We spent Friday and Saturday nights at the Kuaotunu Bay Lodge B&B. The accomodations were great and Bill and Lorraine were excellent hosts. After the big-city feel of Auckland it was nice to get out into the "country" and meet some real Kiwis. (Bill isn't technically a native, but he certainly seemed like one)

Early Morning Majesty
Saturday morning (10/13) we got up early to take photos on the beach at dawn. I'm not normally a morning person, but there was something magical about standing on the beach, dead quiet, witnessing God's paintbrush transform the night sky into sunrise. As I stood on the beach, watching the sea deliver its presents to Melody in the form of seashell upon seashell, I reaffirmed my decision to leave the tragedies of Auckland behind me. I am too blessed to do otherwise: here I stand, majestic mountains behind me, vast seas before me and a beautiful woman beside me... can a man want for more? I feel loved and awed, and and I am thankful.

Afternoon Delights
After a fantastic breakfast we head out towards the coastal town of Whitianga. I spent an hour or two cancelling my credit card and other errands related to our Auckland misfortune, and then we eat lunch at a local burger joint. Once again, I get the impression that my idea of a proper hamburger differs significantly from the Kiwi idea of a proper hamburger. At least this time there's no weird potato fritter!

After lunch we head over to the High Zone adventure course. This place was pretty sweet... it consists of a number of "challenges" such as a tight-rope crossing, log crossing and trapeeze stunt, all roughly 50 feet above the ground! Melody and I both did the 3-wire challenge, crossing a tightrope while holding on to two guidelines. I thought it was a good warmup for the remaining challenges but she declared that one was enough, thank you very much, and that she'd just watch from that part out :) She did a really good job though, the 3-wire is harder than you'd think.

After the 3-wire I did the log crossing (very hard to take the first few steps, because there was no guideline to hold onto!) and then the trapeeze stunt. For the trapeeze I climbed atop a log pole maybe 50 feet high and then jumped off, grabbing hold of a trapeeze bar that seemed like it was miles away. Finally, I climbed atop a platform, attached a cable to my safety harness, and jumped off... eventually the cable grew taught and I entered a graceful arc, a human pendulum swinging back and forth amongst the North Island countryside.

All in all the High Zone was a lot of fun. It was a lot more challenging than you might expect, and I think it was good practice for the mental battle I'll face on the Canyon Swing in Queenstown.

Change of evening plans
There's fierce weather coming in, so we decide to head back to the B&B early rather than risk being caught in unfamiliar territory during a storm. The weather prevents me from taking the sunset pictures I was looking forward to, but it does afford me some much needed relaxation. Mel and I curled up with our books at the B&B and let the real world drift fall away behind us.

Click here for more Kuaotunu pictures and here for more High Zone pictures.

Just a quick hello to everyone that has commented here on the blog or sent us an email. It's been really nice to receive hellos, well wishes and comments on our posts and pictures.

I am constantly amazed at the power of technology. Marrying a certified tree hugger has made me more aware of the downsides to progress and industrialization, but at heart I am a technologist. I love the idea that I can sit on a couch in Christchurch, listening to new age music and drinking a fair amount of wine, and at the same time communicate with friends, family and loved ones half a world away. It almost seems like cheating that we can enjoy the splendors of a remote corner of the globe without ever saying goodbye to those we hold dear.

More posts and pictures are coming soon... I'm about 3 days behind in my blogging, but we've been having a FANTASTIC time in Christchurch and I haven't had much downtime.

More stuff coming soon...

Goodbye Auckland! (and good riddance)

We left Auckland Friday morning headed east to the Coromandel Peninsula with an eventual destination of Kuaotunu. After a few disruptions we finally made it out of the city. Outside the city limits the landscapes opened up into wide expanses of verdant pastureland alternating with grass-covered foothills. The flatlands and hills alike were dotted with cows, trees, more cows and a few horses… and then a few more cows. The grassland seems greener here than back home, and there are no overgrown thickets to be found. Apparently a herd of hungry cows is the best lawn service available… I’m thinking of buying a few when I get home :)

Thames / Butterfly and Orchid Gardens

The city of Thames sits at the southwest tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, just as the road turns north and heads up the coast towards Coromandel town. We stopped for lunch at a local eatery where I ordered my usual hamburger: lettuce, tomato and onion only. They looked at me like I had just asked for a glass of cheese or a plate of milk… apparently they do burgers differently over here. We finally straightened out my order, but I guess they didn’t understand the "only" part. They went ahead and added ketchup (which is fine), mayo (which I scraped off, ug!), and a potato fritter of equal size to the burger, upon which the burger rested. Weird, but edible. Melody loved her meat pies and other assorted nastiness.

