High,stinky, hot, and cold.

Roberta and I had the opportunity to take a week off from work and have a nice vacation. We started if off by heading down to Taupo which is about 4 hours south of Auckland. There is a "World Famous in NZ" glider field there that does week long training courses. Roberta was interested in going solo so this was perfect. When we got there the weather couldn't have been any better for gliding although it could have been a bit warmer in the mornings. Luckily we found a nice natural hot spring river that you could go sit in and bake.

We stayed in bunk rooms on the glider field for our time there and they were really nice. There was this Czechoslovakian guy named Dennis who had some sort of OCD which made him the perfect club mother. He was always running around making sure that everything was done just right and that everyone had what they needed.

I was expecting to go down there and do training myself in the two seaters with an instructor. We did one check flight and he oked me for flying in their PW5(single seater) which was a little scary as I only had about 5 solo flights in the PW5. It turned out nice because the thermals were booming the first couple days and I had a few really good flights.

I took a second check flight to get my ridge orientation. To fly on a ridge you use the up going wind that is striking a ridge face. That means that you need to fly really close to the ridge face, which at times can be fairly nerve wracking. After getting checked out on the ridge I spent two days carving out the corners and having a great time. It really teaches you control because if something goes wrong you don’t have much time to recover.

Roberta was able to get some really good compressed instruction on flying because the weather was so good. She had a number of hour long flights which leads to great instruction time. By the end of the camp she was doing the takeoffs and landings with little help from the instructor. With a couple more days she could have been solo.

The final day that we were supposed to fly there the weather packed in so we decided to head over to Rotorua which is know for its stinkyness due to geothermal activity. The good part about that is it also means there are a ton of hot springs. Roberta was to do the swimming portion of a half triathlon the following day so we just chilled out in Rotorua and did the tourist thing. We checked out out the Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland which was really nice and stinky.

The following day we headed down to the lake where the triathlon was and Roberta and her team got mentally prepared.

Roberta started off the swimming portion in a pack of about 200 people.

If I was doing it I probably would have ran into the water and then scampered back out because of the temperature of the water. I am a cold water weenie though. Their team finished in a good time and everyone seemed to have fun.

It was a fun vacation and good to discover new parts of NZ.

Oh yeah, our cats are still cute.

Click here for more pictures of the trip

Auckland Lantern Festival and Sheepworld

A while back I went to the Chinese Lantern Festival. I can't believe how crowded it was it was so hard to move we left early. But here are a few pictures of the display. Also you can click here for some pictures of a little trip we took to Sheepworld, which was essentially, a nice petting zoo.

I went with Margaret and Darren

First Single Seat Glider Solo

Roberta has been getting on my case about posting to the blog so here it goes. I actually haven't been posting much because I have just been gliding on the weekends and not much else.

Gliding has been progressing nicely and last weekend I had my first solo flight in a single seat glider. On Saturday there was a national gliding awareness day called "The Big Day Up" where the public is encouraged to come out and give gliding a try. A lot of the club members came out and put their planes together for display and there was a lot of flying.

I talked to the CFI and got him to let me go solo in the club's Smyk PW5 which is a single seat glider. It has a really short wingspan and is a tiny glider all around. Supposedly it is like a race car compared to the Grob 103 Twin Astir that I had been flying.

All of the experienced guys on the field had been scarring the crap out of me with stories of how hard it was to take off with PIO(pilot induced oscillation). PIOs happen when you correct to get the glider on track but you over correct. Then when you correct for that correction you over correct. Then it just gets out of control. Each pilot told me different tricks to get over the PIOs in the PW5. Bracing my arms on the side of the plane, putting a finger on my wrist to steady it, trim it back for takeoff, just use two fingers on takeoff, stick hard back, etc.....

So I got mentally prepared for the flight and pushed the plane onto the runway and got in and waited my turn. This is always the time that I notice that I have to pee. One of the instructors came over and gave me a couple more words of advice and right before he left he said "And this plane crashes nice too".

With all the pilots and instructors from the club standing up watching, I did the takeoff and it was perfect. No problem. The lift was scratchy and I just got used to plane which was very quick and nice compared to the beast that I have been flying.

