March 31--DIY

Certain things in life simply have to be experienced--and never explained. Love is such a thing.  --Paulo Coelho

    I am way tired and looking forward to a soak in the luxurious bathtub this evening. I attempted that last night but could not get the drain to seal. That has been fixed. 

    We were given sessions this morning with a faith-healer? intuitive? wise woman? I'm not sure about her title. I had only one question for her, and the answer I got was basically, "You have to figure it out for yourself. You have to create your own happiness." She told me nothing that I did not learn in practitioner training or the 12-Step program. Therefore, I went about creating my own happiness with a lengthy swim (the gods seemed to know that I need the whole large pool to myself) and two margaritas. 

    Lanie and I went out shopping in the afternoon heat. We kept going into air-conditioned stores to cool off, but we did not buy much. My only purchase was a small wooden statue of Ganesha (to go with my small Buddha at home). We had an early supper of hummus and salads. I have finally learned not to order hot food if I am in a place with no AC, which includes most places except our hotel room. 

    I think somewhere along the way I promised to give a bidet a try. Cricket refers to them as a "bum gun." 😏 Up until this hotel, the apparatus was merely a hose and nozzle hooked to the toilet (think garden hose & nozzle). No thanks on that type. This hotel, however, has the built-in apparatus and even has the directions on the inside of the toilet lid. I got brave this morning and tried it. I like it! Another fear conquered--maybe this was part of "creating my own happiness." 😏

    Below is some of the fine greenery around our hotel. They grow fields of marigolds here and use them in temple offering baskets. 

        Leta

The tall plant is in dirt, but
the rest is floating in water.

March 30--ICE!!!!!!!!!!!!

In matters of the heart, nothing is true except the improbable. 
--Germaine de Stael

    We sadly (me) left the oceanside after chanting, meditation and breakfast. We drove to Tirta Empul Temple in hopes (not me) of getting into the spring-fed cleansing pool and praying in the temple. The place was PACKED, with hours-long waits to get into the pool. Fortunately we just had a tour. Despite the ultra-clean spring-fed water coming into it, with that many bodies "purifying," uhhhh, no thanks. 

The centuries-old banyan tree outside the temple

    Let's just say that for me personally, Bali has not been the paradise I expected. In some ways, yes, in many others, no. The thing that has consistently made me smile is the dogs. The best thing that happened at today's temple visit was befriending this one, the closest I have found to my dearly-missed Barney:

Check out those smiles!

    Next we drove to Ubud and checked into our hotel. OMG! This is by far the most luxurious hotel room Lanie and I have ever been in. It is huge and we have ICE!!!

Couch and TV are behind me

Half of our patio

And the best part...

Plus a separate room for the toilet

    There is a huge infinity pool on the grounds and an excellent restaurant, too. 

    Lanie and I walked down the street to get some beverages other than water. We are planning on relaxing with room service this evening. Edi and Komang took our dirty laundry to be washed. My big pile costs just under $6, Lanie's under $3, ready in 24 hours. Ready means washed, dried, folded and tightly wrapped in plastic. 

    Homesick, but loving this luxury!

        Leta

March 29--A Day to Chill

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.  --Carl Jung

    Today was Nyepi, Balinese day of silence. Things were pretty much as usual on the resort property, except we were not allowed onto the beach or outside the resort. It would have been lovely to see the streets of the town without the usual insane traffic. We had a nice time lounging and reading outside, just up from the beach. Our whole group dined together at the Italian restaurant on the resort property. All outdoor lights are shut off, so we had to return to our rooms by flashlight. Unfortunately it is cloudy and rainy so we can't see the stars. 

    Tomorrow we head to Ubud and away from the ocean. I shall sorely miss the crashing waves. 

        Leta

Money doesn't grow on trees, but 
orchids do here. They are everywhere.

