News from DownUnder part 1

Day 1 to 4 – 1/14 to 1/18 US calendar

Time Flies when you are having fun or traveling like a mad person. Phone services and internet access has been amazingly difficult to get. The hotel didn’t have access that was reliable and then we have been so busy running from place to place I haven’t had time to sit long enough to write and the other thing is time is really off for me. Sacramento is 3 hours ahead of here but one day behind….. so

The flight from Sacramento to LA was smooth from check in at the curb to landing in LA. Of course meeting up with my family is when the crazy begins.

After being picked up by my sister & dad, we waited around for a bit until my brother Ron arrived from Ohio, we headed off to do a “girls nail thing” with mom and Ron went to spend quality time with dad pulling pork or some such thing. It was nice to be pampered as my nails were looking a bit scruffy at that point. Dinner was some very yummy Carne Asada that Flora my SIL made…. Then it was a mad dash as my mom was still packing at 7pm…. Just 30 minutes before we were to be at the check in.

Tom Bradley (international) terminal at LAX is a mess. They are in the middle of a remodel and the lines were terrible. We had to stand in 4 different liens just to check in our luggage completely. Crazy… but lines seemed to be the order of the day! The flight to Fiji was warm…even for me who is cold all the time! The space was cramped and sleep escaped me for the majority of the 10 hours we were on the plane. Arrival in Fiji wasn’t much better than LAX, fortunately that seems to be the end of the gripe session I’ve been having so far. Our landing was one of the best I’ve ever experienced especially given the weather conditions…. Very windy!

Arrival into New Zealand was very nice, the weather was perfect not hot or cold, bit windy but still very comfortable. We found a cab with a huge trailer to take us to our hotel, all 14 bags! Check in was easy and we had a very lovely 3 bedroom apartment.

In Auckland we took the bus tour around the island the first day and then went back to get some sleep. Auckland was a very clean city and not crowded or gross. Very few homeless and people were very polite. We had a few meals, did a ton of walking and on our last night in port had Thai food that was excellent. On the bus ride to find the restaurant my brother asked the driver ot tell us when it was our stop. The driver replied it will be extra so Richard said “my mom will give you a kiss” The driver agreed and then flirted with my mom…flirted…amazing. When we made it to our stop mom went to give the driver a kiss in the cheek and he turned is head for a full lip lock! We were rolling in laughter….

My brothers did that bungee cage thing were you sit in it and it flings you in the air…. I took a video from our hotel room window…..

The next day we boarded the ship and I was running on fumes for energy. We figured out rooms, went to dinner which was average and then I fell asleep on the couch in our room. Nothing exciting at all happened.

I woke up this morning (Monday 1/19 in NZ & Sunday 1/18 in Sac) and things were very quiet. I laid in the dark because Mom & Pam were still sleeping. It was 4:30 in the morning and nothing on the ship was open. We pulled in early 7am to our first port Tauranga, NZ and on the dock we found a wonderful lady tour guide. She took us on a private tour to a city called waimoto.

Our first stop was the GloWorm caves, these are worms in a black limestone cave that glow in the dark. It was very interesting. We then stopped to at a place called the shear shack where they raise and shear angora rabbits…. Very cool place. They put the rabbits on what can only be described as the equivalent of a medieval torture stretch rack! But this rabbit was so calm the whole time and seemed to almost fall asleep during his haircut. Angora wool is so soft and fluffy, when shaved we got to pet the rabbit and it was like the softest of down….. Our last stop of the day was a show that did the history of sheep farming and shearing and a sheep dog exhibition… I liked this one but wished the dog part had been longer…. It’s incredible how well trained they are and everything is done on 5 whistle commands. The dog left the stage, went out into a field rounded up 5 sheep and a ram brought them inside a barn and onto the stage… then kept them there and they were calm….. I got to pet the dog and felt brilliant when the commands they used to control them…. Like “leave it” are the same commands I use with Jack….. if only he were so well trained.

Another time I will tell you about our table mates…. From the upper east coast…. It’s made for some interesting dinner conversation.

The even closed with a swim in the Hydro-pool. This is a salt water pool that runs about the same temp as a nice hot bath and has a huge jet system…. It’s the same size as a regular back yard pool…. After a soak in the pool and a shower, I’m jotting down my travels so far and thinking that one more early night to bed may just get me caught up in the sleep department! Slowing down finally has also made me realize how much I miss everyone at home. Hopefully Oscar has either mooched a few meals from family and friends or eating some of the ones I left in the freezer for him. I haven’t heard from Justin and hope his wisdom teeth extraction went well…..

Tomorrow is a sea day so I’ll check in with you all then.

Hugs from the sea!