Happy Holidays from Bend. It's probably the last white Christmas we will see for a few years! 

A Few Quotes About New Zealand

If it would not look too much like showing off, I would tell the reader where New Zealand is." ....... Mark Twain 1897

When asked his opinion of New Zealand: "I find it hard to say, because when I was there it seemed to be shut." ....... Sir Clement Freud 1978

"A country of inveterate, backwoods, thick-headed, egotistic philistines" ....... Vladimir Ilyich Lenin 1909

When George Bernard Shaw visited New Zealand a reporter asked him his impression of the place and, after a pause, Shaw is said to have replied: "Altogether too many sheep" ....... George Bernard Shaw 1934

Inking the deal. JB, Matina (vendor) and Hilary (negotiator). 

It's Ours!

The time has come the walrus said
To talk of many
things:
Of boats and rats and tickle sticks, of
motorbikes and
bees...

Our offer for the purchase of Sierra Cafe has been accepted! We will take possession on 1 February and open for business around the middle of March. Of course we have lots to do between now and then, but that's the fun part of this adventure. Interestingly, it turns out that the other offer ahead of us was also a Mexican restaurant.

This part of the episode was slightly unnerving because we were in a new country where business is done differently. We had to rely heavily on the wonderful people we have met to help steer us through the gates. However, once we were inside the restaurant we were in familiar territory. JB is so excited he actually feels like working again, which is amazing. We have posted a slideshow called Sierra on the right so you can get a feeling for what the space looks like.

We probably won't be posting much until after the first of the year. Happy holidays everyone - to friends both old and new.

Kia Ora.

Kiwis push the envelope in their advertising. Here's one of our favorites. There are more to come! 

Beach flowers from Mangawhai Heads (1.5 hours north of Auckland) 

Moving Right Along

We have been busy the past few days getting all of our business affairs in order, Kiwi style. They do things a bit differently here, so we have engaged the services of a very fine attorney (recommended by our new Kiwi friend Ken, who was referred by our old Bend friend Hawk), a restaurant consultant who sees our vision and has tons of experience opening new eateries in Auckland, and a rather goofy banker recommended by the NZ restaurant association. He had trouble spelling Oregon and Buell (even when our passports were sitting in front of him), so that is the one relationship we may need to reconsider.

Some advantages to doing business here include the fact that there is NO capital gains tax and our US dollar buys about 1.50 NZ dollars. However, the US$ is on the slide and we are worried that by the time we set up shop we will have even less buying power. Word around here is that the Euro is becoming the safe haven of choice. Savvy financial managers have always looked to the US$ as a solid place to weather a global downturn. With our mounting deficits and lackluster economy, they are beginning to buy Euros. That could weaken the dollar even more over the next year or so. (Notice that I am not pointing fingers or making any political statements here.)

We have made our offer for the waterfront cafe space. It's a backup, and the vendor (that's what they call the seller here) is interested in talking to us because we have no contingency on financing. We will be meeting with the landlord on Monday, he has the final say in who will be able to take the space. Luckily, our Bend friends Phil & Carole Frazier have introduced us to the US Ambassador to New Zealand and he has offered to smooth any wrinkles we may find along the way. John is pacing like a caged animal, he can't stand the suspense. We are convinced this is the perfect space for Mexicali Fresh.

We will post the results of our meeting on Monday - stay tuned!

This is it. The Hilton is to the right down the wharf. 36 cruise ships dock here during the summer. To the left is another huge hotel and Price Waterhouse office building. Recent market studies show that there are 5000 local residents within 2.5K. I think they were all down here celebrating on Guy Fawkes Day! 

So tired, tired of waiting . . .  

Guy Fawkes Day 

Guy Fawkes Day

Friday night the explosions began. We didn't know what to think . . . there were fireworks everywhere! It looked just like the 4th of July, and from our vantage point at Prince's Wharf we could see north to Takapuna Beach, west down the wharf to the Viaduct and up on the hill to Ponsonby. Kids were screaming and carrying on in the bars, everyone was out and about.

Now we know what all the fuss was about. November 5 is known as Guy Fawkes Day and is celebrated in all of the commonwealth countries throughout the world. It commemorates the foiling of a plot - known as the Gunpowder Plot - to blow up the House of Lords in 1603 while the king, James I was opening the new session of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was one of the conspirators, the one caught red-handed. The 5th November was established as a day of thanksgiving that the plot didn't work. Today they have bonfires and burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes, let off fireworks, and eat toffee. I might also add that an ample amount of alcohol is consumed, gauging from the trucks on the wharf the next morning stocking the bars!

