The Lasley's went to New Zealand!

And We're Off! Today we are writing from ChristChurch.

January 14, 2000

Mom's Story

We're writing to you from Christchurch, NZ. Had a bit of fun traveling as they cancelled our flight from JFK to LAX. Luckily we got to JFK early, we had a nice limo ride, and then were able to switch to an earlier flight. Of course there was a really long layover at LAX because of a Chicago flight that was delayed with 38 people trying to catch the Auckland flight. Confused yet? So we were 2 hours late into Auckland, missing the first 2 flights we were on to Christchurch. But we got here, climbed the church Bell Tower (133 steep steps 100 feet up!) and saw the aquarium and a bit of the city. We bought Ben an awesome new backpack at a store that was just opened two days ago, and had a gourmet dinner at our hotel. I had the spiced lamb (coriander, cumin were two flavors I picked out) with couscous and asparagus. Dan and Ben went for the Cervena, their venison. Also excellent. Jacq went for comfort:Nachos.
We celebrated Jacq's 8th birthday in style on the JFK to LAX plane; they feted her with an ice cream sundae and Mrs. Fields cookies; plus got the flight attendants to sing Happy Birthday, as well as the rest of the passengers who were kibbutzing in the back galley. Then the captain announced her birthday on the PA just before we landed in LA. All in all, marvelous so far. Check the website in a few days for pictures and stories; took lots of digital pix today!

January 15, 2000

Mom's Story

We've had a very nice day; it started off with a lovely breakfast. The kids chose scrambled eggs, bacon & hash browns. Dan had apricot/hazelnut waffles, and I had hapuka, the local grouper. Yum. All you fish lovers out there should be jealous! Then we did some photo editing, so there are now some pix on the web. Walked the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch with new found friends we met on the very long plane ride from LA-Auckland. We missed the same flight to Christchurch together, so caught the next one together. Had lunch at a place Karen (of Karen and Bonnie) recommended and then commenced a 3 hour drive to the next destination, Kaikoura. Drove through lots of farmland and saw sheep, cervena (local deer grown for venison) and cows. Very hilly terrain, with lots of switchbacks at a couple of points. Then an absolutely stunning view of the water as we came down the mountain. Unfortunately we weren't able to take a picture as we were driving 100kph! We took lots when we got down to the water, however. Kaikoura is a very small town, right on the water. We went to the seal colony, and saw lots of seals. We climbed this steep hilly trail and had a spectacular view of ocean, rocks and seals. We spied one seal just around from where we'd walked that was close to the beaten path. All the others had been across a bit of water. So we trekked back down and over the rocks to the lone seal and took lots of pictures. Unfortunately the digital camera got dropped when Dan was handing it to me and landed in a tidal pool. We're still waiting for it to dry out to see if it is salvageble. I felt really bad about dropping it; I didn't have a good enough grip. So the website pix may be a bit limited from now on.
Luckily we had brought both cameras so I was able to get some good photos with the Canon. They can be posted when we return and get them developed. We returned back to our motel, which is a splendid, two level room, with two bedrooms; one king, one with two doubles upstairs, and the living/dining/kitchen downstairs. This would be a lovely apartment in NYC! Very spacious. The nice lady who runs the place recommended a marvelous place for dinner so went there and pigged out again. Imagine that! Dan and I had the local crawfish; very tasty, and the kids had lemon chicken. Desserts were marvelous as well; Jacq had fun with dipping strawberries in chocolate sauce and Ben opted for Blackberry covered cheesecake, made with ricotta. Dan and I split waffles with peach ice cream on top of a mango coulis. Good thing we hiked a little! There are some amusing language differences. The waitress asked Dan if he wanted his coffee black or white, and he had to think a minute to know what she meant. Also they call zuchinni: courgettes (I think that's how it's spelled). The people here are sooo nice and very accomodating and polite.
We are still feeling a bit tired from the journey, but good overall. We seem to have adjusted to the time without too much difficulty.
We're off early in the morning to hopefully put on wetsuits and swim with dusky dolphins!

Visit the Dolphin Encounter website here.

Jacq’s Story

(as written in an email to her classmates)

Dear Miss Longo & all my friends;

Getting on wet suits for swiming with the dolphin's. Butterfly's flying in my stomach giving me the sighn to get ready. Now time to swim with the dolphins. Once I got in I was scared. Then I started crying so I could not keep snorkling .So I got out,the second round I disided that I would try to go in the water again. When I got out into the water I asked my Dad if he could hold on to the kick bourd I was using. When I got used to the water I looked down I saw a dolphin I almost caught it's eye. The reson I wanted to get it in the eye is when you get eye to eye with a dolphin it will follow you for a while. I couldn't be eye to eye with it because my Dad was pulling the kick bourd which I was holding on to and my Dad was looking the other way so he did not see the dolphin. We had to keep comming on and off the boat because the dolphin's are very fast swimmer's so we can't keep up with them. When it was over for swiming I said"We're done already?". Then it was time to take piturs one of the dolphins was really happy because it did hallf flips. There was another dolphin that was even happyer by doing whole flips. After that I had hot coco and ginger snaps.

love,

Jacqui

Ben’s Story

Today we swam with dolphins. Now your first reaction to that is probably “Oh Wow!”. And I must say, swimming with dolphins was amazing. We swam with Dusky dolphins, which have snouts like bottlenose dolphins except that they are shorter. Dusky dolphins are like miniature orcas. I saw about seven or eight different dolphins, and had one of them right be low me at one point. Everyone got wetsuits and snorkel masks and flippers, and we went out on two different powerboats. The one we were on, the Lessidelphis, was a large power boat. We dropped into the water 4 times, and I saw dolphins on the first and last times. We would drop into the water from the back of the boat, and then swim to wherever the dolphins were. Then we would try to attract an individuals attention, either by diving (very difficult in a wetsuit), making noise, or spinning around and causing commotion. We had a photo op later, and that was when the dolphins decided to show off there acrobatics. The Dusky dolphins did not have as amazing antics as bottlenose dolphins you see in places like Sea World, but they were still amazing. There was one particular dolphin that kept doing tricks. He/She performed corkscrews, breached, and even did forward somersaults. All in all, the excursion was quite amazing. This evening we traveled and saw a friend of my parents, Wally, and then traveled down to a place near some mountains, where we plan to go hiking tomorrow. That’s all for now.

Laura’s Story

Until Mom recovers from her seasickness due to the large ocean rollers, this section is temporarily closed.

Dan’s Story

When I was a kid, we went to a marine aquarium where they had a dolphin show. My sister and I got picked to “interact” with the dolphins in the tank. As part of the routine, the Trainer asked if we’d like to go swim with them. Barb and I said “Sure!”, so the Trainer held our hands and counted off “Ready Set GO!” and we ran to the edge of the pool. Barb and I had no idea the Trainer was just kidding, and we were surprised when we were yanked back just as we were about to dive in.

Ever since then, I’ve wanted to swim with dolphins. Today I got my wish.

Having donned wetsuits (and I found a prescription mask that was close enough), we (Dan, Laura, Ben, and Jacq and about 10 others) got on a 40’ twin-hulled dive/tour boat. It was grey and cold (65F) and there was enough wind to have us rolling a bit. We cruised out about a halfmile offshore, to the center of this large curved bay, and searched for pods of Dusky Dolphins that might be willing to play with us. The skipper quickly found a pod, and we all jumped in. Jacq was immediately spooked by the cold water and the rolling waves, so she climbed out, and the rest of us swam 100 feet to where the dolphins were swimming. I was startled by the first two sleek shadows that raced by below me, but the next one went more slowly. I remembered our instructions and began to turn in the same direction as the dolphin, trying to catch it’s eye. Imagine my surprise when she (must be a “she”) turned with me. So I turned more, spinning in place, and she swam in a circle around me – less than 10 feet away! An observer might have thought she was spinning me on a line! After 3 cycles, I got dizzy, and she went in search of more interesting creatures. We went back in several more times, and saw quite a few dolphins, but none caught my eye or took me for a spin.

I had forgotten about that long-ago trip to the Dolphin Pool until Laura reminded me that I had finally received my long-time wish – and she was right!

