I will continue to refine this page and the map of our tracks over time.
Our driving tracks are here.
Our trip was 28.4 days long: we left Victoria at 1:30PM on 02Nov2016, and arrived back at 11:20PM on 30Nov2016.
We had 26.6 days in NZ: we arrived at 7:50AM on 04Nov2016 and left at 10:20PM on 30Nov2016.
We had 22.4 days on our Stray Journey: we started at 7AM on 05Nov2016 and finished at 5:30PM on 27Nov2016
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Day 26 - Heading home
We packed up and checked out at 10AM, but we left our bags at the front desk and wandered down to the waterfront. The shuttle company was good with coming at 1:30 to take us to our (now) 5PM flight, so we had over 3 hours. We paid $20 each to visit the Maritime Museum, but less than half way through, we were interrupted by a call from United Airlines. Our flight was going to be delayed by 7 hours now, so come at the originally scheduled time to get on another flight.
So I called the shuttle service and they were good enough to get us back at the original time of 12:30, but we had to rush back to the hotel to meet the driver. We half-ran-half-walked back to the hotel and saw the driver out front. He waited while we grabbed our bags, and then he whipped us to the airport. We then proceeded to wait 3 hours to check in at the United Airlines desk. 3 hours. 3 hours of the most unorganized, inefficient service I have ever seen.
In hindsight, I guess we should have butted to the head of the line to change our flight to the one that *was* getting let through, but all we really knew at that point was that our flight (UA916) was just supposed to wait at the back. While in line, someone told us that she was able to switch her flight, so I tried calling United Airlines to do that. First, the automated attendant couldn't find my reservation my my confirmation number, then by my last name, then by spelling out my last name. So I was passed to a real person ... but he was with domestic flights, not international. So I was passed to the international department. She couldn't find my reservation by confirmation number, but was eventually able to find it by last name, flight number, and flight date.
But that didn't help. She said my flight was on time and wondered where I got the info that it was delayed. I pointed out that there were hundreds of others in the lineup I was standing in that would concur that our flight was delayed. I gave up with her at that point.
When we did get to the front of the line, all the booths got moved to different booths. So it took another half hour for the attendants to settle back in. When we got seen, we were sent to another line. When we got seen at that line, we were sent to another line. When we got to the front of that line, we got issued our boarding cards. She scribbled out the 15;10 and penciled-in 21:00 (although we knew it was 22:00). What we didn't notice was that she issued our connecting flight boarding card (which we were sure to miss, leaving 7 hours late) without change. Our compensation was 2x $14 each in food/drink vouchers.
So we went for cider and food. Then we went through security. That wasn't fair either, but this time it was in our favour: we both tried to use the automated passport readers, but were refused. So we went to the special line and got through ahead of dozens of others.
Once through all that, we got a tea (Kate) and a raisin bun (me). We still had Kate's second voucher, so we then went for drinks. Two places wouldn't accept the voucher, even though it says any food/drink in the airport. The third place accepted it and so we had a couple more ciders. Anything to pass the time.
We got on the 11+ hour flight well after 10:30PM. The flight was a bit turbulent, but otherwise uneventful. Once in San Francisco, we disembarked, went through immigration, grabbed our bags, went through customs, checked our bags into the next flight, and were lining up for another security check when I noticed my wallet was missing. I knew I had it back in the secure area of Auckland Airport (AUK), but didn't know where I lost it after that. So I went back through security and checked back to the Air Canada check-in. Nope. Called United Airlines lost and found and AUK lost and found, but had to leave messages. Went back through security and couldn't find Kate ... she wasn't where I left her. Great. The third thing I lost on this trip.
She wandered back and told me she had gone looking for gate G92 (which was down the escalator from where we were sitting) because there was an announcement for us to go there. I checked at G92, G94, and one other UA terminal, but they didn't know anything about an announcement for us. So I started emailing lost and found with United Airlines, AUK, and SFO.
The announcement came again, and it was for G93. I went there and asked, and they didn't know anything about it. Come on, UA ... this is silly. The announcement came one more time ... again for G93. This time, the crowd at that gate was all on the plane headed to Dublin, so finding the one person with my wallet was straightforward. Apparently, the wallet had slipped out of my pants onto the seat of the AUK>SFO flight.
