NY to NZ

On a Mission

2007-02-04T14:25:00.000+13:00

It New Zealand had a yuppie Woodstock, it would be the Mission. The annual Mission concert, held on a hillside next to the Mission Estate Winery (btw, the country's oldest winery and still owned by the church) attracts thousands from across NZ and even Oz. It's the one weekend of the year when all the hotels, motels, campgrounds, spare bedrooms and even basements are booked months in advance.

They come for the vibe, the weather and the wine, oh and maybe some music to drink by. The live act who actually plays seems to make little difference, judging by the fact that people buy tickets months in advance before the artist is even announced, and the artists have varied from Rod Stewart to Dion Warwick and Olivia Newton John to Eric Clapton, this year's guest. People queue up for hours before the gates open at 3pm (drinking as they wait as BYO chilly bins are de rigueur) and then make the mad dash for the best "pozzie" on the hill. Then they sit and wait and drink some more as the main attraction doesn't even step on the stage until 8:30pm. I say main attraction because people watching is a lively distraction with groups dressed up in different theme outfits, pink hatted ladies and orange jumpsuit clad Tui Beer Men to name a few.

This year's concert stirred up a bit of controversy as the drunken crowd was a bit upset that Eric failed to greet them with a "Hello Hawkes Bay" or "it's great to be here in New Zealand." He also didn't play his most famous song "Tears in Heaven" but I hear he never does for personal reasons. But perhaps he was a bit pissed himself for other reasons before he went on stage. It seems the lovely Mission Winery folk failed to tell him that every year they bottle a special wine with the concert artist's image. Clapton, himself a recovering alcoholic and staunch supporter of addiction support groups, was flabergasted to find some Clapton Chardonnay waiting for him in the green room and threatened to get back on his helicopter and skip the show. After a few lawyerly phone calls were exchanged, the Mission pulled the cork on the contraband and persuaded their guest to stay and sing a few songs. Like I said, the music is almost an after thought at this thing. But any excuse for a picnic is fine by me.

Gift from the garden

2007-02-04T14:10:00.000+13:00

Just when I think I have a handle on what's in my inherited garden here, it presents me with another surprise. This time one of the tasty kind. As I was weeding my little front tropical garden I spotted something surprisingly familiar...a strawberry! In the oddest of surroundings (in a raised flower bed filled with palms and agapanthus grasses and blooms) are at least three tiny strawberry plants, with one offering it's first fruit of the season, which just goes to show that even if you do absolutely nothing and are in fact completely oblivious, you can still grow some great stuff! Now I'm motivated to attempt my first propagation and make those berries multiply!

But...

2007-01-15T14:05:00.000+13:00

anyone who knows me, know what my favorite flowers are. And now I have my own! In several colors.

In Bloom

2007-01-15T13:56:00.000+13:00

Along with veggies, we've also got some local color. These big blue, pom-pom like flowers are called Agapanthas and grow nearly like weeds here. I have, as they say, heaps of them in blue and white. They are pretty but can get a bit big and the stems are nearly as tall as I am. Some of these may be coming out of the garden next year.

After the rain this week, I made another floral discovery in the garden. A pink cyclamen. This one may be a keeper.

How does your garden grow?

2007-01-15T13:42:00.000+13:00

Pretty well, I'd say for a first timer. my first batch of lettuces and arugula are nearly done and the Roma tomatoes are just about to turn red. Soon we'll have more radishes, spring onions, peppers and eggplant. I have learned that summer squashes take up a bit more space than I anticipated and have to be tamed.

Old traditions in a new place

2006-12-26T17:13:00.000+13:00

Paul licking the spoon while making Pepparkakar (Swedish ginger thin cookies) and digging into Swedish meatballs before a Christmas Eve feast.

Signs of a Kiwi Christmas

2006-12-26T17:04:00.000+13:00

first bloom in the garden...

a silly hat worn for Christmas dinner at the beach...

and a shell-decorated tree with a view of the sea

Te Muna

2006-12-03T10:02:00.000+13:00

Te Muna means special or secret place in Maori, and our Te Muna vineyard in Martinborough lives up to that name. Pictures don't do it justice.

The party after the party

2006-12-03T09:41:00.000+13:00

What do you drink after pouring wine all day to drunk festival goers? Beer, and better wine than they got of course. We keep some of the best stuff aside for staff and the bigger the bottle the better!

A Taste of Toast

2006-12-02T09:22:00.000+13:00

Toast Martinborough, that is. New Zealand's oldest and appropiately named wine festival is a one-day salute to the region's best Pinot Noir, Riesling, Sav Blanc and Port-a-Loos. Tickets to the festival are limited to a few thousand and sell out in a matter of minutes each year. Wine glass-toting ticket holders travel from winery to winery on shuttle buses or by foot to pay anywhere from $3 for a taste to $15 a glass to drink the local juice.

Although Craggy's winery and cellar door are located in Hawkes Bay, where we live, our largest company vineyard is in Martinborough so every year a motley crew of employees, friends of employees and significant others make the 3 hour drive down to Martinborough to work the festival. This year Paul and I were among them. Since we don't have a vistor center or winery in Martinborough, we rent out a rugby pitch (field), marquees (big tents) and hire (rent) a host of props, cooking equipment and assorted odds and ends from the locals. (ironically enough located at the corner of New York and Broadway Streets)

But it just wouldn't be the Craggy way to put up a tent and table and call it a day. No, every year the vineyard crew literally plants a minivineyard with 4 rows of sav blanc vines along the entrance pathway. Then we bring in a truckload of trees, lavender, potted flowers, and linens to bring our temporary home up to snuff. The empty truck then becomes a stage for NZ faves the Tropical Downbeat Orchestra and DJ Mikey from Wellington who had the drunken masses cavorting until the last glass was emptied.

