Shoe Time

The need for shoes in our family has been very strong for the past few weeks. We figured that prices on shoes over here would be cheap and we could find a few good pairs. Obviously we were wrong. As mentioned in a previous post, shoes are not cheap over here. Luckily we were able to find a store with reasonable prices and a buy 1 get 1/2 off the 2nd pair. Although we have only 30 dollars in our NZ bank account, we really needed shoes, so we decided to take advantage of the sale.

What did we end up with:
1 new pair of black shoes for Jeremy
2 new pairs of black shoes for Erin
1 new pair of "sneakers" for Erin

Erin didn't absolutely need the "sneakers" but she's been wanted a pair such such as the ones she got for a while and since we needed a 4th to get the rest of the deal, the 4th one was bought as well.

As a side note, no picture was able to be taken of Erin on her first day of work...sorry to disappoint the fans. Hopefully sometime, a picture can be taken with both Jeremy and Erin prior to going to work so everyone can see what we look like going to work in New Zealand.

Car Searching

On Sunday Erin and I went to a car fair at the Ellerslie RaceCourse. We caught the train which took us out to the RaceCourse and it was all pretty easy. We walked around the fairgrounds for about an hour and 1/2 looking at cars and asking some questions about the logistics of how it all worked. We saw a few nice cars there, but we had no intentions of buying as currently our funds are pretty low. We will most likely plan to go back this coming weekend for some more searching.

While strolling around the city we saw a sign for a Happy Hour at a bar so decided to stop in and see what we could get. We got a glass of wine and a beer for $7.50. That's the best price we've found so far and were very excited about it.

Sox and Fish

I'm sure you are all wondering why I am so happy? Well today I decided that I missed the Red Sox too much and I had to do something about it. So, I bought 1 month of MLB TV to see how it worked. I was very excited when it first loaded and was able to stay tuned through the last few innings of the Red Sox win today. The TV part isn't perfect because the internet connection isn't great over here, but the radio broadcast is perfect and I will enjoy it very much.

Erin and I also had a productive day as we ventured only a 5-7 minute walk from our place to the Auckland Fish Market. There were some interesting fish there both whole, filleted, with their insides on the out, etc. We took the safe route and got some Tuna as well as some KingFish. We had the Tuna tonight and it was OUTSTANDING!

For the 4 weeks we have been here there have been 2 things that I have been asking Erin to do, but we haven't done either of them:
1. Go to the Casino
2. Go see a movie

Tonight we are finally going to knock one of those off my list as we are heading to the IMAX theater to see the movie 300. A lady at work (who is a movie buff) told me that it's a great movie to see at IMAX.

Good Luck to our family who are performing in the St. Paul's Tonight show this weekend, I hope that a lot of people come, and as always...GO SOX!

My First Day

By popular demand...an Erin post:

Well, vacation is over for me! Today was my first day of work. Things went really well and I am learning a bunch!

One really "neat" thing...my email and my phone are connected. So, when I get a voicemail, I also get an email saying "You have one voicemail from Joe Smith". If my calendar has me scheduled for a meeting from 12 - 1:30, that's what my voicemail will say "Erin is in a meeting until 1:30, please leave a message".

My stomach wasn't too happy with me, as lunch is much later here. I'm used to a nice early 11:30 lunch, but they eat around 1:00 here, so I'll need to pack some snacks for mid-day!

Jeremy mailed his first letter to the US. It cost $2! That's one hefty stamp if you ask me.

Day off (ANZAC Day)

Today was a big holiday in Australia and New Zealand known as ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) Day. (It's kind of nice having a day off in the middle of the week)

"25 April is the anniversary of the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli in 1915. On the first anniversary of that landing services were held throughout the country in remembrance of the 2,721 New Zealand soldiers who died during the eight-month Gallipoli Campaign. Since 1916 ANZAC Day has evolved to the observance we know today."

Erin and I headed out for a walk to the War Museum and Auckland Domain (A domain is a cool way of saying large grassy area with trees, etc.) We ate some sandwiches and wondered around the area for a while. Then we headed into New Market to look in some shops and hopefully purchase some new shoes for Erin and maybe for myself. Honest to god, we must have gone into 25 different shoe stores during the afternoon. Erin tried on a couple pairs, but nothing felt too good, so after all that work...NO SHOES.

A guy from work turns 30 today so we are going to a bar to have a few drinks later on. Nothing too much as tomorrow is Erin's first day at work. I'm sure some time tonight will be spent laying out her outfit for tomorrow. I'll try and take a picture of Erin on her first day and post it.

