Beattys Overseas

Our flight out of Cairns took us to Brisbane, where we hung out at the Business class lounge, then we were on to Aucland. We didn't have enough time to explore Auckland properly, as we arrived near midnight, but we did the 'main spots.'  We went out to a local spot for a few brews, of course.  Our very late arrival on Friday night left us with nothing but - aw, gee, sucks - to do but go out for some beers in the young & hip district where we encountered some very enthusiastic Australian Open tennis fans.  Day 2, we left our lovely Hyatt Regency king-size bed to walk around Auckland's Queen Street (kinda like SF's Market Street or NYC's Canal Street).  
Auckland, mate!

Auckland is New Zealand's biggest city, with 1/3 of the entire country's population living in the city or in surrounding suburbs.  The city looks and feels much like other port/touristy cities we've visited in the Southern Hemisphere (Cape Town, Sydney), but has lovely parks and University campuses.  The piers were inviting, as were the many parks along the walk from our hotel.  We liked the easy vibe of even this country's biggest city.  

But, alas, we had to move on.  And, after a nearly 60-miniute wait in the line at the AVIS center on Sunday morning, we were on our merry way driving south.  The trip took us through some very quirky little towns, one of which is famous for it's corrugated metal (see photo).  Driving on the 'other' side of the road again, this time was easier for Whitney, as we were provided an Automatic (with AC!) vehicle!  Rotorua, a mid-sized town 3 hrs south of Auckland was our destination.   Here we come. 

The luge at Rotorua - zoooooom!Rotorua is a popular destination in the center of New Zealand's north island.  Most noted for the natural hot springs that bubble up around Rotorua's lakes, it's also famous for the strong Maori culture (New Zealand's native people).   We drove into town on Sunday afternoon and headed straight for the Information Site (the tourist office), which is totally worth a stop.  They're like a free, super-knowledgeable concierge... We asked the girl who helped us to book us a 3-4star hotel, and book us a white-water rafting trip.  Within 10 minutes, she had booked both of these things for us and given us confirmation #s to boot.  Easy cheesy, I say. 

We checked into our Millennium hotel which was nice but lacked seriously in the internet-access department, and headed out for some munchies.  We found the Pig & Whistle, the town's historic pub which used to be the Rotorua Police Station (hence the name). 
The mineral hot springs boil with stinky steam!Good beer and an odd selection of snacks, and we were made in the  shade.  Actually, we were made in the sulfur-smelling shade.  Did we mention that due to Rotorua's natural mineral springs bubbling up all over town, a strong sulphur stench permeates the air???  In other words, the whole town smells like rotten eggs.  Sounds gross, and it was, but you actually get used to it after just a little while.  Mmmm, pass the ketchup please.

Our many adventures in  Rotorua  -pronounced Ro-ter-ooa-- were quite enjoyable.  We did a little concrete luge track down a mountainside, which Whitney enjoyed immensely.  We did a little whitewater rafting, including a 21 foot drop down a waterfall on the Kaituna River, the highest commercially rafted river waterfall in New Zealand.  John was given a paddle (for show) and told to hang on.) 
We JUST came out of the 21ft drop!That he did, even as we plunged the 21 feet plus falls, as our boat went under the falls straight down, then popped to the surface with a great force.  The nice part about rafting, outside of the class 5 excitement, was the respect that the guides showed for the Maori people and their history with the river.  They said a short prayer to the River gods before our trip, and along the way showed us where the wives and children of Maori warriors would stay in caves while the men went off to battle other tribes.  It was all very cool. 

The next morning we started off the day with the AgroDome Show about 10 kilometers away.  The AgroDome is a family-run working farm that invites tourists like us onto their land for a really cheesy - but super fun - guide about shepherding and livestock raising.  The main show exhibited all the different breeds of sheep, whose wool can be extremely expensive.  Our farm host, Chase, did a short but efficient shearing of one sheep while all the prize-winning bulls stood watching (see photo).  We saw the boarder collies do their thing, which included running up and over the backs of the sheep in order to keep them in line.  An old dairy cow was milked onstage by some embarrassed and confused tourists, and all sorts of great farm related stuff was available to show-goers.

