Happy New Year

Happy New Year - Gott Nytt År!

I met up with some 15 other people in the Active Wellington group and celebrated the new year in the Wellington Harbour area.

It was great to be smack in the middle of things with nice people, but the ban on alcohol in public places really ruined it. A lot of "You can't be on the lawn with a beer after 21:00", "You're not allowed to be away from the tables with a drink", and of course having a cup of coffee at the strike of 12 does ruin thinsg quite a bit.

Very odd, as I would expect this kind of hysteria in Sweden and the UK, rather than New Zealand, but they can't get all things right. Hopefully it'll be fixed when we get a new government.

The important thing is that my first two month in New Zealand have been amazing and there is no way I would allow such a minor outbreak of nonsense overshadow all the fantastic expriences I've had so far!

Happy New Year!

God Jul från mor och far

One of the neighbours received a package from my parents while I was away on the osuth island.

Opening this package from my mother and father was quite emotional. Many people claim their parents are the best in the world, but I think I got proof that mine are now:

Nelson

I had a marvellous drive from Christchurch to Nelson. I t was a 5 hour drive over flat lowlands and through canyons. Very scenic.

I didn't get that many chances to take pictures as it was a narrow road and the triumph of finally getting past a string of caravans didn't really allow me to stop to take pictures.

Maruia falls

I did manage to stop off at the Maruia falls, through.


I arrived at Nelson and absolutely everything was closed. I fortunately had food that I could cook in the apartment, but I only had a total of two glasses of wine - on Chistmas Day!

I wandered around for a bit in the scorching sun and then had quite a nice evening in the apartment.

The next day was all by a sudden brimming with life! People eveywhere.

I went down to the local tourist centre and asked about good tramping (trekking) paths. They sugegsted the track opposite Pepin Island and the Boulder Bank. Excellent!

I started off with the path opposite Pepin Island, but it was a real struggle with my problem with heights. I managed to get up to the top, but I just couldn't continue alongside the ridge - it was just too steep.

I stayed up there for a bit and got comfortable enough to take a few pictures, as the view was too stunning to ignore.

Defeated by my vertigo, I moved on to my next tramp: the Boulder Bank. It's an amazingly thin (50-100 meters) 13 km long natural land strip of boulders, pebbles and sand stretching alongside the coast outside North Nelson.

I just had to walk it (at least part of it). It was a long stretch of stunbly pebbles, but an amazing feeling to walk this stretch with the sea on one side and a huge lagoon on the other.

The sun was amazingly hot and I got completely sun burnt despite putting on 50+ sunblock four times.

I found the perfect hut where I could have stayed intead at the hotel as well:

Hotel California, eh Nelson

Dolphins!

I sat down with a glass of wine and peanuts last night to figure out what to do in Christchurch. I was quite keen to drive out on the giant caldera South-Wast of Christchurch and I discovered that they had tours where you would be swimming with Doplhins in Akaroa, which is located by the sea in this caldera.

It required less wine and and early bed, which was an easy sacrifice, beleive it or not.

I got to lovely Akaroa, had breakfast, got into a wetsuit, boarded the boat and, well, this is where pictures can say more that a thousand words:

The doplhins are Hector's Dolphin, that are the smallest Dolphins in the world (only 1.4 meters) and unfortunately under threat of extinction, as only 7,500 are alive today.

They circled me and made mock lounges towards me. More playful than the average pet and it was entirely on their terms. If they aproached the boat, then we went in, if they showed no interest, then we moved on.

Quite an experience!

Whale watching!

Today was the day - the suns was shining, the ocean was calm (well, as calm as it gets around New Zealand), so I packed up and dashed down to the whale watching centre.

We were briefed and took a bus to the marina on the south side of Kaikoura.

We dashed around to a few spots some 4 nautical miles off the coast where the continental shelf dropped off into as much as 1,600 meters depth. This is where the male sperm whales likes to hunt (the female whales prefer slightly warmer waters closer to the equator).

