Mousetraps and Tourist Traps (Jan. 22-23)

Paihia is a small but popular resort town in a region known as the Bay of Islands about an hour north of Whangarei, and was our next stop. Paihia has a bit of a reputation as a tourist trap, and to our mind, it lived up (or down, depending on your perspective) to that reputation. There are myriad cruises to choose from that depart from Paihia to see the Bay of Islands, swim with dolphins, and so on, but having just had a rather touristy experience on our tour bus to Cape Reinga, we decided not to take in any of the cruises. Plus, they seemed rather exorbitant. We know that we’ll be spending a bit of money on this trip that we won’t be recouping no matter how hard we hustle in picking kiwifruit, or whatever, but laying out NZ$90 each for a cruise just didn’t appeal to us.

Anyway, we took in Paihia with its small beach over the next couple days, bunking at another hostel, Mousetrap Backpackers, which with its maze of rooms and winding halls was pretty much as advertised. It was nice, but was directly across the street from some popular backpackers bars. With the Kiwi Experience in town on one of the nights, the partying could be heard until rather late. I guess we’re old, so we skipped the bar scene, but we hardly missed much from our room, and learned that Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl” is popular in just about every country that sends backpackers to NZ.

The band as overheard from the bar: “And now just the Germans!”

The crowd – “La la la la la la la la la la la-la-ti-da!”

It certainly sounded like a magical night of international bonding, or something along those lines…

While in Paihia, we also visited the building where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the Maoris and the British in 1840, effectively beginning the nation of New Zealand. It’s an interesting historical site, perhaps like NZ’s Liberty Hall? Probably the most interesting parts of the site were the Maori meeting house and waka, or war canoe, that were built for Waitangi Day celebrations and are on still on display.

Maori War Canoe

Maori Meeting House

Carving on top of the meeting house

We also visited Russell, just a short ferry ride from Paihia, and what was once known as the “Hell-hole of the Pacific” due to its lawlessness and brothels frequented by sailors in the 1800s. You wouldn’t know it to visit the town today, however. I was hoping to possibly snag a “Hell-hole of the Pacific” t-shirt or see some historical buildings, but we really felt Russell was a bit of a bust. It’s basically a small tourist town without any buildings of obvious historical interest left standing these days. In any event, I generally like any excuse to take a ferry, so that was alright.

Overall, we were pretty unimpressed by our Paihia experience, and wouldn’t really recommend it unless you’re dying to swim with the dolphins or take some other sort of cruise. We know we’ve been spoiled by the empty beaches elsewhere, but Paihia felt like the most American beach town we’ve been to here in NZ yet, with its stores, hotels, and whatnot. Oh well, southward we go…

Cape Reinga and 90-Mile Beach (Jan. 21)

At one of the most northernmost points on New Zealand lies Cape Reinga, a picturesque arm of land that sports a lighthouse and is said to be the place where Maori spirits are said to jump into the sea into the afterlife. To my knowledge no one but masochistic completists go to the real northernmost point (precise location unknown to me, but certainly tougher to get to), so Cape Reinga might as well be it.

Lighthouse at Cape Reinga

Andrew in front of Cape Marie Van Dieman

When visiting Cape Reinga, the only cool way to go is by driving on the Ninety-Mile Beach either to or from the point, tide permitting. Ninety-Mile Beach is actually a bit of a misnomer, as the actual length is ninety kilometers (less poetic) or about fifty-six miles. Becky wasn’t crazy about taking Ron on the beach, especially after reading our guide books which warn of the numerous travelers who’ve lost their cars to the soft sands and the ocean. All rental car agreements in the country expressly forbid taking the car on this beach, so there might be something to this. With that in mind, we decided to take a tour bus to Cape Reinga from Kaitaia, the nearest large town about 112 km away.

Feeling a bit of a travel rant starting, uh oh. The tour itself wasn’t bad; riding in an air-conditioned bus you’re already ahead of the game to start. Our tour guide, however, wasn’t exactly a terrific raconteur, and seemed to specialize in extended and mundane anecdotes. To wit: he probably didn’t need to pull over for 5 minutes to show us where companies had once excavated sea sand for glass production in the early 20^th century, especially after he had previously yelled at our group for putting us off schedule by not being back to the bus quickly enough at a rest stop. He also went on about a 20 minute discourse on some fishing competition in the Northland, explaining in excruciating details just what a fisherman might use a rodholder for. That apparently isn’t something you can guess from the context, or, I don’t know, the word itself?

Also, lunch was an abomination. You may expect a small sandwich, chips, and drink on a tour lunch, but our tour company obviously thought we might like something a little more carb-intensive. How about a roll, a muffin, a granola bar, cheese and crackers, shortbread cookies, and a fruit-filled breakfast bar? If you thought that’s not really lunch, you and I would be on the same wavelength.

It was also bad when we got to the sand dunes area, which promised a fun tobogganing run. A group on another company’s tour bus was using boogie boards down the hill, which went dangerously fast and looked like a great time. Lamely, our tour got little plastic sleds that went about quarter as fast and looked one-tenth as bad-ass. Aside from that, the bus got to and from the Cape in air-conditioned comfort, so that was good. Life lesson: perhaps we should question why a particular tour is the cheapest next time.

