Traveling with Ellen

 We started our day at a decent hour.  On the bus at 8:45 for a trip to the Kiwi Heritage Trust. We had a wonderful guide and were given a great deal of information about the Kiwi bird.  I always thought they were tiny little birds but that's not the case.   They give birth to an average of 1 1/2 lb. egg which is the equivalent of a woman giving birth to a 35 lb baby. Additionally, they don't imprint and their parents are not interested in them at all.  In fact, they all pretty much hare and fight each other shortly after birth.  Mothers kick them out after birth, fathers are normally the ones that sit in the egg until born but will trample them after birth if they're in the way. I laughed at our guide who was humorous and very knowledgeable but she kept telling all these stories and called them cure and lovable but made sure we knew that they would claw each other to death at any given moment. They're born, out of the shell with all their feathers bec...

  Pronounced Row Tow Rua, just as it's spelled  As promised, we were up at 4 am to pack the bits and pieces we hadn't yet done and on the bus at 5:15 to the Queenstown airport.  Air New Zealand was on time, both flights as we connected in Christchurch.  This is a first for on time flights in country this trip.  We arrived in Rotorua at 11 am and once we get to the hotel, we are on our own for the rest of the day.  I know it will be early to bed tonight. Small airports are everywhere.  In the US, we think about small airports and have a vision in our heads.   But you don't have any concept of a small airport until you fly a two propeller plane into Rototua and make a U-Turn on the runway after landing.  One flight a day.  As they say here, no worries mate, there's no running into another plane landing.  The entrance to the arrivals terminal is 10 steps from baggage carousel (singular).   40% of the city is Maori. ...

  What a relaxing day and definitely needed.  No alarm clock, breakfast at 8 am and back to the room for a rest and frankly, a good nap!   We left at 11 am and took a taxi down into town.   We did our walking and souvenir shopping at a leisurely pace.   Then we stopped and had lunch.   I ordered the calamari.  Delicious but couldn't eat 1/3rd of it.  Wayne ordered it as well and also ordered 1/2 dozen tempura fried oysters.  I had 2and they were better than my calamari.  Since Wayne ate more of my calamari my plate at least it looked like I tried. On to the ice cream store for Wayne. I ordered a kiddie cup of raspberry sorbet and ate a dozen little bites. I just needed a taste. I figured it was ok as we walked around their outdoor market, managed not to buy anything and walked back to the hotel; a nice steep climb. The town is essentially a lakefront tourist holiday destination.  Lots of outdoor sports offered...

  Another early morning.  No surprise here.  Breakfast at 6:30 and on the bus and driving out of the parking lot at 7:15 am.   We were on our way to Milford Sound.   You have to look at a map of the south island of New Zealand to realize there's one road in and out.  There's no direct road and probably for good reason that the beautiful national park would be overrun with so many more people if it were easier to get there.   If you could get there as the crow flies: The real and only way to get there which is 187 miles, and almost 5 hours as it's 2 lanes and several comfort stops.   But, it's worth the trip. The first part of the drive runs beside the beautiful lake Wapatiku and then you enter open grazing area.  Fully 1/3rd of the south island is under conservative control with little population at all.   As you enter the national park, Fjordland, you see sheer cliffs and perfectly clear streams and waterfalls. ...