Cookie Caper 2010

Today I've spent my afternoon in the kitchen baking cookies for the annual Cookie Caper. This is a program the base puts on every year so that we can give homemade holiday cookies to single and unaccompanied military personnel. I decided to be a slacker and only baked 4 dozen cookies (yes - we AF spouses go a little crazy when it comes to volunteering and donating baked goods!) BUT I enjoyed myself and made sure we have a few left over for me and James to share (if he gets home from work before they're all gone...) O=^)

Tried a new recipe for these classic Hershey's kiss cookies,
they turned out pretty well!

Mmm... my favorite! Chocolate oatmeal no-bake cookies!

New Zealand - Day 9

November 11, 2010

This morning Derick and Lisa got up early (4:45 am) to go swim with dolphins. After the terrible experience the morning before, I was very thankful James and I decided just to sleep in and relax instead. However, I changed my mind once they came back and Lisa announced that it was THE BEST EXPERIENCE OF HER ENTIRE LIFE!!! Apparently they chose to go on their dolphin encounter during one of those one-in-a-million days when the conditions are perfect and the dolphins are numerous, active, and very curious. Lisa said there were about 300 dusky dolphins out there, including several little babies, and they hung around the boat entire time doing acrobatics, chirping, and zooming around the swimmers. The swimmers were instructed to make dolphin noises in an attempt to entertain the dolphins so they'd stick around. Thus, they got to not only see and get close to the dolphins, but they really got to play with them! AND it turns out the boat was much bigger and nicer, so James and I could have relaxed on board with hot cocoa and taken pictures through the windows. Needless to say I was super bummed to have missed out, but it could easily have gone the other way and been a miserable morning. So I guess you win some, you lose some.

Lisa took this picture off the back of the boat

before jumping in to play with them!

After they'd finished telling us all about the great time they had, we ate breakfast, packed up and headed to the town of Picton to catch the ferry up to Wellington. (Travel tip - we got a discount on our ferry tickets through the rental car company.) The landscape between Kaikoura and Picton was really beautiful: transitioning from rocky coastline to rolling green hills dotted with small vineyards. If any of us (besides Lisa) liked wine, our trip to New Zealand would have included taking advantage of their many spectacular wine trails.

It turns out that we arrived in Picton at just the right time. We hadn't noticed the box on our ferry ticket that said we had to check in no later than 12:10... and we pulled in right at 12:10!! (One of many blessings on this trip!) They directed us into the mid-sized vehicle lane between the compact cars and all of the mini vans and SUV's. We waited there for about 40 minutes for our turn to board the ferry and park our car. Once on board, we grabbed whatever we thought we might need during our three hour tour (Gilligan reference!) and headed up to the passenger decks.

This was quite a ferry! There are two floors with multiple cafes, shops and seating areas, and on the top deck is an open-air deck where you can soak in the scenery. We went up there first to watch as we set sail and started to travel through the turquoise water that flows between the green points of land. It was beautiful, but very windy so James, Derick and I headed down to the cafe on the main passenger deck to hang out and relax for the remainder of the trip to the North Island!

We all ended up sleeping for a little while, and then read and relaxed. Thankfully I didn't get motion sick! Before we knew it, the trip was over. We packed up and moved back into the car to await the all-clear to drive off of the boat and onto the North Island.

Unfortunately, it was at this point that things took a turn for the worst. The streets of Wellington are nearly impossible to navigate. The buildings are beautiful and impressive, and there are all kinds of fun shops and restaurants here in the downtown area. Also, the hills that surround the city are dotted with big houses with glass fronts over-looking the harbor. But we couldn't really enjoy the finer points of the nation's capital because we were too busy trying to figure out where our hotel was and where to park. We nearly caused a wreck a couple of times as giant busses came barreling into our lane when we thought it was a one way. Thankfully, we made it there safely after much frustration.

Central City Apartments provided us with a pretty swanky room. We were on the 12th floor overlooking the urban sprawl. The interior was modern and white with dark accents. We had two separate bedrooms with queen beds, a bathroom, and a large living space with a good-sized kitchen. Definitely one of the nicer places we've stayed so far, even with the expensive parking and internet access.