By the end of the day, we had sold over $60,000 worth of wine, wood-fired flatbreads and house-made ice creams. But once you factor in the hireage fees, lodging for 20 employees and other costs, we barely broke even. But we didn't care because we were headed for our own notorious after party...

Paul's new toy

2006-11-21T22:28:00.000+13:00

Yep, it's a lawn mower. But not just any lawn mower, this one runs on Paul power. No petrol. Also doubles as a good cardio+strength workout since our lawn is one big hill. Now if we just had some real grass. As we learned on the innagural run of the Masport 2000, we have more weeds than actual grass. And to make matters worse, they grow sideways. So when you mow it, it looks fine until you try to rake. Then, as Paul says, it looks like the lawn has a bad comb over.

Guess we'll have to wait til fall to plant some lawn seed. Til then our lawn is a bit like Donald Trump.

Mucking in

2006-11-13T21:58:00.000+13:00

Mucking in, getting stuck in, whatever you call it, we spent the weekend getting into the garden. It really defies description, so I'm going to rely heavily on pictures. Much of it is native trees, palms, ferns and other tropical-looking things that neither of us have any idea what to do with. We figured a good place to start would be getting rid of the dead looking stuff though, and that was more than a weekend's worth of work pulling out and raking up the dead fronds, leaves and branches, revealing lots of new and also unidentifiable stuff. Obviously, that must be the good stuff, so we watered and put down compost on the most promising looking specimens and will sit back and wait and see what develops. Please excuse our oh-so-fashionable gardening attire. We've both designated a couple "gardening only" outfits in order to keep all the dirt and allergy causing nasties outside. Paul also thought gardening would be a good time to counteract his everlasting golfer's tan by cutting off his tee-shirt. No worries, rest assured the garden is well fenced and private so he's not showing off his muscles to anyone but me and the bees.

Meanwhile, what I thought were just tropical grasses in the front garden have now started sprouting lillies! I could hardly contain my excitment long enough to snap a picture.

The Belles of the Brunch

2006-11-07T09:09:00.000+13:00

Had our housewarming, aka "Blank Slate Brunch" on Sunday and after much panic on my part after not being able to get the oven to work properly (more on that saga later), the belles of the brunch turned out to be the simplest things that required no cooking: a side of hot smoked salmon with all the fixins from the local fish monger and fresh fruit kebabs with passionfruit puree drizzled on top. A hit with both kids and adults. Dead easy too. The puree keeps the fruit from going brown while sitting out for hours and "brings it to a whole other level" as one guest remarked. I'll be making those kebabs a lot this summer for BBQ season! Thanks to Hilda, who turned me on to the passionfruit puree idea. You can buy it in a jar here but soon I'll have fresh passionfruit to make my own! Even better.

surveying the land

2006-11-06T21:16:00.000+13:00

So on Saturday morning, I'm hanging the laundry out to dry (yes, we actually do that here and save electricity for more vital functions) and what do I see peeping out in the bush but a rose. Upon closer inspection I found that we have at least 4 rose bushes in the side garden. Now as I retold this story to a friend back in the States, she said "Just how big is your yard, how can you not notice 4 rose bushes. I'm getting an image of your house as a vast estate!" Well not exactly, but it's not laid out like a typical house in the states sitting in a flat section with a yard and perhaps some bushes along the border. We're literally in the bush, as they say here. The house is perched on the top of a hill and about 20% of the land is relatively flat yet heavily landscaped in native palms, grasses, and other assorted things I haven't quite figured out yet. Then the other 80% of our roughly 900 square meter section is native bush going straight downhill. To give you an idea, here is our "backyard." (don't ask my why the picnic table is perched on a percarious platform on the brink of a steep cliff, though I would love to make that platform the taking off point for a rope swing, wheee!)

Now this included trees, wildflowers, large canna lillies (like a big Calla lily) and assorted other flora and fauna. So you can literally discover something new every day. I've staked out a small vege patch on one of the flat sections, but the rest I'm slowly trying to learn how to deal with.

The garden, and by garden in the Kiwi sense I mean entire section of land we own, has been largely ignored for the last year or so. So first we've got to clear all the dead palm leaves etc out and see what exactly we've got. Aside from what I've planted, so far I've identified:
A gathering of Bamboo trees,
4, perhaps 5 rose bushes mostly white,
many "cabbage" palm trees,
a very large Pohutekawa bush, otherwise known as the Christmas tree here for it's large red blooms that emerge in Dec.,
a native kowhai tree, whose yellow blossoms are the national flower of NZ,
many different ornamental grasses, some green, some red, some purple, and a host of unknowns.
Perhaps I'll start an "identify this plant please" section of the blog.

Finally, a real garden

2006-10-30T22:53:00.000+13:00

After years of being confined to a window box, I finally took shovel to earth and dug my own garden, known in Kiwi terms as a vege patch, in the back yard. I had planned a much wider bed but after hitting very hard clay with a very dull shovel for a few hours, I made the executive decision to resize the garden. In the back, I've got black passionfruit, red banana passionfruit, raspberries, and boysenberries that will eventually climb up the trellis and shield our back yard from prying neighors. In the middle, there's roma tomatos, zucchini (known here as courgettes), regular peppers (capsicums) and hot peppers (chillis). In front there's lettuces, radishes and arugula (rocket).

Herbs, cherry tomatoes, citrus treese and olives are in containers on the other side of the house. More on that later.

