We Couldn't Resist...

There have been so many little things in NZ and about Kiwis that we have noticed, so we decided we would share some of them with you:

1) Mullets and rat tails are EVERYWHERE! Faux hauks are pretty popular too, but only with a rat tail coming off the back of the faux hauk part. I am really starting to fit in myself, because I have a little party in the back growing.
2) NZ drivers are a tad crazy. They fly around at high speeds in little cars and vans and barely slow down for hairpin turns. Look out for public transit buses in Wellington..they don't stop for anything or anyone.
3) White cotton sneakers are the way to go. (High tops are a close second)
4) Kiwis don't say "eh" as to ask a question, but instead to make a statement. i.e. "I had a great time eh"
5) Nobody seems to be at work...ever. Even if you are working, it seems to involve multiple coffee breaks and drinks at a cafe.
6) Shoes are optional. People like to forget their shoes at home when they go do their grocery shopping, banking, etc.
7) When you walk down the street, it looks like everyone is enjoying a little "treat" but it's actually a cigarette. They all roll their own cigarettes...even when walking down the street and having a conversation on their cell with their "mate".
8)Prostitution is legal in NZ. We have a brothel on our street (in a very family-oriented neighborhood).
9) Ketchup is called Tomato Sauce or "T-Sauce".
10) Who said cut off jean jackets at the sleeve were out of style?
11) Clothes dryers are VERY rarely used. All laundry is hung out to dry.
12) A "fully furnished" flat means that you have a stove, fridge, microwave and maybe a dishwasher if you are lucky.
13) Jay walking is A-okay.
14) Most police officers don't carry guns (only some senior officers in certain positions do)

I'm sure we will have many more, but just wanted to jot down a few to give you an idea. Little things like this make us laugh everyday!

Windy Wellington

We have safely arrived and begun to settle in Wellington! It is a great little city and we both anticipate that we will have a great time here. The population is approximately 180,000 but many more in the surrounding suburbs. You can walk across the city in about a half an hour, but there is also a good bus and train system. We have been so lucky to have a friend (Terri) whom I worked with at the Sturgeon Hospital in St. Albert for a year. She is originally from Invercargill (South Island, NZ), but is now living in Wellington. We stayed with her and her "flatmates" aka "flatties" for a week while we looked for a place to live. We now can say for sure, that Kiwis have Canadians beat in terms of friendliness! Everyone has been more than helpful, from people finding us a bed to giving us their phones to use! We are really amazed at the hospitality.

More about Wellington - It is a very young, hip and quirky city with so much to do. The small narrow streets are lined with pubs, restaurants and tons of cafes. Everyone is very laid back and their style is along the lines of bohemian with a huge 80's influence. Sometimes we feel like we are in the 80's, which is pretty cool. We are living in Mt. Victoria, which is really close to the downtown core. It's about a ten minute walk to the city centre, a 2 minute walk to Terri's flat, and 10 minutes to the beach (our favorite part). We are living with a Brazilian guy (Marcu) and a Fijian girl (Meenal). They are great! It is quite different here with living arrangements as many young professionals live together, as opposed to owning their own place. I guess 49% of Wellingtonians own their home (I'm turning into Factual Franny if you haven't noticed). Wellington is very hilly and we are certainly putting many miles in, which we also enjoy. The weather has been decent, but improving each day. It's been much cooler than we thought it would be. I didn't bring half enough clothes, so I've been wearing the same thing for the past few weeks! I've even gotten the nickname "Purps" for my purple sweater, which you will all become very familiar with in our photos. Clem isn't so bad..he packed a little better and is never cold.

Now that we are settled, we have been spending the days cruising around the city, going to the beach and planning some days trips out of Wellington. Our first one will be tomorrow or Friday (weather permitting) to Martinborough...one of NZ's many wine areas. We are going to take the train from Wellington to Featherston and then a 20 minute bus ride to Martinborough. We hope to rent bikes and tour the vineyards that way.

We will continue to update as regular as possible or when we have enough news that we think we should share. We are also keeping a journal of our daily/weekly activities and our expenses. We apologize if we haven't been able to get back to everyone on email, etc. We will try to get better at that and those of you who use skype, please log on so we can chat!! I've been trying to stay logged on as much as I can (when we are around the computer), so we'll try to catch you.

Until the next post...

Week One in Kiwi Nation...

Already, we can’t keep up to our “posting once a week” promise. We have been very busy getting settled and getting used to the Kiwi way. It can be quite different at times; some things are even the smallest of things that we would have never expected to be so different. We arrived in Auckland on Nov 5 at 0700 hrs NZ time. We had an excellent flight and couldn’t get over the amazing service we had aboard Air NZ….cannot even be compared to WestJet, let alone Air Canada! We’ve spent the last 7 days in Auckland and are staying with some great people – Judy and Steve Brown. We got their contact through our parents’ friends and emailed them. They have been so hospitable and have been spoiling us! They picked us up from the dive we stayed in the first night and have been lending us their car for the time we are here. We are still getting used to driving on the left hand side of the road! It’s been exciting, to say the least…especially driving a manual car! We are still wondering how we will ever be able to repay Judy and Steve...they have been absolutely amazing!

We saw quite a lot of Auckland and spent a few days touring around the city. It's very spread out, with many nice beaaches and marinas. We spent a couple of days in the "Bay of Islands", which was about a four hour drive north of Auckland. It was a hard drive on narrow, hilly and windy roads...not to mention the speed limit of 100km/hr with logging trucks flying towards you! In Canada, the speed limit wouldn't be more than 60-70km/hr on the same roads. We stayed in a small beach town called Paihia and had a great time walking around the town, beach and on a boat cruise that took us through the islands and through the world famous "Hole in the Rock". We also saw tons of dolphins as they swam right up to our boat! It was a great way to see the islands. We returned to Auckland to get organized before taking off on our journey towards Wellington. After a nice evening with Judy and Steve, we packed up and hit the road this morning in our rental car. We had looked into buying a car, which we could have easily done, but we were told it's not necessary in Wellington and we can probably still keep the cost down with a rental every now and again.



After a 2.5 hour drive from Auckland, we arrived at the "Waitomo Caves". This was amazing! We went underground in deep limerock caves that are lit up by glowworms. There are thousands of tiny blue dots on the ceiling and walls of the caves. We took a small boat through the caves in complete darkness and silence. It was a really neat experience and one that we probably won't find again in other countries. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos in the caves. After Waitomo, we continued on to Rotorua - NZ's geothermal "hotspot". We have just arrived and took advantage of the free wireless in our little hotel (it hasn't been as accessible as we thought). From what we have seen, Rotorua looks promising and we are looking forward to exploring more tomorrow. The one problem...it smells like rotten eggs from the sulphur.



After we do some touring around Rotorua tomorrow, we plan to visit Lake Taupo, and maybe stay the night in Napier, which is one of NZ's many wine territories....we are certainly enjoying the $7 bottles of wine!

All in all, we are really enjoying our time in NZ so far. It is an absolutely beautiful country and we can't wait to see a whole lot more of it!