August 9-20 Mini-Vacay

Thursday, August 9

You know you're living the good life when you can call an 11 day trip a "mini vacay." The big idea I'll be taking away from living in New Zealand is that TIME IS A LUXURY. We've had the chance while we've been living here to take off for so many trips we wouldn't normally be able to take in the states (and even back home, we have a lot of extended trips).

Well, my time off actually began on Tuesday, August 7 because I had accrued some overtime. I used the time off before Josh's parents arrived to do some serious house cleaning. The massive cleaning led to our trip quote (every trip itinerary I make has a name/quote/title) "When I clean, I clean." I told this to Josh as I found some part of the windowsill he had cleaned was still dirty whereby Josh proceeded to show me where I had cleaned was also poorly done. We had a good laugh about that and I got a title for the itinerary out of it!

So, house cleaned, we went to buy some stuff to make the house smell good because even though the house isn't old it has a really musty smell. We bought some peppermint oil to burn in a dish with a tea candle and it worked pretty well while we were at home (however, upon returning to the house after our travels the old stink was still in the air).

Thursday morning rolled around and Josh and I were up and out of the house around 10...only one hour later than originally scheduled. I had planned to get to Wellington early to view the National Archives (original Treaty of Waitangi and women's sufferage documents) but that wasn't going to happen now.

Josh's parents were scheduled to arrive at 2:40 and we planned to meet up with Jess and Ike in Wellington for lunch from 1-2. Leaving the house at 10 am and stopping to get gas on the way, we still reached Wellington in plenty of time to find parking downtown near the Borders shop we were going to eat at...lucky break regarding the parking downtown at lunch time!

Jess and Ike had taken our lunch order the night before because Jess was going to pick up Chinese takeaway from a place called Chow Mein Cube that didn't have a place to sit and eat at. I got the Satay Chicken Noodles and Josh got the Sweet and Sour Pork Noodles.

Since we were just a tad early for our lunchtime get together, Josh and I ordered some mochachinos to enjoy with our view. It was such a nice sunshiny day in Wellington compared to the gray and rainy day we'd left behind in Palmerston North.

When Jess and Ike arrived at the Borders cafe, we had a great lunch with some great laughs! Ike can tell some FUNNY stories. Jess and Ike are going to the South Island for a couple of weeks at the end of August beginning of September but we'll try to meet up with them again when they get back. Only a few days before on Saturday, we met up with them half way between Palmerston North and Wellington in a town called Paraparaoumu for an afternoon of food and games.

1:46 or so rolled around (that's when our parking expired) so we left Borders, high stepped it to the car and were quickly on our way to the Wellington airport for the first time. We were so excited as we tried to find a place to park and take out the welcome sign we'd made and the gift of New Zealand candy we'd bought for his parents. We needn't have been in a hurry, however, as we soon saw that Josh's parents flight had been delayed about 10 minutes or so. Josh and I staked out a place to sit in what we thought was the Arrivals area. Fortunately for us, Josh asked an airport employ if we were in the right location and he said no.

We went downstairs to the correct area and waited and waited. As everyone arriving in the international portion of the airport has to go through customs/immigration, there was a sliding glass door that would open up and let people through when they'd completed the process. Everytime the sliding glass door would open we'd get excited. Finally, Josh's parents exited through the sliding glass doors! Yay! We took some pictures inside the airport and outside by the car, his parents opened their Cadbury candy gift.

We didn't have much time to try to make it out to Cape Palliser before sunset but we thought we'd give it a go because the seal colony would be Kathy and Farolyn's only chance to see some wildlife in New Zealand on their trip. To reach Cape Palliser from Wellington we had to cross this crazy mountain pass with a sheer cliff on one side. Here's a picture looking back towards Wellington from the road.

We kept driving toward Cape Palliser as the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset and it was exciting to see New Zealand through the eyes of Josh's parents. We finally reached the seal colony and we could view the lighthouse with its shining light in the distance. Josh and I got out of the car and started walking ahead of his parents to see if we could find the seals. Just as Josh was saying "Be careful that you don't sneak up on a seal..." we heard the seals bark at us and I screamed in surprise!

Josh's parents came over to where we were and although it was getting quite dark we could still see the seals. Very cool. We stayed for about 10-15 minutes before driving back towards Palmerston North. I don't remember much about the drive other than it was very dark and started sprinkling. When we were in the Manawatu Gorge Josh turned off the headlights twicas he was trying to work the headlights. No headlights in the gorge = CRAZY!

