Wrote this the other day, but just now getting it posted

This is just going to be a quick one. Internet on this side of the island has been a challenge. I’m typing this in Word and have no clue if I’ll actually get it uploaded tonight or not. It’s Friday night and we are in Dunedin. Today we drove here from Curio Bay. We spent the night there right off the beach. It was quite nice, but I haven’t had a shower today. Oh, speaking of shower. On the way here we noticed a horrible odor in our camper van. When Ian went to investigate he found that our “grey water” tank had backed up into our shower (ew). Turns out he didn’t really empty it at our last dump station so the only place for it to go when it gets full is back into the camper van. Fortunately this is not like sewage water or anything…just the water that goes down the drain in the sink and shower. Ian said that he saw a slice of carrot floating around the floor of our shower.

OK, back to today. On our journey we stopped to see some caves, but they were closed (damn it). The next on our list was some waterfall. It was a short hike (nature walk) and a decent view.


The next stop was for Jacks Blowhole. The walk was beautiful, but the blowhole wasn’t really happening. The seas today were very calm, about water ski-able.



Our final stop was Nugget Point. This turned out to be the grand finale. We had a nice walk up to a lighthouse and from the point were able to see a ton of seals and birds. It was raining on us, but totally worth the walk.



Tomorrow we have a reservation to go to an Albatross reserve and I’m hoping to go to the Penguin sanctuary as well.

Our trip is coming to an end. We fly back to Sydney on Sunday. Ian flies back to the states that night and I leave on Tuesday. There is so much to see and do here that I wish I had another month…9 days just wasn’t’ quite enough.

Today - Wednesday

Today we did the Fly By Wire and Skyline Luge...both were awesomely fun and I have pictures from neither. :o(

We really wanted to do the "hamster ball" ride, but that's only in the north island. Also, we wanted to do a Cessna flight and cruise into Milford Sound, but the weather has totally hosed us. Looks like it's not going to happen on this trip...I'm bummed but Ian is totally distraught. I think we are going to head down to Invercargill tomorrow.

The weather temp has been quite mild. I thought I'd be the totally wussy, but Ian's the one who's been whining the most...seriously!

BTW, did I mention how expensive it is here??? Holy shit...everything is insane! I almost don't want to eat and I've gone to boxed wine (it's cheap, there's lots of it and it travels well in the camper van).

Ok...I'm out...but one last pic....not sure if I've posted one of the camper van yet.


Oh, we'll have to have all of you over for a picture viewing....home movie watching night....

A couple of quick pics

Internet is iffy again so my posts are going to be few and far between.

Here are a couple of pics just for the fun of it...

First one is me driving...a big ass camper van (yes Justin, I'm avoiding the gas stations), with a stick shift on the wrong side of the road. :o)

The next one is for Lara. There is this camper van rental company called Wicked that rents these vans, each with a different paint job. Most of them are funny...some deep...some political...



The next one is for Justin...no explanation necessary....

Still driving

Currently sitting on the side of a beautiful mountain called Treble Cone. It’s a ski resort in the winter and a paragliding/ground launching site in the summer. Ian is out playing with his canopy so I figured this would be an excellent time to catch up on my blogging.

Our first night we spent in a town called Greymouth. We parked our camper van in a slot right next to the sea. That nights sleep was awesome. The winds were blowing at a good steady 35+mph with gust up to around 50 mph. The next morning we got up and took a walk out on the beach. The shore was covered with stone rather than sand. The sky was grey, but the view was amazing.



From here we drove to Franz Joseph Glacier where we did a nice afternoon hike.


So far the food here has been less than desirable, but I have high hopes for Queenstown and Invercargill. Also, the food (as well as everything else) way, way expensive! I paid $18.00 for a veggie burger!!

The night we spent in Franz Joseph it rained – heavy rain – all night, which gave us another awesome nights sleep. I’m actually getting quite used to the camper van and the motor parks. We don’t shower in the campervan…it’s totally useless, but having a toilet is great! The motor parks have everything you need, internet, amazingly clean showers and toilets, game rooms, kitchens, etc.

