The office closes in 5 minutes but I'm so excited because of my Rangitoto excursion today!
Also, I wanted to let you know I'm heading to Kerikeri this weekend, which is in the Bay of Islands to work picking kiwifruit (i'm in the middle of the lag between grape picking and pruning in the vineyards. :( oh well).
But, Rangitoto-
I hiked 1.5 hours up a volcano to it's summit and even went through some of its lava caves all on my own! I compare this to walking up Bartoleme which was with a tour guide and I feel that took away a bit of the experience for me. Now I feel like i can conquer so much more, am capable of so much more, and holt shit, the views from the summit were out of this world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangitoto_Island
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
A suicide?
I watched a person jump from a bridge today.
But don't worry, the line didn't snap!
I witnessed my first bungy jump during my STRAY day trip and boy was it strange... they just fall right off a ledge! But I wasn't down at the bottom watching, I climbed up with em! I was miles above the water, walking alone the underhangings of a large bridge over the pacific ocean.
That's a good way to spend an afternoon, eh?
I met lot's of different travellers, from Dublin, Germany, Scotland, France, NYC, the Netherlands, England, Poland, etc etc. Had lunch with a woman from Germany and a man from Dublin, both are probably in their 40s or over, and gave me some good traveling tips. Dublin man also assured me that not all hostels are like Base, the one I'm staying in now. Most, he said, are much better. Which is awesome! Because, I already feel totally at home at base, and if they can only get better than I'm really set. Thank you easy adaptability.
Before lunch I was able to taste a free 1/2 pint beer, and then with lunch I was given a free pint with lunch. If you know me at all, you know I can't drink all of that, so I ended up leaving almost the entire pint! I felt bad, but hey.. if I feel myself succumbing at all to the alc, I stop. Just not in a totally comfortable place yet, otherwise I'd feel more comfortable drinking a bit.
Last night I ended up going down to the pier with piers (haha, I made fun of him a lot for that) and we just chatted and watched the sunset over the water. It was very pleasant. I then got some REALLY FUCKING AMAZING gelato. Damn people. Come to NZ and get their gelato...it's worth the 1400 dollar ticket.
Sorry I haven't been responding to emails recently, there are just so many and I'm using most of my internet time for updating this for everyone and then doing job search related things. I hope I can get back to all the emails before I leave Auckland (hopefully Sat at the latest), but if I can't know that I really appreciate all of them and if there's anything you NEED from me put URGENT in the subject line.
By the way, I can easily recieve mail. So send me some parcels!
PO box 1786 Shortland st. Auckland, New Zealand, 1140
PS. I'm not back on facebook. Def. don't have time for that, I just needed to message Nathan a question I had about NZ since he was here for 5 months last year and that's my only way of contacting him. Sorry to disappoint!
My love is sent.
But don't worry, the line didn't snap!
I witnessed my first bungy jump during my STRAY day trip and boy was it strange... they just fall right off a ledge! But I wasn't down at the bottom watching, I climbed up with em! I was miles above the water, walking alone the underhangings of a large bridge over the pacific ocean.
That's a good way to spend an afternoon, eh?
I met lot's of different travellers, from Dublin, Germany, Scotland, France, NYC, the Netherlands, England, Poland, etc etc. Had lunch with a woman from Germany and a man from Dublin, both are probably in their 40s or over, and gave me some good traveling tips. Dublin man also assured me that not all hostels are like Base, the one I'm staying in now. Most, he said, are much better. Which is awesome! Because, I already feel totally at home at base, and if they can only get better than I'm really set. Thank you easy adaptability.
Before lunch I was able to taste a free 1/2 pint beer, and then with lunch I was given a free pint with lunch. If you know me at all, you know I can't drink all of that, so I ended up leaving almost the entire pint! I felt bad, but hey.. if I feel myself succumbing at all to the alc, I stop. Just not in a totally comfortable place yet, otherwise I'd feel more comfortable drinking a bit.
