Eight months down

We have passed the 8 month mark in New Zealand. A lot has happened over that time and we are settling in fairly well.

Saturday was the day that the boob tube arrived. We have been going without a tv since we moved down here. John was able to buy a flat screen through work. The guy that he made the purchase through said 'I am not responsible for all the wasted hours you spend in front of it'. We have put in our share of couch time the last few days!

We decided to contract out the bathroom and flooring work for the house. The bathroom guy started on Monday and a guy is in tomorrow to do tiling in the kitchen.

I am hoping to get out of the front of the tv and do something fun this weekend. We have been working to hard at the house and the jobs the last few weeks.

What we have learned in NZ

Here are few random thoughts on what we have learned since moving to NZ.
*Building a good fire- We are getting to be pros at starting a fire when we get home from work.
* Hunting for fire wood- Keeping the eyes peeled for anything that can burn. John has cleaned out the miscellaneous wood that was stashed under the deck when we bought the house. We also made a trip to the local garbage dump for free reclaimed wood over the weekend. Yahooo---- the garbage dump as a Sunday outing!
* Kiwis think they are living on a tropical island - For years, the government and builders have forgotten that it is freezing for 6 months out of the year. The government is finally starting to realize this and as of July 1 is starting to offer rebates to insulate houses as a way to create jobs and to 'green' up the environment.
*The fast lane is not always the fast lane- You can't be committed to your traffic lane or get lulled into thinking the speed will pick up just around the bend. Driving the motorway every day I have learned that lane jumping is a necessity to get anywhere.
* Plan twice as long to get anywhere- See above. Plus, there are few straight roads and there are traffic jams on Saturday afternoons around here.
* Take a second look at the prices- Sometimes the prices don't include the 12.5% GST tax, which can really get you at the register.
* Rugby- We are slowly learning the rules. Just remember you have to pass backwards to move the ball, you can't throw it forward. The All Blacks are the national team. They are not a full time team though. Instead they call up the best players from the regional teams for the games. Seems like it operates like major league baseball in the US. You might be called up for one game and if you don't perform, you get sent back to your regional team and they try out another guy.
* If you are John, don't have a drink and drive- I believe he has been stopped 5 times now for random breath checks.
* Get to the airport parking early- John missed his flight this morning to Napier because he had to wait for 20 min for the shuttle bus.

South Island Adventures

The South Island is the true outdoors persons paradise. I call the South Island the 'true' NZ. It is the area that we first fell in love with a few years ago. The North Island is more about beaches, BBQ's, boating, and baching it on the weekends. The South Island is all about rugged terrain, going miles without seeing anyone, and living off the land.

Proving the 5 degrees of separation theory----We flew to Christchurch Thursday night after work. I booked a B&B outside of Christchurch not knowing anything about it. It just happens that the owners of the B&B are none other then the parents of Phil Keoghan, the host of the Amazing Race! John Keoghan, his father, just returned from a 40 day trip across the US. John supported his son Phil in the MS bike ride across the US. John and I were standing in the kitchen scratching our heads about why we knew the name Phil Keoghan..... it just so happens that our friends from DSM and our friend Phil from Omaha rode with him when he passed through the respective cities. We will have to start watching the Amazing Race now. There was recently an episode of the Amazing Race filmed in NZ.

Proving NZ will put a road up anything----- Friday morning we headed up to Mt Hutt to go skiing. Mt Hutts claim to fame is that it is one of the first ski fields to open in the Southern Hemisphere each season. To get to the ski area, you drive from sea level up gravel mountain roads (with shear drop offs and no guard rails) until you reach about 6500 feet. From there you can ski the top portion of the mountain. Mt Hutt was closed on Thursday due to gale force winds. On Friday, the lower lift was open and later in the afternoon the lift that goes to the very top of the mountain opened up. We took the very top lift only one time. We had a hard time getting off the lift because the wind was blowing so hard and about 20 ft from the top we got sandblasted with snow. I would have liked to seen what the gale force winds were like the day before! So,we took our look at the panoramic view and called it good. That night, we stayed in Methven at a really nice boutique B&B and meet 2 couples on their honeymoon (one for South Carolina and the other from England).

