Wherever the Wind Blows Part 2

After cruising through Mildford Sound we took our time driving back down to Te Anau, stopping here and there to get out for a walk or see some beautiful landmarks such as: a Mt Tutoko hike, the Mirror lakes, Lake Gunn, Deer flat Creek and other places where we could skip rocks in water. J This took us a few hours and we arrived in Te Anau at 7:30pm giving us time to catch the last cruise across Lake Manapouri to a glowworm cave at 8:15pm. They took us a few minutes into the cave walking on a metal path over the rushing water to a place where we climbed into a boat for a peaceful ride to the dome where the glowworms lived. It was so beautiful and almost mesmerizing. Back at the entrance to the cave, they showed us a presentation about the glowworms and we found out they really aren’t worms, but larva…..but no one really wants to see a maggot cave so they call them glowworms, thank you to our new friend Vedant, who was one of the tour guides at the glowworm cave. The next day we invited Vedant to join us on a walk to a bay where we skipped more rocks. It was a beautiful day for a stroll and visit with new friends.

Once we said goodbye and stocked up on some groceries we headed back up to Wanaka to catch another friend of ours, Susan McLay, on her day off. On our way out of Te Anau, we noticed two travelers who were hitch hiking and decided to give them a ride. Their names were Kai (Pronounced kye) and Marcus. They are from Germany and also traveling and working on farms. They were quite grateful for the lift as they had been waiting for three hours for a ride! We were able to help them on their way and it was neat to meet fellow travelers and exchange advice and stories. We took the scenic route through Queenstown stopping for breaks wherever there was water to skip rocks! Yay! (This has become our thing. We stop at every body of water and skip rocks. We didn’t intentionally do this, it just kind of happened. Good times!) Finally, in Wanaka after a half a day of traveling, we were really looking forward to spending the night NOT in the back of a car!!!! Don’t get me wrong, Stella was a life saver! But we were kind of ready to sleep on something a little softer than a folded up car seat and eat food other than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which we had been living on for the last week. Robyn, Susan’s host, greeted us at the door and helped us take our luggage to our own room where we would sleep the next two nights. We would have been happy with the floor or a couch and were not expecting two lovely, white fluffy beds and a hot meal of yummy stir fry awaiting us!!! After our grand hardcore adventure, that meal tasted sooo good and those beds felt like fluffy clouds! The next morning we almost expected to wake up in Rivendell where Gandalf would greet us with a “well done, Frodo.”

We spent the next day exploring Wanaka with Susan. First at Puzzling World, we faced all sorts of trippin’ illusions in the illusion room and got lost in the labyrinth of a maze under the blazing hot sun.  We almost didn’t make it, but we overcame and found all four corners in order, plus we found the exit. Then we decided ice cream was a must and all three of us had a nice big scoop of mochaccino (kiwis pronounce it mockaccino) while window shopping in downtown Wanaka (or at least the few blocks that made up the entire town of Wanaka).  Since it was still such a beautiful hot day, after stalking Susan’s work, we donned our togs (swimsuits) and headed for the lake.  Of course, once we arrived, the clouds joined us making it too cool to actually swim, so…. We skipped more rocks!! Yay! Lake Wanaka was absolutely, hands down, definitely, affirmatively, totally the best rock skipping collection of H2O we had found thus far! All three of us, Susan being a rookie, were able to skip rocks halfway across the lake with no problem whatsoever. It was the best rock skipping experience of Trina’s life! Our adventure at the lake ended with a good old-fashioned water fight. Back at Robyn’s house, she had another wonderful hot meal just waiting for us to dig in. It was a wonderful, relaxing visit; spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

The next day as we drove toward Invercargill, taking the scenic route along the Fiordlands, we saw more beautiful mountains, ocean, caves, air shows, and wetlands, where the scene of the dead marshes from the LOTR was filmed. We spent the night in another campsite near Clifden, where the stars were breathtaking. The morning found us on Thursday the 7^th of March, as we took our final road trip with faithful Stella. We drove through Invercargill to Bluff, close enough to the southernmost point of New Zealand. We found this hill in the middle of the town that had a lookout at the top where one could see for miles. There was a map showing us a bunch of different landmarks that could be seen from that point. They had all sorts of unique names that sparked our interest as to the stories behind them such as; Dog Island- where the dogs were eaten, Woman Island, and the Point where (some name we couldn’t pronounce) valiantly stood. Then we headed back to Invercargill, but first stopped at a little inlet, called Ships Graveyard, where we, of course, skipped rocks. Susan put us in touch with a friend of hers in Invercargill where we could stay for the night. After some good company and a restful sleep, we drove Stella to the rental company where we parted ways from our beloved, dear rental car who had become a special addition to our trip. Catching our bus back to Balclutha, we were excited to once again be with our New Zealand family, the McLays! They have become family to us and it was so good to see them once again!! We were grateful for our trip to the Milford Sound but so happy to stay in once place for a wee bit.

