Sunshine at the Esplanade Splash Park

Just as my friends and family are boarding up windows and sticking up on batteries, bread, and milk in preparation for the FrankenStorm Hurricane Sandy, Zack and I were enjoying 21 degree C weather here at the Esplanade. We met up with Esther and Cayla and Zack had an impromptu picnic of animal crackers.

A world away from the Atlantic storm, we enjoyed a super sunny and not very breezy day at the park. Even wearing 85 SPF lotion, I got a bit sunburned.  Nice day for the splash park, though.

Are those capsicums in your trundler?

New Kiwi words include capsicums, which are bell peppers, and trundler, which is a shopping cart.

Well, I am always learning something new...

Shopping at Pak N Save saves cash, since you pack your own groceries and the plastic bags are an extra charge per bag.  Many people bring their own reusable bags.

Zack has been going through a bit of separation anxiety at school and with our nanny.  Usually he is OK after a few minutes.  However, he insisted on walking with me to Countdown grocery to get rice this afternoon instead of staying with Ameera and Ben.  Sigh...

Mike is home everyday by 6pm , which is pretty cool.

My dinner creation tonight was a beef curry with capsicums (bell peppers) , mushrooms, onions, garlic, and curry powder.  I am trying to get used to using a crock pot slow cooker, and I have made 3 meals so far that have been edible. 
Progress, not perfection. I am not cut out to be this domestic!

Here are some more crazy park pictures:

Pumpkin Party a Smashing Hit!

Kids came dressed as superheroes, zombies, fairies, dragons, and skeletons to experience a Halloween party for the first time ever.

The pumpkin pinata took about twenty hits before it came down.  I spilled the contents onto the grass and the kids ran to collect toys and candies.

Then we feasted on pizza, chips, veggies, fruit, and juice boxes to get some actual food into the kids before all the sugar.  We had paraded around the block and my two neighbors passed out lollies and jaffas (chocolate sweets) to the kids, which they loved doing. I had preplanned this route and planted sweets at their house on hand, since there is no guarantee that houses will be stocked with sweets and trick or treaters are super rare.


We played some games like relay race and "Collect Skeleton fingers" from the yard, in which I used my clothespins scattered on the grass.

Then we went inside and had cupcakes made by Mark's family as well as the ones I made with Esther and Raeleen. Sugared up to the max.  "Lollied out!" as someone proclaimed.

The kids and adults enjoyed the novelty of the experience and I was glad that the kids could celebrate Halloween in a far off land.

Prepped for Pumpkin Party

All the preparations for our American Kiwi Halloween Costume Party Spectacular are in full effect. Raeleen and Esther came over last night to help decorate cupcakes and make icing from scratch . Very helpful!

 I set out treat bags on the mantle and brought out the stuffed pumpkin jack o lantern piñata, so all I need to do today is hang it on the tree outside. I am hoping that the Kmart will have rope, otherwise I will have to drive across town to our Home Depot equivalent, Mitre 10 Mega.

We have about two dozen kids RSVPed to attend. I have convinced two of my neighbors to pass out candy and lollies to the kids as a part of the Halloween parade. That's about as close as we can get to successful trick or treating here in Palmerston North.

Bringing a bit of American culture and tradition to the North Island of NZ today.  I hope the party is a hit!

Very exciting! Just have to order pizzas from Domino's and were all set.

Driving past Buck Bucket and Naked Bus

Everyday there are places in NZ that make me laugh.  One of which is a store called, "Butt Bucket" which is bright yellow and sells tobacco and cigarettes. 


The other notable one is the "Naked Bus" which has ad slogans, "Why not go?" and " Stripping the cost of travel" Yes, indeed...


Why not go on the Naked Bus?  It is naked because of the "No frills or extras" cost, not because it is a party bus with naked people. 

Got to love NZ signage and sense of humor.

Hail and Vermin

My 3 am wake up was brought on by a bizarre mid of the night hail storm that brought down ice balls and they cascaded off my glassed in patio with a loud pitter patter sound.









