South Bound

After we took the boat down to Gulf Harbor, we (Jim and Vicki) took a ‘test vacation’ and drove down to Auckland and then Rotorua for a few days. We visited the Maritime Museum in the America’s Cup Village and took in the Maori culture show and the ride up the mountain by tramway for a splendid view of the lake in Rotorua.

For an initiation into New Zealand adventure sports, Vicki, defying her age-related inhibitions, insisted on trying the Zorb, which is a large (10 ft. diameter) plastic bubble, double-layered with an access tube that can be sealed. Opting for the wet cycle, which adds 10 gallons of water inside the bubble, she was ‘agitated’ as the ball rolled down the hill on a burmed, zigzag track. The only thought in her panicked brain was “This has to end soon!”

February 19 and time for Vicki and Jim to take a big vacation! Leaving Dylan and Tessa to do the prepping of Firebird for a paint job (and they did a superb job, believe me!), we took our ‘new’ car and headed South. Our drive kept us busy for three weeks and we drove close to 5000 kilometers (over 3000 miles).

Highlights

– Crossing to the South Island across Cook Strait on the car ferry
- Driving the forever-winding, never-straight roads
- Encountering one-lane bridges on the ‘highway’
- Flying in a ski-plane above the mountains and landing on a glacier – sun and silence and awe – Remaining cheerful in spite of the cold temperatures and constant rain
- Jim parasailing off a high hill above Nelson
- White water rafting on the Rangitata River
- Visiting the Museum of Wearable Art in Nelson and the International Antarctic Center in Christchurch
- Discovering a wood-carver in Picton who creates unique dolphin sculptures
- Getting a bad cough and cold (Vicki)
- Staying in a villa on a vineyard
- Exploring the tip of the Coromandel peninsula on a narrow gauge railway
- Tracking down and buying equipment and supplies to make our own beer
- Honking the car horn as we passed fields of sheep or deer