Monday, November 22, 2010

NZ Road Trip Begins



On Friday, I departed Mackay, kind of on a nervous note. I had a dream about missing my plane to New Zealand recently and it hung like a cloud over my consciousness for some reason. First thing that morning, the taxi was late picking me up, making it a close checkin. Then when I got to the Brisbane airport, I had to re-check in my luggage, as I booked the domestic and international legs separately. To my horror and for the first time in my life, my checked luggage was lost. Waiting for the missing bag and then reporting it missing also made me cut it too close for comfort for my Air New Zealand flight. I was standing in the checkin line when I was paged over the PA. I was the last person left to be checked in so they bumped me to the front of the line, thank goodness.

So despite my bad dream, I arrived in Christchurch, albeit without the majority of my stuff. I shuttled it to the car rental office and they actually handed me keys to a car! They had no idea how unprepared I was for this challenge. I've only driven in Australia a handful of times, once of which I was involved in a car crash (not my fault), so I was a little skittish and it took some guts for me to attempt driving to a destination on the complete other side of a city unknown to me without a GPS or human navigator, on the side of the road foreign to my senses. My first turn was a left hand one, which was nice. I like those. I was promptly delayed by a man shooing a duck family across the road to safety. All road traffic was halted. I was definitely in NZ.

Somehow, I have no idea how, I made it to the B&B on the other side of town, without making a single wrong turn. I'm still trying to figure out how that happened.

My mom had already arrived earlier that day and was enjoying the beautiful scenery around the B&B, which was tucked into the side of a hill, among beautiful trees and flowers, with a view of the sea nearby. Our hosts were lovely and helpful, and the house was very homey.



We spend two full days sightseeing in Christchurch, even though I was slightly disappointed in the city. Maybe it's due to so many businesses being shut down due to earthquake damage, but it seemed slightly boring and hum drum. Despite that minor disappointment, we still had a great time on a wildlife cruise, where we got to see a breed of dolphin only found in NZ,



rode a gondola up to beautiful views of the city and harbor,



visited the Saturday markets, explored the local beaches,



and toured the CHC botanical gardens.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

End of Mackay Days

My days in Mackay are now numbered and that number is ONE! It's my very last day, as I was chosen for the job transfer to Brisbane that I applied for about a month ago. I leave tomorrow for the NZ road trip I already had planned. So as soon as I get back, I will go straight to Brisbane and start my new position! I'm so excited about moving back to the city. It's going to be great for both Theo and me.

I have no idea where we'll be living yet, but I'm sure Theo will work that out while I'm having cocktails in New Zealand! haha! (don't tell him i said that) There are plenty of affordable (well my new idea of affordable) apartments in Brizzy right in or near downtown so I'll surely be able to walk to work when I get there, and we probably still won't need a car.

In the meantime, land of the long white cloud, here I come! I meet up with my mom in Christchurch tomorrow, then from there, here's the plan:

Nelson
Abel Tasman National Park
Wellington
Cross from South Island to North
Napier
Rotorua
Mount Maunganui/Tauranga
Putaruru and family time!
Auckland

I'm excited about finally getting to see a little of the South Island and that my Mom will finally get to experience the beauty of NZ and the Kiwi people. She'll get to meet the in-laws for the first time and see where Theo and I were married.

Plus, road trips are always a blast. Hopefully I will stay on the correct side of the road.

Updates and photos to come!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Hallowmericain

Halloween passed by without much fanfare, at least in my neck of the woods. The only minute signs I noticed of its presence were a few jack-o-lantern type pumpkins (as opposed to the Japanese or other pumpkins sold for eating) at the grocery store brought in especially for Halloween and a tiny little rack of costumes for tiny children at Target. People our age and younger (20s) seem to have Halloween parties with the full costumes and everything, but it’s mainly just another excuse to have a party, I think. We didn’t get any trick-or-treaters and I didn’t really expect to, but some co-workers in Gladstone got some, which was surprising! I guess it’s catching on a little. I don’t think it’ll ever reach the proportions of the States, though. Looking at all the photos of carved pumpkins and costumes of friends on Facebook probably triggered the most amount of homesickness I’ve had since I’ve been here, probably because Halloween is my favorite holiday.

But I did have a little something yesterday to keep my mind off of it. The 150th Melbourne Cup horse race took place. And it doesn't pass without a lot of fanfare. TV coverage is like watching a red carpet event with all the reporters commenting on the fashionistas and rich ladies’ fancy hats. It reeks of the British Empire, but with the slightly more casual bent of the Australians.

It’s apparently referred to as “the race that stops the nation’ because people stop everything (including working) to watch it. Which is exactly what happened at my workplace (well, my surrogate workplace, as I’m in Gladstone this week). Pizza and roast chicken was ordered in for lunch (why the combo, I have no idea, but it was Yum) and alcoholic beverages were served. Some of the ladies wore their versions of fancy hats, which were actually funny hats like viking horns and top hats. We gathered in the conference room where there’s a huge TV screen, ate food, and played silly games until the race started. There was a betting scheme where you throw in your dollar or two dollars, then you get a random horse assigned to you. I threw in and got ‘Americain,’ which was the one I had my eye on anyway because of the name. I found out later it’s an American bred horse, with a French jockey, owned by Australians. Very cool, and lucky for me, I thought. It truly was lucky for me, because Americain won! I won a whopping $25 but being the day before payday I had used my last $10 on lunch and bets, so I was pretty excited about the win… on my first Melbourne Cup, too. Not bad at all…