The living room also was abuzz with activity. Behind the TV there was a chewing sound in the drywall. The vermin that live in this house are expanding their inter- wall empire to make room for their spring offspring.

The likely suspect- NZ house mouse

I love nature, but am not a fan of mice and rats living in my house. I got some rat poison at the store today. Hopefully the creatures will eat it and my nighttime rest will not be interrupted by the infernal nocturnal invaders.

The saddle ride through Wangunui

Breakfast at the Tuapo McDonald's came with a playtime on board the on site McDonalds airplane and play area.  This was awesome for the kids, and I had a much needed cappuchino.

The return home from Tuapo was a different route, through the "saddle" of the land and then through the riverlands of the Wangunui River. We were hoping it would be less curvy and topsy turvy of a ride, but this was only mildly true. 

The NZ Army builds roads that wind around mountains and curve around obstacles, so the road is constantly shifting in its guidelines of speed, from 100 km/hr to 45 km/hr to 25 km/hr around a sharp turn and then back to 75 km/hr in a five minute time interval.

The roads are more narrow than roads in the USA and one side may even have falling rock from a rock wall.  In short, you want to stay alert and drive slowly.  I did better and felt less queasy on the road if I was driving, so I drove about 4 of the 6 hours home.  The rest of the time I tried to close my eyes and relax around the hairpin turns.

Horse or unicorn crossing ahead!

Horses indeed!

The signs were also amusing.  We saw a kiwi bird crossing sign, and some horse signs, followed by horses.

I bet nighttime drivers need to look out for kiwis, but they were all asleep when we drove past.

Downpour at the Hobbit Holes

Soaked we were as we visited the Shire and Bag End at the Hobbiton Movie set in Manatawa.

It was a light drizzle in the morning at the Kiwi wildlife park in Rotorua and had morphed into a downpour by mid afternoon. "Typical NZ spring weather, and great for the plants, " the guide remarked.

Zack just loved the hobbit holes, and kept trying to crawl past the ropes and open all the hobbit hole doors. It's a movie set, so the holes only go 1-2 meters in and then end in walls. Apparently creatures just love living inside the movie set, including opossums, nesting birds, and field mice.

We were supplied umbrellas to shield us from the rain, but we were super soaked by the end of the one and a half hour movie tour of the set.

The kids took off their soaked jackets and socks and gave them to me to hold- lovely. I had luckily bought some tourist t- shirts at the wildlife center and we switched out of our drenched shirts into those.

The movie set was great even in the rain. They are building the inside of the Green Dragon Inn so that tourists can buy a beer inside. The project will be completed in late December.

A very wet and memorable day. The best picture of a kiwi we got at the wildlife park was a taxidermied one in a glass case. The actual birds are nocturnal and in a dark light housing and hate camera flashes.

The well preserved kiwi in the glass case.

The actual bird in a green dark room.

Go figure.....

The Winding Path to Tuapo

So we're off on a weekend getaway to Hobbiton. This means we left our known comforts of Palmy to go to the sheep speckled hills and the desert highway. I got a bit lost in Feilding, but we got spectacular pics of the hillside and of the livestock curiously wandering over to our lost car parked on the side of the road.

Cows love NZ

Sheep speckle the rolling hills.

Picturesque scenery of farmland.

The road plunged into a deep valley with huge rock faces and we cautiously navigated our way to route 54 towards Taupo. I ended up with a bit of a road headache at 2 pm and Mike took over driving. The roads are paved but super narrow and twisty , so I had to just close my eyes at some of the mountain passes over the valley, for it looked like our car could fall over the edge of the hills and into the lush green valleys below . 


We stopped at a trout farm to go to the restroom and we saw a Tui bird, NZ's own beloved black bird, about the size of a raven, with two conspicuous white feathered tufts on its throat.

Zack decided that he wanted to go potty after they closed the restrooms at 3:30, so we were out of luck. After deciding the bushes were not an option, he wanted to go back to the car and drive to a better toilet.

We got to Lake Taupo 25 min later and finally found a rest stop along the beach where Zack could go.
Finally, we climbed back into the car and found our hotel at 5 pm or so.

