Smelling the Roses

I'm a bit split on how I feel about roses. Long stemmed, popped in a crystal vase with baby's breath and some greenery = my worst nightmare. However, still on the bush or nestled in a monochromatic bouquet, and I think they are pretty nice.

There is an abundance of roses blooming here right now. They smell beautiful and look lovely. I took a quick trip to Robbins Park rose garden in Tauranga to capture some of the blooming beauties.

The ones above remind me of the Kapiti white chocolate raspberry ice cream bars that are so delicious. I should remember to buy some of those...

The garden has a really cool view of the sea through some hedges. It feels very Victorian. One of those places I would love to nerd out and live a Jane Austen novel. Ooops, did I say that out loud? Anyways, hope this reminds you to stop and ..... you know.

Taste of Taupo

I do not like beer. There is something about the taste that I just don't appreciate. And I can say this pretty confidently, because this past weekend we had a beer tasting day with some friends in Taupo. About 2 hours away from Tauranga, the city of Taupo sits on the beautiful Lake Taupo - makes sense. Lucky for me, our travelling companions were up for a little bit of sightseeing so I could enjoy some of the locations listed in my Lonely Planet before tasting a lot of beer.

Huka Falls - the most icy blue beautiful water ever and I dressed to match! Combined with the flurry of white that comes from the massive amount of water going down the falls every second, it is a beautiful sight. Apparently, enough water goes over the falls to fill five olympic sized swimming pools EVERY MINUTE! Yikes. Some crazy fools have tried going over these falls. Other less crazy people take a jet boat to bomb around the bottom.

Megan and Ben were our gracious hosts for the weekend. We started with a lot of different exotic beers. Since I do not like beer, nor do I like to drink very much, I was granted half glasses to taste. After each beer, we all rated on a scale of one to ten. I think I gave most of them a four. Honestly, they all kind of tasted the same to me - some less appealing than others. I only poured one of them into the bushes. And ok, yes, I did pour half of some of the others down the sink. BUT I did finish at least three glasses. Probably.

Anyways, the beer lovers had a great time and so did I. The company was great and we had a really fun, lovely, sunny day.

The next day, Mark and I visited another Lonely Planet recommendation - L'Arte Cafe. Really neat tile mosaics and pottery.

We also stopped at a glassblowing studio where everything was amazingly beautiful and amazingly expensive. And lastly, there was Puzzle World. A bit of a desperate attempt at a tourist trap, if you ask me. There was a maze, a lego/hologram room (???), remote control boats in a very small pond, a model train set, and lots of puzzles for sale. Needless to say, it was NOT in Lonely Planet.

We had another great weekend in NZ, but I will stick with trying the fantastic wine this country has to offer instead of beer.

Happy Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day

Time to catch you up on some recent holiday celebrations over here in NZ.

First, there was Halloween. It's not really that big of a deal here in New Zealand. Some kids do go trick or treating and dress up, but definitely not as many as in North America. You would think it would be more popular here seeing as you don't have to figure out a costume that a winter parka, mitts and a toque can fit over. But, alas.

We went over to Jamie and Laura's place to partake in a few Halloween activities. I carved a jack-o-lantern.

We had a bowl of candy ready and were on the lookout for trick or treaters.

We had random costumes thrown together from things Laura and Jamie had in their house.

Only had about 10 people stop by, but we had fun.

The next weekend was Guy Fawkes Day. Here is a link for you to learn what it is. Or you can watch V for Vendetta. Now that you have read up on it, you realize that it's basically an excuse to set off fireworks.

We went to The Warehouse (NZ's version of Wal-Mart) and bought ourselves The Big Boom Box. Again, at Jamie and Laura's house (are you getting the sense we only have two friends? You might be right...) we had a great evening. Here are some photos.

I know I look certifiably insane in this photo but everyone else thought it was a good one.

Next up? CHRISTMAS!!!