Living in Auckland

Ok ok so its been a while since my last update and lots has happened. Lets see where to begin...Xmas I think :)

So for xmas Nathan and I went to our friend Patricks for a bbq. Patricks friends, Mike(from South Africa) and Marie (from France), joined us. Nate and I picked up some santa hats from a dollar store we found that had light up stars and everything! We had a huge feast: steak, corn on the cob, two different kinds of sausages, burgers, chips, mushrooms and onions for the steak, two different kinds of salads, cheese cake, icecream, and plenty of NZ beer and wine. We played christmas music and even sang some songs while Patrick strummed his guitar. Patrick even got us some gifts - Candy for everyone! After the BBQ Nate and I walked down this street that has almost every house decorated with lights. I think everyone and their dog was on this street that night to see the decorations. There were cars backed up for blocks just to drive down and have a look. I was glad to be walking and not stuck in a traffic jam. And the best part...no snow! It did feel a bit odd without the snow and family, but it was a nice change to have the sun.

A few days after xmas, our roomie Jason drove us out to Rotorua (about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Auckland). It was so great to get away from the city and see a bit of NZ because up until this point we had only seen Auckland and we were getting a bit antzy. We went Luging as soon as we arrived. It was so much fun! Everyone got their own little cart that you control by pulling a bar (closer to brake and farther to go fast) It rained off and on and Nate and I were riding the chair lift and got caught in it...we were soaked! But it was definately worth it! Some of the tracks got a bit slippery and I came around a bend and found Nathan burried in a sand pit just off the road. Ha ha, he was going a bit fast and didnt quite make the corner! He had sand everywhere! After the Luge we had some hot coffee to warm up and then headed for Hells Gate, which is a geothermal reserve. The smell of sulfer was very strong here. We walked through the park and got to see many different types of hot pools, a hot waterfall called Kakahi Falls (the largest hot water fall in the southern hemisphere), and lots of boiling mud. after Hells Gate we went to the Polonesian Spa. They had 6 different wading pools of varying tempurtures. The sulfer pools are supposed to be very good for healing. We tried them all and found our favorite then just soaked for a while. After the spa we went to a pub for some drinks and food, I tried to order a ceasar and they had no idea what it was!!! I told them the ingredients and they didnt even have clamato juice! What the heck - one of the most popular drinks I made at the bar in saskatoon and they have never heard of it! I decided if I bartend here I will have to start the ceasar trend...and I think maybe I could even name the drink after myself!!! ha ha ha

For new years we were a bit worried about not finding anything to do. Both our roomies were away visiting family and friends, and Patrick went to the Bay of Islands. But then Mike and Marie asked if we were doing anything and would we join them...so we did. We went down to the Viaduct Harbour and had some pints at an irish bar named O'Haggins...there was a band playing there that was really good. The singer never took a break and sang lots of different music, very crowd pleasing. It started pouring rain while we were there and they had to close all the decks. Luckily it didnt last long. Around 11 we decided to change bars and headed over to the Waterfront bar. There was a long line but it moved pretty fast. We got in had some tequila shots and bought some beers...but it was almost midnight so we stashed our drinks in plant pot, lol, got stamps and headed out to the harbour where we counted down and watched the fireworks off of the Sky Tower. It was a great way to ring in the new year! We went back to the Waterfront after, found the beer we stashed (Nate's brilliant idea by the way :P) and danced our faces off! It was a great night! The cab ride home cost us $16 and the driver would'nt even let us tip him!

During the week we had a really hot day but taking the bus down to the beach sucks. the best one would take almost 3hours to get there so we decided to suntan on our deck instead. The sun here is way more powerful than at home, the ozone is very depleted here and even with sunscreen on we noticed we were starting to burn so we only went out for a few mins at a time. Well Nate was sitting on this rickety old wooden chair out there and came in for a drink, I decided I would go back out and proceeded to sit in the chair. Well it practically exploded when I sat in it! I was shocked and Nate came running out to see what happened and then burst out laughing, he helped me up and then ran to get the camera. He thought it was so funny that he was just sitting in that chair and it was fine and then wee little Terra comes along and takes it out! Well you should have seen the bruise I had a few days later...it looked like someone hit me in the thigh with a 2 by 4 ha ha ha!