January 17, 2000

Today was a warm, sunny day, in the low 70's I think. Mt. Robert is the mountain we climbed today. We are staying in St. Arnaud, "Gateway to the Nelson Lakes Region" which is at about 2000 ft above sea level. We drove to the car park at Mt Robert, which is about 2500 ft and climbed to the top which is 4500 feet. The first trail, called Paddy's Track (here trails are called tracks) was gentle at first, but then relentless up. At least to me. Both kids and Dan went on ahead, as I'm afraid I'm not in very good shape since the summer's bout with thyroiditis. But I certainly got up there! Just a bit more slowly. And with complaining hamstrings and calves. There are beautiful trees and ferns, and in some places a beech rain forest. There were also the most amazing bird cries. One actually sounded like a doorbell. Almost at the top, there is a hut, where you can spend the night, or just sit in there and have lunch, which we did. We had a marvelous packed lunch from the Petrol/convenience store across the street from our lodge. The only gas station for miles around, I might add. We had steak and cheese, or steak pies, and I had a salad sandwich and some bites of Jacq's pie. They were good, although the ones yesterday after the Dolphin Swimming were better. (I remember snarfing all those meat pies in Australia in 1974 & the ice cream here is also as good as I remember...) Potato chips and sodas rounded out lunch and we set off again. Really, really beautiful views of Lake Rotoiti, which was below us. Not to mention the stunning views of the mountains all around. We got to the top, with a generally milder grade and then made the steep descent on Pinchgut Track, which specialized in switchbacks. It was definitely the right way to go around, as Pinchgut would have been tricky to get up. My quads would have revolted. They were definitely helped by streching out 1/2 way down, as well as by the great flavors of Cadbury Bars they have here. Today's choice of fuel was the Chocolate Afghan "Dairy Milk Chocolate with chocolate biscuit pieces, cornflakes and coconut". The kids (3 of us anyway) all loved it! We took tons of pictures, with the regular camera and look forward to developing and posting them. I'm really sorry we can't post digital ones, but I guess we'll have to delay gratification. Dan called both stores in Bleinheim and neither had the model we broke, which he really likes. I've no idea what day it is anymore in the US not that I've any idea what day it is anymore here, either, so it must be a successful vacation (holiday is what it's called here). Jacq was so excited by the hike that she thought it might be better than the dolphins, then changed her mind and then couldn't decide what was better. Both kids have been quite concientious about their homework; which is delightful. So far, so good.... We're off to hike around Lake Rotoiti partway tomorrow, then back to Bleinheim.

January 18, 2000

We got up sadly early (at 0700) on Tuesday in order to pack the car, grab a quick cereal breakfast and take a 9am water taxi across Lake Rotoiti (pronounced Roto-iti, not Ro-toit-i, as Ben kidded) to the head of Lakehead Track. From there we tramped (Kiwi for hiking) 6 or 7 miles, some up and down (remember the protesting quads, calves, ankles from yesterday.....) along the Lake. The track was mostly wooded, with all kinds of different plants, and there were also some beautiful rock beaches, one of which we picniked on. We'd gotten PB&J sandwiches and fruits from the Lodge. The wildlife here is just amazing. Mostly birds, or sea critters, but we saw several bush robins, whom we nicknamed the Doingy Birds because they bounced along the trail. Apparently they eat the grubs that get kicked up when we walked and were therefore remarkably unafraid and would come within inches of us. We also saw a white tailed bird called a fantail, which I named a shuttlecock bird from the appearance and the irregular flight pattern. It chases bugs, so the flight pattern is quite wild! Onward to the boat ramp we took off from (very small and pretty jetty) where we rented kayaks for 1/2 hr (gotta excercise the upper body now!) You should have seen Jacq master her own kayak! Very cool. Dan took pix; again, will post when Stateside. Ben is such a water rat, he can navigate any kind of boat as well. After the kayaking we drove back to Bleinheim, let the kids play in the pool and then they relaxed in the large suite while Wally took Dan and I on another hike; up the Wither Hills. Called such because, you guessed it, they were all brown! Lots more up, sigh, but then a stunning view of the mountains around, and the town of Bleinheim. A beautiful walk through a valley filled with eucalyptus, which are not native to here, but are transplanted from Australia. It was about 1 1/2 hour hike, and nice to spend the time with Wally. We then showered and went to dinner with our friend Wally; the guy we met on our North Carolina Backroads Biking trip almost 4 years ago. He had arranged most of our South Island trip (except for the hotel in Christchurch) and had suggested all the hikes and places we have been going. We wanted to take him out for dinner, as a thank you. He took us to a marvelous restaurant in Bleinheim, which is where he lives and is from, called Bellafico. Wally and I had the most marvelous fish; the Blue Cod, a whitefish native to these waters, which was smoked with manuka, a local wood, and then steamed or something with lemon peels. It was truly superb. The kids enjoyed more steak, with yummy potatoes that definitely were cooked with cheese and butter, and salad and veggies. They also had an excellent polenta, which neither liked, but the adults did. Dan had the venison, with spatzle and salad. Wally particularly recommended the Lemon Meringue Pie, who's meringue was as tall as Mt Robert! He and I split that, Dan went chocolate (go figure) with a double chocolate mousse cake, very tiny and rich and surprisingly light. Ben finished with a cheesecake, almost as good as New York (for Ben, that's the top of the list) . (I need to write an aside; this is weird to be writing from the middle of Queen Charlotte Sound, where there is no phone extension, but there is a power outlet. The view out the window in front of me is just stunning, of the green hills going straight down to the water, plus we've got Brian Setzer blasting Dirty Boogie from the CD player in this laptop.) Then we got back to our extensive suite (no joke, they gave us the manager's suite, which was a two bedroom apt with full dining/conference room that you access from behind the front desk!) at the Bleinheim Country Lodge and collapsed into bed.

January 19, 2000

Another early am (0700, with Jacq complaining this was just like a school day!) in order to breakfast and drive to Picton by 9am. Picton is about 1/2 hour from Bleinheim, and right on the top of the South Island. This is where the ferry to Wellington is, and is also where we caught our ferry into the Marlborough Sounds. We were dropped in Resolution Bay, named after one of Captain James Cook's boats, and then tramped up a very steep mile (almost gave it up right there!), with both kids troopers. Well worth the work for the view from the top; you could see North Island on one side and some beautiful mountain ranges on the South side. We saw an amazing bird at the top; sort of a chicken or grouse looking bird. I've no idea what it's really called. I think it may be the weka. Then we wound our way down many giant ferns and local trees to the other side of the ridge. We ended up in Ship Cove after the descent. This is where Cook landed with the Endeavor; he was actually there 5 times. You could see why he kept coming back; it is just stunning. A beautiful cove, big enough for a large ship, and quite sheltered. Beautiful green hills on either side. Of course as we were enjoying the view, a large white ship descended on the Cove, complete with Cruise Ship Tourists and you could see why the natives wanted to eat the visitors. Anyway, Ben and Jacq made friends with other kids on holiday from a town that Ben couldn't pronounce, south of Christchurch. We were waiting for our boat about an hour or so, so all the kids were playing and catching fish with their hands and a couple of nets the Kiwi kids had. Play is truly a universal communication mode. Dan and I went for another short hike (1/2hr round trip) to a pretty double waterfall at the tip of the land. Then all of us caught the Cougar Line ferry again to Punga Cove Resort, in Endeavor Inlet. There are many inlets and coves here! There was another pool here, to the delight of the children, who splashed like dolphins. Dan and I were content to sit and read (I finished the second Harry Potter and loved it!) We had the Barbeque dinner (burgers and corn on the cob, or baked potatoe on the grill) and the kids went to play ping pong with our upstairs neighbors, from Wellington. We're in another large 2 bedroom suite again.... Ben plans to go fishing on the MV Tautane (?sp) tomorrow; ironic as he loves to fish but isn't keen on eating fish. Don't know what we've planned for Dan, Jacq and I. I'm ready for a mellower day, and Jacq has made Dan promise that there be no more walking. But who knows? We're in the middle of the Queen Charlotte Track (Track= Trail) (we'd just done a small bit from Resolution to Ship Cove) so maybe we'll hike again.... Then Fri, off to Wellington. I called my cousin Lin Da tonight on the payphone at the dock as Dan wanted me to ask her to see if we could replace the camera in Wellington. We're quite excited to be getting together again after all this time!

A day in Punga Cove

January 20th, 2000

Ben's Story

Today I went on a fishing trip. I went on the M.V. Tautane, which was skippered by an elderly man named Colin. Also coming were two new friends of mine, Chris and Ash. We left the dock at about 10:00 AM, with 17 people onboard. It took about 90 min. to get out to the fishing spots, and then we stopped, everyone was equipped with rods and squid for bait, and then we leaned over the side and dropped the line. The lines had sinkers, and all you had to do was let the line go until it hit the bottom and the line went slack, and then reel in the line until it was taut. We stopped in several places, but I still had not caught a fish by 1500. I was really disapointed, but when we went out to this spot over a deep rock reef, equipped with two sinkers each, I caught a small cod, to be followed by one big enough to keep. By the end of the day, I had caught a total of 6 fish. We kept three. The last fish I caught was a blue cod about a meter long. Right after I hauled him over the side, the line snapped. Good thing he was already on the boat, eh? At the end, we all got to watch as Colin guttedand filleted all the fish. We had a swarm of seagulls behind us, and it was hilarious to watch as the gulls fought to get the meager scraps thrown overboard. Colin was very quick gutting the fish, and by the time we arrived back in Punga Cove, everyone had a very large share of fish. We went to dinner at 1930, and my parents and my sister ate the fish. I don't like fish, to my parents delight, because that makes me a great fisherman. The fisherman who doesn't eat his own fish leaves more for others. All in all, it was a great time, and I am looking forward to the TopCat ferry ride tomorrow.

Dad's recount of the rest of the family's time.

