Here's our "down under" journey so far! Love, ChrysSubject: Journal -- May 22, 2009 to June 1, 2009
We flew out of Pittsburgh on Friday, May 22, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. We flew through Cleveland and Los Angeles on Continental. We then flew out of LA at about 10:30 p.m. on Air New Zealand and landed In Auckland at 6:45 a.m. Sunday morning on May 24th. The woman seated next to me on the 13 hour flight was Rachel Blackwood, a Heinz Co (Watties) Marketing Manager who was returning home to New Zealand from Annapolis, MD., with her 6 year-old daughterm Emma, The Blackwood;s had been visiting their husband and father who is currently working in the US. (Their family is emigrating to the states in July.) Rachel had previously lived in Pittsburgh for 6 years and still has friends there. Interestingly -- her full name is Rachel Elizabeth. (Another "Elizabeth" connection!) Rachel told me her current home is a 5,000 square foot home in Devenport (a ferry ride away from Auckland) which they will be renting out while they are in the states. I had a difficult time sleeping -- as usual -- on the flight from LA to New Zealand, so I watched a couple of movies -- a Clint Eastwood flick and Whale Rider -- which is about a Maori teenager who tries to convince her Grandfather that she --20and not one of the young males in the tribe -- should be the new chosen leader for the tr ibe. It was a great film to watch just prior to coming to New Zealand and explained a great deal about Maori culture. Once we got to Auckland, we were met by a corporate cab driver holding a sign with our name on it (something I' ve watched in many different airports, but never experienced for myself.) It had only taken about 45 minutes to get through customs - surprisingly -- so by the time we got to our apartment at 5 Fisher Point Drive in the Beaumont Quarter a short distance from the Sky Tower in Auckland, we just barely had enough time for a quick shower before taking another cab over to Takapana for Church. We enjoyed meeeting the folks in the Takapuna Ward at 9-11 Tarahoto Drive in Takapuna. We were able to meet Sister Nally and her husband (Pacific Area Directors). I had previously e-mailed Sister Nally and she had given me much needed information about New Zealand and especially about the ward in Takapuna. The first two talks given in Sacrament meeting were given by women. The first was given by Sister Roding (Agnes Roding's daughter) She is a lovely young woman. Not only were her thoughts and words wonderful, her delivery was amazing! (She should go into broadcasting!) The second talk was given by a young Maori mother and wife and was a marvelous talk. The third talk was given by the High Priest Gr oup leader. HIs talk wasn't nearly as good as those of the two women! Interestingly, the=2 0closing song was "Sing We Now At Parting -- the same song we sang the last time we were in the Pittsburgh 6th Ward! The words go as follows:
“Sing we now at parting one more strain of praise. To our Heavenly Father Sweetest songs we’ll raise. F or his loving kindness, For his tender care. Let our songs of gladness fill this Sabbath air.
Praise him for his mercy; Praise him for his love. For unnumbered blessings Praise the Lord above. Let our happy voices Still the notes prolong. One alone is worthy of our sweetest song.
Jesus, our Redeemer, Now our praises hear. While we bow before thee, Lend a listening ear. Save us, Lord, from error. Watch us day by day. Help us now to serve thee &nb sp; In a pleasing way.” I thought it was particularly interesting that they sang this song in the Takapuna Ward during our first Church meeting in New Zealand since it was the last song we sang in our Pittsburgh Ward, and it's not a song we actually sing very often! The Takapuna Ward seems to be a very strong ward, but it will probably not be the Ward we will belong to when and if we return to New Zealand as we will probably live in the New Market area of the city and there are (only) four wards in that area which is across the Harbour bridge from Takapuna -- a community on the North Shore. The Go spel Doctrine class Teacher did a great job with his lesson as did the Relief Society teacher -- the wife of the High Priest Group leader. She was absolutely hilarous even though the topic was a serious one -- dealing with adversity. The talk was centered on Elder Worthlin's last Conference talk -- "Come What May and Love it." It20was about choosing to smile and laugh instead of to cry when times are tough. The teacher especially talked about one of the sisters in the Ward -- Agnes Roding -- of the beautiful long red hair and shining face -- and of how she had handled the death of her young husband about 5 years ago. Sister Roding said that she was helped by many "angels" in the ward -- something her daughter (the one who had spoken in Sacrament Meeting) agreed with. (I decided this daughter hadn't "fallen" far from her mother's "tree.")After Relief Society, one of the HIgh Priests insisted on taking us back home even though Jim had already called for a cab. To go home with him, it was necessary for us to stay through choir practice -- something we agreed to do -- so I practiced with the choir (they have a great choir director and a large, committed choir) and Jim spoke with some of the ward leaders about the Church in New Zealand.To get us home, the brother had to consult another member's Auckland City map -- like the Hennepin County Map Book. The instructions worked, and we were soon back at the apartment. The ap artment is a three bedroom, one bathroom condo. The living room, dining area and kitchen of the condo/apartment are on the ground floor, and the bedrooms and the bathroom are on the second floor. The apartment is decorated in very "Ikea-ish" furnishings, and is comfortable, except that it has no central heating -- like most homes and apartments20in New Zealand. That is probably OK most of the year on the North Island -- which is usually pretty temperate -- but this time of the year it is a little chilly to have no central heating. There is an