Category: Uncategorized

2022 – 02 -PANAMA CANAL TRANSIT

We have talked about doing a cruise through the Panama Canal for quite a while. We had it scheduled for last year but it was cancelled by the Cruise line due to COVID restrictions. We booked this one in hopes we would be able to go by now, and we were. So, off we went. The cruise was from Ft Lauderdale, through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles. Here is a map of the cruise and stops.

This is the Restorante we had dinner at in Ft Lauderdale … Great Food!!
Views of the surrounding harbor before departure
Nancy with her wine and me with my Ice Water
This was a little gadget we wore to identify ourselves, pay for things, etc .. very handy
A Local favorite
A Band
Sunset
The Front of the Ship
One of three pool areas
A Hot Food Snack bar

A week or so before we left we were notified that the stop in Nicaragua was cancelled due to COVID restrictions. Oh well. The day before we left home, we took COVID tests via the internet, passed, and packed. The next day we rented a car and drove to Ft Lauderdale and turned in the car at the airport and spent the night near the port. The port, airport, and hotels are all fairly close together. We walked to a pleasant dinner that evening near the hotel, spent a quiet evening, had a nice breakfast the next morning, then caught a shuttle to the port. The first thing they did at the port was to take our luggage, confirm our tickets, and give us another COVID test. Once we passed that we were processed onto the ship. Not sure what they would have done if we had failed the test to get our luggage back but that didn’t become an issue. Anyhow, we got on board the ship around one O’clock, and started our vacation. The boat was supposed to leave around four but was delayed, for some reason, until after six. No worries though. Nancy and I explored, tasted, tested, rested, relaxed, and snooped until we got the lay of the boat.

We finally got under way. We were informed that our stop in Columbia had been cancelled due to new COVID rules the country had come out with. (We were disappointed with this news because Nicaragua and Columbia were the two countries on the cruise where we had not been yet. We were looking forward to seeing them. Not much we could do about it now and we were still going to do the Panama Canal, the primary reason for the cruise.) Because we were not going to Columbia we would be at sea for four days before we got to the Panama Canal. So, for four days we cruised doing ship board activities. There were plenty and we had good weather and a nice time. Got some sun, met some people, you know, old people cruise stuff!

Leaving Ft Lauderdale
The Pilot boat coming out to pick up the port pilot
A Look down along the side of our ship from our balcony
Bye Bye Ft Lauderdale
Looking forward from our balcony
Deck Seating
They presented Movies here during the day and evening (Movies Under The Stars)
An Upper Deck
Here we are ready for our first formal night … I look kinda stuffy eh?
Pool at the back end of the ship
A Kiddy play area … I think there were three kids on this cruise.
A Bird stopped by to see if anyone had some food for it … or to rest

After the sea days we got to Cartagena, Columbia. I know, I told you it was cancelled, but for some complex reason the ship had to stop there for a day to qualify for a certain kind of voyage. That’s what the captain said anyhow. So we pulled in, never docked, several little boats went back and forth, then we sailed in a circle for a while and finally we left.

Coming into Cartagena, Columbia
The Harbor
An Impressive Skyline
Big City
Turning Left
The Old Harbor Fort … On the way out
An Empty resort

We left Columbia and headed towards the Panama Canal. I’ll show you some of the inside of our ship while we are underway.

This is one of the interior lounges where we had before, and sometimes, after dinner cocktails. The lady on the left is a great Cribbage player and the blond hostess in the back is from Serbia.
This is the Grand Center. They had live music there every evening. The best was two violinists that played frequently. Very good.
Outside at night
Panama in the early morning
Coming into the Canal
Looking East
Waiting Ships. The canal operates on cash only so ships must wait until their bank checks clear.
This is the two sets of locks and the lake (Gatun Lake) in the middle. The red lines are highways from one coast to the other.
The first span across the canal.
Will we make it under? The thing sticking out of the boat is like a big hammer head for the crew to watch from. The have one in front and one in back. Passengers can stand on top.
No scraping yet!
We made it.
These people are all standing on the hammer head. Big crowd! The locks are up ahead.
This is the tug that guided us through the locks … one of two for each ship

We were going to go through the new locks because the cruise ship was too large for the old ones. Both still operate. The Panama Canal is actually two set of locks. One set on the East side of Panama from the Atlantic, and one set on the west side from the Pacific. The area in between these two sets of locks is now a huge, man made, lake that allows the ships to travel across Panama. The two sets of locks, one east and one west (Actually, the canal runs northwest to southeast because of the curl of Central America. I will call everything east to west just to keep our directions straight.) are like big dams that hold the lake there. The boats go through the locks to get to the gate, then across Panama on the lake, and out the locks on the other side. This takes a fair amount of time so some shipping companies unload on one side and truck their cargo to a ship on the other side. At each end there are many, many boats waiting to go through. The canal operates from east to west in the morning and west to east in the afternoon to avoid collisions on the lake. The lake, being man made on a mountain valley has many islands that were once ridges. Three towns were covered by the lake. The lake is about 80 feet above the two oceans it connects.

The locks raise the ships about 80 feet from sea level to the lake. Instead of having one large chamber, they use three so three ships can be raised at one time, each about 25 -30 feet per chamber. That allows the locks to use water from one chamber to pow er the next.

Here we are at the Locks. That big square thing in the center is a large container ship leaving the third chamber into the lake.
This is the gate to the first chamber opening for our ship to go in. The ship will pull forward, the gate close, the water from the next chamber will run in to raise the ship
People packed on the hammerhead to watch the gates operate and the ship move forward.
Pulling into the first chamber
Reservoirs for the water
The second and third chambers
Small clearance on the sides
One of the chamber gates fully retracted
Sitting in the third chamber ready to depart into the lake. Note the stone cuts on the left. That is how much rock they had to cut out to make the gates.
This is when we were in the third chamber looking back from the Aft (Rear) end of the ship over the three chambers. Note the suspension bridge way in the back. That’s the one we went under.
The control tower for the gates.
Leaving the third (Top) Chamber.
The Cuts
Ships waiting to go out to the Atlantic.
These red machines generate anti flame foam in case a ship catches fire. They blow huge amounts of foam over the fire.
The last gates
There it all is.
Lotsa Rock!

Congratulations! You have just passed out of the Atlantic Ocean into Lake Gatun. We will spend most of the day meandering through the lake to get to the Pacific Locks.

The old Yacht club.
A big container ship waiting to go into the Atlantic
Traveling the lake
Guide Bouys
Relaxing on the hammerhead watching the lake pass by
Coming up to the Pacific side.
Radar reflectors for guiding the ships in foul weather
One of the cuts on the Pacific side … The rock was hauled to Panama City where it was used to connect three islands out to a big harbor. The rocks were used to form a causeway from the city, across the islands, out to the harbor.
A container ship going through an adjacent Lock
Another Tug to meet us
Panama City peaking over the hill
Going through the Pacific locks down into the Pacific
Here’s that machine that blows foam to smother fires … Just like at airports
This is one of the tenders that hang on the side of the boat. It is for rescues and shuttling
people to and from the shore when we are not at a dock.