Climbing the sand dune for tobogganing

Somewhat disappointingly, we didn’t see any rusting car hulks buried partly in the sand on Ninety-Mile Beach, as the guide books had intimated we might see. Seeing the remains of some unfortunate traveler’s car would’ve made me feel even better about not taking our own car after other people had said similar cars to ours had no problem in traversing the beach. Plus that would’ve made for a fun picture, but no dice. After crossing a rather long streambed at one end of the beach drive, Becky was happy we didn’t take Ron, but I dunno. Better safe than sorry I suppose.

The "Hole in the Rock" of 90-Mile Beach

Cape Reinga was definitely worth getting to see though, and I have no reservations about recommending a trip there. Lighthouses have got to be some of the most poetic structures around, and when they’re situated in such a scenic location on the very edge of a country, so much the better. If you find yourself in the Northland with some fine weather, visiting the lighthouse is a good way to spend a day.

Even the signpost has a sponsor! (Not unlike the DHL lifeguards at Karekare...)

On to Ahipara (Jan. 20)

Bidding goodbye to the Lands, our next destination was several hours north at the Endless Summer Backpackers Lodge in Ahipara, at the head of the Ninety-Mile Beach. Endless Summer was another tremendous hostel, in a gorgeous older house right on the beach in Ahipara. Perhaps Endless Summer’s greatest asset was an unexpected one in nearly all hostels: a dishwasher! Shoot, we didn’t even have one of those at our last apartment. I should’ve taken a picture – a dishwasher at a hostel is a rarer sight than a Kiwi bird in the wild (FYI also rare).

Endless Summer Lodge in Ahipara

Becky didn’t feel well that day, uncovering some of the best and worst facets of healthcare in New Zealand. Bad: pharmacies are open ridiculously restrictive hours here as compared to the US: 10-12 AM on weekends. Good: socialized healthcare results in much lower doctor’s visitation fees, on the order of NZ$30. At the current exchange rate of NZ$0.70-US$1, that’s a Crazy Eddie-level insane deal. Fortunately, a little antibiotic had her feeling better quickly, which was good as we had already booked our tickets for our Cape Reinga bus ride the next day.

We had our first night in a real dorm this night, which had Becky a bit bummed. Heretofore we’d been able to sleep in doubles accommodations, which is quite nice, but gets expensive over an extended period in hostels. Becky had never stayed in a dorm before, and so bunking was a bit of a shock to her. But all went well so hopefully we get used to it, as the Magic 8-Ball says there’s almost certainly much more bunking ahead in our future…

A Night With The Land Family (Jan. 19)

After leaving Matt and his family, we headed northwest to the Waipoura Forest, home of the giant Tane Mahuta. Tane is the largest living Kauri tree, Kauris being New Zealand’s answer to the redwood. Tane Mahuta is pretty huge as you can see, but apparently wasn’t even one of the largest Kauris in recent history. Unfortunately a forest fire killed the larger trees, which dwarfed Tane. Still, Tane Mahuta was a pretty impressive specimen to us.

Tane Mahuta, the largest living Kauri tree

According to Matt’s dad, Kauris have an interesting story. Kauris were prized by early settlers for the gum they produced, but Kauris apparently produce so much of the gum that given enough time a forest of Kauris will fill enough of the soil with it that they will end up killing itself off. But anyway, they can grow huge, and were in all the tour guides, so we had to go see it.

Our next accommodation was to CouchSurf at the Land family residence in the mountains above the Opononi area. Opononi is a small beachside town in the Hokianga area of the Northland, largely untouched by the outside world. The Lands live in a self-built home far above the town, and it would be no stretch to call the family remarkable. I know we keep saying that about all our hosts, but again it’s true. Simon and Sha’ntina Land are in their late 30’s, but have had 9 children, 6 of whom are young enough to live at home. So they must have a bit of energy.

Simon is a cabinetmaker by trade, but as he put together the family’s current house and is busy building a more proper and permanent home not 100 ft away from their current abode, there seems to be no area of construction that he is not knowledgeable about. In keeping their home, educating the children, and helping Simon in various projects, Sha’tina also manages to keep busy somehow. The Lands live pretty simply and rustically, but also rather cleverly, generating electricity from a local stream and obtaining a good deal of food from hunting in the local area.

The Land Family residence

We met 3 of the Land’s children extensively and were amazed by the energy and fearlessness of even their 2-year old, climbing trees like monkeys, bouncing off of trampolines, and jumping from all manner of high places. Becky winced probably 100 times in the day we were there, as they jumped and fell for their new audience.

The view from the Land Family's home

Despite only getting to spend one evening with the Lands we felt like we had made fast friends with the family, and wished we could have spent more time there. They made us feel at home, were great conversationalists, and had great spirit as a family. You don’t often meet people who lead a completely different lifestyle than you do, but still feel totally welcomed in, but the Lands did just that. It was absolutely a unique and stimulating experience we probably won’t ever forget. I don’t know how or if they manage to sleep through the rooster crowing incessantly at dawn, but in any event, thanks Lands!

