Travels with The Rayman

Approaching Sydney.

 

The phone rang at 0600…how annoying. And we asked for it. What were we thinking? Oh, that’s right. We had a 6:30 shuttle to the airport. So off we went. To the Auckland airport which is a very modern and wonderful airport. As airports go.

We flew Air New Zealand “over the ditch” back to Sydney and I chose as my movie, A Shot in the Dark with Peter Sellers. OMG. It was funny all over again. Rayman watched Monte Carlo and was thrilled that he understood a french phrase. You go, Ray.

So, now it is time to talk about the difficulties of travel. We’re busy retracing our steps and reflection is in order. First, it is hell getting old. Losing things is particularly disruptive and we’re sure we’ve set a new record for things lost in one trip. First the charger for the iphone. We lost that in L.A. before even leaving the country. Second, there was the Kindle. Retrieved yes. But…the agony of not knowing it’s whereabouts detracted from, let’s say…the giant clam at the Great Barrier Reef. Then there was the jewelry. My jewelry (all costume) went missing and has not been found. In fact, the hotel is ignoring me. At their own peril which is pure bluster on my part since I hold out no hope of ever retrieving whatever I packed in the cloth envelop for use on our journey. Thank goodness I never took my earrings off or they, too, would be among the missing items. Then today I left my lavender light microfiber wrap at the hotel. Rayman and I never saw it and we checked the room twice. But it is not here in Sydney so off an email went to the hotel to ask them to return it to me though Rayman says I’ve had my monies worth but I’m determined to try to recapture it.

Auckland was cold and raining. Landing in Sydney we couldn’t believe the weather…warm and comfortable. So we took the train into the City and had lunch by the Opera House

 

 

and then bought an ice cream and jumped on a ferry. Didn’t even care where it went and apparently, no one else cared either. Ray bought tickets but he didn’t know for which ferry (confusion set in which leads us back to being old, although we do also have the convenience of blaming in on not understanding their accents)…so we just jumped on a ferry and rode it up an arm of the bay and back. Took about an hour. Below is one of the docks near the City.

 
Sydney is amazing. It has many arms and there are fabulous homes at water’s edge along the arms. Many have boat garages right on the water. Others have small harbors. Today we saw lots and lots of rowers.

 
Rowing is a big sport here and the rowers were out on the water plying their sport…mostly as teams with 6 or so on a very long boat with a motor boat going along side with someone with a megaphone badgering the rowers…opps, coaching the rowers. But that scene was interrupted by a bunch of screaming, shrieking kids on the nice relaxing ferry ride we took. One little girl who could barely walk kept running down the aisle screaming…big brother(about 4 yrs old) grabbing her and dragging her back to her mother. First time in our travels we ran into a parent that was entirely oblivious to the other passengers. We never saw that in France. Or AU until today. Rayman left the ferry with headache…me with a toothache. Man I hope it feels better tomorrow. I predict it will. With this red wine I’m drinking and the dark chocolate I’m eating…there is no pain evident as I write.

Look at the photo below and see if you can spot the bridge climbers on top of the bridge.
Shooting into sun didn’t do much for this photo. The fact that they let you walk across the top of the bridge is one way that they are different from us. No fear.

But I digress. My lower left molar has been bothering me…I’ve been applying Oragel but it hasn’t been too effective. So tonight when we returned from the city (we’re staying by the airport)…I had a gin and it’s been much better. If not better tomorrow, I’m looking for a dentist because I don’t want to be in pain on our 15 hour flight back to LAX. Rayman is fine.

Opps. Digression occurred back to back. You know, though, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. If we stayed in the city, the cost of a room might have been $300 a night. Parking extra. So we opted to stay near the airport but that necessitated buying tickets on CityRail and the ferry to move about. Coming and going they get you. Traveling is expensive. And it is hard to figure out what the best way to do things might be given all the variables. It will be nice to get home where we really, really know the variables. Variables make life hard if you don’t know them. But maybe I’m feeling this way because I’m tired of being a tourist. I want to be a resident!!