It's a bit of a blank slate

2006-10-30T22:48:00.000+13:00

We scored a deal at a modern furniture shop and got something I never thought I'd own: white furniture! Well not actually white, the color is called "biscuit" and is like an oatmeal. But the irony of being a klutz who drinks a fair bit of red wine and owning an entire living room set of lighter that sav blanc furniture is not lost on me. Trust me, I Scotchguarded the heck out of it before anyone was allowed to sit on it. Now I just have to find the right cushions to bring some color into our blank slate living room.

Moving in

2006-10-30T22:30:00.000+13:00

Ok, I won't even start about how behind I am in blogging. But rather than belabour the point. OMG, I just put that extra "u" in labor without thinking. I must be becoming a Kiwi. Anyway, here are the much anticipated first photos of moving into our new house.

The bottom pic is taken from the top of the stairs going into the living room that flows into the front upper deck where the For Sale sign and nice sea view are. The house really defies description since it was a villa that was added on and rehabbed several times, but it does actually make sense when you see it in person. The top right pic is of the dining room downstairs, which flows to the rear deck/bbq area. To the left of the dining room is the kitchen island. Opposite the dining table/window is a small fireplace.

You never forget the first time

2006-08-06T20:14:00.000+12:00

...you taste a first growth Bordeaux. I had mine last week! Went to a Bordeaux vs. Hawkes Bay wine tasting (paid for by work, thank you very much as a part of training). We had to taste 10 wines blind and try to identify which were Hawkes Bay and which were Bordeaux and whether they were right bank (merlot based) or left bank (cabernet sauvingon based). We had a list of what the 10 wines were but didn't know which was which. But for one, they said they had to make a last minute substitution, and they'd tell us what it was later.

Most of the French wines were 2nd, 3rd, or 4th growths, which ranged from $100-200 in price for the 2002 vintage that we were tasting. Anyway, I sniffed and tasted as best I could, but when I got to wine number 10, my first comment on the nose was "Whoa! smoke, tobacco, cedar and dark fruit, interesting!" I guessed that it was probably a left bank bordeaux. Overall, the wine tied for 2nd place in my top 3 wines of the night. I found the nose really interesting, but my coworker next to me nudged me and asked me if I thought it was corked, he didn't like it at all.

Well, turns out wine number 10 was the last minute substitution and it was a Chateau Lafite Rothchild, which would cost about $295 if you could find it! If I ever see one of those somewhere for a good deal, I'll have to buy it. It's a wine that you'd want to put down for a bit longer though but it was just so interesting! My top wine of the night was a little more approachable and was a Chateau Gazin from Pomerol (right bank) which retails for about $105. But the good news is that the other wine that tied for #2 for me was a Hawke's bay wine that retails for about $40, so I'm going to go out and get some of that to put away today! It was a Newton Forrest Cornerstone, in case you ever come across one.

Anyway, I was so excited about tasting a first growth, which is the highest classification in the French wine system in which there are only 5 Chateaus, that I asked the organizer if I could take home the empty bottle. And now I have to think of some good use for it. Maybe I'll get one of those oil candle wicks for it. It's a beautiful bottle.

p.s. Note the purple teeth, it's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it!

Aaron and Paul's big adventure in the South Island

2006-05-06T11:00:00.000+12:00

First cricket...

Then a tramp (hiking for non-New Zealanders), followed by a jump!

A cloudy day at the beach...

2006-05-06T10:57:00.000+12:00

is still a good day at the beach. With Paul's visiting family.

Trippin'

2006-05-06T10:17:00.000+12:00

Wow, has it really been over a month since I last posted? Whew, well I'll try to bring everyone up to speed and then maybe you'll see why we haven't had much time to write. Here we go:

-Paul's in the US right now to attend a friend's wedding and I'll join him there shortly, but before he left he resigned from his job at the hospital and will start working in June at a great private physio clinic where he'll have slightly more motivated outpatients than the ones he treated at the hospital. The clinic itself is state of the art and he'll also be working with one of his golfing mates (hmm, I sense Paul might be a bit late getting home from work a bit more often).
-I'm taking on more responsibilities at the winery as we're about to launch our Prestige range of wines, which is like our reserves. Still working long hours and I've officially worked every NZ holiday since I've been here. Granted I don't know what one is supposed to do on some of these holidays (ANZAC Day, Queen's birthday, etc) but you get paid time and a half and get an alternate day off for working them so I'll be using those while in the US. It's also autumn here, which means it's vintage time and when I haven't been pouring wine in the Cellar Door, I've been volunteering on my days off at the winery where I've learned the art of batonage (stiring of the lees in barrel) and sorting grapes into the destemmer (who knew spiders liked pinot noir so much).

But the biggest news and biggest consumer of all our free time lately has been the fact that we've decided that we're not ready to leave NZ just yet. That leads us to a couple major items on our agenda. #1 We're applying for residency, which entails a lot of paperwork. To give you some idea, we had to fill out an "expression of interest" in applying for residency, then go into a pool and be invited to apply based on a point system (have a Master's degree? get 10 points. Speak English, get 5 points, you get the idea). Then once you're invited to apply you have to provide proof of what you told them in your EOI, as well as get FBI background checks and medical tests, including a physical exam, chest xray and blood work. Although we're free to spread contagious diseases like TB while we're here on 2-year work visa, apparently they don't want you here permanently with your germs.

The second part of that equation is that we're spending our weekends at open houses as we're hoping to buy a house here soon. We'd like to find something with an ocean view or perhaps even oceanfront, which is something we'd never be able to do in the states. Now forgive me while I go off to look at some houses. I'll leave you with some pics of our recent goings on.

