Farewell, Waitarere!

Okay, this is the pits, I’m way behind in writing and in posting. That last weekend of our stay in Waitarere, Kevin had hoped to do some fishing, I had hoped to maybe take a nearby bike ride together…...instead he caught a cold, so laid low other than the long lunch, tea at the neighbors, and getting organized for packing up the place. You’d think I could have written and posted then, you say? Well, my goal for those few days became finishing knitting a sock :) and I’m happy to say I did get that accomplished, and the next one is started. Second sock syndrome has reared it’s ugly head though, so it’s been hard for me to get very far on it yet. Anyway, I mentioned we had a farewell tea at the neighbors, Ian & Felicity Clarke’s home next door. She served roasted lamb, with no fewer than NINE veggies, all delicious, and I'm not a fan of lamb. She had the mint jelly too, but she also served what she called mint sauce, which was basically a light sugar syrup boiled with fresh mint Yes, even better than the jelly. I brought some of those brownies, and as we were finishing up Ian’s brother and sister-in-law stopped by with a box full of...sweet corn! So we got to meet them, chat a while, and guess what we took home for dinner the next night? :) The Clarke’s are delightful, salt of the earth people and we have enjoyed getting to know them and their family, including some grandchildren who live nearby, very much. On our last night in the house, they stopped over and gave us some Kiwi remembrances, and we were able to give them one of the Bristol/Maas Iowa Impressions books that we brought to give as gifts.

Kevin worked T/W/Th that last week, so we could travel on Friday, March 18, to the south island. That Tuesday night the surgery held a farewell dinner at a local Indian restaurant. Thursday night I had hoped to make it do the lady’s night out, but of course Kevin got hit hard that day and had such a late night that went by the wayside. I have to say I had mixed emotions a little, about leaving...but, I'm ready to see the south island, and get on back to California, then to Iowa!

We've had company!

Decorah friends Steve & Edie Jacobsen and Peg and Steve Matter arrived all together at our Waitarere Beach home on Saturday evening, March 5. We had all been invited to a BBQ at our neighbors, Karen & Grant, with the other neighbors Ian & Felicity too. Karen & Felicity had done most of the cooking and did we eat well! It’s such a treat to get to LIVE in NZ and get to know some of the people a little. We’ve had awesome neighbors and will miss them. On Sunday we all attended the local (as in W Beach) Anglican church, where they said that the 6 of us doubled their usual attendance :) Later, we all headed to the beach to drag the flounder net, with a catch of 2 flounder :) and many of the small crabs, which made a good dinner.

Monday we got up somewhat early to travel to nearby Kapiti Island, which has been made into a bird sanctuary. Here on the island, the rats, stoats, possums have been eradicated to allow native birds to flourish. The frequent bird songs here reminded us how the introduced rats, stoats, and possums have devastated the ground nesting birds on the “mainland” of NZ. When you walk a track on the mainland, in the bush as they call their woods, it is rare to hear a bird. All of the birds native to New Zealand evolved without the presence of mammals, and are frequent ground nesters, so are easy prey, nor do they show the usual fear of man. Several like the giant moa are already long extinct, and many of the remaining birds survive with the highest populations on isolated predator free islands off the coast of New Zealand. So, while listening to amazing bird calls we had a good hike to the top of this small, steep island, with a lunch at the top lookout, of course! Kevin got great pics with his telephoto, so he can show you those when we get home (and just a few other shots from these 4 months, too…)

Much of the rest of their time here was spent walking on the beach, reading, talking, napping :) and just enjoying Waitarere. We said goodbye to Matters on Wednesday March 9, and Jacobsens on Friday the 11th, and they all headed directly back to Decorah. Part of me is jealous, part of me wants to stay, and part of me wants to head to the south island NOW!

Today, Sunday March 13, we had great food at…….our first long lunch! Students, if you’ll remember, this was one of your vocab words. Basically, it means a BIG potluck, like a church potluck. Here in NZ when they say potluck they are referring to more like having some friends bring food to one house, and if it includes grilling, then it’s a BBQ instead of a potluck. Now is that clear? Anyway, this was more like a block party, with lots of tables and shade umbrellas in the street, and live music, barbecued meats. The purpose was to raise funds for security cameras in Waitarere Beach, so we paid $20 each in addition to me bringing chocolate mint brownies (which I’m told are very American!) It was an opportunity to chat with so many of the people we’ve met and say good bye. Many Thursday eves I’ve been going down to the Sail On Inn, a little restaurant just off the beach where lots of women congregate for food and drinks every Thursday. (Sounds like a good plan to me, Decorah friends!) One woman, Nikki, spent a year in Iowa City when her father-in-law taught at University of Iowa Law School! Small world. She loved Iowa City and was pretty sad to hear about Hancher flooding. She’s a teacher here, with two teenage daughters and is a neighbor to the Hulls.

We’re baaack! in our NZ home…

NOTE:  I wrote this about a week ago, but will post it as I wrote it. Will write another soon, to catch up!

On Saturday February 26, We flew to Queenstown on the south island, to see Steve and Edie again in a different spot :)  They had a timeshare at Wanaka, a smaller town on a similarly beautiful lake as is Queenstown, ringed by mountains. Kevin and I had some time in Queenstown before Steve came by to pick us up….during which, we ran into Steve and Peg Matter! They planned to stay in Queenstown and take a 3 day tramp, before joining us later at our place in Levin.  So Kevin and I did some ambling (took a gondola ride and walked through the botanic gardens) while awaiting our ride. After Steve J picked us up we took the Crown Ridge Road over the pass to Wanaka.  This road was “sealed” in 2000, which gives you an idea of it’s remoteness; although it is fairly heavily traveled in the summer, I’d say. Would you believe, we later asked a man to take a picture of the four of us, by Lake Wanaka; not only was he a former Iowan, but it turned out he wrestled for Harlan the same time Kevin wrestled for Decorah, they graduated the same year! Wild :)

We took another tramp, the Rob Roy. www.doc.govt.nz/rob-roy-track/ This one was about 4.5 hours, across a swinging bridge over the whitewater :), and up and up to a lunch spot across from some glaciers, feeding many waterfalls...simply awesome!  Another day, the guys found fishing spots and Edie and I took a bike ride along the lake edge.  