When we made it home that evening, Josh whipped up some burritos for dinner. As per usual, they were delicious. We uploaded some pictures from Josh's parent's trip to Australia and had some serious belly laughs at how some of them turned out. I was literally rolling on the floor for some! Then, it was off to bed because we had a full day planned for tomorrow.

Friday, August 10

Josh's parents woke up before we did so Josh got up and made them some coffee before taking a shower. I woke up and it was such a sunny morning I had to tell Josh's parents how lucky they were to be experiencing this in Palmerston North as the last several weeks had been so cloudy and rainy.

Because it was so sunny, Josh's parent wanted to take advantage of the weather and take a walk through the Victoria Esplanade. We took our walk and showed them the Manawatu River and the playground. Josh's parents slid down the slide before we all took a ride down the zipline...Josh rode the zip for the very first time! We also played in the human hamster wheel which is always good fun.

After walking through the duck pond and the rose gardens (which have been completely sheared and snipped for the season) we wound up back at the house. We then departed for our daytrip up north via the Te Apiti Wind Farm and Manawatu Gorge.

It was so windy at the wind farm and besides that I hate the giant blades whipping around overhead. It was a great day for viewing the site, however. Next, we drove over the Saddle Road to Woodville and then back through the gorge towards Fielding and the North Central part of the North Island.

We stopped for gas in Fielding and Josh's dad took a photo of the price on the pump...$1.53 per litre and we filled up the Honda at $70.00. Remember, there are almost 4 litres per gallon so petrol is truly expensive down under. We were on the road again and drove up to Stormy Point which is a fantastic overlook of the rolling New Zealand landscape. Onward to Mount Ruapheau area which we reached around 2:00 or so.

We stopped into the Ohakune I-site after taking a picture of the Ohakune carrot (Ohakune is the NZ leader in carrot production). Then, we were driving up Mount Ruapheau to the Turoa ski field to do some sledding. We stopped on the drive up to view a waterfall and to take some pictures of the snow covered mountain.

When we reached the ski field parking lot and got out of the car, it was freaking COLD! We put on all the gear we'd brought (Josh had neglected to bring gloves) and we set off to figure out how to rent the sledding equipment. The equipment rental was easy enough...a sled was $10 NZD and was easily shared between two people. We opted to rent snow boots since our shoes were unlikely to keep our feet dry. The boots were also $10 NZD per pair.

All of our gear sorted, we headed toward the sledding area. Josh and I were like...puh-leez...this looks weak. That is until we took our first sledding trip down the hill and then had to walk back with the sled! I was fun and the skies were mostly clear as we started, however, the conditions worsened as the day went on.

We took a coffee break and grabbed an expensive drink inside the ski lodge (3.00 NZD for a small cup of machine made coffee). It was nice to dry out though. After our drinks and having watched almost EVERYONE come in off the ski and sledding field...we went back out. What have I always said? Josh and I love to shut a place down and the ski field was no exception!

We were the only people sledding/skiing as Josh's parents tried to look on through the fog. Josh and I sledded down a big hill since there were no other people to block our path. As we attempted to walk up the hill it was pretty intense as we couldn't see very far ahead of us due to the fog.

Having made it safely back to the top of the hill, we returned our rental gear and headed back to the car. Now we had to deal with driving down the mountain in intense fog! Josh took it really slow going downhill and we soon reached Ohakune safely. Hungry, we decided to pop into Altitude 585, a place I'd read positive reviews about online.

As it was only 5 pm or so, they were only serving from the bar menu not the dinner menu. Well, we typically prefer the bar food anyway so it worked out in our favour. We ordered cheese bites, a Hawaiian pizza, samosas, and spring rolls. Josh, his dad and I had a beer while Josh's mom had a cocktail called a Turoa Fijoa...a vodka drink mixed with the native NZ fruit. We took some family photos and Kathy and I tried to dry out by the fire. I love a nice fire!

The food arrived and there was heaps and it was all very tasty! We enjoyed our meal and the environment of Altitude 585. When we arrived, it wasn't very crowded and we grabbed some seats on couches in a very hip area of the bar/restaurant. As we finished our meal and were leaving, the place was starting to fill up with patrons. It was a lovely meal in a great place. Highly recommended.

We hopped into the car for our 2 hour drive back to Palmy. Once we arrived, we put the days pictures onto the laptops and Josh's parents started a load of wash. We were off to bed around midnight although we had to get up SUPER EARLY for our flight the following morning. 5:00 early...ugh! I hate waking up whilst it's still dark outside :(

Speaking of dark...I'm up past my bedtime so I gotta say adios for now and write more about the trip with photos tomorrow.