We are now anchored at Panama City. We have a day ashore here. We booked a tour that takes us to the old locks and the downtown area. The tour included about 40 people so it was kinda unorganized. We did get to see the old locks and down town though so here they are.

A Little history from when the French first tried to build the Canal. Heat, disease, and insects defeated them.
The old Locks on the Pacific side
A big cruiser coming through the old locks. We were lucky to see a big ship pass through. Same process as the big locks. Only difference is that they use electric “Mules” to pull the boats.
The Gates fold in the old dock vice pulling back
Here comes the big ship into the next chamber. The grey thing at the top of the hill is an electric “Mule” … One on each side (front, middle, and back of ship)
There she is! Kinda fills up the lock!
This is one of the Mules
This the observation deck I am taking pictures from
Mule coming up over the hill to the next chamber
The “Mule”
Going down town. Panama City is old and much of it is in disrepair. There is much rehab going on even if it is just cosmetic. The rehabbed building look much nicer.
Modern Down town
Old Colonial Down Town
Our Land “Ship”
Bogenvilla Walkway
Front nice, side … not so much
Colorful
Future Store
An Old Church
Don’t know what the scuba diver was doing
Inside the church
A very old ruin.
The Pacific
Buzzards (They knew how bad the tour was!)
The arch of bricks that convinced the engineers to put the canal in Panama (Geological stability)
Back to the bus
Checking out the trinkets
Our Ship … the little orange things along the middle side are the tenders
Here’s one now! You can put about 50 people in one

So that was Panama City and the canal. In case you were wondering they have different price scemes for a ship going through the canal. Cruise boats are charged by the rooms they have. It cost our ship just a little over $500,000.00 to go through!

The tour was too big for the one guide we had. He spent more time trying to keep track of everyone than guiding and seemed overwhelmed most of the time. Traffic and lost people used up more of our time on the ground than seeing interesting things. It was interesting, just frustrating … and HOT!

So we went back out to sea and motored up to Costa Rica. The ship offered a number of cruises there but Nancy and I were in Costa Rica just last year and had nothing we wanted to redo. We just walked off the boat and into the “Trade” area in the harbor. Checked out a bunch of souvenirs, listened to a band, had a couple beers, and went back to the ship. Quite relaxing.

This is one of the Upper Deck Bars that Nancy and I frequented in the evening after dinner. Had some interesting conversations with the bartender.
This guy greeted us as we walked ashore in Costa Rica
Costa Rican Entertainment
Merchandise!
Nancy is impressed!
The port in Costa Rica – Puntarenas
The shore … Costa Rica is a beautiful country. Check out my post about our trip … it was A Trip!
A little boat herding the tenders around.

Off we go again. Another day or two at sea. Then ashore at Hautulco, Mexico. This little fishing village is a hidden jewel. Far enough from California that all the pretty people haven’t been there yet. They have devoted a lot of time and effort to making the place pleasant and it has a lot to offer. We had booked a full day tour. The harbor and ocean then a tour of the old city. The tour of the harbor and sea was first.;

This is it!
Condos on the Hill side
The Dock we docked at … here we are still approaching
The Fleet
Docked at last
Beach Resorts
National Park
Boat Tour
Yup … Holiday Inn
From the deck of our tour boat
Passing by the “Mother Ship”
Toot Toot
The tenders
The Shoreline … Very impressive.
Some building but most stopped when the housing market crashed
Public Beaches … reachable by trail or boat
Pelicans diving at a school of shrimp
Light house
Coming back
We decided to ditch the motor bus tour and found this little beach bar. Had some great nachos and guacamole
… and a couple mini beers
Great Stuff … the orange stuff had a quite a kick!
I See You!!
The harbor
Lotsa Boats
My Desert that night on the ship

I think, if I ever wanted to drop out of society, I would go to Huatulco, buy a small home on a hill, a small motor bike, and a medium sized (30 – 45Ft) sailboat, and a small dingy type motorboat and live there. The people are friendly and welcome people that want see or live in their city. It is only eight hours or so from a bigger city, and it has an airport so you can really get to anywhere n the world you would want to go to. The weather is mostly pleasant with low humidity and moderate temperatures and the ocean is very pleasant there.

Enough dreaming. So we set sail again and our next stop is Porto Vallarta, Mexico. This place WAS found by the pretty people of California and is over ran by tourists, both transit and time sharing types. It even has a Walmart and a Sam’s! All the major fast food outlets and many of the chain stores we have right here in the US.

Nancy and I had booked a tour here but after our experiences in the last two tours we had we cancelled it and decided to just take a cab to what was called the Malecon (Seaside Promenade) and walk around and see what there was to see. So that’s what we did. Had a great time. Here’s some pics:

This is the Main Cruise Ship terminal in Porto Vallarta (PV)
Some Medics were standing by to haul someone off the ship. I glanced back inside the cabin and Nancy was still there so I knew we were okay. Never found who or why they were removed.
Departure Ramp. These pictures were from our Balcony. We then left tour cabin and
went up for a coffee and some top deck views.
This is a statues of a women holding a bird and a real bird was sitting on the bird.
Interesting sculptures along the Promenade
This is a group of four guys, dressed in native attire, who climbed this pole and sat on a
square frame around the top. They then all dove off backwards with a rope around their
waist and spun around all the way to the ground as the rope unwound.
Pretty cool. And we got to see it.
Rocks piled up from people passing by
This guylayed a flute while his buds spun around.
OK, They are ready.
Here they go!
All on the ground safe, they disengaged their legs and turned feet down to land, gracefully.
Does your head hurt like mine does?
We continued our walk down the Prominade. Interesting statues, sculptures,
art, and trinkets.
Many of the coastal towns in Central America have these colored letters spelling out their name.
A Very old church
Nancy took a horse out for a ride
Interesting art
The pause that refreshes .. we always try to have a local beer.
A Patio where we stopped for lunch
A pigeon stopped by to say hello
A different beer
Our Guacamole … Very Fresh
Our Last Stop at Senior Frog’s
That was fun!!

We took a taxi back to the ship and called it a day. Our next stop was our last stop at Los Angeles. Busy place but the boat people made it work well. It was the Saturday before the Superbowl in LA so everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was busy. We did get out, were delayed and nearly missed our connection in Atlanta … we made it but our luggage didn’t (it was delivered to our house the next day). A couple pictures from the port in LA. (They are blue because the pictures were taken through a window on the ship.

That was our Panama Canal Cruise. Like I mentioned in some of my blather about us in the intro to this website, we don’t like big tours, crowds, or lots of people. The cruise had them all but we did have a good time, met some wonderful people, and got to see the Panama canal.

Iquitos and the Amazon

This was our last stop for our time in Peru. We flew into Lima from Cusco and spent the night in a hotel at the airport. We stored out luggage there, packed a couple of backpacks and some “Jungle” clothes and took a flight out the next morning to Iquitos.

