Hmm...

What should I blog about? It hasn't been a particularly exciting week. Work has been rather brisk, and heading into month end its going to be another very busy couple of weeks. However there are 2 holiday days coming up- Monday is Nelson Anniversary, and Next Friday is Waitangi Day. The plan is to go camping out Golden Bay way next weekend- I hope the weather is fine. I have no exciting plans this weekend, other than hanging out in my flat, and going to the market.

I'm finally starting to feel settled. My internet (first wireline- and now wireless) is hooked up and working, despite the letter from vodafone saying that I had requested it be cancelled. When I rang vodafone to tell them I didn't want it shut off, they informed me that they had already reversed that call. It wasn't being cancelled. I do have one more thing to fix- right now I have either broadband or telephone at any one time, not both. The splitter brings down the broadband. I can go buy a $16 phone cord and plug it into the second jack and hope it works. If not, I'll have to constantly unplug and plug in.

I'm still looking for something like a yukka for outside, and a nice big painting for the wall that runs the length of the apartment. Then I'll feel pretty much settled. Yay.

I love it here. Since I've been in NZ I first lived in a flat with one other person who was hardly ever home, then in a flat with 3 other girls where we shared cooking responsibilities, then in a house with 4 others, then by myself in a wee cottage, then with one other and now on my own again. It is SO nice to be living alone again. My plan is to ultimately look for a flatmate, but I'll do that after family comes to visit. I'm treating myself with this period without a flattie. A few of the things I'm liking about living alone: 1) Doing morning exercise videos without feeling stupid 2) More Fridge / freezer space 3) Being able to leave out magazines/papers/books that I'm in the middle of reading without feeling guilty 4) Being able to play my radio station and Josh Groban CDs :) 5) Having a parking spot- rather than having to park on the street and have my car get hit by people driving by (yes, it was a skinny street.)

Apartment wise, I love the view. I'm not going to say I love the morning runs before work- but I do love the beach than I run to. It's week 3 of morning jogs- I'm hoping in another 2 or 3 it will have gotten easier! I love not having to cut grass! I don't love the traffic noise, but that's a willing compromise for living so close to the sea.

In NZ news, the Reserve Bank cut the official bank rate to 3.5% today. Interest rates were high until several months ago. I was getting over 8% on my normal deposit account at the peak. That'll be way down now to more like 3, I suspect. Ugg. Good for those with debt. Bad for those like me trying to save, not borrow.

In Aus news, it is too hot! Melbourne is in a heat wave of 40+, with it cooling down to something like 30 overnight. Yuck! The NZ high either today or yesterday was 26 degrees, by comparison.

A mellow Nelson weekend

I had the weekend in Nelson this weekend, which sometimes feels unusual. It was great to meander down to the market on Saturday (although it was very busy- definitely tourist season!) , find some yummy gelato from Penguino, and wander the shops. Saturday evening we went to Sealord Opera in the Park, which featured 4 singers. For a very good value $15 I enjoyed about 2- 2 1/2 of the show, followed up by fireworks. It was, as usual, fantastic. I enjoyed it so much I had to go buy Josh Groban's newest album.

Today we headed out to Mapua and wandered the shops and galleries there. Then headed back with a stop at the Abbey for some chips and gravy.

Tonight the sunset was beautiful and soft- with lots of pastelly pinks and purples. I so love the view from my new apartment... I love the apartment too. It feels really good to be here, despite the traffic noise from being on a busy street.

This webcam is just across the street from me, so you get an idea of my view
http://www.takeabreak.co.nz/accommodation/nelson.asp -I don't think I'll ever tire of the view.

Obama...

It would be remiss for politically minded me to not mention a word about Obama's inauguration yesterday. It received quite a lot of coverage in NZ. I did not get up at 5am to watch the coverage, but must say that Obama is certainly an orator.

I certainly agree with a number of sentiments he expressed in his address.

"...We understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. ... It has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things- some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

"Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions... Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage".

"They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. ..."

"We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror.. we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

And the quote he chose in the finish was very profound. In the darkest of days where hope could barely survive, still moving forward to meet the day.

He's spoken well, but now comes the time to take action. He has the ability with support of the people and his party. He faces a tremendous challenge- the expectations are high. He has looked back to the past to see others who stood in a similar (although different) place. He's got a very difficult job ahead of him- but he has chosen it- and knowing the difficulty- he has chosen to walk forward. For that, I respect him.

Of sneezes and sniffles...

