We're Ba-ack!

1-Haleakala Sunset
2-Haleakala Crater at sunset
3-Haleakala later on (once the crowd left and the real sunset happened)
4-John and MK above Haleakala crater (like our twin hats?)
5-John and MK at Haleakala (nice hair!)

Phew, that was a fun two weeks. It feels like we were gone longer, and I think that's a good thing. It's the first time I've had to bring work with me on vacation and I learned that's no fun at all, but I survived. I'm playing major catch up with work now that I'm home but I couldn't postpone a blog update any further, so here goes.

Week 1: Honolulu and Maui

We started out with a full day of exploring Honolulu with two of John's college friends and their adorably active 3 1/2 year old, Jackie Chan-loving son. We learned about "fighter school" and how to survive rolling down steep cliffs by covering yourself in a plastic ball. (I need to go Zorbing just to prove to this little guy that this does exist.) We need to go back to see the rest of the area. There's a ton to see!

The remainder of the week was spent basking in the glorious sun, soaking up summer on the island of Maui. We sipped fruity, frothy, icy concoctions served by a certain tanned Brazilian waiter. We snorkeled among sea turtles, reef sharks, milk fish, eagle rays, manta rays, an octopus, dolphins, eels, and gorgeous tropical fish. We watched and heckled Statler and Waldorf-style at the hotel luau from our lanai. We went halfway to Hana on a windy road and then turned back because we were all too car sick. We made too many trips to K Mart and gorged ourselves on Mexican food. Remember the sombrero! Then abruptly we had to say a sad goodbye to our friends A and M from Seattle who had spontaneously decided to join us for the week.

Once they were gone, the real fun started. (Just kidding!) We were on Maui for a few more days and we were sorry not to be able to experience a few more highlights with A and M. John and I spent a fabulous afternoon on Haleakala Crater and even decided to stay for sunset. It was 50 degrees and we were dressed only in tank tops, shorts and sandals. But if there's one thing we've learned to cope with this year (even if ever so reluctantly) it's the cold. It was nothing! It was great to see the expressions on the faces of people we passed who were outfitted in giant winter parkas and hats. The views were incredible and more than made up for the shivers.

Our last day on Maui we drove up to Lahaina. It was very crowded with tourists and we agreed that a couple of hours was enough, but the setting was lovely and we really enjoyed touring the historical buildings of the area. It was really interesting to begin learning about some of the similarities between native Hawaiian and Maori cultures.

Week Two--North Island, New Zealand

It was strange to say goodbye to Hawaii. One, it's Hawaii--come on! Two, we had had so much fun with our friends. Three, though it still seemed like a different country we were officially in the US and somehow our family and friends seemed oh so close yet still so far. Four, there are some things, mostly intangible, that we miss about US culture. I guess there are tangible things like Doritos and black beans, but we got our fix of those.

But once we returned to Auckland we were happy to have time to explore the North Island, which seems like a different world entirely from the South. We spent a couple of days recouping and seeing things around Auckland, then we hired a car and jetted up to Northland.

They call Northland the winterless north and we were trying to ease back into the harsh winter of Southland, but it didn't work out so well. A few months ago there was flooding in Northland and last week there were threats of flooding again. It was wet, very wet. But even so, we had a fabulous time, it was great to be there in the off-season, and now we have a reason to go back to do the fun summer time beachy activities.

We went on a glass-bottom boat tour at Goat Island Reserve, we stayed in a deserted resort on the Tutukaka coast, we visited the Bay of Islands with historic Russell and Waitangi (where the Treaty of Waitangi, an important document between the Maori and European settlers, was signed), we walked along Ninety-Mile Beach and Cable Bay, we peed in the Hundertwasser toilets of Kawakawa (random, I know), we were awed and amazed at the giant kauri trees, and we capped off our trip with a treat: opening night of the Royal Shakespearean Company's production of King Lear starring none other than Sir Ian McKellen (otherwise known as Gandalf the Grey).

It's hard to focus on getting back to the daily grind now, but all good things must come to an end...