(January 17 to January 31, 2006)

In March 2005 my dear friend, Mei Lehrmann, and her two daughters, Asmara (age 9) and Dinda (age 7), visited me in Houston for a week.. Mei was born and raised in Indonesia. When she was a young woman she came to the United States to attend a university in Kansas.. There she met Dan. They fell in love and married. For the past ten years they have lived in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where Dan is a tenured professor of Geology at the university. Mei told me that Dan had been given a Fullbright scholarship to do geology research and teach in Indonesia for six months in early 2006. She invited me and my friend/traveling companion, Sandra to visit them there for a couple of weeks. Then we thought since we were going to be half-way around the world, why not go all the way? And since that was a part of the world that neither Sandra nor I had ever visited, we decided to see a few other countries too.

For over six months Sandra spent many hours planning this trip - purchasing airline tickets and making a few hotel/hostel/B&B reservations. It never ceases to amaze me how she communicates on line with folks in far away lands, gets information, makes arrangements and prints out confirmations.

During my January visit to my granddaughter, Hannah’s, kindergarten class - the children, their teacher, Ms. Edwards, - and I made a Flat Stanley doll out of a piece of heavy paper and some felt. He was about the size of a piece of 8x12 sheet of paper, so I could fold him in half, keep him in my journal and take him out for photo ops. It was a way of making my adventures more interesting for the children.

January 17 Tuesday

Finally the day of departure had arrived. We flew to Los Angeles where my sister, Kathi, picked us up at the airport and whisked us off to the Farmers’ Market for lunch. The market was est. in 1934 and is a busy place full of fresh produce stands, restaurants and shops. I always have a dickens of a time deciding what I want to eat. We all decided on seafood then settled down to eat and watch the myriad of people who were enjoying this place with us.

Every time I visit this market I like to go to the Gumbo Pot to see if Tim Barnaby is still cooking there. (He was my son’s housemate in Houston 15 years ago.) He was there, but since it was lunchtime, and he was very busy, we had time for only a brief visit.

Back at the house Kathi shared stories and photos of a trip she and her husband, Mike, and forty others took to the Holy Land in February 2005. The forty others included lay people and clergy of many faiths - Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and
Jewish. Their goal was to develop mutual understanding and acceptance - and to have some fun together. Kathi said they did it all.

At dinnertime Kathi and I went out to get Zankou chicken with pita bread, humus and garlic paste for dinner. It comes from an Armenian restaurant, and is the best I’ve ever had.. No trip to LA is complete without it.

Joanne, Kathi’s and Mike’s youngest daughter, came home from work as we finished dinner. She had gone with one of her college professors to New Zealand and Australia. She pulled out her text book and brochures and gave us some good tips for our trip.

January 18 Wednesday

First thing when I got up I squeezed us some fresh orange juice using oranges Sandra and I had picked from trees in Kathi’s and Mike’s back yard. It was delicious.

Mike went off to play in a golf tournament. Joanne flew to Des Moines, Iowa to look at a medical school. Kathi’s girlfriends took her for a special belated birthday treat to Disneyland that included lunch at the exclusive Club 33.

Preferring museums to roller coasters, Sandra and I decided to go to the Getty Center, a new art museum and research facility built high on a hill overlooking the city. After we paid $7 to park the car the rest of the visit was free. We took a guided tour of a Titian exhibit. One of his paintings, “The Commodore”, had just been purchased by the museum for $50 million. I am astonished that any painting could be worth that much money - or any amount even close.

After that we took an architectural tour and learned that the museum cost $1.2 billion to build and took seventeen years to complete. It was and is totally funded by the Getty Foundation. To this day admission and all of the programs are free.

As the day passed, the clouds moved in, the wind picked up and it got mighty chilly, so we decided to head for home. We had a light dinner then went to see a play, “Menopause, The Musical”- a funny satire on women’s change of life with four very talented actresses who could really belt out their songs. We laughed a lot. The song I remember was, “I’m having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave...”

January 19 Thursday

First thing we had more fresh orange juice then the three of us went to a French restaurant on Larchmont Street (a charming area of restaurants, stores and coffee shops) for breakfast. Next Kathi took us to Glendale to visit her daughter, Katie, and to see the Curves exercise franchise that she is hoping to buy. Katie told us that Curves is the second largest franchise in the WORLD. I imagine McDonald’s is #1. “Her store” is located in a nice strip mall owned by Armenians. In fact the mall is in an Armenian neighborhood. Katie said that Armenians on the whole are not much for exercising, but the gym is doing well anyway. Good luck, Katie?

