Science Lessons from down under the down under

If you are reading this and you live in the northern hemisphere ie: Utah, then answer the following questions. #1 When you flush your toilet does is spin clockwise or counterclockwise? #2 If it is a cold winter afternoon do you lay in the sun near the windows on the north side of your house or on the south side of your house? Whatever your answers are then they are just the opposite if you live in the southern hemisphere ie: New Zealand.

Now that we have been here over seven months now, we feel a wee bit "away with the fairies" that it took us this long to realize these things. At the first, we could tell you that our sky was obviously different at night. I so miss the big and little dipper and the northern star. We do have the southern cross but I can't find it as quickly. Just little things that make you think "wow, you aren't in Kansas anymore Dorothy". We were able to see orian's belt in the far northern sky at the same time you could see it in your southern sky. I don't know where it is now. I can't see it.

Last week a local missionary told us he had tomatoes coming up and he had some to give anyone who missed their gardens. (At home we wouldn't plant a tomatoe in the fall) I told him that we wouldn't be able to grow any because we are on the 3rd floor and the only windows we have are directly looking north. (He looked at me kind of funny) As I was walking home I thought to myself that it was strange that the sun was so far north and actually blinding me. In my flat, I noticed lots of sun right in the windows and all through that side of the house. So I looked at my map and checked the direction of our flat. Yes we were facing north, how could that be. In the winter time at home I always went to my south windows. It just takes some of us a bit longer than it should. Then at church today I was making fun of myself and telling a local kiwi. He told me to go home and let water out of a drain and notice which direction it goes. I called a freind when I got home from church. (10:40 pm Utah time--aren't you glad I didn't call you). I asked her to put water in her sink and tell me direction it rotates out. (Now that was an emergency wasn't it?) Another fun scientific difference that I would love to see is the aurora australis or the southern polar lights. (I saw the northern lights in my backyard in Layton years ago and they were "brilliant".) They are common over the south island but still visible from Auckland when everything is right. One report is of the sky so red that the whole city was alive with people ringing bells and honking horns they were so excited. Well, we took a tomato plant after all and it's doing rather well. It's grown from a 1" plant to a 3" plant in less than a week. It's a monster!

Hey we took our favorite walk to and from Devenport by way of the ocean at low tide. We found a fun glass artist that is so fantastic. Look at his web site http://www.peter-raos.com/ or http://www.raos.co.nz/ Notice the small album titled Relief Society Retreat and walk to Devenport. (what is up with this? only under 100 pictures)

Miriams cousins vist New Zealand

Miriam's three cousins --Mark Crookston, wife Camille, Marnita Hill, Myra Dalton, and friend Carolyn came to New Zealand to enjoy the festivities around the 50th anniversary of the Church College of New Zealand. They started in the South Island and worked their way up to the North where they stayed with us for a few days. They had a great time doing the tourist thing. Myra stayed in Hamilton a couple extra days where she served. We picked her up and had a fun drive coming home stoping at some fun places we wanted to show off to her. When Mark served his mission his last area was our current ward boundaries. At church he was able to meet people that actually remembered him. We all enjoyed Pihi beach together with the wild waves crazy surfers. They saw forests, beaches, bush and sea shells. We hope it was a vacation they will long remember. Marnita took the opportunity to stay a couple of days longer than the rest of the group. She and Miriam took the bus into the city where they visited an Art Gallery. Marnita stuck around for church enjoyed a visit from the missionaries, had FHE with the Senior Missionaries, visited One Tree Hill, and ate biscuits and ice cream. We want to thank our cousins for visiting us and our wonderful New Zealand. You know you are all welcome. It is getting a bit colder here as winter is approaching. Our homes don't have any heat so if it gets too cold we have little heaters we roll around to heat the rooms. Back to work, the mission office, zone conferences, cool ward firesides and preparing a high priests lesson for Sunday. Hope you all enjoy the pics of their visit. Cheers!

Heaps of fun, down under with the Huggins!

