The (epic) NZ Road Trip

If I spent as much time on this blog as I do Facebook, this blog would be epic! Ha! As there is only so much time in the day, I didn't keep up on my blog during the road trip as much as I had hoped. So I'll just share the highlights (which is no small task either)...

After Christchurch, we drove through the mountains on our way to Nelson, in the top of the South Island. We stayed at perhaps the nicest hostel on Earth. Not having loads of hostel experience (I've stayed at maybe 1 or 2 my whole life), I still think my description is accurate. It was on the 2nd floor in a 1800s mansion perched on top of a hill, with awesome facilities, comfy beds, and a fully equipped kitchen.



Our main activity from Nelson was visiting the golden beaches of Kaiteriteri about an hour's drive.



Next was the 3.5 hour ferry ride from Picton to Wellington, crossing the Mildford sound from the South to the North Island. It was beautiful the whole way.



After relatively easy driving and not huge traffic in Christchurch, it was a shock to the system to be dumped from the ferry into the middle of Wellington rush hour traffic! Thankfully, we navigated our way right to our hotel and parked it for the rest of our time in Wellington.

I have to say, I LOVED Wellington. I've been told it has atrocious weather, but the weather gods shined down on us for pretty much the entire trip. Wellington is the capital of NZ and has probably the most vibrant arts and culture scene in NZ, and you can tell this just by walking around. There are art sculptures, fountains, funky shops and cafes everywhere. We took a walking tour and the guide told us Wellington has the most coffee shops per capita (in the world? Can't remember). I'd believe it though. Any little cubby hole big enough to fit a espresso machine, pretty much had one!! It's a very walkable city, and pretty livable I'd say. We took tours of the parliament buildings, visited the botanical gardens, and toured the Te Papa, an incredible New Zealand/Moari culture museum.





Next we were on the road to Napier/Hawke's Bay, which is on the very Northern end of the NZ wine region (which is huge). I unwittingly chose Napier for our wine tasting (on bikes) experience, not realizing it specializes in reds, which I prefer. If we had visited further south, it would have been mostly whites, so that was a lucky move. I did learn something about my wine palatte... I'm not a syrah fan. Now I know. But we tasted lots of yummy wines, even a white I liked!



We also visited the beach in Napier and discovered how different they are from the last golden beaches... these were black. I think they're the first black beaches I've ever seen!



The trip began to pick up the pace after Napier. The rest of the trip was mainly one day visits in each city.

We sped through Taupo and only got a glimpse of the huge Lake Taupo and stopped briefly to see the beautiful Huka Falls.



In Rotorua we met most of the family for a Maori cultural dinner, including Maori entertainment and a chance to make a fool of yourself on stage! This was mom's first meeting of the in-laws, so it was really nice.



The next day, mom also got to experience the odoriferous splendor of Rotorua. Because NZ has so much volcanic activities and Rotorua in particular contains so much geothermal activity and nearby sulfur deposits, all you can smell is the sulfur... all the time. I had been there before, but never spent the night. Waking up to sulfur smell was an interesting experience... ha! We visited a Maori thermal park (Te Puia), where there's both a weaving school and carving school to preserve the traditions of the Maori people.





After that, we drove to Tauranga and had dinner with my niece, which was nice. The next morning, I forced mom to climb Mount Maunganui, which is a must do activity. The view is completely worth it. Plus, this is the area of NZ where Theo used to live, work, and climb the Mount on a regular basis, so I was kinda part of the Theo tour :)



After the Mount we drove to Judith and Martin's farm, so mom got to see where Theo and I got married. Judith made us a lovely lunch and gave mom the full farm tour. An added bonus was getting to see the local swinging bridge. Very cool.



We spent the night with another sister-in-law nearby and visited her farm as well. We had a lovely dinner with them and relaxing evening sharing photos and stories.



We couldn't have had more opposite experiences than driving from the farm to Auckland, back to the city. Again, we miraculously made it to our hotel alive. We were in the heart of the city with a wonderful city view. The next day we got to have lunch with another niece, this one a student pastry chef. We got to eat at the fancy restaurant where she works :) It was yum, of course!



Our only driving mishap took place in Auckland. On the way to the airport, we got lost. But considering the miles and miles we had driven up to this point, it was bound to happen. But in the end, we made it to our flights safely and on time.

