Voyage to the South Island - December 26, 2009

Today started out a success with our arrival in Christchurch on time, a quick ride to the car rental station and no problem getting the rental car (thankfully). Our car is a cute little thing and fits just the things we need. Colin drove first and the first location we drove to was actually a mall! We got a great “Boxing Day” deal on a cell phone that will work in Australia as well. We then bought some essential food items at the grocery store, “Pak n Save” and were stoked when we found their bulk food items. We loaded up on trail mix, oatmeal, water, bread, peanut butter, jelly, carrots, hummus, and a bunch of fruit. Once done at the grocery store, we were on our way to Mount Cook. The drive out of Christchurch was easy and once we turned into the interior the mountains gave us amazing view after amazing view. Colin and I alternated driving and took many photographs along the way. We filled up the tank with gas before heading into the more desolate Mount Cook. You can see the amazing views in our photos. The weather in Christchurch was cloudy this morning and seemed to clear as we drove to Mount Cook, so our views of the mountain were pretty spectacular. We reached our hostel at 4pm, checked in and went for a 3 hour hike. Unfortunately, 20 minutes into the hike, the clouds came in, it got super windy and the rain came shortly thereafter. We cut our hike short after just 30 minutes and got soaked! Since we actually had so much time to hang out in the hostel tonight, we spent some time chatting with people from all over the globe. Our hostel mates included people living in Australia from Toronto, a girl living in NZ from the UK, a native New Zealander, an Israeli, a Jordanian, and an Australian (from Darwin). It was great to hear about the wonderful places we have yet to experience, and hear about other people’s travels around the world. Today’s meals were mainly our staple items, but we do plan to buy and cook some “real food” soon. There were so many sheep, cows, horses and deer grazing in the fields along the road on our drive today. Colin and I will certainly eat meat here since it is all grass fed. We have beef and venison on our list of things to eat.
Tomorrow we hope to complete the hike to Hooker Lake – one of the glacial pools in Mount Cook and will probably make our way to Queenstown in the afternoon.

PAX MILLERORIA - December 26, 2009

Twenty hours on a flight seemed like an eternity. I certainly felt that way as we finished the flight to Los Angeles and contemplated that we still need to sit stationary for another three JFK-LAX flights. Ultimately, though, I swallowed my impatience and Ambien. Afterall, twenty hours of travel of (elderly) people I have personally met maxed out at the distance a steam locomotive could travel. (Fact Check, “FC”) Just think of what travel advances the future holds. I wonder if travelers will still need to remove their shoes before being converted to energy and beamed million of miles.

As Nicolle stated, Auckland reminded me a little of San Francisco. Auckland possessed the rolling hills, modern architecture, and proximity to the amazingly blue Pacific. Auckland, I feel, one-upped the San Fran’s San-Francisconess. Auckland appeared to be more relaxed and tranquil, and greener and cleaner, than the No-Cal megapolis. Perhaps appearances deceived because of the holiday and the relative sizes of the cities.

I imagine that Auckland is relatively similar to Hawaii too. Both seem to be similar naturally (small-ish islands borne of tectonic forces, FC) and culturally (Western Euros interacting with/marginalizing the native Pacifics).

Rest assured, though, grey-mattered mammals of this water planet. The Millers come not bring a sword, nor to bring marginalization. The Millers come to bring peace and tourism USD. The royal We look forward to all the activities, food, sites, sounds, smells (no comment), and people.

The sun never sets on the Miller Empire.

