Yet another gorgeous day. Mowed the lawn for the first time; took care of the car. Jeez housework takes way longer now that B isn't here to split the chores. I made ginger kisses out of my kiwi baking book for the New Years get together this evening. I was exhausted all day but couldn't sleep (I was up late the night before researching Great White Sharks). ;-) Poor Laura (sis) was messaging me--4am her time and 1am my time-- she works nights now so she tries to keep to the same schedule even when she's not working.

Arrived at Josien and Marc's in time for a fantastic sunset. The South Island was clearly visible.


Doug and Laura were rained out of their camping trip and arrived home late last night after driving 14 hours to get home. We all talked until midnight, and then watched the fireworks in Auckland on tv. We had to laugh when the New Years' tv programming abruptly ended at around 12:10am. 21 more hours until Seattle gets its New Years'.

Beaches

Woke up to a gorgeous morning. Here's the view outside my front door, I took this picture to send to Grandma after she sent me a picture of the snow she woke up to at her place.


Met Josien in Porirua at Spotlight. I had to buy some tea towels of course; I got the cutest campervan ones, perfect for summer. You wouldn't believe how big those campers are inside that the kiwis camp in. Huge and roomy. Anyways.
I made sure to buy a journal while I was near the Porirua mall; I'm on my 3rd journal now. I like writing in it as I just don't feel comfortable being too open over the internet in this blog.
We stopped to say goodbye to friends before they left on their road trip up north (everyone seems to be going up to the northlands for the holiday). Then finally we were off to "shell beach." That's not it's real name, just the name I gave it.

Josien did great walking the very steep trail down to the tide pools despite being almost 6 months pregnant and wearing sandals. We found lots of pretty paua shells for her. We found live crabs, and even a starfish.
Josien told a great story about how when she was camping in France (I can't get over when my friends talk about "camping in France") she found a ton of starfish on the beach. Before she went to bed she laid them out to dry, but in the middle of the night she heard tons of cats. The cats ate all of them except for a tiny starfish that she saved for years. I like starfish story.

After the beach and a few other random chores (it's fun to be with a pregnant woman when she buys 4-5 bottles of wine-- for guests) we went to her house. Their house is amazing, right on the beach.

When her husband Marc came home, we all went out for a swim. The water was waist deep for several dozen yards out to sea. I jokingly asked Josien if there were sharks in the water, and she said "yes." Then she said that they were great white sharks. (!!) She said not to worry though, that the sharks keep to the island across the way (The island that was clearly visible-- maybe 5 kms away). Naturally I promptly got out of the water. When I got home I researched whether the area really has Great White Sharks and apparently it's true, one was even spotted this time last year on the same part of the beach I was swimming in, in waist-deep water. aaaaagh

Sailing and Ice Cream

Well today showed me that I wasn't an idiot afterall for staying in NZ while my hubs ski bums around the West Coast. It was social sailing today. About 5 hours of fun. We sailed a double handed dinghy, a 420-- I took turns crewing and skippering. My boat mate was a little nervous about jybing and I couldn't figure out why; I had never ever worried about jybing before. Well, naturally on my first jyb the boat tipped over. It didn't just tip over, it turtled! Agh! At least Evans Bay, where we were sailing, is deep enough that the mast didn't get stuck at the bottom like it used to in Garbage Bay (Union Bay) at U of WA.


With two other boats, we sailed to nearby Oriental Parade for gelato.


We parked right up on the sand.


We took a leisurely sail back to Evans Bay. I've learned that when it's Sailing Day, you keep the whole day open for the sail, you never know how long you'll be out and there's usually beers at the yacht club afterwards.

Ack!

Woke up this morning to 130 km/hr (80mph) winds. It was BLOWING. I thought for sure that the concert tonight at the bottom of my hill for Fat Freddy's Drop would be cancelled, so I didn't bother ordering tickets. A friend invited me to see the movie, Somewhere, at a cute movie theatre that I've been wanting to go to for awhile, so I went there instead. Basically, the movie sucked donkey balls. I did however learn that gingerbread and lemonade is the best combination ever. While a lot of small movie theatres in New Zealand don't sell popcorn, they do sell wine and yummy baked goods, which is an okay trade by me.

