Our day began in Auckland where we got up before the sun rose to be ready for our flight to Blenheim, in the heart of the New Zealand wine county.  Upon arrival at the Auckland airport we saw Brent drive up in his 1967 Corvette that he bought in Maine.

He came to the airport to check on his business, Retro Espresso, which renovates old Airstream trailers and turns them into coffee kiosks at airports.  As he said, “I treasure anything that is old”.  Here is his “shop” in the Auckland airport.

After being paged to slim down our luggage weight, we boarded the prop plane for the short trip to Blenheim, the heart of the Marlborough wine country.

After a short flight we were soon to be at our new location, the Marlborough Vintners Hotel.  A place that is to us, is completely remarkable in it’s perfection.

The vines are straight and bearing their fruit.

Our accommodations are nothing short of remarkable in terms of design and sense of place, a beautiful resort parked among vineyards as far as you can see while being elegantly minimalist.  Mountains are silhouetted in the distance at every direction.  If Auckland was San Francisco, then we are now in Napa.

After a trek through some of the other vineyards this afternoon, seeing their beautiful flora juxtaposed against their antique motorcycles  we hung out in our courtyard and caught up on email while sipping (swilling) the local wine.

We finished it off with a light dinner of small plates and toured the beautiful vegetation of the kitchen garden.

While we are saying good bye to Auckland we can’t leave without a comment on the difference in washers, dryers, and dishwashers.  I don’t know that I ever got them set correctly and last night realized I was so caught up in figuring out which dial did what that I forget to put the clothes in the washer /dryer combination (which does neither very well).  See if you can figure this out.

Same goes for the dishwasher.  I never quite knew if our dishes were actually cleaned.

Oh and by the way, Auckland has it’s own sense of Las Vegas.

This was how our guide, Ceillhe,  explained living in New Zealand.  They are the first to greet each day and are always ahead of the rest of the world, as witnessed by the fact that they were the first country to give women the vote.  We experienced so much today that it is difficult to describe in words without the overuse of superlatives.  Ceillhe is of Maori lineage and can trace her heritage back to the canoe that her ancestors used to traverse the Pacific and arrive in New Zealand.  She speaks four languages, owns the tour company with her husband who speaks six languages and is the picture of a Polynesian mother embracing her family.  Her she is in a shot from their website giving the traditional Maori greeting, touching head and nose and sharing your life force.  And here she is talking to our group of eight intrepid explorers, explaining Maori culture and New Zealand history.

The highest natural point in the City of Auckland is a volcano, complete with crater.

The plaque on the obelisk atop this mountain reminded us that this was a “smiling land”.

From here, we drove to the Auckland museum which sits on land that was once used to house 45,000 American troops during World War II.

And then, a short trek to the “Winter garden” and “Fernery” to explore the exquisite NZ flora and fauna. (click to enlarge)

The last picture is a tree with fruit that grows so large it can take several folks to carry.

And here is the oldest vine on earth.  As Ceihlle said, “Our Forests are our gardens AND our medicine cabinets” as she showed us different ferns with medicinal properties.

From here we took a longer drive to reach the west coast of cliffs and black sand beaches.  In this incredible city you can wade in the Tazman Sea and Pacific ocean in a matter of minutes.  Beware Heidi and Art, Wayne noticed that there was an RV park in this location upon which I’m sure you will stake a temporary claim when you make your trip.

The black sand beaches and cliffs are also the home of the Gannet bird which nest on the cliffs.  They were thrilling to watch while they seemed to float on air.

Believe me, these pictures don’t do justice to the awe inspiring scene.

Soon it was time to venture back and our wonderful Ceillhe took us through the adorable town of Devenport.  Imagine living in this jewel of a home with a white picket fence . . .

and this is the view out your front window.

After rounding us up into the van for the trip home, we had one more treat in store, a stop at a “dairy” for a taste of the Kiwi favorite, Hokey Pokey Ice Cream.

Oh, and by the way, you all thought that New Zealanders were called “Kiwis” because of the fruit, right?  WRONG!  It’s because an Australian businessman  started the Kiwi Shoe Polish company!  So think about that the next time you buff your shoes.

Tomorrow we fly to Blenheim and are off to the vineyards of Marlborough.

As always, leave your comments and share with your friends.

So here I am dutifully reporting from Down Under.  A position unsuited to both my personality and private proclivities.  But nonetheless, one I find myself in far more often than I would wish.  My first interactions with the natives convince me that they are undilutedly happy and entirely comfortable in their skins.  Based on my research this is likely a consequence of the absence of a decent Christian upbringing.  Their obviously delusional perspective on life leads them to be friendly in ways that leave your reporter completely discomforted.  Spiral notebook in hand, I have gently inquired of a number of these folks whether they’re “on something”.  Blank stares in return suggest otherwise.  Those of you familiar will instantly understand that it has required every ounce of self-restraint to keep from Cher slapping them and ordering them to “snap out of it”.  As alluded to earlier, the foregoing may be related to Rob’s earlier report of people jumping off a nearby building.  Whether this is a consequence of the locals “holding back”, as I suspect, or visitors such as ourselves growing despondent by comparison will be a subject for further research (perhaps at a nearby bar this evening).  Putting aside the apparently delirious natives the City of Auckland reminds me of San Francisco on a perfect autumn day.  So many exquisite examples of Victorian architecture whose details are gloriously exaggerated by the clarity of the air and the remarkable sunlight.  And a glistening harbor.  So maybe they’re not pretending after all.

