Tsunamis, hot water springs and stars

Sitting here at a campground computer (which only had some working keys- no backspace or enter!) after putting a $2 coin in for 8 minutes (it's slow loading - only 4 minutes 6 seconds to go...). Outside rain is pouring but we can hear the roar of the Pacific Ocean waves in the distance from the Hot Water Beach. At this beach the local hot water springs meet the ocean. At low tide you can go out and dig yourself a spa. Low tide is at 4 p.m. this afternoon and that's where we'll be shovels in hand, in the rain, digging for warm water. (Staying at Hot Water Beach Holiday Park tonight.)

Two nights ago in Russell we were blasted out of sleep by a World War II type siren. Fire! Was my first thought. The area has not had rain for twenty weeks! A drought unseen for a hundred years. Fire signs are up, "Extreme fire danger." Others explain where to go to evacuate. (They could use some rain we are having here!) For a fire we'd have headed to the bay - bery close by with sailboats everywhere. (More sailboats per person in New Zealand than any other country.) On the other hand the sirens could be for a tsunami - in which case we'd have to go up hill. The siren wound down finally like a wind up toy losing power.

Since I was up I the middle of the night went up the steep hill to the bathroom (where we'd go to avoid a tsunami). As I walked home I looked up at the night sky and NOTHING WAS FAMILIAR! Intellectually I know the stars are different - but seeing it - no big dipper, no little dipper was surprising. I did see the Southern Cross - amazing and so big - it covered a huge portion of the sky! It's jsut beautiful. Looking forward to a night of clear skys to show the children.

Jackie

What was in that wine?

Adventures in the Northland of New Zealand. I'm up early after a long drive to Russell in the Bay of Islands. Its a lovely little town frequented by all sorts of travelers and holiday takers from countries far and wide. Russell was the first permenant European outpost in New Zealand established in the 1870s. Russell soon became a rough and tumble port of call to all sorts of ne'r do wells, pirates and of course missionaries. The printing press and bindery that the missionaries used to mass produce Bibles for the Mauri natives is on our tour for this afternoon.

For now I'm contemplating pink sheep while I prep the family for a half day boat trip in the Bay of Islands where we plan to swim with dolphins, cruise through some natural bridge called the hole in the wall and generally soak in the essence of New Zealand's northland.

Paul

Why is it that whenever you get someone to take your family photo they invariably don't catch something like A HUGE WATER MARK RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF THE PICTURE!

New Zealand here we come

The flight to New Zealand had its ups and downs. (So bad but couldn't resist.) This was a plane with service - Toothbrushes! Pillows! Movies on demand! Free movies! More than 30 movies that you can pause, take a nap and watch some more!

So did some guilty movie plane watching - broke rule number one - don't watch a movie till I've finished reading it. Brought the book Julie & Julia with me though I'm 3/4 of the way through it couldn't resist watching the movie.

Short book review - Julie & Julia by Julie Powell: a memoir of a quick-witted, slightly manic young woman who decides to make all 524 of Julia Child's recipes in 365 days and blogs about it. Craziness ensues - including her preparing gelaten by cooking a pigs hoof (yick) and killing a lobster by dismembering it live with a cleaver (double yick) - per directions from Julia Child.'s recipe book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Next movie - rule #2 try not to watch cheesy movies. I totally admit I watched Michael Jackson's movie, "This is it." (Watched at 4 a.m. in the morning airplane/New Zealand time and about 10 a.m. my time - the few East Coasters awake were offered orange juice.) Would never rent the movie at home but somehow the fact that is was On Demand! Free! made me give in. Well, the gods of good taste must have been watching because within a minute of the movie starting an orange juice was spilled all over my tray and pants. (Not to give any names but it was someone under ten flinging a plane blanket as he tossed in his sleep.) Fortunately, as the flight to New Zealand is 12 hours 45 minutes, I decided to pack an outfit for each person in a carry on bag just in case. Thank goodness. Though, if you've ever tried to change clothes in the bathroom you can imagine the challenge I faced.

Speaking of airplane bathrooms. Does anyone else consider it a feat of accomplishment and feel you should get a spot on survivor when you flush the airplane toilet and are once again not sucked out of the plane by the violent flushing action?

Well, made it through another plane ride to arrive in sunny New Zealand. Only about 15 more plane rides to go. Looking forward to a nice long sleep tonight.

Love to all,

Jackie

Made it to sunny Walnut Creek last night. Brother Brian was kind enough to make the trip to SFO to pick us up. Many thanks to Brian as we were in no condition to make the long train ride to Walnut creek last night.

After a warm breakfast of pancakes and bacon the kids settled into their homeschooling routine while the adults attended to administrative matters like making copies of all our important documents. We're using Google docs to store PDF copies of our critical documents and images of our credit cards. We have lots of support from friends and family, and many folks have volunteered to hold copies of our travel documents for us, but it seems much better to have scanned copies of our passports, shot records, credit cards all available on Google docs. Assembling all of these documents in an online folder may seem risky, but if we ever need them we'll just need access to an Internet cafe and a printer. I hope we never need them...

On your mark, get set...go!

We've made it all the way to Reston, VA (about 20 minutes) where we are getting driven to the airport by Jackie's parents. Our bags are packed with a clothes that dry fast, a flashlight that can work as a fire alarm, and a soft splint for any broken arms and legs - but on the last run through the house what did I find unpacked? Our toothbrushes. Off to San Fran...

Happiness to all,

Jackie

Ever try to fit a square peg in a round hole?

How about 100 square pegs!

House packing is virtually complete. Now its on to the really tough stuff. How do you pack everything you "need" into one carry-on sized bag and your day pack? In my next post I'll try to detail what I've put in my pack, but for now its enough to say less is truely more. More fun, more manageable and more efficient.

 
We're really getting close now! This morning the mobile storage units arrived. How cool is that service? For half the price of a local storage unit, U-Haul delivers a pod that we pack up and they haul it away and keep it safe until we return. We ordered two units just in case, but since we're renting the house furnished we only need to pack up personal items and clothes and I'll bet we'll only need one.

 
We're all looking forward to the trip, perhaps none more than Ben. Here he is expressing his interest in attending school during our final week in country.

Its a Kindle world

When we decided to take the kids on a global adventure of this scope, we knew that it would be difficult to carry enough reading material for all of us. So, what's a reading family to do? Well, we splurged and bought three new Kindles to go with the one we already had. Now each of us has our Kindle tied to a single family account that allows us to share our books within the family. Pretty cool.

Prepare to Cast Off

The hardest part of any journey is the first step. People plan and prepare for years and still they don't feel ready. Now is the time, the 21st is the day. Ready or not world, here we come!