We traveled to California to see family before leaving the country. Had a nice time there but the drought in California is just terrible and apparent everywhere. The hills were always yellow in the summer and green in the winter in the "rainy season". After years of drought, the hills aren't even yellow, they are grey because you see so much dirt. We also passed one of the recreational reservoirs on our way to LAX and the water level is way low. It just hits you in the face to be out there. We did see something we never expected, though, whales right at Shell Beach. We sat in the car at the beach and you could see several spouting and coming up. There must have been at least a half dozen and we watched them for several minutes before they moved further out to sea. I have never seen them in that area before but they had come in really close to feed and it was so cool. The rocks off the shore were also filled with pelicans. Hadn't seen that before, either.
We survived the 13 hour flight from LAX to Auckland, NZ. Left late at night and got to Auckland in the morning what with the time change. Arrived a day later due to crossing the dateline so we missed Sept. 11 all together. We managed to stay up all day but definitely hit the sack early that evening. I still don't think I have completely adjusted. We seem to be asleep between 8:00 and 10:00 PM and I wake up between 4:00 and 6:00 AM. Doug is doing better than I am.
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| Auckland |
New Zealand was created by volcanoes and there are several hills left over from them. They dot Auckland and mostly are parks. One Tree Hill was the first we visited and the park isn't what we expected. The owner of the land gave it to the city in the early 1900's for a park to be enjoyed by all. It is mostly open land with sheep grazing on it. Since it is spring here, it is lambing season and they were all over the place. You could hear the lambs bleating for their mothers like a constant background song. The tops of these areas offer some fantastic views of Auckland.
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| Kite Kite Falls |
We have also visited two falls, one in Auckland and one in Hamilton. The climbs up and down nearly killed me. All my leg muscles are making themselves known, but the falls were spectacular.
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| Bridal Veil Falls |
Being spring here, we expected cooler temps and rain and we have had that to some extent. The temps have been a little cooler than we had expected and we have had clouds and some light moisture, but we have lucked out so far on the rain. Usually it is overcast mornings and evenings, but the days have been pretty good. Hope this holds out. We, of course, coming from 90 - 100 degree weather in CO before we left, are feeling the cold while the locals are enjoying the warmer weather. You see the same range of outerwear as home, some in shorts and some in coats and hats. It just depends on the heartiness of the person, I guess. For me, it is wetter so also colder but I have my layers and they go on and off pretty regularly depending on if we are in the wind or not.
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| black sands beach |
Lovely country and lovely people so far.
We traveled to California to see family before leaving the country. Had a nice time there but the drought in California is just terrible and apparent everywhere. The hills were always yellow in the summer and green in the winter in the "rainy season". After years of drought, the hills aren't even yellow, they are grey because you see so much dirt. We also passed one of the recreational reservoirs on our way to LAX and the water level is way low. It just hits you in the face to be out there. We did see something we never expected, though, whales right at Shell Beach. We sat in the car at the beach and you could see several spouting and coming up. There must have been at least a half dozen and we watched them for several minutes before they moved further out to sea. I have never seen them in that area before but they had come in really close to feed and it was so cool. The rocks off the shore were also filled with pelicans. Hadn't seen that before, either.
We survived the 13 hour flight from LAX to Auckland, NZ. Left late at night and got to Auckland in the morning what with the time change. Arrived a day later due to crossing the dateline so we missed Sept. 11 all together. We managed to stay up all day but definitely hit the sack early that evening. I still don't think I have completely adjusted. We seem to be asleep between 8:00 and 10:00 PM and I wake up between 4:00 and 6:00 AM. Doug is doing better than I am.
We have also visited two falls, one in Auckland and one in Hamilton. The climbs up and down nearly killed me. All my leg muscles are making themselves known, but the falls were spectacular.
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