Sunday, October 29, 2006
Still no photos... I'm struggling with a dial-up connection until we move into our new place later this week. If all goes well we might actually have a broadband connection again this coming weekend and then I will post pictures of sunny beaches and palm trees and you will all hate me.
We're moving into a townhouse about a five minute walk from the beach in St Heliers, which is about a twenty minute drive from downtown Auckland. St Heliers has a small village with a butcher, some bakers and LOTS of real estate agents because who wouldn't want to live so close to the beach? There's a waterfront trail directly downtown so we should be able to cycle to work on days when it isn't completely soaking wet and windy. The townhouse owners are relocating to England for a few years and they've done some nice renovations - a big contrast from the first rental I saw where I stepped in a puddle in the carpet because the dishwasher was leaking. Another rental looked lovely from the outside but had an internal 'window' with a low sill just waiting for some visiting child to climb up, fall out and dash their brains on the floor below.
This weekend we hosted some of my relatives in our temporary digs before we move out. They were fascinated by the gigantic entertainment system cabinet. We have to keep the cabinet door open because otherwise it gets really hot in there which is a bit worrying. I tried turning off all the stuff but the programming is finicky and then nothing would work. I'll be very happy to go back to the minimalism of our no TV/DVD/VCR/CD/Sky Box/ big ass Tuner / built in speaker system lifestyle. I'll miss the appliances in this place though 'cause we have to buy our own for our rental place and fridges in particular are astronomically expensive (think $2,000 for a simple white fridge).
I'm sure we'll be living in chaos for at least the next month while we figure out where to put all our stuff in the new place. I was happy to finally wear my surf shorts on Saturday and feel warm walking around outside but on Sunday the stormy weather returned. I'm sure this carping about rain isn't appreciated by anyone living in Toronto where the high was 7 over the weekend. I'll shut up now.
We're moving into a townhouse about a five minute walk from the beach in St Heliers, which is about a twenty minute drive from downtown Auckland. St Heliers has a small village with a butcher, some bakers and LOTS of real estate agents because who wouldn't want to live so close to the beach? There's a waterfront trail directly downtown so we should be able to cycle to work on days when it isn't completely soaking wet and windy. The townhouse owners are relocating to England for a few years and they've done some nice renovations - a big contrast from the first rental I saw where I stepped in a puddle in the carpet because the dishwasher was leaking. Another rental looked lovely from the outside but had an internal 'window' with a low sill just waiting for some visiting child to climb up, fall out and dash their brains on the floor below.
This weekend we hosted some of my relatives in our temporary digs before we move out. They were fascinated by the gigantic entertainment system cabinet. We have to keep the cabinet door open because otherwise it gets really hot in there which is a bit worrying. I tried turning off all the stuff but the programming is finicky and then nothing would work. I'll be very happy to go back to the minimalism of our no TV/DVD/VCR/CD/Sky Box/ big ass Tuner / built in speaker system lifestyle. I'll miss the appliances in this place though 'cause we have to buy our own for our rental place and fridges in particular are astronomically expensive (think $2,000 for a simple white fridge).
I'm sure we'll be living in chaos for at least the next month while we figure out where to put all our stuff in the new place. I was happy to finally wear my surf shorts on Saturday and feel warm walking around outside but on Sunday the stormy weather returned. I'm sure this carping about rain isn't appreciated by anyone living in Toronto where the high was 7 over the weekend. I'll shut up now.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
I've been without internet access since our arrival in Auckland. Let's catch up on events so far:
Friday Oct 6th: Business Class Premiere Rules
Adam and I were perturbed to find out in Los Angeles that Air New Zealand sat us on different floors of the airplane but pretty soon we didn't care 'cause we had seat-pods. These are totally awesome individual seats that convert to beds with all kinds of Star Trek inspired gadgetry. I felt so sorry for the Economy Plus passengers behind me who had to watch us getting a full night's completely inclined rest and waking up occasionally with mussed hair to use the washroom. My sleeping sac was very cosy and I kind of wished the flight was a little longer.
