February 12th, 2009
To Invergargill and beyond
I decided to take a day to see Stewart Island, which is off the tip of southland, about a 1 hour ferry from Invergargill or a 15 min flight. I called to book the flight, preferring to be in a small plane and see everything from above. The guy took my name, and then when I got down the desk in the wee airport, he weighed me and put my bike in the back. He issued my ticket and then lead the 6 passengers out on the tarmac to the plane. We all squeezed in, sort of giggling with the cramped conditions and the whirring propellers right outside the windows. I was wondering who the pilot would be, when the same guy hopped in and started flipping switches! There was an Italian lady next to me, and we were laughing about how this guy really did it all!
When we landed, an older gentlemen stepped into our crowd of passengers and said, "Who is Laura?" I thought that was weird, so I said "me!" at the same time as the Italian lady. She was headed to a B&B and I was headed to the park bench for a few hours, and she convinced the B&B host to take me on the tour she had booked. As we rode back to the beautiful home for tea and cookies, we started chatting about why we were travelling, and it turns out I wasn't the only one named Laura leaving it all behind.
We toured the island in the van, learning about the Maori history and European settlement, including the flora and fauna. Just so you know, NZ has no land mammals, except for the bat, and was basically isolated for 70 million years, which allowed a wide variety of birds to evolve, especially flightless birds. Also, I think the diaspora of the Polynesians in the various islands is really interesting- Hawaii, New Zealand, etc...
It was peaceful place where people leave their cars running and doors unlocked and of course everybody knows everybody. I suggested that Laura call me when she gets to Queenstown, and she mentioned that she sometimes changes her married surname "grenberg" to "green."
Whoa- we were both named "laura green."
well, I hope I hear from her; but if not, there seems to be one or two interesting people a day that i meet- from Switzerland, Montreal, Germany, US, Australia, etc...They are sort of short-lived meetings, but you get the essence of the person and the purpose of the meeting for that day, and then they take their road. So far, I like it that way...
To Invergargill and beyond
I decided to take a day to see Stewart Island, which is off the tip of southland, about a 1 hour ferry from Invergargill or a 15 min flight. I called to book the flight, preferring to be in a small plane and see everything from above. The guy took my name, and then when I got down the desk in the wee airport, he weighed me and put my bike in the back. He issued my ticket and then lead the 6 passengers out on the tarmac to the plane. We all squeezed in, sort of giggling with the cramped conditions and the whirring propellers right outside the windows. I was wondering who the pilot would be, when the same guy hopped in and started flipping switches! There was an Italian lady next to me, and we were laughing about how this guy really did it all!
When we landed, an older gentlemen stepped into our crowd of passengers and said, "Who is Laura?" I thought that was weird, so I said "me!" at the same time as the Italian lady. She was headed to a B&B and I was headed to the park bench for a few hours, and she convinced the B&B host to take me on the tour she had booked. As we rode back to the beautiful home for tea and cookies, we started chatting about why we were travelling, and it turns out I wasn't the only one named Laura leaving it all behind.
We toured the island in the van, learning about the Maori history and European settlement, including the flora and fauna. Just so you know, NZ has no land mammals, except for the bat, and was basically isolated for 70 million years, which allowed a wide variety of birds to evolve, especially flightless birds. Also, I think the diaspora of the Polynesians in the various islands is really interesting- Hawaii, New Zealand, etc...
It was peaceful place where people leave their cars running and doors unlocked and of course everybody knows everybody. I suggested that Laura call me when she gets to Queenstown, and she mentioned that she sometimes changes her married surname "grenberg" to "green."
Whoa- we were both named "laura green."
well, I hope I hear from her; but if not, there seems to be one or two interesting people a day that i meet- from Switzerland, Montreal, Germany, US, Australia, etc...They are sort of short-lived meetings, but you get the essence of the person and the purpose of the meeting for that day, and then they take their road. So far, I like it that way...
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