The Road to Rotorua

Over the course of 4 days, we did a lot of driving through New Zealand.  New Zealanders have a particular whimsical flair, and yes I'm odd, but I absolutely adored their roadsigns.  Here's a brief montage of some of my favorites that we snapped out of El Heap's window along our travels:

On our fourth and final full day in New Zealand, we went down south to Rotorua. I saw a feature in our travel guide for "Kiwi 360" and I'd really wanted to go there, however the actual address was somewhat lacking in the book. We knew we were getting close according to the map, so Eric pulled into a gas station for directions.

Eric asked the guy, "Do you happen to know of a place called Kiwi 360 around here?" The attendant's response was simultaneously shocking and hilarious: "Oh yeah, of course. It's just up the road a bit. You won't miss it. It stands out like a dog's balls." When we traveled about five minutes further up the road, we found that while his description was rather crass, it was also fairly apt:

Kiwi 360 is an enormous kiwi farm (fruit, not birds).  We experienced much of it in a heavy downpour of rain, but it was fascinating nonetheless.  We learned that kiwis originated in China and were first marketed as "Chinese gooseberries," but that name was a fail with American consumers, so they were rechristened "kiwi fruit" which sounded more appealing and exotic.  We were also surprised to find that--Tyler and Steph, this is for you--kiwi fruit grows on vines not trees.

After leaving Kiwi 360, we continued our southerly travels to Rotorua.  We loved the picturesque museum there.  Eric is pictured below standing in an athletic field in front of it.  He asked me, "Do you know what kind of a pitch this is?" He was not impressed with my immediate response of "Quidditch!" and he rolled his eyes and sighed, "No, it's cricket."  (I think I'd have preferred Quidditch.)  I also really enjoyed all the colorful poppies--they're one of my favorites!

We continued on to Whakarewarewa (try saying that three times fast) to the thermal village.  The village consisted of small streams and hot pots that emitted a foggy steam.  It reminded me of the geysers in Yellowstone.  Really beautiful, really interesting, and really stinky.  The whole place reeked of sulphur, but once you got past the stench, it was really quite enjoyable.

Eventually, we headed back to Auckland and bid a fond farewell to New Zealand!  We both loved, loved, loved New Zealand and agree that it's one of the most beautiful places we've traveled.

The Northern Island, NZ

Our third day, we headed about 3 hours north with El Heap to upper New Zealand, which is covered in lush forest and lined with sandy beaches.  It was only about 68 degrees outside, so it was a bit chilly for swimming, but it was perfect for sea kayaking.  We rented a little kayak and took it out to explore some islands in the bay.  We were completely alone on the islands, so it was pretty hilarious watching Eric meticulously perch the camera on a bit of driftwood, set the timer, and race back to the kayak so that we could get some photos together.  On the way back to the mainland, I may or may not have accidentally on purpose splashed Eric a few times with my oar.

After returning our kayak, we took El Heap exploring.  We drove to the summit of a nearby mountain overlooking the valley below and the sea beyond.  We passed more sheep (with lambs, too!), and we found a beautiful waterfall.  I took my chances as a left-hand-driver, and I may or may not have swiped my passenger-side rearview mirror on a narrow one-way bridge, and Eric may or may not have screamed like a little girl from the passenger seat and cried that he was fearing for his life.  Hypothetically speaking, of course, it was a good thing we fully insured El Heap.

We stopped and toured a chocolatier, and came away with some phenomenal chocolate covered raspberries, strawberries, and apricots.  Eventually, however, it got dark and we headed back to the city, snacking on our treats and rocking out to Eric's iPod.  It was a fabulous day!

Caving with Glowworms

On our second day in Auckland, we took a tour bus to the Glowworm Caves in Waitomo.  The driver prompted us to "pop inside for our bits and bobs," where they provided us with a lovely breakfast that Eric dubbed the "kitchen sink muffin" as it contained a variety of assorted seeds, vegetables, and cheese.  We also discovered the delicious Feijoa fruit.  We drove for about two hours through hilly, emerald green pastures covered with hundreds of sheep and cows.  

The Waitomo Glowworm Caves were outstanding!  We disembarked the bus and were greeted by our very friendly Maori tour guide.  We descended about 100 feet down a narrow, dark tunnel to an underground river where she ushered us into a little boat.  She turned off her flashlight (our only light source) and pulled the boat along the river using rope that had been suspended between the walls of the cave.  When we looked up above us, thousands of tiny green lights lit the cave ceiling in a pattern that I can only describe as a constellation of non-flashing-lightning-bug-esque stars.
  

The guide turned the light back on and we saw hundreds of gossamer strands hanging from the ceiling.  Apparently glowworms are rather akin to spiders. They suspend web-like threads and unsuspecting bugs are attracted to the worms' glow.  When a bug flies into the trap, the glowworm is able to retract the thread in a fraction of a second to feast on the captured prey. Gross, but cool-gross.

After our boat ride ended, we were escorted through the rest of the caves. They told us that they host an annual Christmas carol concert in the biggest cavern, which sounded amazing to me.  The acoustics must be spectacular!

When our spelunking experience came to a close, our tour bus took us to lunch at the Big Apple Cafe.  I especially liked the massive 20-ft apple outside.  We ate lunch out back on the veranda overlooking one of the many farms in the region.  For some reason it was interesting to me to see a tractor and sheep surrounded by ferns and palm trees.  

