Epic New Zealand Road Trip - Birthday Celebration

Tuesday Feb 5^th – Thursday Feb 7^th

We left for New Zealand on Vietnamese New Year Day, the Year of The Pig. I worked part of the morning. Debbie left her car at our house. Tom dropped us off at Dulles. The weather was nice. The government opened back up a few days earlier and assuaged our fears of flights not taking off.

Amazingly, our four legs went smoothly and our luggage made it through customs in Nadi and arrived with us to Christchurch on Thursday Feb 7^th with no problems. (Yes, we lost a day travelling across the International Date Line.) While in Nadi, we received news that Liên’s flight was postponed for 24 hours. We didn’t know that she could arrange other flights until we got to Auckland. The final arrangement gave her a 13-hour delay rather than the 24-hour delay, but the price for that was an additional $300 and a night at the airport for Liên. We were grateful for that, though, because that meant the only disruption for the planned epic trip was having to shorten our first hike by about 5 hours.

We decided on adding a GPS to the rental car and with it, we found the Airbnb easily enough. A real estate agent came by the place to advertise his service, but instead of getting potential clients, he got us - people who needed the use of his cell phone. We drove out to a local Chinese place for dinner and settled in for the night, thankful for not having to get up at midnight to pick Liên up at the airport – which would involve driving on the left side of the road in the dark while tired. Debbie fell asleep easily. I stayed up a bit to explore what to do in Christchurch before Liên arrives.

Friday Feb 8^th

I got old a day earlier in Christchurch. Today was my birthday. 

Debbie and I found white bread and stale cereal in the kitchen for breakfast. We had toasts with jam. I made myself a cup of instant coffee. After breakfast, we took a walk to Jellie Park, a park next to the Airbnb. I sent Liên a picture of myself at the lake in the park when she texted “How was Jellie Park?” Later I realized and she confirmed that she meant the Airbnb (Stay At Jellie Park). But I’m glad she had my happy picture to contrast to her sad one spending the night at the airport in Brisbane.

After the walk, we checked out and went to Christchurch Gondola. We got there before it was open, so we walked some of the Bridle Path, a popular trail next to the gondola, before going up the gondola to the top of the hill. We spent some time on top savoring the view and hiking.

We wanted to be closer to the airport when Liên arrived and Debbie said she didn’t mind driving into the city, which is between the gondola and the airport, so we went into the city and learned how to park on the street and pay for it with a credit card and even showed a local how to use the system. We visited Christchurch Cathedral and the Botanic Gardens.

Liên’s flight was about half an hour late, but we were able to connect and after adding Liên’s name to be an additional driver to the rental car, we took off for Hokitika. On the way, we stopped at Arthur’s Pass National Park to take pictures of Castle Hill and hiked to the Devil’s Punch Waterfall.

Liên treated me to my birthday dinner in Hokitika. The restaurant is right on the beach. It was a beautiful setting. We got free drinks for staying at the Drifting Sands. When it was dark, we walked to the Glow Worm’s Dell. That was my first seeing the glow worms that Liên talked so much about.

Collage #50

We waved goodbye to 2018
And welcome the year that comes after
New adventures await us
While the old comfort remains
We’re grateful that we have
So much to share among ourselves
We rejoice in our happiness
As we spread it all around us
We bask in love and friendship
And celebrate our blessings
We give thanks for the year that’s gone
And for the new one that'd just begun

Time to Remember

I hold your body

Warm to the touch

My Beautiful Angel

Wrapped in a Christmas blanket

You let me hold you

And snuggle tight

You lay your head on my shoulder

I rock you to sleep

With a lullaby

Your breathing is labored

I hope you’re touched by calm colors

In sweet dreams

When you’ll wake

I’ll feed you ice cream

Of your favorite flavor
Without asking if you have
Finished your dinner
It doesn't matter 

Though you’re not well

We’ll have a swell time

To be remembered

Snippet - Sweet Christmas Present

On Christmases past, our children used to run into our room to tell us it was time to get up. Wide-eyed and excited, they couldn’t wait for the promises of Christmas Day. They are no longer with us, but scattered in faraway places. Each of them lives in a different state, just as each of them was born in a different state. This Christmas I was nostalgic for the old days and lamented that I’d get to sleep in. One of my children took notes. She set her alarm to wake me up at six. A sweet Christmas present, indeed.