electric space heater in the living room, and the beds have down comforters, so we managed to survive. Because we hadn't been to the nearby grocery store yet, we walked over to the Drake Hotel and Pub and had dinner. The food was very good. After dinner, we walked through the nearby shopping area and then went back to the apartment and crashed.The next morning, Tony Brown (the URS HR person who has an apartment/condo in the same complex ours is in) picked up Jim, and the two of them walked to the office -- which is about two blocks away. I slept in a little more and then walked over to the grocery store. The groceries seemed a bit pricy, and were heavy to lug home, but it was nice to have some food in the apartment! After that, I twiddled my thumbs for a while and read through a magazine left in the apartment by the previous owner until Jim got back to the apartment20after work. I then made dinner for us -- chicken and fruit salad with a chiabatta roll -- and we again crashed early as we were both still suffering from jet lag. (There is a 16 hour difference between Pittsburgh and Auckland time.)The next day, I again twiddled my thumbs a bit in the morning as I was still jet lagged. 20I did walk over to the office, had lunch at the College Hill Cafe near Jim's office, and was able to access e-mail for the first time since landing in New Zealand, and it was good to be able to communicate with the outside world. They were still working on getting a laptop for Jim as well as a cell phone, but neither came home with him that night. While I waited for him to come home, I read through the Sky Mall Catalog and also read through all the information about New Zealand vacations in the brochure we brought with us from Pittsburgh.The next day, I took a Link bus to the Auckland Museum (over at the Auckland Domain (The New Zealand word for a city park.) On the way, I met another woman who was also going to the Museum, so we spent the rest of the day together perusing the Museum's vast Maori collection, having lunch in the Museum Cafe, and watching a Maori cultural presention. The Maori carvings were amazing, and the information on the history of the area and the geography, etc., was very interesting, but my feet were killing me by the time we finally got back on the LInk but to go back home . The woman I met was from Melbourne, Australia, and she was in the area so that her husband could attend a conference on bridges. They were staying at the Sky Centre on Queen Street. (i think the woman who was the MC for the Maori program was LDS because she talked about "Heavenly Father." -- a VERY LDS term for God the Father. I went to bed early that night after making another salad for dinner as my feet were killing me and I was still jet lagged. (I couldn't believe how long it was taking to get with the new time schedule!)The next day I walked over to the Marineer Marine Museum down on the Viaduct by the Harbour. It was about a thirty minute walk to get to the Museum, and as it was a beautiful day, it was fun walking past all the yachts, etc., in their berths along the waterfront. The Museum had a wonderful collection of Maori canoes, etc., and other boats and ships. They also had a scow which I took a ride on. I was initially going to be their only passenger, but at the l ast moment (actually, we had already cast off) another passsanger arrived. We helped raise and lower the sails, but we had to motor around the harbour because there was no breeze. It was a lovely day -- both for a walk and for a sail -- the first nice day we had had since landing in New Zealand, so I was grateful I had chosen that day for my walk and sail. I thought it was very interesting that several of t he Maori boats and ships were plank ships which were sewn together (memories of Oman.) I also thought it was interesting that the boats they used to migrate to the islands on were rafts of one kind or another! They didn't have a Maori War Canoe like the Auckland Museum did, but they had many smaller vessels which were fascinating to look a t.Jim finally brought his laptop home that night (he'd forgotten it at work the two previous nights) but we couldn't get an internet connection, so we finally gave up, deciding to wait until the next day when we could see if we actually had internet service at the apartment. (We found out the next morning that they hadn't called and asked the apartment management company to enable it yet!) Thus, because my feet were REALLY killing me that night after my hour worth of walking to and from the museum, besides all the time on my feet while at the museaum, I headed for bed early again, and was soon zonked. The next morning -- Friday -- Jim brought the computer home at lunch time and proceeded to try to hook it up. We finally had to call Quinovic (the apartment rental company) and have the owner's son come over and see why we were unable to get connected to the internet. He found that there was a problem with the server (a roll-over problem) which he fixed, and so we finally had both an internet connection AND a Vodaphone. (Communication with the outside world is great!).Once we got the internet working, Jim and I went to lunch together over by the office (We both had a great Pad Thai), and I then picked up some more groceries and walked back home. We had been going to walk up New Zealand's version of Pittsburgh's "Cardiac Hill" to get our passport photos done, but halfway up the hill -- after talking to some young people who indicated that the pharmacy was clear up at the top of the hill and off to the left -- we decided we would drive the car up there Saturday morning instead -- which we did. (Can we say that -- unlike most New Zealanders -- we are not great walkers -- something that may change if we come back here in September as Jim will probably try to walk to work if we can find an apartment close to his office.)I then spent the afternoon checking on e-mail and trying to decide what we would do for the weekend and also during our final time in New Zealand once we were done with Jim's interview for the Watercare project.
