Special Little Car

At the Southward Car Museum in Paraparaumu, stuffed between all sorts of oddities by Stutz, Vauxhall, and DeLorean, a beautiful Maserati 250F once wheeled by Chris Amon sits collecting dust. Andrew would love to have a go behind the wheel of this guy, even with the risk of severe burns to his left arm from the exhaust that is routed right past the cockpit!

Lake Waikaremoana great walk

A 4 day, 45-ish km hike partway around a lake in Te Urewera national park. The first day was a pretty brutal ridge line hike on a never-ending, nonrhythmic, "undulatingly beautiful" trail, although it did end up at a nice hut where we bunked for the night. The next few days took us closer to the lake, where we were able to see more of the water fowl as well as get annihilated by the sand fleas (their bites are 5 times worse than mosquito bites). With a water taxi ride to the trailhead and another from the end, it was a good experience for us both.

The Evens concert in Auckland

This post is very much out of chronological order, but it's worth a look. We took in a concert by Washington, D.C. duo The Evens in Auckland a few weeks back. It's fronted by Ian Mackaye, a longtime favorite of Andrew's for his unique, powerful, and energetic lyrics and sounds. The level of interaction between the band and the audience was great and it made for one of the most fun shows both of us have ever seen.

And the winner is....

BEAGLE. Our van now has a name. The online poll made this one a clear winner; there were, however, some very notable runners-up:

- Grey Vanatomy (thanks to Christine's sister Stephanie; this is our favorite runner-up)

- 1Bedroom, Amusing Domicile, A Sultry, Sassy yet Valiant Automobile of Nostalgia (1BAD ASS VAN) (thanks Stephen Saslow)

- ????????????????? (thanks to Sydney for this one)

Thanks to all those who responded!

PS

PS
Check out

http://www.flickr.com/photos/christine_lynch/

for more photos. Oh and the van-naming results will be out soon. We had some hilarious suggestions- Thanks!

Camping

We stayed at a Dept. of Conservation campsite at Cape Reinga (the very North tip of NZ)

it had wind, sand, sun, grass, ocean and alot of hungry seagulls. We had wine, supper, a cozy tent and various weapons (sticks, pots, rocks) for seagull protection.

The (make believe) Life Aquatic

This is what we would look like if we could go swimming without actually getting wet. Andrew, Christine, and our new American friend Rich at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in Auckland. Photo credits go to Rich.

Auckland Blues vs. Dunedin Highlanders

Christine bought tickets to a rugby match in Auckland as a belated birthday gift for me. Our ticket came with a free Tui beer and a hot dog or french fries- your choice. We sat near the field and spent equal parts of the night people watching and trying to figure out the rules and scoring of the game. As best we can figure, you get the ball to the other end of the field without getting killed or otherwise seriously injured. There is a lot of passing, a lot of running, a lot of hitting, and a lot of standing around. Every once in a while, something really cool happens, as in the photo above.

Wheels of Steel, New Zealand style

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our lovely new vehicle, a Toyota HiAce van. As of this writing, we sleep here.

Just like all other great cars, so to does this little guy need a name. We have a couple in mind, but need your help. Select one of the names below, or write in your original suggestion, and mail it to: teamcanam@gmail.com. We'll post the winner on the blog soon!

1) The Beagle

2) The Silver Bullet

3) Silverado

4) The Ja-Van (combining "Japan" and "Van")

5) _________?