Impressions

Today we rented our reserved car in Juicy rentals (BTW  -very good prices!) and left Auckland. It was a little challenging for my husband to drive  -  first, on the left side…and second  -the car has a manual transmission. To change gear with left hand versus the right is a little inconvenient at first, especially after using only an automatic car at home. But otherwise – the little Japanese red girl is very good, tiny, but spacious inside, very comfortable to sit in.

So we drove through some resort towns North of Auckland and reached the Goat Island marine reserve:

It means that they don’t let to fish there and so the fish are big and tame. I saw blue ones-  very bright blue. We snorkeled there by those rocks you can see in the pic. I wanted to swim to the Island, but the wind started blowing and somehow it felt cold and unpleasant. maybe we are not good snorkelers, I guess we really are not …because the main problem we face is the lack of air. I start grasping for air after a little while – the little tube through which you breathe is to narrow for us. So you were right, Adrian, we shouldn’t have brought our snorkeling equipment with us.

A bigger attraction for us was while we ate the tasty kumara chips we got in the famous Fish and Chip place in Leigh on our way to Goat Island. A seagull and several duck appeared to ask for there share. it was not written not to feed them , so I gave them a little. I haven’t seen such a territorial seagull and such brave and needy ducks   – they snapped on my toes and jacket, sneaked their heads into our bags looking for food.

Then we drove back to Rt 1, to Warkworth. On the way stopped at a group of big barns – there were restaurants and arto and crafts galleries. The arts there were very good! It was pleasant to mix some arts into your day of nature. Those were the views on our road:

Then we saw a sign to Ruakaka – it is not advertised anywhere, but we saw that there is a beach and wanted to explore it, for curiosity reasons. And that was the best impression! We parked the car under white sandy dunes which looked like in Palanga – my Lithuanian resort city by the Baltic Sea. And we walked to the ses – it was marveluos, very close to my heart! No wind, warm, peacefull and very spaciuos, very soft white sand, beautiful shells, that are my preciuos findings. We Lithuanians are big pickers – we like to pick berries, mushrooms, and shells or amber on sea shores. So that made me really happy!

Except that in Lithuania there are no islands in the horizon of the sea. And the weather is seldom so warm.

On this last pic one can see chimneys -there is a power station on the shore there and it is being dismanteled. For that reason they got workers to here and they rented both motels for them long time rents…So we couldn’t stay, couldn’t listen to the wonderful soothing sounds of the waves more. And therefore we drove to Whangarei and got a motel with Hi-Fi! next time about it.

It was hard to decide what to do today…The forecast said there will be showers. After yesterday’s really big ones we were afraid not to find ourselves in a cloud again. So we took a green Link bus which goes in circle around the city and saw some of Auckland through the windows. It took us 40 min to do the circle. While sitting in the bus we were making decisions – the skies started to look clearer, so lets rent a car for a day and drive to the  Kerikeri beach where they filmed the movie The Piano. But the rental offices refused to rent us a car for a day. So the only last thing we had in mind was to take a ferry to Waiheke Island which we did. It sails through Devonport, even stops there, then by Rangitoto island, some other islands and here we are – in Waiheke, which was described by some Kiwis as a really good thing to see. The length of the island is only 25 km and the width is 5 km, but it is made of green rolling hills with some trees and bushes. Some dinosaur type ferns in deeper wet crevices. As I expected – once everyone from the ferry was taken into buses or cars – the narrow road got clear and quiet and we walked some 20 min to the first town Onerua to eat. The servers screwed up our lunch, we paid for one thing, got another, etc. In any case that was not the main point. The rain started again…So we waited while eating, then walked towards the sea on the right side (I am reminding – the island has seas on both sides .

The waters were very green, no dark blue hues at all. The other shower caught us on the way – and luckily  there was a bus stop. Here they build bus stops with roofs and sides – so we sat there for half an hour, a Swiss girl on a bicycle came all wet and we talked with her. She came to Auckland for 6 weeks to learn some English and she said she is very old…already 31 years old…After the rain stopped we reached the shallow beach and walked around a steep edge of the island and towards the other side – towards the praised Palms beach.  There were  fancy houses by the sea – very modern to my eyes.

