What I love: New Zealand

Puhutekawa trees in flower, stinging red against shady green leaves, lining the streets and filling the parks. New Zealand's unlikely symbol of Christmas (yes, they're red like poinsettias, but where is the snow?)

Caravan (caramel/vanilla) milkshakes at Fidel's, a heady mix of indulgence and cool hipsterdom at the top of Cuba Street. Watching the trendy boys skateboarding down the street, the op-shop-dressed girls flaunting their tattoos and piercings.

Flat Whites at Felix, and any of the other cafes sprinkled liberally across a town where Starbucks thankfully can't get a grip. There always seems to be a fern leaf cocoa-ed onto the milk foam, and sometimes there is a chocolate fish (or fush).

Blue sky, blue water, the promise of penguins and dolphins in the bay, a stretch of sea put to good use: swimming, sailing, canoeing, and a matchless view to the far mountains thrown in. You can't beat Wellington on a good day.

Hobbit obsession taken to another level: an overused Gandalf welcoming visitors to the cinema, dwarves scrambling across the roof of the post office headquarters, hobbits plastered on placards, an invitation to orcs, trolls and wizards at the local bank.

Corn fritters, all hot and chewy, with sweet chilli sauce and a pile of fresh green salad. Only one amongst many superb New Zealand Sunday brunch choices, with pancakes, eggs Benedict, full English, burritos - the best breakfast ideas from around the world, handily collected in one menu.

The Tui - a bird with a song like a broken gramophone, a beautiful tune ending in a horrid screech.

Christmas in summer; I am a grinch, but Christmas on the beach, with barbies and sun, swimming and ice cream, that's a Christmas idea I can get behind.

Three degrees of separation - Everyone seems to know everyone else, or is friends with a mate of a cousin of a colleague of everyone else. It makes for easy connections, for mutual help, a common purpose. It makes for nosy neighbours, too, I expect.

Top blog posts of 2009

I guess everyone has a list of top this that or the other, so here is mine. I wrote a lot this year, what with all the travelling and moving countries yet again. You may have missed these, my favourite posts of the last year:

24th January: ...in which the cat is an Internet star

29th January: A milestone

7th March: Ruminations on the train

9th May: Photographers

12th May: Geography and Politics

10th July: Best day ever - since Tuesday

21st July: Bottrop Heimatmuseum in Namibia

1st August: When baboons attack

14th August: African Nights

14th September: Doing the Maasai Mara crush

29th October: The dreaded Marsabit Rd

19th November: More money lessons

12th December: How to ... Get your car out of customs in Egypt

27th December: GPS-less in the Middle East

Skype is good for travellers

I can't begin to explain in how many ways Skype is keeping us connected right now and how much we are going to rely on it on the trip. We have had an account with Skype for years, although we had a bumpy start when they ate some credit of mine a few years back. But lately it has got more and more handy.

To start with we use SkypeIn, which gives us three local numbers in different countries. We have a landline number in Germany my family can call, one in the UK for Stuart's family and our friends, and one in Wellington for Merryl's gang and everyone we keep in touch with there. This means that people in those countries only have to call a landline in their country, not the expensive South African number. As a result people actually call us, which makes us feel more wanted ;-)

The money we spent on a Skype phone that doubles as a landline (it's hands-free and the base station connects to the router. Looks just like a normal phone) has been so worth it. All our international calls go through SkypeOut, where we pay a monthly fee for free calls to lots of countries. Stuart can make his conference calls, I can chat with my mum - brilliant. The phone displays all the Skype contacts which sync with Addressbook on the Mac, so we don't have to type in numbers. It also displays voicemails and any missed calls we receive via Skype. This alone has made it so much easier to use Skype to make calls. Before I was never logged in on the computer at the right time, and the sound quality is just like a normal landline call without having to dig out the headphones.

When we are on the road, we will have a satellite phone for emergencies, but people will still be able to leave us messages on voicemail, and since we get an email notification we can actually respond when anyone pings us. I am also hoping that we will be able to make use of Skype on the iPhone when we are at a hotel or other place with wifi.