About a week after new years, and my chair episode, Jason let us borrow his car and we drove out to Piha, an iron/black sand beach with wild surf and strong undercurrents; so much so that it has its own reality T.V. show called Piha Rescue. It's only about an hour drive from our place but no buses go there. The roads were very windey and hilly...kinda like driving in the mountains back home. And the view coming down to the beach was spectacular! The sand was very fine but black, and hot from the sun. We were not sure about going in the ocean but so many people were so we figured we would try it...totaly worth it! It was really cold at first and hard to get used to but the waves were so high and we were swimming around in no time! I am sure I flashed a few ppl as my top was not very well equipped for such strong waves lol! I didnt want to get out but we had to to warm up. While warming up this guy started running around in a lime green mankini just like the one on Borat! ha ha ha! We went in again and then had to start heading home shortly after. We had agreed to Pick up our other roomie Aaron at the airport...he was coming back from Australia where he went over christmas, but we will definately be visiting Piha again!

We also had a chance last week to head over to the Auckland zoo. Its about a 45 min walk from our place so we walked instead of taking the bus. To bad we didnt look at the weather forecast cuz on the way it started to rain a bit. And man I am gonna be in such good shape when I get home...its so hilly everywhere so its up and down all the time and some hills can get pretty steep! So at the zoo, which was pretty sweet by the way and not anything like the zoo in saskatoon, we got to see a real live kiwi bird! Our first Kiwi bird it was so exciting! and he was alot bigger than I thought a kiwi bird would be...it was about the size of a rooster. We also got to see some lions, sealions which were very loud, a kangaroo who we almost ended up hiding next to from the rain, emu's, a wallaby, flamingos, cheetahs, aligators, hippos, a rhino, zeebra's, giraffes, elephants, meekats (which had a pretty awesome enclosure that you could go under, there were tons of little kids running thru the tunnels too so it was a bit crowded lol), spider monkeys, and some tigers but they were hiding from the rain so we didnt get to see them. On the way home we found a cool park called Western Springs. This park had so many roosters hanging around it was ridiculous. I tried to chase some other kind of bird that was everywhere and it ran into the bushes, but as I turned around it came running back out after me...Nate got it on video ha ha ha! Then I got a video of him running through a field of sleeping geese. We thought they would all take off in startlement but they just ran in front of him instead and he got his bare feet covered in goose poo ha ha ha ha!

Not much else interesting to report. Nate and I have been looking for jobs for the past week or so. Nate had an interview on thursday and another interview today and was hired at HP - AKA microsoft! and HP is right in the Viaduct Harbour so he will get amazing views of sail boats and ocean everyday. Then I dropped some resume's (they call them CV's here) at some restaurants on the opposite side of the Viaduct and I had an interview today too! I am starting at a restaurant/club called Degree tomorrow evening. They said they have lots of different hours and I can have a night to try it out to see if I like it.

Nate and I have also been looking for a new place to live since the place we are in was only temp over the xmas holidays, so far we have not found anything good. Alot of the apartments here are like tiny shoeboxes. One we looked at only had a single bed and they wanted us to pay more because there are two of us! What a rip! And almost everyone charges extra for two ppl. And all the good places dont have a bed so we would have to buy one. We have a place lined up to look at tomorrow which is right downtown, and then another on wednesday. We are crossing our fingers and hope to find something close to the Viaduct so we can just walk to work.

So in closing I would like to name some things that I have noticed are different from home. Like I mentioned before resume's are called CV's. Lots of cleaning products are exactly the same but named different, lysol is called dettol and Mr Clean is Mr Muscle. They call mosquitos mozzies for short instead of skeeters like I call them. Patio doors are called ranch sliders. They drive on the wrong side of the road and its so weird to sit on the passenger side and not drive, I keep trying to look at the mirrors to see behind me. Even ppl walk on the opposite side when passing eachother. A cooler is called a chilli bin. flip flops are jandals. And they dont have pennies, everything is rounded to the nearest 10 cents.