Category Archives: New Zealand

Fiddler on the Roof

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While I have not been fiddling today nor on a roof in any recent time, I did get to see the play today. My host family invited me to tag along to Waiheke’s community theatre, which is running Fiddler on the Roof. I was more than happy to oblige, given that rain clouds were threatening.

Not much was open given that it was Sunday, but the theatre was busy – Waiheke has 1-2 plays here at the theatre per year that are put on by this group, called the Waiheke Choral Society. It’s all locals in the theatre production, and the towns on the island are great for showing support – this was the 2nd last weekend of the run, and it appeared to still be sold out (they added another weekend to handle the demand). The theatre isn’t large in size though (100-120 people maybe).

Still, the nearly 3 hours production was *great*. And I think the locals love seeing what their neighbours can do singing, acting and production wise – there are some pretty darn talented folk on this island. I naturally didn’t take any pictures during the show, but enjoyed it a lot, as did everyone in the crowd.

Afterwards, it was nearly 5pm and I’d only finished about 2 hours of work for the day, so I headed out back for some more weeding in the dwindling twilight hours. 90 minutes later I headed indoors to have dinner, help with dishes and then fix up a grain mill (working again!). A pretty nice Sunday all told, given that it rained from 1-4pm or so. Worked out quite nicely, so here’s hoping for sunshine tomorrow!

Keep digging

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Another day gone by here in Waiheke, another garden cleared of weeds. On top of clearing another garden of weeds I also transplanted a Hydrangea bush/small tree thing. All in all, another good 5-6 hours of work complete. The skies didn’t open up and rain as they constantly threatened to, but the sun was absent the entire day.

That didn’t stop me from taking a walk once my work was complete, around 3pm. I’d contemplated going for another drive to a different section of the island or giving my hip a try at this whole ‘walking’ thing again. I haven’t had any pain in the last couple of days and only mild soreness remains, so why not? Naturally, rather than work my way up to it I went a little bit further than planned. Beaches look closer than they actually are, okay?

I began my walk with overcast skies, my jacket, water bottle and a chocolate bar for energy (one of 5 I bought in Auckland – mmmm chocolate). I had only planned to walk to the nearby beach and back. I got to the beach in about 10 minutes of steady downhill walking along the road. The beach was completely devoid of people, I had it to myself.

I walked along the beach to the point, because my curiosity asked I ‘wonder what is around the corner?’

Oh look, another beach! A really nice big one, that looks nearby. Okay, it’s hard to see in this picture, but it’s there really. I figure I’ll just go there for a bit, it doesn’t look far and my leg is doing well.

There is a beach there, really!

Naturally, it turned out the beach was quite a bit further than expected, and the rocks weren’t the most easy to scramble over. Still, I made it in one piece, though the last 5 minutes I was harassed by a bird that didn’t enjoy my presence.

The red eyes mean it’s evil. Actually it just made a lot of noise and followed behind for a few minutes, making noise the entire time. I guess it didn’t like me.

I made it to the far beach. Now I know why the chicken crossed the road – to take a picture from the other side.

The beach was empty so I relaxed on a bench, read a book and enjoy the quiet (once the angry bird left me alone). I also noticed that someone had kindly taken the time reserve the bench for me. How very kind of them!

Afterwards I decided to hike it back a different way. Naturally, I got sidetracked once or twice, all in the name of exploration, really. I did make it back in time for dinner, and so far my hip doesn’t feel like it’s being stabbed with an ice-pick, so it’s an improvement over Auckland!

A drive to Onetangi

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After finishing up my work for the day in mid-afternoon, the sun was out and I set off for a drive. I headed about 15 minutes north to the far end of the island and the largest beach – Onetangi. It didn’t take long for me to find something I liked: a place to sit, enjoy a drink and read for a bit. Oh, and a fantastic view.

Being middle of winter there weren’t many people around but the few that were out and about were enjoying the great weather of the day – sunshine and about 16C. Great for a stroll on the beach where some people had their dogs out playing.

After about 2 hours enjoying the relaxing area and walking the beach I hopped back into my car and set off on the Seaview Road back to ‘home’. And took some pictures along the way. 🙂

Waiheke is known for it’s wineries, of which there are many (more than a dozen I believe). It’s not high season for them just yet so things looked pretty quiet.

And once I got back to the Rocky Bay area where I’m staying, I took a picture of the view near the house. Not too shabby…:)

Sun, Sails and Skin

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While I did indeed make it over to Waiheke Island today in one piece and have settled in with a friendly family here on the island, my last day in Auckland was relatively eventful. It started normally for me, waking up, showering, having breakfast – I’ve been eating through my bread and a 1kg tub of Peanut Butter – and then heading out for the day. I hit the Auckland Central Library first to check email and the like, and from there I decided I would do something for my last day – do a harbour tour. While my hip is healing it’s still not 100%, so I figured a tour by boat would be a good way to spend a day, and wasn’t too expensive. It had the added bonus of giving me a free return ticket to Devonport, an small town on the opposite shore that has a nice boardwalk. So I bought my ticket for 130pm and off I went.

