NZ- North Isly But Last of the Southern Hemi

Alright friends, lots to cover, so lets get right to it. First, for those playing the home game, we celebrated Marnie’s 39th Birthday on the 15th of March while here in NZ. Leanne Abrahams was the first to answer correctly but she finds herself disqualified from the prize through a complicated formula (the formula being she lives in Australia and shipping costs to there are outrageous – Sorry Leanne, though we won’t forget to send Twizzlers in the next care package). So the winner of the Marnie contest is our old friend Roy McBeth (who it just so happens we will see on our return to Canada so no posting involved, but also won’t actually get anything from us since Roy has a 6yr old son and the gift will be better suited going to Connor) – way to go to all those playing.

Since our last entry we finished our motorhome trip on the South Island, relaxed for a few days, flew to the North Island, drove to the Bay of Islands for three nights, drove back to Auckland and said ‘goodbye’ to Grandpa and Poppa at the airport , drove out to the Coromandel Peninsula to spend 6 days, drove back to Auckland, did some last minute looking around (which means shopping) and will leave tomorrow for Los Angeles. Whew!

We had a great time with Judy and Milton, Jp’s Mom and StepDad. Lots of laughs, games, sites, songs, stories, a few sideways glances, some hair-raising moments, but all with love. It was a trip to really cherish, especially since the girls will remember that time with their grandparents forever. Jp and Milton captured every moment on film too so that helps. We missed them on our last leg of this New Zealand adventure. Let that be a lesson to anyone coming here – you can see lots in 3 weeks but you cannot see it all. 6 weeks would be a good visit length for New Zealand. Hey, Canadians are getting a .7 exchange rate so you can all afford it!

New Zealand has been so very wonderful and I owe it a lot of gratitude for changing the weather since our complaints of mid-March. We have enjoyed incredible weather. Day after day of near cloudless skies. In fact since our first few harsh days we have only had 2 rainy days in the past 23. Since Prince George apparently had snow again on the 2nd of April, I’de say we are doing quite well, thank-you very much. So with the weather out of the way, what is New Zealand really like.

Incredibly beautiful. Sounds stupid to wrap it up in two words but seriously you run out of words to describe the beauty of New Zealand. It is powerful to a point of sensory overload - you almost get tired of seeing so much beauty because you have to use up stores of energy to enjoy it properly. You say things like ‘Wow!’, and ‘Amazing!’, and ‘Look at that!’ a lot. And then it seems lame because we are not able to come up with a better way to describe what you are seeing when it hits you again and again. There is no way pictures can ever do justice to what is really and truly here, on the ground.

The Maori culture plays a massive role in all walks of life. Town names, for example, include Whitianga, Paihia, and Onehunga (to name only a slight few). Tourist shops all stock scads of Maori merchandise with traditional symbol carvings being the most popular, either in wood or bone. There is still a strong connection to the Commonwealth (with names like Christchurch, Wellington, Nelson and the Queen’s radio address still played on National Radio). Sport is enormous here (Rugby is over the top popular and can be viewed on all three of the nations tv sporting channels at the same time on many days, as is racing of all sorts). Then finally, the sea.

Water is an integral part of many cultures and countries around the world but certainly NZ (that’s Enn Zed too, not Enn Zee, don’t make that mistake) is right up there with any sea-faring nation anywhere. They love the water here. They love to fish on it, play in it, paddle on it, row on it, motor on it, sail on it and certainly they love to race on it. Sailors and rowers are VERY well regarded here. So many communities are on water here – it is just a completely natural part of who these people are. Getting out on the water seems like it makes sense to them.

Yet there are big time problems here too. Like anywhere I suppose, but Kiwis are leaving here at a rate of a 1000 per week in one report we heard – a staggering number when you consider they are only something like 4 million in total. Goods are expensive and wages are not great so people leave mainly for Australia hoping to make more money. When you look around here you ask yourself, ‘why would anyone want to leave this?.’

It is with very great sadness that we will be leaving the Southern Hemisphere tomorrow. If you read the Blog entry title you may get now what I meant by doing the North Island but we are saying goodbye to the South in a global sense. What an experience this has been for us all. We’ve loved just about every moment I think. Being below the equator for the first time has been grand. A storehouse full of memories plus about 4800 pictures to back it up.

Speaking of that I put the camera away for the past 5 days or so. The girls even commented on it. So, while I have quite a few shots this time (70), many are of a few select places that I found stunning. Even if the shots don’t do these places justice, trust us, they were capital B, beautiful.

Click for photos HERE

We are off to Disneyland for our next adventure. Ayden and Sophie don’t know yet so getting on the plane tomorrow will be a great surprise for them. Should be fun. Yes, yes, I know – “that’s not JP in the photo, it’s Goofy”. So, until we talk from the Magic Kingdom…God Bless you all,

The Martin’s