The First Two Weeks by Jone

---

Sara and Gareth’s Travels

Monday December 29, 2008:
Sara left home about 8am for the airport. She called from Denver and her flight into LA went out on time. Sara met up with Gareth at the airport and they were ready to begin their adventure. Their flight took off for Fiji on time.
Here is the e-mail I sent out after she left: “Here is the picture of Sara from this morning as she went out the door to the airport. In usual style, she was up all night finishing up details, writing letters, wrapping presents for her friends etc........ The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, no matter how hard I try, I almost always stay up all night before travel. geesh......... Anyways, counting today, she will be traveling for 36 hours before she ends in Auckland, NZ on New Year's eve their time. (Our Tuesday eve). So, she will be ringing in the new years a day before us. She promises to make a travel blog but we will see, they didn't bring any computer so will be relying on internet cafe's. I will keep you all posted!!!!” Jone

Tuesday December 30, 2008: Gareth sent an e-mail from Fiji@ 2:30pm (our time, 9:30am their time):

Hello family!

Sara and Gareth have arrived safely in Fiji and are doing their best
not to spend all of their money on delicious teas and pretty things.
We hope you are all well and we'll send an update from New Zealand.

Happy New Year!

-Love Gareth and Sara

Tuesday December 30th, 2008: Sara called from Auckland, NZ at 11:10pm. She could only talk for a minute but sounded good and was heading to a downtown hostel. The plan was to go out for New Year’s eve (they are a day ahead of us).

Thursday January 1st: Sara sent an email from Auckland @ 6pm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland
Hello Family,

Just wanted to give you guys an update on our happenings. We've been trying to call, but can't seem to figure out the phone system here. The phone booths are so strange. We'll figure it out sooner or later. Also, they don't seem to have any regular coffee here, just espresso. Other than that, it appears to be pretty much the same.

The first night we stayed in a hostel downtown. While Gareth got ready to go out for New Years I took a nap and then while I got ready, he took a nap. But as you may have guessed, I couldn't wake him up and I was tired anyway, so we ended up sleeping through the New Year. At midnight though, I heard people cheering and woke up enough to sit at the window to watch the fireworks go off over the city. It was lovely.

Yesterday, a family friend of Gareth's named Iselta picked us up downtown and brought us to a beach about 40 minutes away. It was so beautiful. It looks a lot like California in this area. Last night Iselta invited us to sleep on her couch and tonight or tomorrow we might go with her to Waiheke Island to visit her step-dad Paul. We fly out on Monday to Christchurch where we hope to buy a car so we can be more independent.

I think that is it for now. I'll send updates when we get to Christchurch.

Love you all!
Sara

Monday January 5th, 2009

Hi Familia,

I called the house today and tried to leave a message, but the answering machine was all goofy. So if you get half of a message or a silent message or something, that was probably me.

As for New Zealand, it has been great so far. Gareth's pseudo-grandmother's family has spoiled us rotten! We stayed with Iselta a few nights and she drove us around to some of her favorite places and nice beaches. She also took us to meet her brother and her step-sister's family. So, we've met many members of the pseudo-family.

Over the weekend we went to Waiheke island off the coast of Aukland and it was beautiful! It was very hilly with windy roads, many sheep farms and wineries. When you drive along the tops of the hills you can see water in every direction. We stayed with Iselta's step dad Paul (her mother died a few months ago of a tumor) in a beautiful home on top of one of these hills. All of the walls were primarily glass and nearly all of them opened-up to the outside. He made us delicious dinner both nights and treated us to lunch at a hill-top winery where we had fancy cheeses and jams. We felt so posh.

Some of their friends offered us the use of their kayaks and row boat. Turned out the row boat had a leak and neither of us knew how to steer it. Then Gareth's kayak had a leak too and he started sinking. Needless to say, it was not a very successful experience, but we still had fun.

Yesterday we arrived in Christchurch and found a hostel downtown. Today, we found a car for $2600 NZ and bought it. All vehicles here have to be inspected by a mechanic every 6 months and ours was inspected yesterday and given an excellent rating. It drives nice and we can sleep in it, so it seems perfect for us. It is a 1992 Subaru Legacy. Insurance (this is for you dad) is really easy. Personal injury coverage is totally covered by the government, so that isn't included in the insurance which made it quite cheap. Also, they have so many backpackers coming over and buying cars that they have cheap, short-term insurance for visitors. It gives us 1,000,000 liability coverage, theft/fire coverage and mechanical breakdown assistance all for $310 NZ for 6 months.

The plan for the rest of the day/tomorrow is to call up a few other 'relatives' who Roger thinks we should go to dinner with and then hit the road.

Hope all is well with you all! I love you guys and hope you can all see this beautiful country someday!

Love,

Sara

Friday January 9, 2009

Hi Mom,

I'm going to try calling you in a few minutes, but in case I don't get a hold of you, could you do me a huge favor? Could you please send complete and sign a W-9 tax form for me? Then have dad scan it and email it to me. I need it for the ISE job and haven't been able to find an internet cafe with a printer and scanner to do it myself. You can forge my signature. There is my written permission!

Love you. We are at Mt Cook right now. It is beautiful. Tell everyone I say hello! Love, Sara

Friday January 9, 2009
Spoke with Sara on the phone. She was at Mt. Cook and they had slept in the Subaru and found it quite comfortable. They were going to hike the mountains and spend time exploring the glaciers. They said the food is good and the weather is perfect. She suggested that we rent a small RV when we go to New Zealand. I guess they are easy to rent and can be picked up in many of the cities. She thought we should fly in and out of Christchurch.

Monday January 12, 2009
Hello Family!

Just thought I would bore you with another update, but I don't have much time left on the computer so it will be ultra abridged.

We went to Mount Cook and it was incredible. It and the surrounding peaks are basically vertical walls of ice and glacier. Nothing like I've ever seen! We hiked Mount Ollivier which was the first mountain Sir Edmund Hilary ever climbed. Beautiful!

Then we drove south to Dunedin where we are now. Yesterday we saw yellow-eyed penguins and visited the town. Love you all , Sara

---