New Zealand

Griff • Nov 9, 2016 9:00 am
I'm outa here!See you bitches in a couple weeks!
fargon • Nov 9, 2016 9:16 am
Have fun and send pix.
Griff • Nov 9, 2016 9:18 am
Thanks! Will do.
glatt • Nov 9, 2016 9:32 am
Holy cow! For real?

/envy
Griff • Nov 9, 2016 9:39 am
For reals. Lil' Griffs semester just ended, so I'm going to go tour with her and bring her home... or seek asylum. ;)
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 9, 2016 9:51 am
Have fun!
classicman • Nov 9, 2016 10:09 am
Damn - Take pics!!! Oh, and go find some shrooms ;)
Gravdigr • Nov 9, 2016 10:28 am
Griff;973151 wrote:
... or seek asylum. ;)


This "Griff" character might be smarter than the average bear.

New Zealand is one of the few countries I would like to visit. But, I will never leave this country, for any reason.

"Ooh, look, an American. Get him!!!"
Gravdigr • Nov 9, 2016 10:29 am
Still a little jelly, though...
BigV • Nov 9, 2016 10:01 pm
glatt;973150 wrote:
Holy sheep! For real?

/envy


ftfy
Aliantha • Nov 12, 2016 1:47 am
Wow! That's almost like being in Australia! Kia ora from over here, or as we like to say, G'day mate!
infinite monkey • Nov 12, 2016 2:00 am
2000 miles, so...
lumberjim • Nov 12, 2016 2:23 am
Hello to the Underhills and Bagginses for me, if you please.

In this one case, the journey is probably not going to be as good as the destination. That's a long long plane ride. And you don't drink. You have my sympathy, envy, sympathy on this trip. Have a blast, brother.

And no cheating at fantasy football because you're in the future.
Image


Ugh estimated flight time 18h 11m
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 12, 2016 2:42 am
I wonder if it's a direct flight from Newark or New York. Might have to fly to Australia then hop to New Zealand?
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 12, 2016 2:58 am
Griff will fit right in.
Clodfobble • Nov 12, 2016 6:36 pm
You know what I always think about when it comes to shark attacks? How much that saltwater would make the wounds sting...
captainhook455 • Nov 13, 2016 2:59 am
classicman;973157 wrote:
Damn - Take pics!!! Oh, and go find some shrooms ;)

Take your Polaroid glasses. It will look like a little white light at the bottom of the shroom. Not that I know about such things.

tarheel
captainhook455 • Nov 13, 2016 3:09 am
Gravdigr;973158 wrote:
This "Griff" character might be smarter than the average bear.

New Zealand is one of the few countries I would like to visit. But, I will never leave this country, for any reason.

"Ooh, look, an American. Get him!!!"

[emoji2] that made me laugh. I feel the same. Lots of things to see here that I haven't seen. I can turn on the flat screen and in half a day visit four or five countries. If they build a bridge or tunnel to Scotland I might go. I won't be in a plane again. In my day we just had hijackers.

tarheel
monster • Nov 13, 2016 8:47 am
Does any of this coincide with your plane touching down?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world
BigV • Nov 13, 2016 11:23 am
That's a pretty hard landing.

Griff, check in please.
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 13, 2016 11:50 am
Gollum tantrum? Collapse of Middle Earth? Peter Jackson special effects?
sexobon • Nov 13, 2016 12:27 pm
PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!

Well, maybe it happened anyway.

But they can't do that to Americans, we'll sue!

Hope we don't have to.
Gravdigr • Nov 13, 2016 1:57 pm
Gravdigr;973158 wrote:
"Ooh, look, an American. Get him!!!"


I told ya.

Those pesky Kiwis are willing to destroy their entire island just to kill one Merkin.

:p:

I do hope everyone is ok.
Aliantha • Nov 13, 2016 4:56 pm
If he's in Auckland he will be fine. The earthquake was further south, but quite bad. If he was flying to Wellington then there'd be something to worry about although we have friends and family there and most people are fine, but it was enough to split roads and cause massive land slides and several Tsunami waves although they were only 2 metres (6 feet), so not as bad as they could have been.
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 13, 2016 5:25 pm
Where was his daughter going to school?
Aliantha • Nov 13, 2016 5:34 pm
I've no idea, but the above map says he was flying to Auckland, so that's the best thing if it's true. If he traveled to either Wellington or Christchurch, they may have difficulty getting around on the eastern side of the country.
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 13, 2016 5:59 pm
That was LJ guessing to approximate mileage and flying time.
glatt • Nov 13, 2016 6:10 pm
He's posting on FB. He's fine. Earthquake missed him.
monster • Nov 13, 2016 10:45 pm
glatt;973544 wrote:
He's posting on FB. He's fine. Earthquake missed him.


