Artists Escape!

It's been a year?

2009-10-05T18:24:00.001-07:00

Yes. It has. It has been a year since we landed on the other side of the world, settled into life on an island, and it's been a year since having real American food.
And the real American food bit is especially depressing because I'm craving it. BECAUSE

I'M PREGNANT!

Yes, we decided now was the time to create a new work of art, and her/his name will be London. Right now she's almost 3 months in the oven. And I want Taco Bell. And trees, and fresh air... but I digress...

So as you can see, in this span of time, we've done a lot, we've grown a lot, we've found out a lot about ourselves, and we've followed our hearts to new and exciting places. You've seen some of it on this blog. But this is only the beginning. We have plans...

Our plan, if you want to be in on the secret, goes like this...
*shhh... don't tell anyone*
Promise?
Okay.
We are buying a van, selling our scooter, our furniture, and stuff we don't need. We going to load up our van, say goodbye to our wonderful friends here, pack up our pencils and sewing machines and take the ferry across to the South Island.

Up and moving to a new island we've never been to has been a technique that has worked well for us so far. Our destination: Nelson. The sunniest spot in NZ, and also the main arts-and-crafts area. To top it off, Abel Tasman national park is nearby, and there are both rivers AND ocean beaches. Plus, there are caves in the area, and all kinds of fun stuff to explore. The cost of living is lower and we can live closer to nature.
Sounds like the perfect place to raise a baby, and to pursue artistic endeavors.

Wonder what the next year will bring...

2009-07-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

A week beautiful of sunrises.

21 July

22 July

Closup.

23 July

24 July

25 July

26 July

27 July

Closeup

1 August (today)

This city is a skywatcher's paradise. Every day, and sometimes every hour the sky changes dramatically. It can go from brooding shades of gray to bright blue with not a trace of fluffy white marshmallow clouds, and absolutely anything in between. The clouds flow past the sky so quickly most days, that you can watch a cloud morph rapidly from one shape to another without a dull moment.
These pictures were taken from the window of our fourth-floor art studio, at about 7.30am each morning.
That last picture was taken about 30 minutes ago. Those thick gray-blue clouds are forewarning the storm which is due to approach tonight. However, right now the sky has cleared to blue sky with broad strokes of rice-paper-thin layer clouds making the panorama a silky baby blue in hue and the sun is shining into the windows, as if the sun is saying "thanks for the publicity"!
Peace and love from the land of the long white and ever dynamic cloud.

2009-06-20T03:31:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,
A loooong overdue videoblog for your enjoyment. This is a preview for an extended video about Studio Lyons.
Music by the talented Mr. Adam Atwood
Enjoy!

Adventure day!

2009-05-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

It's "winter" here in Wellington which means one thing in particular: rain. It's chilly but not freezing - not very winter-y by American standards. Instead it is the wet and cloudy season, which means wearing layers of wool, ducking under awnings through town, and saying hello to the sunshine in a big way when he makes his appearance.
After days and weeks of rain everyone is happy to see the sun. But when, oh when, will the sun come?

-------------------------------
5.30am Thursday.
The alarm wakes us up to a blur of music. It is pitch black outside and our plan was the usual: get up, be out the door by 5.45am to catch the first bus of the morning. We like to get to work early.
It's been raining all week. For two weeks straight: rain and clouds and rain. The forecast said... well, nobody cares what the forecast said because it's note so much a "forecast" as a "blind guess". I think it's more like a form of conceptual art. Only even more meaningless. So they hedge their bets in the winter and "forecast" rain every day because the odds are that it will rain at least a little every day this time of year. Very technical. Don't question it - it's science.

Moving on. It's 5.30am, we lie in bed, cuddled together, warm and toasty. Pitch black outside, it's so early. And it's quiet.
I hear no raindrops for the first time in what must be two weeks.

"It's going to be a beautiful day!" said I.
"At work?" said J.
"Why would we go to work on such a beautiful day?"
"You want to play hooky?"
"Today it would be a shame to be at work, sitting inside. It's going to be beautiful. Let's go somewhere interesting!"
There wasn't much more convincing to be done. We have sick days so why not use them?!
We packed our bags, 'texted' our bosses (technology is so nice, it means that we don't even have to talk to our bosses on the phone, we just send them a text message), and went to catch a train.
By the time we got to the station, the sun was coming up, and it was still not raining. Perhaps the sun would show his shining face today?

