My favorite photo from the trip.

This was taken at the Botanical Gardens in Christchurch. I spent 3
hours walking around taking pictures of the flowers. This is by far
one of the best shots I have ever taken. I can't explain what it does
to me but it makes my happy when I look at it.

Flowers in Sydney

I think of fire when I look at this one.

Coromandel Penisula

Great Barrier Reef - OZ

Another reef shot.

Great Barrier Reef - OZ

This picture can't do it justice but I like the heart.

Coromandel Town - Panorama

The Coromandel Penisula is second only to the Queenstown / Milford Sound area.

Milford Sound Area - South Island NZ

Upper Coromandel Peninsula

Milford Sound Area - South Island NZ

Milford Sound Area - South Island NZ

What more can I say about this area. The cost of the flight was worth
every penny for views like this.

Milford Sound Area - South Island NZ

Again, more great shots from the air. The falls drop about 800 feet.

Mt. Cook - South Island NZ

This was as close as I got to it. The clouds rolled in soon after.

Just water

But I love what it can do.

Another great sunset in Coromandel Town

I love the way the light captures to flowers.

South Island NZ - Queenstown

Queenstown was awesome for shots like this.

South Island NZ - West Coast

This was on the way to the west coast from Picton.

Upper Coromandel Peninsula

I drove for hours on dirt roads for great shots like this one on the
Coromandel Peninsula.

South Island NZ

I was not planning on going to this lake but I am glad I found it.

Coromandel Town - Sunset

I love this shot.

North Island NZ on the west coast

This is the bottom of "Ninety Mile Beach" you are looking west at the
Tasman Sea.

Milford Sound Area - South Island NZ

The only way to see Milford Sound is from the air. Trust me on that.

South Island NZ - West Coast

One of my best shots from the whole trip. This was a great day for pictures.

South Island NZ - Queenstown

This is just a few miles outside of Queenstown.

North Island NZ

Huka Falls. The volume of water is amazing, something like 20 swimming
pools a second.

North Island NZ

Coromandel Town sunset

South Island NZ

This was the pass I took from the west coast into Queenstown

North Island NZ

This is looking west towards Coromandel Town.

Bird in Queenstown

He sat there and let me take all the pictures I wanted.

South Island NZ

This is on the way to the west coast of the south island

South Island NZ

This is in Queenstown

North Island NZ

This is next to the volcano

North Island NZ

Don't ask me the name of this volcano, I forget.

North Island NZ on the west coast

The Pictures are Coming Very Soon

I have about 45 photos that I like and will post them in the next day or two. Sorry for the delay.

I'm Back Baby

It's nice to be home, at least where home is now, NJ. Got in around 11:30am and at the house by 1:00pm. Unpacked and getting stuff together. Not sure what my next move is but I will let you know.

I'm in London and almost home. :-)

Only abut ten hours to go. Thank God. The flight from Singapore (14 hours) was not that bad, thanks to sleeping pills I was only awake for the first hour and a half and the last hour. I slept most of the way. I did wake up a few times for the loo. About 4 hours into my sleep I took another pill and sent me right back to la la land. Now I am killing time in the BA lounge trying to warm up. After 31 days with the temp never falling below 20c it's 3c in London. Of course I am in a short sleeve shirt and flip flops. I was smart enough to wear long pants but left my fleece jacket in my checked luggage. I also have on the socks they give you on the plane which is helping my feet, but look rather strange with flip flops but I don't care.

So what did I think of Singapore? Not much, it was not my kind of town. Although I felt like a giant walking around town. I am looking forward to getting back to the states.

Thanks to all who have been tracking my travels. I have had a good time updating the blog.

This will be the last post for a few days until I get my photos developed and posted on the web. Once that is done I will give you the address to view them if you would like. 95% of them are of New Zealand. I have just a roll or two of Australia and not one of Singapore. 24 rolls in total, or about 1000 photos. I will only post the ones I like so don't worry about having to go through that many.

Ok now I am just rambling again, trying to kill time until my next flight in just over 2 hours. By the time you read this I should be home or close to it.