Our next stop was Forest Lawn Cemetery. It is much more than a place where bodies are buried. It is also an art gallery full of reproductions of European masterpieces such as Michelangelo’s “Pieta” and “Moses”. Da Vinci’s” Last Supper” is reproduced in stain glass. There is also a painting of the crucifixion about the size of an I-Max screen that was being restored.

Back at the house Kathi and Sandra worked on the computer to get a photo of Flat Stanley with the Hollywood sign in the background transferred from Sandra’s digital camera to our web site. (www.workdaygourmet.com/sandy/trip.htm) The site was set up by our friend, Becky, to allow friends and family to follow our travels on line. We also hoped we would be able to post pictures there.

Kathi got us to the airport about three and a half hours before our scheduled departure - thank goodness. We thought the line was long when we got there, but it soon was more than three times longer. Once we got to the counter check-in was easy. We each carried only one 22" suitcase and a back-pack carry-on.

January 21 Saturday

That IS the right day. We skipped a day when we crossed the international date line. At 1:30 a.m. (somebody’s time) the flight attendants started serving breakfast. Sandra ordered a large cappuccino but settled for champagne. We toasted our arrival in Fiji.

Flat Stanley slept tucked in the journal and got a good nights sleep. He is so excited to be in Fiji. He is very grateful to Ms. Edwards, and Hannah and the whole class for making him so that he could come on this trip, and Sandra and I are glad too.

We landed safely in Nadin, Fiji. Customs was no problem, but our driver did not show up to take us to our hotel. A lady in one of the airport offices helped us to call the Anchorage Hotel where we were staying. They apologized and told us to take a taxi - they would pay for it.

We had our own little bungalow not far from the beach. It seemed to be fairly new. After we settled in, we had a light breakfast and went on a tour of the area with our very own driver who worked for the hotel. His name was Suresh Saweni. He told us that he was an Indian born in Fiji. His English was pretty good.

Our vehicle was a dirty old Toyota van with no air conditioning but lots of personality. Before we went far Suresh pulled into a gas station for a quart of oil. The attendant had to lift up the front passenger seat to get to the engine.

In Fiji the driver sits on the right side of the vehicle and drives on the left side of the road like they do in England. In fact, the English were once dominant in Fiji. To this day English is the official language of commerce, and the children begin learning it in school at an early age along with one of the native languages. “Bula” is the common greeting for everyone.

Suresh drove us out into the countryside. On one side of the road there were tall stone mountains (maybe volcanic). On the other side were flat, open fields. Sugar cane is the main crop.

We saw a lot of what Americans would call poverty. However, the Fijians seem very happy in their small tin or cinder block houses with open windows and doors and outdoor kitchens. One family waved enthusiastically at us as we drove by, so our driver pulled into their front yard. They were so happy we stopped. They introduced themselves and their 5-year-old daughter who was much more shy than her parents. They gladly showed us around and posed for pictures. They asked us to write down our names and addresses and gave us paper and pencil. We told them we were going around the world in about two and a half months. She said,”Oh, around the world in 80 days”...in reference to the movie. Who would have thought she would have known about that.

Another highlight of the drive was the Sleeping Giant Orchid Garden. We walked through it on our own for about 12 F$ - or 6 US$. We saw an impressive variety of orchids and other plants as well. When we returned to the starting point, they served us a nice cold refreshing glass of fruit juice.

As we drove along we came to a cemetery and stopped. It looked like the graves were above the ground like they are in New Orleans. Suresh told us that the bodies are in the ground. What we were seeing were sarcophagi that holds things that were near and dear to the departed.

Further on we drove by a prison. It looked like a village except that there was a fence topped with barbed wire all around it. We saw no prisoners and no guards. Suresh told us that the inmates were probably out working in the fields.

Our next stop was a government-supported home for old people. I wanted to see it, so Suresh pulled in and asked permission. I was very welcome even though we had arrived at lunchtime. Some of the residents I saw were elderly - as expected. Others were younger and retarded. Some of the elderly had dementia. Some did not. All seemed clean and well-cared for and happy to have me visit.

Francis Dreu, the director, came out to speak with me and ask questions so he could compare his facility with ours in the United States. He told me that they have 39 residents and only three staff to care for them 24/7. The government pays their salaries as well as all of the expenses of the residents. He asked me a lot of technical questions about homes for the aged in the States that I could not answer, so we exchanged addresses and phone numbers. He had no e-mail but did have a mobile phone.

