Last Day - Happy Mother's Day

Last night I packed my bags and repacked. On the way out of the US I packed my camera pack in a small 22" carry on and the other larger suitcase held my tripod and all of my clothing. It weighed 45 pounds.

Now I split my clothing between both suitcases and carried my camera bag on the plane. It's a good thing I did because my large bag now weighed 55 pounds! I needed to remove 5 pounds of goodies before they would let it go (Southwest). I like Southwest and they way they operate with open seating.

This is Mother's Day and I am happy to have my son, Alex and his fiancee Kayla, come and pick me up at the airport.

Overall this was one of the best journey's I have taken. From the food, to the people to the locations around NZ, all were memorable and some preserved as digital images!

Sunset on a wonderful trip at Manhattan Beach, California (iPhone photo)

Santa Barbara

Friday –

I thought I would sleep late before driving to Santa Barbara, but my clock said 10:10 when I was awakened by the traffic noise. I got on the road by 11:15 and the 405 had heavy traffic, but no bad delays. 

Every once in a while I would explore different exits off the

highway to see the little California beach towns, Ventura, Carpintiera, Montecito, and then Santa Barbara. Off the exit there was a small bird sanctuary where I stopped and took some photos of a few shore birds. Further down the road I pulled in to the tourist center and got a map. The restaurants on the Harbor pier looked interesting so I headed there for lunch. Since my phone had only 20% charge left I asked the bartender to charge it and he gladly plugged it in for me.

The sliders in the Endless Summer Bar were just OK but the view was awesome overlooking the harbor full of sailboats of every kind and color. After lunch I walked around and was the only person without a heavy coat. It was windy and about 61˚ out there.

I met up with Stephanie Hamilton-Durkin and followed to her rental home.

Stef is the daughter of my good friends Theresa and Bob. She and Brenden just moved here and have a beautiful rental overlooking Santa Barbara and the ocean and invited me to stay. What a magnificent location and view.

 

This is my first time here and we drove into town for pizza and some dessert. I purchased a bottle of wine in the Auckland airport to bring them, but left it in my hotel room. I’ll send it with T & B next weekend to enjoy. This is a classy sleepy little town that is known for many things, wine, beach volleyball, fresh foods, beach, and Oprah lives here too!

We sat on one of the decks here watch it get dark and drinking a Santa Barbara Pinot Noir – it was quite good. I wish the NZ wine was here to compare.

Sleep and need to sleep this jet lag away. I’m not sure what tomorrow brings…..

Flight Out of New Zealand

My 7^th leaving NZ from Auckland

As I previously mentioned, I tried to upgrade my ticket to Premium Economy but my travel agent said it would cost $1300. After exploring the NZAir website I found that you could “bid” a price to upgrade your seat to the next class. I bid $330 to upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy on the way over and $520 for the way back and both bids were accepted. I did my homework and knew that the flight home was on a 777 and Flight N2 plane which had the “space pod” seats and were better and worth every penny!

I had complete privacy from the gentleman next door as well as a

reclining seat with a big bean bag cushion for my feet, unlimited NZ wine and unlimited snack and drinks during the flight. I received a travel kit with a toothbrush/paste, sleep mask, lip balm, a pen and socks. I put on the socks because mine were stinky and worn a few days. The movies were all current movies and I selected Night at the Museum and got situated for dinner.

The dinner consisted of an entre (appetizer in NZ) of salmon in some sauce with couscous. I ate the couscous and the cheese and crackers. The main had several choices but I chose lamb and vegetables. It was good and the dessert was a pana cotta with pistachio cream. Not too bad.

The movie was over, so I switched my channel to music and found Bette Midler’s new album and listened to that until I fell asleep under my cover with a nice pillow in my space pod.

They wake you up slowly on overnight planes by turning up the lights gently. Breakfast was a choice of eggs or vanilla pancakes with berries. I chose the berries and pancakes.   I cleaned up my pod and put away all my belongings to get ready to disembark.

