Quakes and Quality Control

Just wanted to give a few quick updates.


First, a large portion of the North Island was awakened at 4 a.m. this morning by another earthquake! It was a 5.9 centered about 30 Km north of Taupo. It lasted about 30 seconds--and was strong enough to rouse both John and I out of a deep slumber. This time, you could hear the rumbling of the Earth. Kinda neat! We just stayed in bed and then it subsided, as it was nothing too major.


I finished up my training for Quality Control, which is the position I will have at the Pack house. It's a pretty good one--requires more brains than brawn--which is much more my thing. It's also indoors in a nice air conditioned building! Plus, it's a pretty small team of about 10 of us and everyone is very nice. When I got home from training, the Census woman had just arrived to give me my contract to sign and turn in sometime this week. So, pretty soon I will start making the moolah!


Also at training we were introduced to a brand new variety of apple that was developed through a partnership with the company I will work for, ENZA, and Johnny Appleseed in the U.S. It was developed at the University of Minnesota and they just recently harvested and sent the very first bunch and let us give it a taste! Some of the first people in NZ to try it. It's called the SweeTango--so keep an eye out for it! It's pretty yummy--both tangy and sweet.


Anyways, John picked me up from training in our car that is all fixed! We were right about the pebbles in the breaks being the problem--and so we were charged just $4 for them to put it up on the rack and clean them out. Phew! Then we just had to pay for the window--but now it's all good to go!


Tomorrow is the big Hawke's Bay Food and Wine Festival just down the road near Neil and Sarah's. John has to work, but a new roommate of ours, Lui, who got here about two weeks ago wanted to go and so I said I would go with him. He's a nice kid--Japanese parents, but raised in the Czech Republic, and goes to school at RISD in Rhode Island for furniture design. He's here for 5 weeks for an internship. Anyways, he's a nice guy, so we're going to the festival tomorrow to check out all the wine and food! It was $45 but that includes a tasting wine glass you get to keep, plus there is live music, a fashion show, workshops, and tons of food and wine booths, of course. Should be a good day. 


Hoping the Universe is appeased for a while!

The Tongariro is Cursed

Bah. I really, REALLY need to stop coming back here with crazy, stressful adventures to tell. The Tongariro, at least for John and I, is cursed and the Taupo road to get to it is EVIL. Not as bad a story as last time, but still a less than pleasant one.

So our plans for John's days off were to head to Taupo today and redeem GrabOne coupons we bought for a sailing excursion to some Maori rock carvings on Lake Taupo. Then, we were going to head to Tongariro, camp out for the night, and do the crossing tomorrow and be back home tomorrow night. Well, the first snafu in our plans came when I got a call from the packhouse I interviewed for. They want to hire me! Which is the great news--I have gone from no jobs to two (one full-time and one just flexible/casual hours). However, they wanted me to come in, at very short notice, tomorrow to start training. I asked if they had any other days available but unfortunately there wasn't--so we had to scrap Tongariro.

However, we decided to still do the sailing so we headed out to Taupo for a very nice, warm, sunny day. The actual sailing was great and I will share more pictures later. The other crazy ridiculous event was on the drive back. We had been driving for a bit on Taupo road, and all along they have been doing a lot of (unnecessary and excessive) construction and repaving. A lot of areas they have yet to re-tar and so it's just gravel pebbles you have to drive over. So we're heading along and we start to hear a strange noise from the car--almost like a helicopter--or air trying to squeeze through a small space. We pull over, resting for a few minutes, then keep heading on but it starts up again. So we pull over again to the next possible area and John jacks the car and takes the front tire off because that's where the noise seemed to be coming from--the breaks. We can't tell much, so we put the tire back on and keep going. No more noise for quite a while and so I'm hoping it was just some pebbles that dislodged themselves. Well, we go over another long stretch of unpaved road--uphill--and once again the noise starts. So we pull over as soon as we can, but it's not the best spot, and are stressing out about what to do. When all of a sudden, a car comes flying around the bend and BAM! Our back driver-side passenger window is shattered. I have evidence:

FML, people, FML. First we were just trying to get the pebbles/breaks sorted out and now we have a shattered window--on our new car. Just. Freaking. Fantastic. We're not sure if a big pebble or rock was hurled toward the window by the car or if the guy threw something--but the whole entire thing shattered in an instant.

