Fiji and NZ, 2013 | FindPenguins

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12. lokakuuta 2013
Fiji and NZ, 2013 Matkaaja
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Päivä 1
lauantai 12. lokakuuta 2013 klo 21.02
🌙 22 °C
Korkeus: 10 m
Fidži Vunitogotogo Creek -17.776536, 177.43563317°46’36” S 177°26’8” E
Nandi, Fiji
12. lokakuuta 2013, Fidži ⋅ 🌙 22 °C
In October 2013, I traveled to New Zealand to explore the possibility of moving back there to live. In the end, I didn't because the job I thought was going to eventuate never happened.

There was to be a relatively short layover in Nandi, but the ongoing flight was overbooked so I put my hand up to stay overnight at a nearby resort until the next day's flight.

While in Fiji, I took a taxi tour of some of the local sites, but seemingly didn't save the photos I took.Lue lisää
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Päivä 4
tiistai 15. lokakuuta 2013 klo 19.20
⛅ 9 °C
Korkeus: 14 m
Uusi Seelanti Lambton Harbour -41.28646, 174.77626841°17’11” S 174°46’35” E
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Wellington, NZ
15. lokakuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C
I took an overnight bus from Auckland to Wellington. It was raining like crazy when we got to the bottom half of the North Island, and my gear got soaked!

For the first week, I house-and-cat sat for some friends in a suburb close to the center of the city, then moved into a hostel in the CBD, where I stayed for the remainder of my time there--about two months. The hostel is a former very posh hotel, the St. George, where the Beatles stayed when they toured NZ in the Sixties, and the foyer has large photo murals of them from that time.

The hostel itself, though, is very homey, but also very friendly. A lot of young people on working visas from all over the world stay there, and they regularly have cultural celebrations in the large shared kitchen/dining area/lounge to celebrate the residents' different national holidays, such as Diwali.

My room overlooked a cathedral that was currently closed because of recent earthquake damage, and a large office block. The coin phone box in the hostel is a Tardis!Lue lisää
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Matkaaja Great view!
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Matkaaja Lovely entrance, and the Beatles !
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Päivä 6
torstai 17. lokakuuta 2013 klo 9.44
☀️ 14 °C
Korkeus: 14 m
Uusi Seelanti Lambton Harbour -41.28646, 174.77626241°17’11” S 174°46’35” E
Coffington
17. lokakuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Even back in the '90s when I lived and worked in Wellington, it had a great reputation for good locally roasted coffee. Herewith, some of the Signs of the Grinds that I snapped pictures of.
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Päivä 23
sunnuntai 3. marraskuuta 2013 klo 19.26
⛅ 14 °C
Korkeus: 10 m
Uusi Seelanti Epuni -41.209166, 174.90808241°12’33” S 174°54’29” E
Gettin' brassy
3. marraskuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
One of the tenants on the commercial floor of the St. George was the NZ Brass Band Association, and I had become interested in Sousa's tour of NZ back in the 1910s, with the view to perhaps incorporating it into the plot of a film script I was mulling in my head, about my maternal grandmother, who lived in Wellington at that time.

The lady in the Brass Band office was very helpful, and through her I learned of a brass band concert in the nearby city of Lower Hutt. Brass bands are common not just in the cities but in the rural towns of NZ, and band rotundas are still common. The magazine I saw a few days later just happened to be using brass instruments in its cover photo.Lue lisää
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Päivä 29
lauantai 9. marraskuuta 2013 klo 14.13
⛅ 16 °C
Korkeus: Merenkorkeus
Uusi Seelanti Lambton Harbour -41.285609, 174.78582541°17’8” S 174°47’9” E
Guy Fawkes Celebration
9. marraskuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Because NZ traces its Pakeha heritage to Britain, it celebrates the 5th of November as Guy Fawkes Night. When I was a kid, everyone used to have fireworks and a bonfire on that night. But, because the year is already heading into summer and droughts are becoming more and more common, personal fireworks are often banned nowadays, especially in big cities.

Wellington celebrated with a fireworks display on the harbor on the weekend following Guy Fawkes Night. People started gathering in the late afternoon, and there were food trucks and entertainers to keep them happy while they waited for darkness to fall.Lue lisää
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Päivä 33
keskiviikko 13. marraskuuta 2013
☀️ 12 °C
Korkeus: 66 m
Uusi Seelanti Ashhurst -40.29461, 175.75351940°17’41” S 175°45’13” E
A trip to Stratford and Ashhurst
13. marraskuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
I took the bus north to my hometown to visit my sister, brother, and a niece and her son, who all still live there, for a few days. There happened to be a gypsy traveller encampment across the street from my sister's house!

Then I bussed back down to Ashhurst, where my oldest niece and her husband live. He is a master electrician, so we went to visit the local tourist attraction--a wind farm! His hobby is cheese-making, but he could do that professionally, his cheeses are so good.

