Post 34: Home on the Range

I’ve been home now for about 3 months and it’s nice to reconnect with where I grew up and see my family. I am starting to go a little bit stir crazy though so I’ll probably need to join a gym or dance class or pick up some more freelance work soon! It’s finally warmed up here in Oregon and it’s spring so everything is beautiful. The picture above is from the walk our family regularly does through our little valley here in Medford. I love seeing the horses and enticing them to come over for a tastier piece of grass than the one they’ve got. (:

It’s still a challenge to figure out what I’m doing next, but I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to I/O Psych (a PhD) or a law degree track to being a judge (humanitarian focus I think). I’ve been trying to find people to shadow and there are 2 very nice judges in town (Judge Bloom and Judge Ravassapour) that have been kind enough to allow me to follow them around and chat with them about their jobs in a week, but I can’t for the life of me find any I/O Psych professionals! Ah-well. I’ll keep trying I guess.

In the meantime I’ve been planting everything I can haha (raspberries, dahlias, and herbs–strawberries with my mom too). I love it!! Seeing things grow and then being able to use them is so rewarding.

I was angry all yesterday because Dollar rent-a-car ripped me off back in February and won’t give me my money back, even though I WASN’T EVEN IN THE COUNTRY for one of the days they’re trying to charge me for. BOYCOTT EVERYONE, BOYCOTT! (:

Otherwise things are good and I’m headed to Portland next week to see friends. I can’t wait!

Post 33: The Great Barrier Reef

Finished packing everything up in Auckland and said goodbyes–always hard to leave friends but at least I got to go on a great vacation right after.

From Auckland I flew into Brisbane and met my friend Tiffany after a day of happily wandering around by myself and almost dancing for joy at the sight of Target haha. She and I flew up to Cairns where we discovered that bats are quite stinky (the trees are covered in large bats called flying foxes). The next morning we headed out to the reef for our overnight stay on the reef Encounter which was fabulous. While the weather wasn’t great, once we hit the water in our scuba gear with our guide everything was wonderful. The pictures above don’t do the reef justice as our rented underwater camera wasn’t fabulous. It’s hard to catch the colors because the water filters them out. In any case we saw nurse sharks and turtles and got to pet giant sea slug things and there were all sorts of beautiful colorful fish including Frank the Humphead Maori Wrasse (above) who would come over to your hand to be pet. Loved him!

Had a day in Cairns free so we headed up to Karanda and explored a little. The rushing jungle waterfall on the way made you feel like you were in the scene of a movie about early Australia and I was just waiting to see a manly outback Australian jump from one side to the other on the backs of crocodiles to avoid the falls… maybe next time. (;

Met friends in Brisbane and did all sorts of fun things–kayaks and holding koalas included. Fed some surprisingly gentle kangaroos too.

Made it to SoCal after that interminable flight and tried to get my rental car… all I have to say is DO NOT try to rent from Dollar… and got to see friends and family which was SO wonderful. Wish I’d had more time but needed to get home to Oregon and figure out life!

I’m finally here in my trailer at home (no room in our tiny house!) and soaking up the family love and Oregon chilled-out vibe.

Post 32: Eagle Painting Finished and in Parnell

Well the countdown continues and I’m trying to get things all taken care of. I finished the eagle painting that is the partner to my previous Lion painting and both are now up for sale at a coffee shop called ‘Penelope’ in Parnell, Auckland. I’m a bit sad to leave them behind but it can’t be helped–now we’ll just see if they sell!

Went to Tiritiri Matangi  (bird island) and saw all kinds of rare birds. Some were only a few of a couple hundred left etc. Crazy! Lots of saddlebacks, bell birds, fantails, whiteheads, NZ kingfisher babies, wood pigeons, welcome swallows, a few oyster catchers with babies, Red-crowned parakeets, north island robins (actually a flycatcher), fernbirds, takahe, stitchbirds, tuis, a sleepy Morepork owl and one far away kokako. I was slightly more excited about all those guys than my companions but they cheerfully went along with it all anyway. (: There are penguins too but I think they were all out in the water trying to stay cool.

Headed to my favourite restaurant Ortolana in the city tonight. Yay!

I’m already feeling sad about missing people here. Hopefully I’ll get to come back some day soon.

Post 31: Goodbye Auckland

Well the time has come and my flight to Australia is 2 weeks from yesterday.

I’ve been selling everything (goodbye baby car! Sniff sniff*), packing up, and just generally getting ready to go. I was happy for all of 5 seconds when I sold the car and then sad for a day that things were really final. I can’t wait to see my family and friends at home and all my old haunts but boy am I going to miss friends here and my church family! Plus I’ve finally found my coffee shops and favorite restaurants and know where most things are. Ah-well.

Things I will NOT miss:

Marmite. Yuck

5pm Auckland Traffic

Roads that suddenly merge without warning

Cars parked in the lane you’re currently driving in

No screens so bugs invade your house

No insulation

No central air (I may be a bit sweaty at the moment)

 

Things I WILL miss:

my peeps!

Instant Nescafe coffee’s

All the beautiful beaches (never packed)

Passionfruits

Cheap honey in many flavours

The way South Aucklanders talk ‘bro’

Big bear hugs at church

Lots of natural hot springs

 

At least I have holding koala’s and 2 days on the great barrier reef to look forward to!

Post 30: Christmas on the Beach

For Christmas three of us ex-patriots headed north to the bay of islands since we couldn’t head home. While we all missed a traditional Christmas and our families we made the best of it and did a dolphin swim, ate out, kayaked, and drove up to the very top of New Zealand. My favorite had to be riding quads on 90-mile beach though. So fun! It was also a beautiful late afternoon with the sun peaking through the clouds and shining off of the water, hard to beat.

