Better to be lucky than smart

Beijing, China

Feb 28th 2010

  

In an odd deja vu like experience I found myself at a ticket counter in the Sydney airport only to be informed that our flights to China were booked out of Brisbane...

 

Twenty years ago, I was on a similar 'round the world excursion with four friends trying to get from Sydney to Brisbane only to find out that our tickets were from Melbourne to Brisbane, not Sydney. We ultimately had to get our bags off the plane and hitch hike up the coast which turned out to be the best choice anyway...but I digress.

 

... So as I stood there at the Cathay Pacific service desk counter I couldn't help but smile. What a wonderful mishap to have. Something so random that evokes such strong memories of a journey long past. Anyway, what else could I do but turn over my family's fate to the capable hands of the Cathay Pacific staff. What good was a printed itinerary showing our flights from Sydney to Beijing if our real booking was for a flight out of Brisbane 13 hours in the future. After determining that our tickets were as restricted as they get and there was little chance of changing them, the agent said it was looking like we were going to need to travel the 900km to Brisbane on our own...we knew the route.

 

The kids were naturally a bit concerned that their parents in fact did NOT have their act together, but ultimately they both responded to our assurances that all would be OK. As Jackie made repeated calls to the states to get someone to look up the number for our travel agent, (thanks Marshall and Carla!) I continued to appologize and smile at the desk agents. By 10:30 things were looking up and as they checked our four bags they handed me four boarding passes and an express pass for security, I got the feeling that we would make it to Beijing after all!

 

13 hours later we arrived in the modern, architectually spectacular Beijing airport. It was terrific to come out of customs to see our friend Mary who picked us up at the airport. Mary and Paul Asel have opened their arms and their home to welcome us to China's capital city. 

 

The lesson in all of this? Sure, there is the "double check your itinerary" carefully lesson, but the more important lesson is that mistakes and mishaps happen and the outcome often depends on your attitude and ability to roll with the punches. As Bob Bitchin, publisher of Lattitudes and Attitudes magazine is fond of saying, "Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure."   Thanks to a healthy mix of good luck and positive attitude our China Adenture has begun!

 

Paul

 

Australia - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sydney, Australia

The Good

Last day in Oz and it's been great. Beaches, beaches and more beaches. The people are as warm as the weather. When we've stayed at the youth hostels we've met people from all over the world - including bunches from Vancouver.

A great perk for travelers is that both Australia and New Zealand have public information centres (as they write) and public bathrooms in almost every town. The Centres offer information on where to stay and sites to see. They can help you set up reservations at hotels and suggest and book activities. Just look for the little blue 'i's' - the same in both countries.

The Bad

Going out to our rental car in the dark to get the last of our stuff out before we returned it the other night Paul noticed a guy walking along with a pen light flashlight (torch as they call it here) pointing it in car windows furtively clearly looking for items to steal. Paul said, "Avast there thee dastardly foe. Stop thy pillfering or I will vanquish you," (O.K. well he didn't exactly say that) and chased him down the block. We worried about the car that night (but had taken everything out of it) and it was fine in the morning.

The Ugly

The public New Zealand bathrooms, found in every town, are all spotless, as clean as clean can be. Australia is more on par with U.S. public bathrooms found in malls. But it is great that they are reliable and you can find them everywhere. We did stop in one bathroom, in the middle of nowhere, which only had a public bathroom, no stores or anything, and it was less than sparkling. Paul lifted the toilet lid, looking for poisonous funnel web spiders (!!), and saw staring up at him, living in the toilet, was a toad! Needless to say we quickly moved on to the next town.

Today we are heading out for Beijing, China and will stay with a Falls Church family we know - the Asels. Looking forward to seeing them and our next adventures,

Jackie

Ouch! Something stung me!

Julian Rocks Marine Park
Byron Bay, NSW Australia
Feb 22 2010

I woke up this morning with the idea that Ben and I would go for a quick snorkel trip out to the marine park located just off the coast of Byron Bay. I'd never heard of the place, but the local dive shop's ad claimed that it was among the top ten dive/snorkel locations in OZ. With that kind of claim it was sure to be good. I gave them a call and found that we could go later today or join one of two trips tomorrow. My kind of options! I told them we'd decide later and give them a call. In true Aussie fashion the guys at the dive shop responded with the ol' "No Worries".

