Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego??

Okay actually, it's where in the world am I?  After New Zealand I may have slightly dropped off the face of the blogging world as I do.  But I have spectacular revelations yet to share so here I am again.  Below is a link to my new blogging adventure as a Team Priority Health Champion.  Check it out.


http://www.teampriorityhealth.com/2012/05/well-i-made-it/


http://www.teampriorityhealth.com/2012/05/new-champion-my-story/

Final NZ Post

**Will add pictures soon.  Forgot my hard drive today** 


I've been so busy catching up this month, I hadn't even finished my final NZ post.  For shame!  Oh, well here it is.


Sunday, October 2 was our final rugby game and it was a great one, New Zealand vs Canada.  The crowd was an absolute sea of black and they were all excited to see the All Blacks play.  Canada had maybe a thousand fans out of the 60,000 there but they were great fans.  Canada did not stand a chance against the AB's but they played very well.  They weren't scared and played hard.  It ended up being a great game.  After the game we started our trek back north.  


We only had three days remaining and we really wanted to re-visit some spots that we had been on our honeymoon.  Mike drove us the 5-ish hours up to Rotorua that night and we had a good nights sleep at our hotel.  The next morning we headed out for a run together in the rain and ended up going about 10k total.  We did a 7k loop through the Rotorua Redwood forest and it was majestic.  With all the steam from the various thermal things and the huge trees it was a wonderful run.  Getting back to the hotel though turned out to be a soggy project.  The light rain that we were running in suddenly turned to a downpour and we got soaked.  Back at the hotel we had hot showers, skyped with Mom & Dad about the fire and decided what we were going to do next.  We decided on a little bit of shopping, diner at a place called Brew and then a trip to the Polynesian Spa.  All spots were wonderful and we really enjoyed our time at the spa.  


The next morning we headed north again.  Stopping in Hamilton we had a wonderful walk through the Hamilton Gardens and a delicious lunch.  The Hamilton Gardens were some of the best gardens I have ever visited because they were so interesting.  They had a whole section of the garden dedicated to different types of gardens.  A Japanese garden, an Indian garden, an Italian Renaissance garden... so neat.  We ended up about 20 minutes south of Auckland to stay that evening and we went to a fantastic little pub for dinner.  


Wednesday was our last day and we headed into Auckland to see some of the rugby tourist stuff and find some spots from our honeymoon.  We found our little park, Emily Place.  It was my favorite part of the whole trip.  I can't believe Mike & I have been married almost 5 years.  We took a hike through huge Auckland Domain and then tripped down Parnell Street looking for a little restaurant that we loved.  Unfortunately when we found it, it was empty and under construction.  Bummer, but we still had a nice time shopping and walking on such a beautiful day.  After that it was back to the airport to come home.  30 some hours later we made it home and were wide awake at 2am!  It was an amazing trip and I couldn't have asked for anything else.

It All Went So Fast

A view from Mt Cawte.

And now we're home.  The last few days went so fast that I scarcely had time to take it all in in let alone blog about it.  After our hike in Abel Tasman National Park, we did some exploring closer to our cottage.  We drove further up into the sounds one day.  We were debating whether we would go kayaking or go for a drive and we stopped to talk to Vik on our way up to the car.  He checked the weather and said that even though some weather was headed in, we wouldn't get any of it.  We chose the drive and it was a very good choice.  After running to Linkwater to grab some beer we hit a hail storm that was so heavy that we were whited out!  Very crazy!  Kayaking in the hail would have been very horrible.  As the storm backed down to a drizzle we headed out into the sounds.  There was much to see and we stopped at a beach after about 30 minutes or so of driving.  The rain had stopped and we explored the beach, finding quartz, shells, weird birds and a little cave.  After a good walk we got back in the car and decided to head back to the cottage for some rainy weather snuggling.

Mike carefully inspecting dirt.

Saying goodbye atop Mt Cawte.

