Rain rain you can stay

Blog Post 11

Aahhh, glorious hotel bed (sorry Duke).  We slept in and had a leisurely  morning, yeah right, that was right up until I convinced Damon that the Shotover Jet Boats were listed as a "must do" and we had to schedule that in before we left Queenstown.  So, we ran to breakfast, gobbled quickly, and then sped over to our next adventure.

The jet boats are crazy - they put about 14 people in a boat - you sit like a roller coaster - 4 across - with a handlebar to hang onto.  Then they whip up and down a river gorge in these specially designed boats getting you super close to the canyon walls, doing 360 degree turns and basically giving you an exhilarating 25 minute ride.  With no time to stop and watch the video, we jetted (ha ha) off to our next activity - a four hour drive to Milford Sound.

You may think that all of these long drives are awful and boring, but the reality is that they seem to fly by.  Partly because the scenery is generally awesome, partly because Damon has to concentrate driving on the twisty turnys (while I still clutch my armrests), but mostly because we started listening to "The Martian" - book on tape.  A great book about a guy who gets stuck by himself on Mars (obviously fiction), but a really good read (or listen).

The scenery on the way to the Fiords is crazy - from rain forest to open grassy plains to gorge-like mountains.  It rains something like 200+ days per year in these parts, so needless to say, the weather was not great - on the positive side, it is the rain that makes the Fiords so spectacular.  Imagine black granite rock walls covered in dark green trees with waterfalls coming through everywhere - literally hundreds of them.  A jaw dropping site.

We were the last Milford Sound boat out - we did that on purpose so our views were not blocked by other tour boats. We steamed through the Fiord out to the ocean and back over about two hours,  The views are truly amazing with those canyon walls and waterfall after waterfall after waterfall.  We also got up close and personal with a bunch of baby seals that lounge around on the rocks.

After the boat tour, we found a campsite in one of the big grassy areas, made dinner, listened to more book, and crashed.  Weather was rough overnight - crazy wind gusts and rain, but the Duke kept us safe, sound and dry.

Tomorrow we go on our overnight cruise through Doubtful Sound - another Fiord,  a cave tour of glow worms, and then it is back to Christchurch for our final stop before heading to Australia.  Hard to believe our time in NZ is winding down.  Of course, there is still the Sydney Bridge climb for our final hurrah!us hotel bed (sorry Duke).  We slept in and had a leisurely  morning, yeah right, that was right up until I convinced Damon that the Shotover Jet Boats were listed as a "must do" and we had to schedule that in before we left Queenstown.  So, we ran to breakfast, gobbled quickly, and then sped over to our next adventure.

The jet boats are crazy - they put about 14 people in a boat - you sit like a roller coaster - 4 across - with a handlebar to hang onto.  Then they whip up and down a river gorge in these specially designed boats getting you super close to the canyon walls, doing 360 degree turns and basically giving you an exhilarating 25 minute ride.  With no time to stop and watch the video, we jetted (ha ha) off to our next activity - a four hour drive to Milford Sound.

You may think that all of these long drives are awful and boring, but the reality is that they seem to fly by.  Partly because the scenery is generally awesome, partly because Damon has to concentrate driving on the twisty turnys (while I still clutch my armrests), but mostly because we started listening to "The Martian" - book on tape.  A great book about a guy who gets stuck by himself on Mars (obviously fiction), but a really good read (or listen).

The scenery on the way to the Fiords is crazy - from rain forest to open grassy plains to gorge-like mountains.  It rains something like 200+ days per year in these parts, so needless to say, the weather was not great - on the positive side, it is the rain that makes the Fiords so spectacular.  Imagine black granite rock walls covered in dark green trees with waterfalls coming through everywhere - literally hundreds of them.  A jaw dropping site.

We were the last Milford Sound boat out - we did that on purpose so our views were not blocked by other tour boats.  We steamed through the Fiord out to the ocean and back over about two hours,  The views are truly amazing with those canyon walls and waterfall after waterfall after waterfall.  We also got up close and personal with a bunch of baby seals that lounge around on the rocks.

