Wow. So much to write about, we went up to Cape Reinga and then did a glow worm walk and got up close to some weta 2 days ago (Monday) and have stayed the last 4 nights on the Karekare Peninsula at the RustyAnchor.
But that'll have to do for now. We're going snorkleing today.
Yay Beaches! Photos tonight maybe?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Another week gone!
Wow time flies when there are no fixed plans! but we've been doing well with the things that need doing. And been eating lots of good food. It's a good thing that there are so many hills in this town otherwise we'd be at some serious risk of getting fat :)
We bought a car yesterday! we'll get to pick it up on tues or wed. It's a Green 1998 Ford Escort Wagon 1.8L Turbo Diesel. Awesome. It's an old school diesel with the glow plugs and the whole bit, so it'll take sometime to get used to. The 5 speed manual aspect will also take some learning, if only because I don't really have much practice shifting with my left hand!
Today we made our plans to shift out of Verandahs Lodge where we've been for the past week and in to exciting new hostel. We woulld have kinda liked to stay where we are until we got the car (cause we're lazy) but they don't have a room for us on tuesday night :( so wedecided to comit to another hostel instead. Then after we get our wheels(!) we'll be heading out of town promptly. We're getting quitecomfortable here so it's time to move on, beyond the big city. I've been claiming that it's been our aclimitization time... it's hard to go cold turkey from internet and wii and cable tv to living in the wilderness. but so exciting!
Speaking of cable tv and the wilderness, two of our other activities of theday were buying a tent and associated gear and finding a bar showing the shanghai F1 race. Ideally we would have waited to get the tent (4.8kg! of extra stuff to carry tomorrow + a couple off brand selfinflating sleeping mats) until the car but there were a few sport/tramping stores that were having sales that ended today. Ah well.
As for our search for some where to watch the Formula 1... that actually came up by accident as we had headed down for an evening of Diwali festivities at the Viaduct Harbour and i realized that I needed money so we went off in search of an ATM and decided to stop for a quick beer afterwards, they happened to have skysports2 on showing football or rugby or something that was just ending, so we got to see qualifying(r) and the start (with caramelized onion and goat cheese bruscetta mmmmm), then hussled off back to Diwali to take in some dancing and cheap deliscious indian food! of course we had to stop back at the bar (Trafic at the Corner of Queen and Quay just in case anyone needs to know) to catch the last 15 laps. and have another beer. :)
Then it was time for a link bus and home! bit of packing to make the morning better and now I'm going to join my wiser partener in sleep!
PS. the XO (laptop.org) that we brought has been christened Xoey and over the past few days I have managed to upgrade her to the newest version of her linux OS! I'm super proud of both of us :)
Oh and photos will follow ASAP. Xoey doesn't like web upload forms so we're trying to figure out alternatives that will work.
We bought a car yesterday! we'll get to pick it up on tues or wed. It's a Green 1998 Ford Escort Wagon 1.8L Turbo Diesel. Awesome. It's an old school diesel with the glow plugs and the whole bit, so it'll take sometime to get used to. The 5 speed manual aspect will also take some learning, if only because I don't really have much practice shifting with my left hand!
Today we made our plans to shift out of Verandahs Lodge where we've been for the past week and in to exciting new hostel. We woulld have kinda liked to stay where we are until we got the car (cause we're lazy) but they don't have a room for us on tuesday night :( so wedecided to comit to another hostel instead. Then after we get our wheels(!) we'll be heading out of town promptly. We're getting quitecomfortable here so it's time to move on, beyond the big city. I've been claiming that it's been our aclimitization time... it's hard to go cold turkey from internet and wii and cable tv to living in the wilderness. but so exciting!
Speaking of cable tv and the wilderness, two of our other activities of theday were buying a tent and associated gear and finding a bar showing the shanghai F1 race. Ideally we would have waited to get the tent (4.8kg! of extra stuff to carry tomorrow + a couple off brand selfinflating sleeping mats) until the car but there were a few sport/tramping stores that were having sales that ended today. Ah well.
