Another One Bites the Dust

So, as many of you are already aware, my brother got married on September 10th. I can see why you'd think this post heading might be referring to him, however, it's not. The title of this post refers to 

Big Mabel. 

Big Mabel was my brother's favorite pre-wedding requisite for all guests. I guess, if you're man enough to ride the BM, you're man enough for this ranger's wedding. These rides were not for the faint hearted.

 They started pleasantly enough. Ash and I, never to be outdone by our brother, happily took our places behind the boat. Ashley is in blue. I am in pink.

We take a swing to our left...

And then a swing to our right...

And then a JUMP in the air...

And now we're holding on tight!

 

Not...tight...enough...

Uh-oh...

This is when Big Mabel showed us who was boss and I bit the dust... 

And Ashley used me as a cushioned landing spot...

It was intense. But we survived... just. I am still getting headaches. Apparently, that's what happens when you land on your head and almost break your neck.

Other couples to brave Big Mabel were

Chantel and James:

Brendan and Amanda:

Derrald and Brendan:

Dave and Dad:

Dan and Jed:

And the Bride and Groom to be, Amy and Brendan, awwwww:

Our pain, sweat, tears and screams of terror would not have been possible without the wonderful patience and persistence of Amy's Dad, Greg. 

Now I know this man looks like a sweetie, but let me tell you, when you're on that boat watching a couple of riders on Big Mabel being lulled into thinking "this isn't so bad" the words "air time" escape the lips of our Captain and you realise that this is a sport, like hunting, in the eyes of Greg Hammers... and we are his prey! 

We had an absolutely wonderful time on the lake. The amazing thing is that our lakeside fun didn't outshine the actual wedding, which was by far the highlight of the week. A simply beautiful day, full of beautiful people, in an incredibly beautiful location. That post is to follow. 

Snow Balls!

Being in the Southern Hemisphere, June is considered winter for New Zealanders. We were well aware of this mean trick when traveling there this "summer"... but with the latest round of snow currently falling in NZ, we were rather lucky to escape the worst of the weather! Remember the pictures I took on Te Mata peak in my last post? Yeah. Look at these photos the New Zealand Herald just posted:

And here is the snow in Dairy Flat, where Nellie and folks live, i.e. 10 minutes away from the pictures taken at Red Beach: (note to Nellie: HOT TUB WEATHER!!! Wish we were there...)

This amount of snow may not look impressive to those of you living on the doorsteps of ski resorts, but for areas that don't usually see snow, it's unusual (and totally worth a blog post).

Aotearoa (North Island)

Aotearoa, (for pronunciation click here) or "the Land of the Long White Cloud" is where we spent most of the month of June.

For months I have been preparing Derrald not for the beautiful nature, the rugged beaches, the friendly people, driving on the wrong side of the road or the many friends and family members we were about to see in New Zealand, but for the culinary delights that were awaiting us. We decided to road trip our way around but it would be more accurately described as "eating our way" around New Zealand.

The North Island.

Our journey begins in Auckland at Nellie and Andrew's house where I had already put in a request for corned beef and it was there awaiting our arrival on day one. Nellie also introduced Derrald to his first "F'n'C's" (fish and chips) and we were off to a great start.

The following photos are taken at Red Beach. This was my "local" beach. 

These rocks were very slippery. I lost count of how many times D fell over on this trip, but these rocks were at least one of those times. I, of course, have the reflexes of a mongoose and am a natural when it comes to clambering across slippery rocks. Showoff.

Another beach, Browns Bay this time. 

Our first stop on our way out of Auckland was the Red Beach Bakery where the first bite of a Sally Lunn (or Boston Bun) changed D's life forever. 

Then it was a stop at Pokeno for ice cream. Tripple scoop. All my favorite flavors; orange chocolate chip, hokey pokey, goody goody gumdrop. It was extremely messy and we got it everywhere (don't worry Dad, we didn't eat in the car!)

