home at last....

Tuesday - Thursday, March 14-16
The weather gods finally said enough of that good stuff, let it rain! We’ve had almost a full month of fabulous weather, so can’t complain. Two more days and we go home! Walked to Darling Harbour and around that area. Had breakfast on the way - organic granola with homemade berry sauce, Greek yogurt and a long black (that's what they call an Americano - 2 shots expresso with hot water). Janet had French toast.
 Lunch was a shared Portuguese chicken sandwich to get out of the rain. Spent a couple of hours in the hotel catching up on my blog while Janet had a nap. Out for another little walkabout and then down to the CQ for crepes for dinner.
One thing I forgot to tell you about is this strange vending machine they have all over here. I took a closer look and realized it’s selling flipflops at $35 per pair and there is a size chart below. We pondered about this and came to the conclusion – there are at least 4 to 5 cruise ships in Sydney Harbour at any given time. Most of the women are trotting around in the most ridiculous high-heeled footwear and I have thought to myself – where does she think she’s going in those? Well, obviously someone realized a huge sales potential – think about it – what would you pay if you were a mile away and your feet were killing you?
I finally finished that lame book, 'My brilliant friend' and just as I thought, it didn't get any better and had a really crummy ending, like someone ripped the last 50 pages out of the book or the author just gave up. Thanks Janet! Am starting 'Hillbilly Elegy' by JD Vance with higher hopes that it will at least keep me interested for that almost 24 hours of travel time going home...Janet is half way through my Elvis Costello, ‘Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink’ - she says it's a good story but he’s not a very good writer - she spent several years in England in the late 60s, early 70s so there’s some nostalgia there.
Thursday and we are at the airport - I have a strategy for getting through this flight...on the trip over, my knees were killing me before we got to Vancouver and by the time we got to Sydney I seriously thought I might have to stay rather than going through that again. Anyway, my plan is to slather Voltaren on my knees just before boarding – I know I won’t be able to do this on the plane (I have a 100g tube so it’ll make it through the scanning in case I need it again and you know, only WestJet in Toronto caught it but did let me go) and take a couple of Advil just as we get underway and repeat the dosage as necessary. Lucky for me, I scored a window seat and I'm not sure if that's the big difference - I can actually raise my legs one at a time and put them out to the side relatively straight every now and then and it's going well, no issues at all. The flight to Vancouver seems shorter than the way there, it's only 13.5 hours flying time which seems much less than what was supposed to be 18 hours of the way over (I didn’t keep track then – now I’m feeling totally anal!) but we still have to get to Toronto, another 4.5 hours - can't be too bad but Janet decides she should have the window seat this time. Home sounds really good about now!
I finished ‘Hillbilly Elegy’- based on the number of lumps in my throat and the tears welling up, my goodness, what a read – one of those books that you’re sorry to turn the last page and the thoughts that will return for some time – this is one of MAO’s picks!
Things I’ve learned for next time:
-Don’t take Elvis or any big book or one that you want to keep – make sure it’s disposable. The Elvis book is like 2 inches thick, it was a Christmas present that I haven’t read yet and at the airport in Toronto, set for Thunder Bay, after collecting all that stuff I left behind at Janet’s, that big duffle bag is extra huge – it weighs in just over the 50 pound allotment and the guy is going to charge me another $75 on top of the $28.75 I already paid unless I can take a couple of pounds out. I take out Elvis and the camo hoodie and stuff them in my backpack. It works but I can barely move with this thing on my back now!
-Fly to Vancouver, stay a few days (other sister Marnie lives there). Get in a visit and fly out of Vancouver, breaking up the lengthy flying time – not that I’m going back to Australia, but just saying…
-Pay whatever extra to get good seats.
-Pare down the wardrobe even further – I had an extra pair of heels, a dress, a pair of dress-up jeans and 4 tops that I didn’t wear – who am I kidding? Take a smaller suitcase!!
-Biggest lesson, when booking something on Airbnb, if it seems to be a real deal, no matter how good the reviews are, if it’s suspiciously inexpensive, do not fall for it!

Happy birthday, Janet!

Sydney skyline in the background

Today is Janet's birthday and I'm taking her to the zoo! It's a $46 ticket but on your birthday it's only $1, what a deal!  They give you a birthday badge that you're supposed to wear - I was hoping they'd give her a crown or something! But of course, she refused to wear the badge, but  somepeople must have liked the idea because I saw at least 6 other people with their birthday badges and I went out of my way to say happy birthday to them! It was an okay zoo but I think Toronto's is nicer and Janet told me later that she thought so too. Toronto's is much larger, area-wise at least and how many times can you look at a kangaroo, a wallaby, a

 wombat or a bilby and know which is which? They had no North American animals, no surprise because it's too hot for them here. Also the zoo is built on a quite steep hillside so we had a real workout even though we tried to go from top to bottom! The best thing was I finally figured out how to take a close up photo - duh! I was devastated to learn that Martha had been here on Saturday, performing! It turned out to be very warm, so after 4 hours we figured we had our money's worth and took the ferry back to Circular Quay.

