Carolina Kiwis: Back To The Future

Monday/Tuesday

After a short night's sleep, we were up at o-dark-thirty to catch the shuttle to the airport. About a dozen other bleary-eyed resort guests were waiting with us in the open-air lobby. The damp morning air was (to steal from Wayne Knight) so dewy sweet, you didn't even have to lick the stamps. Once at the airport, we stuck our bags on a trolley (like Auckland, they're free, unlike in the US) and Mark waited in the long line of island tourists waiting to check in for our Air New Zealand flight. Meanwhile, Sherry headed straight for the coffee stand. Ro was still moping about, constantly asking, "Where's Kelsea?"

Even Bear-Bear and a Sprite couldn't console a lovesick, sleepy Ronan

Cappucino time!

We got to Customs and had to turn right around because we hadn't paid our departure tax yet. Fortunately, there was a Westpac bank kiosk in the airport to collect our NZ$125 dollars ($55/adult, $15/child). They've got quite a racket going! We thought we were the last people to board the plane, but it turned out they were waiting for a tardy hotel shuttle, so we didn't need to run across the tarmac after all.

Ro found a friend on the lawn outside Customs

Sunrise at Rarotonga airport

The seats in the plane were in a 2-3-2 configuration, so Mark took a window seat while Sherry and Ro sat behind him. Thankfully, Ro passed out shortly after we took off. Mark watched This Is Spinal Tap (one of his favorites) and episodes of a funny Kiwi sitcom Diplomatic Immunity, while Sherry watched Fargo (we'd already seen most of their good new movies). On arriving at Customs in Auckland, we double-checked to make sure we didn't have any fruit after our fiasco last trip. We had briefly entertained the idea of hitting the Auckland Zoo or other such place, but Ro wasn't in any sort of mood for that, so we just headed for home. The cold wind hitting our faces as we emerged from the terminal was a rude awakening back to reality after our all-too-brief stay in paradise.

Catching some well-earned shuteye

The first time we noticed the genitalia on the Maori gate at Auckland airport, similar to all the images of Tangaroa

Ro enjoying the moving walkway

Sherry outside the international terminal

We were all hungry on the way home (it was the next day, after all), so we stopped in the little town of Ngatea to eat at a cafe and get some caffeine in our systems. Ro was in rare form, whining-wise. Nothing was right. We tried to be understanding, since we'd pushed him pretty hard this weekend. Sherry was happy to take the creme fraiche off his plate for herself, but we finally gave up trying to reason with him when he uttered, "There's too many blueberries on my pancakes!"

Ro wrapping himself up with a chain outside the cafe

We had driven past it multiple times before, and we had promised Ro that this time we would finally stop at the playground in Waihi with the big rocket-shaped slide. Although storm clouds were looming, we were happy to let him run around for a while and burn off some energy. The rainy drizzle finally got too heavy, and in the interest of avoiding a soaking-wet, cold, unhappy kid we called it quits on the park and headed for home. We had nothing in the pantry for dinner, as we'd tried to use up most everything before the trip, so Sherry headed for the market while Mark entertained Ro. After dinner (pasta, salad and a bottle of wine), we put Ro to bed early, relaxed, and started editing all the pics from our winter holiday.