Looking for a Place to Live

Today I have been spending a lot of time looking for a room to rent now that I'm going to be staying in Auckland. I can stay here with Terry and Mimi until I get something settled but two of their children are moving back home this weekend so it'll be a full house and I don't want to stick around and impose. I have sent out lots of e-mails and toured one place today and hopefully something can get sorted by the end of the weekend. I'm trying not to be too picky but would really like to keep my rent under $200/week as that would give me adequate funds to pay for petrol, travel the north island, and put some money away in my savings account. (Crazy I'm thinking about saving while I'm traveling, isn't it?) Anyways, I'll keep you all posted on how the room hunt goes.

I also spent today hanging with Alanna. Her bus to her silent meditation retreat didn't leave until 4 today so we had all day to hang out together. I picked her up about 10:30 am and we went shopping for a few hours as I need some more jeans to wear to my new job. After that we went up to Mt. Eden to see the city. I was up their last week with Rosie but Alanna hadn't been up their yet. We then went for lunch at a Jordanian place we found on New North Road called Petra Shawarma. Since neither of us had ever had Jordanian food we thought it would be a good thing to try. We sat there for a few hours chatting and think we may do SE Asia together next year. Of course plans are always changing but it gives us both something to work towards/look forward to.

In job news, I start tomorrow!!! Crazy! I am working tomorrow and Friday 12-8. It's exciting but a little nerve racking. I think it'll be great to get a few practice shifts under my belt this week before I start in full time next week. After these two shifts Doug and I will then decide on job description and schedule for the coming weeks/months. I am very happy that I have been blessed with this opportunity and I think it's gonna be really fun. Maybe I'll even get another motorcycle ride or two out of the deal!

In driving news, I have really started to get this whole driving on the opposite side of the road thing down. Not that hard after all. One thing that is starting to trip me up, however, is my left and right when I'm driving. For instance, I'm so used to exiting on the right not the left. The other day Terry told me to stay to my left to exit but when I got on the highway I was thinking "stay left to exit" and then moved over into the right lane. I'm just so used to the directions correlating with certain actions/speeds/types of turns that it's hard for me to disassociate that. I can drive fine and get to exit with no problem, until I start thinking about directions (L/R) in terms of those actions, then I get all confused. But I'm still accident free!

That's all for today. Time for bed so I can rest up for tomorrow.

Best!

I'm Staying in Auckland

Big news - I got the job! I went in today to the York Street Mechanics bar/restaurant/motorcycle repair shop to meet the owner Doug. We spent about 10 minutes chatting and he offered me the job. And I took it on the spot. I am to start full time next week (5 days/week) with 2 consecutive days off. He wants me to work for the next 3 months so that's what I'm gonna do. I think this will work great as it will give me time to still see everything I want to see on the North Island while I'm living in Auckland. I still plan to go to Queenstown come the winter time and it sounds like Doug knows lots of people in hospitality down there so he may be able to help me line something up before I arrive. It's kind of fun to change my plans based on a 10 minute conversation - what fun total freedom can be! I now have a car and a job. I can drive where ever I want and can now afford to pay for my fuel! This trip is getting better by the minute! Yay!!!

As for living, I offered to Terry and Mim that I'd be happy to pay rent and food expenses if they want the extra income otherwise I'm happy to find another place to live. I want them to think about it for a few days but I'm not too concerned. I now have money coming in so I can afford to find somewhere else to live as well if needed :)

In other news, I sent my car to the mechanics today. Not too many problems. Cost me $160 for the labor and parts from today. Now I'm all good to go!

I also got to see Alanna (Canada) today. She's in Auckland for the evening so we went for a drink in Mission Bay. Having my car was so great because we got to cruise the beaches and had a blast doing it! She's not leaving until 3 pm tomorrow so we're gonna hang again then. I need to go shopping for a few pairs of jeans for my new job and then we're gonna have a good meal before she leaves for her 10 day silent meditation retreat. I think she's crazy to do it but she's excited. Actually, I'm excited for her but I wouldn't be able to last 1 day without talking.

That's all for now.

Best!

Getting everything sorted to drive in NZ.

