After a long hiatus, we are traveling again. Our recent trip was to Napa Valley, California. You can see what we did and where we stayed in the following Prezi slideshow (includes video). In case the player does not work, you can access the slideshow here: http://prezi.com/ryoh5yv6jyw5/two-days-in-napa/# Select the full-screen option for best viewing. Continue reading
Off the Atlantic coast of Georgia and northern Florida is a chain of barrier islands. We are visiting friends at Jekyll Island, Georgia and on the way stopped overnight on Amelia Island. We flew into the Jacksonville airport and drove to Fernandina Beach, which is on Amelia Island. The Hampton Inn is right in the … Continue reading
On our last evening in Queenstown, we had dinner at Rātā, a restaurant named after the New Zealand “Christmas tree” (Metrosideros excela). Rātā is the Maori term for this coastal evergreen tree, which is in the family Myrtaceae. The species is endemic to New Zealand and blooms from November through January with a peak in … Continue reading
Today, we headed to Arrowtown, which is a short drive from Queenstown. Our plan was to have coffee and dessert at one of the cafes, but changed our minds when we walked in and saw a sign on the dessert display case: “Due to E. coli in the town’s water supply, we won’t be serving … Continue reading
The bane of wetland scientists is biting insects, which can be distracting when you are trying to work and even dangerous as disease vectors. Most of us have horror stories about encounters with swarms of mosquitoes, blackflies, and no-see-ums. Here in New Zealand’s fiordland (that’s how they spell it here), we’ve encountered the notorious “sandfly”, … Continue reading
The competition among hotels, motels, B&Bs, and other accommodations for tourist dollars is fairly intense here in New Zealand. This is good for visitors, especially those of us from countries with depressed currency value relative to the NZ$. It means that lodging owners and managers try harder to maintain high standards and to provide extras … Continue reading
Fortunately, the route through Arthur’s Pass was opened yesterday, so that we were able to take the alternate (albeit much longer) route to Wanaka. The good news was that the weather was beautiful and the scenery during the drive was spectacular through Arthur’s and Lindis Passes. If we had tried to drive the day before, … Continue reading
Our plan today was to drive to Wanaka to the most expensive, and hopefully the nicest, hotel on our itinerary. Sadly, we did not make it. When we woke up, the weather was not great, windy and raining. However, the rain was intermittent and not heavy enough to affect driving visibility. So we checked out … Continue reading
We arrived in Hokitika late afternoon and easily found the Assure Annabelle Motel, located at the far end of town in the shadow of the Westland Milk Products factory. Well, we’re only here for two nights, so the view is not of huge importance. The motel room turned out to be quite spacious, with kitchen, … Continue reading
The morning sky did not look promising but we decided to head out for some hiking nonetheless. A couple at the restaurant suggested we go to a new attraction that just opened up nearby: the West Coast Treetops Walkway. This excursion turned out to be nice but overpriced at $38 NZ (Irv got the senior … Continue reading
Wines and Wetlands 