March 28--Ogoh-Ogoh

There were thousands and thousands of forms of joy in the world, but ... all were essentially one and the same, namely, the joy of being able to love. 
--Michael Ende

    This morning started on a foul note due to sad news about a friend. I skipped chanting and meditation to do some writing. 

    Tomorrow is Nyepi, the highest holy day in Bali, the day of silence. We spent time after breakfast learning about the preparation for it. I had some beach and pool time, then had another massage. This one was interesting for two reasons. First, it was done by a blind man. Second, he put a hot substance on my back, knees and ankles which turned out to be gritty mud of some sort. Here you shower right after a massage, obviously a very good thing.

    Back to Nyepi prep... Tonight we joined several local Balinese in a noise-making parade around the resort grounds to scare up the evil spirits, which hopefully then go into the ogoh-ogohs. The ogoh-ogoh is a large, very artistic statue which the Balinese make each year to parade the night before Nyepi. They are hand-carried on bamboo racks through the streets to the central ceremony area. After the parade, the ogoh-ogohs are burned. It is a big cleansing ceremony. Here are some ogoh-ogoh samples:

    This truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us!

    Tomorrow we are able to move around the resort and talk quietly, and the restaurants will be open, but the lights will be off from 6am Saturday to 6am Sunday. Any remaining evil spirits are fooled into thinking that there is no one left by the Nyepi silence, so they just go away. (Methinks they go and have been going to the USA.) 

    A sweaty, tired Leta

March 27--More Than Monsoon

Love is space and time measured by the heart.  --Marcel Proust

    Chanting and meditation this morning was to the sound of ocean waves crashing on shore. It was glorious. 

    Backing up to talk about fruit. Yesterday after the temple visit, the guys bought a durian to try. It is quite sharp and spiny on the outside. Inside, it has a nasty flavor, including a wretched aftertaste, and the texture is disgusting. There was no trying to pretend it was even close to OK. Komang and Edi love it. 

YUCK!!!

    At breakfast this morning, we had mangosteen. It is "the fruit that does not lie." Each one has a small multi-petal flower on the skin, and the number of flower petals indicates the number of fruit segments inside. This one is the exact opposite of durian--super delicious with great texture. 

YUMMY!

    After breakfast, we headed for Pura Agung Besakih Temple, the highest and holiest temple in Bali. We were re-routed on the way there due to a road closure. Further on, there was one hairpin turn going up the mountain where a truck was stopped that could not get its heavy load up the mountain. Traffic was able to take turns getting around it.

    Before going to the temple, Lanie and I had to put on lace shirts over our t-shirts in order to go in, and we all had on our sarongs. We climbed the stairs and had the same prayer ceremony as yesterday. However, this time we had a holy woman who did the water-flicking and rice distribution. We roamed around, did some picture-taking and started back down. It started to drizzle. 

Looking up to the temple and the
many stairs

Our view from up high

    By the time we got down to the place to pick up the shuttle bus, it was pouring like I have never seen. "Monsoon" doesn't even begin to describe it. Even with umbrellas, we got soaked. The lanes and pathways were flooded, which stopped no one, not even the scooters. I stepped in water up to my ankles many times. Finally the shuttle came, which got us back to the parking garage and our car. It rained all the way down the mountain and followed us to our hotel. This is the stuff that floods the rice fields.

    We stopped at the "Balinese Walmart" to get snacks and water. The aisles are barely big enough for one person to squeeze through. 

    I believe it will be a lovely evening to stay in and order food delivered--the restaurants don't charge for that! 

    Ready to chill,

        Leta

March 26--A Ceremony to "Let That Sh(*&(*t Go!"

It is with the soul that we grasp the essence of another human being, not with the mind, nor even with the heart.  --Henry Miller

    We did our morning chanting and meditation, then had our closing breakfast at Griya Santrian Resort. I had time to have a workout in the pool before leaving. Also before leaving, we had a lesson in how to do the prayer and releasing ceremony at the temple. It involves incense, various colors of flowers, holy water and rice. 

