Kiwiana #3

Here we go again...

tog = swimsuit
not fussed = not bothered/doesn't bother me
jandals = flip flops
singlet = tank top
torch = flashlight
stuffed = broken
stuffed up = screwed up/messed up
stuff-up = mix up/screw up
cello tape = scotch tape
mate = friend/buddy
bro = buddy
biscuit/bikkie = cookie
chips = chips or french fries
lolly = any kind of candy (hard candy, jellies, etc)
take a squiz = a quick look (like browsing in a store)
having a little nosey = browsing in a store
bonnet of a car = hood of a car
flash = fancy/expensive

You can imagine the first time someone told me at the shop that they were just "taking a squiz"!! I was a little confused to say the least, but quickly figured what it must have meant and later confirmed it with a Kiwi friend.

Now that I've taught you a little Kiwi lingo, see if you can understand this (might want to refresh your memories by looking back at Kiwiana #1 and #2):

Smile of the Day

This has nothing to do with anything about travel or NZ, apart from the fact that it was while I had a visitor last month here that we started discussing The Muppets and then searched for them on You-Tube and watched a few sketches. Man! I LOVE the Muppets. So here is one that Andrew reminded me of via email today and I thought, 'hey, I should share this'. :)

On the Bike Down Under

Traveling, exploring the world, and the experience it brings are quite obviously three big reasons for me being down here in NZ for an extended period of time. The ability to spend a bit more time on the bike, however, was a big determining factor for me taking time away from life in Canada. For the cyclists in my life who read here, you'll probably enjoy this post. For those who aren't, it's nap time.

I've met enough cyclists at this point to know that, while I am an avid cyclist, I'm not a crazy one (yes, believe it or not). I recently read one of my favourite blogs, written by a competitive cyclist, and she said that it takes both passion and crazy to be successful in cycling - and do I ever believe that! I can be quite passionate about this sport, but I love it for the camaraderie, the health and fitness, being outside, and seeing the world using two wheels and my own physical power. I'm not sure I will ever have the mind of a competitive cyclist, and I don't really care if I do or don't. However, I do get a lot of external pressure (mostly from the boys at the shop). And this, if I let it, sometimes negatively affects my perspective on cycling, because when I feel pressure to do more, ride more, ride harder, or whatever the flavour of the day is for them, the less I enjoy my rides.

Is cycling a major component of my life? You bet. Do I really love the sport? Definitely. Would I like to have more time for it? Yep - even today in NZ I could honestly use a little more time on the bike and less with other commitments (do I ever wish I were independently wealthy!!). Am I willing to forsake everything else to do it? No.

So then, what has cycling been like so far in NZ?

I sometimes get nervous being solo on the bike in the middle of nowhere in a country that is still fairly foreign to me. Yesterday I decided to ride a route that I have ridden in company before, but not alone. It was a great thing to do. It's a very nice route. And in the end, quite safe for one to take on their own. Sometimes I just need a little extra coaxing, or maybe a good push to dive into the deep end and test the water.


I took this route yesterday because it goes inland, away from the water, into some hills, and into what I'd hoped would be a more sheltered area. Wrong. The wind here is just simply mad. I can't express this to you enough. They really have aptly named this city. Yesterday it was up to 60 kph, and I was unable to escape it, roaring down the valley between the hills I had climbed up through to get down there. So I had to use some new skills that I've learned here to cope with it - pushing a bigger gear, feeling a bit more in control of the bike when the wind gusted up on me and knocked me around the road a bit. I actually had thought it would be nice to have a heavier bike in those conditions!! How telling! It was a real scorcher yesterday. As they would say here: it was hot as! So the one positive thought I could think was, 'thank goodness for that wind - who knows how much I'd be baking right now without it!'

The roads here are all 'sealed' roads. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but back home we are SPOILED!! Smooth asphalt roads are a luxury here. From what I've seen they lay down some sort of sticky tar-like stuff, flatten a lot of rocks/gravel on top of it, then lay down some more sealant kind of stuff to hold it all together. Sealed roads are not smooth. They are very rough and there is a lot of road vibration. It kind of takes the life out of you when you ride. We sell a lot of 'tyres' at the shop, as the roads wear them down quickly. I have to say, when I get home and I'm riding in pretty much zero wind, on smooth asphalt roads, and hills that are less than 10% grade I won't know what to do with myself!! Ha-ha! I hope I can keep up the hill-climbing fitness that I'm very thankfully getting by riding the hills here.

Speaking of hills... in Wello they are mostly short and steep. My longest climb on the routes I like to ride is about 5 km, and it's the least steep with a pitch averaging around 5% I'd say. The rest of the hills I tend to climb are short, but are most frequently >8% and quite often >10%. Now that I'm getting fitter on the hills I'm starting to wonder if I need to start climbing longer ones. Yesterday as I pondered some of the thoughts I expressed at the beginning of this post, I started to think about setting some goals. I believe that no matter what activity you like to do, it's good to have fitness goals. They keep you motivated to push yourself a bit more and get more out of your sport. Maybe I'm on to something here... should I start looking for a longer climb? Oh boy. Am I starting to sound like someone who actually enjoys climbing hills? That's verging on the side of crazy, now isn't it?

New Year, New Experiences

I've been lax on updating the blog the past couple of weeks so I do apologize. How bad of me - particularly when most of you are back at work and in need of a distraction from life in the cube farm. ;) I've been busy. Life is full. Things are good. So where to start?

Well, the Christmas holidays mark the start of summer down under and I'm feeling the vibe of the season a lot these days. Every time we have a nice day there are heaps of folks out at the beaches. I've been wearing singlets (kiwi word for tank-top) and jandals (kiwi word for flip-flops) a lot more. I even bought a pair of shorts over the holidays. I've been riding my bike a lot. I'm feeling really good on the bike these days. This was one of the goals associated with taking this time off and away from home. I had hoped that I could start to build some real strength and power on the bike on top of the base I have from the past 5 years of cycling. I think it's starting to come. The hills here are just killer. As Andrew experience when he visited, you really cannot imagine the hills (and the wind of Wello) until you are here. I don't think he truly believed what I'd told him about riding here. There are all varieties: short and steep, long with steep parts, long and gradual - you name it, you've got it. It's the best kind of cycling training I could hope for. And then you just throw in some good 40 kph headwinds every other day for good measure, and you find yourself thinking that relatively windless days and 6% grades are easy. Choosing this particular location to live has been fortuitous in many ways, but this one may be one of the more significant for me. I cannot wimp out and do a flat ride. It's just not possible. Even recovery rides include some form of climbing. So - I have become a little more confident in my abilities on the bike and hopefully this will continue to grow. One of the mechanics at the shop is an ex-Euro-pro and I finally got out and rode with him last week. Now he's keen to ride with me at least once, if not twice a week (as he says I need to do 2 really hard rides per week and he intends on pushing me hard). I'll keep you posted on how that turns out. Protege of an ex-pro? haha! Who knows.

