The Other Day

The other day I left 10 Tudor Street in Devonport to go to work in Auckland City....

Snowy, the cat, wondered where I was going....

Snowy's real concern may have been that I had to pass this place on the way; creepy...

I really wanted to stop to get one of these, but had no time to spare...

This kid had no shoes on, but was rocking the cold weather on his skateboard through town...

On the way to Auckland City, I got jealous of this guy's bike...

I walked 5 minutes from the ferry building to The Grove...

After work, I took a picture of the Sky Tower...normally blue, but will be pink all month in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month...

I missed the 11:45 pm ferry from Auckland City to Devonport, so I got one (ok, two) of these while I waited for the 1:00 am ferry...

I took another shot of the pink Sky Tower while I walked back to 10 Tudor Street...

Random Shots...

I like to call this one "Dear on Deck"...

Waipara Valley...

Brighton Beach in Canterbury...Ahhh....

Auckland; night (from the Metropolis blding) and 

day (from the top of Mt. Victoria in Devonport)...

Devonport...

Snowy the cat...

I (heart) Devonport

Ferry view of Auckland on my way to Devonport...

Ferry view of Devonport on my way to Auckland...

View from the bottom of Church St. in Devonport...

So...thanks to the Garcia crew, I have been staying in Devonport with one of their friends. It's a beautiful home and I feel very comfortable here. I will be here until I can get off the schedule at The Grove; hopefully after this Saturday night! From there I plan on going up to The Bay of Islands (Russell) to visit Carolyn in her temporary 'hood. Meanwhile, the owner of the house, Simon, is taking care of me! He calls me sweetheart, wears women's reading glasses when he is working and wants to make sure I am home for one of his home cooked dinners before I leave.

Colin and Charmaine took me out to breakfast on Sunday. We drove out into the country; our first stop was a great farmer's market in the middle of a bunch of paddocks.

I made sure to sample the homemade buffalo mozzerella cheese, some toasted hazelnuts and a honey fig spread. Yum. Then we went to a place called Log Cabin. I ate a little too much because I had not had food for 17 hours. Some of you know that that doesn't go over well with this kid. Anyway, I had great conversation, great coffee and a full belly after that was all finished.

I called Carolyn to see if she wanted to take a ride to a kauri forest with me and Colin. Charmaine had work to do. :( So on our way to get Carolyn in the city we took a scenic route and stopped here when my camera suddenly leapt from my bag....

It's called Maraetai; I wanted to jump in the water soooooo bad!!

Anyway, from there, Colin and I picked up Carolyn in town. We drove to Matua Winery, bought a couple glasses of wine and a snack. We sat on an old picnic table in a huge field next to a creek and some of the estate's vines. We were the only ones down there; it was quite pleasant!

After our little picnic, Colin took us on a little loop trail through Waitakere Regions Nat'l Park...

So...that is what has happened lately. Oh! And I went to a cool japanese place last night with friends of the Hanafin family; Sander and Bex. They are a really cool couple that live and work in Auckland. Carolyn and I met them last Sunday night and then it was just last night that I hung out with them again. They gave me suggestions for how to spend my New Years Eve when Jill and her friend Martha are here!

Until I go to The Bay of Islands, I am just going to hang out in Devonport and go to work at The Grove.

I'm off...cheers!

Cruisin' Around

While I was cruisin' around town the other day, I read a chalk board behind a bar. Instead of entitling the specials board with the standard "Happy Hour" it said "Attitude Adjustment Hour." I liked that.

Plan B

If The Grove was a person, we would be polar opposites. He is a fine-oiled machine. He is concerned about cleanliness, timely, and he's kind of fancy. I knew from minute one that it wasn't a good fit, but I convinced myself that getting used to it was the answer. BUT then I thought, "I'm in New Zealand. Why would I want to spend the majority of my time here polishing cutlery and discussing fois gras and quail with people that, on on regular basis, spend $500 on dinner for two?" I think that is exactly what my brain said to my brain when Plan B started to brew.

You know what though? I am really doing this for you, Blog Followers of America. If I were to stay at The Grove, each blog visit would be as boring as the last. So this is Plan Better - better for you.

Item A of Plan Better has yet to be determined, but I am ok with this. I am not staying at the Y anymore by the way. More on that and more on more later...

Phenomenally Fortuitous!

Yesterday at noon I sat down on one of the 2 or 3 decks on a ferry boat from Auckland City to Devonport. There was one seat between me and a small family and a few other people standing up taking pictures. The sun was out and I was enoying the sea view. A woman sat down to my right, so I glanced over like you would. I looked back down at my phone, but realized I knew her, so I pulled my sunglasses down to make sure. I tapped her on the shoulder, we looked at each other and neither one of us could belive it. Her name is Carolyn McCarthy; our families grew up together. I knew she was in town, but had no idea of her whereabouts, plans, etc...So we spent most of the day together and she came into The Grove last night for a bite and a glass of vino.

Good stuff.

Village People??

The Village People sang YMCA and well, I stay at the YMCA. The Y has come to the rescue this week. I checked in to the Y yesterday morning and then went to my first shift at The Grove. I stayed from 11:30 to 3:00 and then went back from 6:00 to 11:00. I got a drink after my shift with Michael, my new boss, and then finally layed down in my bed. It honestly isn't that bad here; clean, quiet and comfortable. That's not to say that I haven't been calling and texting people for the past 2 hours in hopes of a more permanent situation that will miraculously be available - hopefully with a live-in chef or something. Ha! Just kidding, but please do keep your fingers crossed that something serves itself up to me sooooon!