    We were extremely fortunate in that when we arrived at the temple, there was no one else there. It could have been packed. Where we did our ceremony was in front of a cave that has thousands of bats. They were "chirping" throughout our ceremony. We had been told to bring an object that represents something we want to release, so that is where I left my painting. 

Those are bats hanging from the rock.

    We drove from there to Candidasa and the Candi Beach Resort and Spa. Cricket gave us a tour. As nice as our previous hotel was, this one is even more spectacular. The pools are larger, the ocean and wave-sound is much closer, and there are three restaurants here, including an Italian one, which sounds heavenly!

Komang (our driver), Cricket, and Edi 
at temple, in sarongs (a requirement
to go to temple)

    Let me put in a plug for these three men. They are incredible gentlemen, so gracious and helpful. They have answered a multitude of questions from Lanie and me. Komang has driven us through insane traffic. (Today I said, "Are red lights just a suggestion here?!?! and Cricket replied, "It was sorta green.") Komang is a great driver! 

    Lanie and I, after settling into our room and having a tour, had a drink at ocean side. I have learned that to have a good drink, one must ask for a double shot of alcohol. It was wonderful to sit and listen to the ocean waves breaking, despite the fact that I was pouring sweat. (Trust me, Antarctica sounds like heaven to me at the moment!)

    The five of us went to a local restaurant, Vincent's, for dinner. Cricket had raved about the desserts, and the place did not disappoint. I had a Balinese noodle dish. The highlight, however, was the lemon dessert:

The perfect lemon-lookalike on the 
bottom opens to fabulous fluffy stuff
and more lemon in the middle. 
It is all edible and fabulous!

    By the way, here's a photo of the baby turtles we released, prepping for their life in the ocean:

    I think I am slowly adjusting to the heat and humidity. Being in a pool is a lifesaver!

        Leta

March 25--Bali Stories

The more I wonder... the more I love.  --Alice Walker

    I could also say, "The more I wander... the more I love."

    I'm a bit late with this one. We had a very LONG hot day yesterday. We visited GWK Cultural Park to see the world's 4th largest statue representing Wisnu, god of protection, riding on his mythical eagle Garuda, wearing a crown of gold (Kencana). We took an elevator up to the 23rd floor and enjoyed great views of Bali. There was plenty of glass floor to wander on, but I avoided that. 

    Then Komang drove us to Uluwatu for the Bali Kecak Dance. In the area around the stadium where the performance is held, there are awesome views of the cliffs along the Indian Ocean. There are also mischievous monkeys roaming around who will approach and swipe loose objects like hats. Our guides over-exaggerated the dangers--we didn't lose anything. 

    We sat for an hour waiting for the show in the packed stadium. The backdrop was a magnificent sunset. There is no musical instrumentation. All the "music" is supplied by a group of at least 50 men chanting and clicking and moving and clapping. The story is mythical and the costumes fantastical. There is even a fire dance. It is impossible to describe adequately. Here are photos of the cast and sunset:

On the left in white fur is the "monkey,"
who went into the crowd for playful harassment

Nature's backdrop

    Traffic made the trip back to our hotel almost two hours long, hence the late post. 

    More sweating ahead!

        Leta

March 24--Mellow to the Max

All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust. 
--Peter Pan, 1953 Screenplay

    We started the morning with chanting and meditation outdoors, one of the many daily mellowing-out exercises planned for this tour. Then we were off to breakfast. I tried some Indonesian noodles and chicken bites that are delicious. The coffee here is strong but excellent. Dairy products are imported from Australia and New Zealand, and the milk is creamy and much better than US milk. 

    It's a miracle! We have had two sunny days in a row, so it was pool time. I alternated between easy movement in the pool and lazing on the lounge and reading. 