The next morning, we drove to the pharmacy to get our visa and passport photos done (funny place to get passport pictures done, but that is where they do them!). We got our pictures, talked to a fellow about New Zealand travel, and then headed south for Rotorua -- the thermal area of New Zealand and also where several Maori Heritage Villages are. It was about a fo ur hour drive to Rotorua. Once we finally got there (it was a BEAUTIFUL drive) we stumbled upon a Maori Village (Tamaki Maori Village) and Hangi (dinner and Maori cultural performance.) The place had a sign with a phone number on it. Since we now had Jim's Vodaphone, we were able to call and get reservations for that evening. Because it was about 3:30 p.m. and dinner wasn't until 6:30 p.m., we had time to kill, so we went to a nearby thermal area (the Waimangu Volcanic Valley by Lake Rotomahana and Lake Okaro) and walked down throug the hot pots -- more beautiful scenery! Fortunately, the thermal area also had a bus which picked you up and took you back up to the top of the hill -- which was considerable!The Maori cultural performance was much better than the one at the Auckland Museum -- especially their Haka or war dance. The food was also very good, so we were glad we decided to go for the dinner evening. The bad part was that when we were done with the evening, we were four hours away from Auckland and Jim had to drive home on the wrong side of the road, in the dark, through the fog and the rain! Not fun! Then, at the end of the drive, we missed the exit we needed to take to get off the motorway. By the time we got all that straightened out, and arrived on our doorstep, it was almost one a.m. in the morning, and we had to get up for Church the next morning in Takapuna! (Bummer!)Interestinly, up to that evening, I hadn't had any real strong feelings about being in New Zealand and neither had Jim. However, during the end of the cultural performance/hangi dinner, the Maori couple who seemed to be in charge of the event were singing along with the rest of the employees in a guitar accompanied rendition of "Down by the River Side," when I suddenly became overcome wit h emotion just looking at their (and especially the woman's) faces. At that moment, I also remembered the Sister at the New Zealand North Mission Office, whom I'd connected with a few days be fore, telling me -- when I said I couldn't understand why we were coming here when there were so many needs in Pittsburgh -- that maybe it was so we could be loved by the "sweet Maori" brothers and sisters. That seemed to connect for me at that moment, and I thought about her statement and my reaction to that couple the rest of the way back to Auckland. I pondered then how it was that we had just "happened" upon that sign for the performance, and I wondered then if the Lord had planned for us to arrive there so I could have that experience -- since neither of us had been particularly touched spiritually about New Zealand or the Church here once we arrived in New Zealand up to that point.The next morning, we drove to Church over at the Takapuna Ward, and only had one mis-step in finding it (i.e., we turned the wrong way on Tarahoto Road.) It was nice to se e the Nally's again and also to chat with Agnes Roding. (If we come back here, I think the two of us will become good friends!) The speakers that Sunday were Desire Read and the Nallys. Sister Read's talk centered on leaps of faith we are often called to make. (That certainly rang true for Jim and I in regards to our current situation here in Auckland). She quoted both M atthew 14:28-32 in which Peter tries to walk on the water to get to Christ and only falters when he lets fear replace his faith, and Proverbs 3:5-7 -- my old favorite scripture about trusting in the Lord. She continued to say that it is "perfect love" that casts out fear and that we can only move forward with the Lord's work when we stop doubting. She also quoted Spencer W. Kimball who said that the Lord would open doors for us when we were willing to walk through them.Sister Nally spoke of Joseph Smith's death 165 years ago on June 27, 1844. She then had one of the young elders come up and recite from memory Joseph's account of the First Vision -- which was really powerful to hear spoken from memory. She did that because she had her husband used to serve at the Provo MTC and she always had several of the young elders come up and give that testimony -- which is the first thing each learns in the language he is going to use during his missionary service -- during the talks she gave at the MTC. (Joseph Smiths Testimony of the First Vision is recorded in JS 1:16-17.) Brother Nally then spoke, and he talked about a miracle which occurred in his life when he was quite small. His mother had prayed for years for her husband to join the Church and he had had (like our Pittsburgh Ward friend, Miles) about 97 missionaries try to convert him without success. The miracle happend when the bishop of the ward became ill and20had to be transported to Elpaso from their town in New Mexico where he was expected to die. He had a vision as he lay in his hospital bed, surrounded by his grieving relatives, that he he needed to get up and go home so he could baptise Elder Nally's father, Boyd Nally. At that moment, he got up, put his clothes on, and announced to his family members keeping vigil at his bedside -- that he had been called by Lord to baptise Boyd Nally and so he was going home to do that. In the next eleven weeks, he prepared Boyd Nally for baptism and baptised him. Within a year, the family was sealed in the Mesa Temple, and Elder Nally said he had never forgotten that moment in the Temple. He said that because of that experience, he knew that Temple blessings should be the goal of every member of the Church, and were the whole focus of the gospel. He also said that his New Zealand Mission President, Robert L. Simpson, had told him that "The gospel is beautifully simple and simply beautiful." He said that what was simply beautiful about it was the plan of salvation and it's final goal of Temple blessings. (After the meeting, I asked Sister Nally how long the Bishop had lasted after he baptised her father-in-law, and she said he had died within the year. She also said that of that family of children, three Stake Presidents and one Mission President had come.) Evidently, Brother Nally's ancestors on his Mother's side had joined the=2 0church in South Carolina and had been on their way to Utah to gether with the Saints when they were caught in a blizzard in Texas. They eventually enede up -- after suffering through the cold winter -- deciding not to go to the great basin as they didn't want to live where it was cold. They stayed faithful to the church -- through moves further west -- finally locating in New Mexico where the father built four homes within a one block area for his four daughters. Each of those daughters ended up marrying a non-Mormon, and each father eventually joined the Church -- one taking 35 yars to do so! After Sacrament meeting and a gospel doctrine lesson on the Plan of Salvation, there was a joint Relief Society/Priesthood meeting. It began with the song, "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd." That song wiped Jim out. He litterally sobbed through it and I also was overcome at the end of the song. Jim had earlier talked to the Nallys about a young sister in our Ward in Pittsburgh who has a non-member husband, and he was in tears as he spoke to th em about her and the need to bring her husband into the Church so that family can have Temple blessings in their lives. Thus, the words that were really poignant to us in the forth verse were: "Make us thy true under-shepherds; Give us a love that is deep. Send us out into the desert, Seeking thy wandering sheep.” The chorus for the forth verse then says; Out in the desert they wander, Hungry and helpless and cold; Off to the rescue we’ll hasten, Bringing them back to the fold." Needless to say, the theme for that meeting was lost sheep and that is a subject that is dear to our hearts -- especially considering all the lost sheep in our immediate family. It is also important to the Takapuna Ward as they have over 200 lost sheep on their records! (Jim still doesn't know why he was so touched by that song, but just that he was). Here are the words to the whole song:
“221: Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd,” Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no. 221
Calmly
1. Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,Dear are the sheep of his fold;Dear is the love that he gives them,Dearer than silver or gold.Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,Dear are his=2 0“other” lost sheep;Over the mountains he follows,Over the waters so deep.
