need it be explained?
The majority of my photos are now online ready for your viewing pleasure!
South Island:
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| AOT NZ Megafamil – South Island |
North Island:
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| AOT NZ Megafamil – North Island |
Still some to add like the Panoramas and some of the aircraft shots from Wellington where I was spotting from the Lounge a bit. But otherwise all good 😀
Introduction
Seattle to Honolulu
Honolulu to Auckland
Auckland to Christchurch
Wellington to Rotorua
Auckland to San Francisco
San Francisco to Seattle
Tuesday 08th October 2013
My brain is absolutely worthless I think to myself while sitting on the 405 in the truck on my way to work, for the second time that morning. I had already spent over an hour and a half in the truck due to traffic and also the fact that for the second time in a month I had forgotten my passport at home on an international trip. Driving back from the Canadian border is a hassle, forgetting my passport when I am travelling to New Zealand is a whole other story. Thankfully I wasn’t leaving that day.
Work was sending me to New Zealand for two weeks and thankfully I wasn’t having to pay. But unfortunately the flights out were early in the morning so rather than have to battle peak hour traffic on the day I have to leave, I thought it smart that I could do it the day before and stay by the airport the night before. At least when I leave my passport at home the day before I have plenty of time to go back and get it. Even if it takes me 2 hours to get to work and I am 20 mins late (I would of been early had I remembered it but that would of been fine).
I worked away getting all the usual last minute things done and finished off my day by calling the bank and letting them know that I was heading to NZ and to make sure that they didn’t decline any transactions. By the time I made up my 20 minutes of lateness and headed out of the office, the sun was already starting to slowly set and I hit the streets towards the south and my hotel for the evening.
I had looked around for airport hotels and they were all $150+ but the good thing about Seattle’s airport is even though it is south of the city and has a lot of hotels around it, there are a few outlying suburbs (like Renton, Kent, Tukwila) that are about 10-12 minutes drive away and offer much better value. I had managed to pick up a great rate on the IHG Friends and Family rate for the Holiday Inn & Suites Kent that included breakfast and wifi for like $95 all in. Quite a bargain really. All in all it was just a bed for the night and a quick workout in the morning. I made pretty good time and by the time I finished off a last minute thing online, I took the truck out to grab some gas and top it off and some food for me. Feeding the truck as well as me… simple plan really.
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| From AOT NZ Megafamil – South Island |
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| From AOT NZ Megafamil – South Island |
I grabbed some dinner at the L&L Hawiian BBQ in Renton for the evening (fitting realy) taking my tasty goodness back to the hotel where I could watch tv in piece and quiet, read some emails and hit the sack. The rooms at the Holiday Inn Kent were not overly big and it is more a motel style than anything (2 story, walk up, around a central courtyard) and I could of pictured this in any out of the way small town. But they were clean, comfortable and warm because the night sure wasn’t (although the room heated up a hell of a lot more than planned). I hit the sack around the usual time but wake up wasn’t far off.
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| From AOT NZ Megafamil – South Island |
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| From AOT NZ Megafamil – South Island |
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| From AOT NZ Megafamil – South Island |
Wednesday 09th October 2013
Waking up at 4am is never pleasant, but considering I barely slept at all, getting up meant that I could hit the gym for a bit. I had to negotiate with check in the night before to access the gym that early as for some reason they don’t allow use before 5am. Which is wierd because it is not staffed or monitored. I had agreed not to use the treadmill so as to keep noise and pounding on the floor to a minimum, so 6 miles on the exercise bike it was. Can’t complain really, it was either that or running outside in the frigid cold (Bothell was 37F that morning, not sure what it was in Kent). I will take a lighter workout over freezing myself to death any day.
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| From AOT NZ Megafamil – South Island |
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| From AOT NZ Megafamil – South Island |
By the time I cleaned up and checked out, breakfast was opening up at 6am (haven’t they ever heard of early morning departures for a hotel that advertises themselves as “Airport”) so I grabbed my complimentary breakfast, which was as I expected, pretty basic but still good. Unfortunately my desire for a good bowl of oatmeal was failed when all they had was quaker instant packets (which I despise for the amount of sugar in it) so I stuck with a quick bagel and a banana. Coffee & breakfast consumed and I hit the road to the airport.
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| From AOT NZ Megafamil – South Island |
The Holiday Inn was clean, comfortable and good value for what I got out of it. Sure it isn’t directly next to the airport and about a 10-12 minute drive away, but at half the cost, free breakfast and wifi… I won’t complain.