The infinity pool about 50' from our door

    At 12:45, we set out with Komang, our driver, to Royal Orchid Spa. It was a long drive which carried us across a huge bridge with views of the harbor. At the spa they greeted us with cold towels and sweet ginger tea. A lovely worker took our information such as had we had a massage before, and any areas that needed more attention. We were offered a choice of three massage oil fragrances and three pressures--strong, medium or light. I chose strong. Then we were led two to a room where we removed clothes and put on (weird!!!) disposable panties and a cloth wrap. We had our feet scrubbed and rinsed with flower water. Then it was onto the table for a "big slice of heaven." "Strong" was a combination of massage and a chiropractic adjustment. It was glorious. When the women finished with us, we took showers, then enjoyed warm ginger tea. I felt like I needed a wheelchair to move me, and I could barely assemble a thought. Except! The first thing I said to Cricket afterwards was, "Can we do this again?!?!" 

Some of the beauty at the Royal Orchid Spa

    It was a fairly quiet ride back to the hotel as we were all mellowed out from the massage. We relaxed for a while, then headed down to the beach for dinner. 

    We had a super evening with Cricket, Komang and family (wife Julie, son Teo (5yr), daughter Tasha (8mo)) and Edi ("Eddie"). They had Teo present Lanie and I with a string of beads with a pendant of Ganesha, Hindu god of protection and travel. It is an outstanding way to learn local customs by hanging out with a family. 

    Everyone here is so kind!

        Leta

My beads presented by Teo

March 23--HUGE Joyful Surprise!

Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time.  --Diane Ackerman

    We had only one rain shower today. I actually had pool time with sunshine!

    There are now two baby turtles swimming in the Indian Ocean named after my grandsons. 

    Cricket told us to be at the beach at 10:30 am. Yes, sir! We arrived to find a bucket of water with 16 excited baby turtles. When the babies hatch on the beach, they are collected by members of a turtle conservation group and kept for three months to grow, so that they have a better chance of surviving in the ocean. At three months old, they are released. We got to do that!!!!!!!!! Talk about wonder!!!!!!!!!!! 

    We were given wooden bowls to scoop out a turtle, then we took them down to the water. There was a line hooked along the sand just up from the waves which we stood at to release the little ones. We were told to name them and give them a blessing. I released two, each one named after a grandson, with the blessing of "live long and prosper." I was in tears the whole time, it was so cool. My first release was the one that made it into the ocean first--the winner! These little ones are about 4" long. Even quite a ways out in the water, we could see their tiny heads poking up for air. I told Cricket that it would be extremely hard to top this experience, and he said, "Challenge accepted!" I would also note that the tour company we are here with is a donor to the turtle conservation efforts. 

    Then I enjoyed alternating between being in the pool and reading pool-side. Cricket and Edi brought us Pad Thai for a late lunch, which we enjoyed on our patio. 

    Lanie and I walked over to the convenience store outside our hotel grounds for snacks and drinks, whereupon we managed to cross the very busy street twice without getting killed. Before we went, we learned from our hosts that the signal to stop traffic is a raised arm, and by-golly, it works! 

    We are well set to read, snack, relax, shower, and get a good night's sleep. 

      Leta

Me in the center celebrating my little one's efforts.
Those little black dots are the babies.

March 22--I Wish I Could Take Some of This Rain Home to KS

Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.  --Mary Oliver

    Here's one I didn't expect--playing pickleball in Bali. They play "no rules," so it is a lot of volley practice, never a bad thing. I made it about 45 minutes before the heat/humidity did me in. It was miraculous to have a rain-free morning to play.

    Although Cricket tells me that this is really fine weather for this time of year, I am really struggling with the heat, humidity and torrential rains. I am sitting on our patio, my only movement is my fingers typing, and I am sweating. While sweating is my superpower, I do not like to be doing it every moment I am outside here. This requires huge water consumption, so last night I got up at least six times to use the bathroom, which, trust me, does not make for a good night's sleep. 

    Lanie finally let Cricket take her to the doctor where she was diagnosed with bronchitis and given lots of good drugs, so hopefully she will soon be enjoying the heat/humidity/rain with us. 

