April 3rd We Try Again...

Before I get started it has been brought to my attention that I made a mistake in yesterdays Blog post. I incorrectly stated that the Joy's property is 9 acres when in fact it is actually 10 acres. My apologizes for the mistake and now I can start my tale.

I woke up this mourning and decided that I would once again try and explore the property. So i got up and had some Breakie. Cereal of course, after that I marched upstairs to my room and got ready for my morning exploration. I put on my jeans and a t-shirt got a bag ready with a jacket, water and a snack (food of course). Then I marched back downstairs to the back porch where I would be leaving for my exploration. I put on my Gum Boots and was ready to head off.

As I stated yesterday the goal it to reach the Peak of Dairy Flat hills at the edge of the property.

I head of down past the trampoline to the right. I have my jacket on, backpack on my back and my camera and tripod in my left hand. I get to the gate that allows me out of the backyard and enter the sheep padock. There are no sheep insight, so i proceed with reckless abandonment. Down the hill into the valley that lies between the backyard and the peak of the Dairy Flat Hills. I trek through the grass which is knee deep. The Sheep need to relocate and start to eat this down. I then come upon the forest that leads up the hill. Not many humans have scaled through this part of the property so there are no trials. However there is sheep trails and i follow those for a while.

The Sheep trails lead me to a steep uphill, and the trails seem to disappear. I have made it so far. I turn around and notice the Joy house off in the distance. I am not turning back the weather is beautiful and I am determined to reach the peak. I pack up my camera and tripod and shove those into my bag. I then begin to scale the steep uphill in a crawling like manner. After approximately 9 minutes of this crawling method my back is screaming in pain and I have reached the top. And what do I see at the top?

The top leads me to views of more hills. Uninterupted views of miles and miles of hilly landscape. I am unsure what to call these hills because they seem to span for miles past the boundaries of Dairy Flat. Maybe I will refer to them as Boundary Hills. With the name established I turn around and can see the Joy house through the forest that is at the peak of their property.

Now I have decision to make, do I go left along the fence or do I go right. I go left and walk for a bit. On the other side of the fence looks to be a grassy roadway, I stay on my side of the fence.I come upon a gate which I hop over I am now on someone esle property and can see a home through some trees. Looks like there is nothing much further. So I turn around and head the opposite way. I get to the cross in the road where I decided to go left, now I decide to continue along the fence. I stumble upon some cows, a bathtub used for water, and then another fence.

I decide to hop the fence onto the grassy roadway. What started out as an exploration has turned into Mike trying to be an artistic photographer. I take several photos of the bathtub that is used for storing water for the sheep, I take photos of myself, and of the landscape.

I walk along the grassy roadway for a bit and take in the sights and sounds of nature. This is something that you rarely get in Suburban America. It seems like a good place to come and clear ones head. Since my head needs no clearing I continue to March on. I decided that I will not go back the way I came, but create a route home that suits me. Along the roadway is an Olive Farm. I know this because next to the Joy's house there is a big sign that tells me so. It has a long roadway that leads down the hill into the valley where the olives grow. I am on the peak that is behind the olive farm. Off in the distance I can see the Joy house.

I decide to cut through the olive farm to get to the roadway that leads up to the Joy House. I can see the road, but have no clue if I can walk around to it, or should hop another fence and cut through the olive farm. And I mean literally cut through, inbetween the bushes of olives and everything. So I hop onto a post and climb over. This is also another prime spot for some artistic photographs.
As I trek through the olive trees I can see the road and I am not too far from it. I continue on and jump on the road and walk along it. I am taking it all in. I get to a double gate and hop both of those and continue on the road. I get to a point where the road begins to go on a steep uphill. Now I know I am getting close, the Joy house is just on the other end of that steep uphill. However I am distracted by a little pond that is on my right hand side. And of course do not pass up the opprotunity to take some photos.

I trek up the hill and arrive at that big sign I was telling you all about. Which means I am at the entrance way to the Joy's house. After all that adventure I am finally back to where I started. I take some more photos, because I am an artistic photographer......then head inside for a much deserved lunch.

April 2nd Washed Indoors...

Today turned into a complete wash. I had planned to explore Leo's 9 acres of property. So I get up and have breakfast then get dressed to go out and explore. My plan was to take my camera and take photos of the landscape and the Dairy Flat hills. I managed a few photos. I was no more than 5 minutes into my exploration when the skies opened up and started to rain. This is a shot i got at the start of my exploring. it has the forest that is on Leo's property in the background. I would like to get to the top of the hills. that lies amongst the trees that are the tallest at the top of the picture. Not short after this picture was taken the skies opened up. I was forced to take cover. This is the next picture that I took, it started to rain hard so i jumped under some heavy pine tree cover. Sat on the roots and waited for the rain lightened up a bit. I was under here for approximately 12 minutes. After the rain lightened up to a mist i jumped out and headed back for the house.

