Down Under - Day Six, Tuesday, February 11, 2014

On board the Seabourn Odyssey.

Stevie and I arrived at the ship today around noon.  We hopped on board, had lunch and waited until our rooms were ready.  The ship is beautiful.  Only 450 passengers and 350 crew members.  I like those odds.  Chances are, we'll find someone to take care of anything we may need.

Our suite is perfect.  We have a huge main salon with a living room and dining room as well as a full bar.  The deck off of the stateroom and bedrooms is on the bow of he ship and wraps around the front half of the port side of the ship.  Just a fabulous view from any angle.  We had a few glitches at first, but things seem to be working well now and we are under way.  First stop is Tauranga, NZ, the most populous city in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island.  We should arrive tomorrow morning around 8:00 a.m.

The "cast off" party began at 4:15 and we didn't actually leave port until around 6:00.  It was a nice send off with guests at the neighboring hotel waving and wishing us bon voyage.  They were probably glad to see the ship leave so their view of the harbor improved.  Auckland, a lovely city that  reminds me of San Francisco soon faded away and we set off to our next destination.

The passengers on the ship that we've met so far are delightful.  We were invited to have dinner tonight with two of the ship"s entertainers, Meridith and Christopher.  They will be singing Thursday evening.  They were lovely host and hostess and kept us entertained all evening as best they could.  Pat actually kept us all entertained.  "Patty" climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro when he was 72 years old.  His tales were captivating.  Donna and Jim from Santa Fe were great company. David (84) was telling us the tale of how he met his friend, Pamela over a dog walk.  Carol, Canadian who now lives in the Bahamas and Pete, whom I didn't get to debrief, are singles on the cruise.  Stevie and I may be the youngest people on the ship, except for the crew members.   I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I'll let you know tomorrow.

Down Under Day Five - Monday, February 10, 2014

Well ... I got up.

Sunrise over The Remarkables

Walking trail beside the lake.

Stevie and I have sworn off drinking.  Our heads hurt and our pants don't fit.  Time to slow down.  Besides, we have a flight to catch today.  But I started my day with a power walk lakeside.  What a beautiful walk.  I could do this every morning.  The sun was coming up over the Remarkables.  The trail is just gorgeous!  What a great way to start the day.  I only went 5 miles this morning, but enjoyed every step.  Such breathtaking beauty just waiting to be admired.  The photos cannot do justice to the real thing!

The Air New Zealand domestic flight was quite interesting starting with checking our bags at the terminal.  We had 'em speechless when we loaded our HEAVY bags on the belt.  Buzzers went off, employees crowded around and all hell broke loose.  We were informed that we were only allowed to check one bag and that it couldn't weigh over 23 Kilos.  My first one weighed in at 30 kilos and the second one ... that I wasn't allowed to take ... weighed much less at 29 K.   After lots of fast talking and international ticket flashing, and going through several Air New Zealand employees, I think we finally wore them down and they checked all of our bags through without penalties.

Then the fun really began on the flight.  We stuffed in to the Airbus A320 like human sausages.  This aircraft makes Southwest look like flying first class.  The Chinese guy next to me began to snore in tune with the screaming toddler two rows up.  Then the screamer started running up and down the isle, which enticed the kid 2 rows behind us to get out and play with the other screamer.  When his parents wouldn't let him out, he became screamer number 2.  I plugged in my earbuds and listened to music to block out some of the sounds of the flight.  Snoring Chinese dude woke up with a start and spilled his water all over me and then it was finally time to land.  Thank you very much!!  This was truly public transportation at it's best.

But things started looking up when we arrived at the Hotel Langham.  The folks here in Auckland sure are friendly.  We were greeted at the hotel with hugs and kisses from the doorman.  Quite sweet actually.

John said I was on his bucket list.  What the heck???

Obviously, after that flight, our vow to NOT drink didn't last long.  We checked in to the hotel and immediately found the bar - strictly for medicinal purposes.   Then we tried to get reservations for dinner at a place called "Soul," which was recommended by a woman we met on our helicopter flight to the glacier.  Soul was booked until 9:30, so we booked at Euro.  However, while walking to Euro, we stumbled upon Soul and

Stevie went in to "cash whip 'em into submission."  I must say, she's still got IT.  John seated us at a lovely table outside over looking the marina immediately.  He later stopped by our table and told us he was afraid to turn us away and that Stevie's still got it.  We're still laughing about that!!  But by golly ...  she DOES still "got it."    

