Tramping in Tawharanui

Look at me doing 2 blogs in one week...

Bonus points to anyone (non-Kiwi) who knows how to pronounce the name of park we went to this weekend! Saturday morning we woke up and it was a beautiful fall day so we decided to scrap our plans to clean and rest for better plans! We decided to drive up to a weekend farmer's market about an hour away, and then drive to a nearby reserve for a nice little walk.

The Matakana market is a really great place to spend a Saturday. It has a farmer's market nestled in a quaint little boutique shopping area. You can get your fresh produce, cheeses and good eats, then stroll along a little creek and shop in some boutiques for Kiwiana gear, books, and jewelry. I really didn't take many pictures at the market as my hands were full with these beautiful tropical water lilies and some yummy figs I pick up right away.

After lunch we went to Tawharanui Regional Park where we had been twice before. Previously we only went to the beaches so this time we wanted to actually walk around. We weren't sure what kind of tramping it would be, but when we got there I was a bit relieved that it was all along loose gravel paths and fairly easy. But it was not without breathtaking views. The park is on a peninsula so we had water all around us. When we started our walk it was a beautiful blue skies day and when we were walking back other parts of the area were getting good rain storms so it was cool to see the dark clouds coming over the hills.

Will taking a break on a water tank

Looking back over Anchor Bay

Will and I at Tokatu point

On our way back the path we walked on before had a pack of herefords (young heifers, Will postulates) milling about. Will and I had a bit of fun with them and mooed at them. They all looked at us and got out of our way. I'm pretty sure they were thinking "who are those new guys? They're way too skinny to be good cows". Maybe Will can open a branch of Smith Farms Red Angus over in NZ?

After we finished our walk, Will wanted to jump in he ocean as it just looked so enticing. I sadly had to stay out as I didn't have anything to wear and no towels to dry off. He said that water was actually quite warm!

Look at that rugged man of the sea

Not too bad, eh?

Since today is rainy and cold, it will be an indoor day. Church this morning and cleaning all afternoon---see, sometimes our lives are ordinary :)

Til next time

XX

Back in the US of A!

Well, we are now home after our whirlwind tour of the Midwest these past few weeks. It was really great being home and seeing everyone. To be honest, Will and I got sick on the return home so we are not at our best, but thought since we both have to stay home sick and jet lagged, I would make use of my time and write a little about our trip. Partly because I'm lazy and and partly because I don't want to ramble, I'm going to write this blog number style highlighting the big things.

1. Family Time
It was amazing how wonderful it was just to hang out with our families. Thanks to skype and facetime I can't describe the feeling we had when we were back at my parent's house. It felt like we were just home from Minneapolis for the weekend, not that we haven't seen them in a year and just got off 24 hours of travel. My parent's house felt just like home with our kitty to snuggle and everything! We spent a lot of time just hanging out. My aunt and cousin flew up from Dallas to spend some time with us as well and it was so fun shopping and drinking and eating! We even got to see a "Cluster-Fokken" in action! We got to spend time with my nephew Robbie who I haven't seen since he was 3 months old, and we got to meet our new nephew who was born last July and have never seen! During our time in Dubuque we took our niece for a manicure and lunch and then took her and her brother Caleb for pizza with great grandma and grandpa!

Showing Robbie the cows at Uncle Will's Farm

Miss Maya getting her pretties done

Babies playing!

Taking Maya and Caleb to Grandma and Grandpa's, singing BINGO!

Made from the same mold?

Teaching Robbie how to love and say "Kitty"

Working on our literacy at La Fuente

The Stowell Clan

2. Shopping
We had a firm list of things that we wanted to buy while we were home in the US. Partly because of prices and partly because of selection. I got some new dresses, Will got some new shoes and we stocked up on vitamins, beauty products and cold medicine (Legal Disclaimer--for personal use, not cooking meth). I had the problem of wanting to buy too much because I thought everything was "an amazing deal". My highlight was a pair of lavender pants from the Gap and Will's was a football, both of those purchases are thanks to a certain Kaitie Moore :)

Yes my kiwi friends, this is a normal shoe store, there is more to right that I couldn't fit in the shot

3. Eating
We ate A LOT while back home. I had another firm list of places/meals we wanted to eat and needed to make sure we hit those spots. The big ones were Panera, La Fuente, Olive Garden and my mom's chicken noodle soup with the frozen egg noodles. Everything was just as I remembered. I had a little trouble with the self control and thus half way through the trip I went to put on my skinny jeans and for some unknown reason, they didn't fit! Of course I accused my mother of shrinking them, even though I did the laundry :). We also stocked up on foods to bring home such as animal crackers, Girl Scout Cookies, Near East Rice Pilaf and Nilla Wafers. Thanks to all my endeavors I had gut rot most of the trip. I am now doing a 2 week sugar detox where I am not allowing myself any sweets. This was hard yesterday because with a sore throat, what do you want to eat?? Chocolate pudding. But I stayed strong and am 2 days sugar free, 12 more to go!