After a little research on what there is to do in the capitol city, we decided to go walk around in the botanical gardens, then maybe do a little shopping in the bohemian district and eat dinner at Mac's Brewhouse, which makes the beer the guys had been enjoying each night at dinner. Of course, we got lost on our way to the garden. Really, the roads are a ridiculous labyrinth - more difficult and dangerous to navigate than Japan! But the gardens were pretty and we enjoyed walking around after so much sitting. I was looking forward to seeing the large tulip patches we'd seen advertised. But apparently it was already too late in the season. LAME! However, we did see some cool trees and nice roses.

I love these curly trees!

By the time we were finished tramping through the park we had worked up quite an appetite. So we decided to skip the shopping and go straight to the brew house. It looked like a cool place, but unfortunately there was a large party there that had taken over the entire restaurant part of the brewery. So we made a reservation for the following night and stopped by a local grocery store so we could cook ourselves dinner instead. It was the best grocery store I've ever been to. SO MUCH fresh, healthy produce and food products, as well as a giant deli section with all kinds of cheeses. It's going to be really hard to go back to Japan and be limited by what the commissary has to offer. =^(

Dinner was delicious! Lisa and I made some beef stir fry and brown rice. Also, the movie Julie and Julia was on TV which helped us all get into the mood for cooking and eating. Now we're doing laundry - a necessity since we tried to pack as lightly as possible.

I think we've had our least exciting day today - but there were still enjoyable points. Definitely looking forward to tomorrow, though. I will finally complete my pilgrimage to WETA Workshops where they made The Lord of the Rings!!!!

New Zealand - Day 8

November 10, 2010

Today was another one of our big, planned excursions. We had to be on the road by 5:30 am to get to Kaikoura in time for our seal encounter. This small, coastal town north of Christchurch is a major tourist attraction because the mountains drop down into the ocean here and attract a lot of marine life including seals, dolphins, and whales.

I love the way the mist was hanging around

beneath the mountains when we arrived in

Kaikoura early that morning!

Today all four of us planned to go snorkeling with seals, and then tomorrow Derick and Lisa are getting up early to swim with dolphins. I am definitely more interested in dolphins, but the tour was more expensive, lasted longer which would be a problem with my limited stamina, and I didn't want to get up at 4:30 am two days in a row. So I figured we would compromise with the seals. It's a good thing we didn't sign up and pay for both because my appetite for adventure far exceeded my physical strength today.

We checked in with the tour guides for Seal Swim Kaikoura at 9:15 am and got the low-down on the likelihood of seeing seals today incase we wanted to back out, free of charge. But they've been in business for over 20 years and have a very high success rate so we felt pretty confident about going ahead with the tour. There were four other people going out with us, so after we all assembled they started handing out wet suits, gloves, booties, goggles and flippers. One of our biggest concerns about doing this seal encounter was having to jump into the freezing ocean water. But the gear they gave us was very thick and waterproof. Since I'm so tiny they gave me an extra body suit to wear under my wet suit to serve as an extra layer of insulation. I was very thankful for this because it kept me warm. BUT it also meant that I was wrapped in 2-3 layers of thick rubber which made it extremely difficult for me to bend my body. We also figured out later on that my under-suit was way too tight and was constricting my leg muscles and making it difficult to breathe.

It was at this point that I started having second thoughts about going on this tour. Everyone else seemed to be moving around with ease while I was struggling significantly just to move. But, I felt like I'd already kind of passed the point of no return, and I hate to be left out - especially on things that will provide great photo opportunities. So I kept my mouth shut and push through it.

This boat was about to make a very lasting impression on me.

