Costco Travel

So I wanted to give Costco Travel a quick review for all of you who are still reading. It was an amazing service. This whole trip was set up in 2 calls. One to get the basic info and the second to book. We paid one price and it included international travel, domestic airfare, bus fare, train rides, each tour we took, plus rides from airport to hotel and hotel to different places. There was not one glitch in the whole thing. Plus they were able to manage our two reservations perfectly. Sometimes it was just us on a tour and other times we were on a bus with 30 other people. If we ever do a big trip again, I will definitely use them again.

We made it home

It is now about 8:30 Phoenix time and I am winding down for bed. I wanted to stay up and try to get on a normal sleeping pattern by getting up at 6:00 tomorrow. we will see how I feel. I think I have been up now for close to 36 hours. I'm tired.

The whole family met us at the airport. Ron, Alyson, the kids and Theresa and Peter. It was cute. The kids were all over me and I loved it!

The flight went well but I didn't sleep at all. It was a readathon and movie watching fest for me. The last leg of the flight was pretty rough. I was running on fumes. Luckily all of our transfers moved quickly and we caught our plane in the states no problem.

I'll report back again to give you the updates post trip. Thanks for following our adventure.

The long trip home

We are all packing up getting ready for our long journey home. We check out of the hotel at noon and will get some lunch. From there we get picked up from our hotel at 1:50 to go to the Queenstown airport. Our flight is to Auckland and we leave at 3:20. The LA flight is around 7:00 something. Arrive in LA at 10:00 a.m. and then off to Phoenix at Noon arriving at 3:00. I think it works out to about 24 hours of travel time. I'm exhausted already.

I had a wonderful trip but I am excited to get home to see my family and sleep in my own bed. In Queenstown, Helen, Jennifer and I have all been sleeping in the same room. A little too small for all of us.

Peter - Didn't you know I had super powers? I can do practically anything I put my mind too. I look forward to seeing you and TR when I get back.

Lord of the Rings

I only have a couple minutes but I wanted to give you a quick update. Today we went on the LOTR Tour and it was awesome. We were in a 4WD vehicle and got to see some romote locations. Awesome. At one point I was almost moved to tears. Maybe I'm just tired but I was moved by the beauty of what I was seeing. I have to bring my family back. I am already mapping out the locations in my head.

A fun point in the trip was when we were panning for gold. Helen was really into it. She found a fleck of gold loved it. She carefully wrapped it up in a kleenex to bring home. The whole rest of the trip she was asking about gold. Pretty cute.

The Downes and Rosier/Giff were split up for the tour today. We went in opposite directions. Sounds like theirs was good too.

Tomorrow is our last tour (Boat ride to a farm) and then we have a long trip home the next day. I think we will be travelling almost 24 hours until we get back to Phoenix. I have a couple good books lined up. So far I think I have read 5!

It is pouring in Queenstown

So I didn't go with the jet boat crew. I slept until 9:00 and took a nice long shower. Jennifer and the Downes went on a jet boat. Around 9:00 I woke up b/c of the rain! I could hear it pouring outside. I went down and got my coffee and got on line. You should have seen the crew coming back from their adventure. They were completely SOAKED! They were all laughing hysterically. It looked like fun but I think I made the right choice.

I'm getting ready to exchange a little more US cash for NZ cash. We have two and half days here and we are trying to map out our possible expenses. We don't want to have too many NZ dollars in our pockets when it is time to leave.

I'm glad we are on the real bus today and not a convertible bus. It should be pretty even in the rain.

I miss my family terribly but I am enjoying every minute of this place. I feel very fortunate to be able to go this trip with some of my best buddies.

Poor Bambi!

Today on the convertible bus tour we saw beautiful sheep farms and deer farms! Poor Bambi! The deer were in a field fenced in like we would cows, pigs and sheep. It was sad to see. Deer are supposed to be running around wild and free. I guess it is just how you look at it. Brad had some Bambi the other night for dinner. He said it was very good. Maybe I should give it a try?

After the bus tour we went up on the gondola. It was pretty. The highlight was the luge. It was so fun we went twice. I had to comfort Jennifer. She was scared to ride the ski lift. Good thing I'm so brave!

