Day 76 - "Last Day in Paradise" - Rarotonga, Cook Islands
It's the final day of our around the world vacation. We're very sad that it's all coming to an end. Tonight, we fly back to California.
It was a somewhat rough night last night. It was extremely stifling hot in the villa and unfortunately, we had no A/C. It was pretty rough sleeping without A/C when there was very little airflow through the villa. On top of that, I think I got food poisoning from the prior night's meal. I didn't do too well which stunk since it was our last night. Even worse, in the middle of the night, I spotted a big roach in the bathroom. It wasn't surprising since we're in the tropics and it rained the night before but I wasn't too happy since I was already feeling pretty bad. I took my misery out on that roach and Raided the heck out of it. Somehow it still managed to run away.
Gross recap but the next morning I heard Eric say 
"what the heck?!". Turns out that he found a wing and a leg of a roach on the wall in the living room. We suspect it was the Raided roach. Strangely, we never found the rest of the roach. Perhaps it was eaten by one of the many geckos co-habitating with us? Or was it like the commercial where after the roach is Raided, it explodes? "Raaaaiiiid? Poof!" It's a mystery we'll never solve.
Anyhow, back to our day. We finally got up and to escape the hot villa, we took the bus to the Saturday market where they sell fresh fruits and vegetables, clothes, souvenirs and food. We didn't see anything that we wanted to buy as a souvenir, but ended up filling our tummies with beef and chicken kebabs, shaved ice and ice cream. Actually, Eric had the kebabs and ice cream, I only had the shaved ice. I still wasn't feeling too well. Surprisingly, the snow cone made me feel a heck of a lot better.
We took a little internet break in the only place really open in town and then returned back to the villa for a massage for me. Rachel, our host, helped book me a massage with Janine, a kiwi who has been living here for 3 years. There is this nice gazebo right off the beach. We decided to do the massage there. While not the cheapest massage I've had on the trip, it was the most serene. It was nice laying there with the island breeze blowing and the sound of waves in the near distant background. Not surprisingly, I fell asleep. It really doesn't take much. While I got my massage, Eric took a lounge chair onto the beach and enjoyed the view (when he wasn't taking bad pics of me getting a massage).
After my massage, we went snorkeling again. We have been snorkeling every day that we've been here. It's just too convenient to pass up. This time, I think I did a better job capturing some nice fish pics. Sorry if there are too many, but rest assured that this is only 1/3 of the total number of pics we actually took. Due to the dark tan we got the day before, we decided to cover up today. Still no luck feeding the fish, but we got to get pretty close to large schools of parrot fish. They're so incredibly colorful it was really cool seeing many of them swim together.
After a long snorkel session, we cleaned up and 
walked about five minutes down the road to have dinner at the Pawpaw (Papaya) Patch where we enjoyed some local pork and curry fish. It was a pretty night and a nice end to an otherwise awesome time in the Cook Islands.
We begrudgingly walked back to the villa and packed up for our midnight flight back to the States. Rachel took us to the airport. The Cook Islands airport is pretty funny. The waiting area is basically just sitting outside on picnic tables, lounge chairs and the ground. We were very sad - not only to leave the Cook Islands, but to end our trip. Bye-Bye Paradise!
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=eric.chang1&target=ALBUM&id=5413106556563605105&authkey=Gv1sRgCP2gsd3a-5XZgwE&feat=email
THE RECAP
We got on that Air New Zealand flight and on the way back to the states, we thought we'd jot down a few of our favorite and not-so-favorite memories from the trip. Here we go!
Top Good Memories From Each Country
Greece: Ted's Sunset Cruise, Lobster spaghetti and cheap gyros, SmartCar drive around Santorini, View from Adamis Majesty hotel room
Thailand: Patara Elephant Farm, Two hour massages, Haircuts in Bangkok, Chiang Mai Sunday Market, Chiang Mai Le Meridien, Chiang Dao Waterfall swim
Cambodia: Boran/Warren and his Tuk Tuk, Banyan Temple and Ta Prohm
Hong Kong: Wedding dress (Theresa) and all the good dinners with family (Eric)
Vietnam: Day trip to Halong Bay, Halloween in Saigon
Australia: Diving in the Great Barrier Reef, Holding Lucky the Koala, George the Grouper, Sydney Bridge Climb
New Zealand: Hot Water Beach, Zorbing, Milford Sound, Glacier hike, Queenstown Sunset, Sky City Casino
Cook Islands: Snorkeling in our Backyard Lagoon
Top Bad Memories From Each Country
Greece: Running out of money on the Santorini ferry and eating scraps, Annoying restaurant guy at No Name Restaurant in Kamari.
