New Year's Day

New Year's Day was absolutely glorious weather; blue, sunny, and full of the hope of the year ahead - as it should be!

Rather than spend all day indoors or pottering in the greenhouse (why is it that the weeds are growing faster than the plants and are far less tasty to the slugs?), I decided after lunch to go out for another walk, looking for a way in to the reserves. This time I was better armed for my wander, as as well as having the map, I had also Google Mapped it, using the satellite view, and had a better idea of where the entrance actually was.

So I headed out, after war painting myself with factor 30 (there's a reason that I don't tan - I paint myself whiter than a Goth...), sorting out a bottle of water, and generally taking all the other precautions that I'd need for a couple of hours out of doors. The walk down to the park area is very quick and easy - under the train tracks, and about ten minutes in a generally straight line through suburbia. Then over the river, and I followed a public footpath around a playing field. There were a few people around, but not that many - I think that most were sleeping off their hangovers from the night before.

Tucked away next to the sports field changing rooms, I found the entrance to the park; it was gated off (with a big sign saying that no mountain bikes or vehicles were allowed), but there was a pedestrian entrance through (possibly. The sign did also say No Trespassing, but I am choosing to believe that that was for the vehicles...).

The path was cut into the bush, and went quite steeply uphill from the word 'go'. In just a few minutes, I was climbing up above the city. The bush was high on either side, but there were a few gaps to let me take photos.




As I got higher, I could start to see the whole of Lower Hutt spread out below me, and clear views across to the hills on the other sides of the valley.




There were some glorious little flowers growing in the middle of the path


but not much else. It was about this point that it started to dawn upon me that I was walking up the middle of the fire break, and that quite possibly, I wasn't supposed to be here... However, it being New Year's Day and all, I also thought that the chances of someone coming and telling me off were also very low, and I wanted to see where the track would go!

The atmosphere was gorgeous. Not only was the sun warm, but, aside from the birds and constant cicadas, I couldn't hear anything. Even though I wasn't that high up, really, there were no sounds from the city below, and when I turned my back on it, I could really imagine that I was in the middle of nowhere.

As I got higher, I could see all the way along the valley past Upper Hutt


and still had higher to climb


A little bit higher, and I decided to listen to my wobbling legs and make a turn round for home


(yes, the path was as steep as it looks!)

I didn't want to get to a point where I suddenly realised I was too tired to get down the hill safely.

However, when I got to the bottom, I realised that I wasn't that tired, after all, and decided to have a bit more of an explore. I'm very pleased that I did, because just round the corner, the other side of the playing field, I found the entrance to a reserve. This one was definitely public access, with a nice stile over the fence, and a map at the front showing where the parkland was and how it fitted in to the private land about it.

It was absolutely glorious in there. The birds were incredibly noisy, and the path (a proper forest path, rather than a bare gouge in the earth...) wandered around the trees, occasionally using the roots as steps when the path headed steeply uphill. It was very peaceful; again, even though I was only a few minutes walk away from suburbia, I couldn't hear any signs of civilisation.



Unfortunately, before I got too far in, my legs decided that, as the going was starting to get steeper, they were going to rebel, and so I headed back home. However, the camera and I are going t take another trip out there as soon as the weather gets a bit better (since the 1st, it has been rain and wind fairly constantly...).

Happy New Year!

No matter what it says on the "posted" date above, it is currently 9.40 a.m. on the 1st January 2010. (Blogger *really* can't get the hang of me being in NZ!)

It is incredibly surreal to be in 2010 whilst my friends and family in the UK and US/Canada are still in 2009 - the first time that the time difference has really sunk in!

I hope that 2010 and the coming decade bring you all peace, joy and happiness, with good friends, good food and good music.

Christmas social life!

We've had a very busy few days - unusually for us!

Christmas Day dawned bright and sunny; we started the day with a Skype to my family (I love this technology!), and, after a leisurely morning of opening presents and having our lunch, we took advantage of the free rail services that we had in the Valley.

First was a trip down to Petone and the beach.



The beach was really quiet - just a couple of dog walkers and a few paddlers around:


The water wasn't too cold, either:




We took a trip along the pier - it's a lot barer than a UK seaside pier, and is mainly used for fishing off, and for the ferry across to central Wellington and the island in the bay.




Then, after a trip along Jackson Street so that John could get some interesting architecture pics, we headed up the train line to Upper Hutt, and had a wander round up there. It was absolutely deserted! The main high street was like a ghost town, and we saw very few cars on the roads. Whilst I know it was Christmas Day, it felt a lot emptier than UK Christmases, I think because with the dark winter, all the houses have lights on, so you can see that there are still people around. With the bright sun and the warmth, you had no indication of whether there was anyone in the houses at all.

The park was deserted...


We had been aiming for a nice regional park, however, between us and it, there was a dirty great highway and a water filled ditch, so we headed back to the station.


We did go and have a look at the other side of the train tracks, and it was a bit of a shame, because if we'd gone that way first off, there did seem to be a regional park on that side, too, but we didn't have time to explore that way before the train left.