We finished out our week, with an attempted kayaking trip, a hiking jaunt and our last trip to Blenheim.  We attempted to kayak, but there was too much boat traffic and therefore too many waves.  Also, Mike was just too big for the one person kayak we hauled down for him!  It was definitely one of the most hilarious situations we were in the entire trip.  If someone had only video taped us, it would have been a youtube comedy hit!  Then after cleaning up we headed to Blenheim via Havelock Waterfall hike.  We grabbed groceries and a bit of internet in Blenheim.  Friday, our last full day on the south island was our clean up/pack up day.  We cleaned the cottage, packed up our stuff, did one last hike up Mt Cawte and made dinner for our hosts, Yvonne & Vik.  Being the fantastic people that they are, they brought down some drinks and fruit for dessert.  I made chili, rice (Moore style) and beer bread for dinner and Mike made yummy chocolate chip cookies (called biscuits in NZ).  We had a lovely dinner together and they invited us up the next morning for one last hurrah, breakfast.  Mike and I did dishes and relaxed that night wishing we didn't have to leave.  We gazed out the bedroom window at the sea of stars for an hour at least chatting about nothing before we drifted off to sleep.

Flowers at the cottage.

Mike's baking.

The next morning was one last breakfast with the Kollers.  Vik made eggs, bacon & tomatoes on the barbie.  We look forward to the day that we get to cross paths with them again for they were truly wonderful people.  Off then for the curvy drive to Picton and the ferry ride over to Wellington for the last time.  

France vs Tonga

Arrival in Wellington was good and we found a way to avoid the game traffic to get to our hotel.  The game that day was France vs Tonga.  France should have steamrolled them, but Tonga played excellent and France's response was lackluster.  Surprising performance, since they are now in the Semi Final game vs Wales.  I will root for Wales, so sorry to any Frenchies reading.  Tonga celebrated in grand fashion, as well a tiny island nation of 100,000 people should when they beat a nation of 62 million!  It was a fun game to be at.  Later that night we walked down to a pub that we had found after another game, but it was already packed to the gills, so we had a quick pint and wandered back towards where we were staying, window shopping the entire way.  We happened upon a pub nearby and grabbed a pint and a shared table to watch England vs Wales.  We began to chat with our table mates and they actually became our mates by the time the night was over.  A father and son that had a great lot to say about many things.  They were immensely fun and they generously bought us some pints!  It was a very good night all in all.  The next day was our much anticipated last game... New Zealand All Blacks vs Canada!

Waterfall hike in Havelock.

Beautiful New Zealand

Dolphins!

We’ve been drinking in the beautiful sights our last week on the South Island.  While waiting for the ferry on Friday, we were greeted at the Picton terminal with two very welcome things, a school group doing hakas and traditional Maori songs and some dolphins.  The school group was great and I had vowed to see dolphins this time in New Zealand, so I was excited to accomplish that goal!  We returned from Wellington on Saturday after watching USA give 29 valiant minutes.  We won’t discuss the other 51 minutes where the USA went down in a ball of flames… But the game was good fun.  If you didn’t know that New Zealand and Australia were rivals in sport, you would have known at the game.  There were thousands of USA fans.  Mike and I began calling them Kiwi-Americans.  They rooted for us because they hate Australia!  We needed all the help the Kiwis gave.  Although it was difficult to discern who was American and who was a Kiwi.

Go USA!

Saturday, when we arrived back to our little New Zealand house, Vic asked us up for drinks.  As the All Blacks were playing that night we thought we’d go up about 4pm have a drink then return to our cottage for dinner and the game.  But, gracious hosts that they are, Yvonne had already put in extra “tea” (tea means dinner in NZ) for us and invited us to stay, eat and watch the game.  It was a wonderful night full of fun conversation again.  I’m still pinching myself as to how lucky we were to find such lovely hosts and a wonderfully beautiful place to stay while we are here.  The All Blacks had a decisive win over France and put them squarely into the Quarter Finals.

Sunday, we went out for a run on hilly Moetapu Bay Road then skyped with my Mom & Dad for a bit.  It was nice to see them and catch up a bit.  Then we decided to go for a drive further out into the sounds.  It was a beautiful day that quickly turned cold & dreary.  We actually got caught in quick hail storm that was so strong that we couldn’t see on the road for a few minutes!

Beach further up in the sound.

