Conjugal Visits

Yet another week of wind, rain, wind, clouds, wind, wind, and a bit of wind has gone by. It also rained a lot. Then the weekend arrived and Saturday had some choice weather. In a short 12 hours, it managed to go back and forth from rain, to sunshine, to rain again about 10 times. And each bit of rain or sunshine lasted for no longer than 5 - 10 minutes at a time. Of course to keep us sane, the wind is always a constant, which is what I have realized is the reason the weather can change so abruptly and so often here. With perpetual 25+ mph winds blowing, no cloud can stick around long enough to dump more than a few drops. But the same goes for the sun. It can't shine long enough to even find out if this "hole in the ozone layer" thing is the truth or just a big hoax.

That aside, I did accomplish a lot this last week/weekend. I signed the lease for my new house, which I cannot move into yet, but I can admire from afar. On Saturday I picked up my new car (new is relative, it's a 95, but its new to me). It's a 1995 Subaru Legacy Grand Wagon. And I'm proud to say my first 4WD vehicle. I managed to pick this beauty up for less than $3,000 USD. And yes, it works. It even passed the "Warrant of Fitness" check that every car in NZ has to take every 6 months. And this sort of cheap vehicle find is only possible because of New Zealand's seemingly insatiable desire to swap out their cars constantly. I could be way off in this observation, but after bearing witness to the thrice weekly car auctions they hold here, in which they sell off 100 used cars, rapid auction style, in a matter of an hour, I get the feeling there is a very quick turn around time for cars in this area. And every few days when they hold one of these auctions, they have another full fleet of 100 cars to sell, and almost all of them sell. Maybe I've been out of the car purchasing universe too long and this is actually a common thing in the States, but I found it pretty amazing. But enough babbling, here's some lovely pictures of my new darling. She's gonna be my savior for the surf and snow season.

In other big news, I have finished my 2 week stay at the lovely Duxton Hotel. I sadly never took any pictures of the suite I was in, but it was pretty ridiculous (and by that I mean awesome). 2 room suite with a hallway and 2 bathrooms. What was I going to do with 2 bathrooms? I even met another new guy at Weta who couldn't get a regular suite, because they were all booked up with other new Weta employees, so he had to settle for the Presidential Suite, complete with a 10 person dining room table. Just hilarious. Anyways, today, Sunday, was my move out day, and in turn my move in day to my temporary home. I am taking the 3rd bedroom in the condo of 2 fellow animators Jalil and Scott. It's a nice clean place, but it gets rather cold at night, and in comparison to the types of places and locations that a lot of our other friends have gotten, the location they have certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Although the 42in plasma screen and xbox 360 that Jalil is renting certainly comes close to making up for the negatives. Regardless, they have found another place they want to move into downtown, and this transition will most likely be happening in the next few weeks. So i will be moving yet again, with them, to finish out my freeloading in a downtown apartment. And to give an example of the other types of places people have gotten, I am enclosing, along with a few photos of Jalil and Soctt's place, some lovely photos of our friends Tom and Greg's place on the beach in Lyall Bay. I can't say enough about their deck.

Temporary Home

Tom and Greg's House

And then that brings us to today, in which out of nowhere, the clouds parted, the winds stopped, and it actually became warm. I wore a t-shirt around all day. It gives us all hope for the summer. So in recognition of the weather, we took a little drive down the southern coast and stumbled across a little hiking trail where the road comes to an end. Granted, at about 6:00 the gloomy clouds came rushing back in from the south, but while it lasted, the sunshine can actually make you forget about what the weather is like the other 80% of the time. So in closing, here are some pictures of that little trail, which we plan to go back to the next time the clouds part and grant us a few nice hours of sun.

Holy Crap

So now I get it. Remember that bitchy, whiny post I made a few days ago? Well, the sun came out for a few days, I drove around the coast of the city, and ended up finding a house. My outlook has gotten a bit more sunny. So to compliment my new attitude on things, I will give some pictures to show what has convereted me. First the southern coast, which is three quarters on the way to paradise (on a sunny day). Looks kinda like Hawaii and Hobbiton had a love child. That's a good thing. Here are some pics:

And secondly the house. Found it yesterday. I had wanted to live alone, but when I found this place, I said screw it, I'll pair up for this one. Not sure of square footage (or metres for that matter), but its on the water, with a little stretch of grass and sand between the front porch and the water. Front deck surrounded by a little shrubbery. Long driveway to get to it, so its not even touching a street. Huge downstairs area with 2 living areas, a dining area and a center kitchen. downstairs has one master bedroom, one guest bdrm, one bathroom. Upstairs has another master bedroom, overlooking the water (my room ;-), another guest bdrm, and another bathroom. Enclosed backyard with Lawn, Deck, BBQ, and a friggin built in trampoline. Lots of storage in the backyard for surfboards/snowboards/dead bodies. 2 car garage, and a huge secluded concrete car park area with a basket ball hoop, and big enough for a half court and a quarter-pipe (if I want to build one). Alright, enough words, here are some pics:

Unfortunately, I can't move in till Dec 23rd, but it's perfect timing, because Haej will be able to lift all my haevy stuff for me.

Whistle While you Work

First impressions. None to say of the workplace because work for me has not officially begun, although some mild training and acclimating to the new operating system and all the proprietary Weta-tools has certainly commenced. That said, the initial impressions of the city, which are most likely unfair due to only 72 hours worth of impression-making, are a bit iffy. To be fair, Wellington is a beautiful, peaceful place filled with genuinely friendly people. But my experience thus far has been more or less cold, rain, clouds, and wind. Oh the wind. Nothing makes mildly unpleasant weather become any more unbearable than adding in some gusty wind. And "Windy Welly", as they call it, saves its gusty wind for the nice days, or so I hear. The rest of the time, which is most of the time, the winds stay at a constant "the hurricane is on its way" level. Granted the hurricane never comes, but at times I wish it would, because maybe then the wind would stop, at least for a little while.

Just some quick thoughts as I fight the jetlag. I'm sure by next week I'll have a fully different impression, because thus far its changing day to day, I just can't write about it every day. Hopefully by then I'll have some photos worth posting as well.