 

Waitomo Caves began our sightseeing. This is the place to see glow worms. There are several ways to explore the caves including black water rafting and rappelling but due to time restraints (and the cold) we opted for the most boring option, a simple walk into the cave and then a boat ride. The glow worms were beautiful but the best part was when, despite their best efforts, this poor couple failed to restrain their 2 year old child from bursting into tears with a full-on wail, a performance worthy of the theatre of Dionysus, right in the middle of the caves. We had been briefed that glowworms are very sensitive to noise and light and in order to see them with their best glow we must sit very quietly in the dark. The child was very good for the majority of the ride and those sweet parents did their very best, but sometimes you've just got to test out your lungs. It began with a little whimpering, some cooing, more fussing, a bit of shushing, you could hear the panic and desperation rising on both sides until finally, WAAAAAAAH!

No pictures were allowed inside the caves but the architecture of the building outside was fantastic and we took a few photos of that.

Smelly Rotorua was our next stop and this is where we spent my birthday. Soaking up minerals in the thermal pools at the Polynesian Spa. Right on the lake, it was a pretty spectacular spot and we floated from pool to pool for many more hours than someone without scales should. 

My birthday cake this year was a self chosen lamington cake. I've been trying to teach Derrald how to use the camera and encourage him to USE it. I am completely unreliable when it comes to taking photos, I never take enough... so I need backup. So far, fail. You'll have to imagine my smile as I tucked into the delicious, coconutty goodness. 

Now, for some reason, our trip around New Zealand had us attracting friends of the non-human nature. Cats would turn up to join us for breakfast. This happened on multiple occasions. This first instance was in Rotorua where we opened our bedroom door so we could sit warm on our bed and look out at the lake ... when this ginger walked in and joined us. 

 

Black and White joined us in Queenstown (South Island), again for breakfast, crumpets and golden syrup. 

 

From Rotorua, a quick stop through Taupo and Huka Falls had us pulling up to my grandparents house in Napier, Hawkes Bay, art deco capital of the world.

Thus began the induction of Derrald into my extended family. Here we dined on the likes of delicious venison casserole, cheese and herb scones, bread pudding, fresh mandarins and SO much more. Our favorite pies were probably from Heaven's Bakery - cheese and mince. Top stuff.

The weather treated us very well for the majority of our trip. I love walking the Napier promenade especially with the sun taking the edge off that winter crisp air. We had my cousin Natasha with us for this day down town and she made sure we hit all the hot spots. These included Pania, the statue commemorative of a Maori legend and the Possum shop, where one can find anything in possum apparel; coats, hats, and nipple warmers. No joke. 

Pania of the Reef

The Possum Shop also had a little museum-type section where you could learn about the creatures and play a shooting game where you have to shoot as many possums as possible. Derrald took up the shotgun and showed us why a life in academia was probably more suited to him.

Apparently, these possums demonstrate the behavior of a growing possum joey... highly inappropriate if you ask me.

 

One of our favorite hikes while in New Zealand was here, Te Mata Peak. Incredible scenery and lots of sheep.

 

Speaking of sheep, despite my families "follow the west wind past the hills that look like a sleeping giant and when you've reached Australia, you've gone too far" style directions (seriously guys, not even a street name?), we managed to find this place: The Sheepskin Factory! With a move to HK in my imminent future, I decided sheepskin slippers were perhaps not my most necessary item, but we did get two of the "specials"from the bin behind me. Caramel and cream colored. Oh! Actually, you can see them in the bottom right corner of the photo.

The day of the tea party. We had only intended to stay two nights in Napier. We had a lot of ground to cover (as well as the Cook Straight channel) and not a lot of time to do it in. In fact, any time we ever mentioned our plans to someone living in New Zealand they looked at us as if we were nuts. Our plans, on a map, looked a little like this:

To those of you used to driving in the US, these roads are major roads, but they are NOT freeways. For most of our route we were on winding, single lane roads. Driving in New Zealand = work.

The day of the tea party is the day my camera decided to fail. Actually, it was the batteries. The timing could not have been worse. Still, I managed to get these little gems:

My Aunt Christine and cousin, Tash, had themselves (and me) in fits of giggles when they assigned Derrald the job of taking the drink orders... he took his job very seriously and dutifully made sure all the relatives got hydrated.

Rae, wearing the black dress, gave us a beautiful gift. A square tablecloth that had been made and given to her by my great-grandmother. Beautiful pansies have been embroidered on the corners, which is perfect because pansies have always made me think of my own grandmother.

