LOVELY SUNNY DAYS
Sunset from Dan and Annie's house
Clutha River
Iris and Amy after school at our place
Thursday, August 22, 2024
IRIS' 9TH BIRTHDAY
Good morning from Wanaka, New Zealand. Joan and I have now been down here for two weeks and have about five weeks to go. Today, August 22nd is Iris’ ninth birthday. Iris is our youngest grandchild and we are very happy for her. We’ll be going over tonight to Dan and Annie’s for a big dinner celebration. Iris has been counting down the days with great enthusiasm and looking forward to lots of presents. She is very outgoing, has lots of friends, does very well in school and participates in many extraordinary activities. Her wit, wisdom, sense of humor and, yes. sarcasm, keeps us very entertained.
Update on NZ winter weather: we have been fortunate so far, very little rain, one day of very light snow flurries, lots of sunshine and mild temperatures mostly in the mid 40’s. This affords me no excuse to not get out and walk but still I’m pretty good at faking injuries and sickness. Joan is not buying it at all. If fact yesterday was such a beautiful day that we got a lot of steps in and, as always, enjoyed the gorgeous views. Today is a bit cloudy but decent so another stroll is in order.
This weekend Dan and his family are heading to Dunedin, Annie’s home town, to celebrate four separate family members birthdays. Dunedin is on the East coast about 170 miles from here. As mentioned in previous posts there are no freeways on the south island so this becomes about a three and a half hour journey. We’re not going along so we have about four days to entertain ourselves which means going to a movie, going out for dinner, reading, walking and napping. I’ll be worn out by Monday night!!
It’s vey interesting being away from the US for so long. The things we tend to do at home seem somehow important but when we arrive and have been here a few days they become somehow irrelevant. We miss friends for sure, but otherwise, it’s just fun to be in a completely different environment. Certainly a slower pace here but I think it is very healthy (except for the cookies, pastries and ice cream).
Next week Joan and I intend to go on a drive to see more of this gorgeous countryside. I’ll be checking out the NZ atlas to find a route we haven’t taken in the past and then head out exploring. Perhaps towards Mt. Cook, about a two hour ride from here. As mentioned previously the driving over here is on the left side of the road, like England, so a lot of attention must be paid. Having the steering wheel on the right is a constant reminder. We both are aware of the danger of forgetting and I rely on Joan to give a shout out if I start doing something stupid, So far, so good, and to be honest it’s not very difficult. (I hope I didn’t just jinx us!!).
More to come.
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
WELCOME TO WANAKA 2024
As most of you know we now travel each year to New Zealand for a period of about two months. Our youngest son, Dan, lives here on the South Island in a ski town called Wanaka if you want to check it out. Dan is married to Annie and has three children, Phoebe, Malcie and Iris, ages 15, 13 and 10. Dan is a software engineer and can work from anywhere in the world. They moved to NZ four years ago after spending 12 years in Palo Alto, the center of the so called Silicon Valley. Annie is a native New Zealander.
Our trip: we flew out of Phoenix on Monday at 3:30 pm and arrived in Queenstown on Wednesday at 10:00 am. Dan was there to pick us up for the one hour ride to Wanaka. The elapsed time was 27 hours! Incidentally, the drive from Queenstown to Wanaka is one of my favorite rides of all time as we drive up and over one of the most scenic mountain views anywhere. Although no snow was on the road there was plenty on the mountain.
We could not have had a more on time collection of plane trips (3). Interestingly the flights were not full and as a special treat we were upgraded by Air New Zealand into business class for the 12 hour flight from Los Angeles to Auckland. While Auckland is the largest city in NZ by far, it is not the capital. The capital is Wellington, a beautiful city on the very south tip on the north island.
The home Dan rented for us is very nice and is only about two miles from his house and less than one mile from school. The grandkids routinely stop by our place after school and feast on snacks put out by Joan. They usually bring a friend or two and it’s fun to listen to their banter. Lots of goofiness and laughter! We love it.
