Happy new year, everyone! Well the time sure is flying by, filled with new experiences. In 2008, I will start a new career (Clinical Trials Coordinator in Oncology at Auckland City Hospital), Darin will learn to sail, and we will probably get a Rottweiler puppy. Three pups (1 boy, 2 girls) were born to a lovely local bitch owned by a woman I met by researching a dog in Australia. He is an import from Croatia with working and conformation titles, and his semen was imported to NZ to sire this litter.
Wenno We saw the pups when they were not quite 24 hours old.
I'd like to get a pup that Fargo can help to raise, because dogs are pack animals and learn a lot from other dogs. There is a
Dogsport club in Auckland, so it's likely that I would join if the dog has good drive and is willing to please.
We got a little money for Christmas, so we bought ourselves a brand-spanking new wheelbarrow and a bread-making machine. The wheelbarrow was put to use hauling cut, wet wood from the front yard to the back, under the house so it can dry out. The bread machine was bought because we've been paying about $3.60 NZD for a good loaf of sliced bread, and it's unreasonably expensive in our view. Darin made pizza dough in the machine and we baked pizzas for dinner tonight, and it turned out great. The bread also turned out well, and all for a fraction of the cost of a store-bought loaf, and the benefit of the yummy baking-bread smell.
I went back to work after a two week break this past Monday. This Friday is my last day of work, and I'm
really happy to know I'll soon be free of that soul-sucking environment. I will bring home all my scientific journal articles, but they will probably gather dust in the garage. I feel somewhat sad that all my neuroscience and behavioral pharmacology experience won't be used anymore, but also giddy that I've escaped the drudgery of working with rats and mice.
Since my last blog, we have had some really fun activities with my sister and her husband. Jan 2 we went to
Tree Adventures in Woodhill Forest. This is a fantastic opportunity and I've never seen anything like it. The staff strap you into a leg and waist harness with two carbiners and a pulley. After a short orientation, we did obstacle courses 5-8, which is the more challenging (vs 1-4), high up in the trees, for a good 2 hours. The best part is the flying fox. Next time, and there will be a next time, I'll bring leather gloves to minimize the redness and swelling from the metal cables.
Following this, we deserved a nice cold beer and some good food, so we went back to
Hallertau. Love that place! After a chance meeting with out friend Misato and her husband, we kept the good times rolling with a trip over to the east coast to check out the new
Auckland Luge. You sit in this plastic cart with wheels, get on a conveyor belt to get to the top of the hill, and then push the bar forward to go, back to stop, down a twisty and sometimes steep cement driveway. Barb said the one in Rotorua is better. I had fun, but it cannot compare to the joy of a motorcycle ride. I miss my bike. Also the carts created an unpleasant vibration in the butt when it got going fast. Some may like it, but it's not for me. We opted to end the afternoon with a stiff competition on the mini-golf course.
We also took a ride on WaterCare's narrow gauge railroad, the
Rainforest Express, out to the Nihotupo Dam. It took us through several long and short tunnels, some filled with cave wetas
(see photo), then stopped before the dam so we could walk up the STEEP steps (only one way, UP). From there you have beautiful views, and you can see we enjoyed yet another gorgeous summer day. I brought along a nice Rose wine
from Hawke's Bay and a bit of cheese, which we enjoyed after walking down the road from the dam to the picnic spot.
Finally, Darin turned 39 on January 5th. My sister and her husband joined us at
Wildfire restaurant at the viaduct downtown Auckland. They gave us great service and the food was delicious.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Darin is taking a
sailing course, to begin the end of January. This was his birthday present. The course is for 5 days, and he will live on board the boat during the training. They call the course "competent crew", and following this certification, he'll be able to do a bit more training to attain the "day skipper" certification. I'm pretty sure he'll do well at it and enjoy it. If so, we'll be able to charter a boat for a day or weekend getaway pretty much anywhere. It doesn't require the consumption of fossil fuels, so that's a positive benefit. The course is expensive, but it's a great opportunity, and knowledge is usually worth the cost.
We saw the movie
I Am Legend, and both Barb and I were sobbing during that scene with the dog- I won't give it away, but if you've seen it you'll know what I mean. I haven't cried like that during a movie EVER. It was horrible and sad. I also get annoyed by jerky camera movement, and there was a bit of that in some scenes. Overall though, I have to say I liked the movie. Will Smith gets extra bonus points for being a
Rottweiler owner.
Our friend from Fargo North High School, Christian, was here to visit for 12 days (not long enough!). The weather was nothing short of fabulous, and we had so much fun showing him around the north and south islands of New Zealand. We took so many photos! Many of them consist of us drinking beer. Most of them are of the outstanding scenery. Here's a few highlights from the South Island. Above is Darin and I at Lake Wanaka, which is huge. Many of the lakes around there are not only long and wide, they are also extremely deep. 
The above photos are from one of the many lovely stops along the road to Haast from Wanaka. 
Our itinerary was thus: Auckland to Queenstown, ride the gondola up the mountain, beer in the lounge, then get on the chair lift to the luge, and ride that a few times. (photo from the gondola)
We stayed overnight, then went through Wanaka the next day, where Christian hoped to paraglide, but the wind came up and foiled that plan. On to Haast (west coast), where we went to the beach at dusk. It was gorgeous and we had it all to us.
The next day, we drove to the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers. I had a possum meat pie on the way to Hokitika, where we shopped, then on to Greymouth for the Monteith's Brewery tour. 
From Greymouth the next day, we drove across Arthur's Pass to Christchurch, stopping to re-balace our chi (ha ha, I kid!) at Castle Hill. I had intended to do the Cave Stream walk near there, but was foiled by a lack of proper attire- wetsuit, booties. 
Next time for sure!! It's looking a bit like the mouth of a giant reptilian skull, actually, in the photo above.