Tyler & Stephanie--gotta ask--trees or vines?  Just to be clear, we're looking at the photo above, in the bottom-left quadrant, at the rows behind Eric.  In this case, Tyler, you would be correct: vines. 

Auckland, Here We Come!

Saturday, Sep 11th, 11:00 AM: Depart for LAX
Fly, fly, fly. . .
Monday, Sep 13th, 9:00 AM: Arrive Auckland, New Zealand

Yes, it was two full calendar days from leaving our doorstep to arriving in Auckland (which translated to roughly 27 actual hours).  Sleep was not our friend.  However, we were so excited to be there that we managed to power through our jet-lag.

Before we left, Eric spent many hours researching the perfect Kiwi rental car agency, and after we'd landed and passed immigration & customs, we picked up the fruit of his labors: El Heap.  Literally.  I particularly appreciated the brightly-colored decals plastering the car announcing that we were cheapos driving a heap, just in case anyone couldn't have gleaned that from the car itself.

As Eric mastered left-hand-lane driving, we made our way to our hotel in downtown Auckland. After we'd settled in and showered, we hit the pavement and started exploring.

  

  

It didn't take long for these two Yanks, Ear-ic and Peege, to fall in love with New Zealand.  The people were so friendly and Auckland was gorgeous and clean.  We took in all the sights and strolled along the boardwalk watching hundreds of yachts and sailboats.  We also visited Auckland Tower where we enjoyed a fantastic dinner as we marveled at the panoramic views from the revolving restaurant overlooking the city as the sun set over the harbor. 

 

  

Congratulations, Rex & Tori!

This weekend Eric's uncle Rex got married, so Eric's parents, his three brothers' families, and Eric, Courtney and I, all caravanned up to Seattle for the wedding. On the way up, Jordan, Shawnee, and Courtney rode with us in our car. We left Friday after work and rolled into Seattle at about 6:15 a.m., however when we got there, no one remembered how to get to Rex's. When I pulled out my trusty iPhone to Google-map it, Eric realized that he'd forgotten the address at home on the table. 

We didn't really want to awaken the house at that hour, so Eric and Jordan decided that they could just wing-it and get us there. We got off on an exit and drove to a masculine chorus of "oh yeah, I totally recognize that--his house is just up there. . ." We got quite a nice tour of Seattle's suburbs, but unfortunately, none of the houses that "looked just like Rex's" were actually Rex's.

My favorite part happened as we were searching a random subdivision and Eric announced, "Okay, I think we're going to come to a stop sign up here and then we're either going to go left or we're going to go right." Brilliant deductive reasoning at work. After we did arrive at a stop sign and turned either left or right, my second-favorite moment happened when Jordan exclaimed, "Look--there's the cemetery next to Rex's house!" and Shawnee's tired voice sounded from the back seat, "Uh, Jordan, that's a preschool." Cemeteries/preschools, same diff, right?

Eventually, about an hour later, Courtney (the unmarried one who maybe isn't accustomed to male navigational ego) finally lost it and called Rex. Within 15 minutes we were at his doorstep and racing to see who could be first to the shower.

Eric's darling Grandma Vendla asked us to take a photo of all nine of her children together, and she was very specific in her request for faces only. So, here are all of the faces of Eric's maternal family.  

After the wedding, Rex treated us all to a beautiful reception and dinner on the harbor. It was spectacular. That night we stayed up late playing a game with the family. It works like this: you play in teams of two, another player draws a card, reads a theme, counts to three, and the two teammates say the first thing that comes to mind. If both teammates say the same thing, they earn a point.

For instance, the card reader would say, "An internet search engine: 1, 2, 3," and if both partners simultaneously respond "Google," they get a point. The same team reads three cards, and then the next team begins their turn. We had a really fun time and laughed till we cried, mostly at poor sleepy Scott's expense. Keep in mind, we were playing at midnight after driving through the previous night. 

Tyler: "A white meat: 1, 2, 3."

Kiera (Scott's partner): "Chicken!"

Scott: "Oat!"

All the other players: "Scott, did you say goat?", "Scott, oats are not meat.", "Seriously?"

Tyler: "A sport played on horses: 1, 2, 3." 

Kiera: "Polo!" 

Scott: ". . ." (blank stare)

Tyler: "Scott, Kiera has a Polo teeshirt on. You're looking right at her. It spells out the word POLO in huge block letters across the front. Uh, polo maybe? Okay, last one. A tree that bears small fruit: 1, 2, 3." 

Kiera: "Cherry!" 

Scott: "Raspberry!"

Tyler: "Scott, a tree. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the concept of a tree. They have trunks. Often times they contain the word tree in their name, such as: cherry tree, apple tree, apricot tree."

It was a fun evening, and Ty & Steph won the game.  (They beat Eric and me by a single point.  Lame!)  The next morning we got up early, ate brunch at Iver's, and toured Pike's Market. After which Tyler, Stephanie, and Nathan evicted our previous traveling companions, and we headed for home.

Even with a four-month-old infant, the drive home wasn't nearly as eventful as the drive there, aside from Tyler and Stephanie's heated debate over whether or not some vegetation we passed was actually trees or vines. Tyler didn't take well to my suggestion that maybe they'd been looking at different things. He vehemently maintained that they had, in fact, been looking at the same things, and that those things were definitely vines, not trees as Stephanie had proposed. So much for peacemaking with this clan. . .

Thank you, Rex, for letting this bunch of hooligans come ransack your house for a few days. We really had a fantastic time. We're so happy for you and your beautiful new wife Tori!