Anyway, all there was to do now was buy duty free, have another meal, and get onto our next flight. Unfortunately, our nice SFO>YYJ (San Francisco to Victoria) flight was now SFO>YVR>YYJ (San Francisco to Vancouver to Victoria) and we weren't getting to Victoria until 11:20PM ... 10 hours later than planned. Luckily, my super-helpful and flexible parents were able to drop Kate's car off at the airport with a hidden key, and we were able to just grab it and go and get home by 12:30AM.
Yes, Tiggin was very happy to see us, and everything looked fine at home.
All in all, a very successful trip. I will collect and organize pictures and video from our various devices (once I receive my GoPro from New Zealand) and post some up for you to see.
So I called the shuttle service and they were good enough to get us back at the original time of 12:30, but we had to rush back to the hotel to meet the driver. We half-ran-half-walked back to the hotel and saw the driver out front. He waited while we grabbed our bags, and then he whipped us to the airport. We then proceeded to wait 3 hours to check in at the United Airlines desk. 3 hours. 3 hours of the most unorganized, inefficient service I have ever seen.
In hindsight, I guess we should have butted to the head of the line to change our flight to the one that *was* getting let through, but all we really knew at that point was that our flight (UA916) was just supposed to wait at the back. While in line, someone told us that she was able to switch her flight, so I tried calling United Airlines to do that. First, the automated attendant couldn't find my reservation my my confirmation number, then by my last name, then by spelling out my last name. So I was passed to a real person ... but he was with domestic flights, not international. So I was passed to the international department. She couldn't find my reservation by confirmation number, but was eventually able to find it by last name, flight number, and flight date.
But that didn't help. She said my flight was on time and wondered where I got the info that it was delayed. I pointed out that there were hundreds of others in the lineup I was standing in that would concur that our flight was delayed. I gave up with her at that point.
When we did get to the front of the line, all the booths got moved to different booths. So it took another half hour for the attendants to settle back in. When we got seen, we were sent to another line. When we got seen at that line, we were sent to another line. When we got to the front of that line, we got issued our boarding cards. She scribbled out the 15;10 and penciled-in 21:00 (although we knew it was 22:00). What we didn't notice was that she issued our connecting flight boarding card (which we were sure to miss, leaving 7 hours late) without change. Our compensation was 2x $14 each in food/drink vouchers.
So we went for cider and food. Then we went through security. That wasn't fair either, but this time it was in our favour: we both tried to use the automated passport readers, but were refused. So we went to the special line and got through ahead of dozens of others.
Once through all that, we got a tea (Kate) and a raisin bun (me). We still had Kate's second voucher, so we then went for drinks. Two places wouldn't accept the voucher, even though it says any food/drink in the airport. The third place accepted it and so we had a couple more ciders. Anything to pass the time.
We got on the 11+ hour flight well after 10:30PM. The flight was a bit turbulent, but otherwise uneventful. Once in San Francisco, we disembarked, went through immigration, grabbed our bags, went through customs, checked our bags into the next flight, and were lining up for another security check when I noticed my wallet was missing. I knew I had it back in the secure area of Auckland Airport (AUK), but didn't know where I lost it after that. So I went back through security and checked back to the Air Canada check-in. Nope. Called United Airlines lost and found and AUK lost and found, but had to leave messages. Went back through security and couldn't find Kate ... she wasn't where I left her. Great. The third thing I lost on this trip.
She wandered back and told me she had gone looking for gate G92 (which was down the escalator from where we were sitting) because there was an announcement for us to go there. I checked at G92, G94, and one other UA terminal, but they didn't know anything about an announcement for us. So I started emailing lost and found with United Airlines, AUK, and SFO.
The announcement came again, and it was for G93. I went there and asked, and they didn't know anything about it. Come on, UA ... this is silly. The announcement came one more time ... again for G93. This time, the crowd at that gate was all on the plane headed to Dublin, so finding the one person with my wallet was straightforward. Apparently, the wallet had slipped out of my pants onto the seat of the AUK>SFO flight.
Anyway, all there was to do now was buy duty free, have another meal, and get onto our next flight. Unfortunately, our nice SFO>YYJ (San Francisco to Victoria) flight was now SFO>YVR>YYJ (San Francisco to Vancouver to Victoria) and we weren't getting to Victoria until 11:20PM ... 10 hours later than planned. Luckily, my super-helpful and flexible parents were able to drop Kate's car off at the airport with a hidden key, and we were able to just grab it and go and get home by 12:30AM.