This is the last photo I took in the mist, I was checking out the scenery. The vision is rather blury and the picture that I took did not come out. On a nice day i will take the photo of the landscape and post it. I will do this trip again in the near future and will have better shots of the property and Dairy Flat hills.

A little note about the Dairy Flat Hills: I do not know if that is their real name. Leo is unsure what they are called and her parents have the same answer. So I am labeling them the Dairy Flat Hills. The property that the Joy's house and the neighboring houses is located on used to be the village center. Back in the 1920s and 1930s Burne Road led into Dairy Flat Village. It was a tent village, no permanent structures were built. After awhile the tent village went down hill and it was closed up. Once that happened people bought up the land and put structures of the property. With very little changing till today Dairy Flat is left without a village center. Dairy Flat is more known for being outside of Albany and Silverdale (Nearby towns that have town centre). Once and awhile when digging on the property Mr. Joy has come upon silverware and other artifacts that show a tent village used to be here.

Alright enough of the history, what have i been up to the past few days. Yesterday I went on my job interview with the New Zealand Post. It seemed to go well, keep your fingers crossed. The interview was very similar to that of one i had with the United States Postal Service. I had to describe my duties and the USPS and what have you. We had some good laughs comparing the two different postal systems. Many differences but also many similarities. All in All the interview took approximately 44 minutes. I also received a tour of the warehouse. Today I received a call telling me that they are going ahead and contacting my References. Which i am guessing is a good sign, but keep your fingers crossed.

What are my plans for the next few days? Well i have signed up to run a local road race. It is a big nearby town event. This is on sunday. It is the Devonport 5k/10k Run/Walk. I am running the 5k and Mrs. Joy is walking the 5k, Leo is coming along as a supportor. On saturday we need to got to Devonport to pick up our race packets and instructions for the race day. So we are going to make a day out of it. Devonport is a beach village with main street passing along the water front. So that should be nice. Next time you guys see my post hopefully i will have a job and will have the results of the 5k race.

Here is the Link to the Race Website: http://devonportclassic.co.nz/

Hope everyone is doing well, I send my regards to All

-Mike

The 31st of March, 4 weeks...

Picture: Dairy Flat Hills from the Joy's Deck

So it is Monday here and Sunday by you guys. I hope that Avry's Christening went well today. Leo and I send the best wishes. Nothing really exciting going on today. Just doing some things around the house. I did the laundry today, and cleaned some dishes. Cleaned up our room which was getting a little messy. Just waiting for Leo, we are going down to her brothers place (Nat) to pick up a mountain bike. So we can have it around to ride. Other than that Monday has been real boring.

Yesterday was Sunday. Went to NZ National Track Champs, got to see Nick Willis win the 1500 meters with ease. Nick Willis is a World Class Runner that happens to be white. So he is someone that is of great influence on younger athletes in New Zealand.

After track champs we went out to this Genghis Khan restaurant. It is Mongolian food, where they have a food bar of raw food. you select what you want and then they stir fry it in front of you. For instance last night i had Lamb with shredded carrots, cabbage, celery, pineapple, noodles and a Mongolian BBQ sauce. It was delicious. They also a had a food bar of prepared foods, soups and salads that you can eat. Then every ones favorite dessert. it was a small dessert bar but it was a good one. They can make you up a pancake where you can put ice cream on and then add your on toppings. I had a Pancake with Cookie and Cream Ice Cream, Carmel and Peanut Butter Sauce and nut toppings.

That was the end of our Sunday.

On Saturday we went to the shops to pick up a few things that were needed and then we went to Nat's field hockey game.It was the first time I have every watched a field hockey game. It was good fun, they lost but they were playing a the best team in the League and a team that has several of the NZ National Hockey Team on it. It was a hard fought game. It was difficult to follow the rules and why things happened the way they did. I will learn and slowly pick it up.

After the Hockey game, we went home and cooked up dinner. That's not the exciting part. The exciting part is for dessert we made smoothies. I know big deal, but these smoothies were made with the Magic Bullet! I know you have all seen the infomercial and are ubber jealous of me. For the record the Magic Bullet is as fun as it looks in the infomercial. For that I attached a photo.

Some of you have emailed me some questions and I will take this time to answer those questions. If anyone has any questions feel free to comment the question or send it to me via the NZ Blog email that I send out.

Question: Is this job full time?

Answer: Yes the postie position will be a full time job. However it is six days a week from 7am to 230 pm. Also if you happened to finish your route early you are free to go home and get paid for the rest of the day. So if you finish at 100pm you can go home and get paid the last hour and thirty minutes. It also means that if you work past 230pm that you will be paid overtime.

