Flew into Buenos Aires on Air New Zealand, nice, as they’ve only just started flying in. Anyway, after reading the guide book, and partly because we were pretty tired, decided to take a taxi into town. The taxi company was nice enough to let us phone the AirBnB host to make sure she knew we were coming. Anyway, all worked out fine. Sure it’s a little more expensive getting a taxi, however, I think it’s fair enough to be gentle on yourself the first few days after getting into a completely different timezone and in a foreign language to boot.

The host was lovely, met us at the door, suggested places to go for dinner etc. All good. Not having pesos (yet) we just used dollars. It’s an interesting old place Argentina. There are, I think, 5 different (American) dollar exchange rates in use. For our use case as a tourist, only two matter. The official exchange rate (9 Pesos to 1 Dollar) and the “blue dollar”. Not officially available to tourists, but, you get about 14 Pesos to the dollar if you exchange with these people. It’s a very easy place to get ripped off though, so you really want to ask a local and then take their advice. Lots of examples of people getting 1000 Peso notes (don’t exist any more) etc. etc. Our guy I think tricked/haggled us down a little (from 14 to 13.5) saying that they’d rather $100 notes to $50 notes.. however, someone else said this was correct. Anyway, moral of the story is, if you’re going to travel in Argentina, bring a lot of dollars with you. * (as of this writing, before Antarctica, this was true, however, the president has changed and I’m 99% sure the official exchange rate is now 13:1, so much better.

Also, Argentina is a lot more expensive than I was thinking it was going to be… purely through ignorance mind you, it is a fully developed (if somewhat corrupt) country.

Anyway, we spent our one full day wandering around, seeing the “Pink Palace” (presidential house). They were setting up for speeches etc. as Kirchener had just lost the election. Interesting times. We also went to to the cemetery which had been recommended. An odd place to walk around, lots of the cognoscenti of BA are here.. some now in ruins. The grave of Eva Peron (of Evita) is here. It’s quite the maze, I wonder how many films it is in! would make a great set.

We also ate at Cabana Las Lilas which our friend Val had recommended. Maaike’s parents had very kindly given us some $$ to spend on a dinner, as we were unable to make their 40th wedding anniversary. We had a fantastic dinner and a very nice bottle. I had a mini panic attack thinking that I’d ordered a bottle 10x as much as I had meant to, fortunately it was OK! I blame the jetlag. Anyway, lovely dinner, many thanks Meneer en Mevrouw Jongerius :)

Saw this bridge on the way home, very very similar to the one in Dublin. Turns out it is by the same architect. That’s value pricing that is ;)

Then it was time to head down to the bottom of South America, to Ushuaia, gateway to Antarctica.

Move along, get along, move along, get along, Go! Move! Shift! (lyrics from above)

Well, I always knew when getting hitched to Maaike that my comfortable happy life was ultimately doomed ;) heh, still, ’tis through discomfort that we grow. Anyway, Maaike is very much keen on travel, I am too, but more of a 1-2 month term than longer. Anyway, negotiations were entered into, though I think I was misled.. it started as “lets go for 3-6 months” (this was agreed to)… then, quickly turned into “but I’ll ask for 9 months” and then “I’ll ask for a year, but I’ll be happy with less”. CPIT agreed to the year, so a year it is. Maaike was able to put her job on hold for a year, I had to quit mine. Sure it is lovely to be off travelling for a year, no doubt about it, and really, who is going to give you any sort of sympathy when you say you’re off travelling for a year, but, I’d be lying if I said I was as open to change as Maaike is!

So, I handed in notice at Resolve, my colleagues made me a most excellent card:

The reason this is so excellent – it’s how I quit (without saving) in my editor of choice – vim. I hope it’d be fair to say that it wasn’t a comment on my coding to suggest that I quit without saving. For the record, I’d be more of a :wq kinda guy, or ZZ, or or or ;)

Anyway, I will miss Resolve, really excellent colleagues, interesting work that I thoroughly enjoyed (Problem-Attic being a highlight, as probably was the GapFiller project), great communication, perks like learning lunch and an excellent coffee machine, learning materials ready to hand…. no, it was a great place to be and I’ll miss the banter.

Also, I sold the van. My friend Michelle made a cake to celebrate/commiserate the event.

It was an interesting thing selling the van. I think most people were surprised that I’d get anything for it other than a couple of tins of baked beans. I had, in my head, that it was still worth heaps, and I was selling at the right time too (high season). I did end up selling it for $2,300, though I would have liked a little more. It was old sure, 1985, but it was still going fine and the engine seemed good. I told it to a German tourist. Interestingly, as soon as I’d sold it (he’d already haggled me down $200 and I’d already dropped the price a lot) he started saying that there was lots wrong with it, leaks etc. Frankly I was quite surprised by this as I’d just used it for driving to Ohau, to Picton (for the QC biking trip) and all around town for the last week dropping things off.. he even went so far as to ask me would I buy it back! So, maybe I did get a good price, hard to know. I’m not sure what we’ll get when we get back to NZ, but I must say, I like having a big box on wheels, at least until the point at which we buy a house and aren’t moving around so much. It did leave a slightly sour taste though, as I did think it was a decent van, and I did want the buyer to have a good time touring around in it. I offered to pay 1/2 of the cost of a repair for specific safety issues that he said the van had. I said only if he took it to my mechanic, and only if he said the work was necessary. I haven’t heard back yet, so I’m assuming that all is well and that he was just having a complain. We shall see.