Yes, Tiggin was very happy to see us, and everything looked fine at home.
All in all, a very successful trip. I will collect and organize pictures and video from our various devices (once I receive my GoPro from New Zealand) and post some up for you to see.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Day 25 - Auckland
This is our last full day in New Zealand. We took advantage of the slow/quiet morning by sleeping in, then ventured out to see what we could see. For the most part, we just hit City Centre and a few of the major parks. On our way back to the hotel, we picked up sushi and ate it in the walking area near the hotel.
Back in the room, Kate took the opportunity to nap while I blogged. Just after 3PM, we headed down to the waterfront to get picked up by Auckland Sea Kayaks for our Sunset Paddle. There were 12 of us. They drove us to Heliers Bay, got us suited up, gave us a quick lesson (for those who hadn't kayaked before), and we set off. The crossing was nearly 5km. The seas were nearly 2m at some points, so we got a bit wet. This was not a problem as the water was bathtub temperature.
When we landed, they made us tea/coffee, and we had time to read some of the island info while the guides cooked the steaks and pulled out the rest of the food. We the steaks, we had salad, pasta salad, juice, and apples. After eating, we started the nearly 3km walk up Rangitoto Hill, from which we had great views of Auckland and the surrounding area.
We clicked some pics and walked down again. There were some talkative girls in our group who talked all the way up and back down again. We got muffins for dessert before heading back out on the water. It was a bit rainy on the way back, but the silence was golden.
We hopped back into the shuttle buses, and we got dropped off back near our hotel. We got back in time for another moving in our room: Captain Fantastic.
When we got back to wifi, we got the notification that our flight the next day was going to leave at 5:00PM instead of 3:10PM. I wrote to our shuttle service and asked if they could come 2 hours later.
Back in the room, Kate took the opportunity to nap while I blogged. Just after 3PM, we headed down to the waterfront to get picked up by Auckland Sea Kayaks for our Sunset Paddle. There were 12 of us. They drove us to Heliers Bay, got us suited up, gave us a quick lesson (for those who hadn't kayaked before), and we set off. The crossing was nearly 5km. The seas were nearly 2m at some points, so we got a bit wet. This was not a problem as the water was bathtub temperature.
When we landed, they made us tea/coffee, and we had time to read some of the island info while the guides cooked the steaks and pulled out the rest of the food. We the steaks, we had salad, pasta salad, juice, and apples. After eating, we started the nearly 3km walk up Rangitoto Hill, from which we had great views of Auckland and the surrounding area.
We clicked some pics and walked down again. There were some talkative girls in our group who talked all the way up and back down again. We got muffins for dessert before heading back out on the water. It was a bit rainy on the way back, but the silence was golden.
We hopped back into the shuttle buses, and we got dropped off back near our hotel. We got back in time for another moving in our room: Captain Fantastic.
When we got back to wifi, we got the notification that our flight the next day was going to leave at 5:00PM instead of 3:10PM. I wrote to our shuttle service and asked if they could come 2 hours later.
Day 24 - Auckland with Mat
Today we got together with a friend we made on our Peru trip (2 years ago): Mat Walsh. He took the day off (Monday) to spend with us, although he was since burdened with a work meeting in the mid-afternoon.
Mat met us at our hotel at 7:30AM, and (with his permission) we invited our new friend along: Yohan. We all hopped into his new Nissan Dualis and drove out to Mokoroa Falls for a 2.5 hour "tramp" (tracks here). The whole walk was in pretty deep forest, and much of it (time-wise) was spent doing river crossings across the stream there. The crossings varied from a suspension bridge, to tip-toeing across in our boots, to wading through with our trousers rolled up, to taking our trousers off because it was at least thigh deep. We even got to see a 1m long eel in the river (they're not harmful).
Unfortunately, I lost my good sunglasses on this walk. I guess that's not surprising as it took a lot of effort not to fall along this very challenging (and muddy) trail.
On our way back to the city, Mat took us to a brewery/restaurant for a beer/cider. Then he dropped us back at the hotel in lots of time for him to get to his meeting. Yohan and Kate/I went to our respective hotels and rested for the afternoon. We got together again at 5:30PM, out front of our hotel. Yohan was there, and when Mat and Jillian appeared, we all walked up to Food Truck Garage for dinner.
