homeward bound

Flight #1:  Wellington, NZ to Auckland, NZ

• Quick, 1 hour flight.  We were served cottage pies and wine on board.  Gazed out the window at all the roads we traveled the past two weeks to drive from Auckland to Wellington.  Completely relieved to have handed over the luggage until Los Angeles.  Sad to be leaving, but it hasn't quite hit us.

Flight #2:  Auckland, NZ to Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.

• Flight was delayed leaving so was able to watch Home and Away one last time in airport.  Longest jaunt of the trip, 10 hour flight, crossing international date line.  Were served yummy dinner of ginger sesame chicken, with wine, followed by ice cream, snacks, and Cadbury hot chocolate.  On demand movies, I watched Marley and Me.  Tearjerker.  Lots of turbulence, slightly scary to experience in the middle of the night.  Barely any sleep...5 hours while fighting a headache.  Woke up, had ham and cheese frittata and tea for breakfast.  Opened shades on plane to experience sunlight.
• Departed NZ at 7 pm MONDAY evening.  Arrived LA at 11 am MONDAY morning.  Freaky time travel!

14 hour layover in Los Angeles

• We made it through customs, with little trouble due to swine flu, and were thankfully able to recheck our baggage 14 hours in advance! 
• Bret's friends still live in LA and his best pal Matt was flying in at the same time as us, so we met him, and had our first taste of America, Rubio's fish tacos (my favorite!) and a fountain Dr. Pepper...it's good to be home!

• Showered and cleaned up at Matt's place...the tiredness is starting to kick in!
• Visited USC's campus
• Happy hour with Matt...first American beer (Blue Moon draft)!
• Dinner in Santa Monica at Barney's Beanery outside on the patio.  

•  Back to the airport, greeted by dozens of local and national news vans, covering the swine flu.

Flight #3:  Los Angeles, CA to Dallas, TX

• Red-eye flight overnight, Bret slept the entire time, I listened to music and got a taste of my first American television from NBC, The Office
• Arrived in Dallas for a 3 hour layover at 5 in the morning.  So tired...can't sleep!

Flight #4:  Dallas, TX to Omaha, NE

• Quick flight, 1 hour.  Right before boarding, Bret realizes in his utter exhaustion, he has left his book and beloved iPod on previous flight.  Racing towards the other gate, only the book is waiting for him.  Frustrated, we fly into Omaha.
• As approaching Omaha skyline, I am feeling butterflies in my stomach as tears well up in my eyes.  I cannot even begin to process that we are actually home.
• Back on Omaha soil.  We made it.

• Last people off the plane, we freshen up, call American Airlines about the iPod, and walk up the ramp, back to our families.  Security guard welcomes us back to Omaha, and notifies us of movie filming at top of ramp, completely confusing us, turns out it was just my mom with her camera (so I thought).

• Homecoming to Bret's parents and my mom.  Greeted with a festive kiwi-green welcome home New Zealand sign, flowers, and GEORGE CLOONEY!
• Sure enough, GC is filming a movie...in the Omaha airport.  He sure is handsome in person, but as you can imagine, after 48 hours of travel, it is all a bit overwhelming.

 Not the best pic through the glass...but that's him!!!

• Lunch at New York Burrito (how I've missed thee) with our families!

•  Must. get. sleep. now.
  

Bye bye New Zealand...

 

You never really leave a place you love.

Part of it you take with you leaving a part of you behind.

Our last full day in NZ...

We're staying in the same exact room of the same exact hostel we stayed in on our first day in Wellington, NZ for our last day in Wellington, NZ.  We've been gone long enough to notice changes in Wellington, and it's refreshing to look at this part of the country through different, more experienced eyes.  When we first arrived in NZ, coming out of winter, the weather was cold and rainy.  Now back here again, with winter approaching, it's cold and rainy again.  We started the day the best way I know how, watching my soap opera's Home and Away omnibus (all the week's episodes on Sunday morning with no commercials) for the final time.  

