3 hours & 13 1/2 miles on a mountain bike!

I took my bike out to Bottle Lake Forest Park today. I was out there on Monday, too, for about 3 hours then as well, but I spent most of the time lost. Today was another story altogether. It was an amazing ride in an amazing place. The whole park is terrifically designed, with purpose-made trails for walking/running and horseback riding as well. You can find yourself in a dense forest one minute and riding along the beach the next.


There must be about 20 miles of dedicated MTB trails, all free on public land. It's the kind of place that back in the States you'd pay $20 or more to ride for the day. There are nice single-track trails, as well as dirt roads to ride on as well.

Maybe next time I'm out there I'll grab my camera and take some pics.

Our trip to Arthur's Pass

On Saturday we drove out to Arthur's Pass, which allows passage between the east and west coasts. There was quite to see on the way, including some incredible views of the Southern Alps. So, why not just take a look at the pics.

You may have also noticed that I've been adding coordinates to the names of the folders for the pictures. I use my Garmin 60Csx to mark my location as we stop to take the pics. The coordinates are searchable in Google Earth, which will allow you to see the area from space, as well as pictures other users have uploaded.

Oh, BTW, the eclipse tonight was a rain out. :( I was looking forward to seeing my first southern hemisphere eclipse, but it was not to be.

I'm Eight Games, #@$%&!

Ah, by next Monday, this is what it's going to be for the Yankees ...





Remember when in July there were a couple of people--who shall remain nameless, but let's call them 'Tasey' and 'Belorah'--who were worried because the lead was only 5 games. Who said, "Don't worry, they won't catch up"?

Okay ... enough of that. We'll return to your regularly scheduled NZ blogging now.

Some more random pictures

Evan and I went for a little drive today. He wanted to go through the Lyttleton Harbor Tunnel and I wanted to get some pictures of the Waimakiriri River. Our mission was accomplished, so here are the pics.

Rode my new bike today

I bought a new bike the other day. Today I went for a ride around my part of Chch. The nice thing is that there are bike lanes on pretty much all the roads here. Of course, riding in the city is totally different from riding in the country. I got a lot of opportunities to work on my Jedi Mind Tricks, constantly projecting the thought, "See me. See me. See me." and willing people not to turn in front of me or open their car doors.

I'm hoping to head out to one of the parks before too long--maybe Monday while Evan is at school. There's supposed to be some very nice riding out here. I'll keep you posted!

Now, a random thought: Strange things I've seen ...

A transvestite Maori. Nothing wrong with either, or the combination, but it just doesn't seem to go together. As my English friends say, 'courses for horses.'

A man walking shoeless through the mall. Yes, shoeless, not shoesless, as he only had one foot. Again, nothing wrong with either, but you generally don't see shoeless adults anywhere but the beach.

Things that are outrageously expensive in New Zealand

All the prices are in NZ Dollars. At the current conversion rate, you can knock 30% off the price to find the cost in US Dollars. The good news is that about a week ago, the Kiwi Dollar was flying high, at about $.81USD. So, thanks to the fluctuations in the world currency market, Debi, who is paid in USD, got a 13% raise this past week.

Booze--A 750 ml bottle of Smirnoff Vodka sells for about $30. A six-pack of premium/microbrewed beer is about $14, though you can buy Steinlager, Tui, or CD (the local equivalents of Bud or Michelob) for about $20 for a 12 or 15 pack. Thankfully, reasonably good wines sell for less than they do in the US, about $12 a bottle--a $12NZ wine is about the same quality as a $12US bottle, and all the grocery stores have terrific selections of NZ wine.

Gas--A litre of gas is currently $1.569 (yes, they do the nine-tenths thing here too). I haven't bothered to figure out how much that comes to in USD/gallon, but I know it's a lot. It costs me about $110 to fill my new car from empty.

Chicken--Legs, thighs, breasts … no matter what the cut, it seems to be $14/kilo in the supermarket. A 5lb whole chicken runs about $14. Fortunately, unlike in the US there are lots of butcher shops, some chains and some independent, meaning that there are bargains to be found. One of the local chains, the Mad Butcher, has boneless, skinless chicken breast for $10/kilo--which comes to about $3.20US per pound. However, the meat is not as closely trimmed as we would expect in the US, so there would be more waste per pound, driving the actual price up. (The same is true of most cuts of meat here; for example, pork chops have all the fat and skin on them, like you would expect to find on a whole fresh ham.)

Levi's jeans--$99 for a pair at the local department store chain, Farmers, which is kind of the NZ equivalent of Macy's. On top of that, they are not the same quality denim that we get in the US, but a lighter weight. Clothing in general is more expensive, though as with anything there are bargains to be found.