potato bread/roe

There was a wine shop I'd been glancing in before and because it was her birthday, I figured I'd spring for a bottle to celebrate. Their wine prices are very similar to home, in fact Yellowtail is $12 here, same as in Canada. I had a nice chat with the girl in the shop and she recommended a Taylor Shiraz at $20. We had a chuckle about Yellowtail - I had been afraid to mention it previously because in Australia they think it's crap, while it's virtually a no.1 best seller in Canada mostly because that's all we get but when I told her it was like $6 in the US, she couldn't figure that one and I explained that it all had to do with taxes and duties.

my half of the salad

Then back to our hotel to do a bit of googling. After booking our dinner table at 'ester' which 'Lonely Planet' recommended and just happened to be in our neighbourhood, for 6:15pm, Janet wanted to find a shopping mall. I have my doubts as to whether one like she wanted exists. We did find really fancy malls that are mostly filled with tons of eateries and high end shopping aimed at the Asian market, nothing even remotely possible for aging, short, chubby Canadians like us. We finally gave up and sat around doing a little people watching until it was time to go to dinner.
'ester' is listed as trendy, modern Australian with eclectic dishes meant to be shared and LP has $$ on it, meaning $15-32 for a standard main course. The menu is not too helpful in knowing what you're getting but the waitress takes the time to do a bit of explaining (and we're still not too sure) but we end up ordering several things to share. Starting with potato bread, salmon roe and kefir ($22); leaf salad with pumpkin seed and praline ($14);  then king

roast cabbage

prawn, fermented shrimp paste butter, capers, ($32); cauliflower, almonds, sauce, mint, ($12); roast cabbage with some kind of foam with green stuff

lamb kebob

below? ($18); lamb kebab on homemade flatbread with parsnip shoestring fries, ($18) and followed it all with a dessert of licorice ganache with cream and pineapple ($16). Actually we were full but intrigued by the licorice business and after all, it was her birthday (thankfully, I picked up the tab the night before! ;-)). Final bill came to $140! It was all really good

cauli/mint/almonds

and I didn't care if it was gauche to photo the food - I

king prawn

had checked ahead with Janet to make sure she didn't mind either. I did refrain from telling them it was her birthday in an attempt to get a discount! A tip was mentioned when the bill was presented but none was added.

dessert

Fitbit, 13.75 km; MA, 11.75 km - you know, even though I may have dissed that Fitbit, I think I might be swayed...

Martha!

Sunday, March 12, 2017
It's going to be a fairly hot day, so we head to the Botanical Gardens, early, before the heat really tunes up. Near the harbour, it's lovely with a nice breeze. We wanted to go back to the garden centre to get some seeds to take home - I had them in hand two weeks ago when first there, but just in time remembered that we wouldn't be able to take them into NZ, so had made a mental note to come back for them. We get the seeds (Janet buys some too) and head back toward the Opera House to have lunch before seeing our show. When we came back to Sydney the other day, one of the things on our list was to see if there was some sort of performance at the Opera House that we could go to. We found out that Martha Wainwright was going to  be doing a little host/chat thing on Sunday afternoon, no actual performance, but it sounded like fun and would fit into our plans quite nicely - the tickets were $30 each.
She was funny, candid, irreverent, so totally Canadian, and she name-dropped shamelessly! She mentioned being good friends with Shawn Lennon who also has famous parents and, Norah Jones, who came over for dinner. They (her and Norah) cooked together, had some wine, did a little singing together and she was turning that into a cooking show, called 'sing for your supper' that is currently being pitched to different networks. She talked about being in an HBO mini-series (Olive Kitteridge) with Frances McDormand - I call her Frances, she says! She, Martha, plays an aging lounge singer and tells us that even though McDormand had her in mind for the part, she still had to audition but obviously got it. I can hardly wait for either of them! The host asked her about the political feelings in both Canada and the US and she made it clear she was living in Montreal and raising her Canadian children there! At the end, there was an audience question period - the audience (about 250 people in the small studio, very intimate and the perfect setting) was a nice mix of oldies, like us, and young people like David, a twenty-something (?) Asian man who came up to the mike and said he flew from Taiwan that morning just to see Martha. She asked him if he was coming to her show that night. He and most of the audience gasped (me too!) and he said I didn't know there was one! She said it was at another venue but she would make sure he got comped tickets. He was so excited he almost forgot his question! It was really sweet! By the end of the hour and a half she had everyone eating out of the palm of her hand. I wanted to rush right back to the hotel and google where she was going to be - she said that Rufus, her brother was flying in the next day too and I'm not sure if he was joining her tour or just being there for her.
We next went to the Art Gallery of NSW on the opposite end of the Botanical Gardens, so back through the lovely pathways. It was one of the best galleries I've seen for having a comprehensive collection of art through the ages from the Europeans as well as Australia and New Zealand - there were some incredibly large paintings and the space was really well laid out, an oldish-for-Sydney (1874), beautiful building, with some contemporary art mixed in and it was free! There was a special exhibit of Andy Warhol, pre-ad era, but we didn't pay the extra money for that, maybe another day because we were running out of time - closes at 5 pm.
Back through the gardens (we're really racking up the kms today!) to Circular Quay, catch the ferry over to East Balmain - we are going back to our old neighbourhood for dinner to the 'phamous kitchen' the Vietnamese place that we liked so much. It's Janet's birthday tomorrow so I'm treating!
Fitbit, 13.7 km; MA, 12.5 km

