We have been spending any free time working on putting down wood flooring in the house. We have 2 rooms done and will start on the 3rd this weekend (we are doing 5 rooms in total). It is starting to turn spring like- the daffodils are up, the rose bush leaves are starting to bud, it isn’t raining so much and we haven’t been keeping the fire stoked up at night. There was a mention on the radio of ‘early spring’ the other day as well.
For fun news, we attended Starlight Express the other night in downtown Auckland. Starlight Express has historically been a permanent show (in London and New York only I believe). Someone from NZ figured out how to make it a touring show for arena venues. The whole show is done on roller skates and is about a competition between trains. John is planning on sailing this weekend with the guy he races with. I am planning to attend the Food Show.
In local news, there are a couple big issues being talked about. A couple years back a law was passed that made it a criminal offense to smack your kids (on the hand or anything). There is a citizens referendum (vote) being held this weekend to determine if the citizens want to keep this law or revoke it. Based on the citizen response, Parliament will make a decision on what to do. This is getting a lot of publicity on both sides of the issue. The other issue is changing the drinking laws. There is talk of raising the drinking age from 18 to 20 and making the bars close at 2:00 am (currently they can be open all night). They are also talking about dropping the blood alcohol level (which is the same as in Iowa right now). NZ at one time thought they would create a European sophisticated drinking culture by allowing drinking at 18. Instead, they have just created more people that get pissed every night. The other hot topic is the parliaments travel spending. Get this---- if you are a member of parliament from about 20 years ago, you have a grandfathered clause that lets you travel anywhere in the world with your spouse for a 90% discount on the tax payers dime! You don’t even have to be in office anymore. Obviously this is getting a few people talking.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
All Blacks 22 Wallabies 16
We attended our first rugby match Saturday with our friends Sarah and Rod. We had great seats, only 3 rows off the pitch. The All Blacks start every game with the Haka. The Haka is a traditional Maori dance and was often used in war. Generally, the opponents watch the Haka at the start of the game. Obviously some of the opponents don't enjoy the ritual as it can be very intimidating (as it is supposed to be). Here is a youtube video from a past All Blacks game of the Haka.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMCAV6Yd0Y&feature=related
Each side scored at least one try (5 points) and the rest of the points were off drop goals (3 points). The public opinion is that the All Blacks played better then they had in previous games this year but still are not up to speed yet. Check out the rugby for dummies-
http://www.utrugby.com/resources/Rugby%20terms%20for%20Dummies.pdf
In 2011, the Rugby World Cup is being held in New Zealand. This is a HUGE deal for New Zealand. The Rugby World Cup is one of the largest sporting events in the world and in the same class as the Olympics and the soccer world cup. The official World Cup website actually shows it is the biggest sporting event in the world in 2011. Auckland is adding on to the Eden Park stadium for the World Cup and the city has bought Queens Warf downtown and is going to do it up in preparation for the big party. Games will be held all around the country. Start making your plans to visit in Sept/Oct 2011!
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/destinationnewzealand/index.html
Thursday, July 16, 2009
South Island Earthquake
I woke up this morning to emails asking if we felt the earthquake in the South Island. We did not feel a thing and I didn't even know about it until I got the emails. There has been a lot about it on the news though. The initial earthquake was centered very far south in the South Island. It was a 7.8 quake which is the strongest quake in NZ in 78 years. NZ gets 10,000 to 15,000 quakes a year. Most of them are south of Auckland so we have not felt one yet. Sounds like there was some minor structural damage with the quake last night but nothing major. So, all safe in Auckland!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
New Zealand Top U-tube Video
The NZ Herald had an article over the weekend about the New Zealand videos with the highest number of viewings. The top video is the new Air New Zealand flight safety video. Air NZ is running a 'bare essentials' campaign. The video uses airline employees in body paint. Maybe you can be on the next Air NZ body paint flight!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gF8AY_IfTo
If you like it, search for Air New Zealand in u-tube and you can see the tv versions. They are kind of cute.
John and I spent last weekend finishing off the bathroom and buying wood flooring to install in most all the house. A pallet was delivered this afternoon with all the flooring. We are going to start putting down the flooring and see how far we get.
John is jetting around NZ for trade show conferences the next few days. We are also going to the All Blacks vs. Australian Wallabies on Saturday. The game is in Auckland. More next week on the game.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gF8AY_IfTo
If you like it, search for Air New Zealand in u-tube and you can see the tv versions. They are kind of cute.