Thank the Lord John signed up for AA Plus. As we were able to call them and they sent a free tow to get us back to Hastings--as we were only about 30 min from Napier, 45 minutes from home. The tow guy got there really quickly, as he was also heading back the same way on that road and also lives in Hastings. He could not have been more nice. He let us stop on the way into town to get some pizzas and even had a phonebook in his truck so we could look up the number. As he loaded the car onto the tow bed, he said it sounded to him like we did have some gravel pebbles up in the breaks--though really we would just need to have it looked at to know for sure. And obviously, we'll have to fix the window--which hopefully won't be too much. He dropped our car off at the AA garage in Hastings--so we don't have to get a second tow in the morning--and then dropped us off at home--frustrated, sun burnt, tired, but safe. He also said if he gets any late night calls, which happens a lot, he will stop by the AA on his route just to make sure no one does anything to car while the window is gone. He was a super nice guy and the silver lining to all of this. 

It seems whenever John and I get ourselves into these situations that there are always kind strangers to lend us a hand and it's truly a blessing. But as nice as they are, I would MUCH rather avoid these situations all together. A person can only take so much! C'mon, Universe, cut us some slack!

So yeah--John is going to drop me off at training tomorrow morning using our roommates car (again) and then hopefully get ours sorted out. Please God, let it be an easy fix!

But here are the pictures from the very nice part of the day before happiness was yanked from our grasp:

 The captain of our little yacht was a really nice guy, telling us a lot about the lake and the area. Lake Taupo was formed by the collapsed basin of a very old, dormant volcano. While enjoying the beautiful water and scenery, we also got a complimentary glass of wine or beer! A nice touch. We were joined on the cruise by a francophone family from New Caledonia, another French guy, and an English woman. All very nice. 

 The Maori carvings were actually done only 30 years ago by a group of about 8 Maori artists, as a gift to Taupo. They are still really cool and one day they will be ancient!

We were able to take a dip in the water--I took one was well--but it was cold! So I only swam for a bit. But here's John in front of the carvings.

On the way back, we stopped at this scenic overlook where you could view this great waterfall. It was a very pretty sight, but very soon after this all those smiles would be turned up side down.

So yes--I am convinced that the Tongariro is cursed. However, John and I will make one more attempt next week, before we are both working and our schedules won't match. We will defeat the Tongariro Crossing come hell or high water!

Blackwater Rafting

Woohoo! John and I finally had a successful adventure without any mishaps! But first on a side note: the other night I was laying in bed at about 9:30 when I started to feel the bed shake, and my computer shake, and the wine in my hand sloshed around a bit. It lasted for about 10 seconds then stopped. It was an earthquake! Albeit a very small one, but as they happen all the time there are bound to be a few that can be felt (though everyone hopes to avoid "the big one.") It was mildly exciting, and probably a bit smaller than the one we had in Georgia back when I was in 10th grade. 


Anyways, we bought coupons a while back on a site called GrabOne--a lot like Groupon in the US--for an excursion in these glow worm caves near the West Coast. John bought them for me for Christmas. We decided that yesterday would be a good day to redeem them and we set out on the four hour drive to Waitomo Caves! We passed through Taupo, and the exact spot where we broke down last time, but no more troubles for us! Kingsley Zissou, the name we gave to our car, did a wonderful job getting us to an from our destination! We arrived with plenty of time to spare--ate some lunch we packed, got a free pass through the Waitomo Caves museum, and enjoyed the sunny, warm weather (it was rainy and cloudy all day where we live). 


We set out for the excursion around 3:00 and were joined by a nice Australian couple from Brisbane and their two sons. Our tour guide, Rodney, was very nice and brought along his little girl, Jessie, with him for the trip.


After suiting up in our wet suits, helmets and gumboots (the name for rain boots)--we were ready to go!

Once we reached the entrance to the cave, which wasn't too far a walk, we grabbed some inner tubes and headed out for the mouth of the cave!

First, though, we had to walk up a hill and across a paddock to get to the actual entrance--not an easy feat on a hot day, with a full wet suit, wearing rain boots, and carrying an inner tube!

We finally reached the entrance to the cave where our tour guide told us a little bit more about the caves. There are several of them in the cave system and have been around for a very long time. The name of the cave we were going into was called Te Anaroa in Maori, which means "The Long Cave."

Ready to head in!

Next, it was time to descend the 20 or 30 feet or so into the cave. We had stairs to get down, but other adventure options let you abseil down into another one of the caves and see the glow worms up close as you made your way down. We weren't able to abseil down that day.

Once inside, Rodney told us more about the glow worms. They are actually very small and the part of them that glows is, in fact, their poo as they excrete it. Whatever they eat gets mixed with special enzymes that glow when they poop it out! They also have these long, sticky strands that hang down that they use to catch insects as they fly about the cave. However, the stage that the glow worms are in are actually a larvae stage that lasts for 9 months. After that, they get into a cocoon like casing, and then they "hatch" as small mosquito-like flies. However, they only last about 5 days because as flies they have no mouth so they can't feed! The females in these 5 days try to find a mate and can lay as many as 150 eggs--to be hatched into more glow worms! It was really fascinating to learn and see them spread out above us like stars!

John and I posing in front of glow worm tendrils

We didn't take this picture--but I got it from online to show you what they look like in the dark.

We also learned that the English name for the cave was "Foot Whistle" because of a rock formation (technically called a "deflected stalactite" because it comes from nowhere) that the original discoverers found in which the bottom looked like a foot and the top looked like the whistle of a steam engine. Hence the name.

John and I in front of "Foot Whistle"

After learning about the glow worms/cave, and introducing ourselves to everyone in the group, the little girl Jessie led us to a neat little waterfall tucked away in the cave! It was a bit disconcerting as we had to crawl through some pretty small spaces in water, but it was still great fun!

I survived!

As we went deeper and deeper into the cave, it was time to get into our inner tubes and take a little rafting ride down the river--in the pitch black darkness!

We made our way around the cave using the side wall to guide us, with our eyes adjusting with the tiny bit of light provided by the glow worms! It was a beautiful sight--though the water was quite cold! We also encountered animal bones from animals that had fallen through sinkholes into the cave and eventually deteriorated. We then stopped at a certain point where there was about a 5-foot drop off--time to jump! We turned around backwards with our tubes behind us, and fell back into the water with a nice plop!

This would be right about when I got water up my nose.

We then traveled a bit more in the darkness--making our way through the cave with John leading the group since the guide went up ahead of us to our next stop. We got to a point where there were 3 branches and we didn't know which one to take! All of a sudden--PLOP. It sounded like a big water bomb! Our guide turned on his headlamp as we laughed off our sudden fright. We had almost reached the end of the ride--but not before the big final drop off! This one was about 20 feet high--much too far to jump--so a slide had been installed to make the way down. However, it still was deep enough to disappear into the darkness of the cave--making it that much more exciting!

With everyone having made it safely down, it was time to head out! After a bit of walking we finally reached the exit--cold, wet, and having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! The bright sunshine we a beautiful sight as we once again ascended up a ton of stairs in all of our gear, boots, and inner tube!

When we reached the top we were a fatigued, but happy bunch. The whole adventure was so neat and something you couldn't do anywhere else in the world! Glow worms only exist primarily in New Zealand, though a few are in Australia. It was definitely a memorable experience!

Returning to the base, we were able to remove our wetsuits and enjoy a nice hot shower and hot soup! Though, luckily it was a warm and sunny day so we were able to heat up quickly. After that, we were able to look at our pictures from the trip--which I have just been sharing with you! The Australian couple was so kind and gave us their card--saying if we ever needed a place to stay the night in Brisbane to give them a call! 

After that--it was time for a nice dinner! As part of the deal we bought on the website--there was also a side deal that included a $40 food voucher (in which you only paid $19) to redeem at the Waitomo Caves Hotel restaurant. Upon arriving it was clear that the hotel, built in 1910, had already seen it's glory days--as it was a bit outdated and John and I were the only patrons to have made a booking that night. However, the quiet was actually nice and it turned out that the food was great! We had a nice glass of wine, shared a really good prawn appetizer (look at me branching out--though I admit that the yummy sauce that came with it made it a lot better!), and John had some nice fish and I had duck. It was nice to relax without either one of us having to cook or serve.

Enjoying the evening out on the terrace.

After such a good day and good meal--it was time to make the 4 hour drive back home! I must say that I still hate the road between Taupo and Hastings--John had to pull over for a few minutes about halfway through, because I was so car sick I felt like I was going to vomit. But, I made it through and we got home around 11:00--and went straight to bed to get a good night's sleep! However, as we passed Taupo we did get a nice glimpse of the sunset to top off our good day:

Next week we are hoping to re-attempt the Tongariro! Cross your fingers!

New Car!

Check out the new car! A 1995 Nissan Cefiro Excimo:

We got it yesterday morning, and so far it runs like a dream! No loud or fickle engine like the Honda and all around a bit nicer--so we are feeling pretty good about this one (in addition to feeling our pockets being a bit lighter).


But, yesterday I also had my interview with the Census and I think it went really well! Hopefully I will hear back from them within 2 weeks. 


With our change of fortune we should go out and buy a lotto ticket! But, since they cost $12 a piece and you can't claim the winnings if you aren't a citizen, we won't do that. But things are looking up!

Random

A few new things to report.

John and I think we have found a new car. It's a bit more than what we paid for the first one ($600 more) but we think the extra investment will be well worth it in terms of security. It's newer, a 1995 Nissan, and it's being sold by a guy who is the manager of an engineering company here on behalf of his father who simply does not need it anymore. The car is in great shape (having been driven at low speeds by his elderly father), has low kilometers, and has been serviced regularly. It's also a V6 meaning it won't have trouble with hills like the last one did. It may mean a bit more in gas, but the man said it does pretty well on gas, actually. My Ford Taurus was a V6 and it did pretty well also, so hopefully that is the case. Cause gas here is EXPENSIVE.

John joined the AA here the other day, just as a precaution for any future mishaps. They offer roadside service and also offer great discounts on car services and insurance for members. We are having the car get a "pre-purchase inspection" tomorrow just to make sure everything it sorted and nothing will be need to be replaced while we have it. All this we initially thought was not necessary when we purchased the first car at the car fair in Auckland--but oh how we have learned. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound in cure--as the saying goes.

We were fretting a bit over our finances, since the car will pretty much bring us back to no savings. While I never saw it before, I am now recognizing the value of having a credit card and having the ability to push paying for small purchases until the end of the month when you know you will have the funds. Alas, after much worrying and weird dreams (me) about money,  we finally caved under the pressure and worry and asked for help. John's father Martin saved the day with an emergency donation that will enable us to purchase the car this week and still have money left to tide us over until John's big paycheck next week (for all the work he did at time and a half over New Years). So, thanks a million Martin! We really, really appreciate it. 

I also have my Census interview on Thursday, and hopefully soon I will have some steady employment. Fruit pack houses are also recruiting seasonal employment now for the summer and I will pursue those as well. It's not glamorous work but it's an hourly minimum wage ($12.75), with a regular shift of 7 hours per day for 5 days a week (weekends off). It's also indoors, meaning you can escape the summer sun. And it's close enough that I can take a bike if John needs the car. So, hopefully our luck will start to turn soon!

Anywho, I've brought pictures! It's kind of random but our roommate recently went out and purchased a Venus Fly Trap plant to put in the house to help rid us of the plague of flies in the kitchen. I've been fascinated by it ever since and often stare at it when I'm eating my meals at the table. The other day, John wanted to see it work so he swatted a fly not enough to kill it but stun, and then took it and put it in one of the traps. We watched as the plant closed around it and as the fly tried to escape with out success. Today that plant is still shut tight and flat as a board--I assume it means it has slowly released it's enzymes to disintegrate the fly to use for nutrients. Kinda morbid, but also really cool. Here are pictures!