Thailand: Unscrupulous cab drivers, Chiang Dao mosquitoes and roaches, Smelly flight to Bangkok from Istanbul
Cambodia: Jerks at the floating village, Siem Reap mosquitoes, Aggressive little saleswomen
Hong Kong: Theresa's drug rash and food poisoning
Vietnam: Traffic and feet everywhere, Toxic plane flight to Hanoi
Australia: Adelaide tour, Flies in Kangaroo Island, Smelly Euro Guy, Rat in convenience store
New Zealand: Speeding ticket, Sledging, Driving around Wellington at night
Cook Islands: Hour hike in the dark, Exploding roach and Hot night
On our adventures, we visited 26 cities, 8 countries, 3 continents, stayed at 30 different accommodations, and traveled on 29 different planes, multiple buses, trains, cars, boats, tuk tuks and songthaews. We got to see fish, sharks, eels, goats, sheep, lamb, cows, pigs, donkeys, oxen, deer, dolphins, elephants, wombats, tazmanian devils, echidnas, kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, penguins, seals, sea lions, rats, mosquitoes, flies, roaches, geckos, snakes, crocs, ants, spiders, fleas, bats, cats, rabbits, dogs, random scratching animals in the middle of the night and other indescribable bugs. We saw mountain tops, ocean floors and many amazing sunsets.
Throughout this journey, let's just say we got to learn a lot about each other. A few of the things we've learned:
5 Things Learned About Each Other:
1. Theresa gets a little nutty if she doesn't eat when she's hungry
2. Eric has an unusual fixation on icees, slushies, snow cones and any other ice-related drink/dessert
3. Theresa can sleep any where at any time and Eric loves taking bad pictures of her while she's sleeping
4. We both can't live without the internet
5. We both can be surprisingly low maintenance and can live off very little
We also learned that if we can get through 76 days of being with each other almost 24-7 without going crazy, we think this marriage thing might just work out.
It's time to bid our farewell and end our blog. Until our next world trip - peace out. Happy Holidays!
Day 75 - "You Can Call Me Mr. Useless" - Rarotonga, Cook Islands
We woke up early to catch our 9 am tour of the island with Tangaroa Tours. We were picked up in a 4x4 pick-up truck, where we sat in the back kinda like in the songthaew's used in Thailand. We shared our tour with a nice and funny Swiss couple. It was a very bumpy ride, but a rewarding one. We got to go up the "old road" into the mountains and get a panoramic view of the island. It was gorgeous. You can see where the reef surrounds the island and where it's been blown up so that ships (and sharks) can pass in and out.
Our driver, who told us to call him "Mr. Useless", was very informative. He told us how the island is made up of 5 villages, and each one has a chief. However, there are only 4 chiefs now because in one of the villages, the chief had 5 wives, and all the first borns 
are vying for the position of chief.
Mr. Useless also showed us some farms and some local medicinal plants that are supposed to cure everything from cuts, burns, asthma, rock fish stings, and cancer. We tried some of the "Noni" juice, which tasted like really bad coffee with a slight chocolate taste. Perhaps I should have bought some for my asthma. The leaf of this tree is used by the locals to bathe their kids from age 8 months to 13 years. They swear that it protects them from skin cancer. If you do that, you never burn. Interesting.
He pointed out this huge hotel development that was deteriorating. It was supposed to be a 1000+ room hotel, which was developed by an Italian developer. Unfortunately for him, the US traced his funds to the mafia and he's currently sitting in jail. The resort hasn't been worked on in 22 years. It's on prime real estate right on the water. Too bad.
Speaking of real estate, it turns out that all land in the Cook Islands is owned by certain native families and the ownership is registered with the government. The families are not allowed to sell the land, they are only allowed to lease it to people. This is to protect the indigenous people of the land so that they don't end up losing it to foreign investors.
So, the family that had leased the land to the Italian investor has cursed the resort development land. So, they are now waiting for the curse to end so that they can start doing something with the land again. Apparently, after 22 years, the curse remains.
