Other Random Happenings

As I haven't posted for a while (there have been a few weeks between the Routeburn Track and Samoa), I figured that now would be a good time to give a few updates and include a few random pictures from over the past several weeks that didn't really fit well in my other posts.

So I got back from the Routeburn track on 19 April. The weather in Auckland has been getting a bit cooler lately so there has not been as much in the way of outdoor activities to do. Unfortunately, it also gets dark here now at around 6:00 so I'm looking forward to September/October to roll around again soon. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely much nicer winters than it was back home. It gets cool here, but I doubt that there are any days when a winter jacket would be required. It also rains a bit more in the winter time, but usually for relatively short spurts.

Since the Routeburn track, we did have one very nice day and it just so happened to be on a day that a group of us planned a golf outing. This was only my third time golfing here which is a shame as they have a bunch of very nice courses. I really need to try to get out a bit more often in the coming year. We went to Formosa Golf Course to play a round for one of my friends - Phil's - birthday. In my group, we had me, Paul, James and Steve. We were all a bit rusty and shot over 100 but it was a great time, a beautiful course overlooking the ocean with views of Rangitoto Island, and a perfect day.

On another weekend, one of my friends and manager, Chris and his new fiance, Samantha, had everyone over for an engagement party. Chris spent some time in the U.S. in the San Francisco office and met Samantha while over there. He's my manager on several jobs and a great guy. It was a nice relaxing evening spent with friends (and even a few Kiwis this time). That same weekend, Steve and I caught a morning showing of the new Wolverine movie. I thought it was great and was glad that Steve was willing to get up early to go see it with me. My other friends said it was weird to go that early in the morning (10 am show) and asked if we brought candy for all the little kids and called us pedophiles. I'll have them know that there were not little kids in the theater that day. Steve and I got some lunch at a delicious place called Nando's then I bought the Wolverine PS3 game to play the rest of the day.

A couple of weeks ago, we had new secondee join us from France named Alex. He is a great guy and will be a welcome addition to the expat community over here. I helped him move to his new flat and took him shopping as he doesn't have a car yet, then he joined me, Paul, James, and Ben (an American secondee working at E&Y who I just met in my apt. building) for a mens' night out. We had a great time bar-hopping (Sky City, Occidental, Danny Doulan's, Cowboy & Indian, etc.) until the very early hours of the morning before calling it a night. We had planned a movie marathon the following day but nobody felt up to it after waking up to some pretty bad hangovers.

Another thing that's been big in the news here lately is the whole Swine Flu outbreak. New Zealand is one of the countries that had some people infected (there were 10 people infected who came over on a flight from Australia). One of the people on the flight was a guy who sits right in my section of the office. He didn't realise he was on that flight until several days later so was in the office that whole time. Luckily he didn't have it or else a bunch of people in our office probably would have come down with it. I don't know all the details but it seems like the media is blowing this thing out of proportion at the moment. Hopefully it goes away soon as I'm tired of hearing about it.

I think that pretty much fills in the previous few weeks between 20 April and 11 May when I headed to Samoa. See a few random pictures below.

Also, if you haven't checked in a while, I have been gradually updating my list of The Good, The Bad, and The Unusual observations I've made about New Zealand. Might be a good time to check this out again if you haven't in a while.

Me and Steve golfing at Formosa

A rainbow over Auckland. We've been getting a good bit of rain lately and it seems like there are always rainbows here - probably because the rain is usually short-lasting then the sun comes up.

Here's another view of the city from the harbor. My office building is the white one on the right there.

While Leslie was here, I had a client in Tauranga for a couple of days. We stayed in a place called Mount Maunganui ("the Mount"). This is a really nice beach town with a lot to do and just a couple hours drive from Auckland. Unfortunately I had to work but Leslie checked out the sites. I'll definitely come back here sometime next summer for a weekend to better check the place out. The photo above is one that Leslie took from the top of the Mount.

On the way home from Tauranga, we drove through a town called Paeroa. This is a small town that is where the famous New Zealand pop called L&P was invented. L&P is OK, but not one of my favorites. We still had to stop and get a picture with the giant L&P bottle though.