May 2nd-11th, 2008

Written by : Jose Paez / Yvonne Bennett-Paez

First off, let me introduce myself.  My name is Jose Paez.  My wife is Yvonne Bennett. We’re the folks who flew out to New Zealand to witness Susan & Brian’s wedding.  I think it was the last night of our trip when Susan & Brian asked us to write the New Zealand portion of their blog.  Ah yes, it’s all coming back to me…..
 
It was May 10th late in the evening, say 1 AM .  We’re in Auckland . Just the four of us, and yeah, we’ve had a few drinks, we’re a little “liquored up” and okay, okay, I’m hungry for some donuts…some Dunkin’ Donuts to be exact.  And that’s exactly what I did.  I went and bought a dozen Dunkin’ Donuts at 1AM in downtown Auckland .

We had just finished our dinner at a Mediterranean spot that served Lebanese nachos (say what?), incredibly small portions of naan (bread), and nope they couldn’t sit us inside although there were plenty of tables.  But who cares, it was our last night in New Zealand baby!  I splurge and buy a $38 dollar bottle of Pinot Noir.  Woh!  Did I spend that much?!?!  “Did I do that?” (That’s Erkel.)  We love Susan and Brian, or “Su-Bri” as we often referred to them during our trip.  That’s a lie.  We never called them that.  And so now you know that I will make things up during this blog, but I’ll always let you know when I’m doing so.  Capiche?
 
Before our nice meal, ironically enough, Brian was brave enough to smoke a cigar with me.  I’d smuggled…err…brought the cigars from the US , as a manly man way to celebrate his matrimony.  One thing about the cigars was that they were at least 3 years old.  I kept them in a box in my garage.  But hey, I really like Brian, so I pulled out all the stops.  When I first bit into my cigar a whole big chunk of it broke off into my mouth…it literally disintegrated.  Still smokable!  And that’s what we did.  We walked a few blocks puffing away on our cigars, choking, spitting, coughing, cursing, feeling nauseas, doing god knows what kind of irreparable damage to our lungs, but all the while we’re smiling.
 
Hours before I brought out the cigars, while we were in our hotel room, I had mentioned to Yvonne the following words…“This has been a great trip. Don’t ya think?”  Yvonne slapped me in the face and kicked my shins.  That didn’t happen.  She said, “Yes my love-god. I agree wholeheartedly.”  We then reminisced about just how quickly our trip had gone by.
 
It all started on May 2nd, when Yvonne and I boarded a plane in Los Angeles .  I was happy because the airline was Quantas, and I recalled from the movie Rainman, that Quantas airlines had the fewest crashes than any other airline.  No need for the Xananx on this trip.  Plus, each head rest has it’s own video screen with literally tons of entertainment options. I watched 3 films on a 12 hour flight. Awesome.  One word of advice though, the vegetarian option on these flights should always remain an option, as in a last option.  Whew…that was rough.
 
We landed in Auckland at 4 AM on Sunday May 4th.  Say what?  You heard right.  Yvonne and I flew into the future.  Back in the US it was still Saturday.  We lost a day with the flight. But it’s all good (3 movies in 12 hours!!).  At the airport, we exchanged some cash, got some coffee or a “Long Black.”  We also got a nice little piece of cake to share.  We watched TV in the airport, and saw a Maori actor from the movie “Samoan Wedding.”  Haven’t seen that flick?  Nextflix it, baby.
We took another plane to Christchurch (which is in the South Island ).  There, for the first time in over a year, we saw Susan and Brian!  Unbelievable.  There they were.  We’d heard about their incredible journey, we’d seen the photos, watched the videos, talked to them on skype, but to actually see them…too cool.  
 
Seriously, it was really a cool experience getting picked up at the airport by Susan and Brian.  Our first experience of New Zealand suburbs, Brian driving on the right side, and very well I may add.  He only got us into 5 “near misses” in the 10 minute drive to our hotel.  Just kidding Brian.
 
We got to our hotel which was called Hotel SO, which is about as hip (and small) as you can get.  Think Ikea furniture, Euro chic fashion, all set up in the most efficient use of space we’ve ever seen.  Parts of it were like a scene out of Sleeper.  I was looking for the “orb.”
 