We rang in the New Year here in Auckland at Longroom and my friend Emil came up from Wellington for a few days to hang out. Had a great time just relaxing and going to movies (for my 2 cents Horrible bosses 2 is a miss but everyone else seemed to like it) and having little adventures.

New Years day we drove around Waiheke island just North of Auckland on scooters and managed to get a bit burned. Ate at the Goldie Room at a winery and quite enjoyed ourselves. I think we all slept well that night from so much sun and sand!

Everyone is back to work and I am just trying to sell everything and get ready for my next trip–Australia and then home. I’ve got a scuba class the next 3 days too and I’m a bit nervous. Hope all goes well! Gotta get certified for the Great Barrier Reef. (:

Post 29: RAAAAAWWWRRRR!

Just finished my lion painting. (: I started these a while ago but because work has been so slow lately (I only worked 2 days last week) I was able to finish up my painting. I tried a new technique where I put plaster on  first and then painted the base. After it dried I used an X-ACTO knife for a relief method to reveal the white underneath. I think it worked all-right but I’d like a more even type of plaster and one a bit thicker and easier to cut through next time.

Other than that it’s almost Christmas!! I finished all my shopping last week and everyone got my parcels so that makes me happy! We had a beautiful program at church too.

Watched ”Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies” and enjoyed it more than the other Hobbit movies. Still wish he’d stuck to the book of course but beggars can’t be choosers.

Now on to the eagle painting.

Post 28: The Chair Master

My chair is finished! Thanks to my friend Rhys who brought over his expertise and power tools it got done in one day. Had a great time learning about pre-drilling larger holes to get a shorter screw to work etc. yay!! Now the neighbors cat is thoroughly enjoying it haha.

Went down to Wellington with George for Thanksgiving to hang out and make dinner with our friend Emil and had a great time. Walked around the waterfront and Te Papa museum and met a bunch of Emil’s friends from Weta for their Christmas party. We even got to see Smaug in the airport on the way back. (:

Rebecca (my lovely German friend), and George and I have planned out Christmas vacation up to the Bay of Islands where we’ll stay at Crisdon Castle and I can’t wait! It’s pretty spendy at $280 a night but looks fabulous. We’re planning to snorkel and go on a dinner cruise and 4-wheel and get massages. Ooooohhh fun and relaxing times ahead.

Post 27: Austin Powers Penguins

So a little while ago we visited the aquarium here in Auckland just at the right time to see the penguins molting. They look so weird! A bit disgusting and fascinating at the same time. The rest of the aquarium was your fairly standard stuff although they had some interesting history and artifacts from famous Antarctic explorations.

Recently have just been waiting for summer and planning my trip to Australia on the way back from New Zealand in Feb. Found a few friends at work who like to play basketball so getting a bit of that in at lunch which is pretty great. Our mixed competitive team is playing tonight and is 0 for 3. We’re not very good but we have good sportsmanship!

Been thinking more about what to do when I get back…. these decisions are so hard! My sister suggested a singing dentist/lawyer… but I think i’ll solicit a few more opinions first hehe.

Post 26: 20 Kilometers through Volcanoes (Mt. Doom in fact!) and more

HOT POOLS!!!

Ahhhh…. So relaxing. (:

This last week some besties from the states came for all of 7 days and we made the most of it. We did lots of hot pooling and boy was that nice. While we couldn’t go do everything around because of the time limitation we still got a lot of eating and fun in.

We went to hot water beach where the low tide was so high no one could actually dig a hot pool—super bummer. But we made up for it with a hot river (natural hotsprings) after Hobbiton the next day on our way down to stay at Taupo Debretts Spa Resort with (you guessed it) more hot pools. I love that place. We stayed in a chalet that was a great find for the money and had free all-day access to the hot pools spa. There are several big pools at different temperatures, a water slide and kids area, as well as a few small ‘tub’ type pools and private ones you can get a key for as well.

The next day we did the Tongariro crossing which is 20kilometers (around 12 miles) of up and down not counting Mt. Doom which Ashley and Steve climbed and I did not. Worked out well as with my bad ankle and being out of shape we made it back at about the same time even with their ‘2 hours’ extra hike. Old people were passing me and making jokes. Nice Davies, nice.

ANYWAY, we also did ziplining which was great fun-just wish they lasted for longer! Learned about how they’re getting rid of all the pests in the forests (a quick shot to the head with a CO2 trap) so the birds will come back.

High Tea at the Langham was YUM. I felt gross after which is always the sign of too many good sweets.

Sailing the harbour was beautiful weather although not much wind-was great to get out on the water in the sun though. Plus we used bookme.co.nz so we got our tickets on the cheap! ($44 NZ)

Watched Gone Girl. Yikes. Makes ME want to stay away from women!

Post 25: The Oregonians Come to Visit

My longtime friend Trudi and one of her friends flew in a couple weeks ago for a 6 week visit. They quit their jobs and hit the road! I only got to stay with them for a week and then was back to work at Special Group but they’ve managed to travel all the way down to the middle of the South Island about now. They’ve done couch surfing most of the way and from the sound of it have had some great hosts! I guess it’s the way to go. (: I tend to like my own place to relax and plan my next outing but I can see how it would be nice to make new friends all over.

For the week I spent with them we went back to hotwater beach, had a CRAZY windy visit to Miruwai beach on the west coast, and visited the glowworm caves in Waitomo. Then we dropped down to Rotorua and Taupo and quite enjoyed the both natural and pre-made pool hotsprings.

George came down for the weekend and we had a little friendly competition in the park. I got plenty of advice from 10-yr old boys and old men that I did not want. Oh the joys of playing outside! Haha

Glow worms are icky up close but look like stars far away.

We had a huge blackout all over Auckland. Not fun.

Oh! The best news. I have a new nephew. (: