 |
| Beautiful Scenery on the way to Hanmer Springs |
Weather:
In my last review post I mentioned that the weather was a little less summer- or even spring- than I had expected. It has still been pretty rainy and cold but this week has made drastic improvements- so fingers crossed it stays that way. This is the summer I have been looking for! I've decided I will take the rain now, as long as the weather is nice when we do our country tour.
In true summer fashion though, the days have gotten very long. You can see the light start creeping in before 5am- which I sometimes see when I'm getting to bed after working a weekend night at the bar- and you still see light at 10pm. I know it is nothing compared to what Wells is experiencing in Antarctica, but I love it. I love long sunlight... I'm not prepared for what it will be like in winter.
I don't know exactly what it is here- maybe the lack of people and pollutants!- but the sky can be very beautiful and clear. Here is a beautiful sunset that Wells captured:
Sweet As:
Not only have we been adjusting to understanding the New Zealand accent, but we have also been learning some new Kiwi sayings. Sweet as. I must have had a blank stare the first time I heard this, but it is said enough that I soon caught on. Sweet as = awesome/great/no worries.
For example: "Hey did you need anything from the store?"
"No, I'm fine, thanks"
"Sweet as"
The first time you hear it- or for the first month in Wells's case- you are thinking 'Sweet as... what?!' Or: 'did that person just say "sweet ass"?' This incomplete phrase that seems to leave you hanging also translates over to other areas:
"I'll have to get one of those too, that's cheap as!"
"Wow, these phrases are kiwi as"
As what? You'll never know.
Another kiwi as expression I have been adjusting to is using the word 'partner' for any type of relationship. I first heard it being used when i was getting to know one of the other bartenders. I mentioned that I came here with my boyfriend (now fiance) and she said that she had just moved back to Christchurch but that her partner was still in the North Island. So I asked, "Oh, so what does he do?" But then realized I hadn't gotten that much information, so not wanting to be assuming I added awkwardly and under my breath "...or she." It turns out it was a 'he', but I was still quite thrown off. Partner here can mean boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance, husband/wife and there is also no gender indication. I imagine that this leads to some confusion for the kiwis, or maybe they just don't care how much of a 'partner' you are. Still, it has let me to some tongue twisting moments when introducing Wells- there are so many options now! Still, I like fiance :)
Getting Around:
In my last review I talked about getting used to the driving around here. Since then, we have pretty much decided that the driving here is... loose. For all the strange rules they have, including a no left on red (like a no right on red in the US), sometimes they drive like you would expect in a big city or in South America. Weaving, pulling out halfway into a lane before turning and running red lights like I have never seen. I met a man at the bar that said he lived in London for a while and wondered why everyone was always complaining about his driving. Then he came back to New Zealand and realized.
As it is everywhere, petrol is expensive here but many gas station have interesting strategies to lower prices and get people in. At our local grocery store, if you spend over $80 then you get a receipt for 4 cents off per litre of fuel at a BP station. Every once in a while they will run a deal where if you spend over $200 it's 10 cents off a litre and most recently it was 25 cents off. Other supermarkets have their own similar deals with a different chain of petrol stations. Some gas stations give a gas discount when you spend so much in the convenience store and others draw people in with big prize promotions. It's grown on me now, but it was definitely something new and different when we first got here. A very interesting method of getting people into your store and to buy your fuel.
Coins:
Another adjustment we have made has been of course adjusting to the new money types and denominations. It is a lot like Europe in the sense that the bills are different colors and there are $1 and $2 coins. However, it wasn't until I started working at the bar and had a till system that I realized there were no coins lower than 10 cents. They had 10, 20 and 50 cents but no 5 or 1 cent. Okay, I figured, tax is included in prices, so it would be easy to work around the lack of small coins at the bar. Then I went to the store and bought something that was 14.98- and I bought it with cash. I handed her $15 and awkwardly waited for any change, then realized I was getting nothing. I later learned that New Zealand elimated the 1 and 2 cent coins in 1987 and the 5 cent coin was ditched in 2005. So to me, the prices should reflect this and things should be priced in increments of 10 cents. But still not everything is. Now I know why everyone uses their bank cards over cash- that way you are saving those cents!
Occupy Akaroa: Our first camping trip
The first weekend in December Wells and I took our first camping trip together with some friends to the Banks Peninsula about an hour south of Christchurch. This is the home of the little french town of Akaroa that we had visited before, but luckily the weather was 100% better. Seven of us total headed out, four were Wells's classmates and the other girl was Jessica, who we met on the night of the Rugby World Cup. She is living and working in Australia but is actually from Texas! It was fun to have met someone doing the same thing we were and she came back to visit for the weekend.
We settled Saturday at a campsite at Okains Bay. We were able to pitch our tent in a wooded area just meters from the beach. The mismatch tents and campsites led us to name it 'Occupy Akaroa', but luckily we did have a stove-top and shower available. After pitching our tents a few of us set out on our first hiking adventure. We decided to tackle the mountain across the stream, but it turned out that it was the stream that was going to be the challenge... at least for some of us. Since we weren't dressed for streams, we tried to find the shallowest crossing point, take off our shoes and roll up our pants. However, poor Jessica found the deepest part of the stream and every step brought her lower and lower until all we saw was her hat! Hopefully I will get pictures from someone else to show, as I have no pictures since my camera was in her pocket! RIP camera!
Still, we managed to have a great climb and made it to the top with this great view of the bay. The next day we took a more planned route as a group and had some great rock climbs and even saw a seal playing in the water from a high perch! We finished with a lovely day day on the beach, enjoying the weather and gorgeous views. It was a great first trip out and I can't wait until we take our South Island backpacking/camping trip!
 |
| Picture Perfect! |
No comments:
Post a Comment