The Waiting Game

Greetings from sunny(ish) Napier!

We’ve been doing a little traveling since the last entry, making a number of stops as we worked our way south to this lovely beach town. Arron’s return to NZ meant we got to see another familiar face (yay!) but it also meant that our days of Stella watching and free housing were up. Moreover, I was also getting a little antsy to get out of the city and see some new places, so off we went! Oh, did I mention we bought a car?? Our mode of transportation these days is a 1995 blue Mitsubishi station wagon. It only has 115,000kms on it and it’s in pretty good shape and, most importantly, it is OURS.

Our first stop was the Franks. Okay so we didn’t make it too far—not even out of Auckland-- but the Franks’ is at least an hour south of Arron’s so I count this as a stop. It seems crazy that we’ve only spent maybe 10 nights there, but it already feels like our NZ home. As a thank you for all their hospitality and as a celebration for Paul’s completion of the initial fire fighter’s entrance exam we made another round of pumpkin pies. Personally I thought round 2 was better than the first go round. Side note: I can’t wait to cook a Thanksgiving feast here. We spent our last Auckland evening running and playing ultimate frisbee in Cornwall Park with Paul and Dave and Sarah and lots of their friends, many of which we’ve already met! It’s nice to remember people and feel the beginnings of a social network taking shape. Three hours of running around was all it took for me to fall in love with the area—I’ve decided when we go back to Auckland I want to live near Cornwall Park. Frisbee was followed by one last fish & chips takeaway (what else would we eat on our last night in Auckland??) and then back to the Franks to pack up, finish making our insulation-based car bed, and get on the road the next morning!

Stop #2 was Rotorua. The lovely Jodi (07) really took care of us and showed us some of the perks of Rotorua! She even let us sleep on her fabulous airbed for freezies, which is always a perk. Highlights of the weekend include walking around a downtown park full of bubbling mud, sampling beer and chips at the Corner Pub, Jodi’s hilarious roommates and cute cats, yum pizza, the Saturday morning crafts fair, a picnic lunch at one of the lakes near town, meeting a Leprechaun at a headpiece party, and walking through the red wood forest (who would have thought that I would see my first California Redwood tree in NZ??). Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the Zorbing place, but I feel confident that I’ll get back there as “rolling down a hill in a giant hamster ball” is now #1 on my sister’s list of things to do when she comes to visit in March. Also, for the record, Rotorua really does smell. I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised since everyone told me it would, but there really is a distinct smell of sulfur in the area.

Stop #3 was Taupo, where we stayed with Toni, Corban (08) and little Roman (future camper)!!! We also go to see Judy and Alan who were in town for the long weekend (Labour Day). The GV hospitality continued here as we stayed in Toni & Corban’s guest bedroom (one day I will be a real person and my house will have a guest bedroom…) and they showed us around town! Well, mostly it was Corban showing us around as Toni had some big school assignments due at the end of the week plus a 10 month old to take care of. Highlights include: amazing views on the drive into town, yum food, drinks at the Irish pub (Redland beer? my new favorite), the sunny & tidy little guest room in T&C’s real people house, Huka falls (such a crazy shade of blue for a river and SO much water rushing through), picnic out at Lake Taupo with friends of T&C, Roman, Roman, Roman, swimming in Lake Taupo (NOT the coldest swim we’ve had), skipping stones, meeting Corban’s mum and learning more about Maori culture/history, playing with Roman some more, and some nighttime lounging at “the hotspot” (a natural hot spring where you can sit in the pools free of charge).

So now here we are at our final stop for a while: Napier. We came down early Tuesday to try and get started on the job hunt. There were nearly 20 of us that first morning driving to Hastings (next town over—maybe a 20 min drive). Some of them left town to look for employment elsewhere but of those that remain we are all still unemployed. At the moment fruit picking jobs (the kind we were expecting to get here) are a few and far between. Or, at least, there are more seasonal workers than jobs at the moment. An exceptionally rainy winter/spring has pushed back a lot of the work so where seasonal work would usually take off last week and this week, things are starting a little bit slower. In the meantime Stu and I are applying to a whole heap of jobs (mostly café jobs for me, though a few random ones too and mostly random jobs for Stu), exploring the area, and making friends at the hostel. We are confident that the jobs will come—we’ve been promised a job starting Nov 21 at the latest so worst cast scenario we hang out until then but hopefully we’ll work odd jobs until then or land something outside the agricultural sector.