We went to a Lonely Planet recommend, Cinema Paradiso, for a movie (The Kids Are All Right) and dinner.  We loved it, someone should bring this concept to Decorah. You order food before the movie starts (pizza, burgers, etc, and it was good food!), then go in to sit in second-hand comfy furniture (including a small car) to watch the movie.  They stop it for intermission, you file out to the “foyer” I’ll call it to eat..then back in to finish the show. We don’t think the building was originally a theatre, and in Decorah it could run oldies and independent and second run films. It was great!  Any takers??? You'll find my pictures taken during this weekend at picasaweb.google.com/WanakaWeekend

We awoke in the early AM today at home, March 4, to a shaky bed. It lasted about 10 seconds, no rattling or anything...so the result for us is, it’s a little unnerving, but we get back to sleep pretty easily now. This is the fourth one I’ve felt. Upon waking later, I looked it up on NZ’s geonet website.  It tells me where the quake was located, intensity and depth.  Also has a map showing where people have reported as having felt it, and how intensely they felt it. So this one was in north suburbs of Wellington, about 48 miles from us, had a depth of 30 km (18 miles) and magnitude of 4.7.  The online newspaper said that people there were shaken more due to the fact that this is the 2nd one of that size in a week.  Wellington, the capital city, is overdue to have a big quake and the building stock is in worse shape than in Christchurch. Scary.

We are OK in NZ, after the Christchurch quake.

This event certainly changes the tone with which I write this post. As you can imagine, at least for me at “home” in Waitarere Beach, much of my day has been filled with first communicating with you all at home via email and Facebook, laundry after 4 days of traveling, and keeping glued to the TV. We were in Christchurch and it’s central square with Randi Berg and her family in December during our second weekend in this amazing country. The face of that beautiful square is now irreparably changed by the collapse part of the Christchurch Cathedral, but more important at this moment, many people whom we have befriended and met have been affected through friends and family that live in Christchurch. NZ is the size of Colorado, but longer and skinnier than California, with 4 million people, so it’s very small and interconnected. People fly or take the ferry back and forth between islands easily and frequently; well, some people do, others, as in the US, rarely travel out of their surroundings. As you travel this amazing country, you are reminded all around that it’s stunning scenery is due to it’s wild geothermal activity, earthquakes and volcanoes. And we have yet to travel through most of the south island, which even the north islanders say “wait until you see the south island”, when we comment on the beauty of the north island that we’ve seen so far.

We saw so much more of the north island’s unique beauty this last few days. On Monday (Feb. 21) Steve and Edie Jacobsen and Kevin and I tramped the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.  At the website, tongarirocrossing.org.nz/ , you’ll get a glimpse of amazing features that we came across during a 19 km (11.4 miles? really?!?) tramp up to and over a “saddle” between two mountain peaks in Tongariro National Park. We did see some people who likely were older than us but not many, ha! We took us a little longer than most, about 9.5 hours, but we made it! We are moving slowly the first days afterwards, but are sooo glad we went, it was well worth it and we highly recommend it to anyone who has a chance. It is a well-travelled tramp, meaning not only is it easily accessible but it is also well worth the effort. We saw several groups and never felt isolated (at our level of fitness, that is reassuring!) but also never felt overrun….it was more like a party, I think :) celebrating earth’s beauty! In my mind, this is so far our peak NZ experience. Go here to see my pics https://picasaweb.google.com/TongariroAlpineCrossing  And we have yet to see the south island! Now, Kevin might protest, he might say that flounder we caught surpasses all understanding….???

And, speaking of Kevin and fishing, I have to tell you about my great fun the last few weeks! After taking friends Laurel and Charles to their train a few weeks ago, I stopped at a rural quilt shop enroute home; I had spied it earlier but never stopped. Well! Susan-Claire Mayfield of Gourmet Quilter gourmet-quilter.com has beautiful NZ batiks and I picked up a few pieces, and a pattern…..that’s all. Then later emailed her and a couple other NZ fiber artists whom I’ve met, and she replied by asking if I wanted to come and sew on her machine while she quilted on another! Whoo hoo! What fun I’m having, she said I can come every Friday until we leave! So the last two Fridays I’ve taken lunch down for us both and am not only quilting and learning, but watching her design quilts too. She has a beautiful 1902 home in which her studio/shop is on the ground floor and she and her husband Royden live upstairs. I’ll go back this week, and in March she’s having a sale….hmmm! How much can I bring home?!? This is taking me back, as I worked in a fabric shop when in high school, and now have been starting to quilt over the last year at home.  Photos of Susan and some of her work, as well as my other fave fiber artists of various sorts, are seen herepicasaweb.google.com/NZFiberArtists#  I can't remember if I told you about meeting Helen Palenski, she KNITS the mini monkey, topsy-turvy dolls and Mr and Mrs Mouse that I'm bringing home for my dollhouse! Amazing!

I’m including links to my pictures, please let me know how it works for you to access them.

So it’s probably a good thing that there are only 3 more Fridays until we will be on the road, which eventually will get us home. Kevin’s last day is Thursday, March 17. The next day we’ll take off to travel most of the country that we haven’t seen yet, until flying out to Jen & Carlos’ in Sacramento, CA for several days. We plan tentatively to be back in Decorah around April 11. After this NZ tragedy, I’m somewhat eager to get home to our family and friends. Stay safe, all of you!