We had breakfast at an ultra hip sorta spot.  The food was delicious.  But more than that, it was really cool to hang with Susan and Brian and hear about their trip.  It’s really hard to imagine doing all the things they’ve done.  They’re like me heroes or something.
 
The rest of the day we spent driving around, getting a glimpse of beautiful landscapes, tons of sheep, and really really fit looking people.  At night, we got all “dolled up” to celebrate bachelor and bachelorette night!  Wooo hooo!  Party!!!  Yeah!  Except, there was no one in town.  Literally.  We went to a bar, and we were the only people in there. Who cares.  We had a few drinks, laughed, and hey, they had a small jazz trio playing a cover of “Song 2” from Blur.
 
The next day was the big day.  The wedding day.  So cool.  Yvonne and I are really lucky to be here with Susan and Brian.  This is too cool.  Who gets to get married in New Zealand ?
 
Yvonne and I got married in Reseda, Ca.  Reseda is just like Christchurch , except it has zero free-roaming sheep.  Also, Reseda had more Mexicans than all of New Zealand combined.  So there.
 
The wedding ceremony was short and sweet. Susan looked beautiful and Brian looked sharp.  We played paparazzi.  We also got teary eyed and choked up.  Oh yeah, and Brian’s sister was on the phone listening to the whole thing!  That was cool.
We drove to the botanical gardens and took more photos.  I’m saying, Yvonne and I could start a business!  Tell us what exotic country you’d like to get married in, will fly out there and take pictures of you, and then you can give us some food or something.
 
You know what else is cool about Susan and Brian?  They’ve got great smiles.  All their pictures look terrific.  Serious.
We had an unbelievably tasty dinner at a very cool restaurant.  Lucky us.  We appreciated every moment there.  By the end of the evening, we were wiped out.  What a day though.
 
Tuesday in Christchurch , and we’re hitting the road.  We drive through Arthur’s Pass, we see more and more and more stunning landscapes.   New Zealand is really pretty.  Here’s a list of things we did (in no particular order):
 
·Checked out a possible hotel that looked like the kind of place teenagers go in the summer before they get killed by Jason or Michael Myers.
·Saw kiwi’s (the birds) in Otorahunga (say it like it’s spelled…now you’re speaking New Zealandese).
·Ate great food everywhere.  Highlight: Free hot chocolate pudding cake with Vanilla ice cream…..ooohh dat wuz good.
·Wine tasting in Nelson!
·Ferry ride from Picton to Wellington !  No one got sea sick, although Brian had a pounding headache and I was nervous our boat would sink at some point.
·I went to the oldest music store in New Zealand and bought 2 cds: The Mint Chicks, and Johnny Devlin.

·Lord of the Rings Tour in Wellington .  Peter Jackson=GOD in Welly-Wood. Cool tour, learned a lot, took pics of my friends wearing “Elf” ears.
·Ate pizza at Hell’s Pizza.  Dude, pizza was good.
·Got lured into hotel because they offered a free dinner. Dinner included one tiny bite size samosas, 3 french fries, and a napkin. Dang.
·Stayed at the Crellow House, run by an elderly woman named Pam.  She made us eggs and biscuits.  She was sweet.
·Went to the 3rd best pastry shop in all of New Zealand .  We know it’s the 3rd best because it said so on the front.

·Met a woman in a shop in Picton, who said Picton was stress free! “Any stress that you feel is your own stress.”
·Ate mountain lion.  That’s a lie.
·Went to Museum in Wellington . Pretty cool, nice set up, a lot to see in one day.
·Had tons of conversations while Brian drove, ate too many skittles and fiber cookies.
·Stayed in a hotel that had a trampoline, that Yvonne jumped on.
·Ended up in Auckland , smoked cigars, ate dunkin’ donuts.
 
Well, there you go. The long awaited “Jose/Yvonne write Susan and Brian’s New Zealand Blog Entry (a month after the trip).”  Sorry for the delay.
 
We had an amazing time.  Thanks for the wonderful experience and congrats again to
Mr. & Mrs. Trunk!
 
Love,
Jose and Yvonne

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