Lunch Snowbird style

Another not to be missed adventure is a trip to the Gila Indian reservation for that epicurean delight, Indian Fry Bread.

After a short 8 mile ride to the little town of Scacaton on the reservation we found this palace of fine food. As you can see the ambiance was 5 star as was the kitchen staff.

Once you have ordered and are served your Fry bread, seating options are limited. Here, Mark enjoys the view of the truck bed while partaking of his lunch

Janet, Dell, Bob and Sharleen are more fortunate finding a place at the table we brought along. As you can see the food was plentiful and good tasting as well. It is a base of a round, thin tortilla like bread, fried in hot oil and topped with a variety of goodies including beans, onion, steak or chicken, sour cream, cheese and tomatoes.
 
 

 
 
 
 
After lunch we sat around and did what we do best....... talk. Another great adventure and no one got food poisoning!

The Ostrich and the jumper

I have a couple of minutes so time for more Casa Grande news.

At the base of Pichacho Peak sits Rooster Cogburns' Ostrich farm. It's about 30 miles South of Casa Grande and we have driven past it many times on the way to Sierra Vista but never stopped. So yesterday we just drove down there to see what it was all about.

After getting up close and personal with them, I have determined that the Ostrich is a aggressive, fowl ( pardon the pun) tempered critter that looked at me like I would make a fine lunch. I might try a Ostrich burger sometime just to see if they taste better than they look.

In addition to the birds there were deer that just loved to eat out of your hand. We didn't even loose any fingers!

There were Boer Goats that just needed to be kissed. I tried to get Sharleen to do it so I could take a picture but she indicated that she kisses a old goat every morning so this would be nothing new. I don't understand her comment so can someone help me with it? It wasn't bad so I did it several times.

Our last stop at the farm was the Lorakeet enclosure. As soon as we stepped inside they landed on us..... guess they have done this before.
At one time I had 5 birds sitting on me and they too get a little aggressive looking for the food you have.
Lots of fun in a little spot along side interstate 10.

From there we headed to Eloy about 10 miles away to a world renowned sky diving site. We were entertained by a huge number of sky divers with as many as 16 jumpers linked in formation as they free fell before opening the chutes. There was lots of activity with four planes ferrying the jumpers in a continual operation.
Lots of fun sit and watch.

Desert fun

I am finding it hard to get time to do the blog thing. Seems we are busy everyday doing something fun and sometimes it's just laundry!

Eating is a favorite pastime down here. One evening there was a fish fry so we all joined in and did our part to consume the fish. Talking and eating are the favorite pastimes and sometimes we do them both at the same time.

Last Thursday we took a road trip into the mountains (about 225 miles round trip) and ended up on a dirt and gravel road called the Apache trail. It can be seen in the distance as it weaves it's way through the Superstition mountains. We drove for about 25 miles through spectacular scenery taking nearly a hour and a half to go 25 miles. We ended up in the little town (really a wide spot in the road) called Tortilla Flats where we had a late lunch before heading home.

Does Jack look happy or what?  He always seems to have his arms around a girl or two. Not much different than high school.

This was the view in all directions from Apache Trail. It looks like a miniature Grand Canyon with deep cuts and box canyons. From here we headed back to Casa Grande and some rest after a hard day of having fun.

Arizona in winter

It's about time I did a little blogging just to let you know we are alive and well and living in Arizona. We left home on 8 Feb and had a good trip to Sierra Vista with a little tire hiccup as seems to be the norm on trips lately. We spent a week in Sierra Vista visiting Sharleen's family and seeing old friends in Sonita.

On Sunday Rick ( Sharleen's brother), Ryan (her Nephew) and I went to a motocross track near Tucson where Ryan practiced his riding for a couple of hours. Here Rick and Ryan get ready for his first run.

Ryan (16) has been riding forever and is really good moving quickly around the track and taking the jumps. I had a great time just watching and thinking I'd kill myself if I tried it.

We're now at Foothills West in Casa Grande. The time here seems to just fly. 2:00pm is pool time and we gather to swim ( mostly talk while sitting in the pool). 4:00pm is happy hour with more talking. Maybe that's why the weather here is warm...... lots of hot air from all the snowbirds! I suspect I won't be doing a lot of blogging because of our busy schedule but rest assured we are alive, well and having a great time with all the young folks down here.