A special thanks to all who sent me emails while I was gone, it was nice to hear from everyone. It made me feel like I was never alone. I think I am going to take a class in grammar and spelling in the future, I know they could use some work. "Hooked on Fonics" didn't work for me. ;-)

I'm coming home

Over the next 25 hours I will be in the air most of the time but back in Newark by 12pm Tuesday. See ya then.

I feel like Bob Harris

This will be Lost on most of you In many ways but some of you may be able to make the Translation.

I'm in Singapore

It's 10:30 pm on the 12th, I just got in and I am going to bed, I am still on Sydney time so I feel like it's 1:30am. I will let you know what the place is like tomorrow.

Sydney aka Little New York City

This place is second only to New York City for me. It is a cool, hip, trendy, cosmopolitan kind of town. You must come here. It is a beautiful city to explore with tons of great buildings and shops. I can't say enough about it. If I had to pick a place to live in this would make it in the top 5 to choose from. (in no order - NYC, Middlebury VT, Sydney, Slea Head a tiny town on the west coast of Ireland and Vancouver, BC)It has everything you could ever want in a city plus the beaches are just minutes away. The people here are so nice and easy going. The pace is about the same as New York but without the biting charm that is NY. Does that make sense to anyone but me. Put another way, it's softer, and not as tough as NY. I look forward to seeing more of the city in the morning.

I went up the Sky Tower today and took some wonderful photos of the city. Like I said earlier, I can't wait to come home and bore you all with my photos. For those of you who I may not see don't worry I will put them online for your viewing pleasure.

Hey mom, the prayer circles are working. Keep it up lady. Speaking of moms, why don't you pick up the phone right now and call your mom and let her know how much she means to you. If your mom is no longer around, pick up the phone and call a person you may not have talked with in a while but has been on your mind, let them know you are thinking of them. We tend to take for granted the ones we love the most, don't. Thanks to those of you who think about me, I can feel the love all the way around the world.

Got to run, the singer in the bar started up again and man can she sing.

Getting you up to date.

I spent 45 min last night writing this out and the computer crashed right before I posted so here goes again.

Yesterday in Cairns:
Checked out of the hotel, dropped off the car and grabbed a cab to the airport. I meet a really nice Aussie, Rodney, who is the sales manager of a VW dealership in Townsville, south of Cairns. He and I talked for about an hour and a half about a ton of different things. Great guy to hang out with. He offered to buy me a beer but at 11am water was all I needed. Thanks Rodney for showing me what a true Aussie is like.

I hopped on the plane and headed for Sydney. The food and service was great. So much so I went to tell the flight attendants how much I loved Quantas. They where so happy to hear it. I talked with three of them for about a half hour. I would have talked longer but we had started our decent into Sydney. A few minutes later one of them came up to me and said they where so happy that I told them how good there service was and she slipped me a nice bottle of Australian wine to take with me. You catch more flies with honey. All three of them where so nice to chat with. We talked about my trip, places they had been in America, how I lost all the weight and just random stuff like vegemite (some awful tasting yeast product they seem to like. But then again they put beets on hamburgers here.)

I had to make a change to my ticket so when we landed I went to the British Airways counter to make the change. Instead of going back to the arrival area to catch a cab I waited for one at departures. What a serendipitous choice that was. I got what I consider my best cab ride ever. He and I talked the 30 minutes it took to get to my hotel (more on this later). He told me places I had to see and what I could avoid. Another great Aussie.

So to all the people I meet and talked with yesterday. Thanks for showing me the true side of Australians. Kudos to all of you for making my day so nice.

Now the hotel. The book called it first class accommodations. Sure if you are homeless it would be first class. To say it was first class is like saying Motel Six is a 5 star resort. It sucked plain and simple. I was in a room that was on a busy street and I got very little sleep because of it. Every time a truck or bus would come by it would wake me up. Or the idiots above me who keep opening the sliding glass door that shook my room. So since I couldn't sleep I went down to use the computer to write this. Of course it crashed right before I was going to post. 45 min (10 bucks) wasted. I finally got to sleep around 4 am. The idiots upstairs decided to open the sliding glass door at 6am waking me up. Now I was pissed. I like and need my sleep. This is no shock to any of you. I went downstairs and told the guy at the desk I wanted a new room for the next night. He was not sure what to do. So I went back upstairs called my travel agent and had her book me a new hotel. The Swissotel, a very nice place. Oh yeah I forgot to mention the fire alarm going off and having to evacuate the building. More fun, but it is behind me and I can't change any of it so time to move on.