They drove me back to Wellington, and on the way we passed this public toilet, which I just had to stop and use! (Out of curiosity; not because of the cheese. LOL)Lue lisää
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Päivä 37
sunnuntai 17. marraskuuta 2013 klo 11.36
☁️ 14 °C
Korkeus: 13 m
Uusi Seelanti Worser Bay -41.305862, 174.82350241°18’21” S 174°49’25” E
Weta and Te Papa
17. marraskuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C
When we got back to Wellngton, my niece and her husband took me to visit the Weta Workshop and to the Te Papa National Museum.

You can go on a tour of the actual workshop, plus there is a little museum and store selling all things Weta. They are, of course, the company that creates special effects, etc., for movies like Peter Jackson's King Kong and the Lord of the Rings movies. They also have a hand in a kid's TV series called Jane and the Dragon, which I really like.

At Te Papa, I particularly liked the Britten motorcycle. A Kiwi named John Britten designed bikes so fast that they regularly outperformed big name motorcycles on the international race circuit.Lue lisää
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Päivä 40
keskiviikko 20. marraskuuta 2013 klo 18.01
☀️ 20 °C
Korkeus: 9 m
Uusi Seelanti Pipitea -41.272922, 174.78594141°16’23” S 174°47’9” E
NZ vs. Mexico at the Cake Tin
20. marraskuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
The Cake Tin is the name of a sports stadium that was built in the late '90s in Wellington. It hosts all manner of events besides sports, but the main sport played there is NZ's national game, rugby. The national rugby team is called the All Blacks because, from the get-go, they always wore black jerseys and shorts.

Soccer is also played in NZ, and the national soccer team is called the All Whites because they dress all in white. One weekend, the Cake Tin hosted an international match between the All Whites and Mexico. I didn't go to the match itself, but there was plenty to see as people arrived for the evening game, which was also a fundraiser for a domestic abuse charity.Lue lisää
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Päivä 55
torstai 5. joulukuuta 2013 klo 19.42
⛅ 21 °C
Korkeus: 14 m
Uusi Seelanti Lambton Harbour -41.28646, 174.77626241°17’11” S 174°46’35” E
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Last days in Wellington
5. joulukuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
The day before I was to leave Wellington to return (eventually) to Oakland, CA, who should I see in the street but a Raiders supporter!

But before I left, I had some final catching up to do with former workmates. I met up with one at a street fair in the tony suburb of Thorndon, where the Prime Minister's residence was guarded by a lone ranger. Oh wait, that's me!

I went on a short road trip with another to rugged Makara Beach, and had a parting custard square and iced chocolate topped with a chocolate fish on our way back to town.Lue lisää
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Matkaaja That looks good.
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Päivä 56
perjantai 6. joulukuuta 2013 klo 8.22
☀️ 15 °C
Korkeus: 581 m
Uusi Seelanti Mangateitei -39.41804, 175.39849139°25’5” S 175°23’55” E
By Northern Explorer to Cambridge
6. joulukuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
The Northern Explorer is a scenic train trip that travels from Wellington up to Auckland. I went as far as Te Rapa, the station for Hamilton, where my brother and sister-in-law came to pick me up as I was going to stay a few days with them in nearby Cambridge.

It was a grey, gloomy day as we left Wellington, but it got sunnier the further north we went. There is an observation car on the train, and it was popular with photographers.Lue lisää
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Päivä 57
lauantai 7. joulukuuta 2013 klo 16.58
☀️ 21 °C
Korkeus: 70 m
Uusi Seelanti Lake Te Ko Utu -37.891119, 175.46718737°53’28” S 175°28’2” E
Cambridge
7. joulukuuta 2013, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Because he was king for such a short time--abdicating in favor of marrying Wallis Simpson within a year--there are very few public buildings dedicated to King Edward VIII, but one of them is the PO in Cambridge, NZ!

My brother and his wife live in a cute little cottage at the end of a street, where folks often ride by on their horses. The area is famous for its thoroughbred stables and trainers who regularly produce winners of the Melbourne Cup.

It happened that I was visiting at the time of a joint birthday party for two of my sister-in-law's family, which was held at an old church that had been relocated and turned into an event venue on family land.

We visited the Christmas Fair in the Cambridge Town Hall and caught up with my Ashhurst hosts' son for coffee the next day. He lives not far from Cambridge.Lue lisää
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Päivä 60
tiistai 10. joulukuuta 2013 klo 17.07
⛅ 9 °C
Korkeus: 9 m
Yhdysvallat San Francisco International Airport 37.621313, -122.37895537°37’17” N 122°22’44” W
Auckland to SFO
10. joulukuuta 2013, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C
I travelled by bus from Cambridge to Auckland, where I stayed in a hostel near the Sky Tower, and went out for dinner with an old high school friend.

Maybe it was something in that dinner, or perhaps my companions on the Auckland-Fiji leg of my flight were carrying the rotovirus (they had been on a cruise), but whatever it was, my internal plumbing was in a terrible state during the layover in Nandi!

What a way to end my trip! LOLLue lisää
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Matkan lopetus
11. joulukuuta 2013