Postcards

Dunedin

I had stayed at the Albatross B & B the last time and I was looking forward to being back. The first thing I did was take a lovely warm shower! Ah, the joys of being clean!

I wanted to walk that day to make up for the lack of walking the day before and I left messages for both Charles and Tim from the Thailand Earthwatch project in February. Charles, the primary investigator was free the next day for lunch and Tim agreed to meet me for drinks that night.

The city had not changed much, in fact the only thing that I found different was the location of the yarn shop where I had shopped last time. It was still close to the Octagon, sort of the center of town. There wasn’t much on at the main theatre, but the alternative theatre looked good and I decided to watch Keeping Mum. I also located the wonderful University Bookstore again and got my bearings of where to find Charles tomorrow. I went to the Isite in Dunedin to make some reservations for the Wellington and to confirm my bus ride from Waitoma back to Auckland. The Thai lady who was helping me was having a very bad day and although her voice was pleasant enough on the phone, she did a lot of eye rolling. We kept working on my little list of things to accomplish and by the end of our time, I think she was having a much better day and I gave her a hug.

I met Tim at the Octagon for a little drink, but I ended up ordering hummus and bread, as I did not have lunch. It was good to see him and see what he was up to. We ended up at another bar for a glass of wine and then I was invited back to his apartment to meet his roommates and eat cake. Grad students in NZ live and look just like grand students in the US. Thrift store furniture, bookshelves made out of planks and blocks, ramen for dinner and interesting books and videos. It was fun to talk to them. On the way to his apartment, we went to the local grocery store and Tim advised me about the distinctive NZ candies to sample. Pineapple lumps, Maro bars, peanut slabs and various other Cadbury’s that we can’t get in the States. Pineapple lumps are pineapple-flavored candy (sort of the shape and consistency of Bit-O-Honey) covered in with a thin layer of chocolate. I really liked them and after I had opened them, I had wished I had bought some more. Mayby Australia will also have them. It was a great evening.

The next day I sort of doodled around until it was time to met Charles. I went to the good bookstore and picked up a book by Charles so that I could get his autograph. It was fun to be on the campus and to stand on a bridge over the New river, which was a thoroughfare for the students across campus, and just watch the students. Again, the uniform of the NZ student is very similar to the US. The main color is black, the main look is baggy, and it is not uncommon to have 2 if not 3 different colors of hair on both sexes.

Charles has officially retired from his chair of the department, but is still adjunct faculty. His office is small with lots of papers and one reconstructed pot from Thailand. It was a cold day so we had soup and wine at Butterfly’s. I sure hope that I can make it back to work with him next year in Thailand for the last year of his data collection.

Next I revisited the Otago Museum, one of my favorites from my last trip to Dunedin. There were many of the same exhibits, but with more knowledge under my belt, I saw them with a different eye. By the same token, with more knowledge under my belt, the museum did not take as long or hold my interest as it had before.

I went to the little, tiny alternative movie theatre near campus and saw a documentary called In Search of Mozart. I was the only one at the viewing and had a cup of tea while I watched the film. The seats were incredibly comfortable and wide and in front of the first row, there was a pile of huge red cushions and two red couches where you can stretch out.

I needed to do some laundry and just up the hill from the Albatross, was a coin operated laundry facility tied to local Mediterranean eatery. I ordered a chicken wrap and got change for the machines. The wrap was excellent and the machines did not take too long. I was able to catch up on last year’s gossip from a NZ Woman’s Day magazine (similar to our People Magazine). By the time I got home and was folding the laundry, I realized that I had left behind my washcloth. I am not sure if it didn’t make it out of the washer or the dryer, but when I went back the next day, it was gone for good. I had left a black glove in Dunedin before, so maybe it is off to join it.

I have found a British TV show that I like called Judge John Deed. When I can, I try and catch it wherever I am and it was on the telly that night.

On my last full day in Dunedin, I took on two new places I had never been, the Cadbury Factory and the historic Olveston House. The Cadbury Factory gave us a tour of behind the scenes of chocolate making. After donning our very attractive hair nets, and beard nets for the gentlemen if needed, and collecting our little goody bag that we would add to along the way, we followed the young man in the purple overalls around the factory. (The hair net will be available for inspection once I get back home). We learned about all the ingredients that go into the chocolate – milk, cocoa, cocoa butter and sugar. I also learned that the US leads the globe in annual chocolate consumption (16 kg per person or 35 pounds of chocolate per year). At several stops, we were given small bars of chocolate of various types. We were told that there was also a shop at the end of the tour that only ticket holders could patronize. We learned that the hollow eggs that are bought around Easter are all made between the months of June and January. Obviously, that division was not working as we went past. Actually, the only line running was a boxing line and we watch small bars of the Dairy Milk bars being loaded into boxes. Finally, we were about to enter the large purple silo. I asked if this was where the Umpa Lumpa’s lived, but apparently not. This was the chocolate waterfall. Sure enough, he opened the shoot and out poured 100’s of gallons of liquid chocolate. I ended up being collected and recycled and was changed out every year. It was fun and it smelt wonderful.

I went off to the little shop, but based on what I had bought the day before, I selected a few of the sample size of both varieties I had never seen and old favorites such as Crunchy, and paid my $1.80 NZ (slightly over $1US) and left.

Like most cities in NZ, Dunedin surrounds water and climbs steeply up the hills that line the natural bay and harbor. The Olveston was up one such hill and it was just one of those “wee hills” I had heard so much about. As I was coming down the hill towards the Albatross, I saw a student was a huge backpack trudging up the hill almost parallel to the incline. If you have ever seen the pictures of women carrying sticks on their back, that is was the student looked liked. Just a wee hill!!!

The Olveston House was built between 1904 and 1906 by an English architect for a Jewish Family of four – dad, mom, son and daughter. When the daughter died in the 1960’s, she gave the house and contents to the city and with the stipulation that it be turned into a museum. It was absolutely gorgeous. At the time of its initial occupation, it had very modern conveniences included in-door plumbing and even a shower, electric lights and an internal phone system between the rooms. As it was a kosher house, there were two sets of copper sinks in the butler’s pantry and kitchen for washing the meat separately from other items. The family traveled extensively and collected many things including pictures and ceramics from around the world. My favorite room was an alcove they called the Persian room as it had a peak out window that overlooked the formal entryway and staircase.

The grounds were beautiful and the antique car was in a glassed in garage.

I went home to pack and get ready to fly to Wellington the next day.

Wellington

I love Wellington. It was the first city that I really got to know in NZ and it is small enough to feel intimate, yet large enough to have everything you want.

I stayed in my second YHA and found it very nice. It was the largest with 150 rooms, no tv in the room, but an excellent book exchange, central location, very quiet and an excellent bed. I also learned that when you have a shower curtain with a squeegee but no tub, even though the floor slopes to the drain, it is best to wait to put down the bath mat until after you have showered and squeegeed the floor. This YHA also had two tv lounges and a video selection, but the rooms were very small and were usually filled with tons of people, some of which needed a shower. They also had an internet room with phones and also an internet computer up in the laundry room on the 6th floor, also with a TV.

I always pick up the local tourist info when I arrive at an airport, and on the shuttle ride to the city, I learned that Te Papa (the National Museum) had a special exhibit of the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) Movie Memorabilia. Some of you may know that I am a huge fan of these movies, so that was a definite must see for me. I learned in the brochure that there were special guided tours on Sunday only, (I arrived on Sunday) and I was going to just be able to make it as my YHA was just around the corner.

I had a wonderful time on my tour. My tour leader, John, was originally for Portland and had a bit of a stutter. I was the only one on his tour and as I had viewed most of the extended DVD’s with the making of the movies, I was pretty up on the back-story. It was a fabulous exhibit and very well done, with movie clips to illustrate certain things and interviews with the actors and technical crew. When we got to the palantir (the all-seeing-glass ball), John admitted that he was the glass artist who made the balls for the movie. One of my favorite displays was the wax image of Boromir in the canoe that they sent of the imaginary digital water falls. The guide said that at times, his hands seem to move due to the humidity in the room and the heat from the lights. If you look long enough, you really do expect the figure to breath because it is amazingly life-like. The scale models were very intricate, even to see the miniature washing hanging on the lines.

