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Published: April 7th 2009
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Still building...
Before leaving Wellington, Ant played with more wood and nails... This project was a bench on Bernard and Christina's deck. After leaving Thames, it was not long before we reached the edge of greater Auckland, and from there it was a quick trip along the motorway back to the “big smoke” and our friend Nik's place.
We reconnected with Nik, and heard that he had a new love, an 'old' love from a decade ago with whom he is now reunited. So he was very happy, as were we for him.
Nik waved his relaxed geek-hands over our new computers and suddenly software appeared. We were very grateful for his assistance with this, and for opening his home to us to stay in.
We felt a bit sad that our New Zealand adventure was, for the most part, now over - at least temporarily. Of course it was lovely to see Nik and spend a couple of days seeing the lovely Auckland environs while tying up loose ends.
We were able to visit one of Anthony's old friends, an earth-brick supplier who has spent the last few years building a wonderful earth brick home for himself and his partner Jill.
We all have a great deal of interest in natural building methods: mud brick; straw bale
Auckland's phallic symbol
From ground level, the visible deck is over 600 feet above - and there's a lot more mast above that! housing; earth sheltered houses; cob houses; and other types of sustainably built housing among them.
Paua loved Jill and Nick's home, thinking it so much nicer that the other one she had encountered on the NZ trip in Waimate, although that one was very interesting.
Ant wanted to say goodbye to some people at the old community, so we paid a final visit. Renovations to the old buildings for the new Naturopathic College are well under way. Many 'improvements' have been done in the two months we were away, but the bush is still green, restful and beautiful. Ant takes away some great memories of the years that he and his children spent there.
Several hours were spent with Ant's family, and some of us went out to lunch at a local Mediterranean-style eatery. Gracie and Paua got to meet all of Ant's children, and step-children: Dan, Nic, Xander, Kim and Josh, as well as have some laughs with Karyn, his ex-partner.
It was a great connection, and more than a couple of them will be coming to Vermont for a winter experience, probably for Christmas in 2010. Grace will love planning that! Later, Karyn and
A view from the top
Dinner in the Observatory, high up in the skytower. Ant opened the trunk of memories, and we looked over the family photos of Ant's relatives, back to pictures of his grandparents in Holland before the war.
Gracie and Ant went up One Tree Hill, to see evidence of Maori fortified village life of three hundred years ago. These fortified 'Pa' were built on high points so to be more easily defended.
Left today are food pits, depressions where buildings were built and terracing that plainly shows the shape of the village.
We looked down into the ancient volcano, now grassed over and grazed by stock, and looked out on a wide vista of Auckland. There are some 40 of these volcanic cones spread around the city, as the shape of Auckland today has come about through many eruptions over a long time. The latest cone is only about 700 years old.
The Maori name for One Tree Hill is Maungaraki, and for many years there was a solitary tree perched at the summit here. The name now sounds a bit incongruous, for the tree is gone and the summit is bare, but perhaps a planned replanting of one of NZ's hardy native trees will not be
America once more...
Los Angeles from the north, meaning we got to see THAT Hollywood sign. From our height it looked very insignificant. too far away.
While we only had half an eye on our car, some enterprising Indians helped themselves to Graci's handbag, which held everyone's vital travel documents and identification. Grace noted their licence plates and we reported the event to Andrew, a very helpful policeman. He later told us that this group obviously liked the scene of their crimes as they had been caught misbehaving up at that viewing point previously. The new owners of the purse were after money, no doubt, but only got 6 US cents for their trouble. Graci will also be looking for a replacement for her favorite chunky silver bracelet that was purchased in Arizona on a business trip 15 years ago.
Of course, that didn't get our documents back, but both Dutch and American consulates were very helpful in that regard, and we had a couple of extra days in Auckland to relax before flying home.
We stayed a couple of nights at Auckland Central Backpackers, a convenient spot in central Auckland, resting place for hordes of young travelers who make their base in this 500 bed place while seeing Auckland.
We got one room that had a window and
Home
The familiar lake view from our farm in northern Vermont. There was still plenty of snow on the ground! a wide vista of the grimy buildings across the lane. Paua opted for the window, and was treated to views and loud voices of all who survived the nightclub experience in the basement and spilled into the street at 3am when it closed.
We went to the Sky Tower Observatory buffet for dinner 600 feet above the streets of downtown night-time Auckland, its lights spread out below in a carpet of colours. The dinner was exquisite, and there are no views better. This is the tallest structure in Auckland, taller than all but a few in the world.
Finally it was departure day, all too soon. In our bags were several souvenirs, and there would have been more had the airline weight limits on bags not been so low! But more than souvenirs would ride the long route to Vermont with us.
There were pictures on our hearts of a wide variety of New Zealand flora, fauna and folk, a pot-pouri of experiences that we will savour and talk about for a long while. We also were going to take more than we wanted: colds, sore throats, and headaches that we had somehow caught despite the beautiful
Grace at the 45th parallel...
The last time we saw a 45th parallel, we were in the southern hemisphere. No wonder we got jet-lagged ! summer weather.
The last hour came, and we wandered through Auckland airport. As on our entry to this lovely country, the customs/emigration processing, and friendly staff smiles were quite in contrast to that we had received in some other places. It was take-off time. America was waiting.
The flight back to LA was uneventful, just long, and after a few hours in the melee of terminal three, we boarded again, for New York. This was another night flight.
A clear sky on take-off allowed us a great view of the lights of Los Angeles, spread out like a jeweled rug. Even with significant jetlag and exhaustion, the beauty of all that laid out below was something we're pleased we didn't miss.
This flight was packed, with no seat empty, and along with us were members of a traveling acting troop, all quite loud and animated while joining the passengers already on board. They soon quieted down as we traversed the country midair. However, our silent sweep over middle America was accompanied by incredible turbulence. It was quite a bumpy and at times somewhat scary ride.
After returning to Newport, we went out to get a
Waihi open-cast mine
Pics from Waihi, A town that we travelled through on our way back to Auckland. One helluva hole! pic of the 45th parallel sign - just up the road. Grace has to put away her summer clothes for the reality of a northern winter that is only just receeding. So now we have been to both 45th parallels - that's the same distance as from the equator to either pole!
It had been a wonderful trip, and we hope that we can return soon.
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