[Chorus]Out in the desert they wander,Hungry and helpless and cold;Off to the rescue he hastens, (4th verse) we’ll hasten,Bringing them back to the fold.
2. Dear to the heart of the S hepherd,Dear are the lambs of his fold;Some from the pastures are straying,Hungry and helpless and cold.See, the Good Shepherd is seeking,Seeking the lambs that are lost,Bringing them in with rejoicing,Saved at such infinite cost.
3. Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,Dear are the “ninety and nine”;Dear are the sheep that have wanderedOut in the desert to pine.Hark! he is earnestly calling,Tenderly pleading today:“Will you not seek for my lost ones,Off from my shelter astray?”
4. Green are the pastures inviting;Sweet are the waters and still.Lord, we will answer thee gladly,“Yes, blessed Master, we will!Make us thy true under-shepherds;Give us a love that is deep.Send us out into the desert,Seeking thy wandering sheep.”
Text: Mary B. Wingate, b. 1899
Music: William J. Kirkpatrick, 1838–1921 The ward mission leader talked about a new program he wanted to institute in the ward -- the www program meaning "ward wide welcome" instead of "world wide web." He said that he wanted the ward members to identify a new person, introduce themselves -- rather than waiting for the new person to introduce himself or herself, and then extend a welcome to them to come into our lives -- so that the ward would become a place where -- like in the sitcom, Cheers -- "Everybody knows your name!" Thus, the "ward wide welcome " welcomes people into the Takapuna Ward "where everybody knows your name." He also asked that members of the Stake fast for that purpose and for the "Lost Sheep Program" during next weeks Fast and Testimony Meeting. (Cheers being connected to this is also interesting as that is the New Zealand greeting!) Brother Madsen -- a member of the Bishopric who has been very warm in his welcome to us said that he was once a" Lost Sheep" who was fellowshiped backed into the Church by his Home Teacher.Another thing that we were admonished to do during this meeting was to use the Preach My Gospel manual as part of our individual scripture study program, and -- especially -- to write in it as we use it! The elder who presented this idea said that the Preach My Gospel manual takes you "through" the scriptures" He further said that there is only one chapter in the manual that is missionary oriented. The rest is for US!After Church, we drove back to the apartment, had a quick lunch and headed north to the Bay of Islands area. That was another beautiful, but long drive on the wrong side of the road. The Bay -- once we reached it -- was lovely, but I wished that we had stopped at Bream Bay on the way up as it looked even more amazing from a distance than the Bay of Islands did up close. Another thing we saw in the Bay of Islands area was the Treaty Grounds for the Watangi Treaty of 1840 between the Maorii an d the British. It was good to see were that happened. (That was where the Maori signed away the rights to their land without understanding what they were actually ceding to the British. And -- like the Native Americans in the US -- not all the leaders of all the tribes were even present, so those tribes lost their lands without ever even signing the treaty!)The scenery north of Auckland -- like that south of Auckland -- is extremely beautiful. The landscape is almost impossibly green and the "bush" is composed of a combination of grasses, palms and pine trees along with -- in the North -- beautiful non-native pines which look like stylized Christmas Trees. The other trees are very orien tal in form and many are HUGE, towering specimens. The hills -- in many places are either like parks where sheep, cows and a few horses graze, or are dense masses of vegetation. The thought of clearing that kind of bush nearly boggles the mind -- especially since the "pastures" are such vertical spaces! Where the ocean can be seen, the vistas are dotted with islands and craggy headlands.New Zealand so far -- even the supposedly "less beautiful" North Island -- is gorgeous!Today, Tony Brown and his wife had arranged to show us around Auckland, however, only Tony ended up coming since his wife was in bed with a nasty cold. We first had him show us were the Doctor's office is so we'll know where to go for our New Zealand Visa physicals tom orrow. After that, we drove over to the New Market area so we could see where we may end up living if URS gets the Watercare project. From there, we stopped at a "Farmer's" department store so we could try to find a dress shirt and some cufflinks for the Watercare interview since the Project Manager for Watercare is a "natty"dresser who wears shirts with French cuffs and cufflinks and Jim figured he'd better not be wanting in that "fashion" sense on Friday. They had a white shirt which accepted cufflinks, but it doesn't have French cuffls. Still, given our knowledge of the area and Jim's size, we were lucky to find what we did, and it will have to do. It was intersting to see what a "department store" in New Zealand looks like and what the prices were like. (The prices were more expensive, generally, than for similar items in the states in a similar store -- like a Kohls or a Penny's.)
