I LOVE the Library! And other gushing affections...

One should always check out their public Library

I have been doing a tonne of walking around lately. I have been going out of my way to walk everywhere. It certainly helps that the main bus line to the city center is still a twenty minute walk away. It has all really added up. Anyone who is my friend over Fitbit knows how on the move I have been. Want to be my friend on Fitbit? Feel free to add me HERE. We can roam around and compete against each other. ;) But speaking of walking... I walked about five kilometers to Brown's Bay, which hosts the East Coasts Library. This is my new "home" library, to which all of my requests will be sent. It's pretty cute! It's nothing like the central Auckland Library, which is huge, well-kept, well-used and somehow has enough seats for all of the butts, of which are attached to innumerable curious minds and book-worms. Yep, my home library is extremely quaint. I also have access to many e-books and audiobooks. Right now I am listening to a Spanish program and have started reading some books by Thomas Sowell-- an american Economist with in-depth views of the state of race, America and society as a whole. If you are a fairly liberal person, but you are seeking to challenge your ideas and preconceptions about societal issues- I suggest checking out this guy. His views from an Economic standpoint may give context and some well-rounded insight to help you consider the on-going issues we are currently seeing. Buenos terdes!

OK... but what did I see on my walk?

So other than the end result of my stroll was arriving at the library, I ended up taking more pictures to really round out my experience- and of course I want to share them with you! Some are more artsy-fartsy, and some of them are actually kind of nice. If you- yes you!- come to visit us, we will take you on this simple walk. It is really quite nice, relaxing and yields nice views of Rangitoto
and the ocean. So that is that!

Pictures from this Excursion and others...

Easter Plans: Rotorua and Tongariro- Here we come! (P.S. We bought a stationwagon)

So on the weekend I dragged Chris to Devonport, because I saw a giant yard sale ad! Being the frugal Manitoban that I am, I could not resist passing up going to Devonport again and checking out any stuff that might have a price-tag of next to nothing. Of course, they also had a car for sale! So we took a look at this 1998 Toyota Caldina, took it out for a test-spin and bought it for a cool $2700. Not bad, hey? So that sealed the deal for our Easter Plans. (By the way- New Zealander's take their holidays very seriously.) And so now we are driving to a smaller city named Rotorua, which has all kinds of natural wonders! Special mud, geysers, hot springs, a portal to hell... Well, it looks a lot nicer than what you would expect a portal to the underworld to look like... Pictures to follow. We are also going through a mountain pass and will be passing by MOUNT DOOM. Yep, THE Mount Doom in The Lord of The Rings film. We are not planning on going to Hobbiton yet though... maybe when we have some other LOTR fans come down. So that about does it for this post. I am exhausted from all of this walking! Don't hesitate to add me on Fitbit or request a skype/messenger appointment. Until next time!

UPDATE
Chris and I did not get to Mt. Doom, as the weather was forecast to be quite nasty. We instead drove home to Auckland on Saturday night after a nice visit in Rotorua where we visited the Polynesian Spa (which was crowded, loud and not all that relaxing), Wai-O-Tapo, which is a Maori holy place with geysers, sulphuric pools, craters and all kinds of fart-smelling areas, as well as a wonderful California Redwood forest with varying hiking trails... Wowee, is Rotorua nice. We think we want to move there. We did stay in a nice motel/hostel, but accommodations for another night were impossible because the whole city was literally 100% booked up. Also camping means something very different to New Zealanders than it does to Canadians...

So I suppose I will just make this an Easter Weekend breakdown as well.

We also spent $150 each to go on a Zipline tour of an old growth forest near Rotorua. Some of the funds go towards conservation efforts, so that this slice of old growth can remain a bird sanctuary. Possums, weasels (Stoats) and rats are threatening rare and important birds; So much of the funds goes to putting out traps to kill these predators that were introduced by people. Other factors that have threatened this forest are animal agriculture, of course needing to cut down forest to make way for grazing land. Currently animal agriculture, particularly meat production, are the largest reasons for Amazon Rainforest destruction in South America-- with Asia being the highest importers of South American beef as their expanding middle class demands to eat more in line with Western Nations. After all, meat is rich people food.  I bring this up because the nice folks showing us the forest mentioned they wanted burgers, seemingly unaware that the mere demand for meat is what threatens the thing that they work every day to protect. So I ask you, dear reader, to consider what your environmentalist values are. If you believe and support conservation efforts, love nature, want to stop animals from being needlessly hunted or killed or having their homes destroyed, you need to ask yourself what personal responsibility you can take to prevent it from happening. The simplest way is to start with what's on your plate.

