Big Day Tomorrow

09-09-09 marks a big day for us tomorrow - Steph starts her new job at the Heritage hotel in Queenstown, and we move into our new place - a townhouse pretty similar to the one we had back in Atlanta except for one thing: location. Our new place is fully furnished, about 2 years old, really nice, and right on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. It was a bit more than we wanted to pay, and we're going to have to work at least probably 40 hours a week just to pay all our bills, but being right on the lake is going to be totally worth it. The guy who owns it said there is good
fishing and swimming right below our complex, so we're looking forward to that come summer. Its about 3 or 4 kilometers outside of Queenstown (maybe 2.5 miles), but there is a nice path along the lake that we'll be able to use to walk or bike into town.

As for Steph's job, she'll be working at the restaurant at the Heritage Hotel, which is about 1 minute drive ouside of downtown Queenstown, but on the other side from our place. It's probably an hour walk to get there, but we figure only about 10 or 15 minute bike ride. Tomorrow she has barista training, which she is very excited about. She's not really sure yet what she'll be doing or what kind of hours, but she said that they have a multi-national staff and that it seems like a pretty fun working environment. Her "trial run" at a country club near here didn't go so well - they basically just sent her out there without giving her a chance to look at the menu or anything - so she's happy that she won't have to be doing that.

As for me, well, I've kind of been a bum so far. I've applied for a lot of jobs, but it seems to be a pretty slow process since it really won't pick up around here for a couple months or so. Right now I'm hoping to hear back from a canyoning operation; they had a few jobs available but I'm hoping to get a chance at being a guide. Canyoning, for those not in the know, is basically climbing down waterfalls and swimming in ravines and what not. Kind of a strange "sport" but right up my alley so that would be a great gig. Otherwise I still think I could get a job at a golf course in a month or two when it gets a litte warmer. Until then, I'll be doing any temp work I can. I did 4 hours last weekend helping take down a conference at one of the local hotels. Basically carrying heavy and bulky tables and chairs and stuff up a huge hill to a truck. Exciting, exciting stuff. I've also been playing lots of frisbee golf, which is always good. Lets hope some of the more adventurous stuff comes through.

On another note, we should have good internet access at our new place, so I should be able to upload photos and blog more consitently. Until then, I leave you with another Quirks of New Zealand...

Quirk #2
Maybe it's because they don't actually have bears anywhere near here, but gummy bears are really hard to come by. Instead, they have gummy babies. That's right, little pieces of candy that look like chubby human babies. Actually the good ones are made by Starburst (no regular Starburst chews though) and they have some goo that squirts out the middle. They're called Crazy Babies. Strange.