We catch the Wairarapa line to Featherston, which is a little town on its way to becoming an artist village. We have some friends with an art studio there so we decided to check it out.
You remember the Wairarapa from our trip to Napier? The long, winding mountain road. This was a similar route, only without the winding roads, steep drop-offs, and carsickness. There were a couple very long tunnels.
The train was large and spacious, featuring vending machines, a bathroom, and seats with TABLES! It was only a 45 minute ride, but it was so enjoyable that it just wasn't long enough.

View out of the train window. That's Wellington city, our dear home, behind us!

And ahead of us is ADVENTURE.
Please note the beautiful blue sky and the sun about to burst from behind fluffy white clouds.

What a cool train.

Best $15 round trip ($7.50 USD) ever spent.

Going through a valley, it got really cloudy and looked rainy. Fog settled on the tops of hills.

Until we come out on the other side of a long tunnel. We're there and the sky is looking superfine!

We check out all the little shops "downtown", eat at a wonderful cafe called Cornucopia, and Jason tries some monkeybatics at the park.

There is a wonderful board game store, where we saw Tom on the Puerto Rico box.
And we bought Starship Catan. Catan! Catan! Wanna play Catan!
With food taken care of and a new game in hand, we ventured off into the hills. There are a few hiking trails here so we picked one. It's a long way up...

The view from the top is awesome!

"Featherston Domain"

The clouds are doing some amazing configurations for our viewing pleasure.

I always leave you with strange forest sights, so there you go.

2009-03-29T01:11:00.000-07:00

Birthday road trip to Napier, in pictures (with some captions).

The town of Napier had a big earthquake earlier in the century, and everything was rebuilt during the age of Art Deco. This funky architecture is its main tourist attraction.

I didn't actually get many photos of the buildings, but here's one:

Then I got distracted with the pretty fountain.

And the plants, of course.

And the water.
And the sky.
And the birds.
And this is a place my mom needs to go to. It's just a little cheap and cheerful resturant that is right on the beach, and they roast chicken over hot volcano rocks. Mmmmmmmmm!

View from the road. Look closely.

Closer.
Closer!
Do you still see them? The biggest windfarm I've ever seen rolling along the mountain ridge!

Mount Bruce Bird Sanctuary.

Are we in the jungle??!?!

Looking into reflecting water, or looking up into the trees?

Birthday cheesecake kills kaka.

Looks like a bearded old fellow.
Protector of the forest.

Been a busy little kiwi.

2009-02-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

This week:
Had a photoshoot last week for Fall 2009 minicollection.
Sold headbands at the Cuba St. Carnival (which was 100% pure madness and nothing like the Seymour Oktoberfest).
Jason is gearing up to load up JUPITEROATMEAL.com with new comics!
The weather is super fine and the birds are singing.
My geeky dayjob is still great, and surprisingly entertaining (thank you, my wonderful coworkers!)... especially considering I work the equivalent of the IRS.
Since I've got you here, have a gander at some of the pics from the shoot:

Have a great week, love and peace from Aetearoa, land of the long white cloud!

2009-02-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

We've been busy!

I just got back from the Sevens Rugby Tournament. It's a 2-day costume party, and some people even watch the rugby games.
It is the biggest event in Wellington, and probably the biggest in the whole country.

I went with some friends, two of whom are British, and one kiwi. This turned out to be quite a dynamic since the championship game was between England and New Zealand. It was a close game until the very end when England came from behind to WIN. Then my British friends had to run for their lives!

Cowboys....
...and indian.

I stayed up the night before to make my Native American headdress.

The costumes are indeed the whole point of the extravaganza, and here are some of my favorites:

These road cones were out about town and surrounded cars and sat in the street as a type of performance art.
Then they got to the stadium and got hammered...

Just like Jesus (with cardboard cross).

These horses were a few rows in front of us. Good thing the cowboys were there to keep them in line!

Mario and Luigi!
Pack of Obamas.

Rugby players in the costumes... er... uniforms.

Goodbye 2008, hello future!

2008-12-30T22:40:00.000-08:00

It's 7:40pm on New Year's Eve. We just got back from a little trip on our new Christmas gift: a Vespa-style scooter.
And check out the helmets, look familiar?