With a lot of help they got me all suited up and onto the bus. Then we set out for the peninsula where we got on a large yellow motor boat. Then our tour guides steered us out into the Pacific Ocean and around the point to a large outcropping of rocks where the fur seals like to swim and sunbathe. This was an interesting experience in and of itself. I've never been on a boat out on the ocean before so the waves were a bit of a shock. I squeaked every time we crashed into a wave. Thankfully I didn't get motion sick right away, though my abs were already getting tired from the effort of sitting up in my wet suit. James was wonderful and propped me up with his arm.

When we arrived at the swimming site, we defogged our goggles, geared up and slipped into the water. It was a bit of a shock at first because some water got into my suit and it was cold! But that's kind of the idea - your body heats up the water and it insulates you. We also didn't need life jackets because our suits were naturally buoyant, so we sort of looked like seals covered from head to toe in dark grey rubber and long fins. Thankfully, Lisa had a waterproof bag for her small camera so we got some good pictures while I was still able to smile.

I was very awkward in the water at first and struggled to find a comfortable way to get into it. I was a pretty good swimmer back in the day, but my one problem has always been that I hate putting my face in the water without plugging my nose. The scuba masks were designed to prevent any water from getting in there, but I had a hard time trusting them and plunging in. Our guide immediately recognized that I was floundering and took me aside to teach me what to do. This was great because it freed James up to go enjoy himself instead of watching over me. He also took the disposable underwater camera we bought with him to get some pictures since I was having issues.

The others heading out to follow the seals.

The guide got me to flip over onto my front, start looking around under the water with my goggles, and to use my flippers to propel myself through the water. I was amazed by how much I could see. The water was fairly clear so I could see large under water plants right in front of me, plus the rocks in the distance. And with the help of the guide pointing the way, I got to see the seals swimming too! They would be on top of the water, then dive under and swim in circles around us. At one point a seal came up right underneath me and looked up at me with its big eyes. They are both cute and powerful. I knew they were mostly friendly and curious but I was still a little intimidated, especially with my limited swimming ability... so I kept my distance.

They liked to hang out upside down. So funny!

I pretty much clung to the guide the whole time - never straying more than a few feet from his blue floatation device. This was probably annoying for him, but he was very nice about it. I was very sore and tired from kicking my legs and trying to arch my back to see above the water and locate the seals. I pretty much gave up on trying to keep up with my companions. There was no way for me to keep up with them as they paddled all around and swam circles with the seals. So I contented myself with floating and looking at the plants under the water.

But about 30-45 minutes in to our hour and a half long swim, I hit a wall and got really worn out and motion sick. This was right around when the tour guide was trying to shake me off and make me go join the others. But all I could do was keep desperately grabbing his floatie. James came back to check on me and I decided to back float for a little bit in order to rest. However, all that did was make me more motion-sick and fill my snorkel with salt water. So when I tried to flip back over and keep swimming I swallowed some water and got pretty nauseous. At this point I didn't think I could continue so I told them I needed to get back into the boat. The tour guide motioned for James to keep swimming and took me back to the boat. He asked his partner who was watching over the boat to help make sure "this lass" was alright. They took off my fins, mask and hood, and unzipped my outer coat to release some of the pressure and help me breathe. They made sure I took looks of deep breaths so I wouldn't get dizzy and pass out. They took good care of me - asking if there was anything they needed to know about me medically, etc. But I still had to sit there on the rocking boat in the cold wind for another 30 minutes until the others were finished swimming. Needless to say, I was in pretty bad shape. Occasionally the guide would point out a seal close to my side of the boat, but all that did was make me worry that my wildlife encounter would end with me puking on a seal. In some ways I kind of wish I had. At least that would make for a better story... ;^)

Finally, the others returned to the boat. James could see that I wasn't doing well at all and tried to find ways to help. All he could really do was hold onto me and keep me steady as we set out over the waves again. Unfortunately, we didn't head back right away. The guides kept stopping the boat in scenic places so people could get pictures with the seals. I was so angry and wanted to yell at them to make for the shore before I passed out. But I knew others paid a lot of money for this experience and I didn't want to spoil their fun with my pathetic issues.