Iquitos is far in the Northeastern part of Peru and is accessible by air and river only. There have been no roads cut through the mountains and the Amazon Jungle to reach it. The city was established long ago as a trading center for the huge rubber plantations that existed in that area. Being unable to hire enough local people to work the rubber plantations, owners brought in boat loads of Chinese laborers to do the work. Recognizing the value of the product and the climate it grew in, the workers smuggled home seeds and clippings of the rubber plants and started growing them in China. After a while the Chinese market for rubber outgrew the Peruvian market and the Peruvian market collapsed.

Iquitos is now a old town with residents that make a living doing the things everyone else in Peru do. They farm, have shops, and have trades. The primary mode of transportation in Iquitos is the motorized bicycle of various sizes.

We landed in Iquitos at the airport and were taken to a hotel downtown. It was claimed to be the best hotel in town but was a little rough around the edges. Everyone was very friendly and helpful so Nancy and I had a pleasant evening in restaurant. Nancy even taught the bartender how to make Gin & Tonics even thought Nancy speaks no Spanish and the bar tender spoke no English. We had a fun time.

A little about the trip. The next morning we were picked up and taken to an outfitters shop. We were fitted for and provided with a pair of heavy rubber walking boots that came up to our knees. We each got a pair. We were also briefed on the trip to where we were going, what our camp would be like and that we would be four hours from the nearest civilization and there was no phone or medical service where we were camped. The boat we went down the river on was a long (about twenty to twenty four feet long) and narrow with a canopy over the passenger section. There was one seat on each side with a narrow aisle down the middle. Soon we were ready to go so they loaded us up in a pickup and took us to our boat. The boat was at the bottom of a set of stairs off of one of the streets. It was not a harbor but just a place to tie up your boat when you came to town. We passed our gear down and helped them load supplies for the camp. There was the guy who drove the boat, his assistant, and our guide, Moises. The driver again briefed us the trip would take about four hours but assured us there was a “rest area” along the way. Off we went.

We were on the Amazon for five days including our arrival and departure days. We spent four days and three nights in the camp. Each day at the camp we would get up and have breakfast. Our guide would brief us on the day and we would go out for our morning trip. The trips would last two to four hours and we would get back for lunch. After lunch we would again go out and return around sunset for dinner. After dinner we would do a night time activity. We were busy but it was fun. Some of the trips were on land and some were in boats … some were both. I’m not going to do this day by day but rather just show you most of the tings we did. Enjoy!

  • Old Colonial Iquitos
  • Nancy Getting ready to go
  • Many kinds of motor bikes
  • Nancy’s new footwear
  • The big red spot is Iquitos and the little red spot is our camp. The big river is the Amazon. I didn’t even know it started so far west.
  • The ramp down ot our boat
  • Loading people and supplies into the boat
  • Out on the river
  • Our send off party
  • The river had a lot of Hyasinth growing in it. Some places were so thick the boat would get caught up and need to be backed up and cleared.
  • Off we go
  • local transport
  • Harbor security
  • Local boats
  • The Amazon … VERY BIG
  • Fisherman
  • Huts and villages along the way
  • We finally got to our “rest area” Here’s how you got to it. The facility was just a board with a round hole in it and whatever you did just dropped into the river.
  • Boat traffic on the river
  • The main river was not clogged with hyasinth … once you got off on a side river it was all over
  • This is the boat in the Hyasinth … There is bunches of water below it
  • The trail behind us
  • Our Guide guiding the Captain
  • Then a rain shower
  • and we make it to our camp … Welcome, welcome
  • Our bedroom
  • Nancy trying out the bathroom
  • The entire room
  • The camp
  • Our back door
  • The dining hut
  • Fruit snacks and water
  • All ready for dinner
  • an endless variety of flowers and vegitation
  • Boys from the local village checking out the new guests
  • Nancy taking a break on our “Patio”
  • Our camp viewed from the river … our hut was the one on the left.
  • A Hawk
  • Parakeets
  • The river
  • A Bird
  • Birds nests
  • Our first sunset on the Amazon
  • Our first night out
  • A Spider web
  • Cayman Catching … Moises would shine the shore until he spotted their eyes, the guy driving the boat would coast up to the spots and Moises would grab the caymen
  • Caymen are like alligators and grow to be six to eight feet long. They are considered to be one of the more dangerous preditors on the river
  • I got to “cuddle” with one .. even these littlle guys bite
  • A Spider in our hut!!
  • Nancy in netting on the walk way to our hut
  • Well Pilgrim … I’m ready .. are yoou?
  • Our first night walk … it was soon dark!
  • Ants on a tree
  • The View from our hut
  • rubber sap flowing from a tree
  • Huge termite nests (the nest was huge .. the termites tiny)
  • Interesting roots
  • Clinging Ferns
  • A centipede
  • Baby rodents
  • Mushrooms
  • A Monkey
  • Ants eating the bark
  • A day walk
  • A vine .. I thought it was a snake
  • A Catapiller
  • A dead frog … the ants got him
  • Interesting tree
  • Guess you could call it a ladder tree
  • Very Tall trees
  • Insect Eggs
  • A family outing
  • Going Perana fishing
  • This looks like a good spot
  • I’m trying to decide if I’m going to fish or not
  • We rolled bread dough into little balls and caught these little fish with them.. then we used these little fish for the Pirana … this young man was our pilot today
  • I got one!!
  • Watch the teeth!
  • I’m glad I tried it
  • Watching to see if anyone looses a finger
  • The sun is setting
  • Everyone getting ready to roost
  • Nancy’s Catch … enough for dinner!
  • Sunset
  • Heading home … Moises was an excellent guide. His father was a Warden on the river and he grew up on it. He now lives in Iquitos
  • A Rainbow
  • A HAwk watching for a meal
  • Find the Bird
  • Incredible sunset
  • Family comiing home
  • Eating our Piranana
  • Enough for everyone … better to eat than be eaten by!
  • A Toad
  • Back out at night
  • Gathering Palm Branches for Thatch
  • Our Thatched roof
  • The walkway to our hut
  • The Camp
  • ooops, I mean Lodge!
  • Aahhh
  • It rained fairly often … it is a rain forest you know!
  • A near by village
  • Looking for Monkeys, birds, and other animals of interest
  • The driver … Moises would hire a new guy each day (spread the tourist bucks)
  • A wet walk
  • I preferred riding in the boat
  • but the jungle was very interesting
  • The vine grew around the tree, suffocated the tree, the tree died and rotted, now the vine stands alone living a hollow life (sorry)
  • Yup … I’m having fun!
  • All these little critters eat anything dead on the ground … up to and including trees
  • Time for a drink
  • The vine is filled with pure water
  • Better that Perrier water from the green bottle!
  • Everything has a story
  • Lunch?
  • Nope!
  • Bird eggs
  • It has stopped raining so now its just humid and sticky
  • But fun
  • This a book written by one of Moises clients. She mentions him in the book. It is about the pink dolphins that live in the Amazon. They really are pink. You can buy the book on Amazon (what else?
  • Moises was very proud of this signing
  • A nice day to be on the Amazon
  • Peak!
  • The only snake we saw
  • He was in this bush at night
  • These little grey patches are bats
  • The Hunter!!
  • Giant Lilly Pads (Six feet across)
  • Lunch!
  • Laundry day at the village
  • Pink Dolphin hunting
  • Looking for pink dolphin. Moises would hit the water with a foam tube and they would come up to play sonewhere around rhe boat. they were quick
  • There’s one!
  • Looking hard
  • there’s another one … they were very difficult to see nd even more difficult to get a picture of
  • Big Lizard in a tree
  • There he is!
  • Saying Good bye
  • bye bye camp
  • locals
  • Heading back up the river
  • A big banana boat

So we made it back to Iquitos, turned in our boots and gear, and they took us to the airport. A most interesting trip.