Just north of Thames is a small local attraction that looked interesting. It is a small greenhouse in which 400 butterflies flit and flutter freely amongst various types of orchids. It was very relaxing and Mel purchased our first souvenir of the trip: a boxed (preserved) butterfly with some amazing colorations.

White-knuckle mountain crossing

After Thames, the highway runs north along the west coast of the peninsula all the way to Coromandel town. And I mean right along the coast, which made for great viewing but tense driving. It got scarier when we got into the mountains and had to navigate narrow, winding roads with hairpin turns while driving on the wrong left side of the road.

It was worth it though, as the scenic lookouts offered some amazing views of the harbors below. It was nice to be out of the city and surrounded by natural beauty, and I could feel myself finally beginning to relax.

Click here for more pictures from our drive to our Kuaotunu B&B.

Up next: an awesome B&B overlooking the beach and adventure activities high above the ground.

 

After discovering that we’d lost most of our travel cash, we experienced the emotional trauma one might associate with such an event. There was gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair, fisticuffs with inanimate and innocent objects and violent exclamations of curse 1words. The feelings of loss and regret were suffocating.

At least, that’s how I reacted (obviously, "hair pulling" is just an expression in this case). For reasons I can only barely understand, Melody seemed almost unaffected. I don’t know if it’s the magical hold this country has over her, or if she just sensed that I was reeling in despair and desperately needed her to be steady, but for whatever reason she did not gnash her teeth, pull her hair, or assault inanimate objects in a rage. Nor did she then, or ever, blame me for the litany of mistakes I’ve made in this mess. She simply pronounced that it was only money, that we’d paid off a metric crapload of debt already, so we shouldn’t worry about charging our remaining expenses, and that we should get on with our vacation. What’s done was done; all we could control was how we let it affect us. (Hmm… sounds familiar…)

This is why I married that woman. In those moments when I lose my perspective, when I lose my ability to think rationally, I can always count on her to help me get centered. She is a Godsend in so many ways.

So that’s the last I’m going to write on the subject. From this point forward it’s nothing but happy posts and beautiful pictures from the South Island.  Onward, ho!

Auckland SUCKED. 

First, I lose my passport. But then I find it, whew. Then Mel almost gets hit by a truck crossing a street. But they stop in time, whew. Then $3000 in cash and my credit card are stolen!!!! Our hotel room didn't have a safe, so we put our envelope of cash and a spare credit card underneath the couch seat when we left the room for breakfast. In a very uncharacteristic move on my part, I forgot to retrieve it before we left the hotel!

We realized the mistake about 30 minutes down the road and called the hotel, but they claim they couldn't find it in the room. The room was cleaned just after we checked out at 10:00am, so either the cleaning crew stole it or the guy at the front desk, whom I called and explained the situation to, stole it. So far the hotel isn't being too helpful so we've filed a police report, but I don't know what to expect.

I'm having a real tough time with this. Fortunately we've booked all our main activities and accomodations, so this was just our food and spending money, but it still represents about a years worth of saving. And since we basically emptied our savings account to finance the trip, we're going to have to dip back into credit to finish the vacation. It sucks, but I'm trying not to let it ruin the trip. 

Lessons learned:

1. Carry traveler's cheques, exchange them for cash in increments.
2. Carry travel insurance, even if it seems like a waste.
3. Have your travel money surgically grafted to your skin so you can't leave it in a friggin couch like a retard.

The kicker is that its 24 hours later and I still can't find a way to call 5th 3rd to report the card stolen. My calling card doesn't seem to work. Ug!