Saturday Oct 7th: arrival
Hopped, skipped and jumped out of the airport after a friendly grilling from New Zealand immigration. We picked up our Rav4 rental car and apartment key from the Avis desk. Saturday 7 am traffic in Auckland is pretty non-existent so we're home in our temporary digs and unpacked before 8 am. There's a crazy plasma screen TV on the wall and the welcome letter says you absolutely MUST NOT TOUCH the screen. Happily there's a BBQ on the balcony that we can play with. I skipped up the street to pick up the paper and look for Bran-Bix and soy milk - Adam's favourite breakfast. No luck with the Bran-Bix: have they discontinued it since we left in February? Saatchi & Saatchi's office manager thoughtfully left us some food in the fridge (including BEER) but we headed out for lunch and settled on a Japanese place filled with authentic Japanese people. Up the street at the Butcher's we bought some lamb leg steaks and yummy yummy lamb - mint - rosemary sausages. Mwa ha ha! All that lamb only cost us $20 and it would have cost at least $40 at home! We felt like we fooled the butcher.
We thought we'd look for the grocery store on foot and got a bit lost but corrected with the aid of Adam's new PalmOne and Google Maps. Instead of the grocery store we found a pedestrian stair descent to Adam's new office but we weren't sure if it was the right place 'cause we couldn't find his company's sign (more on this later). Turned around and headed back to the apartment to get the car and look for FoodLand.
Finding Foodland wasn't too hard by car. Most of the grocery prices were less outrageous than I'd anticipated, except for some parmesan cheese that cost $25. Thankfully there's a local parmesan that's $6.
Home again home again. I wanted a nap 'cause my eyes felt like they were drying up in their sockets. First I curled up with a blanket on the couch... and then Adam curled up on the other end... and next thing we knew it was after 8 pm and totally dark outside. We decided to barbecue the lamb anyway (see Sunday to find out the surprise ingredient in our barbecue). It was very tasty with garlic and mint and potatoes. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep so I slurped down one of the Heinekens in the fridge. Passed out before 11 pm.
Sunday Oct 8th: we wake up in New Zealand
Adam started fiddling with the alarm clock around 5 am and then we were both awake. And it was dark outside and continued to be dark for another couple hours. I went exploring looking for a running path and found out it was really hilly out there. Nonetheless I discovered a footbridge overpass to the waterfront trail. Adam discovered it independently and we crossed paths when I headed back. On my approach back to our apartment I discovered that we had found Adam's new office yesterday 'cause the company's sign is screwed on in gigantic metal letters across the top.
The basil and mint plants that we bought at FoodLand kept falling over so we went looking for pots. On the way to a Remuera nursery we got a call from Adam's new office mate and we arranged to meet for coffee at Palmer's nursery. From the plants on display it looks like you can grow all kinds of yummy citrus fruits here including grapefruit and kaffir limes. More lamb for lunch at home. In daylight I discovered a small snail on the barbecue: hard to know whether it was alive or dead the night before when we were testing the barbecue on our lamb steaks.
Monday Oct 9th: Adam's first day at work
Adam had a breakfast meeting nearby and then a dim sum lunch so I was on my own for the whole day. I walked into town to arrange banking and pick up our mail from the post office: we forwarded everything from home to 'Poste Restante - Auckland' and presto - you can forward it anywhere you happen to be living in New Zealand for free. After lunch I ventured out in the car to drive around Temaki's Mission Bay: it's totally beautiful. I only gave myself a 1 hour driving adventure and then drove back in to stay safe off the road before the kids got out of school. I made a yummy lamb sausage dinner with lots of fresh herbs and then we fell asleep early again.
Tuesday Oct 10th: Hail and sun and fishponds and hats in the ocean
Here's the kind of day I had: I went out for a run and it started raining hard so I turned back. I decided to use the apartment complex's gym but grabbed the car keys instead of the apartment keys and locked myself out. So I ran down to Adam's office to get his keys - wearing only shorts and a t-shirt and holding my iPod and water bottle. I decided to drive out to Temaki again to park by the waterfront and run from Mission Bay to St Hillier. More beautiful scenery. I was running against the wind on the way back and Adam's hat blew off my head and straight into the ocean. I jumped down from the sea wall to rescue it without getting my feet wet. Success. Got back to the apartment and spaced out for a bit before heading up Parnell Road to look for an internet hot spot. No luck - at least unless you want to pay $10 an hour at Starbucks on top of their overpriced beverages. I abandoned half my hazelnut hot chocolate and walked back to the apartment. Then I dropped my keys in the fish pond while inserting my Ving card to open the front door. THEN I walked down to Adam's office to freeload off their internet connection and got caught in a hailstorm. My jeans were totally soaked but I decided to go anyway. Apparently the hail fell right through the roof at his office and onto people's desks: it's an old building.