Another great thing about Wello is that so many of my friends have been coming through to visit. I even just hosted a friend of a friend of a new friend. Haha! Yes. An American girl (and bike mechanic) on her way through to the south island on a solo bike trip - all of her gear on her bike. I picked her up at the airport on my bike and we rode into town around the bays together. She loved the intro to the city. At the same time I had another friend in town visiting (one of the first people I met when I arrived in NZ three months ago) and the three of us hung out the rest of the day and just had a blast. We even got video-taped sitting out at a cafe downtown for the city council's website advertisement for tourism here. Too funny. I'll let you know if we get our 30 seconds of fame or not. I have at least two more friends coming to town in the next few weeks. And I shouldn't forget to mention that I've been having a blast with my new kiwi friends and my flatmate. They've been introducing me to kiwiana every chance they get and they are simply very kind to me. We have decided to have a kiwiana-themed party at our flat later this month. Should be fun!

I'm happy to report that so much of what I have wanted from this experience is coming together. I'm taking a break from life as I knew it and finding the time to breathe. I'm learning more about the bike - in every sense (I even know the difference between a hard-tail and a full suspension MTB - haha!! Who woulda thunk it?). I'm immersed in a different culture than my own and having a ton of fun with it. I'm connecting with others and making heaps of new friends from many different countries. I'm carving out new opportunities for the future. And I continue to learn about myself and grow. What else can one hope to achieve?

More on the south island and Noel down under

Kia ora and merry Christmas from NZ!! Today is Christmas Eve down under and we have rain. Just arrived back from the south island adventures yesterday (really it was 1 AM when we arrived so we had the whole day here). The weather was fantastic the last two days of our trip, but we had some really crazy weather on the west coast.

Last I posted, I was in Nelson enjoying some sunshine and riding the bike. The following morning we packed up and headed out on a very long drive down on the west coast to glacier country. We traveled through some interesting and cute towns, full of gold mining history (many of them are only a whisper of the towns they once were back in the gold mining hay-days) and on to Okarito, where we had rented a bach (what we would call a cottage in Canada) on the beach. This was a really nice reprieve from backpacking life and a good chance for free washing machine facilities to launder our clothes. haha! But seriously, the bach was really amazing. I have lots of photos of it. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, but lucky us - we experienced a typical west coast rain system. Fantastic. The glaciers are a 20 minute drive from Okarito, and the following morning we got up early and set out, hoping that maybe the rain would ease up and we'd have a decent day for glacier hiking. Not. We arrived 45 mins later in Fox Glacier and proceeded on to Lake Matheson where we did a quick trek along a walking track around the lake. Unfortunately due to the inordinate amount of rain and mist and fog we weren't able to get the really great views of the mountain and glaciers that you would normally see at the lake. However, we made due. There is one thing you really cannot control in life: that's the weather. Not sufficiently soaked, we decided to do another 30 min trek on hiking trails around the Fox glacier to get views of it. The Fox glacier is the largest of the sixty some odd glaciers in the area. They descend into rainforest and right down to sea level at the west coast. It's truly a sight. We hiked through rainforest to get views of the glacier. Apparently on really rainy days you can still hike on the glacier itself but it's not so fun so we opted instead to head back up to Franz Josef (which we'd driven through to get to Fox) and went for a massage and a hot tub at their new spa pools in the town. Sweet as! Our massage therapist was a Canadian lady who'd been living in glacier country for a few years now and got there by doing cycling tours. Did we ever have a lot to talk about!!

The next day we left Okarito, unfortunately unable to do the famous kayaking in the Okarito Lagoon - home of the white heron. We had hoped the rain would ease up, but instead it got heavier. Our drive north and then east was precarious at best. There was flooding along many roads (luckily this is commonplace enough that they have road signs to warn you so you know to expect to slow down and drive through the flooding in a safe manner). When we got to the highway that leads to Arthurs Pass (the famous pass we wished to cross over to Christchurch - and which Andrew had planned to ride on his bike, weather permitting of course), there was a road closure and the nice kiwi gentleman manning the closure informed us that there was a "slip" (i.e. a landslide) and a bridge was washed out. We had to do a detour. Luckily it was before the one place that the detour rejoined the pass and we didn't have to abort our plan. If it had been further up, a detour would have meant taking Lewis Pass (consult your map of NZ) further north and frankly, would have changed our plans altogether - cancelling a visit to Christchurch. At any rate, this did not happen and we simply added an hour to our drive and got to Arthurs Pass. It was a cool thing to see, but the views were not as dramatic as they would have been given a clear day. There was a lot of fog and mist and the rain was still coming down hard. Andrew, quite obviously, did not ride as it would have been quite dangerous. There were a few things which I cannot describe clearly enough, that divert the water from such rainfalls from the road on the pass. Here is a photo to more clearly explain:We arrived in Christchurch pretty tired from the trip and it was raining there too. It was quite chilly and I'd wished I brought some gloves to be honest. We had some nice Thai food though and relaxed in our little backpackers hoping for a change in the weather (which NZ is famous for - ever changing weather). The following morning we woke to the weather on the verge of clearing so we headed to a little town on the Banks Peninsula called Akaroa. This is a primarily French settlement, which is kind of neat for NZ. As the day went on the weather continued to improve, so much so that we decided that since we were taking the late ferry the following day we'd have enough time for a bike ride in the morning. And that's just what we did. The following morning we got up early, packed up, and headed out for a ride up Dyers Pass in Christchurch - quite the climb. Here is one photo of the view of the city from 2/3 of the way up (if you look closely you can see the mountains in the back):
We then went back to the backpackers and showered, changed, and headed off on our drive back up to Picton for our late-night ferry ride back to Wello. On the way we stopped in a really cute little town, famous for its whale-watching tours, Kaikoura. The drive was fantastic and the views out of this world. We drove up through the foothills and into the wine country of Marlborough. We had a really nice dinner in Blenheim, after touring its vineyards and quirky little spots. And then as night-time set in we got on the ferry, loaded onto the train deck (yep, where they would put the train cars if there were a train on board) and headed back to Wellington. Here is a nice shot of the city as we came into the harbour:
I feel like I'm leaving out so much. It's hard to post so long after doing many of the things on the trip. I hope to be more on top of the blogging on future trips so I can give more detail on each place. When we got back here yesterday the weather, as I mentioned, remained gorgeous so we headed out for a nice ride and then to a proper Kiwi BBQ at Lauren's house. It was fab!! Today we explored Te Papa since it was raining, as well as getting up to date on things we'd missed while traveling (like email etc). I have uploaded the first installment of photos from the south island trip. Will update you as more become available (if I don't run out of space on my web album!!!).

