Travels with The Rayman

We couldn’t even get close to downtown. It is all fenced and it was so cold today, we declined to walk and buses are diverted away from city center. So, alas, only one or two opportunities to snap pics from the bus that we took to Antarctica. We just couldn’t get over the fact that entire downtown was reduced to an unusable city because it was built on swampy land and they had never had a strong earthquake anywhere near this large before.

What you say? We decided to visit the exhibition that Christchurch has on the Antarctica. Fun exhibit. We saw Blue penguins. And we learned that the name penguin originated from welch ‘pen gyin’ or something like that and it means white head. We learned that Antarctica is the driest continent on earth and lack of water is a very big problem for scientists etc. that work there (think Fred and Desiree).

C130 transports are used to fly between Christchurch and the base camp in Antarctica and instead of wheels, the planes are outfitted with pontoon-like gizmos (a technical term) so they can land on ice…and perhaps more importantly, take off from ice. You will always want to leave is my suggestion here.

The continent of Antarctica doubles in size as the sea around it freezes and when the ice melts in summer (remember, they have almost continuous sun in December/January), the rocky mountains are exposed. We saw a movie of the change of seasons (speeded up, of course). It is quite a place.
Here is Ray in the room that can be adjusted temperature-wise down to about 20 below or so. The kids loved it. Coats were provided for use in the exhibit.
In kilometers, distances to far off places. Some surprises, really.
And here are the adorable blue penguins. Very small. All of them had been rescued and are living out their lives at the exhibit. One was 23 years old. They mate for life which might explain why we witnessed so much haggling. Just kidding. But they do fuss with each other. They had a cut out of an Emperor penguin and they are really big…like 4 feet high or a bit more.
Walking back from the temporary bus stop (because of the quake), I noticed this sign hung up in front of a, well, port a-potty. You see the darndest thing when you walk. In a car, this would have been missed. The sign was associated with a little coffee wagon on the sidewalk. Too funny.
And then there was this. Today was the Garden Party at University. All the kids were dressed up or down for the occasion. It felt like it was going to snow today. This women have got to be freezing. Anyway, it was quite a fun bus ride because every where you looked, kids in strange clothes were out and about. Made a gray day quite lively.

So…tomorrow we fly out really early to Queenstown (to our west) for a look at fjords and other natural wonders. High of 64. Low of 31.

Oh, I almost forgot. Rayman and I split a burger and fries for dinner. Their burger had bacon (which is much different than ours, more meaty), cheese, tomatoes, beetroot and lettuce. Beetroot. Yes. Beets. It was delicious. Who knew? Oh, the kiwis knew…we’ve seen beetroot on lots of menus.

Went wine tasting today on a tour. Here’s half the group. It’s us and the Brits. The two far left are on a world tour, backpacking. The people next to us are from London and he’s a chef. Much to discuss!!
Big Fred there was really, really tall. 6’11’. He ducked everywhere he went. And get this. He and his girlfriend, not pictured, just arrived from Antarctica where they lived and worked for 15 months. And that was their 3rd stint. We ended up having dinner with them. Interesting stuff. He was a biology teacher in Kansas before the Antarctica which prompted me to say, “I get the impression Kansas is anti-science”. Fred laughed and said the problem in Kansas is that people don’t vote. There are a lot of immigrants he explained. I didn’t quite understand his point, but hey, I met a man from Kansas and he was reasonable…and very, very, big. His girlfriend, Desiree, hailed from Texas. I didn’t bring up Perry because I’m not sure of Perry’s status now. Haven’t seen any news in a days. For all I know he’s said enough stupid things to get himself either out of race or leading the race. Incidentally, Fred and Desiree ascribe to global warming.

Here’s a few more pictures.
Looks a bit like CA.

 
Me out standing by the vineyard.

Hate to leave Picton. It is very picturesque and small and our room was wonderful and warm and comfy. However, it is time to move on to Christchurch on the train!!