Us, Simon and Sha'tina Land, and 4 of their 9 children (Scott, Flynn, Francis, and Charlie)

Mt. Manaia with Kool Kel (Jan. 18-19)

The next day, Kel offered to take us out to his place at Whangarei Heads (on the water) and take us hiking. It sounded like a great time, so we all agreed. In the morning, Becky and I went to Whangarei Falls, the “Most photogenic falls in New Zealand.” Unable to resist, we visited. We were, however, able to resist emulating the Maori coming-of-age ritual of jumping off the falls.

Another nice set of falls in NZ

A word first about Kel: Kel’s a New Zealander in his mid-50’s who has lived about as interesting a life as you might be able to imagine. He worked for about 15 years as a professional deep sea diver, diving to great depths in oceans across the world, working in difficult and dangerous conditions, and then subjecting himself to the even more dangerous rigors of the professional party lifestyle with his diving mates in tropical locales between jobs. He now pilots tugboats for oil tankers docking at the plant in Whangarei Harbor. With a daughter who excels in several sports, a nephew who is a serious up-and-coming cricketer in NZ, and another nephew who introduced ‘drifiting’ to NZ, he’s got quite the family as well. In short, we thought he was a hell of a guy.

Becky was excited to ride Kel's motorbike

We took off with Kel around noon to avoid an early spate of cloudy raininess, and first took a quick ride up Pakihiri (Becky – spelling?) Mountain to see Whangarei from above, and then on to Kel’s. Becky is a bit of a secret motorbike fanatic, and relished the chance to put on the leathers for a hair-rising ride with Kel. I think they beat us to his house by about 10 minutes on a 25km ride.

Kel's crib in Whangarei Heads - not bad

Kel has a terrific house overlooking the harbor in Whangarei Heads, where we had a quick lunch before the hike. Just minutes from Kel’s house is Mt. Manaia, a mountain overlooking the harbor with a relatively easy hour-long hike to the summit. The trail considers the summit to be a wooden platform about 100 ft below the true top of the peak where the land survey station is located. Reaching the true top requires a bit of rock climbing skill, but more importantly a good bit of skill in not looking downwards.

A bit of rock climbing at the very top of the mountain

A view from the bottom, we reached the very top

As a bit of a mad man, Kel is an experienced hand at climbing Mt. Manaia, however, and he helped us all to reach the top. Hopefully you can get a good sense from the pictures how difficult the last part of the climb is. If not, take it from me, it’s a bit freaky up there! However, the view at the top more than rewarded the work and brief worry involved in reaching the summit, and the sense of accomplishment was great as well.

Happy to be at the summit of Mt. Manaia

Afterwards, we gathered for celebratory beers at the bar at the base of the hill and toasted a great climb. Stu then joined us, and we headed off to Kel’s for an impromptu barbie at their insistence. Not wanting to be bad guests, we reluctantly accepted their gesture of food and beer that evening, and had a great evening on Kel’s deck. Many thanks, Kel!

Matt, our host in Whangarei and grillmaster (and Vincent from France looking on)

After a few drinks, we decided to crash at Kel’s, as he had some spare rooms. Matt had offered to show us around his parents’ farm the next day, so we got up a bit early and took off for there, about 45 minutes inland. From there, Matt gave us the grand tour of the 600 acre farm, showing us the family’s cows, sheep, and vast forested sections. It was a great time, and Matt was rightly proud of his family’s environmentally friendly practices and the care that they’ve taken in cultivating the farm over the past 25 years.

Obligatory picture with a sheep, Brutus

Matt’s dad was also a riot, giving us the lowdown on New Zealand’s battle with possums and other topics. Apparently possums were introduced about 100 years ago to provide income in the fur trade, but with no indigenous mammals in New Zealand, their population quickly became out-of-hand. As with many introduced species, possums have become a significant ecological concern in the country. With the collapse of the fur trade in the last 40-50 years, possums lost nearly all of the little value they once had. Various government attempts to poison the creatures have also caused ecological problems, and attempts to induce the underemployed to hunt them seem to have only reinforce Conservative opinions about most of the unemployed. Although I might be the only one to find the idea of possums as a destructive force of nature hilarious.

Fe-Fi-Fo-Whangarei (Jan. 17)

The norm for most travelers to New Zealand seems to be: arrive in Auckland and go directly south through the North Island and then on to the South Island. This bypasses the Northland area, the beautiful, sparsely populated, and very beachy peninsular area north of Auckland. Since we are staying for a year, we thought we should see as much of the country as possible, and so we left the Auckland area for Whangarei, 3 hours north and the largest city in the Northland. The name is funny because the “Wh” sound in the Maori language is pronounced as an “F.” If you don’t agree, I’m tempted to suggest that you “Whuck off.”

Becky checking out the ocean

On the way to Whangarei we stopped at a couple other scenic locations, Goat Island Marine Preserve and Pakiri Beach. The weather didn’t quite agree that day, but they still were worthy places to visit, and allowed me to work on my ‘crane kick’ technique.

I'm the best around, nothing's ever gonna keep me down!

Whangarei is a sleepy, relatively small harbor town on the east coast on the Northland, and home to some of the best blokes you should hope to encounter on your travels, in our opinion. One of them is Matt Pedersen, our next CouchSurfing host who graciously agreed to put us up for two nights. Matt’s another world traveler and is from a farming family about 40 minutes inland. He flats (rents) in a great house on the outskirts of Whangarei from a fellow named Stu, another terrific and friendly Kiwi. While Matt was hosting us, he was also hosting a woman from Denmark, Suzanne, and had just agreed to put another guy up, Vincent from France, for the night.

