The Long Trip Home

 The short version of the long trip home is that approximately 43 1/2 hours after we left Dave and Shirley's we arrived in Little Rock.

Here's the longer version:

We got to the Dunedin airport and got checked-in.  We were very happy to be able to check our luggage all the way to Little Rock.  That used to not always be the case.  After a couple hours we boarded our flight to Auckland. 

In Auckland, we had a five hour lay-over.  We ate lunch, checked our email, and came up with things to keep LilliAnn busy.  For example, there was a wall with flight trivia a little ways from where we were sitting.  We'd send LilliAnn over to read some piece of trivia then report back.  Then we'd send her back to look at something else.  Mom also took her to an observation deck to watch flights come in and out.  About the most exciting thing that happened was that Dad's carry-on was apparently too heavy.  Never mind that it was lighter than the carry-on limit in the US and was fine for the flight to Auckland.  Luckily he just had to move stuff into our other bags.  Luckily they didn't suspect my backpack, I guess because it was a backpack, even though it was almost as heavy as his.

We then boarded the flight to San Francisco.  It was an 11 hour flight.  I think I may have slept 2 or 3 hours of it.  Ah well... so I was exhausted when we hit San Fran.  We then had a 12 hour layover.  After we cleaned up some, we found a desk where Dad could work and watch all our carry on luggage.  Then Mom, LilliAnn and I headed into the city.  As long as we were sitting on the Subway we had trouble staying awake. 

Once we got into town, we ate.  Then took a trolley car... isn't that what you are supposed to do in San Fran?

Here's one

LilliAnn rode standing up.

We rode the car all the way to Fisherman's Wharf.  From there we could see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Mom and LilliAnn at Fisherman's Wharf

A good family photo with a famous prison

 As we walked along the the tourist part of the  longest of the piers, we looked at a map trying to figure out if we could see the Golden Gate Bridge.  There was an opening between buildings.  We decided to see if we could get to the other side.  It fell into the category of things I don't suggest doing at night or alone.  There wasn't really anyone around.  But you could tell this was the part of the wharf where the fisherman name comes from.  The smell of fish was definitely in the air.  We got a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge and saw lots of traps the fishemen had used.

Golden Gate Bridge

Trap

On the same pier was a museum with a lot of old arcade games.  It was pretty cool.  Mom told LilliAnn she could pick one.  She picked one that had almost no electronic parts.  It was just two boxers.  You had to hit the other player in the mouth while charging forward.  This was much harder that it seemed.  After awhile we nearly gave up.  I tried to hold my boxer in position so that LilliAnn could maybe knock it out.  She managed to knock out her own guy.

LilliAnn concentrating

My victorious boxer

 The weather was pretty perfect.  It was bright, sunny, and in the 70's.  A cool wind was blowing off the bay.  We sat outside for awhile in a park soaking in the nice weather.  We then took a cable car to the Ferry terminal where we could see the Bay Bridge.  Then I especially was exhausted, so we headed back to the airport.

Bay Bridge

We then hung out at the airport for 5ish more hours, then boarded the plane for our second overnight flight, this time to Charlotte, NC.  I only slept an hour or so of this flight.  Partly because we had some excitement on the flight.  There was a medical emergency.  I'm still not sure what it was.  I thought for sure that we'd have to have an emergency landing, but we didn't.  We got to Charlotte for our last 3 hour layover, then finally boarded our last flight home.

Heather, Cassie, and Sophie were there to greet us.  We all got our luggage, so that was exciting.  When we got back to Mom and Dad's, I broke one of my overcome jet lag rules and took a couple hour nap.  It didn't make a difference, I still slept 11 hours Wednesday night.  Then I slept 10 hours last night.  I think I've almost made up for not really sleeping for a couple of nights.

I head for Costa Rica in 9 days... I'm clearly crazy.

You haven't been to Dunedin until you climb a few hills

 Sunday of course we went to church.  LilliAnn had spent the night with Knotts.  She and Gabrielle were waiting in front of the building when we arrived.  LilliAnn has gotten so tall that from a distance I was wondering who the lady and her kid was.  Wow.  Mom taught the kids class.  She brought in a computer with slides they could advance.  The kids got really excited during class and participated a lot.  Mom of course did a great job.

 Dad taught the adult class and preached.  I took pictures.  :)  That's my job I guess.  This was the first Sunday that the church met in their temporary location. 

After church we went home to the Woodrows and had lunch.  Sandra, one of the ladies from church came too.  She and Mom started making plans for the next time she comes to the States.  It was big fun.  Then we had to start on packing.  That was not big fun.  :)  Mom and I did take a break to go visit one of the ladies from church who now lives in a nursing home (or rest home as they say in NZ).  She is quite a character and I was glad to get to spend some time with her again.  In the evening, we went to church again, Dad got to preach again.

Monday, for our last day in New Zealand, we did some more sightseeing.  Nikki came with us.  She was a teenager the last time I went to New Zealand... You know all those teenagers from before are now adults... its weird... I'm not old enough for them to be adults.  :)

The first thing we did was go to Baldwin Street, the Steepest Street in the World.  We even decided to walk up it.  We had to talk LilliAnn into it... but she got in the mood before we reached the top.

