6 Hand Sani, 1 temp check, 1 nasal swab, 1 bracelet, & family GPS tracker before leaving EIS

So we have landed on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.  This is the largest of the 60 island chain that makes up this British commonwealth territory.  Only a few of the islands are populated and to put the population into perspective it is about 3/4 the size of El Dorado Hills just west of our home in California at just under 30,000.  Their are two economic pillars which support the BVIs. Financial services make up 60%.  Basically this is wealthy persons and/or companies who park their offshore accounts here to minimize taxes as the G20 considers it a tax haven.  The other 40% is tourism.  Now with that other 40% you would think they would be clamoring to re-open, but yes and no.  They have for the last year walked the delicate balance of their livelihoods or their lives.  And the later has clearly won out with the islands being shut down to cruise ships and even tourists until in the last few months.  And even now the steps required for anyone entering the country are nearly full-proof in keeping COVID out.

So remember our family has tested 5 days before our departure from the US.  Mind you 3 out of 4 of us have our first vaccine AND 3 out of 4 of us had COVID in early February.  None of this matters as we disembark the plane and walk in our family cohort across the tarmac to what appears to be a newly constructed building.  Before entering we all sanitize our hands (#1) and immediately line up in front of a facial temperature scanner.  Once the computerized voice says "Temperature Normal" we are pointed to single file, 4 feet apart, comfortable leather armchairs.  Large glass windows allow us to sit and wait out our time with a spectacular view.  One by one families or cohorts are called to a plexiglass window where two ladies sit behind a computer and double check all of our information.  Once complete we "head through the double doors" where there are little cubicles with a metal office chair and people in full PPE running around.  Andy, Allyson, and I receive a nasal swab after verifying our info on the vial is correct.  And Alec at 6'1", but only 14 receives a mouth swab.  Children here do not get nasal swabs and the workers shudder when we mention the fact it is given in the US. 

Done, we exit, sanitize our hands (#3) and return to our chairs.  Here we wait until they amass groups of ~10 and then we are escorted to immigration where we sanitize again (#4) before entering the building.  Standing on our spacing floor markers in our cohorts we complete our paperwork and go through immigration again verifying our quarantine accommodations.  We pick-up our bags and head to customs where we answer the standard questions about fruit, food, etc..  After paying a $10 per person environmental fee we exit the doors.  There is a woman in a booth behind plexiglass with a sanitization station to her left (yes, #4).  Here's where we misread things...  We read we would be transported from the airport to our quarantine accommodations in government approved vehicles.  Well, you still have to pay for these.  Our cab fare was $85 for about a 45 minute ride to the other end of the island.  A fair price for the distance, family, of 4, and luggage.

The taxi booker guides us outside to another woman behind plexiglass who dons gloves before maneuvering from behind the glass where she squirts sanitizer on our hands (#5)  before placing bright green wristbands on each of us.  Making them quite tight, so they won't be easy to slip off.  You have read about the University of Georgia woman jailed for 4 months in the Cayman Islands for slipping off her bracelet to go watch a boyfriend in a competition while visiting.  This is serious business people.  We also were given a black box in a water proof bag with a lanyard.  This is our GPS monitor which must stay charged and in our vicinity at all times.

Next we are led to our driver, Max, and his beat-up van.  Maybe 1980's...but it did have a shiny new piece of plexiglass installed between the passengers and himself in the front.  After loading our bags we went to open the door...and got a firm "Wait, Wait"...yep hand sani #6.  Inside we would place our names on a clipboard so they know who rode with who and can contact trace if needed.

We all settle into the leather seats for the curvy, bouncy 40 minute ride to our quarantine home.  We message our host we are on the way and of course on this small island our driver and our host know each other, so no GPS or directions needed.  We wind our way along the islands coastline ever so often shooting in and up into the hills.  Last time we were here was before Hurricane Irma in 2016 where we visited friends residing on St Johns which we can see off in the distance on our drive.  This Cat 5 hit the islands in 2017 and it's toll is still obvious today.  Many boats are still scattered about, half sunk in marinas to on the land itself.

