New Zealand 2024

Dang, those gum boots are heavy. I said we would flip back the black plastic surrounding the native plant area so Keith could mow the tall grass at the edges. Clomping around in gum boots since the ground is sopping wet wore me out. We managed to get all sides flipped back and extra pieces moved out of his way before the rains started. We took a break, then, when the sun came out, flipped back one side. I was worn out. The rain started again, so a good excuse to quit. We will get back to the rest eventually. Betsy trimmed fruit trees while we worked. She had heard there was an electronic repair booth at the local farmers market on the last Saturday of the month. We took her broken dehydrator to see if it could be fixed. We wandered around, looking at merchandise, and asking where the repair shop was. No one knew. I saw a NZ jade bead bracelet for $40 which gives me a working price as a comparison. We can always come back. No one knew anything about the repair shop. We stopped at Matt’s...

At dinner, Tesoro’s jumped into my lap and sat with me for about 5 minutes. I guess she thinks we are now acceptable. An easy day. In the morning, Betsy and I went to town. First stop was to pick up donated yarn for her Red Cross group which we dropped off at their club house. Right in downtown Kerikeri, this was a generous donation by a now deceased member.  From there, we walked over to the council office where Betsy was prepared to do battle royale to have her property taxes paid from a different bank account than the one currently listed on official records. She’d tried in the past to no avail. I sat down for the wait. This time, the staff said it would be easy leash, sign this form, and we were out of there. Who knows. To celebrate, we had coffee and a ginger slice, this one with chunks of candied ginger on top. Back to the Red Cross meeting. I bought hats for Bella and Remi ($20 & $15), plus some homemade orange marmalade ($5). The ladies were sitting around knitting baby...

Time for a break. After breakfast, Betsy and Grant went to get the cats from their kitty hotel. Afterwards, we sat around until the rains abated. Then a tour of Betsy and Keith’s gardens.  A few years ago, they had a bunch of old citrus trees removed. Little by little, they are planting native trees, shrubs, and flowers. All around that bed, they laid black plastic to kill the grass, so they can continue expanding it. The kitchen garden is slow, waiting for spring weather. There is some cabbages and broccoli. A first crop of asparagus, meager, but we will have it at dinner. Apple and other fruit trees have begun budding, so they need to be trimmed immediately. Yards are just a continuous work in process. After the tour and some more sitting, Betsy and I went grocery shopping. Grant stayed home to play his video game on her computer. He forgot to pack his iPad, so he hasn’t been able to play. The first time he hasn’t played every day in the 40+ years I’ve known him. Keith was workin...

After having breakfast with Ursala, we said goodbye and headed north. As we drove through the Rotarua area, we saw little geothermal outbreaks all over. People seem nonchalant, because they build their houses right next to where little wisps of steam seep out of the ground.  I guess the advantage of having heat near a home in this cold, damp climate outweighs their fear of any cataclysmic activity. I’m not sure I’d be as at ease. The town of Tirau has, as Betsy said, embraced corrugated steel, with buildings and decorations made of it. I particularly liked the flowers on the Poppy Cafe and the birds on other shoppes, but the big eye catchers are the sheep, goat, and dog buildings in the center of town.  There were blocks of cafes and bakeries. Evidently, a convenient stop when people drive between Auckland and Wellington, especially on the old roads. We had debated whether to stop at the Hamilton Botanical Gardens, but decided not to because it was raining. Continuing with our...

Betsy said the hot pools would be fun even in the rain, so we saved visiting for the day the weather was supposed to be crumby. Of course it was a beautiful day with clear skies most of the time. First we had to stop at the Op (opportunity) Shop where Ursala volunteers each week to look for stretchies (onesies) that Betsy could buy and bring to her Red Cross group. They make gift bags for new mothers, and baby clothes are always in demand. I tried on a printed cotton robe for NZ$5, but it just didn’t hang right. I considered 2 Māori woven bags, each NZ$2, but again, just not quite something I needed. Add them to my “near miss” list. Then onto the Warehouse, where she bought a top and shorts to use as a bathing suit. I found 2 Aotearoa team shirts, one a tank top, the other a tee, each NZ$25, as gifts, likely uber-sports-fan son. On to the hot pools, which were built in 1972 by locals. We changed into our bathing suits, put our valuables in a locker, and plunged slowly into the lowest, ...

