New Zealand, my first few days in this incredible country

I am absolutely blown away by the beauty and people of New Zealand. I have only been here a few days, and frankly, I have been dealing with some foul weather, but it has been spectacular.

My first night I had an incredible meal given to me by my sister Jennifer and family. The restaurant is named Ada. It was Valentine’s Day and they had a special tasting menu. I was probably the only single diner eating out on V-Day. So they didn’t really know what to do, so they just gave me what everyone else got. Well, in true Thomas fashion, I ate it all!!! 9 courses for two.

The next day I made my way up to The Coromandel peninsula. I stopped a few times on the way, including at this beautiful water garden and waterfall.

That night I was welcomed to my travel agents home to meet him and his partner. David is a lovely man, who I put through a lot in the planning stages. He also needed to come to the rescue again, as I left my passport and wallet (with A LOT of money) in the safe in Auckland. He arranged his driver to pick up the wallet, take it to the local airline, and it was flown to Whitianga. Dinner was wonderful and the view from his home is amazing.

I spent a lovely nIght at Annabelle’s B&B run by the lovely Beverley. The room was spacious, private and had all the comforts you need. Her breakfast was fantastic and I went out to a great Indian dinner with Beverley and David on the next night.

Sunday was spent sight seeing all through the Coromandel peninsula.

I started at a great honey farm, tasting all different grades of honey.

I then found a Kuari grove. The Kuari trees are the largest and oldest trees on the island. Some live thousands of years, the ones I saw were about 600 years old. They are huge, second only to the giant trees in CA. See some pictures below. After the Kuari Grove I got adventuresome and went swimming at the watefall. The water was, lets say, refreshing!!!

The last big adventure of the day was to Cathedral Cove. It is a spectacular setting, where a cave opens up to amazing sea scape with sand islands and beautiful rock cropping. This is the setting for the opening scene in the Chronicles of Narnia.

Today I went to Hobbiton. I was skeptical on if it would be worth the time and effort. It really was amazing. You learn the whole story of how they found the land, the day Peter Jacksons assistant knocked on the farm owners door and changed their family fortunes forever, how they built Hobbiton, and its current use and purpose.

I started reading The Hobbit and the Lord of The Rings trilogy when I was 11 years old. It transported me to another world when I consumed the novels. Today, it took me to that world again. I have never seen the movies, so that is now on my list.

Tonight I went to a Māori Culteral Show and Dinner. It was great learning about the founding tribes of New Zealand, and how they continue to pay honor to their heritage. After we had a wonderful dinner.

I’m tired, and you get more of a travel log and less of my feelings when I write when I’m tired. A few things from the feelings side…

I’m sick of being alone on Valintine’s Day. I have worked hard to build a life to provide for myself, but I need to find ways to make space for someone else in my life. More than anything, I miss loving someone without restriction.

I’m more adventuresome at my current age than ever before. I think I have reached the age where I just say FUCK IT, just go DO IT. Damn the consequences.

It’s been 7 years and I still miss John every day. He would be out of his mind with this trip. His spirit helps guide me, and part of his spirit is experiencing this journey.

There are moments of each day that I miss each one of you. When I think of slowing down, your comments and positive energy pushes me forward to keep experiencing everything possible. Thank you everyone for that.