Wednesday Oct 11th: We find a car
The Japanese get rid of their cars after 10,000 km of driving and send them straight to New Zealand for our benefit. We'd heard the rumour but learned today that it's true. We picked out a little Nissan March 2004 model with less than 9,000 km for a very reasonable price.
Earlier in the day I experimented with the New Zealand health care system. My nasty chest cough has lingered around for over two months and I've decided to give it notice. Making an appointment to see a doctor here is extraordinarily easy compared to wrestling with the system in Toronto. I've had to wait as long as a month to make an appointment to see my doctor at home. Here I called and got an appointment for whenever I wanted the next day (and I'm sure the same day would have been possible). The catch? You have to pay $60 for the appointment: they have user fees here. On the other hand my appointment started nearly on time and the waiting room was clean and comfy. Seniors and some other groups pay a lower rate ($35 or something - it probably depends on the doctor) and your prescriptions aren't covered either. So far I'm pretty happy to fork over $60 in return for getting to see the doctor right away in an uncrowded waiting room - and a lot of the other health care service is free. I'll do some more research and document my thoughts on Canadian vs New Zealand health care.
So that's most of the story so far. We're having lots of fun and today the weather finally cleared up and I didn't get caught in any rain or hail. Crowded House wasn't kidding about four seasons in one day.
Friday Oct 6th: Business Class Premiere Rules
Adam and I were perturbed to find out in Los Angeles that Air New Zealand sat us on different floors of the airplane but pretty soon we didn't care 'cause we had seat-pods. These are totally awesome individual seats that convert to beds with all kinds of Star Trek inspired gadgetry. I felt so sorry for the Economy Plus passengers behind me who had to watch us getting a full night's completely inclined rest and waking up occasionally with mussed hair to use the washroom. My sleeping sac was very cosy and I kind of wished the flight was a little longer.
Saturday Oct 7th: arrival
Hopped, skipped and jumped out of the airport after a friendly grilling from New Zealand immigration. We picked up our Rav4 rental car and apartment key from the Avis desk. Saturday 7 am traffic in Auckland is pretty non-existent so we're home in our temporary digs and unpacked before 8 am. There's a crazy plasma screen TV on the wall and the welcome letter says you absolutely MUST NOT TOUCH the screen. Happily there's a BBQ on the balcony that we can play with. I skipped up the street to pick up the paper and look for Bran-Bix and soy milk - Adam's favourite breakfast. No luck with the Bran-Bix: have they discontinued it since we left in February? Saatchi & Saatchi's office manager thoughtfully left us some food in the fridge (including BEER) but we headed out for lunch and settled on a Japanese place filled with authentic Japanese people. Up the street at the Butcher's we bought some lamb leg steaks and yummy yummy lamb - mint - rosemary sausages. Mwa ha ha! All that lamb only cost us $20 and it would have cost at least $40 at home! We felt like we fooled the butcher.
We thought we'd look for the grocery store on foot and got a bit lost but corrected with the aid of Adam's new PalmOne and Google Maps. Instead of the grocery store we found a pedestrian stair descent to Adam's new office but we weren't sure if it was the right place 'cause we couldn't find his company's sign (more on this later). Turned around and headed back to the apartment to get the car and look for FoodLand.
Finding Foodland wasn't too hard by car. Most of the grocery prices were less outrageous than I'd anticipated, except for some parmesan cheese that cost $25. Thankfully there's a local parmesan that's $6.
Home again home again. I wanted a nap 'cause my eyes felt like they were drying up in their sockets. First I curled up with a blanket on the couch... and then Adam curled up on the other end... and next thing we knew it was after 8 pm and totally dark outside. We decided to barbecue the lamb anyway (see Sunday to find out the surprise ingredient in our barbecue). It was very tasty with garlic and mint and potatoes. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep so I slurped down one of the Heinekens in the fridge. Passed out before 11 pm.
