Summer Is Here

So, summer is finally upon us.  The weather has turned nice and we are starting to explore a lot more.  First, we took a mini trip to Martinborough.  Martinborough is a town full of vineyards and shops.  We enjoyed good wine, beautiful scenery, and some relaxation!  We got a great little cottage for a couple of nights.  The town was super cute, but very small.  Here are a couple of pictures of the cottage and, of course, some wine

Next we hit up the Wellington zoo.  It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, just a small city zoo.  It was fun though.  The combination of beautiful sun and a day off made it even better.  Our timing was good too, because we got to see the lions being fed, which was pretty cool.  We also watched as the otters ate some chicken newborns (dead already of course).  You could still make out all the parts of the chickens though, which was kind of disturbing.  The funniest part about the zoo was the signage.  They had this signage all over the place featuring the cartoon zoo keeper.  So many of them were about not feeding the animals because it will make them sick or not going in an area meant for zookeepers only.  Then we came upon the chimp exhibit... and this is what we saw, sooooo classic!

 Here were some of our favorite animals... the giraffes and the cool pelican

 Our friend Jason riding the stone hippo

 The otter eating his baby chicken

Okay, lastly, it's Christmas season!!  It's weird having Christmas in the summer, but it sure beats snow storms.  I wasn't feeling very much in the holiday mood, until a few days ago.  Apparently, on Thanksgiving my whole family took the time to decorate ornaments for Elliot and me.  Everyone did at least one and my brother mailed them to us as a surprise.  It was sooooo awesome.  We went out the next day and bought a Christmas tree so we could display them.  My brother even stopped by Koop Diamond Cutters before mailing them and Elliot's brother Justin made a last minute ornament to add to the collection.  The thought was there, even if he used an empty toilet paper roll, some wire, and a ball point pen.  He even left some of the end of the toilet paper stuck to the glue, and it really added to the beauty of it.  Kyle even included ornaments with the faces of his 3 dogs.  It really was classic and made us feel so at home. Here are a few pictures, and until the next blog... Miss you all!!

What's New?

It's been a while since my last post, but life has been somewhat predictable lately.  I'll have more to say after Elliot and I road trip again in 2 weeks (asked off for 4 days at work, don't know what we're going to do yet, but it will be fun).  I guess I'll just comment on a few random things.  Today was the Melbourne Cup, aka, the Kentucky Derby of Australia/New Zealand.  It was a lot of fun, but made me sad that I won't be at the Kentucky Derby this year.  I worked all day, but we made an event of the Cup which was fun.  We all had to come dressed as if we were going (not a big fan of working for 8 hours in dress clothes).  All I could think about was how many great hats and outfits I could have borrowed from my mom if I were at home.  Instead I had to wear the one nice dress I brought with me and work my hair into an updo.  It was all I had to work with.  I was put in charge of rallying people to do the "draw a name out of a hat" type of gambling.  It was fun.  I should probably be a bookie because I macked that job and got a bunch of people in the pool for the race.  One guy told me I should sell snow to eskimos (very cliche, but hey, I was seriously selling it!).  It probably also helped that there were $5 glasses of bubbly leading up to the race, so people were feeling cheery!

What else.... MULLETS and RAT-TAILS.  In case you were wondering if you would encounter those hairstyles in New Zealand, the answer is HELL YES!  Here is something strange I can't understand.  The Rat-Tail is actually a semi-popular hair style around here.  You see it on everyone from a child to a grown man.  I didn't get it, so I asked a local.  One person told me it was a Saomian influence (only makes sense if it's just Samoans, and it's not, trust me), the other told me it was just trashy!  I don't know what it is, I just wish they knew that Rat-Tails are ridiculous and should have left at the same time the 80's left.  It amazes me how many of them I see daily.  Mullets aren't as popular, but they are spotted here and there.  One girl at work even told me she likes the mullet if the sides of the head are shaved.  I busted out laughing and told her that no matter what is shaved or not, she should never like a mullet!  Awww, cultural difference!