Have a gander at all the places we went in the last week...

Breaker Bay

Princess Bay

Island Bay

Not sure what this bay is called.

In other news, there was a quick rain yesterday and a gorgeous rainbow manifested itself right outside our door:

Have a truly HAPPY NEW YEAR! Peace out from the Southern Hemisphere!

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

The Pohutukawa tree. Known as New Zealand Christmas Tree because its large red flowers shower the country in festiveness this time of year.

Christmas time in the southern hemisphere takes a little getting used to, because of the marked lack of... winter.
No biting cold, no ice storms, no snowball fights, and no $250 heating bills. Instead, people wearing floral-print board shorts and santa hats stroll the sidewalks, sometimes barefoot. Trees and plants put on brilliant displays of flowers to spread good cheer. Of course many people mostly see it as "pollen". But no matter, it is Christmas time in our part of the world and that means one big thing:
Well sure there's the Jesus thing. But I'm talking about...
VACATION!
Time off work. Holiday. "Reccie" as people of the British persuasion may deny that they say.

Let's take a moment to guess what Wellington city does for Christmas day?
Nope, no big tree in front of the court house. The Beehive doesn't spiral garland across the parlaiment building. That would be cool. But no. They don't even have an outdoor skating rink. I'm giving my grumpy face right now knowing full well that it's not physically possible to have ice skating in 67 F degree weather.
No christmas lights to speak of, nor ice sculptures, mangers, snowmen, etc. But what they do have, is pretty darn exciting.
I'm talking free.
Public.
Transport.

So we took off Christmas morning, hopped on a bus (any bus), went to the train station, and caught the train up to the end of the line: Parapaumu Beach

View out the train window.

We arrive!

Creatures! >>>>

A lion?

Dog doing a backflip?

Cute little pod critters spreading their wispy arms. Doing a choreographied dance?

Wonder what Santa will bring?

Music on the streets of Wellington

2008-12-14T15:07:00.000-08:00

Buskers! Buskers are artists who perform on the streets, usually for tips. One of the hottest locations for these performances is Cuba Mall. This is not a mall in the American sense - it is actually a wide brick road for pedestrians (no cars). The buskers in this city are often extremely talented. But this weekend, one young hippie girl brought street performance to a new level. Check it out!

2008-12-06T12:03:00.001-08:00

It's snowing, it's snowing! At least I hear it is in Indiana. Enjoy those snowball fights!
It's Christmas time, nearing summer here in New Zealand, and that means three things:

Beautiful weather
Sun hats
Tourists

In no particular order. But let's get down to brass tacks...
it's awesome here!

Our neighbor's cat, lounging on our balcony.

The view from said balcony.

What's new for us since we last blogged?

We got the internet, so now blogging will be more frequent.
We've met several new, wonderful friends.
We are trying to "suss out" a spot for a possible hammock in our backyard.
Christmas lunches, social outings, and sightseeing, and that's just on weekdays!
Exploring, adventuring, or chillaxing on weekends.
Jason has been working on comics!
I made a dress, found a model, and had the first Thimblescratch NZ photoshoot yesterday:

Have a lovely week!

2008-11-29T23:27:00.000-08:00

Fun at Island Bay, 30 November 2008

Life's a "beetch"

2008-10-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the non-fastidious blogging, but we've been very busy!

Two weeks ago, we were job hunting. It didn't take long for us to score work, in fact both of us had job offers in hand after our first interviews.

So now I work at Inland Revenue, which is the NZ equivalent of the IRS. I do computer work there of course and everyone is friendly, laid-back, and good at what they do. J is working at a job very similar to his last one, and he is really digging it.

We were eating bread and ramen noodles for a while, until our first paycheck. PAY DAY! Like water in the desert. Now we can actually EAT at some of those restaurants we walk by and longingly stare at menus...

So yeah, everything is going really well here. We are having such a fantastic time!

But it's not all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.

I have to admit, there are a few things here that are less than fantastic.

For one, most sinks have both hot and cold water, HOWEVER, there is a faucet for each and they are separated – cold water on one side of the sink and hot water on the other. VERY hot water. The plumbers must have had a seperatist movement, and the result is there is no such thing as WARM water. Either hot, or cold, or else be fast and switch between freezing and scolding your hands to trick yourself into thinking that it's warm water. It's not. You've just got frostbite and burns at the same time is all.