I came back in for a good landing and got cheers and handshakes from most of the pilots. Making the transition to the single seaters is big accomplishment for me. Now I just need to figure out how to keep the damn things in the air.

Roberta and I are going to Taupo down south for 5 days for concentrated gliding instruction. Roberta wants to get up to speed but doesn't want to spend the time waiting around at the glider field. I just want to get closer to getting my full glider pilot license. Should be fun to see that part of the country from the air.

Wish us luck.

Poor Knight's Diving

Last weekend we took a trip up to the Poor Knights Island and went diving with Daren, Margaret, Steve and Holly. The first day was really great, saw lots of sting rays, big slugs, fish, eels, kelp. Obviously I'm not a biologist, or I'd be giving you all of the 'official' regional names. Basically lots of fishes.

We went with the Poor Knight Divers and I would recommend them to others. Their boat is really nice, the skipper gave some historical context of the area. Much nicer than the Crazee Diver boat I went with last time. There was some confusion about filling dive tanks, but Jill gracefully gave us 25% off our next trip. We also stayed at their cabin in Tutakaka and it was really nice, though not right on the beach it had a good view and was convenient to the marina.

Hopefully for Easter I'll go up with Margaret and Darren to dive the Rainbow Greenpeace Boat that was destroyed by the French.

Ragged Ass in Raglan

Adam and I went to Raglan, which is about 3 hours southwest on the west side of the North Island. We stayed at Wild Coast which was totally cool. We had isolated cabins overlooking oceans and hills. Kind of like what the Oregon Coast looked like in the 50's.

They had horse expeditions, and it was definitely one of the most challenging rides I had been on in a while. There were very steep hills and a number of times my horse, Sundance, slipped and fell to his knees as I struggled to stay on and avoid the branches gouging holes in my legs. When we got on the beach the guide told us not to let our horses out of control because the horse would take off in a sprint and the rest of the herd like pack would follow. OK-Doky! I've been on a horse riding flat out and it was one of the most scary things to happen to me during my childhood. We did eventually get to run the horses on the beach, which was super fun. Those were some spunky horses! Ride-um cowboy, when are we going again? Just as soon as my ass recovers...Thanks Helen for referring me!

And of course Adam went gliding during this time. See all those hills in the background? Them are good for riding hot air, which is exactly what Adam is thinking about at this moment...

Earthquakes and Volcanos - Oh My!

I have yet to experience any earthquakes or volcanos in New Zealand, I can't wait. In Portland we had Mt. St. Helens, which blew big time when I was in the first grade. I can remember ashes everywhere. We had some small tremors in Southern Oregon.

And of course, there were lots of tremors in Costa Rica, not to mention the lava flowing at Arenal. You could watch it flow sitting in hotsprings below.

Check out this link, it looks like Mt. Ruapehu crater lake is going to burst.

Best Cough Drops Ever

So I went away for a while Portland and got really sick. Fever, coughs, shivers, achy bones. I was in a rough state. I came back and Adam got me THE BEST COUGH DROPS EVER. They were anti-inflammatory, cough suppressants, antibacterial AND it had codeine in it.

Best invention ever. It didn't knock me out or anything, just made my tongue and throat numb, just enough to let me sleep. They were way better than taking those oral anti-whatever that just dries out your whole body. Woohoo for a better health system that lets adults choose their own remedies.

I'm not a big pill taker, but if I'm really sick I will take whatever pills it takes to get better.

More South Island Pictures from June

Adam's sister, June, just posted some more pictures on her flicker account . They hit some different spots than Adam and I did.

Our trip to the NZ South Island

We recently got back from a two week adventure to the south island here in New Zealand. We heard that the south island was beyond description and that it was something that had to be seen to believed. I would completely agree.



For the next sections you can scroll around google maps to see where we went.

Click for Google Maps

My parents and sister flew into Auckland and we started our journeys. We started by flying from Auckland to Christchurch which is on the center east coast of the south island. We picked up the RV and drove to Lake Tekapo. On the drive to the lake we traveled through flat farmlands with fields of lupen. The first thing that you notice when you get there is that all of the rivers and lakes are an odd creamy light blue color which is very distinctive.