There was one area where you could have your picture taken with a friend, and you would appear to be similar to Frodo and Gandalf in the cart. The man who works that station had been in the movie and had been just to the left of Sean Bean in the counsel of Elrond. He sat with me and I have the photos, one with me hobbit-size and one of me Gandalf-size. It was good fun. They also introduced me to a Maori gentleman, who was both a guide and a film instructor in college. He had many stories to tell about the movies. Everyone I met in the exhibit was wonderful and I had a totally enjoyable three hours. So much fun.

After the museum, I stopped at the grocery store on the way back to the YHA and bought yoghurt, fruit, cheese and apricot bars for my snacks. I had bought tea and a little cereal from the front desk at the YHA, so I was set for a while.

That night I decided to henna my hair, as it was looking very dull. I spent the evening blogging in my room and waiting for the Henna to finish.

The next day I did a little shopping, got a ticket to the play that was on right next-door, called Kirsty who I had met in Doubtful Sound and arranged to meet her for dinner. I checked into the other theatres but did not find anything else that I wanted to see.

I went to the art gallery and saw a modern photo exhibit and revisited my favorite museum, the Wellington Museum of the City and Sea. It still had the delightful hologram movie of Maori legends.

I met Kirsty for dinner and we walked to a little café near my place. It was wonderful to share a dinner with someone who was close to my age and who was having her own adventure in a different culture and country. I ended the evening feeling wonderful and very happy with the world and myself.

The next day I had planned to take a trip on a local train to an outlying suburb of Wellington called Porirua to see an art exhibit. I had spotted this brochure in the airport when I arrived. On the bus to get to the train station, the bus driver got into an altercation with a car in front of him. Not good energy after that on the bus.

The train was fun and very easy, but I could not see much on the landscape as we went through lots of tunnels. I followed by vibes and very wisely asked for directions to find the art gallery, as my first inclination would have taken me in the totally wrong direction. The gallery was small and had two exhibits, one with ancient Maori totems that had been presented to an Englishman who was in NZ in the late 1800s. There was also an excellent exhibit about the Tiki image and how it had been taken into popular culture. I wanted to take a specific train back in order to try and get to the Katherine Mansfield house, a famous NZ writer. I ended up getting back with only an hour to go up a step hill and tour the house, so I went back to the YHA instead. I did not have anything planned for the next day and was beginning to loose power over this. I felt I was not spending my time in NZ wisely and was getting lonely. My time with the groups recently had shown me again that I was missing people to share things with.

I went back to the YHA and got onto the web. In my present mood, emails that were really no big deal, felt scary and I made the mistake of answering some of them, not always with a generous heart. I finally realized what I was doing and gave myself a good talking to. I realized that I needed a routine for tomorrow so I went downstairs to see what they could recommend. There were brochures for half-day trips to the recently opened natural gardens, but that was only in the afternoon. I needed a full day. I found a tour of local LOTR’s sites, but the person at the front desk said that it was full. I found another brochure for a very similar tour and I asked them to call and see if it was available. It was, so I was all set up. Instantly, I felt much more grounded and happier. I was also going to the theatre that evening and was very much looking forward to that. I realized at this point that reading and/or more importantly answering my emails when I am not in a good space is not a wise idea.

When I arrived in the theatre, I went up stairs to the drinks lounge and there was a lady with white hair playing beautiful classical piano pieces. I had a glass of white wine and talked to the orange tabby cat that was on the landing.

The play was called Mum’s Choir. It was about the 5 children, 3 girls – 2 boys, of Mum who were returning to the family home to coordinate Mum’s funeral and wake. Mum’s sister, Auntie Nola, was also going to be there. There was a large grand piano on stage and from time to time, almost all of the actors went over and played a song on it, or sang at it. Mum had been very musical and over the course of the play, you found out that all during their childhood, the siblings had sung and put on musical productions. One of the sisters was unmarried and had been living close to Mum and taking care of her. The oldest son was a music teacher and had promised Mum that the kids would sing Favre’s Requiem at her funeral. That did not go over well with the group. The youngest sister was heavily pregnant and the middle sister kept hoping her son who was in the army would be able to make it back for the funeral. He did in the second act. The younger brother had emigrated to Aust and had a lovely tenor but appeared to be the black sheep and was the only one who had not made it back to her bedside before she died.

Auntie Nola was a stitch and commandeered Mum’s electric lounge chair before anyone else could put his or her name to it. There was a wonderful scene with her sitting in it for the first time and using the mechanism that would both eject you out and recline you back in the chair. At one point she was totally reclined and dozing when the phone rang. You can imagine how funny it was to watch her try and get out of the chair, when she could not remember were the switch was to get the chair to sit up straight.

Early on in the play, the casket with Mum was brought in center stage and they opened the casket. From then on, during all the musical numbers they would gather around it, pose by it or actually sing into the casket.

Before all the kids knew that Auntie Nola had arrived, she appeared from the kitchen in one of Mum’s polyester dressed, with matching cardigan and hanky in the pocket. She gave the one’s who did not know she was there a fright. Mum had a special cookbook that they all wanted and the sisters were all arguing about who made the best meals and argued themselves off stage to the kitchen. The next thing you knew, out came the sisters in Mum’s dresses, cardigans with hankies, hose that ended at the knees and bedroom slippers and gave us an Andrews Sisters song.

The actors were great and the voices were of normal people, not trained MT performers. The actress that played the youngest pregnant sister was the actress I had seen the last time I was in Wellington. It was wonderful.

Long story short, they made it through the Favre, the spinster sister gave a wonderful eulogy that had me in tears and the play showed the tender and yet funny side of a family dealing with the death of their mother. At the end of the show, the entire cast, including the Maori man who played the middle sisters son, sang a Maori song with movements and invited the audience to join in which they did.

I am not sure if I mentioned this, but sing-a-longs are ever present and very popular in NZ and Aust. Music is big and people don’t seem to care how they sound, they just sing along. Does that happen in the US in anyplace other than churches and baseball games?

This experience brings to mind again how different it feels for me to watch white European people know, sing and feel in touch with Maori music and culture. Do we do that in the US? I know some of the words from God Save the Queen, and I am of English ancestry, but I don’t feel incredibly closes to the UK. It is interesting to watch.

I was up and ready the next day by 9am for my LOTR’s tour. Again, I was the only one on this tour. I constantly amazes me that in NZ, tours go with only one person. I love it and really feel that I get a wonderful insight into not only the tour but also the NZ culture. Ted was wonderful. His brother works for WETA Digital, the side company that did all the digital computer work on the LOTR and King Kong movies. We drove around to various sites, most of which are totally restored to their former look after the movie finished filming. We went to several parks and even three years later, you could see the exact branches and plants that were in the film. Quen had his picture taken in the Frodo Tree and Quen and I sat where the four hobbits had hidden under roots as the Black Rider went by.

I had a wonderful day. Note to self – Not too many days back to back without an agenda from here on out. Flexibility is great, but I am better on a least a tentative schedule, especially when I am on my own.

The next day, I had an 8-hour train trip from Wellington north towards Auckland. I was going to get off the train in Otorohanga and then take a shuttle to Wiatomo where I would get my tour the next day of the black water rafting and glowworm caves. There was nothing exceptional of usual about the train ride, it was very pleasant and I had both seats to myself. Most people slept so I spent the time with my knitting and remembering how to knit in the continental style. We did have a bit of a delay and I was a little concerned that I would miss my shuttle but Bill, with the shuttle service, met me at the train and took me to the local grocery store to stock up on food and money as it they would be closed when we made it to Wiatomo. He had lots of local history to tell and very cute humor. I love NZ and Kiwi’s.

Vacation in New Zealand – April 17 – May 9th

I took three weeks of vacation in NZ and did not attend to my blog on a daily basis. I have summarized where I went and what I did. I found I needed a break from the typing as I began to see my trip through my viewfinder of my camera and more alive on the computer than I was experiencing on a daily basis. The vacation allowed me to reverse the order and see how it fits.