This a.m. it was raining in Wellington and awoke to a sound akin to blue whales mating because the hotel is busy retrofitting for earthquakes and the machinery used was, well, noisy. So up we jumped and went out to hunt down some food and landed up in a french cafe and spoke some french and ate quiche and salad with a flat white for breakfast. And we bought some fabulous macaroons for takeaway which we had later with hot tea in the lobby of our hotel before heading to the wharf to catch the InterIslander ferry and that’s where I am now composing my blog…in the upgraded lounge, sipping wine and looking out at the sea and a some land approaching. The ride takes about 3.5 hours and we are comfortable as can be having just eaten lasagne and curried chicken with rice for lunch.

Editor’s note: the picture on top of this blog was made possible by a man who worked for the department store. We came across some of these flowers and I said, “Photo op, Ray”. Ray said, “Here, I’ll take a picture of you then”. At which point the nice man said, “Wait, let me arrange these flowers for you”. And he went about bringing along several more big flowers and arranging them into what you see. The flowers will be placed in the big windows of the department store but for that bit of time they served as my own personal backdrop thanks to Fred. (I made up his name.)
Here’s the North Island in retreat as we head south.

 
Here’s me and the South Island in view. A bit windy, shall we say?

We had a few hours to kill so we road on a trolley up a high hill just to see what was up. While up there we watched a movie or two because it started raining pretty good so into the museum we ducked. Seems in Wellington, there are over 400 private lifts from various streets to houses and that is the only way owners can access their property. Does steep mean anything to you? Very creative problem solving. That is also testament to the steep terrain surrounding the harbor.

 
A bit like San Francisco. The vibe was more like Portland.

But I digress.
Entering Marlborough Sound. Beautiful.
While checking into the Harbour View Motel, the owners of the motel said, “Quickly. Come. We’ve something to show you”. And this picture was taken from the balcony of their home. A Holland American ship just leaving. Quite a nice view. And so typical of the NZers. They are so kind and thoughtful. To invite us into their home for a peak of a ship leaving the harbour…priceless.

And so is this pic of the Rayman from our balcony.

 
Our room was fabulous. We got an end unit so we had windows all around and we slept like babies.

Today we prepare ourselves for a wine tour for the most famous wineries for white wines on the South Island. Ray is VERY excited. So am I because I don’t have to be designated driver and because I don’t have to ride a bike in the impending rain…it’s cloudy again.

We ate breakfast at Gusto Cafe. Here’s a picture of my breakfast along with a flat white, our favorite coffee drink that I’ve been sputtering about all this time.
Oh, and we met a newly graduated mechanical engineer from Oklahoma in front of the library and he confirmed to us that we can get free wi-fi in libraries and Mobile gas stations throughout NZ. Who knew? We have been having a bit of a problem finding free wi-fi but now our problem is solved!!

It’s Saturday here and we had quite a day. After cleaning house, I called the business ‘On Yer Bike’ to inquire about hiring a bike for a ride through the vineyards. No problem. They would outfit us. After giving me directions, the Rayman and I headed out for the place and somehow managed to get lost. But we didn’t stay lost too long. Only a little late. Mike, the proprietor, gave us a map, instructions for where to go, which wineries to stop at and a lunch to eat. And off we went.