So, have I posted that I've got hay fever? I had this cold that seemed to never completely go away for about 4 months. I used it as a nice excuse not to get out running to the lovely Tahuna beach, but finally Pip at work indicated my excessive sneezing sounded like hay fever to her. Last week I finally went to the pharmacy and gave my symptoms- worst in the morning, runny nose, watery eyes, itchy nose, sneezing. Yes- it sounds like hay fever. She started me on the pills instead of the nasal spray. It has made a positive difference but you can tell you're not quite normal on it either. It's a bit like being in a cloud when you're taking the meds. But - I must say- far better than not being able to function properly during the day. I'm hoping this hay fever thing is a one time thing as the pharmacist said it's been a particularly bad year with many people who've never had it before coming in.

I have to say- I thought I'm pretty good at following instructions but today I bought a wireless router and I cannot get it working! I managed to somehow take down my wired broadband just when I meant to be bidding on trademe on a piece of art that I really liked. I managed to get my wired broadband up just minutes after the auction closed. Doh. I think I'll resort to calling the helpline when they are back open. This is a pain, however, as my phone line and broadband are not wanting to work at the same time at the moment. They don't seem to like going through the splitter. Wired internet is better than no internet, but getting it all going is sure proving to be a headache. My last flattie couldn't get the secured wireless set up properly but was okay with the non secured wireless. Living in an apartment, that isn't a good option for me. Stay tuned in my saga of internet. I'm sure I've spend 10 hours trying to get it working in the last week...

In exciting news, my family is coming to visit in March. I'm really keen to see them all - I was last back in Nov 07. It'll be a big adventure for my brothers/ mom who haven't left North America. Despite it being a busy time at work, thankfully I'm able to take a week off. It'll be great to show them a bit of this area that I have come to love.

Settling in...

I tell you, moving sure doesn't get any more fun when you've done it a number of times. I arrived in Nelson in July 2006 and moved into a great old flat on Nile Street. That was a short term stay. Then I lived in a cute little cottage on Rutherford street, where I lived until I moved into the big house in Blenheim with 4 others. Then it was the 1 bedroom cottage in Tua Marina until I moved back to Nelson. Stop 1, Round 2 in Nelson was on the hill, but now I'm living in what is nearly my dream place. I'm in a waterfront apartment with a lovely sea view and no grass to cut. I love it so far... I also am loving the living alone bit at the moment!

Last weekend I joined a couple of friends camping in Hanmer. It was my first camping trip of the year, but I was stupid and forgot my tent. Luckily friends had a giant tent that I was able to stay in. It was great to be in a tent again. I'm looking forward to a bit more camping this summer.

I've now been in the new place just over a week. It took vodafone until tonight to get the broadband up and working. I spent a lot of time on the phone- and it ended up being a technical fault of some sort. We're up and running now. Yay! :)

I tried to start off on a good front in the new place. I've gone running Monday, Wednesday and Fridays before work every day so far, and I've done other "video" exercises on the Tuesday, Thursday. Hopefully I can keep it up long enough to make it a habit. :) IT sure isn't coming easy yet - it's fast how quickly fitness disappears if you don't keep it up!

Moving day!

I move today. I go pick up the keys and then start after work. Exciting!

I also heard from the place that fell through. They emailed to check whether I'd found a place yet, as they felt bad.

It seems to have turned to summer here with the beautiful cloudless blue sky days that I remember from my first stop in Nelson. I'm looking forward to close access to the beach- I'll have to get motivated to do very frequent exercise visits to it. :)

A few photos of the trip down south

Photo 1: Views on the "Ride of the Rings" Near Paradise- close to the setting for Isengard

Photo 2: Great light over Queenstown

Photo 3: Arrowtown. I love that town- several buildings like this!

One has to love a holiday...

I'm back in Nelson again after some much needed time off work. Other than my wisdom tooth surgery and a day or two here and there, I hadn't taken any time off work since my visit to Canada last November. I also hadn't seen much of the south of NZ. My short holiday from boxing day until now has helped on both of these fronts.

First things first. I think my last blog was probably talking a bit about my "flat" hunt situation. The update: after my crushing disappointment on that Friday, I found 2 more waterfront apartments that were advertised on Saturday. Note that the one I had first seen was the only 2 bedroom one I'd seen advertised in weeks (if not months) so I was surprised to see 2 more advertised the next day! I went and saw the one that was advertised privately the week before Christmas. I had trouble lining up the one that was through an agent. The private one was offered to me on Christmas Eve, and I said yes. The parking isn't nearly as good as the first one I viewed (which had 2 nice parking spots), so I'll have to hope I can find a flattie without a car! It's also more expensive, but only slightly. And it's shorter term- but then reverts to month to month. Which I guess could be viewed to be a good thing anyway- as it should give me time to sort out whether it's a good fit. Plus it's furnished so it won't be a mega hassle to move in and move out again- if that needs to happen in several months time. I'll be lining up details of when I move now that I'm back from my holiday.

