Up early to shower and pack. Alison made hot cross buns for breakfast.
They took us to the airport on the way to pick up Noah and Satine and visit Alison’s dad. I could not believe security 00 they didn’t even check our ids! We easily got a shuttle to the hotel (the Copthorne Lakefront Resort) and checked in. We walked downtown and wandered through the shops and by the waterfront. We walked up to the place where the gondola took off as well as the kiwi park. Instead we chose to walk through the cemetery. Then back downtown where we got me a cap to replace the UT hat I lost; then to a grocery for wine and food except we couldn’t buy wine on Good Friday so we went back to the hotel and used the wines in the mini bar. I did a quick wash of my clothes and then to bed at an embarrassingly early hour.
Up early to go with Blair to Tiritiri Mutirangi Scientific Reserve – an hour and a half catamaran ride from Auckland Ferry Terminal to the island with a stop at Gulf Coast? Some dolphins swam along side the boat and we saw lots of blue penguins. When we docked at Gulf Harbour, we saw tons of white-faced terns. At the reserve we were assigned a guide who was fantastic. She could identify all the plants and trees and helped us see 8 of the 12 special birds on the island on our long beautiful walk that took us from the beaches up through the forest and out to cleared land on top.
The first birds were a pair of NZ pigeons and a fantail near the potty who flew right near us. We saw incredibly old pohutokowa trees (the Christmas flower tree), a NZ bluebird, some brown quail, red crowned parakeets, lots of tuis with the white wattle, saddle backs, bell birds, whiteheads stitch birds, and at the top a welcome swallow, several takahe, English sparrows and a pokeko
I convinced Blair to take the bus back where Alison had set a beautiful table for she didn’t know how many guests. It was two – Nancy and Dave, ex-pat orchid growers who brought 3 long stems each with probably a dozen gorgeous orchids. We had a lovely meal of pork roast and winter veges (NZ spelling of veggies).
Up far too early to go to tour. At last minute I noticed that the url they had sent referred to the trip being Auckland to Rotorua and no return :-( However, when Tony let us out at the Intercity Bus terminal I noted that the receipt we had was correct and we would be dropped back in Auckland. Whew!
Out tour was on a huge shiny bus. While waiting, we met another tourist on the trip who was from Texas! The girl from GreatSights gave us each a rather yukky sweet roll – that was morning snack. The driver, named Layton was quite good.
We headed south through Hamilton to Rotorua. Tirau was a little town with incredible corrugated tin statues as advertising signs for businesses. The entrance to the Waitomo Gloworm caves was impressive and the caves alos. I learned more about the glowworms than before, I think. Upon exiting the cave the driver gave us our lunch in a brown paper bag! The drive to Rotorua was very pretty – again we went through Fitzgerald Glade. Our first stop in Rotorua was the Agridome where we went on a farm tour – to see an odd collection of animals which we could feed. The dog rounding up the sheep wasn’t too good – but it was lots of fun to watch. The shearing was interesting and the carding demo a bust since the machine was broken. Then on to Te Puia for a Maori welcome ceremony – boisterous and good, then a quick look at a kiwi in a kiwi house, and a short walk through the boiling mud pots and geyser area.
Back to the bus, another snack sandwich . We came back trough Matamata (Hobbiton). Tony met the coach and we got take away fish and chips and some wine to eat at home with Alison.
The two Burmese cats slept with us all night. We woke to a beautiful morning.
Phil and I showered and Tony made us tea before going to work. Phil and I went geocaching and birding on the beaches in front of the house. There was a film crew down the street making some kind of film about a garage sale-- lots of trucks and equipment.
We saw white faced herons and variable oystercatchers.
It took me a while to screw up my courage to take Alison’s car out on the highway. The hardest part was not the left side driving but backing out of the driveway and returning the car to the garage! We had an absolutely beautiful drive to Muriwai Beach where we took the long path out to view gannet colony. It could not have been a prettier day for the walk. I got me feet in the Tasman sea (but didn’t take my shoes off ). Phil and I shared a piece of fried fish (hoki) and a fried crab stick before heading back.
After a bit, we went back out for another geocaching adventure and walk through the neighborhoods.
Long trip. Tony met us at the airport even though we were late. It was blowing like crazy and raining and cold. Not exactly the weather we had expected. Back at Tony and Alison’s we unpacked a bit and as the weather clear some, we decided to venture out to the beach path at Pt. Chevalier . The weather held almost long enough but we got caught in a downpour and were soaked. Before venturing out again, we changed into dry clothes.
Tony dropped us off at the Auckland Museum on his way to work. The museum was quite crowded because of the school holiday, but we enjoyed the Maori exhibits, the children’s exhibits and the natural history ones. I was too tired to look at the ones about war, so we stopped to split a paninni before finding the Link bus to take us down to the Ferry Building. Much to our surprise, the Link bus gave us quite a tour around central Auckland (great view of the Sky Tower) before we got off. I sure have a better idea of the city that I had before. We wend to a shopping mall looking for a hoody for Phil (the only one he liked was $129 and he didn’t like it that much.) We found the bus back to Pt. Chevalier.