Banking--You pay for everything here. My account allows me to use the ATM for free, and to pay bills on-line for free. However, if I need to talk to a teller--bam--$6! If I need to set up a new payee for my bills, I get charged. If I need paper statements--bam--$6 per month. There are also no fee-free credit cards in NZ. All the banks charge $60 or more per year to carry the card, and interest rates are about 2 to 3 times what we would pay in the US. Lower interest cards carry higher annual fees, and vice-versa. Fortunately, we can use our ATM cards (or EFTPOS as they call them here) everywhere for purchases--except in the parking meters, which only take cash, Visa/MC, or TEXT MESSAGING!

Cell Phones--$.89/minute on the pre-paid plan. I don't know anyone who has a monthly plan, because those run into the HUNDREDS of dollars. Everyone has a cell phone, but most people are using them to text (which is about $.05 per message or $10 per month for unlimited). Because the monthly plans are so expensive and no one signs up for them, we also have to buy our own cell phones--no $99 Razrs here! $99 got us a cell phone most people would give their grandparents in the US; but of course, that's pretty much what everyone here uses, too. Why have an expensive cell phone when all it'll be used for is texting?

The cost of living here in NZ is generally a hot topic on the migrants forums I visit. Overall, I'd agree that it can be more expensive here. The economies of scale that are found in the US don't exist here. Best Buy probably sells more, well, *anything* in the Boston-metro region than all of the electronics stores sell in all of NZ.

The high prices on these items are offset by the fact that some things are cheaper, or come at a higher level of quality for the same price. Fish, for instance, is generally $20/kilo for local cod, monkfish, salmon, snapper, or gurnet . $20 buys us a feast of lamb chops (which Evan refers to as 'lamb handles' … some of you may remember the 'chicken handle' story). A huge cabbage costs $2, I can buy golden kiwi fruit for as little as $.38/kilo (the usual going rate is $2/kilo), local apples for $2/kilo, onions or potatoes for less than $1/kilo, and on and on.

Right now electronics are also generally cheaper, too. For example, a 32' Sony Bravia HDTV can be had for about $1300. Dell NZ's $1000 computer costs $1000 at Dell US. For $80 I bought a DVD player that would have cost about $100 in the US. But, with the falling Kiwi Dollar, I expect that this will probably change before too long.

Overall, if quality of life is measured in material goods, then the quality of life here is well below the US. (Of course, that's investing a lot of value in cheap plastic crap from China via Wal-Mart.) But here, I can look out my window and see flowers today--in the middle of winter! I can walk down the street in just about any direction and find a park. The views here are usually reserved for vacation in the US.

So, how is it that without all of the cheap plastic crap from China, people are still happy?

The Boys are back in School

Connor has been settling into his new daycare, where he started last week. It was a rough transition for him, especially since he's going to school alone, without Evan, for the first time. I think he understands that Evan isn't there, though I'm not sure that he's fully aware that Evan is hanging out at home with Mom and Dad.

Evan made his first visit to his new school today. In New Zealand, children start school on their 5th birthday, regardless of where it falls during the year, so he'll officially begin in a couple of weeks. He'll be in the 'new entrants' class, with the other five year olds, and today he spent a couple of hours there. He'll do that 3 or 4 times until he begins full days.

While he was there, the class was making 'thank you' cards. Evan's said 'Thank you Mom and Dad for bringing me here.' I think of all of us, Evan has enjoyed New Zealand the most. He likes going to the parks and to the beach. Yesterday he and I went to the library then to a local playground and on the way home he had this big smile on his face. I asked him, 'Are you happy?' 'I'm happy,' he said. 'I'm glad we moved here. This is a good place to live.'

But he does still sometimes talk about how much he misses his stuff--today it was his bicycle because I bought a new mountain bike. He told me that he wants to ride bikes with me, and wanted to make sure that his helmet made it into the container.

On the topic of libraries, the libraries here in Chch are absolutely amazing. The pier that I posted pics of yesterday actually extends from the New Brighton branch of the Chch library. Our local branch, in Spreydon, has a cafe in it. They are all nice, modern buildings. As you would expect, the libraries here offer all the services you would find in the US. However, some of the services carry fees. For example, to 'borrow' a bestseller, you pay $5 per week for up to 2 weeks. Older DVD's and CD's cost $1 per week to 'borrow'. There are also fees for interlibrary loans and placing holds on books. But, when you consider that a new book--nearly all of which are printed here in trade paperback format rather than as hardcovers--costs between $35 and $60 (or more) and paperbacks run at about $20, a few fees are not too unreasonable.

New Brighton Beach and Pier

On Monday Evan and I visited New Brighton Beach and Pier. This was actually our second trip; the first one was not long after we arrived, in the middle of a driving rain storm. As you can see from the pics, the weather was much nicer Monday.

