We have been in New Zealand for a week today. I'm not sure if it feels longer or shorter, but I find that it does feel some what natural. What I mean is that, while it all feels new and interesting and exciting, it still feels comfortable in way where I dont feel like a total outsider. And I think that is a good sign..
There is various forms of art along the harbour front here, and I saw a piece that seemed to echo our situation here in New Zealand. It was a concrete brick that was carved out to say the following:
"Then it's Wellington we're coming to!
It's time, she says,
It's time surely for us to change lanes,
Change tongues"
We have spent the last week in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, located on the southern part of the North Island. What we have seen of New Zealand so far has lived up to expectations. The backdrop is this stunning blue and green canvas of mountain and sea. Sometimes you look down the street and you are suddenly looking at this amazing view of green mountains and blue sky. If it snowed here in Wellington it would be one hell of a ski town. But Wellington is more likely to be home to thousands of windmills rather than thousands of ski bunnies.
They weren't kidding when they called it " Windy Wellington". Apparently it is the second windiest city in the World ( this fun fact was provided by our super reliable cab driver who drove us from the airport..but I googled it to check so it must be true...). The wind here is funny, it seems to sneak up out of no where and hits you right in the face at gale force speed when you least expect it, and then promptly go away for another 5 minutes. The first few nights we were here they had severe wind warnings of up to 120km/hour winds over night. Trent has been putting rocks in my pockets ever since.
The weather itself is funny too, the summer seems more Scandinavian that Australian or Canadian. What I mean by that is there is very low humidly, temperatures are in the high teens to low twentys, and the weather seems to hang between a delicate balance of spring and summer. One of my favourite things to do is look out the window to try to determine the temperature and what to wear. On a regular day you will see, at the very same time, someone decked out in full summer gear..shorts, tank top, flip flops while walking in the opposite direction will be someone wearing a fall coat and scarf... all and all it is a very reliable method of getting dressed.
Trent and I have been living at a furnished apartment in the downtown business district, oddly enough right across the street from the Canadian consulate.. you never can be too safe :) We have been spending our days exercising, finding a long term home,drinking coffee at one of the hundreds of cafes, and discovering the city. We have secured a temporary home in Paraparaumu, a town that is 50km north of wellington on the Kapiti Coast, and the location of our new life. We are renting out a vacation home on an open ended contract until we find a more long term accommodation. For now it works for us, its affordable, furnished, dog friendly, 5 min from the beach, and across the street from one of the best golf courses in New Zealand ( the last happened mearly by chance, but Trent settled for it..) and most of all available..so we took it.
Today we bought our very first picnic basket and blanket ( an absolute must in the Southern Hemisphere) and joined the crowd for a picnic and outdoor movie in the botanical gardens. Wellington is running a summer festival called " Summer City" where all the events are free and include theatre, cinema and outdoor events. It is such a cool atmosphere, groups of people on their picnic blankets with bottles of wine and picnic food, watching a great movie outdoors. Canada needs more picnic baskets and reasons like this to use them.
And of course, a post would never be complete without mentioning Huff. On a funny note, my friend Lee googled our blog name the other day at work, and instead of finding it right away, instead she found a picture of a Catahoula Leopard Dog in Florida named "Kiwi", and the dog looked like she could be Huff's sister. You can check out the link here, it was too funny not to share. http://www.tcpalm.com/photos/2010/mar/08/235370/
So Huff has been cleared to travel and will be on her way on January 18th! Which means it is just 2.5 days before we will see her again. I am filled with all this nervous excitement and at the same time, I cant believe it is all finally happening. It is odd that for months while we were planning this move, this is exactly the part that made me the most worried, her flying and getting here safe and not being too traumatised. And yet now, I seem oddly calm about the whole ordeal and am mostly just excited to see her again. I think part of this has to do with how well she has done through this whole process, coping really well with all the change and new surroundings and people. I will be sending all my good thoughts her way today.
Matthew, who works for Gloucester Kennels and has been co-ordinating her travel, said her hardly recognised her today when he took her to the vet, because she was so confident and not scared, he thought that he had brought the wrong dog! Matthew will be providing me a tracking number to track her journey, so stay posted in the next 24 hours for updates on her whereabouts!
More to come....
Heather
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