So, let me jump to the end. Mike knocked on the door of the nice people I had just met and told them he was there to collect me. I had “slipped the collar and gotten away”. This meant that I couldn’t finish the tea that my new NZ friends had just made me. I thanked my new found friends and gave my hostess a hug and jumped in the truck with Mike to head back to his place of business. So…the way I met my new NZ friends is that my legs gave out. And the reason my legs gave out is that I was riding an old tech bike, only 3 gears, we took a wrong turn on the way back, rode an extra mile or so out of our way to get back to the road we should have been on in the first place. In the meantime while being lost, a 45 mph wind came up which we found ourselves riding into and I just hit the wall (not literally, of course) and I announced to Ray that I could not go another mile. Oh, and it was starting to rain. So, Ray yelled against the wind and told me to stop and wait for him and he would ride to the place and get the car and so I immediately turned into a graveled driveway (not the easiest surface to navigate) and made my way to the front door and knocked. A wonderful woman (can’t remember her name, I”ll call her Dorothy) answered and I asked if I could stand out on their porch to wait for my ride and escape the rain. Well, she wouldn’t hear of it. So in I went and met the whole family. Her hubby, Murray, the daughter, the son-in-law and three grandchildren. Dorothy immediately brewed me a cup of tea and insisted that I sit down in the kitchen to wait for my rescue. We had a great time until she saw Mike in his truck driving down the street slowly. Well, what happened was Ray ran into Mike on his way back and he told Mike I had fled into a driveway…and so Mike went out to look for me and there I was having tea. It was great. My new NZ friends were wonderful and they added much joy to my life…because I was really, really tired and cold having gone out biking with a Gap t-shirt and modest fleece top because it started out warmish and comfortable but as we progressed from one winery to the next the clouds were gathering and the weather changed in a nano-second… the wind started blowing and there we were miles away from Mikey’s.

When we reunited, Ray and I, we had to laugh. Before I turned into that driveway, we had visited about 4 wineries, Ray bought 4 bottles of wine and a cool t-shirt, had lunch at one of the wineries, met people that had worked in the wine business in CA, an owner than made his money as a currency trader with UBS, a couple whose son was their winemaker who offered Ryan a job in the spring…I’m telling you, we can’t get over the kiwis. They are fabulous. And you find out how really fabulous they are when you get lost!!

Where we had lunch.

I think it was the fact the road started to climb that led me to question Ray’s map reading abilities. This ride was billed as a flat ride which was really enough for me on my bike. Words were spoken. I threatened to quit. Ray was getting “louder”. Finally we road down a driveway and knocked on a door of an empty house. That is when we decided (with the hill looming) that we must be on the wrong road. No phone to call with, we turned around and headed back. Well, when I told my new NZ friends that I figured we were on the wrong road because of the hill, Murray exclaimed, “What hill”? That is when I explained that my legs were so tired, the wind blowing so fierce that the slight incline looked like Mt. Everest. With that everyone got a giggle.
We came across two democrats grazing today.

So, basically that’s what we did today. It’s now 8:45 p.m. and we are firmly planted in front of a roaring fire with our laundered clothes hanging on a rack next to the stove while we sip wine and eat chocolate and watch the French play the British in the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup.

I was going to say that Charlie, the cat, was sleeping at my side and then I remember that we did our good deed for the day today. As we were starting out on our bike ride (did I mention it was about 15 miles), I saw a lamb with it’s head caught in the fence. She had mistakenly thought the grass was greener on the other side (of the fence). So. I enlisted Ray to help me extract her from her situation. Easier said that done. Her head would not come out. Ray rode to the house associated with the sheep. No one home. So, I rode to a nearby house and found some people sitting on a patio and I enlisted their help.

When we returned from our ride the sheep was gone. That made me feel good. It’s the little things in life.
C’est moi velo!! (this is my bike)

Well, here we are in the capitol of New Zealand, Wellington. A beautiful capitol city and we so lucked out with the weather…it wasn’t windy. And that’s a big deal, we hear. And we just came upstairs from the hotel restaurant and planted threw in the towel for today. Lot’s happened since last we talked.

FIRST, THE ALL BLACKS WON LAST NITE. So New Zealand was happy today and we were happy that they were happy and so it was a good day. They defeated Argentina last nite. Argentina was dressed in baby blue stripped jerseys with white pants. Funny choice for a bunch of red hot Latin Americans, don’t you think? We did.

But I digress. The game followed the other rugby match where the Australians defeated the South Africans. You know, a rugby game consists of two forty minute halves so it goes really fast. We had fun watching both matches.

