View Looking straight out from my balcony.
Looking slighty to the left.
Light Lines!
No more world wide floods.
Jazz and Blues Fest in Mission Bay.
6 String Bass!
My Fav. of the evening, funk jazz quartet.
Fire Poi!
Heart Fire Poi.
The theme for Michelle's 21st was gardin party.
Cutie!
The B-day Girl
Michelle, Sophie, and Melody play some strings.
My short term boarders were with the NZ mob.Well it's been a little while since I've posted but though I have been quite busy there hasn't been too much to write home about. After I got my car I immediately put my energies towards finding accommodation. I had one week left in the motel that my company had put me up in but I still had no idea where I was going live when that time was up but in my naivety I figured It wouldn't be too much trouble. How wrong I was, as it would turn out like Victoria housing costs in Auckland have just been through a bit of a rapid increase and I realized pretty quickly that I would have to up my budget to get into something reasonable. Also because I'm only here for a relatively short time I decided that is would be easier to just get a furnished place instead of having to spend the time and money to go out and buy all the furnishings I would need for my time here. The problem with furnished places is that, 1 they are more expensive, and 2 they're not very common anywhere but in the down town core where all the high-rise apartments are and where property is the most expensive. And if that was not enough trouble I was also trying to find a place right in the middle of the student rush when students are coming back from their summer vacation and trying to sort out their own accommodation for their next year of school. There were many occasions when I would find something that I liked and by the next day it was taken, frustrating! So after a week of fruitless searching I was at a loss, and a little stressed as to where I would stay after my time at the motel was up. After on less ditch effort to find something on Saturday I gave up and decided to try and enjoy the rest of my weekend.
Sunday was defiantly enjoyable, after a morning service at HCCC (Howick Christian Community Church) I headed off to my firsts gig as a photographer. Michelle Griffiths 21st birthday party. Having met Michelle 2 weeks ago through her boyfriend Martin, I felt pretty privileged to be invited to apparently one of the biggest birthdays of a young kiwi's life. Having found out I was a little into photography she asked me If I would be willing to help document the day with some photos. Giving me a chance to meet many of her family and friends and be useful and the same time, needless to say I was more than happy to.
During the party I was invited to stay at a few different people's homes when they found out that I was going to be out on the street the next day, and one of those offers came from Graeme and Alison Wilcox, Martins parents, after giving them fair warning and trying my best to dissuade them I finally accepted their offer to stay in their spare room until I could find accommodation of my own.
After the party I stuck around to help clean up and then was invited back to Michelle's parents house for some snacks, gift opening and some reminiscing of Michelle's last 21 years including some junior school drama video's. At a hour slightly to late for a Sunday night I thanked my hosts and headed home for my last night in the Aarangi Motel in Kohimarama.
The following week was much more promising on the home front, no longer having the stress of having no place to stay allowed me to relax and not have to jump into anything that I may have regretted later. On Wednesday I looked at an apartment downtown that looked like it would fit the bill but the realtor assigned to it was being quite flakey and ended up being half an hour late to the showing. He rarely answered phone calls or emails and even when you did get to talk to him he was quite hard to understand having a VERY thick Chinese accent mixed with Kiwi English. I found out later that it just so happened that his computer and his phone decided to pack it in that week, and when I finally signed on the deal he gave me one week of free rent for the inconvenience YAY! So now I have a place but there's no power or hot water, and because I moved in at the end of the day on Friday I won't be able to hook that up until next week but at least I have a place! It's on the 10th floor of the C-Vu (Sea View) Apartment complex and its situated about a 15 min walk from the downtown core and has a great view over the city and out into the harbor. It is a 2 bedroom place, so if any of you find yourself in Auckland give me a ring and I can put you up, as long as none of my co-workers or boss are in town.
I was also able to enjoy some local indie music last week, Marty, Michelle, Sophie (A good friend of Michelle) and I went to a little pub to see a double bill with 2 Kiwi bands Mercury Crow and Glory Sea. Both bands were quite enjoyable but I think my favorite was defiantly Mercury Crow; they were a bit of a rock/blues mix reminiscent of Canada's own Wide Mouth Mason but of course wouldn't be able to hold a candle to Shaun Verreault and the boys. Still a good show none the less.
Once again thanks for all your comments and well wishes and Much Love!
P.S. I promise to post some more pictures soon!
So it's been 2 weeks since I first set foot on New Zealand soil and I am only starting to get a sense of even just the small portion of Auckland I am currently living in, well that and where I'm working and some of the space in between. After my long weekend getaway I focused in on getting myself settled into Auckland before planning any more out trips, (pouty face here) but once I'm settled than I can more easily focus on planning my travels.
I have also managed to meet a few more people, I know, surprise surprise. Last week I met up with Martin and John, also known as Marty and Jono. (for those of you don't know Marty and Jono, they are a couple of Kiwis who spent a little time in BC and came out to the place a few times, great guys!) and was introduced to a few of their friends here at a BBQ, no shrimp where involved that's an Aussie thing. For the record don't call a Kiwi an Aussie, it's kinda like calling a Canadian an American. Later that week Marty also invited me to a friendly poker game with some more of his friends but I don't know if I made any friends after the night was over and I was 50 bucks richer. . . I have also been making a few friends at work, Brent the fella who works beside me invited me out to his place for dinner with his Italian fiancée Alessandria. That was more wonderful for me than they probably know, because it was the first and only home cooked meal I have had in the time that I have been here. Brent also let me sample some of his home made ginger beer which I'm taking quite a liking to. (No it's not alcoholic!).
