Auckland Rocks!

Well another week’s nearly over. Auckland was rocked (I use the term loosely) by an earthquake on Wednesday night that probably barely rated a mention anywhere in the rest of the world, but was newsworthy here. Apparently it’s pretty rare in this part of the country, and all the people further south laughed at the Aucklanders for making such a fuss. It rated 4.5 on the Richter scale. Surely there’s got to be a better expression than “on the Richter scale”, but I don’t know it and I’ve never head of it. Yes I know it’s a dimensionless logarithmic scale, but it lacks a bit of presence in the same way that “deciBels” has it. 4.5 Ooohyeahs would sound more impressive. Someone fill me in if I’m missing a vital piece of jargon here…

Anyway, 4.5 isn’t really much to feel. Imagine driving down the freeway and your car goes over a few small, gentle undulations. Except replace “car” with “14 storey concrete apartment block”. It was enough to freak Jo out mildly.

As for “being rocked” in another sense, it’s O-Week this week. And our apartment is halfway between Auckland Uni campus and O’Rourke House (a college, based on the repeated chants). Nightly concerts at the uni campus are the norm, and fresh faced students are everywhere. So sleep is optional at the moment.

Things are slowly coming together for the house. Some of the bargains on Trademe have made up for the cost of the dial-up calls. We have a bed and a couch and a fridge and several other bits of furniture, and are hoping that we can synchronise with the outgoing tenants and the delivery services and a rental truck to get into the house before I start work.

Implicit in that last sentence is that I was finally offered a job and will be starting on Monday 5th March. Back to the daily grind, I’ve kind of enjoyed not being tied to a desk, though we’ve been so hectic lately that it will probably be a nice change of pace (except for the early starts). We picked up our excess baggage from the airport today (another “go here, get this form, go there, get form approved, drive 2km up the road, fill out another form, etc….” task that they seem to be fond of. It’s as if they’re trying to prevent contraband from getting in or something.) Thanks for organising that Liz, now I finally have some shorts to wear (the weather has been about 25-28 here every day, very nice!)

Jo starts work next Monday so I’ll have a week to run around and complete a few more tasks before we move house. God I hate moving house. At least this time we don’t have very much stuff to start with. Thanks to all the boys who helped move everything out of Morton Rd, it was much appreciated.

Top of the list of tasks is to find a new car. I’ve checked out a couple of NBs, very different to say the least. One imported white rustbucket, and one very clean gold one (**Warning, car geek content ahead**). I will point out that all Jap import 1.8 NBs have 6-speed manuals in them, from ’98 on, many have ABS, Bose stereos, and Torsens were an option (though hard to identify). The gold one has a few mods which is good if you want them (intake, exhaust, Bilstein coilovers, wheels, swaybar), but the mods seem to make insurance premiums double based in a few quotes I’ve had… The guy is asking $16K neg, I’m sure I could haggle it a bit, so to the MX boys, how does a modded NB for ~AUD12-13K sound? J. There’s a couple more I want to check out first though, including one 10AE, but for some reason it’s on 14’s. Odd.

I’ve attached a couple of pictures of the current car and the cats (in their temporary home) and the new house, so that everyone can see a bit of what we’re up to.


Hope all is well across the pond (and elsewhere).
all the best,
Matt and Jo.

Arrival in Auckland

Hi all. Well it’s about time I dropped a line and told you all how we were getting along. Feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested… (or let us know if you don’t want to be on the list)

We landed last Monday, after a slight detour. Turned up at the airport at 6 am and the sign says the flight we’re supposed to be on is cancelled! We were told we probably wouldn’t fly that day, but fortunately they managed to get everyone alternative flights, so we ended up getting to Auckland via a 1.5 hour stopover in Wellington. I guess the minor consolation was the landing in Wellington, flying in between the houses which are scattered all over the surrounding hills. An amazing sight to those familiar with the typical flat Aussie airport.

Picked up the cats from the airport on Tuesday (go to quarantine, get the bill, go to customs, get bill approved, back to quarantine for something else, off to the Air NZ freight terminal to pay the arrival fees, and finally back to quarantine to wait for the plane to land. Phew!). Fortunately the cats arrived in two pieces (one each), but Jo was pretty anxious until we had them in the rental car. Off to find the cattery where (cousin once removed?) Helen works. She’s really nice and loves cats too (once shared a granny flat with one housemate and 17 cats. Actually that’s nutty even by our standards…). We’ve visited the kitties nearly every day, they’re slowly warming up to the new surroundings but I’m sure keen to stretch the legs a bit more.

We’ve been staying in a studio apartment on the edge of the city, next to Auckland Uni and subsequently surrounded by partying students that keep Jo awake (I’ll sleep through most things). Squeezy, making do without most of our luggage and possessions, but it’ll do (hey, it’s free!).

Today we finally confirmed a place to live. It’s a nice house in Mt Eden which is just a few minutes south of Auckland city. 85 Gribblehirst Rd (don’t send mail just yet! We won’t move in til at least 3rd March). Decent living space (the alternatives were tiny townhouses next to the motorway), “yucky” kitchen and bathroom according to Jo. But it has a dishwasher, so it’ll do. It’s walking distance from Eden Park, not that we’d want to go there (damn those Aussie cricketers!), quite close to most things we need (cafes, shopping, etc), fairly close to Jo’s work and also to where I will (hopefully) get a job – I’m waiting until tomorrow to hear back from a company about a job.

I’ve previously spoken with this company (Oscmar for those interested) while we were on honeymoon, and met them again last week for a tour of their factory. All looks hopeful, the major downside is that parking is really limited and if you’re not at the factory before ~7:15 am you won’t get a parking spot. They’re really close to the train station but our house is a bit of a walk. Might have to find a bicycle or scooter or something, but I’m not sure I’m fat enough for a scooter licence (if observation of the typical rider here is anything to go by).

As for transport, Jo finally has the BMW she’s always wanted. I’m not complaining, it’s a 2000 E46 330i, which the trainspotters will note has the 3 litre engine, and electric everything. Very nice. Silver. Auto. Goes fast if poked (not that Jo’s let me drive it much…). The main challenge is getting it into the underground carpark below the apartment. Tight corners with metal and concrete edges… And the Japanese spec stereo only picks up two local radio stations…

I haven’t found a car for myself yet. Am waiting for job confirmation before we make that commitment to the finance company. Lots of NA MX-5s on the street, and quite a few NCs as well. I’ll try to find an NB I think… But there’s lots of cheap EVOs, Skylines, etc to tempt one away…

Having located a car and house, the next step is to fill it with furniture and appliances. Bed, fridge, couch, etc… Start with the basics and add more luxuries (TV, tables etc) as we can afford. Trademe (NZ’s homegrown eBay equivalent) has been getting a pounding, but internet connection is expensive (actually it’s all the phone calls from the hotel that’s expensive – local calls are timed). And trying to buy stuff from people that we need delivery on, whilst coordinating delivery on a date that we haven’t 100% confirmed with the house owner (depends on whether the current tenants move out before or after the weekend), is tricky.

We really haven’t had time to go exploring yet. Lots to see and check out, but it’s been a pretty short route between the apartment, car places, cattery, shopping and house hunting. We’ll have to find some time to go climb Mt Eden (a former volcanic peak, of which there are several around the city) or go up the tower in the city, which is about the only landmark visible from most directions.

Hopefully we’ll have more to report in the coming weeks, once we get out and about some more, and beyond the city boundaries. Love to all, stay well.

Matt and Jo.