Last night we tried to make it to Wanaka, but ended up about an hour short. We found a remote camper park that was very private with an amazing view. It was super cold, which gave us another great nights sleep.

Today we made it to Wanaka and tried to get a flight out to Milford Sound, but got hosed by the weather. It looks like the weather out there might suck through the week. We plan to say for a day or two in Queenstown so that may (hopefully) give us another option to get out to the Sound.

New Zealand seems to be big on live stock. We’ve seen cows, goats, horses, donkeys, deer (yes, they raise deer for meat) and an ass load of sheep. I’ve never seen so many varieties of sheep…there are big ones, small ones, some with long nappy hair, some with short curly hair, snow white ones, beige ones, some with black faces and some just roaming free range road side.


So far the trip is going well. I’m having a great time, but am about over the driving part. But this should fix itself over then next day or so. Then we will be on the road again on our way to Invercargill.

I have some more pics on my camera and will upload them soon...

NZ

We are finally in NZ. Been here two days now. Both days has been consumed by a lot of driving. The camper van is going to take some getting used to, but it is nice to have some place to pee at any point of any day! :o)

Today we visited Franz Joseph Glacier. It was absolutely beautiful. We hiked up pretty close until the terrain became a little on the rough side and my ears were about frozen off. It was shorts weather at the beginning of the hike, but freezing at the end.

Turns out I blew up my power converter in China. Ian's converter doesn't take the block style plugs because the plug hole is recessed so I can't charge many of my electronics (phone, ipod, camera). Because I can't charge my camera I'm not going to be able to upload any pictures until I get home :o(.

I'm tired. Will try to get on and blog more when I have more energy.

Thanks for reading!

AUS Airport

Finally made it to Australia. Getting off the plane I get a text message from Ian saying that he was lost and was going to be late picking me up…no big deal I thought because I still needed to pick up my luggage and make it through customs.

I present my passport and customs form to the customs agent. The only thing I had not filled in was the address where I was staying while in AUS. The agent asked me how long I was there for and I explained that it was a day layover on my way to NZ. I told her that I was meeting my husband and he made our overnight stay arrangements, but I was unaware of what those arrangements were. She said, “no problem mate” and sent me on my way.

While I was waiting for my baggage a guard came around with a dog that sniffed me up and down. I didn’t think this was an issue till she came back to me three times…the last time she asked the dog “did you find it?”. Hummm I thought.

I get my bags and head out to the customs screening area. As I was walking through the gate a woman pointed me to another agent and said that he would take care of me. How nice I thought. Little did I know what I was about to get in to.

We walked over to an area away from the rest of the screeners. The guy said that he just wanted to check my baggage, which didn’t seem unusual because of the security that we have to deal with in the states. I know I’ve had my purse check for residue a number of times.

The first thing the inspector did was go through my purse. He started setting some items such as my camera and an envelope of paper work aside. Meanwhile he was asking me 10,000 questions about where I’ve been, where I was going, what I was doing, who I was meeting, why the short stay, why the route through China, how did I pay for my ticket, what did I do for a living, etc. They he went over my customs form with me. He asked if I understood all the questions…especially number 1 and number 5 (1 being the question about food, drugs, plants, etc and 5 being whether I had more than $10,000 US on my person (this one made me giggle)).

From here he explained that he was going to have to empty everything from all of my bags and scan each piece of luggage. The entire time I was standing there the guy was as nice as can be and explained that I was flagged because of the unusual route through China, the short stay in AUS and the fact that my baggage claim tag numbers were not in consecutive order.

So, I had two bags that I was barely able to close in the first place that had to be completely emptied out…I actually thought he was kidding about that until I was standing there with clothes, shoes, underwear, everything scattered all over this table. While we were doing all of this the guard’s supervisor came over and started asking me all the same questions all over again. They couldn’t quite understand my travel sequence.