There are not that many restaurants in Rarotonga. I asked Mr. Useless why there were no Chinese restaurants here. I joked that there are Chinese restaurants everywhere! He said it's because it's hard for foreign persons to come in to start a business because they need a license and the government makes it hard for foreigners to get a license. There is one Indian restaurant and that's only because the Indian guy married a native.
He also mentioned how the Rarotongans used to be cannibalists and how they used to sacrifice any persons that did anything bad. He showed us one site where they used to do these sacrifices. There are 115 of these "secret" spots all around the island. Interesting facts.
After our tour of the island, we got treated to a "umu" a traditional underground earth oven. We had placed the food in there at the beginning of the tour and came back to eat it. Our umu consisted of chicken, lamb chop, sweet potato, taro, pumpkin, taro leaves in coconut cream and a "mata" which is a raw fish (ours was marlin) marinated in lime juice, salt, and coconut milk. It was a really tasty meal and we were stuffed! For dessert we had papaya, watermelon and coconut. Yum!
After our meal we bid farewell to the Swiss and to Mr. Useless and came back to the villa to change into our swimsuits. It was time for snorkeling. This time we did a little better with the camera. We saw some big blue fish and parrot fish. When we were above water we saw this huge shadow of a fish darting in the water. Unfortunately, we never spotted it under water. The sun here is pretty fierce. Even after multiple layers of sunscreen we are still getting pretty dark here in the Cook Islands. We are becoming true islanders.
We were supposed to go to this island feast (similar to a luau) but our ride never showed up. Instead, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at one of the upscale restaurants on the island - The Little Polynesian. It was a beautiful setting with the 
restaurant situated on a hardwood deck overlooking the infinity pool which in turn overlooks the Muri beach with tall palm trees swaying in the wind. It was really gorgeous. We had some drinks, a goat cheese salad, a grilled moon fish for Eric and a spice crusted seared tuna for me. We were stuffed!
We then had the bright idea of walking to this other resort we wanted to check out which had wifi. We don't have any internet access at our villa and my blackberry doesn't work for the first time since we started our trip. It's been strange not having my blackberry, but I guess it's telling me to just let it go. Very appropriate really, as today is my official last day of work. As of tomorrow, I am officially unemployed. Eek!
Anyhow, I digressed. We started this walk to this other resort. Turns out it became almost an hour's walk - in the dark. It was not fun and, when we got there, it turns out it wasn't the same wifi network as the card we bought in town. So, we hopped on the local bus and came back to the villa to call it a night. Then it started to rain.
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=eric.chang1&target=ALBUM&id=5412359405156920081&authkey=Gv1sRgCJivgIL3lPL18AE&feat=email
Day 74 - "Our Backyard Lagoon" - Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Today is a repeat of yesterday - in the sense that we got to experience December 3rd twice. That was a pleasant surprise for us because that meant our trip was really 76 days, not 75! We gained a day! We time traveled - leaving Auckland at 9:45
pm on December 3rd and arriving in Cook Islands at 3 am on December 3rd. Bizarre. Almost like Groundhogs Day (the movie). However, this December 3rd was vastly different from yesterday's December 3rd.
In the morning, Rachel stopped by to give us a rundown of the villa and activities on Rarotonga. We made plans for tomorrow to do a half day tour of the island and an Island Night feast. Rachel then graciously offered us a ride to the nearby grocery store where we bought food to cook for dinner that night.
Once back at the villa, we decided to do some snorkeling. We had an awesome location. All we had to do was walk down a short pathway and we were right on the beach - less than a minutes walk. We were pretty much alone and had the whole lagoon for ourselves. The whole island is surrounded by a reef, so we were able to see fish immediately once in the water. The water is very warm and pretty clear. I saw some pretty big blue fish, while Theresa missed it and instead did some questionable picture taking.
For an early dinner, Theresa cooked up some tasty scallops, green beans, mushrooms and onions. It was nice for once, to have a large kitchen to cook in.
It was only 6:00pm, so we figured that we would 
check out the island's downtown area. There are two buses that go around the island, one goes clockwise and the other goes "anti-clockwise". Since it was night, we took the clockwise bus to city centre. We did not know that all the shops close at 4pm. So we ended up just wandering around a deserted town and used an internet cafe for about an hour before catching the bus back.
We ended the night with some microwave popcorn and a little Arrested Development in our living room.
