Waiting

Ever since I came back to New Zealand from Fiji I've been waiting to come home.  I've tried not to see it that way.  I've tried to live my days and enjoy them, but I find that most days I truly am just waiting.  The countdown of my return home commenced on my return from Fiji.  The customs and immigration form the New Zealand government required me to fill out asked how many days I planned to spend in the country.  Seventeen.  Seventeen days until I come home.

It is now only five. Five days.  A lot of this time has felt like I am waiting at the airport.  You know that feeling of waiting for your flight?  You get up on the morning you are to leave and you are calculating the number of hours until you must leave for the airpot.  You think to yourself, "I have five hours until I need to leave."  Then you depart for the airport.  "I have an hour to get to the airport before I need to check in."  You arrive at the airport and wait in the check-in queue.  You constantly look at the airport clocks hanging from the ceiling or you pull your cell phone out of your pocket every few moments.  "An hour and a half until the plane takes off.  Probably an hour until the plane boards."  You check in and then make your way through the security line watching other passengers struggle to take their laptops out of their bags and shrug off their coats.  Finally, you slip through security and follow the signs to your gate.  You find a seat and check the time.  "Thirty minutes until the plane boards," you think to yourself as you eye the other travelers around you.  You wait and wait and wait listening to the other announcements for other flights going to other places.  "This is the last boarding call for Mr Jerry Lutes on Flight QF 181, service to Baltimore."  Only it's not the last call for Mr. Lutes because they'll make that call three more times.  Then finally someone from your gate comes over the loudspeaker.  "Yes!" you think to yourself, "Almost time to board.  Almost time to go!"  But then it's another twenty minutes before they allow the families with babies and those requiring assistance to board.  Then finally it's the first class and business class passengers.  If you are lucky and seated at the back of the plane you board next.  If you're not lucky you a wait a while longer.  Then you get on the plane, stow your carry ons, find your seat, and finally struggle to get your seatbelt on.  Ah, finally on the plane.  But then you have to wait for the plane to take off.  Again, if you're lucky it will be only a few minutes before the cabin door is closed and the plane heads for the runway.  If you're not lucky, it's another half an hour before the process begins.  Then finally.  Finally, you are rushing down the runway and in flight.  Ah.  Let the adventure begin!

This is what the last seventeen days have been like.  It's been like waiting to go to the airport, waiting in a queu, waiting to board, and waiting to take off.  Right now I'd say I am at the stage where I've just come through security and I'm finding a seat in the gate waiting area.  I'm almost there.  Just a few more minutes before they call my flight number and I am allowed to board.  Just a few more minutes before I'm coming home.  And ah, what a feeling once I'm on the plane headed home.  What a feeling!

Gisborne

July 28, 2011

Gisborne has been much more exciting than I was expecting.  I came in late in the dark on the bus and I wasn’t too sure of the place.  The hostel was nice, but in a funny area.  I made dinner and soon met some of the other folks staying here.

The most outrageous, outgoing, and somewhat obnoxious person was a drunk Japanese man.  He kept saying, “This is my last night!”  Later I learned that he’d been working here in Gisborne and the next day he was leaving for Auckland.  He spent a good amount of the evening hitting on me just because of my curly hair.  Fortunately there were loads of other people around laughing their heads off at him and eventually he just fell asleep with his head back snoring away in the chair next to me.

This morning he was gone, but the other lovely people from last night were still around.  One of them, Grant, had a car and wanted to take the rest of us around to see the sights.  Grant grew up in Gisborne until he was a teen.  He took Carl, from England, Sabrina, from Germany, and me around.  

It was a beautiful day so we went up Kaiti for the views of where Captain Cook first spotted New Zealand.  Then we drove around to several beautiful beaches.  We watched the surfers try to catch some waves and soaked up the beautiful sun rays.  Grant was keen for some coffee so we found a little cafe by the town beaches.

We followed the coffee with a visit to a park and the town botanical gardens.  At the park we played along with the kids on all the fun playground equipment.  Grant pointed out the house his grandparents lived in and also drove us past the house he grew up in before taking us out to the local museum.

Grant’s grandparents used to be the curators for the museum.  He got into conversation with the woman behind the desk and discovered that his grandfather was her great-great uncle.  They were second cousins!  She gave us the local admission fee of $2 for the museum, which Grant paid for all of us.