I awoke early and listened to the dawn chorus of tui , song thrush, and sparrows. Our little house is quite warm, with a built-in heater for the living room and space heaters for our bedroom and the huge bathroom. We could have a fire in wood stove in the back sitting area, but I doubt we will have time for that. Today is supposed to be clear. Grant woke up about an hour after I did. Rather than letting him get sidetracked into making coffee, I prodded him into getting dressed for a walk along the lake. A beautiful path, several other walkers, some with dogs. No wind, temperature about 50°. We’d only been out about 10 minutes, when Betsy called and said breakfast was ready. Plus she’d made coffee. We turned around, went over 2 blocks, and were at Ursala’s house. I’m starting to envy people who have a nature trail just outside their door. We had to divide and conquer.  Betsy is taking Ursala to a doctor appointment for a scan. Keith, Grant and I will go to Okareka to bird. A short d...

No walking today. Another Uber, which I thought expensive at NZ$40 for a 10 minute ride, but I didn’t want to schlep all our stuff to the train station by foot. Perhaps because it was 7:00 Sunday morning. We prevailed upon the sweet staff at the hotel to open the breakfast area early so we could have coffee and yogurt before we left. I would definitely use this hotel again. By the time I’d made reservations, the pricier seats which included meals and better service were all booked. Not a big deal. There was a cafe on board, and we could bring whatever food we wanted to. All 3 cars had big glass windows so we could look see out well.  For 8 hours, we rode through New Zealand countryside, mostly farmland. Sheep, lots of sheep. The new lambs were gamboling, as little lambs seem to do. It looked like more than half the dames had twins. Lots of sheep. Maybe half as many cattle. We saw a pair of llamas/alpacas on 2 farms, and a single at another. More sheep. One farm had red deer, and I ...

On our way over to the cable car ticket booth on Lampton Quay, we passed a statue of John Plimmler, the father of Wellington, and his dog Fritz in front of the stairs that bear his name.There are statues and art all over the city, sometimes with plaques, sometimes not, I wish we had time for a guided walking tour.  We bought round trip tickets and rode to the top. From there, we walked all the way down to the bottom of Wellington Botanical Gardens. Today, the sun was out, and the wind was down. A lovely day for a walk in the park. My thought was to have lunch midway at the Tree Top Cafe, but it is closed on the weekends in the winter. We continued down then back up and over to see the rose gardens, (all cut way back to stubs, getting ready for spring) and the begonia house.  This set of green houses should be more accurately called tropical plant house because they were filled with all the native and exotic plants I know from home including Spanish moss and stag horn ( Platyce...

Another breakfast at the hotel where the council reps were discussing their upcoming workshops and lectures. Yesterday I had asked Ellison from a council near Rotarua why the prevailing architecture in Wellington seemed to be small houses with peaked roofs, like a child’s drawing. As a good elected official, she said she would look into that. This morning, she spotted me eating my raw oatmeal with yogurt and banana and reported the original colonists had built houses like they knew in England. Not for wind resistance or to survive earthquakes, just the same old, same old. Humans are so predictable. Our night tour ticket allowed us to return the next day to Zealandia. I wanted to get there at opening time, so I scheduled an Uber for 8:45.  Zealandia, now 14 years old, is 500+ acres, both sides of a valley north of downtown Wellington. It is completely surrounded by 2.2 meter high fence, topped by a wide cap, to prevent predators like stoats and cats from entering the area. Inside, t...

The hotel is full of people attending a nationwide conference of local councils. We chatted at breakfast with some who think the new prime minister was spot on with his approach a bare-bones government. Others think he is absolutely wrong headed. I plan to learn more each morning since they will be meeting all week. We walked down to the harbor and Te Papa Museum, then over to the canoe boat house. With sprinkles and rain threatening, we walked back to our hotel for rain jackets, stopping by New World grocery for dinner food. A little creepy because when I went to the in-store ATM, a man who had been sitting next to it deliberately bumped me hard and elbowed Grant as he left.  Of course, no rain, but lots of wind so we were glad to have our jackets. Evidently it is called Windy Wellington for a reason. Back at the museum, we had a whirlwind tour of the museum by AJ, a pākehā, (Māori for white person). The museum has all the exhibit information displayed in English and Māori. AJ see...

Today, we fly to New Zealand via Sydney. So far, our pool pump isn’t working, and our first flight was delayed by 2 hours. Delta swears we will make our connection in Los Angeles. My last nerve is frayed. I was able to get Ben from Crystal Pools over who said the front of the pump is cracked. Thank goodness it gave up the ghost today rather than tomorrow. It was working fine yesterday. What the heck? He can replace it with a variable speed pump, probably on Thursday. Just spend away.  Orlando airport was chaos. Dogs, babies, lots and lots of people. The tram from terminal to gates wasn’t working properly; only 1 car on one tram was taking travelers out each trip. We had 3 hours to takeoff, so not our worry. Other people were a bit more anxious.               ***** Now, sitting in Sydney airport, I can relax. We did make the connection. We flew Delta Comfort+ which gave us plenty of leg room, and the seat tilted well-back. I’m reinforced for n...