NZ Winter, Not Too Shabby

7/1/19:  Is it worth it?  Another trip down south?  This time way south to New Zealand and Australia.  Yes, we over packed our things and headed once again across the equator.  Everyone welcomed us with the Maori words Kia Ora, a greeting meaning good health.  The Kiwis welcomed us with open arms from the moment we landed.  Kiwi's were very friendly, helpful, and polite everywhere we went.  Everywhere we looked, even in winter, the landscape was emerald green and breathtaking at times.

Retro packaging on display at SFO, this basically sums up our excitement for our upcoming trip! 

Our Air BNB had the austere look and feel of a German nunnery, but it was situated in CBD (Central Business District) and accessible to lots of different amenities.  An excellent home base for all of our adventures.

Well the NZ winter is rainy, chilly and wet.  Our first full day (July 4) the heavens poured down...but you couldn't dampen the spirits of the intrepid travelers.  We whisked ourselves away to the Auckland Zoo for what would be a very personal experience.  It turns out we were the first and practically only patrons at the zoo.  Most animals were out and about despite the inclement weather.  The otters were playful as pups and the giraffes were almost close enough to touch.  We also traipsed into the Kiwi enclosure and were able to see a few of this national bird.  This was somewhat difficult as the Kiwi is nocturnal and the enclosure was fairly dark.  Not many Kiwis are in the wild, these birds are fairly large, a bit larger than a rugby ball.  The eggs of the Kiwi are about 1/3 of their size, almost the same size of an ostrich egg.  These flightless birds are really cute, it is no wonder this is the national bird of New Zealand.

These wild animals are close enough to touch, and so are the giraffes.  

Good times at the zoo. 

Definitely unimpressed with our shenanigans.  

A drenched ostrich.  Looking alot less happy about the weather than we were.  

A premature welcome to Oz.  

Look Carolyn, Mulder's cousin in NZ

There is a warning about this bird not to touch as his bite can take off a finger, and yet he was free to fly in the aviary.  Nice to be in a country that at times allows for natural consequences for stupidity! 

A wandering emu. 

These lion tamarin's weren't daunted by the rainy. 

The lunch at the zoo restaurant was exceptionally good (surprising for a zoo to boast such quality grub).  The enclosures for the animals were well thought out, and safe.  We felt as if we could almost interact with the animals.  All in all an excellent first full day in NZ.  

Sonoma of the way South - Waiheke Island

7/5/19: A quick ferry ride from Auckland and we found ourselves in wine country, Waiheke Island.  The wineries in Auckland are mostly small and typically don't export their wines so we truly felt we were in for a rare treat.  At Mudbrick winery, a warm and inviting place, we explained to our server that we mostly only get white's in the US from New Zealand and mostly just Kim Crawford...producing the most uncomfortable wincing from her that I've seen in quite some time.

Ontengi beach, our view for lunch!  

The only thing that could improve this view is of course a selfie! 

Wine country - pastoral to be sure.  

Incredible views.  

Sun setting way too early.  

Auckland from the hill! 

Because it was winter, nothing was crowded and all the people working the tasting rooms had plenty of time to over pour the wines and talk up a storm.  Besides Mudbrick, we enjoyed Te Matu (a very small winery with a friendly woman from Utrecht pouring wine, shout out to Erwin), and Tantalus Estates, excellent reds with a great tasting room.  All together a relaxing day with incredible views.

Sparkly Black Sand Beach

7/6/19 - A beautiful day trip to Titirangi and the much celebrated (a long standing surfing destination) Piha Beach for a day trip to view the black sand...ooooooohhhhhhh, super sparkly!  Despite taking a spill on . a few rocks and bruising every inch of my body. (Yes, my grace and lack there of let me down once again, Yosiell and Rusty were sufficiently kind and concerned!)

The pictures do not do justice to the unicorn like sparkly black sand on the beach.  

A long distance pic of me in paradise! 

I'm just imagining this beach with full summer sun...still, sweater weather on the beach during July is pretty awesome! 

A large volcanic rock jutting into the ocean.  If one is so inclined, one can take a trail to the top of this...we were not so inclined...perhaps next time! 

After this incredible view, we decided to make a quick trip to Karekare for a short hike to the falls.

The obligatory standing in front of the falls photo,  

Fighting the strong desire to swim under the falls on this chilly winter day. 

This pou is said to protect Karikari.  Cool carving! 

The scenery here is in some ways very similar to the California coastline.  Very beautiful indeed! 

Eclectic Fare at the Art Museum

7/7/19 - When traveling with anyone, it is highly advisable to take a few hours for one's self - that's how I found myself wandering downtown Auckland in search of drip coffee.  For those that aren't familiar with the coffee situation in NZ (and for that matter Oz), drip coffee is rare.  Flat whites (basically an espresso with steamed milk) are ubiquitous, but just an average drip coffee filled with enough caffeine to jump start your day is impossible to find.  I broke down and headed to Starbucks to get a thoroughly disappointing drip coffee.  (We have it on good authority from a server we met from Texas that the Dunkin' Donuts has good drip coffee but never managed to get there).

After  reminding myself what a whiny American bitch I'm being about the whole coffee dilemma, I went to church, AKA, the Auckland Art Museum.  A small but mighty museum to be sure!  This museum certainly didn't boast a large amount of high priced traditional European "masterpieces", opting instead for more local artists, but the eclectic collection was interesting and thought provoking.

