My Newest Old Friend

On Friday, I packed up and headed to the airport to pick up my friend Sophie. You may recall that Sophie is an Aussie living in Canberra, whose husband Cam is working with Ben in Baghdad. Although I had only spent a few hours with Sophie in Australia, I knew I had a great new friend when I left our lunch last month. I was thrilled when Sophie booked a ticket to come visit for Easter weekend and was so looking forward to spending much more time together.

Based on a suggestion from Ben and Paula, we headed out to the Coromandel Peninsula, an area of the north island only two hours drive from Auckland. We couldn’t stop talking – we had so much to catch up on – and arrived in a small town called Thames before we knew it. We had planned on grabbing some dinner and a glass of wine, but we quickly learned that everything in Thames shuts down early, and no alcohol is sold on Good Friday. We ended up with some cans of soda and fish and chips down near the bay and definitely had a wonderful, quiet night in the town. Because we missed the last movie at the cinema (at 7:30!), we ended up renting A Mighty Heart, which turned out to probably not be the best pick for two wives missing their overseas husbands.

We left Thames fairly early on Saturday morning and drove up the west coast of the peninsula to cross over the mountains. We had some great scenic views from up at the top of the mountains and then continued to wind our way down to the beaches on the other side. We stopped at Cathedral Cove, a beach on the east side of the peninsula where some huge caves had been carved into the cliff walls that lined the ocean. We walked about half hour to get to the caves and then stopped on our way back at Sting Ray Bay, a fairly quiet and deserted beach with a few other swimmers, snorkelers, and kayakers. Although there didn’t seem to be any sting rays, there were some violent waves and a ton of seaweed that made swimming a bit tough. Regardless, we both took a refreshing dip into the NZ surf and enjoyed relaxing on the beach before hiking back up the parking lot.

Stopping along our drive for a view of the east coast of the Coromandel

A look down to Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Sting Ray Bay

While we had heard about Hot Water Beach, a beach where you can dig bath-like holes into the ground that fill with warm water, we decided to by pass spending any time there and instead headed on to Tairua, the little town where we stayed on Saturday night. It was buzzing with the Easter crowd, but I liked the feel of the area and the fact that it seemed considerably busier than Thames! We enjoyed some snacks at our hostel, looking out onto the water and the sunset, and then we had one of the best meals I’ve enjoyed in quite some time that evening. We also were able to speak with Ben and Cam during our dinner, and we had an early birthday celebration for Sophie with a delicious brownie for dessert.

With Sophie before dinner

Full moon in Tairua

lthough we intended to head back to Hot Water Beach on Sunday, we just didn’t quite feel like it – so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, a couple cups of coffee, and a pleasant drive back into Auckland. Sophie had found a great last minute deal on a nice hotel downtown, and I am so thankful she came across it! The hotel was right on the park, and was complete with a comfortable bed, clean sheets, a TV, large bathroom, frig, washer/dryer, and a great view of the city. I must admit that we got sucked into a television show called “Surprise Weddings,” and we enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon at the hotel. We ultimately walked through the city to the Viaduct, the marina area that has several restaurants and bars, and we enjoyed another great dinner and conversation looking out over the boats.

I dropped Sophie off at the airport Monday morning and was so incredibly sad to see her leave. While we haven’t spent much time together in terms of hours or days, she has certainly become a very close friend to me – my newest “old friend,” so to speak. It is so nice to be able to talk honestly about both our husbands and how we are doing and coping through this year, and I am so confident that all four of us will be together at some point in the near future. When we heard word that the Green Zone had been shelled Sunday night, I have to admit that I was scared – I know that it has happened before and that Ben most likely would be ok – but it was so nice to be with someone else who may have shared some of the same anxiety (although I have to tell you that Sophie kept her calm the whole time!). What a relief when our husbands finally called, safe and sound.

I had a whirlwind final morning in Auckland and boarded a plane Monday afternoon for Bangkok. Because I visited the city back in 2005 when I was returning home from India, I won’t be spending much time here – it just happened to be the cheapest place in Asia to fly to from New Zealand. I’ve been trying to gear up for Asia for a couple of weeks, and now I’m just anxious to finally be here. It helps that I’ve seen Bangkok before, but the rest of my itinerary for the next six weeks includes destinations I’ve never seen – Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and China. I’ll wrap up my trip in Hong Kong, another city I visited in 2005, but a familiar city where there are several friends living. It’s been great to talk with Ben and Paula about their long multi-month backpacking trip through Asia a few years ago, and Sophie and Cam happened to visit Laos and Cambodia last summer. While the places may sound remote and a little crazy, I hear that there are quite a few tourists and backpackers in the area. Also, it looks like I’ll get to see Ann, my roommate from Turangi, in Chiang Mai, and Kelly (Ben’s cousin) and her husband are planning to meet up with me in Cambodia. I also think that I may cross paths with some fellow colleagues from Deloitte who are in Vietnam currently, and I’ve been passed along the name of a couple of people living in China. It’s certainly a bit of an intimidating itinerary for the next six weeks, but I’ve been wanting to visit these countries for quite some time and am looking forward to it. A little anxious, yes, but eager. I have to admit that it’s been very nice to be in Australia and New Zealand for almost the past two months, countries where it’s so easy to travel and so conducive for a female to travel alone. Clearly I’m trying to calm my own nerves!

Also, if you can’t tell, I’ve been really, really missing my husband. We’re rolling up on almost the six month mark of his deployment (including the first month of training on the west and east coasts of the U.S.), and the thought of another six months is endlessly stretching out before me. I am comforted by the fact that I get to see Ben in about three months and am excited that we finally decided on a destination for our reunion – Greece! We’ve heard so many great things about that and really talked about that as a possible location since we learned of his break, so it’s nice to finally have a place more definite to focus on in my mind. The next two months can’t seem to come quickly enough.

Thanks for all of your continued emails and prayers, and I look forward to sharing with you my travels and adventures in SE Asia.