Good to be home

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

It was sure great to get home and get hugs from Laura. It was also so good to be in our own bed last night. What a blessing to have been able to travel to the other side of the world and into the Southern Hemisphere to see God’s wonder and creation.

We want to thank everyone who helped make this travel opportunity possible. The doctors and staff of Raymond Animal Hospital did a great job holding down the fort while we are gone so we had no worries!

Our hosts in Australia, David, Carolyn, and Margaret provided us with great places to stay as well as transportation, acted as tour guides, fed us and transport to and from the airport. We are very thankful for their hospitality and friendship and also for our dear friends, Kevin and Gail for making sure we made it back to Concord after spending time with them in Sydney. Thanks to Andy, Pastor Bryan, and Bryan the younger for airport transport to and from Logan. And thank you to our family and friends who kept us in their prayers during our trip.

As we try to get our feet back on the ground and recover from jet lag, we reflect on our trip. People ask us what was most memorable or our favorite part of the trip. Of course, it was great to catch up with our friends in Australia but it was also wonderful to be able to spend time together.

One of the most memorable activities was the flight over Mount Aspiring National Park to Milford Sound. It turned out we had a private tour guide and flight as well as a gorgeous day. The fiord cruise at Milford Sound was amazing along with it. The paragliding over Queenstown will also be a great memory. We have dvds of us sailing over the town. Being able to get up close and personal with some of the wildlife: koalas, kangaroos,fur seals, kookaburras, butcher birds, parrots, and much more is also a fond memory. We will put one more slideshow up of our favorite sights.

Groundhog Day for us

Wednesday March 17th, 2010

We took the train in from Roma Station to the airport. As we got our bags in a gentlemen with a suit and name tag, Marco, helped me with my bag onto train. He asked if we were flying internationally and he told us which stop to get off on. At first we thought he was a businessman and was really helpful. He boarded the plane behind us and walked away. I had noticed he had a tie tack with a train on it and wondered if he worked for the city or something. He came back and talked to us. He is one of 12 customer service reps that work on the trains to help people and cleans us newspapers, etc left behind. It is a new initiative for the city and they plan to add 12 more positions. He is one of three that were on this train.

Our flight was on time. It was weird leaving Australia at 11 am on Wednesday, 3/17 and arriving to the States at 6:45 am on Wednesday, 3/17. Neither of us were able to sleep much on the plane so pretty exhausted. We thought about going into the city to Chinatown for lunch but decided to head to our domestic terminal and see if we could catch an earlier flight. Our ticketed flight was to leave at 3 pm and arrive Boston through Chicago O’Hare at 1 am. Long, long 24 hours.

After a long wait to get through security, we headed to AA customer service. The lady said that since we didn’t have our luggage it would be hard to get us on another flight since domestically we needed to travel with our luggage. We explained to her that someone at the gate said she could transfer our luggage. So she looked us up in the computer and saw that Steve was gold priority plus and then started asking us what our luggage looked like. (He received an email right before our trip that he was in the million mile club even because of 20 some years of using our business credit card not flying a million miles : ) This also helped us catch that flight to San Francisco as well. What a blessing! ) She put us on standby for a direct flight to Boston leaving at 1 pm and arriving at 9 pm. So we prayed that we could get on the flight.

A quick breakfast and then trying to nap, stay awake, and watch the standby list. No wireless available at the airport. Fortunately several people requested upgrades to first class so Steve and I made the flight even though we didn’t sit together. We were just happy to be on a 5 1/4 hour flight rather than waiting 2 more hours and then 10 more hours of flying and airports.

Waiting at the Wellington Airport

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

We have made it to the airport and have to wait for 1 1/2 hours for our flight. We had to do a bit of reorganizing to avoid paying $180 overage for luggage weight. They allow you so much weight in total rather than number of luggage pieces. We also found out that we had to pay $25 each in taxes. Everything else went well. Deb did have to have her bags checked for explosive material and get scanned. We will relax and play some cards while we wait to board. Then a quick overnighter in Brisbane. It looks like the hurricane will not be heading that direction but still could cause us some problems with the flight path back to the states.