Since we weren't going to drink today, we decided to have just one bottle of wine with dinner ... each!  By the way, dessert deserves a big shout out.  It was incredible!!  Described as pudding with salted caramel ice cream, it was so much more.  Here's a photo of this delectable delight.  Yum!

Valrhona Chocolate Pudding with caramel parfait, ice cream, peanut crunch and salty caramel sauce.

After dinner, we turned in for a good night's sleep before preparing to board Seabourn's Odyssey tomorrow morning for our 16 day cruise around New Zealand and over to Australia.  So excited.

Down Under - Day Four, Sunday, February 9, 2014

When I ask my son "What did you do today?" he always starts with, "Well, I got up ... and then ..."  It always tickles me when he starts his account of the day with "Well, I got up."  But that's exactly how my day began.  I got up ... at 9:00 a.m.  The latest I've slept in months.  And it felt darn good to sleep in.  And THEN, Stevie and I hoped in a car and drove to wine country.

Our first stop was in an adorable little town called Arrowtown.  Originally a mining town, Arrowtown is very artsie, small, warm and friendly, and like taking a step back in time.  We passed two beautiful churches that deserve to be mentioned.

Especially since we visited Arrowtown on a Sunday morning.   They were quite lovely, but surprisingly, empty.  Guess I missed the service this morning, which is fine because they were probably preaching about pre-marital sex and tithing, which I'm sure is an interdenominational and international thing.  Just sayin.

Anyway, since we missed the service, we moved on with tour.

Our driver, Hamish, took us to four wineries and to the Bungie Jumping bridge.  We made him sign an agreement that even if we beg and plead, DO NOT LET US BUNGIE JUMP.  I have to admit, after the second winery, I was a player for the Bungie.  But alas, Hamish took us at our word and dragged us back to the car.  Gibbston Winery was our first stop.   Known for their Pino Noir, I fell in love with the velvety smooth Pino.  Never have been much of a red wine drinker, but I promptly ordered a case of this to be shipped to Aspen.  It will likely be a "no share" item, but since I don't like to drink alone, it's a pretty sure bet that if you're at my house in Aspen, you get a glass.  And I'm sure you'll love it, too.

Next stop was Peregrine Winery.  Enough said.  NEXT.

A short drive later, we found ourselves at yet another quaint little church called Waitiri.  As Flip Wilson said,  "This is the church of the what's happening now."  (If you're under 50, you don't have a clue, but for those of us over 50, we know.) 

This "used to be" church is now a winery nestled amongst a vineyard and surrounded by mountains with a fragrant lavender lined walkway from the parking lot to the front door.  Waitiri introduced us to a Chardonnay that is less that 1% sugar AND it was very tasty AND because it's less than 1% sugar, they said it was GOOD for us.  Since this used to be a church, I'm sure they were speaking the truth.  So I bought a couple of cases.   Again, I'll share this with you when you visit me in Aspen.  Trust me ... you 'll LOVE this wine.  We can have our wine without worries of the added calories of sugar.  Now this is my kind of wine AND my kind of church.

Our final vineyard on the wine tour was called Amisfield.  The wines were good, but the cheese plate was better.  Hamish joined in for the cheese snack and we learned more about him and New Zealand. When Hamish (pronounced with a long A) is not driving people around to the vineyards, he drives earth moving equipment, so after we ate all the cheese and drank ALL the wine from 4 vineyards, he felt quite comfortable trowing us in the back of a pick up truck for the drive back to Queenstown.  Guess he didn't want to mess up the Beemer!   

Cocktails at Sundeck Rooftop Lounge

Hamish dropped us at the hotel and we went straight to our favorite hang out in Queenstown, the Sundeck Lounge.  I mean why stop with the day drinking just because the wine tour ended???  

Cocktails at Public Kitchen - Dockside

After all, it was cocktail hour and we were getting ready to go to dinner at Public Kitchen where an incredibly tasty dinner awaited.  And since we finished dinner before 0-dark thirty, we stopped at the hotel bar for a night cap to properly transition us from "day drinkin' to night drinkin'.   If we set out to drink ALL the wine and martini's in Queenstown, we ALMOST succeeded.  

Time to pack the bags for our trip back to Auckland tomorrow.  Over and passed out!

