Girls Only

I met up with Josien at Spotlight, a shop which she calls "heaven" that I introduced her to.

We spent well over an hour there, and then drove off to meet up with Tiffany at Roller Derby at TSB arena. It was Josien's first Roller Derby match and only my 2nd; the rink was a bit small and cramped but the game was pretty fun to watch. The announcers made sure to note when to take a drink (when the game was tied).


Afterwards we walked over to the Alice Bar off Courtenay Place. The bar is small and super cool, the whole place was decorated to reflect an Alice in Wonderland vibe. Some drinks there are served out of teapots.

Boys' Weekend

Home sick today but made myself get ready to drop Bryce off at Doug's house in the evening-- they're taking Friday off to have a long boys' skiing weekend at Mt. Ruapehu with some other guys.

Forecast looks a bit grim for the weekend so Bryce was a little worried that Turoa wouldn't even be open--

Food tidbits

We're in a little bit of a food rut. I'm trying to bust out of it and buy new and interesting things:

Berry Flavoured Porridge (yuck)

Exotic yogurt (yum)

I HIGHLY suggest the vanilla and hazelnut yogurt should you ever come across it.

I tried some lemon cookies that looked cheap but ok-- in fact they were salty. (Not the best for dipping in tea).

Chicken flavoured crackers:


One of my most favourite finds is Kiwi Habanero Sauce-- a fruity, spicy concoction that our friend Emma introduced to us:

I found out from the Irish and British girls we skiied with last that NZ has awful tea, and that Bell tea was the only tea they'd drink. (The English girl also mentioned that American restaurants did not know how to serve tea, that you don't serve tea by giving a customer a pot of hot water and a tea bag; you put the teabag in the teacup and pour the water over the bag and then present the cup to the customer).

Kiwis (known as kiwifruit here), are incredibly cheap; I can get a kilo for $1.79, which works out to about 10 cents US per kiwi. They are delicious and I try to eat as much as I can, because they were always my favourite fruit.

Most of our produce comes from Australia; NZ oranges are pretty tasteless and some recipes actually call for an Australian or American orange, as opposed to a New Zealand one.

A Sunday not spent on the slopes

Since we were at the All Blacks game last night, we couldn't go skiing for the weekend. Bryce still managed to fit in some snowboarding related activity:

Out in the shed waxing his board with his music going.

The mountain that we ski on (Mt. Ruapehu) is so rocky that there are tons of huge gouges in his board. He found a couple of rocks that are wedged in so badly that he can't even take them out. ahh, North Island skiing.


Off to have Beef and Guinness pies at a friend's house in Porirua :-)

1 Year and All Blacks

We arrived in New Zealand one year ago today. What a year-- tons of great friends, amazing experiences, new ideas, and beautiful scenery. We celebrated in one of the coolest ways possible: watching the rugby match with the NZ All Blacks vs. South Africa. NZ won. By a lot. Sweet as.

We took the train to CBD, and stopped at a bar opposite the train station to get some beers. The bar was so packed that people were drinking outside on the footpath-- check out this "table" that a couple used for their beers (an electric box for the traffic lights).


We got to go inside Westpac Stadium (also known as the "cake pan") for the first time. Inside, we couldn't find the promised curry shops-- most shops sold just french fries, meat pies, hot dogs, wine and beer. We DID find delicious doughnuts though--yum. (Apparently the standard kiwi lunch is a meat pie and a donut). Bryce laughed at me when I ordered a mini bottle of chardonnay and a meat pie.


We had great seats! The wind from the south blew the rain towards us, but for the most part we were undercover:

The rugby game went FAST-- it was over before we knew it. It was about 90 minutes long, with hardly any lags like in American football or baseball. It was pretty exciting to watch, though we were confused by some of the fouls-- what in the heck was "hand in the ruck"??


I bought a sweet-as ski hat after the game. Sorta wish I bought it before the game, it was nice and warm.

After the game we walked to Black Harp to say hi to some friends we went on a ski trip with last weekend. One girl showed off some Icebreaker ski socks that she had just bought (we had lent her ours because she didn't have any). Ahh yes, spreading the ski culture.

Then off we went to this hide-a-way bar called the Watusi for our American friend's birthday. She's leaving soon :-( But is going with us to Wanaka next month :-) Here she is trying out Bryce's hat.

Friday Unwinding

The end of my 2nd week of work-- I tried to take on clients slowly but it turns out I still took on too much. Needless to say, Friday night drinks were in order. Bryce and I had beers with Marc at the Green Man, then we walked to meet Tiffany for dinner at Roti Chanai; spied along the way:

The waiter was rude to us yet again at Roti Chanai, I really have to stop going there! From now on it's Malysian on Ghuznee street: Satay Village or KK Malaysian.

Winter Sunrise

View from my desk at sunrise, around 7:15-- (we got in super early so that Bryce could have breakfast with colleagues). It's been a gorgeous sunny week.