This morning I went and got all the important things figured out for my new car so I'm all good to drive on the road - insurance, roadside assistance, transfer or ownership, diesel fuel, mechanic's appointment, cool new keychain. I went to AA (which is the same as AAA in America) and got the ownership of my car transfer for $9 (plus a $0.13 service charge to use my VISA), I purchased Third Party, Fire and Theft insurance plus Glass coverage for about $33.00/month, and I got full roadside assistance for $108.00/year. I was not sure about the glass coverage or getting the full coverage roadside assistance (vs. partial coverage) but I'm glad I did. Now I feel no fear at driving down any back country gravel road - they will tow me out, change my flat tire, replace my cracked windshield, jump my car in the winter, and if I'm really in the middle of no where and can't get my car fixed quickly, they'll put me up in a motel plus get me a rental in the mean time. I want to say hopefully I'll never use it, but now that I've paid for it I wouldn't mind - as long as it's not all that terribly inconvenient. After I got this stuff sorted I went to Terry and Mimi's mechanic to see about getting a few minor things looked at on the car that I learned about in my pre-purchase inspection. I'm bringing my car in tomorrow morning, hopefully he won't find anything else and my bill shouldn't be too much more than $100. I also went and got diesel fuel for the first time. I went to a gas station chain called "Z". They have people who assist at the pump which is exactly what I needed. He showed me how to do the diesel fuel and how the pumps work here in NZ. It's not that different but I am glad I had someone show me the ropes. When I went in to pay for my fuel the guy working offered to buy my car for $1900. I told him I have trouble selling it I'll come back and when I'm done with it and let him buy it. I'm hoping I can turn a profit it on it, however. Terry thinks the new tires alone on the car are worth about $1000.

Anyways, enough about the car. After I got all that sorted, I went for a drive around the city. I took the motorway multiple times, went through countless traffic circles, drove through the CBD - basically, I got a lot of practice driving today and it's really not as hard as I thought it would be. Being on the other side of the car and on the other side of the road really isn't that confusing. I think your brain figures it out pretty quickly. Obviously I'm still putting a lot more effort into driving than I do in the states as I have to keep thinking about where to go when I turn and where to look for other vehicles, but I haven't had any close calls yet. Fingers crossed!

One weird thing about NZ roads is that you don't have to stop at all the crosswalks, only the ones with Zebra stripes. All other crosswalks, even marked crosswalks, you do not have to stop for pedestrians. This is a really weird thing for me but I try not to stop as Terry said I would cause more of a problem (as other drivers wouldn't be expecting me to stop and could hit me) if I stop than if I don't. It's just weird when a mom is waiting on the side of the road with here young child or baby and you don't stop even though you know she wants to cross the road.

This afternoon I went to the beach for a bit to go for a swim and soak up some rays. It was a bit hard finding a parking spot as my truck is pretty big - it has a hitch sticking out the front of the truck and the spare tire on the back. I can't fit into small spots I'm just too long. I also am not confident to try parallel parking my big truck yet either. I did eventually find a spot though and got some good time in the sun.

Just now I bought a fancy new key chain for my car key as I didn't have any key chains (or keys) with me at all. Here's a photo:

Pretty fancy, isn't it? I got a dice because I'm taking a gamble with this whole trip - and because it was the only cool one they had at the store I went to.

Anyways, with my new car I feel like I'm 16 again. I just want to spend all day cruising around town with the windows down and the music up in my truck. I wish y'all were here, I'd take each of you for a ride in my great new vehicle!

In non-car news, I have a job offer here in Auckland. Terry owns a produce company that delivers to restaurants and bars around the city. One of the owner who he was telling me about on my first day in Auckland and who's establishment we visited the other day told Terry today that he'd give me a job. I wasn't planning on staying in Auckland long but today I was thinking how a job wouldn't be bad now that I have the expensive car. I think I'll go in and talk to the owner, Doug, tomorrow. If he wouldn't mind employing me for just a short time then maybe I'll hang in Auckland for a month or so before moving on South. I can always do some of the North Island things next spring.

I can't believe how long this trip is getting! I really just don't want to leave NZ now that I've got this truck. I'm gonna have to get a similar one when I get back to the states.

