Sailing Away

We started out our weekend nice and early on Saturday when we became Certified Beginner Yachters! Our final lesson continued on from last week and we also learned how to rescue a "man overboard". After another 5 hours sailing in Auckland's Harbour with wind gusts up to 37 knots, we were awarded our certificates.

We now have basic knowledge of sea terms, parts of the boat, rigging and sails. We are also able to tie the following knots: figure eight, round turn, two half hitches, and bowline. We know how to use winches and jamming cleats, can steer a yacht under sail and power and have experience sailing a yacht on all points of sail. Look out America's Cup...here we come!

The rest of our weekend will include the usual activities of laundry, grocery shopping and some household chores. Jeremy will hopefully fit in some sports watching as well. We have a short week this week (4 days) as Australia and New Zealand celebrate Anzac Day (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) on Friday. Last year we went to the Auckland Museum to watch the Memorial Service. We haven't planned what we will do this year, but Jeremy will be busy packing as he is off to Darwin and Adelaide in Australia for a week of work.

Back from Melbourne

I am back home now after a week of training in Melbourne. I had a great trip and learned a lot which I am looking forward to putting into effect at work tomorrow! Jeremy and I have also now both been to Australia more times in the past year than we have been to the US. We never thought we would have that statistic to report!

Sailing Lesson

Living in The City of Sails, there can't be a better time for us to learn to sail. On Saturday morning, we boarded the French Connection, a 32 foot Beneteau with our friends Mascha and Jeroen for Practical Yachting, a ten hour, on the water course.

On our first day we learned the parts of the yacht, ropework (including several necessary knots), the rules of the road, and then we were off sailing! We had a mix of weather including sun, rain, no wind and lots of wind so we wore all sorts of sailing gear.

Our second day was to include more sailing and practicing rescuing a man overboard, but the winds today were at 40 knots, so our final lesson has been postponed until next weekend. We look forward to becoming certified beginner sailors!

Erin's Travelling

Erin has her first big work trip coming up next week and she's very excited about the opportunity. She is heading to the Hudson office in Melbourne Australia to work with people in her similar position. She will be away for 3 nights / 4 days and will be the first time that I will be at home while she is travelling for work. (Generally it's the other way around).

Good luck Erin!

Auckland Food and Wine Festival

We were once again blessed with amazing weather this weekend. The days are still warm, but it is getting a little bit cooler at night.

We started the weekend early on Saturday. After giving Jeremy a tour of my new office and a quick morning coffee, we stopped by the Auckland Food and Wine Festival. We had a great time! We paid $20 for admission which included a wine glass and an environmentally safe shopping bag. Over the next few hours we enjoyed live music, wine, beer, cheese, sausage, fresh fruit, bread, donuts, and many other delicious things. We were really spoiled with free samples.

After a quick cat nap, we met up with our friends Philip and Anna for a farewell dinner. They are heading back to Sweden today after 18 months in Auckland. Before starting work in Stockholm on May first, they will stop in Dubai, France and southern Sweden. Safe travels!

Today we are just relaxing and watching NCAA basketball. We had daylight savings today, so we are now 16 hours ahead of Boston, rather than 17-18.

One Year Anniversary

Today marked our one year anniversary in New Zealand. We have very much enjoyed our experience thus far and have a lot planned for the next year.

To "celebrate" our milestone we went to see a play with the Culture Vultures, a group of friends who try to do something cultural each month. This month was our choice and Jeremy did a great job planning the night which included burgers at Burger Fuel, a few drinks and Nina Rain's Rabbit. Despite the hot theatre, we enjoyed the play and ended the night with a delicious dessert.

We're still on a the hunt for someone to rent our apartment in Boston but hope to find a good tenant soon!

Tim and Jackie left Boston today for a three month volunteer experience in Peru. My mom is travelling to California to visit Julia, so we wish everyone safe travels. (Happy Birthday Julia!!)

Day Five - Bridge Climb

Before hopping on a plane back to Auckland, we had one more adventure up our sleeves. We were scheduled for an early morning climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was very nervous as I am a little bit afraid of heights and narrow scaffolding things, but how could I saw no to the opportunity?

The first step was to take an alcohol breath test to make sure we were sober for the walk. We then got suited up in jumpsuits with harnesses, hat clips, sunglass clips, sweat rags, and radios. Then we had to do a practice run on a bridge simulator to gain an understanding of what we had signed ourselves up for.
Construction started on the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1923 and it was opened for traffic in 1932. It is 440 feet high at the top of the arch and is the fourth longest single-span steel arch bridge in the world. The bridge also carries eight lanes of traffic, a footpath, a bikelane and two train lines, which makes it the widest long span bridge in the world. Needless to say our climb wasn't going to be a simple task!