I didn’t make it far from the Library (Queen Street – the main street downtown) before I noticed a very large crowd of people lining the streets. Not knowing what they were waiting for, naturally I stop and wait with them. A few minutes later, it was a parade coming down the hill. Not a typical parade, but a topless parade, I kid you not. Promoting the Erotica Expo or something going on this or next weekend, I’m not quite sure. Quite unexpected, and there was something for men and women alike in the crowd. Either way, no pictures to be posted here, sorry. 😛

After the parade passed I made my way down to the harbour area and stocked up on chocolate. I grabbed something called a Cadbury Moro. It’s description was Chocolate, Caramel and Nougat – they really should have called it a ‘Mars’ bar, but that name is already taken…

Mars?

It is interesting reading about the Moro, as Mars bars do indeed exist here as well – the Moro is largely a Kiwi favourite, and sells more than any other Cadbury chocolate here. Not surprisingly, it also outsells the Mars bar. Still, tasty.

On the boat, it was a beautiful day so as we left the harbour area I took some shots.

The tour itself was a bit lackluster – I couldn’t hear half of what was being said and I think it was a recording anyways – somewhat bland. But, it was enjoyable sitting on the top deck of the boat (if a wee bit chilly with the wind), and enjoying the scenery. We eventually made it to our one brief stopping spot – Rangitoto Island.

An ancient volcano (as are most hills in this area), Rangitoto’s main attraction is the hour long hike to the peak – I wasn’t in any condition to attempt that, and the tour I was on only stopped for 10 minutes, so no such attempt was made by myself. Another time perhaps. On a clear day it supposedly gives great views of Auckland and the other surrounding islands (there are many!).

Our little boat made our way around a few other spots in the sizable harbour before passing under the large Harbour bridge, the main link from Auckland to the North Shore.

Once back on shore, I quickly hopped onto a nearby ferry to get me over to Devonport. There, I took about an hour walking around the downtown and surrounding neighbourhood. It was suitably quaint and peaceful.

After that, exhausted from my much busier day than normal, I headed back to my hostel for dinner with my roommate Peter and a couple others from the hostel, before packing my stuff and falling asleep for the last time (for now) in Auckland City!

Where is Waiheke?

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Today is my last full day in Auckland. I’ll hopefully get out and wander a bit more around the downtown today as my hip is slowly healing, and take a few nice pictures to put up here, but for now I’m content eating, reading and relaxing. It’s been a slower start here than I would have preferred or normally experienced when travelling – my injury has really slowed me down to a frustrating crawl. Still, I had set these days in Auckland aside in order to get everything set up that I needed to, and I think I succeeded. I’m ready to move on.

So my first destination won’t be too far away, it’s a place called Waiheke Island (I think it’s pronounced Wa-HEEK-ee). It’s actually only about 30km from Auckland – but it’s by ferry to get there. I’m not sure how long I’ll be on the island – probably a week, but we’ll see how it goes. Specifically, the WWOOFing experience I have set up. I’m going to be staying with my first host family! I don’t honestly know a ton about them, but I don’t believe it’s large scale farming they do, more small homestead style work. But, I’ll see when I get there tomorrow! Either way, I’m excited to be doing something ‘productive’ soon once again.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about Waiheke from those at the hostel that have been – they describe it as peaceful, quiet, friendly and relaxing. That, and a winelover’s haven apparently. I guess I’ll have to start liking wine?

Plus I get to take a ferry ride tomorrow. Yay ferries!

Penny for your thoughts?

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No longer has any meaning here in New Zealand – they have completely scrapped the 1 cent coin. Actually, they’ve gone one step further and gotten rid of the 5 cent coin as well. I didn’t actually realize it until a few days in, when looking through my change and thinking…where are all the useless coins? Everything is useful:

You can probably make them all out, but from left to right it goes 10c, 20c, 50c, $1, $2. So somewhat similar to Canadian/US denominations, but with the elimination of 1c and 5c parts it simplifies things considerably. Back in Canada I came to loathe change – Anything less than 25c, and I’d simply take it home and toss it in a box. After 4 years, I collected the change in that box, rolled it, and took it to the bank – I had ~$80 of change sitting there.

Part of this simplification is handled by the tax system – New Zealand has a GST very similar to Canada’s GST/PST/HST – 15%, but instead of adding the tax to the displayed price, ALL of New Zealand’s prices already have the taxes included. It’s such an elegant and simple system, and you always know what you are going to pay when you buy something. No more mental math required to find out if buying something that costs $90 will require you to break out $100, or $120 to pay. All in all, it’s wonderful!

