New York

Saturday 11th April. We flew to New York today from Denver and have booked into a hotel near the airport. It was rainy and windy when we arrived, so we felt like we were preparing ourselves for the UK. Should be a better day tomorrow.
We had intended to go shopping downtown tomorrow, but because it`s Easter Sunday, the shops are closed! Good timing.
So we hope to have a look at The Statue of Liberty instead and then we`re on our way HOME.
We`re really looking forward to seeing everyone again. If you`ve been following our blog, we hope you`ve enjoyed it. We have had a fantastic time and have appreciated all of you who have written, phoned or sent a text. It`s always good to hear from friends and family.
See you all soon
Lyn, Steve and Em.

Snowshoeing

5th April. We all went snowshoeing in the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park. You wear these strange things on your feet which help you grip in the snow. We trekked up to where a waterfall should be, but it was so cold and snowy there was no running water.

We saw some beautiful scenery and it felt good to be out in the countryside in such clean fresh air.

Another amazing day. We all stayed upright all day this time.

Stanley hotel

Nan, Em and I went for a guided tour of The Stanley Hotel which was the inspiration for Stephen King`s book, `The Shining`. The tour guide was more scary than the ghosts who were supposed to haunt the hotel, but she did have some interesting facts to tell us.

The hotel was built in 1915 and was originally for Mr Stanley`s town loving wife who didn`t like being so isolated for a whole summer. The Stanley twins made their money by improving the process of photography. They added gelatine to the chemicals to get a good photograph every time rather than the hit and miss method that was in use at the time. The Stanleys sold the idea to Kodak and got very rich. They then bought the hotel.

In the 1970`s, the hotel had been going through a hard time financially and lucky for them, Stephen King and his wife stayed the night in the hotel with no other guests there as it was off season. Mrs King went up to bed and left Stephen drinking. He eventually went up their room, but got lost and as he was wandering around, he saw a young girl and boy dressed in old fashioned clothes. (Ghosts?)

By the time he left the hotel. he had the idea for the whole book in his head. The book prompted a lot of tourism for the hotel and it became solvent again.

In our pictures, there is one of the guide showing us where some ghostly voices have been heard in the basement. (Oooooooooohhhh!)

There is a picture of Em on the computer in the hotel and just outside are some elk wandering around but we didn`t see any ghosts!

Snowboarding

This was great fun. We all had a lesson from Mac, who was quite easy going, but got a little tired of trying to teach the slow learners (me and Em!). He eventually concentrated on Nan and Steve and left us to practise on our own which suited us fine.

This activity works best if you can relax and put on a `dude` pose when you are standing up!

I just kept panicking everytime I sped up and fell over many, many times.

Respect, Matt! (As us boarders say!)

Steve stayed up the longest and he looked really natural on the board. We only have a picture of him lying down though. This was a pose I often felt more comfortable in, but there is one picture of me standing. The other standing person is Em, (we can see her back.)

Estes Park

3rd april. We travelled up to Estes Park on Friday and stayed in a lovely wooden cabin near the mountains. It snowed really hard one day and we made a snowman who was so small we changed him into E.T.

Denver

28th March . We flew to Denver via LA and our friend Nan picked us up. After we recovered from jetlag, Nan took us for a tour of the neighbourhood. We went to the local park where a sign names all the mountains in the background. Denver is a mile high (5,280 ft) and most of the mountains are higher. There are 54 mountain peaks over 14,000 ft. Colorado has the highest elevation in all of the continental USA ( which means not including Alaska and Hawaii).

We stayed in Denver for a few days before we headed to the mountains because we needed to get used to the altitude. It can give you headaches, nose bleeds and make you feel sick.

However, we took it easy and everyone was fine. The weather could be really sunny and warm one day and snowy the next (up to 5inches of snow).

Auckland sailing

24th March. We booked a trip out in the harbour on a sailing boat, `Ted Ashby`. This was run by retired men who volunteered so that they could still get out on the water. They were really friendly and interesting to talk to. Steve and I chatted to them and Em read a book!
It was lovely to be out in the fresh air again. The weather was great and just enough wind to get the boat sailing. The boat was called a scow, it had 2 masts and a centreboard which could be raised up and down.

Auckland skytower

25th March. We travelled in our hire car to Auckland and found the B and B that Tracy and Rob had recommended. The landlady was very friendly and helpful, but we all agreed that we are not as comfortable in a city as in the countryside. However, we did explore a bit and went up the Skytower, the highest viewing point in Australasia. The 360 degree views of the city were great and we were brave enough to stand on the glass floor tiles. We had a cheesy picture taken by `a professional` and played at being tourists for the day.

Waitomo bed and breakfast

Our b and b in Waitomo was amazing. When we drove up to it, the road twisted and turned and kept going up and up. We had a hire car for this part of our journey. Shirley would have struggled anyway I think. When we arrived, there were some gorgeous wooden cabins right at the top of the world!
We had views of Taupo and Mount Ruapehu, the air was fresh and the sun was warm. The cabins were on a big farm and we could walk around to explore if we wanted. There was a pond nearby and a mini glowworm walk too.
It`s a shame we were only here for one night, this was one of the nicest places we had stayed at. The hosts were really friendly and hospitable and the cabins warm and comfortable. We also had OUR OWN bathroom!
Angus, one of our hosts also worked at the blackwater rafting outfit and said that as the New Zealand Prime Minister was also Minister for Tourism, he had done black water rafting too and thought it was a great experience. I can`t imagine Gordon Brown trying it, but who knows?!