Well, I wish you all a very merry Christmas! It will certainly be a different one for me (it's not feeling much like Christmas right now). I will post more on what it's like to be here for the holiday season over the next couple of days. Until then - stay warm, and drink a rum and eggnog for me!

South Island - Marlborough Sounds

Greetings everyone!! We left Wellington on Friday morning, bright and early. A 6 AM wake-up, loaded the bikes and the backpack into our really cute (and slightly inadequate for the hills of the south island) car and headed down for the 7:15 AM ferry check-in. The ferry ride was great. Got heaps of photos to share. It was raining in Wello that day and as we entered the Queen Charlotte Sound at the south island the sun was shining and we were happy to arrive. The ferry docks in Picton. It's a cute little town and we had fush & chups (this is a kiwi joke on how they say this) at a little takeaway place and ate them on a park bench. A slight detour took us to Blenheim (won't go into why here) and unfortunately we were not on our way to our destination until well past 3:30 PM (the ferry landed at 11:30, so you can imagine that being well over 3 hours behind wasn't ideal). Finally returning to Picton and then up the Queen Charlotte Drive, we headed to Hopewell, a little "backpackers" where we planned to spend the next 3 days. I put this in quotes as this is kind of the cream of the crop of the NZ backpackers, and NZ backpackers are already miles and miles above hostels elsewhere in the world as it is. This little place is far, far off the beaten track. In fact, Andrew said it's the furthest off the beaten track he thinks he's ever been. The best way to get there is by water taxi, however with the bikes and such (and the fact that it costs something like $280 to take the water taxi from Picton), we elected to drive - as many other people do. It was a hell of a drive! All told, I think it took us 2.5 hours to drive about 65 km. No word of a lie! The roads are narrow and winding all along the coast of the sounds (to get to Kenepuru Sound) and at least 25 km of it is gravel (or unsealed as they call it here). Both of us had car sickness. Ugh! We had to take one good break partway through the trip to just sit for a few minutes. Hopewell is amazing! The place itself is stellar - kayaking and mountain biking were the two things we decided to try out while staying there. Then we also got a chance to laze in the hammocks, retreat to the hot tub that is on the ledge of the rocky shore of the water of the sound, and walk along the beach at low tide to collect oysters, which were so plentiful that each guest who went and collected them had heaps to share with everyone else. It's a small place (maybe 30 guests and it wasn't full yet this past weekend) so we got to know everyone who was visiting. It was very nice, very nice indeed.

We left the Marlborough Sounds yesterday in rain and headed to Nelson. We were so happy to get off the twisty road of the sounds. Nelson is a really great little town with lots to offer. So when we arrived yesterday, although it was raining quite hard, we still had a chance to walk around the main centre town area and take in a coffee at a local cafe. Today the weather cleared progressively and we went for a late-day ride. I left Andrew in a suburb called Richmond, where he joined a weekly bike race. I could have done the social ride, but I opted to have some alone time. The ride back was really nice. Tomorrow we hope the weather will cooperate for some more riding. Fingers crossed. Photos will have to wait til my return - but there will be plenty of really great shots! It truly is amazingly beautiful in the south.

A Visitor

Having actually gotten down to a small semblance of routine and just experiencing living and working and riding my bike down under, I haven't had a lot to post about that I thought would be of interest. I hope you all got a kick out of the video clips in the last post though!

This morning I'm off to pick up likely my one and only Canadian visitor, Andrew. He will be arriving in about an hour's time and I'm super psyched to have a visitor from home with whom I can share some of this experience, as well, we will be heading off for a trip to explore some more of this country! So I'm going on vacation again! Woo-hoo!

By way of a quick update though (for those of you who aren't connected with me through other means and would like to hear more): I have been settling in well here in Wello. I really like where I'm living - the location is very convenient, and I'm getting to know my flatmates. I got to go to my first kiwi BBQ last weekend with one of my flatmates and her friends. That was a lot of fun! The kiwi BBQ is a very important summer tradition. In fact, rather than turkey and stuffing (although many do partake), often the kiwis have a BBQ on Christmas. And lunch is usually the big meal of the day that day, not dinner per se. I've already been seeing Christmas trees up in people's houses (I spy through their windows as I ride my bike past - lol!) and the weirdest thing for me was when I was riding home last weekend I rode past the botanic gardens and they had an outdoor Christmas concert going on. It was really neat, but so surreal for me to be riding my bike in warm weather while passing "The First Noel" being sung. I've never been away from the snow and ice for Christmas before! Very weird feeling. I'm happy to have company from home for the holidays too. I know it will make me feel much less removed from it all.

So stay tuned, and while we're traveling in the coming weeks I will have to try to keep you updated on the new places I'll be visiting!

Kiwiana #2

There are “heaps” of expressions used here that are not common where I come from. I’ve been trying to remember to write them down as I think of them in order to share them here. These are based on expressions I've found interesting or for which my Canadian version has been the target of ridicule. I’ve decided to insert the Canadian translation so you might understand. ;)

Kiwi: sweet as ------------------- CDN: sweet
Kiwi: cheap as ------------------- CDN: cheap/inexpensive
Kiwi: cheap as chips ------------------- CDN: cheap/inexpensive
Kiwi: heaps ------------------- CDN: lots/loads/a lot
Kiwi: rubbish ------------------- CDN: garbage
Kiwi: I reckon ------------------- CDN: I think
Kiwi: cruisey ------------------- CDN: easy/easy going
Kiwi: gutted ------------------- CDN: disappointed/bummed out
Kiwi: your shout ------------------- CDN: your treat
Kiwi: flat white ------------------- CDN: latte (coffee)
Kiwi: long black ------------------- CDN: Americano (coffee)
Kiwi: how you going? ---------------- CDN: how’s it going/how are you?
Kiwi: flat ------------------- CDN: apartment
Kiwi: flatmate ------------------- CDN: roommate
Kiwi: toilet ------------------- CDN: washroom
Kiwi: tissue ------------------- CDN: Kleenex
Kiwi: straight away ------------------- CDN: right away
Kiwi: EFTPOS ------------------- CDN: debit/Interac
Kiwi: capsicum ----------- CDN: bell pepper (red, green, etc)
Kiwi: courgette ------------------ CDN: zuchinni
Kiwi: kumara --------- CDN: sweet potato (they have 3 varieties here)
Kiwi: ring me ----------------- CDN: call me/phone
Kiwi: post ----------------------- CDN: mail (also used as a verb)
Kiwi: lolly ------------------------- CDN: candy
Kiwi: catch up on all the goss -------- CDN: catch up on all the gossip/news
Kiwi: brilliant! ---------------------------CDN: awesome/great!

