New Zealand - Day 16

November 18, 2010

We were determined to make our final day in New Zealand extra awesome, and I think we succeeded. Our booking at the Tree Adventures high ropes course was at 11:00 am so we didn't get much sleep, but that's ok. Making memories was way more important at this point. We figured we could always sleep on the plane.

The ropes course was about 45 minutes northwest of the city, in the thick forest on that side of the "Northland." Apparently they rarely open on weekdays but there was a big group of young school kids there on a field trip so they agreed to work us in. Also, since the kids had free reign of the course and were running all over the place, they let us choose any 4 courses we wanted instead of restricting us to a pre-determined plan like they normally would have.

I was pretty upset when we first arrived and they were explaining how everything works because the others were happily chatting about how they couldn't wait to head right to the highest courses. But I wasn't very confident about my ability to keep up and didn't want to be left behind on the lower, easier courses. So, once again, I was having that internal battle between the sensible side of my brain that says it's better to be safe than sorry, and that part of myself that hates to be left out.

Thankfully I have a wonderfully patient husband who was willing to stay behind and do one of the easy courses with me. After we saw how I did, we could proceed from there. Surprisingly, I was actually pretty good at it. Once I got over the physical strain of climbing the ladder up to the first platform, the rest was fairly easy and a lot of fun. They gave me an extra padded harness for my back so it didn't hurt me at all, and with the way their pulley system works I knew I was safe and walked nimbly across the wires. We made sure the courses I went on wouldn't require me to bend or do anything that would hurt too much. And then I was free to enjoy myself. I even felt confident enough to go on 3 of the 4 high courses so I could hang out with my friends. I was also glad that Lisa brought her little camera up in the tress with us so we got some great shots of us all having a blast. My favorite part was taking the big zip lines back down to the ground after each course was done. It was so much fun that the 3 hours we paid for flew by.

You can see how high we were!

These 2 carabiners are all that kept us suspended up there!

You can see James and I over there through the trees.

All sorts of fun challenges!

After we were finished, we were starving so we stopped at a cute cafe for lunch. Then we drove to another one of the points of interest near Auckland - the Muriwai Gannet Colony. I had seen a picture of it in one of my photography magazines and figured it would provide some great photo ops for our final day. It was definitely interesting: tons of white sea birds nesting on these huge, jagged outcroppings of rock along this cliff on the west coast. There were dozens of them swooping in and out. It was fun to see them interacting with their mates and chicks.

By this time we were all exhausted due to lack of sleep so we decided to head back to the room for a nap before venturing back out into the city for dinner. On our way we stopped at one of the local produce stands and bought some fresh, locally grown strawberries as a snack. SO good. Our short nap turned out to be about 3 hours long. We woke up at 6:15 and were slightly upset for wasting so much time sleeping. But at the same time, we knew we'd have to wake up early the next day so we probably needed to rest.

Not wanting to let the evening pass without something fun to do, we drove to the Skydome Observatory and watched an hour long presentation about the constellations that can be seen in the sky in the Southern hemisphere. The guys know a lot about navigation due to their Air Force training, and have been confused and intrigued by the fact that they don't recognize the sky. I think they were slightly disappointed with what we saw since the narrator mostly pointed out constellations we're already familiar with but were just upside down instead of showing us new ones. But it was still very interesting and relaxing since the chairs laid back pretty far to give us a good view of the planetarium's dome. It was dark and the guide's voice was so soothing with his deep accent that I was really relaxed and had to fight to stay awake.

After the main presentation was over they took us into a separate room and told us a little about what's going on in the search for life on other planets. Again, it was very interesting but by this time it was 9:15 pm and we hadn't eaten dinner. Derick was starving and anxious to find a restaurant that was still open. We figured our best bet would be somewhere downtown and started driving in that way.

When we emerged from the parking garage beneath Sky Tower we were greeted with an odd scene. The road in front of us was completely blocked off to traffic and there were fire trucks, policemen and construction workers everywhere. Bright, portable lights were all aimed at an old building across the street. We asked around and found out that they were planning to demolish it that night. None of us had ever seen a building blow up before so we decided to stick around and watch. But the time dragged on and still not much was happening so we gave up and grabbed some food at a 24 hour restaurant across the street. It was called Char Grilled and served burgers, fire roasted pizzas, and kebabs. The whole restaurant had a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern flare and the food was so good! It was a fitting final meal, but definitely a bitter sweet one as we have all fallen in love with this country and will have a hard time returning to the cold temperatures of Japan tomorrow.