This indicates that we were able to figure out the delay setting on our camera

This is apparently the norm for Matt, as he recounted the many guests they had recently put up. I’m not sure if it’s a New Zealand thing or a CouchSurfing thing, but we’re finding our New Zealand CouchSurfing experiences to be just tremendous. Matt, Stu, and Stu’s friends Kel and JohnBoy all blew us away with their kindness and generosity. Cheers boys!

Our first night in Whangarei, we all enjoyed some beers and wine with the guys before heading off to bed. The boys had just arrived from a preseason rugby match held in Whangarei between Auckland and Queensland, a match the Kiwis won handily, 38-9, putting everyone in good spirits. We tried a pizza from Hell, apparently a popular and somewhat controversial pizza chain in NZ, who market their pizzas under the seven deadly sins and other similar nomenclature. In a brilliant marketing move, they apparently sent condoms to most mailboxes in the nation, guaranteeing a good bit of uproar, and thus, publicity. Oh for the days when a mass mailing of prophylactics would generate outrage in America…

Fairy Falls and Karekare Beach (Jan. 16)

On our full day in Torbay we took off to the Waitakere Ranges, a regional park area west of Auckland on the Tasman Sea that was about an hour from Torbay. While driving through, we did a quick hour-long hike down to Fairy Falls. At some point, I expect that we might get jaded from all the terrific scenery in NZ, but as of yet, we’re still quite amazed by everything.

Fairy Falls, one of New Zealand's many waterfalls

After Fairy Falls, we continued to our destination, Karekare Beach. Karekare is a black-sand volcanic beach on the Tasman Sea, meaning that there’s quite a bit of surf there. It’s also rather remote, requiring a pretty steep and windy descent from the main road down to the beach itself. Our guide book tells us that parts of the film The Piano were filmed at Karekare, so I guess we’re somewhat obligated to see the film now that we’ve gotten to the location.

Karekare Surf Club

Rock formations at Karekare

As we are quickly learning, there are so many beaches in New Zealand and relatively few people, so that even in summertime, beaches that are vast and empty are the rule rather than the exception. Not exactly a terrible problem to have, I suppose.

Hello, Newmans (Jan. 15)

After leaving Auckland, we headed up north to our next accommodation at the home of a couple from Torbay, a suburb of Auckland on the North Shore. Before arriving there, we took in Long Bay, a fantastic little beach right by Torbay that is a favorite of Aucklanders due to its gentle waves, nice beach, and close proximity to the city.

Andrew endures the tough life of a travel correspondent

Torbay is a beautiful town perched on a set of hills overlooking Hauraki Gulf about 30-40 minutes outside of Auckland. Views of the sea and distant islands abound, and many of the homes are built on quite steep, scenic hillsides. From certain vantages in Torbay you can still see Sky Tower in Auckland. Compared to the ‘burbs we’re familiar with in the US, Torbay ain’t bad at all.

Something you don't see everyday on the beach

We met the couple, Rachael and Shanon Newman, through CouchSurfing, a site that connects people willing to host travelers in their homes with people interested in staying with local people (free of charge) while they are traveling. It sounds almost cliché, but based on our few experiences so far, the site really does seem to create a like-minded community of people that are interested in meeting and helping other travelers. Because it’s such a cool idea and we are looking to minimize expenses when possible, we’ll be trying to CouchSurf through New Zealand whenever possible.

Our excellent hosts, the Newmans

Becky had heard about CouchSurfing sometime in early 2006 while we were still in Burlington, and thought it would be a good thing to participate in, given that we would be coming here to NZ this year. We ourselves had a group of 5 early-20 somethings stay in our spare bedroom last August while they were on a fundraising trip to Burlington, and while we probably wouldn’t recommend anyone have that large a group stay in their apartment, it was an interesting experience.

Friends and fam, try not to worry too much about us staying on random people’s couches. There are verification processes and feedback mechanisms (like eBay), and from what we have seen CouchSurfing seems to be a pretty good self-selecting group of people interested in helping other people out. As always though, we are trying to be careful.

We have to say that Rachael and Shanon are terrific ambassadors for both New Zealand and CouchSurfing. They made our first CouchSurfing experience great with their friendliness and warmth of hospitality. Rachael works in the tourism industry while Shanon is in building supply sales, and like most New Zealanders we’ve met, they didn’t seem to be huge fans of Auckland. According to Rachel, we’re about the 25^th group of CouchSurfers they’ve had in their home, and they’ve gone to visit some of the CouchSurfers that visited them from San Diego. Hopefully we’ll be able to put up someone we stay with someday as well.

The Auckland skyline as seen from Torbay

Despite them having to work in the morning, Rachel and Shanon shared a dinner of fish and chips with us and stayed up late and chatted about New Zealand and traveling abroad. They’ve had some amazing travels, with trips to Europe, North America, and throughout Asia under their belt, which made us a bit jealous. Though by the end of the year, we may have seen more of New Zealand than they have, so we’ll have that going for us.