Thankfully, the Lord answered my repeated, desperate prayers for strength and we made it back vomit-free. As soon as we got off the boat, I started feeling better. Then it was such a relief when Lisa helped me peel off my wet suit. There were deep red grooves running all along my legs and arms so I think that under suit must have been a big part of the problem. But after a hot shower and bundling up in my own clothes I felt much better.

That last hour was pretty horrific but I am grateful for the experience. It was really fun being able to just float there in the middle of the ocean and look down through the water at a seal swimming by. Definitely one for the record books, though I do not plan on doing anything like that again for a very long time. Plus, we got some pictures that proved that I was there and participated, and in my book that's all that matters.

After we were finished, we checked into the Panorama Motel. We had a family unit: 2 bedrooms, one bath with a living room and kitchen. The feel was really cool - almost like a log cabin with a wonderful view of the waterfront and the mountains beyond. Derick and Lisa have been very gracious, often taking the less desirable beds so I can have the support I need for my back. So James and I decided that this time we would take the room with two twin beds so that they could have the master bedroom.

We were all really tired but still kind of keyed up from our adventure, so we made some lunch for ourselves and looked at Lisa's pictures. Then we all took a long nap and showered. It felt so good to be clean! After that we drove out to the peninsula and walked around on the rocks taking pictures. It wasn't that exciting but it did feel good to be out in the warm sunshine after being so cold that morning.

The giant piece of seaweed Lisa found!

Finding a place to eat for dinner that night took a long time because we were all craving something different. Lisa really wanted pasta with cream sauce but none of the restaurants in that tiny town had any so she finally decided to just buy some at a grocery store to make later. The rest of us decided to eat at this interesting looking place on the main road with a partially open-air dining room, tiki torches lighting the way up to the door, and a big silver fish on the roof. It had the standard fare - seafood, steak, salads, etc. I decided to change it up a little bit with a milkshake and pizza, but the milkshake was really more like shaken chocolate milk. I was so disappointed!

After dinner we took a few more photos of the view from the hotel at twilight while Lisa made her pasta. Then we all fell fast asleep after a hard day's play.

New Zealand - Day 7

November 9, 2010

Today is the day we take the TranzAlpine Railroad over the South Alps to the small west coast town of Greymouth and back. We've read that this is supposed to be one of the most beautiful train rides in the world and so there was no way we were going to miss out on this opportunity. Due to budget restraints and the fact that Lisa gets antsy when sitting still for long periods of time, the Gees decided to pass on the train ride and go hiking instead.

Kiwi Rail. Gotta love it!

So far the train ride has been very beautiful, but no more stunning than the mountain scenery we've already encountered. I think that drive through Fiordland National Park may have spoiled us for beauty and grandeur.

Another slight detriment was the way the seats are arranged on the train. The cars have four seats arranged around a table and so we were in very close quarters with an older Canadian couple for the first two or three hours. They were very friendly and asked us a lot of questions about ourselves; perhaps too many. James was a little hesitant to tell them a lot of details about what he does in the military and features of the base. But I think they were harmless and purely interested in our unusual and exciting lifestyle.

They gave us a booklet that pointed out key points

of interest along the way. Pretty interesting.

When we arrived in Greymouth, we collected our belongings and got off the train for about an hour of free time. We walked down the main drag in search of a place to grab some lunch. We found a cute little cafe a little way off the beaten path and had a delicious meal. My bowl of fettucini alfredo had green pasta in it! Crazy!

Unfortunately, lunch took up all of our time. I did want to do something local though, and so we popped into one of the local jade galleries for about 10 minutes and saw some of the ways the Maori used to carve this green stone into jewelry, weapons and other tools. Jade is very prevalent in New Zealand, especially on the West Coast and so we saw it all over the place.

When we got back on the train we were in a different car with seats on the opposite side. I believe they must do this on purpose for those with full excursion tickets like we did. It's a great thought but also means that we were sitting in the sun all morning and will do that again all afternoon. I wouldn't mind the heat if the sun's glare didn't affect my ability to take pictures through the windows! Oh well. I still have plenty of decent shots of the trees, rivers, mountains, and golden gorse bushes.

