On to New Zealand!

Before leaving San Diego we felt obliged to visit Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.  Located just two blocks from the Best Western Hacienda, this park commemorates the birthplace of California in an authentic recreation of the city’s history between 1821 and 1872.  Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Don Sebastian Vizcaino, Father Junipero Serra – names we vaguely remember from grade school history classes – all roamed this section of San Diego.  In 1769 Father Serra founded the first of twenty-one missions in California and the remains sit high above Old Town in Presidio Park.

Old Town Plaza

I was a bit too keyed up over the upcoming trip to really get involved with exploring this park but we gave it our best effort and even joined a short walking tour.  Encircling Old Town Plaza, the cultural and social center of the later settlement, are five restored adobe homes and replicas of many of the buildings destroyed by the fires of 1872.  The reconstructed Colorado House houses the Wells Fargo History Museum with artifacts from its heyday here during the Gold Rush Years of the 1850’s.  An original six-horse Concord stagecoach commands center stage.  The Cosmopolitan Hotel served as a popular stagecoach stop through 1888 though its history dates back to 1827 when it served as the home of Juan Bandini.  Today it is still in operation with ten guest rooms and a charming orchard patio café just perfect for a quick bite to eat before leaving San Diego. 

Daniel, the Hacienda concierge, drove us to the Old Town Transit Center where we boarded the aptly named Amtrak Pacific Surfliner for the three-hour trip north to LAX/Union Station.  The Surfliner hugs the California coastline for many miles; the Pacific Ocean practically licks the train tracks near San Clemente! As we approached Anaheim, we were just yards away from the entrance to the LA Angels ballpark.  But when we arrived at LAX/Union Station we were still a 45-minute FLYAWAY bus ride away from LAX!  We arrived at Terminal 2 for our 9:45 Air New Zealand flight to Auckland with three hours to spare!

 

Depart LAX 9:45PM Thursday, August 28, 2014 aboard flight NZ1 on a 777-300 aircraft

Flight Time: 12 hours 8 minutes                Flight distance: 6,523 miles

Cross International Date Line and forget about Friday!

Arrive Auckland 5:40AM Saturday, August 30, 2014

 

We cleared Immigration at Auckland Airport without a hitch and made our way to ‘Baggage Reclaim’ where huge banners advised passengers to “Dispose, Declare Now or Pay $400 Fine” if carrying used outdoor sporting goods or any sort of food stuffs including packaged foods.  Much to Frank’s disbelief, my Catholic school upbringing demanded that I declare the two cereal bars and one box of yogurt raisins remaining in my carry-on.  The customs agent smiled at my declaration form and sent us on our way. But the maddeningly long wait to clear customs had cut our two hour layover before our flight to Christchurch to a mere 30 minutes! 

With forty-pounds each of unwieldy luggage in tow, we began the l-o-n-g trek following the ‘blue line’ (which was actually green) marking the footpath (aka sidewalk) that meandered through parking lots and construction areas before reaching the Domestic Departure Terminal for Air New Zealand.  Somehow we got separated!  I had no idea where Frank had gone and, just as panic was starting to set in, I realized that he was not going to get very far without me as I was holding all the travel documents!  So I stayed put and let him find me.  Then it was a mad dash to dump our luggage at the baggage drop and still get through security to the departure gate where, much to my surprise, our flight was waiting.

We were still dressed in our warm weather shorts and t-shirts.  As we flew over the snow-capped Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, I thought ‘uh-oh, now I see why all the New Zealand passengers are dressed in flannel shirts, woolen sweaters and scarves.’  Even though it is just about spring time here, the temperatures are still on the chilly side.  We would definitely be needing those sweatshirts and jeans that were safely packed in our inaccessible luggage.

Snow-capped Southern Alps as seen from the air during our flight to Christchurch

Just over an hour after leaving Auckland we arrived in Christchurch.  Pharrell Williams’ Happy was cheerfully playing over the PA system at the Baggage Reclaim carousel.  We were now at the starting point of our New Zealand adventure!  Time to find our hotel.

The temperature in Christchurch was a balmy 52 with overcast skies and a bit of light drizzle.  As we waited for the #29 bus outside the airport, we chatted with a young college student from Dunedin.  He told us of his trip a few years back to Wisconsin, but all he could remember of his time there was a visit to WalMart!?!? 

The Grange

The Grange is a small boutique B&B and eight-room motel on Armagh Street.  The perky desk clerk was happy to see us and showed us to our nicely appointed room which would be our home for the next two nights as we get our bearings and make final plans before picking up the RV.

