Transported to San Fran?

I went on a bike ride with Sam over the weekend. We headed out to Eastbourne, which is on the other side of the harbour from Wellington. It reminded me SO MUCH of San Fran, well, more specifically Sausalito/Tiburon looking over toward San Fran. (See Map below, if its too small you can click on it to enlarge it).

The ride was great though... the beginning was nice and relaxing (the wind was behind us) and we headed out from Burdan's Gate toward Pencarrow. We had great views of the South Island and its snow capped mountains and over to our right was the other side of the harbour. It was a great day to go out for a bike ride!! Here is an action shot courtesy of Sam:

We got out past Pencarrow and toward Fitzroy Bay, where the name is on the map and on the way we found a shipwreck. Sam knew it was out there, but it was all new to me. So we took the photo op and here is a shot of me:

I learned a lesson about wading near water about 5 minutes past when it could have been useful for me! Sam told me to 'never stand on a wet rock' and in the photo below I'm doing exactly the opposite of the advice and getting a shoe full of Cook Straight water!

The ride back in toward the car was a bit more difficult since we were going in TOWARD the wind this time. And the wind can get pretty strong down here. I was in my lowest gear, on virtually flat ground and BARELY moving! If you've been on a bike machine and have tried going on the highest level, yeah, thats how it felt. Oh it was so rude, after having come out there on the easy, peaceful ride then turn around and Bam! Hit by a wall of wind. It was tough, but we did make it eventually. Needless to say, I was sore afterward!! (Right Fi and Sam???)

Unfortunately for some reason we didn't get any great photos of the view over to Welly. But we did get this picture of some of the houses in the area... definitely remind me of the cute beach town atmosphere of Sausalito.

But fortunately, Sam and I stopped at a Cafe for lunch afterward. I believe it was called "Chocolate Days Cafe"... We had a nice time and I enjoyed my Chai Latte and then we headed back home to call it a day and for me to write lesson plans.... so enjoyable!

A weekend without Kelly...

Kelly left on Tuesday so I spent my first weekend in New Zealand without her. It is a bummer having her gone, but school is picking up to full load so I can use the down time to plan lessons and get ready for the week. Which, I pretty much did all weekend. I did have some fun though. Friday night Fi Sam and I went into Wellington to go to a going away party. Surprisingly, it was someone I am connected to. The woman I worked for in Bellingham, Sue, has a sister that lives in Wellington, so we were FINALLY able to meet each other... a week before she moves back to the States!! It was a good party though and her sister was very nice to chat with.



After that we headed up to the top of Mt. Victoria. This is the 'mountain' I posted about that holds my favorite view in Wellington - looking toward it and seeing the church. But, from the photo below this is the view you get from the top of it (and the church is just below on the hillside). It was a crystal clear night so we were able to see the whole city lit up which was pretty nice!! As well as all the stars in the sky. It was beautiful.

After the viewpoint, Fi and Sam wanted to induct me into the 'darn good bread' club. Which... well, if bread is in the clubs name, I'm usually game for! So we drove about 5 minutes away and came to a bakery that stays open 24 hours on the weekends. Its apparently famous for late night (post bar) bakery good binges. The club started when Sam and a few of his buddies wanted to change scenery from being at a party, the wondered down the street to find that this bakery was open and went to get some grub. As I picture it, I assume these gentlemen drunkingly stumbled into the bakery and got their loaves and all repeated that it was 'darn good bread'. Thus, the club was born. And now, I am a proud member!

Saturday I tried to sleep in for my day off but woke up WIDE AWAKE at 7:15... I guess it is a bit of a sleep in compared to the normal 7am wake up call. Fiona had a netball game in the morning so we went to watch that. It's quiet a different sport, and this league plays outside so they had to deal with wind and rain!! After that Sam had to swing by his parents place... and since we had been talking about it for a few weeks, he offered for me to drive home!! Yikes!! Wrong side of the road, AND the car is a stick shift... which is also on the wrong side!!

Luckily, I made it all the way home with no harm to the car or any people. I did have a close call with a parked car because I wasn't paying attention to the left side of my car and how close it was getting to the parked ones. And, I didn't stall the whole way! I hadn't driven a stick in a few years so I was worried about that, but managed!!

