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.