The next morning we slowly got around (we’ve had a daylight savings time change on Saturday night/Sunday morning) and decided to pack up and head over to the Abel Tasman National Park for an overnight hike.  We arrived in to Motueka and checked in with the i-Site to make some plans.  They gave us some great recommendations and we booked our campsite in the park and our water taxi ride back to the car.  We were ambitious and planned to do approximately 36 km of the 54 km trail through the park.  Monday we dropped the car at the water taxi lot and headed out on the trail.  It was a very nice 3 hour hike into our campsite on a little isolated beach, but we were starving by the time we arrived and the sun sadly was already behind the hill and we were getting cold fast.  No fires in the Abel Tasman park so, we got around to get the stove started and make some hot food & drinks fast.  Unfortunately our stove was broke!!  We were tired, cold and hungry eating cold chicken and crackers for dinner.  By 7:30pm we were in our tent shivering and huddling together to get warm.  It was a long night in the tent and possibly one of our coldest tented nights ever.  

Headed out.

The beach we camped at.

Sunrise.

The next morning, there were no eggs with no stove… so we both had a granola bar and headed out on the trail so we could warm up.  We had a big climb out from the beach we were at, so we were sweating and warm in about 20 minutes.  We had a set time to be picked up by the water taxi, so we could not waste any time.  They informed us, that if we were not on the beach we would be stranded!  Though, I highly doubt that would have been the case (not very Kiwi-like), but it probably helps them to keep on their schedule.  The hike on Tuesday was definitely tough, but so beautiful.  It was worth every step uphill that we took, just breathtaking.   

First people across the beach on our hike out of the bay we camped at.

Awesome 40m suspension bridge.

When we got to where the taxi was to pick us up we were about 45 minutes early and there was a lodge/café there.  It was quite an expensive and posh place, so we settled on just a snack and two beers, so that we didn’t go broke.  We thoroughly enjoyed it and then headed down to the beach to lie in the sun and wait for the taxi.  The taxi ride was great.  It was great to see everything from the water side that we had hiked and a bit more that we didn’t hike.  We even stopped at one of the islands to pick up 2 scientists.  At the end of the trip the taxi boat drove right up onto a trailer that was being pulled by a tractor and drove us right back down the road still in the boat to our cars.  

Mike resting while waiting for the taxi.

Aqua Taxi ride back to the car.

We were thinking about going to the USA game in Nelson that would have been on our way back, but we were pretty tired after such an arduous two days, so we picked up some groceries and headed back.  We planned on watching the game on TV last night, but unfortunately it didn’t play.  So we had dinner, watched Amazing Race Australia and  Step Up 2 then went to bed early for some body repair.  Unfortunately Mike turned his ankle while hiking so this morning we are icing his ankle before we head into Blenheim to use the internet and I can upload these last two posts.  Oh, how I miss internet in the USA.  WiFi is free and so easy to find….  I will value it when we arrive back home next week.

Boots cooling off on the beach.

Week Two

Mt Cawte - The hill we climbed that is behind the cottage we rented.

Hard to believe that next week is our last on the South Island.  We’re taking the ferry again over to Wellington for the much anticipated USA vs Australia.  Australia lost to the Irish last weekend, so they will be coming for us with a vengeance to prove they can play good rugby.  I hope the Eagles are ready because we have been beaten in the past by the Aussies by an average of 31 points.  We waited to book hotels for these weekends and it seems to have paid off.  We’ve been paying much less than I was finding rates when looking from the US.  We are very pleased that the prices have come down now that we are here.  Price gouging was huge in the news when we arrived and all of the Kiwis that we’ve talked to say they are disgusted with those that are charging the exorbitant rates.

Spring in Havelock.

The last few days have been nice and relaxed.  Wednesday we went into Blenheim and did a lot of internet-ing.  The one thing that I am slightly regretting about our accommodations is the lack of internet.  We can’t look anything up about where we want to go or what we want to do, without making a 40 minute drive into town.  I think it’s probably best for me in the long run, because it keeps me away from the work email and worrying about things at home.  After all, checking my work emails twice a week is hardly shabby.  We got lots of things researched and booked for the last two weeks of our time here and went to the Blenhiem i-site for a bit of information on wine touring that we intended to do on Thursday.