Merry Christmas USA - December 25-26, 2009

We had a really nice day yesterday in Auckland and today we are off to the south island of New Zealand. In Auckland, we were fortunate to have a beautiful day, so we took a 15 minute ferry ride from downtown to Devonport, just across the bay. Our photos of the beaches were from Devonport and Colin actually went swimming! The sun was so hot that, after just 30 minutes in the sun with my laptop on my lap, I ended up with some pretty dramatic tan lines. We didn’t bring sunscreen with us because we wanted to buy it here, but I did have a small package that I used for my face. So, Colin is beat red today and my skin is feeling the slight itch from the sun. All stores and restaurants were closed yesterday, with just a few exceptions. We ended up having a chicken, avocado and bacon pizza for $21 NZD at a waterfront restaurant called “Traffic.” The pizza was okay, except for the overpowering amount of pepper on it. I’m hoping to eat a lot of avocados and kiwifruit here since in the U.S. this is the place they come from.
After dinner, we went back to our hotel for the night. We had some plans to hang out in the common area and meet people, but it only took about 15 minutes for us to realize we just wanted to go to bed! It was amazing to sleep a full 8 hours after such a long flight, and we woke up at 4:15 NZ time, 30 minutes before the alarm was to go off. Our hotel was on a very hilly road, but had a nice view of Auckland’s Sky Tower. I never realized how hilly Auckland is. Colin said it reminds him of San Francisco and I agree. It is also very clean and modern. It’s too bad everything was closed so we couldn’t get a full appreciation of its food and culture.
Our flight this morning is at 6:45am to Christchurch. It should be just over an hour and we will proceed to get our rental car. Since it’s another holiday today – Boxing Day – we had a few problems with the car rental reservation, so we hope it all works out okay. When I looked up Boxing Day on Wikipedia, it appears to be a day of gift exchanging and I think all the stores should be open. I saw advertisements in the newspaper that make it seem like our “Black Friday” – but NZ style. We’ll go shopping to get some of the essentials for the next 12 days – food, water, sunscreen, a cell phone, etc. From Christchurch we have a 5-6 hour drive to Mount Cook planned, with a night booked at a hostel there. Weather in the south island seems pretty unpredictable, especially near the mountains, so we hope the plan to go south first works out for us!

Christmas in Auckland - December 25, 2009

As I sit here in Auckland writing today's blog, I am surrounded by teal colored water, a few white, puffy clouds, a 70 degree day and I'm listening to Christmas music on the docks! It is Christmas here in New Zealand, and the long travel across the world was worth the reward at the end! Colin and I were delayed on both our flights, but managed to get here on time. We almost had to sit in different rows for the first 5 hour leg from NYC to LA, but had the fortune of a gentleman willing to change his seat. Of course Colin ended up by the kids and babies, and I got the seat with him because my seatmate wouldn't switch. But, the kids were really good and there was a cute baby who was so content the entire ride. She did so much better than I did during our 2-3 minute experience with serious turbulence over the Rockies. We had just about 30 minutes to stretch our legs before getting on the plane that would take us 12 hours to New Zealand. We did get seats together on the plane on the second to last row. Our airline, Qantas, was really good and we only had about 2 bouts of serious turbulence during the 12 hours. Colin got about 6-7 hours of sleep and I got about 4, which was pretty good. We got in about 9am local time, and got through immigration and customs in under an hour. We were checked in by 11am. So now, we found free internet at the library and then got more internet when we had lunch at a coffee shop. Now, we are getting ready to take a ferry across the water since it is too irresistible to pass up. Here are a few photos of our journey.

Getting ready for our trip!

For the next month, Colin and I will be documenting our trip as much as we can! We may give some information about food, but for the most part, we will write about our sights and travels. For the past 3 months I've read travel book after travel book and what do I have to show for it 1 day before we leave? A flight to Auckland, first night's lodging in Auckland, a flight to Christchurch, a rental car in Christchurch, a flight to Cairns from New Zealand and a flight back home from Sydney! Yesterday, Colin says to me "with our long flight, we can detail out what our itinerary should entail!" My response is that he has to catch up by picking up at least 1 travel book! This is the first time either of us is traveling without everything planned out. It's exciting, but scary. I worry about not finding lodging or having to pay a lot of money for a place to sleep. We may also get stuck not being able to do some of the things we want to because it is sold out. But, as my coworker pointed out to me today, "we can just enjoy being on vacation in a beautiful location." For those of you who know me, I always need to be doing something - it's a Clemente thing. In addition, planning everything out is my type A personality. So, this trip is me "stepping out of my comfort zone!!"
Here's a list of some things we've done to prepare for our trip:
1. Colin took out about 10 library books on Australia and New Zealand
2. Nicolle read several sections of at least 6 of the library books Colin took out
3. Colin set up our netbook with Skype, and set up both the Miller and Clemente families with Skype so we can communicate for the next month.
4. Nicolle got all the batteries charged and purchased/packed all the medical supplies (first aid kit, immodium, pepto bismol, sleep aids, earplugs, toiletries, etc.)
5. Colin researched and purchased the electrical adapter
6. Nicolle drove the car to RI to leave with the Clementes (and almost didn't make it back to NYC because of the snow storm!)

We both packed our bags on Sunday to make sure we didn't need to make any last minute purchases - and to make sure everything fit!

Finally, Nicolle donated her hair to wigs for kids today. Kids get a nice, thick wig and Nicolle gets a lighter head and easier to deal with hair maintenance.

Colin and Nicolle wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to speaking with friends and family on Skype, and through our blog. Nicolle's skype name is nicollemclemente and Colin's is colin.miller888. We hope you enjoy sharing in our experiences with us via the world wide web.