Wow!
– 7.5 months in New Zealand. Time sure
flies. We seem to have settled into our routine. The NZ version of suburbia as a live aboard.
Josh is very
busy with school. The IB(International
Baccalaureate) program is pretty
intense. I think for the most part he
enjoys it. He has a tutor for Physics as
he has never been exposed to physics before and all his classmates have had at
least on year. He is keeping up, so it
is all good. Socially, phwew! Busy boy.
He has a very diverse and nice group of friends and they are constantly
up to something. No girlfriend (that we
know of) but you never know when that will change. Not sure where he would find time for
one. He has picked up two new sports –
waterpolo and rugby. I certainly have no
clue about the rules for either and frankly watching hurts my stomach. In water polo I worry that some punk from the
other team will drown him and rugby – OMG they hit hard – and no pads. Can you hear him now? “C’mon Mom – really?” As long as he enjoys it – right? Hopefully I won’t have a stroke worrying
about him……He has lost 5kgs and rearranged the rest – looking pretty buff. Is it wrong for Mom to notice? How impressed am I that he is up at 0515
three days a week to bike to the gym!!
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| Waterpolo team |
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| After rugby |
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| Takapuna Grammar School - kinda like Hogwarts. |
Dennis is not
working. He has applied for a job – will interview when things at the office
are back under control from the un forecasted cyclonic force winds last
week. The job is with the Department of
Conservation working in the Islands doing re provisioning and ensuring
biosecurity is enforced. Right up his
alley. Keep your fingers crossed. He is busy though - doing maintenance on the
boat, working his still and keeping Josh and I fed (which is a full time job
itself with Josh). He just completed installation of a new hot water
heater. Seems US and NZ plumbing
fittings are very different. Not sure I
understand it all, but it gives him a pain.
Next is chasing down and fixing the water leak on the engine. AARRGGHHH sounds like more plumbing!!!
So yeah –
last week’s storm. Pretty crazy. 15K+ miles under our keel and the most wind
we have seen has been right here at the dock.
Dennis slept through the whole thing!
Hard to believe I know, but hey he turns off the worry button when we
are tied to a dock. Frankly for me and
Josh it was too noisy – we had to be up in the morning, so ear plugs were not
an option. Also we were heeling like
crazy. So around 0245 we were up –
adding lines, securing things on the deck and taking the bikes off the side of
the boat. Dennis’ bike got a little
munched – hoping it is fixable. Mine was
okay, but we put it on deck anyway.
After securing Evergreen, Josh and I walked down the dock to check on
Don Quixote (friends from Mexico/Seattle area).
Wow it looked like an earthquake the way the dock was undulating. Josh figures the height of the wave was at
least a foot. DQ suffered some damage to
her solar panels, but fortunately was being blown into the dock – so all secure
there. The major damage occurred to the
Ferry ramp and Marina office building.
The ferry loading ramp blew away, bounced off the office roof and landed
in the water between shore and the dock.
I think Josh and I just missed it.
I bet it would have been cool to see.
Anyway the office has a huge hole in the roof and the ferry ramp is
toast. Ferry service started back today
from their slip in the marina. Will be
interesting tonight to see the backing in process. The office has been moved to the building
next door, which also required closing of the lounge, necessitating a new study
place for Josh. Not sure when the lounge
will be available, but in the meantime DQ has let us set Josh up in their
boat. They don’t live aboard anymore and
the slip is very close to the gate. Just
set it up yesterday – so far, so good.
They say it was the worst storm in 35 years – gust to 170 kph (so like
100 mph). The severity wasn’t not
forecasted until late Tuesday night, so most people were caught unaware. The original forecast was nothing to get
excited about, hence no one was concerned.
Not much else to report on these days… Work, eat, sleep – repeat. Back to looking forward to the weekend.
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May have to enlarge, but this is the before
see the blue roof thing, that is what blew away
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| After - blue thing is in the water between the rocks and the dock |
I am working
at a private surgical hospital as their Quality Manager. It is very nice, very laid back. Soooo not what I am used to. Funny when a good thing stresses you
out. I really like it and the people I
work with. NZ has a very different health
care delivery system. This hospital only
does surgery - day stay and inpatients.
No ER, no in house pharmacy or lab, no ICU (a small intermediate care
unit but nothing more specialized), no blood bank. It is generally a nice calm and controlled
environment. Many things are the same as
the US as far as healthcare initiatives (surgical care improvement project, who
check list, VTE prevention, CLABSI project) and just as many things are totally
alien (very little in the way of lawsuits, laid back to the point of needing
cpr, attitude about things, no joint commission). So I have lots to learn and get used to. My commute is about an hour. Ferry to the city, bus and then a 1.1km
walk. It is pretty nice. I enjoy the time to wake up or regroup. Driving is horrendous and takes the same
amount of time. So I am doing my thing
for the environment and staying sane – works for all.
New Zealand
itself also has its good points and not so good points. But, for the most part I think the good
outweighs the bad. With only 4.5 million
people it is not crowded – 1.5 million of them live in the Auckland area, so
doesn’t take long to get away from it all (on single lane windy roads). However it means not a lot of competition in
the economy – a seller’s market. Things
like clothes, housing, shoes, housewares, electronics are outrageously
expensive. More than importing to an
island can account for. I think really
that is my biggest issue. In Hawaii we
paid 10-20% more for things because of shipping – here it’s more like 110%
more. Sad when it is less expensive to
buy and ship from the US. The rest
though is pretty good. Josh is in a good
school in a safe area. It is obscenely
beautiful. The people are friendly and
don’t get their knickers in a twist about much (except maybe the All Blacks –rugby
team). The laid back thing has its good
and bad points as well, but…… nothing is perfect and here is pretty darn good.
Dennis and I
have also made some good friends and are much more social as a couple than we
were in CA. So, also nice. We went to a school fundraiser dance last
month – What a hoot. Great music,
relatively inexpensive alcohol and free food. Good company and dancing. What is not to like! Oh yeah and raised money for school sports
programs.
On the
downside I have been unable to work cycling into my life. I just can’t see me getting up and out the door
by 0400 to ride by myself in the dark. The
roads here are really not conducive to riding – it is all stop and go with
traffic. How crazy is it that there is a
beautiful bike lane right up to the intersection, then it disappears and there
is nowhere to go except into the traffic?!
So I have re boxed my bike and put her in storage at a friend’s house. Can’t bring myself to sell her yet – maybe in
the summer. In the meantime I am looking
for a used mountain bike. There are some
good places to drive to for mountain biking and once I have one, it is
something Dennis and I can do together.
Thanks to all for the birthday wishes on facebook etc. I had a great weekend - Rugby, Godzilla, friends, cake and in NZ I don't have to share with Dennis - Father's Day is in September!!
Not much else to report on these days… Work, eat, sleep – repeat. Back to looking forward to the weekend.
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| Josh Birthday |
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| Josh School Picture |
