Living like the Franks (Ruakaka, Papakura, and Waihi)

First off, I should apologize for our lack of contact with the outside world. Stu and I have spent the last 10 days or so either traveling or staying at the Frank’s house where they only have (very slow) dial up internet. It has actually been very good for us because it has made us use our time to do better things than fiddle around on facebook BUT it has made us distance ourselves from you all to the point of worry with some and annoyance with most. Anyway, APOLOGIES. This may happen again especially if we do a big camping tour but we’ll try to give a little more warning if we’re going to fall out of contact.

So…seeing as our last update was at least 10 days ago we’ve got quite a lot of catching up to do.

THURSDAY SEPT 23: Rainy Museum Day

Thursday dawned rainy and wet so Stu and I decided that this would probably be a day better spent at a museum than hiking around Ringatoto (a volcanic island near Auckland). So the hike was postponed, and it was off to the museum! Two buses and a short walk later we arrived at Auckland’s largest museum. The museum has 3 floors and each is devoted to a different theme: the bottom floor is all about Maori culture and history; the second floor is all about natural history and the environment (past and historical) of New Zealand; the top floor is devoted to war history with monuments and tributes to all the different wars in which New Zealand has been involved. I definitely found the bottom two floors were more interesting (though this might have been because I was getting tired and hungry the longer we walked).

After the museum we headed back downtown for a burgerfuel/movie night at the IEP Office (this is the program Stu and I came over with). Every Thursday they show a movie (this week it was Boy—a Juno-esque movie about a Maori boy and his coming of age in dealing with his worthless dad) and order burger fuel burgers + fries for a discounted price. This burger shop has some pretty crazy burgers. Stu got one that had guacamole, beets, mango relish, cheese, mayo (lots of mayo), mustard, lettuce, tomato and, buried somewhere under all that, a burger. I got something a little more tame…can’t quite remember what was on there but I know it was delicious and HUGE. A few kumara (sweet potato) fries to top it all off and we were in business.

FRIDAY SEPT 24-SUNDAY SEPT 26: Little cabin on the beach at Ruakaka

Rick and Paul and Judy all had the weekend free so we decided to take another weekend at the beach! Our weekend crew also included fellow American Allison Burn and Judy’s boyfriend Alan and Paul’s brother, Dave, and his fiancée, Sarah. We Americans find it crazy that New Zealand has no law against drinking in the car…so we decided to test that out on the drive down with a few kiwi brews. The scenery was definitely more impressive with a cold beer in hand. We initially wanted to go to a place called Waipu Cove but the campground there was all full so we headed a bit further north to a campground in Ruakaka. Our camp ground was right next to a river feeding into the ocean and there was a beautiful beach with heaps of birds in dunes. The car with Rich, Paul, Allison, Stu and I got in just about sunset and had an awesome walk on the beach. Judy and Alan showed up a little later with some fish & chips which made a delicious dinner. We spent the night enjoying the fine beach air and each other’s company over some drinks.

Saturday was the day of sports. We played touch rugby, cricket, frisbee, and even went for a run in the morning and a swim at the warmest point in the afternoon. It was one of the first sunny days since we arrived and we soaked up as many rays as possible. We also made friends with the campground cat, Tinkerbell—she sat in the sun (or our cabin) and watched us play. That night we made pizzas in the little campground kitchen and the Americans taught the kiwis some American drinking games.

I think I should take a moment to introduce the best invention I’ve ever come to know: the lunch box speakers. It’s a little plastic thing that looks like a hard kids lunch box. Inside you can close up your ipod and protect it from all the beach elements: water, wind, sand…and speakers that are built into the box play your music on the outside! This little guy and 4 AA batteries kept us with music all weekend long!!