We had lunch at a Noodle Canteen and then went to the Gisborne Wine Center to taste some wines.  It was so warm and beautiful that we sat outside and enjoyed six different wines.  

Everything about this day has been unexpected.  I came to Gisborne without any plans and with only a vague idea of what I wanted to do and today has yet again proved that this is the best way to travel in New Zealand.  Don’t over-plan!  Go with the flow and you’ll never know what might happen!  

Mount Maunganui

July 24, 2011

I left Auckland yesterday and came to Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty.  Penny said I would like it and I do!  It’s much larger than I thought it would be.  It has a huge, and beautiful downtown area and my hostel is right in the thick of it.  It’s a nice, clean hostel.  

After checking in I walked forever to the supermarket and The Warehouse.  I bought a DVD with three movies on it to keep me entertained and picked up some groceries as well.  Tim Tams two for $5!  

This morning I went to the I-site and booked a trip to White Island for Monday.  White Island is the most active volcano in New Zealand.  It’s an island about six hours off the coast.  I also found a church to go to.  It was a lovely little Presbyterian church that’s in the midst of a remodel.  I sat next to a sweet woman, Marguerite.  

After church I went to the Baby Factory, a kind of outlet store for all things baby. With all the babies coming into my life I need to be prepared!  I bought a few things for my new babies.  I’m definitely in a spend money on gifts mode.  I’m starting to realize that I only have a short amount of time left here, so I need to get my souvenir shopping done.  There are so many things I want to buy for others and even more I want to buy for myself.  I think I want to take as much of Kiwi life back with me!

In the afternoon I caught the bus to Mount Maunganui.  This is a town right on a peninnsula with a big, steep hill at the end called Mount Maunganui.  I started by walking to the very top and boy, was it difficult!  The woman at the I-site had told me it would be steep, but I didn’t really think it would be that hard.  Well, it was!  But once I got to the top it was so worth it because the views were incredible.  There were vistas of the sea, other smaller islands, the beach, the surfers, boats, and peninsulas.  The weather was beautiful too.

Once I scaled the top and made my descent, I trekked around the mount.  Then I walked back to the bus stop.  On my way I came across an ice cream truck called Mr. Whippy’s.  Now Penny and Mark told me they had the best ice cream.  So I decided I’d better try.  The man in the truck has been selling ice cream cones in this spot for twenty five years!  I ordered a double dipped.  it’s a cone with two soft-serve peaks of ice cream dunked in chocolate.  The chocolate gets hard, but underneath is the softest, smoothest ice cream I have ever had in my life.  It was more like eating whipped cream than like eating ice cream.  That’s how light it was!  All in all, Mount Maunganui definitely exceeded my expectations.  I’m really glad I came out here and didn’t miss the opportunity to see more of New Zealand!

Fiji

This morning I returned from a week-long trip to Fiji.  Well, I got into Auckland just after midnight and didn't get to sleep until 2 am.  It's funny that you can go on a long, relaxing vacation and still return home tired.  How does that happen?

I did an island hopping trip to the Yasawa Islands in Fiji.  I took a boat out to the northern islands to a resort called Nabua Lodge.  A littlier boat zoomed up to the side of our big boat and we loaded onto it.  Our luggage went into another boat.  This was the protocol at all the resorts I stayed.  The staff introduced themselves and then we motored over to the beach and stepped into the warm, clear water and onto the beach. 

At each place I stayed all my accommodation and meals were paid for.  These places were all remote.  Many ran on generators and didn't have clean drinking water.  Despite that they had beauty and beautiful beaches.  Some were more impressive and had pools and internet.  Every night after dinner the resorts put on Fiji dance shows.  I spent so much time just laying in the sun on the beach or in a hammock in the shade.  Despite this I felt like my mind could never stop running.  I was always thinking. 

But in a way it was a great vacation.  It felt like a Lake Chelan vacation: the kind where you wake up in the morning and just put your bathing suit on! 

I met some really nice people and I just enjoyed being really warm!  The last night in Nadi, the main city with the airport, I got terribly sick though.  I threw up several times and just felt horrible.  I had one last sailing trip planned for the last day before my flight, but I didn't end up getting to do it because I felt so sick.  Needless to say, while I had a wonderful time in Fiji, I'm glad it's over.  Glad to be back in my second home, New Zealand.