A Day at the Races

Racing things is kind of a big deal in New Zealand. Mostly horses and dogs. They have a whole TV channel dedicated to it (needless to say, I usually skim past that one pretty fast). But in real life, it's much more exciting so we decided to attend the horse racing track in Tauranga with our friends Jamie and Laura this weekend.

First things first, Laura and I had to decide what to wear. Race day fashion is kind of a big deal. You are supposed to get all fancied up. We went on a shopping trip and ended up with $4 sunhats which we each accessorized. I think we looked quite lovely.

We had purchased a ticket package which meant we got to sit in an indoor lounge area. We also got food and drinks served to our table. The first race was at 11:40am and we were there until about 4:30pm, with races happening about every half hour. Now, to watch that much time on the racing channel at home would have been near torture, but live (with the added excitement of a few best placed) the time went by really quickly.

We did not strike it rich. In fact, we didn't even strike it even, but it was the experience that counts! Mark had a few profitable races near the beginning, I didn't win one race. I thought for sure that Mufasa was going to win it for me that one time, but alas, he did not. I also had high hopes for The Drover and All Pent Up. Neither of those worked out either.

By the way, I've come to the conclusion that you can name a horse whatever the heck you want. There are obviously no rules if you can name your horse Izarblu (eyes-are-blue).

All in all, it was a great day at the races!

Bach it Up

Mark and I love hosting people in our home. We always have. So we hoped we would find a nice place in Mount Maunganui which our friends would want to come and visit. And we did! They have affectionately named our home the "family bach" - which is not a contradictory term meaning a bachelor with a family - it's what the Kiwi's call a cabin/cottage.

We have had a number of visits from Brandon and Kristen, Brenno and Mel and Dale and Amber. Mark is building a repertoire of tasty meals that he loves to make for people, including fajitas and anything like brunch. He also does a great job of offering drinks and making sure folks have all they need. I do the shopping, the cleaning, the activity planning, and help out in the kitchen. I personally think we should run a bed and breakfast some day, but I haven't come up with a good name yet. And we all know a good name is crucial for a b&b.

This past weekend, we had a great time with Amber, Dale, Mel and Brenno. Activities included a walk around the mount, strolling along downtown Mount Maunganui, the farmer's market, the beach, Burger Fuel (yum), a somewhat tense two games of Pictionary with the addition of Jamie and Laura (hopefully they still want to hang out after experiencing that....us Canadian immigrants have a bit of a girls vs. boys rivalry going on) and even a sunrise hike up the mount. I usually find the hike up a bit hard on my lungs - I found it particularly difficult at 6am. I had to wake up in the fives. That's never a good thing, but....it was worth it.

We love our friends and our town!

Just browsing, thanks.

Working part time unfortunately means shopping part time. And by that I mean two things:

1. You have half your time in the day to go shopping and

2. You have no money so you shouldn't actually go shopping very often.

It also doesn't help that things in New Zealand cost $239876 more than they would in Canada (approximately). But since we have to eat, I at least get to go to the grocery store. Now, I have always been one of those losers who kind of likes grocery shopping, but now I get almost excited about it. In order to make it even more fulfilling (so that I don't buy other things), I have expanded my grocery shopping to a variety of locations.

I get the majority of generic things at Pak N' Save, which is like Superstore but even more confusing and annoying. It only gets my business because it's cheap. They design it like a one-way street inside so that in order to backtrack to another section you have to go through the whole store. It's not like IKEA where there are shortcuts. Super annoying.

I buy some produce and other items at Good Earth Organics. It's a fun little store that I like and one of the few that I've found with organic produce.

I buy pasta, pizza bases and other "splurge" items at either Simpli Food or The Gourmet Trader, which are two fun stores here on the Mount. Yes, I did call grocery stores "fun".

Then there is always New World, which is like Safeway, and right down the street for emergency purposes. And let's not forget my weekly visits to a farmer's market.

This is what it has come to in order to keep me from the New Zealand clothing stores (which are pretty great, but pricey) and the housewares stores (which are also great, but pricey and totally illogical at the moment). And if you are disappointed in this lame post about grocery shopping, I apologize. But I needed to vent - and you were the one who read the whole thing.

Happy Anniversary Beach Party!

Mark and I have been married for five years - I'm not sure if our anniversary was really yesterday or today. I mean, I know we were married on August 13th, but we were married on August 13th in Canada which is technically today. But we celebrated August 13th here yesterday. Anyways, enough of that scientific talk.

We decided that we are going to splurge on a nice weekend in Hawke's Bay in a couple of weeks. It is the main wine area on the North Island, so we will check out some vineyards, etc. Romantic. We did, however, treat ourselves to dinner out last night.

We made reservations at a nice place that we had visited for a drink a couple weeks ago. We weren't informed that they were planning a beach party that night in honour of our anniversary! Ok, it was obviously not for us, but we had fun anyways.

