marriage proposals, etc.

A brief disclaimer to anyone somewhat-frequently passing through our patch of internet domain: We do know that we've been slacking on pictures as of late, but the problem is that our current free internet connection is a 28.8 dial up modem, so loading pictures onto the internet right now is a laughable concept. We will get on the picture thing soon enough, but in the meantime, we invite you to enjoy our lovely writings (how humble!).

ANYWAY.

One of my favorite parts about Hohepa is dinner each night. For breakfast and lunch we eat food out of Hohepa's store, but for dinner, we each go to one of the houses to eat dinner with the residents each night. I'll let Ella tell you about her house if she is so inclined, but my house is pretty fantastic so I thought I'd share.

My house consists of six men, half over the age of 60. Up until tonight I thought the two different Roddys (yes, there is more than one person named Roddy in one small house!) were my favorites, and though I think they are both fantastic, at this point pretty much all of them have won places in my heart. Roddy #1, we'll call him, is in his 60s, though looks much more aged than that. He doesn't talk very much- actually, the other Roddy doesn't either- but he does wear a watch on each wrist (his explanation is "one for every six hours" but I still don't really understand what that means) and glasses that don't have lenses in them. He dresses like a grandpa might- slacks, a button-down, and some kind of sweater vest most days, even now that it's getting into summer. He really likes knitting and spends just about all of his time doing that, which is always fun to watch.

Roddy #2 comes to work on the farm each day, though he is kind of too old to do a lot so he "supervises." This means that he makes tea for everyone, washes dishes, and walks around taking pictures. He always has a smile on his face (the kind where your teeth aren't even touching because your mouth is open) and walks around in his gumboots (or galoshes, rainboots, whatever you are inclined to call them), a button-down shirt, and his sun hat. His sentences are always short and his answers to any question I could possibly ask consist of an average of three or so words, but he asks me every single day if I'm going to be there for dinner and seems excited when I tell him I will be.

The real reason I thought to write this post was because of tonight's dinner. David, another resident, was joking around with one of the workers before dinner-- "You're my mum! You're my grandpa! You're my grandson! You're my sweetie!" This persisted and after dinner he started in with me-- whispering something about a sweetie and then when I asked him to repeat himself, he'd start giggling and shove his face in a pillow. The night escalated into further giggly-ness when he insisted on reading the paper to us instead of the other way around- mind you, he can't read. It all started out innocently enough- he was describing a picture to us, but he is a real ham and the more he made us laugh, the goofier he got. He started pretending to read an article, talking about who took who to the doctor and talking about different events of the day, but that too devolved into sheer goofiness when he started talking about who was marrying who. Roddy is marrying the cat! Roddy is marrying John! Then he pointed to me and said, "You are marrying me! This is my husband and my wife!" I pointed out that he couldn't well marry someone whose name he didn't even know, so after prompting from a bunch of the workers he learned it, went outside, picked me flowers, and came back. The other residents were all pretty much beside themselves, laughing, shouting "Rubbish! Rubbish!" and so on. After re-informing everyone that I am apparently going to be both his husband and his wife, he informed one of the workers that he was going to wear a dress to the wedding, concluding the now beyond-absurd line of conversation.

movin' right along

Hello everyone!

Ella and I have moved on (well, sort of) to a new chapter in our time in New Zealand. We've moved from the west side of Napier, home of Branwyn, Brent, Bruno, and all the other B's, clear across to the east side (that's right next to the water, folks!), just south of Napier center. We're staying at a place called Hohepa which is, I believe, technically in the town of Clive.

Hohepa is a small village-type set up for people with developmental disabilities. There are tons of workshops that residents work in during the day- woodworking, silk and felt, weaving, etc- and there's also a farm, which is where we get to help out. Each day we do all sorts of high-end farming activities- weeding, transplanting, more weeding, planting, more weeding-- you get the idea. We get free food (which is excellent since our food is supplied by the farm and it is DELICIOUS!), a free place to crash each night, and we're close enough to the B's that we can still see them on weekends and they are only a local call away, though Bruno is not sophisticated enough to use the telephone. What's even cooler is that we've each been assigned (I don't really know a better word but it doesn't really feel like "assigned") to one of the residential houses where we have dinner each night, so it gives us an opportunity to get to know more people in a family-like setting.

