We left our hostel and drove around doing errands. I had looked up an organic store earlier, so we went there and I got a bunch of gluten free snacks. Then we drove out to Akaroa. It was an hour and a half drive, and very scenic. I will try not to put in too many beautiful landscapes, but it’s hard.
We got to Akaroa and got on the bus to Pohatu. It was a guided tour, and we went to look at a farm with a lighthouse in it, which had very scenic views. Then we looked at a trap they had, which had some prehistoric bugs in it.
We were dropped off at a trail head and started to walk down to the camp. Some It was a 2.5 hour hike, but it took us a bit longer. There were lots of water falls that we went and looked at, and very beautiful plants and landscapes. There was a beautiful swimming pool with a waterfall into it, but we didn’t have time to stop. I think we might go back tomorrow. Unfortunately, for part of the journey my Teva was adjusted wrong and I got a small blister. Hopefully I will be able to adjust it better tonight.
Along the way we saw signs explaining a little about the park. The border of it was covered with traps to keep away predators. This is a morally dilemma for me. On one hand, it is important to protect endangered species. But on the other hand, killing other animals to protect them doesn’t seem quite right to me. I guess just having these traps along the outside of the park will just keep the animals away.
The landscapes near the end of the track where very fantasy like, and I can definitely understand why the filmed the Lord of the Rings here. I think that my blog’s background will be one of these pictures for the next few days.
After we got to the camp, we dropped off some of our stuff and relaxed. We explored a bit and rested until 7, when we went around the corner to the owner’s house for the penguin tour. We saw her feed some penguins that needed special care and some with chicks. We had to put on camoflouge (ugh) so that the penguins would always be used to that. Then she took some out to a little pond and let them swim around. We also got to walk out and see their nesting bins. They weren’t nesting now, but molting. Even normally they wouldn’t have been here, but a change in ocean currents had caused a shortage in fish, so the penguins’ schedule was offset. We also got to use binoculars to see some out on the beach.
Even though it is now the 18th, this probably won’t be posted until the 21st, when we will be in a place with internet. Sorry for the delay.
NOTE: Sorry all of this is a bit late. I am in a place with internet, but I haven't had time to work on the blog much. I am trying to finish an English paper before I go on our four day backpacking trip. It may be for our five more days before I get anything else posted.
We went to the International Antarctic Centre today. Christchurch is the starting place for most journeys to the Antarctic, so they have an entertainment center here. We walked through some of the exhibits, which had rooms modeled after an Antarctic camp, etc. In one room fake snow made out of soap started to fall. The next room was a storm room. We all put on coats and went in. The coats were fairly thin, and we were all wearing shorts anyway, so we were all a little cold, even though it was only zero. They had a ice slide made out of blocks, which I slid down, despite my shorts. After a minutes the storm started, which was mostly just wind, and nothing windier than Alaska.
Next we went to see the penguins being fed. They have a bunch of injured penguins that can’t live in the wild anymore. We got both an underwater and above ground view of them swimming around.
Afterwards, my sister and mom got to go on a backstage tour of the penguins, which they had paid for in advance.
My dad and I got to go on a Hagglund ride, which is a versatile treaded vechile used in Antarctica and other places across the world. They took us back behind the center over a course of hills. It was very fun, and almost like a rollercoaster.
I have memories of riding in a Hagglund when I was here about 10 years ago, so this had special meaning to me. We went back inside and did a bit more exploring, then met up with my mom and sister. We then watched a 4D Antarctic movie. I started out on the boat, with real water spraying on your face as the waves crashed over the boat. The seats rocked, and gusts of air blew at us. A bird flying overhead pooped on us (in 3D of course) and more water splashed on us. Then a blizzard hit and it started blowing and fake snowing.
After the ride we went into another recreation of an Antarctic camp. We tried on winter clothes and sat on a snowmobile. I also went into a room with stuffed penguins. Supposedly there is a picture of me when I was little hugging a penguin, but I couldn't find it.
Afterwards we watched a short video about Antarctica with beautiful photography. We then went through the gift store, where I got a t-shirt, then went outside. Our car rental company came and picked us up.
At the rental company, we finished filling out our paperwork and got into our car. It was a small brown Nissan Sunny sedan that we got for $42 a day ($15-25 cheaper than anything else). But when my dad tried to start the car, the key didn’t fit. It turned out we got gotten in the wrong car. Our car was a silver Nissan sunny. We went over to it, but it smelled horribly of mildew and mold. My mom is very allergic to mold, and she could hardly stand to be in the car, even with a mask on. But the car company didn’t have any available cars, except for a 11 person van. We decided to keep this car until Sunday, when they would have another car. We were going to Pohatu for two days anyway and wouldn’t be using the car while we were there.
Next we went to the supermarket. It was a big store, but we had a hard time finding any food that we would normally eat. They had no romaine lettuce, no corn tortillas (except for taco shells), all of the sausages contained “meat” and were bright red, all of the tomato sauces said “may contain peanuts”, and a lot of other stuff was missing. I am hoping that it is only this store, and not New Zealand in general, that only has super processed foods.
