DECEMBER 20, 2015   STARTING A NEW TRIP/BLOG!

On Jan. 4th I will leave, with friend/colleague from CT teaching, from JFK on Emirates Airlines headed to south Asia. We will stop three nights in Dubai to check it out and enjoy some beaches. Then we fly to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) for a night or two - to begin our pre-trip with OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) the company I went to Southern Africa with and connected to GCT (Grand Circle Travel) the company I went to Australia/New Zealand with last year. Our 8 day pretrip is to Bhutan so we will fly to Bhutan and travel around high up in the Himalayas and visit lots of Buddhist temples (I wanted to go here; they measure the GNH (Gross National Happiness!) instead of GNP! I wanted to visit a place like that! Doug is very envious!! :)

Then we fly to Delhi to begin our 16 day tour of Northern India including Jaipur and Agra (Taj Mahal) and a game reserve. At the end of that, we fly to Cochin in the south for a 5 day post trip of Southern India where we will be on some kind of a houseboat and end the trip in Feb. and fly home from Mumbai!

Doug (Phap Lu'u) was in the US on a tour for 3 months this past fall and we celebrated his, and some classmates' 40th birthday in Newtown/Bethel on Nov. 14th. So I will post a picture of that here! I will try to keep the blog updated as we move around, as there is wi-fi connection available!

Extra photos

Sue, these are extra photos I don't know where you want so am putting them in here and you can put them in where you want them.

 

 

 

relaxing with last beer in Sydney

 

 

2/28: Auckland, Farewell Dinner

 

 

 

We had our Farewell Dinner at the Rydges hotel where we were staying at 5:30 p.m. Saturday night. I got a lot of compliments on Kerry’s sparkling purple top I saved for the last night. Most of the Cape Eight sat at a table together, with Mary Lou and Carolyn Kirk, the attorney/Pilates/Yoga teacher and her mom from California. Peter kept making the rounds of the tables, almost like at a wedding!, collecting first the headphones from our Whisperers, the $150 sets we were given at the start of our trip. Then the speakers themselves, then our papers with credit card payment info on any of the optional trips we had selected. I had a $603 extra bill for mine. Only the last one, for $115 was a waste for me as that was the dinner in Rotorua where I was sick and couldn’t eat a thing and sat outside. But, oh, well!! I did go to the Maori performance and saw the steam vents!






Fourteen of our group were staying and doing the Post trip for 5 days to the Bay of Islands, up in the northern part of New Zealand. The rest of us had to be on the bus at 3 a.m. to get to the airport for the flight to Sydney. I went with them to the airport but my flight was an hour later. After dinner we picked up LARGE bags with our “box” lunch for the morning. It was an enjoyable evening saying good bye to a nice group of people.


Everyone was loaded by 3 a.m. and off we went, after saying good-bye to Peter, who was not accompanying us to the airport. Everything went smoothly and after I checked in, I headed to Gate 15/16 - a LONG walk, to sit with the group until they boarded for their 6:10 a.m. flight. They were having about a 3 hr. layover in Sydney and then the long flight on to LAX. A couple were staying the night at the airport there, but Barbara and others were changing planes and continuing on to JFK or Boston.


I went to my gate and boarded for my 7 a.m. flight to Sydney. I slept most of the way but then had a nice conversation with my seatmmate who was a young man from Chile, living and working for 7 years at a hotel in Auckland. He was on a holiday in Melbourne. He is from Santiago, which is almost straight across the Pacific from NZ.


I had found on the internet that the Sydney airport had a baggage storage facility so opted to pay the $40+ to store my big suitcase until Tuesday when I fly out to Honolulu. Again the long detailed customs process and then found the storage facility and was down to my two backpacks. I got a train ticket to Granville where I had a reservation at an airbnb. I had to train to Central station downtown (near where we stayed) and then change to Yellow Line out to Granville. Met a family with 2 sisters, a brother and a dad who were just off a cruise ship headed home. We had a nice chat and they helped me get off at the right station.


Chris’s directions to his apartment were great, with photos, maps, etc. I passed a Subway shop and stopped for a wonderful familiar lunch as I had had my apple confiscated at the Customs and had only eaten an orange so far. I got as far as a park near Chris’ where I stopped in the shade. There was a couple there who were just taking down a table and stuff where they had been set up to advertise a local Granville Environmental group, and also that day was a “Clean up Australia” day and they were cleaning up in the park. They walked me around the corner to the entrance of the apartment complex. Very friendly and delightful! I have found everyone I’ve run into in these two countries helpful and friendly and very kind!