And since we're on the topic of temperature, surely you have already read elsewhere that New Zealand homes don't have insulation. Well, it's true. Very true. Yes, nights can get down to 50F and sometimes even 45F. But this is not a huge issue, because while the kiwis think that is cold, it's barely cooler than the climate of a cave. Which would be pretty sweet to live in. But unfortunately for now we live in what many would consider a “hole”... and no, that's not close enough!

Another quirk is that they use the British pronunciation of “aluminum” which comes out of the kiwi mouth as a completely non-phonetic “al loo minnie um”. That's a whole extra syllable!

They call a stroller a “pram”... never heard that one until just the other day. The elevator is of course a “lift” and if you are on a computer you are probably going to surf the “weeb.” They often say "cheers" instead of "thanks" and "mate" instead of "friend". "Realise" is not spelled with a "z"but don't call it a "zee" because it's a "zed." The grammar police probably have me on their terrorist watch list already. Or maybe that's just an American thing.

Or perhaps I should ask "maybe that's just an American thing?" because nearly every sentence ends in a higher intonation, sounding much like a question. So it can be hard to tell when someone is just stating a point and when they are asking you a question. Imagine the difficulty in translating "I like you" - is it "I like you." or is it "I like you???" Clearly quite the conundrum.

As you can see, life is not a beach. But it's certainly not a "beetch" either. To hear the kiwis say (and pronounce) it, it can be hard to tell the difference. All of these things make New Zealand life so very, very challenging, as you can imagine. But we will persevere.

Life's not a beach, or is it? This picture is foreshadowing so you decide.

One of the things that keeps me going in these trying times of extra syllables is the local fashion scene. The scene is not so much a scene, as it is a map. A map larger than just the tiny country of New Zealand. Which is to say that the fashion is really all over the place. But three themes tend to emerge time after time, at least in this city: boots, 80's, and wool coats. I suppose that is the jet-stream that weaves the diverse clothing climate together. Everything else is, well, just everything. Which is like fashion candyland. And luckily that means that the fabric stores are like the most wonderful candy shops in all the land.

Beautiful, soft, colorful candy - the cravings for which induced my first Thimblescratch NZ purchase: a $5 sewing machine. I can't seem to get it to work quite properly yet though, but as soon as I do I will be in “beesness” (do you suppose we got the term “bee's knees” from the kee wees?)... I bought an entire bolt of fabric from Salvation Army for $30, so I'll be making dresses and shirts as soon as my stitcher is tensioning again. But for now it's just a toilet paper holder.

Maybe it does work and I'm just not threading it properly.

And speaking of Thimblescratch... is it just me or are starving artists not able to afford to buy books they are published in? Because as I was browsing the local library's display (the theme for it was GREEN, as in, my favorite theme, and also as in what my dad would call “GREENAGE!”)... in the center of the display, between "Guerrilla Gardening" and “A Slice of Organic Life” was...

Cool Hunting Green

It's an Australian book also published in the states. I was thrilled beyond belief to see it. I was shocked to see it sitting the middle of the display. For this book, I have heard about, and I have been wanting to see it...

Because my Plasticoat is in it!!

I was, as they say in kiwiland, “positively chuffed”!

Secret Garden

2008-09-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

The Secret Garden

Now that we have established a place to stay and getting in the groove of living in the city, now we are exploring the area. We typically walk down into Newtown daily for groceries and to browse the shops. But one day, we went out the back door, and instead of heading into Newtown, went the opposite direction.
As soon as we stepped off of the Pickled Parrot Lodge's property, we saw a trail.
That's right a trail. Among trees. A footpath. Among foliage! AND TREES!
And it is literally in our backyard.
But oh where will it take us?

Into Kilbernie of course.
What's that blue? Why, it's the BAY!

You might notice from the pictures that everything is green and ... not dead. It's WINTER.

It's about 50F every day since we've been here. It gets close to 60 on nicer days. There has been some rain but most days are simply GORGEOUS.

It looks like I photoshopped this photo but I didn't!

Winter in Wellington. They complain about the weather here... I think kiwis are spoiled!