Question: What is Leo doing that you are without her during the day?

Answer: Leo is at work. She is working in a factory, helping put together orders to ship out to the retailers.

I hope that helped some of you who had questions. I got a boring week ahead with a big interview on Wednesday. Wish me luck I will be back on to let you know how it goes. Best Wishes Mike

Chillaxin' Saturday

Photo: Sky Tower from the Motorway

Hey everyone, this week has been a week of no excitement. I last wrote to you about the Easter Weekend. Tuesday was my first day without Leo and I told you all about that. On wednesday I was looking for jobs. I applied for another Post Office job. this one is located in Albany, which is real close to where i am staying. about an hour after I applied online, i got a phone call from the Auckland Region headquaters. they wanted a phone interview. I did that, then they asked me if i could go down on thursday to headquarters for a two hour assessment. Well i figured that was a good sign that they were calling so quickly.

Thursday i went to the assessment. What an experience, we first had to take a four minute adress test. They gave you two address and you had to tell them wether they were the same or different. In four minutes i got 30 done and all 30 were right. the next assessment was speed sorting. they gave you 2 minutes to put as many letters in order. the letter were labled a,b,c,d,e,f, in the two minutes i got 77 letters out of hundred sorted. they were pleased with that mark, but i need to get up to 85. and then the Bike test. the mailmen (aka Posties) deliver mail via a bicycle. so i had to have a bicycle test. which include turns, stoping, delivering, and a few other skills. i scored a 25 out of 25 on that portion. after all that they told us that they would contact us on monday or tuesday if we get a face to face interview with a supervisor.

On Friday I received a call seeing if i want to come in for a face to face interview on wednesday with the Supervisor at the branch in Albany. I take this as another good sign. Also on friday i did some work around the house with Mr. Joy. we were leveling off a piece of land to put a firewood shed on. I was incharge of working the heavy machinery. I was using a motorized digger that ate away at the dirt. Which was like clay and extremely hard. Mr. Joy worked the rake leveling off the ground. this project took us a good chunk of the day. but we got it done(Now today I am sore all over and have sunburn on my shoulders.)

Today is Saturday, i dont have to fight for myself today, Leo is around give ideas on what to do. We are going to the shops for a few things, then we are going to watch a field hockey game at 3. Sunday is a big day, Leo has National Champs. which will be fun. That is all i have for you today nothing too exciting i am sorry, but maybe in the next few days something will happen that i will write all about.

Hope all is well- Mike

Easter Weekend Over

Hey Everyone, it is Tuesday here in New Zealand and the Easter holiday is now over. It has been a fun filled holiday. I mentioned alot of what i have done to you already, but now i have the photos to go along with it. We made chocolate Easter Eggs on Friday. so here is my step by step photo illustration on how that is done. In case you guys were starting to doubt that Leo still actually existed I included a photo of her above. Saturday I told you all about already.

Easter Sunday started with the Easter Bunny leaving Leo and I a treat outside the bedroom door. Marshmellow filled Chocolate Easter Eggs. Leo and I went down to Gulf Harbour which is a little town that is set on the waterfront. It is real nice and real expensive, it is a posh place to live. I have a photo of Leo and I at the end of the harbour where the town contre is.
After Gulf Harbour, we went off to Shakespeare Regional Park. It is a large park that has everything you need. It has beaches, camping, hiking, fields for sports, and animals. The park has terrific views of the waters and the coast. They even have life size photo frames set up with scenery in the background. Dont worry i will attach a photo of that as well. went to the park and walked a little bit on the trails, and took some photos. after the park we headed home for easter dinner.

For dinner we had ham, with pineapple and a rice salad. the salad was deliciouse, it was rice mixed with all different veggies and had a lemon dressing. after dinner we chilled in the backyard and that was it. easter was pretty basic, nothing too exciting. it was different experience as i am used to 25 people at every holiday. it almost seemed like there was no holiday. but i know there was.

That brings me to easter monday. a national holiday here, where everyone gets off of work and the mall has huge sales. all weekend there has been this Easter Show going on. Leo wants to take me, so i am up for it. it is great, we there and it is all different things, its like a carnival with rides and food, and then it has stages and tents for shows, it has a market place for people to shop the crafts and they have a huge petting farm for the kids. they also have art on display as there is a big contest for drawing, painting, photography and many other competitions. then there is also animal contests, best in show for example. We wonder the park heaps, we watched three shows. two of which were danger shows and another was lumberjack competition. The danger shows were cool there was juggling fire, balancing on chairs stakced ontop of one another, balancing a kayak on a chin and even swallowing a sword. it was crazy. i took tons of photos and video. I have video of eating the sword and photos of everything else. I will attach the kayak photos that i took as that was really impressive. we spent a total of 5 hours at the show it was great fun. the show was generally geared for kids but there was plenty of adult like things that made it fun.

