Sweet as, bro!

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Cheers to my return to travel blogging - not quite in the timeline promised before, but I suspect weekly blogging will continue to be a challenge and unlikely. Therefore, I vaguely vow to periodically blog during this time abroad. There are many reasons for this, among them: weekend travel, lack of internet in my apartment in Auckland, but mainly it's the mental hurdle of actually arranging words into sentences that seem like they would make for a worthwhile read. I do concede that I enjoy writing and sharing this journey with others, but for some reason I have mentally categorized this as homework and that can only mean one thing - procrastination.

Much has happened since my inaugural post. Crazy that it has been more than two weeks since then and even crazier that next Monday marks 1 month of being here in the land of the kiwis. Work has been....very much like work back home. Auditing is auditing (startling revelation, I know) and along with it brings some pros and cons. Pros - I am comforted (what?!), yes comforted by the fact that I understand what my job and role is here and have been able to pick up the requirements of my job relatively painlessly. Work here has now taken me to two cities I probably would have otherwise never gone to (I went to Napier the week after my last post - a city on the east coast, south from Auckland. The city is a calm and quiet town that doesn't have much hustle and bustle when compared to Auckland; and currently I am in Nelson - marking my maiden voyage to the south island and taking me to the Abel Tasman National Park this weekend for some exploration and the guarantee of yet more breathtaking NZ views). Finally, auditing presents the opportunity to get to know and develop relationships with the people you work directly with very quickly. Before I go on singing their praises (since they might be reading this and I would hate to inflate their egos) I will just say that the host firm continues to do a fantastic job of making me feel welcome and comfortable while I am here. Cons - being an auditor does not make you popular with people that aren't on your team (and many times does not win you any popularity contests within your team, for that matter). And of course, audit work has a way of making ones brain hurt and allows for frustrating circumstances multiple times during the course of a day (morning? hour?). That being said, without it I would not be here and for that I am extremely grateful.

In terms of travel/adventures there are a few to share to bring you up to speed:

The Northland - two weekends ago (April 24 - 27) was a holiday weekend here in NZ for Anzac Day which is their equivalent of Memorial Day. This allowed for myself and the other secondees to plan a trip away from Auckland and we decided to head north for the long weekend. On Saturday morning we hopped in our street beast (baby blue, 4-cylinder Corolla) around 8am and took off for Paihia - a beach town in the Bay of Islands region. I am continually in awe of the scenery in all areas of this country and the drive up to Paihia (about 3 hours) did nothing but feed this perception. Around every turn is another hilly/mountainous view with water never too far away. Scott has served as the primary driver of the group due to the fact that of the two Australians in the secondee group, he is the only one with a valid license, rendering him the most qualified driver on the left side of the road. Emily (from Vancouver) took her turn behind the wheel for the 2nd leg of the journey and did a very commendable job....until we went to park in Paihia. Following an aggressive approach into our side street parking spot our front left hubcap (extremely cheap hubcap, mind you) received a crippling blow from the curb to the tune of half of it breaking off. Sadly, the hubcap was one of two victims during this minor catastrophe - the other being an innocent footpath (NZ/Aussie term for sidewalk - more on this language barrier later) pedestrian that was greeted with the violent, jarring scrape of the wheel against the curb. Judging by the terror reflected in her facial reaction, I am fairly certain she has yet to experience any sleep since that traumatic experience. Saturday afternoon presented the highlight of the weekend: a boat tour through the Bay of Islands. As our skipper informed us, the Bay of Islands consists of 144 rock formations or 88 islands that meet the technical definition, whatever that may be. About 30 minutes or so after departing from the wharf a pod of about 10 dolphins swam up next to our boat. The captain mentioned that the morning tour didn't see any dolphins and so we were very lucky to have them join us. I learned some interesting facts about dolphins (my favorite being that they are quite promiscuous; also they can live into their 80s!) and thoroughly enjoyed their antics around the boat. The most popular attraction and the focal point of our tour was the Hole in the Rock - a naturally formed....hole in the rock of on one of the islands furthest out in the bay. There's heaps (Kiwis and Aussies love saying heaps) of information and Maori history regarding the importance of the Hole in the Rock, but I will leave that to you to research on your own if you are so inclined. Due to choppy seas, we weren't able to actually go through the hole, but it was still very cool. My personal favorite part of the tour was when we stopped at a private island. The only people there were myself and the other passengers on the boat. After a brief 10 minute hike up a fairly steep incline we were showered with indescribable panoramic views of the Bay. I took lots (or heaps, rather) of pictures up there, many of which turned out quite well but still came up short of actually capturing the sights my eyes took in. I could have spent days on the top of that hill it was so nice and the weather could not have been better. The rest of the day/night consisted of myself and the other secondees indulging in some of the limited nightlife in which I will spare you the details.

