Christmas in New Zealand

Merry Christmas! (Yes we do consider this our Christmas card too you :-)

This year we decided rather than travelling back to the US to spend Christmas with family we would instead meet them somewhere. Steve's parents (who live in Alaska) were up for an adventure (and some warmer weather) so New Zealand seemed like a good 'mid-point' to meet at. We flew to Auckland (via Dubai, Bangkok, and Sydney - it was a long trip!) and met Steve's parents there. New Zealand is a big place and we were travelling in peak holiday season so we found a great travel agent who set us up with a full day-by-day itinerary to follow. Sandi at Amazing New Zealand knew all the right places to stay (at a good price) and told us which tourist attractions are a must see. We started in Auckland were we picked up our mini-van and got on the road first thing the next morning. The northern island is very green and lush and the scenic drive was a nice change from our desert home.

First stop on the way to Rotorua was the Waitomo caves. These caves are the only place in the world where you can see glow worms. Similar to fire flys the worms use a chemical to make the end of their tail glow. The light is used to attract other insects to them so they can be caught in the silk threads the worms dangle from the ceiling. Then like a spider the glow worms wait for dinner to get stuck in the silk. The worms are 1-2 inches long but it's only the tip of the tail that glows.

In Rotorua we stayed in a quaint B&B right on the Waiteti Lake. Steve and his dad did some fly fishing and the girls went into town for a little shopping and relaxing in the natural hot springs. We also visited the local nature park and got to pet a lion cub and feed the wallaby's. That evening we were treated to the Maori cultural show. The Maori's are the natives of New Zealand and have a very rich and unique culture that the are proud to show off.

The next day we were back in the car headed to Lake Taupo. On the way we stopped at the Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland, which is appropriately named. We had no idea steaming rocks, boiling mud, and the smell of rotten eggs could be so much fun. Our next stop on the drive was Huka falls. This is an amazing waterfall not because of how tall it is but because of how much water comes through the rocks. The apartment we stayed in on Lake Taupo, Oreti Lodge, had a beautiful view of the lake but unfortunately we only time to stay for the one night before moving on to Wellington. In Wellington we caught the ferry that takes you to the south island. It's a very scenic trip.


Once on the south island we proceeded on to Christchurch were we got the chance to take a break and spend 2 nights in the same bed. This is also were we had Christmas. Most of the town was shut-down for the holiday so it was low-key and relaxing, which is just what we wanted.

Next stop was Mt. Cook. It had rained on and off all day but by the time we arrived the clouds parted and we got to enjoy a nice 3 hour hike with a beautiful view of the mountain and it's surrounding glaciers. This is also where we got an up close and personal encounter with the local Kea bird. We came out of the lodge after dinner and startled the bird who then screamed "KKEEAAAAAAAAAA" at us. I thought we were under attack and grabbed Steve as my shield. The bird took off and we had a good laugh about on the walk back to our cabins.

The next morning we took a tour of a glacier that calves into the Tasman Lake. We got into inflatable rafts and zipped around the floating mountains of ice. It was very cold so I was glad the I had purchased one of the local specialties, possum cashmere gloves and hat. It's soft and washable. After Mt.Cook we went to our final stop in New Zealand Queenstown. The first night we took the scenic gondola up to a restaurant for dinner. This was another day where it rained on and off all day but as soon as we headed for dinner it cleared up with a beautiful rainbow and we got an awesome view of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables mountain range.
First adventure in Queenstown was to visit Milford Sound. We flew there in a small prop plane over the breathtaking South Island Alps. The flight took about 45 minutes but if we would've gone by car it would've taken over 10 hours to navigate through them. Milford Sound is a lush green area right in the middle of high snow covered mountains. It rains so often that 9 days without it is considered a drought.

After our boat tour of Milford Sound we got back on the plane and flew to Glenorchy for a scenic jet-boat tour. This area of New Zealand is where the film all kinds of movies set in the mountains. There is one particular range that has been used as the Swiss Alps, Himalayas, and are the back ground for the Coors Rocky Mountain commercials (nope they aren't filmed in CO).

The next day we drove to a small town in the mountains called Cardrona for a horse back ride. The lupines were in full bloom (as they were on the whole island) and the temperature was perfect for a morning on the horses.

After horse back riding we went to Lake Wanaka for some trout fishing. Steve's dad caught a beautiful rainbow trout that he released after getting a photo op.

New Zealand was a trip of a lifetime and we had so much fun I'm sure we'll find a reason to go back. But the trip isn't over yet. From here we continued on to Australia but that will be the subject of the next post . . .

