New Zealand - Week 1

Well, we learned three things when we landed in NZ last Sunday.
1. US Passports have thick lamination and are hard to scan, which makes you be detained by Immigration while they try to clear you.

2. Just because it is Duty Free, doesn't mean we need to buy 3 huge bottles of Absolute in order to get a free gift (mini martini shaker).

3. Even if you have a Beagle at home, it is still illegal to take a picture of the Beagle drug dog at the airport. You may be asked to delete the photos from your camera.

Internet has still been a pain, so I'm just going to give the daily highlights from our first week in paradise!

DAY 1:
We arrived at 1pm, picked up our rental car ( a gold Nissan we named "Goldie"...real original!). For the next 2 nights we stayed at an amazing lodge in the mountains called Wairua Lodge. The property was amazing...we especially loved the tree top bath house, which was basically an open-air jacuzzi tub overlooking trees and a stream...very romantic with candles, music and a bottle of wine! Dinner that night in a town called Whitianga.

Day 2:
Went to 2 different beaches. Chum Beach, which was only accessible by a hike across the water, boulders and trees, but had a huge payoff with a pristine beach, beautiful views and only a few people. Then on to Hot Water Beach, which is a big tourist spot. You arrive in early afternoon and dig. Hole in the sand to make your own little jacuzzi. Its hit or miss if your spot is boiling, hot, warm or cold. Our first one was literally boiling so poor Dannie continued to dig and we ended up with a hot one. Just added a few buckets of ocean water and it was pretty nice. My favorite watch decided to fall out of my shorts and may never be seen again. :(

For dinner, we bought some filets, corn on the cob, mussels and risotto and prepared it in the lodge's community cabana kitchen. We were the only guests that night so it was perfect. Dannie says that is his favorite meal so far! Another trip to the tree house bath house after dinner!

Day 3:
Woke up to a beautiful day, said goodbye to the wonderful owners(Charles and Tam) and started our LONG drive up around the coast to Gisborne. We were in the car for about 11 hours with just a couple short stops. There were literally NO gas stations along the way in the middle of nowhere and we arrived in "Gizzy" on fumes! The next hurdle was arriving at the motel at 9pm only to find the office closed at 8:00. We had pre-paid, but there were no keys left in the box for us. The caretaker's house was on the pro pert with a tall wooden fence around it. After dialing the emergency after-hours number multiple times with no answer, I opened the gate and walked up to the guy's door and knocked. Told him our problem and he was super nice, came up to the office and took care of us. He ended up being from California. In NZ, most places shut down real early and we ended up "dining" at KFC! The chicken there is SMALL because they don't use any steroids on theirs. Big difference from the States! Back to our room for some sleep before the SHARK CAGE DIVE the next day! I was awake most of the night, except for a couple scary dreams about sharks!

Day 4:

SHARK DAY!!!! We were told by the "shark guy" to be there at 7:30. When we arrived at his office /house, the door was open so we walked in...just as Boyd's wife walks by in a towel! Very laid back in NZ! long story short, the weather wasn't great so our departure got pushed back to 10:00. We went for breakfast at Captain Morgan's and had some great seafood chowder, then back to dive shop. Fast forward to the boat ride, which we had to go 10 miles past the regular spot because the water was so rough. Fun ride, though, and we saw a penguin in the water. The other people on board were a Canadian couple (Stacy, his wife Alanna and their 9 year old Jake). As soon as the boat stopped, my poor husband got extremely sea sick and didn't get to enjoy the adventure. He didn't feel well again until the ride back to shore. Now, I could go on a d on about the details of the dive, but to some it up in one word...UNBELIEVABLE! I've been terrified of sharks since I was little (thanks, Steven Spielberg!) and I really wanted to face my fear. As soon as the first shark came (a little 4 foot Mako), I was ready to go! It was just crazy. We were just feet away from him watching from under the water as he ate the bait. So cool! A little while later, a larger Blue shark came. It took forever to get another shark to come take the bait, even though we were fishing and catching tons of fish (including 3 SCARY Barracuda). We were about to leave and all of a sudden an 8 foot Blue shark arrived and was hungry! I was already dried off and warmed up and didn't really want to jump in again, but after some encouragement from Boyd the shark guy, I jumped in and it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. Just like on Shark Week. This shark was inches from the cage attacking the bait viciously. Even rammed the cage with his snout! I stayed down there for about 20 minutes just in awe. Jake was in the cage with me and he was having a blast. Because Dannie had been sick the entire time, we didn't get any pictures, but he did manage to take a 2 minute video of me in the cage. And Boyd will be mailing a DVD of the footage he took. Truly and awesome experience which id love to do again. Now I'm not scared of sharks...but I am of those nasty Barracuda! Celebratory dinner that night at an Irish bar!

Day 5:

Today we had another long drive south to visit some friend we met the last time we were here 3 years ago. We stopped at another great beach, Cathedral Cove, on the way. We met David and Helen on one of our hikes and enjoyed dinner and drinks that night at our lodge. They invited us to stay at their house and join them for dinner. Their house turned out to be right on the beach with absolutely incredible views and an amazing sunset. They own an olive oil company called Kapiti Oli(we are bringing some home). We had lots of wine and a great meal of NZ Lamb. Their product was named Best Olive Oil in 2010! We really enjoyed our visit with them.

Day 6:

After breakfast, David took us on a tour of their olive tree grove with 2018 trees. Then we headed out towards the big city of Wellington. We spent a couple days here last time and loved it. This time we just did some sightseeing and had lunch at an Italian restaurant overlooking the harbor. We stayed at a very cool hotel called the Museum Art Hotel and had dinner at their top floor restaurant called Hippopotamus. After dinner we had a couple drinks at a VERY COOL bar called Hawthorn. For those of you who are fans of "Flight of the Conchords", this bar is owned by "Brett" and his brothers. The bartenders were more like artists. Every drink they made was a work of art and they took their time making them just perfect. No mixing vodka with Sprite at this place!

Day 7:

Left Wellington via the Inter Island Ferry to cross over to the South Island. The ferry is enormous and we took our car on board also. It's a 3 hour crossing with AMAZING views, which Dannie enjoyed while I slept in the "reclining lounge". I did join him at the end and got to see several dolphins playing in the water. Arrived in Picton and headed south to Nelson so we could make our arrangements for our first big hike tomorrow. Today is St. Patricks Day and NZ has a huge Irish population, so its been fun. Stopped in Havelock and had lunch outside while listening to a band at the festival nearby. We got to Nelson and booked our hike on the Abel Tasman and also the water taxi that brings us back. I must admit, I'm a bit happy we are only having one night on the trail. Tonight we had a great Italian meal (mushroom pasta for me...salmon ravioli for him) and a couple drinks. We had to come back to our very cute lodge to pack our backpacks and get ready to get up early. The first day will be about 7 hours (about 12 miles I think). Wish me luck!

Will update more when I get a chance. Haven't had time to add more pictures to Facebook, but trust me, I have plenty! Good night...and Happy St.Patrick's Day!