Letter from New Zealand 11*

*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke

Late Again!.…

Kia ora.

So what’s been happening…

Liz & I had the great Northland Trek, 3600km adventure, scoping out the Bay of Islands and surrounding areas for the future (possibly). More later. . .

Richard and Yvonne came over for a week in January – it was so good to see them, particularly since the last time had been at Christmas just after we arrived in New Zealand, and the three new immigrants were in pretty poor shape. It was Rich and Yiv’s first visit to NZ, and we very much hope they’ll be back again soon. We had a lovely time while they were here and got out and about as much as possible. Fortunately, the weather picked up just after they arrived (which wasn’t before time!) and we were able to show them around Wellington and the surrounding areas. Friends of ours, Deborah and Gary (also incomers like us), invited us up to their place near Wanganui (about 3 hours from here) and we had a great day there. We also had a couple of bbqs in the garden and Richard and Yvonne got to meet some of our Kiwi friends.

Well, Spring has sprung, Summer’s been and gone, and for us ‘down under’ it is now officially Autumn. As I look out the new ranch slider door, I see brilliant sunshine and about 28 degrees heat. (Autumn appears good!)

I took these a few minutes ago, to show autumn. . .

and the new door before...

.

And after..

Max is torn between helping with the blog editing and sleeping..

needless to say the strain was all too much..

Liz and I went to the Festival of the Elements in Porirua, a spectacular all-day event with dancing, competitions and displays. This is held on Waitangi Day at the beginning of February.

And so to the ‘Trip’.

Once again Max wasn’t too happy about us going!

We set off heading north, drove most of the day (Liz driving the first 450km’s,) then stopped overnight in Hamilton. The next morning we cracked on and got to our accommodation around tea time. I don’t think we quite realised the distance involved, however we managed fine.

The more we see of New Zealand, the more we realise how spectacular it is. We drove over the Desert Road; it’s like a desert plateau with rough shrub growing everywhere. The NZ Forces use it as a training ground.

One interesting element of the journey involved driving past Mt Ruapehu, a very large volcano in the Tongariro National Park. The current problem is the imminent bursting of the lahar. For those interested, this is a link to a document that explains ‘stuff’

More about Lahars

From the car window..

stock pics to show lahar

The guy walking gives a clue as to the size and volume.

We managed to limbo on by and it’s still threatening to go.

We stayed about a week with Fredi & Douglas Jarvis at their Farm Stay and equestrian centre in Pakaraka, some 15 minutes outside Keri Keri. As can be seen from the pics it was a beautiful and peaceful place. The web site for anyone interested. http://www.nzbaystay.com/

And the view from the veranda at night…

Liz had a riding lesson and “was a natural” according to Fredi (who should know, with her pedigree)

This is Oscar (who liked getting his photo taken).

I, on the other hand, was befriended by Winston (with a head the size of a bucket!)

Not one to be ignored when he wants attention!

He also to a shine to Liz. (Just for the record. Liz was holding my cigar whilst I took the photo!)

We did the Tourist bus trip up to Cape Reianga , the northern most tip of the North Island. A lonely lighthouse and a gnarled, twisted pohutukawa tree on a windswept cliff top on the northern tip of New Zealand have a special place in the Kiwi psyche. Like Land’s End in Britain, this ultimate extremity of the dramatic landscape holds great historic and spiritual significance. The venerated pohutukawa is the Reinga, “the place of leaping” in Maori mythology, where the spirits of the dead leap off the headland and climb down the roots of the 800 year old tree, and descend into the underworld to return to their traditional homeland of Hawaiiki.

Just to give you an idea of where it is....

Where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet…

We also had a charge down 90 mile beach, where you can stop and eat pippies (clam style shellfish), where you scoop them out of the sand, rinse them, bash them together and eat them raw. We had a few just to try them and not be wimps. I think I ate more sand than shellfish.

Sand Dune sledging was also on the agenda: that hill looked a bit steep. The idea of climbing up it, never mind sliding down it again, getting every orifice filled with sand, didn’t appeal to us, so I just took pictures..

We stayed at the Ahipara Sands Apartments in Ahipara, near Kaitaia, right on the beach. And for anyone who’s interested, it’s up for sale as a fully going concern, with everything thrown in for a million US dollars ( it’s on the market in the States)

Liz took every opportunity to ‘hit the water’

Sunset at Ahipara (taken from outside the front of our apartment)

On the way back we stopped off overnight with friends in Orewa, just to the north of Auckland. This part of the North Island, renowned for little or no earthquakes, ended up having 3 in one night while we were there; we continue to have the ‘luck of the Andersons’ (Babs..)

Another thing we did was to visit the cinema.

We went to the Swamp Palace Cinema, a tiny cinema of some 68 seats, in the middle of nowhere, which shows up to date movies four nights a week. We intended to see Al Gores film about the environment.. ended up seeing a German film (with subtitles) called The White Masai with all the accompanying throat slitting and blood drinking of goats and cattle…Life is an adventure.

It was a long haul home, some 10 hours driving; however the trip was well worth it. It gave us a good look of other parts of New Zealand and will help us to decide our future (at a later date).

We finally managed to tame the monster plant.

Liz has volunteered to maintain the wine cork stock.

In the words of Billy Connolly, life here is “not too terrible”.

And finally a quick thanks to Douglas, who used his graphic design skills to give our car a ‘custom’ job.

Not forgetting the Kitties from Hell. Remember, if you want to see how the cats are doing:

http://andersoncats.blogspot.com/

Letter From New Zealand 10*

*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...