The Longest Day

"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love...and then we return home." - Aboriginal proverb

I'm home. Have been home for a bit more than a week now, but have been unable to admit that to myself, much less to the world at large. Both the pedestrian and the profound have taken all attention until now. Laundry and mail on one end of the spectrum, association budget toward the other end, DREAM Act at the other end. And, of course, procrastination has been there too.

Was the trip wonderful? Absolutely! Do I want to go back? You bet. Next time, which I hope will be soon, will be all land--the cruise was nice, and the people were utterly terrific, but the land portions of the trip were really the highlights. Great Barrier Reef, the Great Ocean Road, the trek across New Zealand's south island--some of the best ever. Rotorua, Sydney, Auckland, and much more were all great too.

The down side? It's a looooong way there and back. Going to Sydney was longest--about 24 hours, counting the 3-hour layover in LA. Coming back was no slouch, but about 5 hours less, since we started in Auckland.

As discussed in an early entry, we lost a day crossing the international date line going over. But the international date line had an interesting effect on the return too: it made the travel day, quite literally, the longest day of my life. We arrived in LA about 9 hours before we left Auckland, and landed at Dulles only two hours after leaving Auckland, notwithstanding the 19-hour trip. If I'm doing the math right, the net result was a 43-hour day.

Body clock-wise I'm still trying to get back on track. With Christmas less than two weeks away, and much to do before then, I need to speed that process.

With respect to photos, I'm still working on editing and labeling. There's only so many pictures of koalas and snow-capped peaks one can ask her friends to look at. The good news is, Australia photos are ready to go.


I'm still working on New Zealand, and will post when that is ready. So, it's not goodbye yet.

Next: Kiwi-land photos

City of Sails

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." - Henry David Thoreau

Arriving in Auckland was both sad and wonderful. Sad because it was the last stop of of the journey, wonderful because that is what the city is. I'd been told that it evokes San Francisco, and can see why. It's a pretty city, with steep streets and a lively waterfront. It is different from SF as well--much more greenery and a slower pace.

Our arrival in Auckland also meant a departure from the cruise ship. The first order after to disembarking was to find some friends we had met on a cruise two years ago, who were boarding as we were leaving. Their hotel was on the wharf--literally--and so it wasn't hard to find them. We adjourned to their room to celebrate with champagne and some catching up.

We then sent them to the ship, and we checked into our hotel. We'd been amazed at the price we'd gotten at the Hyatt, and upon arriving found out why. On the map, the Hyatt is only a few blocks from most of the downtown sights. But in reality it actually is quite isolated, as it is at the top of a very steep hill, and there is no way to get to anything without going down at a steep angle. That tends to put a damper on one's enthusiasm for heading out for a quick anything.

Notwithstanding the descent (and corresponding ascent), the city beckoned. We started on a HoHo (hop on/hop off) bus, which circled two areas of the city and gave us a good overview: rose gardens, concert halls, parks, odd venues (an acquarium in an old sewer pipe), and views galore. Auckland is a clean, attractive city, with architecture from Victorian to modern, and an unusual dearth of architectural atrocities. There is a pretty shopping and cafe area called Parnell Village--very similar to The Rocks in Sydney. A highlight was Mt. Eden, from which one could see much of the city. From there, it is abundantly clear that Auckland is built on a volcano--you could see the series of volcanic cones. The most famous cone is One Tree Hill, so named for the lonely tree at its top. However, that tree no longer exists. Vandals cut it down, so it is now represented by an obilisk.

Our second day in Auckland was overcast, with rain threatening at any moment, so we spent much of the day in the Auckland Museum, which was well worth the time. It's a diverse museum, covering history and culture of the Maori and the people of the Pacific, as well as natural history and the designs and accomplishments of modern Kiwis. One favorite was a feature on Rudel Haywood, an early film director who made a number of silent movies and then developed his own sound camera to make "talkies" that were well ahead of their time.

Another favorite was a feature on volcanoes that brought home the fact that Auckland is built on a still-live volcano, making clear that the volcano will erupt again--be it tomorrow or 3,000 years from now. There was a room that simulated what would happen if it did erupt, a disturbing but fascinating feature.

Finally, we went to Sky City, the tower that dominates the Auckland skyline, which provides panoramic views of the city and its more distant environs and from which a person can bungy jump if s/he so wishes. We ate in the revolving restaurant near the top, and enjoyed the view with the meal. The overcast day actually enhanced the viewing, and we were able to see the city clearly, as well as the mountains in the distance and all in between.

However, the body hurtling past us as we ate was a little disconcerting. Yes, people were bungy jumping. You could see them go down in their harnesses, and then a minute later, could see the empty harness being raised. Which left the interesting question: what did they do with the "body"? We had seen bungy jumping in Queenstown: there you would either get towed back up (if you did it from the mountain) or get picked up by a raft (if you did it from the bridge). Here, we never could tell how the person was released. After our meal, we went up to another viewing platform that had a glass floor, and saw more jumpers. But, again, we couldn't see what happened to them.

But we could see no blood splatters on the pavement below. We could have asked, but decided to leave their fates a mystery.

After the fun of Auckland came the bad news: "E noho rā" which is the Maori for goodbye (the goodbye said by the one leaving). It was time to return home.

Next: The Longest Day

Walking in a Thermal Wonderland

"What time does the volcano go off?" - visiting tourist

(If you've been following this blog, look back at past entries--some photos have been added. I'll be posting a link to the full album in the near future.)

One of the most anticipated stops on our trip was the town of Rotorua, and the nearby Wai-O-Tapu thermal "wonderland."

But before we reached there, the ship had a day at sea, which produced its own thermal surprise. We passed White Island, a small, privately-owned island that contains New Zealand's only active volcano. It was a slightly overcast day; perfect for volcano viewing. On this day, the volcano was fairly lively, producing considerable mist as well as pools of ooze that could be seen from the ship with binoculars. There was also a shelf of white that we at first thought was produced by the volcano. But, no, on closer inspection it proved to be a nest of many thousands of gannets--birds we'd viewed earlier (and discussed in an earlier blog). The ship circled this island for a while to give us all a view, then pushed off to more thermal activity.

The town of Rotorua boasts the Wai-O-Tapu park, New Zealand's answer to Yellowstone. We first saw a geyser spew. Unfortunately, it is not one of the those great wonders where you have to be in the right place at the right time. Each day, precisely at 10:15 am, they seed the geyser with something akin to soap powder to force it to spew. It's an impressive sight, but still carries that tinge of inauthenticity even though it is a legitimate geyser.

But the rest of the park was the real deal. Smoke vents, boiling mud pools, sulphur streams, and the inevitable smell dotted the walks around the park. At the center was a giant sulphur lake, full of weird arrays of color and a hot and smelly breeze. There also was a beautiful pool of a lime green shade. All things nature creates in its most uneasy atmosphere.

That day also brought a visit to a wildlife park. Unlike Australia, New Zealand's wildlife is less of the mammal variety (unless you count sheep, which are hardly wild), and more of the bird and reptile family. That was reflected in this park, as we saw a variety of birds and reptiles (but, thankfully, no snakes). The highlight was seeing the elusive kiwi bird, the national bird that is in danger of extinction.

From there we rode yes another gondola to yes another fantastic view. Two in our party (not me, I assure you) took the occasion of being on the top of a mountain to ride a giant swing attached by bungy cords. Not as daring as bungy jumping, but not for the faint of heart either. Apparently, the specialty of NZ is for people to hurl themselves off tall buildings and cliffs in rather shaky apparatus. Hmmmmm.

Next: Auckland