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=eric.chang1&target=ALBUM&id=5412354866227678913&authkey=Gv1sRgCOuw8fvIipeuEA&feat=email
Day 73 - "Where are all the Chinese Restaurants?" - North Island - Rotorua and Auckland, New Zealand
Before our drive back to Auckland, we wanted to stop at nearby Oppie's for its regional award-winning Fish and Chips. Interestingly, half of the place was a Chinese takeout. It was tasty, cooked in vegetable oil, but probably not as good as the ones we had in England and Ireland.
We then took our time driving up to Auckland because it 
was raining and we had no real plans before our flight later at night. Once in downtown Auckland, we were hoping to do a few things: find a laundrette to dry some of our clothes, find a good place to eat, preferably Chinese, check out some souvenir shops and if we had time, the Auckland casino. We kind of did it all. After drying our clothes, we spent about an hour looking for a decent Chinese restaurant on the main road called Queens. After no luck finding the restaurants we had in mind, we finally settled for this food court Chinese stand, where we had a vegetable dish with rice.
After our meal, which, surprisingly, wasn't bad, we split up with plans to meet at the car. I went to look for some souvenir shops, but instead ended up just wandering. Theresa took a brief walk through the casino, which was the largest in New Zealand. No time to actually sit down and play. We ended up buying some souvenirs just minutes before our Air New Zealand flight to Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
Our flight was just four hours, enough to watch one and a half movies. Upon arriving at Rarotonga, we were surprised to see a guy singing in the airport to greet all of us at three in the morning. Our host, Rachel from Makayla Palms, was there to pick us up from the airport and drive us to the villa. We decided to stay at Makayla Palms because of an unheard of 98% recommended rating on Trip Advisor. It was like 75 excellent reviews and 5 very good ones. Definitely lived up to expectations. It was our biggest (upgraded to a two bedroom villa) and one of the best places we have stayed at on this trip. The whole villa was pretty modern, just three years old, and would be perfect to live long-term. Unfortunately, just four days for us.
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=eric.chang1&target=ALBUM&id=5411900853951886081&authkey=Gv1sRgCObVje6w15fb3wE&feat=email
Day 71 - "Take Two" - North Island - Rotorua, New Zealand
We bid farewell to Queenstown and headed to the airport to catch our JetStar flight back to Auckland. We rented a little Mazda 3 from Budget and headed out on our way to Rotorua. Rain and traffic prevented us from getting there by 3:00 pm to see the Volcanic Valley. When we finally got there, it was raining too hard anyways to be able to enjoy the walk.
So we drove back to city centre and checked 
into the Newcastle Motel, dropped off our stuff and headed out to dinner. We had heard of a good restaurant called Bistro 1284, a so-called "high-end" restaurant in Rotorua. As it was still early, there was only one other table in the restaurant when we arrived. We chatted with them for a bit. They were dairy farmers from outside Rotorua. Looked like they were doing well for themselves judging by all the food they ate and wine they drank. They were very nice, as is everyone we've met on our travels through New Zealand. Since the restaurant won an award for best beef and lamb, we ordered the filet mignon and the lamb shank and Eric had a nice glass of local pinot noir. Both meals were very tasty. We enjoyed the meal very much.
Afterwards, we walked around town for a bit and checked out some souvenir shops. We also got some ice cream from a local convenience store. Since we were pretty pooped from the drive, it was a relatively uneventful day. We drove back to the motel and called it a night.
Day 72 - "Waterlogged" - North Island - Rotorua, New Zealand
Today, we went to the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal 
Wonderland. As this part of New Zealand is under several fault lines, there is a lot of thermal activity that occurs in this region. Many volcanoes have erupted causing various craters - some of which have turned into lakes. Beneath the ground is a system of streams which are heated by magma left over from earlier eruptions. Water is so hot (up to 300 C) that it absorbs mineral out of the rocks through which it passes and transports them to the surface as steam. Wai-O-Tapu is one of the places you can go to see the effects of these natural phenomena. It is also where Lady Knox Geyser, a 150 year old geyser, is located that was discovered about 100 years ago by some prisoners. As it was set to go off at 10:15, we headed out early to catch the action.
The park is about 20 minutes south of Rotorua. We got there with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately, it was another wet rainy day. We got to see the geyser erupt (set off by some soap stone). It wasn't as amazing as we suspect Old Faithful to be, but it's pretty cool. Apparently, there are only four countries that have these geysers - US, Russia, Japan, and New Zealand. Cool.