Last night I ended up going down to the pier with piers (haha, I made fun of him a lot for that) and we just chatted and watched the sunset over the water. It was very pleasant. I then got some REALLY FUCKING AMAZING gelato. Damn people. Come to NZ and get their gelato...it's worth the 1400 dollar ticket.
Sorry I haven't been responding to emails recently, there are just so many and I'm using most of my internet time for updating this for everyone and then doing job search related things. I hope I can get back to all the emails before I leave Auckland (hopefully Sat at the latest), but if I can't know that I really appreciate all of them and if there's anything you NEED from me put URGENT in the subject line.
By the way, I can easily recieve mail. So send me some parcels!
PO box 1786 Shortland st. Auckland, New Zealand, 1140
PS. I'm not back on facebook. Def. don't have time for that, I just needed to message Nathan a question I had about NZ since he was here for 5 months last year and that's my only way of contacting him. Sorry to disappoint!
My love is sent.
Monday, March 12, 2012
About the commenting...
I've been told by many that my blog isn't allowing comments. That sucks. :( I live for the comments on this thing! So idk why that's happening. If I ever have a large expanse of time, I'll try to look into it, but unfortunately that probably won't happen till I get back to the states.
So, until then, if you try commenting on this and it doesn't work, please please just email me your comments.
My email is kzenn.johnson@gmail.com
Love hearing from you all! And I'm still doing amazingly. Can't imagine leaving in 4.5 months, there's just so much to do here and I'm madly in love now (with traveling, ahem). Damn you, university. Why can't you start in Winter?
I just had lunch with Ky and he is a wonderful contact! We're going to go try to find some music bar Thurs evening. And I think next week I may go to Hamilton to stay with his parents, and since they go up to Raglan about every weekend, I may do a jaunt up there with them.
So many options. So many contacts. So many lovely people.
I also, instead of coming back here right after my bank stuff, I got a blueberry custurd danish and went to one of the various parks in the city. It was a steep climb to get to but once I got to th top it was beautiful! Giant magnolia trees intermingling with a bunch of palms, a fountain, a view of the bay, lot's of gorgeous flowers...kinda reminded me of Mexico, actually. Well, I hung out there for awhile and watch the seagulls since, instead of pigeons attacking you, they've got bunches of seagulls! And they're so cute!
Aah, happiness is not a warm gun, it is NZ! And I'm only in the heart of the biggest city. I ain't seen nothin' yet.
Again, still so much more I'd like to post about, however, I need to do some job searching before Piers and I go and chat with the job asisst people. And for dinner I might go with IEP to the Blue Room Pub or there are a bunch of readings at the library starting at 17:30 with a free glass of wine.
Keep reading, and start replying! I gotta know it's worth my time writing these things up! :p
My love is sent!
So, until then, if you try commenting on this and it doesn't work, please please just email me your comments.
My email is kzenn.johnson@gmail.com
Love hearing from you all! And I'm still doing amazingly. Can't imagine leaving in 4.5 months, there's just so much to do here and I'm madly in love now (with traveling, ahem). Damn you, university. Why can't you start in Winter?
I just had lunch with Ky and he is a wonderful contact! We're going to go try to find some music bar Thurs evening. And I think next week I may go to Hamilton to stay with his parents, and since they go up to Raglan about every weekend, I may do a jaunt up there with them.
So many options. So many contacts. So many lovely people.
I also, instead of coming back here right after my bank stuff, I got a blueberry custurd danish and went to one of the various parks in the city. It was a steep climb to get to but once I got to th top it was beautiful! Giant magnolia trees intermingling with a bunch of palms, a fountain, a view of the bay, lot's of gorgeous flowers...kinda reminded me of Mexico, actually. Well, I hung out there for awhile and watch the seagulls since, instead of pigeons attacking you, they've got bunches of seagulls! And they're so cute!
Aah, happiness is not a warm gun, it is NZ! And I'm only in the heart of the biggest city. I ain't seen nothin' yet.
Again, still so much more I'd like to post about, however, I need to do some job searching before Piers and I go and chat with the job asisst people. And for dinner I might go with IEP to the Blue Room Pub or there are a bunch of readings at the library starting at 17:30 with a free glass of wine.