We stopped at a typical Fijian village. Our guide was Cara, a large Fijian woman who spoke good English. First she guided us past souvenir stands run by local families. They were selling wood carvings and jewelry much of which was very unusual and lovely. However, we resisted and continued on the tour.

Cara told us that the president of the country is from this village. He is also the head of the village - a job he inherited when his older brother died. He will be president until he dies. Then the job will pass to his next oldest surviving brother. When all of the brothers are dead, it passes to the oldest son of the oldest brother. We took some pictures in front of his house.

Cara said that the first people to live on the island were South Africans who shipwrecked nearby, so native Fijians are Negroes. They were cannibals until the Christian English came.

Cara explained to us that the Fijians now own most of the land. The Indians own most of the businesses and pay rent to the Fijians. This rent money is divided up among the natives

As we drove around we saw signs of American companies - Mobile Oil, Shell Oil, and Cosco. We asked about McDonald's, and Suresh said that there is one in Nadin - no Starbucks - yet.

We made a quick stop at Jack’s in Lautoka. What a well-run tourist trap that was? Our driver pulled up in front of the store. A good-looking Fijian man opened the van door and helped us out. Inside the store helpful clerks were everywhere. A nice young girl showed us the sarongs, and gave us written directions on how to wear them then accompanied us to the checkout area and wished us well.

During all our touring we saw no beautiful buildings. Some were very ordinary stucco. Others were made of tin or cinder block. Our place at the Anchorage was made of wood and stucco with a tin roof like we have in Texas.

At lunch we talked to Joanne who was visiting from New Zealand with her husband, Graham. They were on a mission for the Lions’ Club. She told us that there is no tipping in Fiji - or in New Zealand or Australia either. She said that the Fijians don’t consider themselves poor. They have little regard for money and are very happy and easy-going. Some might call them “lazy”, but it’s just that working too hard is almost a vice for them, whereas it is praiseworthy among western cultures. We saw no one begging.

The weather was very hot and humid - like Houston, TX in the summer. It was their rainy season, but so far, no rain.

I took Flat Stanley down to the beach. First thing he wanted to do was relax in a hammock. Awhile later I saw folks gathered around a coconut tree as a young man shimmied up it in his bare feet with a machete. He cut down a coconut and a palm frond. He used the frond as a chopping block to cut open the coconut with his big knife. Then he gave straws to each of us so we could taste the water. He told us that green coconuts are for water. Brown ones are for milk, cooking and making craft items like paper and jewelry. Flat Stanley could hardly stand it. He went right over to a nearby tree and tried to climb it and get his own coconut. He never quite made it. It’s harder than it looks.

January 22 Sunday

Much to our surprise, we got up at about 5:30 a.m. - just in time to see a glorious sunrise. Sandra fixed us each a cup of tea which was the perfect thing to be drinking on our hot tub porch as we watched it. At about six we heard the sound of drums off in the distance. Cara had told us the day before that the drums (hollowed-out logs) are still used to call the people to meetings, church and other happenings.

At seven we went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. At 8:30 the van came from the Captain Cook Cruises to take us and two couples to the launching site of our all-day cruise to visit nearby islands.

It was another beautiful day in Fiji. All the deck hands on our three-masted sailing ship were Fijian. Some doubled as musicians. They put up the sails for show, but it was the engines that moved the boat. The trip took about one and a half hours. Most of the people we met were teachers, and there were a lot of children on board. This was their summer break.

Our island destination was lovely- covered with sand and plenty of shade trees. There was an open bar. It was too late to get in on the snorkeling, so we took the glass-bottom boat ride instead. We saw some coral reefs and fish but nothing as spectacular as we hoped to see in Australia.

For lunch they served a buffet of chicken, fish and sausages cooked over an open flame. They had salads and fresh fruits as well. It was very good. In the afternoon we could kayak, swim, go boating or just laze around and drink. We chose the latter.

On the way back to the mainland it began to rain hard. As we huddled under the tarps there developed even more camaraderie and good cheer. We enjoyed watching the deck hands scramble to get the sails down.

In the evening Sandra and I had a pizza and went to bed early. We had to get up by midnight to get to the airport by two for a four o’clock flight to Auckland, New Zealand.

