Where in the World?

Maps delight me, which is why I mistakenly thought that earning a living making them was a good idea. (Turned out that it was too boring and unsocial for me.) My sister Nina used to have a map in her bathroom which often led to questions as one emerged such as, "So, which do you think is at a higher latitude, Beijing, Madrid, or Washington, DC?" You can have a lot of fun with geography.

Anytime I travel I stare at a map of the place before I go so that I can be sure to have a feel for the place when I arrive there and have in my head the basic relationships of places to each other. (You will see in a later story how this skill helped me out of a jam.) I have map files at home so I can take a look at anything at anytime.

I am also tickled by places of geographic significance. I just had to go to Greenwich, England to stand on the Greenwich Meridian at twelve noon. I've been to the southernmost and westernmost point of the co-terminus United States, and perhaps the easternmost, but without awareness of it (can anybody tell me where that is?!). On a cross-country trip I just had to take us way out of the way to go to Four Corners, the only place in the United States where four states meet. (See 1977 photo.) I was thrilled when I crossed the equator on this trip, but highly disappointed that it was in a plane and therefore not photographable.

But some things have been photographable:

Bluff, New Zealand (that's right home of the famous and elusive oysters) acts as if it is the southernmost point of New Zealand's South Island, but technically it's not. It is the end of the country's Highway One, however. Since I was there, I had a picture taken anyway.

Slope Point -- which is a lot harder to get to -- is the southernmost point. But the whole thing is a bit silly since Stewart Island is part of New Zealand and even further south. You had to walk through a sheep field to get to this place.

This is the easternmost point in New Zealand, the first place in the world that saw the sun come up on a new century and very near where I saw that fabulous rainbow. I had hoped to get to the northernmost point of New Zealand, but that's when I broke the toe and had to slow down.

I only saw one small part of Australia, but did manage to fit in Australia's easternmost point, which is very near a beach in case you're wondering why I'm dressed so inappropriately for sightseeing!