Hey our friends of 25 years from Layton came to visit us in New Zealand! We have been so excited. Bob had the vacation time so we planned a really great trip for them and us. We picked them up on Mon. the 7th of April at 6 am at the Auckland airport. We went straight to one tree hill for the sunrise over Auckland. We then drove down to show them the NZ Temple in Hamilton, then on to Rotorua. There we went to the "Living Village" where we ate a hangi (traditional Maori pit cooking over the natural thermal pits). We had a tour of their village and we watched their cultural performance were they did all their Maori traditional songs, dance and of course the huka. Then we were off to find our accommodations. It is very common for people to rent out vacation homes called a bach in NZ. Bob found a really nice one near Lake Rotoiti. We drove up to find a note and the most wonderful setting. Right on the beautiful lake. Lovely gardens, private spa, kayaks and dinghy. After Leigh and Ruth paddled back from their sunset on the lake Leigh said, "Could we just spend the whole vacation here?" Instead of going back for dinner we pulled out the rice crackers, flavored sweet Thai chili tuna and avocados. The Huggins got a good nights sleep after their long flight and day. And Bob and I are so so happy to have them here.


The next morning after Ruth and I had a walk in our New Zealand country side we had a little breakfast and took off for the Agrodome for the Sheep and Wool shows and exhibits. (Hey we are in New Zealand you know.) We learned that Ruth had great cow milking abilities even in front of over a hundred people. On the southwest end of Rotorua we found the Redwood Forest. We took the hour walk through them. This is what we all enjoyed most in the area. We ate a huge sandwich at the Fat Dog in town then drove north to the Peninsula. Bob only caused my blood pressure to elevate seriously once. He passed a car when another one was coming. Of course Leigh was way impressed and gave Bob a high five. (Shouldn't encourage him should we?) We stopped in a little town that had a lovely quilting and fabric store. After dragging Ruth out we continued up to hot water beach. We arrived at the beach just before dusk. It was high tide. We walked down a ways and planned our strategy for the early morning hours. Found our bach in Cook's beach. Most importantly after finding the torch (flashlight) we found the key under the house. Had a good dinner and went to bed. Our first alarm went off at 1 am. That was not planned. We did get up at 2 am and made our way back to hot water beach with our bucket and spade (shovel). Our purpose was to dig our own personal hot tub by finding the thermal water coming up through the beach at low tide. We got our toes and heals busy. We found 6 to 12 great sources of very hot water. It would scald your toes if you left them there. The problem we had was every 4th wave was a huge surge and would cover your spot. Come to find out there was a storm out at sea that was creating the surges. After a fun hour in the moonlight searching with our feet we did give up and went back to the bach and to bed again. It was a good memory though. In the morning we took off to get back to our flat in Takapuna. Stopped at the Pokenos for lunch and their famous ice cream. It was a beautiful drive around the peninsula.

Thurs April 10th we got out the door by 4:15 am and arrived north in Tutukaka by 8 am. Huggins had a dive day at the famous Poor Knights Marine Reserve. Bob and I had a "brilliant" day ourselves. We found a sweet beach to eat breakfast on. Then took off on a loop trail at Matapouri. We successful made a 45 min loop/return walking track into a 4 hour walk. We loved Whale Bay, Pebbly Bay and the other unnamed sites. Went down to most of the beaches and found a hole in the rock to Mermaid Pool. It was a really great day. We picked up Huggins and went to our Backpackers/KOA like accommodations. It was really pretty nice and very quiet for our full nights sleep. We all woke up in the morning and took walks and on the road to Kawiti Glow worm caves. We just walked around without going in. Then to Kawakawa to the famous Hundertwasser's Toilets. He is a famous architect that is such a great artist. We really enjoyed that little town. Ice Cream in hand we headed off to hwy 12. We stopped at the Hokianga Bay area. Took a scenic walk to view the Tasman Sea coast. Then down to the Kauri (Waipoua)Forest. These are really old and really big trees. Tane Mahuta (God of the Forest) has a girth of 13.3 meters (39 feet), 51 meters tall (150 ft). Tematua Ngahere (Father of the Forest) is about 2000 years old. It is now illegal to cut them down so they find them in swamps and make beautiful things out of them. Many of them are 50,000 years old from the swamps. We have a bunch of pictures on the link to the right. This was a good day but oh, such a long day of driving. It was about 10 hours for Bob. There are beautiful green hills and countryside everywhere. Leigh is wondering if people live in New Zealand. (We won't take him to Auckland for a while yet) We got home and were happy to find our pillows. The next day was Saturday. We got up to low tide so we went on a walk from Takapuna beach south. There are wonderful tall rock walls. It is all Lava from Rangitoto which is the volcano to the east of the beach. At low tide it makes a wonderful walk. We found ourselves eating lunch at Genghis Khan, a Mongolian BBQ. Then we set off to see the Victorian village of Devenport. There are two volcanic cones that Bob and I really enjoy. The tallest is Mt. Victoria. Bob's favorite is North Head. They have both been military defense sites for both the first and second World War. We brought our torches (flashlights) and wandered around in the tunnels. They leave them open for people to do just that. We came home and watched a session of conference on our computer together. We will miss church in the mortuary in Queenstown tomorrow because of flight times.