    Cricket was a sweetheart and retrieved our clean laundry for us. My huge armful came back as a compressed little bundle. It will be lovely to have clean clothes as I am sweating through them quite quickly. 

    Every time I have felt motivated to take pictures of our lovely resort, it has been pouring rain. Our Aussie/NZ tour spoiled us with only one rainy morning in almost four weeks. 

    I did get in the pool right outside our door during a break in the rain earlier. My body is missing swimming terribly. I was chased inside by rain--the wind causes some sort of quarter-sized nuts to come shooting down from the trees like hail, so one does not dawdle in a downpour. 

    Early on, Cricket told us about his being in the hospital for six days with dengue fever, brought on by mosquito bites. So now I am paranoid about bugs even more than usual. 

    There is much to "get used to" here, and I'm feeling like it is very slow coming for me. 

    Stay tuned...

        Leta

New Zealand road caution sign--
below it is a smaller rectangular sign
that tells the danger, such as
"ROAD WORK AHEAD"

March 21--The Dentist Adventure and Traffic Terror

To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow--this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.  --Elizabeth Gilbert

    Our first full day in Bali... at breakfast we tried new-to-us dragon fruit and snake fruit. I had a made-to-order omelet that was wonderful. 

    Then followed a harrowing ride to the dentist. Traffic is insane here, plus add torrential rain and questionable drainage on top of it. Despite the jokes about me staying in Bali, I could not do it just because of the traffic alone. My dentist appointment was amazing--25 minutes and I had a pain-free filling that cost me just under $50 US. We also got rupiah from an ATM, and hauled our dirty clothes to a laundry service. My huge armload cost me about $6 for wash/dry/fold. We'll pick it up tomorrow. 

    Weary from the non-stop activity of the previous tour, we took the afternoon off to read and relax. I met up later with Cricket by the beach where we had coconut water straight from the coconut, and I had a light salad for supper. Because this spot is so close to the equator, sunrise and sunset are almost exactly 12 hours apart, currently around 6:30 am and pm. Early darkness suits me just fine. 

    We were warned immediately not to drink the water here--bottled water only. Even the "natives" don't drink it. It smells kind of nasty, too. This is truly a case of "water water everywhere but not a drop to drink." 

    Cricket is staying at the hotel with us, but today he took us by the house he rents here. It is a two-bedroom, two-bath place with a pool that is a mansion in this area. His Balinese friends consider him "filthy rich," but he's very middle-class by American standards. Just down the way from his place is a huge pile of trash. Living conditions here are dreadful for the average Balinese worker, whom Cricket says makes an average of $300 per month. There is no such thing as our Social Security. 

    Feeling extraordinarily blessed,

        Leta    

Cricket and coconuts!

March 20--In Bali

The world changes when we change. The world softens when we soften. The world loves us when we choose to love the world.  --Marianne Williamson

    We flew yesterday (Mar 20 over here) from Queenstown, NZ to Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. It was about ten hours total flying time. This completed 13 of the 16 total flights of this trip. We sailed through immigration and customs much more easily than we were led to believe possible. My friend Cricket, who moved here several years ago from Chicago, and is our tour leader, picked us up with a couple friends. It was raining buckets, which they say is "nothing." It was also dark, so we couldn't see much. The drive to the hotel was exciting with scooters weaving in and out of traffic through the rain. Cricket labeled it "organized chaos." Our hotel and grounds are beautiful, even in the dark. We are on the beach, but we didn't see it last night.

    After a very long day, made longer by a 5-hour time change (I can no longer keep track of my jet lag), it was a joy to climb into bed and go to sleep to rainfall. 