Went home to drop off some library items and go grocery shopping-- the town was dead. Deader than usual. And to top it off, it was perfect weather and you could hear the concert from the library, from the video store, from the supermarket, and from my front yard-- ACK! Made the wrong decision there.

New Zealand Film Festival around here

I slept better than I thought I would last night. Yay for independence! Went on an organization rampage, poor B, he's gone only a few days and I'm getting rid of massive quantities of paperwork.

Watched "Heavenly Creatures," that movie is crazy.


Also saw "The Piano," for the first time.


I'm trying to make my way through a whole list of New Zealand movies that I've collected over the past year and a half. Also saw, "The Fastest Indian," (good), and "Angel at my Door" (ick) earlier this week.

Lazy times

Woke up this morning at my friend's house feeling much better. We go on a great walk around Titahi Bay. The weather isn't as sunny as it's supposed to be, but still not bad. Bryce is keeping me updated with his whereabouts by text.

I drive home and start Lazy Day. I have a pile of dvds and books to get through and I don't plan on leaving the house for a long time.

I skype with Bryce in the early evening, he looks happy.

Christmas

Cinnamon rolls again, and coffee on the doorstep. Finally, a peaceful, sunny day. I'm relieved that his plane will take off in calm weather. It leaves at 3pm. The hours keep advancing on the clock. We go for a little walk to look at the view.


We realized that we have enough time to go to the beach again. This will go down as the saddest beach trip in history.
At home, Bryce finishes up his packing. I have him help me shake out a big rug that I can't shake alone. I ask him to get a vase down from a high shelf for me. I remind him of our skype date tomorrow. We have leftovers. I thought I would drive him to the airport but I am crying too hard. He leaves the house for the last time and I see that he doesn't really miss it. He will miss me but he's happy to be going. This whole trip has been much harder for him than for me, especially the four months where I had a job and he stayed at home. I'm glad I'm not leaving now, but I'm still struggling with my decision to choose a summer NZ for a little while over my husband. We know that it won't happen again.

I wait with him in line at the airport, for an hour. There's problem with their software and even the plane is delayed. The saddness stops with the boredom of waiting in line. We rush together to security, and we realize that's it. A quick kiss and I race to my car so I can watch his plane leave. Stupidest idea ever. His plane disappears into a tiny speck.

Luckily I had plans to be at a friend's house for the day; we have a great time and by the end of the night I feel almost normal again. The last week of dreading has not been fun. Now it's time to see how I do.

Christmas Eve

Cinnamon rolls for Christmas mornings is becoming sort of a tradition around here. Bryce loves to open up presents early, so we had Christmas morning today. We popped the Christmas crackers (joke inside: Who did the skeleton dance with at the party? No body.) He got me some cute tui and pukeko pins that I had admired at a store and... a hand mixer! Finally no more mixing with a fork. And I can make pav's and cream won't be hellish to whip up.. whoo hoo! We had been talking about how funny it is that I've been stubborn the whole time I've lived here about breaking down and buying one. While a mixer can cost about $15 at Walmart, the cheapest ones that we could find were $35-45, on sale. I gave Bryce a piece of mountain-y artwork called the "Southern Alps."

I made an apple pie while Bryce did the lawn for the last time. Off to the beach. It was windy but warm, warm enough to wear my sundress from Aus that I like to call my mumu. We sat there sipping our wine. It was hard to realize that he was leaving in less than a day. Every time I thought of it, I gave him a hug. I've been imagining him gone for so long that when I see him, I'm a little surprised.

The pohutukawas are gorgeous today.

Bakery and rainbows

A warm but very windy day again. I went with Bryce to lunch with an old work mate in Lower Hutt, at the Janus Bakkerij that I've always wanted to try. They had the cutest caterpillars there made out of meringue. It felt so good sitting sipping coffee out in the sun.