We made it back Lima, picked up our luggage and spent the night at the airport hotel. Next day we flew home with many, many fond memories. Super trip.

Manchu Picchu

From Cusco we took a ride to a small resort where we spent the night before being taking an early train that would take us to Agua Caliente at the base of Manchu Picchu. The train had a viewing deck so we enjoyed that. We arrived in Agua Caliente early, had a coffee, and hopped a thrilling bus ride to Manchu Picchu. There we met a guide and spent the day touring the mountain. That night we spent in an interesting hotel in Agua Caliente. The next morning we went back up to Manchu Picchu and explored for much of the day. We came back down and caught a train back to Cusco.

You can hike into Manchu Picchu from where the train starts but it is a four day hike, you need porters and you cross 12,000 and 13,000 foot mountains. We opted not to do that. We didn’t know it until the train stopped where you get off but there is a one day hike you take from that train stop. It takes nearly a full day but you don’t need porters and lots of camping gear. Both trails end at a point above and looking down at Manchu Picchu called The Sun Gate. It is on the east side so that’s where the sun appears each day. We also had a pass to climb a steep mountain in the middle of Manchu Picchu but it was raining the day were had the permit for and we didn’t want to risk slipping and getting injured. I know that sounds whoosy but we had a lot of stuff planned and doing it on crutches was not an option.

Catching the train (Notice Upper Windows for viewing)
Inside the cars
The happy couple
A mountain stream that runs along side the tracks
Corn fields
Farms
Mountains in the clouds
A Horse on a terrace? … No two donkeys on a terrace!
The mountains
Entering Agua Caliente
The exciting bus ride up to Manchu Picchu from Agua Caliente
Entering the Park
Meeting another busy (exciting)
Nancy and our Guide (She wore white gloves … said it was to keep the sun off of her hands)
Entering Manchu Picchu
This was a lady who could not walk. She hired these four guys who carried her on a litter everywhere
There it is
We were supposed to climb the mountain in the background but got rained out
Talking about the buildings … in case you are wondering about the hats. The sun is very intense at this high altitude and we were near the equator
A rebuilt storage barn
The place is huge and incredible … very well restored
The Lamas keep the grass mowd
Over the edge
Aquaducts
A Small window
Lots of steps
Roof Slate
Quite the builders
Grounds Crew
There was an amazing amount of highly skilled stone fitting with both small and very large blocks … The folks probably built the pyramids
It is difficult to grasp just how large this city was
Our Guide … Very nice young lady .. very smart
This is the mountain we did not climb due to rain
This is a close up of the previous picture
That guy thought the lama was his wife .. boy, did he catch heck when she saw him flirt’en with a Lama!!
The river way below
The white stripes is the road up that the buses use
We walked up to the Sun Gate (That’s what INTIPUNKU means)
Me Too!!
The road
Manchu Picchu from the Sun Gate
The other half of Manchu Picchu from the sun gate
This guy tried to sell us insurance!!
The Sun Gate from part way down
Hydrating
A big restaraunt in Agua Caliente had different flags at each table. We sat by our favorite.
Houses by the tracks
Our “Cabin”
One last look
The path to the back door
This was along the back path. The wooden beams spanned the gap in the path. It is that square in the stone face in the picture below
The stream that runs past the hotel and through town
The bridge from our hotel
An Interesting Statue
Leaving Agua Caliente
We were served dinner on the train back. Here’s our setting. They also had a fashion show while we ate. Very nice.

That was Mancu Picchu. Pictures just don’t do it justice. It is one of the most impressive works of man that I have seen anywhere. The story of it’s discovery by an English Explorer in the late 1800’s and the work to restore it is an amazing story. Check it out.

CUSCO – City, Ancient Ruins, Lamas

That was our two days and three nights in Paracas. We were then picked up the next morning and rode the bus back to Lima to the airport. There we were to fly to Cusco. Cusco is a large city in the mountains of Peru. It is considered a stepping stone to Manchu Picchu because it gives you a chance to get accustomed to the altitude. Cusco is at 11, 150 feet MSL. We were taken to our hotel and told to rest for the rest of the day to get used to the environment. We were accustomed to this altitude because our Cabin in Colorado is at 11,500 feet so instead of resting we walked about Cusco.

We were in Cusco a couple times during this trip. Once on the way to Manchu Picchu and once on the way back. Each time we did walk abouts and tours. I will label the highlights.

  • Our Flight to Cusco
  • The Cathedral in Cusco
  • The hills around Cusco
  • A Shop
  • A Palace in Cusco … now a museum
  • In The Yard
  • Art
  • A Long Story about the sun and people
  • A Tour in Cusco .. Through a Rainy window
  • Touring Very Old Ruins
  • A Friendly but wet tourist
  • Loco Lamas
  • Making Friends
  • Orchirds
  • Yup … Scratch right there … aahhhh
  • Big Rocks no one knows how they were moved
  • Cusco
  • An enjoyable tour
  • Proof we were there
  • More Lamas (No Dahli’s though)
  • Anyone need a Lama Hat?
  • Plants that produce colors
  • Making blankets
  • Art
  • Opportunity to buy stuff
  • Carrying Grass for the Lamas
  • Nancy made friends with three Indian guys from Chicago
  • BIG Rocks
  • Terraces
  • All My Friends
  • Night time in Cusco
  • The Lama Place
  • Nancy and her Indian friends feeding the Lamas
  • An animal like a squirl
  • A lama in the flowers
  • Different kinds of corn
  • Making Blankets
  • Dyed Yarn (From Lamas)
  • Mobile sales
  • Nancy Making a Deal
  • Making Pizza
  • The Menu
  • Silver
  • Back in Cusco
  • Parakeets
  • Ancient hillside
  • Terracing
  • Start Climbing
  • Terraced Fields
  • Rocks joined
  • See the face
  • Angry Face
  • Cool eh?
  • Aqueducts
  • Faucets
  • Corn
  • Our Room in Cusco (The Second one)
  • Overnight stop on the way to the train to Munchu Picchu
  • Snack and Drinks … Yummm
  • Breakfast
  • A Family with their Lama
  • Cusco

That was Cusco and the surrounding area. Again, we were here two different days but enjoyed both visits. We had a full day to walk around and explore Cusco. A delightful old city. We found the highest Irish Pub in the world at Cusco … at least that’s what they claimed.

