Our life, Mille Bornes style

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Does anyone remember the card game Mille Bornes, the one where you get flat tires, speed limits, breakdown etc..? If you don't remember this game, then perhaps you may have played The Game of Life? Lately we've been joking that we feel like we have been living in one of these games....

We've had some rough luck and good luck in Auckland. We were parked in a mall parking lot in which looked like a rougher area South of Auckland. For the mothers out there, not the kind of rough where safety is a concern. We were writing our last blog, emailing and time flew by. When we went out to the car, there was a huge clamp on our front tire and a guy wanting 95 dollars to remove the clamp. Apparently this parking lot had a tiny sign saying that there was a 2 hour limit in this lot. I guess a parking ticket wasn't enough! Then we tried to console ourselves with some lunch at McDonalds. When we asked for some ketchup to go with our fries they said they had no ketchup!!!! What McDonalds has no ketchup?!

Then we had some good luck. We found a perfect place to live, the first place we called. It is a house with 5 rooms 2 km from where Duane is teaching. The backyard looks out to some farmland and it has a garage converted to a lounge with couches, TV, stereo, computers. The house is owner by a nice guy from Montreal. There are 3 kiwis and a guy from Jordan who live here as well.

Duane's parents arrived last Tuesday, and it was so great to see them. It's been so long it seems. They had to drive through a blizzard to get here, so they were really enjoying eating supper outside, then relaxing with some cool drinks.

So Keith and Teresa rented a little car, we packed everything up and headed north. Just as we were leaving the city, on the Auckland Harbour bridge to be exact, our car started to make a horrible sound, overheated and died. We tried a few times to start it to no avail. Of course it did start when the tow truck driver arrived! He was so kind, he lead us to the nearest shop, and didn't even charge us! That night we found a campground nearby and took a nice refreshing dip in the ocean.The damage ended up being with the thermostat, and consequently the top of the radiator actually melted! S o we are the proud (but sad to have spent more money on this silly car) owners of a secondhand radiator and thermostat!

This past weekend we met Keith and Teresa up at Whangerei. We did an awesome boat cruise. We snorkelled for about 2 hours by the Poor Knights islands. We saw some huge Snapper and tons of Blue Mao Mao. There was even a small rock cove to swim through.

The next day we started our day off with a pancake breakfast and then visited the bathrooms designed by a famous artist in Kawakawa. These were very unique, with almost no straight lines, and lots of colorful tiles. Then we drove up to the Bay of Islands and had a picnic on the beach. In the afternoon we saw some giant old kauri trees. The oldest one was 45 feet around, and 50 metres tall! After this we went back to Auckland and Keith and Teresa headed South to see more wonders of New Zealand. We will meet up with them again just before they leave.

This seems like a pretty long blog, so we better save some stories for next time! So in summary, our last few turns in Mille Bornes/game of life have been:

1) Duane gets a teaching job- get 50 happiness points and money on its way
2) Get a clamp on your tire - pay 95$
3) No ketchup at Mcdonalds- lose a turn
4) Find a place to live- extra turn
5) Parents come for a visit- get 100 happiness points
6) Car breaks down pay 470$, lose 5 happiness points
7) Have a fun weekend, get 30 happiness points

So overall we are still doing well and having good times here, with only occasional speed bumps!

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Photos

Auckland view from Mount Eden
Mt. Eden is a dormant volcano in Auckland. There is a massive grassy crater at the top.

The pic is deceiving, but this tree was massive!
and estimated to be 2000 years old