Food.  I tried Marmite (kind of like Vegemite).  It made me gag.  I had to run for a drink.  I don't know how people eat that stuff.  It has the consistency of tar.  Seriously gross.  On the other hand, oranges here are fantastic.  I think they are Australian oranges, but they are so sweet and juicy.  I like them a lot better than Florida oranges (sorry Florida, not trying to hate).  Elliot had a goat burger the other night and really liked that.  I'm sure they sell goat meat somewhere in the US, but I know I've never come across it.  They also put Sweet and Spicy Chili Sauce on a lot of food around here, and it is delicious.  The seafood is also amazing, which isn't surprising since we are on the ocean.  It's always fresh!  One thing I really miss, turkey.  They don't sell a lot of turkey around here.  I used to love making turkey burgers, turkey tacos, etc.  I have to actually use beef now, which disappoints me (at least the beef is all lean since bio-engineering is illegal here I think). I do miss my turkey.  You can get shaved turkey at the deli counter, but I'm on a budget now and only buy my meat cheap and prepackaged.

Okay, more random stuff to come later!  Hope everything is well back home.  The weather is warming and summer is almost here!  Yay!

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring is underway here in Wellington, and we are so glad!  While the Winter weather pales in comparison to Winter at home, at least at home we have adequate heating systems in our houses!  They aren't used to it getting as cold as it did this year, so they aren't equipped to keep you as toasty.  We were happy for our space heaters!  Now that Spring is here we are getting a lot more sunshine days, which is allowing us to spend more time outside.  It hasn't warmed up too much yet, but it's hovering in the mid to high 50's.  Belle has turned into a real beach lover, and we have found some great trails around our neighborhood to hike and walk Belle.  Here are a few pictures of one of the new ones we found.  As you can see, once you get to the top (it's a hell of a workout getting there by the way!) there are some really great views.  Check out the link below!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157627841034378/

Work is going well.  I'm picking it up pretty quickly.  Having never worked as a waitress or bartender it is interesting.  My feet aren't as big a fan of the job as my love for a new challenge.  Let's just say that after five years with a desk job, i'm a having to re-train my body to think like it did when I was an assistant manager at Walgreens!  On your feet all day!  One of my managers approached me last night to start training to be a Duty Manager.  I was a little surprised that he would want to put the time into getting me certified to be a Duty Manager even though I'm only here for a year, but he does. I'm assuming it's not a long certification process or he probably wouldn't.  A Duty Manager is basically like a shift leader.  In other words, as long as a Duty Manager is there, the other managers don't have to be there the whole time.  It gives them a little more wiggle room to take care of other stuff.  You do have to get certified, but I don't quite know what that entails yet. I will have to get back to you on that one!  I was told though that if I am certified to be a Duty Manager, and I go out to a bar one night and get in a fight or get arrested that I could lose that certification.  It's quite a risk with my rage issues, but it's just a chance I'm going to have to take.  I'll save the bar brawls for when I get back to the US.  One pattern has emerged from my waitress duties so far.  At least 2-3 times a night I get asked the question "Candian or American?".  I'm tempted to fake a Canadian accent one night and see if the questions go away.  If I say "ey" a lot or "Aboot" instead of "About" will they even ask?  It's funny too, because when I answer there are often people who say "I was right", so you can tell they are discussing it and making bets on who guesses right.  They also do the same when they ask what part of the States.  I say Midwest and it appears people guess that too.  It's funny though, and gives me something to talk about with the customers, which makes the night more fun.  Our staff is really diverse, which is cool.  There is myself and 2 other guys that are Americans that just graduated college (graduated from University of South Florida!!  Same school as my brother Kevin).  There is also a girl from Argentina, a girl from Venezuela, 2 girls from Ireland (the accents are fantastic), and a girl from South Africa.  There might be more that I don't even know about.  Most of the rest are kiwis I think.  One part that makes me sad... I am the oldest person on the Front of House staff!  Even my manager is younger than me!  There are a couple of people that are 27 or 28, but I'm the elder at 29.  Makes me feel old being surrounded by such young people.  Okay, most of them aren't young-young, they are mid twenties, but there are a few high schoolers.  The drinking age here is 18, and there are no limits to the age you have to be to pour a beer.  We have a 15 year old (she acts way older though, cool chick), and while she doesn't work on the bar, she would legally be allowed to serve someone alcohol!  Crazy!

