The Road Less Traveled

Cindy’s birthday was a low-key affair this year – I took the afternoon off, and we did her favorite things – lunch, a movie, and a walk on the beach! I had also stayed up late the night before putting up a birthday sign and streamers, and date scones with candles.

At Navman however, the annual cook-off was not a low-key affair! Employees from different countries each had booths where they cooked-up their favorite native foods! Kiwi, English, American, Malaysian, South African, Indian, Chinese, Benelux (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg), Italian, Scottish, etc. The Irish of course only needed to serve Guinness as both food and drink!

It’s been a month since I last wrote, because we were busy with Sandy still visiting, there were a lot of photos to get in order from our tour south, we’ve been busy getting ready to return to the States, trying to fit in a last couple trips, and oh yes – working full time and trying to get things wrapped-up there (though I will be returning late September to finally finish up).

The first couple weeks of Sandy’s visit was our big tour south. The last couple weeks was spent closer to home, since Max was back in school and I was back at work. We did a couple weekend day trips to the beaches, first to the black sands of Muriwai beach, then another to beautiful Anchor Bay at Tawharanui Regional Park, and up to Pakiri Beach.

We also introduced Sandy to our typical Sunday morning in New Zealand, hanging out at Dida’s cafe during Max’s Japanese sword (iaido) class.

It took me quite a while to get the photos from the tour south sorted – 500 photos trimmed down to only 250, labeled, tagged, tweaked, and uploaded to Flickr.

And of course we’ve been busy getting ready for our move back to the States. Our exit strategy primarily revolves around our “stuff”: What will fit on the plane, what to keep for my return, shipping options, selling furniture and household goods on TradeMe (New Zealand’s eBay), garage sale, and ultimately Salvation Army and garbage. There are a million-and-one things to consider, and every step of the way has options and questions – for airline baggage, What are the travel allowances? Which ones apply? – International, code share, domestic? Does a bicycle count as one piece? How much for extra? Kilograms versus pounds? And shipping options – shipping containers or excess baggage? Opportunities for sharing container space? Best tradeoffs? How about for books or my kayak?

Cindy and I have been very busy on TradeMe, selling off everything from bookshelves to appliances to Christmas decorations. Cindy keeps checking to see if there are bids on items, or how much they’ve gone up! Some things go for much more than you would think – a set of wicker furniture that we bought at a garage sale for $100 sold for $190, and $10 garage sale bookshelves went for $140!
Of course others didn’t sell for much, but on balance we probably broke even on what we spent buying the things in the first place, be it retail or garage sale.

Previously we had done trips East to the Coromandel, and up to the Northland. With Sarah and Cindy’s sister Sandy here visiting, we took off during Max’s school holiday to tour South. (Pictures and more details will be available soon – Check back for an update.)

We drove South from Auckland, through Matamata, Rotorua, Taupo, Palmerston North, Masterton, to Wellington. We took the ferry across to the South Island, then the train down to Christchurch for a couple days. Then we returned by train and ferry to Wellington for a couple days, then up the West coast to New Plymouth, and then back to Auckland.

Highlights included:

• Riding the luge, kiwi encounter, Maori cultural experience, and Wai-O-Tapu thermal area in Rotorua.
• The awesome Huka Falls and watching bungy jumpers in Taupo.
• Manawatu Gorge and Te Apiti Wind Farm between Palmerston North and Woodville.
• Enjoyed walking around Christchurch.
• Stunning rail/ferry trip back to Wellington.
• Tour through the restored and earthquake-reinforced Parliament buildings.
• Seeing the beautifully restored Embassy Theatre, and experiencing its leather seats, fantastic screen, and awesome audio.
• Seeing Mount Taranaki and enjoying the Coastal Walkway in New Plymouth.

Special Lord of the Rings highlights included:

• Seeing the Hobbiton set on a farm near Matamata.
• Brief stop (in the pouring rain!) at the location of Rivendell at Kaitoke Regional Park.
• Running into Richard Taylor in the lobby of Weta Digital.
• Going to the Lord of the Rings exhibit at Te Papa.
• Seeing the beautifully restored Embassy Theatre where Return of the King premiered.

We really lucked out on the weather, considering it’s the middle of winter here. The only sight we missed was seeing Mount Ruapehu along Desert Road. It was sunny in Rotorua, showers and mountains clouded over on Desert Road, just missed heavy rains in Masterton, though flooding caused us to have to detour around town. Pouring rain once over the Rimutukas and down to Wellington. The Interislander ferry was cancelled that day due to severe weather in Cook Strait. But by the next morning when we were due to catch it, it had calmed considerably, so our crossing was probably calm by Cook Strait standards. Pouring rain on the other side. But then sunshine in Christchurch, stunningly gorgeous weather for the train ride back up and ferry back over to Wellington. Mostly decent weather in Wellington (a bit windy, of course!). Clouds obscured Mount Taranaki on the way to New Plymouth, but the next day was clear and gorgeous sunshine, to see the mountain, walk along the shore, and drive back to Auckland.

We weren’t quite so lucky with booking places to stay, though it all turned out okay in the end. We hadn’t booked ahead of time, wanting the flexibility, and not thinking there’d be any problem in the middle of winter! Well it turned out that Palmerston North was booked up with teachers in town for recertification exams, Wellington was booked up with hockey tournaments, and Christchurch was booked up for a big rugby game between the All Blacks and the Aussies! We did manage to find places, but it definitely took time and caused some unexpected stress along the way. (We considered canceling the the whole South Island part of the trip at one point, between bad weather canceling the ferry and Christchurch being booked up.)

Max has joined us in the Internet age, and created a website for himself at www.zenzoa.com/max. Check it out!

In contrast to the wild weather of a week ago, this weekend was beautiful! Sunday after Max’s Japanese sword class (Iaido), we went out to the West coast, to the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. We did several connected walks extending along the bluffs and through the bush from Piha to Karekare beach. We tramped along the Mercer Bay Loop, Ahu Ahu Track, had lunch at Karekare beach, and then back up the bluffs along on the Comans Track. Photos are here.

Okay, looks like we have Max’s school credit sussed – the Deputy Headmaster told me that they issue a School Report with grade information independant of the NCEA/Cambridge results. And they have written reports for students in the past who left or were out sick or injured. This means we will be able to get an official school report from Westlake to take back to Bainbridge High School for transfer credit, without having to stay through the internal examination period. And this means we will be able to return before school starts on Bainbridge, so Max won’t miss the start of school. (We’ll actually be coming back the week before Labor Day Weekend, which gives me the added bonus of being able to attend the Pig Roast, an annual get-together where I get to see friends from high school.)