So here I sit, using Swissotel computer, for free I might add, as I wait for them to get a room ready for me. It's 9:30 am right now on Friday. I am going to try and get my cabbie from yesterday to pick me up and drive me around the city for a few hours and act like a tour guide. I did this when I was in Dublin and found it was one of the best ways to see a city. If not I am going to just do a walking tour. I need to see the Sydney Opera house, the harbor Bridge and Bondi Beach. Everything after that is gravy. I leave for Singapore tomorrow around 5pm so I have a day and a half to check this place out.

My brother Kevin seems to like seeing his name appear on the blog because he sent me 5 bucks for a Guinness when I get to London.. of course it will be 5am but what the heck, they give to new moms in the hospitals in Ireland so why not. That brings his grand total up to $25.05, good on ya mate.

A side note to Bob and Cathy Auten - get the hell out of Florida aka "Gods waiting room", the place is the just like the movie "Groundhog Day" and you know it. Come back to New Jersey, we all miss you. I am sure pop can find you a nice place that he would only charge a modest rate for. Or move in with Tom Howtiz (sp?), I sure he would love the company and help finishing off his house. (sic) If not, I will buy a place and you can move in with me. We can sell more crap on ebay to pay the rent.

As for my Dad and Janet who are currently in New Zealand, how about an email telling us about your travels? I would love to know your thoughts on the food and the places you have been.

I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to boring you all with the 30 odd rolls of film I have taken so far.

On to Sydney this morning

Of course the weather in Cairns is the best it has been since I got here, such is life. Nothing new to report, just wanted to keep everyone in the loop.

The reason

First, I am fine. I thought about if I was going to write about this a lot last night, I went back and forth about it but here goes.

I miss you guys. The trip has been OK but I am just ready to get home. Traveling by yourself for this long is much harder than one would think. I have seen some great places on the trip but I need to get back home. I know this for sure, I will never take being an American for granted again, I don't care what the rest of the world thinks of us. It is the best place to live and the greatest country in the world. I miss it. When you step away from your normal life you start too see the things and the people you take for granted everyday. When they are gone, it brings them in to sharp focus. I have always considered myself somewhat of a self contained unit who could provide everything I need for myself, I could not have been more wrong. I have a new found respect for the people in my life who I care about and who care about me.

If nothing else the trip has been worth it for that lesson alone.

I am sorry if I had you guys worried with the last post but yesterday was very hard on me emotionally. I was about 5 minutes away from just getting on the plane yesterday afternoon and coming home right then skipping Sydney and Singapore.

I leave for Sydney tomorrow and will spend 2 days there. Then 2 days in Singapore. The flight from Singapore gets me into London around 5 am and there is a 8 am Flight to Newark. I am not sure if I am going to hop on that one or spend a day in London and catch it in the morning. I will keep you up to date on my return.

Oh yeah, the sun has made its first real appearance in Cairns. I had a 2 hour window yesterday and found a plane and pilot for a quick flight to the reef for photos. This morning it has returned and I will spend some time on the beach.

I will be home soon

For reasons I will not go into right now I just wanted to let everyone know I will be back in New Jersey on or about 15th. If I feel up too it I may post why, but not now. Please don't send me emails asking why. You will find out when I am ready.

Thanks
Sean

Cairns - The weather, well it...

The word you are looking for is sucks. I have had and will continue to have rain for the rest of my stay in Cairns. I guess this is why it's called a tropical rainforest. The sun has yet to come out for more than 5 min. I was going to do a reef tour by air or sea but with the weather being this bad I am not going to waste my money. A flight over the reef is out because without sun and low cloud cover the photos would not be worth a damn. And I am not going to sit inside a boat for a few hours to then snorkel without sunlight, not my idea of fun. I need to come here in September or October from what the locals tell me. The other option is a tour of the rain forest. Not on your life, you put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt then go to a steam room and walk around for a few hours, sounds fun doesn't it. If I had a waterproof camera I would consider it but there is no way I am taking my camera into that. So without a camera there is not much point to it.

