Homeward Bound

We are off the big bird from New Zealand to LAX. Luke slept maybe an hour and I think I got about ten minutes of sleep! So frustrating! I'm so overly tired but excited to get home especially now that we are just in CA and not in NZ anymore. The beginning of our long flight out of Auckland started off on the wrong foot. Our individual movie screens were the only two on the 747 that didn't work properly. I was okay with that but Luke was beyond mad. In the middle of the night when he was sleeping, of course I got it to work at that point. I was able to watch "This Is It" the Michael Jackson tribute and also Juno. I didn't think I'd like the tribute but it was actually really good.
We should be home by 9pm and we can't wait to see everyone and we miss Rocky a ton. I know Jo and Jer have been beyond good to him and I bet he won't want to leave them and his new dog friend Toby. JoAnna let him snuggle with her in bed overnight...I'm not quite the dog snuggler. He's gonna have withdrawal problems from all the good table food, snuggling, and Toby.
Thursday morning I'm back to work. Right now my body aches and I can't imagine working 12 hours but I'm gonna try my best! We shall see.
That's it for now...just watching my husband catch some zzzz's and wishing I could sleep in an airport. Booo. Guess I'll just have to people watch, shop, and maybe grab a brewske.
We love New Zealand!!! If anybody is looking for a unique vacation spot...try it out, we promise you'll love it!

Our Final Day in Auckland

So we have ended our trip here in Auckland. We had flown into the port here but haven't seen the city until now. I like it more than I expected, it is a large city but is more enjoyable with more shops, gardens, cafe's compared to Wellington.
We hung out at Starbucks a couple hours lastnight so Luke could update some work files while I finished my fourth book since beginning our travels. I vowed back in college that once I graduated I'd never read another book because I had so much reading then. Well, I think I've stuck to mainly magazines until now...my vow lasted 5.5 years!
Today we are going to one of the gardens and enjoy some time outside in 20 degrees Celsius before we get to MN and get 20 degrees Fahrenheit. We also have the huge feat to organize all of our luggage and try to minimize our carry on bags due to all the heightened security. We are expecting long lines and waiting at the airport and a pat-down or two. Looking forward to seeing family and friends and Rocky!! See you all real soon.

Horsin Around With Squid n Kiss

While in Tauranga, we are staying at the Sebel Trinity Wharf and it is built on a harbour over the ocean. It's gorgeous with a really nice view over the waters. We even get free breakfast here which is really handy and not too common for hotels to do without charging an arm and a leg. Our day started off with a late breakfast and then we hit the streets to do some souvenir searching. We found some fun stuff. I think all we have left to do is pick up some wine to bring home. We had to check the airport traveling rules first before we wasted our time and money. Before we knew it, it was 3pm and we were on our way to Mateku to go horseback riding along the ocean.

Luke has never been horseback riding (although he probably has when he was little at a fair of some sort). I've been on some of our neighbors horses and have also ridden on previous vacations but it had been awhile. My horse was Kiss and Luke's horse was Squid. We went out with a couple guides and road across some farmland and then went down to the ocean to ride oceanside. It was a ton of fun. Luke's horse got kicked by another horse because Squid thought he could lead the group of horses but he was too new of a horse to the group to be leading. Another horse let him know it, so he had to stay away from the aggressive horse the rest of the ride. I was really hoping we would be able to horseback ride while in NZ and I'm stoked we got it in.
Looks like we may hit the beach for a real little bit tomorrow and then we are off to Auckland which is where we will end up flying out of. It was over 80 degrees today-it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment for us coming home to all the snow in MN that we keep hearing about!!

