countdown to freedom

Five more days of isolation. The days hang heavy.

Deb fills in the long and lonely hours with TV. And reading. And jigsaw and knitting and gardening and cooking and playing guitar. And cleaning out cupboards. I play on the PC. And read.

I have a small blunt knife. Our jailers think that I am scratching marks on the wall to mark the passing of the days. In truth I am sharpening that knife. Soon I will be ready to carve the roast which Deb cooks for Sunday dinner.

Nine long days have passed. I scratch a mark on the brick wall for each long day which passes. The bricks are strong, I have almost completed half of the first mark. I may mark each day with a simple dot.

Our jailers think to starve us into submission. We have food smuggled to us, bare rations for our bare survival. Roast on Sunday. Curry tonight. Vegetable pie tomorrow. We will not be bowed by starvation.

Our physical health is maintained. We are not free to run. Instead, we exercise indoors. Deb once coughed. I once sneezed. Despite the rampant diseases of the outside world, we survive. False health, perhaps, but it feels good to resist the ravages of plague.

Mentally, I am insane. Cabin fever. Stir crazy. All trace of sanity has left. So my mind is, fortunately, unaffected by our enforced quarantine.

My emotional state is fragile. How long can I maintain the façade? How long can I pretend? When will I be forced to admit that this is my perfect holiday?

Our jailers think to break our spirits. We will survive. We will enjoy.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===
Carpe Librum, Seize the Book … Scottish Book Trust on Read a Book Day
===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

done & dusted

New Zealand 2020, some interesting bits:

Three of us are booked to walk the Routeburn. One pulls out due to lack of fitness. The Track is flooded, washed away, the entire walk is cancelled. We (two) spend the time in Queenstown.

Queenstown, Arrowtown, Wanaka, Glenorchy... all good fun, lots of beautiful scenery. The luge is my highlight. All seems a bit quieter than I expect. I return the rental car a day late -- because I messed up the booking dates.

A possible highlight of the fly-then-drive to Rotorua is lunch at The Pink Pig. It's a truck stop. Painted all-over bright pink.

We arrive at Rotorua a day earlier than expected -- I had messed up the motel booking.

We're here for the Walking Festival, three days' walking. An evening walk in the forest, next day it's 10km through forest, then 10km through town, all interesting. Coronavirus is a looming threat, we avoid crowds and walk well to the back of the Festival walkers. That's our excuse, anyway :-)

Auckland, the highlight would have been Book of Mormon -- except that it is cancelled from the day before we arrive. The city is dead, very few people. We flee the plague and fly home a day early.

To arrive in Perth. Just our plane passengers arriving, no plane leaving, very quiet. (A week later: the flight we were on is, this week, cancelled.)

We can't find the car. Which we had left parked... at the other terminal. Home. To 14 days self isolation.

A... memorable... holiday. Good fun but... memorable :-)

===

Well, that is the NZ holiday, over. Phew! Now back to the other blog theme. Perhaps with some more general stuff because (a) there's nothing interesting currently happening and (b) it's getting hard to tell cancer & cancer drug reactions from effects of age...

I find that I'm rather blasé about the threat of coronavirus. I suspect that it is due to already having a serious health problem: all things are relative. I believe that the coronavirus threat is good for Deb: it takes her mind off worrying about me. Which is very good :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Don't waste your time looking back on what you have lost. Move on, life is not meant to be travelled backwards."

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

yes, home again!

We are now home again, safe and sound...

The plane lands at Perth -- to a huge sigh of relief. Home again!

Our seats are in premium economy, right at the front of cattle class. I pay extra for a meal and extra for seats with leg room. That makes it so close to premium that I go whole hog. What a brilliant experience!

Okay, it's amateur week with the flight attendant. Yes, she says, there's a choice of meals. It's... umm... wait a minute. It's, umm, meat or fish, she says. We select one of each and, yes, one is meat and the other is fish.

The meals are pleasant and unexceptional. Serving sizes are larger than usual. Dessert is a rather nice NZ icecream.

Just two seats, no-one next to us. No-one in front, just a partition. We kick out our footrests. Unfold the TV screens. Read and relax. Interrupted only by a biscuit & tea. Then a sweet cake & tea. All so very pleasant. The best seats ever, says Deb :-)

===

We are behind business class but ahead of all the rest of economy. So we are quickly off the plane and into immigration. All very fast, just our plane arriving. We can see into departures... empty.

As usual, we have ticked the "walked in wilderness" box on our incoming passenger card. So we go through the special lane... One quick glance at our boots and we are through.

===

The car is waiting in the carpark just outside the terminal. It continues to wait... we can't find it. I walk all round the carpark, cursing. Finally, we get the ten minute bus trip to the other terminal... Yes, we left from the domestic terminal and have returned to the international.

Ahh! so easy to drive home :-)

===

Home needs some airing, otherwise all fine.

The zip on Deb's case is jammed. I pull on it, the thing you pull on comes off. I get a very sharp knife and cut my way in. It works but I am still embarrassed by my response. Tired and corona-stressed, I claim.

===

We can survive for a few days on what is in the house. The kids left some immediate essentials, then they deliver on Deb's two-week shopping list.

Deb potters round in the garden. I read, and potter round in WoW. I'm glad to be home but feeling ... well, I need to just sit and play games and read... and not think. Typical tired response.

