Turnbull Family Pacific Tour 2015

We drove from Thames along The Firth of Thames bay to Auckland . Here we stayed at a place north of Auckland for two nights and then spent two nights in downtown Auckland before flying out for Fiji on Saturday morning. The bed and breakfast north of Auckland had a great view of the bay. The owner, Rod, had built a pathway down a steep slope through the trees to a common path that led to the sandy beach below. Catheleen and I walked the path strewn with broken shells, and it was great to stroll the beach and look at the houses on the beach front and surrounding tan coloured cliffs. The place has a few big and modern houses, something we haven't seen much of throughout most of New Zealand. It's not surprising since this is New Zealand's only true big city with a population of 1.4 million. One in three New Zealanders lives in Auckland. For whatever reason, tensions exists between Aucklanders and the rest of New Zealand, especially the further south you go. The term JAFA for...

Yesterday we took another impressive scenic drive southwest from Queenstown, crossing hills and heading over mountain passes. We are now in the Southern Alps, a chain of snow capped mountains that run up along the west coast of New Zealand, having been thrust up when the Australian and New Zealand tectonic plates pushed away from each other. We arrived in Te Anau , a small town supported by tourism and farming. Tourists like us use it as a launch point for visits to the Fiordland National Park mainly. Once in town, we checked into our accommodations and enjoyed the warm sunny weather, which is rare for this area, known for its heavy rain and cool temperatures year round. I actually put on shorts and sandals during the afternoon, which was a first for me in New Zealand. The sun felt strangely more intense on this sunny day than in Ottawa Canada, and I was curious if it was just me or if there was something to this. The closer to the equator you get, the more the sun is directly overhead...

If you like looking at trees, mountains, and the ocean then Vancouver Island is a good place to go. Besides the logging industry, it does seem to run at a slower pace, at least around where we are staying near Ladysmith . Our hosts Barb and Jim kept us busy today as we travelled along logging roads with trips to old growth forests along the way to  Port Renfrew .  There we spent the afternoon climbing along the rocky shoreline, peering in tidal pools looking for unusual sea life on an ebbing tide. We did see some brightly coloured sea urchins and anemones. Jim was a good source of info since he's from the area. He was kind enough to point out the edible berries along the way which were new to us - salmon berries and huckleberries. We also drove along a dry riverbed. I understand that there was so little snow last winter and rain this spring that the rivers and creeks are running very low. It will be hard going for the salmon this year as they try to make their way up th...

We started off our day with a visit to Bridal Falls .   The waterfall was nice but what I liked the most was the short hike through the forest. It's not like anywhere else I've been with its huge cedar trees covered in moss - reminds me of some kind of a cold jungle. We poked at the big slugs along the way and the kids made their way back and forth across the creek along fallen trees. In the afternoon we headed for White Rock for lunch with relatives and some time along the ocean front- the kids made a geocache find near the beachfront, which they were quite excited about. Later we had a farewell dinner in Abbotsford with my parents. I like this picture with Catheleen and Elizabeth walking ahead while the train whizzes by along the White Rock shoreline. There's been talk for years about moving the tracks elsewhere which would be good, but for today we felt the rush of the train rolling by at close quarters. We packed in a lot of activities for one day. We're goin...