Lost in Translation

*I did not take this photograph, but it's of the fossil forrest at sunset, which I write about below.

Last weekend, Brian put the mountain bikes on the new roof rack and we headed to the Woodhill Mountain Bike Park about 45 minutes away. With a promise from my husband that we would REALLY only do the beginner tracks, I mustered up my courage and threw on my safety pads. The car park was alive and jumping, with a festival vibe to it. Lots of people, dogs, and, of course, mountain bikes. Compared to the few other mtn. biking parks I’ve been to, which were essentially deserted, it seems that Brian has found where all the mtn. bike lovers over 25 years of age go to play.

<------This is the trail map

 <------ Brian's wagon with manly roof rack 

<------ my wagon

Where mountain bike lovers/maniacs gather.

Although I said I’d try the beginner/intermediate trail, Brian said he thought we should start with the beginner one-EXCELLENT decision! I have to admit that it was definitely the most positive experience I’ve had to date mtn. biking. I didn’t fall once, and went over some things that I impressed myself with (despite shouting, “Oh God,” as I sped down some tricky parts). I’m open to trying some more times, but the truth is I didn’t enjoy it. I was full of fear the whole time, and that just sucks. I can see how with more practice and confidence, it might be an enjoyable thing to do. It’s no fun being afraid, so we’re off to practice more this weekend. I’ve been reading Brian’s “Mastering Mountain Biking Skills” book throughout this week, and I hope some of the techniques help diminish my fear a bit. I’ll keep you posted!

Me at the end. Track to the left in woods.

We were home with plenty of daylight to spare, so we went on our favorite walk so far, the one following the coast from our backyard. Now we see people walking and running the path all the time, from morning till night but I didn’t realize it’s a North Shore City heritage trail. We always discover something new on this walk, and we didn’t realize that the cluster of great trees right off Takapuna Beach are over 200 years old. While doing a bit of research on the area I came across an explanation of the trees in the middle of Minnehaha Rd. (see pictures from July 4^th post).

“Looking down Minnehaha Ave and O’Neills Ave, you will see oak trees protruding into the road. The trees, thought to have been planted in the 1860s, were considered a precious feature of the landscape when the two roads were laid around the early 1920s. Mrs O’Neill who owned property on the cliffs successfully campaigned to preserve the two trees

in O’Neill’s Ave.

One theory suggests that the two oak trees flanking Minnehaha Ave were planted by William Hurst to frame his house. The effect of the two trees now large enough to meet in an archway, can still be seen today by walking a little way down Minnehaha Ave and turning back to look at the Hurst homestead.”

If you’re interested in the history of the area where we live I highly recommend checking out the following link:

http://www.coupemondiale.org/2009/images/takapuna_milford_walk.pdf

Number 10, Algie’s castle is right next door to us, and they’re currently renovating it. Number 18, the Giant’s Chair, is in our backyard! Check out my picture below of Brian sitting in the Giant's Chair, compared to the one taken in the 1930s-40s (You have to go to the link above to see the other picture). Pretty cool!

So we discovered the only fossil forest in New Zealand, and it happens to be on our walk. Around 100,000 years ago (I looked up the number FYI), Lake Pupuke (which is behind us, not the water you’ve seen in our pictures) was a volcanic crater which erupted, covering the coastal forest of kauri (a type of tree), pohutukawa (another type of tree) and various broadleaf trees with hot lava. The trees are now fossilised tree trunks right by Takapuna Beach. So there’s this amazing fossil forest we didn’t even know about until Sunday, yet had walked by a few times. The rock pools are incredible, and full of little water worlds. We found lots of oysters, snails, mussels, anemone, and with the help of a much smaller, younger explorer, a tiny little starfish. It was the smallest starfish I’ve seen. We just love it!

If you look close there's a small pool in the center of the fossilized tree in the foreground of this picture. That little pool is filled with tons of sea life, and there are hundreds of little ocean worlds like that all over this place!

We also went walking further than before onto these magnificent cliffs. Unfortunately we didn’t have our camera, but I’m sure we’ll go by there again soon and we’ll take plenty of pics for Facebook and the blog.