Sheep Show: So cheesy, but SO FUN!The highlight of the day, even more so than our feeding of the different animals, was watching the driver of our farm tourist train blow the door off of his tractor when he mis-judged the metal fence that led to the alpaca and deer section of the farm.  The door didn't actually come off, but the top and bottom glass exploded so violent the entire train gasped in horror.  Almost as comical for us in the front row was watching the driver attempt - out of habit, we're sure - try to keep the door open when he'd exit by reaching for the bottom glass which no longer existed.  His hand went right through the door frame and he kept balking at the sensation of the glass being missing.  When we got to the part of the tour where we saw how the olive groves and Kiwi fruit were grown, we were promised a special treat.  The driver took us to the processing plant where they make the Olive oil and Kiwi wine.  Whitney saw the poor guy tank four straight shots of the kiwi wine; the stress of the broken tractor glass brought him down. 

Jump if you love to ZORBAfter our farm tour at the AgroDome we drove across the dirt road to the ZORB complex, which proved to be the best 1 hour and $150 investment we've made in a while!   Imagine a huge plastic sphere rolling down a large hill with two people and three buckets of water inside... It looks a lot like a hamster ball, but feels like a waterslide and rollercoaster when you're inside the ball!  We laughed hysterically as we slipped and slid all over each other inside the compact inner sphere before two teenage 'sk8er boyz' let us out at the bottom of the hill.  It was such a hoot, we took two rides.  John wants to bring the franchise to the East Coast, as of now its only in Tennessee in the USA.  Any other investors out there who want to join us??!!?? 
JB snorkeled the gorgeous blue waters of the Blue lake.  and found a white sock,  6 feet down.  Ugh.  He loves whipping out his $600 worth of fins, mask  and snorkel!

Following our ZORBing hilarity, we longed for more water, so we asked the big mean-looking Maori guy who ran the Laundromat where we had all our dirty clothes about a nearby beach.  He suggested the Blue Lake, a 20-minute drive and a whole-world away.  What a great tip; we had a lovely two hours there with a few sandwiches and sodas.  Ahhh, vacation:  there are worse ways to while away a few days, and we did those days proud in smelly Rotorua. 

- Whitney 

It takes a certain kind of person to jump from an aircraft at 15,000ft into thin air.  It takes courage.  Harnessed by space-age materials to an experienced qualified Jumpmaster, you step out that aircraft door and for some 60 seconds you plummet towards the ground at 200kph, terminal velocity.  The Jumpmaster will deploy the reinforced tandem canopy controlling your entire skydive.

Expect sensory overload as your mind, body and soul fight against every natural self-preservatory urge. 

The personal challenge is immense. Immense, because the only thing preventing you from enjoying this, one of the most primal life-shaping experiences, is your own mind.

Freefall, baby!

...That's what the brochure says.  They don't mention the awkward 30 minute wait before you suit up.  Nor the bumpy, fume filled cramped 25 minute ride up in a small plane, which seems to take forever to reach the 15,00 foot jump zone.  Nothing is written about attaching yourself to a Cat you met just 10 minutes before, whom you know absolutely nothing about, other than he has supposedly made 10,000 jumps prior to yours.

In fact, you know nothing about anything other than the fact that you are about to push yourself to your limits, if you are very afraid of heights like I am.  Or that life means little if one lets their fears get the best of them.   Safety records and whatnot don't mean much either.

A one-time jump, though, is quite insignificant.   People do it all day every day all around the world.   That said being surrounded by people between the ages twenty and seventy, all preparing to do the same thing as you does little to calm your nerves.    So you cowboy up, joke with the Jumpmasters and the cameramen and prepare to fall.

Except there is no preparation for being first out of the plane.  Or for waiting and waiting untill Albert screams over the sound of the open cargo door just 3 feet away, air whooshing by you, "John, Let's go!  Walk towards the door!" 

