The Maori.

The most interesting part of New Zealand culture to me was the relationship between the government and the native population, the Maori. The Maori only came to New Zealand relatively recently (800 years ago or so) so the language across the islands has remained very similar across both islands historically. Additionally, trade relations and treaties between the Crown and the Maori have been taken very seriously, and relations continue to improve as New Zealand has given back some of the land taken by settlers and made big strides to respect and honor native culture.

As a result, it is relatively common to see commercials with Maori who have facial tattoos, and there are Maori souvenirs and artifacts all over both islands. Museum and informational signs were often in both Maori and English, with Maori listed first just as often as English. The names of most places we visited were Maori as well, which was very interesting. I can't imagine what it would be like if most of the city and landmark names in the US were their First Nation designations.

We spent a lot of time watching Maori TV as well. Every place we stayed had access to at least one Maori TV station, though most had two or more. We saw several cultural shows, which consisted of Maori song and dance, as well as some weapons and sparring displays. News reports were in Maori, or Maori with English interviews thrown in. It was very cool to watch news stories where everyone was expected to be bilingual, and there were no subtitles. It was also cool to have access to aboriginal television in all locations. We didn't spend as much time listening to Maori radio (we listened to NZ National, their version of NPR), but I noticed a couple Maori radio stations as well. I find the language really interesting and beautiful, and I may have just added another to my long list! I'm glad we were able to learn and experience so much of Maori culture.

TV, hotels, and reception desks.

Television

One of the things Katie and I noticed pretty early is that there are fewer TV channels than one would expect in hotels and B&B's here. Our first hotel in Auckland, the Hotel DeBrett, is rated the #1 hotel in the city. Also, they had somewhere around 7 channels on TV. That is not an exaggeration. The channels went something like: TV2, TV3, sports, sports, Maori TV, news, sports. In several other hotels, the selections were similar. We even remember several places where we had 12-15 channels, and three were repeat channels but an hour behind (Aussie time). On the one hand, you don't really go on vacation to watch TV in your hotel (or at least, one probably shouldn't?). On the other, everyone likes to unwind at the end of the night, especially on vacation! It made us really appreciate our television selection in the US. I can't wait to get back to Vanderpump Rules.

The other thing about TV in New Zealand: everyone was into The Bachelor New Zealand, including us. The vast majority of TV there seemed to be sports, followed by overseas programming (BBC, US channels, etc.). But TV3 was an internal national network, and they are all about The Bachelor NZ. I'm sad that we don't get it here!

Reception desks and accommodation check-in

I have never visited a place where hotel check-in was not 24 hours. Ever. Or, if I did, I didn't know it. But from the small B&B's to the nice hotels, almost every place we stayed had a last-call check-in time. On more than one occasion we had to forego side quests so we could make it to check-in before, say, 7:30 or 8 in the evening. Our very first hotel actually advertised that they have 24-hour check-in, which I found very confusing. As the trip went on, I appreciated it much more.

It's so hard to say goodbye.

Today was our last day in New Zealand. We started the morning by catching The Bachelor NZ online (finally!) and writing the final postcards. Then we packed up, left our bags with the concierge, and walked to the East Day Spa. There was some sort of big event at the convention center where the spa lives, so we had to walk around to the rear entrance, which turned out to actually be the front entrance of the spa itself.

We were ushered into their “chill room” where we signed registration forms and were given a host of different massage and oil options. I chose the deep tissue and lime/ginger scent; Katie opted for the light massage with jasmine oil. My masseuse was awesome. She was not skimpy on the pressure, at one point standing over me on the massage table and leaning down hard on my back. It was awesome. After the powerful massage, we also got 1 hour facial treatments. This was my first one, and it was really interesting. Katie asked me afterwards if I'd been snoring, and I had to admit that I dozed off a couple times, I was so relaxed. It was great. After the facials, we were treated to a Cleopatra-style milk bath for 30 minutes before we had to leave the spa. I was very sad to be leaving, but felt completely refreshed. I've decided I need to add spa treatments to my regularly scheduled program.

This was in the bathroom at the spa.

 After the spa, we dropped off our final postcards at a post office, then grabbed a quick snack before picking up our bags at the hotel. We took a cab to the ferry building, and caught the airporter bus to Auckland International. We checked our bags, made it through security, and did some souvenir shopping before getting dinner. I got a burger much larger than anticipated, and almost couldn't finish it! Imagine that.

Greeted by dwarfs in and out!

Now we're through second security and awaiting our boarding process. It has really been a great honeymoon and trip to New Zealand, and I wish it were longer. However, I'm much more interested in truly beginning our marriage, which is something worth looking forward to. As far as New Zealand goes, I still have a few supplemental posts coming along. I look forward to getting those up!

Kiwis in Auckland! (Actual kiwis!)

This morning, we dropped off the car at the airport and flew to Auckland. We were expecting a demanding budget airline experience, and were pleasantly surprised! The staff were very kind, and we didn't need to move any items from bag to bag. Katie's bag was just on the cusp at 19.9 kg! Perfection.

