Fiddlehead Flat

We have decided on a name for our place, and it shall thus be known as Fiddlehead Flat, combining a taste of home, a symbol of New Zealand, and a splash of Celtic culture. It is the third flat in a unit of 3 flats down a long drive off of a quiet road. As many of you have seen, it was rather empty but over the two weeks we have managed to build a home out of it. After entering the old wooden gate you are greeted by large windows, brick and a nice large front deck which for the moment houses a broom and some poorly guarded strawberries that are constantly stolen by birds (netting to be developed later).

The whole yard in general is decorated with ferns, impatients, and bromeliads, not much work to be done there. Inside is the living area, which started a bit more meager with a few shelves and some camp chairs. Since then we have added a dining table, desk, and most recently a chair and couch. Now Tom will have something to sleep on when he arrives tomorrow.

This spacious room is slowly being decorated, but we have mounted our clocks, one for New Zealand time, and one for the time back home in the Maritimes. I also added a shoe rack so Mary-Ellen will have somewhere to organize all the shoes she brought.

The kitchen is small but suitable for feeding two people, and fortunately has lots of space. The one thing it was missing was a refrigerator. It is a small quaint little thing that definitely does the job. Unfortunately no room for the microwave, but surprisingly, don't really miss it.

The kitchen has one other feature before I move on, that occasionally walks in. I have told Mary-Ellen, that this means we don't need to get one! It occasionally wanders over to see what is going on, especially when we are cooking with the windows open.

The bathroom is interesting in that they separate the toilets from the rest of the bathroom. Not sure why the idea has not caught on more in North America...makes sense...that might be the reason.

The last room is the bedroom, with the hastily purchased bed after a night on the hard floor. It is quite low...sometimes forget there is a foot or two to go when crawling in... We also have great wonderful windows to let the sun in, which is a prominent feature of Fiddlehead Flat.

And lastly, the door in the far right corner leads to a private deck out the back, more gardens, private clothes hanger, and wraps back around to the front of the flat.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is Fiddlehead Flat, our place of abode for the next 2 years or so. We will shortly be accepting our first visitor, hopefully the first of many friends who drop by to see this unusual and wondrous little island in the south Pacific.

Christmas Chicken and all the fixin'

Mark and I were very lucky to have had 2 Christmas dinners with a third one happening next week despite being so very far from home. Our first Christmas dinner was last week, the "Orphan Christmas Dinner" that was organized by a few of Mark's colleagues for those international students who were not heading home for the holidays.

I have met most of those in attendance on our previous trip to Leigh but it was mostly a quick hello as we passed people on campus. This was my first chance to sit down with Mark's friends and colleagues to learn a little more about them. Unfortunately we forgot out camera, so there are no pictures of the delicious feast.

Over chicken, couscous salad (one of my favourite dishes served- it had feta, cranberries, raisins, green onion and a few other delicious treasures hidden inside), lasagna, casseroles, maple and walnut brie and crackers and other warm dishes we discussed Christmas traditions at home. This was fascinating as in attendance we had representations from Scotland, Canada, Chili, Germany, New Zealand and Malaysia.

Desert, tea and coffee came next where we all had to make room for strawberry rhubarb pie, beautiful nameless Chilean desert (a secret family tradition), and stollen (a German desert loaf made by our Scottish attendant).

The food was delicious, the company entertaining and enlightening and the time we had was priceless.


Our second Christmas dinner was a small affair at home with just Mark and I. We made chicken breasts as we didn't want to be eating left over turkey for weeks. I also baked up some stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, gravy and Mark made some cheese loaf. It was quiet, but the food again was delicious and we enjoyed being in each other's company.

Our third dinner will take place this week as one of Marks close friends comes to visit us from Korea where he is currently working. We have promised him a Canadian Christmas (minus the snow).

We want to thank each of you who sent envelopes to us for Christmas this year. We really appreciate the cards, well wishes and love that was enclosed in each envelope. Soon to come, Mark will give you an introduction to our new home. And here is the little tree Joanne gave us!

New Beginnings

Hello again, Mark here as Mary-Ellen and I settle down after a long day. Much has happened since ME landed on Saturday and it has certainly been a whirlwind tour so far. The biggest piece of news aside from her arriving is that we now have a place to live permanently, in a slice of Auckland known as Mt. Eden. We wandered around a bit until we were able to go visit the property and ME was basically sold after a quick look. We picked up the keys on Monday and are now the proud renters of a small one bedroom flat down a quaint little drive. More pictures are to come, but to describe it, I would call it a cottage-esque garden home with a little fenced in area, porch out the front and back, and a very mellow-yellow interior.

