Thieving pilot jerks

Remember that amazing helicopter ride I went on? Well it turns out that the pilots (both the guy that took us in and the guy that brought us out) are jade thieves. Jade, also known as greenstone here or pounamu here is sacred to the Maori people of New Zealand. They are not Maori and have been stealing and selling it for years. Check out the story and their sketchiness here.

Surfs Up Dude!

Back from Oz and back to work :( But while we were there we had a great time! We flew home Sunday evening, so we took full advantage of the morning/early afternoon and took a surfing lesson! I'm not gonna lie, the waves were no tubes like the one pictured above. All-the-same Blue and I were able to ride some in. Along with the waves, we also caught some knarly sunburns. Bummer dude. At least it was on the last day of our vacation, dude.

Oz (I'm not sure if that is a british or a kiwi term, but it means australia. I'm pretty sure I never heard it until we moved here, but I like it) was pretty great, once it stopped raining and the sun came out! It's a big place with many many things to see and do. We kept our trip pretty coastal and even took a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, my first snorkeling experience, can't say it disappointed. I hope to put up some pics soon, but for now I'm trying to catch up on laundry and put things away.

On a knitting related note. I took the socks I am working on, on the plane. No trouble getting out of NZed. Getting out of Oz however was a different story. They told me that knitting needles were a big no-no because they are a long pointy object! Surely not my turbos, they could never hurt anyone! Plus I have called (only in the U.S. of course) about knitting needles before and given the ok, nor have I ever had a problem flying with knitting needles. So the security guy was consulting security guy #2 and thankfully they decided that my beautiful little turbos were no more dangerous than a pen - phew! So I didn't end up crying like I thought I was going to. I don't think they sell turbos here (plus it was 2 pair) and they are just too expensive to replace. They are safely resting next to me now. From now on they are going in checked luggage which is too bad 'cause I usually only end up knitting on the plane.

I.D.

While at the local library, I.D. magazine caught my eye. On the cover was a hand-crafted wedding gown (out of recycled plastic). Being in the midst of planning my own wedding, I added it to my stack. I finally got around to thumbing through it the other day and found everything in it interesting; the pictures, the articles, even the letters to the editor. Being a scientist and not an artist, I had never stumbled across this bad boy before and am ever so happy I did. However, their webpage does not even remotely stack up to the magazine itself (or at least the issue I checked out).

Happy Waitangi Day!

This is a video from the helicopter.

Need. To. Vent.

So there is this guy at the gym that always hogs the stations, machines, benches, basically anything and everything you need to use, at the same time! I commented to blue about him one time and he says, oh you mean little arm guy? Me, I'm like, wha? He has a little arm, I never noticed, I'll have to check that out. So I filed that away until my next encounter, sure enough, he does have one short arm, whaddayaknow.

Anyway, today was no different than any other day in little arm guy world, he's hoggin' again. Two sets of free weights were sitting on the bench I needed to use so I chipped away at the usual exercises, checking back to see if the weights have moved and to confirm that indeed it is little arm guy. Well time kept ticking away and I got through everything except for the few exercises I do on the bench in the free weight area. Check, weights still there. And I says to myself, "self go move those and get on with it, he can't be hoggin' all the time like that, it's a small gym after all. What does little arm guy thinks he's special because he has a little arm? or perhaps for another reason unknown to you." So I go over and move the huge weights, one at a time, with two hands for each. Sure enough, as soon as I get them down to the ground, little arm guy runs over to let me know he was just about to use that. And I say to little arm guy (in my nicest voice ;), ok, but could you please not just leave your weights here to "save" the bench (no I didn't do air quotes). And he tries to rationalize with me, like I don't know he does this all the time while he goes on multiple other pieces of equipment, he tells me that it is OK to go and have a drink of water and then come back. So of course I have to say, "but you don't just go have a drink of water and come back, you go and use other machines. It's a small gym and other people may want to use the equipment you aren't currently using." And he says, "yes they may."

So I put the weights back that I was going to use, realize that I would just have to stand there and wait some more for little arm guy in order to complete my workout, and I leave. I hate confrontation, but I'm not afraid to use it necessary situations such as these.

On an up note, I went to yoga today at lunch and it was lovely. Blue's advisor was in the class and it took me a while to compose myself (aka not giggle myself into a stupor).

Helicopter, helicopter, over my head. I pick the color and the color is...

Although the helicopter ride was short, it was sweet. When we got dropped off, it was cloudy and cool so the views weren't too great. But still, I was in a helicopter flying over the rainforest in New Zealand, so it wasn't bad.