New Zealand is comprised of two main islands – North Island and the larger South Island.  It is one of the most isolated and least populated countries in the world.  The North Island is home to 2/3 of the country’s 4 million people and is the center of Maori and Polynesian culture.  The first Maori settlers arrived on huge canoes in the 13^th century.  They called the land Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud.  In 1642 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman arrived naming the land Nieuw Zeeland.  European settlement started in 1769 with the arrival of Captain James Cook.

Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island and the provincial capital of Canterbury, was hit by a series of major earthquakes that began in September 2010 and culminated with a 6.3 magnitude quake in February 2011 that destroyed much of the inner city.  Signs of rebuilding are everywhere – cranes tower over massive construction sites, scaffolding and metal beams shore up the sides of damaged historic buildings, scarred remains of hundreds of other buildings await demolition and many streets remain closed to traffic.  Once known fondly as The Garden City, many locals now refer to it (still fondly) as Quake Town.

 

The devastation is still evident three years later

Notice the dome from a church sitting on the ground

Cathedral Square lies in the heart of the city of Christchurch and is dominated by the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral.  Begun in 1864 and completed in 1904, the neo-Gothic cathedral served as the focal point of the 1850 Anglican settlement in Canterbury, a slice of England transplanted on New Zealand’s far shores.  Until the earthquake of 2011, the cathedral stood as the city’s most important landmark.  For now, it lies in ruins – the tower of the original cathedral collapsed, the iconic rose window was destroyed and the whole Cathedral cracked like a plate.



Christ Church Cathedral in ruins

The congregation of Christ Church Cathedral still needed a place to worship.  They contacted Japanese architect Shigeru Ban who is known for his famous “emergency architecture” buildings.  He designed (pro bono) the Transitional Cardboard Cathedral to replace the damaged one.  Yes, that’s right, a cardboard cathedral!  It is constructed of 96 cardboard tubes, local wood and steel, with a concrete floor and a polycarbonate roof.  And it is built to withstand another earthquake.  The doors opened in August 2013. The day we visited just happened to be the day of the Dedication of the building as a Transitional Cathedral; we were invited to attend the pot luck luncheon that would follow the morning service.  We would have loved to attend but we had so much more on our to-do list yet to complete.

Transitional Cardboard Cathedral

Around the corner from the Cardboard Cathedral is a memorial to the 185 people who perished in the earthquake – 185 Chairs.  Each chair is painted white and is unique to the individual memorialized there.  An infant car seat, a wheelchair, numerous desk chairs, rocking chairs, stools – a somber reminder of all that happened to this once vibrant city in 2011.

185 Chairs

Life goes on!  There are several very unique reconstruction sites in the downtown area.  One particularly noteworthy site is The Re:Start Mall where shipping containers have been strategically placed along Cashel Street near the unscathed Ballentynes Department Store and repurposed as shops, trendy boutiques, a book store, a bakery, a post office and even a few mobile banks.  A bright and colorful display of ingenuity! 

A view of Re:Start Mall with a Greening the Rubble space visible in lower right

 

The charitable organization Greening the Rubble has taken small spaces left vacant by demolished buildings and filled them with quirky creations, a sort of mini mini pocket park.

Every building has a ‘quake tale’ to tell.  Café Valentino (where we paid an exorbitant price for a pizza and wine) has pre- and post-quake pictures surrounding the ‘lone survivor’ of the quake – an unbroken, but battered bottle of Penfold’s wine. 

 Our Grange B&B was spared and the owners are proud to let you know.  They advise that in case of an earthquake "stay in your room – do not run outside.  The rooms have been built to a very high standard. . .over the last 24 months they have suffered no damage in some of the very large shakes.  Practise Drop, Cover and Hold Techniques until the shaking stops.”  Good to know J

 

While the people of Christchurch are said to be upbeat about the future of the city, I was finding it a bit depressing to be surrounded by so much devastation.  I was anxious to pick up the RV tomorrow and hit the road!

 

 

 

 

San Diego, CA (part 1)

All our flights were on time!!  And even though we were told that our Delta flight 1967 from Atlanta to San Diego was full, we were pleasantly surprised to find that one of the three seats in our half of the row was unoccupied!!  We spread out and luxuriated in the tiny bit of extra space this afforded us for the four hour flight.

