Diana Ellefson. Travel. Write. Repeat.

Basking in the glow of my first (and successful) mechanical bull ride while in Scottsdale last week I got to thinking about the last two months of my life and the non-stop travel that occurred during that time. New Zealand, Hawaii, Seattle and Arizona kept me very busy for both work and play. The fun times I had at the Saddle Ranch and the bull rides got me thinking of the other options I had that night instead of hitting the bull… and that got me thinking that it is time for another installment of SEE THIS, NOT THAT!

Most places have more than one restaurant/theatre/tourist site/building/event for travelers to choose from when visiting a new place, but the challenge is to find WHICH choice will end up being the best for your tight schedule and/or tight budget. And as we all know, the most popular choice isn’t always the best choice.

So — after the picture of me OWNING the bull (albeit not the most flattering picture of me) check out the latest installment of SEE THIS NOT THAT!

See This: The Road to Kahakuloa
Not That: Road to Hana

The Road to Hana on the island of Maui in Hawaii is gorgeous and very popular with both tour groups and individuals and of course you will enjoy the drive, the black sand beaches, waterfalls and ocean views that will keep you stopping and snapping pictures all day. But, lets be serious…we all want our friends to enjoy hearing the retelling of our adventures as much as we enjoy telling it and unless you only talk to people that have already been to Maui and who have no doubt already SEEN the road to Hana, your pictures and stories will only be given a polite “that is nice” at best.

So instead of doing the same old trip that everyone does, try the lesser known “road” that is similar to the Road to Hana, but much less traveled.

The Road to Kahakuloa

Traveling along Highway 340 on the West Coast of Maui is incredibly scenic, narrow–and a little scary, so go slow.

Narrow road

Pass by blowholes and spot whales congregating in the distance, crystal clear pools, rocky and sandy beaches and virtually no civilization (especially gas stations, so make sure your tank is full) on extremely curvy, narrow roads. Expect the random chicken or cow as your fellow commuter and descend the mountains into the valley and end up in Kahakuloa Village.

one of the scenic beaches on the road

Approach this drive leisurely and stop along the way for fresh pineapple or take a dip in the warm waters before heading on to the next pineapple stand or beach.

one of many roadside pineapple stands

Surfing beach

The road, incredibly, hugs the ocean and mountain at the same time and offers views from all sides.
My favorite sight on the drive, aside from the Kaukini Gallery where over 100 local artists feature their work for reasonable prices, is Kahakuloa Head, a 600+’ mountain shooting out of the ocean. You can climb it, but be careful. This ancient site, familiar ground of Kings from Maui’s past, is very steep and rugged.

Gorgeous Kahakuloa Head

Regardless of which drive you choose just remember: you are in Maui– so enjoy every palm tree, pineapple/mango drink, fresh seafood and don’t forget the suntan lotion!

I am happy to re-proclaim my aspiring (and inspiring) travel writing career but I also have to do a little self promotion with my recent published articles at a newspaper in the greater New York City area. The paper—the Daily Record– covers the hub of New Jersey: Morris County (in Northern New Jersey about 25 miles outside of Manhattan).

I am happy and proud to be a freelance writer for this paper and lately my articles have consisted of interviews with bands that have been either new to me and/or prominent bands that are known for their ability to ROCK.

So is Rolling Stone next for me? YES! OF COURSE! Who knows! But my love of music combined with my love of travel— that can only mean one thing: Groupie! Music Road Trip!! Now if I can only convince my husband to agree to me having a VW bus again…

Here is my latest article on the legendary band Little Feat on their latest acoustic venture.

Little Feat

Stay tuned, especially if you are a fan of Western Swing, Gypsy Jazz and Traditional Irish Music!

I can’t take credit for the title of this post–but I can say there is a lot of truth to it. This statement was repeated many times in the form of bumper stickers throughout the island.

Like most islands off of major cities (Whidbey Island and Bainbridge Island near Seattle or Block Island in RI) the pace is slower, the roads are windier and the international way of telling time goes out the window in favor of “island time”.

