Nice day so far!

This morning I got up and went for a jog down to the lake. It was beautiful. Everything is clean, safe and green. After that we walked to a market and got some fresh fruit and coffee for breakfast. Perfect!

Today we are heading to a Maori museum and then to an interactive cultural show in the evening. It should fun. I think this will be Helen's favorite day. This evening Jennifer and I are going to try to stay up past 10 to bring in the new year at the local pub. I am going to try my best to stay up until midnight, but I think it will require a few cups of coffee this evening.

Thanks for the tip on the tie Peter! The day is even better now knowing that I beat Jennifer at scrabble!

TJ - I reexamined the toliet. It is just a powerful burst of water that goes straight now. Sorry. No swirl.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in and then pack up and head out to Napier. I don't know how much blog time we will get between now and then. If I don't talk to you until tomorrrow, have a great New Year!

topsy turvy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EVERYTHING IS WIERD JUST READ MY LAST THREE POSTS!!!!!

words

just a few different words

trash=rubbish

cart=trolley

telephone=telecom

toilet water and plain ride

To answer T.J.s question, the toilets just have a rush of water and all the logs go down.


And the flight wasn't very great for me because I puked a little.

Cave water, Auckland

The actual caves were awsome! I got hit by water at least every 6 minutes. It was very annoying.

Auckland was very cool. We went to minus 5 degrees and it was cool - literally - and cool like pretty neat. We found a coffee shop that has the best lemon muffins. They are now my favorite muffin :).

The sailing was very fun and when my mom was driving the boat it felt like we were about to capsize because I was practically standing up when we turned.

The bus ride was just o.k. I had a really good bannana at the place we stopped for tea.

Five pictures

Here are some pics from the first couple days. I don't have a cable for our small camera and some good group photos are on there. However, I do have a few of various other ones from the other camera that I will try to share if I can post them correctly.

Kate, Mick and Zach - Sky Tower - Day 1 Auckland
















Sign on the sidewalk in Auckland. "Vehicle crashes have killed 22 pedestrians in Auckland City in the past five years. Don't step into danger"

Despite this warning some of us have struggled with the look both ways rule. I suspect most of the 22 pedestrians were from places where the people drive on the right hand side of the road instead of the left. You tend to really only focus on looking one way - not both. We will heed this warning from here on out.

Zachary steering the sailing boat in harbour at Auckland. "Tacking left..."

The countryside between Auckland and Rotorua.

Outside the exit of the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves.

Are you ready for some RUGBY!?

What do Americans who are addicted to football do on a Sunday in New Zealand? They watch cricket and rugby. I didn't understand cricket at first but thanks to the great P.E. curriculum at Mick and Zach's school they explained the intricacies to me and I started to really enjoy it. I'm pretty sure I could drink beer, eat hot wings and watch a cricket or rugby match.

The bus tour today was wonderful. We slowly moved out of the city and the suburbs of Auckland (the City of Sails) to the agriculture and dairy areas of the North Island. We saw cows, sheep, Thoroughbred horses and a couple new foals since it is foaling season here, alpacas, and although I didn't see deer, there were a couple of deer farms. We arrived at the Waitomo Glow Worm caves around 11:30 a.m. The Glow worm caves were fascinating. The glow worms are actually glow maggots...they are in the larva stage when they are glowing. At one point we were 50 meters below ground.

The cost of things in NZ dollars:
Gas - $1.35/liter
bottle of soda - $2.80
candy bar - $2.30
fish and chips meal - $14.00
international post card stamp - $1.50
cup of tea - $3.00

They have a $2 coin and a $1 coin here as well as 50, 20 & 10 cent coins so you have to be careful and watch what you have and what you pay with.

It has been amazing so far. I can't imagine what the next 10+ days will hold.

Interesting facts

We are learning alot about New Zealand thanks to the excellent tour guides. Here are some facts I thought you would all be interested in.

1. New Zealand has the highest boat ownership percentage in the world. The city of Auckland has a 1 in 4 boat ownership ratio and the country has a 1 in 8 ownership ratio!
   
2. Did you know that New Zealand still has active volcanos? Several of them in fact.
   
3. New Zealand has no predatory animals. Yep! Nothing here that can kill you. In fact, New Zealand doesn't have any snakes!
   
4. So the national bird is a Kiwi bird. It is a bird without any wings! I think we are going to try to see one tomorrow. They only come out at night so they have special viewing rooms set up so the birds think it is evening.
   