A couple of days later and I am feeling normal. For better or for worse :-)

Home again :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Don't waste your time looking back on what you have lost. Move on, life is not meant to be travelled backwards."

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

up in the air

"up in the air"? we're up in the air -- on a plane heading home. phew :-)

this morning --Thursday -- we wake up at 6am, in Auckland.. that is, we get out of bed. i leave waking up till a bit later.

we have some crispbread and peanut paste, left over from stuff i bought for deb when her stomach was upset, we have some for breakfast.

finish packing and leave the room. I'm nervous: the key is left inside, the door closed, there is no chance to pick up anything that we may have forgotten... but all seems okay.

downstairs, outside, we wait for the taxi. last night we arranged for the taxi. was that a good idea? exactly on time -- he phones. he's close. just as well he phones, there's another taxi parked here. the driver is sleeping but I'm sure would be happy to be woken up. the airport shuttle bus passes, the nearest stop is a couple of hundred metres away.

across the road a couple of dodgy blokes wake up, from sleeping at the bus shelter. one pees over the kerb, could be worse.

the taxi arrives, we load up and set off.

it's fast and easy. very expensive. not sharing with other possibly sick passengers. but the driver coughs! he obviously had a cold :-(

we arrive at the airport. i pay by paywave. i tell the driver that he should get and use hand sanitiser. mumble mumble.

no trouble checking in. we're well and truly early, the flight status shows, "relax". we do. till it's time to board.

i usually stress till we check in, then i can relax. today i stress till we board... with coronavirus, restrictions could change at any moment.

we get on the plane... and i relax :-)

by selecting -- paying for -- better seats and a meal we have ended up premium economy :-)  two seats just behind the galley, where a bassinet could fit. so much leg room! good service, a hearty lunch. well worth the extra cost. specially since i don't remember the cost.

now we're flying over australia. somewhere between Sydney and Adelaide. on our way home.

on our way to 14 days self isolation. but at home :-)

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"We must believe in free will -- we have no other choice." … Isaac Bashevis Singer
===
   

a day in Auckland

two days in Auckland... with no book of Mormon. we bail.

early morning, Deb and I decide to fly home early. we've seen a bit of town, there's nothing we desperately want to do, the aus government may well close the borders. it's time to get home.

i spend five minutes on the Web but changes need to be done by phone. ten minutes on the phone, mostly waiting, and it's all done. too late to leave today, we leave tomorrow morning. a day and a half less in Auckland.

the apartment we're in shares the building with a hotel, we have breakfast in the hotel. i have a pancake stack with jam, and bacon on the side. which i eat with the pancakes. delicious. yesterday was the best meal, today is just as good but posh.

we go for a random cache walk... head for the nearest cache, then the next nearest... it takes us to interesting places we have not seen before. and we do find some caches :-)

almost back at the hotel, there's a taxi parked, waiting for customers. we ask him, how long will it take to get to the airport? by the time we walk on... we have agreed that he will be there to pick us up at 7:15 tomorrow.

back in our room. we relax. do a load of washing, no real need but there is a washing machine / dryer. it takes hours but is done when we go out for dinner.

we walk towards hobsons wharf, there are plenty of restaurants etc there. we were there on our walk, we stopped for coffee and a very chocolatey brownie.

we eat dinner at the v grill. i have steak, deb decides to try pork belly. my steak is delicious, deb says her pork is also delicious.

walking back -- up the hill -- we get some chocolate, for dessert in our room.

a reminder pops up on my tablet, Book of Mormon... sigh.

we just relax.

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"We must believe in free will -- we have no other choice." … Isaac Bashevis Singer
===
   

tuesday

if this is tuesday we must be in Auckland.

we pack up and leave rotorua at 8am. the plan is, to drive an hour to matamata for late breakfast, then on to Auckland.

we set the gps to matamata and it has no idea where that is. okay, the gps claims to know but wants to go somewhere else. we end up following road signs, which works well. just as we are about to enter the town, the gps wants us to turn left and drive another 62km... we switch it off.

mm is a small but busy country town with a highway through the middle. we stop for breakfast at a cafe called Eat.

this is the best breakfast that i have eaten in new Zealand! bacon, egg, sausage, mushroom, toast. all delicious. the mushrooms could almost have been cooked here! last night's meal included mushrooms which had obviously come out of a tin.

come to think of it... this could be the best meal i have eaten since leaving home. simple. delicious. and it's a friendly place.

this town is close to Hobbiton, the reconstructed film set. i'm not interested in visiting, i'm more into the book than the movie. still, it's nice to know that we are near Hobbiton :-)

matamata is also the last town before we join the freeway system, so a good place to take a break. we take just a short break.

we reach auckland airport just after noon, to return the car. we still need to get to Auckland City -- but i want to catch a bus. i don't want to drive into the city.

from the rental car carpark it takes us five minutes to find the rental car office. we buy a bus ticket and just miss the bus. no worries, just twelve minutes to the next. very few people on the bus. traffic is horrendous.

the bus stops just a five minute walk from our accommodation, not too bad, but then i had planned for that.

our place is a rather flash AirBnB unit. self contained as long as you don't want to store many clothes, or cook. (there's a small microwave.)

we're just across the road from the skytower, so we  go up the tower for afternoon tea (coffee). makes for a very expensive coffee. impressive view though.

there are a couple of wires hanging down outside. it seems that people get tied on to the wires then pushed off the top of the building. no thanks...

for dinner, we walk to Britomax. it's an area which is famous for its fancy eateries. we think we are there. we find a car park, a small park, half a dozen eateries, one open. we eat in that one.

there are very few tourists. the place is -- relatively -- dead.

we walk back parallel to the waterfront. to the maritime museum then turn up towards home. that corner has plenty of restaurants -- open -- and is almost busy.

we are in Auckland to see The Book of Mormon, tomorrow night. there's an email. due to coronavirus, the Book is cancelled from today.

there's plenty to do in Auckland. Deb is making plans for the next two days. I'm ready to go home.