Before a left for this trip I applied for two different travel permissions. One is called “Clear”, which was free from Travelzoo.com and gets you to the front of security lines in 10 different airports, Orlando being one of them, LAX is not. So that was not helping this trip. The second was the Global Entry/TSA clearance. This is a double clearance for $100 they take your photo and fingerprints, check them for crimes and give you a special OK to go quickly through Customs and security. It can be used for entering this country. The Global Entry was a dream come true. I by passed about 100 people to a special kiosk to present my passport and get checked and cleared. This gave me a jump to the head of the line in the Customs section as well.

I picked up my Hertz rental car and headed for Redondo Beach Hilton. Both chosen because I could get bonus points for the car rental and now 7x for my hotel in Hilton points! Actually the car was booked through a special promotion from USAir so I get points for that and Hilton for using that credit card – SCORE! This is the start of my learning how to travel hack points for future travel.

I checked in and started a load of wash at the hotel, made a few phone calls and then decided to drive to Manhattan Beach for some dinner.  I remember going here in 2012 with my mom and sister for dinner one night and I wanted to return to the same street.  I went to  Shellback Tavern, a small dive on the corner overlooking the rainy beach. Finally some American food and I got a ShockTop beer and some chicken tenders cooked in beer batter – delicious! Back to the hotel I go!

A new adventure awaits tomorrow too!

Final Day in New Zeland

My last morning and the alarm did not go off. I forgot to plug in the usb end! The city noise awakened me at 7:10 and up I to go. 

The hop on off tour bus begins at 10:00 and I have a lot to do. Pack both bags so I don't have to spend time later rearranging stuff. Find the Starbucks,  I am hungry for banana walnut bread. Confirm my shuttle to airport later:  check 6:40pm. And stop at the Fuller ticket office as I left my scarf at Kelly's and Simon brought it over this morning on his ferry commute. 

With bags packed and my camera ready I board the red loop bus  It is $45 NZ for an all day hop on-off tour. It is a nice way to see different parts of the city. Mt. Eden is the highest point and has magnificent views of Auckland and the harbor. Next stop - the zoo! 

I spent 2 hours there with the native birds and stopped to see the endangered tuatara. Jeff Corwin had

them on his show once. It is quite old and very protected little dinosaur /reptile. The kiwi exhibit was very nice but they know it is daytime even though the lights are low. Kiwi are nocturnal,  bummer. 

This is an awesome zoo with the exhibits appearing to give the animals environmentally appropriate room. They could improve on the signage however. Glad I had a map. Along my way out there was a small American alligator habitat. They were very very small. I guess the large ones are in Florida. 

Next to the alligaor exhibit was the Tazmanian Devil. I have seen this on tv a few times in some

nature shows, but it was much larger in person that I thought it would be. A guy in his 30's was reaching into the environment and the Devil was approaching him sniffing his way. I thought for sure he was going to bite the guy. I walked over with my camera and the Devil jumped up on a large rock and seemed to pose for me to take his photo! I took about 15 pics then he jumped down and crawled under a bush to his home.

The final section held the Sumatran Tigers. There was a school group there and the guide was explaining the habitat etc. Suddenly the male came over and became a bit affectionate with the female and the tour guide quickly led the small children to a new place. I was laughing, but the animals didn't really engage although it appeared like they might. Isn't nature wonderful?? 

While in the bird aviary this wood pigeon landed on my head! After shooing him off me I turned and

saw a sign that said: Beware our pigeon likes to perch here, and I was standing right in front of HIS place!

I've been to many zoos and thus would rank right up in my top ten maybe five. San Diego as #1, St. Louis #2, Philadelphia #3, Washington DC as #4, Auckland #5........

Last Dinner in Auckland

After a full day on Waiheke Island with the Bickerton clan, I looked for a nice place to have a dinner on the harbor. This harbor area is designed much like Baltimore's Inner Harbor with shops, restaurants and tourist museums all around the marina. I found a nice place called Wildfire which appeared to be in the Hilton as it was in the same building. All I was thinking here was POINTS!

