Today is our first public holiday of the new year (after New Year's Day and the day after). Each part of New Zealand gets a 'Provincial Anniversary' day. Wikipedia can explain why. Seems there are differing views of this day as well -
On Friday, much of the city cleared out again as everyone went outside Wellington to celebrate Wellington's Anniversary by sitting on a beach, camping, or generally trying to find where the sun comes out the most. We, of course, stayed here to enjoy the city we chose to live in. Also because we finally have a couch, a coffee table (used for the TV and DVD player) and a bed. =)
The weekend has been eventful so far: Friday I had work drinks in the office until 8 pm or so. Saturday we spent much of the day shopping for a desk to no avail. It would help if we could remember what-all we have to put on or around the desk, so we could decide what type of desk we really need. So, after all that, we have decided to wait for the container.
Saturday night we went to Medina with a couple of friends - our aforementioned banker, Andrew, and his girlfriend Jasmyne. Andrew is leaving us and moving to Auckland to fast track his master's degree. Jasmyne seems upset about it too. (She does plan to join him up there eventually.) Of course we had a great time, as it was belly-dancing night. Most of the fun, admittedly, was watching Andrew trying to talk or not choke on his food as the belly dancer shook her stuff in his general direction!
On Sunday, we headed out to the Embassy once again to see the second Lord of the Rings movie. Once again, the theatre was practically empty! We met an American couple who were sitting behind us, as well as a Brit. We all got to talking after the movie and decided to go for tea. I have no idea how long we talked, but it was awesome to be around more people who are just as excited as we are to be here!
And today? I don't know...relaxing, maybe drinks with a co-worker...who knows who we could meet today?
Life is good. :)
January 22, 2007
January 18, 2007
Life in Welly: Work can be fun!
Drinking is really big here – even at work. And from what I understand, it isn’t exclusive to my company. Most companies have “work drinks” every Friday or every other Friday. I understood this to be happy hours, where everyone went to a local bar and hung out for an obligatory amount of time.
At my company, however, we have work drinks in the office every other Friday. We all go down to the main conference room, where there is a liquor cabinet (or cabinets?). Out comes tons of bottles of beer, as well as 15-20 bottles of wine. There might be more options, but those seem to be the favourites. There is often food to nibble on as well. And people stay for hours! Wouldn’t you? For free alcohol and food?
I should mention that every Friday, the Tax Department has ‘morning tea’. I’m sure other groups do as well, but the groups do not mingle for tea.
Tea is really just a chance to stand around for an hour and chat while eating random foods and perhaps drinking tea (not that I have, nor have I seen anyone else drinking tea at tea). The foods are mostly things I have not eaten and do not ever want to eat. Like sausage rolls, and meat pies. Sometimes there is fruit and some candy – I’ve even seen a muffin or two – but no bagels, or cream cheese or even donuts. In fact, I haven’t seen a donut since we moved here!
Our Christmas Party also consisted mainly of eating and drinking.
It was unlike any Christmas party I had ever been to! First, we had morning tea (of course), as it was Friday. Around noon or one, we all piled into vans that took us to our first event: lawn bowling. As I am terrible at regular bowling, I was sure to be horrible at this. However! It turns out the curve I have when bowling is actually an advantage in lawn bowling! I helped our team win the first round.
Before the actual bowling, and in-between rounds, there was drinking and random food. I didn’t recognize a lot of the food, and so much of it ended up in napkins once I tasted it. Note to self: do not eat food you don’t recognize, and/or that is not described or explained to you.
And in true public accounting fashion, the new people had to put on skits for the rest of the group. Not a big deal, and most were funny and well received. After all that, but before we headed out to dinner, the head tax partner gave out annual “awards”. These aren’t your typical awards, however…they were awards for worst drunk! The choices included one employee who ordered three or more bottles of very expensive (read: $450/bottle) champagne at a work drink function because he was too drunk to notice (and he still doesn’t remember doing it) and another employee who ran into a glass door because she was too drunk to see it. The first guy won the trophy, of course. The partner joked how he had to explain to the other partners of the firm about how good the champagne was that they paid for, even though he wasn’t there that night and didn’t have any. Another award went to an another employee for frequenting a strip club called “Mermaid Club” and knowing how to dance with money in his mouth.
