Hope everyone had a nice holiday hanging out with family and friends. I finished off New Zealand in Auckland with Neill, staying with my hasher friend Rod (Goldfinger) and his wonderful wife Ronnie. They were wonderful hosts and I particularly enjoyed the parties with them and soaking in their jacuzzi tub at 1am! We did a hash run in Auckland as well and I met up with Danish Bacon, a hasher I remembered from Copenhagen! Small world, eh?
After saying good-bye to Neill and hello to Alison at the airport, Alison and I were off to Tahiti for a week where my mom joined us and took us to Bora Bora! What a great Christmas present for me! Bora Bora was beautiful. White sand beaches, warm sun and water, lots of snorkelling and sailing, and great food!
I sailed a couple of times, on a Hobie Cat. I took a lesson at first, then Seb told me I was fine to go off on my own. Amazing how the skills come back to me after 10 years!
I also did a heap of snorkelling. The coral reefs aren't quite a beautiful as the Great Barrier Reef, but the fish are just as nice. I fed a moray eel raw tuna! I also got smothered with the sting rays who thought my fingers would be fish (they don't have teeth, so it didn't hurt), but I did give one a big kiss and have a photo to prove it! I got to see the magnificent Manta rays and a token Spotted Eagle ray. The depth we were swimming at was pretty deep. The local Tahitians would dive down so far I wouldn't see them anymore! No gear, only a mask and snorkel. They are quite the fish themselves.
The place we were staying at had shows every night so I got to see the Tahitian dances and the local Hakka war dances. It was almost identical to the Maori war dance (the islanders of New Zealand), and not to far off from the Hawaiians either. I think they were all from the same genetic pool at one point in history.
Alison and I were going to get ourselves a tattoo while we were in Tahiti, but it was too expensive for us to go into town so we bagged the idea. I'm sure our mothers are grateful.
After Tahiti we flew into LA (that's in the USA!) and met up with Alison's sister, Caroline. We rented a car and drove up north to San Francisco on route 1. We took three days to do an 8 hour drive! It was so much fun. We went bowling in Lampoc, "czeched" out the Hearst Castle, and took many photos of the beautiful coastline. We're spending Christmas with my mom here in San Francisco and it's so nice to be back in our own country for a while. Thanks everyone for all the Holiday greetings! It was wonderful to hear from you all.
All my love, Carla
Tuesday, December 24, 2002
Saturday, December 7, 2002
Wise Lesson From a Fellow Traveler
Neill and I meet a 50 y.o. Floridian woman has been travelling around the world for over 10 years, so Neill asks her, "What is one thing travelling has taught you?" She replies, "Letting go." I never got her name, but I will remember what she said for the rest of my life.
After our Thanksgiving in Nelson, we drove down to Christchurch for the weekend and visited the zoo (take note Jon and Tim!) so I could see the infamous Kiwi, and went to a rather cheesy Christmas music festival where nearly half the population of the south island attended. Any of you who have seen Monty Python's Meaning of Life and remember the scene when they sing, "It's Christmas in Heavan Every Day" will have an idea of what this festival was like. Neill and I also went clubbing with our new friend, Timo, a German who lives in Christchurch that we happen to meet in Queenstown. He speaks phenomenal English, and with a kiwi accent! He took us to a club called The Holy Grail. I go into the bathroom and see a woman there inspecting the deep scratches on her chest. "What happened?" I ask. She replies, "Oh, I got into a fight with some girl on the dance floor. You should see her, though." I exit the bathroom to witness the police escorting a bunch of people out. Rough place, but I had fun dancing with Timo and all his friends, especially lovely Rochelle. It was her 28th birthday that night.
We took the ferry from Picton to Wellington where Neill and I met the wise Floridian traveler, czeched out the Te Papa museum, and became honorary pilots of Fly By Wire. For those of you who don't believe me, I have a video to prove how I learned how to fly a jet propelled rocket!
We had to hash, as well, seeing as Wellington had a bid for the 2004 Interhash. Neill and I ran with the men's hash on Monday, and the Port Nicholson Hash on Tuesday. I made friends with a very friendly 13 year old hasher, Tax Man's Daughter, who had never talked with an American before. How cool is that? Thanks for the t-shirt TMD!
After Wellington, we drove up to Napier for a night, stayed at a hostel run by an American from San Diego, partied with the numerous German backpackers at an Irish pub that night (Neill talked German with them for over 3 hours!), then drove up to Te Aroroa to see the sunrise at East Cape, the most easterly point in the southern hemisphere. Neill and I cracked ourselves up by pointing out the most easterly cow pie in the southern hemisphere, damaged the muffler on the Moon Unit driving on the most easterly dirt road in the southern hemisphere, and got zapped crossing over the most easterly electric fence in the southern hemisphere. The sunrise was pretty spectacular though. We were the first to see the sun rise in the world on Dec. 6th, 2002!
