The one thing i'm always asked is "What is the biggest difference"? This is almost my least favorite question, because well, a lot of things are different. I thought i'd take the time now, to tell you about one of my favorite little differences which is a staple of cultural identity--food. It might seem silly but food is one of those things that no matter where you go, you see evidence of cultural choices in (ie fast food for the on the go american, vegetarian food for the religiously observant Indian, and so forth). Even in Western countries such as the UK, and Ireland you still find food that is very different from what you (or in this case me) am used to. My favorite thing to do in a new place is checking out a grocery store, not just because i love to cook but because its always a different and facinating experience. Here the differences lie in simple things--there are an abundance of sweet potatoes here. Despite many attempts to stomach them growing up, i've never really been a huge fan of them. In New Zealand tho, they are everywhere in the form of the Kumara (which is as far as i understand just the Maori word for sweet potato). Huge sections in the grocery store and even in fast food joints (i refuse to call them restaurants)-they're served a long side our normal deep fried fries. But what originally inspired me to write this entry was......Broccoflower. Yes, that's right, broccoflower. I took this picture while at the grocery store last weekend.


It is what looks like Cauliflower only green (presumably some odd half child of broccoli). Now maybe we grow up acutely unaware of odd things in our own culture (not sure what strange vegetables i'm passing in my mind at the moment because they dont' seem all that odd to me) but broccoflower is just wrong. They also have Broccolini which looks like asparagus with broccoli florets at the top. This may seem like an odd thing to write a whole entry about but as they say it's the little things that make the difference.

Kia Ora, and hello again from New Zealand. I realize it's been awhile since i've updated you so i figure i'll take the time now to update you all on whats new here in Auckland. Easter was a long weekend here so Matt, Caitlin and Osh and i decided to take a road trip. Matt's boss Mike had very graciously offered the use of his car, so why not travel? On the chance of a flip of a coin (literally) we decided to go north and west. Deciding to not chance the traffic, we left saturday morning and drove on up. New Zealand is a stunning country. I know i've said it before, but i will continue to say it the more i see of it. We took a few hours and wound up in the Waipoua forrest. For some reason the scenery was very reminsicent of being in Costa Rica--lush subtropical forrest, big trees and very wind-y roads. We got to our campsite and after setting up we realized we could do better and literally moved to the most secluded spot right near the river. Once we were set up we headed back in the car to do a quick hike before it got too dark out. We first went to see the four sisters--four very large Kauri tree's all together. Another 15 minutes into the forrest put us at (i can't say it, Ng something) which was the second largest tree. I have never see tree's so large in my life. I haven't been to the Redwoods in California so i'm not quite sure how they compare, but i have this feeling that the Kauri's are larger and older. We made it back to the car just before dark and headed back to our camp. We got a roaring fire going (thanks to the boys and their new hattchet) and managed to make some dinner and have just a few drinks. Possums get a bad rap in New Zealand for being a big pest and there was no shortage of them. They're kinda creepy--they look like a cat crossed with a raccoon, with glowing red eyes. We got up the next morning, cleaned camp and headed further into the forrest to see "The Godfather"--the worlds largest Kauri tree. Just a mere 5 minutes off the road and there it is. As you approach it in the forrest there are loads of trees and giant fungi and such a serenity and peacefullness. You know that as you are approaching you are encountering something truely ancient and special. And wow. What a big tree. Sadly i can't find any better words but yea, wow. We stopped and had sandwiches (i'm really loving this grilled pineapple and cheese combo here) and continued on our way. Intially our goal was to get up to 90 mile beach which runs essentially to the northern most tip of New Zealand. However we set our sights a bit high. We made it to the Hokianga Harbour which is one of the worlds largest and stopped to take in the scenery. I'm making it a goal to go back up there and spend more time--we drove through this cute little town called Opononi which i'd love to spend more time in. We took the car ferry across the harbour and continued up the North west coast. We made it just to Kaitaia (pronounced Kye-tie) to realize we'd gone to far--there was no way we could continue on up and not have to do a ridiculous amount of driving the next day. So we turned around and went down the east coast. Poor Osh was pretty ill (thankfully we had 2 tents and Matt and i were able to stay away from the "sars" tent). We arrived into Whangerei around 4:30.


Kauri's


Hike to the 2nd largest


Ferns


Me and the Kauri's


Our Campsite


River by our campsite


Us and the "godfather"


Moss


Hokianga Harbour


Hokianga Harbour


Quick Maori pronounciation lesson (and the proper way to say "Maori" is to sound like you are saying the word "Mouldy")-- wh = F. Why when creating English names for Maori places (the Maori's had no written language) they decided to write something with a WH at the start and have the place pronounced with an "F" sound is beyond me, but they do. So Whangerei is said "Fang-er-ay" (with a soft f). Other fun town names i enjoy saying include "Whakatane" and "Whangerparoa". Note there are some strange exceptions to this rule.

