Monday April 12, 2010

Our last sunrise down under. (Notice the moon in the top left)

Creepy cemetary shot on the way back to Auckland in some small ass village.

Despite the fact that this is shot from the motorhome window at 80 miles an hour it is still pretty spectacular and shows the beauty of New Zealand. Every where we turn around we see something like this. Just an amazing place and I am now trying to figure out how quickly I can get back here and how long I can stay.

We dropped off the motorhome and headed to the Auckland airport where we were forced to go through 2 security checkpoints. The normal one which got you into an area with dining and shopping and then another one before we boarded our US flight. There was a desk with a woman who wanted to see our ID and boarding pass again. And then literally THREE feet later another woman asking for the same thing. These people are insane! Ann Marie had all of her souvenir boomerangs taken away from her but the shells made it!

On the flight home I was very uncomfortable, couldn’t sleep at all really and could not catch a buzz for the life of me. I watched Fantastic Mr. Fox, Precious (omg I was sobbing) and Couples Retreat. 818 and I had big plans to join the mile high club but the bathrooms were extra small and extra gross and it seemed like everyone and their brother were hanging around the back of the plane on this flight. (Not to mention if my own brother caught me doing that I would have been absolutely mortified.) 818 and I still haven’t had “the define the relationship talk” but I can tell you that he did a damn good job of pretending to be my “you know what” during this vacation. We only had two tense moments and they were over within a few minutes and I would not even register them as arguments at all.

The vacation was amazing. If I had to do it over again, I would have spent less time in Australia and more time in New Zealand. Australia seemed more commercial and touristy (granted we were in touristy type places a lot) but I got a totally different vibe from New Zealand. There is so much more to see and do in a smaller area and you can get around easier. The locals seemed more friendly, too.

Now that I have completed my bucket list at age 38, it is time to start a new one. I have put a lot of thought into the immediate future of  my relationship with the pink monkey (he has a name and it is Namwah btw) and have decided to not lock him up in a glass case until I have hit all 50 of the United States. I need to make a list and figure out where I haven’t been yet.

I feel blessed to have had this opportunity financially and physically. I have my health and traveling is easy for me. All of the people I have travelled with and whom I have met along the way have taught me something. I can only hope that I can use my photographs and stories to share the things I have seen and done with everyone else.

Get a passport. You never know what opportunities are around the corner.

Friday April 9, 2010

I forgot to mention yesterday about Ann Marie’s debacle in the airport in New Zealand with her basket she bought in Australia. Apparently because it had some feathers on it from obviously a very infected  and very wild animal, they wouldn’t allow it into New Zealand. (that is a joke in case anyone didn’t get the sarcasm.) They stopped her coming through customs and she had a choice of throwing it away or checking it in until we were leaving NZ. Their biosecurity department is no joke and they do not take things lightly here. The questions on the form were interesting: Have you been to a forest in the last 30 days? (umm, yeah we were trekking all over the rainforest, they were inspecting Pete’s boots for dirt) Have you touched any animals in the last 30 days? (umm yeah a ton of them: koalas, kangaroos, wallabies.) Have you had sex with an Aboriginal in the last 30 days? (ok ok I am kidding about that one. Sorry that was tasteless). That being said, they are very recycle friendly here in New Zealand, and any of you that know me well, know that I am a freak about this. I literally dig through people’s trash at the office and pull things out that can be recycled. (Miguel thank you for playing along, I don’t even think he reads this though.) They pretty much recycle everything here! It’s awesome!

Here are some goofy things we saw in the general store at the campground. Who the hell are these dudes?

Australians and New Zealanders have an unspoken bitterness towards each other, much like Canadians and Americans. New Zealand even went so far as to make their own brand of yeast spread. I don’t know if you have ever had Vegemite (remember the Men at Work song from the 80′s)

What the fuck does this sign mean!? It’s right when you drive into the campground near the playground. Creepy!

We hiked for a while to go check out  Huka Falls.

The water in Lake Taupo and the surrounding rivers is so clear and blue and gorgeous.

 

This little sweetie belonged to a guy from the Midwest traveling New Zealand for the next year. She was so cute!

On our hike we kept seeing these awesome mushrooms like the candy ones from Willy Wonka. These, however, were not cream filled and we did not eat them.

