A big Brrrrr... And a shopping frenzy

We've had a very unpleasant July, weather wise. Nelson's far above its average rainfall. It's been a struggle to try and get clothes washed - as there just hasn't been much drying time.

Oh a brighter note, I've finally replaced the camera that George the flat cat knocked on the floor. After HOURS of research and checking out the feel of cameras at the shops, I went for the Fuji s5800. Its a big fellow- but has 10x zoom and what looks to be great photo quality from test shots so far. I'll post some photos, one of these days.

Today I FINALLY purchased a pair of hiking boots from Kathmandu after 2 years of living in NZ without any. I saw these ones, tried them on- and love them! They're light and pink too. YAY.

I seem to be on the recovery from my cold. I felt the worst on Monday- but now its better.

An update on the housing situation. Since I've moved in 3 months ago- we 1) had to have a new post box installed because NZ Post refused to walk part way up the driveway 2) had to have the gas bottles relocated from the back yard because the gas company found it too dangerous to come there and 3) most recently- the rubbish collection company we were using have decided to stop doing our street because it is too difficult to navigate. (We'll go back to using the city now.) This house has been here for how many years- and these changes have happened in a couple of months. My flattie said I must be good luck. :) It's a skinny street, all right!

That's it for now, folks. Brr. As I sit in my puffer jacket with the little gas heater on, dreaming of central heating- but also looking forward to summer!

Mid July...

I've passed my law class. Yay.

And just this week I started Taxation. This class seems much better so far than law was... I got actual booklets with all of the readings, and the learning guide, how to use the website etc. Plus we're going to be getting weekly updates from the professor. I also received confirmation of enrolment. With my law class, I hadn't received anything when the course started- I had to email for my student number. I had to spend over $80 on printer cartridges printing out all of the various assignments and readings- and there were 2 communications from the prof- both on the assignments. With tax he has lots of practise questions, and the week one readings were more economic oriented than tax oriented- starting with economic principles- including a bit of a reading from Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations! So far, A + to this class.

I'm still camera shopping, having not yet replaced my Lumix that was knocked on the floor by naughty George the flatmates cat.

In NZ news, one of the recent items of discussion has been whether they should allow use of medicial marijuana. Also grocery prices are the highest ever, a newspaper has recently reported. Petrol has recently dropped 4 cents though, I think that puts us at 212.9?

I'm a month into running again, although only 1-3 times per week. It's finally starting to feel good- instead of painful. I think it will be easier as the days start to get longer.

A cold July...

Brr.... Brrr.... Brrr.... It was -2 this morning and -3 yesterday morning, and the window scraper that I brought back from Canada was certainly coming in handy. It is a funny thing- you think -2 or -3 is pretty warm- it is not at all the nasty -30 with a windchill that you get in Saskatchewan. But in NZ -2 means wearing thermals and breathing out frost when you get up in the morning due to the lack of insulation and central heating. I will never get used to it...

I can't wait for the days to get longer! I washed laundry a few weeks ago and we got some rain overnight. Like many kiwis, we don't have a dryer, but Nelson had an untypical couple of weeks of rain- so trying to get the laundry dry didn't work so well. I had to redo it all- after it got the musty damp odour. This time it dried.

Mr. George, the flatties cat has damaged my camera irreplacably. He is an attention seeker- and when he spotted my camera on the counter he must have decided a great way to get attention would be to jump on the counter and push it to the floor. So I won't be posting any photos until I get a new one... I am indecisive on the brand. I liked the panasonic lumix, but it definitely wasn't very hardy. The Sony I had previously was hardier, but broke in less than a year. I've now spent about $900 in 2 years on cameras- and have no working cameras to show for it. This makes me caution to purchase another one...

I just splashed out on books. The Warehouse had $5-7 books! Consider that purchasing a typical magazine costs $4-10- what a bargain! I stocked up.

My tax class starts next week. Ugg. Distance education is not easy to get motivated for... I still have another 4 weeks or so before I get back the Law results.

I attended my first Kiwi Quiz night the other weekend. I am not so good at trivia. I knew something about Harry Potter, and something abour Narnia. Pitty there weren't any questions about current affairs, or Canadian politics. :)

A rainy weekend...

I completed my law examination on Friday. YAY!!! And I got a haircut in the morning (long overdue!), and picked up some clothing which had to be altered (due to no petite sizes in NZ), and bought a pretty red sweater (read- warm...). Friday was a very good day... at least after the exam was over!

Yesterday I decided to do some laundry, it being a beautiful day- however I forgot it was the shortest day of the year. About 3 o'clock it started clouding up and the temp dropped. Regardless, I decided to leave my towels and PJs hanging on the line outside. Bad choice... Heavy winds and rain overnight and today completely saturated them... The nature of the weather makes me think of Shakespeare- and Macbeth- for some reason. My poor pjs. I'm left with less warm backup pairs- until they finally dry. It could take several days with the forecast the way it is. (I'm not complaining, it hasn't really rained in my 1.5 months back in Nelson).

The market on Saturday was great fun. I can't begin to say how nice it was just to spend a mellow day back in Nelson. I love this town.