After waving goodbye to Ben, we went back to room to relax. We had Jacq do a little homework, and we neatened up the room so that the staff could switch the bags to another room (our reservation had gotten a bit confused). Around noon, we headed down to the pool, where Jacq swam and Laura and I read our books. After a quick BBQ lunch, we paddled out into the little cove on some sea-kayaks. The wind was in our face, and soon it became difficult to steer. Jacq wasn't heavy enough to keep the bow in the water, and so the wind spun us around back to shore. Laura had much less trouble and continued on across the cove.
After Laura returned to shore, we went back to the pool for a while, and then went up for showers. Ben was due to return by 6pm, so we went down to the pier and chatted with the locals, the staff, and the other guests. The fishing boat was delayed by their own success, and finally pulled in around 7pm. Ben's share was about 3 pounds of blue cod, which we ate for dinner. Ben may be the perfect commercial fisherman - he is patient, determined, and he never eats the catch!

January 21, 2000

Travel day! We were able to breakfast again on the generous provisions from the day before. Then packing up everything and waited at the dock for the Cougar Line water taxi. A windy choppy day on the water; we caught something on one of the propellers at the last stop, and had a funny noise most of the way back to Picton. We got the Cougar to let us off at the Ferry Terminal, saving us from a long walk with lots of bags (we've 10 bags, between computer, backpacks, my briefcase, and the luggage). We had 2 hours to spend on the Picton foreshore (Kiwi for beach) and went and got some lunch, then had a good time sailing miniature sailboats around a little pond. The boats are made by the Picton Miniature Toy Society (or some such) and for 20 cents NZ (10c US) you can sail them for as long as you like. There's so much breeze that it was a lot of fun. They tack and jibe quite well on their own. We then decided to play a round of miniature golf, which was quite fun. Dan did the best; the scores were inversely proportional to our ages. Then off to the Top Cat ferry, a very large catamaran who's top speed is 42 knots. It does the journey to Wellington in 90 minutes, usually a 3 hour tour (theme music from Gilligan's Island, please) on the usual interisland ferries. We were met by my cousin, LinDa and her husband Dennis, and kids Matthew and Audrey. The kids are just about Ben and Jacq's ages, so are getting along well. LinDa is my mother's brother's daughter (got that?) so we are related on the Teoh side. She was born and raised in Penang, and tho she didn't know him growing up, managed to marry another Penang born person! We took the kids to McDonald's (The Horror!) and the adults to a nice Malaysian restaurant for Roti and Satay and Curry. We got to catch up on family gossip over dinner, which was excellent. Service here is usually slow; most places seem to have only one or two waitresses for the whole restaurant. We then settled into the house nicely, with the kids bunked with their cousins, and us in a separate room. Off to bed soon afterwards! I wanted to stay up talking with my cousins, but since I do get a bit seasick, despite the Bonine, I was pretty tired. LinDa was beat as well, as she'd worked half a day. Their kids are on school holiday for another week, which is nice.

January 22, 2000

Cereal breakfast; the kids were thrilled to find Cocoa Krispies and Cornflakes and white toast in the morning. I was happy to see coffee. I was hoping to do some wash, as we've been traveling over a week, and we'd basically packed a week's clothing (well, maybe just a little bit more). Unfortunately, I didn't count on LinDa having no dryer; and as soon as I hung the wash out, it started to rain! Some phone calls to laundrettes (Kiwi for laundromat) came up empty, so finally Dennis called a good friend and we drove to Anna and James' house close by to use her dryer! Anna offered to watch the dryer for us so we could go into downtown Wellington for shopping. I found a nice tiki (good luck carving) made of greenstone, (a.k.a. nephrite jade) sacred stone of the Maori, NZ's native people, and we went to a bookstore, as the kids have just about finished all the reading they brought. We tried a camera store to replace ours, but apparently that model isn't imported here. Good thing we have the old Canon AE1 as our standby. So sorry, website pix are offline for now!
We lunched in a mall which used to be a bank. You actually walked through the perpetually open vault door to get the food part of the mall! I had delicious sushi, with fresh and smoked salmon and trout. They have a lot of salmon farms here. Dan went for a burger and kids, steak and fries. Dennis encouraged me to try NZ chocolates, so went the fancy store and bought dessert for all.
After lunch, we went to the museum called Te Papa, meaning "our place". It is a wonderful museum with information all about NZ; how the islands formed from two land plates, NZ weather, the Maori, etc. It's an interactive museum with computer terminals and lots of hands on things. There were also Virtual Reality rides, so the kids each went on one, girls on "Blast from the Past" and boys on "Future Rush". I saw a really lovely greenstone tiki in the gift shop; only NZ$895! The ones in the museum were even more beautifully carved. The Maori's used to carve greenstone into weapons and tools, as well as ornamental jewelry.

After the museum, LinDa and I went to the local Big Fresh grocery, a store very similar to Stew Leonard's, to get provisions for the night's Barbeque. Dennis' brother Key had bought a small portable gas grill as his Y2K preparation, and was bringing it over for us to cook with. Then we began to prepare a mix-and-match meal for 6 adults and 7 kids! We got chicken all cut up and Newman's own Dressing (the Aussie and Kiwi bottle kind gives back to charities Down Under!) and salad fixings and baguettes, so I treated the Shums to my chicken kabobs marinated in Newman's Own. The kids were glad of a familiar meal, although they've been good sports about trying the food here. The kids ate in the lounge (their term for living/family room) and the adults in the dining room. A cleverly concealed sliding glass door allowed for really pleasant adult conversation as we compared social and economic policies of the two countries. The visiting Shums had brought a delicious bean/parsley salad, and marinated chicken wings, and we'd also bought pork sausages and beef and garlic sausages at the Big Fresh, so we had quite a feast. Of course, I did the math wrong on kilos to pounds, so got way too much chicken. I know, I know, it's what I do for a living to think in kilos, but I'm really on vacation...
The girls had wanted to sleep in a tent outside, but still drizzling on and off, so they made a tent in the dining room out of sheets and chairs. Late bedtime as we stayed up to talk and watch some of the American Music Awards (still insipid, even far away - how did Mariah's dress stay on?) and the Australian Open.

January 23, 2000

Slept in late, til 9:30 am, and Jacq woke us by making us scrambled eggs all on her own. The bacon here is more like Canadian Bacon, so even tho LinDa fried some up, the kids weren't really keen on it. Toast, real butter, and jelly rounded out our cholesterol fest.
Then off to the local pool/water amusement place. It's indoors because the wind and the temperature outside don't really permit an outdoor place to survive. We had a lot of fun in the Tide Pool, the River Run and of course, the big Water Slide through tunnels, etc. We swam for over an hour, then drove North to a Farm for late lunch. We got there late because of a traffic jam; there's only one road up and down, so if there is an accident, you are stuck! Lunch was a limited selection, but the minestrone soup and roll was excellent! We went on the farm walk, and the kids fed sheep, pigs, cows, a young bull, ducks, geese and llama! After careful handwashing, they were allowed the homemade ice cream; quite delicious. I tasted the Kapiti cheese (named for the island just of the coast) which is quite well known here, and the cheddar was rich and sharp; delicious!
There was also a local artisan shop, where I found more greenstone souvenirs. The shop girl told me that the NZ government is considering passing a law that bans removing greenstone from the country. Luckily, not yet!
We made our way home again, with yet another traffic jam, this one caused by a tree falling into the road spontaneously (the hills rise sharply above the roads). Ben is playing Cricket with Matthew and neighbor boys ("everyone knows I suck at batting!"), Jacq is doing homework, Dan is reading some satirical essay on the founding treaty of New Zealand, and I'm writing a travelogue and every one else is relaxing. We had our leftover salad, sausages, and chicken kabobs for dinner (we made so much!!!!) and packed up for an early start to Lake Taupo tomorrow.

Mom brings us the events of the 24th.