So what will I do? That remains to be seen. I don't have all bad news. Today when I checked into my hotel they gave me an upgrade on my room. It is a corner room with a great view. I was getting settled and grabbed the extra pillows out of the closet when two $50.00 bills came out with them. That's $80.00 US, not a bad find. I guess a past guest hide it up there and forgot about it. Now some would say I should ask at the front desk if a guest called about it but you and I know it would go right into the pocket of the person at the front desk. This brings me back to even from when I started here two days ago.

I have my flight booked to Sydney on the 10th and will stay the two days I had planned. I will then go to Melbourne for two or three days at the most. The more people I talked too the more Melbourne came up.

I spent this morning in a bar with 5 other aussies watching the Superbowl. I was going to go to the casino and place a bet on the game, I am now glad I didn't. What where the Eagles thinking with that clock management in the last part of the fourth quarter? Don't get me wrong, nothing makes me happier than to see Philly lose. I had a coke and a few glasses of water the whole game, while 4 out of the 5 aussies drank more beer in that time than I thought was possible. Dad's friend Ray told me about trying to keep up with aussies and drinking, it can't be done. Even in my heyday these guys would put me under the table in a second. The amazing thing was after the game you could not tell that they had just had about a 12 pack each. I would love to know how there livers are somehow different then the rest of the world. I am not exaggerating, these guys can pound beer like it was water. Maybe my friends Doc or Lobster could hang with them but not mere mortals.

I will most likely be back in the states around the 20-25th of Feb. I am finding I don't need as much time in places I thought I would. Plus I miss home and good food. I have been told the food in Singapore is great but I am not holding my breath. The only advantage to the crappy food is I don't eat much of it. I don't feel like I have lost any weight, I sure haven't put any on. I have also been doing more walking in the past few weeks then I have done in the last six months. Most of that is trying to find a restaurant that has somewhat normal food. Those of you who know how picky I get about food will understand that I will never eat something that should be served alone but the chef insists on adding some special touch he came up with. Here is an example of what I am talking about. I want a steak, cooked medium rare with a side of potato or rice or even a vegetable. But instead they have a steak covered with a mango chili chutney. I just want a piece of meat, plain and simple with a touch of salt. Now I know I keep coming back to my rants on food but let's be honest, I know what I like and I know what I don't. At age 37 I am not going to all the sudden begin to like cooked vegetables, any kind of fruit that is heated on a main course, etc. The fruit thing is one of my biggest pet peeves. Hot fruit is good in an apple pie not on meat.

I guess I am just miffed about the weather and have nothing else to do but write this stuff. So I rant. I can see why people here drink so much. I am having a good time, I don't want people to think I am not. The weather has got me down that's all. Take a look at weather.com and look at the sat photo of Australia and you will see the low pressure system sitting in the big "U" shaped bay in the north east corner of the country. It hasn't moved in days and it is not going to move in the near future.

There is another hour gone and as it is getting close to 5pm, it's time too start my search for a place to eat dinner. Thanks to those who take the time to read my rants.

I almost forgot, a huge shout out to my big brother Kevin for coming though with a $20.00 donation. That brings his grand total to $20.05. You da man.

Hello from Cairns Australia

Oh my God is it hot, I'm talking Africa hot, Tarzan couldn't take this heat. I got into Cairns (pronounced "cans", why they have the "i" and "r" I don't know) around 9:30pm local time after a long day of travel. I left Christchurch around noon and headed to the airport. I dropped of the Tan Titan, (he will be missed) and got a ride to the airport. I had a nice three hour flight to Sydney. Then a 2 hour layover until my flight to Cairns, which was another 3 hour flight. The moment I stepped off the plane the humidity hits you like sucker punch to the chest. I had just come from a nice cool and very dry plane (25% humidity on most planes) to the 90% (at least) humidity and 85 degrees of Cairns. I made a bee line to the outside as nicotine levels had reached a dangerously low level. I truly felt I could cut the air with a knife. The nice thing is my skin is no longer dry and flaky. I hopped in a cab for the short ride to my motel. I got my room key and found my room overlooking the pool. As I opened the door it was hotter in my room than outside, not at a good feeling. The first thing I did was figured out how to get the A/C working. I then put on my swimsuit and went down to the pool to try and cool off. The pool was about 5 degrees cooler than the air but it was enough to cool me down. After about 30 min just sitting on the steps I went to the room which now was still warm but now much drier. I had crossed 3 time zones so I was very tired when I finally got to bed around midnight.