Tomorrow is Lord of the Rings tours. FUNSVILLE! The rest of the crew is going on a jet boat in the morning but I think a sleep in day is just what I need. Only a couple more days until I can see my family!

wine and roses

Well this is the last stop on our marathon journey through New Zealand. It has been relaxing, fun and incredibly beautiful and comfortable. Lots of wine, lamb and mussels and sun screen. The weather is comfortable but the sun is intense if you are directly in it for very long. Also the plants are bigger down here--amazing roses that are abundant and fragrant and with larger blooms than I can grow in my back yard, the fig tree are huge, and lavendar is everywhere! We went to a garden today over the lake that had flowers and plants galore. It seemed unreal because it was a place that was out of fairy tale. Tomorrow we go on the Lord of the Rings tour so I know there will be more unbelievable sites ahead.

I am on the fourth book of the Twighlight series and am dying to speak about the story but Kate, Mic and Ann won't let me since they are still on books 2, 3, and 1 respectively. Only Zach wants to hear about what happens because he has his own ideas about vampires. He read the last page.

Jet boating in the morning and more touring in the afternoon. This afternoon I went on the luge that Mom and Dad went on when they were here. I have the same pictures!

The convertible bus was nice

Today we saw Queenstown on an old convertible bus. It was nice. It makes me want to get convertible and cruise around town. We went to 3 art galleries, wine tasting and to lunch in a cute town called Arrowtown. One of the art stops was a jewelry maker. We each got some nice items. Wait until you all see Jennifer's beautiful ring. It was a nice slow day. We are taking a quick break and are going to go up to the top of the mountain on a gondola. We may luge down. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Our final stop - Queenstown

We are at our last location - Queenstown. I'm very excited that we are here. We have a small room but it overlooks the beautiful lake. It is a nice way to end the trip. As we were driving on the bus today we saw waterfalls, lush forest mountains, and beautiful lakes. It was a very nice drive.

Tomorrow we do an art and wine tour in a convertible bus. I am really excited about it. I think it will be a fun way to see the city. The next day is Lord of the Rings tour. FUNSVILLE.

We are all getting tired. I'm glad we have some time to relax.

We will report back soon.

hot chocolate helicopter ride

HYPERY JITTERY HYPER AND JITTERY

That's how i felt drinking my dark chocolate hot chocolate. They a delicious!!!!!!

The helicopter ride was awsome and we landed on the Fox Glacier and i got to sit by the pilot. It's definetly in my top ten.

last stop: queenstown

hey everyone...were in queenstown..not much for me to report that hasnt been already. ummmm long bus ride today...ugh...rainy...but yummy gelato when we got here!! wohoo...!! well thats all for now..

ta ta.....

Happy Birthday Anna Maria!

Tonight we celebrated Ann Marie's "special" birthday. We started the night with a little in room happy hour and then went out to eat at our favorite Franz Josef resturaunt "The Landing". We ate here 3 times during our stay. On the menu was lamb pizza, lamb salad, soup and kababs. It was a nice night out.

Tomorrow we get up early and have an all day bus ride to Queenstown. It is supposed to be pretty awesome there. This will be the last stop on our journey.

PS - Did we mention that tipping isn't customary in NZ? Crazy huh? We try to tip for people who help with our luggage and wait staff who actually care about our table. Sometimes we are left alone for a LONG time until we flag someone down.

A ride to remember

Well, today's venture was in everyone's top one or two adventures of the trip. It was the helicopter ride to the glaciers. This morning the weather was nice but getting cloudy. We got to the helicopter check in and Helen was noticeably nervous. She asked lots of questions about how long we would be up and was very anxious. We all tried to reassure her that it would be ok. They split up the Downes and the Rosier-Giff party into two different groups. Our group went second. Jennifer and I put Helen right in the middle of us so she would feel a little safer.

We went up and went first to Fox Glacier. On the way up we got very close to the mountains. We saw water falls and beautiful trees and snow capped mountains. AWESOME. The helicopter landed on the glacier and we were able to get out and walk around. It was pretty cool.

We were heading through the pass to the second glacier when our pilot decided that the weather was getting to bad to go through. We went around to the Frans Joseph glacier and got to see bits of that one as well. Our pilot said we were one of the last planes to go up. We were lucky!

When we got off the plane Helen said that whale watching and the helicopter ride were tied as her favorite adventure. These were the two things that scared her the most before she started.

Although I am home sick and missing my family, I am so glad that I was able to come on this trip. I have decided that I am going to bring Ron and the kids some day. It is too beautiful. They have to see it with me.

Tonight our villa is hosting a wine and cheese party before we head out to dinner. We decided that this would be Ann Marie's birthday party so we are trying to make it a special night.

