You Stay Classy as, Ron Burgundy! (Nov. 25 – Dec. 1)

We spent our last week in New Zealand wrapping up all our bits and pieces before having to leave for Tahiti on 2 December. These “bits and pieces” largely consisted of throwing away heaps of clothing that was no longer fit to travel half-way around the world (again), picking up the Newmans from the airport after their South African holiday, and selling Ron Burgundy. Ron has seen us through almost 30,000 trouble-free kms around the North and South Islands (if you excuse him for the flat tires and dead battery, and we do), so we’re certainly sad to be parting ways with our trusty steed.

To sell Ron, we used our normal tactic of posting ads on all the free classified websites. This technique had served us well when we were selling our cars back home, but New Zealand proved to be a bit different. We got some initial interest, particularly from a finicky South African, but nothing concrete came of it. We did get one really creative would-be buyer who offered us a patio heater in exchange for the car. Hmm….yeah, no thanks.

Eventually, we decided to suck it up and take the typical backpacker advertising route – posting “for sale” signs in the hostels downtown. It proved to be an extremely disheartening afternoon, walking up and down Queen Street posting ads for Ron on bulletin boards already overflowing with other car ads. It did make us appreciate the nicer hostels we had stayed at in Auckland (Verandahs, Lantana Lodge) that were not nearly as depressing as those located downtown. We got a few bites this way as well, but even as we were posting the ads we realized that it would in no way be worth the effort. Moral: stay somewhere away from the city centre and try not to have to sell your car through fliers.

Us, the Newmans, and Auckland in the background

We eventually did manage to find a buyer from an online bulletin board. Our buyer, Bev, got in touch with us and we arranged to meet at her office on the North Shore (anything to save us a drive into Auckland at rush hour!). Not used to driving an automatic, she took us for an unexpectedly amusing test drive around Takapuna. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who was so flummoxed by an automatic transmission, and definitely hadn’t met someone who applied the hand brake every time they approached a stop sign. Anyway, Bev got back to us the next day to let us know she would like to buy Ron. With our departure just about imminent, we took about half of what we paid for the car, $950, which was an OK offer, but I guess understandable given that our WOF was up in a couple months.

"Mushrooms" on top of Mt. Victoria in Devenport

As is always the case, as soon as we agreed to sell the car, we received much more interest than we had the previous days. You have to wonder if we could have gotten a better price (as Ron is certainly a bargain at less than a grand) but with the New Zealand dollar currently so strong against the American dollar, we’re making out okay in the end. As long as the funds get us through Tahiti…

Anyway, this marks our final day in New Zealand. I’m not sure it’s really set in yet. We enjoyed a great barbecue last night with the Newmans, and they’ve been nice enough to offer to drive us to the airport as well. We’ve been really lucky to be able to spend this time here on the North Shore, getting ourselves sorted before we leave the country. It was also great to get to know Rachel and Shanon better, as we had only spent two nights with them on our first visit. At this point, we almost feel like flatmates. We really do appreciate another couple of terrific people that CouchSurfing has brought into our lives.

One last shot of Ron Burgundy...

This might be the last you hear from us until we’re back stateside in San Francisco. Our plans for Tahiti are a little uncertain, although we have managed to line up several CouchSurfing hosts for our stay, so all we can say for sure is that it should be interesting. Beyond that, we’re planning to soak up the sun and go for some hikes. We’re not sure of how much internet will be available, so there probably won’t be any new posts until we’re in San Francisco. And by that time, we’ll practically be home.

We’ll have lots more to say about New Zealand in future posts, so stay tuned!

Hoppy Birthday and Up To Whangarei (Nov. 17 – 24)

My birthday arrived amidst a stretch of nice weather last week, here on the North Shore, where we’ve been housesitting over the past few weeks. In NZ one hears a lot of gripes about the weather in Auckland, but it would be hard for anyone to find fault with the streak of warm, sunny days we’ve had here. Warm enough to hit the beach in late November works for me.

