Kiwi Quest 2010: Greg, the bad Takahe

Today's adventure was to Tiritiri Matangi Island (http://www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/default.htm) which was a rushed drive about 30 km NE of Auckland this morning. Bit of a late start but we did make the ferry so that ended well. I don't profess to know much of anything about birds or plants (don't tell my mom or my grandma; the family green thumb seems to run through them), but Tiri was a great day trip today.

Photos: 1) Feeder near the gift shop at Tiritiri, 2) Takahe! Keep an eye on your lunch. 3) Little blue penguins in a molting box, 4) The dutiful aunt and uncle with their niece. Trust me, it rained earlier. I'm not carrying a raincoat in the sunshine for decoration. 5) Pretty beach at Tiritiri.

I'm trying to learn another language while I'm here: Maori. It's quite prevalent so I'm learning some of it by proxy just listening to other people speak, and sometimes I'm learning it by trying to pronounce names of birds, plants, or places on the map. I pronounce them quite badly so far, but there seems to be hope for improvement. I feel as though I should know some Maori by the time I get home because my uncle here has quite the experience with numerous South Pacific languages in his role with the U of Auckland. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_language]

So, back to Tiri. There is lots of info in the links I've included, but essentially the island is now an open nature preserve which means that anyone can visit it although there are numerous rules to keep it in homeostasis. When you visit, you mustn't bring with you any rodents, pests, soils or seeds because the conservationists have done extensive work to eradicate all predators on the island. You must also pack your lunch in rodent-proof containers, and take home any garbage you generate with you. "Pack it in, pack it out" If you're enjoying your lunch and a free cup of coffee/tea by the visitor's centre (near the base of the lighthouse), beware of Greg, the bad Takahe! He's quite a naughty fellow, often being gently shooed out of the gift shop by the volunteers who run it, or as was our case today, being intercepted by volunteers while trying to make off with a bag of garbage from a backpack left unattended for a few moments. There's actually a book in the gift shop called, "Greg, the bad Takahe" which is all about him getting into trouble on the island so don't think me mean for using that term :) http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinzblog/3183589731/in/set-72157612384811972/

Following our return from Tiri on the ferry, we detoured briefly to Shakespear Park, then through Whangaparaoa (say "Fan-gah-pah-ro-ah" if you're me), down Beach Road in the North Shore area through numerous small beach towns to the tip of a narrow peninsula at Devonport for a drink and yummy dinner. From here, you can look south across the water to Auckland and enjoy the various boat traffic while the sun sets just out of sight. It was a lovely meal to end the adventure. Back to Liz & Ross's house in the darkening city, quick stop for gas and ice cream for dessert, then it's time to update the blog before I fall asleep after walking in the sun and forest and beach and rain and birds and greenery all day...........

http://www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/Fauna/Takahe.htm

Kiwi Quest 2010: I slept through Feb 9th somehow

Photos: 1) Looking bleary in Sydney after flying 14 hours across the Pacific Ocean. Plane to Auckland is behind me. 2) Auckland from the air. 3) Illicit cola! 4) Weird sign at internet kiosk in Sydney airport.

Hallo from New Zealand! I've reached my ultimate destination at last, roughly 9 years after the first germ of an idea for this visit took root. "Good things come to those who wait" or something equally flattering to fellow procrastinators.

Well, it's been a little crazy since I was last able to update this in North America on Feb 8. After buying some postcards for $6.66 (seriously, but in Korea it's good luck so I'm safe according to the shopkeeper) and gorging myself on a delicious spaghetti dinner, it was off to the airport for another go round through security before heading across the Pacific Ocean to Australia overnight.

Nearly as soon as my 13-hour flight from LAX to Sydney took off, the kind attendants with United were serving dinner even though it was nearly 11pm PST. Shortly after I ate, I thankfully fell into a coma for some unknown length of time. Since I refuse to change my watch until I'm in one location for more than a day, it's still set on EST so I usually have no idea what actual time it is where I am, or how much time has passed while traversing multiple time zones. I woke in the darkness to the offer of a turkey sandwich happily received, and eventually struck up a conversation with my seatmate over hot breakfast in the light of the rising sun. He is originally from Sydney - on his way home for vacation - but now living in Prince George of all places. We only struggled a few times with accents and phrases and got on quite well to help pass the remaining time. As we circled to land in Sydney on Feb 10, I could see some sandstone cliffs making up part of a national park and some of the city although none of the "famous" landmarks were obvious to me.