The climb was an amazing experience. When we reached the top of the arch we were amazed by the views (and how safe and sturdy we felt!) We weren't able to take our cameras with us, so we had to purchase a souvenir photo to remember the journey. We highly recommend the experience to anyone! It was a great way to end our exciting weekend in Sydney.

Day Four - The Blue Mountains

On Monday we rented a car to drive to Katoomba and explore the Blue Mountains. We were very hopeful for a sunny day as we had been told stories of how disappointing the experience is when it is foggy or rainy. The day started out with heavy rain and clouds, but by the end of our two hour drive, we were greeted with sun!

We enjoyed the view of the Three Sisters (a famous rock formation) from Echo Point and decided to hike the Giant Stairway. The Giant Stairway was carved into the side of The Three Sisters and took us along a trail in the valley. At the end of the walk we took a ride up the steepest railway in the world.We then rode a cable car over the top of the valley back to where we started from. The sites were amazing and we were very lucky to have such great weather!On our way back into Sydney we stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park. At the park we fed wallabies and kangaroos and had our photo taken with a koala. We were very happy to see those animals in Australia. My goal for our next trip will be to see them in the wild. I'll just have to remember that it isn't safe to get so close!We rushed back to the city to return our rental car before closing. Unfortunately, we got stuck in holiday traffic and couldn't find a gas station in time, so we were forced to valet park the car for the night at the hotel.

We followed our evening routine of drinks and nibbles before settling in for our last night in Sydney.

Cute Laughing Baby

We saw this video on Yahoo.com today and just had to share. The baby had us on the floor laughing. Enjoy! More on Sydney coming tomorrow...

Day Three - Happy Easter!

To celebrate Easter, we went to church. We ended up at St. Mary's Cathedral (the taxi driver thought it was the church we wanted to go to, even though it wasn't) which was a huge Catholic church in the middle of Sydney. The service was very crowded but still very nice.

When we were leaving church, we were stopped by a news reporter who wanted my thoughts on the day! We didn't get home in time to see the news, but Jeremy got some pictures of me.

After my "interview" we went for a walk in the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are beautiful, but one part is really scary. We came across HUNDREDS of giant bats hanging out in the trees. The bats were fighting and flying above our heads. Fortunately, they are herbivores, and we didn't get attacked.

Our next stop was Sydney's very famous Bondi Beach. Even though it was Easter Sunday, the beach was still very crowded. We enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch on the ocean before going for a long walk in the sun. Jeremy's favorite part of the beach was that it was topless. I enjoyed that the water was warm enough to walk through. We learned later in the evening that the beach was evacuated just after we left because of a shark sighting. Good thing we didn't stay longer for a swim!

After a day in the sun we caught a ferry to Manly which is a suburb of Sydney. Manly is also where our new friends Jaclyn and Jimmy live. Jaclyn is the sister of Melanie who visited us in Auckland late last year. Jaclyn and Jimmy also hosted Wendy and Paul when they were in Sydney. We had a delicious pizza dinner and then had a few drinks at a Belgian Beer Cafe before catching the ferry home. Sunday was definitely our latest night out, but it was well worth it!

Day Two - A Busy Busy Day

We started our day with a tour of the Sydney Opera House. On the tour we saw three different performance halls. We also got to listen to a sound check for a concert that weekend (we think it was for Harry Connick Jr.)

After our tour, we took a ferry to Darling Harbour to visit the Sydney Aquarium. We were amazed with the variety of sea creatures that we saw. The aquarium has a huge tank filled with sharks and sting rays. We've never seen sharks so big!

We also saw Nemo and Dorey swimming around an anemone.
Our next stop was the Star City Casino. We grabbed a quick lunch before trying our luck at Roulette and the slot machines. Unfortunately, our luck ran out very quickly and we were off for some shopping in the city. We visited David Jones, Sydney's department store. The store is so big that the men's and women's sections are on different roads! During our shopping exhibition, Jeremy found a new pair of shorts and I bought a new skirt. We also visited an open air market at The Rocks before heading home for the night.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped to watch a street performer, Bendy Em, who folded herself into a box. Jeremy was picked out of the crowd to be her assistant. He had to carry her around the crowd and then help her into the box. He was proud to be her assistant!