**Appended** I would like some serious praise because after writing this I found 2 Cadbury eggs I forgot I packed. They are still in tact and put away in a cupboard.


4. Grandma Kay
Will's grandma has been not doing well for a few months and sadly passed away on Wed April 10th. This was a very sad time for us, but there was a silver lining. Will was able to spend time with his grandma before she passed and he was able to attend her funeral. Had she passed earlier, he would have never been able to say goodbye and had she passed later, we likely would have missed the funeral. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with his family celebrating her great 92 years of life. We stayed up until midnight on Thursday looking through old pictures and sharing memories or her. It really was fate that we were able to be there.

Willie and his grandma at his first communion...what a cutie!!

Willie visiting with his grandma at the nursing home

5. Flying
Growing up in a military family I have a lot of experience flying internationally, having horrible layovers and experiencing jet lag. You'd think I'd get used to it at some point, but I don't. The only good thing about flying is when we get on board Air New Zealand. If any of you have the opportunity to fly to this part of the world, I highly recommend AirNZ. Both coming and going we were treated with respect and were fairly comfortable when on AirNZ and in the NZ airport. In comparison, we were treated like cattle, as an inconvenience and with rudeness on any American carriers and in American airports, except when speaking with American AirNZ employees. It's amazing, they must actually train their employees how to give good customer service, not just state it as a "mission" or "pillar". Weird, right?

So that is the gist of our trip back home. We visited with family, friends and old co-workers, shopped, played with babies and ate. I'll try to be better about posting after many of you back home told me you read this and noticed there haven't been any in a while.

XX
Tally

Wanna travel back to the 90s?

Last week I jokingly (well half-jokingly) told my Kiwi coworkers that living in New Zealand is like living in the 90s, only with iPhones. They retorted and initially thought this was a comment that they should be offended by, but I needed time to explain. Think about the two anchors in that comment, the 90s and iPhones. For someone my age who enjoyed growing up, the 90s was the best era of all. Good music, good clothes, good era of sports, carefree life, etc. And I'd have to say my iPhone has increased my quality of life. I wrote this blog only because my iphone was accessible to me when I laid in bed unable to sleep at 3am. Anyway, So does that make New Zealand the best place to live? I can elaborate on the whole "why NZ is like living in the 90s", both pros and cons.




The right car owning philosophy

New Zealanders still drive cars from the 90s. Ok, not all of them, but more than you'd think. I would say the average age of a car on the road is 15 years. I think this is pretty sweet. It is either the fact that people would rather spend money on more important things in life (like maybe a good outdoor activity like surfing) or all Kiwis are too poor to afford a newer car. I think they just prefer to "drive it til it dies" which I admire for a car owning strategy. After all it's just the thing that gets you from point A to point B and anything above that is just icing on the cake.


HURRY INTO STORES NOW!!!!!


Secondly (and unfortunately) advertising in New Zealand is also stuck in the 90s.  Tally and I were talking about this over the weekend. There is limited to no creativity in the marketing world here (apart from the couple clever commercials I've listed below). Advertising strategies on the TV and radio mainly consist of yelling and talking very quickly and informing the potential customer that they must hurry into the store to earn double the worthless rewards points and get interest free financing that is available all the time anyway and at every other appliance and electronics store. Which brings me to my next point that online shopping here is "cutting edge" for NZ companies. Come on guys.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gnfcdOZTsc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlqxpipEaq8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtWirGxV7Q8

Oh, and other non-creative advertising includes but is not limited to: having the cheesiest rhyming jingle that includes your company's name (which is also a cheesy play on words) in the hope that people will not change the radio station / TV channel to avoid hearing a really, really annoying jingle.

Where's the "stuff"?

People here generally live with and, function with, less "stuff". This is probably a combination of the fact that consumer products are expensive here (aka everything) and that NZ isn't bombarded by such a wide array of complete and useless (cheap) crap that plagues us in the US. Kiwis generally hold on to possessions, see it as an investment and take proper care of it (see cars comment above).





The latest in fast food

And finally a random observation on why NZ is still stuck in the 90s. Fast food chains are booming here. Of course McDonalds, KFC, and a couple others have been established for a while, but some of the classics are just popping up. For instance, Carl's Jr just arrived in NZ (more widely known as Hardee's back home in Iowa). Coincidently Carl's Jr had most of its success in the US in the 90s. I also have happy memories of eating at Hardees growing up in the 90s. An American source here in NZ tells me that the line for Carl's Jr on a Friday night in downtown Auckland stretched out into the street with Carl's Jr virgins. Glad America can continue to contribute to New Zealand's drive to obesity.

Moral of the story

So there's no real moral of the story here, just the fact that, yes there are some inconveniences to living in the 90s (in NZ) but I can live with them. So New Zealand, please don't change, stay stuck in the 90s.