The luck of the Irish in a Kiwi pub

2006-03-18T14:59:00.000+13:00

Went to our local Irish pub, The Brazen Head, last night to celebrate St. Patrick's day with the obligatory pint of Guiness. We were stopped at the door and had to wait a few minutes before being allowed in because they were at maximum capacity. Strangely enough, we were actually excited about that because bars here are never bustling.

Then after waiting to get our drinks, they make an announcement asking people to bring their empty glasses to the bar, as they're running out of clean glasses.

After listening to about half an hour of live music, they make an announcement that the live music is over due to city council orders. Ok, fair enough since it was outside in the garden.

A few minutes later they make an announcement for last call because "due to circumstances beyond our control" they have to close the bar.

5 minutes later they explain that the only way the bar can stay open is if people bring them their 50 cent and $1 coins as they can't make change.

10 minutes later they say it's all over, they're out of beer and we have 30 minutes to vacate the premises (by now it was about 11pm).

They just don't do well with crowds here, I reckon.

Into the Black Abyss

2006-02-24T17:26:00.000+13:00

It's not always wine and roses here in NZ, though I do think we get more than our share of both. But I digress. Last week it was time to enter the Black Abyss. What exactly is that you may ask? Well, it's paying a lot of money for the priviledge of donning a soggy wetsuit, gum boots and helmet-mounted flashlight to repell 100 meters down into a narrow cave, paddle through a tunnel aglow with glow worm poop (yes, it's actually their poop that glows in case you were wondering) walk through waist-high waters atop slipperly rock and finally sit in an eel-filled pool waiting your turn to climb UP a raging waterfall and crawl through a narrow crevice back to daylight. If you think we would risk taking our camera along on the soggy journey, you're mistaken, but we did take this lovely 'before' shot.

Next time I'll opt for the blackwater rafting option and go with the current rather than against it. http://www.blackwaterrafting.co.nz/black-abyss.html

Definitely Deco

2006-02-21T11:17:00.001+13:00

We had a grand ole time at Napier's Art Deco weekend, strolling along the promenade, sipping bubbly and dancing to the big bands. Spotted a few vintage cars that we wouldn't mind parking in our garage too!

Lots of pics, few words

2006-02-14T07:36:00.000+13:00

My usual dose of Americana (a tape-delayed version of Entertainment Tonight!) has be pre-empted in favor of Winter Olympic coverage here, but rather than something exciting like skiing or skating, they're featuring curling. One of the few sports NZ actually has some competitors in, so I'll take advanatage of this opportunity to post some much overdue pics of our recent vacation in the South Island.

It was one of those trips where we felt like we were continually checking off things on our "Must do in my lifetime" lists:
Kayak to deserted beach for picnic-check
Eat sumptuous five+ course meal with matching wines at gourmet winery restaurant-check
Bike through mountain valleys lined with grapevines and racehorses-check
See a whale come up for air and then dive deep below-check x 5
Swim with wild dolphins in their native habitat-check

Next on the list is "repel down underground canyon and go blackwater rafting" with my brother. Ok, that wasn't orginally on my list, but my brother Bill and partner Barb are coming to visit and it was on his list, so we're doing it with them.

Scenes from a rock pool

2006-01-15T21:00:00.000+13:00

What is a rock pool you ask? Well, what else do you call a naturally shallow warm spot, perfect for bathing? We found such a place at Mahia Peninsula, a rural outpost about 2 hours from our home where we recently camped. Of course there was a gorgeous long strand of sand opposite the campground, but just a few minute away, round nearly every bend was another gorgeous secluded beach where if there were more than two people it was considered crowded. At high tide, the waves sprayed atop the granite and sandstone rocks, delivering fresh seashell to the shore, and by low tide the rock formations made perfect wading pools for the overheated sunbather.

more to come

2006-01-15T20:45:00.000+13:00

My apologies for being so lax in posting. While you were all celebrating with family and friends, I was busy working at the winery where we have gone from 50-100 visitors a day to 300-350 per day. While the holidays come at the slow social time in the states, here they come in the midst of summer, when you want to spend every spare moment making the most of it, having picnics, long walks on the beach and the like. We've gone camping the last two weekends in a row (yes, my very first time!) and next week we are going on vacation (or on holiday as they say here) for a week in the south island. Just the usual kayaking with seals, winery hopping, whale watching and swimming with dolphins, can't wait! Will surely be a bumper crop of pix to post after that trip!

Merry Kiwi Christmas

2005-12-25T22:24:00.000+13:00

After picking the first of our Christmas cherry tomatoes from the balcony, we headed to the beach, as Kiwis do, for a day of sun, sand and Santa. Paul tried out his new boogie board on the waves, and we ate seasonal treats like strawberries and cherries along with the traditional egg nog pie! Yum!

True Kiwi Claus

2005-12-24T22:41:00.000+13:00

Donning the traditional Kiwi BBQ attire is our friend Anz. They also choose to leave Santa a can of beer with Christmas cake (brandied fruitcake) on the night before Christmas, do you sense a trend?

the scent of the season

2005-12-02T12:34:00.000+13:00

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, or is it? It’s my first Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere and already the invitations for holiday BBQ’s are piling up. Rather than holly berries, I have tomato vines on my porch about to burst with shiny red fruit.

Roses are in bloom and the scent of night jasmine fills the air on our evening walks. No corner stands bursting with Vermont pines and mistletoe like in Manhattan, but lavender hedges nestled between citrus trees line the sidewalks.

In an attempt to bring some sense of the holiday spirit into our sparsely decorated beachside apartment, I had to resort to replacing our normal citrus toilet freshener with a forest pine one. Now I get a whiff of the proper New England Christmas spirit every time I flush.