OMG. The Rangers and the Cardinals. This is all news to us and Rayman just tuned in to discover the World Series is on and these are the teams playing. We’ve been so absorbed with rugby…who knew? Well, I’m rooting for the Cardinals. I was in St. Louis once and the team wasn’t owned by Dubya…so I’ll root for them.

Okay, so I’m engaging in stream-of-consciousness tonight. Maybe it’s the gin. Another observation. I think men’s legs might be skinner where the leg meets the torso. This is because I ran out of undies and borrowed a pair from the Rayman and I felt like my circulation was hindered today. True confession. I didn’t bring enough undies and that’s all the further I’m going on that topic as it has been a topic of discussion on more than one occasion.

And finally…communications are difficult. They charge for wi-fi at almost every hotel. And it’s a sizable charge. This interferes with my staying in touch….although I’ve learned that the people that love me the most based on the numbers of emails I’ve received are Nordstrom, Groupon, Lamps Plus and Best Cigars. Most importantly it hinders my ability to post my blog. It’s not easy. The wi-fi situation reminds me of telephone call charges in hotels before cell phones became ubiquitous. If we had our phones on, 3g seems to be everywhere except the mountains of NZ. But we didn’t want to come home to a big, giant cell bill so we’ve kept the cell phone off and cursed wi-fi charges.

Last evening after dinner in the hotel (which was quite good and reasonably priced for a Holiday Inn), Ray went for a walk to the drugstore to fetch some Advil for me and my tooth/gum situation and he managed to get lost while reading his map so it was quite some time that he was gone and while he was doing that I was looking for something I had lost in the room and I found two more Advils which I took to ease the pain. Meanwhile, Ray finds a pharmacy which had the hours posted on the door proclaiming that it was open until 6:30 but it was closed at 6:10 when he arrived so that prompted him to wander farther afield and he finally found a pharmacy open and bought Advil with codeine (didn’t know there was such an animal on the market) and regular Advil and brought it back to me, his damsel in distress. I alluded to a bit of this in last nights rant but I wanted to paint the picture fully for you, the dear reader.

At 4:10 a.m. I awoke with pounding in my head so I go up and took two more pills…one of each variety and managed to get back to sleep only to awaken at 7. At this point Rayman reminded me that in his search for a pharmacy, he saw several dental offices so he suggested that we walk down to Mascot (name of the suburb we’re in) and find a dentist. Blind faith. So, I agreed because I didn’t have a better idea. So, we got to a dentist office that said it offered 24 hour emergency dental service. Only the place was closed and no one was inside (the front of the place was all windows). Uhm. People of Mascot play fast and loose with the time. So, we crossed the street and entered a building that said, “Mascot Medical and Dental Service” mainly because it was the first office that we came across that was open. We were directed upstairs by a very friendly woman where we entered a reception area that was comprised of one desk with a counter that had a sign on it warning people not to lean on the counter. And there was a cheerful young woman standing there. She had just about enough room to turn around. There were several (maybe 5 seats) lined up against the wall to her left and two ‘booths’ with doors directly behind her with a printer and on her right and a television above her which was on a channel with lots of commercials. When I sat down, I was maybe 5 feet from the reception desk and we were close enough that she(seated in her chair) handed me paperwork (and I was sitting down too). Anyway, she said she would check with the Dr. He was the only dentist working today and his schedule was very busy. Oh, dear. But there we were.