 Om, nom, nom.

Don't they kind of remind you of the plants that come out of the pipes on Mario games for Nintendo?

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Day

Sigh. . . . .

Where do I even begin?

I so wish this post would have regaled everyone with beautiful pictures and tales of the Emerald Lakes and our summit up Mount Doom for our hike through the Tongariro Crossing that we set out for yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, John and I have somehow pissed off the powers that be (or maybe just Sauron) and were smote with a series of very unfortunate events.

Our little clunker of a car is no longer. Here is the sordid tale:

We had been driving for about 2 hours and had reached a town called Taupo, rather large, situated on the banks of Lake Taupo smack dab in the middle of the country. We were about an hour away from our campsite when I began to notice the distinct smell of bacon. As we drove into town and headed down a long stretch of road that bordered the lake, with tons of lake houses all along, John suddenly realized the smell was coming from our car and that smoke was emanating from under the hood. 

We pulled over to the first driveway possible and shut off the car. Looking at the temperature gauge, indeed it was extremely hot, however we had never noticed the engine light come on to signal overheating. Though, we had been going up and down rather steep hills, turning on the A/C a bit as it was so hot--which we never do as we can hear the engine work more when it's on--and had gone a bit over the suggested limit of 100 km/hr. We lifted up the lid and used whatever water we had with us to try and cool it off. Luckily, John found that the house we stopped at had a tap outside and checked to see if anyone was home, and when there wasn't, filled up our water bottles a couple of times to help cool the engine more.

After about 10 minutes of little change, the family who was staying in the house walked up the driveway--they had two adorable little girls. John informed them that our car was overheated and asked to use their water spigot, and they said that was absolutely fine. After a couple of minutes, the young father (Ben), just turned on the hose and sprayed the engine for a bit. We then tried to turn the car on again and the gauge had gone all the way back down and it started fine. However, Ben had noticed when looking further under the hood that there was no water or fluid at all in the coolant container. We had very much erred in not checking the fluid levels before undertaking such a trip and very much paid for it. So Ben filled it up with the hose and we gave the car another go. It started up, then started to rev irregularly, and shake a good bit (while I was sitting inside), and then puttered out. We tried starting it several times again to no avail. It would turn over, but the engine wouldn't go.

Ben said he thought we had blown our head gasket, as it seemed there was a leak and the water that had been put into the coolant system was now in the engine. So, Ben goes inside to tuck his two little girls into bed while John walks down to the gas station to get coolant and stop leak--hoping the stop leak would create a new seal and we could get the car running again with more coolant. Apparently not--the damage had already been done. If we had put the stop leak in before we did anything else, perhaps the car would have been fine but we didn't know the gasket had blown (caused by the overheating) until we refilled the coolant. Ben also lifted the spark plugs to find oil inside them (which shouldn't have been there) meaning fluids were now going all sorts of places they weren't meant to go.

I must say, at this point the sun was going down, creating a beautiful sunset on the lake (I got a picture on my phone)--but it seemed to mock us with the despair and panic we were feeling. NZ$1500 and we only had the car for 3 months.

We didn't know what to do. We both felt woefully unprepared to deal with such a situation. However, we didn't call anyone back home--we were determined to deal with it ourselves--no matter how scary it was and regardless how desperate we felt. I suppose that's how all adults eventually learn--you get thrown into the water after college and you either sink or swim--you learn through experience. We took a moment in an embrace outside, in the setting sun, to gather our thoughts to come up with a plan of action. We couldn't have chosen a better driveway--which is the blessing in disguise. There had been plenty of desolate highway between Hastings and our destination that would have put us in a much tougher position if we had broken down there.

Ben, and his family, invited us in to use their phone, look up numbers in a phone book, and they even offered us dinner--though we respectfully declined. I couldn't have eaten anything at that moment as I felt like I could have thrown up. John got the number of a mechanic who was miraculously open at 9:00 at night, while I called our campsite and cancelled our reservations for both the site and the shuttle that was to take us to the start of the crossing--they didn't charge me for such a late cancellation, thankfully.

The mechanic on the phone said it indeed sounded like a blown head gasket and that to fix such a problem would probably cost between $1,500 and $2,000 (NZ). Basically, the cost of the car. Though he gave us a quick test to use to make sure--fill the radiator with water, leave the cap off, then start the car. If the water spews out like a geyser then it's the head gasket, as the air from the pistons was able to break though the protective barrier of the gasket through the tubes and out (and water was able to get into the engine). So we went outside, filled the radiator, I said a little prayer, and John started the car . . . the water went everywhere. 

So that was that--the car was dead and essentially totaled. All because of a thin piece of heat resistant paper that would cost $45 to get but over $1,000 for the labor as you have to open up the engine (John looked up a how-to when we finally got home and it's a 54-step process to replace it).

Any tow companies or scrap metal places were closed for the evening, so we collected all the numbers for the Taupo region to try in the morning. Ben was so generous and let us use his computer to A) Check our bank account and B) Buy bus tickets to get back to Hastings the next day as John has to work tomorrow. He asked what our plans were for the night and we just said we could sleep in the car--we had an air mattress and sleeping bag. He said he didn't have any spare bedrooms but we were welcome to set up the air mattress inside on his living room floor. What wonderful people to take in complete strangers who just happened to break down on his driveway. He even gave us some toast and ham so we would have something to eat.

I slept fitfully that night, wishing I could build a time machine to go back avert such a ridiculously stressful situation. Though I had to remind myself it could have been much worse. One of our roommates, Nakul, had just gotten a call two days before that his father had unexpectedly passed away. However, he was in NZ and his father was in India and wouldn't be able to get home for the funeral. So yeah, gotta keep perspective.

The next morning we woke up at 6:00 a.m to pack up our stuff, trying to consolidate all of our stuff in the car as much as we could, and waited until the scrap metal and towing companies opened at 8:00 a.m. As we sat in the car we crunched numbers--I had worked at Cardoness a few days this week, plus we had Christmas money, and John has worked four public holidays at time and a half for the past two weeks including lots of other hours. So we realized, begrudgingly, that we had enough to get a new car and still afford rent and food--though we would break even again. With some frugality and, hopefully, working coming up for me soon (I have an interview next week) we can start saving again in the next few weeks. Though I will still probably mourn that lost $1500 for a few days.

As we sat around that morning we were definitely "Beached as" (a NZ term for "stuck"). Finally, 8:00 rolled around and we called some scrap metal and parts mechanics. We could have been able to get more money from the car if we had the time to wait--but the one parts mechanic we got in contact with wouldn't be around until the following week--and we couldn't leave the car on the side of the road. Finally, we found auto recyclers who would give us $100 for the scrap metal and also send a free tow to take it to the shop (normally you could get $200 for scrap metal if you can drive the car in yourself). So that was the best option and they would send someone out in the next 4 hours--giving us enough time to catch the bus.

Thankfully, the tow guy came around 10:30 a.m. and even gave us a free lift to the bus station. There, we were able to change our tickets to an earlier bus (to get home faster). We walked around Taupo a bit to pass the time and then boarded the bus back on the winding, nauseating road to Hastings. 

So. . . . yeah. 

Our roommate, Lacey, came and picked us up so we didn't have to walk the 5 or so blocks home with all of our stuff. She and her mom also have an extra car that they don't use often, as they both work in town and thus walk, and mostly just use one for errands and such. So, they have lent John the extra one to use to get to and from work until we buy a new one--which is so kind and an absolute lifesaver. 

It will be a hassle to once again look for another used car that is decent, will run well, and is rather cheap--also there is a much smaller selection here than in Auckland. But we will manage--and we have learned our (expensive) lesson about older cars in a foreign country and will be much more selective about this one (and much more attentive).

However, if it had not again been for the kindness of strangers, our situation could have turned out much worse. 

"Never Regret. If it's good-it's wonderful. If it's bad--it's experience."

And the adventure presses on!