Update #7 Arrowtown, SNZ

Time to move on so said goodbye to Beryl...who told us of all her guest, only one other couple seemed so calm & relaxed & it bit her abit at ease. We headed back to Auckland for a quick night stay near the airport, jumped on an early flight to Queenstown, SNZ then bussed to Arrowtown.  We spent the afternoon exploring this old gold rush town where they'd preserved most of the original buildings and today they are filled with places to eat or fancy clothing, art & jewelry stores.  Their museum was amazingly authentic ...right down to an outhouse with a guy sitting inside and flies buzzing all around.  When you opened the door, he shouted "Hey Matey...can't ya give a guys some privacy??"  We also walked through the remains of the Chinese settlement where hundreds of these hard working Chinese came hoping to get rich.  Most died poor.  The gold rush only lasted a few years but fortunately, the town figured out how to find "gold" other ways...tourist!  Reminded me of Traverse City in the summer.  Star Wars was showing at the tiny cinema where you could bring your own wine & order a cheese platter.  Since we'd hope to see it, we went.  Movie was great...popcorn not.  Next morning, we were off biking a trail along the Arrow river.   Up, down, over long suspension bridges, past spectacular scenery, gigantic cliffs & gorges, waterfalls, deer & Swiss goat farms, grapes vineyards and the famous Kawarau Bridge where we only watched crazy people buggy jump the 120 feet bouncing just barely above the river.  We were both glad neither of us were THAT crazy!  After 12 or so km, we plopped down at a creamery and ate our fill of fresh made cheese and bread & fruit...and Diet Coke and a flat white coffee (Rog's favorite drink here).  Then we headed back...now with the sun brightly lighting up the countless hues of greens.  Tired?  Yup!  Ready to hit the sack--we're staying with Seb who after work biked 28 km with 500m grade.  Show off!!  

Update #6 History Lesson

 A short history lesson: NZ is a baby as it has only been inhabited by people for 1000 years! Maori came first...from Polynesian area & 400 years later Captain Hook & the Dutch arrived. Here North points to the equator and south winds bring cold weather. Gardens are gorgeous on the North island as it doesn't freeze...so a little effort last all year!! South Island is much colder & they get snow. Homes are very modest with huge windows and extremely expensive...$550,000 is considered "affordable" but few are available. Lots of foreigners are buying homes for investment which is driving the market up. Many homes are sold at auctions which also drives prices up. Price of dining out is at least 2x as much as USA. Luckily, Rog & I often share a meal and it's plenty and also the US dollar is strong here....$1 NZ = $1.40 US. NZ are friendly and proud of their beautiful country...and rightly so!

PS I stand to be corrected on a previous update: Jurassic Park was filmed in Hawaii.

Update #5 Farming...by Rog

This place is a beautiful spot with friendly people that all seem to enjoy telling us about their country.  

As one said, "We are a bit removed from many of the troubles of the world!" 

The grassy fields bordered by neat fences or hedgerows seem to go on and on. Cows and sheep appear to all be healthy and clean as they are rotated to fresh pastures often.  We see very little farm equipment and even the milking sheds are hard to find.  No big red barns.  Our bus driver told us average number of dairy cows per farmer is around 250 but he knew one who milked 2200!!  With all of the animals it seems that there might be many flies or other bugs, but the pests are few. 

Doors and windows are left wide open to allow the breeze through-with no worries that flies or mosquitoes might invade the house.  Even with lights on at night the screenless windows can be open...amazing.  Beryl, our Bnb hostess in Rotorua, was shocked to hear that we sometimes get many mosquito bites in a day.  She got one once and didn't like it at all.