After the boat tour, we found a campsite in one of the big grassy areas, made dinner, listened to more book, and crashed.  Weather was rough overnight - crazy wind gusts and rain, but the Duke kept us safe, sound and dry.

Tomorrow we go on our overnight cruise through Doubtful Sound - another Fiord,  a cave tour of glow worms, and then it is back to Christchurch for our final stop before heading to Australia.  Hard to believe our time in NZ is winding down.  Of course, there is still the Sydney Bridge climb for our final hurrah!

I can't do it I can't do it I can't do it - AAAAHHHHHHHH

Blog Post 10

So, if you've ever been on a camping (ish) vacation, hygiene starts to go after a while.  At the beginning of our vacation, it was shower every day, dry hair, flat iron, make-up, and clean clothes.  First to go was flat iron, then make-up, then dry hair.  And let's face it, it is SO much easier to just pick up clothes off the floor than to figure something else out.  And the ponytail/baseball hat combo just works.  We are not completely gross - we do make it a point to stay in a real campground at least every other night where we can shower.  But right now, I'm writing from the Hilton Hotel in Queenstown - we have a suite, unlimited free Wi-Fi, a hot shower, comfy bed, down comforter - we are happy, happy, happy.  And clean.  Maybe I'll even dry my hair tomorrow.

But back to our day… we woke up and SHOWERED, and headed to the bungee jumping place - about an hour drive.  Damon was VERY quiet during our drive.  He told me he hadn't slept most of the night. Now this is a guy who has no problem with adrenaline activities - we've gone hang gliding, sky diving, etc.  No problem.  But bungee jumping got him.  Didn't help that it was pouring rain and the clouds/mist made the morning super dreary.  Oh, then we accidentally went over the pass to Queenstown instead of coming in on the "major" road.  Think rain, switchbacks, WOOD guardrails (I said they were more for decoration than function), massive drop-offs (thousands of feet) down cliffs.  Blind turns everywhere.  Oh, and throw in a few road bicyclists for good measure.  In a stick shift campervan.  On a laughably narrow road.  At least it kept Damon's mind off the jump.

We got to Kawarau bridge where supposedly the first bungee jump happened (Damon says it was the first river/wet jump - will have to research later).  As we turned a corner and got our first look at the bridge, we gave an "Oh Fudge" in unison.  We did not really use the word fudge.  We went in to register - Damon was not happy and I was not entirely convinced he was going to go.  Long story short, we watched a few people go and then suited up.  We decided to go tandem for moral support.  Let me tell you - standing on this little bitty platform 43m (about 140 feet) in the air above a river (a very pretty river) and being expected to voluntarily jump is a bit nerve racking. With one final "I can't do this" we leaned forward and took the plunge.  Possibly the only time Damon has yelled louder than me.  The free fall feels very free fall-y.  The bounce is gradual, so you are not yanked back up.  There are 2-3 bounces  and then a lot of swinging upside down waiting for the boat to come get us.  It was pretty awesome.  First thing Damon says when we got back up - I want to do it again on my own!  Ultimately we didn't go a second time, but I'm so glad he wanted to.  We have video  and some amazing photos.  Damon - Let's not forget that we also have, voluntarily overcoming what turned out to be a major fear.

Given the crappy weather, not much else to do, plus, totally emotionally drained.  We got to our hotel and took a water taxi across the lake to Queenstown, had lunch, and wandered the streets and the park for a few hours until we could check in.  Queenstown is a cute, somewhat touristy, little town on the banks of a lake and surrounded by mountains - it is really beautiful here.  Back to the hotel where we immediately changed into our jammies and started to unwind.  Damon crashed immediately - it is only 5pm.  Nothing else planned for tonight - maybe dinner and an in room movie.  Almost forgot what a TV looks like!

