Betty is Now Lucy, and a Tour of Lucy

Written 6:29 PM, NZDT, 27th Sept.
Rotorua Public Library

Posted same time

After a couple days of life with the van, we decided she was not really a Betty, and Matt has re-christened her "Lucy." Lucy the Lucida has taken us faithfully thus far. Here are some photos:

Lucy at Dickey Flat campground (free!), our first night out of Auckland

Sheep loading gate at Dickey Flat

Waitawheta River ("White-uh-feta") at Dickey Flat

Matt and one of two moonroofs!

Our first cookout lunch, at a park in Tauranga

Me pretending to be a master outdoor chef (yes, it was raining)

Lucy's dent

The "bed cave"

The van mascot, Bob (who you might recognize as Mr. Incredible). According to the previous owners, Bob is good luck and all the crap days they had with the van were when they took Bob down from his post. We were warned never to put him anywhere else :) His is Robert in formal situations, of course. 

The living room

"front bulkhead" storage- groceries and odds and ends behind the seats

The kitchen

Side storage. Behind the chilly bin, we each have a plastic bin for our clothes.

Rear storage. Cooking and cleaning gear. 

Matt got breakfast in bed this morning:) 

Lucy in all her glory, at Lake Rerewhakaitu this morning (southeast of Rotorua). 

My internet time is fast coming to a close right now, so I'll get you up to date on our recent meanderings another time. In the meantime, remember that "wh" in New Zealand makes an F sound!

On the Road, and Introducing Betty!

Written 5:11 PM NZST

Saturday, 25 September, 2010

Posted 6 PM, same day.

I am writing from a Starbucks in the tourist district of Mount Manganui, on the Bay of Plenty! When our bank transfers still hadn’t come through yesterday, and with the deadline for purchasing the van drawing too near, Matt’s mom, ever the lifesaver, wired the needed money directly to Matt via Western Union (from another savings account of his) and we picked up the money, bought the van, and were on our way out of Auckland by 5 PM yesterday! (Naturally, his bank transfer came through today…)

So, we now have our home on wheels for the next 8 months: a Toyota Lucida minivan, tricked out as a campervan, who we have named “Betty.” My photo uploads are not cooperating again, so I'll probably post those at another time. We have to pay for internet everywhere, including in wifi hotspots, so I'm in a time crunch.

We bought her from our Israeli friends at the hostel, Michael and Odet, who had it priced at NZ$4,300 but gave us a discount because of the giant dent that Odet had just put in the side turning into a parking lot, and because we are Americans, and “The Americans helped us Israelis, so we like you!” Betty is lovely, exactly what we were looking for, but with maybe a bit more character than we would like: big dent in the side, jankety sunroof, a veeeery cozy interior, and a passenger door whose handle broke 15 minutes after we bought her, rendering the door useless and meaning that the passenger has to climb in over the driver’s seat. We’ll be getting that fixed pretty soon, I guarantee you. Betty came with “hips of camping gear” (as advertised on the flier) so we already had almost everything we needed- most bedding, cookware, a portable single burner cooker, chilly bin (cooler, Kiwi-style), and loads of maps, battery-operated lights, etc. I met Odet when I was looking through the van postings in the hostel and he came over. “You are looking for a van? I show you which one is best. All those others, they are sheet!”

We were able to buy 3^rd-party insurance through the IEP office, $240 for 9 months. Our travel insurance covers theft of anything in the vehicle. As soon as that was done and we had picked up a few necessaries (water container, solar shower, postage stamps…), we took to the road. Matt braved the left-side driving first, and we made it safely out of Auckland, south through Manukau, braved a petrol station (where I once again had to confess I had absolutely no idea how much petrol we needed. How many litres is our gas tank? We have no idea!) We drove through the dark to a free DOC (Dept of Conservation) campsite we had looked up, just south of Paeroa, where we had stopped for provisions. We slept incredibly well in the van, it has a great mattress! The campsite was gorgeous, if muddy- pictures below.

Today we drove to the Pacific Coast/Bay of Plenty at Waihi, then cut off to Sapphire Springs, an incredibly Podunk hot springs (more warm, really), where we paid $5 each for a soak, and $2 for a shower, which was badly needed. We also took advantage of the empty carpark and a clearing in the weather to unpack and repack the van, with everything fitting in nicely. And a lovely feeling of setting up housekeeping J Then around the bay to Tauranga, where we stopped at the charity shops to find a few things for the van (duvet cover, second set of silverware). Then we stopped at a couple surfshops and made our way here.