January 24, 2000

We'd agreed to an early start today, and had hoped to get up by 7 or 7:30, but it was 7:45 when LinDa woke us up! Staying up late last night to chat with LinDa and watch Jennifer Capriati win, despite the valiant effort by the Swiss, Patti Schnyder. So this morning came way too soon! We had a nice cereal breakfast, then outside for pictures of all. We were so spoiled by the digital camera; it's really a shame we can't squirt the photos right on the web. We'll have to wait for the slow processing from Mystic Photos!
We set off up Route 1 towards Taupo, passing the Lindale Farm that we'd lunched at yesterday, and driving through some really lovely farmland. After a couple of hours we sighted Mt. Ruapehu, a majestic volcano 2797 meters (about 8000 feet) high, with snow on it!
This was followed after an hour or so by Mt. Ngauruhoe. We were unable to see the top as several large clouds were hung up at the top. The weather was really amazing along the way; you could see the different fronts moving through. We got to Taupo after about a 4 hour drive, unfortunately passing the scene of an accident where a child crossing the road had been hit by a car. Not fun in any country. We debated stopping, but as we had no equipment and the ambulance was on it's way, we continued down the road. A welcome sight was several bright pink Hobie Cat sails greeting us just after entering Taupo. We checked into the Executive Motel, a very nice, new and modern studio with the right number of beds, then drove to town in search of lunch. We found Robert Harris, a local sort of Starbuck's, with much better selection in food. We enjoyed local food, with some really excellent mini shepherd's pies, and I finally got a decaf moccachino (first since I left the States!).
After lunch, we walked up one of the streets in search of a bank to exchange more $. Did you know the exchange rate is better for Traveler's cheques than for cash? Thus fortified, we did a quick change of clothes and made our way to the sailboat rental place. We managed about 35 minutes out there in winds of 20-25 knots, Ben and I on a 15 foot weighted-keel sloop whose name escapes me, and Dan and Jacq on a Hobie 16. It was a lot of hard work, and as Ben said, "sailing gloves would be nice!" It was certainly a lot of fun, and we both went Faast! After such hard work, we fortified with tea, again at Robert Harris, and then drove to Huka Falls. The Falls are made from the outflow of Lake Taupo, as part of a controlled river system with hydroelectric dams. Pretty. Then back towards town for a bodacious game of miniature golf. Jacq has gotten better with practice and actually had two birdies (both 2 shots each) and Ben had a hole in one! I did well, even beating Dan in the first 9, but got tired in the end. We had a wonderful dinner at a place called The Brantry. The kids had venison (again!), Dan and I had manuka smoked lamb (I really like the flavouring manuka gives) with broccoli and courgettes (kiwi for zucchini) and roasted small potatoes. Of course we had dessert (despite sweets at tea). The kids split a wondrous berry pudding thing, mostly berries, and the grownups split a delicious citrus crème brulee.
Whoof. Should have walked home from the restaurant as Jacq had suggested. Back to the hotel to lounge in the room spa (basically a tub jacuzzi) and then to bed. We hoped to catch ESPN, or something to see who's in the Super Bowl, but caught it on the Web.

January 25, 2000

We woke up at a decent time, 9am, and made our way back to the Robert Harris Café for Pancake breakfast. Mmm, good. They make them more like crepes here, and serve them rolled up. There was lots of fresh fruit as well, which was nice. Plus the big bonus was that I had a mocchachino, skinny! (I know, I know, too yuppy). With our happy tummies, we set off to Wai-O-Tapu (Maori for Sacred Water) "Thermal Wonderland", about ½ hour north. It really was a wonderland with all kinds of amazing colors due to sulfur, arsenic, thallium, antimony, etc, etc as mineral deposits left in pools formed by hydrothermal eruptions. Lovely walk, although it misted/drizzled on us during the walk. The Champagne Pool was lovely, and is featured in the opening scenes of Hercules, The Legendary Adventures TV show, which really thrilled Jacq. On our way out of Wai-O-Tapu, we stopped to see some mud pools, which are fascinating as they are basically bubbling like a pot of spaghetti sauce, with the occasional eruption. A bit of a drive further, we came to the edge of Rotarua to an area called Whakarewarewa, home of the NZ Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. We did the walk there, this time with foul weather gear on, as the rain loomed ever closer, for real, as Jacq says. There we saw some geysers going up, as well as more mud pools and a lovely bush walk. They also had a pair of kiwi birds in a small building that they use to control the lighting - the kiwi is nocturnal, so they play with the lights to encourage it to be awake during the day. A kiwi really looks like a coconut on legs with a long thin beak. They are very shy and kind of cute. We also saw the Carving school, with student artisans carving wood as well as greenstone. I keep forgetting the Maori name for the greenstone, something like pounama, very lovely. We went to the gift shop and bought a large wood tiki for our sunroom (should we ever finish it) and other souvenirs for home. Lovely workmanship is evident in all the carvings. Onward to Auckland, another 2 or so hours away. We had a stunning view of the city from the Southern Motorway, as there is a spot where we are elevated and could see the city, and the sea.

Despite a late check-in, everyone was game to walk down to the America's Cup Village and see the sights. Race One was today, and we were confused to see no scores on all the very visible scoreboards scattered through the large and very well thought out Village. When we had feasted our eyes on the Challenger boats and the Super Yachts (aptly named), we found a nice café, the City Viaduct Café, to have dinner in, and found out that races were postponed due to poor weather. The wind was too strong with the storm front that we'd experienced earlier. The really amazing thing is that, previous to the construction of the America's Cup Village, the area had previously been a seedy, unattractive warehouse place. Now there are docks with nice yachts, lovely apartment buildings and lots and lots of trendy café's. The hope for Auckland is to retain the Cup, and retain the lovely area of the Village. Aucklanders are proud of the area, rightfully so. It certainly is impressive. Back to the New President Hotel, where we have a nice two bedroom suite. The small anteroom between the two rooms has a kitchenette and the front door. The big bonus is two separate bathrooms. The kids were amused that their room had 3 twin beds, so had fun choosing who sleeps where. The electricity is also on some kind of central switch, powered by putting the room key in a slot. There was much merriment of turning off lights when unintended, by pulling the key out of the slot. Hopefully this has settled down now!

January 26, 2000

Click here to see the racing pictures!

Wednesday, my usual day off! And what a day it was. We breakfasted in the room The New President provides for just the am meal, called, oddly enough, The Watergate. Then walked the 10 or so minute walk downhill to the America's Cup Village. About half way there I realized that I'd forgotten the voucher for the day's activity, so went back to the hotel for it. We sailed on the Yacht Kailekani, a 50 foot motor yacht. Whooee! Very POSH. And since there was no Challenger racing yesterday, we were witnessing the First race of the Challenger Finals. I can't even begin to describe the exhilaration of being 1) on the water in the Harauki Gulf, 2) actually watching those IACC boats race, 3) being so close to those gorgeous yachts, 4) being right at the marks as they tacked, and 5) being at the finish line to wave at the winners!! Wow!!!!! Totally Amazing! We met some very nice people on board.

We chatted with a 79 year old gentleman (who's son was commodore at the San Francisco Yacht Club (America True's Yacht Club) two years ago) and found that he still sails from time to time. He is a marine construction engineer and has traveled all over the world battling beach erosion. We also met lots of very nice Kiwis, who were keen on pointing out the sights of Auckland Harbour, and the Haruaki Gulf. The kids did great; Ben confessed, "I could do this again tomorrow with no trouble!" Jacq had a bit of a headache so crashed out in full sprawl on the bow deck, with all the other passengers being careful to walk around her, and woke up ½ hour later cheerful as could be. She befriended Melanie, one of the boat staff, and was very comfortable wandering all over the luscious yacht. Oh yes, by the way, it was Prada, the Italian Syndicate, vs. America One, from San Francisco's Other Yacht Club, the St. Francis. America One won the start, Prada earned a penalty for a minor collision, by not keeping clear, and they were off. Prada seemed the faster boat in these lighter wind conditions; it was about 10-13 knots. And what a gorgeous sunny day we had! Liberal use of the sunscreen couldn't prevent burn on our fairest member of the family. Thank goodness the kids have inherited my skin!

Well on that incredible high from a wonderful day on the water, we walked around to the syndicate bases, about two city blocks from where we were, to say Hi! to the America True gang. Jacq wanted a fleece, and I got some postcards, and the official programme of the America's Cup. We negotiated to perhaps attend another spectator boat, either Fri or Sun, on America True's catamaran spectator boat. Our boat today was run by On Board New Zealand, with some of the proceeds to True. Jennifer, who arranges the bookings, offered ½ price for the children, so we'll hopefully go again. I know there's lots more in Auckland to see, but I've got the Cup Fever fairly badly, as did Ben. Jacq could take or leave it; I explained about yacht racing as we went around, but she'd rather be on the boat racing, than watching it. Not that I want to discourage that attitude, either!

A quick dinner in the Food Court (sorry, no gastronomical delights to report at this time) and back to the hotel, so this correspondent could put down the daily words.

January 27, 2000

Despite our best intentions, we all slept late and had to hustle to make breakfast before they closed at 9:30am. Although the weather report called for sunny all day, it drizzled through midday (it was interesting to here the meteorologist "apologize" for the unexpected rain on the evening news). First stop was to get better maps and directions for the days activities. First we went to "Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium". There is an extensive display of artifacts from the earliest explorations of Antarctica. Original and replica equipment and documents clearly showed that these explorers were courageous - and crazy!

There was a small penguin encounter with a mini-tram that brought us to within a few inches of some of these well-dressed birds. There were gentoos, adelies, rock-hoppers, and emperors (or were they kings?). We allowed ourselves the conceit that these penguins were descendants of the ones we helped feed in San Diego back in '84 and '85 (by way of San Antonio).
After that, we toured the aquarium itself, which included a shallow pool with crayfish, and some tanks with seahorses, moray eels, and piranha. Beyond that were two huge tanks with a clear tunnel so we could walk through underneath. We were so impressed by the various stingrays "flying" over us that we went around twice so we could look at the other fish. This was the most impressive small exhibit I've seen.

After that, we headed out of town toward the western beaches. Dan had done some research and found that the most recognizable location used as a shooting set for the Xena and Hercules TV shows was Bethell's beach (Te Henga). We followed clear instructions that took us from 6-lane highway to winding mountain roads in about 20 miles. As we walked that last stretch to the ocean, we all started to identify where this or that scene had been filmed. The surf was up, and there were at least 20 adventurers, in wet suits, trying their luck between the rocks. The beach itself is very black and very wide, with several large rock outcroppings comprised of volcanic rock embedded in sand. Farther up, there were cliffs and steep volcanic hills, covered with scrub grasses and tall ferns.

