Day 4 Rotorua to Pauanui

Up early again and back to the Fat Dog Café for a lighter breakfast and another flat white coffee. We are becoming addicted to NZ coffees! We packed up and checked out of the hotel and started to wind our way through the NZ countryside desperately looking for a straight section of road. We headed to the port of Tauranga and then up the pacific coast highway toward Pauanui. We cruised along a beautiful highway through sections of native bush and fantastic vistas that took your breath away with their beauty. We stopped for another picnic lunch overlooking a valley of native bush. Another hours drive brought us to Judy and Mike Bearman’s house in Pauanui. It was great to see them again. I was home hosted by them in 2005 while on my Rotary GSE. They greeted Mary and me like long lost family and we quickly settled into their new home. They arranged for several Rotarian couples from Mike’s club of Ellerslie Sunriseto join us for a BBQ dinner on their deck. After a fantastic feed lots of great conversation and many bottles of wine we retired to bed.

Day 3 in NZ "Rotorua"

We crashed into bed early and awoke around 7 am to head out to the Fat Dog Café for a full breakfast. Mary had the bananas and French toast smothered in maple syrup, my breakfast was eggs benedict with smoked NZ salmon. OUTSTANDING flavor. We met a young fellow from Hampshire in England over breakfast and he asked us where were from and we said Canada. His instant retort was “Oh intelligent Americans” I thought we would split a gut laughing. After breakfast we polished off another terrific flat white coffee and headed out to Wai-o-tapu, which is a volcanic park. We toured around for about a hour viewing some spectacular thermal pools and at geyser that erupts daily at 10:15 am.. From Wai-o-tapu we headed for Hells Gate that is another thermal area and had a quick lunch in the car of cheese and crackers washed down with a nice NZ Sauvignon Blanc. We toured around Hells Gate which was disappointing versus Wai-o-tapu and then hotfooted over to the Agridome to watch the sheep shearing demonstration. They also had a very cool sheepdog demonstration a as well as an old wool-carding machine that has been operating for over 100 years. For dinner we attended the Tamaki Maori Cultural Experience. This was a very moving evening of traditional Maori cultural explanations as well as a tour of a pre European village as well as being serenading with traditional music and song. We headed back to our hotel and tumbled into bed around 11.

Day 2 in NZ "Rotorua"

Awoke early on Wednesday the 24th and did my second Rotary make up at the RC of Parnell that meets in the Barry Court Suites hotel where we stayed overnight. We had a great breakfast and some fantastic Rotary fellowship meeting several Rotarians that I had met in 2005 when I was here last. After breakfast I called Air New Zealand to find out that they had our luggage and were holding it at the airport for us. This worked out well as we were passing by on our way to Rotorua. The three-hour drive passed quickly and we stopped for lunch at a small café outside Hamilton. We arrived in Rotorua around 4:30 and headed downtown to walk through the Government Gardens and to walk around the downtown area. The one thing to remember about Rotorua is that you can small it long before you see it. The smell of sulphur hangs heavy in the air as this city is in the center of volcanic activity. There are vents and bubbling pools of very hot mud everywhere around the city. We had a fine dinner at a small café where they served thin crust pizza cooked over manuka wood fires.

Day 1 in NZ January 23, 2007

After leaving the Auckland airport at 7:15 we managed to find the Manukau City shopping center and the restaurant where the Rotary Club of Manukau City Sunrise meets. We arrived a few minutes after the meeting started and were introduced by President Kirsten to the Rotarians in attendance. Leanne Cummerfield was there as well and a few others that I remembered from our trip in 2005. The RC of Manukau City Sunrise hosted the GSE team on our trip to do the Tongariro Crossing. We had a few minutes to speak after the meeting and headed off to our hotel in the Parnell district of Auckland. The day was glorious with beautiful sunshine and temperatures in the mid 20’s but quite humid. Mary and I grabbed about 90 minutes of sleep, as we were able to check in early. We awoke about 11:30 and showered and headed off on the link bus to downtown Auckland. The bus ride is about 15 minutes and dropped us at the Britomart. We walked over to the viaduct area and selected the Loaded Hog restaurant for a light lunch. Afterwards we headed for the Sky Tower and took in the aerial view of the surrounding Auckland suburbs. The view was outstanding with hardly a cloud in the sky. We managed to connect with Kerry & Brian and met up with them on the viaduct after Kerry finished work. Kerry had heard of a fantastic Italian restaurant not far from the Auckland Art Gallery. The food was tremendous and it was so nice to finally have meet Brian after hearing so much about him from Kerry over that last several years. Sadly the evening was over far to quickly and we headed back to the hotel and crashed into bed and were asleep in a matter of seconds.