January 5, 2009 – Christchurch to Franz Joseph

We took the Tranzalpine Express train from Christchurch to Greymouth. Again, amazing scenery. Breathtaking views of the mountains. Beautiful valleys. Many sheep and cattle. Huge rivers and great history as provided by the train conductor. At Arthur’s Pass, a small stop on the way, we learned that the town receives approximately 25 feet of rain per year. Greymouth is a quiet port city on the Tasman Sea. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed whitebait fish, hamburgers, salad, etc. It looked like a neat place.

We continued on a wild ride in the bus to Franz Joseph. The bus driver clearly knew the road well and drove the bus pretty hard. To say the least, it impacted the travel scrabble game as people and the game board (and letters) went flying a couple of times. We enjoyed dinner at The Landing – a local restaurant recommended by the Glenn Fern Villas hotelkeepers – Sue and Roger, and by the taxi driver - Murray. A good recommendation. We enjoyed lamb pizza and lamb salad. I highly recommend the Glenn Fern Villas in Franz Joseph.

Now reading “Moneyball.” I recommend it to all.

January 4, 2009 – Christchurch / Kaikura

We enjoyed a terrific bus ride from Christchurch to Kaikura. Amazing scenery. Kaikura is a peninsula with a high mountains (with some residual snow) overlooking the ocean. The beach city is very environmentally conscious and promotes a buy a tree program and several other programs aimed at making the city environmentally friendly. The whale watching was fabulous. The catamaran style jet propulsion boats delivered us to the viewing grounds. We were fortunate to see seven whales. One was sleeping, but we saw six dive. Two of them dived simultaneously. Sperm whales are both resident near Kaikura and transient through the area. There is a huge canyon off-shore from Kaikura that dropped from approximately 200 meters in depth to approximately 1,600 meters. Apparently, the underwater currents provide a mechanism to deliver plenty of food to the sperm whales that eat over a ton of food per day.

January 3, 2009 – Napier / Christchurch

Today, we spent a leisurely morning in Napier. We enjoyed breakfast outdoors at a public area. The weather was beautiful. We then went to the Napier airport. Domestic travel in New Zealand is much different than the U.S. There are no IDs to check, security to clear, or restrictions on carry-on luggage, except that the carry-on luggage must fit in front of you or above you in the compartment (“locker”).

As soon as we got to the airport, it started raining. The flight was one of the more turbulence plagued flights I have ever been on. We rocked and rolled, dropped, and tilted into Christchurch. It rained hard in Christchurch, which we were told was unusual. It cleared about 3-4 hours later to reveal a beautiful city. Many open, park-like spaces and a river running through the city. We walked around the city and finally decided to eat at “Mum’s” a 24-hour Japanese and Korean dining establishment. Good food was enjoyed by all.

I read the book “The Shack.” A terrific story that I would recommend to all.

Home sick

Even though I am on a trip of a life time here, I am getting home sick for my little family. This is the longest we've been apart. Luckily, Ron gives me updates on the kids and I've been able to call home a couple of times. Ron has been a trooper!

Tomorrow we go on a helicopter ride over the glaciers. I'm excited to see it. Helen is a little nervous but she is up for the adventure. What a trooper.

I'm still sucked into Twilight. I'm half way through the second book now. Jennifer is now starting the last book.

Tired. I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Pictures

Jennifer, Kate and Helen at the beach in Napier












Some of the sea glass Zachary & Kate found


















The view from our hotel room in Napier. You can see the ocean just beyond the trees. The jogging path runs 10-15K along the beach.










The view from our hotel room in Napier at night.












Jennifer, Kate and Helen at the start of our wine tour in Napier. We were at the Mission Winery.












Ann Marie and Brad at the Mission Winery

Zach has always wanted to walk out onto the tarmac to get on a plane. The flight from Napier to Christchurch gave him his chance.

The two whales we saw together. They dove at the same time.
Spectacular!

The whale watching boat we were on.

Downes at the beach in Kaikoura where we did the whale watching.











The AZ Seven at a bluff overlooking Kaikoura













Z, Kate and Jen having fun at one of our stops.

For all you car lovers. These two beauties were in the lot at the beach in Napier.

food, whale watching, helicopter ride

I really enjoyed the whale watching. It was cool to see 2 whales go under at the same time. Here are the four new things I've tried. Some of them aren't really from New zealand or anything but they are new for me. 1. Lemon muffins (the best!) 2. steam pudding 3. fish and chips 4. terryaki chicken.