Happy Lamb Day!

2005-11-25T12:21:00.000+13:00

Making the most of a bounty of spring lamb, we give thanks to good friends, like Carrie and Michael who were visiting from CA, and a healthy wine discount! Sav blanc with the baked brie and smoked mussels and local merlot and malbec with the Thanksgiving lamb chops! The only turkeys on the table were chocolate. Yum!

Not a good thing

2005-11-15T09:00:00.000+13:00

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw Martha's familiar blond bob and pressed shirt on my own tiny TV here in NZ. TVNZ finally picked up her show to allow the people of New Zealand to discover their ultimate Martha potential.

The whole show was devoted to baking, chocolate cake, pecan buns, etc. I was so inspired I went to my own cupboard with visions of baked goods coming out of the oven before Paul came home from work. But as I reached for the baking pan, I was jolted by the sight of a giant water rat leaping out of the garbage back and scuttling off behind the oven. Any hopes of using either my baking pans or my oven were quickly dashed.

Apparently, my landlord tells me the critters are quite common in these parts, but you can be assured he's coming out here today to lay some traps and close and cracks the vermin might be using to gain access.

Brilliant!

2005-11-14T11:18:00.000+13:00

Just when you think ice cream can't get any better, those Kiwis have done it again! As if the revoluntionary concept of dipping hard ice cream in chocolate wasn't enough (see my earlier post on that revalation), now they've gone and created the freshest fruitiest ice cream you can get on a cone. Not sold at a store or ice cream shop, but at the orchard and fruit stands. First you chose either vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt. Then they put a few scoops into this marvelously simple machine and add the fresh fruit of your choice (here that's quite a range-boysenberry, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, kiwi, etc...) and PRESTO, the machine blends the fruit into the ice cream and creates fresh, soft-serve fruit ice cream, one cone at a time!

Brilliant, just brilliant.

Gone fishing

2005-11-06T17:42:00.000+13:00

The only way to eat trout in New Zealand is to catch it. It's illegal to sell it. So we joined a few friends and tried our luck at nearby Lake Rotorua. Three hours later, we came back to shore with two 3+ pound rainbow trout caught by the lovers from Leeds, Pam and Jim.

Back at home, I stuffed Tom the trout with lemon (see below), fresh herbs, and bread crumbs and cooked him on the grill. The perfect accompaniment, a glass of NZ sav blanc of course from Craggy Range! We're already planning our next fishing trip!

When life give you lemons...

2005-11-06T17:21:00.000+13:00

You find ways to amuse yourself. Every house has at least one lemon tree here, so finding things to do with them presents a challenge. We stumbled across this lemon lineup the other day. A group of teenagers found the squishing sound of cars driving over their lemons very amusing.

Mucho Magma!

2005-10-19T09:37:00.000+13:00

Rotorura isn't the kind of city you catch glimpses of looming in the distance. In fact, you don't even need your eyes to sense you're drawing near. Just use your nose. The not-so-subtle scent of sulphur hangs over the countryside surrounding the city while steam rises from any hole in the earth.

In this hotbed of geothermal activity, people are the only ones not allowed to smoke. "No smoking in the thermal valley." Really???

Not for the faint of heart

2005-10-05T10:21:00.000+13:00

Driving in New Zealand is what I affectionately call a white knuckle experience. That's me in our trusty, crusty old Honda negotiating one of many winding curves on a rocky one-way road. Medians? Ha! Guard rails? Forget it. Even the "expressways" are mostly two-lane roads. And when a semi passes you mere feet away in the opposite lane going 100+km/hr, the whole car shakes.

Through all this, it's hard to keep your eyes on the road and off the eye-popping scenery. I don't know how Kiwis do it. Actually they don't do it too well either and have some of the highest traffic fatality rates in the world, which is I suppose why you see public service announcements regularly advising that "speed kills" or "There's a time bomb ticking at every intersection: you." Not much for mincing words around here. So buckle up and give it a go.

Oh, and did I mention the sheep crossings?

Getting into hot water

2005-09-28T08:40:00.000+12:00

Who needs to pay for a spa treatment when Mother Nature provides her own for free? New Zealand is full of hot mineral springs and ingenious Kiwis have harnessed them for maximum enjoyment. Fresh from the source, the water is much too hot to the touch, but after running down the side of a mountain, the water cools down a bit to jacuzzi temp. That's where they stick a pipe in the spring, attach it to a large plexiglass tub, and build a deck so people can enjoy a mineral bath au naturel. A few meters downs there's a cold, glacier-fed mountain stream so you can cool off.

The stream also happens to be lined with skin-sloughing pumice stones, so you can give youself the full spa treatment without paying a cent.

Springing into lambing season

2005-09-26T10:31:00.000+12:00

August and September mark the start of spring in New Zealand. But not only do we get the usual spring treats like asparagus, daffodils, and warmer winds, we also get lambs. Lots of them. Cute, cuddly and very playful ones.

Spring is the annual lambing season and millions of ewes (female sheep) give birth to the little ones and are then sheparded off into separate grazing areas from the males to keep a watchful eye over the lambs. The lambs never stray very far from their mothers' sides, and as we learned this weekend the mommas are VERY protective of their babies. If, for example, an American with a camera jumps out of a passing car to snap a close-up photo of the cuties, the mommas take off with the youngins' in tow and the photographer is left with lots of pics of sheeps' behinds.

Trivia question: How many sheep are there for each human in New Zealand? The ratio of sheep to humans is 10:1 (40 million sheep to 4 million humans), but at lambing season that ratio jumps as high as 35:1.

