Our Place

Sunday

Ro slept in till 8:30, meaning he still had a good 9.5 hours of sleep after his late night, so we were optimistic for the day ahead. Sherry helped herself to the coffee in the room, thinking it was free, only spotting the price at the bottom of the minibar list after she ripped it open - $6.50! Fortunately, the nice breakfast buffet was complimentary for Priority Club members, but Ro was in a finicky mood and didn't eat much. Jean had forewarned Sherry, "take some warm clothes, because when the weather turns in Wellington, it TURNS." No...frikkin'...joke. While the weather yesterday was picture perfect, today it was cool, drizzly, and downright blustery. Mark's hat blew off as soon as we walked outside the hotel! No wonder Kiwis call gumboots "Wellies."

Oshkosh, not Prada. Who knew?

The hotel is only about a kilometer from the museum we were going to (less than the distance to Westpac Stadium), but between the gale-force winds and Sherry trying to hobble along on wet pavement, we only walked about 2 meters before we decided to hail a cab. The short drive along the waterfront revealed lots of interesting places that Sherry and Ro will have fun exploring next weekend (more on that later). We weren't the only ones with the notion of visiting the museum on this rainy Sunday - the place was packed.

Ro was too excited (or cold) to stop and pose

Te Papa Tongarewa, or just "Te Papa" meaning "our place" in Maori, is the national museum of New Zealand. Sherry and Mark found the details of New Zealand's history fascinating, although many of the exhibits involved reading, so Ro moved us through the museum at a brisk pace. Fortunately, they had multiple "Discovery Centers" for kids scattered throughout the building, one of which featured a huge animatronic baby that the kids could control with a few levers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_New_Zealand_Te_Papa_Tongarewa

Checking out the Mountains to Sea exhibit

The colossal squid is the largest invertebrate on the planet

This whale heart is suffering a fatal embolism

Who knew New Zealand had Velociraptors?

That's where we live!

And that's where I buggered my knee!

Even the café was kid-friendly

The revolutionary, world-beating Britten V1000. Still ahead of its time 20 years later

The current special exhibit, A Day in Pompeii, required an admission fee (Te Papa is free but donations are encouraged), so we waited to see how long the rest of the museum took before forking out for it. Turns out the permanent collections were MORE than enough to fill a whole day, so we never did get to see Pompeii. The museum was like a mix of the Natural History and American History Museums at the Smithsonian, only about NZ, of course. Highlights included the colossal squid (we'd seen the story of how it arrived at Te Papa on Discovery Channel), Maori huts and war canoes, a towering display of the Treaty of Waitangi (akin to NZ's Constitution), whole rooms devoted to nearly every major immigrant group, funky art, and an interactive architecture exhibit that reacted to your movements and shadows.

http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/

Dwarfed by a waka taua (Maori war canoe)

Shoes off in the wharenui, please!

Inside the Maori meeting house

A wharenui for everyone, Maori and Pakeha alike

Tea time!

The "Big Baby" was a prop designed for Peter Jackson's The Frighteners, but ended up on the cutting room floor

This corned beef hash cow was a commentary on the decimation of Pacific Islander cuisine by white culture

Entering the nostalgic Golden Days exhibit

We stayed at the museum for a good 6 hours, getting pushed out as it was closing. We could have easily spent more time there, as the place is huge. There was also a whole garden section with a waterfall outside that we only saw through the rain-spattered windows. Mark asked one of the museum workers where the good restaurants were nearby, and she directed us to Allen Street a couple blocks from the museum. As soon as we stepped outside, the cold wind hit us like a slap in the face. Despite some lollygagging and whining about the balmy Wellington summer weather, we eventually reached the inviting block of restaurants.

Ro had the roof sculpture garden to himself

Wellington Harbour from the top of Te Papa

The ever-controversial Treaty of Waitangi

To keep the peace, we let Ro choose which restaurant on the block we ate at, as we would have been happy with any of them. He randomly picked the Indian place, which was very good. Lemonade (i.e. Sprite) in hand, Ro was happy again. Mark had the fish curry, which was excellent (although less so later around 3am), Sherry her standard Saag Paneer, and Ro the buttered chicken, with plenty of naan to go around.

http://www.satayindia.com/

Glad to be off our feet

It was still too chilly and drizzly for a stroll along the waterfront after dinner, and it only took a few seconds of walking for Ro to plead, "Can we get a taxi, dad?" We retreated to the hotel pool, where Sherry soaked her aching knee in the spa tub, taking care to keep it well away from Ro as he jumped in and out of the lap pool and spa. The lap pool was well over his head, but he cannonballed in and swam the entire length of it; we marvelled at just how far he had come in his swimming in just a few months. Sherry left Mark and Ro to finish playing at the pool while she relaxed in solitude in a hot bath, then we put Ro to bed as we fell asleep watching the final of the Australian Open.

Warm at last!

Say "cheese," babe!