Beach Bummin

Yesterday we headed over the bridge to Mount Maunganui to spend some time at the beach. It was about 80 degrees and sunny. Whatever temp it has been here we have always felt like it is a bit hotter than what it's measured at. We had to "google" why that would be and it's not because we are closer to the sun by the equator but because the sun is more direct in comparison to the poles. This explains why I'm pretty burnt. Luke was good about covering every square inch of his body with the sunscreen...me, not so much. It was pretty evident when we came inside that I rubbed it on my feet (so i look like im wearing socks even when im not), I put a dot on the back of my leg on a freckle, and my upper body n face. Well, it's hard to sit down today. The spot between the ass and back of the thighs-red as a lobster. That should feel wonderful when we go horse-back riding later today! We saw some people who rented the one-seated kayaks so we were thinkin about doing that today or tomorrow if we head back down there.

For dinner, Luke made reservations and didn't tell me where we were going. He said we'd be walking so I assumed it was the hotel restaurant. Nope! It was the Naked Grape, a place I pointed out that looked cool when we drove by. We've been in  the habit of getting "breads and spreads" before a lot of our meals. So darn good but we should probably stop that once we get home. We like to carbo-load before our busy marathon days here! The daytime was really busy with people on the stretch down by the water in both Tauranga and Maunganui but once it hit around 6pm, it was a lot more quiet. They call December 26 "boxing day" and I think some businesses stay closed. We aren't sure what that means.

Today, we are just relaxing and haven't decided what we feel like doing. We'll definitely have to get some shopping in and then later on we are going to ride horses in Maketu, a short drive from here.
I think this will be a good length for us to be here. I know there are other things we would be interested in doing and I know once we leave we'll want to be back here. But, we miss Rocky, we miss our bed, I miss my clothes closet, I miss family and friends, and we've spent a lot of money on what we want to do when we want to do it. So, soon enough it will be back to working hard so we can keep playing hard. Life is good!

Our First Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. in Tauranga, New Zealand

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends! It's been pretty crazy having 80 degree weather and sand between our toes on Christmas. However, there are still plenty of Christmas trees, santa hats, and "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" even plays overhead in our hotels. What better way to spend our first Christmas as Mr and Mrs Thunberg than in the amazing country of New Zealand?!

Our morning started off by heading to the world famous Polynesian Spa in Rotorua. We donned our swimsuits and soaked for 45 minutes in four different outdoor mineral pools overlooking Lake Rotorua. Beautiful. Since we were in Rotorua, we thought we should have a spa treatment that we aren't able to get in Minneapolis. We both had a Rotorua Mud Wrap and massage. Due to how thin the earth's crust  is there are numerous mud pools in this city and both their geothermal springs and the mud are shown to have positive effects on the body. They smeared mud all over the entire body and wrapped us up for a good 20 minutes. We then got to shower and end with a massage. It was so nice!! They even gave us these huge green fluffy robes to wear around....very comfortable but still not sure how I felt about my husband in it. He thinks I'm weird but a man just shouldn't wear a fluffy green robe.....let's try black.
We had a short drive of about an hour and spent the afternoon and night in Tauranga, a definite beach city. Tauranga is next to Mount Maunganui which is built on a narrow peninsula and we plan on heading up the mountain, or part of it, tomorrow. The trek is supposed to be something "not to be missed" so it should be fun. We went down and hung out on the beach this evening for awhile and the beach is unbelievable and stretches far beyond what the eye can see. It's a busy town for all the Kiwi's on their holiday so it's nice that they have so much manicured beach space. Lots of fun pubs and cafes, awesome shops, tons of adventerous activities outside, and the beach plus 80 degree weather = my type of trip! Just when I love one city, I come upon the next and love that city just as much. I'm pretty sure I could see us retiring here...like at age 30. Better go buy ourselves a lottery scratch-off ticket.
Despite the awesome time we've been having we do miss our family, friends, and Rocky. We are thinking of you all during Christmas-time and wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Safe travels on the roads and stay warm!!!
p.s. a couple of you guys have mentioned that the site doesn't let you comment. it is just cuz you don't have a google account. don't worry about it....just glad i have friends who care to read my chatter:) love you guys.