Bond-eye

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Bronte Beach

Coogee Beach

Saturday is supposed to be on the cool side, but that's likely to be hot for us so we are going to do the famous Bondi to Coogee Beach walk today. I did find out that Bondi is pronounced 'Bond-eye' rather than the 'bondy' that I was saying. The Lonely Planet book says there is no shade to speak of here so we  want to get out early and we've sort of forgotten that it's Saturday. Take the bus over to Coogee, about 20 minutes and we are planning to do the  6 km walk to Bondi and back, returning as we came. We soon realize that there is no wilderness here, even though it's following the coastline, it's totally built up, side to side houses, condos, etc and we are walking sidewalks, dodging people and dogs, families and groups - it's not much fun and really not the type of thing we like, so at Bondi, after having a nice lunch, we abandon the plan to retrace our steps, get a bus back to Circular Quay

Bondi Beach

and wander around there for the rest of the afternoon. We find a flea market at the Rocks area and have an enjoyable time looking at local jewelry, clothing and stuff. We also take in the Museum of Modern Australian Art...can't say that I get modern art but it was interesting, sort of.
An early evening in the hotel, planning our next few days!
Fitbit, 14.8; MA, 11.5 km

Oh manly, are we tired!

Friday, March 10, 2017
I got over my little snit and things are fine! Yesterday, after we got installed in our new hotel digs by noon, Janet wanted to get her hair and nails done. We found a shopping centre within 3 blocks of the hotel and while she was taking care of business, I had a chance to go out and familiarize myself with our new neighbourhood and get my bearings. Circular Quay is the main hub of Sydney. The trains, ferries and buses all go out from here. (That quay word, my brain keeps reminding me that it  is pronounced 'key' but my mouth still wants to say kway!) The weather here is back to quite warm, like high 20sC, getting close to too warm for us so we want plan our days to get the most out of the time we have left.

toward Sydney from North Head

Even though we left Manly, the district, yesterday, in somewhat of a huff, we still want to go back and take in the hiking and the atmosphere. We head out early in the morning, walking the 2 km to Circular Quay, after all, we're going to hike, so might as well get warmed up! Get the ferry over to Manly and we are going to hike the North Head which looks to be about 10 km. But before heading out to the wild, we get a couple of those birdseed bars at the same coffee kiosk as before. Janet has one this time and she agrees they are pretty good!

Shelly Beach

The path today is past Shelly beach and is a varied, up and down, fun hike - no one to give us the elevation gain here, but it is a bit challenging at times. Lots of scenery and lookouts back over to Sydney, plenty of birds and unique vegetation, a really good day, but we are kind of weary by the time we get back to Circular Quay. We have dinner on the way home's walk, at Jamie's Italian on Pitt Street. Pretty good Mr. Oliver!
Fitbit, 21.4 km; MA, 18.5 km

when things go wrong...

March 9, 2017
Our flight from NZ back to Sydney got in at 5 pm local time, meaning we lost 2 hours. We take the train into Sydney, change to the ferry at Circular Quay, get the local bus up 5 stops to our new home for the next 8 days, all dragging our suitcases - we booked this place Airbnb before we left for Christchurch and thought we were getting a bedroom with sitting room/kitchen with shared bath. Huh! Went you think you got a deal, think again! If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is! All the way here, I've been thinking how nice it will be to be able to unpack this green bag and not have to worry about repacking for 8 days.
So, what we get, after hauling our suitcases up 2 flights of stairs to the first floor (we would call it the second floor) is a room, about 10 ft X 9 ft, with a double bed jammed into the corner - you can't walk around it and you can only get out one side. There is a large pane of glass leaning against the full-wall wardrobe and John, our thirty-something 'host' assures us we can fit it into the window if we choose to close the window. The traffic and neighbourhood noises make it difficult to hear and it is quite warm in there in spite of the 'fresh' air. There is room on the one side of the bed to carefully place our suitcases with room to get in and out but upon inspection, all the cupboards are jammed full of stuff - no room for us to unpack or put anything. The bathroom that we are supposed to be sharing is beside our room, but it is bare bones with no place to even set anything down. There are two rather scrubby-looking towels on the bed that appear to be slightly larger than hand towels. There is a surfboard at the end of the bed, leaning upright against the corner, balanced precariously into the corner. I am shocked and speechless. Janet is listening to John and seems quite satisfied with everything. It is by now about 7:30 and it's getting dark out and we have not eaten. We go out to find somewhere to eat, John having assured us there will be something within 2 km or so. By the time we get to a restaurant (any restaurant as far as I'm concerned) we choose a Thai restaurant (sushi and Chinese were the other choices and Janet is not big on Chinese) and Janet says although she thinks it will likely be a fast-food version of Thai (not like the good one we had in the old East Balmain neighbourhood from 2 weeks ago) it will be good for me to know the difference. I am not a Thai food expert. After we order, I decide I'd better just blurt it out and tell her this is not acceptable, I cannot spend EIGHT days like this and we need to find something else. She looks at me, shocked, like she has no idea what's wrong! She finally says well what can we do now? I said I guess we have to spend the night but first thing tomorrow, we're out of here. She tries to convince me it won't be that bad. I don't say much, we eat and head back to the 'room'. We are assured by Chang, John's wife, that we are welcome to sit in the living room and share the kitchen etc. They will be out all day because they both work, but not on the weekend of course. We do have free wifi. Anyway, I won't bore you with anymore of the miserable details but next morning, I say we have two options. Move to a hotel or pay the $200 per person to change our flights and go home early. We find a hotel downtown Sydney and move there for about $2000, a little bit more than the $700 paid for John's place. He had told us they were in NZ 2 weeks ago and as Janet is applying to Airbnb for a refund - she will only get a partial, like a little less than half what was paid, I say I hope they had not prebooked another holiday on the strength of our booking.
Airbnb has not asked us to rate John's place but they did approve our partial refund.

