A Few Weeks in the Making

The blog has been overdue for an update as we have been mostly lazy in updating. Our lack of updates is due to the fact we have not gone on many adventures recently, but there is great news. After working, working, and reworking, Katie is now registered to work as a physiotherapist!! She received an email last Thursday and she is very excited and relieved that it is over and the registration board agreed that she is qualified to work. As far as what work she will be doing, who knows. Katie will be meeting with our boss in the coming days to sort out what options would be available to her. In other good news, we will be traveling to Thailand! We booked a trip for 2 weeks in early July when the students are off between semesters. It will be mid winter here and nice to travel to a warm sunny place.

The past weeks we mostly stuck around Dunedin and took advantage of some ongoings in town. There was a "Thieves Market" on Valentine's Day. This was a big arts and crafts type carnival that took over the city center with vendors, plus it was on a Saturday so we went from the Farmer's Market to the Thieves Market. It was a nice day and we sampled some of the yummy foods in for the day. Taiwanese wheels cakes and bacon sandwiches were the main fare. We also bought a mini pie from one of the Farmer's Market bakeries. It had been in while since we ate some homemade pie and the fresh boysenberry did not disappoint. The new problem with the market is we like too much of the food! The rest of our day was spent relaxing and making a nice dinner of cannelloni (because you can't buy stuffed shells here).

We made it out for a mountain bike ride during the week before Cyclone Innis bore down on us. I have recently found it necessary to try and fly over the handlebars every time I go biking. I repeatedly remind myself I can't fly and get a couple bruises for good measure. This time was no exception. It felt good to be back on the trails, although we both found ourselves not in ideal biking shape. We did see a baby cow in the woods though. He was on the wrong side of the fence!

Last Friday we went to the work happy hour and made it a happy 5 hours. There are a dedicated group that go out for drinks on Fridays when our boss is in town. Usually we have things on for the weekend and are preparing or leaving for those, but with the cyclone bringing the rain we were staying in Dunedin and decided to join. It was a fun night with some terrible chicken pizza to finish it off. You know pizza is bad when it doesn't taste good after drinking for 4 hours.

Last weekend we survived our first cyclone. A cyclone is a tropical storm like a hurricane but it is formed in the Pacific Ocean, versus a hurricane which is in the Atlantic. Although we live on the coast, the storm was heading from north to south. By the time is had reached Dunedin it had already covered the North Island with rain and was just a big rain storm. A rain storm that last 5 full days. The two worst days were Saturday and Sunday, which meant we had a lazy weekend reading and taking advantage of our fireplace. It is great to have the fire since it heats up the living room and has already proved capable of making smores, although you can't buy graham crackers here either.

Last week was the aftermath of the cyclone. Everything was wet. I was able to use my kayak for the first time on whitewater. The Taieri is a local river pretty close to town and I convinced my friend Dan to come and play on it. He had a good time learning (and swimming) and I got good practice rescuing his boat and just enjoyed being on the water. Hopefully, I can find some more friends who want to join me on after work runs when water is available.

This past weekend we went to the work Mexican night at a local mexican restaurant "Taqueria Poblano." Some people chose to dress for the occasion with sombreros, I chose to shave leaving only a dirty mustache for the night. While the food wasn't that good, it was nice to have a selection of mexican beers and some good company for the evening. Saturday morning we expected the remnants of another cyclone to roll into town but awoke to mostly cloudy skies. We were quick to walk down to the market and stock up on fruits and grab a couple tasty morsels. I ventured out and tried a "pork roll" it consisted of slow cooked pulled pork on a fresh roll topped with applesauce. I finished my breakfast with a freshly picked peach, Katie was on indecision. After mulling the choices and wandering all the options she chose to leave anticipating more agreeable options in town. The local bakeries weren't helpful and she settled with a cinnamon roll from Starbuck's. Saturday during the day we did household duties and read some. That evening we were invited over to Pinto's for dinner and games.


Mexican Night

On Sunday, the rain did come but it wasn't nearly as bad as the week prior. We grabbed a few minutes of sun and hiked around the Otago peninsula. It is such a pretty area and so close, it's a shame we don't take advantage that frequently. The afternoon was spent tramping around the coast and enjoying the break in rain. We even saw some albatross (huge and rare white birds) for the first time.

Our February weather has left much to be desired since this is supposed to be the best month of the year. It has been cool and rainy most of the time. I would guess that usual day highs are in the upper 50's. That doesn't sound too bad for those in the middle of winter, but it would be like highs in the 50's and low's in the upper 30's in August at home. One of our coworkers reported this was the coolest and wettest February since has been here (15 years). Oh well, we knew it wasn't going to be tropical.

Sorry there are no pix other than me with my dirty mustache, kiwi's would call it a "mo."