Last time Ben and I had gone snorkeling was this past spring along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The water was murky, Ben was freaked and I was acting like this would be his only chance to experience snorkeling. Needless to say that didn't go too well. Anyway, it may have made an impression because Ben was not his normal "all in" self when I suggested we go snorkeling around some rock outcrops out in the Coral Sea. When I told him we could decide later I could see the visions of Costa Rica fade a little and he gave his customary thumbs up as we finished breakfast.

A little later when the girls woke up we let them know we'd made a call to the local dive shop. Jackie was way into the idea and got us all mustered in record time for our day trip to Byron Bay. On our way into town we "happened" to pass by the dive shop. So I said we've got to stop in to say "g'day".

In we went and before I knew it Jackie had the whole family signed up for the 12:30 trip! No sense putting off 'til tomorrow that what you can do today! After a quick bite and some bathing suit shopping we joined a crew of like minded ocean lovers on a rigid inflatable for a trip out through the surf to an island just off the coast.

The plan was to tie off on one of the fixed moorings and swim towards the rocks. The skipper had warned us of "some current" but had indicated that conditions were perfect. Sure enough the water was 26 degrees centigrade and the visibility was 40ft easy. We geared up and dropped off the side. The grab of the current was instantaneous and as Ben and I surfaced I could tell we'd have to work to get back to the boat to say nothing of heading to our desired snorkeling location. By the time we surfaced from the initial splash off the side we'd traveled 20 feet or so down current. By the time we hooked up with Jackie who had splashed off the other side, we'd all traveled 50 or sixty feet in the wrong direction. We joined up and began to work our way back to the boat. Just then Ben gave out a shout that he'd been stung by something, sure enough he had a Blue Bottle tentacle wrapped around his little hand and was none too happy about it! I peeled off the tentacle and we put our flippers in overdrive to reach the boat.

Ben wisely joined his sister on board the dive boat and watched his parents snorkel around a wild and wonderful patch of ocean. There were turtles and fish everywhere. We even got to see several Leopard sharks, wrasse, parrot fish, puffers and thousands of smaller fishes all working the reef for food or shelter. As Jackie and I swam around in the beautiful ocean, the kids would point out larger fishes and turtles they could clearly see from the boat.

After some ice and a few hours playing in the waves at Byron Bay's main beach, the pain of the jelly fish sting wore off and Ben had yet another adventure story to tell. Though it wasn't what any of us had expected we'd certainly had an action packed day on the road. Its a testament to Ben's interest in the ocean that he's ready to go again. Next time we'll all be right behind him!

Paul

G-day - all things Aussie

Ballina, Australia 23/2/2010 (how they write the date here and in N.Z.)

All Things Aussie

G'day Mates,

Here we are in Aussie land. Our eskie (cooler) is filled with poppas (juice boxes); we've been eating meat pies (picture an apple pie, then shrink it to about 4" across, fill it with meat and that's lunch); bug spray keeps away the mossies (mosquitoes) and we've got thongs on our feet....which is not as odd as it sounds - thongs are what the Aussies call flip flops. (Did we tell you they call flip flops ' jandels' in New Zealand. The Aussies found it hysterical that the New Zealanders call their thongs jandels.)

When you ask for a bathroom they think you suddenly need a bathtub - so instead you just ask straight out for the toilets (which are marked and written that way everywhere. No euphemisms here.) When you want to pay with a credit card you see if they accept eftpos (which we are totally guessing means, 'electronic financial transfer point of sale').

We've been far enough south we haven't had to worry about 'salties' or 'freshies' - salt water and fresh water crocodiles that it.

When you say,"Thank you," to someone the response is usually, "No worries."

We are off, in our Skoda rental car (made in the Czech Republic I think) to who knows where - somewhere between here, Ballina, and Sydney for the night.

That's all from the land down under.

