Hawke's Bay

We were lucky to have a 3 day weekend last week and we took the opportunity to visit Hawke's Bay which is one of the 3 main wine areas in New Zealand. As we drove we noticed the topography changing, somewhat flatter, warmer, and sunnier. In fact, we had sun for the entire weekend. I think everyone else in the country did too, but we felt like we were in paradise. We stayed in a bed and breakfast in Napier, the "art deco" city which rebuilt itself after a 1931 earthquake ("the largest natural disaster New Zealand has ever seen"). This city is very quaint, built on a hill, overlooking the ocean, and many of the building facades are in the classic art deco style. Lots of good restaurants and little shops. But the main reason for our visit was the vino!! There are loads of wineries around here, some really tiny, some large. We signed up to rent some bikes from a place called "Ye Olde Winery" and cycled around the area, tasting wine as we went. As you can imagine, after a few wineries, we became quite slow, lounging around, eating cheese, tasting olive oils, sitting in the sun. We found some great wines, and the bike company goes around and picks up your wine for you so you don't have to try to bike around with it. It's crafty actually...you don't realize just how many bottles of wine you have bought...It was the most fun we've had in a while....

We also had some nice dinners, one at M.E.D, which is a mediterranean restaurant, where we were served by a guy from Oklahoma! The next night we ate at a French Restaurant called on the bay. Yum. Very rich.

We also drove up Te Mata Peak which is a very large hill, overlooking the whole of Hawke's Bay. You can also see all of the surrounding mountain ranges, including Ruapehu! The valley is full of rolling green hills, and apparently has nice thermal air which leads a lot of people to paraglide off the cliff...This looks amazing, and is on our list of things to do. After a lazy picnic in the sun we headed off to Cape Kidnappers to go down the beach on the back of a tractor to see the Gannet colony. New Zealand has 3 colonies of Gannets (which are birds) who nest ever year starting around August. The little ones hatch starting in mid-November, then come February the chicks take off on their first flight all the way to Australia. Most die on route, but those who don't eventually come back to nest on this cape. The birds are partnered for life, and they claim the exact spot for their nesting every year, for about 25 years! The male and female share the responsibility for guarding the nest, and they have interesting patterns of behavior with each other...lots of necking. You'll see. The cape itself is beautiful, and a geologists dream (of which I am definitely not, but still, interesting). You can see all the layers of sediment, and you can even see the fault lines evidencing prior earthquakes where the earth shifted. It was a great trip. Highly recommend it.

We hit the Hastings farmer's market, then headed out to the ocean to enjoy the sun.. What a life.

Whakatau

Last week the hospital had an official "whakatau" or welcome for its new doctors. This was done in traditional Maori fashion, as a way to welcome us to the community. The protocols used are essentially what is done when going to a marae or meeting house. I'll try to describe the process. We entered the room as a group (with a Maori representative since we don't know the protocols) and the elder woman from the welcoming group called out in song. The woman in our group answered and they went back and forth for awhile until we entered into the room and sat down, the men in front of the women ("to protect the potential future generations"). The elder from the welcoming family speaks first, and this was a local Maori elder who is involved with the hospital board. He has a very long name, which I could not hope to remember, but he says "most people call me uncle Bill". He gave quite a long speech in Maori, then translated into English. He was essentially extending his gratitude for us caring for his people and hoping that we stay. It was quite touching. In return, a member of our group was to respond, this was Sachin since he was the only male in our group. He spoke in Gujarati (they were very keen on people using their native language) and introduced all of us in the group. We then sang together and greeted each person in the group with the hongi, which is when you press noses and foreheads with the person you are greeting. It is in this way you share the breath of life or your essence given by Atua (God) with eachother. We finished by sharing tea and biscuts and getting to know eachother. All in all, it was a very welcoming and touching experience.

Maybe there really ARE Hobbits in New Zealand...