We had so much fun exploring the caves and wandering up the Te Henga river, that we forgot that we had forgotten to eat lunch. As you know, it is a rare and bad thing for us to miss a meal, so we hustled ourselves back to the car and headed for the nearest "lunch bar" for burgers and fries.

After we got back to town, we dropped by the America True office to confirm our boat reservations, and we got to watch the last 15 minutes of the Race, which was won by America One this time! It looks like the Finals are going to be a long series.

January 28, 2000

Click here to see the Racing Pictures Even though there was no racing

Today we had to get up early as the America True spectator boat leaves at 10am and serves lunch before the start of the race. Dan put on the SPF 30 early and often, and wore a denim workshirt over that - no way was he repeating the scorching he got last time. This boat, the "Super Fun", was a 50-foot catamaran sport-fishing boat. There were many fewer passengers as today had been scheduled as a "rain date" for racing. We also had a radio commentating pair and a grinder from Young Australia aboard. America True provides a member of their crew to explain all that we would see, and Greg brought his 1-year-old son Ben, as well as the nanny's mom (sounds like home!). As we headed out, it was obvious that the wind was weak and shifty. The experts onboard agreed that the sun would have to break through the clouds lingering over the land in order to generate the heat needed for a stable sea-breeze. We spent the pre-start time eating a wonderful barbequed lunch, consisting of chicken satay and grilled lamb, with lots of yummy salads (green bean and roasted almond, cucumber with tomato and feta, "regular" green salad) and cruising past all the other super yachts.

The race committee had postponed the starting time waiting for the wind shift to occur, but as we ate and chatted, it became apparent that the clouds were too thick, and the race would be cancelled. As soon as this became official, we motored over closer to the racing boats, especially the New Zealand pair, which were testing out different sails in these light wind conditions. These America's Cup yachts are very impressive up close - sleek and tall, with extra wires and winches whose purpose is known only to the designers.

As we cruised around, we passed by a bunch of penguins swimming idly, diving down occasionally, and then we spotted a pod of dolphin. Our skipper headed in their direction and we got a couple of them, including a youngling, to swim parallel to us for a while. We also sighted 3 Gannets, fairly rare sea birds that look like giant seagulls or strange albatross. So, despite the fact that there was no racing, we had a pretty exciting afternoon.

After we returned to the dock, we signed up to go out again on Sunday. America True CEO and Skipper Dawn Riley is expected to join us. As it was approaching 5pm, we borrowed the office phone and called around to find a place to rent sailboats. When we talked to the local sailing school director, he admitted that it was sad but true - no one in the City of Sails rents sailboats! We headed back to the room for a quick shower, and out for a delicious steak dinner (Laura tried terakihi, another local whitefish, yum!) at a restaurant recommended by a friend of a friend (you know how it goes) and back to bed early.

Mom brings us a recounting of our last days in Auckland.

January 29, 2000

We had a quiet day today; despite the fact that it was sunny and beautiful out. We actually slept late enough that we missed the hotel breakfast (they close shop at 9:30am, shockingly early, I think) and meandered over to Whitcoull's, the local Barnes and Noble type place, complete with café. We had a lovely breakfast; Ben had an amazing cheese scone, Dan an very delicious apple danish, that was really a croissant disguised as a danish. Jacq and I split one of the yummiest apple muffins we've ever had, and a toasted poppy seed bagel with cream cheese. The orange juice tasted fresh squeezed and I was very happy to have a lovely mocha latte in a large cup. We exchanged Ben's book that he bought in Wellington (we'd found a page completely unprinted, there by losing 1/500th of the story altogether), but somehow Whitcoull's got the better end of the deal. Many books later, we came home to do two loads of laundry and of course, as we were waiting for the dryer to cycle, it became 1:10p. So of course we turned on the telly for TV One (on channel 2), and the race coverage was, as they say here, full on. It was so incredibly interesting that we found ourselves glued to the set; the kids in their room and us in ours. Jacq and I volunteered to go out at a commercial break to get sustenance. We sprinted back to Whitcoull's and got a meat and cheese pie for the boys, another bagel for Jacq and smoked salmon (local product) and salad fixings on a bagel for me. A quick stop at the local grocer for apples, peaches, sodas and chips (low fat, we are trying to watch it a little...) and raced home for the rest of the race. This was the amazing one where America One abandoned the race because they "heard carbon fibers cracking for 30 minutes". Not a good sound at any time, but particularly not when it's blowing 20-30 knots out there. Plus America One managed to blow out another spinnaker (number 7 if you're keeping track). All in all, very interesting and exciting. We managed to get a hold of Johnny MacGowan, who runs the corporate fulfillment for Young America (New York Yacht Club) by cell phone. He's the friend of a friend of a friend (that's how that works down here). We'd been playing tag for a few days and with the race ending early, there was a window of time to get together for a drink and appetizers. We met him at CVC, our favourite café in the America's Cup Village, for a great discussion of the day, plus traded the usual dock/insider gossip. We met this guy Bill, an ER doc from Halifax, who came up to the table to see if he could crash at Johnny's (although from what we gather, he was actually hanging out with Team New Zealand) and I got my medical lingo fix for the trip as we traded backgrounds and training experiences. Again, we were impressed at how nice everyone is, and how comfortable and casual all the travelers are.
After cocktails (oh yes, Jacq had a virgin Pina Colada, Ben had a berry smoothie, I stuck to mineral water, and Dan to ginger ale, with yummy garlic on pizza dough on the table as well as other munchola) Johnny walked with us up the hill, he to his apartment, and us to the Sky Tower. We went up, up and away, and saw an absolutely stunning 360 view of Auckland. I watched as America One changed masts, and we could see almost to Bethell's Beach, where we were the other day. There are glass bricks along the main observation deck, so you could look down between your feet, as well as out. Really, really cool. Of course, the restaurant at the top is booked (for days in advance) so we ate at a nice spot at ground level. I had a tua tua fritter (tua tua is a local shellfish, and it tasted somewhere between conch and clam), Jacq had a caeasar's salad, Ben stuck with potato skins, and Dan a duck confit over greens. Jacq enjoyed a hot chocolate as well, that was quite tasty. We walked home, to an early night in. Or would have been if we weren't all enjoying good books to read and so were up a bit later than we wanted....

January 30, 2000

Click here for more Racing Pix!

We woke to cloudy skies and rain, but it looked as though the wind was not as strong as yesterday, which made a race more likely. Since we knew the drill, we were able to get up later and took a taxi to America True's Compound. There, Jennifer (in charge of the office) told us there was a 70-80% chance we'd go out. We went around to the back, and breakfasted while waiting to hear if we were on. There was a postponement flag up, but that was lifted about 11a and off we went. The boat had more passengers today with about 40 people on board, but Superfun is big enough that it didn't feel crowded. Dawn Riley was on board, with her brother, Todd, and sister, Dana. Todd had just flown from Detroit to SF to Sydney on business, and just arrived in Auckland the day before. Tom Zinn, the photographer for True, was also with us. All of the Rileys were terrific; fun to talk to (we got into a very funny discussion about how to order your coffee, depending on what country or what state you were in!) and very knowledgeable on sailing. Tom is also their computer guru (software engineer in a previous life) and he and Dan got into some great discussions about that stuff. Ben and Jacq had fun on the laptop with Virtual Spectator (the computer program that tracks the boats by GPS and shows you who's ahead, etc). Of course, Jacq and I had gone up front and gotten soaked by the waves as we surged to the start. It was definitely windier than on Friday, and the water was more churned up between the wind and the wake of the other boats.
The race was really amazing. America One won the start, and changed their strategy by using standard tactics to keep the lead. They were about 5 lengths ahead at the first mark, and continued to hold on to their lead - when their spinnaker ripped (that's #8). Somehow Paul Cayard was able to force Prada to luff up, and thus damage their own spinnaker. America One then raised a standard jib and finished the downwind leg well ahead of Prada. Over the next 3 legs (out of 6), America One held or extended their lead. At the top of the 5th leg, Prada had gained a bit due to a small squall that passed through the course, so the lead as they started the final downwind run was about 200yds. This time America One returned to their standard strategy - which is to use unconventional tactics. Instead of protecting of their lead and keeping their privileged position, they gybed down the middle of the course.
This gave Prada the chance to steal the wind and take over the privileged starboard tack. In addition, America One was sailing slower because they couldn't use their best spinnaker (it blew out 2 laps back), and the wind was shifting some. We all stood at the edge of the boat - watching in awe and dismay - as Prada caught up and began to pass America One with both the leeward and starboard privileges. The most amazing part was that we couldn't see who finished first. Jacq came to the bow from her post by Virtual Spectator and informed us that America One had crossed the line first. But due to the penalty (failing to respect the privileges), Prada won the race. It's now 3-1 Prada and as Peter Montgomery would say " thrilling action today on the Hauraki Gulf!!!" And of course they fed us well, mostly a variation on Friday's theme.
Well, we are hoping the camera wasn't too abused by the salt spray, as the last picture of the day was of Jacq with Dawn Riley. Jacq was very happy to have her wish fulfilled, in meeting, hanging out with and talking to Dawn. A wonderful day for all of us.
Still damp and bedraggled, we left the compound and traipsed over to CVC for our last dinner in Auckland. Johnny MacGowan happened to walk by, so stopped for a few minutes to say Hi.
A yummy dinner again; Jacq with a repeat on the French Toast from our first night, Dan with a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on the biggest bun you've ever seen (trust me on this), Ben with lamb chops, and I with tandoori chicken pieces rolled in Lebanese bread. Yum! We were hungry from the days excitement. Back to the hotel, to do another load of laundry (I really wanted to get the salt off the clothes....) and to pack.

