The Complete Photos: New Zealand

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! (Well, everyone in the US at least. To those of you outside the US, Happy Non-Thanksgiving!)

Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I've often maintained that I'm a little numb to the wonders of nature. Being surrounded by majestic pine forests, dramatic mountain ranges and the stunning Puget Sound my whole life has set the standards pretty high, so it generally takes something really exotic or something really, really over-the-top spectacular to impress me.

New Zealand has both! And lots of it! Pancake rocks. Stunning glaciers. Desolate mountain passes. Winding roads. And some of the bluest water I've ever seen.

Oh, and wine too!

Anyhow, enjoy the 300+ images we took during our 3+ weeks in New Zealand.

RTW: New Zealand

Food Around the World: New Zealand

We have much to catch up on, but three days on the road in the Mekong Delta did not lend themselves to blogging, and we are now travelling fast and furious through Cambodia. In the meantime, though, you can read about some fantastic New Zealand-inspired food and my general impressions of Kiwi cuisine at Eddybles where the collaboration with my friend Jody continues. See here for her inspired twist on the traditional meat pie with a kiwi pepper chutney, a sweet potato brie risotto spiked with spicy cashews, and hokey pokey biscuits. I think her take on food is likely even better than anything I ate in New Zealand!

Ninja stars, chicken burgers and Strawberry Shortcake.

First off... Before.


And after


As you may have noticed, I haven't trimmed my beard since starting the trip. As a result, I was starting to look a little Shaggy Baggy™. So, after a few drinks at the Twisted Hop (a great little pub that brews its own beer in Christchurch), I decided to do something about it. So, I still maybe be baggy... but I'm signficantly less shaggy.

The following morning, we had a few hours to burn until our flight, so we caught the trolley again, and took it to the Arts Center, a group of small artist galleries, coffee shops and cafes in the campus of the old college. After a little wandering and scoring Sarah some hokey pokey fudge, we made our way of to the Christchurch Public Art Gallery, where we saw number of interesting exhibits including Reboot, "An energetic multimedia exhibition of contemporary art from the Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection, showcasing acclaimed young New Zealand artists alongside international luminaries." My favorite probably being a video piece involving a breakdancer spinning on his head... but I won't try to explain it further since, like most modern art, when described, it seems less "cool" and more "dumb."

Sarah on the trolley.

Then, it was off to the airport. The flights went fine, and fairly uneventful. I think that Sarah and I have both reached the point where we've flown enough on this trip that we just slip into auto-pilot for the duration: Sit in seat. Buckle seatbelt. Read book. Eat snack. Drink beverage. Use the restroom. Read book. Land.

Now, for this next little bit, I want to say before hand that I am not making any of this up. I say this because it may sound like I'm making some of these up.

As Sarah and I were standing in line at Australian immigration, there was a TV monitor that was flashing a number of things. First, it showed a picture of what looked like a pistol: "ALL B.B. GUNS MUST BE DECLARED AT CUSTOMS."

Fair enough.

Then, it showed a slingshot. "ALL WRIST MOUNTED SLINGSHOTS MUST BE DECLARED AT CUSTOMS."

Then, "ALL TASERS MUST BE DECLARED AT CUSTOMS."

"ALL KNUCKLE DUSTERS MUST BE DECLARED AT CUSTOMS." Accompanied by a picture of some brass knuckles.

"ALL BLOWGUNS MUST BE DECLARED AT CUSTOMS." With a picture of some intricately carved, dragon shaped blowguns. Wait a minute...

"ALL SHURIKENS AND NINJA STARS MUST BE DECLARED AT CUSTOMS." Awesome!

Finally, "ALL ELECTRIC FLY SWATTERS MUST BE DECLARED AT CUSTOMS." Apparently, Electric Fly Swatters look like small, plastic tennis rackets.

I'm just glad I left my knuckle dusters and ninja stars at home. Oh, and the guy who stamped our passport was unnaturally cheerful for someone working in Immigration. Really, a genuinely pleasant fellow.

So, then we had some time to burn in the Melbourne Airport before our flight to Hobart, Tasmania. And, at this point, I really hadn't had much to eat, so we decided to grab some burgers at Burger King... or as the call it in Australia: Hungry Jacks. Yep, in Australia Burger King is called Hungry Jacks. Pretty much everything looks the same, and the menu is the same, just the name is different. I'm not sure if you can get paper crowns either.

Oh, and while Burger Kings slogan in the States is "Have it your way." It appears Hungry Jacks slogan is "Have it the chicken burger way." To illustrate:

"Hello, can I get a Whopper Value Meal. And a cheeseburger."

"Ok, one Whopper Value Meal. And a chicken burger."

"Um, no. Not a chicken burger, a cheeseburger."

"Oh, sorry about that."

She hands me the bag, and I make my way back to the table. Sitting down, I open the bag to find a cheesbeurger and a chicken burger value meal.

The flight to Hobart from Melbourne is short. Possibly the shortest flight I've been on. So short that I couldn't even go through my usual flight routine. Instead it was more like: Sit in seat. Buckle seatbelt. Read book. Eat snack. Drink beverage really fast as the plane lands.

Early in our trip, Sarah and I realized that when we are flying into a new country late at night, its to our advantage to have a hostel booked in advance. So, before leaving New Zealand, we'd booked a room at the Hollydene Lodge, a hotel descirbed as such: "Hollydene Lodge is one of Hobart's oldest, historic buildings. It has been run as a hotel/guesthouse since it was built in 1820's. Today we continue to follow the tradition of a warm welcome and friendly service for travellers from all around the world."

Shortly after arriving in Hobart, our airport shuttle dropped us off in front of a run-down dive bar, where the slightly confused bartender led us upstiars to our small shabby room with Strawberry Shortcake window drapes. Literally. Look...

(In addition to showing off the Strawberry Shortcake drapes, this photo also shows how I've moved on step closer to my lifelong goal of looking like a British Comicbook Writer.)

The next morning though, we woke up with sun pouring through the windows and ready to explore a new country and island!

"Top 10 Tips for Visiting New Zealand"

Back in one of my first New Zealand entries, I mentioned that our friends, JJ and Piper, had left us a small gift pack filled with useful items and tips about what to do in New Zealand. Well, the core piece of that package was their list of "Top 10 Tips for Visiting New Zealand." So, since this will probably be my last entry in New Zealand, I thought it would be interesting to revisit their list, and see how Sarah and I faired in comparison.