As we drove home, we noticed this partial rainbow around the sun:
A good explanation for this rainbow comes from a Seattle local news site. Basically the rainbow is a reflection off of the ice crystals from high clouds--

We thought about getting a bottle of wine and going to the Petone shore-- we got the bottle of wine but were so tired that we decided to sit in our little side lawn. For once the wind had slowed down-- we didn't even need to hold our wine glasses (so that the wind wouldn't topple them). A small miracle.

Bryce started packing tonight. It was hard to see the half empty closet.

Te Papa Day

After being forced inside for several days due to bad weather and a cold I was fighting, we decided to catch the European Masters exhibit at Te Papa. Te Papa is the national museum of New Zealand. It's free, but special exhibits like European Masters have a fee (I think it was $22). We saw a painting by Degas, van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, and Picasso, as well as many other paintings. There was a painting of Goethe that showed that he was a pretty handsome guy! We were a little disappointed in the exhibit; there weren't any favourites that stood out to us except maybe a cubist painting of a dog. It was pretty amazing in the Monet to see how he painted the water.


The wind was CRAZY windy. Here's a view from a little outdoor area behind Te Papa on the waterfront.


The red trees in the background are the Pohutukawa, known as the New Zealand Christmas tree because it usually blooms at this time every year.



Bryce and I were in a real cave like this one last year. Animals like the huge moa fell into sink holes; their bones are later recovered in the caves.

They had a mock excavation pit for the kids, which they loved.


After Te Papa we went to grab some gelato (I had sour apple, mmm) nearby. That was probably one of the windiest walks I've ever been on; the wind was ferocious. As we sat in the cafe with our icecream (if we had gone outside it would've blown away) we watched the car parked in front of the cafe rocking from side to side in the wind. I got a surprise phone call while I was there from my sister; that's the first time someone from the States has called us!

Off we went to the hardware store. We got a little side tracked and went to the appliance section, where we drooled over such conveniences as hand mixers and BBQs. I think we miss our stuff a little. We love the garden section, it still seems so exotic to us. Here's some fern trees:

And you can buy your very own pohutukawa!

Blustery Wellington

Stuck inside with a cold-- it's a miserable windy wet day outside. Definitely not the kayak holiday in Abel Tasman I had envisioned being in!

I was invited to go sailing in January for a couple of races (!!) Spent most of the day planning my roadtrip with Tara.

Coconut Day

Due to a miscommunication between me and Bryce, he came home from the supermarket one day last month with a whole coconut. Today was the day to tackle that sucker. Glad we had the whole day off to deal with him.

It was easy enough to get the coconut water out, but cracking it with a hatchet and then getting the meat out, and finally shredding the coconut took for-e-ver. I used some of the coconut for a dessert rice dish-- I pictured a sweet coconuty dessert like I've had from some islander friends. Welllll what came out was edible but definitely not what I had meant to make.

Now I have all this left over coconut and no idea what to do with it. I'm thinking lammingtons maybe?

Anti-Santa movie

Saw "Rare Export" tonight at the Petone Lighthouse movie theatre. You can get a nice glass of wine here and sip it throughout the show. I saw the Banksy movie here a few months ago; looks like they've kept the advertisements although they're not showing the movie anymore.

"Rare Export" is a pretty neat but sorta weird Finnish flick. It was strange to watch a movie set in cold Finland and walk out to muggy, stormy New Zealand.

Hot Cocoa in the Summer

Listened to Christmas carols at a park on the Kapiti Coast this evening; they were passing out hot cocoa to the kids even though it was about 75 degrees outside.

We found A&W root beer at a dairy (convenience store) near the park. Score!! I spied it in the fridge from across the shop.

Unexpected Party

Last day of work today before the holidays. The rest of my workmates were going to a Christmas party, but I had rsvp'd No to save money. I had drinks after work at a friend's new flat with an amazing view towards Te Papa, the Christmas tree, and the waterfront. My workmates convinced me to go to the work party anyway with them, and since B was having fun with partying with his workmates for the last time, I went ahead.

