September 25th, 2006 by
gert
Just a few minutes from our house lies the entrance to Otari Wilton’s bush, a botanical garden and nature reserve. We went for a short walk through native forest up the hills towards grand views and farmland where lazily grazing animals wandered over steep slopes. Got home just after sunset, although we could not actually see this, since layers of gray clouds covered both hilltops and the sun. The clouds are hopefully taken care of by the strong winds that are currently blowing around (and against, and through…) our house. See the photos for scenery and nature.
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September 25th, 2006 by
willemijn
This weekend I played at the National Indoor Championship Ulimate Frisbee. The tournament was held in Palmerston North (or Palmy), two hours driving from Wellington. Gert came along to cheer for the two teams from Wellington: the Crew Red and Black.
Palmerston North is a strange city, it’s a town with 25.000 inhabitants with streets that form one huge grid. At night,`pimped’ cars with neon lights, noisy enlarged exhaust pipes, gear shifting sounds, and blinded windows filled the streets in the inner city. The cars are owned by boys that are too young to get access to a bar (21 years), but are allowed to drive a car (16 years). What else can you do….
The tournament was wonderful. Well-organized, very relaxed atmosphere and with a great spirit. The indoor game is played a bit differently than in Holland. The teams are four against four with always at least one woman on each team. The game is played on a basketball field. The endzone, the part in which you need to score, is the bucket of the basketball game, so it’s very narrow, but it also leaves some space on each side to throw the disc around until you can score. I had to get used to the tactics, but my hammer-throwing skills came in quite handy. So we came out tenth in the social league. Not too bad as our team was initially seeded as 17th out of the 18 teams. Check out the event’s photos.
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September 19th, 2006 by
gert
To put last weekend’s sunny holiday snaps in perspective: the weather’s not always that sunny and friendly. Today was a quite damp and a bit windy and at the moment it’s pouring down. Still had a good time though. we visited Te Papa museum and took a bus to Brooklyn to check out the coolest cinema in town.
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September 17th, 2006 by
gert
Today was a particularly nice and sunny sunday. We woke up and enjoyed our breakfast in the sun out in our backyard, before heading to the sunday morning veggie market at the waterfront next to the Te Papa museum. We had coffee at Rich and Lea’s antique-bus-converted-to-coffee-shop and then walked up to Kelburn where Kate’s parents live. We joined them on a trip to Kate’s sister Hannah who lives in Paekakariki, a nice small coastal community, 40 minutes north of Wellington. Of course we took some photos.
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September 16th, 2006 by
gert
Hi everyone! Well, I finally managed to put some pictures online. Sorry for being such a slacker… Of course we’ve been busy making these pictures in the first place, and having drinks and dinner and more drinks and more dinner with many many friendly people. But now, without further ado, I’m proud to present (drumroll)…. Wellington in pictures:
Some pictures to give you an idea of our neighbourhood. And to make you jealous of our stunning views of course. 
Snapshots, taken from different parts of town while we were walking about and exploring the city.
Willemijn playing Ultimate with her team called Zeal.
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September 13th, 2006 by
gert
Aloha everyone! Another quick update. Still no photos unfortunately since our camera cable is in “The Other Luggage” which we’ll be able to pick up tomorrow, hopefully. (short version of the story: we had quite a bit of excess luggage that we shipped with cargo to keep the costs down).
But boy have we been busy having a good time! We had a very nice dinner and a great evening at our neighbours Lou and Megan the other day. Furthermore, we ventured out to Lyall Bay and Houghton Bay yesterday to view the waves. Pfeew! Pretty nice surf, with hardly anyone out there. We met Rich, a cool guy in a 50s pink Buick bus that he converted into a coffee corner. I had a chat with my new employer today at Catalyst and sneaked into a record store on the way home to get my hands on a The Brunettes cd - they’re such a cool band - while Willemijn has started gardening by getting some herbs and plants from a nearby gardening centre. Tomorrow we’re going out for dinner with Kate and some of her friends, coming friday Will’s having drinks with the women of her frisbee team and I’m having drinks with my future colleagues. Sooo… plenty of entertainment on this side of the planet, that’s for sure.
And we’ve been exploring the city - it’s so beautiful! The walk from Wadestown (where we currently live) to town is about 45 minutes. After a good ten minutes, you reach the top of a hill with a stunning view over the harbour and bay. Every time we reach that point we stop and think “whoa, this is our city!!”… And while I’m typing this I’m looking out of the window, at a clear blue sky and distant hills. Not too shabby!!
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September 9th, 2006 by
gert
We’re there dudes!
The trip was not bad at all, didn’t even seem that long. Our Air New Zealand flight to Auckland had fancy-schmancy individual entertainment systems with tv shows, lots of movies, music and games. Best movie ever to watch on a plane when you’re going to live in New Zealand: The World’s Fastest Indian. What a beautiful story. It was a bit of a challenge to try and get our two individual entertainment systems to play the film at the same time so we could enjoy it together, but we managed, after much fiddling with fast-backwards and pause buttons…
At Wellington Airport we were picked up by Kate and her parents, who drove us to our new home.
It’s a sunny spring time afternoon here in Welly, right now we’re getting organised in our new place - which is big and very nice by the way. Can’t beat the views!
Everything’s a bit surreal right now, but I’m sure we’ll feel at home in no time. Stay tuned for more. But first, a shower and a nice cold beer!
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September 8th, 2006 by
gert
Just a short note: We’re alive and kicking, in transit at Singapore’s Changi Airport. ‘t is hier fantaaaaasties!
We’ve made our first kiwi friend along the way (barefoot, shorts and aloha shirt!). Stay tuned for more news, we’re off to the next leg of our journey.
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September 2nd, 2006 by
gert
Two days ago, I hurt my back. And I wasn’t even lifting anything heavy. According to our GP, an intervertebral disk in my lower back shifted a bit, causing pressure and severe muscle cramps. The upshot of this interesting medical tidbit is that I was unable to walk, stand, sit or lie down. Well, not without debilitating pains and screaming in hysterical agony that is. And next monday, the movers will be here to pick up our stuff. Yup, my timing is excellent!
Being completely knocked out by heavy painkillers in high dosage and muscle relaxant, inbetween naps I shuffled about like an undead, while help called in from everywhere by Will were packing our stuff and stripping down the place. Thanks so much Sjoerd, Hans and Fokke, you have been wonderful!
Chemicals and light excercise are helping me to improve my condition, I’ll be up and running in no time, probably right around the time that all the heavy work is done :-)… I’m really sorry for Willemijn, who once again has to do all the work and organising while I’m lying in bed, knocked out by medication…
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