Kia Ora. I'm trying to immerse myself in the Maori language.
It's a lovely, rainy New Zealand morning. We are camped at the Waitoma Cave's Holiday Park. We will venture into the caves later on for a look at the "glow worms".
We spent all day Sunday on tour bus up to the north of Auckland to the Bay of Islands. There we toured the "Treaty Grounds" and took a boat ride to view a few of the 150 islands in the bay. The boat ride was topped off by taking our large Catamaran thru the "Hole in the Rock". That was by far the most exciting thing we did on this trip.
Picked up the RV on Monday morning. The RV sleeps 6, but is smaller than ours at home. (We've spent most of our time trying to find where we've stored everything). Before we hit the road, stopped at the local Food Mart for $260.00 worth of food and supplies.
Tomorrow we will head for either Rotorua or Lake Taupo. More on that later.

Kay and I have been in New Zealand for 6 days and are having a good time with our RV rental. Please believe me, we are spoiled with our V/N's. RV rentals is big business over here and I realize these rigs are built for rental. I think the biggest thing we miss is our slide out, big bathroom (compared to these)The black water tank is a removal cassette and the gray water is like ours. Over all there are several differences but we are enjoying our selves and are trying to be very careful driving on the wrong side of the highway. The main point I would like to emphasize to each of you is that we are very spoiled with our V/N's, there is no comparison.I did check with one of the local RVers driving a Sprinter to see if he had LHM and after he determined what we were referring to he said yes, I lost all power and had to take it in. He said they were aware of the problem and fixed it right off. His Sprinter was built in 2002, the one I'm driving was built in 2004.It is getting close to noon, Thursday, and my wife wants to go shopping.
I'm enjoying my time in NZ, utilizing every minute of our vacation wisely. Right now I'm waiting for my washing to finish. The campgrounds are great. We cook and wash our dishes in their communal kitchen, BBQ on their grill and shower in their very large and very clean rest room/shower area.
After we left Waitomo, we went to Rotorua and stayed 2 nights. The first night we went to a Maori Village, was treated to their tribal welcome and entertained with their various songs and dances. (Remind me to elaborate on this.) Then had a huge dinner (Hangi) where the meat and potatoes were cooked in the ground. Afterwards, we all went on a night time trek of their Wild Life Park and Springs. The trout there are huge. We only got glimpses of the Kiwi bird as they are nocturnal and very shy.
The next day was spent shopping - yeah! And we found the $2 Store which had a lot of the little things we have needed. It rains every day in Rotorua, not hard, but enough to pop up the umbrella. They get an average of 53" a year.
Friday, we went to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Valley. All around the Rotorua area are thermal springs. At Wai-O-Tapu, there is a geyser that goes up about 20 metres at 10:15 each day. We got there for that show and then walked around the Park and viewed the numerous craters and thermal/mud pools.

We then left for Lake Taupo. I had hoped we would stay there, but Gary wanted to get further on down the road. The Lake is very large and a mecca for trout fishing. Taupo is a lovely town and I shopped while Gary sat in the Internet Cafe.
Tonight we are camped at Ohakune which is considered the apres ski capital of the north island.
Tomorrow we head for Wellington, will stay over night then board the ferry to the south island.

We took the Inter Island Ferry across from Wellington to Picton (RV and all) which is on the east side of the South Island. The trip was about 3 hours long but only about an hour on open water. The rest was navigating the coastal channels.
We then drove a short distance down to Blenheim - a big wine area. We got there early enough to catch the afternoon wine tour. White wines are favored in this area. After 4 only so, so wineries, our last stop was a chocolate factory. This was great stuff and Gary and I loaded up on several delicious types.
The next day we drove across country to the west side and the beach town of Westport. We backed up the RV to have a lovely view of the Tasman Sea and then the rain hit. It rained hard all night. We also had gale force winds with it. So, I didn't get to stick my toe in the Tasman Sea. It was still raining and blowing the next morning so we left early for the Franz Josef Glacier.
Let me talk a bit about the roads here. The Kiwi's (as New Zealanders are known) aren't real big on roads. They will, however, maintain them to death - about every 20 miles or so. The majority of the country's main roads (cause you can't call them highways) are only 2 lane without shoulders. Then there are the one lane bridges of which there are quite a few in the South Island. They do put up sign posts as to which side has the right of way. Today we crossed 2 bridges that had railroad tracks running down the middle. I didn't see any signs, but I guess we know who would have the right of way if a train came. Gary took photos for those unbelievers.