Saturday night the All-Blacks (New Zealand's national rugby team) played the rugby team from Ireland here in Wellington. We didn't get tickets but we did go downtown to The Loaded Hog to watch the game. Sam drove me in, with his friend John and Fi had a netball party to go to so she missed out.

I'm really enjoying the sport of Rugby. It's very cool how into it everyone gets down here. There really isn't the same attitude toward sports that we have at home - Friday night high school football games, March Madness, etc - but for Rugby they definitely get passionate!! But I think the best part of watching the game was at the beginning, the team does a 'Haka'. It's pretty much a traditional war dance from the Maori but the All-Blacks, plus various other teams have taken it on. The team groups up and stands at about mid-field, while facing their opposing team and do this dance... which, dance isn't the best word for it. I'll attach a link to a couple of the video's I found on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zvs4T4RU30 This is just of the All-Blacks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eGCsEQ15L4 All Blacks vs. Tonga which is a team that also has a Haka and does theirs at the same time which looks very cool!!

Most of the opposing teams just stand about 10 meters away and watch, showing their respect. But a few teams have kept warming up, or just ignoring the All Blacks. But a few years ago ballsy England decided to walk arm in arm straight up to NZ and stand about 10 inches away from the first guy.... I'm trying to find it on You Tube but haven't been successful yet!!

If you have the time, I suggest watching the videos and trying to imagine Matt Hasselbeck doing this!

Last weekend with Kelly....

This weekend was Kelly's last in New Zealand. It's a sad sad day down here...

Luckily though, it was the Queens Birthday Weekend, which means Monday is a holiday so Kel and I got to spend another fun weekend in Wellington and have it be a 3 day!!

On Saturday, we had the ambitious plans of taking the train up north to 'a couple small towns' all day to go to cafe's and tour around... we left our house in the morning and hopped on the train. We got ready to buy our tickets and told the lady where we would like to go and she told us that we missed that train. Oops! From our lack of research, we didn't realize that the weekends only had one train leaving to go north in the early morning and one train coming back in the evening. While sitting on the train heading as far as it would go, the whole 15 minute ride to Upper Hutt where I teach everyday, Kel and I were figuring out what to do now. Luckily, I got a coworkers cell phone number and texted him to say we'd be stuck near his place for a little bit. This new friend of mine is Paul Higham... I like to call him Sir Higham, because, it just fits his character (he is an English and Drama teacher at Upper Hutt). He was right near the train station and decided to come greet us and show us around this particular small town... not exactly what Kel and I had envisioned for our Saturday adventure, but it worked out!! Sir Higham took us to a cute cafe that used to be a movie theater, we got some coffees and chatted away for an hour until the next train came through.

Since we couldn't continue our northernly route, we heading back down south toward Wellington. We thought, we could go to some small cafe's in Welly and do tourist-y things there... which we did! We got down to the waterfront and, Sir Higham gave us the idea to rent Rollerblades. I'm not much for this kind of activity, but I said if we can rent them for under $10 I'm in. Kel and I strolled into the little rental shop on the waterfront and saw that it was only $7 to rent the skates! We figured we should do it, no matter how lame we looked - which, we did - and again, the evidence is on Kels camera so I'll have to upload the pictures at a later date.

We headed out...very slowly, and not so gracefully (well I should say I did all this, Kel seemed to be a pro). There were two highlights from this - one was when Kel and I got to a small bridge to cross over... there were wooden slates that made up this bridge and for some reason kelly and I couldn't exactly push off to get the blades moving, so we held on to the side of it and just walked across... in the blades still. Yes, this would have probably been pretty funny just to watch, and we were laughing at ourselves while slowing stumbling over the bridge, but the best part was when an older women came whizzing by us and said 'Alright, now I don't feel so bad!'. How rude!! She was rubbing it in that she was such a better skater than us... not cool, but very true.