Tomorrow we head to Milford Sound to go on a boat cruise around the Fjords.

No more wearing hats in the Duke

Blog Post 9

This post will be a long one, as it was a LONG day for us. 

Forgot about one major stop we made yesterday when crossing Arthur's Pass - we went on a hike to a waterfall called Devil's Punchbowl.  It is the kind of waterfall you expect to see in Hawaii - really tall, cascading, several layers - worth the hike, although it didn't look devilish and there was no pool or punchbowl.  No clue how these folks name things.  

Back to today… as mentioned earlier, we had a fancy dining experience in McDonalds for breakfast.  We are not huge fast-foodies normally, but free Wi-Fi (any Wi-Fi) and good coffee were pretty hard to find in Greymouth while waiting for our laundry to dry.

Laundry - they had washers and dryers at the "holiday park" (campground) we stayed at a few days ago, but the dryers were more decorative than functional.  After hanging our clothes around Duke for two days and having them still not dry (couldn't find a laundromat anywhere), we finally found one in Greymouth.  This "laundromat" was actually a small hut with four stackable washers and dryers.  That's it.  No people, no room - just a 5x8 hut with washers and dryers.  $5 to dry for 25 minutes.  It did the trick.  No more skivvies hanging from the rearview mirror. We're starting to class up the joint.

From Greymouth, we headed South to the Glacier area - about a 2 1/2 hour drive.  The West side of the south island gets a lot more rain and there is a noticeable difference in the terrain - so much more green.  Cows and sheep look a lot happier, too.  BTW, there are sheep everywhere.  We actually also started seeing water in some of the rivers!

We decided to take a side excursion en route to a place called Hotatiki Gorge (sp??) that was supposedly an otherworldly color of blue from glacial runoff.  Totally worth it.  Short hike - maybe 2-3k (we speak in kilometers now) round trip, over a rope bridge across a river that was the brightest blue I've ever seen.  The guidebook said this was the place where the pictures make other people jealous - we agree.

After the gorge hike, we continued South to Franz Joseph Glacier and Fox Glacier - sadly, these glaciers have been melting at such a rapid rate, it is hard to actually get close enough to be overwhelmed by them.  We decided that the better view was at Fox Glacier, so we went there.  After another hike, plus a 1/2k hike straight uphill, we did get a glimpse of the glacier from about 200m away (think two football fields).  Cool to see, but also sad.  There are signs along the route showing where the glacier was 200 years ago, 80 years ago, and even 5 years ago.  Suffice it to say, the Fox glacier is disappearing very quickly.

We also hiked to a lake (Lake Mathieson) where you can take an absolutely perfect mirror picture of Mt. Cook.  In true fashion, the weather did not cooperate and we could not see Mt. Cook (clouds) and the wind kicked up so the lake was too rippled.  Still a pretty hike through a tropical rain forest.

With all of our side excursions, we were behind schedule (yes, I had us on a tight vacation schedule) and we still had about a 3-4 hour drive to get to our next overnight spot.  Just after we left Fox Glacier, we lost all cell service and all GPS signal - it is desolate out here!  But, with admirable navigational skills and a healthy dose of luck we had a pretty good idea of which way to head, there is exactly one road in New Zealand. 

Our halfway point was a town called Haast - the biggest town we would see for the rest of the day.  We got there around 7pm and planned to gas up and make dinner before finishing the last 90k to Wanaka.  We pull into the "last gas station for next 88k" and it was closed.  They had a 24-hour self-service machine that you could put your credit card in and pre-pay for gas.  Understand that their gas stations in the boonies do not have a "pay at the pump" option that we take for granted in the US.  You always pay inside.  This machine let you pre pay, somehow.  Of course, it didn't take US credit cards because it requires a PIN, which we don't have on our credit cards.  We tried bank cards, multiple credit cards, swearing, crying, yelling, etc.  None of it worked.  We debated making a run for it - we showed enough fuel to get us 140k, but running out of gas at night, with no phone, on these crazy twisty turny two lane roads was not appealing.  We debated just parking and staying overnight, but that meant missing bungy jumping in the morning.  We wavered back and forth and ultimately agreed to sit in the gas station waiting for another customer to show up.  No one showed.  Finally, Damon walked up the road to a restaurant that was open (only thing around) and got a super nice lady to come to the gas station and use her credit card to charge gas for us - we gave her cash.  We hugged.  We cried tears of joy. We hugged again. And then we were on our way.  Stupid Americans.