Arrowtown...

Tuesday, March 7

Janet has a very good friend in Winnipeg who has a brother, Mathurin, living here in Queenstown and he is coming by this morning. He picks us up in his land rover which he calls a jeep, the farmers version. It does have two seats in the back and for the first time in my life I do know what it like to be a tallish person because the seats are so high up that I have to crouch over to get a good look out the windows! We get to his house and it's amazing! He's built it himself, entirely from old and recycled stuff. He tells us where he got the stone, reclaimed from something. The windows on the back wall are floor to ceiling, bi-folds that he rescued for some old building being torn down. The inside cabinetry is all from recycled projects and you can see drawers for old business functions.

The drop lights in the kitchen and dining room have been fashioned from old copper drums cut in half. Above the fireplace, there was an odd-looking thing, attached to some rope and a pulley system. It turned out to be a drying rack - a very important part of life in NZ! I found out that he used to be a part of the Canadian World ski Jumping team and he was a

daredevil actor/stuntman for a while. He now runs a green Eco business of making essential oils from pine trees that NZers are trying to get rid of! A very interesting guy to chat with. He even knew Mike Mahoney, the Everest climber from day 4 and was quite impressed that Backroads had him as a speaker!
His wife Jesse sets out tea and a plate of a local treat called birdseed cakes or sticky seed flapjacks. I told her that on our first day at Manly, two weeks ago, (seems like a year!) I bought one of these bars at a coffee stand and I had told Janet that I would kill for the recipe for this! Jesse gave me her recipe without harm being done to anyone! I since found a couple of other recipes in the bunch of cookbooks on our current cottage shelves - I'm set for experimenting when I get home!
We learned if you are coming to visit someone in NZ you should be bringing maple syrup, wild rice and something else that I've already forgotten! Such nice, interesting people, I could have stayed for days! Yummy and healthy!

a different LandRover

Can't remember if I told you to bring a flashlight - it's come in handy more than a few times. In a hotel room, there are usually enough little electronic lights so you can see your way in the middle of the night without turning the lights on, but in our country cottage, who remembers where the light switches are, so it's good to have your own flashlight at hand! And when you're coming back to your lodging, it may be dark!

Packing up to head back to Australia, Janet gave me permission to leave her first book, 'the new new thing' and the 'Explore NZ'. I also seriously depleted my rock collection by half, keeping only the prettiest and with the most green shades, so I've offloaded at least a pound or two.
The book I started last night was Janet's second read, 'my brilliant friend' by Elena Ferrante - it's one of those 'Heather's Pick' from Indigo or Chapters, I think. Janet wasn't too sure about it and I'm only a third way through and probably if I were at home, I'd drop it and start something else but I will persevere. It's a rather sad, dismal story and I can't see it really getting much better. I did give up on 'Complications, a surgeon's notes on an imperfect science'  by Atul Gawande - I am already skeptical enough about the medical profession without a doctor confirming my suspicions!
Wednesday.
It's pretty cool here this morning, 3C and really cool inside our cottage. Our landlady stopped in later and told us there was a frost! There is a very small heater that if you stand in front of it, it blows warm air. Janet has turned on the oven and left the door open and even though I disapprove, I'm not telling her not to. This is the coldest weather we've experienced, but we are going back to Sydney today, and it looks like we'll be back in sleeveless and maybe wishing it were a bit cooler! One is never happy!
By the way, an update on that rolling duffle bag I was so proud of at the beginning....seriously, I hope you didn't dash out and get one! I am really not liking it. It doesn't stand up on its own and even though one of the reviews said that I did not realize how important that could be - not major, but the real issue is that it's like putting things into a black hole and in order to find one thing, I have to unpack the entire load - a bit of a pain! It would be ok for a weekend trip, but packing and unpacking almost daily is messy!
Our landlady drives us to the airport, a good 20 minute ride, for free, saving us probably a $100 cab ride. Quite interesting chat on the way about local issues, tourism (they get a large Asian trade and many of the locals are not so happy) and she was saying that attitude has to change.
Our flight is Qantas in a smaller plane, but still 6 wide, 3 on each side of the aisle, about 180 seats total. We have to walk out on the tarmac to board, which seems strange for such a big plane and especially funny for an international flight. I was going to tell you about airline food, to make up for not telling you about the awesome dinner we had on the flight over with Emirates, but it was so bad, I couldn't bring myself to, sorry!
March 8, Fitbit, 8.4 km; MA, 7.8 km
March 9, Fitbit 5.4; MA, 5.5 km