Formosa Auckland Country Club 

Apologies to our friends and family who may be offended by this image, but we had to share the feelings we are getting from the Kiwis and Brits in this part of the world. 

It's Just the Two of Us

Tyler and Conor left last night and we spent the evening in slack-jawed disbelief at the outcome of the election. John says that his record has held up well - he has still never voted for anyone who has ever won an election! I had my glory days in the 90s, so I can't complain. I guess every cloud has a silver lining because our stock market portfolio looks a bit better today than it did yesterday. Let's hope the dollar gets stronger as well!

We spent this morning looking at a few more restaurant locations. They do things a bit differently down here so we are learning as we go along. Often, you pick a spot you want and your agent just contacts the owner and negotiates a deal for you to take over. We are waiting to see about the cafe pictured in the October 31 posting - we should know on Friday.

It's quiet without the boys, but it's a gorgeous sunny day and we are sitting on the deck watching the sailboats float by. Life is good.

Future Home of Mexicali Fresh? 

When is a Quesadilla an Enchilada?

While we were in Paihia we ran across a cafe with quesadilla and nachos on the menu. Aha! we said. Let's see what Kiwis think of these. We ordered one of each and were pretty surprised. The nachos were a heap of bagged chips like Doritos, covered with sour cream, chili beans and sliced avocado. The quesadilla was a flour tortilla rolled with chili beans, topped with sour cream. I don't think they know that "queso" means cheese. Everything tasted great, just not what we expected.

We have to wait until Friday to submit an offer on the space we have chosen. The owners have an offer right now which will expire then. Things work a little differently here, and we are relying on our realtor team to guide us along.

We have posted more photos of the west coast of the North Island with beautiful black sand beaches. T&C were looking for waves, but were a little disappointed.

Zeroing In

We spent Thursday with our realtors discussing the likely spaces we had scoped out over the past week. We have zeroed in on a great space overlooking the ferry terminal, right on the water. It's currently a going concern, but word has it that they can be persuaded to give up the space. Hilary, our realtor, will be negotiating with the tenants beginning Monday.

To celebrate, we decided to take some time off and go up to the Bay of Islands for a bit of golf. First we stopped in Waipu, about an hour and a half north of Auckland. The town was founded in 1853 by several Scots expatriates - the photos show Tyler and Conor pointing out Alexander Stewart, certainly a distant relative. We played golf under an awesome rainbow! We then went on up to Paihia and stayed over night, then played Waitangi. Again, gorgeous views.

It's been very interesting watching the BBC and CNN world news coverage of the US Presidential election. Did you know that Uraguay is having an election on Sunday? Perceptions are very different here. Most people think that Bush will win because his party controls the Supreme Court. Trying to explain the Electoral College is a little like Kiwis trying to explain cricket to us. Impossible.

Golfing Middle Earth 

Pictures Posted

Finally after all the requests I have posted the pictures of the Auckland city. Just click on the link on the right sidebar and it will direct you to the picture page on my site. Have fun browsing, we will post more pictures when we head out of the city and into the country.
CK

Pounding Ponsonby and Parnell

We have spent the past few days walking up and down through the cafe districts of Ponsonby, Parnell and the Central Business District (CBD) of Auckland. Ponsonby is jam-packed with all kinds of very cool little eateries, funky and fashionable. Parnell is a little more refined, but with lots of great choices. CBD is a teeming mass of humanity with a Starbucks and a kebab joint on every corner, and often several in the middle of the block as well! We venture out from 11:30 - 1:00 to get a feeling of the lunch crowd, then again from 5:30 - 7:00 to see the dinner crowd. Meetings, phone calls, and grading papers in between. We've been surprised at the counts we've gotten, but we do have a bit of an odd situation in that one of the major national holidays (Labour Day) was Monday and people may be just a little too exhausted from their holiday reveries to be eating out right now. When we are finished with our observations, we will often stop at the grocery store and get something to take home. You can only eat restaurant food for so long before NOTHING looks good!

