Tui Sing-Song

It's back to work for Chris, as I get my bearings around the neighbourhood

So I am still finding my footing in my new surroundings. It's one thing to take a guided tour with Chris, it's another to actually try and navigate the winding hills and streets without him. So I have simply tasked myself with walking Chris to work and remembering my way back. I have been successful thus far, so I must have some general sense of direction. What has thrown me off before is the sun. The sun is typically more in the North right now, so I keep instinctively keep pointing North and calling it South. Also having to look right first before crossing the street has been sort of difficult. I'll get there.

I had only attained a learner's driving permit in Canada, but now I have to start from the bottom here in New Zealand. I need to do the written test, get a learner's and then take some driving lessons, because these crazy kiwi's drive on the left side of the road. Hopefully in a year I will be a fully fledged driver. Also, cars depreciate the fastest in New Zealand. Don't buy a new car in New Zealand. Used cars can be exceptionally cheap, but the housing here is not! Almost every household is multi-group. There are hardly any single-family homes, as far as I could gather. I still need to get an IRD number after I get my letter confirmation from my new bank, then I can start paying taxes and have a job and really start adulting again.

I was able to scope out some stores yesterday and found some decently priced vegan mock-meats, such as chicken nuggets and "soy burgers", so hopefully those are tasty. Food is a tad more expensive, but the prices on all goods vary from place to place, so you're encouraged to shop around. Our lifestyle will likely include almost daily trips to a grocery store, but Auckland has open air produce stands like Vancouver does, which is really, really nice.
I will leave things off with a short video I took of a Tui bird just belting out his unique tune. I hope you like it!