Acca Dacca Down Underer

Saturday

Ro and Barnaby played together all morning, in both apartments and at the pool. Meanwhile, Mark and Sherry took turns running last-minute errands. Around 1pm, we found ourselves serenaded in our apartment by bagpipes...lots of them. Mark walked outside to find the source of the noi...uh, music. Turns out the Gaelic Festival of Music & Dance was at Coronation Park this afternoon, packing in the crowds despite the drizzly weather.

Blowing bubbles on our deck

Swim buddies

Bay of Plenty Pipes & Drums

Dancers practising in front of the Police station. Note the Crocs

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport for our long-awaited "road trip." The hour-long flight south to Wellington was just the right length for Ro. Glad we didn't elect the 8-hour drive. Although the weather in Tauranga was grey, Wellington was atypically warm and sunny...ahhh.

Can we get on yet?

Southwest part of the North Island, Mt Taranaki in the distance

The taxi from the Wellington airport took us through the Mt Victoria Tunnel, which goes under, you guessed it: Mt Victoria. LOTR fans will recognize that as the location of several scenes near the beginning of The Fellowship Of The Ring. The forested hills and English-looking suburbia soon gave way to tall buildings, busy city streets, and a bustling waterfront. All the pubs had black-shirted rock fans spilling out of their doors. As if we needed any reminder of who was in town, our Holiday Inn had a drop-down jumbo video screen in the middle of the lobby, cranking live AC/DC videos. Oh yeah!

View from our room towards some government buildings

Think Ro likes his rollaway?

The day AC/DC tickets went on sale was Ticketek's biggest sales day in Wellington...ever. The Thursday concert sold out in a couple of hours, and a Saturday show was quickly added, for which Mark scored prime tickets. This was to be Ronan's first concert experience, and it promised to be a memorable one. We had picked up some fuzzy red horns from The $2 Store at The Mount this morning, figuring Ro could wear them until the concert started, then switch to his over-ear headphones for hearing protection (which Sherry had decorated with "AC/DC" in black magic marker).

Fashionable in black and ready to rock

We grabbed dinner on the way to the concert at a sidewalk cafe, where we discovered that Ronan deems himself incapable of drinking from a can, even one with Sprite in it. He managed to get it down eventually, with only a mildly soaked shirt. We fortified ourselves with the greasy fare, then set off through the railway station to the stadium. A couple of metal fans wearing Iron Maiden gear gave Mark props for his Dream Theater shirt. At the station, there were ramps at the far end of most of the boarding platforms leading up to a wide elevated walkway over the rail yard that went straight to Westpac Stadium (named after a bank). No roads or tracks to cross. Ingenious civil engineering.

Although we saw a few other kids Ro's age, most of the crowd was well over 35, wearing AC/DC garb they'd probably owned for over 20 years. We picked up a few souvenir t-shirts, which although always a bit of a rip-off, had only the NZ, Australian, and Japanese dates from the Black Ice tour listed on them, and so were virtually guaranteed to be rare back home in NC. Of course, despite already having some horns, Ro wanted the official AC/DC light-up horns as soon as he saw them, to the tune of $15. We held off for a while, but Sherry finally relented in the interest of peace. On the other hand, the Tui beer was reasonably priced at NZ$6, which would only be about US$4.20, a steal compared to US concerts, and you were encouraged to buy four at a time to keep the lines shorter! The "hot dogs," per the Kiwi way, were like corn-dogged sausages; you had to go to a special kiosk that sold "American hot dogs" to get one on a bun (at a premium, natch), complete with "special sauces" (i.e. ketchup and mustard).

The opening bands The Checks (okay) and Shihad (pretty good) kept Ro entertained only briefly. He started to lay his head down on our laps, a bad sign for lasting the night as it approached his usual bedtime. We resorted to something we normally deprive him of: caffeine. After a Coca-Cola, he was rarin' to go. When AC/DC took the stage with a flash of pyrotechnics, he was psyched. He stripped off his shirt and was dancing in the aisle with his headphones on! Amused onlookers commented, "good on ya, start 'em when they're young!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC/DC

The Rock N' Roll Train gets rolling

For any hard rock fan who's never seen AC/DC, you owe it to yourself to go see them. Like the Stones or KISS, these guys have been doing it long enough that they know how to really entertain an audience, regardless of whether or not you like their music. They certainly don't trade on their looks!

Look daddy, fireworks!

Ro loved jumping up and down to the music, and we were all having a great time, until they played "The Jack." Brian Johnson, the singer, introduced it in his trademark gravelly voice as, "a song about a dirty woman." Well, apparently, it also emboldened all the dirty women in the audience, and the, umm, "scenery," on the jumbotrons soon got to be a bit much for a five-year-old. The band played it for laughs, as Angus (the balding, pug-ugly lead guitar player) soon returned the favor to the crowd with a strip-tease of his own. We were hoping the girlie shots were just an isolated incident, but it happened again a few songs later during "You Shook Me All Night Long." Ro didn't seem to mind in the least, but in the interest of parental responsibility, we cut out a little early. Mark did pause on the way out, however, to catch his favourite AC/DC song, "Whole Lotta Rosie," complete with a giant inflatable Rosie straddling a locomotive engine and a scorching guitar solo.