The weather was extremely cold and windy at the start of the trip so we really couldn’t get out and walk around too much in any one spot. Our plan was to camp at lake Tekapo for the night but since we had a fair amount of daylight left we decided keep driving on to Twizel(pronounced: Twy-zehl). My sister’s boyfriend’s cousin is a fly fishing guide/magician/kung fu actor who lives in Twizel although we weren’t able to hook up with him.

The following day we drove to Omarama which is one of the world’s greatest gliding locations and you can see why by the drive there. You are surrounded by steep mountain faces on all sides and the wind blows like it has nothing better to do. We got there and prepared to glide but the weather socked in it got canceled. We were driving out of town towards Oamaru and I remembered that I had left my video camera on the seat of one of the glider so we had to turn around and drive back. By a stroke of luck when we got back the weather had cleared up so up we went. Roberta and I went up in separate planes and worked our way up to about 8k feet and got some great views. I ended up getting motion sickness and had to turn around after an hour but Roberta kept going and stayed up for over two hours.



While we were up flying, my family went up to the base of Mt. Cook which they said was one of the highlights of their trip.

We then drove over to Oamaru and saw the Moeraki boulders. They are these big spheres on the beach that you can check out a low tide. My sister got stuck in one with much comedic value.



Another one of the major highlights of the trip for everyone were the penguins in Dunedin. If you drive out to the point where the albatross reserve is there is also a penguin area. You get there right before dark and sit down next to this little trail and the penguins come in from the ocean in a big flock. They then walk up this wee trail right in front of you. Honestly there were penguins walking within a few feet of us. It was a very surreal experience. The sounds that they were making were amazing.

After that we headed inland towards Queenstown to start the preparations for Routeburn tramp. Driving towards Queenstown we traveled through a ton of farmland and wineries. That area looks like the place to go for wine tours.

We arrived in Queenstown and found an RV park right in town where we could walk to everything. We spend a couple days there before we got the word that they had closed the Routeburn track due to snow and really bad weather. Supposedly there was 6 inches of snow on the top and people were stuck in the huts for 40 hours. I heard a story about these two groups of trampers at a bridge. The river was up and almost over the bridge and the first group decided to chance the crossing. Right after the last person got across the bridge collapsed. They were also helicoptering people across impassable sections of the trail.

After that we headed to Milford Sound where the rest of the family did a 2 hour boat trip and Roberta and I did an overnight trip. Our overnight trip was really fun. We had a whole four bunk room to ourselves and met some nice people from the UK. The only way to describe Milford Sound is with pictures.



Roberta and I decided to get a rental car at that point and do our own thing for a few days. We stayed in Queenstown for a couple more nights and were really glad that we did. We did a little winery tour and had some great wines then went to the AJ Hackett bungie bridge which is the site of the world’s first bungie jump. It is now all packaged and cheesy. They play it off as extreme but there were many other activities that seemed more adventurous and that actually required a bit of skill.



In Queenstown we went hang gliding which was a great experience. You basically get all strapped into this harness and then jump off a cliff with wings attached to your back. The instructor told us to just keep running no matter what until we were flying. We did a little ridge soaring and then landed on our bellies. Fun stuff but I still like flying sailplanes better.

We then drove north on the west coast up towards the glaciers. There are two amazing glaciers right next to each other, the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers. The town of Franz Joseph seemed a little nicer so we decided to stay there. The next morning we got up and took a helicopter ride up to the top of the glacier which was definitely a highlight of the trip. Neither one of us had ever been in a helicopter so it was a great experience. It landed on the top of the glacier and we got out and were able to walk around. Check out the pictures to see the sheer enormity of the place.



Our next destination were the pancake rocks. They are a neat formation on the coast with blowholes and such.

From there we headed east over to the Hanmer Hot Springs for a relaxing next to last day in the south island. They weren’t so much hot springs as they were warm pools. I guess we were spoiled by the Tabacon hot springs in Costa Rica and the natural pools in Oregon. We did meet a nice couple of guys who said their highlight hot springs were in Budapest which is now a destination on our life travel list.