Red sunset in the North Shore means more beautiful weather tomorrow

My birthday, much like Becky’s, was a low-key affair for us, though it was without a signature moment (for example, on Becky's birthday we enjoyed a great bottle of Belinda’s wine while eating a bad steak accidentally seasoned with Christmas-cookie spices, because I don’t know how to cook, all the while it was raining like crazy outside the little hostel/shack that we were wwoofing at in the Catlins).

According to an anonymous brown-haired twenty-seven year old American woman currently in New Zealand: “The past few birthdays for Andrew have invariably revolved around beer somehow, and surprise!, this one was no exception.” We did indeed head out to the Hallertau Brewbar way out in the sticks in Riverhead (perhaps Auckland’s best beer place, certainly in the top 3), and tried their products. On the bad side, it was so full it took over 20 minutes to get our beer sampler. On the good side, they eventually made it free, but not before they accidentally added four extra things to our bill, oops. They did make some pretty good beers, but I won’t forget their imperial IPA, a ridiculously hoppy beer that was huge at 10% alcohol. They call it the Stuntman, but even though it is tasty, Masochist might be more accurate. In any event, best to have just one.

Andrew mans the barbecue on his birthday

It’s strange to celebrate my normally late-fall birthday here in the Southern Hemisphere, as Auckland’s unusually warm late-spring has been akin to mid-summer weather in the last place we lived, Vermont. For my whole life my birthday has occurred somewhere at least pretty cold, so it feels odd to be walking around in shorts around on my birthday, but I’ll certainly take it.

Later in the week, we took in a cricket game at Eden Park in Auckland, played between what I think were at least semi-professional sides. Cricket, of course, is the British Commonwealth’s answer to baseball, where it reigns as a hugely popular sport in countries India, Pakistan, and Australia. It’s somewhat like baseball in that a bowler is trying to get a batter out by throwing it past him or making him make an out some other way (e.g. a caught pop-up), but otherwise is way dissimilar. We thought we might as well check a game of cricket out, since it’s probably NZ’s 2^nd favorite sport, though by a such big margin behind rugby that it’s not even funny.

Andrew enjoying the cricket on a sunny afternoon

So we spent most of a sunny afternoon in the company of a few dozen cricket-mad students, pensioners, and people enjoying some time on the dole. It was the third day of a four-day test in which Auckland was destroying Central Districts, taking wickets at what apparently is a tremendous pace. We’d be lying if we said we understood everything going on out there, but it was pretty enjoyable, though it moved slower than even a really slow baseball game. If you don’t have the patience for baseball, you won’t make it through even an abbreviated cricket game. Pitchers take even longer between pitches, they have to run like 50 yards before each pitch, and individual batters can stay at-bat for hours at a time, scoring hundreds of runs. There are often substantial breaks for things like tea. And that’s before you consider that some games are of the 5-day variety, and that many of them end in a tie! That’s right, after 5 days of scintillating cricket action, they can’t even bother to have a winner! Instead, the rules of cricket allow one team to go in a giant stall, for the game to end without a decision, good god. In the end we enjoyed finally getting to see two teams of sweater vest-wearing gladiators go at it on the pitch, battling the proverbial ‘sticky wickets.’

Cricket fever... catch it!

Since we were in Auckland we thought we should go the Museum at some point, so we went one cloudy afternoon. Most of it was just OK, standard museum-type exhibits, but it really shined in its Volcanoes exhibit. Since Auckland is built on heaps of dormant and extinct volcanoes, there is special interest in it here. The museum’s best feature placed you in the scenario of being in an Auckland home as a new volcano explosively formed out your window in the harbor. The show had a convincing TV news program and disturbingly life-like blackout and shaking effects of the volcanic destruction of New Zealand’s major city. All in all, totally worthwhile going there.

Later in the week, we drove up to visit our CSing buddies Matt and Stu in Whangarei. We first Couchsurfed with Matt in January, as we toured the Northland in our first week in the country, and had a great time hanging out with him, his flatmate Stu, and their buddies Kel and John-Boy. Stu, who actually owns the house, has really gotten into CSing as well this year, hosting a bunch of CSers himself while Matt was out of the country. Matt has just recently returned from a six-month stint in Europe, working at a farm in the foothills of the Alps in Germany before CSing his way through northern and western Europe for a few months. We were glad to get to see these guys again after nearly a year, and we got to meet some other interesting travelers there, since their place is basically CSing headquarters.

