June 29th was a travel day, as I left Queenstown and flew to Christchurch in the morning. Getting on the plane was so easy as of yet, there is no security lines to go through when you fly domestically. I arrived in Christchurch and rented a car with a GPS ( seriously directionally challenged!) and headed out for Kaikoura. The road was wet and slippery as I drove in the rain on the left side of the road for the first time since I lived in Australia which was 20 years ago! The hard part was every time I went to signal I turned the windshield wipers on! and vice a versa! I just kept repeating the mantra "Keep Left". The drivers in New Zealand really go fast and on a single lane highway with cars coming at me from the right side, I was a bit intimidated. I was told it is an offence to hold people up, so you need to signal and pull over if you don't go the speed limit of 100 km on the highway. As I drove, I passed many wineries it reminded me of Sonoma Valley. When I got close to Kaikoura, the road went alongside of the Pacific ocean and the waves and rocks were spectacular!
My Maori tour (www.maoritours.co.nz) was cancelled due to the weather but I met with proprietors Maurice and Heather for coffee and they took me out to a Maori pa site which is a fortress and told me about the history of Maurice's tribe (named after Maurice Chevalier!) and
the customs of the Maori family which totally reminded me of my Italian culture. It is really unbelievable how similiar we all are.
I drove to my tree house at Hapuku Lodge (www.hapukulodge.com) and was blown away by the setting amidst snow covered mountains ( it is winter here) lush bush vegetation, an olive grove and the turquoise ocean. This place is truly paradise! My room is an open plan layout with king size bed, jacuzzi tub and sitting room with fireplace. Last night I awoke in the middle of the night and went out on my deck overlooking the Pacific and was astounded by the amount of stars in the Southern Hemisphere.