Mostly, we want to try living somewhere outside Auckland and we really like the area so we’re willing to stick it out for a while. The beach is rocky but it goes on forever and there is a grassy area that hugs the beach and is perfect for running or playing soccer (where Stu is right now) There are lots of cool restaurants, neat bars (we’ve already found trivia nights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays!), and cafes. There are some good hikes in the area as well—we’re pretty close to the largest national park in NZ so I’m hoping to do some walks there as we can. We’ve only done one hike so far—16kms of beach walking from Clifton (a town) to Cape Kidnappers, which had some beautiful views from the cliffs at the end and a huge gannet (bird) colony. Plus Hawke’s Bay (Napier is a town, Hawke’s Bay is the larger region) is “the fruit bowl of NZ” so if we are going to work on some farms this is as good a place as any. Plus (and this might be the biggest plus), Stu has found a studio and pottery community that he really likes. We found it totally by chance; we just saw some pots in a crafty looking shop on the way to Hastings so we went to check it out. As it turns out, the land behind the shop is owned and run by a community of artists who share the workspace and sell their pieces in the store. Primarily the community is made up of potters, felt workers, wood carvers, and painters, but there is some space that any artist could rent out to make whatever they like. There is also a community center where some of the artists teach their trade to “at risk” youth (and just some regular youth too) in the community—Stu’s hoping to help out with some of the summer pottery lessons if we’re still here when that’s going on.

Well, that’s all for now. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for a job (preferably two)! I have about a million pictures to put up at the moment so I’m working on sorting through those….look for them on facebook in the next couple of days.

Stella, the bear dog.

Clearly the format of the last 2 posts has been....overly ambitious. Sorry guys, but realistically there is no way we're going to be able to document each and every day of our trip here, so I'm giving up now. Not the blog, but just the blow by blow set up... hopefully it will be even more interesting and less tedious this way.

The last 2 weeks have been relatively calm and stable after the first 2 weeks of GO! GO! GO! We've been staying at Arron's house (GV counselor of 2010) and our current life revolves around taking care of Stella: walking and feeding her twice daily and making sure she's in her cage at night. Well, that's a bit

of an exaggeration...but it has kept us from running off over the weekends or having (too many) crazy nights out. But I'm not complaining! I've actually come to love Stella and this structure has given us plenty of time at the house to surf the net and plot our next steps like finding a car and jobs and a place to live... more to come on all that later.

I want to take a moment to say that Stella has actually been really lovely to look after. I feel like she's been my project; Stu has pretty bad dog allergies I've been the one to walk her and take care of her (he's taken responsibility for the car hunt instead which suits me just fine). She's got a few typical big dog things that I don't quite like (namely the drooling and the pooping) and having to take care of her with such regularity has taught me I'm definitely not ready for a dog of my own. But for 2 weeks it's been quite nice. She really is very easy going (when other cats and dogs aren't around) and generally listens pretty well. Plus she is so friendly...all she wants is a little love and I've been pretty happy to give it to her! She has been a wonderful dog to get to know. Just look at these photos and you guys can see just how cute she really is!

Okay, so in between walking Stella and researching "the next steps" on the net, we did manage to get out a little. Arron was kind enough to put us on his car insurance and let us use his truck while we're staying here so we've been navigating the city on our own! Well...I say we but really I mean Stu. He's really the better driver so we had him put on the insurance and he's been doing really well considering the kiwis drive on the wrong side of the road and he just learned how to drive manual 2 weeks before we left America! It was a bit nerve wracking at first but with the help of the GPS Arron's parent's loaned us and a little practice Stuart has become a pro.