Three boats and two airplanes coordiented their effort and we spoted our first whale about 45 minutes later.

We then spotted a second one only some 10 minutes later.

It was quite something to watch these kagnificent creatures up close.

This is a clip from when the first whale dives back down into the depths:

Kaikoura seal colony

The whale watching tour was cancelled due to adverse weather (wind - what else!?), so I decided to move my planned tramp around the peninula forward instead.

The idea was to get a really good excercise as the food and drink has replaced the three kickboxing sessions a week now when I'm on holiday.

I spent 4 hours walking around the Kaikoura peninsula. It was drizzling occasionally, so my new tramping kit relly cam handy. I had a wonderful time despite the weather.

I tried to select a few photos, but it was just to hard. I've uploaded a slideshow again, but it doesn't work. I'll update this post with some pictures in a few hours.

Kaikoura

I got up at 06:30 and managed to find my way through central Wellington to the ferry terminal without SatNav/GPS. Respect!

Negotiating the fjordlike archipilago on the
approach to Picton

The first half of the journey wasn't that exciting, but when we started negotiating our way through the sound into Picton, then it became much more interesting.

The sun was beaming down and the landscape was quite remarkable.

It was then a 2 hour drive down to Kaikoura. I got out once or twice for a leg stretcher and it was scorching hot. I've packed loads of warm clothes and was completely taken by surprise over how hot it was. Very well; they have clothes shops on the south island as well.

Kaikoura hotel room - not to bad after all.

I safely arrived at the hotel, where there had been a mix-up with a shared kitched etc, but the staff were wonderful and the rooms really nice, so I must admit I was quite happy with things in the end.

I spent an hour failing to get all the bits together to make two burgers (missing ketchup, then frying pan, then cling film etc, etc) and then resolutely set off towards the part with restaurants and shops as soon as the burger mess had been settled.

A black swan - cool!

I found a lovely roof terrace where I had the catch of the day, which was amazing. I was completely stuffed and wobbled down to the beach. I had a stroll and then sat down, feeling the vaning sun gazing at my back and listened to the rollign of the waves. Amazing.

...and then I saw a black swan - just to round things off :-)

Summer holiday

I'm working hard on planning my three weeks off (my last day in the office is tomorrow). I just revised the plans to visit the South Island first. It's way more expensive than I anticipated, so we'll see how extensive the North Island trip will be.

I've not booked hotel in Christchurch yet, but the itenery is taking shape:

• Mon 21 Dec: Ferry to Picton and the drive to Kaikouro
• Tue 22 Dec: Whale Watching
• Wed 23 Dec: Drive to Christchurch
• Tue 24 Dec: Undefined activities in Christchurch
•  Fri 25 Dec: Drive to Nelson
• Sat 26 Dec: Undefined activity in Nelson
• Sun 27 Dec: Drive to Picton and taking the ferry home to Wellington

That could be fun!

Kapakapanui Forest

I had originally planned to drive up to Tararua Forest Park for a walk in the Kapakapanui Forest last weekend, as it's renowned for it's moss clad and eerie woods, but I ran out of time, so I went on last Sunday (13 December) instead.

I'm starting to get seriously fit with all physical activity that is going on, so I've been looking for a bit more of a challenge.

9 of these.. each way...

The trek is 6-7 hours and goes along the ridge of an old caldera, so even I realised that that may be to push it a bit.

There is a hut about 1/3 of the way that I decided to aim for to start with.

The first surprise was 9 (!) river crossings where I had to wade over. It wasn't that amazing to wade over in bare feet, but at least that stretch didn't take more than 30 minutes (and I went without taking my shoes off on the way back).

950 meters up

The next phase was more or less a 45 minutes climb. It turned out that I had to get 950 meters up. That was pretty extreme and I arrived very warm and sweaty. The temperature had dropped quite a lot on that alitide, so it was actually quite cold.