The time up to leaving flew by, moving everything out of the house (Maaike was still having to work unfortunately, so I was quite busy running around). Getting jabs (boosters, Hep, Rabies…) etc.

We have been lucky to have wonderful friends who have been willing to use & store our stuff for a year, so we didn’t have to shell out for storage. Maaike had the bright idea to make a big list of all our stuff and see what things people would take. Worked out very well – far better than my sceptical self thought it would ;)

And then it was time to leave, first step Argentina, back Jan 2017.

Domhnall and Glynn are two great friends from college. Domhnall now lives in Hobart, and Glynn in Wellington, so we don’t get to see so much of each other. For Domhnall’s last birthday, his partner Gill suggested a present of a trip to meet up with Glynn and I (what a brilliant idea ;) ). We scratched our collective heads, and decided on the Queen Charlotte. It’s a trip I’ve done before, but perfect for a long weekends adventure. Not so hard as to be un-doable, and with accommodation and watering holes along the way and the fact that bags can be transported it was the perfect trip for us.

So, I drove from ChCh, Domhnall flew in from Darwin I think it was, and Glynn from Wellington. Domhnall had a magic GPS watch, so was able to create some quite nice maps:

You start at Ship Cove, where Captain Cook hung out when he was exploring the area (looking for the Great Southern Continent, and observing the transit of Venus)

It’s very much a grunt up the first hill and it was slightly slick from the day before’s rain, however, things dried up and we basically had perfect weather for the whole trip.

It was really lovely hanging out with Domhnall and Glynn, we’ll definitely make this kind of weekend happen again, every 3-4 years or so. I do have great friends in NZ, but, there is something very special about friends from Ireland who you went through college with (or at least, the climbing club anyway).

So, well done Gill for providing inspiration for the weekend to happen and I’m already looking forward to the next one, wherever it’ll be!

I have been somewhat slack on the blog front, but then, there’s a reason for that too – namely planning 13 months of travel (and packing everything up)

First off though, Steve’s stag.. it was a great weekend, the main event being rafting (which my go-pro seems to flatten out a bit – it was quite scary I can tell you!)

Then the wedding the following weekend… lovely trip down via Mt. Cook in all its glory:

Unfortunately, while I hear the wedding was excellent (how could it not be, such excellent folk getting married – and down in the stunning surrounds of Lake Ohau), I was, extremely ill. Somewhere I picked up a very nasty 24 hour D&V bug, so I was completely knocked out. Lost some weight though, so that was great ;)

Finally, 5th Nov and we had Guy Fawkes at Rachels place. They’ve bought a do’er upper over in New Brighton… it’s uninsured as-is-where-is… so, it’s a risk if there are more earthquakes, but I must say, I loved the house.. it had such a nice feel to it, big rooms, stunning view..

Nice view for the fireworks too!

Right – up to speed. Next post will be about leaving NZ for travelling. I am excited about it, but I am also looking forward to being on the plane and having all the faff of moving out behind me. Maaike is being wonderful organising everything, and putting in countless hours in the garden… but wow there’s a lot to do. Selling the van too, and kayak… and and .. it does make me a little sad to be honest. The van has been going well of late, and it seems a shame to sell it.

Hey ho, one door closes and another opens… :)

(first world problems or what)

Our friends Candace and Dan were away, so (Maaike) had offered to dog-sit their dog Tabasco. Very much her initiative – but it was almost like a mini holiday – a change is as good as a rest!

They also have chickens who had just started laying again after winter (who knew they stopped for winter?! I didn’t anyway!). Those eggs got turned into chocolate mousse:

4 eggs
200g Dark Chocolate
Coffee/Rum essence

-------------
Separate Eggs
Beat Egg whites until firm
melt chocolate
beat egg yolks with essence

slowly add choc as you beat essence-> until all choc is added

give egg white another whisk

gently fold in egg white to mixture - keep air - use whisk.
place in fridge overnight.

Then this weekend we headed to Arthurs pass for Paul Thompsons 40th. It was a lovely weekend, amazing the amount of kids & babies that have popped up in the last couple of years – definitely different sorts of parties – a 40th vs a 30th!

Did get away to Temple Basin for the Sunday… had excellent conditions again, 10cm of fresh and just a perfect day. It does take extra effort to get to Temple, but that effort is well rewarded!