Tomorrow we're leaving this wonderful place, and heading to Hawaii. We are sad to leave New Zealand; we definitely want to come back!

Dad brings us news about our first days in Hawaii!

January 31, 2000 (the first)

We got up reasonably early and finished our packing. After grabbing a light breakfast, we set out for the airport. We took the first highway exit labeled "Airport" and found that it directed us along the local streets, so the journey lasted 30 minutes instead of 15. Once again, the clear signage and small footprint brought us to the international terminal with little hassle, and having dropped the bags, returned the car 200yds further on. Ticketing and passport control was straight forward, and we found ourselves with 1h30m to kill before boarding. We all took turns wandering through the airport shops, Dan getting his "upside-down" map, Jacq her book on Kiwi birds, Mom her plastic tikis, and Ben some additions to his long list of tech toys he can't have yet.
We boarded our Air New Zealand 767, which was actually more comfortable than the United 747 we flew out on, and took off for Hawaii. The food was good, the movies were new (including "Mickey Blues Eyes" which had the entire cabin laughing), and there were enough empty seats that we could spread out a little.
After 10 hours in the air, we landed in Honolulu around 11pm on Jan 30th. After clearing customs (our $1200 of books, clothes, and carvings being just under the limit), we decided to take the Waikiki shuttle bus to our hotel. This was a mistake - since we didn't know how far it was to our hotel, we figured that the $8 per person was a good deal, and easy too - we didn't realize that the equivalent taxi ride was only $25! Anyway, we eventually rolled into the Sheraton Waikiki hotel just after 1am and quickly crashed into our beds.

January 31, 2000 (the second)

We slept until 10:30 the next morning. After resetting our watches to understand that it was Monday all over again, we found some breakfast at the beachside café. The sticker shock coming from NZ was startling, but we adjusted quickly. We then planned our day and changed into swim clothes. After letting the kids frolic in the pool for a bit, and the ocean a bit longer, we walked past a few hotels to the stand where they rent Hobie Cats. After going through the ritual discussion of our sailing abilities and the places we could and couldn't go, we were off and sailing. We tacked up past all of the hotels toward Diamond Head point. The wind was a little tricky as it swirled off the high-rise buildings, and we had to tack often because we weren't allowed to go out too far from shore. Once we got as far up the coast as we were allowed, we turned around and surfed the waves back to where we started. Not our best sail, but much better than not going out at all.
After that, we wandered back toward the hotel, stopping for a moment to watch the volleyball players and the guys with the parrots and macaws. A little more swimming and it was time to get ready for our dinner with the Wada clan. At 7:30p, Randy, Candy, Robert, and Amy picked us up and took us to Sam Choy's seafood house. All of the food was excellent. It was hard to believe that it hard been over 5 years since we had seen them, and over 12 since we had spent any time together. We all agreed that we looked pretty much the same, except maybe a little rounder. The kids got on famously, the boys talking computers immediately, while the girls took a few moments longer to warm up to each other. Since the Wada kids had school the next day, the evening ended early, with promises of more time to be spent during the upcoming weekend.

For those keeping score, America One beat Prada to reduce their deficit to 2-3.

Ahh! Its February! Only a few more days!

February 1st

Ben's Story

I woke up at 730 for an 830 surfing lesson. Plenty of time, right? Well, I fell back asleep and woke up at 825. I quickly got dressed into a bathing suit and went to the bathroom, and then I tried to call my parents to ask whether or not I should get breakfast.
Well, I must have dialed a wrong number, because no one answered. So I went down to the beach and talked to the guy at the beach services stand, and it turned out that the instructor wasn't there. So I talked to this nice young lady who had scheduled for the same lesson, and then Neil the instructor came up at about 850. I still hadn't got breakfast out of the deal, but I didn't mind. Neil taught us how to handle the board and the surfing stance on shore, and then we went out. The surf near our hotel is pretty small, but it's really shallow and the bottom is sharp coral. I got pretty good, but its really hard to keep balanced, especially if you can't get into the stance in the first place. You have to paddle really hard (and I don't have the arm strength to get going) and have enough momentum that you stay with the wave. It's sort of like matching speed with a bus to get a seat on the front bumper so you don't get flattened on it. And then of course you have to get up and into a good balance so you have good control of the board. I got one really good wave, and I went about 2/3 into the beach. It was a lot of fun, even though I wasn't going that fast. We went out to some tougher surf, and one wave took the board out from under me. It hit the young lady, but she said she didn't feel it. Phew. We came in on some nice waves, and then went in and that was it. I met up with mom and dad (and Jacq too), and then I went upstairs to shower and get packed for our flight to the big island of Hawai'i. Dad bought me a very light breakfast (a medium croissant and a small orange juice). We only packed into our backpacks and mom and dads big green bag, so we had light luggage. The plane was short, and then we drove to our cottage/villa/motel accommodation. We had dinner with Joop, and Marla Kuhn as well as their son Rudy at their house, and then came home to bed.

Laura's Story

As we came down to breakfast about 9a (funny how the line is so long when you're not eating breakfast at 11:15a), we looked out to the surf. Just then, we saw Ben coming in on a long wave for about 45 seconds. He looked great! Reassured that our guy was surfing well, we sat down to have Belgian waffles with maple or coconut (really yummy!) syrup. Jacq opted for the traditional scrambled egg, bacon and toast. We found Ben after the lesson, had him dry off, run up and take a shower, while Dan grabbed him croissant with OJ, and took off for the airport. The next casualty of the trip was forgetting Ben's face soap in the shower as we rushed along. The taxi to the airport was a limo! We got there an hour before flight time and did the skycap check in thing, very efficient, and had ½ hour to kill while waiting to board. Ben was still hungry, so we found the local Burger King stand, and got him Chicken Nuggets and a Coke. The plane ride to Hawai'i was short, only ½ hour in the air and they give a nice voiceover about the islands. We got the rent a car easily; the airport is small, with the rental cars just outside of the exit. We drove about 35 min to the village of Volcano, checked into a lovely 2 BR/1 Bath house complete with full kitchen and washer/dryer! After a quick lunch (yummy bean/rice soup, salads and a great veggie sandwich for me) we had the kids do an hour of homework before went to the Kuhns. They work at the Peregrine Fund's Hawaiian Endangered Bird Conservation Program, and live in a lovely house right on the property of the Program. We got a great tour of the place from Joop, who took us out on the "hogs", ATV's. Dan had fun trying to figure out how to drive the hog; I rode behind Dan, with the Kuhn's 3 y/o son, Rudy in the back with Jacq. Joop took Ben on his hog. The 'Alala, the Hawaiian crow, is just one of the endangered species they are raising in captivity. At this time there are only 3 in the wild, with 26 being raised by the Peregrine Fund team. They are currently not releasing any more into the wild, as the habitat they are to be released into is not optimal, with many more predators than the crows can handle. We were able to see a baby 'alala being fed; at 7 days of age, he weighed only 10 grams! He started out at 2! The tour was cut short as it got dark, so we went back to the Kuhn's for a marvelous supper of barbecued chicken, corn, baked potatoes and Caesar salad, finished with brownies and fresh strawberries! We got to meet their friend, Peter, who lives in Kona, but comes up to help with the birds occasionally. After much talking, we got home at about 10p and went to sleep. Unfortunately, I didn't get much sleep, as my asthma flared badly after 3+ hours in the company of the two very large, hairy (and cute!) Kuhn cats.
And America One came in with another big win to tie up the Challenger Finals series to 3-3. It's fascinating to follow the results on the Louis Vuitton Web site.

February 2nd

Ben's Story

We had made plans to meet the Kuhns, so we woke up and went to breakfast which was wonderful. Then we went and met the Kuhns at a predetermined meeting spot, and went to a black sand beach. We would bring sand back, but removal of the stuff is prohibited (humph!). There were turtles there, and we got to watch some of them crawl back into the water. Apparently there was some good food near the beach, because there were about 10 turtles in the area. I started to make a little reservoir and river to the water, and the reservoir kept filling without the surf because of underground flow (ok, trickle) through the sand. Then of course the surf kept ruining the design (I guess it wasn't designed well) so I tried to save it, and eventually failed (duh!). Then we went to go hiking at the Hawaii National Volcanoes Park (Hawaii Volcano National Park?), but we got tired out and decided to come back later. The Kuhns came over for dinner, and they brought nice spaghetti and garlic bread. We supplied a nice ice cream dessert.