Not a ton to report apart from the fact that we're here- I started yesterday, Ella showed up today (discrepancy in time due to Ella being temporarily ill). Everyone is really friendly, we have successfully relayed the fact that we do not know neither Michael Jackson nor Tom Petty, and we're having a blast getting covered in dirt all day. Hope wherever you are is as sunny as Napier usually is (but wasn't today- good thing, too, we need rain!)!

bruno

Ella is currently struggling with the internet cafe gods to get some pictures up here, but in the meantime, I would love to tell you all about my new best friend (sorry, Ella), Bruno.

Bruno the lamb is an orphan lamb that lives in the paddock next to Branwyn and Brent's house. Interests include grazing, bleating, staring vacantly, and frolicking. Ella and I were given the good fortune of bottle feeding him twice a day, which is always a fun and slobbery process. Bruno is seemingly incapable of getting all of the formula from the bottle into his mouth and rather gets it all over his face and usually on his body as well.

When Bruno sees us he stares vacantly for a moment and then gallops in our direction through the field. You can picture the wind blowing through his short wool while he does so, the sunlight hitting him in just the right way. Through our relationship with Bruno we have been fortunate enough to learn that sheep are actually the dumbest animals in creation, though Ella and I know that although Bruno is far too stupid to understand love, he loves us.

Bruno is also incredibly fat. Apparently when Brent first brought him to the nearby paddock to nurse him back to health, he was a scrawny, bony little lamb. This is clearly no longer the case. Bruno's stomach is so huge that you can see it looking from the front and, trust me, it never ceases to amaze how a little lamb like Bruno could be so fat and still move with such ease.

Another physical point of hilarity is Bruno's tail. As it turns out, sheep have their tails clipped in an effort to keep the tail from being absolutely covered in poop, so while we are all used to picturing sheep with little docked tails, they are actually kind of like dogs' tails and wag appropriately. Bruno's tail winds around and around and around like a propeller on a helicopter, providing no end of delight to us.

In short, what I am trying to say is this: Bruno, we love you, and even though you will be dinner some day, we know your vacant little soul will be frolicking in the big paddock in the sky.

For the image-oriented

So, technical difficulties - here's hoping this posts and that it doesn't completely reformat itself, but if it does, lets blame it on the internet situation in Napier, shall we?

Okay folks, here (finally) are some pictures to go along with posts--- yeah, it's time to get caught up! At this point we are back from a lovely four days spent in Wellington and are now enjoying lots of tea and family time at Branwyn's in Hawkes Bay. (This also means lots of Henry time, so prepare for an onslaught of cuteness as the photos follow!! :-)

But first, to back up a little and catch up some with Clare's last post, here are some pictures from our way down to Wellington, our stay there, and then on to the sheep!

A little slice of corrugated heaven from the town that knew no limits:

And then we went to the Zoo:

Monkey see, monkey do...

I had to sneeze...

This one's just ridiculous.

Neeeext:
We met some truly lovely folks in Wellington (Windy City shoutout) who welcomed us into their home for many a meal, cup of tea, discussion of politics, and excellent tours around town!

From left - Alex, Ella, Christiane, Alastair, Clare.
Missing are two key sibs Anna and Helen!

This one's for mom: New Zealands own, Tuatara. Lucky for us Anna and Alastair's university had some on display, otherwise it would have been quite a feat to find one.

Now, onto Branwyn's!

Branwyn's stomping ground at sunset.

Newly arrived, soaking up sun in Branwyn's backyard....sigh, that's right, sun in November!

BRUNO!!! (see Clare's last post)

The all-time favorite pick. How could you refuse a face like that? So full of gratitude...
Oh well, at least he lets us fawn over him. <3 href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNQb0kCVzUqflQ_agcTGT4_QKe0j4005ST55jplMDLt4oFlk95Pb_ngG50OcNoh-_9EHOaG3fsGfCqo2yLeZsRT96Bp_e093StIVaHka3YgwAC_I-F95QG-zodSWweEiYMbb1m8dpuiKU1/s1600-h/Clella+020.jpg">

So inquisitive...

...to a fault!

Baby Henry all grown up with a nice mustache/bearch combo like his daddy...


See?!

Shots of Henry with his newly found harem:

Weeeee..!! Who's having more fun in this picture? Hard to tell, I know.

Look at the camera Henry. Come on, I'll even point.

Happiest of all with mom (Branwyn, for those unknowing) - the harems just for show.

