click it or ticket

5/11 kawakau court, home sweet home in cromwell. josey and i moved in 2 days ago and are still feeling the burn after swapping couches with the unit next door. our room is huge and starting to look like us- with limited selection at the warehouse we chose matching black sheets and complimentary duvet covers (mine green, josey's zebra). the walls are still bare, but we'll get around to that soon and in the meantime the mountain views out my window will hold me over. luckily vegetarians and vegans get on well in the kitchen and home cooking with a side of wine is becoming the routine around here. my favorite part of our new home is the path that runs the entire length of the lake to which we have access from our backyard. thankfully, the dirt path is easy on my knees and the mountains are easy on the eyes.

we befriended the 19 year olds next door yesterday and they invited us out to a local bar to watch the rugby game (during which i had no idea what the hell was happening. must learn the rules...). we met some more kiwis and quickly fell in love with speights, every south islander's favorite beer. and it's a good thing too because one guy hit it big on the slots and kept everyone's glass full til the bar closed down.

most things are falling in to place nicely, with some effort of course. we have, however, quickly learned to hate the cops of cromwell who obviously have even less to do than the cops in concord and carlisle. it was moving day and we were heading from the garden cafe around the corner to pick up the keys to our new abode when a road nazi pig pulled us over. first he made fun of our car (not the first) and then proceeded to give us $150 tickets EACH for not wearing our seatbelts! unbelievable. especially being that a) it was the first time since being in new zealand that i did not have my belt on, b) we were literally driving no more than 200 feet going no faster than 35 km/hr, and c) we had been in the country for about 5 days and hadn't the foggiest idea about the law. josey, who never wears a seatbelt, has had her hair tangled and ripped out by her belt 4 or 5 times since the ticket was issued.

internet is still nearly impossible to come by and conveniently seems to be incompatible with my ancient computer. hopefully within the next week we will have wireless up and running- i.e. skype dates and photos on the way.