  

After getting ready, doing last minute laundry, and packing, packing, packing in an attempt to finally contain everything we came with and have since bought, we timidly ventured out into the blustery rain.  We walked in search of souvenir shops, for last minute purchases.  We soon discovered that Wellington has few of these stores compared to Christchurch and Auckland and the other touristy towns, and after walking in the rain for 15 minutes, the only one we found was closed!  We decided instead to visit NZ's most famous museum (also on our Monopoly board) Te Papa, to see if we found it any different than we had when we visited it on our first day in New Zealand.

 

Excuse the messy hair...we've been in the rain all day!

 

   

Afterwards, we headed to Mac's Brewery for our last meal in New Zealand.  Keeping with tradition, this was the first place in New Zealand that we ate at and sampled the local beer and fish and chips.  We cozied into a booth in the bar, reminisced about our trip while enjoying our last kiwi food, as night fell on our last day.

One more day

Today is our last day of the road trip before our final stop in Wellington.  We drove for four hours, through our last NZ scenery to return the rental car, settle in Wellington, and prepare for the long journey home...I can't believe we're leaving on Monday.  I am mixed with emotions of sadness, joy, and fear, all overwhelming me at various times.  Our journey is ending, our crazy inspiring adventures coming to a close.  I am amazed at the growth our relationship has endured, being isolated from comforts for the past seven months.  I am strengthened by my increased sense of determination and independence; I have far exceeded my own personal growth expectations.
  
I hope to take the relaxed and laidback kiwi lifestyle back to my hectic American life, working to find balance in all of my activities.  The kiwis have a strong sense of can-do spirit about them, and hopefully I have inherited that somewhat from all of my adventures and interactions with kiwis and fellow travellers.  I am sad to end this life-changing experience; I will forever miss it!

Napier

Napier is known as an internationally recognized art deco town.  In the 1930s, the town was devastatingly destroyed by an earthquake, and when it came time to rebuild, they designed the town completely art deco style.  The town is still maintained as such, and reminded me of walking on the movie-set-inspired streets at MGM Studios in Florida.  The architechture was scenic, and the town was beachfront property to Hawke’s Bay.  The Hawke’s Bay region is home to the north island’s finest wineries, and the largest producing region of NZ’s red wines (my fave).  So we couldn't resist taking a short drive to Taradale for some cellar door wine tasting.  The vineyards are changing color as autumn approaches, and it was spectacular.

Mission Estate Winery, New Zealand's oldest!

 

Awesome autumn

The drive into Napier

The art deco hotel where we stayed  

  

To celebrate the nearing end of our trip, we shared red wine and a rack of lamb before moving on!

Long drive

Most of today was spent driving...from the national park to Napier.  Before we left, we said goodbye to the resident farm animals that had free range of the hostel property, the goat, sheep, and Daisy the pig (who terrified me).

Looking at the map (as official navigator), there were two ways to get to Napier.  One way had us taking major roads north for a while then cutting east towards the coast.  The other way had us taking a direct road east, that was marked on the map as 'difficult'.  Seeing as the other way looked shorter, I opted for the difficult road.

   

Before getting to the difficult part, the first portion of the drive drove us out of the national park, with the volcanic range alongside us, for a stop in Ohakune.  I thought I had recognized this town as the first space on our NZ Monopoly board, known for it's giant carrot statue (another great road trip stop).  Bret couldn't remember the name of the town either, so we searched for the carrot with no luck.  After driving out of the town and back on the road, we spotted it!  We jumped out of the car for a few pictures and journeyed on.

The difficult road turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  The road was one of the most picturesque roads we've been on in New Zealand, like driving through a postcard.  The roads wound through the beautiful autumn leaf-changing tiny towns, up into the sloping green sheep-dotted hills, and through native NZ bush.  Because of the winding road conditions, yet again, it made for a rather slow journey.  Halfway through, the road turns to just gravel, one lane, cut into the dense bush on the mountainside.  Our pace was slowed even more significantly as our tiny car slowly climbed and descended the hills.  Fortunately, the roadtrip mix-cd we made, that skipped violently in the old cd player, suddenly worked perfectly on the bumpy roads (go figure), so we were able to enjoy the scenery with a NZ soundtrack.