After the geyser blew, we hiked the four km around the park and saw lots of bubbling, steaming pools of mud and multi-colored water. It was pretty cool how the colors in the water indicate what type of mineral is in the water - sulfur (green), antimony (orange), silica (white), manganese oxide (purple), iron oxide (red-brown), etc. Unfortunately, it was raining a lot so the day wasn't as clear to see all the awesome sights. We don't think the pictures did the colors justice.
Afterwards, we drove to the East of Rotorua 
to go sledging. Sledging is also called River Surfing. You hold this buoyant sled looking thing with your hands and you go down the river. We were expecting a leisurely swim down the river. It was a bit more intense than we had anticipated. First off, you had to carry this 20+ lb sledge about one km up and down hills and stairs. It was impossible for me to do, so one of the river guides graciously offered to carry mine for me. We had to hop over a fence and then jump into the river. It was incredibly warm but gushing faster than we expected. It took a lot of kicking and sheer grit to get to where we needed to go. After going over a few waterfalls and drinking a lot of water, I was completely waterlogged and tired. Eric and I were ready to go home. We now know why it's categorized as an "extreme" sport.
After that crazy experience, we needed to slow the pace down so we checked ourselves into the Polynesian Spa and soaked our sore muscles in the alkaline and acid-water thermal pools. It was glorious. It was also interesting because it was a melting pot of nationalities - Americans, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Austrian, Middle-Eastern, etc. After an hour, we were all pruney from the day's activities. We took a nice hot shower and then went to dinner at Seismic.
After another tasty dinner of rack of lamb and rib eye, we went to a few souvenir shops and then called it a night.
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=eric.chang1&target=ALBUM&id=5411265926431771969&authkey=Gv1sRgCL2D29zr6baCcA&feat=email
Day 70 - "Leaving the Sound for a Good Burger" - South Island - Queenstown, New Zealand
We got a wakeup alarm around 6:45 am. Breakfast was being served. It was rough getting up. I didn't sleep very well. For some reason, I woke up at 3am and could not go back to sleep. it didn't help that I got bitten a few times by sand flies and was itching like crazy. Not sure how I managed to get up, dress, clean the sheets off the bed and make it to breakfast, but I did.
Breakfast was a tasty scrambled egg with 
sausage, bacon, hash browns, some cereal and yogurt on the side. Couldn't ask for a better meal for an early cold morning. We also warmed ourselves up with multiple cups of hot chocolate and green tea. It was cold in Milford Sound in the early hours! I think I had on five layers of clothes and I was still shivering.
We got to see some fur seals (tri fecta of animal sightings!) and got to pass under some huge waterfalls that were three times the height of Niagara Falls. We also got to get really close to the mountains. There is this one point where the rock just drops straight down from 700 feet up in the air. Gives you a true sense as to how awesome mother nature really is and how small we are in the grand scheme of things. We were told that some lady base jumped off of that mountain. Nuts.
We got
back to shore around 9:30 am and headed back to Queenstown. Much quicker this time because we didn't stop for any sightseeing (mainly because I slept the entire way back and didn't demand Eric to stop so I could take pictures). Our first stop was Ferg Burger, #1 on Trip Advisor. It was very tasty, mostly due to the BBQ-like sauce that they put on the burger. I still prefer In n' Out, but it wasn't a bad substitute.
As the Scenic Suites were booked up, we used points and stayed at the Earnslaw Lodge which was slightly further outside of town. That wasn't a problem for us since we had a car. I quickly fell asleep and slept for the next four hours! I think it was the anti-motion sickness meds I took. I was drowsy all day. I finally woke up and we headed out to grab dinner at Fishbone. We decided to try the New Zealand crayfish (lobster). It was pricey, but we justified it with our casino winnings from a few days ago. I had a half dozen raw oysters and the clam vongole linguine which was tasty. The oysters were ok, mushier than what I like, but still tasty. 
Eric went to town on his lobster. It was very meaty and he made sure to eat every single piece of meat on that sucker. I was impressed.
We considered playing black jack again for an hour or so but the tables were more packed than on Saturday. We suspect an Asian tour group must have pulled into town because the tables were full of Asians on a Monday. Hahah. So, we decided to just go back to the lodge and prepare for the rest of our trip.