First night in the ol' Pickled Parrot Lodge (and the day after)

2008-09-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

We lay there in the dark room breathing in turpentine fumes (no, we were not huffing, it just smelled that way strongly) when it occurred to both of us – really at the same time, which of course led to one of those goofy sitcom moments where two of the characters turn to each other and say the exact same thing even down the inflection and tone – that there was a perfectly good lounge area where we could presumably lounge around (a.k.a. sleep) until the next day and perhaps even the next night as we were not going to be IN the room until Sunday and it was Friday (for a couple more hours anyway).

So we made sure our stuff was secure and safe and we snuck upstairs from our basement hidey hole and into the lounge were we proceeded to make ourselves comfortable – or at least as best we could (as both “couches” were more like those little couches that they give children than actual couches).

Now we're a bit warmer and not breathing turpentine, so we're feeling even better! But as tired as we were, we were not to get too much sleep as we were far too excited to finally be in Wellington.

That and it really is difficult to fall asleep on a couch the size of a large cat bed.
The next day, we checked on our stuff (all okay) and decided that we are going to go down and do some townlunking (which is like spelunking, but above ground in a town).

This town is very awesome. And I mean in the classic sense of the word: as in inspiring awe. There is quite a bit to see, but we haven't brought our camera down to the CBD quite yet – though we shall soon. We explored a small slice of the city, eat at a tiny little Cafe/Sandwich Shoppe and made our way back home to rest our weary legs.

As we arrived, we were greeted by Paul who informed us that he had a room for us to stay in Saturday if we liked.

If we liked?

Why, yes, thank you we'll move our stuff right away! And we did. That very second.
Huzzah! We have a room! With a bed (double)! And a desk! And a dresser! And PILLOWS!

As the parlance is now: whoot.

Huka Falls

2008-09-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

That's Huka as in "hooked" not "hookah." My mistake.

Fate happens.

2008-09-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

SOOOOOO....... what to do now?

We have a place on SUNDAY, but the car was due back that very day. Where would we stay until then?

Some would crack under the pressure in this (or a similar) situation.

But we did not. We soldiered on.

This is probably because as we were getting the Sunday accommodations resolved, our new landlord, Paul tells us that if we were willing, he would let us sleep in a little basement utility room – or at the very least put our stuff there.

This was wonderful news!

Our plan until that moment was to keep our little car for one more day so as to sleep in it if no other form of accommodation presented itself. Now we wouldn't have to pay for another day for the car, as that would eat into an already straining budget.

We quickly and excitedly agreed to this, for despite it being a tad drafty and lacking in a true bed, we were beggars – as it were – without a begging cup to catch the change (metaphorically, of course, thank you very much – we weren't to THAT point physically). But we were enthusiastic beggars. Very, very grateful and happy beggars.

All this to say that we now had a roof and a building over our heads until Sunday, in which case it would be just a roof.

Paul shows us around what will be our new place and we meet a couple of the other tenants. All very nice so far. On the way out we see a lady shifting stuff (a term, I have come to understand is synonymous with moving stuff) to a room in the building we will soon be staying in.

Being the helpful people that we are, we quickly asked if she needed any help, and as there was quite a bit of stuff to move, she quite quickly accepted our offer.

As we were carrying various boxes of nick-nacks, paddywacks, and house plants, Paul stops us with an:“Ah, just the people I was looking for!”

Uh oh, I think, he may ask me to “take care of” somebody and seeing how he's been such a nice guy I may have to agree to it.

It turns out all he wants us to do is put some heaters together. Whew, that is much better. Plus he promises to take us out to lunch at his favorite pizza parlor once we're done!

We get that knocked out pretty quick (again, we are enthusiastic) and then we're whisked off to the nice pizza restaurant right down the hill.

I think at this point it may be prudent to explain to you what “down the hill” entails by way of showing you where we live.

Directly across the street.

Can you spot the New World grocery store?

Looking down the street.

Looking up the street.

Wellington is a compact city. We live a short bus ride into the city center, known as the “CBD” or Central Business District. This is where the “heart” of the city lies – from the busy nightlife to the corporate headquarters of this and that, to the best shopping and arts vibe in the country. It will take us less than an hour to walk across the whole CBD from where we live. We are equally close to the Bay, which boasts a beautiful walkway and actually has a real live beach. There is a bus stop (with a roofed bench and everything!) one block away from our home. 4 blocks down the hill are the Newtown shops - a variety of stores from a butcher to consignment shops and “dairy's” (fast-food if you will), to the New World grocery store, and much more.

