Winter in Wellington

Even though we've been in Wellington nearly three weeks, it still feels like we have a long way to go before we are settled. We are enjoying this flat, but knowing that we have to move again at the end of August keeps it from feeling like our own. Steve has been commuting by bike to work most days. I drove him today though - it is a super stormy day where the wind is gusting, rain is lashing, and the waves are crashing over the road leaving behind driftwood and seashells. It's fun to watch from the indoors, but not the best for cycling. It may be stormier here in Wgtn, but overall, the temperatures are noticeably milder here than in Nelson and it feels much less like a true winter.

Here is a little map to show you our current whereabouts (like the pictures, click on it to see a larger version).

It is about a 25 min drive to Wellington; there is a little ferry that goes from one side of the bay to the other, but it is $10 per person each way, so not the most economical.

The hills behind us are filled with trails and I went exploring one day last week. This is a view from one of the trails, looking out towards Lower Hutt.

This is the view from our current flat - the hills are on the other side of the Wellington Harbour, and on clear days you can see some snowy mountain peaks in the distance. These are the Kaikoura Ranges, on the east coast of the South Island.

Here is Steve with his new best friend, Falafel. Much to our dismay, she is quite cuddly and loves to snuggle when you are reading on the couch.

It's hard to believe we have been here nearly 7 months already. While here we have often commented on the things that seem uniquely Kiwi to us. We always mean to get pictures, but rarely remember. However, we do have a few pictures of things that have stood out to us. The first, is the hedgehog.

Now, I know there are hedgehogs in other parts of the world, but this is the first place we have ever actually seen them. This little guy lived at the cottage in Nelson and could be heard foraging through the leaves at night. They look quite cute, but we've heard they're covered in ringworm and fleas! Another infamous imported pest is the possum, and although we have heard them and seen many as roadkill, we haven't seen one alive yet.

The mailmen here are called "posties" and of course, they deliver the post, not the mail. In some parts of NZ they ride these red bikes, in others they ride around on little red motorcycles.

We've always been amazed and impressed with the selection of dog food at grocery stores. This is one example of the many yummy doggy meals. The big beef bones on the bottom left are about $3.

The other thing that stood out to us in grocery stores is that the eggs aren't in a chilled section, they are just on aisle shelves with all the other baking supplies.

We will continue to keep our eyes open for all things Kiwi-esque, but not all can be captured on film. Many expressions and pronunciations are new to us and either leave us totally confused or laughing our heads off. We'll have to start writing them down...

Goodbye Nelson, Hello Wellington

We have to apologize for not blogging in nearly a month! For the rest of June, we were both putting in a lot of hours at work - I picked up a lot of shifts at the hospital and Steve put in full days to wrap up the projects he had on-the-go with his Ottawa boss. The last week in Nelson, we celebrated Canada Day with our recently-found fellow Canadian friends - Alex and Andrea. Andrea is a nurse as well and it was fun getting to know them a bit before we left Nelson. They are getting settled in Nelson for the forseeable future, so hopefully we will cross paths again. I also spent some more time with the refugee family I've gotten to know and the eldest daughter taught me how to make some delicious Nepali dishes. Needless to say, it was a bit sad saying goodbye to all these new friends, and to our cozy cottage.

The ferry ride to Wellington was rocky as usual, and Steve slept beautifully through all of it while I caught the seabreeze on the decks. We had a week in Wellington before we could move into our new flat, so we lived at a hostel downtown - one of the few with parking available. We did some back-to-school shopping for Steve, since he can no longer wear his pajama pants to work every day. We also spent a day at the Victoria University library, where Steve immersed himself in optics books (not all catalogues at the library look like this!).

We also stopped by the National War Memorial on our way home.

On Wednesday, Steve went out to IRL (Industrial Research Limited) where he will be working on the PhD project. The first few days were mostly housekeeping and getting set up, and of course, getting used to the morning and afternoon tea breaks where everyone floods to the cafeteria to chat over tea.

I spent two days meeting with various nursing managers at both of the main hospitals in the area, and have to admit that I am overwhelmed with job options. There is such a demand for nurses here, especially since it is winter and the regular flus and swine flus are putting added pressures on the hospitals and staff. I am following up with a few managers this week, and will try to make some decisions by the end of this week so that I can get started soon.

Our new flat is lovely and so are the couple that we are housesitting for. We met them the day we arrived in Wellington, and they showed us around the flat. It is across the street from the ocean, looks out across the bay at Wellington, and is about 5km from Steve's work. We will be here for 7 weeks, and hopefully by then we will have found something just as lovely for longer term.

Our new flat, after sunset. Steve gets to use their guitar, and note the TV in the window reflection! It has been over 6 years since either of us has had a TV - hopefully we don't get addicted.

Here is the view from the living room this morning - a typical grey and cloudy day, but still nice to see the ocean.

This is the kitchen, and the bedroom and bathroom is around the corner - too cluttered with all our bags and bikes and boxes to be blog-worthy.

This is Falafel. She came from the SPCA and belongs to the couple who live here, and we agreed to catsit while they are away. The couple offered to take her to a "cattery" (very popular here, although we hardly ever see kennels), but caring for her gave us a slight discount on the rent, so we agreed, although neither of us are cat-people.