Brooklyn

We planned to catch the bus up to Brooklyn to check out a new (to us) cinema, The Penthouse, to watch the Girl Who Played With Fire. Unfortunately, due to inattentiveness on our part, we went to the wrong place to catch the bus, and missed it. With buses only running every half hour on a Sunday, and as it wasn’t raining, we decided we could walk it. Of course, it started raining as we were halfway up the hill. Oh well. We were exploring an area of Wellington we hadn’t been to before, including Central Park, which seems to my untrained eye to meet only one of the criteria for being so named. The cinema has a café attached, and we had lunch there, slightly later than planned due to our half hour walk. It also looked like we’d got there just in the nick of time, for no sooner had we sat down than a queue began to form and suddenly tables were at a premium! After the film we managed to catch the bus back into town (sorry no photos).

Compare The Meerkats

And gocompare…and moneysupermarket…and confused.com. Purveyors of annoying adverts, eh? Well, we’re trying to organise some insurance here in Wellington, without the benefit of these websites. Let me tell you, it’s hard work! Never thought I’d be saying it, but I miss them – or at least, I miss the ability to put one’s requirements into one website, once only.

Wait! What am I talking about? Insurance companies that can give you insurance quotes over the internet? The few that I’ve found (and I only needed the fingers on one hand to count them) that actually do this, then insist on you phoning them. All this to get a quote. Remember when everyone did it this way?

Job Search

I went to meet a chap from another recruitment agency yesterday. Wellington doesn’t have the high-density of financial recruitment firms that London has – naturally enough, most of the banks are headquartered in Auckland, with a secondary office in the capital. We talked about the possibility of another role at Kiwibank – who seem to be on a recruiting drive, particularly in Wellington, at the moment. I haven’t found any jobs on offer at any of the other main banks which would suit my talents. 

Quiz Night 5

We went to the Backbencher pub http://www.backbencher.co.nz/ for their quiz night. We’d been unable to get in last week as it was closed for a private function, but had vouchers for free drinks so thought we would take the opportunity to use them.

One thing struck as immediately: all the teams were regulars, and we were greeted as a new team. So it looks like the kind of place at which we could, should we so choose, become regulars.

The quiz followed a similar format to most of the previous ones we’d tried, with one round to play a joker on. Initially we scored well, and slightly embarrassed some of the regular players with our knowledge, taking the lead after playing our joker on the Seventies round. Other round subjects included music, geography, a picture round (name the boy band, we scored dismally), and news (again, poor scoring due to lack of local knowledge). The final round was a connections round – as well as points for the answers, additional points were on offer if you guessed the connection between all the answers: the earlier you got the connection, the more points you got. We entirely failed to spot the names of 8 Australian prime ministers amongst the questions we answered. After taking the early lead, we faded towards the end, and finished second from last – for which we won the booby prize, a $30 bar tab next time! Repeat after me: “these are commercial prizes to make sure you come back next week”!

We hadn’t eaten there, so we don’t know what the food is like, but the menu on their website looks good. Also, they serve Speight’s Old Dark, which is fast becoming my favourite beer.

We really need to get some Kiwis onto our team, so Nicola is canvassing her office for potential participants.

Mount Victoria

On Saturday, seeing as it was a lovely sunny day, we decided to climb to the top of Mt. Victoria to the Lookout, to see what we could see. This was a novelty for me, less so of one for Nicola (who had already climbed it last time she was in Wellington, 4 years ago).

The way to Mt. Victoria is through Courtenay Place and up Majoribanks (sic) Street, so off we went, clad in jacket, jumper and shirt. By the time we reached the Charles Plimmer Park, jackets had been shed, and by the time we were at the top we were in t-shirts. This is no gentle ascent! There is a bus that will take you to the top, but it helpfully only runs Monday-Friday.

We took photos halfway up the ascent, 

and when we reached the top, 

when my camera’s batteries decided to give out on me. The views from the top are quite spectacular, across Oriental Bay and south across the Cook Strait to South Island (was that it visible on the horizon? Or just a cloud bank?) and beyond to Antarctica (not visible from this distance).

We decided to take an alternative route down, and promptly got “lost” in the forest, but eventually came out near Oriental Bay, and continued down by road.