Stream of consciousness

As I write this, it’s Saturday morning, February 12, and Kevin is in his element.  He got ahold of a few sharks that someone caught (another story there!) and he is showing the neighbor boys how to filet them, in case someone sometime would want to eat shark…?  These will be bait, likely in a few days.  In the meantime, the meat will reside in our (small) freezer….

Which reminds me to tell you the possum roadkill story. Weeks ago, we passed a possum roadkill on the highway.  Kevin had to go back to check it out. Being the former Luther bio person that he is (so am I, I might point out, and I don’t do things like this but that’s always his line) he stops for roadkills and in my experience, if the roadkill is in excellent condition (his words) he will put in in a plastic bag, put it in the trunk and then into OUR FREEZER at home to save it to take it up to Luther for somebody to stuff, for whatever reason.  (I hope you understand here how patient and wonderful a wife he has here)  So, being on the beginning of a 4 day weekend, when we don’t have a readily available excuse like Luther around, or a large freezer anywhere, I was NOT to pleased about him doing this.  He put a dead possum, in a plastic bag, in the trunk, drove to a side road (you should hear fuming coming across time and space here) and took his catch several yards behind the car in the ditch. While he was doing this, I tried to calm down and decided that it was possible this could come out to a win-win, if he was able to pluck the possum hair (has to be done while the beast is still warm) out to knit into a scarf, and leave the carcass. Well, he DID!  Peace is restored, you’ll be happy to know, and we have a good story on both of us to boot.  Now what I need to do is find out 1) if I can bring it to the US, and 2) if so, what shape it has to be in both to bring it and to use it.  Hmm, good project for today maybe? :)

  Some things certainly transcend time and space. I’m smiling remembering hearing the neighbor boys discussing with their mom who would get to sit in front, getting into the car. And I wish I’d had a camera yesterday. When driving into town to pick Kevin up, I passed the elementary school and it had just let out.  At the crosswalk, the two students were manning the crossing, and had these really cool (I thought) gates that swing out into the street to stop us drivers, or the boys would swing them back in front of the sidewalk to stop kids. And this is the transcending part (besides the guards themselves), two boys ran up to the gate hollering “keep it open, keep it open” as they were closing it (on the students) to allow me to pass.  Those of you in the bigger city might have this viewing opportunity often; living in Decorah, I have not seen it for years (since I was a crossing guard, with a lowly flag?)

Regarding school, when a child turns 5 they start school. Then.  As in, the day of, or after, their birthday. So during the first school year, students come in throughout the year.  What a headache for teachers; evidently they are considering having two “intake” dates. The comment I have heard when I mention our method of having a cut-off date for starting kindergarten is that that’s not really fair to the children that have to wait, is it? As to the school calendar, there are 4 sessions of 10 weeks, with breaks of 2 weeks in between, except for summer (ie, over Christmas and January!) when there are 6 weeks. Or something like that. And between “districts” or towns, there might be slight differences in the dates that those breaks start, but the length of time is prescribed.  So Dr. Hull’s grandson told me that he was going back to school a few days earlier than his younger cousin(both of whom live in Wellington), but they all had the same number of days so it was fair.  Next year, when NZ hosts the Rugby World Cup, school schedules will defer….as I said, some things transcend… 

The other day on my walk on the beach, I passed a tractor (green and yellow, for those who need to know) pulling a boat trailer. I thought I had told you about our beach being a road, but maybe not?  At Waitarere Beach itself, there are two roads that lead right over the sand dunes, onto the beach.  As you drive onto the beach itself, there are signs stating that this is a registered road, your car must be registered and warranted (licensed and insured, I think) and you must follow the speed limit signs.  And there are official speed limit signs, at 30 km/hr (where normal in town speed is 50 km/hr) stuck into the sand along the way. So on the far “ends” of the beach (it doesn’t end, it goes on for miles, but this refers to the end of “town” next to the beach) you’ll see cars and pick-up trucks (“utes”, another vocabulary word) with fisherpersons nearby. Anyway, I digress again..so I watched this tractor and it’s boat trailer make it’s way towards a fishing boat coming in. No boat ramp needed here!  A little later, along came two horses, being ridden pretty much all out by what looked to me like jockeys, or their trainers.  A morning workout!

Now I’d better tell you what I know about the fishing here; Kevin always reads my rough drafts, maybe this time he’ll have some editing to do!  There is surf casting, which  requires a rather huge pole and a kind of anchor thing to hold it which goes into the sand.  This pole can be used from the beach or a boat, to catch red snapper.  Then there is the flounder net, which is a 20 or 30 meter long net, about a meter (a meter is about a yard) high, and has two long poles inserted along the short ends for two people to drag through the water.  It has weights along the bottom, so as to hug the sandy ocean bottom and bring up the flounder into the net.  (They are the flat fish that lay on the bottom, with both eyes on the top side, and they are yummy!) Then there is the crab pot, which is shaped like a big tuna can but made from a nylon cord with two trap doors through which the crab unwittingly (are supposed to) go into, and a top opening through which the lucky fisherman takes them out. The Sands are now the proud owners of each of these pieces of equipment. They have NOT (yet?) bought a kontiki, which is hauled to the beach on a small trailer with it’s accompanying electric winch. The kontiki has a small electric motor with about an 8” propeller and is shaped like a big sausage, or a shark :) . It is connected to the winch by a “long line” which is how this type of fishing is referred to.  The kontiki has a timer on it, and is set to run for 15-25 minutes with another setting that allows to accommodate for the direction of the current, which is dependent upon low or high tide. As the kontiki draws the long line out away from the beach, the fisherperson (and his help?) attach the leaders with many (30?) hooks and bait to the long line, which then dangle from it about 18” under the water’s surface. Generally the line is left out there then for about an hour.  Then it’s winched in slowly, so as to allow the hooks with catch, of course, to be taken off the line as it comes in. The motor gets turned off as it gets into shallow enough water. What is hoped for is to see many red snapper. What might be seen instead are small sharks or barracuda. Of course, some of this fishing might not be particular to only NZ, maybe US residents along the ocean’s shore are familiar with these means.  Kevin is out fishing now, for crabs, because 1) it’s his day off, 2) we’re home, and 3) it’s not raining! It’s a “fine” day today, as opposed to a dull day, which is cloudy, gray.

