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.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
Friday, January 2, 2009
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:
So far Helen's favorite things are:
- Sailing in Auckland
- Maori day
- Caves
- 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.
Today we went on two tours - A walking tour of the city and a wine tasting tour. Here are the highlights.
- 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.
- 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.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
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!
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 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.
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.
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?
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