Overlooking Rotorua New Zealand
Back in October my buddy Mike called to ask where I might like to go visit. Mike travels allot and winds up with more frequent flyer miles than he can make use of. So if he gets really stressed at work and can arrange the time, he will call me to go power touring with him.
We talked for a while about Europe, Scotland and other places without coming to any conclusions. Somewhere along the line Mike asked if New Zealand would be of interest. "OF COURSE" . But I thought another of Mike's friends had pre-dibs'ed New Zealand. But he'd had some medical issues that not prevent him travelling such a distance. So now it was open for me and I grabbed at the chance.
So Mike started looking for dates when he could get time off work to go to New Zealand. I was in the middle of planning my retirement. I had over 300 hours of vacation time saved up so any time was fine by me. We wound up with the first couple weeks of March 2026 as our travel dates.
In addition to Mike providing the airline tickets, he also gets a few vouchers each year to upgrade to first class seating, so for our outbound flights, Mike got us Delta One first class tickets to New Zealand. I was excited because I'm way too cheap to ever do that for myself.
Since I was going to play for 2 weeks, we decided that Nan should also go somewhere. After a bit of online searching she found reasonably priced round trip tickets to Hawaii to visit Kadi. I dropped her a Denver Airport on Thursday and I was to fly out on Saturday.
Saturday I tried to sleep in as long as I could but barely made it to 7:00 before my brain forced me to get up. I ate breakfast, cleaned, emptied the trash around the house and did the dishes. By then it was 8:30 and I still had over 6 hours before I needed to leave.
I watched some youtube, played a video game, serviced the robo vac and started it mopping the floor. Now it was 9:00. Would this day never end so I could GO TO NEW ZEALAND!!!!
Finally around 10:00 I decided I needed to do something a bit more involved. I put on a coat and my helmet and headed out on a motorcycle ride. I wound my way through Black Forrest and eventually made it to a Culvers in Falcon. I got the smallest milk shake and sat sipping it while watching a young family of 5 deal with kids who suddenly wanted something other than what they'd ordered. It brought back so many great memories of sitting in restaurants with our own kids.
Trying to kill time before the trip. Pikes Peak over my shoulder
Eventually I finished my shake and wound my way back through home. My daughter Klair picked me up around 1:15 and drove me a few miles to where I'd meet the airport shuttle to Denver. Finally, the adventure had begun. I don't think I could have taken much more waiting.
Waiting for the Airport Shuttle
The shuttle ride was uneventful. TSA pre security screening was empty and fast. Panda Express lunch was great. Sitting waiting for the flight for an hour was easy as well.
Because Mike had used the first class pass, it meant my flight from Denver to LA was also first class. We were on a small regional jet with 1 seat on one side and 2 seats on the other. I had row 2 on the 1 seat side so I had both a window seat and an isle seat at the same time. I'm sure there was a bit of extra leg room but it didn't feel much different. The most notable part of first class was the flight attendant calling me by name and offering me a drink and snacks 3 times before we even left the gate.
Mike had arrived a few hours before me and was waiting when I arrived. We had a 2 1/2 hour layover so we headed off for the Delta One lounge to eat and relax while we waited. Not to sound like too much like a hick, but the lounge was very nice. It was a restaurant where everything was complementary. I got a diet coke, some tuna sashimi, and an Onion soup. It was all great. I wish I hadn't just eaten Panda Express or I'd have ordered more.
Sitting in Delta One
Eventually we left and headed over to the gate to board the plane. For some reason, my passport didn't scan as we boarded so I had to talk to someone. They checked the passport and my boarding pass and could find nothing wrong. It wasn't a big deal but it slowed me down enough that all the overheads near my seat were full and I had to go about 5 rows back to stow my bag.
Now for the real hick part. We were in the private cubicle seating area. This is certainly the first and probably the last time I'll ever sit here. There were pillows, comforters, sleeping pads, and a small zipper case full of things like ear plugs, tooth brush, eye mask, comb, slippers, dental floss, and I don't know what else waiting for me. I honestly did feel a bit overwhelmed. How the heck was I going to fit all this stuff under the seat in front of me? I turns out that they don't care if you stack the pillows and other things on the shelf beside you. The most uncomfortable part was the endless stream of people heading back into the other sections of the plane and making comments about the cubicles as they walked past.
Me in my private cubicle
I did keep my laptop bag with me and on the shelf in front of my feet. Again, the flight attendant introduced herself and offered us drinks or snacks. It might be first class, but not once did she offer me beef jerky which I had in my bag. First class my A$$.
Mike was in the cubicle next to me and we could slide open a section of the wall to talk. But shortly after takeoff, Mike laid his chair all the way flat and went to sleep. I knew that if I tried to sleep this early in the flight I'd wake up long before we landed and be tired through the day, So I stayed away for the first 2+ hours of the flight.
They served a meal after just an hour. I'd ordered the beef curry but the beef was so overcooked that it was dry and powdery. It wasn't any better of a meal than I've ever had on other flights.
The cubes did have a big TV in them (roughly 25 inch) but I didn't see any movie or tv show that I wanted to watch so I did a little web browsing on my phone and listened to an audio book. Finally it was about 9:30 New Zealand time and it felt like I could get some sleep. I took a couple of over the counter sleeping pills. I normally sleep with a cpap, but Delta said I couldn't use it unless it was battery powered, but a battery big enough to run the cpap isn't allowed through TSA so I couldn't use it. That meant I didn't dare lay my seat flat or I'd stop breating and/or snore. Instead I laid my seat back about 3/4 of the way.
The sleeping pills really helped and I managed to sleep about 6 hours off and on. That's better than I've ever been able to sleep in previous flights so I counted it as a win.