Finally getting to see the scenery outside of the city is incredibly fulfilling. It’s incredible, and we ooh and ah everywhere we go. We have seen a million takahe, the blue and iridescent pheasants-type birds of New Zealand, everywhere in fields and in the verges, birds of paradise, avocados and lemons for sale in little roadside stands with “honesty boxes” for payment, priced at $2/bag, calla lilies growing wild along the roads (which blows my mind!), and of course greenery and sheep and cows. I keep thinking, this is how gorgeous it is here in early spring, with no leaves on most trees, and under gray and rain (the weather hasn’t let up yet).

Plans for the next two days are not set- we may go to Rotorua tomorrow, or we might stick to the coast and buy surfboards- who knows? We don’t even know where we’ll camp tonight. And I love it! 

Since internet is expensive and I don't know when I'll get to it again, I'll be writing my posts and posting them at later dates, so I'll tell you when it was written at the tops of the posts, since they may relay events well after the fact. But we are well, and we have a car- it was amazing how simple the ppw was to buy it and transfer ownership~!

Best to you all- 

Liz

Still in Auckland

Written Friday, 24 September, 2010
12:35 PM NZST

Posted 5:40 PM, 25 September, 2010

We're still stranded in Auckland, waiting for our wire transfers to come through. Just an FYI to anyone planning to live abroad and set up a wire transfer to a foreign bank account: "Same Day" transfer means no such thing. We've been dealing with this for three days. It wouldn't be so annoying if we weren't trying to buy a car by tonight and if our home banks hadn't told us that all we would have to do is get on our online banking and put in the routing info of our NZ accounts and presto! No such luck- we have had to call our home banks multiple times to confirm our identities. My Chase account even went so far as to lock me out of my online banking, forcing me to call the bank in the U.S., which it turns out was an intentional ploy to confirm with me that it was actually me authorizing the wire transfer. A bit superfluous considering that I had been on the phone with them the day before getting the validation code to set up the wire transfer.....Anyway, at this point everything says that the wire transfers are "in transit," which means there's nothing we can do until they show up. Matt's was supposed to go through yesterday but hasn't, and I was told that mine would come through today, but they couldn't tell me what time. Plus we're dealing with the time differences (we can't call the US banks after the end of the workday there) in trying to sort it all out. If we haven't gotten the money through by this afternoon, NZ time, we will figure out plan B for getting to the Bay of Plenty.

After dealing with all of this through yesterday morning, we decided it was time to get out of the IEP office and explore Auckland some more. After lunch at an Irish pub, we walked up through Albert Park and Auckland University to the Auckland Domain.

Birds of Paradise in Albert Park

Matt and cherry blossoms in the Domain

On the walk through the domain, we saw two BRIGHT multi-colored parrots in the trees! That's when it really started to feel like we were in a foreign country.

The best photo I could get of a parrot.

The weather has continued to be very shifty, so the sky kept opening up periodically and dumping rain, and then shifting immediately into blue skies and sun. We got stuck in a downpour and took shelter in this palm grove in the domain:

We visited the Wintergarden and Fernery, which were fantastic. The Wintergarden has a coolhouse and a hothouse, and the cool house was full of amazing tulips and orchids and other springy plants:

The hothouse had these Royal Water Lilies with lily pads three feet in diameter:

This Bleeding Heart Vine from Africa:

Hanging pitcher plants:

Crazy fuzzy things on a Queensland Itch plant (!)

Fern palm in the Fernery

Four foot tall fiddlehead!

From the Wintergarden we walked up to the Auckland Museum, which is also the War Memorial Museum. It is free to Aucklanders, with a "$10 appreciated donation" as fee for everyone else. When we were at the pub earlier, a salty old sailor (complete with eyepatch) just down the bar overheard that we were heading to the museum, and called us over. He told us that the museum was supposed to be free, and that if they tried to get us to pay because we were tourists, we should "tell them to get stuffed." As it turned out, they never asked us at all. The museum was amazing, with huge exhibits on the people of the Pacific, and then the largest collection of Maori historical artifacts anywhere in the world, I think.

Matt and a replica outrigger sailing vessel

Te Oha, or raised storehouse:

Marae:

A full-sized Maori Marae, or meetinghouse. The pictures do no justice. The artistry of the carving was amazing. The designs on the inside are made with different colors of palm fronds wrapped around the wooden slats. 

Te Toki a Tapiri, the last of the great Maori war canoes. It was made in the 1830s from a single totara log, can hold 100 warriors, and is 25m long. I was in utter awe:

The tailpiece from the canoe. 