So what else can I tell you? I started weight watchers last week, and like everything else there are some differences from the states. Ok, for those of you who don’t know the weight watchers plan by heart, you are given a certain number of total points per day. Every food has a certain number of points, which is based on the total fat, calories, and amount of fiber. As long as you stay within your points allowance for the day you can eat whatever you want. Obviously foods like pizza, cheeseburgers, and cakes have way more points than vegetables and baked chicken, etc.

Anyways, in New Zealand, the nutritional information on foods is very different. They have kilojoules instead of calories (if you’re interested in the conversion rate look it up), and they break the fat down by saturated and unsaturated. So you calculate the points based on the kilojoules and saturated fat. It’s quite different, but having the same weight loss effect (of course they tell me in kilos instead of lbs).

So last week I’m in my first NZ weight watchers meeting with about 15 other women. Due to time and scheduling, I go to the 10am meeting on Wednesday morning, which means the whole group is comprised of senior citizens or women with school-aged kids. Then there’s me. Although they were speaking English, I couldn’t understand a word they were saying because they were talking so fast and all on top of one another. Even when they slowed down and I could understand what they were saying, the humor was completely over my head. They would all laugh, and I’m sitting there feeling like Bill Murray in Lost in Translation.

I’ve noticed that the different humor goes both ways though. Brian and I have seen two movies here so far: Shrek 3 (don’t recommend) and Toy Story 3 (highly recommend). I was quite aware that both Brian and I were laughing a LOT more than the rest of the audience. It seems a lot of the American jokes were just lost on them. So whenever I have no idea why everyone’s laughing at something, I just remind myself that most of the TV shows and movies here are American (thank god we get The Simpsons) and they probably don’t get most of the jokes.

Everyone from home keeps asking me if I’ve made new friends yet. We have become friends with a lovely couple, Michelle and Greg. Michelle’s a native Kiwi, and Greg’s originally from Poland. They’ve just moved back to NZ after ten years traveling the world basically. It’s really nice to have a Kiwi who can give me comparisons I understand. For example, most of my discussions when I don’t know what something is go as follows, but fill in any word for beetroot.

Kiwi: “Oh I just love beetroot!”

Lauren: “What’s beetroot? Is that the same as beets?”

Kiwi: “I don’t know, never heard of beets. What are they?”

            Then we spend time trying to explain each thing to the other, but never really understanding.  So we’re going snow boarding with Michelle and Greg in a few weeks, and Michelle told us that the snow is really nice in the southern part of the North Island, not icey like the snow in Vermont. That I can understand! The other great thing about Michelle and Greg are that we’re compatible in terms of craziness (i.e., Brian and Greg are both super thrill seekers who will wind up on the triple diamonds, and Michelle and I enjoy getting out there and trying adventurous things but prefer to stay to the blues).  So we’re excited about becoming friends with them.

            Aside from that, I’ve made several new friends through weight watchers and the group fitness classes at the gym. Think about my schedule, as I’m currently working from home, so that means that most of my friends are quite a bit out of my age range. Next Wednesday, I have a date with my two senior citizen friends, Rene (who was quick to tell me that her name’s pronounces reenie, like queenie and NOT renay) and Janet, after our weight watchers meeting. They’ve invited me over to play the Wii Fit with them! I was laughing and telling Brian this when he said, “Gosh, if they’re that old you’d better win!” I’ve also been invited to the post exercise class, group coffee chat by a number of women in my weight lifting class. They told me that I’ll represent the opinions and ideas of those under 60! Too funny!

            It’s interesting being a foreigner here. It’s honestly a bit like being famous but without the money or paparazzi. Everywhere we go, people want to talk with us, befriend us, and are really nice to us. It’s quite nice.

            That’s all I can think of for now, so I shall leave you with pictures of the steps down to our apartment and up to the road.

This is at the top of the steps when you're walking down to our apartment.

This is at the bottom of the steps, going up to the street.

Like I said, stair master included with rent!