We then headed back home for Christmas dinner. Whilst it was not quite the feast that we'd have had in the UK, it was still very nice (though I don't think I will buy the turkey again - something that is only 75% turkey doesn't really taste the same for some reason!). We did have a slew of roast veg, plus stuffing (rosemary, lemon and onion, as I was using up bits from the fridge, and whilst there is tons of rosemary in the garden, there isn't any sage!) And I did find some Christmas crackers, too...



Our Pohutakawa in the front garden has flowered just in time for Christmas:


and I am gloating over the two new additions to my plant family (thank you very much, John!):
an olive tree with little baby olives already growing:

and a feijoa tree

We'd never even heard of these before we saw them in the garden centre, but they apparently grow very well in NZ (our South African neighbours were telling us that their neighbour on the other side has a tree which is covered in them, and has a real autumnal glut), so I am really looking forward to trying these (the top appears to have a couple of flower buds, so it may flower this year...)

Boxing Day was a normal heading out to the market day (though there were depleted stalls - I was very surprised that it was open at all, to be honest), and a food shop, then we headed into Wellington itself (on the bus unfortunately, as there was line work on the tracks, and will be right up until the first week of January), in order to meet a friend of one of my university flat mates. It was a really interesting afternoon - we had a lot in common, and ended up nattering whilst sat above the sea wall, watching the children (young and old) play in the sea (I am really looking forward to getting my swimming costume back from the shippers!)

When we got back, I got to play with the new toy that my parents gave us - I am now the proud owner of a bread maker! I'd bought the ingredients during the food shop, and this was the result:

I'd slightly overdone the improver, so it tastes a bit citrussy, but absolutely fine when toasted with cheese on top! I'll be making the next one tomorrow :-)

Sunday, we were invited over to a friend's house; this is the lady who has been very generous and lent us a whole load of kitchen crockery, a duvet and a mattress whilst we are waiting for our own stuff to arrive. We had a brilliant day - playing games, both board and computer, and watching comedy DVDs. They rent the most gorgeous house up on the hills, overlooking the bay. It has fantastic views (when the cloud cover isn't down!) and, if it wasn't for the 10 mins or so of driving up hairpin bends to get there (didn't do my travel sickness any good!), it would be amazing!

Today has been incredibly lazy; we didn't get to bed till 1 on Sunday night, and were up reasonably early on the Monday morning (I don't like sleeping late when I'm in someone else's house), so we had a definite lie in this morning (well - we didn't set the alarm. We were both still awake by 9, and it was only by the dint of enormous effort that I stayed in bed until 9.40!) And it's back to filling out job application forms (I have to keep reminding myself that no-one is working at the moment, so I shouldn't be surprised that I'm not hearing anything back!!)

And a Happy Christmas to all of you at home...

A New Zealand version of the partridge & pear - this is the Tui in the Pohutukawa Tree...

As our first Southern Hemisphere Christmas approaches, and we consider the slight surrealism of Christmas in 21 degree heat (and how come the UK waits until we have left before it has a white Christmas?), we'd like to wish everyone a very happy and peaceful Christmas / Yuletide / Mid-Winter Festival of your choice. May 2010 bring you everything you wish for, and may the season bring you love, laughter and good friendship.

Thank you to everyone who has got us Christmas cards, and who has sent us emails and letters - it means so much when we are this far from friends and family.

Happy Christmas!

Job hunting is full time work...

In the last week or so, I've applied for thirteen jobs (well, nine advertised roles, and four calling for general "send us your CV and we may deign to acknowledge your presence..." applications). Today's marathon was three applications, which took me just about six hours (not counting an hour or so's break; half an hour at lunchtime and half an hour mid afternoon while my brain dribbled out of my ears!) Most of that was spent on two of the applications, both of which had forms to fill in as well as the CV and cover letter requirement.

But I am reasonably hopeful on both of the bigger applications - they are both more of the level of what I was doing in my previous role (meaning that I'm unlikely to have with them the phone call that I did this morning for the Administrative Assistant role where I had to explain to the recruiter why I was looking at basic admin roles when I had been in a managerial capacity - blunt answer, we need the money, and the application was in the right cash bracket! I did also talk about the ability to progress within the civil service and the benefits of them hiring someone who would be able to hit the ground running, and not have to have any handholding, but I'm not sure whether that would be enough to get me to interview stage over the top of the school leavers who can be moulded into the team shape...) Still, none of the three have a pre-January closing date, so I'm not likely to hear for a while (though January is next week, which is a little bit scary!)

I then spent the remainder of the "working day" playing with a new toy... Well, more of a new website - I sent some feedback in on a website I was browsing, and, after a little bit of an exchange with the contact, they asked me if I'd like to look over the new website that they will be launching in the New Year. So I had a little play on that and wrote a fairly major essay on areas for improvement - and I only got to look at one section - more playing tomorrow! (well, if they ask for open and honest feedback, that is what they will get!) I just wish that there was a way of doing this sort of thing professionally, as I really do enjoy it (I get to use my technical skills and my love of nit-picking in equal quantities!)