Day 9- February 15th
We got to Auckland at 9:30 and were through customs by 10:30. We had been worried that they would throw away our snacks, but they just glanced at them. I had to bring some food, because of my allergies, So I was glad they let it through. They had to unpack our tents, to check for soil, but were able to do it in 10 minutes. Afterwards we bought a cell phone and spent half-an-hour setting it up. Then we caught a taxi to our hotel.
Our hotel was a budget hotel, and besides being a bit moldy, was clean and nice. We got a three bed room-two singles and a double-for only 60 dollars a night. We went out and did some shopping and set up a bank account. For the rest of the day we just relaxed. We watched some interesting Australian soap operas, which sounded like American Soap operas, except for the accents.
Day 10- Wednesday, February 16th
We packed our bags and then looked up the best way to the airport. The cap had cost 40 dollars, so we decided to take the bus. We could ride from our hotel to Manukau Shopping Centre, and from their catch the bus to the airport. The busses ran every half-hour, so we could easily get to the airport without too much wait.
We caught the bus at our hotel at 9:30 and got off in Manukau. We saw the airport bus, so we ran over to catch that. We asked the driver if she would take our transfer, and she said no, but we could catch a bus run by a different company, which would also take us to the airport, or so we understood. But when we checked the schedule, only that bus would take us, and another one wouldn’t be there for half-an-hour. Oh well, we still had plenty of time. It was only 9:45, and our flight didn’t leave till 12:30.
When the airport bus pulled up again, we picked up our bags to catch it and realized that we were missing one; the one that Sheeshao was carrying. We realized that we had left it on the last bus. We got the phone number for the bus company, but it took us ten minutes to figure out how to call the number. After we did, we found out that we had to ride to the bus depot and pick up the bag. We caught a bus, which dropped us off a kilometer from the depot. It was now 11:00. We walked the ten minutes to the depot, then waited another fifteen minutes for the bus to show up and us to get the bag. We called a taxi at 11:20, but it didn’t show up until 11:40.
On the drive to the airport, my dad tried to get ahold of my mom. She got to the airport at 7:00 and just stayed there. She didn’t have our cell phone number, since she had been out of contact since we got it. We tried calling the airport, but the airline we were on was a cheap one, and we only got an answering machine. We finally got to the airport at 12:06, six minutes past the cut-off for catching the plane. Thankfully, the airline was really disorganized and a lot of the other people had been waiting in line for an hour. My mom had been doing that, and they allowed us to move to the front of the line and we caught the plane. My mom had been really worried that we weren’t going to make it, because we would have had to buy new tickets and pay for the ones we missed.
On the plane, they charged you for drinks, but it was only an hour flight, so we didn’t buy any. I think overall, flying on the airline was worth it, since we only had to pay sixty dollars per seat.
We checked into a hostel a Christchurch, which had a shared kitchen and bathroom. It was mostly occupied by Japanese people who would stay there for months at a time. It was really nice, and we only paid 22 dollars per bunk.
While in Auckland, I will try to set up a map of our trip. I also, as you might of noticed, added a new background. It was one of the free backgrounds that came with the blog. It sort of looks like New Zealand, don't you think? But it's actually a picture of the Moher cliffs of Ireland. As soon as I see some beautiful scenery (besides buildings and stores).
After going to Disneyland the day before, everyone was sort of tired, so we just relaxed. At two we went to play Bingo. I didn’t win anything, but I got very close. My sister also get very close, and demonstrated the thought process that leads to addictive gaming and gambling. She was so close that she was sure if she could just play one more time…she could win.
After Bingo, we went swimming. I tried out my snorkel and face mask, and was able to snorkel fairly successfully. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful.
Day 8- Sunday, February 13th
We went on a walk out to the dam near my Grandparents apartment. My uncle was still here, and he and my grandpa went with us. We walked along until we game to a ball field, where my grandpa and sister waited while my dad, uncle and I went ahead. We got to the dam and looked around for a bit. We saw a log boom, which keeps things from floating into the dam during a flood. We also saw the spill way, where extra water would flow out if the dam was too full.
The damn was a flood only dam, so the only water on either side was a small creek. While we were doing this, Sheeshao was climbing a tree.
After we returned, my uncle left and we started packing. We drove to the Disneyland hotel and missed the shuttle by 5 minutes. We had to wait another hour for the next one. I stayed outside and watched the bags while my dad and sister went inside to shop. While waiting, a huge, white limo pulled up. I guess it was a SUV limo, because it was taller than a normal car. A bunch of kids got out and went into the hotel. It was sort of weird to watch. It us also amazing the amount of money some people have, and the things they choose to spend it on.
We finally caught the shuttle and got to the airport. We walked into Terminal three, which was swarming with people. Fortunately, we found out that our flight left from a separate terminal, which was much less crowded. We boarded the plane at 11:00. It turned out too only be a single deck plane, with eight rows of seats. Each seat back had a on-demand movie player built in, so for most of the flight I watched movies. I should have got a lot more work done, but oh well. The only thing that I really got done was writing this blog post. I wrote it at 6:00 on Tuesday, Auckland time.