5. The glow worms are actually glow "maggots"!
   
6. Did I mention Rotorua smells like sulfer? It takes some getting use to and I'm not there yet.
   
7. The Maori history in New Zealand is almost identical to the history of Indians in the US. (Broken treaties, land encroachment, bloody land wars.) Very interesting if you want to take a look.

12/29/08 (yesterday) and today

Yesterday, we went sailing on the Pride of Auckland. It was a fun experience. We each got to drive the boat which was fun. after sailing we went to the maritime museum to minus 5 ice lounge. maritime museum is a museum about different boats and related things. the minus 5 ice lounge is just that. you go into a little ice room that has ice sculptures and that is minus 5 degrees. you get a free drink with it, and you get to drink it out of ice cups!!!! before all of this, we went shopping and i got a new hat from RIP CURL and a pair of RYAN SHECKLER SIDEWAYS SHADES from OAKLEY. (omgsh...ryans rlllyyyyyy hot!!) haha.. we had a long dinner. our waiter looked exactly like my friend sam, who happens to live on my street....random. it was funny because in a matter of 30 minutes he dropped at least 3 glass things and broke them all!!!!


today we had to get up early to take a bus to ROTORUA. but we got to hear a story and such about where we were driving. we stopped at WAITOMO GLOW WOEM CAVES. that was a neat sight to see. we had tea and such at RANGIRI which was good. we met some girls from NEW YORK who are on their way to AUSTRAILIA

were gonna go get some food now!! ttyl!! imy!! for those folk who dont know what those little thingys mean.....................................talk to you later....and i miss you..hahaah love yous...



:)

worms and Scrabble

Today was spent on a bus on really WINDING roads. Played Kate in a game of travel Scrabble and according to her we ended in a tie game. (I made a strong finish so I might need to re-check her scoring). I did get quesy from motion sickness on the roads but the country is so beautiful and the frequent stops were nice. Glow worms in the cave were interesting. Mother Nature comes up with some amazing sites. So far so good, relaxing and taking it easy. I am debating whether to check my work email now....

From Helen - typed by Kate

Helen just wanted me to tell everyone that she is having a great time in this New World. She says hello to everyone.

December 30

December 30. Early start. Took a tour bus from Auckland to Rotorua. Terrific views of the countryside and history from our tour guide. We saw varios parts of Auckland and the country - including cattle, dairy, and horse ranches. The country is lush and green.We learned a bit about Maori culture as we toured through a historic battleground in Rangiriri and learned of the land wars between the Europeans and Maori.Next, we toured the Waitomo glowworm caves. The caves were interesting. We walked into the caves and then rode in a boat on the river at the bottom of the caves. We were able to best see the glowworms while on the boat. The glowworms spend 9-11 months eating and maturing into flies that live for 2-3 days, reproduce and are eaten by the other glowworms. In Cambidge, we learned that in the Southern hemisphere, race horses have a universal birth date of August 1 and that except when training, race horses spend their time in the field. Arrived in Rotorua. Will explore it tonight and tomorrow.

December 29

On December 29, we took in more sights in Auckland. We ate at an outdoor cafe and shopped at some of the local stores. We have learned much about rugby and cricket.We went sailing in Auckland's main harbor. Each person got a chance to captain the sailboat and for some, it was their first time on the ocean. We had some pretty good bursts of wind and speed - much to the surprise of several passengers - and captains.After sailing, we toured the National Maritime Museum. It had a wonderful history of boats and ships and how each impacted the growth and development of New Zealand. We went to Minus 5 degrees - a lounge made out of ice. All drinks were served in cups made of ice. We also went to a Russian themed lounge. Then we went to a restaurant where we hit the Monday special - 1 kilo of New Zealand green lipped mussels. Toasted bread and mussels was a great meal.We then went to the village of Parnell. We heard of the New Zealand chocolate boutique - where several famous people have enjoyed the chocolate. We enjoyed chocolate drinks and ice cream. Nobody dared try the chocolate pot - a pot of melted dark chocolate served with cream so that one can either drink dark chocolate or milk chocolate.

December 28

Licensed or unlicensed? Alcohol or caffeine? Interesting questions so far on this trip. Many signs provide that restaurants are "fully licensed." With the diverse cultural influences in Auckland, we couldn't help but wonder why certain restaurants were labeled as licensed or not. Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and the Istanbul Kebab were "licensed." After looking at pictures of some of the food, one had to wonder. "Licensed" we found out refers to alcohol sales.

