Adventures in Auckland...

I arrived into Auckland yesterday morning... It was my return to the place (including the same hostel) where my NZ adventures began...

 

I spent the day yesterday touring Auckland.  A cool place to visit was Kelly Tarlton's Underwater Adventures where we saw lots of cool water life including stingrays... Also really cool squids that look almost translucent. It's hard to describe.  They have this tunnel thing that you walk under that is clear glass and the fish swim all over.  It was also my first time seeing penguins...  We also went up to a number of volcanic cones including One Tree Hill, as well as over to Devonport.  I can't begin to say how much I love that place... It's like Tahunha beach in Nelson for me.

 

Last night was the big night of U2!  I purchased a program and was shocked to find later that it cost me $35.  Woops... Oh well...  The place was packed with I think ~50,000.  I was sitting next to a friendly, chatty fellow from Welly with great dreads.  Even though we were in the stadium seats as opposed to on the ground everyone was standing the whole time...  Lots of olders and Vertigo songs during the tour...  He of course finished with One Tree Hill- and he also sported an All Blacks Jersey for part of the last encore.    I was pleased to hear my favourite U2 song, "where the streets have no name".  By the response of the crowd, it's not only a favourite for me.   The weather was great, and it was really cool when everyone in the stadium held out their cells... The lights were great...  Bono was wearing a "one" shirt for part of the show and there were folks out collecting signatures for Make Poverty History...   Some folks near me had attended the prior night as well, and indicated that last night's show was even better.  I haven't been to a lot of concerts, but I'm not sure I'll ever be at another one that would top this one in beautiful weather Auckland as U2 winds up their long Vertigo tour.

 

Today I'm off to explore a little more of Auckland on foot- including the shops, yes.  We'll visit some of the places I first visited in June... I'm curious if my impressions still will hold.

 

 

---

Share your photos with the people who matter at Yahoo! Canada Photos

Another week

We had a bit more rain in Nelson this weak, which thwarted several of my jogging attempts, but the sun was back today which was great to see!

I'm off to Auckland in less than a week , as I have procured a ticket to see U2.  I'll have to figure out what else I'm going to do over the 3 days... It's a coming back of sorts- I'm staying at the hostel I stayed at when I first arrived in Auckland back in June!

I learned this week that the kiwis call Sprite "lemonade".  Apparently lemonade is "homemade lemonade".

I can't recall if I mentioned I started a dance class last week- latin and ballroom.  Week two is coming up very shortly and I'm looking forward to it!

---

Now you can have a huge leap forward in email: get the new Yahoo! Mail.

Dance... and musings...

I finally attended an intro dance class on Tues night... This idea has been in my head ever since one of my flatties mentioned that she was thinking of doing so a while back...  It's latin and ballroom and Tues night we started with cha cha cha and mambo... I was not so good at mambo... However I think I could get hooked on this- both for music :)  and also because it will be an area where a marked improvement can be made!

I'm now into the morning jogs and almost beginning to enjoy it.  (Not only for the 1/2 hour I usually spend on the beach.)

It's strange to contemplate that it snowed 6 inches back home last night.  It's so bright and sunny here today as we head into summer...

Off I go to research recipies for my supper cooking night tonight...

---

Share your photos with the people who matter at Yahoo! Canada Photos

Another week...

I'm going to take a picture of our "lawnmower" one of these days. I was mowing this morning. It is not automated, but has a series of blades... IT is a bit of a work out to mow the lawn.

I met up with sand flys for the first time last week! I'm not sure whether I prefer them, or mosquitos.

I once again got to find out how small Nelson was last week. I was attending a BBQ and ended up meeting the people who moved into my old flat. We have mutual friends... I also learned they killed a white tail or was it white back spider in the bathroom... This is one of NZ's poisinous spiders. I don't think we have them in the new flat, as there seem to be daddy long legs everywhere. Apparently the mean white back ones eat daddy long legs.

It's a beautiful day in Nelson today... I need to head out for my jog along the sea... :)I am on the hunt for roller blades in Nelson. So far, no luck. They would be perfect for Rocks Road out to Tahuna beach.

Congrats to Todd and Kathy on the birth of Ashley. A belated congrats to Melisa and Jeff on the birth of Elisabeth. A belated congrats to Tannis and Sameer on the birth of their first daughter as well.

I read that that Gremezeans (sp??) of Edmonton, and West Ed Mall bought the Mall of America, I think it was... Good to see.

Interesting US political results of late... It reminds me of West Wing and the lame duck presidency...

NZ politics has toned down a bit from several months ago when it was a bit personal. NZ was once again recently ranked the least corrupt country.

I read that the OIL have finally ended their losing skid. Hurray.... Any news on the Riders folks?

Another update

I haven't mentioned too much about my current day time occupation. I'm working as a PA/admin assistant/receptionist at a radio company.  I thought I'd take the opportunity to branch out to different things other than accounting for a while. Now I am up to date on the happenings in the Nelson region, isn't that exciting?? Plus I'm certainly getting the opportunity to learn a lot about radio ads, and music...

 

I went on a wine tour on the weekend with an organized tour and a group consisting of several folks including one of my flatmates.  Not being a huge fan of wine, the first 2 stops were the best before it felt like I'd had enough of tasting wine. The winner of the day in my opinion was the Te Mania Chardonnay, (oaked).  The next to last stop was a lovely spot- we sat out in the sun. It was a beautiful day...  Our tour also was a 1/2 day one, I can't imagine sticking it out for a whole day.   When I did a tasting in Niagra on the Lake they offered various foods and indicated which went well with certain wines. I think these tours should try that as well, to make things more interesting.  NZ is well know for it's Sauv. Blancs, for those of you who should happen to be visiting.

 

The rain is back today in Nelson, but luckily we had a nice weekend. I keep meaning to go jogging in the morning before work- but rain keeps foiling my plans!

 

I'm thinking I might try and find a pair of roller blades to speed up my method of transport... Now I just have to find a decent price, and somewhere that sells them...

 

Things seem to go on sale at much higher rates here.. (25-50%). I'm sad to see if I'd waited until this week to buy my running shoes I'd have saved 25%.  The only gamble is whether they'd have had my size.

 

Stay in touch all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com