This day's pictures HERE

Sunday - April 16th - The Piha Experience
Sunday was quite the wonderful surprise. Chris told me we were going to Titirangi and Piha, which is the west coast of Auckland. We are situated on the softer, more beach laden east coast, so the west coast was going to be quite the adventure. It did not disappoint. It was rugged, wild and the home of some very scary winding roads.
First we stopped in Titirangi for some prima Kaffee and there were wild domesticated chickens and roosters just chilling out by the road. Then we drove to Piha, which as mentioned before, is quite the scary drive. When we finally made it over the ridge we were given some exceptional views of the ocean. There were the biggest waves I had ever seen and some rugged terrain I had never experienced. This is where many elite surfers come to hang out and surf. There's also a surf school! Definitely going to try that someday soon!
Lion Head Rock is this amazing mount that just juts up alone on the beach and is quite the gluteal workout to get even half way up. Pictures of the views were taken.
Next up- we walked out to a touristy waterfall, but had the opportunity to break off and go on to a maze of hiking trails, which wind around the slopes in the jungle and was one of the only places of solitude we could find all weekend. New Zealanders take their holidays very seriously, so everywhere is packed with people on Holiday! Needless to say, we were quite relieved with the serenity of the woods and no sounds of other people. It makes us miss Canada a lot. We don't miss the bugs though!
There is a trail called Hillary and it spans 77km's. We figure we will take three days to go and do it, even in low season, which is coming up. It's supposed to be quite the trek and I am excited to do some REAL camping in the near future-- not this holiday park camping crap. (P.S. it's just a parking stall with some grass beside it for your tent)
So that's all for this installment. Sorry for the lack of pictures in the past week or two! I will just do a picture dump and you can see exactly what we have been up to!
These are pictures from Piha and Titirangi

Vegan Potluck, Still on the Job Hunt, Library?!

Hey folks!

Chris and I had the pleasure and good fortune of finding out about a monthly vegan potluck and being able to attend on short notice! We made some friends and will be going to a favourite vegan restaurant this Friday. We'll let you know if anything looks good.

We were also pleasantly surprised to find that the vegan potluck was as diverse as the general population of Auckland. We made friends with a few native Kiwi's, but also met Tai, who is from Brazil, David- from South Africa and Francois- originally from France. We were given the skinny on some vegan grocery chains and the best place to get vegan pizza. It's a place called Hell.

On Friday after Muay Thai, Chris and I decided to check out this Burger/Brew place for five dollar beers and they had a decent selection on potentially vegan fair. All burgers... and MAN, were they absolutely GIGANTIC. Like, biggest burgers 10 out of 10.

 On Sunday we thought we would go to Takapuna to go to Lululemon's free yoga. It was just packed though, which made it... somewhat less relaxing, so we jumped ship and went to find some coffee and perhaps some breakfast.

I remembered seeing a little place called Mimosa that proudly stated "We ❤ Vegan", so I thought we ought to give it a try. It was very cozy inside, but also fairly chic. Not unlike other restaurants, to a Winnipegger, it seemed rather expensive. A "long black" is really just an espresso shot served with a side of hot water, but I always get that and they are at least  $3.50. Always delicious though-- The Kiwi's take their coffee very seriously.

As for the food? Chris decided to order the "Ploughman's Platter" and boy was it nice to look at. It was tasty too. Four perfectly crisp slices of sourdough, perfectly ripe sliced avocado, scrumptious cherry tomatoes, olive tapinade, a walnut tapinade and their house made vegan cheese, along with some lightly oiled spinach. It was really pleasant to split between the two of us, but $19 just seemed steep at the time of order. Mimosa also serves traditional eggs benedict, so if you come visit, this may still be a great spot to go to if you're still into eggs.

So not much else has happened since this great meal. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their long-awaited spring! If you're jealous-- don't be! I am about to dip right back into some kind of "winter"...

Some leads on jobs seem to be getting more and more lucrative. I had an interview yesterday and I have another scheduled at a really cool company "EROAD" tomorrow. Wish me luck!

I have also decided that spending more than $20 on audiobooks is a little much and I should probably get a library card, because libraries now have their own audiobook portals! If you like audiobooks, you should definitely check out if your local libraries have such databases, because it's all totally free and libraries are cool anyhow.

That about does it for this edition! Please let me know if you want me to send you a postcard! I just might! Orrrrr if you want to send me a letter or something, please mail Chris and I at:
305A East Coast Rd. Mairangi Bay, Auckland, New Zealand - 0630