New Zealand - Day 15

November 17, 2010

We were all a little shocked and sad to wake up and realize that we were about to drive to our final destination. We've been having so much fun that we didn't want the journey to end! But, on we must go - so we packed up the car and drove to Auckland. It was only supposed to be a 2 hour drive, but we had to go back the way we came through the crazy, windy roads. We've done a lot of driving through mountains and hilly regions on this trip and I haven't gotten car sick. I don't know what was different about this particular morning but both Lisa and I got extremely motion sick and had to have Derick pull over so that we could both jump in the front seat - her driving and me trying not to throw up the chocolate mousse from the night before. It was pretty brutal, but we made it through.

The first thing we did was head to the loft apartment where we were staying. Instead of staying in the heart of the city as we did in Christchurch and Wellington, we opted for a quieter suburb on the west coast called Titirangi. This area is known for its lush vegetation and black sand beaches, but is only 20 minutes outside of downtown so we got the best of both worlds. The apartment turned out to be in the basement of a family home. We had a queen bed and a sleeper sofa in one room, so we were a little snug. But there was a big picture window in there overlooking the jungle landscape that was very beautiful. One thing about this place that we really enjoyed was that they offered free wifi. Everywhere we've gone we had to pay for the internet (often at an internet cafe because the hotel didn't even offer it) so this was a big help.

The first thing we did was hop online and buy tickets for the midnight premiere for the new Harry Potter movie that was happening that night. We were all looking forward to it and knew it would be several weeks before it came out on base so - why not go a little crazy while we're on vacation? I was super excited because I used to go to midnight premieres all the time in high school and college but hadn't been since we got married. So this was a big treat. But also, we realized that we would be some of the first people in the world to see it because we were right at the beginning of the international date line. =^D

Since we were going to be staying up pretty late we decided to take a nap before heading out to explore the city. Then around 3:00 we headed downtown and explored the Auckland Museum and War Memorial. Since we missed out on really getting to read about the Maori History at the museum in Wellington we figured this would be a fun excursion. It was a little difficult getting down there, between the traffic and the poorly marked roads. But we made it with a little over an hour to wander around the museum's 3 floors of exhibits.

The museum has the largest collection of Maori artifacts in the Pacific. I was impressed. They had all kinds of things like tools, weapons, clothing, jewelery made from green stone, canoes and ceremonial houses. The Maori were major ocean navigators so it was cool to see how big their canoes were and the maps that showed how widely they traveled. They are closely related to Samoans and the native people of Hawaii, to give you some idea.

Very small ocean raft. I couldn't get even half of the big one
all into one picture!

Next we went up to the second floor which focused more on New Zealand's natural history with big rooms devoted to animals, plants, the ocean and volcanoes. We were fascinated with the skeletons and life-sized representations of some of the dinosaurs and ancient birds that once inhabited New Zealand.

The giant Moa - related to an ostrich but it was
9 feet tall! Imagine meeting one of those in the wilderness.

I posed for a picture with this penguin statue because
I thought it was cute. Then I found out they had REAL
penguins this big back in the day! =^O

After we were finished looking at that floor we only had 15 more minutes until closing time so we ran upstairs to the war memorial so James could see the Japanese and U.S. fighter planes from WWII they had on display. By the American plane they had a working replica of one of their engines that lit up when you turned the crank, which he thought was pretty cool. They also had a big map of New Zealand written in Japanese and showing how they were planning to invade during their conquest of the Pacific. Thank goodness they never made it that far!

After the museum we drove down into the city's celebrated shopping and entertainment district to pick up our movie tickets and try to finish the Gee's Christmas shopping. Unfortunately, the traffic along the river front was so bad that by the time we got down there and found a place to park, everything was closed. All of the shops close SO EARLY in New Zealand! Often as early as 4:30 or 5 pm! And sometimes they won't open at all if they don't think there will be much business. Those crazy relaxed kiwis.

Since we couldn't do any shopping, we started looking for a place to eat dinner. That was a challenge too since we were on the streets lined with shops... not a very happenin' place after dark. Finally we turned down a side street and ended up in a little neighborhood of German and other European restaurants and pubs. We found one with a cool menu and atmosphere and went inside. We sat at one of the big booths near the open-air windows at the front. I ordered a delicious chicken sandwich on focaccia bread and James got their basket of fish and chips (or "fush and chups" as the locals pronounce it) - reputedly the best in the city. That's a tall order since they had fish and chips restaurants everywhere. You can tell New Zealand was a British colony.