Just outside Fort Recovery we turn left onto a gravel drive and we pass a couple of bright colored bungalows which is our host, Bonnie Dougal's office.  Then a little round drive approached a wooden gate and in the middle of the drive lay all our pre-ordered toys (SUPs, Kayaks, etc.).  Also is a auburn-haired woman, Bonnie, who greets us with a smile keeping her distance.  She informs us everything is inside, including pages of instructions, our food delivery...AND welcome beverages of a couple beers, bottle of Prosecco, and bottle of sparkling cider.

We haul our bags through the gate into the bougainvillea and palm courtyard and into the house where large glass windows and our view and site right on the ocean will be the perfect backdrop as we settle in for our 4 day quarantine and one more PCR test.

Flight Cancellations + Pandemic = Stress X 2

Absolutely packed red eye flight to Miami.  We have flown a lot during the pandemic and every time people ask about others' masking and did we have any trouble.  At least in our experience it seems like all the anti-maskers and/or drama related to protocols are the exceptions, not the rule.  Other passengers we have flown with have always followed protocols without issue.  In fact I daresay everyone seems a bit more patient and a bit more kind.  The only thing we did note this time was the announcements included a very matter of fact you keep your mask on or we have the right to remove you from the plane and cancel your booking.  This in part is due to the new administration and the fact the FAA is a federal entity and will be as firm as other federal entities.

In Miami we noted travel has really picked up...or maybe it was spring break and Miami...have you seen the news?  The airport was packed and without club access we found ourselves four chairs against a wall a bit away from our gate to grab a bit to eat.  Weird that Miami was not asking for travel clearances or COVID tests before boarding the plane because even though a territory we would find out Puerto Rico our next destination requires the "within the last 3 days negative COVID test."  But it felt a bit more like "their problem not ours" to be honest.  I am generally one who is grounded very firmly in the fact that news is often only a sliver of the whole story, but will admit the airport's atmosphere seemed to match what we've been seeing on the news.  A friend of mine said it best...it feels like a football team celebrating a touchdown while still on the 1 yard line.

Into Puerto Rico with a couple hour layover we again found a wall in the less crowded area across from our gate.  We grabbed another snack including local sodas and salted plantains.  Here, to our pleasure, the COVID protocols tightened again.  A new change in our travels was found in the  bathrooms...all hand-drying options gone.  Air dryers were disabled...which we have seen elsewhere due to the circulation of air particles and hence COVID, but this time...no paper towels either.  Drip dry it is...

We were to be traveling on the American Airlines partner, Seaborne.  A small company that has a large fleet of Saab airplanes that run circles around the Caribbean all day.  Ours was coming in from St. Croix.  Again different from the US the British Virgin Islands only have one airport open, its largest, EIS on Tortola.  You can only enter and exit the commonwealth country here.  Where the US Virgin Islands had numerous entry and exit points.  Unfortunately with no flexibility this also meant when our plane broke down we were stuck in Puerto Rico for the night.

Seaborne was rather impressive.  Before they even announced it they had new boarding passes printed for our re-bookings.  Andy was 2nd in line after we heard a young woman who works in the BVIs mention the cancellation and she and her co-workers scrambled for a private charter to get there for work.  3 people $1500 for the 30 minute flight is what they would get.  Nice!  We took our rebooking for the next morning and hotel and taxi vouchers and headed down to carousel 6 to pick-up our bags.

Our bags were taking forever so Andy took the opportunity to get the lay of the land when it came to COVID as the baggage claim was crawling with military and people in full PPE.  I was frantically reading travel restrictions and noted our tests for the BVIs were 5 days in advance (due to extra time needed to process all our extra documentation...remember the insurance and proof of our quarantine lodgings)...Puerto Rico was only 3 days.  Would they accept our COVID tests?

Bags secured we approached one of the military personnel and explained our situation and he pointed to a QR code on the wall for us to scan to start our travel clearance to leave the airport.  After a few minutes of struggles without my reading glasses and shaky fingers he pointed us to the area with about 20 workers in full PPE to help us complete the documents on-line.