I also wanted to point out that the kiwi pronunciation of the letter ‘e’ is very unlike our own. I’ve had numerous funny experiences figuring out what was meant when words like: tent, deck, dead. The ‘e’ is pronounced with more of an ‘i’ sound – like eei. Try saying tent like: teee-int. That’s what the lady at customs asked me when I arrived: if I’d brought a teee-int. Luckily she also showed me what she meant with her hands. You can imagine the laughter when my kiwi friend, Lauren, asked if I thought the way they said dee-ick was funny – she had to explain that she meant, “like a patio”. Lauren introduced me to the show Flight of the Conchords (also their band name) – two kiwi guys living in NYC trying to make a go of it as musicians there. Apparently this show is very popular in North America. Considering how much TV I watch, I didn't know about it. It was really funny! You can imagine my laughter when they captured exactly the pronunciation of the letter 'e' (or 'ea') in this episode that we watched (just a quick clip of it here):



These two guys apparently met while studying at Victoria U – right down the street from where I’m living now. Cool. Check it out.

Riding in Wellington

Now that I’ve settled into Wellington for a couple of weeks I’ve had a chance to get a really good chunk of cycling in. As I alluded to in an earlier post, Wello is mainly built into some pretty big, steep hills that border the southern coastline of the north island. Unless you have a genetic gift, I’ve come to believe that climbing hills on a bike takes a lot of years to get really good at. I’ve only been riding seriously for nearly 5 seasons now. Hopefully as I spend time here climbing more hills than I typically do back home, I’ll see continued improvement in my abilities. I’ve been getting comfortable with the roads and finding my way around certain parts of the city since I built my bike. It’s funny how people will say to you: “You know there are much better rides than around the bays”. But they’ve been living and riding here for years. Can you imagine a nicer way to spend a day than riding your bike along the road that follows the coastline, watching the sailboats, windsurfers, ferries (which I’ve seen on every single ride)? Not really. Back home we have some great roads for riding, but they certainly don’t offer a view of beautiful green hills rising out of an aquamarine pacific ocean, waves crashing in on the rocks, lighthouses, little beaches, and signs warning you to watch for penguins crossing. So I’ll endure the hardship of it all as I continue to become acquainted with the area and feel more comfortable venturing out onto new routes. ;) The only thing I really need to do on an upcoming ride is to capture some of it for you with my camera. As I also mentioned earlier, the roads in the city are winding and steep. I’ve found more than one way back to the flat now, but none are easy going. As with about 85% of the population here: I live on a hill. While some live on the side of one, I live on the top, which is actually a good thing – at least I don’t have to try to come to a stop and enter my flat on a 17% grade or something. I have, however, been climbing some hills that are anywhere between 12-17% grade to get home. This is very good practice, particularly on the windy days when you get to climb those hills in a headwind. It almost seems sadistic doesn’t it? If these can become routine and ‘easier’, the Gats will be a breeze for me when I get home.

I went on my first ladies group ride this week. They call it “bunch” riding. It was really good. The group really focuses on learning new skills and on the flats they ride in a proper echelon which is really cool. I got to practice the smooth transition of the echelon for the first time since I took the learn to race clinic back home this summer. Since it was so windy (we’d had a really bad storm that morning and the winds were only starting to ease up to 50-some odd kph that evening, instead of the 120 kph gusts we'd had earlier) we really stuck together to shelter each other from it as it comes at you from different directions on each bay. Sometimes a headwind, sometimes a crazy crosswind that nearly knocks you off the bike! And nobody was really able to surge ahead too much and cause that elastic band effect. It was a good effort and smooth echelon. Fun stuff! I hope to keep riding with that group each week and see what other new things I can learn and practice.

I have another little project that I want to undertake so I can try to show you the city. Wello is a really cool place, in that, with everything built into the hills, there are little secret, or not-so-secret but sometimes hard to find, pedestrian accessways so you can find shortcuts up and down the hills into the neighbourhoods that make up the city. I mostly travel by foot here, as the place is very compact, but to make it effective you need to find these little paths and stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs. They are everywhere! It’s a really different thing. You won’t have seen anything like it back home. I haven’t. So stay tuned and I’ll try to get some photos and commentary together to share the experience with you.

The "P" Word

Do you remember when you were a kid, how your parents were always telling you to appreciate that time in your life? That one day you would have a job and a life and responsibilities. When you’d complain about a school project or having to work part-time at the grocery store, they’d try to communicate perspective to you. Perspective, unfortunately or fortunately – take your pick – really must be learned first hand. It cannot be communicated or taught to someone by another, unless maybe by example, but even that has its limits. I’m not that old yet (haha), but I’ve been looking back on things in my life over the past few years. This is what I’ve come to conclude so far (bearing in mind that I am acutely aware at this stage in life that our ideas about our own lives changes with time and experience)…

So far life seems to progress in a building block kind of fashion. You are young and your sole purpose is to eat and poop and sleep. Then when you’re old enough your sole purpose is to play with your friends and learn how to eat with a fork and use the toilet. ;) Then you go to school and you can add on to the previous purposes: learning. Learning keeps building. As you learn one thing you are ready to learn more and continue building on what you’ve learned. You also start building life experience – another type of knowledge other than just what you’ve read in a book. Then you go to university and for most it seems this life experience starts to grow exponentially, at the same time you’re learning academically at your highest level so far. Then you finish and you start working. At work you start learning in a whole different way, as well as continuing to take courses and learning from books. More life experience gets thrown in there for the hell of it – both in and out of work. And then one day you’ve been doing your job for a while and you’re actually pretty good at it and you’re almost starting to become an expert in your field. Most people start the next stuff at the same time: getting married, having kids, buying houses, etc. Building, building, building. Life keeps building on itself. Now - if you’ve got kids you probably won’t get the chance to do the next thing (or you may have done it before you got a job or a kid, which gives you a very different perspective, not better or worse, just different from what I’m about to describe).

