One Bad Apple

This is the part of our trip that I’ve been reluctant to write about. In fact, it’s kind of been the stand-still for finishing writing about our amazing time in New Zealand. But it must be told, I suppose…

We had a nice flight to New Zealand, complete with dinner and all-you-can-watch TV binge all the way there. We arrived slightly after midnight, feeling really exhausted. Their customs line was extensive. We had filled out our declarations cards on the plane, but there were still long lines to wait in. We gathered our luggage and headed to the check-point where you have to officially “declare” stuff. Well, there were some yellow warning signs, stating that if you had any forbidden items in your luggage, you may be charged $400. So, when we got up to the lady asking about all our declarations, we tried to get ultra specific… Yes, we had some food – almonds, trail mix, some peanut butter and jam, oh, and some carrots. We had already throw away some meat and cheese, knowing it wouldn’t be acceptable. The lady smiled at all our kids, asked them how their trip to Australia had been, and she took our carrots. Then they took our 13 bags and put them through an x-ray machine to make sure we weren’t bringing in any forbidden items.

Guess what?

We had an apple.

One lone apple, accidentally packed in a grocery bag with some dry pasta. It had been in my suitcase since Melbourne. When we got to Sydney, it got repacked in our extra duffle bag, somehow. I had no idea it was there. Brian didn’t remember that it was there. But well…

They acted like we were bringing in 50 pounds of cocaine or something! I'm not kidding!! They dragged our whole, tired family over to a separate area for further inspection. They opened up all our bags and did more detailed inspections of everything. They kept asking Brian over and over if he knew the apple was there, if he packed it there himself, etc. We both told them repeatedly that we honestly didn’t remember it was there or we would have given it to the lady who took our carrots. By this time, it was well after midnight, all our kids were whimpering and wilting and trying to rest on hard-back chairs or slumping on the floor. There were two other people who had also been detained – a 60-ish man who had two oranges in his carry on bag; he said his sis-in-law had put them in there for him to eat on the plane. He thought she gave him two, but she gave him four. Well, he ate two, and two were magically in his bag. Criminal offense!! The other lady had also smuggled an apple. She only spoke Spanish and kept repeating in a pleading voice something about “manzana, lo siento, etc.”

Those  New Zealand airport people showed NO MERCY!! A $400 fine for a single apple! I kind of get irate every time I think about it. My heart beat is elevated and I’m breathing a little fast even as I type this. Sigh. The attendant said, with a “no-excuses” tone, “You packed your own bags, you should know what is in them.” I tried to explain that we had THIRTEEN bags for our family of six, and we had been traveling all over Australia for nine days before this flight. He just shook his head and didn’t listen at all. Even Brian was starting to get worked up. (I know! Hard to imagine, right?!) But it did no good.

The various attendants kept saying, “we had signs posting a warning that you may be fined.” Yeah, MAY be fined, which, in any SANE, MERCIFUL country is took to mean, if we intend to start an apple farm and we’re intentionally smuggling in loads of apples, we deserve a penalty. But anyway… aggghhh! It was pretty terrible. And, it really didn’t help that it was 1:30 in the morning and we were just soooo very exhausted.

We had called a guy from our hotel shuttle service to give us a lift as soon as we got off the plane. We had to call him back three different times to tell him not to come yet, we were still detained. He was very accommodating, and did eventually come for us, which was super nice of him (even though it was also his job). He was from the Philippines. He said one of his “aunties” from the Philippines had been found with an orange in her luggage and was also charged. And, of course, to a Philippine worker lady, that $400 fine was a terrible, terrible loss of income for her and her family. That kind of put things into perspective for us… Yes, we were upset. Yes, that was an unjust fine in our opinions. Yes, the nice lady who smiled and took our carrots could have also said, by the way if you go to the next station and they find ANY shred of ANY kind of raw fruit, honey, cheese, etc, you WILLLL be fined (not just MAY), no negotiating, explaining or excusing! Yes, it was expensive. Yes, it still irks us, as you can tell... But we were still able to go on and enjoy the rest of our vacation and do all the fun things we had planned. We’re pretty lucky/blessed/spoiled, we know. (We even still did Hobbiton.)

