WellingtonWestover

Photo is not from New Zealand I readily admit that my perception is probably skewed because: a.) I live in the middle of the city, b.) I have relocated from a much larger city, c.) it is the beginning of winter, and, d.) I’ve only been here one month. Still, these are things I notice about Wellington… 1.) If you are a woman heading to work here you are wearing black tights / leggings and black half boots. Everyone might be a stretch, but 90% seems about right. Wear them as pants, under a skirt of dress… they are everywhere. 2.) Young children are really rare. In the month I’ve been here I don’t think I’ve seen more than 10 children in a pram, more than 50 children total. 3.) Dogs are even rarer than children. I’ve never seen a cat. 4.) Negative signs. There are street signs, signs for businesses, informational signs… There are not signs with “WARNING” or “DO NOT DO XXXX” or even “NO” plastered everywhere.   The only exception would be “No Smok

The traditional greeting of the Maori people I borrowed heavily from online resources to present this brief capsule about the Maori people of New Zealand. It’s a good story to read about a quality nation respecting all of the ancestry of all of the people. Hope you enjoy. The Pacific was the first ocean to be explored and settled. New Zealand, isolated far to the south, was the last substantial land mass to be reached.   Outrigger Canoes of Maori descendents It was 25,000 to 50,000 years ago when explorers first set out from Southeast-Asia on simple rafts relying on the currents (drift) to reach new destinations. These people were largely foragers and the destinations (Polynesia) they reached were settled. Thousands of years later, canoes were used to extend their reach as both their ocean vessels and navigational skills improved. Finally, outrigger canoes, some with sails, were used to reach ever further into the unknown using stars, wave patterns and ocean curr

I will never be accused of being quiet on things I feel passionately about.... this should be no exception. Did you know that 1 out of every 3 sea turtles found dead on a New Zealand beach died from eating plastic?  It seems that the bags resemble one of their favourite foods, jellyfish, and they chomp away eventually suffocating on the plastic. Did you know there are over 100 million sea animals killed each year in the ocean from plastic? Did you know that there are over 100 million tons of plastic in the ocean? I'm not telling anyone how to live their life -- do what you want, however, I think it's important for people to know the true story about plastic. Note: Plastic straws and chewing gum are two other things you can give up to help save planet earth. Great Magazine cover As long as I'm on a semi-environmental jag let's talk about cows. Cows get a bad rap for methane gas emissions, and to be clear, they burp (it isn't farting) methane gas a

Not being shy (historically) about cheering on our teams we dove right in and embraced the All Blacks -- New Zealand's International Rugby team. Now, we are the first to admit that becoming All Blacks fans is far from a dangerous position. They are currently the first place team in the world, and arguably, the most feared and revered team there is.  I have always been an AB fan right down to insisting Brandon pick up an All Blacks jersey on his trip to NZ years ago. Julie has been slower on the uptake, understanding little about Rugby, but she is making great strides in understanding the nuances of the game and everything All Black she can google -- and let's just agree, that girl can google and google and google. All rugged and geared up for the match Step One in our All Blacks adventure was landing some tickets -- which we did, although more on that later.  We got Section 1, Row MM, seats 10 and 11 through some site called viagogo.  More on that later, however, i

Bolton Street Cemetery When Julie and I first visited Wellington (as part of our "should we move, or should we not" tour) we decided to test our physical health ( fail ) by walking the Botanic Gardens. So, that adventure begins with the cable car up to Kelburn and then a very steep descent into Wellington proper.  At the end of the "painful" tramp is the Bolton Street cemetery. Little did we know then that the cemetery is located across the street from our temporary lodging here at the Bolton Hotel. Julie and I both have always shared a fascination with old cemeteries. They are special places loaded with so much history, beauty, reverence and peacefulness.... hard to describe exactly -- suffice to say we think they are pretty cool. You can imagine the lives of the people buried; reflect on how fragile the lives of so many young children were back in harder times; marvel at the longevity of others... again cool -- makes you feel small and strangely humble.

