Skip to main content

Mt. Cook and Geraldine?

Mt. Cook, New Zealand
We are a little out of sequence here but I thought we'd send this blog out early since it has so much in common with our home town.

She asks, "Shouldn't we be in parkas?"
On our way from Te Anau to Christchurch we had chosen a relatively direct route,and one that based on New Zealand road standards would take more than 1 day to drive. So we needed an overnight spot and 2 towns were in the running Fairlie and Geraldine. Geraldine won out. But we weren't expecting any great scenery today as some of it was driving back over ground already covered and some unknown. Well no one told us about Mt. Cook, a centerpiece in a range of mountains that rival the Rockies in beauty.

Then after finding a suitable motel we were advised that the town had it's children's Santa parade tonight at 6:30 pm. So we thought why not? And we were not disappointed. A mother and grandmother took us under their wing, explained the origin of Geraldine, and information about how the Santa parade got started. Then they shared the story of their 4 yr. old walking in the door today and saying "Hey mom, you should see we pimped up the old tractor for the parade".
Pimped out Tractors
She said later she would have a talk with the father about the use of certain words around 4 yr olds.

After having supper and watching the parade we stopped to get ice cream and were joined at our table by a pr of grandparents who had come up from Dunedin to Geraldine to see their grandson and daughter. We sat for the next 20-25 mins talking and learning from them about many of the events that surrounded New Zealand becoming a country. It was quite the evening, and reminded us of how many people have let us in to their towns and involved us with their stories. Travel is marvelous.
Sandra enjoying the parade
Only in Geraldine?
Beautiful Classic Cars and Museum (see sign)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Borrego Blooms

Not our Hidden Site but a great one none the less In all the years we have been down in the Palm Springs area we have never been to Borrego Springs during the March “bloom”. And, the bloom doesn’t occur in years with little rain. So I guess we’ve been down in pretty dry years, or been away, like in Jan. Feb. 2017 when they did get a good rainfall. Well this year is the most since 1943. We decided since we had the camper on the truck and hadn’t cycled in a week that we should get out there, do some camping in our hidden gem of a 4WD location, ride our bikes (we did 24 kms the 1 day) Borrego has miles of Sculptures and followed up with 30 kms the next in Yuma. Killing Monarch Butterflies while driving Here are the sites we saw. Sandra outstanding in her field, err, canyon Mornings we'd check out the view down the driveway. Unique formations in the canyon Friendly ones as well Innushuk built This desert is supposed to be sand colored ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Entry to Canada using ARRIVECAN

  Entry to Canada using ArriveCan Updated Jan 19. (Minor comment Feb 16th) Information in this blog post is still current until Feb 28, 2022 at which time it will be edited with the most current information)  This is for all Canadians travelling back to Canada or US citizens considering coming to Canada. I thought we’d pass on what we learned in returning to Canada from our short driving visit to our place at ISRVR. First, we used “ Curative ”, a healthcare provider who provides PCR testing. You need to be careful as to the type of test accepted by Canada. A PCR/Naat or PCR test qualify. "Rapid Antigen" tests do not . Our tests and many others were back to us in 12-17 hrs. Some pharmacies also offer tests. Caution when using pharmacies as we are hearing more and more can not meet the 72 hr. testing window and some do not offer PCR tests. Just make sure you get a PCR test. It will take 1-2 days. Curative only offers PCR tests , follow...
2 comments
Read more

Coffs Harbour, Brisbane and Christmas

Coffs Harbour From Sidney we have a day’s drive up to Coffs Harbor where we have our eyes set on one last camping day. Both Coffs harbour and the Holiday park we selected Park Beach Holiday park did not disappoint. The weather was perfect to the point of being very warm into the late evening. Ocean Beach Coffs Harbour is a smaller town situated on the east coast of Australia and Coffs Creek creates a beautiful backwater entry into the ocean with a sandspit that Park Beach and the Holiday park and surroundings sit on. It is such a beautiful spot with warm shallow water and the holiday park sparkled it was so clean and well outfitted, and, it was one of the last low season days so prices were reasonable and there were few people there. The RV park desk recommended the Parks Beach Bowls Club ( https://pbbc.com.au ) for supper as we were tired of the day’s drive and wanted to maximize our stay there similar to Kiama. While it did not have the elevated view that Kiama ...
Post a Comment
Read more