After that, I had wanted to see Devenport, since Rachel Blackwood had told me about it on the plane, so we drove over there. We had lunch in a cute little cafe there, took some pictures od the harbour and the city from across the bay, and generally enjoyed the atmosphere of the trendy little area on the day of the "Queen's Birthday" -- a major holiday in New Zealand. (The funny thing is that the Queen's real birthday is in October, so I don't know why they celebrate it in June, (and neither did Tony) but we did enjoy the holiday, regardless!From there, we drove over to Albert Hill where we looked around Fort Albert and the huge "disappearing" gun emplacement on the top of the hill. The views from the top of Mt. Albert were stunning (even though it was windy enough to almost blow you off the hill!) Mt. Albert -- like the previous hill we drove to the summit of -- is a dormant volcano. The first hill, however, still has a caldera -- albeit -- one filled with steep grassy slopes. I was able to take pictures at both places of the entire harbour area and the City=2 0of Auckland. The views from both hills were absolutely stunning! (I had wanted to see Fort Albert ever since seeing it from the water on my cruise around the harbour the week before, so it was cool to be able to go there.)After that, we went to a honey farm that Tony knew about where I had lavender honey cheezecake and a berry smoothie (Jim had honeycomb ice cream with seasonal berries and some hot chocolate -- as he was freezing) and we bought some alpine gorse honey to take home. (Tony chose "coastal honey" which has a bit of a salty taste to it.) From there, we drove over to the Western Beaches. The beach at Muriwa was beautiful with the rollers crashing on the low rocks in a descending sun. The western beaches are where the surfers come and there were several wet-suited surfers in the water when we were there. The western side of New Zealand is the windward side, and it definitely was that. From there we drove inland and up along the Western scenic drive to a lookout which gave us more views of the harbour and the whole city of Auckland, including the island of Rangitoto (the target practice location for the huge gun emplacement at Mt. Albert) and the Sky Tower.By this time, it was almost dusk and the city lights were begniing flicker, so we headed back to our apartment -- having seen much more of this vast city than we hitherto had seen.Tony will pick us up in the morning and deposit20us at the Doctor's office so we don't have to try and find a non-existant parking place. That will be lovely as we were a little worried about how that would work on a work day! After that, Jim and his collegues will begin to practice for their interview on Friday in ernest and I will look for other things to see and do in Auckland!We're still trying to connect with Carol and Warrick Spiller's daughter Joanna, who is a missionary here in Auckland, but she goes to the Tongan Ward, and so we haven't been able to meet her yet. We will probably have to get permission to meet her over by the Mission office. If we can connect with her, we want to take her and her companion to dinner, but we will have to get permission from the Mission President and his wife to be able to do that. The Spillers sent us a copy o f her most recent e-mail to them and she sounds like a wonderful missionary.**********************************Journal -- June 2, 2009Today our "down under" adventure started out with the first half of our immigration physicals at the "immigration" medical office up on Ponsby Road -- up the NZ version of Pittburgh's "Cardiac Hill!" Fortunately, Tony Brown -- the HRS person for URS who drove us around the city yesterday while his wife slept off her nasty cold -- picked us up and dropped us at the Dr. office. At today's visit, we filled out forms -- many of them -- had our weight taken in sto nes instead of pounds and our height in centimeters rather than in inches. We also gave blood and urine for tests and had a chest x-ray as they are mortally afraid of TB here. We have to come back on Saturday morning to have our actual physicals when the Dr. has our test results back and we then get to pay about $400.00 NZ each for the privilege of being stabbed, weighed, measured, x-rayed and questioned. Because I had told them that the only time I usually spike a high blood pressure is at the Dr. Office, they didn't write down my bloodpressure today -- which ended up being 162 over 92. (I nearly died when she said that as the most it's ever been when I've taken it has been about 140 over 85.) Jim's was higher than usual, too, for him and his was just taken by a Dr. in Pittsburgh two weeks ago, so perhaps something about their equipment registers differently than it does in the States. Other than that, maybe the higher readings mean our bodies are still not adapted to this time schedule, etc. Hopfully, my blood pressure will be lower when we come back on Saturday morning as they will definitely record that number! Say some prayers in my behalf between now and then -- will you -- and please continue to put our names on the Temple Prayer Roll in Salt Lake as we don't get to go to the Temple here until this coming Saturday! Tony then came back to get us, but I had decided that since I was already UP the hill, I would walk around up on the flat landscape of Ponsby Road for a bit before I headed downhill to the apartment. (Ponsby Road is like a "blocks long" strip mall in the states!) I was still hopeing to find a white shirt with French cuffs in Jim's size and some gold cufflinks for Friday's interview, so I popped into a men's store on Ponsby Road to see if they had anything in his size. They didn't, but they kindly rang up (you "ring" here instead of "call") the local Big and Tall Store called Beegs (interesting name -- not sure if it is a last name or just a Kiwi term for Big Guys) to see if they had anything that would do. They did, so I hopped on the link bus and rode over to Pitt Street -- off of "K" Road -- short for "Kangahape Road" -- I'm sure you can see why the call it "K" Road for short; found Beegs; and bought both a French Cuff Shirt -- which I hope is "full bodied" enough for Jim and some cufflinks which have gold rectangular centers with silver borders -- the best of both worlds --RIGHT! Anyway, I then decided to walk back to the apartment from there. That was a great idea as it is a beautiful, breezy and sunny day today. I could see the harbor each time I came to a cross street, was able to catch the sun on a park bench for a few minutes, and was also able to pop into a woman's jewelry store on my way back down Ponsby Street and find some Puka shell cufflinks for JIm to remember New Zealand by.