One of the neat things about Christchurch is that you can sometimes see the mountains to the west and north-west of the city. Like any other city, there's usually not much of a view, so it's either from the top of a car park, or on just one of the those avenues that runs long in the right direction when you can actually see beyond the city buildings. In a couple of the pictures, you can see the snowy peaks.

The International Antarctic Center and Amberly Beach

Today we took the boys to the International Antarctic Center, which is just north of the city. It was nice, sort of a museum of Antarctic exploration. We didn't actually ride the Hagglund, since Connor is a little too young, and Evan thought it was too loud. Oh well ... maybe next time. The boys did love the blue penguins, though. By US standards, the Center is small for a tourist attraction--the New England Aquarium in Boston is probably about ten times bigger, and has *way* more penguins. It was worth the visit, though.

Afterward, we took a little drive up Route 1, ultimately ending up a little north of Amberley. With no particular destination, we headed out to the Amberley Beach. As you can see from the pictures we took today, we had the beach all to ourselves, except for the three guys who drove through on dirt bikes and quads at one point. Besides them, I couldn't see anyone else in sight for the entire length of the beach. There were lots of paua shells on the beach, but I couldn't see any place where it would be possible to get harvest them for the abalone. So we had monk fish for dinner instead, with a nice bottle of Marlborough pinot gris my friend Chris brought us.

Some general observations and commentary

Inspired by my friend John Herman, I thought I'd post a little commentary about what I've observed so far here in NZ. This is gonna be pretty random, so hold on ...

• "Man"--everyone says 'man.' Yesterday we went over to Waltham Primary School with Connor's daycare class to watch the student performing arts groups and the 'cultural exhibit' (more on that below). The Principal, who apparently is just named 'Gordon' (I heard *no one* call him anything other than that), acted as MC for the show. At one point he said, "Wow, that was really awesome man." And everyone says 'cool'; it must be the NZ version of 'alright.' Oh, and 'shit.' I've heard 'shit' more than nearly any other word in NZ. People here are just really, really informal. You can go into just about any place and strike up a conversation with just about anyone--and chances are if you go into some place, someone is going to strike up a conversation with you.
• Multiculturalism--Christchurch is a very multi-culti city. There are Asians (I saw on TV last night that there are 30 different nations represented in the Asian population here), Maori, Indians, Pakistanis, Greeks, Eastern Europeans, and the occasional black African. Every shopping center has at least one sushi place, and most of the food courts have Indian and kebab places, and just about every type of food can be found here in Chch ... even Mexican. (Okay, I like food!)
  
• Asians--There's a lot of discussion about the relations between NZ's Asians and everyone else. They're kind of like Mexicans in the US--anything that's wrong here gets blamed on them (by some people, of course, not all). They have a reputation for being bad drivers, for keeping to themselves, for driving up the real estate prices. My observation is that many Asians don't really seem to fit in here--while Kiwis are not gregarious, they are friendly and outgoing in that respect. Many of the Asians I've encountered fit the quiet, unassuming, keep to themselves stereotype--except when they are in large groups with other Asians, when they can be loud and outgoing. I think those two extremes just culturally don't fit with the Kiwi way of life--in fact, they are probably the exact opposite of one another.
• Maori--I don't know why, but the euphemism for seeing Maori dance, song, and haka is 'cultural experience.' When we went to Waltham Elementary, it was cool to see Maori, Asian, and white (pakeha) children doing Maori dances and singing Maori songs all together. It's as though Maori culture is just a part of New Zealand culture, and so it belongs to everyone, not just the Maori. I don't think there's a real analog in American life. It goes beyond the kind of co-opting of black culture by white kids we see in the States. I wouldn't go so far as to say that 6 year olds understand the importance of preserving Maori language and cultural tradition, but it is almost as though that underlies the way of life here. For example, when the national anthem was sung (while we stood in awkward silence) is was sung in Maori first then in English. Everyone--except for us, of course--knew the Maori words, not just the English verses.
• Media--TV and radio pretty much suck here. I'm sorry, but it's true. There are some good, entertaining shows, with engaging personalities, but ... There's not much on TV, and most of it is imported from the States anyway, but it's last year's shows--and some of the shows have already been canceled in the US! Radio is crazy. Just like in the US, there's a lot of pop-top 40, which is strange to me because I never listen to that kind of station and have been forced to listen to it here. Hip-hop is just as much part of the music scene here as it is in the US, which is strange, too, when you think about it. And that damn Delilah song!
• School uniforms--Okay, it is really, really weird to see a 17 year old boy in a jacket, shirt, tie, black shoes, and ... SHORTS!
  