As far as decorating goes, we have only recently acquired the necessities to live their permanent, most importantly a bed. Our first night there was less than comfortable, camping on the very stiff floor!

As far as exploring goes, we have focused on getting our place organized so that we can just sit back and enjoy it, as well as getting ME over her jetlag. So far though, we have spent the last two nights in Leigh, a sleepy spot for a sleepy person (I think I am going to regret saying that), as I have a few things to wrap up before the Christmas holiday. The only other site seeing has been a trip down Auckland's Queen street, a place I have shown you before with the numerous shops and old buildings.

One of the park areas was especially geared up for the holiday season, including these trees made of recycled drinking bottles. We should be doing more exploring and more updates on our house as we continue to assemble it over the next couple days. Until then, I will leave you with ME's Christmas tree she put up. Happy holidays and you will be hearing from us again soon!

No shirt, no shoes, no service *some conditions apply

I have been in New Zealand for a little over 24 hours now and I thought the best way to give you my first impressions would be a list of observations. For those of you wondering about the flight...I made it alive, and yes, we had a movie inspired reunion ... but more from a comedy than a romance as I was pushing a trolly with 4 bags on it and was trying to weave amongst people while Mark was trying as well to doge people with their own trollies. 

1) The temperature is HOT! When the airport doors opened and we walked out to the car park it was as hot as it was on that one hot day we had in August where you didn't want to move or eat....and it was 6:00 in the morning. The day only got hotter from there. 

2) Kiwi's like to "Art it Up"...it is everywhere... there are carvings on everything cement from overpasses and guardrails to paintings on the sides of buildings. 

3) Shoes and Shirts are just a suggestion. I first noticed some small children at McDonalds - where we stopped for coffee - running around barefoot. I made the assumption that they had recently been in the play place. I was wrong as shortly after I noticed grown men and women without shoes. Mark said that it is completely acceptable to not wear shoes on your down time, and that very few children actually wear shoes at all. 

4) Driving on the left side of the road also means that the flow of pedestrian traffic is on the left side of the road and I have yet to adjust to walking this way and have spent the better part of the last day apologizing  to people that I almost hit as I am looking around at the scenery. 

5) Everything here is as green as what you see on TV, in magazines and in photographs. The buildings are even beautiful with a lot of greenery. 

6) Kiwi's love American fast food and Canadian beauty products. I even found a Lush here today. 

7) Stationary is absurdly priced, trying to help me orient myself Mark decided to take me to the staples equivalent to "price" a few things for my classroom. I was hoping to  spend 20-40 dollars to get a few binders, some pencils and some sticky notes and paper. Well, I could not be more wrong. 1 binder, the cardboard kind that ruin with moisture and split up the seams was 24.99. One binder. 24.99! A package of 5 pads of post-it notes was over 30.00 and a package of 10 pens in a variety of colours for marking was just shy of 50.00. 

8) You can only tell it is Christmas by the fact that they are selling trees, stockings and decorations at almost every store. They are also playing a lot of Christmas music in the mall which oddly sounds so strange as one of the most popular tunes is "let it snow" and snow is the furthest thing from the weather report around here. 

Mark and I will update you on our place once we move in and take a few photos. We sign and get the keys from the real estate agent on Monday and will move in on Monday morning. Monday afternoon we are heading up to Leigh to get Mark's belongings and then coming back to Auckland on Tuesday or Wednesday. I don't expect we will update before the weekend as we will have to wait until we have internet installed at the apartment. 

One Week to Take Off

Things have been extremely busy both in Canada and in New Zealand as both Mark and I make final arrangements before our BIG airport reunion!

In Canada, I have been busy packing, making 10 million (well, maybe just 15) post-it note lists  containing everything from gathering tax papers for the next tax season, to packing lists, to lists of all the assignments I need to finish before I take off (just one more paper and I'm free of coursework until January!) to choreography ideas for my replacement coaches.

Two partially packed suitcases and a sock monkey

A few of the many post-it notes I have stuck everywhere

In all of this, I am so incredibly grateful that family and friends were able to attend a gathering at the house and I am truly overwhelmed by all the positive advice, well wishes, and love that they left behind as I continue to pack. In addition to a fantastic party hosted by my in-laws (and delicious ginger cake!), I had some fantastic news to share last night. I have recently accepted a teaching post in New Zealand and will start teaching with the new school year in January (the equivalent to our September start). I will be at a college (high school) in Auckland teaching grade 9 and 10 Maths.