As luck would have it, a guy from Tauranga sitting right next to us shot some decent video of the concert on his digital camera:

Rock N' Roll Train (opening song): http://www.youtube.com/user/delmsly#p/u/22/rXLSP7QfAoc

Back In Black:
http://www.youtube.com/user/delmsly#p/u/35/Kj49YP_I-jE

The Jack [CAUTION]:
http://www.youtube.com/user/delmsly#p/u/113/eFWXs2LcV3s

You Shook Me All Night Long [CAUTION]: http://www.youtube.com/user/delmsly#p/u/114/s-Adhu4s_tE

Ro was sad he didn't get to see the cannons from the finale we had promised him, but hopefully the band will still be alive and touring when Ro is older. With any luck, we'll run into the drummer Phil Rudd back home. He lives in Tauranga, after all, and is well-known to the Emergency Department where Mark works.

For Ro's A Jolly Good Fellow!

Friday

Today was Ronan's "going away" party at Pilot Bay. Sherry called all his school chums' mums a couple of weeks ago to invite them, and has been planning the party ever since. She tried baking another pavlova this morning since her one last night fell. She remembered too late that you weren't supposed to open the oven door while it cooled. Unfortunately, she ran out of confectioner's sugar this morning and had to substitute granulated sugar, which didn't work at all, yielding a gritty mess that wouldn't dissolve. She mixed it so much that the meringue finally just fell apart in a gooey disaster, which all went into the bin. Her next attempt looked good to start with; she used icing sugar, but the final result, although pretty, was a sticky, inedible mess. Nothing like the crunchy crust with the light center it was supposed to be. Her first attempt from last night, although not pretty, would have to do using the standard Kiwi cover-up: lots of whipped cream!

Too sweet

The Anchorage was busy with all the people checking in for a weekend holiday, so the elevator went on the fritz again, just as we were about to take all the food and drinks down to Pilot Bay. Fortunately, Craig was around to give us a hand lugging all the stuff down four stories. We ferried all the food and supplies over in the car while Craig escorted Ro and Barnaby on their bicycles. Pilot Bay beach was packed, and we somehow lucked out and got the only open parking spot, right near our picnic site. Noisy kids are good for something, as we soon scared off a few people hanging about the picnic tables we were angling for.

Carla, MJ, and Tori were already there, and the rest of Ro's classmates showed up in short order. All the boys wore their togs and brought their boogie boards and surfboards, so they splashed around in the water for most of the afternoon while the adults socialized around the tables and the grill. Everyone brought plenty of meat for the "sausage sizzle," (i.e. barbecue) which Sherry supplemented with some tasty pasta salad. Ro scarfed his food down quickly, not wanting to miss out on dessert.

My turn!

Ro & MJ drying off in the warm sun

Tori, MJ, Janyia, Ro & Tessa

Sherry loved working with Janyia in Ro's classroom

Da boys chillin'

Clucking with the hens. Note the free public gas grill

The cake Sherry made for the kids made your teeth ache just looking at it. A double-decker chocolate sheet cake, surrounded by marshmallows, and topped with loads of icing, chocolate fish and milk bottles (candies so ubiquitous they've become Kiwiana), with several New Zealand flags sticking out of it. Ro asked for a "big piece," then promptly dropped it on the ground, so he had to wait anxiously as everyone else got served, wondering if there would be any left for him.

Like hyenas around a zebra carcass

Several of the kids brought presents for Ro, most notably Jack, who even painted Ro a painting of Mauao. Carla and her family gave Sherry a Pukiko (a NZ bird) apron, Mark a NZ letter opener, and Ro a Maori waka among other gifts.

Jack takes after his grandmother

Thank ya, mate!

Mark ran back to the apartment for the whipped cream and fresh fruit to put on the pavlova, which Sherry prepared a bit away from the crowd, so only Craig and Paulette could see its homely beginnings. The finished product, though, drew raves from all the Kiwis for its spot-on taste and texture, making Sherry feel like all her efforts were worth it.

Pavlova is served!

The Hills at one of our favourite hangouts

As some of the kids started leaving, Sherry passed out the goodie bags she'd prepared. We were soon awash in noisemakers (balloons wrapped around small straws which squeal when the air is released), getting dirty looks from nearly everyone on the beach. The kids were having too much fun to stop them, though, so Mark devised a game of "who can blow up their balloon the biggest?" The balloons soon started popping to our relief, except Gareth's, the noisiest of the bunch. He paused his noisemaking just long enough to tell Sherry, "You sure do throw a great party!"

Sunbather's bane

Ro's greenstone takes a dip

Get him!

Cracking up

Barnaby & Ro taking a breather

Ro tries to take down Saxon

Showing off her new fashion accessory

MJ, Barnaby, & Ro clowning for the camera

The party adjourned at sunset, and the boys rode home, waving to us as we passed them in the car. After a hunt around the apartment for Bear Bear, we finally got Ro to bed. Once he finished his bedtime story, he put his head down and sighed, "I really had a great time."

As the festivities are winding down