Goodbye Backroads....

Monday, March 6.
 We meet some of the others and our team leaders for an early7 am morning, easy stroll through the nearby Botanical garden for farewells. Dirk and Brandon, the leaders have been really great and we will miss them. We've had some nice, personal times with them, quite often riding in the front - they have been calling us their co-pilots, and I feel like we are leaving family members! Dirk tells me we're are his favourite Canadians and I go, yeah right, like there was so much competition! He laughs, trying to come up with something else, but  it doesn't work!

daybreak Queenstown

Janet and I have a nice, leisurely breakfast at the hotel and go back up to pack up, leave our bags with the concierge for later and go out for a last wander around Queenstown. We have a taxi booked to take us to Arrowtown for noon.

sign in Botanical Gardens!

Kiwi culture: 'sweet as' means, yes, I agree with everything/I confirm that what you are proposing is good by me - tee shirts with this on are everywhere - never actually heard a kiwi say it, but again, in the service industry, we seem to be running across more transplantees than native kiwis! Last night in the hotel, a porter near the elevator said 'bonjour madame' to me (it is Sofitel and they do the French thing) so I broke out my high school French and said ' bonsoir, je suis Canadienne. Comment allez vous?' And he got all flustered and blurted out, 'uh, I'm from Argentina,' and beat a hasty retreat!
Arrive at Rose Cottage, via taxi, about a 15 minute ride at $80 NZ. We have the entire cottage to ourselves, full kitchen, dining room/living room, 1 bathroom, 3 bedrooms in a lovely setting with outside deck. An older place, but well equipped, quiet and very pleasant. ($220 per night) kind of in the middle of nowhere, residential, large lot/semi-rural area. I can tell we are not getting delivery pizza for supper tonight!
We walk into town, about a kilometre and find a quaint, old fashioned village setting, with several shops selling authentic New Zealand goods, mainly merino knitwear, about $350 NZ for a nice, plain cardigan of merino wool/possum. There is a brand 'icebreaker merino' - supposed to 'keep you warm in the cold and cool in the heat; breathes to prevent overheating; non-itching and naturally door resistant; machine washable and dries fast. It is quite valuable! The team leaders on the trip have been touting it as the be-all in sportswear, especially as an under-layer. Janet finds a short-sleeved Tshirt in teal, her colour, for $90 and I spring $35 for a pair of anatomical-fit running socks! (There is a left

and a right!)I did check with the clerk that I could wear them even if I wasn't running and she very seriously assured me that she thought that would be fine. She was from Germany. I have paid almost $20 in the past for the Darn Tough socks out of Vermont and really do love them, so these better be good! I plan to wear them for the rest of the trip without washing to test them out! ;-)

About 5:30 pm we have dinner at 'Slow Cuts'. It's nice enough to sit outside and enjoy the still-beautiful day! I have the 1/4 chicken combo ($12 - what a deal! There was a choice of 2 salads and I asked for both and didn't feel bad eating it all!)
Back home, a bit of laundry - we have one of those electric towel-warming bars that we have come to think of as laundry-drying racks, a bit or reading and early to bed! I have my own room tonight!
Fitbit,12.5 km; MA,13 km

Queenstown...

Sunday, March 5, 2017, day 8
Today we shuttle (that's what they call riding in the van) to the Gibbston Valley and we stop at the famous Kawarau Bungy Bridge, site of the #1 commercial bungy jump in the world. There is a line-up!

OMG! I am walking down to the viewing area with Net, my favourite doctor - turns out he's not only a brain surgeon but he teaches brain surgery - how smart do you have to be for that? I stop at the top of the stairs because I can see the railing edge below is jammed with people trying to get a better look. Net says, 'you can't see anything from there, you have to come down closer.' I say, 'you've obviously never suffered from short person syndrome.' He takes my arm and pulls me down, politely gets people to move out of the way and installs me right where we can see everything. At the top of the bridge, the next person in line is dressed in a wet suit (already having paid their $195 and signed away all liability) has a belt around the waist and around their feet, tied together, attached to the bungy. Below, in the river are two people in a zodiac which is anchored against the current. After the person jumps, it is their job to grab him or her from the air with a pole and bring them to safety. The first jumper, a young woman says 'I think I've changed my mind', the guy says, 'no you haven't' and gives her a gentle push between the shoulder blades. We hear a bit of a strangled scream as she topples over, goes down and bounces back up two or three times. The guys in the boat move out, still with a rope anchor to shore. The bungy-er, hanging upside down, has to grab the extended pole and they pull her in. They just manage to get rid of her back at the original spot and the guy atop the bridge has the next girl ready to go. She has chosen another option which is for them to set it up so she drops/plummets far enough to go almost fully under the water, head first before the bungy elastics her back up. What fun? We head back to the vans marveling at the people who are dumb enough (or is it rich enough?) to partake in that sport! The van ride so far has been scary enough for me - we've crossed the most dramatic mountain range on the South Island and the switch backs are incredible - there are people cycling this! It would be bad enough but they are competing with the vehicular traffic as well with no shoulder! Is everyone crazy? I must admit, I did cross a few swinging suspension bridges on this trip that I never thought I could! I do have a slightly serious fear of heights...