Jackie

Home is Where the Charger is

Noosaville QLD

Feb 21 2010

Planning for this trip involved a great deal of imagination. We had to imagine our family in a whole variety of situations and try to plan accordingly. What we couldn't visualize and plan for we'd fill in on the way. One thing I didn't see fully grasp was the energy demands a 21st century American family while on the road. Sure, I knew we'd need to recharge our batteries, but I underestimated the time it takes to charge a battery and by extension the number of chargers and converter plugs needed to sustain our load.

With two cell phones, a netbook computer, four cameras, two nIntendo DSIs, four head lamps, battery operated tooth brushes and four Amazon Kindle E-readers we have quite the foot print. Even if we had all the converter plugs and inverters we needed we still wouldn't have enough plugs in most places we've stayed, so we needed to develop a charge strategy to sustain us. I'll defend our gadget load in another post so all you Thoreau types will have to wait to argue that point.

There are two things you need to properly charge your gadgets en route: converter plugs and transformers. Converter plugs do nothing more than change the shape of one plug to another. Each country / region basically has its own plug standard. Hence the need for a converter. Transformers shift voltage between 110 and 220 volts. I'll never forget the time dad plugged the brand new American bought stereo into the 220 oulet in Pakistan back in the 70s. The smell of circuitry melting into a useless glob of plastic and heavy metal is something you wont soon forget. So transformers are important. They are also heavy and often bulky. We have one transformer that came as part of a terrific travel kit Jackie's folks gave us for Christmas this year. Converter plugs are all that is needed for electronic devices that can accept 110 - 220 volts as input. Our netbook, the Amazon Kindle charge cords and one of our two cell phone chargers accept 220 volts. The camera and flashlight battery chargers however, depend on the transformer.

Charge!
The netbook is our command center so it gets priority. It also has an old battery that can't hold a charge beyond a couple of hours so its basically plugged in as much as possible. To reduce weight, I only brought two of the four charge cables for the Kindles so two get charged at a time and usually at night or when we're out for the day. Through dumb luck or excellent planning (you decide) three of our cameras use the same battery. We have four camera batteries in rotation which is usually sufficient to keep up with the power demands of the cameras. The digital SLR has its own larger battery and charger. Luckily it seems to require far fewer charges than its instamatic relatives. Thanks to LED bulbs our flashlight batteries seem to last forever. I haven't had to recharge flashlight batteries since Auckland. We highly recommend LEDs in flashlights and headlamps.

Ideally we'd have six converter plugs and three transformers. At 12 bucks a pop, converter plugs are not cheap (like me). They're also bulky and take up valuable space in our luggage so I'm resisting buying more than we absolutely need. We have two converter plugs. One that came with the travel kit and one I picked up in Sydney. I think we need one more, but before I buy another I'll need to know it will work in China and the rest of SE Asia. Transformers are massive and expensive so we're staying pat with one until charging logistics become too onerous.

I had to unplug the computer this morning so I could use its converter plug with the transformer to charge the fourth camera battery, so I'd better finish up before I run out of power.

Paul

Rain, rain go away...and how to avoid being eaten by a Crocodile

Noosaville, Australia



Rain at the Beach

After several days of drizzle the sun finally came out again. We didn't let the mist hold us back - we swam in the pools at our Polynesian-like resort. Compared to the youth hostels we are now living the life of luxory with three pools surrounded by tropical palms gently blowing in the breeze filled with birds, including white parrots soaring overhead (four just flew by our porch), chirping, cawing, tweeting, screeching, hooting, etc., all day and night. Our 3 story townhouse/villa includes 3 bedrooms - aaah, this is the life.



The rain didn't phase us at Noosa Heads Beach as we body-surfed in between the rain drops. We have had two nice days at the beach- with multiple sunblock applications and swim shirts for all. Everyone here in Australia and in New Zealand is very conscientious about the sun and children without swim shirts are in the minority. At a pool in NZ we quickly realized Ben was going to be one of the only boys without a shirt and it gave him pause as to whether he would swim that day or not. Since then, since the ozone hole is above NZ and Oz, and the fact that everyone is wearing swim shirts, we all bought ourselves swim shirts and are protected and fit right in. In New Zealand everyone was wearing the long sleeve swim shirt but I just couldn't go that far yet - we got short sleeve shirts. Today at Noosa beach we actually saw kids in full body bathing suits. The water is really warm and delicious to swim in so these were not wetsuits but bathing suits made of regular bathing suit material but covering from wrist to ankle. (I'm sure the fabric was embedded with UV protection.) Even the lifeguards here wear long sleeve bathing suit shirts and hats with brims all around.