Drum roll please, Elliot has a job now too!  The job market here is actually quite tough, there are a lot of unemployed young people.  I got lucky with my job because they were hiring a bunch of people all at once, which improves your odds!  Elliot ended up getting lucky the same way!  It turns out the kitchen at my work was in need of several people, and Chef John told me to send Elliot (he had met him one night) down to see him.  He was very eager to get Elliot working for him.  I know Elliot was glad; he was getting bored!  You'd be surprised, you think you would enjoy the time off, and we did, but there comes a time when you need to be productive again.  Elliot and I were both feeling that way!  So Elliot is now a kitchen guy at The Gasworks!  Originally we didn't want to work at the same place, but this situation is perfectly fine.  As anyone whose worked in a restaurant knows, while you do work with your kitchen people closely and get to know them, the kitchen and the front of house are like two separate universes.  The only bummer is that he will be working mostly nights, and I get mostly days with one or two nights here and there.  We figured as long as we can coordinate getting a day or two off the same day it will be fine.  Once we get in the groove we can try to make sure our schedules at least line up some days.  Plus, with Elliot joining the team it puts the American count at four!  WE are taking over bitches!  Okay, I guess that is enough about that for now.

Oh!  I almost forgot.  There is an awesome service you can purchase out there these days, and of course Elliot knew all about it.  Here is the problem:  many of the websites, such as Hulu, will not allow you to view anything from outside the United States.  Since we haven't purchased cable here we are limited to 4 TV channels, their names are TV One, TV Two, TV Three, and Four (can you see a pattern?  Apparently "Four" is fancy because it's the only one without the word TV in front of it, though that is implied!).  In addition to not having access to Hulu to watch some of my favorite shows (House, Bones, Modern Family, I can't miss these!), we also can't get on 700 WLW to listen to Xavier games!  With the XU basketball season fast approaching we needed a solution!  Elliot found a site where for $50 a year you can sign into a VPN server and it will re-route your signal so it thinks you are in the United States!  It works great!  Now we can watch Hulu, listen to radio stations from back home, and all that good stuff.  Radio is seriously boring here, well talk radio at least.  They are basically not allowed to be political or have opinions about politics or public policy or anything worth having an opinion on.  There are all kinds of laws about what they can discuss.  With no real opinions or debates, they get a little dry and boring.  Elliot was so happy to have 700 WLW again.  Anyway, this might seem very small, but it was $50 VERY well spent!

Until next time, CHEERS!

RUGBY

Sorry for the lag, there hasn't been too much excitement lately.  I do have some fun stuff to share though!

Rugby!  We went to the USA vs. Australia Rugby Match here in Wellington a week ago.  For those of you that don't know much about Rugby (like us), there are 20 teams in this World Cup Tournament.  Australia is ranked 2nd, USA is ranked 17th.  In other words, we were well aware that our team would most likely get slaughtered on the field.  Elliot and I geared up with our USA flags and headed down to the waterfront to grab a beer before the match.  We figured there would be a good crowd of USA fans, but we TOTALLY underestimated.  We forgot to figure in the big rivalry between New Zealand (#1) and Australia (#2).  Any kiwi All Blacks fan wanted Austraila to go down.  They had lost in a big upset to Ireland, so another upset losing to us would have prevented them from going on to the next round.  So, one of the few teams New Zealand doesn't want to meet in the finals was going up against the USA.  If you haven't figured it out by now, pretty much all the kiwis were USA fans for a day!  It was crazy!  People were so dressed up, and in very elaborate ways.  We saw grown men in American Flag spandex suits.  It was awesome.  We headed over to Chicago, which is one of the few American bars in Wellington.  We expected a crowd, but we did not expect what we found.  The place was decked out in USA decorations including giant flags hanging outside and red, white, and blue Christmas lights strung everywhere.  You could barely move, let alone get to the bar to order a drink.  We took in the scene, snapped a few pictures, then headed out to a less crowded joint (The Bull & Bear) for some food and beers (still met an American there though, which was cool).  See some of the pictures from Chicago by clicking on this link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157627667368815/
The stadium is right on the Waterfront in Wellington, so we were pretty close.  We started to make our way to the stadium and ran into even more crazy USA fans.  Some of them were actually American, but the large majority were kiwis.  As were were walking into the stadium we heard a group of people chanting.  Once we got closer we realized what they were saying and joined in...
Leader: AMERICA!
Crowd: Fuck Yeah!
For anyone who hasn't seen the movie Team America (by the South Park guys), as long as you aren't easily offended, you really need to watch it.  Not only will the above make sense, but it is a really hilarious movie.