Sunday we packed up and headed back to Auckland stopping by a few beaches along the way (Waipu Cove & Rich’s secret surfing beach) for a picnic lunch and more Frisbee. Once back in Auckland we dropped by Rich’s to pick up our stuff and say our goodbyes before headed down to Papakura where we stayed at Paul’s for the weekend. Our introduction to Papakura began with a Counties game—Paul, Dave, and Dave’s friend Sam were kind enough to take us to the game and teach us the very complicated cheers (basically you just say Couuuuuuuuuuuuuun-tiiiiiiiiiiiiiies for as long as you breath will allow). It was a really exciting game (actually) there were loads of trys (touchdowns) and lots of back and forth action between the two teams. We sat with the real fans, on a grassy hill opposite the bleachers. We rounded up the evening with a delicious dinner at the Frank’s house complete with grilled meat and beets and delicious home cooking from Mrs. Franks.

MONDAY SEPT 27: Let the hiking begin!

Our week at the Paul’s was even more amazing than I could have imagined. There was always loads of fresh food and a huge playground in the backyard and 1 (if not more) always ready playmates. Paul is like an energizer bunny and always up for some outdoor fun. On this first day at the Franks we went on a walk up in the bush behind they’re house—some bush whacking some trail following and plenty of stopping to explore different things along the way. We saw lots of birds (especially wood pigeons, ducks, Tuis, parakeets…) and we had a little stopover at the hut that Paul and his brother build when they were teenagers. It was apparently quite the hangout spot 10 years ago but since all the kids have been out of the country lately it’s fallen into disrepair but it’s still a pretty amazing spot. We finished up the day with a little tennis at the tennis court in the bush; we were all pretty bad but we had some fun out there.

TUESDAY SEPT 28: Liz’s graduation & embracing the gender role stereotypes

On Tuesday the Franks headed into Auckland to celebrate Liz (Paul’s sister) graduating from Auckland University. She finished her degree over a year ago but left NZ right away to do some traveling and work in Canada so she’s just doing the ceremony part now. Anyway, though we were very happy for Liz we didn’t want to intrude on family celebrations so we stayed back at the Frank’s place to do a big hike and a couple things around the house. Strangely enough, when left to our own devices Stu and I seemed to revert to 19^th century gender roles. Stu went out to clear the “yellow stuff” (a terrible prickly weed with yellow flowers that can grow as tall and thick as a small tree—actual name: gorse, sounds like gauze) out of the cow pastures as a favor to the Franks. Meanwhile I stayed in the house to sew up my ripped sleeping bag, bake healthy banana cookies for Liz (as a graduation present), document expenses from the trip thus far (a chapter taken out of the book of Anna Chiemets), and cook a tasty lamb dinner for the two of us. It was sort of bizarre, but satisfying none the less...for the day at least.

WEDNESDAY SEPT 29: Big Hike at Hunua Falls

Wednesday dawned nice and clear so Paul led Stu and I on a hike on some trails near his house. We went to a place called Hunua Falls where a big waterfall can be seen basically from the parking lot but loads of trails go out from there to a couple of dams. We hiked from Hunua Falls out to Correy Dam and back again. Along the way we saw loads of birds (always in NZ it seems) and not too many people, except for a crew from the NZ camp where Paul used to work (all the kids are on school holidays so holiday camps are in session). We also learned about the disease that’s destroying Kauri trees all over NZ. Kauri trees are native to NZ and can grow to be quite tall. In the area where we were hiking, early settlers had logged most of the kauri trees but a few that were too big to be easily removed from the forest were left and today these trees are HUGE. The disease has not yet visibly affected them so the trail managers have put some protective measures to keep these giants healthy (like all hikers spraying their boots with a disinfectant spray on the way in and out). Anyway, great hike.

That afternoon we stopped off for a sushi lunch (there’s heaps of Japanese people and food in NZ!) and then back to Paul’s for some gun shooting and relaxing. That’s right. We shot some guns. Who knew we’d have to leave NC for Stu to have his first shooting experience.

That night I had my first real pang of homesickness—we were watching a show called ‘Too Fat for 15’ and they were doing a story about a fat camp called Wellspring in the NC mountains. Paul, Stu and I all immediately recognized the camp to be in the NC mountains by the trees and landscape but when they showed the sign for 276 at the main intersection in Brevard we KNEW and I found myself missing home more than I thought I would so early on in the trip.