After a flight of nearly 3 hours, I was finally landing in Auckland! The kind folks at Air New Zealand even fed us triple chocolate ice cream with our lunch choices so it was a nice introduction to the country. Security here is nearly on par with the US in terms of layers and paranoia except here they're up in arms about biohazards (like bringing in honey and other foreign no-no products) instead of terrorists. I actually had to dig out my hiking boots from my bag so that they could be inspected. Seriously. The lady even cleaned some dirt out of the tread of one of them into a biohazard bin about the size of recycling bins for apartment buildings. After that, my bags all got x-rayed. They probably have some strange disease by now after enduring x-rays in 4 different airports so far.

Considering I haven't seen my uncle since our trip to the Grand Canyon in 1993, and I haven't seen my aunt since our one and only encounter while I was living in Toronto in 2004, we all managed to meet up correctly at the airport. A nice scenic ride to their house later and I've got my first idea of what Auckland looks like beyond runways and security guards. Oh! and I got my first stamp in my new passport :) I'm sharing the house with my cousin Martin as well, but his attendance is erratic so we haven't actually met yet. I have met both cats: Greta and Gremlin. All in all, we're getting on quite well so far as a group. I've already even bought my first fun teas at the supermarket where they also sell Illicit Cola (I took a photo) and lime-flavoured milk (gag)....

"Nau mai, Haere mai ki Aotearoa"! (Welcome to New Zealand)

Kiwi Quest 2010: Venice Beach, baby!

Free internet in hotel lobby so must keep this short. First impression of LA: clouds are pretty, lots of lights (from the air); people here have $$$$$$ (from the ground).

Photos: 1) Strange behaviour on top of a swing set 2) Fun graffiti 3) Surf's up, dude! If you get into trouble, there's a H-O-T and very friendly lifeguard on duty 4) Canals in Venice, CA 5) Flexing my muscles (buried under wool sweater) at Muscle Beach, CA

Finally got to hotel after waiting for shuttle that doesn't actually exist, necessitating $30 cab ride to hotel in the end. I'm angry with the idiots in reservations for this place, but the hotel is quite nice and the kind fellow at the front desk last night must have felt sorry for me because he upgraded me to a suite of his own volition. I just finished gorging myself on free breakfast and am headed upstairs to get ready to explore Venice Beach for the day. My pockets are full of free food from breakfast.

.... Ok, I'm officially checked out of the hotel now so I'd better update and post this before they kick me out of the lobby.

Venice Beach so far: awesome!! Walked all around this morning from my hotel in Marina Del Rey to the canal area, then north through the canals (which are kind of green and scummy, but still really neat with some cool houses) to Muscle Beach, north a ways along Ocean Front Walk to a random spot, then I walked along the beach a bit and got my jeans wet in the freezing Pacific Ocean :) There are surfers out today so it can't be that cold. Truthfully, if I'd had more time and my bathing suit handy, I would have gone for a swim even though I don't really like swimming in the ocean. Walking south from my beach spot, I stopped to talk to a very cute (and friendly) lifeguard who is local and was happy to answer all my questions. I got his photo too but you might have to wait for it until I can find a way to upload. Stopped to watch some nice waves smashing beautifully over some rocks, then over to Muscle Beach to say I'd taken my baby pipes there at last. Doh! I just realized I didn't take a photo of myself. Alas, another reason to come back then. A few guys were grunting and heaving heavy stuff around, but my eye was caught by some guy way up at the top of a swingset who seemed to be looking to take a nap way up there. No idea.... but I have photos.

Walk south along Ocean Front Walk from Muscle Beach, checking out the crazy shops and gorgeous houses ($$$$$$$$$$$), walk up the big dune at Venice Beach and stop to soak up a few rays. I keep forgetting it's February! Sorry, I know you probably hate me for that comment. This is a great introduction to California for me. Stop to use sketchy public bathroom (oi!), walk out on Venice Pier. To the north, one can see Santa Monica Pier with the amusement park on it, to the south lots more beach with awesome houses and distant smoke stacks. Somewhere off to the west, about 30 miles out to sea, is Catalina Island, but it wasn't visible today. Trek back to hotel for quick shower and packing before they kick me out.

Now I'm going to write a few postcards and grab some lunch before I head out on foot to explore more of the area and find some stamps. My flight to Auckland via Sydney leaves in about 8 hours, I think....

Kiwi Quest 2010: Today's the day!

