Botanic Gardens - Christchurch

The view of our apartment building from Hagley Park


1979! That is the year I was born!!!


LOOK! It is Tarzan!!!





Sun Dial with all the time zones


The Avon River in the Botanic Gardens


Standing inside the evergreen tree seen below!!!



Standing inside the evergreen tree seen below!!!



Can you believe this tree? It was hard to capture how enormous it was.



Entrance to the Botanic Gardens




How cool that I am updating this blog from our laptop sitting outside on our balcony overlooking Hagley Park. Yes. It is winter time here, but apparently winter here means days with 60 degrees and sun - no jacket required. There are times it gets colder, but from the past few days we would never know it.

Last night we met up with Jay and Vanessa who we are purchasing the car from and their flatmates Babs and Gordy. We went to a place called Dux de Lux right in our neighborhood. It was like meeting old friends though it was our first meeting! The restaurant was awesome and brews their own beer. A very popular thing here in NZ is to go up and order your food, take a number on a stand, be seated and they bring your food out. I sort of like it actually. After dinner we moved into the bar area and had a few pitchers.

This weekend we were invited by all of them to go to Hanmer Hot Springs where they have natural hot springs, hiking, etc. It is meant to be very relaxing. We are excited to get out of the city and see what else NZ has to offer. It is only about an hour and a half away and we were able to book a cheap last minute room.

Today we went to the Botanical Gardens which are massive. They are so close to where we are living which is spectacular. Obviously a lot of things are not in bloom as it is winter here, but we saw some trees that are just indescribable - so much so that we had to take photos in order for you to believe some of them. The photo of the evergreen, we are actually standing inside of it!!!!

We visited a gym today downtown called Les Mills. It is a huge gym and they have a ton of classes. Their class sizes are usually 80-90 people but the studios can easily accomodate that. They are opening a new one in October and Trey and I both got a free week pass for next week. I have a feeling that will be my new gym. I think they have a website if you are keen to look it up (Like my kiwi lingo there??) wink wink

For lunch today, I introduced Trey to something that I became quite fond of in London - spuds and cheese! Mmmm Not the most healthy option, but very tasty. They basically take super soft bakes potatoes, cut them open into fours, lay tons of butter inside and top with cheddar cheese that overflows as it melts. It has been fun for me to introduce Trey to new things that are familiar to me because of the British influence and my time in London. I will need to remember to not make the spuds and cheese a habit though as I did in London since they caused me to pack on some pounds there!

Other than that we are just trying to take it all in. We want to do it all, but need to remind ourselves that there is plenty of time. We think that at least for the first year we will remain living in the city because of convenience and because it is what we are used to. We like our place but it is a little expensive for what it is. We are probably going to look into other options in the coming weeks.

Not sure if we will get a chance to post again before/during our time at Hanmer Springs but we should definitely have some cool photos/videos to post afterwards!

Strangers in a strange land.....which is surprisingly not so strange - Jocelyn and Trey

In honor of Maori language week, Tēnā koutou!! "Hello" (to three or more people) and Haere mai "welcome" to our blog!

We are adjusting quite well so far. New Zealand doesn't seem as different as you might expect. However, there have already been a few things that we have noticed as being truly Kiwi. We have learned that a dairy is a convenience store, that fat free milk is called trim milk and that hokey pokey is the nation's favorite ice cream flavor which is plain vanilla ice cream with small, solid lumps of sponge toffee (we have yet to try that but will report back when we do)! Kiwis also LOVE their soup - especially Pumpkin. Trey has tried a few now and they really are quite tasty. Mmmmm. Don't forget, it is winter here = comfort food.

That said, people seem to dress the same here and believe it or not, the accents are not as difficult to understand as we thought. Music is similar and movies are only on a bit of a lag behind the US. And we cannot even tell you the amount of US chains we see everywhere (Burger King, McDonalds, KFC, Subway and Starbucks). I guess one shocker though was the Kiwi Burger which consists of hamburger, lettuce, tomato, beetroot and a fried egg!!!! Yeah, Jocelyn won't be trying that one.

Yesterday we strolled up and down Victoria Street which is just a few blocks from where we live. It is filled with trendy boutique shops and cafes. Cafes are HUGE here and there is no shortage of coffee, tea, sandwiches "sammys" or "toasties" which are toasted sandwiches and baked goods such as scones. Kiwis are big on their feta and brie cheese as well. Almost every sandwich will have one of these. Also, they seem to enjoy their breakfast - most cafes serve it until at least 2pm if not all day! SWEET!