We enjoyed the free WiFi at the airport (sweet, sweet internet) before our short jaunt to Auckland. Once we landed, we picked up the airport-city bus, buying return tickets for our journey back tomorrow. The bus was actually pretty efficient, and dropped us off very close to our new hotel. We were able to check in right when we arrived, even though we were a couple hours early! We dropped off our bags, and then left to find Soul Bar & Bistro for some lunch. Soul was a fantastic decision. Katie had a great ham and truffle mac and cheese, and I had a tasty pan-fried hapuku. I also had two Spicy Mexican cocktails, since my driving duties are officially over on this trip. Woo!

The flowers were in the drinks when they arrived. I ate the purple one.

After lunch, we caught a cab across town to the zoo. We saw a fire ferret red panda named Pabu, hung out with the seals and penguins, and actually saw some kiwis! The nocturnal room was a quiet zone, but there was a child making a lot of noise when we arrived, so the kiwis were hiding. Fortunately, he and his mother left shortly after we got there, and not 30 seconds after they left, the kiwis came out. They're so much bigger than I thought they'd be! They were so cute, and we were incredibly excited to finally see them. It made my day.

Pabu!

The larger-than-anticipated kiwi!

We saw various other birds, as well as a serval, lions, hippos, and cheetahs, before we left the zoo. We caught a bus back to the ferry building, and walked around trying to find the major fan sports area near the water. Because of the triathlon happening downtown, we couldn't get across several major streets, so we decided to head back towards the hotel and post up in a bar along the way. We grabbed a couple pints at a cowboy-themed bar and caught about 75 of New Zealand's runs in the CWC final match. Finding a good point to leave, we came back to our hotel, and tried to book a spa treatment for the morning. Our hotel spa was full, so we called the East Day Spa at Sky City (which happens to be rated #1 on Tripadvisor in the city). They put us down for 11:45 tomorrow morning! That's very exciting - after all this vacationing, I could use some relaxing.

Katie and I ordered room service, and ate while watching Australia put a hurtin' on the Black Caps. Even though we were rooting for NZ, it was still a fun match to watch. Katie took a bath while I watched more of the match and did some make-up entries. I think she really enjoyed it, because she was in there a long time! I'm glad our hotel has such a nice tub for her. For my part, I'm glad to be caught up on the trip! I'm sad that tomorrow's the last day, but I know it will be fun. I'm looking forward to the spa and tying up some loose ends. New Zealand has been a great place to visit, and we're already talking about coming back. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.

The little cottage that couldn't quite.

Yesterday was our final day of long driving. Since I had sprained my ankle the night before trying to prove a flexibility point (which I clearly did not prove) I was glad for the clutch to keep my ankle moving. We had the continental breakfast at the hotel, packed the car, and headed to the post office to send our postcards before driving out of the city. We stopped at a gas station to fill up, and the attendant refused to let me pump the gas myself, though he seemed to leave everyone else alone. I wonder if Americans have trouble figuring out their pumps. (I do keep forgetting that you start by pumping here, and then go inside to pay afterwards. I'm surprised more people don't just steal gas.) With a long drive ahead of us, we were eager to get out of the city.

A few hours later, we stopped at a famous restaurant/market (the name of which, of course, I can't remember). The owners live in a castle on the grounds, and there are several shops along with the market. We really enjoyed the meal and the break from the road. I had a ginger ale called Gingerella which came in a beautiful bottle. Kiwis are very serious about their ginger ale and ginger beer. I've probably had more here than over the last year at home.

We explored a couple of the shops before getting back on the road. As we neared Christchurch, Katie and I realized that 1) our cottage did not have internet (how did I miss that at booking?) and 2) it was further than we thought. It was about 50 km past Christchurch, so we decided to get in and quickly get settled before heading back out for dinner. As we passed the city and neared our accommodations, we hit various pockets of traffic and construction, which significantly delayed our arrival to our cottage. I was speeding to make up time, which led to us fishtailing on a gravel road in Loburn. Fun!

Finally, we got to the cottage. We figured out how to open the gate, and drove between high trees into a clearing pretty far from the street where we met our hosts. They showed us to the cottage and greeted us with a bottle of wine (yay honeymoon!) before quickly squashing any hopes of us making it back to Christchurch for dinner. When I asked if there was a better way to drive back to Christchurch instead of taking the construction zone-ridden way we came, they just said we shouldn't go to Christchurch. However, they suggested a popular restaurant 10 minutes away in Rangiora called Capone's. Once we were settled, we drove out to Capone's, stopping outside the library to grab some time on their WiFi before going to dinner. Satisfied that things in California were getting along just fine without us, we walked over to Capone's, a high-end Italian restaurant. In the end, we were very grateful for our hosts' recommendation. The service was good, the food was great, and the setting was intimate. Their garlic bread had cream cheese stuffed inside. INSIDE.

After dinner we decided to rearrange the items in our bags in preparation for our Jetstar flight today, since we were expecting something akin to Ryanair in terms of service and weight limits. We started closing the window shades, when we realized that the windows over the kitchen sink - the ones that look directly over the bed - had no shades! We then started to notice other little things that were missing, like a drying rack for our dishes or a floor towel for outside the shower. I imagine the cottage is a converted shed or something of that nature, and they've never actually slept in it so they don't know what it feels like or what it's missing. Between the distance from the city, the random things lacking in the cottage, and the kindness yet semi-unhelpfulness of our hosts, I dubbed yesterday's stay "the little cottage that couldn't quite". We actually really enjoyed staying there, but we did laugh at the little bits.

