Postcards from Middle Earth III

I've noticed that a lot of Kiwis walk around barefoot: on the streets, in the supermarkets, basically everywhere. Very strange... but then again, very hobbit-like.
That being said, I have also been struck by the general goodwill of Kiwis. So help me if I ever get the strange notion of hitch-hiking or accepting a ride from a stranger in Canada, but for some reason, it's OK to do that here. I'm not sure why... I've already taken rides from little old ladies, to big strapping young guys, to families going in the same direction as I anyways, and I'm not dead yet... very strange... It kind of comforts me that there are still nice people in the world who aren't going to strangle you and steal all your stuff....
The weather has cleared up quite a bit here in the last few days, and now it finally feels like summer. On the last of the rainy rainy, gray and gloomy days, I went on a winery tour... at first, I could actually tell the difference between a Chardonnay vs a Sauvignon Blanc vs a Reisling, though I must admit, as the day went on, honestly, it just all tastes like wine at the end of the day...
why do I bring this up? I must say, travelling through this country, I'm meeting some of the most interesting travel stories... in this winery thing, I met a very nice older couple who had had it with the rat race and were taking a four year sabbatical to travel around the world (now even I think that's a bit too long....)... there have been various travellers who had come from the devastation in Thailand and Indonesia that I had met, who, for various providential reasons, did not get injured... the 70 year old man from California who was here for a fishing trip, waiting for his wife to arrive in New Zealand after she had left for a two month trip on an Antarctic ice breaker... interesting stories all, I must say... various people have asked me about backpacking through Canada, and it's making me curious about our own country, and how to explore it better...
julia