Hike through Castlepoint

Matthew was trapped in his home office obsessing over his first day of school tomorrow when I demanded that we take that hike we were talking about. So we got in the car and went to Castle point. We climbed up pretty high on one of the large hills there and stared out into the Pacific for a while. We also bumped into a couple of Matthew's fellow teachers when we got up there.

Did I mention that Matthew you has to lead the school through a Powhiri tomorrow too? If you don't know that is it is as follows:

"The pōwhiri or pōhiri, a central part of Māori protocol, is a ceremony of welcome involving speeches, dancing, singing and hongi.

While traditionally used to welcome visitors on to marae - the sacred space or courtyard usually in front of Māori meeting houses - the ceremony is also commonly seen in everyday New Zealand life.

Pōwhiri can happen anywhere that tangata whenua (hosts) wish to formally greet manuhiri (visitors).

This custom frequently takes place in the workplace to welcome new staff and important guests, at schools, sports and leisure clubs, and at significant occasions or ceremonies, such as a building dedication."

Since he was the only male in the group of new teachers, he got chosen to recite the speech and lead. The speech is all in Maori! Matthew basically had to learn a speech in another language over the weekend in order to recite it in front of everyone at his new school. Its basically done to formally welcome all the students and staff. He has been a busy little bee!

Went bike riding today

while poor Matthew you had to go to school and get ready for his classes on Tuesday. I had a ton of space all to myself via the bike trails along the road yet people still tried to move out of my way. Its very awesome that they are so conscientious of bike riders! Also, it is AGAINST the law not to wear a helmet in New Zealand. These pics were taken while I was riding today. I was probably a mile away from home.

SHEEP

The human population in New Zealand:

4,000,000

The sheep population in New Zealand:

20,000,000

If sheep ever start walking around on their hind legs and donning machine guns I am sooooooo fucked. For now however all they do is look cute, make sweaters, and bleat every time i walk past them. That's right, I cross paths with sheep everyday. The area I live in is the sheep shearing capital of New Zealand! You can literally leave my house and walk two blocks down the street and say hello to the little sheeples.

There is a lot of farmland around and most of it is occupied by sheep with a few smatterings of cows here and there. These pictures were taken while i was on a bike ride in my neighborhood.

Bacon

This is what New Zealand calls bacon. Its more like plain old ham. They call REAL bacon "streaky bacon" and it costs much more than it's imposter!

Oh and the first time I ordered coffee at a cafe, I looked like a total idiot. I ordered "a cup of coffee please" and all I got was a blank stare. Then they asked me what kind and I just said regular coffee. Then I was asked "flat white or tall black?". I just picked one not knowing what I was ordering and went on with my day. Flat white is kinda like a latte and tall black is just plain coffee.

I should go outside today and take pics of and do something neat as opposed to talking about bacon and coffee on the internet. But that hike wiped me out yesterday!

Today we hiked...

in the pinnacles and some of the surrounding areas for about 4 hours. It was beautiful! I don't have as many pics as I would have liked because the camera batteries died. Its summertime here and it doesn't seem to get too hot and there is zero mugginess which makes it ideal for me cause I can enjoy the heat and breathe at the same time :) Being able to breathe properly makes hikes way more enjoyable. Matthew still kicked my butt on the trails though. He is a decade older than me and he smokes yet I still seem to have trouble keeping up with him when we hike!

So for those of you who care to read it, here's the Wikipedia entry:

The Putangirua Pinnacles -also known colloquially simply as The Pinnacles- as a geological formation are one of New Zealand's best examples of "badlands erosion"[1][2] and consist of a large number of earth pillars or Hoodoos[2] located at the head of a valley in the Aorangi Ranges. 7 to 9 million years ago when sea levels were much higher, the Aorangi ranges were an island and as this landmass was eroded over time, large alluvial fans formed on its southern shores.[1][2] Within a few million years however, sea levels rose again and this island was submerged also.[2] Since the Ice ages, sea levels have receded and the old alluvial fans have been exposed to the erosive forces of wind and water, which have weathered away the conglomerate. In some places this conglomerate is protected from erosion above by a cap of cemented silt or rock, resulting in the formation of spectacular Pinnacles, many of which have prominent fluting caused by rainwater running down their sides during major storms.[2] It is not known exactly how long the pinnacles have been forming but they are thought to be less than 125,000 years old with major erosion probably beginning 7000 years ago and accelerating in the last 1000 years with the deforestation of the area.[2]

Part of the Paths of the Dead sequence in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was filmed on location here,[3] as was the opening sequence of Braindead.

Drunk Driving

So Me and Matthew were driving down the street taking in the scenery when low and behold two cop cars and four cops were right in the street stopping everyone for a breathalyzer test. Everyone driving down the street had to stop, roll down their car windows and say their names and addresses into the breathalyzer! Matthew said they did this kinda stuff all the time at random! They are not fucking around with drunk driving in this country...

more pics from the outside

This is the outside of the house

How we landed here

Me and Matthew met when he came back from Christchurch NZ to visit friends and family for a couple of months. That couple of months turned into a couple of years. We moved in with each other four months after we met and Matthew never stopped talking about going back to NZ. It didn't take any convincing for me to move really as I was very tired of Philly and the surrounding areas.

So we after we got married this past September, Matthew put out over 40 job applications to schools in New Zealand. Only one application received a positive response and with that he was hired:) With only a month's notice, we sold and gave away all of our things with the exception of a few bags worth of stuff to take on the plane with us and about four boxes that will be slowly mailed to us over time by my Matthew's parents. The In-laws also bought our tickets and bought Matthew's car outright so we could afford to eat when we got here. They didn't really want to let go of Matthew again but they were very supportive just the same.

Saying good bye wasn't as hard as I thought it would be because I couldn't process the fact that I was leaving the country. I literally couldn't believe it and I still can't! I did get teary eyed when I said good bye to Amalthea though. She could process it just fine and we both got a few tear drops on each other's shoulders as we hugged goodbye. Just writing this is making me tear up a bit!

I also got to meet my big brother Jason for the first time the WEEK BEFORE I WAS TO LEAVE. I would have liked to have gotten know him better before I took off but time did not permit it.

My goodbye party was awesome and I realized I should have spent more time with some of the people there as a whole. But I'm a bit of a hermit :(

I also had some reservations about the children in my family coming to the party too because I was packing a large amount of people into a pretty small, not-kid-proofed space but they were just fine and I was very glad to see them before I left. After the family left we all pretty much got shit faced and my Matthew and his friend played with fire poi a couple of times. It would have been nice if my little sister had expressed some interest in coming to my party to say good bye but she didn't (we would have gotten her home before the crazy stuff started I promise). But my brother Jason, Uncle Frank, Aunt Melanie and cousins Chantelle and Evan and all their children were all there and that awesome:)

The flight was twenty four hours straight including layovers. US airways sucks by the way! We stayed in Wellington for the first couple of days as we couldn't enter our new home until the 16th. I took some pics of the outside of the house and will take some of the inside as soon as it looks nice enough.