Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

Okay, we did not camp, or even glamp ( the contraction for 'glamour camping' ), but we are doing a bit of tramping as we head out from Queenstown, north on the west coast to explore the real New Zealand.  Like everything else, the words here are a bit different and so, for instance, when someone says they are going to walk through the bush..???? Well, I kind of pictured rather wild, scrubby, out there kind of landscape, when what they really mean is walking through a forest or even park like setting.  So tramping....well it is not quite the picture of a 1930's railroad hopping hobo but rather a walk, or hike or even a multi-day trek. Of the three, we have been doing a bit of tramping but here in NZ, all three are the high on the list of leisure activities. The drive from Queenstown to our first night stop was clocked on google at four and a half hours driving time. Add an hour for the fact that it is all winding, one lane roads where you freque...

Marci & I spent most of today traveling in the car, so she gets to rest, and I will deal with the writing. The current WTF quiz was a mixed bag....Marci thought it was a good puzzler, while I had doubts. And I was right....most of the good and incorrect guesses were from women, while many men know right away what they were looking at..... Here again is the photo: There was a definite sex-bias to this quiz. Among the incorrect guesses were several thoughts about a place to wash your feet. Perhaps like an Islamic pre-Mosque ritual.... The many man who were correct all saw it for what it was - a large urinal . This urinal was in one of the many museums we visited, and is much nicer than any in the USA. It is designed to handle several men at once. Good for museums, ballparks, concert halls, schools, etc. Quite nice, in stainless steel. Also, spotlessly clean. So, a few words about bathrooms in Australia and NZ. First, they are always referred to as 'toilets...

We awoke to sunny blue skies and a view of green, yellow and brown mountains with the snowy tops peeking through clouds, what a sight. And it occurred to me that if the Eskimos have dozens of words for snow, then New Zealanders should have hundreds of words for the different shades of green.                                        The view from Room 716 at The Rees Hotel Remember when you got your very first box of 64, or better yet, 128 Crayola crayons and discovered there was green-yellow AND yellow-green? And pine and spring and forest? There must have been at least a dozen green crayons. In New Zealand, there must be at least one hundred shades of green dotting the landscape from the trees that start bright green but have yellow tops, to the fields of lucerne (a crop grown to feed the animals), to the grazing fields at the sheep stations to the mosses and lichen in The...

      What is a fleece, a scarf and some rain called?           Summer in Queenstown, NZ !  Oh no!  Before I launch into this blog entry, be forewarned, it will likely be shorter and less descriptive than planned, because last night after I wrote the entire blog in my Notes app, it got lost as I copied and pasted it into Blogger. Too tired to redo it  at 10 pm , I will attempt to recreate it this morning as I sit in our lovely hotel looking at the lake and at least some blue skies.  Upon our landing at Queenstown airport on Monday, we were so in awe of the scenery during the drive to Te Anua, we simply looked instead of snapping away and capturing the Remarkables and the landscape. Foolish us thinking we could do it on the return trip to blog and share. And so below, some highlights of the last few days we forgot to share. It only takes two hours to drive from Q-town to TeAnua but the scenery changes dramatic...

Let's start with some geography, which we know Americans are notoriously bad at. We can't even point to every one of the 50 states on a map with only shapes, let alone name seven countries in Africa or say where New Zealand is, even in relation to Australia. Probably, most would say it is next door - true, but how close of a neighbor? Would you believe three and a half hours flying and two time zones from Melbourne??? It's true . ( over 1,300 miles...SS) The flight was boring as any good flight is, with no turbulence or other issues. But the landing was magical as the plane came around, over and through the mountains and into tiny Queenstown. No photos to share from the plane since we always opt for two aisle seats across from each other but I could peek out the window easily for amazing views.  Another silver rental car, only one wrong turn and we were headed out of town and to Te Anau (Tee-Ah-No, more or less said fast and slurred together). I guess I really ...