Paracas – Nasca Lines and the Balistas

That was our first couple days in Peru. On the third day we were taken to the Bus depot and put on a bus (In First Class) to Paracas. Paracas is a coastal town a ways south of Lima. It had been damaged quite badly by an earthquake several years ago but was in the recovery mode. Paracas is famous for two things. The Balistas which is a series of rock islands just off the coast that are inhabited by millions of birds and thousands of seals. There is a company in Japan that comes to the Balistas about every five years and harvests all the bird poop (Guana) that accumulates on the islands. The seals are there just for kicks. The other attraction is Paracas is the closest city to the Nasca lines. The Nasca lines are huge carvings in the desert that resemble creatures in flight or just standing around. By huge I mean miles long and wide. The desert between Lima and Paracas is one of the oldest in the world and has a thick crust (about 6 – 12 inches thick) covering it. The Nasca lines are carved through this crust exposing the white desert sand below the crust. No one really knows who made them or how they got there. My theory is that someone from space came and put them there and they mean something to someone. Anyhow. Here’s Paracas, the Balistas. and the Nasca lines.

  • A Desert Storm on the bus ride to Paracas
  • Our Bus at a Rest area
  • Our Hotel in Paracas (It was very nice and very modern)
  • The inner court yard of the hotel
  • A Very importand part of the hotel – the bar
  • Prove we were there
  • The next morning they picked us up and took us to the airport – Here’s our Pilot (right) and our guide (left)
  • Inside the plane … It had single seats down each side and carried about sixteen people
  • That’s us … Nancy made me sit in front
  • The Landscape below
  • Crops in the desert
  • Pur Desert
  • I think they raised some kind of stock (chickens or pigs) in these shelters
  • This was our guide. He was to put us on the airplane and pick us up when we returned. I asked him how many times he’s been up to see the lines and he said “Never … A flight cost more than I make in a month”. Nancy bought him a ticket and off he went. The young man was ecstatic!
  • Here we are
  • Many of the lines are just long straight lines … miles long
  • A Dried river bed
  • Lines
  • A City in the desert
  • Geometric shapes
  • Lines and shapes
  • Irrigated farms
  • A Lake
  • Some kind of mineral processing
  • Back in the hotel
  • Suculents
  • The Ocean
  • The Harbor
  • After out morning coffe we decided to walk downtown via the beach
  • A LARGE Jellyfish
  • During our walk on the beach and saw many of these large jelly fish. This one was upside down
  • Birds on a fence
  • A Sea Cucumber
  • they might look the same but each picture is a different one
  • Nancy was asking me what I thought they would taste like! … Jelly?
  • Interesting transport
  • Houses Along the Beach
  • Downtown Paracas
  • The Shops
  • Relaxing After a Long Walk and a Day of hard Shopping
  • View From The Refreshment Stand
  • Taking a Boat out to the Balistas
  • Our Captain
  • The Coastal Desert
  • Pelicans … MANY Pelicans
  • This is one of the Nasca Lines but is carved in the banks along the coast … It points towards the inland lines
  • By the Pelicans are the other birds that occupy the Islands … Some kind of sea bird
  • The Balistas
  • The Dark area is all birds!
  • Penguins
  • Seals
  • The Ramp for loading the bird poop (Poop shute!)
  • Seals
  • Baby Seal in Trouble shouting for Mom
  • Mom to the rescue
  • Birds aloft
  • Flamingos
  • The Rest area (These are a little out of order)
  • From The Air
  • Rest Area
  • Sunset in the desert
  • A Nasca Monkey
  • A Spider?
  • A Bird
  • A Spaceman? ET Maybe?

The last few pictures of the Nasca lines, the figures, I downloaded from the internet. The ones I took from the airplane were of the same figures but much poorer quality because of the windows, movement, and my camera. They really do look just like this and are huge. Look’em up!

2014 – 04 – PERU – Manchu Picchu, Iquitos, The Amazon, Cusco, Paracas, Nasca Lines

Welcome to Peru. Manchu Picchu was high on Nancy’s Bucket List and I always was curious about the Nasca Lines so one day we decided to see if we could get to Peru and see some of these wonders we had heard so much about. We went on line and found a site called Peru Tourism, told a young lady there what we were looking to do and see. She said she would email us a proposed itinerary and some associated costs. We went back an forth a few times and settled on the trip we took. I have broke this trip up because of the number of pictures. The website gets weird when there are too many pictures. This first one is the lead in and covers an over view and our time in Lima. There is also a post for Cusco, a post for Paracas, a post for Manchu Picchu, and a post for Iquitos and our time on the Amazon.

Peru was one of our more enjoyable trips. Each thing we saw was with a different company that was contracted by Peru Tours. Our groups, when we had them were small, we met some interesting people, and saw a bunch of interesting things. (If we look young it is because we did this trip eight years ago).

We flew from Miami and arrived in Lima, Peru late in the afternoon. We were met by some helpful gentlemen who took us to our hotel, made sure we were checked in, and told us a lady would meet us in the hotel lobby the next morning.

The next morning there was indeed a young lady waiting for us in the lobby, we sat down and she went over our itinerary, gave us the tickets would would need during our trips, and described how our tour would work. When she finished she told us we had the rest of the day to rest and become accustomed to the higher altitudes (although Lima was not that high).

Here is a map of Peru with the places we went circled:

The Red Lines are travel lines with the squiggles being our flight over the NASCA lines

Not wanting to rest but to see what we came to see we decided to walk down towards the Pacific ocean and see what Lima had to offer. It was very foggy for much of the morning but we did see some interesting things.

High Rise Living (Lima is quuite modern)
A day care
View Down to the Pacific Ocean
Pretty Flowers
Ground Cover on the cliffs
Mixing the Old and the New
A Park
Local Art



A Refreshing Pause with a Local brew
Later In The Day We were Picked up and Had a Tour Of Ancient Lima (An Excavation of the ancient city where the originals lived)
Our Guide and a Hairless Dog
Local Cacti
The Dig
In a Museum at The Site
A Young Lady Trying out her new Drone
Walls were made using mud balls instead of rock
The token Selfie
Then The Tour Took us Downtown New Peru
The Old City Government Buildings
Traffic
City Central Square
Interesting Balconies made of wood
All Wood Balconies
St Rose of Lima Church
Tour of The Church
Very Old Music
Large Bells
Te City Sprawl
Not So Modern Part
Up on the roof top click click click
St Rose of Lima (Look her up)
A Bit About Her
Very old texts
In a very old library
We went back to the park in the afternoon after out tour … no more fog
Kinda Like Goudi’s work in Barcelona
The Kiss
It Works!!!
An Announcement for a Mas Public Wedding Ceremony
The Danncing was in a dark room so no pics (Sorry)
Local Goodies
Last Minute Souvenirs

That was out time in Lima. We returned three times to Lima. Twice just to the airport to go to another city. Lima is an impressive city. Much culture, many warm and welcoming people.

2021 – 12 – Christmas Holiday Season (Including New Years)

Merry Christmas Everyone. Our Christmas Holiday season is being spent relatively local this year. Travel restrictions still keep us from visiting our family in Australia so we are just enjoying what we can where we are. We officially opened our Christmas Holiday Season by sending out our annual Christmas letter.