I won't transcribe their entire list, but will just repeat the title of each of the 10 items they suggested (in bold), then follow that up by talking about Sarah and mine's experience. Hopefully, this will be as interesting for you as it is for me...

1. "You Must Visit Abel Tasman National Park." Done!

Abel Tasman was definitely one of the highlights of New Zealand (and thus the trip so far) for both Sarah and myself. With its "golden sandy beaches" and green water, it's an amazing place to visit.

JJ and Piper had also recommended that we make the trip up to distant Mutton Cove, which proved to be a great idea. When we arrived there, not only did we have the beach to ourselves, but we also got to see young seals frolicing -literally- right on the shoreline.

2. “Eat LOTS of Mussels - they are awesome!" Half done.

As many of you reading this know, I'm not a big fan of seafood. I can enjoy a good plate of fish and chips (or "fush and chups" as the Kiwis say), but that's pretty much were my seafood tastes end.

Sarah on the other hand, loved the mussels here. She first got to eat some while on the kayak trip we took in Abel Tasman. But, just a couple days ago, she made a point to buy some more and cook them up herself. Just for the experience, and so that she'd get another chance to eat them. I'm pretty sure she'd agree that the green mussels were one of the highlights of her culinary experience in New Zealand.

I on the other hand, limited my foods to the more land based varieties (well, except for a little fush and chups). Luckily, New Zealand delivers there too. It's hard to drive far without coming across a field of sheep. And, if its not sheep its cows. Or deer... yes, they actually farm deer here. There is nothing more bizarre to see a pasture filled with a herd of deer. Apparently, in order to make their venison seem more uniqiue, the deer farmers of New Zealand call it "cervane." This is similar to the people of the Champagne district in France, who are the only people who can call their sparkling wine by the name "Champagne." The rest of the world is stuck using the less fancy names, like "cava," "prosecco" or just "sparkling wine."

Some of the countless sheep of New Zealand. Really, its amazing how many sheep they've packed onto these islands.

"Oh, look hon! A herd of wild deer." Um... no, that's actually some farmers herd of deer. I didn't even know that you could raise deer like this, but apparently you can. and the Kiwis do it quite a bit.

3. “Hit the Roads!” Done, done and done!

With the Spaceship, we drove from Auckland in the North Island to Queenstown in the South Island (over 1500 km), then doubled back to Christchurch (about 500 km). But, we also took a route that was far from direct. So, I’m pretty sure that I drove more in New Zealand than I did in my last year in Seattle.

I have to admit that, at first, I was pretty nervous about the idea of driving on the other side of the road. But, its actually amazingly easy to pick up. There’s something about the fact that the drivers seat is flip-flopped also that makes it easy for your mind to adjust. In addition, while the New Zealand rules of the road are different from those in the States, most of the things like roundabout and all their “Give Ways” have a certain internal logic to them that makes them easy to learn to.

But, yup, Sarah and I are really glad that we opted to drive instead of using public transportation. It allowed us to set our own course and pace, see things off the beat track a bit, and “drive all the crazy, curvy (one lane bridges) roads, soaking in the scenery.”

4. “Queenstown was our favorite town of the trip!” Done.

I’m not sure if Queenstown ended up being our favorite town too, but we really did enjoy it. At times, the village itself seemed a bit resort-y, but the surrounding countryside and wineries were all amazing. In addition, after our long haul south, it made the perfect place to sit tight, relax and reflect on the end of our New Zealand leg.

5. “Nelson” Done.

Sadly, we hit Nelson on Easter Weekend, so it ended up being a bit of a ghost town. Still, we could definitely see the appeal.

Being in New Zealand over Easter Weekend was a bit of a surreal experience for us overall though. It basically serves as the Kiwi’s Labor Day. Shops are closed on both Good Friday, and the following Monday (which they call “Easter Monday”), so being in a city on either of those days is bizarre, with shops closed and the streets empty. In addition, all the Kiwi’s head for the hills for some last minute camping before their fall sets in, so all the camp grounds and popular hikes are packed with people.

As a result, while the majority of our trip here has been great, I would warn other travellers about not coming here over Easter Weekend.

6. “Wine …drink it!” Again, done, done and done!

Sarah and I basically divided our time in New Zealand into two catagories… hiking time and wine tasting time. On the wine end, we hit four major wine areas: Waiheke Island (two days of wine tasting there), Hawke’s Bay (two days of wine tasting there: in Napier and Hastings), Martinbourgh (about a day and a half of wine tasting there) and Queenstown (a day of wine tasting there… plus a trip to the Wine Experience). We’d actually planned on hitting another area (Malborough), but ended up skipping it. We had to give our livers a break somewhere.

But, yes, New Zealand produces some fabulous wines. Which actually surprised us a bit, since generally you’ll see a lot of Australian wines in the US grocery stores, but not many New Zealand wines. That said, I won’t say too much more about the wine (since Sarah’s detailed it quite a bit in some other entries), but I do agree: Wine… drink it!

7. “Learn the Local Language” “Good on you!”

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the people of New Zealand might speak English… but it’s got a lot of differences from the English that most of us in the States are familiar with.

In addition to “sultanas” and “bonnets” and others I mentioned in the pervious entry, here are a few other phrases and words we picked up:

“Jandals” – What we usually call “flip flops” in the States. Cheap sandals.
“Baths” – Swimming pools.
“Dairy” – A corner market or mini-mart.

8. “Beer Picks” Done!

After the generally pale and poor tasting beers of South America, the beers of New Zealand were a revelation. Here’s a quick list of the types Sarah and I got to try: CD, Tui, Monteith’s, Macs, Speights, Lion’s Red, Baroona and a variety of boutique beers produced by the Shakespeare Hotel in Auckland.

New Zealand actually reminds me a lot of Washington state in that it produces great wines and solid beers. One thing that I thought was interesting and which I wish that the States would do more, is that each region of New Zealand produces a different beer, or several different beers. And, the people who live in that area (or are visiting it) seem drink mainly that beer type.

I think that Washington State does that a bit with its micro-brews. But, at the same times, the States in general are still dominated by the big beer companies like Budweiser and Miller. I’m reminded of a conversation Sarah and I had with a beer producer in Haines, Alaska. We asked him if he exported his beer much, and here basically replied: “Not at all. I believe that beer should be a local thing. Not only does it help give a region its identity, but also allows travellers to experience something new when they visit.”