I ADORE NEW ZEALAND! IT IS JUST A BEAUTIFUL, EASY TO TRAVEL AROUND, AND INTERESTING AS IT WAS THE FIRST TIME.

Auckland

Bette – What a love! She is an excellent hostess with the right balance of helpful advice, solicitude and allowing you to move at your own pace. The most wonderful thing was that she had wireless so I could do a lot of my computer work at her place and that saved me buckets of money. Wireless café’s are abundant, but not always reasonably priced. Bette had to work quite a bit when I was with her, but we still managed to have fun times, meals and giggles. She was also excellent as a second set of eyes to help me decided what I could ditch and what would be good to continue to carry as I continue my trip. It was great to be able to discuss it with someone who has done lots of international travel. She commented that I did spend a lot of my time organizing things. It was so wonderful to have the time and space to focus on things that needed time to plan and implement. As you can imagine, for me, some of the fun of my trip was the year of planning and the assessment of what still needs to be done in a timely fashion.

FEDEX package from Thailand – Well, after more phone calls to Fedex and the US embassy in NZ, Bette advised and I decided to ask FedEx to mail the returned box from Thailand to NZ. I would be away when it arrived, but Bette said she would wait for it. Sure enough, it arrived, safe and sound and has been repacked with my stuff from Cook Island and NZ. The stuff sure looked innocent when I unpacked it. I will send it through the NZ Post Office and see it that helps.

Travel Dr – I had an appointment with an international travel clinic to see if I could get a prescription for Malarone, an anti-malaria med. I had been on doxycycline for Cambodia, but wanted to see about malarone because doxy increases your sun sensitivity and you have to take it for an additional 28 days after you have left the malaria risk area.

As with any responsible clinic, they processed me as a new client and reviewed my entire record, including shots. After review, they did not feel that I was protected for Hep A and they wanted to do a rabies titer on me to see if I was protected. Regarding Malarone, I could get it, but it would be $500 US for all the pills I would need, vs. $48 for Doxyclycline. So I rolled up my sleeve and gave a blood sample and had a Hep A shot and told them I would decide about the anti-malaria pills and if I wanted another rabies jab when I returned to Auckland at the end of my time in NZ.

McDowells – When I lived in Thailand, the representative from NZ that worked with Dad was Max McDowell. He and his wife Eleanor still live in a suburb of Auckland and I contacted them to see if we could get together for lunch. I knew him immediately when he came to pick me up at Bette’s. A little grayer, but still Max. Eleanor also was easy to recognize and although she has experienced some hearing loss, was still lovely and chatty as ever. They have two adorable cats, LULU – black, elderly female with only one eye due to cancer, was a love and liked her pets. Max is her favorite and they have a daily yoghurt sharing ritual. Tawny is a pretty red marble tabby and very photogenic. She is more selective in her pets and I was warned that she did not like people to become overly friendly with her. We had a lovely lunch and caught up on what was new with them. I had another trip down memory lane as Max brought out the photo albums from Thailand. Lots of picture of Mom and Dad and even Annie. It was wonderful to catch up with them again.

Ferry to Devonport book colony – Auckland reminds me of San Francisco in that it is a city that wraps around a bay. Sometimes, it is easier to catch a ferry directly across the water, than it is to drive. Bette and I had a ferry ride over to Devenport, a residential community that is attached to the main land, but more quickly accessed by ferry. It felt like a real neighborhood and had the most delightful collection of bookstores. I could have dropped a lot of money there, but with the weight allowance, I was very restrained.

Mrs. Henderson Presents – I love going to movies in other countries. I really enjoyed this movie and the seats were incredibly comfortable, more like cloth armchairs than theatre seats. I also enjoyed one of Annie’s favorite candy treats, Jaffa’s. Think of a milk chocolate ball with orange flavoring and covered with a red M&M shell, and you have a jaffa.

Queenstown

I adored Queenstown the last time I was in NZ and I was very much looking forward to returning.

On the shuttle to the airport, all 4 of us were going to Qtown, a couple to tramp and camp, a man who would spend 4 days mountain biking, and me. The man, Brandt Dunstan was very chatty and I ended up having lunch with him before the plane and sharing a shuttle with him into the center of town. It was autumn in Queenstown complete with cooler weather, lovely color in the trees and the need for long sleeves and sweaters. After the heat for the last few months, I WAS IN HEAVEN!!!!!

Bette had advised that I consider staying in Youth Hostels for two reasons – they are less expensive and they tend to be a great place to meet people who are traveling like I am. The QTown central YHA was a good first choice as it had all the usual things that a YH has (communal kitchen, TV lounge, laundry facilities, lockers and luggage storage, travel booking assistance), but it was also a former motel so the rooms that tv’s and in room tea service. I had joined the association when I booked so I had reduced rates for all nights, one night free, $10 in phone cards and my membership would give me discounts at many suppliers.

I left the YHA to get my barring and figure out what I wanted to do before I did my trip to Doubtful Sound in two days. I had decided to do the HMS Earnslaw (A coal fired steam ship) sail on the lake the next day and to go to a little gold mining town near by called Arrowtown. As I was wondering around having done some window-shopping, I ran into Brandt again. We ended up at a curry house for dinner and then moved on to a coffee bar that he highly recommended. It was fun to have someone to talk to and to share stories with. Sure enough, you do meet interesting people when you travel by yourself and strike up conversations with people around you.

Arrowtown – Arrowtown was delightful and absolutely stunning with color. It was very similar to any small mountain mining town in Colorado in the fall. There were lots of art galleries and a metaphysical fair going on. I also enjoyed a stroll by the river to enjoy the leaves, the smells and the feeling of fall. I found a marvelous chocolate store called Patagonia. Yummy! One art gallery owner, was especially nice and gave me excellent recommendations for coffee and lunch options. Quite a sage, we discussed taking what appear to be big risks and the benefits for the jump once you can see it from the other side. I picked up a brochure from a realtor that he recommended. Whether for good or for a short time, living in Arrowtown would be a wonderful place for retreat and contemplation.

HMS Earnslaw – This old steam, coal-fired boat was charming and the wind was brisk as I returned from Arrowtown for my tour. We began at 4 and steamed across the water to the other side. There was a beautiful farm that is still functioning, but we only stopped to pick up people who had gone for a day trip. On the way back, we all gather around the piano and joined in the sing-a-long. The pianist was excellent and could sing a song is any language represented. We did Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Maori and English. The American contingent was asked to stand and do Take Me Out To the Ball Game. In between songs, I was charmed by a littlie of under 2 who was very friendly when I offered to share my potato crisps with her. It was good fun.

I was very much looking forward to my overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound in Fiordland National Park. If you remember, Milford Sound was a highlight from the last trip. Doubtful Sound is considerably larger than Milford and the thought of being able to spend more than 2 hours on a sound was very exciting.

Doubtful Sound

I boarded the bus in Queenstown for a trip to Manipouri, where we would be taken by boat across the lake. Then, we were bused up over the hill to board the boat for the cruise.

The first people I met on the bus were two gentlemen from Australia, Robert and Ron, who were traveling all over NZ. Very lively and talkative, they were a stitch and very happy to be on the road. Ron was in the dark about where we were going and Robert had scared him to death telling him that there would be no food until 7 pm that night.

Before we got to Manipuri, we took a tea break in Kingston, which was on a lake. There was a steam locomotive that would take you 30 minutes down the road and we were given the option of riding the train or staying on the bus and then driving and waiting for the train riders. Robert, Ron and I opted for the train. We were in a proper compartment with leather seats and a closing door and a table. We chatted and laughed for 30 minutes, and hardly looked out the window and sure enough, the bus was waiting for us.

In Manipouri, 16 of us alighted for our tour and the bus and the rest of the original riders went to Milford Sound for an overnight. We would join up with them tomorrow when we were dropped off in Te Anu.

On the boat ride across the lake, our group of six formed and they ended up being the people with whom I spent most of my time and shared meals and giggles.