We got to know Mat and Jillian a bit better over dinner. Then we parted ways and the three of us walked another kilometre or so to Joy Ice Cream for cones. We walked a bit more, but decided to say goodbye to Yohan and call it a night.
Kate and I watched Captain Fantastic before bed. A little too Hollywood for us, but it had some good messages. I also sent out yahoo and thank you emails regarding my lost-but-now-found GoPro: the good folks at Trail Journeys emailed to say that they found my camera!
Mat met us at our hotel at 7:30AM, and (with his permission) we invited our new friend along: Yohan. We all hopped into his new Nissan Dualis and drove out to Mokoroa Falls for a 2.5 hour "tramp" (tracks here). The whole walk was in pretty deep forest, and much of it (time-wise) was spent doing river crossings across the stream there. The crossings varied from a suspension bridge, to tip-toeing across in our boots, to wading through with our trousers rolled up, to taking our trousers off because it was at least thigh deep. We even got to see a 1m long eel in the river (they're not harmful).
Unfortunately, I lost my good sunglasses on this walk. I guess that's not surprising as it took a lot of effort not to fall along this very challenging (and muddy) trail.
On our way back to the city, Mat took us to a brewery/restaurant for a beer/cider. Then he dropped us back at the hotel in lots of time for him to get to his meeting. Yohan and Kate/I went to our respective hotels and rested for the afternoon. We got together again at 5:30PM, out front of our hotel. Yohan was there, and when Mat and Jillian appeared, we all walked up to Food Truck Garage for dinner.
We got to know Mat and Jillian a bit better over dinner. Then we parted ways and the three of us walked another kilometre or so to Joy Ice Cream for cones. We walked a bit more, but decided to say goodbye to Yohan and call it a night.
Kate and I watched Captain Fantastic before bed. A little too Hollywood for us, but it had some good messages. I also sent out yahoo and thank you emails regarding my lost-but-now-found GoPro: the good folks at Trail Journeys emailed to say that they found my camera!
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Day 23 - Wellington to Auckland
Here it is: the last day of our 23-day tour.
It didn't start out so well ... I hate to complain, but breakfast was pretty pathetic:
It was a killer drive: approximately 643 km. I should have stayed up last night so I could sleep on the bus, but I didn't ... so it was a tedious and painful drive for some. (I can't sit in one place for more than an hour without developing terrible lower back pain.) We did stop every hour or two, so it was bearable ... but it was pretty consistently rainy and windy, so the bus bumped and shook the whole way.
We didn't get too much traffic coming into Auckland ... I guess because it is Sunday. We started dropping folks off at their respective hotels/hostels, saying our goodbyes as they went. They had just opened up Queen Street after the Santa Claus parade this afternoon, so Thomas, Kate, and I got dropped off near our respective hotels and we waved goodbye to Sina and Caro as the bus continued on to its final stops past the huge Christmas decorations.
We had arranged one final dinner for the last six members: Thomas, Bianca, Yohan, Emma, Kate, and I. We ate at Vultures' Lane Craft Beer Bar, then said our goodbyes.
This blog will continue for the last three days of our trip: hiking Monday, kayaking Tuesday evening, and flying home on Wednesday.
It didn't start out so well ... I hate to complain, but breakfast was pretty pathetic:
- cereal and milk, but no bowls (I had to go next door for mine)
- jam, marmalade, and toaster, but only white bread
- coffee, tea, but no juice
- no fruit
It was a killer drive: approximately 643 km. I should have stayed up last night so I could sleep on the bus, but I didn't ... so it was a tedious and painful drive for some. (I can't sit in one place for more than an hour without developing terrible lower back pain.) We did stop every hour or two, so it was bearable ... but it was pretty consistently rainy and windy, so the bus bumped and shook the whole way.
We didn't get too much traffic coming into Auckland ... I guess because it is Sunday. We started dropping folks off at their respective hotels/hostels, saying our goodbyes as they went. They had just opened up Queen Street after the Santa Claus parade this afternoon, so Thomas, Kate, and I got dropped off near our respective hotels and we waved goodbye to Sina and Caro as the bus continued on to its final stops past the huge Christmas decorations.