Christmas In A Cave

The last 24 hours have been nothing short of amazing. Lastnight we went to a Maori Culture show. There are a handful available but we were recommended to attend the Mitai Show. They picked us up and shuttled us to the site and there were people from 21 different countries in attendance. The leader was able to speak in all but one of the languages-quite impressive.

A tribal dance, song, cooking of our food in the ground, and meal were all part of the night. The explained the significance of all of their tattooing on their bodies and how their culture differs today compared to their ancestors. It was a really entertaining show and gave a great insight to their culture. We had to laugh because we were sitting at a table with a Swedish couple who joked around that Americans always volunteer in shows like this. Well, in the next half hour they proved themselves right...one Iowan and two Californians volunteered to be their tribes Chief. They took a guy in his 50's named Long Shadow. He was from the Apache region in CA and it was cool to hear him speak his language to the Maori tribesmen.

Today we had our Haggas Honking Holes Cave adventure. Haggas is the last name of the guy who spotted the cave and laid claim to it. Honking Holes is from him reading a Dr Seuss book to his kids. So, Haggas Honking Holes it was called. We got up really early and had about a two hour drive to Waitomo Caves. I was pretty nervous as it said that this was the adventure out of their five options that you needed to be the most fit for. Oh Great!! Rambo grade 8/10. Once i met the other people - 7 others besides Luke and I - I wan't as nervous. I was always athletic but the key word for me was "was". We donned our wetsuits, hardhats with lights and off to abseil and crawl on our bellies in the mud. It was a four hour adventure and was incredible. We abseiled/repelled down one dry rock wall that was quite long and then two that had waterfalls going down them. I was the first to go on the last waterfall one and the guide turned off his light on me and screamed and i didn't realize i was already sitting at the bottom and i kept screaming. I was just sitting under a waterfall in the dark screaming but I thought i was still moving. Hilarious. Luke was pretty lucky that they asked him to assist quite a bit. He helped people with safety harnesses and would often go either first or last so he could help. At one point though, I waited for a good five minutes and finally said "where did you leave my husband!?" There was one guide and 8 of us sitting there and no Luke and no second guide. Everyone was then wondering also where the heck he was. Well, later i find out that since he helped out so much the second guide told him not to tell anyone but he'd let him rock climb up a certain wall that we weren't really supposed to. Besides a nasty rope burn on my hand from holding on the first time for my dear life, we both came out having a ton of un and it was an experience like no other. We didn't purchase the pics they took but I am sorta regretting that as we couldn't have our own cameras. We may be able to go on their website and purchase them though. What a blast. I'd highly recommend this trip hands down. Merry Christmas to our Friends and Family. We'll see you all soon.

Rotorua-The City Of The Perpetual Fart

We made it to Rotorua yesterday after some time in the car. On our way we broke up our drive stopping at some small towns to browse around and also at Lake Taupo, a beautiful lake that is a resort town. There were lots of families there now that all the kids are off of school.
Last night we settled in to a really pretty hotel called "Princes Gate Hotel". It's has a victorian look to it and is decorated really nice for the holidays. We went to an Irish Pub lastnight and caroused around town.
This morning we were off to go Zorbing. Luke and I both crawled into a gigantic rubber ball which was filled with water and were sent rolling down a large hill. What a blast!! It's the only place that the Zorb is available so we had to do it!

Rotorua is also known for it's thermal activity, healing mineral waters, and surrounding lakes, rivers and springs. We went to Wai-o-taupo Park after Zorbing and saw amazing craters, mud pools, geysers, etc. It was quite a large area filled with disturbances in the earth's crust and it was pretty impressive to see all the things that we all learn back in 4th grade science class in regards to the earth and what it is made of. The earth's surface is very, very thin in this region so all of these have developed over many, many years. The sulfur that comes through makes the whole town smell like sulfur/rotten egg. It's all part of the experience. I smelled it rolling over in my sleep at night even!! How unique of a city. It's rather annoying to hear people/tourists say "ugh, it wreaks"---ummm, i'm pretty sure you decided to come here to rotorua and heard that it smells like that for a reason.