Getting started.

Dad and Nikki.  At the steepest (which is about where this was taken) the slope is 1 in 2.86.

We stopped to wait for Mom and LilliAnn... Then LilliAnn powered past us all of a sudden and was the first to the top.

 After climbing, Baldwin and walking back down. We did a bit of souvenir shopping and got lunch and headed out to the end of the Otago Peninsula to see the Albatross colony.  The Royal Albatross is the bird with the biggest wing span.  In the colony we got to see several baby albatrosses sitting in their nests.   (We had to climb another hill.)

A baby albatross.

Which is about this big and weighs 9 KG (about 20 lbs).  They also put weights in this doll so we could see how heavy they were.

The white hands are LilliAnn's wing span versus that of a royal albatross.  (One of LilliAnn's arms isn't shorter than the other... she was standing slightly off center.)

 Because the babies didn't do much, we had big fun watching Southland Shags.  Especially because they were defending their nests from the seagulls.  They actually post guards to watch for the seagulls.  The shags drove the seagulls away a couple times while we were there.

Shags defending their nests.  The nests are mounds.

After the end of tour, we headed down to Pilot Beach next to the colony to look for seals.  We didn't see any... but we finally saw an adult albatross fly overhead.  (It hadn't been windy enough before.)  I would show you a picture, but I had the settings on my camera wrong whoops... OH and we had to climb another hill.  (Dunedin is a city on a bunch of hills... when I used to come as a student we did a lot of letter boxing, so we climbed lots of hills back in the day.)

On the way back into town, we stopped by to see a Mauri (natives of New Zealand) community center.

 We then had to go home and work on packing some more.  That night, a Chinese couple from church, took the Woodrows, the Knoxes, and our family to dinner at a restaurant called The Asian Restaurant.  It was really good and a great way to spend our last evening in New Zealand.

Shirley, Dave, Aaron, Vanessa, me, LilliAnn, Mom, Dad, Wing, and Rebecca... taken by a slightly intoxicated guy.

We then went home and finished up packing.  In the blog tomorrow... The long trip home.

Toko Mouth

Today is Saturday, if you are wondering.  It’s hard to believe that we only have two more full days in New Zealand, unless the ash cloud from Chile has something to say about it.  The group from Harding was supposed to leave Thursday.  Their flight was canceled so now they are supposed to leave tomorrow… so we’ll see.

Today, we went to the Woodrow’s Crib, beach house/ get away/ cabin.  This is not crib as in MTV Cribs.  J  It is about 50 minutes from their house in Dunedin.  It is right at the Toko Mouth.  That is where the Tokomariro River meets the Pacific Ocean, so it’s not far from their front door to the water.  We got to the cabin and unloaded then went for a walk.  As usual for June, we dressed for beach weather.

David, Dad, Mom, and Shirley walking along the Toko Mouth

 

David and LilliAnn lead the way most of the time… they were also often compatriots in getting into trouble.

David leading LilliAnn along the beach.  You can see where the river meets the ocean where the waves are breaking.

 This beach has a lot of really cool rock formations.  In these are fossilized trees.  They mostly show up as circles in the rock.   I think there are three in the following picture.

The adults had fun being silly on the beach.

Mom riding the crocodile and Dad flying down the beach.

Shirley showing LilliAnn how to be eaten by the crocodile.

Can you spot all 6 of us on the beach?

 

At the end of our walk, David picked up some kelp and began trying to crack it like a whip.  Then LilliAnn and Shirley jumped it as he swung it around.  Then at some point, David starting chasing LilliAnn with it.  So of course LilliAnn ran straight into the creek that flows into the ocean.  She hit a hole and fell in the creek.  (The picture makes David look guiltier than he was.)

They do have jump ropes in New Zealand.

David is not quite as guilty of driving LilliAnn into the water as this picture looks.

The aftermath. (I was too busy telling LilliAnn to get her camera out of the water to take pictures while she was in it.)

After LilliAnn was thoroughly soaked, we headed back to the crib.  Mom had thought ahead and brought a change of clothes for LilliAnn.  I did have to give up some socks, since Mom didn’t think to bring any because LilliAnn was going to be wearing gum boots...  I mean her FEET won’t get wet. (I was wearing 4 pairs of socks… I didn’t want my feet to get cold, so it wasn’t a great sacrifice.)  Once back at the cabin we had lunch then played cards before packing up to come back to Dunedin.

Once back in Dunedin, we skyped with the Woodrows’ oldest son who was a good friend of mine from the old Harding Campaigns when I was but a young lass.  It was great getting to meet his wife and kids via the magic of the internets.

This evening we went to the Knotts for dinner.  It was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs.  Dad, Aaron and I have similar senses of humor which is dangerous.  Luckily the others tolerate us pretty well… and they might even share some of that sense of humor too.  LilliAnn is spending the night there.  (This is the same family whose children came with us to the chocolate factory yesterday.)  It was another great day.