An active week

This Monday I was invited for the first time to crew on Playbuoy for the Stuart Championship series. It is serious fun. Everyone in championship positions. Me on the rail (i.e. responsible for helping out the first and second bowmen in maneuvers or when something goes wrong). A small task, but that is a luxury of having a crew of 8 on a 34 foot boat. You can have every task completed to perfection. And we did. So we won, and I felt like the king of the world.

Batman
Tuesday I lost a race. Or more accurately I was 83 of 90. Not a bad time though, 35 minutes to swim 1500 meters in my batman costume.

Do you remember this costume?
I made it for the weekend away

Bye Alana
My colleague Alana had her final day of work at NeedScope this Thursday. Celebrated in proper NeedScope style. Right now she is on her way to America to follow her husband's olympic running campaign. Best of luck Alana and Malcolm.

Out of Auckland
For Easter everyone goes out of Auckland. Me too. I went to Raglan with a group of friends. We had a great day.

From left: Jordan (Maori), Eri (Kiwi), Chae (Korean)
Nil (Indian), Michelle (Singaporean), Akiko (Japanese)
me (Danish)

Bridal Veil Falls

The drop is 55 meters

Relaxing at hot springs after a long day

Summer

Life is now again moving at its familiar, leisurely pace. Not too slow to be of interest and not too fast for me to write you an update.

January started slow. I was working more than usual, although I had no major active projects. At home I churned through books, tv series and solitary games. I like to think that I was not wasting time, but preparing for the busy times ahead.

Then Jordan moved in. He's a cool, Maori guy, who showed me how to jump off the wharf and make a massive splash! Jordan has perfected the art of "bombing". The wharf is 4 meters above the sea level, but onlookers are not safe from getting wet when he jumps. Ooooh!

Maori kids jumping off a bridge
Filmed when I was in Raglan this summer
Did you see the swimmer?

Family
The most important event of this summer was a visit from my family. Sorry for not trying to explain how much it meant to me.

Love you
Rasmus, mom and dad

Hawke's Bay
Tonight, I have just arrived back home from a mini-vacation to Hawke's Bay. Sin Jat, his mother and I went on a road trip to the sunny, wine district around the charming art-deco style city of Napier.

I have tasted so many wines these past few days, I can already feel them slipping out of my memory. In a vain attempt to keep all of the impressions, I will share some thoughts with you:
- Hawke's Bay produces a dry style of Sauvignon Blanc, which is not as good as the fruity Marlborough style
- The Chardonnay from Hawke's Bay is excellent, but the very oaky ones are not for me
- Gewurzstraminer can make quite strong wine, which is great with Asian spicy meals
- Hawke's Bay Pinot Noir is generally very good, but the intensity of the deep, plum-like taste varies
- Syrah from the Gimblet's Gravels area in Hawke's Bay is spicy, in a peppery way, and much more interesting than your typical, sweet and strong Australian Shiraz
- A few of the Hawke's Bay vineyards make good Merlot wines. Often Merlot is used in a blend with Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc to create a classic but boring red
- Hawke's Bay Rose's are made from many types of grapes, but always become enjoyable light wines
- Late harvest describes dessert wine, typically riesling, which tastes like liquid honey, because the grape was left out to dry on the vine
- Bigger wine glasses are better

One year in New Zealand

Today it has been exactly a year since I arrived in Auckland. When I look back, I see an exciting year full of change. I have become a professional, resident, car owning Pakeha. With many new memories. But I am still the same me. The one who arrived in Auckland January last year.

In the first weeks I walked a lot. Discovering which parts of Auckland I liked.

Victoria park
Now I walk through every day

In the weeks after that I travelled.

Coromandel

Wellington

Then I got a job.

The hip co-working space at the Biz Dojo
wasn't right for me

My boss at the time (the way she looks in my mind)

All the while, I was slowly learning what it means to be Kiwi.

Eating fush and chups - only a Brit would say fish and chips...

Watching rugby at the pub

Then I got the right job.

I love it. Every day.

I bought a car.

My first car

Drives like a dream

And went everywhere.

Cape Reinga

Bay of Islands

Goat Island

Muriwai Beach

Moutohora Island

Gisborne
Crazy people
Thanks for hosting me

It's been an amazing year. I love living in New Zealand.

Even when I sometimes feel like a lonely Kiwi

Summer of adventure

Monday morning I checked out before the hostel before woke up. I had a drive ahead of me to get to Waitomo in time for a caving tour I had booked. Even though I was not short on time I must have rushed out of the door, because I can't remember seeing my cap since then.

Waitomo Caves

In Waitomo I met up with 5 others and our guide, Tom. We had a quick introduction and then I was in the air. Rappelling down 30 meters to the cave floor. Immersed into the cave. Cool feeling. Nice view.  Terrible photo.

We walked upstream first. Deep in the cave we were met with an impressive sight. Thousands of glow worms covered the ceiling. We turned off our flashlights and in the darkness it looked like a sky full of stars. Then we got up close and saw how ugly they really are. And we met a cave weta too. Not scary. Not even nasty. Kinda cool in his own way.

The light comes from the body of the worm

Still without lights we sat down on rubber rings and floated back down the cave. We passed through the entrance and continued onwards into the depths of the cave. The darkness got more intense, but the glow worms and the current kept leading us further in to the cave.

We stopped at a conveniently placed dam. Right next to a small picnic spot. A hot drink and a chocolate bar made it feel much less dark and damp for a minute. Then we pushed on through some tight squeezes. I almost got stuck, but that's the point, right?