Double Up

Yesterday was very interesting for Tyler and I. We left the apartment at around 4 to head to a bar where they were playing live music. Unfortunately we only had American money so we had to ask around to find an exchange center to be able to buy our beers. For the next two hours we went from place to place trying to find someone open to exchange our money finally after about a 2 mile walk and un countable rejections we ended up at the Sky tower, Auckland’s version of Seattle’s Space Needle. There we found a bank that was open till 11pm and they finally exchanged our money. We only exchanged $27 because that was all we had unfortunately that would buy us about 2 1/2 beers. Coincidently we stumbled across the Sky-Tower Casino, destiny…..I think so. After a short deliberation Tyler and I decided to put our luck on the line and try to double our money. We used the ol’ kerlin Black Jack sure fire way of winning (family secret, If I told you we would have to kill you). Anyway, after a quick hand, we had $67 in our pockets and we were out the door. Finally we ended up back at the bar found a seat and ordered our beers. They tasted just a bit better today than they have in the past. It was not more than 5 min after we sat down that a group of Kiwi’s (locals) invited us to sit at their table and bought us drinks. To sum it up, it was about 3 hours later that we left the bar with a whole new group of friends and a full belly. Next time life throws you a hand….double up!

We have found the WMD! They were hiding in plain sight at the Auckland Civic Center. 

Renewing our friendship with Kiwis, Malcolm & Janet. We met at Tokoriki in Fiji in 2002. 

piha

Now that the jet lag has worn off I am starting to get into more of a daily routine. Its weird how the time is different that back at the states. I mean there is actually only a 6 hour difference , but truly its 30 hours. We are one day and 6 hours ahead of yall back home. It threw us off, we left on the 20th and arrived here on the 22.....? that one took a while for me to figure out. We are staying on the 7th floor at Princes Warf in downtown Auckland, which is in the heart of the newest redeveloped area of the city. I think this is the hippest coolest place in the city right now, there is a Louis Vutton store downstairs around the corner and there is even a bar called -5 degree where the entire inside of the bar is ice. I am talkin ice sculptures, ice walls the whole 9 yards! To come in you have to put on their big fur coats, fur booties and gloves needless to say there is no ice required in the drinks, I will post a picture of it soon. The city reminds me of a very modern fashionable Seattle but in a much more condensed area. All the people here are very friendly, we draw a lot of double takes when we open our mouths and speak, they say they love our accents which is very cool. Yesterday we drove out of the city and toured the surrounding towns of Auckland. Its amazing how in 20 min you can go from downtown Auckland to a tropical beach where there is only a single road in and out. The most amazing place was Pakiri, the picture I posted is from the top of the hill coming into the area. Its a tropical paradise where the houses are all very small and hidden by the green brush. Words cannot describe what this place was like, its a surfers paradise. Anyway, i got a lot more to say but ill save it for another day or two. If you have any questions just post a comment and ill write you back. I hope everybody is doing well,
Remember to vote!

Some Tired Guys at Prince's Wharf 

Greetings From Auckland

We have arrived - after an 11-hour flight from San Francisco. I somehow contracted food poisoning by in the Portland Airport and proceeded to get sick on the flight from Portland to SFO. I felt better for awhile, but by the time we got to the Air NZ counter I was feeling queasy again. A quick trip to the ladies' room helped solve the problem, but I skipped dinner on the way over and settled for some hot tea. We left SFO at 9:45 Wednesday night and arrived in Auckland at 6:40 Friday morning after crossing the International Date Line.

After we collected our van and drove to our accomodations on Prince's Wharf, we went to breakfast and then took a nice long walk up Queen Street so Tyler and Conor could get a sense for downtown Auckland. We walked back to the wharf and everyone took a little nap.

Tonight we are going to meet Malcolm & Janet, friends we met in Fiji a few years ago, at the Mexican Cafe. We will all feel a little more normal tomorrow as we really start looking around this beautiful city.

Welcome to the Mexicali Grill Blog

This blog will provide a journal of our experiences as our family travels to New Zealand and establishes a new business there. Everyone, John, Cindy, Tyler and Conor, will submit postings throughout our adventure. As you can see, Cindy's posting persona is "Nacho Mama." The others have yet to set up their accounts, but you should see them "arrive" once we are in Auckland.

Speaking of which, John and I have finished the business plan, at least the part we can do from this continent. It's awesome, if I do say so myself. We are spending the day packing and tying up loose ends. I'm also grading assignments and getting a couple of weeks ahead in my two online classes.

Tomorrow we catch a flight from Redmond to SFO, and will meet Tyler and Conor at the Air NZ counter in SFO. They will be with us in Auckland until November 3. We will stay on until November 17. From there, our plans are still up in the air. We would really like to be with our family in Carlsbad for our annual Thanksgiving event.

If anyone ever wants to comment on a message, please do so!

A giraffe has joined the chat!

Its me CONDOG, I am currently taking care of some loose ends here in Portland. I need to take my cat Stinky to Jens house so she can watch her for the weeks I will be gone. The next time I will be on here....I will be on another continent.

I M PUMPED
holla at a kiwi!
CK