So what have we done with this new found freedom of driving? Well, we went to our first ever cricket game where we arrived just in time to watch our friend bat (I think that's the proper term?). It was pretty fun considering we didn't know the rules or what was really going on in the game. We also went to a big Bathurst (Australian 1000 kilometer motorcar race) watching party with a bunch of people who are involved in motorcar racing (read: people who care about such NASCAR-esque events). The fact that the fellow viewers actually cared and even knew people in the race made the 161 laps a little more interesting than I expected. We also spent a day at the famed "Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter Underwater World" which is an underground aquarium complete with penguins and stingrays and sharks. The penguins were by far the best bit as we got to ride on a little train around their enclosure and hear all about the Antarctic weather patterns simulated within

the enclosure and penguin behavior and all that. We also spent a day hiking around Rangitoto--one of the many volcanic islands just off shore from Auckland. The weather was beautiful that day and we had some amazing views. (2 photos from Rangitoto are included in this post--check my new facebook album for more!) I've also been doing lots of cooking which has been fun. We were finally in a place long enough to really stock up the fridge and we took advantage of having a kitchen to ourselves. No new pumpkin pie endeavors but we definitely ate well and I got to try a few new recipes: chicken fried rice with veggies and pineapple & a tasty white wine/lemon/butter pasta sauce. We also had lots of good

omelets and cereal and plenty of yum sandwiches too.

There were also a few mini-GV reunions over the past few weeks. First Karly (08) came to Auckland over the school holidays (she's a teacher so school holidays means she's off work). One day Judy (08 & 09) picked up Karly and Stu and I for a trip to Piha beach which is apparently still in Auckland but out on the West Coast. Our visit was complete with black sand beaches (typical of NZ's West Coast) and fish & chips from Judy's favorite place. We also grabbed dinner with Mike Parr (10) one night at a little middle-eastern place. After dinner he drove us up to the highest point in Devonport (a neighborhood in Auckland) which offers an AMAZING view of the water and the city all lit up at night. Let's see, there was also a BBQ one night at Rick's (08 & 09) with other GVers (Allison, Paul) and some of Rick's friends. Plus over the weekend there was classy night out on the town complete with dinner and drinks for Judy's birthday which included nearly all our 2008 kiwi friends who live in the area (Judy, Paul, Liz, Rich) and lots of Judy's other friends too. Sunday we went out to brunch with Paula and Grant and their 2 kids. Paula worked at camp for a couple summers in the 1990's and this summer she came back with her husband and kids for one more session at camp and the GV 75th reunion. Considering we only knew them for the week of E session, their hospitality was absolutely INCREDIBLE and really heart warming. They took us out to brunch at a cute little cafe in Devonport and let us relax in their house for awhile which doesn't sound so over the top but we just felt so welcome, almost pampered. Over here I've found the GV connection is such an amazingly strong one, more so than I anticipated before leaving the States. Everyone has been so welcoming and so willing to take us around and let us sleep in their homes and feed us delicious food. Maybe this is just the New Zealand way, but I think some of it has to do with the connection of having both experienced Gwynn Vally. It's amazing to think in August of 2007, 2008 and even 2009 for a quick visit I said goodbye to so many kiwi friends thinking that I would probably never see these people again. But here we are, getting together for dinners and celebrating birthdays and hanging out half-way across the world as if it's the most normal thing in the world. It's a wonderful feeling to find out that the friendships are real and extend beyond the Gwynn Valley Summer Utopia. And to think this is just the start! We hope to meet up with so many others as we continue to journey on through NZ!

I guess that brings us to our next steps. Arron comes back this Wednesday meaning we are relieved of our Stella-care duties and also technically homeless. We have decided this is the perfect time to head out of Auckland for a little while. We found a car (Arron's sister Nicola is selling us her blue 1995 Mitsubishi Station Wagon) so we'll be driving that southward towards the vineyard/orchard job we found in Napier. We will spend at least a month living in a hostel that has deals with a couple of different orchards and vineyards in the area, and they will send us to work wherever the help is needed. On the way down to Napier we plan to stop in Rotorua and Taupo to visit GV friends from 2007 and 2008. Should be exciting to see some more familiar faces and some new places!

There will be more to come as we work our way south and the adventure continues to unfold. For now, I think I'll put Stella up and head to bed.