We got to bed about 2:30am that night, which was rough. We kind of felt it for the rest of our trip, too. But we were safe and slept in a bit. And, with a little sleep on our side, we decided not to hold it against the entire country of New Zealand. And since we came home, Brian has written an appeal, begging forgiveness for our poor judgment, etc. We’ll have to see… But seriously, that was one terribly bad rotten apple!! We haven’t been able to eat an apple since, without talking about our very expensive Australian apple in NZ (which we still haven’t officially paid for… fingers crossed there may still be some mercy down the line somewhere?) Sigh.

Some Fun in Sydney!

Well, first off, I have to tell you... I had a little dream-come-true in Sydney, our first night there. Drumroll, please!.... The END of daylight savings happened!! That’s right! Just a few short weeks ago, I joined the ranks of America and LOST an hour of my day to begin the tiresome getting-used-to-early-mornings-and-kids-who-dislike-going-to-bed-while -it's-still-light-outside, which we call daylight savings. (You all know from previous discussion how I feel about DLS, right?) Well, then… how exciting it was to have our friends (McAllisters) at the beach on our way up to Sydney remind us – not only were we headed into Easter Sunday, but it was also the END of Australia’s daylight savings time! All my family can tell you… I was absolutely giddy at this news. Yay! It felt like a gift!

So, I therefore used that little gift by staying up until 1a.m. preparing a lovely Easter morning for our kids. Yes, the Easter Bunny found us, even all the way in Sydney! And I daresay the Easter Bunny spent A LOT on candy and treats, because it doesn’t come cheap in Sydney. And there were no jelly beans or peeps, which was a small tragedy. Instead, the kids got to find large, foil-wrapped chocolate Cadbury eggs hidden around our hotel room (which were divine, btw,) and cute Cadbury frogs, as recommended by the McAllisters. And the clever Bunny knew it would be hard to travel with baskets, so she left the kids’ treats in cute little Easter gift bags instead.

After a delicious breakfast of chocolate and mentos, (typical Easter breakfast, right??) we got ready and headed out to church. There was a church service happening just a short walk from our hotel. So we went to their sacrament meeting. It was a singles ward, and was their fast and testimony meeting. I wanted to share my testimony, but felt reluctant to do so, being a visitor and all. Then a remarkable thing happened – I had prepared in my mind some of the things I would share if there was a lull. And yes, there was a lull. I started to get up, but another man seated a few rows back stood up. He and his family were also visiting. He shared a very beautiful testimony, and shared almost EXACTLY the very thoughts I was having! I listened to him, and felt such a warm, sweet spirit. It was lovely. I felt as though I had just shared my own testimony. Hard to describe why it meant so much, but it was a very sweet, spiritual moment for me.  They also had a gorgeous musical number of several missionaries singing an arrangement of “If the Savior Stood Beside Me.” I was so very glad we attended that meeting.

We then went over to St. Mary’s Cathedral that was also fairly close. We had wanted to attend their solemn mass ceremony, which seemed like a neat thing for Easter Sunday. But we arrived late and the service was almost over. I slipped in the back of the chapel and observed the last few minutes while Brian stood outside with the kids. When it was over, we toured the cathedral quickly. Stained glass windows are always a highlight for me and Brian. The smell of burning incense from the mass ceremony was NOT something our kids enjoyed, so we didn’t stay long. The archbishop was handing out large chocolate eggs to all the children as we exited the cathedral. Our kids didn’t feel like waiting in line to get one from him, but a kind lady just handed one to each of them, without having to meet the archbishop.

Then we walked to a park where a man had a big bubble-blowing station set up. We watched for awhile, and the kids popped all the bubbles that other children were blowing. Finally they paid the man a dollar apiece to blow their own bubbles. Spencer and Natalie were in heaven. We could have stayed for another hour or so, but decided to move on with our day.