Tony heated the meal that Alison had prepared for us (schnitzel, potatoes, cauliflower and peas) and we had the pinot noir Phil and bought in Auckland. Phil went to bed and I worked on trip plans and talked to Tony and to Alison (on the phone).
Since I had the semester free from classes, it didn't matter much to Southwestern that I was out of town a lot, and I do mean a lot. The previous post covers the time Phil and I were marooned on our mountain cabin in North Georgia.
We got off the mountain in time to celebrate Gwyneth's birthday in Pine Lake, GA before heading back to Texas with the cats.
We even had snow in Texas -- it followed us, I guess.
I had enough time at home to host the SU ACM club's annual belated Christmas party where we had a white elephant and played computer-like board games!
I attended an NSF sponsored meeting on the new funding for computing education and broadening participation in computing in New Orleans. My meeting overlapped my son-in-law's so it gave another excuse for me to be with Gwyneth and the girls who drove in to meet me.
We had a great meal together in a little gem of a restaurant in the French Quarter -- the Green Goddess and I had an extra day in New Orleans with them because snow in Dallas caused my return flight to be canceled.
I was home long enough to wash my clothes and head to Miami for an ACM Education Council meeting. After the cold in Georgia and Texas, the balmy 80 degree Florida weather was fabulous! The meeting was good and I connected with friends from all over the world. I can't remember ever staying in Miami before and I enjoyed walking early in the morning along the waterways. Susannah came home from California for a short visit and we greeted her at the airport with balloons!
For our next adventure, Phil and I went to Carver, Massachusetts, to help his sister with her annual brush burn. There was so much snow, we couldn't see much brush but we certainly saw and shoveled a lot of snow and ice! We did have some grand days to get out and enjoy the beauty of the Plymouth area. While we were there we showed solidarity with my friend from Christchurch New Zealand who survived the quake by wearing the NZ colors of black and red.
Back home for a couple of days before I drove first to Dallas for the annual SIGCSE meeting where I was surprised by an upgrade to a suite where I obviously had to through a little party. I added an interview with the winner of the outstanding computing educator award, Matthias Felleisen, to the Computing Educators Oral History project. I put up more pictures here than anyone wants to see unless you are looking for yourself in them!
From Dallas I drove straight through to our cabin in Blue Ridge, Georgia, to meet with a plumber about a leak we discovered just as we were going out the door for home in January. I had time for a quick overnight in Pine Lake to go with Gwyneth and the girls to see one of my favorite kindie performers, Ralph Covert of Ralph's World. Back to the cabin for a couple more days before heading back to Pine Lake and to home.
I actually stayed home for the rest of March but we had company beginning on Saturday after I returned on Friday. Our first visitors were missionary friends, the Herrins, whose daughter is attending Southwestern.
The next weekend was filled with family. Susannah and Luis came in from California and Gwyneth and Chloe came from Georgia to both celebrate my birthday and to take part in the Capitol 10,000 race. Luis says this is his 10th and the rest of us began running, walking or watching it in 1989 so it is definitely a family tradition.
Now that I have caught up with winter, spring travel will begin when Phil and I take off for New Zealand and Australia on the 16th of April!
The snow fell Sunday night, January 10, 2011. We have been nestled in our cabin at the top of a mountain in Blue Ridge, Georgia for 6 days now. The car is still covered in ice and snow.
But although time goes slowly we both agree that it has been very pleasant. I have worked on catching up with lots of oral history, SIGCSE, Hopper and other tasks on the computer. I have cooked a lot (we had laid in supplies for 10 days). We both have read, watched Netflix movies, and plain relaxed. The cats appear to love having our warm bodies to lie on.
But we have been outside and active as well. I used an old pair of Gwyneth's cross country skis until the sole came off the boot; we tried tubing on storage container lids (bad idea) and rafting tubes (good idea but way too fast for us!), and lots of walking.
What wonder there is in breaking trails in the snow on dense wooded trails or gingerly walking down icy roads!
Yesterday we received a call from the mail carrier (the 70-something wife of the man who built our cabin) that we had a package at the mailbox at the bottom of the mountain. We decided to walk to the nearest restaurant (2.5 miles away) and Phil insisted on carrying the package we retrieved all the way over the next mountain and down again to the restaurant! He with glee forced me to open it -- the computer engineer Barbie. I had earlier exclaimed when my dear colleague Suzanne had received one for Christmas that I was extremely jealous. Mind you, I hate Barbies and forbidden my children from ever owning one, but I had voted for Mattel to produce said Barbie and my name is Barbara, so it seemed necessary to have one!
I look at the weather forecast too often now. I look with longing at my daughter's blog posts about her family's idyll on Ft. Lauderdale's beaches. I think it is time for a thaw and for us to go back to civilization. Soon, I hope.