We finished the night watching Angels & Demons, staring at the cows outside our window (oh yeah, they had cows and horses and we're pretty sure they're tree farmers), and sipping some wine. If there's one thing about New Zealand that we've loved, it's the wine. That and seeing all the sheep around.

In which The Protagonists drive to the not-so-Scottish Scottish town.

After our Queenstown adventures, Katie and I hit the road for our second-to-last big driving day. We packed some snacks for breakfast and headed back through the mountains towards Dunedin, the "Scottish" city on the southeastern coast of the South Island. The drive was actually quite fun, and didn't involve too many winding roads, despite the warning we received from the receptionist as we were checking out of our still-fruit-fly-infested room at the Queens Park Hotel. (To be fair, they did try to spray the room down, supposedly.)

We arrived at The Brothers boutique hotel after a slight detour (read: we got lost) in the city center. We checked in, were shown around, and then got the key to our room: The Chapel. The Chapel is a large corner room, which was a chapel and converted monk's quarters before it became a hotel room. The stained glass windows and the beams overhead were lovely, and I found the room awe-inspiring. We also had a great view over the city from our far window, AND the room came with wine! Although at this point in the trip, we're trying to get rid of wine, not collect any more. There are so many good wineries here!

We dropped off our stuff, and headed back into the city center to find the SINGLE Scottish shop in the city, which had a less-than-exciting selection of kilt pins, sporrans, and other Scottish memorabilia. I don't know why I convinced myself that there would be a plethora of items from which to choose, but I did. We left shortly after we arrived, and headed out to the Royal Albatross Centre, "the world's only mainland colony of Royal Albatross" (if you believe that New Zealand counts as a "mainland"). We took the low road, which turns out to be faster and safer than the high road according to our tour guide. She briefed us on the history of their conservatory, after which we watched an informational video. Post video, we took a small hike up the hill, where we could see an albatross soaring around for a landing. Once inside the observatory, we saw several chicks sitting in their nests, juveniles having a "party", and some juveniles and adults flying around. We even saw one albatross mother feeding her chick! It's less gross than I imagined.

The juveniles were jerks, showing off and messing with the babies.

Coming in for the landing!

Beautiful thistles.

After we left the observatory, we walked down to a set of observation decks closer to the beach before driving back to town. On the way back to the chapel, we picked up some Chinese food to eat in the room. We ate while watching a rerun of Graham Norton, and then wrote some postcards while watching Supernatural. It was around this time when I read in the book on the hotel that they request we don't eat in the rooms, so I ran all around the hotel trying to find some place to throw away our takeout boxes. There was only one problem: there were no trash cans outside of our room. Not even in the parking lot! These boutique hotels in New Zealand are something else.

We finished our postcards and decided to finally do the Tim Tam Slam. It was, possibly, the best decision we made in Dunedin. (Again, search Hank Green Tim Tam Slam in YouTube.) I highly suggest everyone try it, if you can get your hands on some tim tams.

Stuart Landborough's Puzzling World!

This morning Katie and I walked down to Fergbaker (the bakery next to Fergburger) to snag some breakfast to-go so we could hit the road to the puzzling world at Wanaka. We took the scenic route over the mountain pass, which was both quicker and afforded us some beautiful views. This time, the signs were actually decent. I suppose they don't want people lost in the mountains slash plummeting to their deaths.

We stopped on the mountain on the way to the puzzling world for this view.

When we rounded the corner to the puzzling world, I got visibly excited. I love puzzles and illusions, and had been looking forward to this part of the trip the most! From the beginning, we were set up for a fun time. The park has a few optical illusions on the front lawn, with a huge maze set behind an unassuming building. Katie and I took a few photos out front, and then entered the main hall. The room was full of tables at which sat different types of mind-bending puzzles of varying difficulty. We purchased our entry tickets, played with a couple puzzles, and then entered the halls of illusion. There were different sections and types of illusions in various rooms, each designed to trick the mind in different ways. The first room had several 3D holographic prints hanging on the walls, which were interesting to look at. Following that, there was the tilted hall, a room where the water flowed upwards and a chair rolled up the wall! Because of the tilt of the room and the lack of windows, everything seemed to move against gravity's pull. It was pretty neat, if a bit headache-inducing.

The roman toilets!

THE WATER FLOWED UPWARD.

The MJ lean!

Past the tilted hall, we went into the world's only hall of following faces. There were several concave faces carved into the walls and backlit. Walking around the room, the faces appeared to be convex, and followed you around the room! It was really weird because it wasn't just the eyes that appeared to move, but the whole face! Pretty cool.

No escape.

After that, we went into a room that played with your perception of size. We got a couple to take our picture in exchange for taking theirs, and the results were pretty cool. One side of the room makes you look huge, and the other side makes you look pretty dang small, using forced perspective as the medium. After the FP room, we check out some optical illusion prints before heading to a room full of more optical illusions. It was very fun to see all the different types of structures and to try and wrap our heads around all the puzzles!

How does this happen?! 

Magic room is magic.

Have you ever seen infinity?

Even the bathrooms aren't safe!