This past week with the McLays was full of more laughter, another visit from Susan, a Thanksgiving feast (where we introduced them to yams with marshmallows and pumpkin pie!), more games on the hay bales, church fellowship, rugby games, wave jumping and sand fights at the beach! Along with the fun, we helped with the chores and did some additional work like sweeping the drive way, deep cleaning the bathroom, laundry, babysitting, etc. During our visit, an Israeli couple also stayed with the McLays and invited us to go sightseeing with them for a day. Accepting the offer, we explored the Catlins national park and learned about a new culture as well! It was neat to share our different lifestyles with one another while climbing through Cathedral Cave (where Aslan, from Narnia, walked on the beach in the end of the first movie!), the McLean Falls and the Purakanui Falls.

Much to our dismay, we will be parting from the McLays tomorrow after a potluck at their church and staying with family friends of the McLays in Dunedin, where we hope to see an Albatross or two before hitch hiking our way to Christchurch! We are so grateful for all the friends we have made on this trip thus far and plan to keep in touch as much as possible; encouraging them to come and visit our homes back in the states! Hopefully we may see each other again in this lifetime and, if not, look forward with expectation, that we will see them in the next life. Throughout this trip, we have been striving to show the love of Christ to all we meet and encourage them to also love others by serving willingly, going out of our way and giving of our time with a joyful heart. We have truly been blessed by having love centered attitudes and have really seen inspiring results. I want to encourage all you who are presently reading this, to remember to take the opportunity today, to express love to those you meet through your actions and words. You may not see the result, but it does make a difference. Love never fails.

Wherever the wind takes us part 1

Early Wednesday morning, 5:30 to be exact, we left with Coralie, Reuben, Andrew, and Luke for Wanaka.  Susan works at a resort there and Reuben was going to an agricultural conference, so Coralie said that she would take us to Queenstown, an hours on the other side of Wanaka, to pick up our rental car and start our week long traveling adventure.  When Coralie dropped us off, we met Stella.  She is a lovely silver Hyundai Accent, oh, and did we mention that she is a manual?!?!  So it was a very interesting time driving a stick shift on the other side of the car on the other side of the road.  Our first order of business was to drive to Arrowtown, a cute little gold rush town that is set up the way that it used to be about a hundred years ago.  This town is by far our favorite city in New Zealand. We explored the town and finally found a campground where we parked the car for the night.  Then it was time for a walk down to the creek, a water hike (this was Courtney’s first water hike) and rock skipping.  We wrote some postcards to people, wrote in our journals for a little bit, and ate some ice cream, enjoying the sunshine and outdoors. 

It was very interesting to sleep in the back of the car, but we made it work.  We were able to sleep in a little bit, packed up Stella, and started out.  First, we stopped at a Lord of the Rings site, but we weren’t really sure what it was exactly so we looked around and took some pictures thinking about the actors that had probably been there.  Later we found out that it was actually the road where Isildur was attacked by the orcs and lost the Ring.  After that we drove onto Queenstown, went grocery shopping, and wandered around the town.  We were actually waiting for 2:00, when we would stare death in the face and laugh as we jumped off a 43 meter (141 ft) bridge.  You got it!  We went bungee jumping, but this was no ordinary bungee jump, it was the original bungee jumping site!  The crew there talked us out of going together and we were so thankful, because it was so much fun to go by ourselves and have our own experiences to share with each other.  Trina closed her eyes for the first part because she had asked to get wet in the river below, but sadly she didn’t cause the drought made the river line too low.  After looking at our pictures and video of ourselves, we explored some more.  It was such a nice day that we decided to take a walk around the Queenstown gardens and walk by Lake Wakatipu.  Queenstown is surrounded by the Remarkable Mountains, and they sure are remarkable.  That night we decided to travel out of town to find a place to stay so we headed north to Moke Lake, a nice campground tucked in the mountains where we could park Stella and sleep in the back again.  While we were having our tea, a duck came up from the lake to visit us, we named her Fiona.  Courtney wanted to know what it felt like to be bit by a duck and decided to find out.  So she got Fiona to take a potato chip from her hand and Fiona actually bit her a couple of times, pretty entertaining. She said it tickled more than hurting. :)