We all headed back to the office to gather our things or change into evening clothes. We also exchanged gifts in the Secret Santa $5 gift exchange. I bought a new intern some bubble bath and a chocolate bar, and I received some “Tiki” salad tongs. It was a great way to welcome us to NZ!
Next up was dinner at a restaurant called One Red Dog (mentioned below in my “Food” post). Of course, there was wine at the table – two bottles per four people. We had appetizers, then a ton of smaller gourmet pizzas for everyone to share and try out, and then dessert: chocolate fondue with strawberries, pineapple, kiwi fruit and marshmallows. YUM! However, I was so stuffed at this point, I could barely eat my share. =( No worries, Darren and I went back another day and got one just for ourselves!
Best of all, there was no praying, or singing or bad hotel food. I was one of the first to leave a little after 11 pm. I have no idea how late the party went!
At my company, however, we have work drinks in the office every other Friday. We all go down to the main conference room, where there is a liquor cabinet (or cabinets?). Out comes tons of bottles of beer, as well as 15-20 bottles of wine. There might be more options, but those seem to be the favourites. There is often food to nibble on as well. And people stay for hours! Wouldn’t you? For free alcohol and food?
I should mention that every Friday, the Tax Department has ‘morning tea’. I’m sure other groups do as well, but the groups do not mingle for tea.
Tea is really just a chance to stand around for an hour and chat while eating random foods and perhaps drinking tea (not that I have, nor have I seen anyone else drinking tea at tea). The foods are mostly things I have not eaten and do not ever want to eat. Like sausage rolls, and meat pies. Sometimes there is fruit and some candy – I’ve even seen a muffin or two – but no bagels, or cream cheese or even donuts. In fact, I haven’t seen a donut since we moved here! Our Christmas Party also consisted mainly of eating and drinking.
It was unlike any Christmas party I had ever been to! First, we had morning tea (of course), as it was Friday. Around noon or one, we all piled into vans that took us to our first event: lawn bowling. As I am terrible at regular bowling, I was sure to be horrible at this. However! It turns out the curve I have when bowling is actually an advantage in lawn bowling! I helped our team win the first round. Before the actual bowling, and in-between rounds, there was drinking and random food. I didn’t recognize a lot of the food, and so much of it ended up in napkins once I tasted it. Note to self: do not eat food you don’t recognize, and/or that is not described or explained to you.
And in true public accounting fashion, the new people had to put on skits for the rest of the group. Not a big deal, and most were funny and well received. After all that, but before we headed out to dinner, the head tax partner gave out annual “awards”. These aren’t your typical awards, however…they were awards for worst drunk! The choices included one employee who ordered three or more bottles of very expensive (read: $450/bottle) champagne at a work drink function because he was too drunk to notice (and he still doesn’t remember doing it) and another employee who ran into a glass door because she was too drunk to see it. The first guy won the trophy, of course. The partner joked how he had to explain to the other partners of the firm about how good the champagne was that they paid for, even though he wasn’t there that night and didn’t have any. Another award went to an another employee for frequenting a strip club called “Mermaid Club” and knowing how to dance with money in his mouth.
We all headed back to the office to gather our things or change into evening clothes. We also exchanged gifts in the Secret Santa $5 gift exchange. I bought a new intern some bubble bath and a chocolate bar, and I received some “Tiki” salad tongs. It was a great way to welcome us to NZ!
Next up was dinner at a restaurant called One Red Dog (mentioned below in my “Food” post). Of course, there was wine at the table – two bottles per four people. We had appetizers, then a ton of smaller gourmet pizzas for everyone to share and try out, and then dessert: chocolate fondue with strawberries, pineapple, kiwi fruit and marshmallows. YUM! However, I was so stuffed at this point, I could barely eat my share. =( No worries, Darren and I went back another day and got one just for ourselves!