You want to know drymouth?  Strap yourself to Albert for 25 minutes and head for 3 miles up.  You make your body move towards the open door, even though EVERY brain cell tells you not to. You laugh, hang your feet out of a moving airplane three miles above the earth, and you rock back and forth once;  you remember what you read on the sign for people who have previously disclocated their arms (to keep them attached to your harness and close to your body) and then just as you smile for a photo at the door you are falling and flipping and spinning and realizing that there is no going back and you have waited your entire adult life to do this and then you reach a freefalling speed of 200 MPH, terminal velocity, you are pumped and screaming and barking at the cameraman then your chute explodes and you are sucked upwards so fast your intestines need a day to recover. 

Albert earns a cap for getting JB back to Earth!Then as you fall your German instructer says "Vould you like to make zum turns?"  and proceeds to make figure eights in the sky, each turn a heaving pull on your crotch, each a tortuous reminder that you are terrified of heights.  Albert tells you to remove your goggles as he releases several of the snaps that hold you and he together..you feel, um, scared as you begin to fall inches from his body.  "That is more comfortable for you, no, John?" says Albert.  One can't help but feel that a conspiracy has taken place, and Albert is about to disengage himself (and the chute) from me, thus  assuring me of a quick and terrifying demise. 

"John, stand on my feet", he says, as a practice for landing. We are turning and swinging over and over one mile above the ground.  The air currents push and pull us till I think I'll pass out but I'm loving it too much and then he's yelling Higher Higher" for me to raise my legs for landing.  I ask if I can wave to Whitney on the ground as we come in superfast and he says "Not a good idea right now!" as I'm already waving, thinking I've doomed us and we clear the last building and we are on the ground and I can check this off my list.  He made 5 jumps that day, some days had done 15, and the video guy was back up in the plane before I could properly thank him.  My jump was insignificant.  Sweet as.

- John 

Driving south from John's skydive at Lake Taupo in central North Island, we witnessed something totally amazing: dozens of topographies in 1 hour's drive. 
No traffic on NZ Highway 1New Zealand is a fascinating little country with some of the world's most amazing landscapes all represented on just a few hundred kilometers within one island.

First we passed through the edge of Lake Taupo, so pristine with white sandy beaches and turquoise colored waters.  Then, it was onto the Tongariro National Park, where desolate praries blanketed the grounds beneath two huge dormant volcanoes.  Next we saw hundreds of sheep dotting the cowboy-esque landscape, proving in a blink that New Zealand does have more sheep than people.  All this within 1 hours' drive along one of the nation's major highways.  Which, by the way, was a two-lane road. 

The Beattys with Yoly & Doug Lin We were so excited to get to Wellington, New Zealand's capital and the current home of our friends Yoly & Doug, who recently moved here from California.  They had honeymooned here a few years ago and had always talked about moving here.  Now, they're a family with their nearly 3-year old daughter Amelia and their awesome Akita, Kuma, and living a new kiwi lifestyle in this laid back city.  Doug & Yoly are actually friends of Whit's older sister & brother-in-law from the SF Bay area, but when we planned to visit NZ, we HAD to stop through and see some fellow Americans.  And, generously enough, the Lins offered us a place to stay! 

We cruised their fair city on Thursday after returning our trusty little rental car and grabbing a hearty breakfast on Cuba Street (very similar to SF's Haigh Street).  Then we headed straight for Te Papa, Wellington's free-admission museum which is - as Doug so aptly put it - the Readers' Digest to the history of New Zealand.  Everything from the tectonic plates shifting to create the land to the most recent artist to design a station wagon out of corrugated metal were represented here, and we had a whale of a time taking it all in. 
Inside a actual-size whale heart modelOh, and speaking of whales... There was a special exhibit at Te Papa on whales and their importance to the country of NZ.  For many years the nation held a strong whaling industry but in the mid-seventies turned its view and now is the world's biggest whale-supporting nation.  It was a powerful exhibit, with images of the whaling industry in the 1930s ass well as the Greenpeace activists who try to intervene with current whaling companies from Japan.  