Sunday Oct 8th: we wake up in New Zealand
Adam started fiddling with the alarm clock around 5 am and then we were both awake. And it was dark outside and continued to be dark for another couple hours. I went exploring looking for a running path and found out it was really hilly out there. Nonetheless I discovered a footbridge overpass to the waterfront trail. Adam discovered it independently and we crossed paths when I headed back. On my approach back to our apartment I discovered that we had found Adam's new office yesterday 'cause the company's sign is screwed on in gigantic metal letters across the top.
The basil and mint plants that we bought at FoodLand kept falling over so we went looking for pots. On the way to a Remuera nursery we got a call from Adam's new office mate and we arranged to meet for coffee at Palmer's nursery. From the plants on display it looks like you can grow all kinds of yummy citrus fruits here including grapefruit and kaffir limes. More lamb for lunch at home. In daylight I discovered a small snail on the barbecue: hard to know whether it was alive or dead the night before when we were testing the barbecue on our lamb steaks.
Monday Oct 9th: Adam's first day at work
Adam had a breakfast meeting nearby and then a dim sum lunch so I was on my own for the whole day. I walked into town to arrange banking and pick up our mail from the post office: we forwarded everything from home to 'Poste Restante - Auckland' and presto - you can forward it anywhere you happen to be living in New Zealand for free. After lunch I ventured out in the car to drive around Temaki's Mission Bay: it's totally beautiful. I only gave myself a 1 hour driving adventure and then drove back in to stay safe off the road before the kids got out of school. I made a yummy lamb sausage dinner with lots of fresh herbs and then we fell asleep early again.
Tuesday Oct 10th: Hail and sun and fishponds and hats in the ocean
Here's the kind of day I had: I went out for a run and it started raining hard so I turned back. I decided to use the apartment complex's gym but grabbed the car keys instead of the apartment keys and locked myself out. So I ran down to Adam's office to get his keys - wearing only shorts and a t-shirt and holding my iPod and water bottle. I decided to drive out to Temaki again to park by the waterfront and run from Mission Bay to St Hillier. More beautiful scenery. I was running against the wind on the way back and Adam's hat blew off my head and straight into the ocean. I jumped down from the sea wall to rescue it without getting my feet wet. Success. Got back to the apartment and spaced out for a bit before heading up Parnell Road to look for an internet hot spot. No luck - at least unless you want to pay $10 an hour at Starbucks on top of their overpriced beverages. I abandoned half my hazelnut hot chocolate and walked back to the apartment. Then I dropped my keys in the fish pond while inserting my Ving card to open the front door. THEN I walked down to Adam's office to freeload off their internet connection and got caught in a hailstorm. My jeans were totally soaked but I decided to go anyway. Apparently the hail fell right through the roof at his office and onto people's desks: it's an old building.
Wednesday Oct 11th: We find a car
The Japanese get rid of their cars after 10,000 km of driving and send them straight to New Zealand for our benefit. We'd heard the rumour but learned today that it's true. We picked out a little Nissan March 2004 model with less than 9,000 km for a very reasonable price.
Earlier in the day I experimented with the New Zealand health care system. My nasty chest cough has lingered around for over two months and I've decided to give it notice. Making an appointment to see a doctor here is extraordinarily easy compared to wrestling with the system in Toronto. I've had to wait as long as a month to make an appointment to see my doctor at home. Here I called and got an appointment for whenever I wanted the next day (and I'm sure the same day would have been possible). The catch? You have to pay $60 for the appointment: they have user fees here. On the other hand my appointment started nearly on time and the waiting room was clean and comfy. Seniors and some other groups pay a lower rate ($35 or something - it probably depends on the doctor) and your prescriptions aren't covered either. So far I'm pretty happy to fork over $60 in return for getting to see the doctor right away in an uncrowded waiting room - and a lot of the other health care service is free. I'll do some more research and document my thoughts on Canadian vs New Zealand health care.