Twin Peaks Lakeside Inn was nice in that the rooms are suites with a kitchen, dining area, bathroom, and two areas to sleep.

The Jolly Good Fellas restaurant and bar was loud and the service was a bit slow. Zack and Ben were squirrelly from the long ride and squiggled in their seats and blew bubbles in their lemonade with straws . Dinner was unremarkable, except for Mike's . He had a beef and onion "pastie"which was like beef stew inside a flaky calzone - shaped croissant.

The boys took forever to settle down and go to bed, and Mike and I watched most of the 3 Muskateers. Nightfall brought some peace to the exhausted travelers searching for Hobbiton.

Fun Friday at Te Manawa

Zack and I went off this morning to meet Esther and RaeLee at Te Manawa play centre.  The kids played for a long while, and then RaeLee left to go home for kiddo nap time.

Esther , Cayla and the two of us then went to the McD's on Rangatikea Street.  they have a big crawl through play area and the kids had chicken nuggets and played until 1:30 pm or s. Koen giggled aat my funny American baby lullabys that I sang him.

The ants returned to my kitchen, this time to snack on my unfinished dirty dishes and all the crumbs and morsels in my sink.  I begrudgingly washed the sink and killed all ant invaders, which was a mere dozen or so.


We got Razor scooters for the kids to ride on.  Ben is good at balancing on the board, but it is tricky for Zack.

We made chicken pot pie, veggies, and had Doritos for dinner.  tomorrow marks the beginning of a trip to Hobbiton and the Kiwi bird fuge, so that will be a fun weekend outing.  Plus, we get to see Lake Taupo and get more practice driving on the left of the road, as it is 5 hours north of Palmy.
Adventure awaits!

Thai Date and Chocolate Frogs

Yesterday was Thursday, which means Mike and I went out on a date to the Plaza.  We went to a cool Thai place, called Thai Garden, and Mike got Pai Thai and I got a Panang beef curry.

  I was most impressed with the butterfly radish and the carrot flower garnish.



The food was also tasty.
Then we walked the mall ( open until 9 pm), and had coffee and animal shaped chocolates. I had a milk chocolate sheep, amd Mike had an Amazonia green chocolate frog with red berry flavored center. Amusing and delicious.

It is relaxing to go on a date without the kids.

Enroled!

That's how you spell it in Kiwiland.  Both the kids are enroled (enrolled) in school now.

Zack is at Montessori, working hard at experiments with colored dye and crafting scrapbook scissors.

Ben is adjusting well to life in his new school. All the kids ride Razor scooters to school, so Ben now desperately wants a Razor scooter. There are about 15 scooters parked outside his classroom every day.

I made a baby blanket and hat and a gift basket for Malcolm's family this week.  They have a 5 week old baby girl, so I thought it would be nice.  I used the last of my imported from America cotton yarn. Too much time on my hands!  The wind was knocking out satellite TV last night, so we had to settle for listening to the radio ZM station.

Do the Barefoot Hokey Pokey

Hokey Pokey is not a dance where you put your right foot in, or your left foot in and shake it all about, and then turn yourself around on the dance floor.

It is a delicious honeycomb brittle, kind of like peanut brittle. They put it in ice cream, which is yummy, and chocolate bars, which is even yummier.

  It's the number two most popular ice cream flavor (flavour) in Kiwi land. And Kiwis eat Hokey Pokey barefoot all year round. Barefeet are in the street, in the mall, in the park, and strangely no where close the sandy beach- they are everywhere.

Ben's first day of school left him barefoot. At the end of the school day, everyone is instructed to take off all socks and shoes and run around the field behind the school twice. "Strange!" he commented to me as I picked him up. Yet I saw classes of kids being dismissed with no shoes on, coming back from the field, so the story has merit.

Here's a shot of NZ people on the street, wearing either sandals or no shoes at all, taken by another blogger, http://thebaldrysgokiwi.blogspot.co.nz/2011/01/how-new-zealand-is-not-canada.html.

Only in NZ!

Cool trees of NZ

I am compiling a photo gallery of cool trees of NZ.