After 13 hours on a plane - most of it in the dark with little sleep, alcohol or caffeine became a challenging question. Alcohol to help with sleep or fire up. Caffeine to feel fired up. Both? Choices include: beer, local wine, soda, coffee, tea? Both options combined seem to work best. I feel pretty good right now.

The City is great. Vibrant with varying architecture. The University of Auckland has a great, park-like campus. Old churches, modern buildings, a sky tower (the tallest building in the southern hemisphere), and easily accessible areas mark the City. The people are fairly diverse and willing to help. For sushi eaters, we have seen what seems like 100 sushi restaurants - licensed in some cases.

The easterlies are to pick up tonight with rain possible. Sailing tomorrow (Monday).

Wow! What a couple of days!

We are now in Rotorua and have 24 hour internet access. I think this will give us enough time to catch everyone up.

We had no time to blog yesterday. When we woke up the Rosier/Giff party decided to go on the city bus tour. You know the tours where the bus takes you around to all the sites and you can get off at any one you want . . . that's what we did. It was pretty awesome. We felt like we were able to see the whole city and get more details then we would have otherwise. This was perfect for us b/c it was raining and dreary out.

The tour hit everything from the zoo, museum, harbor, two markets, rose garden, mt eden, eden park, and many others. I think there were about 14 total. It was very beautiful. One of our favorite parts were going up to the top of mt eden. You could see the whole city from that vantage point. We also got off at the museum. We checked out the Maori cultural section, and the dinosaur exhibit. The TRex named Sue was being featured so we had to go see it.

We were going to get off at other stops but we had a tour at 2:30 we needed to get to. Once we got off the bus, we freshened up and went to meet the Downes at the "Yacht" for a little sailing. Yes, we all went sailing and we each steered the boat for a while.

After sailing the harbor we went to the maritime museum. I learned more about boats then I probably needed too.

One of my favorite parts of the day were sampling the Green Muscles, a local favorite. The Muscles were HUGE! Jennifer and I shared a kilo! Helen treated herself to a lamb roast.

By the time we got home were exhausted! We had to be up early in the morning for our bus ride to Rotorua. It was BEAUTIFUL! Green rolling hills and cute little towns sprinkled in. On the way here this morning we had morning tea and then went into the caves to look at the glow worms. It was quite a day already.

We are going to be heading out to dinner soon. I will write more later and try to upload a couple pictures.

Couple quick things:
- TJ, the toilet flushes down. It doesn't swirl. I know! I was ready to see the counter clockwise swirl.
- The town we are in now smells like sulpher. It is supposed to have natural hot springs that we might check out in the morning.

LOVELY

Wow 13 hours later!!! I survived, which is hard to believe. We are all mixed up! They drive on the wrong side of the road, the steering wheels on the wrong side, and theres like no way to understand half of the words they're saying sometimes!! We went to the Sky Tower, where we almost decided to Sky Jump or Sky Walk, but once we got up there and saw how high it was, it was definately a no! oh and kristal...if your reading this ...AYE BAY BAY x2 haha they sky walked......lol

We have videoes we will try to upload at some point, if not when we get back we'll send them to you ...maybe.
New Words:
rubbish - trash
lemonade - 7-UP
soda - soda water
carpark - parking garage
lift - elevator
chips - fries
cheers - your welcome

p.s. the title is lovely because our waiter said lovely everythime we'd order something

What a couple days!

Our trip has been a whirlwind so far. It started off with me forgetting my cell phone, our flight being delayed out of Phoenix and having to speed walk to the International terminal in LA. It all worked out ok though. Oh, I also left my coat in the taxi but the driver brought it back to me! (YIKES!)

The Flight - It was LONG! But it was the coolest plane I've ever been on. Each seat had its own TV screen built into the seat in front. We could choose from 100s of TV shows, movies, games, and music stations. The food was good, they served a decent wine, and the servers were nice! We all tried to sleep. I logged the most sleep hours with about 4 or 5. Ann Marie, Helen and Brad hardly slept at all. The flight was pretty bumpy so it got scary at times. I finished a book on the plane and played a lot of tetris.

We had a nice day so far today but everyone is tired. Our cab driver told us not to sleep until at least 5pm or it would mess us up for the whole trip. Oh course we are trying to listen. I think it is about 3:00 New Zealand time (Sunday here). We will see how we do.