Kirsty, is a British woman who is working in Wellington for a year in an IT firm. In her spare time, she keeps her hand in the professional tailoring world, which is what she had been doing in London before she moved to NZ. She had quite her ‘real job’ as a corporate trainer several years earlier and had done a course and internship with tailors in London.

Robert and Ron, my wild gentlemen from Adelaide Australia. Robert had done the Doubtful trip a few weeks earlier and loved it so much, he convinced Ron to do it. More on them later.

Steve and Kate – a friendly couple from Melborne, he Australian and she Kiwi, who have traveled widely and are delightful.

You will get to know these people as most of my pictures from the trip with people include at least part of this group. We ended the trip with each other’s emails and I intend to try and see Kirsty in Wellington and Robert and Ron when I am in Adelaide

After the boat ride, we loaded into two huge buses and went up over the pass and back down to the start of the sound. We are a group of about 65 with several families with kids between 1-13. We have one toddler who was auditioning for the upcoming opera in loud, happy tones and a pack of little girls who are either all sisters or cousins. We made sure that we were in the bus without the kids. We got out and took pictures of the first glimpse of the sound and I also took the time to take a photo of the back end of one of the buses. The grill openings were in the shape of little Kiwi’s, which I thought was charming.

Once on the boat, they separated the group of us that were sharing a quad bunkroom and bathrooms. Down we went and I found I was in a compartment with three sisters – Francesca – 8, Emily – 10 and Madeline – 12. They very graciously allowed me one of the lower berths. The room had a curtain for a door, two sets of bunks, one set of stairs and a porthole with the water lapping at the bottom edge. There were 8 total quad rooms that shared 4 toilet cubicles and 4 shower stalls with outer locking doors.

We all scrambled back up stairs because we were underway and there things to see. We did see some dolphins, from a distance, and we hoped for more later. There was one penguin, but I was on the wrong side of the ship and by the time I got around, he was gone. Farkle! We finally slowed down and stopped and there were two activities to choose from; a group tour in a boat with the science crewmember, or kayaking. As I had not brought a complete change of clothes, I opted for the dryer option, the group tour. We all went to the back of the ship and donned life- jackets and waited. I met Dave (Dad), Hope (5 yrs), Noah (4yrs). Dave is also the dad of the opera audtioner , but I never got his name. He really was the happiest, loud baby I had ever met and I never heard him cry in anger the entire time we were on the boat.

Noah and Hope posed for photos for me and they were really sweet. I saw them lots during the cruise and they were fun.

Richard was our science guy and the group tour was fun. We heard about how the sound (which is really a fiord and not a sound) was formed, how the trees thrive and what early explorers said of this amazing place. A fiord is glacially formed and has salt water throughout, were as a sound is typically formed by a river meeting the ocean.

After the boats were back and the kayaks stored, there was one more activity that we could do, but only the younger set took part. It involved getting into your swimsuit and immersing yourself in the VERY COLD WATER OF THE SOUND. We heard one loud screech, which I think was from Francesca, and that was the end of that activity.

Similarly to my experience at Milford, I spent as much time at the front of the ship as I could, but the wind and the cold was quite fierce at times. I kept returning in doors to get cups of tea and warm up. I wanted to be on the top most deck for the best view, but when we were underway, there was absolutely no cover. I held out until the last rays of the sunset and took many photos. Hopefully some of them will be worthy of the landscape.

Dinner was a lovely buffet and the group of 6 was at one of center tables with Dave, Hope, Noah, the opera star and the mom, who again I can’t remember her name. I was following the family group through the buffet and Dave was helping both Hope and Noah load their plates. At one point, Hope wanted an offending piece of food removed immediately, but Dave did not want to hold up the line. At once, every bone in her legs disintegrated and she collapsed into a sobbing heap at my feet. Luckily, Mom was right there to remove her, but it was a stitch to watch. These are great parents, not only to their kids, but also to the group around them. While the kids had lots of energy, they were great kids and never got beyond the breaking point.

The food was great and Kirsty and I celebrated the dinner with champagne. The first to eat the dinner were the last to received dessert, but they did not run low on anything, except pudding sauce, which Robert commandeered for Kirsty.

After dinner was Richard’s (science crew member) slide show of the fiord nature and wildlife on the world’s oldest slide projector. As the anchor had been lowered, we were parked for the night and it was time of stargazing. It was lovely, freezing but lovely, but would have been better had all the ships lights been turned off. That probably happened later, but I was too tired and cold to go out later. We had been advised by Robert to be up prior to sunrise to see the colors change and the crew invited us for naked anchor raising just prior to 7am. We’ll see.

I slept pretty well, but wished my bunk had a continuous lip on the outer edge so that I could have braced myself in the bunk. When I faced out, I felt I was falling out. I kept being hit by the falling duvet from the bunk above me, but was not disturbed by the girls. I only heard the snoring from the next cabin when I woke in the middle of the night for a potty break.

I got up early, but had missed the naked anchor raising. Dave, Noah and Hope were out on deck when I arrived and Dave said he had just returned to deck having donned his clothes again. It was fantastic to watch the sun rise, (which it had already risen, so we were really only watching the sky continually lighten) and to hear the birds come to life. As you may be aware, the majority of the native birds are in low numbers on both islands due to nest thefts from cats, possums and other non-native birds. The best thing about being this remote and close to uninhabited islands is that the native birds have a chance to come back.

Breakfast was again a buffet. After breakfast they took us up one of the arms of the fiord and asked all the quiet people to come on deck. They very nicely asked the children who might be unable to hold still, to remain inside during the 10-minute “Sounds of Silence”. They asked us not to talk, or take pictures and to just sit and listen. It was magical and very soothing. 10 minutes went really quickly and I look forward to the time when I can return and do it again.

It was time for us to return to the dock as we still had a 5-hour bus drive back to Queenstown. RECOMMENDATION - When you come to NZ, pick one of the fiords that sounds the best to you and do an overnight. You will adore it.

We reversed the order in transportation and I had to say good-bye to Kirsty in Manipouri, to Steve and Kate in Te Anu, and Robert and Ron at the Qtown airport. I knew I would probably see Kirsty in Wellington and hopefully, Robert and Ron in Adelaide.

Robert, Ron and I had our lunch break in Te Anu and had been told about a wonderful video of the fiords. As we were walking to the cinema, we ran across Steve and Kate again. The more I travel, I find it is not uncommon to see people again and again. It is always a welcome surprise and really helps me feel connected.

It was nice to be back at the YHA and after I retrieved my luggage from the lockers, I thought I would take a little nap and then go find dinner. I woke up 14 hours later.

Trip to Dunedin

I had until 3pm the next day to do a little shopping before I took the Atomic Shuttle for my 4 hours trip between Qtown and Dunedin. It had rained all night and I woke to find that all of the peaks that surround Qtown with a dusting of snow. ABSOLUTLEY LOVELY! It looked more like Aspen than before.

I found the original Patagonia Chocolate store in Qtown and on that cold morning, they had four kettles of flavored hot chocolate to chose from; regular, ginger, chili, and the one that I selected Lavender. It was fabulous. I spent my time in the store helping to shoo the sparrows back outside. They kept running into the glass and becoming stunned. Luckily, by the time I left, all were free again. I asked Lilith and Francis to step in and help them understand where they needed to be, which was outside.

I arrived at my rendezvous location in good time and when the shuttle arrived, the driver upon exiting the bus said that we were not going to Dunedin. All the rain during the night had caused many roads to flood and nearly all the routes to Dunedin were closed. Norm, our driver, said that he had an idea of a road he could take. So in his hands, the bus and our group of 16 headed approximately southeast to Dunedin. We took our dinner break in Rockburgh, and I sat with two young women from Hong Kong and Norm tentatively booked rooms for us for the night. We decided to continue down the road in hopes that by the time we got to the flooded area, the waters would have receded. Norm kept radioing ahead to get news and it looked like we would make it. We turned a corner and there was a cop at a roadblock. We stopped and Norm talked and we ended up going through the blockade. Again, the thought was that the water might go down before morning.