We drove for another hour or so - tried to get in the last bit of daylight (driving these roads in the dark is scary as sh*t for the passenger and I'm sure for the driver, too) before stopping next to a river to make a lovely chicken dinner.  Duke rocks!  Pulled into our campground around 10:30 pm and crashed hard.  Well, I did.  Damon apparently did not sleep all night in anticipation of the upcoming jump.

Other tidbits - there are hitchhikers everywhere - we haven't picked anyone up yet.  I'm sure we would get the crazy killer.  The Duke hit a bird yesterday (sorry PETA).  We also swerved to miss a rabbit and almost went off the road - which is probably why the bird had to go.  There is a lot of road kill out here… critters running amok.

One final note - why the title of this post?  So, Damon and I can both stand up at full height inside Duke.  To get to the front seats, you have to duck hit your head on the wall that comes down to create a storage space above the front seats.  I have been wearing a baseball hat most of the time for the past few days, which limits my upward vision.  I have hit my head so many times there is actually a permanent bruise and a dent on the top of my head (aggravated by nearly knocking myself out on a cave wall in the flashlight-less cave walk).  Lots of swearing going on inside the Duke.  Damon keeps yelling at me "no hats in the Duke" so maybe I will see the ceiling and stop hitting my head.  Joke is on him - I smacked my head with my hat off, too.  He nailed his head pretty good yesterday, too.  He had a hat on.  Ha!

Hidden Adventures

Blog Post #8

Woke up in our "commercial" campsite today, which meant SHOWERS!  Yeah!  Hot showers in six minute intervals.  Almost made it.  An official campground  also means electricity to charge everything up and the not-so-fun side of campervanning, which is the dump site.  I'm generous enough to leave that to Damon :)  This was a day of driving.  And driving.  And driving.  Headed south, picked up more groceries, and then west across the South Island.  It was interesting to see the terrain change as we hit an area that gets more rain - definitely  more green.

It is hard to describe the landscape here - the hills/mountains are very rounded and not like what we see in Colorado.  I think we are not getting a true picture of the colors given that everything is tan/brown (dead grass) and the rivers are empty.  We finally hit a place called Castle Hill - where apparently Narnia was filmed - there are a bunch of really out of place sandstone rocks (huge) there.  We parked and just went hiking around these crazy shaped rocks.

About five minutes down the road is another place that was recommended called Cave Stream.  Not surprisingly, it is a stream that runs through a cave that you can hike through.  There are signs EVERYWHERE warning people - dress warm, bring flashlights, etc.  Damon and I are very well prepared and went to the cave opening - they also warn you that it is chilly and the first pool tests your wiggly parts by getting you waste deep in frigid water.  I was a bit nervous about it being cold since you are walking in a river the entire time.  In a cave.  So, off we go.

It was SO COOL.  We are walking in what is essentially a slot canyon with a roof.  About 3-5' wide at any given point, you are sort of hobbling along the very rocky river bed with nothing but my flashlight and Damon's headlamp to guide us and no other people anywhere.  That is, of course, until my flashlight battery dies.  Now keep in mind that this is a battery that lasts about 1000 hours, and it chooses to die when we are halfway through a pitch black cave.  So, off we go with nothing but Damon's little headlamp - me gripping him for dear life.  I only slipped and fell once and only conked my head on a cave ceiling twice.  Some Germans finally caught up to us with awesomely bright lights, so I basically stayed on the guy's tail the rest of the way.  It was still one of the best experiences we've had here.