Vocabulary lesson - an ongoing education!

nigglies = a little bit crook (crook=sick)

a correction to “grizzly” - it is not “really sick”, as I earlier wrote, but fussy, as in the baby is grizzly :)

plaster = band-aid

piss = beer; Kevin was told, “Doc, I’ve been drinking too much piss”!!!!

grommets = ear tubes

boot = trunk of car

loo = bathroom

pinch = to steal

shift = to move, as in “I should shift the car” ie from parking on the street, or to shift from one house to another

across the ditch = to Australia

Hooray for friends from the US!

Since the last post, we’ve been having fun welcoming US Midwesterners :) to our corner of the world in New Zealand. And that is my excuse for not writing, I’m sure you’ll all have forgotten about us by now. Clint Farlinger and brother Carl came for only two nights Jan 29 & 30, and now we have Laurel Gamm and Charles Stephens, whom we’ve come to know through sister Robyn. Kevin took the Farlinger bros to the Otaki Gorge (twice, but that’s another story) and the following day we had hoped to accompany them north enroute to Auckland and their eventual departure….instead, as it was rainy and we didn’t HAVE to travel (as opposed to they who did) we sent them on their way to what was hopefully and eventually a scenic route north to Tongariro. Clint is a free-lance professional photographer, so NZ should provide plenty of material...IF the weather cooperates. Laurel and Charles arrived last Friday Feb 4 and we managed to get more time out of them :) The four of us headed up north and east on Saturday, determined by where in the north island it would not be raining, and it worked! We got to Napier and had a leisurely lunch outside, and visited one of NZ’s ubiquitous stores selling beautiful clothing made from merino wool and possum. Eeeuww, really, possum, you say? Yes, but wait, these are not the opossums that we see at home (although I guess both can be spelled that way). They are smaller but not much, akin to a weasel if you ask me and have a luscious brown fur coat. (and that is another story too, about a road kill…..all for Leslie’s benefit, of course) Anyway, they are a non-native pest in NZ, having been introduced years ago (late 1800’s?) to jumpstart a fur industry. Of course, they have no natural predators here and they eat things like kiwi eggs, and are a huge problem. People do hunt and trap them, and the DNR poisons them. Anyway, I digress, sorry...the possum fur is combined with merino wool to make an exceptionally soft and warm hat, scarf, sweater, gloves…..and expensive, natch. Stores can be found easily that are dedicated to the sale of these products. AND, this one in Napier actually had a little possum museum with dioramas of stuffed possums! Cute….? But we learned something..they are marsupials, who woulda thunk? So we made some smallish purchases, gifts of course heheh. Then the guys headed off to get fishing licenses, while Laurel and I wandered in amongst the very cool art deco architecture (including a very cool store…..gifts, of course, gifts) Napier was hit by an earthquake in 1931 and so the buildings built to replace what was ruined (much of it’s downtown and waterfront) is in art deco style. They have a huge annual art deco festival in February even, with lots of cars, costumes, music and history of the era. Laurel and I want to go!
Next we headed up to Te Urewera national park, and another lucky find, the Whakamarino Lodge, which is near Lake Waikaremoana (and remember, WH is pronounced like an F…?!?) It took us all weekend to figure out how to say the latter, thanks to Charles :) for getting it right from somebody’s mouth. Anyway, the lodge is iwi-owned, meaning a Maori tribe owns it, cool. We had our own 2 bedroom apartment and the lake all to ourselves, there was literally no one else there. Why, you say? Because it’s just a little, heheh, off the beaten track. We tried to stay a second night but they were expecting a group of 35 for the week, so our worry for their long-term viability was dissipated a bit. And, in the end, it was good we couldn’t stay, somebody was looking out for us. We went just a wee little bit up the road, maybe an hour, to find a cabin, the last one, on Lake Waikaremoana itself. Mostly metal (as in gravel, one lane, windy) road, ending at a beautiful lake ringed by lots of hilly, green bluffs. Which must have fish in it, hmmm. We explored trails not too far from the cabin, surrounding what really can best be described as a waterfall complex. (At this point, I hadn’t found my camera…...in my bag, so technically I had not lost it, right?) There were maybe five different falls, like a series of three some of which split into two, and we walked all around to see all of them from all vantage points, cool. Stopped at a big flat stone across from one, which we also had all to ourselves, for a picnic and some of us took a BRIEF swim (some of us just really didn’t need to get cooled off). Hiked back, then hiked an hour to get a dinghy at another unpronounceable lake that starts with a W and has about 4 consonants and 10 vowels. Kevin and Charles tried their darndest, but there were NO fish in that lake, beautiful though it was. We could tell, ‘cuz we could see to the bottom. Hiked down, and for the second time in 2 weeks, Kevin and Leslie timed it so we got back to our new cute cabin for four just in time for...dark and dinner. We are promising to do better now, really. Anyway, that brings us to why it was good we couldn’t stay a second night at the W Lodge...because the next morning, we got packed and out of there in a reasonable time, and we did not see another place of lodging for a loooong time. We drove and drove (thanks, Kevin, I’m saying “we” quite figuratively) on an again windy, narrow, metal road. At one point we came to an island of privately owned land in the middle of the park. It has few houses, with one place of business where there was a loo and coffee available. We surmised (wisely I’m sure) that this is where the descendants of the Ngāi Tūhoe live. Ngāi Tūhoe was the last Maori tribe to sign the Treaty of Waitangi, if indeed they ever did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C4%81i_T%C5%ABhoe Signs in the building were in Maori, which is not in itself so unusual in NZ, as it is one of three official languages, along with English and sign language. Usually, however, it is written below the English; in this case, for what looked like the iwi agenda meeting, it was the only language written. It seemed to us that there is a lot of pride in remaining on this piece of land. The Maori have a political party, and some representation in Parliament, and there is ongoing negotiation about repatriation for some parts of the country. At least one of the national parks (Tongariro, that we’ve visited) was given to the people of New Zealand by a Maori chief. I could digress here and go into more about the Maori, but I think I’ll save that for another post.
We finished up our trip that day with a picnic on the banks of Lake Taupo, and followed that by using the laptop and 3G T-Stick to call all 6 of our collective kids. Of course, it was during the Super Bowl, so some were unavailable..but we did find out that the Packers were ahead :) I took Laurel & Charles to the train station the next day, about half an hour away, to send them on their way to the South Island for several days. Happy trails, L&C, until we meet again.