We had pancakes for breakfast. They were amazingly easy to cook on a griddle. These pancakes came out flat, round, and golden brown, instead of lumpy, oval, and dark brown. At home, I just use a
12-inch cast iron frying pan, which is a bit warped and doesn’t sit very evenly on the burner. But they tasted just the same.
After breakfast, we decided to ride to San Juan Capistrano on the train. We caught the train at 10:10, and got there at 11.
Upon arrival, we walked to the mission there and took the tour. We got little audio headsets and I listened at one or two of the stations. I have found that often I find normal history boring. Reading about how this person went here, then here, and gave a speech doesn’t interest me. But I find day to day life very interesting, along with architecture and landscape. For instance, last year I went to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate. His barn, house, outbuildings, orchard, farms, distillery, and gristmill were all preserved or rebuilt, and could be visited. Learning about the kind of fruit he grew, the way that water was used to turn the gears of the gristmill, the process of distilling; all of this fascinated me and gave me a sense of… nostalgia, I guess you could call it.
After the mission tour, we walked down the street and ate at Ruby’s, a small Californian chain. It has a fifties theme with red vinyl seats and shiny metal edges. It also had a train mounted on the ceiling that ran around the restaurant and a large model of a Santa Fe diesel engine. I had a gigantic tostada salad, which took me almost half-an-hour to eat.
After we left Ruby’s, we went to an antique store across the street. It had lots of old posters, magazines, furniture, stuffed cats, beds, linens; almost anything you can think of. We spent almost half an hour there, but couldn’t buy much because we would have to take it back on the train.
We got up early this morning to go with my grandpa to the train station. My grandpa is a train fanatic (known as a railfan), and goes to the train station every morning just to watch the trains arrive and depart, and notice the people getting off. He has a group of friends there that share his love for trains, and they all drink coffee and talk about developments or train technology, or just the news. 
Of course, since I had my camera I had to take a video of each train arriving and departing. The video is below.
We ate breakfast in the dining room of my grandparent’s retirement community. After this, we went to a new TV room to play on a Wii. Since the closest thing to a video game in my house is computer solitaire, this was a new experiment for all of us. We had fun trying to learn how to use the controller, but I wasn’t particularly attracted other than that. For me, it just seemed like a novelty. If I really wanted to play baseball, I would play baseball, not virtual baseball. I suppose that this is slightly better than hand controller video games, because at least you get a smidgen of exercise. Still, I would prefer to be outside in the sun while I am exercising.
After lunch, my dad, sister, and I drove to REI, a 20 minute drive away. We needed to get sleeping pads for all of us and a new backpack for my sister. We looked at backpacks first. The best pack, which was a normal style pack, but with smaller measurements, cost $130 dollars. Of course this was my sister’s favorite, but we ended up getting a smaller, cheaper back instead. Because of this, she was mad and pouty for the rest of the trip, that is, until we went to the toy store next door. I got a nice lightweight sleeping pad that rolls up to be the size of a liter water bottle. It was amazingly cheap, so I hope that it will last. I will have to try it out tonight and see if I can sleep on it.
After the toy store, we went to a natural foods store, where I got some Gluten-Free baking mixes, cookies, muffins, and bread. I am looking forward to pancakes in the morning.
Travel
Day 1-Sunday, February 6
We left at 4:30 on the Alaska Marine Highway System, otherwise known as the ferry. Four hours later we checked into a hotel in Juneau and fell asleep, in preparation from our 7:20 flight.
Day 2- Monday, February 7
My dad, sister and me got up at five, backed our bags and got our flight. My mom was going to Bend for a week, while we spent a week at my grandparent’s house. We would meet up in New Zealand when we were done.
Upon arrival in LA, were hit by sweltering 72-degree air. I immediately took off my jacket. We got our bags, then went outside to catch our bus. The cheapest bus we could find was the Disneyland Hotel airport shuttle, which took us to the Disney Hotel, where my grandpa would pick us up. Right as we walked out of the airport, at 4:05, the Disneyland bus drove by and stopped a 100 feet in-front of us. The next shuttle wasn't till 4:30, so we all started running. My sister, who has no-fear of strangers, ran ahead, waving at the bus driver and managing to catch it. While I was glad that she had caught it, her lack of shyness was often annoying. Walking around, she will start "whispering" to me comments about people she saw. Of course, whispering for her is talking normally, so people usually hear her. Of course, because she is a "cute" little girl, everyone just thinks that it is cute and she doesn't know any better. I suppose that is one of the benefits on being small for your age.
We arrived at the Disneyland hotel, where my grandpa picked us up. Before he did, however, my dad had to take a picture of us for our travel journal. He wanted to take on in front of Mickey Mouse, but I wouldn't let him, so we stood in a patch of roses. He managed to catch me with a stupid expression on my face, but oh well.