Living like the Franks (Ruakaka, Papakura, and Waihi)

First off, I should apologize for our lack of contact with the outside world. Stu and I have spent the last 10 days or so either traveling or staying at the Frank’s house where they only have (very slow) dial up internet. It has actually been very good for us because it has made us use our time to do better things than fiddle around on facebook BUT it has made us distance ourselves from you all to the point of worry with some and annoyance with most. Anyway, APOLOGIES. This may happen again especially if we do a big camping tour but we’ll try to give a little more warning if we’re going to fall out of contact.

So…seeing as our last update was at least 10 days ago we’ve got quite a lot of catching up to do.

THURSDAY SEPT 23: Rainy Museum Day

Thursday dawned rainy and wet so Stu and I decided that this would probably be a day better spent at a museum than hiking around Ringatoto (a volcanic island near Auckland). So the hike was postponed, and it was off to the museum! Two buses and a short walk later we arrived at Auckland’s largest museum. The museum has 3 floors and each is devoted to a different theme: the bottom floor is all about Maori culture and history; the second floor is all about natural history and the environment (past and historical) of New Zealand; the top floor is devoted to war history with monuments and tributes to all the different wars in which New Zealand has been involved. I definitely found the bottom two floors were more interesting (though this might have been because I was getting tired and hungry the longer we walked).

After the museum we headed back downtown for a burgerfuel/movie night at the IEP Office (this is the program Stu and I came over with). Every Thursday they show a movie (this week it was Boy—a Juno-esque movie about a Maori boy and his coming of age in dealing with his worthless dad) and order burger fuel burgers + fries for a discounted price. This burger shop has some pretty crazy burgers. Stu got one that had guacamole, beets, mango relish, cheese, mayo (lots of mayo), mustard, lettuce, tomato and, buried somewhere under all that, a burger. I got something a little more tame…can’t quite remember what was on there but I know it was delicious and HUGE. A few kumara (sweet potato) fries to top it all off and we were in business.

FRIDAY SEPT 24-SUNDAY SEPT 26: Little cabin on the beach at Ruakaka

Rick and Paul and Judy all had the weekend free so we decided to take another weekend at the beach! Our weekend crew also included fellow American Allison Burn and Judy’s boyfriend Alan and Paul’s brother, Dave, and his fiancée, Sarah. We Americans find it crazy that New Zealand has no law against drinking in the car…so we decided to test that out on the drive down with a few kiwi brews. The scenery was definitely more impressive with a cold beer in hand. We initially wanted to go to a place called Waipu Cove but the campground there was all full so we headed a bit further north to a campground in Ruakaka. Our camp ground was right next to a river feeding into the ocean and there was a beautiful beach with heaps of birds in dunes. The car with Rich, Paul, Allison, Stu and I got in just about sunset and had an awesome walk on the beach. Judy and Alan showed up a little later with some fish & chips which made a delicious dinner. We spent the night enjoying the fine beach air and each other’s company over some drinks.

Saturday was the day of sports. We played touch rugby, cricket, frisbee, and even went for a run in the morning and a swim at the warmest point in the afternoon. It was one of the first sunny days since we arrived and we soaked up as many rays as possible. We also made friends with the campground cat, Tinkerbell—she sat in the sun (or our cabin) and watched us play. That night we made pizzas in the little campground kitchen and the Americans taught the kiwis some American drinking games.

I think I should take a moment to introduce the best invention I’ve ever come to know: the lunch box speakers. It’s a little plastic thing that looks like a hard kids lunch box. Inside you can close up your ipod and protect it from all the beach elements: water, wind, sand…and speakers that are built into the box play your music on the outside! This little guy and 4 AA batteries kept us with music all weekend long!!

