Great Barrier Adventure Day 1

In classic 'Rod and Heather Tradition,' last Friday we embarked on our annual surprise birthday trip (a reminder: we have the same bday and take turns planning a trip away each year). It was my turn to plan the surprise and after a bit of an email blunder, Rod found out where we were going. So much for the surprise - - - he did know the 'where' - Great Barrier Island, off the coast of NZ - but didn't know the hows or whats.....

The trip started at Auckland airport where we chartered a flight to the island. A young lady (I'd give her 23, which would be generous) met us at the plane and took our bags. We assumed she was the 'bag girl' but she popped into the front seat and began giving us safety instructions. What is it about getting old that makes others look so young!?

After a beautiful, scenic flight, we begin landing onto a paddock by the wind-swept beach dunes when I jokingly pointed to a green shed and said, "there's the international terminal." Only to discover 15 seconds later that it WAS actually the terminal - - a shed. Hmmmm, quaint.



After the pilot/bag girl (uhuh) unloaded our bags and physically dragged the baggage cart over the grass to the shed, we picked up our luggage and headed to the rental car bay... Okay, it was a dirt parking lot that held 10 cars.

The rental car guy showed up 10 minutes late (Island time, people, Island time) but flagged us down. He was attired in a ripped sweatshirt and grubby shorts. He led us to our rental car, which was a rusted out 4WD jeep with dusty dash and muddy carpets. "You'll need this for the track you're going on," he says (yes, 'track' not street or even road).

He turned the key on and the fan belt scretched like a native bird: "will that bother you?" he says to Rod. Rod kind of gives me the eye like, "where the hell have you taken me." But says, "no, that won't be a problem." Skilly (as we find out the locals call him) wrote out our rental agreement on the bonnet and grabs my VISA and then suddenly says, "oh right, you guys are coming to my place for dinner tomorrow night!" I now get an even more interesting look from Rod . . . "I own the Mount St Pauls Lodge." I affirm we are booked in and quip, "Ha, you going to cook our meal too?!" "Funny you should say that," he says (you'll have to read Day 2 for Skilly Part II).

Skilly hands us everything back and says, "do you want me to show you where you're going?" Now expecting he'll whip out a trusty map of the island and give us some detailed directions, he motions us to follow him. He points: "You see that hill over there? Well, okay, actually that tree is blocking the hill, but there's a hill behind that tree. You'll be going up there." Another look from Rod and we're off - laughing hysterically I should add!

We find our way just fine. The last stretch was the worst metal (dirt, American friends) road you've ever been on. The 4WD was definitely required. Five minutes down the 'track' and we arrive at Blind Bay Cottage. All is forgiven now . . . it was in the most magical spot ever. Now Rod is breathing a sigh of relief! It is on one of the highest hills on the island at the tippy top and we can see forever over the ocean, including the sunset. Words can't describe how beautiful it was. The cottage was set in native bush and isolated from everything and everyone. Just incredible.











Carole, the cottage owner, met us at the door and showed us around. We got the rundown on how there is no electricity reticulated to the island, so they generated their own by solar and wind. Therefore, we were asked to conserve whenever possible. They also collect their own water, but due to a lot of recent rain, there was a lot of water available. Despite the electricity going out a few times and the lights being a bit dimmer than at home, all was relatively normal.

Carole left us to our own devices, so we took wine and snacks down to the beach. We then went out to one of the only restaurants on the island - Thai as it happens. It was just us and 4 other people. Terrific food, surprisingly. Run by a Kiwi bloke who is married to a Thai lady. I'm guessing she was a mail order bride who's now wondering how the heck she can escape from the island!

A movie on the DVD and it was to bed by midnight (late for us old folks. A great beginning to our 39th birthday adventure.

Heather

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thanks for writing this.
November 10, 2008 at 11:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Birds are Back

After my last blog post, ‘I’m Living With Killers’ . . . .what’s the worst thing that could happen after Rod skips town for Las Vegas. UGH!!!! I get home from working out, step in the hallway and feathers everywhere. I wander, carefully, into the living room and there is Mitzer, lying on the carpet in the sun like a drunken misfit. He lifts his head slightly as if to say, ‘did ya want something?’ I keep looking for the bird . . . . until I retrace my steps back around to the hallway and here it is hovering in the corner by the garage door – I nearly squished it when I came in the house. It’s breathing heavily but looks scared stiff. As much as I really don’t think of myself as a ‘girly girl’ something about birds just freaks me out. So, there’s no way I can pick up the thing. I’m kind of whimpering to myself and cursing the cat as I walk around the house saying out loud, ‘what am I going to do?!’ Trying all the while not to have a full blown panic attack. I know! I’ll call our
Read more

We've Got to Kill Charlie

“You’re gonna have to kill him,” were the words I uttered to Rod as we watched Charlie lying on his side, barely moving and breathing erratically. We had gotten attached to him in the last day or two. Our ‘relationship’ started two weeks prior . . . It was a sunny day. I was sitting on the couch and looking outside the window when I noticed Pele The Cat ‘flirting’ with something in the backyard. I knew he was flirting - - he was flicking his tail and rolling on his back and casting his wide eyes at something in the grass not too far away. I went to inspect. A baby hedgehog was the love interest apparently. Freaked out by small, wild animals (wha, huh, do you even follow this blog, people?) I didn’t get too close. But I had to admit he was a bit cute. He was only as big as my hand and slow as a snail, so I wasn’t too worried about a vicious hedgehog attack. As the days went on, I got used to seeing Charlie skitter across the yard. He seemed to be happy slowly meandering around th
Read more

Racing the Dog

This past August I was coming out of my typical ‘winter funk’ not having exercised much over the rainy season. So, I thought committing myself to run Hamilton’s 12 kilometre Bridge to Bridge fun run would be the trick to get myself in shape by training . . . . I had 3 months to do it. Easy. Last week, on Wednesday, it’s 4 days till race day and I’m wondering, ‘ if I ran the next 3 days, could I possibly get in shape for a 12k run?’ Nope - - so, I downgrade my expectations, ‘ I’ll just run the alternate 6k race, thanks .’ Piece of cake. Is it also too late to train for 6k? Thursday comes, ‘I should really go for a run and see if I can do it...’ Friday rolls around, ‘Run? Hmmm.... kinda rainy...’ Now it’s Friday night and I discuss my dilemma with a friend . . . do I run tomorrow (one day before the race) to see if I can actually run the whole distance, or do I just wing it on Sunday? The risk is I may be too sore on Sunday if I run Saturday after so many months of being such
Read more