POST BY MOM AND DAD MARTIN!

My lovely parents departed from New Zealand last week and have written a blog post about their time here with us:

OK, where do I start regarding a blog post for our NZ trip? Great flight in and a nice small airport in Dunedin greeted by a contingent of American beauties (Earth Goddesses as we later determined - not “Hippie girls”), who were to be our amazing guides for the next 2 weeks. Our Toyota Rav-4 (the Shark) was a great choice for a rental car as it turned out, since we had to ford multiple creeks on our drive up to the trailhead for Rob Roy glacier.

We pretty much travelled all the way up the East Coast and then back down the West Coast. There are no shoulders on the roads and no guard rails most places. Apparently they believe in Social Darwinism. If you’re an idiot you don’t survive to wreck the gene pool. Perhaps these are the sort of things that led to the billboard with a dead guy on a gurney with a ticket hanging off his toe and the caption: “TRAFFIC TICKET." And speaking of traffic tickets we got one (Scott was speeding). The cop was just so damn nice too! He was probably smiling because he was squeezing some dough out of a tourist, but it sure seemed like he was just smiling because he was a nice guy. Asked me if I wanted to see the radar too. No, officer, I believe you that I was going 116KM/HR. I will take my medicine ($120). You have to pay online or they might not let you pass customs on the way out of the country.

Absolutely love the Kiwi sense of humor. Starting with the Air New Zealand safety video “The Bare Essentials of Safety” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Mq9HAE62Y. I mean these people are naked! Look close. It’s so much fun talking to the Kiwis and learning the lingo. At the grocery store you don’t use carts-you use trolleys. It's a car-park, not a parking lot. You go tramping, not hiking. Then when you get home to make your vegetarian dinner, it’s time to go out and pick up the eggs your chooks have laid and whip up a fried egg sandwich with fresh avocado (the only thing that’s cheap in NZed). It’s really hard to stay vegetarian in NZed though, because the streaky-bacon is just too damn good! Their bacon hardly has any fat and since everyone has chooks, eggs are everywhere and so what can you do.

Everyone also has woodstoves in NZ, which was great because we love woodstoves. Not so much central heat and very little insulation or thermopane windows, so it’s no wonder there are so many sheep-they need a lot of warm clothes. We saw thousands and thousands of sheep. Not too many horses (surprisingly), but tons of sheep and cows. They also recycle everything, especially building materials-sinks, faucets, old windows, everything gets re-used.

The tramping was fabulous. Diane loved the steps that went up and over the fences instead of having to open gates. Our first hike was Mt. Fyffe in Kaikoura which was beautiful with views of pastures and paddocks all around. Second hike was in Abel Tasman out of Nelson at the north end. Absolutely spectacular beaches and it was one of the best hikes ever. The girls jumped in the ocean and swam around, but it was a little chilly for us, plus we did not bring bathing suits, but an absolutely beautiful spot, whether you wanted to swim or not. We were in Nelson three days and played tennis every day, fed the chickens and the girls took mudbaths when the tide was out.

A highlight was spending time with the boys from England, Jack and George. They taught us to play the card game “Scabby Queen” and let me tell you, the tension runs high and it is an absolute abomination to get stuck with her. We also played Taiwanese Snap which was awesome-just a few minor hand injuries with that game. A little cribbage was played and Christy is totally hardcore now, so don’t let your attention lapse or she will be all about taking your leftover points.

On to Hokitika and huge rainstorms with so much standing water on the road that Connie took hydroplaning to a new level - we thought the girls were going to be off the road for sure, but Connie, being a yacht, handled it no problem and slewed back onto the pavement at the last second. There was so much water on the road in many places that only one car could pass at a time. Again, we sure were glad to have the 4WD rig. Finally got to Lake Hawea through a howling windstorm, which fortunately abated soon after we got there. We drove by the public park and there were a couple dads doing cricket drills with their kids so I ran over to see what the hell cricket was about. As always they were so nice to explain everything to me and then they invited us to go water skiing the next day. It’s just how people are there. Wanaka is just down the road and that is one of the favorite places for the girls as it is a jump-off point (pun intended) for their rock climbing adventures. We didn’t get to watch them rock climb which is probably just as well, but from Wanaka they took us on an epic tramp up to the Rob Roy glacier.

Scott: “Are you girls SURE we can drive through these creeks to get to the trail head?”
Girls: “Sure, we made it no problem just the other day”.
Scott: “OK, but I’m getting out to check before I drive through the creekbed and get stuck and we don’t even have a shovel”.
Girls (annoyed): “OK, old man, but you’re just slowing us down, let’s get going!”

No they didn’t really say that, but I know they were thinking it…we watched a couple other rigs go through and then proceeded and it was great fun, even though I was nervous about getting the rental car stuck and having to track down some farmer to pull us out, because there sure as hell are no tow trucks way up there. Then the hike! It was just spectacular. The suspension footbridge must have been 100’ above the raging river below and rickety pretty much describes it. You gotta walk fast but smooth or it starts bouncing around. That was the crux of the route for me-I don’t like heights. Diane did OK on that but she didn’t like the 12” wide slippery, muddy spot where if you slipped it would be a long tumble down to the river and certain death. That part was OK for me. Good thing we are both scared of different things so we can help each other out. Finally got all the way to the top and what a view! Without a doubt the best, scariest, and most beautiful tramp we have ever been on. It’s got us all motivated to hike more in Washington now.

Anyway, it was the trip of a lifetime for us and we have already contacted a lawyer and filed for joint custody of Christy, Roxy, Mel, Lauren, George, and Jack. Danielle we already consider part of the family even though we didn’t get to see her-apparently she has been severely distracted by some kid named Ben.

Thanks girls! After 2 weeks I’m usually ready to be “leavin’ on a jet plane”, but this time I actually was not ready to come home and even when we got home I wasn’t ready to be home. I think 4 weeks would have been waaaay better, but maybe next time. So after a teary farewell and a serenade from the girls at the airport, we had plenty of time to reflect on how thankful we are for Megan and her brilliant traveling mates. We love them and are bursting with pride (and envy) of the adventuresome life they lead. Now we still have the North Island to go…