up again. Then Ned tried the Sky Swing ride, and we walked up a Rotary trail to the very top of the hill and then down again. We drove around the Lake (Rotorua) and on to Tauranga. There we tried to arrange an evening kayak ride with glowworm experience and a BBQ afterwards, but the Backpacker arranger couldn't reach the tour operator. We left our name and phone number of our host, and then set off for their home, which was out of town. Shirley had a beautiful suburban home home---I wandered around her yard, admiring her house and flowers, and heard another tui bird. Shirley had another tour operator friend who agreed to have a guide take us kayaking at dusk, so we hurried into town again, had dinner at a hot stone grill restaurant---Ned cooked his fat steak on his own plate on a 400 degree Celsius volcanic stone. The salad and potatoes were on opposite sides of the plate. I had an avocado salad. Back to Shirley's, and we chatted a bit until a young man, Dan, picked us up in his van, towing a trailer with three kayaks. We went up to a dam, saw some scary waterfalls that can be kayaked over, but thankfully, we were not. We continued on to a lake.

On the lake, we had an awesome experience---kayaking past ducks and black swans (we were the only humans) to a narrow, still water portion with high banks---hills of tree ferns and other vegetative covering. As it grew dark, we became silent - it was just lovely. However, we never did get to see any glowworms. Dan did not seem to know where they were. He had been told to bring us back about 9 pm, and it wasn't dark enough yet apparently for the glowworms to come out. We headed back to Shirley's, visited briefly and went to bed.

Thursday, Nov. 18

Had our usual breakfast, always served very lovely. There were red grapes as big as small plums. Then we were off to the Coromandel Peninsula. Lots of curvy driving again, and in Tairua, we drove up Mt. Paku, an old volcano on a peninsula jutting out in the bay. It was covered in luxury homes now, but we drove to the top, got out and walked up the trail to the peak with 360 degree breathtaking views. On the Coromandel Peninsula, we took a detour to see the Hot Springs beach, it was pretty, but as the tide was high, we couldn't see how it worked. People are apparently able to dig out holes in the sand to get to warm (hot) spring water, sit in them and soak, then run into the ocean to cool off again

We checked out the rest of the nearby area, trying to find a place to eat lunch, and finally stopped at a café and ate outdoors while rain fell outside the awning we sat under. Ned had scallops, I had a seafood chowder with bread. The highway continued to be very windy and, while beautiful, I found myself becoming weary. At Coromandel, we had been rerouted to our farm-stay's next-door neighbor, sue to the original host's mother's death this week. The new B&B, Mac's, owned by Bill (!!?), was a step down from the quality we had enjoyed all along the way, although the view of the mangroves down in the ocean below was superb. The accommodations were a suite in a separate building from the hosts' home, but it was dark and country-rustic---good for a group of hunters or fishermen, or for backpacking youths. We took a little nap, then went into Coromandel town, had a quick stroll past mostly closed shops. I saw some gorgeous wall hangings of life-size bat rays sculpted in paua (abalone shells) in a closed store. We had dinner at The Pepper Tree. I had broccoli/spinach soup, bread and avocado salad with shrimp. Ned had lamb. Then back to our guesthouse. The tide had real gone out and the same area I had photographed twice earlier was now fully exposed, showing the oyster and mussel farms. We finished our bottle of white wine (started days ago) and went to bed.

Friday, Nov. 19

We had our usual (sigh) breakfast, less fancy than usual though; then took to the road - coastal, very twisty 25 k curves all the way. Beautiful gravelly beaches and extremely small towns. We arrived in Auckland about 10:30 am, and found our way to Kelly Tarleton's Underground Aquarium. It had moving sidewalks through a flexi-tube, where the fish swam on both sides and above us, open aquariums with enormous lobsters, fish, eels. And we rode a snow cat through subzero rooms housing penguins.

We had lunch at a nearby café---Ned had lobster (crayfish), I had seafood chowder---although they promised it was "thick and creamy", it was watery, just like the one I had yesterday. Then we headed downtown, parked in a multi-story parking garage, and walked a block to Sky City---a tower higher than the Eiffel Tower, where Ned jumped off the top in a harness and guided by wires. I waited on the landing platform and photographed him, lying on my back. Back in the Sky City's I-Site (info center), Ned signed up for a parachute jump later in the day, at a small airstrip out of the city. Then the real courage tests began---finding our way out of the city and to the airport and our hotel---bad maps, unclear directions and no street signs or names. We made it to the hotel, unloaded, checked our maps, then headed back out of town to the airstrip, stopping at McDonald's for an ice cream sundae. At the Mercer airstrip, Ned donned a blue and yellow flight-suit and ear-flapped hat, and received instructions on this tandem skydive. I watched his plane climb to 14,000 ft, unloading a single jumper half way up. Then they sailed down, opening their parachute at 5,000 feet. While they were still quite high and making curves and turns, I could hear Ned's whoops and yells from my position on the ground. They landed in the field real close to me---about 30 feet away. Ned was ecstatic and we watched the video of his jump with about 10 minutes! Then we stopped at KFC for a quick dinner before heading back to the hotel and bed.

Saturday, Nov. 20

We checked out of the hotel early, stopped along the way for a cream donut for me, a meat pie and apple turnover for Ned. On out of town, south of Auckland again, to Wright's Watergardens---six acres of wonderful paths and gardens with a huge natural waterfall, water wheels and many Koi and lily ponds. It was wonderful - we took A LOT of pictures. Back to the airport, where we thought we would be able to dump our car and check our bags early, but that was not to happen. We had to wait several hours just to check in, and then wait four hours more. So we read, knitted, wrote in journal, ate, and shopped the Duty Free stores after we checked our luggage.

Both Ned and I had aisle seats, although not quite next to each other, but the trip home was long and tiring, and the 8 hour wait in LAX a real trial for us. Home sweet home.