We arrived in Brisbane fine and took the train to our hotel which was downtown. We settled in and then walked down to the South Bank for dinner. This area is very artsy and has a university in the midst of it. The World Expo was there a few years ago so there has been development with arbor walkways, a huge ferris wheel, a large pagoda which was closed. the arts center, and many restaurants and shops. We ate on the patio by the river. The bridges are all lit and there are many flowering trees. As we walked we also passed a manmade pool that had sandy beaches put in around it. There were several pools which were divided by walkways and foot bridges. A beautiful evening.

Touring Wellington

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Wellington

Today we went to Te Papa Museum which was free to all. Nau mai, haere mai which means “come and explore” the diverse strands from which the natural and cultural heritage of New Zealand is woven. This museum had 6 levels: Welcome and cafe, Our Unique Environment, Shaping the Landscape, Journeys Through History, Art in New Zealand, Sculptures. There was also a special exhibit about Anne Frank and A Day in Pompeii,

We went to A Day In Pompeii first since we visited there about 6 years ago with Jesse Remington High School It was a very good exhibit with hands on as well as a 3D movie about the the volcanic eruption and casts of bodies, frescoes, treasures, etc. There were also computer stations with a map of Pompeii today that you could select spots and see actual pictures 360 degree. It was great and we were able to see some of the spots that we had visited: the forum remains, the fountain, the bakery, etc...

We spent our whole day there and saw the whole museum. It could be a two day visit and take more time at each exhibit area. There are several other museums here free to view as well.

Back at the hotel, we checked out email and then went back to the harbor to The Loaded Hog for dinner. It is hard to believe that our time in New Zealand is coming to an end. Tomorrow morning we will be packing up for our flight to Brisbane, Australia.

Heading to Wellington

Sunday, March 14, 2010

On board the Interislander Ferry, Arahura (Pathway to Dawn)

We packed our bags and headed over to a open market for breakfast. We shared an omelet that had fresh tomatoes, onions, spinach, parsley, and cheese. The market was small and had vendors with fruit, veggies, baked goods, flowers and plants, and a variety of homemade products like jams and jellies.

Had enough time to tour Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre featuring the Knights of the Sky which are Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) private collection of planes of the Great War (WWI). Some were originals and others were copies of the originals. Since Jackson was involved, the detail of the scenes were amazing. Stories came to life in a theatrical way and captivated scenes depicting the aircraft in context, some recreating actual events. There was rare memorabilia and ranged from beautifully crafted “french art” to personal items belonging to the famous Red Baron himself.

There were many interesting aspects of how they fought from the air. They of course started bombing with hand grenades dropped from the plane. They also used lancets which were basically steel darts that when dropped 1500 feet they would go right through the body of a horse. They would sometimes drop them en masse.

One scene depicted a plane that crashed into a tree while several soldiers were looking on. The snow was actual soft, theatrical snow and not hardened plastic. The Red Baron Scene was terrific with the baron laying on the ground with a bloody face while soldiers stripped the German crosses from his plane and stole his famous fur boots as souvenirs. They determined a while after the war that he was actually killed by a lucky shot from an Aussie, probably from the ground. Outside we saw 2 WWII planes, a British spitfire and a bomber.

We then headed to Picton which was about 30 minutes away. We arrived and got in line to drive the car onto the ferry. We slowly made our way through the islands for about an hour and now are traveling over Cook Strait in the Pacific. We will land Wellington Harbor after 3 hours onboard. The first hour through the islands was slow and easy and we are now in moderate swells but it is fine once you sit down and do something.

Kaikoura to Bleinheim

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Today our motel hosts encouraged us to consider doing a whale watch by air. He showed us pictures from one he and his wife had been on so we headed to the airport for a 11 am flight. Steve saw a brief glimpse but then the whale went deep. We were able to see hundreds of dolphins that were surrounding dolphin encounter boats.