The Lay of the Land

2005-09-20T10:03:00.000+12:00

Over the weekend, Paul and I hiked up to the site of a former Maori fortress or "Pa" in nearby Taradale. Sure enough, they knew a thing or two about picking a good spot for a lookout, as you could the ocean and Napier Hill (that hill below next to the ocean with all the houses on it) where we live to the east as well as the surrounding valleys and green hills in all directions.

The next day (sorry we forgot the camera that day) we found a secluded sandy (as opposed the pebbly) beach surrounded by cliffs about 30 minutes north of us by car. We were the only ones there, or at least so we thought until we saw some very deep footprints in the sand. A few minutes later a beautiful horse and its equally beautiful rider came galloping by. Apparently you can rent a horse and take it on a coastal trek. I'm putting that near the top of my "To Do" list. Now if I could only grow my hair long enough so it would cascade down my back and billow in the wind as I rode along the beach, then I'd have my own Harlequin book cover!

Feeling the earth move

2005-09-12T08:59:00.000+12:00

"Did you feel that?" Is becoming a regular question at our house. Caught between two of the Earth's plates, New Zealand is rocked by an average of 15,000 earthquakes a year. Only about 150 or so of those are actually felt and far fewer actually cause any damage.

We felt one last night while watching a 9/11 documentary at home. According to the local authorities it registered 4.1 on the Richter scale and was centered off the coast just to the east of Napier. Felt a bit like a train passing under the house. Nothing really moved but we could feel vibrations. I felt a similar sensation about two weeks ago lying in bed after Paul was already asleep. That one registered 4.6.

People here are used to the quakes and public service announcements on radio and TV regularly advise people to make their homes quake safe by securing large objects and having emergency supplies at the ready.

Of course Napier was home to the deadliest quake in NZ history on Feb. 4, 1931 measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. The city was then rebuilt in the Art Deco style for which it has become famous. We're hoping history doesn't repeat itself.

For more on quakes in NZ, see http://www.geonet.org.nz/latest.html.

Skiing on a volcano?

2005-08-30T10:48:00.000+12:00

As a late August baby, I'm used to beachside birthday celebrations. But here in New Zealand, we're at the height of ski season so we took off for the weekend and went skiing on Mt Ruapehu, one of three active volcanoes located in the center of the North Island.

To say the trip to the mountain was a study in contrasts would be an understatement. From spring-like Hawke's Bay where the daffodils and apple trees are blooming, we drove along the "Thermal Explorer Highway" through steaming sulphur springs, then we made a left at the placid Lake Taupo and travelled along aptly named "Desert Road" until we reached the mountain access road. The first half of the 16km drive uphill was lined with lush rainforest and Kiwi crossing signs (referring to the flightless national bird, not the fruit). Then we crossed the treeline and were surrounded by lava rocks and finally snow.

At a height of 2322 meters (7,618 feet) the summit is comparable to those found in Lake Tahoe, but the skiing is completely different, because there are no trees to define trails. You basically just ski down the mountain and try to steer clear of volcanic rocks and cliffs. A feat easier said than done, as I found out. After falling on a large patch of ice, I kept sliding down the mountain, and when I finally hit some soft powder and came to a stop, I looked up to see a "DANGER Cliff" sign about 10 feet below me. But it was all good fun.

Signs posted in the bathrooms warned of the danger of volcanic eruptions and advised skiers to stay out of the valleys and head to higher ground in case of lava flows.

Overheard on the mountain: "Trails? What trails? Just follow the white stuff." "Don't let the T-bar hit you on the way up."

A welcome home surprise

2005-08-29T09:46:00.000+12:00

After a whirlwind trip back to the States, I was greeted by this beautiful surprise blooming along our driveway--gorgeous white calla lillies, much like the ones I carried on our wedding day six months prior. Of course, I took the liberty of snipping them after I took this picture, and they're still looking lovely on our windowsill. I'm already looking forward to the next batch!

Paul's a Netballer!

2005-08-29T09:13:00.000+12:00

Our local bartender invited me to play a weird sport called Net ball the other day. What is netball you may ask? Well, it’s a lot like basketball. It is played on a court that has similar dimensions to a basketball court. There is a goal at either end that resembles a normal basketball hoop yet without the backboard. This hoop is about the same height as an American basketball goal yet the diameter of the rim is smaller. The netball is larger than a volleyball, but smaller than a basketball. It’s probably the size of a womens basketball only a little lighter.

The way to score points is the same as in basketball. There is very little contact allowed. If there is too much contact then a foul is called. You are not allowed to dribble the net ball and you are only allowed to take two steps. If you bobble it as your catching it and the ball hits the ground then it’s the other team’s ball. There are 6 players on each team. Two on defense (who aren’t allowed over onto their offensive half of the court), two offensive players (who are not allowed on their defensive half of the court), and two “centers” (who are allowed on both halves of the court but are not allowed to penetrate past a roughly 15 foot diameter semi-circle around each goal).

The other cool and different thing is that once you have the ball the other team isn’t allowed within (roughly) a three foot radius from you. That means that most shots to the hoop have to be uncontested. Uncontested! It’s literally like shooting fish in a barrel! -Paul

FYI-for more info on Netball, see www.netball.org, where I got these pics.-Jen

Deco Decanted

2005-08-08T07:58:00.000+12:00

Last weekend the locals and a few tourists put on their finest Art Deco outfits, and went for a leisurely Sunday stroll and drive as part of the "Deco Decanted" festival, which is the winter version of the much larger Art Deco festival the city of Napier has each February to celebrate its architectural history. Napier has one of the largest collection of Art Deco architecture due to the fact that the entire city was rebuilt after the 1931 earthquake and subsequent fire that destroyed the city. If this is the smaller version, I can't wait for the big one. They have Art Deco dinner dances, picnics, concerts, and other events. I'm already shopping for the right outfit!