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
===
   

monday in rotorua

a day to relax in rotorua... we go driving... well, it's more relaxing than walking.

we start at the redwoods tree walk. suspension bridges between trees, well above the ground. deb wants to challenge herself, to face her fears... i'm nervous but enjoy it all. deb is nervous, glad she did it, I'm not sure of she really enjoys it.

we drive on to blue lake. then to green lake. and half way round a lake with a more complicated name.(*) The Saturday 42km walkers went by blue and green lakes. it's a nice drive, would have been an even nicer walk.

coming back, we stop at "the buried village". tourists in the 18th century visited for the thermal pools. the polls were in amazing stores of terraces. in about 1886 a volcano blew up, destroyed the village, turned the terraces into a very large lake. wow!

there's a walk through a field with remains of village structures. we also walk down to the stream and waterfall. very pleasant. quite steep walking back up to the top.

back home again. we eat at an Italian place in eat streat, we've been there before. The sauce on my pasta is so rich and heavy that i can't finish it. i also leave half the chewy, tasteless lumps of chicken. dessert, however, is delicious.

(*) the lake name may begin with whak, maybe. I'm not good with names. this blog -- when it's a holiday journal -- is the first draft. later, at home, i will tidy it up (a bit), add photos and print a hard copy. the tidy up will include some name finding.

the blog is a rough record. the final print will be a bit more factual. and, perhaps, a bit more accurate :-)

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
===
   

back to Sunday

our sunday walk passes some interesting places. including three geocaches! one cache is in a rose garden, a very nice break from walking. one is -- i think -- under a small wooden bridge. too difficult to reach under, we give it a miss.

we walk through a gorge with trees all round and a river below. the last couple of km is through a thermal area on one side of sulphur lake. we have been to the other side of the lake and did not realise this is here.

the thermal part of the walk is shared with the 20 and 30km walkers. We are passed by a couple of dozen people who have walked 2 and 3 times as far as us.

in the final km we turn back through forest, the same path as we followed out at the start. we almost miss the turn. We see other walkers go straight on -- miss the turn into the forest -- and carry on next to a very busy road. Our walk is much nicer :-)

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
===
   

sunday 15th, rotorua

today we walk. day 2 of the walking festival, another 10km.

this is a "town" walk. some forest, lots of suburbs then a couple of km through thermal areas on the edge of sulphur lake. all pleasant, all interesting.

an easy walk for Deb, I'm a bit weary by the end. we get certificates and medals :-)

we drive to town, to lime caffeteria, we've been there before. i have a waffle, Deb has smashed avo. ahhh, food. a late lunch.

back home to rest. and to discover that australia has finally done something sensible about coronavirus... we will be in self isolation for two weeks after we return. Deb's first response is to be upset, that fades as we start to plan for it.

we go out for dinner, to a different place in eat streat: wholly smoked. Deb has beef rib, i have duck leg. then we get an icecream from lady janes. all very good.

now we're home again. I've sent a couple of emails including to the dentist, to delay an appointment.

time to relax some more.

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
===
   

night and day, walking

friday night, we go on the night walk. just ten people, we expected more. perhaps a lot of the walkers are locals who have already seen the forest at night.

a ten dollar donation to the local bird watchers association (or botanical association? that sounds more like it) and we're off. led by an ecologist.

we hear calls of local birds, an owl and something else. we see three small wallabies, a pest imported from Australia. various ferns and trees, all quite interesting.

but the highlight of the walk is glowworms. in the bushes. like white LEDs. makes up for missing the caves at te anau :-)

the guide refers to Maoris as "mo-are-ee", well, something like that. The Maori guide at hells gate referred to "mouldy, as in mouldy bread".

the night walk guide tells us that Maoris believe that their ancestors became hills and such. so when we climb a mountain we are stepping on great grandad's head. which causes some cultural conflict.

===

saturday, a 10km walk.

it's reasonably flat, mostly through forest. lots of redwood forest. most nz forest is plantation. it's peaceful though with quite a few bmx bikes. in places -- amongst tall trees -- it feels very lord of the rings-ish.

we take about two and a half hours including a stop for a snack. distance turns out to be closer to 11km. so that's one "official" walk. with another walk tomorrow.

we go to town for iced coffee and banoffee cheesecake, very nice. then home. to do a load of washing and otherwise relax.

===

the evening news has the nz pm announcing that nz is closed to visitors. (while australia is throwing money around because the pollies have no idea how to deal with a disease pandemic. please can we swap PMs?)