Goblin forest

I walked on in an amazing landscape, but I decided to turn back after about an hour, as I felt my legs getting extremely fatigued and the descent would be very demanding and potentially dangerous. Better safe than sorry!

I'm glad I did turn back, as the descent was extremely tiring and quite precarious.

It was a fantastic experience with amazing views and finally a proper physical challenge.

I will definitely go back!

Finally!

Nice!

After searching high and low, I finally found a Dry Martini glass!

So, I could finally mix myself a Dry Martini after a 2 month absence. It has been hard, it has been tough, but I prevailed.

It may be a bit original glass, but I'm not complaining!

Cheers!

I'll coble together a report from my excursion to Kapakapanui today as well. I do post smaller posts a bit more often on my Facebook acocunt nowadays.

Please send a friend request to Daniel Petzén if you want to stay in touch.

Belmont Forest Park

I had originally planned to learn how to handle a Kayak in Wellington harbour on Saturday and then spend the Sunday to go to the Goblin Forest in Kapakapanui, but the Kayaking was cancelled because of high winds just an hour before hand and moved to Sunday, so had to reveise my plans.

Belmont Regional Park was much closer, so I decided to try that out instead.

I'm glad I did, and that I chose to take the Boulder HIll track that went along a hill ridge up to about 450 meters above sea level with a fantastic 360 degree view of Wellington and Lower Hutt.

It was a really nice stroll that I really enjoyed. It was really hot at the beginning, with sun and little wind, bur was freezing at the top with winds so strong that my tripod blew over, almost smashing my camera.

I take quite a few photos everytime I'm out, but I can only show a fraction of them, shrunk down and cropped, so I decided to try out a Picasse Slideshow with all of the pictures from my excursion to Belmont Regional Park:

The tale of the two cars

So, I bought a boat. That was the plan all along. I have to have a boat.

What I didn't know was that you normally keep your boat on a trailer and go places to launch it rather than having it in the water. That's new.

So, OK. I've already have a car, so it's just a matter of attaching a towbar.

As I mentioned before, the first company couldn't fit the towbar, so I hadto go to a specialist. They took three days to decide that they couldn't do it and recomended another specialist company.

I went there with my car and they inspected it, scratched their virtual beards and said that my car was partly made out of light-weight alloys and glassfibre, which made it impossible to fit a towbar.

Well, it was possible, but it would involve replacing the back of the car and it would coast about NZ$30,000 (more than I paid for the car).

My second car: Honda CR-V 1997

So here I was, with a boat on a trailer that wouldn't even see water without me having access to a car with a towbar.

I don't give up easily (as you know), so to cut a long sotry short: I got hold of a parking space close by and bought a Honda CR-V SUV.

So, problem solved!

The boat!

Little Rascal II (to be) from the
front witht he cover on.

I finally had a chance to nip off and have a proper look at the boat today.

The weather was rubbish, but I decided to go down there to take a few details for the insurance and, of course, a few pictures for the blog.

It comes with trailer and all extras, including
fish-finder and GPS/plotter.

It's a Campion Allante 615 VCi.

It is as you can see very similar to my old boat (you who know Little Rascal), which is just what I'm after; it's new waters, new situations and new experiences, so I want to be as comfortable as possible.

There is plenty of space in the cabin
that is really cosy.

It's actually more spacious than Little Rascal and in a very good condition. Everything is fully functional and nothing is missing.

There are a few minor things that the new owner will fix and I will start off by a service to make sure it's in perfect condition.

You're not to bad off in the
"back seat" either!

The previous owner realised that I was a bit apprehensive when it came to towing the boat and indeed launch it using my car, so he's promised to show me the ropes.

We'll be doing some test manoeuvering and eventually launch the boat.

Yes, it'll move if you want it to ;-)

I still have a few things to sort out before I set off, but it's extremely exciting to have a boat at my disposal again.