The match went better than expected.  Don't get me wrong, we lost, but it wasn't a blowout and we even scored some points!  There were lots of USA chants going on, which was cool.  We took a video of it so everyone could hear.  It ended up that the people sitting next to us were Americans visiting New Zealand on their honeymoon.  They were really cool and also knew nothing about rugby.  They, like us, just got tickets because they figured why not, if we're there anyway we might as well go!  They were from Portland, but originally from Alaska.  We had a great time hanging out with them and even hit up a bar together afterwards.  It was great to hang out with some more Americans, but unfortunately that was their last night before leaving.  Hopefully we at least helped them enjoy it!  On a side note, we met a couple of communists while at that bar.  It was weird.  Elliot was talking to this older guy, and so I started talking to his female friend.  After a few minutes she began to elude to the fact that she didn't like that New Zealand gave us Visas to work in the country, and that we shouldn't be there.  I was shocked.  That was the first time anyone had been anything but accepting.  I found out from Elliot later that he started having a political debate with the guy, and based on everything the guy was saying he was a Marxist. I didn't expect to find many communists in New Zealand.  Weird but funny!  Elliot couldn't resist a political debate with a Marxist, when would he have that opportunity again?  The links below will take you to some pictures of the match, our friends for the night, and a video so you can hear all the USA chants :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157627667374337/


http://www.youtube.com/user/EandLeeNZ?feature=mhee

Lee Gets A Job!

I now have a job again.  It was a nice little month and half of being unemployed, but I knew it couldn't last forever.  My new job is probably as far from my previous analyst job as I could have gotten.  I will be working in Front Of House of a brand new Cafe/Bar down the street from our apartment.  The place is named Gasworks (it has to do with a historical power plant that used to be in Miramar).  Basically, it's going to be a Cafe in the morning and afternoon, and then around dinner and after dinner it will serve more as a local pub/bar.  I say "will" because it's not open yet.  It opens next week.  It's pretty cool getting in at the start of a new place. Everyone is training together, so no one looks like a dumbass when we don't know what to do!  It's a pretty young group of people running it.  I would say the owners and managers are between 30 and 40 years old.  The other staff I am being trained with are pretty young as well.  I would say I am on the older side of other employees.  There are two other Americans too.  The Americans are two guys from Florida who just graduated college and are also on working holiday visas.  Most of the people seem pretty cool so far, so I am looking forward to hopefully making some friends.  Last night we were trained on the FISH! philosophy and we had a beer training.  Apparently Heineken is a premium beer here and it's poured differently then other beers.  We had to learn a 7 step process to pouring and presenting the perfect glass.  Tomorrow we will be trained on some of the Front Of House operations, complaint resolution, dress code and other small things like that, and at the end a wine training.  It should be cool.  The fun thing about this job is that none of us know who will be waiting tables, who will be seating people, who will be tending bar, or who will be doing anything else.  We are all being trained to do it all, so hopefully that means they will switch it up every now and then! 

Well, its a beautiful sunny day here, we just got back from walking the dog along the coast and enjoying some of the beaches.  Not a bad gig I must say!  Now we are going to make some burritos and Sangria and settle in.  Hope everyone is having a great week!

Random Facts We've Learned

1.  New Zealand has no major predators.  No bears, no big cars, no snakes... nada.  The worst thing you have to watch out for when camping are possums (see #2) and the very rare bush hog.

2.  There is a big difference between a possum back home and a New Zealand possum.  They are both pests, but they are much cuter in New Zealand (don't try to cuddle one, they are mean just like ours!)
USA vs. NZ Possum

3.  There are very few poisonous spiders in New Zealand.  Many say the "White Tailed" is the one to watch out for, but everything I've looked up shows them as harmless.  The only 2 we have to watch out for are the Katipo and the Redback, which are from the same genus as the Black Widow.  Bites are so rare that all the people I asked the other night about poisonous spiders to watch out for didn't even mention them!

4.  Enough about nasty creatures.  Here is another weird fact.  In New Zealand, unlike anywhere else in the world, the person crossing traffic has the right of way to someone turning on the same side.  Let me put this in US terms.  You are at a light (pretend you are not allowed to turn on red, because you can't turn on red here), and you are waiting to turn right.  The person coming the other way is waiting to turn left on to the same street as you.  Instead of them having to wait until the traffic clears through, you, the person turning right, have to let them go first.  It's really weird, because if you are going straight you don't wait for them to turn first, only if you are turning the same place as them.  It certainly confused the heck out of us at first!!