I can't wait until the helicopter ride tomorrow. I hope it doesn't rain.

I didn't win the other scrabble game. Darn! but it was fun playing with Jennifer and kate (and Mikaela). I'm glad they came to New Zealand with us.

The people are really nice here. The train ride was fun. It wasn't very bumpy like I thought it might be.

response to comments

deuces is like two peace signs.... and the faces..well they dont shake their heads vigorously, they just bulge their eyes and stick out their tounges.

Greetings from Franz Josef

We arrived Franz Josef today. We traveled through the Southern Alps via train from Christchurch to Greymouth and then traveled by bus to Franz Josef. I will post a few pictures next. We all LOVE to check the blog and see if any of you have commented so please drop us a note whenever you can. We miss you all.

Here are a few random thoughts observations -

Kiwis will fly through anything. The Air New Zealand flight from L.A. was very bumpy. In fact, the worst I've ever been through - but, I figured that was because it was a long flight over the ocean. Then I found out that it was uncommonly rough and that one of the passengers had been picked up and thrown by the turbulence. Then, we traveled by plane from Napier to Christchurch. It was 10x worse than the international flight. The seat belts were extremely necessary as we would have all ended up on the ceiling if we didn't have them on. Whew!

Tearooms - tearooms are the common stopping place and gathering place in all towns. They are a cross between cafes, convenience stores, tourist shops, bus stops, and yes - they serve morning and afternoon tea.

Coke or Pepsi? - if you are a pepsi lover you won't find much of that here. We've only seen Pepsi once. It is coke, diet coke, sprite or fanta. Or, if you'd like a local favorite it would be L&P which is like a soda/lemonade or ginger beer which is like a root beer but even sweeter.

Tomato v. Ketchup - tomato sauce is what you find in NZ and it is pretty sweet. I've only seen Heinz once.

black pepper - the pepper here is finely ground - more like a powder than ground black pepper like we have in the states. I think it also has a sweetness to it but we are still debating that one.

The trip - The trip has been perfect. I couldn't have imagined it any better. There is something special about every stop. Hopefully the pictures tell a little about the beauty and special quality of all that we are seeing and doing. I really can't put into words how beautiful everything is.

The people have been very courteous and friendly. We've had some of the best bus drivers in the business. They all seem to enjoy dealing with crazy tourists like us and are full of wonderful and fascinating information that they are happy to share. "Dennis the Menace" from the Tamaki Village tour bus was one of the best. He was the one who inspired the "Imagine This" post regarding singing a song. I've had a recent thought about that one. How about Take Me Out to the Ball Game? Baseball is known as America's pastime and we all know the words....I think.

I'm really glad we decided to tour both the North Island and South Island. We arrived the South Island the day before yesterday and are now just over 1/2 way through our trip through NZ.

I will spend some time tonight posting a few pictures.
g'day!

Toilets in the Southern Hemisphere

TJ - This one is for you...

Twilight

During this trip we have been eating, drinking, sight seeing, and relaxing. As part of our relaxation we have been reading for leisure. It feels good! Jennifer, Mick and I are all sucked into the Twilight series. Jennifer and I have both read the first book Twilight since we've been here. Jennifer read Mick's copy of the second book New Moon and has started the 3rd book in the series. I am reading a different book right now waiting for Mick to finish New Moon. I was going to buy New Moon but all of the books stores in NZ are sold out of it! We got the last copy in the local book store of the 3rd book yesterday that Zach found for us. I think it fair to say we and all of NZ are hooked on vampires.

If anyone is interesting in a romance, this is for you! Edward the vampire is dreamy.

7 Sperm Whales

Today we went on a whale watching tour. We saw 7 Sperm Whales while we were out there. SEVEN! I was hoping we would see one let alone 7! At one point the boat was about 30-40 yards away from one. AMAZING! The best part was the final showing. We came across two who were swimming together. They had their breathing sync with one another and were blowing water at the same time. After about 5 minutes of watching them the dove at the same time and both of their tails came up at at the same time! BEAUTIFUL! We couldn't have planned it better if we tried.

It has been a long day. We started at 7:00 a.m. and got home around 7:00 p.m. We are all getting pretty tired. We had a long bus ride, another game of scrabble (Jennifer won), whale watching, lunch, wine tasting, and a long ride home.


I need to fire up. I have another week!


