Mussels!!!

Had my first fresh green shelled mussels from the Sounds. My roommate has a friend who works for the mussel company, so she got them right from the boat. They were super yummy. Much bigger than the mussels we get at home, but no more chewy. Sorry u must view them sideways....hopefully u all have laptops.... :)

some adjustments

Okay, so just thought I'd share a few New Zealand ways of living I am trying to get used to:
1. No dishwasher....and being I am living with boys, dishes are never actually clean, even when in the cabinet.
2. No clothes dryer and no hot water for wash machine. So, just now I filled the wash machine with hot water using a 1 L measuring cup. Hah! I will get our clothes clean even if I have to fill the machine myself! Everyone hangs their clothes outside, except it is now too cold to dry and is raining, so I am planning on just finding places in my room to hang everything!
3. Weather has turned for the worse and although noone else thinks it is cold, I am freezing and our house does not have built in heating. There is a reason I was previously supposed to and am moving to southern california. Yes folks, it is for the weather! I am so missing my favorite time of the year at home. But my room is like a tropical paradise with two portable heaters going! Luckily our new room is big enough, so don't mind just hanging out in here. Unfortunately going to the bathroom is a whole other story :) I want to share some photos of my room and house but think I should clean the room first. So, stay tuned. Once I get a job I think we'll be moving to someplace with heat, hot water, and newer appliances, but I am thankful to have a place to stay for now that we can afford.

Wine Tasting

Finally my first day wine tasting! It is a very special feeling being here or in any wine region for that matter. I went tasting with my roomate Erin who actually left today to go back home, so am stuck with all boys! Needless to say the toilet seat is never down. The only positive to the situation is that me and David now have the bigger room and have a double bed instead of the single in our old room. Although we didn't mind the cuddling it will be nice to have a bit more room and a second pillow much to David's chagrin (for some reason he likes sharing a pillow...I don't understand).

Anyway, back to wine tasting. I thought it was going to rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful day. Sunny, with a light breeze. We visited the following wineries: Fromm, Seresin, Mahi, and Huia. We ate at Wairau River, which actually also has their own label, so we did a tasting there as well and had some wine at Drylands since Erin had to stop off to pick up a few bottles to bring home since that is where she did vintage.

By far my favorite was Seresin, then Mahi. But I really enjoyed all of Seresin's wines and I made a friend in the tasting room!

For all those who come to visit we can rent bikes and cruise around wine country. Wouldn't that be so much fun?!?! And we can picnic in the vineyards :)

Oh, and if u are not familiar the most widely grown varietal in Marlborough is Sauvignon Blanc. But I also had some decent pinot noir and gewurtztraminer and a quite different pinot gris, although not very characteristic of the varietal. Even though the vineyards are in close proximity of one another, each sauvignon blanc was actually distinctly different from one another which I thought was quite nice.

OK, that's all folks! I'm going to watch Gran Turino and wait for David to come home at 330am, his new schedule.

New Zealand here I am!!!

So, that seemed to be the longest bit of flying I've ever done at once. Maybe because I was so anxious to get here :) But I am here and so happy!

David picked me up in an old land rover. I thought we were going on safari! Oh course I had too many bags....ended up paying $130 in overweight charges. But I am hoping to get a business job, so had to bring my nice clothes :)

Here's my first day in a nutshell. Got a place to stay (our old roommate in Oregon is here and luckily a room just opened up in the house he is staying in, sharing a single bed, but life could be worse), moved in, walked around Blenheim (within walking distance to downtown with lots of cute restaurants, bars, and shopping!), then went to the beach. David was a trooper and stayed up most of the day with me, even though when he picked me up he came straight from work...a 12 hr shift.

Next morning he took me to his favorite farmers market, everything is locally grown and made. I had the best pastry I've ever had in my life. It is called an eccles cake. It kind of looked like a doughnut, but consistency was different. It was basically a puff pastry with carmelized brown sugar on the outside and sweet currant filling. I am counting down the days til next sunday when I can buy another one. We also bought some fijoas (a new fruit for me that tasted like sweet tarts), beets, strawberries, cheese, chesnuts (u can steam them and they kind of taste potato like), and some fresh olive oil. Then we watched dogs compete against each other in an obstacle course (I'm sure there is a technical term for this). It was quite funny and I felt very British! Applied for an amazing job. We'll see if I hear anything. Keep your fingers crossed, it would be an amazing opportunity.

Pic is of the Marlborough sounds...I'm living in Blenheim which is in Marlborough, the South Island...just in case u were curious.

Happy wedding!