Imagine at this point just stopping it all. Quitting your job, moving away, and doing something different. Obviously that’s what I just did. And the really nice part is that since I’ve met several people here who’ve done the same thing I know I’m not alone in doing it. What I’m getting at here is that in doing so, my perspective has changed – and will likely continue to. I’ve kind of changed my course of thinking – in fact I’ve changed the course of my life thus far. It’s been really weird to just up and quit my job to be honest. The first couple of weeks here were like being on vacation, which it was, for all intents and purposes. Then by the fourth week it was sinking in that I’m not going back to work right now. Wow! Then I felt a bit lazy. I’ve been working, I realize, since I was 14!!!! I’ve never not had a job since then! And I’ve always been a hard worker, so not working has definitely felt weird the past couple of weeks, but at the same time I’ve got enough life experience to tell me that I need to enjoy this particular experience, as it’s likely not going to come around again anytime soon if ever. So that’s what I’ve been doing. And I really know now what my parents meant when they told me to enjoy having such little responsibility as a teenager when I felt like I had oh-so-much of it. I was a pretty responsible kid and I took things seriously, so even after growing out of the teenage angst years I still didn’t think I had that little responsibility at that time. Now I can see clearly that, as much as I may have had more responsibility than some, I had far less than an adult. I feel like today I’m almost living that teenage life again but I’m a lot older and more mature and better acquainted with who I am. So in essence, I’m enjoying it far more than I ever could have before. And I’m appreciating it like crazy! And really - how many of us get the chance (and then take it!) to press the pause button, or reset button, or whatever it might be - stop the constant building to the next stage of life and just enjoy where they’ve gotten themselves thus far and ruminate? It’s a real blessing. So… Just so you all know. Yes, I know where I’m at. I’ve got the responsibility of a teenager right now. And I’m loving it! I won’t complain about having to work part-time and do my school project. Ah, teenagers. What do they know?? ;)

Kiwiana - #1

There are heaps (an expression used here a lot) of roadside attractions here like the giant kiwifruit in Te Puke that the little towns erect to make themselves stand out and attract tourists. These roadside attractions are one example of kiwiana, although the term itself means anything distinctly kiwi. I hope to capture as many as I can, as I have a few friends who love the roadside attractions. ;) I guess this is something that Kiwis and Canadians have in common.

First I’ll tell you about the housing here. They like to build houses into hills – not just in Wellington, although I’d say it’s one of the more distinctive examples. So there are all kinds of crazy walkways and stairs and driveways in the most unusual spots that you’d never see back home. Or if you did it would be a place of interest and everyone would know about it and go check it out. Most houses here are quite old and were not built with much insulation, nor heating. None – zero, absolutely no heating whatsoever. No furnace, no radiators, no electric baseboards. Nadda. And it’s not warm here. I have to admit – I could not live here during the winter. Spring is quite enough of a taste of it for me thanks. I know, it’s funny to hear that from someone who lives with minus 30 Celsius winters – but we insulate and heat our houses. It’s a damp cold here. at least in Wello it is. Up north wasn't quite as chilly as here, but it still did get down close to single digits at night. I believe it’s quite similar to England. So, to stay warm everyone dresses in layers, and wear shoes in the house, and have little portable electric radiator-looking heater things that you can plug into the wall to heat that one space, and hot water bottles in bed at night, or electric blankets. Yep. That’s how to stay warm here. Considering the drafts that come into the house I believe that this country is not very energy efficient. Now, all this to say, newer houses, I have been told, are better insulated and have central heating. I haven’t been in one though. They really depend on the sun to warm the houses here, so places that are in valleys that lie in the shadows of the hills are not as sought after in which to live. In all the ads and when I visited places in person, everyone would emphasize how much and which rooms got sun. My room gets morning sun which is nice, but I also realize that the rest of the flat will be cold when I open my bedroom door so I’m not that anxious to get out of bed in the morning. Or should I say: get out of air mattress.

The roads in Wellington are narrow and winding. Well, it is a city built into hills after all. I was a little nervous heading out on the bike for the first time. I’m glad I didn’t wear my HR monitor that time, as I’m sure it was elevated just from stress. It went well though, and I think I will get comfortable with it. Most drivers here are quite familiar with cyclists. There are lots of them here. As many people seem to commute by bike as by bus or on foot. There are some cycling lanes and lots of signs telling motorists to watch out for cyclists. Parking is at a premium in town. Many residents park their cars on the street, as it’s not always easy to build a driveway into a hill or up one. So while cycling you have to be really careful of all the parked cars. There aren’t a plethora of roads, so you really must ride in the city to get out of it, but once you do there is great riding to be had! I rode partway around the bays on my last two rides and it was fantastic!!! I saw heaps of cyclists out as well.

More kiwiana next time…

No Longer a Tourist

I’ve been searching for work now that I’ve gotten settled into my new flat. Looking for work has not been as easy as I’d anticipated, but I’m sure something will happen when it’s supposed to. Timing is everything. I also built my bike on the first day in the flat. It was a busy day: unpacked my suitcase, inflated my air mattress (need to get a bed) and built my bike. I rode down to the bike shop that sells Colnago and had them take a quick look to be sure I put her back together correctly and that my rear derailleur wasn’t out of whack. Aside from one little, slightly critical part that I hadn’t tightened (oops – I’m pretty lucky, having ridden down there), I did a good job! J Woo-hoo! So I went out for a ride. It was a nice day, although a storm was to come in that evening and the wind was picking up. They have lots of gusty wind here. At one point I was rounding a corner on the bay and nearly got blown over! You have to watch out for that here. Then I climbed back up to the flat… ugh. I have to say, months of that and I WILL be a hill climber. Geez! There are three main hills back to my flat, the first one being the hardest. At least you get it over with first. I messed up the computer and hadn’t started it so really none of my ride had been recorded, but going up this hill it was on and I looked down to see 12% grade – for somewhere in the range of 750 m – 1 km. The last few meters you get a break when it levels off to 10%. Ouch! Considering it’s been a good month off the bike I felt that one.

I’ve been walking everywhere here. Wellington is a very compact, walkable city. But if you live up on one of the hills, which is likely, you just have to climb back home, that’s all. There are little stairs built in the hills all over, so I need to explore a bit more to find the short-cuts home. It’s a funny little place in that way. It’s still pretty chilly here. I can’t wait til it really warms up. Jan and Feb are supposed to be the warmest. Looking forward to it. For now I have a hot water bottle in bed with me at night and fuzzy socks and a hoodie. But I’ll have to post more about the kiwi-life in the next post.

Turangi and beyond...

This will be my last post on travels for a little while, as I am now in the midst of setting up some semblance of a routine, living and working in NZ, instead of being a constant tourist. Can you believe it’s been 3 weeks since I left for the other side of the world? Time really does fly and I’m sure I will be home sooner than I’d almost like, but I will make the best of my time here. In the next few posts I’ll try to gather some of my thoughts for you on life here: from driving on the left side of the road, to un-insulated houses. I’ll give you a taste of the kiwi way of life and how it’s different from home.

Since I left Wellington and headed back to Auckland, I have been making my way back down to the south end of the north island. I stayed in Auckland for one night and then picked up a car (as they say here: I ‘hired’ a car) and finally picked up my bike which was being stored for me. It’s been so long since I’ve been riding! I think I might forget how!! I got a cute little rental and stuffed it full with my backpack, bike in box, and my suitcase (which had also been stored – it has mostly bike stuff in it along with a small sampling of work clothes). I hit the road. I almost went back to Raglan for a couple of days, as people I’d met there were still there hangin’ out and I liked the place so much, but I also wanted to see a bit more of the country so in the end I decided not to. For now I’ve skipped the tourist trap that is Rotorua. I think I will go see it at some point, as the acidic pools of water there are supposed to be quite the sight, but this time around I decided to take it easy. I made my way down to Turangi, at the bottom of Lake Taupo.