Back to nature in the Northland

Seriously, these guys are CSing MVPs. On our first visit in January, we were just two of four CSers at their house at that time, and this time they were also hosting a girl from Hong Kong and a young couple from Sweden. The Swedes were very young and as a result were good for a lot of entertainment, though I don’t think they intended it. First, they were positively rapt about Canberra, Australia’s capital, which you don’t hear anything good about anywhere else. Seriously, we’ve met heaps of people who’ve traveled through Australia, and had never heard a good word about the place. We also learned from them that Danes are incorrigible drinkers and smokers, and that we should avoid Stockholm as it was quote unquote “gay.” “I’m from Stockholm and I think I’m so much better than everybody else”, they said in accents that we can only guess hilariously mimic those of the typical Stockholmian. But perhaps best of all, we really enjoyed that they actually pronounced the word jogging with the soft J, just like our car’s namesake, Ron Burgundy.

Amazingly, Matt and Stu had had 8 people staying at one time earlier this week. Most people would mind stepping over 8 people sleeping in all the available spaces in their house, but Matt and Stu can’t get enough, and are almost unable to turn anyone away. They also often go out of their way to show people a good time: Matt took us to his parents’ farm on our first visit, and Stu had just taken some CSers waterskiing earlier this week. On this trip, we caught up Matt, Stu, and Kel, and had a nice time hanging out in Whangarei for a few days. It really is a beautiful area, and after being in Auckland for awhile, it was nice to be in the more-rural NZ we’re used to. All in all, we just can’t say enough about their hospitality, friendliness, and generosity: cheers, guys!

Matt, Andrew, Becky, and Stu enjoying some quality "couch" time

Hello Auckland My Old Friend (Nov. 7 – 16)

So after ten months of traveling, exploring all of New Zealand’s nooks and crannies, we’ve finally made it back to Auckland, the Big Smoke, as it were. The first thing that hit us as we approached the sprawling metropolis from the south was that there was an actual highway. Miles and miles of 4-lane (and sometimes more!) motorway, divided by a median – okay, maybe I’ll skip my usual harangue. Not that the highway is all beer and skittles, as Auckland pretty much has the country’s only traffic, and how… As we slowly drifted into the city in mid-afternoon congestion on a typically cloudy Auckland day, we began to have some brief moments of sadness at leaving the bucolic and traffic-free hinterlands.

But we had important house-sitting duties to do, so slogged on we did. As we’ve mentioned previously, we’re house-and-cat-sitting for our CSing friends, the Newmans, in their new crib in Auckland’s North Shore for a few weeks in mid-November. Fortunately the North Shore isn’t like living in the city, and the city’s ghastly traffic can be largely avoided, unless we need to go south on the motorway for any reason. We try not to find reasons.

This is about as close to Auckland as we like to get! At the summit of Rangitoto...

With our first week here in the bag, I’d say it’s gone about as well as we’d have hoped, as we’ve gotten out a few times, but mostly we’ve done nothing but lounge around. The lounging and temporary lack of responsibility for trip planning has been quite good, but I think more than a few weeks not doing much would drive us nuts. To be honest, it’s been kind of great to have our own space for awhile while we’re here, and much like when we house-sat for Kieran and Belinda in Canterbury, we’ve found traveling to be great, but you can forget how nice having your own space and sleeping in the same place for a few weeks can be.

Another gorgeous day on the North Shore. Some might say, picture perfect...

Although maybe I’m short-selling us a little bit, because we did get out of the house a bunch. We went up to Shakespear Regional Park, which lies out on the very end of Whangaparaoa Peninsula on the North Shore. Somewhat oddly, it shares a border with a military facility which warned of firing range activity on the day we were there. It seemed like a good idea to give that part a wide berth. The park was nice, with heaps of just-flowering pohutakawa trees (often called NZ Christmas trees) but what really impressed us is that they had such a big park taking up some ridiculously valuable oceanfront real estate. Good on ya, North Shore.

