TO SUM IT ALL UP...

A FEW CLOSING THOUGHTS 

We thought it might be fun for all of you (or at least fun for us) to do some reflecting on our big Sisselberg adventure and sum things up. Here we sit in the Air New Zealand lounge, where we sat just 34 short days ago (not the exact same seats, but eerily close), drinking one last "sauvy b" and scrolling through our memories together.

At first, we felt as though we might have been in a non-English-speaking locale, but we soon acclimated to the wonderful Aussie/Kiwi way of speaking. Such a colorful, optimistic, cheerful people, and their language reflects their easygoing way of life. 

Expressions we'll miss hearing on a daily basis

• Have a wander
• How are you going?
• Sweet as (and easy as)
• Yes...no (Seems to mean I feel kind of sorry for you, but you are WRONG)
• Wazzah (refers to roadkill- 'was a' possum, for example)
• Good on you! (This one is interesting because your tone can completely change this from meaning something quite positive to something completely sarcastic)
• No worries!
• Dragging the chain (Taking your sweet time)
• Rightio!
• G'day (with or without 'mate')
• Shitbar ("Shitty goodbar" or dive)
• Cheers!
• "Don't bite off more than you can chew" (advice on the Kauri Cliffs golf course)
• "The good news is, you're not going to die today in a helicopter crash."
• "I challenge." (Mostly, this was Steven's version of "You are full of shit" but he is far too polite to say it that way.)
• "We should go hard." (And this is Karen's way of saying she is going to have several glasses of wine and possibly eat her entire dinner roll.)

And some things we won't miss hearing

• "The air/seas are a little choppy today..."
• "There's no bathroom in the lobby, but there's a toilet about 200m down the road."
• "You picked a good time to leave Boston, eh?"
• "We don't sell that wine in the States."

Some animals who stole our hearts:

Wazzahs!

Sure, this guy can be found back home, but we'll never forget how this cute fella seemed to be everywhere we were in New Zealand, or how Larry gave them a good scare with his foot chase!
Baaaaye baaaaaye, white sheep!

Things that grossed us out:

• Green bug that dove into Steven's wine
• 4-inch spider that crawled out of Beth's salad
• huge sheep balls hanging nearly to the ground
• Steven smelling koala scat for evidence of eucalyptus 
• Watching pigs eat our leftovers for lunch the next day (at close range)
• 3-inch cicadas flying into our heads and mouths
• Sky Tower elevator full of people whose culture does not encourage deodorant use
• The "toilet" on the funyak trip
• The live grubs John fed to the kiwi
• The smell of broccolini steaming on the tram car in Melbourne
• Hands down winner, the barfing boatload of passengers on the choppy seas heading to Great Barrier Reef, the staff of the boat walking around wearing rubber gloves, with plastic bags attached to their belts, handing out barf bags like candy and collecting them full.
• "Smoked salmon" main at Treetops
• Flies bunched up against the windows at Southern Ocean Lodge
• Vegemite and marmite

Lies we told ourselves

• Wine doesn't have that many calories
• They washed the wetsuits
• There's no cream in the xxx (fill in the blank)
• Putting doesn't really matter in February
• The bartender didn't dip the straw into Steven's drink, taste it, then dip the same straw into Karen's drink. (Hint: he did.)
• The scale in every hotel is broken.
• They wouldn't send the boat out if it wasn't safe
• There are no police in New Zealand.
• I'm not sick of that dress/shirt
• They shrank my jeans in the hotel laundry.
• Cricket is an exciting game.
• Qualia was not that much better than the Hamilton Island Beach Club
• The snow will melt before we get home (corollary: it won't snow anymore)
• They fixed the propeller.
• Getting shit upon by a seagull is good luck.

A few things we missed (might need a remedial trip to come back and see them):

• Bruce (he was slightly behind our itinerary in Melbourne and Auckland)
• Penguins
• Seeing a professional rugby game
• Black water rafting and glow worms in the Waitomo caves (too far out of our way)
• Hot air balloon (too stormy)
• the limbo game at Franz Josef Glacier
• The helicopter ride and glacier walk (too foggy)
• Seeing the actual fish at the Great Barrier Reef (too cyclone-y)

...and one thing we did not miss:

• the snow and cold back home

A few things we wished we'd missed

• Visiting the power plant on the way to Doubtful Sound
• Wildfire (Brazilian barbecue recommended by 'concierge' in Auckland)
• The one policeman in New Zealand (with a radar gun)
• Sally Sue the penguin nut from Lake Timara Lodge
• Windy roads

Things/people we will miss:

• Andy and Denise
• Beth's security guard at the Open
• Exclamation points
• Ed (our adorable bellhop/concierge in Queenstown)
• Kelsey (glow worm tour girl and wallaby nanny from Treetops Lodge)
• Scott and Bec (Kangaroo Island tour guides)
• Laure (Kauri Cliffs waitress from Avignon)
• Beth's "writer" friends 
• Fancy coffees with cocoa powder on top
• Long blacks, flat whites, skinny lattes
• Noble Riesling
• The wildlife (Larry grew fond of the sheep)
• Pancake maker at the airline lounge
• Louie's canapes at Lake Timara (oysters and curry prawns were two favorites)
• Corn fritters with avocado mash
• Caesar salad with bacon and poached eggs
• Hokey pokey ice cream
• "Cheers"-ing before every drink (that was a lot of cheers)
• Taking a bungy jump (yeah... no!)