First of all, be sure to check at the bottom of most previous posts, if you would like to see some pictures!  Sorry I haven’t been a more frequent blogger…..or actually, maybe once a week is just fine, thank you!  We’ve just been hanging out this weekend, staying around home.  Kevin went fishing Friday night https://picasaweb.google.com/116819527466773721245/FlounderFishingAtWaitarere?feat=directlink and Saturday, we had the neighbors over for “tea” (or dinner in our parlance), and since then it’s been rainy (oh I know, sobsobsniffsniff!). We read, knitted (well, I did) and watched some movies.  Today we got cabin fever and drove about a half hour away to a larger town to see a couple museums and watch a movie on a rainy day. We saw “The King’s Speech”, which I think was just released last week, so that’s earlier than when we would have seen it in Decorah, I bet!  (We recommend it highly. Fun to see it here, where many of the audience lived through the reign of King George VI.  The theatre was PACKED. I’ve just looked it up, the UK and NZ are independent constitutional monarchies, who share the same queen, Elizabeth II. Thanks, Wikipedia. I knew they had Parliament here, but not that she was actually queen here.  Didn’t know you were going to get a government lesson here, did you?)

We had lunch out today, and I was reminded that I haven’t told you about dining out.  What’s nice is that the price on the menu (and the price of anything listed anywhere) includes the GST, or tax.  AND, there is no tipping.  So you know right off the bat what you’re going to pay. Nice. Depending of course, on the restaurant, it often is comparable  in price or a little higher to what we might pay at a moderate to higher priced restaurant at home...so lunch today was $10 and $17, but remember the dollar here is about 75% of our dollar. Lots of cafes do “brekkie” and lunch, and have menu items but also “cabinet” items, which are ready to go, almost like a deli, just need to be heated up.  These might be sandwiches, a stuffed kumara (sweet potato, I had that today), quiche or pasta, and are generally cheaper than menu items. And at dinner time, they often list appetizers, entrees, and main dishes.  Items might be available either as an entree (like an appetizer size) or as a main course, and both prices are listed.  I still don’t quite get that, what is the difference then between an appetizer and an entree?  Lamb is often but not always on the menu, as is seafood. Seafood depends more on how close you are to the coast. Nobody is too far from it in this country, but they might not serve seafood.

Oh, we also got to attend the Horowhenua AP&I show this weekend! It’s akin to the county fair, only here they have sheepshearing events, alpaca judging (and the same for their fleece), sheepdog herding, and lots of sheep along with the cows (Dexter and some other kind that Kevin liked) and pigs.  They also have a lot of horse jumping and hunting events, which was where I spent much of the day on Friday :)  I did similar events (although not at this level!)  as a horse crazy teenager, and now my niece Ivy Smith does the same in Texas.  https://picasaweb.google.com/116819527466773721245/HorowhenuaAPIShow#

I never told you about last weekend, Jan 14-18.  We got to stay at Chrissy’s Bach, three hours drive in Taupo, meaning it belongs to the Hulls and they save some weeks for family and friends, and rent it out other weeks.  It’s full of character, a great family cottage, three blocks from the beach at Taupo.  Lake Taupo, NZ’s largest lake, fills a volcanic caldera in the midst of the north island, and is just north of Mt Ruapehu.  Which means that to get there, we drove past Tongariro Nat’l Park from last weekend on it’s eastern edge, past Mt Ruapehu and it’s neighboring two peaks. A lovely drive, at sunset.  All these peaks are volcanic, so they just jut right up out of relatively flat or rolling land, as opposed to seeing high peaks in the Rockies, where there are lots of smaller peaks all around the big ones. As you sit in Taupo (town) and look south across Taupo Lake (which gives new meaning to the term clear water) you see these peaks jutting up beyond the southern shore. Taupo, along with Rotorua about an hour north, is in the midst of Maori country, as well as lots of geothermal activity. So we went to museums in both towns with their varied emphasis on both topics, took in a comprehensive and not-just-for-show Maori cultural experience that included a geothermal walk, dinner and concert, took a hike amongst some geothermal activity (sorry, but this one withers next to Yellowstone), and saw Huka Falls - twice.  It’s where the longest river in the country leaves Lake Taupo and starts it’s journey to the Tasman Sea up near Auckland, but it leaves the lake by thundering through a very narrow channel with frothy teal water. It makes up for a short “fall” with lots of volume through a narrow space. Cool.