Tomorrow we get up early again. We are heading to Franz Josef by a trans alpine train. It is supposed to be beautiful. I'm thinking it is a train that has the glass roof and big windows so we can see everything. I think we will be able to blog more tomorrow when we get in to our next destination.

Scrabble victory

I just wanted to mention that Mick, Zach, Jennifer and I played travel scrabble on the way to Napier. Zach beat us all. I can't wait to have a rematch tomorrow as we travel to Christchurch. That 11 year old is going DOWN!

From Helen

Helen wanted me to let everyone know she said hello and she is having a good time. She is having a great experience and is glad she came.

So far Helen's favorite things are:

1. Sailing in Auckland
2. Maori day
3. Caves
4. Looking over the Pacific Ocean

Kate's day in Napier

My day started out nice with a run along the bay. I started out running with Ann Marie but she is a champion runner. She will down play it but she is FAST LIKE LIGHTENING! I made it about 3 miles and then walked the rest, she must have went about six miles. It was a beautiful place to run. On one side was the ocean and the other side the beautiful city. Pretty cool. Great way to start the day.

Today we went on two tours - A walking tour of the city and a wine tasting tour. Here are the highlights.

1. Walking tour - Napier is an Art Deco city. The city was wiped out in the 1930s by an earth quake. When the rebuild they did in Art Deco architecture. I didn't know what that was but i learn alot. It is basically 20s 30s style buildings. Picture pastels, geometric shapes, zigzag patterns, sun bursts and you will know what I am talking about. It was neat to learn the history of the town.
   
2. Wine tasting tour - We went on a HawksBay winetasting tour with our guide Karl and an Aussie named Vince. We hit about 4 wineries and tasted about 30 wines. At one stop they talked to us about wine/food pairings as we sampled from a delicious tappas plate. they have great wines but the NZ production only makes up about .28 of the world's wine industry. We had a nice day and great conversation.

After dinner and a walk along the beach we are settling in for the night. Tomorrow we fly to Christchurch. Christchurch is supposed to be the most English town outside of England. We'll see how it goes.

Eight More Pics

Mick and Zach at the Pohutu Geyser located within the Te Puia Maori Museum.

Ann Marie and Kate at the Pohutu Geyser. It can not be seen in this picture but just to the left side as you are looking at the geyser there was a second much smaller geyser that rarely goes off but did while we were there - a special and rare treat for visitors.

Mud pools located near the Geyser

Weaver working with the flax plant to make the skirts, baskets, etc. used by the Maori. The Te Puia museum has both a weavers school and a carvers school to help preserve the Maori culture.

A carving in process at the carving school.

Traditional Maori meeting house.

A traditional Wero (challange) occuring between one village and some new visitors... Te Ao Huri can be seen on the left of the picture. He was the "musket warrior" who came to the village to recruit more warriors.

Story telling continued with waiata (song and dance) once we were welcomed into the meeting house. Then we enjoyed a hangi feast (food cooked beneath the ground).

All I can say is Wow!

I can't believe I am doing this. Each place we go to is even more beautiful then the next. I feel very blessed that I can do this trip with my friends. It would only be better if Ron and the kids were with me. I know Ron would love it. I do have to admit that the kids are probably a little too young to really enjoy and remember it.

So Maori day was wonderful. We did a museum tour first, went back to the room and then went to the feast night. As part of the museum tour we got to see the geyser. It was really cool. I think it was one of the best parts for me. Yes, I think I love the Geyser and the hot mud pools. It may sound weird but the nature Amazed me. I was in awe! You could feel the heat from the geyser just going near it. You could see the mud bubbling! What was interesting was seeing a cold stream running right next to the hot geyser and the vegetation living right next to the mud pit and the geyser. COOL! How does that happen? All I can say is Wow!

As for the bus ride and the "Imagine This" Hypothetical song that Brad wrote about earlier . . . I don't want to talk about it. I want to pretend it never happened. Can we leave it at that!

Today was a good day. We are in Napier now and it is even more beautiful than Rotorua. Our hotel is across the street from the beach. As I write this I can look out on the Pacific and hear the ocean waves. All I can say is Wow! One interesting thing about this beach is that there is no sand. It is all little tiny black pebbles and rocks with white sea shell pieces scattered in. Zach and I found several pieces of sea glass in 3 different colors mixed into the rock.

Tomorrow Ann Marie and I are going to go on a run next to the ocean. They have a running/walking path that follows the ocean for a few miles. I'm pretty excited about it. After that we have a walking tour of the city, followed by wine tasting.