Well, so far I've made it out of my place and to my parents' place. Since they're driving me to the airport, I'm that much closer to leaving. Thankfully, their place has WAY more food than mine did by the time I left. It's a bit difficult to make an appetizing meal out of cheese, pineapple, and pickles.

This morning, in a flash of inspiration between unexpected loads of laundry, I decided to unpack everything I'd already packed for my trip because I felt it wasn't packed in a user-friendly manner, and that little gap down near the bottom of my big pack was really bugging me. Don't ask. It took me a while, but eventually everything went back in the bags in a more suitable way, and I even managed to eliminate a couple of things I had been planning to take to make a bit more room. Strange though: when all the stuff was strewn from one end of the living room to the other in small piles (aka "packing"), I really didn't think I was taking very much for a vacation of more than 3 weeks in duration. Turns out that space in the bag gets filled pretty quickly when one is cramming in hiking boots, a sleeping bag, and rain gear. Now the little gap at the bottom of my big pack is no more :)

I just tried to check-in online with Air Canada, but to put another nail in their coffin (in my eyes), I got an error message saying that one of my flights is unavailable for check-in at this time so it kicked me out of the system. Sigh. Granted, I suspect the flight that is causing this problem is the one out of LAX to Sydney which doesn't leave until tomorrow night, so I'm probably being a little unfair to Air Canada in this case. Alas, I just hope check-in goes smoothly at the airport. At least the luggage handlers like me better now that I have a cover for my big pack: http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442332953&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302885490&bmUID=1265575123369

I treated myself to a couple of other things while at the Burlington MEC today: a new red Nalgene (BPA-free, if you care), some extra shoe laces for my borrowed gaiters, 2 Cliff bars and 2 Luna bars for the planes, and a rain cover for my day pack, although because I'm not sure how big my biggest day pack is since MEC doesn't make it anymore, I bought 2 different covers and will return the other one when I get back. I want one cover to fit all my day packs, not just the one I'm taking with me.

So for now, kitty and I are relaxing in my mom's study where I've hijacked the computer to post this update. kitty is snoozing on the couch nearby with the waning sun draped across him; I, on the other hand, am on my second cup of tea and nowhere near sleep. My mom is a little manic and my dad is selling bike parts on eBay. Just another day at the Cooper house...

Tomorrow, I'm in SoCal!!

Kiwi Quest 2010 - T-minus 5 days!

The groundhogs collectively predicted 6 more weeks of winter today. Bah, forget that! I'm heading to summer.

What is this thing they call "excited"? I haven't reached that point yet. January was a busy month for me and my mind is still too preoccupied with getting ready to leave to be excited. As is also my pattern, I usually don't let myself really get excited until I'm en route to wherever it is that I'm headed. Superstition maybe? More likely that I'm too worried about forgetting something key, and too busy repetitiously checking all my vital stuff, that stress is all I tend to know until I'm in the air/on the rails/out at sea when it's too late to do anything if something has indeed been forgotten.

Have I told you lately how exceedingly annoying Aeroplan (and Air Canada by association) is to deal with? Near the end of January, I was sure my flights were good to go and I had even blogged to that effect. Then, one Monday morning, I got an unasked-for revised itinerary from Aeroplan in my email.... perfect for a Monday. Upon reading it, I discovered that my 12-hour layover in San Francisco on the way home had been clipped to about 2.5 hours. At first, I was really mad because I had plans in place to make the best of that long layover - meeting up with a long-lost friend and getting in some exploration of a city on my "Go There" list. But, after I moaned about it a few times to a few sympathetic listeners, I realized that there were some positives to the new itinerary:


1) I will now be arriving back in Toronto on the same calendar day that I leave New Zealand. This means I'll be in 4 countries (and countless time zones) in one day which is pretty cool to say I've done. It also means I won't be so completely destroyed the next day because I won't be arriving in the wee hours of the morning after flying overnight.

2) I have a good reason to make a trip to San Francisco in the future in order to spend more than a few hours there. Road trip!!!

3) I didn't get charged $94.50 for this itinerary change because Aeroplan took it upon themselves to do it for me. Ha!

So, with 5 days to go, I've a heap of clothes and gear piled in the middle of my now-semi-tidy living room with the backpack into which it is all supposed to go being buried somewhere at the bottom. I think I've bought anything I was missing and my to-do list is shrinking although my packing list keeps growing. I'm even sewing buttons back on my shorts if you can believe it. I didn't feel like pinning them shut for 3 weeks. My apartment even nearly no longer looks like the site of some kind of explosion...

