kangaroo sightings

Photos to be added shortly... Despite having lived in Australasia for a few years now, this year was the first Easter that Brendan and I have had together in this part of the world (due to different holiday schedules, business travel over the holidays, etc.). We opted to take full advantage of our 4-day weekend to check out the far north of the north island. Day 1: We drove from Auckland to Cape Reinga. We had beautiful weather on our drive and, in our usual meandering way, we managed to turn a 6-hour drive into a 10-hour drive! Luckily we left early enough so that we made it to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga for sunset. We saw a lot of sights on day 1, but my favourites were where you can see the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea collide at Cape Reinga and the massive sand dunes from a distance as we wound our way through the green cow paddocks. We stayed that night at the most-northern campsite in New Zealand, a DOC campsite in Tapotupoto Bay. The campsite was fine as we have found ma...

Brendan and I seem to get a new start every couple of years. First California, then Australia, now New Zealand. We also seem to get a new apartment every year, but I am so sick of moving that I really hope we break that trend… I have recently jointed Brendan in Auckland and am just starting to get settled. One of my goals for New Zealand (perhaps the most achievable since my other goals include 'get back in shape' and 'take nothing for granted') is to blog more. I think most people have long-since given up on checking my blog since it is updated so infrequently, so this is mainly for my family to keep you up to date on what is happening in my life. So, for the first blog of New Zealand, here is a blazingly fast update on the last few weeks. I moved to Auckland. I started work. I dealt with issues like tax number and bank account. We bought a sofa (first sofa I have ever even had partial ownership in btw). Also, the sofa and futon are both open for visitors! And most exc...