Chris’ answered the door and said he was getting a bit worried as to where I was. I had said around noon I thought I would be there. My room is upstairs, the whole apartment is very Zen like, all in black and white. He showed me around the living room and kitchen, which I’m free to use. I knew I’d mostly be eating out in the next couple of days with Darren and his family. I called Darren on the house phone and said I’d shower and rest for a couple of hours and then call him back and meet up with him.

I was able to cool down with the lovely fan in my room and finally called Darren about 2:30. He said he’d meet me out front when he arrived. Turns out Elizabeth St. where we were meeting has a green park gap between the two ends and he was on one end looking for me and I was on the other. After a few mixups and coming back to the apartment ( my cell phone doesn’t work here so I had to rely on Chris’ house phone to connect with him), we met up.

Had a nice conversation with Chris (it was Sunday so he was home) and was working on fixing an old computer to connect to his TV set. He looks about 12 but it turns out he is a 31 year old pediatrician (resident, I think) who is finishing up his studies here. He is from Malaysia and his parents live there. So when he finishes, he will try to find a position somewhere in Australia, maybe Perth on the west side which would make his family happy as it’s much closer to Kuala Lumpur where they are! He has been doing airbnb for a couple of years and has had wonderful visitors staying. I will have to register my room over the garage for this, when I’m home long enough, and for the off season when the house isn’t rented out!



More on my evening with Darren and his family in next installment.

2/28 Arrive in Auckland; SkyTower dinner; Sailing

We were back at the Rydges Hotel chain for a 3rd time right in downtown Auckland. After settling in, we did a few blocks stroll down to Queen St., the lowest main street that used to be a riverbed. Saw several homeless people (haven’t seen this anywhere before) and mostly Maori men. Later I saw something on TV about the 150 homeless in Auckland and a program to try to eliminate their situation within 5 months. They didn’t describe WHY these men are homeless but I think it has to do with they don’t want to follow the rules of a shelter or housing the state would provide.






The hill back up was pretty steep but I made it. We met the rest of the group outside the Skytower where you could go up for the view, or JUMP from it on like a zipline. One guy had just landed but we didn’t see him descend!! No one took that option to try!!



We had a lovely dinner in the hotel, until out in the lobby VERY LOUD drums began, for Chinese New Year which seems to be celebrated for 1/2 the month of February!!! Josh and Trish left because it was so noisy and the restaurant manager couldn’t do anything about it. as we were leaving, other Chinese acrobats were performing so it probably went on all evening, with crowds gather. I think the drumming had been the Lion Dance earlier but I didn’t see it.


The next day we were bused to the harbor for our sailing experience in the harbor. Auckland is the sailing capital of the world. And you would agree when you saw the number of harbors filled with all sizes of sailboats, as well as the temporary buildings that were set up around the harbor for the weekend as the Volvo Round the World Race was stopping here!!! Concert stages were set up, and on Saturday people were everywhere. This is a 9 month race with, I’m assuming, required stops and they were in town. It was very festive!




We went out in two 33 foot sailing boats - ours was the Courageous, the other the Defiance. Unfortunately, there was not much wind so we only had a few moments when they put the sails up and actually shut off the motor. We had a 45 minute swing around the harbor, each of us getting a turn at the wheel. I had just turned to Bob and Mary, when I saw the big steering wheel, and relayed the story of when Bud and I took a Coast Guard course on the Chesapeake Bay - planning in the distant future to own a boat and sail around the world in it in retirement! We chose this beautiful 36 foot sloop to go out on for the day with the owners. When it was my turn at the helm, the boat kind of caught the wind and keeled to the side a bit (don’t know if that’s the right term but it leaned quite a bit to one side!) As it got straightened out, Bud came up from down below. He looked at me at the helm and said, “I should have known!” apparently he was in the head, it keeled, and he came crashing out with his shorts around his ankles!! A couple of women were sitting at the table down below as he crashed out!!! :)


So when they said who wants the helm, they all yelled for me!! Anyhow, no wind, no incident!! All was smooth sailing, or rather motoring! It was lovely; would have been nice to have the real sense of sailing but nice to be out on the gorgeous harbor!