The Dr. was Egyptian and had an Egyptian accent blended with Aussie and Kiwi accents so he was very hard to understand. After asking a few question, he announced that x-rays were needed. And he took me back out of his office and into the reception area and straight into door number 1…a booth. In it was a tall, white machine. He had me bite down on a piece of plastic and stick my chin in an indented place designed for chins and then he left the booth. The white machine came on and circled my head. Ray described it as an orbital x-ray machine. Then he came in and got me and led me back into his office. His office was also quite small. He had a desk in the corner with a screen and that is where he instantly looked at my x-rays. More questions were asked. Several questions were repeated because I had no idea what he was saying. But we muddled through. So now it was time to look in my mouth. He made the very comfortable, modern chair recline and there was a television suspended from the ceiling and the news with arabic subtitles was on. When he was finished literally banging on my teeth, he took two more x-rays in the comfort of my chair to verify what he was suspecting. When he was regarding those additional x-rays which instantaneously appeared on his screen by his desk, I told him how impressed I was with his office equipment. I’d never seen an x-ray machine like that. No gagging involved. What a revelation. And the TV above me. That was a nice touch. The assistant said, oh, yes, there is another TV monitor on the wall for when the patient is sitting up partially and one right in front of my face hanging at eye level and in front of some of the dental equipment. Wow. He explained that all his equipment was digital and it was much better for the comfort of the patient and was also better for the Dr. “More expensive but worth it. And the TV provides a good distraction for the patient. They like it.”

He was very curious about cost of dentistry in the U.S. He said crowns in AU ran about $1500. $1300 for a root canal. And he was amazed at how little insurance we have. Our plan I told him covered about $2000 a year for a family. Rayman and I blew through that in March. Very interesting conversation. He said he would email my x-rays to my dentist, gave me his card and deposited me out in the waiting room. Oh, and apparently I do not have a tooth issue per se. My soft tissue is inflammed so he wrote me two prescriptions on one piece of paper, charged me $320 and sent me on my way. The two prescriptions cost me $17.20.

While paying the bill we found out that you can watch your favorite show, bring in your family photos on a DVD, bring in a movie. Whatever. And whatever you watch will be projected on all three screens. And the Dr. also has the ability to show you your mouth and x-rays on it at well. Perhaps a frightening thought…my opened mouth on three monitors. I should have asked if people had ever been compelled to run out of the room faced with a picture of their mouth?

But I digress.

Okay. Now. I ask you. Does your dentist do this? Have you ever seen this before? I was blown away. Wandering in off the street in a multi-ethnic neighborhood and getting seen within 30 minutes of arrival by an Egyptian dentist in a small, cramped office outfitted with the most modern dental tools in my world… where I can watch TV or a DVD while a procedure is performed is in a word, stunning. Really. And the whole experience took 20 minutes with the dentist.

And we yada yada yada about socialized medicine this, and socialized medicine that…and long lines where you have to wait months. I’m just saying.

When we returned from the dentist, I had an email from our new Aussie friends that we exchanged homes with so I emailed them back and we arranged to have lunch together. And they picked us up at our hotel!! Then they drove us to an area of town we had not seen. Here’s some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then they drove us to a point where I snapped the pictures below. Then we drove by Bondi beach and they then delivered us back to our hotel.

What a delightful afternoon we shared. They were so nice and very funny. It was a hoot. Jed had some funny sayings that he used. Wished I would have recorded it. Like ‘he’s about to fall off the perch’, meaning die. And he was smitten by the hair hats I have…they are baseball caps with fake hair on top. So he went out and bought one for himself. And then they got such a bang out of being greeted by Elvis inside our front door, that he took pictures of that. All these stories were stitched together with very colorful vernacular language.

I asked our hosts of they had ever walked across the Harbour bridge. “Oh, yes. It is quite extraordinary.” Jed then told us that they took his 80-year old mother up for the climb on her birthday. He reports that they put you in zoot suit, strap you in so you can’t possibly fall away, and you speak thru a microphone and wear earplugs. So while up there they sang happy birthday to his mum even though she was, “as deaf as a post” explained Jed. Lyn said mum smiled and read their lips…”she knew what we were doing.” How cool was that? Not just anyone would think of that…torturing their dear old mum for her birthday by marching her up and down an extremely high bridge. But, hey. I kid our hosts!! And I do that because they told me they read my blog. So…I want to make them laugh.
Here is the point which is famous for suicides, good views and possibly murders. This is also the opening to Sydney harbour.

The other thing is our conversation was very informative. They do retirement different here. There is means testing for social security. And they have defined contribution plan but at age 60 they can access the fund in their plan tax free. How good is that? They also give citizens dividend tax breaks for investing in companies that are located in Australia. And you are required to vote. No excuses. I think Jed mentioned that a fine may result if you, say, stayed away from the polls to work on your model airplane. So, while the U.S. states are busy trying to make voting harder, the Aussies are working very hard to make sure everyone participates.