We went to Restaurant 88, a Vietnamese restaurant that was sooo good! I need to learn how to make more Vietnamese food. The noodle salad was the best (Reminds me of Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets).

"It's not true. Some have great stories, pretty stories that take place at lakes with boats and friends and noodle salad. Just no one in this car. But, a lot of people, that's their story. Good times, noodle salad. What makes it so hard is not that you had it bad, but that you're that pissed that so many others had it good."

Another Farewell

We went to a Farewell BBQ for Bryce's workmate and his partner who are moving back to Perth. I felt bad for B that one of his favourite kiwi mates was moving away.

An American couple hosted the BBQ. They've lived in Wellington for a couple years; we had a great time sharing tips and kiwi-isms. They even have a tortilla press from an American couple who started the company "Tio Pablo," where our corn maize comes from. (We have to make our own corn tortillas, they're not usually offered at the supermarket.) I found out that there's no lemonade, really, in NZ. I hadn't realized that, although I have noticed that you can't buy frozen juice concentrate. In NZ and in the UK, 'lemonade' is a lemon flavoured fizzy pop. So "Sprite," is called "lemonade." It's even called lemonade on the can. Apparently, what we gringos know as "lemonade" is also called "lemonade" in the UK/NZ. hmmm

We left to redeem our free tickets to the observatory at the botanical gardens, but it had closed early. It wasn't a wasted trip though; we had a gorgeous misty sunset view of the city and got to hear a lonely sounding tui bird.

Defense Careers

Our office shares a building with military recruitment. I rode the elevator up with the most nervous young guys today!! One of them took a deep breath before stepping out of the lift, I wanted to give him a hug.

Tongariro Crossing

Bryce and I and four friends did the Tongariro Crossing on Saturday. We left from National Park; it took us girls 7 hours and the guys 8 hours as they did a side trek to climb Mt. Ngauruhoe (pictured at left). It was the best hike! A great work out and so much fun.

Pear Cider

B has introduced me to the wonders of Pear Cider today. It's being advertising big time; and it turns out my American friends have known about it for years! And apparently it's available in the States in other flavors!! Wow have I been missing out.


Mmmmm.

It's been so gorgeous outside, sooo much better than last year! Hello summer!!

Guy Fawkes

We were invited to a party at Te Papa to watch the Guy Fawkes fireworks. This is the first time I've been at a party where hors d'oeuvres and drinks were served by circling waiters. The marae that the party was next to was really amazing. Outside the fireworks went off out on the water-- identical firework shows playing in parallel to music from two boats.

Homemade curry

For most of our friends in NZ, homemade curries aren't anything special. Well they are to us! We weren't quite sure what to make for dinner tonight, but Bryce threw together a Malaysian curry with coconut milk, mixed veggies, tomatoes, portabellos, and tons of spices. It was soooo good! Had it with some roti bread I found at the store.

Brownies for dessert. See, just like home.
Except in Celsius.

Recipes use a slightly different measure than the standard measuring cups we brought with us-- food still turn out fine though. Teaspoons and tablespoon measures are the same-- based on milliliters.

Chch Earthquake

This morning at 4:27, I thought I heard someone pounding on my front door. It freaked me out in my sleep; Bryce was gone and I was reluctant to wake up and deal with it. All of a sudden my bed moved. For a split second I thought someone was in my room, but luckily the rationale part of my kicked in and I realized it was an earthquake. The pounding I had heard was really the doors rattling. I sat bolt up right for a minute or two; listening to the rattling slowly die down after about 20 seconds. I uneasily went back to sleep.

At 6:30AM, Bryce's cell phone rang. Jeez, busy morning! It was an unfamiliar voice in an American accent, which confused the heck out of me-- no one ever uses our cell phone for calls, we just get texts. I heard a male voice ask, without saying hi or announcing himself, "Is Bryce there?" Since I was home alone, I was reluctant to say, "No," but didn't really have a choice. Unexpected calls at night when you're all alone are scary. I asked "Who is this?" and was told it was his step brother, who we haven't heard from in years.

Woke up a few hours later to see that a friend was asking over e-mail if I was ok; I checked the news and was shocked to see there was an earthquake in Christchuch.