We had a free afternoon so our Cape 8, as well as a few others from the group, hopped the ferry for the 10 minute ride across the harbor to Devenport, a little suburb with great views looking back to the city. By this time tons of sailing boats were rigged and headed out for a day sail. We walked around, it was hot. Got a few pictures of some picturesque Victorian style houses, bought a used book for the trip home (Judy, Shannon, Michelle - you could bring one or two to trade me! I’ve passed on a couple that I finished to others. Still can’t make that transition to ebooks!! like the feel of it in my hand!!). I got separated from my friends but wandered down to the pier, bought a gelato and headed back on the ferry. They came about an hour later. I rested in the room until our Farewell Dinner that night.

 

2/27: On the road to Auckland - Rotorua school

 

 
Today was our school visit. This was an amazing intermediate (7 and 8) school for mostly low income students run by Rory O’Rouke, who I believe is from Ireland. 73% of students are Maori, % are pukeha (meaning white or European) and the other % are Pacific Islanders.


We were told to wait outside until these two girls sang a song inviting us in to the big meeting hall. Men were supposed to go first and sit in front, then the ladies!!! Bob had been elected our “Chief” and spokesperson so he went first, and when inside. He was invited up to speak for us. We then had to sing a song (Take me out to the Ball Game - I almost broke out in my tap dance routine that we used to do a couple of years ago to that song! - NOT!!! :) There was a lot of Maori language spoke by another guy who later played the guitar while the students sang in Maori. Rory said later few of the students speak it at home but can choose to have some of their classes in the language and all are required to take the language course.

 

I’m in Sydney now, staying at an airbnb for two nights while I visit with Darren and his wife (met him last year at the retreat at Blue Cliff, he was one of the Sandy Hook support group, and the photographer who took that great photo of Doug and I that he put up on Facebook last fall. Anyway his wife is from Sydney and they have moved back here; he’s in school now to become a counselor.


So I left my large bag, with the info on the school, in the airport until my flight to Hawaii on Tuesday, so I’ll have to give you more details on the school probably when I’m on the plane.


But we later had a guide, West, one of the chosen student leaders from the 8 year, this school is 7 and 8. West told us soon the group of leaders will go to camp and then Rory will choose one girl and one boy leader for the rest of the year. Their school year began 4 weeks ago and goes until just before Christmas next year. They have 10 weeks on, 2 weeks holiday, 10 weeks on, 2 weeks and continue until December when they have 6 weeks, like our summer vacation, especially as it’s summer here at that time!


West took us around to various parts of the school. His favorite was like Industrial Arts where they were working on a drone, robots, had a 3-d printer (see picture) which I’d never seen before - it was spitting out some plastic lego type pieces. Jackson would LOVE a classroom like this!!!



We visited a music class where two guitar students and 3 marimba students demonstrated for us. 1/2 the school was away at a camp of some sort. The students got to choose which “academy” they fit best in, which I’ll explain better when I have the booklet he gave us.


A main focus of the school was their anti-bullying program, their rewards for positive behavior. No student is ever expelled. They had just had a resolution with two students and their parents in a long meeting. Very impressive program. Our guide Peter said Rory had to follow a country-wide curriculum but how he does that is up to him.


Grand Circle Foundation supports this school and Rory said they were currently trying to see that ALL students had an Ipad available to them for home use and a few students couldn’t afford it. This is one of the reasons I really like this company as they support a school in each country they visit, bring travelers to the school and part of the money you spend for the trip goes to support it. We visit a much poorer school in Zimbabwe and part of Peter’s job is to visit the school and see what’s been done. Cool!




More on the school later!

2/26: Rotorua- Te Puia performance and dinner

I stayed in my room all day, missing the museum program in the a.m. I was able to Facetime with Kerry, as she was working from home, for the first time on the trip. It was good to see her face (and Jason at the end!).


I still was coughing, and my ribs hurt like crazy, I assume from throwing up the day before, but wanted to see the Maori crafts (weaving and woodcarving) and performance. We went to Te Puia, a hot springs area with models of buildings in the Maori style. There were mud pools like at Yellowstone and steaming vents. We weren’t there for an actual eruption that happens every 20 minutes.

 

 

We went to the weaving area where we saw how they used the flax leaf to strip the green to make threads, roll them to make rope and cut them with a shell to make the “skirts” that they were. They leave part of the green on that eventually turns black to make the squares.
There was a wood carving area for their large totems. All this is very reminiscent of Hawaiian, Alaskan and other Pacific peoples. They were cooking the dinner of roast chicken, I think, and potatoes and squash and we saw them remove the big trays from over the steam vents where they had a natural source of heat. First we were going to attend the dancing.