One exhibition of note was the Gorilla Girl's exhibition.  Although I've seen posters and stickers from the Gorilla Girls out and about in SF and New York, it certainly was cool to see a collection of their work from their start.  This small group of mostly women taking on the patriarchy of the art establishment is a cause near and dear to my heart.  This group has highly criticized the art world's almost exclusive focus on straight white European art and artists.

One of the original Gorilla Girls posters.  

Kudos to the Auckland Art Museum for reflecting on its own practices.  

This poster reflects a characteristic we found in many Kiwis...a willingness to be self critical and a willingness to work toward change.  It seems to be the attitude that allows for a prime minister and government to change gun laws within a month of a deadly shooting.  What an attractive quality in a people and a nation! 

One display was of a modern interpretation of Maori traditional costumes.  This was a fun. high energy, multi media display...these outfits could give our SF drag queens a run for their money.  

One artist has presented him/herself as male and female in successive panels, clearly calling into question gender stereotypes and norms in the Maori and NZ culture.  

Three generations of Maori women sporting colonial slave ships.  

Finally some additional pieces of note from the museum.  

St. Sebastian...who doesn't love a martyr?

A child's funeral...creepy?  

Auckland has a large collection of Maori tribal leaders, all from this same artist.  

This collection of found photos all have the shadow of the photographer in the photo.  Looking at just one photo seemed somewhat whimsical, but as a collection one imagines the shadow figure as just one ominous and nefarious man intending to harm the subject of the photo.  I imagined this as the start of a psychological thriller or even a slasher movie and even the joyful expressions of the people in the photos seemed almost like a harbinger of a future tragedy.  

Well gentle readers, thanks for indulging me on this trip through Auckland Art Museum.  When filed with existential doubt, wandering the halls fo a gallery comforts me, grounds me, and helps to successfully elevate my soul and quiet my doubt.  Spending an afternoon alone wandering these pieces provided me with a much needed escape from my petty coffee dilemmas! 

Nerding Out at Hobbiton

7/8/19 - Zero dark thirty (Army speak for before sunrise), we were rousted out of our warm slumber for a tour of Hobbiton and Waitomo Glow Worm Caves.  This tour is really the primary reason Rusty and Yosiell agreed to New Zealand as a travel destination.  Our tour guide, an older New Zealand gentleman, regaled us enthusiastically with all sorts of NZ farming facts as we travelled the two hours outside of Auckland to Hobbiton.  This former farmer certainly was proud of his craft . (I now know a significant amount about sheep and cow breeds than I had before the trip).

We opted for the small van tour with just a small group of people from all over the world.  Our tour guide got us on the first Hobbiton tour of the day...what an amazingly beautiful place, even in winter when not all of the trees were budding.  This place is touristy, but not Disney touristy.  The guide walks you through Hobbiton regaling you with Hobbit and LOTR stories.  A few small stories that stuck in my craw:

Peter Jackson found this place because his wife is from the area.  She kept after him to visit as she thought it would be exactly what he was looking for...finally he relented and took a trip via helicopter and admitted to his wife that this place is perfect.

One family owns the entire farm that this is built upon.  After the first build, Hobbiton was completely torn down.  When peter Jackson came back for an additional build as more movies were being made, the family asked him to make this a more permanent build to accommodate them developing this as a tourist destination.

Most of the hobbit holes are only a few meters in depth as interiors were shot in a film studio (but the doors do open).

The party scene for Frodo's 111th Birthday party took three nights to shoot, the extras were given a home brew of 1% beer to promote a party vibe without getting everyone drunk.  By night three the 1% beer was gone and everyone was given normal beer, (4%) the third night was much more untidy than the first two nights!

The view coming onto the farm for Hobbiton...this is the point where I almost decided to move to New Zealand...beautiful is an understatement.  

Hobbit hole at Hobbiton! 

Definitely in his happy place!  

The top hobbit hole is Bag End the home of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins...the smaller tree above Frodo's hobbit hole in the picture is not a real tree...after completing the artificial tree, Peter Jackson decided the leaves were the wrong color and the prop. masters had to remove, repaint, and reattach every single leaf

A small hobbit hole.

The level of detail is fun to see. 

The Hobbiton bee keeper...neat details! 

My favorite photo from our entire trip!  Three giants peeking out of a Hobbit hole.  

Despite overcast weather, beautiful scenery. 

Pulling the cart wasn't so bad it's when they cracked the whip that things got a bit dicey. 

The Green Dragon Inn...a pint of cider/beer and then some pano trick photography with the intrepid travelers. 

The surly blacksmith! 

Just after Hobbiton, we went to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves.  After a brief tour of the limestone caves, we were ushered into a boat, and went through the pitch dark caves to see the most amazing sight of pale blue dots of light.  each dot was a glow worm (really a river fly larva).  No photos are available of the actual glow worms because the flash would cause the glow worms to go out taking up to about two hours to start to glow again.  Glow worms actual glow to attract prey.  They dangle long strings below them and prey attracted to the light gets tangled in the sticky strings before being pulled up to be devoured.  

The exit of the glow worm caves,  the boats are hand pulled by the descendants of the Maori guide that showed the European explorers the location fo the cave.  We were impressed with the fact that our guide was a direct descendent of this first Maori guide until she explained that he had over 25 children and she is one of three thousand descendants...

 This day was completely magical and wonderful.  This is the day I completely fell in love with this volcanic island and anticipate one day spending a considerable amount of time here!