That’s and idea I find myself agree with more and more as we travel. And, not just with beer.

9. “Embrace Rugby (per JJ’s request)” Done.

As I mentioned in a previous entry Sarah and I might still not fully understand the rules of Rugby. But, we enjoy watching it. It combines the hard hitting-action of American football with the fluid game play of Soccer. Plus, there’s a ton of small details that make it enjoyable (for example, the referees seem to be miced, so whenever they are talking to each other or the players you can hear what they are saying. It gives you the feeling that they are participants in the game as much as the players, rather that simply aloof judges).

When we went to Queenstown, we were hoping we’d be in town long enough to actually go see a game live, but sadly, they were playing away games. Still, we managed to watch several games from bars, restaurants and hostels.

And, sadly, we’ll miss the next Christchurch home game… which is the day after we leave NZ.

10. “Waiheke Island” Done.

We visited Waiheke Island shortly after arriving in NZ. And, after the comparative normalcy of Auckland, it was a great primer on wonderful wines and scenery that the rest of New Zealand would offer.

While Cable Bay provided the best winery building and one our best meals of the trip, Sarah and I both agree that the wines we tasted at Stonyridge had probably our favorite wines of the island… and some of the best in New Zealand.

Sadly, the weather worked against us a bit, so we weren’t able to spend as much time on the beach as we would have liked (including, JJ and Piper, the beach at Little Palm you mentioned), but the blustery, stormy weather outside allowed us to cozy-up inside and rest up a bit after our the Island hoping madness of the week before.

So, that’s how Sarah and I faired on JJ and Piper’s list of the Top 10 Things to Do in NZ. The other night, Sarah asked me what my favorite part of New Zealand had been. I couldn’t give here one thing, but just sort of free associated a few of my favorite moments. Here’s what I thought up:

Lunch at Cable Bay Winery, getting our Spaceship, the glow worms at the Witomo Caves, the volcanic terrain of the Tongoriro Crossing, the first sniff of wine on our second day of wine tasting in Hawke’s Bay, and the hike up Rob Roy Valley outside of Wanaka.

But, I’m sure there were others. And we still have one more afternoon and night left.

Cows, Sheep and Winnie Bagoes

After several lovely days in Queenstown (and even a second visit to Fergburger for a Little Lamby and Southern Swine), it was time for us to head to Christchurch for a bit of sightseeing before flying to Tasmania. As we prepared for our last night in the Enterprise, Tyler and I were both feeling a bit melancholy. I've gotten this way close to our flights every time so far. I don't know if it's just that I'm used to a flight meaning my trip is over, or if the fall weather in New Zealand was tricking my mind into thinking about the end of our trip altogether, but I decided to fight our doldrums by taking the Skyline Gondola up for a peek at the town. It was a little pricey, and we'd seen much the same view on our hike up Queenstown Hill, but it seemed like a fun thing to do and a chance to see the town lit up at night. It also gave us a close up peek at more bungy jumpers. The same company that started bungy on the Kawaroa Bridge also have a site at the top of the hill. Brave souls can even jump at night, when I can only imagine that it must feel like jumping into a giant abyss of darkness.


A bit of interpretation (and clicking to enlarge) might be necessary: the skydiving platform is the bright light in the center, the lit up item under it is a gondola, and the row of lights you see "above" the bungy site is actually our campground

The next morning was time for the drive. We expected it to take between six and seven hours to get to Christchurch, so we tried to start early. But we had a few impediments along the way:


First cows being herded by a guy on a dirtbike


Then sheep....

But only a few:


One way bridges and


Windy roads--enlarge to fully appreciate the road sign....

And midway through the drive, we got some lovely views of Mount Cook:



After about six hours, no lunch except candy bars, and a sad farewell to the Enterprise, we found our way to a hostel where we quickly cooked up some food and then settled in for some lazing about and TV watching (the only doubles they had were more expensive rooms with a TV included). But after a bit of regrouping, we headed out to a local favorite, Winnie Bagoe's, supposedly the first gourmet pizza bar in New Zealand. Like Fergburger, Winnie Bagoe's doesn't hold any stops when it comes to fun names and innovative toppings. We decided to have a Florentina (smoked chicken, cashews, cream cheese, apricot preserves), but we're trying to decided if we can make a second trip before we leave for some of the others...The Roast, the Kiwi Craving, Thai Honey Chicken..... They give Stellar's a run for the money!

Quick side note: tomorrow we're off to Tasmania for 10 days of more fantastic scenery, outdoors-y fun and cool autumn weather. While trying to get a photo of the bungy jumpers and lights from up off the gondola, a nice man offered to let me use his tripod. Turns out, he and his wife used to live in Tasmania and just raved about it--Cradle Mountain, Wineglass Bay, good wines, Christmas Hill Raspberry Farm that makes chocolate-covered fresh raspberries.... Their enthusaism was definitely infectious as well as a good reminder of the random encounters you can have with nice people while on the road.

More from "Tassy"!

Adventures in "Self Catering"

After Tyler and I decided that we really were going to try and travel around the world, we had to find ways to save money. No new clothes, no movies, no casual eating out. In fact, except for special occasions and our traditional Sunday Crosswords coffee and lunch, we didn't eat out at all. To aid our efforts, we also signed up for a weekly organic produce box. While that doesn't necessarily seem the common sense way to save money, it meant that we had food to cook--and that needed to be cooked in a reasonable time. Since I hate to waste food, it was a great motivator. And it also meant that I got better at cooking with what was at hand rather than exclusively relying on recipes and cookbooks.

We started cooking for ourselves (or self-catering, as Lonely Planet oddly refers to it) a bit in Chile. Without many facilities (refrigeration at one hotel, nothing most the time), this mostly meant some breakfasts (yogurt, fruit) and lunches (sandwiches with salami, cheese, avocado and cucumber). As we've gotten into more expensive countries (Easter Island, Tahiti, New Zealand), cooking for yourself is common enough that there are generally facilities at hostels and campgrounds.

Of course, there are also limitations. You never know exactly what amenities will be at hand. There's usually a skillet and a pot or two, but never a strainer, cutting board or much else. When you pick up that canned good, you have to ask yourself whether a can opener will be available (probably 50-50). And you may or may not be lucky enough to be somewhere that provides some meager basics, such as oil, salt and pepper--things that aren't convenient to buy in single serving packets. There might be refrigeration, but it's probably full of other people's rotting food, if it's available at all. There is also no such thing as a good knife while cooking on the road. They run the gamut from butterknife sharp to random bread knives. Mostly we relied on our trusty Swiss Army knife.

