Linda, Erin, Adam and I do the South Island

As usual, I've done this from back to front, from now to then etc. I'll do better next time. We are now a day away from the Marlborough wine growing area and the Valentines Day Wine Festival. 9 hours , 50 wineries, 30 restaurants and live music all day long. We put on 3300 km in the last 12 days and have seen just a wee bit of this wonderful place. We could be here for a year and not see it all. Thats it for now. Take care of yourselves. John, Linda, Erin and Adam







It seems that every corner you turn in NZ brings another remarkable view. It's difficult to show you the beauty of this country because its all so beautiful. We head S to places like Nelson, Christchurch, Twizel, Queenstown, Oamaru, Akaroa and Kaikora. We see Mt. Cook, New Zealands highest mountain and home to The Sir Edmond Hilary Climbing Centre(he was the first to summit Mt. Everest), we see Emerald Lakes, valleys of rolling hills and ranges of striking mountains with every turn in the road. There are a couple of photos taken from our apartment in Queenstown, the adventure capital on NZ. Too scenic to describe.









We stuffed the Honda's trunk to overflowing and headed South. First stop was S of Lake Taupo where we spent the night in a famous fishing resort that had a beautiful winding river with great swimmin holes. So refreshing after a long days drive. Our routine is now, get up, coffee, light breakfast, DRIVE, DRIVE, buy and taste wine, find a place to spend the night, drink wine, snack, make or go out for dinner, drink more wine and go to bed. Not bad!!!




First stop, Auckland to say goodbye to Kristy, gather Adam and say goodbye to our good friends, Kay and Craig. Pat and I met them at the Equator while they were enroute to French Polynesia from San Diego on their 28', yep, 28' boat, Little Wing. We have spent many a time together since then travelling together through the Pacific and we are sad to see them return home. They will however, be buying a bigger boat and we will no doubt see them again. Craig treated us to one of his famous Rants before we all said goodbye. I don't have a clue what he was "on about" but he was funny.

Family come to visit and tour New Zealand

Greetings. The last 2 months have been filled with a number of family paying us visits and lots of travel through this temporarily adopted country of ours. First Linda's oldest son, Andy and his lovely lady, Bronwyn dropped in after spending some time in Australia. They borrowed Pat's car, toured around the North Island then came back to our shack in Whangarei for a week of relaxation before Bronwyn took off for Thailand and Andy returned to Victoria. My eldest, Kristy was next as she flew in from Korea where she is on a yearlong quest to teach the young Koreans to speak Engrish. Sorry, couldn't resist-Racist!!! First however, Don Pedro needed our attention as she had not been hauled out for 17 months and badly needed some TLC. Pat and his friend, Dave waxed the hull while Robert Auklet(famous boat painter who has painted the hulls of the last 4 New Zealand America's Cup contenders) and his crew spray painted the bottom. I had won a raffle for having this done by them-first time in Don Pedro's history that Pat and I didn't have to paint the bottom. YAHOOO!!!
After Kristy and Linda helped with the haulout( wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off), the two of us headed off to the wine area of Hawkes Bay on the North Island, rented bikes and rode 18 Km thru the vines, tasting, lunching, buying and getting a bit of exercise along the way. We also criss crossed the island visiting Lake Taupo,(largest NZ lake and 1 of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere), funky, laid back Raglan(surf capital made famous in the film, Endless Summer), Rongoriro National Volcano Park where Mt. Doom(The Lord of the Rings) is located. Check out Kristy's trekking outfit, a summer dress and flip flops on a lava rock path. She is a Fashionista. Then on to Gisbourne(surprise, surprise, more wineries), Auckland to pick up Erin(she flew in from Montreal) and back to Whangarei for a farewell get together with Linda and Pat. Thats Erin doing her Ms. Napkinhead immitation. Linda's youngest son, Adam also arrives at this time from Victoria and after being with us in Whangarei for awhile he heads to Auckland to spend time with Bronwyn before she flies off to Thailand then joins Linda, Erin and I to tour the South Island after seeing Kristy off to the airport for her return to Korea. Sounds confusing I know with all these comings and goings.
Kristy and I had a great time travelling together and I appreciated the time with her so much. I get to visit with both of them so seldom with this trip and the fact that they are now living their own lives so far away that every moment is so precious and treasured.
The photos are in reverse order of the text but by now I am confident that you can figure it all out. As there are so many photos, I am doing this in 2 postings. Hopefully the next 1 will follow in the next few days. Love to all, be cool in this screwed up world-it will return to normal. JL, hang in there my friend, you are in my thoughts daily. DI, write me!!! Theresa, thanks for your help with the blog. John