We're home

Well, we are back in the States and have a day of rest under our belt. I can't remember ever sleeping that good before. I guess if I have trouble sleeping again, I just have to go to New Zealand and make sure not to sleep for 40 hours on the way back.

I'm downloading photos right now, which is slow going. There are 2,300 photos that I had transferred to Julie's computer and a bunch still on a card from the last few days on the North Island. I guess I hadn't written anything on the North Island. Here goes.

We took a ferry from Picton to Wellington across the Cook Straight. Wonderful little cruise. It's a little pricey when you take a camper van, but hey, what else am I going to do with it. While parking the van on the ship, one of the mechanics noticed my camera gear and immediately picked me as a reader of strobist.com. We had a great little conversation about lighting and cameras in general. Julie said we were talking in our own language, one she couldn't follow very well. David, if you are reading this, you need a seminar in New Zealand.

When we parked in Wellington, I just wanted to walk around without the camera. I figured that a city is a city and we just wanted to walk. I also was a little wobbly from taking so many photos from the ferry. OK, big mistake. My bad. Wellington is a beautiful city with a wonderful little harbour. I'm sorry I didn't get a photo to show you all. I guess you will just have to go and see for yourselves.

We drove 6 hours the next morning to Rotorua. I think Rotorua is great because it smells so bad. You see, there are steam vents full of sulphure and natural hot springs all over the place. The whole area smells like rotten eggs. This is a blessing if you've been traveling and are a little smelly yourself. Plus, you can pass gas and no one would ever know.

In Rotorua we went to the museum, sat in some mineral pools and ate a hangi feast at a Maori holy place. It was a little contrived, but a great peek into the rituals and history of the Maori people. Plus, the food was great.

Next, we drove to Waitomo to go caving. Pardon the pun, but it rocked. We get in a wetsuit and rappel into caves, sometimes over waterfalls. There were a few tight spaces, but never too tight. The glow worms in the caves were also pretty amazing. Our guide Liam was pretty funny about the glow worms. He said that they are actually maggot larva that attract tourists with glowing poo, but market research didn't think that would look good on a brochure, so the term glow worm was created. Those funny Kiwi. Next (and final) stop, Aukland.

Aukland is also a wonderful city and the main feature is their new(ish) Sky City Tower. It's the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere and this being New Zealand, you can jump off it. Julie entertained thoughts of doing it until she saw the price. Plus, when we ate dinner up there that night she noted how high it was. After dinner we went to the observation deck and they have glass panels in the floor you can stand on and look straight down. That turned her stomach a little and she eventually admitted she was glad she didn't do it.

The next morning we left. We didn't want to, and we concidered just staying, but we ... well actually, I'm still not sure why we didn't.

A few notes about New Zealand:

• The speed limit is 100 kph everywhere except where posted, like through towns and on curves. It's nice.
• Roundabouts make perfect sense and I don't know why we don't have them everywhere here.
• They like 80s music. In fact, most radio stations play all music from the last 30 years alongside new music.
• I love rugby. Go Highlanders.
• Feijoa juice is so yummy and we need to get it here. Come on Odwalla, this is right up your ally.
• The coffee is better there and flat whites are my new drink of choice. Mochas are always served with marshmellows.
  
• Bacon there is similar to Candian Bacon here. What we call bacon is called American Bacon there.
• Nonfat milk is called trim.
• McDonalds is everywhere, though most of them have full coffee shops called McCafe. Plus, they still call a quarterpounder a quarterpounder.
• Drivers are better.
• Everyone seems so active and healthy.
• People don't seem to collect as many sea shells. Here, everyone takes shells and they can be hard to find on the beach. There, they are everywhere.
• Coffee is in every bar, but there is no free wireless interet anywhere.
• No one says "You're Welcome." They say "Thank You" again or "No Worries" or something along those lines.
• No one seems to like George Bush and everyone wanted to know how Obama was doing.
• The economy is bad there too.
• Newspapers are twice as wide and have 8 columns. Plus, people still seem to read them.
• The major newspapers have a weekend edition and don't print on Sundays.
• Visitor information is very easy to come by. Every town, no matter how small, has an "i sight" that will book hotels and tours for you.
• Campervans are everywhere.
• We want to go back.

Thanks for reading. I'll have more photos posted in a few days, so check back often.