We are dropped off at the Gibbston River Trail which is a gorgeous, lovely 10 km hike alongside the river gorge with minor elevation gain of a mere 330 ft - a piece of cake at this point! Again we have been awarded a beautiful sunny day that was supposed to be rainy - people are saying that they have this fab rain gear that they've been carrying for the past 8 days - one guy even tells us about his 5 lb poncho and the comment of the day is that the best rain gear is the kind that you don't get to take out of your pack!
We arrive at the winery, have a good lunch with thin crust pizza made in an outdoor brick oven. We have a wine tasting hosted by a very young Brit import who admits he's only been in NZ for 18 months but he's convincingly knowledgeable and cute with a charming accent and he pours well so I'm okay with it!

Back in the vans for a quick shuttle to the Sofitel hotel in Queenstown. We have the rest of the afternoon on our own to relax or shop Queenstown. After checking out our sumptuous room,Janet and I take a walk through the busy downtown area, full of high end retail and touristy areas with tour shops and cafes. Janet finds a lovely opal ring that suits her taste and like a good sister, I convince her she should get it, after all, it's her birthday next week and she deserves it! She really didn't need much encouragement! In the same jewelers I found a spiral out of greenstone that I feel has my name on and make a purchase too!

Tonight's dinner is at Jervois Steakhouse on the second floor of the hotel - Brandon had warned me that if I liked the beef last night, I would have the opportunity of going for a double header as he knew there would be another beef option tonight. When they brought my filet of beef with a hunting knife on the plate I figured to heck with the gauche thing and took a picture - I didn't care if I was the only one!
Fitbit, 11.5 km; MA, 9.6 km - now, seriously, I KNOW I went farther than Janet did today!

just the four of us...

Saturday, March 4, 2017, day 7

Everybody else on the tour has taken the pay-more option and gone for a plane ride and boat ride in Milford Sound so Janet and I have the two tour leaders, Dirk and Brandon at our disposal. The original hike is supposed to be out to Rob Roy Glacier, 12 km with elevation gain of 1900 ft, but the 'boys' know us by now and they say we can have a tailor-made hike with no big rises. We end up going in the same general direction but staying in the valley with just a little up and down. On the drive out, on a gravel, very narrow road there are several washout spots that are marked with a sign of a huge exclamation mark and the word 'ford' under it. A little scary but Dirk seems to be well-versed in this type of driving! We also have to stop and let a herder with five dogs gather a huge bunch of sheep and drive them through into a field on the other side of the road - what a treat to see this in real action!
At the trailhead, I get to set the pace, so Dirk and I hike along and every now and then stop and let Janet and Brandon catch up. It turns out to be another gorgeous weather day. We had a packed picnic and while we were eating, Dirk was explaining the katabatic winds that are created by the heated air from the valley, rising up and bringing down a cooling breeze - I probably have it all wrong but both Brandon and I were totally impressed. Janet didn't comment at the time, but when I asked her later  what was that word he used, she knew it! She's like having my own personal encyclopedia because she sure knows a lot of stuff. I've been getting civics, history and political lessons all along besides enjoying the scenery and weather!
All told, we've had a great time this day, oblivious to the fact that the others, taken care of by Zala, were almost immediately grounded due to extremely windy conditions and lost out on most of the day.

Dinner with the group at Bistro Gentil - upscale restaurant, looked pricey, but it was on Backroads dime so no big deal, we didn't even see the prices. They have a pour-and-pay-your-own wine bar where they gave each couple a credit card, you went up to the wine dispensary, selected your bottle choice, inserted the card, pressed the option for size of pour (taste, half glass, full glass or double) and the wine would be automatically dispensed into your glass, just like getting pop at McDonald's! Everyone seemed to enjoy the novelty of it but there was a bit of grumbling about the cost of the wine on the ride home!
The food was excellent, three choices each. I had French onion soup, wagyu beef with parsnip purée (freakin' amazing!) and a deconstructed apple crumble with salted caramel sorbet. I didn't photo my food because it would have seemed gauche in that setting with that company!
We don't have to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, which is our last full day and where we are headed to Queenstown, the end of our Backroads journey.
Reading-wise, we've been so busy getting up early, back late and having to pack up for next-day early exit, not a lot of time for reading. I did finish my 'they left everything to us' two days ago and gave it to Penn as she and I share similar reading taste. I didn't totally love that book but it was okay. Janet finished her first one also and I'm still carrying it around until she finds someone to pass it on to or I decide to read it, but I have 7 other choices and it doesn't look like I'll need that many! I've got to come up with a plan to get rid of some of the weight because I have that pile of rocks that's probably about five pounds or so! Maybe I can just 'forget' to pack a couple of the books - Janet can't fire me for that!
Fitbit, 12 km; MA, 11.5 km

Lake Wanaka....