Some bad news to report from the Newmans’ household, however. On our second full day of owning Ron Burgundy, while parked on the street outside their house he was backed into by one of their neighbors who didn’t expect to see such a handsome display of automobile machismo parked directly across from their driveway. Once we determined that Ron had only suffered a little paint damage and a small dent, we assured the offending woman that it was not necessary to involve insurances and body shops (oddly called ‘Panelbeaters’ here in NZ – more evocative than ‘auto body repair technician’, eh?).

There are several reasons we didn’t get Ron fixed: 1) Ron has suffered numerous prior indignities, and truth be told, it might be tough to tell the panelbeaters where to stop in fixing the damage from this particular scrape. 2) Ron’s manly persona demands we not take him in for such a trifling scratch. 3) It would probably take several days to repair a minor dent and we were eager to get on the road the next day. 4) We have convinced ourselves that by not making this woman involve her insurance company over Ron we have gained a measure of car karma, or perhaps carma [Ed. – Groan. Stick with car karma.], for the next year and so Ron won’t break down and leave us sitting some day on a mountain on the South Island.

So for the above reasons we told her to forget it, but to swear on her children’s heads to be more careful in the future. Well OK we didn’t do that, but perhaps we’ll remember to next time.

After two days staying with the Newmans, we planned to go to the Northland area of the country. Rachel was a bit sad that we were leaving after “only two days”, which she said was the shortest duration any of her previous CouchSurfers had stayed. We had picked a stay of two days because we thought it would give us a good amount of time to visit without imposing too much on their hospitality. Imagine our surprise when they were almost disappointed that we were leaving after only a few days, and that they wouldn’t have minded putting us up for up to a week! Maybe we’ll have to stop by again in our travels here. In any event, file the Newmans under the heading: Ridiculously Good Hosts.

Next up: a trip to the Waitakere (why-TOCK-er-ay) Ranges

[Note: We’ve recently had a request to add more pictures to the blog. We’ll try and do our best to accommodate and add more pics here and on Flickr when possible. However, uploading pics is probably the most difficult thing for us to do on the internet these days, since we usually need to use my computer to do it, and getting a connection on my laptop has been fairly hard to do. We’ll try our best, though.]

Meet Ron Burgundy (Jan 14 - 15)

Ron's a handsome bastard, isn't he?

On Sunday, for the relatively low price of NZ$2000, we welcomed the New Zealand Ron Burgundy, Anchorman (erm... Anchorcar) into our traveling family. Ron is a right-side drive 1992 Subaru Legacy with 146,000 kms (apparently low for a cheap car in NZ), and is as burgundy as the day is long. For backpackers touring New Zealand, naming one's car seems to be the thing to do. We quickly decided Legacy is a terrible name for a car, and thus Ron Burgundy was born. The only bad thing we can say about Ron so far is that he doesn't smell of rich mahogany, but we're on the lookout for an appropriate car freshener.

Becky and I may never have children, so for the time being, Ron may just have to do. After a less-than-thrilling trip to the Ellerslie Racecourse Car Market on Sunday morning, we instead accepted a delivery from the Verandahs car stork. Or to be exact, from Ken Thomas, Auckland mechanic/inspection agent/sometimes backpacker car dealer. Ken seems the rather quintessential New Zealand type - no-nonsense hard-worker with a penchant for shorter shorts than most people in the US would find decent (think Larry Bird in the early '80's) and little tolerance for dallying around. We are literally kicking ourselves now for not getting a snap with Ken.

Ron and Andrew look good - this is how we roll

We accomplished quite a bit on Sunday and Monday. Besides getting Ron, we opened a bank account (an 1.5 hr ordeal that is best unremembered), got car insurance, sent away for NZ tax ID numbers, and got a cell phone - 021 178 8755. Apparently we don't get charged for incoming calls, so call away. Remember, however, that we're 18 hrs into the future for those of you on the East Coast, and we can easily retaliate if you call at inappropriate hours of the night here...

Feeling rightfully accomplished, we visited Sky Tower, Auckland's answer to a landmark architectural feature, on Monday, our first day of nice weather in Auckland. Sky Tower boasts some great views of Auckland and the surrounding areas. As the self-proclaimed adventure sports capital of the world, one can ride the elevator, climb to the top, or do a bungee-style jump off the tower. We took the perfectly good elevator to the top.

AfSky Tower, from the ground

Sky Tower, from a bit higher up

After our trip to Sky Tower, we were off to the Auckland suburbs! (Nicer than they sound, actually)

‘Ello, Auckland (Jan 12 - 13)

Friday afternoon found us arriving in Auckland at about 1 PM after a short 3-hr flight from Fiji. In a delay I’ve never experienced before, the flight was a bit late as we had to wait in Fiji for an extra half hour to allow the customs department to process a significant number of passengers on our flight – customs lines usually operate at a pretty laconic pace, but that was a new one for me. Otherwise the flight was uneventful.

Despite the shortness of the flight, the difference in latitude between Fiji and New Zealand became quickly apparent, as the weather in Auckland was much cooler than Fiji. It was sunny and about 90ºF in Fiji, but was a cool 70ºF and drizzling in New Zealand. It apparently has been a rather chilly, wet summer thus far in New Zealand, which, though a bit annoying to us, seems to make sense in a cosmic fashion, as it’s been unseasonably warm in the Northeast US this year.