First winery - Forrest.

Winery touring on Thursday was so much fun!  The Marlborough region of New Zealand that we are staying in is famous for its wines and there are over 80 wineries in the area.  It seems everywhere you go in the valleys there are lots and lots of grapes and lots and lots of wineries.  There are almost as many ways to tour the area as there are wineries, but we settled on a self-guided bike tour after much consideration.  We had a really nice day and made it to at least 7 or so wineries.  They are generous in their complimentary tastings, so you have to say no thank you or else you’d hardly be able to walk, let alone bike.  The bike ride was easy other than the rather strong wind we were sometimes riding into and we had great chats at all the wineries.  The only winery that we were tasting with more than one other couple was called Omaka and they said it’ the busiest they been… ever.  I think there were 7 people there at once so, it’s quite a bit different than the packed tours I’ve done in Michigan.  Many of the wineries had restaurants as well and we shared an amazingly delicious chicken curry at the recommended lunch stop.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and we couldn’t have waited for a better one to savor the delicious Sauvignon Blancs and Pinot Gris of the area.

Super hot biking pic!

Still planning what we’re doing next week.  We were considering a drive to the Abel Tasman National Park for a hike or the Pancake Moutains(or hills) that Kevin & Jennifer suggested a little further south.  Whatever we do I know we’ll have a nice time and it won’t be too crowded.  Apparently even with 80,000 plus visitors, New Zealand is still plenty big!

South Africa vs Fiji

South Africa vs Fiji

Note - Didn't find internet in Havelock.  Internet is hard to find in New Zealand!!

We were in Wellington over the weekend for South Africa vs Fiji.  We were cheering for the Fijian underdogs, but unfortunately they just weren’t up to the task.  They were looking pretty good until the end of the first half and then the Springboks started firing on all cylinders.  It ended up 48-3, I think and even the Springbok fans were cheering for Fiji to score at the end.  We also finally had our first bit of travel blahs. 

Looking over the city from the Te Papa National Museum

Everything was good until we got into Wellington.  The walk from the ferry to downtown and near where we were staying was a solid 40 minutes.  It was a fine walk but I think we both needed lunch and didn’t realize it.  We decided to take a chance on a hostel for the night and it mostly turned out well.  We checked in and headed over to the national museum.  We looked at a handful of the exhibits and then realized we badly needed food.  The museum was beautiful and we will definitely be going back to visit again.  We wandered down to the water front and it was just absolutely swamped with rugby fans.  We finally settled on a relatively empty café and settled in for a bite to eat.  While sitting there, I realized I was just not having an amazing time, so I asked Mike if he was having a good time in Wellington.  He grinned at me and said…. No.  Pretty funny.  Our dinner of lamb burgers was delicious though and I think it gave us what we needed, because we then headed to the game and we were feeling much better.  The game was great and we weren’t too cold.  Our seats had us right next to the entry for the teams, so it was fun to see them up close as they came and went.  They are some very big boys!! 

South Africa heading into the tunnel.

We headed back to the hostel to see what the rest of the evening held for us.  I was a little worried from some online reviews that I had read, but had not too much to worry about.  The room was clean and we had booked into a 4 person dorm room, but after some room mix ups we ended up in a room all by ourselves.  There was a bathroom in the room and it all was quite clean.  The best bit was there was a bar attached to the hostel & it had great drink deals and some delicious cheap food.  Our cheapest most delicious meal "out" in New Zealand yet.

Reading the paper on the ferry back to Picton.  Down with Australia!

The next morning we were on the early ferry out and we wandered about Picton a bit waiting for the library to open so that we could use the internet.  Picton was having a Spring Festival so we sampled some free wine and food watched a singer and a cooking demonstration.  A school was also selling venison sausages and patties.  We had one each for a snack then used the internet and headed back to the house.  We had set up a time to head up to the main house and have some drinks with our hosts Yvonne & Vic, so late in the afternoon we headed up.  Drinks turned into more drinks and then snacks and more drinks and then dinner.  We had such a lovely time getting to know them.  They are originally from Switzerland and moved here to New Zealand quite some time ago.  We are counting ourselves lucky to have some a nice place to call home while we are here.