Train going around a bend.

One thing that has been really fascinating is catching a glimpse of what the west coast must have looked like before the European settlers arrived. The South Island gets so much rain on this side of the South Alps that all of the land would have been completely covered in dense, pristine rain forests: very wild and intimidating, I imagine. The rain forest here is different that what we're used to picturing in South America. The trees and climate here are not tropical, just very, very green.

About half way through the return journey, we decided to get up and walk to the outdoor viewing car at the back of the train. We were in the middle of Arthur's Pass National Park - definitely the most beautiful part of the trip due to the big, snow-capped mountains on either side - and so I wanted some pictures unobstructed by the reflective glass. Easier said than done. The train was swaying and bumping around pretty badly and so it was a struggle not to fall over as we walked from car to car. I felt a bit like Indiana Jones trying to balance on top of a moving train, except what I was struggling to do was far from thrilling.

The rest of the journey was purely about relaxation. We looked out the windows until we drifted off to sleep. Before we knew it, we were back in Christchurch. The conductor had some funny commentary about how several of the buildings along the tracks have been marked by graffiti. It was good to end our excursion on a high note with laughter. We enjoyed doing something big, just as a couple but I'm not sure the journey was really worth the money or time investment.

Derick and Lisa picked us up at the train station and filled us in on their day. They drove out to one of the points along the coast and hiked around near an old WWII outpost. Then they came back into downtown, cooked themselves lunch, and spent the afternoon looking around in many of the unique shops and boutiques in the area. Part of me thought their day sounded more fun than ours, but I'm still glad that we went - if for no other reason than to say that we had taken the train cross country and back!

Apparently while they were out they met a woman who had some great recommendations for where to eat that night, so we set out on foot from the hotel and ate dinner at a Mexican Cafe - apparently the best restaurant in town. Lucky for us it was only a couple of doors down. It has a fun atmosphere on the inside - lots of cool Mexican decorations, a cool bar, and a wonderful aroma in the air. It was evident that this is a favorite hang-out for the local young people. It was really funny because on this particular day there was a big horse race and so they were all dressed to the nines with giant hats, etc. So we kept running into dressed-up partiers all night.

Cheers, mate!

My chicken burrito was soo good!

After dinner we went walking through Cathedral Square and the near by parks and gardens. The city lights were phenomenal and provided great photo opportunities. They also had all kinds of public art lit up on street corners.

Christchurch Cathedral

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu

Looks like it would have been awesome if it was open!

Lisa and I finally found our way into Narnia!

All of this walking was a long, roundabout way to get to the second restaurant that woman told us we had to visit for dessert. It's called Strawberry Fare - and was 100% worth all of the walking. Oh so delicious! Oh so elegant! James and I shared a slice of chocolate cake smothered in powdered sugar and raspberry sauce with ice cream on the side. Lisa got a chocolate-lover's sampler with four separate, beautiful chocolate treats. Even Derick was able to find something to eat with his fairly restrictive diet. He got a beautiful fruit platter with real yogurt as a dipping sauce. Incredible!

Christchurch is a beautiful city. It would be interesting to see it when the downtown buildings are not boarded up and ringed by construction barriers. Thankfully, the true heart of the city (Cathedral Square) was in great condition and provided a wonderful place for exercise and artistic experimentation. Once again, the random, unplanned parts of the trip have been more enjoyable than the things we were originally looking forward to. I suppose that's what happens when your goal is to discover the true spirit and flavor of a new country.

New Zealand - Day 6

November 8, 2010

Today is the day I have been least looking forward to: the day of our longest drive from Dunedin to Christchurch. We planned a route that would hopefully be scenic but honestly had no idea what to expect. Thankfully, Lisa had done some research on other cool things to do in and around Dunedin before we left town so we ended up having a very fun and eventful day after all.

