2018

  • Apr 2 Launceston to Lorne

    We wake earlier than we would like even though Daylight Savings has ended and we’ve had two days with an extra hour. (We are just tickled to realize all our friends in the States have LOST an hour of sleep.)… Continue reading

  • Mar 30 Wynyard

    After a late breakfast, we tool off to Stanley in the Volvo we certainly are getting to know well. Stanley is a beautiful, tiny port town about an hour from Wynyard. It’s the birthplace of Joseph Lyons, the only Tasmanian… Continue reading

  • Mar 28 Hobart to Strahan

    Drive Hobart to Strahan via Mt Fields National Park and ”the wall” We try to leave Michael and Ingrid’s immaculate and fascinatingly art-filled apartment as neat and tidy as it welcomed us, and we motor out of Hobart, over its… Continue reading

  • Mar 23 Melbourne to Hobart

    Jim drives us in surprisingly sparse traffic to the airport where we catch a 737 to Hobart, Tasmania, after Cynthia is relieved of her 2-inch yarn scissors by the really understanding but adamantine security officer. We land and walk down… Continue reading

  • Mar 22 Melbourne

    Treasury and Parliament buildings and the Immigration Museum David runs down Bayview and turns left, toward the town beach where a dozen bathers of all ages, some in scuba gear, others in thongs, swim in the pre-dawn bay, and a… Continue reading

  • Mar 21 Melbourne

    Federation Square tour, Ian Potter building of NGV, walk along the Yarra and see Rod Laver Arena, pub dinner. David runs as instructed down Bayview to the water where he turns right and jogs on a path along the shoreline,… Continue reading

  • Mar 20 Christchurch to Melbourne

    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

  • Mar 19 Christchurch

      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

  • Mar 18 Christchurch

    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

  • Mar 17 Christchurch

    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

  • Mar 16 Greymouth to Christchurch

    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

  • Mar 12 Hokitika to Okarito

    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

  • Mar 11 Hokitika

      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

  • Mar 7 Havelock

    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

  • Mar 6 Blenheim

    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

  • Mar 5 Blenheim (Marlborough)

    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

  • Mar 4 Nelson to Blenheim

    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

  • Mar 3 Abel Tasman to Nelson

    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

  • Mar 2 Abel Tasman

    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

  • Mar 1 Abel Tasman

    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