The Maori were very strong warriors and their dances showed it, with lots of yelling, stamping, and the wide eyes and tongue out. This is the reason they didn’t get overrun like the Aborigines in Australia.


We headed in to dinner and I knew this wasn’t going to work for me. Peter got me a bottle of seltzer to settle my stomach. But when they started bringing food to the table, I moved outside for fresh air. A sweet waitress from Sri Lanka named Dew (she’s 23) brought me some mint tea which really helped settle things. At least, until I got back to the hotel!!



Eventually I got back to my lovely suite and got all packed up for our departure in the a.m.

2/25; Travel day to Rotorua

I stayed in my room all day, missing the museum program in the a.m. I was able to Facetime with Kerry, as she was working from home, for the first time on the trip. It was good to see her face (and Jason at the end!).


I still was coughing, and my ribs hurt like crazy, I assume from throwing up the day before, but wanted to see the Maori crafts (weaving and woodcarving) and performance. We went to Te Puia, a hot springs area with models of buildings in the Maori style. There were mud pools like at Yellowstone and steaming vents. We weren’t there for an actual eruption that happens every 20 minutes.

 

 

We went to the weaving area where we saw how they used the flax leaf to strip the green to make threads, roll them to make rope and cut them with a shell to make the “skirts” that they were. They leave part of the green on that eventually turns black to make the squares.
There was a wood carving area for their large totems. All this is very reminiscent of Hawaiian, Alaskan and other Pacific peoples. They were cooking the dinner of roast chicken, I think, and potatoes and squash and we saw them remove the big trays from over the steam vents where they had a natural source of heat. First we were going to attend the dancing.


The Maori were very strong warriors and their dances showed it, with lots of yelling, stamping, and the wide eyes and tongue out. This is the reason they didn’t get overrun like the Aborigines in Australia.


We headed in to dinner and I knew this wasn’t going to work for me. Peter got me a bottle of seltzer to settle my stomach. But when they started bringing food to the table, I moved outside for fresh air. A sweet waitress from Sri Lanka named Dew (she’s 23) brought me some mint tea which really helped settle things. At least, until I got back to the hotel!!



Eventually I got back to my lovely suite and got all packed up for our departure in the a.m.

2/24, Arrowtown, Winery

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Betty headed out at 7 to catch the bus back to Christchurch and Stella. I’ll see her again in October at our 50th Clarke Reunion, hopefully with Nancy and Mary Lou!! What a hoot that will be!

Our bus left at 9 for the 30 minute ride to Arrowtown. This was a gold mining town when gold was discovered in 1862, as the third largest after California and Australia (not sure where Alaska fits in). It was “Maori Jack” Tewa, a shearer, who found gold in the Arrow River in 1862. But - as is the way- a pushier European, William Fox, made bigger waves, and the town started life called “Fox’s”. 1500 miners worked the river.

In the 1860s the Cantonese were actively recruited to come here for the cheap labor. However, they were “invited” to live separately in their Chinese village, down on the flood plain near the river where in 1863 a big flood had wiped out some miners. One particular Chinese, very tall Ah Lum, built his home that we visited and ran a bank for the Chinese who didn’t trust European banks with their gold, and sold supplies. Out front was a “gunny” or toilet/outhouse that became the first public toilet. The European ladies would shop at Ah Lum’s when they realized they could buy Chinese tea that hadn’t been from China, through London, and back, much cheaper. They made the gunny big enough for the ladies’ crinolines under their dresses!!

When the 1880s Recession hit world wide, everyone looked for someone to blame. The Chinese were making their money and sending it home to families back in China. This is EXACTLY what the Brits and other Europeans were doing, but they ignored that. NZ instituted a Poll Tax of L100, when the average earnings were L3/yr!! Many Chinese left.

They had no main roads or power here until the 1950s. Now it’s a ski resort and peaceful summer, historic and vacation site. We visited the goldfield jail where minor disputes and drunks were housed. I walked around and visited the Catholic church. It is famous for Sr/St. Mary McKillop, an Irish nun, who started the St. Joseph order to set up and service schools in the outback/remote areas. Her little cottage was next door. She was a “feminist” who stood up to the bishops of the time and was excommunicated for her trouble. Later she was beatified so because Australia/New Zealand’s first saint.