Martinis at the hotel lounge.  I'm seeing a pattern here.

Julie & Stevie's Most Excellent Adventure - Down Under, Day 3, Saturday, February 8, 2014

OK.  First order of business today is to shorten the blog headline.  How about I just start tagging my blog page as "Down Under?"  

We began our day with an exciting ride to Lord of the Rings country in a Toyota Land Cruiser, forging forests and rivers.  It was a beautiful car ride along the shores of Lake Wakatipu, but I probably wouldn't do it again.  Nice sightseeing and lots of information about the filming of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Wolverine and Narnia films, but I think I was expecting an extreme off road adventure riding up a mountains into the jungle and ripping through rivers at full speed.  

The visit to Isengard, Lothorien forest was very beautiful.  Our guide had an iPad and showed clips of the movies that were filmed at each location, which added an element of interest.  I could definitely envision Froto and Samwise running for their lives from the Dark Lord with Aragorn and Boromir in tow.   But other than that brief moment of fantasy, The Glenorchy "off road" experience was much too tame and a little lame.  Perhaps we did the wrong tour???   Guess I'm just an adventure junkie and was somewhat let down today.  But our Jetboat ride awaits this afternoon.  That should get the adrenaline going.  I'll be back with more on that trip later tonight.

Well, the slow morning gave way to an adrenaline junkie's heaven in the afternoon.  Stevie and I rode the Shotover Jet Boats through the Shotover River Canyon.  The small boats are powered with 2 V-8, 700 horsepower engines that displace 800 litres of water per minute to create an incredibly exhilarating experience.  

The drivers are well trained and maneuver through the canyon at "warp" speed.  It's definitely white knuckle time as the boats spin 360 degrees within inches of the canyon walls and huge boulders while spraying down the passengers with cold river water from the jet spray.  The canyon is stunning and I would have enjoyed it so much more if I hadn't been holding on to the boat rails for dear life.  Stevie and I are in the second row of the photo above.  The shrieks and screams of the other passengers in the boat intensified the fear factor and made for a very exciting ride.  I would give this adventure an A+ rating, although, neither Stevie nor I opted for the "go again" ride for just an additional $20.00.  Guess we felt we'd defied death once and didn't want to push it.  But it really was a fun ride that I would highly recommend.

After our Jet Boat trip, we decided it would be an excellent idea to start some day drinking to calm our nerves.  We went to an adorable roof top bar called the Sundeck Lounge, recommended by my friend, Vicki.  Thanks for the great recommendation, Vicki. 

The bar's stunning view overlooks Lake Wakatipu.  We had hor d'oeuvres and a nice bottle of champagne, which did the trick.   After the Jet Boat rush faded, we moved on to our dinner spot, Botswana Butchery, which over looks the lake as well as Queenstown's beach. 
 

There was an abundance of activity at the beach until around 8:00, when the people began to clear out.  We finished our meal and headed back to the hotel for the evening.  

Tune in tomorrow for more adventures of Julie and Stevie in the Down Under.

Julie and Stevie's Most Excellent Adventure - Day 2 or 3 or 4, who the heck knows??? February 7, 2014

Stevie and I arrived safely in Queenstown, New Zealand yesterday afternoon and I must say, it was love at first sight.  Queenstown is very similar to Aspen.  All of the things I love about Aspen, the beautiful mountain scenery, the laid back lifestyle, with the added bonus of being surrounded by a beautiful glacier fed turquoise lake.  Yes, I could be very happy here.  Not only that, but the kiwi's are all great looking people with the cutest accents.  Wish I were 30, well maybe 40 years younger!!

We checked in to the Sofitel Hotel and set out to find a great place for dinner.  The concierge, the most adorable kid with the cutest Kiwi accent, named Gene, pronounced "Jane", recommended Fishbone.  We had an amazing dinner there.  The menu changes daily based on the freshest ingredients.  Dinner was delicious and the wine was perfect.  It wasn't $3.00 per glass (for those of you who read my California blog, you know what I'm talkin' about).  We may have been suffering from a bit of jet lag, so returned to the hotel and called it a day.  When I got to my room, I made a cup of tea, crawled into bed with my computer and had good intentions of writing a few paragraphs.  Before my tea had brewed, I was fast asleep with my computer in my lap.  I woke up around 2:00 a.m., pushed my computer aside, drank my cold tea and went right back to sleep until around 6:00, which seems to be the time that Kiwi's like to pressure wash sidewalks right outside my window.  What's up with that???