It was also interesting to hear their impressions of California. They went to a Giants game and loved it. They were amazed at our micro-climate weather. Liked our wines, fruits and veggies. Sounds like they loved our spot in the world as much as we loved theirs!! I’d call that a win-win. And we all agreed that home exchanges are a great way to travel because you are in a neighborhood for a time and you get to experience the place and the people.

So…now Rayman and I are in our hotel room, waiting for the semi-final rugby game between Australia and Wales to find out who ends up in 3rd and 4th place. We’re all packed ready to head to the airport in the morning for our flight back to LAX. And I can’t even drown my sorrows because the antibiotic I’m now taking restricts my drinking which will be good for my waistline…but a bummer in other ways like what am I going to wash that dark chocolate down with tonight? Humm. A sip wouldn’t hurt, would it?

We caught a shuttle to the airport, took a bus into downtown Auckland, took a ferry to Davonport Island…and then basically reversed ourselves to get back to our hotel. Not end of story.

 
The airport is located south of Auckland quite some distance. Think San Francisco. And Auckland does not sparkle, however. We were a bit disappointed but after Queenstown, most won’t rise to the occasion.

We decided to go to the ferry building on the advice of the bus driver. That’s where we purchased tickets to Davonport Island which included a tour of the place as well. That ended up being a good choice because it rained on and off. The weather here is extremely volatile. Sunny one minute. Downpour the next. We call them cloud bursts. They call them rain bombs which is a totally apt description.

So, Davenport is a 12 minute ferry ride but it is a world apart. And we got a guide that is like fourth generation giving us the tour. Steve. He explained that this island of 8,000 people only has one cop. He works M-F from 8 to 4 and half the time they can’t find him because he’s out on his boat fishing….just no crime on this island. And no graffiti. And houses worth millions. Steve says that once you move to Davonport, you stay in Davonport. Part of tour included dropping us at a battery from WWll. There was a movie about the island in which the military played a prominent roll throughout time. And then there were tunnels. So, we went into a tunnel and came upon three young women vamps being shot…that is photographed on film by some young filmmakers. I inquired what they were shooting. “Part of a music video,” one said. “For what?”, I asked. “The Scarlett Lashes, a band.” You should have seen them. They had light make up with deep purple lips purposely drawn on their lips…one of the women was barefooted. The others were fully dressed and in high, high heels. Black was the predominate color. Remember. This is down in an underground tunnel. A bit surreal. Didn’t take a picture. It just didn’t feel right. I’ll try to find something out about them and report back.

Then we left the tunnel, rejoined Steve and another couple from Sydney and completed the tour which included seeing the entire NZ naval fleet…of 4 ships. Here’s a pic. So, one cop and 4 ships. I like that. They use their money mostly for themselves. An interesting concept. And Steve thought we, the USA, was the world cop and “isn’t that a shame?”, he inquired. He reminded of us Mayberry, albeit a very affluent Mayberry.
Then we asked where to eat lunch. Steve said, “Platter”. He drove us there and we had the best seafood chowder we’ve ever had in a restaurant. Yummy. And it rained the entire time we ate. As we walked back to the ferry, the rain stopped and it didn’t start up again until we were going to meet our airport bus. Then the rain bomb hit. There’s a reason it is green.

 
Me and thee on the island with Auckland in the background. Some art in the park in the rain. The rugby mania ball.

 
Back in our room, we are getting ready to head back to Sydney tomorrow. And it’s going to 80 degrees there. We will defrost and visit the botanical gardens and hopefully catch up with our new AU friends for lunch. And there is one more day there before jetting back to Los Angeles and then driving back home on Saturday. Sure hope we remember how to drive on the right side of the road!!

We are very ready to be home in Cayucos. And anxious to see our friend!! Oh, we have more than one. Well, that’s a relief.