We made our way further downtown and stopped at a mall with a really nice food court, where we ate some lunch. We let the kids choose what they wanted – Spencer and Natalie shared a large Caesar salad (which Spencer claimed was “the best salad I’ve ever tasted in my whole entire life!”) Samantha shared a large pesto pasta salad with Camille, and I got a Greek salad. Brian got some kind of sandwich, which I tasted. We were all very happy to eat our own picks. Then we rode the escalators allllll the way up to the top floor of the mall. NINE escalators in a row, I counted! When we got to the top, there was a big toy store with so many fun toys and displays! Spencer loved the huge Lego creations, and Camille and Natalie found some fun ponies. Samantha was looking at the little Ty stuffed animals with the huge eyes that she loved. Then they all played with some interactive camera/video stations for awhile.

We left the mall (riding down all those escalators again, so fun!), and walked over to the harbor. Kids whined and complained about this, because it was HOT, and it was a bit of a walk, and they were tired. But we made it, and we rested on a dock and fed the fish some dried chickpeas that I had bought that weren’t as tasty as I was hoping. While we were feeding the fish, Natalie accidentally dropped her tiny little “petshop” plastic puppy into the harbor. She had just gotten it in her Easter bag that morning, so it was a little bit devastating. But we eventually cajoled her out of it, making jokes about “poor Hershey dog, Rest In Water.” Camille told her, “don’t worry. You will see him again when you get resurrected!” ??

By this time, we had one kid who reaaaally wanted to go back to the hotel. A fit was pitched and we almost caved. But it was only about 4pm, and we weren’t really ready to call it a day. So we struck a bargain with him (not naming his name here, of course): walk down to the ferry with us, and we’ll ride the ferry then catch a cab home afterward. Done!! The ferry ride was PERFECT! Just what Brian and I were hoping for! It made it even better that the ticket machine where we boarded was being fixed, so the ferry operator guy let us ride for free, saving us $20! On the water it was much cooler, and we were sitting instead of walking so everyone got to rest and perked up a little. We sat on the top deck to feel the wind and waves and sunshine, so nice! We rode under the mighty Harbour Bridge, and went right up next to the Sydney Opera House, getting some great pictures of both. We actually saw some tiny little people climbing up on the top of the Harbour Bridge, pretty amazing and daring! (And pricey too… we looked into it, and it’s over $150 per person to make the climb – over $350 to do it at sunset!! You can even have a WEDDING up there, but I have no idea how expensive that would be!!)

We rode the ferry way out to then of the harbor to its last departure point, then stayed on and rode back to the Sydney Opera House stop. We got off there and renegotiated with our not-so-tired kid who now wanted to at least walk by the Opera House since we were so close and all. ha! It was really neat to walk up close to it, and kind of walk around a bit. But we didn’t feel like paying for a tour to see inside ($37 per person). Instead, we decided to meander through the nearby Botanical Gardens before finding an Uber ride back to our hotel. It was getting dark by then and we were all hungry and ready to rest. So we refreshed at our place for a few minutes while Brian located a good Middle Eastern restaurant nearby. Then we walked there and had a nice “Easter Dinner” of hummus, tabbouleh (Camille said, "this salad just tastes like grass," lol! and didn't eat it which meant more for me!), falafel, kebabs, lamb, and Turkish delight and baklava for dessert. (If you think about it, that’s probably more like what they would have had traditionally, back in the Holy Land, back in the day, eh?)

The next day was kind of a hang-out day. We were tired. We were ready to take it easy. So we asked for a late check-out at our hotel. (Oh, I forgot to mention, we found a good hotwire deal on our hotel – good enough that we got two rooms, first time ever! Samantha and Spencer stayed in the room next to ours, all by themselves, brave kids!) We took the kids swimming at our pool for a nice long time. Then packed up all our stuff while listening to some of General Conference (which was still happening in the States, even though it was Monday morning for us.) Once we checked out, we left our luggage at the front desk and caught an Uber downtown again to a posh bookstore. Brian had seen a book in a gift shop near the Opera House that he was hoping to get a copy of. But no luck. Instead, we were looking at VERY overpriced stationary and knick-knacks. (Made me nervous, with four kids touching everything!) Spencer somehow wandered upstairs, and found an expensive whoopie cushion, which he filled and “tooted” several times before tossing it over the balcony!! (arrrg!! Kids!) When being severely scolded by mom he just replied, “What?! I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody or anything. It was just a whoopie cushion.” And then we left.

