Saturday, May 31, 2008

Breaker Bay





Hi all,

Today we made it out to Breaker Bay to do some penguin-watching. Unfortunately, we didn't see any, but we're going to read up on them and try it again. It was still worth the trip...rugged coastline, lots of wildlife, and a nice black sand beach with paua shells.

Just thought I'd share some pictures.

Love, Amy

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Fish and cilantro stew

Hi,

I forgot to mention another part of yesterday's good day: our awesome dinner. We've been trying to cook healthy and reasonably cheap meals, and yesterday we hit the jackpot. I thought my dad and Uncle Gary might like to try it, so...

FISH AND CILANTRO STEW

3 tbsp. olive oil
3 celery sticks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped finely
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped finely
3 large white potatos, peeled and cubed
1 can chopped tomatoes
4 cups stock (from cubes)
2 cups chopped cilantro leaves
1 lime, juiced and zested
.5 pounds of cooked shrimp and/or prawns
.5 pounds of white fish
1 dash Taco seasoning
Cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper to taste

1. Heat the olive oil, add the garlic, onion, celery, and carrot. Cook for 5 minutes to soften.
2. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, and stock, and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
3. Add most of the cilantro, all of the lime, and the fish and shrimp. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the fish is done and flaky.
4. Add the last of the fresh cilantro on top. Serve with bread. Makes 4 big bowls.

We used monkfish, which is very expensive in the U.K., and considered posh. Here, we bought a nice long fillet for only $4.25! And the mixed shrimp and prawns were only $3.99 for a 250g bag . We think we need to stop fighting the price differences and just go with the flow, and that means to eat more seafood. The monkfish has a unique texture...it is so fine and flaky that it almost becomes fibrous, and little bits of it were floating everywhere in the broth. It tastes like halibut, too.

Dad, you should try some rockfish this way! You won't be disappointed.

Picture to come!

Love, Ames

A really good day


Hi everyone,

Phew! What a difference a single day can make. Maybe things in Wellington might actually work out, if today is anything to go by.

We did walk across town (about four miles, in the rain) to the Australian embassy. When we arrived, we were blinded by about ten feet of metal fencing and countless security cameras, and gates that were definitely closed for the day. We just turned around and caught a bus back to midtown, and that was that.

But the good news is this: Rory polished off his CV at about noon, sent it to two different video game producers about one o'clock, and then was offered an interview at about 4:30. Our cell phone rang in the grocery store, and boom, Rory is on his way to having a job already. He'll be interviewed later this week. The logo above is from the company, called Sidhe. My brother will be impressed to learn that they did the "Jackass" game. :P

I sent my CV off to one of the directors of NIWA, and she wrote back and said that there are occasional jobs that aren't advertised, and that I'd hear back soon. So we'll see. In the meantime, I put my application in for a Project Assistant job in their Wellington regional office.

Will write again soon,
Amy

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

A small confession


Hi everyone,

I wanted to come clean, and say that we've been discussing spending the winter in Australia. I know it probably seems to come out of nowhere, but the weather here is much worse than we'd imagined. In our daydreaming, we've even picked a destination: Brisbane, on the Gold Coast. Even in winter, it would be sunny and 80 degrees. Plus we could fly there directly, in under three hours.

It probably won't happen anyways, since we think that they require more x-rays. We all know what happened last time we tried that. To verify our assumptions, we're going to the Aussie embassy today to ask them about the ins and outs of their working holiday visa. In the meantime, we are expecting to have to stay here, so we are still preparing for jobs and housing and everything. It was just a thought, and a far-fetched one at that.

So I'll let everyone know what we find out. Even if it is a solid no, at least we'll then be able to focus completely on Wellington.

Love, Amy

Monday, May 26, 2008

No news is....no news





Hi friends and family,

It's been awhile since we've written. I wish I could say that it's because we've been massively busy and have jobs and a place to live and friends...but I can't. It's been a pretty low-key week. We both are slowly figuring things out: Rory knows where WETA is located, and also knows that the video game company is currently recruiting. I know that NIWA is NZ's NOAA, and that their Wellington office is just down the hill from us in Hataitai. I also have found some other charities and wildlife sanctuaries that I can annoy with visits and e-mails, when the time comes. I've got some other jobs bookmarked on my computer, as well, and my CV has been updated with our new address and mobile phone number. Rory is writing his CV as we speak.