    Leta

The last goofy picture Wayne took:
Kathy, me, Lanie, Kathy, me, Lanie

March 19, Part 2--Last Day of the Australia/NZ Tour

If you are in love--that's a good thing--that's about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don't let anyone make it small or light to you.  --John Steinbeck 

    We slept in on our last day, a glorious treat. After breakfast, we made the trek downhill to town (after getting the full scoop on the bus that would bring us back up the long, steep hill). We walked along the lakefront, then headed back uphill to ride the Skyline Queenstown gondola. I was not all that terrified--it was a lovely ride up with a worker who told us about the other things we could do--ride the luge, mountain biking (the trail is insane), bunge-jumping or even para-gliding. And here I was proud of myself for doing the gondola! Truly NZ is a thrill-seeker's (do stupid, dangerous stuff) paradise. 

Note the bike inside the gondola

Note the parasail in the background between us--
we saw many taking off

Awesome views!

    On the way to the gondola, we passed an indoor skydiving place. Despite the lovely offer, we passed:

    Riding the gondola back down gave us a clear view of how steep it is! We roamed through some shops and enjoyed another Pad Thai lunch. A bit more wandering led us to the last pub visit of this tour, where we capped off our good lunch with a beer. Then we rode the bus back up the hill--we agreed that we would have paid a much greater fare just to avoid that uphill hike. 

    After some much-appreciated downtime, we joined the group for our "Last Supper." It was a lovely meal but much too loud and long. We had a group photo afterwards. Hopefully our guide will post it on the group photo site eventually. 

    Words to live by:

    Tomorrow we fly to Bali!!!!

        Leta

March 19--Mr. Robertson

    This is in appreciation of our guide Wayne. Lanie and I have been on several Collette tours, and he is far and away the best guide we have had on any tour. 

    Wayne gave us the phrase "rattle your dags." Dags are the dried pooplets at the back end of a sheep that rattle when they run. Although I must confess that I have seen literally thousands of sheep on this trip, I have rarely seen any running. Anyway, "rattle your dags" means to hurry up, and I shall think of Wayne every time I use it. You can google it--this one is true.

    Wayne enjoyed pulling out legs. Here's one of the better ones. You can see paths worn into the hillsides where cattle and sheep meander (few pioneers there). Wayne tells us that since they always walk clockwise (?), genetically over time their right legs have become shorter than their left. When an earthquake hits (often here), they get disoriented and turn around. Because their right legs are shorter, they roll down the hill. This is a stock avalanche. 

    Wayne also told us to be on the lookout in Australia for shamels--a cross between a sheep and a camel. Let your mind wander on that for a bit!

    Wayne has an outstanding ability to share history, geography, geology and "Local Culture." He has been especially good at helping us learn the indigenous Maori culture. 

    He has kept us laughing with his great sense of humor. He has been a tour guide for 26 years and is still ultra-enthusiastic about sharing his countries with tourists. Even sleep-deprived, he is fun, maybe even more so. He kindly took several of us, including me, to the medical center as the crud made its way through the group. 

    Somehow he was able to keep us all on time for nearly four weeks of adventure. 

    Wayne truly made this trip through Australia and New Zealand spectacular.    

    Thanks, Wayne!

        Leta

March 18--Waterfall Day

Like all magnificent things, it's very simple.  --Natalie Babbitt

    Another early start took us over the mountains to Milford Sound, which is a fjord, not a sound. We learned that a fjord is created by glaciers and a sound by a river. It seems that for every waterfall we saw, there was an even more awesome one around the next bend. We did a deep-woods walk at The Chasm, where there were many smaller falls coming off of a good size stream:

    I learned a lot about avalanches. Our bus driver, Andrew, said that the road we used is often closed in winter due to avalanches. This confused me since the mountains are not near the road. What closes the road is the amount of debris that the snow pulls down with it, plus the avalanche creates incredibly dangerous high winds. 

    We started the morning in rain and heavy clouds, but by the time we reached Milford Sound it had cleared, and we were quite lucky to be able to see the top of Mitre Peak, highest on the South Island:

    We cruised for two hours on the fjord, enjoying the sunshine and amazing scenery. Waterfalls ranged from pencil-thin so that you could barely see water moving to the big gushers:

    It was a long bus ride back to Queenstown. We don't have to get on a bus again for almost 22 hours! We can sleep in!