Baggage Story # 2

On Sunday we arrived at the Vancouver airport at 11:15 am for our 1:00 pm flight to San Francisco and then on to Auckland NZ. Well we got our luggage through security and watched in go down the conveyor ramp to be told that the flight was delayed and would not be leaving until 3:45pm. Luck would have it that the gate where we were waiting had a large screen TV so we parked ourselves and watched the Bears defeat New Orleans to advance to the Super Bowl. Our flight boarded and we were off to San Francisco. We had 45 minutes to rush from the domestic to the international terminal and caught our flight. Excellent cabin crew made the 13 hour trip as good as it could be and Mary and I got about 6 hours sleep each. We arrived ahead of schedule at 4:45 am to discover that our main suitcase with most of our clothes for the month didn’t get onto the flight. We have to wait another day as there is only one flight a day from SF and we have to check after 7 am tomorrow morning to see where it is. More updates shortly.

Baggage Story # 1

We arrived in Vancouver to discover that both Mary’s and my backpacks had not made the trip with us and would be arriving on a later flight. That is, my pack would arrive as Mary’s was still missing. No problem, as my dress shoes were the only thing in the pack that I needed. Air Canada promised to deliver it by midnight! At 1:30 am we turned off the lights and went to bed without my pack. Woke up and called the courier company to find out that it would be delivered by 11 am at the latest. We left for the wedding at 12:15 pm with out my dress shoes and no sight of the van that was stuck in traffic. We attended the wedding, which was fantastic and went to the airport to speak with the baggage staff. Their records showed that the other bag was in the airport but they could not find it. We also discovered that the bag out on delivery was actually Mary’s not mine. They had written the colour down incorrectly confusing the colors red and blue! Mary noticed a backpack lying off to the side and walked over to discover it was mine. The baggage staff hadn’t noticed it sitting 10 meters away. Pathetic service! The only good news was that we now had both packs back.

The Wedding

We awoke on Saturday the 20th to beautiful sunshine in South Surrey and hoped it would last through the day for Jenn and Dan’s nuptials. Air Canada still was unable to locate my backpack with my dress shoes, so to make a long story short I put on my day hiking boots with my suit and off to the wedding we went. The service was wonderful and of course the bride was beautiful. The reception was at Queen Elizabeth Park in the Season restaurant and was outstanding in every respect. Great food, great wine, and best of all great family and friends.

Auntie Bea & Uncle John

After our arrival in Vancouver Mary and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and jumped into the rental car and went to North Van to meet with my Aunt and Uncle who we have not seen in at least 8 to 10 years. We were able to spend about an hour and a half with them and it was a great opportunity to spend time with a part of my family that we rarely see. They are getting on in years but both are very active. Johnny still cross country skis on a regular basis. Pretty darn good for someone in there 80's. It must be that Norwegian blood! Auntie Bea has difficulty getting around physically but her tongue is still pretty sharp. The time was far to short but it was wonderful seeing them again.

In Vancouver for Jenn & Dan's wedding

Well we are on our way to NZ via Vancouver. Mary and I arrived at the airport in Toronto several hours early to check in and start the trip in an unhurried manner. We checked our backpacks in with all our gear for the upcoming hikes and of course Air Canada failed to get them on the flight and to this point have only located my pack and are still looking for Mary's. Mine is supposed to be delivered to Sherida's (Mary's sister) before 11 am this morning. This would be nice as that pack has my dress shoes that would be really nice to wear to the wedding this afternoon instead of my day hikers that I wore on the plane. Of greater concern is Mary's back pack that is in the neverlands of Air Canada's baggage handling system. More to follow on the quest for baggage!

Final Warm Up Hike

Mary and I went for our final warm up hike today. We drove to Hilton Falls and started out at around 11:00 am. We decided to do the Hilton Falls side trail that is connected to the Bruce Trail. It is approximately 18 kms in length and is a mixture of nice groomed track and escarpment cap rock. The path can be ugly in places and requires constant vigilance to prevent twisting an ankle or knee. It started as a pleasant day with broken cloud but quickly clouded over to a dull grey afternoon. We finished the hike at about 4:00 pm and cleaned off our boots for the 25 minutes drive back to Guelph. Over the next week and a half we will get all our gear cleaned up and packed away properly and limit our walks to the local area near our house.

Stay tuned for more preparation planning. the countdown is now 12 days until departure to Vancouver and NZ!

The Grand Plan!

Received great news early in the spring of 2006 that our niece Jennifer and partner Dan were to be married in January 2007. The wedding is taking place in Vancouver and we are looking forward to making the trip to be with family and friends to enjoy the grand event.

Mary made the suggestion that we continue on to New Zealand for a long overdue holiday and the plans have been made and the airline tickets purchased. We will be away for approximately a month. I was there in April & May 2005 as part of a Rotary International Group Study Exchange and fell in love with the people and the greater Auckland area where we stayed. Mary has been very patient listening to all my stories and with our youngest child Shannon finishing her undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo its time for us to start to travel and do some of the things that have been put on hold for quite a while.

We are visiting friends in the Auckland area and have planned to do some hiking on some of the better known tracks. Plans right now include doing the Tongariro Crossing in National Park on the North Island, one day on the Queen Charlotte Track in the Picton area on the South Island and our much anticipated tramp on the Milford Track. This is a four day three night adventure over the Southern Alps with an overnight cruise on Milford Sound.

Its New Years day and we are less than three weeks away from flying to Vancouver to the wedding and their are lots of plans to make. The final countdown begins!