Australia Zoo

On our first cloudy (rain free) day here we drove down to Beerwah - the home of the Australia Zoo. This is the zoo originally run, owned and extensively filmed by Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter. Crikey mates, we had a good time. From crocs and Dingos to Tasmanian Devils and wombats we saw it all. Ben fed Kangaroos and elephants (Amelia took pictures) and both got to pet Wombats. The zoo does an amazing job of giving all the animals huge enclosures - the tigers even get to go on walks in a 150 acre private area. The most incredible birds buzzed by our heads. A great day and we stayed hours longer than we thought we would.



How to Avoid Being Eaten by a Crocodile

We were happy to learn that contrary to popular belief crocodiles are very slow on land. So, while you could never out-swim a crocodile, nor could you avoid its incredible leaping/grasping ability on or by the water's edge, if you stay 5 meters (a little less than 15') away from the water's edge you can outrun a Crocodile! Good tip to know (esp. for us as they have crocs in Africa too where we will be going later on our trip).



Tomorrow will take us to Byron Bay and/or Ballina.



All the best,



Jackie

Fast Friends in Bello

What a difference a few days makes.

Newcastle was nice but made us feel old and out of place in a Youth Hostel full of Youth! We roll into Bellingen and find a funky little YHA Backpackers that fit our family just right. Then to add to the magic, Shane and Georgi appeared from Tazmania with their four beautiful kids and trailer in tow.

Talk about Australian friendliness, these happy Tazies made us part of their family and showed us a good time as we explord the Bellingen area together. Probably the wildest thing for me was that when I mentioned I'd been in Lune River, Tazmania 20 years earlier he quickly picked out the name of the person I'd visited with all those many years ago. Its good to hear that Ian has finished his post and beam home and moved out of his mud hut that was his home when I knew him.

So what started as a tentative one nighter in a hill station on the way to the Sunshine coast quickly became three nights in a place that many find so nice they just don't leave. We spent long days along the river, swinging on the rope swing and tubing the local riffles. We rested in the mid day heat and then came out as the sun went low to explore the rainforest and crystal clear streams in the Dorrigo hills.

Shane and Georgi, we look forward to a time when we can share our Virginia home with you. May you find peace and prosperity in your new home!

Paul

Rope swings, tubing and new friends

Bellingen, Australia

Our one night in Bellingen by the river and mountains became three nights. The river beckoned and we went swimming, tubing and swung on the high rope swings - standing on the high bank, grabbing on to the thick rough rope's knots, flying out over the river and dropping in. As it's summer down under the air is filled with the lush scent of flowers.

We've been staying in a family cabin with our own bedroom and two other Aussie families - all with our own bedrooms, sharing and kitchen, living room and big porch. One of the families has kids around our kids ages including another 11 year old girl, two younger boys and a baby sister. All the kids really hit it off and we've all been having so much fun together - going to the rope swing as a group, swimming together, cooking meals at the same time and more. Making connections like this is a highlight of travel.

The family we've been hanging out together is from Tasmania, an island that is part of Australia but south of the mainland, and moving to a new town on the mainland up north. Bellingen is a stop on the way up for them.

Twenty years ago, on Paul's last round-the-world trip, he lived and worked in Tasmania in a town called Loon River. The town is so small the family from Tasmania asked Paul if he knew Ian from Loon River. Well the only Ian that Paul knew was one starting a post and beam house. Turns out Ian just finished the house!!!! How small world is that!!

Today we are leaving the mountains and heading back to the coast for sun and surfing - perhaps Byron Bay or maybe Noosa - we'll see where the road takes us.