Sunday we packed up and headed back to Auckland stopping by a few beaches along the way (Waipu Cove & Rich’s secret surfing beach) for a picnic lunch and more Frisbee. Once back in Auckland we dropped by Rich’s to pick up our stuff and say our goodbyes before headed down to Papakura where we stayed at Paul’s for the weekend. Our introduction to Papakura began with a Counties game—Paul, Dave, and Dave’s friend Sam were kind enough to take us to the game and teach us the very complicated cheers (basically you just say Couuuuuuuuuuuuuun-tiiiiiiiiiiiiiies for as long as you breath will allow). It was a really exciting game (actually) there were loads of trys (touchdowns) and lots of back and forth action between the two teams. We sat with the real fans, on a grassy hill opposite the bleachers. We rounded up the evening with a delicious dinner at the Frank’s house complete with grilled meat and beets and delicious home cooking from Mrs. Franks.

MONDAY SEPT 27: Let the hiking begin!

Our week at the Paul’s was even more amazing than I could have imagined. There was always loads of fresh food and a huge playground in the backyard and 1 (if not more) always ready playmates. Paul is like an energizer bunny and always up for some outdoor fun. On this first day at the Franks we went on a walk up in the bush behind they’re house—some bush whacking some trail following and plenty of stopping to explore different things along the way. We saw lots of birds (especially wood pigeons, ducks, Tuis, parakeets…) and we had a little stopover at the hut that Paul and his brother build when they were teenagers. It was apparently quite the hangout spot 10 years ago but since all the kids have been out of the country lately it’s fallen into disrepair but it’s still a pretty amazing spot. We finished up the day with a little tennis at the tennis court in the bush; we were all pretty bad but we had some fun out there.

TUESDAY SEPT 28: Liz’s graduation & embracing the gender role stereotypes

On Tuesday the Franks headed into Auckland to celebrate Liz (Paul’s sister) graduating from Auckland University. She finished her degree over a year ago but left NZ right away to do some traveling and work in Canada so she’s just doing the ceremony part now. Anyway, though we were very happy for Liz we didn’t want to intrude on family celebrations so we stayed back at the Frank’s place to do a big hike and a couple things around the house. Strangely enough, when left to our own devices Stu and I seemed to revert to 19^th century gender roles. Stu went out to clear the “yellow stuff” (a terrible prickly weed with yellow flowers that can grow as tall and thick as a small tree—actual name: gorse, sounds like gauze) out of the cow pastures as a favor to the Franks. Meanwhile I stayed in the house to sew up my ripped sleeping bag, bake healthy banana cookies for Liz (as a graduation present), document expenses from the trip thus far (a chapter taken out of the book of Anna Chiemets), and cook a tasty lamb dinner for the two of us. It was sort of bizarre, but satisfying none the less...for the day at least.

WEDNESDAY SEPT 29: Big Hike at Hunua Falls

Wednesday dawned nice and clear so Paul led Stu and I on a hike on some trails near his house. We went to a place called Hunua Falls where a big waterfall can be seen basically from the parking lot but loads of trails go out from there to a couple of dams. We hiked from Hunua Falls out to Correy Dam and back again. Along the way we saw loads of birds (always in NZ it seems) and not too many people, except for a crew from the NZ camp where Paul used to work (all the kids are on school holidays so holiday camps are in session). We also learned about the disease that’s destroying Kauri trees all over NZ. Kauri trees are native to NZ and can grow to be quite tall. In the area where we were hiking, early settlers had logged most of the kauri trees but a few that were too big to be easily removed from the forest were left and today these trees are HUGE. The disease has not yet visibly affected them so the trail managers have put some protective measures to keep these giants healthy (like all hikers spraying their boots with a disinfectant spray on the way in and out). Anyway, great hike.

That afternoon we stopped off for a sushi lunch (there’s heaps of Japanese people and food in NZ!) and then back to Paul’s for some gun shooting and relaxing. That’s right. We shot some guns. Who knew we’d have to leave NC for Stu to have his first shooting experience.

That night I had my first real pang of homesickness—we were watching a show called ‘Too Fat for 15’ and they were doing a story about a fat camp called Wellspring in the NC mountains. Paul, Stu and I all immediately recognized the camp to be in the NC mountains by the trees and landscape but when they showed the sign for 276 at the main intersection in Brevard we KNEW and I found myself missing home more than I thought I would so early on in the trip.