The restaurant specialized the the Brazilian type of meat dinner for $45 per person. I was not that

hungry so I settled on pumpkin and walnut ravioli in a pomodoro sauce and a glass of wine. The meal was not a disappointment either. I overlooked the Maritime Museum with a large collection of sailboats in the harbor and inside the building. The family next to me had the Brazilian dinner and I watched various meat in large skewers go by every so often. it looked and smelled very good. Someday I'll have to try that.



The harbor in Auckland looks to handle many different activities from the ferries that handle commuters, casual sailboat tours, very large America's Cup type sailboats, industrial shipping and tourism. It is busy there from the early hours of the day to the late sunset diners overlooking hundreds of beautiful sailboats.

I tried some creative photos of the Ferry Terminal Building at night. The camera was able to capture the moving cars and buses moving in front of the building as ghostly figures with the restored Terminal in the back.

Maritime Museum

Since I had a bit of time this afternoon, I did some last minute Christmas shopping and found some fun things to bring home.

Waiheke Island

The ferry for Waiheke Island leaves every 30 minutes from the pier at the foot of Auckland. Across the street is the bus center and a scurry of activity most of the day. When the traffic lights change for pedestrian crossing all four directions of traffic are stopped and everyone crosses every which way! I would guess about 200 people were crossing this morning when I walked down to the ferry pier. All criss crossing quickly going to work.

I have photos from the ferry, but my hard disk is full and I am unable to delete anything else until I get home and check this out. Perhaps I should just upgrade to a larger hard drive (500MB). These photos take up a lot of room per picture, about 21MB.

Braised brussell sprouts, walnuts,
califlour and golden raisins.

Kelly Keiper Bickerton was waiting for me on the dock when our ferry pulled in. We had been emailing for about a month about this visit. She taught with us at CFPMS for only 3 years, but it seemed longer than that. After that, she married Simon who is a NZ native and they moved here. She is is happily raising two kids, Bradon and Kate in their lovely home on Waiheke Island.

We started with a coffee and catch up about people and places at home. The island has many designated walking trails along the coast so we went for a hike. She showed me some really fabulous shoreline, cute towns and then we got to the business of the day, wine tasting. Each of the wineries we visited had it's own unique feel and design, but all were located with a beautiful view.

One unique place we visited was an olive oil processing plant with tasting room. There were 5
different oils to taste and each had a special flavor. I ended up purchasing two small bottles and a spice mix to bring home.

The day finished with a quick bite in town with Simon, Bradon and Kate and a small beer tasting. I'm

Olive Oil tasting room.

missing Iron Hill Wit Bier! I took the ferry back to Auckland and being beat, I went directly to my hotel after a few pics at the marina. There were several racing sailboats there like the type used in the America's Cup. They are huge at close view.

A short walk back to the hotel to get ready for my last day in Kiwi Land!

Shaking olives from the tree.

Tuesday May 5, 2015

Leaving Rotorua with a few regrets. I didn't get to Rainbow Springs park to see the kiwis and I didn't walk around downtown enough to see the museum. There were geothermal spots in the park about 5 block away that I did no walk to either, but I've seen bigger geothermal stuff at Yellowstone.

On to the bus again and ride along to Waitomo Caves and the glow worms. The walking tour was about 40 minutes through the darkness of the cave, but it was worth it. After our walk, we stepped into a boat that our guide puled by cable through the darkness. As most caves, this has a huge layer of limestone, combined with rainwater runoff has created the beautiful formations from ceiling to floor.

The glow worms were in the thousands over our head. They only exist at the beginning of this cave

Taken at the cave.

because the water flows in and brings insects for them to eat. The only reason for the glow worms existence is to reproduce. During the larva period they lower 15-20 string like threads to capture the insects. It works much like a spider's web.

They then create their own cocoon and hang for about 13 days before emerging as a two winged insect that looks like a mosquito without a mouth. They reproduce, lay eggs and die. In the larva stage is when they glow, as they live for about 9 months. The glow attracts insects to the light and they get caught in the threads. I am not sure what makes these caves in New Zealand specifically made for glow worms. Don't we have this in the US somewhere?