Mark has also been very busy as he has been out on the boats making headway with his projects. He is also continuing to look for an apartment and we are hoping he will have more luck now that we have been able to increase our weekly allotment for rent. We are looking in a few neighbourhoods close to the school. Here's hoping that some of the places he is seeing this week might work for us.

The next 7 days will be filled with a whole lot of events from our nephew's first birthday party, to breakfast brunches and coffee dates. I am going to continue packing and hopefully cram everything I need for my time in New Zealand in two suitcases.

Could he be any cuter? I can't believe he turns "1" the day before I take off to New Zealand!

Our next update is most likely going to be some of our adventures in New Zealand and we can't wait to update you on our little cozy apartment, Mark's thesis project, my new school, and the adventures we have as we start to explore the landscape over our Christmas holidays.

Good News Tuesday

Hello All,

It's been a while since I have had the opportunity to post as it has been Mark having all the adventures. Since Mark leaving in April, I have been teaching, coaching and tutoring. I spent the summer and fall visiting friends in Wolfville, Ottawa, family in Cape Breton and friends in Saint John. I also took a week to coach at our provincial synchronized swimming camp, and a week to laze around in the sun on the traditional “Wilcox Ocean Park Week”.

When Mark had left, I was still unable to apply for my work visa due to my recent health issues. We were instructed by my physician to wait until late August to ensure that I was healthy before applying for my own work visa. Everything came back with good health, and the first Friday in September I sent off my application to Washington to be processed at their North American Embassy. The visa itself was a while to be approved as it had to be sent on from Washington to New Zealand for additional screening and potential approval.

The good news is that the work visa was approved!!

 

I have since booked a flight to New Zealand, leaving 30 days from today, on December 12^th and I will be arriving in Auckland on the 15^th of December - just in time for the Holidays! I am very lucky to have much better flights/connections than what Mark had on his flight. To start with, my flight leaves Saint John at lunch time rather than 5:30 in the morning and each of my layovers are no longer than 2 hours (where Mark had a 12 hour lay over on the west coast).

The next 30 days are going to be a whirlwind! I am going to continue teaching until the end of November, and I will be coaching until I leave for NZ. I have started my “to-do” lists, and I have even crossed off a lot of items in the last week. I am currently looking for employment in NZ and am hoping to get into a few school relief teaching (supply teaching) once I arrive.

Mark and I can not even begin to express how excited we are about my arrival in Auckland, nor can we express enough gratitude for all of our friends and family that have made a very difficult 18 months a whole lot easier with love and laughter along the way.

A week in review; site selection, cooking, and Halloween

Greetings again. It has been a bit of a slower week with the holiday Monday so I had a lot of time on my hands last weekend. It has been quite a while since I just went exploring so I hopped in the car and took a tour to Wellsford, Kaipara Harbour on the west coast, and then back through Warkworth for some Groceries. There was not much to stop and do along this particular route, one walking trail that I will try out next sunny day I have off, but otherwise it was just a nice weekend drive. The road to Wellsford is a winding roller coaster ride through beautiful forested areas with large conifers and silver ferns.

Wellsford was essentially some houses and shops along a stretch of road, but the area around it was what makes this area so special. Numerous rolling green hills, broken occasionally by a clump of trees. Sheep and other cattle dotted the landscape everywhere.

As I approached the west coast, I was treated to a single lookout, these continuous rolling hills that eventually dipped down into the enormous harbour that is the Kaipara. I am working on stitching the pictures together to get a nice Panoramic shot!

The rest was low lying fields with small shoulders that didn't really allow for stopping and taking pictures. There were also a large number of motorcycles around, enjoying what I suspect to be an otherwise quiet road in the nice weather. As I turned back to Warkworth, the road remained very narrow, but headed back into forest. After some much needed groceries I wandered back to campus to get some cooking done, which turned out to be very fortunate since a field course showed up Tuesday, ultimately taking over much of the kitchen. For those of you that worry about me eating well, I wouldn't. I made a weeks long feast of butter chicken (not pictured), a spicy curry, Singapore noodles with honey garlic chicken, and a big stack of naan bread for the curry and dinner at Jan's (where we enjoyed some very nerdy discussion about Star Trek).

