First Week in New Zealand

Hi! We made it to New Zealand. The school is really great. Taruna College is located on a small mountain call Te Mata and looks onto beautiful rolling hills and valleys below it. I can see the ocean off in the far distance (15 minute drive) from where I am emailing you. Everyone has been very friendly, talkative, and helpful.






We landed in Auckland Wednesday and spent four hours talking to our new banker. Four hours! Think drunk Dudley Moore except he was sober. Did I mention that New Zealanders are talkative? Neither of us have ever laughed so much while banking. 

Once our money was in order we went looking for a used car. On Thursday we bought a little Mazda Familia, transferred title info, registered it, and drove 
it across country. The scenery was spectacular. Rolling green hills that lead into dramatic mountains and ascend down to the ocean. It was a six hour ride and 
Jessica got to say hello to lots of cows, goats, horses, and sheep. Funny but there were actually more cows on the road than sheep. The cows have long skinny 
legs and were very busy eating grass. 

 

We arrived at the school around 11pm and crashed. We woke up early the next day and set off to find a home. We found one on the first try. It is a cute little 
cottage five minutes from the school and a minute drive to town. Havelock North is a quaint little village straight out of a Julia Roberts romantic comedy. 
Coffee and wine cafes, organic grocer, funky thrift store, a bike shop, and lots of wine stores selling for the local wineries. 

We are loving New Zealand. We had a meet and greet Sunday night (a traditional Maori welcoming followed by English tea) and classes began Monday. 


Sorry for the delay in posting. Thanks for reading.