The fine folks down under have some interesting signage. We especially enjoyed the creative use of flora and fauna to designate ladies' and men's rooms (We did this with varying success, but what happens in NZ stays in NZ). Here then are some of

Our favorite signs:

They lied. The exit was just on the other side.

Penguin sign at aquarium

Southern Ocean Lodge
Ladies' or men's??

Today's conditions, tomorrow's conditions...at the glacier.

Whatever this guy is doing looks REALLY dangerous!

Beware: Bionic man around the corner

We all agreed this would be an awesome sign to bring back home!

Look how excellent they are at following directions!

Police station in Hokatika
(apparently there are a lot of crooks running around with money bags there?)

Lovely plaque on Waiheke Island bench

Melbourne street pianos for Australia Day

Oops . . . Andy?

Does this really need a caption?

Again, does this need explanation?

Do the math.

Toilet sign at bungy bridge

Local construction company...we think

Hands down favorite, just the exclamation point.
It really says it all!!!

and here are a couple of things you don't see everyday:

Things we could not have survived without:

• wireless
• still water
• almonds
• air con
• accupressure wristbands
• hotel laundry
• cocktails and canapes
• chocolate chip cookies and brownies
• Hertz
• Kash (travel agent to the stars)
• Steven's epi pen
• reading glasses
• granola bars
• cords, adapters, converters

After 16 flights, 15 hotels, 5 car rentals, one train, one tram, numerous buses, taxis,and pickups, one UBER, 8 ferries, zero helicopters, a jetboat, kayak, funyak, and Karen's personal luggage valet:

we are heading home. Miraculously, the Sisselmans are still speaking to the Greenbergs--and possibly more miraculously, the Greenbergs are still speaking to each other (as are the Sisselmans)!

At times, it has felt as though we've been away forever, when we think back to some of our adventures in Melbourne and Kangaroo Island. At the same time, the 35 days have flown by. Each of us has met and CONQUERED various physical and mental challenges and deepened our appreciation for the land, people, and wildlife of the countries we visited. No question, this trip was "sweet as," the adventure of a lifetime. We have memories, photos, and a few extra pounds to remind us of all the great times. We have our travel agent, Kash Patel, to thank for much of this trip. (His contact info is listed at the bottom of the blog.) We'd also like to thank those who looked after our loved ones at home while we were too far away to do it. You'll be happy to know I finally did find one thing wrong with Karen- seriously, it took about three weeks to ferret this out- there are two words she cannot pronounce. They're highly random but we made sure to use them as often as possible in daily conversation. Ask her sometime! As for Larry and Steven, no issues to report. And mine...well, you'll have to travel with me to find out.

We sure hope you've enjoyed armchair traveling with us. Thank you for your comments and sweet emails along the way. Can't wait to see you all on US soil. . . CHEERS!

xoxoxo

Beth, Karen, Larry, & Steven Sisselberg

DAY 33 - 34: MATAURI BAY/ KAURI CLIFFS

Saturday, Feb 22-Sunday, Feb 23, Day 33 & 34 
Kauri Cliffs - The Final Stop

We flew from Auckland to Keri Keri and picked up our FINAL rental car.  A short drive and we arrived at The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs.  (The boys were apparently quite excited!) 

The Lodge is the other property built by Julian Robertson and is set on 6,000 acres of farmland and offers spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean.

Upon arrival the fog had rolled in (or was rolling out, we weren't sure.). We went for a walk along the golf course and down to Pink Beach -- aptly named due to the pink, coral and white shelled beach.  

The fog was very cooperative and rolled out for our stroll before rolling back in during dinner (another 5 course meal with cocktails and wine .)
[Editorial insert by Beth: They wore me out COMPLETELY!]


Sunday we hit the golf course. Many of the holes are played alongside the cliffs that plunge into the Pacific -- you don't want to over hit your ball.  The course was challenging and the views were pretty awesome. I survived the 18 holes and only lost 4 balls.  

After lunch Steven and I walked to Waiaua Beach -- a 2 mile walk with 1 mile winding straight down to the beach.  During our walk, we saw a mommy, daddy, and baby partridge (the Partridge Family!) Larry biked down and he gets the award for biking back up.  [Editorial comment by Beth: in case you were wondering, I was "relaxing" during all this!] Then Steven and I walked to Kauri Tree, which is estimated to be between 700-900 years old.  Pretty impressive.


Our final dinner consisted of another 5 five course meal, a lot of drinks (we were going hard even though we were also going home), and a LOT of laughs.  The highlight was our waitress, Laure (who the night before brought us an extra plate loaded with cookies and brownies).  We asked her to take our picture and instead she took a selfie.

Don't the boys look cute with their rent-a-coats?

Monday, today, is our travel day.  Steven, Larry and Beth got up early to fit in one more round of golf (I decided not to torture them or myself).   I went for a run and final wander around this magnificent property (trying to etch the views in my memory for when I am back in snowy Needham! After lunch we will head to the airport and start our long journey home.

More from all of us at the airport.

Can't believe the trip is over but can't wait to see and speak to you all.

See you soon,
The Sisselberg's  (via Karen)