Wrapping up in Christchurch and on to Auckland

I wound down the year with a conference in Wellington, which was great as always. It focuses on the cultural heritage sector and exciting innovations in the digital space, but also has critical and introspective looks at where improvements are needed and how to foster more diversity. We hit up the waffle shack hole-in-the-wall place like last year, which has overpriced but good sugar-laden waffles with toppings.

We also visited Zealandia, the predator-free wildlife preserve that has lots of native birds and other wildlife and that is probably my favorite spot in Wellington. It rained on us for the first third of the hike around, but after that it cleared up and was a pleasant experience. We found weta in some of the 'weta hotels', a big tuatara lizard, takahe, cormorants (shags), and other birds which don't photograph well since they're so skittish and I've already taken so many photos of them that I didn't feel I needed more.

We found a very hipster pizza place for dinner on the last night which had quite good pizza with a good crust.

Back in Christchurch, I ate out a lot as I met up with people to say goodbye. I also did some baking to use up American ingredients and since there were some holiday parties that I had an excuse to make stuff for. One of my mature students gave me a lovely bouquet of flowers - the first I've gotten as a tutor - and it was so special and a much-needed reminder that there are always a few who are worth all the effort of teaching. I will miss the relationships that you can really only have as a teacher coming into contact with so many new and diverse people in the classroom, but I won't miss all of the downsides. There are always other opportunities for education outside of the traditional bureaucracy though.

loaded fries at Little High Eatery

Jenga-style French toast at Sun Dog Diner

free cinnamon roll given out at Sun Dog Diner

lovely smelling and looking flowers

Peanut butter chip cookie bars

 I went on a visit with a friend to the Canterbury Museum. I have to say, their 'Squawkzilla' exhibit wasn't that great. The main attraction didn't even have good signage or explanations - a missed opportunity. There was a find-the-Santa game for kids though that was entertaining.

massive penguins - a bit intimidating actually

Squawkzilla - apparently an ancestor of the modern-day kea bird

Santa hanging out with a Kiwi

I had a good dual Christmas - made a full Christmas lunch for two new American friends traveling through the city, and then helped prepare Christmas dinner for my friend and her American relatives visiting for the holidays at their AirBnb place overlooking the estuary and ocean. It was a beautiful location and we had fun eating and talking and playing some card games.

My cat loves wrapping paper

Then the next day, Boxing Day, it was time for the big move up to Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand, where my partner landed a good job earlier this year. It's a chance for a fresh start for the new year for me and the opportunity to take a break from the rat race and work on my entrepreneurial ideas and book writing. That's the plan anyway. It was a very stressful day loading everything up (I had already spent hours packing and organizing everything to fit in the small trailer we rented based on the measurements I had for it), but we managed to fit almost everything in except my bike and office chair, and we headed out of the city at 3pm. Loading a vehicle is a great relationship test, I think, as it is high-stress conditions with a time limit and your nerves can become frayed very quickly as you get exhausted and struggle to Tetris your stuff into a confined area. The next day, we took the ferry from Picton to Wellington with our cat, and it was thankfully a very smooth and uneventful journey. We hit bad holiday traffic out of Wellington which delayed us several hours, but otherwise the trip went alright. I was so glad to have holiday leftovers to eat for dinner for the following week.

departing Picton

Ferry with pet on board! They have to be left in the vehicle for the 3.5-hour journey.

Safely arrived in Auckland; unloading is much easier and faster

Roughly sketched, the route traveled on Highway 1 and ferry from Christchurch to Auckland

Our new place is located in what is known as the North Shore area of Auckland. To get to it from the central city [where the word Auckland is on the map below], you have to cross the Harbor Bridge [located just above the 'c' in the word Auckland] (or go the long way around on another route) or take a ferry from Devonport [which is on the peninsula at the bottom right corner of the highlighted section]. As North Shore has grown, the Harbor Bridge has gotten more crowded, so they have had to add more lanes in the past few decades.

The main differences from Christchurch that I know about thus far are:

• more crowded: Christchurch has a population of around 350,000, while Auckland has over 1.6 million people
• warmer but more humid: Auckland is situated at a higher latitude, but is also surrounded by water and on a narrower strip of land, so it can feel tropical (I've only been here a short time, but it has felt like Hawaii on several days)
• more expensive: It is one of the most expensive cities in terms of rent prices and housing prices. The median house price is $885,000, which is way out of range for first-time buyers. Our place is a third the size of the original house we rented in Christchurch and doesn't have a real kitchen. It just has a space between the bathroom and living room with a fridge, some counter space, and a small sink with a toaster oven, microwave, and hot plate burner. It's not ideal for food preparation, but it's doable for now. Grocery store prices seem to be a little more but not terribly so, and gas prices are about 20 cents higher, based on what we saw on the road trip up here.

The upside is that there is a lot more to do, and it's a part of the country we haven't explored much, so there's a whole new backyard to check out. Northlands (north past Auckland) is a place we've heard a lot about and want to check out soon.

On our first full day here, we couldn't help but check out the newly-opened Taco Bell. I actually hadn't ever tried a gordita in the U.S. but it was good here and had that Taco Bell taste. I normally get crunchy tacos, but the one here had some kind of smoked flavor and didn't taste as similar, so I wouldn't get it again. The frozen margarita machine wasn't warmed up yet when we went so they weren't selling those, but it was a fun experience and I'd go back. They only have mild and fiery hot sauce though, no hot, which is what I like. I had the last slice of my yummy pumpkin cheesecake and that was the end of the holiday food and eating out times.

We rang in the New Year at a little park overlooking downtown, where they shot off fireworks from a few different locations.

Here's a view from the same park in the daytime. This is the view from the North Shore. You can see part of Rangitoto Island on the left, the skyscrapers of Takapuna in the middle-left, and the skyscrapers of downtown Auckland on the right.

Here's to a good year and interesting experiences in a new city, and new places to blog about!