On the road...

Greetings from beautiful Queenstown, NZ!

We've been on the road, so I haven't had much of a chance to update my blog, but here is a quick summary of what we've been up to - I promise I'll upload a bunch of pictures over Christmas (including all the stuff in Australia that can kill you!).

The weekend of November 19th our friends Tim and Jennifer invited us to the Marine Ball. It is a celebration of the Marine Corp birthday which involved a good deal of ceremony (including cutting cake with a sabre) and speeches from the US Ambassador to NZ and several other special guests. There was a great deal of good food and a rocking party after dinner. That same weekend was the annual Toast Martinborough wine festival! It is located a couple hours northeast of Wellington (near the Hawkes Bay region we went to a few weeks ago). The festival includes a number of the area's wineries hiring live music, specialty catering, and offering plenty of wine to taste (all for a price of course). Every year Carsten and Sarah rent an entire train carriage to transport us all from Wellington to the festival and back home. It was a perfect day and an absolute blast.

Our current contracts with work ended on Friday, Nov 23rd - that night we had an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner with Carsten, Andy, Tim, & Jennifer. It was by no means traditional (Salmon instead of Turkey) but there were sweet potatoes (Kumara) and a bottle of really good Pinot from the south island (courtesy of Ann Marie's boss). We barely slept that night because after cleaning up dinner we had to pack for our trip to Australia and the South Island!!

Early the next morning we grabbed a flight to Cairns, Australia and then made our way further north to Port Douglas, which is the perfect place to get out to the Great Barrier Reef. We had a fantastic time (although it was crazy hot) in PD - we went snorkeling on the reef, took a great rain forest tour, ate kangaroo, and relaxed on the beach. It is shocking how big Australia really is - flying from one side to the other takes as long as going Chicago to LA.

After a week in Port Douglas and Cairns, we flew directly to Christchurch and took a bus down to Queenstown (about a 7 hour ride). The trip goes along the southern alps and the views we had were astounding - snow capped peaks over crazy blue lakes. Now we have a week to enjoy Queenstown - probably the most spectacular scenery in NZ - with some friends from the states (they are meeting us in a couple days). Then we'll take a week to tour the rest of the south island before flying home for the holidays!


I do have one picture that I uploaded before we got on our way. As I mentioned in my last post or two, I've been playing Touch Rugby with a team from work. We just got our team t-shirts, which are possibly the ugliest and loudest shirts I've ever seen. They were part of the "Corporate Challenge" which was a big run/walk in Wellington a few weeks ago. ACC provided shirts to all employees who ran/walked it and our Touch team will be wearing those same shirts. Right before the event started, all the ACC employees who were participating gathered for a group photo - there were about 200 people in these shirts... additionally, about a third still had creepy mustaches because it was Movember (and only about halfway in)!!! Here are three of my teammates:

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Hello all - last monday (Nov 5) was Guy Fawkes Day - an infamous holiday in Britain and also celebrated in NZ (of all the English colonies, NZ maintained and celebrated it's connection to England the most). It commemorates the attempt by Guy Fawkes and some others to blow up Parliament in London in 1605. The attempt was barely thwarted and is now remembered annually. Generally, people celebrate by setting off fireworks - either public displays, or the cheap kind you buy at the store. What I find most amusing, is that fireworks are illegal in New Zealand for 361 days of the year, but from the 2nd to the 5th of November you can buy and set off fireworks to your heart's content! We went out Saturday evening with our friends Tim and Jennifer (also Americans) and celebrated Guy Fawkes in style by setting off a hefty quantity of fireworks and then watching the Wellington city fireworks as well. This is a video/picture of Ann Marie doing her best Harry Potter impersonation:

November is also the month of one of NZ's biggest charity drives: "Movember". Men will shave on October 31st and then grow their mustaches throughout the month to raise money for Prostate Cancer research and awareness. Often offices will have competitions to see who can grow the best "mo". No, I am not participating (I was strongly encouraged not to) but I do know some people that have started sprouting impressive mos.