You also need to keep in mind other limitations--many times no oven and many other hostellers or campers all hoping to cook at the same time, so whatever you make needs to be made and finished relatively quickly. No baking, roasting or long cooked stews or soups.

Some of that situation changed with our Spaceship rental, which has some cooking amenities. At the very least, we do know what we have at hand (a worn skillet and a quart pot with lid, can opener, spatula, silverware (plastic), four plates and four bowls, cleaning supplies), but cooking skills honed from camping and backpacking trips still come in handy due to spotty refrigeration. There is a "chiller" that runs off the auxiliary battery while running and for two hours after stopping, but that means no DVD at night (the auxiliary battery can really only do one thing well at a time) and doesn't help at all if we don't drive that day.

The Enterprise also has a propane gas two-burner "BBQ," and when we rented it, the salesgirl was sure to note, "Be sure to refill the gas tank if you use it." That struck me as strange at the time (why wouldn't we use it?), but we've found on the road that all the campsites (holiday parks) have amenities blocks that include kitchens. Why pass up free electricity, counterspace, and possible interactions with other campers and Kiwis?

While these situations seems to lead many young backpackers to many meals of pasta or ramen noodles, we're old enough--and I like to cook enough--that we weren't going to go that route. While we did have the odd lunch of PB&J or ramen noodles, there was the odd moment of inspiration.

Quick Cheesy Pasta

Cut up any veggies you have on hand (usually carrots, broccoli, green beans) as well as any leftover salami/lunch meat and cube cheese. Bring water to boil (one amenity I will miss from NZ is the ready availability of hot water dispensers or kettles--always at the ready for tea times!), add veggies and pasta. Drain the contents, trying to minimize scalding of the hands and only cursing a little bit as noodles or veggies inevitably slip from under the lid. Add a good dollop of margarine (which can travel a long time without refrigeration) and cut up garlic (there's no real dicing possible with a Swiss Army blade) and stir. Then add the cubed cheese and meats. Since you can't refrigerate the cheese, it's already soft and melts quickly. If it doesn't melt completely, cover for a few minutes with the lid then stir again. Top off with a little salt and pepper and dig in. Especially good after a long day of hiking. (Note: can be made to be alfredo-y type noodles if no meat or veg is available.)

Lamb Burgers

Taste wine all day. Go to the market looking for something to go with the lovely Shiraz you bought from a local winemaker. Remember that the nice South African woman down the hall told you you could have her leftover buns from her sloppy joes the night before while looking at the minced lamb at the butcher (because in this town, only the butcher sells fresh meat). Mix ground lamb with garlic (again in chunks because of knife limitations), salt and pepper. Top with cheese, eat on salvaged buns with chips and good wine with green beans on the side, with margarine and some salt from packets found in the B&B kitchen.

Suggested variation: buy some local minced venison for a cervena burger. Quite good with a nice Pinot Noir.

Hot Cross Buns French Toast

Buy Hot Cross Buns but kind of forget about them for a few days. Eat a few, as they grow increasingly dry. Think about making Hot Cross Bun Bread Pudding until you realize no oven is available (nor is a baking dish). Realize instead that you could make eggs more palatable to the husband and use up the stale buns (remember, I hate to waste food) by making french toast with eggs. Top with margarine and sugar as no syrup is available. Very good with morning tea.

Camper’s Shepherds Pie

Boil water for dehydrated potatoes. Microwave packet of Beef Ale Casserole. Divide up potatoes and casserole on plates. Eat about two minutes after starting cooking. Great after kayaking when you don't have refrigeration and the closest grocery store is an hour away along a very winding road. (Actually, compared to the freeze-dried schlock you can usually buy for backpacking trips, this stuff was really impressive: no preservatives, no mystery ingredients, and meat was always the first ingredient. I also loved that the packaging for an item in every grocery store for convenience cooking noted specifically that it would be ideal for tramping and camping.)

As you can see, necessity truly is the mother of invention. But at least we have some good wine pairings with our meals!

Central Otago Wines and Secondhand Adrenaline

After skipping the Marlborough region famed for their Sauvignon Blancs, Tyler and I consoled ourselves with the fact that New Zealand seems to have wine regions just about everywhere, including Queenstown where we've stationed ourselves for the past few days. After a day of cold and two days of hiking, it was time to dive into a few local wineries.

The Central Otago region is fairly new to the wine scene. There are quite a few wineries now, but they didn't really get started until the late 1980s. Apparently, it's also the world's southernmost winemaking region, specializing largely in Pinot Noirs. On a weekend trip to Portland the last year or so ago, Tyler and I stumbled upon a food and wine festival. With your entrance ticket, you could taste wine from nearly 50 local vintners and taste appetizers from local restaurants. We decided to focus on Pinot Noirs, and though we surely stopped tasting with any kind of palate after our sixth sample, it proved to us that Pinot Noir seems to be a more versatile grape than many others. It can range from really light to deep, juicy to dry, young and fun to deep and serious. So a fun grape to taste a range of, whether in the shop or at a few different vineyards.

In other wine regions we've visited, we've blindly visited whatever vineyards had an interesting name or was convenient. Tyler mentioned the great tasting wine shop we visited in Queenstown, already, but it was a great way to taste local wines and then seek out those we liked best. (It was also pretty fun to see so many wines we recognized from our previous excursions; we need to do more of this in Washington!)

Here are a few of our thoughts and observations:

We tried the Mt. Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir at the urging of the helpful counterperson at the Queenstown wine shop. The most expensive of the ones we tasted ($95 NZD), it was smooth, with good fruit and the bit of earthiness I enjoy in my Pinot Noirs.

We tried two Pinot Noirs from Waitiri Creek. One was a really young Pinot, 2006 aged for only a few months. It was almost like a rose, fun, fruity and very easy drinking. The 2003 had ended up being our favorite of the seven we tasted (outside the Mt. Difficulty one noted above), with a good earthiness. Waitiri Creek was the first winery we decided to visit based on this, and the tasting room and restaurant are located in a cute, converted old church building. The cheeky Irish waiter confirmed that, indeed, you could taste the "funk" of the Gibbston earth in the Pinot Noirs. While there, we also had a refreshing rose and another Pinot Noir vintage. The rose, a bottle we decided to take with us to enjoy with dinner tonight, also seemed to have a unique winemaking approach. The grapes were left to soak uncrushed, then pressed later.

