crazy views

And finally I will leave you on this last night of November with one more photo set of stunning views and even a pic of me! Don't worry I have tons more pictures to upload just sitting on my computer. In due time my, friends.

crazy views and kong boat

A Nice Day in Wellington (huh?)

Here's some more pics in case the last one wasn't enough to satiate your bottomless pits of hunger:

This group was taken on a really nice day in Wellington (pretty rare about a month ago when I arrived).

2nd or 3rd Day in New Zealand

Pictures finally!

Hey everyone, I just hooked up the wireless router in my flat - it's pretty awesome!

Anyways, let's go back in time one month shall we? Some pictures of the first day of my arrival in NZ:

Arrival in New Zealand

reental car and hired beed

I got my reental cah t'day and my beed was deleevehd from DTR (the furniture hiring company)!

The beed was brand new, direct from the manufacturer (Sealy!). It's wicked! The cah could be beettah, but no worries, they seead they could replace it once they get a beettah one een stock! Eet's a beet old ay! But it drives fine and I reckon I can get from work to home and back no problem.

Sweet As!! (I'm pretty sure this means awesome! or some sort of similar interjection in this context.)

This kiwi moment brought to you by...Deerrick!

Happy Thanksgiving to all in the States!
(This accent is fun!)

update # x

2 nice days in a row! WOW. It was sunny for the past two days in a row! I took some nice pictures over by this waterfall and creek. I'll have to post them right when I move into my new apt that has internet. Which will be soon. I promise (I hope).

But yeah, the sun shining was great. The views from the road were stunning. Everything was perfect. Except for moving out of the Duxton hotel yesterday. It just hit me that I won't be getting free breakfast every morning. Free cappucinos, nice, friendly service from an awesome staff. I had orange juice at my friends' Tom and Greg's place this morning. And then went to work to rummage for breakfast. I am so spoiled.

Anyways, I haven't moved into my new place yet because I still have to buy a bed. 2 weeks just isn't enough time to relocate for me, I guess. Oh well, some bed stores are having a sale this week and we can get a 20% discount at some of the other stores for being a Weta employee so I'm pretty sure I can find one in the next couple of days (cross yo fingas').

Kiwi saying of the day: "it's all right"
example usage: customer: "Thank you [for the coffee]." waiter: "It's all right!"


current weather: not half bad.

living it up at the hotel duxton

Sadly, I've only one week left in the 5-star hotel called the "Duxton" and I am still looking at flats to live in (which is why I haven't uploaded any pics yet - no flat, no personal internet, sorry!). I'm also still looking for a car - I stopped counting the skyline GTRs driving around here after I saw 10 - they are everywhere over here!

Good news is I got my phone situation sorted. My old sony ericsson didn't work because it was made with the North American band frequency (gsm 850), so I emailed work to see if anyone had a phone they were willing to part with, and I got a reply! Eerily, it turned out to be the exact same phone as mine, except it works for most other countries including NZ (gsm 900)! Funky!

A few of my co-workers have found sweet apartments right on the waterfront and are going to live like rockstars (and pay for it too)! I, on the other hand, have decided (I'm thinking) to go the humble route and live with locals! I'll have no view of the water, but I will be living with 3 other local Wellingtonian girls in a 4 bedroom flat in a nice little town called "Hataitai" (pronounced "hy-tyty"). It's a 5 minute drive from work and a 5 minute drive from downtown. Pretty ideal!

Also, the rent is pretty much dirt cheap (480 new zealand dollars a month) and I'll have 3 local tour guides to show me the ropes around Wellington. I've discussed it with my co-workers and they think it will be a great experience and might make things a bit easier around here (and no, not ALL of my co-workers are single guys =P). The girls seem really nice and normal (they posted an ad looking for a flatmate in the city paper) - that and they all have good normal-sounding jobs. I think I'll give it a try for a couple months and see how things go. What do you all think?

Kiwi saying of the day: "heaps"
example usage: "They've got heaps of cheap cars in Wellington."

current weather: 70 mph winds, light rain (of the horizontal variety), 16 degrees celsius

cheers mates!

still alive

Hey dudes and dudettes. I still have not acquired an internet connection outside of work and I'm not allowed to plug my laptop in here at work, so I'll just talk (type) for now (patience for pictures...).

Things are cool... I just bought a vodafone simcard down here for $35 nzd at lunch and I'm having my phone unlocked at a taiwanese store at the moment (fun just like LA!). Once that's done I'll pick it up and put in my card and be able to call any number for only 89 cents per minute (jay-sus). Phones are expensive down here so I'm glad I brought my trusty old sony ericsson.

Last night I had dinner with some cool Weta folk. I met them through Andre (a brasilian lighter) who started on the same day as me. They had all worked at Animalogic in Australia on "Happy Feet" before they flew next door to work here. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant called "Nicolini's" on Courteney Place (a happenin' street in downtown). The waitress recommended the salmon rizzoto and it was fantastic. I forgot to take a picture of it, but hey, I never said this would be a "food blog" ;P.

Okay back to work for now =)

I've made it!

WELLINGTON, NZ - Well, I've made it to the land of kiwis and I've been pretty busy looking for a flat to live in and getting settled into work. Once I get my own internet connection at home I can post pictures (and yes I have been taking them).

The flight from Los Angeles to NZ was pretty horrendous. It was delayed for 4 hours because the pilot got food poisoning and they had to fly in a replacement pilot who had to by law rest for a certain time before flying out. So when the pilot was ready, the toilets in the plane were broken. LAX sent us two servicing trucks who couldn't fix it because they were broken (I forgot why, it was really late at night). And finally the third servicing truck fixed it and we were able to take off. At 2:30 a.m. 12 and a half hours later, I landed in Auckland, and then went on my connecting flight to Wellington (which felt super short in comparison: a mere 45 minutes).

But it was all definitely worth it. This place is amazing. The people are awesome. The food is yummy. Work is "wicked" cool. I will post pictures later tonight.

Anyways, just wanted to drop a line here, as promised, to let you know that I am alive and well and I think I'm gonna like it here... =)