By definition, the word remarkable means, “worthy of attention, striking.”  One of the mountain ranges overlooking Queenstown is called “The Remarkables ” and they certainly define the word.  The turquoise lake that wraps around Queenstown is also quite remarkable.  I woke up early this morning, so I set off on a lakefront walk.  The sun was just peaking over the top of The Remarkables to awaken the lake and the town of Queenstown.  The views were stunning and just motivated me to keep going.  Before I realized it, I was 3 miles out of town.  When I turned back toward Queenstown, the sun was in full force and the town came to life with extraordinary colors.  Lake Wakatipu is crystal clear, very inviting, but ice cold, which affected my decision NOT to go paddle boarding.  Instead, we opted for a helicopter tour to the Forbes Mountains Glacier and Milford Sound.

 Now when was the last time you landed a helicopter on a mountain top glacier, and got out to explore?  

Well, it was definitely a first for me, and I highly recommend the experience.  Dang!  If the kids in Arkansas on Brown Street could see me now!!  I couldn’t believe it, so I know they probably wouldn’t be able to envision it, either.  On one side of the glacier, we were looking at glacier clad jagged mountain peaks, the other side, the almost tropical Tasmania Sea.  The vegetation at sea level was incredible.  Huge ferns and Yucca plants with Beech trees and moss everywhere.  It looked very much like the landscape in the movie Avatar.

What a contrast.  It was surprisingly warm on the glacier.  Our pilot, Buck, successfully kept close watch on us to keep us from wandering into a crevasse.  It was kind of amazing thinking about the ice beneath us being thousands of years old.  

After landing on the glacier, we flew a bit further and touched down where the John and Groats River River empties into the Tasmania Sea.   The beach was covered with stones instead of sand, but still quite beautiful.  We’ll be sailing that stretch of water on the crossing from New Zealand to Australia in a few weeks.  I hear, it’s the roughest sea on the planet.  Oh goodie.  Can’t wait.  

Our next stop was to view Bowan Waterfall in the Milford Sound.  Two words sum it up … just stunning.  

After the spectacular helicopter trip, we were searching for the perfect lunch spot.  We found it at Fergburger, a local favorite.  The line is always out the door and today was no exception.  Customers were 30 deep at the counter flowing out the door and down the street.  After trying to decide between the "Southern Swine", which is prime New Zealand beef with American “streaky" bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, aioli and tomato relish, or a Cockadoodle Oink, which is butterflied chicken breast, American “streaky" bacon, avocado  lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli and tomato relish.  The burger won out for me today.  But next time, I might step out of my box and try something new.

  

We placed our order and had time to walk down to the lake (about 4 blocks) and enjoy about 20 minutes in the sun before returning to pick up our order.  

Not exactly “fast food”, but so worth the wait.  The burgers were HUGE with fresh ingredients.  The menu was very creative and interesting, with something to please even the most sophisticated palate.  In addition to the items mentioned above, they had a "Bun Laden" made with Falafel patties, The "Codfather" with Blue Cod, and The "Holier than Thou" made with tofu.  

After lunch, we rode the Skyline Gondola to the top of Bob's Peak where we viewed The Remarkables, Lake  Wakatipu and various other mountain ranges surrounding Queenstown.  Just beautiful.

So after walking 6 miles, a helicopter expedition, lunch at Fergburger and a Gondola ride, we decided to take a little Cappuccino break and a short rest. 

We had dinner next door to our hotel at a lovely Italian placed called Bella Cucina.  The wine was tasty, the fish was spectacular and the people watching was premium.  I had the sole.  Here is the before and after shot of my dinner:

What a beautiful presentation!

I contemplated saving the skeletal remains to use for a comb.

Cheers!!

Dinner and the entire day has been spectacular!  I hope you'll plug in tomorrow for more adventures.  This is truly the trip of a lifetime and I couldn't have chosen a more fun, dear friend to travel with.  Thanks, Stevie!!

Julie and Stevie's Most Excellent Adventure in the Down Under

Day 1, February 4, 2014 8:00 p.m.

WE ARE ON OUR WAY!! 

