Category > New Zealand

Our life in Napier

A few weeks ago, we received an invitation from the Mayor of Napier to come along to a top-secret meeting, along with a lot of other non-native Kiwis… this video was the result:

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The Napier Public Library is Awesome

Napier Public Library
Now that we’re settling into NZ life, we thought it was about time we investigated the local library. We weren’t able to go out there today, since it closes at 17h30, but I went onto the Napier Public Libraries website today, and was completely floored by the following:

The library has a website
The website [...]

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Kiwi critters : Sandflies are nasty things

Nasty Critter
On our recent “fishnic” trip to the beach, we discovered the kiwi scourge of sand flies. They’re nasty little bugs who live by bodies of water (beaches, rivers, lakes..), and buzz up from the ground to nip your feet, all the way up to your knees. Their bites draw blood, and the spot is [...]

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Hitchhiking, Kiwi Style

The view from hitch-hiking position #2 On Friday we left Napier to spend the weekend with friends in Taupo. Gayle fetched me from work, and we drove straight there. The petrol gauge was less than a quarter full, and so we both agreed that we needed to stop for fuel “soon”. We drove past a [...]

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Kiwi burglar finds corpse and calls police

Here’s something to think about, South Africans…
A Berlin burglar’s break-in took an unexpected turn when he stumbled upon a corpse and felt compelled to call the police.
“He called to say he’d just broken into a flat and found a dead body,” said a spokeswoman for Berlin police. “He gave the address of the place and [...]

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This is your car, under the kiwi sun…

Folks here are very cautious about exposure to the sun.. and with good reason! Here’s what the sun here will do to your car…
Sunburned Car

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Kiwi Golden Girl

This evening I had the privilege of meeting a true Kiwi Golden Girl. When our landlord originally suggested that we pop in to see our neighbor, an elderly widow, because it would be the “proper” thing to do, I have to admit to resenting it a bit.. I thought, “Gosh. We’ve got so much going [...]

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Kiwification Day 1: Arrival in Auckland

It’s now 5am. The jetlag monster woke me up at 3am, and at 4am, I got fed up with trying to sleep, and decided to do something constructive with my time. Here’s a summary of our first day of kiwification:
Touchdown

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After flying from Johannesburg via Dubai, Bangkok and Sydney, we arrived in Auckland at 3:30pm yesterday, [...]

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Photos of the Collins House, St Stithians fire

I didn’t realize that some of my friends hadn’t heard about the fire which destroyed our boarding house (and our personal flat) in March 2007. Here are the photos. They’re also on my Facebook profile.
Let me highlight a few choice ones…

Our bedroom
Our lounge
Our kitchen

Our insurance did pay out, which is one of the reasons [...]

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DunLUG voted tastiest LUG ever!

Thanks to all the folks I met at the DunLUG meeting last night.. especially to Jack for the pizzas, Stewart for the beer, and Katinka for the fresh eggs for breakfast this morning ! You’re a sociable, rowdy, fun bunch, and it was a very enjoyable, geeky evening.
We did some wireless hacking, cracking a WEP [...]

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