Back in the Duke for a lot more driving.  We went over Arthur's Pass - a very scenic drive with lots of twists and turns and really steep grades.  All of the bridges around here are single lane, so you are coming around a blind curve and then there is a single lane bridge and you just hope the other people "give way" when you are crossing.  There is an assigned order, but people don't always follow it.  There are tourists everywhere you see signs about what side of the road to drive on all over the place.

We reached the west coast and headed North to another attraction called "Pancake Rocks" - it is on the coast where the waves have exposed the limestone layers, ten meters high, that look like stacked pancakes.  We wanted to hit it at high tide (recommended) to see the full force of the water (it booms!) when it crashes into the rocks, and also the blow holes - we only saw one. 

At this point, it is about 8:30, getting dark, and we haven't eaten dinner and don't know where we are staying for the night.  We headed back south to a larger town (relatively speaking) and got there about 9:15.  Had big plans to make dinner, but we were so hungry and tired, we caved and hit KFC.  Embarrassing.  Made it to our camp site on the beach and once again, crashed HARD.

Tomorrow is another big driving day, but we hit the glaciers.  Until then!

BTW - It is very difficult to find Wi-Fi anywhere here.  Right now we are sitting in McDonalds sipping McCafe lattes out of china with metal spoons - seriously - but they have free Wi-Fi and clean toilets.  Done.

Thar she blows

Blog Post #7

Woke up to a gorgeous sunrise over the ocean, took our leisurely time to get ready, and headed into town to get coffee.  They do have amazing coffee in this country, although maybe it is because they use whole milk and real sugar everywhere and I'm just not used to that.  They have something here called "trim" milk, which I think is skim, but I've called it skim, slim and I think I'm finally getting the hang of trim. 

Our whale watching check in time was 10am, so we meandered over there to check in.  The sign on the board said "wind at 15 knots, increasing to 40 knots" and "sea sickness warning".  I have no idea how fast a knot is, but I am well aware of what sea sickness is.  Damon said that 40 knots is pretty big wind.  Anyhoo, we got our safety briefing, swallowed our dramamine, put on our motion sickness wristbands (no one has ever accused me of being unprepared) and headed to the boat. 

There are sperm whales that live in the area most of the year, so we had about a 95% chance of seeing at least one.  We got out to the  area where another boat had just located one - they only rise to the surface for about 5-10 minutes every hour and we got really lucky that the other boat out there had been tracking the sonic beeps the whales make indicating when they are close by.  Sperm whales are big - it floated on the surface for a few minutes breathing and blowing out through the blow hole - we got a lot of pictures.  Still so far so good on the seasickness front, although other people were starting to drop like flies.  They do outfit the boat with about 20 bags per seat pocket.  Not to be gross, but it took all of my concentration to not look, listen or breathe through my nose, because we all know about that chain reaction.

We cruised around for a while and actually found a second whale that surfaced - so we got lucky and saw two.  It was a rough 40 minute ride at full speed over huge swells to get us back.  As Damon said, look at that, we got a whale watching tour and a roller coaster ride as an added bonus!`  I'm pleased to say that both of us made it back to shore without hurling.  We went back to the Duke, made some lunch and crashed hard for about an hour - again - nice thing about travelling with your house - you can eat and sleep pretty much anywhere, anytime!

Post nap, we went on a short hike on the Peninsula Walkway, which is one of Kaikoura's more popular walks - you can take the high bluff route or walk along the water.  At our start point, there were more fur seals that we could get close to.  We chose the bluff.  When we were about 1/3 of the way out, we saw a strange cloud formation rolling in - it was like a tube of clouds - we were happy it was moving in so fast b/c it was hot out and we wanted some shade.  The cloud passed over us, as did the cold front and the 40 knot winds following behind the clouds.  It was like a switch flipped - the winds were unbelievable (we have pix and video) - yet we kept walking on the trail to our destination; then we turned around and came back.  I have to say again, 40 knots is like 50 mph give or take, this wind was brutal and unrelenting.  Once I got over my fear of being blown off the bluff, I wasn't freaking out and sort of enjoyed the hike. 