So, we have been here a week with about six more to go. Jetlag has faded into the past and we are getting into a routine. Of course it is winter down here with temperatures in the high 30’s to low 50’s. Wanaka is only at 1200 feet elevation but is very, very far south, hence the temps. Quite the change from Arizona. I’m going to try to do a posting once a week and hopefully the next will be a little more interesting. Anyway I got the first one done!!
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Weekend photos
On the road
Joan and I are back in Wanaka after a very enjoyable Easter weekend at Y-Nak. We were very close to the Pacific Ocean on the far East side of the South Island of New Zealand about a 250 kilometer drive from Wanaka. The ride was rolling hills and a little mountainous on the usual two lane road As always it was very scenic dotted with farms, cattle and lots of sheep. We were in no hurry and unlike my driving in Arizona usually a little below the speed limit. Our ultimate destination was the Douglas Family compound called Y-Nak.The name is derived from the Waianakarua River that runs through the property. A member of the family came up with the short easily pronounceable nickname and it stuck! The Y-NAK property has been in the family since 1915 and consists of hilly terrain and a massive amount of trees, trees that did not exist in 1915. The Douglas families have worked the area for 108 years and continue to this day with multiple projects going on even now. While there are only two Douglas families living there full time there are constant visitors. Annie's family has the "Stone House" built int the middle 70's. Dan and the family visit often and the kids are always finding new adventures. Joan and I were delighted to get to stay in Rob and Sue Douglas’ house while they were staying at Dan and Annie's home in Wanaka. We did a lot of hiking and it was especially fun to go down to the river and watch Molly retrieve sticks in the river, try to skip rocks and do our best not to fall in. The path down is quite steep and we “old folks” were reminded many times to be careful. Hopefully the following photos do the property a little justice.
A big thank you to Annie, Dan, Phoebe and Jo for keeping us fed with delicious meals and a warm fireplace! We had a couple of very rousing poker games with Dan as the constant dealer firmly enforcing Las Vegas rules. The set of poker chips was put to good use and everyone played like it was real money. The jokes, the insults and the fake pain of watching someone get an inside straight with the last card added to the fun. The final match included Jo, Joan, Dan, Phoebe, Malcie and me. A real battle until Joan went “all in” and drew her needed last card to wipe us all out. By the way we played Texas Hold’em. We taught Jo, Annie's mom, how to play poker this weekend and she took to the game like a pro.
On Easter Sunday night Dan and Annie treated us to a special sight seeing event. We drove northwest about 20 miles to the ocean to seeing a nightly tradition. The unique Timaru Penguins, like clockwork, come out of the ocean at sunset after a day of swimming and feeding. These are the smallest penguins at just 15 inches tall. It was amazing to see these very small creatures come out of a very rough sea onto rocks which would kill humans and scurry up a hill and head for their night shelters. In total about 90 of them in groups of about eight came on shore. Very tough little guys. They were close to extinct until a program was put into place to save them. They are now numbered in the thousands. Photography was forbidden so no actual pictures but I did take a snap of a picture in the tourist area. It came out ok so you can see them below.
The following day we packed up for the ride back to Wanaka but first went to the beach again, this time in a southernly
direction to see one of the great mysteries of New Zealand, the Moeraki Boulders, a group of almost perfectly round large rocks sticking out of the sandy beach. They range up to seven feet in diameter and are thought to be 4 to 5.5 million years old. You can certainly Google them for further information. They are really a sight to see and there were many people strolling down to see them on a rather cold, damp late morning. Hopefully the photos do them justice.
After a few hours we got back on the road and headed to Wanaka. Another beautiful ride through the same type of scenery but on a different road. It’s hard to not be distracted by the views and this time Joan unjustly accused me of driving a tad too fast!!
This coming Sunday morning we are flying up to Wellington, the capitol of New Zealand, for a three day touristy visit. Details when we return.