I've been slow to update the blog, so here's some bits on the travel that we've been doing over the last couple weekends:

Taranaki w/ Carsten & Sarah

The 2nd week of October, Ann Marie and I planned another weekend road-trip on the north island - this time to Taranaki on the west coast. The area was a major Maori stronghold during the 1800s, and Mt. Taranaki is considered sacred to the Maori. As legend has it, Taranaki was caught dallying with Ruapehu's wife Ngauruhoe (these are two of the big volcanoes in the center of the north island) and went west to hide and cry in shame (Taranaki is one of the rainiest areas in NZ). The trip was extremely relaxing (especially cause Carsten & Sarah graciously did all the driving) and we got to see the mountain, Dawson's falls, and tons of coastal scenery. Highlights included getting lost (not really, but our map was not what you would call detailed), playing card games with Guinness coasters at an Irish pub, searching for volcanic rocks on the beach, and climbing the Paritutu (the "Rising Precipice"). We missed out on a couple of interesting museums (the weather was great so we opted for the outdoors experience) so a return trip may be in order at some point.

Christchurch

The following weekend (which was a three days weekend for Labour Day here) Ann Marie and I flew to Christchurch to spend the weekend with Jorgen & Mona. We were again lucky with the weather and had a wonder time. On Saturday, Jorgen drove us up into the mountains to see their mountain cabin and the scenery. It rained a bit on us through the passes, but everything cleared up after lunch.

These pics are from a cave system near the cabin - you can hike through the caves by following the stream underground - of course it is an ice-cold glacial stream and the hike requires you to wade knee deep and scamper up a couple short waterfalls (note we didn't actually hike the stream this time).






We also spent some time in this boulder park - all these rocks are the product of erosion. They are immense and wandering among them is quite eerie. Jorgen pointed out a couple of exposed fossils and we also watched some people free-climbing on the smaller boulders.







The South Island is a bit more rural than the north (certainly more so than the areas around Wellington) - check out this boar we saw on our way back from the mountains!

On Sunday, we explored Christchurch itself - we started in the central market to pick up a few souvenirs (and some crepes from a funny and friendly frenchman), walked through Cathedral square and downtown, and then rode the gondola to the highest point in Chch for a great view over the city. That night we enjoyed a fantastic meal with Jorgen, Mona, and my Aunt Charlotte (I should mention at this point that Jorgen is a gifted cook and we ate quite well over the entire weekend).

We got up early on Monday and directed our rental car toward Akaroa. Christchurch is situated just north of the Banks Peninsula, which was formed by two major volcanoes - one crater became Lyttleton Harbor (which is two minutes from Christchurch) and the other became Akaroa Harbor, which is about 90 minutes away. Both harbors are narrow and long, with some spectacular scenery on either side. Our drive included these views over first Lyttleton and then Akaroa harbor.

In Akaroa, we took a harbor cruise during which we saw fur seals, dolphins, and miniature penguins.

We then headed back to Christchurch for another enjoyable meal (a Danish favorite - frikadeller!!) and then made our way to the airport. We're looking forward to getting back to the south island for two weeks in early December before coming home for the holidays.

Road Trip! (AKA Sammy's visit part 2)

So this really should have been posted close to three months ago, but you know how life goes. I wanted to put this all in one blog entry, but my first post got long and I didn't want to post one massive entry so I figured I'd break it up. Good idea in theory, but in execution... not so much. I didn't start right away and then one thing led to another... anyway I wanted to come back and tell the story of Erik and my epic (well... maybe not epic) journey up into the countryside of the North Island.

Erik took that Friday (July 6) off work and we slept in a little longer than we had planned. Sleep is a wonderful thing. At about noon-ish, we wandered down the street to the rental car place, picked up our lovely vehicle and hit the road. One thing that turned out to be a little shortsighted on our part was that we only burned one CD of music. I think by the time we got home 2 days later, we must have listened to that CD about 15 times. Good songs, just too repetitive.

We hit the road with no real plan. We knew we wanted to head towards Tongariro National Park (the place that they used to film Mordor in the Lord of the Rings movies) and we were hoping to head all the way to Rotorua where there are some great hot springs. But we were just happy to hit the road, see the sights and go where the journey took us. It was almost like a scene out of a Jack Kerouac book or something, but much more pretty. We started heading up the coast until we got to Palmerston North. We stopped for lunch there at an Irish Pub that took so long to get our food, I thought they might be hand making the sausage in the back. It did leave some time for me to remember that I am no good at darts at all and Erik is.

The countryside was unlike anything I've ever experienced before. It was like the mountains in Colorado, but much much more lush and green. The grassland in Colorado is much more brown, but in New Zealand, the entire landscape is pure green. It is not however the bright emerald green that is normally associated with Ireland and I believe that is due to the brightness of the sun in that part of the world. Due to the big hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, there is much less of a filter of the sun. It really seems to make colors appear to wash out, like if you took pictures and slightly overexposed the film. Colors don't appear majorly vibrant, but it really didn't matter. Everything was gorgeous. I believe that the sheep outnumber the humans 10-1 in New Zealand and from what we saw as we drove, I wouldn't doubt that statistic in the slightest.

