Martinborough

The center of town, Martinborough

This amazing place deserves a post all to itself.  We arrived in the adorable town of Martinborough knowing nothing more than there were some great wines to be tasted.  The town itself is pretty small, probably about 8 blocks total extending out from a central park area.  The wineries surround the city, 68 total, we only made it three.  Martinborough is known for its Pinot Noirs, my favorite grape so I was happy to hear it.  The wineries we went to were all small, family run and in some cases the wine maker himself was hosting the tasting.  The soil has a huge mineral content so the wines were all earthy and delicious.

Wine, wine everywhere

More wine

Happy Bee

We stayed in a campsite right next to a winery and just up the from the river.  After a long day of walking around and tasting we made our way to the river to put our feet in and cool off.  The weather on this trip has been magnificent.  It was probably near 80F that day, with a cool breeze blowing through just when you thought it was too hot out.

When we were ready for lunch we ducked into a little fish and chips takeaway and enjoyed the best fried food I have ever had.  It was just a little counter tucked into a shop so we took it into the park and enjoyed it in the sunshine.  I had been holding out on getting fish and chips until I found a really good one- there are takeaways everywhere here, this was worth the wait.  I would have taken a photo but well, I ate it all :)

Now we are in Wellington, we've rented a cute little flat for the next six weeks or so to really explore and enjoy this city.  I'll have more to post in a few days, since we are taking our time getting to know our new neighborhood and surrounding areas.  This city is beautiful, built on the harbor and set into a deep bay so there is water everywhere you look.  Our neighborhood is really cute, lots of townhouses and about 50 coffee shops, separated by cute little stores and pubs.  There is a local yoga studio that I am going to chat with today about teaching at while I am in town and there are even more yoga studios downtown that I've been in touch with.

Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving!! I realize I am a few days late as this gets posted but I miss you all and am so grateful to have you in my life.  We celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday in Napier on our way down to Havelock North where I taught my first yoga workshop of the trip.  More on that later though as we covered lots of ground since the last time I posted.

We began the week on the northern part of the north island in area called Doubtless Bay, small fishing villages on the coast (lots of fresh, delicious fish) and mostly farmland once you got away from the coast.  We only stayed a night but it was lovely, our campsite was right on Hihi beach, tucked into the bay with smooth water and white sand.  We had a few days of rain but it only made the colors of the flowers and ocean more vibrant.

After our trip up north we slowly wound our way south, stopping at the Ngawha Hot Springs (pronounced Naffa) which absolutely reeked of sulfur but felt so good after a few days on the road and also making a stop at the Giant Kauri Tree on our way back to Auckland.  This tree is thought to be over 2000 years old and is held sacred by the maori people. 

When we returned to Auckland we stayed with Sarah and Marek (who we met our first day in New Zealand) for 2 nights and explored the city a bit more.  It was nice to return to Auckland feeling a bit more comfortable in our travels.  There was lots to see and do and good wine and beer to drink (for far the Mac Black is my favorite) and friendly faces to meet and we had a great time.  We checked out neighborhood festival in Grey Lynn and visited some friends of friends (thanks to Rusty) in Ponsonby and touched base with Keiran, Mayana and the girls while they were in town between stays on the farm.  Oh yeah, and one rainy evening we splurged to see the new Harry Potter on Imax.  Go now, it was awesome.

After a few days in the city we were ready to get back on the road.  Mayana and Keiran set us up with some friends in Raglan so we stayed there a few nights.  Raglan has some of the best surfing in the world.  The beaches are black sand, with high bluffs all around the bay.  The town itself is nestled in right next to the beach and has great coffee and seafood.  We didn't try any of the local beer but the people we were staying with, Ollie and Karin, had some homebrew that was delicious.  They also had chickens, which meant fresh eggs, which were so good.  We can't thank them enough for their kindness and hospitality and hope to be back up there soon, hopefully for a new years beach party they are putting together.

With a few days left before teaching in Havelock North we headed to Lake Taupo, basically in the center of the lower part of the north island, it is NZ's biggest lake and is shrouded in the shadows of a huge national park where Mordor and Mount Doom were filmed in 'Lord of the Rings' (yes, I a big dork and I just referenced Lord of the Rings).  The view was amazing, especially at 5am as the sun was coming up and we were on our way to the river to go fly fishing.  We were out there for 10 hours, caught a few bites and lost a few flies but didn't catch one fish.  Regardless, it was a beautiful day and Sky is officially addicted to fly fishing.