I know this all sounds like a sales pitch, but after years of not really seeing the point (we had 2 hour long international calls for NZ$5 from New Zealand and pretty cheap rates from Dubai to most of Europe, so weren't too bothered so far) I am now a total convert. The only problem is that calls to Dubai are still really expensive, so it's not been an option to call anyone there.

International camping

The only camping we have done so far has been in Kruger Park in South Africa these last few days, but local similarities to the camping professionals that are the Kiwis are becoming obvious already. Camp sites are quiet and people obviously stay for a long time. As in NZ they seem to treat the camp as their holiday home where they return every year with their families. We saw this at Abel Tasman with families visiting regularly for 30 years without fail. This also means that groups arrive with incredible amounts of equipment, from fridges to double beds, bicycles and surf boards, wind screens and tents the size of houses. Here, though, we see a lot of very well equipped off- road vehicles with high lift jacks, roof tents and spare jerry cans, probably because it is so easy to drive into the bush to Botswana or Namibia, whereas in NZ most camping is fenced.

A glaring difference is the fact that camping here seems to be an exclusively White affair. I a week in Kruger I have not noticed one Black camper. Kiwi sites, specially up in Northland, were much more mixed.

I guess camping is a tempting holiday option in countries where it is expensive to fly somewhere else, and South Africans may feel similarly restricted in destinations as New Zealanders.

And by the way, this is our semi-pimped Defender. It now has a built in kitchen with a table, water tank and extra fuel tanks.

Big Things

A quick blast from the past. Why do Kiwis love the big things in life. Are they making up for being a small country? Are they inordinately proud of those little things that they make them bigger than in real life? Who knows, at least it's entertaining:

  

Geography of a house move

View Larger Map

Until I looked at the output of the car GPS I hadn't realised how much driving I did to sort out the various bits of our exit from New Zealand. It puts me in a melancholy mood to remember my last lunches with friends, the views across the bay from the waterfront. I am equally glad that the endless disposal of superfluous bits and pieces is over. My favourite trip was the last one, to drop the car off at Van Lines for shipping. If you click on the "View Larger Map" link you can investigate the whole map on Google. Enjoy!

I'm in love...

The answer to all my prayers, well at least the ones revolving around cheap international calls, is called SkypeIn online numbers. With the power of the internets, a Skype enabled phone on a local landline and a monthly fee I now have three local phone numbers (New Zealand, UK and Germany) where our friends can reach us without having to endure horrendous international charges. And we can, using the Skype phone, make free calls to landlines in lots of countries with great sound quality - I don't think my mum has noticed that I am calling her over Skype) for that same monthly fee. Yay! (Except for Dubai, which still costs shed loads for some reason, probably to do with Etisalat). So if you live in one of those countries and want to call me, email me and I'll let you have my number.

That's what's in this package!!!

As you will remember, there was a quiz a few days ago to guess the content of this package:


Thanks to the (few) comments I can now reveal the answer:


Sausages!!! This actually makes the brand name even scarier somehow. And the fact that they are free-range and filler free doesn't reassure me with a subtitle like: "contains 8 little boys". Draw your own conclusions as to the raw materials used for these spicy little numbers.

Spot the Landrover

Can you see it? Of course not, silly. This is the very ship the Landrover is travelling to South Africa on. Let's hope there aren't any pirates or out of control oil tankers to hold it up.

The strangest coincidence

My last days in Wellington, now that we have well and truly moved out (the inspection went off without a hitch today), are spent at Combie and Sarah's house in Mt. Victoria. By a strange coincidence I have a bedroom with a view of Oriental Bay and the Rimutakas, exactly in the opposite direction from the view we had when we first moved to Wellington. In fact I can see Carl and Elisabeth's place, where we spent those first few cold and windy weeks, in the distance perched on the hill. Weird, a reversal of direction, then arriving and now leaving, looking forwards and back... You get the drift.

Goodbye Wellington! It was nice knowing you.