I am in SFO right now, alive and well, the flight was good but just a quick post to let everyone know I am safe and sound back in the good old US of A.
Current Location: Gate 50 San Francisco Airport T2
The last 11 days have been pretty amazing. I can’t believe this famil is over. I have had a blast and met so many people. Although Auckland was not as great as Rotorua (some stuff ups and bad things happening again) it was still a good time. I am kind of sad to be leaving Auckland tonight. Leaving behind my new friends and all the people I have met along the way.
So many fun times, so many not so fun times, so many moments that looking back though were awful at the time, were still fun and I will have those kinds of memories for a while. Hobbiton on Saturday was interesting. I will admit that it is not my kind of thing so I wasn’t solely interested in all of the meanings behind each and every bit, but it was pretty to look at the photos hopefully will turn out great. I think I had more fun making stupid tweets and jokes with a friend while we were walking around. The harry potter joke in the middle of hobbiton probably wouldn’t go down to well for some people.
Yesterday we headed off in our little groups to Waiheke Island, it was a very relaxed day and I was able to have a good relaxing time, enjoying my morning run and slowly waking up around the city. The boat ride out wasn’t to bad and I managed to not freak out even in a bit of a rough patch near one of the docks. The day itself I wasn’t really looking forward to as it was a wine tour really on an island required to get there by boat… yeah that sounds like my perfect day out. But the company that was with me and the places we did go, I had a great time. Spending the afternoon in the sun before coming home was great.
Last night was the final dinner and it was a great night, the more “formal” occasion, but I think the night in Rotorua felt more like the big final dinner as it felt more like a party atmosphere. Last night felt more like a goodbye than anything else, having to say farewell to new friends.
Tonight I hit the skies again, back into my second home, heading home to SFO on the “Queen” (747) and then onwards home to Seattle. I don’t want to leave, I don’t want to get back to work but I know I have to. Won’t be home long as I am back in the Skies on Saturday, heading to DC… but more on that later in the week.
Current Location: Skycity Auckland
Well my time in windy Wellington is coming to a close but it was not as windy as advertised. The city was actually fairly calm and did pretty much as advertised. I enjoyed the small amount of time we had here in the city.
It was good as we had some later starts than we have had so far which meant that I could still sleep and get some good runs in for my training (especially this morning). The runs were good and the timing was spot on and I enjoyed running along the waterfront to see the city and just live it up. The sunrise in Wellington has been stunning over the water and several times I was running and the flights were taking off at the same time as I was out there. Always good for an avgeek right?
The rest of the time was fairly relaxed, not much free time but no stress of multiple site inspections or anything like that. However going into Rotorua our next stop, it’s going to be all action, all the time!
Today I am off to the airport around 10am ish for my flight to Rotorua and my first time at Either airport but most of all, my first time on a Dash 8 300, which I am looking forward to the difference compared to the Q400 which is ever so popular.
Time to get some breakfast into me before I pass out, see you all at my next stop!
Current Location: Novotel Wellington
Kinda wish I was in the air right now rather than on the sea, you know what I am like with boats, but right now I am trying my best to keep myself distracted, trying hard not to give into the usual urges of eating crap when I stress. The trip the last few days has been rough, not on an eating way because I have been able to control fairly well, it was just bad yesterday weather wise.
New Zealand has had some insane weather the last few days and the weather right now is rain outside, but the weather yesterday in the Abel Tasman could best be described as “if hell was wet”. The day started off ok and I was able to get a run in and stay dry but when I came back, the wind picked up (not good) and the rain started. The rain was fairly light and almost Seattlish in nature. It did not stay that way. As the day got on both the wind and the rain picked up. The wind was gale force warnings and the rain at times was torrential. O did I mention we were due to walk the Abel Tasman Coastal Track? Something that requires a boat and wet landings to access?
Well wet is something we definately got. I was drenched head to toe and soaked through to the bone. I did not enjoy the day at all, but I sucked it up. I did get to go for a 4km hike which was more like a 4km jog and I caused the local tourism rep (who was an awesome person mind you) to panic that I had gone missing. Thing was I was just a couple of kms ahead of the main group on the track going at my own pace.
The day out otherwise was fine and dinner was a very relaxed affair and by the end of the evening I was enjoying some time with some people from Sweeden and the UK.