We caught a shuttle to the airport, took a bus into downtown Auckland, took a ferry to Davonport Island…and then basically reversed ourselves to get back to our hotel. Not end of story.

 
The airport is located south of Auckland quite some distance. Think San Francisco. And Auckland does not sparkle, however. We were a bit disappointed but after Queenstown, most won’t rise to the occasion.

We decided to go to the ferry building on the advice of the bus driver. That’s where we purchased tickets to Davonport Island which included a tour of the place as well. That ended up being a good choice because it rained on and off. The weather here is extremely volatile. Sunny one minute. Downpour the next. We call them cloud bursts. They call them rain bombs which is a totally apt description.

So, Davenport is a 12 minute ferry ride but it is a world apart. And we got a guide that is like fourth generation giving us the tour. Steve. He explained that this island of 8,000 people only has one cop. He works M-F from 8 to 4 and half the time they can’t find him because he’s out on his boat fishing….just no crime on this island. And no graffiti. And houses worth millions. Steve says that once you move to Davonport, you stay in Davonport. Part of tour included dropping us at a battery from WWll. There was a movie about the island in which the military played a prominent roll throughout time. And then there were tunnels. So, we went into a tunnel and came upon three young women vamps being shot…that is photographed on film by some young filmmakers. I inquired what they were shooting. “Part of a music video,” one said. “For what?”, I asked. “The Scarlett Lashes, a band.” You should have seen them. They had light make up with deep purple lips purposely drawn on their lips…one of the women was barefooted. The others were fully dressed and in high, high heels. Black was the predominate color. Remember. This is down in an underground tunnel. A bit surreal. Didn’t take a picture. It just didn’t feel right. I’ll try to find something out about them and report back.

Then we left the tunnel, rejoined Steve and another couple from Sydney and completed the tour which included seeing the entire NZ naval fleet…of 4 ships. Here’s a pic. So, one cop and 4 ships. I like that. They use their money mostly for themselves. An interesting concept. And Steve thought we, the USA, was the world cop and “isn’t that a shame?”, he inquired. He reminded of us Mayberry, albeit a very affluent Mayberry.
Then we asked where to eat lunch. Steve said, “Platter”. He drove us there and we had the best seafood chowder we’ve ever had in a restaurant. Yummy. And it rained the entire time we ate. As we walked back to the ferry, the rain stopped and it didn’t start up again until we were going to meet our airport bus. Then the rain bomb hit. There’s a reason it is green.

 
Me and thee on the island with Auckland in the background. Some art in the park in the rain. The rugby mania ball.

 
Back in our room, we are getting ready to head back to Sydney tomorrow. And it’s going to 80 degrees there. We will defrost and visit the botanical gardens and hopefully catch up with our new AU friends for lunch. And there is one more day there before jetting back to Los Angeles and then driving back home on Saturday. Sure hope we remember how to drive on the right side of the road!!

We are very ready to be home in Cayucos. And anxious to see our friend!! Oh, we have more than one. Well, that’s a relief.

Let me say right off the bat that I much preferred our ferry ride and nice flight down to Queensland than the present turbulent flight we are in the midst of right NOW. While checking in this morning we heard, “Please step out of line. You are under arrest.” Oh, that trickster Jim, our MN friend. They were booked on a JetStar flight and their flight had been cancelled because of the wind. It was blowing flags up away from the flag poles. And did I mention that it snowed last night.? Not in Queenstown but all around the mountains that surround the town. And their plane couldn’t land. After three attempts, their incoming plane returned to somewhere thereby leaving them stranded at the airport.

At this point…stranded is not necessarily a bad thing. We are being tossed all over the skies. It took us 30 minutes to get in the blue and the flight attendants were all seated. I hate when that happens. It was the worst take off I’ve ever endured. My valium and wine didn’t do a thing. I’m waiting for cabin service to start so I can order a stiff one. Thank goodness we are on a 737…a turbo prop might be what they were to fly on. They would be better off on the ground.

