Best Job in Ireland

So if you have ever emailed me even just once in your life then you probably saw that Gemma and I applied for the "Best Job in Ireland" contest. It was a contest to find a couple to test different honeymoon destinations around the world for six months. If there was ever a couple of people made for this job it was Gemma and I.

Here is the video we put together for the application. What we didn't mention in the 120 second video is that we don't have a camera that shoots video so we had to go into a camera store and ask if we could borrow one. I thought for sure they'd look at us like they were crazy but instead the kind owner swapped my slr camera with a brand new one thats better and shoots hd video. I can't say there would be many camera shop owners in the world that would do this but we were very grateful that he did.

We hopped into our van with a couple ghetto color print outs of some pretty destinations in Ireland and tried our best to make a 120 second video about why Ireland is the perfect destination for a wedding and why we are perfect for this job. These were the guidelines and here's what we came up with:

I then sent out an email to everyone on my email address book asking people to vote for us. We were hoping to get picked to be in the top 50 where we would have then been asked to write some more essays and get more people to vote for us to make the top ten. Instead they choose some of the cheesiest videos and cheesiest couples I've ever seen. Please try not to gag as you watch this one: (and check out the head roll this guy does at the very beginning-gag)

I actually picked this video out right after they announced the top 50. I just checked the site again and see that they made the top 10! Unbelievable. I will cry if they get picked for this job.

It looks like the judges were looking more for good videos than interesting couples. Although I can hardly call the video above good. What just because they can make their waists go big to show how "well rounded they are" that makes them a better fit??? To be fair it was really hard to put forth all of Gemma's personality into a 120 second video. I probably wasted too much time talking about our qualifications and not enough time talking about how entertaining we can be.

We really appreciate those folks who took the time to vote for us!

Oh well. We are sooooo over this. On to bigger and better things!

Rotorua and the Blueberry Winery, Polynesian Spa, Redwoods and One Boring Walk

After listening to enough jazz to last us both a while we left Tauranga and headed down to the geothermal wonderland of Rotorua. When you first drive into town the smell hits you. The entire town smells of rotten eggs from all the sulfer emmitted from the thermal pools all over town. This area of NZ is surrounded by active volacanos and the entire area is just waiting to explode. The good news is that its also full of geothermal hotsprings.

We made our usual first stop at the I-site to get a quick reminder of what there is to do in the town and find out about anything new that might not have been in the guidebooks. This I-site happened to have showers so we took advantage and had what was maybe our 4th shower in the last month.

We then drove just north of town to check out a blueberry winery. When we arrived they had all kinds of jams, chutneys and dips made out of blueberries that were all really good. We then tried the wine which the lady who owned the place was quick to remind us that this is not a red wine but a blueberry wine. Yes, emmm, this is quite clear when you take a sip. It just doesn't taste right. We were both pretty disappointed after getting fairly excited about combining our love for wine and blueberries.

Fortunately they also have a cafe where we ordered a blueberry smoothie and a blueberry ice cream sundae with hot blueberries poured over the top. We also got a blueberry muffin for the road. It wasn't as good as my mom's but it was pretty close.

A farmer walked in just as we were delivered our food and he stopped to chat with us about our trip. Every New Zealander wants to know where you've been and how you like their country and then tell you about where they are from and where to go next. Its a good source of information so we don't mind repeating ourselves over and over again.

Our food came and I went to take a picture of the food. This farmer says to me "Make sure you get her in the pic." So I lean back to get Gemma in the pic and he says "Get one of her sucking it down." Jesus! Then, "Yeah thats it." as I took the pic. We could hardly contain our laughter.

Here I am sucking it down.

Interesting fact about the winery: They make more money selling blueberry juice to people interested in drinking it for their health than they do from selling their wines. Here were some of the blueberry fields and requisite sheep.

Leaving the winery I noticed all these huge mounds of rocks all around. Turns out they were from the massive volcanic explosion in Taupo thousands of years ago. Taupo is nearby but a good two hour drive away. Its amazing these mini islands of rock were blasted that far away.

We found a lake just outside of town to park near.

The next day we were at an internet cafe and read an article on CNN about a job testing honeymoon destinations around the world. We spent a few hours applying for the job and running errands around town. More on that job in the next post.

The following day we decided to do the Western Okataine Walkway hike and it was probably the most boring hike of our entire trip. The only two exciting things we saw were a creepy noose made of palm leaves and a dead cow.

Creepy noose hanging in the middle of the path???

We were almost at the end of our hike when Gemma spotted this dead cow along the side of the path. It had completely rotted away but all its bones were still in place. You could see its rib cage and hip bones sticking out through its leathery dried up skin.

Here is its head.

The walk was pretty at times but the scenery didn't change once. We saw the same things five minutes into the walk as we were two and a half hours later. I think hiking the W in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile has ruined us for hikes.

Driving back to our parking spot I did finally find a vista that I'd been hoping to get all along our hike. Gemma was so exhausted from the hike she didn't even sit in the front for the short five minute drive. She laid back in the bed and snapped this shot of me not paying attention to the road.

Finally a good view of the lake from above!

We busted out one of our portable grills again and cheffed up some burgers. These really are a treat that we don't get that often. We cook great meals in the van but they are mostly of the pasta or stirfry variety. Side note to my american friends. You must try eating baked beans on toast for breakfast! When I moved to London I remember seeing baked beans in the Google breakfast line and thinking how ridiculous. Then I tried it and then I met Gemma. Now I crave baked beans on toast in the mornings. Mix in some scrambled eggs on toast and a little hot sauce or some Lea & Perrins and its just about one of my favorite snacks.