• Baseball hats--I've seen them in the stores, but my Red Sox hat is the only one I've seen on anyone's head. Okay, that's a little bit of an exaggeration; I did see a Maori kid dressed in hip-hop garb with an askew baseball hat on his head.
• Eating at restaurants--At the mall, when you eat in the food court, you keep leave your tray on the table and the food court attendant comes over and cleans it up. In many restaurants (and I don't mean fast food places), you order at the counter, are given a number, and your food is brought to your table. In some places, you order your food at one counter and your alcohol at another counter. At McDonalds, if if the lines are long, someone moves down the line with a little hand-held and takes your order while you are in line so when you get to the counter, you just pay and pick up your food--and they make your burgers when you order them so they don't sit under a heatlamp!
  
• The grocery store--There seems to be a philosophy here that life is too short to wait in line. I've been to the grocery store when it was crazy busy and when it was nearly empty. Every time I've gone, though, every single checkout was open. I've never had more than one person in line in front of me. In retail stores, the same is pretty much true, too. You find lots of help.
• Pedestrians--Think Boston, without any traffic lights, crosswalks, or laws. Okay, think Deathrace 2000 instead. Honestly, every time you cross the street here, you take your life into your own hands. Drivers don't stop, or even slow down, for pedestrians. There are 'zebra crossings' in some places where drivers *must* (and do) stop for pedestrians, but other than that, forget it. In fact, when I encounter a pedestrian and stop for them, they don't know what to do. Rather than walk in front of me, they usually just stand there in the median or other lane and look at me like a deer in the headlights. I've learned to just essentially ignore them when I drive and RUN when I cross the street.

As I said, this was pretty much random.

Port Hills and Orana Wildlife Park, and some other stuff

I've just posted some new pics. We took a drive up around the Port Hills on Friday and took the boys to Orana Wildlife Park on Saturday.

Driving up into the Port Hills is not unlike driving the Kancamagus Highway but without the guardrails. It the ascent on the Chch side is nearly straight up (or so it seems) and winding. Fortunately, we were headed out of Chch and into Lyttleton, which means that for most of the drive the hills were on our side of the road and the chasm was on the other side of the road.

The pictures (except for the one through the windscreen) were taken on the Lyttleton side of the hills. Across the bay is the town of Diamond Harbor, which can be seen in some of the pictures.

Orana Wildlife Preserve is a nice little zoo about 15 minutes outside of Chch. We were able to get a membership for the whole family for about $80, which allows us to visit as often as we want for an entire year. Evan and Connor enjoyed seeing the lions and tigers--which I didn't really take pictures of--and Evan had a good time playing on the 'flying fox.'

I snapped some pictures of the unusual birds I've been seeing around. There are black ducks with white bills and some birds that look almost like crows with white highlights. It's amazing to me how many of the birds are black and white, rather than other colors.

I also bought a car today. Again, it's all thanks to the wonderful people I've met here. Brent, from AAA Car Rentals, took good care of me. Nigel from the motel recommended his agency for the rental that we drove for the past two weeks, and when he picked me up at the motel he told me that when I was ready to buy a car, he'd help me get sorted. Well,I took him up and his offer and he drove me around to a couple of wholesalers--which I normally wouldn't have access to--and we looked at several cars. Today, he and I picked up the car, a 1997 Toyota Camary Gracia--a station wagon model not available in the US--and he helped me get it inspected, registered, and introduced me to his mechanic!

He spent about 4 or 5 hours helping me out. Why? Just to help me out. As beautiful as the land is, the people are the best thing about it.

A Bunch of Pictures

I just uploaded some pictures from our time on the road and our arrival in NZ. The photo albums are labeled so you have an idea of what you're looking at. I'll blog more about them later.

Help John Herman Win His Dream Home Theater System

This message is from my friend, John Herman. It would be really cool if you could help him out.

This summer my wife and I endeavored to win a contest to celebrate the buying of our first home. We entered a video on a whim, but it looks like we truly have a chance to win the grand prize. I sincerely need your vote. There is one vote per computer. Anything you can do to help us is very appreciated. Help by going to the link below and voting with a FIVE rating (if we deserve it!). Vote by clicking a number on the dial below the word VOTE. That's it.

http://makeshifters.com/#/view_the_entries/23

There is only a week and a half left in the contest. Currently our little video is fifty votes behind. Tell friends, family, pets, politicians, etc. to vote for us! Don't vote for other videos unless you sincerely like them because it gives them points. I don't ask for much, but I think it would be amazing if my wife and I won this contest just as we moved into our new home. For those keeping score, my wife and I will have moved three times this summer. Most of my projects were put on hold since much of our time was spent without a proper stove and refrigerator -but with the addition of intruder squirrels. Our journey will be over in a few weeks. Just think how much sweeter it would be if we won?!

Sincerely,
John Herman
--
http://www.johnherman.org/blog