October 1, 2005

Ahhhh!….I’m finally here in New Zealand. It was a long trip over, but well worth it. I flew out of Denver at six o’clock at night on Sept.28, had a couple hour layover in LAX, and had a direct flight to Auckland from there (12.5 hours) arriving at six o’clock in the morning two days later.

Immigration went rather well, only had two minor holdups with the customs man. First he wanted to confiscate my beer, but I wouldn’t let him. Not that he had any place too, he was just thirsty is all. I refused to give it because I would have hated to brought it so far only to have it taken away. It was a six pack of Fat Tire for my host Mom, Kerry, because she missed having it from when she was out here. Next he was upset because I didn’t have an address of where I was staying my first night. He was like, “well, would you let me into America if I didn’t know where I was going?” I responded, “Perhaps, I didn’t think much of it. I mean I know the name of the town I’m going too, Orewa, and didn’t think of it since I’m being picked up here at the airport.” So as he stamped my passport, he looked at me all seriously like and said, “next time do your homework mate.” I said, “will do” and went on my way.

I had a warm welcoming as I walked out into the greeting area by Kerry and Paige. Paige was real cute and had made a ‘welcome to New Zealand Andy’ sign all done up and waved it around. They’re both very pleasant and nice as is the rest of the family who I met later on. They showed me around and took me to downtown Auckland to get my work permit/immigration papers situated, try marmite (awful by the way…quite salty…similar to vegimite they say…), see the wharf, get a bite to eat, and then they took me up north to show where they live in Orewa and surrounding areas. The land is lovely and seems to be surrounded by water no matter which way you turn or go. The home is nice as well, actually really nice. I’d say I’m staying in the best room in the house. It sits atop the house with it’s own private bath and balcony which overlooks the city and a nearby bay (I’ll have to post some pics as soon as I get to a faster Internet connection that isn’t dial-up.).

I’ve also been staying busy by getting setup with a bank account that has a ‘cashflow’ card(like a debit card I’d say, but with more fees), IRD number (like our SSN), meeting the rest of Kerry’s family, Pen(25) her daughter, Derrell her husband, and Glen(22) her son, and looking into buying a car. I think it’ll be best to buy an older vehicle to beat around since I’ll be here a while traveling around rather than dealing with buses and other means of transportation. I’ll prolly be able to sell it for close to what I bought it for when I leave too. All in all, sounds like the way to go. Best get going now as I can smell supper cooking upstairs.

Oh yes, I think I’m adjusting quite nicely to the time change. NZ is about six hours behind Colorado and a day ahead.

Take care everyone!

P.S. – Paige says, “It’s been great having Andy here, and I hope he stays here a long time cause he’s a good friend. Oh! And hi to everybody out there!”

Well, the final day of work finally came and went. It was hard during the last week or two for sure. A month notice was a nice gesture and gave the Y more time to find somebody to replace me, but I would recommend the two week notice for anyone else. It’s just so hard to keep the motivation alive for that long.

Anyway, the last day was great. Had a nice lunch followed by a desert extravaganza party back at the office. Thanks to everyone who came by! It was nice to be able to say goodbye and felt good to be moving on at the same time. The Y will definitely be missed! (Bye to all of those who couldn’t make it, and sorry to anyone who’s computer I didn’t get to.).

After work some friends and I headed down to Boulder to hit up the Rio, drink some margaritas, and play in the Pearl Street fountain one last time. It was a fun night!

Okay, so maybe I was the only one who played in the fountain, or the only one not quick enough to dodge the random up spurts.

Many of you might be wondering if I am going into this little adventure blind or not. Yes, I am going by myself, but I do have a couple contacts in New Zealand.

One of which will even be picking me up from the airport. I told them I could take a bus to where they live since the flight arrives at 5:00 in the morning, but she insisted upon picking me up. Which will a great help I’m sure, and she said I could stay with them as long as I need until I get my bearings straight. She just emailed me again today since I’ll be leaving, or rather arriving soon and attached a picture of her and one of her daughters so I’ll know who to look for in the airport.

