...and Back Again

Greetings!   It's time for the yearly return to New Zealand and the newly-reinstated sheep comic!

It's good to be back

As some of you know, I had a bit of a rough time getting here this year.  My flight out of Honolulu was forced to turn around due to the leaking of hydraulic fluid (from the back-up system).  Our plane was too heavy to land, so we had to circle over the Pacific, dumping fuel for 45 minutes.  It's quite an eerie sight to see it shooting out from the wings.  Back on the ground (a landing accompanied by uproarious applause), we were towed back to the gate by emergency personnel and informed a new plane was being lined up for us.
In the meantime, the airline provided everyone with a $20 food voucher for use in the airport (we all got stiff drinks), the reimbursement for my missed hotel stay in Auckland, and a free flight to Hawaii.  So all in all, they took good care of us.

After a completely uneventful 2nd journey out of Honolulu, I arrived in New Zealand.  Even though the sun wasn't up, I decided to walk from the International Terminal to the Domestic Terminal, a now-familiar route.  Even at night, the smell of New Zealand hits you with a force.  The sweet smelling air instantly places me in summer.   But that's alright.  At least I didn't miss the blooming of Trond's parents' garden.  What an amazing array of dahlias!

My first day is a blur of napping, reading, and catching up with Trond's mom.  For dinner, Trond took me to a really tasty Chinese restaurant he's been telling me about for the last month.  After a great meal, we left the building and saw what a lovely sunset we were having.

The next day it was all work, work, work.  The office area I'm using is great.  I even managed to have two calls with India, right into the night (10:30PM) my time.  It's nice to know the transition to working abroad has been so seamless!  As a nice treat, between the end of my work day and the aforementioned call, Trond and I drove up to the hills for a view of Lyttelton Harbor.  The weather wasn't great (in fact it hailed on us at one point), but it's such a nice place to just sit and read.  We inevitably go here several times during my yearly visit to New Zealand.

Friday I took off work so we could go to Canterbury Faire up in Waipara.  After I was provided with appropriate garb, it was a leisurely day of watching blacksmiths, woodworkers, and weavers do what they do best while others watched and learned a little something. 

Handmade lace weaving is a bit mesmerizing, but I don't think I'd have the patience for it myself.  I enjoyed watching a few mock battles and even took a few shots at a knight, using blunted arrows.  I had a couple of solid hits, but Trond managed a few headshots, which was impressive.

Later in the afternoon, I took a walk up the hill on my own and discovered that we were right up against a vast vineyard.  Waipara is only second to Marlborough for New Zealand wine production.  After climbing a rise, I was rewarded with this view:

In the evening, we stuffed our faces with period-appropriate food (cured meat, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, veggies, and fruit).  After dinner we wandered from campfire to campfire, catching up with people and just chatting about life.  We were even offered a few tastes of stew and a dram of whiskey, which was being passed around.  Very relaxing and enjoyable before heading back to Christchurch.

Dinner at the faire

Saturday was actually a full work day for me, to make up for missing Friday.  Since it was Friday in the USA at the time, it really worked out, too.  There was a LOT to do that day, as everyone was pouring items in at the end of the week/month.  It's taken me all my willpower not to log back into work for the rest of the weekend, but I take comfort in the fact that my Monday is the USA's Sunday, so I have a little buffer space to work on some ongoing projects.

After a long work day, I had a rather eventful evening.  I attended one birthday dinner out (at The Flying Burrito Brothers), one additional Mexican-themed dinner party at a friend's house, followed by ANOTHER friend's birthday party.  I found it very strange to be having Mexican food in New Zealand at all, let alone twice in one night.  While I can say the food at The Flying Burrito Brothers was tasty, I'd have to call it "Mexican" food.  There were tortillas, but the sauce was basically tomato soup.  I had an "enchilada" but the person sitting next to me had fajitas, which looked tasty.  I also like they way the dish was presented:

The food at our friend's house was much more authentic.  He had slow-cooked a pork roast in chipotle sauce all afternoon, and whipped up some tasty guacamole.  In fact, I was greeted at the door with a nice, icy margarita.  Would you believe I haven't had one of those in years?

The party down the road was fun.  I was able to catch up with a lot of people I hadn't seen and I talked to a friend who is about to have JET interview here in New Zealand.  We talked about my experiences teaching in Japan and what to expect.  Enjoyed some b-day cake.  Danced the night away.  I love that all these parties ALWAYS have a dance floor and a well-thought-out playlist.

LATE the next morning, Trond and I got up and headed over to a friend's house for a picnic.  It was meant to be held in the Botanical Gardens, but the weather prevented that.  Instead, we picnicked on her living room floor, which was just as nice and BONUS, hot tea.  A co-worker of hers had given her a HUGE box of fresh cherries for her birthday, so we munched those for 3 hours before heading back to Trond's place.  And here you find me!

This evening we are meeting up with people just back from the closing of Canterbury Faire (it's a week long).  Then it's bed and Monday morning!  I am taking Wednesday-Friday off work this week for a road trip north to Kaikoura.  We think we have a venue picked out for our January 2015 NZ wedding and it's time to start planning!

Catch you next week!