Waiheke Island, a 50 minute ferry ride from the Auckland area is no exception. Being in the South Pacific, you can’t get much more islandy than this, but Waiheke doesn’t have the grass skirts or fruity coconut drinks like Hawaii or another tropical island might. Waiheke, although being an island and on island time, is pretty fancy shmancy.

Regardless of your agenda, on Waiheke you can find something to do whether it be hiking, surfing, laying on white sand beaches or visiting the 30 local wineries. As with Auckland, whatever activity you choose to partake in on the island, you will marvel at the cleanliness of the country and the friendliness of the people.

Waiheke (and New Zealand in general) produces vast quantities of wine that is distributed all over the World is and historically and consistently known for producing the best Sauvignon Blanc in the World. Wine is taken very seriously here.

In case I haven’t mentioned it yet in the recent NZ posts, the reason for our trip was to attend the wedding of our dear scuba diving buddies/world traveler/life long friends. After our initial tour around Auckland once arriving in NZ (see my previous posts here and here) we took the car ferry to Waiheke for a few days of beach, wine and relaxation (and a little hiking). NZ is a long way to go to get married — our friends live in California, us on the East Coast — but they were in the same mindset as we were when we got married in sunny Curacao; whoever wants to come can come, if not, thats fine too.

Their wedding was at the most beautiful winery on the island: Mudbrick. The restaurant and gorgeous gardens (complete with Olive orchards that many of the wineries here have) look out to the city of Auckland over the Hauraki Gulf. It was a serene setting for a perfect wedding and a beautiful bride–and the party after was pretty excellent!

Two other wineries we really enjoyed were Cable Bay (looking over the sheep filled countryside and seeing Auckland in the distance over the water offered a modern yet rustic image for us the wine tasters) and Te Whau that offered spectacular architecture and as you guessed–more stunning views. The day we were at Te Whau the grapes were actually being stomped on (is that the right term) and yes, with bare feet–but as we found out from our waitress — you have to be a young, pure woman to stomp the grapes–they don’t want tainted wine (I couldn’t help but think of the I Love Lucy episode… but I didn’t dare bring that up to the waitress).

At Te Whau on a windy day

For the budget traveler, well, I really don’t have too many tips for you at Cable Bay, Mudbrick or Te Whau. The prices were high; but the food, wine and views from the grounds were spectacular and well worth the money.
Click here for a website with all of the island’s wineries complete with pictures and descriptions.

So as far as the “being so far behind we are ahead” saying… I guess that is true about any island, but what I do know is that we felt rested and relaxed each day on Waiheke and I don’t think that was just because of the wine.

More pictures of Waiheke will be in my next post, but I wanted to point out a few things that really stuck out about this island for me, aside from the clean air, nice folks and anything else I have already mentioned prior.

1- The Beachfront Bar and Cafe has a buy 7 get the 8th free punchcard for coffee, beer or wine!? Genius.

2- Sheep are everywhere. This fact would be proven again and again on our trip but here, they seemed to multiple at every turn.

3- But as you can see, Emus and Llamas are also popular. Or are these Alpacas?

4- I don’t think crocodiles are really here… although that took convincing from my husband when we saw this sign after a long hike to a hidden bay (Crocs are in Australia right? And Australia is semi-close to NZ…).
Anyway, what this sign should have been warning people about was: “old man who lives in this remote area walks around at his leisure– naked,” ’cause that was the only thing I saw that was scary.

As I was roaming around the first garage sales of the season I saw many collections for sale. Pokemon cards, animal salt and pepper shakers and even rubber bands. I have never really collected anything since stickers when I was a kid (remember sticker books from the 80′s? Do those still exist? What an odd phenomenon that was…)

some actual stickers I had

Collections are a funny thing — attachment to items are and the insistence of on adding to and preserving the collection becomes an obsession. I said I haven’t really collected anything since I was a kid and that is true, except for my collection of Starbucks mugs.