Just as a note, if u fail to take an outbound flight, they (or at least the worst airline ever, US Airways) will cancel ur entire flight. Yes, that is what happened to me. Unfortunately, was left with no flight home so i had to book a one way with Southwest that cost me almost $300. I hate US airways.
On a happier note, am in florida and have been spending alot of time at the beach. Loryn and Chris's wedding was amazing. Other than mine of course, it was the most beautiful wedding i have ever been at. It took place at the Bonnet house in fort lauderdale. Upon arrival we were taken via a golf cart to the ceremony site, under huge palm trees with monkeys swinging thru the trees! Had a wonderful time. Drank a little too much ketel one, but why stress the details!
Congratulations Loryn and Chris!!!!

bye bye south america

Flew into lima for a day stopover before heading back to the states. Lima reminded me a little of florida, lots of pink and bright blue buildings, but the whole city covered with a film of dirt. Freeways reminded me of los angeles. Didn't really see much of the city since we spent the day at the hotel pool, but had dinner in miraflores at the big shopping mall. Food was decent, view of the ocean was great. Wouldn't have minded spending a little more time in lima and exploring, but honestly heard from most people that lima was a shithole. But i think i would still like to explore it more!
Very happy i got to come on the trip. Had a lot of time to think about life. was able to heal the spirit a little after a rough start to the year! Excited about the next step in my life. Keep ur fingers crossed that i can get a job in new zealand!

I am crazy????

I guess that question is debatable. For some strange reason i decided to go on another bike ride just as my arm is almost healed! This bike ride was much less challenging. A nice ride through the bucolic sacred valley, but was still a little nervous in the beginning. Especially because the bikes were pretty beat up.
How cool is it when u ride ur bike past a flock of sheep!
Had lunch at a food stand, plantains and rice!
Last stop on ride was moray. The moray inca ruins are thought to be an agricultural test station. Each terrace has a unique microclimate, therefore the incas could test crops they were hoping to grow in different areas of the sacred valley and see how they survived and if they would be fruitful.
On the drive home got dropped off at "sexy woman" ruins in cusco proper. It's amazing the huge stones they used to construct these ruins. There were alot of tunnels and crevices to hide in. We were a little scared to go through the tunnels because we couldn't see, no flashlight, but a nice peruvian man led us through. We just ducked since he also did not have a flashlight. As we were going thru, i wondered why we were letting this man take us through a pitch dark tunnel probably to rob us. But all was well and we made it out safely. Very beautiful views of cusco from ruins. On saturday there was a fullmoon rave. Wasn't in the partying mood, but I can only imagine the craziness that must have ensued! Maybe next time.

Pisac

Got a late start, but still made it to Pisac sunday market. Sat in main square while eating lunch and watched the locals bartering produce and other items with each other. Then had a couple of hours for shopping. Bargaining is so much fun. Got a bunch of handmade alpaca sweaters. All for between 10 - 15 dollars each. What a deal!
Great day, but had some issues on the return. Such a nice cab driver until he decided he was going to try and rip us off and ask for more money than what we negotiated. Good and bad, there are no meters, u just negotiate ur fare upon getting in the cab. Only problem is when they decide to change the fare on you, or they quote u in soles and then say US dolares! We weren't going to get swindled though so argued with him for 30 minutes and encouraged him to call the policia. Of course he didn't want to do that, but he did follow us back to the hotel. Funny thing is he tried to pick me up two days later at another Inca ruins! I happily declined.

Massage anyone?

So, got back to Cusco in the evening. Nicole found us a cute hotel less than a block from Plaza de Armas. Decided to reward ourselves with a massage, $10 for an hour. How cheap!
I haven't had that many massages in my life, but got an interesting surprise. For some reason a peruvian massage includes some boob action. Hmmmm....

my favorite ruins

Woke up early only to get to train station and find out that we couldn't get on the 930 backpacker train. It was sold out! Had to wait an hour and take the fancy vistadome valley train. Much nicer, and even got a sandwich and drink, however, backpacker train for the money was just fine with me! The view was beautiful.
Spent the day in Ollantaytambo. Definately my favorite ruins. The ruins itself were somewhat changed by the government (the incas did not use mortar!) but the whole town itself, including the ruins, gave me such a special feeling. I'm sure because it was more relaxing, there were not as many tourists, and because the town itself was so beautiful and the ruins were part of the town. The town is described as a living inca village. Cobblestone roads everywhere.
Had lunch in the courtyard of a restaurant. It was so relaxing that people were actually sleeping in the grass. Tables made of stone, flowers everywhere, the sun felt so good!
A great day!