Dave the Mechanic

Wobble, wobble, wobble...thump, thump, thump; these are the sounds our little 1994 Toyota Corrola started to make approximately 20 kms outside of our destination for the night, Kaikoura. The noise seemed to be coming from the left front wheel, was it the bearings? Brakes? Dave's sure-fire solution: it'll fix itself. As we wove our way to town, the noise and wobble became more pronounced, so much so, that Dave reconsidered his original assessement. The local mechanic shocked Dave with the announcement that our wheels were coming off, he proceeded to demonstrate by removing all the nuts with his bare hands. Yikes!

Sea, Sand & Sun

It is impossible to do the South Island of New Zealand in three weeks or less; therefore, one makes do with glimpses and snatches, here and there. An important rule when booking activities or tours, is to use the ones that help you find a sitter. Kaiteriteri Sea Kayaking did just that, so Dave & I happily abandoned Mikaela for the morning to take their Split Apple Classic Tour.

It was the perfect day; the sun was shining and Kaiteriteri Beach was a long stretch of golden sand...littered with sea kayaks and guides at 8:30 am. Our tour guide was a young, Japanese man named Hiro. Oddly enough, he reminded me of Hiro on Heros - all awkward and cute. I relinquished the back of our two-person kayak to Dave so he would feel manly, and we set out on our journey. Dave & I were superstars, we put that family from the UK and the two Japanese girls to shame. Sadly, we also were reprimanded by Hiro for going too far out to sea and getting too far away from the group. I was sufficiently apologetic for this lapse in judgement, while Dave celebrated being a rebel.

The Split Apple Rock is the landmark in Abel Tasman, legend has it it that the rock was split, like an apple, by the sword of Zeus while battling with Neptune over the hand of Dione. Zeus actually won that battle and the hand of Dione; exactly how this rock made it's way to NZ is a bit murky. The kayaking was effortless, the scenery beautiful, and the company (Dave) tolerable. In Dave's words, I actually felt a moment of contentment and relaxation. Several consecutive ones, and we even managed to squeeze in lunch before picking up Mikaela. We returned to Kaiteriteri Beach again for the afternoon, this time just building sand castles and jumping waves. A fabulous real start to our vacation...

Road Trip

I'm five years old, sitting on the hump seat in the back of the family car with my mother and grandmother. In my memory it seems like we'd barely started our journey, I'd eaten homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast. It had been a treat; as the nausea sets in, my mother transfers the remaining blueberry muffins elsewhere to have an empty bag on hand. It wasn't long before I needed it, and hence, my long and grimacing memories of motion sickness induced vomiting commence. Like a photo album, I can flip through the vile files. A milkshake container in the back of the old suburban driving home from Presque Isle. Outside the Monte Carlo, along the side of the old airline route in Maine. Off the coast of Cape Breton while whale watching. On the plane ride home from my Nortel interview. The list goes on and on. Somehow in the planning phases of our South Island vacation, I ignored or glossed over all cold hard facts related to this trip. In our three week vacation, we would drive thousands of kilometers plus take a ferry. Did I mention my memories of the Grand Manan ferry rides of my youth? Not pretty.

As we make our way down the North Island on day one, I involuntarily cringe at the sight of mountain ranges in the distance. At the first sign that warns of twisting road for the next 32 km, I feel my stomach sink. I'm an adult; I can do this...roll down the window and suck it up. At no moment did I think I'd escape these mountain ranges unscathed, but I hoped desperately; it was not to be. Mikaela had grown progressively quieter in the backseat and then settled into a periodic whimper, I was worried she was going to vomit. I voiced this to Dave, but I think we both shrugged it off as a projection of my feelings. Less than two minutes later, she proved me right. It was everywhere, her dress, her hair, her car seat, the backseat...and the smell. By the time we had a spot to pull over, it was all I could do to open the door and take my turn. Poor Dave was a champ; he did his best to clean up Mikaela and the car. As we returned to the road, the smell of vomit permeated the air in the car but somehow we made it out of the mountain ranges and into our stop for the evening, Wanganui.

Our car continued to reek as day two dawned, today we would take the ferry cross Cook Strait to the South Island. We’d hoped they would have a nice little waiting area where they sold anti-nausea capsules, sadly, they did not. It was a drive-thru check-in process where you were assigned to one of the five vehicle lanes. This was looking bad, I had no anti-nausea solution AND I desperately needed to go to the toilet. Always the helpful husband, Dave suggested I pop over the edge of the sea wall and go on the rocks. He even got out of the car to confirm it was a feasible option; he assured me that none of the waiting vehicles would see me. I doubt this was true but eventually, I gave in and bared my bottom to Wellington.

We boarded the ferry and made our way to the family area, the initial few minutes were uneventful. In fact, I didn’t even feel us get under way but eventually the swells would grow larger and larger. I felt worse and worse, too late, the idea to check at the gift shop for anti-nausea drugs occurred to me. They did! I gave Dave one but it was too late for me, I sprinted for the outside deck and for the second time in less than twenty-four hours emptied the contents of my stomach. Again, Dave rose to the occasion taking care of Mikaela while I sat useless on the wet, cold outside deck for the rest of the three hour journey. As we disembarked, we blindly followed our GPS onto the worst possible post-ferry route. The Queen Charlotte Drive is a beautiful and scenic route between Picton and Havelock - if you can manage to lift your head to look around, I didn't. Almost thirty hours after leaving Auckland, we arrived in our first real vacation destination Motueka. I will again test my tummy when we head out sea kayaking the next morning...

Make It Stop

Unless it is the middle of winter, power outages are usually not much cause for excitement. In fact, power outages of mere seconds are generally not noteworthy. Last night has changed that for me.

Shortly before bedtime, there was the tiniest blip in the power supply; I'm sure it was less than 2 seconds of total darkness before power returned and aside from comforting Mikaela, that should have been that. It wasn't, it would seem the occupants of the apartment above us have some electronic device that has an alarm in the event of a power blip. As the loud whining commenced, I closed all our windows in an attempt to minimize the irritation and wait for the return of our neighbours to turn off the alarm.

It is now eight hours later, I'm exhausted and the alarm carries on. Are our neighbours on vacation? Will we still be listening to this alarm ten days from now when we depart on vacation? It's torture. Please, I beg of you - Make It Stop!

Taupo

Every year, ten thousand cyclists descend on Taupo for the best cycling event in the world...or atleast that's what they told Dave at the start line. We arrived Friday night to discover the town overrun by cyclists and their swag bags; this is a crowd that is comfortable in their spandex. As we make our way to our B&B, we are treated with the view of Lake Taupo surrounded by lush rolling hills, and the snow capped peak of Mt. Ruapehu towering in the distance.

A good pre-race strategy involves a supper of healthy carbohydrate-rich fare with a good nights sleep, Dave would get neither of these Friday night. We were wolfing down greasy pizza at 9:30 pm, while Mikaela spent the night alternating between climbing into our bed or tossing and turning on the floor. Dave was competing in the Huka Challenge, a 75 km mountain bike course commencing at 7 am. Although he missed the call to the start line and brought up the rear for the first quarter of the race until he found space to pass, he would later call the race the best mountain bike course he's ever ridden. He was also pleased to be in the top 25 of the 400 odd riders :-)

It was a low key weekend. We took in some of Taupo's more notable attractions; the Huka Falls and Craters of the Moon were both enjoyable. Oddly enough, it was the BBQ with my Aunt & Uncle that remains most prominent in my mind. There's something to be said for sunshine, cool beverages, good food and family.