We finally got all the screening of my luggage done (one bag we were unable to get zipped back up, but that wasn’t a big deal…just amusing). The last bag was my back pack. I told him that my computer and accessories were in there. He asked what was in my computer…”uh pictures, music? I don’t really understand your question”. Then he opened up the front pouch and found my Luna Bars, Airbourne and sleeping pills (uh oh). I didn’t think anything of it, but he looked at me like I was a piece of shit, pulled out my customs form and a reread number 1. I was like, oops I didn’t think about that and he started shaking his head saying this is not good. Now I’m starting to panic a little.

He made me stand there freaking out for about ten minutes while he tried to get his supervisor over to see my "stash". The supervisor finally made his way over and told the guy that it was fine to let me go....whew!

This entire ordeal took over 30 min. I got out and told Ian...he said that JC got caught with an apple and was charged $200 for not claiming it! So, all in all I guess I got off pretty easy...least it wasn't China!

Detained...

Coming soon...detained in the AUS airport! Weird how stuff like this always happens to me!

It's 6am and we're off to the airport to catch our flight to NZ.

Lunch debacle

OK...the never ending blog. I just got back from lunch and what and adventure! As I mentioned earlier, NO ONE speaks English. My first attempt I tried to find a restaurant recommended by Adrianne's UPS buddies, but no one knew what I was talking about so I ventured over to a seafood place I saw earlier. The hostess didn't speak much English but got enough out to tell me that they did not have a menu in English, but invited me over to the holding tanks to point out what I wanted to eat....uhhh, NO WAY!! So I ventured back to my hotel to eat at one of the many restaurants located there. Oh, I forgot to mention that if I don't eat I get a little nutso (most of you who know me already know this from experience!). During my search for food I was frantically texting Ian telling how much I was done with China and wanted out. I think I hit the local places just at lunch time because there were literally hundreds of people standing around waiting for tables. The first hostess I visited didn't speak a word of English and was too busy to find someone else to help...by this time I was getting a little delirious and was about in tears and ready to give up my search for food.

I finally pulled myself together and ventured to one last place. Again, the hostess didn't speak English but grabbed 3 other girls to help out. They were all giggling at me but at least trying to help. I have no clue what they were saying amongst themselves but whatever it was sure pissed off one of the guys waiting for a table. Before I knew what was going on he was up in their faces screaming something in Chinese...again, I have no clue what he was saying, but I discovered that "shit" must be a universal word because that was every 3rd word out of his mouth.

Regardless of his rantings, the girls took me directly to a table and within 5 mins I had some little munchies in front of me to tide me over till my lunch came. The food was nothing to write home about, but at least it filled the hole!

I'm off to the airport soon to catch my next flight. I'm probably done blogging till I reach NZ.

Minority report

OK. Back from sight seeing. Wow, what an experience. I was a total spectacle out there walking around. People just stopped and stared at me (actually gawked would probably be a better term).

I took a few pictures but nothing worthy of busting out all the accessories in order to download them now. The town reminds me a lot of Jacksonville...nothing special, just a river and some buildings.

No one in this town speaks English...not the hotel staff, not the people at the airport, not the taxi drivers...it's a bit challenging to get what you want. My grandmother really wants a Chinese lantern...do you think I can find one? Hell no! Do you think anyone knows what I'm talking about when I ask?? Hell no! I finally gave up and headed back to the hotel for a drink. The bar tender didn't speak English either (go figure). I couldn't order anything that she knew of so I ended up with a shot of vodka in a glass. After that I decided to just buy a bottle of wine and take back to my room.

Here I sit, getting liquored up in my Chinese hotel room...

I'm a big girl now...LOL

Safely in my hotel in China. My hotel room over looks the Pearl River…tried to take a picture, but the sun is totally in my way and it’s very, very hazy. I will try again later.

The cab ride here was a little more than I could bear. I got a little car sick and started to second guess leaving the airport. Now that I’m here and showered I’m quite happy that I made the long nauseating drive out here. Unfortunately I can not get onto my blog site…I hope it’s just an error that will pass soon so I can upload all this stuff.