I wish I had more time to talk about the feeling of being in the presence of such beautiful artwork and carving and Maori history, but internet is expensive. Suffice it to say that it was akin to a religious experience, full of awe and respect. In accordance with Maori tradition, we washed our hands before leaving the exhibition, so we did not take any of the sacred out with us.

After the museum, we walked down the opposite way, into Parnell, one of the hip neighborhoods that we were advised to explore.

We were getting pretty tired, so we hopped on the Link bus, which runs a big circuit around the outer neighborhoods. We took it the opposite direction we had been walking in, so we got to see all the outer parts of the city and came back into downtown from the other side. We saw Newmarket, K' Road (Kharangahape Road), Ponsonby, and the opposite side of Victoria Park. It was a nice because we wanted to see those places in the city, but not necessarily spend much time there. We are feeling a bit out-styled by Auckland. I think we'll fit in a little better in the country. The downtown and shopping districts here are filled with people dressed in designer clothing and lined with shops selling upper-end stylish clothes and bags. We are going around unabashedly in our hiking boots and jeans :) I'm sure we stick out as tourists from a mile away, but we don't care so much.

We hung out in the hostel bar in the evening for free pizza, chatting with Tommy, one of our new American friends. He just graduated high school in San Francisco and is taking a gap year before college, which is very unusual in the states, and we admire him a lot for doing that! He is headed up to Rotorua for a childcare job there, so he will be near us in Opotiki, so we've all been dreaming of hotsprings and zorbing (a Kiwi-invented sport involving rolling down big hills in a giant plastic ball).

Errands and Red Tape

3:51 PM NZST
Wednesday, 21, 2010

Today has felt far from the glamourous travel experience you might think we are having! We have been dealing with paperwork, banks, errands, and all the other errands that it takes to set up a life in NZ. It's not all bad, but some of it is frustrating. On the good side, we got a great lead on a van from two Israeli guys at our hostel last night. The van is great, has everything we need, and would cost us NZ$4,000, which is US $2,900, less than we anticipated paying for a campervan. The only obstacle is that we need to be able to pay for it by Friday night, or they'll sell it to someone else, and it turns out doing an international wire transfer from our banks at home to our new bank accounts with Kiwibank is not as easy as our home banks told us. Instead, we need to have access codes that are only supposed to be texted to US phone numbers. I ended up calling my bank with the phone card that IEP gave us, but am still having trouble with it. I think it should all be straightened out soon though. Our accounts with Kiwibank are all set up, and very accessible because Kiwibank is in every Post Office branch, so every town of any size has one. We also submitted our paperwork for our IRD (tax) numbers, and had our IEP orientation this morning.

We are staying at least one more night at the hostel here in Auckland, and perhaps another one if we can't get the van by tomorrow night. That will all be played by ear.

Yesterday afternoon we had a nice little "tiki tour" by wandering around Viaduct Harbour, Victoria Park Market, and back up to Queen Street for a stop at the bookstore. We had hoped to get out to Devonport yesterday or today, but all our errands and the ferry schedules have dictated that we won't be able to right now. The weather here is still blustery, switching from rain and wind to mild sun in a matter of minutes. Apparently this part of New Zealand has been under a giant gale for quite some time, and last weekend it dumped 4 meters of snow (12 feet!) on the skifields at Ruapehu, indefinitely extending the ski season.

We are beginning to adjust to the Kiwi culture, accent, and language. There are great posters in the toilets at the IEP office regarding "How to Talk Like a New Zullander." They include such gems as "iggs ecktly = precisely", "sex= comes before sivven" and "beers=savage predators inhabiting North America." We were informed in our orientation of the important distinction between Kiwi (New Zealand inhabitant or national bird) and kiwifruit. One should never say they would like to eat a kiwi (which we say in the states), as here this indicates a desire to engage in cannibalism.

In spite of bureaucratic frustrations, I am enjoying the small things: the fact that my wireless card and computer adapter work perfectly, that Kiwibank will cash out a travelers check with no commission, and the exchange rate (I cashed a US $100 check and received a payout of NZ$134). We are surrounded primarily by Germans, and have met several Brits and then discovered that the guy sitting next to us in orientation is from Yakima, Washington! Small world.

 I will update again soon. In the meantime, here's a few photos I couldn't upload yesterday:

Browns Island, which also has a Maori name I can't remember. It is an extinct volcano that last erupted 18,000 years ago, and is now a nature sanctuary.

These are a plants on Rangitoto Island. I got a guide to New Zealand forest plants yesterday, but this plant is not in there, as far as I can discover. Isn't it beautiful, though?

Kia Ora from Auckland!