Most of the towns and attractions are named from Maori language translated by British missionaries in the 1800's. The name Waitomo is made up of two parts; 'Wai' which translates as water and 'tomo' which means entrance or home in the ground.  There are many different cave adventures you can participate in here, one of which is float on an inner tube in the cave. New Zealand sure is the land of adventure!

Got to my hotel, The Mercure, around 3:30, dropped my stuff and wandered around the city. This is a big shopping mecca with many of the upper crust name brand having stores here. I bought some more Christmas presents. Dusk was arriving a bit early at 5:30, so I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed for the wharf two blocks away. The sky was exciting, but the foreground was two square buildings of apartments. As I looked up, the cloud formation was odd. There were two circle openings in the overcast sky. I hope I captured them in the photos.

Since I am staying here two nights I have a $50 credit for the restaurant, so I decide to give it a try.

Those are not mushrooms, but mashed potatoes made to look that way.

One more time I have lamb cooked to perfection. Honestly if I didn't know it was lamb I would swear it was filet mignon. It is very tender and not gamey at all. The dessert was a creation to honor those from the ANZAC conflict in Galipoli and it was fabulous. It had two things that were on my list to try, Turkish Delight and Hokey Pokey ice cream, both of which were good.

I had two different glasses of wine and didn't like either one. I must be spoiled by the South Island wineries.  I'll find out tomorrow as I am going wine tasting with an old friend from Unionville, Kelly Keiper Bickerton.

I am so glad she is going to be driving on the wrong side of the road!

Green Dragon Inn from Hobbitown...Part II

Green Dragon Inn - Inside views

One of my favorite photos from Hobbitown.

More Hobbitown Photos

Notice the tree above Bilbo's Hobbit Hole. This is the tree that Peter Jackson had made from steel, glued on bark and leaves created in China, then repainted. From a distance you really can't tell. We did not get close enough on the tour to really see the detail. But I must say, it is really real looking from where I stood looking at it.

Just finished tea with the Hobbits

How many Hobbit houses can you find?

A nice garden

Bilbo Baggins lives here!

Combination of two photos sky and water tones from one and the rest of the image from the other. The magic of Photoshop!

Hobbitown Photos

Another of my favorites. View from Green Dragon looking back at the Shire. Edited with Lightroom, PhotoMatix and Photoshop. This is a bracketed photo.




More to come....I used up all my internet time tonight!!

View of The Shire

Flight from Christchurch to Rotorura

I left Franz Josef with mixed feelings, one, exhilaration that I had accomplished such a feat to hike on the glacier for 2 hours! The second is anticipation for the last part of my journey. I am so surprised at how fast this has gone. Im sure it is because I am busy each day touring, hiking and eating great food. Sleeping in my own bed is going be so nice when I get there. I do miss my friends and family after this amount of time too. Part of the fun of travel is sharing your adventures with others. That is why I am blogging this experience, to share.

But today is a big travel day. I leave Christchurch for Rotorua in the North Island. Christchurch, if you recall was hit by a huge earthquake in 2011. There are still buildings in rubble heaps and steel beams hold up walls in churches with stained glass windows. They are still in a time of rebuilding.

I ran in to the same couple from Boston at the airport. We chatted about my glacial hike and exchanged stories of our travels. I carry on my small case with the camera and lenses for safety. I kind gentleman helped me on and off the plane with it as we had to cross the tarmac and climb steps to get in. Then it did not fit in the overhead carrier, so it fit under the seat in front for the duration. Next to me a woman was knitting a sweater for her daughter she started over a year ago.  The color was a nice off white and it looked very difficult to me. Cable stitching covered the front and she said it was very time consuming to complete.

Along the route, she pointed out many landmarks and history about the area. The North Island is very different from South Island. In the middle of the lake here in Rotorua there is an island that has volcanic ash or pumice as it's base. Therefore it is a floating island. It moves when the winds are very heavy which is not too often.

