Another Wonderful Weekend

Just got home from another yoga sesh, and a little sad that my 30 days for $30 is over this week.  Now I have to pay proper money for classes... boo!  But its definitely worth it.  I love the teacher, the classmates, and the  environment.

So Jeff and I both had off work Saturday and Sunday, and both put in about 30 hours this week.  (I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but it's a lot to us because we are so used to being on holiday).  Friday night we were beat and just lounged around.

Saturday we spent the morning browsing the Saturday market in town.  We picked up some fresh veggies, some boysenberry jam, and some lavender infused honey (so delicious!).  We spent most of the day reading because it was much too windy to be on the beach, and then decided to take a motorcycle ride to Rabbit Island.  Rabbit Island is about 25 minutes from our house, and is barely an island, but is a big, long, beautiful beach.  We just took an early evening walk down the beach and headed home to try our hands at making shrimp scampi!  Shrimp is cheap here, so we've been trying to find as many ways as possible to cook it up.  The scampi was a success despite the face that we could not find red pepper flakes to save our lives, so we did without.  Later that night we literally ran through the Countdown (the grocer) for a last minute, late-night Cornetto (sort of like a drumstick).  They were totally worth the rush, as all ice cream in New Zealand is.

Sunday we had received a few texts about ultimate frisbee in the park.  It was looking like it would shape up to be a decent game, and we ended up getting 7 others to play!  It was a great turnout.  There was 1 Kiwi, 4 Germans, and 2 people from California.  The game was good, and the competition was pretty fair, but the wind started to pick up, so we sat and talked for a while in the field.  I can't get enough of other people's travel experiences and perspectives.  We left the park in time to make it to the library to grab a Sunday night movie and some good reads.  We decided on Forrest Gump because I have never seen it, and everyone else on Earth has.  I really enjoyed it.  It was quite funny and more feel-good than depressing, which i didn't expect, and I am glad I waited so long because I don't like the idea of not having any classics to turn to on a chilly Sunday afternoon.

My birthday is coming up, and my co-workers claim that it is New Zealand custom to bake a cake for your birthday to share... I think they just want cake.  Either way I am trying out a flourless chocolate cake recipe from SCRATCH.  I will let ya know how it goes (if it goes well).

Jeff's brother posed some interesting questions about New Zealand on a previous post's comment.  My next blog post will answer those questions (and i'm going to try to make Jeff answer them too).

For now, cheers!

Happy Turkey Day...Speaking of Birds...

So its been Thursday all day here, but it hasn't been Thanksgiving at all, if that makes any sense.  It is now officially Thanksgiving in America, and I am completely jealous of every single one of you.  Not only do you have off work, but you get to go out partying Wed night and eat tons of awesome food and watch football all day Thursday.  I know it sounds awful for me to be kind of complaining, and I realize I have many Thanksgivings in my future, but no one here acknowledges it at all (and by no one I mean Jeff).  I can gobble my little heart out and all I get is a "It's not a holiday here".  He is at basketball tonight so I will eat CHICKEN and mashed potatoes in front of the computer.  Any other night this would be awesome, but not on Turkey Day.

Okay so enough complaining... onto other bird species... I know a few people who will appreciate a "Birds of Golden Bay" blog post, and for those who aren't interested, the pictures are pretty sweet anyway.

So there are 2 very similar Oystercatchers in Golden Bay.  There is the Variable and the Pied Oystercatcher.  I know I have seen the Variable because it is the only one with an all black phase, but this one also has a pied phase.  The book says the difference is the the border between black and white on their lower chest.  The Variable has a "smudgy" edge, whereas the Pied Oystercatcher has a sharp edge.  From the picture I believe that those photographed on the Farewell Spit are Pied, but the pictures aren't perfect.

Above I believe to be the Pied,  the "smudgy" border looks smudgier than this picture.  Below is the Variable Oystercatcher in his black phase.