All the best,

Jackie

Fruit Bats, Freshwater Crocs, and Water Dragons

Bellingen, Australia (Sydney to Newcastle to Bellingen)

After two days on the beaches of Australia (including boogie board surfing in Newcastle) today finds us in our own cabin at a youth hostel on a river in Bellingen, Australia overlooking green mountains in the distance. Last night's heat made swimming in the river a delight - something a lot of people do in this area - though I did wonder about freshwater crocs so stayed in the shallows with Ben (perfect croc bait). Read more about freshwater crocs today and am assured they are only in the tropics of Oz - further north of us. So today will likely include tubing and staying cool on the river.

Last night at dusk the darkening sky was filled with whir of hundreds of flying foxes, or fruit bats as they are also known, flying over our heads and off into the distance - as Amelia said it looked like they were migrating. The bats are much bigger than ours at home but their diet only consists of fruit, pollen and necter - hence the name. Interestingly, since they don't eat flying insects they don't have echolocation abilities.

Right below our balcony here at the hostel fuzzy baby chicks are living in enclosure. Never too far from the chick enclosure is a Water Dragon named Nigel - a lizard about 1 1/2 feet long - he's clearly full of hope that at some point one of the chicks will be within his leathery grasp.

Jackie

Kangaroo for dinner (and not a guest) and Surfing at Bondi Beach

Sydney

Kangaroo
Dinner served last night at the Youth Hostel BBQ included Kangaroo! Kangaroos here are like deer at home - a bit of a nusance and people eat them. I tried one bite and it tasted just like...steak (thought I was going to say 'chicken' didn't you?). It really did taste like steak and others at the BBQ tasting kangaroo for the first time thought the same thing.


The youth hostel is awesome for charging all our electronics. The Youth Hostel is just plain awesome. Located in the "Rocks" district of Sydney, this ultramodern establishment has an amazing roof top terrace that overlooks the harbor and the opera house. The rooms are clean, and since we have the family room, we've got our own bathroom. The building is totally high tech in a sustainable way. Key card controls the rooms power sources including airconditioning and lights. The air conditioning will not turn on when the windows are open, etc. Very cool.

Surfing
Today we traveled by bus to Bondi Beach. Paul and Ben took surfing lessons - and both stood up and looked great. The water was warm, the beach filled with people from around the world, sun filled the sky and the waves were perfect. We'd love to add more, but we're off to dinner in the Sky Tower to enjoy the view from the revolving restaurant!

Thanks to Ilene and Dean for saving our sail boat from getting buried under loads of snow (other boats in the marina sank!). You guys rock!

Jackie and Paul

Memories from New Zealand: Run out of Sheep - Shear a Rabbit

Tired of shearing sheep?

Why not shave a bunny? Seriously folks, one of the fine road side attractions at Waitomo Caves is the long "hared" bunny sheering station where otherwise very normal people raise and sheer massive albino rabbits. There was tons of clothing in the shop that was likely made from the odd hoppers' fur, but once we'd seen the main event, we didn't stay long enough to read the tags. As we prepared to leave, Ben stopped to wish the demo bunny well and the proprietor reminded us all not to pet the bunny near its face and/or ears; it turns out bunnies aren't really all that keen on the whole thing and are generally angry at their human care takers....

Ah, New Zealand!
Paul

The Land of Oz (Australia that is)

G'day Mates

G'day mates, our big arrival in Australia (Land of Aussies or Oz) was yesterday, Sunday, Feb 7. Did you know we are a day ahead here compared to the US? We watched the Super Bowl in a cafe by Darling Harbor on Monday, Feb. 8, starting before lunchtime!!


Once again in airport arrival we were pulled out of the long immigration line for 'others' and moved to the very short local line for Australians. (This time part of the line behind us was moved over as well.) Having children with us is a HUGE plus. Love the Kiwis (what New Zealanders call themselves) and Aussies!


Sydney is the start of our trip down under. It's a much bigger city than Auckland. It feels a lot like New York in terms of number and diversity of people.


Today we visited the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Center. The highlight of the aquarium for me was seeing a Duck-Billed Platypus. I had no idea they were only about a foot long. While having seen tons of photos I always pictured them the size of beavers but they were tiny in comparison and cute.


