Hanging out with the Hendersons

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Wow, I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since the last blog! Since then we've visited some wineries, the art gallery and a hot spring pool just outside Auckland. Duane worked another week at school. One of these days he will write a blog specifically about how that's going, so you can eagerly anticipate that! I got hired on as a casual relief worker in preschools. So far I work this coming Tuesday and Wednesday and I hope to get more shifts as I get to know some of the centres. I also enjoyed dealing with not one but two car issues. I know, now you're thinking "more car issues, that's impossible". That is what I thought. The first issue was that the back bumper was cracked and actually starting to fall off the car. So on Monday I went to see the mechanic. He was calling around for a used bumper. The next day, I went to start the car and the key would not even go into the ignition. After consulting with flatmates, long distance call to Dad, the key was still not going in. One flatmate said he could help us start the car but it would involve busting the ignition up with a hammer. We declined this offer. Now I couldn't even take the bumper to get fixed, because we couldn't even start the car! This was a really low day, and I really tried to reflect on the positives and life lessons and not call the auto wreckers and fly home immeadiately.

In the end, our flatmate Mo had a friend that was the manager of a mechanic shop. This guy drove to the house, took off the ignition switch. At this point we could start the car with a screwdriver. Yippee! Apparently there was a small piece of metal that had broken off inside the lock. Duane got this piece out with some bobby pin maneuvers. The next day we got the ignition put back on, and the bumper fixed. And I heaved a sigh of relief.

This past weekend we met up with Keith and Teresa. They had a great time touring the South Island. They saw lots of great sights and animals. We met them in Waitomo. After catching up over some drinks and a short sleep we set out to see the gloworms. We went on a Blackwater Rafting trip, which is actually tubing through water inside the cave. It was amazing to lay back in the tube and see the millions of glowworms. They really looked like stars. At some points inside the cave there were mini waterfalls where we had to jump backwards in the tubes. This was a bit more extreme than Teresa preferred! She made it through in one piece!

That night we checked out a rugby game. This was pretty sweet. They started the game off with a marching band, pirate mascot and pirate ship float. They even had explosives and fireworks! It was an exciting game of non-stop action. Our favorite was the throw-ins, when they lift up a player to catch the incoming ball. The scrums and pile-ups were impressive too.

Yesterday we checked out an exibit that had some Terracota Warriors from China. This was a neat review for us. We watched some crazy people jumping off the Sky Tower too. We had a picnic by the airport watching the jets fly in and take off. We said our farewells to Keith and Teresa. It was so good to spend some time with family. They had a wonderful trip and were slightly sad to go home to work/colder temperatures! They gave us their spare NZ cash "for a tow truck to get you home". The blue beauty had been making some interesting noises that day but since it seems to be back to normal!

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