===

We go to a hangi for dinner. a roomful of probably infected tourists. at a Maori arts and crafts centre -- I forget the name -- with a view of pohunu geyser. which does manage to shoot water just before we start eating.

it's supposed to be a hangi but there is no sign of hot stones, just a buffet. good food though :-)

we thought it was just dinner. we arrive... and there is noone in sight. we are lucky, a staff member on cigarette break shows us the after hours entrance. just us and three other people... till some sort of presentation ends and a couple of hundred people join us. a cultural presentation, no doubt, we are not sorry to have missed it.

there's a separate table of a dozen chinese tourists. not sure if they are special -- they have a host speaking chinese -- or in quarantine.

deb eats hangi meat, i eat fish and shellfish. all good.

===

then home. feeling full, satisfied. 

spend some time worrying about auckland... will we drop the car at the airport or the city? take a bus or taxi from airport to city? how much walking can we avoid? not too worry. not till Tuesday, anyway...

now we rest, relax, write journal... and sleep.

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
===
   

taking ut easy

we have an evening and two days of walking ahead of us, so today's plan is to take it easy. as if...

okay, we do sleep in, late enough that breakfast in town is at ten o'clock. at the Lime Caffeteria. i wonder if the double-f is deliberate. i have a yearning for muesli, Deb has bacon and eggs. good food.

it's a small, modern cafe with several people meeting for "business". one man at the next table is clearly a salesman: once he starts talking he never stops, everything is good, lots of positive figures on various printouts. a man to be mistrusted.

from there we drive to government gardens, lots of parked cars but very few people. pleasant views across sulphur lake, relaxing strolls round lawns and gardens.

we look for -- and find -- our first geocaches for this holiday! Deb spots fellow cachers, we stop and chat. at least, they talk enthusiastically about caching, we put in the occasional word. nice people, interesting chat.

there's a sculpture park, we are impressed. well, confused. interesting works but we have no idea how the names relate to the sculptures. typical art.

there's an "art village" building -- studios and small galleries -- so we stop to rest, with coffee and cake. the waitress suits the theme, all tattoos and modern hippie outfit. a very pleasant place to sit and relax.

there's a display of twenty or more paintings by the one artist. it's called something like, consider death. inspired by the death of her mother. the first painting is pale blue paint poured onto canvas to form two big blobs, then a line drawn across it. all the rest are the same... except that some have two lines. hmmmm.

the gardens area also has two historic buildings. the blue spa is an indoor swimming pool, we can't go in without paying so we don't. a very fancy Elizabethen / tudor building used to be a spa, now a museum. closed for renovation thank goodness.

we drove to another park, kuirau. an amazing park! lots of the usual grass and trees -- interspersed with "thermal areas", bubbling water and mud, steaming vents, danger signs and wooden fences. all on the edge of the city. amazing :-)

there are two nearby caches. one is inside a primary school, not a good place to search during school hours. another is 800m away, we get halfway, realise it's across a busy road, turn back.

it's mid afternoon, too soon to register for the walks... we go anyway. park in the area, Deb rests, i go for a walk. i walk 300m to within metres of a cache, have no idea where to look, walk back. i walk to a public toilet, it's locked, i walk back.

we are early but not the first to register. so we register, pick up bags and maps. shirts will be later, they have not yet arrived at the registration area.

now we are relaxing. dinner soon. then we will head out for the night walk.

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
===
   

hot springs

the plan for today is to drive either north to hot springs or south to a volcanic area. we decide on south. navigational confusion leads us north, to Hell's Gate geothermal park.

first, though, it's breakfast in town. for those who came in late... "town" is rotorua. today is Thursday 12th March. I'm using a swype keyboard for speed and hoping to avoid too many ridiculous typos. and not worrying about upper and lower case.

so, breakfast in town. at a cafe with paintings on the wall and an artist painting "guard your mind"?! in the corner. several of the paintings provide a social conscience message, we suspect there is a message in, guard your mind.

we are in town so that Deb can get a new battery for her watch. it's done while we are next door eating breakfast. by a man who seems to know what he's doing, he wears a loupe(?).

we drive... north. to Hell's Gate. we follow a guide for 90 minutes, well worth listening, he's very interesting. we're not sure if we paid extra for the guided tour. i think it's an entry fee and a guide goes round now and then.

steam, mud, sulphur and hot water. amazing!

unfortunately we forgot to bring hats, left them back at the motel. so we get a bit pink. yes, it's another cool but sunny day.

where to next? somewhere for lunch? we drive on along the road, following lake hoitytoity or something like that. it's a pleasant drive through forest.

we reach a small settlement and a beautiful view across the lake. no sign of cafes or even shops. we turn back.

back past hells gate, back to the main road. there's a shopping centre, we stop. have pie and sausage roll for lunch in Papas Cafe, a little place in the corner of the shops. a nice little cafe to suit the very ordinary shopping centre.

we buy milk and biscuits in the supermarket. plus indigestion and headache tablets for Deb, this time she's just a little bit crook. poor Deb :-(  we forget to buy a daily paper -- for the crossword, we have read the news.

then home --via Neil hunt park, where the walking will be based. just to see where it is.

home, to rest and recover for a couple of hours.

we go out to dinner, to eat streat again. this time we eat at a meat place. Deb has steak, i have Moroccan minced lamb burger. it's okay, i wouldn't go out of my way to have it again. i prefer my meat with nothing more than salt and pepper. and a bit of charcoal :-)

after dinner we walk round town. tonight is street market night. if we'd thought of it we could have had dinner in the markets... but we agree that it's better to sit in a comfy restaurant.

we take time to read about eat streat, very interesting. specially designed and built as an eating area. including underfloor geothermal heating. with retractable roofs for any weather conditions. it has a very pleasant vibe.

back at the hotel, we plan for tomorrow. nothing too strenuous. then we will register for the walking, in the late afternoon.

some more relaxing... and that's another day, done.

