And We're Back!!!

We spent the day trying to settle back into our lives here in Tacoma. We flew into Seattle last night amid a terrific thunderstorm, complete with lightning and heavy rain. Our dear friend, Kaisa braved the roads to pick us up at SeaTac. Thank you so much. We had so much luggage that using an Uber or other form of transportation would have been impossible. 

Tahiti was really special. In many ways it reminded us of Mexico. Very nice people, lots of poverty, and a bit of a language barrier. I found myself answering in Spanish reflexively. We rented e-bikes one day to ride around Moorea Island. What a great idea that was. The island basically had one road around the perimeter with a bike lane pretty much the entire way. The scenery was beautiful beaches and ocean on one side and super steep mountains and terrain on the other. Every curve revealed more stunning vistas. We kept stopping to look and take pictures. When we looked at the time after stopping for lunch, we realized we would have to move it, if we were going to get around the island. E assist bikes are great. We flew around 2/3 of the island and made it back to the ferry just in time. 

Speaking of ferries. The ride across the short passage was rocking and rolling. I was doing okay, keeping my eyes on the horizon, deeply breathing, then a baby threw up right next to us. That was it. I had to work my way outside to the deck, holding onto seats the whole way. I stood with the wind blowing in my face and made it into the harbor without losing my stomach. Phew!! We went to a pharmacy on the island to get some seasick meds for the ride home. Good thing too, since the water was still very bumpy on the way back. Check out this video. 

Ferry Crossing

The next day we booked a tour for the island of Tahiti. The guide spoke excellent English and we learned a bit of Tahitian history and culture. Like many island nations, Tahiti is a former colony of a European country. Tahiti gained her independence in 1984, but still maintains close ties to France. It is amazing to me how resilient the native population is to colonization. They tried to destroy their language and culture, but it is still surviving and thriving. There is National Pride there, despite a lot of poverty. We respect that and hope that people who visit will support them. 

Replica of a Tiki, Goddess of Fertility. The original is most likely in a museum after recovering it from burial under a church. All Tikis were either destroyed or buried under churches. The language and culture was illegal. Our guide was taught the Tahitian language by his grandparents. His parents do not speak it because it was illegal to teach them. 

This is a small replica of a Marae, a place of worship. It is built in the original location, but it is a fraction of the size. The stones were original stones recovered from the area and yes, you guessed it, from churches that had been built by the destruction of theses places. 

Marty showing some of the Jurassic Park like vegetation

 

Highest waterfall in Tahiti.

I want to end with what I can only call a small miracle. While in Tahiti, Marty noticed that his wedding ring was missing. It has always been just a little bit big on his finger, but with the warm weather, he thought his fingers would be a little bigger. He had no idea when it could have dropped off. He was sick about it. I was sad too, but really was trying to encourage him that we could replace it. (Exact replacement would have been impossible. We got this through a small company and this ring is no longer made) A day or two passed and Marty suggested that we contact Anna in Auckland and Paula in Gisborne to see if it could be in one of their houses. He had this vague memory of something dropping on the floor while wrestling with our packing and bags. I texted them both. A short time later, I got this:

Imagine our relief. I was surprised at the rush of emotion I felt. I guess it really did matter to me. It is only a ring, but it is also one of a matching set. I have one like it. It represents our partnership over 24 years. We could have put another ring on his finger, but I'm not sure I would have felt the same emotional attachment to it. All I can say is "Thank you to Anna for looking and to Marty's higher power for prompting his brain to remember that specific memory. 

So concludes our epic trip down under. Here are a few outakes. 

 Hello from Tahiti!

We got here in one piece. We have several large pieces of luggage, one of them is a golf club bag. We came here equipped to do a 6 to 10 day kayak trip, so along with all of our kayak gear, we also have all of our camping gear. Moving all of this stuff can be interesting. 

We are packed to the maximum weight and bag count allowed, so we have to wait in check-in lines to make sure it all goes. The airlines have been great and no problems so far. I bet you don't hear that every day!