Prior to coming here, I spoke with several people who lived and worked in New Zealand, several of whom had families. They specifically told me that "our children love it here...they go to school barefoot..." Odd. But maybe they lived out in the country or something. Then, over the past 6 weeks, everywhere I go, I see barefoot children. Walking in their school uniforms...barefoot. Walking in the grocery store with their parents...barefoot. And not only children. I see adults, and not just the dreadlocked hippies in their campervans...There were patients waiting for the pharmacy to open in the hospital...barefoot! I also saw a half barefoot man, one shoe on, one shoe off, walking into the Warehouse (equivalent of Home Depot). I have nothing against barefeet, mind you, but I really don't understand what the appeal is of walking around wet, dirty streets or cold hospital floors without shoes. I started to think...well maybe these people can't afford shoes. But in every other way they appear well accounted for. It is just the Kiwi way I guess. I myself will save the barefoot days for the beach....not a true kiwi yet....

Observations...

Where are all the limes? There seems to be an abundance of lemons, but limes are nowhere to be seen. I think we've taken for granted limes in the U.S. We used them all the time without even thinking. Now when we make guacamole, we have to use lemons! Sacrilege! The rumor is that if you do find a lime, it will cost you $10. Probably an exaggeration but still. We will be looking, and when we find them, we are buying in bulk.

My second observation today is in regards to mental health. We have learned that depression, domestic violence, psychiatry in general, are taboo topics in the kiwi culture. If we bring them up as concerned physicians, we end up offending and angering patients...It seems as though people are being treated for mental illness, but it is not spoken about or labeled as such. One interesting story in the news is that the ACC (accident compensation corporation) which usually pays for full care after accidents or injuries, only wants to pay for care of people who have been sexually assaulted if there is proof that they are "suffering from mental illness" after the fact. Crazy! And since, no one wants to believe that there is mental illness in NZ, no one will get any care. Lot of room for growth anyways. Makes us appreciate the u.s. a little bit more where I think there have been great efforts to destigmatize mental illness. Cultural lessons....

The herd of peacocks...

And another...

The sheep are thinking "who is this crazy woman and why is she running around?"

The Sky Swing

Strapped in and heading up.










Waiting at the top...















Flying down....











Feeling exhilarated...

The view from the balcony at our "bach".

The drive to Rotorua...This is Lake Rotomahana. We came upon it suddenly and were surprised by the peaceful quiet.

Sky swings, luging, and peacocks...

The blog has been somewhat quiet due to much rain, most of our time spent working or trying to make our house warm :) We did take a trip to Wellington and started to explore the Te Papa National Museum, which is a really interesting and well done museum in downtown, detailing the natural and human history of New Zealand. We hiked a bit up the Kapiti Coast, literally against a wall of wind. But it was beautiful. We've learned how to make our own enchilada sauce, since they don't sell any in stores, and mexican food is really hard to come by. I have to say, it turned out really tasty (thanks to the sauce man in the family).

Last weekend we took a trip to Rotorua. Land of the hot thermals and Maori culture. It was a bit of a shock driving into the town- lots of traffic and tourism, both of which Wangnaui has little of. It was kind of a long drive for a Friday evening, we didn't get to our "Bach" (this is short for Bachelor pad...essentially a vacation cottage rented out) until after dark, making it hard to find among the winding roads. Luckily we brought supplies for homemade pizza, and cooked it up in our little rental house that night.

The next morning we went for a hike in the Whakarewarera Forest where they have transplanted some California Redwoods (not nearly as impressive as the real thing), and of course the native New Zealand silver ferns are ever present and beautiful. There was also a "UFO simulator", which based on the description seemed like it was a bunch of panoramic New Zealand pictures/video, which were shown while the contraption moved around...I'm not sure why they decided to claim it was a UFO simulator...we didn't go on it, so who knows.

We met some friends for lunch at the Fat Dog, who had yummy and unique paninis, then headed to the "Sky Gondola". We took the gondala up a big hill overlooking Lake Rotorua, and at the top awaited our first extreme adventure called the Sky Swing. This was a thrill seeking device that we sat in, were fully buckled and strapped in, but there was no cage or anything holding us in. We were then lifted by a wire, up about 50 meters, which was terrifying, because the farther we went up, the more perpendicular we became to the ground. Mostly I just stared at the trees in front of me and tried to focus on not hyperventilating. Sachin just kept saying "oh my god...oh my god". Not comforting. When we got to the top, we had to pull a cord and came down in a free fall, then swung back and forth for awhile. Wooh. We were fully pumped for the next adventure.