I'll have to go to a specialist engineering company tomorrow to see if they can fit a tow-bar to my car. That'll be intersting.

I already have people who'd love to go out fishing, so I'll have all the excuses in the world do make the most of it!

Akatarawa Forest

Heading into the unknown ;-)

The Saturday left quite a bit to desire when it comes to exercise and healthy living, as I was quite
careful with the amount of walking I was doing after the kickboxing, but also after spending a late night at Will and Helen's place.

Not to say that I didn't enjoy both very much, but it didn't get me much fitter ;-)

So on Sunday, I decided to try out another park, namely the Akatarawa Reserve some 45 minutes north of Wellington, close to Upper Hutt.

I left way to late, but I was in no hurry to get home early, so it was a relaxed trip.

I think they are some kind of
giant ferns...

The Akatarawa Forest is interestingly enough a so called motorised recreational area. That means that the tracks are classified for tramping, cycling, motorcycle or quads.

I picked a path that was for all of that, so I had to step aside from time to time when people or indeed whole families came pottering on all sorts of vehicles.

It's so refreshing with this relaxed attitude to recreation.

The track started off at the same level as the Hutt River and then climbed up along a mountainside to at least 150-200 meters up and then back down again.

The vegetation and scenery us just absolutely beautiful with a mix of well known bird song mixed up with seriously exotic ones.

What can I say - it's just marvellous!

Rivendell

The movie set may be gone, but Rivendell certainly isn't.

Today's excursion was the Kaitoke Regional Park some 45 minutes north of Wellington.

I had to get up early (before 09:00!) to sort out a towbar for the car, as I need to be able to tow my boat (more about that in a later post), but they've never fitted a towbar on a BMW M3 before, so I have to go to a specialist.

Anyhow, I'm digressing. I headed off in lovely sunshine; the summer is really picking up now!

Left or right?

The scenes from Rivendell in The Lord Of the Rings were recorded in the Kaitoke Regional Park, so I was keen on going there.

The movie set has long since been removed, but they decided to recreate one of the Elfen arcs. It's actually the one where Frodo leads the troupe from Rivendell and asks Gandalf: "Mordor... is it right or left?"

The weather was fantastic and I had a brilliant time. I hurt my toe in the kickboxing so I had to skip the 5 hour hike to the lakes. That'll have to be another day, which, I keep on reminding myself will be possible becuase I'm not just not here visiting - I actually live in this absolutely amazing country.

I'm so lucky - I really am!

This car is bloody awesome!

Kickboxing

I've started kickboxing!

I got bitten by the boxing-bug when I was in London and just had to keep it up in Wellington.

I found a good boxing club 5 minutes away from where I live, but all the boxing sessions were at 18:00, so it was a bit tight to get to from work.

No pain, no gain!

There was, however, kickboxing at 19:00, so I thought that I should try that out. They told me it is exactly what it sounds like - boxing, but with a lot of work-out leg-wise as well.

It turns out that the first few sessions where you really don't know what you're doing can be quite punishing for you poor IT/office legs.

It looks worse than it is and I'm really enjoying it. It's a great workout!

Another one bites the dust...

It was a long time since I had to part from my Sun Workstation with teary eyes. "From my cold dead hands" was an expression I remember being used a few times.

It wan't too bad, though, becuase I worked on Linux after that.

That was the case for a long time until I got sucked into large mega-corporations that somehow lived in a world where only Microsoft existed.

The Mac moves in!

That was the start of using a desktop that was completely unsuited for 99% of the work I did, but if a large investment bank is paying your contract rates, then you're prepared to put up with quite a lot ;-)

So finally, today, was the time for the last bastion to fall - Mr Petzen on a Mac. Wow.

I keep on telling myself that it's really a BSD Unix with a pretty shell, but my experience of the Appli user interface has been less than favourable. When it comes to what I think about the company Apple, then, well, I'll just won't go there. We're talking Sith Lords here.

