Getting Busy

Suddenly lots of things are happening. I've got a job interview lined up at a firm in Lower Hutt, near Wellington on January 28. I'm quietly confident about my chances. Christina and I will drive down to Wellington for the interview. We're leaving this Monday, which will give us plenty of time to see some sights during our drive south. We plan to first head to Hawkes Bay on the East Coast and follow the coastline down from there.

We also re-read the immigration requirements and feel that Christina has an excellent chance to get a Work Permit for New Zealand on the basis of my citizenship. We'd been advised against doing this by the NZ Consulate in Geneva, but we're confident and will give it a shot. We are in the process of filling out the application form. Once we submit it, together with a medical report and police certificate, we should know the answer within 30 days.

Jewel of the Hauraki Gulf

Christina and I were up in Auckland for the birthday of a friend, so we took the chance to visit Waiheke Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. We got to the island by ferry. The weather was hot and sunny so we did a nice coastal walk, took a couple of swims and headed back to Auckland in the evening. What a top place!



View across Fossil Bay on Waiheke Island



A late-afternoon view of Auckland on the way back from Waiheke Island

Job Hunting

Reality is slowly starting to kick in: It’s now 2008 and Christina and I need jobs. Unfortunately, now is not the best time to get one: the job market is always quiet over the Christmas/New Year period so there is not much we can do except wait. My goal is a job by the end of January, and Christina's goal is to get a work permit, then a job.

It's a hard life

Whangamata Wedding

I’ve spent more New Year’s Eves at the Mahoney’s place in Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsular than I can remember. With its beautiful hilltop setting overlooking the harbour and the town, it is the perfect place to be to celebrate the start of the New Year. But this time it was extra-special: Thomas Mahoney, an old friend from high school days and his fiancée Nikki chose this New Year’s Eve to get married.

The wedding took place in the garden of Tom’s parents’ house up on the hill. The weather was perfect and ceremony was relaxed and intimate. In his own inimitable style, Eric, the Best Man, mixed up the rings for bride and groom - but made up for it with a great speech afterwards. A barbeque, party and fireworks at midnight rounded out a brilliant evening. Congratulations to Tom and Nikki.



High school reunion - Tim, Tom, Eric and Paul

Christmas 2007

Christmas was a low-key affair at my mother’s house by the Waikato River in Hamilton. I almost didn’t make this one, so to say I was happy to be a part of the celebrations would be an understatement. My grandmother and grandfather were there, together with my mum and Christina. We ate a delicious salmon and various salads for lunch, and spent the afternoon relaxing.



Christmas lunch with my family and Christina

Tapotupotu Bay

When we arrived at Tapotupotu Bay, Christina and I chose a shady spot a bit away from the other people on the beach and headed down to the water for a swim. At first it was fun to play in the waves. The water was rough but only knee-high when still and we felt in no danger. Suddenly, before we knew it, we were caught in quite a strong rip and the water was over our heads. As soon as I realised that we were in danger, we started swimming back to the beach. Christina made it to a sandbar where she could stand, but try as I might, I could not get more than a toe to the sandbar. I got sucked out again and again. In desperation, I yelled to Christina to go for help. I felt unable to make it back to shore on my own so decided to float on my back and wait to be rescued. It seemed to take an eternity, but was probably about 30 minutes. I remember looking up several times and wondering what on earth is taking them so long? The problem was the waves were too large for a swimmer to come out and get me. Two rescue attempts tried and failed. In the meantime, I had drifted even further from the shore. I didn’t know it, but the only chance I had was for someone with a boat to come to my aid. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened.

By sheer chance, a man with a boat arrived at the beach and was able to bring his boat out through the waves and pluck me from the water. I was getting very weak by that stage. I’d swallowed a lot of seawater and hypothermia had set in. I was delirious and my head was going under but I remember hearing the boat arrive, some shouts and attempting to scramble in myself. That effort must have drained my last reserves of energy, as after that I have no recollection of what happened next until I woke up shivering uncontrollably in a car being driven south to Houhora. Christina was with me and she had to keep me from falling asleep again. At that point I realised everything would probably be OK.

I was in worse condition than I thought, however, and the paramedics who examined me in Houhora had no hesitation in calling the air ambulance. I was short of breath and very little of the air I was inhaling was making its way into my blood. A short time later I was in a helicopter and on the way to Whangarei Hospital. Christina arrived later in the evening after collecting the car and driving down. She did a great job of cheering me up and supporting me. It took a while for me to recover, thanks to the seawater I’d swallowed, but after two nights in hospital I was back to normal and free to go.

Only later, after talking to and thanking the man who rescued me in his boat, did it sink in just how close I had come to drowning. Many New Zealand beaches are known for being treacherous and over 100 people drown in New Zealand each year. I am extremely lucky to be alive.



Tapotupotu Bay

Northbound to Northland

After a couple of days lazing around at my mother’s place in the countryside just out of Hamilton, Christina and I decided to use the remaining week before Christmas to explore some more of New Zealand. We chose to visit Northland, the prosaically-named long finger of land that stretches north of Auckland. I hadn’t been up there since I was a kid, and never further north than the Bay of Islands. We decided to go all the way to Cape Reinga, the almost-northernmost point of New Zealand and, according to Maori folklore, the jumping-off point for spirits on their way to the Underworld. It’s also the best place to see watch two great bodies of water merge: the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean.



Heading for Cape Reinga!

Not many people live in the Far North, the region of Northland north of Kaitaia. It’s a starkly beautiful place of endless rolling green hills and long, deserted beaches. We wanted to walk from Spirits Bay on the eastern coast via Cape Reinga to Ninety Mile Beach on the western coast. We were having a brilliant time until 2 pm on the second day, when we decided to go for a swim at Tapotupotu Bay.



Climbing up from Spirits Bay, on the way to Cape Reinga. We started at the far end of the beach