Wednesday - We are at Franz Josef Glacier. We got here too late yesterday to hike up to the glacier. We could see it from our spot at the RV Park tho. We planned to stay 2 nights which is a good thing because it rained hard all night and morning. It was so cold last night that I could see my breathe this morning inside the RV. I can also see that it snowed on the mountains last night.

We decided to turn the RV in a day early and stay in one of the motel rooms at the RV Park tonight. Our flight from Christ Church to Auckland leaves tomorrow at 11 a.m.. Apparently it takes a while to check the RV back in at the rental place. From Franz Joseph, we drove to Queenstown - home of the first bungy jump. Since I wasn't going to tie a rubber band around my ankles and jump off a bridge, I wasn't too excited about going there. We stayed 2 nights and I loved it. We took a tour to Milford Sound to view the fiords. It was rainy and overcast but very beautiful. Gary counted 30 photos of waterfalls that we took. Then on to Dunedin and 2 nights there. It is a lovely Scottish town. Took an afternoon nature tour to see Royal Albatross, penguins, sea lions and seals. The tour took us to a beach, however we had to walk about a half mile on a sheep farm down a steep hill to the beach. (Which, of course, meant we had to walk up it again.) Once there, we sat in a blind and watched the rare Yellow Eyed Penguins come out of the Pacific Ocean one by one, waddle across the beach past sea lions and up a hill to nest for the night. Then stood about 12 feet away and watched 3 male Hooker Sea lions play together. Quite a day! We've been in Christ Church for 3 nights. Yesterday morning, we took a half day tour of the city. I expected it to look more like a small English town with the Avon River running through it. That's not the case. It's very large and cosmopolitan. In the afternoon, we went to the International Antarctic Centre. Great place! Got to ride in the Artic all-terrain snow vehicle called a Hagglund. Also experienced an Artic wind storm with temperatures about 17 below.

Now to the packing - yuck! But looking forward to being home.
　
　

Were Back Home

March 10, 2009
We’ve been home since the 20th of Feb. Things have been so crazy that neither of us have found time to update the blog. But I wanted to finish up our tale especially since it ended on a good note.
Gary and I enjoyed our Spanish classes. He ended up taking 2 weeks and I took 3 weeks. The school and the personnel were wonderful. They did their best to make the classes interesting and taught at a pace where all of us could learn. They try to keep the classes very small - we only had 3 students in our room. By the time we left, we felt very close to everyone there.
On the way home, we stopped for 2 nights in Guerrero Negro. They have a whale watching tour that everyone had raved about. The Gray Whales come down to the lagoons there during the winter to calve and mate. We were told there are about 2,000 whales in the 3 lagoons. What an amazing experience! We didn’t get to touch any of them, but they would come up to the boat to get a good look at us. The babies (and I use that term loosely as they are huge) are very curious about us. One even bumped our boat from behind. Our captain said he was playing with us. We also saw seals and dolphins while we were out.
Getting back into the States without further incident - except for US Customs who gave us a thorough going over and dumped a lot of our food – was such a relief. Personally, driving the length of the Baja has never been one of my objectives and I wouldn’t want to do it again. I would and hope to go back to visit our friends in Los Barriles and La Paz, but will fly in next time.

Monday, 02 February, 2009

Will update photo's later.