One had an extremely big chair in the yard – a chez long – as a sculpture, I guess. Or maybe they sit in it if they have a group of guests.  The walk was nice, there are benches along the road to sit and rest, and we had to climb quite a bit to reach the very top of the mountain.  The road was winding till we got down again to the Palm beach.  It was beautiful. The sand was not white, but there were waves and the green waters were warm enough to play in them. On the whole the air and water temperatures here are so comfortable here for a feel! I can’t stop appreciating it.

This is how locals love dogs:

I  guess we walked around 8-9 km from ferry to Palm beach – it was like a hike and a pleasant one – I could observe plants and flowers by the houses. The had some unripe peaches, though not the planted ones in a tidy orchard but the wild ones growing in a jungle environment. Nobody there seemed to be interested in gardening.

While waiting for a bus to get back to the ferry – i saw a tiny gallery and had a pleasure of seeing some local talents’ paintings.

This is how Auckland looked while approaching it from the sea:

Boy oh boy! I haven’t seen such a rain for a long time! it was like the whole ocean raised into the sky and was pouring down on us. No relief for the whole day except for now, going closer to evening. So we used our brain power to decide where to go . And went to the Auckland Domain which is the park with trees that I have never seen so wide, with branches extending not up vertically but horizontally. Sometimes you have to bend down in order to go under them to continue on the path.

All Auckland is built on hills – so walking up and down is what awaits the walkers or trampers as they call it here.

We found the greenhouses there:

In front of them there was a big building – Auckland Museum. A rich museum in its possessions! I would say – not enough space fro them all – they are a little cramped. it is mostly about Maory culture, volcano activity, Polinesian nations and nature.  An interesting thing about all it – you can take as many pics as you want:

And here is Buddha in Greco – Roman style!

So we came. We did it! I had no time to be worried about the flight – too much work before leaving home where my mom is taking care of the house and occasional guests. She is very hospitable so no worries, if you decide to visit our B&B now – just choose the warmer weather and go! For today there is some snow in Rockville.

Here where we are sitting in a cafe – it is warm and nice, a little humid. Auckland – the center. We started our trip at 5:30 pm Las Vegas time on Tuesday and came to Auckland on Thursday – Wednesday just disappeared…We lost a day…:-(. but the trip was not too long. The flight from LA started at 9:30 pm and ended in 13 hours at 10:30 am California time. Just one night in the plane. it was a full flight so not too much space for stretching legs or walking – exercising. but the selection of movies was good, and we managed to sleep  – it was night on our bio clocks. the food was good, the stewards were nice, what else can you wish. I saw Vicky Christina Barcelona – a usual crazy Woody Allens stuff, as if he can’t get away from his usual permanently unsatisfied woman’s problems…but it was played by such good actresses that I enjoyed. then followed The Secret Life of Bees – if I remember the name correctly. Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning play there. And they a re good! Dakota should get Oscar sometime. her acting can’t be better. A big pleasure to see her in this tough role. A girl facing more problems and hardships she should in her age…

The hardest in long flights are the first 3 hours. Then you somehow get your body into a position and manage to sleep. Before landing – beautiful rolling green hills showed sticking form the blue-green waters. The sails of clouds were scattered all over.

Then in the airport we were immediately introduced to Maory culture even before we passed all the control lanes:

Once we landed – long lines at passport control, at luggage control. Kiwis protect their country – they have dogs who smell our bags looking for unwanted meats, plants, or something else, I don’t know. Then an officer even took our snickers and disinfected them. “No” to bacterias coming to this country! So all the procedures took almost 2 h. Now we are in the center of Auckland in a Sierra cafe, using this wonderful thing called internet! While on the way from airport – it was warm, it is summer here, but no flowers. maybe they are all in the special gardens, regular people seem not to bother by growing them in their gardens. the city seems spacious, not crowded at all. But those are morning impressions, lets see what we feel later!

This is the main street – Queen street. When the green light comes – people cross the streets in all directions , even crosswise, which is strange to us.

Nice little details all over…We like them. The upper sculpture reminded us Adrian’s sculptures in Springdale.