Thanksgiving

This year we did the rotisserie turkey again with much better results. No fire or scorched turkey to the relief of our 15 guests. We had a potluck type event and everyone cooked too much food and ate too much food. We had several Australians who got the experience their first American Thanksgiving. A good time was had by all and the best part is no cooking for the rest of the week.

Some fun in October

Once Ramadan is over and everyone is back from Eid vacation (see previous entry) we had a few great parties. The first is an annual event that the Intercon Hotel puts on. This is the 2nd year we've attended and it's definitely the event of the year. The Intercon and Qatar Airway get together to fly in a band from Germany to celebrate Oktober Fest including all you can eat German food buffet (minus the pork of course).

Right around Halloween one of our friends turned 30 so what better excuse do you need than to have a costume party. Steve and I had these from back in Houston (this is why you pack everything possible in the sea shipment) and thought this was a great opportunity to bring a little Chicago to life . . .

Sailing the Greek Isles

In October we rented a sailboat for a week with some of our friends from Doha and sailed the Greek Islands. Specifically the Cyclades Islands. We left from the port of Lavrio which is about 50 miles from Athens. Our captain 'Marco' has been sailing these waters his whole life and doing charters for the past 12 years. Our boat was a 55ft sailboat with 5 cabins (4 for us for the captain) called the Wave Dancer (http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=alba-iv-wavedancer-426). When we booked the trip we decided what port to leave from and arrive at and left the rest of the itinerary up to the Captain. October is a tricky time for weather in this area. As we left the port the weather started to get bad and the captain decided that we'd skip the first island (Kynos) and go straight to Syros. It was 7 hrs of sailing on the first day and half of us (including Steve and myself) helped to feed the fish (so to say).Syros was a great island because the Marina was right next to the main strip of cafes that overlooked the sea. We could step off the boat and be sipping cappuccinos within a few steps. We spent 2 days on Syros to let the weather clear and enjoyed walking through the streets, visiting the shops, and just being on dry land for awhile.

The next island we visited was Mykonos. This island is known for it's night life. October is considered the low season for the Greek Islands so we found most things to be closed. We spent the afternoon walking around town and found a nice small bar with a great balcony for viewing the famous sunsets. In high season these kind of balconies come with a 2-3 hour wait (so we heard) but we had the whole place to ourselves.Next island we visited was Paros. We spent a day here enjoying the sites. By about this time the side affects from the sea motion sickness patches kicked in. Dry mouth and dilated pupils. We dealt with the dry mouth by switching to white wine rather than red - the dilated pupils were a bigger problem because you can't read. I had to rely on Steve or the waiter to figure out what to order.

The plan was to visit Ios next but another storm was moving in so the Captain decided to get us to Naxos where we spent our final 2 days. Naxos was a great island because it is huge. We spent an afternoon and the most of the next day riding around on 4-wheelers (to avoid anymore scooter accidents) and seeing the little towns sprinkled through the mountains of Naxos. Our final island was Santorini. The original plan was to sail here but the weather would have made the trip take over 7 hours and the wind had shifted such that the boats couldn't use the marina. The wind usually doesn't shift like this until much later in the season so we had to take a ferry into Santorini for our last night in Greece. We stayed in the hotel Enigma (http://www.enigmahotel.com/) which a great little place with a wonderful view and a good deal for the area s was located in. In the morning they deliver breakfast so the guests can enjoy it on the personal balconies with the great view. Since we arrived so late we didn't get much time here but enjoyed the rain, and spending the night on land again.

The trip was great - we'll definitely do the Greek islands again. If you want to see all the pictures then follow this link.

http://connorsindoha.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AbNGLFozaNWLvo&notag=1

Steve in NYC

So I had a quick and furrious business trip to NYC recently. I basically had to go in for a one day meeting/negotiation. Nothing like racking up 10,000 miles for a one day meeting. The good news is that I got to tack on a weekend stay in NYC. I stayed at the south end of central park and had a good time walking around seeing the sights. I also had a chance to catch up with an old college friend that I hadn't seen in a while.

In the end it was a productive and fun quick trip.

Daily Show Clip

This is a great clip you should watch, especially if you're a fan of the Daily Show. . .

http://moeys.net/2007/09/19/daily-show-john-oliver-visits-qatar/

Greek pictures will be coming soon . . .

And we thought it was safe here . . .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071016/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_qatar_missile_8

We got a kick out of this article, especially since we happened to be on vacation when it happened.

