Travels with Mr. Bill

Kia Ora from #39                                                                                          June 10, 2016

Mr. Bill and I have settled easily into our Ohope life. We are living on the top floor of Beachpoint Apartments . Just like George and Weezy Jefferson, we have ” moved on up to a deluxe apartment”.Our new place is flat #39, which is on the fourth level but the third floor. How can that be, you may well ask. Well, it’s just one of the many quirky Kiwi things, that amuses and sometimes confuses me. The sign on our floor reads,”LEVEL 4′. However, if you take the lift and press’3′, you will ascend to the fourth floor. There is no number four on the control panel. Very odd indeed. Never does Neverland feel more like an alternate universe, than when doing elevator math- it makes my head spin! To avoid becoming someone, ‘whose elevator doesn’t go to the top’, I take the stairs.

Our first three Beachpoint apartments were all on the second floor (level one). We loved our outlook on Ohope Beach, so close to all the comings and goings. We have seen a pod of Orca whales, swim right along the shore, with a plucky terrier racing alongside them on the sand, barking frantically.Why chase cars when you can chase a whale? We have watched amused, as travelers would stop to use the public toilets, many running as fast and furious, as that whale chasing dog. We have noted the caravans rolling in at night, setting up their barbecues and hanging their laundry to dry on their campers’ warm engine grills. One day, Mr. Bill especially enjoyed the view of the pretty German tourists who didn’t bother with the restrooms, when changing into their bathing suits. Aug Wiedersehen ladies! Yes, life was definitely ‘sweet as’ on the second floor. Why, even taking out the trash was fun for Mr. Bill. Every evening, on his trip down the corridor to the garbage chute, he would shamelessly open the privacy shutters in the Smillie’s patio wall. He would poke his head through the gap, inquire what was for tea and have a chat with his mate, Gavin. Often, if he timed the garbage run right, there would be wine on offer; on those nights, the dishes fell to me, as it took a long time to take out the trash.

Alas, there were no long term rentals available on the second floor this time around; hence the BIG move up to the top level. We fretted that the outlook would not be as exciting on a higher floor. We need not have worried. The views from our level four, third floor eyrie are stunning and expansive. The Bay of Plenty is our front yard. Looking north, we have a bird’s eye view of the plume of steam rising from the volcano’s crater, on White Island (fortunately a safe 30 miles offshore). To the west, we can now see the cliffs towering above West End Beach, which marks the beginning of Ohope Beach. Turning to the east, we can see as far as the East Cape Ranges with the highest peak snow capped in winter. Behind us lies the bush. Our southern neighbors are birds and tree monkeys, a very noisy bunch. The little silver eye birds chirp sweetly, the larger Tui birds sound like R2D2, the nocturnal kid birds screech  and the tree monkeys create such a racket, that I have fled the apartment. Tree monkeys use chain saws.They are landscapers who prune trees. Kiwis have a  nickname for every profession and these climbing arborists, actually advertise themselves as tree monkeys. I cannot see that flying in the states!

#39 is on the top floor which is also the 4th level- odd numbering here at Beachpoint! Our front door opens onto the hillside behind us.

Ohope Beach, New Zealand

Kia Ora from Aotearoa                                                                                                      May 6,2016

Mr.Bill and I have returned to Aotearoa,’The Land of the Long White Cloud’, which is Maori for New Zealand. We arrived in Ohope Beach, safe and sound, one week ago today; thirty one hours from door to door, ‘easy as’ as the locals would say.

It’s heaven to be back in paradise, which is what the Kiwis call New Zealand. Our daughter, Elizabeth, has always referred to New Zealand as Neverland. That moniker suits this astonishing country as well. Like Peter Pan, we flew “west through the night, straight on into morning”. Time feels suspended, when flying through the darkness over the Pacific Ocean. Sometime during the night, we crossed the International Dateline and Thursday disappeared into the vapor. On and on, the plane flies but you cannot see anything for twelve long hours, until the sun rises with a piercing brilliance (Mr. Bill goes to sleep and misses all this excitement).

On our first trip, we arrived in Auckland in mid March. It was a crystal clear dawn and the ocean was a deep ultra marine blue with the sunlight glinting off the water. Our first sighting of New Zealand was of an emerald green, land mass of mountains, valleys, twisting coastline and golden sand beaches, all shimmering in the early morning light, as we flew over the stunning, Coromandel Peninsula. It truly looked exactly like the illustration of Neverland, from my much loved, Little Golden Book of Peter Pan; a fairy tale landscape had come to life. We really did pinch ourselves, it was too amazing to be real. Thus began our adventures in Neverland.

On this journey, the sun rose like a glowing orange ball, illuminating a sea of clouds, that looked like churning surf. Descending through the white waves, the countryside slowly revealed itself, veiled in an ethereal mist. At once familiar to us yet different from our previous arrivals. We were back and still pinching ourselves, grateful for this new adventure. Zip, zip, we breezed through customs, absurdly excited to see the drug sniffing beagle, working the baggage claim area. “Oh , look honey! It’s the little dog from Border Patrol“ (one of our favorite NZ television shows, which follows the everyday workings of the Customs Department).I felt giddy and star struck. This was a celebrity sighting for me. I soooo wanted to shake his wee paw but thought better of it!

The brisk walk from the International to the Domestic Terminal, a flat white and a bit of shopping for our granddaughter, Adrian, revived us. We were ready for our flight to Tauranga. That’s when the wisdom of Mr. Bill’s strategy of sleeping through the flight, revealed itself to me. He had an hour’s drive ahead of him, on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, before we would reach, Ohope Beach, our final destination. And, he did it brilliantly!