Once we finished in the final optical illusion room, we headed out to the giant labyrinth. At the four extreme corners there were four towers of different colors, and the challenge was to either 1) find all four towers and the exit, or 2) find all four towers in a specific order and the exit. We decided to take on the hard challenge, feeling excited and confident in our abilities. Unfortunately, while we found the first tower pretty quickly, it was the wrong color. We also found the next two towers pretty fast, which were in the correct order, but we still had to find the first tower - the yellow tower. We searched and searched, and FINALLY made it to the yellow tower! We then made a deal with each other to go back to the first tower we found - green - and call it a day, figuring that if we did yellow-green we knew we could find the others and finish.

However.

Half an hour later, after walking in circles, we decided it was best to find the exit. I'm pretty sure that we'd have to run the whole thing backwards to get to green again, and neither of us wanted to put in that kind of time. I mean, come on! That's pretty sneaky, to make people run the whole maze to find the first tower, then run it backwards to run it forwards again for the difficult challenge. Well played, Stuart Landborough. Well played.

We each grabbed souvenirs from the puzzling world: I picked up a Hanayama puzzle (my first one!) and Katie got a set of stacking wooden carved kiwi figurines and a tea steeper. After the puzzling world, we decided to lunch in Wanaka at an Italian restaurant called Francesca's. We decided to sit inside, but were accosted a few times by an eager bee and moved tables. The food turned out to be very good, but throughout our meal we kept being bothered by several bees, which really challenged me to enjoy the experience. We ended up leaving slightly disappointed that we couldn't eat in peace. Oh well. Like I said, I enjoyed the food. My venison pizza was great, at any rate.

Following lunch, we drove back across the mountains, listening to more of Neverwhere. We decided to do some wine tasting, since Central Otago (the region we're in now) is known for their wineries. The first place we visited, Peregrine, was closed for a private event, so we continued on to Gibbston Valley Wines, a winery that also had a cheese factory by the same company next door. We did a quick tasting, then headed to try some cheese, which I thought was pretty good. They also had several types of honey, and a few not-very-hot hot sauces. After Gibbston, we went to the Gibbston Tavern, which is described as “exceedingly rustic” or something of that nature. It was a single-room saloon-like pub with one bartender and a limited liquor but decent beer selection. I tried their moonshine white, and Katie had one of their moonshine red wines. They actually weren't too bad!

Post-tavern, we visited Amisfield as our final winery for the day. When we pulled into the winery parking lot, we noticed something familiar: one of the statues from the Weta Cave Workshop was outside along with a counterpart! Our tour guide had mentioned that their statues stood outside a Central Otago winery, but didn't mention which one. We were so excited to find them! We took pictures before heading inside for some decent wines, but decided to pass on a purchase.

We stopped in the hotel momentarily for a complementary glass of wine before heading to the famed Fergburger for dinner. Instead of bringing the burgers back, we ate there, fortunately finding a place to sit despite the 20-person-deep line which was constantly refilling. I can understand why the place has so much hype; the burgers are big, and they're pretty tasty. I wouldn't say they're my favorite by any means, but if we lived here, I would definitely visit regularly.

Anyway, after dinner we grabbed our swimsuits and hopped in the car to head to our onsen appointment. The onsen was just a few kilometers outside of town, so it wasn't hard to find. We walked down a few flights of stairs in a hillside to get to the main office. Checking in, our host prepared champagne and other items for our 1.5 hour soak session, and we were ushered into a room with 40 “lit” electronic candles. We had several buttons to control the jets and lights, as well as to open the garage door between us and the outside. We opened the door, and stared at the stars for a while, eating ice cream and drinking bubbles while soaking in a delightful onsen. It was breathtaking. Everyone should do that at least once in their life.

After the onsen, we returned to the hotel room to try and catch the end of the cricket match between Australia and India, only to find that they were nowhere near finishing. Tuckered out after a big day, Katie turned in shortly thereafter. I'm not too far behind myself.

Tomorrow we're off to Dunedin to do some antique shopping and to find me some accessories for my kilt! I'm pretty excited about that. Also, we're staying in a converted chapel, which is most exciting. I look forward to enjoying the Scottish city of the South Island!

Tired drivers die.

The above is yet another installation of the excellent and informative New Zealand signposts.

Yesterday was the big 10 hour drive from Picton to Queenstown. Katie and I got a bit of a late start because we neglected to collect her jeans from our host's drying line the night before. Once the jeans were safely in the trunk to continue drying (they had gotten a bit dew-struck overnight) we hit the road, leaving our beautiful B&B with its amazing view and ease of access to port...*sigh*. I miss that place.

We picked up breakfast at a bakery in Blenheim that resembled a 7-11 but only carried baked goods and beverages. Katie snagged a doughnut and a bacon-and-egg savory (her words) and I picked up a doughnut and an apple-cinnamon muffin (for later). Once I inhaled my doughnut, we were back on the road in no time.

The drive down was fairly easy, and picturesque. The 1 on the South Island's east coast runs along the water similarly to the PCH in California for a couple hours before turning further inland. We enjoyed the water on one side, the mountains on the other, and weaving through tunnels, over hills, and around the curves. We stopped in a small, three-block town to use the restroom and stretch our legs before continuing on to Pegasus Bay Winery for lunch in Waipara. I had the steak (or fillet, as they call it here, pronounced fih-LET) and Katie had the gnocchi with a wine pairing. The food was good, but our entreés were delayed, so we had to rush the end of our meal. Our hotel reception desk was to close at 8:30, and we didn't know if we'd make it in time.