I love to travel and aside from getting t-shirts from many locations I visit (wait, is that another “collection”)? Years ago I decided to acquire a Starbucks City mug in every city/country I visit. Many places I have visited don’t have Starbucks (which is fine–I think if I saw a Starbucks in Guanajuato, Mexico it would make me sad) so of course I do not own mugs from all the places I go, but I have acquired a pretty good collection. The city mugs have gone through re-designs over the years and I don’t collect a certain version or style — it just has to name the city.

Sadly some mugs I have acquired have met their demise from daily use.
Yes, unlike some collections, these mugs get used regularly — in fact this morning I drank coffee from “Zurich.” The mugs go through the dishwasher and sit on our regular mug shelf. Apparently these Starbucks mugs can actually be worth some money— certain cities are quite valuable— but I collect mine simply for me, to remind me of my travels.

*If any of my readers live in or visit the following places in the US or Canada listed below where I have been but either 1) did not find a mug or 2) had one that broke and you feel friendly, buy me one and I will send you the money plus postage via paypal!

Here are the cities I can think of at the moment:
Boulder
Calgary
Indianapolis
San Diego
Las Vegas
San Francisco
Paris
Rome
Barcelona
Montana (anywhere–not sure if they exist)
Idaho (anywhere — not sure if they exist)
Chattanooga
Orlando
Miami

I am happy to announce (again) and (still) so happy to be a part of the amazing mini-blog website that IS… NOMAD COURIER!!!

Check us out–me and 6 other nomads send our travel postcards to our courier who then tirelessly posts them on this site. Here are my latest entires (click the postcard to see the flip side)!

Thanks for the support!

It has been said, “You learn something new everyday” and I think that is quite true especially when in a new place as I am right now in New Zealand.

A few days back while sitting in Auckland at a sports pub overlooking the Americas Cup yachts, my husband and I enjoyed a cold Macs Beer (brewed in NZ) and relaxed. In the background, one TV showed a Rugby match and the other a women’s basketball game. I was surprised to see that basketball was popular in NZ, especially women’s considering that even in the US, Women’s Basketball barely gets any TV time. But as I tried to determine the teams, I noticed a few things about this basketball game:

1) There was no backboard.
2) No one dribbled the ball–just passed it.
3) The player with the ball always kept one foot planted (see cartoon drawing below)
4) No one was really blocking the attempted shots

What is going on here?

I flagged a waitress down and she was nice enough to answer the initial 29 questions I had on the what and why of this sport called Netball.

I have been stumped by sports before (Curling and Cricket come to mind) but I have never even heard of Netball. I felt a bit lame when I looked into it and found out it is played in the UK, Australia and other places too.

Some of the rules are similar to Basketball, but the other rules appear a bit wonky to the new fan:

• Only one player/position on each team can score (the GA or GS in the below diagram)
• Each team tries to pass the ball to their goal circle–the only place where a shot can be made (the ball is a cross between a rugby ball and a basketball).
• A player who has caught the ball must play it or shoot for goal within three seconds
• The ball may be bounced once to gain control

• There must be room for a third player between the hands of thrower and catcher. Seems to be a bit unfair…

• Having caught the ball, a player may land or stand on:

o One foot – while the landing foot remains grounded, the second foot may pivot.
o Hopping or dragging the landing foot is not allowed. Or dribbling.

• The defender may be close to the shooter, but not touching, providing that no effort is made to intercept or defend the ball and there is no interference with the opponents throwing or shooting action. Arms must be in a natural position, not outstretched. This is the one that gets me. When watching this it appears to be such an easy game, but the women that play are totally in shape and out of breath.
• Intimidation: of any kind, is classed as obstruction. I guess no trash talking.

I’m not sure that I will ever play Netball but while in NZ I have become fascinated with this very popular sport. I think my favorite exposure to it was when I saw school kids playing a pick-up game.

To complement the NZ posts so far and yet to come here are some pictures that truly deserve a post of their own!

I saw this shop in Auckland. I think there was a small mistake in the translation or proof of a horrible cliche.

Love the street art.

Bon Jovi continues to be a constant presence in my daily life — check the license plate!!

