Happy Birthday Mindy!
March 4th is dedicated to Mindy, who would have
been sixty today! She travels in my heart each day!
We woke up this morning to watch the sun rise out of the Pacific ocean and our goal is
to watch it set in the Tasman sea on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand.
To get there we must cross New Zealand's "Southern Alps"
It is hard to see here, but that is a herd of deer, being raised commercially
for meat, hide and antlers. Reg tells me that the antlers are ground into
some sort of aphrodisiac powder and sold to the Japanese. There is a six
foot fence around this herd. We saw many fields just like this!
On our way to Hanmer Springs, the scenery is just beautiful.
There are many single lane bridges in New Zealand, remember there are
only 4 million people here, 3 million on the north island and 1 million on the south island.
They don't have the traffic problems we do so one lane bridges are practical.
You can see the sign on the left indicates which lane has priority on the bridge.
We crossed this narrow one lane bridge right before we arrived in
Hanmer Springs. The sign indicated only one truck on the bridge
at a time!
This area was just below the bridge seen in the previous picture.
In springtime when the snow melts on the mountains, this area is wild
rushing river.
We arrived in Hanmer Springs around noon. There are various pools of water
each at a different water temperature. The minerals in the water are supposed to be
healing. It is more like a water theme park!
I got one trip down the water slides at the back of this picture
when one of the guards told me it was restricted to those wearing a
wrist band. Well, I got my one trip in! ha ha
I swear "Reg" took this picture of the young blond!
I asked him if he had taken some of that deer antler powder!
I know it is a strange picture! We had dinner at a restaurant called
"Steamers" in Greymouth. There is no "tipping" in New Zealand, only for
exceptional service. The service here was terrible. Terrible attitudes by everyone
working. The funny thing though, when I went into the restroom, the urinals were so high
that I had to almost stand on my tiptoes to reach. I was thinking to myself, what do
short guys do here? Then I looked over at the sink, and it was really low!
(I can hear my daughter Alicia saying "Gross Dad!")
This our youth hostel in Greymouth, New Zealand.
It was raining when we got back from dinner so we didn't get
to see the sun set into the Tasman sea, but we were glad to be here!
Gross.
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