Jan 28

Sunday, January 28

When we got up Sunday morning around 11 am, David and Bernice commented that they had given us a long day yesterday...uh, yes! But we made it through and felt better today. Today was still full though, too. We had lunch (conversation is very easy and not awkward although talk already centered on politics and other controversial subjects). Next, we went to the mall that is called the Plaza. Talked to someone about telephone, cell phone, and internet connections before going to sign the lease agreement on our house.

Laurie and Janis are the landlords and they seem very easy to talk to and are nice. Signed the papers, got the keys, and put the things we bought yesterday into the house. Laurie and Janis even had put out sunflowers with blue and yellow tissue paper on the table and a card that said welcome to your new home.

That squared away, drove out Bernice's sister's (Loralee and her husband, Rory) house. They are remodeling and it looks nice. They have been to the US and wonder why anyone would travel there with all the hassel TSA gives to travelers.

Next, it was onto the beach which is only 20 minutes away. They say that the beach is not very nice here but they're wrong...it's AWESOME. You can see the coast of New Zealand curve both north and south from Himitangi Beach (sounds like Him-a-tang...like the drink...e).

We went one town over to Foxton Beach and had dinner at the Simply Balmy or something like that where the fish and chips were out of this world. I had a mountain view from my seat and the ocean was less than 1/4 mile down the road (you couldn't see it from inside). We split the cost of dinner rather than allowing the Collis's to pick up the tab like they had done the night before.

Went back to the beach to take a walk after dinner then we drove around a bit and made it home at 10 pm. At 11:30 pm, Josh's in bed and I'm on my way. Full days so far and Monday will be too!! We will go to the bank, turn power on at the house, get the phones set up, go grocery shopping, etc. etc.

Some observations: NZ is very casual, people go barefoot a lot even in restaurants and the mall...not so much a no shoes, no shirt, no service kind of place. The water is provided for free by the city which is nice and surprising. So far, pleasent surprises. We were warned that the winters here are "miserable" by the shop clerks at the store we returned items at this morning.

Not so pleasent: Bus drivers are not that friendly at all and in shops you better queue up or you'll get called out for cutting in line. People say, "Good on you" instead of "Good for you" and they draw out the word when they "yes." It's yeeeeesssss here. Sounds like "yee-s"