So...to continue on with Kerri's story, after we raced to the airport and dropped two days budget on lost keys, we checked into our flight to Melbourne.   For this short 3.5 hour flight, we were on one of the biggest planes in the Emirate fleet.   The leg room was extra, the in flight entertainment was exceptional, and the food was actually quite good (to guard against the usual food, we hooked the boys up with some Subway). I told the boys this was as close to first class they would be getting for some time.   I tried to keep my spirits up on the flight, but was still pretty bummed out by the keys.   We landed on time despite the fact that there was a fire in the control tower a few hours earlier - maybe that summed up our day because we weren't quite done with the bad luck yet.    

At Customs, we were required to submit the name and address of our first location in the country in case we needed to be contacted if someone who came down with a dyer infection was sitting near us on the plane (I exaggerate slightly).   This was a problem.   Why you might wonder (or not)?   Well, we were staying with someone I'd met once in passing, whose last name was Smith and whose address I had no idea.   Finally, after being sent off to the side to solve our problem on our own, we found in the depths of Kerri's iPhone, a long deleted message containing the address.  We were saved.  The process took so much time that when we got to the luggage claim, four lone suitcases were rounding the machine, long separated from their traveling companions.  Now it was time to meet Mr. Smith. 

Who was Mr. Smith?  Well, about 12 years ago, a family friend was getting married in Grafton.   They have a large family and my parents, who often offer their house to friends in similar circumstances, had this Australian couple (family of the bride) stay at their house for a number of days.   Kerri was sure we had met them in passing at mom and dad's or at the wedding, but I had no recollection (maybe it was one of those weddings where my memory gets a little foggy).   When we were literally on the way to the airport in Toronto, my dad inquired as to whether or not we had been in contact with this family to which I responded that I had no idea who he was talking about.   I quickly took down their contact information, firing them an email from Richmond Hill and by the time we landed in Queenstown, we had heard back from them and we were invited to stay with them when we got to Melbourne.   We re-organized our travel plans from NZ and now we were on our way to stay with them - now we would be finding out if our contacts in Australia would be as positive as they were in NZ.    I'm pleased to say they were. 

Ian and Marie (pronounced Marr-e) were/are/have bee wonderful hosts.   Despite being quite late in the evening when we arrived, she was up and waiting, giving us hugs and taking us in as though she had known us all her life.   She doted over the boys and made sure we were all taken care of.   With a two hour time difference, our internal clocks were not quite ready to stay up as we did, but it was well worth it to get to know these two.   Ian is originally from England, Marie from Northern Ireland with accents to match.   Over the next four days, we heard stories of their immigration, their families here and there, and we got to be toured around as though we were family.   For something that very nearly didn't happen, we were so glad it did.   

The morning after we arrived, the Smith's daughter picked us up around 9:30 and all seven of us went Healesville Sanctuary north of the city.   It has all the main Australian animals in one spot.  The boys were super excited and Kerri was in heaven taking pictures of everything in site, particularly the koalas (we were told they weren't bears).  We were able to get up close and personal with the kangaroos, wallabies, and numerous birds.   Braden was so smitten with the birds he changed his Instagram name to birdman_geenzer.   The next day, the boys and I went to an Aussie Rules Football game with Ian's son in law and grandson, Matthew,to cheer on the North Melbourne Kangaroos (if you're wondering if everything is named after Australian things, they were playing the Tigers).  Both boys were happy to hang out with someone other than us for a day.  Footy as they call it is an amazing game, with an oval field 180m long by 120m wide.    I've never seen such fit athletes.   That evening, we went to see Matthews basketball finals.  He's an amazing young talent - he scored 20 points to help his team win and is one of the youngest on the team.   The Smiths volunteered to take the boys the next day to give us what they assured was the only chance we would get on our trip, and we happily took it.   It also meant the boys would hang out more with Matthew.    While we hung out in downtown Melbourne,  walking the streets, the boys played cricket, basketball, and went swimming with their new friend.  It was probably pretty good for the boys to get a break from their parents and vice versa.   Melbourne as a city is pretty neat, with the downtown core focussed into about a square kilometer.    There is a real artsy feel downtown and numerous old arcades and lanes (note here to the younger crowd, not the video game type arcades).    It was fun to just wander about people watching and looking for some souvenirs.   We were invited back to the Matthew's house for a barbecue which was a perfect end to the day.   Afterwards, we headed back to the Smith house to pack for our first Aussie road trip, the Great Ocean Road.   To have met another collection of such wonderful people has been very fortuitous.   We have been invited back which is a good sign and it looks as though we will spend Easter there before we fly north to Brisbane.   Hopefully my driving in Australia has no locked or lost keys.   I'm sure Kerri will keep you posted.  

