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South Island to North Island

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We’ve completed about half of the West coast drive. Here’s what Wikipedia says about this drive: “The South Island West Coast of New Zealand is a beautiful and scenic drive that offers stunning views of the rugged coastline, green rainforests, and farming areas. The Great Coast Road between Westport and Greymouth has been named one of the Top 10 Coastal Drives in the world by Lonely Planet [guidebook and many other sources]. The drive is approximately 370 km long and takes around 5 hours to complete without stops.” This western area of NZ is sparsely populated (only 40,000 of the total 4.5 million). The elevation climbs so suddenly that it looks as though God swept God’s hand from left to right--as though sweeping crumbs from a table—and pushed the coast into the mountains. The day was heavily overcast, but we drove the Great Coast Road with optimism, taking photos at as many of the pull-outs as possible in the midst of looming rain forest. As per normal on the South Island, we drove o
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Milford Sound, New Zealand

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Anyone familiar with the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings franchises will remember the soaring and steep mountains with and without snow. These are in the background of Milford Sound and inland as one drives north up the west coast (the drive and the infamous river from LOTR will be mentioned later). Luckily we had received a heads up from our friends in Wellington to book these days far in advance due to local holiday and school’s out travelings. We think that the island tipped south and everyone slid down to this adventure- and sight-dazzling area. We were happy to join them. Our little putt-putt of a car maneuvered the kilometers upon kilometers of winding and narrow hairpin turn roads. (We wished to be driving our beloved Sassy who would have handled them with grace and style.) A long day of car driving was scheduled so that we could take a bus tour all day on Dec. 31 to Milford Sound and the Te Anau Glowworm Caves. Our accommodations were in Manapouri, a tiny town 12 miles south of Te
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Christchurch, New Zealand

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We had a nice 3+ hour ferry ride across the Cook Strait (North Island) into the Marlborough Sound (South Island). We chose not to watch the Grinch movie in the small theater and just napped a bit and did a little bit of viewing our passage from the deck. We found our tiny rental car upon arrival at our tiny rental car company. (Jen adds: it’s a rattle trap Nissan hatchback) Car was not locked and the keys were left for us inside the car. STAY LEFT!! We had a short drive to the next town Blenheim where we stayed overnight. We started down the coast towards Christchurch with lovely scenery along the way. Driving on the left side of the road is not really hard, but the number of times you hit the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal is somewhat comical. The roads here are hard work. Lots of tight turns. The roads are mostly crowned in the middle pushing you towards the outside edge of the narrow highways with mostly nonexistent shoulders. We did not have cruise control, but with t
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Sydney, Australia

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 Day 77 & 78 Sydney, Australia then beyond It’s the final day of our 77-day cruise, but the adventures of Jen and Jerry will continue for another 3 weeks as they venture on their own, in a nondescript rental car, onto the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Feel free to keep reading…when they can find enough Wi-fi to communicate. First, Sydney. We sailed in to this beautiful port in heavy clouds and intermittent rain. The iconic Opera House is not diminished by rain. What a lovely addition to an already eye-popping harbor. Australian maritime laws stipulate that the cruise ship must be fully disembarked by 9:00 am. That’s a tall order for getting close to 600 people off the ship and funneled to where they go next. You’d be impressed that this isn’t Oceania’s first rodeo. All checked baggage is to be outside our suite doors the night before by 10:00 pm; leaving all of us with only our carry-ons in our rooms. Each set of bags is assigned a number and a color. After a long winter’
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Wellington, New Zealand

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 Wellington, New Zealand Our friends from our 2022 world cruise, Margaret and Kevin, native New Zealanders or “Kiwis”, are avid bridge players and dear people. They were leaving for their next around-the-world cruise on Dec. 28 and didn’t bat an eye about hosting us Dec. 22-27. Not only did they furnish food (we enjoyed seeing some of their own favorite restaurants) but transported us all over the area to see every sight a tourist must see. We are beyond grateful. Here’s a capsule of our on-going days: Wellington: First , if you are a Lord of the Rings (LOTR) fan, you need to look up the Wellington, NZ Airport to see the surprises there. I only had time to snap one photo myself, so the airport website will show you everything else. Weta Workplace is a must-see for any avid LOTR aficionado. Here is where the props and the make-up prostheses and costumes were created. 40,000 individual items. Many are displayed. An hour-long guided tour takes you into the creative imaginations of this u
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