Nz day 29

I'm at LAX. Vacation is over. Reality begins again. I'm tired, but not that much since I didn't watch as many movies as I wanted to. I watched all of Die Hard 4, but dozed off on 1408. I had to rewind and watch half of it again.

It was a great trip and already I can't remember everything I've done. I've tried just about every meat pie, cookie, candy, and dessert bars I saw. I'll try to get in a run tomorrow and start back up the workouts, but i'm sure I packed on a few pounds.

I guess that and the ton of mail and work i'll have to do is the price for a month of traveling, huh. Oh well, sign me up again. Maybe South America or Africa next...

I'll be going through all the pictures and posting them on the blog and in my facebook account if people are interested, so stay tuned. I also have videos to post also. Between this and real work, i'll be tied up till my birthday.

thanks

Cliff

sent from mobile phone

Nz day 28 130pm

Well, it's coming to an end. Surfing yesterday was great. Caught a few waves with the new board and had a great time. I got some burns on the side of my arms where the board rubbed against them and the water suit I was wearing. Jamie got a few more burns than me because her suit was shorter in the leg area than mine was. She also did better than me on the board as she was able to stand up a few times. We both had a fantastic time and will have to plan a surfing only trip in the future. Maybe something domestic like Cali or maybe in the Great Lakes area.

We've got an hour or so left in paihia before we catch a bus back to auckland. One more wakeup and its back to the US...

thanks

Cliff

sent from mobile phone

Nz day 26 940am

Christmas turned out to be a rainy day. We booked a boat ride on a speed boat called Excitor. It was a nice ride and they took us to a place called "hole in the rock". It was natural donut-like formation that the bus was able to drive through. Afterwards, they took us to an island call Otehei. It should've been a great place to chill until our pickup time, but the rain didn't help.

We made it back to our room around 5 and watched tv and played Scrabble the rest of the evening.

We had to catch the bus at 720am for our day trip to Cape Reinga. I think at least we'll do some sand boarding but i'm not sure what else. At the end of the day, we'll get dropped off at this surf place and spend tomorrow learning to surf. I'm really looking forward to that. I'm sure Jamie will be surfing in no time. I just hope my weight doesn't hinder me...

Nz day 27 12pm

Surfing, or the attempt thereof, has been a blast Again, my weight is a disadvantage, but it's still been a lot of fun. We went out yesterday for about an hour and a half and we went out this morning and we'll go out again in about an hour.

Jamie, the fish, has been doing quite well and she might be able to stand later today. I'm going to try a different board. It's going to be a bit more dangerous for me because I won't have the skills to use it properly, but it should compensate for the wait and provide a more enjoyable experience. We'll see...

Nz day 24 917am

Ahhh, Christmas Eve!! Heading north to Pahia for some fun in the sun. We'll spend a couple of days on the beach and then head off to do some surfing for a bit. That ought to be interesting.

We spent the night of day 22 in taupo, the home of mt doom (ruapeha and ngaruhoe). We didn't do much there. Walked around and found a hot spring to hang out in a bit. It was very refreshing. We later went grocery shopping for peanut butter, tuna, and bread. Mmmmm, good eatin'. After some time in an internet café, we headed back to the hostel and chilled.

Up at 9, it was back to Auckland. We had to go through rotorua and drop people off and pick people up. We got in at about 2 and spent the day walking around. We found some flyers and were going to check out an bar made from ice and check out their sky tower and a casino. Well, the ice bar, 5 below, costs 30 to enter and included a drink and you couldn't take pictures. We found a coupon for 5 dollars off, but we said screw it. We didn't feel like spending that much for a 5 minute walkthrough and no "cool" photos.

We went to the sky tower and I was a bit keen to do what I thought was another bungy jump. But alas, it wasn't. It was something called a sky jump and it looked kinda goofy and expensive.

We went inside the tower and was disappointed again. The casino looked ok, but the blackjack tables had the continual shuffle looking machines. For the uninitiated, there are a couple different types of card shuffling machines or shufflemasters. There are the ones that shuffle decks of cards after the decks have been used and then there's the one where the dealer takes the cards after every hand and places in the shuffler. I'm not sure how many decks are used with the shuffler or how often it shuffles, but I do know this: the odds shift even greater for the house. I've played these machines in vegas and I hated the experience. I won't go into too much detail about the house vs. the player's edge in blackjack, but I know these machines don't help the player.

We saw a poker tournament going on and no cash games. So we left out of here and started walking around to find a grocery store. After about an hour of no luck and a few walks up some san francisco-like hills, we made our way back to the city. Since there didn't seem like there was much else to do, we found a little mall with a food court and a cinema. We got some food, a laksa for me and a burger for jamie, played some Scrabble with the cards I bought in Franz Josef, and watched Beowulf on the IMAX. Not a bad night...