Off I went to hang out with Josien and Laura to hike up Colonial Knob in Porirua.


We could see the South Island pretty clearly.


Haircut in Porirua and then we girls headed to the 50% off ice breaker sale. The guy behind the counter found out I was from Seattle and said, "Oh that's where this stuff was made." Aaggh!? This is supposed to be NZ stuff! Apparently it's NZ merino though-- Oh wells at least with the 50% off the price I got it for is roughly what I would've bought it for in WA.

Fell asleep watching Mama Mia (chick flick while Bryce is gone!) Man Pierce Brosnan is the worst singer!!

Decisions

Gorgeous sunny day in Wellington! A pleasure to drive around in a zippy little Ministry of Ed car.

Doing a lot of thinking lately about trips, life plans, where to live, etc. Big deal stuff. We booked a trip to OZ, but decided against our costly Japan trip this xmas; may as well stay in NZ and do some famous hikes. Well there's one decision sorted; just a few more huge ones to go.

I wish I could whittle a few more years away with travelling and living without any cares. I suppose it will be nice to live in a permanent home, with a yard, and our things-- and make permanent friends. Making a permanent life is a little scary though, I feel like I'll have to make a running start at that otherwise I'll just leave things off for 'some other time,' (i.e., the pottery, the yoga, the glass making, the sailing...) Ah wells I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on myself, I am pretty proud of ourselves for making a rather nice life here down under-er.

Taking a step back

New Zealand is a thoroughly modern, first-world country. If you take a short trip here, the only differences you'll really notice between here and the Pacific Northwest are the accents, driving on the left hand side of the road, and the mysterious absence of ketchup when served fries. There are definitely some other things about New Zealand that are not like home.

Things I took for granted in the States:
(Besides the obvious: dropping in on family whenever I felt like it, and Azteca).

• relatively inexpensive, good quality, fashionable clothing
• domestic postage (they have that here of course, but there's really no reason to mail anyone here).
• flat rate internet
• the ability to take a relatively short road trip (i.e., of 1-3 days) to somewhere entirely new (I can't believe, now, that I rarely went to Whistler and have yet to see Crater Lake, Yosemite, or Yellowstone)
• inexpensive make-up
• Gene Juarez. Oh Gene Juarez, I miss you so. I could really trust you.
• Mold-free house.
  

Still, if I move back to the States I will really, really miss:

• My job - where I get almost complete autonomy and for the first time have helped to actually help effect some change in children.
• Paying people back online with only their bank account number.
• BYO restaurants.
• Turkish, Cambodian, Malaysian food. I will try and find this in the States.
  
• The views. Of course.
• Friendly airlines and nice people at airline security.
• Being away from the scary Tea Party nonsense.
• The common-sense political attitude of the kiwis.
• The international feeling of everyone I meet-- that travelling abroad is a normal part of life.
• Super friendly expats and kiwis who are always willing to hang out and have fun.

7 Years in Tibet

Bryce is really into his plan to go to Tibet sometime next year. He's always checked out climbing books from the library, which I usually can't stand to read. They're almost always centered around an ADHD guy who has no idea the fear he causes his loved ones to feel when he goes on another dangerous adventure.

7 Years in Tibet is a great book though. Totally recommend it. It took me a few days to read, which I think is good; it's nice to think about a few chunks of the book at a time. I had looked up the movie and was at first angry at how different the script was from the book; turns out that the movie was more real than the book. (The movie portrays the main character as, you guessed, it, narcissistic; he leave his pregnant wife for a climbing trip shortly after they marry.)

Good-bye South Island

It was hard to leave Queenstown today! Gorgeous sunny weather that was actually warm. The snowstorm from Saturday made all the mountains pop against the blue sky. The Queenstown airport waiting lounge had the most amazing picture-perfect view of rolling green hills.


Wellington greeted us with cold wind. Our car at the long-term car park had salt on the windscreen-- somehow it was so windy that the waves managed to spray our car. Our car was parked about 1/2 mile away from the harbour.