We had arranged one final dinner for the last six members: Thomas, Bianca, Yohan, Emma, Kate, and I. We ate at Vultures' Lane Craft Beer Bar, then said our goodbyes.
This blog will continue for the last three days of our trip: hiking Monday, kayaking Tuesday evening, and flying home on Wednesday.
Day 22 - Christchurch to Wellington
We had to say "goodbye" to half our team today. It was so thoughtful of them to get up to see us off.
Happy first drove us to the Stray lot to quickly check the last bus for my camera: no luck. Then he drove us to Christchurch Airport to pick up our two new team members. This is when we noticed there was no modem on the bus: 8+ hours without Internet! Ouch.
From there, it was approximately 472 km to Picton because of closures on Highway 1 ... but Happy still found time for us to do a wine tasting at Whitehaven Winery. I'm afraid I don't have many other details of today's journey because I slept through most of it (the advantage of staying up late to blog).
There was some sort of mixup with the flight, because Happy left us at Picton Airport with no plane/pilot in sight. Eventually a van came, picked us up, and drove us to the next airport: Blenheim. Apparently this was the result of the strong winds. We all got on a Cessna 208, with one non-Stray passenger ... and a pubescent pilot flew us across to Wellington Airport, with only a few bumps along the way.
We were met at the departures (?!) area by Seagull and his apprentice Mike ... in a Weta tour bus (?!). (It made better sense when we got to the Nomad Hostel and they swapped busses back with our Weta tour guide from two weeks ago.)
Once checked into the hostel, we all had a brief walk up Cuba Street to get cash from the cash machine and walk past the Saturday-night food stalls. We then walked back to Blend for more ribs/burgers/salad and drinks ... just no shooters or dancing this time.
I have never heard the wind like we heard it that night ... apparently it was hitting 110-130 kmh!
Friday, November 25, 2016
Day 21 - Naseby to Christchurch
Today was an extra long driving day.
We drove to the East coast and stopped at the Moeraki Boulders where I grabbed a sandwich. We stopped for lunch at Oamaru and we grabbed some other things to make (and eat) for lunch. We continued on to the Christchurch Airport where we dropped off the two Mexican girls. We then dropped off BC and Ty at their accommodation. The rest of us headed into Christchurch. Happy dropped us off at the YHA Backpackers where we checked in.
It was at this point that I realised I didn't have my GoPro. I checked all my bags thoroughly. I emailed the last accommodation and place we had lunch the previous day, but they both emailed me back shortly after and said they looked but didn't see it. I also reconnected with Happy a bit later, and he said he had checked the bus, but didn't see it. So that means I either put it in with the bicycle helmets, or it was lost/stolen along the way. I'm figuring on the former, so I asked the bicycle operators via Stray Travel and will hope to find out tomorrow.
We drove to the East coast and stopped at the Moeraki Boulders where I grabbed a sandwich. We stopped for lunch at Oamaru and we grabbed some other things to make (and eat) for lunch. We continued on to the Christchurch Airport where we dropped off the two Mexican girls. We then dropped off BC and Ty at their accommodation. The rest of us headed into Christchurch. Happy dropped us off at the YHA Backpackers where we checked in.
It was at this point that I realised I didn't have my GoPro. I checked all my bags thoroughly. I emailed the last accommodation and place we had lunch the previous day, but they both emailed me back shortly after and said they looked but didn't see it. I also reconnected with Happy a bit later, and he said he had checked the bus, but didn't see it. So that means I either put it in with the bicycle helmets, or it was lost/stolen along the way. I'm figuring on the former, so I asked the bicycle operators via Stray Travel and will hope to find out tomorrow.
Kate, Michael, Yohan, and I walked around Hagley Park and down to (what's left of) Christchurch Cathedral. We walked back to the hostel, and connected with a few others in our group for dinner. We struck out on a couple of ideas, but settled on C1 Espresso, a very unique cafe. But it wasn't as simple as that ... we had to find the rest of our group, who were lost a few blocks away. We found them and brought them over, but they didn't like it and decided to eat elsewhere. I think we've been travelling together too long and we're starting to not get along as well.
Oh well, dinner was good, and all the walking around gave us more insight into just how damaged this city is. We went to Micky Finns Irish Pub afterwards, and they had a live band, so we left kinda late.
Internet is good at this hostel, so that's why I stayed up until 4:30AM catching up on blogging.
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