Now that my life has flashed before my eyes…I’ll take this opportunity to reflect on our trip thus far. Observation one. Young people are moving around. They comprise the backpacker/tramper population down here. A sparse life, sleeping in youth hostels, eating at McDonald’s, and lugging their belongings where ever they go. They are having a great time. We’ve talked with a lot of these young adults and most of them are traveling to learn english, the language. One man from Japan was here because his employer sent him to learn english so that he could communicate with his clients. He is an accountant. Another young woman from Argentina is here studying english before she moves to Spain. She traveled to Spain, loved it and decided to immigrate. She is a teacher. Another young couple were working at the ski resort which just closed for the season. They were from Slovenia and they were traveling around to see the sights, improve their english which was already wonderful. “How did you learn to speak english, because you are very good at it”, Rayman asked. The Slovenian replied, “it’s compulsory in our schooling.” This lead Rayman and I to wonder what is wrong with the USA. We fight other languages with our english only ranting. This only limits our ability to talk with others and engage with the world. Yes, they are learning our language to be better off in their lives…shouldn’t we be doing the same? Just wondering.

Second observation. The people down under are wonderful. I’m at risk of repeating myself, I know. But I bring this up to encourage all my readers to consider a trip down this way. You will love it. The kiwis are so much fun, yeah, yeah. They never say yes just once. They are so enthusiastic they always without fail say, “yeah, yeah”. And they speak really fast which is a challenge for those that can’t understand their accents. It makes it fun just the same to try to figure out. And they take our lack of ability to understand them with good humor accompanied by a smile. Charming, I’m sure.

Third observation. They don’t get wigged out with security at the airport. You can transport opened wine within the country. They don’t even scan your carry-ons including computers when flying on the turbo-planes. The 737 required a check of the computer this a.m. That was a first. Shocking? I am not shocked. They are way out of harms way down here. We have done a lot of touring, walking, riding public transit and have never felt the least bit in danger in any way. Bicycling, is another matter as I’m a scared y cat (which means it’s my problem, not theirs) Really. People are kind, considerate, polite. It reminds us of our childhoods’ when you could leave your doors unlocked. You didn’t worry about a classmate blowing you to bits at your school. You could stop someone and ask for directions and receive directions or sometimes even get shown the way. It just feels safe and we love that about the down under. Yeah, yeah.

Observation number four. The beds are really, really comfortable…everywhere. Included as a subcategory to that is that I have never seen so many ways to flush a toilet. Handles are rare. Buttons are popular, lifting knobs are in good supply, turning a disk is a relatively modern way to approach the task. You can pretty much figure that almost no two are exactly alike. Shows the ingenuity of the peoples. Old task. New solutions. And when you ask for a bathroom, you’re sure to puzzle them. They say toilet. Straight up. Toilet.

Speaking of toilets, they are everywhere. The kiwis and Aussies discovered that people have a need to relieve themselves and they decided to provide for that eventuality. Never had to ask for a key. Never saw a sign limiting access.

Never did get that stiff drink…it wasn’t an option on this flight. Luckily the flight smoothed out a bit and I stopped hyperventilating, my blood pressure returned to normal and palms stopped sweating so that I could type with ease. We’re now about 25 minutes from Auckland. Looking forward to warmer weather. It was uncomfortably cold this a.m. on the south island. Felt and looked like winter. So defrosting will be a good thing. Yeah, yeah.

On or about Oct. 6, we booked our Doubtful Sound trip which included renting a car to drive 2 hours to meet the boat on Lake Manapouri at 8:30ish a.m. Yesterday was Oct. 15th, Sunday. So according to my calculations…Oct. 6th was quite a while ago. We were taking a gamble. We knew that. The weather here in NZ in the spring is completely unpredictable. And so…this is how our weather started out…
Here we are looking down on Doubtful Sound. To get to the sound, you meet at the lake and travel for an hour on the lake. Then they drag you to a hydroelectric power station that is located deep in the earth. And it takes the water from the lake, forces it into two huge pipes that run down inside the mountain and this turns turbines that generate electricity for an aluminum plant located south of here. The water is then pumped into the Sound. It was built between 1964 and 1972. An engineering feat that was so big and expensive, private enterprise could not afford to complete it, once started. So…the government finished the task and now they renegotiate the repayment to the government every 10 years with the aluminum company which is owned by Australia and the money is getting repaid to the government as we speak. (none of monetary info was included in our underground tour, I asked the guide about it). And did I mention it was really, really underground. Does buried alive mean anything to you? A bit eery but we did it without freaking out!!

