First week in a far far away land called Wanaka, New Zealand. For those that don’t know, Wanaka is a beautiful quiet little town about an hour away from Queenstown and for those that don’t know Queenstown..well go to you google maps app and look it up. J upon arrival Teryn and I went to work on figuring out where to live, where to work and where to get food and booze, ya know the necessities of life. Teryn imidiently found an add in a local weekly news paper for a room to rent.

 She called and it ended up just being right up the street from the bar we were at. So we walked up a bit using only the map from the visitor’s center and walked up and met with the woman who owned the place. Flair ( pronounced flea) ( yeah I’m not sure how that works either) is this really cool woman maybe early 30’s complete hippie girl with a slack line in yard and just over all great energy. She is also an entrepreneur. She owns two coffee shops, one being a mobile (food truck) called “The Good Spot” so awesome! Her and her daughter Ataahua (Ahtoowah) along with another roommate or as they say ( Flatmate) Hugh an Aussie who just turned 30 the same week I did.

 They both are so welcoming and friendly Teryn and I really lucked out. Everyone couldn’t believe how fast we were able to find a place to live. I guess that can be the hardest thing to do around here. Our friend Corey who also lives here, lives with 4 other people. It’s pretty common to live with 3 to 5 other people.                                     

                        

So anyways we basically live in a garage. Well it’s a converted garage. We have a sink, mini fridge, toaster over, gas cooktop ( propane tank) couch, a couple of chairs, bed ( horrible springy bed) a dresser , little desk. Over all it’s pretty sweet. We just have to go to the main house which is just a couple steps away to use the toilet and shower. I really can’t complain too much, since it’s a place where it’s just Teryn and I and we can still be naked and not worry about roomates. Ataahua does tend to stop by whenever she wants in the morning, but she is a cute kid so it’s alright. She’s 5 and just got a kitten (you’ll see in the pics) named Kahn. Well it was named Kahn, now I think they changed it to Charlie.

So I can’t really remember what I had typed the first time that I started this part of the blog, so I am going to do what comes best. Be random with my thoughts.

Went to the liquor store and I couldn’t believe my eyes for a regular bottle of Patron they wanted $177! Which ends up being $130 for a bottle that is normally $50 or $60 back in the states. ( We later found a store that more reasonable prices) They have jack and cola already premixed bottles that are still only 5% alcohol. They only have 5% on tap at most. This one place has a 2.5% on tap. Because of the liquor laws the bars want to provide a beer to people where they won’t get in trouble if they drive after. I told the bartender that in Colorado you can get 6% to 8% on tap and I think I just about blew her mind. Everything is definitely a lot more expensive here that is for sure. For happy hour only certain beers or wines are on happy hour. Happy hour is only an hour. Not like in the states, where a happy hour can be 2 hours or so. At this rate. I’m gonna have to stop drinking…ha naw that’s not gonna happen. But I might have to switch to Wine or Ciders since that is one thing they do right.

Most bars doesn’t have seats at the bar, which I find quite odd too. Oh and for the guys it’s back to the days of pissing in troths again. Barely any individual urinals.

Charlie the kitten. Pictures of cats will go viral, Pictures of sleeping kittens will travel to the ends of the universe. I could put the most breathtaking picture of Mt. Wherever, but I bet my life savings that the kitten will get more likes and shares.

Don’t flush the toilet after every piss, you are wasting water.

I should learn to be a barista. Coffee is the way of the world. I know I can find a job, but the stress of finding one is stressful enough in the states. If I am to make this travel life work. I need to be able to get a job wherever we decide to go on this planet. Maybe I should learn to be a barista. Iced coffee to them is coffee with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. They take their coffee very seriously here and it is pretty damn good and strong. However the size is super small or small. No Large, No grande super size. But with how strong it already is, I am beginning to realize the bigger coffee in the states is really just filler with sugars and milk that you don’t really need anyway. 

So I am getting used to that.

I’m learning to either drink cider or drink wine because they atleast do those “proper” here. ( I’m also convinced that I will return home with a british accent, because of all the british people that live here) but food ah man… that is something to be dealt with. For starters I almost wasn’t able to find frozen pizza let alone a pizza place. We have tried a few pizzas now, but still nothing special. Mexican place…thought to ourselves you can’t fuck up Mexican right? Wrong… We went to a restaurant called Trout. Guess what… They don’t even have trout on the menu!?! And we are on the lake where there is tons of trout! So..yeah not sure what is going on with that.

We have yet to have Sushi here, but we are told the best sushi here is at a little place inside the mini mall ( when I say mini, I mean it literally has 4 stores and a video rental store.) problem with this is that the sushi place closes at 5pm. Ugh….. I could go on and on about the let downs of the food here, but I think Teryn and I both will do an entire blog on the food here.

 *TWO WORDS. HAM HUCK. ( Ham pieces mixed with a flavorless jello) yuck! Picture of that is on my Instagram which if you don’t know is dan.conerd come follow along kids.

1993. Always. Errrday. Allllday.

 It seems that Kiwis’ love American music, but it just so happens that it’s pretty much all the music from 1993. I am going to start documenting the music that plays here more, so you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Job search. Teryn of course landed an amazing new wine bar/artsy kind of place job and as for me… well  I am currently still working on it. I do have trial day at this steakhouse called lonestar. I think it’s basically a restaurant trying to be an American steak house, but we haven’t actually ate their yet because it’s out at the edge of town. The brits that we hang out with say it’s the worse place to work for, but at this point I am looking for anything that can provide a paycheck, before I dig myself in any more of deeper hole that I already am. For those that don’t know Teryn and I are by no means rich and only way we made this move possible is by a leap of faith and some credit cards. I still have a flat screen tv and soundsystem for sale back in Denver if there is anyone that wants to make me an offer.

Anyways wish me luck on getting a job.

I was lucky enough to score a free mountain bike, I just had to change out the front tube. The breaks need work, but for now I think I can make it work. It’s already so weird riding my bike on the other side of the road. Teryn also scored a bike today for $30 ( or for those keeping track that is around $24 in American dollars)

Today Teryn and I had a very beautiful walk to the local Wanaka Wine Vineyard, where we got to do a wine tasting and then we bought a bottle and soaked in the sun ( I of course forgot sunscreen and am now burnt) but nonetheless we soaked in the sun and sat in awe of the amazing views. Pictures below.

 Today was a beautiful day, one of the many I am positive that we will have on this adventure of ours. It’s getting late now and I’m sorry that it took me a bit longer to write this one, but I am going to try my hardest to write more and write it down right away from the time something happens, so I don’t forget.

 I love you all and may your week be proper. Oh this guy ( who might have a job for me) says he would be keen to go have a yarn with me. What the hell do you suppose that means?