Denis & Judy's Kiwi Adventure

  Landed in Picton about 11:30, tried to get to the Sunday market before noon to buy olives, but no luck. We were later informed that most New Zealand olives are made into oil because they are very small. Also drove around Blenheim looking for fish & chips, a lot of places closed on Sunday. Malborough Public House has good fish & chips. Trundled down the road to Kaikoura, still lots of highway repair from earthquake 6 years ago. Stopped at Nin’s Bins roadside kiosk, got a bowl of mussels, they were sold out of crayfish (which is very expensive). Camped at The Pier Hotel, very busy bar! Heavy rain/sleet during the night, in the morning the distant hilltops had a skiff of snow. Headed along the coast road in sunshine, stopped in Cheviot for coffee.   Then at Black Estate Winery, in a beautiful wide valley with very expensive wine! Most expensive wine we ever bought...... Saw a classic old steam train at Glenmark and I found a roadside library and exchanged a book...

  Friday - rainy again headed down the road, stopped in Featherington to make lunch and fill our water jug. I can't get over how wet it is  here, soggy is the word .   moss growing on sign 6' up Onward to Wellington, very mountainous city, narrow streets, not meant for a caravan.  Headed to the upper cable car, very limited parking we managed to get into a spot our nose was pushed into a hedge and we still stuck out quite a way. Rode to the bottom, Lambton Quay, the heart of downtown. We walked around and window shopped, stopped for coffee at 'McDonalds' before heading back to the top.   Drove along Great Harbour Way to Red Rocks. Made our way back and up to Mt Victoria Lookout, great view of the city in all directions. we managed to connect maps from my phone to the van console, but there's often a disagreement between that and Denis' Garmin. We camped for the night at Evan's Bay Marina. Rain on and off all day. Denis making friends with Gandolf. Wet ...

  Wednesday – very rainy overnight, still lingering in the morning, Visited Huka Honey Hive, all about bees, who knew how many things honey could be used for or how expensive it could be! I think if you mixed some Rotoura mud & honey and bathed in it you could live forever! We hiked down to get another view of Huka Falls, steep, windy path in the drizzle so we opted for walking on the edge of the road on the way back to the vehicle. In NZ pedestrians ‘give way’ to vehicles. Went for a swim/soak at AC baths. Sampled the wares at Beehave Meadery.  Headed out to Napier along Waipunga river valley. This area was devastated by cyclone Gabrielle. Lots of one-way lanes where repairs are taking place. Railway tracks partially buried and then just beyond lifted and twisted. Abandoned homes, windows gone, three feet of silt covering the yards.   I t was a lovely, fertile valley but now looks like scenes from the apocalypse. Arrived in time to have ice cream with real fruit...

  Wel l , we managed all the build up to the festival: practice (Tuesday), Meet & Greet (Thursday evening) and Parade of Nations (Friday). Denis & I went to Hobbiton movie set on Wednesday and made a quick trip back to Auckland to pick up the ‘caravan’ on Thursday, with a side trip to Raglan for fish & chips. Just to confuse him the wiper & signal arms are switched from right to left, different on the two vehicles. Saturday the races started, we had two 500 metre runs, it was quite windy and lining up was taking longer than usual. The organizers were hoping to get in 3 but it started getting too dark. Sunday was even windier, we paddled out to the start, but the cross wind just kept pushing boats into other lanes before all boats were in place. The organizers finally called it off, hairiest docking I’ve experienced; evev people, who I’m sure didn’t plan on a dip that day, were in the water guiding us away from the boats that were supposed to be loading for the nex...

  Good Friday - Suitcases are packed, what's in is in and if we have forgotten anything I hear they have K-mart in New Zealand and one Costco! Bon Voyage turkey supper with the Fermaniuks and Shaun & Derek.  Off to the airport at noon courtesy of the Kelly uber. We were the only ones in the security line-up and yes, Denis' knees beeped.  We had a long wait in Vancouver but didn't have to clear security again so that was a bonus.  Watched some of the Oilers game, cheered them off to a good start because they won 6-1!   Our flight was just under 14 hours, too looong! Bonus was it was far from full we had 3 seats for the two of us, many had 3 to themselves. Lots of movies and TV to watch just a long time sitting on your butt. We arrived just after 6 am and our rental car place didn't open until 8:30 so we had a bit of a wait but the weather was nice. Rental is a Toyota Fielder stationwagon (hybrid-Denis says it's weird). It has roof racks, that's a bit dan...

 In a few days we're off on another adventure, not as long but much farther away, five weeks in New Zealand!  Our first visit to the southern hemisphere. Kia ora! The first week we'll be staying in Hamilton while I (along with my Breast Friends dragon boat team) participate in the International Breast Cancer Dragon Boat Festival taking place on Lake Karapiro. Denis will be checking out the caravan we've rented for the following four weeks, and of course, cheering us on. As a team living in the frozen north, we haven't been in a boat for over six months! That's a bit intimidating but we've been working hard at dryland training and for the last two months have had a weekly session on ERGs (rowing machines adapted to paddling). We also have had three sessions in paddle tanks. We will have one practice session in New Zealand (1 hour). While I've been busy with that Denis has been going over New Zealand maps, planning routes, booking ferries, listening to YouTube...