Christchurch

On Tuesday we headed over the mountains and along the east coast toward Christchurch.

Along the East coast we stopped and found a seal colony. We were able to get up close with no problem and watched them play and do seal things in the tide pools.

On Wednesday we toured downtown Christchurch which has experienced two major earthquakes in the last 14 months. As you can see, buildings are being held together with steel beans and supports. The entire center of the city is fenced so there is no admittance hence we weren't able to see the Cathedral. The construction of brick or stone and  mortar didn't fare well in the quake.

In the afternoon we spent about three hours at the Antarctic center near the airport. The highlight of the time was meeting Dori a blue penguin. The blue penguin is only found in New Zealand  and is the smallest of all the penguins being only about a foot tall when mature. We were able to see her up close and personal for a little while. Mel, our guide did a great job of providing information on Dori.

We stayed near Oxford about 50km from Christchurch at this great farm house. We had the entire top floor to ourselves and we enjoyed John and Shirley's company.

Time to drop the curtain on this trip and sail off into the sunset. We hope those of you who have followed us have enjoyed the posts. If you ever have the opportunity to visit New Zealand do it. The scenery is spectacular and the people are wonderful.



Some interesting facts as I leave you.
* The South  island is about 55,000 square miles, about 550 miles long and 100 miles wide
* It's smaller than California with 900,000 people.
* That's less than the population of San Jose.
* New Zealand is a young country, mostly settled after 1860.
* The gold rush lagged California's by about ten years and was critical to settlement there.
* There are three times as many sheep as people.
* The alps which run north to south are growing at about 5 inches per year.
Till next time..... happy trails

Exploring the Nelson area

We made the drive through the mountains and arrived in Richmond (near Nelson) by mid afternoon.

The next morning dawned clear and cool so we headed up to Abel Tasman national park to do some hiking. Our efforts were rewarded with this view of Tasman bay.

Along the track we spotted this Quail hen sitting  on her nest. She didn't seem to mind us watching her but the male near by didn't like us there.

The next day we drove to Nelson and spent the day looking at the Cathedral Museums and the queens garden shown here. We loved the lush green gardens that come from all the rain.

We spent some time at the Heritage museum where they have taken some of the historical buildings from Nelson and relocated them to a village setting. It felt like walking in Nelson around 1900.

We finished the day at the Broadgreen house near Richmond. The house was furnished with turn of the century furniture and we learned of it's history. The owner was one of the first settlers in the Nelson area in that time period. The rose gardens  surrounding the house were delightful. The following day we headed for Christchurch and the final stop of our trip.

Hokitika

On Wednesday Nov 8 we drove from Arrowtown to Hokitika on the west coast. The drive started with a narrow winding road over the mountains and the Haast pass in the alps. The day was rainy and the drive was less than easy but......



We passed along lake Wanaka before heading over Haast pass. Imagine this lake without the clouds.






We stopped on the coast side of the pass and took a short walk to these falls. Water seems to be everywhere on the west coast. Average yearly rainfall in the coastal mountains is 7.5 meters ( about 300 inches per year). That's an average of nearly a inch a day!

The next day dawned clear and bright so we explored the local area. We drove down narrow one lane gravel roads and were rewarded with this view at a local lake.




We found Dorthy falls along the gravel road. Note the ferns and moss that line the rocks and dirt. There is no doubt that this is a rain forest.





Walking down another track (New Zealand for walking path) we found this pristine river with a  swinging bridge. What a day for a hike!

 Berwicks B&B is located on a 50 acre farm that was obtained by Roger's grandfather. He raises sheep and had 50 to shear during out visit. Here Roger(in the hat) and Colin work at shearing one of the sheep. Colin has been shearing sheep for 40 years and has done as many as  350 in a day. That's about one every minute.



We had to say goodbye to Roger and Eileen the next morning. Note that the Ocean (Tasman Sea) is in the background. The farm house is about a half mile from the shore and looking the other way we had a stunning view of the alps. Roger and Eileen were wonderful hosts and we can't thank then enough.

We headed up the west coast and stopped at pancake rocks before leaving the ocean and traveling back into the mountains toward our destination of Nelson at the far north end of the island. More from there.......