Some more language I left out

tramp = hike

lolly = candy

collect = pick up, as in Dr Hull collects Dr Sand enroute to work on W&F, which pleases Leslie very much, thank you!  Means she gets to keep the car all day til time to run in later to bring Dr Sand home (because he stays later than Dr Hull does.)

More random thoughts - The water supply comes from rain running off gutters into a large water tank that each house has. It can be filled by someone if need be, which maybe costs in the $150-200 range. Hulls have filled theirs maybe 2-3 times in 10 years, I think he said; there are only two of them but they often have their three grown kids’ families, or grandchildren alone, come to stay and play at Grandma & Grandpa’s house.

And now it’s Wednesday the 26th already, and since I have’t posted this yet, I’m going throw in an addendum.  Yesterday, the last day of the four day weekend, it was good weather and we took off for a nearby hike in the Tararua Range, which we see from our backyard. Armed with a good map, we drove about 15-20 minutes before we were on a narrow, metal :) winding road above the Otaki River gorge. Eventually we got arrived at the trailhead carpark (parking lot, pretty simple that one).  Kevin, of course also armed with camera and new compact collapsible fly rod (thanks to the WMC nurses’ retirement gift!) wanted to try for the trail that would give us river access. This trail was marked with the backpacking guy, which means strenuous hiking, requiring appropriate footwear which we had, as well as being fit, and we were not sure we had brought that with us. And we had not taken a hike marked like that yet. But it did also say “40 minute return” which translates to 40 minute round trip.  How bad could it be, right?  Well, we made it!  Some of us fell twice, and it was not the same some of us that fell on the mountain biking trail.  However, no broken or sprained ankles, arms or any other sort of appendage.  AND, it was fabulous.  The ten minutes each way closest to the river (hope that makes sense, it was the down and up part) was a little challenging, but not bad, since it was SHORT. When we got to the bottom, we were in a rocky river bottom, flanked by various huge green growing things all around up the sides of the gorge.  With whitewater rushing down over the rocks….hmm, no it did not make me think of tubing or kayaking, not enough room on top of the rocks. And a big green pool at the bottom, with….no trout or other beasts of the fishy type to be caught.  Not for lack of trying, and Leslie was very patient, as she had of course come prepared with book, and...knitting :)  There was some shade, and fantastic scenery that we had all to ourselves.  We had met one YOUNG man with dog enroute down, and he had just arrived back at the top, out of breath and sweaty.  We, however, did not sweat (at least, not like he did), ‘cuz we went slow.  He, on the other hand, must not have. Anyway, it was really well worth it, we spent a few hours at the river :) and made it back up successfully.  https://picasaweb.google.com/116819527466773721245/OtakiRiverTramp#

Well, I am slowly figuring stuff out to make these pics show up.  I hope this works well for you this way.  Sorry there are so many, I just got tired of trying to decide what to delete and kept too many!

Pictures, finally!

I got it at least part way figured out, so now at the bottom of appropriate previous posts there is a link to pictures from that weekend, and hopefully you will see captions too.  Hope this works for you, you'll have to scroll past what you've already read, but it's the best I can do so far!

Time for some cultural points

Today is Monday, January 17 and we’re in Taupo, which I'll tell you about another day! (oh, the suspense, the anticipation.......) Kevin has a cold and is napping, and so rather than give you another travelogue (hooray!) I’m going to give you a taste of life in NZ, at least from our eyes.
First, a language lesson. While we keep reminding ourselves and others :) that we do speak the same language, it’s fun to note some differences. Of course, the accent is the foremost barrier to our quick understanding of what someone has said to us. We hopefully have been polite and not too demanding when we’ve had to ask someone to repeat themselves, it happens not infrequently! Beyond that, a list of translated words, and I say translated as that is what it feels like!
Metal road = gravel road (and roads are sealed vs unsealed)
Manchester = linen, seen in stores to refer to the linen department
Jandals = sandals
Chook = chicken
Jersey=sweater
Bach - second home
Queue - line, as in to queue up, stand in a queue, queue ahead
Holiday - vacation (“they’re on holiday”)
Plunger - a type of ground coffee (I think plunger refers to the French press)
Chillie bin = cooler, as for a picnic
Long lunch = potluck, and I’m not sure if this refers to the long table, or the length of time it covers, or both! When they refer to potluck, it means you’re bringing a dish to a host’s home (for a smaller gathering, I presume)
Crook - sick
Grizzly - really sick!
Nappies - diapers (haven’t purchased any, in any size)
Bugger - oh shit
Sweet as - good, in agreement
Warranty - as for the car, licensed or insured, we’re not sure which
Box of birds - feeling great, happy
Dunger - dumpy place
Buffet - pronounced BUFF et (like it’s spelled, not so French as we do!)
Filet - “ FILL et ( “ ) Did you filet the fish?
yes - is said like “yeece”