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=eric.chang1&target=ALBUM&id=5411253265369984369&authkey=Gv1sRgCMDjhbLJmqO1Sg&feat=email
Day 69 - "Sound of Silence"- South Island - Milford Sound, New Zealand
Today, we were heading to Milford Sound. We signed up for an overnight cruise with Real Journey on the Wanderer. As we had heard that there were many stops along the way that we would want to stop at to take pictures, we gave ourselves ample time to make the drive from Queenstown.
Now we realize why South Island always gets a better rap than the North Island even though both have a lot to offer. South Island is extremely scenic with lush green landscaping, rolling hills, clear lakes, and snow-capped mountains. At one point, we were stopping every 2-3 miles to take pictures. Some cool stops along the way were the Mirror Lakes, which reflected the mountains and sky clearly, and the Chasm, a huge hole in the ground carved out by a gushing river. It definitely looked like Middle Earth. I kept expecting to see little hobbit huts along the way.
After a brief lunch and bathroom stop at Te Anau, we made it to Milford Sound, which is not really a sound at all. It's a fiord. One is created by water (sound) and the other is created by glaciers (fiord). We checked in with Real Journey and boarded the Wanderer. Real Journey has two boats, one, the Mariner, is the higher-end boat where you get 
private cabins and bathrooms. The Wanderer is the "cheaper cousin" with quad shared bunk beds and co-ed bathrooms. Although we wanted to do the private option, at this point in the trip, we really are more like backpackers and decided to "rough it" with the Wanderer.
Luckily for us, the boat was not crowded so we got a quad to ourselves. The boat holds 61 passengers and there were only 31 of us. It was still pretty packed, so it's hard to imagine how they could actually fit twice as many people on the boat. We boarded around 4:30 pm. They greeted us with orientation and some warm mushroom and capsicum (pepper) soup. It was a perfect start to the cruise as it was pretty cold outside.
The overnight cruise was really nice because by this time of day you pretty much have the sound to yourself. It was so serene and it was nice not having other boats cruising around disrupting the view. After sailing out to this bay called Anita Bay, we had the option of kayaking, swimming or boarding a guided tender to see the sites. As we wanted to actually get somewhere, we decided against the kayak, and as it was about 50 degrees in the water, there was no way in heck that we were going to jump in that water, so we decided on the guided tender tour.
We were told that we had lucked out because the bay could at times be very rough with waves of up to 7 meters. When we went, there was barely a ripple in the water, although one girl still got really seasick. We lucked out on the tender and got to see some Fiordland crested penguins. They're 
pretty tall, over 1 foot tall with these bright yellow eyebrows. We saw a few on the shore and one baby one swimming in the water.
We were told that Milford Sound is full of jade, of the boninite variety. This one captain spent years mining for this jade to sell to merchants in HK. When he arrived in HK, turns out that the merchants wanted neophrite jade not boninite jade cause neophrite is a darker jade. Apparently, the captain was so angry, he dumped the entire lot of jade into HK harbour and it all still sits at the bottom of the harbour. Apparently, some divers went down into the harbour and found some of the jade down there. Not in good condition, but still there.
When we got back to the boat, some crazy girls decided to jump into the water. They literally jumped right back out after jumping in, it was that cold. Crazy kids.
After everyone got back to the boat, we were served dinner. Dinner consisted of a tasty roast pork with apple sauce, roasted potatoes, some stewed cabbage and mixed vegetables and a fresh salad. It was all very, very good. Eric got seconds. Dessert was a pavlova with raspberry coulis. Basically, it was whipped egg whites with a lot of sugar. Naturally, we ate it up.
After dinner, we were told to go outside because 
there were some dolphins sighted. We ran out and got to see at least 10 dolphins swimming and jumping around. They were following the wave of the boats for awhile. It was pretty neat to see. The crew said they only get about one dolphin sighting a week so we were in luck.
We then got treated to a sunset on the mountains. It was really pretty, casting a pink haze over the mountain top. Definitely a nice ending to a good sightseeing day. We ended the night playing scrabble (I kicked his booty) and uploading pictures on the computer. Then it was time to try some co-ed showering and to hop into our bunk beds for a good nights sleep.
