a (surprisingly) very merry christmas

A few days of sleeping in my car (parked in downtown Wellington) was all I needed to expedite  finding a more permanent situation.

So I found a room… for 6 weeks. It’s not an impressive place, it’s not even a clean place. It’s a flat that two early 20something boys live in -- use your imagination. But what is impressive is what I’m paying. And of course, the view.

I LOVE THIS CITY! I’ve been here less than 2 weeks (and it has rained nearly the whole time) but still. I feel like it encompasses  the best things from every city: the art culture of New York (with only 3% of the people), the café scene of summertime Seattle,  the music venues and bars of Austin, the landscape of Malibu (only green),  the beaches of the Caribbean,  and the walk/ride-ability of no place I’ve ever been. EVERYTHING is less than 15 minutes away by car, but most people would rather walk, even in the rain.

I started volunteering at the SPCA last week (only a 5 minute walk from my house) to keep myself occupied during the holidays and until work really starts. Plus, it gives me that unconditional animal love I need without the rest of my family here. It’s mostly cleaning cat boxes, feeding rabbits, doing laundry, and answering phones but occasionally I get to help syringe feed some newborn kittens or comfort a scared puppy. I love it.

And Christmas has been surprisingly non-depressing. Maybe because it’s warm and the sun’s out. Maybe because it doesn’t really feel like Christmas (I don’t even have a tree). Or maybe it’s because I have met some amazingly awesome people who have allowed me to so freely come into their lives. I just had Christmas brunch with a whale scientist/magician… seriously. It feels kinda like I’m dating – I don’t want to seem desperate but I honestly just want to get down on one knee and propose to these people to be best friends for life. But I won’t… yet.

wineries on the beach and a volcano picnic

My last weekend  in Auckland was lovely, so lovely I actually regretted leaving... a little. Christmas in the park was a fascinating experience – listening to carols about sleigh rides and snow (in the dead of summer) sung buy some incredibly famous performers (I assumed they were famous by the reaction of the crowd, I had never heard of any of them). The following day I caught the ferry over to waiheke island, a magical land with water so blue it’s surreal and wineries on the beach.  After a swift dip and a couple wine tastings, I got a call from my favorite kiwi grip who was about to go catch his dinner. He swung by to pick me up and after a quick “tiki tour” of his favorite private coves we motored out to the middle of the bay and dropped our lines in the water. Before my line even hit the sea floor, he was reeling in an impressive red snapper. But the wind quickly picked up and nothing else was biting so we called it a day.

I FINALLY got to meet up with an old friend of mine to have a breakfast juice concoction (she had invited me for tea) on my way out of Auckalnd. It was short but sweet and we talked about the upcoming kiwiburn festivities.  The timing with work might make it a little tough to get out there but I’ll do everything I can.

Had a meeting with a grip company in Taupo that afternoon. Murray, the owner, was a little off-put by me seeking out more Hobbit contacts; apparently he got fired from Lord of the Rings and there’s a little bad blood there. But he showed me around his shop, pointed at things I was all too familiar with but then said incomprehensible words (I think I need a kiwi to english grip dictionary), and we swapped production stories over coffee.

It was a little late to continue my drive to Wellington so I had my first night sleep in my station wagon on the edge of the lake, a boat ramp actually. I looked all over for signs saying no overnight parking but didn’t find anything… until the next morning when I got up to brush my teeth. Whatever, I got away with it.

A brief picnic at the base of a volcano then next stop, my new home town

savory muffins

This past week has been all about business – getting a bank account, applying for a tax id, getting a cell phone,  figuring out the public transit system, getting lost, meeting work contacts,  and looking for/buying a car (and eating savory muffins for breakfast). With all those things finally taken care of, I drove away in my new-to-me 96 toyota corolla station wagon a little after 5pm on Friday. Excited about the freedom of having my own wheels again, I began thinking about a weekend trip I could take. I had put one of my bags in storage at my work permit office, which wouldn’t be open again until 9am Monday, so I couldn’t stray too far. There is a wonderful surfing community black sand beach only 1.5 hours from here – sleeping on the beach here I come. But I eventually realized that ALL my camping gear, and my bathing suit, was in the storage bag.

Of all the things I’d accomplished this week, nothing excited me more than scoring a FREE PARKING SPOT IN THE MIDDLE OF DOWNTOWN FOR THE WHOLE WEEKEND! Riding that high, I finally resigned to the fact that I’d be stuck in Auckland (no way was I gonna  leave that parking space) and I realized it was time to really enjoy the city for the first time since I’d been here. So I grabbed my sweet little French roommate and we went off into the night to search for some live music. We walked into this bar and stumbled into Austin, Texas… with kiwi accents. While my little French girl seemed to feel out of place amongst the mutton chops and pearl snaps, I felt perfectly at home. The rockabilly band was pretty decent and after their set I thanked them for bringing a little Texas down here. They gushed at the compliment and we talked for an hour about their experiences touring the southwest united states.

I woke up this morning excited about  not having anything to do today. So I went for a run,  had a fantastic breakfast at the wharf, and I think I’m gonna go check out Christmas in the park this afternoon.

One of the work contacts I met this week invited me out to the island he lives on, about a 30 minute ferry ride from here. It’s supposed to be beautiful so I’ll probably go out there tomorrow. This guy is a trip. He is a native kiwi, ex-local 80 brother,  and the inventor of cable-cam. He moved back to NZ about 3 years ago to live on this island and fish for his breakfast. When I walked into his shop he was making what was essentially a gas powered post hole digger out of a chainsaw and an outboard motor, wearing flipflops and overalls, no shirt. Why should I be surprised ? ;)

love and savory muffins (oh how i love savory muffins)

home (sort of)

Started with a slightly rough departure: tsa mistook my tony chachere’s creole seasoning as explosives then I spilled my freshly poured (airport priced) margarita directly into my lap. But for the first time EVER I slept solid on a plane (perhaps the tequila soaked through my jeans into my blood stream) and I only made it 1/4 of the way through eat pray love. I have arrived in Auckland feeling surprisingly refreshed and excited. The woman sitting next to me was a 48-year-old ex-pat from new york who had left the corporate rat race to work at a sporting goods store in queenstown. She had no problem getting herself residency here so now I’m more excited than ever to get this life started. But it’s Sunday so I guess I’ll have to wait. Going out for lattes and chocolate fish :)