Keep reading, and start replying! I gotta know it's worth my time writing these things up! :p
My love is sent!
There are no squirrels in New Zealand!
And no white or black squirrels in Scotland... but there are grey and red squirrels!
But don't worry, the birds make up for it by sitting in the middle of the road until you get as close as possible to them with the car before flying away.
Wait, I was in a car?
Yes, yes I was.
And how do you know these things about Scotland?
Why, I met a Scottish woman yesterday and we had a nice chat while she took me to and from a potential place of work.
Mhm... I have WAY too many approach approach conflicts.
And with that, I'm pretty much over my homesickness and now Jul 20 seems to be coming too fast! :p haha
I told you fate always seems to take care of things as long as you put a little effort into it. Well, yesterday afternoon I got a call from Michael, one of my potential employers who gave me an idea of what the job would be and essentially I'd be an Au Pair! I would be a nanny! They have three kids, 4, 6, and 10. And the wife is fighting with lung cancer, so that's why they need the extra work. I would basically have all evenings and weekends off, I'd get to use their car (which is a little weird for me with the whole left side of the rd thing) anytime I was off, so in the evening and weekends... I could take day trips all over the south Island, they'd give me my own room and all meals, and I'd get paid $200 a week. And they have a piano.
And they're all really nice! The kids are wonderful and even their current Au Pair, Rebecca (the scottish woman), is super sweet. And they're native Kiwis. So why the hell would I turn this down? Well... lot's of reasons. There are so many options for me here, and I guess I feel like taking on a full 3 month job with them would be somewhat restricting and honestly, 200 dollars a week wouldn't fund the travel I'd want to do, so I'm still leaning towards a couple months on a vineyard with Piers (that's my English friends name!) working like a MACHINE. $13 and hour for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Doing the same repetetive thing over and over. It would be kind of terrible, but an incredible way to earn money.
But it is really hard to turn down the Au Pair job, since it would be perfect in its own way. And they had me over to their house for dinner last night. They live in the Suburban part of Auckland, about 3 mins walk away from one of the many mnay bays here, and you can easily see rangitoto from that bay. It was such a nice night, being able to go and enjoy some Kiwi hospitality and the dinner was quite simple, rice, a fish soup thing, some mac and cheese...but it was homecooked so it was delicious! Fish here tastes better too... go figure.
Unfortunately, I have to head out. Need to go back to the bank to confirm my bank account stuff. And then I'm having lunch with Ky, and after that Piers and I are heading to the job services help in our hostel to ask about seasonal work and see if it really might be a good fit.
Before I go though, I have to say that as soon as I got off of Queens st, the majesty of NZ began to hit me. Once you're no longer surrounded by the tall city buildings, you get a much better feel for the enviornment.
Hopefully I'll get more of that tomorrow when I have my free day tour with stray bus around Auckland where I'll also be given a free beer! I'll be buying my first drink tonight, I'm quite excited. I was also served wine on the plan with dinner, that was a weird thing.
ok, really gotta go now. Though there's so much else to talk about. So very much!
Hope all is well with everyone else!
I may be able to get back on here sometime later today.
My love is sent
But don't worry, the birds make up for it by sitting in the middle of the road until you get as close as possible to them with the car before flying away.
Wait, I was in a car?
Yes, yes I was.
And how do you know these things about Scotland?
Why, I met a Scottish woman yesterday and we had a nice chat while she took me to and from a potential place of work.
Mhm... I have WAY too many approach approach conflicts.
And with that, I'm pretty much over my homesickness and now Jul 20 seems to be coming too fast! :p haha
I told you fate always seems to take care of things as long as you put a little effort into it. Well, yesterday afternoon I got a call from Michael, one of my potential employers who gave me an idea of what the job would be and essentially I'd be an Au Pair! I would be a nanny! They have three kids, 4, 6, and 10. And the wife is fighting with lung cancer, so that's why they need the extra work. I would basically have all evenings and weekends off, I'd get to use their car (which is a little weird for me with the whole left side of the rd thing) anytime I was off, so in the evening and weekends... I could take day trips all over the south Island, they'd give me my own room and all meals, and I'd get paid $200 a week. And they have a piano.
