Tramping the Mount

The next morning, we took off to town and wandered through the shops at the Mt Maunganui (locally termed 'The Mount').  John showed us the men’s wear shop that he’d run for almost 20 years, until he sold it last fall.  He still keeps up on all the townie gossip! 

We stopped for coffee at the bright and cheery Zeytin Mediterranean restaurant - Josh got a yummy ‘plain white’ (coffee with steamed milk) and I got a ‘long black’ (double espresso with extra water). 

Then we started on a ‘leisurely stroll’ up the Mount… an hour later and sweaty from the beating sun, we made it to the summit! We were rewarded with some great views of the harbor, the beach and the islands! Josh was on the lookout for Hobbits  and dangerous NZ wildlife along the way. Thankfully, we didn’t see either!

  

After a hard day of tramping (hiking), we picked up Alaina’s nana and went to the fishing club on the wharf for dinner. John is a member, so we got discounted drinks. Josh got the infamous fish and chips and I had panfried whitefish. Everything was super-fresh and amazing! We watched the sunset over the bay, then headed out for 1 more drink in town.  The bartender muddled up limes and mint in a Pimm’s Cup for Alaina and I – refreshing!

First Days in Kiwi-land

After long day and night of flights and a bit of a hassle at customs, we finally made it into Auckland NZ early Tuesday morning .  (Mental note: Don’t carry personal protection spray into foreign lands and don’t tell the immigration folks you’re both unemployed unless you have a return ticket in hand! ) The rest of day 1 was pretty much a blur of napping, grocery shopping and getting on NZ time.

Jet lag behind us (or so we thought), we headed out for an 11km (or 6.5mi) run on Orewa Beach on Wednesday morning. Alaina and her sister’s family (Alenka, Chris and Mykala) live a short downhill walk from a gorgeous stretch of sand.  Of course, you do have to go uphill to get back! Alaina was psyched that Josh tracked our distance – she was surprised to find out she’d been running that far. 

Alaina had a daytrip planned for us – kayaking in Puhoi, then up to Goat Island for some snorkeling with the fishies.  Kayaking on the river was scenic and relaxing! The singing cicadas in the trees, mallard ducks floating by, the odd eel sighting all made for a great intro to NZ wildlife. To Josh’s dismay, Alaina let us know that we wouldn’t be seeing any bears, mountain lions or even snakes unless we visited Auckland zoo! Apparently, the biggest pests in NZ are the possum and a poisonous spider that is nearly extinct.

We only made it a bit further north when Josh started to feel a little queasy (jet lag returns?). So, we stopped for lunch and checked out a nearby sand spit. Turned out to be just a marina with no sand to spit on, so we found a grassy spot to relax in the sun before heading home.

 

Josh hit the pillow around 3:30pm and spent the next 16 hours in bed! So, Alaina and I made our move on Auckland and joined the Couchsurfing group for drinks and mingling downtown on the wharf. Alaina thought the whole CS idea was sketchy at first, but we ended up meeting several nice Kiwis (New Zealander’s), travelers and even a few Americans at the meeting. We even ran into a ‘manny’ (or male nanny) from Virginia who is living down here for a year, taking care of someone’s kids! Random, but can you blame him? I’d rather change diapers in NZ than just about anywhere else!

R&R (Roofing and Relaxation)

Today at Habitat, Josh and I were promoted! Instead of tedious caulking and painting, we got to install metal roofing on one of the homes. It was the perfect day for roof work (before the wind started gusting in the afternoon). We worked with Chad (a volunteer who has been with AmeriCorps for 2 years and has visited New Zealand, Antarctica and a bunch of other cool places). We had a good team and got the roof done by the end of the day. It was awesome to get down and see the almost-finished product of the house we started just a week prior!

This trip has got me thinking about how great it would be to volunteer full-time. There are so many fantastic differences from a real 9-5 job - you get to meet amazing new people every day, everyone is happy when you show up, your efforts are always appreciated, you can change jobs and learn something new mid-day, you work with people who are excited to be there, your 'boss' is super supportive when you screw up. If only more employers would take a page from the book of volunteer management, employees would feel more appreciated and maybe even be psyched to come to work every day! 

After work on Saturdays, the crew and some of the regular volunteers gather for beers on the tailgate. We were invited to join and had some interesting and lively conversations over cans of Busch. 

Later, Jesse and his wife invited us over for drinks. We chatted about volunteer coordination, non-profit management and Jesse's struggle to define his position at Habitat. His wife, Moira, is sweet and smart and their house has a fun, cozy vibe. Bonus: Moira was cleaning out her shoe closet and I left there with a pair of great Doc Martin motorcycle boots!


I hope we were able to impress upon him how much his passion and energy are appreciated on site and how vital he is to the program. His work is a real balancing act between pleasing volunteers and supporters, training staff, marketing and, most importantly, building homes. A 10-year veteran of Habitat, he seems to have learned to pull all this off and still end the day with a smile!

That Just Happened!

'A man fired several shots on the south steps of the Texas Capitol on Thursday afternoon, minutes after one lawmaker said he entered his office acting strangely. Nobody was injured, officials said, and the suspect was quickly apprehended.' (from the Austin Statesman, 1/21/09)

Because today was such a GORGEOUS day (75 and sunny), we decided to forgo deconstruction and do a walking tour of the city. We started at the Capitol Building Visitor's Centre around 1:30pm. The receptionist casually mentioned that the Capitol Building was closed today, due to an 'event.' Niaeve tourists that we are, we wandered out on the grounds, strolling along, taking pictures, barely noticing the cops on bikes and news vans around the building. Come to find out, from a random passerby, there had been a shooting on the steps of the Capitol Building less than an hour before! Crazy huh? And we walked into several nearby businesses and NO ONE mentioned this to us. Austin-ites are definitely chill... even when it comes to random shootings in the middle of a sunny Thursday afternoon.

Botched assassinations aside, we had a GREAT day! We toured downtown and saw some neat architecture and landmarks including The Driskill Hotel (where the bartender of 28 years took pictures of us with bull horns), St. Mary's Cathedra, not the governor's mansion (it was under construction). Afterward, we hit up Whole Foods for free samples and the Tiniest Bar in Texas for $1 margaritas. Then we strolled through a little gallery of photos commissioned by Jamie Lee Curtis and down to the park by the lake. We sat on a bench and watched people and their dogs run by, stalk squirrels, etc. People who stalk squirrels are weird folks! ;)

We made it back to our hotel for a drink a the FREE happy hour (tamales, nachos, goldfish crackers, wine, beer and a live band on Thursdays!). And had more than enough time to eavesdrop on this crazy guy selling this girl on joining his Skidmark Underwear business. Sounds like a real winner - maybe we'll join that bandwagon!