A pohutakawa tree in bloom

We also took a ferry out to Rangitoto Island, a dormant volcano island that lays in Hauraki Gulf, not more than a few miles from Auckland’s waterfront. We nearly missed our ferry since we underestimated how much time it takes to get into town around 9 on a weekday morning, who knew there would be rush hour traffic. It was a pretty good hike to the top, though the crater was disappointingly covered by trees. Auckland is built on something like 6 or 7 old volcanoes, and we hear the museum has a pretty frightening multimedia display on what it will be like if there’s a geologic rupture leading to major volcanic activity in the area, which the city is apparently overdue for. Auckland will not be the place to be when that happens.

The outline of Rangitoto in the distance

Lastly, yesterday we got to Piha Beach, one of Auckland’s picturesque black-sand west coast beaches. It’s a haul out there, but it’s well worth it to see the site of one of our favorite NZ TV shows, Piha Rescue, which is like Baywatch, except that it’s real, and there’s no Pam Anderson, nor almost as sadly, The Hoff. West coast beaches, and Piha in particular, are notorious for their dangerous rips, which suck out heaps of tourists, who have to be rescued by the life saving club, thus providing the show with heaps of material. Based on our unscientific survey of Kiwis, most of them say they wouldn’t swim there since Piha is well known here. Most episodes of Rescue bear that out, with Aussies and surprised swimmers of various Asian nationalities having to be saved. We skipped the surf on our visit, as we’ve enjoyed the nice beaches on the east coast, but caught quite a show from the lifeguards in training.

The wild coastline at Piha

Well it’s been a tough week, and we’ve got a couple more to go here. We’re in the process of selling Ron Burgundy, maybe trying to sell some beer if we can gin up some motivation to go into the city, are working out our Tahiti and San Francisco plans, and want to go up to the Northland one last time. Add in my 28^th birthday tomorrow, and I know I know, it’s sounds like a ridiculously busy schedule for the next two weeks, but someone’s got to do it.

Ambling Aimlessly To Auckland (Nov. 4 – 7)

We were sad to say goodbye to the East Cape, but our days were running short before we were due back in Auckland to house-sit for Rachel and Shanon, our first CS hosts in New Zealand. We had made plans with them months before to watch their cat Jessie and their house for them while they went on a safari holiday to Botswana and South Africa. With less than a week until their trip, we had to decide to how to spend our last few days before returning to the Land of Jafas (Just Another…Friendly Aucklander). Originally we had planned to visit White Island, an active volcano in the Bay of Plenty, but those plans fell through. Strike one. Then we thought we’d hike the Pinnacles in the Coromandel, which we had tried to do at the beginning of the year but were dissuaded by a DoC ranger who insisted we wouldn’t have enough time to finish the hike (she was clearly unaware of our amazing fitness). But with a long rainy front hovering over the island, that quickly became strike two.

Last view of the East Cape before we turned inland

However all was not lost. We had the good fortune of finding a very nice CS host in Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty, not too far from the East Cape. We only spent a night with Ayesha, but she was very friendly and welcoming as all our CS hosts have been. Ayesha is a hardcore surfer but had been disheartened by the lack of waves in the area for the last few weeks. Since she was stuck in the house with us chickens, we spent the evening chatting and trying to commiserate with her and her surfing pal, Luke.

The next morning we still had yet to decide what we’d do over the next few days. With the weather still crap, we thought we’d head towards the last sort of “tourist” area that we had yet to visit – Raglan. Raglan’s a world-renowned surfing destination on the North Island’s west coast, about two hours south of Auckland. Though neither of us surf, we thought we should see its famous right-hand break (Though we don’t really know what that means, either). Heading to Raglan meant heading back west across the island, making our path north through the island even more unorthodox, as we’d first gone west, then east, and now had our sights set for west again. Maybe doing this broke all the rules, but then maybe rules ain’t our thing.

