We Have a Home!

The cable car. This is how we move between the road and the house. The pictures are from about half way up, first looking up and second looking down. The safety cage has been removed for hauling furniture.

Like it said above, for hauling furniture. Somebody push the button.

Matt on the front porch.

The view from the front porch where Matt was standing.

The view looking into our place from where Matt was standing.

The breakfast nook as well as dining area.

The dishwasher's view.

The view we first see in the morning.

We spent all of Saturday moving into our new home. The instant we saw it we fell in love. Our closest neighbors are just up stairs. Other than them, it's birds and bush. After living in Denver, two blocks from Colfax, we are elated to be away from all of the city noise.

Our new address is:

321 Marine Drive

York Bay, Eastborne, Lower Hutt, Wellington

New Zealand 5013

Nga Manu Bird Sanctuary

Wood pigeon- eats logs for breakfast

My best Trang impression ever!

Pirate Matt and his bird. Arrrrrgh!

We learned that you should NOT eat eel. They are very endangered and overfished. They live 30ish years and only reproduce once in their life. They swim from NZ to Samoa to meet up and lay eggs. Pictured is eel feeding time - they keep them full so they don't eat the ducklings. The eel in the picture is munching on a chicken leg.

When I get cold I let Kosette roam and she always finds the sun - a true Phoenix girl!

We spent a Sunday exploring the Kapiti coast north and west of Wellington. We stopped off for some great fish and chips then went on to the Nga Manu Bird Sanctuary. NZ is known for it's large variety of birds - for a long time there were no natural predators. The sanctuary was full of ducks and geese roaming around and had special aviaries with different parrots and wood pigeons. The tui, which we didn't get a picture of, has a very distinct song that sounds suspiciously similar to R2D2.

Kosette's Birthday – July 13th

As Kosette took one step further from her youth, we decided to take our first steps tramping. We drove out east to the Rimutaka Forest Reserve and tramped the Orongorongo Track. It is rumored to be the only track in NZ without steps, so the hardest part was getting back to town and telling people I took Kosette tramping for her birthday.

The bush here is extremely green and lush, smells like patchouli, and is full of birds and mud.

On our way back into town we stopped at the harbor view turnout and snapped a pic of the bay. The buildings on the shoreline all the way across the harbor are Wellington, the Hutt (where I work) is off the picture to the right.

Dietary Modifications

Matt has recently become what we call a canadian vegetarian. This includes his previous dietary choices but also includes everything seafood.

Our Journey South

We got a late start out of Auckland, but we finally started in the direction of our new home. The drive took us to Lake Taupo, where we learned about the cold indoors. The hotel offered a space heater for our comfort and luckily an extra wool blanket.

Here is our new to us 1995 Saab 900S! Ooooh, Ahhhh! It's hard to tell from the picture, but it has a new rocket gasket, right front rotor and brake pads, fresh transmission fluid, and two brand new front tires. Matt named her Black Lung because of her burning oil scent mixed in with the 3^rd hand smoke left in her. She got “a good cut” or what we call a damn good detailing, and now smells like a lady again.

We stopped briefly in Napier and couldn't not go in Opossum World. The Kiwi's make sweaters and such out of a special blend of wool and opossum fur. I was laughing too until I saw the prices – I never thought I'd be saving my money to buy something made out of possum. Here are two of the featured critters; the one on the left is done up in Art Deco, the one on the right headlined as Uncle Scrooge in an Opossum Christmas Carol.

Napier fell victim to a major earthquake in 1931 and was totally leveled. All of NZ pitched in to help rebuild and they decided to do it all Art Deco style – the entire town looks like this (except the Opossum House).

Hello Auckland!

View of Auckland from Mt. Victoria. Our hotel was right across the street from the Sky Tower (the tall one). Our first night there we walked down to the harbor and had an amazing meal on the water while watching the sun set. FYI- it gets COLD after the sun sets.

We took a ferry over to Devonport and tramped up Mt. Victoria and North Head, then walked around a bit. Both hills are old volcanoes used as Navy outpost for cannons and searchlights and were thus riddled with unlit tunnels (see previous post).

We stopped in at the Auckland Museum, while waiting for our car to be ready (details to follow). Next to Matt is a Moa- close relative of Big Bird.

Still waiting for the car... and to start our drive south.

Flashlight Phones

We spent our first morning in Auckland getting back on the grid with cell phones. On our budget, smart phones and even camera phones are prohibitively expensive. Luckily, Jason at Vodaphone cut us a sweet deal on a pair of Nokia Flashlight Phones (Made in Finland). These little guys not only send and receive calls and text messages, they also are equipped with an onboard flashlight. Seems silly, right?

Unlit tunnels! What are we to do?!? There's not an app for this...

Enter flashlight phone – problem solved!

Safe exit, on to the next adventure. All thanks to the flashlight phone!

Placenta Cream

Kosette has discovered a possible source of income. She has an inside supplier for raw materials (who shall not be named). Now just a little research on the “creaming” process...

We've also noticed powdered colostrum in all the pharmacies. Matt might start putting it in his coffee to see if it will thicken up his hair.

Lost In Transition

4th of July, LAX style.

Nadi, Fiji- almost there.

We made it and luckily all of our bags did too!

The next leg of our journey involved a rental car and Kosette doing a superb job of driving on the left (Matt deferred to navigation skills).

Saying Goodbye

Shaun Alexander, one of Kosette's oldest and dearest friends. We're so glad we got to see you and your family.

So long, farewell!

Jonathan's family stopped by to bid us farewell.

"You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine..."

We spent a day at Lake Pleasant with the Mecham family, very fun!

Almost all of our favorite people in CO. They helped us on our way by letting us stay in their homes, drive their cars, and mailing us our pants.

Not pictured: Brad Gillam

A special thanks to Alison for coming to Denver to help us move into storage. Don't know how we would've got it all done without your help!

THANKS ALL!!!

We headed to Spearfish to visit Gary and Janeen and got the treat of having Grandma Renner there too!

Final farewell to Beresford and Pismo. There was a third cat, but...

Matt's Family was able to make it out for Spring Fling (graduation). Thanks Linda, Nate, and Jenn for making the trip!

The Graduating Chiefs (Best Class Ever- ask anyone)

Well, it took quite a while, but we finally got all of our goodbye's in. We'll miss you all and are very sorry for the people we didn't get to see. Hopefully our blog will inspire you to go on holiday to NZed.