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
===
   

rush to Rotorua

An interesting aside: the annual Run for a Reason -- at the end of May -- has just been cancelled. Due to corona virus concern :-(

Here in NZ -- like WA -- there are few cases, there is a lot of worry. Though the best stories of toilet paper panic buying are still from Australia...

===

Today Deb and I fly from Queenstown to Auckland. There are perhaps a dozen people wearing face masks, mostly Asians. Lots of signs about washing hands. Not much else. Though I believe that less people are travelling, even within NZ.

We start the day with an alarm, set for seven o'clock. The sun is barely up, crazy daylight saving. No wonder we have been sleeping till 8 or 9.

Pack our cases (or, in my case, stuff it). Load the car and leave. Fill up with fuel on the way, it takes me several minutes to find the lever to open the fuel cap.

It's an easy drive to the airport, it's always easier going back, the area is now familiar. I drop off the key and make sure that the extra day had been accounted for. It has... of course.

We check in, then it's time for a light breakfast, at the airport. We each have a croissant with ham and cheese, quite tasty, very salty. The life has been crushed from the croissants in a sandwich toaster.

There's a full security scan to get on the plane. We are fed a single biscuit, okay, it's only two hours in the air. The seats are... magnificent! Well, not the seats themselves. Not much padding, no lean back at all, comfortable enough. But with sooo much space between each row! Enough space for me to stretch out my legs.

Another big positive review for Air New Zealand :-)

===

The plane is ten or more minutes late taking off. The original flight was cancelled -- less passengers travelling? -- so we are now a bit more than an hour later than my original plan. No worries except that it's a long drive to Rotorua.

Our rental car -- Budget, this time -- is another Toyota corolla. I liked the first and it's good to have a familiar car. (Though i'm still not sure whether the headlights are turning themselves on and off, they seem to be...)

We drive out of the airport and onto the freeway...

I'm glad I have Deb as navigator. The GPS speaks but Deb explains it better. I have our accommodation set as a waypoint, starting the drive is still confusing. Mostly when I need to pick the correct lane ahead of a change of direction. But within 20 minutes we're just following the freeway. Then the highway.

Unfortunately the highway is designed to avoid all towns... which makes it difficult to get lunch. There is nowhere to stop -- no towns, no shops, no cafes...

Finally... a cafe. We stop for a late lunch at The Pink Pig. It's a truck stop in the middle of nowhere. Or, at least, on a stretch of highway with nothing else in sight except rolling farmland. Oh, and the building is painted bright pink.

I buy a pie -- tasty but has spent too long in the heater. Deb bus a toasted cheese sandwich. Due to a misunderstanding, I also get a toasted cheese sandwich. Which works out quite well. I'm happy to eat half for lunch, the rest is saved for later. It's also a rather nice sandwich: plenty of cheese and the cheese tastes real rather than processed.

We continue driving and I predict -- correctly -- that there will now be plenty of cafes. We're soon into the next town, Matamata. Which I finally remember as the town near Hobbiton. I remember when I see the sign pointing to Hobbiton.

btw: I do ask, several times, What's the mata mata? I also keep reminding Deb that our flight was sux one two. I worry that our boats will be muddy from hiking. Luckily we are not sleeping in a tint... and so on. Ahhh, some jokes just never get old :-)

===

At 5pm we arrive at our motel, the Capri on Fenton. We're not due till tomorrow...

I messed up the booking. Today, I don't even know what day of the week it is, that adds to the confusion. The nice man at reception shuffles rooms and adds a day. We double-check the day we will be leaving. So we end up in a slightly larger room at the same daily rate for one day more than I counted. All good :-)

As I explain to Deb, my mind was not really in focus as I planned this trip. Just before the last scan? she asks. Yep.

It's a nice room, though I wonder about the smell. Until I realise... it's the Rotorua smell, of sulphur from the hot mud. Rotten eggs, surprisingly strong, not really unpleasant.

===

We drive to Eat Streat (yes, that's how it's spelt) for dinner. Gnocchi, cannelloni. Both nice. I then embarrass Deb by picking my teeth.

I keep offering Deb icecream for dessert, we're usually too full. Tonight we go to the icecream shop for... yes... icecream :-)

Back home for coffee. TV. Journal and sleep.

No alarm set for tomorrow. Deb has plans but there is no rush. A day -- I hope -- to relax.

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
===
"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
===
   

tuesday 10th... really?

The weather forecast is for rain clearing to showers. hmmmmm. so we decide to go for a drive. okay, with some walking.