Okay, that's all for today. Chat later!

Best!

My New Baby!!

This morning I bought a car!!! I know, big deal, right?!?! Well since I arrived in NZ I have kept going back and forth on the car idea and when I arrived in Auckland 3 days ago I was once again "off" the car idea. Terry, however, has been working very hard to reconsider. I decided there was no harm in looking at a car so we went to the Ellerslie car fair this morning. (The car fair happens every Sunday morning and anyone can buy and/or sell a car there. A lot of people at this fair are people like me - traveling NZ - who need to get a car or get rid of their car as they are coming into or leaving NZ.) We walked around a bit and as we went around I was thinking it would really be sweet to get an SUV - I've never owned an SUV but always thought they'd be fun - so I kept my eyes peeled for one. We looked at lots of cars, SUVs, and vans but I wasn't finding anything I was in love with. Finally I did see a car I liked and so we went over to have a peek. Thank god for Terry, he was able to really help me make judgements on the cars - if they would be cheap or expensive to run, how they will do on the mountain roads of the South Island, if they'll pass the Warrant of Fitness. (The Warrant of Fitness is a yearly inspection that all cars have to pass in order to be on the road. You don't want to buy a car only to have it fail the Warrant 2 months later and need hundreds or thousands in repairs). The car I liked passed Terry's initial once over so we (Terry) took it for a test drive. I hadn't yet driven on the other side of the road and I wasn't about to start in some stranger's car. All felt good on the drive so I made the seller, Nathan, an offer of $2000 NZD. He was asking $2400 but I though it would be good to try. He accepted my offer so we had a deal. They do inspections on the spot there (for $140) so I had one done and all checked out so we got the money all sorted and I am not the proud owner of a 1992 Nissan Terrano. Here I am with Nathan and my new car:

I cannot tell you all how excited I am to have a truck so I can take full advantage of NZ! I am actually super excited to simply have a car. I'm free!!! I can do whatever I want whenever I want and change my mind on a dime without any problems! Yay! I was going to write the on my blog earlier today but I was just too excited to do it.

There are a few things I need to get fixed on the car but they should be cheap. I need to get it registered tomorrow which costs about $10 and then get insurance which will be about $200 - $300 for the year. Then fill up my diesel engine with fuel, about $100, and I'm good to go! AHHHHHH!!! It's just too exciting! Yay!!!!!

Here's a video of me driving for the first time on the left side of the road/right side of the car. I really think this is going to be one of my favorite cars of my entire life. I can just feel it!

Now onto other things like yesterday.

Terry and Mimi took me on a full-on sightseeing tour of the city yesterday. We went all over the north and south sides of the harbor. We started our tour in an area called Takapuna. We went for a walk along the coast where you walk in front of these gorgeous homes on the rocks. The tide was in so there wasn't a lot of room to walk in some areas we be did fine. Here's a photo:

We walked down the shore on the rocks and then walked back on the road. On the way back we walked past a street with a very Minnesota name. Check it out:

Minnehaha Avenue in the middle of Auckland, NZ. Crazy isn't it?!

After our walk through Takapuna we went over to Devonport, also on the North beaches, where there are a bunch of old bunkers from WWI and WWII that we built to defend Auckland/New Zealand in the event of an invasion by the Japanese. I'll be very honest, it never occurred to me that NZ would be involved in either of the World Wars but it was. It's probably a good thing Japan didn't try to attack, however, because I'm not sure how well NZ would have been able to defend against a large attack. (I really shouldn't be so judgmental but when I think about what America would've put together, NZ's small bunker system just doesn't seem all that grand.) Walking through the bunkers, however, was really cool. They are in a park but you don't have to pay to go in and anyone can just wander through. It's really cool this bit of history is so easily accessible to everyone. Here are a few photos:

Terry walking through the bunker.

It was  great vantage point of the city there as well. Here's a few photos of that:

The city.

The CBD on the right and Mt. Eden on the left.

Rangitoto volcano.

After walking through the bunkers at Devonport we went into the city, to New Market, for lunch at a Malaysian restaurant. I order what the woman at the table next to me was eating and it was delicious. It was easier to order that way than trying to actually figure out what to eat from an entire cuisine I've never eaten. Lunch was delicious and I got the story of how Terry (a Kiwi) and Mimi (and Edina girl) met. Quite a long and interesting story that started in Mexico, south of Tijuana.