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Days going by
We have now been here in New Zealand for about 18 days and have about 27 to go. We can’t believe the time is flying by so fast. Last Sunday daylight savings time began and we went back an hour. We are now 19 hours ahead of AZ. The changeover was a bit of a shock to our systems as we have not experienced such in the forty plus years we have lived in AZ. We have settled in quite well in this year’s rental house. It’s quite bright with a plethora of windows. When the sun is shining it’s a real mood lifter! Today is one of those days! We just returned from the New World Market our go to grocery store. Kind of like a Safeway. There are two of them here in Wanaka, one much larger than the other. The best parts are the excellent bakery and the great selection of beers. In actuality most of the time I’m enjoying an IPA called “Phoenix” which is quite tasty. One with dinner every night.
In the last five days we have gone on some beautiful walks that are fairly lengthy. These are NOT boring walks at all. Wanaka is known for its beautiful scenery and when you throw this in you look forward to the hikes. A couple have been just spectacular, namely the Wanaka Lake outlet/Clutha river hike and the Luggate Trail walk. Please see the nearby photos. Lake Wanaka is huge (about 30 miles long ) and very deep, over a 1000 feet. It is kept full by massive snow melt running into the lake carried by numerous rivers. The only outlet of the lake is the Clutha River. On this hike you pass the beginning of the river flowing out of the lake and you immediately get a real sense of the massive volume and speed of the water. Unfortunately the camera does not do the river justice. Just walking on the path is stunning with the river rushing by on one side and a small mountain on the other all carved into a masterpiece over the eons. A bit sunny, a bit shady but always spectacular. While hiking about two miles on this day we took a couple of hours stopping to check out the river, Iris climbing trees and Molly, the family’s Black Labrador Retriever jumping into the river multiple times to recover the sticks thrown there. She instinctively knew to keep very close to the shore but gets a lot of joy out of her shenanigans.
On Sunday we headed to another section of the Clutha River a few miles downstream. More up and down walking than before but we were able to follow a small tributary called the Cardronna River to the point of it flowing into the Clutha. It was a treat to see it mix with the big river and create very strange currents that actually flowed upstream roiling fiercely. Malcie threw a few branches and sticks into the river and watching them defy gravity and flow was mesmerising. Even Molly was confused. This trek was also a peaceful but stunning walk. We were sweating when the walk was done. The weather has been quite good with a little rain here and there. Cold in the morning with sunny afternoons.
On Saturday we attended the biannual Festival of Colors event. A day of fun viewing different cultural events including dances, acrobatic insanity, book binding, ukulele band, other bands whose members should NOT quit their day time jobs, flowers and food. It was quite well attended with very cheery and happy people.
Yesterday afternoon Joan and I attended Iris’ ballet session which was anything but boring. I had never really seen ballet being taught and it was quite interesting. The teacher obviously knew what she was doing and the little girls really worked hard to get it right. I took mostly videos and just a few photos. The forty-five minutes went by in a flash.Iris was the best student by far but she is a bit older than the rest. I really mean this!!
Please do check out the photos and Joan and I love to read comments!!
Sunday walks and around Wanaka
Friday, March 24, 2023
First week
Good morning from Wanaka, NZ. It is March 24 here which is, as a reminder, 20 hours ahead of Arizona (MST). As I sit here at my desk it is a brilliant, sunshiny day, our third in a row, albeit a little chilly. It 9am and it’s 46 degrees climbing to about 66 this afternoon. The warmest time of the day is from about 3pm to 7pm. I have been sitting in the delightful yard working on a bit of a tan for a maximum of one half hour a day. Joan says “get out of the sun, you just had an appointment with the dermatologist!! Of course she is right.
We have now been here for a full week and are pretty much over the jet lag thing. It took longer than anticipated. It may have something to do with age! Unfortunately Joan has come down with a cold and, of course, it will be just a short period of time before I get it. We’ll see. You can count on me complaining about it if I do.
