Eleventh month

To start, there are some pictures of Wellington in a good day, taken from Mount Victoria (not that good quality, as they were taken from my mobile phone), that I would like to share with you. Anyway, people here use to say that nothing can beat Wellington in a good day...

Wellington from Mount Victoria (1)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (2)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (3)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (4)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (5)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (6)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (7)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (8)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (9)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (10)

Wellington from Mount Victoria (11)

I have met some nice brasilian people during this time...somehow (because of the language), they help me to feel closer to Portugal...in the english classes, I met Taise and Cynthia and, accidentally, crossing the street in Wellington, I met also Luciana and Marilia...who were just travelling around New Zealand. I like this characteristic that most of the brasilians have - being nice just for being nice...

Before leaving to my 3 weeks off in Australia, I had a few Christmas and farewell partys - the University's one, the Institute's one (in the canteen), my department's one (organised in Ian's place - the manager of my department), the english classes ones...and still have time to miss one, also organised by the university. Too much party, too much food, not that much drinking...

And now, the best part - for Christmas and New Year leave (here is Summer, so this season is even more "celebrated" than back in Europe) I went to Australia, namely to the state where Sydney is localized: New South Wales (NSW).

Firstly, I joint my friend Daniela, who came from Portugal to visit her family and join me on a trip around NSW. Melrose and Paul hosted us in Sydney; they were soooo kind with us; we even used their place as a base to travel around NSW, while they were abroad. Melrose and Paul (as well as their sons Mark and Stephen, their daughter-in-law, Ali and, their great dog, Shredder) were simply wonderful with us!!!

From left to right: Melrose, Paul, Joao, Stephen, Ali, Mark and Schredder

We have been sightseeing in Sydney for the first couple of days...

Bondi beach and coast around

Opera house - me and Daniela

Opera house I

Harbour Bridge

Sydney - me, Daniela, Marlene and her fiance, Brad

...and, on 25th December, we joined her uncle, aunt, cousins and 2 other portuguese families for Christmas lunch - time to "matar saudades" of bacalhau (dry salty codfish), polvo (octopus), pasteis de nata (custard tarts), and other great portuguese snacks. Oh, yes, delicious!!!

Bolo rei, filhoses, etc...

Christmas day (1)

Christmas day (2)

Christmas day (3)

Afterwards, we started our trip to the South Coast...and Marlene (Daniela's friend) and her fiancé joined for the first day.

Afterwards, it was the most emotional time of my trip - I met Madalena and all her family - the famous cousin who moved from Portugal to Australia decades ago. We didn't really know eachother but, after 1 hour together, it seemed that we knew each other for ages (she is such a great person!!!) - as I understand, she was almost like my mother's older sister and/or my grandmother's little sister. She was showing me photos of many of the most important people in my childhood, some of who had already died - my grandfather (father of my mother) Joao Damazio Conde, Madalena's brother Antonio "Palha Branca", as well as Madalena's parents and so on...very touching moment for me I was crying in her shoulder :P). Madalena and Luis (her husband) received us very warmly and hosted us at their place. It was great!

Next day was dedicated to sighseeing around with Madalena's daugher, Margaret and son-in-law, David...they were all great...and we also had the opportunity to meet their wonderful dog, Merlin!!!

Merlin

From left to right: Luis, Madalena, Joao, Margaret and David

From left to right: Margaret, Joao and Madalena

Happy moments with my "new" family

After leaving my "new" family, we kept our trip in the South Coast of New South Wales, up to Batemans Bay, where we have spent the first New Year night! In this region, I do recommend you to visit the combination of the whitest beaches on the planet with some amazing rainforest just besides, as the awesome Booderee National park (in Jervis Bay).

Small blow hole in Kiama

Landscape in the South Coast

Some inlet in the South Coast

South Coast

Booderee National Park (Jervis Bay) (1)

Beautiful birds in the Booderee National Park (Jervis Bay)

Wallaby in the Booderee National Park (Jervis Bay)  (1)

Wallaby in the Booderee National Park (Jervis Bay)  (2)

Booderee National Park (Jervis Bay) (2)

Booderee National Park (Jervis Bay) (3)

Finally, this date marks a year since I left Portugal, by challenging the famous and so much appreciated "adulterated" sentence, from portuguese sugar packets:

Translation:
One day I will fuck it all and get myself rid of it.
Today is still not the day. Bugger. Holy shit.

After one year of leaving Portugal (on 26th December 2010), I can tell you that I am not sorry at all. Just for this year, it was definitely worth. For several reasons: having the opportunity of living within a different culture and learning from it, having the chance of improving in different senses, both personally (trying to absorb the best of the kiwi culture) and professionally (possibility of progressing in the career, if successful with my studies over here - for the ones who don't know, in Portugal, nowadays, is practically impossible to progress in any sense, regarding professional life, unless you have good "connections"). Therefore, I strongly recommend you to do so - to be brave and try something abroad! Take some energy out of the complaints about Portugal (it doesn't help much), and use it for something good in your life. I also criticise a lot the way my country was managed for the last decades...but, lets be pragmatic, there is not much to do, except to leave. Any other option to change the country, is beyond your control.

