Tairoa Head

At the albatross center, you can visit the museum with info about the birds, Hooker sea lions, NZ fur seals and a few other species.  You can also pay for a tour to go out on a boat and see the Royal Albatross.  Looking at the rough seas,  I didn't think that that would be so much fun.  I walked from the parking lot to the fenced off area-paying attention to the signs of 'hold on to your children'. It was a sheer cliff of several hundred feet. I spent about 20 minutes here watching gulls and shags(cormorants).I knew I should stay a few more minutes because everyone else would come to the fence look for about 5 minutes and then leave.  The wind was really obnoxious!  After about 35 min. I still had not seen an albatross, thinking I may have to spend the night nearby and pay to go out on the boat...I was rewarded with the mighty bird.  After listening to the gulls-they always sound like grumpy old men to me, and watching the shags brave the wind to land on the cliffs and dry their wings, I finally saw the Royal Albatross.  Now let me say there is no mistaking this bird for any other.  It is like watching a stunt plane fly around and then see a C-140 transport-this bird is huge! A 3m wingspan-9 feet.  What a spectacular sight!  the silhouette of this bird is fantastic against the setting sun.  All the other birds were working so hard against the wind and the albatross never even flapped his wings-just so easy for them. I had the whole cliff to myself at this point.  It was such a thrill to sit and watch this bird glide through the air with the greatest of ease.  several times it flew right above me and out of the setting sun so I could get a really good view-they have these huge black eyes that look more mammal like(deer fawn) than bird and this grin that says, yes,  I am the mighty albatross. After about an hour of watching, although they only made an appearance 4 times, I needed to grab a bite to eat so that I could go and wait for the Little Blue penguins come onshore after a day of feeding. I heard that the distance they travel for food during the day is like us running 2 marathons on a full stomach.  Well, that experience is for another blog entry.
glad to know  I didn't pay for a tour!

Lake Grassmere saltworks

 Dusky Dolphin-kaikoura

 Portuguese-man-of-war-found a lot of these not much bigger than this!

Munro Beach Walk-Fiordland Crested Penguins nest here

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yellow-eyed penguin

lake paringa-beautiful sunrise!

One of the many swingbridges in NZ-Kahurangi NP

Otago peninsula

Moeraki Boulders

Little Blue Penguin-this is an adult male

Portobello Marine Science Center-Otago peninsula with Quarantime Island in the top right

Sperm Whale-male

enjoying the rain-Wangapeka track-Kahurangi NP

New Zealand Facial

I am mostly taking advantage of this time that Josie and I are on separate continents to post some of these outstanding videos of her.

Nature Notes With Nanette

I tried to post this several times while I was in New Zealand but was always unsuccessful. There will be more coming from this series, so stay tuned for those. It needs no introduction. This is Josie Bryan at her finest.

Aimee's favorite coffee place in the woods

weary feet

Mt.Cook

Haast Beach

smelly shoes : )

meet the ranger

Franz Josef glacier

Gallery Feb 12-17

Angelus Hut in the background next to lake

on the ridge

NZ fur seal

Under the sea!-this really is in a tide pool near Kaikoura

sweet Man- of- war-tiny too. I let him go back into the ocean, but it was maybe already dead. : )

Green algae on rocks-basis of the ecosystem!

Rutherford slept here-well, really studied here!

Aimee left today-what a bummer.  'Sunny' was not happy with the silence inside the vehicle.
Air Pacific is not the way to go.  I spent another day inside trying to get home/Wyoming in April.  The airline wants to charge me more money for a mistake they made-go figure.
I was supposed to be in Kaikoura so that I could watch whales tomorrow morning but I didn't want to pass up staying here.  It is the Blue-Lipped Mussel capital of the world.  Ok, that isn't why I stayed here. Ernest Rutherford-element 104 on the periodic table,credited with splitting the atom, and naming and discovering the proton...The father of Nuclear Physics...went to school in the building I am in right now. I am not sleeping in it-I'm out back in the yard in a tent, but pretty cool all the same.  He was only here 2 years- 4th and 5th grade.  My kids/students ages-maybe one day one of them will make a new discovery!
I may stay here and ride the Polorus Mail Boat-sounds really interesting-pigs, mussel farms, sandy beaches, chance to see marine mammals-right up my alley.  If not, I'll get to the whales and then on to Christchurch to see the International Flower Festival and go to the opening concert Friday night.
Wait and see...

Good Idea, Bad Idea?

Several nights ago during a discussion Josie and I did a little math. According to our calculations when Josie was graduating from college I was the same age as the students she teaches in FL. Twelve. I don't know if we would have been so keen on hanging out then. But at our present ages (which will not be listed here) and after only knowing each other for about 30 seconds we seemed to think it would be a good idea to hang out. In a foreign country. And hang out we have done. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. 5 plus weeks.

Turns out it was a pretty good idea. Of course Josie's opinion could be different, seeing as she had to endure all my weird/bad habits. She showed me grace on the days when I wore my cranky pants. She quickly learned to stuff a granola bar in my mouth every afternoon around 2:00pm when my blood sugar began to drop. She refers to it as the "witching hour." And of course she was patient with my super weird habit of doing push-ups in random places.