5.  Many of the products here are the same as the ones back home but just have a different name.  We know they are the same because the packaging and commercials are identical, with only the name changed.  For example, Aquafresh Toothpaste = Macleans Toothpaste, Febreeze=Ambi-Pure, Honey Nut Cheerios=Uncle Tobys Cheerios, etc.  You get the point.  They also use the same commercials, only they do voice overs so the people in the commercials have New Zealand accents.  Imagine watching the Mucinex Mucas Man being kicked out of his house in the host lungs... only he now has a New Zealand accent.  It's so funny

 

 I'm sure there are a lot more, but I'm drawing a blank now.  Anyway, will be back on later to show you some pictures of the awesome new walking trail we found less than a mile from our apartment! 

Road Trip!!!

DAY ONE - Wellington To Lake Taupo

Our destination was Rotorua, but we left with the intention of stopping somewhere along the way.  We decided to pick this somewhere based on what peaked our interest on the way.  The weird but awesome thing about this country is that it has pretty much every landscape in one compact area.  As we drove we passed through mountains, forest, more mountains, farm lands (sheep mostly, along with cows and some horses), rolling green hills (filled with even more sheep), more mountains, and even a desert!  The desert really threw us off because we didn't expect it.  There were rolling green hills and mountains and then out of nowhere the landscape completely changed.  Not a sheep in sight!  We made a few road side stops to take pictures and stretch our legs.  Of course there was a very old, very high, very scary looking train bridge, so we had to stop and take pictures of that.  Anyone who knows the Koop boys knows you pay attention to things train related.  Here is a link to some of the pictures we took along the way.  Nothing too exciting, but we did get some sheep for you!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157627596325578/

When we arrived at Lake Taupo we were drawn to the water.  The time of day and the clouds were just right to make it look almost like a mirror.  It was very pretty.  That was all we needed to see and we decided to find a motel.  There was no shortage of choices, there was a whole street of them right by the lake.  The problem here we had one thing that makes people with empty motels still turn us away...

Needless to say not everyone is a dog lover... or a lover of cleaning a motel room where a dog has stayed.  The first place we stopped was called the Executive Motel (sounds fancy, but trust me, it wasn't).  The nice German gentleman named Wolfgang immediately said No Dogs Allowed.  Luckily he knew which motel along the strip did allow small dogs and sent us down the road to the Lake Front Motor Lodge.  It ended up working out great too, because they were very dog friendly.  Not only did we have our own enclosed "hot tub" room connected to our motel room, but it had a door leading to a little outside area that they had fenced in for dogs!  It was great.  The Mineral Water Hot Tub was a nice perk for sure.  It even had a shower head so you could use it for a shower if you wanted.  Here are a couple of pictures of the lake and our mineral bath (don't worry, you won't see me in a swimsuit... this picture is before we got in)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157627596309726/

DAY TWO - Lake Taupo to Rotorua

As we started our drive we found ourselves easily distracted.  We would see a sign along the highway talking about a sight or attraction and turn off the path to go see it.  It was nice to not have a plan or a schedule because it allowed us to stumble upon some great sites!  First we followed signs leading us to a waterfall.  Once we got there we got out and walked around, and it was beautiful.  The water was high, and the rapids were rushing.  It was very pretty and very loud.  We found a bridge over the main part of the water just before the falls and stopped to take some pictures.  If you stared at the water well below you for too long it kind of made you dizzy.  Here are a few of the photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157627471923453/