I spent Christmas day here in Nelson. I attended a brunch with friends outdoors, had a wee visit to the beach in the afternoon- and had a potluck type dinner with about 7 others for Christmas dinner. It was quite nice. I felt spoiled when a friend showed me her old bike with a bow on it, saying I could have it if I wanted it. I'm quite bad on a bike- so I said I'd have to come back another day and try it out before saying yay or nay. :) They also sang me happy birthday and put those annoying won't blow out candles on the cake. Although I'm not a big lover of the spotlight, it was nice to have such great friends thinking of me.

On the 26th we started on the road south. Friends had rented a place down in Queenstown for nearly a week and I was lucky enough to get to go as well. We drove down the coast boxing day and ended up in Queenstown. This was after a stop at Fox Glacier in the morning, Wanaka for lunch, and a stop in cute Arrowtown as well. There are lots of historical looking/stone buildings in that town. I loved it! Plus- we tried gelato at a shop - and the strawberries and cream was the best gelato I've ever had. It was $5 for a one scoop cone, but it was worth every penny!!

After settling into our new temporary home in Queenstown we went for dinner at Winnies to celebrate my birthday where we had some YUMMY pizza. Yum. :) I was the only of our party of 4 not already in the 30 club. In a prior post I had mentioned my "life musings" - and expressed my discontent that I don't have any of the big questions answered. I must say that 30 doesn't feel much different than 29. But I have to say I do hope that at least some things become more clear for me as days move ahead- such as will Nelson be my home for the forseeable future- or will it end when this job ends??... As to some of the other bigger picture questions, I suppose they'll answer themselves a bit over time- in part hinging on the answer to this question.

Tourist activities I did in Queenstown:
- Took the gondola & did the loop walk with the great views down to Queenstown
- Went on the Ride of the Rings. This ride departed near Glenorchy. I rode the horse "Joey", who was an entertaining ride- if only for the fact that he was high maintenance. He was ornery- and not a huge fan of other horses. The ride took us through amazing scenery.

Interesting scene locales included riding through the forest where Boromir was shot by the Orcs, and riding to a lookout where you could see the setting for Isengard. There were also a few interesting stories. Apparently Peter Jackson had tried to hire someone to shoot the Boromir actor with a real arrow so that the facial close up would be more realistic. He couldn't find an archer who would do it- so he took up archery himself- but health and safety basically put an end to that possibility. They had to do computer generated images.

One of the horses on the ride was in the Lord of the Rings. They held try outs for horses and riders. This horse, Oscar, was good at the gallop but also stopping when he was supposed to. Apparently they weren't big on using stunt riders so locals were basically invited to try out. There were injuries of various sorts in the tryouts. A number of the riders of Rohan were actually women. And they only had 250 horses in that scene, which were computer generated to look like 2500- which is what Peter Jackson had originally wanted. For this reason the horses had to be rather similar looking.

Also the actress who played Arwen was apparently terribly afraid of horses- and most of the shots of her riding were shot with her aboard a barrel being pulled behind something. I can't recall which of the actors was so afraid of chopper flying that he would instead take a 4 wheel drive as close as possible to some of the remote locations- and then walk the rest of the way.

It was an interesting ride in beautiful country. The guide also pointed out places where some of the scenes from Price Caspian were shot.

- Walk around the reflection lake, Lake Hayes
- Drove to the shotover river and watched the jetboats
- strolled into town about 1/4 to midnight on NYs Eve to watch the fireworks and be there for the countdown. Fortunatly the rain timed that just about perfectly as it stopped for the fireworks.
- Walked through the gardens and along the lake- beautiful
-went for a walk up the Remarkables ski area to the beautiful Lake Alta. Amazing... And amazing views on the way down, although I must say the unpaved road had me nervous without any guardrails and plunging down to one side.
- Went for a ride on the 1912 Steam Boat the Earnslaw- which burns coal and is steam generated. I believe one of the last few passenger steam coal boats still in operation in the world.

Rain, rain, rain hampered much sight seeing on the way home. But we did make it to Ships Creek where there is amazing driftwood, as well as the Pancake Rocks and a few other side stops on the way home.

A few photos to follow in a separate post...