Cell Phone

So I've had my cell phone number for over 10 years. In that time I've talked to a lot of people and there sure are a lot of memories. Because of this, there's somewhat of a sentimental attachment to my special 781 number. After spending some time on the phone with TMobile talking through different ways to keep my number without paying a ton of money, I thought of a Pay as you go type plan. Guess what...TMobile has this type of play. So what I have done is changed my plan to a pay as you go so I will be able to keep my number over the next two years for a very low price and be able to use it when we come home to the US for our visits. SUCCESS!

I also got my cell phone and blackberry services set up on my prized Pearl which is great. It's been weird not having talked on a cell phone for over 3 weeks. I'm sure everyone is wondering who I called first. You guessed it, the only number I know by heart down here (ERIN at home).

We been doing some research on cell phones/plans for Erin as well. Since we will have to pay for this ourselves and not sure how much she will be using it, we are looking into a Pre-pay option through Vodafone. We think this is the best option, now all Erin needs to do is find a cell phone that she likes. She's always loved the Pebl, but I don't think that one exists over here, so she will be looking at other options.

Big Day

So today was a very big day in NZ for us. I've listed below the big events:

1) Erin accepted a job! She had a couple offers floating around and has accepted a GREAT offer with Hudson as an Associate Consultant. We're not exactly sure on the title, but it's a great job in the field of recruiting which Erin has been thinking about for a number of years. So Erin has two more free days prior to starting her job on Thursday of this week.

2) We got some mail from the US which was...Flat Stephanie. Madison sent along her friend Flat Stephanie to spend a week or so with Erin and I in New Zealand traveling around. We are very excited to have her here and have blown up the Aero bed so she has a place to sleep.

3) We finally got our last box that was shipped from the US. It's been a pain to get this package to our new residence as the postal service has been very slow, then the Quadrant was very slow, and then the Courier service was very slow. We potentially thought that we may not get it, but since my Dad did such a great job packing it with tape, THERE'S NO WAY ANYONE COULD GET IN THERE. (It took Erin about 5 minutes to open it with very sharp scissors)

Pictures from Waiheke Island

Waikeke Island

There must be something in the water here, as it seems Jeremy has grown 3 feet taller!


Ok, maybe it's just a tiny car, but it's one of the many things we saw today on our visit to Waiheke Island (the Island of Wine). We hopped on the 10am ferry for the 35 minute ride. Upon arrival, we rented a car (which Jeremy called our very expensive piece of junk) to take us around. Over the next 7 hours we had a picnic on what felt like the top of the world, tasted wine at 5 different vineyards and saw some spectacular views.

Party

Earlier in the day we got the video skype feed to work with Mom and Dad Ciaccia which was loads of fun. So if you don't have skype, go and download it and if you don't have a camera you can go and buy one of those, it's pretty cool. (Slightly delayed, but not too bad)

The Huge sail boat Athena has left the harbour, but has been replaced, but a pretty sweat yatch. This boat was ridiculous, and I can only imagine how much it costs. When you're right up close to it, it's hard to take pictures, so here's one from far away. I looked it up online and it's 214 feet long and it's in the top 50 for largest yatches in the world.

So the Red Hot Chili Peppers were in town tonight and they performed at the brand new Vector Arena here in Auckland. On Friday I was invited to a party at this guy Phil's place who was going to the concert. He lives with his fiance Anna and they are from Sweden. (I'm sure everyone is wondering...yes she has blonde hair). We met some very nice people and hung out for a few hours and it was a good time.

We are hoping to get an good nights sleep tonight as we have a full day of Waiheke Island and some vineyards tomorrow. Stay tuned for updates on our tastings.

The Lessons I Have Learned

While Jeremy has been hard at work, I've been learning about life in New Zealand:

Lesson One - The toilets here have two options. One button is for a little bit, the other is for a lot.

Lesson Two - The letter Z is not zee. It's zed.

Lesson Three - Pretzels only come in TINY bags, if you are lucky to find them at all.

Lesson Four - "Chips" are fries, not potato chips and they are much easier to find than pretzels.

Lesson Five - The letters "WH" make an F sound.

Lesson Six - The milk we drink is Trim Milk, not skim milk.

Lesson Seven - To reach the phone company, just dial 123.

So here it is I'm official here in New Zealand. I've completed my 2nd day of work and things are going as well as can expected. Things are obviously different then I'm used to and there's a lot of new faces, names, and clients that I'm trying to learn. Erin's job hunt is progressing and she has gone through a few rounds of interviews and is doing very well knocking their socks off. Hopefully we will hear some good news in the next few days.