Then, after leaving the falls, we got enticed once again by a sign for a Geothermal park.  This part of the country is ripe with geothermal activity, which is pretty cool.  Basically, this is where the earth is hotter than the surrounding areas due to the presence of hot rock or magma near the surface.  This heats the ground water and you find hot springs, geysers, and boiling mud pits.  It's pretty cool.  So, we followed some signs to a geothermal area and found "Craters of the Moon".  It's a park where they have built paths around and between many craters that release steam, have boiling water spots, or a boiling mud pit.  It was really cool because they created the paths so you could get as close as was safe.  It takes about 1.5 hours to walk through.  Here are some pictures we took


http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157627596191890/

After a very long detour, we got back in the car and headed up to Rotorua.  One important note about Rotorua is that it is nicknamed "Sulpher City".  Basically, there is a side effect that comes with a city full of beautiful spas, mineral bathes, and geothermal activity... it smells like eggs.  Certain spots were worse than others, but the smell lingered in the air no matter where you went.  I can't imagine living somewhere that smells like sulpher all the time.  Regardless, it is still one of the most highly touristed places in New Zealand, so we were ready to find out what the buzz was about.  Once again we were faced with the motel situation.  Luckily, I had found a place online before we left that said "Small Pets Considered".  They allowed us to have Belle and then pointed out some cool stuff to do in the area.  We planned on staying 2 nights, so we actually got to see more while we were there.  Once we got all our stuff unloaded into the motel room we headed off to "The Redwoods Whakarewa Forest" (say that three times fast) for a walk through the giant redwood forest with the dog.  This forest is known for it's towering Californian Coastal Redwoods with lots of hiking paths to suit all types of people.  170 tree species from all over the world were also planted in this forest, starting in 1899, which made it the first exotic forest in New Zealand.  We picked one of the shorter walks and got the dog a little exercise.  The water in some of the streams was very strange.  Everything under water was the same color as the water.  There was obviously some algae or something that stained anything under water, because if there was a branch partially in the water, the section under the water was stained the same color and the section out of the water retained it's normal color.  One of the ponds we saw turned everything a gray-blue, and another section appeared more like a mud red.  Here are some pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157627596318630/

After that we headed back to the motel room and freshened up we headed off to dinner.  We tried to go to a place we had read about in the Lonely Planet book we have, but once we got there we saw how formal it appeared and felt entirely under dressed in our jeans and jackets. So we turned around and went to a place called "Breakers".  We had some food and a bottle of wine and then went back to the motel for some much needed rest because we had some sightseeing plans for the next day!

DAY THREE - Still in Rotorua

On the advice of the Motel Desk clerk, we decided it was high time we saw a Kiwi Bird!  Now, the problem is Kiwis are not only a small population in the wild, but also nocturnal.  This means you pretty much have to go to a wildlife reserve if you ever want a chance to see one.  We headed off to the Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park.  In addition to the Kiwi, there were also lots of other animals including native birds, reptiles, and fish.  One of our favorite birds was a kea named Jenny.  She was a total ham.  When you walked up to her cage she would show off with squaking, wing flapping, and funny movements.  Then, as you tried to walk away she would jump down and follow you all the way down the fence and stare at you "crying" in a way as you left.  It was so cute.  Now, since Kiwis are nocturnal there were two parts of this experience.  We saw the Kiwis in the nocturnal room, but they are behind glass.  The other part of the experience includes returning at night where they allow you to go into the enclosure and the only thing separating you from the birds is a shin high wooden fence.  Obviously we couldn't take any pictures, you had to be quiet and move slow to even get them to come out of hiding.  One of them came all the way up to the fence and stuck his long beak out checking us out.  It was pretty cool.  So here are a few photos from the reserve where we were allowed to take pictures


http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157627471921157/

The other activity of the day was a trip to the "World Top 10 Spa" up the street.  The "Polynesian Spa" had anything and everything you could want in a spa... for a price.  And because of that price we stuck to a hot mineral bath.  We did spend a little extra to get the Deluxe Private Pools that offered panoramic views of the Lake and had its own shower and heated changing room.  It was really nice.  We were dumb and forgot to take the camera, so I am just pasting a picture below from the website.  It is as pretty as it looks too!

To round out the day (after the nocturnal visit to the Kiwis) we picked up a pizza and curled up in the motel room to cuddle with the dog and rest up for a long day of driving the next day.