This is why we love New Zealand. Just look at this place - in the middle of the 'big city' of Wellington, the second largest city in the whole country – trees, birds, flowers, foliage! And as I mentioned the bay is right next to us - though we've yet to see it. Savvy readers, you already realize this is foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing (doo doot doooooooo)

Once we return from our delicious and delightful lunch (we met Paul's dear wife) we moved our belongings into our new, if purely utilitarian, digs (in fact our room puts the 'utility' in 'utilitarian'). Then we dive in the car and wind our way up town to Ace Rentals, to drop our adventurous Nissan Sunny off – we have 15 minutes to get there before our two-day contract expires, but we make it just in time.

We walk back home due to accidentally getting off the bus at the wrong stop and not wanting to waste money on another bus fare. But it's not far, and besides - the weather's fine and we don't have anywhere we need to be.

We check out the shops along the way, pick up a scant few necessities (such as food) and finally make our way to our new home.

We lie in the darkness on our makeshift bed – the smell of turpentine and paint in the air – and all we can feel is happiness.

So now we have a place to stay. Now all we need is to get jobs.

And then we will be able to afford to eat at the pizza place on our own dime.

One of the best things about New Zealand is that even if everything costs money, kiwi kindness is all over the place and it's usually free.

Just over the top of this hill...

Homeless for how long?

2008-09-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

Newtown, Wellington

So now that we were in the country, now that we were fresh kiwis... glowing with the crisp fresh air and growing tired from jetlag...
we realize
that we are homeless.
And tired.
And hungry.
And we have a small amount of cash to survive until we get jobs.
The stress hits us.
We need to find a place to stay.

I look up the cheapest Backpackers that has internet: Downtown Backpackers. We drive (on the left side of the street you know) through the big buildings of the Central Business District to find our way there. The hostel is a big one, and luckily we were able to get a room.

But what is a blog post without a dose of kiwi kindness? Jason was so frazzled from driving that his wish was a simple one - a wish for a beer. The Backpackers gives each guest a Buy-2-get-1-beer-free coupon for the bar next door. He went to the bar, had a beer, and a kiwi gentleman struck up a conversation with him. Next thing he knew, the guy bought him a beer, made Jason's day - and he was able to cash in his third freebie. Jason was happy and although his dinner was liquid, with a full stomach, went to bed.

We had to be out of bed by 7:30am the next morning because the free street parking ends at 8:00am. We have to be on the road, but where to go?

The advice I had read everywhere was not to line up a rental beforehand from overseas, because when you get there you may hate it. You need to see it first.

Turns out that was bad advice if you are on a budget, because if you can't afford to stay a week at a hotel while you find "the perfect house," then you are going to lose all your money and sanity trying to find a place to not be homeless.

We needed accommodation right away. I had contacted many people for apartments but everything was taken or not suitable for couples. One listing however had promise, and we were convinced that if they had an open room - and we prayed that they did - that we could stay there. It was cheap, suitable for couples, and it said "fully furnished - just bring your bag."

So we went to the address and found the place.
The Pickled Parrot Lodge.
But the office was empty. And nobody was answering the phone.
We waited around for a while, and finally, dejected, left and drove up the street. But it was a dead-end. So as we turned around and approached the building one last time, I suggested we go back up the driveway and check one last time.

There was a truck parked there. It wasn't there before.

I screamed to Jason "pin him in!" with the car, so he couldn't get away.
I jumped out of the car and went towards the office, and the fellow in the truck rolled down his window, and asked if he could help me?

I asked him if he was the owner. He nodded.
Nervous, excited, and immensely hopeful, I said "We really, really need a room."

He said he is "chockered full" but he will have a room available Sunday.
It was Friday - we could sleep in the car for 2 nights if it meant we had a place to stay come Sunday!
We followed him into the office.

He showed us his chart of rooms and dates. It was a poster-sized chart, packed full of tiny rows of text - row after row after row. And a tiny little white space which started under the column entitled "Sunday." Chockered full, he was right. There was one room available.

And it was now ours.

Or rather, it would be come Sunday.
So what would we do until then?