Also near the lake on another river is a thermal hot spring stream that runs into the river.  This one did NOT reek of sulfur so we had a lovely afternoon sitting in the hot pools and enjoying the view.  Further up the river was our campsite, Reid's Farm.  The area is a free campsite left by the will of a man who had a softspot in his heart for backpackers.  We spend 2 nights there, cooking out of the back of the camper and sitting on the river.

And our final stop of the week, before I taught the workshop in Havelock North, was Napier in Hawke's Bay.  It was cute and it felt great to stay in a hostel and not in the car for a night.  The town was ver cute, rebuilt from the ground up in the 1930's all in art deco style architecture.  As it was Thanksgiving we treated ourselves to dinner, the first restaurant we'd been in since we left home.  It felt so luxurious to order a glass of wine and choose something from a menu, its funny the things you leave behind when traveling.  We shared fresch scallops from the bay as an appetizer and Sky had the lamb and I had a local fish (that I can't remember the name of) for entrees.  The preparation was german/ swiss style with local, fresh ingredients and it was delicious.

Today we are in Martinborough, as we've just arrived I'll post more on it later but it reminds me a good deal of Los Olivos, CA.  A small town with lots of tasting rooms surrounded by farmland.  We are staying in a cute little campsite with warm showers (yeah!!) and kitchen. I'm hoping to buy some fresh veggies to enjoy with some local wine for dinner.

Love to you all- xoxo
Kaitlyn

Raglan

A waterfall outside of Lake Taupo

Giant Kauri tree, I'm in the bottom left corner

Sky surfing in Raglan

Northland

Wow what  a week it has been!  Today marks the completion of our first full week in New Zealand and I can hardly believe the adventures we've had already.  I could write a book on everything that has transpired thus far but I'll try to keep it brief and just share the highlights.

We spent a few lovely days in Auckland before buying a van (her name is Rita) and getting it ready to head out on the road.  Once we left Auckland we headed up to a friend of a friend's house outside Paparoa, a beautiful house full of beautiful people.  We spent Thursday to Sunday gardening, cooking, playing with Mayana and Keiran's wonderful daughters, Billie (3) and Danu (1) and getting used to life outside of the city.  Thanks to them we built a bed to put in our van so now we can camp out wherever we feel like stopping.

The feeling of getting out of the city for the foreseeable future was a bit scary at first- like staring into a void, no idea what may come.  I hadn't realized how accustomed to city life I had become, once the city started to drift away I felt a lightness and openheartedness I hadn't felt in a long time.  It was wonderful.  

Mayana is an amazing cook and used mostly local ingredients (she gets whatever she can from her huge garden).  In addition to some of the best food I have ever eaten she taught me how to make raw sauerkraut, I won't know for 2 more weeks how it turned out but I'll keep you posted.  If you want the recipe let me know and I'll email you.

We also learned a bit about Maori culture as Mayana and Keiran both know heaps about it.  It is always so exciting to hear about different healing modalities.  No matter where in the world they come from, the Maoris of New Zealand, Chinese Medicine, Yoga- there are so many similarities it always makes me take a step back and appreciate the healers of this world.  

After the farm we headed north to the Bay of Islands.  It is glorious here.  A bit the San Juans in WA if they were tropical.  Lush forest, turquoise water, warm weather- we've been walking and swimming and doing lots of yoga.  The beaches here are white sand and shells and the water is cold but refreshing.  I can't really describe it in words so here are some photos.

Wharangei Falls

Maori carving at the sight of the treaty sighting- Wataingi

Coastline near Opua

xoxo

Kaityn

Auckland, New Zealand

It is amazing how much can change over the course of just a few days.  We arrived in Auckland on Sunday with no idea of where to go or what to do.  We couldn't even find our hostel but fortunately we asked a couple walking down the street if they happened to know where Pentland Ave was.  They walked us to our hostel and helped us get checked in and just last night we had dinner with them and had an amazing time sharing stories and drinking wine.  It is a great feeling to make new friends and I know we will meet again.  Thank you, Sarah and Marek- you are wonderful.

Our second night in town we had arranged to stay with a couple from couchsurfers.org, Joel and Kyla.  We met them in Auckland for a pint and headed over to their lovely house in Avondale for dinner and drinks.  It was so inspiring to be welcomed into a stranger's home and to see the kind of warmth and generosity that I didn't realize existed.  Everyone here has been so kind and helpful.  We were told before we left how nice Kiwi's were but I could not in my wildest dreams have imagined this level of openness. 

Today we are off to visit some more new friends (thanks to Genevieve), Mayana and Keiran live about an hour north of Auckland so we are off in our new car (Rita, the camper van) to explore life outside of the city.  Auckland has been wonderful but I am looking forward to jumping off the grid a bit and enjoying some quiet time to practice yoga and unwind from the crazyness that was our first week in New Zealand.