I woke up this morning around 8 to the sound of a heavy tropical rain. 5 minutes later it was gone. I didn't want to leave the room because of the heat and humidity. You have to remember I just spent 3 weeks in what I can only now, call great weather in New Zealand, never to hot and humidity never above 60%. I walked around for a for the next 5 hours in town. The rain would come in buckets for five minutes then go away. Some times it would just rain lightly, which is the best because you don't care about walking in it. Sure it gets your cloths slighly wet but after it stops you dry out quickly, plus it does cool you down for a bit. I have never been one for walking in the rain but here I have no problem with it, as long as you are inside or under cover for the heavy downpours. I picked up a rental car for the next 4 days. ("Baby Blue" a tiny Toyota Echo) I didn't think I would need one until I got here and figured out how far the beaches are from town (about 6-8 k) and I am not walking that far in this heat. I would say about half of the shops were closed, as it is Sunday, so I just looked around to see what the town has to offer. I found a shop that sells only digerydoos (sp?) and sat there for about 45 minutes learning how to play this native instrument. I got the hang of it after awhile. It is not as easy as it may seem. I am not sure if I am get one and have it shipped home. The other place I went to was a gallery of a local photographer. For those of you who have told me I take good photos, let me be the first to tell you, I am a child compared to the work of Peter Lik. I walked around the gallery for 45min in awe. Checkout his website www.peterlik.com I picked up his two coffee table books, one of Australia and one of America and had them shipped home. The website gives you an idea of his work but to see it up close, it is amazing and huge, the average photo was 20" by 50" panaromas. I walked around looking for a place to eat lunch, hoping for a change from NZ. I won't hold you in suspense, it is not all that different. I do learn something new everyday though. I ordered an cheeseburger (I expected exactly what I got in NZ, and that's what I got, some sort of "meat product" infused with onion) and a vanilla milk shake. On the menu it had milk shake or a thick milk shake. I figured I would get the regular and I didn't want a lot of ice cream. Little did I know if I wanted ice cream I needed to get the thick shake. There idea of a milk shake is take some milk add some vanilla flavor and whip. I guess they didn't lie to me, they shook up some milk. I will know better in the future. (I would kill for a Jersey Mikes giant #13, heavy lettuce, heavy mayo, salt, oregano, oil and vinegar. Could someone get it for me, pack it in dry ice and mail it to me, please, I'm not kidding, when I get back to Newark I may drive to Bay Head just to get one.)

So what is my agenda for the next few days? I am trying to find a place to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. It starts at 10am here so finding a bar that's open will be tough. I was hoping I could watch it at the motel but the tv channel selection is weak at best. I plan on doing one day diving on the Great Barrier Reef and one day exploring the rain forest. I have yet to book anything because the weather right now sucks for both. There is a low pressure system just off to the west that is giving us this lovely weather. (I just noticed that below the equator low pressure systems spin clockwise and high pressure spins counter clockwise. Opposite of what I am used too. This explains the whole bathtub drain thing you have always heard about.)

I am still leaving here on the 10th for Sydney. I have two days booked for the city. I think this will be enough to see the Harbor Bridge, the Opera House and some beaches. Other than that I have no other interest in big cities. (I have already been to the greatest city in the world, New York City, no other city come close.) After that I am not sure if I will go to Adelaide, Melbourne or Hobart in Tasmania. I will make that choice tomorrow at the Quantas ticket office.