We were split into groups of 2 and placed next to each other, but 6ft apart, at tables with one person behind a laptop in full PPE and a barrier to keep us from getting too close and they started by asking for our clearances, passports, boarding passes, and more.  We would explain our situation and present them with our BVI clearances as well as our negative test results from CVS.  The test administered 5 days prior..not 3 as they required.  Chatter commenced in Spanish between the two workers and 4 years in high school quickly made out they were discussing the 5 vs 3.  They would ask us about the vaccine as well, which we presented our cards for our single dose.  This seemed to satisfy them and we get the "You're Done.  Welcome to Puerto Rico."

Next, as always is the case with vouchers, the begging of a cab driver to accept it as it is not cash in hand and requires work on their end took a few extra minutes.  But the promise of a tip got him moving and 5 minutes later we would arrive at Verdanza a high rise on Isla de Verde 2 blocks off the ocean.

After facial temperature scans in the lobby and guests bracelets were applied exhausted we piled into the small two double bed room.  This is our first hotel stay since the pandemic and true to the stories it had been stripped down.  No colorful comforters.  No hotel or local literature to be touched by the room's numerous occupants.  Pillow cases, a sheets, blanket, and towels - that's it.

Our hotel had a restaurant.  This is the first time the kids have eaten out since the pandemic and Andy and I only twice outside so we opted for outside here.  Another difference from the US...no menus.  A QR code on a stand was scanned and the menu popped up on our phone.  We enjoyed pasta, pizza, and Andy tried the local beers.  Situated higher with a view of the street we watched everyone walking from the beaches at sunset and a small amount of nightlife spring up.  Mostly loud thumping bass coming from cruising cars and a lit up party bus.  All the while police patrolled keeping people from gathering and flow moving along.

A fairly restful night.  Andy up early walked to the beach and grabbed us coffee and muffins, then we  were back at the airport 2 hours before our flight to go again...and that we did.  A little prop plane would take us the 30 minutes over beautiful blue water to EIS, the airport at the most eastern tip of Tortola where we would step off to a beautiful blue sky, 80+ degrees, with kite surfers and sailboats visible from the tarmac.  Now begins our next set of steps to be able to leave the airport and enter the BVIs.

Going Again in a Pandemic

It's hard to believe it has been almost 18months since we traveled internationally.  Our last trip was November 2019 to New Zealand.  Little did we know very shortly COVID19 would bring travel and the world to a halt.

In March and April of 2020 when the world locked down we chatted with Andy's Dad, the kids' beloved Papa, who we had no idea at the time was battling terminal cancer about taking another family trip.  We were weighing Hawaii where he had never been or the British Virgin Islands, a beloved destination from his younger years.  Andy had grown up jealous of his parents who would take off for Tortola and leave he and his brother in Indiana for a friend's sailboat watched over by a local, named Bubba, who also had a bar on Jost Van Dyke.  We were researching houses and plans for both.  As COVID infections and deaths climbed we were leaning towards Tortola where the protocols were extremely strict, but it would keep us and a possible fragile PJ as well as the islands' people safe.

Fast forward to September when Paul would pass from this earth and it pretty much sealed the deal...we would go to Tortola in memory of him and for us to rejuvenate after a rough 6 months flying back and forth to the Midwest to care for him and what we didn't see ...a rough 6 months ahead including a serious concussion for Ally, 3 out of 4 of us contracting COVID in early February after months of extreme caution, and still recovering from its effects weeks later.

With only 154 cases since January 2020 and only 1 death their protocols were strict, but effective.  Our host of our rental home would help guide us through the process which would involve the following steps even before our arrival:

• Negative PCR test 5 days before we traveled with our results uploaded into their Gateway App at least 2 days before we traveled to receive our "QR Codes" or travel clearance
• Travel Insurance that covers COVID.  This is important because if you contract COVID in-transit or while there and have to quarantine they want you financially sound to afford the costs of an extended stay (just read all the stories of people headed to laxer Mexico right now and not allowed back to the US per their plans because they've picked up COVID while there).  And under the worst case scenario you contract it and require hospitalization or evacuation you as well would be covered.
• Proof you are staying in a COVID quarantine approved location, house, resort, or boat.  These places have strict guidelines about where you can go on-site and who you can interact with.  At our home we had to have everything delivered in advance, including groceries 2 days in advance so everything can be wiped down as well as water toys, like SUPs and Kayaks.
• One of the best places in the world to sail you can quarantine on a chartered boat...you just have to fly a "In Quarantine" flag and stay at least 30ft away from other boats...and return to your quarantine assigned mooring each night by 6PM

Just like another favorite Caribbean destination, Jamaica, we quickly realized everything operates on island time which means there are no set times for anything and pace is leisurely.  Everything uploaded 2 days before we let panic set in when the day before we were to leave their entry app went down and the Department of Health and Tourism Board could not access our info and approve.