A side note on Taupo: I never thought to check it out as a potential place to live, even though they have a major cycling event there every November. It’s a road race around the lake: 160 km. Needless to say, when I went through the town I saw quite a few cyclists. I doubt, however, that Taupo would be the best choice of place to live, as I think I would run out of cycling routes and it’s not the best jumping off spot for more touring around NZ or abroad.

Turangi, at the bottom of Lake Taupo, is the place to stay when embarking on the Tongariro Crossing. This is a famous hike across the volcano in the national park of the same name. There are three peaks in the park: Tongariro, Ruapehu, and Ngauruhoe. The latter being the most conical, hence used as Mount Doom in the famous LOTR movies. I stayed at a great backpackers and just chilled out – in fact, I was offered a two-week job there running the place while the owner goes on vacation. I was tempted, but at the same time without a vehicle it would be quite isolating and I really wanted to get back to Wellington and get settled and on to the main purpose of my OE. I didn’t do the crossing this time, but I intend to go back to do it as it’s supposed to be really great! One afternoon I took in the geothermal pools in Turangi - very nice and super affordable ($8)! I drove out of the park on Saturday and made my way down to Plimmerton – a little town about 25 km outside of Wellington.

Saturday we ended up having a major storm system come through a good part of the north island. The crossing was inaccessible that day, as it was snowing in the mountains, and as I drove into the Rangipo Desert I listened to the radio warnings regarding driving on the highway that day, as there was a strong windstorm. I’ve never driven in a windstorm through a desert before – sand everywhere! As I continued down toward the western coast it got greyer and colder. I was wearing Capri pants when I left (even though it probably wasn’t really warm enough for it) and caved in and changed into my jeans in the car at a vegetable stand on the side of the highway. J I bought some veggies too! As the highway straddled the coast, I could see the waves crashing like mad into the shoreline. I was almost in the greater Wellington area when I found a radio station that was reporting gale-force winds and gusts of up to 140 kph. I held tightly onto the car door when I opened it upon my arrival at the backpackers in Plimmerton – didn’t want to lose the door to the wind!

The place I’ve been staying at here is beautiful! It faces a road that skirts the bay. On Sunday morning I sat in the lounge (that’s what they call the living room here) and watched the weekly sailboat race as I answered emails from some of you. Oh yes, and as the weather had changed from gale-force winds and rain to warm and sunny, I enviously watched the cyclists ride down the road and back out to Wellington, thinking that I will do that soon too. I spent some time looking at a few more flats Sunday afternoon and dropped my bike off at Lauren’s for safekeeping until I can move into my own flat. The two flats we saw weren’t right for me, both for different reasons. I thought I’d be staying at the YHA and continuing my search for the remainder of the week when I received a text from the people whose flat I visited last week with the good news that I could rent the room there if I’d like! This flat is in a great location and with two young professionals around my age. I’m stoked! I should be moving in there this week… will keep you posted on the move and, like I said, life in NZ.

More Photos

More photos are up - Raglan & Wellington. I should be adding to the Wellington photos as we go though. So check them out using the link on the right under the travel section. :)

Windy Wellington

What to tell you about my first visit to New Zealand’s national capital? It’s not unlike our national capital in that it’s a nice small city that has a lot to offer, considering its size. Although I think it’s a wee bit more happening than Ottawa in a few respects, I did notice that the downtown area turned into a ghost town and all the shops closed up around there after 6 PM – that’s exactly like Ottawa! lol! They have the museums there, Parliament (unlike Ottawa they do not have a miniature replica of GB’s parliament buildings – they decided to go with something they call the Beehive), a pedestrian street lined with shops. The city is wonderfully walk-able. It’s quite compact, as those who built it had to contend with the large rolling hills, so all the houses are built up into the hills from the coast. It’s very nice that way. Although it can be very windy and cooler than up north, the photo I put here is from Monday (Labour Day holiday) at the beach at Oriental Parade - it was a nice day! The people there are quite nice – the bus drivers are friendly. I was also put in touch with someone there this summer when I was finalizing my NZ plans. My friend Shannon got me in touch with Lauren, a Kiwi friend of a friend whom she’d met in Canada this summer. So Lauren has been showing me around Wellington, being a wonderful host and ambassador of the city, as well as a much needed resource for my flat search. Flights around NZ are actually reasonable. If you are traveling solo, it will cost near the same amount as it would to take the bus for a distance like Auckland to Wellington, and definitely less than it would cost to hire a car and drive it (petrol is expensive over here). You might notice I’m picking up some Kiwi terminology for things (hiring stuff, and petrol). It’s important to get the expressions down to people understand me – although most of the time they do. It’s me who has much to learn. ;)

Wellington is at the south end of the north island, and being on the coast, it’s windy and much cooler than up north. They don’t call it Windy Wellington for nothing. The funny thing is – it’s the one place in the country where I’ve been able to find the most organized cycling. I have certainly seen some small groups (4 or less) of cyclists in and around Auckland, but in Wellington I’ve found the networks and teams that run through the shops like at home. I visited one shop that I was interested in before I came here. They were super helpful and made sure I knew when to come out for various group rides. I am so looking forward to getting on the bike soon!! The wind and the hills, though challenging, are sure to make me stronger. We don’t have stuff like this at home. If it’s too windy to do the flatter ride around the bays, they head for shelter in the hills. Either way – you’ll get a good workout. So this is my main impetus for choosing a windy, cooler place to settle. Combine that with it being easy to get around without a car, it has a nice vibe to it, and it’s well positioned for the rest of my travels south and off-continent. I’m still in the thick of my flat search. Wish me luck! I’ll post when I have more new things (and hopefully a place to call home for most of the remainder of my stay) to fill you all in on.

