Exploring Auckland

ATTN:  Due to technical difficulties, we still do not have Internet at home, and are very limited as to what we can access at work. I promise to update more once we have Internet, but for now, here is an entry I wrote offline about our first week in Auckland and am secretly publishing at work....

Once all of the most pressing items on our To Do list were complete, Rob and I were ready to do some exploring!  We have decided to let a month or so of paychecks build up before we buy a car, so we had to get creative – especially considering it rained most of the week.

On the ferry to Devonport

Tuesday started out as a nice day, so we walked down to the harbour and hopped on a ferry to Devonport, which is a small beach town only a 12 minute ferry ride away. We didn’t stay there very long, but liked what we saw (including my first Kiwi yarn store). The ferry ride was great fun – especially the views.

Clockwise from top left: Flag on the ferry (apparently ships fly a red version of the New Zealand flag), Rob on the beach of Devonport, my first Kiwi yarn store, Mount Victoria in Devonport - we will hike it soon I'm sure!

Wednesday was pretty gloomy all day, so we decided to figure out the bus system. Auckland’s bus system is unlike any I have seen before. It is not owned by one company or by the government; rather, there are multiple bus companies that go to different parts of the city. There are also multiple bus card options, but a nice lady from Lexington, Kentucky (here on a work holiday visa) working at the information desk made sure we got the right one and sent us on our way. We rode the Inner Link to Parnell for lunch at the Blue Elephant, and then hopped on the Outer Link and rode it all the way home – all the way around the city.

The ride took about two hours, and along with getting a really good sense of what neighbourhoods are where, we also saw a lot of school children. I guess there are no school buses in Auckland, because they all seem to either walk/razor scooter home or ride public transportation – and I didn’t see a single parent anywhere. They also wear uniforms – including public school children – and some of their sweaters had Gryffindors on them and it made me feel like I was on my way to Hogwarts (I wish)!

Thursday we did our Coast to Coast walk across Auckland, which gets its own post – so be on the lookout for that.

We needed some bed linens for our new apartment, and we wanted to see a bit of New Zealand outside of Auckland, so Friday we rented a car. It was Rob’s first time driving on the left side of the road, and we returned the car undamaged, so I think he did pretty well!

It just so happened that next door to Briscoe’s (New Zealand’s version of Bed, Bath & Beyond), was the American Store – Martha’s Backyard! While we are trying to be flexible and try new things, there are a few comforts I don’t even want to try to live without. The 12 pack of Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese was $30, as was the Costco-sized box of Goldfish, but $60 is a small price to pay to feel like home. Rob picked up some sriracha and Frank’s Red Hot. 

Tastes like home!  Although I do not recommend the Goldfish Mac & Cheese.  These are two delights that are best kept separate

After stocking up on bed linens (including a wool-filled duvet made in NZ, which we already love), we had the entire afternoon to do some exploring. At the recommendation of a few friends, we took a super narrow, winding “highway” down to Piha Beach. It started to rain while we were there, so we didn’t get to spend much time there, but can’t wait to go back when it gets warmer. I was supposed to try driving at some point, but was deterred by the torrential downpour.

Clockwise from left: Piha Beach from above, the empty beach (although we did see some surfers), Rob's view from Lion Rock (he only went up a bit, as it was raining and this rock is dangerous in the best conditions).

Clockwise from top left: Lion Rock, sign, hiking trail up Lion Rock, warning sign about why you should not hike up Lion Rock.

And then it was the weekend, and we had to start work on Monday, so we spent most of the weekend relaxing and doing normal, boring weekend things like laundry and grocery shopping. And honestly, after the summer we’ve had, nothing was all I wanted to do.

Little sacrifices

We've been in New Zealand for a full week now, and while I'd love to give you a full play-by-play of our recent adventures, that just isn't feasible. We discovered that our hotel has pretty strict limits on how much Internet data we can use, which means no more uploading pictures until we move on Wednesday. This is also why we haven't set up any Skype/FaceTime dates - even if we had the data allowance, our current internet is too slow to keep up with realtime conversations.

Upon doing some further research, we found that unlimited internet - even for home use - is not the norm here. Being spoiled Americans, we are willing to pay a premium for it, but until we move it's not even an option. We're hoping to be able to stream a lot of things, so we're going to give up cable TV in exchange for more data.

Another big difference is the Kiwi attitude on temperature control. Most places here don't have air conditioning, which we expected. However, they also don't have heat. And while winters (yes - it is winter here right now) here are "warm" - highs in the mid-50s to low-60s, that's warm for outside, not inside.

The main reason for this aversion to temperature control is because power here is really expensive, so Rob and I are trying to get used to a life without heat. This involves cozy slippers (thank god we packed them!), a throw blanket on the couch, and lots and lots of hot tea.  Our rental has central heat, but we're trying to learn to live without it. Our new apartment will have both heat and air conditioning, but again, it is really, really expensive to use, so while we're glad it's an option, we're going to try to avoid relying on it.  

Also related to power consumption is dryer usage in New Zealand. While almost everyone owns a washing machine, very few people have separate dryers. Instead, most Kiwis hang their clothes to dry - even the ones who have separate dryers! I am willing to try this for some things, but will gladly spend more on power so I don't have to wear jeans that were dried without fabric softener.