After retrieving our luggage, we called the Best Western Hacienda for a pickup and a ride to their Old Town hotel.  We were tired (it was after 11PM Portsmouth time) but we were lured to the Tequila Factory by the promise of a free “welcome” margarita!

We were up early the next morning to board the Old Town Trolley for an introduction to the city of San Diego.  Our trolley driver gave a lively commentary on all the sights from the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park to San Diego Harbor (the aircraft carrier Midway) to the Seaport Village (shopping and restaurants) to Horton Plaza (more shopping at a huge mall anchored by Macy’s).  We disembarked at Horton Plaza for a stroll through the Gaslamp Quarter.  This one-time red-light district and former hangout of Wyatt Earp is now packed with restaurants, nightclubs and boutiques.  No outlaws were in sight – in fact the only people on the street in the late morning hour were delivery drivers unloading kegs of beer!  We hoofed it to the next trolley stop and had a pleasant ride over the Coronado Bay Bridge to the Coronado Ferry Landing where we rented two beach cruisers from Bike & Beyond.

Sculpture MY BIKE along Coronado Bike Path

The weather was perfect for a bike ride around “the island” where the median income is a whopping $140,000.  We pedaled past the Coronado Golf Course, through neighborhoods with inviting street names like Margarita Lane and Orange Avenue, past the Amphibious Base and then back to the historic Hotel del Coronado.    Built of wood transported by rail from northern California and beyond, this rambling Victorian-era resort opened its doors to guests in 1888.  At that time it was billed as the largest resort hotel in the world.  Its 600+ rooms sprawl over 28 oceanfront acres.  Hollywood celebrities Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were regular guests.  In 1959 the movie Some Like It Hot starring Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon was filmed on the premises.    With nightly room rates ranging from $469 to $1,950, we really could not afford to stay here!!  But we could afford to sit in comfort at the Sun Deck Grill overlooking the umbrella-lined beach and quench our thirst with pricey wine and local IPA brews.

A view of the Hotel del Coronado

Chillin' at Sun Deck Grill

We returned our beach cruisers and caught up with the trolley for its next stop at Balboa Park.  This 1,200 acre park is lush with tropical plants, succulents, bougainvillea, jacaranda, birds of paradise, 450 species of palm trees and plenty of other trees and blooming things!  Plus the world-famous San Diego Zoo!  Plus fifteen huge museums!  Many of the buildings on the park grounds date back to two World’s Fairs – the Panama-California Exposition of 1915-1916 commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal and the California-Pacific International Exposition of 1935-1936.  We were tired and not feeling the need to get any more cultured than we already were, so we left the museums behind and strolled across the historic Cabrillo Bridge before heading back to Old Town on the last trolley run of the day.

California Tower and the Museum of Man in Balboa Park

 

You gotta love the Mexican cuisine of San Diego – margaritas made to perfection, tacos, burritos, nachos galore.  Café Coyote on San Diego Avenue draws a huge crowd with lines of people waiting patiently for handmade tortillas and famous grande margaritas, while across the street the equally-inviting less-crowded Miguel’s Cocina was advertising Special Taco Tuesday.  We opted for immediate gratification at Miguel’s and were not disappointed with our choice.

No visit to San Diego is complete without a trek through the San Diego Zoo (or so we have heard). When we asked the affable concierge at Best Western Hacienda for directions via public transit to the zoo, he offered to drive us there.  We arrived just as the zoo opened for the day and spent over six hours wandering among the exhibits housing giant pandas, koalas, tigers, rhinos and 4,000 other exotic animals.  Skyfari, the aerial tram, whisks visitors from the east end of the park to Northern Frontier on the west end where brother and sister polar bears Kalluk and Tatqiq were doing back strokes in their pool.  In nearby Panda Canyon giant panda mom BaiYun (White Cloud) snoozed in a tree while her two-year-old Xiao Liwn (Little Gift) practiced his acrobatic moves.  We worked up an appetite watching the gorillas munch on their heads of lettuce so we made our way to Albert’s Restaurant for adult fare and beverages.

BaiYun snoozing, yes, snoozing in the tree



XiaoLiwn

On the recommendation of Jim Rich, we hailed a taxi to take in the ambiance of Kansas City Barbecue, an eatery on Harbor Drive.  Its claim to fame is its role in the 1985 movie Top Gun.  Anthony Edwards sat at the eatery’s piano and sang “Great Balls of Fire.”  In the final scene of the movie, Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis reunited here as “You’ve Got that Lovin’ Feeling” played on the jukebox.  Jim, the place must have had an upgrade since your last visit – it is not as sleazy as you lead Frank to believe!  It does appear to be a popular hangout for Navy pilots whose caps hang from the ceiling and whose autographed pictures adorn every square inch of the walls.  The nearby Green Line Trolley got us back to Old Town in no time.