I wrote a post with the same name three and a half years ago, and I am happy to do so again. We made it! We are in the Land of the Long White Cloud and already immersed in getting to know (or re-know) Auckland.

The trip was quite an adventure, but everything did go well, and we arrived not too exhausted, having slept (Matt) and dozed (me) for several hours on the flight from Los Angeles. After tying up the last few loose ends in Portland, Matt’s mom took us to the airport, where we said our final goodbye to Portland and headed south to LA. We had great seats the entire trip; on the flight from Portland (a 737) we sat in the row right behind the first class bulkhead, so we had extra foot room, and I was in the window seat. On the Qantas flight from LA (a big Airbus), we were in the very back, where instead of four rows in the middle section, there are only three, and Matt had the aisle and me the middle. Space was a little tight, but I didn’t have to climb over a stranger to get out to the bathroom, and we didn’t miss being by a window, since it was night for almost the entire flight, and we had our own personal screens for movies, tv, whatever on demand. Our transfer at LAX was a little worrisome, mainly because LAX is a loathsome airport organized in a way where nothing makes sense and there are no monitors anywhere telling you where you should go. We determined that we needed to go from the Alaska terminal to the international terminal, and when we got to the international terminal none of the Qantas screens showed our flight. We went to the check-in desk and were instructed that our flight was leaving from the next terminal over. On arriving in that terminal, we discovered that ours was the one Qantas gate in a concourse full of American Airlines gates. So confusing. It was so refreshing to land at the Auckland airport, which is gorgeous and very well organized. It took us a couple hours to get from the plane through immigration and biosecurity, due to the fact that my visa didn’t turn up in their records (it was issued so recently that they hadn’t gotten it to the proper list yet- Matt’s was fine, I assume because his last name comes before mine in the alphabet) and then we had to have our hiking boots examined for potentially harmful soil specimens. I think it speaks loads for New Zealand that all of the customs and immigration officials that we talked to were super congenial, kind, and reassuring. When my visa didn’t come up, they told me it was no problem, they would check it out and have me on my way in a couple minutes- and sure enough, that’s what happened. The whole way through, we felt very taken care of.

We took the bus into town and checked our bags at the hostel, but we couldn’t check in until 1 PM. With a few hours to kill, we bought some delicious kebabs for lunch, then walked down to the waterfront and ogled all the amazing yachts for awhile. Auckland is one of the sailing centers of the world, and many of the Americas Cup yachts and many other super fancy, expensive boats are moored here. 

(Click on Photos to enlarge)

Matt with Voyager, a former Americas Cup yacht. 

The weather was actually quite nice, it is the equivalent of mid-March in the northern hemisphere, and a little blustery and windy, but about 60 F. We got caught in a couple rain showers, and then decided we wanted to be done walking for awhile, so we took a boat cruise of the harbor, which Provo and I had done in 2007, and it was beautiful. 

Auckland skyline from Waitemata Harbour

This time we stopped at Rangitoto Island and were given 10 minutes to wander around and see the sites- volcanic rock and loads of Pohutakawa trees (I’m probably spelling that atrociously), the trees that bloom red at Christmastime. 

Auckland from Rangitoto Island

Matt on Rangitoto

We also saw a big yacht that had been washed aground by a recent gale. Apparently there have been some major strong westerlies recently that have been doing quite a bit of damage out on the water.

The Hilton at the waterfront, with its suspended swimming pool and the Skytower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. (Photo by Matt)

Westhaven Marina, the largest marina in the southern hemisphere. Also by Matt

Matt and I are both loving how many boats there are here, and major maritime culture. 

By the time we got back, we were able to check into the hostel, get settled into our dorm, and shower. We then headed out and braved our first New Zealand grocery store, Countdown, which proved difficult to find but very cost efficient. We cooked rice and stir fried veggies at the hostel for dinner, and slept 12 hours last night!

Today we checked in at the BUNAC/IEP office, and got the paperwork to set up our bank accounts, although our official orientation is not until tomorrow. Right now I’m braving the ultra-slow, but free wireless internet in the IEP office to post this. For the rest of today, we’ll go to the bank, and take a trip across Waitemata Harbour to Devonport, as the fare for the ferry was included in our cruise tickets yesterday (benefits of traveling in the off-season).

It’s slightly surreal to be back in Auckland, and to be here with Matt. As Matt pointed out, it doesn’t feel that foreign here, which is precisely what I felt last time- I really could tell I was in a foreign country when we headed out of the city. Auckland is modern and bustling, full of people of every culture and language, and the stores are not so different from those in the U.S. It’s weird to come back and have it be a different season, as my entire previous experience in Auckland was in the deep humidity of summer. We’re both a little overwhelmed by the hugeness of our hostel, by the fact that we are now older than most of the people staying here, and a little chagrined by the vibe that occurs since we are traveling as a couple- glad as we are to be traveling together, it does create more of an obstacle to meeting other people.

