I Love It When You Call Me Te Papa

The Te Papa Museum = Sweet As.  

Located on the waterfront (and also positioned on stabilizers to keep it from shaking during an earthquake) Te Papa means "Our Place" in Maori and it felt like our place.  We owned the museum in 3 hours.  So a few of the highlights: 

GIANT SQUID- New Zealand is home of one of the few or the only (unclear) giant squids on display.  This deep sea creature is disgusting.  It has a beak like a parrot (I know you're probably gagging already, because I was).  The squid has fully rotating suckers that have small hooks on them, a killing machine.  It's eye is the size of a soccer ball.  The Squid, however, like every giant squid that has been found, was female.  She hooked on to a deep-fishing boat's line and held on as it was cranked up (she is not the brightest squid).  

So we watched the video of this giant squid, the color of a Ruby Grapefruit, being pulled up from the ocean with it's long tentacles and in a way, it was beautiful.  Now it's lying in some sort of preserving jelly under a glass case for viewers to admire.

Yum. 

Te Papa also houses numerous Maori carvings, wakas and building representations.  It is the sole place to have a cultural experience from a learned perspective as this is the main and, from what we understand, the only real museum in New Zealand.  

A sailor went to sea sea sea to see what he could see see see...

In addition to the traditional Maori artifacts, there were modern sculptures as well as the "Black Hole". The "Black Hole" is a giant black carpeted circle at the center of the Te Papa.  The following pictures display how we had fun with this one:

Brian and I, being children at heart, enjoyed the interactive aspects of the museum. Yes, we watched the 3-D show of the Squid being pulled up from the ocean and yes we stood in an exhibit house that shook to represent an earthquake as well as played with many other touch screen games... so as you can imagine, we had fun.

One interactive piece stands out most for both of us.  This piece separated different parts of a particular song and allowed the viewer to play parts of the song that pleased them, or all parts. In order to play the elements of the song, one only needed to place their hand over a circle, triggering a sensor that started the music.  Fat Freddy's Drop, "Roady" was our personal favorite. 

Go DJ!  That's my DJ!

The final aspect that I will elaborate on is the "myspace" like room.  In the room, there were multiple large screens running along one wall. Using a large white controller, you could click on an image on the screen and move it around. At first glance, this seems kind of lame until you realize that you can take a picture of yourself, upload it to the main screen and play with it! Being the narcissists that we are... Brian and I took a few photos and short videos of ourselves. FUN!

Narcissism at its best.

After a day of fun, we had some Mexican tacos that were pretty okay. Have we mentioned how much we MISS the burritos from the Mission?!

Taking advantage of the Te Papa's stage.

Vassar in New Zealand!

Thursday, we met up with fellow Vassar Alum, Camille!  We had been in contact with her since we even thought of the idea to come here, so it was a pleasure to finally meet her.  She took us to a sort of hidden area that housed a hole-in-the-wall, yet masterpiece of a Malaysian Restaurant.  We chatted over some delicious dishes (curry soup, a noodle dish) accompanied with the local favorite (though Australian) Ginger Beer. 

Camille works in the public health sector for the New Zealand government.  She has been in New Zealand for four years now and is a legal resident.  Information we learned from her:

• New Zealand is a small country thus everyone gossips. if you're working a particular field, such as the health field, you are more than likely going to come across the same people multiple times in your life-- so don't step on any toes
• There's about 25% of the population that is out of the country at a given time- traveling.  Although it is expensive for a New Zealander to travel the world, they don't view it as an option rather they view traveling as an essential life experience. 
• Because healthcare is free, kiwis don't receive the higher end medicines although if they genuinely want to spend the money, they can often order their medicine through Oz. 
• Healthcare is also taken less seriously.  People generally don't go to doctors anytime they get a sniffle. They also wait for long periods of time to see specialists such as gynecologists without complaint. (is this in America's future? doubtful)
• Abortion in this country is common and free. There is a check process where the woman intending to receive an abortion must see various counselors to ensure that she has not rushed her decision.  If the doctors/counselors feel that the woman is not getting an abortion for the "right reasons", she may be denied. The woman is also offered counseling after the abortion process is complete.  For a non-resident, an abortion costs around 850 kiwi dollars.
• Abortions are common because sexual practices in this country are apparently "loose".  Camille was told by a friend that she should "sleep around until she finds a person she wants to see again"!  (New Zealand has a high rate of STDs such as the "CLAP") Thus Durex uses New Zealand as its test population for all of its new products. crazy!
• In New Zealand, workers must be given 4 weeks of paid vacation every year.  If an individual is injured at work or sick, the ACC covers everything.  For example, if they are in a car accident, the individual will be paid their salary as well as sent a nanny to care for their children and clean their homes.  Their job must also remain open for them during this period.  The downside is, from the American point of view, if some idiot slams into your vehicle- you are not allowed to sue. LET ME REPEAT: NO SUING. 

