PENGUINS!!!

 

Well, we made it to Sandfly Bay last night... This is where the yellow-eyed penguins nest.  We were told it would be a bit of a mission so we packed layers of clothes, bottles of water and mentally prepared ourselves to be on a cold windy beach staring into the ocean for hours... 

Just like Allens Beach the land is protected, so you park a good distance from the ocean and walk through farm lands.  We walked along a loose windy road through a sheep farm.  Upon reaching the beach we realized that the walk itself was the mission... the high winds at the beach cause massive erosion creating HUGE sand dunes.  It was quite impressive, like being in the desert.  The first sand hill was massively steep, as we were running down with our arms stretched out like flying birds, other kiwis were drudging back up the hill after their time on the beach, not near as excited about their ascent.  

After only a few minutes we spotted a little yellow-eyed dude waddling up the beach right in front of us.  Not wanting to scare him off we quickly hid behind a sand dune.  These little guys are very shy and won't exit the ocean if they see you on the beach, so stealth behavior is crucial.  We were a little family of ninjas.  I was able to get a few good pictures of the penguin as he climbed the dune to his nest, it was pretty cool seeing him so close.  
We continued on to the end of the beach and followed the signs to the viewing hide.  There were several people there waiting the arrival of the penguins hoping to catch a glimpse and a few photos.  After a short wait an older fellow spotted one in the surf.  Grace had her telescope ready! (a.k.a. a paper towel roll, which she had decorated)  The nice gentleman turned to her and said, those types of telescopes are very clear but the magnification stinks, so he let Grace use his binoculars, at which point she tried to reach out and touch the penguin, John and I had a good giggle at her excitement and honest amazement to the whole experience.  

   

They never got much closer than the rocks below, but it was fun playing where's Waldo with penguins.  We enjoyed our beautiful surroundings a bit longer and decided to head back home, it was the night before Grace's first day of school and an early nights sleep is very important. As we guessed, the walk back went a little slower than the descent down the sand hills, one in particular is quite a challenge. It was a nice workout for our legs and feet, trying to climb a mountain of endless loose sand is very hard, in case you're wondering... We had a good laugh at each other as we struggled up, sometimes on all fours.  We were headed on our short drive home by 8:15ish and the sun still had a good bit of sky left, I love these long days of summer...  

Sea lions and jet lag

As I stated before, Grace doesn't experience jet lag.  After getting home for the first time, running through the house with all kinds of excitement I was ready to crash out, but Grace was rearing to go... We had no luggage to unpack, the two bags that made it with us were full of river and climbing gear and other random essentials, like cast iron skillets and books and a few art supplies...  So after unpacking those quick bags we were off to the beach! 

Allans Beach was our destination, off the coast of the Otago Peninsula, where it is rumored that sea lions and penguins call home.  Many of the beaches here are protected for this reason so parking is a good walk from the shore.  It was a beautiful, easy walk over a grassy hill and we were there.  

Immediately we spotted the massive sea lions lazily rolling in the sand.  We approached with caution, last time John was at this beach a group got too close and they were actually chased off by one of the more aggressive sea lions.  All though, this particular group didn't even seem to notice we were there.  The day was a little breezy and a bit overcast so we were the only people on the beach for a little while. 

We also learned that in addition to being immune to jet lag, Grace is also immune to cold water... The water was freezing and she was in it up to her knees.  She coaxed John and I in a few times, I got in up to mid calf, that is until my ankles began to hurt so bad I couldn't stand it any longer.  So I returned to photographing my lovely family as they played in the ocean. 

        
        
Grace was excited to see the sea lions, but anyone who knows her is aware her love is for the penguins... We weren't able to hang around to catch any; we had privileged information that the best time for catching a glimpse of the little dudes was around 7pm, when they are returning from their long day of fishing. We decided to commit to making a mission one night to see them.  We called it on our day at Allens Beach and decided to head home.  We stopped by Dominos on our way and grabbed a couple $5 pizzas.  It's funny the little things that don't change in traveling around the world, we enjoyed our pizzas and watched the Goonies.  I crashed out right about the time Chunk was sharing his BabyRuth with Sloth, after sleeping in airports all I needed was the knowledge that we had made it home and my sleeping bag... Around 9pm or so Grace finally went off to bed, John remained awake and watched TV for a little while, I was completely unaware, immobile, asleep, snoring on the couch... I slept in till 11 today, Grace and John were both awake taking bets on how long I would sleep.  (I went back down around 3pm for a 3 hour nap)
We had a great first day home, at the beach and our first day with each other in a long long while... It was so nice to be back together as a family doin' what we do best... play! 