THURSDAY SEPT 30: LOTR and pumpkin pie

Thursday it rained and rained. Paul tried to convince me to go for a run early in the day, but I opted for laziness. Instead of exercise we watching the first…and the second…Lord of the Rings. Extended edition. We were just trying to get in the NZ spirit. (Side note: has everyone heard about the Hobbit filming drama? It might be moved from NZ because the NZ actor’s union is on strike since they didn’t hire enough NZ actors or something…) Anyway, by the time the second one came on I was a little over it so I started cooking for the dinner we promised to make for the Franks as a thank you for housing us for the week. We made a pumpkin pie from scratch; this took the longest, but turned out really well! We also repeated the dinner I made for Stu Tuesday night since it was so good—some minced lamb with diced tomatoes and onions, slow cooked on the stove with couscous on the side and a green salad with apples and cheese. Yum! The one pumpkin we roasted ended up making 3 pies and all were gone by the end of the weekend…I’d say it was a successful first encounter with pumpkin pie for the Franks.

FRIDAY OCT 1-SATURDAY OCT 2: Total Sport Race in Waihi

Friday we headed down to Waihi to help Dave and Total Sport (the company he works for) with a race they were organizing in Waihi. We got down fairly late on Friday so all we really had time for in Waihi was registration and headed out to the campground where Stu and I spent the night. Luckily, the race was based at a campground called Dickey Flat so we were able to spend the night there before the race. The race utilized the trails around the campground to build mileage necessary for the race. There was a 19k run (12 miles), a 13k run (8 miles) and a 8k run (5 miles). Waihi is an old gold mining town so some of the trails are based on old mining tracks and trails and some of the short race (the one Stu and I trailed) even went through come of the underground mining tunnels. Very cool. I sort of had in mind that we would be running, at least for part of it, but as the tail-enders we had to stay behind the slowest person so…. For most of the race we were behind a woman and her 2 children ages 3 and 7. Why on earth you would enroll a 3 year old to do an 8k race is beyond me but he did pretty well considering…it only took us 3 hours to do 8k. I think this was a good exercise in strengthening my patience and ability to go slow and enjoy things along the way--something I’m working on this trip. Paul and his dad both ran the 19k; some of Paul’s friends ran the mid-length race; and Sarah (Dave’s fiancée) ran the 8k with her mom. All in all there were some 350 runners, 100 of which enrolled the day of the race—I think Dave was pretty pleased with the turn out!

Anyway after the race Stu and I went over to Waihi beach with Paul, his dad, and a couple of Paul & Dave’s friends where we went for a very quick dip (3^rd swim of the trip! And it’s only October…imagine March for the Northern hemisphere readers). Then he headed back to Waihi town for prize giving and then back to Papakura to Paul’s house where Rich and couple of Paul’s friends came over for a BBQ and a bonfire using all the gorse (yellow stuff) that Stu cut down earlier this week. The bonfire was a bit of a flop (we couldn’t get it to catch very well) but the sausages and the company were good.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3: Farewell Franks!

Sunday started out as another beautiful sunny day. I went for a run on the trails behind Paul’s house (talk about HILLS-good grief!) and the boys (Stu, Rich, Paul, Chris-Paul’s cousin, Kieren-Paul’s dad) went out back with tools in hand to clear out the bike trail that Paul made a few years ago but that had become quite overgrown during his travels. Later that afternoon a whole lot of Paul’s family came over for a big lunch celebrating Liz’s graduation—it was awesome to meet some of Paul’s relatives and to see what a NZ family gathering is like. (Pretty similar to ours, I’d say…in case you were wondering).

We rounded out the day by getting a ride from Rich all the way across the city (really—Papakura is WAY south Auckland and Greenhithe is WAY north Auckland—it would be like driving from Ballentyne to UNC Charlotte or from Rosslyn, VA to Rockville, MD). Anyway, super nice of Rich to drop us off. Since then we’ve just been settling in here at Arron’s house, getting to know his dog, Stella. She’s an Alaskan Malamute (looks like a husky) that’s the size of a small bear! But she’s so sweet… Now we’re just catching up on internet life and starting our search for a car and planning our next moves.

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I think that’s definitely enough writing for today. I’m bored with it so you all must be! More to come later.