Erin and I are also officially moved out of our temporary residence @ the Quadrant and in our "permanent" residence @ Viaduct Point. We love our new place and have even started to put some of our treasure's up on the wall. Please see the most recent photo attached to view our original Avery M which has gotten a prime spot on our living room wall.


I've listed below some stats about our apartment so everyone has things to look forward to while planning their vacations over here to Kiwi Land.
1 Car Park, 1 Storage Unit, 1 Bedroom apartment with and open floor plan (wow I feel like I'm trying to sell the place), we are on the 5th floor and have pretty large deck. We have views of the Sky Tower, the PwC building and parts of the harbour along with many other city buildings.

The living room has plenty of space for our queen size aero bed to be inflated which is very comfortable. Start the planning today...

Dollar Menu

The Dollar Menu at McDonalds is one of my favorite things. Who can beat a Double Cheeseburger for $1. As many of you know I am adamant that the Meal Deals contain no such deal and there isn't much of a bargain in getting them. Everyone should be buying off of the dollar menu.

Unfortunately there is no dollar menu in New Zealand and the Meal Deals over here, really are a deal. You get a discount on the fries and basically a free soda. So for the next two years I will be buying Meal Deals at McDonalds. One addition to the menu over here is the sandwich called THE BOSS. This sandwich is two large patties on a big bun. I think it competes with the triple whopper at Burger King. It's tasty.

Pictures: A few days away

A few days away

We had a great past few days driving around the North Island of New Zealand and again realized that it takes longer to drive places than it looks on the map.

We started on Wednesday by stopping in a very small town at my favorite place McDonalds (I will be posting an entry about more general McDonalds details in a little while). While Erin was in the bathroom, I was left to order and as I was placing our order I noticed out of the corner of my eye that this one lady was freakishly staring at me with a slightly psychotic smile on her face. When I finished the order, sure enough the first words out of her mouth were "Excuse me, but you're not from around here, I don't want to be rude, but where are you from." I told her and expected us to have a great conversation about NZ and all the great things to see in their wonderful country. Instead she just kind of smiled at me, said a few things under her breath while her friend talked to me without even looking at me. It was one of the stranger conversations I've ever had. These ladies were in their 60's and I believe that it was their big outing for the month to take a trip in the small town to go to McDonalds and the biggest surprise was that they saw an American.


We then checked out the zoo in Hamilton where we saw zebra's, giraffe's, cheetah's, spider monkey's, pigs, rhino's and more. Erin had a close encounter with one of the ostriches who was hoping that Erin had some food (unfortunatly for him, we follow zoo directions and no feeding). Bridal Veil Falls was the next stop on our list (not the falls in NH where Erin and I hiked with the rest of the wedding party at Jake/Katie's wedding). This was a 95 meter falls which was only a 10 minute hike off of the road.

We didn't have a very detailed map to get us to our next location, so we just followed signs and drove for 2 hours on an unpaved road through various mountains and only passed 3 cars the whole time. We happened across one of the most amazing places I've ever seen which was a harbour. Doesn't sound amazing as I write it now, but take my word for it, it was amazing. Walking down to the beach we sat in silence until our ears hurt because it was so quiet.

In Otorohanga we got some food and then looked for a place to stay, but there were only 2 hotels both with No Vacancy signs. Luckily we found a guy who mention about a Holiday Park. (For those who don't know a Holiday Park is like a campground, but "quite" nice). We were in cottage number 11 for the night which was perfect for what we needed and only $50. In the morning we had hot showers and then hit the road.

Waitomo Caves was our main destination on Thursday morning so we could go black water rafting and see Glow Worms. Bundled up in our wet suits, booties, and helmets we headed into the caves. We found out quickly that these glow worms were an amazing sight, but were actually maggot's and the glowing piece was their POOP. Regardless it was a great adventure and we enjoyed the time in the cave, in the water, jumping over waterfalls, etc.

Because of our problems finding a place to stay the previous night this was our number one priority when we arrive at our next destination (called Thames). We found a Bed & Breakfast called Grafton Cottage & Chalets. The son Josh and cat Tom greeted us and was very friendly and showed us to our cottage. It was a great place with beautiful views of the town and the Firth of Thames (which is the ocean). We were the only people staying there and I would stay the only people who had stayed there in a while as we noted 5 dead bee's and bugs throughout the cottage. Besides this, the place was great although a little more expensive than the Holiday Park.