Best of all, there was no praying, or singing or bad hotel food. I was one of the first to leave a little after 11 pm. I have no idea how late the party went!
Life in Welly: Work
Lots of people have asked me about my job and how it’s going etc. To sum it up: it’s ok. Not to be any more cynical than usual, but I stopped getting excited about jobs a while ago. When I first came out of college, I was incredibly excited to get a job doing something (1) I was good at and (2) that was interesting to me. Then Andersen crushed my soul and made me love tax accounting a lot less.
When I started my second public accounting job at Alpern, I was timid at first, then really into it, then crushed again. I think I was my most excited, though, when I started at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Not only was I working for one of the top public firms, I was finally getting to do International Tax Accounting AND I was paid to travel. That love-affair lasted about six months, although I travelled for almost 2 years. I will spare you the recap of the Hell that was PwC Baltimore…
ARINC was my first true corporate job, and I loved it. Had no idea what I was doing at first, but quickly took control of everything international there. When I left, I had working knowledge of about 15 countries, with bits and pieces of 40 more. And for the most part, the job was great – I worked for really nice people, had my own office, flexible hours and interesting work. Eventually, though, I saw that the company was like a dysfunctional family that had no interest in changing. It was discouraging to try to fix processes over and over again and rely on other people I had no control over. I started to feel like I was running after thousands of 2-year-old children, some of them biters.
And so here I am, in another country, working for a public accounting firm again. I tried to keep an open mind, but honestly I am not excited about this work anymore. Tax Accounting is still interesting to me – I enjoy learning the tax law of different countries (almost like learning a new language) – but I have already dealt with messy clients who can’t seem to get things straight or correct the first, second or even third time. I feel a bit dumb right now, as I’m not very familiar with the laws here, or the accounting standards used, and I know nothing about our clients. It’s frustrating to start over (again) after working for 10 years in this industry.
The managers are excited because I have an accounting background. Apparently, many of my co-workers are lawyers, and thus don’t understand (and can’t do) certain types of work. And while I understand accounting, the work they want to assign to me I’ve never done before. Took a class on it once back at PwC, but have never actually done it. I can learn it, but all the clients I’ve worked on are messy, and it’s just so much more difficult to learn something when it isn’t correct to begin with.
My co-workers are really nice. I have yet to meet someone who is angry, or mean, or a ladder-climbing back-stabber. People genuinely make friends with co-workers here! The managers are understanding and helpful, and the partners are accessible. The hours are shorter (37.5 a week), with more vacation (NZ law is four weeks) and holidays (11). Also, my sick time is not subtracted from my vacation time. I even have a desk with a view of the bay – I sit on the 23rd floor of the Majestic Centre. It’s great until we have a fire drill and we have to walk down 23 floors in the stairwell!
The most interesting thing about my “induction” into my company was the huge emphasis on safety. Because healthcare in NZ is covered by the government, there are frequent inspections of workplaces to ensure they are up to code. I was forced to watch a hilarious video showing lots of “don’ts”. People were falling over obvious cords, or standing on chairs with wheels to reach heavy files. The best was a woman opening a box with a razorblade – blood everywhere! It was basically a series of skits of things people would never do. To add to that, there are signs all over the office – mainly in the bathroom – about safety. Some of the rules? No carrying files, coffee cups or purses when walking downstairs. This means you can’t grab your purse during any kind of emergency. Riiiighhht….
Then we watched a video on harassment. Of course, there was the typical sexual harassment stuff, but there was an even larger segment regarding general harassment! Managers aren’t allowed to call names, make an employee cry, or even stand over them at their desk and ask them if their work is done yet! So many of the attitudes and behaviours that are readily accepted in the US are completely and totally not acceptable here. It was so very shocking for me – and awesome. Those of you who have known me the longest know what I dealt with on a daily basis at PwC, both on the road and in Baltimore (nevermind what transpired at Andersen).