January 23 Monday

As we sat drinking coffee at the airport we were joined by Graham and Joanne, the couple we had talked with at the Anchorage. As we chatted over coffee, we watched the movie, Rocky IV, that was on the TV. This prompted Graham to tell us about movies that had been shot in New Zealand - Lord of the Rings and parts of King Kong.

Our crew on the plane was the same one that had flown with us from LA to Fiji a couple of days ago. They had the same lay-over that we did. After a delicious breakfast we slept for two hours and arrived in Auckland refreshed. We found a shuttle for 15 NZ$ each that took us right to the front door of our hostel.

What a nice place. Our room was on the seventh floor. It was small but clean and charming. We shared bathroom facilities. There was a nice, well-supplied kitchen and laundry room at our disposal. There was a travel agency and Internet access for 5 NZ$ per hour. We later noticed that cyber cafes were half the price. The room rate was good - 16 NZ$ per person per night.

As soon as we dropped off our things we walked to The Domain - a huge park and museum. At the museum we enjoyed native Maori art and dancing. In contrast there was an exhibit of Leonardo DA Vinci’s inventions - models made from his sketches.

On the way back to our room we strolled through the parks and gardens enjoying the plethora of blooming flowers. It was summer. The temperature was mild and the breezes were blowing. The sun set at about nine.

After checking our e-mail we went in search of a place to eat and drink. We found a dandy - The Brooklyn - a real New Zealand pub with great beer and good green-lipped mussels (but not as good as the moulles we had in France). Their pilsner beer and baked pita chips with dried tomatoes, humus, and aoli were tops.

By nine we were in bed and soon after that asleep.

January 24 Tuesday

It was a wonderful night for sleeping - lots of rain and wind. Semi-unfortunately, it rained and blew all day. I say “semi”-unfortunately because New Zealand had some fires due to drought and really needed the rain. However, it meant that we could not take the harbor tour we had planned, but instead we went to the fascinating Kelley Tarlton Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World. He built it all underground in an old sewer system circa 1985.

The first attraction was a replica of Captain Robert Scott’s hut at his camp Evans, Antarctica. It was very authentic and realistic. I felt like I was in the original. In keeping with the Antarctic theme, there was penguin habitat - an area that had been turned into a mini Antarctica to create a home for about forty penguins. Visitors viewed this exhibit via an enclosed car that moved through the area.. We were able to see their antics both above and below the water.

The next attraction was a walk through a long Plexiglas tunnel surrounded on three sides by a mini ocean with sting rays, sharks, eels and other ocean creatures swimming , it seemed, all around us.

When we finished we hopped on another bus and hopped off again when we came to a group of restaurants. We picked one and had a good meal while we watched pedestrians trying to control their umbrellas and stay dry. A man at a nearby table struck up a conversation with us and gave us some good ideas for our trip to Rotorua and Napier.

After lunch we just rode the bus around east Auckland. There wasn’t much else to do, and it was fun getting to see the parts of the city we would never have ventured into had the weather been nice.

In the evening we went to a nice place and had pizza and coffee. By the time we got back to the hostel the rain had stopped, but it was still windy

January 25 Wednesday

It was still raining when we got up, and it continued to rain off and on all day no matter where we were. We picked up our little four-door Nissan. It cost us $294 for six days and unlimited mileage.

First we drove to Hamilton hoping to see the magnificent gardens, but it was raining too hard to enjoy anything outside, so we continued on to the Waitoma caves. About four thirty we arrived at our lovely hostel. The views from almost every window were splendid.. Balconies and porches abounded. It was hard to believe it was a hostel. This country really caters to backpackers.

Once we settled into our room, we went to a nearby tavern to get something to drink. Parked out in front was a bright pink van with “Wicked” written in white on the front and “Barbie” written on the sides. It was in a script similar to the one used with the Barbie dolls in the States. We thought maybe it was an art car.

Inside we each ordered a beer and watched the tennis matches from Melbourne. The restaurant offered only fried foods, so we decided to eat at the hostel. We had pizza - not much of an improvement over the tavern fare.

By the time we left the place was filling up with young folks but a few our age as well.

January 26 Thursday

The rain was gone, and the sky was clear when we awoke. We decided to postpone eating until after our cave tour. The main attraction of the caves according to their ads, were the “glow worms”. However, there were other adventures to be had in the depths of the earth such as tubing on fast-moving water and leisurely boat rides. We chose a walking tour. The cave we explored was about sixty-five meters below a hill. To get down to it we walked around and down on a circular declining ribbon of sidewalk. Already we were dreading the walk back up. In the caves there were the usual impressive formations. Equally interesting was our guide’s description of the engineering and construction of the walkways, lighting and other things they did to make these caves tourist-friendly. In fact, he was a member of the construction team, so he knew a lot and had many personal experiences to share.

