Down under

Greetings from the wonderful country of New Zealand. We arrived Wednesday morning none the worse for the trip. In fact, it was easier than we had anticipated. 12 hours from San Fransisco to Auckland, a two hour layover in Auckland and a hour and a half flight to Christchurch. Then we picked up a rental car and drove for a hour and a half to the little town of Akaroa.

We drove to a little farm house about 5 kilometers from town and were met with this great view. The owners Hugh and Katherine were there to meet us and get us settled.

We had this view from our bedroom window. The hills and gardens are the most green I have ever seen. We spent many hours talking with Hugh and Katherine and Katherine made us breakfast two days and dinner last night.... lamb chops, potatoes, Asparagus and salad with cobbler for desert and a good red wine.

We walked out of the house and found Katherine feeding a orphaned lamb. Coombs farm is truly a working sheep farm with 850 acres of grazing land (steep) and 1500 head of sheep. Katherine is using a wine bottle and I inquired if wine helped the lamb grow.

Yesterday we took a two hour boat ride on Akaroa harbor. The name Akaroa means "long harbor" in Maori. The harbor is 18 miles long and was formed when the seaside wall of the volcanic caldera collapsed allowing the sea to rush in. We saw some Hector Dolphins which are native to this area . They are about 4 feet in length making them much smaller than the Dolphins we see in the states.
What a great way to spend a afternoon.

After the harbor boat ride, we drove to the rim of the caldera some 2500 feet above the harbor. As you can see the view was spectacular. The entire area was formed from erupting volcanoes some 6 million years ago and time has only enhanced the beauty of the place.

Today we left Akaroa and headed for Dunedin about 400 kilometers south. We were driving down a really nice asphalt road, came around a corner and were met with a herd of sheep in the middle of the road. The Shepard ( a woman) and her dogs were driving the sheep down the road. We stopped the car and waited while they moved past surrounding the car as they went.

Along the way we stopped to see some man made stones. These are large ( about 5 feet in diameter) and hollow. They are thought to have been used as ballast in a sailing vessel that was shipwrecked here many years ago... but no one really knows for sure. Tonight we are a Deacons court B&B in Dunedin. We'll be here two days exploring the area before moving on. All for now... Time for a pint and fish and chips!
                                                                                         

Dormant Volcanoes

I just have to do one last post from our fall trip. We spent the final weekend with friends at Lassen Volcanic national park just about 200 miles from  home.

Lassen is one of  two places in the world where the  four major types of dormant volcanoes are  found. Here we find cinder cone, composite, shield and lava dome volcanoes.

There are many examples of Geo thermal activity much as we see here. The super heated water is mixed with lava and bubbles up out of the ground. It's much like Yellowstone but without the geysers.

Lassen peak rises to 10500 feet above sea level. The parking area is at 8500 so there is a 2000 foot climb in two and  a half miles. We hiked part way some 32 years ago with very small kids. One day we'll go back and do the climb. It takes  6 to  8 hours to complete and the altitude makes it a  challenge.

.About 30 miles from Lassen volcanic national Park is Burney State park. Here  the melting snow from Burney peak creates a underground river and when it surfaces at a spring ( a really big spring) it forms this spectacular falls.The water comes over the rock and out of it as well.

I'm adding this movie just for Carrie..... she likes movies. That's all for now.... more from new Zealand in a month.

Oregon's north coast.

We've spent the last two days exploring the Oregon north coast. It's as pretty as the rest of Oregon's coastline with lots of little towns and rugged hills extending down to the ocean.

We spent a few hours Sunday with long time (as in 40 years) friends Bill and Geri. They now live on a hill overlooking the river in Nehalem. What a pretty place to live! It was great to "catch up" on the family and we even talked a little about the "good ole days".

Monday it was off to Astoria about 40 miles north of Nehalem. Fort Stevens is located at the mouth of the Columbia river on a peninsula. Fort Stevens was located here to defend the Columbia River from enemy ships and was the site of one of two attacks on US soil by Japanese submarines in 1942.