Which brings me to the luge. This was a plastic sled with wheels and a handle, which we sat in and cruised down a concrete curving course (some of us faster than others). As we got close to the end, the rain started coming down. But we had purchased 2 luge rides, so we were going to get our money's worth, rain or shine. We rode up an uncovered chair lift which was probably the slowest chair lift in history, and when it dropped us off at the top, we decided to take the advanced course this time. This was crazy. It was now pouring rain, the advanced course was up and down, sharp curves, we could have easily flown off the side of the course. We were wearing helmets but still. Sachin seemed to have trouble with his breaks and he almost crashed into me...I also had 8 year old boys passing me and racing like they were in bumper cars. Hmmm. Didn't seem all that safe, but it was fun.

At this point we were freezing cold. We went back to our bach and started a roaring fire while we tried to dry off our clothes. Headed out for a good Thai meal at Wild Rice Thai, then went to the Polynesian Spa. This is a spa built around the natural hot mineral springs which are abundant in the area. They range from 37 degrees Celcius (about body temp) to 42 degrees (about 107.5 degrees F). You pay $20 to get in and can soak for as long as you want...It overlooks Lake Rotorua. It was nice to go at night because it was a little cool outside, otherwise I think it would be easy to overheat. We were both skeptical of its healing powers (so they say), but the next morning we both woke up with really soft skin...

The next day we did some souvenir shopping (carved Jade is a specialty here) and then drove back through the mountains and green hills. We happened to see 8 peacocks on the way!! There must be a peacock farm...We scared the sheep as we stopped the car suddenly and ran out to try to capture the peacocks on film.

It was a good weekend, and lucky us, next weekend is a 3 day one! Happy New Zealand labor day to us. We will be heading to Hawke's bay to sample the wine and food...yum.

Farmer's Market

While Sachin is hard at work this weekend, I had the opportunity to sleep in (i.e. I got up at 7:45). I walked down to the River City Market held every Saturday...lots of fresh fruit, veggies, homemade bread and jams...I had a yummy crepe for brunch. A nice meander down the river and the sun is actually out today! Going to tour some local art galleries this afternoon. I love working part time.

In other news....we hear that Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Surprising indeed. Bold move by the committee. Hopefully it will spark actual peace in the near future....any thoughts? Because it is the weekend here, I haven't been able to talk to any Kiwis about their opinions. But it will be interesting to hear if they think he deserves it.

Breaking and Entering, flat tires, and thank god for fires

We've had an interesting week...Because we live in a 100 year old house, it has finicky locks. In fact, we've locked ourselves out of our house a total of 4 times now. The first 2 times we were lucky, because we accidentally left another door open. The 3rd time was right before we were leaving for the weekend, and we were outside getting a picture set up with the tripod, when the wind blew the door shut. And it automatically locks. Great. So we had to call the manager of the house to come let us in (thankfully they were still open as it was Friday afternoon...never know around here). I knew our luck would run out, and last week, as we were leaving for work, I of course forgot my pager so had to come back, and realized my key wasn't turning the lock. Apparently there is some round part on the inside of the door that if you push it, it's like a deadlock from the outside. Stupid. So we were officially locked out. I was late for work. My resourceful hubby was able to get in through the back window, climb over the stove and open the door. Nice. We are extra careful now.

Over the weekend we were having a nice drive along the beaches toward Wellington. One of the hazards of driving on the left side of the road when you are used to the right, is that you tend to take left handed curves a little sharply...yeah. So that's what we managed to do, completely busting the tire of our rental car on the curb. We listened as the air whistled out. Luckily, we befriended the "chemist" and she let us use the phone to sort out the fixing of the tires. All in all, from the time of the flat, to the time we got a spare, drove to the tire shop and had a new tire put on, it took less than 1.5 hours. Pretty impressive actually. The rest of the trip was uneventful thankfully. It did hail in Wellington, which was quite unpleasant. And I've never experienced the wind like that. Even in North Dakota where there are no trees. This wind was fierce.

Finally we returned home, and it was the coldest night yet. I think it got down to at least 40 degrees, maybe less. And whatever temp it was outside, it was equally as cold inside. I actually wore a winter hat to bed. I'm hoping the weather is going to turn around soon. But it definitely makes me glad I won't be here in the winter. Cheers!