For my family reading this, Helen is doing really well. She is tired and is now resting in her room. She was a trooper and walked all over the city with us. I can tell she is tired though. We have two ajoining rooms so she will be able to get some good rest while Jennifer and I stay up. I really miss my little family. As I walking around today, I saw things and thought "Ron would LOVE this!" I know the kids would love it too. Please tell them I miss them and I am still wearing the necklace Ty made me.

New words:

• lift = elevator
• motorway = freeway

Quick observations:

• People have been calling us darling and dear alot. I like it!
• Also, cars have the steering wheels on the passenger side AND they drive on the wrong side of the road. It is throwing me for a loop!

13 hours later

Well we made it! And I have the overweight bag too. 54 pounds so I had to pull a couple things out and carry it. I will lighten it up as we go along. We arrived in NZ without too much problem although I did create a bit of stir at NZ customs. As Kate said it may be cute to your friends and family to not know where you are going, staying, and returning but its not cute to a customs officer. I said in LA that I will just make sure that I keep Zach in site since I know no one would leave him, but perhaps now that we are here I should pay more atttention to our itinerary.

We got to the hotel at around 8:30 Sunday morning, rested up a bit and than began a walkabout Auckland. We have nothing planned today other than resting up and getting use to the time change. We went to Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the sounthern hemisphere, and watched people bungy jump off the side. It's really high up and too scary to look straight down let alone jump off the side.

The weather is beautiful and its green so that means it will be raining soon. We think it will rain on our sailing excursion tomorrow, but it will be fun anyway. Just wanted to say that we are all safe and well and starting to relax into vacation. Keep you posted.

Jennifer

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Packing day!! ahhh. i hope i get everything......thats why we have lists...this is going to be fun...but scary in a way....what im most nervous for is the Maori dinner....hopefully they dont tell me what it is, i just eat it, like it, and stay full. haha cuz if its like idk fear factor food, dont expect me to eat it....haha

:P

The Trip Schedule

Here is the short schedule so everyone knows where we are on each day. We will fill in the rest of the details later.

12/26 - Leave Phoenix to LA. LA to Auckland.

12/28 - 7:25 a.m. Arrive in Auckland

12/29 - Auckland

1. Sailing cruise and tour of the city.
2. Visit to the NZ National Maritime Museum.

12/30 - Auckland/Waitomo/Rotorua

1. Rangiriri Battle Site heritage Centre
2. Waitomo caves (glow worms)
3. Arrive in Rotorua

12/31 - Rotorua: Tamaki Maori village - Maori dinner, tribal songs, dances

1/1 - Rotorua to Napier: Train to Napier

1/2 - Napier

1. Walking tour of the Art Deco city
2. Wine tour

1/3 - Napier to Christchurch (leisure day)

1/4 - Christchurch

1. whale watching tour
2. visit a seal colony
3. wine tour

1/5 - Christchurch/Greymouth/Franz Josef

1. Taking TranzAlpine scenic train - (coast to coast!)
2. End the day in Fran

1/6 - Franz Josef

1. Twin Glacier Flight (visit a couple of different glaciers)
2. Leisure

1/7 - Franz Josef - Queenstown

1. visit glacier
2. scenic visits

1/8 - Queenstown

1. travelling in a convertible bus for scenic wine and art tour
2. leisure

1/9 - Queenstown: Lord of the Rings tour - visit spots from the film

1/10 - Queenstown: Scenic cruise, BBQ, and walking tour

1/11 - Return back to US

Note from Helen (typed by Kate)

This is my first trip abroad. I am very excited to see the Maoris first of all and then the rest of the country. I am particularly anxious to see the Maori perform cultural events and hear about their culture. As usual I am the first sister to travel abroad, which makes me feel very lucky. My children and their families are helping me with what ever they can, especially Kate. I know she will assist me when ever she knows I need some help. I'm not too excited about leaving my grandkids. I know I will miss them very much. I'm sure I will learn alot about the country/New Zealand that will broaden my mind to maybe study their cultures more when I return. I'm VERY anxous to find out what all is there.

PS - I am only 71!

Not Middle School

hey i just thought that i should let everybody know that im in 6th grade and not middle school. oh well. i am most excited for ummmmmmm... the amazing views and sites. i am worried about the flight... i dont like flying over oceans.....although i never have before.


