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Published: November 16th 2010
The second and third week in New Zealand Bruce and I have been getting accustomed to the lifestyle, exploring the area of Waimauku where Nicole lives and one overnighter to Rotorua (New Zealands own geothermal paridise). Orewa, a town about 20 minutes north of Nicole’s has great beaches, lots of caravan parks, great coffee shops... But then again what town doesn’t have great beaches! They are all beautiful. It is also amazing how many camper parks there are in this country. Smaller size camper vans, lots of them.
We also have purchased a used vehicle for Nicole that actually works. (Happy birthday for the next 10 years Nicole!) Its a blue Mazda and she is thrilled. We tried driving her old Corona car and it was just not safe on the road. (Shaky steering wheel, bungy cords holding pieces together etc etc) I can’t believe she has been driving that unsafe vehicle for over a year now. I am also not sure there is one straight road in NZ. There are so many turns and the speed limit is outrageous. (Typically 100 Km per hr on the highway). Hold on!
Auckland is about a 30 minute drive
Pretty happy....
New Mazda Demio....south from Nicole’s in Wiamauku. (The names are so tough to get used too. Names like Waimauku, Waitakere, Pukekohe,Whakanewha etc etc ) We went up Skye tower where you can get great views of Auckland. They do skyjumping off the tower. That was a bit eerie to see. The cappuccino’s at the top were quite tasty.... We walked up and down the famous Queen street. It is really a nice clean city. Lots of sail boats and the water is beautiful.
We left nicole’s place for a few days so she could study for her last exam. We went to a town south about 3 hours called Rotorua. Very famous for its geothermal activity. In this small city steam rises through vents and cracks in the footpaths, and mud bubbles and boils while geysers shoot scorching water up into the air. That was an awesome sight! They were actually boiling, all different colors, quite amazing.You sort of felt like the earth was just going to come up right from under your feet. There was one lime green pool that looked like an alien pool.
We have been socializing a bit more with Chris’s family and Nicole’s boss and
family. Nicole has been working part time at a small engineering fabrication co. doing their accounting. They had us over for a “barbie”, we had “heaps of sausages” and lots of laughs. Steven and Donna, two real nice people that have sort to taken nicole under their wing teaching her the accounting position. It seems to be working out for both of them.
Lots of discussions on upcoming “plans”. What the heck is the plan now that we have been here in New Zealand for a few weeks already? Any suggestions? We are definitely going through more money than we thought so this effects things. Daughter Saskia and boyfriend Eli have decided to come over and join our adventure. What a wonderful thought to have our immediate family together for the holidays. (If only we could have some of the extended family and friends as well). Thanksgiving is a few weeks away but of course New Zealanders (Kiwi’s) don’t celebrate it here. I have to put a special order in to the “Butchery” for a turkey. They have lots of butchers here, lots of meat. meat pies and sausages are real popular.
New Zealand is just an
Devonport
Fort in Devonport amazingly beautiful country. Lots of windy roads with every turn being another beautiful sight. Wonderful beaches, rolling hills, very different flora and fauna, sheep, cows, awesome birds and very friendly people. We now understand why our daughter loves it here so very much!
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larry winderbaum
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my comments about your comments
hi bruce & diane love your commentary about nz really helps me better understand what life is like for eli, and all of you i've been to australia - sydney, and many things you write seem a bit similar perhaps you could write a column about nz for your albany newspaper...you make wonderful observations, and are very funny i look forward to your blogs i am still trying to figure out the time in nz...i think you are 15 hours ahead, which is very weird so, continue to have fun on your own, with the children - some children! love to all larry