More Stuff

Wednesday, February 8: Wednesday was our last full day in Queenstown so we decided to spend the whole day at the beach. It was perfect for us. It was partly cloudy so it wasn't too hot or cold. Very relaxing and a great way to end our stay in Queenstown. Around dinner time we went to the grocery store to get some din din in attempts to save money but we ended up spending probably more than we would have eating out, and had a really bad meal consisting of dry bread, dry cheese, dry crackers, and for dessert, dry fudge squares. So we ended up feeding half of our dinner to the seagulls which was always fun in Queenstown. They'll come and snatch the bread right out of your hands. While we were feeding the seagulls we saw this huge eel swimming around.

Where we fed the seagulls  

While we were eating our not so good meal, I was figuring out how to use our camera and Clark got really bored of me taking photos of him. This is the fake depth setting/I can start a photog. company cause my camera does this. . . 

So that night we had our last stroll along the banks of Lake Wakatipu and our last sleep in Mark Scott's yard.

Thursday, February 9: Friday we were traveling to Auckland, so we woke up, packed up, and headed towards the Airport for a pretty smooth day of traveling. We had to switch around all of our stuff in our bag so I could carry mine on, but after we proved that my bag fit into the carry on size box we were on our way. The Queenstown airport was tiny. I think there were only about a total of 6 or 7 gates in the whole place. It was nice having no chance of getting lost or having a long walk to your gate and cool walking outside and then upstairs to get on the plane. Felt very old school.

While we were waiting for our plane we actually ran into a couple that we met at Church in Queenstown. They were visiting from Auckland and their truck broke down so they ended their trip early, shipped their truck home and flew back to Auckland just a few hours after our flight. It was fun to talk to them and they even said they would like to have us over for dinner while we were in Auckland, but it never worked out. But they were really nice and friendly true to Kiwi form.

When we landed in Auckland the Bennallacks picked us up from the airport (the first of MANY generous and kind gestures). Their house was not too far away, but still very nice of Paul to get off work early and for them to both come get us. On the way home they showed us around a little bit and taught us a thing or two about the city and stuff. They live about ten minutes away from downtown Auckland in a town called Takapuna. They only have one car, and barely need it where they live. Within a few minutes of walking, you can get to: Paul's work, the Church, the grocery store, the Mall, the bus station, the Cinemas, dozens of great cafe's and restaurants, a gorgeous lake, and Takapuna beach. Literally you can see all of these things from the roof of their place, like they are all less than 1/4 mile away. Its the greatest city in the world (if it had a ski resort anywhere close, we would have just unpacked our bags for good). As soon as we got to their place and walked in the front door we could smell a delicious home cooked meal and then they showed us to our own room with a nice comfy bed. After a week sleeping on a front lawn and eating countless PBJ's, it was a pretty exciting couple of minutes. We felt at home instantly and enjoyed a homemade meat pie with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Delicious. The rest of the night seems foggy but I know it included dessert and relaxing on comfy couches catching up. We liked Auckland instantly.

Friday, February 10: (Clark now, for a few) I remember one thing we talked about last night, and looking back on it, I regret saying it. I mentioned that I don't like cereal and so for breakfast I would usually just eat toast or something, or a lot of times just miss it altogether. Rachel, their youngest daughter who is 18 and getting ready to head off to Uni, asked if I liked pancakes. I said of course, but you don't have time to cook those everyday for breakfast. Anyway, sure enough when we came out of our mattress coma, we were greeted with pancakes from scratch. I know I was probably hungry, but they were seriously the best pancakes I have had. She gave us the recipe and everything - but they rocked my world and I felt like a spoiled little punk. She served them with all the normal stuff, but mentioned that she usually just eats them with butter, then sugar and lemon juice. We tried it, and we will never need to buy syrup ever again. We both loved it and asked for permission to spread that pancake gospel around when we got back to Utah (So hit us up if you want to try them). After breakfast we just walked down to the beach and hung out for the morning and afternoon. The beach is really pretty and seems to be pretty popular for moms to bring their kids and for jogger's because the waves aren't big and when the tide goes out it is really long and flat. We realized we never took a picture so have a look at a few professionals versions. A nap and a sunburn later, we went back 'home' and then the Bennallack's took us out to a Mongolian BBQ place for dinner. I am sure there are places like it in the U.S. but you just gather all the stuff you want for a stir fry, meats and veggies and stuff, then they just put it on a huge grill and cook it up for you. It was heaps good though. We wanted to chip in for the bill, but were denied. A feeling we got used to with Paul and Andrea.