Rotorua

Rotorua is surprisingly quite a large city with many ethnic cafes and shops. Derek was extremely excited to order a real coffee.  We ate lunch in a sweet little cafe which had been awarded the best coffee on the island for the past three years.  Well, after Derek chatted it up with the waitress, and awaited the delivery of his promised tall coffee (guaranteed to be what he was craving), turned out to be 'just okay!'.  It is difficult to find a good perculated coffee as everything is espresso or instant.  Rotorua turned out to be yet another amazing experience despite the rotten egg smell throughout the entire city.  Rotorua is known for its thermal geysers, hence the sulphur scent.  We walked through waitopu thermal wonderland and viewed many colorful pools, geysers and bubbling mud pools.

Next stop was a leisurely walk through the giant redwood forest.  Again, another stunning sight to see on the north island.  The boys wanted to check out this hotspot because they remembered that their teachers talked about the redwood trees in California.  These trees were not as large in diameter as Grandpa Capilano in Vancouver but they sure were some of the tallest trees we've ever seen.

From here we went caving in Waitomo.  We toured in the glow worm caves by foot and boat. Studied stalagmites and stalactites.  We learned that it is almost unheard of to find cave art beyond the entrances of caves in NZ because the Maori people would only go as far into the cave as long as they could see natural light glowing.  Once it was dark, they believed their soul would be taken and would not go any further because they considered this a sacred area.  We continued on to have a guided tour through the Ruakuri cave which was unbelievably spectacular.  We were lucky to get up close and personal with the glow worms and learned about their life cycle and how they glow.  Braden answered every question correctly that the guide asked so I guess he is learning something on this trip!!!  I took the boys into the glow worm museum  while Derek had a rest in the car before heading back to Piha. 

Piha....definitely a favorite spot that we will miss greatly. We were invited to spend our last night in NZ with Jackie and John.  We had hoped to get some surf in but the weather was spotty.  Our last few hours in NZ should have been carefree and relaxing.  The laundry was done, the bags were packed, we said our goodbyes and we were getting into the car to leave when.......................
Derek asks me, "Kerri do you have the keys?".  ME!!! I haven't touched the keys this whole trip. I replied "ummmm, No." Right there, We knew we had a problem.  Derek did not have the keys.  We unpacked the car, which is a talent as we have soooooooo many bags!!!! Too many to say the least.  No keys.  Derek started retracing his steps and I unpacked every bag we had.  Then he double checked them. The Cassidy's tore their house apart. We looked through the garbages and still nothing.  I think derek was about to cry as we were now getting close to our flight time and we had no way of returning the rental car. We called the car rental company and told them what has happened. They suggested we be fined $500 to replace the key and pay for a tow truck to tow it back (minimum $500/way) Ugh! John, being the kind man that he is, came up with a suggestion that he'd drive us to the airport so we didn't miss the flight to Australia and we'd add him to our rental contract, pick up the extra key at the airport and he'd return the car the next day.  Can you believe it? Sad to have to take his offer but relieved and ever so appreciative of his kind heartedness.  So, off we went. Got the spare key for $500 and made our flight. This is where our next adventure begins but I'm running out of steam to write so it will have to wait till tomorrow.  Stay tuned...the story gets even better!