Another thing we came across were a number of cows. At one point, Erik and I had stopped to take pictures and these four cows followed me as I jogged to the other side of a hill to get a better shot of the valley below. They then followed me back to the car. I think they wanted me to take a picture of them, so I did.

Something else we learned is that when you see a sign saying "scenic overlook ahead" you go check it out. We got to Stormy Point just as dusk was beginning to settle in. Those images are some that were burned into my memory forever. Words really can't describe how amazing the scenery was there.

As the sun went down, I took my turn behind the wheel. It was my first experience driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car. Add to that the complete lack of any lights on the side of the road and couple it with the blizzard-like conditions that swept in over the mountains and it made for an interesting drive. One thing that I commented on was the fact that I had absolutely no idea what was on the sides of the road. For all I knew it could have been a sheer cliff on each side and I would have had no idea. I knew that we were driving through the mountains and the road was "The Desert Road" so I had some guesses on what it might have looked like. We were in Tongariro National Park, so I imagined Mordor and I figured that was probably close enough. Finally, I could tell that we were alongside Lake Taupo because I could begin to see the reflection of the city of Taupo begin to reflect off the lake.

We got to Taupo and checked into a neat little hostel. Nothing special, but it was pretty cool. I think the highlight of Taupo was meeting John the Fisherman. Erik and I went to find some food and a drink and we went to one of the local establishments. Out in front was this grizzled guy who we got to talking to. He was clearly a regular at the bar as it looked like he had a standing tab and he knew all the bartenders. We had a great conversation about fishing. He said he used to lead fishing expeditions out on the lake and the rivers around it. Apparently Lake Taupo is one of the greatest places to fish for trout in the world. This guy was so much fun and really took a liking to us. When, while we were ordering dinner, Erik made a comment that everything was better with bacon, John asked the bartender to put bacon on our steaks and to charge the bacon to him. We had a great time chatting with him.

The next day was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. It was a little brisk, but the air tasted pure and clean. We spent the morning at Huka Falls, which are the largest falls on the Waikato River, one of the longest rivers on the North Island. Just a beautiful area with the water rushing by. It was very serene. Another serene location was the Craters of the Moon park which was just just up the road from Huka Falls. I'm just going to let some of these pictures speak for themselves.
I'm glad to see that Erik and Ann Marie went back to Mt. Ruapehu when the weather was better. When Erik and I went, thick clouds were covering the top of the mountain and it had snowed something like 12-15 inches the night before. The skiers were loving it, but it didn't make for good picture taking. Instead, we got some great shots of us climbing through the rocky desert towards "Mt. Doom" in the distance like a scene out of Lord of the Rings. The views from the mountains were amazing. I was struck with how different the climate was in such short distances. One moment, you are in rolling green meadows covered in sheep, the next, desert mountains. It was simply amazing.

Thanks go out to Erik for letting me post to his blog and double thanks for his magnificent hospitality while I was out there. So for now, Be Excellent to each other, and Party On Dudes!

Possum World!! (and other random adventures)

For those who don’t know, the Possum (Opossum) is a hated creature in New Zealand. They were introduced from Australia a long time ago and the lack of natural predators allowed them to spawn like crazy. Note that the NZ Possum is different from it’s smaller North American cousin (which most of us are familiar with). Now, the Possum is a serious risk to native bird and plant species, and the millions of Possums in NZ eat 70,000 tons of foliage every night. People here will go out of their way to kill Possums – my coworker Jeremy (also an American) tells me about his neighbor who traps and kills 40-60 possums every couple weeks. The pelts are actually valuable – the fur is blended with merino sheep wool to create something similar to polar-tec fleece. Here’s another fact from Jeremy – you cannot kill a possum (at least not humanely) with a .22 caliber bullet. You have to use something bigger, cause the possum’s skull is too thick. How insane is that?



I learned many of these facts at ‘Opossum World’ in Hawke’s Bay! Ann Marie and I took a road trip to HB a few weekends ago to check out the east coast, and to see some of the wineries in that area. Possum World was pretty hysterical (and free!). There was a Possum Shooting Range (here I am helping thin the Possum population), and little stuffed possum pelts everywhere. A great place, but shockingly and to our disappointment there were no ‘Possum World’ t-shirts.