The last day we spent in Christchurch and we stayed in a hotel called The Camelot which was medieval themed. We kept cracking jousting jokes with the owner but he wasn’t laughing. Both of us really liked Christchurch as the downtown area was quaint and had some historic charm.

All in all it was an amazing trip and we are planning on doing it again to focus on sights that we missed.

Click for more pictures

Scuba Diving New Zealand: Poor Knights Islands

I took my first scuba diving class at the Orakei Dive Shop.

The next weekend we went to the Poor Knights and it was fabulous. The fish and the rock formations were incredible. I was really nervous about diving. It's actually really scary breathing under water for the first time. But, I highly recommend it. It's definitely a mental and physical exercise.

Poor Knight Pictures Here

Part III: Signing the Treaty of Waitangi

This is Part III of what I learned at a two day Maori training at a real marae from a real Maori...see previous posts for background.

The British Empire sent a man by the name of Hobson to wheel and deal with the Maori. In six days he had the treaty signed. Hobson relied on two missionaries to translate the treaty. Obviously, the Maori who weren't getting any obvious benefit declined to sign the first draft presented.

"The meeting ended indecisively and the Maori withdrew to the other side fo the Waitangi River to debate throught the night. They sought the advice of the missionary who told them that it would be in their best interests to sign the Treaty. The missionaries had some influence because Christianity had given the Maori a choice of religion. At the time the Maori world was exclusively dominated by tapu (a state of sanction/sacredness) and noa (common state of being).Some say it was because of the wicked cool robes the priest got to wear.

Anyway, the Treaty had a very important clause that the missionary had inserted after these discussions guaranteeing Maori possession of their lands, forests, fisheries and other prized possessions. The missionary believed that without this promise, the chiefs would not support the Treaty.

40 Chiefs signed the english version and more than 500 chiefs signed the Maori language version. The Treaty differs betweeen the Maori and the Enlish version, which will be the subject of the next post. I'm really not sure how many more posts there will be. My Maori training differs somewhat from what is on Wikipedia so I'll just keep posting what I learned.

Part IV: Content of the Treaty of Waitangi

Part II: Te Ao Maori, New Zealand Declaration of Independence

Since I work for a crown entity (the government) everybody is sent to a Maori Bi-Culture training. I was really looking forward to it. The training was at a local Marae (Maori lodge). Very Cool! The workshop focused on the Treaty of Waitangi, the Resource Management Act 1991, consultation (or participation) and Teo Ao Maori (A Maori Worldview). The Marae (lodge) where we were staying had a good relationship with Transit, via a freeway in their backyard, though not quite clear how that worked out, but is a good indication of the importance of the relationship with the Maori.

Let's start from the beginning in 1935 Aotearoa (New Zealand) had 120,000 residents living in tribal areas (rohe). Each rohe consisted of a number of iwi (tribes), hapu (villages) and whanau (families). Each iwi had their own systems and processes of belief, religion deities, government, justice, co-operation and sharing. There were some 500 iwi (tribes) at this time.

At this time Aotearoa was frequented by a number of European colonies settling on the coasts whaling and sealing. This is when the British and French rat race started. Similiar to the US, the Brits won by having 34 tribal leaders sign a Declaration of Independence. Who knew, the US isn't the only colony with a Declaration of Independence, they read very similiarly. At this time the declaration also unified the tribes, established a flag, and thus ships could trade with Australia.

After the declaration came the Treaty of Waitangi, which trumps the declaration and is the subject of the next post. Woohoo! Can't wait!

Part III: Treaty of Waitangi

Part I: Entry onto the Marae

I'm putting together a few posts to describe the two day Maori training I went to and some of the things I learned.

There was a special ceremony that the Maori performed before they could let us on the marae. We had to be asked via a song to enter the Marae, we (one Maori lady in our group) had to sing back to request entry and then we walked in a group towards the lodge.

We stopped halfway to the door to remember the dead. Then we were let in the lodge after taking off our shoes. The women were in the front when we walked in but then the men took the front seats when we entered the lodge. They put the women up front going towards the lodge (just in case fighting breaks out), but then inside the lodge the men were suppose to protect and sit in the front.