The next morning we got ready for a hike around the lake, but decided to climb one of the mountains surrounding the lake instead.  It took us a couple of hours, but we were able to get to the top and see for miles and miles.  The way down was super fun, sliding on our bums most of the way, which resulted in both of us ripping our shorts; just one less piece of clothing to have to carry around the rest of our trip!  Then we went for a nice, refreshing dip in the lake.  It was so cold!  We then decided it was time to move on in our adventure, this time the destination was Milford Sound.  It was only a hop, skip and a jump away from where we were, but there was only one way to get to Milford Sound and that meant we had to drive back south, through Queenstown and head back north at Te Anau (three hour drive).  It was a beautiful drive though. The mountains just rose out of the plains as we drove and we were just in awe of God and His beautiful creation.  After stopping in Mossburn for dinner and Te Anau for petrol, we found a campsite near Milford Sound and stayed the night there.  We even made some new friends (and no not the sand-flies) who invited us to join them for tea (dinner). They were two travelers from Germany and another guy from Israel. How ironic, two Americans, two Germans and an Israeli enjoying a meal together. :) We all were entertained by the irony.

At Milford Sound, we took so many pictures, but they just don't do the beauty of this place justice.  We were in the wilderness surrounded by amazing mountains flowing with waterfalls and topped with clouds, making them look that much more beautiful. The Milford Sound is an amazing fiord weaving through the mountains out to the sea. A fiord, if you didn’t know, is a stretch of water that was carved out by a glacier, whereas, a sound is carved out by a river. The Milford sound is actually a fiord but they originally named it a sound to match all the other sounds in the area. “The cruise is the best way to see Milford Sound” is what we were told so that’s what we did.  It was a two hour long ride and most definitely worth the money that we paid.  We saw sea lions, waterfalls (even drove right up under one in the boat), minerals in the rock such as gold, copper and iron, and some very beautiful mountains that eventually led to the ocean.  The word “beautiful” doesn’t even describe this place; you just have to see it for yourself, and not in pictures, but in person.  We can only imagine that if it is this beautiful on earth what will it be like in the New Earth?

Eight kids and counting!!

Well Friends, you have all been so patient in waiting for our next post. We have done so much!! Last post, we were in Auckland on our way to the airport to fly across New Zealand down to Dunedin where we have been staying with the lovely McLay family. They have 8 children, four boys and four girls and they are heaps of fun! Starting from the oldest: Susan (19), Reuben (18), Isabel (16), Esther (14), Naomi (13), Josiah (11), Andrew (2) and last but not least Luke (1). We have had a blast sharing our cultures with one another such as learning new songs and realizing we all grew up with the same kid songs in bibles school, learning new words, talking about different sports, and teaching each others' accents. It is quite entertaining. :)

We have been mostly helping with housework (cleaning the windows, weeding the garden, etc) and looking after the two littlest boys, Andrew and Luke. The first full day of our stay we walked around the town of Dunedin with the two boys while Naomi got braces. We went window shopping, checked out some neat buildings, went to the Cadbury chocolate factory (definitely got some souveneirs there!) and had a good look around finishing at the train station! It’s a cute little college town built on the side of a hill.