Cool and cloudy in Auckland

When we started planning this trip, we thought we would cleverly be able to escape the cold Northeast winter in the States by going to balmier New Zealand climes, but so far the joke seems to be on us. I don’t usually root for really cold weather to hit Pennsylvania, but it really would make me feel better about the whole thing if I knew traveling halfway across the world would at least bring some nice weather! Sorry, friends and family who live there, but that’s how we roll. Who knows, maybe New Zealand will also have a warm winter this year as well.

Anyway, after our flight, just like obtaining our working holiday visas, getting through customs was a breeze in New Zealand – the passport agent asked us a few cursory questions about what we’d likely be doing on our working holiday visas and looked at our visa print-outs, but didn’t require us to show that we had sufficient funds to live on and return to the US with. Either he forgot, or NZ figures that if you think you need to prove that you’ve got enough funds to return home, you will actually have those funds, and they don’t need to go to the bother of checking your bank account print-out. I have to say that that does have a certain bit of logic to it. But since they didn’t check, hope they don’t get mad when they find out I’ve only got $50 to my name, and they’ll have to pay my way if they want me to go home by the end of the year! I’m kidding of course, mostly.

Prior to getting through customs Becky had convinced herself that entering New Zealand would for some reason be rather difficult, or that they wouldn’t let us through at all on some technicality. Happily, that turned out not to be the case. She had had similar fears that we would not be able to get on our earlier flights as well, but hadn’t mentioned that to me. So it was with a sigh of relief from her that we got through customs. I, on the other hand, hadn’t even really considered the possibility that our visas wouldn’t work, so I only had a momentary feeling of retroactive panic at the possibility of not getting through. But as they’re fond of saying down here, no worries.

After landing we called for a shuttle to take us to our lodging for the first few nights in Auckland, Verandahs Backpackers Lodge, where we again got a double room. Verandahs is in a large, old house right in the Ponsonby neighborhood on the edge of Western Park in Auckland. Ponsonby is apparently a rather hip area with a lot of trendy bars/cafes and a pretty gay-friendly vibe. Despite not having a grocery store in very close walking distance, it seems to be a pretty cool area of the city.

View of Verandahs from Western Park

On our first day in the city, Friday, we walked for several hours, taking in a bunch of the city and meeting people in the hostel. It was Becky's first time in a hostel, so that was quite neat for her. On Saturday we didn't get much accomplished either, beyond having some great fish and chips and finding a supermarket so that we could eat less expensively. We also managed to withdraw enough funds to buy a car through the magic of international ATMs. Due to the fact that midnight EST is at 6 PM here, we can withdraw up to US$1000 each in a five-minute span in the evening.

The Best Fish and Chips in Auckland!

With all the rain we’ve had so far in Auckland, the greenness of the city, the Sky Tower looming above the skyline, its political leanings, some native-inspired art, and a rather hip and casual vibe, Auckland seems to be pretty similar to Seattle to us. That might just be the rain talking, but the comparison doesn’t seem totally out-of-line so far. In spite of all the clouds, it's recommended that people wear an SPF 30 sunscreen everyday, as the amount of UV is relatively high here, owing to the ozone hole over Antarctica. One other thing: we haven't even driven here yet, but the driving-on-the-left is a major issue when you're crossing the streets! Looking left-right-left doesn't work here, and will probably get you flattened. It's a tough one to unlearn after a lifetime of crossing the street in the US: hopefully we get it before we have a Frogger experience!

Our Own Private Island

Once we got to Fiji, however, we were quite glad to be there. And not just because of the jaw-droppingly gorgeous countryside and friendly natives (although that helps). It was also provided a nice break in between a series of long flights – it really does take a long time to fly to the other side of the world. Much like most tropical paradises, Fiji has stunning scenery punctuated by poverty and developed tourist areas. Fiji seems to be better off than Cancun, for example, with less abject poverty and almost no beggars that we saw, but most rural areas are pretty undeveloped.

People in Fiji are about as friendly as advertised. Compared to US flight attendants, Air Pacific’s Fijian crew was quite friendly, and people that we saw on the street were for the most part quite friendly and polite. On our shuttle from the airport to the Nananu Island Lodge, the backpackers that we stayed at for a few nights on Nananu-i-Ra Island (or "Daydream Island"), we stopped in a few villages and bought some hilarious snack food (more on that later), and saw a lot of natives, most of whom seemed to encapsulate Fiji’s laid-back and friendly vibe.

It would seem that even an ongoing military coup doesn’t dissuade Fijian tendencies towards friendliness. We drove through several military checkpoints on the way to our resort, and they had to be the friendliest military checkpoints that you’d want to encounter. At most of the stops at least one Fijian military personnel was holding a submachine gun while smiling, waving, and saying ‘Bula!’ to our van as we drove by. Not exactly Checkpoint Charlie. Now, it might just be because tourism is such a huge industry here the Fijians have an ingrained sense to try and make tourists feel at ease while they’re visiting during a politically sensitive time, but you had to see these guys – they seemed genuinely happy. However, I didn’t feel like pressing my luck, so we didn’t get any snapshots.

