2018
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Mar 20 Christchurch to Melbourne
Travelled in
Fly to Melbourne and see Jenny and Jim for the first time in about 40 years. We wake at 3:30 in the morning, hurriedly put on clothes and take our bags to the street where we are picked up by… Continue reading
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Mar 19 Christchurch
Travelled in
Visit cardboard cathedral, earthquake memorials, Lyttelton, and the Tannery. Last day in New Zealand. In the light of a day born cold with a chill wind, downtown Christchurch seems like a desecrated graveyard, its stones defaced and toppled, its… Continue reading
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Mar 18 Christchurch
Travelled in
Lunch at Pegasus Bay Winery Stephen tells David that Bob the dog needs a brisk two-hour run up a nearby hill — the unspoken observation is that some of us are fast and others are not — and that Hugh… Continue reading
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Mar 17 Christchurch
Travelled in
Quake museum, art gallery, cathedral square, buy possum yarn. Stephen and Robyn have their personal trainer, Nathan, arrive at six a.m. for an hour of three “reps” of a dozen moves — squats, push-ups, standing jumps, stuff with 15-pound weights,… Continue reading
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Mar 16 Greymouth to Christchurch
Travelled in
Transalpine train from Greymouth to Christchurch We’re treated to a full English breakfast in Mary’s kitchen at 9 a.m. A picture of her four daughters is on the wall: one in Durbin, South Africa, one in London, one in Auckland… Continue reading
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Mar 15 Greymouth
Travelled in
Travel Fox to Greymouth retracing our steps. We get up, caffeinate, pack — yech, seems like we’re always packing for one reason or another — and drive out of Fox Glacier after Cynthia makes a couple egg salad sandwiches for… Continue reading
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Mar 14 Fox Glacier
Travelled in
Heli-hike on Fox Glacier and circumnavigate Lake Matheson. We wake, dress, get caffeinated and are at the Fox Glacier Heli-hiking office a two-minute walk from our split-level rooms. We ask the Asian gal behind the counter if our 8:50… Continue reading
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Mar 13 Okarito to Fox Glacier
Travelled in
Kayak on lagoon and travel to Fox. We have 8:00 a.m. coffee and tea with Rich and Karen, lodge-mates from Madison, Wisconsin, who are going on the Okarito lagoon bird-watching kayak adventure with us at 8:45. As we prepare to… Continue reading
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Mar 12 Hokitika to Okarito
Travelled in
Drive to Okarito and see a kiwi in the wild. We take forever to pack, book some kiwi hunting for the next day, gas up and leave Hokitika by 11:30, wending away from the coast and toward the foothills of… Continue reading
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Mar 11 Hokitika
Travelled in
Hokitika Sunday: Carnegie building and museum, Hokitika Gorge. Hokitika: 7 a.m. kaleidoscope. Endless series of small waves froth onto the black sand under the rocky beach. A few campers … maybe hung-over Wildfoods Festival revelers … are sealed inside… Continue reading
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Mar 10 Westport to Hokitika
Travelled in
Drive to Hokitika for Wildfoods Festival and Pancake Rocks along the way. We try to take care of administrative matters before we leave the Archer House in Westport but its caretakers, Jackie and Charlie, who are about to tour Scotland… Continue reading
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Mar 9 Westport / Karamea
Travelled in
Tramping in Karamea with hitchhikers. David wakes and runs by 7 on a narrow path along the wide Buller River, which looks a little like the flat parts of the Shenandoah River near Great Meadows, Virginia. Weka scuttle in the… Continue reading
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Mar 8 Westport
Travelled in
Sadly, we leave Robin and Bernice’s lovely home on Francis Street in Blenheim, but we motor easily under sunny skies — SUNNY SKIES!!! — to Villa Maria’s main Marlborough vineyard for some a.m. tasting of their single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc… Continue reading
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Mar 7 Havelock
Travelled in
Pelorus Sound mailboat run and green mussels in Havelock. Into the car by 9:10 and drove in driving rain to Havelock, the green mussel capital of New Zealand and, perhaps, the world. A small town on a bend in the… Continue reading
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Mar 6 Blenheim
Travelled in
David downs coffee with Roberta at 6:15 a.m. and hits the road with her and John, depositing them at the Picton ferry, bound for a flight from Wellington to southern adventures, and spins the car back into the Blenheim apartment… Continue reading
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Mar 5 Blenheim (Marlborough)
Travelled in
Lunch at Wither Hills Winery and visit to Aviation Heritage Museum. David gets up and is running south by 7 a.m., toward two mountaintops about a mile away. He runs on [name to come], a typical residential street in Blenheim:… Continue reading
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Mar 4 Nelson to Blenheim
Travelled in
Travel from Nelson to Blenheim visiting two Marlborough wineries (Alan Scott and Cloudy Bay) on the way and meeting Robin and Bernice Sutherland. Cynthia is on a mission to get a new iPhone at one of three stores while John… Continue reading
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Mar 3 Abel Tasman to Nelson
Travelled in
Last day of Abel Tasman tramp. Kayaking around Adele Island, return to Nelson for Indian dinner with David and Helen from Auckland. We woke up for a 7:15 breakfast, packed the essentials that lay on the racks out back, the… Continue reading
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Mar 2 Abel Tasman
Travelled in
Lazy morning and mid-day hike to Cleopatras Pool. Today is uniformly grey with a steady light drizzle in the morning. David takes an early morning run back in the direction from which we kayaked yesterday, passing in front of a… Continue reading
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Mar 1 Abel Tasman
Travelled in
Early morning start. Hike one leg, kayak two legs and end at Torrent Bay. New lodgings. Cynthia’s favorite day. Although the paths are soft and full of beautiful vegetation, the hikes start to feel like a treadmill. Most are in… Continue reading
Two Tramps 