Wise words from Pegasus Bay.

Much of the rest of the driving, including our pit stop for gas, felt like we were racing the clock. Fortunately, Katie had downloaded Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere audio play, and we started that to take our minds off the time. As the road opened up, we picked up speed through the mountains, making up time as we listened to an all-star cast enact a fascinating tale. The beauty of our landscape somehow made the story more compelling, though the story takes place in a city and we were driving countryside. We arrived in Queenstown with a half-hour to spare, having spent 9.5 hours on the road. and another 2.5 resting, eating, and filling the car.

We dropped off our bags at our nice (but fruit fly breeding ground) hotel room, caught the tail end of The Bachelor NZ (what is Arthur doing?!), and walked over to town to figure out what to eat. After waffling on several places, we settled on Pier 19. I am so glad we did. The food was delectable and the service was perfect. We selected a bottle of brut rosé to drink, and then shared a crab tian and a bruschetta before diving into a monkfish risotto (mine) and a pork belly (Katie). The food came out with excellent timing, which was a nice contrast to our lunch, and our server was very excited that we were on our honeymoon. It was a nice end to a long day of driving.

Dinner at Pier 19.

After dinner, we picked up a bottle of Canterbury creme liqueur for tim tam slamming (look up tim tam slam with Hank Green on YouTube) and retreated to our hotel. We finished the night watching soccer, which was perfect for me after a full day's drive. I wanted to gear up for today's trip to Wanaka, which I will write about after we go to the onsen!

Dentures for Marlborough.

Katie and I caught the ferry from Wellington to Picton this morning. We called a cab from the Ohtel to the ferry terminal with a Fijian cabbie, who told us about the linguistic similarities between Fijian and Maori. We boarded the ferry after checking our luggage, and headed to the top deck for an outside view of the rising sun and the harbor. Watching the sun rise from the deck of the ferry was a great start to the day.

Good morning, Wellington.

On the ferry!

The ride to Picton was beautiful. Many people told us that the Cook Strait ferry ride is one of the most scenic trips one can take in New Zealand, and I'm inclined to agree. Every view was stunning. Eventually, we made our way downstairs to grab some breakfast and plan our time in Picton and beyond, but even from inside on the lower decks the view was spectacular. We really liked the trip, and arrived in Picton refreshed and excited.

Our view from the Picton B&B patio.

We picked up our new rental car, which happened to be the exact make and model as our old rental car, except it's electric blue (sick!) and it's a stick shift (double sick!). Our new B&B is amazing, and it's only 3 minutes from the ferry terminal, but somehow we made that trip a fifteen minute voyage through missed turns and passed side streets. Our host Gail agreed to do our laundry (the fee here is only $5!) before she had to run off to town, so Katie and I unpacked quickly and hit the road to do some wine tasting.

Katie loved her swing! (Okay, so did I.)

We stopped at Cloudy Bay Winery first, an open plan property with a roofed tasting room, patio oyster bar, and swings in giant trees on a huge lawn. Katie and I tasted several good wines, had a nice relaxing lunch, played in the swings, and left with three bottles of deliciousness. After Cloudy Bay, we headed to Spy Valley, a mid-sized winery that is very focused on environmental conscientiousness. They also happen to make good pinot noir and merlot (which we bought), and our server chatted us up about food and traveling. She even recommended a pizza place in town, where we ended up picking up dinner later.

More of the beautiful Cloudy Bay, because we couldn't get enough.

After Spy Valley, we stopped by Saint Clair winery as our final hurrah. We tasted some good wine there too, and picked up another bottle of pinot, this one being their reserve wine. Before we left, Katie wanted to walk out back and check out their grounds. As we stepped outside, we heard a familiar voice call out: Erin from KVN and her husband Steve were there! They've been traveling in New Zealand from south to north as we've been going north to south, and the only day we overlapped cities was today, so it is pretty awesome that we ran into each other. We talked about our trips so far and exchanged activity ideas for our island switch before parting ways.

Katie and I headed across the street to a gourmet chocolate factory and picked up some chocolate before driving back to Picton to pick up dinner at Cortado, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria. We grabbed a large pie and some risotto, and enjoyed some cider and beer until the food was ready. We brought it back to the B&B to watch some Top Gear and pop open the Spy Valley pinot. After dinner, we watched The Bachelor NZ (easily our favorite new show) and finished off the wine.

[Side story: we saw a car on our return trip up to the B&B that said "Dentures for Marlborough" on the side. We're assuming they're a denture outfitting and delivery service. Says a lot about the residents in this area, I think. Also, it's hilarious.]

I'm very sad to be leaving this B&B so quickly. The view is great, and having our own little house to ourselves has made Picton feel homey. Plus, the wineries are just a few minutes outside of town, and the downtown area is a cute little strip. Next time, we'll have to spend a couple days around here. (We keep saying that about this trip. We'll definitely have to make a second trip to NZ.)

Tomorrow is the long ride to Queenstown, which I'm actually looking forward to driving. We also have several stop-off stops we're planning on making, which will be nice rest points for the drive. To the Marlborough region: 4 stars out of 5, mostly for the wine. Speaking of, glad we stocked up on wine for tomorrow night! At least we won't have to go to the grocery for beverages.

Driving, signposting, transportation, and navigation.