Lunch was delicious and we were all quite full afterwards. We got back in the car and headed out to the south side of the harbor to Savage memorial, the Silos, and a marina. At the savage memorial two wedding parties were doing photos and no one looked very happy in either party - hope that's not a predictor of the marriages. At the silos we got to see a lift bridge go up as a few larger boats came through to a small part of one of the marinas and also went to a cool art show. After this amazing tour of the city I was totally beat and had a nana nap for about 30 minute before heading over to Rosie's place for a party. I got to the party about 8:30 pm but was totally exhausted by 12:30 and went to bed in Rosie's bed. The party went on late into the night but I had to get up for car shopping this morning so I needed my rest.

Back to today:

After getting the car all sorted out around 1pm Terry took me out for a bit of a driving lesson. (Foreigners are legal to drive on New Zealand roads for up to 12 months on their foreign license). I did pretty well, it just takes a lot of though, especially when turning. It was easier than I was expecting, however, and I think that's because between Aus and NZ I've been riding on the left side of the road for 3 months. It's not totally natural but it's not that hard. More difficult than driving on the other side of the road is driving a vehicle that is so much larger than anything I've ever driven in the states. I just have to give myself room and I should be okay. No narrow alleyways for Annabelle for quite a while!

This afternoon Heydon took me over to the Western beaches. It was very windy but a nice day. On our way we stopped at Karekare waterfall. Beautiful!

Can you spot the eel?

After the waterfall we headed over to Piha beach - a "black" sand beach that's great for surfing. It's crazy how you cross the isthmus and the Pacific Ocean on one side is so calm and the Tasman Sea on the other side is so rough. I did not go swimming at Piha beach, the surf was just way too dangerous for someone like me from the middle of the North American Continent. 

We walked down the beach a bit and then went on a hike over to a secluded little beach as well as a rocky cut out that Heydon referred to as the blow hole. Here are some great photos from today:

Looking down to Piha beach.

Lion Rock on Piha beach. I don't see it... do you?

Piha beach.

A small beach you can see from the trail.

Piha beach. Check out those waves!

A small shell shaped beach.

A rock wall we had to scale. There's no one in this picture for scale but The area from the bottom of the rock wall until the grasses start is like about 20 feet. It is almost straight up and down and you just have to climb. It's like true rock climbing, only without the harness. Coming down wasn't bad but I was not a fan of going back up. It wasn't bad until you almost reach the start of the path and there' a big area with nothing to grab onto and the wind was blowing really hard. Heydon had to help me.

This is the blow hole. The water rushed in through a very narrow cut out in the rock (see below) and comes onto this small beach. If the tide was out we could've gone down there but the waves were very strong and the tide was in so it wasn't very safe to try to make it down in between waves. Looked like a good was to drown. 

Waitakere Ranges picture frame. Cool little tourist thing, right?

Heydon and I. 

So that's all for the last couple of days. I'm going to bed now. Chat tomorrow.

Best!

Oh yes, and I forgot to tell y'all I opened a cafe here in Auckland. Check it out:

Mt. Eden and the Auckland War Memorial Museum

Today I was lucky enough to spend the day with Rosie, Terry and Mimi's 23 yr old daughter. Rosie is a nurse and had today off which was great timing for me. We started the day by going to Mt. Eden, a dormant volcano in near the CBD (central business district) of Auckland. From Mt. Eden you can see the entire city and suburban area as well as both coasts of New Zealand. Here's a picture of the crater of Mt. Eden:

You can see the city in the back left corner of the photo.

We took a few photos of ourselves while we were up there:

Rosie, my first friend in Auckland, and I.

The city over the rim of the Mt. Eden crater.

Auckland Harbor Bridge.