 

funny sign!

   

The shorter distance, we figured, actually took longer than the longer distance on major roads would have taken.  But we arrived in Napier safe and sound, minds full of beautiful New Zealand landscape. 

Tongariro National Park

Sleeping in and enjoying a hearty breakfast, we hopped back in the car to explore the national park the easy way.  There is nearly no civilization within the park, just many walks and hikes, and a tiny ski town at the top of Mount Ruapehu, our first stop.  This volcano is snow-covered year round, and is one of NZ’s top skiing destinations, with its most recent eruption in 1995.  We drove to the car park at the base, and took in the expansive views.  Just a chill-out day spent at the lodge in front of the fire!

 

Kiwi bird crossing! (We didn't see any)
 

Don't fall!

  

Mount Doom

Mount Ruapehu

 

Road trippin' and eatin' GingerNuts!

Mount Doom

Today we left Waitomo and headed for Tongiraro National Park, home of three volcanoes.  The drive was so pretty, flatlands, with the volcanoes rising out of nowhere, looming in the sky.  There are no grocery stores in the national park, so we stopped at one 40 minutes away, on the way in, to stock up on all the food and snacks we would need for the few days.  As we approached to national park, the volcanoes grew larger and larger.  One of them is actually Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings!  We took plenty of pictures and headed for the lodge.

 

Before descending into the National Park

  
The hostel we're staying at in Erua, the tiniest town ever, is pretty nice.  It's fairly new, clean, and the staff is friendly; we were upgraded to a large unit with bathroom, kitchen, and television because they liked us, I guess!  It's pretty cold in this part of the country, and warm wood fireplaces are keeping the place nice and toasty.  We relaxed for a bit, watching movies in their comfy lounge, and eating our snacks.  Originally we were planning on taking a 9 hour (just walking, not including stops) to the Tongiraro Crossing, but we've since decided to spend the days hanging out in the lodge, doing some much needed relaxing (no internet or phone here), and since we have the car, driving the perimeter of the park for some lazy tourist picture-taking!

Waitomo

Today we drove for a couple of hours from Rotorua to Waitomo, for one of Bret's last activities he has been excited to do, Waitomo Caves Black Water Rafting.  Since Easter, driving south, the weather has gotten cooler, and signs of autumn are definitely in the air.  Waitomo (a very small town) was rainy and cold when we arrived, and we had a cozy lunch in the café before our trip departed at 1:30.  Waitomo Caves are a series of underground caverns that are internationally famous for their glowworms.  We were eager to see these up close and personal, and opted for the closest experience of rafting through the caves, instead of taking a short walk and bridge walk within.

    

Before we left the base camp, we were outfitted in lots of gear:  wetsuits, booties, silly looking gum boots, and headlamp helmets.  On top of our wetsuits we wore ridiculously wonky shorts.  Peeling the suits on was a cold and uncomfortable experience, and I couldn't wait to warm up.  We drove to the park of the caves, and were fitted with rubber-tire inner tubes which would serve as our rafts.  Next, in the river outside of the caves, they proceeded to teach us how to properly complete the jumps on the trip.  It was a bit daunting at first.  They were making an explanation from a 10-foot ledge that dropped into probably less than 2 feet of water.  I was nervous we were going to have to do that jump, but luckily we practiced from a shorter distance.  The initial shock of hitting the water sent water splashing into my eyes and nose, and surging all around me.  The cold was quite a shock as well.  Since we accomplished that jump, we hiked off to the caves.