April 13th we went to the airport for our flight to Queenstown on the South Island. The visibility was wonderful once we got on the south island. The right of the plane was so green and the left of the plane was so brown. Very massive and steep mountains everywhere. This is fall and we saw many many glaciers on tops of mountains. Bob and Leigh thought the airport was so cool as the planes had to circle and come in between mountains to land. Leigh being a pilot was particularly intrigued. We found our rental car and YHA accommodations and then took off for Arrowtown. We ate our lunch by the side of one of the world's best gold panning rivers. We heard bagpipes so took off to find them. They were in the town square doing a concert. We enjoyed that a lot. Much of the south island has Scottish influence because of the early settlers. Dunedin even has a castle there. Being fall the town was full of color. Beautiful fall leaves everywhere. Took off to see the lake and town of Wanaka to the north. Very windy roads. Lots of deer and lots of sheep. It was quite a long drive. The locals go to Wanaka for holiday. Back to the YHA. It is a Thai New Years holiday so many many Thais were there. It was fun to see their traditional food they cook in the kitchen. The next morning we walked over to our jet boat excursion. It was so fun. Bob and Leigh were really getting wet. Ruth and I laughed and laughed. Jet Boats can run in 10 cm of water, are high speed, are very maneuverable and can do 360 spins on a dime. We then went back to Arrowtown to do some shopped that we didn't want to do on Sunday. We drove east and found the original bungy jump over the gorge of the Kawarau River. We watched 3 people drop off the old bridge. That was fun just watching them. Then to the cheese factory down the road for a lunch of cheese and crackers. We then drove back toward Queenstown and went to Glenarchy. This is where the scenery really started to change. Taller, greener, steeper mountains. More glaciers on the tops of them. We went all the way to the Routeburn Track. There was a 1 hour nature loop walk at the end of it. Two or Three swinging bridges. It was very mossy and tropical feeling. Actually it is more like the very top of the north island except the vegetation is probably different. We were getting done at dusk and drove home in the dark. Dropped the rental car off and walked back. It was kind of an uncomfortable night with noisy neighbors but all in all it was good.

After waking up on Tuesday morning we met our bullet bus in front of our YHA to take us to the Milford Sound. The bus was so cool. It was mostly all windows and the guys could even stand up in it. Windows even on the ceiling. It was slanted up so the back seats could see very well also. Our bus driver/tour guide, Gavin kept us both entertained and informed on the 5 hour journey to Milford. We made stops for walks, lunch, pictures, loo breaks and a very cool steam engine train ride. The Kingston flyer. We loved that. We reached the sound at 4 pm and boarded our ship, the Wanderer. There were 50 people on board. We got on board and the captain gave us a small presentation on safety etc. We headed out into the sound which is really a fjord because it was carved by an ancient glacier and not by running water. Its hard to describe. Very steep mountains (4000 ft) that dive right down into the water. The boat set anchor in Harrison cove and Miriam and 25 other guests hopped in their kayaks and went for a little cruise of the sound. The rest of the guests went in a small power boat for a little nature ride along the steep banks of the sound. We saw gorgeous waterfalls, ate great food, met wonderful people, shared a small birth (9 feet wide by 6.5 ft long) with 4 people, showers with people of the opposite sex (what goes on in New Zealand-stays in New Zealand), and had just a great time. We settled down for a good night and in the morning woke to a great breakfast, raised anchor and sailed out to the Tasman sea. Following that adventure we headed for the wharf. On our way in we were joined by a pod of dolphins that wanted to ride our bow wake. That was an incredible site. At times you could see four or five dolphins jumping and surfing the wake of our boat. They were having a great time. Off the boat, back on the bus, dropped off at the airport and home again, home again, jiggity jig. Special thanks to the Huggins on joining us on what we considered a vacation of a lifetime. Enjoy the pictures (they will be up in a few days yet)

The Big Trip (Australia, Japan, China)