Not sure what the internet situation will be once we get on the road but I will try to post some more photos and keep sharing stories from wherever we are.

xoxo
Kaitlyn

Fiji!

Getting onto Fiji Time

11:30pm on October 31st we flew out of Los Angeles for the last time as residents.  Dropped off the apartment keys, gave lots of hugs and shed a few tears and we were off on our adventure.  Everything seemed to run smoothly, our flight was a little late leaving but no big deal.  Cut to landing in Nadi, Fiji- we had 15 minutes to clear customs, collect our bags, get back through security and get on our 15 seater plane to Taveuni Fiji.  Sooo- we cleared custom pretty fast and thought perhaps we would make it after all.  The universe however had other plans.  None of our baggage showed up.  3 checked bags and not one of them made it to baggage claim.  I had a moment of panic and then couldn't do anything but laugh.  I mean really, we are on the other side of the world and our only possessions are the items in our carry on backpacks?  It was so absurd it was funny, and it only got better.

Once we realized our bags weren't coming we had missed our flight by about twenty minutes so we ventured to the Air Pacific desk to get on the next flight out.  If you've ever done any island travel you may know that once you get out onto the island you move into 'island time'-  things rarely happen when they say they will and everyone just seems to go with it because really, what's the rush?  The scenery is beautiful, the people are nice so you may as well just go with the flow.  'Fiji time' is 'island time' to the power of ten- there may as well not even be a schedule because it will be wrong.  We were rerouted to Suva on a 30 person airplane and were told we would have a short wait there before getting on a flight out to Taveuni.  Suva is the capital of Fiji but the airport is nowhere near town and is more or less just a landing strip in the middle of some fields.  Our flight kept being delayed and we were given food vouchers for the cafe at the airport.  'Pizza King'- the only option for food at the airport did not actually serve pizza.  The woman behind the desk was so cute, she completely understood the absurdity and giggled as she said in a lovely Indian accent:  "Yes, we are called Pizza King. No, we do not have pizza."  Eventually we got on our flight.  There were  6 people on the plane including the pilot, who was about 19 years old, and the copilot.  We were all staggered with our luggage so that the flight was weighted correctly and then we took off.  The pilot was great and took us around the outside of the island where the huge waterfalls fall into the ocean.  Our flight was only an hour but it was enough to make up for all the craziness we had encountered up until that point- the beauty was nothing like anything I had ever seen.  Turquoise waters, so clear you could see the coral reefs from the airplane and wisps of cloud to accent each mountain peak.  We landed at the Matei airport and were picked up and taken to our resort.  The rest of the day we relaxed by the pool and watched the sun set on a bluff over the ocean with tropical breezes reminding us everything would be alright.  We had officially entered 'fiji time.'  

The next morning we woke with the Sun and took the bikes into the town of Soma Soma.  Everyone here is friendly and everywhere we went we heard "Bula!!" the Fijian greeting.  The culture here is so warm and open - in the words of one of the women here- everyone takes care of everyone else.  There is very little money but hey live off the sea and the land and there is very little violence or crime compared to most developing countries.  The language sounds like a mix of Indian and French Polynesian and has a rhythm that seems to flow with waves of the ocean.  It would be easy to stay here for months on end without having any worries at all.

Scuba Diving

On Thursday morning we woke up and went Scuba diving in the Rainbow Reef.  One of only 5 places in the world that soft coral can grow.  It was beautiful.  We had an amazing guide and went down to about 90 feet.  We saw clown fish living sea anemones, a lion fish, grey reef sharks, flower coral, barracuda, the endangered humped rass, steelhead tuna and a reef dropoff that must have gone down 1000 feet.  Peeking over the edge was like jumping off a building, it went straight down into infinity.  Compared to the California diving we got certified with this was like swimming in a huge aquarium. Colorful fish wherever you looked and water so clear you could see forever.  

Diwali Celebration

On Friday we moved to another resort closer to the airport for our last two nights.  It is right on the beach with snorkeling, kayaks and amazing food.  When we arrived we were told it was Diwali, a huge Indian holiday and we were invited to go to the house of one of the kitchen staff for a celebration.

The evening was amazing, we visited 4 homes of some of of the staff of the place we were staying in.  They shared their homes and their food.  Indian sweets of all shapes and sizes.  Their generosity and beautiful smiles will always be remembered.

Sadly, our Fiji trip was only 1 week but we will be back for more, the owner of the place we stayed the last few nights invited me back to teach a yoga retreat :)  Tomorrow we head to Auckland for more adventures!!

Peace and Light,

Kaitlyn