When we got to the “glow worms”, he explained that they are really fly maggots, and what’s more, the glow comes from an enzyme in their poo. But who would come to see maggot poo - even if it was glowing? “Glow worms” is much more alluring. What’s in a name? Now you know. When the maggots become adult flies they have no mouths and can no longer eat, so they have about four days to mate before they die.

In giving us a history of the caves our guide told us that the land first belonged to a Maori farmer. The government confiscated his land when the caves were first discovered. The plan was to develop them as a tourist attraction. The government said that the farmer would not be able to manage them, and besides, he had no claim to anything below the surface. In fact, any person who owns land in New Zealand owns everything to the center of the earth. The Maori farmer went to court and won. Then he made a deal with a tour company to develop the caves and pay him rent.

The walk back up was surprisingly easy. Our guide told us that the walkway was carefully designed that way and can accommodate wheelchairs with no problem.

After the tour we got something to eat then drove to Rotorua - a city known for its Maori arts, crafts and museum, sulfur hot springs, geysers and boiling mud pools. The drive over was charming. We were on two-lane highways that wound up and down and around lovely farm-covered hills, fields of sheep (some freshly sheared, some not), cows, deer (raised to be table food), and emus.

We found our hostel with no trouble. Even though it was owned by the same company as the one we had just left, it was not as nice. Our room was much smaller, and the buildings were older. However, the staff was equally friendly and helpful.

After settling in, we walked to the Tudor Towers Museum - a converted hot bath spa built in the early 1900s by a British doctor. He believed that the hot springs and mud were rejuvenating. There were interesting exhibits of Maori culture as well as a history of the baths. Outside the gardens were well-maintained - and used.. There were groups of men playing boulle, and there were manicured greens for playing bowling-on-the-green as well as a clubhouse for the bowlers.

Before returning to our hostel, we stopped for a light dinner.

January 27 Friday

It promised to be another perfect day in New Zealand. We were up and out before eight because we wanted to be at the Te Puia Museum and Cultural Center close to opening time. On the way we stopped to pick up some fresh fruit because it looked so good, and we had not had any since leaving Los Angeles. Ironically, their oranges were from the United States. They looked good, so we got some along with apples and bananas.

We began by taking a one-hour overall tram tour of the center. The Maori are having a renaissance of their native music, dance, arts and crafts. This is where the young Maoris come to learn these things. We saw the geysers that were happily spewing hot sulfur into the air on a regular basis. Traditionally the Maori have used this water for bathing, cooking and healing. The boiling hot mud nearby was used by the natives and British alike for soothing therapeutic treatments.

The tram let us off at the kiwi exhibit. There we learned some interesting things about this funny bird. They are flightless. They have feathers as fine as hair and “whiskers” around their beaks making them a little like mammals. The female lays a huge egg that weighs more than she does. Then the male takes over until it hatches. They mate for life. The kiwi is nocturnal. It is the national bird of New Zealand, and New Zealanders refer to themselves as “Kiwis”.

We decided to eat brunch at the museum café. Sandra bought a paper so she could check on the outcome of the Australian Open tennis matches. She came across a funny article about the Cane frog. It seems they were imported to eat beetles that were infesting the sugar cane. The frogs were soon found to be poisonous and began doing more harm than good. To top it off, they overproduced and became a menace. How to get rid of them? Several serious suggestions were made, but the one we found most ridiculous involved smearing them with hemorrhoid medicine, putting them in a plastic bag and freezing them. A New Zealander noticing us reading the paper and started a conversation. We asked why on earth anyone would suggest rubbing the toads with hemorrhoid medicine. Without hesitation he replied, “Because they are a pain in the arse”.

At noon we went to a welcoming ceremony and dance demonstration. Once again we enjoyed the beautiful music and intricate story-telling dances - very similar to those we had seen at the Domain Museum in Auckland. I couldn’t resist buying a pair of the balls on strings that the ladies used in the dances even though they were 30 NZ$ and would take up valuable room in my suit case. They also used sticks that they tossed and clacked, but those would be easy to make.

