Arrival and beyond.

Trip Start Sep 09, 2007
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of New Zealand  ,
Saturday, October 13, 2007

After an eternity of flying over the Pacific from Los Angeles, we arrived in Christchurch for 3 days to settle jet lag and to present credentials to a rep of the NZ medical board. Much hoohah about that, went to very upscale neighborhood of Fendalton to see how the Brit version of NZ lives. Stayed in great hotel OFF THE SQUARE and spent a couple of days eating well and stumbling on a great exhibit on the exploration of Antartica sponsored by the city of ChCh(how they abbreviate it here). We are big fans of Cook and Shackelton and their heroic travels and like that ChCh is the launch point for scientific travel to the South Pole...alas tourist travel emanates from South America.

We gathered together our massive dump of luggage(350#) or so and went to the airport to fly on to Dunedin only to discover that a domestic ticket in NZ has very limited weight allowance and huge fees for overage...luckily we met up with a merciful agent.

Arrival in Dunedin had 3 reps from the hospital where I will work greeting us and moving us into temp wuarters till our flat was ready. Bag piper welcoming
Bag piper welcoming
 Mote from hell, kept expecting Norman Bates to show up with large knife and a wig. Did OK there,andy had to celebrate here birthday there managing to cook on hot plate style stove.

FInally moved to flat...great views, convenient,cafes (more about that later) movie theatres with great films, not just the big releases(catch LIVES OF OTHER PEOPLE if you can) Given the smallest car in world to use, feel like the driver of the clown car in the circus(pix later). For a week or so felt like I was in a reality TV show being filmed for later release with shots of driving though roundabout on the wrong side,activating the windscreen washers when signalling a turn( set up differently) was classified as idiot from America...oh Dunedin very hilly...more so than San Francisco ...steepest street in world said to be here....soooo...they give me a manual transmission...clutch survived my break period.

On sat. AMs go tofamous farmers market downtown at the historic train station...briliant produce...pork sandwiches with homemade applesauce....varieties of breads...cheeses...chocolates(Cadbury is made here...factory tour later)

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