Miriam says I need to blog. Ok work gave me the tough assignment of going to Sydney, Tokyo and Hong Kong. So a co-worker flew in from SLC and we started doing our work thing here in New Zealand, then we took off for about three weeks. Besides work, which was good, we had a grand time visiting these countries, trying to talk to people that didn't understand English, and being a traditional tourist. Some Hi-lights:
New Zealand...We took our good buddy Curtis to Goat Island for a afternoon of snorkeling. Curtis had never snorkeled before and we had a grand time. We found some big fish, the water was great and a good time was had by all. We also did a bush walk for some great views of the coast line.
Sydney Australia....We spent a Saturday touring the city of Sydney. A walk around the harbour, checking out Paddy's market (great place to get coin purses made from kangaroo scrotum's), china town, The opera house (very cool), their version of a sky tower (great views), Tim Tam Slams, 3 packages (delicious), and a pie and mashed peas with bbq sauce (an Aussie favorite). We were able to get tickets to a fireside with Elder Bednar which was great. He used a question/ answer format and the entire country could call. Mark Allen, the HR Manager in Sydney was a great host and we had a grand time.
Tokyo Japan...Language was a little difficult in Japan. Eating was a challenge also. We wanted to honor the country by eating what they ate. So, our host took us to a little diner and they put in front of us a plate that had boiled eel, and five piles of rice. Laying on top of the rice was a nice succulent slice of raw fish of different varieties. There was Salmon, Tuna, shell fish, and a couple of others. You would dip them in soy sauce and eat away. It was just OK. No it was hard to eat, but we did it. We visited the market, saw some temples where you can buy some blessings, drove around the Emperor's property, took a bunch of pictures.
Hong Kong. What a wild city. We got there around a holiday so we just had to go for it by ourselves. They have a great subway system so we took off. We visited all of their markets (flower, bird, fish, sportswear, electronic, ladies, night, jade). We bickered with market people all day, spent money for goodies and had a great time. We took a cable car to the top of a mountain for a great view. We crossed the harbour at night for an incredible building light show. We saw some old temples and our host Liana and her staff were great.
At all of our cities we were able to visit the REAL temple and do sessions and take pictures. We had a wonderful time. I really missed my sweetie and it was good to get home....Enjoy the picture albums.

Time "Alone" while Bob is away

Bob's coworker from SLC came about 2.5 weeks ago to do projects with Bob in New Zealand, Sydney, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Bob will be back at the end of this week. I have been really fortunate to keep myself really busy with wonderful things and people so the time has gone quickly. I have worked at the mission office, done my usual walks, swam a few times and met some neighbors, gone on a split as a missionary with Sister Tiatia from Samoa. (Wow, that was a story in itself). I tramped the Tongariro Crossing which I talked about below. I was invited to attend the Senior Missionary Conference where Sister Marsh and Sister Jackson were my companions for 2 and a half days. (What a very sweet and choice experience that was). I continued to do my Nursery calling and attend my Mandarin speaking class. (I said the closing prayer in Mandarin--I think). The Woottons moved in our apt. before Bob left and actually moved out early(yesterday) because the Turpins apt. was available when they returned to Bountiful early because their 31 year old daughter died. The Owens stayed a night here as well as the Sr. Sisters. Elder and Sister Wootton stayed with me on Easter Sunday and we had a nice meal together. (They actually were invited somewhere else but took pity on me). So you can see that I have been really busy moving people in and out and adapting to new situations. I loved my birthday where I was able to communicate with all my children. I so appreciate any emails I have received. Thank you so much. It is all very good even though I hate to have Bob gone the Lord has really blessed me. (I'll add some pictures when I get some-Bob has camera)

