October 16, 2006
Great News, and yep, some Annoyances
We just discovered the prettiest walk in Waitakere ranges yesterday. This is Karamatura loop.
1 hour of easy walking in the bush along the stream with a couple of tiny waterfalls and nicely carved cliffs.
Its really great to live in the West of Auckland (although our house is funny and small...). We have all the nice walks just behind the corner in Waitakere ranges and the Western beaches are next door.
The weather has been extremely changeable lately and the surf forecast not too good for almost 2 weeks. So we've been walking in the forest instead of going to the beach. Some of the views here are just magnificent.
Lots of things to explore, especially, if we're lucky and the weather will get better... Yes, yes, we still have +13-15C degrees most of the time and rain. If this is subtropical climate, tell me, what is Finland? So far it seems that 3/4 of the year we'll have some sort of mid-season... autumn or spring with rain, grey skies, though very green and lush... No winter... But so far no summer either... :) My colleagues say that spring is usually very long here, because ice in Antarctica is the thickest now (after long winter). So it will take some time for it to melt and retreat. Only then the weather will get warmer... When oh when?!?!
My colleague with his wife dropped me off to our home over the weekend and it was funny to see their reaction when they saw our house: "its small..", "well if its all you need...", "I would like to have something like this as a holiday home", "its a bit like a batch", "its a box".. "what a tiny deck you have!!", "oh, I see what you mean about your floor..." Hmmm... I don't think we'll put up with our current residence for too long...
The good thing is that we can take our time looking for something better, sunnier, with wooden floor, closer to the shops, closer to buses and trains... And maybe up on the hill with a view?.. :)
It seems that we'll afford something slightly better soon. The good news is that Kaj got a full-time job as a promo graphic designer at TV3, a local commercial TV channel!!! The news came last Friday (hence the bubbly!) and he'll be starting on Wednesday! Yep!!!
Next weekend is Labour weekend here. Something like 1st of May in Europe, I think. Without parties, drinking, riots and burning cars, but still a long weekend. We thought of going to Ahipara again, but the Endless Summer lodge is completely booked (obviously we're not the only ones trying to get out of Auckland on a long weekend! So I guess, we'll stay here...
Just when you thought that its all good and positive, here's another not so nice thing that happened to us - the long scratch from front till end on our car. Some ***hole must have scratched it while we were parked at the mall or in the city. Its really really annoying (we own this car maybe a week and a half!) and I can't understand why it had to happen to our car. It is not flashy, it is really ordinary and doesn't look anything special. It already has scratches and even some dents! You wouldn't think that there's anything enjoyable vandalising this car... There's far better looking ones around that scream for attention and to be scratched. But no... Somebody has to pick our modest car... This is something that I'll never get used to - someone can just come and mess up something that is yours... No excuses, no apologies, no reasons to do so!!! Why then?!?! argh...
Looks good on the surface, right? :)
Posted by gkligyte at October 16, 2006 05:52 PM