THURSDAY SEPT 30: LOTR and pumpkin pie

Thursday it rained and rained. Paul tried to convince me to go for a run early in the day, but I opted for laziness. Instead of exercise we watching the first…and the second…Lord of the Rings. Extended edition. We were just trying to get in the NZ spirit. (Side note: has everyone heard about the Hobbit filming drama? It might be moved from NZ because the NZ actor’s union is on strike since they didn’t hire enough NZ actors or something…) Anyway, by the time the second one came on I was a little over it so I started cooking for the dinner we promised to make for the Franks as a thank you for housing us for the week. We made a pumpkin pie from scratch; this took the longest, but turned out really well! We also repeated the dinner I made for Stu Tuesday night since it was so good—some minced lamb with diced tomatoes and onions, slow cooked on the stove with couscous on the side and a green salad with apples and cheese. Yum! The one pumpkin we roasted ended up making 3 pies and all were gone by the end of the weekend…I’d say it was a successful first encounter with pumpkin pie for the Franks.

FRIDAY OCT 1-SATURDAY OCT 2: Total Sport Race in Waihi

Friday we headed down to Waihi to help Dave and Total Sport (the company he works for) with a race they were organizing in Waihi. We got down fairly late on Friday so all we really had time for in Waihi was registration and headed out to the campground where Stu and I spent the night. Luckily, the race was based at a campground called Dickey Flat so we were able to spend the night there before the race. The race utilized the trails around the campground to build mileage necessary for the race. There was a 19k run (12 miles), a 13k run (8 miles) and a 8k run (5 miles). Waihi is an old gold mining town so some of the trails are based on old mining tracks and trails and some of the short race (the one Stu and I trailed) even went through come of the underground mining tunnels. Very cool. I sort of had in mind that we would be running, at least for part of it, but as the tail-enders we had to stay behind the slowest person so…. For most of the race we were behind a woman and her 2 children ages 3 and 7. Why on earth you would enroll a 3 year old to do an 8k race is beyond me but he did pretty well considering…it only took us 3 hours to do 8k. I think this was a good exercise in strengthening my patience and ability to go slow and enjoy things along the way--something I’m working on this trip. Paul and his dad both ran the 19k; some of Paul’s friends ran the mid-length race; and Sarah (Dave’s fiancée) ran the 8k with her mom. All in all there were some 350 runners, 100 of which enrolled the day of the race—I think Dave was pretty pleased with the turn out!

Anyway after the race Stu and I went over to Waihi beach with Paul, his dad, and a couple of Paul & Dave’s friends where we went for a very quick dip (3^rd swim of the trip! And it’s only October…imagine March for the Northern hemisphere readers). Then he headed back to Waihi town for prize giving and then back to Papakura to Paul’s house where Rich and couple of Paul’s friends came over for a BBQ and a bonfire using all the gorse (yellow stuff) that Stu cut down earlier this week. The bonfire was a bit of a flop (we couldn’t get it to catch very well) but the sausages and the company were good.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3: Farewell Franks!

Sunday started out as another beautiful sunny day. I went for a run on the trails behind Paul’s house (talk about HILLS-good grief!) and the boys (Stu, Rich, Paul, Chris-Paul’s cousin, Kieren-Paul’s dad) went out back with tools in hand to clear out the bike trail that Paul made a few years ago but that had become quite overgrown during his travels. Later that afternoon a whole lot of Paul’s family came over for a big lunch celebrating Liz’s graduation—it was awesome to meet some of Paul’s relatives and to see what a NZ family gathering is like. (Pretty similar to ours, I’d say…in case you were wondering).

We rounded out the day by getting a ride from Rich all the way across the city (really—Papakura is WAY south Auckland and Greenhithe is WAY north Auckland—it would be like driving from Ballentyne to UNC Charlotte or from Rosslyn, VA to Rockville, MD). Anyway, super nice of Rich to drop us off. Since then we’ve just been settling in here at Arron’s house, getting to know his dog, Stella. She’s an Alaskan Malamute (looks like a husky) that’s the size of a small bear! But she’s so sweet… Now we’re just catching up on internet life and starting our search for a car and planning our next moves.

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I think that’s definitely enough writing for today. I’m bored with it so you all must be! More to come later.