2008-09-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

Auckland Airport makes St. Louis Airport look like LAX. It is awesome. Big, shiny, full of friendly and helpful people, and... smoothies!
Here is just one example of how awesome the airport is, and the first clue that we really are in New Zealand:

Maori carving in Auckland International Airport.

So now that we are exhausted from 14 hours of flight, we push around our baggage (which luckily, we had no problems with getting) trying to figure out what to do next. We had planned to take the Overlander train down to Wellington but they only run on weekends during the 'off season.' So we set towards the car rental kiosks, but on our way there we ran into a friendly Security guy who asked where we were going. He insisted on calling his friends over at Rent-a-Dent when he heard we were looking to rent a car. That was the first taste of kiwi kindness and certainly not the last we would encounter. Unfortunately all the car rental places, including Rent-a-Dent, were all booked thanks to the Rally going on.

So we got desperate. We went to the Freephone in the International Terminal, where tons of pamphlets for rentals, accommodation, and sundry other services lie in wait for the desperate traveler. Long story short, we got a car, and cheap too.

So now that we had wheels, our next task was to find a place to sleep for the night. We went to a Backpackers but the prices were higher than we had anticipated. We spent 1/4 tank of gas just trying to find our way around Auckland to find somewhere to rest our weary heads, to no avail.

Auckland. Nice place to visit, horrible to drive around in!

We stopped at a gas station, got a liter of cola, and drove south to Hamilton, where my Backpackers guide promised a variety of cheap accommodation.

We found J's Backpackers 10 minutes before closing, and finally, finally, went to sleep.

J's Backpackers in Hamilton

In front of the Backpacker's. I love New Zealand.

J's Backpackers was quite nice and the owner was friendly and helpful. But I think we left our towel there.

In any case, at sunrise we set out once again on the road. They drive on the left side, you know.

Hill with sheep.

I must mention here that when everyone says New Zealand is synonymous with sheep, I've always rolled my eyes, because I thought it was a South Island thing. But no, it's a New Zealand thing. We saw this beautiful scenery for hours.

Hill without sheep (I think they're on the other side).

Hill with sheep.

We pass rural areas and more sheep, and gorgeous green countryside. A large building with a metal sign and a creative shed read "Corrugated Creations." Little did we know they must have supplied all of central New Zealand with signs, because nearly every business had a corrugated metal sign (and they were creative).
We get hungry so we stop at a cute little town called Tirau.
These corrugated creations caught our eye and we ate at a delicious and cheap cafe right across the street from our new, giant metal companions.

Mom, I know you're gonna love this one!!

Wouldn't you know it, more sheep?

Sitting at the table next to us is this little feathered friend.

Ronnie's Cafe, I want to go back there! My sandwich was yummy, had beets, tomato, pineapple, and avacado, and was only $2.50 (that's less than $2 USD).
Back to the streets.

We see a sign that says "Huka Falls, 200m"... we figure that's close by so we stop. I'll be uploading the video on the next blog post. It was incredible.

It's winter here, can you tell?

Okay enough sightseeing. Next stop is Lake Taupo, the biggest lake in the area. Here we are approaching the town of Taupo.

The weather was perfect, the sky was bright and the air was crisp. The birds love the lake, and so do the trees.
Off in the distance is a mountain!

A budding tree, is it spring? I am so confused.

You knew that was going to happen.

I would be too.

Back on the road again...

Slow down around this turn...
Or we'll run into a snow-covered mountain.
IT'S AN ACTIVE VOLCANO!

Where are we, the alps?
Or the desert?
We are in the desert. This is where the NZ Army trains.
We start seeing green again. It is getting cloudy!
The sun is starting to set as we meander along the bay... into...
Upper Hutt, WELLINGTON!
And into the Lower Hutt, Wellington!

And we are there. Wellington, our new home.
Now we just need to find a home.
And jobs.
And food.
What will fate have in store for us?

2008-08-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

Flying into the future>>>

Bags. Check.

Passports. Check.

Camera. Check.

Goodbye to family. Check.

St. Louis Airport

Off and up into the clouds. And over the clouds! And above the clouds for hours...

This is my first flight and it was amazing. Four hours passed by and the lights of the big sprawling city of LA lay below us. From one side of the horizon to the other, we could see nothing but city lights - like a Lite Brite the size of... well... Los Angeles.

