*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke
Christmas Special…
Kia ora tatou, ena koutou kei te pehea koe? (Hello everyone, greetings to you all, how's it going?) Thought I’d start with a little of the local tongue.
Straight off I’d like to apologise for the lack of updates over the past few months, things have been busy, with new bathrooms and various other distractions….
So what’s been happening…
Well, Christmas is upon us, although it’s very difficult to get to grips with the idea of Christmas in the middle of summer! We’ve put up the tree and hung lights on the house (it isn’t dark until about 9:30 pm, a bit different from the 4:30 we’re used to).
Here’s a little greetings card I’ve always thought funny.
*Remember, if you click on the picture you get a bigger one ( most of the time)
So, what’s happening in New Zealand…
In New Zealand the Pohutukawa tree is also known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree. Early Christian settlers so named it not because it looks anything like a Northern Hemisphere pine, but because its vibrant red flowers came to full bloom in December. If you've never seen one in person, here's the next best thing:
We had some large visitors last month: a huge 1km-long iceberg was sighted south of Dunedin, having made the journey from Antarctica over the past six to eight years. With usual Kiwi eagerness, flights were arranged to view the icebergs.
As can be seen from this picture, it is understandable now why the Titanic sunk.
Icebergs -- Below the Surface:
As I’ve mentioned before, landslides are called slips here; this is a little slip!
Wellington Pic
A little picture of Wellington Harbour from the hills above my office..
New Zealand “Most Beautiful Loo” Contest..
This year, the top prize for "Most Beautiful Loo" was tied and therefore split between the "Hundertwasser" toilet in the Northland town of Kawakawa and the "Pukuatua Street Palace" in Rotorua.
The former is a cacophony of stylised bottle glass and tile work somewhat reminiscent of Gaudi while the latter is quite simply a very large, well-equipped, and extra-clean utilitarian facility. See for yourself:
Hundertwasser Toilet Exterior:
Hundertwasser Toilet Gents Interior:
Pukuatua Street Palace Toilets:
On to ‘us’ things…
We have just passed the 1-year mark here in NZ and it’s hard to believe we’ve been here so long.
And, on the subject of bathrooms…. (Smooth transition from last topic...)
We have finally got the bathrooms finished (bar some very minor tweaks), 10 weeks and a lot of bucks later! Here’s the end result, though for the amount of time, cost and temper loss that went into them, they really should look much more ornate!!
Main Bathroom
Before
During
During
After
Barbeques
Here’s what our first attempt at a real barbeque looked like. The prawns were a little limp (not cooked enough) however it’s a learning curve (hopefully, not via A & E). We’ve had a few good ‘stabs’ at it since then - Liz thinks it’s wonderful, as I do the cooking…
Adam decided it was time he showed his dad how it’s done.
We went to a friend’s Christmas party last weekend and met Santa, I missed it as I was away moving the car!!
I can tell you that Santa was very hot in that suit, remember it’s summer here. (He also had a pillow strategically placed!)
Continuing the Christmas theme, we went with some friends (all these friends! isn’t it wonderful?) to see some houses decorated with Christmas lights (in a BIG way).
We put up some lights on the balcony of our house and thought it looked brilliant till we saw the ‘proper’ ones .
So, one year has passed and we are settling in fine. It is still a little difficult to acclimatise to the new surroundings and to get used to being so far from our friends and family. But people here are very friendly, we have made some really lovely friends, and we get out and about quite a bit.. Christmas in the summer takes a bit of getting used to, however I’m sure we’ll cope . . . .
The house is coming on: most of the ‘little’ foibles have been fixed and it’s starting to feel like ours. The fact that we could fit our old home in it 3 times over also takes a bit of getting used to. Vacuuming is a major task!
Adam’s still working away, leaning more about the craft of spin metal production and is now an integral part of the process.
I finally got round to getting my NZ Driving Licence, with about a week to spare, you have to get it within 1 year of arriving or else you have to sit the entire Driving Test again, not just the ‘tick test’.
We’re looking forward to seeing Richard and Yvonne next month . . . they’re coming for a week, so fingers crossed for good weather. They are in Tasmania for Christmas with their pals (who are both from Tasmania).
Well, that’s it for this year. The Andersons in NZ would like to wish all our friends and family a merry Christmas and a prosperous and truly happy new year.
And finally, the Kitties from Hell.
Remember, if you want to see how the cats are doing:
http://andersoncats.blogspot.com/
As usual, Cleo’s contribution is somewhat lacking...
