Dart River

Once again, I am left pretty speechless with our experiences here in NZ. It will be good when I can get some pictures up here, so you all can start to understand better. Today, we went on a Funyak tour, which involved a jet boat ride up the Dart River, and then kayaking down the river, with a lunch stop along the way, and a quick tour of some filming sites on the drive back to base. It was my favorite part of this whole trip. The boat ride was very cold, but fun. The kayaking was even more fun. And the scenery was incredible! E and I shared a boat and she did very well with the paddling. C and A had a good time in the other boat, so I hear. E was not really looking forward to this one, but she ended up really enjoying herself, I think because she got to participate physically, instead of just sitting and looking at pretty scenery. A has decided she really likes kayaking and that we need to do that again. I agree! After we got back to base and got changed out of our wetsuits, we had a few minutes to look around the town of Glenorchy. One thing C has wanted to get since we came here is a possum pelt, so we went to a little fur shop. The Aussie possum was introduced to NZ and has been a natural disaster, so the Kiwis are working hard to eradicate them to save their native trees and wildlife. I was keen to help, since the fur is so soft, but everywhere we saw it, the prices were so high. This little shop had a reasonable price for the pelt and a special surprise tucked in the shop for me. They had a bag of scrap fur, full of all different colors, for 2o bucks. I was so happy to snatch one of them up and I am going to have great fun crafting some warm and soft goodies with those scraps! So, if I seemed to have forgotten a souvenir for you, there just might be a little something trimmed in possum coming your way!

We got back to Queenstown a bit earlier than we expected, so we took a walk by the lake and through the gardens. There were huge redwoods planted there and fun ducks on a beautiful pond. Good day all around.

Milford Sound

Today started early with our pickup for our Milford Sound cruise. First we travelled many hours by tour bus to our boat, and then we cruised up the sound, which is technically a fjord, out to the Tasman Sea and back, and then back on the bus for the return trip. Long day, but so amazingly worth it. Words can't describe. Pictures to come won't do it either, I suspect. But, wow, majestic is one I could use to try to capture the sight. Interestingly, the highlight of the day, for me, was actually watching E find and strike up a friendship with various Japanese people on the bus and boat. She was so happy to be greeted so warmly by these strangers, who were happy to practice English with her as she practiced Japanese with them. At one point, she had about six adults all circling her as she sat on a bench choosing which drawing to show them out of her sketchbook. My baby is growing up! Thankfully, these lovely people made this sightseeing nature focused tour not only bearable, but exciting, for my child who hates sightseeing and nature based stuff. I'm not sure what rock we found her under, but we love her anyway! The other one was in love with the trees and moss and lichen and birds and mountains and snow and waterfalls and penguins and seals and views and everything. Good day all around and now I am tired. Tomorrow is a free day and we plan to milk it for all the rest and recuperation we can get out of it, plus laundry.

Queenstown

So today we flew from Auckland to Queenstown on the South Island. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to jump right in and use our gondola and luge passes that were open ended for one of our free days here. We were going to go another day, but it might rain later in the week, so we thought it best to make hay while the sun shined. The view from the top was soooooo amazing. Wait til you see it! We had a lot of fun racing down the luge tracks together and watching the people parasailing off the mountain. It was freaky how steep the gondola ride was, almost straight vertical. So steep that the platform for the bungy jump at the top only had to cantilever out about 15 ft or so. Couldn't PAY me to do that, no sir. Afterward, we headed back down and had some dinner. I'm still not so happy about the cost of eating out so much, but, *sigh*. I am trying to stuff my frugal self deep down in my psyche, and just enjoy the break from cooking. Anyhoo, after dinner we walked around town, window shopping and looking for icecream. We went in one shop where the employee was a young Japanese woman. E, of course, glomed right on to her and followed her and another Japanese couple around the store, listening to them speak Japanese to each other, seeing if she could understand them at all. She could, a bit. Then she started a conversation with the young woman about her impending trip to Tokyo and how she is learning Japanese. She tried out a few of the phrases she has learned and the woman was impressed with her accent. E was so stoked! She has asked many times tonight if we can go back to the store to see if she can find her new friend!

We got back on the search for ice cream and what do we find? Not one, but TWO couples from Alice Springs here on holiday in NZ, just walking down the street. Seriously, what are the odds! Found out from one of the husbands that the Milford Sound blew his mind and trumps the Grand Canyon by a mile. I'm so excited to go tomorrow for our Milford Sound cruise! Speaking of which, it is late and I have an early wakeup call, for our bus in the morning. Night!

Matamata and Waitomo

Yesterday was another full day for us. We left our hotel in Pauanui and drove south to the little town of Matamata, home of the filming set for Hobbiton in the Lord of the Rings. Our tour was so cool. We got to go right up to the doors of the Hobbit holes and walk all around the "town". It was set up so realistically, just like there really could be Hobbits living there. The scale was half human sized, except for the doors used by the actors, which made all the props super cute. Even C, who is not a huge fan of the LOTR, was enjoying himself. He said our excitement was rubbing off on him. After an amazing dinner at a Thai place in town, we had to hit the road again and make it to our accomodations for the night. I think this part was my husband's favorite place so far, as we stayed in an old military cargo plane that was the last of it's kind to leave the Vietnam war, converted into two rooms. One in the cockpit area and one in the tail. Ours was the tail end. I have to admit it was very cool.

This morning, we got up and went to a tour of the Glowworm caves. That was beautiful and peaceful. After, we headed north, stopping for lunch and we were going to go to a Kiwi reserve. But we decided to save our money, since we already get to see Kiwi at a place in Christchurch later on. So, on to Auckland we drove and now we are resting and packing up to fly to the South island in the morning. Queenstown, here we come!