We saw kangaroos, wallabies and wombats (the wombats reminded me of the Ewoks from Star Wars). During a Koala encounter we got to pet 'Boo' the Koala. Looking forward to seeing more animals during our stay here.


Tonight, as last night, we are staying in the Pensione Hotel in Sydney. Somehow we got upgraded to a room with sleeping room for 6 people - 5 actual beds in total! Everyone got to pick and choose their bed - a lot different from our campervan. Maybe we'll all switch beds tonight...

Tomorrow and the following night we are staying in a family room in a Youth Hostel by Sydney Opera House. (Note for all you wise-acres out there - the Youth Hostel signs say there is no age limit :o)).


Wishing you all the best,


Jackie (a Yank, as they would call us here in friendly terms - they shorten and nickname everything here) :o)

New Zealand in sum

Land of Pink Sheep


Saw a lot of sheep in NZ - including the sheep that the farmer dyed pink and let loose in a field to attract attention to Sheep World (picture of real pink sheep in previous blog). There are 4 million people in all of NZ and 70 million sheep.


Norman Bates Campground and Dinner from Hell


While 95% of the campgrounds we stayed in in New Zealand were awesome - great locations, beautiful kitchens, laundry rooms and places to connect to the (slow) internet - on our last night camping we figure we stayed in the campground where those who can't afford the Bate's motel go. This campground was stuck in the 50's - same peeling paint play equipment, 50's music played through holes drilled in the wall into the stark bathrooms, ripped screen around the pool - in otherwords the perfect setting for a horror movie. Fortunately we made it out alive.


We really did have dinner from Hell - a pizza place. Since we are traveling for so long ordering pizza and hanging out at 'home' was a nice night of relaxation. The pizza choices were Pizza Hutt (the desk clerk at the hotel wrote it with two 't's) or pizza from Hell. The Hell pizza company offered the Gluttony pizza - with everything among other types of pizzas. The phone number for the pizza store was 800-666-111. 111 is the 911 equivilant in NZ.



Travel Tips learned in New Zealand


If you are collecting seashells make sure not to collect one that has been freshly eaten by seagulls - the give away being footprints around the shell. Turns out seagulls don't do a great job at cleaning out the shell and in a short time the shell with start decaying and fill the area (enclosed campervan) with rotting fish smell.


Silk sarongs make great blankets for the beach or for a picnic and pack up very small.

The people in New Zealand are awesome. Everyone was so nice. Visit New Zealand - stay awhile. Our trip of just under two weeks covered just the top half of the North Island. It's an easy and fun 'foreign' country to visit. Go and stay awhile.

Travel with or without your kids. But having children along has been a bonus in customs especially. When arriving in the New Zealand airport the customs officials pulled our family specifcally out of the long immigration line, "For those from all other countries than New Zealand," and moved us into the line for people arriving home to New Zealand. Being in the line for locals saved us about an hour in the New Zealand customs line as it was much shorter and faster! Plus having children along with us we got to sit in the front of the boat in the underground glow worm river and more. People have been so nice to our children. A local Maori woman who came up to talk to us in Blue Lake said that people don't travel with their kids to New Zealand as it's so far and so expensive and that our children were very lucky.

We do feel very fortunate to be able to be on this trip and to have such good friends and family to share it with.

Much happiness,

Jackie

Internet, What to wear, Maori, Glow worms

Kia Ora (pronounced K'ora) - welcome, hello (and goodbye) in Maori,

Internet
The internet here in New Zealand, like the pace of life, is slow and slower. I folded an entire load of laundry, with the door open to 70 degree weather, while waiting for one email to open. So decided to blog. (For all those loved ones who have emailed am hoping to get fast internet connections in Australia to catch up!)

What to wear
We've been wearing summer clothes - through on a cute sundress or t-shirt and shorts and as long as you don't open your mouth you can fit right in here! Flip flops - or jandels as they call them -round out the outfit. Usually once a day we've been throwing on our togs (bathing suits) to go swimming in the ocean or pool. Today we touched the Tasman Sea for the first time in Clark's Beach, where we are staying, just south of Auckland.