En route to Raglan, we crashed with a few CSers in Hamilton, basically the only city in NZ that’s not on a coast. Sam and Hazel are a chemist and student aide with the university, respectively, and above all, are huge gamers. They certainly enjoyed their World of Warcraft, which wasn’t necessarily our scene, but we had a nice visit with them, as I can’t remember the last time we had anything in fondue. In re: Hamilton: it’s a pretty nondescript town, and we found not much to do there but visit the city’s impressive gardens. However, we can’t recommend the American Modernist garden – surely we can do better than a kidney-shaped pool, faux-Frank Lloyd Wright cantilevered patio, and a fading Marilyn Monroe pop art mural?

Raglan’s just a short hop from Hamilton, so the next afternoon we left to meet Leon, our CS host there. Leon’s a video store manager and is a few years younger than us, and is really into working with local teens in his church’s youth group. Much of his house was a testament to this, which he described as a “bombzone.” We were his first CSers, so he was quite keen to make a good impression and show off his home time. We’ve met a lot of great people through CSing this year, and Leon might’ve been the genuinely nicest guy we’ve met, which is saying a lot. We ended up having a really good time in Raglan despite iffy weather, and have Leon to thank for much of that.

For starters, he shouted for our dinner our first night there, chicken rotis, a local specialty. They’re basically chicken, crispy potatoes, a creamy sauce, and tomato sauce, all in a tortilla wrap. We ate them at the beach while watching the surfers tackle the point break, and found them messy but fantastic. He also insisted on making breakfast both days we were there, whipping up a huge Kiwi breakfast our last day there. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten 3 large sausages at breakfast before, but you do what you have to do.

Becky works her way through the big kiwi breakfast: eggs, sausage, toast, and baked beans

One of the best perks of staying with Leon was that he got free DVD rentals from work, and with good DVD weather, we took the opportunity to catch up with some of the pop culture that we’ve missed out on this year. Verdict: Pan’s Labyrinth was excellent, Blades of Glory was surprisingly funny, Children of Men was alright, and we never need to see Transformers again. Ah, to be watching new movies again…

Leon and Andrew in downtown Raglan

Our last night with Leon was quite memorable, as we went out to the local hot springs with him and a couple kids from his youth group. Moral of the story: Leon has done his research and read a bit of our blog. The hot pools were nice, but the best part was the possum-hunting expedition the ride home became. Let’s just say that they did their patriotic duty in ridding the country of a few destructive possums, though the road may be a bit worse for the wear after some of the boys’ misfires. Now all that’s left is to actually go back to Auckland, hopefully we can handle the big city after nearly a year out in the back blocks.

Around The Horn, Er Cape (Oct. 31 – Nov. 3)

When we decided to leave Taranaki, we got in touch with Belinda’s sister Julia, who lives on the East Cape with her partner Gordon. Like Kieran and Belinda, she and Gordon had recently signed up to be Wwoof hosts as well. Unfortunately and somewhat amazingly, they happened to be hosting their first two Wwoofers (a pair of Californian college buddies) during the same period that we were in the area. However, they graciously offered to put us up for a night or two in their home in Tokamaru Bay on our way through the East Cape.

We left Gisborne on Wednesday morning and set out to complete the first leg of an allegedly tres windy drive through the East Cape. The weather was once again stunning with clear sunny skies highlighting lush green hills and a dazzlingly blue ocean. This part of New Zealand is Whale Rider country, as the movie was filmed on location at a marae north of Gisborne. Though we wholeheartedly recommend the movie (an eloquent parable about the Maori in modern times), we didn’t actually stop at the filming sites, mostly because they had removed the road sign causing us to miss the turn, but also because we’ve heard that tourist visits have annoyed the locals in the small town. And so we skipped that stop and continued north to Tolaga Bay, which holds the distinction of having the longest wharf in New Zealand (660m), a structure that’s at once scenic and depressing. The decay of the wharf echoes the Cape’s fall as a center of economic activity, and even though it’s seen better days, it’s a nice place to stroll and fish.