Since St. Louis was a really nice airport I was expecting even more from LA. I'm thinking restaurants galore, grab a bite to eat and wait for the plane. Flying west into the pacific time zone should be flying into the future so maybe it will even be like the Jetsons or something with smoothies and meal pills. But to our dismay, trudging down the carpeted halls of LAX we realized we must have gone into the past, because the 80's called and they want their airport back. It was dingy, covered with old carpet, and we couldn't even find any place to eat, with the exception of one tiny cafe, the line stretching down the hall, and the prices reaching Californian proportions. This IS California, so I guess it was to be expected.

Eventually we loaded onto a HUGE plane, the kind with an upper deck and wings the size of a small whale. We whiled the 10 pitch-black nighttime hours away attempting to sleep. As dawn was about to arrive we saw islands dotting the ocean, and the plane swooped below the clouds. We had landed in Fiji. The sun rose over mountains as we awaited our next flight.

We sat next to an Indian-Fijian woman on her way to visit her sister in Auckland. She had never flown before and was terrified. We chatted for 3 hours (we have things in common - we both love trees and this was our first adventure on airplanes) and I showed her pictures of the clouds we were flying over, because she was afraid to look out the window.

Before we knew it, we saw them. Islands.

We were finally about to land in New Zealand.

Auckland aerial view.

I held her hand as the plane floated down, and finally stopped. Parting with my new friend, we stepped out of the plane and into our new lives in our new country that we will call home.

2008-08-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

HAPPY MONDAY
The time has finally come. We are leaving for New Zealand in a matter of hours. Goodbye to this side of the world and hello to "down under". And hello to the FUTURE! It's already Tuesday there! That makes us time travelers, which is even more exciting than just being "normal" tourists.

Not that we're tourists. I mean, sure I will have my hat, my wild print shirt, and my camera around my neck but I always look like that. No no my friends, we have shiny blue "permanent resident" visas in our passports. Nevertheless, the first place we will be arriving is Auckland. We'll be touring around the biggest city for a day or two before high-tailing down to Wellington, where we plan to live. We scrounged up enough money to forgo camping at the end of winter, so we'll be seeking a warm, inexpensive rental apartment.

The past few days have been busy with packing, boxing, sorting, and not much sleeping. We won't deny that we are last-minute people, doing last-minute things at the last minute. But we did all of that on time and right on schedule.

I really didn't think we'd be able to get everything done in time, and not be a frazzled wreck. But it turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. By the time our things were mostly rounded up and we were ready to take a break last night, we found that two large buds on our huge cactus had just flowered. A good omen!

Our adventure is flowering, and butterflies fill my stomach. Oh wait, that's my stomach filled with... no food. I must have missed lunch, how can it already be 2pm?!

See you in Auckland!

Pak-n-sav

2008-08-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

[just some of my thread]

Pak-n-Sav is a grocery store in New Zealand. Incidentally that is what we are doing at the moment.
That's right, it's that time of the year... or the month... when... we pack. Our stuff into boxes. Our very many stuffs that we have way too much of still but we can't seem to shake from the bowels of our storage containers. There are only 20 days left before takeoff, and I have loads of fabric to categorize, prioritize, and box up.

[just some of the scrap pile]

And I don't know when I will see it again.

Also a fair warning: Thimblescratch shop will be closing up soon for a couple months, so shop while you can (and help a starving artist in the process)!

[ For sale at Thimblescratch Shop!]

Last but not least, here's a kitty for your thoughts.

[Moby]

2008-07-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

One month til takeoff! We have a lot of packing to do. What we won't be packing is our handmade furniture, we will just have to make some more once we settle down in Wellington. Above is a hand-built table I painted. We also built a 10ft long desk for two, and a couch on wheels, that we will miss. But that's the beauty of creation... you can always make more!

Escape Artists!

2008-06-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

We are escape artists.
I am Thimblescratch, and my husband is Jupiteroatmeal. We are artists. And we are escaping.

We wanted to go by boat. But that was too expensive.
We wanted to go right now. But we had to wait for our tax check.
We wanted to start a blog. So you can live vicariously through our adventures, as well as the daily escapes that don't involve moving halfway around the world. Such as watching the creamy froth swirl around in a cup of hot cocoa.

We are moving from the midwest, USA to Wellington, New Zealand at the end of August.
We are making our escape.

Peep in on our progress from time to time, won't you?