Our plan for Friday was to do a long hike, but the weather forecast decided that we would do that another weekend. So Friday morning we took the more scenic Pacific Coast Highway (not really a highway) back up to Auckland.

A great few days overall and was nice to see some more of the countryside including more sheep and cows.

Gym

Today we went into 5 different gym's looking at the facilities and membership prices. It's amazing the range of quality and prices that we saw ($150 per month per person to $68 per month per person). Unfortunately for us the $150 per person gym is the one that is directly across the street from our place. I think we have realized that convenience is not worth 300 dollars a month for both of us, so we will not be joining that gym. The Y-Fitness gym or YMCA has some good facilities, a good price, and with my purchase of my first speedo this will most likely be our first choice.

We will be traveling for the next few days so won't have another post until the weekend. We miss everyone very much and hope that everyone is doing well and I'm sure looking forward to some warmer weather.

As a side note, I wanted to send some props along to one of the blog pioneers (at least a pioneer in my blog world) "Andy Katz 360" http://andykatz360.blogspot.com/. It's not that I didn't like the idea of a blog, I was just throwing out some challenging thoughts at our good-bye party, you know something to remember me by.

Pictures: April 9th 2007

Cookie?

So it says "Prices include a complimentary beer, wine or soft drink plus cookie", I thought for sure I would get a beer and a cookie. But, you only get a cookie when you get a soft drink and if you get a beer, that's all you get. Despite this trouble, the 360 Discovery Harbour Cruise was pretty good on this very sunny day in Auckland.

The day also include some Kiwi fruit ice-cream and a stop at a few local establishments on the water including the Loaded Hog. (Unfortunately since it was a holiday down here, we were hit with a 20% surcharge on all food/drink that we purchased)

What a SMALL world!

This morning, I stopped into the coffee shop in our hotel to get a delicious flat white take away (coffee with milk - to go). I was chatting with the woman who was making my coffee. I told her I was from MA and she said that she loves it there. She told me that she is originally from the Phillipines, but worked in Massachusetts in the Papa Gino's circuit. To be more exact, she worked at the Papa Gino's in Bedford, MA. What a small world!!!!

Catching Up!

Here we are!
It has been just about a week since we landed in New Zealand and we have been busy busy busy. Please read below to catch up on what we have been up to:

Pictures: April 8th 2007

Sunday, April 8th 2007

Happy Easter!
We started off our day by going to church at St. Andrew's Church, near our hotel. After church, we drove south and rode some of the windiest roads ever! We went over mountains and through gorges. We found a gold mine quarry and walked along a beach in Whangamata that is said to be the "surfing capital of New Zealand". We did see a lot of surfers! When we pulled into town, there was a lineup of police officers that were breathalyzing every driver that passed by. Jeremy was put to the test. He had to count to five into a device. When the results came up clear, we were allowed to move on. I tried driving for the first time. It's quite a new experience, but I am happy to say that we are home safe and sound.

Photos: April 7th 2007

Saturday, April 7th 2007

Today we drove north towards Whangarei, the major city in Northland. 40 minutes into our drive we stopped in the town of Puhoi. Puhoi is a tiny village that was settled in 1860 by a group of Bohemian peasants. Along the side of the road we found a path to a waterfall in the woods. That was pretty neat to find.

Another stop lead us to an 800 year old Kauri tree. It was HUGE!

Further along the road we came across Sheepworld. Fortunately, I was able to convince Jeremy to stop the car. We learned so much about sheep shearing and we got to feed some very friendly lambs and a baby pig!

When we got to Whangarei, we ate lunch on the docks and then ventured off to Whangarei falls. The falls are known as the most photogenic in New Zealand. The drive to Whangarei was longer than expected, so we decided to head back to Auckland and save a trip further north for a weekend when we had time to enjoy all of the sites. According to our car, this was a good idea. While driving home, the "time for a break" warning light came on. Yes, for those of you who do not know, that is the light that looks like a cup of coffee. It goes off every few minutes after you have been driving for "too long". To get the warning to stop, you have to pull over and turn off the car. How crazy!

Pictures: April 6th 2007

Friday, April 6th 2007

Today was a public holiday in New Zealand. We started off by trying to figure our the washer/dryer combo in our room. Once we got that working, we decided to drive to the west coast of Auckland to a town called Piha. We learned quickly that the change from highway to country road is quick and drastic! The windy road to Piha gave us a great view of the Tasman Sea that you can see in our pictures. Just off the coast is Lion Rock. From the top, we enjoyed more spectacular views of the sea.

