AliVin New Zealand again!!!

New Zealand.. snowing heavily in a few places around the country as we got here!!! Must be spring.

Managed to get a few hours sleep on the flight.. Ali didn’t! and we had some pretty spectacular turbulence.. I’m used to it in light aircraft, but a chunk of Aluminium and steel charging through the sky at over 500 mph just should not be able to be bounced around like that. You have to wonder what stresses it put through the airframe. It wasn’t worrying, just sort of amazing to try and visualize what kind of movement the air was doing to jerk a 777 around like that!

Weather forecast is on tv at the airport here in Auckland.. lots of rain. For almost 35 days in the US we had only three encounters with rain of any significance.. the storm while with Vernon and Carol in Ten Sleep would have to rate as THE most impressive, and we did have a few hours of driving in rain after leaving Bryce canyon I think.. otherwise, we got completely used to having blue sky and then beauty starry nights. San Francisco was notable for fog, but only cos we just stayed on the Pacific coast until an hour or two before going to the airport, which is only on the inland part of the harbor, but was fog free. On the train to the airport, we noticed a large fire in the city.. it was a long way away, but a huge column of black smoke and flames that must have been big to be visible from where we were. Couldn’t help thinking that someone was having a bad day!

If you are wondering what we might say as lasting impressions of the USA.. it would have to be that we would like to go back, as we feel we have a number of things we’d like to do yet, or finish (Angels Landing) and places we would really like to spend more time at.. Zion.. and of course we never got to the Grand Canyon.. or to see a show in Vegas. ... actually, we would probably be happy seeing a show somewhere else! The experience was notable for all sorts of reasons, but the people would have to rate as one of the most impressive parts of the whole. Almost without exception, we had wonderfully generous, polite, friendly and helpful encounters that at times were almost humbling. I can see how/why wait staff can do quite well with “tips” as a lot of them go out of their way to ensure you get way better than you might expect.. or at least what we expected. We could be cynical, and give an allowance for our “foreign” accent helping us.. but even to have the check in staff at the airport use your first name, and wish each and every passenger a nice trip seemed different, and is even delivered such that you feel it may well be genuine! Another thought that occurred to us as we travelled around the National Parks, was that it was understandable as to why so few Americans have passports.. Their country is huge, and full of the most amazingly varied and wonderful places to go.. Much like us talking about seeing NZ before travelling overseas.. if you tried that in the US you’d either never spend any time earning a living, or you may just not bother getting a passport. Then of course the wildlife.. with NZ’s about 60 bird species.. compared to over 600!!!! With everything from the HUGE condor to the tiny hummingbird.. you could likely spend a lifetime “bird spotting” there and never see all of them. and then of course you have all the mammals! and some that just might eat you.. :(

We of course avoided “cities” so accept that our image is tilted in favour of wide open spaces and the people that prefer them. But maybe the cities, even though important, are no more the “real USA” as is downtown Auckland the “real” NZ.

So as cousin Stephanie said, we may have had our doubts about whether we would enjoy the States, but after being there for a bit, it was easy to see how one may consider buying a Van and just continue driving around.. it does “get you”.

So, that’s it for this AliVin USA blog. We’ve enjoyed sharing our experience with you.. and a huge vote of thanks to all those who we have encountered along the way who gave us such good advice and hospitality.

AliVin over and out! B-)