New Zealand friend

My friend Allen, who left work to move to New Zealand, is back for a few weeks. Several of us from work went to meet him for lunch. He joked that he had lost some weight, but is gaining it all back by simply visiting restaurants he and his wife miss.

They are here for a two more weeks before returning, so I'll probably get to see them again. We talked briefly about my upcoming visit - I should be able to visit them for a day or two in Wellington.

He highly recommended the full day tour at Waitomo Caves, and also said there is a bus line called the "Kiwi Experience" which is handy for traveling around. On a more practical matter he said debit cards typically don't work, because New Zealand has its own network called EFPOS (electronic fund point-of-sale), but credit cards should be fine. Of course, cash works too. New Zealand believes strongly in taking the weekends off, so some businesses (typically restaurants) add a 10% or 15% surcharge to their prices, which I suppose offsets overtime wages. As for sports, rubgy is a national religion. I mentioned the men's gold and silver medalists in the 2004 Olympics are both New Zealanders, something nobody else at lunch seemed to know.

He talked about Wellington, describing it as beautiful but very windy. Apparently the south island's mountains focus winds from Antartica, so the weather is clear and beautiful but cold and windy. He said very few apartments or homes in New Zealand have central heating or double paned windows, so there isn't much difference between the outside temperature and the inside temperature. Hm... He and his wife moved in the beginning of the fall (in the southern hemisphere), and I'll be there in late spring, so I should have some good weather.

He compared Wellington to downtown Bellevue, ripped out and transported to Bellingham's location. If you aren't familiar with Washington state that might not mean too much to you! Bellevue is a Seattle suburb with a small downtown core and several skyscrapers, while Bellingham is a city near Canada surrounded by hills. Wellington has minimal sprawl - just 15 minutes outside the city and you are in farming and sheep country.

Hearing all this got me excited about the upcoming trip, I'll probably flip through my books on New Zealand again tonight!