Sailing

In the past two years I have jumped out of airplanes, bungee jumped off massive drops, swung across canyons...yet I was never as scared as I was tonight, sailing in Wellington harbor. Tonight, my second night of my sailing course, we were supposed to join the members racing, but the dangerous gusts (some up to 130 kms) meant the race was canceled, yet after our class time, our instructor decided the wind had died down enough and we went out for a sail.

Now this class is not learn to sail, it is a course for those familiar with these keel boats (about 21ft) and with racing experience. I am well over my head here, which is why I was so nervous in the first place. Add my lack of confidence, to the extreme wind conditions, and you get a rapidly beating heart for two hours. I have never felt so close to capsizing and never gotten so wet, needing to keep focused and working at the same time. It wasn't that I ever felt my life at risk, but not only was I scared of letting the others down b/c I didn't know what I was doing most of the time, but I was also sure I was going to get swept into the water rushing over the side. The calm periods were awesome, b/c the thrill of having gotten threw it was awesome, and looking out around me, we were the only boat in the middle of bay looking out at the sun set with a gorgeous landscape around us.

After we arrived home (very safely), I was soaking wet, but extremely happy. Even though I clearly am above my head in this class (not for lack of sailing experience, but b/c of my complete unfamiliar state with this type of boat), its going to be a great learning experience, like everything else that I have done in my year out forcing me out of my comfort zone.

Alright its 1045, and Im exhausted...will have more updates on Wellington coming soon!

Musings...

I am including some interesting and random tidbits that don't really deserve an entire posting on their own:

• When I tell Kiwis I'm from Boston, one of the first things most respond with is about the TV show Boston Legal...I had no idea that show was still on, let alone so popular! (I have actually started watching it here, and it is quite good)
• The country pitches itself to the rest of the world as being an attractive place to come live and visit basically because its like England 30 years ago...while that is pretty much true, its a rather interesting way to market your country
• The lack of corporate competition really does hurt consumers...not just financially, but I think it makes the quality and customer service suffer
• I love that lives here revolve around pursuing hobbies and genuinely pursuing happiness instead of money and fame and fortune
• There is one limo in Wellington, and its really old, it's rather nice to not have such excessive displays of wealth like NYC, and you really do get a sense that Kiwis have a sense of obligation to help each other out in terms of welfare support...but the taxes are pretty horrendous, and their council budget is not something to be proud of
  
• You cannot really appreciate economies of scale until living here (cell phones, internet access, electricity...all much more of a hassle here)
  
• There is an enormous amount of pride in the country, but at the same time a humbleness that is sometimes a detriment...New Zealand is losing thousands of desperately needed talent to Australia, something that they recognize and are trying to fix with extremely generous hiring schemes...but I'm not sure that's what's needed, I'm still trying to figure out what would work
• The national obsession with the All Blacks is more intense than Red Sox nation, but the recent loss to France in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup is going to have very interesting repercussions for how this team is glorified in the future (already a number of the commercials featuring the All Blacks in the world cup have been pulled)
• Speaking of the All Blacks...there is more pride in the All Blacks than in the country...for example the All Blacks flag is more commonly found around here than their own flag.
  

The more I travel, the more people I meet that tell me stories of places they have seen, and that only makes my list of places to see longer. I have developed an extremely expensive addiction to traveling, but I find it so rewarding...the amount that I learn from the people and what I see almost always exceeds my expectations.

Some Highlights

Because I only started this blog at the end of my travels in Australia, I figured that now that I have some time, and access to my flatmate's computer, I will add some details about my travels around the South Island of NZ and the rest of the East Coast of Australia. For amazing photos to correlate with these stories, click the link I have posted below to see my picassa pictures.

