We are in China

We have been in Shanghai for about three days now. We have been entering the new world slowly, like tip-toeing into the cold ocean. After another afternoon on the town today we will take an overnight train to Beijing, where we will spend a few days. From here we will head west then south, on a combination of trains and buses and through everything from cities, villages, mountains, plains, sun, and snow. Pictures and more blog about Shanghai and the rest to come soon.

Last week in NZ - caves, dolphins, mussells, sell car

Tuesday, Feb 26: After using the internet at a local hot spot in Queenstown, we head to Christchurch and after a beautiful drive arrive at our hostel late in the evening.

Wednesday, Feb 27: A nice simple day. We shop some used bookstores for new reading material, eat great huge burritos for the first time in over a month, visit a Cathedral and local market, and have champagne with dinner. It is still Kristin's birthday week for sure.

Thursday, Feb 28: We drove 2 hrs to the Cave Stream Scenic Reserve not quite sure what to expect. There are several camper vans in the parking lot and a small bus of other folks, perhaps this place is pretty safe after all. The landscape is big and beautiful. We put on our warm fleece jackets and headed down the trail to the cave entrance (stream exit). The deepest pool was about as far in as the sunlight went and it was belly deep and very very cold. After a 10 yards of this deep pool it was less than knee deep, dark, and exciting. It took us about an hour to go through the entire 1/3 of a mile or so through the cave. There were many turns, lots of cool rock formations, tiny waterfalls, and always at least ankle deep ice cold water. It never got old, but our feet were ready for a good warming when we finally saw the first speck of light ahead. The way out was up a 10 foot ladder built into the rock wall up the side of a little waterfall. Soon we were out in the bright sun and happy for the experience. We then made it back to town for some frisbee throwing in the awesome city botantical gardens.

Friday, Feb 29: We left early to get to Kaidura by 12:30 to see if anyone had canceled for the last dolphin swim of the day. No one had, but someone had canceled for the next day, so we booked the 5:30 am trip and headed to the holiday park to set up our tent, do laundry, and sit in their hot tub. That evening we got in our first run for a good while and enjoyed more great scenery along the seaside cliff track.

Sat. March 1: 5 AM wake up for 5:30 Dolphin Encounter. About 40 of us were suited up with thick 5mm wetsuits, hoods, masks, fins, and snorkels anh rode the bus over to the water to board 3 different boats. After nearly an hour of searching for the right groups of the local dusky dolphins we were in the water with them. The water was rather clear and very deep. i would guese you could see 20 or 30 feet. We were in a pod of over 300 dolphins. The got in for around 20 minutes on three different occations. The dolphins darted all around and often came more than close enough to touch, sometimes in groups of 5 or 6. Particuarlly interested ones would cirlce you just a couple of feet away looking you right in the eye. It was pretty expensive, but well worth what is likely to be a one in a lifetime opprotunity. On the boat ride home Tommy enjoyed the complimentary hot chocolate and ginernut biscuits (ginger snaps), Kristin didn't feel so well and tossed her cookies.
After a power nap we drove on North and visited the Preznel distillery where we both a tiny bottle of honey liquer, and visited 4 different wineries. The region has exploded with wineries in the last 30 years, there are now oaver 50 within about a 40 minute drive. A short drive more in the rain brought us to Picton at the top of the South Island.

Sunday, March 2: Back at the same hostel in Picton were we stayed a few weeks earlier we again tried our hand to picking local mussells for dinner. This time we went at low tide and had a great time picking about 30 big mussells from the nearby bay. We went exploring around town and did a long hike/run along a popular seaside trail. For dinner we cooked our mussells in wine, garlic, and mild sauce, which we searved over a wild rice. On the side we had milk with honey liquer. It was probably the fanciest meal of us had ever cooked, and it turned out to be perfect. Afterwards we walked the shells back down to the bay.

Monday, March 3: We checked in at 7 AM for the 8 AM ferry back to the North Island. The weather is not so pretty, with all the wind and rain, so we are little worried about how rough the trip will be. On the way down the weather was beautiful but the huge boat still rocked enough to make elegant walking hard at times. We were tossed around a bit at times and were forced to take naps to settle our unsure stomachs/ears. In Wellington our Indian visas were ready at the Indian High Commision so we were happy and ready to drive on toward Auckland. We drove to Waitomo Caves for the night, ready to explore the caves tomorrow before driving the rest of the way to Auckland.

Tuesday, March 4: We did a tour of the Raikura cave for about two hours around lunch time. The cave was very large and our tour guide tried very hard to be funny. Together it made for a pretty good tour. Much of the concrete paths were made with a lot of pumice to be water permiable like the natural limestone of the caves. We got to experience the very famous glowworms of the area. They were tiny green dots on the ceiling, very easy to see, but not enough of them to provide enough light to even play cards by. Before leaving town we stopped at the angora shop that has over 300 angora rabbits. We got our picture taken with one of the very cute and cozy bunnys, then continued on to Auckland.

Wednesday, March 5: Someone stole Kristin's Diet Coke she had in the kitchen fridge at the hostel, our first such experience, but that did not ease her pain after a poor night's sleep due to very noisy neighbors who got home from the bars at 3 AM. Our goal for between now and Friday night was to sell our car, "Boss Hog", our 1989 white Honda Civic that had gotten us around both the North and South island so reliably. We headed to the Backpackers' Car Market where we had bought him a month earlier, paid the $69 fee, made our for sale sign, and sat, and waited, and waited. Only one copule came in all day looking for a car, they bought the car next to ours. Which was disappointing, but thinned the competition, as there were only three cheap cars there (<$1,500), now there were just two. This evening we posted a couple of local internet ads.

Thursday, March 6: Two emails overnight from the ads, looking hopeful, but no cigar, yet. Back at the car market for more sitting. Around noon a UNC grad from Charlotte that we had met there the day before brought in two of his hostel roommates who were shopping for a cheap backpackers car. It ended up that these two guys from Holland (19 and 20 yrs old) bought our car, although a mechanical check turned up some potential problems and we were cornered into dropping our price some, but still sold it for $800, $200 more than we paid for it! By the time all the paperwork was done it was time to meet some of my distant family that lives in Auckland for dinner. Gloria came and picked us up at our hostel and we had a great dinner and a few glasses of wine with Gloria and Stan. After an a cab ride home we worked our packing for life without a car.

Friday, March 7: Our last day in New Zealand. We did the Auckland Museum, including a Maori song and dance show. We had a less than ideal time of getting to the airport, but got there on time and were in the air to China before midnight.