cara

In the land of the Auck

The comings and goings of me over the last three weeks:

*Living with Sis & Working
*Hobsonville
*Auckland
*Parent Update

Sounds pretty darn exciting....so tune in!

Hey All,

Sorry for the delay in writing. I always set out to write an entry, then it ends up being a week or so later.

Let me pick up where I left off....Wellington....which leads into ....

PARENT UPDATE

So my parents arrive here in FOUR days (NZ time) and they leave Vancouver in about 36 hours!!! It is so crazy and sad to think about. I spent all day yesterday thinking about them and all their friends back in Vancouver. Sunday is Trevor's last service at St. Francis which will be a very sad affair. (They leave Vancover Sunday and arrive on Tuesday).

While I was in Wellington my dad bought a car over the internet, for their arrival in their new homeland, and I was put in charge of delivering it north for them. So I jetted out of Wellington one fine afternoon and headed north. It took me 10 hours to drive from Wellington to Auckland (I know boo hoo on the ole driving front, but us kids have plenty of pay back, know what i'm saying).

The drive was ok. I did it at night so I really missed all the scenery, which was bad planning on my part. But when ya gotta go ya gotta go.

So I have been up here with my sister since the beginning of June. On my second day here I landed myself 2 jobs!! Not bad eh?! I am working as a pruner at a vineyard, but more on that in a sec. Seeing my sister is in the Air Force and all, we live on an AF Base - Hobsonville.

HOBSONVILLE

Yes it deserves it's own heading. I realized yesterday that I should write about the bas because it is pretty unique and I doubt many of you will have ever been on one let alone lived on one.

An AF Base is it's own self contained unit, kinda like a gated community (which it is literally). It is a huge area, not sure exactly how big. You have to pass through a Security Gate coming and going, there are homes (married quarter), there are buildings that house offices, workshops, gymns, Cadets, Army, Navy. Not only that but there is a huge airfield (a massive lawn). On the very far (away) side of the Base there is an old artillery/mine bunkers, where they used to let off old weapons etc. It is off limits and not used any more. Also in that creepy area is a shooting range. It is funny cuz you can walk/run all around the base. The "weapons" area is out back and there is a sign by the shooting range warning 'joggers' to move past quickly and to keep to the high side of the raod when people are practicing. Too funny!!!

Scenically Hobsonville is beautiful. It has an ocean inlet that touches one side of it, then you have the massive green airfield on the other. So all in all it is real nice. Most people you see drving around are in uniform too. Hobsonville is not an actively used Base, meaning it doesn't have all the central operations of the Air Force.

There is a second Air Force base about 6km down the road - Whenuapai (pronounced Fenuwapie. All "wh" is pronounced "ff"). This is the Base where all the action is. Whenuapai has all the same stuff as Hobsonville, BUT it has the big ass planes: Orions (my sister's plane), Boeing 757's and Hercules. So as you can see it is quite the happening area. I ride past Whenuapai twice everyday going to work, and there are always planes flying around.

So HOME is real nice!!! Now on to the work...

HARRIER RISE

I am working as a PRUNER at a vineyard, and the above is the name of the vineyard I am working at. It is a small vineyard (compared to some of the more well known vineyards in the area), and Tim makes red wine (Merlot, Cabernat Franc)

I have never worked as a pruner before, but agriculture work is the easiest for a traveller to get and it generally hires you right away (no interview/resume process).

My boss Tim is super easy going and nice. He comes out into the vineyard once a day and has a wee chat with us. The "us" is me and Usoali, my coworker. Usoali is a 60something Samoan man. He has worked for Tim for many years. At first I thought Usoali was nice. His english isn't that great so we have limited conversation topics (if any really). Then he got weird. He started telling me I should date older men and not young guys cuz they just get you pregnant then take off. Hhhmmmm you don't say. Ok hopefully this will give you all a little comice relief: but the dude has come onto to me, not once now, but twice!!!
Gawd damn it. He obviously heard the rumor that Canadian chicks are easy. The first time I let it slide due to communication/cultural differences. The second time he literally tried to put the moves on me; the ole hand on the knee, then a quick grab for the chest. I know it doesn't sound nice, but hell, this guy is 60 odd!!!! Anyway, this all just happened this week so it is pretty fresh. Because communication is a problem I can't just curse and freak out. It is resolved and I had a talk with the ole godger. It's weird but I don't think he's right in the head....on to better topics....like the vineyard.

So we have row upon row of vines. The grapes have been picked and harvested a couple of months back, so we are cutting the vines back for next years growth. We have big and little clippers, a saw and some glue/paint - ah the tools of the trade. We walk along, make big cuts to the vines, then go back with the small clippers and pull off all the vines and make piles of sticks. You have to think about how they grew lat year and how they will grow next year iin order to pick good canes (vines) to leave behind. We have this wheel barrel crossed with a burning barrel that we pull along burning all the old vines. At the end of the day you go around and put the paint/glue on the big cuts to stop fungus. We do about a row and a half a day (this shows how long the rows are). It is really peaceful nice work. Very different to the other 2 jobs I've had.

With apples picking you had to drive yourself; work hard and fast cuz each apples is your income. The harder or longer you worked the more money you made. At the packhouse you didn't have a choice. You had to keep up with the machines, punch in punch out, go go go. Here it is just nice. You get an hourly and you do what you can in your day. (Oh ya the other funny thing about the Usoali situation is that I didn't tell my boss b/c I want to wait. But two days after this all happened I got a raise! Can you say payback?). So the work is good. I will only be doing it for about 3 weeks total, meaning I have another week and a half to go. And strangely I will miss seeing the vineyard complete. Weird.

BIKE RIDE TO WORK

Harrier Rise is in a town called Kumeu which is about 20km away from Hobsonville. SO I am again a comuter cyclist. It is great and I love it. It takes about 40minutes each way and I tune into a little radio and just ride. Thank goodness there is a decent alternative radio station to listen too. The route is kind of country highway, as we are out in suburbia/border with country.

Again I am up before the sun and on the road when the sun rises - definitely a work and NZ theme. I was thinking the other day I wonder if I'll get up before the sun back in Canada.

AUCKLAND

OK. So I should have mentioned that Hobsonville is about 30km northwest from the city.

I actually haven't seen that much of the city itself. Monday to Friday is spent out here in the sticks. And the weekends have been spent doing stuff in and around this area. That will hopefully change this weekend. The biggest draw back is that you literally have to drive everywhere. I know it sucks.

Auckland is an appallingly designed city. DESIGNED AROUND THE CAR. Uggh.
(I read an article in the paper yesterday talking about motorway/development plans for Auckland. A transportation and city planner from Australia was quoted as saying the Auckland city council should be fired for be car lovers stuck in the dark ages of 1950's develpoment models. Ouch.)

Out here there is one mall/shopping area (its all really big box stores together). It is not near to where people live and therefore you must drive there (It is kind of eery being the only cyclists in a huge parking lots/shopping area. At least a dozen shops and not a bike rack in site).

Auckland is known for its horrendous traffic congestions too. My cousin Lance leaves for work around 5:30am/6 just to beat morning rushour. Not only that but, the public transportation system is the pits. Expensive and poorly design. that said, not everywhere, but mostly in the burbs. To get into town from here, the bus takes about an hour and a half. 1.5 hours!!!!!!!!!!!! No wonder people drive, as it can take 20-30 minutes in no traffic.
I suppose Auckland is like Vancouver in a way; sprawled out suburbs etc.Living close to the city is best; the further out you get the less well designed. Now I know what it must feel like to live in Suburbia Surrey Coquitlam White Rock.

Oh ya one last scary fact -- Auckland has 1/3 of NZ population!!!!!!!!!! Something like 1.4 million people (total NZ population about 4 million).

The COOL thing about Auckalnd is the SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND COMMUNITY.
The North Island has a much higher concentration of Maori than the South Island. And Auckland has a huge Maori, Samoan, Fijian, Malaysian population. That has been a really neat thing learning about the Pacific Islands & Islanders.

So I have yet to really explore Auckalnd. I have seen some but not much.

SISTER SISTER CAN YOU HEAR ME CALLING??!!!!!

So living with Maren is great!! We are both working stiffs, so our weekday nights are spent chilling out and going to bed early. I know, how exciting is that to read. She has two kitties, so we play with them at night and generally keep it gangster. I have met some of her friends and they are real nice (we are having a ladies night out on the town tonight). We are both very different and that is cool. Maren is tall, thinish, blue eyes and blonde hair. SO for all you that remember what I look like, you will realize we look nothing a like. Our politcs are different, our interests and our life goals. But dat's cool.

Ok here is a great story, and it shows how truly cool the ole sis is:
So my first day up here I realized it is the day of the Stanley Cup final game - Calgary and Tampa Bay. I have checked the web a few time while here to keep up to speed, and I have a hockey nut friend, Joey Only, who had been keeping me in the know. So my sister goes off to work and I am hanging out at the house trying to find a job. Maren arrives home at lunchtime and says get dressed we gotta go out. She had called around and found a Sports Bar that had satellite ESPN for us to go watch the game. It was broadcast here live at midday on the Tuesday (your game MOnday night). SO off we go to somewhere suburbia. 2pm - Australian beer in hand, Kiwi bar all around and the Stanley Cup on the big screen!!!!!!!!! Needless to say we were the only ones watching it, and actually we got a few funny looks. The worst part of the game wasn't that Calgary was losing, but that it was on an American network (ABC). They didn't give any comentary on the Canadian team, nor did they even interview one Calgary player. I really missed the good ole Canadian commentary. Hah!!!

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE????????

Ok so this is the next wee while:
July 8-15 me and the sis are taking off. Maren is going to do a week long wine course and I am going to go off on my bike to ride the East Cape. Yes I know it's winter, but hell who cares. After that I will spend a few days with my parents, as they should be settled into their new home by then. Plus Trevor is having an Induction (a welcome to the school/church) celebration, so much of the Fisher family will be converging in Hamilton for this big event. Did I ever tell you that Hamilton is the armpit of New Zealand? It is compared to Winnipeg. Anyway, after Hamilton I will head to Australia for 2 weeks. Then back here for one week then HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is exciting and scary. I have a lot left to do. I am excited about bike trip and going to OZ, but gheesh, my time is almost up. ABout 6 weeks left.

I hope this is a good satisfying read.
I miss you all LOADS and have been thinking of you ALL, yes you all. It is the last friday of the month back home, and I am there in spirit (and no Auckland does not have a Critical Mass).

LOVE & HUGS
ore n' oot
Cara

Posted by cara at June 25, 2004 02:25 PM