Now I know some of these pictures are pretty blurry, and its because I cropped and zoomed them to death, but this next one was easy to identify despite the distance it was taken from.  This is the Royal Spoonbill. (ahh it looks so small on blogger, but I think it gets bigger if you click on it, and i'll eventually get all the bird pictures on Flickr)

This next bird gave me so much insight into my childhood in a very strange way.  When I was a child, Nickelodeon played a cartoon called Doug (most of you are probably familiar), and he had a alter-ego named "quail man"  Picture of Quail man and Quail dog.  He wore his underwear outside of his shorts (I suspect to relate the a child's sense of humor) and a belt around his head.  It was not until I saw the California Quail at Totaranui Beach that I understood the reason for his belt (and the corresponding name "Quailman").  Also we saw the male and female with their babies running close behind.  Soooo cute!

Quail Man

And the babies...

The best is still yet to come.  Jeff and I were sitting in the tent layering up for night fall when this awful screeching came from what sounded like right outside our tent.  I open the rain fly only to see a Weka right there!!  There was a slight problem though,  the camera was in the car, and Weka's can run like hell.  They are flightless though, so I sad that on my side.  I slid Jeff's boots on, hobbled to the car with lightning speed, and chased the Weka to get as  close as possible before he snuck into the bush.  Jeff claims this was very funny to watch.  It was no doubt a Buff Weka.  He ran quickly, but he was a little on the chubby side, probably from not being able to fly.  

I have now identified and photographed 20 bird species here, and I think I saw a Bell Bird, but I didn't get a good enough look, and they are far from the only bright yellow, small bird in New Zealand.  I hope to continue seeing new species regularly now that Summer is about to begin.  My must-sees are the Kiwi and the Fiordland Penguins!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! As cheesy as it sounds, I am thankful for all of you who have supported Jeff and I throughout the idea and fruition of this adventure.

Goggle gobble :)

Golden Bay

So I've been a little busy, and slacking a bit on my posts, but I will make this one very informative.  I'll start with this past weekend.  Friday night we headed up to Takaka and found a campsite before sunset.  It was a small campsite, but offered great amenities.  While setting up tent we were approached by a man our age offering us some beers.  It was very kind of him, but because beer is terribly expensive in New Zealand we took a walk into the small town and picked up some beer of our own.  Joe was travelling alone through New Zealand before he was flying off to Spain.  His father was a Kiwi and his mother was a Brit and he spent a couple of years also in L.A.  He was able to offer us a lot of perspective on our transition into New Zealand and the differences between the three ways of life.  We spent a few hours drinking/talking, but retired to bed somewhat early because we had booked a horse riding adventure in the morning!!

We got very lucky to have booked a horse trek in Cape Farewell on the Farewell Spit on a beautiful day.  If you don't know what the Farewell Spit is, its basically, uhhh, a landform, and is long, thin, and growing.  Farewell Spit Image  It is also supposed to have over 1000 bird species in its very small land area.  Our horse trek was supposed to be for beginners, but it was actually somewhat challenging as we galloped up and walked down hills.  It was very enjoyable to cross some streams and ride on the beach though.  We went with a group of about 10 people, and they were all great company. We had booked 1.5 hours for $65, which was a great deal for such a beautiful location, but the trip ended up being 2.5 hours for the same price.  It was a great experience, only intensified by the satisfaction in Jeff's face when he first got on Scooby.  The night before he looked at me and asked "do you think the horse will feel me?"  (or something of the sort) , referring to a spiritual connection he may experience with this large mammal.  I tried to be optimistic saying that they would be best friends after the ride, but I began to worry he would be let down as he talked about sharing his snacks with his new best horsey friend during the hour ride there.  This was not the case at all.  Jeff and Scooby were like brothers.  Scooby kept trying to eat and Jeff would let him because he was a push over, and Scooby would only run if Jeff really kicked and begged.  They were so cute together.  (As I am writing this Jeff begin to read and says "yeah he was like a big brother") hehe

The ride was a huge success, but it was exhausting so we headed back through to Takaka and then a bit north the a DOC campsite on Totaranui Beach in Abel Tasman National Park.  we spent the rest of the day running into the water really fast, running out really fast, playing frisbee, and reading.  We decided we would wake up to see the sunrise because it would rise right over the beach.  While setting up tent we were approached by an older Brit couple who offered to share their fire (neither Jeff nor I brought matches or a lighter for a weekend of camping).  We obliged and ended up talking to them for over an hour.  They were travelling just as we were, but were not working, and their vehicle was a bit nicer.  They had just completed a 4 month bike tour of Europe, which Jeff and I quickly decided would be our next trip (don't worry mom we'll need a few years to save up for that one).  They were fascinating people, but we had to get to bed to avoid the bugs and get some sleep.

I was awoken by Jeff at 5:45 that the alarm went off, and I could tell he was somewhat hesitant to get out of the tent, but we unzipped the door and saw the most beautiful firey red color flooding the sky.  I don't think I've ever run faster before 6am in my life.  Throwing on shoes and grabbing the camera, Jeff and I ran to the beach (approx 150m away) to photograph and watch in awe as the sun rose over distant mountain of the Marlborough Sounds (you couldn't even see these mountains the day before...See Flickr pictures)

It was still quite chilly so we retreated back to the tent for a couple more hours of sleep.  We had a hike to a waterfall planned that day so we needed our beauty rest.  At around 9 we woke up again and headed to Wainui Falls in the Abel Tasman.  It was a pretty easy hike, about 40 minutes each way, and absolutely beautiful.  I bought some Santa hats on Friday so we could work on getting a good Christmas pic, and this is one location for our prototype.

After the hike we took the 3 hour, very windy (full of turns) ride home.  It was so nice to take a hot shower, eat hot, tasty food, and get a warm night's sleep.

At 8am on Monday I started my new job at the Nelson City Council Cafe.  It is just me and an older lady named Loraine.  She reminds me a lot of my grandmom, which makes me sad sometimes, but she has been teaching me a lot about baking/cooking.  It is a wonderful job where I spend 6 hours preparing sandwiches and dessert dishes, and we take a tea break every morning, and a long lunch in the afternoon.  She feeds me muffins and delicious lunch dishes...yumm.  It is probably the best job ever.  At lunch we sit and talk with a small group of employees who are all about my parents age.  They all interrogate me about being young in the USA and talk about life in Nelson.  I enjoy hearing their perspective of America and about the differences in culture.  They also have give great advice about places to see in Nelson.  

So I have a bunch of new bird pictures/identification, but I will do a separate blog entry on that tomorrow mostly because I am exhausted.  Until then, Cheers!  Oh and Happy Turkey Day!  I am super jealous of all of you Americans scarfing turkey and pumpkin pie on Thursday.  

ps. check out more awesome pictures from the weekend by clicking on the Flickr link on the right!

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

So a few random thoughts before I forget.  So one, small disappointing aspect of New Zealand is that the toilets flush down.  Like I said, it is small, but I admittedly was excited to see the toilet swirl the opposite way when flushed because we are located south of the equator.  It does not here in New Zealand.  It only goes straight down.

Now onto something amazing about New Zealand, there is NO TRAFFIC, at least in Nelson.  I drive 15 minutes to work about 5 days a week and it does not matter what time of the day it is, it always takes me the same amount of time.  It is a wonderful feeling, and decreases my daily stress level by a lot.  I attribute most of the lack of traffic to the traffic circles.  Basically no matter what direction you want to go you are initially turning left and yielding to the cars on your right.  Maybe we have these in the states, but I’ve never seen them, and I’m not entirely sure they would work, even in the busy suburbs of Philly.  Needless to say, I only go through one stoplight on my way to work.  I estimate this same ride, but at home would have about 4 stoplights and take 25 minutes, maybe 30 with traffic.  Life is good.

Third random thing about life in New Zealand (sort of), one which I hated and grew to love, is the fact that I generally do not have a cell phone.  Jeff and I share a cell phone, but usually it just sits on the dining room table, and we only ever get a call from the temp agency, and it’s not like we really have too many friends to text.  Jeff uses it to text basketball friends, and I text one lady about work.  At first I would reach in my purse to check my cell phone constantly and now I am usually wondering what the loud noise is coming from my pocket.  I would say my cell phone use has decreased 98%, and it’s a good feeling to be able to live without it, but I do find myself wishing I could share parts of my day with Jeff or people back home.  I guess that’s what the blog is for.

I can’t remember any more random things, so I’ll go on to describe my week.  I haven’t written in a while, but honestly not too much happened this week except working my butt off.  I strained my back on Sunday when we went to the bird sanctuary, so I had been taking a few days off yoga, but I went to a vinyasa flow class this morning and got my butt kicked. 

This week I worked at the airport café Mon through Thurs and had my first day of housekeeping work on Wednesday.  I really thought I could do anything for 6 hours a day for a month or two, but this housekeeping job was at a five star resort, and it wasn’t that the work was too physically demanding (although quite rough), but they were so meticulous that it drove me insane.  I think I am meticulously clean and neat, and I understand people pay a lot of money to stay at these places, but I decided that I cannot care enough about a smear on a granite wall that I just finished buffing enough to do that for 20-30 hours a week, especially for minimum wage (This is part vacation after all).  I politely declined further employment at the hotel, and did a little employment damage control… I know in the coming weekends I will have catering opportunities for $15/hour and I have been getting pretty steady hours at the airport café (which I love) so I thought quitting the hotel would be fine.  I went to talk to my temp agency lady (Cynthia) to tell her I have more availability and she said that I could be the main airport café person from the temp agency (her and I are like bff).  And then it got even better, she calls me shortly after this conversation to send me on an interview for a position managing a small café, with one other lady, for 30hr/week for 2 weeks while the head chef is away.   The boss there offered me the job and I start Monday!  I am very excited because I will get the chance to work in a commercial size kitchen baking and cooking, but also talking to customers (a huge improvement from cleaning rooms).  Once these 2 weeks are up holidays and summer will be in full swing and I can pick up more hours at the airport café.  I am pretty much the luckiest person alive to have gotten that position at the small café, because I was worried I would quit the hotel and all my jobs would die off.  I guess New Zealand wants to keep me for a little while longer J

It’s Friday here and my first day off since last Sunday.  Because the house we rented is also advertised as a holiday home, it is being rented for the weekend.  It sounds unusual, and it is, but we basically get paid $15 a night each to go away for the weekend while other people stay at the house.  We’ve been out of the house since yesterday morning and stayed in a hostel in Nelson last night because Jeff had a job today doing relocation (moving boxes around).  Tonight we will head to Takaka (about 2 hours north-west of Nelson) camp there, do some activities, then camp in Abel Tasman and do some more activities (I don’t want to spoil the future blog topic, but we booked a very cool activity for tomorrow!)  then return home Sunday night.  We’ll see how Bluberry holds up on the “Takaka Hill” which is basically a drive over a really windy mountain.  (The first time I ever realized the windy and windy were spelled the same was here in New Zealand).  You’d be surprised at how many times I was expecting a gusty ride through the mountains rather than one with a lot of turns haha

I’ve gotta go find some sunscreen before we head off into the wild because the sun is so much more brutal here than in the states, and I’m willing it to be a sunny weekend.  Hope everyone is looking forward to the holidays and the time off!  Miss everyone a ton and its great to hear from those who write!!  Love and hugs!

Cheers!

Oh Sunday!

Today was a pretty great Sunday if you ask me.  And it was a pretty great Sunday even if you don't ask me, because whether or not I am posed the question, I think that today was a great day.  Since Nicole has found some temporary work around town now, it was nice to have a morning where she could sleep in.  The sun was shining bright from the get-go and it seemed like a perfect day for a hike to capture some bird pics and a beach trip for the evening.

Due to the beautiful weather, we decided to take the "Ladybug" (motorcycle) for the day rather than the "Blueberry" (Coles old car).  Motorcycling around a this beautiful town is so amazing that I can't effectively put the feeling into words.  Plus the lack of traffic really makes the bike a rather safe transport too.  So we were off before noon to the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary where we planned to do some light hiking and catch some bird pics.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the idea of a wildlife sanctuary, it is basically a plot of land that is being intensely preserved to prevent invasive species of plants and animals from taking over.  Since New Zealand is loaded with fancy birds, some of which are flightless, the possums and rats steal the bird eggs and eventually eliminate them.  If anyone can explain why trying to prevent the theory of Darwinism and the whole process of natural selection is such a worthy cause, please do...So what did we see?

The walk was a little bit more of a hike than we imagined, but it was along a small stream that had plenty of waterfalls.  The amazing thing is that the sanctuary is literally a five minute ride from downtown Nelson. It is like a hidden gem of nature right next to the "city".  The hike was beautiful, but the birds were non-existent.  Apparently, the birds are currently nesting, so we were unlikely to spot them for pictures but we were able to hear their calls.  It's quite amazing that an animal so tiny can produce such a loud and unique sound!  So while the pictures were limited, we spotted a couple of good looking ducks with 6 or 7 baby ducklings.  Since I am too traumatized by what occurred on the hike back, I am going to let Nicole write about the incident....

I can understand why Jeff didn't want to write about the incident, but I will preface this short tale with the fact that we googled the incident, and it appears baby birds can fall from great heights with little injury.  So like Jeff said, we spotted a family of Paradise Shelducks on the first stretch of our walk.  We were looping back around when we saw them again, but this time at the top of the largest waterfall.  I started to pictures of the little guys, when all of the sudden they started drifting toward the edge, and one by one went over the waterfall, with no regard from their parents.  Jeff and I looked at each other in sheer sadness.  We contemplated trying to go to the bottom to find them, but figured it would be too dangerous or disappointing.   We left the park hoping the fall was not fatal.  After some research it does not appear that it would hurt the birds, but it was a very upsetting scene to the amateur bird watcher.  Back to Jeff...

So, next we cruised over to Tahunanui Beach, which is our local beach around here, to just soak up the sun for a little while.  I keep being told by the locals that Summer has been getting here later and later every year.  While it used to be in November, now they say it won't be getting real warm here until X-Mas time.  Definitely looking forward to it warming up so that we can swim every day.  We arrived home to just relax on Sunday afternoon and mentally prepare for another week half way across the globe. Cheers!

Ps. I'll post the pictures from today on Flickr

Ahh so much can happen in a few, short, beautiful days... I got the car that I saw online.  It is a deep blue 89 Volvo 760 GLE. She's not too glamorous, but she is in great shape, and she was a mere $1200.  I named her Blueberry.

I also has had my first day of work at the Nelson airport cafe.  The airport only has 5 gates, and one cafe.  It is a decent job, although I don't always understand what the kiwis are ordering, the other staff is really helpful, and it's nice to be out of the house.  I will work there Friday, Monday, and Tuesday as well.  It's an easy job, close by, decent pay, and they make me hot chocolate, and feed me muffins... I can't complain.

I am just about to post some amazing sunset pictures that I took when we had our new Fin friends over, and they brought a girl, Sara, from Sweden.  We spend the night drinking, eating, and Dan played guitar, while Jonas played harmonica.  It was really fun, and great talking to people who are doing what we're doing.  They're now heading south, but we hope to catch up with them soon! (Subtle hint to check out the Flickr)

I got a response to the "what aren't eggs refrigerated here" question.  My friend Laura FB messaged me with her conclusion... " so when chickens lay eggs the egg is covered in a protective coating that protects the egg from going bad. In the US, eggs are washed before theyre sold and washing them removes the coating so then they have to be refrigerated to stay fresh. When we used to get eggs straight from the chicken we would usually wash them bc they were covered in all sorts of stuff (straw, feathers, dirt, etc) from being in the chicken pen and then we would just refrigerate them, but if we didn't have room in the fridge or something we just wouldn't wash them until right before using them."

I love the responses to all of the complicated Kiwi lifestyle questions.  

More birds... so I haven't been looking as aggressively recently because of work and other adult stuff, but I have big plans for this weekend.  My yoga instructor said that there was a bird sanctuary in the area, so i'm hoping to get over there in the next few days.  Today i'll start off with the bird I saw yesterday at Tahunanui beach.  He basically wanted to be best friends until he realized I didn't have any food.  He is the native Red-Billed Gull.  

This next photo was taken the day after we arrived in New Zealand, in a town outside of Auckland, called Devonport.  I had to change the picture quite a bit to get enough color to identify him, but I did get a better look in real life.  It is the Australian introduced Eastern Rosella, and I can't wait to see more like him! (side note:  you may not be able to see him very well, if at all, but he is in almost the middle.  If you click on it it should get bigger)

So I did yoga, ran errands, replied to e-mails, ran a couple miles today, so I only have energy for one more bird tonight.  I saw these little guys outside the Te Papa museum in Wellington.  Usually I deem every duck I see a "Mallard", so I was surprised to find out these were Grey Ducks.

Miss everyone! Hope all is well! Cheers & Love!!

Frisbees Can Make Friends!

Sunday afternoon, the 5 roomies and I headed to the park to play some frisbee, and to see if our flyers worked.  Everyone was very skeptical, but I wasn't too surprised to see 2 guys waiting for us at the park.  They were 2 guys, about our age, from Finland.  Markus and Jonas were a great asset to the teams, and had really great attitudes. They are doing basically the same thing as we are doing except they are currently staying in a hostel, so tonight we invited them over to hang out and maybe play some poker.  Viola!  Frisbee + Optimism = New Friends!!  Hopefully even more people will show up next week.

More great news!  I currently have 3 jobs, and it may sounds awful, but it is great news to me.  Through the temp agency I signed up with, I will be working 14 hours at the airport cafe this week.  I also will be doing weekend catering like I mentioned before, but I also got the job at the Grand Mercure, which is this beautiful holiday hotel of sorts.  It reminds me of a beautiful, sophisticated, Disney resort.  I will be cleaning rooms 3 days a week at $13.50 an hour, from 9-3.  Its basically working for minimum wage, but its the right amount of hours for me, and they are good hours.  It's like a small weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  Now I just have to find a car.  There is one I really want, so cross your fingers it's still available (the first one I made appt to look at was sold like an hour after I called).

Jeff also had some luck today!  He called a few orchards in the area, and oddly enough each orchard basically said "we don't have work now but here's a number to try", and it led him to an interview.  It too provides him with a decent schedule, decent pay, and is only temporary.  The best part of these jobs is that they let us make a bit of cash then head down the coast after Christmas to find another place to live and explore.

So I guess its back to the birds... We left off at the Pigeons, next are two of the coolest birds I have seen so far, and both pictures are pretty good.  First is the black swan.  They are so beautiful and plentiful in Rotorua.  The second is the Pukeko, equally as beautiful, and unlike anything i've ever seen before.  He was also the easiest to identify.

These birds are in no way in the order that I saw them.  That would probably have been a good idea, but I am too impatient, and was way too excited about getting a picture of the Tui to not put it up right away.  The next two birds are found in the U.S. in great numbers, so they weren't a super exciting find, but its nice to think that maybe they are related to the House Sparrows and Black Backed Gulls at home.

This next one was pretty difficult to identify, mostly because the picture was initially from really far away.  After doing some zooming, I was able to most accurately identify it as a the New Zealand native, the Little Shag.  There were other shags in my book, but this appeared to be the only one that had a yellow beak.

The most uncommon bird (what the book identifies as the most uncommon) I have come across so far was a bird that Jeff and I stumbled upon while taking a walk on the beach Monday night.  The two Variable Oystercatchers, listed as "uncommon endemic", would not let me get too close to them, but I'm pretty positive I figured them out.  I decided it was the Variable Oystercatcher rather than the Pied or Chatam Island Oystercatcher because it was the only species that appeared to have an entirely black phase.  (Note: This picture was digitally enhanced to better see the colors and size).

Jeff and I saw this next one on our hike to "The Center of New Zealand" yesterday, and it was a chase, and somewhat of a failure, but after consulting the hand guide, I have it narrowed down to the only two Raptors in the Nelson area. It only really looks like one of them from the bottom, so I am going with the Australasian Harrier for this next photo.  He was amazing, gliding all around the mountainside.  (I am also posting our hike picture on Flickr today too, great views of Nelson!)

I'll end the post today with a simple bird that everyone should be able to guess, as most of you will be enjoying it later this month.  

   Yep, the Wild Turkey!!

Cheers!

12 Birds Down!

So the ever exciting employment update: I kind of have a job!! I went to an interview this morning at a vineyard about 30 minutes from my house, and came back semi-employed! I will be a "food & beverage consultant", so basically I am doing catering for events (mostly weekends) at this beautiful vineyard, on a casual basis. I am happy with this, and they will pay me $15 an hour, but I am still hoping for another, more consistent, position. The only problem is now I need to purchase my own car. Beth, Nick, and Adam are buying Jeff and I out of the Rhino so that they can use it to their total discretion, and Jeff and I can purchase something of our own. I like this idea, I just really do not want to go through the car buying process again. oh well, it's not like I have anything else to do.

I have very few bullet points on my "things that make me feel like a bad ass" list, but today I was able to add one, and probably the biggest of them all. Today I drove a motorcycle! Yes I sat on it, turned it on, put it into 1st gear, and rode it in straight lines until my legs were sore from turning the bike around. It is amazing how cool/scary/badass it feels to drive a motorcylce, and i really didn't drive very far. After seeing that it was much less complicated that I previously thought, I am considering getting my junior licence in NZ and learning here.

There have been commercials recently advertising for a movie called "The Inbetweeners", and it looked hilarious. Dan, the British roomie, explained that it is a movie that stemmed from a British comedy series of the same name. He wanted to see it, and despite not seeing the series, we wanted to see it too. It was the funniest movie I have seen in a while. Yeah it was post-high school, pre-college humor, but in a quirky and unpredictable way, in some way different than in the states. The reason I put this in here is because if anyone ever comes across it in the States I would definitely say give it a go. The series is supposed to be even funnier as well.

Now for the birds. As very few of you may know I was a member of the University of Pittsburgh Birding & Ornithology Club. I didn't attend too many trips (as they were very very early in the cold morning), and I attended most of the trips for the fast food we'd be consuming on the road and the remote location away from Oakland, but I did see that birds did deeply interest others, and that made me think that if I was actually going to make my dues worth it I was going to do it in New Zealand... so, after weeks of weak attempts at photographing birds ::drumroll:: I was able to photograph (some very poorly) and identify 12 different birds! Now I realize this is nowhere near my goal, but for me it is an encouraging start to a long list of birds I will one day see. Up until today my watching has been passive, and I have been taking the "let the birds come to me" approach, but I have started to step it up a bit. For example, today I sat in my yard on a log for 10 minutes in boredom (aka silence), and all of the sudden i heard a series of clicks, whistles, and screeches, and sure enough it was the bird I've been chasing around with a camera at every national park, and now he was in the tree right next to me!! It was the Tui!

Now I definitely expected to see a Tui in my yard, but not exactly in the spot I was sitting. I expected to see the Tui in my other spot in the yard near the Tui feeder I made a few days earlier. Despite the overly sweet water I filled the feeder (aka poorly cut milk jug) with, and the welcoming text, no birds have visited it to my knowledge.

The Tui is one of the more obvious native New Zealand birds, but for all of the other birds I used "The Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand" book I borrowed from the library. The following birds are identified to the best of ability, but I would like to be corrected if i'm wrong please!! The book was able to identify the other bird I saw on my sit today as the Black Bird; A bird brought from Europe, and also seen in America.

You may have trouble spotting the bird, or seeing much detail, but after zooming in I was able to see enough detail to confidently choose a correlating title for all of the birds. Although it would be nice to have beautiful pictures of every birds, my main goal is just the photograph the bird well enough to identify it. I have to admit it is fun to go on a hunt to match a bird with it's name. It was the beak color that allowed me to distinguish the Feral (rock) Pidgeon from the New Zealand Pidgeon, who is only found in New Zealand.

hmmm so i think there may be a limit on how many pictures I can upload in one blog entry, so the rest of the birds will have to wait! I'll put them up asap though.

Right now it's ultimate frisbee time... we'll see if anyone shows up, other than our friends! Cheers!

Can Frisbees Make Friends?

So it's really hard to put into words what the culture is like here.  Kiwi's definitely have a great sense of humor, but sometimes its very subtle that you don't even catch it.  I've found a youtube video that gives a small glimpse of what kiwi advertising and people are sort of like.  It is a video of an anti-drunk driving campaign commercial they air currently.  Because we only have about 6 legitimate channels, we see this commercial often and all are sick of it, but it is quite hilarious and a great example of New Zealand humor.  (It also has a great message!)

Employment update:  Shortly after posting my blog entry last night i received an e-mail from a cafe that has recently been bought out by an american guy (i hope this give me an advantage) saying that I should know if I will have an interview by Friday.  It isn't good news, but it isn't bad either, so i am hopeful.  I also decided to start selling Avon after talking to a representative on Saturday.  It is free to sell and I figure the best time to start is before Christmas.  We'll see how it goes, but like Bethy said "I have nothing else to do".  Hey, maybe i'll meet some new people.

Speaking of meeting new people, Jeff and I are eager to integrate sports and companionship, and have been making flyers advertising Ultimate Frisbee pickup games at the local park on Sunday afternoons.  We have put up quite a few around the city, and hope that we have at least a few people show up for a proper game.  With this too, I am hopeful!

Yesterday our British roommate (His name is Dan) showed Bethy and I a vide, and we have become big fans.  Apparently Jenna Marbles videos went viral about a year ago, but despite my fair amount youtube media knowledge I had never heard of her prior to yesterday.  I suggest watching "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking" to see if it is your kind of humor, but I will warn it is NOT for younger kids, NOT for people with a narrow sense of humor, and DEFINITELY for Nicki Minaj fans (if you can find that video)!

Finally, I received a response regarding kiwis not refrigerating their eggs from my friend Conor.  He is a bird buff and he offered some insight into the egg situation, but I am still awaiting a complete explanation.  "apparently if you don't refrigerate them you never have  to refrigerate them.  I dont know why we do here (the states), because then if you stop they go bad."  This is definitely good to know because sometimes by habit the eggs end up in the fridge, but I'm will get to the bottom of this kiwi mystery.


It was rainy all day again (The kiwis claim this is unusual pshhh) but I do hope to get some great Nelson pictures up ASAP!  Cheers!!
 

If you left it up to me everyday would be a holiday from real...

So although I have about 8 resumes out, I have one interview, and one definite no.  Hopefully the interview will work out, but the other reply said they would not hire anyone with a visa under 12 months.  This seems to be a trend of most of the positions here.  I know that it is only slightly into the second week, and i have no reason to be pessimistic, but i also have to be realistic and think ahead in case I remain unemployed for the duration of this lease in Nelson.  All will work out I suppose...

I've found that the two greatest ways to get my mind off the stresses of life are chocolate and yoga (luckily these two work in a clever balance).  I have been working on the chocolate eating for about 4 weeks now, and have finally decided it is time to restore my personal yoga to chocolate ratio.  I am fortunate that what Nelson lacks in employment it makes up for in yoga practice.  After a lot of research, I was able to find a quaint yoga studio only 3K down the road from my house (On a really good day I could run/walk there).  The owner/yogi happened to be Atlanta, GA born and bred and has moved here with her Irish husband to live a "simpler life".  It was great to close my eyes, stretch, and be guided by someone who reminded me of home.  It was equally as great to speak to someone who understands the frustrations that come along with having to purchase $9 dental floss and overpriced wheat-based products (Note: there are plenty of things that are cheaper here, like asparagus, but a lot of everyday items are wildly overpriced).  Overall, my first New Zealand yoga experience was amazing, and she offered me 30 days of unlimited yoga for $30, which is a drastic discount from the 6 classes for $60 which is advertised on the website.  People's kindness always amazes me.  Another lady in the class spoke with me for a while after class and invited me to join her Brazilian Samba workshop, and although I would probably decline in the states, I think I must embrace holiday and go for it! (This lady also added that she had lived here for 3 years, and it took her 9  months to find ANY job here... sighs)

Last sorrowful Halloween post:  Yesterday we bought a bit of candy to hand out to trick or treaters (I highly suggest trying a Moro bar if ever in New Zealand or Australia), and we did not have a single kid come to the house.  It was bittersweet because we got to eat all of the candy, but we really were entirely without Halloween in 2011 except for Shaun of the Dead, which is barely a Halloween movie.  

Today was the day I was getting a library card, signing out a bird book, and beginning my goal of identifying and photographing 50% of New Zealand's indigenous species, BUT the library is closed until Friday for computer updating, so it must wait.  In the meantime I am hoping to try to enjoy unemployment as cheaply as possible and do some amateur hiking, amateur photography, beach combing, and reading.  I have hardly any pictures of Nelson and am almost done Into the Wild, and would really like to read more like it.  For anyone who doesn't know the story, I highly suggest reading the book, or watching the movie (both awesome in their own right).  If anyone has any outdoors adventure suggestions, or any new must reads, please pass the titles on!

I have heard there is a significant amount of snow in PA, and my only response is "come visit"!!  I hope all is well and I would love to hear some stories from the states!  I'm not sure if I ever mentioned, but if you want to skype with Jeff or I (as many have already) my user name is nicole.wesolowski or my e-mail is nicoleweso@gmail.com

Cheers!