New Zealand

Long time no blog. We returned last Sunday from 2 weeks in NZ. Maya has been a great traveller. We had one of those bassinette seats on Air New Zealand, and she slept the whole way over, so Noah and I actually got to watch a movie ('Borat')! Unfortunately, she was more awake on the return trip, and cheesily smiling to anyone who would look at her on the plane (in fact, she smiles at furniture now, too, so I'm not sure how discerning she is yet; I figure she just likes the feeling of scrunching up her face). I am figuring that if she can survive 3.5 hours on the plane then maybe the 13 to LA in 3 weeks won't be so bad?? I am also hoping Maya's increasing propensity to pull herself up on the furniture doesn't mean that she will actually be walking by the time the flight comes around? God helps us...


All in all, the NZ trip went smoothly. I visited Auckland University of Technology and Waikato University (in Hamilton). We then drove over in our rental car to a satellite campus of Waikato at a place called Tauranga, on the Bay of Plenty (east coast of North Island), where I had a research meeting. Daddy was great and looked after Maya while I was busy. Lots more research in the pipeline now, which means more writing, but it's all interesting to me and I guess that's what sabbatical is about. We took one weekend to tour the lovely Coromandel Peninsula before heading back to Auckland, where we stayed with Candice for a week working on our joint research project. Noah and I also made a presentation to the NZ Tourism Research Institute - Maya came along (thanks for the babysitting, Auntie Candice!).





One of the highlights of the trip was the amazing centuries-old Kauri pines in the Coromandels (I think we saw the dozen that are left in this part of the North Island - such a shame). You can see how small Maya is compared to this beautiful giant. The other photos are of Noah and Maya at the impressive Hamilton Botanic Gardens, and then one of the lanterns at the Auckland Chinese Lantern Parade (our last night in NZ). Happy Year of the Pig!