Yesterday the weather was quite cold and dreary.  We even had a full on thunderstorm in the evening.  So, it was the perfect day to just vegetate and stare out at the bay.  Today we’ve already been for a very ambitious run/hike up Mt Cawte (1,500 feet in elevation!) that is behind our little house.  It was an absolutely amazing view.  Mike and I sat for quite some time at the top just saying… Wow.  Too bad we didn’t take the camera.  We’ll remember it the next time.  Now we’re off to explore Havelock and hopefully we find some free internet so that I can upload this post and some of the green lipped mussels that they raise in the sound.

First Week

Rainbow while driving Lewis Pass

Hard to believe that we’ve been here almost a week.  We’re headed back across on the ferry today to Wellington for our second game.  Today we’ll see South Africa take on Fiji.  The Springboks are the reigning World Cup champs and they have a long ways to go to remain so.  We watched Wales almost beat them at our first game.  I’m a bit worried about the ferry ride as I didn’t fair too well on the first one, about 15 minutes into the 3 hour trip and I was feeling very sea sick.  I survived without actually losing my cookies by getting some fresh air, taking some “anti-quease” and falling asleep.  I plan on taking the “anti-quease” before we leave this time.

Mountains while driving via Lewis Pass

We had a pretty eventful last few days and we’ve driven about half the distance of the country.  After driving south to Wellington from Auckland, then south to our house on Moetapu Bay (including ferry trip), then south to Christchurch we finished up by driving back north via the Lewis Pass to our house.  It was at least a 6 hour drive with a few stops to take pictures and one grocery shopping trip.  I, once again, betrayed my better instincts and asked Mike when to stop for fuel.  We ended up squeaking into Blenheim with only 7 miles left in our fuel range.  We decided that from now on I will decide when we stop for petro.  For Mike’s benefit I will say that we passed 2 gas stations that were closed before 6pm.  Why would a gas station close before 6pm??

We had a great time visiting Kevin & Jennifer in Christchurch.  They live outside of town in the plains on some of the flattest land we’ve seen in New Zealand.  It was great to catch up, see someone we knew and get their views on so many New Zealand things.  They’ve been living here for 14 months and they had lots of stories to share.  They also had some great recommendations on places to visit.  Wednesday, Mike and I went for a flat land run.  The roads are so crazy!  We went straight from Kevin & Jennifer’s place then ended up somehow going in a triangle back to their road.  Why on flat land do roads go on angles?  Mike would like to recommend many things to the people that build roads in New Zealand!   

Earthquake damage in Christchurch

Once we got back and showered up we headed into Christchurch to Kevin & Jennifer’s favorite breakfast place.  Drexel’s is an American breakfast restaurant and it was delicious.  I had 2 huge fluffy gluten free pancakes with a fresh fruit salad and tea.  So delicious.  Then we headed downtown to see the earthquake devastation and the redzone.  It was very interesting to see it with Kevin & Jennifer as they were able to comment on how much progress the city has been making in securing the buildings and opening them back up or tearing them down.  It was very sad to see all the devastation that the earthquakes brought.

 After walking about town we drove back to the house to have some chili and give Kat a call.  Kat was a student vet at Green Meadows some time ago.  We met through Darcy and got along quite well.  She is on her second season in New Zealand as a vet and lives to the south of Christchurch in Ashburton.  We took a drive to Mt Hutt, but found the road to the ski fields closed so we headed to Methven for dinner.  Kat was able to meet us and we had a great time catching up.  Kevin & Jennifer were excited to meet another American and one that was a vet.  I learned lots about the dairy industry here in NZ.  It was so interesting.  We crashed one last night in Christchurch and then said our goodbyes to start on our drive back.

Mike looking at the Maruia Falls

 We spent yesterday relaxing around the house, exploring the beach and we took a run/hike up around the sound.  It was a nice day just relaxing and being on vacation.  We watched Japan vs New Zealand too.  I have lots to say about food here, so maybe I’ll get a post written next week about all of our food adventures. (I'll add some pictures when we have free internet tomorrow.)