Learning how I fit in the world

Today is the day that Mom and Dad fly to the South Island, and Alex and I head towards home. We stayed in a pretty fancy area on the bay. We didn’t pull in until after dark, but left right as the sun was rising.  It’s easy to feel like you’re a photographer here. 😊 Mom and Dad’s flight is this morning, and Alex and I fly out this afternoon. We are going to hang out in the airport until it’s time to get on our first flight.  The trek home starts with a 14 hour flight from New Zealand to Los Angeles. We then have a few hours to transfer our bags to the domestic terminal, and our final flight to Salt Lake.  Crossing back over the international dateline will make this the longest Sunday in a long time. We leave at 16:15, and arrive in LA at 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning.   Here’s to hoping I get some decent sleep and enjoy some great movies.  It really has been a superb adventure!  I waited half my life to get to go to Tahiti, and it was worth the wait. I didn’t k...

Take 2!  Hopefully this time I won’t delete the post before I publish it. 🤨 We started out this morning in Rotorua. It rained all last night, and the sky started crying that it was our last day in New Zealand. I feel ya sky, I feel ya.  As we set out, when it wasn’t raining, there was beautiful mist covering the earth.  There were some ares where it looked like the fog was sneaking in a kiss to the earth, and would disappear just as quickly as it came.  We made our way up to the Coromandel Peninsula. It really is impressive how different all the areas have been!   We headed towards Hot Water Beach.  As we pulled in, the heavens decided just a little sprinkling was not adequate, and it became a deluge!  The loud booming thunder and sparks of lightning rounded out our weather when we first pulled up. There are several people clustered under the covered bathroom area in hopes of staying semi-dry.  At Hot Water Beach, the thing to do is rent a shovel...

If you were to tell me that today I would voluntarily get in a giant hamster-like ball, filled with warm water, and roll down a giant hill, while in my swimsuit in 50 degree weather, and LOVED every minute of it, I would’ve questioned your sanity.   Zorbing. Is. So. Fun!  I don’t understand why we don’t have this activity in the US!  (Or if we do, it’s not near me).  When we selected the track we wanted, from a possible three, we took off our shoes and climbed into a van to be shuttled up the hill. Alex and I were the only ones who took advantage of this opportunity, and what an experience it was! Since we went in the morning, it was a bit cool to be standing outside in a swim suit. However, you didn’t notice the cold as soon as your nerves set in at the top of the hill! They have both wet and dry zorbing. However, at the location we chose, they only had wet zorbing, which is what we preferred. They filled the bottom part of the hall with warm water before we climbed...

We started the morning a lot warmer than the previous day!  As we packed up the car and headed out, we saw a brand new colt with its mama!   We made our way down to the Rotorua area. Somehow they managed to build up an amazing area where there are a lot of things to do.  It’s surrounded by a lake and has a huge mountain biking community here too. The first thing I noticed was the temperature. It was quite a bit colder in this part of New Zealand. One of the  shop keepers told me it had snowed the day before, and it felt like it!  However, the day was gloriously sunny.  Our first stop was the Redwoods Treewalk. Some California Redwoods were brought over and planted in 1901. The prime growing conditions are 35 - 45 degrees latitude from the equator.  Who knew?  It is a walk that you take around the trees from suspended bridges above the forest floor. It really felt like an Ewok Village!   As you walked on each bridge, it kind of felt like you w...