(typed by mikaela to enhance the writing....although it was pathetic...haha)

NEW WIDGET

Hey everyone, I just figured out how to add music to the blog! Not sure if it works or not, hopefully it does. Only a few more days!!! I think the flight will be the hardest part for me other than waking up early and customs, I don't want to be mistaken for a terrorist!!!!!!!! hahahahahaaaa Check out the tunes!!! Love ya'll hehe ya'll.....
Peace <3>

How long is the flight?

"How long is the flight?" This is another common question I've been getting. According to the rep at Air NewZealand, it will be a 13 hour and 10 minute flight. For those of you who are into planes, they said we would by flying Air NewZealand's 777. Sounds lucky to me!

Who's Going and Why?

I wanted to use the blog to give everyone details about the trip and answer questions. Two of the most common questions I have been getting are "Who is going?" and "Why are you going?" (Travelers, If I leave anything out, please feel fee to add to what I've listed.) Here goes it.

Travelers:

1. Kate - I am Kate. I am married to Ron. Ron went to law school with Brad, Ann Marie and Jennifer. We have all been good friends for quite a while. Ann Marie and I work together at ASU, Ron and Brad have a law firm together, and I used to work with Jennifer. I am leaving two small children and a husband at home to take this trip. I've traveled abroad before and am excited to share this experience with the others. (For the record, Ron and the kids were originally going to go on the trip with us. After much thought and deliberation, we decided that the kids were not ready for this big of a trip. Ty is 5 and Cody is 3. The airplane trip alone would have been ROUGH!) Grandparents, Auntie and Uncle Peter are going to help Ron out while I am gone.
   
   
2. Ann Marie - Ann Marie celebrated a "special" birthday this year. (I will leave it to her to tell you how old she is) New Zealand is her dream trip. A bunch of us started celebrating our "special" birthdays in a big way a couple of years ago. Ann Marie had not been out of the country and had always wanted to go to NZ. So . . . we are doing it! Ann Marie is the wife of Brad and mom of Mikaela and Zach.
   
   
3. Brad - Brad is Ann Marie's husband. I think he is brave for traveling with all of us ladies. Luckily, he has his son Zach with him. Brad is a busy attorney, dad, and softball coach. I think he has travel abroad before but it has been several years.
   
   
4. Mikaela - Mick, 14, is a freshman in high school. This is the first time travelling out of the country. She is now on break from school and softball.
   
   
5. Zach - Zach is our youngest traveler at age 11. He is on break from Middle school and baseball! The only other guy besides Brad on the trip.
   
   
6. Jennifer - Law School friend of Ron, Brad and Ann Marie. She is also the girlfriend of Kate and Ann Marie. She has probably traveled more than all of us. She once did a cruise around the world! She is taking an overdue vacation. It will be a big break for her. Jennifer and I have vacationed together for the past 5 years to San Diego. We will be roommates with Helen during this adventure.
   


7. Helen - Helen is my mother-in-law. She is 72. She has always wanted to go to New Zealand! As a bi-lingual educator she has always been intrigued by the Maori culture. We invited her to go with us and she was very excited. She immediately started working on getting her birth certificate. Since she was born on the Navajo reservation in a hogan, she never received a birth certificate. Getting one was quite a challenge for her. Luckily, one of her elderly aunts who was in the hogan when she was born signed an affidavit that she witnessed Helen's birth. Once her birth certificate was received, she was able to get a passport. This will be Helen's first trip abroad. I'm excited to escort her on this journey.

It's how many days away?!

OK, we are 6 days away from our flight out. I'm feeling very anxious today! Three big questions are going through my mind. (1) How am I going to function without my family? (2) How will they function without me? (3) How am I going to get everything done before the trip?

This is going to be a crazy week. Packing, finishing up at work, shopping for last minute trip items, stocking the fridge for my family, preparing for Christmas dinner, Wrapping last minute presents, buying last minute presents . . . how am I going to get everything done!?

Wish us all luck. I know we are all going through the same thing at each house.

ECSTATIC

OH MY GOSH i am so excited for this trip!!!! i cant believe im actually going to new zealand!!!!!! haha im so hyper its crazy! only....6 more daysss!!!!! yayyyyyyyyyyyyy im so pumped!!

Getting Ready For the Trip

This is Kate reporting in. I am setting up a blog before our trip so we can all communicate with our friends and loved ones while we are in New Zealand. Stay tuned for more trip information.