The Auckland metropolitan area is home to roughly 53 volcanos. There are small hills - volcanic craters - all around the city creating a metropolitan area with few straight roads as the streets need to wind in and around the ancient landscape. Here's some photos of a few of the craters we could see from Mt. Eden:

After we spent a bit of time at Mt. Eden we headed to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. We started our time there with the Maori Cultural Experience, a 30 minutes performance by 7 Maori people that goes through presentations of traditional dances, pasttimes, weapons, and concludes with the haka - a traditional war dance performed before battle. Sometimes a tribe's haka is so impressive/intimidating that the other side would concede after seeing the other tribe's haka. I can tell you this much, if I saw an opposing tribe do the haka, I would concede the battle immediately. Here's a video of the haka we saw today. The New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, performs the haka before every rugby game to the competitors. I wouldn't mess with the All Blacks if I was you. (Here's a video of one of the All Black's hakas from a game.) After the performance I was able to take a few photos with one of the performers, Tana (pronounced Tay-na), a guy who Rosie actually graduated high school with.

After the performance we wandered around the museum for the rest of the day. As we were walking around the Maori exhibit, Rosie was able to answer almost all the questions I had. Here in NZ they work very hard to preserve the native culture and teach all the children in school about the Maori people, their culture, and their language. It's really too bad we don't do it to the same extent in the states. Besides the Maori exhibit we went though the WWII exhibit which was drastically different than a WWII exhibit you'd see in the states. They had an entire small area on a battle at Crete, which I didn't even realize was a big deal in WWII. They also put less emphasis on the plight of the Jewish people in the war than a typically American museum would include. They did have one really cool wall in the exhibit, however, where they asked any POWs that happened to come through the museum to write their name and which POW camps they were in during the war. It may have been the most moving thing I saw all day - to think I was standing there looking at wall that 30+ POWs of WWII had looked at before me. It's just crazy to think at one time they were being held behind enemy lines by the Germans all those years ago and then at some point decided to visit the Auckland Museum. Here's a photo of that wall:

We also walked through the natural history part of the museum where they had a replica (wrong word maybe...) or a Moa - a now extinct bird which was larger than an ostrich. Here's a few photos of my next to it. Look at the size of ti's feet!

As we were leaving the museum we stopped in briefly at a children's area in the museum where they had lots of animals. In the locust exhibits most of the locusts were mating. It was really weird. None of the children in the exhibit seemed to interested but many of the adults were. Here's a few photos:

Another couple photos from today:

That's all for today, folks.

Until tomorrow.

Best!

Hello Auckland!

Today I left Coromandel Town and took the ferry to Auckland. It was sad leaving, after having lived there for 2 months and really getting comfortable in the town but it was time to move on. Comfortable is something I shouldn't be striving for too much on this trip. Although it's really nice to be somewhere where I feel like I fit in and make friends, I want to keep moving and keep seeing the world.

This morning I went into town to run a few errands - I had to return Shelley's bike, mail a package home (Mom & Dad, please let me know when you get this!), and drop a few of my extra items off at the op shop (secondhand store). On my way in, I think about every other car honked at (Jack - Shelley's Husband, Hunchy, Owen, Jono, Shelley) me to say hi as I now know a lot of the people from town. It was a really great feeling on my last day to see that I really did get to know Coromandel. I spent 2 months there and I met a lot of the people, made a lot of friends, and made a little spot for myself amongst the local scene. What a great summer!

When I was leaving the cafe I was told I had the best smile (thank you Mom and Dad for the braces) and had the best customer service. What a great couple of compliments! I told them all that they can come visit me in Paris or Tokyo or Dubai where one day I'll be managing a restaurant. After saying goodbye to the crew Jess drove me to the bus to the ferry. I have more stuff than when I arrived in Coromandel Town but I did a good job of packing it all well. I only have one additional bag than when I arrived and that was filled mostly with the gum boots I'm taking to the dairy farm I'm going to next weekend. Because I store my stuff all around everywhere and am not the neatest person I think the girls I was living with thought I had more stuff. Either way, they were very impressed I got everything packed as well as I did. (I was a bit surprised too but not as surprised as them).