Question of the blog post: who's cutest - Henry or Bruno? (Let's just not tell Branwyn and Brent about this little question, eh? ;-)

some notes from the road

Now that Ella has gotten you all up-to-date on our pursuits (well, pre-Wellington anyway), I thought I'd share a few of the funnier highlights of our NZ trip thusfar. Our first big snag has come in with street signs-- Most things are, for the most part, pretty straightforward, whereas others warrant extensive conversation on our parts about what exactly they might be. Our favorite caution sign is simply an exclamation point, though our overall favorite sign is probably the "aged persons crossing." Ella and I have been having a hard time figuring out why it is that only older people cross the road at that particular junction, and why it's important to watch for older people crossing as opposed to people in general, but the people in charge of signs have deemed it important enough to warrant its own sign. Another sign we couldn't figure out is what I thought at first was a wing, while Ella thought it was a cup of coffee with steam coming off it. Ella finally realized that we were on the Thermal Highway, and that the weird squiggly lines were not a wing or a cup of coffee or tea but rather an indication of thermal waters. Good thing it wasn't anything important, since it took us a few hours on the highway to get that one straight.


Roundabouts are another New Zealand specialty. In the States, as many of you know, roundabouts (or rotaries or traffic circles, whatever you are inclined to call them) are not exactly a frequent occurrence- at first, the only one I could think of was the dreaded Sea Pines circle (we have now added a few outside of Boston to that list, but it's still quite short). This country has a love affair with roundabouts. Not only are they at practically every other intersection, they are oftentimes not justifiable in the slightest. Most of the time they are for two intersecting streets, creating four possible exits on the traffic circle, but sometimes they are only three exits. What's wrong with a stop sign? Maybe a traffic light in an extreme situation? Driving on the left side of the road was nervewracking at first, but now that we are experts, even anticipating all the oncoming traffic circle traffic from the right is not too terrifying (especially since we have had what seems like hundreds of times to practice).

Driving is not the only quirky aspect of New Zealand life. Lots of Kiwis (that's New Zealanders for those of you not hip to the lingo) we've met, while incredibly friendly, have been their own brand of quirky. Probably the best example of this is the entire town of Tirau, which we bumped into on our way to Rotorua. Tirau is a town obsessed with corrugated iron- I'm sure it is a gimmick, to some extent anyway, but it's EVERYWHERE in this town. Two of the buildings are shaped like corrugated iron animals (a sheep, no surprise there, and a dog), the "Welcome to Tirau" signs are made out of corrugated iron, most of the shops have corrugated iron signs, and almost as many of them have some kind of gigantic corrugated iron statue to go along with the store. The garden store has a giant corrugated iron sunflower, the teddy bear shop has a giant corrugated iron teddy bear, and outside of one store there's an entire corrugated iron "safari," complete with an elephant, two giraffes, a leopard, a gorilla, and a sign to tell you that it's a corrugated iron safari.

On a more personalized level, we met a particularly hilarious shopkeeper in Taupo, a tourist destination that we stopped at for lunch on our way to Napier for Ella's birthday. Our car is equipped with FM stations between 76.0 and 90.0, leaving us with very few radio options and a tape deck. We walked past a music store and, feeling a little desperate, popped in to see if they had any tapes for sale. Much to my delight we found a best of The Kinks tape, and decided to see if we couldn't scrounge up another gem. One of the guys working at the store pounced on this opportunity to show us the collection of mixed tapes he had made and was selling. After giggling at a few of the selections (which prompted him to say, "I got all the good ones, eh?"), we eventually settled on his mix titled "Old Skool," a compilation of hackneyed songs that should never be put on one mix together but was a better selection than any of the other abismal choices.

What I guess I'm trying to say here is that although we've done something beyond fascinating essentially every day since we landed in the country, it's all the in between things that are similarly fascinating and oftentimes hilarious (and what we continue to laugh about for days and days after it stops being funny). Ella is a good travel partner for that sort of thing. On that note, we need to get our things together to head out to Napier, so I hope everyone is doing well, and keep the comments and e-mails coming-- it makes us feel special/delighted when we hear from people!