Opps. I digressed again. So, we arrived in Wellington today because our hosts, Bev and John, returned from the 7 month tour of Europe and Asia. That’s John with the Rayman in the picture above. Beside their 1700 acre sheet farm, they have a small beach house 20 minutes down the road from the farm. And John took us there to see it and the very small beach community there and that is where I snapped the picture. The place is on the east coast of the north island. I forget the name but you can be sure it started with a ‘K’. If the Maori didn’t have a ‘K’ or a ‘W’ or a ‘P’ or an ‘I’, they wouldn’t have a language. Bev and John retreat to the coast in the summer as it gets hot inland. Sounds familiar, uh? Anyway, here’s a picture of the outcropping in the ocean just off short from their little coastal village.
Also a picture of the beach.
And the coastline looking north.

John is a great guy. He runs the farm himself with help from his son, Duncan. He describes sheep farming as fairly low maintenance as farming livestock goes. Today he was planning to dock the tails of the sheep…that involved cutting off the tails of all the lambs. If they don’t cut off the tails, fly lay eggs, maggots encroach the intestines and the lamb gets sick and dies. So docking is very important. Meanwhile, Bev and her sister picked us up a the house and delivered us to the Napier airport where we had flat black coffees and muffins and a delightful time. Here they are. Bev is on the left. Actually, my description is wildly understated. We all laughed all the way to the airport.
Bev knows how to travel light. For 7 months she wore a backpack with her clothes in it. As she explained it, “I’m use to tramping about.” Tramping in New Zelandese is hiking. This woman is in seriously good shape. Her sister teaches school in Auckland and is also in great shape. They love to walk as do most NZers. And tramp, of course!! There just are not enough words to tell you how wonderful these two women were. So much fun.

So, sadly really, we boarded our prop plane and had a lovely flight at 13,000 feet which allowed us to see the countryside by air. It was sunny so we could see things. When we arrived in Wellington, we checked in early and headed right out to the museum. Like AU, the museum was free. Here is Rayman below the skeleton of a Blue Whale. Rib cage only.
And that is where we learned the haka. The haka is what the All Blacks do before their rugby match and it is derived from the Moira culture. Click the link below for a demo.

Ray excelled at the haka. Those dance lessons we took a few years ago really paid off!!

On the way to the museum, we dropped into a trailer that advertised views of NZ. It was manned by two young guys and when we told them that we watched The Flight of the Conchords on TV, we were in with these guys. The stars of the show are Wellingtonians!! So we had a great time talking with them and they gave us a lot of their time. Then we walked along the wharf, stopped and had wine

 
and cheese (Rayman really looks like Dad in this picture but don’t tell him I told you!) before returning to our boutique hotel to get ready for dinner which we decided to have downstairs because we had been up since 6 something, on the go all day and we are getting older and so the idea of walking downstairs as opposed to walking around some more really appealed to us and that way we could drink and crawl back to our rooms. Well. The dinner was stunningly good. A squid salad with rocket and lemons, red snapper fried and served with lentils, leeks, braised garlic and tomatoes, and a passionfruit bavarian cream with a biscuit, shaved almond and some wine. This chef could cook and on a Monday nite. Boy, did we luck out.

Two interesting pics. Above, some heads of god knows what and then the chocolate bus…I really loved the concept. Again, so kiwi.
And just to prove I was there…a picture of me on the wharf, quay. By the looks of it, you would think I am cold. No. Actually. I just screwed up but with limited time didn’t want to retreat to the hotel…having too much fun and it might be the first day I was actually complaining about being overdressed!

So, tomorrow we’re going to the post office and shipping home some clothes (think light-weight). Going south, we should see colder weather and I don’t think I’ll be needing short sleeve anythings, golf shoes, or shorts. For heaven sakes, I’ve been so cool, I decided to let the hair on my legs go for added warmth. TMI I know but I thought it was funny so I mentioned it.

It’s Friday here so planning was needed for our trip to the South Island. That’s because we needed to figure out what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go on Monday.

An aside. If you are gluten-intolerant, AU and NZ are perfect places to plant yourself. Everywhere we go we notice things on the menu and things on the grocery shelves that trumpet ‘gluten free’. Not sure why.