We have received many cards and emails again this year. It is always fun and interesting to read, and see in many cases, how people have changed or spent the year since we last heard from them. Always good to hear from friends and family.

On the 10th of December Nancy and I went downtown Tampa to enjoy the Tampa Symphony perform their Annual Christmas Concert Special at the Straz. A lovely evening. We spent the evening in town, had dinner at an excellent Moroccan Restaurant, enjoyed the symphony, had a night cap at an Irish Pub, and spent the night at a hotel downtown. We returned home Saturday morning.

So, now we are preparing to spend Christmas itself. We have attended dinners and parties in our neighborhood. Visited and greeted friends and neighbors all around where we live. Tune in later to see what we did for Christmas and New Years.

CHRISTMAS DAY – Again, Merry Christmas Everyone. We are snuggled into a quaint cabin in a ridge above Pigeon Forge, TN. Below us you can see all of the Pigeon Force city area as well as DollyWood.

We arrived here on the evening of 22 December after a scenic drive up though Florida, Georgia, and through The Great Smokey Mountain National Park from Cherokee, NC to Pigeon Forge, TN. The last leg, through the park, was sixty six miles at thirty five miles per hour but very scenic. All the leaves are gone so it’s a bit drab but still very impressive We did see a herd of Elk grazing in some of the lower pastures the park provides. As I mentioned, we arrived here in the evening of 22 Dec. I carried our stuff in from the car and Nancy unpacked the coolers and whatever needed unpacking. It was late so we drove down to Pigeon Forge to find food … you know, Hunting! We lucked out and found a very nice Brewpub (we like brewpubs) that served good food.

After a fulfilling dinner and a couple IPA’s we proceeded back to the cabin, unpacked and went to bed.

The 23rd was set aside for setting up for Christmas in our cabin and doing whatever we wanted. There was a very nice tree already here (with bunches of bright flashing lights) but Nancy still put our little tree up. I may be prejudice but I like ours better. I get photosensitive epilepsy from the flashing lights. Consequently we leave the big tree unplugged. It looks quite nice without the flashing lights. We do keep our little tree lit and shining on us throughout our time in the cabin.

After getting everything squared away at the cabin we decided to go back downtown and see what they have to offer. Pigeon Forge is much larger than one would expect and has an endless variety of shows, rides, restaurants, souvenir shops, museums, and whatever you can imagine. We drove around a bit and then parked and walked through an area called the Island. Interesting place. Best part was a huge fountain that performed to music. Comfortable chairs set up all around it so you could sit and watch and listen as long as you liked. We strolled, shopped, watched, and had a pleasant afternoon.

The Fountain and Ferris wheel
The Shops (Observation Chairs on left)
The Fountain “Performing”
Interesting Moon Shine Shop
Huge Ferris Wheel and Christmas tree
Nancy in the Tree
Entrance to Margaritaville Hotel

That wrapped up the twenty third. Christmas Eve morning found us enjoying home made cinnamon roles and coffee as we worked our way into a day of relaxation and meditation. Here are a few pictures of the cabin where we are staying and the view from our back patio.

Downtown Pigeon Force from our Cabin (Note the Ferris Wheel)
The Living Room and furnished tree
The Tree
Nancy in the Dining Area
The Master Bedroom (Hope the BLM folks don’t get after me for using that word!)
A Pool Table Upstairs (Nancy gave me Pool Lessons)
The View during the day
Our Little tree with a few gifts
Our Stocking ready for Santa
Upstairs

Last night we went to a Christmas Mass at a local Church. First packed service we have seen since the COVID stuff started. A long but nice service.

The Alter and front of the church

When we got home we called our family in Australia. Being way down under they were already well into Christmas day. We got to talk with all of them, joke about our presents, and had a very pleasant conversation. They are all doing well … Thanks for asking. We adjourned for the evening and turned in.

Christmas morning found Santa had come through and filled our stockings. Nancy cut some German Stolen, I made some coffee, and we set out to see what he had brought. A pleasant morning remembering Christmasses past, opening gifts, answering texts from all over, eating Stolen, and drinking coffee.

Santa has filled our Stockings!
The Stolen, the pressies, waiting for the coffee

That was our Christmas Morning. This afternoon Nancy gave me some more pool lessons. Beat me at Cribbage and Gin several times, and we listened to bunches of Christmas music. Later Nancy will be serving one of my favorite dinners; Cornish Hen. After Dinner we will again call Australia to wish our son Andrew a Happy Birthday. More tomorrow.

Wow!! Who would believe it’s the 6th of January in a new year?? My only excuse is that my films got lost at the photo center and I had to wait for them to be found. I’m sticking to that one.

We did call Andrew on his Birthday. We had a nice chat. We also undecorated the cabin from what we had put up and went down to the Brew Pub we started at for dinner. We had a nice dinner, came back to the cabin, packed the car, and got ready for an early departure the next morning. Which we did.

The drive from Tennessee to Florida is kind of interesting and takes about ten hours to drive … if you don’t get stuck in a traffic jam. Which we did. About one hundred miles from home we encountered the transformation of I75 from an interstate highway to a parking lot. Traffic stopped or moved very slowly. We finally bailed off of the interstate and zig zagged across Florida to the west coast and came home that way. We got home only a couple hours later than we had planned. On the 28th we unpacked, Nancy washed, we repacked, did some errands, spent a few hours with some friends, and prepared for our New Year’s event which was meeting Nancy’s Brother Brian and his wife Deb in Miami and driving down to Key West to spend New years. We drove to Miami on the 29th and checked into a hotel near the airport. We were tired so we just walked to a nearby pizza place for dinner. It turned out to be quite interesting as it claimed to be an Italian Pizza Place, but was ran by a Cuban guy who had lived in Italy. He had some friends there from Venezuela. It was an interesting group, we had a pleasant dinner, had an interesting conversation, and went back to the hotel and turned in.

The next morning we picked up Brian and Deb at Miami International. Was an interesting event as there was no parking available so we would park at some curb until the police chased us off and we would move to a new spot. Thank goodness Brian and Deb we only about an hour late. We scooped them up and headed south to Key west. It was a ninety mile drive that took four hours! A bunch of people were joining us!

We checked into our hotel, which was on Duval Street, and walked towards downtown looking for dinner. We found some food at an upstairs place that over looked the street. Shared several appetizers.

The Upstairs Place we ate at
The empty plates … we were all hungry!

We spent the rest of the evening exploring and turned in to rest up for the 31st.

The 31st we spent the day visiting local points of interest, local watering holes, and celebrating New Year’s Eve. Fun day, long, but fun.

Locals
Brian & Deb at THE Marker
Getting ready to visit the Green Parrot bar … Hemingway’s favorite
More LOcals
Our Hotel
New Year’s Eve

We had a very good diner at a nice restaurant on Duval and continued the evening’s activities till about one or two. I think I crashed first.

New Year’s day was kinda mellow. The hotel provided a pleasant breakfast so we enjoyed a leisurely time having that. Then we walked about the pier watching the big Tarpon swim around. Stopped at an interesting place for a late lunch, then boarded a big Catamaran for a Sunset cruise. The cruise was great, the sunset spectacular.

