Month: May 2017

Back in the United States – Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawaii!

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Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawaii – April 27 – May 4, 2017

Our flight from Auckland, New Zealand left at 9 pm (April 27), but we didn’t get a lot of sleep, probably 3 to 4 hours, before arriving in Honolulu, U.S.A. at 7:30 am (April 27)!  

Good morning, Honolulu!  As we walked into the airport, I snapped a quick photo of our plane.

One of the first things we saw:

We were excited to be in Hawaii and see what we’d do on our second day of April 27 (due to the time change!) 🙂

Aloha…and…The Show Must Go On

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We’ve been essentially off the grid lately, too far off for Jody to publish information about all our Hawaiian adventures.  More posts will be coming soon…with photos and descriptions of foods and all such details that she includes.

My recent research came up with mixed results, but somebody once said “Life is not a dress rehearsal.”  A good high-school friend of mine in Honolulu recently reminded me of this phrase after noticing my now very-worn black Gustavus t-shirt with the phrase “Make Your Life Count” in faded gold letters.  I imagine you’ve seen the shirt in about 80% of the photos of me on this blog…we travel light and my wardrobe is very limited, but clean.

In any case, this friend suggested that I was definitely making our lives count and fully  living life by taking my family on this adventure.  We have been making what he called “life memories” every single day over these nine months.  Our experiences will create specific memories we probably wouldn’t make in our living room in St. Paul or during our normal day to day activities during our REAL lives.  Yes, there are big costs associated with doing what we’ve done, but there are other costs and regrets we might have had by NOT leaving home.

He is wise, this friend.

This is a bit of a serious post compared to most of my lighter work.  That’s because the airline tickets are booked and we’re coming home next week. Yes, next week we have to start our re-entry process.  I need to find a job and a car, the kids will go back to their own bedrooms, we probably won’t see each other 24 hours/day 7 days a week, and we’ll get to see our family and friends again.

I’m not ready.  None of us are.

Re-entry will be difficult, I know.  I studied abroad in college and I experienced what was then called “reverse culture shock” upon my return to Gustavus.  Every member of our family is much different than we were when we left last September.  We’ve seen a lot and learned a lot about the world and other people and cultures and languages and foods.  And we’ve all grown up together every day and created more life memories than I think I even realize.  Now, we need to keep making our lives count by continuing to learn – at home or on the road.

In Europe, Australia, the South Pacific, or St. Paul, I really hope we can all work to keep understanding that we only get one shot at this life…we gotta live it while we can, enjoy the moments we have and, easy or difficult, fun or toil, the show must go on.

Hopefully you, dear reader, can do the same.
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New Zealand: Pukekohe

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Pukekohe, North Island, April 26 – April 27, 2017

On our way to our last place in New Zealand, we stopped in Pokeno for ice cream.  We had to as it’s considered one of the top 5 ice cream shops in New Zealand…and we were driving right by it! 🙂  Can you believe that with all the ice cream pictures we’ve taken, we forgot to take one here!!  You’ll just have to take our word that it looked and tasted great! 

We arrived at the house around 3:00 pm.  While the host wasn’t there, she told us that she’d left some food on our patio, so we could feed the alpaca!! 🙂  She’s got five — 2 brown, 2 black, and a tan one.  They are so gentle and sweet.  The oldest one, Sophia (age 49), just hung back and made a funny whining noise while one of the younger black ones ate all the food! 🙂

 

In addition to the alpaca, she has a 2-year old black lab named Jet, who the kids were happy to meet as well.  

When the host, Caren, returned, she greeted us and offered to bring us over dinner.  As she knew it was our last night in New Zealand, she wanted to send us off with a traditional kiwi dinner — roast lamb with roasted potatoes, pumpkin, and red sweet potatoes.  She also provided a side dish of peas, mint dressing, and gravy (that G helped make when she stopped by to see if she could help). 🙂 It was all fabulous!!

We enjoyed the mint sauce as well as the cheeky label! 🙂

That evening, after seeing a beautiful sunset, the kids and I played the Game of Life with Caren. She had just bought it and Monopoly and had them in our place when we arrived, thinking the kids might be interested.  She’d never played Life, so G and L taught her how to play.  It was the newer version, which I hadn’t played before either. 🙂

The next morning (our last day in New Zealand!), we enjoyed a delicious, leisurely breakfast of eggs, leftover potatoes, and toast before getting packed and cleaning up the house.  As there wasn’t anyone staying in our place right after us, Caren said we could stay as long as we wanted before heading to the airport, which worked out great!

The kids loved the extra time they had to play Life, play outside with Jet, and feed the alpacas.

In addition, Caren took the kids and me into Pukekohe to feed the ducks at a pond and give us a little tour of the city.  