There is a longer list at the back of our Lonely Planet guidebook, but the words above are some that we’ve personally experienced....and felt like furreners when we've heard 'em.
As to life in general, I’m going to rattle off some observations, many unrelated to each other you’ll think…..Homes are generally one story, though it looks as if recently homes have become larger and more of those are two story. Roofs might be rounded clay (or metal?) tiles, or metal similar to those showing up lately in the US (midwest, anyway!). There are no screens on the windows, and windows are often open, as they are in shops and restaurants. Insects do not seem to bother, maybe due to breezes?!? Anyway, it’s delightful! Lots of flowers everywhere…..hmm, well it’s summer. But it seems to me they are more plentiful. And roundabouts! They are definitely everywhere...with the effect that you stop and start less, I’m sure it’s better on gas mileage (oh, and gas is called petrol!) Another factor that helps is that, on less busy streets where there is not a roundabout, more often than stop signs, you see “GIVE WAY” painted in your lane as you approach an intersection, and most often on only one of the two intersecting streets. So you are not obligated to stop if no one is on the other road. (But remember, you also give way to someone on your right, which can be confusing if they are turning in front of you??? What???) There are lots of Toyotas especially, most often models unheard of by Kevin and me. Some Subarus and Hondas, and some other foreign cars too, but those seem to be the Big Three. If we see an American car, it’s a Ford. We see few minivans or SUVs, but this time of year there are a lot of what they call campervans (self-contained small by US standards RVs, often what looks like a large van modified for camping) or caravans (camping trailers) Kiwis love their camping, or their baches! No fifth wheels or large RVs. There are 4 Squares, which basically are better supplied convenience stores than we have, and they do NOT also sell gasoline. (Never have liked mixing my food and gas!) They are in every little town along the highway, well almost every one. The 4 Square in Waitarere Beach, our little “suburb” of Levin, has WONDERFUL meat pies that are made right there, with the flakiest crust we’ve ever beheld; great convenience food! And, the local mail comes through there, so when we needed to leave our “home” this week, I just went in and gave them our name and address to have our mail held until we get back into our house. Kind of like the old general store, I think. As far as grocery shopping, there is of course, great fresh fish and seafood, with bargains to be had as the “expiry date” nears. Now in summer and on the north island, we find lots of roadside produce stands and farmer’s markets. Kevin has been frustrated by the lack of “real” peanut butter, meaning peanuts only as the ingredients and they have not replaced the peanut oil with cheaper unspecified vegetable oil. Of course, the Vegemite or Marmite UGH sits right next to the PB, and alongside lots of Nutella or an alternative brand. And, we can find good bread in the grocery store, and even the 4 Square! What a gift! Coffee in homes is often not perked, everyone has their large electric hot pot (about the size and shape of an old 10-12 cup coffee percolator) which heats water for coffee or tea VERY quickly. So if you are asked in for a cuppa, they will ask if you want coffee (and many Kiwis I think prefer it) or tea, but it might very well be instant. There is a brand of instant (meaning freeze-dried) coffee that is better, and I’ve come to be fine with it especially if I add some milk and maybe sugar! They also might serve Milo, which is maybe akin to Ovaltine? We’ve come to really like Chris Hull’s method of making Milo (with milk rather than water, with frothy milk on top of that, frothed with her coffee plunger, and sprinkled with something mocha-y and crunchy on top) For meals, Kiwis have breakfast and lunch, but in the evening it’s called tea, but it’s really an evening meal like our supper or dinner. It seems that there are lots of non-native Kiwis around, many originally from other formerly British or currently UK countries, like Australia, Canada. Met one woman in Waitarere Beach who came here 47 years ago from California. And a lot of people from the Islands, as they are referred to here - might be the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga. Tourists it seems are more likely Aussies, Asian, German, Dutch, or British or Canadian. I read that they get half the NZ tourism dollars from Australia. Music played publicly is often American oldies (I like that!) but entertainment magazines are NZ or Aussie, and while they might have some headlines on the cover about US celebs, it seems that their own peeps are front and center, good on ya! When we pick up the NZ paper, it’s got US news in with all the other international news. However, recently, the Aussie flooding has gotten a lot of press, and so has the Tucson tragedy. More later on our impressions of Taupo, where we have been this weekend!

Monday, January 10 -Now we’re in Ohakune,

which is north of our “home” about 3 hours, and on the southern edge of Tongariro National Park www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/national-parks/tongariro We arrived here yesterday. We left Waitarere Beach and Levin on Friday night just when Kevin finished work (thanks dear!) and headed north about 1.5 hours, to a idyllic setting...little did we know. We booked Friday and Saturday nights through the Affordable Travel Club, you should google it to know more! All we knew of the place was that Howard and Marice were members, they like to garden yay and golf no yays from us, and so would put up with us and give us breakfast according to the rules of membership, and that it was enroute to our goal of spending time near Tongariro. Well, were we in for a major happy surprise. After driving a ways off the beaten path and along a beautiful river canyon, we drove in through a white picket fence with the name Manoroa on it, and met the McGraths. They own 100 acres and have very lovingly and with much talent, planted perennials and TREES galore among the 100+ year old trees that attracted them to the place 20 years ago. They left the business world in Auckland to do this, and now run a B&B there to boot. www.gardenstovisit.co.nz/garden.aspx?gardenid=78 AND, they were featured in NZ Home & Garden in June 2010! I hope I can get a back issue online. We had a garden/tree tour right away, and in the morning Kevin got to go out with Howard (he has a special place in my heart, his middle name is Howard, same as my dad and they both went by that middle name!) and his four dogs to do the farm chores, which meant moving 45 of their bulls from one paddock to another. They finish feed bulls for grinding meat for….McDonalds! (which of course we see here frequently, along with Pizza Hut, Subway, Domino’s, Burger King occasionally) Then Kevin and Howard discovered another mutual hobby, which Kevin has recently become passionate about, that’s photography. Kev got to show Howard some hints that he’s recently learned and perfected, which Howard can use for...garden pictures! During the day Kev and I drove to Wanganui, a west coast town, taking the back roads and enroute stopping at a place the McGrath’s put us on to, Sutherland’s Reserve, where we walked through old growth forest. And took pictures. Hmm, seems to be a theme here…..

