Baking gone wild

This was my first attempt at baking in the southern hemisphere, the very easy chocolate chip cookie, but alas, something went terribly wrong. They taste alright but man, gonna have to tweak the recipe a bit.

First day of work and a query

First day of work today. My head is still spinning with the names of all of my new colleagues and the new information that I am required to stuff into my brain (which has suffered since having children...mommy brain anyone?). Learning about "registrars" (residents), "lead maternity carers" (midwives who provide prenatal and postpartum care to women and families), and the ins and outs of a Baby Friendly Hospital. Have I mentioned that this is the perfect job for me? I know there will be challenges, as there are with any job, but this is really, truly a great opportunity for me.

My new colleagues held a mid-morning "tea" for me which was lovely. I met many of the midwives and found that about half of them were from the UK. Somehow, we started talking politics (maybe I brought it up! Go figure!) and this led to a discussion about the current debate in the US around universal health care. One of my colleagues just bluntly asked "Why would anyone be against universal health care?" While I wanted to unleash my wrath on the no-good Republicans (I just typed "Repuke-likans" on accident! Maybe this term will catch on!), I restrained myself and then thanked my lucky stars that I get to experience working in a health care system that provides universal health care. Hip hip hooray!

My brush with fame...

Well, not really. But I swear, the skipper on the cruise in Akaroa looked like Neil Finn. As many of you know, I am a huge Crowded House/Neil Finn fan and I could have sworn that he was Neil's long lost other brother. Alas, I googled and found no such brother. Ah well. He invited Miss M and I up into the cabin for the end of the cruise and we had a grand time.

And here is a little video of the Hector's dolphins, the world's smallest species of dolphin only found in New Zealand.

Dolphins and Penguins and Seals, oh my!

A few pictures from our trip to Akaroa.

Hanging out in the backyard on a sunny day

A Day Up In the Hills of Christchurch 2

Just because they are so damn cute......

A Day Up In the Hills of Christchurch

So today was a good day as you will see from our pictures. It's late winter, very early spring here in Christchurch so we were pleasantly surprised to have a warm, windless 18 degrees Celsius day. A perfect day to take the gondola up to the hills just southeast of town about 8 kilometers. It's a quick ten minute drive up the gondola and the views let you truly soak in your surroundings. The outdoor living will be easy....
We also saw a nice house today out in Bryndwyr. Smaller, cheapish and very sweet and cozy. We put in our application and now we wait to see if the landlord takes a shine to us. She is a nurse so we have that going for us...which is nice (movie reference anyone?). To cap it off we also did some window shopping for some bikes and found the store where we will be purchasing ours. John Bull Avanti Plus is the place to go in Christchurch in our estimation! Super friendly and the always appealing good deal. Enjoy the pics and once again stay tuned. As an added clue to the internal movie reference remember this line: "A big hitter the lama.."