Elizabeth's Blog

A popular spot to retire in New Zealand is Nelson, on the northwest corner of the South Island. Since we have a rental car we decided to take in some scenery and drive from Queenstown to Nelson taking the coastal highway. There were all sorts of warnings online about how difficult the trip was and it is an estimated eleven hour drive so we decided to break it up into two days. I assumed most of it would be like the California coastal road, twisting through the mountains To get to the coast we had to backtrack some so we again wound through the mountains to Wanaka and headed south until we could finally turn west and find the coast. It was a typical drive through the New Zealand alps over narrow roads without breakdown lanes and with scant railings. It was a beautiful trip for me, however, since I didn't have to keep my eyes on the road every second. Once we were on the west side of the mountains we were in rain forest. The road cut through solid mountain rock that was cover...

After a 3 hour return trip over the Tasman we've come in for a landing in Queenstown, a lake resort city of about 16,000 on New Zealand's south island. Our condo here has a full laundry, kitchen and the living room with a gas fireplace. It's going to cool off later in our stay so we may get to use it. Queenstown is built on a huge alpine lake that's kind of “Z” shaped and although the lower part of the southern alps is visible and it snows here in the winter, it doesn't get really cold. Most of the time winter temperatures are in the 30's and there's rarely snow cover. Between the front of our unit and the road there's a hedge of New Zealand mountain flax that's just out of flower. There are dozens of wilted flowers on each one – the display must have been fabulous just last week. A lot of our Queenstown stay has been devoted to loafing since we're here to relax rather than tour. But we did find time to go to the movie in Wanaka. Since there ...

Tom's sister Mary and her husband, Ross, live in western Canberra. The city was planned from the ground up in the late 1940s to overcome the conflict between the cities of Sydney and Melbourne over which should be the Australian capital. It's in a four season weather zone although it doesn't have winter that we'd recognize as one in Wisconsin. It's late summer here right now. Mary and Ross have a large yard and are avid bird watchers so we've been able to see a lot of new birds without leaving the breakfast table. Tom has photos of a lot of them. There are a pair of aging Eastern Rosella parrots in the back garden that attract a lot of other small parrots to the yard and a flock of cockatoos that gather in the front in the evening. They are without a doubt the largest birds I've seen at home bird feeders and the noisiest. Ross says there are sometimes as many as 100 cockatoos here at once. That's probably because there's a golf course ac...

We're in Sydney for a day before heading to Tom's sister's house outside Canberra. We spent the day we arrived recovering from both our drive to the Auckland airport with our balky GPS and the mad traffic-jam filled trip from the Sydney airport to our hotel. As far as we can tell from our road experience and the testimony of the hotel concierge there isn't really any driving in Sydney. Most time on the road is spent waiting in traffic jams. The GPS in our new rental car didn't care for the mass of stalled cars any more than the one in Tutukaka liked being asked to take us to the Auckland airport instead of back to our cottage. Let's just say in both cases there was a lot more recalculating than normally expected. Tom selected our Sydney hotel for its location more than anything so it was a surprise to discover quite how chi-chi it is. We're on the 14 th floor with a suite that includes a complete kitchen as well as laundry room. And it has a beautif...

Kiwi drivers rail about dangerous overseas drivers with whom they are forced to share New Zealand roads. They should not. From personal observation I can attest to the fact that the natives are pretty crappy drivers themselves. I back up my opinion with a recent report from their transportation officials who note that us foreigners account for just 4% of total accidents. I'm pretty sure some of that total is because it's easy to be scared to death while behind the wheel in New Zealand. We took some video the other day to try to give a good idea of a typical Kiwi road experience. Since I was first here in the 1980's the road network has definitely improved – there are now distance markers along most roads and some points have actual guard rails although I don't exactly understand the logic of their placement. For the most part it seems if a drop is only a couple hundred feet it doesn't really rate a rail – the trees and brush breaking will indicate where you...

Dan and Nancy Santee gave me a travel diary for Christmas and I've been using it to record the new birds and plants I've seen on this trip. It's inspired me to write about our trip, too, so I'm starting a travel blog. Here goes... Tom posted photos from our cottage in Tutukaka the other day. He's also taken some other shots from a boat trip we took to the Poor Knights Islands where he went snorkeling. We had a really nice time although Tom managed to sunburn his bald spot and the back of his neck. He'll have to wear a hood with his short wet suit the next time. I hid under the deck awning watching the local birds and sea life and emerged unscathed. One of the photos he took shows our resort from the water. It's hard not to be envious of the local gardens. We're in manuka territory. Along with the related kanuka tree they're the source of the world's most sought after honey. There's a huge kanuka built into the middle ...