After spending pretty much all day indoors, aside from a little trip out to weed in the greenhouse and to see how my plants are doing (I still think I'm going to lose the battle between me and the leaf-eating pest, but the garlic is doing well...), I then went out for a short walk - I ended up half an hour and two train stations away (and discovered that the local TKD group is twenty minutes away) - an absolutely lovely walk in the sunshine.

And joy of joys, we have discovered that the local train service, and a couple of the buses are running limited, FREE services on Christmas Day. Absolutely no excuse not to get to the beach (even if it rains) and to do a bit of exploring! (maybe fitting in some presents and a little bit of turkey - we finally found something resembling turkey that won't break the bank...)

Flowers

As it is lovely and sunny in the garden today (despite the forecast rain...), I thought I'd share some photos of the flowers in the garden :-)











Our Tui is now visiting us pretty much every day (though I suspect that it is the Christmas Tree flowers that he is after rather than the glory of our company ;-) ).

We had a great time last night at the Phoenix Sci-fi group - this meeting was "Board", the board game interest group - these were tactical board games, rather than just the throw the dice ones or D&D - we played a round of Carcasson, where you draw tiles to build up cities and farming regions, and then a couple of games of Trans America, a game involving connecting American cities by rail - both great fun as there is opportunity for working together or to try and sabotage someone else's game depending on how mean you are feeling! It was a great way of getting to know more members of the group - there were a number of people here who we hadn't met at the quiz night. And we were very lucky in that we were very generously offered a lift home - the number of people who put themselves out quite considerably in order to help us is just amazing.

Bits 'n' Pieces week...

This week I have mostly been filling job application forms...

The good news is that there are still jobs being advertised, the bad news is that I expect to get most of them returned with the metaphorical "overqualified" stamp on them. Still - no harm in trying, and even if I only get a couple of interviews out of it, it's worth the time spent!

Other than that, I have completed my Christmas shopping (huzzah for Amazon!), and we have also taken a trip down to Ngauranga to meet the NZ side of our shippers, who are a lot more professional and courteous than the UK side!

It was a lovely day, so I took the opportunity to grab a few more pics:


These two are shots of the New Zealand Christmas Tree (also known as Pohutakawa) - they really are glorious, and even just a couple of blooms brightens up the whole tree. This is the view from Waterloo station (on the going into Wellington side of the tracks) - the first picture was taken from the station platform...





These are the shots from Ngauranga station - the station itself is pretty much a lump of concrete (with a rain shelter) in the middle of the tracks - but the views are incredible. We get to see this (though not always in the nice weather!) every time we head into Wellington. Because the trains are all powered by overhead lines, there isn't a live rail on the tracks, which means that, whilst it is still illegal, it isn't dangerous to cross the tracks (particularly with trains only every 20 mins or so, and a lovely long straight track to spot them on) - there was a group of teenage boys who had crossed the tracks and who were sat on the rocks fishing.

Yesterday, I had an interview with a volunteer agency - rather than just sit at home all day, I thought that it would be quite nice to be able to get out and do something even if it is only for a couple of hours a week. I've come away with a few contact details - a charity for refugees needs a committee secretary (which is only 5 times a year, and pretty much what I did for the FCDC, so I'll definitely give that a go), there is a tree planting project out in Eastbourne to try to save some of the sand dunes, again, that is only one off, and they weren't sure whether it was still ongoing, but I can call them. The most interesting one was for a museum down in Petone (a couple of minutes on the train / bus, or a half hour or so walk), but I'll need to pop down there as, again, they weren't sure whether the position was still open. So a few leads and something to get stuck into on Monday!

We've also had a couple of chats with our neighbour, Shirley. She's nearly 80, and a bit befuddled by technology, so as well as John helping her to change a kitchen lightbulb, I've also popped in to help her with her house alarm (so loud that it woke us up as well!) and also to fix her cooker after a power cut (she was having difficulty with the fact that the clock had reset itself and was flashing "auto" - she just wanted the cooker back on manual!). It's lovely to be able to have a chat with her (the 2 minutes to reset her clock then became about an hour of chatting) - she has done so much and seen so many changes in her life - moving from pre and post war Bradford ("A busy, modern industrial city - we did lots with the wool, you know...") to a laid back New Zealand, where phone calls home cost £1 a minute (and in the early 60s, that was ouchy!), and the pace of life was just so much slower.

It did mean, however, that we were a bit late in getting to the market today (which, given that we didn't have anything here for lunch, either, meant that my stomach was growling all the way round!). This was a mixed blessing - whilst we certainly lost some of the choice (I ended up paying nearly a dollar more for eggs...), we also got ourselves a couple of bargains - a nice cheap bag of fresh peas which will last us for three meals (they've gone in the freezer now), and a lovely conversation with our cake man - he tried to persuade us to buy a bigger cake (for double the price), but when I said that we were on a budget, and this was our weekly treat, he gave us a bag of his home-made sweets for free! Very touched by his generosity, and he has definitely ensured that we will remain customers of his!

I also got IDd at the supermarket today buying some beer for John - I took it as a compliment that I don't yet look 21!