A great day on the Tongariro Crossing

Bob is in Australia, Tokyo and Hong Kong for several weeks. I was fortunate to be invited by some lovely people to hike through a trio of active craters and volcanoes called the Tongariro Crossing. To all you "Lord of the Rings" fans, you know it as Mt. Doom. Look at our pictures but also for a great description with pictures go to http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0510/sports/new_zealand_trekking.html (It now works.) I also just recently got the pictures up. Go to the picture link and click on Tongaririro Crossing. It isn't every day you get to tramp through 5 different ecosystems in a geothermic setting. It was kind of erie. Some people describe it as surreal. (I'm not really sure what that means but I will go with it). Starting in purple hills with heather, through badlands to steam weathered volcanic summits. Then up along the very windy ridge line (was able to put gloves on for the first time in about a year) with fumaroles belching out and smelling like Yellowstone. Then looking down into the red crater you see the wonderful dark brick red color. This one last erupted in 1926. On the ridge near this crater you can feel the warmth coming up through the soil. I loved the emerald pools. They were not hot. (How do you think I know that?) This is the most closely monitored seismic terrain in all of New Zealand. In 1995 Ruapehu went off. They had warnings so only 1 skier broke his leg. He wasn't supposed to be there. This one closed the resort for 2 years. They learned their lesson when in 1953 they lost around 150 lives from one of the volcanoes. The highest point was 6,187 ft. The lowest was 2,460 ft. We only hiked 11.5 miles. There were about 1000 people on the trail. We looked like ants along the way. I think I was the only American I talked to that day. We took a long time at 7.5 hours. We didn't need to hurry because the shuttle was scheduled to pick us up at a specific time. The last hour of the trail takes you back into the familiar New Zealand Bush with lush podocarp hardwood, many ferns and lots of other wonderful things that I don't know the name of.

The absolute best part of any trip for me are the people I meet. Naomi Waka (cook islander) from the lunchroom invited me to go with her. We drove down with Leah and Derek Couch.(Maori) We went down by way of Lake Taupo. We stopped for lunch and shopped in Taupo. We meet up with Naomi's sisters Fiona and Sharon. Also some friends Ala, Donna and Allen (Samoan and Maori). I was with them all for 3 days, eating, hot tubing, sleeping (5 in a room) and watching 2 episodes of American Idol. We had a really really great time. I learned a lot about the Pacific Islander culture and the Maori traditions. We laughed and laughed and laughed. What wonderful, fun and very faithful people. They call me pakeha and themselves, brownies. (And I drove through Auckland City by myself, I might add)

Tongan Missionary Movers

It was time to replace the boats that are located in Tonga. They are used to transport the missionaries around to the different islands. The boats of course have to be tested and the engines have to be broken in so.....we all sign up for a day on the ocean to help break in the boats. What a great day. Howard Nui (the brother of a master carver in Tonga) and Michael Higgins were our Captain and Skipper. We cruise out to Waiheke Island, then go around Rangitoto. We stop by a little island and drop the fish lines and pull in a dozen snappers. There are three boats. Alma, Nephi, and Moroni....painted on the side of the boats are the names Alama, Nifai, and Molonai. Since the boats are going to be used in the Tongan islands the names should be Tongan huh? They will be transported to Tonga on a big barge and then put into service. We want our missionaries to be safe when they go from island to island. These boats are aluminum and stainless..not painted-- just work horses. We had a great time! We will be happy to help them test out the new boats any time! We had a fun day with Michael, Howard, Steve, and Eloree. Check out the Picture Album and see the record breaking fish we caught.

Samoa and Saniatu

I just got back from Samoa where we went to do some training for all the CES principles, department heads and administrators. We had two days of great training where we discussed compansation, curriculum, policies and procedures. We had the opportunity to go to Saniatu which is a 800 acre ranch, school and village operated by The Church. It is located in the mouth of a ancient volcano. Many years ago Saniatu was the site of much hardship and miracles as the Church was young and growing. President David O. McKay dedicated the village and even raised a small child from the dead there. Each year they identify 22 young men to live at the village during the week, learn english, work the ranch and prepare to serve a mission. At the end of their year they turn in their mission papers and leave on their mission. There is a primary school there and the teachers all live on campus. The farm operation is directed by a senior missionary couple, they teach the young men and prepare them for their missions. We had a nice time, met very nice people and hopefully did a good job training. There is a new picture album up. Click on the link and enjoy...

