Sunset walks

We went for a low tide walk at sunset today. I must admit, it's really nice to be able to walk out your front door to the beach at will. Also, the water wasn't as cold as I was expecting, so I got to dip my feet in on the walk. :)

Brunch in the Sky

So today P took me out for a special brunch in the Sky Tower at the revolving restaurant at the top. It's only about half as high as the Sears tower, but has spectacular views.











It was really relaxing to sit and enjoy a delicious brunch while taking in 360 degree views of the city as the restaurant revolved around the tower.












We also wandered around the observation deck and looked through the glass windows on the floors. Supposedly it's as strong as a concrete floor, though we were both a bit hesitant to step on them!

Oh, and we also got to see the sky jumpers glide down past our table. No free falling though, it's just a glide down between the wires. It'd still be a nice trip I imagine. We also saw a few sky walkers, walking around the outside of the sky tower with a private guide.  It's a scary trip.








View of the volcano Rangitoto behind the city.

Devonport

Cheers!

Today we wanted to get out of the city a bit, but we slept in so missed the ferry we had planned to take to the nearby volcano. Instead, we took a drive across the bridge to nearby Devonport, a beautiful town with old Victorian style houses and two volcanic hills~ Mt Victoria and North Head. The views from both were beautiful.

Here is a view from North Head looking toward the city, but there were also great views of the nearby volcano Rangitoto and our neighborhood as well.

As you can see, North Head was used as a military fortress of sorts and had lots of tunnels and caves to be explored, as well as the remains of some 'disappearing cannons' that hide back underground from the recoil of the shot.

After exploring the hills, we went back into town to check out the antique shops, book stores and chotskies.  Overall it's not much different from many historic down town areas I've walked through in the US, but still charming and made even more so with the sea side and volcano and city views.

Kapa Haka

This weekend we went to see a Maori presentation of Kapa Haka Super 12s at the harbor downtown Auckland. This is a traditional Maori song and dance routine that consists of a few different elements, including the traditional Haka which consists of chanting, stomping and of course the crazy, intense stares and facial expressions such as the one to the right.






Most of the groups we saw were dressed in traditional clothing and played their own instruments, usually a guitar and some sort of drum. An example of the traditional clothes can be seen here. Grass skirts and painted faces.







While the men generally did the scary intimidating parts, the women danced a slower, calmer dance which consisted of swirling around a 'poi', or a ball attached to the end of a string. Most of the routines had some comedic aspect, but only some used enough body language for us to understand- the whole performance was in the Maori language.



Overall, it was very interesting to see the cultural performances and listen to the good music, even if we couldn't understand the words.

Matariki

Kia ora!

That's a common greeting you see/hear around here- literally I guess it means 'good health' or something similar in the native language Maori, but it's used as a way to say 'hi'. I'm trying to start learning more Maori words and phrases, and the general pronunciation rules. I found these websites that are somewhat helpful:
Pronunciation Guide
100 Words Every NZ Should Know

So, at the end of the month of June each year, the constellation Matariki rises for the first time in the NZ sky. This signifies the start of the New Year according to Maori tradition and is cause for much celebration and festivities. As I understand it, the first new moon after the first sighting of Matariki marks the New Year, so the celebrations generally last a few weeks. We decided to check out some of those festivities last weekend, which resulted in flying a kite at one of the many hills of the city. One of the reasons I need to learn some Maori- the brochure advertised that 'kai' would be available for purchase. I had to use google to find out that 'kai' means 'food'! This week is multi-language week- meaning lots of signs at supermarkets, programs on television, websites, etc are in Maori and English- so it's a good time to start learning!

This weekend there are more festivities that we hope to check out- weather permitting. I think I was really lucky my first week here with sun and warm weather. This week it's felt a bit more like the winter that it is with rainy days and cold (though Auckland has nothing on Chicago winters- no snow!).

I hope to post pictures soon, and more details of the Matariki festivities as they progress.

Settling In

Hello everyone!

So I've had a few requests to start a blog this time around, and figured it could be a good way to keep in touch with everyone back home while I am settling in here in Auckland. I've decided to title this blog 'Antipodal Living' because a friend of mine pointed out that I have now lived almost exactly on two antipodes of the earth; Mazarron, Spain to Auckland, New Zealand.

Okay, so I'm a few hundred kilometers off, but Auckland is the closest city to the antipode of Mazarron. Short of buying a yacht and heading out to sea for a few months, this is as close as I'll get.

In keeping with the theme of antipodes, I'll try to mention some odds and ends that I notice to be 'opposite' or different here on this side of the world, but today I'm just saying "Hello!" from NZ.

Piha Beach and Kite Kite Falls

So I'm a bit late in posting this, but better late than never right? For my first excursion out of the city, we went to Piha Beach. First we stopped at the visitor center where I continued learning Maori. They had a small museum about nature, native trees, and how to pronounce the Maori words (which are often used to name the various towns and landmarks). It was a nice stop on the way into the Waitakere Range. Here is a framed landscape courtesy of the regional park visitor center.


Before heading down to the beach, we turned off a fork in the road to Kite Kite falls (it looked a bit cloudy for beach weather yet). It turned out to be a beautiful day for a hike and we worked our way back to this stunning waterfall in under thirty minutes. I had worked up a small sweat by then (even though it is the dead of winter!) and briefly considered taking the roommate's challenge of swimming to the fall, but after dipping my toes in the chilled water I reconsidered. It is winter after all, and that water was cold!

We did manage to cross the little stream just to the right of this photo and loop back around the other trail to the car. At the end of the trail, they had a metal grate and some cleaning spray and foot brushes to clean your shoes. I guess there's a fear of spreading some sort of bug.

Finally, we made it to Piha beach, just in time for the sun to come out. What a glorious day! We parked on the wrong side of the stream cutting through the middle of the beach, so we had to remove our shoes once more (I'll have to remember to bring my water shoes next time!) to cross over and hike up the rock formation. The stream was bigger than it looks in this photo!





 It was all worthwhile though as once we got to the top of the formation, well as high as we could safely go, we were able to take in these views of the beach. We also enjoyed walking along the beach and listening to the waves crash in and out. Something about the sea just makes me feel peaceful.