So far, though, so good. My only major gripe is that my brand new sunglasses, which I bought specifically for this trip and never wore once, somehow broke in transit, and my attempt to repair them with superglue failed miserably. So tomorrow I’ll need to buy a new pair, as it became readily apparent that even in early spring, the sun is remarkably strong and bright. Also on the list for tomorrow is going across the street to Whitcoulls and buying a New Zealand plant guide. Wandering around Rangitoto Island yesterday, I couldn’t identify a single thing besides the Pohutukawa trees, and I could only identify those because the cruise commentator told us what they were.

I wanted to post some plant photos for Mom & Dad, but the connection here won't upload them now. Well, I'll post them when I actually know what they are! I hope you are all well, wherever you are right now.

Last Post from Portland

Well, folks, this is it. Our bags are packed and we're ready to go. Our life in Portland is stowed away until next summer, we've fit in last dinners and get-togethers with most of our friends, and slept our last night on U.S. soil for most of a year. It's been a long road to get here, but we are finally set. Our wallets contain passports, travelers checks and New Zealand currency, our packs are full to the gills with clothes for job interviews, manual labor, and seeing the world, and we seem to finally have all the errands done and loose ends tied up. I'm sure we've forgotten something, but at this point I am confident that all the important things are finished.

So thanks a million to everyone who helped us get this far- those who wrote our recommendations for the BUNAC program, the friends who helped us pack and move, our families of course, my cousin and partner who have put us up for the last few days, and everyone who has supported us the whole time we prepared for this trip. We are infinitely grateful, and will miss you all greatly. We are excited for this next step in our lives, a big adventure as just the two of us, and a chance to explore a new land.

Today we'll get on the plane, fly 7,000 miles, skip over a day, cross the international date line and the equator, enter a new season, and start our adventure (although it could be argued that it started well before today!). As I wrote last time before departing for New Zealand, the thing that is so stunning to me about traveling is that no matter how prepared you are and how much research you have done, you will always be surprised at what you find and astounded by the beauty you discover and the people you meet. I am so excited to embark on this journey and discover new things about the world, my partner, and myself. I have no doubt that we will both come home as different people (in the best of ways, I hope!).
We wish you all well and thank you for traveling vicariously with us. I hope you enjoy the ride. I am happy to say that, at long last, my next post will be from the other side of the world!

So it's over and out, and we'll see you on the flip side!

Matt and Selkie

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile, to show you what Matt has been up to with his surfboard making. Naturally, he is shutting down while we go overseas, but he has turned out some beautiful woodcraft and has thoroughly impressed me with his woodworking skills and artistry. He is making Alaias, which are traditional Hawaiian surfboards. They are very thin and finless, and surf differently than foam boards. While he hasn't sold any yet (partially because Oregon surf is not ideal for Alaias, partially because few people around here know what they are), he has had a great time building them.

Matt incorporated Selkie, LLC early this spring, and has a blog at http://thegreatselkie.blogspot.com. If you are interested in what he is doing, feel free to contact him at thegreatselkie@gmail.com. Some of his surfboards are for sale at Gorge Performance surf shop in Portland.

Most excitingly, he has offered to send an Alaia to pro surfer Liz Clark, who is sponsored by Patagonia. Although Liz has not said yet whether or not she wants the board, Matt talked to Patagonia about storing it since we are leaving the country, and they got pretty excited about it and will actually be displaying the board in their Portland store! So Matt scrambled to finish the board yesterday, and we took it to the Patagonia store before we went to have dinner with his family last night. There were people looking at the board before we even left the store, and it wasn't even on display yet! This board is absolutely beautiful, made from Western Red Cedar and finished with linseed oil and beeswax (it smells beautiful, too!)

Each one of Matt's boards is a work of art. He gives each one an individual name and woodburned design. Most of the inspiration for the names and designs comes from the Hawaiian language or from spirituality that can be related to the ocean.

Let me show you what he's been up to:

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Cutting out his first board, Lala, in the kitchen of his old apartment.

Moved into the shaping bay at his dad's house.

My favorite Selkie board, Nalu.

Matt has also started making handplanes, used in bodysurfing. This one is coming with us to NZ:

The quiver of Selkie boards:

I can't help feeling that this is something that Matt was made to do. He loves it, loses himself in the work, and products are absolutely gorgeous. What do you think?