All right enough for now. Hugs and kisses to those who want them, bag tags to those who don't. What's the capital of Thailand? ;-)

Hanging out in the Christchurch Airport

I have a few hours to kill here in the airport. Luckily I am about to hang out in the Quantas Club. There is nothing like free food and drinks along with a internet connection to make a wait seem easy.

I had a lot of leftover postcards and stamps from NZ, so expect cards in the next few weeks that don't say much. Everyone got the same letter on the card. I was not in the mood to write out what I already have written on the blog. I had 17 cards to do so it was some what of an assembly line of sorts writing them out.

Back to my rant about the food in New Zealand. I was going to leave this alone but I have to let it out. It sucks, plain and simple. I had 2, count them 2 out of about 40 meals I enjoyed. The first was when I was in Coromandel Town and had dinner with the staff of "The Peppertree" restaurant my friend Jen and her husband Brown own. The next did not come until I got to Queenstown and on the last night there I found a place called "Winnie Bagos" where I had a great thin crust pizza. Other than that the rest was lame. Even the fast food (KFC, Mickey D's, and BK) wasn't good. The ketchup and mayo are somewhat different and give it a strange taste. It took me awhile to figure out why the food is bad and then it occurred to me, this country was settled by the English. The English are not know for there cuisine, think about how many Italian, French, Asian, Greek, Middle Eastern, restaurants you find in America. Sure, you may go to an English style pub, but that is for the beer not the food. When was the last time you said to friends or family, "hey lets go get some British food"? Now I don't want to offend anyone but it's true the Brits think fish and chips are the pinnacle of great food.

So how would I sum up my trip to NZ? I had a great time in many areas I visited and a not so great time in others. If someone asked how they should see the country I would tell them to fly into Auckland, rent a car for 7-8 days. Then drive up to the Northlands and visit the Bay of Islands, crossover to the west coast and see Ninety Mile beach and head south to Auckland via the National Park I drove through. (the name escapes me now). This could be done in 2-3 days, giving you plenty of time to see that area. Next I would send them to the Coromandel peninsula for 2-3 days. Hanging out in Coromandel Town and then head over to Whitianga on the east coast. I would then head south to Rotorua and Taupo for a few days then return to Auckland for a flight to Christchurch and rent a car for 7 days. Spend a few days in Christchurch and head south to Queenstown. Mount Cook would be a good side trip on the way to Queenstown. Go through Wanaka to get to Queenstown. Then spend the rest of your time in Queenstown. It was by far the place I would comeback too in a heartbeat. There is a ton of different things to do in the town. Then fly home. Wellington and the trip over the ferry was nice but can be missed. Also the west coast of the south island was fairly boring, the same scenery over and over, Tasmen sea to your right and mountains to your left for hours on end. When you first see it, it's nice but after three hours it gets tiresome.

The big question about any place you go is would you come back? Yes I would, for Coromandel and Queenstown only. The rest I have seen. Now I don't want people to think I didn't enjoy the other areas I visited but didn't mention, it's just they weren't all that special.

So, onto Australia for the next 8-12 days. I am sure of the following. Four days in Cairns then a flight to Sydney for two days. This is all that I have planned for now. I may stay an extra day in Sydney then go to Adelaide for 2-3 day then onto Singapore. I have ruled out Italy but I may have told you that already. I want to go to Italy with someone with me. Any guesses on that person is? Hey it could be you!

All right, time to go enjoy more free food and drink. I will catch up with you in a few days as I will be arriving late into Cairns tonight and will go right to sleep when I get in.

The Christchurch Update

Greetings from the city of Christchurch. I arrived in the city yesterday afternoon around 5:30. I had an easy drive from Queenstown to get here. The roads where mainly flat and straight, which was a nice change of pace. There was hardly any cars on the road so it was a low stress drive. I hooked up with two other cars and we took turns taking the lead. The speed limit here is 100k or 62 mph. With the three of us cruising most of the way at 115-120k or 70-74mph. This made the drive that much quicker. I stopped on the way and took a side trip to Mount Cook (NZ highest). There is only one road in and out. It was a detour of 100k round trip. I only got about half way there when I found the picture I wanted. I noticed clouds starting to come in from the east and was afraid I would get there the same time the clouds did. So I turned around about halfway and continued on to Christchurch. I stop a few more times to get more photos of Mt. Cook from a distance. I look forward to seeing the photos from there. The lake was a grey blue color, well blue with a shade of grey. I can't say I have ever seen water this color but I am sure all glacial melt water looks like this.