For our evening activity, we took in our first official rugby game. The Blues v. The Cheetahs (from South Africa). The Blues won 26-8. We learned a lot about rugby and we also learned that when you do "The Wave" in NZ, you not only throw your hands in the air, you throw anything (drinks, trash, etc.) around you in the air as well! We had our first taste of hot chips which are french fries and noticed that all food at the game was fried, but very tasty.

Thursday, April 5th 2007

Well, it's been a very busy first few days down here in Auckland. One of the most exciting things that we found out was that Auckland was voted the 5th best place in the world to live. Wellington (the capital) was voted 12th. No places in the US were in the top 5 which was surprising. Not sure who put out the survey, but I heard it on the morning news.

Erin has had 2 interviews to date, and the one today appeared to be very promising. Grabbing a job in the next couple weeks will be great for our money supply as we have found that food and other goods are rather pricey down here.

A cruise ship was docked at one of the piers today which was kind of exciting, so I hung out around there and read my lonely planet book while waiting for Erin to get out of her meeting.

My past few days have consisted of watching an hour or two of both cricket and rugby. Both sports I'm still trying to figure out the rules (I'm going to see how long I can watch the sports and figure out the rules on my own, before I have to find the rules on the internet). I actually got Erin to watch rugby for 5 minutes today so that was great.

Yesterday afternoon we had a great tour of the city and the nearby surroundings for 3 hours with our first NZ friend and re-location specialist Libby. She also showed us a couple apartments. This afternoon we looked at 10 more apartments. We saw some great places and some crappy smelly ones. We saw some big two bedrooms (1 bedroom for each of you when you visit) and some small studio's. We saw some places in the surrounding subburbs and some places in the Central Business District (CBD).

In the end as expected the place that was right for us was obviously one of the more expensive ones very close to the water. The place was very secure with a large patio on the 5th floor of a relatively new building. It has a "car park" for our car when we get one and some storage space which will hopefully hold our clubs, skis and some other stuff. We feel like we got a good deal with this place as it's in a great area down by the water, close to my work, and it's gorgeous. It's a 1 bed place, but don't worry folks, there will be room for the aero bed to be blown up on the floor and it'll be comfy (or if you want there are nice hotels or even hostels for you to stay in if that doesn't suit your needs...hahah j/k).

Easter weekend is a HUGE holiday down here. Erin and I aren't sure of our plans yet, but most places are closed Friday and Monday. You know what else is interesting is they celebrate Easter on Monday...weird.

As of now we don't have any plans for tomorrow, but we plan to drive to a town outside of the city and spend a few hours seeing some sites. Tomorrow night we plan to go to a rugby game.

Hope all is well back home!

Pictures: Auckland, April 3rd 2007

Tuesday, April 3rd 2007

Well, after many hours of traveling, we finally made it. Actually the hours that we spent on the plane apx. 19 went by very very fast. We slept a little bit on the first 6 hours and on the 13 hour leg we probably slept for 7 or 8 hours which was nice. The rest of the time, we either were eating or watching a movie. Surprisingly we didn't listen to our ipod's or play any games. The qantas flight was good, but the knee room is something to be desired. I had the aisle so I had my leg out in it the whole time. The exit rows have more leg room, but the arm rests go to the floor so I didn't want one of those seats because I usually feel too restricted.

After landing in Auckland, it took us about an hour and 1/2 to clear customs, immigration and get ALL our luggage. (but it all made it which is great). We headed up to our hotel room which is on the top floor (23). We weren't sure what to expect, but as we walked in, we realized that our condo in Boston isn't that small. We are in a studio place that is about the size of our room with a balcony when we were on the cruise ship 3 years ago. We weren't even sure all our luggage would fit in here. But, the place is nice, has a balcony and will be fine for us for the next few weeks until we find a place of our own.

Today we will do some walking and go visit the bank so we can sign some documents and officially open our account. Hopefully we will be able to find a place to watch the final basketball game as well. GO FLORIDA!

Tomorrow Erin has her first interview and then we are going on a city tour with Libby (our tour guide and "rental agent"). Hopefully we will see some nice places and start to get a feel for what we want. Also tomorrow we will be getting our rental car, that'll be interesting with the whole opposite side of the road driving thing.

It's tuesday morning here @ 8:20 and I'm watching cricket on TV. Still not sure the rules, but there is a big tournament going on and I was watching the NZ game.