&nbs p; (If he doesn't like them, I can exchange them for jewelry for myself, but I really think he'll like them as they are silver with polished abalone shell (puka shell) centers. I also stopped at the post office (we were going to do this on Saturday when we got our visa pictures done at the pharmacy across the street, but the line was nearly out the door). This time, I bought postcards to send to the kids and grandkids along with postage to send said postc ards. I also found a children's book store on the way back and found a couple of fun picture books on Maori legends for the grandkids. (I drooled over a couple of great books on New Zealand history and Maori migration for myself, but I'm going to see if I can get them through Amazon.com in the States once I get home so I don't have to lug them home! I traditionally bring a book for each of Juli's kids when I go see them, so I have to haul those back with me to Anchorage, but they are not too large or too heavy, so that's do-able.After that, I ended up missing my cross street to get back to the apartment (mainly because it isn't signed appropriately at it's intersection with Ponsby Street) so I ended up walking two or three extra blocks past the street I needed before I figured out that something was amiss. Of course, that also necessitated backing tracking those two to three blocks as well. Then, once I got back to the apartment, I couldn't get in! (The key wou ldn't open the door!) Jim had had trouble locking it that morning, and I had had trouble unlocking it a few days before, but this time it just flat out would't open. I tried everything I could think of for about ten minutes and finally gave up, walked back up the hill to Jim's office and had them ask for Tony Brown! (What would we do without Tony!) On the way to the office, since I had forgotten to stop at the local coffee shop next to the office for lunch on the way back down to the apartment minutes before retracing my steps to the office, I decided to get some lunch -- since I was afraid Tony wouldn't be in his office until after lunch. I had a wonderful spinach, mushrom and pine nut croissant and some pumpkin soup, and spent some time reading the local newspaper as well (One article which really chapped me was by a professor in Australia who said we were out of line in the states to ask Iran and North Korea to stop trying to get nuclear weapons because we had so many ourselves. (I hope that dude is in line for the first one either detonates!) By then I was fortified enough to confront the recalcitrant door lock. Fortunately Tony was in, and he walked back to the apartment with me -- and OF COURSE -- the lock opened up just fine for him. (He did have the grace to say that it was a "little stiff." (Kind of like the car that only misbehaves when the mechanic isn't looking at it!) I do think that=2 0Tony believed there was a problem with the lock, however, because he too k me to meet Ulf -- the apartment super -- whom he asked for a can of "real" 4-D-40! (Hurrah! -- Ulf happened to have the real stuff -- no imitation W-D-40 -- didn't know there were generics for that -- for this apartment super!) With the help of the "real" 4-D-40, the lock was soon working better, and I now know where Ulf hangs out in case it happens another time when Jim isn't available or when the office is already closed!So -- that was my "down under" tale of adventure for today. (I do feel helpless here without acess to a cell phone in such emergencies. Without being able to contact Tony today, I would have probably been locked out until late tonight as Jim and the other members of the interview team are having dinner together this evening!)Now all I have to do for the rest of the day is write out postcards, make train and airline arrangements for our journey south next weekend, and rest my aching little feet! Love, Chrys
Subject: Journal -- Monday, June 8, 2009 through Wednesday -- June, 10, 2009
We left Auckland early on Sunday morning on board the TransScenic Overlander train. We had a great ride (about 12 hours worth) on a very comfortable train with lots of leg room and a cafe car so we didn't starve! The North Island of New Zealand varies a great deal in topography and we were able to see much of it on this trip. We went from the more tropical north which has lots of palms, etc., to the plains in the middle of the Island by Hamilton and Rotorura with its great river and extensive wetlands, to pines and the more temperate areas of the south. We also passed by Temple View (near Hamilton) where the Temple is located and could see it in the distance. The woman who was giving the travelogue as we rode along told us about the Temple (She was a Hamilton native) and about the secondary school there, originally called the David O. McKay school and now called the LDS College of New Zealand, which the Church is closing this year, much to the dismay of the local populace. The announcer told me, when I asked her why the Church was closing it, that she had a friend who went there and that the school always had the most modern equipment, etc. She said you also didn't want to have to play them=2 0in basketball because they always beat everyone else so badly. She said the Ch urch was closing it because they thought the secular secondary schools were now good enough that it wasn't needed and also, because they wanted the Temple to be able to stand out more above the plains -- which it would if they took out the surrounding buildings (dorms, etc.) and finally because they wanted the money for missionary work (probably the real reason they were closing it!) Anyway, the town's people of Temple View are upset -- but it probably won't do them any good if the Church leaders have already made up their minds! I could see as we rode through the area near Hamilton -- especially through the the extensive wetlands (water everywhere) which is also a bird refuge and fly way -- as well as going past the snowcovered cones of the volcanoes -- which are still active -- how the mural painters at the Temple came up with their material for that beautiful mural -- it's all there in the natural landscape!Part of the fun we had on the Overlander was that partway through the journey they attached an old steam engine to the front of the train for a monthly event they call "Steam Engine Sunday" and it pulled us for about an hour -- up over some of the steapest grades we went over that day. It was truly a little black "Pufferbelly" and when they "puffed" it down the track to connect it to our train, I thought of the song Dad used to sing to Trice and I when we were kids of "Down by the Station, early in the morning, see the20little pufferbellies all in a row. See the station master, pull the little handle, Toot toot, puff puff, off we go!" (It truly was a little engine that could!)We went through National Park where the tallest snow covered mountains (ex-volcanoes -- like most mountains in New Zealand) on the North Island can be found, and I was able to get great pictures of them. We stayed in Wellington at the Ibis (a chain in this part of the world -- comfortable, but nothing to write home about!) We got on the ferry at Wellington early on Monday morning and crossed the channel between the two islands to the small town of Picton (about twenty thousand people). The narrow channel going into Picton was beautiful -- as were the headlands and islands going out of Wellington. The ferry was large (ten decks -- including the car deck) but didn't have any passenger decks on the bow or the stern of the ship (a bummer for all the amateur photographers on board!) However, it was comfortable and we didn't get sea sick! We had met a group of Kiwi's from Blenheim on the South Island on the train, and then were also together on the ferry and as well as on the next train we caught together in