... Let us know where to go!

Pacific Grove, California
11:55am PST

Still in Pacific Grove, madly packing and figuring what we need for a two week trip around middle earth. Jim and Barb came over last night with the kids and we all sat around and made "Lucky Underwear" (mine say "no cavity search") for our upcoming 14.5 hour flight accross the mighty pacific.

Behold: (Editors Note: I have been informed that pictures of teenage girls wearing their underwear on the outside of their clothing is "totally uncool" and must be avoided... I have sanitized these images accordingly...)

Pacific Grove, California
10 :25am PST

OK,...

We're off in four hours. STILL packing up my stuff and trying to remain calm in the face of a 14.5 hour trans-pacific flight. Tried to get the feedback page working but am obviously not as much of a H4X0r as I thought. Perl has a weird syntax and I'm not patient enough to figure it out right now. I might try and set up a server on the laptop in-flight and geek with it on the plane...

I am wearing my lucky underwear.

Auckland, New Zealand
02:05pm NZTime

Brutal.

That's the word that comes to mind when remembering the last 18 hours. Although there was a slight pause and a call to the manager when the attendant saw my passport in San Francisco, we escaped the strip-search I was sure was coming my way.

We were able to get on the plane and get airborne with little difficulties, other than the fact that we were crammed into a seat that Herve Villachez would be uncomfortable in. There was no sleep this trip for Mom and Dad. The kids flaked out across our laps and Deb and I tried our best to catch winks in-between the rumble of choppy air and loud announcements that we should buckle up.

14 hours later, we landed on the other side of the planet. I'm still reeling from the reality of this.

Kaya and Kenna waiting for luggage

...and waiting....

Still no sleep for Deb and Spence....

Finally scored the bags and start wheeling through the maze of New Zealand customs checkpoints. These folks are so on top of the environmental imports into this country. They make you shake the dirt from your shoes to insure that there are no alien organisms coming into the country.

More child labor practices...

Finally checked into the suite in downtown Auckland. Very cool. So far we yet to find a grumpy Kiwi.. even at 5:00am.

Morning streets of Auckland

The suite is so cool. There's a key that you plug into the wall when you come in the room that turns on the power. When you leave, you pull the key out and it turns off ALL the power to the room. Energy savings that are practiced across the whole country.

A Free Hybrid Electric bus for your pleasure.

Deb and Kenna under a massive sailing yacht in the harbor.

Kaya realizes that we're actually below Africa now.

Obligatory Tourist shot.... don't worry. Tomorrow, I'll get more artistic.

Auckland, New Zealand
07:032pm NZTime

I can't believe I'm still awake. After resting for a few hours at the hotel, we got on a bus and rode up to Mount Eden in

Bus rides with critters.

More busrides

Here's the side of Mt. Eden.... and it just keeps going up...

Amazing how this lush environment is right in the heart of New Zealands largest city.

The Photo Gear is horrendously heavy... Good workout but I kept bashing people accidentally with my tripod.

Got to the top and the wind was HOWLING. Kaya is shown here attempting to hold her scalp on.

It actually peeled off at one point but she slapped it back on...

Mt. Eden is a volcano, did I mention this? Here you see the Lindsay children throw caution to the wind and descending into the caldera.

Kaya and Kenna ascend the trail out of the caldera.

Took a little trail back to the bus stop from the summit. Auckland is riddled with these little greenbelts. The Kiwis really know how to make a metropolitan area feel natural.

Stoked to be headed back to the room.

Auckland, New Zealand
08:26am NZTime

Went to a pub with Deb last night and left the kids in the hotel room (much to their dismay). The pubs here are just like the ones in California except they have friendly people and everyone talks funny. I've been asked to determine if my poop swirls the wrong direction here, but the combination of not remembering whether the coriolis effect spins liquids clockwise or counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and the fact that watching a toilet isn't that interesting, I have yet to come to a conclusion.

Off to the hot springs via public transit today.

Waiwera, New Zealand
10:08pm NZTime

So just about 80 Kilometers up the east coast outside Auckland (I'm spelling it correctly now) is a little town called Waiwera which hosts an amazing waterpark and baths as well as some incredible jungle and about a bazillion bugs that chitter constantly. We took the incredibly clean and efficient public transit for an hour and a half up the Hibiscus Coast. Great day, lots of splashing and whatnot.