We then moved on up the coast. At Ohau, there was a fur seal colony that was spread out all around the rocks. There were many sizes including little ones. There was a small pool in the rocks that we called the “kiddy pool” since a bunch of youngsters were frolicking like crazy. We have a lot of great pics.

Across the road a few hundred meters was a short walk to a beautiful waterfall. It reminded us of some of our favorite sites in the White Mountains.

From there we motored up the coast and of course saw more great scenery. We stopped for lunch at the Montana winery. This is the largest winery in NZ and has won worldwide attention for their products. I had an excellent pinot gris with lunch. We then did some tasting of selection of their wines. We still liked the Pinot Gris the best and would have brought it home. They sell their wines in the US under the Bancott label.

We ended our day at another Bella Vista hotel in Blenheim. We had dinner at the Marlborough Sports Club. This is a facility with 10,000 members and it is attached to the local convention center. We were able to sign in as guests and get a great meal for pretty cheap money. It was also interesting that when they built the facility they included a room for their RSA group. I believe RSA stands for Returned Service Association which is something like our VFW. We went in and viewed a sort of military museum with plaques of local veterans. The New Zealanders were with us in most of the wars we have been in. They were instrumental in the battle of Monte Casino in Italy in WWII.

So a nice relaxed pace today.

Arrived Kaikoura

March 12, 2010

I have posted some pictures of our journey to Kaikoura. We passed through a number of pasturelands as they call it here. It was noticeably drier as we drove and a lot more irrigation going on. We did take the shortcut recommended and it was a skinnier road but not as travelled. One spot was a bit tricky as the map showed that we should catch another short cut. So true to the Puderbaugh spirit, we went straight on a gravel road on an adventure. This led through pastures and we were hoping to hit the next road but as it turned out the gravel roads do not run like they do in Iowa. So many mountains, so little fields. We turned around but felt it was worth the short bit of time and gas for the experience. We did find out next real shortcut and continued on our way. The map was a little off, really!

One of the things that has been interesting is the one way bridges. I took pictures and posted them before but I posted what is written on the roads. You have to slow down to prepare to yield to oncoming traffic and if none you shoot across. In some cases we have travelled over two to three attached one way bridges with yield sections in them because you can't see that far. Cool, huh?

I took over driving and the road was pretty twisty with speed limits of 25 km at some points in the trip. We arrived in Kaikoura and went to the I site which is information and booking. We were interested in some possible boat cruises to view albatross or kayaking with the seals but today there was a high seasick warning. So we decided to head down to the peninsula to see if we could spot the seal colony. We were able to see them on the rocks in the ocean. We hike out on the shore which is rocky as far as possible and took a few pics and looked through the binoculars. Then we headed back down the road to an oceanside outdoor grill for a quick lunch. We had scallop sandwich and prawn patty sandwich, both were tasty. We shared a table with a couple from the UK and exchanged travel stories. They mentioned going back to see the seals as the tide was coming in.

After finishing our lunch, we headed back to the point. Well, there they were ashore. Some laying on the banks, some still out to sea on rocks, some in the water, and some up in the grassy area. There are some shots of a black seal who was enjoying posing for the cameras. He kept scratching himself and turning his head upside down. A real clown.

It started to cloud up and a few sprinkles began to fall so we headed to the car. Steve called Krista and we chatted for a few minutes. The rain started to come down harder so we began the drive to find our hotel. Well, it really came in and began to hail really heavy. The roads and lawns were covered and it was difficult to see. A bit slippery too. I have some pictures attached. It is still raining but not as hard so we will stay in for awhile longer and relax.

We did end up going out to eat at White Morph Restaurant which was recommended by our hosts. I had a nice salmon dish and Steve had ruffy fish. Then we went for a ride and found an overlook but was pretty breezy. The rain has stopped but is suppose to be in the 40's tonight! Brrrr! We won't complain because this is really the first day of weather that put a stop to outdoor activity. We will see what tomorrow brings.