Jumping Out of a Plane

So once we arrived in Auckland...we went straight to Auckland Skydive.  We had a GrabOne Deal (basically like Groupon) and Andrew and I had never been skydiving so we were really excited.  We were a bit nervous, but I would say more excited than anything.  So we got our instructions from the team...and then put on our gear...then it was time to go up in the plane.

I was fine...the whole time...and then Andrew was the first to go.  I'm sitting there, all excited and calm...and then I watched Andrew and his tandem partner jump off....my heart sank.
The nervousness and fright set in.  Then the next guy went...and ohhhhhhh was he scared. It was like putting a cat in the bath tub.  He clawed his way out of that plane...attempting to grab at anything he could to stop his tandem partner from throwing him out the plane.  His guide didn't care....and off they went! Then it was my turn...the guy must be really used to people freaking out because he just pushed me right to that edge. I was so nervous. I looked down and there went my heart again, right in to my stomach.  And then one, two, three! Off we went! I was screaming like a bat outta hell! It was SO INSANE! And SO AWESOME!!! The free-fall was only a few seconds...I think like 60 seconds maybe...but oh my goodness was it a rush.  Once he pulled the shoot it was just a float down to the bottom. Very relaxing, and absolutely gorgeous scenery.  So neat.

One of the best experiences and one that I highly recommend to anyone who has considered doing it.

From there we took the bus to Auckland.  With alllll our crazy amounts of luggage.  A lot of luggage...like...a lot.  And there we sat at the bus stop for about 2 hours waiting on Karla to get off work and come get us.  Man was it hot...and man was it awkward sitting at a bus stop with enough luggage to live off of for a year.  Karla is one of Andrew's friends from the Polo playing days.  It was so nice of her to let us stay with her and her adorable mother! Once she finally came to get us, we spent the afternoon at their home as Andrew and her reminisced of past times.  Drinking wine on their amazing rooftop deck that looked over the Bay.

I did a bit of work while we were staying with them since Karla had to work during the day as well.  But once she was home we did various things...went and saw her horsey...went on some walks down to the water...went in to town for some sushi.  On that Friday, Andrew and I went in to town ourselves to do some exploring and pick up some souvenirs.  We, of course, missed our bus stop on the way home...and got INCREDIBLY LOST trying to get back. Buses in Auckland are confusing. And apparently we cannot navigate them well.  Oh well. We eventually got back haha. That night we went out with some of Karla's friends downtown.  Very inviting group. We partied all through the night, bar hopping, had a blast! Then once all the bars closed we went through the drive through, while in a taxi, on the way back to the house.  That was a first. The last day we did brunch with some of Karla's friends then went down in to Auckland again for 'the best' ice cream later in the afternoon.  It was pretty good...Our flight went out that evening...so after ice cream Karla took us over the the airport.  It was odd saying goodbye, not knowing when you'll be back again.  Then off we went for the States....on a 13 hr flight.

We flew in to LAX and my cousin Johnny picked us up so that we could have a little celebration on our layover with my California family.  First stop was of course In-N-Out Burger...Andrew's first experience. He was hooked. Stupid that we stopped to eat on our way to dinner but you can't go to LA and not stop at In-n-Out Burger (haha).  Once we arrived at my Uncle Bob's house we had a fantastic dinner and Andrew got to meet a lot of my family for the first time.  Some yummy salmon and salad and wine, great company...Not a bad use of time for a 10 hour layover ;) That evening they took us back to the airport and off we went again.  One last layover in Chicago...and Andrew slept on the floor.  It was cute.  And then home at last in NC.

Overall, an absolutely amazing trip.  We might be ridiculously in debt from it...but it was WELL worth it! I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  And who knows...now that I'm in love with NZ, and engaged to a kiwi, we might be moving there in near future...Talk about a dream come true huh?