Friday, March 3, 2017
Leave the west coast rain forest and head to Wanaka. A 3 hour ride in the van, rainy, and cloudy weather that is supposed to be typical of that area especially but we have managed to avoid it thus far. As we go over the mountain pass - these are the Southern Alps - the sky begins to clear and it looks like we could still have a good day.

We stop short of the town of Wanaka and take a short (5 km) hike along the lakeside to our lunch spot, a restaurant in Wanaka where we are served a buffet of salads, quiche, vegetable lasagna, sausage rolls and wedge fries, with a couple of squares for dessert. After a brief look around town, we load back into the vans and head out for the main hike of the day. Shania Twain is somewhat of a local legend here - she has a $40 million home and has put a lot of money and assistance to helping complete the Te Araroa Trail (runs North Island, South Island and can be equated to the Pacific Coast Trail in North America) locally.
The afternoon hike is a bit taxing, especially after that bigger than usual lunch! Big mistake! We are hiking from Diamond Lake to Rocky Mountain Summit - 8 km out with elevation gain of 410 m/1,350 ft elevation gain - the 8 km would not problem but that elevation gain is a killer! Both Janet and I stop at the interim point which is at 5 km with 800 ft elevation gain and then back down to the start.

                      Our hotel for the next two days is The Edgewater. We have a suite, with bathroom, bedroom with 2 single beds, kitchen, dining area and a sitting room with couches and chairs centred around a flat screen TV (the other places we've stayed have all had TVs but we have not even attempted turning them on. We have been without internet/reliable wifi which seems to matter greatly to the others in our group but as I do not have a cellphone, it means little to me.
We have dinner on our own tonight and we have to get into town on our own - it's a 3 km walk and to be honest with you, I'd be happy to stay in and order pizza, but Janet is determined to go and to walk there at least. I grudgingly act like that's okay with me and I get ready to go. As we go outside, it's beginning to rain and I gladly go to the front desk and order a taxi. The ride cost $12.50. The cab driver drops us off at the Landing where we have 6 pm reservations, made a few days back by moi at Janet's request because she doesn't hear well enough to use the phone. The place looks fine, modern and we do have a lovely view out onto Lake Wanaka. We order a 'little', the salmon confit ($21) an iceberg salad ($8) a 'big', the monkfish en papilotte ($29) and greens ($8).  Humm, a slight case of pretentiousness, possibly... The food does not live up to the hype - the monkfish is served in a  sad, foil pouch! (And my photo didn't turn out.) It should be in a cute little pocket of parchment paper. WTF? And the prices! But they did have the wine from the Mount Pleasant winery in the Hunter Valley that we sampled last week.

It's 7:30 by the time we are finished and still lots of daylight so we walk back to the hotel. Halfway there (we are following the lake edge) Jan decides to go off-roading and follow a recreation trail further along the lake. With some misgivings, I follow but I've checked the time and I'm giving her ten minutes to produce results. I pick a path to go back up to civilization and we are in a spot with all fenced backyards and no trail to follow. I eventually find a pathway that does lead us to a street and I make her get out the infamous blackberry to 'Googlemap' where we are. We do manage to get back to the Edgewater resort before dark.
Fitbit, 12.4 km, MA, 12.4 km plus 3 km walk home from dinner.

a morning at the beach....

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Two options for this mornings hike. One is definitely more difficult and Dirk basically said if you're afraid of heights, don't really want to get wet and have any balance issues you probably shouldn't go

on this one. We quickly chose the easier option but it was still challenging.We twice had to take off our shoes and socks and wade through above-ankle ice cold water and our guide had towels waiting for us to dry off with! But it was worth it. Imagine being able to say, 'I was walking on the beach beside the Tasman Sea!'

And the weather, again, a fabulous day! Bright, sunny and cool enough to make the hike very pleasant. We hiked with Jerry, the gregarious host of the lodge who is giving us lessons on geology, rocks, sea-life and vegetation as well as history of the Maori and Captain Cook and Abel Tasman - he is like the energizer bunny!