Ella's favorites

Ok, so we've been pretty non-stop with the traveling around and day-tripping everywhere, but here are a few highlights:
1) Waitomo glowworm caves were one of the most amazing places we've been so far. New Zealand has these glowworms that apparently exist nowhere else in the world who attach themselves to the ceilings of cool dark places, and then glow to attract bugs into their webs; the hungrier they are the brighter the light. The result for the onlooker however is a cave roof covered in a sea of what appear to be tens of thousands of tiny glowing stars. Truly awe-inspiring.
2)Rotorua thermal waters. Sounds about as lovely and relaxing as it was (for all that it was rather touristy.) Here's the catch: lovely, warm, SULFURIC waters. Clare and I stank. A lot. We couldn't even bring ourselves to go to a museum after bathing - it seemed unfair to the staff. It was highly enjoyable while we were in the pools, but after the two hour drive back to Hamilton we had to thoroughly air out the car and immediately figure out how to use the washing machine.
3)Birthday fun abounded on the 28th between Brent and I who (we recently discovered) share a birthday! Clare and I drove down to Napier en route to Wellington for a highly enjoyable evening on the farm which included complete celebrations with a family BBQ - cake and all. :-) Also of particular note: I got to feed a baby lamb on my birthday! Now, as Clare and apparently both of my younger siblings will not let me forget, I am officially old - a whopping twenty three years of age.

Happily in Hamilton

Well, our road trip has landed us now in the city of Hamilton at the home of some mutual friends (thank you Joe and Judith) and we are quite excited and appreciative of the home environment! Hamilton it turns out is the perfect location to settle for a bit because it's pretty centrally located and there are quite a few exciting day trips within the radius of a few hours drive time. We showed up and our lovely hosts Julie and Quentin showed us around the extensive gardens they have here in Hamilton, with different sections in the style of different corners of the world - New Zealand it turns out is a places where almost anything grows and thrives which makes gardening fun and weeding overwhelming! Between home-cooked meals and a comfy bed, Clare and I love Hamilton - plus Julie and Quentin kindly offered us the use of their house while they were on vaca for the long weekend, so we've had our run of the place taking full advantage of a kitchen to cook in! :-)
One of the first day trips we took was to a small surf town on the west coast called Raglan, which is only about an hours drive (though it looks much closer on a map, the 'highways' here are tiny and run through many a town center - aka there are tractors driving down the highway.) Raglan was a great town to putz around in because it's a hub of artist cooperatives, so there were tons of artsy handicrafts to drool over and some cool black sand/rock beaches to watch surfers (who ranged from entirely mediocre to pretty impressive) ride some BIG waves. All in all, highly entertaining and relatively nervewracking (reminder: ROCK beaches.)

sights of northland!

As promised, a few pictures from Northland. These are, unfortunately, all out of order due to similar layout issues I was having with the last post. If you start at the bottom of the post and work your way back up to the top they are pretty much chronological.

Ella in front of the Big Papa of the forest. Keep in mind that she's probably a solid twenty feet closer to the camera than the tree is, so those proportions are off by quite a bit.

The beautiful Four Sisters.

Ella at work constructing our prized tarp. Note our car, the dutchess, in the background.

Me shortly after waking up, still with a zillion layers, with a new friend in the background and rolling green New Zealand hills behind him.

That's on the black sand beach of Goat Island if your back is facing the water. I like to assume that penguins live in those dark spaces on the bottom since there are penguins that live in the area. Unfortunately, we weren't at the beach at the right time of day to see them.

Ella at the edge of one of the rocks at low tide. You can see Goat Island in the back on the right of the shot.

Around that far curve is where the pink beach is. We didn't bring a camera with us so you're just going to have to believe us on the pink thing.

Northland

Ella and I very willingly left Auckland two days after arrival in pursuit of warmer weather and that famous New Zealand countryside we've heard so much about. We decided to rent a car and assumed that we'd spend most nights at campgrounds sleeping either outside or in the car, which ended up being true for Northland. We hadn't considered the complexities of getting out of Auckland in a country where driving on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right side of the car is the rule, but fortunately, Ella agreed to be the braver of the two of us.

Her grip on the wheel loosened a bit and her knuckles returned back to their more standard peach-ish color when we were clear out of the city, heading north on SH1. We made little stops shortly outside of the city to gaze at beaches and try and find groceries for our pursuits, but our first real stop was at the Honey Centre and Cafe. This place was nothing short of delicious, with seemingly endless different kinds of honey for sampling and, to our delight, manuka honey ice cream for sale. This is, in case you were wondering, far and away the most delicious ice cream either of us have ever had. Yum.

Pulling ourselves away, I suggested that we stop at Leigh and the Goat Island Marine Reserve, a bit farther up on the east coast of Northland and a recommended stop in the Lonely Planet Guide we brought along with us as a reference point. In between, we stopped for some necessary portraits at a playground:

We figured that we would stop there for an hour or two and then head up the coast with our sights set much farther north for the evening. How wrong we were.