Te Anau is too far. We decide on Glenorchy. It's about 90 minutes' drive then back the same way. typical for this area, towns at the end of a road. What's at glenorchy? quite a lot, judging by Google maps.

we drive right through the centre of queenstown. traffic is thick but keeps moving. no trouble, we are soon on the open road.

not much traffic, an easy drive. we reach glenorchy, there is very little there... perhaps i should have a closer look at google maps!

we arrive on time for an early lunch... just as well, we set off without any breakfast. we eat at glenorchy cafe, it seems to be known as GYC, perhaps GlenorchY Cafe? Deb has BLT, i have salmon bruschetta, both delicious, both quite large.

i claim that this cafe is "hipster", possibly "country hipster". i review hipster cafes on a separate blog... the food is hipster fancy though without either chia or kale. the music is modern weird, another criterion. but, okay, no obvious tattoos on the staff. not hipster after all, just flash food in a country cafe :-)

we walk towards the lake. then continue along trails. glenorchy is where a river turns into a lake. there are walks around the flat ground where river and lake join. lots of water, mud, swamp grasses. solid tracks and boardwalks. a few small lagoons. all very pleasant and the weather is fine, cool and sunny.

there are black swans in one lagoon. are they native to nz? we watch a plane circle round, getting higher and higher, we wonder what it's doing. then a couple of people fall out -- with parasails -- and all is clear.

oh, forgot to mention: yesterday as we came down in the chairlift we see a woman on the ... high swing? you sit on a swing instead of being tired to a bungy rope -- and are pushed off into space. ten metres of swing rope, another 20m to the ground. wow! 

anyway, today: we walk about 5km, a loop back to town. where we rest, with coffee and cake at the other cafe in town. okay, there may be one or two more cafes but it is a very small town.

a small, peaceful ... village. quite a few tourists but it feels very peaceful. we are glad we came here.

then we drive the same road home again. which is good. the road runs beside a lake, in this direction i actually get to see the lake.

we stop at bob's cove for a walk. a quiet walk beside the lake. to an old (rebuilt) lime kiln then on to the remains of a jetty. back to the car, then back home.

we rest a bit then go out to dinner, to Speights. we were there the first night, i feel the urge to eat there again. even though it is at the bottom of a hill from our place.

Deb has salmon. i have lamb, with vegetables dripping in butter. yum :-)

back home, there's a message from hertz, Where's the car? oops. when i booked i got the date wrong. i email back, confess my mistake, tell them the car will be back tomorrow, Wednesday. all okay.

Then i very carefully check that tomorrow's flight to Auckland really is tomorrow...

end of a very pleasant day. even if i am confused about what day it really is...

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
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"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
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awful qantas seating

Qantas seating is atrocious. Designed for midgets. I'm not particularly tall but my knees are jammed into the seat in front of me.

There's a relatively new pre-flight warning: If you drop your mobile electronic device, do not attempt to pick it up, ask an attendant. I can see why. If you bend down, you may need the jaws of life to get up again. It's so cramped that I can't even see my feet.

The there's upright. You know, seat backs upright for takeoff and landing. Upright enough to break my back. Finally, I can recline -- just enough to take the strain off my back, not enough to be comfortable. Air NZ should be embarrassed to put their passengers on a Qantas plane

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From Melbourne to Queenstown is entirely different. It's a real Air NZ plane -- with 30 or 40 cm between my knees and the seat in front. So comfortable! Far more space than even the supposedly spacious non-stop qantas flight from Perth to London.

Fly Air New Zealand! Avoid qantas. Unless you really are a midget masochistic sardine.

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We arrive in Queenstown. A small delay while hertz fetch our car keys. It's a Toyota corolla. Since we're not walking the Routeburn we want easy transport.

No trouble getting to our accommodation. I drive, Deb watches the map, tells me when we are close. We are staying at Garden Court.

It's right on the very busy Frankton Road but we are away from the road. Big glass windows, a balcony, a view over... whatever body of water it is that Queenstown sits on. With a golf course across the water and mountains beyond that.

Beautiful!

At the end of the flight (thinking back) we cross the coast and then the Remarkables mountain range. I think that's the name. They are impressive! We get a great view as we are descending. The afternoon sun provides just the right light. I should have had my camera ready...

Our room is a "suite", big bed, dining table, couple of chairs, kitchenette. Separate bathroom. And the view. Brilliant :-)

It's mid afternoon. We have time to walk to the city centre. Buy a few odds and ends, snacks for the room. Eat dinner in town.

As we are walking... a bus runs into a man. I almost wrote, an old man. Perhaps a bit younger than me. He goes flying.

He's shaken but, as far as we can tell, unbroken. Lots of people help him, including the bus driver, she is almost as shocked as the man. We leave the various people to sort things out.

The man was off the footpath, only just on the edge of the road. I can smell alcohol, possibly from him. The bus was going far too fast. All very bad. It makes me very nervous of the traffic, which otherwise seems quite careful.

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We eat at Speights, "an authentic New Zealand pub". It's relaxed, it's simple, the food is good. I have sausages -- good, solid, inoffensive food after a day of airline and airport food. Deb has chicken and stuff in filo pastry. Delicious but more than she can eat. Partly a large meal, partly that she is feeling a bit queasy.

Back to the hotel for a sound night's sleep.

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Except for Deb, who is sick, several times. Deb... Deb's stomach... does not handle no sleep and irregular meals. She spends most of the day -- it's now Saturday -- lying in bed feeling lousy.

I hate to say it but my Saturday is a holiday of my favourite kind. I sit, I rest, i sleep, I read. I relax.  Aaaahhhh :-) And of course I offer words of comfort.

Sometime after midday I walk to town. This accommodation was chosen for easy access to town, where we would walk to start our track walk... It seems to be a long way from town! But today, I do walk the scenic route, following the water.

I buy a wrap for myself, to eat back home. And crackers and peanut paste, so Deb can nibble on some dry crackers. I walk a shorter way back. Almost two km there, 1.3km back. So, not too far from town.

