LEVI'S IMPRESSIONS OF WELLINGTON

Morena! Levi has been tiki-touring through the city with Ben and Alexandar and I have decided to put up some of his impressions of Wellington. He really liked the city and I thought his pictures were great...enjoy!

Downtown near the bottom of Lambton Quay...

Levi down the harbour with a local art installation...

Down by Te Papa...the silver balls are another Wellington art icon...

Levi downtown at one of Wellington's landmark buildings...

The famous Cuba Street water bucket fountain...you would not want your kids playing in that let me tell you :)

Downtown Wellington...

The Beehive, the seat of government and right across the street from where I work...interesting shape eh? But the place you'd want to be if there is ever a big earthquake...you'd have to nuke it to kill it... :) its that secure. Which is a good thing, maybe they'll shift my office there :)

This used to be the courthouse, its not the University of Victoria, Wellington law school and faculty.

This is an artwork done by my favourite artist in the world...Lin Onus. General news...I got the job I applied for. As of May the 11th I am the statutory relationships manager for the Electoral Commission. Its a half time position, so the money is less than what I am on now but it also means much less stress and a much better quality of life generally. I want to publish my 'fud' which I can't do working all the hours god sends in the stress factory that is my current work place. I also, once the PhD is fully edited for publication start the research for my second book, which I can't do under current conditions either. So its all good, and Vince is totally copacetic with this plan as well. I've also been thinking about how I want to spend my life, my time and my intellectual energy, and working where I am now does not even register on the radar in that equation.

Levi's had a couple of bumps settling in but its smoothing out now. Mostly just jet lag and a bit of culture shock, nothing big or stressing. I think having to support himself the last two years, almost three really, has been stressful for him and he's enjoying just being a kid again for a bit. Vince and I aren't in a hurry for rent, he can come and go as he pleases, just a few simple house rules, nothing complicated and he gets on very well with Vince, Alexandar and Ben. He still likes to come flop and watch TV with me and have a yack and a back scratch so its all good. I'm very very glad to see him.

Just in case you ever wondered what Tim Horton's employees get up to in their "down" time, this is a photo taken at Levi's going away party where they all got completely shit faced and generally made mayhem...all 50 of them. Oh good old Prince George where the major recreation is drinking and I mean that quite seriously. Doesn't matter whether you are 17 or 47 all people do there is drink. Normality is to have a six pack of beer after work...do I miss it? Are you kidding? I"m booking my ticket back...(that is meant to be ironic just in case anyone thinks I'm serious...)

One of the pictures Levi took of the river up the road from our house. He keeps commenting that the scenery and vegetation is like something out of Lord of the Rings or Jurassic Park.

On his walk with Alexandar and Ben Levi found a wild pig skull and of course he brought it home (oh joy). Pigs are an introduced 'pist' (pest) in NZ and they are shot by hunters with much glee. He's cleaned it up and I am going to soak in a bucket of hydrogen peroxide overnight and leave it in the sun to bleach. I looked up what to do with it on the net...

I bought Vince's wedding band. Here it is! :) Its a solid chunk of sterling silver with heavy engraving on the band. Its very nice...I found it at a jewellers in Masterton.

Beautiful beautiful weather today. Feels like fall, but very warm fall...in the 20's and just wonderful. The boys, including Levi had a good day doing projects around the house and then going for a walk on the river.

LEVI'S HERE! :)

Levi arrived two days ago (Wednesday) at around 2:30pm after an interesting trip. His plane was delayed for 8 hours in L.A. Bad enough but it was made far worse by the fact that he sat on the plane for the entire 8 hours on the tarmac with no aircon, no food, nothing. The stewardness was kind enough to lend him her mobile and he was able to ring me twice and let me know what was up.

I immediately rang Air NZ to change his connecting flight only to be told because I booked his flight on a supersaver plan that I had broken the rules!! What freakin' rule??? News to me...anywho is seems that you can only book those particular flights if you are an NZ resident (that is living in NZ not related to citizenship). Vince who has worked for the commerce commission says that is dodgy as hell, you can have one rule for some people (NZ'ers) and then another rule for others (as this is related to cost and is suss to charge two different prices). The upshot was they weren't going to honour his flight due to my rule breaking. I was going to have to pay 200 extra to get him on the 1:30pm flight. I kept the woman on the phone for an hour and a half and whittled her down to $75.00. I acknowledged that I had made a mistake but that under NZ laws and regs they have to be VERY clear with their regulations and rules around certain tickets.

Levi was very happy to see me at the airport and he and Vince have been getting along famously. Hard not to get along with Vince, as Levi says he's so calm about everything and he is. I've been feeding him up and giving him vitamins and he's enjoying himself. He was telling me how his Grandma got up every morning to make him breakfast. Vince and I had to talk him out of running around looking for work the first whole day he was here. Number one he's zonked, he still looks a bit pale and black under his eyes (jet lag). He had a four hour nap yesterday afternoon AND its the Easter weekend. Nothing is going to move until Tuesday.

He and the boys are helping Vince fix up the sleepout/flat so he can move in there ASAP. Its wonderful to have him here and wonderful to see him.

I purchased these sunflowers at our local market for 3 dollars for the bunch. Sunflowers are one of my favorites and I am intending to grow them next year. I didn't know they were called sunflowers because they actually follow the sun! I thought it just had to do with their appearance!

Carterton 150 Year Celebration - Kick-Off Parade

Carterton turns 150 this year and the celebrations have begun with this parade. It was quite large, lots of floats, old cars and lorry's and a lot of animals in the parade as well.

Best of all it kicked off directly across the street from the end of our driveway so we sat in our chairs on the front veranda, drank coffee and watched them, it was great :)

Materton Marching Band...(big town about 10kms up road...)

Old fashioned steam roller...

One of the big draft horses pulling the sheep...

A lorry load of sheep in the parade, representing the argricultural and farming side of Carterton's history...

This is a girls marching band...Vince and Alexandar were at pains to explain to me that girls who participate in marching bands in NZ suffer from the stigma of a 'certain' reputation...I was a bit sceptical that being in a marching band automatically renders them all easy bogans... :) (bogan = Redneck)

The forces band coming out from the park...