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This morning we awoke to cool breezes through the open windows in our studio at the Barclay Suites.  It is absolutely perfect for us, with a real urban vibe, a washing machine and most importantly a french press coffee maker.  I toddled downstairs and asked for the nearest grocery store to fill the larder and was pointed around the block to a great “Kiwi” grocery store.

We took our time with the morning routine sloughing off all the accumulated jet lag.  Since we had no planned activities for today we decided to explore the downtown and harbor area.  Imagine my surprise when I heard a shrill scream coming through the open door and saw a woman jumping from the sky needle about a block from our hotel.

Yes, in the home of bungee jumping, they actually jump off their towers as well.  We saw several take the controlled plunge.  I’m tempted but think I’ll save my height adventure for the Sydney Bridge climb.

At the end of our street and the Quay sits the Ferry Building.  Inside, the Harborside Restaurant was beckoning us for lunch.

The perfect table for two.  They specialize in oysters so Wayne had his usual dozen.  These were Bluff oysters which are only available in the month of March and are harvested off of the South Island.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more plump oyster.

I had a wonderful cole slaw made with Wasabi mayonnaise.  It was such a treat to taste greens that had just been harvested.  Something we have been unable to do in Chicago during our brutal winter.  For a main course I had exquisite fish tacos.

After totally sating ourselves, we admired the fine detail of the Ferry Building.

The “Kiwi’s” are about the nicest people we’ve ever encountered.  The happiness quotient seems very high and were glad to get the same feeling from our interactions.

Several of you have asked if you can share this blog with others.  Please do!  It feels like we are traveling with a community and I appreciate all your comments and emails.  Tomorrow we are off for a full day of Maori culture.

I’m having a little issue with the size of photos.  Please remember that you can always click on the photo to enlarge.

We started our day with an “Aloha” to Honolulu and got to the airport to board our nine hour flight to Auckland.  The Honolulu airport is a little disconcerting as they siphon you through very small security and agricultural checks only to pour you onto open air bridges that connect terminals.  How could this be secure?  Here is a pic of our plane taken from an open air bridge after Wayne and I hit the duty free shop. (Don’t ask what we bought)

We took off ahead of schedule and our pilot plotted a diagonal course to the south across the Pacific.  As I watched the screen indicating our location I could tell we were headed for the equator and the International Date Line.  Little did I know that we would pierce the crosshatch of both.  In one singular moment we had moved from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern and leapfrogged a day ahead.  Well, that put me into a contemplative mood.  Last year was tough, for our family and for many of our friends.  We experienced many losses, jobs, loved ones, and especially for us, the loss of Izzy and Fiona, our beloved dogs.  But here I was, 39,00 feet in the air, shaking off a hemisphere and a whole day.  It made me think that we can shake off the losses in our lives and move to the next phase, whatever that is.  By this time, the sun was setting and there is nothing like watching a Pacific sunset at 39,000 feet.

It truly is amazing.  So the sun finally set, we landed in Auckland.  And here we are, ready to move on.

Oh, and by the way, if the sun sets on the right side of your plane, the moon rises on the left.

So many opportunities.  Bring on the next adventure!

With each wisp of the Hawaiian breeze another chink of the Chicago winter has fallen away.  We’ve enjoyed a great 36 hours on the island absorbing the rich flora and fauna

We have a wonderful tradition in our family of collecting rocks from our various travels and keeping them in our courtyard at home.  We have rocks from Rome, Paris,  Roman ruins, Petra, and the Pyramids.  Here is Wayne scouring Waikiki for the perfect stone to add to the collection.

So with that, we say Aloha to Hawaii and we are on to Auckland, NZ this afternoon where the real adventures begin.  Stay tuned.  Feel free to comment, I’m new at this so I appreciate all your feedback.

Why, of course, with military mimosas and a good camp breakfast.

After making our way to our hotel on the beach after a six hour flight from Las Vegas that began at 1:45 AM Vegas time, we were bushed.  But we decided a good breakfast was in order.  So we thought we would walk the beach and find a perfect spot to have a bloody, eggs and bacon.  We spotted it in the park adjacent to our hotel.  Little did we know that we had stumbled on Fort Derussy, an Armed Forces Recreation Center.  It also contained the perfect restaurant balcony on which to have a breakfast.  We found our way into the restaurant and stood in line with the other guests.  When our turn arrived, our lovely hostess, Jamaica, asked to see my military ID.  She must have seen the quizzical look on my face because she pulled me aside to inform me that this was a military installation and only military was allowed.  She took pity on us and said she would “sponsor” us for breakfast.  So in no time at all we were enjoy a “military mimosa” and a good camp breakfast.

Perhaps if we had looked at the sign before entering the property we would have known what we were entering.

Thank God we didn’t set off any fireworks as they are forbidden by the rules.  Tomorrow we are off to Auckland, New Zealand, but for now we say, Aloha.

Rent a limo and cruise the strip.  Our nice driver, Rick, gave us the grand tour.

Our bags are packed and we’re ready to go.

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