In an alternate course of events . . .

. . . I would be posting live from Playa del Carmen, Mexico, where I had planned to spend a month before heading souther to Belize, Guatemala, and Panama. Alas, those plans went awry, and I post from South Kona still. Therefore, this is another backward-looking post to my time in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It is a lovely and surprising country, but I’m just gonna come right out with it: there are SO many people there who look like Hobbits, and SO many places that look like Hobbiton. Ok, enough of that.

Also, there are 870 shades of green there.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Sign supposedly taken at an “undisclosed location somewhere in Northland.”

AKA House of DISharmony.

Some reasons why I don’t like to drive outside the
US.

Other road signs I wasn’t able to photograph (because the driver herself had a rather heavy foot): “High Speed.  Low IQ” and “The quick ARE the dead.”

Te Puia, a Maori cultural center built around thermal vents and geysers.

Just a cool shot.

There are a lot of sheep there, and they have really beautiful views.

About to land on the Franz Josef glacier.

I would call this a “rugged coast.”

Te Paki dunes.

This visit to new Zealand/Aotearoa was part of a 13-month, globe-circling, setting-foot on-every continent journey. I kept detail-rich daily notes, including these: “In Arrowtown, a man rode a horse down the one, short main street, while a little brown bulldog trotted along, right next to the horse’s hooves.  The horse plopped big piles of poop all along the road.  Moments later, a lowrider car drove slowly down the street, bass blasting, occupants slumped down, heads swiveling slowly to the beat; they were on the prowl.  The boys in the car appeared about 14 years-old and failed miserably at looking badass.  Da Gangstahs of Arrowtown.  And the pooping horse guy and his dog.  What a town.” This photo is the tragic aftermath of the horse’s cruise down the street.

I just love this photo. It was taken as I flew out of the country.

So, this is my final Schinydays blog entry. It’s been fun, but I have cancelled four trips this year, two just days before departure, and this was born to be a travel blog. In an ideal world, I will take off in January for Panama, but really, who knows? That and the yearly expensive-for-me WordPress payment is due soon, so it seemed a good time to bring this to an end. If I get to travel again, I’ll look for a cheaper way to share photos and stories. If you’d like me to alert you of a new platform, post a comment that I’ll keep private, and I’ll save your contact info.

Thanks for traveling with me!

Laughter is the best medicene.