The sunsets were great and I took a ton of pics the few days we parked at this lake.

The next day we went to a Redwood forrest. I've always wanted to see the Californian Redwoods. Who knew I'd see them in New Zealand before I'd see them in California? In the 1800's they planted lots of different trees to see which would take fast and could be best used for timber. The redwoods took well and they now tower into the sky topping out around 200 feet tall.

It was only a 30 minute walk through the forest but about 100 times better than our hike the day before.

See Gemma in the pic below? She's tiny in the bottom left corner.

The bark is interesting looking.

The next day we went to the Polynesian Spa near the edge of Lake Rotorua. Its one of the top 10 spa's in the world according to Conde Nast Traveller and one of many in the area. The spa has been here since 1878 when a catholic priest bathed regularly in the thermal spring water in hand dug pools. Over several months his arthritis was greatly alleviated, initiating an international reputation for the therapeutic properties of the hot mineral spring water.

Here I am reading inbetween dips in the pools. You could only stay in one of these pools for about 15 minutes before your heart started racing and you had to get out. My heart had never raced like that in a hot tub and I'm hoping it had something to do with the alkaline water and not the condition of my heart. But it was such a nice place and a nice day we lounged around and stayed for a couple hours.

Looking out onto Lake Rotorua

Back at our lake side parking spot the next morning and another round of pics to capture the lake with a morning mist.

Next stop is lake Taupo.

Tauranga and the National Jazz Festival

Finally we were in the right city at the right time for a music festival. We always seem to be a week too early or late for these kinds of things but for once we were near enough the right town so we headed over to Tauranga for the National Jazz Festival.

There were four days worth of concerts to choose from plus alot of free shows during the day. We are on a budget so we couldn't see the big name performers whose tickets were around $80 but we bought tickets to see a gospel choir called Jubilation and tickets to see the Youth Jazz Competition.

We aren't particularly religious people but we thought it would be something different and entertaining to see the gospel choir. It was entertaining to a certain degree I guess. The older white haired guy in the middle in the pic below was really enthusiastic about God and had alot of soul. He was fired up and fun to watch.

It seemed just about every song they sang was about Jordan or the river Jordan which provided me with enough material to make Gemma laugh for a few days as I did my best gospel singing impression of the choir while singing songs about myself.

There was also a guy in the choir who looked exactly like Kenny Rogers which was funny. He is in the pic below on the left.

Here is the church where the performance was held. We went back to the van afterwards and turned on Gemma's Ipod while we made dinner and drank some wine. Gemma then said the funniest thing - "If they could have just sang some more songs like this it would have been better." Nas was playing. Ha. Nas is a rapper for those that don't know. She then followed that up by telling me she thought it was gonna be more like the movie Sister Act. Haha. She cracks me up.

The next morning Gemma couldn't find her sunglasses. We turned the van inside out and then went to every shop in town that we'd been in the day and night before. Finally we made it back to the church on the other side of town. Someone had just turned them in five minutes before. They had been laying in the grass outside the church all the night before and most of that day. Only outside a church would that happen!

The youth jazz competition turned out to be a bust! We just figured it would be the best jazz garage bands or kids studying jazz who put together their own groups jamming for some recognition. Boy were we wrong. We walked into the auditorium and soon realized we were watching New Zealand school jazz bands. They all were required to play the same song and then three others of their choosing. Not exactly what we were hoping for.

After about the third band Gemma turns to me and says "They all sound the same to me." This was during the song that they were all required to play. Ha. She is a riot.

We treated ourselves to some Indian food and man was it good. Ever had tandoori mushrooms? They were fantastic. The pics below are actually from our second trip there the next evening. It was so good the first night I never stopped to take a picture.

Tandoori Mushrooms

The jazz festival also had stages set up throughout town with different bands rotating throughout the day. We made a picnic lunch and mostly relaxed.


There were some absolute crackers there at the festival including this bald guy below. He was loving it and we were loving watching him dance.


Then there was this guy wearing a ladies hat that was on some kind of crazy drugs. I'd never seen anyone dance quite like him, and especially not during a jazz performance.


Then there was this crazy lady in the green dress. I really shouldn't be making fun of these people after all they were just having a good time like the rest of us. But they definitely stood out in the crowd and gave us some good laughs.

Gemma and I have a long running joke about who will be the first to need an electronic scooter. She says me because I'm older and I'd put my life on her because of her three knee surgeries.

As I was posing for the pic above these lovely ladies came up and joined the pic.

Then their husbands. You might notice the woman to my right has her hand reaching down in the pic below. She was grabbing her t-shirt to flash her boobs to the camera but Gemma missed the pic. Luckily.

We sat down at a table outside the bars along the main street. There was a huge crowd sitting around drinking and listening to the bands playing along the street. Daytime drinking and good jazz. Life is good.

Gemma snapping away.





Here we are back at the Indian restaurant. We don't eat out alot but this place was seriously good.



Day three of the jazz fest took us to an recreation of the town village as it was in the 1800's. They had it set up as a Jazz Village with a bit of a New Orleans theme. It was nothing like Mardi Gras New Orleans unfortunately. It was more a bit like Conner Prarie for my Indiana readers.



Walking back from the Jazz Village we passed by our two favorite stores in New Zealand; The Warehouse which is a bit like Wal-mart and the Pak'nSave which is a discount grocier where we spend most of our money on food.


We had our van parked right by the river and some nice public toilets for the entire weekend for free. Its a wonder what a difference a good parking space will make to our lives these days! The sunsets were beautiful as always.