Awesome.
January 17, 2007
January 12, 2007
We have keys!
Which go to an apartment, naturally. Not only keys, but a garage opener for the car we don’t have! I’m sure we can store anything from our container that doesn’t fit in the apartment there, though. When the container arrives, of course.
Update on that? The container has been moved to another boat which sailed from Singapore a few days ago. It is due here on February 2nd, and will then go through customs clearance.
No worries, though, the movers have arranged furniture rental for us starting next Friday until the delivery of our items. Which means we only have to “rough it” for less than a week. Merrin and Darrel, the ever-handy friends, have graciously offered to let us borrow anything we need (sheets, towels, pots etc), and bought us an air mattress for Christmas. We also have the utensils, cups and plates from our picnic set and some other kitchen items we’ve picked up since we moved here.
We’ve also been busy little consumers, and over the Christmas holiday contributed greatly to the Wellington economy. We needed to replace all the electrical items we couldn’t take with us, so we started with the most necessary items: printer, microwave, foreman grill, and a hairdryer. Then we found a great sale on a DVD player – actually a newer version of the one we had at home – so we bought that too.
We decided to put a TV off for a while because they are so expensive here. I have wanted to upgrade my 19” tv to a 29” or a 32” for the longest time, but was always put off by the size/weight of the bigger TVs. Oh, and the price. THEN, the store where we find the most bargains ran a credit/interest promotion for the New Year – and we saw a beautiful LCD 32” TV was 50% off, so we bit the bullet and got it!
Kevin, if you are reading this, I’m sure you are just the teensiest bit upset that I finally have an awesome TV AND a surround sound system suitable for watching movies, and now I’m too far away to have you and Maur over…
An email with our new phone number will be going out soon!
Update on that? The container has been moved to another boat which sailed from Singapore a few days ago. It is due here on February 2nd, and will then go through customs clearance.
No worries, though, the movers have arranged furniture rental for us starting next Friday until the delivery of our items. Which means we only have to “rough it” for less than a week. Merrin and Darrel, the ever-handy friends, have graciously offered to let us borrow anything we need (sheets, towels, pots etc), and bought us an air mattress for Christmas. We also have the utensils, cups and plates from our picnic set and some other kitchen items we’ve picked up since we moved here.
We’ve also been busy little consumers, and over the Christmas holiday contributed greatly to the Wellington economy. We needed to replace all the electrical items we couldn’t take with us, so we started with the most necessary items: printer, microwave, foreman grill, and a hairdryer. Then we found a great sale on a DVD player – actually a newer version of the one we had at home – so we bought that too.
We decided to put a TV off for a while because they are so expensive here. I have wanted to upgrade my 19” tv to a 29” or a 32” for the longest time, but was always put off by the size/weight of the bigger TVs. Oh, and the price. THEN, the store where we find the most bargains ran a credit/interest promotion for the New Year – and we saw a beautiful LCD 32” TV was 50% off, so we bit the bullet and got it!
Kevin, if you are reading this, I’m sure you are just the teensiest bit upset that I finally have an awesome TV AND a surround sound system suitable for watching movies, and now I’m too far away to have you and Maur over…An email with our new phone number will be going out soon!
Life in Welly: Food
Since I’m at least three weeks behind on our adventures here, and I have no hope of trying to remember what we did and when, I instead will attack by category. Of course I must start with the food here!
I can only believe this entire country - or at the very least, Wellington – was founded by ‘foodies’. In Wellington, there are more café’s and restaurants per capita than in New York City! And each one we have tried so far has been fabulous.
There are some basic foods that are common to most restaurants. Appetizers almost always include bread with one or several dips, often “aioli” dip. We have also seen a lot of chicken everywhere (the one food Darren will definitely not eat!), even in sushi! I don’t see how that is truly sushi, but it is very popular here. Strangely enough, they do not have the standard bar staple - chicken wings!