The McLay’s live in Balclutha, which is about an hour south of Dunedin. The Balclutha area reminds us a lot of Montana with rolling plains and large mountains! This makes us feel right at home here, but also a little homesick. :) Our new found friends live on a beef and sheep farm with 2,500 sheep, which they are in the process of sheering. So we got to help them round the sheep up, and herd them into the barn one group at a time to be weighed. The world record for sheering a sheep is 45 sec, but usually takes an average sheerer 2 minutes, I think. So, do the math and you can imagine how long it would take them to sheer all their sheep, separate the wool and still run a large household! Phew! We stay pretty busy out here! There is not a dull moment! :D

They live about 2km from the coast so we have gone to the beach a couple times even finding crabs under the rocks and sneaking up on a real life, wild penguin!! The water is colder down here in comparison to the north island, but still just as beautiful! The kids were in a school track event, which here they call Athletics. So, we took a day off of work to go into town and cheer them on! Go team! They all placed in at least one event! Yay! We're pretty sure it’s because they had their own cheerleading squad. ;) We have really just been enjoying being a part of this family, watching the little boys, playing red light green light on the hay bails with the older kids, teaching them some good old line dancing, and just being silly! Who said we have to act our age? :)

In a bit we will post about our great road trip adventure that filled our time last week!

The Life of a Farmer

We have been in New Zealand for two weeks now. It seems to have gone by at a steady pace as we have been enjoying every minute of it. Although, as we look ahead, our time seems to be escaping us! Only 9 weeks left for us to fit everything in! Yikes!

Alright, better get to it! :) Wednesday the 13th we arrived in Whangarei planning to meet our next host at the bus stop. We forgot to ask what they looked like or to tell them what we looked like. People would pass by and we weren't sure if it was them or not. Eventually, an older man with skin tanned by long days in the sun, strolled up to us with a lovely smile on his face. We were relieved that Keith had found us! After taking us for a little drive around the town and him and Courtney racing up the steps to a gorgeous view of the whole city, we knew this would be a wonderful visit!
Keith and Jill are a lovely older couple who have been all over the world (Jill has visited 73 countries as the president of Girls' Brigade!) while maintaining their humble farm of 160 head of cattle and 40 sheep. They have four children who all have families of their own, two of which live in their own houses on Keith and Jill's farm. Their grand kids would occasionally come over and help us with the different jobs we were given. The whole family is very close and there is much love all around.
An average day on the Clarke farm would look like the following: 7am start waking up and head to breakfast and tea at 8am, work until about 10:30am and stop for morning tea and biscuits (cookies), work again until 12:30pm and stop for lunch (also called tea), then work until about 3:30 and come in again for afternoon tea and biscuits, then either stop for the day or do some more work until dinner at 6pm. whew! Lots of tea! But we are hooked on it with milk and sugar!! We also had the option of coffee or Milo (a hot chocolate beverage) but normally we just had tea. They valued this time of fellowship and saw it as more important than getting the work done. They were very wise and took the opportunity, when the situation arose, to share their wisdom with those around them, whether it was us, their grand kids or their own children. We were so blessed to be amongst the wise and experienced.
That first day, we were eager to get to work right away and didn't want to waste a moment! Therefore, after a lovely lunch with tea and some good fellowship, Keith and Jill were more than happy to give us a job right away! Into the garden we dove! For a couple of days, we helped Jill pull weeds from the garden. Waking up the next day, we were already sore just from pulling weeds! Man, has it been a while!!! Our next job was helping Keith shift his cattle from one pasture to another with the help of is trusty dog, Del. Next up, we moved dead branches from one pile into the burn pile, straightened some metal boards, fixed fence lines, and swiped weeds. The majority of our time was spent swiping weeds. They are these huge rushes that grow along the creek bed which have huge roots that take up a lot of the creek. Our job was to swipe them with a hockey stick looking tool filled with weed poison that would kill the weeds in three weeks time. Their Granddaughter Adelle (21) joined us in the weed swiping for a day. The time passed by quickly as we walked along the creek bed together swiping and talking away. More hands make light work!

On our day off, they dropped us off at Whangarei falls so we could hike from there into the town basin, which is about a 2 hour walk. It was a beautiful walk along the river, enjoying the shade of the variety of trees that made up the forest.

Sunday afternoon, after joining them at church, they took us to their beach house on Tutukaka Harbour. It was a beautiful bay where we swam all day with their granddaughter Ella (9) and rested in the sun. Trina fell asleep in the sun and got a bad sunburn, but it's healing nicely.
Whangarei was plum picking, driving the 4 wheeler, enjoying a motorbike show, ice cream, eating Jill's yummy cooking, swimming, bush tramping and meeting a couple from Canada who were also staying with Keith and Jill. We stayed with the Clarkes for a week and Wednesday saw us in the car with Adelle headed back to Auckland where we would stay the night and catch our flight to Dunedin!! While in Auckland, we stopped at Moustache one more time, met a friend of a friend (Annie) who is going to Uni. in Auckland and visited once again with the lovely Miss Alice! Now we're off to the airport for our next adventure in the South Island!