Last weekend we went to see Universal Studios in LA. For those who decide to go there, too, there are coupons floating around, so try to get and use them. I guess the crisis has touched the theme park, too. We were there on Sunday and there were almost no lines, the crowds were thin, and we were able to get into our favorite rides twice. So here it is  – entrance to Universal Studios:

It was a cold and cloudy day, so my two sweaters and a jacket were very helpful.

Parking by Universal City is $12 for a day. It was a pleasant walk from the parking lot to the entrance of the park – via an open fun-mall, as I would call it. The cashiers at the gate tried to take this pleasure away from us by offering more expensive parking tickets.

Once we entered – we were engulfed by everything about current movies or TV shows. This is the first scene we are used seeing in the Tonight Show where Jay Leno asks his famous “very hard” questions.

Then you meet the well known characters who are very enthusiastic in getting a picture with you …

Then there are shows. Different kinds. First we saw the Shrek. After standing in a preparation hall for long  minutes and watching something very boring on several TVs decorated with some funny bodies, you enter a movie theater where the seats during the show move. And they also spay water onto your face when Shrek or his donkey sneezes to make it more real. You watch it through those special glasses which creates 3D views. I guess for Shrek fans it is really fun. Me – I never got it. Maybe because I haven’t spent my childhood in the Us, so I can’t catch some jokes.

We took the excursion around Universal Studios next and here is what we saw from the hill – instead of sunny California – a cloudy LA! The excursion was very good, we were driving around the real movie sets, pavilions, even the producer offices where, as the driver said, they are making several million dollars a day! We got the feeling of how the movie scenes are created. How fake they are but they look so real in movies:

Like this plane wreck scene, it looked so devastated. The houses around damaged, the plane parts scattered. The train took us to a Mexican town with a flash flood, to several deadly empty European towns, to some braking bridge, a shark jumping from a lake, to a metro station where the earthquake happened and everything started falling apart, waters flowing onto us, fires exploding…We were even taken to Wisteria lane where Desperate Housewives live! With lots of fake wisterias and very beautiful real flowers planted in front of houses.  It was fun and worth visiting.

The Simpsons Ride was the closest after we finished excursion, so we waited for some half hour to get into it. Of all the rides the line was the longest to Simpsons. And it definitely was the best ride – it was the simulator. We were as if in a roller coaster, then swam, then flew, then turned over and over and even got sprayed by little Marge’s sneeze. Lots of exciting physical sensations.

Then we ran to see the Water World show:

It is described on the program as a tidal wave of explosive action and it was!

People on the front rows got wet! Lucky those who didn’t because the weather was exactly not for that kind of fun. The waters in that pool were very blue, the actors played with great energy and enthusiasm and courage, lots of splashing around, riding water motorcycles and jumping, running, etc. As one of my friends used to call such things – they are meant for those who understand…

So this next show was exactly for me  -Universal’s Animal Actors. Here is one of them. The others were cute also. They did things their trainers wanted and they were wonderful! We watched this show twice …

Getting to the lower part of the park for more attractions looked like this:

Strange very tall Egyptians were wondering there:

So we did the Mummy forwards and backwards thrill ride, it was thrilling, in the dark. Then watched how special effects and pyrotechnic effects in the movies are created. It was amusing. There was also a museum of movie memorabilia. And a water ride Jurassic Park: among some grazing peaceful dinos and falling down cars…the thrill part was at the end when the boat started approaching a waterfall as if we were to dive under it. Luckily it ran out of water in time and we could pass it peacefully before the boat ran down a pretty steep hill and splashed into the pond down there -it was exciting but not as bad wet wise as the employees of the Park were scaring us.

We ended our visit with a visit to the House of Horrors – oh boy, it was scary!  Especially passing by those three hanging bodies which you had to push to get through, yak… I lost my voice from screaming… Without the voice I went to the Terminator 3D and that was a slight mistake – it was also for those, who understand…Lots of shooting, noise, flashlights.

And then it got dark and cold and we ended our day watching TV with those little bundles of love:

The end.

We are soon leaving for New Zealand, so follow us and see NZ through our eyes if you please.