There's been a lot of non-interesting things going on since the last blog entry.  Generally, we have settled in to a normal work routine.  For Julie that is a lot of phone work, travel to and from the office, a trip this week back to Sydney, and of course, time spent on the computer. She is also getting the farewell dinner and drinks treatment from all the people she has touched in Australia.  Well earned and fitting. Her transition to a new EY location has been pretty breezy since she is still committed 80% of the time to her Australian client.  That means she gets the benefit of knowing the local office and all of the people there, without having to participate in driving any local sales and delivery.  We have been impacted to a small degree by normal relocation headaches -- expense reports, communication/connectivity challenges, the normal sort of thing. I have been looking for a job managing people or driving a sales team.  I have also been examining volunteer opportuni

"Paddy the Wanderer" was a Ginger and Down Airedale Terrier . Paddy had been given to a young girl named Elsie, the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Gardner, by a horse trainer from Christchurch. Mr. Gardner was a seaman operating out of the wharfs in Wellington. Sadly, Elsie died of pneumonia at a young age  causing Paddy to grow broken- h earted.  He left home and wandered Well i ngton ostensibly looking for Elsie. Elsie and her Dad Paddy was a friend of cabbies, workers, and seamen, who took turns paying his dog licence fees every year. He was an exceptionally intelligent dog that learnt to cross streets only when the "wal k " signal was green. He was known for greeting sailors in the Wellington Harbour and accompanying them, as a stowaway, on their coastal steamers. Legend has it that Paddy flew in an open cockpit (Gypsy Moth) plane, and, steamed to San Francisco and back. The Wellington H a rbour Board adopted him under the formal title of "Assista

Monday was the Queen’s birthday and Tuesday was all about Queens Wharf.  All-in-all, I am far more excited about the wharf than the birthday.  Sorry Liz! Monday was a national holiday here in New Zealand in recognition of Queen Elizabeth’s birthday.  That means that a lot was closed including EY where Julie works.  Since Julie is technically still working for an Australia client, she worked it as a normal day from the hotel room.   Next Monday they celebrate the birthday in Australia so she will take that day off instead. I guess it's worth noting her birthday is in April... the 26th I think? Working in the same room as Julie is always a special treat. I have never seen someone work so tirelessly without taking any breaks.  I mean seriously, even bullfighters and heart surgeons stop and take a breath midstream. She tends to talk quite loudly on her calls but that's really nothing.  While talking she is also typing 100 words per minute, usually into a spreadsheet, witho

Cable car to Kelburn - 30 - 35 percent grade is my guess? Much like Saturday, Sunday was a purposeful day.  We still had multiple apartments to "walk by" so we started somewhat early and hit the road.  Even though we have narrowed our preferred neighbourhoods there was still one outlying area that we couldn't quite shake so we took the 10 minute stroll and hit the cable car.  Wellington, being quite hilly, has multiple cable cars to help you get from sea level to the hilltops -- this cable car took us from the Central Business District (CBD) to Kelburn.  Kelburn is a nice area with incredible views of the city below.  It is also home to a lot of University students attending the nearby school.  You get off the cable car and straight ahead, about 10 minutes, is the city centre. It's a rather limited area with a butcher, a pub, a baker and that's about it... not even a candlestick maker.  We ruled out the neighbourhood once we realised we'd be isolated

Day Two (Saturday) I got up way too early and went for a L O N G walk while enjoying a coffee.  Eventually I returned to the hotel and found my better half awake and wondering where I'd been. We struck out pretty early for the day shortly thereafter.  On the agenda was walking past the 10 or so apartments and houses we had located and deemed potential places to hang our hats long term.  That part of the day was successful having ruled out half of them while feeling good about the rest.   We even added a few new places to consider based on location and a bit more knowledge. As a bonus we also found a place that sells fruit pies! The prices for lodging in Wellington are about the same as Sydney, maybe 10% cheaper, but not much.  Rents are calculated per week and the places we are considering range in price from $650 to $1,150 PER WEEK.  So, not cheap, and for that you are mostly getting a great location.  Wellington is very compact so most locations are actually OK, though some a

At slightly past midnight on 1 June 2018 we set foot on New Zealand soil after what seemed like an eternity.  It was 1 October 2017 when we first decided to apply for a Visa to work in New Zealand.  Needless to say, the process was arduous and fraught with stress and uncertainty. Everything seemed to bite us in the a$$: political nonsense to keep us in Australia, FBI background checks (antiquated to say the very least), invasive medical tests with expensive and even more invasive follow-up.  We were near the point of throwing it all away and moving back to the Unites States!  But I digress.... was that a preamble or just a ramble? Anyway, we got off the plane quite exhausted from two days of moving from one country to another. You've got the whole end of lease cleaning and inspection, arranging and supervising shipping companies, packing 300 lbs. (140 KG) of carry-on luggage, and my personal favourite, selling all the stuff we chose not to move.  Eesh... Sorry, another ramble.