We finished the tour by climbing out of the hole. It wasn't the hardest of climbs, but I'm glad we had the safety line. Slippery rocks and a long fall. Real sense of achievement.

Glow worms are beautiful from this distance

Rotorua
Hours later, wearing a Kiwi Cave Rafting t-shirt, I drove to Rotorua. It was a long drive and I was tired, so I stopped to have a pie. Twice. The drive really wasn't that long, but the pies were good.

I didn't know what to do once I got to Rotorua at all. My plans didn't extend that far. Should probably have booked a hostel already. Everything was booked up. When I asked, the receptionist remembered an extra bed in one of the dorms, so I got that one.

Not sleeping in my car today. Good choice.

The place was smelly I thought, until I realized it wasn't the hostel, but the city itself. Or more precisely the sulphur below the city. It smells like rotten eggs. Charming.

The next morning I went to Rainbow Springs to see a Kiwi for the first time! Awesomeness. Kiwis are hatched there to improve their survival rates. In the wild their awful parents put so much effort into the laying and incubation of the egg that they can't be bothered to do any more when the chick is hatched. But the chick is cool as. Self raised from day 1. Independent like a New Zealander.

Whakatane
I made a plan to go to Rythm and Vines for New Years. To get there without too much of a drive in one day, I went to Whakatane first. I didn't know what was there, but the town looked big enough to not be boring.

My low expectations were put to shame when I arrived and found my favorite city of the summer so far. The tourism is not so intense there, but there is still plenty to do. Especially on a beautiful summer day, when all you want is to be by the sea.

I got on a tour to Moutohora (whale island). It was an incredible nature experience. We saw lots of saddlebacks, parakeets and fur seals. A couple of things made the experience complete: "finding" a wild Kiwi egg, swimming in a bay next to a mini hot water beach and our passionate (and hot) guide, Gaia.

How many fur seals do you see

Gisborne
Right now I am sitting on a beach in Gisborne. I've spent the night here, because I finally got what I had coming. Of course I should have booked ahead, but I'm not sure how much better that would have been. This view is priceless, toilets are close by and my car is pretty comfortable when you lay down the back seats and use the trunk for the feet. Beats last night's thin, short mattress that's for sure.

Ok, I'm off for a morning bath in the sea.

Summer holidays

Christmas was yesterday. Today it is summer. Tomorrow it will be New Year's Eve. Or at least that's how it feels.

Christmas was great. The office party started at noon on our last day of work and lasted until a little after midnight. Such fun. 

On Christmas Eve I didn't do much - the important day is Christmas Day. That's when you unwrap the presents and have a family party. Of course my family is back in Denmark, but I was kindly invited by Leon, a flatmate, to share the celebration with his family. We shared a Christmas lunch with way too much good food and chocolate fudge. Later we played a hilarious game of Cards Against Humanity. You have to know the game to get just how funny that is to play when you have three generations at the table.

The time difference allowed me to Skype with my family when we all opened our presents at the appropriate time (Christmas Eve in Denmark). That was really nice. Can't wait to see them in a months time.

Now I'm in Raglan. A very summerly town. There is almost nothing here except surf hire shops and hostels. The place I'm staying tonight is both.

New flatmates!

I've been so busy this month. It feels like we have been celebrating every day since our new flatmates moved in. Bruno from Quebec, Jordan from New Zealand, and Yadira from Mexico all arrived two weeks ago.

Bruno is a couchsurfing engineer, who gets to take very long vacations during the Canadian winter. We helped him buy a motorbike so he can start travelling New Zealand.

Happy as
Bruno with his new bike

Jordan is a Maori who will be living with us for three months. He is teaching us the real way to pronounce the names of the places. A lot of places have Maori names and most often English pronunciation is so wrong.

Yadira is a fun, energetic girl. She has already made Mexican food for us twice, taken us to dance salsa and made sure we know how tequila is supposed to taste.

We're getting sushi while Bruno negotiates the price of the bike

West coast fascination

Perhaps I've talked too much about the West Coast of New Zealand already, so I'll just show you the pictures.

Gannet colony at Muriwai
Gannets need upwinds to fly, because they are fat birds

Santa

Tomorrow I'll be playing Santa at the office. I have been told, that it involves me handing out the presents from our secret Santa game and also that people will have their pictures taken while sitting on my lap. It sounds kinda weird to me, but I'm sure it will be fun and not awkward...

Christmas in summer

Christmas will come to New Zealand. Even if the snow won't.

Summer Christmas feels strange to me. The traditions are almost the same as back home. They just don't really fit. Santa wears a heavy, red robe and large boots. Little children sit on his lap wearing jandals, shorts and t-shirts. Houses are decorated with beautiful lights, that you can see clearly when the sun sets late in the evening. That's all right though. You can take a late night walk and see the Christmas lights. It'll still be above 15 degrees at midnight.

Christmas spirit from home
I am blessed with an amazing family. All the way from Denmark, they have sent me Christmas presents, advent gifts and decorations that remind me of childhood. Every day in December, they send me pictures of life and preparations for Christmas at home.

Snowflake from Denmark

Packing presents to send back the other way

No more mussels for me
I hate to admit it, but I might be allergic to green lip mussels. I'm going to have to stay away from them at least until I get an allergy test. Pretty much lost another day due to them this weekend.

Sooo tasty :(