        Leta

March 17--Overwhelming Beauty

Never be so focused on what you're looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.  --Ann Patchett

    We drove today from Christchurch to Queenstown, the last town on this tour. Once again the scenery was spectacular, varied and incredibly beautiful. Mountains, mountains and more mountains. Gigantic lakes. Our bus driver, Andrew, likes to give us a thrill ride on the curvy mountain roads. We saw a backhoe digging on the side of a mountain where they are building a biking trail. There was no room for error--it was frightening to watch. It would be even more scary to ride a bike along there. 

    A note to my husband---today we drove by the place where the wool for the Smartwool brand comes from, a flock of 20,000 sheep. 

    I have noticed that hedge-trimming appears to be a national obsession or hobby. They even trim hedgerows, some as tall as 30'. It's crazy. 

    There are a lot of vineyards as we drew nearer to Queenstown. These are grapes for Pinot Noir. 

    I am grateful to be feeling much better!

        Leta

The center building is the 
Church of the Good Shepherd 

March 16--Jam-Packed Day in Christchurch

The poets are right: love is eternal.  --E. M. Forster

    It was a huge day in Christchurch. We started with a bus tour of the city, which included stops at the Art Center, a very large complex of old buildings that used to be the University, but have been converted into for-rent artist studios. There were popsicles hanging from the trees and a wire house sculpture hanging from?? 

    Next we toured the Mona Vale Garden Park, a former estate that has been preserved as a public garden. This is my favorite photo from there:

"... while the dew is still on the roses..."

    Our next stop was the Willowbank Wildlife Preserve. We saw two kiwis in a nocturnal (dark) environment where we could not take photos. (That didn't matter, they were quite hard to see.) We also saw the lizard Tuatara and the pig Kunekune, which is too fatty for food and are kept as pets. (I'll stick with my doggie!)

    We had beers and lunch at The Church Brew Pub, literally an old church that has been turned into a hopping pub with live music daily. The organ pipes are still there. They were prepping for St. Pat's Day. 

    This fairly "new" city rebuilt after the 2011 earthquake has a large number of spectacular murals. Here are a couple:

    Closing out the afternoon, we had the opportunity to learn more Maori culture and to paddle a waka (war canoe) on the river. We were told not to bring cameras, and our guide didn't get any close-up of my bunch, but this gives you the idea:

    We did a bit of shopping and exploring and finished off with a Mediterranean meal of hummus, baba ganoush, and fattoush. 
    Tomorrow we head to Queenstown, our last stop of the tour. 

        Leta

March 15--WOW WOW WOW

All my life, my heart has sought a thing I cannot name.  --Hunter S. Thompson

    We left Wellington early today, bus and all on the huge ferry to Picton. Everywhere one turns in NZ, the scenery is stunning. This was from the ferry:

    We landed in Picton on the South Island and headed for Christchurch. Much of the drive was along the coast, so there were magnificent mountains on the right and the ocean on the left. 

    We stopped briefly to get a look at the seals, mostly mothers and babies, as the big males are out at sea. 

    The South Island is the Sauvignon Blanc capital of the world. There are literally miles and miles of vineyards. There are windmills in the vineyards which they use if there is frost danger. Just the air movement keeps the frost from settling on the grapes and destroying the crop. As we got further south, we noticed many of the grapevines were covered. Those are grapes for Reisling wine, left to get extra-sweet on the vines. The covers keep the birds away. 

    Wayne took us on a walk around our hotel area before supper. Most of the town was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake, and the rebuilt city is beautiful. Alas the Cathedral in the Square was severely damaged and they do not have the funds to repair it, so it pretty much sits there as an eyesore at the present time. 

    We had a buffet supper at the hotel and we get to sleep in (woohoo!) after a LONG travel day. 

        Leta