So then what have we been doing? Well, the weather has been AWFUL, and when you are on the top of a mountain with no car and spotty bus coverage, you don't feel like doing much. I've never been susceptible to seasonal depression, but having two winters in a row just might do it. The price that the house pays for having an amazing view is that is it also exposed to the elements. Winds have gusted to 60 mph and beyond, and the house is freezing. Really, we can see our breath in the living room, and we huddle around a tiny heater. The picture of Punch and I under the blanket says it all: that poor dog is always shivering. She has been sleeping under the covers with us when Sam isn't around.

I'm really trying to like Wellington, and to dig in, but it has been more difficult than I thought it would be. It is a nice enough place, there is nothing wrong with it, but I find myself constantly comparing it unfavorably to Brighton (and sometimes Edinburgh, our possible next home). It just doesn't have much culture, and it doesn't feel unique. People say that it has a biting alternative feel to it, but we've lived in Brighton: the city where gay men in assless chaps make out on the street corner. I loved being shocked and surprised all the time, so Wellington seems a little boring. And did I mention the weather is terrible?

There aren't many other houses popping up that meet our requirements. We need a furnished room in a nice part of town with wireless internet....and they have to accept couples. This has been pretty demanding so far. One ad even said "no couples or engineers," so Rory was doubly screwed. We're trying to decide the order we should do things: jobs, permenant housing, and then maybe a car. There isn't a clear way forward, so it has been even a bigger adventure than I had planned.

I'll tell you a funny story. We decide we need to take the bus down to get groceries, and it is raining too hard to walk 30 minutes down a muddy hill. So we check our bus schedule, and go out to the bus stop, and the bus is already sitting there. We knock on the door, and a startled man in drag and big gaudy earrings opens it. He abruptly says that the next bus isn't for another twenty minutes. We show him our schedule, and check the timetable on the bus stop, and the driver says that all of it is outdated, that there is a March 2008 schedule. We finally give up and head back into the house, and then we see the bus take off down the hill without us. Sam gives us a ride, and we catch up to the bus, and he is doing his rounds, as normal. Turns out there is no March 2008 schedule, and we don't know if he was just ill-informed or if he decided he didn't like the look of us. This is kind of how things have been going.

We did see Indiana Jones and liked it. We went to the Embassy Theatre, which is where Return of the King had its world premiere. It was really grand. We've also visited the Botanic Gardens before the weather turned, and those were lovely. We walked an hour each way to Pak N Save one day, and carried our groceries all the way back up the mountain. Some days we haven't left the house, and just take turns scouring the internet for jobs and leads on things.

So, in closing, things will progress, but they haven't much yet. Rory and I are doing well, even when we're frustrated. We've got Punch to hang out with if nothing else. I do miss everyone, though, and I've felt more homesick here in the last week than I ever did in Brighton. I hope that things improve once the ball is rolling.

Love you. XXX.

Monday, May 19, 2008

And a few more....



Just because we live in a beautiful place! These were taken a minute from our new home.

The view from our (temporary) house...






Here you go...

So you see what I mean when I say the view is incredible? I've never seen anything quite like it. In the first picture you can see a plane in the sky...we watch them take off from the International Airport on the runway below. And I had to include a piccie of Punch.

We're just getting settled and doing weeks' worth of laundry. Will blog again soon!

XX-Amy

At home in the Shire

Hiya,

We've made it to our temporary home on the top of Mt. Victoria. It was such a relief to get out of the hostel, and the place is even nicer than I remembered it being. I'll post pictures later today...you have to see the view to believe it. The pup, Punch, has already warmed to us and sat on our laps while we watched "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

Sam was nice enough to pick us up and drive us out here. He had cleaned our room and washed the sheets, and the bed was extremely comfy. Our window looks out onto Hataitai, the mountains, and the airport far below. The views to Wellington city are on the other side. We left our curtains open to enjoy the view from the bed, and in the morning I was woken up by a beautiful sunrise. I got up and watched it from the lounge, and it was so relaxing...the sky was orange and pink, and the first planes took off about 7:15.

Apparently Sam's family is very wealthy, and that is why he doesn't stress too much about renting the rooms here. This house must be worth a fortune on its own! Apparently the film crew on the Lord of the Rings used the house during production, and scenes in the Shire are filmed just a short walk down the hill. The scene where the hobbits are hiding in a hole under the dirt road was filmed on the trail that we'll use to get to the city. All pretty cool!

So we've landed on our feet, and are feeling much better. Now it is time to start applying for jobs!

Love, Amy

P.S. Pictures to come.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

A rough start in Welli


Hi all,


Time flies when you are starting afresh in a completely foreign city...!