We went to try to find a highly recommended "Crayfish" joint we had passed on the way in, but apparently it was either blown away or they closed up early b/c of the weather.  Crayfish is the specialty in Kaikoura - we think Crayfish is actually lobster since the pictures look like lobster and when we tried another place, prices were $110 per Cray.  So, we had spaghetti in Duke.

Weather started to get bad again, so we headed to a camp ground, made dinner, did a load of laundry, and crashed out by 9pm.  Weather took a turn for the worse - we had rain (great for them, sucks for us) and the temps dropped quite a bit.  Luckily, Duke is amazingly comfortable to sleep in!

Tomorrow, drive and hike day as we head back South toward Christchurch and then across the South Island on Arthur's Pass to the West side - hope to get some good hikes in weather permitting.

This is how we roll

Blog Post 6

Today (I think it is Tuesday) was mainly a travel day.  But even slow days here have a little bit of excitement.  Morning was a 2 1/2 hour drive from Rotorua to Auckland where we returned our rental car - oops - returned it to the international terminal where we picked it up instead of the domestic terminal where we were leaving from.  BTW - I will never complain about fuel prices in the US again.  We were paying about $2.25/gallon before we left.  Here they pay almost that much per liter.  We paid $110 NZ to fill about 3/4 of a tank on our mid-sized car!  We walked what seemed like a mile to the domestic terminal to catch our flight - was a little nervous about missing it, but we were good.  Took the uneventful 1 hour flight to Christchurch.

So I've mentioned before that parts of NZ are under a severe drought - Canterbury (where Christchurch is located) is one of those places.  Flying over the area was unbelievable - EVERYTHING is brown.  You can see where rivers - big ones - used to be, but they are nothing but dry gray sand now with maybe a tiny trickle of a stream running down them.  There are big bridges spanning nothing but dirt.  Again, I’m talking about pretty good sized rivers - not streams or creeks - although those are bone dry, too.  Probably horrible of me to say, but the weather is gorgeous - with no chance of rain (ouch)!

From the airport, we went to pick up our Campervan - a Fiat Ducato, now named "The Duke".  The Duke rocks.  It is a very spacious 2-person home on wheels complete with a toilet and a shower.  Or should I say a toilet and a sink in a shower.  Stick shift, right side of car, left side of road, 18-20' of vehicle.  And for a bit of added cruelty, the turn signals and wind shield wipers are reversed again, so now that Damon learned the "wrong" side, they all switched back again.  We have very clean windows.  And no, there is no freaking chance in hell that I will be driving this thing.  

Don't tell Damon, but I was pretty white knuckled during our 2+ hour drive to our first stop - Kaikoura.  The roads are twisty and turn with these flimsy guardrails "protecting" you from really big drops.  Speed limits drop from 100k to 35k around hairpin turns with a little warning, but not enough to keep me from near heart attack.  I'm told that it only gets worse as we head through the mountains later in the week.

Kaikoura is known for its marine life - seals and whales and apparently some delicious crayfish/lobster dinners which we intend to enjoy tomorrow night.  We arrived in town around 7:30pm (still light out) and went right to the area known for having a ton of seal pups - there is an area where you can walk up a stream and (hopefully) see a bunch of seal pups playing in a waterfall - unfortunately, they weren't there, but we did see them all playing on the rocks near the beach - hundreds of seals and tons of babies flopping around the rocks and playing it tide pools.

After the pups, we headed to our "freedom camping" spot on the beach - rules in NZ - if you have a toilet and shower, you can camp pretty much anywhere.  We made an awesome dinner, converted our kitchen/living room/dining room to a bed, and crashed hard.  But not before checking out the stars - and when I say stars, there are STARS.  Damon has some celestial app on his phone, so once we found Orion's belt, we just aimed the phone around the sky and found some other constellations.  Kudos to explorers who could actually tell one star from another - there are a billion of them out there and with few exceptions, they just look like blobs of stars to me.