We wandered into some other shops, got ice cream cones at McDonalds, then rode another ferry around for a bit. We also stopped at a couple of souvenir shops and let the kids pick some stuff to bring home. Camille got a tiny koala stuffed bear. Natalie got a “real” princess crown (but it broke before we arrived home), and I got a little stuffed Kangaroo. Brian picked up some magnets for us and his parents. Not sure what Samantha and Spencer decided on because I had to take Camille for an emergency bathroom trip while Brian wrapped up that purchase. Lol! Then, off to the airport in another Uber ride. We had a 6:30 flight to Auckland, that arrived at nearly midnight NZ time. Whew! Luckily the flight had TVs and everyone happily watched shows and ate a meal on the way there. Goodbye lovely Australia!! It really was a great time and we’d definitely do it again!

Melbourne and the Southern Coast

We flew to Melbourne on a late-night flight, arriving just before midnight. Camille was soooo very tired, and we had to drag all our luggage a looong way before we finally got a taxi to our place. I thought I’d booked something close to the airport. But it turns out, it was a good 25 minutes from the airport, and quite a pricey ride! But we weren’t renting a car our first day, so it was better to be closer into the city, near a good train connection. The place we stayed was something I found on booking.com, and was a bit older, but really nicely cared for and comfortable. The host left us bread, jam, juice, milk and butter in the fridge, as well as some hot cross buns for Easter, and four chocolate bunnies for the kids. We thought that was a nice touch, and the kids dug right in on the bunnies, even before bed.

In the morning, we had the hot cross buns for breakfast – they’re a somewhat sweet roll with raisins. The kids liked them best with butter and jam, which was nice. Then we got ready and set out to find the train. It wasn’t a far walk, but it was a bit of a fiasco getting tickets. With the kids, we had to buy special cards to put money on, and they weren’t cheap! After a bit of a hassle and some waiting, we finally got the train and headed downtown. We got out at the main station, and walked several blocks to get to the Eureka Sky Deck building. Our friends, Tanya and Michael Peel had arranged to meet us for the afternoon, and were waiting outside the Sky Deck with two of their three little boys. It was so lovely to reconnect with them! Brian and I knew them when we lived in London; they went to church with us, and we attended Michael’s baptism. They eventually moved back to Australia and are now living just outside of Melbourne. Michael arranged to take the day off so we could spend quality time together. They waited for us while we went up the Sky Deck tour. Then we had lunch together and wandered through some parks together for a few hours.

The Sky Deck tour was great! 88 floors to the top, and some gorgeous views of the city from the tallest building in Australia. We mailed post cards to grandparents from the “highest post box in Australia,” which was fun. Brian and Samantha and Spencer paid extra to go out on a glass floor block called “The Edge.” They said it was pretty cool! I stayed with Camille and Natalie, who were having a great time playing in the instant photo booth.

With Tanya and Michael, we went to a food court for lunch and let the kids choose whatever they wanted, which was fun… We are NOT eating out a lot on this trip, so we try to make it extra special in some way when we do. Spencer and Natalie got individual pizzas, Camille got popcorn chicken, Samantha got a big Caesar salad, and Brian and I both got Thai food. It was fun “pleasing” everyone. We were going to follow it with ice cream for all, but the lovely little ice cream shop we looked at was charging $5 for a one scoop cone! So we got a large soda at Subway and shared it instead, for $3.80.

It was really fun catching up with our friends, hearing what they’ve been up to and how their kids are doing. It felt like we had hardly been apart, though it’s been nearly a decade. I love those kinds of connections that just still feel very close.

After we left them, we rode the tram down to a pier and walked along a boardwalk. The kids waded in the ocean for a few minutes, but it was cold and getting dark. So we went across the street to a fish-and-chips shop. We made all the kids try the fish, and told them they could fill up on chips if the fish was not to their liking. Only Spencer really enjoyed it, but they all gave it a good effort anyway.

