NZ Part 1 - A Long Expected Journey

We're in New Zealand! I've been dreaming of this trip for as long as I can remember and I've been telling my kids about it since they were little. About seven or eight years ago they asked when we were going to go and I threw out the idea of Christmas 2024. That seemed like enough time to plan and save and for the kids to get older. But then we kept having kids so not sure that logic worked out. If we ever considered pushing it back though, they would have mutinied and I probably would have to. I've waited too long for this.

When people ask why we want to go to New Zealand I never have a good answer. I say things like the natural beauty and the diverse landscape or the friendly people or that it's a country built for the kind of road tripping we love. All that is true. But if I'm really being honest, it's because I want to go to Middle Earth. I'm a huge Tolkien fan and I read the books in highschool as the Peter Jackson movies were being released. It's hard to explain how much I enjoyed those movies but I saw the Fellowship in theaters eleven times if that gives any indication. From the first time I saw it though I fell in love with all the locations and the beauty that had been captured on screen and knew I had to go some day. It's perhaps no accident that we arrived in New Zealand on the anniversary of the day that film was released.

For those who are unfamiliar, New Zealand is next to Australia on the other side of the world. It's about a 20 hour flight from the US. We opted to break it up with a stop over in Hawaii for a night which was surprisingly stressful with flight delays, traffic, and no hotel parking for our big rental van. But when we stepped into the water and watched the sun set behind the surfers and the sailboats, all our troubles were quickly forgotten. We only had about 14 hours there and most of them we were sleeping but it was most definitely worth it.

For all the anticipation and hype of this trip, it was inevitable to be disappointed at some point, but a little surprised it happened so fast. In all our planning, almost everyone said things like get out of Auckland as quickly as you can, it's just a city and not what you traveled across the world to see. In retrospect, I probably should have listened. But it's where we landed and has a lot to offer like the harbor, Sky Tower, and other things. Okay, we're only here for Weta Workshop, Peter Jackson's special effects studio. Anyway, we were quickly reminded that we are not city people. We got to our hotel to find it it had no parking even though the website had indicated otherwise. After I dropped everyone off I went in search of a place to park our big van. There were plenty of garages with low roof clearance but that wasn't gonna work for us. Then I found a place that looked pretty good. The sign said some number in meters that was higher than the other places so I figured I'd take a shot. I cautiously inched up to the hanging sign and then stopped to check. It looked pretty close, maybe. A little bit further and I heard the sign hitting the roof. Ugh. I started to back up and saw there was a long line of cars behind me and I had no chance of getting out that way. I figured I'd just pull in to the garage a little and then turn around and come back up the exit. Well after hitting every roof height sign down there, almost getting stuck, and then sneaking through the employees only zone, I eventually got back outside. Not my best look but I guess it's all part of the adventure. After successfully parallel parking our massive right hand drive vehicle with only a near miss and navigating the long walk back without maps because my phone died, I told my troubles to Colonel Sanders who handed me a bucket of chicken in return. Enough adventures for today.