We hit the South Island July 4th

We woke up early to miss the truckers' strike and headed out in the dark in an unfamiliar city. We figured just keep the harbor to the right and we'd be ok - it worked and we got to wait about two hours until we could board in a dark industrial park.

The boat was like a cruise ship - we learned later it used to cross the English Channel. We had a seat in the cafe right at the bow and watched the truckers tie up the city. Next to us was a couple who let us borrow their newspaper. They were testing each other on the sports quiz and we found out he's a Yankees' fan and follows the Minnesota Vikings. He loves ESPN - subscribes to it on cable. What are the odds of meeting someone in New Zealand who knows who Joe Girardi is and knows Dante Culpepper's stats?

They knew all about walks all over the South Island and saved us from going to the information center where I was sure to get lost and bore the workers silly.

We headed west along the coast on Queen Charlotte Drive again with cliffs on one side and small villages and the ocean on the other. Once we headed inland the valleys were all vineyards and orchards.

We got to our town - Motueka - and asked about hiking in Abel Tasman Park. It turns out we'd have to take a $52.00 boat ride - each - to hike back to town for 3-4 hours. It sounded beautiful but everywhere we looked was like some sort of fairy land so we decided against it.

Any dissapointment over that was made up by the fact that we got into town on the opening night of their festival of lights. This is a one street village that had pineapple sized lights strung across the street. We bumped into a couple of old gents who said it would take the politicians about 30 minutes to flip the switch so come back around 6:00. It wasn't only lights across the street - there were small blinking lights like palms trees and floral displays above the one story shops and every store had something in it - reindeer, little trees and sleds among others. It turns out that they are celebrating the days getting longer and have to have something to do in the winter. Christmas is in the summer and the days are long and any displays just don't quite make it that time of year.

We were serenaded by bagpipe players of the Motueka Pipe Band and a four woman vocal group like Meghan's called the Nancies. On our way back to the hostel we passed a bakery that had just put out a sign for half price pies and quiches - this is like some movie town.

This was the first hostel where we met a lot of other adults. A couple from South Africa, another from Budapest with a small son and quite a few Asian women on their holiday work visas. Everyone makes a mad dash for the kitchens in these hostels - a lot like Filene's Basement and their annual bridal gown sale. There was a German guy baking cookies from scratch and some fancy meal, one of the Asian women was boiling a whole chicken for soup and we had our little bowl of pasta.

extra spice,,, harold.. and maude?? no not really, but he was harold

we were sort of prepped for the milford sound on this trip... the ride went through smaller mountains but it still looked a little like fiordland.. and picton was our alaska town....

ferry ride served food constantly .. for sale... movies,, raiders and iron man... 12 bucks... guess what we skipped the movie... been there done that..

harold was the south african man,, his wife.. ?... but she interrupted him alot and seemed to know everything about everything... she insisted on going over the mountain road.. it might snow he said... no worries, she said.... we can get to christchurch faster.... well, harold had been scarred for life when caught in a snowstorm in north carolina, somewhere in the mountains... since then he has carried chains in his car when travelling out of south africa... this time he sprung for chains for $100 bucks.. if they let any cars go over these mountains they will only let those who have chains...

harold cooked his fried eggs very slowwwwwly.... barely on warm....... says his kids taught him this trick.... never saw a man enjoy eggs like he did.... never left the stove... swiped his toast in his perfectly cooked eggs and we never saw him again til morning.... he admired everyone who cooked in that kitchen... especially the german fella with his pasta and veggies,,, baked... he said.. thats the german way to cook.... nice man that harold.... he got told to shush when trying to interrupt his wife... he shrugged, kept talking... hahahahaha

life fairbs said that kitchen was as busy as filenes at wedding gown sale.. but i said,, at least they didnt throw knives at each other like one of the places i worked.... no names mentioned.. but ... it is multicolored , half circle, and comes out after a summer rain... i did quit that job..