Today we went back into the City Centre to retrieve our EFTPOS cards which then allowed us to go to Vodafone to get our mobiles (cell phones)! We are now officially Kiwi mobile users. The plans are much different here and almost everyone has internet on any phone - even the low level ones. Changing your plan/upgrading is easy and there are really no fees. So much different than the US - in a good way. We are "best mates" which means that we get to call each other unlimited and we both have free internet for 3 mos. Additionally, we can call the USA for $2 a hour until the end of the year. Also, the kiwis seem to be much more into texting than talking. For example, Jocelyn's plan is 20 minutes of talk time with 600 text messages! How weird is that??

We are also trying to figure out grocery shopping and which store to make our "regular." We have gone to "New World" a few times now and plan on trying Pack N Save and Countdown next. Pack N Save you pack your own groceries which Jocelyn is not too keen on, but Trey is always willing to save a buck! Countdown will likely be the one we choose. New World seems to be more like a Whole Foods and a bit expensive for some things.

After grocery shopping we hopped on the free shuttle which loops around the center of the city. Can you imagine a free city shuttle in the US - no way! It is very convenient and drops us off about a block from our place and picks up right in front of all three grocery stores. This may not matter much when we have a car as all the stores have parking lots, but for now it is great. So, the free shuttle is interesting - as everything else in NZ it is very clean and they actually play radio - songs from the 60's and 70's mostly but really soothing and nice. People are of course very friendly as well.

Finally, we visited the Visitor Center in Cathedral Square and picked up loads of pamphlets. There is food and wine tours, hiking trails, skiing. We think our first trip will be to Methven & Mt. Hutt (southern alps) very near to Christchurch and have buses that go directly from Christchurch for very cheap ($60 NZD - approx. $40 USD). Skiing season will end around mid October so this makes sense as a first trip - plus, Jocelyn is dying to learn how to ski and Trey says this is the perfect climate for her to learn. This way when she visits the Holzwarths and Strokers in Colorado she will be a pro! :)

Well, tonight we are off to meet up with Jay and Ness, the lovely couple we are buying the car from. They have suggested a place called Lotus Heart on Columbo Street which is a vegetarian restaurant downtown. We are really looking forward to meeting them - it will be nice to know other people here - especially Americans who can give us helpful hints as we adjust to our new surroundings.

Well, off to get ready for dinner and test ginger ales......that's right......we both really like ginger ale but there is no true equivalent to what we know in the US. There is Schweppes dry ginger ale and Schweppes ginger beer and a few others. It is pretty confusing so we just bought a bottle of each and we will sort it out on our own! LOL

P.S. We have included some pics of our flat and the view from it. Enjoy!

More to come.........................

First full day in Christchurch

It took me a little over 24 hours to find the Louis Vuitton store in Christchurch. Leave it to me!!!


Christchurch, New Zealand has already been great! Yesterday upon landing in NZ, Dr. Blaikie who Trey will be working for picked us up and came with starter groceries that he had bought for us!! We walked around the neighborhood a bit and he took us out to lunch. It was wonderful. Our apartment is nice as well (photos to come in a post very soon!) We are overlooking Hagley Park which is apparently quite impressive to say. It is modern and has a lovely balcony and a den. We are mostly excited about the dishwasher and the washer/dryer in our place!

Today we explored....a lot! We are about 2 blocks from the Christchurch Casino and am sure we will have much to report once we visit that. We picked up some essentials and did a mini grocery shopping. I was excited to learn that they do in fact carry many of my beauty products. As Trey says, he will buy whatever is the least expensive :) I also found the MAC store downtown in Ballantynes (like a Macys or Bergners). It was like a beacon calling to me!

We also looked into getting a mobile phone at Vodafone. There are only two competitors here and NZ is the only country that does not lock their cell phones meaning that you can put a SIM card from another company in and it will work and you can also add a SIM card from another country and it will work. Very cool.

We lunched at a place called High to Hereford which was like a food court with plenty of Asian options, salad places and sandwich shops. These food court type places seem to be quite common here and are different than the US in that they bring your food to you. They sure like to use brie and ham/bacon a lot I am already learning.

Additionally, we checked out the bus depot and purchased our Metro cards. They actually have you register for them with your name/address, etc. which is quite smart - that way, if you load money on it and lose it, you can cancel it like a credit card and they can transfer the loaded money to a new card. The kiwis are a smart lot.

Day with Cyn in Los Angeles

Dating back all of two days ago when we spent our wonderful 12 hour layover with Cynthia in LA at the Santa Monica Pier, we took some awesome pics and wanted to share them. We are a little tired in these pics but had SOOOO much fun!

Safely in Auckland, New Zealand!