About an hour south of Christchurch I picked up some passengers, 4 kids from Sweden. Three blond girls and one guy. I am not sure which one (or more ;-} ) of the girls he was hooking up with but his choices are good looking, good looking and good looking. What's with the Swedes? (sp?) I have yet to meet one that wasn't good looking. They where in there early 20's and spoke English better than most Americans. It was nice to talk with them about there travels and places they had seen and where they where going. I dropped them off just outside Christchurch so they could catch another ride to Picton 4 hours north.

I headed into town and tried to find my hotel. In every other town or city I have come too, there a signs directing you to the main info center. I could not for the life of me, find one. I remembered that where I dropped off the Swedes was near the airport. I headed back out of town and on to the airport. I know they have an info counter. I got there and found out I was less than 3 blocks away from the hotel when I was looking in the city. In the words of Homer Simpson, "Doh". I drove back into town and checked in around 6:45. The skies where overcast and not a break in them, just a solid wall of white. The weather forecast for the next day was more of the same. I grabbed some dinner and went back to the room to watch CNN post State of the Union commentary. I am getting a little tired of people railing on America. If you don't like it, don't buy our products and for God sake stay out of MY country. Sorry about that I am sick of the America bashing I hear from most people. One guy tried to tell me the reason so many people died in the tsunami was because America knew about it but didn't tell anyone about it. I asked him if he was the village idiot and walked away. (rant over) I read until around 11:30 and got some sleep.

When I woke up this morning the skies where the same as yesterday, a solid sheet of white clouds. I looked over the map and headed to the coast to the town of New Brighton Beach. When I got there I noticed a break in the clouds. I did a sun dance in hopes of coaxing it out. This is the first beach I have come across in NZ that reminds me of home. The sand was very fine with a touch of black too it. This may be leftover volcanic sand, it was much finer than the sand in NJ or NC. The surf was just ok, with swells about 2-3 feet. This did not deter the surfers from going in. The sandbar extended from the shore out about 600 ft out. At the end of the pier, which is about 1000ft, the water depth is only 8 feet. The sun started to come out while I was sitting there watching the surfers. I decided I should head into town and enjoy it there. I first went to the Botanical Gardens. What a place, worth the time to come and visit. The place is huge. I spent the next 2 1/2 hours walking around and taking pictures. The sun was starting to really take over from the clouds now. What a day it was turning out to be. I then headed into the city center and drove around trying to find a place to park. As luck would have it I found a parking deck right in the middle of the city. It is in central shopping district. There is a large square where vendors and street performers hawk their wares. I watch a great street performer for about 20 min, walking on broken glass, telling jokes and juggling fire. I spent the next few hours walking around the city.

That brings you up to date. I leave for Australia tomorrow afternoon. It maybe a few days before I get a chance to update you guys.

Look for new postcards in the mail over the next few weeks. From what I can gather, it takes about 2 weeks to get to you. If you asked for one but have not gotten it let me know.

Thanks again to all of you who keep up with my travels. It make doing this worth it.
Running out of internet time.
later dudes

I Love Queenstown

I am have a great time in Queenstown, so much so I am staying an extra day. There is so much to do in this town. Of course most of those things cost money but it is still worth it.

I spent yesterday sightseeing. I took a flight (7 seat Cessna, single prop) over to Milford Sound in the morning. It was about a 1/2 hour flight, of which 15 of those minutes I was flying though the Southern Alps, what a blast that was. I was flying between mountains and going over the low passes. I think the people in the back where a little freaked at first but when we landed (pilot did that part) they told me they thought it was cool I got to fly. I took some pictures and waited for the return flight with a different pilot. On the way back I sat in the back of the plane to get some photos. I took 3 rolls of 36 exposures. I had to hold the camera to the far back window and hope for the best, I will see how they turn out. I had to do this to try and get the widest field of view without the wings showing up too much. The views of the Southern Alps are fantastic. Most people take the bus tour then a boat tour and return by bus. This takes 12 hours. My trip took only 2 and I got to see so much more than most ever do. I skipped the boat ride, I just was not what I was into. I have seen dolphins, puffins and sea lions before so I don't feel I missed much.