Kiwi Quest 2010 - The Deets

I hesitate to say this, but I think I might have reached the point of not having to change any more flights! Quick, I'd better knock on wood so that I don't jinx myself and have to call Aeroplan yet again. We're practically on a first-name basis now although I still hate their hold music, and their automated attendant pretends she can't help me when I speak to her in my "frustrated, angry traveller" voice, even though I e-nun-ci-ate very carefully.

Prior to Dec 25 and the foiling of the Wanna-Be Panty Bomber in the US, I was originally supposed to fly from Pearson in Toronto (YYZ) to Los Angeles (LAX) where I would connect in about 2 hours to my flight for Sydney (SYD). Now that airport and airline security have gone into hysterical, knee-jerk, zealous overdrive, I have had to change my departure plan. I just don't see 2 hours being enough time to get off a plane (providing it's on time leaving Toronto which is always a gamble), get through an unfamiliar airport and any potential security/customs stuff, plus locate my luggage to check it for the next segment. The Aeroplan nazis were quick to assure me that "everything would be fine", but I've travelled enough to know better than to rely on other people telling me everything will be fine. Ask me sometime about my passport problem in Cuba.....

In this, my 4th flight change and 10th? call to Aeroplan, I learned a few more valuable lessons. I'm all about learning so I'll share them with you:

1) Their hold music sucks. I'm stuck on it, I know, but it's pretty bad. Call GAP Adventures if you want some relief. They've got the best hold music ever.

2) If you redeem your hard-earned Aeroplan points for free flights, be willing to flex a little, especially if you're travelling to a "popular destination" like New Zealand during the North American winter. Personally, I think "popular destination" is an Aeroplan code phrase for "we don't feel like making this easy for you so we'll pretend we don't have the flights available that you need".

3) If your flights are chosen like mine, you MUST begin and end your trip in the same city which is YYZ in my case. When I called to ask about getting an earlier flight to LAX and was told nothing was available (see #2), I hypothetically asked about paying my own way to get from YYZ to LAX on a flight that would work for me, then resuming my already planned Aeroplan flights at that point. From her reaction, you'd think I'd asked her to run naked through Times Square at rush hour. "Absolutely NOT!!!" was her answer. She then proceeded to admonish me, emphatically outlining their policy, blah blah blah. Jeez lady, it was a hypothetical question! Pose yours carefully. She went on to annoy me with further detail that if I had kept my original YYZ-LAX flight (on paper), but not showed up for it (because I'd foiled them and paid for my own [hypothetical!] flight out of pocket), I would have arrived S.O.L in LAX because the rest of my Aeroplan flights would have been forfeited. Are all point redemption programs this rigid and nasty?

4) It costs $94.50 (with tax) each time you change an Aeroplan flight. To contrast, it cost me $40(NZD which was cheaper than CDN at the time) to change my Air NZ flight, only because that was the difference in the two flights after I had changed where I was headed. AND they have much cooler accents although it always takes me a few moments to get used to it over the phone. They even have a special 1-800 number for Canadians. How can you not like them better already?

So now I am leaving this cold, snowy country a day earlier, on Feb 7 for LAX, an airport and a state I have never been to before. I have about 23h 45min there to amuse myself and find ways to get into trouble before I take off again for the bottom of the world. Snaps to my dad for suggesting I look into Venice Beach while I'm in LA. [I still think it sounds odd to hear myself say, "...while I'm in LA", but I'll get over it] The man is a genius! And I don't think he even knew that Venice, CA is on my Go There List of places to see. I've read books set there and heard of it in passing so I've had a yearning to see it in person. I'm not much of a Doors fan ("Light My Fire" makes me want to set the song on fire), and my baby pipes need some work, but I'm excited to have booked my hotel there nonetheless! Beach and sun in Feb? Are you kidding me? I'd be an idiot to turn that down. I can't wait to walk around and explore the boardwalk (I don't sunbathe well), all the cool shops, and most importantly, the cool houses and canals. After all, Venice in CA was modeled after the Italian Venice which I enjoyed a few years ago. Check it out for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice,_Los_Angeles,_California
http://wikitravel.org/en/Venice_%28California%29
http://www.venicebeach.com/

If nothing else goes beserk on this journey that has been nearly 8 years in the making, I should be arriving in Auckland, New Zealand (AKL) on Feb 10, hopefully greeted by my Uncle Ross and his wife, Liz. They are kindly putting up with their niece for a few days before I take off again (I'm not very good at staying put for long in case you hadn't noticed...), this time to Queenstown in the South Island in NZ for a day of sheep farming and leisure before I begin an 11-day hiking trek around the bottom of the island. I won't see the South Pole, but it will be the furthest south I've ever been in my life: http://www.activeearthnewzealand.com/secret-south.html

I'll rejoin Ross & Liz in Auckland after a night in Christchurch, exploring Auckland and probably taking a day trip or two further north on the North Island as my uncle will be preparing to go back to working at the U of Auckland, then all too soon I will be homeward bound once more.