    

The caves are 65 meters underground, and we found an opening where we climbed down a series of rocky waterfalls to get below.  The water underground was even colder, never seeing the light of day.  We sat almost completely flat in the inner tubes in a couple of feet of water as we glided under very low ceilings, inches away from our heads (not for the claustrophobic).  Our first jump was from a rocky ledge with a waterfall into a pool in the cavern below, with water rushing the entire time.  We had to stand on the ledge and make the jump backwards.  Luckily, Bret and I both accomplished the first jump (despite some people falling out of their tubes), and we continued the trek through the dark, rocky bottom of the cave (my feet tripping and getting stuck), with the cave ceiling low.  Finally we came across the glowworms.  We turned out our lamps, and in complete darkness gazed upon tiny pinpoints of green light above us, which apparently many are convinced are tiny fiber optic lights.  It totally reminded me of little glow-in-the-dark stars.  Our second jump was much larger, and we were forced to jump backwards again, but much further out to avoid hitting a ledge that came out of the waterfall wall a good 8 feet below.  I made the jump successfully, but managed to cramp my neck, an instant burst of pain shooting through my body.  It subsided as instantly as it came on, and the best part of the trip followed.

     

Creating 'the eel' out of our inner tubes connected by holding on the person's feet behind us, we turned our lamps out completely again, as the guide pulled our train through a glowing glowworm ceiling.  It was incredible.  Without working as hard, the cold was definitely settling in, and I could barely feel my hands; they kept bumping and scratching the sharp cave walls!  The rest of the trip was a self-guided, find-your-own-way-out-of-the-cave-without-your-headlamp journey, which could be a metaphor to many of our experiences on this kiwi adventure.  Bret and I stayed close, paddling through the unknown dark, until finally we reached light.  Incredible!

 

After 2 hours in the cold water, the hot shower, soup, and bagels that were provided were welcome.  I fell asleep at 6:30 after cave rafting, and slept soundly through the night!

All geared up!

Right before entering the cave!

Barely adjusted to the dark, getting ready for the trek!

 We were cold, right before the end!

The easy way into the cave, a 65 meter staircase.

 

Where we created the eel...the photo does no justice to the glowworms!

Spelunking!

The glowworms...

sheep!

We only had one thing on our list of things to do in Rotorua today, a trip to the AgroDome for a highly educational sheep show!  It might sound lame, but I was looking forward to learning more about the cute creatures that inhabit New Zealand.  There are 70 million sheep in this country...compared to the population of 4 million humans.  We arrived extra early at the show to look around.  I had read in a brochure that at the end of the stage show, there was a surprise of 5 volunteers being asked onstage to feed baby lambs.  Ever since I woke up today, I was convinced and determined I wanted to do that.  Since we were early however, we were able to visit with the lambs up close...and there was no one else there!

The cute lambs and their baby dog neighbors!

 

so cute...

pucker up lambie!

 

The lambs were adorable, wobbling around to sniff and nibble our pant legs and sweatshirt ties.  I loved playing with them.  After ten minutes, one of the workers came in to let some of the lambs out to go to another area.  The two lambs left behind were pretty ticked off, racing around the pen (and me and Bret), bleating at the man.  It was hilarious to watch the little lambs.  Soon the AgroDome was bustling with throngs of Asian tourists piling out of tour busses, and we took a few more pictures before settling into our seats.

 

Bret sifting through all the sheeps' wool

 

Bret's new friend...

  

All the different sheep breeds on stage...

   

A sheep farmer took the stage and introduced one sheep breed at a time to the crowd, explaining what each was known for and how to care for it.  The sheep were pretty well trained, climbing to their appropriate stoops for all to see.  After all the sheep were on stage, he actually sheared one, in about three minutes.  We each received wool and learned about all of its properties.  Next, we participated in a sheep auction and giggled as audience members made fools out of themselves on stage milking a cow.  Lastly, the sheep dogs came on the stage to demonstrate how they corral the sheep; they even jumped on the backs of the sheep!  Finally, the presenter asked for 5 last volunteers. Of course, since I was in on the secret,  I shot my hand up instantly, waving frantically, and was called right up (probably helped it was the same guy we had seen with the lambs before the show), where I was handed a bottle for a supposed drinking contest.  On the count of three we were supposed to drink (yeah right!) when five little lambs came rambling across the stage, fighting for the bottles...I got to feed the lamb!

We hung out with the sheep a bit longer...check out this dude...and then went to check the natural sulfur springs of Rotorua (which made the town stink of rotten eggs)!