Have you seen our Saturday?

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Lots to write about since its been over a week since our first blog, we ran out of time in Hawaii to fill everyone in, so I’ll start there. It rained for about 4 days, and then was overcast and rainy, so we didn't get much sun until our last two days...go figure. We tried to go on what sounded like a really cool hike in the mountains that was going to take us to a mile long tunnel through the mountain that we could hike through that had formerly been used for irrigation. But unfortunately we needed 4-wheel drive to reach the trailhead and our whale of a beast ’86 Lincoln Town Car really wasn’t up for the challenge. So we had to settle for a different hike which wasn’t much to write about. Then the day before leaving Hawaii we made it to the south and west side of the island to Waimea Canyon. We tried to go to the beach on the west side of the island, but the state park access was closed and the rest of the access to the entire west shore beaches, which the entire west shore of Kauai is a beach, is only accessible to locals. It was pretty sucky. You had to have a local ID to access the roads to the beaches...anyone find this a little shitty? Anyway, we finally made it up to the the end of the road where we did a great hike that started by overlooking the Na Pali coast and then lead us into a swamp in which the trail was covered with a boardwalk for most of the way. Where it wasn’t though it was a pretty muddy adventure (my favorite hike yet! - Jeanette). New Zealand customs officers were sure appreciative of our muddy swamp boots when we got off the plane...they gave them a nice sterile cleaning so that we did not sneak any invasive species from Hawaii in with us. It was a little embarrassing how dirty they were. Anyway, our hike took us until about sundown, so we did not get to explore anymore of Waimea Canyon...next time. The next day we just spent packing up for our trip to New Zealand. Yippie! And yes, we made the plane on time...early actually!

Anyway, our plane flight was quite long, we left on Friday night and arrived on Sunday…Saturday just seemed to fly by. We are not really sure where it went. So upon arriving in Auckland, New Zealand after our grueling customs encounter, and Ryan receiving a work permit (woohoo!) we were greeted at the airport by our wonderful hosts Monique and Julie and driven to Dairy Flat, Albany, just about 20 minutes north of Auckland. It's fun driving on the wrong side of the road, it freaks me me out a little.

The girls live in a cute house off the highway in the farmlands. Their house in surrounded by sheep, horses, alpaca, dogs, the beach about 10 minutes, lots of grass and rolling hills, and even palm trees. A beautiful place to spend a few months. We have also inherited a cat, David, which sleeps in between us and I (Jeanette) have also been reunited with my old dog’s best friend Sadie which is a dog shipped back with the Kiwi girls from Lake Tahoe…a dog which has lived on two continents…how lucky!

Today we are walking around the city of Auckland and checking things out, getting to know the bus system, and looking for a car to buy. First impressions of New Zealand is that the people are extremely welcoming and friendly, the countryside is beautiful, and the food is not as bad as everyone was telling us.

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