we are alive & well & isolated with dial-up

so, sorry for the long wait - but we are in New Zealand now! to catch you all up...

we spent a little less than a week in San Francisco where we enjoyed sunny California weather and walking up and down lots of hills to see the sights. We stayed in a beautiful area of town, recommended by no other than Gary's sister, that turned out to be the strip club section of San Fran, cheers Carly! Needless to say we had no lack of entertainment at such venues as On The Mezzanine (a strip club just for you Jenny) or at least just walking by it.... anyway.... after our long days of hiking the hills, we eventually got our ride, a hire car that is and got a free upgrade in the process, thanks Tim.... however the 10% discount for being patient never went through ... unbelievable! So going over the Golden Gate bridge and up North towards Sarah's famous farm camp, Plantation. We bypassed such delights as Guerneville, apparently the Gay Pride capital of Northern Cali, but funnily enough filled with hicks. After a brief stop at camp, we got another free upgrade on our Russian log cabin style hotel room... we must have been the only people staying at the hotel, so the owner put us in our own little cabin with a log fire place and views of the angry ocean... it was fairly windy up that way! After our wonderous breakfast the was left on our doorstep we left and made our flight to New Zealand.

We arrived in Auckland, after losing Tuesday somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. After breezing through immigration & getting our work permits :) Sarah lost Gary in Customs Biosecurity. Apparently, Gary forgot about his satsuma and apple in his bag, which NZ officials were not too happy about. $200 in fines later, Gary was reunited with Sarah in the arrivals section... Anyways, Sarah's friend James let us crash at his place for a few days while we figured out where to go and what to do next with our lives! Fortunately on the day we arrived, we were offered a job north of Auckland! After a few relaxing days at James', we were sad to leave behind Percival the Peacock who thought he was a rooster, and headed to our new home, an alpaca farm near Helensville.

After what a can only be described as a twisty windy journey to the farm we arrived to be greeted by Gess the dog who makes a terrific guard dog for about 30 seconds, then she turns into the best dog ever, she actually does everything you say... (Triscuit). Our deal was free accommodation and food and pay in exchange for work, and the next day we began.... Since we started we have witnessed what can only be described as botch job building by a crazy Dutchman and we are learning plenty everyday.... We have completed such tasks as painting (ceilings suck), furniture building (with left over scraps), tiling and grouting (a stressful experience and an 11hr day), plumbing, gazebo building (with insane instructions and no protractor to measure the crucial 22.2° angle). As you may have guessed so far, our live in employers are a little loopy, and have a very bizarre way of doing things - generally as quick and as dangerously as possible. So our fine skills are not being used as well as we'd hoped, but its only short term and we have a good setup for now!

Last weekend we got do a little sight seeing, and met up with some of Sarah's friends also visiting Auckland. We toured the Lion Red brewery with a crazy English man as our tour guide and got to sample lots of Steinlager at the end of the tour (NZ's European style export - trust us and skip trying it if you come across it!). And today we are now the proud owners of Gerald, a 1990 Mitsubishi Chariot! He came fully loaded with camping gear and card games, and we have big plans - more to come when they actually happen! We got the car just in time, because we live out in the boonies and were going a bit stir crazy so it is nice to have a get-away car now!

As for Christmas, it doesn't really feel like it much with out the cold and the Christmas lights, so we are going to celebrate it on the beach of Waiheke Island!

Ok, that is long enough for now! Sorry for the delay but we normally have a dial-up connection and it is quite painfully slow! email us and keep in touch (and if you want to spend your life savings calling us, just ask for our phone numbers)

Merry/happy x-mas and a happy new year!