After our hike we got naked in the woods and put our suits on and went into the geothermal hot springs. The water is super hot (I would say well over 100 degrees judging by my burning feet) and the cool water swirling around with the hot water was amazing. I could have stayed in there for hours if I only had some chardonnay.

And folks, it was time for Mr. Monkey to take a bath after 7 years of rancidness. I knew that his noise maker squeak box inside was probably going to short out and not work anymore, but he’s getting put in a glass case soon anyways.

(I have a video of him falling down the waterfall, but it’s on the laptop in the shop being recovered from the wine incident. Later…)

I sat in this little area looking out waiting for the tattooed guy with the gut to leave and get out of my shot but he wouldn’t go away so here ya go. I guess I can’t have my own private hot springs in the middle of the day.

During our hike we came across this field with a big tube. Pete is convinced that it is the hot water faucet that pumps out the water in the hot springs after it’s treated by the food coloring plant. Blue, of course.

After our 4 hour hiking adventure, we went into town so Pete could hit the fishing/tackle shop and Ann Marie could hit the quilt shop. 818 and I bee-lined for the nearest Irish pub! Finn MacCuhal’s… where we met some locals who were so cool and kept buying us drinks. Naturally we had to keep buying them rounds and before you knew it we were all pretty tanked and they were inviting us to a BBQ at their house the next day. The blonde was shoved out of the picture pretty quickly, not sure where she popped up from lol.

Even though we were on our way to Pimento’s for dinner in a bit, 818 and I could not resist the deep fried brie. (That reddish maroon sauce was similar to the berry sauce I was talking about in the last entry)

I was in the mood for lamb, but they failed us. Dinty Moore!!! I mean don’t get me wrong, I was drunk and hungry, but it was nothing like I expected from a place that is known for their amazing lamb shanks.

It was so long ago, I don’t even know what this is. 818? can you help me? You know I have a bad memory. Especially when I am drinking.

On the way back to the motorhome, we saw a huge display in a store window for this stuff called Pavlova.

 We stopped into a few places and asked some folks if there was a place we could actually go and sit and order it. Finally these two girls said it was something that you would make at home after purchasing all of the ingredients at the market. So, we were on a mission!

At the supermarket I reminded myself how bad I wanted to find a place that served green lip mussels before we left NZ.  

And we attempted to make Pavlova back at the camp. It was actually quite gross. Very sugary in texture and way too sweet. Not to mention there is supposed to be a bunch of other fruit and stuff on it. Our ghetto version didn’t quite work, but honestly, it’s not something I would seek out again.

The best part of traveling with 818 and Ann Marie is that they are always up for dessert, sweets, chocolate, etc…In fact, they bring out the worst in each other and will keep eating things even if they aren’t that good. Tim Tams for example. We had these almost every single day and kept buying each flavor that we saw, and they weren’t even that tasty! Ridiculous.

Thursday April 8, 2010

We woke up in our shitty little motel room and headed straight across the street to pick up our Maui campervan. This is the thing to do in New Zealand because everything is really far away from each other and there is nothing really to see in Auckland. NZ has so much to offer but you simply need to be mobile. It slept 4 “comfortably” (I’m not sure whose idea of comfortable that was, but whatever) and had a stove, broiler, microwave, TV, shower and toilet. We vowed not to use any of the things that required us to have to clean any messy stuff out on the last day of the trip. They made Pete, 818 and I watch a 15 minute video of the inner workings of the vehicle and I might only be speaking for myself, but I only listened to half of what the nice man was saying. Anyways, we were off to Waitomo Caves today so after a quick lunch in Mangere we were off.

We found a little hole in the wall diner that specialized in “butter chicken” and also had a variety of curry dishes and vegetarian options. I had the butter chicken curry which was very tasty.

818 ordered the taro curry and it looked and tasted about as bland as it appears. It was soft like a baked potato and had the texture of one in your mouth, but had zero flavor which is why you douse it in curry sauce.

 I also had these spicy little spinach balls. I know, strange that I would choose something with no meat in it. It was actually very tasty though.