Hot Water Beach

Today we left Auckland and drove over the mountains to the East coast of New Zealand. Our destination was a little spot called Hot Water Beach. The drive over was so amazingly beautiful, with peaceful pastures of cows and sheep, and even some deer - venison anyone?- , and then dramatic mountain passes with ferns that look like palm trees dotting the pine covered hills. We timed our arrival with the low tide, because that is when the magic happens at this special beach. There are two springs that bubble up from the sands, with water hot enough to scald heated by geothermal activity close to the surface. People dig holes in the sand near the springs to make their own natural little hot tubs. Luckily we found friendly sorts there to lend us a shovel! For a few hours, we soaked in the tubs and splashed in the surf, until the tide came in and flooded our hole with cold ocean water. I can't wait to show you pictures! The ocean was so beautiful. I'll be adding more details as I add pictures once we are back home, as the photos will jog my memories.

Tonight we are staying in a little town down the coast from the Hot Water Beach called Pauanui. It seems the place becomes a ghost town once the summer holidays are over and we pretty much have the place to ourselves. It is an exceptional development that reminded us of The Truman Show as we drove around looking for a place to eat dinner. There are only 700 year-round residents and the place swells to 18,000 when the holiday beach crowd show up. We only get to stay this one night and then we head south to Hobbiton. It will be good to see the Shire again.

Kiwi Land

So here we are in New Zealand. We left Alice on Wednesday and flew through Melbourne to Auckland. We had to leave the building to get from domestic to international terminals, so can we say we were actually in Melbourne? We had an uneventful trio, other than the sound not working on mine and Cary's built in TV for the flight to Auckland. Oh well, I did not want to watch a movie anyway and the flight attendant gave us drinks on the house for our trouble. Not that they charge for alcohol on international flights, but hey, it was the thought that counted, right?

All went smoothly through customs and immigration, and we grabbed a taxi to take us to our hotel. The guy took us on the scenic route, we suspect, because after driving us all over kingdom come, we asked how to get back to the airport and how long it would take. He assured us we could just hop on the highway and it would only take 20 minutes. Ok, then why have we been driving for a half an hour on every back road in town, hmmmm?

We did finally make it to our hotel, and after shelling over an obscene amount of money for the taxi, we got settled into our room just after midnight. Since the time in Alice was only 8:30, I was not tired like I wanted to be and did not sleep very well. Oh well, nothing like adjusting to a new time zone.

This morning, Cary called the rental car place to see if they could come get him so we could get our car. Of course, our hotel was a smidgen too far from the city center to qualify for the free pick up, so we had to make another plan. Then, he called the whale tour place to verify where we needed to go, and they told us that we had to cancel for weather. Bummer. Ok, I did not want to ride on a boat in the rain anyway, right? Plan B time. Not that we had a plan B, but we adjusted and grabbed a bus to take us to the car and then hit the Auckland Museum instead. It was a good rainy day plan and we had fun exploring. The park that the museum was in had a bunch of awesome old trees and cool plants to check out as well. We had a nice dinner down by the waterside and did a little shopping for souvenirs. And now we are tired and ready to crash. Wait, I think I hear the sound of a log being cut coming from the bedroom. Looks like my husband has beat me to it. More adventures tomorrow. See you then!

Full Monty

Rather than clutter up facebook with my complaining, I'll do it here, if you don't mind. You don't? Oh, good. If you do, stop reading now and go find something better to do with your time.

I'll just come out and say it. Life sucks right now. I can't see a way up and frankly, I don't want to get up right now. Wallowing feels, if not good, then needed. I see people posting pithy positive crap on fb and I just want to scream. My husband can't stop being a man from Mars and offerring me solutions for all my problems. Do I have to tell you how that feels? I do? OK, it feels like shit. Like not only am I doing everything wrong, I am a bad person for not wanting to help myself. Can't I just have a bad day, week, month, year without the whole world trying to fix me up so they don't have to deal with me and my pain?

I don't know if this is making me feel better or if it will make it worse.

What is the problem you ask? Everything. I miss home. I miss my friends and family. I am not here long enough to make the kinds of friends I need. Don't get me wrong. The people I know here are lovely and I really like them and wish we could be friends. But you gotta understand, it takes me years, years, YEARS to feel close to people. Until then, I am alone in a crowd. I don't know why I am so stunted. I just am and even if I could change it right now and feel close to my new acquaintances, that would just mean that I made friends I will have to leave again. My heart breaks at the thought of having to do that again. I will never do that again.

I am not the kind of person who can have a hundred friends. I can't handle the feeling of being spread so thin. I need deep connection with a few people. The problem here is that there are sooo many new people in my life I can't keep up. I want to dig in and deepen with just a few, but how do I choose? I feel like in order to survive down here I have to be a social butterfly, flitting from party to coffee to social event, when I am more like a hermit with a couple of best friends for life. And even if I do choose, do they choose me too? It is worse than dating, I tell you. It's kind of like if every time you moved, you had to find a new husband.

It might surprize some of you to learn that I assume others don't like me, and wait for proof that they do. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of proof for me to trust. That was hard to say, but it needed saying. I figure I am getting old enough to speak my mind now. My full mind, not just the tidy, positive, inspiring parts. I'm tired of stifling myself for the sake of others and to maintain the image others have of me. I'm not even sure who that Miranda is, but I know she is smarter, stronger, and a whole lot better person than me.

Ok, I gotta get this posted before my computer shuts down on me (some issue with my cooling fan or something, I suspect). Sorry to be such a downer. Meh.

Billabong

Ellery Big Hole. Purty, ain't it?