Due to the melting pot that is Wellington, there are several specialty restaurants here, including Turkish, Moroccan, French, Maori and Italian. There are also several different Asian restaurant - Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Japanese and of course Chinese! Indian food is incredibly popular, with at least one restaurant every two blocks. We found that several other restaurants (even the British Pub!) also have at least one Indian or Indian-themed dish. There are three or four “Irish” pubs in the CBD (Central Business District, just a fancy name for the city proper), but only one of them has true Irish food.
And while there are several different ethnic restaurants in the city, there is no “Little Italy”, “Little China” or any subdivided section. There actually seems to be no rhyme or reason to the shops at all – a restaurant could be next to a shop, which is next to a movie theater, which is next to a gym! All with businesses or apartments up above.
Almost all of the pizza here is gourmet. Places like One Red Dog and Hell Pizza are quite popular. Dominos is here too, and trying desperately to break into the gourmet market…I really think they should just stick to basic pizza, as there are enough tourists to keep them in business. But mostly because...eh…yuck. The gourmet pizza is amazing, but there are times we just want a regular (inexpensive) deep dish cheese and pepperoni pizza…
Oh, how could I forget the desserts and ice cream? I have never tasted such amazing ice cream – I hear it is due to the quality of cows and milk here. Many places have dipped cones, much like I had as a child at Dairy Queen. Every flavor is yummy and very dangerous! A typical Kiwi dessert is “pavlova”,
which is meringue. We haven’t tried it yet (we’ll certainly update you when we do). The candy bars here are also extra evil – many have several layers of chocolate and caramel and marshmallow or cookies….there is even a Caramel Kit Kat! I seriously don’t know how so many people here are in fantastic shape. Do they work out to be able to eat this food? Or work out because they ate this stuff?
The prices are similar to the US for the most part (except for McDonald’s and Burger King, which are more expensive). Water is always free, and typically servers will give you a bottle filled with tap/filtered water for the table. In casual restaurants, there is usually a pitcher of water somewhere in the main seating area so that you can serve yourself. The best part is the price you see on the menu is exactly what you will pay – tax is already included, and there is no compulsory tipping. I understand it is becoming more popular for higher-end restaurants or excellent service, but even then it’s approximately 10%. At the end of the meal, either the check is brought to the table and you pay at the door (like Bob Evans) or you simply go up to the cashier and point to your table or describe the items you ordered and pay. Also, many restaurants give you a 10% discount if you get take-out!
Bars and restaurants are open until “late” – which can mean as early as 8 pm if business is slow, or at late as 11pm…1 am…3 am?
So far we have tried and fallen in love with a Turkish place, The Harem,
and a Moroccan place, Medina.
The Harem has incredible theming inside and out, with a staircase reminiscent of a cave leading up to the restaurant. The spanikopita is by far the best I’ve ever had!
Medina is not as elaborate, but the owners (Tony – Moroccan, and Linda – Kiwi) are super nice and declared us to be friends the first time we ate there. It was a slow night, and once they learned we are from Maryland, they were incredibly generous with food, drink and conversation. Tony and Linda met in Florida when he was running a hostel, and she was on holiday. They came back here to live due to her family, and decided to open the restaurant. We have already invited each other to future parties and holidays!
I can only believe this entire country - or at the very least, Wellington – was founded by ‘foodies’. In Wellington, there are more café’s and restaurants per capita than in New York City! And each one we have tried so far has been fabulous.
There are some basic foods that are common to most restaurants. Appetizers almost always include bread with one or several dips, often “aioli” dip. We have also seen a lot of chicken everywhere (the one food Darren will definitely not eat!), even in sushi! I don’t see how that is truly sushi, but it is very popular here. Strangely enough, they do not have the standard bar staple - chicken wings!
