My First Week by BBrown

My first week was a very busy one.  A lot of administrative things to get done, which I really despise. Carmen would get me up early and have me sign this paper and that, then we would run it over to the bank or the post office or the tax office.  I usually decompensate by noon, so she takes me to get a burger and a beer before I start grumbling and cursing!  The bartender was a funny guy, who couldn't believe our story. "Let me get this straight... you gave up the glitz and the glamour of America for this little town of 50,000? Well, good on ya!"  Another saying under my belt, "Good on Ya:)" You can't help but smile when someone says this to you or you say it to someone else. Try it, you'll see!  He invited us to the rugby game, and even told us where we could get free tickets (from one of the surgeons at the hospital).  I love hamburgers, and I was a bit leery about eating a burger here because Kiwis are more partial to lamb rather than beef.  Well, the burger turned out to be pretty good, at least better than McDonalds and the beer was even better (a local brew).  This brings me to my first complaint.  The alcohol is expensive!  My cheapness may save my liver.  A case of Heineken goes for about $25! A liter of Hennessy about $80! Ouch! It is taxed heavily in our jurisdiction because it goes to fund education and public parks.  Go figure, educating our young people more important than cheap drinks.  We were told that every child goes to a "semi-private" school for free in this town! Cheers... it's for a good cause! 

Traffic Jam Southland style!

As I look back on the administrative stuff, it wasn't really that bad.  Getting put on the bank account and getting an ATM and credit card took about thirty minutes.  Half of that was meeting everyone in the bank who all knew Carmen on a first name basis.  The tax office took about 10 minutes, they just needed my passport, driver's license, and my signed IRD form (like a W2).  The two ladies were full of smiles and greetings, nothing like the IRS (shiver, shiver, shake, shake).  The motor vehicle department looked like a small converted house and the line consisted of two people ahead of us, and everyone was smiling.  I didn't have that scared feeling like I do at the motor vehicle department back home; you know the feeling... which one of these people is gonna lose it and start shooting up the place?!  I would always take my number, then stand by the door! Who can blame them? Raise your hand if you've stood in line for an hour, only to get to the front and some evil lady tells you that you waited in the wrong line, go get in that one over there that has 4,000 people standing in it!  Total time getting my license = 15 minutes!  I can't believe they unleashed Carmen on NZ streets without taking a test or anything!  You should have heard her screaming when we rented a car on the North Island on our first visit.  She just couldn't get it, she kept thinking I was heading in the wrong direction.  She would scream so loud that I would turn the car off the road out of sheer terror!  When people asked me if I felt ok about sending her to a strange country alone, I didn't fear for her safety; I feared for the Kiwis' safety, "I hope she doesn't kill anyone on the road before I arrive, that would not look good on our permanent residency application!"  You'll be happy to know, she is really good and I'm glad I missed those first couple of weeks:)  Now I am the one screaming like a young girl in the passenger seat, especialy when she zooms around those turnabouts!

This is how we do it! That's right you can drink the water:)

If you know my baby, she is a bundle of energy and had to show me everything she discovered as quickly as possible.  So my jet lagged, pain riddled body was dragged all over our new hometown while I tried to take in the beauty.  Thank goodness for ibuprofen, the breakfast of champions!!!

Me on a stretch of empty beach, Heaven..

Second complaint: the food.  The food is fresh and without preservatives.  It takes some getting used to.  Your american digestive system is so used to fighting the preservatives and chemicals, that it tries to reject the non pesticide, non preserved food!  This organic stuff is running through me like an olympic sprinter!  And I get hungry after about 3 hours because of the lack of saturated fat.  Seriously though, we are going to have to introduce the Kiwis to "Soul Food" (smothered chicken, corn bread, dumplings, collards, macaroni and cheese), Hispanic food (Tacos, Burritos, Enchiladas), Carribean (Jerk Fish, Rice and Beans mon), and my specialty - Barbecue!  I've already got my spot picked out on the beach where I'm gonna set up my grill.  The Kiwis lack the super spicy foods that we love.  That's something I will miss about America... Food has a way of bringing people together, it's that Thanksgiving tradition.  That's ok, we look forward to filling the gap and our new Kiwi brethren's bellys!! The Browns believe in good eats!

A pristine waterfall in the middle of an Ancient Rainforest a short drive and hike from home.  The water was delicious!  Nature at its best:)

The rest of my first week culminated in two weekend hikes.  Carmen took me to the Catlins which consisted of a drive up the southern coast through beautiful farmland that reminded me of the rolling hills of Kentucky.  We hiked about 5 different tracks that consisted of rainforest, farmland, beach, rolling hills, and rocky hilltops all within a 2 hour drive! Absolutely incredible.  The next day we drove down to the "Bottom", otherwise known as the world famous fishing town of Bluff, where they are really known for their oysters.  We missed oyster season, but we'll be ready for the Oyster Festival in May!  That hike was really challenging.  It was 6 miles long and two of it was uphill.  We didn't finish to the end, I wasn't mentally prepared for that one, and had to cut it short.  My mind was on the fish and chips I kept smelling during the hike!  If you want to see all the hiking pics from the Catlins and Bluff, click here