South Island!

Today we got to the South Island finally and met up with Jim and Lynndeen in Queenstown.  they met us at the airport and we got to go on the road up North on the West coast of the island.  Tonight we are staying in Fox Glacier after about 6 hours of driving.  We drove through a lot of nountains and farm areas.  Strange seeing a glacial river, looking up at glaciers on the peaks while standing in the edge of a rain forest.   Those things do not belong in the same frame in our minds.  Here we are at Lake Wanaka, which is a real jewel.

When we got to Fox River we had dinner at an outside restaraunt and had a good meal.  We could walk there from the Inn we are staying in,  Nice country for sure.

This is Thunder Falls which we saw on the way to Fox Glacier.

We are pretty tired, not feeling very creative tonight.  We are now where we wanted to be and in good company.  We will keep in touch.

A day of sunshine in Auckland

Well we finally had the time and weather together on a day when we could leave the stresses of dealing with the earthquake behind and relax a little.  There is so much going on even way up North here that it is hard to relax and you almost feel bad enjoying yourself. 

Our friends Jim and Lyndeen left this AM for Queenstown and we hope to get the flight tomorrow AM to join them.  Wendy and I took a bus into downtown Auckland and visited the Maritime Museum there, which is famtastic.  First we had a little lunch at an outdoor restaraunt.

They have an old two mast schooner that they sail every day and for only a little increase in the museum ticket you can go out on the harbor in this boat for a sail   It was great.  That is it behind me in the picture.

Here is a little better picture of it from the front.

After we got on the boat they asked for stooges to help with the rigging, so I was volunteered by my lovely wife.  I had to help the guy on the lines hoisting the sail. 

We had great wind.  We passed underneath the big bridge across a narrow part of the harbor, and got to see some folks bungee jumping as we passed pretty close by.  Not for me. 

It was a beautiful day.  The sails looked so good against the blue sky.

Auckland is a beautiful city with a very diverse population and lots going on.  It is a big center for sailing, shipping and business. 

We will sadly leave it tomorrow for a place which may not be as peaceful.

Plans to leave N island

We are still in Auckland and the arrangements and the arrangers are all a mess-good people trying very hard to accomodate the disaster. We have reservatons now to leave early AM Fri (about 9AM Thursday to all you statesiders) and fly to Queenstown where Jim and Lynndeen will be waiting for us, then we will drive to Greymouth and be back on schedule.  IF we can still get a car in Queenstown.  More later.

Day after quake

We are fine 24 hours after the quake.  Still in Auckland and attempting to get to the Souith Island despite the quake, since most of our plans were for being not near CHC. 

Winter in Alaska

Wendy came up to Fairbanks to visit on my last trip up there.  We went to Chena Hot springs and visited the Ice Museum.  It is a big building built entirely of ice and kept frozen year round by geothermal energy.  In fact the whole resort is powered by geothermal energy, even their electric cars and trucks.  Being no Greenie, I was quite taken aback by the success and am very interested in where else this could be applied.  there is s couple who are ice carvers and they have created all the stuff in the museum.  Here Wendy is sitting at one of the bar tables.  They serve Martinis in stemware made of ice, but it was early in the morning and we passed on that.

They had made several bedroom suites in the Palace, and claim now and then somebody books the rooms and spends the night.  Not us!!  the bed was cold and hard, but very interesting.

There were these two jousting knights which were very cool.  they stand about 10 feet tall.  Backlights provide the color.  In aboiut two weeks there will be an International Ice Carving Competition in Fairbanks and there are hundreds of sculptures on display outside, many of them are huge and very intricate.  If they survive outside until late March when I go back I will try to photograph some of them.

Valentines Day at the Cabin

We decided to hit the cabin for a couple nights before our big trip coming up.  We went out on Sunday and got back today, tuesday the 15th.  

 We lucked out and had great weather, and an almost full moon.  We got out on Monday and did some snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Poor Buddy is barely making it around the track any more.

There was a lot of snow there, as opposed to in Wasilla, where hardly any has survived the wind.  The first lap around the cabin I was breaking trail and got major stuck.  the Tundra (yellow) snow machine died on us and had to be towed home.  Never goes the way it should.

Heading out on Tuesday early morning with the Tundra in tow.