...because he was the epicenter..... :p:
Undertoad • Nov 13, 2016 10:58 pm
Don't tell him about the game. It's best he not know.
chrisinhouston • Nov 13, 2016 11:05 pm
The wife and I have done the trip from LA to Melbourne and it is a long haul but luckily we were in the upper cabin of a 747 in B-class so it wasn't too bad. Would love to go back and might get the chance next year with my wife's big Rio Tinto project.
infinite monkey • Nov 13, 2016 11:52 pm
Griff, nonetheless, check in when you can. :)
lumberjim • Nov 14, 2016 6:10 am
Yeah. I want to taunt you about the game
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 15, 2016 12:12 pm
You can imagine how violent the quake was that tore up the ground and stranded these cattle on a grassy island.
Aliantha • Nov 16, 2016 12:31 am
These cows were apparently rescued by a couple of farmers with shovels. It would have been worth it to see them down safely. There's a few thousand dollars worth of beef there.
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 16, 2016 9:56 am
Yes, they were moved to another farm, so they're safe and sound... and tasty. :yum:
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 17, 2016 7:50 pm
No! Get off the road train tracks, go back to bed.Image
BigV • Nov 19, 2016 11:49 am
♪ ♫ I whip my train back an forth
I whip my train back an forth ♪ ♫
monster • Nov 19, 2016 8:43 pm
BigV;974033 wrote:
♪ ♫ I whip my train back an forth
I whip my train back an forth ♪ ♫


this is not the masturbation thread.

At least it wasn't.....
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 3:20 pm
Having computer sync problem iphone to pc will update I hope! Frontier sucks as well.
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 3:44 pm
On the way to Abel Tasman, I spotted something familiar, so I snapped a pic on the way back.
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 3:54 pm
So we didn't feel a thing. We left Wellington and flew to Queenstown before the earthquake. We saw some minor road and building damage in our travels but never felt a tremor.

Later in the trip we saw the USS Sampson which was in NZ for the 75th anniversary of their navy but was diverted for earthquake relief. She was the first US boat to visit since the banning of nukes from New Zealand.
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 4:12 pm
Milford Sound was the most spectacular place on the itinerary. We had a guided kayak paddle of about 3hours.
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 4:25 pm
Lil' G and I hiked Ben Lomond forgoing the lift at the bottom it became an all day affair.
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 4:54 pm
So NZ doesn't seem terribly enamored of our recent political choice making. We stayed at the Jugglers Rest in Picton. The dude sleeping in the next room was doing a one man show in the town's funky little theatre. It was hilarious and a little painful.
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 22, 2016 5:20 pm
Glad you two are safe and sound. :thumb:
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 5:22 pm
NZ has a great coffee culture. Wellington has excellent foods from around the planet like any decent mid-sized city I guess.
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 5:25 pm
xoxoxoBruce;974308 wrote:
Glad you two are safe and sound. :thumb:


Thanks Bruce!
Gravdigr • Nov 22, 2016 5:30 pm
[ATTACH]58591[/ATTACH]

I was trying to work out what those colorful things hanging on the porch were...Derp.

Juggler's Rest, so Ima assume juggling batons.

Yeah, I'm hip like that.:cool:
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 5:37 pm
That was a cool place. Major herb garden out back, juggling stuff everywhere. He had had a run of German tourists so was glad to speak English to someone.
classicman • Nov 22, 2016 5:55 pm
Outstanding! So jealous.
Griff • Nov 22, 2016 6:00 pm
Thanks brother. It was too much to process all at once. I still have to return for a LOTR tour and the mountain biking.
Clodfobble • Nov 22, 2016 10:01 pm
Very cool.
fargon • Nov 22, 2016 10:34 pm
Very good, want Moar.
Griff • Nov 23, 2016 9:20 am
Well, I only took like 400 pics...
glatt • Nov 23, 2016 9:51 am
Nice!

I enjoyed the food in NZ, and found that there was quite a variety.
Did you see any deer farms, surrounded by super tall fences?
Griff • Nov 23, 2016 9:59 am
Yeah, there was one operation that was really impressive. They had red deer, cattle, and sheep grazing on rotation the grass looked so lush. I'm not sure I was able to get that in a frame... but I'll look.
Griff • Nov 23, 2016 10:22 am
I saw a number of Weta Workshop items around Wellington. Lil' Griff took a tour there during the semester. Smaug and the eagle(s) are in the airport. The soldiers are from a major WWI installation at Te Papa. They take their First World War seriously in NZ. There are monuments to the fallen everywhere you look. http://wetaworkshop.com/projects/ The scale of their work is amazing. Look at the website for a better idea of size.
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 23, 2016 10:46 am
Wow, that WETA Workshop is amazing.
infinite monkey • Nov 23, 2016 11:42 am
Really great. What a great thing for you to get to have done with your daughter.

(I didn't note the juggler's rest name at first, either and I thought it was really nice that the place you were staying provided bowling pins. )
Griff • Nov 23, 2016 11:50 am
Did you say bowling?
footfootfoot • Nov 23, 2016 12:45 pm
Dis am bowling
xoxoxoBruce • Dec 1, 2016 11:56 pm
Those dumb Chinese spent a fortune building their wall. The clever New Zealanders let Mother Nature do it for free. ;)
classicman • Dec 2, 2016 2:13 pm
Woah!!!