The only downside to the Fijian easygoing friendliness and laid-back attitude is an apparent lack of punctuality. Our resort said to expect a 2-hr ride from the airport to the wharf, which ended up taking over 3 hrs. A 3-hr ride isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, but when you’re expecting a 2-hr ride through the Fijian countryside, you start to wonder if they’re actually taking you to the resort, or are we being driven to the middle of nowhere…? I was pleasantly surprised at how well-maintained the main ring road was, as we’ve been on worse roads just this week in New Jersey. Another Fijian trait seems to be a predilection for scary passes of slow-moving trucks on 2-lane roads with other cars bearing down on you. Since they drive on the left side of the road here, I also had to fight a natural cringe every time I saw a car coming towards us in the right lane around a curve.

Andrew enjoying a Fiji Bitter on the shuttle ride to the island. A beer helps to calm the nerves during the rather harrowing drive.

Luckily, we got to the wharf after a few diversions, and caught the ferry (a generously used term since it was more like a 15-ft skiff with an outboard motor, but that’s what you get at a discount resort). Once at the resort, we found there were not many other visitors at the lodge, since it was January, Fiji’s summer, and temperatures in the high 80’s-low 90’s keep most tourists away at this time. Fiji and other South Pacific islands really are the equivalent of the Caribbean for Australia/New Zealand tourists. At less than 3 hrs from Auckland, Fiji is tough to beat for an island holiday. There were maybe ten other visitors at Nananu when we were there, many of which were Europeans (most Brits) traveling through Fiji on various around-the-world tickets. Fiji is apparently a frequent stop for globe-trekking Europeans between Auckland and LA. We also met a couple of Americans who worked at the resort, but were soon to leave, as the slow, hot season after the holidays is not the lucrative time to be working in Fiji.

The hazards of a beach vacation in Fiji

Nananu-i-Ra Island itself is a gorgeous small island not far from the northeast coast of Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu. With several white beaches, clear blue water, palm trees, lush mountains, and spectacular underwater scenery, the island is basically a tropical paradise. The Island Lodge is a rather rustic backpackers-type beach resort, meaning that while beautiful, it’s definitely meant for a younger (and cheaper) crowd that doesn’t miss typical amenities like AC, hot showers, fancy bathrooms, or things of that nature. Not to say that we didn’t enjoy ourselves there, but if you go somewhere like that, it’s better to know those types of things going in.

Like most backpackers accommodations, most of Nananu’s lodgings were dormitory style, though we lived it up and got a double room, which was nice as it was much more private. The bathrooms were pretty primitive, with brackish and pretty cold water running from the shower, which inspired even Becky to speed up her customary half-hour long shower.

The lodgings were all close to the beach, and we largely had the run of the place to ourselves as there were very few other visitors during this, the hot season. Even though it was very hot with a blazing sun, a strong breeze on the beach made the temperature much easier to bear. Despite slathering myself with what I considered copious amounts of sunscreen, I still ended up crisping myself, with a peeling nose to show for it now. Not that it will elicit much sympathy, but take it from me, paradise can be tougher than it looks sometimes…

"One Beach" on the other side of the island

On our first day at the resort we stuck to hanging out on the beach, and walking up to the bure on the hill above the resort area to catch the sunset. Despite a bit of cloudiness, the Fijian sunset was still pretty spectacular. On the next day, we were up literally at dawn, as the sun woke us up through our screen door. Waking up at dawn with no alarm is a pretty freaky thing for me, as most people who know me would probably attest. This made me think briefly that perhaps I don’t have a badly functioning body clock, I just live at the wrong longitude? At the very least, it’s an interesting theory.

The next day we took in some snorkeling right off the beach. It was incredible. Barely 50 yards off shore, we snorkeled in about 10 ft deep clear water with soft coral, anemones, and hundreds of brightly colored fish. The underwater scenery in Fiji totally blew the doors off what we had seen in Cozumel, Mexico a few years ago and showed us why Fiji is considered such a top dive spot. If we’d had more time at the resort, we would definitely have gotten dive lessons, but even just snorkeling we had a great time. Given that Fiji is costly and time-consuming to get to, if I ever go back to Fiji, it will almost certainly be to go diving.

The sunset bure at the peak of Nananu-I-Ra

After a few days at Nananu-I-Ra, we took our shuttle back to Nadi to stay for a night at the Nomads Skylodge. We were sad to leave our own private island, but, between the coup and the low season, the number of visitors to the resort had dwindled in just the few days we were there, so there wasn't too much going on at the moment. We stopped in downtown Nadi, which isn't much of a hot tourist spot... That is, except for the the hustling and heckling shop owners who tried to get us to go in their stores with the promise of kava. They all had nearly the exact same line: "We have a saying in Fiji: Until you have kava, you're still on the plane." To make a long story short, we didn't have any kava, but my peeling forehead strongly suggests we left the plane at some point in Fiji.

Next stop, New Zealand!

LAX and the Lost Day

LAX to Fiji: Jan. 7 – Jan. 9

Hey there, everybody. Due to travel and the dearth of wireless availability over the past few days, we haven’t been able to post much lately, but a lot has been happening. We’re currently in Auckland now, having arrived on Friday at about 1 pm local time. We’ll try and catch up the blog to what we’re actually doing soon, but will post our experiences in Fiji first.