It should be nice to know someone from the area for many reasons. I know it was in Peru even though our host family there spoke no English at all. And this family seems very nice and giving too.

The picture above on the left is of Kerry and to the right is her daughter Paige.

I take it all back! Jocelyn will not be missed. Nope, not one bit. Not after the prank she played on me today that ended up with me having magic marker scribbled all over my right arm. To be honest, I could never see nor talk to her again and feel good about it.

On another subject, Rachel (The GF), recieved word last week that she and everyone else will for sure be helping out in the cleanup of Hurricane Katrina that left most of New Orleans in shambles.

Just when you think you have everything you need for a trip something else comes up……….then another……….and another…………..

September 23, 2005

Today in my office building we had a going party. Granted I’m not officially done with work until the 23rd, but we had to have it early so my boss would be able to attend since he’ll be gone the rest of week and all of next. It was nice, everyone brought dishes from home to share which were really good…maybe to good even because the big joke of the day was “Andy, hate to say it, but maybe you should leave more often so we can have food like this all the time.” I don’t know what they’re talking about though, I mean the food up at the Ruesch is delicious! And we get that all the time. I also received gummy worms from Meg! I’ll for sure be taking them with me on the long plane ride over.

Gordon and I had our goodbye as well. It was very simple, he basically said thanks for working for me, shook my hand, and walked out.

Next will be a desert extravaganza held on my last day of work that everyone will be invited to.

September 10, 2005 

Two years ago today I was flying to Peru…….Man how time goes by so quickly, and can change so many things in a short amount of time……

South America is really the reason why I want to continue traveling today. (Corny joke coming up) I don’t know if I got bit by the travel bug down there or what. It was just such an awesome and memorable experience that I hope to keep doing it for years to come, and encourage everyone else to see the world as well! There’s no better time then the present, so get out there and just go for it!

If anyone would like to check out my scrap book from Peru go to the Pics page and click on the album labeled ‘South America – Scrap Book’ to see it.

Picked up my New Zealand address and Skype phone number today.

My New Zealand address is as follows:

Andy Collins
#3136
Travellers Contact Point
87 Queen Street
Auckland
New Zealand

Purchased from the BackpackerBoard at http://www.backpackerboard.co.nz/index.php that will allow me to recieve mail anywhere in NZ using one postal address.

My phone is as follows:

970-372-2741

It is local to Estes Park and can be called for free by anyone in the 970 area code. It will even ring down under if I’m online so I can answer it, or you can leave up to a ten minute message. If anyone else is interested in using something like this I used a company called Skype, http://www.skype.com/. It’s fairly simple and cheap, it will only cost 2.5 cents to call back home from down there.

Well I took the GF to the airport this morning. She will be spending the next ten months on the East Coast in Charleston, SC with Americorps. It was definitely an emotional goodbye and hard to see her go, but I am happy for her as well because this is something she’s wanted to do for a long time now. The timing really
works out well too with me going to NZ and all, part of me wishes I was leaving sooner now…….

We’ll be meeting up in New Zealand later on at the end of the year though, which’ll be great to see her again. She has time off for Christmas break and will be spending it with me! We hope to do a couple tramps (Get your mind out of the gutter! – trekking + camping = tramping) while we’re there like the Queen Charlotte Track (recommended by Susan Stalfort back at the Y), bungy jump (even though Rachel is against it =D), possibly zorb, see some glow worms, of course catchup(!), and whatever else comes along. We’ll just have to see!

I sadly realized today (or rather after talking to Jozlyn) that I will no longer have the pleasure of enjoying lunch breaks filled with deep laughter and enriching conversation with her……. =(……….she will be missed………

August 28, 2005

The one month countdown begins, and I’ve already gathered everything I need for the trip……..it’s possible I’m a bit anxious…….

I finished getting everything today on the list actually. My final items included a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, cooking/drinkig cup, and few other things….the rest of the stuff I was missing, rain pack cover, stove, etc… will be borrowed from my awesome girlfriend! Yer the best Rach! =)

Now the waiting game begins………did I rush things?…..