Just for kicks, I'll be meeting up with my cousin Victor in SYD. Yep, my family is pretty scattered all over the place. I have a 6-hour layover in Sydney on the way back to Canada, and on a whim I got in touch with Vic to see if he'd be interested in having coffee or something since he lives in the area with his two boys, Joe and Charlie. I stayed with them for about a week back in 1998 when they were living in York, UK, so I don't know if the boys will remember me at all. They were quite young at the time, but apparently they're still just as mad about football these days. Vic was so excited to hear I'd be popping round for a visit that he offered me to stay, but unfortunately I had already booked my flights home. There's an excuse to return now...

I also have a layover in San Francisco on my way home although by then, I probably won't know what time zone or country I'm in. I got some advice from friends who've travelled to and lived in SF for ways to kill the 12 hours between my flights, then I got in touch with an old grade school classmate who lives there now. Depending on when her baby decides to make an appearance, I just might get to see her again after all these years. Crazy, eh?

Stay tuned for more updates to come.... Less than a month to go!

Kiwi Quest 2010 - More Planning

I'm not so good at the "blog updating" thing, am I? I see that my last post on this subject was 3 months ago...

Well, a few things have changed since then. I thought I had nearly my whole trip planned out, save for a couple of flights within New Zealand, from the North Island to the South for the GAP trip, and back. Turns out I was wrong.

On the advice of my mother, and the experience of very little flight selection with Aeroplan already, I finally booked my inter-NZ flights: Auckland to Christchurch and back. Two days later, I get a call from GAP Adventures to inform me that my GAP trip has been cancelled due to insufficient numbers of people signing up. WHAT??!! Oh crap! They offered me a spot on the same trip (see link in Sept 2009 blog entry) departing in March, but unfortunately I couldn't take it. Then they offered me a discount on any other trip in lieu of that one, but again, I couldn't take advantage. In the end, I got all my deposit and trip insurance money back without any hassle, but I was very, very sad and frustrated for the whole weekend. I was also under a lot of stress outside of this trip planning so to suddenly be nearly back at square one was very disheartening.

After a few days, I was less depressed enough to start investigating alternate South Island trip ideas. You see, I didn't want to fly for 2 days and not see half of the country I am visiting, especially since the whole country is only 268,021 km2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand) so I was determined to find a replacement for my cancelled trip. After a LOT of research (something I'm pretty good at online), I decided to take myself on a Secret South adventure with a company called Active Earth New Zealand (http://www.activeearthnewzealand.com/secret-south.html). It ended up being a few days shorter than the GAP trip (11 days vs. 14), and cheaper too, but in the end that means I saved some money to put toward wool clothing (NZ has a LOT of sheep) and I'll have more time to spend in the North Island with my aunt and uncle. Win-win situation, I'd say!

Due to the change in length of South Island trip, and the fact that my newly booked trip departed Queenstown instead of Christchurch, this meant that I'd have to suck it up one more time and call Aeroplan again. I wasn't dreading calling Air New Zealand at all (I had booked one flight with each company for various reasons) because they had better "hold" music and I loved their accents. Aeroplan, on the other hand, has an annoying voice activated menu which means I have to speak as though the phone is simple-minded and deaf in order to be understood. I think the Aeroplan menu woman is related to Emily @ Bell, the voice menu girl that my mother loves to hate. It also meant I'd have to pay (again) to make changes to my flights, but in the end, neither call was too painful and I got early morning flights to make the most of the day at the other end of it.

I'll be headed to Queenstown the day before my trip leaves so I've booked myself a relaxing excursion to take in some of the local-ness of the country:
http://www.realjourneys.co.nz/Main/Farmexcursions/ I figure I'll save the skydiving and bungee jumping for next time. Queenstown is known as the "Adventure Capitol of the World" so I'm going to have me a grand adventure, me-style :)

I'm headed to the No PST Province in 2 more sleeps for some holiday snowboarding vacation so I'll try to update this blog a little more when I'm back. Happy Holidays!