Greetings from Sydney (again)!

We’re back in Sydney, a slight backtrack on our way to Hawaii. We have about 4 hours to wait here, so I’ll try catch up a little. We have had to pay for internet access for the last few days, so I have been a little rushed in getting the blog and slide show together and uploaded. I do as much as possible offline, but a lot of it can only be done online. The internet in our hotel was 68 cents a minute (!), so we rarely used it. Instead we went down the street to one of several little internet “cafes”. No food was served, but there were lots of strange people around taking advantage of the $2 per hour rate. Interesting. We have not found free internet access anywhere in Australia or New Zealand. I am hoping for it in Hawaii.

Yesterday, Tuesday, was our last full day in NZ, and what a full day it was! We left before 7 in the morning and drove to Tauranga. There we found Julie, a dear friend from our past. Julie and her husband Greg were our closest NZ friends when we lived there. We spent a lot of time together, often going on “holiday” together. Greg and I would fish and golf the entire time, and Kedra and Julie would talk and do other things.

It was a little tough seeing Julie yesterday. Greg is no longer around; he died of cancer about 7 years ago. (She has remarried.) I fought tears as I left Kedra with Julie as the kids and I went on to do other things. I was able to speak with Greg a time or two before he died at age 43. He was cremated, so there was no grave for me to visit. It feels strange that he is no longer with us. I do expect to see him again, however.

The kids and I went on down to the Agrodome , which is near where we were on Monday. This is a really neat place that provides an entertaining education about sheep farming in New Zealand. It was a great time.

Following the Agrodome we went to find some fish and chips (our fourth and final time). We found a little place on the edge of Rotorua. You can see the slide show for a picture of it. Inside we found a funny sign; we took a picture of that too. There is nothing in the our area that compares to fish and chips. Yummy!

After our feast we went back up and met with Kedra and Julie. Julie’s family runs a honey shop, so visited it. It is quite an interesting enterprise. We have a few containers of the heavenly goo securely stored in our suitcases. After saying good-bye to Julie we made our way back to Auckland.

Jean, Lynette, and Darryl had asked us to come for a final tea (supper). We were happy to enjoy one more scrumptious home-cooked meal with these wonderful people. After we ate we got into our big old van, and it started right up. But the lights would not come on. Hmmm. “We can get home before dark,” I thought, so on I drove. It was raining very lightly. I turned on the wipers, but there was no response. “This is not good,” I thought and said. Then I pulled over. I was not happy, but the boys thought it was a great adventure. They tore into the fuse box, and I started walking back to Darryl’s, which was less than a mile away.

Darryl is quite mechanical (reminds me a little of Brent F.). We drove up to the dead van. The boys had found nothing. Darryl looked at the battery; the cells were dry. Long story short: several phone calls (some frustrating) and two hours later, around 11 p.m., we were back in our hotel. I’m have not received a divine revelation about the purpose of the delay, but I’m sure there was probably something to it or something to learn. Patience?

We left the hotel mid-morning today (Wednesday) and have had no complications thus far. It is 4.15 p.m. Sydney time, which is 6.15 Auckland time, which is 12.15 a.m. your time. I don’t know what time it is in Hawaii, but I do know that we get there before we leave (at least on the clock).

This is getting a little long; sorry about that. I do want reflect a little on the kids and the whole Down Under experience. Maybe I can do that in Hawaii? I don’t think we are going to do much there. It seems that my kids are more into being than doing. This is a good thing, I think.

Love to all.

[This is being posted from Hawaii for free! I had trouble in Sydney connecting to the right websites.]