We ended up fording over-the-axle stretches of water with Norm exclaiming, “As long as I can see the white line, we’ll be right!” Well it was getting dark, so seeing the white line would be ending soon. There was a permanent roadblock at Milton, because a bridge was out with road erosion on either side of the bridge. As we stopped and Norm talked to the officials in charge, on to the bus came a local farm woman who said this might be the last food we would get through the night and offered us the British/Kiwi/Aussie favorite, beans on toast with cheese. We all took one and were touched. Norm said this was an example of Kiwi #8 Wire Technology in action. (Basically, you can repair anything with #8 wire and also the rule of the rural communities that during a time of crisis, everyone pitches in and does what it takes). I must admit, as I had just eaten my dinner, my piece of toast ended up in the trash.

Norm gave us the choice of going back to Rocky where he had tentatively booked rooms, staying in the bus all night, or going out of our way to a town called Balclutha where we might be put up in the community center. I asked if we weren’t better off staying closer to the water instead of going back North another 30 km to Rocky. The bus opted to go to Balclutha and we ended up in individual dorm rooms at the Telford Technical College. My room had the mechanism to turn on the heater on the same wall as my bed and the heater at the foot of my bed. So all I had to do was sit up in bed, hit the button, and I received another hour of heat. Wonderful.

The ladies form Hong Kong indicated that they did not sleep very well as they were uncertain how to work the heater. They fed us tea, coffee or chocolate and toast and butter and jam. We ended up leaving the next morning at 8, and then were stuck in a long line of traffic for about an hour as only one lane was allowed to go a once. Too many cars going too fast would lead to waves forming. Once we were in the flood area, we understood exactly how high the water was and how much damage had been done and was yet to be discovered. The amount of water that was flowing over the very flat pastures and cascading like a dam into one pasture was amazing. No loss of human life, but hundreds of sheep drowned and millions of NZ $ in damage to the area.

We did not know until after the fact that on the computer in the office of the College, there was a program showing all the rivers in the surrounding area and which of them were past flood stage. All but one of them were in flood status the night before and Norm told us after that fact that if the last one had gone into flood, we would have had to load into the bus and go to higher ground in the middle of the night.

I had called my lodging in Dunedin to tell them I would not make it that night and they said that they had people who were stuck on their end as well. I was again amazed that this very small and connected community in NZ had the most incredibly accurate and connected network of information flowing. I finally made it to Dunedin at 10:30 the next morning and walked from the rail station. It was great to finally be there.

Hello gang,

Sorry it has been so long since the last update. I am trying to find wireless before I leave to work with echidnas on June 25th. If not, it will be in July.

Yes, I am having a wonderful time.

Yes, Oz is amazing and the wildlife fantastic.

Yes, I am well and happy

No, no prince charming yet, not even prince charmless.

Yes, I am still happy and well.

Love to all, More later.

Lady Jane

Cook Islands – Earthwatch Placement – March 27 – April 14

Week 1 – March 26 – April 2

After a restful three days at Bette’s wonderful harbor side flat, with nothing more exhausting than deciding what to drink at the bar when we went out with a group of girls, I boarded the plane for Cook Islands.

Cook Islands is an independent country with ties to New Zealand and pretty much seamless travel between the two countries. The Cooks lay North East of New Zealand and are back over the international date time. So I took off at 4:10 (actual time was closer to 4:50 pm) on Sunday, March 26 and landed in Rarotonga, Cook Islands at 11:15 pm on Saturday, March 25. We were delayed taking off because a knob in the cockpit had fallen off and they needed to make sure it wasn’t lose in the machinery and a potential danger to us. I had a lovely compliment from the ticket agent who checked me in as he kept looking at my face and my passport. I showed him that I was even wearing fuchsia to match my passport photo and he said he noticed that but that he was having a hard time believing my age. I chose to view it as a compliment. I owe it all to Mary Kay Cosmetics.

I was the last one off the plane and therefore the last one to go through customs. We were met in the lobby of the airport by a man singing island songs. From the welcome information we received, we found he has met every plane for the last 15 years.

Joe Testa, our program manager met me at the plane with lovely and fragrant lei of white and yellow flowers. I do love that Polynesian custom! Off to the Kii Kii Motel, which was on the north end of the island, past the little town. Joe was becoming used to driving the van and we announced our progress with the horn at intervals and celebrated my arrival with the back, and sometimes the front, windshield wipers waving with abandon.

At the Kii Kii, you could hear the surf from my room and it has a ceiling fan, which goes full tilt any time I am in my room. The room has a single and a double bed, kitchenette, TV (with one station only and limited hours) and a door off the little kitchen to a private balcony with clothesline. Very handy for the nightly laundry. My room is right above the pool, which is okay, except on the weekends when you have a chance to nap, it is normally filled with enthusiastic youngsters whooping it up.

Sunday, March 26-orientation day for the team, or shall I say SQUAD 74.

Breakfast at 9:00 and I met the rest of the team. This is the first Global Volunteer experience for the team with the exception of Joe and I. Alexis from NJ is an OT and very nice. The family of four – Robert (Psychiatrist), Joan (Social Worker, Psychologist, and soon to be author of a book about how to successfully raise twins), and the twins aged 17, David and Johnny. The family are very used to community service and volunteer work and the twins have volunteered from the age of 13 in Israel.

Joe has done lots of GV trips, including annual trips to Rosebud, SD and has lead many trips, but this is his first time in Cook Islands. He is stepping in for the usual team coordinator who just got married to a former global volunteer and is taking a well-earned and long honeymoon. So, we are all learning about the Cook Islands as we go. Flexibility is the name of the game for all volunteers, not matter what agency.

Robert has taken on the extra job of coordinating some of our dinners out and our free time activities. Alexis and I are sharing the responsibility of keeping an eye on the items in the kitchen, as we need to pack our lunches to take to our work sites.

We had our opening exercises to get to know each other and set both individual and group goals for the team. At this point, David was labeling his water bottle with masking tape and as we are the 74th Global Volunteer group, dubbed us SQUAD 74. Joan indicated that David sees the world through sports language.

Monday, March 27 – Tour of the sites

After breakfast, we loaded into the van and began a counter clockwise circle of the island (which takes all of 45 minutes with no stops) to visit all the potential sites for job placements. We would visit one adult resource center for mental challenged adults (the Creative Center), two primary and one secondary school and the mental health offices. Alexis as an OT was asked to step in for the usual Island OT who was away for a few weeks. Alexis is happy to help, but also wanted the opportunity to work at one of the schools as her clients at home are usually children. The twins found they liked St. Joseph’s, the first school we visited, and they needed help with the 5-7 year olds. My school is a public school, right at the end of the runway for the airport where I will help with reading, organizing the resource center and cataloguing the library. (I must admit when I saw the state of the resource center, my fingers itched to get in there and straighten things out!) Joan and Richard are at the college (the secondary or high school) and are again working on reading skills. Bette was a bit amused when she heard that I would be teaching English because English is spoken in the Cooks. I have found that to be true everywhere I have been. My school, however, does teach in Maori until grade three, when English is introduced.

I am the only team member, except for Joe the leader, who will be in the Cooks for three weeks. Before I left for the Cooks, I had an e-mail asking me if I would assist the Red Cross my final week with their newsletter. I said I would be happy to, and lucky for me, their office is a short walk from the Kii Kii.

During all of our visits today, as we met the teachers and principals, Joe invited them to join us at the Kii Kii for a catered dinner, so that we could get to know each other a little better. We had three guests from the Creativity Center and the Mental Health offices and our Island host, Ver???? Our host was fascinating and told us how she developed and spearheaded the CIANGO (Cook Islands Association of Non-Government Organizations) 22 years ago. She is a dynamo and very lovely. She reminds me of a Polynesian grandmother whom you would feel comfortable sitting with all day eating lovely food and swapping stories. The catered dinner was from a restaurant and major chef called Mama Here. The food was great and included taro, bbq chicken, octopus in fermented coconut, curried octopus, ika mata (a marinated fish similar to ceviche), fresh fruit and lovely sweetened desserts called poke that was banana, pawpaw or taro with arrowroot. YUMMY!