I’m about to head out to see what there is to see. I will see only what I can see on foot as there is no way in hell I’m getting back into another cab until I have to go back to the airport.

Part 2

I’m About 3/4s of the way to China. If my calculations are correct it is around 3:00 pm in Florida. It’s around 4:00 am on my watch and we are scheduled to land around 6:40 am. Here's a Google Earth tracking shot of my flight that Justin emailed me....


I had a bit of a panic attack half way between Orlando and LA. I was tired and wanted my bed and missed my kitties and Morgan. That has mostly passed, but I’m sure it won’t be the last.

The flight thus far has been pretty bearable. Getting to the flight was a bit of a trek, however, I had to walk outside to the other side of the airport to check in and go through security again. Then, at the gate they loaded us into these big ass busses like cattle. I was the only American on the bus. This was a strange feeling….can’t remember every being in the minority like that. I’m totally paranoid (guess it goes along with my OCD) so I felt like everyone was staring at and talking about me. I think I’m gonna have to get liquored up in China so I don’t totally lose it! The bus trip seemed like a long, long ride, but once at the plane we were quickly loaded.

My seat is at the front of the plane (Boeing 777) with no one sitting next to me. We were immediately served dinner (at 4:00 am my time….note, I have not slept yet). The food was unidentifiable, some sort of Chinese flare, but tasted quite good.

So far I’ve taken 2 halves and 1 whole Ambien, which has awarded me approximately 6 hours sleep total. I’m feeling pretty good, but am ready to get out of this tin can. I could use a shower and some sunshine.

Trip to NZ, part 1

Here I sit on my first leg of my journey. I got to the airport early enough to enjoy one of my favorite treats, Carvel soft chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles….mmmm yummy! I remember that when I first moved to DeLand we had a Carvel right down town (those were the days)…now the closest one is at the Millennia mall about an hour away.

When I checked in for my flight I was told that I was on standby for first class. I didn’t think that would be a problem because we forked over 150,000 miles to get my first class tickets. When I got to the gate I saw on the information screen that I had fallen to number 8 on the standby list (there were only 4 seats available). I talked to the counter agent and he basically told me that medallion members had priority of me, even though I technically paid for my seat. WTF?? And even though he wanted to help me, he couldn’t make any changes to what the computer was spitting out. It’s pretty amazing to see the class system work. Ian gets treated like a king whenever he flies because he’s a platinum medallion member and I get treated like scum because I’m a paying customer…go figure.

So, here I sit. The exit rows are always great to get…the seats in front of the exit rows, not so much. My seat won’t recline and the seat in front of me is totally reclined so I hve a very narrow space between my chest and the back of the seat in front of me a I can’t open my computer fully.

OK, enough bitching…I’m on my way to New Zealand! Luckily the middle seat between the window guy and me is empty so we have room for our stuff to over flow. Food and drinks should be flowing soon. This is not a dinner flight, but we were given a menu to order food from. They even have bar type drinks. I think I might enjoy a “Mile High” Mojito!

Doggie Bling

So I just picked Morgan up from her new groomer. As with her old groomer she came home sporting a cute neck bandanna...this one, pink, is a tad girly...but hey, at least now everyone knows she's a girl.

After unloading her from the car I wanted to check her ears because they said they cleaned them really good. As I grabbed her ear flap I felt something rough, which made me immediately think that she had another injury that would probably require another expensive vet trip. But as I looked down I saw that it's wasn't a cut or even a band aid...it was sparkely flower bling! No freakin' way!

WTF???

This is insane!! Please read me.

Send warm thoughts

to China! This is where I will be spending 15 hours in a couple of weeks, "Worst Winter Weather in 5 Decades...".

Then again, I might not even make it to Guangzhou...China Southern Airlines has totally screwed my tickets by cancelling 2 of my legs (both legs out of Guangzhou). I think it's a conspiracy to keep the cold wussy Western woman hostage in a non-English speaking communist country!!

Keep your fingers crossed for me!