The Catamaran
Open Bar
The Sun getting ready to Set
Boats everywhere
The Live Music
The Captain
Munchies
Someone Para Sailing
The Sun is Pushing the ocean down!
A TiKi Party Boat
The Harbor at night

That was it for New Year’s day. It was up and at them the next morning. Brian and Deb had an 8 PM flight out of Miami and there were rumors of bad traffic all the way there. Consequently we left early and encountered a little traffic but not bad. Because we got back to Miami early we decided to show Brian & Deb The Everglades National Park. It is Winter so there was not much activity. It was a nice drive and we did see a lot of birds.

Great White Egret

We got them back to the airport in time for their flight and they were off. I did find an interesting advertisement.

This is the real thing. If you want to be treated for a hangover they inject fluids and vitamins and you are supposed to feel great immediately. None of us tried it but we did run into one guy who had and he said it worked great.

So that was out holiday season from Pre-Christmas to New Years. It is different each year and a chance to try and enjoy different things. Wish you all could’ve been along.

2021 – 11 – Thanksgiving In Hayesville, NC

We decided we did not want to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas at home and we still can’t go to Australia so we decided to “Get Away” by renting a cabin for each of the holidays. For Thanksgiving we rented, through Airbnb a two bedroom cabin in Hayesville, North Carolina. We have never spent much time in the Smokies so we decided to give it a try.

It turned out really nice and while it was a long drive it was not really a trip. It was just getting there and back. Hayesville is about six hundred miles from where we live so we decided to drive it in one day. The drive was uneventful even though it went through Atlanta. The heaviest traffic was in the suburbs to the Northeast of Atlanta. Fortunately we made it with no problems and just a few colorful words by Bill regarding other “drivers”.

The cabin turned out to be really nice, quite remote and private … and nice and quiet. It had plenty of room for the two of us. Was very nicely furnished and provisioned. Nancy brought everything she would need to prepare one of her wonderful Thanksgiving dinners so we were all set. Interestingly enough the cabin did not have a TV and only a slow Satellite Internet link. We don’t really watch all that much TV and usually only use the internet for our email so that was no problem. The owners had left a number of board games, we brought a deck of cards and a cribbage board, and I brought an old laptop I had that still had a DVD player so we each picked out a couple movies from our library that we could watch in the evenings. We were never bored, enjoyed several old movies we had not seen in a long time, Nancy abused me at Yatzee, and I squeaked out a victory or two on the cribbage board.

Here are some pictures of the cabin.

The Dining Room & Table
The Living Room
The Kitchen
The Loft
The View Out The Back
The Front of The Cabin
Ice in the Birdbath
The Back Side of the Cabin at Sunset
The Kitchen from the Other Side
The Master Bedroom
Looking Down from The Master Bedroom/Loft
A Cute Knick Knack
The Fireplace
We “Borrowed” a Couple Gourds the owners had outside and combined them with
some decorations Nancy brought from Home for the table
Getting ready!
Wine we brought back from germany
Ready to Eat

On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we decided to drive up and see Great Smokey Mountain National park. We originally had a couple ways to get there but found that one way had been blocked by a landslide. We took a route that was west of where we were and it turned out to be quite a day. Part of the drive included a famous piece of road call “Tail of the Dragon” which features 380 curves in eleven miles. It is a favorite Summertime drive for Bikers and sports cars. We did it in our Subaru and it was still a ot of fun. I saw my tail lights a couple times. Great Smokey Mountain National Park is great but it was packed. The holiday weekend was clear and sunny so everyone took one last drive to the park. The park is just south of Gatlinburg and Knoxville so all the tourists from there came by. Sorry but no pictures. On the way home we stopped in Hayesville and had dinner at the Nocturnal Brew Pub. It was a great day. Saturday we just veged out. Played some cards, relaxed, packed a bit, and had leftover turkey for dinner. Sunday we drove home. Great trip.

For Christmas we have rented a Cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee which is a little father north from where we spent Thanksgiving. My Christmas Holiday post will include things we do at home, ouir time at Pigeon Forge, and our trip to Key West for New Years.

SOUTH ISLAND – New Zealand

South Island is not like North island in some ways, the people are pretty much the same but the geography is different and it is farther to the south (or north as we would look at it). The southern tip of South Island has seals and is much like the Patagonian areas of South America, although not as close, it not that far away either.

Our track in yellow

The ferry we were on sailed across the Cook Straight and picked its way through the Islands on the north side of South Island to a small town called Picton. We disembarked and walked across the harbor to the car rental place and picked up our rental, drove to our hotel, checked in, and walked about enjoying a festival they were having near our hotel.

Coming into Picton
Our Ferry and the harbor
View from our hotel
The festival
New Zealanders like to picnic
Lotsa flowers
I’m watch’en you!

The next morning we went to church in a small chapel and headed west for the west coast of South Island. We passed a couple cellar Doors where local vineyards were selling wine but we didn’t stop. We made it to the west coast and drove out to Cape Foulwind (what a name!). Very rocky, nice light house, seals.

A non-racist misslette for kids
The turn to Cape Foulwind
An Info board on the light house
The rocks
The light house
Quite desolate
Info signs about the Cape
Walking out to the seals
There’s one now!
Having lunch

We drove back to the main road and proceeded south. The shore was rocky and the sea turbulent. Great views. A little farther down we came to “The Pancakes”. Thousands of thin layers of rock eroded by the sea forming interesting shapes, dramatic coves, and mysterious formations.

The rocky shore
The Pancakes. See why they are called “The Pancakes”?
There was a trail out to them. the wind was blowng and there was a mist in the weather but we decided we were going anyhow. Well worth the effort!
Water (waves) thundered in and out of this cove.
Sea weed hanging on the edges
Another thunderous cove. The waves would rush in, crash against
the end and explode into the air
Like I said, “Windy!”
Rock formations
Interesting
Sea weed
Wind blown, wet, but happy … Life is good!

We walked around the gift shop a bit to kinda get our breath back, then got in the car, turned on the heater to dry out, and pressed on. First was a reindeer farm, then a glacier. We hiked out to the glacier but the fog was inso it was difficult to see it. If you wanted to walk out to it you had to hire a guide, wait till he had enough people to make a group and walk out with the guide. We chose to walk around the river and along it to where the glacier was.

A reindeer farm … These are all Does for breeding stock. They raise reindeer here like the raise Angus out west.
Run off from the Glacier
The valley that the Glacier is in
Glacier runoff is usually muddy due to the ground up rocks embedded in them. The moving ice pulverises the rocks.
Crossing the river on a suspended foot bridge (I let Nancy go first!)
There she goes
The river below
The trail
A Stream along the tril
Another bridge
A muddy trail
The Glacier
A Stream
A close up of the glacier in the fog
The glacier on the mountain

We left the glacier, drove across the river, and headed up into the mountains to a ski resort town named Queenstown. We lucked out and got this really nice two bedroom unit up on the hillside over looking the lake. The scenery was incredible, the room was terrific, but we only stayed one night. We did go down town and walk around, had some dinner, talked to some locals. Great day and evening.

