our new ride

Two days left in our Wellington apartment. We're readying for a long road trip - got a car and everything. A car big enough to live in (for short periods, at least) which we're planning on doing. It's big enough a foam mattress fits in the back with the seats folded down. We have a camping stove, sleeping bags, a tent and we're headed North.

That's our whole plan, at this point. Head North - then head South.

saved by the 'net

I haven't made any real effort to follow American sports on a day-to-day basis over here, but I have tried to find ways to watch the big events. The World Series and the Super Bowl were on TV here, on days I was able to watch.
The NCAA Tournament was a little trickier. This is one of my favorite days - I remember filling out brackets and competing against my brother when I was in grade school. When I was in college, I used to cut class to watch as many first-round games as I could. I had the chance to watch a regional live when I was covering the University of Missouri a season the Tigers earned a berth. Last year, I got paid to sit around in sports bars all day and write about watching every game played on the opening day.
Over here, the games started at about 6 a.m. and only one of the earliest games was broadcast, on cable TV (which I don't have). I also had to work. That was a good thing - I spent most of the day poaching the company's bandwidth to watch the games online.
The first year the NCAA streamed video of all the games live came at the perfect time. I watched Montana win its first tournament game in my lifetime, and then Gonzaga pull out a late win against Xavier. Also bits and pieces of just about every game played.
It wasn't quite a packed sports bar or watching with a group of friends, but it was something. And just what I wanted.

leaping again

We've spent almost all our time in Wellington since we arrived in New Zealand to start this working holiday back in August. Now it's almost time to try somewhere else.
I've liked living in Wellington, which has a good nightlife scene, interesting landscape and far more events than a city of barely 400,000 would have in most other countries. We've also gained a circle of friends here.
Originally, we didn't know how long we'd be in Wellington. Both Kirsten and I picked up temp office jobs most of the time to earn some money, and she ended up with a contract through March. Now we both have jobs to the end of March, when we'll pick up and travel North, seeing the rest of the North Island before heading South. Don't know what we'll do in terms of jobs or where we'll end up, but I'll keep you posted.

The Kiwi is the most-recognized icon of New Zealand around the world. But the real national icon is be the Koru.
The Koru is a stylized representation of an unfurled fern frond. It's usually said to represent rebirth or new beginnings.
Kiwis are everywhere in tourist shops, blaring out "New Zealand" on just about anything anyone would want to buy. The Koru swirl is found in more subtle surroundings, incorporated into logos and decorations, or just used for its aesthetic appeal.
It's also found in tourist shops, as one of the favorite themes for bone or greenstone carvings and jewelry. So it's for the tourists - it's still a more appealing image than the Kiwi.


Fern picture from Virtualoceania.net; Greenstone necklace from Kiwitreasure.com