Tuesday, March 28 – First day at our placements

Joe took each of us to our first placements, but from here on, most of us will ride the buses to and from work, if we cannot walk. The island has buses the circle the island in both directions, leaving the main station at set times. I can leave the Kii Kii going in the counter-clockwise direction at 15 after the hour or the clockwise bus at 5 past the hour. From here on out, I will catch the 8:15 to be at school by 8:30 and catch the 2:35 to be back at the Kii Kii by 3:00.

I arrived at school at found the principal, Anna, who has only been in the job at this school for three months. She has taught before and has definite ideas where she sees the school heading. I as taken to a fourth grade class taught by a very tall Fijian young man who was beginning the reading lesson. I observed for about thirty minutes and found, as you would expect, kids are kids the world round. The girls where trying to pay attention and the boys were throwing spit wads and generally goofing off. The older boy, who is in the class to catch up on his reading, became the class bully as soon as the teacher disappeared to get a cup of tea. When the teacher came back, I was given a list of 5 kids to take for individual reading lessons, which was reading from very simple books and doing matching games with flash cards.

My first student was Malachi, the older boy, and he had some difficulty reading, but once he began sounding them out, did pretty well. The next boy William, looked absolutely terrified and needs quite a bit of work. My third boy John did pretty well but wasn’t very forthcoming or friendly. My fourth boy Taoe was very good and pretty confident. My last student was one of the very patient girls Manu for Emanuella, who did very well and even smiled. I hope to make further in roads tomorrow.

By this time it was am break, which is when the teachers eat breakfast. Finally, I was let into the resource center and I had 2 and then 3 very enthusiastic girl helpers around 9-11 who made lots of noise, wanted to teach me Maori and were inconsistent with their help. I have several helpful phrases to review from today and asked the girls to give me a new phrase a day for me to practice. Luckily, at lunch break at 12:00, they went to lunch and then went off to practice the singing, dancing and instrument playing for the big cultural competition that will be in the city auditorium a week from Wednesday in the evening. Tickets are $7 NZ.

My goal in the resource center was to sort through all the books and magazines by subject and put them on shelves. Permanent shelving will be put into the room and then I will transfer my stacks to them, and the mobile shelves will move into individual classrooms. Not sure when the permanent shelves will go up. Most of the books were very dusty and had 6 or 8-legged inhabitants. Some were glued shut with mold or mildew so I asked the girls to gently pry open the books to see if they could be saved.

Once the older girls had left, I was visited by a 4-year-old girl that I finally found out was named Alia. I tried my new Maori and she was totally unable to understand me. When I switched to English off she went. She kept wanting new books to read and as soon as I disappeared around the stack, she said she was finished. At one point, she had all the blocks and the play money on the floor and decided to take the play money home. I explained that the play money belonged to Miss Anna and she put it back. She disappeared and brought back a friend her and at that point, I told her that I was leaving soon that I would see her tomorrow. Then I had 30 minutes by myself, except for the screaming hordes hurtling by outside in the corridors.

I finally locked up the room at 2:00, said goodbye to the Miss Anna, found the girls bathroom and was ready to wait for the bus. Anna said that one of the teachers would give me a ride back on her scooter. Joe had warned us not to rent them, as they don’t come with helmets. I was reluctant, but I am home safe, without road rash, and I now know the bus schedule for tomorrow.

I spent a lovely early evening sitting on the deck overlooking the ocean, after the sun went behind the building, and watched the waves crash. It is so soothing, just like watching a fire in the fireplace and I could happily do that every night, with the addition of wine, cheese and crackers.

Off the team went for fish and chips and then we had an adventure trying to find a store open past 7:30 pm that might have ice cream. Found it at the convenience store at the gas station at the airport.

Most of the team has been eaten alive by the mosquitoes and we are all sharing bug spray and Actifed to cut down on the itching. I have gotten a few bites today and must admit that I am a little weary of putting on bug juice and sunscreen daily. But, as I look ahead, it will be a daily drill for most of the time on the road. I think I will be able to stop by the time I am in Romania in December. Maybe!

Joe, our leader has been limping around and has decided to find a dr. tomorrow to see what the problem is. He went swimming with the group before I arrived and may have cut it on a rock at the waters edge.

Wednesday, March 29

I had planned to take the counter clockwise bus this morning to work, but after I had stood for 25 minute, I was informed by the staff at the Kii Kii that the counter clockwise bus doesn’t run until 8:25 and would pick me up at 9:15, far too late to get to work. So tomorrow, if I take the bus, I will need to take the 8:05 clockwise and get to school just before 9:00.

I am back with the same 5 readers and have determined that they have really great memory. I can’t say that they are really reading, more like guessing at words and/or depending on the pictures. They have heard these books so often and in the same order that they know the story and guess at the words. We are reading a book about a kids playing in a sandbox and building a mountain and a tunnel. They can’t remember tunnel, so they say hole. My main emphasis is to help them sound out the words and try to see patterns in the words and the spelling.

I had asked the universe for a quiet day in the resource center and that is what I got. Essentially a day to myself, with short visits from the older girls but no long-term helpers or 4 year olds who want to be entertained. Two boys about her age were pushing Alia, the 4 year old, in a small plastic car. She is very enchanting and demanding, but eventually they tired of pushing her. She kept yelling OYE at the top of her lungs but to no avail. Her charioteers had abandoned her.

Bugs – One of the differences I find during my travels is the abundance of bugs. As I work in the resource center that has louvered window on three sides and not all of them in tact, I find little 6 and 8-legged beasties who scuttle, scurry, slump, leap or fly away when I disturb them. Some of the resources are over 20 years old and have staples, which have rusted due to the heat and humidity. There are portions of the books that are mildewed or molded and stuck together. All the oversize large print books are in huge plastic sleeve hung from hangers that again have rusted over the years. At the end of the day, my fingers are black from dust and other things.

I ended up working until 2:30 today, 45 minutes later than usual, as I wanted to get the final bookcase in order as the shelves may start at any time.

Still a little hazy about when the buses would come past the end of the drive, I went down the road to wait. I had hoped to catch the clockwise bus as that would have me back at the motel in 20 minutes and just as I arrived at the end of the road, saw the bus hurtling past me with no way for me to signal for it to stop. A consultation of the listing told me I had 45 minutes to wait until the next one. 48 minutes later, a teacher from the school came down the road in her car and offered me a ride. I gladly accepted and kept an eye out for the bus, which we never passed. Thanks God I accepted the ride.

Joe’s visits to the dr. and hospital for blood work have earned him two prescriptions for possible gout. When the blood work confirms it, at least he will know.

Robert had found a restaurant that advertised a steak dinner for $10 so we went to the Nu Bar for Dinner. We were at picnic tables in the almost dark but for a single candle. The rump steaks were really very good and indeed, $10NZ per person. We finally shut off the candle due to the heat it gave and shared chocolate sundaes on the dark for dessert. As we left the restaurant, the stars were so bright and you could clearly see the Milky Way.

Another wish that I expressed to the universe was for rain to hopefully cool down the air. Again, it delivered and it bombed rain several times during the night and we had a mini lake around the van in the am.

Thursday, March 30

Joe took the boys and I to work today and today, I took the laptop to work in order to begin the inventory of the resource center and library at the school.

Reading today involved use of the flash cards and sorting them into lumps with the same beginning letters and putting them into groups. The kids had no problems matching like letters together.

In the resource center, I managed to put all of the sets of English books and half of the oversize books on the computer today in an excel spreadsheet. I estimate it will take me one more day to finish the books tomorrow. There aren’t many of them, but I will probably not make good time as I slow down when I start entering the Maori books. All three of the older girls wanted to help me type into my computer. Joe had warned us about making promises to anyone at the work sites or singling out any one with special treatment, so I declined the assistance.

At one point today, I noticed that that I had screaming children on either side of my workspace. To my right, was the playground for the preschoolers and there are tears and threats at least every hour from various factions. On my left side, I realized after the fact, I heard unhappy children from the dentist office. Luckily, both sources weren’t going off at the same time.