La Paz, Mexico
We’ve been very neglectful in writing in our blog, so I have will briefly try to catch up with the past two weeks. We were able to get our RV out of the shop on Friday afternoon late. So we decided to hightail to Mexico and try to make it to La Paz by Monday in order to start our first day of Spanish class. We started out early Saturday morning and Gary drove for about 12 hours. We reached Guerrero Negro about 8 pm having driven through the mountains for about 2 hours in the dark. We were warned not to do this and now I know why. I was white knuckled through several of those passes. We had a wonderful meal at the RV park we camped at. The only negative to the park was the cock fights that were going on behind the campground. We learned our lesson about driving the mountains in the dark, so instead of making it all the way to La Paz the next day we stopped in Cuidad Constitucion for the night. Left there early Monday and got to La Paz about 10 a.m. It was to late to start class so we waited until they were over for for the day to speak to the director of the school. The head instructor did an evaluation of Kay and decided she could start in the beginning class with Gary on the following Monday.
We decided to go on down to visit our friends in Los Barrilos for the remainder of the week. We had a wonderful time. They have 2 Quads (four wheelers), and we drove up one of the arroyos near their house for about 15 miles, saw fig trees and small pools, and had a picnic near some waterfalls. A couple of days later, another couple joined us and we went along the beach on the Quads for quite a few miles, then had some of the best fish tacos at the Baja Beach Club. We went out Friday night for Karioki at a great Pizza place, and then Saturday night for some of the best live classical guitar and violin music and only so-so food. Sunday morning we packed up and traveled back up to La Paz in order to start class on Monday morning.
The class is 4 hours with a 30 minute break after 2 hours – at which time we switch teachers. Our first teacher is excellent and very patient with us. Gary is struggling a bit but he has never had Spanish. The teacher in the second half of class is only so-so. Today is a holiday in Mexico (we’re told they have a holiday at least once a month). School was cancelled for today, but we will need to make up the 4 hours sometime this week.
On Friday, we will be leaving to spend the weekend with Ken and Yvonne in Los Barrilos again. They drove up here this past Saturday, and we went shopping in La Paz. I haven’t had a chance to look in the shops here. Gary doesn’t enjoy shopping and by the time we finish class and get back to the RV for lunch and get Spud out for a walk, we don’t want to get back in the car again. Anyway, we had dinner with them at one of the recommended restaurants which was expensive and I wouldn’t recommend. On Sunday, they picked us up and we went and had a really great brunch at a lovely place that looks out over the Sea of Cortez. It was a full champagne brunch and only cost us about $7 U.S. with tip.
Our friend Margarita joined us here at the Casa Blanca RV Park in La Paz last Tuesday. A good German friend of her’s flew in from California a couple of weeks ago and they have been touring the southern part of the Baja. They have treated us to some wonderful German food a couple of evenings. Gary and I have really put on the pounds while we’ve been in Mexico. Anyway Herta left this morning to fly back home, and Margarita drove on north to visit a few more areas.
Last night I rewired the television from digital to analog so we could view the local television stations and watch the super bowl. Although I wasn’t happy with the outcome, we did enjoy watching the game, all in Spanish. The game was on two channels.

Broke down in Mexico

Our first night in Mexico.