Old World

We’re from the Old World

Where order prevails

Absolutes are a must

Blacks and whites are clear

Grey doesn’t exist

To confuse our intellect

One must not stray away

From rules of conduct

It is logical to expect

Love to be conditional

I balance my feet on each world

The Old and the New

Listening to the heart and the mind

My heart feels

My head twirls

I’ve known your compassion

I’ve seen your good work

Yet I feel oppression

The Old World imposes

Has the world turned up-side-down

Your up is my down

I cry for progress lost

You seek to reorder

My heart sways

My head hurts

Do I let go of the love

Or work up the anger

Do I set up boundaries

In the grey area

Which constantly changes

Its shape and size and color

I yield to the familiar

When I hear your call

I push away the doubts

And love you all the same

I thought I’ve left the Old World

For the New

But my feet are still

Perching on your world

And mine

Collage 49

Do you see
My sister and me
Where I am
There’s also Milli
You see one
You see the other
We’re almost
Always together
Except when
At Valley View I be
I tell her
To take care of Mommy
While I learn
How letters make words
So at night
When we lie in bed
I can read
And tell her stories
I teach her
So many lessons
Like counting
And answer questions
She listens
But doesn’t always follow
That’s alright
I'm surely the leader
And much adored
By my little sister

Busted Secret

He runs. He bikes. He swims. And now he takes walks, even on days he already ran. I’d reply “See you later,” as he walks out saying, “Can you lock the door behind me; I have the key.” Walking is not my thing. Nor is running. Nor is biking. And especially not swimming. I’m a land animal. I don’t do well in water. I play soccer and attend dance classes. The things we do together are hiking and backpacking. My legs are still sore from the backpacking trip we took this past weekend. It’s cold out there. My soccer team already registered 16 players for tonight’s game. I didn’t relish the idea of being on the sideline for part of the game. And I wasn’t sure I’d run very well on sore legs while on the field. So instead of going to soccer, I offered to walk with him. He said he wanted to walk briskly.

As I kept up with his brisk walking, I felt the soreness of my thigh muscles. I wondered if I would enjoy it more if we slowed down on a leisurely (and romantic) walk or if I should have stayed home and enjoyed my exercise-free day. But I didn’t want to spoil our walk. And besides, wasn’t that what I wanted? A short exercise to replace the soccer playing.

I followed his lead, crossing the main road to get to the farm. As we walked along the perimeter of the farm, he told me we’d have to jump two fences. I imagined being apprehended for trespassing the public farm after hours. I thought he should have turned off his head lamp at the fence crossings, but he didn’t seem to worry about anything. Right after we “jumped” the first fence, a goat’s bleat startled me and he laughed. After we “jumped” the second fence, he excitedly pointed to a model H tractor marked with the year he was born and told me he always stopped at this spot. Shortly afterwards, we crossed the main street again, but since there is no sidewalk there, we didn’t take the main street. As we walked on the side street into a neighborhood, he pointed out the peculiarity of an old house at the corner with a large piece of land. All other houses are more modern and don’t take up as much land. When we were about to return to the main street, he told me at which driveway he’d cross the side street to continue the walk home.

Now when he goes out for a walk, I will no longer be in the dark of the route he takes. When he talks about the model H, the odd old house, the driveway where he crosses the street, I’ll know exactly where these places are because I have their pictures in my head.

My teammates may or may not miss me this evening, but they probably agree it was a fair trade-off.