We also learned that Wellington is on a fault and I guess any minute now the city can crumble.  Sweet.  The honeycomb (New Zealand's parliament) is built on springs so in case the city falls, at least Parliament can still be in session. 

So after our meal with Camille and our lesson about New Zealand life, we had some of the best gelato I have EVER HAD from Kaffee Eis (pronounced "caffe ice"... clever, huh?). There are a couple flavors we would suggest: Coconut and Biscotti. 

Wellington = San Francisco

During our travels, we heard a lot of things about Wellington: how it is rich with culture, how it is a beautiful city, how much better it is than Auckland.  All these things are quite true.  There was one other description that is hinted at in this post's title: the comparison of Wellington to San Francisco.  Considering we stopped in the Bay Area on our way over here (and the fact that I lived there for a summer), we feel it is out duty to settle once and for all the age old question: how similar is Wellington to San Francisco?

Let's start with the weather.  San Francisco is often warm and sunny with little to no humidity.  However, it is better known by the Mark Twain description: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."  It's true that the city, surrounded on three sides by water, is subject to cool rain, gusts of wind, and heavy fog, but it's evident that Mr. Twain never lived in the North East or the northern Mid West from December to February.  Wellington is similar in that is subject to crappy weather in the summer time, plagued with clouds and rain that are about as unpredictable as the San Francisco fog, though there is swimming through such dense fog here.  When there are clear skies, both cities enjoy similar, comfortable weather.

How about structure?  Well both cities are major sea ports, with shipping equipment and docks lining the waterfront.  That being said, there isn't a residential beach to speak too enthusiastically about in either place.  They both lie near or on major fault lines, meaning the threat for earthquakes is relatively present and therefore, precautions are taken during construction.  This also accounts for the hills on which the city is situated, although Wellington's hills are not quite as drastic (from what we've seen) as the hills in San Fran, such as Lombard Street.  Both cities have webs of cables and wires hanging in the air over the street that allow buses to connect to and run off the electricity.  Seeing this, along with Wellington's famous cable car, gave us the eerie feeling that we had in fact returned to the states.

Of course, there are differences: the culture, the size, the people, etc.  Instead of AT&T Park for baseball (home of the Giants) and Candlestick Park for American football (home of the NFL 49ers), Wellington has Westpac Stadium and TSB Bank Arena, housing a variety of sports from Rugby (Wellington Hurricanes) to football (soccer for all you Americans, Wellington Phoenix) to cricket (which I have learned and now understand).  But the similarities are amazingly present (I mean, isn't it comforting to know that corporate sponsorship is global?)  Even the Mount Victoria, situated to Wellington City Center's east, although not separated by water, is basically Wellington's Oakland, dotted with houses all the way up to the very tip.  We took a trip to the top of Mt. Victoria and learned a few fun facts, one of which was that the airport, situated between Evans Bay and Lyall Bay, sits on reclaimed land from an earthquake.  Crazy.

Welcome To Wellington: 3 Man & Aioli Sauce

Our first experience in Wellington came around 8:00pm on Sunday, after an entire day of riding on a bus.  We were welcomed by huge gusts of cold wind, one after another, as we unloaded our things.  Not the warmest welcome.

We made the decision that Monday night would be a party night, after making friends with some traveling Canadians and their UK buddies.  After a delightful game of 3-man, through which I was often the 3-man and drank most of my bottle of wine, we rounded up the troops and headed out for our first night out in Wellington.  There really isn't much else to write about the night, considering it was a Monday and we were pretty much the only ones out.

"Inspiring Words" hosted by NZ Post

Tuesday, Mai and I met up with a guy I contacted through Wellington volleyball named Earl.  He offered to put us up for a few nights at his place and also informed us that we'd be playing volleyball the following night.  We did so, and although the volleyball was indoor 6's, it was pretty good quality and we had a fairly good time. 


Mai's two cents: Volleyball was pretty good except playing with old men means two things: 1. old men think they're AWESOME even when they are only barely scraping the skills of an average player. 
2. old men ALWAYS think they are better volleyball players than women... i.e. old men love to jump in front of me.


Thus, playing volleyball with old men means I have to work on my "Bean" skills: deep breathing and patience. 

A local Wellington bookstore.

Wednesday nights in Wellington is Student Night at the local bars.  "What does that mean?" you might ask.  Well, with the legal drinking age at 18 years old, it meant that everyone 18 and older was in one of the copious number of bars on Courtenay Place while those who wished they were 18 drank out of brown paper bags and merrily ran a much on the sidewalks of Courtenay place.  We watched the latter group as we munched on some Burger Fuel fries, served with delicious aioli sauce (we NEED this at home, so good).