We have shared all of our different bits of wisdom and life philosophies. I am up to date on politics, am intimately familiar with New Zealand bird life, and know so many stories about the Bryan family I feel like I know them all, although I have not met any of them..yet. I have shared all my New Zealand knowledge with Josie and she knows which rivers to cross and which ones not to cross :)

We climbed to the top of a volcano in Mt. Egmont National Park, saved a Canadian from sure death by dehydration in Fiordland National Park, sat on top of a moraine that was created yesterday by the glacier 100' below us in Mt. Cook National Park, woke up to kea (world's only alpine parrot) trying to eat our tent in Arthur's Pass National Park, woke up to what I thought was rain hitting our tent, but turns out it was hundreds of sandflies trying to get in our tent in Nelson Lakes National Park, watched fur seals on Farewell Spit, showed the Kiwis how to dance at the sweetest outdoor music festival, and we laughed. We have laughed so hard on so many different occasions that we had to stuff shirts in our mouth so we didn't wake our camping neighbors.

Tomorrow I head back to the States and to a life that was all flipped around during my absence. I am pretty sure some strangers came into my house packed up my underwear, my bikes, and all my other stuff and moved it to the desert. Weird. I hear the Hanna family lives in the state they call Utah. A big thank you to all the good people that helped Clay make the transition to Canyonlands. You are much appreciated.

I randomly asked Josie the other day what had been our best idea so far. I thought she might say the music festival, the jumping pillow, or when we finally did laundry after more than two weeks of wearing the same clothes. She responded, "Going on this trip. " So, good idea, bad idea? Most outstanding idea!

sweet sign



Awesome concert! Aloe Black and the Grand Scheme



Yes, Aimee ate 6 croissants for breakfast!



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Haast beach-Tasman sea-very sandy place to swim




Kea-Avalanche Peak-Arthur's Pass National Park



Avalanche Peak -glacier in background



north of Pancake rocks



Most Northern Point of the South Island-Latitude 40

Photos

Aimee don't jump

Aimee thinking about how cool glaicers really are!

View from Brewster Hut

good food fast!

Top 10 List of Things That Will Cause Josie deS Bryan to Say "Wow That's Cool," While The Rest Of Us Roll Our Eyes

Although I have not known Josie that long one of the attributes I quickly learned to appreciate about her was her excitement for little things in life. As someone who tends to run through life not paying attention to a lot of details I appreciate someone who gets excited about things that most of us don't even notice. After several weeks of spending about 24 hours a day together I could have made this a top 100 list, but internet is expensive here so I tried to narrow it down.

10. Mice on hiking trail. (Granted, there are no native mammals in New Zealand)
9. Sheep Shearing.
8. Some guy named Rutherford who had something to do with the periodic table.
7. Aged leaves.
6. Nurse logs.
5. Bark.
4. A teenager fishing. On the beach.
3. Mounds of dirt covered with a tarp and tires.
2. Ferns.
1. That sticky piece of tape on the granola bag used to reseal the bag.

I ate a burger the size of my face!

After spending 2 nights on the Routeburn-one of New Zealand's great walks-Aimee and I decided a Fergburger was the way to refuel.  Queenstown is like a smaller version of Pigeon Forge, TN.  Lots of crazy activities and food all over.  Fergburger is famous in the area-Aimee and Clay ate there several times after hikes.  I am not kidding when I say it was as big as my face-really more bread than meat, but after 2 wet windy days on the Routeburn the burger was perfect.  The rest of the afternoon we spent hanging around town in the warm sun-got some ice cream(pistachio and fig) interesting combo-wouldn't get it again, but good.  Listened to live music and enjoyed our Sunday!
Today, Tuesday we are waiting out a storm.  8 inches of rain on the way.  Not really ideal when you need to cross rivers on a hike. 
Pretty sure we were in hurricane force winds last night- the tent held strong, but not great for a good night of sleep.  Haven't had one of those in days.  Going to see a movie this afternoon-they serve hot cookies at intermission-perfect reason to see a movies if you ask me.

Laughing all the way!

Pretty sure Aimee and I were the only ones laughing on the trail yesterday.  We had to stop a few times so we could breathe.  What is heaven like?  According to Hanna, no pants required(just shorts) and full time pow pow. Oh yea, pretty sure there would be water skiing-glassy water only please-and lots of mountain biking.  Some topics we covered cannot be discussed here-due to reader demographic : )
YesterdayJan 25 Wed. was really a piece of heaven from the time we got up until sleep time.
Tramped on the Kepler Track, swam in the largest freshwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere, saw a little owl(Athene noctua) not sure how I saw him though, had a dinner that was better than ever(avocado, tomato, tuna and crackers and Timtams for dessert-chocolate cookie Aimee loves-she'll have an unlimited supply of these in heaven I'm sure.  Think we may have kept up the neighbors with our laughing once we got to bed.  Good times had by all and livin' large.

Random photos

Jurassic Park-actually Zealandia

Tramping around Mt. Taranaki

Luxmore Hut on Kepler Track-we didn't stay here though

a few of the 1600 stairs on Mt. Taranaki

Mt. Henry

Luxury dinner after a better than fine day on Kepler Track
tuna, avacado, crackers, tomato. Perfect ending to a fantastic day!