kiwi land

We left the hot days of Fiji and got into Auckland on 13 Jan. I had an 'interview' with the Medical Council of NZ, which I though was going to consist of sitting in front of a board. Turns out I just went to this lady's house and she went through my paperwork. It took about 20 minutes. Yay! Once that was done, we wandered about Auckland for a while. All the shops were closed up by about 5:30 or so. Turns out that's the norm. In fact, we later saw an advertisement for a 'late night' shopping day back before Christmas--the shops stayed open till 8!

We walked through a little park from our hotel into the downtown area of Auckland--the park was full of magnolia trees (which I think these are!), with flowers as big as my head. (Ok, fine, more like my hand, but still, large!)

We made it to Hawera, the town we will be living in for the next six months on Friday, 14 January. The clinic manager met us at the airport in New Plymouth (about an hour's drive from Hawera) and brought us back to Hawera, showing us some sights along the way. We also stopped at the clinic to meet some of the folks who were working. Then he brought us to our apartment and we started getting settled in!

That weekend we took the scenic drive from Hawera to New Plymouth--it's called Surf Highway for all the surf breaks along the way. We stopped at pretty much every one we could find--there are some beautiful beaches! I was also a big fan of all the cows on fun hills. We're in dairy land here!
View of Mt. Taranaki from a winery that we stopped at, and bought a yummy pinot gris from. Mmmmm. We saw the mountain in all its glory when we first came, but since then it's had clouds at the peak every time we see it!!

Josh and his ribs out for dinner in New Plymouth.

This the the beach closest to us in Hawera--about 2-3 miles from our apartment. It has gorgeous black sand. I've never seen a black sand beach, so this was super cool. Fun waves, too!
Wider view of the beach!
Josh got to go dam dropping (and surfing) with a couple of kids this week (yes, kids--they were all around 17!). We bought a cheap boogie board so we can go together sometime.

The Hawera watertower, the famous landmark of Hawera. We've yet to climb up it--you actually have to go to the info place and pick up the keys to climb up.

We drove up to New Plymouth again on Friday to check out the 'award winning' coastal walkway--very much like the lakewalk in Duluth, very pretty!

You can see the Sugarloaf Islands in the distance. Apparently there's a colony of penguins and seals out there that we need to go see. Penguins!!!

Along the walkway they were having a display of stone sculptures--so cool to see. This one was my favorite. You could actually purchase them via an auction this weekend....can you imagine the price of shipping???

Around Christmas time every year New Plymouth has a Festival of Lights--it's a spectacular light display through Pukekura Park. Josh and I did get a bit lost trying to find our car after looking around the park. Ooops...


It was great fun.