There was a large Maori man with a "Robin Martin" sign!  He entertained me laughing all the way to my Ibis Hotel. This is a hotel I would NOT book again. Very old and subpar in appearance and maintenance, but clean in my room. I can't imagine some of my friends staying here. It is not a Hilton. I brought my own pillowcase from home. I just can't go all the way on used pillows!

OK off to wander through the flea market across the street in the park. It is pretty much junky and now I am starving. My taxi driver told me to go to Eat Street for some good food. Peroni  on tap caught my eye and I ordered a Hawaiian pizza. The crust was good and thin. Not in the top 10 of my meals here but a good one. I love pizza. 

As our plane was on approach for landing I thought someone around me farted. LOL But later the taxi man told me it was the sulphur from the hot springs here. I forgot that the geological forces were active here. Oh geez I am to be here 2 nights. 

PHOTOS are having trouble uploading. I'll try again tomorrow......

Hobbittown - FInally

Even though my bus would not arrive until 8:15, I was awake at 6:00am. I have been getting up about 2 hours before departure time for different tours. I just do not want to be late. I know that sounds funny coming from one who is late for most things. To all of you, I apologize!

Off we go!

The ride to Hobbittown was about an hour through rolling hills and countryside filled with cows and sheep. The towns are far apart and there is little development. Imagine just a small village in Kennett Square and nothing in between there and West Chester. The bus pulls in to the souvenir shop and ticket location first. That is unlike US theme parks that lead you right in to the souvenir shop right after you exit the attraction. There are the usual trinkets from the movie and some collectibles. Nothing that really moves me to spend $40 on a tshirt or otherwise.

The guide on our tour was very good. He told us many behind the scene stories of Peter Jackson and
the filming locations. Then we turned the corner and there it was, The Shire. WOW I felt like I just walked in to the move! They actually tore down the set after filming LOTR series. But after filming The Hobbit, Peter Jackson made a deal with the farm owner to keep the set as a tourist attraction. What a great deal, at about $100 per head they are making a ton of money and keeping a really intricate village intact.

We walked around 45 hobbit houses, the garden, the festival field where the fireworks shot off in the

Is anyone home?

movie. Everything is neatly in place and the flower garden at each home was well designed. Remember Hobbits are very short, so many of the plants were dwarf varieties. It was about 10:00 when we arrived and were to have a 1 hour tour and then a drink in the Green Dragon Inn.

One story of the detail of Jackson's crew involved planting a small tree at the top of the hill, but Jackson didn't like the way it looked, so he had his special effects crew create exactly what he needed. Over 200,000 leaves were created in China for the tree and before the first day of filming, Jackson didn't like the green, so a crew had to hand spray paint each one to the right color. I will point out that tree in the photo caption.

Our small group was about 25 people from all over the world. The guide made sure we had adequate time to take photos at proper locations. People were very respectful of each other taking shots of the scene. We really didn't have any wander around time which can be good or bad. The tour groups were spaced apart enough that you could take photos with few or no people in the scene. The day was overcast and threatening rain, but it never came. There were umbrellas in several locations around the Shire to use if we wanted to.

The most startling view was the first entrance to the Shire. When Gandolf comes into the Shire with Frodo on the cart they come around a stone wall path then enter the Shire itself and that is how we arrived. When you come around the corner and see those little doors and paths and gardens, it is breathtaking. You just want to run around like a little kid and play.

The second view that took my breath away was our walk to the Green Dragon Inn. We walked through some woods and over a hill. Cresting the hill the Inn comes into view that takes you across the stone bridge with the wheel house. Again, you feel like you are right in the scene of the film.

The inside of the Green Dragon was recreated for the tourists. The interior scenes of the Inn as well as the Hobbit homes were filmed on a sound stage in what is known here as Wellywood, Wellington's version of Hollywood. Most of the outside scenes from LOTR and Hobbit were filmed throughout New Zealand. The country even declared "no fly" zones when they were filming to keep the paparazzi away. One pilot ignored the ruling and lost his pilot license for life.  Peter Jackson is practically a god here!

