New Zealanders are relatively new to the game of baseball. They have played fast pitch softball for quite a while. They were, in fact, having the Fast Pitch Softball World Series in Auckland when we arrived. There are no professional leagues in NZ, only youth leagues. They have some little leagues, and various other levels for youths into their twenties.
Christchurch
We first arrived about mid day in Auckland with just enough time
to go through customs and catch our plane to Christchurch.
Our bus ride from the airport led us past several parks where we observed
a number of cricket games and lawn bowling in progress. Christchurch is
a quaint town of about 100,000 or so population. Our hotel was in the center
of town where we had easy access to the local businesses. Christchurch
has a lot of beautiful landscaping and quaint architectural styles. We
spent the afternoon touring the town and looking at sheepskins.
Dinner that night consisted of Venison with wild cherries. I sent my back twice, they apparently like theirs bloody and almost raw, not for me. We checked out the local discos that night, still slightly hung over from Sydney the night before. The Kiwis were also on the Blues Brothers kick, except they called them the Ewes Brothers and you could hear there music played in a number of places.
We were supposed to play an American team from Antarctica but our schedule conflicted with their games in the World Fast Pitch Softball tourney that was being held in Auckland, so our game was canceled. We spent the day on a bus tour through the country side to the town of Akaroa, a small fishing village with nice turn of the century architecture. Sheep and deer are the primary source of meat in New Zealand and we observed a number of deer farms to and from the town.
Christchurch is a small quite town that is a pleasant place to visit for a day or two but we were looking for more excitement and were headed for the south Island where we would find plenty of thrills.
Queenstown
About an hour plane flight took us to the south Island in the alps,
the town of Queenstown,
the alternative sports capital of the world. It reminded me of a ski resort
area, much like Aspen or Lake Tahoe. Located next to a large lake and the
southern alps, our hotel was a relatively new and modern 3 story design
with very comfortable rooms, a THC hotel.
Bungy Jumping
I spent most of the afternoon shopping in the village. I came across
the office for Bungy Jumping and was captivated by the thrill of jumping
off a bridge. When I got back to my hotel, my friend asked if I was willing,
I said yes and a half hour later we were on the bus to the jump area. We
weighed in, they marked our weight on our hands and we proceeded to the
center of a beautiful old wooden bridge 143' above the water. We both guzzled
a beer just before entering the bridge to calm our nerves a bit. I was
feeling no fear as they wrapped my ankles with a towel and then a large
bungy chord around my ankles. They asked how far I wanted to go into the
water, I said to the top of my head or up to my elbows. They adjusted the
strap, I eased up to the edge where they told me not to look down. Of course
I looked down it scared the daylights out of me. It looks a lot further
looking straight down than looking from afar. I realized this may be my
last minute alive and was having second thoughts. Then they started counting,
1, 2, 3 "Bungy".. I took a deep breath and held it as I leaped head first
as far from the bridge as I could.
The wind was rapidly passing past my face. I stared straight down at the rapidly increasing water below. I could feel the chord taking affect as I got closer to the water. The guys on top had me figured just right, the top of my head and my wrists went into the water before I began rebounding back up about half the height of the jump. I felt like I had just been baptized and reborn again. I was still alive and was overwhelmed with excitement and adrenaline . I bounced and twirled up and down a several more times, this time enjoying it more and more. When I stopped swinging around, a man in the raft below handed me a long pole where he pulled me down to the raft.
He took me to the shore and I immediately ran to the top as fast as I could. Talk about an adrenaline rush. I was high as a kite and felt like I was invincible. I watched my friend jump and cheered for him as he screamed all the way down to the water. We watched a few others jump and took the bus back to town where we told of our adventures to some of the other players.
More Fun Times
The next day, we raced around on the river in Jet Boats, passing
within inches of rocks, through rapids, doing brodies in a boat powered
by a 427 Chevy engine. After a barbaque lunch at a Country Inn we spent
the afternoon rafting down the river and having water fights. Both were
fun and well worth the experience.
Our final day consisted of a 4 hour trip thru the country side and the alps to the Fjords and the Tazman Sea. We took a boat ride thru the glaciers and flew back to Queensland over the southern alps. It was a beautiful flight.
Leaving Our Mark
This was our last night in town so we decided to check out the night
life, we closed down the bar at the hotel with the hotel manager. He and
his friend took us around to 2 other establishments that we also closed
down. He then took us to the mayors house where we woke him up to party
with us and drank all his beer. It lasted till the wee early morning hours,
just enough time to get back to the hotel and pack to catch our 7:00 am
bus to the airport. As we checked out and got to the bus something seemed
strange, like everyone knew who we were and were smiling at us? On the
bus to the airport, I heard a radio announcement to the staff of the THC
hotel that they could take it easy today because the manager was out late
that night with a traveling baseball team from the US and would not be
in that day. Ah yes, small town life.
Aukland
Auckland
was only an hour or so flight away. It's a nice size town, about the same
scale as Phoenix. It is also on the water, much like a scaled down version
of Sydney. Many modern buildings downtown and very clean compared to many
American cities of the same size.
We cruised town that afternoon, went to a museum and did some shopping downtown. Later we went sailing and had dinner on the boat.
The next day we played a double header against 2 different teams. I pitched the first game against an all-star team of 18 to 23 year olds. We played on a grass cricket field, they have no baseball fields in Auckland. We marked out the lines, put up a net for a screen, I stepped off 60' and started throwing. In our first at bats, we got bases loaded in the first inning, Ken McMullen comes up and hits a grand slam home run. Good work Ken, I like pitching with a lead. We proceeded to beat them 8-4. I gave up a 2 run homer.
The second game turned out to be the worst game of my life. I played 3rd base and about the 4th inning, a young Maui Indian runner on first base tries to steal 3rd, the catcher threw the ball into the runner, the runner dove and hit my knee full blast with his shoulder and broke my ACL ligament. I was in pain. Needless to say, I sat out the rest of the game. We beat the 23 and older all-star team with a short interlude one inning. Since we were the first international team to play baseball in New Zealand, the local TV station had arrived with a beautiful former Olympic winning anchor lady to talk to us. We let her take a few times at bat, they did several interviews and we gave them a number of baseball hats, shirts etc. They did a 5 min. story about us on the local news a couple of nights later.
The next day my friends helped me hobble to the outdoor market place where we had breakfast and I could buy one of those carved wooden canes I had admired so much the day before, little did I know I would need one. We flew back to Hawaii that night, arriving at SFO 13 hours later, only to find my car had a flat tire.
New Zealanders
All in all, New Zealand was great. The scenery was beautiful, the
food and accommodations were good and the people were friendly and much
more British than the Australians. I hope I can return someday and encourage
you to do so if you have the chance.
Recently, I was talking to a local umpire in Santa Rosa. He said he was umpiring a game last year in New Zealand and someone showed him my baseball card. Sometimes it is a small world.
Eh!