Ah, that is it over then - not my Kiwi adventure you understand - but my first Christmas and New Year down here. It is now a rather muggy 8th Jan 2008 and a fair bit has happened since I last posted on here, not least the demise of 2007!
The days leading up to Christmas were very strange for me, as apart from the 'non-Christmassy' (Daf already used this phrase so as he is my acting editor, then this is OK I guess), in weather, people, places, family and sense - they were without focus. I did however manage to leave most of my present shopping until Christmas eve, and even though I only had 2 people to buy for, I ended up spending more than I could afford and ran out of wrapping paper/labels to!
One other interesting thing which happened on the run up to Christmas was a New Zealand earth quake! Yes, on the 21st December at 2116hrs a small town north east of Wellington, Gisborne, was the closest land population to the center of a 6.8 scale jolt! Many people across this area felt its affects, including Charlotte who was at home at the time, however it turns out the large hill which underpins my house on Telford Terrace, is immune to quakes on this scale - for neither Caroline or I felt a thing! I am not sure if the reports of this reached the UK, but it was pretty big news for here - overall there was structural damage in Gisborne itself, a few minor injuries and one elderly lady died of a heart attack.
The funny thing was that about 5 hours earlier Caroline had been discussing a possible house purchase with an agent and during the chat she had asked about the chimney strength and could it survive an earth quake or not. The agent had been very dismissive and informed her that in the 30 years she had been in New Zealand, a major earth quake had never happened, so not to worry about it....suffice to say the agent rang the next morning and insisted that she did not 'put the show on especially' and 'oh, yes the chimney is still standing'!
There have been after shocks since, including one yesterday, but again I have not personally felt any of these and life has got back to its Kiwi normal.
One other sad thing to report happened just after Christmas and before the New Year, and that was the closure of the Chocolate Fish Cafe in Scorching bay. For those of you that have never been to Wellington, this was a famous local cafe who served a joyous collaboration of traditional and funky food. It was also known for having a busy road in between the outdoor seating area and the cafe, therefore the waiters had to adopt road sense and there were signs up saying 'Waiters crossing' - this also became a brand on Tee Shirts, one of which I still own from my original visit in 2005. It is also in guide books as a favourite place for Peter Jackson and his stars to hang out in. However the owner of the building they rented committed suicide a week or so ago, and he had not taken steps to ensure the continued use of the premises by the cafe, so the proprietors of this decided enough was enough and packed up shop.
I really enjoyed eating at the Chocolate Fish cafe and only found out it had closed by chance when we revisited it last week and found them wheeling fridges and such out of the place! It did make me wonder for a minute if its closure and my success in Wellington were linked in some way, as it was not long before this visit that the last job offer I was up for had been lost. However I have since met the owner, and upon buying a Tee Shirt for Charlotte, I found out that they are very much still in business (they still have the smaller Chocolate Frog cafe in Miramar) and they are looking to rent another place in Scorching bay to!
OK, back to Christmas day now...As promised I have compiled a short video of the days events and this will be at the end of to days blog, but you will see I spent the day at home with Charlotte and Caroline, beer, presents, veg, trifle and a large turkey! It was another chance conversation with a neighbour which steered me away from the BBQ idea and onto the traditional one. It seems that having the patio doors open and a BBQ on can and does lead to the building smoke alarms going off - now even though Caroline, and Charlotte I guess, would like the idea of six or so strong, fit and muscle bound Kiwi men turning up with their hoses at the ready - I did not fancy this or the NZ$1000 fine!
Shopping in the local New World supermarket for Christmas food was a little strange but we managed, between the three of us and a couple of visits, to find everything in the end. It was also obvious that Turkey was not the normal choice over here, as there was a very small, but well produced, fresh range on offer. The total spend came to about NZ$250 which Caroline and I went halves on - and extra was spent by Charlotte on ingredients for her first trifle to. I was a little miffed that no-one imports brussel sprouts to NZ for poms to enjoy though, as they are only grown over here in winter, but the addition of Kumara (Sweet potato) to the roasting line up made a very pleasant compromise.
We had a slight concern when it came to actually carving the turkey as there seemed to be very little white meat on offer - Caroline was quick to point out that this was a special bird, grown without steroids, and this may explain the lack of meat - I was happier to find out that she had actually cooked it upside down in some unconscious salute to being on this side of the world! She still claims it was much better for this inverted cook, but I still think she is trying too hard to fit in!
Present opening was fun and surprisingly well stocked considering the money and future status of those involved. I bought various things for Charlotte and Caroline, including a musical box which I built for Charlotte, replete with a paper fed musical box which I transcribed the 'She's a Rainbow' music onto - I mentioned to Caroline at the time I purchased this item how much I liked it - and she took this to heart and bought me one in return. Coincidentally Charlotte also bought me another musical box which was pre-set with the 'When you dream upon a star' tune. Suffice to say I love musical boxes as those who have seen the opening to my Oz DVD will remember.
I bought Caroline a Tee Shirt, or at least I had one made especially, which included a map of NZ, some rainbow colours and a '66 for the year of her birth. The purchase of this item involved me spending far to much time for a man in 'Valley Girl' on Christmas eve, but the shop assistants were very helpful when it came to demonstrating sizes (only kidding Charlotte ;) I did manage to raise an eyebrow in the Tee Shirt printing place around the corner, when he asked who I was spending Christmas with and I explained about Charlotte and Caroline being my current and ex girlfriends.
In addition to the musical boxes, I was given a massage voucher - for a relaxing time, a pictorial book about Kiwi pubs - for ideas and possible contacts about my bench book, 'Touching the void' CD talking book - for personal inspiration, a badge of allegiance to Wellington and a couple of comedy DVDs including Family Guy season 6, for laughs.
Well that sort of sums up Christmas which even though it was only a couple of weeks ago, it seems a lot longer. Today was the second day back to work for many people here, as they combine the summer holiday and Christmas together. Weather wise the last couple of weeks have been superb with temperatures in the mid to high 20's and long periods of sun. There has been the usual Wellington wind at times, a few cloudy days and some rain, but compared to the cold UK and think I prefer this type of weather. I agree with Daf that it does not really fit the Christmas style of things I have known for 30 odd years, and this is further reflected in the traditional Coca Cola advert being redone over here as a guy on a beach surrounded by bikini clad girls - so it is not the red Santa trucks driving through the snow which 'are coming' over here I can tell you!
I spent New Years eve camping and the day after New Years I was gambling at a local horse track - but more on these adventures and pictures etc in my next post.
Oh, if you are wondering, like my Dad, that I am having a life of Riley over here - then yes, yes I am - but I am also working on the job hunting again and just today had an interview with an IT recruitment agency. They have sent me a couple of suitable positions and are talking about a third with a really interesting company who was recently crowned 'NZ's fastest growing' - I will not mention more just yet in case I jinx it, but hopefully something will come up pretty soon.