In My Wildest Dreams

Sara No Mayo

That was my nickname for the weekend... Long story, but mainly used to distinguish me from my friend, Sarah and originated with my request for no mayo on the ham sandwich they served us during our diving excursion in Poor Knight's Island. Anyway, long story....

Went up on Friday afternoon straight after school. Was supposed to meet Sarah's "host-dad" (the father of the children she nannies)'s coworkers and company in Ponsonby, a neighborhood in downtown Auckland. From there I was to ride with them to Tutukaka, where we would stay this weekend. Thought I'd be fine with just the address of their house and an atlas. WRONG! The exits are all totally confusing and I ended up crossing the bridge that leads out of Auckland over the harbor and far far away... Well, not that far, but far enough to get more than a little frustrated. After a few "Om Mane Padme Oms" and a couple of "I never did mind the little things..." (Point of No Return, Bridgette Fonda?), things worked out and my ride came to pick up my little lost self. Just left my car on a side street there (in Northcote, turns out) and hopped in with the others.

We made it up to Tutukaka (yes, it is a real name) where we were to stay at a beach house for the weekend. Was quite a lovely house. All the rooms were beautiful except the one where Sarah, me, the 8-year-old twins that Sarah nannies, and another woman about my age, Jackie, all shared. 'Twas an attic with no A/C, extremely hot, smelling of saw dust, and not-so-comfortable beds (finally realized at the end of the weekend that mine was just an old foam pad with a sheet over it--that would explain the back pain). Wouldn't have been too bad except that (unbeknownst to me before the trip) we were all apparently renting the house for $250 a night. After everyone split it, it only ended up being $50 a piece, but still....BUT, just one of those things where you have to (again) take a deep breath, hold your tongue, and visualize people having real problems (which then makes the whole situation seem much more tolerable). So, sleep was not something I got a lot of, but I had a great weekend.

Went diving in Poor Knight's Island--one of Jacques Cousteau's top ten dive sites in the world. Was awesome. During the first dive I was a little--okay, a lot--rusty. Cold water diving is way different than Carribean diving. Hard to get my buoyancy all figured out. You have to use the BCD a lot more--whereas in Carribean diving you can use your lungs to regulate your buoyancy. Also, had to use more weights due to the thicker dive suit. Plus, couldn't get my right ear to equalize. That was not so good. Then, I had problems with my mask not being the best one (okay, also I'm a little rusty) and it kept filling with water. SOOO, the first dive was more about me flailing around trying to fix my stuff and make sure I wasn't going to lose my right ear. Yeah, but the second dive was MUCH better and beautiful. Cool stuff--nudibranches (little sea sluggies) and they were mating! Also saw lots of scorpion fish, sting rays, eels, etc. I do have to say (and, mind you, I didn't say this to anyone on the trip) that Katie (sister) and I have been spoiled by our Central American diving. Every dive is like fish galore--lots of them and all kinds of different ones, sea turtles, etc.... Plus, stingrays don't look like much compared to the HUGE manta rays that I dove with in Baja. Okay. Spoiled. But, it was still fun--just being underwater looking at things is fun. Hmmm, well, the first dive wasn't fun b/c I really was the least graceful diver on the boat. I didn't win any prizes for the smooth factor. But, we had a good time. And, I'm sure everyone had a good laugh (at me).

Sarah's twins are soooooo cute. I had a really good time with them. They are absolutely hilarious. We told jokes and played Uno. They took me on a "blind walk" along the beach and made me fall into a whole. Good fun.

Anyway, will write more later after a good night's rest.

Love,
Sara

posted by Sara @ 12:18 AM