Anyways, so we grabbed some chinese food and we let the sickies check into a hotel while Matt and i found a campervan park where we could pitch our tent for the night. We set the tent up in record time due to the rain and looming darkness. We played cards and had a grand old time. We got up the next morning and had a leisurely drive back to Auckland stopping at some lovely beaches including Orewa (pronounced Ore-eh-wah) where we driven thru with Brian and Barb before. Oh, and who can forget a brief visit to "Sheep World" (we decided against spending time to watch a shearing tho).

Sheep World


Langers on the beach


Pretty scenery


Kiwi crossings



Whew. So that was Easter. Next came the new job for me. Which is going well. I'm working in the Vero Building which is the tallest building in Auckland on the top floor---talk about a view--360 degrees and it is really incredible. I've met some lovely people here and am starting to settle in i think. It's definetly a new routine for me tho as i start work at 8am!

View of the Harbour bridge and downtown Auckland from work


After that we have....MY BIRTHDAY! As many of you know i had a patch of several rough ones in there (3 in a row to be specific). Last years was nice but this years was even better! Matt made me pancakes for breakfast and then i had a quiet day at work (i tried myself to the awesome vegetarian restaurant behind the building called "revive"). Then i came home and Matt arrived back with a beautiful red rose and we got all dressed up and went for drinks at this snazzy little bar near our place called Brooklyn while we waited for our dinner reservations. Then at about 7:45 we headed to our reservations which turned out to be at Orbit, a revolving restaurant which is atop the sky tower! We stopped off at the observation deck to check out the view (and see our apartment from the top!) and then had a lovely dinner. And if that wasn't enough, we came back and i was suprised with a cake and candles. :-)

16, uh wait i mean more than that candles



The rest of the week was a bit hard with the happenings back in the US making me a bit homesick. Thankfully Mark was ok at school (for those of you who don't know my brother goes to Virignia Tech). It's funny just when things happen to make you realize just how far away you are sometimes.

Wednesday was ANZAC day and therefore a public holiday and a day off. It's vaguely simalar to our Memorial Day--here it primarily focuses on the Australia/New Zealand forces that died in WW1, especially at Galipoli. Most shops were closed 'til 1pm, but Matt and i ended up staying in.

On that note, they have this incredibly annoying practice here of adding a surcharge of up to 20% on all public holidays here! During Easter and Good Friday all shops have to be closed (except those in "tourist" areas--which seems like a vague description to me!). Appearently nurseries and garden stores have decided to "flout" these Easter trading laws and take the fines (which are around $50,000) because they make so much money. Matt and i actually stopped at a Garden shop on Good Friday and bought a little plant. I shall forever know it as my little rebel plant. Restaurants, bars, they all seem to do this surcharge adding saying they have to cover the added expense of employing staff on a public holiday. Personally i think it's lame, but c'est la vie.

Then this past weekend Matt and i went down on a whim to visit Houghie and Rosie. Houghie is Matt's mate from London who we went over to Australia to see get married back in December. Work has put him and Rosie (who's currently expecting!) in New Plymouth. Clearly everyone wants to be as cool as Matt and I. I mean why else would everyone keep flocking to New Zealand? Matt's other co-worker lent us his car and we left straight from work on Friday. Although it was a 5 hour drive, it wasn't too bad and we got into Houghie and Rosie's place just before 11pm. Saturday they took us around "the 'naki". New Plymouth is located on Mount Taranaki (or Mount Egmont as it used to be called). We did a huge loop around it--when we had a brief glimpses of it we saw a spectacular peak lightly dusted with snow. Had a lovely time with them, and it was really nice to get out of the city again. The coast there is really pretty, although i had the misfortune of slipping on a rock and banging my camera and seemingly breaking it :-(. We left for Auckland around noon and had a relaxing drive back. Although desiduous trees are not native to New Zealand, we still saw many on our trip back--their leaves beautiful shades of red and orange. Also adding amusement to our journey were 2 tunnels. Now i've driven through many a tunnel in my day (you go through 4 in Pennsylvannia just to get to Indiana or Pittsburgh!) but the ones we went through were as if a car had just barged thru the mountain with a drill on the front. Really strange!

New Plymouth


Mount Taranaki


More of the naki


Well, there you have it. Things are going well here, despite the brisk and cold autumn weather starting to come in. This will be my first real season swap--the thought of Autumn in May seems so wierd to me. I hope you're all well--everyones been in my thoughts a lot lately.

Lots of love,
Lindsay