Jobs? Housing? and Other Questions We Are Asked...Answered!

Jobs...this is a bit cruel right now to post about, because Daniel is currently working, but looking for other work. Oh well. I(Laura) have been working full time at a retail shop called Mountain Designs in downtown Christchurch. We sell outdoor equipment for camping, backpacking, hiking, etc. If you would like to take a look at our website, it's http://www.mountaindesigns.com/ . It's a good job with good people and I enjoy it, though you wouldn't believe how many of the like stores are in a central location in Christchurch. I don't know how they all survive.
Daniel is currently working building high end speakers at Theophany. Theophany is the name of the company and it's just 20 minutes outside of Christchurch. He enjoys working with his hands, but something closer to Christchurch would be better.



Housing...We live in a house with two flatmates named Rob and Nick. It's just a 5 minute drive from downtown Christchurch in a suburb called Spreydon. They try their best to teach us the Kiwi way of doing things and speaking to be understood by other Kiwis, but it's a difficult road. haha! We're still trying to figure out the difference between when they say better, bitter and butter, right Nick?!



Other Questions...We do take public transit, but also bought a rockin' 1986 Toyota Corolla. It's gets us around, though by the time we get to where we're going it smells like a hot glue gun. Explain that one!

All right, since I am new to this posting and picture adding thing, hang with me. This picture is of our first chips and fish experience. Yes, I(Laura, the vegetarian) do eat fish sometimes.

This is punting, or as we would say, taking a ride in a gondola. It's in Hagley Park next to downtown Christchurch.

We also took a day trip to Hanmer Springs. There are lots of hot spring baths, but we opted to take a hike up to a waterfall. It's quite a commercial town now, but a beautiful setting in the mountains

This is the hike up to the waterfall...sorry I didn't get them in order.

And this is Hagley Park again..beautiful! It also has a botanic garden.

One day trip to Akaroa, which is about an hour away. It's a French settlement, so all the streets are names Rue.
I can't remember the name of this place, but it's a rock beach on the way to Akaroa.
This is New Brighton Pier. They just outlawed fishing on the end, because of the mess it made. But it's still neat to walk out on and see the waves rolling in. It was a bit cold out on the pier which Daniel demonstrates here, or maybe he's just gassy?