Our New Favorite Old Show

After two hard days of work into the week for Jared and two days of random miscellany for Lindsay, Tuesday night is a good time to settle down with a nice glass of wine and watch a bit of TV.  Lucky for us, we have found the perfect drinking buddy in Keith Floyd, British cook, author, host of "Floyd Uncorked" and all-around wino.  Jared and I stumbled upon this gem one Tuesday night on the Travel channel and have set aside time out of our week to catch his latest exploits.  Floyd is far more interested in drinking wine than learning about it and constantly interrupts his side-kick and wine expert JP as he tries to explain the impact that something like terroir can have on a wine.  Naturally, after seeing a few episodes of this classic (which seems to have been filmed in the early nineties by the look of JP's pants), we wanted to learn more about this mad genius and his over-indulgent ways.  After quickly searching the internet, I had some news. Nervous about Jared's reaction, I insisted that he have a drink in his hand before I would share what I had discovered: Keith Floyd recently passed away.  Now, we considered performing the ritual pouring a bit out of our glass "for the homies," but then we remembered who we were honoring and realized that Floyd would never waste wine in such a silly manner.  Instead, we tilted our glasses skyward in memory of a fallen great.

New Zealand Flashback (Part 1)

So since this is our blog we get to make our own rules here.  We have decided that to take a quick trip back in time and update our faithful blog reader(s) about how our quest through New Zealand went down.  In honor of the original inspiration behind this trip, we’ll make this a mythical three-part epic with a new chapter dropping every time we feel like typing up a new section.  Without further ado…part 1:

So after the ruckusness (yes it’s a word) of our wedding , we needed to get out of town for a little bit of R&R.   New Zealand was the choice and wow that flight took forever.  We left Austin around 6:00 p.m. on a Monday and then landed in Auckland 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday.  We may have skipped a day in there somewhere, but that’s neither here nor there.  Anyways, pictures are better than words so lets kick off a montage:

So this is the Auckland skyline.  Amongst this lineup the Sky City Tower is the obvious standout, with the whole needle-thing going on.  The last night of the trip we actually stayed at the hotel there and gambled away our last New Zealand dollars betting on when bungee jumpers would leap off of the sky deck.

Gnarly Factoid: Only 4 Million people live in New Zealand and 1.2 Million of those live in Auckland

Yeah so this is me big timing some other tourists aboard our Whale & Dolphin Safari.  So if you are starting to ask “what is the deal with these two and whale watching?” well I don’t have an answer for you.  Maybe the big fellas are subconsciously drawing Lindsay to them in order to thank her for her non-mammalian diet.  Anyways, this righteous pic is of the legendary Blue Whale….turns out this was only the 2^nd one the safari guide had seen in 17 years so, needless to say, we felt pretty awesome afterwards.

So this was embarrassing:  I paid a bouncer $100 to get Lindsay and I into Auckland’s exclusive 5 Below Bar and to get upgraded into pimptastic Russian parkas with Isotoner ski mitts, but after going to the bar and getting us drinks, I returned to find Lindsay copping a feel of this naked ice dude. Turns out he was a pretty cool guy though so no big deal.

It may not look it, but this was probably the most intense moment of our time in the land of extreme sports.  We are in the Hertz parking garage about to hit the New Zealand highway in our brand new bizarro-world Ford Focus.  Unfortunately for Lindsay, she lost the pre-drive paper-rock-scissors match and got 1^st shift.  Overall, our time in Auckland was a good time, but New Zealand isn't about city life.  In order to get this trip started, we needed to step it up a bit.

Okay, so first stop on our North Island road trip was Rotorua, the land of hot springs and weird Kiwi thrill rides.  Luckily, these hot spring all reek of sulfuric gas (a la rotten eggs) and this big boy was right outside of our hotel room. Nice romantic choice of hotel room, huh?

Alright, bizarre adrenaline rush #1… street luge racing.  That dude in the blue helmet was about to get run off the road by my nasty Mario Kart skills.  As for Lindsay, she is actually about to slap some kid that started mouthing off about being a more radical racer than her.   She refrained from the physical beat down, but made sure he ate asphalt before it was all over.  Bottom line, Texas owned the mountain that day my friends.