I’ve also come to enjoy another simplicity of New Zealand monetary culture – tipping. Tipping here? Non-existent. Wait staff are paid full wages, unlike North America, so tipping is not expected nor common at all (the two places that I’ve paid by Credit, you aren’t even given the option). And since the value of the meal often is a nice round monetary number, walking out after putting a $10 bill down on the table for a $10 meal is as simple as can be. I rather quite like this kind of sophistication! 🙂

Japanese Pancake

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Having never had one of these confectionery items, I was naturally curious to see what it was when I saw one advertised near the central Library. It seemed like a popular place, and at $4NZD, was darn cheap for dinner. After ordering a ‘beef and cheese’ pancake (this should have been my first warning – beef and cheese?), I watch as the workers began preparing my food. After dousing a frying pan with oil, my blobby pancake is tossed into the pan and flattened. It actually looked quite appetizing! I was hungry, so that probably helped. After 5 minutes of cooking, the area smelled great and I received my mysterious food. It looked fairly close to a normal pancake. It was scorching hot when I got it and was simply presented in a couple of napkins, so I started wandering towards my bus stop. Eventually it had cooled enough for me to sample. Crunchy outside, fluffy inside! Pretty tasty. Like a giant pancake really. A few more bites and I was enjoying myself.

And then I hit the ‘beef’. I really don’t think it was beef. It certainly didn’t taste like any beef I’ve had before. I assumed that the first bite of meat was simply one of those odd flavour pockets, the next wouldn’t be too bad….nope. Taste got worse. I think they actually dared to put onions in there as well. THE HORROR. I proceeded to eat the outside edges of the pancake, tossed the middle section in the garbage and went to sleep hungry. Lesson learned. My cereal this morning tasted extra special and non-mysterious.

But I did also manage to get a nice nighttime picture of the Skytower from the University of Auckland (nice place!).

 

Oh, and I plan to jump off said tower (with a harness, don`t worry!) before I leave Auckland. It`s only the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere after all, so why not? When in New Zealand…:)

Range of costs

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So far I’ve noticed that New Zealand certainly does tend to the upper end of expensiveness, especially compared to Canada. I know we in Canada love to complain how much more expensive things are compared to the States…well, we have it pretty easy it turns out. That being said, there are a few things working in New Zealand’s favour (their dollar is worth less than ours, their minimum wage is higher). Plus, one thing that I really like – they have a sales tax much like Canada, but all their prices shown are tax inclusive! This is one thing I wish Canada would move to, it makes things 100x easier when pricing out.

What I’ve noticed so far:

Transit, Sushi, Mobile Internet and Cell phone plans are much cheaper in NZ than in Canada. I’ve opted for Mobile internet rather than struggling to find cheap/free wifi, and at $25NZD/month for 500MB, it’s fairly reasonable and usable throughout New Zealand. Compare that to what you have to pay in Canada for similar ($30CAD+/month for 500MB, considerably more if using prepaid like me), and it’s a definite bargain. Sushi simply is due to demand and competition – there are a TON of sushi places here. I’m not lacking for my tasty raw fish, and $5-10NZD will easily constitute a relatively decent, filling sushi dinner. $10CAD won’t go very far in Canada when it comes to sushi. As for Cell Phone plans…well, Canada is considered one of the most expensive mobile phone providers, and for good reason. One huge perk here in New Zealand – while I have similar minutes to what I’d get in Canada, incoming calls, regardless of where they come from, are *always* free. Canada and the US are pretty much the only places that charge you for both incoming and outgoing calls. I didn’t know that until just now! On top of that, there is no ‘roaming’ nonsense in NZ – regardless of where I am in New Zealand, my rate is the same.

That being said, there are many things MORE expensive here that I’ve seen. Pretty much universally, food is expensive. Fast food, snacks, milk, cereal, bread, you name it, it’s mostly all more expensive. On the ‘considerably more’ category, I’d put stuff like bathroom stuff – toothpaste, shaving cream, shampoo and the like seem to be obscenely expensive (I’d say twice as much as in Canada). And I was looking at the prices in their supermarkets, corner stores are even more. Luckily, someone had mentioned to bring a bit of extra toiletry supplies, so I’m decently well stocked there. The aforementioned wifi in cafes is also noticeably more expensive, as are tourist activities – I’ve taken a peak at a few things, and many start around $100NZD here in Auckland – for a large group day tour, that seems *expensive* (I’ll just be walking myself anyways). I’ll save up my money for the activities anyways (rafting and the like seem more reasonable for their prices).

Oh, and as for different (and yes, these are the genuine article, not a knockoff).

Baffling!