Clinton's 31st @ Part 1

Clinton's was making segway into the 30's and I thought it was the perfect excuse to take our first weekend trip away from Auckland.

I did LOTS of searching online looking at everything from campervans to luxury spas to figure out what kind of trip would be "Clinton." Areas that were too beachy or too spa-related or even too cultural would have been too "Yadi." So I decided on Rototua. It was a city about 3 hours South of Auckland and was famed for being the world's hottest spot (in terms of thermal/ volcanic activity) in the world. It was also know for its adventure-sports which was definitely up Clinton's ally. Just to make sure I was on the right track, I tell Clinton the plan...Rotorua, rental car, and hotel...which he replied with a shoulder-shrug, "Sure!" I was hoping for something a bit more enthusiastic since it seems Clinton (fortunately for me) says "sure" about 90% of the time. Clinton says it's because he likes to put a smile on my face...ahhh but also I know it's because he's just an easy going person to begin with.

In short, I was really hoping for some more excitement. So, I tell him about the secret activity I had planned for us to see if it would rattle-up some "umph." "We can go white-water rafting there too," I snuck into the conversation. His eyes broke from the hynoposis that the TV had him in, and gave me a big squinty-eye smile... that said it all! Rotorua and whitewater rafting it was!

On Friday, Feb. 26th I met Clinton at Hertz car rental on Victoria Street to begin our three day adventure. Picking up the car was part of the adventure because it would be the first time we drive on the right-side of the road...eekkk! Clinton took the driver seat (think shot-gun) and I sat in the front passenger seat (think driver seat) and we drove out of Hertz, making our first left turn onto a two-way street and barred left. We made it home (about 3/4 of the mile away...hehehe) and celebrated our successful drive into the carpark (garage). We weren't leaving to Rotorua till the next morning (saturday) 8am so the car would stay and wait for us at home.

Next on the iternary was the Chinese Lantern Festival in Albert Park. I told Clinton we would be meeting some people there and that we would eat dinner afterwards in hopes of him NOT choosing to eat before then. The "real plan" was that we would walk around the Lantern festival for about 40 minutes till our friends secretly congregated at an Indian Restuarant that I picked in Parnell for his bday dinner. Clinton is usually not keen to eat dinner before 6pm on any day BUT of course on this day he is asking to eat fish & chips before the festival. I tell him again that I had planned to meet these new friends and possibly have dinner with them afterwards....

Ok let me digress a bit and explain the term "New Friends," since I know you're thinking that we have been here less than 2 months which should make every friend "new." Well not exactly. Clinton arrived a month before me and in this time he made about 2 different circles of friends in Auckland...1) the urban professionals and 2) the young and cool Hawaiians who where actually from Fiji but said Hawaiian so that they can claim the states (LOL). When I arrived, he brought me into this social scene. In a matter of about a week, we hung out about 3 times with the urban professionals which opened them up to being "our" friends and not just Clinton's friends. I didn't hang out with the Hawaiian_Fijians much...so, they stayed Clinton's drinking/clubbing boys. Ok, so when I say "new friends" I literaly mean "people who we have not met yet." People who we came into contact with over email due to membership in the American NZ expat listeserve (meetup.com) or through American friends who have generousily extended thier NZ networks to us. So I really relly mean "new"...like blind-date new. wink.

Ok, recap. It was Friday evening and I had a surprise birthday dinner planned for Clinton at an Indian restuarunt in parnell with our urban professional friends and I was taking Clinton to the Lantern Festival for a little while to give them time to arrive. I told Clinton that we were going to the lantern festival to meet "new friends" and didn't want to eat before just in case we wanted to eat with our new friends if we liked them (LOL).

We got to the Lantern festival which was filled with people. There were electric-lit lanterns set up along the fountains, pathways and on several trees. There was a music concert and several other family activities scattered around the park. Clinton keeps asking me to call the "new friends" to see where they were. I make believe-text them and tell him that they replied saying that they left already and are at a restuarant in Parnell...(Do you get my hook...lol). Clinton somehow smells food in the park and nearly begs me to go get something to nibble on. Knowing that the state of hunger is not a pleasant one, I tell him to go. In the time that he went to go get some dumplings (which happen to be very good so we go back for seconds), I get a text from yet another "new friend" who I had not met yet stating that they were at the Lantern Festival. So when Clinton returns, we meet up with the different "new friends" which 2 are American but recently arrived to NZ for graduate school. I remind Clinton that we still have the original set of "new friends" waiting for us at the restuarant and that we should go. We jump in the cab, officially 20 minutes late and find our way to the restuarunt. As we walk to the back, Clinton spots our friends and is VERY surprised to figure out that the dinner was planned.

We had a lovely 2 and a half our dinner that consisted of 4 bottles of wine and several courses of food and a lovely fruit & custard cake (all for five people, total...lol). After dinner we did a few more cocktails and then off to bed to prepare for Rotorua at 8am.

Needless to say, it was a bit difficult to get out of bed the next morning. Clinton somehow found enough energy to get himself ready and then coax me through getting myself together. We made it out the house at 8am, we got into the car and excitedly road South to motorway 1. We stop real quick to get a signature hang-over breakfast to-go, aka McDonald's, and then rode to Rotorua commenting on the gorgeous blue skies, the layers of pillow-white clouds and the hilarious public announcement signs along the way.

As we approached Rotorua, we could smell the signature sulfur-filled air...yeah, we were close. The first stop in Rotorua was the tourist center so that we can pick up our white-water rafting and "Hell's Gate" tickets. I was hoping we would arrive in time for the 12:30 whitewater rafting but by the time we got there at 11:30am there was no room. So we booked the 2:45 rafting tour and decided to do Hell's Gate first. The best way for me to describe Hell Gate is like a park with about an hour long trail along ponds and waterfalls...excpet that the water was boiling at at times steaming...i.e the name "Hell's Gate." We enjoyed seeing the maginifence of mother nature. It reminded the both of us how blessed we are that mother-nature just doesn't decide to open up and shoot out all that lava right now. Instead for decades if not hundreds of years she is content with just letting out some of her gasses (literally) through spot like this on earth. Alleluyah.

Next, white-water rafting...whoohoo. The meeting spot for the rafting was supposedly close by. So I asks the Hell's Gate ticket lady just to make sure and she tells me to look for a green house not far a long the bend. Clinton and I hop into the car and drive for about 20 minutes (back and forth) BUT can't find this green house. It was about 2:45pm and didn't want to miss the rafting group so we go back to Hell's Gate and ask again. This time Clinton asks and he gets similar directions; however the lady adds that you don't have to leave the outdoor garage. Well, Ok...we ride up this rocky rode to a house that had very little green on it and no signs saying it was a rafting office. Clinton figured he would just get out and ask again. He returns to the car telling me to get out, we found it. So, we are unsure if it was our understanding of the directions or that New Zealanders give bad directions but we could have bunny-hopped to the office from Hell's gate. No need to harp on it since we've arrived and our minutes from white-water rafting.

to be continued....