We are learning so much about different types of hospitality, how to be a polite guest, what to do with weeds, different ways we can serve and much more! We look forward to what other adventures the near future holds!

Rest, rest and....oh ya! rest :)

Sorry to everyone who's been waiting for our next post! We have just been so busy resting in hobbit holes and getting our hands dirty on the farm that it has been impossible to write anything!

Well, when we last wrote of our journey, we were still in Auckland. Thursday we made plans to work on a beef and sheep farm in Whangarei, but that wouldn't begin until Tuesday. We had the whole weekend ahead of us! What to do! Since we had spent so much money in just the first week of being here and hadn't stopped going since we got off the plane, we decided to save our money for more exciting adventures later and just hang around the house, relaxing, catching up on sleep and watching movies. I know! Who goes to New Zealand and watches movies?!?!?! Two young ladies who want to save their money for more adventurous activities, that's who! After our much needed weekend of rest and cleaning house for our wonderful hosts, we met our new housemate that following Sunday. Alice is a friend of the Peters who have generously opened their home to us. We were blessed to hang out with her for the rest of our time in Auckland. She took us to church that evening where we had a wonderful night of fellowship with other believers and played at the park with the little children.  That night, Liz, the intern for the church that the Peters are involved in, stayed the night with us. Slumber party!!!! We had a wonderful time painting our nails, watching chick-flicks (like Jane Austin) and having some girl time!

Monday, the three of us did a Bible study together and had a really good time reading God's Word and of the mysteries of God that have been made known to us. Later that day, we walked to the shopping center (Westgate) and went to a couple's house from church for dinner. We played games with the kids (such as: princess, the zoo and school) while the other adults were getting the food ready. It was breakfast for dinner and Liz made some amazing pancakes! Those last couple of days in Auckland were such a blessing to stop and think of those around us and how we could lend a helping hand. We were so blessed to have that opportunity to serve!

We said goodbye to our new found friends and by Tuesday morning it was just the two of us once again. We headed downtown about noon to visit some places before we left for the farm near Whangarei. After dropping our bags off at the bus stop, we went to Moustache for milk and cookies. As we were enjoying a stroll downtown with our delicious cookies (or biscuits as Kiwis call them), there was an old looking stone church that we decided to go check out. As we walked in, we noticed that they were setting up tables to pass out lunch or something. We soon discovered they were going to be making pancakes to give out to the public as a celebration before Lent. We offered to help and they gladly accepted. Making pancakes in the streets of Auckland with the other volunteers was a great way to spend our last day in Auckland.

We left the church around 5:15pm because we had to catch our bus at 5:45, or so we thought... The bus had actually left at 5:15 and we missed it!!!! Since there was no other bus going to Whangarei that night, we had to buy two more tickets for the following morning. Disappointed, frustrated and tired, we got our bags, called the folks who were to pick us up in Whangarei to inform them of the new plans, found a place to eat dinner and discussed our options for the evening. We decided to go back to the Peters' house for the night; a place that has come to feel like home. Even though we were sad that we missed our bus, it ended up being a jolly evening since we were able to have another lovely chat with our friend Alice.

 Alice was kind enough to take us back into town early the next morning so we could catch our bus to Whangarei. We made it to the bus stop in time, grabbed a muffin at a street cafe, boarded the bus and arrived safely in Whangarei before lunchtime. Woohoo! As we stepped off the bus, we were filled with an eagerness to get to work, an excitement to meet our new hosts and a readiness to immerse ourselves into farm life!!! 

Sunshine, beautiful sunshine!

After an eleven hour flight...
7 AM: Arrived at the Auckland airport.
8 AM: Finally got through security.
9 AM: Went for a walk to keep us awake, but ended up making us more tired.
10 AM: IT'S ONLY 10 AM?!?!?!!?!?!?!
11 AM: Bought a New Zealand phone, ate some lunch, and explored the library (or leisure centre).
12 PM: IT'S ONLY NOON?!?!?!?!?
1 PM: Walked to our temporary home.
2 PM: ...
3 PM: ...
4 PM: COULD THIS DAY BE ANY LONGER?!?!?!?
5 PM: Went shopping with our hostess.
6 PM: Had some scrumptious chicken alfredo for dinner.
7 PM: CAN WE GO TO BED YET!??!?!?!??
8 PM: Can't. Stay. Awake. Must. Sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Eleven hours later. We woke up and felt so refreshed from our deep slumber, ready to face the day.We spent the day relaxing and visiting with our hosts. Outside, Judah and Cadan, ages 1 and 3 respectively, showed us all of their toys and had us join them in the art of sidewalk chalk. They were beautiful art pieces, some would say one of a kind. That evening we all went to church, which was being held in a park. There was much fellowship and fish and chips. Since the next day was the first day of school, we joined some of the ladies in the church and assisted with writing encouraging notes on the doorsteps of the children to greet them on their way to school. Did we mention that these were made with sidewalk chalk? It was a wonderful day.

Monday. Courtney's New Zealand birthday. Started the day with some cookies and hot drinks from the best milk and cookie shop ever, Moustache!!!  we went to the Auckland Museum and learned the history of New Zealand. It was so large that we spent the whole day there. Overwhelmed and tired of reading the facts of the country, we went into the garden at the museum and found a wonderful tree which we climbed, of course. Then it began to rain. This rain broke the drought of New Zealand was going through. We stopped on Queen St. on our way back to the house and had the most amazing burger at Burger Fuel!! Who knew peanut sauce on a burger could be so good?? Then we had to stop at Yoghurt Story for some frozen yogurt to celebrate! It was fantastic!

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Tuesday. Courtney's American birthday. Beach day. It only took us about four hours on the bus to get to the beach, granted we took the long, scenic route by accident. But hey! What are adventures for but to get lost and to find your way again? One thing that we have learned for sure on this trip, is that we know everything there is to know about the Auckland public transportation. All we had to guide us was our ingenuity and a map from our generous hosts. In the end, it was worth every hour spent getting there. Soaking up the sun by the Pacific Ocean was splendid. We also had an adventure getting home. The bus we needed to take was no longer running that late in the day. Once again we had to rely on our limited resources, and of course, God's great provision. He always knew what we needed and provided it at the exact moment we needed it most. Finally, getting back to the house around 10 PM, we were never so happy to see somebody else's house!!! It was definitely a sight for sore, sunburned eyes!

Today is Wednesday, and we visited some stars and a volcano. The volcano is now dormant so there is big monument on the top where the Maori people used to live. Now it is just a grassy hill full of sheep who get a breathtaking view of Auckland. We walked a lot today, getting even darker in the glorious sunshine. The weather has been sublime and there was even a tsunami warning, but it turned out to be only three feet high.


We have discovered some local drinks that we both enjoy. First, there is L&P, lemon and paeroa. It is a New Zealand soft drink which tastes spectacular. And next is the Lemon, Lime, and Bitters. This drink is like mixing sprite with as much alcohol as vanilla has in it, hardly any at all. Definitely making this one in the States.

 

The Arrival!

      The rest of our journey through Rivendell, I mean LA, consisted of more site seeing and fellowship with friends. After a relaxing day on the beach on Tuesday, we met with some friends of Trina's Wednesday to get a local's view of the big city. On our way to meet with them, we stopped at the Hollywood sign and observed the great beyond (space, the final frontier) at the Griffith Observatory. Our friends took us to see the Grauman Chinese Theatre where we saw lots of celebrities' hand prints and signatures. Trina even put her feet on John Wayne's foot prints and marveled at seeing they were the same size!!!! Next we took the Metro to the Grand Public Market, explored the Disney Concert Hall, got a bird's eye view of L.A. from the top of City Hall and bought some Ice Cream from Jose. With our ice cream in hand, we had one last adventure delving into the greatest bookstore of all time! It was two stories high full of new and used books, art made of books, things flying out of books making the stories come literally to life, and even books categorized in color! The second story was full of used books $1 each. We spent hours roaming through the labyrinth of stories seeking lost treasures. Soaking in the hot tub later that night, we unwound and dreamed of our own stories waiting to be written...

    Thursday brought an end to our chapter in California and opened the next chapter of our journey. After grabbing some In N' Out burgers we boarded our plane, or should I say time travel machine, and made our way to Auckland, New Zealand. Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, we went into hyper-drive and whizzed past February first!