Alright, alright. I know it's been a couple of months. Just got busy and forgot that I have 3 amazingly loyal blog readers. Thanks guys.
I just need to finish the report of our trip to New Zealand. I miss that place so much. What a beautiful country. Here's the unedited report Candace wrote on the iPod, together with some pictures. Hope you enjoy. Here's also a map of where we went those days:
Driving easier. One tree hill. Hills. Animals. Breakfast. Beaches. Wh is pronounced F. Whangamata beach. Beautiful and scary drive. Hot water beach. People dig holes and hot water comes up from the ground. Natural spas. Seashells. Hahei. Unbelievable view. Fernando didn't want to leave. Cathedral cove. Hike. Cute old couple on moderate hike. Had to explain Babe movie because I said "bah ram ewe" to a sheep and fer looked at me crazy. Pretty pictures.
Rolling hills littered with animals. Green grass, bright green, green all the way down to the water for every stream, you can't even see dirt. Pretty pasture and then there's a palm tree right in the middle hen you realize you're in the middle of a tropical island. Maybe like Maui? Holes naturally have these striations kinda like the Peruvian hills the they dug out to farm on but smaller dig outs and it's natural. It definitely helps the animals. So pretty.
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| One Tree Hill |
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| Auckland from One Tree Hill |
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| Sheep everywhere |
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Whangamata - So beautiful. Oh, the beach is beautiful too.
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| Whangamata |
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Hot Water Beach.
See the holes people dig to get super hot water?
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| Hot Girl in Hot Water Beach |
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Hahei - Hike down to Cathedral Cove
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Hahei
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| Cathedral Cove |
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| North Island countryside |
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| Matamata- Hobbiton was here |
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Day 2 driving in nz. Left side of the road is a breeze now. Going to Te Puia cultural centr recommended by cousin mark... Reviews are mixed online. But we are sucker tourists for this kind of stuff even if it can be cheesy so bring it on.
Te puia was interesting. They make you feel a part of the place. For the performance they bring you in as if you were a neighboring tribe. They needed an English speaking "chief" and since we were with a bunch of Asians and one family from Malaysia so obviously they singled Fernando out and asked him to be chief when no one volunteered (or as Fernando says they begged after swing your brilliance, when really it was just 5 min of silence that had them begging). So I got to handle the camera and video camera at the same time while he played chief. Then because I was the chiefs wife I had to participate in dances. Let's leave it at that.
Our tour guide was a darling. Everything was "you see love" and "little darling". Very cute.
Piha beach is unreal. Black sands but not rocky. Very soft. Multiple colored shells with golds and greens and blues and purples. Steep cliffs in the water. Deadly waves and suicidal surfers. Eddie Bauer apparently almost died here.
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| Piha Beach |
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| Piha Beach |
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| Our little car |
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| Piha Beach |
Random Observations: Kia ora means a lot of things. Our hotel claims it's "green" when it doesn't do one thing green. Kiwi birds are kinda like the dodo bird, no wonder they're going extinct. Gaisers are so smelly it turns your stomach until it makes you want to puke. Houses are smaller here. I'm allergic to sulfur apparently. Road signs are all about a bird telling you how to drive, yet a bird just kamakazied into our car and got ran over so how smart was that? Roads are smoother here. All roads are backroads here but you take them at 60 mi/hr. Orange cones are skinnier here. Technology doesn't exist here: i.e. Hotels don't give you hardly any megabytes(10) but they think it will take you 30 minutes to use it. The mauris performing were immediately attracted to Fernando's phone. I was taking video with it. Multiple of them came up to me mid performance and asked me what it was. Very little iPhones have been seen here. One way bridges where you can't see on coming traffic you have to yield to is scary! Houses are better kept here than australia. The Hamilton NZ temple is a mini LA temple. Fernando learned the word colt. There are no bakeries! I want French bakeries with fresh bread baked daily! Everything closes early. I thought that was France but apparently not.
Words they can't spell: tyres. Veges. Centre.
Perfectly good words they have given up for more confusing ones: stroller for pram, elevator for lift, parkinglot for carpark, pharmacy for chemist. Shopping cart for trundler.
Fernando says worst thing about driving on the left side of the road is the person sitting on the left side of him. Funny boy.