Our plan of traveling light failed miserably.  We each have two extra large bags ... but they are the Rimowa Salsa luggage ... very light weight ... until we loaded them with crap.  We probably have enough clothes to change 4 times per day.  And with all the activities Stevie has scheduled for us, we'll probably NEED to change 4 times per day.  I'll be sure to keep you posted on our wardrobe changes.

When it came time to leave Los Angeles,  we were trying to hitch a ride to the airport and were quite fortunate to have three of our friends offer to drive us until they found out about the bags.  Our choice was narrowed down to the largest car.  Jess won and he was a champ at loading the car.  (Thank you again, Jess.) Good thing it wasn't a front wheel drive car because when the bags were loaded, the front wheels almost came off the ground.  When Stevie and I got in the car, we tipped the scale back and the front of the car settled down.  But I could swear I felt the front end bouncing off the ground with every bump.

Loading the car and hauling our lightweight but heavily laden bags has paid off.  After relaxing over cocktails for a couple of hours in the Air New Zealand lounge,we are finally on our way on a Boing 777-300ER.  Thank you American Express points for coming through for the business class ticket. This is very comfortable as well as being FREE!   We each have a private little suite.  If I were on a honeymoon, these accommodations would not be ideal, but for Stevie and I  … it’s perfect.  I can totally zone out with my tunes and endless movies.  

Around 11:00 last night, the flight attendant came to my pod/suite for “turn down service”  He pushed a button and my comfy seat turned into a flat bed.  Then he unrolled a temperpedic mattress, two pillows and a down comforter.  Now that’s what I’m talking about.  I could get used to this treatment. The flight attendants have the cutest Kiwi accents, too. This trip is gonna be some kind of fun. I crawled into bed and sleep for about 7 hours.  So we should be able to hit the ground running in Auckland.  Which will be so much easier as that’s what we’d planned anyway … with or without sleep.  So, we’ll transfer to our flight to Queenstown and be ready for some exploring.  

We’ve been on our Air New Zealand flight for 10 hours.  We have another one and a half hours to Auckland,  for an early arrival time.  The flight has been incredible, BUT, we’ve just had our first little disagreement.  No eggs and bacon for breakfast and the eggs florentine are gone.  But the little Kiwi flight attendant is so darn cute, I’d eat about anything he had to serve up.  So bring on the eggs quesadilla.  What a spoiled, picky bitch I’ve already become. Shameful.  But no worries.  Reality awaits in Auckland when we have to schlep our bags from the International terminal to the domestic terminal for our next flight.  

Follow the Green Brick Road

February 6th, 2014, 6:39 a.m.

We got on board on the 4th of February,  flew for 11 1/2 hours and landed in New Zealand where it is now the February 6th.  What the heck just happened???   

We've arrived at the Domestic Terminal by following the green line from the International to Domestic terminal, and are awaiting our next flight to Queenstown.  While waiting, I heard an announcement, which I'm sure was directly at ME, about the weight limits for carry on baggage for our connecting flight to Queenstown.  Seven kilos is the MAX allowed for a carry on bag and only one bag is allowed.  

Well, we quickly weighed our bags and they were three times the max allowable limit.  We found a table and started loading all the travel books, computer cords and all the heavy stuff from our carry on bags in Stevie's carry on suitcase and checked it through to Queenstown for an additional $160.00.  OK.  So we're having our 2nd little disagreement with Air New Zealand.  But after lots of laughs and giggles and sitting on the suitcase to get it to zip up, we're on our way again.  

Still trying to figure out what happened to February 5th!!!

More news later.

Julie and Stevie's Most Excellent Adventure to the Down Under

This is a test run to see if the Blog sight is working so I can keep in touch while I'm away.

Coming Soon!  Julie and Stevie's Most Excellent Adventure to the Down Under

Stevie arrived in Los Angeles yesterday, February 3rd, 2014.  

We had a great time last night at a beautiful "BonVoyage Dinner" hosted by our Hermosa Beach friends, Marc, Tammy, Kelly and Jess at the Manhattan Beach Post in Manhattan Beach.  They sent us on our way in style with our tummies full of crazy amazing Cheddar, Bacon Biscuits among other delicious dishes.   

After a bike ride to Venice Beach today for lunch, we should be sufficiently worn out so we can sleep on our 13 hour flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand.  Then it's on to Queenstown, NZ for a few days of fun.  I'll be back with more on our adventures.  Hope you'll tune in.