Only a $1?

Mrs. Merlot — the resident cat at Te Whau Vineyard on Waiheke

As I write, this is my current view:

It is from our flat on Waiheke, an island off the coast of Auckland.
Waiheke is sometimes referred to as Wineheke for the amount of Vineyards and Wineries (a total of 30) scattered across the island. Before I get to the subject of this current paradise I am surrounded by, let me finish our adventures in Auckland.

We pretty extensively and without really stopping, toured the city by foot for nearly 3 full days. There were touristy must-do’s including heading to the top of the Sky Tower (think Space Needle) where we had the option to either:
1) embrace the adventurous spirit New Zealand is known for and bungee JUMP off

2) WALK the fenceless perimeter of the tower for a little less intense adventure with only a harness attaching you to the building or,

3) Safely stay inside behind the safety glass and look out at the 360-degree views like all of the other scaredy cats… and MAN were those some 360 degree views (you can guess which option we chose. I may be adventurous but I have my limits!)

As seen from the Sky Tower, Auckland has it all—mountains, the bay, the ocean, the city.
After seeing city sights from above we decided to head out again on foot to see these same sights up close.

Albert Park, a lush green oasis in the center of town is where the city campus of Auckland University is located; Queen St. is the main part of town with tons of shopping; the waterfront claims the largest marina in NZ (actually one of the largest in all of the Southern Hemisphere) and has some of the most luxurious private sailboats I’ve ever seen including the America’s Cup yachts and the factory that builds them; the Auckland Museum with extensive material on the Maori people and culture that is native to New Zealand; and great bars and restaurants all along Quay (pronounced “Key”) Street. Quay St. was also the starting point for my daily “urban runs” that took me through many of these same areas before I met my husband at our “regular” coffee shop (the girl at the coffee shop thought we lived in Auckland since I seemed so casual (read: sweaty) about stopping by after running. You know you made it when you’re mistaken for a local.

an Americas Cup sailboat

Because we are still messed up on time (by the way—thanks day light savings for coming while we were gone—it is easier to “spring ahead” on holiday) and since time seems to actually go slower here, we had sufficient time to tour Auckland and add it to the “Yeah, I could live here” list.

After Auckland we were off to the outer limits we decided to head outside of the city limits.

Like most cities, when you leave the metro area it feels like you are in a different country, which is exactly how we felt when we hopped in the car and headed south of Auckland City. The terrain went from reminding me of Vancouver to reminding me of Hawaii. Dormant volcanoes covered in various types of trees, red lava sand beaches (Piha is gorgeous) and narrow winding roads through cow and sheep pastures had us in disbelief that we were really only 40 min away from Auckland.

Piha

We had about three hours to roam this country before catching the car ferry to Wahike for even more scenery changes…

to be continued…

As we wind down on our first day and the 80-degree temps are slowly falling to a low that is still 20 degrees warmer than the high we have at home, I am reflecting on some of the things I’ve noticed initially about Auckland as we roamed the city by foot.

I will surely elaborate more on some of these things in the coming days, but here is the list I have started:

• Reminds me of one of my favorite cities, Vancouver, BC. The water, the mountains, the downtown area, the size of the buildings, the skyline, the boats (Auckland is called the City of Sails), the kiddy-corner cross walks—all very similar.
• Also reminds me of Portland, Oregon for many of the same reasons I’ve listed above.
• Super nice people. A shout out to Gary and Robert who we met at the General Store and Dan and Josh at White And One (great coffee in both places. More on the coffee here later…)
• Clean.
• Ragtop Fiats (car) are popular—and super cute.
• Retro Volkswagen buses are very popular. Awesome.
• Environmentally conscious.
• Lots of Sushi places—more than I see in NYC and Auckland is considerably smaller.
• Driving on the other side of the road is cool, but weird.
• Very walk-able city.
• The love of Rugby (side note—rugby was on TV tonight so I felt obligated to watch and WOW– those guys are hands down THE toughest athletes I’ve ever seen).
• I haven’t seen any sheep yet.
• The accents are charming. Especially on children. Words like:
Breeekfast (“I think I’ll have the free-range bacon and egg white omelet for breeekfast today”).
Heeedstart (“Run—I will give you a heeedstart”) and,
Eeeend (“The eeeend of True Grit disappointed me).
• Lots of coffee shops.