Our next stop was a winery I recognized from our wine shop visit (we didn't taste since a tasting pour cost more than $7)--Gibbston Valley Winery. Unfortunately, I think they are also listed in Lonely Planet and must make it onto many wine tours since they do a winery tour, and the facilities lacked personality. Among the many random tchotchkes for sale (soap, scarves, mugs, not wine related), there was a small bar where you could buy a tasting tray for $5 with four of their wines. Two (a reisling and Sauvignon Blanc) I wasn't crazy about. But they did have an intersting Blanc de Pinot Noir (which I'm pretty convinced is just a fancy way of saying they make a Pinot Noir rose)--lots of candy-ish watermelon flavors. While it might be a bit much after a glass, it did go down easily. While we were tasting, and Tyler was flipping through a Lord of the Rings Filming Location book on sale at the shop, I noticed that they produced a Pinot Blanc. Since they are related to the Pinot Noir and grow well in the same conditions, it's a little surprising we don't see this more often. It was an intersting and assertive white wine--bolder than a Chardonnay, with a little spice, a little dried fruit, and a lot of flavor. The most interesting of the bunch, and I was glad they let us taste something not on the tray.

Then we wound along a narrow precipice of a road to Chard Farm. I have to be honest; at the wine shop I had almost steered clear of this based on name alone, which I at first took as a bastardization of Chardonnay. But the tasting notes enticed me, and their 2004 Sugar Loaf Single Vineyard Pinot Noir ended up being my second favorite Pinot of the batch. After a quick game of toss with the resident dog in the front yard, we went in to taste a handful of really good wines: a minerally Sauvignon Blanc, an oaked and unoaked Chardonnay, their Pinot Noir rose, and two 2005 Pinot Noirs, the Finla Mor and the Viper. As we had tasted in Martinborough, the two were made from different areas and different aged vines. The older and more expensive Viper was a great example of what I like my Pinot Noirs to taste like--weighty in the mouth, silky, with some good taste of the earth thrown in as well.

To break up the wine tasting parts of the day, Tyler and I decided to eat a sandwich at the original bungy jumping site: Kawarau Bridge. If we weren't going to engage in the extreme activities, we could at least get a contact adrenaline rush from those willing to shell out $150 to jump off a bridge. The scenery was fantastic, and it was somewhat thrilling to watch people take the dive, even if we weren't actually doing it ourselves.


Someone takes the plunge!


The bridge and jumping off station--we only saw one person get to the edge adn then decide not to jump


Sign on the women's restroom

Well, that's probably all the reports from wine country, at least until South Africa!

On a side note--we did taste a fantastic Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough's Cloudy Bay Vineyard. I recognized the label from a delicious Pinot Noir I had enjoyed for dinner in Seattle, and the minerally Sauvignon Blanc makes me believe my memory of the good Pinot is true. Just thought I'd mention it since it might be easier to find than many of the others' I've mentioned on our wine journey through New Zealand!

I, kea.

I don't care where you are in the world, but I want you to drop what you are doing and run (don't walk) to Puzzling World! Now!

Sarah and I first past Puzzling World as we drove through Wanaka on our way to Queenstown. And, after a day or so of me going "we should go to Puzzling World!" Sarah finally gave in, and we made the drive back to Wanaka to check it out.

Puzzling World is basically divided into two sections. the first section is a series of four Illusion Rooms including a "forced perspective" room, and a "tilted room" -which made Sarah feel a bit discombobulated. And we all know how cute Sarah is when she's discombobulated.

The second part of Puzzling World is the Great Maze. Now, a few years ago, my brother, a friend and I all went to Burning Man where someone had assembled a giant maze. The maze at Burning Man may have been a tiny bit better, but the Puzzling World maze was still challenging and more ambitious.

After Puzzling World, we decided to make another hike, since the weather was holding and we were in Wanaka. So, we were off to hike Rob Roy Valley (no relationship to Sarah's coworker... that we know of).

The hike we had done the previous day had a great pay off, but had been a bit lacking during the actual tramp to the summit, but that definitely wasn't the case with the Rob Roy Valley Hike. First, we got to drive about 30 kilometers down a dirt road, through a stunning valley, testing out the Enterprise's off-road capablities.

The valley we drove through to get to the trailhead.

Then, the actual hike itself was a winding path through some pastures, across a swing bridge, and then up through some scenic forest next to a gun-metal grey, boulder-strewn river. The hike and valley came to a sudden end in a series of steep valley walls, upon which hung giant, cool-blue glaciers and over which dumped amazing waterfalls.

Sarah crossing the swing bridge.



More stunning scenery...

...equals more happy Sarah!

In addition, as we sat, eating apples and enjoying the stunning natural display around us, we found outselves surrounded by a circle of new friends. Three or four Kea parrots had taken interest in us, and were probably hoping we'd share our apples with them. But, instead, they just provided us with some great photo opportunities.

Keas!

Sarah with Keas! (They were really quite brave, and would come up very close to us.)

Having soaked up the setting, and smiled at the parrots antics, we happily made our way down the valley again. The sunny slowly setting behind us.

Oh, and as far as the title of this entry goes...

I, kea. Get it? ...ok, never mind.

April 14th--Two Months on the Road

After a cold, snowy and windy day in Queenstown yesterday, Tyler and I awoke to a clear, sunny fall morning. After being cold and somewhat stymied by the weather, we were anxious to go exploring and did a great hike up to Queenstown Hill, 900 meters up with fantastic panoramic views at the top.


Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu


The Remarkables looking, well, remarkable

As we hiked (and the Kiwis aren't afraid of building trails that just go straight up the hill instead of switchbacking), I realized that today was the 14th, our two-month travelling anniversary and thought about what we'd learned and experienced so far.

Time while travelling moves strangely. We leave New Zealand in just five days, and it feels like we've been here a long time, but it also doesn't seem like we've away for two months already. But something that was just a month or so ago, like Macchu Picchu, can already feel a million miles away.

I also think I've gotten better at handling ambiguity. I tend to be a planner. I think about the day ahead, the week ahead, the next month. While this can be a good thing for work and generally feeling organized, it's also been freeing to have fewer knowns than unknowns in day-to-day life. Besides certain dates (flights, really) we can go by what we feel that day, what the weather allows, what public holidays allow, what language skills allow....