Being that there was a bakery next door we thought we would load up on some sweets for our 4 day road trip. This is a chocolate covered donut but actually wasn’t very donut like at all. It was more of a soft bagel.

The area of town we were in was populated with the locals and seemed to be not such a nice neighborhood. The folks were a little rough around the edges and the houses looked a little run down. The benefit  of that is that you run into some markets with great deals and authentic cuisine and great local produce.  Still trying to figure out exactly what “ghee” is and what it is used for. There is a large Indian population in the Auckand area.

 And I swear if I die and come back in another life I want to be a dog in New Zealand… they are obviously well fed in these parts. I don’t know if I have ever seen dog food like this in the US unless it was at a specialty pet store.

We headed south to Waitomo. Check out the cemetary…

We had plans to see the glowworm caves as well as some other cool caverns and such. We got a late start in the day and were only able to make it in time for one cave tour and our tour guide Evelyn was quite a character. Her voice was soothing like a creepy older woman reading us a bedtime story or nursery rhyme. Very slow and deliberate and drawwwwwnnnnn out. And very very quiet and calm. Creepy calm. Like if you raise your voice during my presentation I will calmly eject you from this cave by a whistle because I am like Willy Wonka.  As soon as we walked up to the entrance I saw the sign that said no photography and was like awww shit. Being that we were in a very small group of people at the end of the day this could go two ways:

#1 I could try to shoot anyway and get busted and cause a scene. OR #2 She might allow us to take a few if I had the balls to actually ask if she would make an exception.

She voluntarily allowed us to take a few snaps of the stalagmite/stalagtites. But said “Please don’t put these on the internet.” Ok lady, not a problem, you have my word.

I tried to get a photo of the monkey in the caves but since 818 didn’t look that good I decided to make his face like this. He was just making a weird face. lol

The actual glowworms, and as you can see there really was no point in my even bringing my camera because it was pitch black and shooting these miraculous creatures is a feat in itself. That would take some planning, timing, lights and tripods.

So here is the link for you to enjoy the miracle of the glowworm. (I know very few of you actually read the words on this blog, you only look at the pics) Evelyn made very clear that this was to be a silent boat ride and we were to be quiet and observe. This is a woman who takes her job very seriously and is very very passionate about these caves. Pete could not stop giggling because she kept calling all of us “people”. “People we will now go to the left side.” “Ok people, please step to the right and hold onto the rail when stepping into the boat.” It was actually pretty funny and yeah, it’s a lot easier than saying “Ladies and gentlemen” each time. But much ruder.

All kidding aside, it was a really neat place and a very peaceful relaxing experience. It almost looked and felt like a Disney ride though…I was half expecting a mechanical hippo to come out of the water.

We were the last ones to leave the parking lot.

And it’s really fun driving country roads after dark in a foreign country on the other side of the road. Just ask 818 how much fun it was. We finally arrived in Lake Taupo after what seemed like an eternity on those winding roads… we checked into the Top Ten budget campground. It was awesome and totally affordable! We were close to the bathrooms, they had a heated pool, a kitchen, clean showers. Totally the way to do things in NZ. (yeah yeah insert your double wide jokes here.) We went into town to get some dinner at the Steak and Ale Pub for what was supposed to be the best steak in town.

First we had a mushroom appetizer with Canadian bacon (they call it bacon, but it’s really the ham kind), some sort of cheese (hey it’s been days and I can barely remember yesterday), tomato and balsamic vinegar. It was pretty good, something I might attempt at home one day. If I ever actually do that cook-at-home thing I keep threatening to do.

My steak was average. The peppercorn sauce was pretty bad, too.

818 wisely ordered the ricotta stuffed chicken breast wrapped in bacon (Canadian) and it had a sweet sauce that almost reminds me of this stuff that I buy at Costco. Sigrid introduced me to it… its like a berry sauce that we dump over cream cheese and serve with crackers. Needless to say, I was beyond pissed off that I ordered that lousy hunk of beef and not the chicken thing with bacon, which is DEFINITELY something I will be having 818 make for me at home. It should be pretty easy to recreate.

For dessert we ordered this banana dish which I was not a huge fan of. I like super fresh bananas (with no brown spots whatsoever) and I don’t really like banana desserts. I don’t mind banana bread, as long as there are no nuts in it, but yeah, generally don’t go for that fake banana taste in food. All three of them were in love with this dish.