Maori Tamaki Village
We spent two nights on a beatiful lake near Rotorua called Blue Lake. It was very much like an Adirondack lake - only the weather here is nice a lot longer of the year. While in the area we visited the Maori village of Tamaki. They have set it up to replicate a village in the 1800's. We took a bus out to the rural village and they required the bus to have a chief. Paul was selected and had to act as a fellow chief would have in the 1800's - participating in the welcome, leading his 'tribe' and more. He did a great job. It's an amazing culture. We talked to local Maori people before we went and this is a site that enables Maori to represent their culture the way they want to. It also gives them an income while they get to practice traditional skills. The entire evening, including a luau type show and food, of Hangi, prepared the traditional way by cooking underground for seven hours, rwas enlighting and entertaining. (The warriors coming out with their facial tattoos and spears were very impressive.)

Glow worms and caves
Today we spent in Waitomo (Wai meaning water in Maori and tomo meaning hole = water hole) going through two caves seeing glow worms. This area of the country is filled with caves formed by limestone being worn away by water. We went with a guide from Spellbound and 6 other adults donning construction hats with headlamps and headed into the cave. Shortly afterward we turned off the headlamps and stood in complete darkness. We could not even see our fingers in front of your eyes. Further into the cold cave (needed jackets and long pants though above ground it was about 70) we walked till we got in a red inflatable raft and journeyed down an underground river while glow worms lit the way above like starts shining in the night. It was, "spectacular" as Amelia said. A walk in another cave, where we saw the bones of several animals including those of an extinct Moa, a wingless ostrich size bird, who had wandered in to the dark cave and died, rounded off the morning.

Off to Auckland and Barry Court Inn tomorrow.

Much happiness to all,

Jackie

Imagine that you are a flightless, semi rotund penguin like critter. Now imagine that your singular goal is to go to a beach and carve out a small hole in the sand for your mate and young to sit in. Not just any sand or any old beach mind you. You must go to a specific beach on a remote coast on New Zealand's north island and not just any old place on that beach. You must go to a specific section no more than a 100 meters wide.

Now you can't go anytime you want, you can only gain access to your treasured section of beach for a short period around low tide. Now imagine you're not alone in your quest; in fact others just like you have come from all over the world to share in the sand digging splendor. Just as the tide exposes your quest you arrive and proceed to the designated spot where you busily begin digging and establishing a perimeter to ward off the throngs of other sand diggers just like you.

While you dig, your mate and children distract the throngs of other diggers with fanciful displays and much noise making. At last the hole is ready and you busily jump in to the sandy hot tub you've just made. You see, you're at the hot water beach on the Coramandel Peninsula and if you're lucky you've dug a hole above a bubbling hot spring on the beach and the scalding hot water is mixing with the cold ocean waves to make a perfect hot tub!

Gradually all of the available space is taken by holes that share sand castle walls and in each hole is a family basking in the perfect glory that is a natural hot tub on the beach.

Aint life grand!

Trolls under the bridge? No eels!

Imagine a moonless night at midnight (after a long night with good wireless internet catching up on emails) walking across an old narrow red wooden pedestrain bridge over a small flowing stream. In the daylight the fact that there were twenty dark eels the thickness of an adults arm seemed really cool. Ben and I in particularly enjoyed watching them wiggle and move below us. But somehow, when everyone else in the campground is asleep and all I have is my weak flashlight the thought of going over the bridge filled with eels slithering below makes me pause. I tried to pull out all my eel knowledge which consisted I admit of the following: some eels are electrical; from the New Zealand aquairum in Auckland I learned that - they can bite; they have teeth that point backwards so if they do get a good grip on you you are out of luck; they could push their bodies a short distance out of the water to get food from the handler - who they then bit! Fortunately it was a grazing and he was O.K.. That's my enclyclopedic knowledge of eels. So, hoping they weren't like Frankenfish, a snakehead invasive fish from Asia, introduced to ponds in Maryland and Virginia and who can walk on land and have been said to survive for up to 3 days out of water, I crossed the bridge!