Then there were a lot of songs and prayers in Maori that I couldn't understand, but it sounded sacred. Then the training became more informal. We were laying on mats inside the lodge during the training, between eating the five meals that we were served each day. It was really a great venue for learning about Maori culture, way better than sitting in a hotel conference room! The trainer said we could sleep if we wanted but it was entertaining enough to keep us occupied throughout the training. It also helped to have a roomful of people who were very interested in learning about Maori history. It was an international group (UK, Croatia, Russia, India, Ireland, US and Kiwi) of students all of whom worked in my office.

I learned during the course of the training that gaining entrance into the Marae is one of the most difficult things to do. Though, I don't really understand why. Just hire a consultant who knows the songs and customs. This is what eventually came out of the entire training, plus an extra 4 kilos because of all the food. No really, I'll be posting more on the New Zealand Declaration of Indepence, Treaty of Waitangi and a brief review of current status of Maori/gringo relations. I think the gringo term holds relevance in NZ as well as Costa Rica.

Weekend Trip to the Coromandel Peninsula

Last weekend we travelled to the Coromandel Peninsula. It was fantastic and just one and a half hours away from Auckland. Here some highlights of our trips:

Hotwater Beach, we dug a pit in the sand during low tide and let the volcanic activity heat the water for a spa like experience. Did I mention it was at night? We were wandering around with shovels trying to figure out where to dig. We found the spot after falling into a steaming hot pools. I saw a couple of shooting stars, very memorable night. And we met a very nice couple from Oz.

We encountered wild turkeys and they were entertaining! See for yourself on our youtube debut:

The next day was beautiful for beachcombing at Shakespeare Cove.

Lots more Coromandel Pictures Here!

Cost of Living: USA, Costa Rica, New Zealand Compared

In the last three years we have lived in three different countries:

Portland, Oregon USA until April 2005
San Jose, Costa Rica until April 2006
Auckland, New Zealand current

Frak! That's a lot of moving, new banks and new bills to deal with. Yesterday I-Hug our ISP shut us off, though that story deserves it's own blog post (bastards!).

To sum up our living preferences, Adam and I like to live in neighborhoods were we can walk to a shops. In Portland our neighborhood was a twelve minute bike ride downtown and near a local pizza shop.

In San Pedro we were close to the university and downtown. There was a grocery store and a few good restaurants within walking distance.

In Auckland we are in the equivalent to Portland's Northwest 23rd neighborhood (fancy people barrios). There are lot's of coffee shops, restaurants and shops selling outrageously overpriced clothes.

Here's the comparison of living expenses in all three locations:

Northeast Portland, Oregon USA
Mortgage - 1,600
Electric - 40
Water & Garbage - 70
Internet* - 0
Phone - 20
Food - 350
Total (US Dollar) - 2,080

Barrio Dent, San Pedro, Costa Rica
Rent - 800
Electric - 40
Water & Garbage - 72
Internet* - 100
Phone - 18
Food - 250
Total - US Dollar 1280

Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand
Rent - 1296
Electric - 180
Water & Garbage - 36
Internet* - 48
Phone - 27
Food - 318
Total - US Dollar 1905

* We always get the fastest connection available for residential use. In Portland we were the neighborhood ISP. We hooked up about 5 neighbors with internet for cheaper than they were paying, we (Adam) provided the hardware and tech-saviness.

In terms of wages I took about a 25% paycut working in Auckland, but my purchasing power remained the same. So I can buy the same amount, but if I wanted to save up money in Kiwi dollars to convert to US Dollars I will take a 30-40% currency cambio hit.

Taxes seem a bit higher, though not excessive [Adam disagrees and thinks the taxes ARE substantially higher]. It's nice to have a functioning health care system and no homeless people. All the kiwis who go to the states, make the same comment "There are so many homeless people in the states". Yes there are, unforunately, the US government doesn't like poor people right now. Who knows maybe it will change soon. That reminds me I need to update my voter registration card.