Whangamata

We ended up having a lovely day after cyclone Pam made her way past NZ. We woke up to it still raining so we decided to spend one more night in our beautiful hotel room just in case Pam was hanging around a bit longer.  This put a little damper into our plans but we managed to fill the day nicely once the sun came out at 11:00am.  We had a bocce tournament and I'm happy to say that I am the proud champion. We played some tennis to which I can honestly say I need to take lessons.  Then we enjoyed a hike to the Wentworth falls and ended our day with a donut and some shopping. The surf was too rough from the storm so we could not enjoy the beach but it was fun just watching the waves crash against each other.  We are on our way to rotorua tomorrow.

As we wind down our stay in NZ I thought I'd share my top 10 funniest things that have happened thus far.

1- losing my bikini bottoms while boogie boarding with Braden. Good thing they were around my ankles because I'm sure he wouldn't have helped me look for them!!!

2- seeing blue penguins waddling under the cars in the parking lot.

3- witnessing a New Zealand traffic jam... Sheep jumping over cars and running to the next pasture.

4- the first two weeks watching Derek walk around the car because he forgot which side the steering wheel is on.

5- seeing the windshield wipers go on and it was not even raining...again, Derek trying to signal but instead turning on the wipers.

6- walking along the beach and wondering if the boys noticed this beautiful young woman take her bikini top off before jumping in the water.... You bet they did! They waited to react until we were passed her.  One of them asked; " mom, why would she do that? Why would she do that in front of her boyfriend?" We laughed and laughed.

7-  Mud head! The name given after someone locked the car keys in the trunk.

8- Me yelling the /s/ word on the shotover jet ride but only after warning the kids that mommy may say a bad word if she is scared. They thought that was super funny.

9- This is one up than a tent! Is what we named our one night accommodation in Hahei vacation resort.  Literally it was a garden shed with a bunk bed and double bed in it.  Not what we thought we booked but we laughed and made the most out of it. The boys agreed that mom and dad weren't ready to camp in a tent yet.

10- I almost stepped on a seal! I screamed and pushed carter out of the way. The three boys said I over reacted but I'm happy I didn't say that /s/ word again:-)

And one more, 11- Thea calling me her Canadian mama. Ever so sweet!!!!


Carter has a new email if you want to contact him thru FaceTime or mail.  Cartergeens9@gmail.com

Coromandel, Whangamata, and Cyclone Pam

Well, it has been the better part of three weeks since I wrote anything on the blog and I've been getting a little bit from Kerri to pull up my socks and do something on here.   Truth is, she's been doing such a good job, that I haven't seen the point of trying to better her efforts.  However, I'm sure once word gets out that I've actually done something, we'll have an immense number of views, the Brighton Independent will likely call me and ask that I submit a weekly article.   It might even replace news about our local council that gets so much space (mind you, with the number of errors I make on the iPad and the number of autocorrects, I may not be contacted as quickly as I might think).   Anyway, enough about me (my favorite topic), and on to some adventures and insight into time on the road (as it turns out, I wasn't able to put this in and the blog ends quite abruptly - maybe in the  next post where I'll try and explain how Whangamata is pronounced Fang-i-ma-tah and no one ever knows what I'm talking about, it's like living in Switzerland again).

Currently, it is Sunday late afternoon in NZ, which means it is just before midnight in Brighton.  This concept has continued to entertain both the boys, their friends and our friends.    The international date line is a concept that is hard to grasp for many - that on a Sunday morning here I already know that the Leafs have lost even before they've played is truly amazing (or entirely predictable).   

We have been in the town of Whangamata, just on the edge of Coromandel Peninsula, for the last couple of days.   We arrived yesterday early afternoon, leaving Hahei and making the ones hour drive down without incident.  The Kiwis must be amongst the finest in the world at making roads that aren't straight.   A simple 60 km drive always seems to take at least an hour, without any traffic or street lights to interfere with driving time.   At this point in our trip, it feels as though I've travelled up every mountain, through every gorge and valley on this island.   Unfortunately, I often don't even get a chance to take in the views as I'm white knuckling it on the wheel.    