Laura's Story

After a delicious breakfast (waffles and eggs) at Joan Earley's (the hostess of the Country Goose B&B we were staying at), we went to meet the Kuhn's and drove to Punaluu, the black sand beach where the green sea turtles hang out. We got to see several turtles in our time there, both in the water and on the beach. They were clearly feeding on something good just a few feet away from the beach, as we saw a lot of turtle backs and back legs in the air.
Unfortunately, my asthma was really bad, so I made a quick call to my wonderful pulmonologist back in Stamford, Jamie Krinsley , using the phone of the friendly gift shop lady. He advised me to do a short course of prednisone, so yet another vacation I'm on steroids! The clean air and lower altitude at the beach helped my breathing, as I noticed as we went back up to 4000 ft for lunch at Lava Café in Volcano. After lunch (burgers, chicken fingers and a great chicken caesar salad rollup for me) we went for short hikes in the National Volcanoes Park. Rudy did very well, as did Marla, who is in her 8th month of pregnancy! With my lungs somewhat uncooperative, the two short hikes were just right. We got to walk through the Thurston Lava Tube, which was fascinating, to see how the lava flows through. We then walked to several overlook points of the Kilauea Iki Crater. Fascinating to see how the lava had flowed down, with still several hot points with steam venting out.
It would have been neat to walk across the Crater (there is a trail) but it's about a two hour walk and everyone agreed that a rest would be good before dinner. We managed to do two loads of laundry during the rest period! The Kuhn's came to our house, with Marla's delicious home made spaghetti sauce, and we cooked up spaghetti and garlic bread in the great kitchen. We topped it off with Haagen Daas Vanilla Fudge and Dulce de something (a caramel ribbon in vanilla) ice creams with oreos or Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut cookie on top. Jacq and I finished the evening by watching Fly Away Home, a really great movie starring Jeff Daniels and Anna Paquin. It's about a young girl who raised a clutch of abandoned Canadian goose eggs, and then she and her father teach them how to fly and migrate south for the winter. Some sad parts to the movie (the girl moves to Canada from Auckland (yup, Auckland!) because her mother is killed in a car crash, but overall very good movie. It's one of Jacq's favorites, and I've not had the time yet to see it with her, so it was really good to do so this trip. Off to bed then!

February 3rd

Ben's Story

We went to breakfast and then we packed up. We drove back to Hawaii Volcanoes National and went down to where you can sort of see active lava flow. It was a really neat drive, and I was navigator. We saw old hardened lava flows, dating to 1969. When we got to the place you hike to the lava flow (hike because previous flow took out the road) we could see steam shooting from the sea at a point where lava was flowing into the water. It was really cool, but we didn't get closer. Hazards etc.
After that, we flew back to Oahu. Candy Wada picked us up, and we went to our hotel. We just hung out at the pool, and then had dinner all by ourselves. After dinner we went straight to bed.

Laura's Story

As Ben tells, yet another No Lunch Breakfast, as Joan's breakfasts were dubbed by a long ago guest. Then a drive to the National Park as we wanted to see where the active lava flow was creating more of the island of Hawai'i. A fascinating drive, as the old lava flows looked like a moonscape. It really looked like a scene from another planet. The bumps and ridges as it cooled are amazing, as are the sharper glassier shards (like broken plate glass) formed by the lower temperature of more viscous lava flow. It's also amazing how the plants have taken hold and found places to grow in the older flows; that's really how all the Hawaiian Islands came to be. However in the newer flows (1960's to now) there really is no plant grow at all, and it's eerily quiet, with no flora or fauna. Driving down to the ocean, you could see places where there were villages, all wiped out by either lava flow, or the Tsunami in 1860 when there was an earthquake offshore. We were all very impressed with the power of nature while viewing all of this. At the end of the road, literally cut off by the lava flow, we walked about 300 yards further on an old flow to a good vantage point of where the active flow meets the ocean. Lots of steam created, with the ocean temperature 150 degrees where the lava flows in! Needless to say, we didn't get that close. The National Park displays also said that hazardous gases (hydrochloric acid!) are emitted by the lava/ocean steam, so that may explain some of why my lungs hurt so much, and why Ben's cough/cold (which we thought we left in NZ the first week) came back and worsened. We were really glad we took the time to go back and see this amazing sight.
Then hopped another short flight to Oahu, where Candy Wada graciously picked us up from the airport and took us to the hotel. We had a mellow afternoon by the pool, with Ben and Jacq swimming, and then a quiet dinner at the hotel. Delicious meals, Jacq with chicken gumbo soup and teriyaki steak, Ben with rotisserie chicken, and I had two appetizers, a seared ahi (tuna) with avacado, tomato and ginger soy sauce and a duck with shitake mushrooms in a crepe. Yum! Dan had a Chicken Caesar salad and finished Jacq's steak! The kids went up to bed, while Dan and I walked around Waikiki. Lots of nice shops, including Prada(!)(still without America's Cup gear) and Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton, etc. All designed to part the Japanese Tourist from their money. The Japanese are frequent visitors to Hawaii and a lot of the signage is in English and Japanese. After a short walk to walk off the food, we returned back to the hotel and to bed.
Oh yes, America One beat Prada again today, so they are actually ahead now 4 races to 3!

February 4

Laura's Story

Dan and Ben got up early to breakfast, soon joined by Jacq and I (poor Jacq seems to have a bit of a gastroenteritis) so that the boys could go visit Pearl Harbor. Due to Jacq's upset gut, we kept her on the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and tea) today and she and I decided to stay in Waikiki. Candy had offered to drive the boys to Pearl Harbor, but she had an emergency call from a patient, so they took a bus instead. Candy joined the girls around 10:30 for some window shopping and walking. Jacq had her eye on the Hello Kitty Store (Yokohama Okuda, I think) and went in and bought a wallet and two pens with her own cash. We walked to the Hilton Hawaiian Village to see the penguins they have out there, with lots of large koi and turtles in the water as well. There was also a display of many flamingo, which fascinated Jacq. There were also a zillion Pro Bowlers and their fans, as well as the ESPN broadcast booth set up in this very large hotel (with 4 or 5 towers) complex. We walked back along the beach, went upstairs to change into bathing suits and lunched by the pool. Jacq had rice, with soy sauce, and banana bread, and Candy and I had yummy grilled ahi sandwiches. We went to pick up Amy from her school, where she was doing her duty as JPO (junior police officer) and the kids had the traditional Friday afternoon ice cake. It appeared to be chocolate milk frozen in a dixie cup. We picked up Ben's cough medicine (after 9 days, time for a little codeine, which Mrs. Dr. Wada graciously called in) and paper for one of Jacq'ss school projects at the local Long's drug store, and went to get Robert at Ialani, his school. The traffic was dreadful, and we were worried we couldn't get to Waikiki and out to Waimanalo Bay in time for our trail ride, so we called Dan and Ben and had them take a taxi while we headed out to Waimanalo from Ialani. Luckily all of us made it in time, and we had a wonderful ride at the Correa Ranch, nestled up near the mountain with an excellent view of Waimanalo Bay, Rabbit Island and several whales that were breaching in the ocean in front of us! We all had a wonderful ride on good looking horses, although Jacq was a bit nervous about bringing up the rear, as the guide who was supposed to be in back was a bit delayed in dealing with the other horses at the ranch.
After riding, we got to visit Randy in his lab, then kidnap him (in the middle of grant rewriting) for dinner at L&L, a plate lunch place (basically take out). I had a yummy curry bowl, and most everyone else got the Japanese fried chicken (can't think of the name). The irony was that all the kitchen workers spoke Cantonese, yet their famed specialty was the Japanese chicken! Randy rushed off after dinner to relieve Happy, their dog, and then Candy and the rest of us followed a bit more leisurely. After dropping Amy at home to sleep (she has her SSAT in the morning for entrance to Ialani, which is a private school) and dropping Robert at Boy Scouts (he has trumpet trio practice) Candy took us back to the Hotel. While Ben finished his travelogue writing and some homework, Dan, Jacq and I went for a short walk to a Hawaiian print shop called Blue Ginger, which is one of Candy's favorites. Jacq and I ended up buying two matching dresses. As Jacq really loved a third print, and I couldn't find a dress I liked in that print, we bought Dan a shirt in the third print. A really matching family! I knew Ben wouldn't wear any of the above, so he didn't get a Hawaiian souvenir. Unless you count the scratches from the coral when he fell off the surf board! It's now a late night; as I write, I note it is 4:35am back home!
And we are still following it; Prada beat America One today to even up the score 4-4. So the last race is tomorrow for the Challenger as it's a best of 9 set up. A very thrillling end to the exciting Louis Vuitton Challenger races.

The Final entry in our illustrious (umm, whats that mean anyway?) Journal.

