Friday, July 09, 2004
They Have 4th of July Here TOO!
Meghan and I decided that the 4th of July was very important to celebrate to continue the ruse that we are still in summer and not really in the depths of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Naturally to have such an event we had to do the 4th just as we would back in the states. With that in mind we needed bar-b-q, fire works and water sports. But to manage to pull it off at such a great distance, there was one thing we must do. By endearing ourselves to a local group of friends and managed to pull off the whole thing widely unbeknownst to most of them.
We were invited to the mid-winter bay ski and bar-b-q. Go figure they are as crazy here as people in the states. It was pretty much the Polar Bear swim, but in July.
Having no idea what to expect after being invited out to such an event from our immediate boss, Peter, we headed out to Kina Beach and took it from there. Kina Beach is about 5 minutes from our house and 6 from the orchards. So we managed to find it within at least 20. After arriving we discovered that it truly was as easy as Peter said to find them. They were the only ones out in the bay skiing!
We were introduced to quite a motley crew of people who in one way or another were connected to Peter's boss, Alan Trent, one of which WAS Alan. In true Kiwi fashion, they brought out the grill and the bangers (hot dogs, and other grillable edibles) and sat watching people get drug out to sea from the safety of the beach attached to two and sometimes even one anchor, which they called skies and wake boards. It was a lot of fun, and we met a bunch of nice people in the area.
We ended up talking to Alan for quite some time after discovering that he too was once associated with the great bastion of global superiority, America. Apparently Alan and his family decided to quit the hubbub of southern California for the more laid back lifestyle in NZ and making even more money. It was interesting that through the discussion of getting acquainted with kiwi life, we had noticed about the same sort of things that were not quite right with New Zealand, and go figure, it was the food! Within a month we had discovered nearly everything that Alan mentioned; absolutely no Mexican food whatsoever, and the thought of making it from scratch was equally impossible due to the lack of raw materials in the stores, ketchup is commonly referred to as tomato sauce, and is nothing like ketchup except for the color, plain hot chocolate is non existent, and in its place some sort of health food nutrient enriched supposedly chocolate flavored beverage, and on and on...
After talking for a while, Alan finally had to pay his dues and be drug out to sea. It was actually quite amazing since he is basically petrified to the water and the monsters of the deep that he went out and for a half an hour spent most of the time in the water rather than skiing above it. I guess you can never show fear!
With that said I soon found out that it was also my fate to follow those who went before me. It wasn't too hard for them to convince me, and really I had the whole of the American population to represent. After putting on a wet and cold 5mm wetsuit, I was ready to go. Of course we had wetsuits! What do you think? It was just gloves, booties, and hoods that we had to do without. But really, 5mm isn't that much. With my country and my pride to protect I went skiing, and soon found out that it really was warmer once you weren't sitting in the bay with two skis dragging you down and barely a wetsuit to keep you warm.
Mastering the sea took little time, and trip was cut quite short due to the boat driver only getting mild hypothermia after being out for so long. I exited the sea like a pro, skiing into the beach. Conveniently Meghan missed the photo-op two seconds after this photo where I couldn't quite stick the landing and ended up eating it right in front of everyone!
The rest of the afternoon was nice, and much warmer... I didn't have to go back into the water! We gorged ourselves on everyone's generosity and bangers, and ended up playing a bit of soccer with the young kids there. All and all it was a good day. The best part was waiting 24 hrs and calling back to Chicago to wish happy fourth to Grandma Klein and her entourage!
We were invited to the mid-winter bay ski and bar-b-q. Go figure they are as crazy here as people in the states. It was pretty much the Polar Bear swim, but in July.
Having no idea what to expect after being invited out to such an event from our immediate boss, Peter, we headed out to Kina Beach and took it from there. Kina Beach is about 5 minutes from our house and 6 from the orchards. So we managed to find it within at least 20. After arriving we discovered that it truly was as easy as Peter said to find them. They were the only ones out in the bay skiing!
We were introduced to quite a motley crew of people who in one way or another were connected to Peter's boss, Alan Trent, one of which WAS Alan. In true Kiwi fashion, they brought out the grill and the bangers (hot dogs, and other grillable edibles) and sat watching people get drug out to sea from the safety of the beach attached to two and sometimes even one anchor, which they called skies and wake boards. It was a lot of fun, and we met a bunch of nice people in the area.
We ended up talking to Alan for quite some time after discovering that he too was once associated with the great bastion of global superiority, America. Apparently Alan and his family decided to quit the hubbub of southern California for the more laid back lifestyle in NZ and making even more money. It was interesting that through the discussion of getting acquainted with kiwi life, we had noticed about the same sort of things that were not quite right with New Zealand, and go figure, it was the food! Within a month we had discovered nearly everything that Alan mentioned; absolutely no Mexican food whatsoever, and the thought of making it from scratch was equally impossible due to the lack of raw materials in the stores, ketchup is commonly referred to as tomato sauce, and is nothing like ketchup except for the color, plain hot chocolate is non existent, and in its place some sort of health food nutrient enriched supposedly chocolate flavored beverage, and on and on...
After talking for a while, Alan finally had to pay his dues and be drug out to sea. It was actually quite amazing since he is basically petrified to the water and the monsters of the deep that he went out and for a half an hour spent most of the time in the water rather than skiing above it. I guess you can never show fear!
With that said I soon found out that it was also my fate to follow those who went before me. It wasn't too hard for them to convince me, and really I had the whole of the American population to represent. After putting on a wet and cold 5mm wetsuit, I was ready to go. Of course we had wetsuits! What do you think? It was just gloves, booties, and hoods that we had to do without. But really, 5mm isn't that much. With my country and my pride to protect I went skiing, and soon found out that it really was warmer once you weren't sitting in the bay with two skis dragging you down and barely a wetsuit to keep you warm.
Mastering the sea took little time, and trip was cut quite short due to the boat driver only getting mild hypothermia after being out for so long. I exited the sea like a pro, skiing into the beach. Conveniently Meghan missed the photo-op two seconds after this photo where I couldn't quite stick the landing and ended up eating it right in front of everyone!
The rest of the afternoon was nice, and much warmer... I didn't have to go back into the water! We gorged ourselves on everyone's generosity and bangers, and ended up playing a bit of soccer with the young kids there. All and all it was a good day. The best part was waiting 24 hrs and calling back to Chicago to wish happy fourth to Grandma Klein and her entourage!
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