After a lovely lunch of fish chowder and a visit to the historical museum, we headed off to the Gibbotson Winery a bit out of town, past a bridge where people were bungee jumping (a sport invented here in NZ). Alan Brady came to this area, that was only used for sheep, and against all odds planted his vines. Pinot Noir needs hot sun and cool nights, small grapes and this is the most southern wine-growing region, she thought, in the world. And he made a success, keeping production very small and highest quality. We went into the wine cave and tasted 3 different kinds, along with 3 different kinds of chocolate to enhance and balance the flavors. Very nice!

Back at our hotel, we were all settled in for a rest when there was a fire alarm. I heard nothing because the alarm in my room didn’t go off. I was reading in bed when an employee knocked on my door and told me I had to evacuate (we are on the 10th floor!). I threw on some pants, grabbed my laptop and bag and headed out to the landing. We only had to go down 5 flights to the parking lot and we could see the others 5 floors below us out front. Portia was behind me and was having difficulty because you could see through the wrought iron of the stairs. But one of the guy employees helped her down and we all waited while the fire department checked everything out. We think it was some construction going on on our floor. I couldn’t get back in my room with my room card so had to wait until someone came up to let me in. Then after I got back in bed, MY fire alarm in the room buzzed loudly 4 times. I called the desk and they sent someone to check but said ignore it!!! Grrrrr! No rest today!

We walked downtown to meet the group at 6 for dinner. Barbara, Leona, Portia and I had dinner with Peter our guide and had a nice conversation. He’s going to be a first time grandfather in a couple of months from his 20 year old daughter who’s in school! Both daughters live in Sydney. Interesting!

Off to Rotorua and a home visit with a Maori family tomorrow night!

2/23 Monday, Milford Sound cruise

We left at 7 a.m. for the 4.5 hr bus ride to Milford Sound, driving through the gorgeous Southern Alps. Betty chose to ride with us over there, even though Peter told her the boat tickets were completely sold out. We were going to be 2 hrs on the boat but I thought it might be worth the drive to see the scenery, which it definitely was! Then she could read a book if she couldn’t get on the boat. But I thought with one person there was a chance someone in ours or one of the other tours would cancel and she could get a ticket. It turned out Josh (and Trish stayed home with him) as well as Pat, who’d had two shoulders replaced before this trip and was hurting, decided to stay back and chill out at the hotel. Josh had ended up in the hospital the day before with chills, fever, shakes - thinking maybe he had picked up malaria in a Fiji stop on their way to Australia. It wasn’t that, they don’t know what, but he wasn’t feeling up to going.



Many of the mountains had snow tops or glaciers on top and were rugged and spectacular. Most of the countryside was just sheep grazing, some reindeer (they raise them for meat and antlers), and cows/cattle. The road was windy and lots of switchbacks. Barbara and Judy sat in the front seats and took medicine for the motion sickness. We saw some interesting movies on the video screens going over and coming back to pass the time. We saw a great movie with Anthony Hopkins about a motor cycle racer from New Zealand who in his 80s took his “Indian” to Bonneville Salt Flats and set a world land speed record of over 200+ MPH. He’s always great in whatever he’s in! We saw a documentary on the ANZAC contributions in WWI.



I chatted with Joanna who had taught for a year in both Germany and Mexico in the 80s, when she lost her teaching job in California when there were cutbacks. She was, and still is, pretty adventurous!!



The road we drove on was built during the 1930s as a Depression era work project. This was the same as that Great Ocean Road in Melbourne Anna and I took the bus trip down. When we arrived in Milford Sound, we were only about 40 KM from Queenstown but we had to take a LOOONG u-shaped drive around mountains to get there. They finally had to blast/dig a tunnel through one mountain - about 3/4 mile long, one way only for buses - to get there. The Homer Tunnel was started in 1939 and not completed until 1954. They still frequently have avalanches that can completely cover the tunnel openings and it takes sometimes weeks to clear them. There is no town, only the ferry stop for several boats.



Peter had reserved tables so it was much more comfortable, compared to the crowded ferry trip the day before to the farm across Lake Wakatipu. Since three of our group had not gone, there was even a box lunch for Betty! She went with Peter to the ticket counter and purchased her ticket ($95) but she thought it was well worth it! There were plenty of extra seats on the bus so that wasn’t an issue.



Some facts: Queenstown has about 1 meter of rain/hear; The Divide that we crossed has about 20 ‘/year and Milford Sounds has 30 feet/year!!



A book I’d be interested in reading that Peter passed around is Penguin Press’ History of New Zealand by M. King. New Zealand was the last country to be settled and civilized.