Bizarre adrenaline rush #2 = Zorbing!  Pretty simple process.  They drive you up the hill, put you in a huge plastic ball and then fill it with warm water (good cause it was like 50 degrees outside).  A quick nudge and you are spinning around inside while the ball is bouncing and rolling down the hill.  Tops out at less than a minute, but it was totally worth it.

So after issuing beatdowns on the street luge and getting all twisted in the Zorb, we were feeling a lot more confident about getting back on the road in our Focus.  How could you not with such a fly ride.

So its no Africa, but New Zealand has its fair share of wildlife.  On our way from Rotorua to Waitomo we were lucky enough to witness these rare black & white hill-grazing bovines and then later caught a glimpse of the world famous shepherd and mega-sheep dog combo.  That sure was a groovy little drive.

Aww yeah.  Welcome to Waitomo my friends.  Population 215 and home to the world famous glowworm caves (actually world famous this time, unlike the shepherd & mega sheep dog thing from earlier).  So seeing as the whole reason we were here was to get extreme with an underground cave adventure, we had to stay in equally wild accomodations.    The Waitanic and the Hobbit Motel definitely fit the bill.

So yes we look really tough with this sweet gear on, but man was it clutch.  Our outfits consist of a wool base-layer fleece, an arctic-rated thermal wetsuit with a an additional over-layer jacket, thermal booties, gnarly red helmets, and some killer boots.  For two hours we abseiled, ziplined, tubed, swam, trekked, and climbed through this massive underground cave system all under the luminescence of the glow worms.  It was by far the most physically grueling and ridiculously freezing cold thing we did on the trip.  It was awesome.

So other than the caves, there wasn’t much to do in Waitomo, so we shortly set off on the road again towards Wellington.  When you are making good time, the last thing you need is a delay, but its kind of tough to get mad when its caused by a hundred or so sheep that happened to sneak out onto the highway.  Plus we got to help the dogs get them off the road with some skilled driving and horn honking.  We eventually made up the lost time and completed our relaxing and scenic journey through New Zealand’s North Island.

Stay tuned for Part 2....

Even from Africa, OU still sucks

Even a little pug in Cape Town knows which team to cheer for.  Gotta love the local wildlife.  Little rascal actually got so fired up that when Texas sealed the win she decided to mark her territory all over the couch cushion.  Luckily Jared decided to round out his game day attire with quick drying UT board shorts.

Hook 'em!

RIP Tsunami

Being new to this whole travel blog-thing, I am not sure if I am supposed to be strictly making observations on the ways of the Capetonians and how cool Africa is, but I feel a strong need to ask for a moment of silence as we contemplate the life of one of the most disagreeable cats around.

Tsunami was selected out of the bunch from a crazy cat lady in Austin because she looked the least likely to have worms.  She was instantly angry and hateful, hiding in corners and hissing at anyone nearby.  She soon graduated to outright ambush attacks on my roommates (sorry about that, Kelly and Jillian) and purposely knocking over full glasses of water.  I knew I had a special cat on my hands when we came home one day and she had somehow dragged a bird into the living room and killed it but not before making it appear as if the bird had exploded feathers all over the room.   Her small animal killing spree continued after her move to Dallas, taking down rats, baby bunnies, and many a lizard.  Eager-to-please Heidi, our golden retriever, was no match for Tsunami and once spent an entire afternoon unable to leave the closet as Tsunami was blocking the way. Truly a savage beast.

Nevertheless, by occasionally showing a modicum of affection, she was able to win over my heart and the hearts of many.  I would like to say that Tsunami is in cat heaven, but find that unlikely due to her ruthless ways.  So why don't we just say that she showed the suburban animal kingdom who was boss and will be missed by many.  And although she would probably like us to remember her by killing something brutally and then leaving its remains on someone's doorstep, why don't we just take a moment to remember the good times, like when she wished me happy birthday last year (see picture)....

West Coast National Park

Now, while spending one's Saturday driving out to the countryside to look at seasonal flowers might sound like something that 70 yr old British people would get excited about, this is what Jared and I did on Saturday.  The spring wildflowers of the West Coast in South Africa are quite famous and we had heard multiple times that this was something that we must go and see before the season was over.  An easy, one-hour drive from Cape Town, the West Coast National Park was assured to meet all of our flower-viewing needs.  While the flowers were very pretty, the park itself featured some great hiking, pristine beaches, and a beautiful lagoon.

