Last night I had a dream. One that I have had many times over the past year in one form or another. Last night it was the night we were leaving to come on this trip. I'm not sure why, but this time we were flying United Airlines from San Francisco and my parents were dropping us off at the airport. We were late, had three times the amount of baggage we intended to bring, and then couldn't find the right gate once we got there.

This dream has occurred several times, each slightly different, but always some similarities. We're trying to leave for the trip and we're late, forgot tickets, or some other unplanned occurrence is hampering our departure. Now we've been on the road for two months already, and have flown to three different countries so far, along with some flights within these countries ... when will I get it straight that we have left and things are happening for real?:) I even had one dream that we flew home to pick up something we forgot and were heading back to the airport to leave again. Very strange:)

Being in New Zealand should settle this because this place feels like home to me. Other than driving on the left-hand side of the road, it's pretty much like being in Oregon. We are staying with friends in a small coastal town called Maketu. Don't try and find it on a map. There are only 1,000 residents, but it is a site of a historic Maori landing many years ago. Over the next few days we are hoping to use our hosts computer to help get our internet access set up. There are several options, we think, and it's just a matter of finding out the best one for our needs. Not quite as easy as Rarotonga where we just had to hop on the scooter and go over to the one Telecom office on the island and log on 24/7. Seems strange that a more developed country would have a more difficult system, but I'm sure once we get it worked out it will be very convenient for us.

Last night we watched our first 'Bollywood' movie. I'm sure most of you know what that means, but for those who don't, they are films made in India. Generally, Bombay. Hence Bollywood. They produce about 1,000 films a year and many of them are similar in nature. Lots of singing and dancing, generally a good vs evil plot or a love story. The costumes, dancing and music were great. We plan to watch a few more to see if we just caught a good one or if they are all of the same quality.

We will be staying here in Maketu for a few days and then heading north to meet Mark. I would love to do some diving here on White Island. It's a somewhat active volcano right off the coast from here. I say somewhat since there are lots of geothermal pockets that open up once in a while, but no eruptions or magma of any kind. The diving is supposed to be fantastic. The problem is the cold I caught in Fiji is turning into some kind of infection in my chest and so I need to get this taken care of before I can even think about going underwater. I will be starting some antibiotics today in hope of clearing things up ASAP. I don't intend to miss diving in another country due to this cold!!!

That's about it for now,

Eric & Val