Lunch Buddies

When I am at home, Bob will come home for lunch. But when I go into the mission office Bob and I eat our Peanut Butter and honey or sometimes jam sandwiches with other people eating theirs in the kitchen at the area office. We have really learned to love that time of the day. The people that we have been meeting are so very interesting. For example, the maintenance man is Raymond. We had the funnest conversation yesterday. He is a Tahitian. His family goes back in the church 5 generations to the time Orson Pratt started missionary work there. Remember the movie "Whale Rider"? This is a movie about his family (in a way). He told us stories of their old customs and about at least 3 instances of whale riding in his family. One was his auntie when she was 12 years old. She knew the chants and way to call the family whale. She was in a spat with her family and called the whale and rode to a different island where he grandmother was. They all saw her coming in. When she got there she got a beating because she abused her whale privileges. The other story was of a relative of his that was put on a prison island. He called the family whale to get him back to the regular island. Then the whale would accompany the ships they were in to watch out for them and keep them safe. He also told us about a dog that would bring 2 fish everyday to his old crippled auntie. Raymond didn't believe that the dog could fish, but then he learned how he was doing it. Raymond was on his mission and saw for himself how sometimes the fish get so close to the shore and are bubbling up. He jumped out of the boat and all these fish just beached themselves. He started throwing them from the shore into the boat until the boat was actually starting to sink. Then he and his companion rowed to their beach. The branch president got wind of what they were doing. They gave the fish to all the people in the village, then Raymond got the stiftest of lecture from this oldtimer. (He said that it was so serious that he almost was sent home.) He told him the he was abusing the special gift of the sea and they were only to take what they needed and to put the rest back into the sea. If they abused this gift and ever used it for profit then the seas would stop giving. Raymond says that is what has happened now. The seas are so short of the amount of fish to give anymore. Raymond should not have taken the fish but thrown them back into the ocean. Then our friend Allen who is Samoan started sharing his stories and some Maori stories with us. They are all distant cousins so their traditions are very similar. We always end up in fun and many times very spiritual conversations with the wonderful people in the lunch room. We also have a ping pong table in the room next to the kitchen. There is usually a "meeting" going on in there.

Oh, this week I went to my first zone conference. There were 3 zones there and wow, I really loved it. It was a whole day of teaching from the mission president, zone leaders, Sister Cook and the Assistants. It made me more grateful than ever that I am here and have these special opportunities. I spent one day this week going over past mission histories. My 2nd great uncle Wallace C. Castleton was one of the first mission secretary in 1896. In the 20s his son, W. Lowell Castleton was a mission secretary also. I saw pictures of my cousins Mark & Boyd Crookston and Myra Harline who served in this mission. Floyd Crookston served in the South NZ mission. I loved that day reading many old histories. Now I will make an indexed list of them.

Abel Tasman Tramp

OK... Able Tasman is a wonderful Park located on the North Coast of the South Island. Hiking in the park is considered one of the top 5 things to do in New Zealand. When we first arrived in New Zealand I discovered that 3 families from work were planning a trip to the park. We got ourselves invited and the rest is history. Four days before the hike I was in Tahiti and rolled my ankle in a basketball game with the employees of the Service Center. I "hopped" home to New Zealand and tried to baby my foot up until the hike. An x-ray showed that it wasn't broken so with a lot of TLC and ice, and a blessing, we continued to prepare for the hike. I wore a walking cast through all the airports and bus rides up until the actual hike. All the ice, ace bandages, and prayers worked! My foot got better each day. It was tender throughout the hike but with good hiking boots I was able to do it in good shape.

Getting to the park was a logistical challenge since we were not driving any cars. Backpacking in New Zealand is really common so with the right arrangements you can figure out ways to get just about anywhere.

Seventeen of us met at the Auckland Airport, had a 3 hour delay, and boarded a plane to the South end of the North Island. The city is Wellington. It took two shuttle vans with cargo trailers to take our stuff downtown to the hotels we were staying in. Some of us packed two ways. We packed a suitcase with clean clothes, and food for our time before and after the hike. Our hope was that we could leave the suitcase at the hotel and pick it up at the end of our journey so we would have clean clothes and not have to pack them around in our back packs. Miriam and I stayed in a place called the Downtown Backpackers. These are places that rent you a clean bed in a dorm, a shared bathroom and a common kitchen where you prepare your own food. We upgraded to a private room with bunk beds that was right across the street from the bus terminal which we needed the next morning.

The next morning we left the suit case at one of our parties hotel and put on the backpack and went to the bus station. A city bus took us from the station to the Inner Island Ferry. This ferry is huge! It's like a small cruise ship. It transports people, cars and trucks. It has bars, theater, restaurant, etc. It was a three hour ride to the South Island through beautiful sounds, islands, etc..

We departed the ferry in a city named Picton. A bus picked us up and transported us to Nelson, where Miriam and I stayed in yet another backpackers house that held 90 people. Common bathroom, kitchen but a private room (queen size bed!) but a taco mattress. We spent the afternoon and night in Nelson. We walked around the town, window shopped, and bought little things that we needed for the hike (propane, and hawaiian sling). We loaded up with a seafood pizza and prepared our packs for the big hike.

