Intime Logo
As promised, there will be a couple of dedicated post on Rocinante and how to ship her and all our gear to Wellington. The first step was to figure out how to ship the bike and find a forwarding agent.
A couple of Internet searches and inquiries later, one company stood out: InTime Motorradtransporte Hamburg. Behind this impressive name Continue reading
Red Rocks walkway
Today I had to learn the hard way that I am a looooong way from being a good off-road rider. Since our first short ventures on unsealed roads, I was keen to try to tackle the red rocks. On our first time there, we had full paniers and were 2 up, and it was a huge pain. This time, I was eager to do it, all alone and with no luggage. The track there has everything you might encounter and hate on an off-road path: Continue reading
Last entry before we start. Getting up at 8am tomorrow and start at 10am. Three days hiking, two nights in Papatahi hut. Should be back Sunday afternoon/evening.
Last statement of Ian before we go:
“Ok gang, according to my event organiser safety clipboard we currently have 11, possibly 12, people arriving in an unknown number of groups at unknown times with unknown comms links between entry teams. Therefore I’ll duck out of any organising from here on in. Don’t die.
Just to update you, Flo and Nina will be joining me going in tomorrow morning. If we’re not there on your arrival, make sure you have that code for the door.”
Happy tramping everyone! =P
We had Aaron and Brendan over for dinner yesterday (Tina is in Auckland) and Flo tried another one of the local beers. It all kinda started back in Germany with Peter finding NZ brewed DB draught beer in Zurich and buying two cans of it for Flo. Flo really liked it…
Since we’re in Wellington, he is really impressed with the variety of beer and started to try his way through the brands (slowly as alcohol is quite expensive). Yesterday at the dinner, our two guests came up with the idea of Flo writing a diary or even better a blog about all the beers he tries and what he thinks of them. A possible name that came up was beerflow which I slightly changed into Beer-Floh. =P I don’t think Flo will go for a seperate blog but maybe he will write about some on here… Continue reading
Flo coffee
Nothing really new here so I thought I’d share a couple of impressions from today and the last couple of weeks. =) Especially for folks who are not on facebook, google+ or instagram.
Mostly, I try to read in the mornings and after lunch so that I get through the books that I brought here and have a better understanding of what I am doing. =P Today was very sunny though and I convinced Flo to go shopping with me (so boring, Nina!) and then have a coffee out in the sunshine. The sun here is really strong, and Flo and I both got a bit sunburnt just from the tiny coffee break (about 20 min). Continue reading
Makara Beach from above
On Monday, 1st of October, the weather was really nice and sunny again so I decided to have a short day of studying. Flo and I wanted to do the Makara Beach Walk along the shore. Tina also thought that’s a good idea so she tagged along. We went out to the beach in Tina’s and Brendan’s car and I realized that motorbikes and cars are quite different. With all those curves, I felt quite motion sick. Continue reading
I know we’ve been slack with updating the blog and there are a couple of posts in the pipeline with really nice pictures BUT we have news and I thought this time, I share it right away. 🙂
Flo and I had an appointment at Vic uni today with one of the course advisors. And it helped a LOT! She really took time to get a grip of our situation, copied things for us and made phone calls. Plans are:
Flo is gonna start studying. He’s first gonna go for a Postgraduate Certificate in Information Management. It’ll take him one trimester to complete the 4 mandatory courses and then all is well. 🙂 *lol* It gives us a couple of advantages. First it is a level 7 qualification which means we then have enough points to go for the residency visa. Second, Flo can continue and get a Postgraduate Diploma in Information Management in another trimester. And then…if he’s really up for it…he could keep studing for two more trimesters and get a master’s degree in Information technology in just 1 1/2 years. O.O Do you guys know how long it took me to get my master’s degree?!? Just saying…
Also she gave me the contact details of the dean of the Faculty of Graduate Research as I should get in contact with him. Unfortunately, he was out but she spoke to the Senior Administrator who basically said it will be hard to establish a Cotutelle agreement but not impossible. As a next step, my German supervisor needs to contact the uni officially. What he needs to do exactly, I will discuss with the dean in person, hopefully soon. 🙂
Devil’s Dream Cake
It’s a bit late but since it’s been my 30th birthday, I thought I should maybe write an entry on it. =)
My birthday was a bit too soon after we arrived here to really organize a big party or anything like it. I was just happy that I wasn’t that jetlagged anymore as I found the jetlag more annoying than ever before. At 11am I met up with my “possible supervisor” from Vic uni at the National Library. The National Library has just re-opened and it looks pretty cool right now. At 11am there ususally is a tour but except for my ps (I am going to shorten possible supervisor now) and me there was no one around so we got a private tour. That was pretty sweet.
Ps and I had coffee afterwards but nothing really to discuss as I am still far away from having a thesis for my PhD. He offered to help me as soon as I know what I’m about to do but for that, I really have to get a better grip on the field. So yeah, nothing new on that front. :s
Okay, new flat it is. New…well, a bit run-down to be honest. Flo and I came up with a lot of stuff we could do to fix it and make it way nicer than it is right now…but we’re only renting it for 6 months.
To give you a first impression…Flo called the flat “vomit-coloured hell-hole” for half a day before we came up with Monte Pugly as a name for it.
Ah, let me start all over again. When Flo and I looked at flats, we decided to give Newlands a try as it is a really nice suburb, only 7 min on the motorway away from the city center and the flat was partly furnished. Flo particularly liked a big gaming table. BUT the landlord decided to go with a single person, not with a couple. Bad luck for us. Continue reading
The red rocks walk
… with the land and especially with the roads! Sooooo marvelous, and it was just the two very short ride outs you can do in 2 hours starting in downtown Wellington.
Nina and I went for two ride outs this week. The first one was on her birthday. Although we missed the sun by maybe 2 hours, it was still gorgeous. I am fairly certain, that this is going to be my new “Hausstrecke”. Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.