This is a 6 inch gun turret that housed a six man crew... all inside the gun. From it's location it was capable of shelling enemy ships as far as 9 miles away

The historical society is restoring this 6 inch gun and is locating it on the site of an original 10 inch gun. The mechanism is the same, it's just smaller. The gun will raise shoot and retract just as the original did.

From Fort Sevens we headed about 5 miles away to Fort Clapton. Here, Lewis and Clark spent 4 months preparing to return to St Louis. The original fort was destroyed but this replica has been built on the site.

Today (Tuesday) we'll explore more of the coast then head toward home tomorrow with a stop at the Rogue River and a couple of days at Lassen. Home on Sunday if all goes well. Why is it that the fun times pass so quickly?

The next post will Probably be from New Zealand late next month. Till then, happy trails. 

 

Oysters and the ocean

Time to update this again.... Aunt Helen registered a complaint that I wasn't doing this enough so .... gotta get busy!

We spent three days in Westport at Greyland State park.

Westport is a working fishing port with lots of fresh seafood. The seafood chowder is to die for..... but... the best part is Brady's oyster farm near town.

A dozen oysters on the BBQ makes a great dinner.

Just pop them on the grill...... turn them over once ....

Shuck the little guys, grab some cocktail sauce and have at it! For those of you who don't like oysters.... I feel bad for you!

On Saturday we headed south to Nehalem, Oregon to visit friends and enjoy the coast. We crossed the Columbia River into the town of Astoria. As you can see here the Columbia is wide as it enters the ocean.

Nehalem State park includes several miles of beach. We walked over the dunes and were rewarded with a wonderful view of the ocean on a truly spectacular day.

Another great day at the beach. We'll spend the next two days exploring the beaches from here to Astoria, visiting friends and spending time with Sharleen's sister and brother-in-law who will join us here tonight.

Tuesday at Lake Chelan

Monday evening Steve and Mary invited us for a BBQ with Rick, Kathy Arnie and Ginny. Steve has a new Trager BBQ that is super and Steve is a great cook. He started the meat at 3:00am and it was delicious! 

Steve did a pork roast and here He and Mary turned it into Pulled Pork for sandwiches. Thanks Steve and Mary for a great evening! 

On Tuesday we drove up to Lake Chelan about 90 miles from George just to see the sights along the Columbia River and visit the lake.

This is a view of Lake Chelan from the Tsillan Cellars winery.

There was a restaurant on the grounds so we had lunch under the canopy overlooking the lake. What a beautiful setting for lunch!

Also on the grounds, was this waterfall and we just had to have the required group photo.





Off to Issaquah... Thanks so much to our Special Cousins for a great visit.

Me and the tire

This has been a interesting trip in many different ways. Below you can see one of the more "interesting" things we encountered.

We were about 40 miles west of Spokane on I-90 when a tire on the left of the trailer blew. Fortunately I was able to pull over before it came apart and did some serious damage to the trailer. Changing it about 4 feet from 18 wheelers zooming past was interesting as well. Then came the other interesting events. The spare tire I put on had little to no air pressure so we drove slowly to a filling station about 15 miles up the road where I inflated it. Then on to the Omlins another 100 miles away. I got the tire replaced but it was the wrong load range so decided to head for Issaquah on the spare and get a new tire there. But... when we came to leave I found that the spare wouldn't hold air....so off the Quincy with the spare to get the valve stem replaced. With that done we made it to Issaquah and got a new tire on the rim yesterday. So..... now to put it on the trailer and hope all will be OK.
So.... in case anyone thinks life on the road is all fun.... just take a look at the tire

Post Falls

Yesterday was a laid back day. We did a short visit to Post falls on the Spokane river west of lake Coeur d'Alene.

This dam and falls was the site of two sawmills and a grist mill in the late 1800's and early 1900's
The original dam was made of logs and was replaced in the early 1900's with the structure we see today,
Just a relaxing day in Coeur d'Alene.
Off to Arnie's acres RV park later this morning.