Due to the melting pot that is Wellington, there are several specialty restaurants here, including Turkish, Moroccan, French, Maori and Italian. There are also several different Asian restaurant - Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Japanese and of course Chinese! Indian food is incredibly popular, with at least one restaurant every two blocks. We found that several other restaurants (even the British Pub!) also have at least one Indian or Indian-themed dish. There are three or four “Irish” pubs in the CBD (Central Business District, just a fancy name for the city proper), but only one of them has true Irish food.
And while there are several different ethnic restaurants in the city, there is no “Little Italy”, “Little China” or any subdivided section. There actually seems to be no rhyme or reason to the shops at all – a restaurant could be next to a shop, which is next to a movie theater, which is next to a gym! All with businesses or apartments up above.
Almost all of the pizza here is gourmet. Places like One Red Dog and Hell Pizza are quite popular. Dominos is here too, and trying desperately to break into the gourmet market…I really think they should just stick to basic pizza, as there are enough tourists to keep them in business. But mostly because...eh…yuck. The gourmet pizza is amazing, but there are times we just want a regular (inexpensive) deep dish cheese and pepperoni pizza…
Oh, how could I forget the desserts and ice cream? I have never tasted such amazing ice cream – I hear it is due to the quality of cows and milk here. Many places have dipped cones, much like I had as a child at Dairy Queen. Every flavor is yummy and very dangerous! A typical Kiwi dessert is “pavlova”,
which is meringue. We haven’t tried it yet (we’ll certainly update you when we do). The candy bars here are also extra evil – many have several layers of chocolate and caramel and marshmallow or cookies….there is even a Caramel Kit Kat! I seriously don’t know how so many people here are in fantastic shape. Do they work out to be able to eat this food? Or work out because they ate this stuff?The prices are similar to the US for the most part (except for McDonald’s and Burger King, which are more expensive). Water is always free, and typically servers will give you a bottle filled with tap/filtered water for the table. In casual restaurants, there is usually a pitcher of water somewhere in the main seating area so that you can serve yourself. The best part is the price you see on the menu is exactly what you will pay – tax is already included, and there is no compulsory tipping. I understand it is becoming more popular for higher-end restaurants or excellent service, but even then it’s approximately 10%. At the end of the meal, either the check is brought to the table and you pay at the door (like Bob Evans) or you simply go up to the cashier and point to your table or describe the items you ordered and pay. Also, many restaurants give you a 10% discount if you get take-out!
Bars and restaurants are open until “late” – which can mean as early as 8 pm if business is slow, or at late as 11pm…1 am…3 am?
So far we have tried and fallen in love with a Turkish place, The Harem,
and a Moroccan place, Medina.
The Harem has incredible theming inside and out, with a staircase reminiscent of a cave leading up to the restaurant. The spanikopita is by far the best I’ve ever had!
Medina is not as elaborate, but the owners (Tony – Moroccan, and Linda – Kiwi) are super nice and declared us to be friends the first time we ate there. It was a slow night, and once they learned we are from Maryland, they were incredibly generous with food, drink and conversation. Tony and Linda met in Florida when he was running a hostel, and she was on holiday. They came back here to live due to her family, and decided to open the restaurant. We have already invited each other to future parties and holidays!
January 11, 2007
I interrupt this blog…
Congrats to Bryan and Sarah! Bryan “popped the question" on New Year’s Eve, to which Sarah said “uh, DUH”.(Seriously – that is what Bryan relayed to me!) 
As Darren and I set them up, we have been promised naming rights to their first-born. Ok…maybe ‘promised’ is too strong of a word…
In any case, Sarah is hoping to have a Fall wedding, which means Darren and I could be back in the States much sooner than planned! We’ll keep you updated!
In the meantime, read up on Disneyworld Magical Gatherings and specials available at Mousesavers and Allearsnet.
January 01, 2007
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone! We are now several hours into New Year's Day, and it is just past 10 pm on New Year's Eve on the East Coast. Hope you all are planning something to do something fun!