Here are a few Thank You's to those people who made my summer what it was:

Anyways, thank you again to Jess and Michal for hosting me this summer, I had a truly great time in Coromandel Town and am extremely grateful for the opportunity to spend the summer there. Thank you to Katie and Sandy and Alex and Mel for a fun summer working in the cafe. Thank you to Phoebe and Patricia and Alanna for being my best friends for the summer of 2013/2014! Thank you to Elli and Alice and Lars and Henry and Marcus and Paul for being a great group of friends for the summer. Thank you to Kana and Terri Ann and Aimee and Taylor for being so much fun to work with at Top Pub and putting up with my complete and total inability to ever hand out raffle tickets on Thursday nights. Thank you to Julieanne for the opportunity to work at Top Pub - this could be just the opportunity I needed to get a job in Queenstown. Thank you to Hunchy and Skinny and Owen and Betty and Pete and Kath and Neville and Steve and all the other locals at top pub for being so nice to me even though I didn't always remember what you drank or if you were or weren't in the handle club. Thank you to Shelley for taking me under your wing while I lived in Coromandel Town and helping me with so many things. And thank you to everyone who I didn't mention here for making my first two months in NZ so great that I've decided to stay another 4 - 10. (Oh and thank you to all of the nice people who picked me up when I was hitching. I literally never could have done many of the things I did without you!)

Okay so I took the ferry to Auckland. The water was choppy at times but overall it was a good ride. Here's a few photos of the city as we were coming in:

The city.

Rangitoto - a volcano I'm going to try and hike one day.

After landing, Terry came and picked me up at the pier and took me back to his and Mimi's house in the suburb of Henderson. I met their daughter, Rosie (23), and son, Kelsey (26). We had a great dinner on their back deck which overlooks a beautiful creek and I now have a semi busy social calendar. Rosie and I are going to the Auckland War Memorial Museum tomorrow. On Saturday she is having a party at her flat that I will be attending. Sunday I am going to the beaches with Heydon, a guy who gave me a ride once. 

I am so happy to be staying here with Terry and Mimi. It is so nice to be at someone's house where I have my own bedroom, my own bed, nice pillows, a shower where I can leave my shampoo and conditioner bottles between showers, a bathroom that only a few people use. I can't even tell you how nice the double bed that I'm laying in now feels after sleeping in a cramped bunk bed for the last 2 months. This bed is actually so nice I took a picture, here it is:

To those of you back home this might not look like much but the things you learn to appreciate when you're traveling. I saw those pillows and it made me smile. I thought to myself, it is going to be so nice to lay my head down on two nice pillows vs. the one shitty pillow I've had since December 13th. Small things can really make all the difference.

Okay, that's all for now. I need to get some sleep so I'm well rested for the museum tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing well back home. 

Best!

An Orphaned Baby Bird

Today was my last full day in Coromandel Town. I leave tomorrow at 3 pm on the ferry for Auckland where I will be staying for 8 days with a woman from Edina, Mimi, and her family. As it was my last day and it was raining I spent the day trying to pack my stuff up. I organized most of it but didn't actually get it packed as I had to wash some of my clothes and they are still drying on the clothes line. Tomorrow I will really get down to business. Somehow I feel like I have less clothes than when I started but I don't have any idea of what might be missing. I have acquired a lot of new clothes - I got more warm weather clothes today from Elli who is heading to Asia where it's hot - while I was hear but hope that I can find someplace to pack them. I am only going on the ferry, not on a plane, so it's not all that important that I do a fantastic job packing, but I don't want to be trying to manage 8 bags of stuff on the ferry. I just hope they let me on with my suitcase, purse, backpack, and beach bag.

Anyways, after getting my stuff organized and partially packed I spent the afternoon in town having coffee with Elli and visiting with Sandy. This evening I just hung around the cafe with Anna. She went out to her shed at one point to get something and found a baby bird that had fallen out of it's nest lying on the ground. It can't fly and was clearly very hungry. We picked it up and took it to the neighbor, Piet, house. He runs a sanctuary area near here and we though he might know what to do with it. We ended up leaving it int he sanctuary hoping that it'll be able to find something to eat on it's own. It kept opening it's little beak waiting for it's mother to drop some food in so I'm not so confident it will be able to feed itself. I'm going to go check on it in the morning. Here's a few photos:

Tiny little bird! And check out my new top I got from Elli today! 

And here's a video with the bird.

That's all for today. Big move tomorrow!

Best!