Gidday Mates,

Happy Halloween from the land of the kiwi.

I'm right now in Franz Joseph, New Zealand.   It's about midway down the west coast of the south island of New Zealand.  Population 300.  A few backpack hostels, 3 or 4 cafes, a couple of tourist desks to book your glacier walk or kayaking tour (or skydiving adventure if that's your pleasure), that's about it.  It's a truly spectacular little place though, nestled in a valley at the base of the Franz Joseph glacier (hiked on it today, truly an amazing experience).   The ride down the west coast of NZ was simply breathtaking.  We've been in NZ for a little over a week and have already covered a good deal of this amazingly green land.   Before we got to NZ, everyone told us to get to the south island as quick as we could because it's the more spectacular of the 2.  I have so say though, that the north island wasn't anything to sleep (or sheep) through either.  Let me catch you up...

Leaving Australia was tough because the weather was so perfect and the beaches, reefs, rainforests, and cities were beautiful and fun.  Knowing that the land recently made famous by the movie "Lord of the Rings" was awaiting us softened the blow quite a bit though.  The flight from Sydney to Auckland, NZ was easy, just 3 hours.  The first few days were spent in the city of Auckland, located in the northern part of the north island.  Its population of 1 1/2 million is about a third of the entire country.   Which gives you an idea how unpopulated the rest of NZ is.  Aside from a walk around the harbor/marina where all the America's Cup boats are docked and a cool walk around the top of the city's Sky Tower, Auckland was a relatively uneventful stop.   A good place to check out the NZ city life, watch some of the America's Cup trials from a barstool at 'The Loaded Hog' brewpub, and to organize our bus tour and travel plan for the 3 1/2 weeks we'll be in Kiwi-land.  Oh yah, something interesting about Auckland is it's built on 50 volcanoes.  From the top of the Sky Tower, we could easily pick out the peaks of at least 20.

There are volcanoes everywhere in NZ.  As a result, the islands get over 15,000 earthquakes per year.  Haven't felt one myself yet (at least since that couple came home late one night in Arlie Beach, Australia and enjoyed themselves on the bunk below me, but that's a story for the version of this note I don't send to my parents...).

The first part of the NZ trip brought us through the center of the north island, stopping in the towns of Rotorua, Taupo, and Wellington.  Rotorua is an interesting town for its plethora of hot springs and geysers.  The strong smell of rotten eggs (sulfur) that envelopes this small city on a continual basis and the clouds of steam coming out of the ground everywhere made this an interesting, albeit smelly, stop.  Cool detours in that general area were the Waitupo Caves, where we got to float through a large, dark cave that had 8000 glow worms attached to the ceiling.   It felt like you were looking at the night sky from a desert campsite.   Another stop was at a California Redwood forest.  It was created only 50 years ago and already the trees are huge.  Seems the volcanic soil makes the trees grow twice as fast as ours in the States.   One other really impressive stop was at the Haka Falls, a river/waterfall that packed a punch.  The water was so clear, it had a blueish color.  We also got to see a geyser erupt at 10:15am.  It seemed perculiar that a geyser could erupt at the exact same time every day until the ranger came out and dump soap into the hole to start the process.   Sounds like cheating to me, but they've been doing it since 1920 so who am I to say...

As I mentioned earlier, I'm on the south island already, but I think I'll keep you in suspense on all the South Island highlights until Kiwi Notes 2.  Until then, here are some of my thoughts and impressions from Kiwi-land so far...

It truly is spectacular here.  Green rolling hills and mountains everywhere.  Sheep and cows for as far as the eye can see.  It's no wonder that postcards are such big business here.

Had a beer at the Victorian Rose in Nelson, NZ.  I realize it's the south island and I'm holding off on that good stuff, but I thought I'd throw in a pop quiz.  The place is the favorite local spot for a famous actor we know.   Nelson is his home town.  Any guesses?  I'm sure you could use your Beautiful Mind to figure it out.  Give it a try, you'll feel like a Gladiator...

The local people of NZ are the Maories.   Unlike Australia, the Maori people are completely integrated into the general population.   In fact, many of the street signs, etc. also include a Maori language version.  We met a woman who was 1/2 Maori, really friendly, and beautiful.  She told me she doesn't generally care for American men because they are too sensitive, with feelings and all those things men shouldn't have.   A guy can't win!

New Zealander's seem friendlier than Aussies.  Australians weren't unfriendly, just not as outwardly welcoming as the Kiwi's.    And there seems to be a huge rivalry between the 2.   The rugby battles are part of that but it seems to run a bit deeper.

There aren't so many funky slang sayings/terms here.  They do say the word 'sweet' a lot.  It's pronounced like 'swate' though.  Already part of my lexicon so I won't need to practice this one.

There are many fewer 22 year old party-hardy Brits here.  Seems they prefer the hot sun of Oz.  Works for us.

The first place the sun rises in the entire world is New Zealand.

Getting laid-off is called being 'made redundant'.

Hiking is called tramping here.

'Cheers' now means thanks.

That'll do it for now.

Hope life is good for you at home, be back before I know it.

In the meantime, thought I'd end on a quote from 'The Lord of the Rings'...
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."  - Gondolf

Your happily redundant bud,

Jim