Windy Wellington New Zealand

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 opportunities.  The notion of helping others has always been a driver for me personally and I would love to land a spot helping with homelessness, earthquake preparedness, or something of that ilk.  Time will tell where I land on that.

Life in New Zealand has come with few surprises for us.  We did a lot of homework on Wellington and NZ in general and have visited here before deciding to relocate.  There is no question that Wellington is a place with a lot of wind, a lot of rain, and a pretty cold winter climate.  It's not much different than Seattle or Portland... still, when the Antarctic winds blow through, you know you're being hit with something different.

This past weekend was a three day weekend for us and we spent it checking out the city.  Scoping out areas and businesses; getting a sense of where we will do our massive new city resupply for all things laundry, cleaning, kitchen, bathroom, etc.  It's a solid $300 worth of items when you really add it all up.... Once we move at the end of the month we will already have lists to complete along with the venues that sell the goods we need.  We also ate "out" a lot more than we would normally do so we are struggling to eat as healthy, or as cheaply, as we might at home.  I miss my kitchen and my recipes and am eager to get back into a healthier eating routine.

Shopping here is much better than we had in any Australian location.  That is not to say (at all) that Australia is lacking for shopping or goods, but, we had no car and getting to the places we needed was a royal pain in the arse.  CBD Welly has all the stores we need within walking distance -- everything from bed linen outlets (Sheridan), homewares (Briscoe), chef supplies (Moore and Wilson), grocers (New World, Moore and Wilson, Open Air Markets), Hardware/Home stores (see Thorndon area).  Finally, replacing a light bulb is not a four bus trip and 3 hour experience.

This weekend we have tickets to watch Rugby (All Blacks).  They play in Wellington twice each year and it's a must-see event.  I have always been an All Blacks fan and Julie has definitely caught the fever researching statistics, traditions and players whenever she has a spare moment.  It's going to be a cold, wet and windy night spent outside watching the match.  We will definitely rug up for the event including our All Black jerseys we will pick up Friday before the match.  They will never replace the Oregon Ducks (university) in our hearts but it's good to be plugged into a healthy obsession.

Random note of interest: It's twofold but related.  The "walk" signals you have at an intersection are not all the same here in Wellington.  They have different images for different locations:

Carmen inspired image: Cuba Street area

Female figure instead of block man. 

University graduate signal

Pictured above are three of the types we've seen so far in addition to the more traditional block man figure.  Kind of cool and a testament to the creativity of Welly.  Subnote: The female block figure is a good reminder that New Zealand was the first nation granting women the right to vote! Go NZ!!

The second part of the random note.  Nobody uses the signals.  Jaywalking is common practice in NZ, especially Wellington. I'm guessing the weather keeps people from wanting to stand in the rain waiting for a green light to walk.  There are also many many many intersections that have no walkway painted, let alone a walk signal. 49 deaths last year from jaywalking and more than 1800 traffic accidents tied to jaywalking.  It is what it is -- personally, I have jaywalked all my life and prefer it to waiting at a corner in the rain with no cars in sight.

Have a great day!