I'm still alive!

Hey everyone! Sorry that it has been so long since I have written, but life has just gotten kind of crazy. Fun though! I have been living about 20 minutes outside of the city Whangarei (fang a rye). It is really funny what difference the distance makes. If you drove 20 minutes from the center of Portland you would still be in the city, even if you drove 20 minutes from the edge of Portland you would still be relatively populated but my house is up a gravel road that is outside of any speed limits or city jurisdiction. It's really cool at night though! The stars are so bright! I have to walk across a couple of fields to get to my little cottage and I haven't had to use my torch (flashlight :) ) any of the nights. Even when the moon is half full you can still see a shadow, it's nuts!
I am leaving this host and moving out the Coromandel Peninsula on the 29th for a couple of weeks. I will try and keep you a little more updated about it then! Also for everyone that hasn't heard I have been offered the opportunity to crew on a 60ft hand-built sailboat around the country for ~3 months and of course I didn't have to think about that one for very long! That is starting sometime in January. I am starting to really settle in here and have started to get it through my head that no matter what I do there is no way that I can see everything in the time that I have so I am enjoying every moment and letting things happen as they do. It's a much less stressful and much more fun way to travel!
I don't have a whole lot of time right now but I'll put together some good stories and post them up when I get some more interweb time.
Love hearing from you all! Happy Thanksgiving! (early) eat some stuffing for me!
Cheers!

Into the Sea

Yesterday, Alex took us on another sightseeing adventure out to a beach town called Raglan. It was a nice little low key seaside town. We had some killer french fries and spring rolls for lunch when we got there. Then went for a walk on the beach, which is really dark sand, in some places almost black! Then we all got back in the car and drove out the point to a place where a lot of professional surfers go. I didn't catch the name but I remember it started with an "M" :) We timed our visit perfectly! There was no surf whatsoever! (There is a big high sitting right of the coast for all you weather junkies out there) So we decided to go for a swim. The water was like the Oregon coast! It was freezing! It was nice to get the blood flowing and now I can say that I have swum in the Tasman Sea!
Now my task at hand is fixing up the car so I can get on to my next big adventure! This morning I got the new steering rack in and almost done, just a few more bolts to tighten up. Then it is off for a couple new tires and an alignment and I am good to go!
Feel free to send me emails or comment on these posts, I love hearing from all of you! I haven't quite gotten my mail situation figured out yet but once I do I'll let you know!
I think that's it for now, I'll put the Raglan pictures up soon!
Cheers!

Weekend Update!

It's funny to think that I am writing this on Halloween! It doesn't seem to be anything near what Halloween is in the States. People on the news are talking like it is an option for people to take part in. Also it is weird that it is all of 19 degrees outside, I'm used to 19 Fahrenheit!
As for the rest of the weekend we spent the time hanging around the house and doing some more chores. We built a little awning outside for Alex to turn into a patio sometime in the future. Today we spent the day painting and doing little maintenance things around the house.
Yesterday Alex went to a friend of his named Carol and took us along. He goes to trim the nails on her goats and chat about life. We got to join in and as an extra bonus we got to wander around the Alpaca paddock and pick up their poo so they could use it as fertilizer.
Ryan, Po Yee and I went for a walk on Saturday along the river that runs through town and it runs a long ways and is really, really well kept! I was so surprised for a public park! It isn't just a bunch of concrete and gravel either it was a wide swath of grass and trees along the bank of the river.
This week looks pretty normal to me. Tomorrow I think Alex and I are going to run off and and get some car parts so that I can get the Bluebird running soon hopefully. On Tuesday it is Ryan's birthday so Alex is taking us all to Ragalan, which is apparently the surfing hotspot in New Zealand. I'll give you a report on that when we get back!
Ryan and Po Yee are leaving on the 4th so after that it's just me pestering Alex all the time. I think that I am going to move up north sometime around the 8th or so. I do know that I am going to end up on the Hanna Berry Farm in Hastings between the 15th and 17th of November. I am planning on staying there for a couple of months, I am super psyched for it because it sounds like the bulk of the work is supervising the visiting pickers and running a roadside stand or a farmers market booth!
Still having a great time, trying to figure out a better way to share pictures with everyone so hang tight!