The Tolaga Bay wharf takes a pretty picture, but we probably shouldn't have stood this close to the railing

Next stop was Tokomaru Bay, described by the guides as a ‘picturesque and crumbling’ town. True to the description, Tokomaru Bay used to be home to a large freezing works but has fallen on tough times since it closed. Now the area is home to the retired, the unemployed, and the holiday homeowner. The beaches here are lovely and more than make up for the paucity of most other amenities.

We arrived at Julia and Gordon’s in time for an evening fishing trip. We all hopped on board the boat and, per the traditional Kiwi method, were towed down to the water using a large tractor. It was a bumpy ride over the large rocks, but eventually we got ourselves in the ocean. It was great to see the coastline from the water, and we really enjoyed our time cruising around the bay. The actual fishing trip was less successful, but still good fun. Gordon had forgotten to bring along the anchor, so we ended up using some crayfish pots to anchor ourselves. Julia had managed to catch a fish within seconds of throwing in the first line, and so we thought this was going to be a breeze, but the rest of us were less successful. All told, we caught one snapper, one kahawai, and two sharks. The sharks weren’t very happy about it and did a good job of thrashing around on the deck. Perhaps they were attracted by my contribution to the fishing mission, as I managed to lose my lunch on a second consecutive day (the acrobatic flight causing the first loss).

The view from Gordon and Julia's porch - obviously they have it rough on the cape

The next morning, with such nice weather around and no place to be any time soon, Andrew and I took Julia and Gordon up on their offer for us to spend another night with them. As such, we felt we should do a bit of wwoofing work to cover our room and board (and to not inspire mutiny among the other Americans). Andrew got to work helping Gordon with some chainsawing, and I dug in to my specialty, weeding. The weather turned pretty scorching by the afternoon, so Andrew and I eagerly knocked off and headed to the beach. Hey, it’s not going to be nice when we get home, better soak it up while we can.

Hey, we remembered to get a group shot this time

By the following morning, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. However, it was time for us to get back on the road and continue our trip around the East Cape. We arrived at the lighthouse after a few hours of driving along a typically windy road. The climb to the top of the lighthouse was steep but worth the trip to the top.

You think we'd talk about seeing a lighthouse and not have a picture? For shame.

Back on the road shortly after, we finished the last half of the East Cape drive fairly quickly. We really enjoyed this last bit of the trip, from meeting Tanya and Cozzie in Gisborne, Kelly and her high flying family, Julia and Gordon in Tokomaru Bay, and then the lighthouse… it was a bit of a let down once we were done, because now we’d essentially visited all the places we were compelled to see in New Zealand. The gray weather seemed to suit our mood as we holed up for the night at a backpackers in Whanarua Bay. Now all of our attention was focused on the few days remaining before we had to be back in Auckland for our stint of house-sitting for Couchsurfers Rachel and Shanon. How to kill a few more days, that’s a good question.

Pondering the big questions from Whanarua Bay

Gisborne Golds And The Wild Blue Yonder (Oct. 29 - 31)

After our premature departure from Taranaki, I managed to convince Andrew that we should take in the final bit of the country we had yet to visit – the East Cape. Jutting out into the Pacific Ocean and isolated from much of the rest of the country, the East Cape is definitely not on the major tourist routes, which, to be honest, is almost always a plus for us. However, it had been described to us by some as “hillbilly country,” which put us off during our first pass through the North Island. Other more reliable sources later told us that the East Cape was not to be missed due to its sunny weather, stunning coastlines, and relative isolation. It’s also home to a large Maori population, providing more of an authentic cultural experience than, say, a touristy hangi in Rotorua. Plus, there is a lighthouse to visit, so say no more… East Cape, here we come!

Earlier in the week we’d arranged to stay with a young couple in Gisborne, a pair of Wellington refugees who’d fled its windy weather for the sunny climate of the east coast. They’re there for Tanya’s early childhood education university program, while Andrew (her partner, also known as Cozzie) works variously as an artist, house painter, and tennis coach. In Gisborne, they’re able to rent a house a block from the beach with a guest bedroom, sleep out, garage, and large yard. We arrived early on a Sunday afternoon and quickly settled in to get to know one another over an adult beverage or three.