I'm trying hard to stay positive in the face of a very rough vacation so far. Fortuantely Coromandel seems to be treating us better, I'll have some good pics to post when we get to Christchurch. Pray for us... we need some good mojo!! 

Our stay in Auckland was brief. I had a tough time adjusting to driving on the left, so I let Mel take the keys. She did much better. We took a cab over to Mission Bay but we didn't stay as long as I'd wanted. It got cold and rainy, and after killing a bottle of wine at dinner we just had the restaurant call us a cab back to the hotel. I'm expecting (hoping!) that once we get to the Coromandel B&B I'll be able to relax a little more, and find some better photo ops.

I don't know when I'll blog next... I don't think we'll have Internet access in Coromandel, so I might be off the grid until Christchurch.

Yup, lost my passport. Already. Didn't even make it out of the Auckland airport. Lovely.

I discovered it was missing after checking into the hotel (after a harrowing drive on the left hand side of the road) and nearly had a heart attack. Fortunately, we've tracked it down.... I left it on a vendor's counter at the airport. So instead of exploring Auckland today, we're driving back to the airport to get the one single thing you CAN'T misplace while traveling. 

We’re here!

For the San Francisco -> Auckland leg of our trip we upgraded to Air New Zealand’s “Premium Economy” class of seating. It was totally worth the expense. It went like this:

• We used the Business Class check-in. We waited in a line of 5 people, rather than a line of 50.
• We boarded the aircraft at our leisure and were greeted with a glass of Champagne.
• On our seat was a gift bag containing a bottle of water, headphones, ear plugs, toothbrush and toothpaste, a sleep mask and a blanket.
• We had 50% more legroom than those suckers in normal economy. I could fully extend my legs!
• Our seats reclined about 50% more than a normal seat, and we had a foot rest as well.
• We could access 20+ movies and 20+ TV shows from our personal video screen. We could pause, fast forward and rewind. We could even access a "moving map" that showed how far along our route we’d travelled.

But wait, it gets better!

• Dinner consisted of salad, bread, lamb, chicken or fish, and dessert with a full complement of wine, teas and coffee.
• Breakfast consisted of fresh fruit, bread, yogurt, French toast or eggs and a full complement of juices, teas and coffee.
• In short, it was a far cry from the 14 hours of misery we’d been expecting. I didn’t sleep that well (those damned bottom dwellers in coach had crying babies with them. But what do you expect from the unwashed masses?*) but otherwise it was almost enjoyable.

One final note: my momentary feelings of superiority from my "Premium" status evaporated when I saw how the fat cats in first class were travelling: personal ottomans to stretch out on, small work tables with larger video screens and all the personal space they could possibly need. Damn fat cats.

We’re off to explore Auckland. Pictures and more entries will be forthcoming.

 
* Yes, that’s tongue in cheek.

We made it safely to San Francisco. We sat on the tarmac for an hour at SF before we could deplane, but that was the only snag. Now we're just trying to stay awake (so that we can sleep on the plane) until boarding. Which isn't for nearly 5 hours. I have no idea what made it seem smart to fly out here so early. Not my smartest plan.

On the plus side, I had some really good sushi at a food court at the airport. Hard to believe you'd find good nigiri at a tiny outlet next to "The Burger Joint", but we did. 

Only 18 hours until Auckland!!

I can't believe it's finally here. After two years of saving and planning we're only 36 hours away from the start of our New Zealand vacation!

Going to NZ has been a dream of Melody's for a long time, far longer than I've known her. This trip is a celebration of our life together, our individual and combined achievements, and a testament to what you can accomplish when you combine your dreams with steadfast, unwavering determination. We say this is our "last chance" to do something like this, and maybe it is. But I hope this is simply our first vacation of this scale. Only time will tell.

So are we ready to go?

1. Travel arrangments made and confirmed? Check.
2. Passports in hand? Check. (Barely)
3. Bags packed? Check.
4. Motivated for one last day of work? Um.... not so much.

Stay tuned, and join us on our kiwi flavored vacation of a lifetime!