Because We Can

    It may look like a breakfast photo, but it is really all about what you see on the left side of the bottom plate. A piece of raw cabbage, linseed and almond bread. It was in the breakfast buffet. I tried it. I loved it. I asked Linda to try it. She loved it. The recipe is online here. It is the wonderful part of traveling to distant places.     This is what we are doing today. The thrill is the same, only the company and river are different.     This is only the bus ride to where the jet boat ride started and already Linda is hanging on. This could be bad.     Our destination was at the base of the pyramid peak in the distance. Mountains and an alpine lake make for an awesome experience just getting there.     They say if you touch a greenstone it will bring you luck that day. Maybe that is why Linda was double touching this green stone before our jet boat trip. Lucky Linda.     Heading off to the ri...

  To set the scene for today, Rudyard Kipling himself called Milford Sound situated in the heart of Fiordland National Park,  the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. I wouldn’t go that far, but the scenery today was certainly interesting.     This is something very unique in the entire Queenstown District. It is the only traffic light in the 3,300 square mile area. All the intersections, whether in town or in the countryside are controlled by either roundabouts or yield signs. And not only that, they also drive on the wrong side of the road.     The scenery was awesome during the four hour drive to the sound.     Gives new meaning to the term, low hanging clouds.     Having been towed four times in our coach, we could relate to bus that was broken down alongside the road.     I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that much of the day was spent in weather like this. But with all the rain there was a benefit which y...

What do you do in an earthquake. You see flyers like this posted often, this one happened to be at the Rotarua airport. And since earthquakes happen all over New Zealand , some 12,000 a year, you can’t get away from the possibility of feeling one. Even Linda, the quintessential earthquake detector hasn’t recorded one yet. Air New Zealand is a real airline. If this was Qantas our bags would not be covered and would be soaking wet on arrival which was what happened on one of the flights we had. It was so bad people started wrapping everything in a big plastic bag inside their luggage. Qantas – great food, lousy baggage handling. Another one of those “interesting” Linda photos. A matched pair! We made a stop at an old gold mining town where we toured the remains of the Chinese section. Not much still stands, though this outhouse  still looked quite substantial. Could this have been Rodin's inspiration for The Thinker ? The town reminded us of the Hwy 49 old go...