By mid afternoon Deb is feeling a lot better. We go for a walk, down to the water then in the direction away from town. It's the queenstown track, next town along is Frankton, we don't reach it, it's another 6km away. A pleasant walk, following the water. (Or it may be the Frankton Track...)

There are a couple of "wild" apple trees by the track, thick with apples.

We walk back, almost to town. Through the Queenstown Gardens then back home.

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Home again. We go out for dinner. To the Copthorne, just across the road.

Quite a fancy place. Deb is only ready for salad, I go for steak. Both good. Then we share a cheesecake... Set into a large glass. The base is an Anzac mix, delicious, so solid that we worry that the glass will shatter as we dig it out. (It doesn't.)

The waitress is pleasant, the waiter is fawning. I have the impression that he knows he should be friendly, isn't comfortable, overdoes it.

We go back to our room for coffee, some relaxation, sleep.

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We sleep well, mostly. Even Deb doesn't wake up till 8:30.

I have a restless night. Our plan is to drive to Wanaka. I imagine the difficulty of manoeuvring the car out of the awkward parking space. I wonder how I will break into the traffic on the busy road. I worry, it keeps me awake for an hour or so.

Sunday. It's all very easy.

We skip breakfast in favour of brunch at our first stop. The parking space is larger than I remember. The traffic is very light.

Our first stop is Arrowtown. Deb's aunt left a lot of money to their museum. We saw the commemorative plaque, many years ago. The walls are freshly painted, the plaque is nowhere to be seen. We are told that "David" will know if it is still around... We don't worry, we carry on.

Breakfast in what I think is called the Arrowtown Bakery. A hearty serve of fairly average bacon, eggs, etc.

We shelter from the rain in a woolen goods shop -- very nice stuff, very expensive -- then drive on. The town is very much set up for tourists.

We drove up to Coronet Peak. It's familiar, we drove up there with the kids, 30 or so years ago. The kids played in the snow. We drove down with the car heater on full, trying to dry out and warm up.

Today there is no snow. No traffic either, which is a relief. Deb admires the mountain views, I watch the road. At the top everything is closed (though one chairlift is working). I check the view, we drive down again. Some cyclists are pedaling up, it looks like hard work.

Next stop, Wanaka. We walk away from the tourist-trap centre to have coffee and carrot cake at the Urban Grind. Nothing "authentic nz" here, it seems to be an American franchise. Very nice though.

We go for a walk along the lake edge. Following a footpath for a couple of km. To Bremner Park on Kelty Point (or some such names). It's a pleasant, relaxing walk. Then back again.

Oh, and I've started taking pictures of toilets again... :-) It's the new camera, it seems to take good photos, I need to test it out.

We drive back via Cromwell, where we stop at the bakery for afternoon tea. And pick up some meat pies for dinner.

Deb asks if there is a fruit shop. Turns out there are fruit stands at orchards on every main road out of town. All we want... we find at a supermarket in Cromwell.

The drive home suits me: through the valley rather than mountains. Driving is relaxing, I can admire the view. I also prefer rolling countryside to mountains, it seems to be more accessible to me.

Back home... and we are glad to not go out for dinner. Pie and sauce in our room with chocolate for dessert.

A sound and restful night's sleep...

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Deb sleeps in again! Perhaps she is still sleeping to perth time :-)

Today -- monday -- we explore queenstown. Explore a very small part of it, anyway.

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Hmmm. Somewhere, Deb and I walk home through queenstown Gardens. It must have been Saturday afternoon. Nice gardens. The main features -- at this time of year -- are trees. Including quite a few sequoias: huge and impressive.

Today, monday: We follow the water's edge to town. Amongst the rocks and trees is a "Frisbee golf" course. Throw a Frisbee from a tee along (for example) a par 3 70m course, to land in a metal chain goal. One leg has a tree marked "M", you need to curve around it. It looks like a lot of fun, and difficult.

In town, there's a water's edge row of shops, cafes, boat hire. And a busker with a dog. The busker plays guitar, badly. The dog occasionally howls a different tune.

We have brunch in a cafe where we have a view across the busker and the harbour. It's all very pleasant. The cafe specialises in chocolate and icecream. Strangely, we eat muesli and fruit. And croissants.

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We walk round for a while, then make our way to the gondola. And up we go...

We buy tickets for the gondola plus three luge rides each. Luckily, Deb does not really enjoy her first luge ride -- so I have five rides... It is terrific! A low slung hill trolley with brakes. Just enough adrenaline -- and control -- for me to enjoy. And I do enjoy it :-)

I thoroughly enjoy my five rides, Deb settles for an icecream. We relax a bit in the cafe at the top then take the gondola down again.

Deb thinks that tomorrow we could visit the glowworm caves but they are a couple of hours drive away. Too far. We will settle for a bit of driving and a bit of walking.

===

We buy beef rolls and yoghurt for dinner, to eat in our room. Not very good beef rolls but filling.

After a bit more relaxing I finally get to writing this journal. Deb says to ask her if I can't remember any details. Then she falls fast asleep.

So, finally, I've caught up... almost. Just need to go back and add an incident from a few days back... Done.

Time to sleep.

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
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"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
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transition to holiday

Wednesday night. I go to bed thinking, I don't want to go to New Zealand. All I want to do is stay at home. Relax. Read books, play WoW, write code. I want to stay in the comfort of the familiar.

