Monthly Archives: July 2012

Jul23

North Head

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Since moving to New Zealand, I have been doing a lot of walking.  By a lot, I mean A LOT!  Since we don’t have a car, we end up taking public transport and/or walking.  Traveling to anywhere includes a combination of decent walks coupled with a ferry and bus.  The plus side of this is that I have lost some weight since moving here (woo hoo!) but also have been able to enjoy some of the breath taking views there are around the city.

One of my favorite walks near home is going to a place called North Head.  It is what is called a “reserve” here, which in the states it would be called most likely a “park” or “historical site”.  Not only is it a spot with beautiful scenery and a nice uphill climb, but it also has a lot of history.

My walk starts out by going along King Edward Parade which follows the water of the Hauraki Gulf with views of Downtown Auckland.

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(North Head is in the background)

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The clock tower on the way.

I absolutely love the view as the corner is turned and starting to climb up one of the pathways…

This is the view of Rangitoto.  Which by the way is the youngest volcano in the Auckland area.  In Maori, Rangitoto means “Bloody Sky”.

Then turning another corner and heading back uphill, this is the next view:

Beautiful view of Downtown Auckland. I’m also falling in love with the Norfolk Island Pine (the tall tree on the right) which can be found all over New Zealand (they originate from Norfolk Island).

During one walk, we saw some pretty cool animals.  Like this hedgehodge.  Poor thing was curled up in the middle of the trail and so many people were walking around that it wouldn’t uncurl to scamper off.  One gal luckily had some gloves and was brave enough to pick it up and move it off in to the bush so hopefully it wouldn’t get stepped on.

Then we also had this cute cat that we happened across.  It seemed to adopt us because every time we turned around it was following us or it would run ahead for a bit and then stop and wait.  On one of our “sit and enjoy the view” moments, the cat came up and cuddled up to Nakul.  It was a really cute site!  We almost finished walking out of the reserve when the cat decided to adopt another couple walking around the reserve.  Funny thing was there were a lot of people on the reserve but it was following us.  We got asked a few times if it was our cat.  How funny!

(following us up the trail)

North Head is also a historic spot when it comes to military history.  Dating back to the mid 1800’s until 1990’s.  After the 1950’s it was used as training grounds but then was turned in to a historic reserve .  More on the history of the reserve see: http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/historic/by-region/auckland/central-and-south-auckland/north-head-historic-reserve/history-of-the-reserve/

Some of the military history on the reserve.  We always forget to bring torches (flashlights for my American friends), but there are tunnels all over the reserve that can be explored.  Also one thing that I love about sites here is that you can go inside all the different buildings, etc.  Which is quite fun!

Me going in to one of the shorter tunnels.

Some more views from North Head:

Jul11

The Journey

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Almost six months ago, I arrived in New Zealand with the intention to eventually live in this beautiful country.  Moving to another country for the first time really evokes a variety of emotions.  Especially for me because it has been basically the opening of a brand new era of my life. 

Back in December 2010 I never would have thought in my wildest dreams that just a little over a year later, I would be moving to another country.  Let alone to a country like New Zealand.  I mean seriously, all I had thought about New Zealand was how gorgeous it was in pictures and movies and how everyone said it was paradise to visit.  So I had figured it was a country to go on the bucket list of places to see before I die! 

Now it’s July 2012 and here I am in that paradise country.  But to live! What amazing lottery did I win?!?! 

Rewind to December 2010.  A girl who is burnt out from studying for some professional exams.  After passing two exams, she decided to take a month off from studying and have a social and dating life for one month.  She signed up for a few dating sites.  One of them is a popular South Asian match making site (yes, she has a weakness for darker men but that’s another story!).  After enjoying time with friends and talking and meeting a few guys (most ended up making for good ‘what not to do on a date’ stories), she was winding down the month and about to end her membership in a few days when she got a message of interest.  His picture wasn’t that great (think a passport picture crossed with a deer in the headlights look) and his profile was long!  Ok, so her’s was long too!  But he actually mentioned things from her profile that most didn’t bother fully reading and answered how he felt about some concerns.  Since he seemed to take the time to read and show he did read, she felt that he should be given a chance.  Because women really do like to be listened to and actually heard! 

As you can guess, being that girl, I did eventually end up meeting someone from the internet. Never did I even think I would meet someone who was living in New Zealand.  My first thought was “there are Indians in NZ???” and “are there even enough single people in NZ???”  Boy has moving here opened my eyes about that silly question.  That’s the stupid view that New Zealand is just sheep and beautiful landscape!  I ended up spending my 30th birthday in New Zealand and finding myself falling in love (and not just with how amazing NZ is).  We got engaged on that trip and then spent a few trips back and forth to each other’s country.  Thankfully my family loved him as well (I didn’t doubt that they would)! 

In August I was finally able to quit my job and spent the rest of the year finishing off the rest of my professional exams. Then in January, I made to big leap to moving across a big ocean and spending my time in the future (comparatively speaking).

Now don’t go thinking “wow, that was easy and sheesh how easy for her that happened.” I had many dating misadventures over the years (could probably be one of those girls that writes a book or blog about the dating horror stories).  In fact, I was settling down to the fact that I was almost in my 30’s and needed to get even more serious about my career and to enjoy my friends and family.  While by no means is 30 old, but I was getting to feel that if I met someone then that’s awesome and if I didn’t then I still have a good life and relationship status doesn’t rule if a person is happy or not (it still doesn’t).  Story usually goes “and the rest is history” right?  Wrong!  The rest is just the beginning of the adventure!

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My new home… beautiful isn’t it?