Less than 3 weeks after walking the stage at Richmond, I boarded a plane to take me to Auckland, NZ with no plan of what to do when I got there. I had a work-holiday visa and a hostel booked for two nights, but that was it. I was looking forward to this opportunity to live without a plan, because I needed that change. More excited than nervous, I was looking forward to simply figuring out what to do basically on a whim. I did know that I wanted to go to the South Island first because I was interested in working at or around a ski mountain, so after two days in Auckland I flew down to Queenstown. While the ski season was not under way, the town was already filled with similar minded people all looking for a winter job, and housing in a place that was not really hiring and had ridiculously high rent. In addition to the skiing, Queenstown is known for its extreme sports...it is the adventure capital of the world, so of course being the adrenaline junkie that I am, I immediately signed up for bungee jumping and canyon swinging. After spending some time in Queenstown, I realized it was not the place I wanted to spend an extended period of time. Too touristy, and not a great place for employment (the skiing actually is highly overrated, but I guess that's because there's really not much else in the S. Hemisphere). I decided that instead of looking for a job straight away, I would travel and booked a place on a bus tour called "Kiwi Experience." It was perfect for me because not only did I get to see practically the entire South Island and learn and do an incredible amount, but I also met some amazing and fun people.

Some highlights from my trip around the South Island include: seeing penguins in the Caitlins, Milford Sound cruise, glacier hiking on Franz Josef, kayaking and hiking in Abel Tasman, taking in the most stunning scenery driving down the west coast, and the experience of skiing in the middle of a snow storm in June!

...more to come...

Wellington

Well, it has been quite some time since I've updated this, but that does not mean nothing has happened, in fact, I have done a lot, and that's partly the reason I've had trouble keeping this up! The other part is that I do not have a laptop here, and I work all day, so I have to use my flatmate's computer, and I do not want to hog it for too long. I have been in Wellington for about 3.5 weeks now, and I love it here. I am settled into an amazing flat, making friends (Kiwis, Canadians and Americans), and have been working at a decent temp job for the entire time I've been here.

I currently live with 4 Kiwi guys who are all around my age, one is a student, one works in hospitality and the other two do IT work here in the city. Our similar schedules means that we cook and eat together every night. Because our flat has so much open space (And a great patio area) we are the meeting up point on the weekend for all my flatmates' friends, which has been a great way for me to meet a lot of people all at once. Lately, the wind has been absolutely unbelievably powerful, and because we are up on a hill our house gets hit pretty intenesely. So much so that it shakes not only the house, but my bed...and I even have to wear ear plugs to fall asleep b/c it's so loud! Thankfully though, the wind died down enough for us to have our first bbq of the summer season on Saturday evening, which was a really great time.

Sunday morning the All Blacks (NZ's rugby team) played France in the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup. So far, the ABs have dominated every team they played during pool play, and were heavily favored to beat France, so I did not bother to wake up early for it, since I thought it would be a boring game like the others. I was stunned to wake up to the extreme disappointment of my flatmates...some how, NZ blew it (the blatantly unfair reffing had a lot to do with it), and France caused a huge upset. The nation is in mourning, it's a really, really big deal because so much was invested in this team. As my flatmate Hamish said "New Zealand is know for our rugby, and now we have nothing, this is embarrassing and we need to find something else." The feeling is very similar to when the Red Sox blew it by leaving Pedro in for too long, but at the same time its a little worse b/c in this situation the entire nation was behind the All Blacks. The number of commercials, billboards and promotions that depend on the All Blacks and the connotation of the team is stunning. My boss, who's from England, felt bad for everyone at the office this morning (England upset Australia this weekend as well) and so he bought us all sweets! The press reaction is really interesting to read...and its also the only thing to read in the papers! (Thank goodness, for me, the Red Sox are broadcast here!)

I have about a week left as a temp at NZ Equestrian Sports, and after that I have no idea where I will be placed. I really have liked the steady nature of this job and the people I work with, so I'm not entirely looking forward to the change, but that's alright. I have not taken many pictures recently, but I have added a couple from day trip I took to an island just past the harbor here, and two that are from the window in my bedroom. I will add more soon!