Vacation By Committee

We had left our host family home in our rental car headed for Cook Strait so we could enjoy crossing the strait on the famous ferry service that has been there for decades.  Our GPS kept telling us to turn right so we basically went in circles for an hour or so.

We were tired and probably suffering from jet lag right there.  Everyone had a different idea on how to get out of our predicament.  Perry was just doing what he was told but I am sure he was getting frustrated, too.  Finally he looked back at us and asked if this was vacation by committee?

I had to laugh.  Sarah and I had tried to find a suitable trip for us to explore South America and maybe see some soybean and other crop production down there.  Nothing came up that looked like a good value for the cost.  So, we had agreed this trip down under was the best "bang for the buck" and we all wanted to see the places on the itinerary.  And now we were lost.

It didn't last very long, it just seemed like a long time.  That is what traveling in New Zealand and Australia is like.  You don't measure how far it is to your destination, you estimate the time it will take to get there.  The roads are mostly two lane and curvy and often hilly, especially in New Zealand.

Crossing the strait turned out to be the biggest ordeal of our trip.  Now it seems small.  The ferry service has a new ship with ecologically friendly computerized diesel engines.  They went down and the trip at 2:30 pm didn't leave harbor until 7:30 pm.  1000 passengers plus cars and trucks were stranded for those 5 hours as we waited for another ship to cross the strait.  It was dark when we crossed so any pictures were out.

Everyone wants to know what else is different down under?  The main thing we see is they don't treasure disposal junk we Americans buy like we do.  They live simpler lives because their living expense is about 1.3 to 1.4 times greater than ours.  You don't see WalMart or Lowe's everywhere like you do here.  Glenys might wear a $300 wool sweater where LuAnn might have 3 $100 sweaters.  Basic life down under is different, similar to ours but different.

Vacation by committee worked out very well.  We travelled with two seasoned travelers like ourselves with similar values, experience and goals.  There was more security in our group of four than just a couple traveling by themselves.

I slept until almost 8 this morning.  LuAnn woke up at 5:30 AM which is good for her work though she doesn't normally work Fridays.  We are getting back into our natural biological state but it takes time.  Each person processes it differently and you have to think ahead and allow yourself time to adjust and not jump into things like you normally would do.

I felt great yesterday from 2 AM until almost noon.  Then I got nauseous as the afternoon went by.  I finally succumbed to a nap after 3 PM and I awoke when LuAnn got home from work at 4:30.  We ate some veggies then went to Frisch's for dinner and went to our evening meetings.  We were able to stay awake until 10 and slept good all night.  I feel better today but still have a headache.

Things are getting better day by day.  It's been a week since we started to leave Australia and 50 hours to get home which really messed with our biological clocks.

Now if we cold just get our house back from remodeling.

Ed