After the drop off we worked for 2 days at the treeline and then had a day to hang out before the helicopter's scheduled pick up. Luckily the weather on the day off was great. We ended up taking a short trail from the hut up to a ridge where there was a nice lake surrounded by boggy forest. It was very much like being home on Lake Hildebrand. The species were a little different and it was a bit smaller. All it needed was a few rafts and a pier ;)

Urchin

I made this hat from knitty last night. Unfortunately it didn't turn out as cute as expected. It's a bit big on me and if I pull it down in order to actually keep my ears warm it looks like a big puffball. If I made it again I would probably use smaller needles or make size small. Luckily for me, it's summer so I don't have to worry about pulling it off or not.

I'm off to work in "the bush" for the week. We get to helicopter in. HURRAY! Hopefully I'll get some great pics to put up.

I've been knitting again

And I want to make this now! My friend L says, "haven't you already knit an elephant?" The answer is yes, yes I have, but it isn't here in New Zealand with us so... I obviously need to make another one, plus this one is different, way different.



I went back to blond earlier this week. No more mousy brown for this gal. Funny thing is, it doesn't really seem any different to me. Nobody else seemed to notice either, but my hair has been blonding up more than usual this summer (thanks to that hole in the ozone that hangs over this part of the earth).

R.I.P. Sir Edmund Hillary

PENGUINS!!!

Over the xmas break blue and I got in our little red car and headed out on an unplanned adventure. We had some ideas of places we wanted to visit, a couple of guide books, and a tent. This image from google earth, with my crude drawing of our route is a pretty good representation of our journey.

We headed north first, over lewis pass to the west coast. We did an overnight hike up a mountain in some old mining territory and had some beautiful views. Then up the coast to see the pancake rocks. And at night we went and saw glow worms in a cave!

The next day we meandered down the coast to the glaciers which were beautiful.

There were a lot of mountains to see (when it wasn't cloudy and raining) and waterfalls too. One observation we made in our travels and nights at various campgrounds is that most of the campgrounds on the west coasts were predominately inhabited by german tourists. As we passed back over to the east side of the southern alps range, the german tourists dropped out and the french tourists appeared. Not sure why...

Anyway after a truly amazing evening in a campground filled with kiwi-hicks holidaying, we set out early (our earliest start on the whole trip) to the east coast in search of penguins, and we found them! 2 different species! PENGUINS!!! up close, tuxedos and all. It was the highlight of the trip for sure. The species pictured below is the yellow-eyed penguin, it is the rarest penguin species. We saw several pairs nesting on the rocky shores and even saw a chick getting fed about 1 m away! (although mostly obscured in a bush) Man, penguins are sweet! We also saw 180 little blue penguins (the worlds smallest penguin species) coming ashore to nest at night. We had to pay for the experience, but it was worth it. They are about 30 cm tall and they are soo cute! The wouldn't let us take pictures though :( Blue has some up close and personal pics of the yellow eyed up on his flickr.

No Carlo Rossi

I couldn't resist this cute 1 litre jug wine for $10 at the local grocer. Of course for that price I wasn't expecting much from it, but knew that it was worth the cost in amusement value. Turns out it isn't half bad and works well as a table wine. Also, it is really fun to put your finger in that little handle and just swig it back (again, yeah, I'm classy like that). We are thinking of having a jug wine party. If only we had friends to invite that were of the same caliber...

spring (summer?) fleurs

I made a bouquet out of flowers in my yard and stuck them in a vase (aka a beer bottle, i'm classy like that). It's fun to live in a place where the previous inhabitant planted lots of neat flowers. It's like a treat when new flowers pop up every week or so. I especially like the little pink roses so round and cute! Those flat seed pods are neat too.

what is that draft on my right cheek?

This morning Blue was the first and (thankfully)only person to noticed a large split down the back right side of my pants. It was a pretty grim realization that came only after arriving at school, yet before actually starting work. Making the 25 minute commute back home was not an option because I already had to take a long lunch in order to take Blue into town at lunch time and attempt to complete all the field work scheduled for the day :( So I did the good ol' shirt wrap and carried on with my morning. Luckily I was in working in the field alone so I didn't have to worry about much more than a draft on my backside.
I made a stop home at lunch to swap pants and realized just how threadbare my poor little pants were. I'm pretty bummed, I have had these pants for a long time (obviously) and they were my favorite field/hiking pants. A quick search online and I have already found the same brand/style for a replacement. The promise of new pants makes me less sad to give up the ghost on these old gals.