I miss ALL of you and I hope you had a very Happy New Year.

PS - Costco Travel is awesome. Things have been going so well. I will definitely use them again for trips!

Spa Day and old Maori boyfriends

So I opted to go to the hot mineral water spa rather than attend the cultural Maori experience. You may think I am shallow but this is my vacation! Well, I went to the spa that was advertised to be one of the top ten spas in the world from 2004 to 2007. Although it was nice it did not live up to the AZ spa standard set by Aji or Desert Ridge. Yes, there were natural hot mineral hot tubs along Rotorura's lake (along with an occasional whiff of the natural sulfur smell) and I did have a water jet spa treatment and facial, but the lack of regular spa ameneties--spa shoes, lounge chairs, food and beverage service, and no girlfriends to talk with (they went to the Maori experience) left me not as relaxed as I would have hoped.

I did attend the Maori dinner on New Year's eve and that was great. Hightlight of the night was when Kate said she saw her old Maori boyfriend as one of the performers--however I guess I misunderstood her because she later said he looked like her old boyfriend. She likes them tall and muscular. Ron?!

And the hypothetical question about what song to sing if you were put on the spot to sing something that respresents you and your country has caused quite a bit of discusison among our group--interesting to hear what the comments may be.

I WANNA BE MAORI!!

yeah its true..i wanna be maori. like, the people are so cool and laid back, and their culutre is mucho fascinating :) going to te puia was fun!! its this museum like thing where you go through and learn things about the maori peoples and some stuff about new zealand. i think we had the best tour guide, the rest, from what we saw, seemed to be, not as interested or as upbeat as ours. we got to see the largest geyser in the southern hemisphere. we got to go into a kiwi house, where they make it nighty night so you can see the kiwis. they said that the kiwis are related to the ostrich and the emu. if you know anything about those birds, you know that they're flightless and that they lay a big honkin egg. thus the kiwi lays a big ole egg too. the comparison they gave was a human woman (sorry men) giving birth to a 30 flippin pound baby!!!!!!!! ahhhh !! ouch. :/ we learned that kia ora is hello in maori. the tribe we visited is the only one to touch noses twice...the first touch meaning you (as your elders) greeting them. the second touch means you greeting the other person. when we went to the village and we were greeted by the maoris with the haka (which is used in many ways, but used mainly as a challenge) . thery make some crazy faces!! i love it !! ha later my mom, dad, kate, jennifer and i went downtown to celebrate new years with fireworks!! it rained a little but according to kate, ron and and his lit degree, claim that rain signifies the bringing of new beginnings, and the washing away of the old.

today we got up to take a bus from rotorua to napier. we went to the beach, which is just across the street from our hotel, and then to eat and get some gelato. :) yum.

i think i caught a cold from the kid who sat behind me on the auckland to rotorua bus...ugh horrible little kid germs. they spread like wild fire.

ow! i just banged my knee on the armrest of the chair!! (awwwww)

goodnight everyone!

happy new year (:p i got to celebrate it first!!) hehe

love yas

deuces.

December 31, 2008

Today was fun. We went to Tu Paui – formerly known as the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. We learned about traditional Maori culture, viewed traditional carving and dress making, and got to tour the largest geothermal geyser in the Southern Hemisphere. After visiting Tu Paui, we went to Tamaki village, a Maori village. There, we were introduced the Haka – a traditional ceremony during which the Maori people attempt to determine whether you are there for peace or war and attempt to intimidate would be challengers before any fighting began. We enjoyed the ceremonies, song, dance, and food.

New Year’s Eve in Rotorua brought the opportunity to go into town for the festivities – including a carnival and fireworks on the lake. Local streets were shut down to allow for ample foot traffic to and from the fireworks show. Live bands and DJs played at various pubs and outdoors. A little bit of rain fell right about 12:00 a.m., but it didn’t stop the fireworks or other festivities. It was fun to be one of the first people in the world to welcome the New Year and, unlike years past, get to see Sydney’s fireworks after welcoming the New Year.

Off to Napier on January 1, 2009.

Imagine This!

Imagine that you are riding on a tour bus in a rural part of a foreign country with citizens of many different countries, e.g., Italy, Japan, Australia, Belgium, etc. You are the only American on the bus. Suddenly, you are asked to introduce yourself including your name, where you are from, occupation, etc. Then … you are asked to sing a song representative of your country. If possible, the song should allow others to join you, if possible. You have about 1 minute to decide. What do you sing?