The wineries were also a ton of fun. We rented bikes to travel from vineyard to vineyard - there were a couple tough hills, and some brutal head winds at the end, but we really enjoyed the scenery and freedom to go at our own pace. We stayed in the town of Napier, at the former prison there (now a backpackers) which was, to be honest, a little weird - but still enjoyable. It was nice to get out of Wellington and see an area that is totally different from what we’ve seen thus far – HB is mostly flat and dominated by vineyards, although some of the areas have rolling hills. Napier was also completely devastated by an earthquake in 1931 so nothing stands more than a few stories tall.




The following weekend we stayed in Wellington. On Saturday we hiked up to the top of Mt. Victoria – which is one of the two big hills in the middle of the city. The views were fantastic – we could see downtown, the entire harbor including the channel out to the sea, and the ocean-side of the city. The hike took us a good 3-4 hours and included another stroll through Oriental Bay - our favorite neighborhood in Wellington, which is at the base of Mt. Vic. We are trying to do least one hike a week to prepare for some more challenging trips later in the year.





We’ve also made friends with our neighbors the Marines! They were having a barbeque over the weekend which Andy, Ann Marie and I dropped in on. The guys were really nice (they have a great reputation in Wellington and lived up to it) and we met a number of others from various govt. departments (both American and Kiwi). It was fun to share stories from back home as well as NZ – be it about sports, the embassy itself, or some of the things that are different over here. We also learned from our new friend Tim (not a marine, but pictured below in the middle) how to watch football from the states. Unfortunately, there are zero games on during the weekends here – they only broadcast Sunday and Monday night NFL games during the day on Monday & Tuesday. Neither of us has watched a minute of either college or NFL this fall. Tim had his parents to purchase a cable-box with an internet connection. The box can be accessed over the internet, allowing the user to watch anything on their computer in real time (although one drawback is that the box controls the TV it’s connected to, so Tim’s parents have to watch the same thing as him!). We figured that was overkill for us, but if we were staying for three years like Tim, we'd have to look into this option.



The weekend ended on a downer though… on Sunday morning the All Blacks lost a close game to France in the Rugby World Cup – their earliest exit in a world cup yet. On cue, the clouds and rain rolled in as the game ended (it had been a nice sunny morning up until then) and the weather was pretty ugly for the rest of the day. The Kiwis are all disappointed and rather angry at both the team and a particular referee, but they’ve managed to rebound a bit to enjoy the remainder of the tournament (South Africa plays defending champ England next weekend). My team members from work all met up this Monday morning for breakfast at one of the local pubs during the SA-Argentina semi-final before going into the office.

As I mentioned in my last post – I have moved offices! I’m with the same group at ACC, but we have moved into the downtown building. It is a further walk (15-20 min) but it is much easier to run errands during the day, or meet up with Carsten or Ann Marie for lunch. I’m still enjoying the work (currently we’re sorting out next year’s budget), and feel like I have been able to contribute a lot to the team.

This most recent weekend we went road tripping with Carsten & Sarah, but more on that later as well as our upcoming visit with Jorgen & Mona in Christchurch. Hope everyone is well – cheers!

Mr. Doom Gets Angry

Hey all - not sure if it made much news back home, but one of our volcanoes erupted this week! Mt. Ruapehu (the same one Ann Marie and were exploring the base of on our trip to Auckland) launched a good bit of ash, mud, and debris on Monday night. We couldn't see it from Wellington or anything, but it was kinda crazy to think we had been there just a week before. It wasn't a major explosion - just one big rumble that send a "lahar" (river of mud and debris - in this case 8m or ~24ft wide) down the mountain side. Luckily there was only one injury, and while the guy is pretty bashed up, his injuries are not fatal. The last time Ruapehu erupted it was in 1995-96, and it was unstable for several months (the tourism economy was really affected by the decreased ski revenues). This time around, they believe the pressure has been released and the mountain should be safe again (based on temperatures and chemical composition of the crater lake).

We are headed up to Napier in Hawke's Bay after work tonight - HB is one of the three major wine regions in NZ so we'll be touring a couple of the wineries while there. Hope everyone enjoys the weekend back home!

Erik & Ann Marie go to Auckland!

Hello everyone - finally, another post from New Zealand!

Things are going very well. Ann Marie is settling in, and has even got a new job! We have also started to carve the north island up into weekend get-aways. That will be an efficient and cheap way for us to travel while we're working over the next two months.