Blue!
They have some of the nicest public washrooms I have ever seen!
I didn't leave the city this weekend, I focused my efforts on trying to find a car to help me get around this very tough to navigate city and to aid me in my future travels. Lucky for me and anyone else looking for a cheap car NZ has had a major influx of inexpensive yet reasonably dependable cars from Japan and that has driven prices in the used car market way down. My search found me down town Auckland on Saturday, and I was soon distracted by the other sites and sounds of a city in the height of tourist season. While wondering along the waterfront my mom and little sister Crystal called me using Dads Skype account (4 cents a min!) while talking to them I found myself wondering into the Team New Zealand Americas Cup boat yard. I wasn't sure if I was even allowed there as there was no one else around but as the same time no one was asking me to leave so I took a few pictures and wondered out again. After that I headed to the more public waterfront and enjoyed a few buskers and sights before heading back home for a swim and some time on the beach.
This guy was funny!
Very Funny!
Just like Victoria in the summer!
Bus and Train Central Station
The final big news is that I finally do have my own set of wheels! After a bunch of shopping around I have picked up a 1994 Subaru legacy at the Sunday car fair for a mere 2300 bucks. Pretty good I thought especially since the guy selling it was originally asking 2900. It's one of those classic looks good from afar but is far from good, not to say it's a bad car, it just as a few nicks dings and scratches but is got brand new tires and it runs well and that's all I need. I don't have a name for it yet, but I feel like it should have one so if any of you have any Ideas, let me know.
The fuzzy dice were a big selling point!
Home sweet home away from home . . . for a while anyhow.
A little shot of the national past time, well that and Crickett . . . and Rugby . . . oh and sailing. Well ok maybe not, but they sure like to fish here!
Tamaki Rd, a beach drive that snakes along the water front for 8km from down town Auckland.
A little shot of Rangitoto Island, the newest island in NZ at a Very young 800 years old!
Ah, to be young again, and chase birds with sticks!
You know, Crickett would be so much more appealing if it wasen't named after a insect related to the locust, and if you didn't look like such a pansy at bat.
Taken from the car, heading south to Cambridge.
A little shot of Froggarts, that was probably the tallest route there.
Bryony!
Alethea!
My view from my hammock in the morning!
By by, ABS, time for another 2 hour stint in Bryony's blue Ford Lazer!
Well the first week has been great! But the first weekend was even better! Everyone I have met has been very friendly and the Porters and been very kind and more than accommodating, particularly Amy (David's daughter) who has been generous enough to give me a ride to work every morning last week. As it turned out the first weekend I was to spend in NZ was a long weekend, (Auckland's Provincial Anniversary) Perfect! I was fortunate to have not one, not two but three weekend options! First the Parachute Festival, the largest Christian music festival in NZ was scheduled for this weekend, I was also invited to head into the northland to enjoy some tennis and a great beach, or head south for some solitude and Climbing! So most of you could probably guess what I chose.
Friday after work I was picked up by my new friend Bryony, who I had met via an email introduction by Leah Woods (Thanks Leah!). She was with her cousin Alethea, and together the 3 of us headed south to the Adventure Bible School lodge just outside of Cambridge about 2 hours south of Auckland. We Arrived at the lodge At about 9:30 and met some more of Bryony ABS friends who were staying at the lodge for a few days. After some ice-cream and conversation we hit the hay to prepare for a day of climbing on Saturday.
Saturday did not disappoint, we had a couple of location options but we decided to go to the closest and free-est local known only as Froggarts. Froggarts is a small collection of small crags none more than 25m with a difficulty range of 14-29 (North American ratings of about 5.7 to hard 5.12). The Day went great until the sun poked it blazing face over the cliff face immediately shooting the temperature at the wall to about 30 deg. So it was at that time that we decided to call it a day and head back to the Lodge.
After a lovely dinner of veggies and meat pie (quite a staple in NZ) we suited up in wetsuits and lifejackets and headed out to float down the nearby river and see the glowworm colony on the cliffs alongside. That I must say was quite an experience, not only were the glowworms out in full force but the sky was magnificent. Now I'm no astronomer but it's amazing how different the sky looks, familiar constellations are no longer there replaced by a totally new arrangement; it's really quite something to think that I had never seen that portion of space before. That night I decided to give my Hennessey Hammock tent a try and it worked great, I'm looking forward to really using it in my future travels. (Thanks Crystal and Allison!).
Sunday was more of the same but because of me it started a little later . . . I was really tired! We headed back out Froggarts and this time the blazing heat was subsided by a sporadic cloud cover but it was still pretty warm. Later in the day another couple of Bryony's friends met us at the climbing area and climbed with us till about 8:00. After picking up some food we headed back to the lodge for dinner and another night comfy in my hammock.
Monday was another sleep in followed by a quick clean up and ride home . . . oh and I can't forget the ice cream . . . apparently kiwi's eat the most ice cream per capita in the world . . . and after being here for a week I'm not surprised.
So all in all I couldn't have asked for a better first weekend in NZ. I'm really enjoying my time here so far and the future looks great. But I do miss you all and super appreciate all your little notes via email and facebook (it's good for something). Much love and I'll try and get some more updates up soon, and more pictures!
A stormy day in Auckland, but still warm enough for a tee shirt and shorts!
Kohimarama is the part of town that my motel is in, it’s just over a block away from the beach!
NZ The land of tanned feet! Ok well maybe not yet, and its true they do drive on the wrong side of the road!
