Four Week

Just some fun camper vans.

As we have been getting more and more settled in, week four was the climax of us becoming locals. We moved into our new place on Strawberry Lane and its fabulous in so many ways. Our flatmates are overly nice and easy going. We are much closer to town, not to mention that the 20 minute walk to town is one giant view the whole time, see picture below. It starts by walking down a steep hill with amazing views of Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountains of the Remarkables, Mt. Cecil and Mt. Walker. Once at the bottom of the hill there is a city park walkway along the lake's edge all the way into town. People are out sunning themselves, reading, cooking at the barbecue, napping, having a hui - the Maori term for a meeting, jumping off the wharf into the frigid waters to cool off, relaxing with some beer/wine, doing their dishes from their camper van, you name it. New place, new people and we needed new groceries to fill our empty cupboard.

We embarked on an afternoon full of errands... getting groceries was an adventure for us. We wanted to head just out of town to the grocery store that was less expensive, but more importantly had much more of a selection. Not having a car is what made it interesting. We emptied our backpacks and and hopped on the bus with our list of items we needed. Made it around to 3 different stores to purchase the necessary items to make our new place feel like home, loaded our bags to the brim and then carried even more to the bus stop. Timing worked out perfect as the bus pulled right up as we sat down. The hot sun beating down on our ice cream was not very forgiving, but alas we made it home with everything we wanted. It felt great to have a place to call home during our adventure, small herb garden included. Considering our exhausting day, Andrea and I decided to treat ourselves to dinner to celebrate our new chapter. We both have jobs, a new place, fantastic flatmates, a shorter beautiful walk to town and a relaxed soul.

Dre skips some rocks, there are endless perfect skipping rocks.

Thursday was my first day of work, I was due in to go over some paperwork. Rode the gondola up took care of everything and had expected to ride the gondola back down in a few hours, but what they had not told me was that myself and the one other new employee where scheduled to have a training night. Thus I was sent to change into my new uniform, eat and then be ready to start my training. I was thrown right in and was not prepared at all as I was thinking in my mind that I was going to have a lazy evening with Andrea on the waterfront with a few glasses of wine... not tonight. First days, per usual, are a lot of information to digest and can be quite stressful. I was exhausted after the first day and made it through the evening with only spilling two glasses of wine on one lady wearing a white sweater, no big deal (heavy sarcasm). I felt so bad at the time and was very apologetic, but in hindsight with everybody telling me their accident stories I could look back and laugh about the matter. I am laughing right now as I type, ha. After that first day, everything was quite simple and days 2 and 3 were a piece of cake. The view from the restaurant is breathtaking and every so often a para glider will float on by, a victim will jump from the bungy platform below, and a helicopter will fly in to pick up or drop off some visitors. I am happy to content with working at the restaurant despite the late nights and demanding labor. The employees are all enjoyable and from all over the world. It is fun to talk to everyone about their travels, future plans, or hometown.

After 3 days of work, my schedule allowed for some time off while Tracy & Scott are due to visit. They just arrived and I am excited to have them here to visit. I am excited for them to have an adventure, they have some great plans ahead.

"Just another day in paradise," I have been noticing myself use this one quite a bit lately. Mainly when I take a moment to look at my surroundings and take in the beauty of this country.

Cheers Mates.