In Coromandel, we went to a number of beaches that are amongst the best in NZ.   We started by hiking to New Chums Beach (which is just fun to say), a beach which once made a top ten beaches in the world.  This claim might be a bit of stretch, but we had the whole 1.5 km to ourselves for about thirty minutes and the boys loved the isolation and solitude.  Our pictures are starting to gets repetitive with beaches, white sand and waves, but its a good problem to have.   From there, we went to Hahei, where the Cathedral Cove is located.   We had hoped to do some snorkelling on the way there, but big waves got in the way.   The Cove is truly breathtaking, and the boys quickly found that the conditions for wave jumping were too good to pass up.   An hour or two of our time was dedicated to what is quickly becoming our daily gym schedule.  Back at our "resort", a word they use here perhaps differently than we might, we settled into our simple room (beds, bunk beds, fridge) and left for yet one more beach, Hot Water Beach.  This one was suppose to be a different though.   In theory, you arrive at low tide, walk across the beach barefoot toward some old (I mean really old) rocks until your feet start to get warm, the dig a hole and let the geysers under them ground heat up the water.  Unfortunately, every tourist within 50km seemed to be there so finding space was somewhat limited.   That, and the strong waves prevented any success.  At one point, when we had fortified our chosen sight and felt sure the marines couldn't break through, nature decided to do what it can do.  A wave crashed onto shore, flooding our impenetrable fort, knocking Braden over without problems and destroying our hard work.   Braden soon after abandoned ship, and Carter stuck and I stuck it out a little longer before joining Kerri and Braden.  It was certainly a bit of a lunch bag let down.  In the morning, we left for our present location.   If you can imagine, the beach here is just as nice and we spent a hours body surfing and wave jumping.    It's amazing that this never gets old.   We checked into our hotel where we intended to stay low until this cyclone blows through.  Currently, we are in the second hour of the storm, but it should be gone through by lunch tomorrow.   I did get in a great hike this morning at the Karangahake Gorge, an old mining town not far from here.  That's been about the extent of the excitement.  The boys have spent the day catching up with friends on line -  in ways it has been the perfect day.   Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will head to Rotorua, apparently, the smelliest town in NZ.   It should be interesting.  

Some other points of interest 

North island

Can't believe it's been almost a week since I last posted something.  Since then we said goodbye to our favourite Queenstown family and made our way to the North island.

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Our last few days on the South Island included Derek hiking to the top of Ben Lomond  ( 1750 meters) and got in a golf game with Dax. The kids and I ( including Thea) went to an indoor water park/pool and made a 2 hour hike on the Wakatipu trail,  which ended with a treat at the golf course club house:-) .  Thea has nicknamed me her Canadian mom and the boys as her boys! So cute.  We took out the Richards for dinner to say a special thanks for all their wonderful hospitality. We surely will miss them and hope that one day we can return the generosity and meet up with them again.  The next day the Geens family hiked up Ben Lemond to 850 meters.  At the top, we treated the boys with a double decker ice cream and some luging.  The boys ran up the mountain without concern and waited for us.  The advance track luging was fun but short. We agreed that luging  in mont Tremblant is still by far the best.  Derek had to take the gondola down as his knee was hurting but the boys and I ran down it quickly.  So proud of their accomplishments that day!