The majority of the rest of the week has consisted of planning my small scale experiment and getting equipment ready for the large scale experiment off of Rotoroa Island. Wednesday I did manage to get out to Jones Bay to look for my next site, and I may have found a nice shallow embayment to set up a few experimental beds. It is not a sandy beach for lounging in the sun, but I can think of worse places to work, and I mean that with a large dose of sarcasm.

Thursday was Halloween, which is a poorly celebrated even here in New Zealand. Mind you, it isn't what it used to be when I was young in Canada either. Either way, we had a "Halloween" themed poker night last night. So I quickly slapped together a cake and decorated it accordingly. I donned my star trek uniform in a minimum effort to dress up, and headed out to lose 2 dollars and have some social interaction. It was a fun night including Leo's pumpkin (squash) that he carved. The effort was really nice and hopefully he can experience a fall Halloween instead of a spring one so that he can carve a real pumpkin. I brought my own Jack-O-Lantern.

And to finish off the week, I went today with Jan and Ben to Pakiri to get some mussels. Didn't need any myself, just went along for the walk. It was nice to get my feet wet and enjoy the feel of soft sand under my feet. Hopefully the weather will get better for this weekend so that I can enjoy another venture out!

Exploring the Last Frontier

Salutations again! It has been a while and I have been busy working on presentations and proposals for my project. However, I spent the better part of today out of the office, enjoying the sun and surf as I headed out to identify my primary study site. This is where I will be actively setting up my mussel beds for re-establishment.

We climbed aboard the Hawere early this morning and headed on our two and half hour course down to Rotoroa Island. The Hawere is a stupendous craft, specifically built for research and diving. Sitting in the cabin looking out at the sea passing by us, the sun gleaming off the rail, and dolphins bow-riding, had me fading back to memories of my favorite show as a child; The Last Frontier. Catching myself humming the tune for the opening theme, I thought back to that show that helped to nurture my love of the ocean; of Canadian underwater cinematographer John Stoneman and his adventures in the many oceans of the world.

The Hauraki Gulf was filled with gannets and petrels flying about and diving into the water after fish. We even caught the tail of a Bryde's whale. Off in the distance we also caught sight of a tall ship, the Lord Nelson, sailing slowly along.

There were many beautiful islands along the way, with stone cliffs, rolling green fields and a few trees. We passed such originally named places as gannet rock, a "snow" covered isle where these birds roost.

We met Shane, my other supervisor, at the site and dove on the first embayment which unfortunately was so murky and silty, I could put most of my arm into the mud with little effort. So up we went and off to the next embayment that we had scouted out. This was a much nicer spot, still quite muddy, but decently clear. The bottom had sparse tunicates and heart urchins but not a whole lot else. A perfect place to put a couple tons of mussels!

The water was beautiful and we took a bit of an opportunity to look around, even so much as out of the area where we planned to do the study. I was diving in a wet suit with no gloves or hood it was that warm! Probably wouldn't do so on a long dive, but it felt good.

I also got to see some really awesome anemones. These guys were attached to some hard substrate in among the mud. Such a robust body and delicate looking tentacles, I could have spent half an hour looking at these guys, but it was getting late and we had to make a decision on where to set up the beds.

We came to a consensus on this site, and after sending Shane on his way, we said goodbye to Rotoroa Island and headed back to Ti Point.

Much to our surprise, when we returned up through Kawau Island, the inner Kawau Bay was filled with tall ships and smaller sailing vessels alike. Beautiful rigging and sheets, the multiple masts and lengths of rope; a touch of history that draws you back to the days when the seas were filled with wooden sailing ships. I stopped to wonder what it would be like trying to do research off of a sailing ship as a naturalist in the times of Charles Darwin. As exhilarating as that seamed, I though of how easy today's work went and how hard it would have been to do that on one of those sailing vessels. I think I will stick with the modern vessel. But there is a certain romanticism of the past that these ships conjure up in a person, of a simpler time, navigating by charts and stars, landmarks and old lighthouses with stoic keepers lighting a safe path for mariners. I also found myself missing lighthouses as I only saw a single one on the whole trip to and from my site. But there were a grand total of 5 tall ships in the bay and numerous smaller sailing vessels, treating us with a good view as they past by us.

It was really nice to get out of the office, out of the bunk room, and out of Leigh; not to fight with traffic, or computer issues, or sit glaring at a computer screen. I am saving that for tomorrow. All in all, it was a wonderful day exploring this, the last frontier!