There is road kill in NZ and that’s because the poor critters have no where to run once on the road…except if you are goat…we haven’t seen any killed goats on the road yet. They roam free, apparently, and when you come upon them in the road as we did yesterday, they run up the sides of hills like, well, mountain goats. See the goat? It was in
the street’s middle about 10 seconds earlier. He really moved out. Hence no dead goats on the road.

But I digress.

We literally spent most of the day planning the trip which as I described to my cousin in an email as thus:

“So, today being Friday around 3 p.m…we leave Napier for Wellington on Monday morning and then we travel by plane, ferry, and train to get to Christchurch and then jet off to Queenstown, drive down to get on a boat for a cruise of the fjords and then we jet back to Auckland for two days before backtracking to Sydney for two days to get accustomed to the 3 hours time difference so we can jump on our plane and leave for LAX a few hours AFTER we arrive at LAX even though the flight is 14 hours long which I plan to sleep through, thank goodness for drugs, and arrive all perky for say a day and then collapse while thumbsucking until I board the train to San Jose if you’ll pick me up and then back home on Sunday so that I can do laundry and be ready to leave on Nov.1 for a drive down to the desert where we will play golf for a week even though we haven’t picked up a golf club in ages…(editor’s note – I did change one little thing…but you get the drift).

Now, we are not doing all this singlehandedly. No, we stopped at the AA place in Napier and spoke with Fran who is helping us secure the car rental, the train passage, the ferry fares to complete the planning. Bottom line… we will be there from this coming Tuesday until we arrive in Auckland, Oct. 18th. So as you an see, heavy planning was necessary. We did all this with great nashing of teeth, bashing of gums. Let’s just say that year 21 of marriage could have started out a wee better…but we made all necessary plans and none of them involve yurting, bungie jumping or river rafting. They do, however, require wool leggings (good insurance), hats, wool socks and the such that we have acquired since arriving down here in NZ out of sheer necessity. No whining…just an observation…two springs in one year is one too many.

This weekend we plan to go wine tasting in the area now that we know where the wineries are… and we plan to go to the laundromat. Yes, the laundromat. You read it right. We washed clothes yesterday and they still aren’t dry. That’s because the dryer is broken and it hasn’t stopped raining on and off. So, we have our clothes hanging on a metal hanger in the family room right next to the stove which is burning wood. Ah, the sweet aroma of burnt wood on your clothes…now there is something I haven’t smelled since, let’s say, camping. So, we decided we would take our clothes that are still damp down to Napier tomorrow and visit the laundromat as one of our adventures for the day. The other adventure will be wine tasting…while bike riding. Restated…biking from place to place while interrupting our biking with stops at wineries. What could go wrong?
Another aside. Our new friend, Richard (the one we ate with the other night) was a world champion croquet player and as such went to Sonoma to a winery where he won his trophy. He took up croquet after his rugby “tour” where he almost made the national, All Blacks team and almost went to the Olympics, I think in Canada. Anyway…he explained the All Blacks name and logo. It is all based on the fact that their uniforms have always been all black. And there is a fern that grows in NZ that is all silver on the underside. So there. My imagination took me in other directions. But we won’t dwell on it. Well…maybe we will. Most mascots are animate objects aren’t they? So why not the All Black Kiwi’s. No, I guess that won’t work. How about the All Black Crows? I think NZ has crows. Or say the All Black Coots? They must have coots. How about All Black Sheep? Or All Black Magpies? ….although there are connotations to consider. Well…I’m either stumped or I’ve managed to bore the hell out of myself…in either case…that All Black name seems to be a bit limited, now, doesn’t it?

One other thing. We drove down to the next to the nearest town for dinner last night. We were the only people in The Oak Room for dinner for about 1/2 hour. Then people started arriving. This restaurant is in a town of about 1 thousand people? and 50,000 sheep! And our dinner was fabulous. Roasted pork belly. I’m going to get a picture of it from their website and include it here. I didn’t take my camera because I wasn’t expecting this type of food quite frankly. The food, the coffee…fabulous.