Mai's two cents again:  Aioli sauce is "bomb", as Emma would say.  Student Night is also one of the few times I felt like an old prude.  If I had enough sweaters, pants and shoes, I would have tried to dress the 15-16 year old girls wearing "tube tops" as dresses and taken off their 4-5 inch heels because looking like a prostitute and stumbling around on stilts really shouldn't be a style.  Although I whole heartedly enjoyed the people watching, I couldn't help but worry about the potential pneumonia epidemic that is bound to occur amongst these teens as well as continually replay the famous question, "It's 10:00 do you know where your children are?". The answer is "no" because no parent in their right mind would allow their 15 year old to wander Courtenay Place plastered, on stilts and barely dressed :) 


But if you're a people watcher, like Brian and I are.. Wednesday nights is definitely the night. 

Operation: Locate Volleyballers

We spent Sunday (7th) and Monday (8th) in Auckland, hanging out with Rami.  Nothing much to note except that we ate the most delicious chocolate mud pie cake ever!

Tuesday brought us south to Tauranga where we stayed in a laid back hostel run by a strange man.  A short bus ride brought us to the beautiful beaches of Mt. Maunganui.  There, we spent some time relaxing on the beach as well as doing quite the opposite by climbing 232 meters (about 760 feet) to the top of The Mount.  We even got to randomly play with a team in a recreational volleyball league, though the net was incredibly low.  We made some volleyball friends and we were able to play doubles on the sand courts in Tauranga, which has been the only sign of good volleyball we've found so far.

In our down time, Mai and I worked on our cooking skills, attempting and often failing to make the perfect Egg In A Nest breakfast.  They were still delicious, but we couldn't quite get the yolk just right so that it would explode when you bite into it ("how did johnny do it?" is the question we kept repeating). We spent many evenings sitting outside the bus stop using the random free wireless internet connection we found to write e-mails and do some job searching.

Friday came around and it was time for Mai and I to go our separate ways.  She headed back to Auckland to meet up with Federico and Rami for the Chinese New Year while I stuck around in Tauranga for a little more volleyball and sun.  This was the first time during the whole trip that Mai and I were apart from one another for more than a few hours time. 

Up in Auckland... 


Chinese New Year festival was relatively okay. I saw a little Asian woman perform magic tricks on stage. I was memorized. She had lots of paper flowers popping out of her hands.. and there was glitter. Every performance intended to capture an audience should include glitter. There were multiple outdoor tents with food for sale. For a moment, I thought I had found my paradise but I should have known.. I am not in the NYC Chinatown and the Asians in New Zealand are getting away with murder for their prices. I did have some delicious shrimp skewers :) 
While munchin' on some grub, I witnessed yet another awkward concert/show in New Zealand. A young Asian pop-star wannabe wearing high black heels, red lipstick and a short romper sang some songs while accompanied by three dancers wearing leotards and heels. I tried not to judge, but how could I refrain? The singer kept telling the crowd to join in on her songs.. but no one new the words... OUCH. 


After hanging out with Rami for a few hours and having an intense youtube session I've discovered Parkour.  If I thought I could leap off a building and not splatter my brains on the sidewalk, I'd try it. So for those of you who are far more coordinated.. I recommend it. 

Down in Tauranga...


I spent my weekend meeting up with our volleyball friends (Viola & Taylor) for some more volleyball.  Saturday, we went to the beach to swim in the crystal clear waters on the Mt. Maunganui coast.  Viola and Taylor are associated with a local prayer house and by pure coincidence, I met pretty much the rest of the people who work with them at the beach.  One such person was a Vassar alum!  It's a small world after all!


That night, I took part in my very first Couch Surfing experience.  For those who have never heard of it, basically Couch Surfing is a website for people to search for willing hosts that have a spare couch in their house or apartment that they're willing to allow travelers to come crash on for free.  I found such hosts in the Mount and met up with them in the early afternoon.  They were incredibly nice, friendly, and accommodating.  They fed me snacks, let me shower, I even had my own bed!  I talked with two of the three people living in the apartment for almost four hours, about anything and everything.  From the front yard balcony, you could see the waves crash onto the beach, and from the backyard balcony, the calm water of the bay in between the Mount and Tauranga, with the sun setting in the background.  So beautiful.


The next morning, I grabbed a 7:20 bus and met back up with Mailynh on the same connecting bus down to Wellington!  Looks like we survived just fine on our own.

Waitangi Day

From Taupo we hopped on the NakedBus and headed back up north to Kerikeri.  After a 12 hour bus ride to Paihia, a half hour south of Kerikeri, we took a taxi that drove us the rest of the journey.  The taxi cost us 60 bucks (note to self: if you've got some extra cash and you're living in new zealand, open a taxi company- you can practically rob people!)  The woman was very friendly, like everyone we've encountered thus far, but she talked our ears off.  Apparently she is an important figure in the Waitangi Day celebrations because of her father- she was Maori and the oldest of 12.. or maybe it was 16.  Moving on.. We arrived in Kerikeri and updated with our friends. Keri Central has been our home away from home.  Brian is storing a suitcase there, everywhere we go, our baggage gets lighter.

The following day, Friday, we headed back south to Paihia. We stayed in a hostel with our friends Fede and Rami.  The first evening in Paihia, Brian and I took our iPods out on an internet search.  We located a free, non-password protected source outside of a real estate agency.  Soon enough, while Brian was using the wifi, the person who was presumably paying for our usage came out of his house an awkwardly talked to Brian about it. The next day, it was passworded! bonk. In this country they pay for internet based on GB usage, once they use up their GB quota, the internet slows down to dial-up speed.

February 6th is the New Zealand national holiday that commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, that essentially made New Zealand a British colony.  This weekend festival is about a half hour south of Kerikeri, right near Paihia.  Saturday morning, around 6 am we watched the sunrise over the bay ('Beautiful', is an understatement).  We saw the largest waka fleet and the largest waka.  Women are not allowed in the waka taua, war canoes, and are not allowed to be in the carvings on the war canoes either.  According to a Maori woman, the people rowing in the wakas must be at least 15 and of a certain height, but in the old days, the ability to swim was the deciding factor and age meant nothing.  She also told me that "Paihia" means "bay of tears" because there were many wars and death in that area.

After the waka ceremony, the warriors performed the traditional haka and then a couple more tribe-specific hakas.  There were three different groups of warriors present.  Even while stomping on sand, the haka was a powerful experience.

In addition to warriors, wakas and hakas, there are hundreds of tents selling food and trinkets. This is the first time I have ever experienced watermelon and ice cream.  They chop the watermelon in half-- scoop out a little of the top to form a dish and then add scoops of ice cream. Delicious.  I had "rainbow" ice cream (I have no idea what flavor it was) and Banana ice cream.  I would recommend the banana ice cream.  Hanging out with Argentineans means we've also tried Mate. We like it :)

following photos credited to federico valera

After going to bed late Friday night and waking up before the sun on Saturday, we all decided on a siesta then fiesta.  That night Rami cooked us dinner, we drank wine, spoke with some French women and went to the Salty Bar.  For those of you who are wondering, music in New Zealand is mainstream music from the States. This means that I can sing along and dance around to most, if not all, the songs played by the DJ.  All of us spent the evening dancing, Brian and I were re-living our mug days (i.e. sweat and loud music).  We did learn that most backpackers cannot dance or can't hear the music.. unclear.

After our weekend excursion in Paihia it was back south to Tauranga.

Jump Day Part Deux

Mai and I got ourselves up this morning to walk to Taupo Bungy.  It was early, so I wasn't incredibly enthused yet.  Mai opted out feeling she would do it at another destination, so she brought a camera to capture me diving 47m into a river.  They strapped me in and asked if I wanted to touch the water today.  I said, "I'd like to be completely in the water if possible."  I wanted to be part of the "Sole Club" in which you must have your entire body in the water so that only the soles of your shoes are above water.  As I shuffled my feet to the edge, like a prisoner walking the plank, the guy told me to just be sure to tuck my head into my chin when I hit the water to avoid face-planting.  Easy enough.

In the process of all this, Mai stood along the cliff side looking for a good shot.  She climbed the fence that said, "Do Not Climb Fence!" so she could get the whole of my jump on footage.  Unfortunately, she was spotted and the guy yelled at her to go back.  She still got a couple of great photos.  When asked by the man if that was my friend, I so cleverly responded, "Where?  I can't see."  During the first few moments of falling, I felt like I was going to die.  I let out a "Holy..." and when I found my voice, I cheered, quickly admired the world upside down, hit the water and went under.  By the time I realized I was underwater, I was pulled out again.  I started laughing and clapping as the bungee pulled me up and dropped me again.  It was such a rush and I can't wait to do it again. 

After a fairly tiring hike to the Huka Falls, we ventured back to the site of the bungee jump.  A day earlier, we had seen some kids in the river below jumping off maybe a 25 foot rock into the river below.  We decided we'd like to try that.  Only problem was, we had to swim across the Waikato River to get there.  It was only about 100 meters across, and the current didn't seem so bad.  After about 10 minutes of weighing the pros and cons, we decided to ford the river, Oregon Trail style.  We began swimming and felt we were doing quite well.  We had made it more than halfway across.  Suddenly, at the same time we realized the current had begun to drag us further downstream, and each stroke we took failed to bring us any further forward but instead, sideways.  We looked at each other and said simultaneously, "Umm... go back!"  So we literally swam for our lives back the way we came and, after a long struggle against the strong waters of the Waikato, we made it back to safety.  Although we failed to ford the river, we felt we gave it our best shot and being dragged downstream was not in our best interests.