The prize for most unbureaucratic process goes to...

The AA for de-registering my car for free and without asking for any paperwork bar my driving license number. Plus the guy who did it was from Cape Town, so we could have a nice chat about South Africa while I filled out the - very simple - form. As opposed to Vodaphone's shenanigans.

Musing on Moving

Why is it that the one time my place is in tip top shape is the day before the movers come? Yesterday this house was streamlined. I knew where everything was, what possessions I own and that all of them are things I actually value. It was beautiful. Of course, today everything is packed into pristine white boxes, inaccessible for the next 6 months.

Vodaphone rant

With every house move there has to be a rant, because the least fun job when leaving a country is the cancellation of bills and accounts. Water rates, rent, car insurance, tax, landline phone, internet, mobiles... I could go on. Cancelling involves navigating through imprenetable websites, waiting for hours on the phone to atrocious hold music, sending letters and visiting dingy offices.

The prize for most ridiculous excuse for refusing to cancel a contract so far goes to Vodafone New Zealand. Vodafone has a track record for flakiness, cancelling international roaming just as I leave for Australia or changing contract details without notification, inevitably resulting in endless calls to the outsourced call centre. From the beginning, despite signing a contract in person in the shop, my bills said "Mr.". Knowing the haphazard results from calls, I never bothered changing it. When I called to cancel my account today I was informed that I could not do this because I was not male as per the account details. The fact that I know the date of birth, password and any other details was to no avail. Even the supervisor was adamant that they would see my passport in person to verify my gender. The back and forth went on for so long that I was starting to doubt my identity at the end.

Oh well. I guess I will be trying to find a male who can make the call for me. It's almost like being back in the Middle East...

What do you think is in this package?

Answers In the comments. Best one wins a prize.

Just as I am leaving...

It is by now a well-established fact that Wagamama is following me
around the World opening branches in whatever city I happen to settle.
Unfortunately in Wellington they waited until I am just about gone
before they opened their new restaurant. Still, it can't be long
before one opens in Johannesburg.

...in which the cat is an Internet star

One of the more horrible aspects of our house move is the question of what to do with the cat. She won't like travelling on the very long trip to Germany (hell, I hate it and I get a seat and peanuts and lots of movies as opposed to a box in an unheated cargo hold). We won't be there at the other end to pick her up (although Mark and Martina kindly volunteered to look after her for the time we are in South Africa) and with our frequent absences we wouldn't be able to provide a good home to her in Germany anyway.

So the hard decision was to find her a new home in Wellington. I had been putting it off again and again, until finally I really needed to get on and find a place. But where do you publicise the fact that your cat needs a new home? Facebook? Lots of kind messages but no offers. The local SPCA? This garnered a few terse references to websites and the underlying message: "Just don't bring her back to us, we have 90 kittens to dispose of first." Ask friends and friends of friends and friends of friends of friends? Everyone who likes cats already has one. Someone mentioned TradeMe (for you non-Kiwis, that's the local version of eBay). But that's where you sell stuff, right? Apparently not, as the listings were full of cuddly dogs, glamorous cats and a few budgies. My expectations of success were low as there were so many other pets listed, but I gathered all the cutest photos of the cat together and Merryl wrote the most amazing copy and, to coin a phrase: A star was born!

Within half an hour we had a phone call and text message (it was 10 at night) with people interested in seeing the cat, and the next three days until we took the ad down we had 10 requests. the story changed from being desperate to finding someone to take her to sifting applicants. So I asked everyone interested to visit here and meet the cat and then I planned to go to their house and see if it was suitable. I had a mental questionnaire from: "Do you have a cat flap?" and "How much time do you spend sitting on the sofa?" (the cat loves to perch on laps) to "Are you planning to move house anytime soon?" Not really, but people did volunteer the most amazing amount of personal information. I had a long email from a guy in Petone who specified his income and career prospects in great detail to let me know he was capable of looking after a pet long-term. The whole thing turned into an adoption process.