Nz day 22 8am

Off to taupo again as we head back north. Didn't do much yesterday. Had some tom yum soup again and watched a movie, "hitman". It wasn't too bad.

Jamie was excited when she got on the bus yesterday. She got some dolphin photos like she wanted even though she had to get up at 530am to make the trip.

Today marks the beginning of our last week. A little depressing after seeing all of our new friends go away and the reduction of activities. Even though we're revisiting places we've already been, I hope we can find something new to do.

Nz day 21 921am

Just boarded the bus in kaikoura and on our way to pick up jamie who signed up for dolphin watching.

Yesterday was a slow day. There weren't many activities activities available but dolphin, whale, or seal watching. I wasn't to keen on any of them, so I walked around the small town and the spent an hour or so syncing email on my phone at the internet café. Headed back to the room and slept for a few hours. This proved to be a bad idea as when I tried to sleep later, I couldn't. I think I eventually dozed off at 3am.

Now we're off north to catch the ferry and head back to wellington...

Nz day 19: 1128am

There's not much to report from the past few days in Queenstown. We've just been relaxing and saving some money since the activities are pretty expensive.

We took a gondola ride and did a luge rige which was pretty fun. Jamie got some great photos of the city and some good nature/scenery shots.

We found a casino and played a little blackjack. Jamie played a couple times before but didn't know about basic strategy. I educated her on it and money strategy and she's done very well. Hell, she did better than her teacher! What's that saying, "those who can do, and those that can't teach."

Anyway, we're on the bus now for our 9+ hour drive to Christchurch. I think i'll take a nap since I didn't get in till 2am from my gambling session and we had to get up at 730...

Nz day 14 626pm

It's been done. I have jumped Nevis. 450ft. Holy crap!!! It was so scary. I couldn't even jump the first time I was told to. My palms were sweaty and I had to catch my breath a few times.

I bought the video and i'll post it on facebook when I get home.


thanks

Cliff

sent from mobile phone

Nz Day 17 836am

We were awakened by our bunk mates as they were packing to leave. All our original kiwi ex. Bus mates are all gone and we're alone now.

Yesterday was a an exhausting day for me but not so much for Jamie, the fish. We did the Mad Dog River Surfing and it was a blast We had to put on very tight water suits (because of the really cold water) and tight life vests. We were given boogie boards, some instruction on how to surf grade 3 rapids, how to surrender to the water and have a good time.

If anyone hadn't notice, i'm about 250 lbs with a large percentage of muscle mass that don't float so good. While i'm no fish in the water, I can swim and do my best to "not drown", but it does require a ton of energy. Like the genius I am, I started my day with a bag of candy and a few cookies along with my protein shake and my vitamins. Had I just done the shake, I probably would've been okay. I didn't and I wasn't.

After going under a few waves, sucking in a few gallons of water and panicking for air a few times, we finally finished the rough river work.

We got a chance to ride on the back of a jet ski in an intertube-like fashion and it was pretty fun. Afterwards we took a hot shower at the river facilities to try and warm up again and to wash the river off.

As we waited for the rest of the crew to finish, we shared stories with some of the others that were done. It was good to know that I was not alone with my assessment of today's activity. All the others thought it was a tough day too except for one, Jamie.

She sat around saying how easy it was and how she was moving in front of our river guide and taking photos and how good she felt. I was grumbling under my breath, but you can't really knock a person for doing well in her element. She is a former swimmer afterall.

When we finally made it back into town, Dave and Greg, two of our bus mates, took off to go luging. I was too tire to do anything, so we just went to eat at this place called Ferburger's and had these huge sandwiches.

After dinner and an hour long slow internet session , we met up with others at the bar in our hostel for a "break-up" party since the rest of bus was leaving in the morning. We had a good time dancing to the non-live band tunes and watching the others drink and thye various hookups that were made along the way.

Now, we're left with an 8-person dorm room to ourselves until the next batch of people arrive. We'll probably try riding the gondola and luging today. We've even considered hang gliding...

facebook

I finally got a facebook account. Search for cliff vaughn from detroit and you should find me. I'll post videos of most things when I get home.

you should be able to look at my friends, and then check out Jamie Hilliard's photos and see all we've got.

Nz day 15 1044am

Yesterday after Nevis, I met up with jamie and talked about the jump and get some dinner. We then headed off to some bars and I didn't get home til about 3am. Jamie left before I did at about 130am I chose to stay to watch one of my busmates. He was a little wasted and in a bit of a skirmish earlier in the night. A nice guy's work is never done...

