Awoke in country #23, New Zealand.
Late night watching Lord of the Rings + 2 hr time change from Sydney = 9:00am wake up.
We did a morning school session and then it was time to see some old Kiwi tennis buddies from the last time I was globe trotting in the early 2000s...
Mark
I first met Mark playing on the tennis tour. Our paths crossed frequently; as I was sponsored by a Japanese tennis club and Mark often played in Japan through a company sponsorship.
Occasionally we played against each other, like here in Osaka.
We won a big doubles tournament in Kobe Japan.
Off the court, we enjoyed Japanese food together - the best in the world!
14 Year Later
We reckon the last time we saw each other was in 2004. This time was a bit different; instead of tennis rackets, we had kids with us. His son Luke (3 years old), met up with us for lunch in the Devonport neighborhood of Auckland.
After lunch, we went to Mt. Victoria for 360 views of Auckland. It sits on top of a volcano. Mark explained that any peek in Auckland is a volcano.
Mark runs the tennis program at a club in the neighborhood. Tomorrow we're going over to the club in the afternoon to play some tennis and then heading to is place to have a BBQ with his family. It's already great to see him and catch up from where we left off.
Kiwi Playground
Saying goodbye to Mark, at his suggestion we checked out Takapuna beach. We had about an hour before out next meet-up, and a playground on the beach was the perfect spot. Kiwis do their playgrounds right.
We all enjoyed taking a turn in the "Mouse House"
Tennis Player #2 - "Shorty"
Next up, saying hello to James Shortall, another tennis buddy from the days on tour. In May 2014, James and his wife Rachelle were on a similar round-the-world-trip with their daughters Zoe & Lucy, where we met up with them in NYC. We had them over for a BBQ at our apartment in the Upper West Side.
I recall James and Rachelle saying how nice it was to enjoy a BBQ after months on the road...tonight, they repaid the favor! James fired up the pizza oven for a delicious dinner.
While the adults chatted, the girls immediately were buddy-buddy. Sadie friended up with Lucy & Paige with Zoe. They jumped on the trampoline for a couple hours, which concluded with a choreographed show for the parents...
Finally, we finished the night with a walk down to beach on the end of their street for a view of downtown Auckland.
We had a great night spending time with the Shortall family. We even made plans to spend a weekend together on the back-end of our NZ stay later this month!
It was a great day, catching up with some old tennis friends on the other side of the world!
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