I was registered for a photo tour of New Zealand in November 2016. With winter coming on it seemed like a long time to wait. My friend Nancy was already there, posting wonderful pictures and having a good time. One of my house sitters was willing to stay on and the die was cast when I found there was room on a two week Road Scholar tour in January. I decided to fly a week ahead and stay three weeks afterwords to do justice to a place my parents loved having spent six winters there. I had promised them I would go when I had time to do it properly. It seems now is the time.
Between booking the tour and getting on the flight last night I was caught up in Christmas, visiting with friends and family, and an unexpected need for detailed planning. After the tour I thought I could just work my way from Queenstown up to the Bay of Islands and the tip of the north island, the specific route dependant on what I learned on the tour and where I hadn't been. However when reading Trip Advisor and other sites I kept coming across comments about an unexpectedly high volumes of tourists. Hotels in many towns were already fully booked for February with warnings that prices were going up every week. I went on a focussed frenzy to research every where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see or do when I got there. So now I am ready if somewhat tired and anxious.
Departures and Arrivals
How lucky am I? Snow falling and a friend says the roads are getting slippery. I leave a little early, get to the airport and ask if there is an earlier flight as I'm worried about the short connection time in Vancouver. The man says there is one leaving in 15 minutes and as I don't have any checked luggage I can be on it. I have a window seat and beautiful views of clouds and snow covered mountains. All I did was look out the window and keep pinching myself that I was actually on my way.
In Vancouver there was time to get in 10,000+ steps pushing my bags in loops through the airport and checking out the Inuit sculpture along the way before boarding. I had bought a bargain business class seat and it was so worth it. In over 14 hours I just ate, read, slept and made friends with a mom travelling alone with 2 preschoolers. I told her she was doing a great job and she told me I had the best itinerary for seeing the best of New Zealand she had ever met. When we landed and the doors opened the warm humidity washed over us just like in Hawaii. I took the shuttle into Aucklalnd and it stopped right in front of my hotel. To make the arrival perfect they upgraded me and let me check in at 7 in the morning. I have a bachelor suite, so comfortable. I was stiff and tired, made a pot of tea, put my feet up and planned my day. By 9 I was rejuvenated and ready to go.
Auckland seems like a cross between Victoria and Vancouver, and even more multicultural. People come from all over the world.There are lots of tourists equally varied. Many enthusiastic young back packers but some with lost dreams trying to make a living street performing. Some older homeless people, one beaten up old guy smoking a bomb first thin this morning outside the hotel (which is in a nice area). There are signs on billboards all over the city for the Billion Dollar Pledge to build homes in. Affordable housing and homelessness are big problems here although there are no shortage of million dollar plus homes. Downtown is full of high end expensive stores next to shabby little mom and pop shops. It is like they haven't sorted themselves out and I kind of like that. Having my summer clothes in the van I had to shop for a few NZ appropriate clothes, sundries and food. There are lots of outdoor stores with great end of season sales. The prices are about the same as at home. Thank goodness our currency is on par with theirs. I also checked out the waterfront, the theatre district and a park. There was a protest against Saudi Arabia in front of government house so lots of public engagement. I put on over 16,000 steps and wish I had the energy to go out and do more but enough is enough for this day.
Departures and Arrivals
How lucky am I? Snow falling and a friend says the roads are getting slippery. I leave a little early, get to the airport and ask if there is an earlier flight as I'm worried about the short connection time in Vancouver. The man says there is one leaving in 15 minutes and as I don't have any checked luggage I can be on it. I have a window seat and beautiful views of clouds and snow covered mountains. All I did was look out the window and keep pinching myself that I was actually on my way.
In Vancouver there was time to get in 10,000+ steps pushing my bags in loops through the airport and checking out the Inuit sculpture along the way before boarding. I had bought a bargain business class seat and it was so worth it. In over 14 hours I just ate, read, slept and made friends with a mom travelling alone with 2 preschoolers. I told her she was doing a great job and she told me I had the best itinerary for seeing the best of New Zealand she had ever met. When we landed and the doors opened the warm humidity washed over us just like in Hawaii. I took the shuttle into Aucklalnd and it stopped right in front of my hotel. To make the arrival perfect they upgraded me and let me check in at 7 in the morning. I have a bachelor suite, so comfortable. I was stiff and tired, made a pot of tea, put my feet up and planned my day. By 9 I was rejuvenated and ready to go.
Auckland seems like a cross between Victoria and Vancouver, and even more multicultural. People come from all over the world.There are lots of tourists equally varied. Many enthusiastic young back packers but some with lost dreams trying to make a living street performing. Some older homeless people, one beaten up old guy smoking a bomb first thin this morning outside the hotel (which is in a nice area). There are signs on billboards all over the city for the Billion Dollar Pledge to build homes in. Affordable housing and homelessness are big problems here although there are no shortage of million dollar plus homes. Downtown is full of high end expensive stores next to shabby little mom and pop shops. It is like they haven't sorted themselves out and I kind of like that. Having my summer clothes in the van I had to shop for a few NZ appropriate clothes, sundries and food. There are lots of outdoor stores with great end of season sales. The prices are about the same as at home. Thank goodness our currency is on par with theirs. I also checked out the waterfront, the theatre district and a park. There was a protest against Saudi Arabia in front of government house so lots of public engagement. I put on over 16,000 steps and wish I had the energy to go out and do more but enough is enough for this day.
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