For the ones who read this and don't know Portugal, I can assure you that we have (mostly) great things...actually, if it wasn't for economy (mismanagement, corruption, or even stupidity of people who vote in corrupts), I would say it is a wonderful country to live in and, for tourists, is one of the most interesting countries to visit in Europe (having one of the most beautiful capitals and beaches I have ever been and one of the richest Histories as well; Did I speak about the culinary? Oh, well...you go if you are truly interested...this is just a tip of someone who has travelled a lot around Europe). Ah, also, the people are mostly great (as you can see by myself) and extremely modest! ;)

Tenth month

Summer is in the way...though the weather keeps very unpredictable - this is Wellington, this is New Zealand! :)


Anyway, during the month of November, most of the days were good (or at least, had a lovely morning or afternoon), which gave the oportunity to enjoy some great time playing outdoor soccer (early evening twilight), participating in some golf tournament (in the Wainuiomata course, organized by IRL) - it was my first time playing golf (not easy at all, I mus admit), or even restarting surfing  and watching beautiful sunsets in Lyall bay (with Sudhir - who no longer needs to be introduced, and Eva - cool intern student from Germany; my very good friend and colleague, Matt (who also doesn't need introductions, will soon join this gang as well). I am sorry that I haven't taken any pictures in any of these places/activities, but I can assure you that in any of these sports, I had the opportunity to experience lovely landscapes - I promise, for the nearest future, to take a few shots in the Lyall bay and then share it with you!


I have also been to Auckland (again)...this time I have managed to do some decent sightseeing, though I went there for a conference (New Zealand Geothermal Workshop). It was great. Everything - the sight seeing (and party) around Auckland, as well as the conference itself.
During the fisrt night, I was walking around the Auckland streets, trying to get lost. Fortunately, I managed to, thanks to some kind of "on special" pub crawling, where I met some spaniards, from Madrid - what a characters (and I envy them soooo much) - they have been travelling around the World for about 1 year...and their plan is to keep travelling, at least, 1 year more; their aim is to have some kind of spiritual trip, experiencing the places around the planet, where, they believe, there is some kind of special energy (to which they associate different chakras). Whatever are their believes, it was great to meet them...as we were in a pub crawling, you may guess how did we end up that night! :D
During the sight seeing in Auckland, I have been walking a lot downtown, went to the Museum of Auckland (where I managed to watch a beautiful Maori performance show) and also went to Waiheke island, but only for a couple of hours, as I have arrived there already quite late. I also managed to meet Aurora, the manager of the portuguese group "Amigos de Portugal na Nova Zelandia". It was very good to have a couple of good warm chats, in portuguese language.

Garden around museum of Auckland

Tai chi practicing, just in front of the museum of Auckland

Maori performance show inside the museum

Me and 2 of the performers in the Maori show

Do you know why Maori people started tattooing their face as well?

Because, when they have arrived to New Zealand, as opposed to the pacific islands (where they came from), they have started to cover the whole body because of the lower temperature found here. Consequently, the face was the only zone of the body that was not covered. Hence, tattoos (ta moko) in their face became more common, so that they could keep their identity (the tattoos are associated with their general culture, to a specific tribes or even to the individual). In the Museum of Auckland, I had the chance of admiring some paintings of  several Maori former tribe leaders:

Maori leader I

Maori leader II

Maori leader III

Maori leader IV

Maori leader V

Maori leader VI

Maori leader VII

Christmas marketing in Auckland

The famous Sky tower, from where you can jump or just have a walk in the top

On the ferry, in the way to Waiheke island

Waiheke island - beautiful and relaxing landscape

Oneroa bay, Waiheke island

On the ferry, back to Auckland

Regarding the conference itself, it was very good in many senses - the great people I met there, the good contacts I made and the feeling of attending my first conference (in the context of my research). Also met a few characters; as the australian (who lives in Japan) and the canadian guys, who had this interesting dialogue:
Australian: - For the last 30 years, I have been giving up everything in my life for there creatures (refering to worms): relationships,wage,liver,career...
Canadian: - That is a good cause,though! They need someone to take care if them!
Australian: - Yeh,but they are just some wierd "stuff"!
(Difficult to express in words how hilarious was this conversation - the Australian dude was in this conference, as he was currently studying the worms that are found in the geothermal environments).


Back in Wellington, I kept attending the English courses - the one in IRL, where I managed to meet some other colleagues; and the one in Wellington High School, where Jhonny is also attending, and we have already managed to meet some interesting people. Obviously, I have improved my english language understanding and skills, as well...


In abstract, at the end of November, I feel like quoting the title of my favourite movie, in my favourite language: "La vita è bella".