Panicky WhatsApp messages (the only way to communicate via phone and text effectively in the islands) flew back and forth between us, our host, and the "app" people.

We loaded the car and headed to SFO (San Francisco) on a Friday night.  Still no travel clearance.  Our host said we would be OK, until we reached our final leg, Puerto Rico to Tortola, so we breathed a little easier.  When we stopped to gas up our one way rental to SFO (much cheaper than 2 weeks of parking) we see our travel clearance had arrived in our email inbox.

Thankfully so...because when we arrived in SFO they required we show it before we even were allowed to board our first leg, SFO to Miami.  Close call, but we were on our way....

Good Bye RV, but What Have We Learned....

Today was pretty boring as we got up and made a huge stack of french toast and other various breakfast items to try to clean out the RV.  We did pretty good but hated tossing anything.  Note to others who follow behind us, there is a drop for a local food pantry at the RV return which takes all unopened non-perishables.  We wish they would have told us when we first left.  

Thanks to friends who advised us on our trip we also paid for the Express Return.  No need to dump anything or fill anything.  Just sweep, pile your linens, and slight wipe down.  We passed the inspection no problem.

Off to Christchurch Airport and onto our next short adventure in Auckland.

So...if you choose to do this trip some advice:

Bring travel games

1. Do not take big suitcases.  We took a backpack each and a duffel bag each.  The RV does not have room to store suitcases, and especially not hard-sided ones.  Nope, not even underneath.
2. Do not pack fancy clothes.  We took this advice from friends and boy was it true.  Everyone and everywhere is casual.  For men, a collared shirt and jeans are as fancy as it gets.
3. Ladies every campsite has hairdryers, but don't bother bringing a flat iron or other styling tools.  Their 230V even with a converter can possibly fry your items.  But do grab plug adapters.  Your RV will have USB ports, but also several electrical outlets.
4. Layers...and a good raincoat.  The weather really changes rapidly here.  But a good raincoat is good protection from the rain and a windbreak.
5. Speaking of weather...pack some cards or travel-size games.  We brought playing cards and a travel scrabble.
6. Visit at Thanksgiving if you can.  Everyone told us December just gets busier and busier.  And WOW we saw that even today on November 30 when we returned our RV there were 3X as many people picking up.  We were told you must book campsites if you are not "Freedom Camping" well in advance for the Christmas Holiday.  Thanksgiving we added nights, added locations with no problem.  We were also told prices go WAY up for Christmas.
7. The same goes for activities.  Most guides told us December should be booked in advance.
8. Bring waterproof pants for Milford Sound.  Or just be prepared to be in wet pants for a while. Some of our tour group had bought rain ponchos from the gift store.  Also a good idea.
9. Kind of wished we would have brought 1 compact umbrella.  The good news is there are groceries in about every town within walking distance from the campgrounds, but we often ventured in the rain and it would have been nice to have an umbrella.
10. Have the airport shuttle at the RV rental take one of you to the grocery to shop while the other checks in at the RV.  They say to plan on 1-2 hours for check-in.  Ours took about an hour, but there were people today who had waited 2 hours.
11. Speaking of shopping...we found the RV had plenty of space to store things.  Food-wise we went with pasta, bread that could double for sandwiches and french toast.  Eggs allowed for french toast, scrambled, and hard-boiled.  Manuka honey for toast, sandwiches, and melted for "syrup."  Due to the rain, we got ramen noodles for an easy warm-up and again our bread with cheese slices became yummy grilled cheeses.  The RV had a microwave, so leftovers worked well.  Carrots and spinach were added to salad and soups.  And there's no lack of amazing chocolates at every "petrol" station to try something new every day for a sweet.  And lamb...and other fresh meats could be added to salads or eaten as an entree.  All the campgrounds had gas grills in a common area to use.
12. "Give Way" or "Use the Bays"....use turnouts and allow people to pass.  And when they honk when they pass you they are saying thank you.  They are not mad.
13. Don't visit unless you are giving it more than a week.  We were 10 days and it was still tight.  And we only did the south island and even skipped the north/Nelson/wine area.
14. Ask...if there is anything you are wondering...just ask.  The people here are incredibly nice and accommodating.  Other than agriculture tourism is the main source of income.  We never met a cross person.  Everyone was incredibly friendly.

