A Beautiful Day in New Zealand

The sun is finally out and shinging in full force. No more fear of a semi-tropical monsoon flooding our K-mart tent and carrying us into the Tasman Sea. Now its sunstroke, sand fleas, and excessive intoxication we have to worry about.

Two days ago we stayed in the town of Nelson which is on the "classic New Zealand" wine trail. Did a little wine tasting and moved on the next day for Pohara beach. We have a great campsite beachside with sounds of the ocean filling our tent at night. Will be staying here for a while. Very relaxing and very nice. Yesterday we drove about 10 minutes from our campsite to a trail head that lead to a very nice waterfall. The trail was narrow and zig zaged over some streams and crossed over a large river once. The crossing over the river had this sort of rope bridge we had to walk on. It had a large sign that said it was rated for only one person at a time. A little disconcerting. Heahter had no problemb crossing the bridge. I think it is due to her size and weight. As I crossed I made the damn thing jump like a cat on a hot plate. Anyway the waterfall was great and the best part was we were alone and were able to enjoy it to ourselves.

Today we took a long 11 Km hike out around to some beautiful beaches. At one point the trail crosses a sort of bay or estuary. We had to wait for the tides to receed so we could cross over. Even then the water came up to Heathers waist. It was worth the effort beautiful white beaches and clear blue skies and water. We accidentally wandered into a bird nesting site and Heather was attacked by some large intimidating bird. The bird had speed and no fear. It struck at Heathers had like a bold of lighting, pecking at her hat and making us run like hell for cover. I think all the birds in New Zealand should be rendered flightless like the Kiwi and the Penguins they have here. It would make travel alot safer for us Americans. Maybe Bush should look into this for us.

Since it is winter time in California Heather and I are both fairly pale. No suntan. Fortunately for some reason New Zealand seems to draw quite a few Germans. Their pale, boarderline clear skin make us look dark in comparison. Its strage at times I feel like I am back in Germany. The campsite we are at is literally 95% German. I havent seen so much neon clothing since 1985. We have yet to meet one American in New Zealand. Kinda strange. Until Next time..Spreken Zie Deutsch??!!??