John and I spent last weekend finishing off the bathroom and buying wood flooring to install in most all the house. A pallet was delivered this afternoon with all the flooring. We are going to start putting down the flooring and see how far we get.
John is jetting around NZ for trade show conferences the next few days. We are also going to the All Blacks vs. Australian Wallabies on Saturday. The game is in Auckland. More next week on the game.....
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Iowa in the news
Hi all. Not sure if anyone watches the comments from the posts, but we have picked up a small following of people around Des Moines which is really exciting. It is great to know that people are interested in life in New Zealand and we enjoy sharing the stories. We would love to hear from anyone with questions or comments.
Iowa News- Iowa (except pronounced with a funny kiwi accent) has made the local news a couple times in the last few weeks. The first instance I heard was the Iowa Corn 500 at Newton. The radio sports includes pretty in depth coverage anytime NZ is represented in events. There is a NZ driver that was in the Newton race. The second was the butter Michael Jackson at the State Fair. The radio dj's had a great time laughing about a butter Michael--- they obviously don't know about the butter cow following.....
Michael Jackson- I am sitting at work Friday morning a couple weeks ago on the day that Michael died. One of the girls is listening to the radio and she turns around and says that Jackson died. I check CNN and they show 'breaking news, check back in a minute'. I check back a couple minutes later to CNN, no update yet. Check again about 5 minutes later, they confirm Michael has died. What I find interesting is that we are sitting half a world away from LA, and know about the death before it is even posted on CNN!
4th of July- Celebrations were pretty light for the 4th of July here. There were a few of the bigger bars downtown having 'American Night'. One had Budweiser, cotton candy and snow cones. John said "Bud isn't good in the US, it has to be awful shipped over the ocean for 3 months". We went out with the couple from Minnesota that we know to a bar where the American Club was holding an event. We sang a few American songs and the guys drank Kiwi beer. There are a ton of different local brands of beer down here. Seems like each region has a local brewery. The French Bastille Day in July 14th and I think Bastille Day is getting more coverage then the 4th.
Ragbrai- Ragbrai is coming up next week. Richard from PedalTours in New Zealand is sending brochures up to Merita, John's sister, to have at her Tour de Farms stand. I believe brochures are being sent to Matt and Dorenda as well. Any of the BOW WOW HOT group riding Ragbrai would really be helping Richard, and NZ, out if you grabbed a few brochures and recruited a few riders to NZ for a tour.
Iowa News- Iowa (except pronounced with a funny kiwi accent) has made the local news a couple times in the last few weeks. The first instance I heard was the Iowa Corn 500 at Newton. The radio sports includes pretty in depth coverage anytime NZ is represented in events. There is a NZ driver that was in the Newton race. The second was the butter Michael Jackson at the State Fair. The radio dj's had a great time laughing about a butter Michael--- they obviously don't know about the butter cow following.....
Michael Jackson- I am sitting at work Friday morning a couple weeks ago on the day that Michael died. One of the girls is listening to the radio and she turns around and says that Jackson died. I check CNN and they show 'breaking news, check back in a minute'. I check back a couple minutes later to CNN, no update yet. Check again about 5 minutes later, they confirm Michael has died. What I find interesting is that we are sitting half a world away from LA, and know about the death before it is even posted on CNN!
4th of July- Celebrations were pretty light for the 4th of July here. There were a few of the bigger bars downtown having 'American Night'. One had Budweiser, cotton candy and snow cones. John said "Bud isn't good in the US, it has to be awful shipped over the ocean for 3 months". We went out with the couple from Minnesota that we know to a bar where the American Club was holding an event. We sang a few American songs and the guys drank Kiwi beer. There are a ton of different local brands of beer down here. Seems like each region has a local brewery. The French Bastille Day in July 14th and I think Bastille Day is getting more coverage then the 4th.
Ragbrai- Ragbrai is coming up next week. Richard from PedalTours in New Zealand is sending brochures up to Merita, John's sister, to have at her Tour de Farms stand. I believe brochures are being sent to Matt and Dorenda as well. Any of the BOW WOW HOT group riding Ragbrai would really be helping Richard, and NZ, out if you grabbed a few brochures and recruited a few riders to NZ for a tour.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