We finished our night with another dinner at the hotel with more free food a drinks. After all the walking we did today we were ready for an early night! Our alarms were set for an early wake up so that we could make it to church on time the next morning.

Day One - An Early Start to a Great Vacation

Our day started at 3:30 am when were were up showering and off to the airport. After a three hour flight and quickly getting through the mess of Immigration, we were in Sydney! The city greeted us with rain, cool temperatures, and wind. We checked into the hotel to learn that we had been given an upgrade, including access to the executive lounge which provided us with free food and drinks both day and night! We enjoyed a quick breakfast (our third for the day) before heading out to explore the city.
Our first stop was Darling Harbour to see the Maritime Museum. This was one of the only parts of the city that was busy as many things are closed on Good Friday. We took a tour of the HMAS Vampire and the HMAS Onslow which were an old naval ship and submarine.
After a late lunch we enjoyed a street performer show before walking to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The walk was rather long, but it was nice to see different parts of the city. When we arrived, the rain had stopped so we rested our legs while enjoying a drink at a roof-top bar in The Rocks, a preserved colonial area of the city.

The location of bar provided us with a great view of the Harbour Bridge as well as the Sydney Opera House. We concluded our very long day with a bite to eat and a few drinks back at the hotel. Like many of our recent trips, we were in bed early as we had another busy day ahead of ourselves!

Trip to Sydney

We have returned from an awesome long weekend in Sydney. Our time was filled with kangaroos, koalas, amazing adventures and sites as well as delicious food. The weather was a mix of sun, rain, cold and very humid, but we still enjoyed each day. It's getting late here and I am starting my new job in our new office tomorrow, so stay tuned and we'll post some photos and stories soon!

Easter Eggs

To get ready for Easter we wanted to dye Easter eggs. However, they don't dye eggs here, they paint eggs - chocolate eggs! Here is a photo of our first hand painted candy coated chocolate eggs.

To celebrate Easter we are heading to Sydney for the long weekend. We are looking forward to many things including a walk over the top of the Harbour Bridge, a visit to the Opera House, fun in the sun at Bondi Beach and many other things. Check back soon for photos from our vacation and have a Happy Easter!

Mt. Maunganui

This weekend Erin and I went away to Mt. Maunganui, which is about a 3 hour drive south of Auckland on the East Coast. It's near Tauranga which is one of the fastest growing areas of New Zealand. "The Mount" as it's called is very popular in the summer time and is a get place for a getaway. We headed down there to celebrate Gareth's birthday (a guy I work with). There were 11 of us who shared a bach (house) for the weekend. (Gareth and Claire, John and Gill, David, Stuart, Lindsay, Jacco, and Jochen)

We hopped in the car at 5pm on Friday, picked up Stuart and David and hit the road. The weather this weekend was great with clear blue skies and warm weather. Both days, we hung out on the beach for 3-4 hours, playing rugby, relaxing, and boogie boarding. The waves and undertow were very large which made it dangerous, but absolutely a great time.

On Saturday morning before hitting the beach, we climbed to the top of the actual Mountain (or hill). It was about a 30 minute climb to the top and at the top we had great views of the beaches and the township.



We're back from a great weekend away and looking forward to a short up coming week, because we get Friday off for Easter. Hope everyone is doing well.

5k Loaded Hog Run

Tonight I ran my first 5k race ever. I've never run that far and haven't exactly been "practicing" for it either, but I made it. Every Tuesday night there is a 5k race that the Loaded Hog bar in the Viaduct Harbour sponsors. There were a bunch of PwC folks that did the race (about 30) and over 100 runners in all.

Since I'm not a runner and have never run that far before I wasn't sure how fast to start at the beginning. I started out at a very fast pace, but couldn't hold it up very long, so I slowed down a bit. It was a very sunny day and difficult to make the run, but I made it in the end. I finished in 22 minutes which I thought wasn't too bad for my first time running that far. We'll see if I find the desire to run it again.

Overall it was a pretty good deal as it cost $6 to enter and get a number and you get a free beer at the end. In addition the give out bottles of wine to the men's and women's winners as well as to approximately 15 random people. Although I didn't win a bottle, there were multiple folks from PwC that won.

Auckland Cup Week

The past few weekends have been pretty low key for Erin and I and the weather has been sub-par. This past weekend was a little different. Friday we did our usual drinks after work with some work friends along with shooting some pool.