I, however, was in love with my “butterscotch lake” dessert. A warm brownie in a bed of butterscotch? Life doesn’t get any better than this.

So much that I gave it the LTP Award!

We retired to the motorhome for the evening. We have a ton of stuff to see in Lake Taupo tomorrow!

Monday 2.15.2010 and Thursday 2.18.2010

Anytime someone asks me if I can cook my response is “Well, I can operate a motor vehicle, so I should be able to read a recipe. I just choose not to.” (I know some of you are debating on my ability to operate a motor vehicle, and you are well justified, but really…. I can read a recipe and I can cook.)

Chicken and bacon fried rice

Benihana can suck it! It was delicious and I even made it into that heart shaped nonsense that they do there.

My friend Pearla’s mom is now making homemade chocolate truffles for like $20 per dozen and is currently working on a special batch for me. I bet you can guess some of the ingredients I have requested.

Fast forward to Jarin’s birthday on Thursday. I was supposed to be at trapeze school with him today but I am too chicken shit to do this before my trip to Australia/New Zealand next month. I know, you only live once… blah blah blah. But the special 2 for 1 thing he got is good til July and quite frankly, I do not want a broken limb to fuck up my vacation. I really am not that graceful. I would be fine hurting myself while bungee jumping off a bridge or something in NZ.

Kim and Sarah

Vanessa and Jen (with one N)

Some dudes, Dusty and Jarin

We were doing fine at The Local until that damn Jessica sent a text saying “come to the Chee-Chee”. FML I cannot be doing this on weeknights. Jen slept over and since my neighbors are gone we had a little dance party in my loft at 1:00 am. Strangely enough I woke up wearing hot pink leg warmers thirsty as hell. It must have been the pound of cheese and crackers we ate. UGH. What a bummer it was my 6th day in a row at the gym on Thursday. I was doing so well. I need to drop 10 pounds before my trip. I have a month. I can do this.

Thursday 11.26.09 and Friday 11.27.09

Thanksgiving was the usual traditional meal with all the side dishes and pies that you would expect. There was a particularly yummy bacon corn casserole that I inhaled. The funniest part of the day was while hearing the sound of whipped cream in a can being sprayed (you know the kind that when you inhale it you get silly) and then hearing my brother-in-laws mom go “Oh boy whose jacket is this?” She had accidentally lost control of the can and sprayed a bunch of it into the pocket of my black pea coat. I thought I was going to pee myself laughing. Hearing her Irish accent and not knowing what the hell was happening in the other room just struck me so funny. Sorry, I guess you had to be there.

Today was also a great day because my brother and his wife and I bought our plane tickets to Australia and New Zealand! I am so freaking excited!! We are taking a very long 21 day trip and will be hitting Sydney, Uluru, Cairns, Whitsunday Islands and finally heading to Auckland, NZ. We tried to get the Qantas pass where you pay less and still get to travel within Australia but since we chose to start and end in different cities and hit NZ, we got robbed on the price. I don’t even want to tell you what the flight cost. Yikes. (reminds self: once in a lifetime trip)

On Friday my sister and I went to the mall and did some Christmas shopping. I know, I am nuts, but it wasn’t that bad actually. My class reunion was later that evening and I had a hotel room near the mall with some girlfriends from high school, so she dropped me off and then I had a total anxiety attack about what to wear. Jessica, Kristen and Kate met up with me and we slapped on the whore makeup and headed over to the venue where “the guys” were watching the UCONN game and eating dinner before the reunion. Most everyone is married with a couple of kids, doing the same job for the last decade. Some people moved out of Connecticut, some people are divorced, some people are doing things I never would have expected and some people looked exactly the same. Kate, Katie and Bob had done a fantastic job planning this thing and even though I was the dorky class president I wasn’t able to really help with the planning of it since I live 3000 miles away, so I contributed by building the website. It really was nice to see some of the people, some of them I got stuck talking to that I could care less about, and I managed to freak out a few people talking about my job. One old friend said “So, are you still doing photography?” and my response was “Well, sort of. It’s a different kind of ‘ography’.” She ran away.