Thursday morning. I wake up thinking, Okay, New Zealand, it'll be fun. It'll be good to get away from the familiar. To take a break from reading, playing, coding. I'm ready and willing to go.

Okay, still not dead keen but ready and willing.

There's also the feeling that I don't really want to just curl up in my comfort corner and wait for the end. Blaaahh to that :-( 

Various things to be done before we go. Deb works on the garden. I water my pot plants. One is an avocado "tree" that Deb started from a pip and I put in a pot. Another pot contains several loquat seeds that I potted, no sign of growth. I water them both and tell them to sip slowly, make the water last for a few weeks. The third pot only gets a few kind words, no water. It's a cactus and gets water only twice a year.

We return all library books. Ooops... I pick up two more... I'll read them when we get back :-)

Over the last couple of days I've accumulated a small pile of travel essentials, most of it seems to be electronic items and chargers. Today I spend half an hour putting clothes in a case, adding the essentials. Deb spends the same sort of time packing. And we're done.

Dinner at home, rest a bit, drive to the airport... and the blog is now, again, my holiday journal...

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Holiday journal: New Zealand 2020. Go:

Driving to the airport. I comment that I'm nervous, as I always am at the start of a holiday. Deb says that she is stressed, will it all go okay?

I'm the holiday organiser, as soon as I step on the first plane I'm okay. Once we are started I know that the plan is good... or, at least, I know that I can work around any problems. I may have doubts about going but I know that as soon as we board the plane, all will be well.

Deb is stressed. She says, she is stepping outside her comfort zone. But, she says, that's good. Is she looking forward to NZ? I ask. Oh yes,definitely, Deb replies happily.

So that's all good. I'm happy to go to NZ. Deb loves the place :-)

===

So far, this holiday has trod a precarious path at the edge of disaster. Before we even leave home.

The planning begins with Deb saying, Let's go to NZ (okay, she actually says New Zealand) and walk the Routeburn Track. Okay, I reply, hiding my doubts. Let's invite my sister, Deb says. Deb's sister has joined us on several of these walking holidays. And so it happens.

There's a chance that I may pull out. We plan before a scan then finalise when I have the okay to travel. This time I'm okay -- but Deb's sister pulls out. Unfit, asthmatic, worried about a three day walk in the wilderness. Sensible call but disappointing for all of us. I attempt to soften the blow by mentioning my plan for a drive-in-WA holiday. I gloss over the camping aspect of that plan.

So it's just Deb and me. With three days -- either side of theTrack walk -- booked into a 2br rather expensive unit. With no (no obvious) cheaper option. Oh well.

Then there are storms in the south of NZ. The Track is washed out! Will it be walkable on time for our walk? After a week or more of uncertainty, the walk company offers refunds.

Deb and I go for a test walk, with backpacks. I struggle. I complain. The Track is still closed. We take the easy option and cancel the walk.

What about the rest of the trip? We will go anyway. What about the three days when we should have been walking the Track?

I look at options... We could cut a few days off the holiday. At a cost for changing flights. We could just stay in Queenstown -- the base for the walk -- and do... something else. Deb is good at finding things to do :-)

And some good news! Thanks to the flooded Tracks -- several popular walking Tracks are closed -- we can get a smaller, cheaper room at the rather nice accommodation that I had selected. So I book a longer stay in Queenstown, get a rental car, leave the rest all the same.

Back from near disaster, through chaos, back to a reasonable -- I hope -- holiday :-)

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We're at the airport... well and truly early. We check in... and spend three hours sipping coffee. It's tedious, it's ridiculous, I'd still rather be at the airport -- checked in -- than at home and nervously watching the clock.

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Our first flight! Perth to Melbourne on a Qantas plane. Packed like sardines in seats designed for midgets.

I have a lot of disparaging remarks to make about Qantas seating. I may save it for later.

We are now sitting in Melbourne airport. Our next flight will soon be boarding. To be continued... :-)

Nick Lethbridge  /  consulting dexitroboper
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"The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." … B.B. King
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improvement happens

I write this blog as it happens. Or at least as soon as possible after. Once written, I don't read it again. The idea is to get it off my chest, not to remember how it was.

This leads to an emphasis on the present... and a tendency to overlook changes from the past, especially improvements. It's easier to remember what goes wrong. For -- a good -- example:

My feet have been tingly and sensitive for months, a known side-effect of the drugs I was on, way back whenever. (I don't exactly remember when, I tend to live in the present.) The tingle has changed. More importantly, the sensitivity has changed.

For a while it is painful to climb up the metal ladder to get out of the public swimming pool. As I step on the rung my foot -- the sole -- hurts. I drag myself out as much as possible by strength of arms, keeping the weight off my feet.

Very awkward when I'm supposed to be keeping in reach of an active grandson as he dashes from pool to pool !

More recently my feet are less sensitive. I can step up the ladder with no significant hurt. Of course I still struggle to get in and out where there is no ladder. That's due to being unbalanced and inflexible. ie Just getting older and unfitter :-)

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Second item to post... I forget. I know I have something else to document. All I remember is, it is nothing significant. I'll remember it again, eventually.

And that's another reason to post as it happens... or, like a fading dream... it is forgotten.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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"Don't waste your time looking back on what you have lost. Move on, life is not meant to be travelled backwards."

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Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)