The shelves have begun and may be done by Friday. If the shelves are done on Friday, will move all the resources to free up the shelves for the teachers.

TODAY I CAUGHT THE BUS! SUCCESS! It dropped me in town as I wanted to wifi and do a little shopping and just as I arrived, it rained for 10 minutes.

I treated myself to a wonderful lunch at the Salsa Café for gazpacho topped with wonderful bruchetta and a slab of tuna and a latte.

Two reasons that I wanted to get to the Wifi was I needed to make a payment for my ItoI placements and I wanted to keep abreast of the progress of moving the cats to the Brett and Betty’s, my wonderful pet sitters. My payment kept failing and I could not call any of the offices due to the time difference. I will need to try and call either tonight to NZ or tomorrow am to Denver.

I caught the bus again, two successes in one day, to the motel. Once home, I napped and watch the sun go down over the water. Heaven.

Tonight, Robert coordinated our trip to the Staircase Restaurant and island show. Poor Joe was having a medication reaction all day and didn’t eat dinner but came back for the show. The food was okay, sort of a sampler plate of typical island fare. What we had at our catered dinner on Monday was superior, but there were several things that were good.

The dance show was wonderful. The band was made up of about 8 musicians and three additional singers. Our band mc was a large bald man with a great sense of humor and showmanship. The show began with one of the male dances in traditional grass skirt and leggings, headdress and belt calling out the history of his people and how they traveled from Hawaii. He was a stitch when he would pose for a picture during his talk. Then the rest of the dances, 4 men and 5 women, came on stage. The Cook Island skirts look like Hawaiian skirts, but are not green, but red, blue or white. The women wear half coconut shells as a bra (OUCH!) and have that wonderful hip length black hair that I so envy.

I think you have to be a Polynesian Woman with extra equipment in their pelvis to achieve the extra hip movements they do. Our MC said it was like grinding coffee for breakfast or a washing machine. I watched mesmerized and tried to analyze the movements. (More on this later). So the women have two styles of dance, the lovely slow hula with intoxicating hips and gently flowing hands, or the amazing washing machine hips with upper body totally still. They have isolation dancing down to a science. The men mainly have sharp movements with their arms and do the chicken dance movement with their knees like knocking their knees. Within one dance, all their bodies gleam with perspiration, as it is quite a workout. During the last segment, each dance member selects someone from the opposite sex to learn the dance. Johnny was our representative from Squad 74. All the guest dancers were very brave souls and did very well. We were the only American’s on stage and all the other guest dancers were from NZ, OZ or England. One islander from Atuitaki , Cook Islands, was warned that he better know how to dance. He did.

It was a wonderful night.

Friday, March 31

When I finally got through to I to I and my bank, I found that I had not understood my daily limits on my credit card. Once established, I made a payment and will make another on Monday.

There was some confusion over who was being transported this am, so I was a little late for work. I will aim to take the bus from now on.

Reading today involved more exercises with the cards and sounding out words. By the end, each of the kids were doing much better. Joe, recovered from his medication problem and now on ½ doses, came with his camera to take pictures of us at work. Both John and I and Teao and I were immortalized on film.

During teachers break today, Anna has brought in boiled island chestnuts. They are huge, about the size of a small bagel. She commented that the staff eats too much starch and we have found that a lot of the food options lean towards starchy carbohydrates, Taro, potato and bread. This is not uncommon in the islands; Joe said it is also found in Jamaica.

During break today, I read the Island Dept of Education newsletter and they mentioned Women’s day in March and World Water Day in April. On March 8, I was in Thailand and they also celebrated Woman’s Day, which is meant to bring the topic of domestic violence into view. Today I also saw a sticker on a car that said, REAL MEN DON”T HIT WOMEN. I had never heard of these days and ask Anna. She said that they follow the UN Calendar. Some times I feel like I grew up in a box. So I have another thing to look up on the web and find out more about - the UN Calendar.

I finished the resource center today and was visited by one of the older boy, Ridge, who has a beautiful golden Mohawk in contrast to his black hair. He was very friendly and was amazed I was working by myself. He said he thought it was sad and I told him that I did not mind. Here again I was reminded how much a close community means to most of the world, a concept that I see that I am not very familiar with. Ridge told me that he would be in the dance concert and that next week, they would be making their costumes in the school colors of green, red, and white.

My Maori is not progressing very fast and I admit that I have not been making a huge effort.

It was very hot today and at the end of the day, I sat a watched the kids practice for the dance performance next week. Without the skirts, I finally got to see the hips movement that is so amazing when done at speed. If you remember the Karate Kid, the movement of washing the windows, if done with the hips gives the most amazing movement of the grass skirts.

The group went on a drive of the inner island road this afternoon. The two boys were not feeling well so the proposed trip to the waterfall was postponed to another day. I had planned to opt out, as I wanted a nap and some quiet, but went along for the ride. I rode shotgun and navigator that was hazardous as the road was only one lane and Joe, in his attempt to drive to the left, put me through the bushes at times. I have also found that the van is difficult to sight see from as you sit very high and the windows are not large. We did make it down to the Sheraton on the south side of the island, a deserted shell of a development that has left the island with a huge debt 15 years ago. The buildings have sat empty all that time. Now there are two companies vying to continue and either way, they will divert the outer road to come to the front of the hotel complex and give the hotel beachfront access.

We were told about the land rights around the island and how it is split into 12 different villages, each with a chief. Land ownership can only be by Cook Island Families and they each have a pie shaped wedge of the island, smallest part up in the mountains and the larger wedge by the water. In the olden time, it was thought that this way, the family would have access to all the resources they would need to sustain their family. Outsiders can only lease land for up to 60 years and there is no guarantee that you can renew it.

For the most part, the houses on the island are modest, 4 rooms tops, louvered windows and one level. The homes on the beach have the opportunity for the breezes, but the ones on the inland road have better access to shade. Animals like pigs, goats, horses and cows are tethered with one long rope and only have access to immediate area grazing. Hogs are tied by a back leg and are walked to and from areas by the owner. There are some families that have multiple sources of income. The owners of our hotel, for instance also run the water bottling company, soft drink concession and the island movie theatre. The one thing that is unusual to us is that in some of the compounds where people live, there are graves of relatives. There are also graveyards in some of the villages, possibly for the members of that village only. We are not sure why some people go to the graveyard and others are in the family compound.

Dinner tonight was at Trader Jack’s, bar and restaurant that is downtown and had excellent seafood. We are all pooped and even though work is not always long or very stressful, the week in the heat and the sun has taken it out of most of us. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend.

With the exception of Joe and I, the rest of the group is off to Atuitaki for the weekend. Joe due to his foot and me being cautious my first week, plan to go to one of the other islands on a later weekend as we have more options.

Tomorrow, I plan to go to the am market, do a little shopping, do some walking in the surf and watch the sunset from the porch with wine, cheese and crackers.

On Sunday, I may read all day and just take it easy. May get into town and do some wifi.

Saturday, April 1 – outline format

Got up early to ride to the airport with the group. Breakfast at Mama’s Café and coconut pancakes. YUMMMMY!

Saturday market - where I did lots of looking and only bought one coconut roll, the benefit of going shopping on a full stomach. I walked all over downtown and did lots of window-shopping and price comparisons.

Met Joe for travel agent research and lunch at the Blue Note café – Fabulous fruit smoothey and fruit salad with yoghurt.

Rode the clockwise bus for one circuit and saw the ocean view.

Rested

Walked the beach and looked in the tide pools. Found crabs, sea cucumbers, mini fish, sea urchins and dogs.

Drink at the Tumunu bar and restaurant – music from 1970, Kenny Rogers and glass of wine.

Excellent dinner at the Tuoro Restaurant. Grilled beef salad and cranberry juice. Only two apartments (that sleep 4 in two bedrooms) at this lodging for $295/night with a glorious pool and view of the ocean. The owner is German and his wife Dutch and they had quite a story about getting the facility built. The first builder did not come through. The second one gave them a reasonable quote and after they had started indicated that the contract was only for the outer walls. If they wanted interior walls, that would be extra. Ah - the vagaries of construction in a different culture where you may not be aware of the customs or have total control over the language.