We had a little lunch, finished cleaning up and headed to the airport around 3ish, which was early, but we weren’t sure how long everything would take.

We ended up having plenty of time once we got the car returned, bags checked, and through security, but we didn’t have a gate yet.  In fact, the message on the board listed the time and then under “gate” it said “relax.” 🙂  We found a great spot to sit and eat and watch people by a Heineken beer bar.  There happened to be a duo of guitar players/singers who were super fun to listen to and played lots of great songs — oldies, classic, and current hits.  G decided to drew a picture of each of them and gave them to them after their last song, which coincidentally was when we had to head to our gate.

On our flight, we were assigned 2 by 2 seats window and middle, but there wasn’t anyone assigned to the aisle, so we ended up 3 by 3, which was so nice!  We all enjoyed a little more leg room. 🙂  We all watched “Moana” as it seemed appropriate as we were heading for Hawaii and tried to get a little sleep.  

Next stop…Honolulu…U.S.A.!

New Zealand: Hamilton-Frankton

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Hamilton-Frankton, North Island, April 24 – April 26, 2017

We stopped in Tirau on the way to Hamilton for a snack and to take pictures of the cool corrugated signs and buildings, that decorated the main street of town.  The visitor center had postcards of each of them, so we found out that they are made by a company called Corrugated Creations.

   

After getting settled at our house, we headed to Good George Brewery, a great craft brewery, for lunch.  It is housed in a former church, thus the cool stained-glass windows!

Afterwards, we headed to Hamilton Gardens. As it was our 13th wedding anniversary, we did things that we both enjoyed! 😉  Some may have enjoyed both things more than others. 🙂  Anyway, the gardens were amazing!!  I could have spent days roaming around, but we didn’t have days, and I wouldn’t have been able to convince Mike or the kids to wander around that long.  We did stay long enough to enjoy a taste of it, play on a playground, and take some pictures! 🙂  

  

As it was our anniversary, on our way home, we stopped for some dinner ingredients (chicken schnitzel, tortilla wraps, and nacho chips), as well as a delicious cider and a small chocolate cake! 🙂   

 

The next day, we were out the door by 8 am to drive to Waitomo Caves for our 9:30 reservation. It was a beautiful drive through rolling countryside to get there. Mike and the kids did the tour while I sat in the cafe and read. (I don’t do caves.) The highly recommended tour is all about going into the caves to see the glowworm, Arachnocampa luminosa, which is unique to New Zealand, as well as learning about the historical and geological significance of the caves.  The tour was over in 45 minutes, and Mike and the kids enjoyed learning about the glowworms and the cave, and I enjoyed not going into the cave! 😉

G and L waiting to get on the boat.

Next we went on a short hike to a lookout that overlooked the village of Waitomo and farmland with cows grazing.  The hike was through some cool rocks and ferns and other bushes and trees.  As we were walking, L heard a bird in a bush close by, so we stopped to see if we could see it.  L spotted it — a huge wood pigeon!!  We stopped for a few minutes and took a bunch of pictures, none of which fully captured what we actually saw, unfortunately.

New Zealand Silver Fern! 🙂

After the hike, we had a lovely picnic lunch of croissants, ham, cheese, apples, and crisps and then headed to Waitomo Village.  

G showing off her new paua shell earrings.

As we drove to the village, Mike and I saw a stoat scurry across the road!! (It’s always fun to see animals we aren’t as familiar with out in nature!)  Note: the former was cool to see, the latter is a pest/predator introduced to New Zealand and is on the list of animals that New Zealand wants to see disappear by 2050. Also on the list are possums, which are another introduced species. As a result, the market for clothing using a blend of possum fur and merino wool is gaining ground!  

Back to Waitomo Village.  While it’s not a big place, it does have a great little museum about the history of the caves, geological info, bones from the now extinct moa and a life-size model of it, a small movie theater with movies about the caves and the glowworms.  We watched the movies, so I got a glimpse of what Mike and the kids experienced, which was fun! 🙂  There also were all sorts of “walls” that were designed for kids to crawl under or shimmy through like you would in a cave setting.  

The kids played on the playground across the street for bit afterward and then we went stopped into the General Store and got poppies (for Anzac Day – April 25) and a ridiculously good peanut butter chocolate bar.

It was a great day.  Sadly, when we got back to our house, though, I had a text from my mom letting me know that my dear Grandma Dot had passed away at 97 years.  So many tears to hear this news from so far away.  We called and talked to my mom and dad for a while and then at the suggestion of my mom we went out for dessert to honor Grandma, who loved sweet treats!  As one of my friends suggested, perhaps she needed a better vantage point from which to watch all of our adventures.