Down Under January 2014 | The end of a long day -- but that was two days ago

We are able to post!

W are finally settled in to our not-so-hot motel in Kaikoura (the view is nice) and needing to catch up on our sleep. It's about 20 hours door to door: 16+ hours San Francisco to Christchurch and about a 2.5 hour drive to Kaikoura on the east coast just north of Christchurch. Immigration and customs is a lengthy three-step process in which they checked our hiking gear (no animal dung on my boots!), and of course I had a lot of gf supplies that I had to declare and dig out of my bag. It all adds up.

Between naps I was able to get my first glimpse of NZ (Americans will need to practice saying ZED, not ZEE). There are sheep, sheep and more sheep grazing but no sign of farm houses or sheep herders. The hills outside of Christchurch are beautifully green--a mix of groves and fields, especially the Waipara Valley. It's a spectacular oasis of vineyards and verdant hills. There are wineries lining the road so we stopped at Waipara Springs where we tasted our first local wines, a flight of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Reisling, and shared an abundant lunch platter of meats and cheeses, local NZ salmon, fresh fruits, greens, olives, hummus and a tomato relish (not together!), and for me, some toasted gluten free bread. We opted for the Pinot Gris, but on the few hours of sleep we'd managed on the plane, and the drive still ahead of us, we took a bottle to go. It's already the 30^th here, so tomorrow night is New Year's Eve and it won't last long..

We are off whale watching tomorrow morning hopefully and for a hike. They had to cancel the last sailing of the day today due to weather, so there is no guarantee we will go tomorrow morning as planned. It's clear and sunny tonight, so let's hope so. I'm packing some warm things just in case, and hope to stay dry. According to the promotion you can expect to see the big five: sperm whale, Hector's dolphin, the dusky dolphin, the NZ fur seal and the bottlenose dolphin.

Not sure when I will get this posted as I can't access the wi-fi here at the hotel without paying (cheap-o) and I'm too tired to walk back to town to a cafe. Off to bed with a good book.

Down Under January 2014 | Itinerary

You can find our itinerary here.

Down Under January 2014 | How to comment on the blog

Lots of friends and family had trouble posting comments on the blog so I thought I would offer a few suggestions. Here's how:

• After you read a post, look for the redish ink that says comments (it's a link). Click on it.
• Now you are at the comments window. Type your comment in the space provided.
• Next, look for the direction "comment as". This is the important part. Well no, your comment is what is important, but if you get this part wrong I won't see it.
• There is a pull down window. Click on that and you will see a number of choices. I think only two of these will apply to most of you.
• IF you have a google account, choose google. If you are not logged in, you will be asked to log in to your google account. Log in, then click "Publish".
• IF you DO NOT have a google account, choose "anonymous" from the drop down menu. Then add your name to the end of your comment. Finally click "publish".

If you want to get a notice when there is a new post, click on the subscribe link at the bottom of the comments page.

Packing tonight, and off to dinner with Allan and Gene. We leave tomorrow at 7pm, but heading out from Santa Cruz at about 2pm, arriving in Christchurch late afternoon on the 30th.

Happy New Year!

Down Under January 2014 | Making a list and checking it twice

Christmas morning in Santa Cruz. Annie is resting her chin on my knee, waiting not-so-patiently for her morning walk. It's beautiful here in Santa Cruz: cool at night and warm during the day. It's not shorts and t-shirt weather for me, but lots of people are enjoying the warm by dressing down. It's been a week of lists: daily grocery shopping and Christmas dinner prep to-dos. Margaret is finalizing things for 11 guests; I'm thinking about getting away soon! We leave on Saturday, so I've got all the usual things to do.

The best news this week, is that we got a very cheap upgrade on Air New Zealand. We were given an opportunity to "go one-up" a week or two ago. It's a bidding process: put in your bid and see how you do. Despite our decidedly "poor" bid, and a second email encouraging us to bid up, we both got seats in Premier Economy (alas no business class for us) in the upper deck for $300. That will make the ride a whole lot smoother!

Breakfast time. Then off to West Cliff Drive for a beach walk.