We had some starters including some of the best chicken fingers ever. We had them the last time we were there and loved them. We also had a lot of bread.

Mark ordered a stonefire grill meal. It's kind of a popular thing here - you order your meat and it comes out on a REALLY hot stone. Then you cook it to your liking.

Mark did have to get a few pointers from the server.

Then the party started! I'll give you one guess who the sponsor was.

I decided I needed a drink out of a coconut.

Happy 5th Anniversary to us! Beach Party!

Oh, and my lovely husband bought me some orchids. I have so missed having flowers to play with!

One of my uses for the orchids.

Thanks for 5 years, Mark. What adventure will we have next year!?

More routine than a 6 year old

It's raining today for the fifth time this week, which means I don't have too much to blog about. Haven't been able to go to the beach or do any exploring. Bummer. Hopefully, the rain lets up soon. That way I can get back to being outside and also save my sanity at work.

Trying to keep 25 kids ranging in age from 5 -13 occupied inside for a whole week has been difficult. Normally, it wouldn't be so bad, but as I have mentioned before these particular kids don't do games. They still whine and complain every time we mention doing a structured activity. I really don't know why - who doesn't like making play dough? And who thinks a scavenger hunt is lame? Seriously. So, here's hoping that Monday we will be able to go back to the playground!

Anyways, Mark and I seem to be settling into a routine here, which is kind of weird. It has really been hitting us lately that we LIVE in New Zealand. We have our usual TV shows that we watch (favourites include Man vs. Wild, Tough Guy or Chicken and Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane. Ok, that last one is just me). We vacuum and clean the house, we sit in the hot tub at our usual time each night. It's good, but we hope to not settle in too much. Still need to keep this an adventure, you know.

We have also adapted our routine to be a bit Kiwi. For example, it's Saturday night which means we will be watching rugby, which I still don't mind (ask me in another four months, I might be over it).

So, that is my semi-routine life - in contrast to a 6 year old at work this week who informed me that "her life is complicated". Her words exactly. Ah, kids. Always good for a laugh even if they are inside a bit too much for my liking.

Markets and Magnolias

There are a lot of great things about winter in New Zealand, but I have to say, flowers blooming in the "dead of winter" has got to be one of the best! I would like to share one of my favourites with you - the magnolia trees. They are so absolutely amazing! There are quite a few around. They come in pink and white.

One of the features that makes the magnolia trees so interesting is that they lose all their leaves. So you have a brown, dead looking tree and then all of a sudden - wham! The large buds that have been camouflaged for weeks burst open. I'm not sure yet how long the blooms last. I have seen a lot of petals on the ground under the trees, so I have a feeling they are a short lived beauty.

After tracking down magnolia trees this morning, I attended another market. It was a bit of a bust. I was surrounded by "pensioners" (a.k.a. seniors). Or as Mark's friend Julia would call them "fuddies" (as in, fuddy duddy. Isn't that hilarious?). So, needless to say, there was a lot of brightly coloured knitted cardigans and needlepoint. There were a few good finds - cute baby cardigans in decent colours for $10. But overall, not my greatest market visit.

This afternoon we are going to a rugby game in town and then maybe out with some of our new friends, Jamie and Laura. We are so thankful to have found some good people to spend time with while here. So, that's my Saturday across the world!

Smell Ya Later, Rotorua.

Today was my first trip to Rotorua, an exciting geo-thermal city not too far from where we live. Brenno and Mel came down for the weekend and so we decided to do a day trip to see what we could see.

It.Was.Awesome.

Rotorua, as perviously mentioned, is a major geo-thermal activity area in New Zealand. Therefore, it smells. Like rotten eggs (sulphur). There are times when the smell is quite overwhelming. However, even though Rotorua stinks, it has redeeming qualities.

The Redwood Grove.This was our first stop. The redwoods are not native to NZ, but were introduced from California. There is a great forest area with some neat treks. We walked for about an hour through the giant trees. It felt very "Lord of the Rings". Mark sang some Elvin songs (a.k.a. Enya).

Then we found the information site where I informed the employee that we would like to see some "bubbling mud" - preferably for free. Because while bubbling mud is very cool, it seems like a ridiculous thing to pay to see. He directed us towards a park in town where we were indeed able to find some free bubbling mud. It was awesome and smelly.

Last, but by no means least, we took in the famous Rotorua Luge. To help you visualize, picture that big slide/sled type thing that the kids went down at the end of Sesame Street back in the day. Some genius came with up the idea to build that kind of a track down the hillside and charge people to ride. It is so fun and I highly recommend forking over the $35 for three rides. Mark bravely captured some photos and video and has a scraped knee to show for it as it's quite tricky to steer with one hand (to view a video, go to my facebook page).

All in all, a great first visit to the adventurous town of Rotorua. We plan to go back with the family at Christmas time. And yes, Mom, you are going down the luge!