It's too early to say much about The Grove, but I can say that it will take some serious getting used to. The food and the service is not too crazy and not too robitic, but definitely has some fine-dining aspects and guidelines. A wee bit different from good ol' Wine Steals, my last gig. Anyway, my next shift is creeping up on me, so I should be off. Cheers.

On to the North Island...

Every-single-angle-possible intersections, fancy fire and water fountains, pleasant lunching mini-parks, honking taxis and a historic train station. No lambs here, folks; I'm in Auckland. There are a little over 4 million people in all of New Zealand and 1.2 million of them live in this city and it's suburbs.

My departure from Christchurch was a tad sad since Liz and Paul's little dudes became attached to me and vice versa! I do plan on seeing them once I get settled here and my bank account gives me the go ahead.

Anyway, the flight was a fast 465 miles. Colin, my dad's friend's friend, picked me up again! He took me to the top of one of the 15 inactive volcanoes (Mt. Eden) that are in and around this city. And as we walked up a bit to get "the" view, I hear, "Jo?" I turned around before even thinking about how random it would be if I actually knew someone on top of a volcano in Auckland. Right?!?! It turned out to be a lovely couple from Reno, NV that I met on the wine tour I took last week.

So after to bizarre encounter on the volcano, I went to dinner with Colin and his wife, Charmaine. We shared a steaming pot of lobster and brandy bisque mussels. So flippin' good!
I may need to establish the Generous Award of the Year for these two. I could go on and on, but the long and short of it is that a lot of stress has been surpassed because of this awesome couple!

On to the next great couple, Michael and Annette - the owners of The Grove. I have only spoke to Annette on the phone, but met Michael at the restaurant yesterday. He is a friendly, always on the go, family guy and I think we get along quite well. Thank you for this connection, Fabio!! I am on the roster starting tomorrow! I am happy to dive right into it. Check out the restaurant's site here. Be sure to look at the wine menu! Amazing and intense!

As far as living arrangements...I am looking at a place tomorrow in a suburb called Point Chevalier. It is just close enough, but just far away enough to the centre of town and work. Auckland is indeed a BUSY city, so I have opted to search in the closer/safer/trendier suburbs. This first place has a view of the bay, so keep your fingers crossed that the listing is telling the truth and nothing but the truth.

Ok...I am off to bed, friends and family. Cheers.

Sam's Bday Party

Liz and Paul's oldest kid, Sam, had a birthday party the day after I got here. I wasn't going to bother posting these pics, but it's the coolest kid party ever! It was knights and princess themed. They had a treasure hunt, a castle-shaped cake, donkey rides, a dragon pinata and a few other games that kept 'em all plenty busy and gave plenty of them new cavities!

The pics really speak for themselves....

Christchurch to the Rescue

Ok...Dunsandel is beautiful, but there isn't even a post office there. You all must know that I have a quite a bit of energy, so to the city I went!

Liz dropped me off in the middle of town on Monday afternoon. I cruised around a bit, got a lovely Guiness and then met my cousin Andrea's good mate (yes, I will start using Kiwi phrases)Amanda at the playground in the Botanic Gardens in Hagley Park. Her son Andrew is a happy, happy dude. He has white blonde fuzzy hair, likes chewing on books and is taking full advantage of being a 10 month old. So cute!

Amanda took me to her parent's house for an afternoon tea. Well, I was invited really. :)
Their house was built in 1911 and has an immaculate garden in which her mom leads tours. So beautiful!

I have been staying with Amanda, Brian and Andrew for the past few nights. I am hanging around for another night and then I am heading back to Dunsandel through the weekend.

Before I go back to Dunsandel though, I am going on a half-day wine tour along the Wine Trails outside of Christshurch. Transport, 4 wineries and their tastings and a light lunch is included. Sounds to me like my camera and I are going to have a lovely afternoon together.

Dunsandel

I've made it! The 13 hours flight was uneventful. The best part was the 2 glasses of New Zealand Sauvingnon Blanc they served with dinner. The second best part was my acting skills that came into play when I needed to pretend that I didn't hear the lady next to me talking to me about who knows what. Usually I am nice, blah, blah, blah, bit this time....well, I had wine to drink and The Hangover to watch!

Customs was a breeze in Auckland. The agent actually made a comment about Dunsandel (I listed that as my first destination on my declaration form). He wanted to make sure that I knew about the amount of sheep versus the amount of people there. Ha!

I had am awesome greeter in Auckland; Colin Taylor. He is a friend of one of my dad's friends. He was kind enough to meet me at 5:45 am just to take me from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. I clearly could have made it happen myself, but it was a major time and stress saver. Thanks, Colin!

Then when I landed in Auckland, my friend Liz (Lemon) Righton and her 2 boys greeted me. They live about 30 miles from the centre of Christchurch. Claude was the next to welcome me to New Zealand. Meet Claude...

Claude and some other friends live in the paddock behind Liz, Paul, Sammy and Logan's house. Check out this view of the Southern Alps (once again) and check out Claude's friends.

Speaking of Sam (2) and Logan (5), here they are....

They are really well-mannered, lovely boys. Sam had a bday party the day after I got here; it was Knights and Princess themed. A dragon pinata for the knights to slay - the kids went crazy over all the lollie and chocolates!

Logan constantly asks,"What ARE you doing?" He has a raspy little voice that makes you crack up every time.

I'm off to bed. More posts to follow.....

First Stop

This will be my first stop in New Zealand; Dunsandel. The population is about 400, so yes, there may be more sheep than people. I have been invited to stay with my friend Liz, her husband, and her two boys, Sam(5) and Logan(3). I will be in their "sleep out" for about 10 days. After that visit, I am flying into Auckland.