New Zealand - Getting there

After many years of thinking and planning our trip to New Zealand, it's finally become a reality. On our first leg of the journey, we fly out of San Jose CA to Honolulu, where we'll stay two nights before catching a night flight from Honolulu to Auckland.  There are two reasons we decided on stopovers in Hawaii to and from New Zealand. First, it breaks up a very long flight into two more manageable sections and secondly, it's considerably cheaper flying round trip to New Zealand from Honolulu than San Francisco or Los Angeles.

We're off! The salt flats below in south Bay

The last glimpse of California for over a month

In flight movie helps the time pass quickly

Soon we are over Molokai with Oahu in the distance

Coming in for a landing at Honolulu

Our condo is close to the Waikiki lagoon

Evening view from condo

My God-daughter Bonnie and her partner, Paul, are living on the Romany Star now docked at the Waikiki Yacht Club as they take a break to hide from hurricanes and earn money towards their dream of sailing around the world. As it's Halloween, we join them for a stroll down Kalakaua Avenue, Waikiki's main drag, to check out the scene. The streets are teeming with people, about half in costumes and the other half snapping pictures.

Halloween crowd in wacky Waikiki

Paul as Poseidon & Bonnie as Sea Creature meet Neptune

While tourists record the scene with their devices

The wide range of costumes is amazing...

From weird and scary

to TV & movie characters

and the just plain strange.

We are surprised to see many organized groups in matching costumes strolling the streets and poising for photos.

Paul and Bonz are flocked by Asian angels & friends

A group of anarchists poise for photos

Below are our favorites of the evening...

Best costumes goes to the couple dressed in "Gone with the Wind"

Most outrageous goes to the door mat & bunnies

The next morning gives us a beautiful day for exploring. We start off after breakfast to meet up at the marina. On our way, we walk by a very junky looking junk and seriously wonder how sea worthy this boat is. To keep a slip at the yacht harbor, owners have sail the boat out of the harbor and about a mile out to sea once or twice a year.  Other boat residents in the harbor gather each time it's the junk's turn to see if it'll make it out and back safely. So far, to everyone's amazement it has.

Morning over the lagoon

Junky junk

Bonz welcomes us aboard the Romany Star

We decide to see Pearl Harbor and in particular to visit the Memorial at the USS Arizona, which is built over the the sunken wreckage of the the USS Arizona and where the remains of 1,177 crewmen lay after being killed during the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack. This attack was responsible for launching the USA into World War II. As we have heard from many others, visiting this memorial is truly a deeply moving experience.
The Visitors' Center is well worth a stop afterwards to better understand the "Day that will go down in Infamy."

A model showing how the memorial was built over the wreckage

An exploded torpedo

Outside we point to New Zealand on the map of the Pacific

Bonnie drops us off near Waikiki Beach, where we buy tickets and jump on a Waikiki Trolley. Our first jump off location is close to Chinatown.  In walking towards Chinatown, I  ask a beat cop, for directions. He laughs and points us straight ahead and adds not to blink as it's pretty small. Considering Honolulu's large Chinese population, we were surprised to learn he was right. Chinatown in Honolulu is only a few blocks long and much smaller than the one in San Francisco. Still we have a good time looking around and enjoy a great lunch at the Lucky Belly.

Boarding a Waikiki Trolley

Chinatown Honolulu

Let's check out this food court

Like San Francisco's Chinatown, the food markets offer a wide array of the strange and exotic as well as the common and familiar.

These fish do look fresh

Do you have any recipes for Sea Cucumber?

Good price on bananas

Back on the trolley, we get a kick out of the mix of buildings that make up modern Honolulu.

We hear the food's good at the Itchy Butt

Honolulu skyscraper

Noodle houses are common

Our next jump off destination is the Iolani Palace, which was the royal residence of the kings and queens of the Kingdom of Hawaii.  The heavy Victorian decor and clothing is shocking for such a warm and humid climate. It had to be very uncomfortable to be a royal Hawaiian in those days. We surmise they believed they had to model themselves on the predominate European royalty of the era.  It's sad to us they didn't develop their own style of living and dress more based on their own Hawaiian culture.

Sitting room

Ceiling detail

The King's or Queen's desk

King Kalakaua

Queen Liliuokalani

Hawaiian throne room

We join up with Paul & Bonnie again at Yacht Club for pupus, drinks, and dinner before they take us to the airport for our Air New Zealand flight to Auckland.

View from Yacht Club bar

Romany Star is looking good

Paul BBQ's dinner

While we watch the canoes paddle back into shore

Dawn breaks over the Southern Hemisphere

Rainy day landing at Auckland

As our plane taxis up to our gate for our early morning landing, we notice a large group of media photographers grouped together at the gate next to us. As we disembark, I ask a woman looking out a window at the photographers what is going on. She replies the New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks,  is returning from London after winning the World Cup. I respond with the comment that rugby must be a big sport in New Zealand.  She just looks at me like I'm a complete idiot while Peter pulls at my elbow to usher me into the terminal. He tells me that rugby is THE national sport in New Zealand. Unlike in the US where we have many different sports competing for audiences, in New Zealand rugby is it.

Media photographers await the All Blacks to land

Moari carved wooden portal greets us to Auckland

As we walk into the public part of the airport we are overwhelmed by thousands (Auckland newspaper reported of at least 5000) of sports fans waiting to greet their championship team.  Peter spontaneously throws his hands up in a victory salute. The crowd responds with a great cheer thinking we are part of their team's staff.

KIA ORA!
Welcome to New Zealand