Just to elaborate on this a bit—being from Seattle one might think that I “know” coffee (insert husband rolling his eyes at this statement). Moving to the East Coast was totally different when it came to ordering (ie: never say “grande” or “venti” in a coffee shop on the E. Coast that is not Starbucks. They pretend they don’t know what you are talking about).

Here, instead of trying to pretend to know the lingo I played the tourist card and described what I normally get at home—just a drip with skim milk.

Here that translates to: a Large Trim Flat White.
And here—it’s not “drip” even after saying the above. It is still made espresso style—but no complaints here! Delicious!

Needing a bit more caffeine a little later I decided to get an iced coffee. Easy enough and I ordered it straight from the menu board. “ICED COFFEE”

My iced coffee came with ice-cream, cream, sugar and some coffee. Again, not really complaining… ☺

my large coffee

We embarked on our trip from our home in the Northern Hemisphere to what we refer to as opposite land. After traveling 18 hrs (not counting our 3 hour layover in LA) we made it to Auckland at 7am on Saturday—where it is summer—while at home it was still 1pm on Friday in Winter. That international date line can really mess with your mind if you think about it too much so we’re just going with the flow and know that when we leave Auckland days from now at 6pm on a Sunday we will arrive home at 7am—that same Sunday.

See—you are thinking about it aren’t you?

All in all, the trip to NZ went off without a hitch. As much as I preach about having a “positive mental attitude” and to “just go with the flow,” there is something to be said about expecting the absolute worst and since that is a natural trait of my husband when it comes to airlines (who can blame him really?) that is what we did and as history has shown—for us anyway– we were pleasantly surprised.

To state a fact most won’t disagree with: flying in the US is a pain. There aren’t many nice things to say about any of the airlines these days. Put aside the bag charges and the blanket hoarding or the $5 headset rentals for a VHS movie they OWN, there are many things about flying that will cause immediate headaches.

With that said, our flight to LA was forgettable. In fact, I do forget it. That is troubling actually. I seriously do not remember anything about it. Maybe because it was like 3 days ago even though I am still wearing the same clothes as when I got on that flight (PS: I am going on being awake for nearly like 8 days [more like 2 not counting the small interrupted naps I managed on the plane] so please forgive any attitude this post may be tainted with.

ANYWAY— as we boarded the Air New Zealand flight we were of course skeptical and expected the worst. Because we chose not to pay $14,000 dollars for “premier economy” seats (an actual price), we chose seats in the regular “oh that flight is going to suck in economy” economy section. Expecting the worst, I rolled my jeans up (you know how those airplane bathroom floors get—gross!) and repeated aloud to my husband like it were a bible verse the every 3-hour exercise regiment I devised consisting mainly of deep knee bends in the aisle to avoid blood clots and sore joints.

I am sure you can imagine our delight when our hardened faces and the stink eye I was giving my seat mate (not to my husband–I was in the middle seat and the guy on my right was sort of big) began to slowly dissipate and we found ourselves laughing at the very well done safety video played on all of the TV seat backs. The “star” was a kiwi puppet (kiwi being the NZ mascot) and he poked fun at the “fancy shamncey” first class people who didn’t have to raise their seatbacks for take off and the really funny part when he had issues with his inflatable oxygen mask—wait, why were we laughing at that?

My point is, from the minute we got on that flight and realized our legroom was ample enough, the food being better than prison grade and the over 200 different movies and TV shows available to watch for free on the seatbacks (complete with remote control)—the flight from LA to Auckland was a breeze. The sleep meds we took I’m sure played a supporting role, but not much—clearly since we only got about 5 hours of sleep through the entire day. Or days?
Air New Zealand is my new favorite airline. I wonder if they’d consider flying domestically in the US…