Last Days in NZ - New Year's in Sydney

Mount Maunganui
We met up with our friend Lance at his house in Rotorua to pick up his brother Paul who we stayed with in Mount Maunganui. Lance offered his brother's place when we met him in the Cook Islands. As it turns out his girlfriend Tina is from Salisbury, Maryland not too far away from my hometown of Annapolis, MD. Great people and a nice house (definitely a guy's place, lots of semi-clad women in calendars but lots of space and nice people) not far from the beach. Turns out our days here (about 4) were mostly about chilling out, must have needed it after all the driving from place to place.

Paul took us along with him for his Dad's birthday celebration, boating on the lake and dinner at his parent's house. We decided to just watch others water ski as the water was cold and we weren't really prepared (they all had wetsuits and were also really good). Everyone was really nice and we had a huge meal later on and watched some action video of the family rafting and kayaking (Their dad Franz takes lots of video and edits it all too.) Thanks to Franz and Parky for including us in the celebration and for Lance, Tina, and Paul for bringing us along.

We did a walk to the top of Mount Maunganui, one part was a very steep climb but overall not too tough. Gorgeous views from the top and still gave us a bit of a work out, feeling a bit like a slug so good to get some exercise. Enjoyed some time out dancing and drinking (a wee bit) at Imbibe within walking distance of the house - that's always nice! Oh, the negative here was the arrival of a large group of Jim Beam girls in their tight white jeans, skimpy tops and cowboy hats, oh did I mention the stiletto's? Makes you feel good when you are wearing Chaco sandals and a t-shirt. Ah well, the life of a traveller. :) We then made an early, yikes 4am, drive to the airport on Saturday, Dec. 31.

Sydney
Arrived in Sydney with no problems and took a taxi (yikes more money then the info guy said it would be!) to our friend Mike's house in Narrabeen in the Northern Beaches about 40 minutes from Sydney City Center. Another boys' house but nice to have a space to share, thanks to Mike, Wags, and John for sharing their space a bit. And, very close walking distance to the beach. We headed to the beach and had a great swim in the ocean, it felt incredible and the waves were a blast! Just stayed a bit then headed to catch a real beef burger (in NZ everything is made of lamb even burgers and sausages). Wow, it was huge and fun that it had beetroot on it too - oh, I found that I like beetroot in salads, etc. Used to hate it when my mom would cook beet, still not sure if I could eat it hot. Had to take some naps, yes I actually napped which I haven't done once since travelling. Carrie on the other hand has the napping science down pat!

So, New Year's consisted of trying to get a taxi to the City Center for a party at Greenwood bar. A bit of a fiasco but we caught a cab with an interesting girl named Mandy, thank goodness she let us share! However, her first words were to tell us she was asking the driver if he ever had sex in a taxi - evidently she had been drinking since 3pm and it was 8ish. Her next words were, "don't you just wish someone would throw you a champy (champagne)?!" Definitely an experience to lighten our moods after trying to catch the taxi. Arrived at Greenwood and found out it was $30 more then what we thought but since we were already there we went ahead. Oh, and for this we got nothing free at all. The bar was pretty cool as it used to be a church and had three different bars inside and an outside dance area. We got some good dancing in and left about 2am. Here came the negative, trying to catch a taxi home was IMPOSSIBLE. We all felt like sitting down on a bench and just crashing. Alas, Bob found a bus and we hopped on to head home and it turned out to be free too. Bonus!

On New Year's Day it turned out to be the hottest day since about 1939 if I recall the date correctly. It was about 104 degrees Fahrenheit! Woo, it was hot on the beach so we mostly hung out in the water. We did catch the Junior Surf Championships down the beach, they were pretty amazing.

We took a day and went by ferry from Manly over to Circular Quay to see the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and the historic neighborhood of the Rocks. Very hot day again and fun to get out in the City. Mostly, cloudy days since then so we've been chillin and watching some movies, reading, etc. We hope to get to the Tauranga Zoo and Sky Tower and try to make it to the Blue Mountains and Palm Beach before leaving on Jan. 9 (Monday). I do miss New Zealand but also very excited about getting to Thailand, we even bought a guide book to help us out in SE Asia. More later!