 
But, I digress. Once we got on the sound, I snapped this picture. It illustrates our weather. Further, it shows how important light is when photographing.

Doubtful Sound got it name because Capt. Cook was doubtful that the opening from the Tasman Sea would lead to much. That’s because Doubtful has many islands in it and to the casual observer in a rickety old ship, you might not want to take the time to sail into a place that wasn’t very promising. With no GPS or, let’s say, map to follow…and quite possibly with people on board with scurvy, say, you needed to make every exploration count. So it turns out that the Spanish ended up being the mapmakers for Doubtful because they were the first to explore it. Looking for gold, I think.

So, our long journey from the place we took off from ,,,at the Sound to the Tasman Sea (our furtherest point out), the clouds were in abundance and few pictures merit viewing.

HOWEVER…sun was spotted over the Tasman Sea. The ocean was calm and the guides were really excited because they had only ventured out on the sea twice in the last two months. And away we went. And the sea got rough so we didn’t go too far. I think it was when our guide announced, “For those of you on the bow…you may want to move back as you might be hit by ocean spray”, I closed up my camera and headed inside.

Message interruptus.

We have just returned from our progressive dinner. It’s our last night in Queenstown, it is cold, it is raining and we had way too much fun. Our plan was to have fish at Fishbone, a local joint, followed by tapas at a place we ate at this a.m. So…we had a fabulous asparagus grilled salad and appetizer of mussels (me) and scallops (Rayman). Then we progressed to our breakfast place for tapas and it was CLOSED. So, we sauntered down the avenue in the rain and found another tapas joint. Who knew? Well, we had chorizo con tomate, judias blancasy aceitunas negro (or spicy Spanish chorizo sausage with white bean, tomato and black olive. Accompanying our dish was papatas con alcaparras y chili or olive oil pan fried gourmet potatoes with capers, chilies and chives. Finally, Goats cheese with truffled honey comb, balsamic figs and walnut toast. OMG. Fabulous. And we were two of four in the joint. The other two were busy on their electronic devices. We were busy admiring the small, comfortable room with a real fire roaring and birds flirting on the leafless branches of a tree outside a window. So…the progressive dinner was a big success. We plan on doing this more often.

And back to our regularly scheduled program. That is my story of yesterday.
The Tasman Sea entrance and a rock full of seals.
We were treated to a rare sighting of Crested Penguins. A bit blurry but it was very hard to photograph these with the boat rocking, the birds moving etc. However, aren’t they sweet?
So, here is another rare sighting. Ray sans wine glass. He’s drinking TEA. And look at that sky. That view.
Did you know that Sounds have arms? Well, yes they do and here is one. They are all named but my wine from dinner is interfering. Sorry.
Heading back the sun kept exposing all the sights we had missed going in for lack of sun. It was spectacular.

 

Below please find a picture of our guides. They were great!!

 

Here I am turning my back on what lies ahead. And below…well, what can anyone say about this? There aren’t words.

 

 

Lake Manapouri.
AND our new Minnesota friends, Jim and Mari (mary). We met them on the train trip from Picton to Christchurch. Their schedule was very much like ours. So, we invited them to ride with us and take the tour of the Sound, which they did. So, here’s a few interesting tidbits about our new friends. They have two daughters. One married a fellow from Alameda and they moved to Sydney for his work and they are visiting them. Jim has worked for the same firm for 42 years. That’s almost unheard of…and according to my calculations he entered the work force at about age 4. Isn’t that illegal? Mari is a scream. She managed to lock herself into the bathroom near the power generator and before Jim approached the restroom to save her, he said, “Is there anyone naked in here?” He swears that was a question, not wishful thinking. I have my doubts.