We arrived at the Goat Island Marine Reserve (Goat Island itself is a short distance from the shore, easily swimmable, though we decided against heading over to explore) and realized to our delight that we had found paradise. The shore across from Goat Island is a black sand beach that at low tide has plenty of rocks that creep out into the water, filled with tide pools that have little ecosystems milling about within them. The area has been protected for quite some time now, and marine life flourishes. Much to our delight, we saw three eagle rays (like manta rays, which we originally thought they were, though they eat different things) over the course of two days.

That night, we stayed at a campgrounds right up the hill from the beach of paradise. The campgrounds were similarly idyllic- run by a laidback woman, the campgrounds were equipped with a full kitchen and bathroom set-up with hammocks everywhere and sheep, cows, and horses off in the distance in pretty much every direction. Geniuses that we are, we spent the late afternoon building a tarp out of duct tape and every last plastic bag we had with us jerryrigged to our raincoats. We were elated at the opportunity to use our new tarp and both insisted on sleeping outside under the stars which, beautiful and lovingly interrupted by cow's moos into the night, was ultimately a doomed dream given that we were cold. We sought refuge in the car, which sort of fixed the problem, and made a pact to at some point put the tarp to use.

We awoke in the morning to a rooster that refused to stop its morning cock-a-doodle-doos but were saved from being annoyed by that fact by the sights around us-- the morning renewed our amazement in our surroundings, and after breakfast, we headed back down to the beach. Our morning laziness was interupted by the friendly captain of the Glass-Bottomed Boat, the boat that people tour around the bay in to see all the marine life wonders that abound. We were two of very few people on the beach that morning and he was bored, so after making friends he offered to give us a ride to a nearby beach that was about a half hour walk. We agreed and, after a short boat ride, found ourselves in an even more idyllic setting. The sand on the beach was PINK-- seriously, pink-- and there were so few visitors that practically every last shell was uniquely beautiful and unbroken by excessive human footsteps. After Ella took a quick dip, we walked back to the parking lot and, quite unwillingly, continued on our adventure.

The remainder of our three days in Northland was mostly filled with beautiful beaches and drives through the most spectacular countryside I've ever seen in my life. One other highlight to share was our venture up to the kauri forests on the west coast of Northland. We took a short walk through the woods and saw two incredible sights. The first was the Four Sisters, four huge kauri trees that are astoundingly beautiful, and then quite possibly the biggest tree ever which is called the father of the forest. It could be around 2,000 years old and has a diameter of 16.7 meters. I am not really sure how to describe it because even though I had read about it beforehand, words did not in any way do justice to the majesty and imposing size of this tree.

Layouts are being funny, so I'm going to post a separate post for pictures as soon as I can pull that together-- expect some beautiful Goat Island shots and some really beautiful trees.

Top 5: Auckland Edition

Hello everyone!

Ella and I are currently in Hamilton in the midst of our two-week travel through the North Island, but we promised we'd deliver on our five favorite things in Auckland, so here's the list (in countdown style, of course, to add suspense).

5. CARLOS AT THE DESK
We stayed at Surf and Snow Backpackers in the center of Auckland, which is pretty much your run-of-the-mill hostel. The socialites we are, Ella and I mostly stuck to ourselves (and only stayed in Auckland for two days, allowing us next to no time to really get to know anyone), though we were both quite fond of Carlos, one of the guys who worked at the front desk of Surf and Snow. Helpful and incredibly kind, he helped us to figure out a car rental situation and was an exciting face to return to after wandering around an otherwise foreign city for two days.

4. BOLLY BOYS
There was a Diwali festival on at the pier our second day there, so we decided to go check it out. Much to our delight, we chanced upon the 15-and-under division of the Bollywood Dance Competition and stayed through most of it. The kids ran the spectrum of being actually quite talented and very obviously not wanting to be there. Our favorites were the boys who can easily be broken up into two categories. First, there were the poor souls that were obviously forced into dance classes by a parent that probably wanted to help push them through an awkward phase or perhaps to help them socialize more. They were easily recognized by the pout that sometimes looked like it was on the verge of tears and also by the obvious unwillingness to actually do the assigned dance steps. The alternative was the boys who were practically over-enthusiastic about the whole thing, moving every last fiber of their bodies whenever possible. Our favorite moments were when there were several boys dancing at the same time and it was an obvious split in intention.

