An unexpected, pleasant surprise!

For this blog post, I'll start with what we've seen on our day of traveling as some of you could probably care less what we discuss or think about while in the car. Today we got up to a sunny day, even warm, and head from Franz Josef to Kaikoura. It was a long drive across the country from west to east coast, and it was up passes, around curves. we figure our average speed is 45 mph due to the road conditions. So we randomly picked a ton about two thirds of the way so we didn't waste such a nice day in the car.

First, fill the tank. Gas was $7.10 a gallon in Franz Josef where they have no competition. It's about $6.20 everywhere else. As we headed north, we noticed that almost every sheep farm had a helicopter in the field or under a shed. They must all be glacier pilots on the side. How do you get a farm machinery loan for a helicopter when you are a sheep farmer?

We had spend the night in the Bella Vista hotel which is a franchise here in NZ. The odd thing is that they are all exactly the same. Same exact layout of the building, of the rooms, everything. If you are in room #6 in Franz Josef, it will be in the exact same place in the next town. I woke up and could hardly remember where we were.

The countryside here is dense, lush rainforest. The leaves are huge. You can't even see through them. There is fern and moss on the bottom, then vines, then bushes, then skinny trees combined with big trees. I have no idea how they clear fields for sheep or roads. And in all this foliage, you turn a corner, drive about a mile, and come to a huge scoured rock and barren valley floor with a huge glacier. It is very odd.

Last night we had the tv on and saw a commercial for pet food. The food comes in these huge tubes sort of like Jimmy Dean sausage but 10x as big. The flavors were beef, pork, jellied meats and kangaroo. We wondered why they didn't have possum.

On the way north up the coast, we stopped at the town of Hokitika where they mine and manufacture a lot of jade. We walked up and down a few streets and ended up getting some jade souveniers for the girls that are carved with Maori symbols. Lauren gets the one for wisdom. Sarah gets the one for good luck.

Stopped at another one of the hundreds and hundreds of picnic areas that line the highways. Had shaved chicken again. Believe me when I say if I never, ever have shaved chicken again it will be too soon. we also sampled a NZ made soda called an L &P. It is made from lemon and paeora. I have no idea what paeora is but it tasted sort of like lemon lime. Their tag line read "World famous in New Zealand!" What does that even mean??

As we ate we noticed there are no chipmunks or squirrels here. Just a lot of birds.

Here are all the ways they say Walk or Tral or Hike in New Zealand.

Walk
Walkaway
Bush Walk
Forest Walk
Route
Tramp
Trek
Track

Don't think a Walkaway is easy. The two we saw were 8 hours and the other one was 4 days.

The place we chose to stop for the afternoon and evening is called Hanmer Springs. It is the best town ever!!! It is a small resort type town with a main street that has gas lights on the street and a huge walking path all around the town and up in the mountains. It also has sulphur and geothermal hot springs!! We both had three glasses of local pinot noir with dinner and then soaked in the various hot springs for 90 minutes so if this blog makes no sense, too bad. The water temperaturs vary from cool freshwater to almost 106 in the small sulphur springs. HOT! There were people of all ages and sizes in there. The place was immense. There were probably 15 different pools to choose from so we just soaked from one to the next. I guess it's a destination spot for people all around the northern end of the island. We met a charming older couple from Blenheim who just drove down and were staying for six days!

We did a big hill hike before dinner and our soak. (another hill, another day) An Australian couple asked us to take their picture and then asked where we were from in the States. We said "Utah". When they said they didn't know where that was, we said " California, then Nevada, then Utah". That seemed to make sense to them. Larry thinks we should say "Disneyland" then "Las Vegas" then "Utah". People would really get that.

This small hotel has little tables and chairs right out your sliding door and about six of us were all outside with wine and cheese at the same time so we all struck up a conversation. People are incredibly friendly here, the locals and all the visitors you meet. We have yet to meet one American.

So Hanmer Springs is a big favorite of ours. I want to say and write Hammer Springs but it's Hanmer. I could see staying here for a week. Tomorrow we head for kaikoura, then back to ChristChurch, then Sydney, then home.

Oh yes, I forgot. After almost 10 days of non-stop togetherness, Larry and I had our first minor spat. And it was over a Mint Treat. Those are those incredibly delicious cookies I was mentioning a few posts ago. Today at lunch, after we both had our two, there was only one left. There are 12 in a box and we each had two for lunch yesterday, one for dessert and two for lunch today. That makes 10. So why was there only ONE LEFT?? Who had the extra? And who was getting the last one? It could have gotten ugly but Larry did a good job of cutting the remaining one down the middle. Neither party is taking blame for the lost cookie but I will say here, It Wasn't ME! Today at the grocery store we couldnt' find any more Mint Treats which was very sad but we got a new kind called Toffee Ta Ta. (what is with these names???) That sounds like a stripper name. I'll let you know how Toffee Ta Ta's are after tomorrow's lunch. If Larry doesn't eat them all first.