New Zealand (NZ)is a beautiful country with rainforests, ocean vistas, volcanic areas and very picturesque, emerald, green rolling hills dotted with sheep (sheep outnumber people 9 to 1), cattle, red deer and elk. In addition the Kauri, Norfolk Pine, Tea, Cabbage, Fern and Manuka trees were also abundant. We found the “Kiwis” (New Zealanders) warm and friendly, speaking with a distinctly British /Australian accent where they don’t pronounce the H in a word and a UE sounds more like a W; for example the word hedge is pronounced edge and the word question sounds like question. The names of roads and towns often have many vowels and can be a bit of a tongue twister to pronounce. For the North American, this can make the Kiwis a bit difficult to understand at first but you soon become used to it and may even pick up a bit of it yourself.
We found NZ to be a very clean country and learned that it was one of the first, if not the first, to sign the Kyoto treaty. Our boat tour guide told us that this may now be a problem for NZ as they do not have much to clean up and may be end up subsidizing more polluting countries like China and India. As they generate most of their power from Hydro and Geothermal sources, NZ’s major pollution problem is not carbon dioxide but methane from all the Cattle and Sheep.
Driving on the left side of the road was a bit intimidating at first but we headed the advice to “THINK LEFT” and quickly became accustomed to this new driving challenge. Walking can also be a bit treacherous as you are conditioned to first look to the left at home. 
Here you need to look to the right or better both ways before crossing a street. We had a blast allowing our “inner child” to enjoy riding the Luge, Sand Surfing and watching all the “old kids” enjoying these great activities. Check out the picture of Linda Sand Surfing!
Overall, our New Zealand tour was indeed a great learning and life enriching experience. We will take home many stories to share and even some “bragging rights”! Linda and I will cherish these wonderful memories for years to come. We are happy that we were still healthy enough to visit this unforgettable country and did it while we still could enjoy this great adventure. A big 
THANK YOU goes to our Fantasy Family for an awesome experience. Today we fly to Australia and we can hardly wait!