On Monday, we caught our flight to Auckland. Picked up our car, Corolla, and made way to Jackie and John Cassidy's ( these are the parents of Linda Richards).  We noticed that the North island is not mountainous like the South.  It is very green, lush, and hilly. The roads continue to be just as windy and Derek is doing a great job maneuvering around on them. Still not sure how he does it but He continues to get us to our next destination without getting lost or using a map.  We arrived in Piha late afternoon.  This is where we stayed for three nights with the Cassidy's.  Their home is breathtaking.  Overlooking the North beach, with stunning views of the water and vibrant parakeets flying around. The boys had fun exploring in the brush, swinging in the trees and feeding the horses and sheep.  We walked to waterfalls and up along the Hilary trail.  The highlight for the boys was body surfing and boogie boarding on the south beach.  There is a strong under tow so we had to abide the lifeguards requests.  I was very happy that they had lifeguards out. But John and Jackie did show us how to tell where it was safe to swim.  We always knew Braden looked like a surfer with his tanned body but now he has proved it.  He's looking forward to his surf lessons:-).  Today we said goodbye to the ever-so-kind Cassidy family and made way to Coromandel.  We are expecting some rein in the upcoming days so will plan our days accordingly.  Today we explored Waterworks which reminded us of Mr. Magorium wonder emporium.  We loved it! We are trying to balance the things Derek and I want to do with these silly things the kids choose.  So far it has all worked out well.

At this point I am getting a little bored with my wardrobe! And do have a few food cravings:-)  but the scenery makes up for this. I guess our friends back home will be getting ready for the March break so enjoy.  Safe travels and warm temps everyone!

A little clip and climb tonight

Yesterday we made another long drive putting in five hours, with a few stops before finding the hotel.  In the morning, we were told to get moving if we had planned to walk along lake Matheson ( known as one of the top ten mountains in the world) before the clouds role in at noon.  Good thing we tend to listen to the locals because those clouds  did come in and hid the mountain tops just as we finished our walk. The lake was very nice with a beautiful reflection of the mountains. I promised the boys a special treat at the mountain cafe (part of a bribe to keep them walking). They picked a banana chocolate chip muffin and a chocolate chip cookie which ran us $8.00 exactly.  Isn't that crazy? For those things, that seems to be the norm. Ice cream is about $4.00/scoop but well worth it!

We jumped into the car and drove to Fox glacier. It was a good hike up with a few mandatory rests.  The glacier looked a lot bigger than Franz Josef glacier and it appeared more blue the further away we were.  Carter insisted that he and Derek take an alternate route to a waterfall while braden and I ran down the mountain.  We saw a few more kea birds flying around but still haven't been able to capture them on film.  

From here we drove to the blue pools. These are crystal clear torquoise glacial pools that were the home of large brown trout.  The boys ran right into them and walked across to the other side.  I attempted but after one minute my ankles were killing me due to the frigid temperatures.  I honestly don't know how they did it.  But they did and giggled the whole time.  Derek may have stuck his toe in to feel and that was it! He announced everyone was nuts.  There appears to be a sand flea problem in NZ.  Well, not really a problem as they always exist but a problem for us.  These critters are like our black flies from what I can tell.  They bite and itch just like them.  These sand fleas found me as I walked out of this trail and I was itching the rest of the way. Argh!

This day ends us at our holiday home in Wanaka.  It is a stunning and hopping town, with lots of shops and cafes along the beach.  The top 10 holiday parks have been perfect for us.  We have a self contained cottage for two nights.  There is always a pool, trampoline, dune buggies and other kid friendly things for the kids to do.  Today we kept it low key. Promised the boys a down day and no car drives.  With that said, I got up for a run which has been very difficult for me to do.  When I got back we went to the puzzle house.  This was so cool.  We spent hours in there looking at illusions and another hour conquering the worlds first 3d maze.  We looked for a few souvenirs and grabbed a beer and ice cream at an outdoor cafe. So needed!  At one point, Braden asked us how this trip would be different if we were here without them. I said that dad and I would probably be having many more beers at the cafes but other than that, we wouldn't change anything and that we wouldn't be here unless it was a family holiday cuz it's so big.  He smiled. 

We took the boys to do some clip and climbing at the base camp.  We were told Carter is a natural and after a few tries, Braden held his own and increased his time as well.  They lived it.  They love the boiler room in kingston, but love this even more.  They were hot and sweaty and stayed till it closed at 8:00.  