HUGE SHOUT OUT to the Jarnac Family for passing on their notes from their trip a few years ago.  It saved us tons of headaches and we are grateful.  We have saved all of our activities, websites, contacts, etc.. And if you have New Zealand on your list feel free to reach out to us.  We love sharing our love of travel and our successes and failures along the road.

Always add add 10 minutes to every hour travel

Mind your head

Enjoy the outdoors, when not raining

Sleeping was surprisingly comfy

A Long, but Interesting Drive Up the East Coast

We had a few stops we wanted to make up the East Coast of New Zealand, so we awoke early, ate breakfast, and started our drive in our PJs and would change at our first stop.

Our first stop was the Moeraki Boulders.  These are huge spherical rocks on Koekohe Beach on the Otago coast of New Zealand’s South Island.  According to scientists, the formation of these concretions began approximately 60 million years ago within the muddy Paleocene marine sediments of the Moeraki Formation. Each concretion began with an organic nucleus, “such as a leaf, cone, shell, fish-bone, or other relics of plant or animal." Sedimentary particles and minerals, such as calcite, aggregated around the organic matter in concentric layers (layer upon layer). The process is similar to the way a natural pearl forms around a foreign particle within an oyster. In a complex chemical process, the minerals cemented the particles together. The process continued and the concretions grew slowly over millions of years. (Source: https://www.historicmysteries.com/moeraki-boulders-new-zealand/)

Note, if traveling to this location...go straight to the car park, which is free, but a 3 minute walk up the beach to the boulders.  Or turn left to a car park with a cafe, where they charge a "donation" to use their stairs to walk to the boulders which are right below the cafe.

Our next stop was for the nerds in us....the Steampunk Headquarters, which also happened to be in the beautiful quaint town of Omaru, New Zealand.  It is in the Victorian District and lived up to its district.  This incredibly beautiful town left us yearning to come back.  Cafes, distilleries, and art galleries lined the cobbled street leading us to the very cool, but very out of place Steampunk Headquarters.  What a crazy place!  We got in for $20NZD on the family pass.  You were allowed to touch and flip switches if you saw them.  Apparently, their locals are known for being passionate and quirky.  We loved it and wished we had more time here.  For more info click here.  Mom and Dad were thrilled to finally find their art piece for this trip as well in a gallery here.  A canvas piece by Christchurch artist, Diana Adams will be hanging in our Kirkwood condo once it makes its trip across the Pacific.

Now the mad dash to Christchurch as we had a 5:15 booking for a Maori experience.  And currently our "navi" (their term for GPS) had us arriving just in time, but that was not driving a huge motorhome which wasn't allowed over 90km/hr.  So we drove and watched our buffer time slip away.  We finally called and canceled our ride from the RV park to the location for the evening's activity.  We learned schools let out about 3:30-4PM and we hit several towns which were completely stopped up.  Dad got very good at maneuvering the RV through the neighborhood streets in Christchurch to get us to the Ko Tāne  Maori Experience. We made it with 20 minutes to spare, so we freshened up in the RV and the manager was worried about us and was ringing Dad's phone as we walked in.