Seeing the Cloud Piercer ---- On Saturday, we took a leisurely drive south to Aoraki/Mt Cook. Aoraki means Cloud Piercer in a Maori dialect. Mt Cook is the highest mountain in NZ at 12,316 feet. Mt Cook is part of the Southern Alps range which has 70+ glaciers and over 140 peeks standing over 6600 feet. On the way, we stopped at Lake Tekapo. There is a lake and little church here which is a tourist 'must see'. One of our B&B hosts said they had once seen 13 tour buses here at one time! It is a great spot--- check out the pictures and see for yourself. We also stopped at the Mt Cook salmon farm. The farm is in a hydro canal used for power generation and is the highest salmon farm in the world. Next was on to the Hermitage at Mt Cook. The Hermitage is a historic resort in NZ and is in the valley at the foot of Mt Cook. We were on a recon mission to check out the area for friends in coming in Nov. The 55 k road up to Mt Cook was very foggy- you couldn't see the lake we were driving along. Fortunately, the resort was above the fog level so we had a perfect view of the mountain. I feel we lucked out getting a view of the mountain. Many people travel here and only see the mountain covered in clouds. Saturday night we stayed at the Hermitage and watched the NZ All Blacks lose to France. (P.S. we have tickets to see the All Blacks against Australia in a few weeks time).

Tramping to glaciers and icebergs---- After a restful night at the Hermitage, we got up early for some tramping. We saw a few of the parks glaciers, crossed a couple of suspension bridges, and saw some icebergs. Mt Cook was clear at the start of the tramp. By the time we got back from the tramp the mountain range was socked in with clouds and was spitting snow. That was the end of our South Island fun this time around. The next time we plan to be down here is in November with friends from Iowa.

For a full range of trip pictures see here - http://picasaweb.google.com/jandlmarshall/SouthIsland2009_06_1202?authkey=Gv1sRgCIT7-f68laXNiwE#

Nothing much new in NZ

We continue to work on the house and try to stay warm. I just got done posting a bunch of remodel discard items on Trade Me (the NZ version of Ebay). We have been looking at bathroom tile and fixtures, have gutted the closet and replaced the light in the bedroom. Still a long ways to go!

We are headed to the South Island for the weekend on Thursday. This is partly to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary on Saturday. We will be flying into Christchurch. From there, we plan to head to Mt Hutt and Mt Cook. We hear that Mt Hutt is open for skiing so we will check out the snow conditions. There has been quite a bit of snow in the South Island. I believe this is Mt Hutts earliest opening ever.

Swine flu is still in the news. The Victoria area in Australia has over 1,000 reported cases. NZ just passed some emergency quaratine messures. Thee was an article in the local paper last week that the US says swine flue originated in NZ ?!?!?!

Long live the 3 day weekend....

Posting by John today....
Apparently, when you are Queen, you can have your birthday on the first Monday of June, regardless of what day you were actually born. I never held the British Monarchy with too high of a regard, but if it gives me an occasional three day weekend holiday, I guess I'm OK with it.

I've decided that there are two things that you can sell in NZ and make lots of money.

1. Coffee. Lots of caffeine addicts. Rarely been to a cafe that did not have a line/queue. One in two business meetings are usually held in a local cafe.
   
2. Heaters. You would think that insulation would sell pretty well to, but it is much easier to just turn on a space heater than install insulation. I hold the NZ home building industry in lower regard than Prince whathisname. They probably do better work today than in the past, but thier past work was pretty pathetic.

Activities last weekend: Farmers market sampling lots of strange fruit, tramping to another waterfall, having a couple Minnesotans over for dinner, and began gutting and redecorating the master bedroom and bathroom.

Koalas, Penguins, Dolphins, and Roos......

We returned home from our trip to Melbourne and vicinity late last night. We had a really nice few days. It was our first trip to Australia. A few impressions- the Victoria area (state Melboure is in) is very flat. Flat as a pancake for miles and miles. It is also very dry. They are running only around 30% of water in reserve in the wells. Conservation and water reclaiming is key. You could see lots of dried up lakes and rivers. The swine flu mania has also hit Melbourne. We got temperature scanned in the airport and they were also shutting down schools the last few days. The Victoria state has around 4 million people (about the size of NZ) and Melboure has something like 3 million people (double the size of Auckland). Melbourne is light years ahead of Auckland when it comes to public infrastructure..... they have a free city circle tram, light rail service and train service. Overall, it was a cosmopolitan city that was friendly and clean and was doing a lot of right things to draw in the tourists. Melbourne was one of the richest cities in the world in the late 1800's and it still shows. Here are some trip highlights:


Pictures- http://picasaweb.google.com/jandlmarshall/Melbourne2009_05_21?authkey=Gv1sRgCM-Hqv2J0-rZhgE#

Thursday- We arrived in Melbourne on Thursday and got settled in a B&B that used to be an old stone bakery. We did a walking tour around the city and also made a visit to the aquarium. It was a well done aquarium with peppy penguins and rangers that gave some interesting talks about the wildlife. Thursday night was saw Billy Elliot the Play in the theater district. It is about a kid in England in the 1950's who is supposed to be learning to box and instead turns to ballet. I believe this show is coming to the DSM Civic Center (or has been already). Go see it if you get the chance. We really enjoyed it.