With the whole afternoon ahead of us we headed for Taupo, a beautiful city on the shores of the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand. The views were lovely. Folks were parasailing and swimming. Avid golfers were hitting balls to a “floating green” with three holes in it out in the water. All the hit balls I saw landed in the water. At a lakeside café we had a libation then returned to Rotorua. For dinner we had a delicious Chinese meal featuring venison.

Back at the hostel Sandra did laundry and reported that she helped a Chinese man do his too. So much for the stereotype of the Chinese laundry man.

January 28 Saturday

To our delight it was another quiet night at the youth hostel. We awoke refreshed and got on the road by eight thirty. In Taupo we stopped for breakfast by the lake then continued on to Napier. The driving was a little tricky - more two-lane winding highways and lots of hills. Thank goodness traffic was light. The views were magnificent, and the weather was grand. When we came to a scenic overlook we stopped. There before us were two sparkling little waterfalls. A nice couple offered to take our picture, and we struck up a conversation. She was from New Zealand, and he was from Los Angeles - not far from Kathi and Mike.

As we drove into Napier we passed a number of seaside hotels. Every one had a “no vacancy” sign lit. Oops! This was the first time we had arrived someplace without a reservation. Our first stop was the very busy tourist office. A darling young girl told us that Napier is having an anniversary celebration and the town is busy. Even so she helped us, and soon we were booked at a nearby B&B.

To say that the place was “charming” would be an understatement. Our room had twin beds with quilts. The decor included English china and antiques. The living room looked out on a patio with a bubbling fountain, birdbath, flower gardens, tables and chairs. Pam, the proprietor, served us tea with a treat made of dates, nuts and chocolate - all served on blue and white English china. Sandra said that the treat was pan forte, a specialty of Sienna in Italy. (She knows so much about food.)

We decided to rest and write the rest of the afternoon - after we made a reservation for a guided wine tour on Sunday afternoon. In the evening we took a walk to the seashore where we had a beer in one place and a chicken dinner in another. Then back to our B&B and bed.

January 29 Sunday

The living room at our B&B seemed the perfect place to do my yoga routine. It had been a long time and it felt good to really stretch. At eight we joined two other guests, Peter and Betty from Toronto for an elegant and delicious breakfast of banana-filled crepes with yogurt and fruit, fresh-squeezed orange juice and coffee. Peter suggested we take some food and plenty of water on our wine tour. He had been on a few and knew whereof he spoke.

Our morning was free so we went to town to take an Art Deco walk. Our guide told us about the 1931 earthquake and subsequent fire that pretty much leveled the city but raised the ground in the surrounding swamp by about five feet giving Napier a whole lot of new land for expansion. They set up two tin cities in their park - one for the professionals such as doctors, dentists and another for merchants - so life could go on while they rebuilt. Planners chose the Art Deco style because it was all the rage but more importantly because it was flexible and would not be easily destroyed by another quake. It was also cheap because it was made of reinforced concrete. The city was completely rebuilt in two years despite the fact that there was a depression going on in much of the world.

Over the past twenty years Napier has become a major Art Deco center. Each February they have a festival that attracts cars of the era from all over the world. Locals and visitors alike dress in clothes of the period. They have events like a Gatsby picnic. This year is the seventy-fifth anniversary of the earthquake, so the festivities will last for ten days.

When the tour was over we stopped at a store and bought some bread and cheese to take on our wine tour later. Then we went to take a look at a Pack ‘N Save store. It turned out to be a lot like Sam’s in the States, but it had a more sophisticated check-out system. Members scan their cards into a hand-held gadget then scan each item as they put them into the cart. If a shopper wants just a price, the scanner can give them that too. At check-out they hand in their computer and pay their bill. A checker at the door glances over the exiting carts (like they do at Sam’s) to be sure all items are paid for. Another plus is that shoppers do not have to buy in bulk - unless they want to.

The van picked us up at our B&B at one o’clock. Everyone else on the trip was from England. Two of the girls were on a one-year adventure and another was on an eight-month trip by herself. And we thought we were so adventuresome. We visited four wineries, and surprisingly none of them were known to Sandra. As she predicted, we liked the whites better than the reds - especially the sauvignon blanc.

When we got back to our B&B I could hardly hold my eyes open, but it was too early for bed. Sandra made us some tea then turned on the TV. Sports were quite different than in the States. They cover soccer, rugby, sailing and tennis - no baseball, football or basketball.

