Wandy and Charlie, Chinese nationals (?), NSA find them on your own!

Our Vodaphone NZ contract for cells and internet was deficient in the router/modem department.  The internet kept dropping out and we had to reset the modem every few hours.  Having completed all of the maneuvers (which all failed) required by Vodaphone we were finally granted a new little square device made in China, like it's predecessor.  We plugged it in and were welcomed back as Wandy and Charlie, who were also registered on this device.

Well now, we called Vodaphone and were assured that this was a pristine router/modem and we were the first to lay hands on it since it left China.  Since it works we'll keep it, but Wandy and Charlie we hope you don't need it, and to our NSA eavesdroppers, we deny having any personal knowledge of Wandy and Charlie, possibly but not probably denizens of China, etc....

We had a wonderful, for us, storm last night with rain lashing the windows and pummeling the metal roof, while mighty gusts of wind lulled us to sleep.  But unfortunately about a thousand homes in the Auckland area went without electricity while our heater silently sent out waves of embracing warmth.  Will hope the Chinese Kitchen Gods do not notice our joy and take away the gift of hydro-power out of shear kitchen god spite!

Have your heard the story of the Kitchen Gods?  Well, they are known to cause fires in Chinese restaurant kitchens, so the Chinese cooks have learned to lull them into quiescence, as pertaining to causing fires, by putting lewd pictures of women on the walls to distract those gods.  These Kitchen Gods also like to take away things that we like if we speak of those good things, so forget that I wrote about the dependable electric power!

We walked this morning up coronary hill and completed the circuit dressed for the weather.

Home knit hat and scarf for 40 degree morning.

Of course our fellow Kiwi trampers were dressed in the typical shorts, t-shirt, and perhaps a knit cap for the hair impaired. Such hardy folk, but what can you expect from Scottish stock? Have you ever braved a summer's day in Scotland, it's not for the faint of heart!

Later after my husband went to work I baked banana coffee cake to warm the kitchen and share with the neighbors.

All Good, J


Wait! Wait! My mistake!  The Chinese Kitchen Gods are prudes not lechers and the wily Chinese cooks in the Chinese restaurants put up lewd pictures of women to keep the Kitchen Gods from coming in and starting fires.  So says my husband and 'old sous chef' from the 'Long Horn Dragon' days of yore.

Kiwi speak to the mature of ear!

Super moon from home in NZ

Today I interviewed an 85 year-old neighbor woman who I will hire to help with the gardening.  She was born on the South Island near Napier and told me she grew up in the wop-wops.  “Wop-wops? What is that?” I asked.  “Oh” she replied “it’s just what we always called the bush.  We lived about 40 miles out of town.”  Next question of course, “Did you have a sheep farm?” “No, my dad worked for the forestry and we had a vegetable garden, a few animals and pretty much lived off what we grew.” She continued, “Mom would go into town once a month or every few weeks and get flour or what we needed, we’d use the flour and then make the flour sacks into sheets.” 

Her bright blue eyes flashing she shared with me some of her family history.  Grand parents came from Scotland in the 1800s and settled near Napier.  Most Scottish immigrants in NZ settled near Dunedin. Even my mature gardener said it’s hard for her to understand their current brogue.    Can’t wait to spend more time with her.  What a treasure!

Howick Village small park

La Roche Bush Reserve

The Kiwi slang is creeping into our everyday language and is fun to suss out. I’m planning to plant courgettes (zucchini) in the garden.  It’ll be nice to have them for tea (dinner) with a free range chook (chicken) now that the sparkie (electrician) has replaced the old worn out HOB (range top) and said she’ll be right.  I of course responded “Ta (thanks)” and had nothing to whinge (complain) about.  But my sweet husband, who is NO cross-dresser, must wear a jumper (woolen sweater) to work when it’s fresh (cold) out.  Lots of families have a bach, pronounced batch, (cottage) at the beach.  And finally I can go to the dairy (corner store, superette) for a few items at just about any time of day and they needn’t be a milk product.

It really is fun being here.  We are not stressed, there are few, if any, concealed weapons and every day is a vacation of sorts.  We only watch the news if we feel impelled to and thus don't even watch The Daily Show or Colbert anymore. I guess I really watched those two to get a more objective news coverage and to get a dose of humor to soften the blows of US interpretation of world news.  

There are problems here, but they seems to be manageable.  The biggest political issue right now is the 'leak of information' from a political party to a right wing news reporter.  The outraged public is calling for the leaker to resign.  This seems so minor to us in comparison to the million dollar campaigns in the US. The election is Sept 20th and the street signs have only been up for a few weeks.  Yeah to shorter campaigns and less money siphoned into them! J

Dophins or NZ Orcas in the Tamaki Strait, water warming!

Lemons and daffodils

Spring is arriving at a rapid pace.  The citrus fruit and bulbs are coloring our vision, as we do our daily treks around the village.

Daphne and grapefruit

A few nights ago, my husband I were having a quiet, evening repast on the deck watching the ripples on the strait, obviously not stressing.  He startled me by saying, 'grab the binocs now!'  Oh good god my thoughts exploded; is someone drowning, has a treasure chest surfaced, the Loch Ness monster has migrated!?!  But no, relax, just the most beautiful blowing, breaching, and dancing of either small orcas or dolphins.  

I had just heard on the NZ public radio that the waters were warming more quickly than usual and that the sea mammals were traveling through our waters earlier than expected.  We sat back and enjoyed the show and talked about how we were learning to witness the herding of fish by larger fish, birds and sea mammals.