When I got back I spent the afternoon walking through town doing some window shopping. What I have figured out is I have so many people who I could by gifts for that I would need another suitcase. Having said that please don't expect anything expect postcards and the photos when I get back. If I see something that just screams out to me, I will buy it.

Later in the afternoon I stumbled upon something I had not seen before in Queenstown, a Casino. I had seen the one in Auckland but decided not to go in. But I just had a good feeling about this place so I went in. It is a small place, they have about 100 slot machines (called pokies here) a few craps and roulette tables and three blackjack tables. No one was in the place, ok maybe three people playing the pokies but all the tables where empty. I sat down at the blackjack table and got 200 in chips on a $5 table. I was betting $10 as my min and $25 max. I hit 5 blackjacks in the first 12 hands. A few more people showed up and everyone was doing well. Now anyone who has ever been to a casino with me knows I smoke like a chimney when I am at the tables, it keeps me relaxed. As of Dec 10th of last year smoking was banned indoors. I thought that would be a problem but it wasn't. They had a nice deck to go smoke on outside, so when the dealer would shuffle we would go out and grab a smoke. (Am I just rambling now?) It works out nicely, by the time I finished my smoke the dealer was ready for the next round. Over the next 1 1/2 hours I was never down below my initial $200. I walked out with $110 for the day. I was up $200 but got waxed the last 6 hands. I had great cards but the dealer keep drawing just 1 or 2 above me. So I took the cash and ran. The way they play blackjack here is just about the same as home except the strange way they deal. I will try to explain this, the dealer gives the players one card and his one card as normal then we get out second card and he does not give himself his second. The dealer then gives everyone the cards they want before he takes his second card. I am not sure why they do it this way but it was strange.

I grabbed dinner at a little cafe and read over some travel stuff. During the week the town is not as hopping as it is on the weekend. I was going to go to a pub but they don't get going until around 11pm. As it was only around 8, I wasn't going to sit there drinking in a mostly empty bar by myself. I have been there before in the past, it's not a good look for me. Plus as most of you know I really don't drink anymore so two beers and I am loaded. I headed back to the hotel for the evening. I hung out with people a few rooms down. (We all have a large common balcony.) A dad with is daughter (26? Maybe) and her daughter (18 months) on vacation. I had a few drinks with them just hanging out chatting about NZ and OZ. I then went in and read until I went to bed around 11:30. The lack of good TV is nice. (what Sean is happy about not having TV, does he have a fever or something?) It keeps me from just lounging around in the room at night. Most nights here in Queenstown I hang out by the lake, which is right in front of the hotel. The fact that the sun sets so late makes it a nice place to read at night.

For those who might have been concerned that I was not having a good time, let me put that to rest, Queenstown has done wonders for my outlook. I know I was down for a few days, starting with the gout and lasting the next few days. What can I say, I was in a funk, call it UMS (ugly mood swings) I was also somewhat homesick during that time. When you are not feeling well and are away from friends and family you can't help but feel somewhat alone in this big world. The other issue was the lack of a major landscape change made things tough. I felt like I was going over the same ground. This is why I did the long drive of Picton to Queenstown, and I am glad I did.

So where does that leave me? I will spend today doing some more sightseeing and driving to some places for photos. After I check out tomorrow I will figure out which route to take to get to Christchurch. I have to be there by Friday, as I leave for OZ on Saturday. I still may go to Dunedin for one night and then on to Christchurch. But I am torn on which way to go. I would like to go to Mount Cook, the highest in NZ but this takes me in the wrong direction for Dunedin but does get me closer to Christchurch. I will mostly likely flip a coin if I can't work out the pros and cons of both places.

Thanks to those who write me emails, It is nice to keep in touch with everyone. Keep them coming.

Until later.