Like i stated earlier it is tuesday, i am stranded alone as leo had to go back to work. so i am stuck to make my own fun. typing this blog takes heaps of time so that will cut a hunk out, i also have things to do. i need to apply for jobs and get an IRD number(it is like a SSN). once i have those things set i will be able to work and earn money. Well other than that i think i have rambled enough and given you plenty to look at. enjoy everything and i hope all is safe and well. -Mike

Easter Saturday

Today, Saturday, Leo and I went to Murawi Beach, It is a beach that is located on the west coast of the North Island. It is approximately a 45 minute drive from Leo's house. The beaches on the West Coast are considered the best beaches in all of New Zealand. They have great waves for surfing, great dunes for sleding and the sand is a mixture of black and brown sand. However the undertoe is extremely strong and several people die here every year. I did not enter the water as it was a mad house on this holiday weekend. It was a great day well over 70 degrees and the sun shining. we walked the trail and took in the sites. The above piture was taking at the top of the trail looking down on the beach. The other two pictures were taken down on the water front.

What else has happened over the past few days. On thursday i drove for the first time. that was an experience. I just drove till we got to the main street in town. it is a little odd driving on the opposite side of the road, on the opposite side of the car. everything else in the car is opposite as well. except the pedals, the brake and accelarator are the same. what about the directionals you ask, yes they are opposite as well. up is left and down is right. it is on the opposite side of the steering column, and the windshield wipers on the other. Yesterday i drove some more, i drove to the main road and along it. the roads here are very whindy and hilly. you always have to be on the ball paying attention every single moment. there are none of the straight ass highways that you find in the states. so a drive that is not that far away in distance takes long because of the reduced speed you have to travel.

Also yesterday we made Chocolate Easter eggs. Melted chocolate put them in molds and put stuff inside of them. I have photos of them but they are on Leo's camera which her father barrowed for his work today so i will get those up to you tomorrow. it was lots of fun and gave me a bit of a tummy ache. all the snacking on the chips of chocolate when no one was looking. yummy!

Tomorrow is Easter nothing big planned, as here Good Friday is more of the major celebration. We had a big feast last night with Leo's brothers and parents. I worked the BBQ, they dread the BBQ here, were as i love it! o well, makes me out to be pretty good. Thats all i got for you guys now i will attach some more photos below of other events. I am having some difficulties loading the video to this blog and even youtube. if and when i work those out i will get them posted. if i cant i will burn them to DVD and send that home and you can view it at a family gathering! Love Mike

Leo's Family sends easter regards as well!

Me at Wildfoods eating a Cricket with Satay sauce on a slice of Italian Bread. The dude to the left face was scary so i replaced it with a much easier face. The Cricket was crunchy!
I was caught stealing some Gold so I was punished! Had to stay like this for 48 hours, all they fed me was stale bread and water. if i was lucky they put a little pig fat on the bread.
This is a picture of Leo from the South Island Trip, it is Hokitika Beach, it is cold and i am trying to be artistic. Does it work?

Good Friday 21-3-2008

Well when i left off with you guys I had just returned from the trip in the South Island. and quit a bit has happened since then. Tuesday night Leo had a race. Andy (her coach, my old coach) asked if i didnt mind pacing Leo in the race. I had nothing better to do so i did. the goal was 75-76 a lap for 3k. we averaged 75 a lap and Leo ran 9:21 which is a PB. the conditions were cool with a little wind. but overall it was a great night to run fast.

On Weds it was Bart's Wedding Ceremony. It was ahectic day. the ceremony was to take part in the backyard of Leo's house. So i gave a hand and helped out. Set up the car port, then put up some tables and chairs, and set up the cooking area. at the ceremony and reception i was incharge of the BBQ. the ceremony was very laid back and went well. it was 30 minutes, after that was the FOOD! there was so much food i couldnt begin to name everything, but i was incharge of cooking up the steaks, ham, mussels and sausages on the BBQ.

BBQ on the Left, Cindy and Bart Above

Thursday was a relaxing day, we cleaned up the yard from the wedding and then relaxed. sorry nothing exciting. However Friday we are planning on making chocolate eggs that are filled with candy treats. They will be eaten on Easter. Easter here in not celebrated as big, but is still a very important holiday. No shops can be open all weekend from Friday to Monday. Monday is easter Monday which everyone has off for as well. dont know what it is all about but i will find out and let you all know.

Thats it for this blog. hope you enjoyed the video and so on. I wish everyone a happy easter! as does leo. Best Wishes Mike