This morning, after a Starbucks run (yes, they have Starbucks in New Zealand!), James and I visited Cadbury World!! He's a big fan of Cadbury Easter eggs and we were very excited to discover that not only does this company make a whole lot more than chocolate eggs, but one of their primary factories was only a couple of minutes from our hotel! One of the big things to do there is take a tour of the factory. Unfortunately we didn't have time for that, so the staff were very gracious and at least let us take some pictures and buy a few things from the gift shop. There were so many different chocolate products, from candy bars to boxed assortments to baking goods and hot cocoa!

After we got our fill of sugar and creme, we piled back into the car and drove around trying to find Baldwin Street - the world's steepest street according to The Guinness Book of World Records. It's got a 35% grade and couldn't be paved with traditional tar and asphalt because it would slide down the hill on a warm day. We honestly weren't sure what to expect before we arrived, but it really was unbelievably steep. James decided he wanted to try driving up to the top, and it was so scary! The car almost didn't make it to the top. When we got up there we parked and took a few pictures. It was hard to walk down because we felt like we might over-balance and tumble all the way down. It was a totally random stop but we actually had a lot of fun!

Looking down from the top. AHHH!

I set the camera on the pavement to take this picture

so you can get an idea of the crazy angle on which

these houses are built.

Next we drove up the coast and stopped to see one of the natural mysteries of the South Island: The Moeraki Boulders. They are big, perfectly round boulders formed by ancient sediments and slowly exposed again through erosion. They look so unnatural - like dinosaur eggs or something the aliens might have left behind. haha. We certainly had fun climbing all over them and taking pictures.

From there we drove a couple of hours inland to see the beautiful region of Twizel, which consists of rolling, golden grasslands, stunning turquoise lakes and a section of the South Alps that includes New Zealand's tallest mountain: Mt. Cook. For those nerds in the audience, this region served as the backdrop for the largest battle at the end of The Lord of the Rings trilogy: The battle of Pelennor Fields. Twizel had the perfect combination of massive, snow-capped mountains overlooking sweeping, uninhabited fields. It's definitely an impressive landscape.

One of the most memorable parts of the drive was seeing the water in that region. Due to glacial silt in the lakes and reservoirs, they are a bright, almost unnatural shade of turquoise. It was strange seeing water that is a brighter blue than the sky. We got out a couple of times to take pictures of the lakes and Mt. Cook, then continued on our long (7 hour) drive to Christchurch.

Check out that water!

Mt. Cook across the lake.

Christchurch is the second largest city in New Zealand but still only has about 300,000 residents. On the outskirts of the city are sprawling suburbs with lots of shops and restaurants. We also noticed they have a lot of home improvement stores. We found out later that Christchurch is called The Garden City because one of their primary hobbies is gardening.

We didn't see any damage or evidence of the recent 7.0 earthquake that we had heard so much about until we got into the city center where our hotel was located. There were construction cones everywhere, lots of dust and gravel in the gutters, parts of the store fronts were missing and most of the upstairs windows were broken or boarded up. We heard that they are still having repeated aftershocks and so I don't know how quickly they will be able to be replaced. Many of the businesses there in downtown had been closed or relocated for the time being. It was a very ominous feeling as we arrived at the door of The Living Space Apartment Hotel.

On the website this looked like a very modern, chic place to stay in the inner city, but in actuality it's more like an upscale backpacker's hostel. We had a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment, furnished with what looks like dorm furniture. But each couple got their own room and it had a kitchenette where we could make our own breakfast so, for the price, we really can't complain.

The best part about staying here is that we were located within walking distance of the shops and restaurants on the river front as well as the heart of the city: Cathedral Square. We ate dinner at a restaurant called the Coyote Street Bar & Restaurant. It was kind of a Mexican fusion place. The food was good but, as was typical in New Zealand, it took forever for our food to be delivered. We've decided it's because they work with fresh ingredients and probably wait to cook the entire meal until after you order it, which makes for incredible food (if you're willing to wait for it.) It seems like most kiwis are more than willing. They have such a laid back culture that I'm sure taking 2 hours for dinner it not a big deal to them at all. Such a New Zealand attitude - no worries! Cheers!