Friday- We started the day by going to Victoria's Market. There are 1,000+ stalls at the outdoor market- everything from shoes, to clothes, to fruit, veggies, meat and gourmet shops. In the afternoon we rented a tandem bike and cycled the trail that runs along the Yara River. That evening with had dinner in the Italian District.

Saturday- We picked up a car and headed south out of town to Phillip Island. The main reason for going here was to visit the koala conservatory and see the Penguin Parade. First stop was the koala's. We found out the koala's are extremely lazy. To find a koala, you look for a furry butt sleeping in the tree. Check out the pictures..... you will see what I mean. We also saw a wallaby (small kangaroo) at the koala conservatory as well. Next stop was the Penguin Parade. The island is home to a large populate of Little Penguins (yes, this is the official name). The Little Penguin is the smallest penguin. The little penguin will spend 2 - 3 weeks at sea fishing. At dusk, there is a particular beach where any penguins that are back from fishing nest at. All the penguins come in at dusk in waves. So, you will see groups of 50 - 100 of the penguins come to shore, cross the beach and go to their nests in one wave after the other. The penguins have their nightly parade choreographed pretty well- one group makes it across the beach and the next group comes out of the ocean to start the journey. Pictures weren't allowed during the penguin parade but you can see one here- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_penguin

Sunday- Sunday we took a car ferry to cut time off the driving and had a couple dolphins visit the boat during the trip. They didn't stick around long, but we at least got a look. The goal for Sunday was driving along the Great Ocean Road on the southern coast of Victoria. This is kind of like driving Hwy 1 in CA- very scenic and also listed as one of the top drives in the 1000 Places to Visit book. At the end of Great Ocean Road is what I really wanted to see. The Twelve Apostles. The Twelve Apostles are majestic rock formations standing off the beach. It told John we drove 150 miles to see rocks.... but it was worth it. Sunday night we stayed at another B&B along the Great Ocean Road. We had wine and cheese with the owner and her friend and heard some local stories about kangaroos getting in the road (just like the deer in IA).

Monday- We woke up to rain Monday morning. The locals were happy as they will take any moisture that comes around. We had hoped to see whales on Monday put they were not yet in the harbour for the birthing season. We headed back to Melbourne to head home. Highlight at the Melbourne airport---- Krispy Cream donuts! Can't buy one of these in NZ!

Now back to work for a few days. This weekend we have another 3 day weekend. It is the Queens Birthday..... got to love the queen for giving everyone a holiday for her birthday.

Bike to work week support

John took one for the bike club last week. As we are the International contingent of BOW WOW HOT International, he felt it was his duty to represent the NZ contingent of the club and ride to work for Bike to Work week in Des Moines. It was cold, he got rained on, had a flat tire on the way home and rode in the dark. But you can say part of us held up their end of the deal. I on the other hand rode when it was nice and warm on Sunday---- I think that counts though as it was only Saturday in DSM. Congratulations to the group for coming in 2nd place on entries! That is great!

We saw the premier of Angels and Demons last week with our free tickets from the newspaper. The movie gets two thumbs up! I liked it better then Da Vinci Code.

On Friday night we met our friends Sarah and Rod for drinks. We celebrated Sarah landing a job with a big advertising firm. She has been out of work for 6 months. It took about 4 months for her to get a work visa after they moved here from England and a couple months for her to find a job. Saturday we met up with Jo and Nick who showed us around when we came to Auckland for job interviews last Sept. Jo used to work with John while he was at Pioneer. She lives here in Auckland. They just moved into a new house and are working on getting settled. Sunday John went out sailing with the guy that he has been going with ..... sounds like it was a nice time except for getting rained on. Notice the rain theme continues to build......

We leave for Melbourne on Thursday. I will have lots of pictures and stories to share next week.