Paul in the rough

2005-08-08T07:53:00.000+12:00

Eagerly awaiting the arrival of his clubs from the U.S., Paul practices his swing at the local miniature golf course. Apparently he might need the practice, as I managed to beat him with only a slight handicap, HA!

Coffee or Tea?

2005-07-28T09:10:00.000+12:00

Sorry I've been lax about posting lately, but we've had a great run of sunny weather lately and have been enjoying it. I promise to post some new photos soon, and Paul has news to post about his first go at playing "netball." Stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, I wanted to talk about coffee and tea. Sounds simple doesn't it? But it's not that simple here. It's serious stuff. First off all, they don't drink coffee as we think of it. You won't find waitresses walking around with pots of freshly brewed coffee ready to refill your cup. Instead, 99% of the coffee shops here (and there are A LOT of them. Napier and NZ is known for it's cafe culture) serve only expresso-based beverages, like flat whites (espresso and steamed milk without foam), short or tall blacks (shots of espresso), mochas, and the like. After much searching I finally found one cafe in each of the two main towns here that serves "filtered coffee," and one of them is the region's only Starbucks, which I generally try to avoid on principle but sometimes have to give in to the craving for a cup-o-joe. When you order, they ask you if you want it black or white (with milk). At home most people drink instant coffee (yuck) or have a "coffee plunger" aka French coffee press.

As for tea, that is also serious business. Paul gets regular "tea breaks" at work, and breakrooms are called "tea rooms." A "cuppa" is remedy for all, and commercial breaks are made for "putting the pot on for a cuppa."

Once we got all that straightened out, we thought we were good to go, but there's more. "Having tea" is a catch phrase that can have many meanings. For example, the other night our friends went home after work to "have tea" and then met us at the local pub for quiz night. So it can also mean "have dinner." And if someone asks you to "go out for coffee" that can mean coffee (but not regular coffee of course as explained above) or drinks at a bar. Most of the pubs here also double as coffee houses, so you really don't know what to expect until they order.

That's my 2 cents for now, Time to have some coffee. ;-)

Living on the edge

2005-07-15T09:27:00.000+12:00

We got real a taste of living on the edge this week after a water leak, which turned out to be a burst pipe, prompted the City Council to shut off our water due to the risk of "landslip" (what Americans call a landslide). Sure enough, a large chunk of the hill that we live on had slid onto the road below.

That's our house up on top of the hill there. We've got about 30 feet from the house to the edge of the hill. A day and an exhausted plumber later, the water is now back on. I guess it's the price you pay for unobstructed views of the city and ocean below.

Thinking warm thoughts

2005-07-11T10:00:00.000+12:00

Lest we forget it is winter in this part of the world, we're having a cold snap here with the overnight lows reaching near zero Celcius. The southerly winds can be brutal, especially since the older homes here are completely uninsulated and don't have central heating (note to self, South-facing apartment isn't such a great thing in the Southern Hemisphere).

During the day, it usually warms up to the mid-teens (50's-60's Fahreneheit). When the sun's out, the sidewalk cafes are packed, and it's warm enough to sit outside and have your flat white (coffee with steamed milk) or read the paper, as we did yesterday. So we can't complain too much about the winter weather here.

Another great thing they have here to beat the winter blues is the Ocean Spa, which is right down the hill from us. It's a huge outdoor complex right on the beach with several pools and whirlpools heated to varying temperatures as well as a sauna and steamroom. You can spend a couple hours just going from pool to sauna to whirlpool, etc. and it reminds me of the Russian Banyas (bathhouses) I used to go to in Moscow, only much cleaner and more modern.

Do you believe in fate?

2005-07-07T13:06:00.000+12:00

It's official, I finally have a job at a winery here. I had my first "trial" day yesterday (to see if _I_ liked it for some reason, as if there would be any question) and had a great time. My main job is conducting tastings for winery visitors and placing wine orders, which means I have to taste every bottle I open or pour so as not to pour any "off" wine (a real hardship). The job is part-time for now, but I will work more as the tourist (spring/summer) season approaches here.

Now here's the fate part. The winery is Craggy Range (www.craggyrange.com), which is fairly new here but already has built a great reputation (the winery's restaurant is one of the top winery restaurants in the world). I actually went to the winery on the recommendation of a sommelier at a fancy NYC restaurant. But after I interviewed with them, I learned I had other connections.

When we had our first meeting with the minister who married us in Geneva and told him we were moving to New Zealand, he told us to beware of kite surfing there because the son of one of his friends and parishoners was recently killed in a freak kite surfing accident there. Fast forward a few months and I find out that the winemaker at Craggy Range died in a freak kite surfing accident in Oct. Sure enough, he was the son of a former Geneva mayor who moved here a couple years ago. Also, the French winemaker at Belhurst, where we had our wedding reception, trained as a vintage winemaker for a season at Craggy Range. I guess the world isn't so big after all.

p.s. For any of you wondering where the winery got it's name, below is a snapshot taken from the driveway leading out of the winery complex.

The British Invasion

2005-07-05T08:40:00.000+12:00

I must say, it's an odd feeling to wake up the morning of the Fourth of July to see an army of red coats coming ashore, allbeit very friendly, slightly inebriated red coats. Monday morning the front lines of the "Barmy Army" arrived in the form of thousands of British and Irish Lions rugby fans all clad in their team colors (red and white). About 1,100 arrived by sea, travelling aboard a cruise ship chartered by the team, and thousands more arrived by land in a flotilla of white "camper vans" (RV's).