 

While enjoying a leisurely drive around the park, we also had the opportunity to add to our animal list: ostrich! Although Jared has been enjoying ostrich burgers since we arrived, we had not yet seen one of these huge birds in person.  I took about a million pictures of the first one we saw, only to drive around a bend to see a ton more delicately stepping around the park.  We had heard that they were not very friendly creatures so we didn't get out to try to pet it or anything, but I think that it definitely counts as a check in the wild animal list...

Cape Town – The Beginning

When Jared proposed writing a blog so that our friends and family could keep abreast of our adventures while abroad, I have to admit that I wasn't totally gung-ho about the idea. Bloggers, in my mind, were weird little people that spent all day at the computer over-analyzing political/sports/fashion minutia or self-absorbed types that thought that everyone was really interested in what they were up to today. Obviously, at some point I came around to the idea. Despite the fact that we both have facebook, skype, gmail chat, and send regular emails, there still seemed to be a bit of a gap, which we hope this blog will fill….

So to help you get an image of this foreign African city that we live in, I'll offer this simple description:

"The town and the surrounding area are SO pretty. Tons of palm trees, a massive blue ocean and big, funny shaped mountains in the background"

….but we'll tack on a nice aerial tutorial photo just for kicks:

Our new city:

So, now to summarize the first 3 weeks and change since we have arrived. Here are a couple quick-hitters:


Driving Lessons – Three 2-hour sessions with our quiet and not so assertive driving instructor Sam. The first of which we didn't learn of until 9:00 AM (1 hour before the start) after having gone out for a celebratory sushi/sake dinner into shots and beers with some new friends of ours (who happen to be from Dallas…can't get outside the bubble if you try). Happy to report zero incidents, but it was quite a painful time. Ultimately we did so well that they gave us an upgrade on our company car.

Our New Ride:

Mouille Point (pronounced Moo-lee) – This is the lucky segment of the never-ending Cape Town coast that will be our home base until March. It has an old iconic red/white striped lighthouse (for you historical landmark fans), a putt-putt golf course (no Peter Pan Mini-Golf…doesn't even have a T-Rex), a creepy hedge maze, and a jogging path that features Cape Towns fittest coeds. It isn't really a beach, rather more of a rocky, ocean plant repository, which isn't too disappointing because the Atlantic coast is insanely cold. For beaches, we just need to make a scenic 15 minute drive to Camps Bay where all the rich and well-to-do like to reside. For good reason too. So other than the ocean, we have once again managed to find a place that has construction going on next door (4th year in a row). This project is a bit more interesting though, cause it is a new golf course surrounding the new World Cup stadium. Plus the construction workers here wear cool matching uniforms: teal pants with fluorescent yellow vests, red pants with yellow vest (a.k.a. the ketchup & mustard) or my favorite, the all-orange jumpsuit.

Our Apartment Views:

Chevron – so in case you guys really just don't listen very well, this is why we are here. My job is going well so far. Nothing of great appeal to discuss, but I will say that even working in a predominately English-speaking work environment can be confusing. Just because my co-workers speak English doesn't mean they want to. Most would rather chat in Afrikaans (Dutch-originated, sounds rough at times like German), Xhosa (a tribal language for an African subset that features the stereotyped 'pops' and 'clicks', and grab-bag (could be anything, bottomline is I don't understand it). Another challenge for me has been remembering and understanding names. With the two aforementioned groups and a large Indian/Malay cultures here, your Johns, Mikes, and Daves aren't as common. Other than that, I am just working on digesting how my hugely complex company operates and enjoying it thusfar. 

Lindsay's Boot Camp – Basically she works out in paradise so please don't feel too sorry for her. My office building is not quite this nice. I don't even have a window, actually I don't even have an office to have a window in.