Picton -- the TransCoastal. One of the couples in the group I met when out on the outdoor observation platform taking pictures. (Myra and Jeremy Sandoll were out there so20they could watch us go over a viaduct -- and we did and they watched. Je remy was a tease and had fun teasing me after I asked him about the huge "red" deer they have -- which look to me like a cross between a mule deer and an elk.) Their friend Jennie Hosking (who introduced them to eachother 36 years ago) was also out on the observation platform, and the four of us struck up a conversation and a friendship which lasted through our communal journey until we left them when we got off the train in Kikoura as they were going to Christchurch. (They were with a larger group and the group was making the trip together in honor of Jeremy who has cancer.) They took pictures of Jim and I and we took pictures of their group which I will e-mail to them once I get back to the states.) The other amazing thing about the south island is that the northern part -- up to and including Kikoura -- looks like the Rocky Mountains -- or it would if you moved the Rockies to the ocean. It was unbelievable to encounter that kind of scenery in New Zealand. There was also sage like vegetation and salt grass on the hilllsides -- no kidding!When we got off the train at Kikoura and got to our hotel, we rejoiced that we had such a lovely place to stay. It is a small seaside motel, but has a spa tub, a double/three quarter king bed (instead of a twin/twin configuration) and a full wall length slider which opened up on a=2 0magnificant view of the ocean and the pennisula and the snow covered mountains in th e distance.We went to dinner at the White Morph restaurant (which had been highly recommeded as the best place to sample New Zealand crayfish -- a cross between a crayfish and a lobster, as it looks like a crayfish, but is the size of a lobster -- but doesn't have the large claws that a lobster has.) We chose their fresh seafood platter which had fresh orange roughy, salmon, prawns, scallops, calimari, shrimp, mussels -- in a divine cream sauce, and half a crayfish. All were cooked simply so the natural flavors were enhanced instead of buried. I had a delicious chocolate creme brulee for dessert which was laced with orange flavoring and served on a bed of orange slices with a crunchy orange biscotti and Jim had a hot chocolate cake. (My creme brulee was the best!) It was the best meal we have had in New Zealand. We sat in front of a log burner (wood burning stove) --which was needed as few of the buildings in New Zealand have central heat and Jim, especially, was freezing and enjoyed our meal. Also, since we were the only guests there until we were almost finished (it is winter there right now and not too many people go to the sea shore in New Zealand in the winter) we got to chat with the owner -- Kerry Wood (wife of the chef -- Garry Wood). She was a delightful person and told us a lot about the island, their life, and the restaurant,20etc. She also gave us ideas of places to stray in Christchurch as we hadn't pr ocured reservations for Christchurch yet. We also picked her brain about things "not to be missed" in the South Island.When we got back to the hotel, Jim unfortunately, got very sick (we're still not sure why) so the rest of the evening wasn't a good one for him. Since he didn't feel good, I just let him rest and I took a tub in our spa tub (I've greatly missed our beautiful spa tub in our home in Ames), and then we both went to bed.This morning we were up by 7:30 hoping that the rough seas and wind from yesterday had died down, however, as soon as I woke and could hear the breakers rolling in about a hundred feet from our sliders, I figured it hadn't. Not only hadn't it calmed down, it was also gray and nasty looking. (It had been a beautiful, clear -- though very windy and cold -- day the day before! As soon as I woke up, I was sure our whale watch boat trip would be cancelled, and it was. We scrambled to think of something else to do and decided to try the whale watch flight in a single engine, four seater airplane. We also thought that since that would only take about an hour (the actual flight time was only 30 minutes) that we could also have lunch in the cute little town of Kiakoura and go and see the baby fur seals that frequent a small creek and waterfall in the area. (Their mothers go out to feed and20the babies scoot up this small creek to a waterfall where they hang out together until20their mothers return a couple of days later. They only do this this time of year as they are finally old enough to be left alone for that long by their mothers.)Thus, instead of having our day ruined by the weather, we had a magical day today. The Kiakoura shuttle picked us up from the hotel and took us to the train station to drop our suitcases (they lock them in wire cages out on the train platform) and then dropped us at the airport where we met our pilot -- a young guy named Jesse. After we paid and were weighed (to make sure we weren't too heavy for the plane), we got in the plane and we were off. We were up for thirty minutes and saw two sperm whales. (I spotted the second one by myself and spotted the first one for our pilot as well (a helicopter pilot had located him originally, but our pilot only saw him after I pointed to where he was!) Both the flight out over the coastal mountains and the water, as well as seeing those magnificant creatures from the air, (even the tail fluke goodbye from the air was amazingly different than from the water) were awesome. I've decided I'm definitely converted to small planes. (The flight was a blast!!!) The ride -- even in a great deal of wind -- was like glass, this young pilot named Jesse was so good. THEN, once back on the ground, we went to the Craypot restaurant=2 0and pub for the best fish chowder I've ever had as it had white fish, salmon, shrimp, and crayfish, etc., in a creamy base . One of the other patrons at the restaurant while we were there was a small bird who evidently flies in quite often. He buzzed us a couple of times and hopped around and finally flew out again. We finished up our meal with a piping hot blueberry/raspberry muffin, which we shared, and then we looked through a couple of the nearby shops. After that, our shutte guy (Rick) picked us up again and took us to the area where the baby seals hang out. We parked the van and then walked up a pathway to a small waterfall where about thirty baby fur seals were congregated and frolicking in the absence of their mothers who go off to feed for a couple of days and send these babies up the creek -- so to speak -- to be safe while they are away. One of the babies came up and put his little nose on my jeans -- absolutely magical! I had stopped to take his picture as he was basking about ten feet off the pathway up to the waterfall and pond. I just continued to stand there, watching him and taking pictures of him and of his more shy buddy, when both of them started inching closer to me. Pretty soon, the most inquisitive of the two was right next to my feet where he stayed for about ten minutes. When the two of them finally scooted back away, we walked on up to the pond where the rest of the20babies were. We watched them climb almost