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=eric.chang1&target=ALBUM&id=5409863946295422273&authkey=Gv1sRgCLSQo-qvuuPxrQE&feat=email
Day 68 - "Do you ever hit on 17?" - South Island - Queenstown, New Zealand
We left Fox Glacier in the morning to drive down to Queenstown, which was about a four hour drive. There were so many scenic stops on the way there, including Lake Wanaka, Lake Hawaea, lots of waterfalls and snow capped mountains, that it took us longer to get where we were going due to all the pit stops we made. 
We decided not to do one of those Lord of the Rings tours because it looked like pretty much anything in New Zealand could have been used in the movies.
Once in Queenstown, we checked-in to the Scenic Suites. The rooms were nice, but walking in the hallway was strange, it sloped down and kind of looked like the hotel was converted from a parking garage. Clean, modern, and convenient was all that mattered to us. We then took a five minute walk to city centre. Queenstown reminded us of Tahoe, a cool, small ski town. We had a late lunch at Winnie's Pizza. With a name like that, we had to eat there. Theresa had a pizza called "Zucha" which was made with roast pumpkin, spinach, olive, feta and roasted almonds while I had the "Tre Factor" pizza made with prime rib, bacon, mushrooms, and caramelized onions. Both were pretty good.
We then walked around the marina and decided to have ice cream at Patagonia for the free internet access. Since we were not hungry at dinner time, we went to Sky City Casino to play Black Jack. It was a pretty small casino with just a five dollar table and ten dollar table. A few differences as compared to Vegas - drinks at the tables are not free, dealer cannot accept tips,dealer gets his second card until after we've all hit or stayed, and there is a side bet called perfect 
pairs where you win if you get the same number card with either 1) different suits, 2) same color, or 3) the same suit. We were doing well. I was getting a lot of blackjacks, probably ten in all, but unfortunately, half of it was on a $5 bet. Theresa was winning some money off of the perfect pair bets. I walked away up $150 and Theresa up $108.
We played with one couple who were betting at least $25 at a time and knew how to play. Can't say the same for every other person who played at our table. There were a couple of people (yes, more than one) who split their tens with the dealer showing a high card(Dealer just grinned at us and said, "Sometimes it works."). Another woman kept hitting when dealer had a less than a six showing and staying when she had less than 17 but the dealer was showing an eight or higher. I could not believe what I was seeing and I think Theresa was getting
annoyed because some of these crazy hands were hurting us. The all-time worst was a guy at the table who hit on 17! The dealer kept on asking, "Are you sure?" Even the dealer recommended to us that we bet the minimum. That was our sign that it was time to leave. We hightailed it out of there with our winnings.
We were slightly hungry by the time we left the casino (around 10:30pm) but sadly nothing was open to eat. We ended up finding a KFC (which, btw, happened to be in every city we visited on our trip) and had a snack there.
Back in our room, we called Star Alliance to change our flight from Auckland, NZ to Cook Islands. Because we liked New Zealand so much, we extended our stay by two days and shortened the Cook Islands trip. Star Alliance made the change right away, no charge or hassle. It was so easy. We're fans of this "Around the World Ticket" and highly recommend it to anyone that has the time to take advantage of it.
For pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=eric.chang1&target=ALBUM&id=5409719272161486897&authkey=Gv1sRgCJCUyOCJi8CtiQE&feat=email
"what the heck?!". Turns out that he found a wing and a leg of a roach on the wall in the living room. We suspect it was the Raided roach. Strangely, we never found the rest of the roach. Perhaps it was eaten by one of the many geckos co-habitating with us? Or was it like the commercial where after the roach is Raided, it explodes? "Raaaaiiiid? Poof!" It's a mystery we'll never solve. 
We took a little internet break in the only place really open in town and then returned back to the villa for a massage for me. Rachel, our host, helped book me a massage with Janine, a kiwi who has been living here for 3 years. There is this nice gazebo right off the beach. We decided to do the massage there. While not the cheapest massage I've had on the trip, it was the most serene. It was nice laying there with the island breeze blowing and the sound of waves in the near distant background. Not surprisingly, I fell asleep. It really doesn't take much. While I got my massage, Eric took a lounge chair onto the beach and enjoyed the view (when he wasn't taking bad pics of me getting a massage). 
walked about five minutes down the road to have dinner at the Pawpaw (Papaya) Patch where we enjoyed some local pork and curry fish. It was a pretty night and a nice end to an otherwise awesome time in the Cook Islands. 