Waitomo black water rafting

This was something we had on our list of `to do` in NZ, and Waitomo is the perfect place for it. We had looked at the brochures and expected a leisurely ride on an inner tube floating on a gentle underground stream. It was not like that at all. First of all, we had to practice jumping off a bridge backwards to prepare us for the water falls inside the caves! Even though the jump was not from a great height, it was a bit of a shock.
Once inside, we clamboured over a rocky terrain which was sometimes knee high in water and obviously cold and dark except for our miners torchlights. However, once we had got used to the idea of what it all entailed, we really enjoyed it. There were times when we did float on our inner tubes and look up at the glowworms which was magical. Even the waterfall jumping was fun.
We all got out cold and wet, then had a shower and hot soup and bagels. YUM!
After the rafting, we went to a wonderful B and B up in the hills nearby.

Plimmerton

16th March
We got a phone call while we were at WOMAD form some people who had looked at the van and they confirmed that they wnted to buy it. So as they lived in Wellington, we drove back to our `home` in Plimmerton. It was so nice to be back with our friends and feel so welcome. We cleaned up Shirley and took her to her new owners. I felt very sad to be letting her go. She had been our home and transport for a long time and we had got really attached to her. However, it means we have some more money to spend!
We stayed with Sandy, Myles and Zoe for a few days. A BIG thank you to all for everything.
We went with Sandy to see the Terracotta Warriors in Wellington. The first Emperor of China was buried with a terracotta army to protect him in the next life. We saw reproductions of the real thing and only about 48 on display. The whole army was about 7/8,000 originally. The buried army was only discovered when some farmers were digging a well in the 1970`s. Emily remembers that the final flank of soldiers had no weapons, but were given beer to drink for courage. This is shown by their beer bellies, and they did have more cheery faces than the others!
We left Plimmerton on 22nd March and made our way to Waitomo for some black water rafting.

WOMAD

On 12th March, we set off for WOMAD which was being held in New Plymouth. We stopped half way in Wanganui. Our campsite here was the cheapest and one of the nicest. We had our own toilet and shower and there was a conference room which they let us use for the evening. It had a wide screen TV, glass topped table and a really comfy sofa. No one else was using it, so it was like our very own sitting room. We were asked if we were going to watch Coronation Street which is very big over here. We didn`t, but watched TV while we ate our evening meal, very decadent.

The next day, we got to the campsite at WOMAD. We camped in the family area and the facilities were great. I was expecting maybe some mobile chemical toilets, but there were flushing toilets and even SHOWERS! The showers had hot water all the time which you didn`t have to pay for and rarely had to queue for. They only had a curtain between you and the outside world which was OK depending on how much wind was about. I soon realised why the shower near the door was usually free.

We went to look at some bands on the Friday night, but Saturday and Sunday had the best weather. It was sunny and warm which was perfect for a festival. We saw some great acts, notably Ska Cubana (They are in one photo, and are from Cuba and UK, really good fun), Fat Freddy`s Drop(NZ), The Little Bushmen(NZ) and Rokio Traore (Mali).

We also watched a Maori Haka which was amazing. The video shows how scary these guys would have been to the first Europeans. We were scared!

I loved hearing the men and women singing too, their voices were really strong and their harmonies were spot on.

Em bought a scarf and had a temporary henna tattoo put on her hand. She got all `Hippied up`as our friend Zoe said.

A great time was had by all.

Punakaiki

This is on the west coast of the South Island and it can be pretty windy. During the night, the wind got up so much, we thought Em`s tent would collapse at one point!

Scientists think that the Pancake Rocks were formed through a process called stylo-bedding, but apparantly, the scientists are still rather baffled (as we were - stylo-bedding?)

When the tide is high and the waves are big enough, the sea booms through blowholes.

Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers

These glaciers formed during the last ice age 15,000-20,000 years ago. Sometimes the ice melts at the bottom faster than it forms at the top and the visible ice appears to retreat back up the mountain, however, it`s still moving down (`comin` atcha like Cleopatra` as The Lonely Planet guide says!)

The prime minister of NZ in 1872, Sir William Fox, named the glacier after himself, (modest man that he was!). Franz Josef (or Franz Ferdinand, as Steve calls it) was named after an Austrian emperor. Of course, the Maori had their own names long before us Europeans came along. We have put in the Maori story of Franz Josef (or Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere - Tears of the Avalanche Girl) to balance things up a bit.

Doubtful Sound

We all did one last trip together while we were in Manapouri. This was a whole day excursion and involved 2 boats and a coach. We got on a boat at Lake Manapouri and cruised that until we got to the coach which took us to the Hydro power station. Here, we had a guided tour and one of the most interesting pictures was of the Justice Minister, Ralph Hanan in 1968 firing the last shot of dynamite, it was packed with too much dynamite, so it blew all the officials` safety helmets off! The plant inside looked very much like the setting for a James Bond film.

We then got back on the coach and went over Wilmot Pass. We saw some beautiful scenery including many waterfalls.

We then spent 3 hours on a boat going around Doubtful Sound. Apparantly, it got its name because Captain Cook said he was doubtful that his ship would be able to sail into it, so they didn`t!

For me,the best part of this boat ride was when the captain turned off all the engines and asked everyone to be quiet and enjoy the peace and natural beauty for a few minutes.

We also saw a pod of Bottle-nosed dolphins swimming nearby. Magic. What lucky people we are.