Of course there are many more stories to tell and many more photos. If you want to see more, check out my facebook page. And in the next blog, I promise to tell you more about my new home in Brisbane! yay!

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.

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!

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…

The Magpie Solution

Today was the day to try my new zip ties. I half-heartedly zipped up two of them on my bike helmet like dorky antennae. I was pretty ambivalent about the experiment until I mounted my trusty bike and started on my route. As I biked along, something came over me and I realized the excitement of what was about to happen. I was soon to be victorious against my daily attacker(s) like a mini 'woman versus wild' episode. I felt kind of like a soldier going in to a easily winnable war, and instead of antennae I was wearing feather-plumed battle regalia. (yes, i'm melodramatic)




I approached the corner where my normal attacker lives and easily glided through his territory, with not even a glimpse of him or his nasty shadow. I couldn't believe it! He must have seen me from his nest or close to it, saw my triumphant plumage, and refused to fight! I was absolutely ecstatic, to say the least. :) I am proud to say, my eyes will remain safely in their sockets.

Spring Has Sprung…right upside my head

You may have seen the photo I posted on Facebook showing a stalking magpie on my route to work.



I thought at the time that it was an anomaly, just one crazy bird. Since then I have learned it is quite common here. We are now in full blown Spring season, and magpies everywhere are defending their nests. It seems their favorite objects of scorn are bikers. They swoop down at your head and usually make this clicking noise seemingly right in your ear, making you think you’re being shot at or something! I’d really like to know how they make that sound, too. Sometimes they even make contact with your helmet, which makes me a little angry. I’ve never been the type to want to shoot a bird, but they are really starting to inspire something in me!

They actually do stalk you, too. The first time I saw it was when I took that photo of theo. The first time I experienced it myself was totally eerie. I was riding down a sidewalk on a street lined with telephone poles. I couldn’t see the bird, as I was looking ahead and down at the sidewalk. What I did notice was a shadow on the sidewalk of a bird on the wire, then as I continued, the bird would swoop to the next section of line, then the next. Finally it made its move at me and then I knew for sure it was stalking me. How creepy! I often wish I could resurrect Alfred Hitchcock (or Hitch as I like to call my other dead secret soul mate) and assist him in making a sequel of “The Birds” here in Australia, because I think the natural talent is abundant!

I’m confounded about why they choose bikers, since we are simply riding quickly through their territory and aren’t even around long enough to disturb their nests. Cars are too large and fast. People walking are too small and slow? I don’t know. But bikers apparently are just right.

Some bikers put zip ties on their helmets so they extend upwards like little alien antennae, which I think I’m going to try, although I know I’m going to look like an even bigger dufus with them on. I’m still weighing which is worse, but I’m leaning towards looking like a dufus.

Healthcare Update

This update is about two weeks late.

I’ve been preoccupied with being fully entrenched in the daily grind of working life. On the positive end, I’m learning a lot and on the other end, I got to endure my first workplace bullying psychodrama. With the negativity behind me (hopefully) I can continue learning through some upcoming travel opportunities to other regional offices and I’m looking forward to a much-needed vacation in November with my mom in New Zealand. Yay! (more about that in the future!)

So I had promised to update you on the insurance coverage from my $75 doctor visit/prescription fees. I ended up getting $35 back from my insurance company, which isn’t bad considering I only pay about $85 a month. I had signed up for almost the bare minimum of health coverage because I don’t feel like paying a bunch of money for something I probably don’t need much at this stage in my life. I just need something to cover emergencies and allow me to stay in the country legally.

Getting the insurance was unbelievably easy. I searched online, found something catered towards visa holders and reasonable prices with terms and conditions that were actually readable. This is something I’m not used to. I downloaded their application, mailed it in, and voila, I was basically instantly covered from the day they received it. It was a one-page application, maybe two if you count the automatic payment details page. No medical exam, even. There was a 2 month waiting period before I could claim anything, but can you blame them when they only charge $85 a month!?! I hear these horror stories of people back home being charged upwards of $900 a month for insurance, with awful exams after which they give you a laundry list of reasons why your premiums should be higher. I definitely feel lucky in this department.