I've also gotten to remember what it feels like to not be stressed out and to just appreciate being. Before we left, my office had a yoga retreat day. At first, I was a bit leery (why go relax when I could get things crossed off my to-do list?), but it was fantastic. One exercise was going for a silent walk while you stayed present by just noticing the immediate: I am walking, I am looking at a tree branch, I am hearing the wind blow, I am whatever-ing.... In the weeks and months that followed we grew increasingly busy with finishing up our job responsibilities and moving and getting ready for the trip, and that was a useful exercise to fall back on. But I haven't had to do that while travelling. One day on Abel Tasman, I thought about how amazingly blue the sky was. Now, the sky is probably just as amazing on many spring and summer days at home in Seattle, but it's too easy to forget the pleasures in small things with day-to-day life realities.

The rub, of course, is figuring out how to maintain these feelings when we are back to real life--bills, deadlines, housework, obligations....

On a more flippant note, we have also learned that it's no fun to dry off everyday with towels about the size of a legal-sized sheet of paper. We brought our pack towels just in case we needed them on the road. And we didn't need them in South America. But since we've hit more expensive countries (Easter Island, Tahiti, New Zealand) we've needed them everyday. Yesterday, we upgraded at a local outdoor store's sale rack for towels that are now about the size of two hand towels put together. Luxury!

This has definitely been the second best decision I've made in life so far. And I'm glad we have more ahead of us than behind.


Thanks to everyone for all their support! The Intrepid Travellers

Taking it to the X-Treme!!!

So, two days ago, Sarah and I arrived in Queenstown: "The Adventure Capital of the World." Unluckily, when we woke up on our first morning in town a cold snap had rolled in, the tempurature hovered just above freezing, and there were snow flurries in the air. That gave us the excuse to put our X-Treme LifeStyle™ on hold. So, while we had initially planned on driving a para-gliding jet-boat attached to bungee-cords off a waterfall into a field of Zorb-balls, instead we decided to sleep in and enjoy and extra cup of tea before exploring the village.

A quick wander around town confirmed that Queenstown was definitely a tourist village, similar to Whistler Village or any number of ski villages scattered around the States. That's not a bad thing, since it provides us with a wide variety of restaurants, bars and activities to pursue, but also makes things a little more expensive. Regardless, Sarah and I decided to take advantage of some of the thrilling activities in the villages downtown. First up...
Underwater World!

Underwater World is a small, quasi-aquarium located under a pier on Queenstown's Lake Wakatipu. Basically, you go down into a room with a half dozen plexiglass windows looking out and into the lake's water. You can then stick a $1 coin into a machine that shoots food pellets into the murky depths. In response a school of trout the size of my torso come tearing in and eat them. In addition, there are diving ducks above which swim down to grab food. And, if you are lucky (and we were), you can see a several-foot-long eel swim by.

After our underwater adventure, our next adventure involved buying gloves! Queenstown was downright frigid, so we broke down and bought some gloves to keep our hands warm. Luckily, the Kiwi outdoor supply chain, Kathmandu (similar to REI), was having their Easter Sale so in addition to grabbing some cheap gloves for Sarah and I, we were also able to get new, better pack towels (the ones we'd been using were tiny, blue and not fun to dry off with) and Sarah was able to pick up a long underwear top.

With our new gloves keeping our hands warm, we figured it was time to finally see a really live Kiwi bird, so we headed to the Kiwi Birdlife Park. We'd seen "Kiwi Crossing" signs on our drive south (we also saw lots of "Sheep Crossing" and "Penguin Crossing" signs too), but have yet to actually see the elusive, endangered, nocturnal Kiwi birds. But, the Kiwi Birdlife Park delivered the goods! First, we got to go to the Kiwi houses, where they were actually feeding the Kiwis. So, we were able to stand in the dimmed room and watch the dig around in the dirt with there beaks. Apparently, in New Zealand, Kiwi's fill the biological nitch usually filled by burrowing mammals, like badgers. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures, so you'll just have to imagine how awesome they are.

In addition, the Park also had a number of ducks and birds native to New Zealand; which allowed us to also finally see Kea's (a hyper-intelligent NZ parrot) and the NZ Pigeon... which is huge. I mean, its the biggest pigeon I've ever seen.

A pair of (slightly out of focus) Kea

HUGE PIGEON!

After walking around park (which was cold!), we went to see the bird show they help a couple times a day (thankfully in doors... by a fireplace), where the naturalist on duty talked about a number of the birds, including the massive pigeons. Also, she showed us all a Tuatara, a reptile so rare that not only does it have its own branch on the lizard family tree... it has evolutionary remains of a third eye on the top of its skull. Apparently, the third eye no longer works, and is only really visible when the tuatara is young but still... it has a third eye!

Then, in addition to the bird and tuatara action, the Kiwi Birdlife Park threw in a Maori show too. The show consisted of four Maori's purforming a number of traditional songs and rituals, with the highlight probably being an audience participation sing along to "Do the Hokey-Pokey" using Maori words for all the body parts.

After the Kiwi-bird Experience, it was time for a Wine Experience. Or, more specifically, Wine Tastes: The Central Otago Wine Experience. At first, Wine Tastes looks like a normal wine store, but its got an interesting twist: You can try about 80 different wines, for just a couple bucks a pour. In short, when you go in, they give you a card. This card can be placed into a machine like a credit card. The machine is hooked up to about eight wine bottles (each machine featured a different varietal). Pressing a button above the wine bottle, gives you a small pour and adds a small fee to your card (generally about 2 or 3 NZD). After you are done tasting the wines you'd like to try, you bring the card to the counter, and pay the tab you've run up. I honestly wish there was a wine store like this in Seattle. I'm sure that many of us have had a situation where we've wanted to bring a bottle of wine to a dinner party, but were afraid to grab something unfamiliar for fear that it wouldn't be any good. The Wine Taste takes that guess work away since you can simply try a little of the wine in the store before you commit to buying a whole bottle.

Full of wine, we decided we needed a little meat to counter balance things a bit, so it was off to Ferg Burger! Ferg Burger is a Queenstown burger tradition that promises "serious burgers" and delivers. There burgers a creative, tasty and massive. Especially with a "side" of fries, which could almost be a meal in their own right.