And they're all really nice! The kids are wonderful and even their current Au Pair, Rebecca (the scottish woman), is super sweet. And they're native Kiwis. So why the hell would I turn this down? Well... lot's of reasons. There are so many options for me here, and I guess I feel like taking on a full 3 month job with them would be somewhat restricting and honestly, 200 dollars a week wouldn't fund the travel I'd want to do, so I'm still leaning towards a couple months on a vineyard with Piers (that's my English friends name!) working like a MACHINE. $13 and hour for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Doing the same repetetive thing over and over. It would be kind of terrible, but an incredible way to earn money.
But it is really hard to turn down the Au Pair job, since it would be perfect in its own way. And they had me over to their house for dinner last night. They live in the Suburban part of Auckland, about 3 mins walk away from one of the many mnay bays here, and you can easily see rangitoto from that bay. It was such a nice night, being able to go and enjoy some Kiwi hospitality and the dinner was quite simple, rice, a fish soup thing, some mac and cheese...but it was homecooked so it was delicious! Fish here tastes better too... go figure.
Unfortunately, I have to head out. Need to go back to the bank to confirm my bank account stuff. And then I'm having lunch with Ky, and after that Piers and I are heading to the job services help in our hostel to ask about seasonal work and see if it really might be a good fit.
Before I go though, I have to say that as soon as I got off of Queens st, the majesty of NZ began to hit me. Once you're no longer surrounded by the tall city buildings, you get a much better feel for the enviornment.
Hopefully I'll get more of that tomorrow when I have my free day tour with stray bus around Auckland where I'll also be given a free beer! I'll be buying my first drink tonight, I'm quite excited. I was also served wine on the plan with dinner, that was a weird thing.
ok, really gotta go now. Though there's so much else to talk about. So very much!
Hope all is well with everyone else!
I may be able to get back on here sometime later today.
My love is sent
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Excitment! And plans!
I just had orientation, and they alleviated most all of my fears. I'm still going through a good bit of culture shock and homesickness, but now there's a lot of excitement added into that.
SO my sincere plan and hope is to work on a vineyard for 3 months, save as much as possible so that for the last month I can really go out and do things without braking the bank. I'll probably do a guided bus thing of the south island (so I can get to Franz Joseph Glacier) and then take a short jaunt over to Fiji before heading home. So, I'm quite excited.
I also have to go to Rotorua before I leave so I can stay in a Maori hut.
But yeah. I know these updates are weird and there a re a lot of them, but i never know when I'll be able to post, so this super plenty post thing probably won't last once I leave Auckland.
But I need to go get my IRD number and set up my bank account (look at me, I'm an adult!)
My love is sent.
Ciao!
SO my sincere plan and hope is to work on a vineyard for 3 months, save as much as possible so that for the last month I can really go out and do things without braking the bank. I'll probably do a guided bus thing of the south island (so I can get to Franz Joseph Glacier) and then take a short jaunt over to Fiji before heading home. So, I'm quite excited.
I also have to go to Rotorua before I leave so I can stay in a Maori hut.
But yeah. I know these updates are weird and there a re a lot of them, but i never know when I'll be able to post, so this super plenty post thing probably won't last once I leave Auckland.
But I need to go get my IRD number and set up my bank account (look at me, I'm an adult!)
My love is sent.
Ciao!
Day 2
I told you it'd get better!
I'm still not having THE TIME OF MY LIFE, but I'm much less curl up into a ball and wonder why the hell I did this...
I have a travel companion now! We're planning on buying a campervan and making our way down to Franz Joseph for some skydiving. Unfortunately I can't spell his name. But he's from England and is not too keen on traveling alone either. We went out to dinner last night and split some NY pizza. I told him it didn't compare.
We walked around Auckland for a bit just looking around, and that was kinda nice. It'ds been cloudy and rainy since I got here but the temp is nice. We're planning on going to Rangito (?) Island in Thurs when it's supposed to be sunny.