5 hours later and we're off to milford sound which is supposed to ver beautiful. We've already been on the bus a couple of hours and we have 3 more to go. So, it's a 5 hour drive for a 2 hour cruise and the 5 more back home. It's going to be a long day and jamie should be able to get some great photos.


sent from mobile phone

Nz day 14 230pm

I've paid for bungy and now I wait. As Yoda would say, "Do or do not, there is no try"

I leave to jump at 4pm.

I'm shaking a little...

NZ day 13

Yesterday was a bust. We were supposed to do an all day hike on the franz josef glacier, the only one in a rain forest, and the hike was cancelled due to rain. It was very, very disappointing because it was one of the rhings we were looking forward to doing and a must-do event for new zealand.

One of the guys we met, ryan, ended up buying a kiwi version of monopoly and we played that for most of the day. I also bought a card version of scrabble and that provided a few more hours af entertainment for me, ray, ryan, and dave.

Later on I got some uno in with jamie and dagmar.

Today, we're off to wanaka. I think it's a long drive, but it's supposed to be better weather. We'll see...

thanks

Cliff

sent from mobile phone

NZ day 14 117pm

Yesterday was a bust too. We were supposed to get to a place were we could do some shooting0 putt-putt, and archery, but we arrived into town too late.

We ended up going groceryshopping for junk food and later on watching movies in the hostel. We saw enemy of the state0 american pie 2, and pirates of the caribbean 2.


Today we left wanaka at 9am and and headed for puzzling world. It was a cool place. A lot of visual effects and a maze. We got some great photos and some video.

Right now i'm at the bungy jumping place. I'm doing a jump called Nevis. It's 450ft tall. I'll be buying a video and getting some photos I'm so afraid of heights, but what the hell. I've already sky dived (not this trip) so it shoulndnt be too bad. Jamie isn't going to jump but she wanted to ride up to the jumping spot with me. Since there'll be a lot of jumpers I don't think it'll happen.

"no guts, no glory..."

thanks

Cliff

sent from mobile phone

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

For those that want, they're here.

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1052763340&k=Y6A3X4U5S6XMZFFHYA2YX&r&v=2



thanks

Cliff

sent from mobile phone

pictures

Hello all,

Jamie's uploaded a bunch of pictures. They're on facebook, and I think you'll have to join.

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1052763340&k=Y6A3X4U5S6XMZFFHYA2YX&r&v=2

It's only about half of what's she's taken and you'll probably find a lot of duplicates.


thanks

Cliff

sent from mobile phone

NZ: day 8

Well, day 8 has been mostly a travel day. We had to hop on the bus at 7:15am to catch a ferry to take us from the north island to the south island.

It took about 3-4 hours to get across to Picton. We left the bus on the north side, so now we're in a new bus.

We drove for about an hour to a small town for wine tasting. We sampled to whites but I didn't like them. I've grown partial to reds. They were selling the wines at a discount,.so jamie bought one for her brother.

We had a good lunch here. A smoked turkey, cranberry, and gouda (or some other fancy cheese) panini with a small salad and a slice of banofee served with caramel sauce, sliced banana, and whipped cream. It's hard to describe the flavor, but it was fantastic.

We drove for a few more hours and ended up in nelson. Accomodation was weird here. We didn't stay in a normal hostel, but in someone's house. I guess you really can't knock the hustle.

It's saturday night around 7pm and most of the shops are closed. Very different shopping culture than the US. The downtown area was pretty nice for a small town. There must have been about 80 or more stores which is heaps more than I've seen in other towns.

We did manage to find a place to eat. I got some hot thai food, and jamie just went to the grocery store to get some yogurt. She was still full from our great lunch.

We got back to the house and watched a bit of the tele for only the second time of our trip. We ended up watching The Rock's movie "walking tall" and it wasn't bad the second time around. During the movie, the other two couples that were in the house with us headed out for the night to find some bars.

We turned in at about 10 to get some sleep before our 8am departure.

NZ Day 11 234pm

Good news. Last night there was a contest for the best cosyumes and I won. I got a free voucher for river surfing.

We went to a bushwackers café for breakfast. They showed us a video about deer hunting ana how they evolved to catching them by using net guns and hopping out of helicopters. Pretty fuuny and interesting.

They also sold possom meat pies and jerky. I was gonna try one, but I chickened out. Maybe before the trip is over.

NZ Day 11 958am

Last night, we stayed in what's been the worst accomodation of the trip (sorry, no photos). It's hard to describe but imagine 10+ year old metal bunk beds in a trailer and you'll be part way there.

Dinner was interesting. We had steak, potatoes, veggie mix and a special stew. We were told it was venison, but we know they eat possum around here. It was good, but i'm afraid i'll never know what it was.

We also had a dress up party for Xmas. I'll post pictures later but lets just say I got into it.

NZ Day 10 929am

Well, we had a late start today and it's the bus driver's fault. Don't know what they were doing, but it's annoying.

Last night was pretty good. Played scrabble and some poker.

Watched the fight last night and saw floyd kick some ass. There were only about 4 americans and about 20 brits. It was great. They were talking a lot of trash beforehand but were dead silent afterwards. Of course, I did my american duty and continued to taunt them for joy and pleasure of all americans.

Now we're off to see seals if we're lucky!!

NZ day 9 - 1042am

Hopped on the bus at 830am. There are a lot of new people so now we have two buses moving down the west coast. We're still with Relle and some of our original group is still left.

I believe we're heading for a town called Westport. We can either ride a jet boat, go quad biking, or go horse riding. We've ridden quads before and we aren't really interested in horses on this trip, so that leaves jet boating. I'll decide later today.

We're now heading to some park for a mini hike and a picnic. We stopped in a small town called richmond to get some food as there won't be any nearby places when we get to the park.

NZ: day 7.5

Its 2am in the morning and the DAMN fire alarm went off!!!

Yesterday was white water rafting.FANTASTIC!!!

NZ: Day 6

It was the stupidest thing i've ever done to date. It's the toughest thing i've ever done to date. I'll remember this for the rest of my life. For all of you Lord of the Rings fans, yesterday....


I CLIMBED MT. DOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NZ: Morning of Day 3

Well, it's about 6:30 monday morning and I don't think i've completely adusted to the time zone. Last night was pretty awesome. We went to the Maori cultural dinner and show and got to see some great native dances, hear songs, and eat some great food prepared their native way. At the end we had some great desserts, the best being the pavlova. If you haven't had a chance to try this somewhere, and honestly I don't know where in the US you could, this is some fantastic stuff. It's kinda chewy and kind of like meringue.

Here are a bunch of photos:


Jamie and I at an old gold mine with a rope bridge in the background


view from Mt. Eden


sign from the town of Matamata, the film location of "Hobbiton" from the Lord of the Rings


Me sitting in one of the scene sets



Me in a Zorb ball. Not really worth doing again!!


Me along with the other chosen "chiefs" for the dinner bus. Ceremony welcoming us to the location by several Maori warriors. Really cool!!!!

NZ: Day 1 & 2 quick update

I don't have much time, so this is just a quick update and i'll have to provide more details later.

So far, we've been kayaking, hiking and I got into something called a Zorb. Not bad for a couple of days. We're about to go out to eat dinner at a cultural place to learn about the Maori, the natives of New Zealand. We'll see some dancing, learn some history and eat some very good food.

I hope to catch up with this later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Detroit to los angeles

Well, we didn't get upgraded to first class and I think it was because of two things.

1. Since we weren't able to check in online at the NWA web site because our second leg was on Qantas airline and it's not part of the skyteam alliance, we weren't able to put our names on the upgrade list.

B. It was a bad choice to leave on thursday afternoon because now we had to compete with all of the frequent flying consultants who fly home to LA every week.

Nothing I can do about 1, but I should've been aware of B since I fly home from minneapolis every thursday. Oh well, no free grub for us on this leg.


thanks

Cliff

sent from mobile phone

Attention getter

Well, I haven't been at the airport 30 minutes yet and i'm already stirring up trouble. How, you may ask? I think the photo should explain a little.


sent from mobile phone

NZ: Day 0

Well, in a few hours, i'll be on my 4 hour flight to Los Angeles, and then on my 15+ hour flight to Auckland, NZ. I'm hoping i can get upgraded to first class for LA. At least for the longer flight, we'll have personal TVs so we'll be able to catch up on a few movies. I'll be so tempted to watch, like, 7 movies but I know i need to get some sleep. We land at 6 o'clock in the morning and we'll be smellin' and feeling fresh. :)

I thought someone was going to pick us up at the airport, but since i hadn't heard from the tour group since i booked the trip, i decided to make a long distance call last night. Glad I did, or else Day 1 would've really sucked and the adventure would've started on a bad note. It seems we're gonna have to catch a bus outside of the terminal and go into the city to one of the hostels to get picked up. The bus leaves there at 8:30am, so hopefully luggage retrieval and the drive into the city doesn't take 2.5 hours. we won't have time for a fresh up, so Day 1 might be a really smelly day. We'll see...

If you're interested in what we'll be doing, check out these addresses:

funky chicken

top bits

I think this is included too, but i'm not sure:

bottom bits