Eabha The Kiwi: January 2005

Did you hear that?...Nevermind... Out for a walk in Auckland Domain..(10 minutes from the appartment)..

Out for a walk..

View from the top of the stairs of the museum..Auckland Harbour..

Eabha by the museum, just mostly hanging out and eating leaves..

Eabha by the museum in Auckland Domain..

You can learn a lot of things from the flowers..

Alison Wonderland moment..whew..

These ones are called "lobster claws"..

Venus Dog traps, mind your children..

Wintergardens, where one of those venus dog traps in the pond ate a shitsu 10 minutes before we got there..

Small bannanas at the Wintergardens

John D and Eabha by the fountain..

This one is nice..

These ones can spit venom in your eye...just kidding..

Emily and Eabha..

Emily and Eabha at the Wintergardens in Auckland Domain..

Eabha The Kiwi's First Blog Entry..

Eabha here,

I kept hearing the flight was going to be long but after crying through my mom and dad's dinner and the main in-flight movie (which actually seemed pretty interesting) I slept the rest of the flight off. The Flight attendants were very nice and made a big fuss over me. One even gave me a teddy which mummy insists on refering to him with the same accent as the flight attendant "Tiddy". I woke up outside the airport and fell asleep on the first bed I got to. I had jet lag for several days afterwards where I napped all the time, which worried mummy and daddy at first, but then they missed it when it wore off.

I now eat protien parts of my diet including ground chick peas and lentils and tofu. In addition I am eating most everything that mummy and daddy eats when they eat it after a good "blending". I ate and loved my first kiwi...you are what you eat.

I like the weather here, no sweater, snowpants or jacket and bare feet all the time. I miss everyone and still recognize their names when I am reminded of them, especially you Anna. I really liked the beach, I began to yell and shout with excitement and amazement the closer I got to the surf. That beach was the hugest thing I have ever seen; huge waves, huge cliffs, huge trees, huge nap.

The new appartment is pretty good, I keep pointing out to mummy and daddy what still needs to be eabha proofed. Its mostly fine, just some hanging wires for yanking and reachable tacks for pulling out.

I should go now, I'll be nine month's in a week but I'm still too young to be up late bloggin'

bye (wave)

First and Belated Post from Auckland..

From John D;

A quick hello to our regular guests who have been filling my email inbox with hundreds of requests and even demands for an update on the blog.

Well here we go.. We have been here for almost two weeks. My first experienced impression of New Zealand was the fragrant air outside the airport. The plant life here is really overwhelming. Besides being a sub-tropical area, New Zealand is home to very unique forms of flora and fauna.

The two weeks have (for me) been split up into two categories: 1. Frantically trying to get ready for class 2. Seeing some pretty cool things in New Zealand.

1. Things are just about ready now, we have phone/internet access (email and cbc), an apartment with posters on the wall and groceries. I still have more to find out about the academic side of things.

2. We have met two Kiwis (Oli and Anita) who took us to Arataki lookout, a waterfall, Kaira Kaira beach on the West Coast, stayed at the East Coast Waihi beach (in a beach cottage) for several days, and we have been to several neighborhoods in Auckland.

The southern hemisphere (that's what the stars are for on the flag - southern cross constelation), is in the middle of its summer. In addition to this, the hole in the ozone is directly over oceana (Australia leads the world for levels of skin cancers) resulting in off the chart uv indexes and quick burns. Our friend Anita's mother got a really bad burn, complete with blisters just from gardening. Emily and I have already got quite bad burns, but Eabha has been fine so far, if only we all had covered strollers..

The temperature has been between 25 and 30 degrees celcius everyday, but the Kiwis tell us "it gets pretty cold in the winter" (an average of 15 degrees in the middle of winter). I think they are just saying it to maintain their rugged image and to justify the electric towel warmers in almost every bathroom. I tell them, "yeah whatever, if the palm trees can hack it, so can I"...

Hopefully now we can post updates and pictures more regularly..

John D

New Zealand, Wow

Emily here, leaving the airport doors and being consumed by the fragrant smell of large wildflowers at 5:30 a.m. This was our welcomed surprize after an twelve hour flight. Some of the native trees look as though they've being growing since before time began.