My other roomates are from Germany, Sweden, and one other place... though I'm not sure where yet since I haven't formally met Pete.
I also have two potential jobs lined up, both dealing more with housecare than farming... but hey, they have accomodation.
By the way, there are a TON of asains here. I see more Asains than I do New Zealanders, I think. Also, a weird thing, is I am def. a minority. There any other Americans that I've met, and Jessica, my German roomate, has been traveling for over a year and said I was the first American she'd met.
I'm also going to meet up with Ky at some point today since he called me to set something up. Hopefully he'll have some good advice since he's been backpacking for awhile now.
My pack is SO HEAVY. If I was doing any real trekking with that thing... I would probably pass out. Luckily, I can handle the small jaunts I've had to do with it. Note to self-travel when it's summer to fall or spring to summer. none of this winter stuff... it makes my pack waay too heavy.
My english friend and I are also planning on going to a music store that's down on Queen St. so we can play Piano, so that'll be a fun activity.
Now to all my friends reading, I gotta tell you, don't travel alone. It's not so much that it's scary... it's just too lonely. There are some people that can do it and love it, but I am not one of them, and I know you guys aren't either, eve if you say you're antisocial, take someone with you!! I'm just lucky I met someone who is in a similar situation as me that I get along with.
gtg orientation!
I'm still not having THE TIME OF MY LIFE, but I'm much less curl up into a ball and wonder why the hell I did this...
I have a travel companion now! We're planning on buying a campervan and making our way down to Franz Joseph for some skydiving. Unfortunately I can't spell his name. But he's from England and is not too keen on traveling alone either. We went out to dinner last night and split some NY pizza. I told him it didn't compare.
We walked around Auckland for a bit just looking around, and that was kinda nice. It'ds been cloudy and rainy since I got here but the temp is nice. We're planning on going to Rangito (?) Island in Thurs when it's supposed to be sunny.
My other roomates are from Germany, Sweden, and one other place... though I'm not sure where yet since I haven't formally met Pete.
I also have two potential jobs lined up, both dealing more with housecare than farming... but hey, they have accomodation.
By the way, there are a TON of asains here. I see more Asains than I do New Zealanders, I think. Also, a weird thing, is I am def. a minority. There any other Americans that I've met, and Jessica, my German roomate, has been traveling for over a year and said I was the first American she'd met.
I'm also going to meet up with Ky at some point today since he called me to set something up. Hopefully he'll have some good advice since he's been backpacking for awhile now.
My pack is SO HEAVY. If I was doing any real trekking with that thing... I would probably pass out. Luckily, I can handle the small jaunts I've had to do with it. Note to self-travel when it's summer to fall or spring to summer. none of this winter stuff... it makes my pack waay too heavy.
My english friend and I are also planning on going to a music store that's down on Queen St. so we can play Piano, so that'll be a fun activity.
Now to all my friends reading, I gotta tell you, don't travel alone. It's not so much that it's scary... it's just too lonely. There are some people that can do it and love it, but I am not one of them, and I know you guys aren't either, eve if you say you're antisocial, take someone with you!! I'm just lucky I met someone who is in a similar situation as me that I get along with.
gtg orientation!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
ALSO
Idk if my phone is being charged when it's not on airplane mode. I'd love it if there was a way for someone to figure that out and tell me. So far I've just been leaving it on airplane mode just in case. I turned off the cellular data and 3G but it still searches for networks and won't let me not have service of some sort. So idk what to do with it-I can't use wifi with it if it's on airplane mode. And again, I really have no idea what time it is here. The comp says 14:16, but my phone says 1:16. My watch says 7:20, and my new phone says 3:18 am. so GAH.
Anyways, I'd love to know about the phone thing.
My love is sent again.
P.S. I feel like I'm in a flight of the conchords episode. Everyone talks like them it's crazy!
Anyways, I'd love to know about the phone thing.
My love is sent again.
P.S. I feel like I'm in a flight of the conchords episode. Everyone talks like them it's crazy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)