Yarndrops

In lieu of posting about the knitting I've been doing I thought I would post a pic of a piece of art that reminds me of knitting or yarn anyway. The title of this piece is Raindrops, but I think it looks more like yarndrops.



And because I borrowed her image may I just say: Yellana sells originals and prints. Me wants one :D

Happy Box Day to Me!

hurray!, originally uploaded by mmm gin.

Hurray Hurray! Two very special packages arrived today. The first being our 'entertainment system.' We can finally listen to the radio and watch dvds! (not to mention listen to music loud and clear - no more laptop speakers or headphones!)

The second package is just as, if not more important. It is from my mom :D (and sisters). It had lots of clothes (thanks kiki and rache - I finally used my giftcard ;) It also included a bunch of toiletries (that are much less expensive back home), my wedding shoes (hurray!) and a bunch of mail (that I probably won't read). Hurray for packages full of goodies!!!

Happy Halloween

This is the first time in my life that Halloween has passed by virtually unnoticed. Apart from a few websites having neat jack-o-lantern designs and my fave NZ tv show having a halloween party, there was nothing. No delcious candy in orange and black wrappers, no isles filled with halloween junk, no fake spiderwebs strung in corners, and no trick or treaters. The closest halloweenie thing that happened today was the sky at dusk. It was pretty neat. Did I mention that Halloween is my favorite holiday?

flashback from last year (creativity with white sheets)

wee garden

We have been hammered by spring rains for the last few weeks and our wee garden plants have handled it better than I expected them to. In this particular bed we put in a few different kinds of lettuce, hot peppers and some spinach. The tomatoes, basil and more peppers are sprouting in containers in the house. In a few more weeks they will be ready to go in and hopefully the weather will be warm enough to make them flourish. Our herbs and lavender (mmm my fave) are also doing well in pots. This is our first real garden (outside of pots on the back porch). Now all we need is to figure out where to put up the hammock so we can sit, swing, and gaze at the fruits of our labors.

Not sure what this flower is but it popped up along our sidewalk :D

Nerd Report

After hearing a discussion on the radio about egg production and how much better free range eggs are we decided to buy some slightly more expensive free range eggs. After frying a few up the verdict is in, they are delicious. Not only are they larger than the 'normal' ones (although I don't think that there is much about the production of those eggs), they are tastier too mmm mmm.

However, according to wikipedia, the laws concerning free range eggs in the U.S. are all willynilly and labeling eggs free range doesn't really mean they have to be free range. Lame.

One more egg note: when you get a fried egg at a restaurant here it is always sunny side up. If you are someone who despises runny yolks make sure you remember to say something when ordering eggs while visiting me (unless you are having breakfast at my place - don't worry, i'll cook your yolk).

Sundays are for...

sleeping in, drinking large cups of coffee, watching the kitty traffic parade through the back yard, eating omelets and cheese scones, world cup footie reruns, and dreaming of new patterns to knit.

Last night we hauled ourselves over to the wunderbar which was a treat in itself (be sure to check out the 360 images of both inside and out on their site). We we were there to watch the band of this guy that I work with, insurgents. They opened for this band from Auckland the situations. Although turnout for the show wasn't great and the sets were short, both of us enjoyed the music and being out and about. On the downside it made me feel really old. All the kids in insurgents are 18 and they and all their friends dress like they are living in the 80s, especially the girls!!! They all had so much spunk and uncontained energy, it was impressive and entertaining. But back to the 80s dress code, why Why WHY??? Is it this bad back in the states? Did all those awful styles really make it back? I guess none of them experienced it for the first time so it is new and novel for them. All the same I pray it is short-lived (because it is making me feel old and crabby lol).

itch to knit

Although I have switched hemispheres and therefore reversed all the seasons, the season for the itch to knit still coincides with autumn in the northern hemisphere (which isn't very convenient if you think about it). But thanks to maepress I have found this fab pattern that I have an itch to knit. Tomorrow I am going to the lys and picking up some skeins of yarn and maybe some longer circular needles (if I can find them).

Over the weekend blue and I were working on the banks peninsula and even though it is spring here, we still needed the wood stove at the lodge. I took advantage of the ambiance and worked a few rows on a washcloth that has been on the needles for an embarrassingly long time.


This was sunrise on sunday morning, the beautiful morning sky resulted in nasty cold, rainy, foggy weather for the rest of the day (that we had to work in). Thankfully there were some beautiful moments that redeemed it!