Most of this was written from sunny Fiji. Our flight to Fiji from LA was largely uneventful, which is always good. Air Pacific is as friendly as advertised and does a nice job, as our 10-hr flight to Fiji was probably more enjoyable than our 6-hr flight to LA. There was champagne with breakfast and a free sleeping mask and toothbrush to make the flight more comfortable. They even served two meals (and snacks) during the flight! Take that American airlines... A 10:30 PM departure from LA on Sunday, January 7^th meant we landed in Fiji at around 5 AM on Tuesday, the 9^th, so we in effect lost the 8^th almost entirely. As Stephen Colbert might say, January 8^th, you’re dead to us! Especially since Ohio State did its worst to represent the Big Ten against Florida in the National Championship game on that day – Ohio State, we knew there was a reason we don’t like you… Anyway, flying international out of LAX these days is not the most fun experience.

Not to get off on a travel rant this early in our trip, but here goes. Our flight reservation indicated that we should arrive 3 hrs before our 10:30 PM flight, and when we got there, lines snaking out the front doors at LAX looked like we’d need the entire 3 hrs to get through them. In the end, we didn’t need quite that much time to get to our gate, but the experience seemed pretty poorly conceived.

From what we could see, the lines in the international terminal are pretty poorly marked at LAX, so it was hard to tell where one line began, where another ended, and who was waiting in what line. Add to that a sea of people from other countries that don’t speak English, and it becomes an even bigger mess. To get to the gates, you must wait in three separate lines. One to check-in at your airline, a second to lug your checked baggage over to an X-ray machine (apparently you have to be there while that happens for international flights, but this seems not to be a concern for domestic flighs), and then a third line for security check before you get on the flight. I’m not an aviation expert, but it seems amazing that no one has thought of a more efficient or orderly way for people to get through the airport.

This in and of itself is bad, but since you’re at the airport and time always seems to be of the essence, you feel like you have to rush through to your gate way before it ever boards. At that point, hope you’re not hungry: after you pass through security in LAX’s international terminal there is only one place to get anything to eat, a way overpriced little café that serves little beyond $4 hot dogs and $7 mini pizzas. I mean, I expect to get gouged at the airport, but come on, that’s just rubbing it in at that point. There looked to be decent food options before the checkpoint, but it didn’t seem to be a risk we should take, especially when you don’t know how long the security line will turn out to be. Thanks LAX, you make flying a special experience.

We will try to update more often (and with photos) as Internet access allows. New Zealand is not as far along in free wi-fi as the U.S. They even charge you for wireless access at Starbucks. But a grande non-fat chai latte tastes just as good here as it does across the Pacific.

Howdy from Fiji!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that our Fiji adventure is over, and we are now enroute to New Zealand. We will update everyone on our travels when we have a better Internet connection. Hope all is well on your side of the world.

The Dude Abides

Los Angeles, the City of Angels. Multiple viewings of "The Big Lebowski" have largely colored my pre-existing notions of L.A. We didn't manage to go bowling while we were in town, and I didn't order a Caucasian at dinner last night, but we did manage to squeeze in Lebowski moments whenever possible.

We started out Saturday morning by taking a walk down Hollywood Boulevard, which is home to Mann's Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I accidentally poured a signicant part of my coffee right next to Jeff Bridges' star, which fans of Lebowski will find cosmically appropriate, as it's not unlike the time in the film when the Chinaman peed on the Dude's rug ("Asian-American, please").

El Duderino, if, you know, you're not into the whole brevity thing

We had our sole celebrity sighting of the day by Mann's Chinese Theater. Well, you know, this isn't really Johnny Depp, but my nieces our big fans of Pirates of the Caribbean, and I thought they would enjoy the photograph. And his costume was really good (unlike the Jack Sparrow down the street, who was much less convincing).

Captain Jack Sparrow, mugging for the tourists

Next up was a quick hike in Runyon Canyon to work up an appetite for lunch (more on that later...). Josh lives less than a block away from the entrance of this popular city park. The dog to human ratio was about 1:1 (although we were probably bringing down the average), and Andrew heard more than once, "Aww... I want a dog!" Perhaps when we get back from New Zealand... The weather was great, and the sky was surprisingly clear - we were able to see all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Its always nice to find beautiful outdoor spaces within an urban setting.

Los Angeles skyline from Runyon Canyon

Andrew and Becky with the Hollywood sign behind them

Having worked up an appetite on our walk, we headed towards a Los Angeles (and Lebowski) institution: In-and-Out Burger. I think the photograph tells the whole story.


Other highlights of the day included a visit to "The Grove" - an outdoor shopping mall that feels like the Disney World of retail. There, Josh spotted Scott Bakula, sadly not of Lebowski fame. The Grove also had a terrific Farmers Market, where we could have enjoyed a delicious lunch had we not already gorged on cheeseburgers.

At dinner at the Cabo Cantina, Josh also saw David from the Los Angeles season of "The Real World" (Josh has a sixth sense for the celebrity sighting, apparently developed after five years of living in L.A.). The restaurant featured a two-for-one happy hour (with every one drink you order, they bring you two) and was very popular with the former fraternity brother and wannabe starlet crowd. Our stomachs full of nachos and margaritas (this certainly hasn't been a healthful visit to L.A. thus far) we headed back to Josh's to rest up for our last day in the states.