Our first (of what will hopefully be many trips) was an extended weekend in Auckland. We decided to take the scenic railway all the way from Wellington (for comparison - this is a little longer than taking Amtrak from Chicago to Minneapolis). The Overlander train was a fantastic way to travel cross-country. I love trains because of the freedom to stand up, move around, and even go outside! The scenic trains in NZ (you may remember I took the coastal train from Christchurch to Wellington a few weeks after I arrived here) usually have an open car for optimal photos. I think Ann Marie and I spent about half our train ride on the open car, and ended up with 300-some pictures. It is true that the pictures are all of farmland, but this might be the most beautiful farmland in the world:



Our trip was unexpectedly delayed though. I heard a scratchy announcement from the conductor when we were on the viewing platform - the word was that they were kicking us off the train halfway to Auckland and putting us on buses for the rest of the trip (a cargo-train had derailed earlier up the track). Ann Marie and I quickly pulled out the travel books to see if we should stay the night, instead of taking the bus to Auckland. We decided if one of the local hostels had room for us, and if the train would honor our tickets the next day, we would stay and do some hiking. Here I am, trekking (and carrying ALL of our stuff!) from the train station into the 9 square blocks of National Park city, located at the base of Mt Ruapehu - one of the active volcanoes on the north island:



After settling in at Howard's lodge (the ultimate ski-bum's hostel), we went for a quick hike outside the town. There was a 12km track through the rainforest near our hostel. We aimed for the first scenic point on the trail - the Mt. Taranaki lookout (Taranaki is a large peak on the west coast of the island... Mom & Dad - it used to be called Mt. Egmont). After an hour (during which we learned all about rain in the rainforest) we got to the lookout - but the mountain was missing!!



Here is Ann Marie in the mossy and rainy forest:



We enjoyed the hike nonetheless. After, we met our german roommate Carolyn, did some shopping at the local store (gas station) and grabbed dinner at the corner pub. At that point we crashed (in bunk-beds! I wish I had gotten a picture) - it had been a long day - but I still managed to get up around midnight to catch the All Blacks against Portugal (it was a one-sided affair, but people down here are still talking about the Portuguese during their national anthem - as a semi-professional team, it was amazing that they even made the World Cup, and the pride and excitement showed as they belted out "A Portuguesa").

The next day, we tried to hike on the mountain side, but it was too rainy. We learned a bit about volcanoes, had a lot of coffee, met a nice couple from Texas, and got back on the train.

Luckily, the rain was localized to the mountains, and very quickly we were back into sunny scenery. One of the coolest features of the Overlander train route, is the "spiral". This is an engineer's highlight of the train route - coming out of the mountains and the national park, the terrain descends quite quickly. To compensate, the track does a 540 degree circle, backtracking underneath itself twice, kinda like a roller coaster track might do. At several points on the track, we were able to look back and see the track we had just traversed. Check out this link for a birds-eye view: http://www.tranzscenic.co.nz/images/imagegallery/Print%20versions/15%20The%20Overlander.jpg


Finally, we arrived in Auckland. Our activities included taking the harbor ferry to the extinct volcano Rangitoto, which we hiked to the top. Below is my post-climb euphoria, and the great view over Auckland, it's harbor, and suburbs.



We also spent some time in Devonport - a sleepy beachside town, ten minutes on the ferry from the central business district of Auckland (my co-worker called it the million dollar-mile because of its housing costs). There were several round-topped hills there, which in the 17 and 1800's were the location of Maori Pa, or fortified villages. Ann Marie and I scampered up to the top of one, which may have been the highlight of the trip for me. I was enamored with the view, and the way these hills looked compared to the surrounding landscape.


When we got back from Auckland (we flew, rather than taking the train round trip), Ann Marie started her new job, with the Ministry of Economic Development, which is where my cousin Carsten used to work too. It's only another 5 minutes down the road from my office, so we are both close to home and the city center.

In other news, we spent some time last weekend getting to know the Marines next door (along with Andy, the three of us crashed their party on Friday night) and may barbeque with them next weekend. More on that, our upcoming trip to Hawke's Bay, and my new office location (we're moving) soon. Hope everyone out there is doing well and enjoying themselves.

The best meal ever...

Greetings everyone - I'm happy to report that Ann Marie has arrived, and we've been having a great time the last couple weeks. The NZ weather has cooperated - a little colder than ideal, but the weekends have been sunny and calm! I've finally gotten my act in gear this weekend and post more about what we've been up to.