The next morning our backpackers host drove us to the bus station where we caught the bus to the trailhead still 2.5 hours away. The drive was beautiful. Love the large hedges around the farms. (Wind blocks) As we approached to the trailhead we stopped and checked our very heavy backpack in to a water taxi. Their job was to deliver our backpack by sea each day to the hut we were staying in. It was always there waiting for us as we arrived to the huts we were staying in. The huts are kind of like a backpackers inn. They sleep any where from 20-40 people all in one room, have a common room for relaxing and food preperation, no electricity but candles to light the room. There is also a campground nearby.

The first day we hiked from Marahau to Anchorage Bay. It took about 4 hours. (Actually 6 hours because of our playing for 2 hours). Our backpack was waiting for us. Some of our party (little kids and a mom) took the water taxi and were waiting for us. The tramp is on great trails that put you in tropical type bush some of the time and great beaches some of the time. We stopped for lunch at a great beach, went snorkeling and just relaxed. Then on to Anchorage Bay. Wayne snorkeled and gathered muscles in the shell that we boiled. The shells open up when they are done. There is a nice piece of meat inside that is pretty tasty! Easy to go to sleep after a rousing game of crazy Rook. We loved visiting with the people there from all over the world. A fun couple from Israel, Germany, Australia and a sweet family from Denmark.

Because of a tidal crossing right away we could not cross the estuary until 9:15 without getting really wet so we waited until then. This was our long day. It was really a wonderful day for us. We took another 2 hour stop for playing in the ocean and lunch. Very beautiful tramp. The cliffs got a little steeper and the water a bit rougher the further up the track we got. We skipped the Bark Bay hut ant headed up to the Awaroa hut. People fly into that area and stay in a really ritsy resort for about $400 a night. We were fine with the hut. It took us around 9.5 hours including the playing around. It was a very hard day for a couple of the families so our plans are changing for the end of the trip. They didn't get settled with their packs till 11 pm. We met some interesting people, both hiking alone from Germany. It was a really warm day so the cold shower was very welcomed. We cooked up the muscles that Bob collected for us earlier. They go well with the Ramen etc. that you usually take on a hike.

The two of us woke up to the most wonderful and strange bird singing. We found out later that it was a Tui bird. It has two voiceboxes so it sings a duet all by itself. The men left to take the packs to the dock. They had to go back to the resort so they took 3 hours to do that. We needed to wait until about 12:30 to cross the estuary where the tide needed to receed. A few people were impatient so they left with a few less clothes on than we did. You will see in our pictures. (The German boy is PG13). This day was only about 4 hours. It just gets prettier and prettier. We ended up at a campground where there were 850 people! It was Totaranui Bay. Nothing like Coyotee Gulch is it? There was a road that came to that area. It was sweet though to watch all the families just have such a great time together. We do miss the large family gatherings. Dave was walking with his 3 kids a met a lady walking the trail. They got talking and he told her how our large group was going to stop a few hours early and so we would be on the ground instead of them using the huts. (Do to the rough seas the water taxis would not take the shuttled children and moms to the final hut-Whariwharangi Bay). When we were settling she showed up with 3 extra tents for us. Her name was Penny Sue and it was not a coincidence. She was a real blessing from heaven for these families. We made a fire and sang a few songs. The stars were really incredible. But so different than the stars that we know about in our northern hemisphere.

It was a long night on the hard ground but all woke up warm and in good spirits to make the way back. It was fast Sunday and we kept it the best that we could. We boarded the bus and changed buses twice before we actually got to Picton to get on the Ferry. By this point it was 5 pm. It was a really beautiful bus ride though. I am glad that I needed to be in the front of the bus and stay awake so I didn't get bus sick. Because I was awake I saw such wonderful mountains and countryside. We boarded the ferry. In 3 hours we were in Wellington. It was a clear and beautiful night. We stayed in the same room we stayed in 6 days earlier. We made our noodles and enjoyed our bunkbeds. In the morning we had a good greesy breakfast, took a cable car ride in the rain and spent the day in a really outstanding museum. Te Papa is the best in New Zealand. We never even made it to the top 2 levels. At this point it was just the Pembertons and us left. We walked around the streets and ate at the Lone Star. That was the most American place we have been to in 4 months. We sat on the plane for an hour and then took our 45 min flight to Auckland. We got in bed by midnight. Make sure you go to the photo album called "Able Tasman Tramp." Written by both of us...