Kind of the "luau" of New Zealand.  We had a walk with our group and learned how tribes greeted each other, learned about their music, games, shelter, and hunting practices.  From there we went into a performance tent and learned more about their fighting tools and the best was the boys learning the Haka.  We had only seen it before matches of their National Rugby Team, the All Blacks, and in response to the Christchurch shooting.  Some of the most powerful hakas we watched before our trip were by students in response to the shooting: https://youtu.be/hmVjMdutQrc  These ceremonial chants/dances are an expression of emotions.  The most notable pieces other than the words are the shaking of hands, stamping of feet, beating on chests, enlargement of eyes, and the sticking out of the tongue, and the releasing of the breath/life.  After the performance, we went on to have our traditional Hangi, meal.  Another form of pit roasting we dined on lamb, chicken, pork, various salads, veggies, and the New Zealand sweet potato, kumara.  For dessert more Hoky Poky ice cream aside a traditional Pavlova, which is a meringue topped with fruit and custard generally.  Mom was super excited, so much so an Aussie Mom sitting across from her wrote down her recipe for pavlova that she fixes every year for Christmas.  Our experience was also in a reserve with native animals, so we got to feed the deer...yep those same ones that are raised by farmers for food. 

Stuffed full and back in the RV we ventured about 10 minutes up the road to our final Top 10 in Christchurch.  Gotta love the check-in here...drive-thru.  Very modern with electric glass sliding doors to the bathrooms, this was one very busy as a lot of people start their trips here...or like us, end it.  Our last night in the RV was spent talking about our favorites...favorite campgrounds, people we met, the food we ate, things we did.  Tomorrow we say goodbye to our home on wheels and head for Auckland.

A Change from the Norm; Ag, Chocolate, and Definitely Different

After more rain, we awoke in Te Anau and had a warm breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast with more Manuka Honey.  The eggs here are incredibly fresh and the sausage is hand-made in the groceries as well.  Coffee in hand it was time to cross the country again from the west and the Tasman Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean.  The drive would take us about 4 hours.


Today was a beautiful mix of agriculturally-based landscapes.  Farms of animals....sheep/lamb, beef, and venison.  Yes, they have deer farms here.  It's spring, so kidding central.  Most sheep/lamb had 1 to 2 babies close by in the fields.  We noted most of the calves had been separated from the heifers already and were in separate pastures closer to the home/barn.  Another huge industry in this area was timber.  The trees grow really fast here, so on the hills were large groves just planted, growing, ready for harvest, or having been harvested and now they were clear-cutting and burning the stumps, preparing to re-plant.  Ally did some research and found 45% of the land in New Zealand is utilized for agriculture.  Impressive!

And we can tell you in all of our travels it is one of the most environmentally friendly countries.  All of our takeaway (carry-out) containers have been recyclable.  All our take away utensils have been bamboo.  There is never a trash bin without a recycling receptacle right beside it and usually multiple (plastic, paper, glass, and aluminum/metal).  And we have noticed environmentally friendly things in the US like steel straws or hydro flask type containers that are super expensive there are much more affordable here.

Today we drove to the port town of Dunedin.  We arrived just before 2PM and found parking was horrendous near the city center.  Luckily another kind RV'er pulled out of their spot and blocked a bunch of parked cars while they routed their next stop, so we could get a spot.  The first time we've paid for parking, but only $5 for the day.

We booked a tour of Ocho, a hand-crafted chocolate factory, that is exploding thanks in large to a crowd-funding that raised 2 million NZD in 48 hours after the local Cadbury plant closed.  Started by a local artist/journalist, Liz Rowe, the community is quite behind it and they can hardly keep up with national demand and do not export yet.  They source all their cocoa beans from farmers in the Pacific Islands.  Every step of the process is done by hand, even to the wrapping of the bars and sticking of the labels.  At the end of the factory tour, our guide took us through a tasting, which had us trying cocoa beans from field to finish and then we compared their chocolates against commercial chocolate.  WOW!  What a difference.  And which lucky family members are getting this incredible treat for the holidays.

Afterward, we walked into town and through/past the famous railroad station.  Up at the city center, we were disappointed as it felt like we were in Italy as all stores close at 4PM and most restaurants were closed between 3-5/6.  And of course, when did we get there...4:30.  The farmers market was also packing up.  There was some nice architecture with Scottish and European influence.

We tucked into another Top 10 for the evening.  This one is probably our least favorite thus far.  So excited to have a heated pool the kids found it locked and empty.  The kitchen and amenities were a little more run down and smaller.  But we have an early morning date with the east coast, so the kids played on the trampoline, while Dad and Mom fixed dinner.  A quick game of Scrabble, homework, and then some Lolly Cake and off to bed.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends in the US!