Kaya waiting for the bus in Auckland.

I'm bringing these back as gifts...

Finally got to the beach.. the water on the east coast is incredible, warm and gentle.

The tropics. Man it's nice.

Volcanic outcroppings everywhere.

Met this guy in a pub during lunch. He and his mates were celebrating his upcoming nuptials. I guess the tradition here is to chain a wheel to your ankle for 24 hours before you get married. Wondering if she's got one too...

Kaya jammed down every one of these. No idea where she got the extreme sports bug... ;)

We decided to walk across this... barefoot. Not the soft granite shore of home... ouch.

This is as close as New Zealand gets to a kelp forest as far as I've seen. Little blobs of green algae.

So we scoot out of Auckland again today in the rental car. Right-hand driving in New Zealands largest city.. wish me luck...

Titirangi, Arataki, Waitakere Range, and Huia, New Zealand
10:26pm NZTime

Wow. There were a lot of firsts today. First time driving on the left side of the road, first time in a rainforest, first time being sodomized by a,... nevermind that one.

Went for a walk with Deb early this morning and found this cool poem on the sidewalk. These are all over the city and usually have some really great things to say.

One of the great white oppressors monuments up on top of the tallest hill in Downtown Auckland. To be fair, Auckland seems to be much more culturally advanced than most places in the US.

Kaya is learning how to drive the camera and caught Deb and I in a shnoogle moment at breakfast.

Just after Deb shot this picture of me driving on the wrong side of the road, I plowed over ten small children, three Kiwi birds, and a Weta.

This Totem is at the Waitakere Range above Aukland. They are somewhat fixated on large, tatooed penises... which is OK.

Kenna sprinting up to the lookout which sits about 300 feet above the rainforest floor.

This is my first experience with a tropical rainforest. Plenty of Northwest rainforest experience from Northern California, but this is incredible. So much vegetation. It's like a jungle....

Remember I was talking about the penis fixation? This is a self portrait of Te Ure (which means "tripod" in Mauri) who was famous not only for his carving style, but apparently also for his massive unit.

This statue looked so cool and alien.

Kaya and Kenna making Kiwi buddies in the visitors center.

Next we went off to Huia, where there is an amazing "Tramping Track" (Hiking Trail) that winds through dense jungle and finally ends up at a huge waterfall.

As we walked up this trail, it just got deeper and deeper. Really wet and humid. Awesome.

We hiked until the kids started to tucker out and found this little hole in the wall of the canyon. Climbed through the hole and found this. I hidden grotto with a waterfall all to ourselves. (Deb got Nakey).

The lighting was kinda weird in there and I couldn't get my shots to look right,.. but you get the idea.

There's the hole and the grotto. Pretty cool. It really felt like something from Pirates of the Carribean.

Lot's of art opportunities. I'd love to model this in 3D...

Great textures in the jungle...

The intrepid photographer, finally caught on film...

Kids swimming with more Kiwi friends. We're meeting so many amazingly friendly people... I love it here..

I understand from my friend Dave that this is a Caury Snail shell. Whatever it's called, it's one big-ass mollusc. That fits in my hand... barely.

Fisheye love with a vine covered vine,... covered in vines.

Another attestment to the ever changing landscape of New Zealand, we pop out of the tropical rain forest into the shire...

After braving the jungles, we headed over to our friends Dave and Jo's house. Fantastic people.

Jo is a Kiwi and proves my point that 90% of Kiwi women are hotties.

Dave, a hottie in his own right, is an amazing artist. They're planning to move soon to the Gold coast of Australia and live the truly tropical life. Really great people.

Dave helps my navigator with directions to the Shire..

Kaya and Kenna frolic in the pool, surrounded by tropical plants and chittering cicadas.

The view of Downtown Auckland from Jo and Daves.

We boiled these for dinner... yum.

MataMata and Parts South New Zealand
08:32am NZTime

Off to pick up the camper today and head south to where they shot the Shire portions of LOTR. Thanks to everyone who's been writing back, it's great to know that all this crazy blogging is being read. Driving yesterday was really a trip. The whole right-hand-drive thing really takes some getting used to... today we add about a ton of vehicle and a stick-shift to the mix. Whoohoo! It might be a few days before we get to a net connection and I think, since this page is getting really massive, that I may start chopping these up into smaller chunks... stand by for more exciting adventures of The Lindsay Family Down Under!