The next day, Brian set off early to go get our rental car. (He’s so amazing to just keep going, going!!) I got the kids up and moving and we left our fun little place to go for a day trip on The Great Ocean Road! It was a long day with quite a bit of driving, but we had a really nice time. The GOR was beautiful and did NOT disappoint! We stopped at a lighthouse with incredible views of a rocky coastline below. Then we stopped at a lookout after winding along a huge expanse of beach for several miles. 

The highlight, of course, was getting to the Twelve Apostles rock formations, out in the sea. That was pretty spectacular. We stopped at the nearby Loch Ard Gorge and let the kids wade and dig at the beach there. It got its name because a ship called the Loch Ard crashed nearby. Of the 40-something people on board, only two survived – a man and a woman. The man washed up on the shore of the gorge, then heard the woman screaming and holding onto wreckage from the ship. He swam out and rescued her, then they both had to be rescued from the gorge. Pretty harrowing story!

Anyway, it was a great day for me. I love picturing those cliffs and crashing waves in my memory now!! So beautiful and stunning! We wound our way back through the countryside and stayed at a place near the coast in Torquay. It was a great place – a two room condo unit done by Worldmark. We slept in a little bit there and had a nice breakfast and quick swim before taking off to start our drive up the other side of the coast, toward Sydney.

On our way out of town, we had planned to stop and ride The Puffing Billy, a historic steam train that runs through the rainforest. Well, we miscalculated our time and ended up not making it there until after 1pm, and we still had a 7-hour drive ahead of us to get along up the coast. So, we opted to not ride the train, sadly. But we did stop at Grant’s Picnic ground nearby, a place Kerri had recommended. We had sandwiches and snacks, then took a little nature walk through the rainforest. The kids got to feed big, white cockatoo birds right out of their hands!! It was pretty exciting, and we took a ton of pictures and videos of them.

Then, we drove. And drove. And drove. It was long and tiring. But we listened to some CD audio books that I checked out from the library before we left. That was a huge help with keeping the kids occupied in the car. “Land of Stories” is our series. Pretty entertaining, but not too scary even for Natalie and Camille.

We stayed in a little KOA park place. Nothing fancy, but good enough for the night. There was a playground right behind our little cabin, so the kids got to play for a few minutes while Brian and I packed up. Funny thing about that place… there were these peeping birds that did a high-pitched “peep!!” every few seconds, allll night long! Crazy!! Made it kind of hard to sleep!! Ha!

So, one of the main reasons I wanted to drive the coastal highway was to go to Pebbly Beach, which I had read about. There were pictures – LOTS of pictures – of wild kangaroos that just hang out on the beach. It was somewhat out of the way, and would have been a few hours faster to drive inland and go through Canberra instead. But I was set on visiting Pebbly Beach, and so we did! And… no kangaroos. Sigh. Well, actually, eventually one tiny baby kangaroo came out and just stood there for a few minutes. But the kangaroo aspect was rather anticlimactic.

The good news is, we got to meet up with Toby and Sarah McAllister and their children! At Pebbly Beach! Yay! They were also friends that we had known in London. They saw our posts online and arranged to meet us there at Pebbly Beach. We had soooo much fun visiting with them, letting our kids get to know each other and play in the water and in the sand. They have a precious little 8-month old baby girl, Aubrey, who was super cuddly and fell asleep in Brian's arms. What a love! 

We stayed for a few hours, and they had brought some snacks and treats that they shared with us – even fun Australian treats for the kids to try. We talked about what each of our families has been doing recently, and all the fun, crazy memories from our time together in London North Ward. We laughed and joked a ton! We really enjoyed catching up with them and had a hard time parting. As we were leaving, Natalie called out to them, “Bye! We’ll see you later!... or, actually… probably never!” lol!! I hope that’s not the case. But it made us all laugh!

On we went. On and on into the night, on to Sydney!! Which will be another post. =o)