Last time I wrote we were in National Park. We had a nice evening there, and a nice meal and some beers, and then left with the Stray bus early the next morning. We arrived in Wellington at about 2, and were left on the side of the road with all of our luggage. We drug everything to our hostel, which ended up being a dive.


We were a little down, so we took a walk around town. Te Papa museum is amazing, but everything is very, very expensive here. Worse than Brighton! Tomatoes are $8.99 per kilo, and chilis are $19.99 per kilo. It is just insane. We bought groceries and took them back to the hostel, but cooking is difficult when you are sharing a kitchen with about 50 people. To make matters worse, we were in a four share dorm with a rude German couple who liked to sleep between 3 am and 12 pm.


We were there for two nights. The day inbetween was spent viewing two flats and getting set up with a mobile phone. The first flat was inner-city and awful. The second one was pretty good...on THE summit of Mt. Victoria overlooking Wellington Harbour. Seriously, the house closest to the radio tower, and I can't even describe the view. Unfortunately, the guy showing the room smokes, and isn't the tidiest lad in the world. On the bright side, he has a pretty nice dog named Punch.


The next day (yesterday) we set up a bank account at ANZ and continued getting acclimated to the place. The city is pretty cool...it has a little of everything, but isn't very big, so that you can walk the whole thing in less than an hour. We moved to another hostel which is a little better, but I am getting very tired of dorm rooms and shared bathrooms. Last night I was woken up at least five times by drunk people.


So we've decided to take the place on Mt. Victoria on a short term basis starting tomorrow. It will be about half the price of staying in the hostel, and we'll only be sharing the house with one person (Sam). He is a uni student who just got back from living in Whistler for a year, and was hoping to rent to travellers. That means that starting tomorrow evening we'll have unlimited internet, so I'll be able to be in better contact with everyone.


I also got rejected from the first bunch of jobs I applied for. Hopefully things will look up once we get a good night's sleep.


Catch up again on Tuesday! Miss you all.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Taupo and Tongariro National Park




Hi again,

Just a brief entry about Taupo. We arrived there in the afternoon in time to drop off the skydivers…we couldn’t afford it, but more than half of our bus did it. They said it was fantastic, so maybe after we save a bit, we’ll go back. The town is a base for all kinds of activities that we can’t afford, such as rafting, sledging, jet-boating, etc. The only thing we did is have our usual walk around the town, which was nice enough.

The lake was beautiful, and large enough to fit Singapore inside of it’s area. About 12,000 years ago Taupo erupted in what still is the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The Chinese and Romans both noted a blackening of the sky. Therefore, the lake is actually an enormous crater, and just as in Rotorua, there is lots of geothermic activity.

This morning we caught the bus out to Tongariro, but the weather is too lousy to make the Crossing. Rory and I will come back in summer for another go, so in the meantime we are sitting by the fire on our laptops, looking for accommodation and jobs in Wellington. Could be worse!

Will write again when we get to Wellington.

Love, Amy

Cultural Stop and Sulfurous Rotorua







Hi everyone,

We’ve been busy bees the last few days. We stayed in Raglan until Saturday, and then caught the next Stray bus to the cultural night in Makatu. Rory was the only guy, and so had to do the haka by himself. For those of you unsure what that is, it is the intimidating dance the All Blacks do before a rugby match….it was hilarious. Rory was such a sport though, and the (13) girls in the group loved it.

Us ladies had to do the poi, which involves this little soft ball you throw around and catch. I didn’t really have the coordination to do it, but it was fun to dance and sing along with the Maori group. That night we stayed in the makeshift meeting house along with the entire group, and we consequently caught the cold that everyone else already had. Still good fun though.

We got off the bus in Rotorua and stayed in a nice hostel called the Funky Green Voyager. We spent about four hours at the Polynesian Spa, which was brilliant. There were pools of all different temperatures and pH levels, and our skin felt very smooth afterwards. The entire area is geo-thermally active, so there are steam vents and bubbling mud around every corner. We wanted to go to one of the volcanic parks, but we missed the bus the next morning, so we walked around the town and lakeside, which had black swans. It took me back to my days in Oz.

Anyways, I’ll do another entry about Taupo, so that you can see the difference in the photos.

Love you. XXX

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

From Auckland to Hahei, and then to Raglan






















Hiya!