We had our first US visitors on New Year's Eve - Jude and Kelleigh - all the way from NYC. They are in NZ on their "Weddingmoon", as they have been touring the South Island for the last week, and won't be officially married until Friday morning. We can't make it to the ceremony, so we had to live it up for the one day we had with them.
Sadly, NZ has had the coldest, wettest summer in decades...and Jude and Kelleigh had been camping, tramping, and bungee jumping in rain and wind with a side of cold. Welly was sunny and temperate until the minute their plane landed here, and it began to rain. The rain pretty much didn't stop until late last night. We all tried to make the best of it, though!
Once Kelleigh and Jude were settled in their B&B, we went out for lunch at the One Red Dog, then over to Courtenay Place for awesome ice cream at Wendy's.
The rain was seemingly never-ending at that point, so we headed across the street to Te Papa. We only had an hour, but we managed to see the Marae (customary meeting place)
as well as several of the Maori exhibits, and the Awesome Forces exhibit where we experienced a "real-life shake-up in the Earthquake House". Right before the museum closed, we ran through the Mountains to Sea exhibit to compare the variety of NZ's plants and animals Jude and Kelleigh saw during their tour, and what we've seen so far living here.
Since it was still raining, we all headed back to take naps/relax a bit before the adventure of New Year's Eve. Jude and Kelleigh came to our place for a while, where they showed us pictures and video from their bungee jumps, and we enforced Jude's desire to see Disneyworld with our Honeymoon picture book and fanciful stories.
Then we were off! First stop:The Welsh Dragon. Our new friends Tony and Linda (will tell you more about them in a future post) said they would be there hanging out, and asked us to stop by.
When we got there (well after 10:30), the sign on the door listed a cover, which included "nibbles". We needed dinner, though, even at that late hour.
It proved very difficult to find, as we walked all the way to Cuba Mall, then back towards the Welsh Dragon to a Kebab place where we stopped in for a bite to eat. The theming was great in the back - with a thatched roof ceiling and several Turkish decorations on the walls.
At one point, several teenage girls - must have been at least 15 of them - came streaming out of the back practically yelling "SHHHHHHHHHHHHH" to each other and giggling. I should mention the drinking age here is 18, and "party pills" are legal. More and more groups of girls (and one boy) filed past us to the exit, while we were left wondering just what the hell was in the back?! A few minutes later, we heard banging in the back hallway and were startled to see the manager nailing a piece of particleboard to the wall - seemingly over the bathroom doors. When he walked by, we asked what had happened. He simply said "Out of order". Eh, ok...
Midnight was looming closer, so we booked it back to the Welsh Dragon just in time to get drinks and head to one of the less-crowded (i.e. older, whiter, bad-dancing) rooms before the clock struck midnight. The singer in our room didn't have a clock, so she relied on the drunks to lead the countdown - a minute early! No worries, we just got to kiss twice! haha
I didn't eat at the Kebab place, so I was drunk in a minute from the glass of wine I had.
Darren found some crackers and cheese to take the edge off, but the damage was done. We did stay for a bit longer watching the older people dance really badly. One couple just jumped up and down as if each song was "Jump! Jump!", and another put that one swing dance lesson to use over and over. Random people throughout the room had various instruments, including a tambourine, a triangle, and some wooden block thing. The instruments were passed around the room as people got up and danced or moved to other parts of the bar.
From what I understand, many people dress up in costume on New Year's Eve, and at this particular bar, there were a few men in drag. Including a drag queen dressed as a Queen. Ah, the irony...
After about an hour, we headed back to the house and remembered we had Christmas/New Year's crackers to pop. We all donned our crowns and took a group picture - with three different cameras (yes, that is why we are all looking in different places!)
This morning, Darren and I headed down to the B&B and joined Jude and Kelleigh for a yummy cooked breakfast. We hung exploration of the North Island. It was really good to see them, and just reinforced the feeling (for me, anyway) that we haven't really moved.
