New Zealand – South Island – Part II
Cream Puff
by Mark
1w ago
Top of the world! Mount Tasman (behind us) is New Zealand’s second-highest mountain, rising to a height of 3,497 meters (11,473 ft). When we left off from the last post, we’d taken the train from Christchurch to Greymouth and began exploring the really cool little beach town of Hokitika. We needed to head south as our plan is to go walkabout on top of a mountain. More specifically, a walk on a glacier. Heading southward, we drove to a small tourist-trap of a town called Franz Josef. This is in the glacial area and we both were excited to see a glacier. This will be a first for both of us. No ..read more
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New Zealand – South Island – Part I
Cream Puff
by Mark
2w ago
One of the views from the South Islands Alpine railway Going to New Zealand’s South Island for 4 weeks put our planning skills to the test. We had to line up or figure out airplanes, Ubers, multiple trains, a helicopter, rental cars, a ferry, buses, places and places to stay. During this trip we saw 84 towns, used one taxi and five Ubers. We rode on four trains, had two rental cars and went on three buses. To sleep, we stayed in five hotels and four rental homes (either AirBnB or VRBO). We also stayed at an awesome vineyard. Splurging, we charted one helicopter, traveled on two planes and on ..read more
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Another Road Trip – Part II
Cream Puff
by Mark
2M ago
The Mill from the “shire” featured in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit films Continued from Part I The second time I was in awe this week was during a visit to Hobbiton, located in Matamata, New Zealand. Matamata was about a 40 minute drive from our AirBnB condo in Hamilton and is a world-renowned tourist destination that brings the enchanting realm of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life. As the filming location for both “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” film trilogies, Hobbiton has become a must-visit attraction for fans of the books and movies alike. We are in no way shape or form ..read more
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Another Road Trip – Part I
Cream Puff
by Mark
2M ago
The India-themed garden at Hamilton Gardens Here’s something funny; in French Polynesia and Fiji, we fell in love with a brand of New Zealand made ice cream called Deep South. In French Polynesia like all things there, it was expensive and we splurged only once in a while for a tub. In Fiji, it was a regular treat as a store near us had a good supply at about half the French Poly price. One of the things we were excited about was being able to buy this ice cream when we arrived in New Zealand. You’d think that if it was exported to other islands throughout the South Pacific, it’d be readily ..read more
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Happy Cream Puff Day
Cream Puff
by Mark
3M ago
Happy New Year. And, Happy Cream Puff Day. Yes, it is such a thing. January 2nd in the USA is Cream Puff Day – Google it if you don’t believe me. Amel boats are French as are Cream Puffs. French chef Antonin Carême was the first to add cream to puffs in the early 19th century. Yay! We are exploring. We rented a car from a company called RaD. The company was founded in the mid-1980s and was originally called Rent-a-Dent. I imagine it didn’t take a public relations professional very long to point out the name kinda sorta has a negative connotation. The car we rented was a 5-door Mazda with ..read more
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First Thoughts on New Zealand
Cream Puff
by Mark
3M ago
  Wow! We haven’t seen a produce section like this in years! It’s nice to be back in a populated first-world country. We can tell we are because of the eggs. I’ll explain my theory. In small nations or unpopulated areas of the world whenever we need eggs, we go to the store and stand in front of the shelf of eggs. In these smaller islands or less wealthy countries, we have a choice of 6 eggs, 12 eggs, or 36 eggs in a tray. That’s it. In some places, we needed to take our own cartons to refill (or buy a box for them in the store). No sizes, no brown or white separation, and certainly no ..read more
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Final Thoughts About Fiji
Cream Puff
by Mark
4M ago
We love life underwater in Fiji We both agree Fiji has super-friendly people. I know I have said this before when writing about Fiji, but it warrants mentioning again. Cindy and I both tend to say hello to strangers. When passing someone on the street, getting on a bus, or the person sitting next to us on a plane will all be greeted with a simple hello. It’s polite and it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes our simple hello is met with a grunt, a blank stare, or a cold-shoulder accompanied by a look in the other direction. These are rare and I tend to feel sorry for the people who hate life s ..read more
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Snorkeling with Our Buddies
Cream Puff
by Cindy
6M ago
This is a quick blog post about a fun experience  while snorkeling recently. Sergeant Major Damsel Fish are one of my favorite fish. We typically see them closer to the surface. Often under boats or dinghies. We mostly saw yellow Sergeant Major Damsels in the Atlantic. Since we have been west of Galapagos we have seem mostly the blue to light blue. I was having such fun watching them follow Mark that I started snapping photos. It is not something we have posted before. I joke that they are the greeters of the reef. As soon as we jump into the water they are often the first fish we see. T ..read more
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Suva – Part 2
Cream Puff
by Mark
6M ago
  We simply LOVE this sign (on the wall at Moments Café). It is so us. We even have the VW. I’ve been really looking forward to writing part 2 of this because some funny stuff happened in Suva. Here we go. In part 1, you learned our hotel didn’t have bedbugs. The real downside was it was up a hill (pun intended). At the end of the day spent walking up and down the hills of Suva, facing this last stretch was daunting. We spent full days roaming about the capital city. Cindy put together some tourist sites and mapped them out in a logical order so as not to waste our energy. We often stra ..read more
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Suva – Part 1
Cream Puff
by Mark
7M ago
Thurston Gardens Clock Tower – Suva   We decided to go to Suva, the capital city of Fiji. Over the weekend, we talked to a couple of local people and mentioned we are heading to Suva. Our hope was they’d share some insight about what to see and do there. We both were a little surprised when we announced our intentions and were met with the single-word response, “Why?”   I explained, well it’s there and we’re here. It kinda makes sense, don’t ya think? This still didn’t yield any positive vibes. Instead, we were told to be careful. Don’t go out at night and it’s a really long way ..read more
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