After Te Papa, we met up with Doug for lunch near his office, and Yoly was able to join, too.  We were thrilled to see that their workplaces allow (and even encourage) long lunches away from the office, and we soon gathered why this kiwi lifestyle was so appealing to them.  After lunch Yoly joined us for a visit to the quirky New Zealand Tattoo Museum, where we learned about the spiritual & political purpose of tattoos in the Maori culture and other Polynesian cultures, and also about the science of modern tattooing in the Western world.  The best/worst exhibit at the museum was a chunk of human skin that someone had donated to the museum after having their tattoo surgically removed.  Yowza.

Tattooed human skin. Ick. We had a lovely dinner at home and played with Amelia and Kuma and really relaxed at Doug & Yoly's home, which was so nice for these weary travellers.  On Friday morning, Yoly generously drove us to the InterIslander ferry terminal which took us from the north island to the south island.  It was truly an amazing trip, and - as the ferry's brochure states - the trip was a destination in itself.   

- Whitney 

Once we crossed the Cook Strait to the South Island of New Zealand, I had big plans for us to enjoy one of the country's littlest and most scenic national parks, the Abel Tasman N.P.  Unfortunately, a series of events* which led to the two of us being rather cranky veered us further south in our trusty little rental car (another red Toyota!) to Westport. 

The drive south towards Westport took us along many one-lane bridges while we crossed the Buller River, the home of New Zealand's longest swingbridge.  A swingbridge is a semi-stable bridge that moves when you walk over it; FYI.  Next to the swingbridge, there's a rip-cord where you can sit in duo-swings and race back over the river or lay in a 'Superman' sack and go head first.  We opted for the duo-swings which were fun, as our combined weight made for a faster zip over the gorge.  Hilarious!

The I-Site Tourist Center in Westport referred us to the Chelsea Gateway, a motel on Westport's main drive that was the Comeback Kid for us with South Island's lodging.  We got a 1 bedroom apartment for two nights at a fantastic rate WITH internet access!  Jackpot!  We loved it there and told the owners Roger & Lynne that they will have many more American visitors following this blog referral. (We love referring!)  With a full kitchen available to us, we made two home-cooked dinners and spent a few nights doing laundry and updating BeattysOverseas.com. 

While in Westport, we took a day to do some Blackwater Rafting, a very groovy experience involving a trainride through the rainforest, a little hike to the top of a cave, and a 90-minute walk through the interior of the massive cave where piles of calcium carbonate gather on the roofs and floors to eventually join into immense columns that actually look like wet wax.
That's a whole bunch of calcium corbonate!After all this, you hop into an old-school black innertube and float backwards down a river inside the pitch-black cave, looking at a huge colony of golwworms that live on the ceilings of the cave.  They glow from a chemical in their bellies and live completely nocturnal lives, eating insects that fly into their spider-like web strings.  Once we exited the cave, we innertubed more down the Nile River (New Zealand's, not Egypt's Nile!), and took some silly pictures going over little rapids.  It was a very cool day, and the company that runs the tour were amazingly enthusiastic about their work and about preserving these caves for many generations to come.

After our Underworld Rafting, we went to Westport's best restaurant, the award-winning Bay House Cafe,  which was packed with a group of motorcycle hobbyists.  Seriously, the line of bikes leading up to the restaurant made us think the place would be a crazy biker hangout.  Instead, it was the polite over-60 crowd. 
We REALLY liked our food!Mostly couples, from Nelson, a town about 2-hours north famous for it's Pinot Noir.  We chatted with one of the bikers for a bit then ordered some of the most scrumptious food we've eaten in months.  John said it was the best lamb he's ever had - and he always has lamb.  Seriously, the chef earned four thumbs-up from us.  Our waiter Peter was a sweetie pie, and treated us well despite the slammed crowds.  With a view of the peaceful Tauranga Bay from our patio table, we had little to complain about. 

* The series of unfortunate events involved a rather inefficient "resort" accommodation in a lovely little seaside town called Kaiteriteri, referred by the Visitor Center staff who were nice enough to help us after they had locked the door for the evening. Once we got there, though, the place was a circus with no one manning the reception area and a 'room' that was an old cabin down the road from the rest of the property.  If you ever visit Kaiteriteri, do not waste your money at Kimi Ora.  It claims to be a health spa & resort.  The healthiest thing we did was drive away from that place after 1 uncomfortable night. 

- Whitney