In the Green Dragon we were given a choice of drink, Dark Ale, Light Ale, Cider, or Ginger Beer. I had the light ale and it was quite good. On an empty stomach, not such a good idea as I got light headed quickly - what a kick.

I really wanted to take some HDR photos like Trey Ratclif taught me how to do the first week here,
but I forgot my tripod. When I crossed the bridge to the Green Dragon I rested the camera on the stone wall and gave it a try. Then I got brave and did some hand-held versions. You will see the results on the next page.

It was a fun experience that I would say not to miss if you visit the North Island. As I said before I am not a huge LOTR or Hobbit fan, but appreciate great film making and this was worth it in my opinion. Even if it was expensive.

Upon return I dropped off my camera stuff and grabbed the laptop and headed for an outdoor cafe to sit and review my photos. On first import my laptop says FULL! Oh no. So I spent 30 minutes deleting old stuff and duplicates I did not need. Now it is getting cold and I need to head back and get warmed up. After all, it is autumn here.

Not edited just yet.

More photos coming......of the Shire.....

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Our bus driver stopped so we could take some photos - This is an iPhone pic.

I can't believe I only have  5 days left and I am still on the South Island. Today I will take a bus, to
the trans-alpine train. The train goes through what they call the Southern Alps. Someone told me to get a seat on the left side for some good photos. I guess they will be action shots since the train will not stop for Robin to take pictures of mountains!

I have two huge bruises, one on my knee and the other on my hip from sliding on the glacier yesterday - ouch.










Before the train we had a 3 hour bus ride through some flat areas near the Tasman Ocean. When we stopped at a roadside cafe I selected carrot cake and an orange mango juice by Tropicana.

The possum sign with right outside the cafe. Not sure there is a connection there.

We took a lunch break at this seaside town Hokitika. The beach was grey and filled with sculptures of driftwood, including this town sign.

The train station is so small! If you live in Chester County, picture the old Pocopson Train Station. The station at Christchurch is not much larger either. The ride was through some beautiful countrysides and mountain areas. The higher peaks have snow already on the top and the rivers are pure aqua color. I noticed this early on, then as we passed through glacier country the water was grey from mountain sediment under the glacier.The train arrived in Christchurch at 6:05 and my ride was there to greet me! This was the first time I have ever had a sign for a shuttle ride!Dinner was at the Chateau on the Park in Christchurch. Main dish was scallops with baby lettuce, and a relish of corn, kiwi, red pepper, mango and something spicy. It was very good. I noticed some pink portions attached to the scallop and tasted it. Not a specific flavor, but since I didn't know what it was, I cut it off and didn't eat it. That was the roe and considered a delicacy.

Dessert, below was a toffee, with hazelnut ice cream, raspberry, and chantilly cream. Outstanding!

The big adventure of the day came in my hotel room when I could not get my large suitcase open. I used the same code to open it for 2 weeks but I would not open tonight. All of my clothing, passport and important papers for tomorrow's flight are in there! So I roll it down to the front desk for some help and the porter had some clippers - gigantic clippers and cut off the zipper tabs so I could get in. Now I have sharp edge zip tabs and no lock on my suitcase. Oh well, whatever.

We passed many farms of deer (they are not wild here), cattle, and sheep. Along the side I saw a flock of pukeko running around. I saw others, but they were in pairs. It is rather odd to see blue birds with the red beak running like a large chicken with long legs.

Tomorrow, Sunday May 3, a short flight from Christchurch to Rotoura for 2 nights. More cool adventures await!

More Glacier Photos

Proof that I was really there.

We did see some glacier falling from the right side of the rock. The rock is about 10 stories high.

Our chariot arrives.

My new boyfriend AJ is on the right - thank you AJ!

We did NOT walk on this part, just flew over it.

Look at the side of the valley and find the line of different color. That was the level of the glacier in 2009.