Cheers!
Pattie

Traveling to Hobbit Land

Early Friday morning, at 5am, Andrew and I set off for our LONG plane ride to New Zealand.  Super excited, but definitely tired.  The trip was about 6 hours to San Francsico, leaving at 7am and arriving around 10am.  Then a long layover in San Fran with a departure at 7:30pm to Auckland.  The flight was scheduled to take 13.5 hours and land in the morning at 5:30am or so.  Then we fly an hour or so in to Christchurch arriving at 9:30am.

The 6 hour plane ride from Raleigh to San Fran was a doozy.  Made me dread the 13.5 hour flight ahead...We landed at around 9:50am in San Fran with some issues getting in to the gate...they actually parked too far and had to use a pulley to get us in place (or something like that).  After arriving Andrew and I found the BART train (after a bit of confusion) and headed downtown to walk around and meet my cousin Ken for lunch.  Our flight to Auckland didn't leave till 7:30pm, so we had a bit of time to explore.

This was my first time in San Fran :) We got off the train at the Embarcadero Station right near the pier.  We did a bit of looking around through a market and then decided we were going to try to find Chinatown so we cut on to Broadway St.  After passing about 7 strip clubs and feeling super awkward we started to see some things that seem more 'Chinatown' so we decided to cut down and see everything.  I'm pretty sure we were 1 or two blocks too short and missed it all, because what we went through wasn't too impressive.  Did see some neat buildings and the Church of Scientology though ;)


Our lunch reservation was at 12:45pm at Michael Mina...oh how lovely (and expensive) it was! Absolutely fabulous lunch.  I started with a salad and then went on to fish and chips and a fancy smores dessert.  Andrew had tuna then trout and then some fruity melon dessert.  We took pictures...


We had a great time getting to know my cousin Ken a lot better (who I haven't seen in probably 15 years or more) and chatting about all sorts of things.  Then around 3pm we left and headed back towards the train.  We were really worried about rush hour traffic so we headed back around 4 towards the airport.  After getting there we realized we WAY overcompensated on time.  The airport was EMPTY.  We had no line through security and got right to our gate within like 20 minutes.  Walking place to place took the most time. Better safe then sorry!


We boarded the plane and started exploring all the free movies.  They had some good ones!   So Andrew and I decided we would start with a movie.  We both watched the newest Bourne movie. Quite good.  Dinner came after that and we took a little sleeping pill with it to help us get through the overnight flight.  Worked well because we konked right out and slept almost the whole flight, waking up with just enough time to watch one more movie :) GREAT flight!

We arrived in Auckland on time...verrryyy early in the morning.  Andrew got his polo boots sent through the biolab because they were gross and muddy so after getting those back we walked to the domestic terminal.  You have to walk outside to get to it OR take a tram...we picked walking (after sitting for so long!).  On the way we spotted an air stream selling coffee! Had to snap a picture for mom ;)

Off to Christchurch we went, checking out the gorgeous views from the plane along the way.  All the mountains peeked up above the clouds...it was awesome! Andrew pointed out all of the sites along the way and knew basically all of the mountains (impressive).  It was definitely a scenic flight!  The clounds covered for a lot but in most places they would open up.  We were on the wrong side of the plane though.  The Southern Alps were on the opposite side :( but maybe we'll get that view on the way home.



Around 9:30am we landed in Christchurch.  Andrew's sister Ashley picked us up and we headed off to watch his family play polo...not a bad start to the trip! His family has a farm where they raise horses for polo and sell them.  They also have some cow and sheep and a cute doggy named Diesel.  Christchurch is about an hour or so from where Andrew's family lives in Ashburton.  The polo match was somewhere inbetween.  Andrew got to ride a horse again for the first time in quite a while! He was nervous but did just fine ;) I forgot to take pictures of the polo match but we'll be watching more throughout the trip so I'll get some up at one point or another.  Got to try my first Speights (their beer of the south island) and a Ginger Beer (like a thick gingerale) and my first NZ sausage! Not bad so far!! The Speights was ehh, but Garth (Andrews dad) said its because it had been sitting out for weeks at that field so he had me try one at the house once we were back...definitely better haha.

Oh and P.S. Driving on the wrong side of the road is definitely strange...not sure if I'll ever get in on the right side of the car haha.  More to come later!