We are quite late tonight at 8:45.  I believe we will have a bit if a sleep in tomorrow before we head back to Queenstown.  We tend to be on holiday mode now, waking up around 7:30-8:00 and lazy around till 10:00.  So hopefully the boys will do that tomorrow.  

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Rainy day fun

We were told it would be a rainy day and it is.  We are hoping by the time we get to Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, the downpour will have let up. We have a few things left to see before heading back to Queenstown in a few days.  So far we have covered a lot of ground on the South Island.  We started off at Queenstown (hiked, Shotover jet boat through canyons) and made our way to Arrowtown (gold panning, Chinese settlement), Te Anau/Milford Sound (cruise:seals, weka and kea birds), Queenstown/Glenorchy (hike, sheep traffic jam), Oamaru/Moereki (blue penguins, yellow eyed penguins, boulders, light house hike), Hanmer Springs (hot springs, water park, bees),  Kaikoura (coastal walk, the Blow, seal colony), Nelson (wineries), Abel Tasman/Riwaka/kaiteriteri (silver fern farms, hiking, beaches, sting rays, split Apple rock, cruise), Motueka (down time:hung out at hotel and enjoyed the pool etc), Ngarua (caving), Greymouth/pancake rocks:punakaiki (Dolphins, pancake rocks, Boardwalk hike, tavern).  We have almost covered the whole southern scenic route on the South Island. Check it out on a South Island map mom ;-)

So far on this trip Derek has done all the driving.  He says he enjoys it.  Probably wants to so he doesn't have to put up with my 'scenic' Sunday afternoon driving! He has gotten much better with using the signals and not switching on the windshield wipers to turn right.  After he gained the name Mudhead, he has not locked the keys in the car again ( with the help of the three of us reminding him to pass the keys before closing the door). However, yesterday he did drop them in the trunk and had to take everything out to find them ( it is an art to fit all of our stuff in such a tiny space so some of us had to wear earmuffs!).  Btw Steve, we are two packs too many as the weather has been superb.  Derek still manages to do a walk around the car every time he goes to get in the drivers seat.  Of course we laugh and often see other loopies and locals smirking too.

The people of NZ are very helpful and friendly. We were told they go barefoot most of the time and it's not until they are in high school when the kids start wearing shoes and that is only because they tend to start dressing up more!  One Kiwi told us that growing up on a farm they would break the ice with their bare feet and then step in the cow manure to get them warmed up.  Who knows if that is true but we thought it was funny. They have interesting road signs (penguin crossing signs, speed limit is not a target so drive to the conditions) posted on the quiet long windy roads.  We rarely see other cars on the road and when we do, Derek tells me I often say "Wow, there's a lot of traffic (and there may only be three cars)."  

Still raining but we hopped out for a walk in the Hokitika Gorge, swing bridge.  Dressed in our rain gear reminded me of the scene from the Great Outdoors movie when the twins went exploring and fell in the cave.  We looked just like that...drowned rats! Speaking of rats, we have been told that there is an over abundance of rats and possums on the island that is threatening all the native species such as kea birds, wekas and kiwis.  Possums are like our raccoons. We see them all over, especially as road kill. 

Yeah! We are so lucky. The sun came out just as we pulled into the Franz Josef glacier. We walked an hour to the glacier to view it from 200 meters away.  When the sun was shining, it was a beautiful turquoise colour.  We saw one of the ice cave entrances but we're not allowed to enter due to the rubble and rocks falling.  We think we saw the infamous Kea birds flying above but no luck with getting a pic.  Also, we got to hold a hundred year old ice cube! A guide stopped us and gave it to the boys.  He saw it fall and land in the stream so he jumped in and picked it up to show his group.  His group did not speak any English (Chinese) so he wasn't sure how excited they were but he knew the boys would think it was.  Lucky us!  

We will head to the Fox glacier tomorrow.  For those reading this and following our adventures, thank you and miss you lots.  For those commenting and emailing, it's been great hearing from you.  Don't forget to check out the boys blogs. Carter loves blogging and Braden, well he likes his Instagram!