DAY FOUR - Rotorua to Napier

We knew we wanted to stop somewhere between Rotorua and Wellington, but we weren't sure where.  As we were checking out we asked the desk clerk if she knew of anywhere worth going on the way back to Wellington.  She suggest Napier.  Napier is a town on the coast with wonderful vineyards and great scenery.  On the way to Rotorua we passed a sign for the "Rainforest Highway" that peaked our interest.  We decided we would check that out first then head to Napier.  Technically, according to the map, we could travel down that way instead of the main highway and still get to Napier.  As we headed down the "Rainforest Highway" we we passed a sign warning of "95km of Winding Unsealed Road".  We figured it would just be another part of the adventure.  Boy were we right.  First, I'm not sure what justified that as a rainforest, it just seemed like a regular forest on a mountain, but who knows.  Next, by unsealed they mean winding, mountainous, sometimes gravel, hard to drive on road.  If a sign warns of winding roads in New Zealand... where most the roads are super winding compared to anything I'd ever driven on, believe it.  Their "winding roads" are our "if you don't have an SUV please skip this area" type of roads.  We drove for about 2 hours and decided to stop for a leg stretch.  According to the map, we were close to half way down the road.  Oh, were we wrong.  We decided to put Napier in the GPS and see how much longer it would take.  The GPS kept telling us to "turn around" and backtrack the whole winding 2 hour drive.  It would take us 5 hours to get to Napier that way.  We decided to put in the name of the city at the end of the road on the map to see how much longer until we would be off those roads... The GPS estimated 6 hours!!  To go 50km!!  We knew that could only mean one thing, the road ahead of us would be far worse than what we had already traveled.  Unfortunately, that meant we had to go back 2 hours on those crazy roads.  After this grueling day of driving, we did finally make it to Napier, where we ran into the same motel issue we've had the rest of the way.  After finding a "pet friendly" Motel we tucked in for the night.  We were exhausted!

DAY SIX - Napier to Wellington

We woke up in the morning expecting to just get on the road... then we walked out to our car.  We had a flat tire!  That bumpy, windy, gravel road did more than just delay our drive getting here, it cause what we later found out was not just a nail in one part of the tire, but an actual hole in the side of the tire!  In other words, we couldn't get it repaired, we had to buy a whole new one.  It sucked.  The good news is, as always, it lead us to something fun before we left.  Elliot put on the dinky little spare tire and we headed off to find a tire place

When we got to the tire place he asked us to give him an hour.  Luckily, there was a little farmers market going on right next to the place in their park.  It was a beautiful sunny day, so we leashed up the dog, took her for a walk around the park, and then hit up the farmers market.  The torturous thing about going to a farmer's market with fresh meat and seafood is that when you have a 5 hour drive ahead of you, you can't buy any!  It was hard to resist.  In the end we bought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from a local vineyard that had a stand and 6 fresh chicken eggs.  I've never bought eggs from a farmers market.  It said no egg was older than 7 days, and they looked like Easter eggs.  With no dyes or bleaches to make them look alike, it was cool to have a blue-green egg, a pink egg, a white egg, and a brownish egg all in the same package!  Can you tell that I am easily amused.  So, with our fresh eggs in tow, a new tire, and pretty day for driving, we headed home to Wellington!

Now, it's time to get a job.

Living Stylish

So, our much anticipated furniture came last night.  We splurged and got Brand New Lazy Boy Couch and Recliners for $600!  Okay, so not all of that is true... change "Brand New" for "Very Used" and drop a zero off the end of that purchase price and you have our new living room set.  Elliot is just happy to have a recliner... and isn't that's what blankets are made for?  To cover ugly furniture?  I would hate to keep those blankets from fulfilling their destiny by getting furniture that is too nice to cover.  I am doing those clearance rack blankets a favor.  (note... Pictures are pre-blanket, so you can see them in all their glory).

So, now that we have all this pretty much settled in and wrapped up, it's time to get a job.  The only problem is, we don't want to get a job yet, so... Road Trip!  We've decided to take off this morning and head up north.  Going to plan on 2 or 3 days, but pack enough for 4 or 5 in case we don't feel like coming back.  This is a strange and beautiful kind of freedom, and we have to enjoy while it lasts because we really should get jobs next week, or at least actively try.  So, first stop, Rotorua (North Island).  Basically, here is what Rotorua has to offer our trip... and this is not ripped off the Lonely Planet New Zealand book, I totally wrote it all myself, "Breathe in the sulpher-rich air of Rotorua and you've already got a taste of NZ's most dynamic thermal area with spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools.  The Maori (indigenous people) revered this place."  It is actual one of the most touristed spots on the North Island too, so we might as well go when the weather is a little chilly and a hot springs will be extra inviting.  Don't know what the internet situation will be like since we haven't exactly planned where we will stop and stay, but if possible, I'll make sure to post some pictures.  Otherwise, we will when we get back.  Enjoy your work week... hehehe

!! ELLIOT BUYS A RUGBY JERSEY !!