Lessons in Patience...

Well, it was one hell of a journey to get here, but we did it! Let me shortly recap the flight plan: originally we were supposed to fly from Knox to Atlanta to LA to Brisbane, Australia to Dunedin, New Zealand... With short layovers between our flights, the quickest route to our new home I could find... 
This is how it went down:

Our flight from Knoxville to ATL was smooth and quick, upon landing Grace grabbed a quick hot dog and we quickly boarded our net flight to LAX.  We taxied out as Grace fell asleep, I thought this was going to be a piece of cake.  And as we learn sometimes in life, that's what I get for thinking.  Because we spent the next four hours on the runway trying to repair mechanical problems with our airplane... We eventually taxied back to the airport and were allowed to get off the stupid airplane.  By this time we had missed our connecting flight in LA by hours, I was pissed.  I waited in line at the gate desk to talk to a representative as Grace slept by a stranger in a chair close by, I struck up conversation with a gentleman behind me who was on his was to Sydney and had too missed his connecting flight, it appeared Delta had a HUGE mess on their hands.  I explained my flight itinerary and problems to the man behind the desk, he looked concerned and agreed to take me to the ticket desk so we could get our flights in order, I turned to get Grace and she was gone.  I freaked, the nice gentleman behind me pointed out that she had gotten up to vomit in the nearby garbage can... AWESOME.  Apparently the hot dog did not sit well.  Once that was over we took ourselves to the ticket desk and worked with a lady to get a new itinerary.  (now from LAX to Sydney to Dunedin) At 11:45, 6 hours after we were supposed to depart, our plane finally left the airport.  4 1/2 hours later we were landing in LAX, we waited in line at the Delta desk and received a hotel voucher and meal vouchers.  Little compensation for making it home on time, but whatever.  We met another gentleman from Australia and walked together to the hotel, Grace liked his accent.  We slept like rocks that night. Got up the next morning, ate a decent continental breakfast and sat outside the hotel and counted the cars passing by, our flight wasn't out till 10:45pm that night.  And apparently the area that LAX is in is not very tourist friendly. So we played it safe and opted for cheap entertainment.  We checked out of our hotel room at 1:30, went to the airport, found our gate and watched movies for the next 8 hours... At 10:45 we boarded our plane to Sydney, 14 ridiculously long hours later we landed at Sydney International Airport at 8:40 am on Monday the 23rd.  We made it to our next gate (they print boarding passes at the gate) We patiently waited, with ants in our pants, knowing that we had but one flight till we got to hug John and be home.  Promptly at 10:30 the attendants filed in behind the desk and opened the gate for passengers.  When Grace and I approached they informed us that we were NO where in their system, so we weren't allowed to board the plane.  They instructed us to get in touch with Delta, as it was their mistake.  Irate, Grace and I went up to the Transfer Desk because there was no Delta desk to be found.  The ladies told me that the Delta desk was on the other side of customs... Which I can't get to because I don't hold an Australian Passport or Visa... Well Shit!  With the help of Alex and Kelly, two Virgin Australia reps, we decided that I might need to get a transit visa for Australia so I could cross over and approach the illusive Delta desk.  However, William the Customs agent informed us that even if they did issue us visas there wasn't anyone at that desk today.  SHIT! So the customs agents got Delta on the phone and threatened to fine them $10,000 for getting us in the country and leaving us there.  After a lot of phone calls and much effort from the VA reps and the customs agents Grace and I had 5:40pm tickets from Sydney to Christchurch New Zealand... (6 hours north of home) And there was supposed to be a rep waiting on us with the understanding that we were needing further transportation (by plane or freakin bus) to Dunedin.  We arrived in Christchurch at 10:30pm Monday night with no rep waiting... and three missing checked bags (of course the ones with our clothes in them are MIA) So Grace and I elected to sleep in the airport, I bought two tickets to Dunedin for the next morning.  I was done waiting on Delta to make it right at this point all they had done was screw things up... I stayed up till 3am talking to a french backpacker who travels around working on farms in NZ and Aust.  I found it very interesting how so many of our "single-serving" friends at this point were what made this horrifying trip not so bad... Our friends that we spent little time with and never exchanged names or information, just conversation and smiles... We fell asleep around 3am and woke up at 5am to catch our 7am flight out to Dunedin.  We made it and John was there with a giant grin on his face to pick us up.  

We learned a great many things from our adventure, but most important are: 
1. A good attitude goes a long way 
2. Delta SUCKS 
3. Grace is immune to Jet lag 
And most important of them all is,
4. There's no place like home!