Although this has been a “rest” week Dan and the family have keep us busy, but a “fun” busy. The highlight of this time was visiting the Wanaka Lavender Farm, just a couple of miles outside of town. Although it was raining most of the time the scenery was spectacular. The site consists of 20 acres of beautiful lavender fields, farm animals and garden displays. This is a real working farm with many manufactured lavender products, honey, and other delightful lavender themed items. None of these are inexpensive. The products are sold by the ounce and a quick calculation of just one item came to $5000 in a very small display. We strolled the entire area for about an hour stunned by the sheer beauty. There is obviously a lot of pride by the employees. I’m sending some photos along with this posting.
I have mentioned that the kid’s schools are very close by so they have settled into a routine of visiting in the afternoon. As most know it is NBA basketball season and closing in on the playoffs. Joan purchased the NBA TV package here and with the 7PM games starting here at 3PM (the next day) Malcie and Joan have been watching the Suns play. It is a joy watching them critique the game together. Joan has converted Malcie into a fan. He is currently playing basketball with his friends in a 3 on 3 form. The family has a regulation size basketball setup at the house and he very much enjoys “shooting around”. Basketball is truly a worldwide game.
Joan will post some photos nearby and will also try to post a short video showcasing the house we are living in.
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
We're back
Well, here we are back in Wanaka, New Zealand after nine months. We are very happy to be here to see Dan, Annie and the kids.
First a few words about the flight trip down here. Just for fun I started my stop watch from the minute we walked out our front door and stopped it when we arrived at Dan’s house. Total time: 26 hours!! A big thank you to our friend Sue Flint for the ride to the Phoenix airport. On this trip we brought 3 large bags and two carry ons each. At home each bag weighted right at 49 pounds give or take but at Southwest Airlines one of them weighed about 52 pounds so once again we were on the floor rearranging stuff to make sure nothing weighed over 50 pounds. We got it done, barely. Coming home we won’t have this problem because we had a lot of stuff for the family. The biggest issue, however, was my carry on which had to weigh at least 35 pounds. I had purchased a poker chip set for the kids and it was very heavy, so heavy that a fellow passenger had to help me lift it up to the storage bin. That too will remain in NZ. Last summer we flew from PHX to LA via American Airlines so the transition to Air New Zealand was very easy. Not this time. The Southwest terminal was at least one mile from ANZ. Thankfully we had rented push carts for our bags but we both sweating by the time we made the transition. Our bags did not gain weight on the flight to LA so no issue at ANZ except that they would not check our bags through to Queenstown, our final flight destination, and we would pay the physical price later in Auckland. The flight to Auckland took off on time for our 12 hour jaunt across the Pacific. We upgraded to Premium Economy which gave us more leg room, a further seat recline and a better meal. Still, 12 hours is 12 hours. It can seem like a 120 hours.
We each had a problem with our seats. Mine would recline back immediately no matter how softly I touched it with my head and Joan’s wouldn’t move at all unless I got up and pushed it back with everything I had. Although the flight attendents did their best to rectify the situation nothing could be done to fix the problems. I’m sure that when I send in our review of the flight we’ll be comped with two free business class seats when we return! Yeah, right!!
We arrived in Auckland on time, cleared customs, had our bags x-rayed again to make sure we weren’t bringing in produce to the country (Joan had some prepackaged chocolate dates that she “forgot” to tell them about and the x-ray machine missed and then we secured two carts to go to another terminal for our final flight. And this is where we paid the price for the “no check through” to Queenstown. We were told to just follow the painted green line and you’ll arrive at the domestic terminal, eventually. This turned into a two mile walk pushing all our stuff. The alternative was to take the bus shuttle to the terminal but that would have meant lifting the heavy bags onto and off the bus and I wasn’t about to do that! We were very happy to finally get rid of the bags for the short flight to the South Island. Easy flight EXCEPT for the gigantic weather bump we hit after cruising quietly. A real wake up call and there were more than a few gasps from the passengers.
Very disturbing but no harm.
It was great to be greeted by Dan and an easy 45 minute ride to the rental house after a brief stop at Pembroke bakery to pick up lunch and an almond croissant.
We have been here for 3 full days now and I’ll be back soon with more of our adventure. Look close by for some photos taken in the last few days.
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
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