Roadtrip

I found this video, so I'm going to take a detour from the tour of our flat and show you what driving is like in rural New Zealand (which is about 90% of NZ).

This was filmed in the Waipoua Forest, the place with the giant kauri trees that I took pictures of a couple of months ago.

Chez Moi

Through the portal our paths diverge, straight ahead through the front door (to the right of above) is....

My room! This former living room/den has been converted into a comfortably messy bedroom. Once a staircase, The Ledge has become my combination bed, dresser, and desk. In case you were wondering that is my water bottle you see there next to my laptop. Glass tastes better.

The road more traveled by leads to the shower, the kitchen, and beyond.

The door you saw in picture number 1 is just out sight in this photo. This is our bathroom/laundry room/kitchen sink (since our kitchen sink is eternally clogged...something to do with tile grout apparently). Not for the faint of heart...

The tour continues...

The Back of the house, our flat is the bottom half. The truck is mine.

Our backyard, and the neighbors front yard.

Into the rabbit hole...

The Place

As promised, a virtual tour of our flat.

Ormonde Road

La Casa.

We have the downstairs half... right down this driveway.

More to follow...

A kiwi told me the other day that you should never ever talk about politics with an American.

Guy Fawkes Night

Tonight is Guy Fawke's Night - this night marks the only three days of the year that Kiwis can buy fireworks. Poor souls.


Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night, Cracker Night, Fireworks Night) is an annual celebration on the evening of the 5th of November. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London, England. (Wikipedia)


I think it's quite poetic that (due to the time difference) we are celebrating a man who tried to blow up the government on Election Day.

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Rugby

I watched my first full rugby game last nights. The landlords had a big barbecue and they invited me up. It's an interesting sport, kind of hard to explain. Basically, there are two different kinds of rugby - League and Union. It's kind of like American Baseball's American and National leagues, but the rule differences are more drastic. In both though, the object of the game is to get the ball into the endzone scoring a try. You can then kick the ball through the uprights for extra points - very much like american football. In rugby, however, play very rarely stops. The basic rules are: you can only move the ball forward by running it or kicking it, and you can't run past your team's ball carrier. There are a ton of complicated rules about tackling and all that, but that's the gist of it.

At the start of every match New Zealand's All Blacks do their war dance - the haka.