Tomorrow is our whale watch tour and some hiking around Kaikoura.

For those of you still reading - thanks for being interested enough in our lives to keep reading!  We do this partly to entertain our friends and family, but mostly so we have a detailed accounting of our trip so we can remember years from now.

Zorbing. No need to say more.

Blog Entry #5

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I love the smell of sulfur in the morning!  Not.  Went on our first adventure today - Zorbing.  If you don't know what Zorbing is, google it - imagine a giant plastic ball inside another giant plastic ball.  Imagine a tiny hole that you dive through to get into the inner ball.  Then put a bunch of water and two people in the ball.  Then seal it up and push the ball down a big hill.  The water in the ball keeps you sort of on the bottom sloshing around, so you are not head over heels, but you are still sliding all over the inside of the ball as you roll down the hill. Quite possibly the most fun I've had getting pushed down a hill.  We did it twice.

Right after Zorbing we headed to the Gondola to take us to the top of some mountain - gave us a great panoramic view of Rotorua.  To get down the mountain, we luged - five times on three different= courses.  I think we scared the crap out of the Japanese tourists screaming "on your left, coming through" as we flew by them.  Suffice to say that safety concerns are not overwhelming in NZ - they just stick you on a luge, test the brakes once or twice, and send you down the mountain.  There was one spot on the advanced track that had a big hill where if you were going fast enough, you caught air.  Oh, let's add to the fun the fact that it was raining on and off, so I did skid on one side trying to break around a turn in the rain.  No Cards were harmed and we had a blast.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that the food here is very big and it is pretty expensive, so we thought we'd lay low for lunch and hit up (sorry folks) McDonalds.  I didn't want another ginormous beet and may0 sandwich.  Plus, NZ McD's have special Kiwi food - like the Georgie Pie (meat pie) that Damon had to try.  This McD's had a McCafe - which, in addition to all of their coffee drinks, had sourdough sandwiches, paninis, and a baked goods case that rivals a nice bakery. Fancy! 

After lunch, we headed to the Redwood forest - we never understood why, but for some reason, NZ ended up with a bunch of California Redwoods in a forest, so we hiked through the forest - the Redwoods are not as impressive as the monsters in California, but the forest itself was beautiful and the trees were stunning.  The Redwood forest morphed into a tropical jungle filled with silver ferns and Eucalyptus trees (no koalas).  And yes, it rained on us while we were hiking, too.

Our evening plans involved going to a traditional Maori dinner where we learned about the customs and traditions of the Maori people - including song, dance, crafts, weapons, history, etc.  And then we had a big feast.  The Maori people came to NZ six hundred years ago from Tahiti and faced similar challenges as Native Americans in the US.  The Maori fought hard for their rights to retain their heritage and culture and are very proud to share it with everyone.  It was really a nice night and we learned a lot.  Damon did a spectacular war dance and it is all caught on video.

On the bus back to our hotel, the guide singled out each country to sing a song.  Australia and UK both did nice songs about their nationality.  When US was called, no one did anything, so Damon broke out into Sir Mix-a-lot - Baby Got Back.  He did our country proud.  Of course that was the only song where the whole bus started singing.

Got back to the "stink hotel", packed up and we are ready to start our next adventure as we head back to Auckland tomorrow, fly to Christchurch, and pick up our Campervan for 8 nights on the road.  We are both having a lot of anxiety about our Bungee Jump, which is fast approaching.

Almost forgot to mention that I did all of the driving yesterday. It is freaky driving on the left side of the road and right side of the car - it takes two people to concentrate around all of the roundabouts and any time you have to turn - but I think I got the hang of it pretty quickly.  Let's see what happens when we add in stick shift tomorrow!