Home Sweet Hoboken

We returned from winter in New Zealand to weather that is anything but summer-like. Fortunately, the days of rain gave us plenty of time to sleep off our jet-lag.

I cannot say enough about how wonderful our New Zealand trip was so I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I do want to thank our incredible hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Penney, for an amazing time and a trip we will never forget. We hope to do it again soon!

Today was a perfect day on the Hoboken Waterfront. There were people flying kites from Maxwell Place, the skatepark was packed with bikers and boarders, and the clubs playing soccer at the waterfront field even got me in on the action. I retrieved my third soccer ball from the Hudson this summer. It was a beautiful day in Hoboken

Tongoriro National Park, Lake Taupo, Rotorua

Auckland, Northland, and the Bay of Islands

Around the World In Eighty Hours!

Ok- so it wasn't quite 80 hours, but it was long. After over 20 hours of travel, Mrs. Paddler and I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand. It is great here- more on Auckland in later posts. It is still amazing to me that we were in New York less than a day ago. An Airbus 230 sure can make the world feel small. We were greeted by the Penney's at the airport- and it is so good to see them again. We went back to their place, only blocks from the Auckland waterfront. After, we went for a long walk and stopped for coffee to stay awake. It is our goal to stay up today as long as possible to get ourselves on kiwi time. So far so good. It feels great to be in New Zealand.

On a side note, yesterday, just before we were leaving, we saw on the news that a commuter plane and tourist helicopter collided and fell into Hoboken's waterfront. Tragically, nine people died. Debris fell along Frank Sinatra Drive. On most Saturdays I would have been paddling where the aircrafts crashed. Even more strange, the news of the accident arrived in NZ before we did, the pilot of the helicopter was a Kiwi. Small world indeed.

Off to New Zealand!

Mrs. Paddler and I leave this week for New Zealand! We can't wait! I am greatly looking forward to skiing and my wife, a knitter, will be in the land of sheep and wool. We are also hoping to get in a day of paddling in the northland area. Our nights will be filled visiting our Kiwi friends and drinking New Zealand wines and beer. I am also looking forward to seeing the stars of the southern hemisphere for the first time. The pic below is the grand chateau. We've booked three nights there. Awesome!

Camera Trouble

This is what it looks like when you drop a digital camera in the Hudson. When I began this blog I used an old digital camera. It worked great until I forgot it was around my wrist and tried paddling. I am now in the market for a new waterproof digital. If my reader(s) have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate them.

A Ticket for Tickets

$1000 for drinking in public. $35 for an expired meter. $150 for a boot and $65 for the ticket. Hoboken will write a ticket for anything! They write so many tickets that I found a flurry of them floating in our great river. What a mess. I picked up what I could. My only question: what's the fine for littering?