As many of you know, Ann Marie and I enjoy cooking together. Last week, we decide to take more advantage of specials at the local grocery store - specifically where meat was concerned. We figured this would be good for the wallet, and also get us to expand our cooking horizons. So, on Thursday we bought lamb chops. After seasoning w/ salt & herbs, we threw it in the oven for ten minutes and then dined. I tell you, this was honestly the best home-cooked meal I've ever had. To prove it wasn't a fluke, we tried again last night with Andy and had excellent results!

We've made a couple trips to the botanical gardens (pictures above and below) which is just up the road - it's a nice combination of manicured gardens and nature reserve. This morning we ate at the breakfast & lunch cafe near the rose garden. This past week we also had dinner with Carsten & Sarah, added some decor in the apartment, and started to make some travel plans (we are hoping to go up to Auckland next weekend via the overland scenic railway).

Tonight we are off to a house party and the first All Blacks match of the Rugby World Cup! The whole country is in a tizzy for this event to start, even though the first few games should be easy wins.

Small world....

Disclaimer: this story has not been corroborated, but I'm confident it is true.

So at work on Friday, I was working with one of the ACC Programme Managers (they work directly with providers in monitoring what is charged back to ACC, and yes, that's how they spell it). Anyways, Rosemary asked me if I was Canadian or American (I am often asked the either/or question... maybe my Minnesota accent is coming back), and where in the States I was from. We were talking a little more about the different perspective you get when you're out of your own country and she shared this little anecdote with me:

She said that when the Olympics were held in Los Angeles (1984) she was watching in NZ with some Danish friends and their American relatives in Christchurch, and the Americans were really taken by the non-American coverage of the Olympics, and how different it was from the patriotic coverage back home. Well, combining 1984, Danish Kiwis, Christchurch, and American relatives in my mind, I said "were your Danish friends Jorgen and Mona Schousboe?" She was shocked, and I think a little embarrassed that she just inadvertantly told me a story about my parents. I do need to confirm this with Mom and Dad (if they remember), but I'm pretty sure Jorgen and Mona do not have any other American relatives (certainly not who were in NZ in the summer of 1984 - unless it was my Grandma, or Uncle who came over to visit - regardless, they're in the family).

I told Rosemary she'd probably even met me at the time and we had a good laugh. It is indeed a small world.

Let the two week countdown begin...

...and now the best bit of news (which deserves its own post) is that in two weeks Ann Marie will be here!!! She arrives next Saturday which will be utterly fantastic. I have a couple days off work so we can enjoy a nice long weekend in Wellington. Beyond discussing a number of things we'd like to do, we haven't made specific plans yet, but we'll have four months to explore NZ and hopefully some of the surrounding pacific before we come home for the holidays.

Throw another shrimp on the barby...

...as the Aussies say. This was my first experience grilling fresh prawns (complete with heads, legs, and shells). Extremely tasty, but extremely messy - you really had to work on these guys. I laughed later that night when, upon meeting up with Carsten and his friend Steph and telling them I had grilled prawns for dinner, they both immediately quipped "Throw another shrimp on the barby" in faux-Australian accents. Too funny (here are the three of us that night at the wine-bar).

In addition to prawn grilling and wine tasting, earlier that same night my flatmate and I tried go-karting... one of the guys on my basketball team invited us to his dad's go-kart park. Here are Andy and I before racing (finally - a picture of the infamous flatmate). It was fun and mostly uneventful, except for when one of Andy's wheels came off his kart - he was a bit disappointed, or "quite gutted" as they say in NZ.


Sadly, after a rousing come-from-behind semi-final win, my basketball team lost in the league final last wednesday. Actually, "lost" may be an understatement - we were demolished. There was one interesting aspect though - after the game, the captain of the winning team was asked to address the teams and fans. This is standard in New Zealand - be it the end of the annual Tri-Nations rugby series with Australia and South Africa, or the lowest grade recreational basketball league in Wellington. I think it's rather cool, and to my knowledge, that doesn't occur back home. Hopefully, the team will bounce back and get to the final again next season and win it all.

Now some good news - my cousin and I finally caught a fish! On our fourth expedition we snagged a healthy sized butterfish (or greenbone), which we brought home and deep fried. Marvelous.

I've been unfortunately under the weather this weekend, and haven't really left the house but for a few errands. Hopefully I'll be up and running again in a couple more days.