 

Enjoying the ambiance of Kansas City Barbecue

When we arrived back at the hotel and checked our email, we were greeted with the notice that every credit card carrying individual dreads – “your credit card has been compromised.”  What???  The day before we leave the country for three months??? And now we have to arrange for the credit card company to send us a new card when we have no mailing address in New Zealand???  Luckily we are traveling with several credit cards between us but, as Murphy’s Law would dictate, the compromised card is the one that has been set up for auto payments for key items at home while we are away.  The evening was spent trying to resolve these issues.

 

 

Goodbye, Hampton Roads!

With Lazy W safely stored on the hard at Ocean Marine Yacht Center and our bags packed, we are ready to set out on the adventure we had dreamed of for years – a whirlwind three month tour to include a month in New Zealand, a month in Australia and a month in Thailand where we will visit our son Jon, his wife Nancy and our two-year-old granddaughter Ashley.  Our first stop – San Diego!

But first a few words about all the pre-trip planning.

The logistics for such a trip sometimes seemed overwhelming.  We started with investigating all the necessary paperwork to enter New Zealand and Australia and to legally stay in each for a month.  New Zealand does not require a visa for stays of less than three months but arriving passengers must present travel documents to prove that they are indeed leaving and evidence that they have enough money for ‘maintenance’ while they are visiting. (Listen up, U.S. Customs and Border Protection!)  Australia requires an electronic visa linked to your passport; we purchased such visas online and hope that they have been linked to our passports!

And then there were plane reservations to be made.  Prices on the Air New Zealand website seemed to change by the hour!  When we finally found a great deal on airfare from LAX to Christchurch, I began the onerous task of entering our personal data into the online booking form only to find that the great deal was no longer available by the time I hit ‘enter.’  I didn’t know I was racing the clock!  We settled for the higher airfare.  Arrival dates!  Departure dates!   Auckland to Melbourne! Perth to Phuket! Phuket to Tokyo! Tokyo to Portsmouth!  Be sure to be back in New York by mid-December for Mom’s 90^th birthday! Our heads were spinning!

  

Boat maintenance was another daunting undertaking.  Would the Captain be comfortable leaving Lazy W in the water, unloved, while we were gone?  Obviously not!  So even though we were enduring the heat of summer, there were winterizing chores to be done on both Lazy W and the dinghy.  And leaking boat windows to repair/replace. And unforeseen last minute teak maintenance.  And a galley to be cleared of anything that might appeal to foraging critters prowling in the boat yard.  (A word of thanks to our always hungry eleven-year-old grandson, Cameron, who visited for a few days in July and was a big help to Grandma tackling that chore!)

Packing for a three month trip to widely varying climates is an adventure in itself.  Taking a cue from intrepid world traveler and author Lynne Martin writing in her book Home Sweet Anywhere, we tried our best to whittle down our wardrobe choices to the minimum yet most practical pieces.  I think Frank might have done a better job than I did.  As the departure date neared, I feared that perhaps my newly-purchased 26-inch rolling duffle would not be nearly large enough to haul all my essential gear.  While I am by no stretch of the imagination a ‘fashionista’ or a ‘clothes horse’, I was having a hard time following Lynne Martin’s packing guidelines.  Seriously, who can get by for 3+ months with only 5 pairs of undies, 2 pairs of jeans, 1 dress, 2 sweaters, 1 raincoat, 1 pair of slacks and half-a-dozen shirts – all in black or white??  The list needed some fine tuning to suit my needs but I did not forget to pack the corkscrew – thanks for that reminder, Lynne!

The Nissan is securely parked in the boatyard at OMYC and the Toyota is tucked into her monthly parking space in Olde Towne. We said goodbye to dear friends, Peg and Greg, to whom we will be sending daily positive vibes while we are traveling!  Charlie dropped us off at Norfolk International Airport and our luggage is checked through to San Diego.  (Special thanks to Bonnie and Charlie for guest accommodations in P-town.) There seems to be nothing left for us to do but board our flight and savor the building excitement.   Goodbye, Hampton Roads!  See you in December!

 

 

 

 

 

As we get closer to our August 25th departure date...