Lindsay's Gym in Camp's Bay:

Food – They have it all. Seafood is the easy standout, being near the ocean and everything. But, they also churn out mean hamburgers, pizzas, bread (kind of random, but they make fresh loaves everywhere and they are really good), and most interesting of all: the game meat. So lets talk highlights: Namibian oysters (huge and crazy delicious), Kudu biltong (the most complex and multi-flavor-dimensional jerky I've ever encountered), Royale Cheeseburger (top 3 all-time burger despite Euro ketchup), Pinotage wine (cheap South African red wine that never disappoints). 

What is a Kudu you ask?:

Heritage Day – So week two of work I learn that Thursday is a national holiday, which was an awesome surprise. Combined with the fact that I had four days off my first week and I have every other Friday off work as part of the local Nine Day Fortnight policy, this allowed me to keep my streak of not yet working a full 5-day work week alive. It appears that the streak will end though during Week 5, but I am still holding out for another surprise. So what did we do on Heritage day you ask? Well if you noticed Mexican food wasn't really on the list of food highlights above, so we decided to celebrate our Texican heritage by whipping up some breakfast tacos and homemade salsa while jamming out to Buena Vista Social Club (do yourself a favor and pick up their greatest hits….the album is uber choice). Overall big success. So well in fact that we are going to self-cater our Texas/OU party in a couple weeks. We just need to find some margarita mix and good tequila.

Wine Country – For our first weekend jaunt out of town we drove to Franschoek to do a little bit of rigorous R&D on behalf of our upcoming visitors. As for location it is about an hour west of Cape Town and maybe 15 minutes southeast of the better-known Stellenbosch. It's a smaller more quaint town with a fewer number of wineries, but this makes it easier to maximize your wine intake. It was quite cloudy and rainy when we were there which allowed us to focus more intently on examining the wine. All together we sampled 27 wines, and left with 10 bottles as to run further tests on.

Research Team:

 

Whale Country – On the way back from Franschoek we decided to go through a town called Somerset West and visit Monkey Town (a megaplex of monkey madness from what I hear), but due to some horribly placed construction, we couldn't figure out how to actually enter Monkey Town so we called an audible and drove an extra hour in the opposite direction of Cape Town to catch the end of Whale Fest in Hermanas. Again, David Finfrock's nemisis was against us as we arrived in a cloudy downpour. There was lots of traffic and it was really hectic getting into town so with that and the rain we just ran into the first hotel/restaurant we saw, which happened to be this over priced white table cloth place.  As much as we weren't in the mood for a fancy meal, we decided to just wait out the rain and traffic there, knowing that lunch would take three hours.  Luckily, the hotel totally redeemed itself when we learned that Brad Pitt had stayed there a few years ago.  Moreso, it redeemed itself because it had huge windows looking down on to the ocean and we could see whales from there!!   We saw a mom feeding a baby (or what someone told us was a mom feeding a baby because we could only see the fins and backs rolling around next to each other), and about 5 or 6 other active types that were flipping their tails around for us.  It was pretty crazy….they must have known it was whale fest. To make things even better, on the drive home we were able to see a troop of Baboons running down the highway effectively filling that monkey void created from the Monkey Town tease. All together it was a pretty solid weekend.

Hermanus, a.k.a. Whale Territory:

Football – So I know that the suspense has been building the whole time you have been reading, asking "when is he going to address the fact that despite the scenic backdrops, exotic food, and all around badassness, that they are missing out on an entire NFL and NCAA season?" Well here it comes. So thanks to the miracle workers that invented the Slingbox (slingmedia.com … look it up) and African DVR technology I am proud to report that we have missed zero Cowboys games and only 2 Texas games (only because they weren't on DirectTV in Dallas). Yeah so we know that Romo is playing like a chump right now, Wade's man boobs are looking good, Jason Garrett is not a hot commodity anymore (sweet double quick fades on the 1 yard line), and everything is good so far with the Horns. 

Animal Watch – So being in Africa it wouldn't be right if we didn't keep a running tally on the animals that we have seen while we are out and about. So far here is what we got so far:

• Whales – No big deal, just a couple mom/child Southern Right Whale combos
• Mongoose – quite a tail on those little guys (no pix, dude was way too quick)
• Cape Hyrax – Evil looking fella, kind of like a fat groundhog
• Baboons – these guys are like a creepier, roided-out Chimpanzee

Cape Hyrax:

Baboon: