This is on the outskirts of the Abel Tasman national park.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Little Kaiteriteri
Here's a picture I took this morning at a beach just down the road.
This is on the outskirts of the Abel Tasman national park.
This is on the outskirts of the Abel Tasman national park.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Oliver
Everyone always complains that there aren't any pictures of me, so I took a self portrait last night. Here you go.
The other part of it is that I needed someone to test out my lighting techniques on. Everyone else was busy, so I picked on myself.
There are fresh neighbors to pick on also. Here's the little girl who lives next door. Her name is Celia...
I'm off to see who else I can find.
The other part of it is that I needed someone to test out my lighting techniques on. Everyone else was busy, so I picked on myself.
There are fresh neighbors to pick on also. Here's the little girl who lives next door. Her name is Celia...
I'm off to see who else I can find.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Next Big Adventure
We’re starting our next big adventure. After touring the amazing New Zealand countryside for four months, we need to create our new lives here. This is our opportunity to see if we can make a living without getting a job. We’ve been able to come up with several business ideas that we’re exploring.
Setting up a business in New Zealand is incredibly easy. The first step was to get our IRD (internal revenue department) number. That’s really all you need to go into business as a sole trader. We’re waiting for our number to be issued any day now. You don’t even need to charge GST (general sales tax) until you make $40 000 per year.
We’ve been reading through the literature supplied by the state and not-for-profit organizations about starting a business. Our business plans are underway. Oliver is putting his previous business experience to work. Our scheme is to get several projects going as we go. We’ll reveal our other business ideas as we implement them. The first is to setup Oliver Weber Photography. Until our businesses take off, we’re relying on you to click those ads at the bottom of the page.
We submitted the following ad in the local yellow pages. Loverly and talented London graphic designer, Lara Weber, created the layout. She’s good and comes highly recommended!
The cute little girl is Luna from Quinne’s kindergarten in Boulder. We chose this picture because it encompasses portrait, wedding, family, event, and family. Let us know what you think since we still have some time to make changes.
What do you think of Oliver’s business card?
The website isn’t coming along as easily. Learning Dreamweaver is rather daunting. We’ve decided to find a local web designer to get us started.
We’re also in the process of choosing an accountant. Talk about thrilling meetings with charismatic characters. Maybe that’ll be fodder to hold back for another more exciting post than this one.
We spent the first two weeks getting our house in order. Now we have a telephone, fridge, washer, worms, and other superfluous household items. Yes, you read correctly – worms! Amy is anxious to setup a garden. The first step is to start making compost. The district council pays for half the cost of purchasing a worm bin to use for turning organic waste into compost. Amy mail ordered 250 grams of worms that arrived last week in the post. We lovingly created a home for them with plenty of food scraps for them to start on. So far, they seem to be very happy, and haven’t lodged a single complaint. Beck hasn’t eaten any yet, as far as we can tell.
We also erected a fence around the garden to keep the kids (and the worms) in. The fence was among our bounty of junk successfully scavenged from the local recycle center. Our container of household stuff will leave the US this week. Please help us wish it a smooth and quick journey. We’re getting sick of wearing the same clothes, and we could use a couch.
From a not-that-comfortable outdoor chair, all the best from the Weber hapu.
Setting up a business in New Zealand is incredibly easy. The first step was to get our IRD (internal revenue department) number. That’s really all you need to go into business as a sole trader. We’re waiting for our number to be issued any day now. You don’t even need to charge GST (general sales tax) until you make $40 000 per year.
We’ve been reading through the literature supplied by the state and not-for-profit organizations about starting a business. Our business plans are underway. Oliver is putting his previous business experience to work. Our scheme is to get several projects going as we go. We’ll reveal our other business ideas as we implement them. The first is to setup Oliver Weber Photography. Until our businesses take off, we’re relying on you to click those ads at the bottom of the page.
We submitted the following ad in the local yellow pages. Loverly and talented London graphic designer, Lara Weber, created the layout. She’s good and comes highly recommended!
The cute little girl is Luna from Quinne’s kindergarten in Boulder. We chose this picture because it encompasses portrait, wedding, family, event, and family. Let us know what you think since we still have some time to make changes.
What do you think of Oliver’s business card?
The website isn’t coming along as easily. Learning Dreamweaver is rather daunting. We’ve decided to find a local web designer to get us started.
We’re also in the process of choosing an accountant. Talk about thrilling meetings with charismatic characters. Maybe that’ll be fodder to hold back for another more exciting post than this one.
We spent the first two weeks getting our house in order. Now we have a telephone, fridge, washer, worms, and other superfluous household items. Yes, you read correctly – worms! Amy is anxious to setup a garden. The first step is to start making compost. The district council pays for half the cost of purchasing a worm bin to use for turning organic waste into compost. Amy mail ordered 250 grams of worms that arrived last week in the post. We lovingly created a home for them with plenty of food scraps for them to start on. So far, they seem to be very happy, and haven’t lodged a single complaint. Beck hasn’t eaten any yet, as far as we can tell.
We also erected a fence around the garden to keep the kids (and the worms) in. The fence was among our bounty of junk successfully scavenged from the local recycle center. Our container of household stuff will leave the US this week. Please help us wish it a smooth and quick journey. We’re getting sick of wearing the same clothes, and we could use a couch.
From a not-that-comfortable outdoor chair, all the best from the Weber hapu.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Kindie
Here's a picture of Quinne on her first day of kindergarten. She loves it. As you can see, it's been unseasonably cold over the last couple of days. It warmed up during the day today though.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Autumn
It’s been cold during the last few days. The mountains received some fresh snow, and the Autumn colors are quite vibrant…
We decided to adopt the tradition of having a Sunday roast. Amy made a delicious chicken last week, and I made a lamb roast today. I even made Yorkshire pudding. Sunday roasts are probably more instilled in the culture here than in England. It's one tradition we'll try to adhere to.
Quinne starts "kindie" (kindergarten) tomorrow. She’s really excited. She’s growing up quickly.
Not sure if Beck will miss her, of if he’ll be happy to have Mommy to himself.
Maybe a bit of both. Same goes for us.
We decided to adopt the tradition of having a Sunday roast. Amy made a delicious chicken last week, and I made a lamb roast today. I even made Yorkshire pudding. Sunday roasts are probably more instilled in the culture here than in England. It's one tradition we'll try to adhere to.
Quinne starts "kindie" (kindergarten) tomorrow. She’s really excited. She’s growing up quickly.
Not sure if Beck will miss her, of if he’ll be happy to have Mommy to himself.
Maybe a bit of both. Same goes for us.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Down to earth New Zealand
Rural New Zealand is a country of down-to-earth, jandal-wearing, friendly, laid-back folks (jandal is New Zealish for flip-flops). The wonderful people we met along our journey made us realize just how friendly this open and welcoming nation is. Even busy Auckland was very welcoming and friendly. It seems like everyone has the time to chat.
Here are a few things we learned about rural kiwis while traveling around this amazing country.
Everyone hangs their washing on a line and keeps chooks in their yard (Kiwi for chickens).
There are no city ordinances against leaving your garage door open (like there are in some US cities).
Your neighbors don’t care if the grass in your yard is hiding old undistinguishable utes and caravans (ute is New Zealish for pickup truck).
If you’re doing something wrong, you can usually work it out with whoever is being offended right there and then.
There’s no one out to get you, and most people have the time to help you.
Nobody hesitates to make eye contact with strangers, but you should expect to stop and chat for a while. Everyone has time to chat.
Most kiwis have a veggie garden that they’re very proud of and don’t hesitate sharing their bounty. We’ve received tomatoes, courgettes (zucchini), corn, rhubarb, potatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, pears, feijoas, lemons, and apples from near strangers.
The organic movement is slow to hit New Zealand, but is becoming more prevalent. Many roadside stands advertise “spray-free” fruit and veggies. Farmer’s markets are popular, but so are the large supermarkets. In general, New Zealanders don’t make high wages, and food here is expensive. The younger generations are brought up with US television and movies, and seek out American fast food.
Being predominantly farmers living on an isolated island, resourceful New Zealanders fix and invent things for themselves. They manage to come up with some interesting inventions. Here’s an example of an interesting New Zealand invention we came across during our travels. This is a device for trimming the wind barrier hedges to keep the wind off the kiwi fruit. Attach enormous blades to an extendable arm. Why not? We stayed at these people’s house during our tour. They were incredibly generous and hospitable.
Most New Zealand school children wear uniforms. People talk fondly of their high school experience.
New Zealanders consider it perfectly respectable to tour around the country in a campervan, caravan, or house truck. They probably do so themselves and have the vehicle to prove it. Everyone knows where the closest dumpsite is (and what a dump site is), and a good spot to free camp.
Every self respecting kiwi town has a lawn bowling club, and a golf club. You don’t have to look far to find a playground– one that you can hurt yourself on. If you hurt yourself, it’s nobody else’s fault. I doubt you could find a “flying fox” on a public playground in the States.
It’s compulsory to register to vote, but not mandatory to vote.
All dogs must be micro-chipped.
Most towns have Plunket rooms. The Plunket is an organization set up to assist families with children under five. You can drop by the Plunket rooms to let your kids play with other kids and work on their kiwi accents. Every child between age three and five is entitled to twenty hours of free childcare per week.
The bush (New Zealish for jungle) is exotic and magnificent. The strangest thing about the bush, or New Zealand for that matter is that there’s nothing to fear in the woods. There are no large animals running wild, except for the rare feral pig. There aren’t even any snakes. It feels very strange to be in a dense Jungle Book style environment with nothing scarier than a few birds and the odd spider.
They make up for it in sand flies. At least, anywhere there’s water – which rules in most of New Zealand. Sand flies are one of the reasons function rules over fashion here. You would also wear your socks pulled all the way up to protect yourself from those tenacious sand flies. You might even (gasp!) wear socks with your jandals. Anything goes in the New Zealand fashion world for good reason.
It’s important to know that “tea” means dinner, so invite someone over for a “cuppa” if you intend to only serve tea.
Talking of which, it’s time for tea. Bye for now.
Here are a few things we learned about rural kiwis while traveling around this amazing country.
Everyone hangs their washing on a line and keeps chooks in their yard (Kiwi for chickens).
There are no city ordinances against leaving your garage door open (like there are in some US cities).
Your neighbors don’t care if the grass in your yard is hiding old undistinguishable utes and caravans (ute is New Zealish for pickup truck).
If you’re doing something wrong, you can usually work it out with whoever is being offended right there and then.
There’s no one out to get you, and most people have the time to help you.
Nobody hesitates to make eye contact with strangers, but you should expect to stop and chat for a while. Everyone has time to chat.
Most kiwis have a veggie garden that they’re very proud of and don’t hesitate sharing their bounty. We’ve received tomatoes, courgettes (zucchini), corn, rhubarb, potatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, pears, feijoas, lemons, and apples from near strangers.
The organic movement is slow to hit New Zealand, but is becoming more prevalent. Many roadside stands advertise “spray-free” fruit and veggies. Farmer’s markets are popular, but so are the large supermarkets. In general, New Zealanders don’t make high wages, and food here is expensive. The younger generations are brought up with US television and movies, and seek out American fast food.
Being predominantly farmers living on an isolated island, resourceful New Zealanders fix and invent things for themselves. They manage to come up with some interesting inventions. Here’s an example of an interesting New Zealand invention we came across during our travels. This is a device for trimming the wind barrier hedges to keep the wind off the kiwi fruit. Attach enormous blades to an extendable arm. Why not? We stayed at these people’s house during our tour. They were incredibly generous and hospitable.
Most New Zealand school children wear uniforms. People talk fondly of their high school experience.
New Zealanders consider it perfectly respectable to tour around the country in a campervan, caravan, or house truck. They probably do so themselves and have the vehicle to prove it. Everyone knows where the closest dumpsite is (and what a dump site is), and a good spot to free camp.
Every self respecting kiwi town has a lawn bowling club, and a golf club. You don’t have to look far to find a playground– one that you can hurt yourself on. If you hurt yourself, it’s nobody else’s fault. I doubt you could find a “flying fox” on a public playground in the States.
It’s compulsory to register to vote, but not mandatory to vote.
All dogs must be micro-chipped.
Most towns have Plunket rooms. The Plunket is an organization set up to assist families with children under five. You can drop by the Plunket rooms to let your kids play with other kids and work on their kiwi accents. Every child between age three and five is entitled to twenty hours of free childcare per week.
The bush (New Zealish for jungle) is exotic and magnificent. The strangest thing about the bush, or New Zealand for that matter is that there’s nothing to fear in the woods. There are no large animals running wild, except for the rare feral pig. There aren’t even any snakes. It feels very strange to be in a dense Jungle Book style environment with nothing scarier than a few birds and the odd spider.
They make up for it in sand flies. At least, anywhere there’s water – which rules in most of New Zealand. Sand flies are one of the reasons function rules over fashion here. You would also wear your socks pulled all the way up to protect yourself from those tenacious sand flies. You might even (gasp!) wear socks with your jandals. Anything goes in the New Zealand fashion world for good reason.
It’s important to know that “tea” means dinner, so invite someone over for a “cuppa” if you intend to only serve tea.
Talking of which, it’s time for tea. Bye for now.
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