Raglan

Raglan

Last weekend (11/10/18), we drove down to Raglan - it's a beautiful little town known for its views and for being a surf hub on the west coast, about 2 hours southwest of Auckland.   On Saturday, we were on a mission to do some hiking - and while we got more than we bargained for at Mt. Karioi, it became a very memorable day!

Mt. Karioi
This was the road on the way to the hike - true to our experience driving on New Zealand country roads so far, it was windy, narrow, steep, and had incredible views:

 We had two options for the hike - a shorter and gentler option, or a more challenging option with better views.  After some debate we decided we were up for the challenge - and wow.  While the views were fantastic, it was a rough accent (and in some ways the decent was even harder!).

This was the very beginning of our hiking path - it was literally straight uphill and coated in mud.  

The way up took us about 3.5 hours - pictures don't really convey how incredibly steep it was.  Chains and ladders were provided at a few spots along the way to help, but for the most part it involved using arms & legs to climb roots and rocks almost vertically..  It was super tempting to just turn around, but we just kept saying we had already gone too far to quit!

This is from a little lookout about halfway up with spectacular views.  

We were following these little orange triangles marking the path, which was really not a path but a direction of where to climb up roots and rocks (growing horizontally because it was so steep!).

This was the final ladder up to the summit!

We were rewarded with truly spectacular views at the top.  We had a 360 look at the ocean & coastline off to the west (it was hard to tell where ocean stopped and sky began!), with the inland North Island off to the east. We had a picnic lunch at the top.

This was looking back at the trail as we had to begin our decent -  not looking forward to climbing down, but at least we were facing the ocean for some great views along the way.

 These were the views we were treated to on the way back down:

My sunscreen reapplication resulted in smearing mud all over my face... but got the job done!

At the bottom of the trail, there was a little lookout to the beautiful black sand beaches of the Tasman Sea:

At the bottom - thankful we made it down, and exhausted!

Bridal Veil Falls:

A short drive out of Reglan was this beautiful waterfall.   It was in a rainforest, which was situated in the middle of farmland.  This was a flat easy walk to the top of the waterfall

A staircase led down to the falls with amazing views along the way

 

Sunset over the Tasman Sea, while eating takeaway Fish & Chips - much deserved after a long, hard day!

Mt. Maunganui, Devenport, & Waiheke

We have made a few other North Island stops recently - there is beauty everywhere in this country, and we feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to explore! All of these stops are not far from Auckland - this year truly is incredible.

Mount Maunganui:

This is a hike on the west coast - the Pacific.  It is only about a 45 minute (somewhat steep) hike to the summit, but the views at the top are truly stunning.   We could have stayed all day at the top admiring the views!   The little town was a very cute beach town with lots of little cafes right on the beach, and lots of sand volleyball in high gear.

 The trail heading down:

Devonport
A recent day trip was a quick ferry ride from Auckland over to Devonport.  It was only about a 20 minute ferry ride, but the little town had several cute shops and old historic homes.  There was a hill that we climbed overlooking the Auckland area waterways (sometimes I think the primary goal in New Zealand is to climb as high as possible for the views!).  This view faces Rangitoto, an inactive volcano that apparently has some good hiking that we will check out sometime soon!

Waiheke:

Another easy trip from Auckland via ferry is Waiheke Island - we had a fabulous day here last weekend.  We hopped on a bus that explores the island - beautiful beaches, great food, and wineries everywhere.  This is a must-stop for all visitors to New Zealand!


We had lunch at a spot called the Boathouse at Onetangi Beach - great food and even better view!

From the beach, we walked up the longest staircase I've ever seen - in one go, we went from beach, to rainforest type vegetation, up to wine country!

Wine country - this is how the whole island looks, abutting the ocean.  It is very beautiful and peaceful, and I know we'll be back!

We miss everyone back home!

Roturua

We recently made a trip down to Roturua, renowned for geothermal wonders from inactive volcanos. It was an incredible spot and made for a memorable day, to say the least!

We started off by visiting Wai-O-Tapu, a geothermal wonderland.  It's home of Lady Knox geyser, which was discovered in 1900 by prisoners when they realized that their laundry soap made it erupt  - so to this day, at 10:15 each morning, the geyser is purposefully set off using an environmentally friendly soap (which otherwise would erupt spontaneously every 48 hours or so).  

After the geyser, we walked around the park - which was incredible.   There were acidic & boiling lakes of all colors.