January 30 Monday

Since we had gone to the caves (that was not on our schedule), and spent an extra night in Napier, we had to make a push to get near Auckland by Tuesday evening. However, before leaving town we took time for a tour of the Mission Winery that was once run by monks and brothers. It was too early for wine, so we had a nice cup of coffee.

All day we drove along the coast and wound around through mountains. The scenery was spectacular, but the driving was tense. We drove by Gisborne, the first city in the world to see the sun each day.

Finally at Opotiki, a small town of about 4,000, we stopped for the night. As luck would have it, there was a Masonic Hotel on the main street, and it turned out to be quite charming in an Irish pub sort of way. The bar maid/desk clerk was a grandmotherly type - a lot like us. We hit it off nicely. She charged us 40 NZ$ for a room with twin beds and a sink right across the hall from the toilets and showers. What a deal!

After settling in we checked the menu and decided to have dinner in the bar. It was surprisingly fabulous - fish pan-fried to a turn for me and a medium rare steak for Sandra accompanied by good roasted sweet and regular potatoes and a salad.

When we finished, it was still light out, so we walked around the town. Sandra went to take pictures of a cute Anglican church and met some young Maori boys with a big fish they had just caught. They proudly posed for photos. As we walked along we came upon a high-speed Internet at a grocery store for 1 NZ$ per 15 minutes. I wrote to my friends and family while Sandra updated the web site. We were happy to see that the photo of Flat Stanley in Hollywood that we sent to Becky, our web master, made it to our site. We hoped to post a lot more along the way.

January 31 Tuesday

This was our last full day in New Zealand. The weather was iffy as we started out - cloudy one minute and sunny the next. Since we were mostly driving along the coast, we expected it to be pretty flat and straight, and in parts it was. However, mostly we were driving up and down mountains and around hairpin curves.

After driving for two or three hours we stopped at the lovely Mills Reef Winery for brunch. We were their only guests, so we picked our table and enjoyed the setting while we had the undivided attention of a nice waitress. Our breakfasts were so beautiful we took pictures. Since we were in such an elegant winery setting Sandra couldn’t resist having a glass of Gewurztraminer - a perfect white wine to go with her eggs Florentine. I had pancakes that were almost like crepes with lots of fresh fruit and a lovely quince sauce. No wine for me. I was driving, but I did take a taste of Sandra’s.

We continued on to our destination - Thames - and arrived at about 1:30 p.m. Rather than drive the Coromandel peninsula, we opted to find a nice B&B and take a walk around the town. We had been in the car long enough. The gal at the visitors’ information center found us a nice place called The Ocean View B&B and Health Spa. We found it without any trouble and were greeted by Fliss, a cute young woman only a little taller than Sandra. An interesting-looking woman with a body full of tattoos sat at a table in the dining area. Hmmm?

Our room was nice and comfortable. We took time to write a few post cards then went for a walk around town. It was not a particularly charming place, but we did meet an interesting man when we went into a lovely, wooden Anglican church built in 1872. He was a volunteer docent and told us a lot about the history of the church and the area. It seems that churches, hospitals and schools all got their land from the Maori as a gift to be used for those purposes. When they were finished using the land for that particular type of institution it was to be returned to the Maori. The English, however, assumed they had taken possession of the land from thence forth to do with as they wished. To this day they are still working on these misunderstandings.

Before returning to our B&B we had an unremarkable snack in an unremarkable restaurant. Back at the Ocean View we watched the sun set over the ocean and talked with Lex, the other woman who helps run the business. She and Fliss are both very involved in fitness - healthy eating, massages, meditation, and exercise. Lex is 52 and has traveled extensively playing women’s rugby and running marathons. She loves the United States and has visited there five times. She has tried unsuccessfully to get a green card and is now resigned to living and working in New Zealand.

The sun was finally down by nine, and we went to bed.

I noted a couple of things about New Zealand:
In all our driving we were on only about thirty miles of expressway just southeast of Auckland. The rest of the roads were narrow, two-lane, asphalt roads with passing lanes and pull-overs every so often. Thanks goodness traffic was not heavy, and we never ran into a jam. Actually, aside from having to sit on the right side of the car and drive on the left side of the road, getting around in New Zealand was easy. Our map book that I bought at the airport was excellent and matched well with what we found as we drove along. The roads were well-signed as well. (We did not find that to be the case in Ireland or Italy.)

There were no billboards and very few signs advertising local businesses or points of interest.

They spell “tire” - “tyre”.