We had our first US visitors on New Year's Eve - Jude and Kelleigh - all the way from NYC. They are in NZ on their "Weddingmoon", as they have been touring the South Island for the last week, and won't be officially married until Friday morning. We can't make it to the ceremony, so we had to live it up for the one day we had with them.
Sadly, NZ has had the coldest, wettest summer in decades...and Jude and Kelleigh had been camping, tramping, and bungee jumping in rain and wind with a side of cold. Welly was sunny and temperate until the minute their plane landed here, and it began to rain. The rain pretty much didn't stop until late last night. We all tried to make the best of it, though!
Once Kelleigh and Jude were settled in their B&B, we went out for lunch at the One Red Dog, then over to Courtenay Place for awesome ice cream at Wendy's.
The rain was seemingly never-ending at that point, so we headed across the street to Te Papa. We only had an hour, but we managed to see the Marae (customary meeting place)
as well as several of the Maori exhibits, and the Awesome Forces exhibit where we experienced a "real-life shake-up in the Earthquake House". Right before the museum closed, we ran through the Mountains to Sea exhibit to compare the variety of NZ's plants and animals Jude and Kelleigh saw during their tour, and what we've seen so far living here.Since it was still raining, we all headed back to take naps/relax a bit before the adventure of New Year's Eve. Jude and Kelleigh came to our place for a while, where they showed us pictures and video from their bungee jumps, and we enforced Jude's desire to see Disneyworld with our Honeymoon picture book and fanciful stories.
Then we were off! First stop:The Welsh Dragon. Our new friends Tony and Linda (will tell you more about them in a future post) said they would be there hanging out, and asked us to stop by.
When we got there (well after 10:30), the sign on the door listed a cover, which included "nibbles". We needed dinner, though, even at that late hour.
It proved very difficult to find, as we walked all the way to Cuba Mall, then back towards the Welsh Dragon to a Kebab place where we stopped in for a bite to eat. The theming was great in the back - with a thatched roof ceiling and several Turkish decorations on the walls.
At one point, several teenage girls - must have been at least 15 of them - came streaming out of the back practically yelling "SHHHHHHHHHHHHH" to each other and giggling. I should mention the drinking age here is 18, and "party pills" are legal. More and more groups of girls (and one boy) filed past us to the exit, while we were left wondering just what the hell was in the back?! A few minutes later, we heard banging in the back hallway and were startled to see the manager nailing a piece of particleboard to the wall - seemingly over the bathroom doors. When he walked by, we asked what had happened. He simply said "Out of order". Eh, ok...
Midnight was looming closer, so we booked it back to the Welsh Dragon just in time to get drinks and head to one of the less-crowded (i.e. older, whiter, bad-dancing) rooms before the clock struck midnight. The singer in our room didn't have a clock, so she relied on the drunks to lead the countdown - a minute early! No worries, we just got to kiss twice! haha I didn't eat at the Kebab place, so I was drunk in a minute from the glass of wine I had.
Darren found some crackers and cheese to take the edge off, but the damage was done. We did stay for a bit longer watching the older people dance really badly. One couple just jumped up and down as if each song was "Jump! Jump!", and another put that one swing dance lesson to use over and over. Random people throughout the room had various instruments, including a tambourine, a triangle, and some wooden block thing. The instruments were passed around the room as people got up and danced or moved to other parts of the bar. From what I understand, many people dress up in costume on New Year's Eve, and at this particular bar, there were a few men in drag. Including a drag queen dressed as a Queen. Ah, the irony...
After about an hour, we headed back to the house and remembered we had Christmas/New Year's crackers to pop. We all donned our crowns and took a group picture - with three different cameras (yes, that is why we are all looking in different places!)
This morning, Darren and I headed down to the B&B and joined Jude and Kelleigh for a yummy cooked breakfast. We hung exploration of the North Island. It was really good to see them, and just reinforced the feeling (for me, anyway) that we haven't really moved.
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