Crippled in New Zealand

Since breaking my big toe I've had time to:

• Reformat my hardrive
• Write letters (by hand, imagine that!)
  
• Install Google Earth, here's where we live 21A Cathedral Place (in the middle):
  
  
  
  
  
  You can now see why we have such an interesting  bird community off of our back porch. We are really close to a body oof water and the green patch just to the south of our house is one of the only 'natural' landscapes. The rest of the green space is manicured park areas. To the northwest is the Auckland Domain (major city park and museum). To the north is Parnell and to the southwest is Newmarket, both are 'happening' neighborhoods.

Crack-a-Toe-y and New Zealand Insurance

I'm starting to like the New Zealand healthcare system.

So on Tuesday night in a mad dash up the stairs I slipped and fractured my big toe in two places. Not knowing where the hospital was we called our trusty friends Clair and Bradley and they told us to go the private hospital, Ascot, near Greenlane so we wouldn't have to wait at a public hospital. We have additional private insurance via Adam's employer. A couple of x-rays later they sent us to the public hospital because they wanted a specialist to see us. They were concerned about charging us $50 for the x-rays. Ha! That's in kiwi dollars! We were imagining in the $1-2k range.

After about a half an hour wait we were able to see a doctor at the public hospital. The public hospital, about a mile and half from our house, was definately dirtier. We saw a couple of blood splatters and Headwound Harry in the lobby methed out. But otherwise prompt and friendly.

The doctor advised, after threatening surgery, that he was going to yank my toe and straightened it back into place and than put a splint on it. At that point Adam had to leave the room because he was getting nauseous. I can't say I enjoyed myself but the laughing gas helped. I had flash backs of whip-its from my younger days. Definintely one of the most painful experiences. He put a cast on instead, I thinking he was tricking me for my own good.

So now I am home bound until at least Wednesday when  the specialist will see me again to determine if I need to have surgery and pins in my big toe. I have no idea why my life needs an emergency room visit every 4-5 years.

All an all I was really happy with the public health care service. I went back the next day because the doctor was going to try to 'sneak' me in, in case the specialist thought I needed a surgery that day. I've been told that publich health care for emergencies is pretty good here and now, unfortunately, I can attest to that. I guess the private insurance is when you need a surgery that isn't an emergency you will have to wait some time. With private insurance you get to see private doctors faster, and consequently you will likely see the same specialist who works part time in public and part time in the private sector.

New Zealanders are covered by ACC or Accident Compensation Corporation. The doctor gave me a note that I am suppose to send to ACC indicating that I am unfit for work for 10 days. I think the first week of time off is unpaid and then after that it's covered at 80%. This coverage starts after only four weeks of work on a non-work related accident. I think I've been working for about 7 weeks. ACC coupled with public health insurance means that most people don't really have to worry about getting hurt because they will be covered. This is quite opposite of the litagous route Americans have to take to recover damage if needed. Though for snowboarding if I crash and wreck my wrists it's only covered if I'm wearing wrists guards. Remember this is the land that invented bungee jumping. A common term is 'Ah, she'll be OK'.

I really hope I will be WITHOUT surgery...

Turoa and Whakapapa ski areas on Mt. Ruapehu

I went snowboarding again with another fun group of people. Having only been in New Zealand for about a month, it seems pretty easy finding people to do stuff with.

We left on Friday after work and drove down in three cars, four people per car and we eventually met up with another couple of people. We went to a little village at the base of Turoa ski area on Mt. Ruapehu . We drank some beers and played some pool. I played teams with some guy, we took control of the board and then played some really rough locals. It was a couple and they both were really rough and mean looking. It looked like they wanted to beat the shit out of us everytime we sunk a ball. I was kind of concerned after we won the first game and nobody would put their money down to play the second game so we ended up playing them again. At this point I could see myself getting into some trouble after my pool partner patted my ass and I felt a serious rage to gouge his eyeballs out with a pool stick and smear his face with blue chalk. It was time to go to bed. No need to unleash the fury.