Raglan - surfers' (and non-surfers) paradise

Raglan is a small town on the west coast of the north island, about 40 km west of Hamilton (which is about a two hour drive southwest of Auckland). This place has become more and more popular over the years as it’s one of the best surfing destinations in the country. No, I don’t surf and have no intentions on trying (not a water person), but I had heard that it was a really nice place to visit and the backpackers place I stayed at had great reviews, so off I went. Raglan did not disappoint. It is beautiful – on the coast with little beaches and a small main street with a bunch of little cafes and other little conveniences. So far it has been my favourite stop. The backpackers lived up to its reputation: small, super-friendly, quiet – but not lacking in activity – clean, comfortable, and fun! The crowd was a bit more mature than the usual hostel crowd (which generally tends to be predominantly 18-23 year olds). This was nice for me, as I’m not always the oldest person at these places, but I am usually one of few and while I get along fine with everyone, when you are at a vastly different point in your life you don’t have much to relate to. So I made some new friends: One Canuck, a Brit, a German, and two French guys. Everyone was so nice and fun and easy to get along with. For the first time in a couple of weeks I really got to hang out with people instead of just touring around and then making small talk about travels over a brief dinner in the hostel kitchen each night. Jenn, Elly, and I headed out one day to Bridal Veil Falls just down the road from town. It’s a short hike down to the falls and it’s beautiful! The rest of the time we just hung out, the guys went surfing every day and each night we ended up playing Uno (someone found the deck of cards in the lounge). One night we went out to the local pub for live music by a local band. It was such fun! So that’s my Raglan story. Now I’ll fill you in on getting there…

Being slightly remote, Raglan doesn’t have bus service from the InterCity Bus line. You have to take the bus to Hamilton, and then a shuttle runs to Raglan from there about 4 times per day. I had to get back to Auckland on Saturday to catch my flight to Wellington late in the day. The day I left for the coast I found out that the shuttle ran on a limited schedule between Raglan and Hamilton on the weekend and there would be no way I’d make my bus – and consequently my flight on Saturday. I took the bus down to Hamilton anyway, not wanting to just pass time in Auckland until Saturday, and during the ride it dawned on me that I should have rented a car! I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. So when I arrived in Hamilton I asked the lady at the i-Site (the Kiwi info centre) if it would be possible to rent a car in Raglan. She said no. So I asked where I could rent one there in Hamilton – well there was a place right beside the bus station. Off I went to Raglan in my little Mazda Familia (the same at the Protégé at home, just a different name) – driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. This is my first time attempting left-hand-side-of-the-road driving and it was an experience, I have to say. My first left-hand turn after leaving the rental place I almost overshot the turn, heading for the oncoming lanes instead. Luckily I realized all those cars were in ‘my lane’ and made the turn before I passed the correct lanes to turn into. That was my closest call. The other funny thing is that the windshield (or windscreen as they call it here) wiper control arm and the turn signal arm are on opposite sides of the steering column, so each time I went to signal I turned the wipers on! DOH! So I got to spend more time in Raglan as a result of renting and car, saved some of my bus points for another trip, and drove straight back to the airport which was much better than my original plan anyway. Things work out well if you are flexible and don’t force it. That’s been my experience in recent years, and in this case it was reinforced. So I had a great visit in Raglan. Now I’m in Wellington. I’ll write about that next post.

Bay of Islands and Northland

So I'm a bit behind here, as I'm off to another place. Will have to blog about Raglan next time I get a chance. For now, this is what I did for the last week...

As I alluded to – I didn’t fully enjoy the city. I think it’s mostly due to the task-oriented week I had while there. To give it its due, Auckland is clean, has lots of good restaurants – particularly Asian food (yum!), easy enough to get around (although I encountered a few very nice bus drivers, the majority of them were not helpful and not very pleasant), and easy to get out of – which I did. I visited Kiwi Mike’s parents on the north shore. Now that’s a beautiful part of the ‘city’.

When I left on the bus on Saturday afternoon to head up north I was relieved to leave the buzz of the city. If you’ve traveled enough you can relate to the fact you will never be able to know how beautiful a place is through pictures. To know it is to experience it. I remember when I went to the Greek Islands I really wished I could capture the beauty for those back home – you just cannot capture the blueness of the water in the Aegean Sea. It’s not possible. There are many amazing places to see out there and unless you are there, you cannot fully appreciate it. It’s too bad we can’t upload our experience from our brain/our mind’s eye so others can really know it the way we did. The only thing I can really apologize for are the photos taken through the bus windows at high speeds. For the rest of the photos – you’ll have to make due with what I’ve tried to capture. Believe me – it’s more beautiful here than you can see from them. I took way too many trying to capture the one shot I believe you are all waiting for: rolling green hills and sheep! J Haha!! No, I’m not joking – I took many pasture shots trying to capture the sheep for you. I was delighted when I saw my first hill of sheep. They love being on top of the hills. But I digress as usual. You want to know about Northland I’m sure.

Northland – the northernmost area of NZ. The climate here is sub-tropical. The mornings and evenings (at this time of the year anyway) are quite cool. The afternoons are nice and warm – low twenties Celsius. I took the InterCity Bus from downtown Auckland (least expensive transportation mode in the country and quite reliable with very nice drivers) to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Of note: across the bay from Paihia is a small town called Russell (which is accessible by ferry only) – it was the first national capital of the country. I stayed in Paihia at a little backpackers (that’s what they call hostels here) called The Mousetrap. It was a nice little spot on a long road that is filled with backpackers’ accommodations. I could see the bay from the veranda of the place and it was a 500 m walk to the beach. I was lucky enough to get upgraded to a twin share room instead of a dorm and my roommate was a young girl from York, England who was there scuba diving. She is on extended vacation down here and to Oz before returning home to look for work now that she’s done school. I spent three nights there and from there I took a one-day tour of the far north. This was a 12-hour, 500 km tour.

They picked a few of us up at our backpackers, along with other people from a few more stops around 7 AM (ugh – I know) and off we went. We first stopped very briefly at the Waipoua Kauri Forest. Since the trip was a bit rushed, I really did not learn anything about this forest, unfortunately. But I did appreciate the fern that grows here in NZ, which I learned is the symbol for the airline here. I took a cool photo of it, as I found it quite neat. Off we went to Ninety Mile Beach on the Aupori Peninsula. Ninety Mile Beach is actually 64 miles long, and it is officially designated as a highway, as I was told it was used as such in the past. At any rate, tour buses mostly drive up this beach, as it is dangerous to do so on your own. You can only drive the beach during low tide, and many a car that has attempted the drive has gotten stuck when the tide has come in on them. There are cars buried in the sand there. No company will insure you if you choose to drive it yourself. The bus we were on was a specially designed bus that was built on a truck engine, so the engine is in the front in order to be able to drive in such conditions. It was a rocky and fast drive for those 500 km. We had to leave the beach at the earlier exit point, as the tide was coming in and we would not make it to the exit 20 minutes up at Te Paki Stream (where apparently the driver has to negotiate 3 km of quicksand – this is where most cars have gotten stuck). An hour’s drive from the beach had us at these huge naturally shifting dunes where we went sand-boarding. Oh yes – down giant sand dunes, head first on a boogie board. It was unnerving at first laying on the board at the top of the dune but once I got going down, and my stomach came back down to its rightful place, it was super fun!! After this we headed off to another small volcanic sand beach where we ate lunch. After lunch we headed up to the northernmost point of NZ – Cape Reinga. This is a sacred place for the Maori people – it is where the spirits of the dead depart – leap off into the ocean. If you’ve checked out the photos you’ve also seen the lighthouse at Cape Reinga and the note that I made about the meeting of the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea at this point. By the way, I put my feet in both: Tasman Sea at Ninety Mile Beach, and Pacific Ocean at the small beach at our lunch stop. The sea was warmer – as expected. We stopped in a little fishing village, called Mangonui, on the way back for fish and chips (yum!) and got back into Paihia at 6:30 PM. OK. So it was 11.5 hours, not 12. Close enough. I was exhausted.

