Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

Out of necessity this week I had to take my "work from home" on the road. And what a great idea it was! Notice the photo above and add the sounds of a spring morning chock full of very excitable birds chirping away. And it's warm enough to wear shorts even at the early hour of 8am! So I think I'm going to do more of this. So many cafes and pubs here have little "garden" seating areas like this and it's a treat and it does wonders for focus when I'm not trying to clean up dishes, write an ebook, hang out the washing, set up a new email marketing account, vacuum AND manage my clients' social media posts. I also can test how a pint of beer in a garden affects productivity haha. This last week was a blur to describe it best. We managed to take out another quiz night win (we're batting 75%) and I even stepped onto the rugby pitch for the first time. Not technically because I cut across the rugby pitch all the time when I'm walking...

Our mighty Mt Taranaki in the sunset glow. Apparently it's a bad idea to start your immigration application at about 8pm on a Saturday night. That's what we learned last weekend. It's only bad because of the fact that you're already tired and now here you are filling in 3 hours' worth of details of your lives. Then, even though you've already spent an additional 6 hours researching and planning and mapping out - you hit a snag! So, being tired and completing tedious paperwork = easy frustration! We've adjusted our attitudes already but yep we've found there's a step that we thought we didn't need but it turns out we do - despite going over it with immigration beforehand and feeling sure that they confirmed it wasn't necessary. Oh well that's what happens with this type of thing. So as of today it will be at least 20 more working days before we can hit the submit button on the first step. I do think it would have been useful (albe...

You'll notice that my posts have become a lot less frequent and sometimes less rambling and more photos! I wonder if it's a sign that we've sort of gotten into a pattern of just living here now and not feeling like we're traveling here for a while. Also it might be the same reason that I'm not active on Facebook and Twitter - do you guys really want to know our every move? Especially as they become more mundane? haha. We finally got around to decorating one of the big blank walls in our place. Thanks to a 25 cent poster at the book sale and Dustin's Kiwi ingenuity we have a lovely framed print of "The Hustler" which was one of the best-selling prints of the 1950's. Dustin's work hours have abated ever so slightly, they cut the end of the day from 5:30pm to 5:00pm which is great news for him this week as the surf picks up. It's been pretty grim on the water lately and the surf hasn't come right for a good two weeks or so. ...

Time is flying these days. We got a bunch of Thanksgiving greetings and it hadn't even crossed our mind that it was the long weekend at home because it felt too early for it! We were talking about doing a dinner this coming weekend with our Canadian friend and his wife but she's due with their second child within a week or two so a big dinner might be too much to bring into the mix! Plus if we wanted turkey we'd have to hunt for it far and wide here. (I'm not meaning on a supermarket shelf either.) Apparently during Christmas they bring in a bunch of frozen turkeys but it's not usually on the menu here. Sad news on the rugby front. Taranaki lost the shield to their age-old rivals from Waikato. Back in 1996 Waikato stole the shield off them as well! So the rivalry runs deep. Not so deep that it stopped Dustin from posing for a picture with some of the opposing team the day after the shield match! Not the shield. But a potato growing award we found at Pionee...

A massive dose of sunshine coincided with moving the clocks forward this weekend. We didn't even need jackets as we walked over to the rugby match yesterday. It was the second-to-last Shield defense of the season. And Taranaki was successful again! By a very convincing margin of 59-18. Go you amber and black! I just wanted to make a note to all of those on the West Coast that we do converse with on the phone or the Skype machine that we're now only 4 hours apart instead of 5! And those of you on Pacific time, that shall change to 3 hours when you guys turn the clocks back later in the fall. So it's only going to get easier to set up times to chat!! (Of course we're still the next day but really, it means that mid-week chats won't have to start at 10pm for you! Sweet as!) We went to a quiz night fundraiser for Greyhounds as Pets last night and it they had Greyhounds there! Sadly, we didn't place first - ok a bit far from it - but we did get some spot prizes! ...

The shield is currently causing heaps of excitement for us here in Taranaki. I know most readers may not be up on their NZ rugby facts but the Ranfurly Shield has been around the NZ rugby scene for more than 100 years. They also call it the Log O'Wood. It's a trophy that's separate from the seasonal cup in the leagues. For the current holders of the Shield, every home game puts it at risk. If they play an away game it's not on the line and once the playoffs roll around it's not part of that either. Last year Taranaki won it off of Southland and have successfully defended it so far this season. Teams from other leagues under them even come in to challenge them. Yesterday we finally attended a Shield match as one of the top teams, Canterbury, was coming to town. It was a nail-biting game but the ol' amber and black pulled through with a win. Unfortunately because Dustin was working, we missed the parade yesterday morning! (Ok that might not be the only rea...

If you have never watched an All Blacks match from the start, you may have never seen a haka before. What's a haka you ask? It is a traditional Maori dance or war cry. They are also done to welcome visitors, celebrate great events or even at funerals. Of course, due to the AB's, it's mostly known as a war cry done before battle. There are many different versions and there are actions or moves that accompany them. Above is a clip of the All Blacks doing the haka they performed before the Argentina match. We've seen other hakas in festivals and before the rugby game we watched in Fiji. It is cooler when you can hear it better because the sound resonates and when you're closer you can see the facial expressions as well - which, as per tradition, are wide-eyed with the occasional tongue poking out. I reckon it definitely sets the tone for intimidation on the field because I would probably be a bit wary after witnessing one from the other team's perspective! Che...