My employer kindly invested in a spanking new iMac for me, so I just had to give it a go.

...and it may only be a few hours worth so far, but... I... liked it....

Watch out for flying pigs!

Putangirua Pinnacles

 I decided to take the car and go to Aorangi Forest Park in the Wairarapa region where the Putangirua Pinnacles are.

This is the area where 'The Paths of the Dead' was filmed in the Lord Of The Rings, and, for platter movie fans like I, where the pest ridden monkey that cause an outburst of zombie plague was caught in 'Brain Dead'.

Driving there was almost 2 hours from Wellington, but it was a joy to drive on motorways, country side roads and serpentine roads up mountain sides. The roads are fantastic and it's a complete joy to drive, especially with 343hp sports car.

I feel completely justified buying that car after this trip. What a joy it was!

I arrived at the pinnacles and it was as usual in New Zealand well kep, clean, tidy with information, marked paths, facilities and completely free.

Tax money is actually used for the benefit of the public in New Zealand. It's quite amazing.

The area with the Putangirua Pinnacles was absolutely incredible.

There was a huge statue
of my father there for some
strange reason

The pictures doesn't make it justice. Twice I sat down in complete silence and switched between complete bliss and being overwhelmed with awe. It was so beautiful, eerie and gob-smacking - all in one.

Me and my new best friend at a scenic spot going home.

Ett skepp kommer lastat (untranslatable)

My spartan living has left me wondering - where is my stuff anyway?

Marie Maersk steaming towards her goal.

Well, Internet is a wonderful thing. Not only could I pull up hundreds of pictures of the ship on which my container (or half of a container) was loaded onto, but I can also track it in real time.

I can't provide an exact link, as the site uses, well let's not get technical, but undesirable URL's. Sorry it got technical, but search for "Marie Maersk" on http://www.marinetraffic.com/

She was doing 18 knots outside the coast of Sudan/Eritrea and Saudi Arabia when I checked just now (09:00 CET).

Very cool and it allows me to see where all my stuff is!

Edited to add: Maersk ordered 20(!) of these ships: Maersk Triple E class (Wikipedia).

X-mas cookies

X-mas cookies sampling

I think I encnountered yet another slightly odd things today at the office. A woman came in with a huge bucket with mini-cookies.

It turns out that it was sample cookies so that people could make up their mind as to what cookies they wanted to buy for Christmas.

I know we have similar things in Sweden and the UK, but this seemed to be quite a specific tradition taht at least intrigued me.

The people in the picture is my colleague Emma and the brilliant Christmas-cooke-sample-lady that came into our office.

Spartan living

Desk solution
version 0.1 beta

I've carefully navigated around buying things that I already have that are on their way.

Partly I've borrowed a few things from my friend Will (excellent chap!) and partly I've bought stuff I don't already have.

All set for my first cosy Saturday
night in my new apartment

It got a bit too spartan for me (I was freezing my butt off on an air mattress!) so I decided to get a sofa bed, as that is something I'll need for visiting friends in any case.

I also decided to get a second office desk, as I can't work from home or do any admin otherwise.

..and then a more horisontal angle
as the evening progresses

I got the sofa bed for $50 (£20/200kr) on TradeMe (same as ebay/blocket) and the desk for $100 at The Warehouse. Pretty good, eh?

You make do with
what you have!

That was yesterday. Today I complimented these purchases with two radiators. I bought these from TradeMe as well. $10 each!

I dare say my living room set-up is spartanically complete ;-)

The car

I've mentioned the car a few times in this blog. The reason I've been a bit distracted by it is that my economy allowed me one last luxury purchase before reining in all expenses.

This is my baby:

My last luxury item

It's a 2002 BMW M3 E46.

If you're not a petrol head, then let me mention that the M-series are the racing version of the normal BMW. It has a 3.25 liter straight 6 cylinder engine that delivers a whopping 343 hp at 7,900 rpm.