By nightfall they had invaded the pubs and could be seen climbing the village lamp posts. All should be calm in a few days though, as they make their way north to Auckland for the last of the test matches against the AllBlacks (who are leading the series 2-0). Thanks to the Hawkes Bay Today for the photo at left.

First to see the sun each day

2005-06-30T11:45:00.000+12:00

Here on the east coast of New Zealand, we're the first to see the rising sun of a new day, and it's a beaut. Paul snapped these outside our apartment.

About those trees, those are what pine trees look like in NZ. At first I mistook one for a cell phone tower as they tend to be very sparse, perfectly symetrical and all the needles stand straight up.

The "beach" in the photo at isn't really a beach at all. It's made of smooth black stones that get progressively smaller as you get closer to the water. The sandy beach was lost in the 1931 earthquake and replaced by the stones, which are expected to turn back into sand in another couple hundred years or so.

Meeting the neighbors

2005-06-29T10:12:00.000+12:00

Mornin' mates. Paul took the camera this morning to capture the sunrise over the ocean that he sees each day on the way to work, so I'll try to post that tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd catch you up on our activities to date. Over Memorial Day we went on a day sail on the "Spirit of Adventure," a tallship operated by a non-profit group that teaches young people about sailing and the sea (http://www.spiritofadventure.org.nz). We got to help out raising the sails, but our work was cut short when an entire school of young dolphins came to play. The local sailors say they're regulars and like to play their own version of "chicken" by swimming full speed at the boat and waiting to see who turns first. It was amazing to see such beautiful animals up close and their playful spirit was contagious. Of course they moved so quickly that it was difficult to get a good picture of them, but Paul snapped these. The bluff in the background is Bluff Hill where we live in Napier, which makes us and the dolphins neighbors.

I thought this would be as close as you could get to dolphins in the wild, but now I'm told that on the South Island you can swim with the dolphins in their native, natural habitat as well as go whale watching. We definitely plan to do that soon.

Fire and water

2005-06-28T10:04:00.000+12:00

Here in the Southern Hemisphere, we celebrated the winter solstice on June 21 to mark the shortest day of the year. A bit of a change for us who are used to celebrating it as the first day of summer. In Napier, the locals celebrated the event with a fire fest at the beach, including flame throwers, fire dancers, music, and this fire sculpture representing the sun. Even though it was damp and rainy, the constant supply of fire and hot coffee warmed up the night.

A few days later when the skies cleared, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the full moon rising over the ocean from our window. On a clear night, the moon and the stars light up the sky in a way you never see through the haze of NYC. For the first time, I understood what standing beneath a blanket of stars felt like.

Tramping in NZ

2005-06-27T10:56:00.000+12:00

Next to rugby, tramping (hiking) is second-most popular sport in NZ. Lately we've been exploring Te Mata Peak nearby. We think the views are pretty amazing, but apparently they're nothing compared to "The Great Walks" of New Zealand, which we hope to do in the spring.

Standing behind the AllBlacks

2005-06-27T10:08:00.000+12:00

Have I mentioned yet that rugby is a way of life in NZ? The AllBlacks are the country's all-star rugby team and just beat the British and Irish Lions in the first of three "test" matches here. The Lions tour NZ about once every 10-20 years and bring an entire "Barmy Army" of supporters. It's a bit like the Superbowl and March Madness all rolled into one, as the tour lasts about a month. Prince William is on the way this week to watch some of the games. The entire country is having regular "blackouts" in support of the team.

Thanks to a copy of "Rugby for Dummies," Paul and I have learned all about the "scrum" and how to watch a game on the telly (pints obligatory). Statues and signs like this are all over the country in support of the AllBlacks. Here we're in front of the Te Papa Museum in Wellington (the capital) when we visited two weeks ago.

BTW-The best part of watching an AllBlacks match is watching the whole team do the Haka to the opposing team. It's a Maori war-like dance, which involves a lot of chanting, muscle slapping and sticking their tongues all the way out (a sign that they're prepared to eat the opposing team apparently). For a great demo of the Haka, see http://www.newzealand.com/travel/app_templates/haka/index_content.html.

Learning the lingo

2005-06-27T09:42:00.000+12:00

Sure Kiwis and Americans speak the same language, but that doesn't mean we use it the same way. Here are a few gems I've recently added to my vocabulary:

Good on ya, Mate! (good for you/congratulations)
Whadya reckon? (what do you think about that?)
That's flash! (That's chi-chi/stylish)
That's brilliant! (That's great/ok/whatever)
I'm good as gold. (I'm fine)
I'm right as rain (a step above good as gold)
You're a prat! (You're a jerk/cad)
Stockcount sale (inventory reduction sale)
Letterbox (mailbox)
Cheeky (sassy/smart alecky)
Candy floss (cotton candy)
Dairy (bodega/convenience store/where you buy lotto tix)
Heaps (a lot, as in I've got heaps of work to do)
Tramping (hiking)

Genius!

2005-06-23T06:09:00.000+12:00

Chocolate-dipped HARD ice cream cones, not just that oozy, melty soft-serve stuff, but a scoop of cookies and cream encased in a crispy chocolate shell. Why hasn't the world caught on?

Getting started

2005-06-23T05:58:00.000+12:00

Been in NZ nearly two months now and thought it was about time I found a place to write down all the bits and pieces that make up our new life here. Rather than clog your inbox with mass emails, feel free to visit here as often as you wish for updates. We look forward to hearing from you!
Jen and Paul