Crossing the bridge. Nearly all the bridges are one lane so proper protocol and politeness are essential. Most teveryone honored the right of way signs. As you approached the bridge there was a sign indicating which direction had the right of way.
Thunder Creek Falls
Our Room in Queenstown. All the pictures are the view from our patio. I didn’t take any photos downtown.
A ferry operated crossing the lake
Queenstown at night (From a poster)

We left Queenstown and visited an old gold mining village near by. No pictures, just stores and stuff. We then proceeded out to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is a huge fyord that comes in from the ocean. We went on a half day long boat trip that took us all the way out to the sea and back. Incredible scenery. Water running off of the high sides, seals, boaters. I’m not going to label each one as most are self explanatory. Just flip through them and enjoy. We were not even sure we were going to go as the weather was forecasted to be rainy and foggy. We stayed in a small town about 20 miles inland and figured we would decide in the morning. the morning was marginal but promising so we took a chance. It turned out perfect. A wonderful day.

Entrance to Milford Sound
Mildford Sound on a poster
Milford Sound the day we got there!
Because it is connected to the sea there are tides … this is low tide
Tour boats and tourists
Our tourboat
slowly clearing
Nancy’s ready to go!
Run Off falls … hundreds of them
Leaving the harbor
Rushing water
The Fjord
Kyakers
Another tour boat
Rain bows in the falls
Seals
Taking a sip
Our turn
The Ocean
More Seals
Dipping into the falls
The poopy deck
The spots on the lens means the camera man is getting wet!
Snow on the peaks … source of the runoff

That was Milford sound. Took an entire day to see it but well worth the time and effort. Hope you didn’t get tired of the falls. They are all kinda the same but each unique in their own way.

From Milford Sound we decideed not to go all the way to the souther tip. Many miles and all it offered was seals and turbulent ocean .. we had seen that so we deided to head over to the east coast. So we did. Went through two interesting towns, Gore and Clinton, then got to Dunedin on the east coast. Most notable thing on the east coast was a beach covered with huge, round boulders. Some had split and were filled with an agate type material. Looked like dinasour eggs to me, or maybe Martian eggs … who knows? There’s a photo that explains them. We saw similar boulders in the British Virgin Islands (see post) so they do get around.

Coming up on the east coast
The boulders … many were “Hatched
Here’s one hatching now!!
They are big and there many of them
White things in the trees
Spider cocoons
Poster Photos
The story

On the way north we saw several reindeer farms. The ones with the horns were the cash crop that went to the market … or that Santa bought.

The Ocean (South Pacific)
Reindeer
Nice rack!

Then we got to Christchurch. A lovely old city. The first books I read about New Zealand had the settlers landing in Christchurch and heading north to stake their ranches (Stations) for sheep. Christchurch was heavily damaged by a severe earthquake in 2011. 185 people were killed in the 6.2 Richter scale quake was so damaging because it struck in the same area a 7.1 quake struck in 2010. The city was struggling to recover and doing well. Impressive perseverance.

Christchurch … very modern progressive city. Very clean and safe
Earthquake damage evident most everywhere
A Huge Cathedral, severly damaged
Trying to save the cathedral
Quake info
This is a rebuilt shopping mall made from Shipping containers. very well done, modern storefronts .. very interesting and innovative
This is the cardboard cathedral. It was built after the earthquake and made nearly entirely of cardboard tubes … some very large and long but still cardboard tubes.
The vertical rafters are cardboard tubes
A Lovely Park
A fun part of town. Shops, restaraunts, bars, street cars.
and refreshments for the thirsty movie stars
Interesting use of bells
Never saw this before … I usually don’t sit!
At the hotel
At the airport … That’s a boarding pass for our flight back to Mebourne in my pocket

That’s New Zealand. A most interesting, diverse country. Highly recommend you go there if you ever have the chance. Great people. As I mentioned earlier. This was one of several trips we took during this time in Australia. Watch for future posts of the other trips. A peak? Okay … Melbourne down to the Great Ocean Hiway, up towards Adelaide, then up the Newell Highway to Toowoomba and on to Brisbane. or, Brisbane south to New castle, Sydney, and Melbourne. Lastly, Gold Coast North to Toowoomba, south along the granite belt then down to Tamborine Mountain. Stay tuned .. they are coming soon.

2016 – 01 – NEW ZEALAND

Our first trip to the east side of of Australia was to visit our Son and his family who had just moved to Coomera (Just south of Brisbane) in late 2015. They had originally planned to move to Tasmania but had changed their minds at the last minute. Consequently, we had already made plans and bought airplane tickets to and from Melbourne with plans to take a Ferry to Tasmania, rent a car, and drive to where ever they had settled. Because they were in Coomera and we were already flying into Melbourne (which we could not change) we decided to see a little of eastern Australia before, during, and after our visit with our family. We were going there for the holidays (Christmas, Andy’s birthday, New Years. and my birthday) and had made arrangements to spend at least a couple months there. We flew in to Melbourne in early December, spent a few days there, then traveled in the area and eventually up to Coomera arriving just before Christmas.

After the holidays we decided to drive down the east coast of Australia to Sydney and on to Melbourne, leave our luggage there and take a two week trip to New Zealand, back to Melbourne and home. Eventually I will post each major segment of our time in Oz (Australia) but for now, and to keep the posts from getting way to long, I will post each segment separately. This post is our time in New Zealand. There will be two sub posts with this one. North Island and South Island.

A bit about New Zealand. I was never personally interested in going to NZ. I thought of it as stodgy old Brits, goats, sheep, and aboriginal people. I was very wrong. NZ is an amazing place with a tremendously diverse population, geography, and history. The indigenous people there are Maori (pronounced Mow ray) and are proud, hard working people who can tell you what boat their ancestors came to NZ on from Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, or other South Pacific Island. They have reclaimed much of their land from early poachers through the courts and hard work. They are active in all levels of government and proud of their country. There may be some Aboriginals in NZ but very few. Most live in Australia.

The early settlers, or poachers, were Europeans who came to NZ and claimed large tracts of land and used the locals to farm it for them. They have seen the writing on the wall and are working with the government to reinstate original owners and pay local workers a fair wage. While they did bring progress, they are not entitled to colonization.

The geography of NZ is the most amazing. In two little islands you can find mountains, deserts, fertile farmland, forests, glaciers, thermal activity, swamps, and seacoasts. Their history is just as diverse.

We only had a couple weeks to spend in NZ so we moved quickly to cover both Islands. I have included maps depicting where we drove. I took pictures of things Nancy and I found interesting. Follow along and I encourage you to goggle or research anything or place I mention because my photos and commentary do not do the country justice.

We had no real itinerary. We stopped at the end of each day and started at the next morning. We had made no reservations so as we got to mid afternoon we would decide how much farther we were going, find a McDonalds that has WiFi, logged on to booking.com and found a place to stay a couple hours down the road. We would go out for dinner, talk about our next day and get some sleep. Breakfast was normally included, and we pressed on. Life is good!

Come on along!