3. KOREAN PANCAKE
Korean Pancake was a lifesaver. On our first day wandering through Auckland, Ella complained about a lack of street vendor food-- we wanted a step down from the takeaway storefronts all over the place that was cheap and would fill us up in between meals (we are avid consumers of food). We were on the brink of losing all hope when, like a beacon of light, we saw Korean Pancake. For $2.50 or $3.00, a very jovial guy will squash down some dough, fill it with one of several options, and cook it until it becomes a pancake. So greasy, so delicious, so much fun. We were rather upset that Korean pancake did not open early enough for us to have the sweet option for breakfast, but alas, everyone needs some time off from work.

2. THE LIBRARY
Though most of you know us well enough to already know this fact, Ella and I are not exactly seekers of nightlife. It should be no surprise, then, to find out that Auckland became a city of great potential when we stumbled across the city's public library (on the next block from Korean Pancake, even!!). This library had everything- great colors, a nice layout, fantastic music section, free internet, and a very interesting exhibit on New Zealand's first major geologist. What's more is that attached to the library was a cafe that played generally good music where, for $4, you could have a mug of tea that probably had a sizable three cups in it. The tea was great, the banana chocolate chip muffins were to die for, and they were even open until 11:30 PM on the weekends (as if we would stay awake that late)!

1. THE WALKING MAN
Number one on the list for the sheer amount of time it entertained us is the walking man (and this probably tells you why we left Auckland after two days). The walk signal at some major intersections did not just say "walk" or have a person lit up in green to indicate that it was safe to walk. No no, this was so much more. The walk signal was ANIMATED. Yes, that's right, animated. The green man would stroll as though on a treadmill, never moving out of his little circle but constantly appearing to stroll forward while a noise sounded indicating it was safe to walk. The noise, for those of you that are musicians, resembled the sound someone makes when they're trying to teach someone how to double tongue on a wind instrument-- kind of a duh-guh-duh-guh sort of thing. Ella and I are still contemplating posting video examples, but I think we might refrain.

So, that's Auckland. We've moved on and have spent the past few days in a variety of locations, many resembling paradise, but I'll let Ella tell you a little more about that. Hope everyone is doing well, and as always, feel free to comment or e-mail!

and then there was fiji.

The flight we had from San Francisco to Auckland was pretty broken up which ended up working out for us quite well. We first flew into LAX (in case anyone had any doubts, the Los Angeles airport is disgusting and poorly lit), then got on the monster plane visible in our last picture post and headed to Nadi, Fiji. We had a scheduled twelve-hour layover and weren't really sure what we were going to do with our time in Fiji, but hoped that we would be allowed to leave the airport and that it could potentially involve a beach. Much to our luck, because our layover was longer than six hours, we had to go through customs and, as a result, had a free pass to explore Fiji for the day.

We stored our luggage at the airport and asked around for some places to go with most people recommending a place called First Landing which was, allegedly, a beach. We found a taxi driver (one of about a million waiting outside the airport) who agreed to take us not only to there but to a few other places not far away. It kills me that I can't remember his name, because this guy was quite kind and informative. He drove us first to a place called the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, situated at the foot of a gorgeous mountain. It's home to Fiji's largest collection of orchids, and admission to the garden comes with a chance to enjoy some homemade fruit juice. There were giant water lilies, tons and tons and tons of orchids, really neat trees with roots that looked like walls- it was a magnificent garden. On our way to the next location, he drove us past his house so we could see his son and wife and two dogs-- definitely sweet.

From there, we went through the Sugar City, one of two big cities in Fiji. The population is about 40,000 and we spent most of our twenty or so minutes there strolling through a market that smelled SO good and SO fresh. This is a good time to mention, probably, that we also learned a lot about the political situation in Fiji from our cab driver-- there have been five coups in the last fifteen or so years, with the most recent one being last year-- and the history sounds quite interesting in case anyone is interested in looking into it.

Our final stop for the day was at First Landing, supposedly the site was where people first landed on the island, though it is now home to a resort and a creepy man-made island that looks like a hand when viewed aerially. The beaches were gorgeous, the water was like warm bathwater and clear reasonably far down, and in general it was something akin to paradise. We enjoyed lunch at a table right on the beach, looking out at the water and not being able to comprehend that this was a layover in the middle of travel.