The conversation at dinner was one of the best we had. Instead of talking about work or politics or other random things, we shared a little bit more about how we each met our spouses and some of those more significant stories from our lives. We each knew the basics since we've been good friends for several months, but it was still really fun to have a more intimate, meaningful discussion that brought us closer together.

After dinner we still had four hours to kill before the movie started, so we walked to a near by Starbucks for some liquid energy. This particular coffee shop happened to be near the base of the iconic Sky Tower, and James and I thought it would be fun to go up there and see the city lights along the harbor. So we walked over there and rode the elevator up to the top while Derick and Lisa stayed in the shopping center at the bottom and read about their bungee jumping program. Derick had been kicking himself the entire trip for not jumping with Lisa down in Queenstown so he was contemplating jumping off the tower the next day. (That never happened. But most likely because we were worn out and busy on our last day. ;^)

This tower was way cooler than the one in Seoul because they had a bunch of glass cut-outs in the floor of the elevator and observation deck. So in addition to looking out at the view, you could look directly below you and get the true sense of how high up you are. James doesn't like heights and didn't like me standing on the glass for too long, but it was SO COOL! I got a bunch of good pictures of the cityscape, as well as a couple of videos as we rode the elevator up and down.

By the time we were finished, it was about 10:30 so we figured we might as well make our way to the theater and find a place to park. Turns out they have a big parking garage right behind the theater which was very convenient. We didn't see any signs about their hours and figured that even if they closed it, we had our ticket and should be able to open it after hours like all of the other parking structures we'd used on the trip. Oh, how wrong we were... But that will come later.

There was almost no one in the theater when we arrived, and no reason to wait around there because that theater had reserved seats. So we went out and walked around the neighborhood. Nothing was open except Burger King, but many of the high-end stores still had their window displays lit up so we looked at those and the street sculptures.

Finally, we made our way inside around 11:30 and found our seats. James and I got kind of screwed on seat selection and were stuck in the very back by the door and some obnoxious drunk people, so as soon as the movie began we snuck up closer to the front. New Zealand theaters are pretty cool in that their seats are huge and really comfortable, and none of them are so far forward that you have to arch your neck to see the screen. We noted that if that was an American theater they'd have about twice as many seats crammed in there in order to make as much money as possible.

The movie was excellent! I was very pleasantly surprised because I am a huge fan of the books and think that all of the previous Harry Potter movies have not done them justice AT ALL. But finally, 7 movies later, they got it right! Can't wait to see it again when it comes out in Misawa (1 month after the normal release date.)

Unfortunately, when we got out of the movie around 3 am the parking garage was locked and there was no way to get inside. So we had to go back to the theater and ask to use their phone to call the security company and ask them to come get our car out. Turns out the guy was just sitting right inside and could easily have pushed a button to lift the bars, but no - we had to pay him $50 to do it! The boys were incredibly frustrated but I still think the movie was worth the hassle and the late hours. All's well that ends well.

New Zealand - Day 14

November 16, 2010

This morning we got up early so that we could wake the 45 minute hike out to Cathedral Cove and see it at low tide (very important for pictures). This location is very significant for two reasons. First, because it's very unique and beautiful. Second because it was used as the filming location for the gateway back into Narnia in the second movie, Prince Caspian. (See comparison below). We're all such big fans that we couldn't pass up an opportunity to see another film set!

The only bad thing about the cove is that it's pretty remote, so we had to hike up and down a couple of huge hills, tramping through the jungle, in order to get there. I was completely worn out by the time we got there but it was SO WORTH IT!

View of the area on our hike down there. That is not actually
Cathedral cove. It's on a similar rocky arm behind that one.
That just gives you an idea of how much we had to hike!

At first we kind of panicked because the big archway leading to the beach where they did the filming was roped off and a big warning sign about falling rock marred our view and spoiled our pictures. But Lisa does what she wants in these situations and so she just ducked under the rope and headed to the other side. After watching to make sure no rocks fell on her head, we followed suit.

The picture above is one of their concept paintings from
Prince Caspian. Below are our pictures. Pretty amazing, huh?

The beach itself is beautiful: pristine sand, turquoise water, unique sandstone formations and jagged cliffs that rise up to the bright green jungle above. When we first arrived it was still kind of overcast so the color in our pictures were not turning out as well as we had hoped. But then the sun came out, it warmed up and the colors around us became that same super-saturated hue we've come to love and expect from New Zealand.