ViaDuct Harbor with Andrea. Behind us is a Huge catamaran for big races and stuff. 

Next they just took us downtown in Auckland where we could just walk around and see a few things. Its a beautiful city and they have beautified it a bit more even with the recent rugby world cup a couple months ago. Paul told us that Auckland has the most yachts per capita than anywhere in the world. I believe it, there were thousands all over the harbor.
A place called ViaDuct Harbor was really nice, and clearly where the night life is on the weekends, with cafe's restaurants and bars all over. I guess New Zealand won the America's Cup, the huge sailing competition, lots of years ago and were quite proud. The ship is now lifted up and mounted like a trophy in the harbor, its kind of funny. The city was very nice but felt just like every other big city while we were walking around. Overwhelming. We enjoy going in and seeing them and wandering around, but definitely think its more impressive just looking in from the outside. Its best looking at it from the Auckland Harbor Bridge. Either way, its a nice place to see.

SkyCity Tower with nice looking sky.  Clouds are always awesome, no matter what.

Saturday, February 11: The Bennallacks had mentioned that Hamilton was worth seeing for lots of reasons, but especially the Temple. So we went. It takes about two hours to get there and the drive is really beautiful, especially the famous Pokeno ice cream shop. It is a staple for all driver-by's, including the temple goers. Basically a Baskins Robbins but dirt cheap because apparently its a dumb town not worth stopping in otherwise. We experimented with some nice flavors and pretty soon we were in Hamilton, the ice cream broke it all up nicely.
The Temple is sort of in the middle of the country side, outside of town a little bit. It sits on top of a hill ironically, and looks out over hundreds of acres of farmland that the church owns. Its a good spot. The temple is really old, and well used, of course it doesn't look like.

Yeah, its that blue. 

A little prayer and I finally got some wind. 

The grounds are beautiful and they have a pimped out visitors center to see all kinds of the new I'm a mormon ads and stuff. We really liked the session and walking around afterwards. If you ask any families that have history in Australia, NZ or of the hundreds of Islands all around, they have all made Huge sacrifices over the years to get there. We have heard a few stories since we have been here, and its pretty inspiring. Since then they have built all the other Aust. temples and one in Samoa and Tonga etc. Its not as busy as it was but still serves all of NZ.

After we were done with the temple we went into Hamilton to get some lunch and stopped at Subway, only to find out that they were out of bread. . . So we moved on to another one. Weird right?
Anyway, we got home just in the nick of time to make it to the dirt race track. Paul is secretly a 'PetrolHead', he won't admit it, but he couldn't wait to go watch the sprint cars and he was pumped to tell us all about it. We weren't willing to pay full price for the tickets so he tried to talk them into a lower price, and when that didn't work, we tried walking around the perimeter looking for a hole in the fence or something. It felt like being kids again, it was pretty obvious Paul had done this before, only if we were younger we would have found a way in! We had to settle for a spot up top where we could see a portion of the track and the TV screen. Funny stuff.

That graffiti wall went all around the track. Pretty cautious of cheapskates. This spot was pretty good until we got murdered by mosquitos. 

After giving up on the pretty bad 'free seats' we headed back to the house. Stopped on the way and got some good authentic chinese food, had a chat for a while, then hit the sack. I guess Michelle watched Meet Joe Black and fell in love with Brad Pitt, but I fell asleep. Fortunately for her. (I assume these details are really really really lame for everyone, but they help us remember stuff, so I apologize - but it's our blog)