February 5, 2000

Laura's Story

Aloha again. And Kung Hei Fat Choy, for those of you that remember that today is the Chinese New Year (Year of the Dragon). Today's adventure started with Randy dropping Robert off at our hotel so that Ben and Robert could take surfing lessons together. Both boys got up on the board and got to ride some waves, so a successful lesson. Jacq, Dan and I headed to breakfast. Jacq stuck with rice and soy sauce for breakfast, and I had an interesting "lite" version of eggs benedict. It was smoked salmon (lightly cooked) on a bagel, with poached egg on top and a tomato salsa like vinagrette as a topping. Very nice. Dan opted for the French Toast.
After breakfast, the kids played on the beach while Dan and I packed up their room and checked them out, as they were going to spend the night at the Wadas. Randy picked us up about 12:15, with Amy, after Amy's SSAT test (she is applying to Iolani, Robert's school for 6th grade next year) and we headed off to Haunama Bay. They rent prescription masks with snorkel and fins (a good thing for some of us) and Randy had brought enough gear for the kids. After a delicious lunch that Randy had packed, (musubi~ japanese rice cakes, with spam and chicken sausage) we headed down the long hill to the beach. Lots of very acclimatized fish swimming there! Sun, snorkel, sand, and even a nap for Randy as we all did our various beach activities. Jacq had been given a coconut front boat made by a local crafter displaying his art in the Sheraton's lobby, and she and Amy dug a large "pond" in which they imported sea water and floated the boat. Due to the fragility of the boat, we opted to leave it with Amy when we left Hawaii. As the setting sun caused shadows over the bay, we opted to return our gear and head up the hill, to a stunning view of the coral heads we'd snorkeled around. Randy dropped Dan and I off at our hotel and took the kids to his house. After settling on the type of pizza the kids wanted for dinner, he and Candy picked us up again an hour or so later, and we drove to Hawaii Kai for a marvelous dinner at Roy's (run by chef Roy Yamaguchi). Delicious!!! I can't even begin to describe the culinary delights. Needless to say, we were all quite full.

February 6, 2000

Laura's Story

You would think that we could sleep in a little without the kids in the next room. However, since we were trying to acclimatize to the time changes, and we had more packing to do, the morning was leisurely, but not late. We went to the coffee hut "Honolulu Coffee" just by the driveway to get my fix of mocha latte, then to the Express meal place in the Sheraton for fruit and bagels. Packing was easily accomplished in ½ hour (we've gotten good at this, despite the goods we keep buying to fill the space), check out was quickly accomplished via video, and we had our bags brought downstairs. Candy was right on time, and we went to the airport with no delay (there was some concern as the ProBowl was at about the same time and Aloha Stadium is right near the airport). Candy and Amy were able to come in and hang out with us, with Jacq and Amy getting some very cute thumbnail stickers photos of themselves to keep as a momento. The kids played some video games (nice arcade at the Honolulu airport), and got bowls of ramen that were surprisingly delicious, for airport food. It was so wonderful to see the Wadas again, and sad to leave and say goodbye. Last minute pix of all of us before we boarded the airplane were taken by a kind stranger.
The flight to SF was great; a 747 with fairly comfortable seats (if you're shorter than 5'4"!). Our friends Elyce Zahn and John Croswhite greeted us at the airport with a very long stretch limo; these kids are getting spoiled with all the limos!
We managed to get all our bags (10, including backpacks and briefcases) in the trunk and wheeled off to Chili's in style. A late dinner (SF time, it was actually right on time by Hawaii time) and then we checked into the Hotel Juliana, which turns out to be right across the street from the garage Elyce and John use for work. Charming hotel, beautifully decorated, a perfect place for a nap.

February 7, 2000

Laura's story

In trying to keep with the time shifting theme, we woke the kids at 8:30a SF time (5:30a Auckland time!) and met Elyce and John at the Café de la Presse down the street for breakfast. More yummy food, including scones, pancakes and muffins and delicious potatoes with a scrambled egg fortified us enough for a stroll from our hotel toward the waterfront. We stopped at 500 Sansome to say hello and thank you to our travel agent, Fabio, who arranged a good portion of the trip (that Wally didn't), and stopped in at Pier 17, America True SF. We dropped off the packages from Auckland as promised. Because I'd left my True water bottle at the Sheraton Waikiki by mistake, I of course got a brand new one, as well as a lovely navy fleece jacket to wear on cold days. Amy, the recipient of our True packages, was grateful for the delivery service and generously gifted us with the America True Christmas Ornament, a hand blown, hand painted version of US-51, something I'd had my eye on for quite some time. After chatting with Amy a while, we wandered down the Embarcadero to Pier 39 to see the resident Sea Lions. Jacq had sweet talked her way to getting some cotton candy - an untested cure for tired feet. After some further walking, we discovered a couple of arcades, where Jacq played some awesome defense in air hockey. Unfortunately Dan's offense was a bit too much, and Jacq was unable to emerge victorious. She did, however, score a couple of points off Dad. Ben played NFL Blitz, one of his favorites, ever since Jacq's 7th birthday party where he broke his arm (long story) and many quarters were spent.
All that activity made Ben hungry, so we set off for the nearest Ben and Jerry's and then walked over to where the Cable Cars start their journey. A rather poor (in all senses of the word) street guitar player was playing, to serenade us while we waited. We rode the Cable Car up Powell St, with Ben and Jacq hanging on the outside. I was a bit nervous until I realized that we were going quite slowly and that the kids were not on the traffic passing side. We got off at the Chinatown exit, where John and Elyce found us a great soup/noodle place. I got to feast on chicken and abalone soup, while the kids enjoyed sizzling rice soup and the other gr'ups had hot and sour. So-so eggrolls, good veggie pot stickers and great beef chow ho fun rounded out the meal. As we walked back to the Juliana, Dan and Jacq opted for reading/nap while Ben and I went to Green Apple Bookstore (a personal favorite, and SF ritual) courtesy of the Zahn/Croswhite taxi service. Lots of great buys for $1, as well as used CD ROM games (I know, I know, we really Don't need any more!) for Ben, and a Java Applet book he wanted. We also finally found Jacq a copy of The Phantom Tollbooth, which she wanted for school. We were happy customers. I could stay in that store for days! Back to the Juliana (Elyce had to come into the store to drag us out) and quick change into "nice clothes" (Yes, Ben put his sport coat and Dockers on) and off to the Occidental Grill to celebrate Dan's 40th (gasp) birthday in style. The food was splendid, and the desserts equally so. Dan had a smoked pork chop that was outstanding, and the kids and I enjoyed filet that was melt in your mouth. Of course we sang as the waiter brought dark flourless chocolate cake with ice cream and a lit candle. Presents were next; Jacq had found Dan a dark green and gold Fern tie tack from New Zealand. Other presents included a session in an air glider, a ride on an actual America's Cup competitor ship (12 metre) in Newport and Elyce and John treating us to this exquisite meal. A wonderful evening altogether. During dinner, Elyce gave us the excellent news that she and John will be married on Sept 16th (Ben's birthday!) and hoped that we will be back in SF for that happy event, which we certainly plan to be.

February 8, 2000

Laura's Story

Today was a wonderful gaming day for the kids. We tried to go to Zeum, the kid's museum, but it was closed to the general public, open for school groups only. (We briefly considered calling ourselves a home school group.) We ended up spending the day at the Sony Metreon, which is full of neat exhibits. Unfortunately, my asthma, or something else icky in my lungs, precluded much enjoyment for the first several hours of the day, but after speaking to the pulmonologist (again!) via Elyce's cell phone, and taking more steroids (last course already tapered) I at least figured I would live. The kids enjoyed the exhibit of The Way Things Work. But the exhibit of "Where The Wild Things Are" was truly fun. It was very interactive and playful. There were voices and Things that popped down from ceiling with buttons and levers. There was a slide, play houses and blocks you could walk on. Jacq, Ben and the docent (ok, really a play therapist) all had a wonderful time as there weren't many kids there (school day!). There were other games played to be played in the Badlands (an asteroid field). One of our favorites, Hyperbowl, was a wonderful active game where you ARE the bowling ball using, well, a large bowling ball mounted on top of a mini bowling alley setup. You actually control the movement, forward and lateral and every which way of the bowling ball on the screen in front of you (large as life!) including forward speed, and therefore, momentum. Jacq got quite good at traditional bowling. Our favorite was SF 2009, where you bowl down a street in SF, dodging cable cars, lamp posts, Jersey Barriers, etc in an attempt to gain enough momentum to knock off the bowling balls on top of the next hill, after the up. It's rated the expert course, and Ben got pretty good at it. John even had a try; it's harder than it looks, as the ball actually has variable resistance based on whether you're going down hill or up. After much gaming, we drove to dinner at a local Italian place. We had wonderful debates about Microsoft, ATT (monopolies, etc), Health Care and other things and very much enjoyed the dinner. Afterwards, John and Elyce dropped us at SFO for the flight home. It was an uneventful flight, although no one got much sleep.
Arriving at JFK at 6:20a the 9th, we were happy to see the limo driver. We got back to Ostend Ave in time to see the dumpster being hauled away! The construction is almost done (we're rocked and taped) and only needs paint and trim. I"ll be glad when it's all over so we can regain the living space.
Jacq and I went to the bus stop to say hi to all and then home for showers, breakfast and a short nap.
All in all a fantastic, wondrous trip. To quote Ben, "it wasn't relaxing; it was Wow!"