Into the Black Abyss

It's not always wine and roses here in NZ, though I do think we get more than our share of both. But I digress. Last week it was time to enter the Black Abyss. What exactly is that you may ask? Well, it's paying a lot of money for the priviledge of donning a soggy wetsuit, gum boots and helmet-mounted flashlight to repell 100 meters down into a narrow cave, paddle through a tunnel aglow with glow worm poop (yes, it's actually their poop that glows in case you were wondering) walk through waist-high waters atop slipperly rock and finally sit in an eel-filled pool waiting your turn to climb UP a raging waterfall and crawl through a narrow crevice back to daylight. If you think we would risk taking our camera along on the soggy journey, you're mistaken, but we did take this lovely 'before' shot.



Next time I'll opt for the blackwater rafting option and go with the current rather than against it. http://www.blackwaterrafting.co.nz/black-abyss.html

Definitely Deco

We had a grand ole time at Napier's Art Deco weekend, strolling along the promenade, sipping bubbly and dancing to the big bands. Spotted a few vintage cars that we wouldn't mind parking in our garage too!

Lots of pics, few words

My usual dose of Americana (a tape-delayed version of Entertainment Tonight!) has be pre-empted in favor of Winter Olympic coverage here, but rather than something exciting like skiing or skating, they're featuring curling. One of the few sports NZ actually has some competitors in, so I'll take advanatage of this opportunity to post some much overdue pics of our recent vacation in the South Island.

It was one of those trips where we felt like we were continually checking off things on our "Must do in my lifetime" lists:
Kayak to deserted beach for picnic-check
Eat sumptuous five+ course meal with matching wines at gourmet winery restaurant-check
Bike through mountain valleys lined with grapevines and racehorses-check
See a whale come up for air and then dive deep below-check x 5
Swim with wild dolphins in their native habitat-check






Next on the list is "repel down underground canyon and go blackwater rafting" with my brother. Ok, that wasn't orginally on my list, but my brother Bill and partner Barb are coming to visit and it was on his list, so we're doing it with them.