Kay, Spud and I left home on 8 January and spent the first night at Wal-Mart in Las Cruces, NM. The second night we spent in a RV park in Yuma, Az. None eventful so far but starting the third night things began to change. We were camped out at a county park across from Tecate, Mexico and the Santa Anna's started. The wend blew so hard we had to bring in the slide out in and even then we rocked and rolled all night. From Tecate we drove to El Rosario, Baja Calif.
After El Rosario we drove several miles south of El Rosario Baja Calif. when our transmission gave out on us. We drove our car back to town and went to the police station and ask for a wrecker. They put us in contact with a guy with a small wrecker that pulled us back to El Rosario where we spent the night and proceeded to call our insurance people in Mexico City. They contacted a large wrecker to pull us to the nearest Dodge dealer in Ensenada. The Dodge dealer, in Ensenada, told us it would take them about a month to make the repairs and suggested we go to Tijuana or San Diego, Cal. At that point we decided it would be best to go on to San Diego. To get across the border we had to have a American wrecker hall us across the border. After arriving in Tijuana we found out that the border closed at 7:30 for commercial trucks. The wrecker driver told me he would have to leave my RV in a holding area for the night so I so I asked to stay with the RV. (I heard them call it the cactus pit)He said we would be safe because they had 14 ft. tall walls around the place. He didn’t tell me but they also had three junkyard dogs in their. I couldn’t take Spud for his walk because they had already tried to get to him. The stay was very quite and very safe. The RV and the wrecker crossed the border at a commercial crossing; we crossed at the other crossing in our car. When we arrived at the dealer in San Diego, we opened the door of the RV and all our stuff had been thrown out of the cabinets and broken dishes and our stuff was everywhere. Quite a mess to clean up. Kay really lost it for a while. Our Mexican Insurance told me they would pay for the towing and I called Chrysler Towing service and they told me to have a them send a form to my home and they would pay also. We will see. The Dodge dealer in Ensenada Mexico told me to contact Carl Burgers Dodge World in La Mesa, Ca but they told me the only certified dealer in the San Diego area was Rancho Auto Group in San Diego, so I had it towed their. Received a call from them this morning and sure enough, the transmission is out. They are having to order the parts from Las Angeles and will hopefully have it fixed by Monday. I haven’t been able to talk to the mechanic but the service person I’m dealing with told me the problem is a fairly common one with our vehicles. She said they didn’t necessarily get one a week but maybe two or three a month. I will be trying to find out the problem and I’m sure it will be listed on the paper work I get when I pick it up. I have 69,034 miles on my View so I’m covered by warranty less $100.00. This dealer has 4 lifts capable of lifting our rig so I’m having the tires rotated. Meanwhile we are sitting back in comfort at a close by Residence Inn. They allow dogs and have a complete kitchen; very comfortable. The RV dealer does not allow customers to stay with their vehicle because of insurance.Margreata and Jim Hensel were traveling with us and continue to enjoy their trip. Margreata told me they saw several whales on their whaling trip.
Kay and I have not decided what we are going to do when we get the RV going but will decide by Sunday. Meanwhile we plan to use our free tickets to go and see the San Diego zoo.

Heading South to Baja Sur 7 Jan 2009

Kens house in Baja
Note: double click on photo to inlarge.

Tomorrow we leave for Baja Sur, Mexico. We will be down there for four weeks. I plan to study Spanish for one week and Kay will be studying for four weeks. We will be studying Spanish in La Paz, Mexico which is located on the Sea of Cortez. Ken Williams, my ex roomy, lives about 60 miles south in a town called Los Barrilles and we will be spending time with him also. On our first day we intend to drive to, at least, Pecos, Texas
and spend the night in the parking lot of the FlyingJ fuel stop. Thursday we intend to drive to mile marker 194 on I-10, just west of Tucson, Az. where we plan to spend the night at a Wal-Mart Super Store parking lot. Friday we will make it on to Potrero County Park, about eight miles from Tecate, Ca. http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/parks/Camping/potrero.html.
Were planning for a early morning crossing into Mexico at the Tecate crossing and plan to travel about 225 miles to El Rosario. The next day we plan to travel 224 mi to Guerrero Negro and spend one or two days. In Guerrero Negro we plan to take a tour to see the whales. http://www.malarrimo.com/. We plan to stay in their RV lot and take our tour from their also.
From Guerrero Negro we will travel about 348 miles to Constitucion, Mexico and from Constitucion we will make our final 134 miles to La Paz.
A single lady friend of ours will be following us down their and back. A couple from Northern California will be following us down their but not sure about the rest.
Margereta, our single friend, is German and is retired from the US Army. She trained dogs to sniff for bombs. She has one of them and his name is Argo and he takes all his commands in German. She walks with a cane and has some problems getting around but doesn’t let anything get in her way. Her and Argo are all over the US, Canada and now Mexico. Oh! Argo travels with his European passport.
After returning home on 19 February we plan to leave for San Antonio on 22 February. Keith gave us four very good tickets plus parking to a Spurs game so we are taking Richard and Billie with us.