As for our search for some where to watch the Formula 1... that actually came up by accident as we had headed down for an evening of Diwali festivities at the Viaduct Harbour and i realized that I needed money so we went off in search of an ATM and decided to stop for a quick beer afterwards, they happened to have skysports2 on showing football or rugby or something that was just ending, so we got to see qualifying(r) and the start (with caramelized onion and goat cheese bruscetta mmmmm), then hussled off back to Diwali to take in some dancing and cheap deliscious indian food! of course we had to stop back at the bar (Trafic at the Corner of Queen and Quay just in case anyone needs to know) to catch the last 15 laps. and have another beer. :)
Then it was time for a link bus and home! bit of packing to make the morning better and now I'm going to join my wiser partener in sleep!
PS. the XO (laptop.org) that we brought has been christened Xoey and over the past few days I have managed to upgrade her to the newest version of her linux OS! I'm super proud of both of us :)
Oh and photos will follow ASAP. Xoey doesn't like web upload forms so we're trying to figure out alternatives that will work.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Moving!
Well today was the big move. The day we got on to the meat of the trip. We've finished with all these hoity toity hotels and such and are now spending $45 less per night than we were, staying in a hostel.
I'm suspicious that we might have intimidated some people in the kitchen with our stuffed peppers. They were awesome.
The rest of the day seemed to involve a lot of walking up and down hills. The best part was that it was only going up the first time that we had our massive packs on. The rest was slightly less painful.
We're now members of the AA and have applied for tax ID (IRD) numbers as well. I tried to get my drivers licence switched but because I got a new IL card just before I left there is no evidence that I've been driving for more than a few weeks. :( So I'll need to see if Jesse White can help me produce some kind of documentation to prove that I have driving experience and so avoid needing to do a road test down here. I can of course still drive on my US licence for a year but it would be nice to have an NZ licence if only to have some additional documentation that includes an address etc.
Yesterday was a moderatly slow day, as we only got out around noon and ... actually I'm not quite sure what we did for the afternoon. I do remember that it was good. Then we watched the Fuji Grand Prix (F1)... wow such an exciting start!
Saturday we hardly moved at all. Played Pokémon most of the day infact. and watched abut 6 episodes of the simpsons followed by the second half of Ratatouile. (I think it's a great movie.)
Friday hmmm.. blanking there again. I beleiev we spend either fri or thursday mooching off of S&Y's hospitality/internet again and looking at cars.
Made some banking progress on the wire transfer front as well. I think I sent money to myself. if not there will be someone else who is very excited in the next couple days!
We've also done Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Experience and the Auckland Museum in the past week which were also fun!
but as you might be guessing... I'm not remembering well, so I'll take some time to get to work on a journal so I have some notes next time I do this. :) Really. it might happen.
Now off to find another hill to walk up!
Oh and happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone!
I'm suspicious that we might have intimidated some people in the kitchen with our stuffed peppers. They were awesome.
The rest of the day seemed to involve a lot of walking up and down hills. The best part was that it was only going up the first time that we had our massive packs on. The rest was slightly less painful.
We're now members of the AA and have applied for tax ID (IRD) numbers as well. I tried to get my drivers licence switched but because I got a new IL card just before I left there is no evidence that I've been driving for more than a few weeks. :( So I'll need to see if Jesse White can help me produce some kind of documentation to prove that I have driving experience and so avoid needing to do a road test down here. I can of course still drive on my US licence for a year but it would be nice to have an NZ licence if only to have some additional documentation that includes an address etc.
Yesterday was a moderatly slow day, as we only got out around noon and ... actually I'm not quite sure what we did for the afternoon. I do remember that it was good. Then we watched the Fuji Grand Prix (F1)... wow such an exciting start!
Saturday we hardly moved at all. Played Pokémon most of the day infact. and watched abut 6 episodes of the simpsons followed by the second half of Ratatouile. (I think it's a great movie.)
Friday hmmm.. blanking there again. I beleiev we spend either fri or thursday mooching off of S&Y's hospitality/internet again and looking at cars.
Made some banking progress on the wire transfer front as well. I think I sent money to myself. if not there will be someone else who is very excited in the next couple days!
We've also done Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Experience and the Auckland Museum in the past week which were also fun!
but as you might be guessing... I'm not remembering well, so I'll take some time to get to work on a journal so I have some notes next time I do this. :) Really. it might happen.
Now off to find another hill to walk up!
Oh and happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Cheap update
There's more here because I've been busy on other things.
But we're loving it! The NZ music awards last night were quite good too!
But we're loving it! The NZ music awards last night were quite good too!
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