At the end of the park was a boiling mudpool - 

Next stop - Kerosene Creek.  This river and waterfall had warm/steaming water, so people just jumped right in for a swim

 Our adventure continued in the Redwood forest.   These trees were planted in 1900 as an export from California as essentially an experiment for possible logging use, and their growth took off (but they still look tiny compared to the California Redwoods we saw at Yosemite!).   We went for a long hike to explore the woods & surrounding trails:

The is the New Zealand fern that seems to be their unofficial national emblem:

We finished our day by taking up a Gondola, and then riding the "luge"  - these sled-like things on wheels to ride down on a track.  I was a bit skeptical at first, but Ross talked me into a ride and they were so fun!  We had to take up a lift with the luge attached, and then raced downhill.

View from the top of the luge hill:

Overall, our trip to Rotorua ("Rotovegas") was a total success and an unforgettable adventure.  If anyone visits NZ, you should definitely spend a day in Rotorua.   There were plenty more geothermal sites that we didn't get a chance to see but looked amazing, with geysers, hiking, & colorful bubbling pools galore!

Hello from New Zealand!  It's been awhile so I just wanted to send out a few updates!   The last month has been really busy at work, and I was on call a couple of weekends in a row, so we've had more time in Auckland and I wanted to tell everyone a bit about work.

Starship Children's Hospital has been a great spot so far. I've loved learning about the New Zealand health system - in general, the care they provide to patients is excellent with the same capabilities as in the US (if not more, since cost is not an issue at all).  Every New Zealand resident has "free" medical care at public hospitals (including Starship) so they never even see a bill, but residents can choose to have private insurance as well.   Most of the physicians here divide their time and work at both public & private hospitals (they get paid much more for their private work, but just about everyone does some public work too).  Patients with private insurance get their care at private hospitals - which means much shorter wait times, nicer facilities, overall a better experience (but interestingly the same doctors).

For spine surgery, there is actually better equipment at Starship than at private hospitals, plus scoliosis typically isn't covered by private insurance, so just about every child in New Zealand that needs spine surgery gets flown here with their parent for their care.  It's great for me, because we see everything and have been very busy.  I've already seen a huge variety of cases, with a wider spectrum than I saw at Scottish Rite.   They also have a 3D imaging machine here to guide implant placement during surgery ("O-arm" with "surgical navigation").   We did not have that technology at TSRH as they wanted to train us without relying on it, but Akron just got it, so I've been excited to play around with this technology in preparation for Akron.

I'm working with 3 surgeons this year:  Mr.  Ferguson, Mr. Crawford, and Mr. Field.  All 3 are fantastic surgeons & people (but with very different personalities), and with varying surgical techniques - they all trained at different places, including US, UK & Australia.  It has been a great opportunity to work with them so far, and we have some great cases ahead of this year so I'm very excited!   When I'm on call, I supervise a junior resident for trauma cases, so I come in to operate and don't have to spend the night here (but have still been pretty busy!).  It's been good for me to do some cases independently, since I've never been in charge before.

In the last month, we have enjoyed exploring Parnell - lots of great restaurants and cute little shops!  There's a French market in Parnell on weekend mornings with great coffee, homemade food stands, and delicious crepes & croissants.   We climbed up One Tree Hill last weekend when I was on call - it's an old volcano (inactive) with great views of the city and surrounding water - but otherwise the call weekends were pretty busy so we didn't get out of the city.

Ross spoiled me for my birthday last week with flowers, chocolate, & some dance lessons for our wedding first dance -  well done Ross, well done :)   I also opened up some packages from my thoughtful siblings & had a fun gift arrive in the mail from Mom & Dad - I am so lucky for my family!!!  Anyway, here are some photos:

Starship Hospital Lobby:

View from clinic rooms:

One Tree Hill:

Auckland Domain, on my way back home everyday - I enjoy passing the Swan family :)

Birthday Flowers:

Birthday Dinner - I was super amused that we went to a fancy Steak & Seafood restaurant, and Ross ordered the "Craft IPA" and it came in a can that was labeled "Beer."  They don't mess around with fancy names here haha.

From John & Lisa:

 Tablecloth/Shawl/Cover-up from Lisa (perfect for this year!):

(AK - your slippers from ACH gift store made the trip!)

New Jacket from John:

 Trim Flat White from the hospital - they get pretty creative with the "Cafe Art"

We did take a little road trip to Roturua last weekend - will post an update soon!