Greetings (or Mihi as they say in Maori) to all from Auckland - well, the airport anyway! We landed safely and had a great flight. Seeing Cynthia in LA for the day yesterday was AWESOME! We are so truly grateful for her. Santa Monica was a blast - skeeball, taking funny pics, drinking at the wine bar, sushi roku for dinner and vanilla cupcakes. What a way to leave the US of A!

So back to our arrival in NZ. So far all has been on time which if any of you have ever traveled with Trey know how unusual this is. We were both able to sleep on the flight (Jocelyn with the help of drugs and a free glass of wine compliments of Air New Zealand!) Mmmmm Zzzzzzzzz We already went through customs and are officially workers in the country. As we sit here at the terminal we can already see how gorgeous this place is and we haven't even left the airport yet. We can see the mountains out the window near the gate and it is making us excited about this new life ahead of us.

Funny things to note so far: Yes! The toilets actually do flush the other way and I did remember to check! We had to "queue up" to re-check our bags for the domestic flight. They sell something here in the vending machine called "Burger Rings" that at least advertise that they have the "full flavour of real burgers!" (I've not been brave enough to try though!) Last but not least, apparently in NZ they call Sauvignon Blanc "Sauv" pronounced "salve" in our ears/heads anyway - so, when the flight attendant asked what we would like to drink, we thought he was offering us ointment or something! LOL There will be a slight language barrier I think. :)

Well, off on the next leg of our journey. The professor will pick us up from the airport and we will get keys to our new place in Christchurch City!

Last Day in Boston - Trey

Today is our last full day in Boston. We started out the day by cleaning out the rest of our apartment, selling our bed, packing the last of our stuff, and weighing all of our luggage. We then took a cab and checked into the Hotel Marlowe. We had stayed at this hotel last year this time as a mini honeymoon and really liked it. Plus the manager has the same last name as me so he told me if I was ever staying here again to give him a call and he would hook us up. When we arrived we found out that we had the presidential suite, which is about the same size as our apartment! When we got in the room they delivered champagne and chocolates and a nice note. Also it turns out that CNN is doing all their news coverage of the Harvard professor getting arrested from right outside the hotel (hence the picture we posted of Don Lemmon of CNN on his cell phone!). We are planing on having dinner in the Hotel restaurant and then resting before beginning our long journey. Right now as I am writing this post Jocelyn is sitting on the chaise lounge in the bedroom watching planes take off - knowing that tomorrow that will be us. We have enjoyed our time in Boston but we are ready for our new adventure together. Next posting we will be in transit!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Email - jocelynfary@hotmail.com
Trey is in the process of setting up a gmail account

Facebook - Jocelyn Fary-Holzwarth
Trey Holzwarth

Skype- treyandjocelyn

Address -
Mr. & Mrs. C.W. Holzwarth, III
B11 78 Park Terrace
Christchurch City 8013
New Zealand

Saying good bye - Jocelyn

Well, just one week from tomorrow we will officially be in the land of the kiwis. It is truly surreal. I am typing this in our virtually empty apartment with nothing but our computer, bed and couches - all those will be gone soon as well. Sigh. Earlier today we said good bye to the Fary side of the family. It was difficult but both sets of parents have been so unbelievably supportive.

We will miss so many people but it warms our hearts that we have so many people we love and who love us to miss. We are blessed.

I bought a journal today and am excited to begin my stream of consciousness in regard to our experience and new life in the South Pacific.

Keep following our journey - we are excited to take you all with us in spirit!

Final visit to New Jersey - Jocelyn

So here we are in New Jersey visiting my family for the last time before our departure to New Zealand. It is difficult, be we are having lots of fun!

Yesterday I had a day of shopping with my mom - my final run to the Juicy Couture outlet much to Trey's chagrin :) It was a beautiful day and just nice to walk around with her. I will miss that.

We also spent time with Brian and my grandma and my Uncle Steve and Aunt Carol.

We are both just trying to enjoy every last moment with the people we love and soak it all in.

Packing and tying up loose ends - Jocelyn

I am officially unemployed and charged with packing and tossing all that we own. We are planning to sell ALL furniture and fit all that we want for the next 2 years into 2 suitcases each and 2 carry ons. Holy crap! My shoes alone could take up 2 suitcases - though I am not sure how appropriate my Marc Jacobs shoes would be for glacier hiking....sigh......I am excited about the journey ahead and would not want to take this on with anyone else other than Trey. We make a great team and this will prove it! Keep checking out our adventures leading up to the travel date and beyond. We leave the US July 25. Our journey begins going from Boston to LA. We will spend the day with Cynthia (my sister for those who are not familiar) and then off to Auckland and then Christchurch where Dr. Richard Blaikie will pick us up (the professor Trey is working for). In related news, I officially got my work visa in the mail today from the NZ embassy so it is truly official! HOORAY!!!