Jim loves old cars and heats his garage to 46 degrees so he can work on them. I’m not kidding. 46. I can’t even feel my fingers at 46.

When we were in Christchurch, we ran into them (a very small world) and went to Antarctica with them (the exhibit). While we were there, Jim (works in IT) spent all of our tea time (we took a break) trying to get a reservation made for the Doubtful Sound cruise using his computer. Every time he hit the “purchase” button, something went wrong. I think it was because he was using a DOS based computer. He did not give up. In fact, he missed the all-important feeding of the penguins trying to spend money on a cruise. And he works with computers all day. Just saying.

Oh, I kid Jim. He was a hoot.

But I digress.

As we were driving back from our cruise, we were all high from the scenery. Rayman was trying to perfect his driving skills…when a beep sounded. “What’s that”, Ray exclaimed. ( To save you from wondering yourself…it was the I’M OUT OF GAS warning from the Toyota we were riding in.) “Maybe we’re out of gas! The gas gauge shows empty.”

NZ is very sparsely populated. That is really the beauty of this country. You can drive for HOURS without seeing people. You see sheep, yes. People no. And gas stations are even more infrequent. “My RAV emits a sound and it means I have about 2 gallons remaining.” exclaimed Mari. “We are back at the lake, we’ll probably make it.” pronounced Jim. Rayman said, “Where’s a road sign showing how far we are from Queenstown? Why the heck don’t they provide more signs with distances?” Like that would help, I thought.

“Well, I’m confident we’ll make it”, Jim asserted while Mari added, “My RAV has two gallons remaining when it beeps at me.” To which I proclaimed, “Let me read the owner’s manual.” “There’s a car manual in the glove box”, Jim wondered aloud.

After flipping through the index and locating the “LOW FUEL ALERT”, it was determined that 1.7 gallons remained and that the car would, in fact, alert us in the event of low fuel. Having delivered this news, “How far are we? Why don’t they post more signs?”, Rayman intoned. “Oh, I’m sure we’ll make it. I mean we’re here at the lake”, Jim suggested again.

Then we came upon a one-car bridge with a traffic light. We had to stop. “OH, GREAT. I DID NOT WANT TO STOP.”, Ray snarled. The light changed. We were on the bridge and I murmured, “If we’re going to run out of gas, let it be here because we will get all the help we will ever need.” Snorting and snarling ensued.

Drifting in on fumes, we arrived at a gas station and it took $97 of fuel to fill the car. Does “just by the hair of your chinny, chin, chin have meaning to you?

Isn’t the driver of the car responsible for the status of the fuel? Just saying…now. Didn’t dare say it then.

The end of the story is more heart rendering. As we drove back, Mari invited us to dinner as a thank you for us inviting them to Doubtful Sound. We thanked them but thought maybe they could just buy us some gas (and in our defense, this was before we knew it would cost $97). So Mari remarks, “Well, it is my birthday”…(yada yada yada). IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY? OF COURSE, WE’LL LET YOU TAKE US TO DINNER!!! She had us at birthday. So, we had a delightful dinner with Jim and Mari followed by a complimentary dessert because the meat was too tough. Tasty but tough is how we all described it to the server. But it didn’t really matter. We have a perfectly lovely day and dinner and with our wonderful new Minnesota friends. And we sang happy birthday during the half time of the Rugby World cup semi-finals in which the All Blacks held off the Wallabies…and then we hugged goodbye. I think they were going to the bungie jumping place today to watch. Personally, I was planning on a major collapse. This involved sleeping in, eating breakfast late, publishing my blog, writing my new blog entry, having a progressive dinner and then throwing myself into be at 7:45 to relax, regenerate and repack my suitcase for about the 25th time so that we can head out tomorrow back from the most southern place I’ve ever been to Auckland for 2 nights, then Sydney for 2 nights and the, OMG, back to LAX on Saturday (which will be Friday for you) which I have marveled before allows us to take a 15 hour flight and arriving before we take off. And the highlight of all this just might be that Air New Zealand safety film at the beginning of our flight back to Sydney.