On our way out we set up the tripod inside the cave and got a bunch of silly pictures of us silhouetted against the bright background. It was so much fun!

After our long hike back we were boiling hot and thirsty so we stopped at the general store for some snacks and drinks before heading back to the room to clean up and eat some lunch. A shower was a must for me since I tripped over the barrier rope on our way out of the cave and I fell flat on my back in the sand. It was so deep and soft that it didn't hurt at all (thank goodness!!) But I did get sand all down my pants which did NOT feel good walking back. haha.

After regrouping, we headed in to town and caught the ferry over to the neighboring city of Witianga to see some of the galleries of the local artists we kept hearing about. We had fun walking around in the sunshine and looking around in local shops but due to the bad economy right now many of the galleries and show rooms had closed down. Bummer. At least James and I managed to finish our Christmas shopping.

After an hour of shopping, we were all tired and Lisa was beyond burned-out. (Considering neither of us are shoppers, it's kind of ridiculous how much shopping we ended up doing on this trip.) In an attempt to perk back up we got some coffee and smoothies at the local Tides Cafe. The drinks were refreshing but not quite the pick-me-up we needed. Thankfully, we found an awesome playground that managed to zap Lisa back to life pretty quickly. The local parents and kids stared at us as we ran amok on all of the play equipment, but we honestly didn't care. It was too much fun!


After we had our fill of juvenile frivolity, we took the ferry back and drove up to a look-out where we could survey Mercury Bay, where Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand. He was the first European to discover New Zealand and is kind of a big deal there. The view was stunning with its arched coastline and teal water dotted with white sailboats.

Next we drove back toward Hot Water Beach because we were told they have a couple other galleries over there. The one we found was incredible! It was called the Moko Artspace and featured work from all kinds of local artists in almost every media imaginable: paintings, photography, wood work, glass, cement, copper, ceramic, jewelry, etc. We spent a long time looking around and round at everything and talking to the very knowledgeable saleswoman. Finally we all purchased something for friends and family. I bought a silver flower pendant and matching earrings. Lisa bought a bunch of jewelry as well as a decorative Maori paddle for their house. We thought this was pretty funny because Derick's call sign is OAR and he bought an oar.

To celebrate our great finds, we walked back down to the beach and played in the sand and surf. Then it was back to the hotel for an hour long ciesta before dinner.

A hilarious but accurate portrait of these two. ;^P

We decided to try the other restaurant (since there are only 2 in town). It's a small winery and restaurant called Purangi Winery. We had been warned about the owner - that he's harmless but likes to talk a lot. This was very true. He invited us into the wine show room, poured 6-9 shots of different types of wine and alcohol before we could even say anything, and then launched into a comical and slightly crass history of the region. He was hilarious. We were impressed that he was able to guess whether we were from America or Canada based on how we said the word "badminton". (Apparently we in the U.S. always drop the n.)

Most importantly, he was able to answer a very important question that we'd been puzzling over this whole trip: which was named first, the kiwi bird or kiwi fruit? He said that it was definitely the bird. Kiwi fruit actually comes from China and was called Chinese Gooseberries for a long time. But then when the McCarthy era set in after WWII, New Zealand wanted to continue exporting their fruit to the U.S. and decided it would be prudent to drop the association with the red state. Thus, they named it after the cute and fuzzy brown birds that wander around on the island and the name stuck. I thought he might be pulling our leg but we googled it later and turns out the story is true!

Soon after that we managed to order 2 wood fired pizzas and made our way outside to one of the tables underneath the trees. The pizzas were good, but again these New Zealand "large" 14 inchers are far too small for our American appetites and so we ordered one more, as well as a large bucket of chips (fries) for good measure. I think the locals were both amused and offended by our loud conversations and by the huge amount of food we consumed. The suspicion that they were watching us was confirmed when we had difficulty backing out of the parking lot on our way out. Many of them were bent over double laughing at us as we made a 14 point turn only to go out the in. Ah well, at least we were amusing dinner entertainment.

If you can believe it, we were STILL hungry when we left so we decided to stop back in to the restaurant at The Church and order dessert. We sat on the outdoor patio this time and enjoyed some chocolate mousse martinis. Oh man - that thing was probably SO bad for me but it was SO GOOD! We have eaten incredibly well on this trip.

The night was still young so we walked over to the lounge and played a game of scrabble before heading to bed. Somehow we thought that playing a board game would be nice and interactive, but really all we did was stare at our tiles in silent (and in the boy's case - angry) concentration for an hour. Ah well, better than nothing!