06.12.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 6:31 am by kmcd
At the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa), their idea of an Iced Mocha Latte was cold espresso on top of what appeared to be vanilla ice cream. It was the strangest thing I have had in a coffee drink, but it was good.
My overall observation of NZ: A beautiful country occupied by the most generous and gracious people I have met. Indeed, their buses even said they were sorry when they were not in service. While I was there, the PM actually attended a funeral of one woman who had died because the electricity was shut off for lack of payment and she was on a respirator at the time. It totally puts “Shrub” to shame… The people there were so nice, that when I got there and the hotel was totally booked up through the 10th, the owners were even willing to put me up in their private residence if they could not find a place for me otherwise. I ask, is there any place in the US that would do that now? People just told me it is the NZ way…. this act of generosity was just normal.
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06.11.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog, Uncategorized at 9:31 pm by kmcd
They are at http://photos.yahoo.com/kelleymcd@sbcglobal.net in any number of the folders contained therein. The ones for New Zealand will be posted soon as New Zealand 2007, etc.
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06.10.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 3:19 am by kmcd
would have wrote this in Wellington, but they do not have wifi… have about 2 hours before boarding my flight to LAX. Went to the Botanical Gardens again yesterday, this time I was not so tired that I managed to go through most of it. Lots of pretty (albeit, probably not as much as there could be) roses. Up and down hills.
Watched the All Blacks play France last night, NZ slaughted the french (rugby), it was sort of a grudge match for the French team taking the World Cup from them last year. It seemed quite a violent sport, one player looked like he got at least a few teeth knocked out if not had his jaw broken. The Wellington people were ecstatic and I heard people hooting about it until 4am.
More later.
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06.08.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 9:24 pm by kmcd
just need to be in the food court next to it. Went to Picton on the South Island yesterday, it was relaxing 3 hour (not to be confused with Gilligans Island) cruise on probably the biggest boat I have ever been in. 10 floors with nice seats and wonderful views.
I was very confused though because I was expecting the Sun to be on the starboard side of the boat, but it was morning and it seemed to me we were headed north? Well, it does turn out that Picton is really north of Wellington… so my confusion was alleviated. Getting to stay in the Halswell one more night, then headed back to California. Will get to SFO before I leave Auckland.
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06.04.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 2:52 am by kmcd
Too loud…to wierd. Anyway, I will hopefully find a better place tomorrow (only here because it is a holiday and no where else was open). About to go back to the hotel…find a nice pub to have a brew or two.
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Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 2:36 am by kmcd
After quite a long plane trip, I arrived in Wellington on time at 8am on June 4th. Trying to find an internet cafe was fun, I am entering this from the dreaded Starbucks. Ugh. Today is the Queen’s Birthday, so nothing else was open. Anyway, had a few hours sleep, even slept a couple on the plane. Not too crammed in the flight because I had an empty seat next to me.
Had no problem getting to the hotel. They were all very nice, and even though my room was not ready, they let me sleep in an unoccupied room until it was. And the owner is apparently letting me stay on the 9th even though they are all booked up. Saves me the trouble of moving and this is really convenient to the airport bus. I found out my cell phone works here, but who knows how much international roaming costs, so please do not call it.
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06.01.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 1:29 pm by kmcd
Sigh. Well, maybe tonight? Anyway, I still have a few loose ends to tie up, like figuring out how to get from Wellington Airport to my hotel, lots of options, but not sure if I like giving more money to SuperShuttle. I prefer to take mass transit if possible.
Gathering up all the papers and stuff for travel.
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05.31.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 2:02 pm by kmcd
I now have all the equipment to do some astrophotography down under next week (gosh, it is only 2 days before I start my trip!). Anyway, I have a little Meade ETX-80 backpack telescope (it is cool because it has a computer controller and can do two point stellar initialization). I have my new Nikon D40x Digital SLR, all the attachments to connect it to the telescope, and a wireless shutter release for it. Did some test shots (unfortunately, the skies around Berkeley have not been clear) of the bay bridge at night…that is about 8 miles of sealevel atmosphere, so it is kinda bad seeing.
Anyway, rumor has it it will clear up here tonight, so maybe I can take some serious photos.
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05.16.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 2:53 am by kmcd
I also plan to spend a day at the Museum of New Zealand, apparently it is not to be missed. And the Botanical Gardens are supposed to be beautiful, but I have no idea how it will be in the early part of winter. There is an Observatory/Planetarium at the highest point of the Botanical Garden.
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05.13.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 6:57 pm by kmcd
I have been thinking of travelling to New Zealand for some time. The scenary that has been shown by various recent films produced there has been captivating. So, I bought the airline tickets a couple of days ago, it is only 6500 miles from LA to Auckland, but I start flying at 5pm on 2nd June from SFO, catch a Quantas 747-400 in LA at 9:05pm and end up in Auckland at 4:55am on the 4th of June. My final destination is Wellington (the national capital) and I am expected to be there at 8am on the 4th. Turns out that the 4th is the Queens Birthday, so I am not sure how that will impact ground transport given it is a national holiday. So far, I have planned a guided tour with Wellington Rover Tours to see lots of sights of the filming of the LOTR
trilogy. It sound fun and they sell you ears to put on… running around the Shire looking like an elf (my hair is much too long to be thought of as being hobbitish) ought to be a great lark! Anyway it will be a short visit (I return on the 10th) so I can’t do nearly everything I would like, probably will just stick close to Wellington and the surrounds.
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