On the Road - by Bob Van Leer

Christchurch, New Zealand, 28 May 1988 Australian visit ends in Melbourne

by Bob Van Leer

(CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND, May 28, 1988)   The day began in Melbourne, Australia with a visit to the Queen Victoria Market, a covered market for produce, meats, fish and general merchandise similar to, but better than, Paddy’s in Sydney.

      The food sections of the market were a bedlam, jammed with people and merchants volubly selling their wares.  If the price of the vegetables was too high for the customer the sellers were willing to make a deal.  Much of the produce was familiar, but there were some strange ones, a knobby green thing about the size of a baseball called custard apples, passion fruit, and some strange vegetables.

Dunedin, New Zealand, 29 May 1988 New Zealand features sheep

by Bob Van Leer

(DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND, May 29, 1988)   This morning we left Christchurch for a drive south.  The morning fog burned off early and we had a clear view of the mountains to the west.  Our drive was through the Canterbury Plain, a flat agricultural area between a mountain range with peaks to 7000 feet and the Pacific Ocean.

      Some row crops are grown but mostly what we see are sheep, thousands of them.  We are told that there are 21 sheep for every person is New Zealand.  Pine plantations are replacing some of the sheep range.  Our bus driver said this is Pinus Radiata, which he says is the principal timber tree.

Te Anau, New Zealand, 30 May 1988 Glow worm cave is visited Monday

by Bob Van Leer

Te Anau, New Zealand, May 30, 1988     This is a resort town of 3000 people located on a huge lake of the same name on the eastern edge of Fiordland National Park, at 1.2 million acres, New Zealand’s largest.  The standout of the day was a visit to the glow-worm caves.

      We left Dunedin in the morning, driving south and west through sheep country.  The land is beautiful rolling green hills with thousands upon thousands of sheep grazing, broken up by an occasional pasture of deer.  As we got farther west we began to see snow-capped mountains.  The countryside gradually changed to alpine scenery.  Peaks range to over 3000 meters.

Queenstown, New Zealand, 31 May 1988 Glacier-carved Milford Sound scenery is breathtaking

by Bob Van Leer

(QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND, May 31, 1988)   This morning we drove to Milford Sound, a glacier-carved fiord on the west coast of New Zealand.  The road to the sound is narrow and landslide prone.  Last week it was closed for three days by the first snow of the season.

      The road isn’t too bad until you pass through the Homer tunnel and then it is steep switchbacks to the sound.  The tunnel is ¾ mile long and drops 423 feet inside the tunnel.  From the tunnel to the sound is about 10 kilometers in a straight line measurement, and the drop is 926 meters.

Queenstown, New Zealand, 1 June 1988 Boat, helicopter, gondola rides highlights of day

by Bob Van Leer

(QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND, June 1, 1988)   Today Betty and I took a jet boat ride on the Kawarau River, the outlet for Lake Wakatipu.  We wanted to compare it with the Rogue River jet boat rides to see if there were any lessons to be learned that might be useful at home.  The answer is that there aren’t.

      The boat ride was interesting, but did not compare with what is already being done on the Rogue.  What they are selling here is a boat ride on the river, not a trip to anywhere.  There is white water near here but we didn’t get a chance to see it.  Our boat ride was about six kilometers down the river and return.  The boat was a 16.5 foot craft powered with a 300 h.p. engine.

Christchurch, New Zealand, 2 June 1988 Travelers fly by Mt. Cook, New Zealand's highest peak

by Bob Van Leer

(CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND, June 2, 1988)    This is our last night in the southern hemisphere.  Tomorrow we begin our long trek home.

      The highlight of the day was a light plane flight around Mt. Cook, at 12,349 feet the highest peak in New Zealand.  This is called the Southern Alps.  There are in the vicinity of Mt. Cook more than 50 other peaks over 2300 meters in height.

San Diego, California, 3 June 1988 Final day begins in New Zealand, ends in U.S.

by Bob Van Leer

(SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, June 3, 1988)    Today was a long, long day that began in Christchurch, New Zealand, and ended in San Diego in the U.S.A.  Actually, it was two days but on the return trip we gained back the day we lost going over, so we had two June 3rds.

      The day began with a visit to the Christchurch newspaper, The Press.  In production methods the New Zealand papers are behind Australia, which is behind the U.S.  It is largely a union problem, not that the managers don’t know what is happening in production equipment.  The Press plans this year to convert its reporters from using typewriters to using computer terminals, something almost universal in the U.S.  At the Curry County Reporter we made this change nearly 10 years ago.