I’m back in the city again now to take care of a few more arrangements and then I’m off again for some more touring of the north island. I am itching to get settled, so I hope to do that sooner rather than later. One particular NZ treat that I’ve found: RJ’s natural licorice. I’ve bought it more than once now. Yes, they have both vegemite and marmite here – I have tried neither.

Quick Update

Internet is very expensive here. It works way different than at home, where you pay a flat rate. Here you pay for usage - by how much bandwidth you use. Crazy eh? We are not used to that, us Canuks. So I don't have much time here today. I have toured Northland as much as I have time and money for now. I will write more details on it when I have more time and more internet time. It was super fun. It's beautiful here. I have seen the very large rolling hillsides and sheep and ocean and volcanic rock and lovely beaches and, and, and...

I have updated the pictures section (to the right click the link: Photos of Becks Adventures) and you can see the ones from Northland. Again, when I have more bandwidth to spare I will get the Auckland pics up - although they are sparse. I have decided conclusively that I am not a city girl. I love the quiet of small cities, towns, and countryside. I guess the island way of life is in my blood. PEI will never be far from my heart. NZ reminds me a lot of home - albeit bigger, somewhat more tropical in areas (somewhat - haha!), people seem to talk with a different accent here than they do in PEI... but the lifestyle outside of the city is much the same.

More soon...

All Business

Well, I may have finally gotten down to the last of the 'sorting out my business' end of things here (famous last words). I was hoping to leave Auckland today, but as luck would have it I could not confirm a place up north to stay in time and had to spend another day here. This was not a bad thing in the end, as I still had some things to figure out, book, plan, etc. I have not relaxed one minute yet. It's been quite tiring. I look very much forward to some R&R this weekend. So tomorrow is a non-computer day. I need a break from the screen and the bookings and the....
the list could go on.

I'm not sure I've given Auckland it's fair shake, as my time here has been consumed by matters that aren't really of a tourist nature. The only real thing I've done as a tourist was the Sky Tower. I have been around the city a little bit though. I got to travel across the Harbour Bridge yesterday to the suburbs to have dinner with Kiwi-Mike's parents. That was super!! We had a great dinner, their house is totally, amazingly cool, and they took me down to the beach near their place for a walk. The kids were out after school for their surf and sailing lessons. No, no hockey after school in the City of Sails. ;)

I left the B&B today to stay at more affordable accommodations. The B&B upon my arrival was my splurge. I needed a nice, quiet place to stay and take a load off while I acclimatized to the new circadian rhythm over here. So now I'm at a hostel. It's ok, but not half as nice. I was getting used to the family at the B&B and when I left they said I had become a member of the family. It was a nice place to stay.

I've met several people in similar situations as myself: taking a break from work or looking for a change. It's nice to meet like-minded people (read of my same age range). A lot of the kids down here are from Germany. In fact, I'd say the majority of those at the IEP have come from there. I've met two Canadians now (one sharing my room at the hostel tonight) and a couple Brits and a couple Americans. So I'm off to relax and meet more new people tomorrow. Til then!

Kia ora tatou!

Which means: "hello everyone!" in Maori. I have arrived safe and sound. The flight was much less painful than usual, even given it was a total of 19 hours flying time (plus a short 1.5 hour layover in beautiful Vancouver). It was also shorter than I had anticipated, given what I'd been told by others. The Air NZ folks were totally amazing.

So what to tell you about first. I haven't seen much yet. Just got here an hour or so ago. My lovely hosts here at the B&B got my room ready in a pinch, even though the person occupying my room had just left. Very sweet of them. I need a shower... that will come next (certainly before I head out to explore the city). The only thing to fill you in on so far are the particulars of the journey.

Of course there were tears at the airport when Beth & Andrew sent me off. To be honest, until I got into the airport I had only felt excitement for the trip for the past 1-2 weeks. At the airport I started to feel nervous because it was all actually real for the first time. Although, I also have a feeling that my nerves were caused by a mixture of adventuring out into the unknown, and worrying about my bike. When I took her over to the oversized luggage area and set her down on the conveyor belt I prayed that I'd get her back in one piece on the other side of the world. As I waited for the oversized luggage to come out at the Auckland airport the anticipation was nothing short of waiting for a loved one coming back from a long trip - I kid you not. I almost kissed the box when I grabbed it. Didn't open the box until I arrived at the B&B - the sweet little girl (granddaughter of the owners) helped me open it. She was pretty excited to see my bike, and complimented me on how nice it was too. :) So far so good. A little paint scratched off one spoke - no worries (getting down with the kiwi venacular there if you hadn't noticed). I digress...

I only had my executive seat for the YVR-AKL leg of the journey confirmed last week - one of the most exciting days this year! Executive from home to Van was nice - from Van to Auckland was fantabulous!!!! I had my own little pod, in-pod entertainment system, a foot rest, and the piece de resistance: the pod converts into a full lie-down bed!!!!!!!!!! Side note for those who aren't aware: I saved all - ALL - of my points to get this ticket and I have never - NEVER - in all the travels, all the flights I've taken in my lifetime, ever flown business/executive or any other classification other than economy. This was an experience that I appreciated immensely. We took off from Van at 9 PM -> midnight for my internal clock (and the rest of you on EST). They proceeded to serve dinner. I was fried. I was not hungry. So I ate a little bread and some salad and (since I HAD to) had a vodka and soda (which was amazing - this NZ vodka that has some sort of honey taste) and promptly curled up in my pod all scrunched-up-like with the big pillow and the eye mask they provided and fell asleep. I could not keep my eyes open. One of the crew came by at one point and covered me with a blanket, and I knew they had but I couldn't get myself to move. Next time I woke up was after the dinner service when one of the crew was trying to adjust my blanket which I probably moved or something. When I got up he offered to convert my pod to a bed and I was so all over that. Next thing I'm in my little bed and snuggled up and I can't fall back to sleep because I'm so damned excited about how awesome this little bed thing is! Eventually I did sleep - most of the night. It was great. Got up a couple of hours before the breakfast (which was fantastic) and then we were landing.

Landing was great. I got a nice view of Auckland as we came in overhead and then swooped back around to approach it from the west to land. The landscape around in the rural areas we flew over (and some totally uninhabited areas) was beautiful: lush and green and hilly and ocean and sand. Next few days I'll tour Auckland and fill you in. Until then: Haere ra!