More Apartment

Okay, so it's not the royal palace, but here are a few more pictures of the apartment and the view from the apartment.  As you can see, we don't exactly have furniture yet, but a mattress on the floor and some camping chairs will have to do for now.  We just won some very ugly living room furniture on an auction site... a couch and 2 recliners for $60, haha, totally 80's, but it works!  Home sweet home.

A Lot To Add

So, a lot to say since the last post.  We have found that the access to internet in New Zealand isn't as wide spread as the US.  I take that back, it's wide spread... it's not as "free".  So, now that we finally are connected at our apartment we can post again!  I apologize for the lengthy post, but A LOT has happened since the last post.


First.  We got a car and an apartment.  It was a big first couple of steps.  So, here it is.  First, the apartment.  We used "Trade Me" to find an apartment.  "Trade Me" is basically "Craig's List" of New Zealand.  We looked at 6 places, and had a hard time deciding.  When we finally did, I have to admit, a big winning factor was that only one of the apartments wasn't on a ridiculously winding steep road.  For those of you in Louisville, I'm talking about literally driving Locke Lane, except worse, imagine it going up a mountain.  Aside from the lack of suicide drives, it has a beautiful view of the ocean and quite a bit of space.  Our new digs are in Maupuia... which is pronounced (well at least by the foreigners like us) is MA-POO-YA.  Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but neither does Loo-vule, and I managed to grow up with that one.  Here are some pics of our modest 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house... okay, we aren't all set up and cleaned up yet, but the view doesn't change, so we'll start with that (keep in mind, it's winter, so things aren't exactly vibrant yet, but come on, it's the ocean).  I'll post a separate blog with some pictures of the actual apartment... and the weird toilet too (more about that below)

There are many differences in what you get in a place in NZ versus US, but none of them are significant.  Except for maybe the toilets.  I haven't "flushed" since we got here... everything is push buttons.  It was weird the first time, and still doesn't feel normal.  There are buttons at the top of every toilet, and you push to flush.  Doesn't exactly make it easy to use the "if I use my foot to push the flusher I won't get covered in as many germs" technic that so many of us use.  Unless you are REALLY flexible, you have to get used to the fact that you have no choice but to use your finger (or some toilet paper covering your finger if you are a germ freak).  I decided to ask about the toilet buttons when we were walking through our apartment with our now landlord Graham.  Very nice guy, maybe 50, and loving the laughs he is getting from listening to our foreigner lingo (lets just say they don't use the term loveseat, make sure to say 2 seater if you don't want to get a weird look).  Here is how it went:

I finally asked my landlord a question I had since I got here and was pretty sure I knew the answer for, it was hilarious.  Why are there two buttons to flush the toilet.  His answer, the smaller one is for a small one...a pee... the large one... (at this point he kind of giggled) I stopped him there, because I was afraid I couldn't keep a straight face.  We all know what the larger one is for

Okay, the car, this will be quick.  We looked at a lot of places for cheap but reliable cars.  We landed on a Red (well, some parts are more similar to pink due to "oxidized" paint which made it cheaper than it should have been, bonus for us!) Honda Orthia.  For all of you saying, "What the hell is that", I said the same thing.  It is a Honda station wagon.  It will very much work for what we need it for.  Here is a quick picture of our new car, which we fittingly named, "Orthia" (geez, we are so original and clever it kills me).  

Lastly, we will leave you with some beautiful landscapes (on the next blog we will also post some videos).  We just picked up Belle. Originally, we had planned to be in Christchurch (it's a city, not a church).  Then, the tectonic plates messed up our plans by literally sending enough earthquakes to cripple the city.  So, while our plans moved us to Wellington, it didn't change that we had already paid the deposit to the quaratine in Chirstchurch.  So Elliot, Orthia, and myself took a roadtrip this weekend.  We took the 3 hour ferry from the North island to the South island, drove another 5 hours to Christchuch, and got to see some AMAZING scenery along the way.  Elliot lovingly named the Ferry the "Water Trolley".

 

Lastly, Michelle and Alice (or any other west siders), this is for you.  On the way we stopped in the cozy town of Cheviot... more sheep than people.  Ahhhhh, feels like the next stop should be Delhi