The second highlight was when we had just started out. The waterfront is a flat area and well paved so it was a good way to head out on skates that I hadn't been on for about 10 years. Kel skated ahead of me and I was trying to keep pace, but doing so unsuccessfully thus, she was about 15 feet ahead of me. I started to hear a rumbling noise behind me, and it was coming up quick! I slowed down and turned my head to see 7 little kids on their skateboard and one by one they were whizzing by me!! Apparently I let out some kind of whimper because Kel turned around to check on me and find I'm frozen in place amidst skater boys flying past!

Unfortunately, this may not be quite as entertaining to you as it was for Kel and I...

After skating, we treated ourselves to a drink at a bar nearby, hung out in the city for a while longer then went back to Lower Hutt to meet up with Fi and Sam for a family function.

Sunday Kel and I went to see the musical Cats in Wellington and we went all out by getting a hotel near by. The show was really good and one of the teachers at Upper Hutt was in it! We went to a veggie place for dinner then just relaxed at the hotel to celebrate the fun trip we've had so far!!

Unfortunately though, Kelly's time in New Zealand has come to an end and she is heading back to Seattle tomorrow (Well, we think she is heading back... we'll see if she gets on the flight!)

That's all for now. I'm preparing for my last month and a half down here and doing so without my side kick Kel by my side! Should be a good experience for me though and I'm looking forward to branching out a bit more!

Half Way Point...

Last week sometime marked the half way point of my adventure Down Under. I roughly have about 45 days left and thought I would help myself out by compiling some of my favorite things about being in New Zealand. For the readers out there... well, you probably won't really get most of these things and its mainly for Kelly and I to re-read when we are home and remember the little quirks that this country has to offer! : )


I'll just write the list out as I wrote it in my notebook while cruising around town the past few days... so, in no particular order, here we are:

• Going to cafes and spending hours chatting away with Kel while contemplating what the difference of an 'Americano' is to a 'long black'


• staring at the ever changing sky (it seems more blue and that the clouds are more interesting since being down here... may be true, may not be.)


• experiencing it all for the first time


• being on 'vacation' for the weekend


• touristy activities (rollerblading on the waterfront)


• appreciating home so much more from being away


• the no tipping policy! (this will be tough to go back to once I'm home)


• tax is already included in all the prices, so $9.99 really means $9.99


• Cuba Street and Courtney Place in Wellington


• The nightlife! You can go down Courtney place on a Friday or Saturday and there will be HUNDREDS of people on the street walking from bar to bar


• Asking a Kiwi what they do does not mean what their job is -- this is an amazing concept that everyone should try to take with them -- in America we ask what you do, in reference to your job/career, here it is what a person does with the money they earn from that job i.e. surfing, cooking, traveling, etc.


• Maggie's Mix - a trail mix at our favorite Grocery store:


• New World (the grocery store)


• Walking down to the Dairy, either in Kelson or from Zach's on Mt. Victoria


• having to turn the heater on before going to bed


• Cooking at home


• The lounge in the house


• Living with Fi and Sam


• Pam's Brand at New World -- Pam has been very good to us, her Peanut Butter, Soy Milk, Hummus and granola bars have been some of our favorites!


• Morning swims with Fi and the pool before school


• My office at school


• Being a teacher in New Zealand and having this unique experience


• Wednesday night dinners at Fi's Mom's house


• Coaching the girls Basketball team at school


• The strange 'beep' when crossing a cross walk


• the absolutely insane bus drivers we have come across!


• 'Slices' - essentially a cookie or treat and its in a rectangle shape


• "the Flyer" - our bus to get home


• Very good looking Kiwi Dads


• When a rugby match is on, the world seems to stop


• Base Bar! our favorite bar with the best playlist for us (Whitney with I just wanna dance with Somebody, La Bamba, and Jump for my love!)


• The view across the bay to the Church on Mt. Victoria -- if there is anyone reading this blog and knows what this church is called, or how to get a picture of it, please let me know!!

Here is the best picture I could find when I googled it... but it is not nearly close to the whole view you get from looking across the bay and seeing the Church just pop out amongst the green trees and small houses that surround it. (The picture below does not do it justice, but will give you an idea.)

And here it a picture that I found in our archieves of photos. Doesn't totally do it justice but it works...