Basking in the sunshine in Gisborne - we're not totally looking forward to the upcoming N. hemisphere winter

The next day we made our requisite pilgrimage to the local brewery, Sunshine Brewing, who make a range of quite reasonably priced and well-made brews. A rigger and a pint glass later and Andrew was one happy beer geek. We also ventured up to the lookout spot over Poverty Bay at Kaiti Hill, featuring one of the heaps of Captain Cook statues (though it apparently isn’t actually him) commemorating his first landing in the area. We were loving the blue skies and beautiful weather and returned back to Tanya and Cozzie’s to enjoy some time in the sun in their backyard and to partake in our recently procured Gisborne Gold. Unfortunately, Andrew, Tanya, and I finished off the beer before Cozzie got home from his afternoon tennis lesson. He was a good sport, though, and went to the grocery store (three times) to restock and get supplies for that evening’s barbecue.

Tanya, Marley, and Cozzie - no points for guessing that they're reggae fans

That evening we were treated to a proper kiwi barbecue with several of Tanya and Cozzie’s friends from the area. The evening featured a jam session with a guitar and drum circle. There was also some fire dancing, as Tanya and Cozzie showed off their skills on the poi and staff, respectively. Once again, we felt really lucky for meeting such incredible people through CouchSurfing. Cheers, guys!

The next day our outrageous good fortune with CouchSurfing continued when we met up with Kelly Thompson. Kelly had shifted (moved) to Gisborne years before and had recently signed up with CouchSurfing to spread the good word about her adopted home. Although she does not have a couch for people to surf, she is quite happy to show them around the area. As such, we met up for an afternoon with Kelly as our tour guide.

She first took us on the (naturally) very windy road to the Morere Hot Springs where we spent several hours lounging in the natural hot pools. Even though it was a Tuesday afternoon, the pools were filled with a veritable united nations of people, with representatives from New Zealand, the U.S., Holland, Scotland, and England. I always enjoy the natural thermal areas, and they’ll definitely be missed when we return to the States.

Next, Kelly took us to the Gisborne airfield for the highlight of the afternoon (and one of the highlights of our entire trip). Her husband Glen is an aircraft engineer who also builds and flies his own acrobatic airplanes. He had offered Andrew and me the chance to go for a scenic ride in the open cockpit bi-wing airplane complete with acrobatic tricks. Andrew and I could hardly say no to such an opportunity, although I was a bit hesitant about the acrobatic tricks portion of the flight. My Dramamine supply ran out weeks ago, and I had forgotten to pick up the ginger tablets recommended by Clare, our CouchSurfing host in Taupo. Anyway, I agreed to go first, and Glen and I discussed hand signals to be used during the flight (two thumbs up = great time! Give me more!, two thumbs down = land this plane immediately!). He also gave me a plastic bag, in case I decided to be “unsociable.”

Becky doing her best Amelia Earhart impression

As we sat in the plane getting ready to take off, I kept thinking, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” My previous small plane experience consisted of taking a 40-seat puddle jumper from Harrisburg to New York, nothing like flying in a two seat open aircraft! Glen told me to not be worried as he made his way to the runway, “I have to drive like I’m drunk because I can’t see where I’m going when I sit in the back.” Minutes later we were taxiing down the runway and were in the air.

It looks like a bug, but it's just us, doing stunts at a couple thousand feet

The scenic part of the flight was amazing in itself. Andrew and I have never really had the opportunity to see New Zealand from the air (unlike Mom and Don who took a flight from Auckland to Christchurch). The landscape is amazing from up high, and we had perfect weather to appreciate the view of the land and the sea. I had responsibly decided not to bring the camera with me due to the second part of the flight – the acrobatics. Glen informed me over the radio what was to come next – barrel rolls, spins, and flying upside down. It’s hard to describe the intensity of being in airplane that is seemingly defying the practical rules of aviation. It was incredible, and Glen got lots of “thumbs up” before we returned to the earth. Fortunately, I also managed to remain sociable until we were back on the ground and discreetly sneaked away to leave my lunch behind the building.