This is the first of a series of supplemental entries I will be making alongside the daily blog. Enjoy!

Navigation

The sun is on the wrong side of Earth in New Zealand.

Remember how in school, you were always taught the sun rises in the east and sets in the west? That's still true. The problem is, everything else about navigation was a lie. Moss doesn't grow on the north side of trees, the sun doesn't pass over the south, and you can't tell time by the sun's position in the sky. At least, not the way we do at home.

Katie claims she hasn't had any difficulty with this, but it is continually disconcerting to me to look at the sun and watch it go from right to left instead of left to right. It's WEIRD. And I keep having to reorient myself compared to it. The other day, we were driving from Rotorua to Wellington, and I felt like we were going north because the sun was behind us, but I KNEW we were driving south.

The sun is on the wrong side of Earth in New Zealand.

Transportation

Our server at Depot in Auckland was also from the US, here on a working holiday visa for a year. He taught us that ketchup is called tomato sauce here, that they say “tor-til-ah” not “tor-tea-ya”, and that a lemon-lime-bitters is a common drink order. He also said they have an efficient train system for national travel. To date, I have seen one train running along the hundreds of miles of track we've encountered. (Katie claims she's seen two.) I feel betrayed, both by my server and my wife.

Driving and signposting

As in Britain, I feel the road and traffic systems are easier to navigate here than they are in the US. This is mostly due to the regular and common use of the roundabout. A roundabout (or traffic circle for the heathens among you) is a circle in place of an intersection, where cars enter and exit continuously and entering cars yield to cars in the circle. It's easily the most efficient way of running an intersection I've ever driven. There's no waiting for long lights, and since everyone obeys the signaling laws pretty clearly, people can easily enter and exit the roundabout with minimal stress. Traffic flows more smoothly, and people seem to be better drivers because of it. Also, drivers here are more patient, allowing others the right of way by default. For example, truck drivers on the single-lane highways will slow down and pull off to the left (when it's safe), allowing the cars behind them to pass. I can't think of a time that's ever happened back home.

On the other end of the spectrum, the signposting here is abysmal. First of all, there is a serious dearth of highway signs posted, particularly once you're on a long stretch. When you're driving a road, there are no signs stating which highway you're on past the initial turn point; you just have to hope you're on the right road, no matter how many small forks you pass. Several times, Katie and I have wondered if we've made a wrong turn, but the only way to find out is to reach the next major intersection, where there might be a sign that lists the roads in all directions. Even then, many of the signs are unclear, and you're just guessing anyway.

What New Zealand lacks in directional signs, they make up for in safe driving reminder signs. All along major highways (especially Route 5) there are signs stating such things as “Drive Fresh/Switch Drivers” and “Speed Kills/Slow Down” and "Get It On/Seatbelts Save Lives". Every few kilometers there is another sign warning drivers to be alert, slow down, and not be found drink-driving [sic]. While I appreciate the focus on driver safety, it all seems a bit morbid, especially when drivers can't be sure they're even going the right way.

Finally, the major highways here don't feel like major highways at all. As we all know, interstate routes (and even state routes) in the US are heavily signposted, often with barriers and medians throughout. In New Zealand, however, most of the major routes are single-lane highways each way, with a perforated white line down the center. More than once, Katie or I have remarked that one might forget you're on a single-lane highway, since you spend so much time on the road with few other cars around and there's no median nor yellow dividing line. In certain places where the roads start winding around mountains, the single or double yellow will surface, but the vast majority of major highway time we've seen has been akin to driving Sir Francis Drake Road in Fairfax, California. Actually, Drake probably has a double yellow, now that I think about it.

All of that said, I have really enjoyed my driving experience here so far. As for driving on the left: like I've said before, it's not hard. At this point, it's old hat again. Except for that one time I almost made a long left at a major intersection in Wellington.

A big day in the capital!

Today, Katie and I had to turn in our rental car at 3 PM. (We pick up another car tomorrow in Picton, after our ferry ride to the South Island.) Since we only had the car for half the day, we decided to try and make the best of our time this morning.

We had a tour scheduled at the Weta Cave Workshop for 11 AM, so we left the hotel at 9 and grabbed breakfast at Pandoro Panetteria, a recommendation from the guidebook. I enjoyed my ham, cheese, and onion omelette, though I was surprised at the raw yellow onion inside, and Katie had tea and a pastry. We then headed to the workshop, which is in a small warehouse on a residential neighborhood corner plot. We had plenty of time before our tour started, so we watched a video about the history of the Weta studios. It was an interesting overview of the company, and I learned a bunch about the projects they've worked on. I knew they'd done work on the LoTR movies, District 9, and a few others, but I didn't realize the scope of their work! I've decided to watch every movie and TV show that they've worked on, at least in part. (I love assigning myself video homework.)

 After the video, we were given a small tour of the actual workshop, where our guide explained a lot about how their prosthetics, sculptures, armor, miniatures, and other items are made. We got to see actual movie props as well as private commissions and promotional materials, and our guide gave us lots of insider information on the studio's projects. Unfortunately, since everything they made in the workshop was owned by movie studios, private collectors, or other entities, we weren't allowed to take any pictures. Still, it was a very cool tour, and Katie and I were so glad we went.