Right now I am sitting on the Aratere Interislander Ferry as we cruise into the North Island and I wish right now I could just get off. The boat is moving (ever so slightly) side to side and I have had to keep my brain focused on so many other things that I just hate it. I tell you what, I can’t wait to step onto dry land. God how I want dry land!
Current Location: Aratere Plus Lounge: Interislander Ferry
My time in Christchurch was good, a city that had been devastated several years ago, countinues to rise from the rubble and bring itself back, bigger and better than ever.
If lnly a brief stay of 2 nights in the city, it was a good glimpse into what is a massive undertaking to rebuild their lives and in some cases start fresh. It was great to see things like the gap filler projects that help fill those small pockets of the city with community driven ideas (like the pallet Pavillion) to keep residents and visitors sane.
We also left the city limits and headed towards the south, towards the banks peninsula and Akaroa. Akoroa is a small quaint seaside town about 90 minutes south of Christchurch and has a very heavy French influence. We were in town during french fest and so everyone was out to have a good time. The sun was out, the temperature though not hot was pleasantly warm (enough) and relaxing on a Saturday afternoon was like a gift from above. Add in the views, (that were stunning) a nice spot in the sunshine under a tree and some time to catch up with an old friend and the day was a real treat.
Running in Christchurch was a treat as there was not a single hill around so it was all flat all the time, but there is no sense in the way that streets are laid out at all, so I easily got lost, several times. Running in the dark, in an unfamiliar city is always an adventure.
Time to head north now, away from the plains, to the peninsula areas towards Kaikoura, Blenheim and Nelson. I have to say as we leave that Christchurch is not yet fully recovered, but it will. Time, dedication and passion will help rebuild the city. Something a lot of residents have.
Current Location:somewhere between Christchurch & Kaikoura
Well after a truly long “Day” I am finally down in New Zealand. After waking up in Seattle at 4am on Wednesday, its now 11:30am on Friday and here I am at my destination. The flights down went off without a hitch and I managed to get myself window seats the whole way. Mind you two of my flights (both on Hawaiian) meant that I was way down the back, but hey, that is what we do for a window seat right?
It was great to get the new airline experiences and getting to add some new lines to my map is fantastic as always. Still need to get my head back on the ground, but it is going to be a busy time down here in NZ. Don’t know if I will have time to do everything I want but there is hopefully going to be a bit of downtime where I can do some of the stuff I want to.
Anyway just a shot out to let you all know that I am safe, alive and well down here in the Southern Hemisphere. Try not to miss me to much guys!
Current Location: Chateau on the Park, Christchurch – New Zealand
Yep, I have been slack lately, but there has been good reason. The last two weeks at work have been so full on that I haven’t had much time to do anything else but work, sleep and eat. It has been a rough week as I was averaging 12 hour shifts at work (that’s actually at work, doesn’t add in the travel time or the mile and a half walk home from the Park and Ride) but I got through it. I managed to get myself up to speed and I should be ok this week. I probably won’t be leaving work on time most of the week but at least I won’t be starting work at 730am every day.
I have also been battling some personal demons this past week, trying hard to get through that, while working has been tough and it has meant I could distract myself from those demons and push through it, dealing with them on the weekends is tougher when I have more downtime, so keeping myself busy is a must… but I would rather not talk to much about that. One thing that did keep me happy this week was that on Tuesday I got to head on up to Paine Field and down to Boeing Field to cover the action of the 787-9 First flight. Awesome day and I loved every minute of it.
Getting to see the first flight, take heaps of photos and tweet it all out. Since I had Bernie with me as photographer for the day I could focus on the social media side (though I didn’t miss to many photos) but I also got to focus on getting the story out as well. So while Bernie drove between Paine Field and Boeing Field down I5, I was writing the story on the laptop. Doing 60 😉 down I5 writing on a laptop is a little bit wierd, but hey… it works!
Photos to come!
Workout, eat, work, work, eat, sleep. That is my life right at the moment. Knuckle down, work hard , focus, train where I can. It seems to me that is all I do. I am not complaining or anything but it has just been hectic and full on for so long now, not sure when I will get a decent nights sleep anytime soon.
The sun burn from the weekend is peeling now so I just look dandy at times, thankfully just my arms right now. Not going to look good once my legs start (if they do). I haven’t even looked at the photos since the weekend and it is going to be forever before I do. Track the day they go live, it will tell you how far behind i am.
Pretty random post this afternoon but it is mainly so you all know I am alive and that every post is not a trip report lately (though still more to come on that front).