All in all, Fiji was beyond fabulous- great scenery, great company, and a MUCH better way to spend the day than twelve hours in an airport. We will update on Auckland soon, though we need to go in the meantime to pick up our rented car that will be our chariot around the North Island. Hope everyone is doing well!

fun in san fran

Okay, so here's a bit more on the highlights in San Francisco (we were there for just under a week):
1) Seeing family and friends (for me, for Clare it was meeting family and friends) was absolutely wonderful especially because the guest list included many with whom visits are few and far between. It was great to get a chance to catch up with family members at Tabitha and Laurie's wedding, which was one of the prettiest ceremonies I'd ever been to - they both wore gold dresses and it was beautiful! Plus, who should show up but my newest little cousin Henry with the biggest smile I've ever seen on a little kid :-) Jealousy abounds among family back on the East coast, I know, but no worries, we will definitely include baby pics upon arrival to Branwyns - I promise. We also got a chance to spend some time with/invade the apartment of my friend Maggie (included is a shout out to her roommates who let us take over their livingroom) which was truly awesome because I hadn't gotten a chance to see her since our stay in Bolivia so it was great to get a chance to see her in her new natural habitat of San Francisco.
2) The wedding itself. Good people, good setting, good music, dancing and food. What more could you ask for? It was themed with fall colors, so lots of golds and rusts and greens. Branwyn made flower arrangements, Ellen the cakes, Laurie's dad sang to the newlyweds accompanied by his guitar, and there was many a heartfelt speech. It was really moving actually. Plus a setting sun in the background. So picturesque. Sigh...!
3) Tromping around the city itself was highly enjoyable. (Except for the parts where our legs were ready to collapse from climbing uphill to catch the bus, or falling downhill to do the same.) The weather however was beautiful day in and day out, sunny, sunny, sunny. We had fun wandering around the wharfs visiting sea lions, exploring the Mission, munching on Russian food, and biking the Golden Gate bridge. (Although we definitely did some walking alongside our bikes uphill on either side, biking over the bridge itself was quite fun!)
All in all, a lovely stay and we set off from there rejuvinated and excited for the next leg of the trip: land of the sheep. Stay tuned...

SF, Fiji, and beyond

Hello everyone! As Ella mentioned yesterday, we have arrived safely in Auckland (though the photo above still stands) after possibly the best traveling experience we could have hoped for. As you will see, we had a twelve hour layover in Fiji, so long that they in fact forced us to go through customs. Being the enterprising young women that we are, we decided not to sit in the airport for an entire day before going through security again and rather decided to go exploring. First, a few pictures and thoughts on San Francisco:

All in all, I think it's safe to say that we had a great time. We stayed with Ella's friend Maggie and her roommates, and spent lots of time getting to catch up with (or, for me, meet) Ella's family.
This is Ella and I at Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf. For those of you not familiar with SF, there is an overabundance (as if such a thing exists) of sea lions that hang out on the docks there. So cute.

This is a row of old people eating ice cream. We found it hilarious.

This is, far and away, the best photograph I have ever taken. Ella posing in front of an ad for the SF Zoo.

This is Ella's stylish outfit for our bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. She is truly an international trendsetter.

This is me before the big bike ride, striking an excellent model pose.

I'M SO HAPPY!

Ella is proud of all of the walking uphill we did with our bikes in hand.

Without further ado, we present you with Fiji. One of us will get around to writing a little more about it at some point, but the photos are pretty great in the meantime (if we do say so ourselves).
This is the mammoth airplane that transported us across the Pacific Ocean. That's right, folks, two stories in that one. Also, take note of the lovely sunrise and the moon in the background that Ella insisted on including in the frame.

Can you feel the tropical breeze? We could!

Our new best friend.

Despite the fact that this cannot possibly be real, it is. Go figure.

Note the color of the water. We ate lunch there. Yep, that's right. On the beach. In Fiji.

Us on the beach. In Fiji. Right before lunch. Also on the beach. So good.

Stay tuned for more pictures and better descriptions! Also, coming up soon: a list of our favorite things about Auckland (high up on the list includes such marvels as Korean pancakes). Hope you're all doing well!

no sheep in auckland

Just a heads up to any and all - Clare and I arrived safe and sound in Auckland, NZ after having spent a surreal day in the beauty that is Fiji during our lay-over. We will definitely post pictures (which will probably elicit laughter) but just wanted to report difinitively that there are, in fact, no sheep in Auckland.