Lake Wakatipu is the longest lake in NZ - 80 miles from Glenorchy to Kingston. People fish for brown trout, rainbow trout and salmon. I had a salmon dinner the other night that was the best salmon I’ve tasted!



Maori - this native people mostly lived in the North Island and only came here for hunting and to find the greenstone (I think that’s jade). They came here 700-900 years ago probably from Polynesia, when food got scarce.



Famous ALL BLACK rugby team is formidable!



They were much more aggressive and assertive than the Aborigines in Australia. They would trade the British for muskets. Then used them for the Musket Wars amongst themselves.



New Zealand has no snakes, scorpions, squirrels, bears, or other predators.



Kea is a native, cheeky Alpine parrot very curious, supposedly has the intelligence of a 2 year old. Will eat the rubber wipers and other parts off your car. Great problem-solvers to open things to get food.



NZ is the size of the state of Colorado with 4 million population. VERY protective of their water and environment. Very strict customs rules! $400 fine if you mark NO on the form and they find something. Long list of things you can’t bring in.



Exports: dairy products, lamb, timber



Mt. Cook the highest peak - 13,000 Ft.



A Sound is carved by erosion and then the river valley is drowned. V-shaped and not very deep (Milford is 110 ft). Milford is brownish color from the erosion and has a layer on top of fresh water.



A fjord is u-shaped, very deep, carved by glaciers.



We ended our day by having pub grub and beer and wine off the bar on a patio, with Richard and his son Dean, Barbara, Betty and I. It was lovely as the sun set!! Later Cindy brought her dinner over. The rest of the group got off the bus downtown and ate there at various places.



One more day here in this paradise!!



The cruise ship went out about 45 minutes to the Tasman Sea entrance to the sound

2/22 Sunday, Cruise in Queenstown, Jet Boat

 

Betty took a bus today to Arrowtown as she will be headed back to Christchurch on Tuesday when we do this. I enjoyed my balcony with an amazing view of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkable Mountains. At 11:30 I joined the rest of the group to board the 102 year old steam ferry (we watched the coal be dumped on board for the steam engine) the TSS Earnslaw. We slowly steamed across the Lake to the Walter Peak Sheep Station. Jack, who’s lived here for 20 years gave the tour and demonstrated shearing sheep.

 

 

The original settler came here in 1862 and brought 700 sheep, taking 2-3 months to drive them here. 1/2 of them died and they thought it was the grass. Eventually all of them died from Scrappy so they immigrated to Queensland and grew bananas.

Next Gold was discovered near queenstown and James McClain settled and built a stone cottage. He tried supplying the miners and transporting the gold. when the gold rush peaked in 1882, he disappeared.

Hugh McKenzie and his 8 kids then took over 400 acres and grew potatoes. Over 20 years their spread grew to 180,000 acres, over 3 generations. They added sheep. But by the 3rd generation they went broke and left.

Merino wool, the non-itching soft kind, was grown and during the Korean war reached it’s highes price, $l pound for l #. New Zealand introduced sheep to the Chinese and they now have 170 million sheep.

 

 

 

Jack sheared 8 sheep yesterday from 11 a.m. - 11pm. He showed us how he quickly sheared the sheep, holding her between his legs, on her rump so she was relaxed. Until she got back on her feet, she was easy to manage.



We then saw a demonstration of King, his herding dog and how he herded 6 sheep down from the pasture, with just whistle calls and words. It was pretty amazing! No barking!


We then saw some red deer that they raise, for the venison and for the antlers that fall off every year. They are sold to Asia for an aphrodisiac . Now they are more valuable for medicines to treat joint injuries. It’s called velvet antler.


He also has alpaca to defend the sheep against dogs. The family is, from largest to smallest, camel, alpaca, llama and pashmina.

We then walked through the gorgeous flower gardens for afternoon tea on the veranda, while we waited for the ferry to return.

After the ferry, people split up, some to go to the bird sanctuary to see the kiwi (only 300 left) and I went with a group and Betty on a one hour jet boat ride. It was fast, he did many 360 turns where we got sprayed, up two very shallow rivers. It was exciting, cost $86.




Betty was able to pay to come to our dinner at the hotel. We had such a fun table, with Bob and Mary. She says she’s an introvert and doesn’t like to travel, but she’s a hoot!! We kept toasting ridiculous things!! I had a delicious salmon dinner and Betty had lamb shank. Early day tomorrow!