The happy ending to this is that Ariadne now lives with a nice Texan couple in Kelburn whose 6 year old daughter has been collecting cat points to earn the right to a pet on her birthday. She is already planning to build a cat fort and has a large selection of cat toys and plastic bags (the cat likes the crumpling sounds of carrier bags - I know, not normal), so I think Ariadne is not going to be bored. Her name might change to a more 6 year old friendly version - that's ok, we mostly called her fluffybums and kitty, anyway.

The TradeMe page is already gone, but for those of you interested in seeing Merryl's fabulous copy, read on:

"Feline Greetings (purrr, head bump) My name, my formal name is Ariadne, but my friends (YOU) can call me 'kitty', 'cat', 'puss' or 'fluffypants'. I like them all. My parents are moving to South Africa at the end of January and I hear the lions and cheetahs are very jealous of my beautifully rare patterns and overall cuteness. Since I am so polite and well-mannered, I would prefer to avoid THAT particular cat-fight and just relax in NZ. I am the type of cat that loves to join you in the gorgeous sun or the garden; running away from spiders and pawing at the slaters. When I'm indoors, I like to hunt down the noisiest plastic bag in the household, roll around in it and nap in it too. I enjoy the relaxed household, not too much chaos, but not so I'm alone all the time - I like it when you guys are home :) then I can talk to you and have some bonding time. I think the little sproggs will be ok for me, but they have to promise to be nice to me and not chase me lots, running is tiring you know? And I don't think I'm that keen on doggies, they are so loud and obnoxious. And like I said earlier, most cats are jealous of my beauty, so how about I just be the only kitty cat in the household? :) more pats for me that way. Please call me when you are going to watch tv or a film, I'll come running, sit right on you and watch it with you - just dont wriggle to much please, WHY do humans wriggle so much? O, and do let me know where the sunny spots in the house are please, I cant get enough of the sunny spots! They make me so happy. I must admit, I am a youthful and lively 4yr old, but EVERYONE says I look ATLEAST half my age. oh so nice, well...I do dont I? My parents say I tend to put on a 'winter coat' during the chillier season - so I enjoy my dining and napping! What's so wrong with that? Come and visit me any time you like, we can talk about our common interests and hobbies. I would love to meet you! kitty kisses xx "

Ill-advised Ads

It's normal nowadays that websites make their money with advertising
(although I would have thought that a government site might be ok
without it) but to see the New Zealand weather report advertise
holidays in Australia seems kind of ironic, if not wrong.

navigating around

After years of resistance - and living in countries where I either knew my way around or where the road system was transitory, to say the least - I have finally succumbed to using a GPS navigator for the car (a "Navi" in German). It has made me aware of and transformed my hesitancy of getting around in South Africa, and made me more adventurous about using back roads in New Zealand.

Ever since we talked about going to Johannesburg we have been getting aghast looks and dire warnings about the danger of being out on the road in the murder capital of the World. Advice has ranged from keeping all doors locked and never going out after dark, to keeping a car length space at traffic lights so that in the case of a car jacking attempt it is possible to swerve past the car in front. It has made me hesitant to drive on my own. To be fair, the first few weeks in the crazy traffic of Dubai were pretty nerve-wracking, but there the issue was confined to being accidentalyy in on purpose being rammed by a speeding Landcruiser, not robbed and murdered on the open road, as people have been predicting.

All this has changed now that I have the dulcet tones of Sally the navigator telling me to "in 200 metres turn left" and "recalculating" when I miss a junction. She is amazingly easy to program and even lets me download my routes to my Mac when I return so I always knew where I went. The fear of getting lost is gone now so I know whatever else happens I will aways find my way home.

What I'll miss - part 2

Caramel milkshakes at Fidel's, hanging out with Stuart after work and Leo any other time.

What I'll miss.

Ice cream on the waterfront at Kaffee Eis. When Stuart worked at NZX we would meet there for an afternoon break. There is nowhere that has better ice cream or more interesting flavours: chai, ferrero rocher, passion fruit! I just wish they had more reliable opening times.