Marlborough Wine Festival then North Island and home

Got 1. 1 to go

Well, I have just spent the last 45 min. trying to upoad the last 2 photos and for some reason, Internet Explorer won't let me so you'll have to wait another day. I'll try to publish this now without editing it so please forgive the typos etc. Love to all and I'll try to complete this soon. John OH yeah, remember, start reading this from the last posting. Someday I'll get the order right. J
Erin left the 23rd of Feb. so Linda and I had 2 weeks together on Don Pedro in Whangarei before she left for a 6-7 week trip back to Seattle, Sidney, Saltspring etc. Since her departure, Dave(good friend of Pat's and new crew member for Fiji, Vanuatu and beyound) and I brought Don Pedro north to Opua(our landfall when we arrived in NZ) where we will be until mid May when we depart for Fiji. Dave is the guy relaxing, enjoying his birthday the day we returned north. I have added a wind generator lately that can be seen in the other photo.




There was a great Irish bar next to our hotel, Father Ted's. Brother, you were in our thoughts. This place would suit you fine.
After we saw Adam off, we returned to Whangarei to move back onto Don Pedro and spend Erin's last 3 days at the beach, saying goodbye to Pat and spending as much time together as we could. It will be a long time till we see together again. We spent a day trying to surf,(Pat did OK) enjoying the sun, sand, waves and cold beer.




From Napier we went to Lake Taupo which I descibed earlier when Kristy and I visted it. We spent a lovely day swimming in the wonderfully warm fresh water, enjoying our lakeside motel with a great view and bar B Q area. Almost all the motels in this country have complete kitchens and mutual Bar BQ areas where you not only can grill your steaks etc but have the chance to meet other travellers. The next day we returned to Auckland to spend Adam's last night before he headed off to Melbourne Australia in search of work and a new adventure. I just got an email fom Linda saying he is going thru a trial period at the Silk Road, one of Melbourne's top restaurants. It has a great website if you want to check it out. Hope you get the job!! I had to include a photo of Adam's idea of organised unpacking and arranging of the contents of his suitcase. He finds it easier to find things if he lays them all out in the hallway of our room. Sorry, Ads, had to do it!!





Well, after Erin had personally overseen the loading of the buses(ask her!), we headed back to our hotel to recuperate. A GREAT time was had by all. We then returned to the north Island the next day for a vist to the Te Papa Museum in Wellington where there was an Impressionest Exibition of Monet and some of his comtempories. It is the National Museum of New Zealand and was not to be missed. On to Napier in the Hawkes Bay wine region for a day of more tasting and enjoying the art deco buildings that Napier is known for. Adam and Linda had to make a pilgramege to the Kim Crawford winery to pay homage to their grapes...a. good stopover.







Greetings,
When I last left off, we were departing Queenstown, our southernmost stop. Now we headed north along the east coast to Akaroa, the site of an early French enclave where the road signs are still en Francais. It is in the natural "bowl" of an old volcanic crater(the photo of of the sloping hills and sheep with the water in the background). After a delightful day and scruptous meal, we headed north again for Blenhem and the Marlborough Wine Festival. The day dawned(never saw it) cloudy but by the time we hit the Festival, the sun was out and the weather could not have been better. We received our souvenier issue wine glass and it's "around the neck holder". Great thing, you never loose it and its always right under your nose. Everybody should have one. There were approx. 30 wineries(we tried to taste them all-lost count!), great food and fantastic live music with some of New Zealand's top bands and individual entertainers. No details will be issued about the eventual state of the 4 of us and we need to protect what reputations we have left-Linda behaved herself, Adam and me too....however!!! We all had a memorable, wonderful day..youtoo, Erin.

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