I've just put the pedal to the metal once and that was incredible. You can feel the back wheels spinning. It's mad. I don't even have to use the 6th gear; the fastest you're allowed to drive here is too slow for it.

To my defence, let me say that I really will travel all over this wonderful country and need a decent car ...AND I'm a single 40+ male - these things are inevitable :-)

Internet access!!!

Yes, I have internet access!!!

I'm yet again connected to the world. Helleluja!

It'll be a bit busy today, but I will catch up on my blogging now.

All is well!

I'm finding myself at the end of my first work week in Wellington.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my first week and have excellent colleagues. The work ahead is both challenging and exciting; I really looking forward to working for TechTime and am very, very happy that I made the move. This is completely right for me.

Outside work has been a bit of a challenge, though. Absolutely loads to sort out and I'm forced to do it at the office as I don't have any broadband.

I must admit, however, that the bureaucracy is nothing compared to the UK and the service is phenomenal. Just two examples:

• New Zealand driver's license: I filled in a single form on Thursday and payed something like £10. It took less than 10 minutes all in all. The license arrived the following Tuesday.
• Tax number (IR number): I filled in the two pages with constant assistance at hand on Wednesday and they said that I could come in and get the number in the middle of next week if I hadn't already received the confirmation via the mail.

When I hear Kiwis saying that they don't get what it is with New Zealand that makes it so popular, at which time I just say: "Live in London for one year and THEN say that again."

On the down-side, the broadband is still now working, but they did troubleshooting today after I called them yesterday and will now come out on Saturday to fix it. Yes, on a Saturday with 12 hours notice.

Also, as I've eluded to before, the housing standards are abysmal. The biggest problem right now is that I'm freezing my derriere off at home. I've bought a sofa bed and just managed to arrange to get it delivered tomorrow. I hope that (with an electric blanket) will do the trick!

Anyhow, when I get the broadband, then there will be more frequent updates and picture of the kick-ass car!

Internet Challenged

I'm without internet since I left the hotel.

It's been really busy at work the first day (but really good!)

I'll post a proper update as soon as things calm down and I get access to the Internet again.

Fireworks

Big bada-boom

I bumped into a Swedish family that was staying at my motel.

Anna, Sigge and I want down to see the Guy Fawkes fireworks together.

It was almost 10 minutes where 2,500kg of fireworks were set off.

It was very well orchestrated and a joy to watch.

Car substitution activities

The banks screwed up the payment, so there won't be a car until perhaps Monday. I had to get myself a buss pass and will be taking the bus on Monday morning.

I started off sulking quite a bit over that and then decided that I'm in the country I love and in an incredible city, so I decided to go on full holiday mode, wander around, have a beer at random places and just relax and enjoy myself instead of stressing around.

Wellington quay side

I revisited a few places where I was last time I was here in December last year. For instance, I sat down at the cafe in the harbour again (middle left in the above picture) and had a wickedly good coffee (again).

It's still only 20 degrees and really windy, but the sun is vicious. I already managed to get sun-burnt.

There is supposed to be some major fireworks tonight, so I may have another blog post later on.

All Blacks - Back to Back!

There was a massive turn-out for the All Blacks victory
parade from parliament to Civic Square

 I was caught up in the victory parade for the All Blacks on my way to the IRD (Inland Revenue) last Friday (Nov 6).

Admittedly, I stopped and waited for half an hour for it to start, so being caught up was only half the truth.

I'm all by a sudden in a country where rugby is the national sport. When going to Rome, do as the Romans do ;-)

It was sunny, hot (in the sun) and a fantastic mood. It wasn't like in the UK where events like this get very aggressive, formal and security focused.

Don't tell the Kiwis that I don't have
a clue who these guys are

It was much more about kindly asking people to move here and there, rapid deployment of fences, efficient traffic control and a generally enthusiastic a friendly behaviour.

Then again I'm biased as I'm in love with this country...