Maggie and I continue to use the phrase "just our luck" at least 3 times a day everyday because something wonderfully lucky happens. Like pulling up to a parking space and having someone hop out of their car and hand you their parking ticket with another hour left on it. Or dropping Jacob off at the airport at the exact same time that Kota showed up there to pick up his girlfriend, so we got to run hug him goodbye! Or getting to go out on a giant catamaran with a few Germans and a Jacob to sail around the island of Auckland! You know, lucky things! That boat trip was perfectly wonderful, you should read about it more in depth on Maggie's blog. Some of the highlights included phosphorescent water at night and Julian, our German captain, diving for scallops that he promptly opened, cooked, and served. He dove for like an hour while Maggie and I worked really hard at reading our books on the catamaran's sunny nets. Best scallops I've ever tasted. It was the complete opposite of apple-picking. Julian dropped us off on the beach closest to the house where Jacob stays, but it was low tide so the dingy could only go so far, leaving a fair stretch of beach for us to wade through. Turns out, Jacob's host parents were waiting for us on the beach and so we had to meet them fresh out of the water. I found it difficult to be taken seriously when I look like I've just come from a shipwreck: I was wading calf-deep in sandy muck, wearing a bathing suit with a giant laundry sack stuffed with me and Maggie's belongings slung over my shoulder. I looked a little more like a beached mermaid who had just pillaged a lovely ship than a sweet American visitor who merits an invitation into one's home.

One good reason why traveling is exhausting:
A list of where I’ve slept each night of the past week:
Day 1: caravan
Day 2: catamaranDay 3: Jacob’s host parent’s house
Day 4 AND 5: my homey Gilly and Greg bed!
Day 6: hotel in Rotorua
Day 7: caravan
Tonight: somewhere in Wellington
See?

The great news is that some of those nights were spent with the Lentz family, which made those nights a blast. I’ve included a Lentz Family Pic for your viewing pleasure. They arrived on Sunday and we took them to our favorite beach. Then they took the Shine family out for dinner where we had a lovely evening. the next day we all went to Rotorua, a town built run on geothermal energy that smells like sulphur. The smell is admittedly off-putting; however, the thermal vents, boiling mud pools, and geysers make you far more focused on your eyes than your nose. Now they are exploring the South Island and I’m making my way down in our car. We’ll have a happy reunion at Carolyn’s house in Nelson on Saturday.