It's hard to believe I've been back over a month. I still haven't started the regular jog out to Tahuna beach- excepting that one Sunday afternoon. I am waiting for the days to get longer. Also I was taking a latin/ballroom dance class before I left- it was really tiny but it was great. I'd like to find something similiar. Am also keen to try out the Med. Foodstore's cooking class night- which occurs something like about once a month- and spend some time checking out books at the library... Nelson recently missed out on an opera due to lack of venue. Shame... I do miss Regina's Globe & the Annual Opera Sask events. However before I get all classed and activitied up, I have to remember that my tax class starts quite soon and I need to factor in time. I think it was something crazy according to the Open Polytech book- maybe 8 or 10 hours a week or something. I'm not sure if I actually spent that on law.

The election is also coming up this year. It would be GREAT to volunteer over here, as well. Permanent residents have the right to vote in NZ, interestingly. Being on this list also means that I could be selected for jury duty. Not sure how they come up with the Canadian jury duty lists.

Now I'm off to bed, having had my electric blanket on so I will be all nice and toasty warm. At least until I wake up chilly at 4am. :) But the rain should keep the temp up, so it shouldn't be so bad tonight, anyway.... We had one morning of hard frost last week- and my window scraper from Canada came in oh so handy!

June is flying by...

And I've once again been unprolific on the blog front.

A good part of my time in the past couple of weeks has been spent studying for my business law exam which comes up on Friday! I can't wait for it to be over, then 6 weeks to get the results.

Meanwhile, the days have been getting shorter, and shorter. I just can't wait for them to start going the other way. It's really hard to get up in the dark, and get home in the dark.

I was reading somewhere in the paper the other day about the number of homes without insultation in NZ. The number was astounding. My memory fails, but I seem to think it was in the 800,000 range. 4000000 people. How many in the average home? Do the math to see how few kiwi homes have insulation..

Prices have been going up, up, up. Petrol is currently in the $2.10 range.

Not a lot else new here. Will update again, sometime post law. Tax doesn't start for a month or so after, so will have a bit of a break from studies.

A weekend in Kaikoura

Photos: View from motel, sperm whale diving, great view on roadside stop, view from Outlook at Okiwi Bay

After spending months in the top part of the top of the south, Queens Birthday weekend was a perfect time for a weekend away. I booked a spot at the Seaview Motel through AA for $99 per night... Thursday night I got the oversold phone call and was moved to the sister Clearwater Motel. This motel was about 3 "rooms" or suites in total. It was old, but delightfully the beds came complete with electric blankets. YAY! :) Plus it was right on the Esplanade, so had a great sea view.





We went for a walk up to the Peninsula above a sea colony, wandered the small main street (including the second hand book shop). Then we drove out of town and visited Donegal House, an irish pub, before heading back to town for dinner, and a quiet evening in the hotel room.





Sunday we went whale watching with Whale Watch Kaikoura . For the tidy sum of $130 each, we arrived at 10 for our 10:30 overview, before being bussed out to the boat. We headed out on the boat, and the first whale spotted decided to go down just after we spotted him. WE ventured out further and found 2 whales. One seemed to be playing with a fur seal, or following it- we had views of this for about 30 minutes, before cruising out to see another whale further out. It was a really neat experience. They were sperm whales so we got to see just the top of their heads, basically, and their tails when they dove. The guide was fantastic- she gave lots of informative info- such as that the huge amounts of oil in their heads actually are thought to help them in their deep dives and in resurfacing- it turns more oily as they come up, but is more solidifyed when they are diving. We decided to have a bit of pizza and pasta for dinner, as didn't want to pay TOO much for crayfish, or the other food that seemed to be popular on the local restaurant menus.





This morning it was raining and we just did a few short walks on the drive back to Nelson.





The weather was pretty good, and Kaikoura is beautiful. I was really impressed by the ever changing and beautiful sky...

Up, down, and around

So things have been rather busy in Nelson. The learning continues at work, with an annual plan and now month end coming up. I was also up in Auckland for a training course early this week. I went up on the weekend so I could go shopping, fully intent on buying a winter jacket, shoes, merino tops, and maybe a nice sweater or two. It was one of those fruitless shopping weekends. I took the bus on saturday out to dressmart, a outlet store shopping centre. Didn't find much. On Sunday I took transit out to Newmarket, and again didn't find much- before bussing back to central - where I finally found a few things... including flat dress shoes. Yay. Didn't find much else on my list. Boo. It always seems to be that way, when you are looking. The weather was sunny and warm on Saturday in Auckland. It felt like summer! I checked out a tasty italian restaurant in the CBD, dining solo on Sunday night - at about 8. It was a delight to be able to find dinner at that hour.

This weekend we're off to Kaikoura for the last long weekend until Sept or Oct.

The temperate has REALLY dropped in the last week. The frosts have started. I think it was down to 0 the other day. This is really cold- with the kiwi insulation- or should I say lack thereof... I've lost my lovely Kathmandu merino top from last year and have had to purchase a few cheaper alternatives.

I watched game 3 of the cup finals with a group of Canadian friends in Nelson. I miss hockey...