Leaving the WCW, Katie and I decided to check out the view from the top of Mount Victoria, so she navigated us up the mountain on the way back to the city center. There were spectacular 360-degree views of the city, as well as informational signs describing various landmarks. After Mt. Vic, we headed to the Botanic Gardens for a nice walk. We were fortunate enough to choose the only entrance with car parking, which was perfect. We started in the rose garden, and followed the sculpture walk, taking one minor detour to the Camellia Garden and the Fragrant Garden towards the west side of the gardens. I took plenty of pictures of the sculptures, which I found most interesting.

We left the Botanic Gardens and dropped off the rental car at the Interislander Ferry terminal, catching a cab to Te Papa, the New Zealand National Museum. We headed upstairs to the Maori exhibits, and spent most of our time (almost two hours) in that section of the museum. There were several different sections of the exhibit, from a video on the history of the haka to replica houses to creation story installations. I've found Maori history and culture to be one of the most fascinating parts of this trip. Before coming here, I knew next to nothing about the Maori peoples, language, and cultures, and now I find myself wanting to learn more. (Note: I said "language", singular, because by and large, the Maori people all speak the same language, with some regional dialect differences. As one of our guides said, "One language, many people.") Before leaving the museum, we scooted downstairs a couple levels to see a large preserved squid, which was several feet long and used to be longer before it shrunk post-mortem. We were yet again impressed at the museum's offerings, as with the Auckland Museum.

Katie and I walked over to Capitol Restaurant, an Italian higher-end restaurant, for dinner. She had the better of the two dishes, a shell pasta with pancetta and parmesan. I had a delicious scallops dish with green beans and tomatoes. We also shared some calamari and a salad, which were delicious. I tried one of the local beers by the Yeasty Boys, their Digital IPA, which was very good. We split a cheese and walnut dessert dish, which was also tasty.

After dinner, we went to a Welsh bar (supposedly the only Welsh bar in the southern hemisphere) called the Welsh Dragon Bar. Katie grabbed a Welsh cider while I picked up a Welsh dark beer. While we enjoyed our drinks, it was pretty quiet in the pub, so after one round we decided to head out. Since I was still a bit hungry, I popped into Mt. Vic Chippery again for a small takeout while Katie headed to the hotel. One of the cooks there makes his own peppers, so after I tried their "hot" sauce (and teased him about it a little) we chatted about growing peppers and eating hot sauces. He offered to trade me all of the sauces in their store for my jacket, which I (sadly, of course) declined. Also, I now have an open invitation to return to try their "real" hot sauce in the future.

Katie and I finished out the night planning our wine tastings for tomorrow. We've decided to save money on a tour, which makes me the driver for our tastings tomorrow. In exchange, I get to choose a bottle that she'll buy for me to take back to the hotel! I'm looking forward to that part.

Tomorrow, before wine tasting, the Interislander Ferry ride is supposed to be the most beautiful three hours of the trip. I can't wait! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. Also, I hope to add the first wave of photos to the blog tomorrow! It'll be nice to share some of what we've seen.

The long drive to Wellington.

Yesterday, Katie and I left Rotorua (we'll miss you, egg smell) and hit the road for Wellington, at the southern end of the North Island. We stopped at Capers Epicurean and grabbed some pastries and drinks for breakfast before hitting the 5 and heading south. The drive was really beautiful, weaving through mountains and passing long stretches of pasture while listening to talk radio and planning for the rest of the trip. We stopped at Lake Taupo for some pictures, where the water was crystal clear and the beach was spotless. Behind us, skydivers were landing in a field.

For lunch, we decided to see what McDonald's in New Zealand offers, but the main differences we noticed were in the sauces: my McSpicy Chicken (I think that's what it's called) had a dressing that reminded me of Thousand Island, but was spicy. Katie had nuggets with Sweet & Sour sauce, which tasted more like mustard than that of home. We then continued south, stopping at a Scottish antique shop. I almost bought a kilt pin, but it was too expensive in the end. Finally, after another couple hours and some rain, we got to our hotel - The Ohtel - in Wellington. We tried to hit up a high-end grocery store, but they were closing as we arrived, as was the pizza place we were recommended to try by our guidebook. In the end, we went to Mt. Vic Chippery, which was delicious. You first choose the fish, then the breading, then your chips (read: fries), and then any sides and dipping sauces you'd like. I got snapper with breaded squid (calamari) and curly chips, and Katie got gurnard with wedges. We picked up some drinks and dessert from the grocery store across the street and returned to the hotel room for a night in - all that driving took a toll on me and I needed to recover. Good thing we had a huge bathtub for me to relax! We also watched plenty of Cartoon Network, which, as everyone knows, is my favorite channel. Thanks Katie for indulging me!

This place is very well stocked. They even had a vanity kit with a nail file, which I definitely used.

I've been planning to do a few sub-entries on various things New Zealand, since there really isn't another time to talk about them. A couple examples will be: driving, transportation, and navigation, or food and drinks. Now that I've had some substantial driving experience and we've been here for a bit, be on the lookout for those in the next couple of days. For now, we're off to the Weta Cave workshop, where Peter Jackson's studios are!

Happy Sunday! (Monday here.)

Hobbiton is even better than I imagined, and it's good to be the chief.