One of the most frustrating points of our stay here has been expensive internet, and now in Okahune it’s not good reception either. That’s why you’re not seeing more pics on my blog or on Facebook, as one pays for transmission of data. So if we just read email or news, it’s expensive enough…...if we skype or upload pictures or download anything (podcasts, music, pictures) we run out of minutes really quick and have to buy more. I shouldn’t say minutes, it goes by data. Oh well! So I’m going to try to give you links to websites, that will give you an idea.

So we left Manoroa yesterday on Saturday after saying good bye to more new friends, and drove up here (stopping at a yarn shop enroute!). We hiked into Tongariro National Park to Waitonga Falls past peat bogs and Mt Ruapehu, the highest peak on the north island. After the hike we got into the car and drove further up the mountain to the Turoa Skifield, which must take a lot of snow in winter to cover the completely rocky slopes (Tongariro’s peaks are volcanic) www.mtruapehu.com. Today we got on mountain bikes and rode the Old Coach Road from Hokopiko back to Ohakune. www.ohakunecoachroad.co.nz It was awesome, other than the few fortunately mild, slooow falls that one of us took. (some of us fell 3 times, and some did not fall). Took about 3.5 hours, over the path that horse-drawn coaches used to take train passengers between the two ends of railway running between Auckland (north on the North Island) and Wellington (southern tip of the North Island). They had not been able to accommodate the differences in elevation between the two ends, so left the middle railway track unbuilt, using coaches in between instead. Part of that path, through the national park, has recently been restored to trail. So we went through more trees, biked a tunnel, and went over the loooong viaduct that has now been replaced by the neighboring viaduct that we had ridden over during our first week here when we took the train south. Cool. And we came happily back, had lunch and showered and now, a nap :)

Hopefully, this will work to show you some personal pics

http://picasaweb.google.com/116819527466773721245/TongariroWeekend#

It’s January 3 and We’re in Napier, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand

Happy New Year! If you combine the revelry of New Year’s Eve and July 4th fireworks in the US, you’ll have an idea of how this holiday is celebrated here. As I told one patrolling policeman near the beach at about 8:30 PM that eve, at home all the partiers stay inside, because it’s too cold. Here they spill out all over! There was lots of partying going on, including at the bach next to us...we managed to sleep through most of it (love those little blue earplugs!), so we could get up the next morning for our weekend road trip.

We drove across the entire country, from one coast to the other, in about 3 hours on Saturday morning. Or, we could have if we hadn’t stopped enroute! We happened across a sign saying Waimarie Alpacas and luckily we found them at home. What a wonderful happenstance visit! I was interested because I’ve knitted with alpaca which is fabulously soft and considered a luxury fiber. Kevin was interested because it’s a farm! Ten years ago this woman bought nine pregnant females, thinking this was to be a hobby. (This also was after her husband suggested she get two castrated males, that’s it.) She had never been a farmer, though her husband was, nor had she been a fiber artist or creative in any way, she says. Now they breed them, have won lots of ribbons, and have a herd of 75 animals! AND she has a studio with NZ’s first FELTloom, a huge electric needle felting loom with which she makes felted alpaca wallhangings, knee rugs (we call them lap robes!), shawls, and fabric with which one can sew up a jacket, etc. Her mother knits hats and she adds felted flowers, etc, etc. We purchased products, saw the animals, felt the shorn fleeces in the barn which are for sale, and “had a cuppa” with Ross and Christine. Just lovely! We both thoroughly enjoyed meeting them and their animals and hearing their story.

We’re staying in a “tourist flat” at a campground here. Basically a tourist flat is a room with a bed, and ours has a small fridge, sink, toaster, hot pot and dishes. The bathroom is as you’d expect to find at any campground, ours is across the gravelled parking lot. A communal kitchen and BBQ is available, though we’ve found wonderful restaurants instead :) Yesterday we started the day out by taking in the Hastings Farmer’s Market, about 15 minutes up the coast from Napier. Oh, it was so lovely too! A beautiful morning in a mostly shaded grassy area, with about 50 vendors, including all sorts of produce and value-added products - chocolate, wine, preserves, coffee, wine, cheese, wine...and music and picnicking in the centre (as they spell it here). If you haven’t guessed it, the Hawke’s Bay region is known for it’s produce, and grapes, although we’ve heard they’ve overplanted in grapes now. In the afternoon, we went on a boat for a snorkeling trip; now this is the Pacific! Let’s just say it was a little rough, and we’ve had better snorkeling. We hung around the harbour for dinner at a great Laotian-Thai restaurant, and talked to a Kiwi woman whose cousins grew up near Cedar Rapids!

Today, on Monday, January 3, we had two amazing, fun experiences. We drove south a little towards Cape Kidnappers (so named by Captain James Cook, after Maori kidnapped a Tahitian deckhand boy, who they later released back to him) to ride on a trailer behind a big tractor, then hike up and up and up to see a gannet colony. These are amazing members of the booby family :) whose children’s first flight is to Australia! There are four colonies of them in this area, totalling about 17,000 birds. The tractor ride was a blast, with crazy (but knowledgeable about the gannets and surrounding geology) tractor driver guys who made it alot of fun. Tractor choreography, in and out of the water and over the rocky beach. Next on our agenda, just by chance, we drove to the adjacent place, the Clifton Sheepstation. This is a historic NZ sheepstation since 1859 when 13,500 acres was purchased from “the crown” (of England), and is still owned by members of the same family; the 6th generation now is growing up there. We stood in the historic shearing shed, which now houses artifacts and has a shearing demo. We were two of four people in attendance, so got to get up close and personal! They still have a herd of about 6,000 sheep, which is way down in numbers as is true across the country. Leslie’s learning a lot about wool! I did decide before we left, I am NOT going to start spinning it. However, when in New Zealand…..????

I hope this works...please go to http://picasaweb.google.com/116819527466773721245/NapierWeekend# to see pics from our Napier weekend.