New Zealand 2016
I visited New Zealand South Island in 2016. Flying to Auckland from Dulles, a seventeen hour flight, I then flew to Nelson, New Zealand where I met my group.The next ten days we traveled by van the length of South island, stopping along the way to hike and picnic. We drove to Abel Tasman National Park where we walked in a primal rain forest, we saw the Franz Joseph Glacier, visited Milford Sound, so remote and beautiful, where we kayaked. The coast and the beaches were wild and beautiful, however, inland the hills were brown and barren of trees, most being cut down for farming. They say there are more sheep in New Zealand than people and I believe it. Then on to Queenstown where our trip with the group ended. The next day I boarded a bus for Dunedin, located midway on the east coast in the Otago region. It is the second largest city on South island with a large University. I took a tour to see the endangered yellow eyed penguins that live on the outer banks and islands. I didn’t see many penguins, but the terrain wild and beautiful, albeit the bus was old and rickety and I feared it might go off a cliff at any moment. When I returned home I wrote my most recent novel, Bird House, another in the series of Jeanie Williams mystery’s
