12th March, 2011

Dave and I slept in the house on last night cause he started feeling really sick, the same way I did, with a sore throat. It seems like it all hit him at once though, as he is coughing and blowing his nose like a madman.

We woke up, took ibuprofen, ate some yogurt with fruit and tea with honey and felt much better after an hour. We decided to hop in the car to go look at Dave’s guitar at the Kauri Kingdom. This place is a major tourist destination and they were really excited to have Dave’s guitar for sale in there. We drove up there and the place is really amazing. They have a staircase that is built from a massive Kauri log, trinkets for sale, as well as beautiful turned bowls worth hundreds of dollars and a gallery upstairs. The gallery is where Dave’s guitar was, inside of a case with a mirror back for viewers to see all sides of the guitar; listed for $3250 with a beautifully written statement next to the guitar. Very proud of him. ☺
(Swamp Kauri trees were massive trees that at one point covered the Northern part of the North Island 45,000 years ago. The base of the trees sometimes reaches 35 feet across, they’re massive. Anyhow, an enormous tidal wave knocked these trees over 45,000 years ago and blew all of them over in the same direction. They were preserved because the soil is sandy up here and over the course of farmers running them over, they started being dug up and have become quite an expensive commodity. One cubic meter of this wood is worth $16,000. Anyhow, this is the wood that Dave has got his hands on and been able to build an instrument that is perfect out of. It sounds beautiful. :)

Here is Dave's guitar at the Kauri Kingdom

We picked up a coffee on our way out of the Kauri Kingdom and headed up to Cape Reinga, which is the Northern most point of the island. It turned out to be almost a 2 hour drive each way, but it was worth it. The scenery was really beautiful and reminded me of Ireland with rolling green hills full of sheep and cows. We arrived at the cape and it was an amazing site. The sea looked turquoise and green in parts and although we were up quite high, you could see to the bottom. Lovely.

On the way back, we had to stop at the only gas station along the way for some gas and hoping to get a meat pie, since we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. Dave had 15 dollars in his wallet, so we punched in 10 on the old school gas pump and started pumping. We stopped the pump after what seemed like 30 seconds cause it wasn’t stopping or telling us how much gas we had put in. I went into the shop and spoke with the deranged toothless man behind the counter who told me we had put $63. 53 into our car. We found out that if you press the ‘fill’ button, which we did that the pump does not stop. Great. Dave tried his debit card, which didn’t work and I ran mine as credit, which finally worked. Thank god. I felt like I was on the Kiwi set for Deliverance and wanted to get the hell out of there.
Dave used the cash in his pocket to get a steak pie. The pies are delicious little snacks that are covered in pastry, slightly bigger than your palm and filled with a variety of goodness, this one in particular had beef, peas and gravy inside and it was a perfect sharing snack.

We got home and after a short while, I called my family, who were all getting back from my Grandpa’s wake. Although it was a sad time, it was nice catching up with all of them. I was able to briefly talk to my cousins, Ken, Frank, Roxanne, D.J., Scott, Tyler, and my Aunt Lisa, Uncle Dave, Uncle Pat and both my parents. It was good to talk with all of them. My cold decided to be extra annoying while I was on the phone and kept my nose completely plugged up the whole time. After my Uncle Pat had told me that I should know that I should be drinking whiskey when I’m sick instead of beer, Dave and I headed back to town to the ‘Liquor King’ shop. I guess all I needed was a little encouragement. ;)

When we got back, Dave, Kathy and I had a little Bush Mills in a glass and sipped it in honor of my Grandpa Howard. Although, his drink was gin, I couldn’t handle gin at the moment and whatever we don’t touch now, will be drank a little of next weekend when it is St. Patrick’s Day. ☺ Sidenote- I couldn’t taste the whiskey. That’s how plugged up my nose was. All I could feel was the warm sensation in my mouth and going down into my stomach.

Dave and I made breakfast for dinner cause it sounded good. We whipped up some salsa, guacamole, potatoes, and eggs with chorizo. It looked good, and Dave said it tasted good, but I couldn’t taste a damn thing.

We slept in the house again and were in bed by 9pm.

Cape Reinga.....