Laid way back to sleep
Once we landed, I had to throw away the last of my jerky and trail mix. New Zealand is very protective of their ecology and don't want bugs or other foreign pests to get loose.
Both Mike and I had pre applied for entry to New Zealand so we zipped right through customs and immigration without any problem, and since we had checked no bags, we were off to the rental car within minutes of landing.
The original plan was for me to drive since I have a british license and 2 years experience driving on the lefthand side, but for some reason I was feeling uncomfortable about it. So Mike hopped behind the wheel and took his first drive on the left hand side. He did great except for constantly turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. Thats not so much a left hand driving thing as Mike being really used to his Jeep's controls.
The other thing he had problems with was wandering off the left side of the lane. He kept wanting to put himself in the lane where he would normally drive which meant all of the car to the left of him was now over the lane marker and either in the other lane or hanging off the side of the road. He hit a few curbs, especially going around left hand turns. It wasn't too much of a problem except the time that he tried to climb up on the center median and there was already a pedestrian standing there. He didn't come close to hitting him, but the guys eyes sure got big as the gray SUV bumped up onto the curb 4 feet form him.
The drive from Aukland down to Rotorua where our hotel, was about 223 kilometers and took a couple of hours. A large part of the drive was on a 4 lane divided motorway and part was on little 2 lane back road. All of the roads were well maintained and comfortable. Other then the constant sound of rumble strips, the ride was uneventful.
As soon as we got out of the car I could smell the slight odor of sulfur. It reminded me so much of Yellowstone. Mike wasn't surprised because that's one of the things Rotorua is known for and we were going to see some of the geysers and hot pots around the area.
The view out our hotel window
We got checked in then headed back out to find something for lunch. On the way out, Mike spotted a vending machine with energy drinks in it. He bought a diet red bull, but when the machine dispensed it, it just released the can from about 4 foot in the air and let it slam down into the delivery tray. Mike tried to open it carefully but it still sprayed everywhere. I didn't laugh even a little bit.
There was a walkway nearby that was lined with restaurants. It was called "Eat Street" so we drove over there and started looking for something to eat. There were allot of steaks, seafood, asian and other ethnic places to choose from. They all sounded good but we settled on an Indian restaurant that had a curry chicken lunch special. Mike got butter chicken and I got Chicken Tika Masala. The chicken and the naan bread were fantastic. It was so good that when I should have stopped eating, I didn't. I felt quite bloated when I got done, but happy.
Riding up Skyline Rotorua
We drove back to the hotel to recover and figure out what to do with our afternoon. Eventually we decided to go to ride the gondola to the top of Skyline Rotorua. Thats an adventure center just outside of town with a bobsled course, mountain biking, massive swing, and other activities on the side of a large hill. The ride to the top was nice but not very long. Once on top we watched some people do the big swing. There was allot of joking from the family watching, like, "Do I get your car?" sort of humor. The guys on the swing actually had a rope that they had to pull to release themselves. The employees attached a cable and started winching then up the hill and it winched allot longer and higher than I thought was possible. Probably close to 90 degrees.
Skyline Swing
Then we heard the Ka-Chunk as the guy pulled the rope. Both guys screamed pretty loud but also sounded pretty happy.
After that we walked over to watch people riding the 3 wheeled carts down the luge track. It looked pretty fun but also looked like my back would ache by the time I got to the bottom.
Mike was open to doing either ride but this was day 1 and I didn't want to injure myself this early in the trip so we didn't do either thing.
We hunt around for an hour or so watching mountain bikers, lugers, and others till it felt like we'd seen enough and rode back to the bottom.
Riding back down the Skyline
There was still allot of afternoon left so we drove over to the maori museum. We knew it was closed due to earthquake damage in 2016, but it was still supposed to be a beautiful building to photograph. But when we got there, the whole building was surrounded by scaffolding and wrapped in plastic to keep the weather out. Hopefully they'll get it rebuilt because it was supposed to be one of the best maori museums in the country.
Mike wanted to grab some sodas so we drove back and parked by the hotel. There was a small market across the street that turned out to be a tiny chinese market. We googled and found a grocery store a couple blocks away so off we went on a small adventure. We came to a large highway that neither of us felt comfortable running across we walked a ways to a stop light and crossed.
It was a decent sized store and we enjoyed meandering around looking at prices and what was available. I got a couple nectarines and a diet coke. Mike got a small case of energy drinks and a bottle of diet coke. After we paid and started to exit, we realized it was raining. It had gone from warm and semi cloudy to fully overcast and raining in just 5 minutes. We'd left all our rain gear in the car so we just had to tough it out and headed back.
We relaxed at the hotel for a couple hours and chatted about world problems but had no solutions. Eventually we figured it was time for dinner. Mike had seen a "gastro bar" that he thought would be good so we drove a mile or so back near Eat Street and went into the Fainting Goat. The menu was (to me) pretty eclectic. We ordered brisket and bacon spring rolls, Fried potato cubes, A fresh salad, and...
The hostess came over to ask if we'd mind sharing our table with a young couple because the place was packed. We said sure and they joined us. We didn't talk much except to joke about how much food came out to our table. It was packed.
I loved the spring rolls and the potato cubes. The salad was ok but nothing special.
After dinner we went back to the room and I worked on this blog. I got about half way done when Mike suggested we go to the maori health spa behind the hotel. I thought about it for a bit but decided that if I didn't keep working on the blog, it would never happen. So I worked for another half hour then we just went down stairs to the hot tubs for a bit to soak sore muscles. By the time we got back to the room I was very ready to go to sleep. Normally I can't sleep after a hot soak because my body is so hot but I just pulled a sheet over me and dozed off pretty quick.
My daily steps count was 17,200 or 8 miles. This includes Saturday to Monday, a little over 24 hours and 1 jump over the dateline.