The next day was freezing with clear blue skies. We were twenty minutes away from the mountain. I spent the morning teaching a newbie boarder how to ride, it was kind of fun, but I am so glad I'm not learning snowboarding again. My ass would surely hurt. Christian took so many tumbles, sometimes it hurt watching. I rode the rest of the afternoon with Ida. Ida was fantastic, she was just a bit faster than me, so it was fun keeping up. It's nice riding with a girl who is just a tad better than you. The problem was I kept taking her out riding the T-bars. T-bars are bloody hell  for boarders.  I could feel the ligaments in my knees burning out. After I got lost from Ida I ran a couple of runs near a cliff and followed a guy who was hitting some really good jumps. I was really happy with some of the jumps I was taking. I learned my lesson though, if he doesn't hit a jump its probably because there is a sheet of ice on the landing. Oh my ass!!

That evening was 12 people with pizza and beer in a small little room. It felt like we were at camp. The pictures quickly deteriorated into sloppy drunk photos, so not much to share there. Than we watched a rugby game, standing room only in the pub, where I had a couple of people telling me what was going on. Suzy summed it up quite nicely, you can't tip the ball forward.

The next day we went to Whakapapa pronounced Fucka-pupa.  I could not stop saying Fucka pupa in a punk rock way, Zoe was getting tired of it. She thought I was a crazy American girl. I was surprised she could hear the voices in my head... Whakapapa was OK, but I like Turoa better for boarding. There were more jumps and it was sunnier on that day. Sunday turned into white conditions, whereby me and Kyle had to walk off the mountain through rock gardens. That was the most horrible run, ups and downs. We had to strap on and off about 6 times before we just opted to walk out. I was hung dehydrated and slow. Kyle offered to carry my board, what a British gentleman, how could I say no?

More Pictures

Chirp chirp....

In Costa Rica I was in awe of the amazing number of colorful, loud ass birds that started their concert about an hour before the sun came up every day. I would typically get up and go onto the roof and watch the sun rise and see what kind of birds were out.

Here in New Zealand it is amazingly similar. We live right on the edge of a dense park so it is just packed with birds and, like in Costa Rica, they just love the mornings. We look out into a valley so when the birds really get going there are echos coming from all over. One morning there were two large birds that had a red crest and dayglo green bodies. They followed each other around and hung out in the tree ferns.

If you care to hear what the mornings are like in New Zealand for us just click play. I recorded a stereo sample of the birds which is best with headphones on so that you can hear the birds flying by and chirping. The rustling noises that you hear are the birds going nuts in the trees.

Auckland Day 2: Driving and Finding a home

It's been a bit of an overwhelming day. I'm going to write it down to sort it out in my own head.

We obtained a rental car and Adam was the first one to drive with the wheel on the wrong side and driving on the wrong side of the road. When I read about other people's experience I thought, what is the big deal? Ha! It's quite a mental exercise, with the added stress of possible physical and financial disaster and a first day on the job was the icing on the cake. Adam drove to the office, we dropped him off than I quickly got lost on my own for a while.

I made it to a nearby neighborhood and managed to find a few rental listings before calling Clair. We (she) drove around and I got an idea of what the neighborhoods were like. She has been quite the angel. There was a little confusion at the lunch counter, but I regret not insisting on paying for her lunch. I was figuring out the new currency situation.

One thing I noticed about Auckland is that there are coffee shops everywhere. Auckland has about three times as many coffee shops as Portland, and to my knowledge most of them are local, non-franchised type of places. An Americano is called a Long Black here. If you order an Americano it comes with the water and the milk on the side. Just in case you want to manage your water content. I had a quiche and it was really dense in a not so good way. I'm use to a fluffy soft quiche. But, hands down the pastry I had was brilliant. I had a banana nut bread almond torte thingy that was delicious. Instead of a salad with the quiche people were eating pastries. It's going to be a challenge losing the weight gained in Portland.

Rentals are usually listed at local real estate office. Signs are usually not put out on houses, nor are they listed in the local paper. Though there are a lot of listings on Trade Me. This site is Auckland's Craigslist. Adam will likely find a car there as well.

That's it for day 2. Tomorrow is job interview day. I bought some panty hose to go with my suit. Woohoo can't wait!