Saturday morning started with the Auckland International Boat Show. It was going on right near our place in Viaduct Harbour. There were a TON of boats in the harbour and a lot of exhibits to walk around, etc. We got there early in the morning and were able to board and get a tour of some amazing boats. The best one that we went on was the Formula 54 Icon. We got a great tour of this boat and at the end found out that it would cost us $2.3 million...so we passed on that one for now. The boat show was different than the one that I've been to back in Boston because most of the boats were in the water and a number of them were used and just available for us to walk around on or to purchase. There were were some 60 foot boats there, massive catamarans as well as smaller boats which Erin and I are a little more used to spending time on. (Sorry Dad, no SeaRay's).

The afternoon we got ourselves dressed up and headed to a day at the racetrack. The Auckland Cup has been going on for the past week and on Saturday was the Diamond Day. Erin was a little skeptical about going to the event, but I pushed her and we ended up having a great time.
We ran into a few people that I work with and spent the rest of the day at the race, checking out the horses, eating, drinking, and of course betting. We bet on each of the races and won 1 time (at least we won once). We missed the trifecta by 1 horse. For those who don't know, we guessed which horse would come in first and second, but the one we guessed for third didn't come in third, so we didn't win the big money.

Sunday was a cleaning day and grocery shopping. It also included watching the Duke v. North Carolina game. A very exciting game to watch, but the Cameron Crazies couldn't help the Blue Devils to a win.

It's March

Well it's been a week since my parents left and it was a very low key week for sure. I had my last touch rugby game of the season and we celebrated with beers and sausages on the field afterwards so that was pretty fun.

Except for a late night out on Friday night with people from both Erin and my work, this weekend was very quiet. It rained for part of both Saturday and Sunday and we stayed in most of the time and watched TV and a bunch of movies. We also finished up our taxes for the US (well sent all our details to PwC US who will complete our taxes for us).

Chinese New Year Celebration

Today was a pretty low key day. We cleaned, read some books, and watch some TV. Erin also made a Beef and Barley Soup and I went to the gym. The rain stopped and the sun came out later in the day and we headed up to Albert Park to the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival. There were a ton of food vendors and we ate a bunch of food, and walked around and looked at the various lanterns. It was a good time overall. We saw some monkey lanterns and I think our niece Avery would have loved them and thought that they looked like Curious George or 'George' as she calls him.

Leaving Auckland

Friday morning was pretty low key and my parents and I just walked around to a few final shops in Auckland to buy a few more things. We also made it up to Albert Park to look at the Chinese Lantern festival which was to celebrate the Chinese New Year (It's the year of the rat in case you didn't know).

We met up with Erin for some lunch at Degree and then we headed to the airport. My parents flight schedule was very complicated and had many rules. Because of this, they had to fly back to Queenstown on Friday and then on Saturday fly back to Auckland on their way to the US. The weather was great for their final days in Queenstown on Friday and Saturday. Erin and I headed to the airport on Saturday afternoon to pick them up for 1 last meal prior to their departure for LA. They had about a 4 hour layover, so we went to a restaurant close by to ensure that they wouldn't miss their flight. We had a very tasty meal at an Irish Pub and then brought them back to the airport.

We had a great time traveling around with them for the week and are looking forward to our next guests' arrival. Who's coming next?

Sights around Auckland

Today was yet another very busy day down here in Auckland. Although it didn't entail any parasailing (with shoes), lighthouses, or complaints about meals, we had a great day. Erin was unable to join us for the day's events as she had to work and bring in the $$. The 3 of us headed out of the city to Piha beach which is on the West Coast (Tasman Sea).

It was a beautiful day and my Dad and I climbed up Lion Rock on the beach and we all enjoyed the very soft black sand.

We then headed back to a few of the volcano cones around Auckland and spent some time at One Tree Hill which is in Cornwall Park as well as Mt. Eden. All of the locations provided great views of the city and surrounding areas. We were very hungry and went to Mission Bay where we stopped at the Belgium Beer Cafe to have a few drinks and lunch.

Today was a special day in Auckland as the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship docked on it's final cruise of it's almost 40 year sailing life. It has sailed over 5.5 million nautical miles. We took some pictures and watched it leave port. We went to about 10-15 different shops throughout the city and my parents ended up buying some souveniers. We decided that tomorrow, which is their last day in Auckland, we would hit some more stores and spend some more money.

We ended the day with dinner at the top of the Sky Tower which is 328 meters high, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, the 12th largest in the world, and a building that I have jumped from (do you remember that blog entry)? All of our meals were great and we enjoyed the views of the city, harbor, and the cruise ships.