Homeless in New Zealand

Hi Blog!

Happy New Year! Can't believe it is already 2016. We know it has been months since our last blog. You probably thought we fell off the face of the Earth. On the contrary, we just went to the other side of the planet.  You see, back in November, we had to put our RV in for service. The estimated time for the repair work was 8 weeks!!! This would mean we would be "homeless" for over two months. What could we do to fill up the time - go visit family!

After we arranged a two month vacation for Flip and Baxter at a local pet sitter's house, it was time to start our 'round the world adventure. Leaving Phoenix on November 11, 2015, we made a quick stop in San Francisco where we strolled across the Golden Gate bridge.

Next stop:  Mairangi Bay, Auckland, New Zealand to visit Dave's sister, Lizzy, her husband, Kenny, and their two boys - Beau and Keegan. Kathy's birthday is in November, and Lizzy and Kenny went all-out to make sure the occasion was fun and festive! 

Our nephew Beau's 21st birthday was also in November. Earlier this year, Beau did a semester at San Diego State University with a number of Aussies. All of Beau's Aussie mates decided to come to Auckland to help Beau celebrate. Here are the boys getting ready to paint the town!

Folks in New Zealand don't celebrate Thanksgiving. However, Lizzy wanted her kids to know about American holidays. Subway is one of the few places to get turkey in New Zealand. We introduced Beau's Aussie mates to a non-traditional Kiwi Thanksgiving Dinner of Subway turkey sandwiches!

After devouring our turkey sandwiches, we went around the room saying what we were most thankful for. Dave raised his glass. God Bless us everyone!

While near Auckland, we took the opportunity to visit with Bo Chen, a friend of Matt and Weina's who is working on his doctorate at the University of Auckland. We drove down from Mairangi Bay to take the ferry from Devonport. Here we are approaching Auckland harbour.

We met Bo during our first visit to China. He worked in the English Department with Matt and Weina. We saw him again when we returned to China for Matt and Weina's wedding. Bo served as the MC for their wedding. We had a great time catching up and learning more about his studies.

The Christmas season also starts early in New Zealand. While they don't have Thanksgiving or Black Friday, November 25th (one month before) starts the holiday season. All the radio stations start playing Christmas music, houses are decorated and all the small towns have their Christmas parades. We just so happened to be in Mairangi Bay in time to catch a little Kiwi Christmas spirit.

The crowd really got fired up when the Froggy Christmas Band came marching by. However, the highlight of any Christmas Parade is a visit from the old man himself!

We were a little disappointed that Santa wasn't in shorts!

Lizzy and her family made us feel at home during our time in New Zealand.  While they had to work during the week, we occupied ourselves with short trips around other parts of the country.  Stay tuned for our next blog entries on some of the places we visited in Aotearoa ("the land of the long white cloud").