And he hops out into the surf and harvests a bagful of green lipped mussels, dashes back in, enlists our help in gathering driftwood and sticks, and soon has a roaring fire going. He has already served us mid-morning tea and biscuits from this huge backpack he's been hauling around. Now he produces a great big fry pan, throws in a stick of butter and some garlic. Aw, he feels bad because he forgot the wine, but he has a bottle of water instead! Adds in the mussels, stirs them a bit and after it all comes to a boil and the mussels start opening, he has tongs to pull them out and serves them up to us on a log he dug up from somewhere to use for a table! Amazing! No one misses the wine! He then leads us back in to a rain forest setting where his information just continues to entertain and amaze us! This has been the best day for me so far - I love the water and the combination of the cliffs, forests, caves and little waterfalls here and there - just incredible!

my collection of rocks and driftwood 

Head back to the lodge for lunch and then Janet and I get a hike down to Munro Beach with Dirk and Brandon being our personal guides - everyone else has decided to take it easy or kayak for the afternoon. Again, having a great time, learning about the birds, the vegetation and everything New Zealand's west coast rain forest has to offer, all with wonderful sunshine and mild temperatures! Wow! You can pinch me but I don't want to wake up!
Supper at the lodge, two choices for starter, main and dessert- everything is good! Off to bed because I'm bushed!
Fitbit, 14 km; MA, 11.2 km

Franz Joseph glacier...

Wednesday, Mar 1, 2017

FJ glacier from start of hike

FJ end of trail

Weather wise, it continues to be fabulous. We have a hike this morning to the end of Franz Joseph glacier and I have my 9000 steps in by 11am. The views are incredible, amazing - I keep expecting this to become blasé, after all, everywhere you look, it's awesome, every view could be a calendar photo!

We head back to the town and have a brief look around and lunch on our own - it seems a typical little alpine tourist town with every second building either a tourist souvenir shop, a restaurant or a tourist adventure/tour venue.Helicopter rides over the glacier are the big thing - it was offered as an extra but we opted for the morning hike which is included in our mostly-everything-in tour price.

A brief stopover and a bit of a relax until everyone else gathers at the hotel and we are back in the vans on the way to a brief afternoon hike of 4.3km around the Lake Matheson Loop and the on to our next home for two nights, the Lake Moeraki Wilderness Lodge. The traffic was a bit hectic, very windy (that's wind-ie, like lots of curves, not weather related) road and on one bridge we are stopped for about 20 minutes while crews work on the one way bridge and nobody crosses. We are crossing over the mountains, to end up on the west side, the Tasman Sea-side of The South Island.

We miss the lecture on something to do with eels because we're late getting there but nobody seems to really mind. Dinner is a choice of mushroom soup or quinoa smoked salmon salad, leg of lamb or turbot and lemon tart or something chocolate - it's all good! Into bed because the next morning starts even earlier than normal because we have to get going to beat the tide.
Fitbit, 14 km; MA, 12.5 km; Backroads, 5 miles.

mostly driving....

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2017
Of course, an early start! Set the alarm for 7am. The bags have to be packed and out the door for 7:30 so it can be loaded into the van while we are having a quick breakfast. There are cold options of muesli, cereal, toast, muffins, fruit and yogurt but you can order a cooked egg/bacon/pancake/toast hot version also. Our first hike of the day is through mountain beech forest and stunted alpine gardens above the tree line from the historic village of Arthur's Pass. The trail is well formed with wooden stairs nearly all the way to the Devil's Punchbowl Waterfall.

Janet and I both opt to miss the next section of the hike along with a few others and just take the van to the next leg where we have a leisurely hike with minimal elevation gain and enjoy a lovely 5 km  with beautiful scenery and pretty vegetation. Back in the van with about an hour and a half drive to lunch. Janet and I get the front seat today and it's a real treat to chat with Dirk and get his first hand take on things and the view of driving on the left side of the road as well as getting close ups of the road signs. The area we are

traveling through is quite windy, steep and the single-lane each way is further restricted by one lane bridges. There is an arrow system to indicate who has the right of way- a small black arrow up and a larger red arrow down means we have the right of way but if it's reversed we have to pull over and wait out the oncoming traffic. I've already decided I won't be driving in this country!
We stop at a private lodge for lunch where they serve up a classic NZ barbeque of skewered meats and various fresh veggies and salads. Back in the van for another  2 hrs  drive to the alpine town of Franz Joseph.

This evenings entertainment features famous Kiwi adventurer, Mike Mahoney, as he gives us a slide show and tales of the New Zealand Everest expedition  of 1977 and it is spellbinding! He was one of the eight only climbers, no sherpas and no oxygen! Had never been done like that before and amazingly, they were also the first and only expedition to have no deaths. We are talking about this for days later!
The weather has continued to be uncommonly warm, sunny and rain-free. The leaders are constantly mentioning how lucky we are to have such continuing good weather. The local joke is they tell the weather by that mountain out there. If you can see it, it's not raining. If you can't see the mountain, it's raining!

Dinner on our own. Janet and I go to the Snake Pit. She has fish and chips and I decide I have to try a burger - probably won't do that again - too much goop, but you have to try to know.
Our lodging for this night is a 5-star hotel, quite lovely but we don't have a lot of time there. In the parking lot I spot a Peugeot Trax which is exactly like my Chevy Trax back at home which explains why we haven't seen any Chevy vehicles.
Fitbit, 8.3 km; MA, 8.6 km