Consumer Durables

Having been healthy all morning/lunchtime, we decided to increase our collection of consumer durables in the form of a Blu-Ray player. After much research I had selected the appropriate model (i.e. one that could, with a software modification, play our UK DVDs) and we trotted off to buy it from the only store that seemed to stock it in NZ…at least, I’d checked two shopping comparison sites and they both only listed one store.

We were then faced with an issue: how to check that it was working? Inevitably, we had to buy a Blu-Ray film, so we selected Inglourious Basterds, and watched it on Saturday night. We’ll find out whether the software code for UK DVDs works when our stuff arrives here – until then, we’ll be joining Fatso, NZ’s postal rental provider.

Chicken

I have bought chicken from the supermarket a few times now, and on each occasion I’ve been struck by the size of the portion. Are they growing super-chickens here? The chicken breasts are large enough for one breast to make a dinner for two, and the legs are enormous! Have they been crossed with moas at some distant point in their past?

It turns out that New Zealanders are quite protective about their chickens, and all chicken bought and sold in NZ is from NZ chickens, which are free from many of the diseases which affect other parts of the world. There is a complete ban on chicken imports.

Right, I’m off to curry some chicken for dinner tonight.

Quiz Night 4

Another night, another pub quiz. This time, it was organised through Nicola’s work. We had arranged to meet at the Backbencher pub http://www.backbencher.co.nz/ which is just behind the Parliament building. I got there 5 minutes before the agreed time, to find out that the pub was closed for a private function. They were “sorry for the inconvience” (sic) and handed me some vouchers for free drinks next time…so we’ll probably be back! 

Undeterred, we returned to Nicola’s office to update the remaining players, and an alternative venue, The Shepherd’s Arms http://www.shepherds.co.nz/index.html , was quickly arranged. It was another 10 minutes’ walk away. (Everything in Wellington is close to everything else!) We got there, and various other members of the group arrived. We had decided to eat there, and I had my first dish of green-lipped mussels since I’ve been here – cooked Thai-style, with coconut cream, chilis, lime juice, coriander etc. They were very good, and I must get some myself to cook at home – they’re available fresh at both our local supermarkets.

The quiz followed what seems to be a fairly standard format here, except this time we could choose two rounds to play our joker on. We went for the French round – all the questions were about France, French, or things with France in their name; and the music round – all pop, so Nicola’s specialist knowledge didn’t come into play. Several questions throughout the quiz, and particularly on the final round (TV and cinema) required local knowledge, so it was a good job we had a few Kiwis on the team! If we’re going to set up a regular team, I think that this is going to be a requirement, ’cos we (Dr. Evil voice) need the info.

After playing our two jokers, we were at the top of the leader board, but the second-placed team played their final joker on the last round and scored a perfect 10, thus pipping us to the post for first prize. Still, we ended up a creditable second, and won a $50 “bar cheque” to be used next time…as our former landlord Steve would say “these are commercial prizes to ensure you come back next week”.

All in all, a good night, and probably the best prospect so far for a regular night out – the food was good, the beer excellent (Speight's Old Dark). As it’s also close to Nicola’s office and where some of her colleagues live, the chances of getting a regular team together also look more encouraging…we’ll have to see about that.

Farmer's Market

Having been a little disappointed by the market at Hill Street last weekend, we set out to the market at Te Papa http://www.harboursidemarket.co.nz/ to see if it was any better…and it is! Much larger, with lots of stalls selling the usual array of fruit and vegetables, as well as some stalls selling other types of produce. Fish was available fresh off the boat as well.

We need to organise our food buying a bit better to take advantage of this, as it’s only a short walk away from where we live. As it is, we bought some herbs (Vietnamese mint, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and coriander) to use with the groper I’d bought a couple of days ago.

Whilst we were in the area, we also popped into Te Papa to see and read about the colossal squid on display there (insert your own joke about calamari here).

Yes, those are people in the tank where it was being defrosted. 

They Do Things Differently Here

It’s the season for sales here in Wellington, and a number of shops are advertising on television. One thing that I noticed was that some shops were selling “Manchester”. At first, I took this to be a brand name, but it kept cropping up. “Blimey, Manchester must be a popular brand – all the shops are selling it!” I thought. But it’s not.

A prize of 100 internets to the first person who can tell me what Manchester is.