I was taking photos with my small point and shoot, and I only took a few photos with the big fancy Nikon because let’s face it, it’s hard to hold a drink and use an SLR at the same time. I didn’t eat any of the buffet food, and I decided to go shot for shot with a buddy who probably weighs close to 240 pounds. Oh that is just brilliant! Tequila? Really, Laura? TEQUILA? I don’t even like that shit! I drank it once in high school and wanted to kill myself the next day and the only other time I drink it is in Mexico, because that is usually the only hard liquor you can find. One thing led to another, I lose my small camera, become “that girl” and generally proceed to embarrass myself in front of everyone. We wrapped up at the reunion and headed over to another bar where a lot of our friends from elementary and junior high school were. Many of our childhood friends ended up going to a Catholic high school in the next town over and their class reunion was also the same night. So naturally I continue my drink-a-thon with Phelper, and then I see three guys that I had crushes on at some point in my childhood. After some investigation (and a very awkward moment in the bathroom with one of their wives) I learn that Joe is single. Let’s rewind about 5 years. Someone had mentioned that they saw him and they reported that he was hot, had a great body and owned a very successful business. Funny how the wife part escaped my memory. Anyways, about 3 weeks ago his name popped into my head and I thought how awesome it would be to run into him this weekend. He didn’t show up at the actual reunion, but got wind that we were all meeting at this bar, so lucky me… I didn’t recognize him (possibly because I was only able to see out of one eye) and was totally taken aback when I started talking to him. Upon discovery of his “singleness” I made a point to let everyone in the bar know not to let him leave without notifying me. I found out later that I made his friend go into the men’s bathroom looking for him at one point because I thought he ditched out without saying goodbye. What a jackass. Long story longer… I got a ride back to the hotel from him since the girls went to fucking Denny’s with the guys. Puke! Hang on… let me see…. lure Joe back to my hotel or go eat at that shit-hole? Pretty simple answer I think. Unfortunately I was cock-blocked (pussy blocked?) by the two guys he had promised rides home to and also the fact that he was a nice guy and refused to let me do something I might regret in the morning. He obviously doesn’t know me very well.

The next day we were texting back and forth and I invited him to dinner with my family. My sweet innocent sister was not comprehending that I would not be returning to her house that night and that I would find my way back there in the morning. I felt like I was lying to my parents about a “sleepover” at my girlfriend’s house. It was pretty funny. Keep in mind, that Joe is sober. I immediately assumed he had gone to rehab or something and he simply explained that he tried it in high school a few times and it just wasn’t for him. (sound of record scratching… whaaaa?). After dinner we went back to his place and attempted to watch a movie, talked for hours about our lives, his ex-wife, his kids, our jobs, my blind dating adventures, traveling….etc… It was great to catch up and I fell in love with his Doberman who thinks he can fit on your lap. When it came time to “go to sleep” it was a little awkward, he got a little shy so I asked if he wanted me to sleep on the couch (HAHA yeah right like I was going to actually do that.) Here is a guy who is coming out of a messy divorce where she cheated on him and traumatized him, and here is me, having sober sex with a stranger for the first time in who knows how long. If you do the math, it has been longer that he hadn’t seen each other than the time that we actually knew each other. That to me is “sex with a stranger.” (And seriously… as a single person for the last 3 years I can honestly say that when you hook up with someone for the very first time alcohol is usually involved. Even if it is one or two glasses of wine, something to loosen things up a little. Who meets someone at the grocery store and then goes and has sex with them? When was the last time you met someone in yoga and then took them back to your place for a one night stand?) The awkwardness went away quickly We laughed about how silly it was that we had never tried this out before.  We have been talking and emailing and chatting this week… making each other laugh. I have lured him into the world of porn and am making him a list of videos to watch in his spare time or  during those sleepless nights alone. He is amazed that I can talk freely about sex, porn, masturbation, and all kinds of other shit that most uptight women on the east coast shudder about. I am very open minded and at times think like a man. In the last few years I have been accused of intimidating men and I just don’t see it. I wish that my honesty and openness wasn’t regarded as such. Someone recently told me that I should try harder to give men the warm fuzzies and be sweeter. lol I just don’t really know what that means I guess. Oh well, I am just me being me.