Out of the three, which would you be willing to live without?

We're in the Future, the Distant Future

As it turns out, you do not need a DeLorean or a Tardis to travel into the future - all you have to do is spend 16.5 hours on a plane (4.5 from Chicago to LA, 12 from LA to Auckland) and fly to the other side of the world! After "only" 24 hours of travel time, we left Chicago on Wednesday afternoon, and arrived in Auckland early Friday morning. We were thrilled to find that all 310 pounds of luggage made it here safely, and found customs was not nearly as intimidating as we had been told it might be. Once we assured them that we had no fresh fruit, that our hiking boots were clean (and brand new), and that my yarn was processed and ready to be knit, we were on our way!

Work arranged for a driver to take us to our short-term corporate housing, so the process of getting here was fairly smooth. Once we arrived, we showered and napped and then got to work on our to do list!

Clockwise, from top left: Our new office, complete with bean bags outside; New Zealand currency; a view of the city from Ponsonby; a preview of Kiwi grocery shopping - lots of things that look familiar, but somehow nothing is quite the same

People keep asking us for pictures and stories about Auckland, but the sad truth is that moving to a place isn't like vacation - there are things that must be taken care of before any real fun or exploration can take place. These past few days our priorities have been getting phone service, activating our bank accounts, getting tax ID numbers and finding a place to live after our short-term rental expires next week. All of these are made more difficult by not having the others - the tax ID application requires an address to send the ID number to - and you can't get paid without one, the company that has the best rates for transferring money overseas requires proof of address from the NZ bank to allow transfers, landlords all want to communicate via text or phone rather than email, etc. etc.

We eventually got all of this taken care of, but it took longer than you might think, and the only thing that was as easy as we hoped was getting phone service (thanks largely to Rob doing some research ahead of time). Combine all this with the fact that it's been raining since we arrived and I have a bum foot (I twisted my ankle a week before we left, and it's still not 100% up to snuff - making longer walks a little difficult, especially since Auckland is so hilly), and we haven't had a chance to do too much exploring. We did get an hour or two of no rain on Sunday to walk up to Ponsonby, a neighborhood just outside the city center.

Clockwise from top left: Victoria Park; Vespas at a scooter store - we'll probably have to wait a year before we can afford one (licensing fees alone are $500/year!!); someone jumping from Sky Tower; a second-hand bookstore in Ponsonby; resting our feet and grabbing a beer at Victoria Park Market

Now that our most urgent to-dos are taken care of a full 6 days before we start work, we have plenty of time to wander around - and might even rent a car so we can cover more ground (and buy some things we need for our new home before we move in next week)!  I'll post more about the new apartment after we move on the 21st, but here's a bit of a preview:  it's a one-bedroom plus large balcony in a fantastic building in a fantastic location, it was on the market for less than two days before we snatched it up, there was competition from multiple people for it, we were thrilled to hear we beat them for it, and it is a full 400 square feet!  That is not a typo.... or the smallest apartment we saw. Some ads would even refer to it as a "large one-bedroom."  To the right is a fairly accurate floorplan - the kitchen is about as long as a standard bathtub!

The view from our hotel window... kinda makes all the rain worth it!

A Chicago-palooza farewell

Rob and I both moved to Chicago for law school in August 2006, and it turned out to be the best decision either of us ever made. Not only did we meet one another while studying at our law school's campus in Rome the summer of 2007, but we made friends who have since become our family. Over those seven years, Chicago became our home. Living abroad is something I've always wanted to do, but I never imagined it would be so hard to leave the States behind. Thankfully, our Chicago Family was gladly willing to join us for a week-long celebration of everything that makes this city so fantastic (spoiler alert - there was a lot of really unhealthy food involved).

As part of our send off, we also had to quit our jobs in Chicago. This left some of our coworkers jealous, most happy for us, and others borderline suicidal...

On the left - the cake Rob's bosses got for him
On the right - the card and mug signed by my entire group.

We started our Best of Chicago celebration with Mexican cuisine in Pilsen (and a tearful goodbye to my first Chicago friend) and ended it with a family-style dinner at Quartino's.  In between there were two booze cruises,dinner at Goose Island Brewpub, brunch at The Publican, a day at Navy Pier, a night of Cards Against Humanity and fireworks, multiple grilled cheese sandwiches at Cheesie's, more Mexican food, Disney movie night with Amanda, boys night out at Reggie's, and two Cubs games (I told you there was a lot of food).

Boat cruise on Chicago River

 Pictures from Navy Pier (clockwise from top left): the girls ready to ride the Ferris Wheel, one last couple picture
 with the sky line, Sara and Jeff on the swings - Rob and I rode too!, and Rob's golf ball for mini-golf.

Cubs game #2 - bleacher seats for the win! We ate one (or two....) last Chicago bleacher dogs (aka best hot dogs in
 the world) and sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame at the top of our lungs

Farewell dinner at Quartino's

And we're off - thanks to Amanda and Jeff for driving us to the airport (in two separate cars)!