Sunday morning we were picked up at the ungodly hour of ten past seven for a bus tour through the remainder of the Northland - culminating in a visit to Cape Reinga. Cape Reinga is commonly thought of as the most northern point in NZ, but it is actually slightly south of the Surville Cliffs. Along the way to the Cape we drove on 90-mile beach - a beach highway in which you drive on the sand for what's actually 60 miles or 88 km. Just the nature of this drive was pretty cool for this native Kansan, however, the weather wasn't playing nice and made it less enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. After driving along the beach highway we made our way inland toward the sand dunes. Part of the tour included allowing those interested to take a boogie board up the sand dunes for some sand boarding. I would equate this to sledding, except far more unique. After the sand dunes we made our up to the Cape and enjoyed some really nice weather that was upstaged by the awesome views. Cape Reinga represents the convergence of the Tasman Sea in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east - which isn't nearly as dramatic as some of the guides would indicate, but still makes for a highly enjoyable viewpoint. The rest of the day took us to lunch in a town off the east coast and a trip through the Puketi Forest, home to some of NZs rare Kauri trees (I will also leave those interested to look up the nature and history of these trees - they are rare and make expensive furniture is what I remember. They weren't really my thing). After a verrrrrry long day, we were dropped back off at our hotel a little after 6 in the evening. Despite 11 hrs on a bus, we still had a drive back to Auckland in front of us. Since I didn't drive at all on the way up, I decided I would volunteer to take the wheel for the drive home. After 3 hours of gripping the wheel until my hands were sore, navigating 2-lane, unlit highway, we were back "home' in Auckland. Monday was a nice lazy day and I made my first significant purchase in NZ - a coat to be worn when we head south to Queenstown in a few weeks, obviously pictures to follow. Other than that - nothing major to report.

Rangitoto - After a short work week (#blessed) we decided to stick around the Auckland area for the weekend. Saturday morning we took a short ferry (about 20-30 minutes) to the nearby island of Rangitoto. Rangitoto boasts a pest-free environment - I later learned that the whole country is known for not having snakes and I am perfectly okay with that. Rangitoto allows visitors to journey along a 2.2 KM summit path up to the top of a dormant volcano for some really nice views of Auckland and the surrounding area. I took a ton of pictures along the way and at the top and thoroughly enjoyed the reward for making the trek.

The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back, with the most disappointing aspect being the hug-fest otherwise branded as Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. RANT WARNING: Floyd is a terrible human being and is better than any professional wrestler at playing the villain. He does this because of how many people tuned in for this fight and we all played right into his hand. I must say, his strategy accomplishes exactly what he intends it to - PPV viewership and huge paydays. While no boxing expert, I recognize that he is unbelievably gifted in the sport, albeit a complete failure of an in-ring showman. Nevertheless he will continue to receive absurd paydays as people will continue to crave the ability to witness him losing. Unfortunately, this will never happen because he will never select an opponent capable of beating him - this was never more true than the version of Manny Pacquiao we saw on Sunday afternoon (here)/Saturday night (there). Boxing is dead and will never be back. The worlds top athletes are not signing up for a one-way ticket to brain damage like the great heavyweights of the past. If you choose to watch any of these supposed "blockbusters" - know what you are signing up for END RANT.

The week in Nelson has been pretty good so far - tonight I thoroughly enjoyed dinner at an Indian restaurant. The words I just typed are equally as shocking to me as saying that I have found comfort in auditing...sometimes I worry about what might be happening to me, but I take these new trials and adventures to be nothing but good for me so far.

Up next on the calendar/planner:
-This weekend exploring Abel Tasman National Park - kayaking, hiking and other outdoorsy fun that will rain down yet more amazing scenery
-Next weekend - traveling with coworkers to a coworker's bach (holiday/vacation home) for a weekend away
-Weekend of May 22 - going to Sydney the week before and into the next week for work, staying over the weekend with accommodation and travel provided by the firm (more accurately, the client - #wayblessed )
-Weekend of May 29 - long weekend for Queens Birthday (they really do love their queen) in which we will head down to Queenstown to visit the Milford Sound, bungy jump off the highest bungy in NZ (more on this to come) and other adventure sports/outdoorsy fun.

This trip has been nothing short of sweet as, bro! (please google this and don't think I have actually started talking this way) Thanks for reading - until next time!

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