We've started our little tour around the North Island, and so far it has been lovely. We left Auckland on Tuesday morning and drove up to the Coromandel, arriving in Hahei beach at about three. Rory and I hiked down to Cathedral Cove (pictured), which took about two and a half hours round trip. After that the Stray group had a huge Kiwi barbecue (burgers, sausage, lamb, chicken kebabs, pork loins, chips) and we drank more Mac's beer with the rest of the group. There were about 25 of us, and only two Americans, so we had fun chatting with people from all over.
The pictures are from both Cathedral Cove and Hahei beach. The birdlife was amazing, we saw an owl on the trail, and then many quail and other New Zealand species. The sunset and sunrise were also noteworthy.
We got up the next morning, and then our bus broke down, so we became about two hours behind schedule the rest of the day. We arrived in Raglan about two thirty, and Rory and I decided to spend an extra two nights here, since it is a really laid back beach town. Parts of Endless Summer were filmed here and the surfing is world famous. It makes for a pretty groovy atmosphere. We stayed up at the lodge with the Strayers last night, just to hang out with everyone, but we came down into the main town for the next two nights. The hostel here is great...we used their free kayaks and bikes today, and tomorrow we are going boogey-boarding for just ten dollars. We might also golf, even though neither of us really can.
On Saturday we'll catch the Stray bus again and head to Waitomo and then to the overnight cultural stop. We'll spend the night in a Maori community house and have a traditional feast, which should be awesome. It is a bit expensive though.
I'm not sure when I'll blog again, or if Rory ever will! ;)
Love, Amy









Monday, May 5, 2008

A few more Mac's Great Whites, and it's off to Coromandel


Hi everyone,
Auckland has been a good, but soggy, beginning to our Kiwi adventure. Two days ago it rained so much that there was urban flash flooding (just not here on Mt. Eden, thank goodness).
We've been trying to plan out the next several weeks, as well as get acclimated to life here. I'm still a little bit jet-lagged, but not too bad. As far as job leads go, I was asked for a follow-up application for the job at NZAID (New Zealand Agency for International Development), but they might ask everyone, so I don't want to get too excited. Rory is still working on his CV...until we arrive in Wellington and get settled in, it is hard to be taken seriously. I have to leave my phone and address as 'TBA' on my applications, and I'm sure that seems pretty sketchy.
We leave on the Stray bus tour this morning. Our first stop is Coromandel and Hot Water Beach, then Rotorua, then Waitomo, then a National Park near Mt. Doom (Tongariro), then Taupo....I think I missed a spot. We'll be staying in Rotorua a few extra days, so we'll be traveling for eight or nine days. Because the weather has been so bad, we had to invest in raincoats and hiking boots...an expensive mishap in our packing.
We discovered the supermarket and are feeling better about prices. We also discovered a Kiwi microbrew called Mac's. They make about ten varieties of beer, but so far we have been hooked on Great White, which is a Belgian white beer sort of like Hoegaarden. It is delicious, and a fraction of the price that we paid at the bar. To top it off, we got some yesterday for just $1 a bottle...apparently the six pack had had issues and there were three perfect bottles just waiting for us.
I'll write again in Hahei beach tonight or tomorrow.
Love, Amy

Friday, May 2, 2008

Auckland, NZ

Hello from the other side of the world!

We arrived yesterday after traveling for nearly an entire day. Our plane landed a bit after 6 am...we were tired, but we managed some sleep on the flight despite severe turbulence. Both flights were easy and we didn't experience any problems.

We got our visa stamps and got straight onto a Supershuttle which took us to our hostel. We are staying in Mt.Eden, a suburb, and the Bamber House is lovely. We napped a little and then headed into downtown, where we went to an Asian food court and took a long walk around town.

We went to the Auckland Museum, in the middle of the Auckland Domain. It was a great museum, with lots of natural history and Maori culture. We walked back to the center at dusk, and that is when I took this photo of the SkyTower.

We will be here until Monday morning, and then we leave on our bus tour of the North Island. We are taking the Stray Bus to Hot Water Beach, Rotorua, Waitomo....and then on to Wellington after a week or two. We'll just hop on and off the bus as we please. Should be fun! I'm excited for Rory to see all of the things I was able to experience six years ago.

The only worrying thing at the moment are the prices. New Zealand is really quite expensive, which I didn't notice on my last trip since the exchange rate was so much better. Yesterday morning we shared a breakfast, but it was still nearly 19 NZ dollars. A bottle of soda is between three or four. Looks like we'll be on a tight budget until we get jobs.

Love you all,
and write again soon,
Amy