Now were were full of wine and threatening to go into a food coma, so we figured we'd try to get the blood pumping by watching a little rugby. We'd heard the Queenstown team had an away game that day, so we decided to go try to catch it at a nearby pool hall. Unfortunately, the game wasn't until the next day... but there was another game on (the Wellington Hurricane's vs. South Africa's Cheetahs), so we stuck around to watch it. Now, Sarah and I have caught a couple of games of Rugby on TV since we've been here, and we still don't really understand the game fully... but at this point we know we enjoy watching it. There's a level of controlled chaos that is endlessly enjoyable and it seems to combine our favorite elements of both Soccer and American Football. (oh, and they had commercials for sheep medicine during the advertisment breaks ...honest.)

After the game ended, we were spent. So, we made our way home and called it a night.

This morning though, we awoke to find the sky clear and the sun out. So, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather to make a short but fulfilling hike up a steep hill just outside of Queenstown. The hike itself was steep (Kiwi's seem to be fond of hiking straight up hills... no switch-backs here) and made its way up through dense, dead-looking Douglas firs, but once the view opened up at the top: Wow!

The view from the summit.

Some goof kept getting in the way of the scenery.

Us at the top (the thing behind us is a flag on the summit).

Sarah's happy with the view!

But, while the day was significantly warmer than yesterday, the icy winds at the top of the hill seemed to be channeled directly from the highest points of the Remarkables. Soon we were pulling on our Alpaca hats and new gloves again, before decending to the sheltered warmth of the village again.

Which brings us to now. And, I think its time for me to end this entry... there's a rugby match on soon.

Martinborough: Two More Consecutive Days of Wine Tasting

Quick note: we are playing catch up on our blog entries, so this is a little out of order. Tyler's entry "Well, all's well that ends well in Wellington" includes our time in Martinborough, so might be best to read that first.

Tyler and I have agreed that there are two things we really appreciate about our New Zealand trip leg. We narrowed our travel options by mostly sticking to hiking/outdoors activities and wine regions. The other is that by having our own set of wheels and speaking the dominant language we can get off the tourist track. And visiting wine country seems to be a prime way to do it. We lose most the other younger, more adventurous crowds and, because we're in shoulder season, we don't have a lot of the wine travellers either. (Though Tyler does mourn the days without other Spaceship sightings....)

After two days drinking our way through wineries in Hawke's Bay, we decided to break up the drive to Wellington by stopping in Martinborough. Though we wouldn't spend a lot of time there, it was a nice halfway point, conveniently situated with a number of wineries primarily growing Pinot Noirs.

We got into town and stopped at the local i-Site for a wine map and help booking the ferry to Picton. Our original plan was to hit a winery or two, stay the night, then hop down to the ferry the next day. That plan was kiboshed when we realized that we were trying to book a ferry near Easter weekend. Though I believe New Zealand is a secular country, there are public holidays the Friday before and Monday after Easter. It is also basically Kiwi's Labor Day--that last chance to hit the outdoors while the weather is still late summer-y. We couldn't book a spot on the ferry the next day. Nor the day after that. So we had some extra time in Martinborough.

We started by following the i-Site's suggestion by stopping by Ata Rangi. She had raved about it ("people come from all over the world to try their wines!") and because it was 3:30 and they closed at 4PM. And we were happy we did. The woman at the pouring counter was incredibly friendly and personable, and their wines were all fantastic--a lovely rose, Reisling, Sauvingnon Blanc, two Pinot Noirs, and a red blend called "Celebre." Ata Rangi, as well as several other local wineries, had an interesting approach in having a red blend with a "brand" name. However, they varied the blend depending on that status of the grapes from each year. We walked away with a reasonably priced (and their least expensive) Crimson Pinot Noir (a nice easy drinking bottle, with good black cherry flavors and made for drinking now), glad we had managed to stop by before they closed.

Afterwards, we made a stop to the Martinborough Wine Center, a local store which sells wines from all the local vineyards. They also have a large tasting menu, so for $1.50 to $4, you can sample any wines that catch your eye. We tasted a Riesling, two Pinot Noirs and a dessert Cabernet Sauvingnon. I wasn't terribly crazy about the first three, but the dessert Cabernet was really interesting--pretty sweet (which Tyler isn't as crazy about) but with some good richer more biscuity flavors after the initial sweetness. Yum.

After three straight days of wine tasting, our initial zest for hitting up to four wineries in one day had taken a toll. We did make a more meandering route to a few wineries:

Martinborough Vineyards/Burnt Spur: this winery didn't totally wow us, but it was worth it to tast three different Pinot Noirs. They had three labels: Russian Jack (their least expensive), Burnt Spur, and Martinborough Vineyards. The differences depended on the age of the grapes (2004 for Russian Jack, 2002 for the other two), the area the grapes were grown, and the age of the vines. I don't know if I've had the opportunity before to notice the different that vine age can make, but it was astounding to taste more depth and richness of the older vines (20-ish years, I believe) compared to the one made with 5-6 year old vines. Of course, it was also the most expensive.

Margrain Vineyard: we mostly went to Margrain because the label included Tyler's favorite New Zealand bird, the Pukeko or Swampo Hen. The winemaker had written up the best descriptions I've ever read (just one, to quote: The 2006 wine is absolutely magnificent, probably the best we have made, presenting its huge and lifted nose with pride. Strong aromas of lime-wire citrus, rambling jasmine, sun-dew melon and a perfume by Britney Spears hang in a haze over the wine’s surface. You can read more here.) Unfortunately, I wasn't too crazy about the wines. Many (the rose, reisling) tasted too sweet to me, and the reds didn't strike me as noteworthy. But they did have one interesting bottle called Mad Red, so named because they don't actually know what the grape varietal is. They thought they planted Syrah, but they had it DNA tested, and it's not Syrah. They think it's probably a hybrid of some sort, but they just bottle it as Mad Red with no varietal name to go along.

We tried to go by the other winery suggested most strongly at the i-Site, Schubert Wines, but they had the convenient hours sign of "11-4PM Most Days;" apparently our day swinging by wasn't one of their open ones.

Fortunately for our livers and our wallets, our walking tour of Martinborough didn't lend itself as well to buying, so we didn't purchase any other bottles and just paid marginal tasting fees.

And, after four straight days of tasting wines, we decided we couldn't properly enjoy tastings any longer and decided to skip the Marlborough region on South Island. There's always the chance to explore more wineries in Queenstown!