making friends

So, pretty much one of the best parts of traveling via Amtrack is all the colorful characters you meet along the way (and also are stuck in an enclosed space for many days with.) That said, it only feels fair to share with a few of the exciting favorites...
First and foremost was Israel based solely on the cuteness factor and what a good little ice-breaker/friend-maker he was. We played camera peek-a-boo all morning in the breadbasket (it's much easier to refer to it as such because it was always a little unclear when and where state lines were being crossed...plus we got a total kick out of it :) Because of the essence of the game, we ended up with approximately a million adorable pictures of which we have included a scant few so that everyone can understand the cuteness that is Israel.
Next came our two elderly sisters who completely adopted us and with whom we spent an enjoyable couple days. They were two of 18 siblings, both of whom had a great sense of sarcastic humor and thoroughly enjoyed making a seemingly endless amount of fun of me (to Clare's great enjoyment.)
After the lovely ladies were on their way, we met another all-time favorite: Larry. Here's a bit of a visual: taaaall, skinny as a rail, wicked tan, skinny jeans, skull bandanna wrapped around his head, and had just turned 50 twenty-six days prior to the trip. 50 had clearly been a major turning point for him, as during the first half of his life he had made a bundle of money (a million dollars according to him but Clare and I felt the reality of this statement may have been questionable) and given it to his family so that he no longer had any responsibilities and now could spend the second half of his life 'just doing Larry.' This entailed traveling where the wind took him and 'fixing things' (he was a do-it-all handyman of sorts it sounded like.) It also entailed running to the closest convenience store at every stop we made to buy cigarettes and then racing back to jump on the train before it pulled out with the whole car cheering him on and patting him on the back upon making it. He also helped all the Amtrack personnel carry heavy boxes and pass things out so as to get free booze. My, what a good samaritan.
Then there was Doug (who happens to be in the background of one of the pictures we posted.) Doug was on his way to a semi-mysterious court date in Nevada, which became problematic as our train got further and further behind schedule. He also, while mid-conversation, whipped off his prosthetic leg to which Larry replied, "show-off." He and Larry would sit around and have deep philosophical conversations in our vicinity. No really, I'm serious.
Lastly, there was Leo the Russian. Leo had one of those stories that sounded straight out of a mediocre comedy: He sold his marijuana farm and truck, broke up with his girlfriend and rode Amtrack off into the sunset to meet up with his internet love. Said true love however was living with her boyfriend and was quite surprised when Leo the Russian showed up at her doorstep. Needless to say, it did not end well and Leo's only interest by the time we met him was drinking and telling Clare about how Russian he was because his ancestors had fled the Bolsheviks and how dare she question his knowledge of Russian geography.
All in all, a highly engaging way to travel. Besides the lack of showering, we ended that leg of the journey with very few complaints. Highly recommended to any and all with no time frame and a willingness to mingle. :-)

pictures!

Ella and I are in our last morning in San Francisco, and we thought it appropriate to try to get some pictures up here before our departure.
This is Ella.
And this is me (Clare).
This is a sunset in the "breadbasket of America" (as dictated by our conductor during his "opening remarks."). I'm pretty sure that's some flooding from the Mississippi River you're seeing in the bottom there.

This is morning mist, still in the breadbasket.

This is a sunrise in Nebraska.. or maybe Colorado.
This is our hands-down favorite person on the entire trip, Israel. He is two, maybe three (he said two but held up three fingers) and kept us highly entertained with morning peek-a-boo. He is one of those kids that definitely knows how cute he is.

See?

Ella and I in Denver, the first time around. Notice the nice morning light and blind optimism.

This is where we spent all of our time. Seriously, just about every last drop of it. The sightseeing car was the happening place on the train.

On our ascent into the Rockies.

The view right before heading into a tunnel. We had to deal with this pretty often that day since there are a lot of tunnels between Denver and the other side of the Rockies, and we passed through twice.


Beautiful Rockies.

Ella and I, in Fraser, Colorado. This was the end point for our Rockies excursion, as it was all (literally and otherwise) downhill from there.

And then we woke up in Utah. Our train had to change crews so we got to walk around a bit. See Ella walking.

Our valiant California Zephyr.

Ella and I are still waking up, but getting to walk around in Utah was an opportunity we couldn't pass up.

My foot in Utah (or an ad for Smartwool, you decide).

This landscape apparently exists in America.

Two+ days on the train is treating Ella really well. Our friend Doug is in the background. Ella will tell you about Doug when she finally posts.

I am similarly doing quite well after a few days. Notice in particular the fact that we are wearing the same clothing in all these pictures.

Ella and I on the train. By the looks of us you'd think we're happy, but we're actually in the midst of a fierce backgammon game and feeling quite competitive.

Entering the salt flats. This might actually be part of Salt Lake. Either way, Utah is pretty cool.

Salt. (Diana, we were of course thinking of you through the duration of our salt adventures.)

The hands of someone used to losing in backgammon. I thought I was pretty good at it until Ella and I started playing. She's vicious.

Our train, riding off into the sunset.