The Amazing Race: Pacific

A couple of weekends ago we begin our whirlwind tour of the Pacific Rim. Fortunately we managed to bypass LAX and fly from San Diego to Auckland via San Francisco. I don't like LA. The movies on the plane were Jumanji and Twister. After arriving in Auckland at 4 am we headed in to the city to try to find something to do until Tamsin had her visa interview at 9 am. We settled on sitting at a table in a food court and trying not to fall asleep. Good times! After Tamsin's visa interview at the US consulate, which all went smoothly, we needed something else to do until 5 pm. I was pretty burnt out after the sitting in the food court excitement, so we decided to go the zoo. This was a mistake as it was the first day of school holidays so the place was crawling with out of control children. Still, there was the possibility of seeing some baby tigers so we stuck it out. Hundreds of people assembled around the tiger enclosure for the scheduled opening of the cage after which three tiger cubs (kittens?) would inevitably bound out and playfully rough-house under the watchful eye of their mother to a chorus of Awwwws from the masses. Of course, the closest we got to this was seeing the mother stick her head out of the door, making a head movement that could only be translated as "Screw this, there's no way I'm exposing my children to this mob of squealing devil spawn" and promptly going back inside.

So we went back to the airport and caught an earlier flight down to Christchurch. During this flight we were reintroduced to the colour green, which is not so common around Southern California. We finally arrived in Christchurch a mere 31 hours after we left SD. 31 hours wearing the same socks is not awesome for either the wearer or those in proximity to said wearer. We spent our time in Chch staying at my parents' place and Tamsin was able to visit her two favourite people, Bella and Tank. Its quite obvious from this photo that they are struggling with life on the farm:


We spent some time at our old works printing final copies of our theses for binding and catching up with some folks there. We also managed to catch up with some of my side of the family. It was a bit strange because we haven't been gone long, but so much had changed. For instance, when we left there were 7 sections sold on a subdivision down Blenheim Road and now there are 8 gone. Crazy days.

After 4 days in Christchurch we had almost adjusted to the change in time zone so it was time to move on. We arrived in Sydney to a muggy 37oC which I was not dressed for. I never considered the possibility that it could be that hot there and I was actually angry at the airline for not ringing and telling us in advance. I should mention that we were going to Sydney for Tamsin's brother Josh's wedding. We arrived at our accommodation (sort of hybrid between a backpackers, a bed and breakfast and an English guest house) which was run by an eccentric English guy who seemed to like the idea of running a guest house in Bondi but wasn't too fond of having people in it. Within 5 minutes of arriving he had told us separately that we were mad - Tamsin for planning to buy a dress on the morning of the wedding and me for taking my bike back to America as luggage because they sell bikes over there so why bother. After turning on the fan in our room and finding that it didn't so much cool the room as move the heat around so it could bash you in the face, we headed to a pre wedding drinks where we discovered that several of the wedding party and their families were afflicted with a violent stomach complaint, including Josh. Fortunately he was feeling somewhat better the next day, but others, including the best man, had been struck with it and it had started raining heavily. This was very reminiscent of Tamsin and my wedding. The rain I mean, not the explosive diarrhoea part. This meant that the wedding would be inside rather than on the roof of the hotel, but I think the consensus opinion (by which I mean my opinion) was that might have been better than standing on the roof in the 37o sun. In the end the ceremony went off without a hitch, despite the best man looking decidedly seedy. Here are a few pics of the ceremony:


The happy couple Victoria and Josh. Hopefully they will provide Pete and Raewyn with some beautiful grandchildren in the very near future, thus taking the pressure of us.


Father of the groom Principal Pete delivers the most important assembly of his life.


If I was a better person I would remember what this lady sang during the signing of the paperwork and/or her name because she was great, but for the life of me I can't remember. Don't let that stop you buying her CD on Amazon if she has one though.


Not only did Josh take home a new bride, but he also received a certificate for Best Scone (fruit) from the chairwoman of the local Country Women's Association (middle). Well done Josh.


Despite the fact that Tamsin and Josh are in their twenties, their Mum still insists that they dress in matching ensembles.


Tamsin and her new sister in law, Victoria


Tamsin and her Mum


Tamsin's parents

We had a quiet Sunday after the wedding which was good because I had run out of steam due to a combination of jetlag and waiters hovering over my shoulder to fill up my glass every time I put it down (Yes, I am a lightweight). On Monday we shared a cab to the airport with Josh and Vics who were headed off for their honeymoon in Bali and we were able to have a good catch up with them over breakfast. As it turned out, our plane was late because they had to fix the Turbulence Enhancer for the flight back to Auckland and on to LA.

So a scant 4 to 19 days after we left, we returned to the perfect weather of San Diego and decided to make the most of it by starting back at work the next day. All in all, it was good to get back to NZ and go to Josh and Vics wedding but we were far too rushed the whole way. Also, I'm sick of planes and airports.

P.S. I've been meaning to post this for a while, but this is Tamsin's place of work aka West Beverly High School: