Willys....Den

        New Zealand classifies itself as a Parliamentary Democracy.  They do recognize the Queen as head of the British Commonwealth that includes, India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and eleven other nations.  Her involvement, however, is mostly ceremonial.   They only have a House of Representatives (no Senate, no House of Lords or Commons).    There are two major parties; Labour and National and generally they cannot be elected on their own but must form a coalition with one or more of the minority parties to win an election which is held at least every three years.  Currently the Prime Minister of New Zealand is Helen Clark and in 2005 she became the first Labour leader to win a third term as prime minister.

       Today Susan and I are retracing our trip of yesterday.  It is overcast with occasional rain showers and a couple of times crossing over the "hill" we ran into some fog.   It's only about 100 miles from Collingwood to Richmond but stopping to take pictures takes us about four hours.  This region of NZ is the Marlborough District and contains NZ's largest grape growing area.  Surprisingly, this industry only dates back to 1973 when the areas first commercial vineyard was planted.   Returning to the Arthur Wakefield Inn we secure our room and later enjoy meals of venison in their award winning restaurant.  Susan's pictures today is a rhododendron seen in our garden at Arthur Wakefield's Inn and reflections among the mudflats.  Today's wisdom is:  Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.

- King Solomon