When I told the 20 something neighbor about the sighting, she told me to watch a you tube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msx3BAhIeQg

It is entitled: Dolphins purposely 'getting high' on puffer fish - Dolphins - Spy in the Pod: Episode 2 - BBC One

On listening to her description of the video, my first thought was a 60s song revamped for the dolphins: “Don’t bogart that puffer my friend…..”

When I told her about the musical association she just looked at me strangely.  Guess you had to have been there, in the 60s I mean.

Phil and I also watched cormorants perched on the bluffs, 'eyeing' the water and then as a group swooping down to about a meter off the surface of the ripples, forming a line and heading to the shore.  In about a foot of water they dove in, surfacing quickly with beaks full of flailing fish.  They had 'herded' the school of fish to shore.  So amazing to see a group working so well together for the common good.  If we humans could only learn.

Life is good here, J

Taupo, lake, entertainment and conventions!

Taupo viewpoint, quite 'Fresh'

 We had a chilly few nights in Taupo.  We enjoyed dinner at a restaurant that prides itself in serving wild meats.  I had feral pig, which was baked to perfection in a red wine sauce with wild mushrooms, served on a bed of wild rice.

The town is just that, a town on the edge of a beautifully pristine lake.  We think of Oregon's Crater Lake when we see Lake Taupo.  It's much larger, but just as pristine.

Blustery South winds on Lake T 

Taupo has become a convention center and a national venue for live entertainment.  The locals told us that we were lucky to see it in the winter as the town in inundated with tourists and Auckland denizens from Spring till Fall.  One person described it as a bedroom community to Auckland.  I'm beginning to think that Auckland might be described, as 'a large city on the edge of New Zealand' by some 'south of the Bombay Hills Kiwis.'

Bona fide DC3

How often do you see a real DC3 perched on a pedestal next to the local McDonald's.  It was personally breathtaking for my husband, as he did some real time (an 8 year old standing between the Capt. and first officer) in DC3s, dropping cargo in the southern jungles of the Philippine Islands. His mom was obviously short of babysitters and trusted the flight crew to keep him safe and entertained.  It was almost sacrilegious to have such a noble plane, so sorely used, with McDonald graffiti on it.  We did not go into the quick food restaurant as we stay away from franchises and go local.

Main St shop

Lining the main street of Taupo are the typical tourist haunts; upscale pubs, trinket shops, liquor stores, coffee bars, very trendy clothing outlets, etc...  When not in view of the lake this town could be found anywhere that draws large groups of tourists.

We left Taupo and took a beautiful drive through more undeveloped country on our way to Hamilton.  The road was mostly two lane, twisty and surrounded by the most picturesque verdant countryside.  Nice to get back to NZ from city life.  J

Comments? Will learn later!

Natural worsted wool cowl.

 I do value all of your comments and have included them when I could find them, but I too have been baffled by trying to leave comments at my niece's blog.  Someone, more clever than me, will know what to do to enter a comment that will reach the blogger.

Watching too much TV, House of Cards (Spacey), The Tudors, & The Borgias, with lots of (boring after a while) gratuitous sex, and eye opening selfish, exploitation of the masses.  So to keep myself from eating compulsively (trying to drown, without wine, my outraged social conscience) I've been knitting.  Just finished this cowl for a neighbor. It's the product of wool imported from:

www.kelseyfamilyfarm.com/contact-us.html

Phone: 1-360-256-3809 or 360-607-4574. Address: Kelsey Family Farm 
19432 NE Mattson Rd.
Brush Prairie, WA 98606. Email: boiledcookie@gmail.com.

I do believe the wool donors were Icelandic sheep who might go by the names of Luther and Lucretia,  but perhaps not.  Nice and warm though and I loved working with the wool and the natural colors.

Black bird lookout.

We frequently have a black bird that seems to have taken possession of the deck corner.  I keep asking him/her if there is anything he/she would like to impart, but there doesn't seem to be a message.

We also have doves nesting in the fejoia tree and a kingfisher, my favorite, that nests in the palm.

All very good here. Hope the same for the Northern Hemisphere, J

Shoes off for dip in the creek, it's 5 degrees out with a South wind!

Lake Taupo from our Hotel Room

Lake Taupo, the largest lake in NZ, was formed
in a defunct caldera (are they ever really defunct?), and is teeming with trout.  The lake is fed by 3 rivers and empties into the Waikato River, the longest river in NZ.  As the waters leave the lake they create Huka Falls and then continue down a verdant valley to an area of hot springs.

We walked the 9K path along the river 45 minutes in one direction and 30 coming back.  Lots of panting and at times gasping for breath, as the terrain can be quite steep.  But our goal was to reach the hot 'baths' where we had been encouraged to dip our feet. 

Map of Waikato River and Lake Taupo

 Along the way we remarked that what we don't see in NZ, and what we really miss, are the wild mammals, ie, deer, bob cats, bear, raccoons, etc... What they do have are feral pigs and possum, and a multitude of birds.  Of course the pigs and possum were imported and are a nuisance.

Waikato River

Hot pools with local fauna.

On reaching the warm waters some young bathers gave us permission to take their pictures.  It was a little incongruous to be dressed in jackets, scarves, mittens and knit hats while watching the young Kiwis enjoy a warm soak.

Huka Falls

Coming back to the falls we viewed a jet boat whipping tourists around in the foaming waters which were the product of the crashing Huka Falls effluent.

As we enjoyed the 'fresh' weather in Taupo we heard that our Howick neighbors were inundated with winds and pelting rain along the Tamaki Strait.

This is truly a diverse country and is obviously beautiful  All good,  J