After East Cape, we drove on to Rotorua, and stayed with my hasher friends, Norma and Roger. I met and chatted with them for, maybe, 20 minutes on the yellow dress run 3 months ago in Goa, India. Norma emails me and invites me to stay with her when I'm in town. So here we are! She's an ER nurse, so I'm filling up my brain with the knowledge from her nursing journals. Who knew I'd be starving for that stuff?
In Rotorua I just had to czech out the Waitomo Caves, famous for their glowworm displays. We rapelled down 30 meters to the cave entrance, blackwater rafted down the river inside the cave, and then got to rock climb out. The glowworms look like tiny blue stars on the cave ceiling. I spent some time pointing out all the constellations to Neill. It took awhile, as they kept moving around. Of course, no one was amused but me. Norma also took us to many of the hot springs here, and we got to swim and soak in a hot river, warmed by a nearby thermal pool. Rotorua is built on the edge of an old volcano, so there are tons of hot springs and mud pools. She said some people build their house, then have to move it because of thermal jets that suddenly appear under the house! The mud pools smell of sulphur and bubble just like the Bog of Eternal Stench from the movie Labrynth, with David Bowie.
We're off to Auckland next, to stay with our friend Rod (Goldfinger), a hasher we traveled around Rajistahan with. Hope all my family and friends on the East coast of the US are surviving the snow storms.
Love you all and miss you!
Carla
After our Thanksgiving in Nelson, we drove down to Christchurch for the weekend and visited the zoo (take note Jon and Tim!) so I could see the infamous Kiwi, and went to a rather cheesy Christmas music festival where nearly half the population of the south island attended. Any of you who have seen Monty Python's Meaning of Life and remember the scene when they sing, "It's Christmas in Heavan Every Day" will have an idea of what this festival was like. Neill and I also went clubbing with our new friend, Timo, a German who lives in Christchurch that we happen to meet in Queenstown. He speaks phenomenal English, and with a kiwi accent! He took us to a club called The Holy Grail. I go into the bathroom and see a woman there inspecting the deep scratches on her chest. "What happened?" I ask. She replies, "Oh, I got into a fight with some girl on the dance floor. You should see her, though." I exit the bathroom to witness the police escorting a bunch of people out. Rough place, but I had fun dancing with Timo and all his friends, especially lovely Rochelle. It was her 28th birthday that night.
We took the ferry from Picton to Wellington where Neill and I met the wise Floridian traveler, czeched out the Te Papa museum, and became honorary pilots of Fly By Wire. For those of you who don't believe me, I have a video to prove how I learned how to fly a jet propelled rocket!
We had to hash, as well, seeing as Wellington had a bid for the 2004 Interhash. Neill and I ran with the men's hash on Monday, and the Port Nicholson Hash on Tuesday. I made friends with a very friendly 13 year old hasher, Tax Man's Daughter, who had never talked with an American before. How cool is that? Thanks for the t-shirt TMD!
After Wellington, we drove up to Napier for a night, stayed at a hostel run by an American from San Diego, partied with the numerous German backpackers at an Irish pub that night (Neill talked German with them for over 3 hours!), then drove up to Te Aroroa to see the sunrise at East Cape, the most easterly point in the southern hemisphere. Neill and I cracked ourselves up by pointing out the most easterly cow pie in the southern hemisphere, damaged the muffler on the Moon Unit driving on the most easterly dirt road in the southern hemisphere, and got zapped crossing over the most easterly electric fence in the southern hemisphere. The sunrise was pretty spectacular though. We were the first to see the sun rise in the world on Dec. 6th, 2002!
After East Cape, we drove on to Rotorua, and stayed with my hasher friends, Norma and Roger. I met and chatted with them for, maybe, 20 minutes on the yellow dress run 3 months ago in Goa, India. Norma emails me and invites me to stay with her when I'm in town. So here we are! She's an ER nurse, so I'm filling up my brain with the knowledge from her nursing journals. Who knew I'd be starving for that stuff?
In Rotorua I just had to czech out the Waitomo Caves, famous for their glowworm displays. We rapelled down 30 meters to the cave entrance, blackwater rafted down the river inside the cave, and then got to rock climb out. The glowworms look like tiny blue stars on the cave ceiling. I spent some time pointing out all the constellations to Neill. It took awhile, as they kept moving around. Of course, no one was amused but me. Norma also took us to many of the hot springs here, and we got to swim and soak in a hot river, warmed by a nearby thermal pool. Rotorua is built on the edge of an old volcano, so there are tons of hot springs and mud pools. She said some people build their house, then have to move it because of thermal jets that suddenly appear under the house! The mud pools smell of sulphur and bubble just like the Bog of Eternal Stench from the movie Labrynth, with David Bowie.
We're off to Auckland next, to stay with our friend Rod (Goldfinger), a hasher we traveled around Rajistahan with. Hope all my family and friends on the East coast of the US are surviving the snow storms.
Love you all and miss you!
Carla
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