One-lane roads, pancake rocks and rivers of ice.

One of the funny things about travelling is that, whenever you meet someone, the first thing you ask is where they are from. After that, you usually ask them where they've been travelling. Then you ask where they are going next. Then, after that, you ask them their name... maybe.

This fact was again driven home when we picked up a French hitchhiker as we left Abel Tasman National Park. After dropping her off in a small town about a half hour later we knew that she had been staying in Melborne, Australia, for the last couple months. And we knew that she had been travelling through New Zealand's south island for the last week or so. But, I don't think we ever got around to asking her what her name was.

But, that was also several days and hundreds of kilometers ago.


Crank up the Japanese! We're going on a road trip! ...we have no idea what this switch does, but occasionally we just have to "turn up the Japanese" a bit.

After leaving Abel Tasman, our plan was to make our way down to Queenstown as quick as possible. But, the main problem with that plan was that Queenstown is on the south end of New Zealand's south island... about a twelve hour drive away. So we decided, for sanity's sake, that we'd break it up a bit.

Before getting to our first pit-stop though, I think I should probably address New Zealand's roads for a second. First off, as I mentioned in my last entry, the roads are very windy.

Second, outside of Auckland, we've yet to encounter a road that is over two lanes wide. In fact, occasionally, they can't even manage that. At two points, early into our first day out of Abel Tasman, Sarah found herself navigating the Enterprise along a one-lane road, which was literally chiseled out of the side of a granite cliff. Keep in mind, that's not one lane going in each direction... it's one lane going in both directions. And, as you drive along those one way roads, how are you supposed to know if there is a campervan coming in the other direction? Why, just look at the large, fish-eye mirror mounted on the metal pole perched on the edge of the cliff, of course!

New Zealand is also fond of the one-lane bridge: where one lane is expect to "Give Way" (a common term on the roads of NZ) to the other lane before crossing the bridge. But, if it wasn't enough, on two occasions I drove us across one-lane bridges in which the cars also shared the one lane with a train track. So, one direction should yield to the other direction... unless a train is coming, in which cases I presume both lanes should let the train cross first.

I'll let you decide if Sarah is making that face because a) she can't believe the roads in NZ or b) she can't believe I'm taking her picture at that moment. You decide!

Actually, even though the roads are occasionally hair-raising, they are usually more beautiful than treacherous. And the first leg of our mad dash south was definitely beautiful. First, we twisted our way through scenic, green canyons, the road clinging precariously to a steep cliff over tubbling white-water rivers.

That soon gave way to stormy and wonderous coastines that seemed to take the craggy rocks, weathered trees and sudden rain storms from the Washington coast, and mix it with the lush follage and palm trees of a tropical island.

It was in the heart of this storm that, after about three hours driving, we made our first pit stop: a lunch break at pancake rocks and blow holes of Punakaki. With the rain beating down around us, Sarah and I donned our rain jackets and made the thirty minute hike out to see the famous coastline. Though the blowholes weren't active (it needed to be high tide), the "pancake rocks" were alien and fascinating. The pancake rocks are actually limesone formations created by the combination of ancient sea life and modern day waves. They're nearly impossible to describe, so here's some pictures:

Pancake rocks!

Some stairs carved into the pancake rocks.

The stormy coastline.

Chased back to the Enterprise by the fierce rains, we were on the road again. Three more hours behind the wheel brought us to the village of Franz Josef. The village of Franz Josef is named after the nearby glacier (which, in turn, is named after an Austrian Emporer). It's the main tourist attraction for the area but, road-weary and hungry, Sarah and I knew it would have to wait until morning, since we only had enough energy left to grab a beer and some food at a cozy, lodge-like restaurant before curling up in the Enterprise to watch a movie and fall to sleep.

The next morning, we were happy to find that the rain clouds which were hugging the mountain tops the night before had disappeared, and the day was clear and cool. Eating breakfast and jumping back into the Enterprise, we made the quick drive to Franz Josef glacier.

Now, living in Seattle and having taken our honeymoon in Alaska, both Sarah and I have had plenty of opportunities to see glaciers. But, regardless, it's always impressive to see one of these massive rivers of ice up close and personal. First we were able to hike to a view point to check it out; then we took a short hike to a pond which provided us with some amazing photo opportunities. Check them out!

Franz Josef Glacier.

...reflected in a small pond.

And here we are! Still stylin' in our $3 Alpaca-wool hats!

Next up, we drove 21 kilometers to Fox Glacier. Apparently, in 1872, the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sir William Fox, named it after himself. Modest one, ain't he. In some regards, Fox Glacier was even more impressive than Franz Josef. Not only because we were able to walk up closer to it, but also because of the large, steep valley it had carved out for itself years ago.

Up close with Fox Glacier.

One of the massive cliffs Fox Glacier has carved out.

But, after just a short visit, we had to hit the road again. Most of the drive went quickly and uneventfully, but toward the end of the drive, we were able to take the scenic drive from Wanaka to Queenstown. Now, when a guide book on New Zealand makes a distinct point to mention that a stretch of road was windy, it definitely delivers. At points, I think that the road actually managed to make turns that exceeded 180 degrees. But, at the same time, it provided us with some truly breath-taking views of Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables (a mountain range just outside of Queenstown that is, well, remarkable).

A view coming down into the Queenstown area. The really epic vistas always just look boring when photographed.

So, now we are in Queenstown, but I'll save that for a future entry... after we've had a couple days to explore around.

As a final note, I'd like to dedicate this entry to someone:

As most of you know I tend to be a bit of a pacifist. While I do eat meat, I don't hunt and haven't gone fishing in well over ten years. I've only been in one fight in my adult life (a drunk guy attacked me... a story for another day), and generally don't even kill insects (well, except mosquitos). That's why I'm sad to say that today I was driving the Enterprise when I experienced my first vehicle-animal collision (or, rather, Spaceship-animal). We were just a few minutes out of the town of Haast, doing about 110 kilometers an hour, when something that sounded like a feathery hackey-sack hit our windshield. Unfortunately, the road was too narrow and windy to stop and see if the poor little guy survived. But, hopefully, he or she had a quick and painless trip to birdy heaven.

And so, I dedicate this entry to that little bird. May the afterlife's birdfeeders be overflowing with seed and berries, and may its bird-baths be clean and refreshing. RIP.