Trip back to the States

Well 17 airports, 8 planes, and who knows how many hours of traveling and waiting in airports we completed our grand tour of the US. In a little less than 3 weeks we visited Houston, Seattle, Denver, Palisade, and Winnefield LA, not to mention the Gatwick to Heathrow commute in London or layover in Bahrain.

We got to see old friends from Houston and college and spent some time with family. Our good friend from college Tim got married in Seattle which is what kicked off the trip. After getting back we realized the only pictures we took were of the wedding in Seattle. You can see them on shutterfly http://connorsindoha.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AbNGLFozaNWLr4&notag=1. It was great to see everyone and we were glad to be able to fit so much into one trip. . . however it will be awhile until we're that ambitious with our travel plans anytime soon.

The happyily married couple Tim(my) and Carolyn

Turtles

One of Steve's latest projects is assessing the impact of construction on certain beaches to the local turtle population. Who knew that they'd actually pay you to go out and see turtles. Right now it's hatching time so periodically the team has to go out and help the little guys make it to the sea.
I got to go out with the team a few days ago to help release turtles. It was dark by the time we saw any so these are pictures from previous visits out to the beach. No doubt about it - turtle hatching's are adorable (and tiny!)

FIVE YEARS!!

The desert just after sunset.
View of the hotel hidden in the mountain.
Night view from our room. The city lights below the pool is the city/emirate of Al Ain.

Yep - it's been 5 years since Steve and I got married. Since we're starting to run a little low on vacation (lot's more trips planned for this year) so we decided to celebrate by taking a weekend trip in the region. One of Steve's co-workers recommended the Jebel Hafeet Resort in the mountains outside of Abu Dhabi. We enjoyed a relaxing weekend with a little Dom Perrignon (courtesy of the duty free shop) and I came home with a sunburn and a new diamond ring with matching tennis bracelet. I think we're off to good start for the next 5!

Fish

So I finally figured out how to fish in Qatar. After talking to all kinds of "experts" I finally figured out the right formula: put a hook on the line, troll at 6 knots, and make sure you have a full cooler of beer. The correct recipe is to not pay attention, I find that usually draws them in. We have now hooked into Queen Fish, Hammour (local name for grouper), and barracuda. The problem now is that it is really getting too hot to keep the beer cold, I am going to have to figure something else out.

Here's the first Hammour (aka Brown Spotted Grouper) that's been caught. Hammour is the favorite fish here in all the restaurants. Our friend David has been fishing many times before but never actually caught a fish until this day (he's from the UK so we think that must be the reason).

Back to Muscat, Oman

My group at work did such a great job making money last year that management decided to send on an all expense paid weekend with families. We did justify the trip by working on Thursday but the rest of the time was spent enjoying the beautiful Shangri-La resort we stayed in. The location is spectacular but it was actually hotter and more humid than Doha.

This is our view from the room. The next picture is a view of the private beach (no kids allowed). We went snorkeling through the arch and the water was so warm even the fish tried to stay in the shade.

The final picture is the sunset cruise (team building) that we took.

Oman is at the top of our list of best places visited.

Weekend in Athens

I had another business trip to Barcelona. Rather then taking another trip to Spain we decided to use the layover to our advantage and spend an extra long weekend in Athens. (Pictured above is my co-worker Jen, who was on the same business trip to Barcelona, and her husband Shaun) We had beatiful weather, great food (including lots of pork), and some stunning architecture to admire. We loved our trip so much that we decided to go back in October and sail the Greek Isles.

One afternoon we took a sightseeing trip to the major island (Aegina) outside of Athens. We rented some scooters and cruised the island enjoying the scenery. In typical Connor fashion Steve managed to crash on the way down a beautiful hillside. Until that point we had managed to really enjoy the fresh air and ambiance. We managed to hit a patch of gravel on a hairpin turn, luckily Steve broke our fall (both mine and the scooters) and he managed to get a couple of new souvenirs on his knees and elbows.

All in all it was a great trip.

See more pictures at . . .

http://connorsindoha.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AbNGLFozaNWLnI&notag=1

We found fish

So the going joke it that we've had a fishing boat for about a year now and have yet to catch a fish. Well that's all changed. We spent a beautiful day out on the water dropping lines in at various locations when we saw these fish jumping out of the water over a submerged reef island. They were amazing to watch and fun to catch. They were so acrobatic out of the water that the only one Steve got into the boat was hooked through the gills. We still don't know what the fish is called. It didn't have a lot of meat but we ate it anyway so that we could christen the boat as an honest fishing boat. Since then Steve has gone out and caught several Barracuda and Queen fish.