vertical rock walls (about 12 feet high)=2 0up to higher viewing and basking areas, as well as watched them frolick -- rolling and tumbling and flipping and swimming with utter abandon -- and occasionally quarreling over a prize rock perch, before it was finally time to go. Then, on the way back to the train station, besides driving past eight thousand foot high, snow topped mountains on one side of the road, and the ocean on the other with its rollers breaking on a black sand beach, we stopped and watched some of the adult seals (with a few of the babies who were with their moms instead of up the river without them) bask on the rocks while the seas crashed around them. What a wonderful day we had -- a surprise of a day -- to be sure -- but wonderful. After that, we hopped back on the Transcoastal train and made our way the three hours south from Kikoura to Christchurch.The scenery from Kiakura was lovely as we jogged back and forth through tunnels and over viaducts between the coast and the coastal mountains and inner plains. There are "braided" rivers which flow down from the mountains through huge flood plains and the viaducts cross over these flood plains. The braided rivers (slender rivers with little water in them which meander back and forth in the river channel -- somewhat like the Platte River in the States) are not found many other places in the world. Once20we went away from the coast, we stayed on the Canterburry plains at the base of the Southern Alps of the South Island. These plains are impossibly green and covered -- literally -- with sheep. (There are about 60 million sheep in New Zealand -- about 25 per acre) so you see them EVERYWHERE!) It was dark before we got to the outskirts of Christchurch, so we couldn't see any of that, but once we got within a few miles of the city, we had to stop at a train station and wait for a few minutes for them to persuade a person wanting to commit suicide to get up off the tracks!!! (Life is never dull!) Evidently, the police were successful because we were shortly back on our way to the city.We caught a taxi to our hotel -- the Copthorne Hotel located near the central square in Christchurch which is called Cathedral Square. The Compthorne Hotel in downtown Christchurch -- where I am typing this journal entry -- is a nice enough hotel --but nothing like the White Morph in Kiakura (named after a white albatross like bird.) Christchurch was a planned community from the beginning -- kind of like the settlement at Plymouth Rock was supposed to be, only Christchurch was successful from the beginning. The next morning we awoke to discover what a lovely city it truly is. It is diametrically opposite of Auckland in every way. Where Auckland is frenetic and bustling and crazy, Christchurch is gentle, and quiet and cha rming. The place is called the garden capitol of New Zealand because there are parks=2 0everywhere and our hotel was situated next to Victoria Park. The first thing we did after we got up was go to a travel agency and have them arrange for our tourist visas for Australia since we had forgotten to do that when we were in Auckland.After that we caught the tram tour of the city and stopped part way through it to do the accompanying Gondola ride up one of the surrounding 873 metre hills. From there you have an utterly amazing view of the city as well as of the coastline near Christchurch and of Lyttleton Harbor on the other side of the "hill." Lyttleton Harbor is the harbor that was the last point of civilization to see the Antartic explorers off in the early 1900's as Scott, Amundson and Shakelton all took off from that harbor. The view from the top of the gondola and its restaurant is spectacular as the city is spread before you and behind that are the Canturyberry plains and three ranges of the snow capped Southern Alps. Also spread before you is one of the 45 minute "comfortable" bush walks to the base of the mountain/hill! Several quite elderly gentlemen carrying walking sticks had come on the bus with us to the Gondola, so we were sure they were going to take one of those "walks" down the mountain. (It was very steep -- but like most European or other areas of the world, there was actually a two lane highw ay almost to the top of it!) We had breakfast at the restaurant and ogg led the view as we munched down on quiche, scones, hot chocolate and carmel and rocky mountain bars. We then went through their "time travel" ride which encapsulated the history of the area in a very short "ride." AFter that, it was time to hie back down the mountain and see the rest of Christchurch on our tram tour. We spent the afternoon strolling through their art centre (which was the home of many artists in a cottage industry setting); as well as perusing their jewel of a museum. The small museum had a lovely collection which was thoughtfully presented and a real joy to walk through. It was fun for Jim to finally see some of the history of this country and the artifacts which support that history -- much of it Maori. A kitchy part of this museum was the paua house. They had reconstructed part of the home of an elderly South Island couple (they died in 2000 and 2001) who had decorated their entire house in paua shells (abalone shells) which the husband had collected and polished over their 70 plus year marriage. Added to his collection of paua shells were other souvenirs of New Zealand from many other kinds of shells to wooden carvings, etc. A fun short film accompanied the paua house exhibit which told one and all about this couple and also about several iconic items common to most Kiwis -- such as flip flops, pavlo vas (meringue, creme and fruit desserts that are to Kiwis what apple pie is to Americans) buzzy bee pull toys for babies, and paua shells. The film was fun and quite hilarious and the house was even more so. (Only in New Zealand.)After we finished at the Museum, I had wanted to go through their award winning Botanical Gardens, but they were closed by then. Their art museum wasn't as it was going to be open late, but Jim's feet were tired, so I just gave up on more activity and we went back to the room, rested for a few minutes and then went to a Bengal restaurant for dinner. We had lovely Bengali food for dinner which was mild rather than overly strong and spicey. We had the "Banquet for Two" which ended up being a huge amount of food, but gave us a taste of many native dishes which we had never before sampled. Most fun were the tamerand sauces, the yougurt-cucumber sauces, the flat breads (especially the fruit flat bread) the lamb and chicken curry with saffron, and the fruit rice. I also had a mango yougurt drink which was cool and delicious, but the best was the dessert of a small, hot fried dumpling dipped in rose syrup -- kind of like Greek donuts in honey! (Yummy.) After that we were served wonderful hot chocolate to drink -- necessary in this world with no central heating anywhere.We had had another lovely day and tomorrow we head back on the Trans Alpine Train over the Southern Alp s to Greymouth on the train trip that is supposed to be one of the top ten train rides in the world! (We'll see if it lives up to its reputation!)I'll probably be away from a computer for a few days after this, so have fun everyone! Love, Chrys
