Oh sweet mercy

I am in heaven. I woke up this morning, walked out my front door and beheld the most beautiful sight I had ever seen in my life. Green hills bathed in golden sunlight and baby cows frolicking around in the pasture. I stepped off the porch, hopped the fence and gave my fleet of baby cows a morning scratch, visited FJ and Frankie the horses and then helped with the morning feeding.

While Brenden and I were working with the wee ones Craig rounded up the herd for drenching. We're going to be tackling that task after breakfast, which I burned. It was oatmeal.  I am ashamed to call myself a Mathis.

I am covered in wool, I smell of maneuver and hay and I couldn't be happier. Cheerio!

The classic cappuccino

This is for anyone who has ever worked at a coffee shop in Hawaii and has had an Aussie or a Kiwi look at them incredulously when you handed over a cappuccino without chocolate powder on top. This is what they are supposed to look like. Just less blurred. I had just taken a sip before I took this shot and my taste buds were dancing, hence the less than sharp picture. Yummity yum yum.

Auckland sights

St. Matthew's church.

Outside.

Inside.

Their take on the space needle. Except they BASE and Bungee jump off of theirs. ;-)

This guy just hangs at the airport. 

American observations of the land of New Zeal

Things are different here. -collective gasp- I know. I was shocked too. Here are a few things that I have noticed in the last 8 hours. 

1. We hire things like cars and suits now. We do not rent them.

2. We're driving on the left side of the road. I know I did this in Thailand, but my brain freaks out every time I stand at an intersection and watch people turn into "wrong" lanes. I just try not to scream and cover my eyes in horror. 

3. iSites are awesome and are officially my new best friends. They will book anything for you just because you ask them to. I hope they never find out that I'm just using them for their sweet connections. 

4. There are roofs of every variety. Metal, tile, flat, sloped, terra cotta, falling in... It's not super different per se, just fun to see the smorgasbord. 

5. Fire trucks look like dump trucks. And they say something about biohazards on them. I don't know, but it seems like maybe these fire professional are a little cooler than ours. I mean if you're in that crazy anti-fire suit already why not clean up a little flesh-eating green ooze while you're at it eh?

6. Everybody seems to know each other. I caught at least 5 interactions on my walk this afternoon, from high fives to enthusiastic head bobbles to support this. It's pretty neat.

7. We've got tomato sauce. Not Catsup. It tastes...saucy. That is sweet and perhaps a little slimy. Not a big fan.

8. Everybody is super nice. I haven't met a single kiwi that I have not liked yet. May that always be so. 

Tomorrow morning I'm taking off at the booty crack of dawn and start my voyage to Napier and the farm. A day in the city was enough for me. It's time for the comfort of green hills and livestock...yep. I said it. Onward! 

Last post from the states

I am on the flipping plane! This is what I see! 

Classy, I know. 

For my two euro buddies meet "Air pacific!" He might be a necessary travel buddy. ;-) Seriously, traveling with me could be way better than ferrying around tourists to and from Fiji. 

And here I go. Last shot from LAX.

 I am settling down for a 10 hour and 20 minute flight and wishing maybe a little that I had the "hookups" I did when I made my trip in 2007. Hugs and love to all. I land 12:00 local time in NZ on "Monday." To the future! 

Aotearoa!!

I have arrived! Everything about this place is magical. :-) I could almost hear the sheep from the plane. It's colder than I expected. The high today predicted to be 16 C and the low 9 C Mayhap it's time to find me some long johns. 

I think it's trying to say, "Welcome traveler! This is what you look like right now." 

Made it to Fiji!

Screaming babies on the plane and narcolepsy? A great combo. :-) Onward to New Zealand!