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!!