Wifi and loaded the last entry from Peru with updated pictures.

Sunday, April 2 – outline format

Slept late, patchwork breakfast and blogging, grocery shopping, waterfall and swimming on a southern beach. FABULOUS DINNER AT A RESTAURANT ON THE BEACH. Wifi.

Sat, Feb 25 – Beginning the chronicle of Garyisms

I have decided to try and chronicle all the Garyisms that we come across. From yesterday, we have a beaut.

We are called to and from tea beaks and lunch with the ringing of a bell. Usually Charles does it and Gary happened to be in the pit when Charles was calling us back from lunch. Charles had forgotten to ring the bell at the top of the pit, so he picked up one of the hoes and began hitting it as a bell. Gary said that he relayed to some one that Charles was banging on a hoe to get us back to work. The person as the time did not see the joke but Gail did.

I was resolved that today would be a better day than yesterday and it was because I declared it.

We breakfasted and Mrs. Kitty received ham from me and fish from last night dinner from Meph. I saw second resident kitty, grey and white that very much resembled my sister’s cat Fagin. She was very skittish. Hopefully I will see her again.

The partial exodus began with Tara leaving this am. We will loose several others tomorrow. I can’t imagine coming all this way for only one week, but it is more important to come than not too in my mind. If they had not come, I would have missed some lovely people. Tara will remain ever in our minds for her happy laugh, her contribution of Jack Fruit for dessert last night and for her lying down next to one of the skeletons to be photographed. Safe journey home to you, Tara.

This morning we played hooky from work for a short time to visit a near by archeological site called Ban Prasat. Actually, I think we were purposely sent on this trip so that they could have a few hours to get some work done without us. This site was excavated by the Thai Dept of Fine Arts and is comprised of three open-air pits that had a roof and were open to the public. Since they have easy access from a major highway, they receive lots of visits, which is excellent for the village. Most of the houses in the village are in the home stay business, and you can stay with a family and receive two meals a day for as little as $1 a day.

During our stop, a woman from the village accosted Gary and Mr. Hiroshi. She appeared to be a little in her cups and kept hugging them, sidling up and putting her hands in their pockets. She was not successful in developing friendships or picking pockets.

In the village there was a woman’s cooperative and I bought some lovely hand loomed Thai cotton. They also did traditional weaving of the mats and wonderful handbags.

My morning tasks, such as they were as we arrived late was back with Meph cleaning and washing pots.

Lunch was chicken curry, veggies, and the fruit of the day – corn on the cob. Hmmmmmm?
Also at lunch was another ice cream experience. I bought the ice cream in the green hot dog bun concoction, which was amazingly good and refreshing.

This afternoon, Charles had asked us to push to get the shells cleaned that had covered one of the skeletons. There were lots, so be began the task and luckily these shells tended to be a little bigger and all of one type so they would not take too long. We were also visited by many more buses of school kids.

All the schools have uniforms, so when the bus arrives, students in the same outfit surround you, normally bright yellow or orange shirts. These groups were mainly interested in the pit and had a lecture from Professor War.

Have I mentioned the potty at the site? Inside a square shack is a squat toilet. Next to toilet is a cement sink that holds water and a green plastic pot. After you are done, you use the green pot to lift water from the sink and send it down the hole. The tissue that you have used goes outside in the large sack that is hanging on the tree. Out side the shack are two huge jars, which hold water with plastic bowls and a wooden ledge for the soap. Karen and I had several discussions of the logistics and decided that facing the wall is the correct orientation. She indicated that she had used a similar toilet in China with an audience who found her hysterical. She realized now that she was backwards in China and understands the laughter. It may sound rather primitive, but is not as bad as it sounds and in fact is smell free.

The first time I needed to use the facilities, I entered the shack to find a small frog, doing laps in the water of the potty. I fished him out with the green plastic scoop and put him to the side. Several days later, Erica indicated that after she had assumed the position, she noticed a small frog sitting on the cement sink watching. What a voyeur! I visited the facility the same day and saw the same frog. He was three times the size of the last one.

Ice cream on the way home – chocolate ice cream, covered with chocolate on a stick.

The evening entertainment was two short films again staring Charles. The first one was from last year, when Earthwatch sent a film team to record three high school students doing 10-12 successive Earthwatch projects. This entire project was financed by one of the kid’s dad. Hummmmm – Can I be adopted?

The second video was about another site where Charles was a co researcher and was about he grave a woman in Thailand who was a master potter and was buried with her 15-month-old daughter. Also very interesting.

What I find a little exasperating is the films that are made for the US audience seem to think we all have the attention span of a two year old. Everything has to be a mystery to be solved, with lots of mysterious music and endless repeats to bring us back after the commercial breaks. Charles says that a filmmaker explained that this technique is used a lot in the US because so many of the viewers are surfing and if you don’t catch them in 10 seconds, they switch to another channel. Sigh, they know us pretty well.

Tomorrow we lose 5 – Joan, Karen and Christopher, Hiroshi and Lisa from England.

Sun, Feb 26 – Dirt on my chin

It is with much sadness that we said good-bye to Joan, Karen and Chris, Lisa and Hiroshi. They added so much to the team. No matter where you were on the site, you could always tell where Joan was by her infectious laugh. She made friends with every body, whether they understood her or not.

I started the morning with a bit of a tummy. I suspected the hot dog bun ice cream until I heard that others were also suffering who had not eaten it. Pepto to the rescue and not further incidences, thank you.

Most of our morning tasks were getting 5 graves in the line ready for photography. As the graves are about 2.5 feet below the main level, you can reach them on your stomach, or by sitting and crouching over. The preparation involved brushing all the loose dirt away and lightly cleaning the pots with water. My grave had some live and some dead residents. Live residents included one cricket, one cockroach and one chin chuck. Dead residents, besides the skeleton, were two dead frogs with their bodies, one frog skeleton and a line of red ants. I had forgotten how efficient the ants are reducing a dead thing to a skeleton in less than 12 hours.

We had all the graves ready to go within one hour and after the photos, it was time to get the pots out. We had thought we wouldn’t get to them until next Tuesday, but here we are. Charles feels there may be something else underneath and there is only one more week with our help to see what they can find. While they will continue to work after we are gone, now that we are sort of trained, they want to use us as long as they can.

The space was tight with 4 of use working on one grave, so I was on my stomach on a grain sack with a small brush and my bamboo stick, moving dirt away from a pile of pots to have Sarah determine which one would come up first.

My first two pots were nicely separated, so they didn’t take very long and they were both out before lunch. My third pot was a big one, with the lid already in pieces and lots of dirt to move.

Lunch fruit – chom poos – I had two!!

My afternoon found me at the same gravesite working on pot number three. I managed to get it extracted just before afternoon tea break, and boy I needed a rest, as I had spent a lot of my time either on my stomach on with my feet in the depression and bending over with my head between my knees. At tea break, Erica said that I had dirt on my chin. Frankly, I don’t think there was a part of me that didn’t have dirt on it, and all my work clothes go the laundry tomorrow so I will be ready for next week. After tea break, I began working on the dirt around pot number 4, but that one along with the other two will have to wait for Tuesday.

Grave count to date – 462

We were dropped off in the village after work, as Erica had to pick up her pants that were being hemmed. They were cute, but when she put them on, one leg was longer. I told her she could either cock a hip to get them level, or we would have to try again. It was a bit of a comedy of errors to ask for a pin, but they did manage to redo the hem while we waited. $.50 to have her pants hemmed twice. Not bad.

We had an evening off and dinner as on our own. The group decided to go out, but it was a 45 discussion on where and collecting everyone for the trip. 9 people were involved and at times there were 10 different opinions on where we were. We finally arrived at the Restaurant Baiteiy. Dinner was very drawn out and people’s meals arrived over the span of about a half hour. Mine was Phimai noodles with beef that were excellent.

Several of the people were going on a day trip the next day, so we made it an early evening.