Greetings from Auckland: The City of Sails

We arrived safely yesterday, rented a car, and spent the day driving around alternately terrified (me), having the time of his life (dad), and amazed (both). I had read in many guide books and web forums that the way to adjust to the new time zone was to stay up all day until a 'normal' bedtime, so that was our plan.

Driving on the other side of the road is...interesting. Dad did very well, except for turning on the windshield wipers when he wanted to the turn signal. I declined to try. I didn't think I could pay attention to the shifting and the road at the same time. Several times, even though Dad was doing it correctly for this country, I thought he turned the wrong way, and it scared me to death! So I decided driving was not a good idea for me and appointed myself navigator and map reader which is why we got lost...twice. Heh.

So far what we've seen makes me think this is the most beautiful place in the world. Grandma 'Ceil is going to be nutty over all of the beautiful flowering plants and trees everywhere. It's springtime here so all of the spring-flowering plants are blooming. The rolling hills are the greenest green I've ever seen, dotted with cows everywhere. (That surprised me since I read there are only 4 million people here in the entire country--about the same as Utah--and 40 million sheep. We only saw a few sheep. Heh.)

We went to Hamilton to see the Temple. Oh my goodness! It is located in the Garden of Eden. It must be. I have never seen a more beautiful location for a Temple. It sits outside of town, far from anything, on a hill. Such a pastoral scene. There are many trees located behind the Visitor's Center, and they are just FILLED with birds. Birds singing in every bird-language. Singing beautifully. (I took some video, if I ever figure out how to post it, I will.)

In Otorohanga, we stopped at the Kiwi House and walked through the large aviary there. The Kiwis are nocturnal so they are kept inside in an artificial environment. (No photos allowed.) We just happened to get there as it was feeding time so the Kiwis were very active. They are sooooooooooo cute! And totally and completely defenseless. Small, round, and brown (kind of like a kiwifruit, heh), with a long skinny beak. It's no surprise they are endanged. There is no way they could possibly fight off a predator. New Zealanders are called "Kiwis". I think it's a great mascot.

Then we drove down to Waitomo and the glowworm caves there. The cave itself was much like Timpanogos Cave with a steep descent, beautiful limestone stalagmites and stalactites and pillars and columns. Then we boarded a boat which floated us down the river at the bottom of the cave, through the large cavern to see the glowworms. I'll let Dad describe these to you:

The glowworms are amazing. They light up the dome of the cave like little miniature purple Christmas lights. The light is the most efficient light source in the world (about 97% light and 3% heat) and is the same chemical process used by fireflies, but it is continuous. The tails of the worms are what give off the glow. The light attracts mosquitoes. They drop down a half dozen sticky strands that capture the mosquitoes, which they eat at the rate of about one every four days. After months of this (their total life span is nine months) they pupate and hatch as flies. These flies have no mouths, so they cannot sustain life. They have one purpose--to procreate. The poor flies starve to death after doing their procreational duty. (It's a short life, but what a life!) They live three to four days and the females lay 4 or 5 strands of 20 eggs. The first egg to hatch in the strand eats the rest of the strand (talk about sibling rivalry!), so only 4 or 5 larvae survive. And the cycle repeats.

They are very cool. When you look at them they appear to have halos around them like stars in the night, but if you focus on one it becomes a tiny point of purple light.

Mom: An enormous, gorgeous galaxy of purple stars overhead. It was incredible, and we weren't allowed to take photos! (The light causes them to quit glowing.)

Then it was back to Auckland with a stop for a late lunch at a roadside cafe--BLTs with potato wedges served with the biggest, nastiest blob of mayo you've ever seen. ICK. Just mayo. No ketchup. (Oh, and I found ketchup--it's called 'tomato sauce'. Heh.)

When we arrived at the Hilton we found we had been upgraded to a harbour-side room (NZ spelling). Not bad for a free room booked with Hilton points leftover from Dad's traveling days!

We did our typical "I'm too tired to go out to dinner", and I was even too tired to order room service (which Dad offered to do). So we had granola bars and M&Ms for dinner, barely manging to stay awake until 10pm!