Is it a Fiord/Fjord or a Sound? - Te Anau and Milford Sound

This morning we awoke in another Top 10 RV Park.  This time in Te Anau.  Another very cramped RV park in a small lake town, but it was raining most of the time, so we were inside the RV or the common areas on the resort most of the time.  The kids met “Ollie” the campground cat. 

A quick, cold breakfast and we were picked up by our driver with Southern Discoveries in a van at 8:30AM.  We were taken just up the road where we met our small coach/bus with about 16 other people on it and our 6 from the van made 22.  We learned our driver, Reese, was the “Personality of the Year” for the company and he was delightful.  On what would be our 3-hour drive to Milford Sound he gave us lots of facts and made several wonderful stops for photos and 15 to 20-minute walks.  At one we even got to see a native New Zealand parrot.  Quite mischievious we were told.  So really the driving time was less than 2 hours.  The BIG buses which held more like 100 people did not make stops, so definitely worth it.

Interesting facts:

1. New Zealand is one of the only places in the world that does not have snakes
2. The only native mammal to New Zealand is a bat.  All others were introduced by settlers.
3. A lot of birds are flightless because there were no predators until settlers introduced them.
4. Captain Cook passed Milford Sound twice because he was circumnavigating and charting New Zealand from too far out at sea to spot it…as well as the other sounds, so early maps of New Zealand are missing all the Fjords.
5. Milford Sound is actually a FJORD.  Fjords are actually carved by glaciers and sounds by rivers.  Fjords are more U-shaped and Sounds are V-shaped.  Oh, the name was not a mistake…it was the ego of the original Welsh settler who refused to name the area after a Norwegian-based word.

This morning when we awoke it was pouring and we were very concerned about what our day would hold, but on our journey, we learned also that this is one of the wettest areas on earth and that the literally thousands of waterfalls we were seeing were all produced by the rain.  On the drive, there is only 1 that is naturally occurring and on the “Sound” there are only 2.  If they do not have rain for a single day 90% of the waterfalls dry up and if they lack rain for 3 or more days they all do, but the 3 naturally occurring ones and they consider themselves in a drought.

Once at the “Sound” we went to the boat port and got our picnic lunches (sandwich, 2 pieces of fruit, cheese and crackers, crisps (aka potato chips), cookies, and a piece of chocolate…well worth the fee).  Alec was super disappointed as we were getting on the smallest catamaran in the port…which still seated easily 50 people and we only had about 30 at this point.  But we would quickly learn this was the way to go.  Our boat could get closer to the side of the “Sound” and under….and I do mean UNDER massive waterfalls.

The area is nicknamed the “Shadowlands” for good reason, but it was one of the most amazing sites we have ever seen.  We got soaked to the bone from standing out on the boat’s roof getting our “glacial facial” from the waterfalls and enjoying the crew's comedic soundtracks blasted over the speakers like Neil Diamonds Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head and ACDC Thunderstruck just in time for a true portion of the storm that included lightning and thunder.  We were grateful for the hot tea and coffee inside the cabin.

We would do a stop at an Underwater Observatory where we would also learn about Deep Water Emergence and the fact that the water that flows down the waterfalls from the rain collects tannins from the mosses and colors it a yellow then creates a 3-6 meter layer of fresh water on top of the saltwater that due to it’s cold and density does not mix and instead blocks out the light.  And below it you will find sea creatures that generally only live in the deepest parts of the oceans as they are tricked with the cold and lack of light to thinking this is their natural habitat.  This observatory gave us a glimpse into this.  A large ferry picked us up and took us back to port with lots of rocking and rain as the storm was now full-on.

An AMAZING day we slept most of the way back in the coach and enjoyed hot showers and a dinner of soup and grill cheese in the RV.  Then we hung out in the common room and plotted our final days in NZ.  Next up…we’re bucking the traditional routes and headed to the east coast, and Dunedin.

AND LASTLY kudos to Reese our driver…he did earn driver of the year from us.  Mom left her phone in her seat pocket and at about 7pm we found a note on our RV window asking if we left a phone on the bus and to come to our RV Park Office.  Reese had found it, seem the kids’ photos on the lock screen, and knew exactly who we were and where we were staying.  It helps when we are the only kids on the tour.