Andrew was up next. It was a good thing that I went first, otherwise I would probably have never agreed to get into the plane. It was amazing watching the performance from the ground, and Andrew was definitely given a much more intense performance than I was. With his thumbs permanently stuck in the “give me more” position, Glen was more than happy to oblige. When they finally returned to the earth, Andrew immediately laid on the ground to try and recover from the ride. The adrenalin rush, even more than the continuous loop-the-loops, is enough to twist one’s stomach into one hell of a knot. Even with all that, Andrew managed to keep his lunch down - well done.

This is actually the 'after' picture, after we had some time to compose ourselves

So cheers to Kelly, Glenn and their two girls for showing us a terrific time at the Gisborne Airport. We were seriously lucky to come across them on CouchSurfing, and won’t ever forget them, or the death-defying rides in the family plane. Something tells me this is going to be a tough CouchSurfing experience to top, whew!

Top Of The Mountain In Taupo (Oct. 26 - 28)

Bidding Taranaki farewell, we turned our sights east. Since we weren’t going to spend our remaining pre-Auckland time in Taranaki, Becky reckoned that we should really see the East Cape, a heavily forested, quite rural, and strongly Maori region on the opposite side of the island from Taranaki. Much like New England, there really are no direct east-west roads on the North Island, so it’s quite a haul, making a stop in the center of the island a good idea. We had tried to Couchsurf around there with a couple in February, but they’d been away in the States when we passed through. We had heard nice things about them, so we figured we should try again. When we emailed them they said they could host us over the weekend, so we thought great, and got on our way.

The amazing blue water at Huka Falls outside Taupo

We arrived in Taupo around mid-day, and promptly ran into some Red Sox fans on the street, who informed us that the World Series was on that day. With nothing on the agenda for that afternoon, we thought we should catch the end of the game. Funnily enough, we know where to see American sports in Taupo: the same sports bar where we watched the Super Bowl in February on our last pass through. We got a kick out of the randomness of the whole thing, but I think some times you just have to accept that the universe obviously wants you to watch sports. I certainly wasn’t going to fight the universe on this one.

The mandatory photo of thermal activity at the Rotorua mud pools

After the cosmically predestined game we headed out to Reporoa, where our Couchsurfing hosts Brad and Clare live. As they live on a mountainous section of her family’s property, we saw that they had a nice, long driveway. As Becky says, we’ve found that we always have had nice experiences with people who have long driveways. Brad and Clare’s was certainly no exception, as they came out to give us a ride up the really washed-out top part of their drive in their ute.

Brad and Clare's mountain hut - check out the view!

When we reached their home, a hunting hut perched on top of a small mountain, we were awestruck by the view and tremendous location. It seems that everywhere we go, the places we stay just get more scenic by the day. Once again, Couchsurfing comes through, amazingly. The hut was originally built by Clare’s dad as a hunting retreat, and on the rustic interior it shows, with bunks and hunting trophies the main adornment. But the view is really the thing with their place.

We spent a couple nights with Brad and Clare, and had a great time just chatting and hanging out in the mountain chalet. They’re just really cool and outdoorsy people, so Brad knew everything about hunting in NZ, and on his day off took us touring around the property in his ute, showing us how to track various wildlife. Clare is a former adventure tourism worker who can tell you all about the ups and downs (well, mostly downs) of abseiling. They also had some cool experiences, as they’d lived in Haast, on the west coast above Fiordland, and in Chch.

The view of the valley on our 4x4 tour of Brad and Clare's property

They were also keen about the States, as they’d Couchsurfed in the US and Canada for almost five weeks on a massive snowboarding trip earlier in the year. All in all, experiences and people like this are what make Couchsurfing such a great way to travel. Yeah, being able to stay places for free is a boon to any traveler, but getting to stay somewhere amazing like this, learning about the area from the locals, and just getting to meet really cool people is what makes the whole thing magic. Cheers, guys!

Becky, Piper, and Clare at the mountain hut