So that's most of the story so far. We're having lots of fun and today the weather finally cleared up and I didn't get caught in any rain or hail. Crowded House wasn't kidding about four seasons in one day.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Last day in North America
I'm trying to convince myself that this will be my last day in North America for the next year or so. I suppose I should take this opportunity to celebrate how the water swirls down the drain hole counter-clockwise. If we still had a car I'd drive it round the block on the right hand side of the road. Yesterday I forced myself to go shoe shopping at Macy's but the intensity of my distaste for department stores + shoe shopping rendered the excursion useless - even though I'm aware that shoes are twice as expensive in New Zealand. Maybe I'll just wear thongs (not the underwear) or jandals as Kiwis call them.
Cyclists are even more irritating in NY than in Toronto (and I'm one of them so I know what I'm talking about). None of the commuter cyclists are wearing helmets here so I'd be interested in seeing their mortality statistics. I'm really looking forward to year-round bicycle commuting in Auckland so I hope to report that it's safe and that the weather accommodates by not pounding me with rain regularly.
Next update should come from our temporary apartment in Auckland...
I'm trying to convince myself that this will be my last day in North America for the next year or so. I suppose I should take this opportunity to celebrate how the water swirls down the drain hole counter-clockwise. If we still had a car I'd drive it round the block on the right hand side of the road. Yesterday I forced myself to go shoe shopping at Macy's but the intensity of my distaste for department stores + shoe shopping rendered the excursion useless - even though I'm aware that shoes are twice as expensive in New Zealand. Maybe I'll just wear thongs (not the underwear) or jandals as Kiwis call them.
Cyclists are even more irritating in NY than in Toronto (and I'm one of them so I know what I'm talking about). None of the commuter cyclists are wearing helmets here so I'd be interested in seeing their mortality statistics. I'm really looking forward to year-round bicycle commuting in Auckland so I hope to report that it's safe and that the weather accommodates by not pounding me with rain regularly.
Next update should come from our temporary apartment in Auckland...
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Hotel Laundry & other things I've learned in NY
We got confirmation last night that the company would cover our laundry bill at the hotel so we went crazy and washed our underwear. I can't imagine that anyone would ever pay $5 to wash a pair of socks. We added a few pairs of slacks and shirts as well and the laundry bill came to nearly $350. No joke: I don't think I spent that much purchasing those clothes in the first place. How do hotels get away with this thievery?
Also: the New York Ciy subway is vastly better than the Toronto subway. I just took a rush hour trip from midtown to SOHO and I didn't have to punch anyone in the gut to grab a handrail in the car. In fact I got a seat. The NY system is only mildly stinkier than Toronto's TTC so on balance I'd definitely choose the MTC over the TTC if I had the option.
Other ways to save money
I stumbled onto free kayaking on the Hudson River on Sunday. The staff warned me I'd get a little wet but it was more of a full butt-soak by the time I paddled back in. Wet subway ride back to the hotel but it's New York so nobody stared.
Mooching your friend's MOMA membership card leads to free admittance and 10% discounts in the MOMA store.
Mooch your friend's bike too and you have a fun way to see most of Manhattan from Battery Park as far north as you'd care to ride. The cycling path is excellent and quite safe, at least once you're on it.
We got confirmation last night that the company would cover our laundry bill at the hotel so we went crazy and washed our underwear. I can't imagine that anyone would ever pay $5 to wash a pair of socks. We added a few pairs of slacks and shirts as well and the laundry bill came to nearly $350. No joke: I don't think I spent that much purchasing those clothes in the first place. How do hotels get away with this thievery?
Also: the New York Ciy subway is vastly better than the Toronto subway. I just took a rush hour trip from midtown to SOHO and I didn't have to punch anyone in the gut to grab a handrail in the car. In fact I got a seat. The NY system is only mildly stinkier than Toronto's TTC so on balance I'd definitely choose the MTC over the TTC if I had the option.
Other ways to save money
I stumbled onto free kayaking on the Hudson River on Sunday. The staff warned me I'd get a little wet but it was more of a full butt-soak by the time I paddled back in. Wet subway ride back to the hotel but it's New York so nobody stared.
Mooching your friend's MOMA membership card leads to free admittance and 10% discounts in the MOMA store.
Mooch your friend's bike too and you have a fun way to see most of Manhattan from Battery Park as far north as you'd care to ride. The cycling path is excellent and quite safe, at least once you're on it.
