Taking the Plunge

Day 14 - Saturday, Jan 3 – Wet and Wild

After our usual buffet breakfast of lots of good foods and juices and coffees, the older boys (Barry, Evan and Carter) were scheduled for a white-water rafting adventure. Monica, Steve, Gordon and Ruby had a trip to the National Kiwi Hatchery dedicated to protecting and replenishing the endangered kiwi population. [Note: Here I mean the kiwi animal – the small wingless bird and not the fruit of the same name. I never got a satisfactory answer to the question of why the fruit and the animal have the same name … which also happens to be the nickname for a person from NZ.] 

The boys thoroughly enjoyed the rafting trip down a very exciting river that included going over three waterfalls – the first was 6 feet, the second was 14 feet and the last was 21 feet! They said that when approaching the last waterfall, they could not see over the edge, and it looked like they were going off the end of the earth! They plunged and were completely submerged in the gushing water at the base of the falls only to bob to the surface a few seconds later. They loved it!!! Good for them, I say.

  

The rest of us had a much more calm and cerebral experience learning about kiwi and the conservation efforts to ensure their survival. Interestingly, we learned that prior to European arrival, there were no mammals on the island of NZ and no natural predators of the kiwi. When dogs, cats, ferrets, and other small mammals arrived, they found the kiwi easy prey since the kiwi had no evolutionary need/experience to fend off such predators. Anyway, the kiwi population is on the rise, and the hatchery is doing its best to harvest kiwi eggs, nurture newborn kiwi, and to return them to the environment. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the hatchery, so this is the best you get.

We met back at the hotel and checked out in order to make the drive to Auckland. Before leaving we had a delicious lunch at the Fainting Goat. One interesting lesson there was that when you order a dozen chicken wings, it is the whole wing, not just part of the wing as in the US. Our US equivalent would have been 24 wings!

Once again, Barry took the helm for driving on the sinister side of the road. The drive to our hotel in downtown Auckland was about 3 hours but took longer due to rain and some very scenic detours (due to car accidents on the highway … thanks to Google Maps for the redirect) through the NZ countryside. Keep in mind, we are in summer down here and the flowers and trees are in full regalia.

We checked into our hotel around 5PM and took the evening to wander around town. Alas, all who wander are not lost; Monica had a restaurant reservation at A Mondo Mio nearby that fit properly into our wandering around town. After some delicious bolognese dinners (spaghetti and gnocchi … and pizza for the kids), we went for the gelato on the harbor front. Then we strolled back to the hotel as the Christmas lights decorating the city came to life at dusk.  

 

At this point near the end of our trip, I am compelled to mention the incredible prevalence of New York Yankee hats. Perhaps you know the logo of the overlapping N and Y. 

From the beginning of our trip at the Torongo Zoo in Sydney to the very last dinner and downtown stroll in Auckland, we saw Yankee hats everywhere … I mean everywhere. On the streets, in restaurants, in shops, in hotels and even on the Great Barrier Reef. We would just look at each other and smirk every time we saw one, which was about 20 times a day. The Helfrich boys are big time Yankee fans since Barry’s neighbor played for the Yankees (the super All-Star Don Mattingly for those keeping score). They attributed the hats to the global fanship of the Yankees. I maintained that foreigners who like the US (perhaps a declining number), seem to have a propensity for wanting to visit New York, and they are merely flashing their style to say, “Hey, look at me. I’m in synch with New York.” I bet many of them don’t even know that it is the Yankee logo and see it merely as a designation for New York City. Who knows? We never took a poll.