Katie and I woke up to the neighborhood cat, Kinky, meowing outside of our window. (Kinky also serenaded us to sleep with his calling. Katie had to put in her earplugs.) We fixed ourselves a light breakfast before driving the 45 minutes out to the Shire's Rest, the ticketing office and restaurant at the entrance to the Hobbiton farms. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, and explored the gift shop, full of very cool, expensive collectibles from the series. I'm glad Katie was there to prevent me from spending all of my money, because I was so excited to be there I almost bought a $10 keychain/nail clipper/bottle opener.

Once on our tour bus, our driver Craig gave us loads of information about choosing the site location before dropping us outside of Gandalf's Close, the entrance to Hobbiton. We walked through the stone walls into a different world, where the grass was greener and the gardens full. It was beautiful. We entered looking out over the whole of Hobbiton, all the way up to Bag End, admiring the hills and the various hobbit holes which were individually decorated. Our tour guide, Alice, let us roam in various parts of The Shire, giving us bits and pieces of information along the way and allowing us to take pictures at every turn. Most interesting to me, she explained that the fruits and vegetables in Hobbiton are real! The gardeners and caretakers irrigate Hobbiton and maintain the hobbit gardens so that Hobbiton is always lush for visitors, and they actually use the vegetables and fruits grown there in their restaurants. We got to stand in a hobbit hole, explore the field for Bilbo's 111tieth birthday party, and take a quick pint in the Green Dragon. A local brewery actually makes beer and cider specifically for The Green Dragon, which can't be had anywhere else, so it was kind of fun to drink there. Afterwards Craig picked us up and took us back up the hill to The Shire's Rest. Katie and I snapped many photos, and really enjoyed the tour.

Kneeling on your shoes puts you at hobbit height!

Katie and I headed straight to Rotorua and grabbed second breakfast at Third Place Café. After lunch, we headed to the Pig & Whistle to grab a couple pints and watch the New Zealand Black Caps play the West Indies in the cricket World Cup. We figured the pub would be busy and people would be excited, since it was one of the quarterfinal matches. However, the pub was nearly empty when we got there, and it remained that way even after the match had started and been going on for a bit. After a while, we decided to head out and visit the Government Gardens instead. We'd read about their hot springs and a geyser, sources of the eggy, sulfurous smell of the city. We found several hot pools, which were very pretty to view but smelled strongly. Fortunately, we visited the rose garden afterwards. After the rose garden, we went back to the B&B to regroup before dinner.

Yesterday when we arrived, our host booked us at a Maori dinner experience at the Mitai village, including a concert, a hangi (a traditional feast where the food is cooked underground), and a glowworm bushwalk. She arranged for a ride for us between 5:45 and 6:10, so we were ready at 5:30. At 5:45 on the dot, our van pulled up. We hopped in and set off to pick up a family of 6 before heading to Mitai. We were a bit early, and I took the head of the table per Katie's suggestion. We chatted with people as they joined our table, which filled with other couples from Germany, Australia, and the Cook islands. Of course, our host Jimmy came to our table, looked at me, and asked if I would honor the "tribe" as chief for the evening. Obviously, I said yes.

Jimmy explained our chain of events for the evening, which consisted of viewing a war boat, reviewing the hangi, greeting the chief of the Mitai village, a concert, and then the feast, finishing with the bushwalk. He then called me up to the front and introduced me as chief, and asked for people to call out their countries so I would know how many we represented. Following that, everywhere we went, he called my table (table #7) and me up first, letting us lead the way for our group. We first went to see the war boat, which was full of warriors chanting and rowing. After seeing the waka we went and checked the food at the hangi, which I got to sample first as chief. Then we went into the concert hall, where Chief Mason (from our neighboring "tribe") and I greeted Chief Richard in a ritualistic exchange. We accepted peace offerings (I received a fern palm, which I was allowed to keep!), gave speeches honoring our people and our hosts, and we offered them a song - You Are My Sunshine. We were then honored with a handshake and dual head-tap, a formal greeting of acceptance. Finally, Mason and I were allowed to return to our seats, front and center.

After the exchange, we were treated to a wonderful concert of several songs and dances along with information about Maori music, facial tattoos, and weaponry, among other things. My personal favorite part was the Haka, the pre-war dance, which is intense (and that's an understatement). After the explanation of the facial tattoos, we were dismissed to enjoy the hangi. The feast included rice, several salads, garlic bread, cheesy potatoes, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, lamb, chicken, stuffing (thanks to the English) and multiple desserts. The cheesy potatoes and the stuffing were delicious, as was the chicken. Following dinner, I gave my final speech as chief, thanking my tribe for representing me so well, and thanking the people of Mitai for their hospitality. We then took a short bushwalk through the surrounding area, exploring the replica Maori village and looking at their cold spring as well as the glowworms lining the mud banks and walkways before going back to the buses. Chief Richard rejoined us as our bushwalk guide, and allowed us to ask questions about Maori culture and heritage, which was very informative. He and I exchanged one last head tap handshake on our way out, and our driver brought us back to the B&B door. I'm really glad we decided to book this dinner; it will definitely remain one of the highlights of our trip. I still have the fern palm, and hope I'll be able to bring it back to the US; if not, at least we have a few pictures of it.

Tomorrow, we're driving to Wellington, which is about 6 hours from here. I'm looking forward to hitting the open road for a bit, as I love driving on trips like this. However, I'll miss Rotorua.