It is very warm here. We are 17 degrees south of the equator, and the weather is tropical. It has been high 80's during the day and high seventies at night. Oh, and high humidity  all the time. Although it is getting near the end of the rainy season here, it is not done yet. We have had a couple of hours of rain every day, but we have been  able to get out and about. 

We are staying in the city of Papeete, which is near the airport and ferries. This is a major transfer point for tourists headed to the outer island resorts and cruise ships. It is very much like Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. French is the official language here, but many people speak Tahitian. We are lucky that many people in town here also speak a little English. My brain does strange things here, like speaking Spanish when I don't hear English. Sigh. All good though, as the locals are laid back and have a good sense of humor. 

A traditional sailing canoe in a downtown park near the Papeete marina. It was here for a school cultural event. Check out the rudder and tiller.

Two photos of Parc Tahua Motu Ovini, near the airport.

A half cargo and half cruise ship being docked at the cruise ship terminal.

A twilight view looking inland of Papeete.

We have a couple of activities planned in the next two days. One is a bus tour of the island of Tahiti, and the other is an ebike tour of a neighboring island, Moorea. We will let you know how it goes. 

Sunset in a busy sky from the terrace.

Just a few more days till we fly home!

Soon !  

Marty & Esther

Out takes!

Esther gets hangry?

The local chickens eating fruit on the ground. 

Our super quiet neighbors at our lodging.

Heading to the airport ......

 Sigh......

 We are sitting in an air B&B tonight in Rotorua, listening to the rain on our roof. We were going to camp tonight. Esther is sooooo happy to be indoors.

We are headed to Auckland tomorrow, so we can unwind the final pieces of our trip to New Zealand. Since our last post, we met up with our friends Paula and Deb, have played in the Bay of Plenty at Ohope, and in Gisborne. The weather was sunny and hot.  We kayaked and swam in the warm water. 

 

The beach in Gisborne

A really big Maori Waka or canoe in Gisborne

Late morning in Ohope

White island volcano smoldering off shore of Ohope

Sunset at Gisborne Harbor

We also stopped near Ohope to drop off one of the borrowed kayaks (Thanks Bob!), and to check out Bob's portable saw mill. The trees he milled are called Japanese Cedar, a red and white colored wood. It was really beautiful wood. I would love some of that grain. In my house. 

Bob and Deb at the mill

Gisborne, or Gizzy as the locals call it, is one of our favorite places. It is a great surf spot, and there is lots to do and see. We did catch a few waves, and it was fun.

Did you catch the lunar eclipse? We watched it on the beach right after sunset. It didn't photograph well with our cameras, but was cool in person. 

The Blood Red Moon

The next morning we paddled at first light to see the sun rise and the moon set near the same time.

Paula with the moon setting

Gizzy was a little out of the way, but it's always worth the trip! Thanks Paula and Deb!

On the way to Rotorua today, we talked about what we each liked the most on this trip. The question stumped both of us. We've been to so many cool places, met so many great people, we can't really say what the best thing was. It's all been the best. 

The next two days will be busy. We need to return the last kayak (Thanks Lois!), return the car (after we but it back to the way we got it), pack all of our gear, and get on a plane to our next stop...... Tahiti!

We wanted to spend more time here in Rotorua, but.... next time. This place is like Yellowstone. It has geysers,  bubbling mud pots, hot springs, and several large lakes.  Oh well.

Oh, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Beannaigh tu go leir.

We will post again soon!

Out takes!

Skinny bridge

Wife on duty sign

Esther at first light

 Raglan: World Famous Surf Beach

Before we traveled to Raglan, we did some hiking around Mt Taranaki. The mountain was just granted personhood. She is very beautiful and important to the Māori . 

 

First we went up to the Egmont Visitor Center in the National Park. We hiked up until we cleared the bush to get views of the mountain. 

The only issue was that the trail must have had more than a thousand steps and for every one up, there had to be one down. My calves were killing me the next day.