I think it important to note, that this particular Sunday was also my grandparents wedding anniversary! 

This is Mrs Forward sitting with my grandparents. Mrs Forward sent us two towels made out of Egyptian cotton as a wedding gift. How she knew I would end up having green in my bathroom is beyond me, but they are green and they fit perfectly!

The road out of Napier led us to Wellington where we would begin the second leg of our journey with a ferry ride across the Cook Straight. Details to follow in - Aotearoa (South Island).

Batty

So, for about 10 minutes in our first week here in HK we shared our apartment with a bat. We have absolutely no idea how it got in. I just came out of the kitchen one evening to see it frantically (and noiselessly) flapping around our living room. All our windows have mosquito nets on them, and none of our doors get opened unless we are walking thru them because of the air conditioning... so this little bat literally morphed out of thin air. Derrald wouldn't believe me when I said there was a bat in the house. He thought maybe it was a bird, but I know my bats. It eventually found it's way out the balcony door and this was the best photo I got. Not easy considering how erratic it was. I almost took a bat in the face a couple times. I don't know who was more panicked, him or me, but only one of us was making any noise that could actually be heard. Me. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

It's a Small World, Afterall.

So we moved half way round the world. It's 8,351 miles from North Carolina to Hong Kong and the world only seems to get smaller. I've already mentioned the list of visitors we have had within our first month of being in HK in my last post. For moving "away" from friends and family, we sure haven't been lonely.

Our first visitors to actually stay with us were Derrald's family. Ramona, Kay, Taraz and Kamila. We had a lot of fun trekking around HK and finding all our favorite places. It may have felt a little bit like squatting in our apartment, I'm ashamed to say that although we managed to get some very basic sheets thrown on the beds they were forced to share towels... (I promise my hosting skills improve daily, our next guests will not be sharing towels! please, don't be afraid to visit us!!)

Taraz and Mimi were put in the maid's room where we have bunk beds. It's down the opposite end of the house so it was kind of like having their own wing (their own non-airconditioned wing, poor things). No matter how many times we tried to convince them that by staying in the maid's room they would also have to accept the maid's duties, we never came home to them doing the ironing or making us dinner. That's because they were too busy visiting this place:

DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting our stuff in order for our SEASON PASSES! That's right folks. If you're coming to visit and need me to guide you through the magic of HK Disney, I have Magic Access.

First of all, look at those guns on Taraz!  Buzz Lightyear is a favorite. So is Space Mountain, the Lion King Show and the Golden Mickeys.

The "Golden Mickey's". It's like the Academy's except it's for Disney Characters and it's presented by a lady named "Bebe".

At the end of the show they spray the audience with golden streamers... which the children then love to collect. As you can see, Taraz and Mimi gathered a pretty respectable stash... and we carried them with us to the River Cruise... in English, Cantonese or Mandarin!

Mimi's record for riding on Space Mountain in one day = 10 times. Sometimes we would "Fast Pass" it and sit together, but mostly we would "Single Rider" and our wait time was only about 10 minutes!

Mimi got a fun shot of Kay getting off the coaster on his ride. His expression is a bit different from what it was earlier in the ride...

 Tea cups! Who doesn't love getting dizzy on these? (answer: Kay Stice)

 So, throughout the day people handout stickers, especially to charming girls like Taraz and Mimi who love to share, so Ramona and I found ourselves covered by the end of the day!

The fact that it was both Taraz AND Ramona's birthday might have helped in the "sticker" acquirements... here they are with another birthday girl, she was turning one. 

 "Cars" is all the rage at the moment... the girls are just practicing their "Smiles-de-Paris" for when they actually get to visit next April!

The girls went to Disneyland four days in total. I went with them twice. Kay went with them twice. And Ramona kept up with the Disney madness, I mean, magic, all four days. It was a lot of fun and we can't wait for the new section to open up! Twice the park... twice the fun... eight days of Disney anyone...???

I'm trying to convince Derrald that he needs a pass now too. Then we can head out to Fantasyland for dinner and some fireworks. We found delicious Indian food and good Chinese food too. Plus, sesame chocolate ice cream bars. You gotta love HK Disney. Not a churro in sight, but squid in a bag, yes, you can get that.