Next we drove to Dawson Falls. OMG, more stairs. Yes it was worth it, but we paid a tax with sore legs  

We have spent the last few days with new friends, Jilliene and Phil in Raglan. I don’t exaggerate when I say it has a world famous surf beach. Apparently it is the world’s longest left breaking wave in the world and really good surfers will come from all over the world to surf it. We did not surf it, nor would we have been welcome with our sea kayaks to share the wave. So we had to just admire it and watch the boards in very moderate to mild surf conditions. As they say, “it was not really pumping.”  

Yesterday we took a short paddle in Raglan Harbor. We launched at high tide hoping that there would be enough water to get into Okete Falls. The is a lot of mud flats as the water empties out into the Tasman Sea. As we paddled into the inlet where the falls are located we noticed a sailboat anchored in the very shallow water. “Not to worry,” they said. “We have a flat bottom boat and we are leaving very soon.” We paddled up to the falls. Unfortunately, we did not get any photos, just video on Marty’s GoPro. We will hopefully post some of it after we get home. 

As we turned to paddle out we noticed the sailboat was dead in the water and the male occupant was attempting to pole his way off the mud using his spinnaker pole. Uh oh, he was a long time from the next high tide. They asked Marty and Phil if they could give them a tow. I was quite skeptical that they could generate enough power from their 2 kayaks to pull this boat from the mud. (It was about 25 feet long.) They started paddling and the skipper continued to pole. I suggested that a bit of prop may give some additional power. He had his partner increase the throttle and the boat started to creep forward. Suddenly, the boat was free. I was really nervous that Marty and Phil were about to be dragged. Nope. They were freed from the bow. Marty paddled out ahead and kept testing the depth ahead of the boat. About a meter of depth. Finally, we reached the mouth of the inlet and the sailboat motored off to deeper water. Whew that guy was so lucky. 

We continued our journey across the harbor toward limestone formations. So interesting and in my mind so beautiful.  A final crossing back to the beach and we were done. The wind had come up and the tide was pulling us toward the mouth of the harbor.  Watching the ranges was so impressive. We were really moving. 

Today we climbed a local mountain outside Raglan, Karioi. My watch said we gained over 2100 feet. Not bad for about 3 miles one way. It starts out through a farm pasture and climbs steeply through the bush. You know it is steep when they say “ when you get to the ladders, you’re almost there.” 

The views from the top were fantastic. The return was much faster but, not easier on the quads. 

We can’t thank our friends Jilliene and Phil enough for their wonderful hospitality. They have fed us unbelievably good meals and shown us around their hometown. They love Raglan and it shows. Now, we love it as well. We will never forget our time here.

Tomorrow we are heading to the east side of the north island with a stop to drop off one of the borrowed kayaks. More later. 

 Hi from the north island of New Zealand! We left Picton on the south island Tuesday after several days of great weather. Both of us remember Picton from our 2004 trip. At first we were not sure, but on the way to Picton to come north, we took the back road into town we used in 2004, and remembered more. 

Havelock from Queen Charlotte Dr.

Picton near the ferry terminal.

We did sneak in one last hike near Picton, a hike out to the tip of land called the snout. Not super long but with plenty of elevation. The views were worthwhile. 

180 degree panoramic photo of the "snout".

We rode the government ferry this time, and it is even larger than the last one. These ferries also take railroad cars, so that was fun to watch them load them. The crossing was smooth, but bad weather greeted us that night and the next morning in Wellington. Heavy downpours and high winds. Made us grateful to be indoors. 

 Sailing toward storm clouds near Wellington on the ferry.

There is something about Tuesdays here. It seems like there is always bad weather on Tuesdays.

We headed north from Wellington today to New Plymouth.  We had very strong winds from the south today (20-30 kts), which made the Tasman Sea a mess. As you can see below, no kayaking today. 

Storm surge at the mouth of the Patea river.

Or maybe a video?

https://youtube.com/shorts/hgz7ejKjmkY?si=8u4nSIBJ36UmpbTo

We are still staying indoors, so the weather is less of an issue. We will hang out in New Plymouth for a couple of days, and will report more then. 

Out takes!

Wait What? Are we in Holland?

Esther in heaven