Wikananae Estuary Day and Owlcatraz

The day started off pretty early. We were heading to the Kapiti Coast. It's about 2/3 of the way to Wellington so a good two hour drive. We had to leave at 7am to ensure we were there for the 10am tour. We had booked this a few weeks ago and it turned out that it is a rainy day in New Zealand!  Most of the drive was waves of rain then heavy rain and then back to light rain.

We got there about 30 minutes ahead of time, as expected. We just didn't expect the start location of the tour to be in the suburbs! It was this nice house of this retired gentleman named Mick. As a retiree he ended up starting this business showing people around the estuary. At first Cec and I were taken aback as that was not expected. However, like many things, you just got to go along with it. It ended up being a very good time! Mick took is around and told us all kinds of stories, jokes and anecdotes. One of my favs was the ones about Thomas and Henrietta.  Basically Henrietta was a swan who lost the ability to fly.  Thomas was a goose and they ended up becoming a pair.  They stayed that way for several years and Thomas was very protective of Henrietta.  Then, some new swans came into town and it turns out Henrietta was actually a Henry and mated with a female swan who the community decided to name Henrietta.  Thomas the goose was allowed to watch over an helped raise the swanlings.  This happened for several sets of babies.  Henry (formerly Henrietta) died and thiere is a plaque for them.  So interesting and unusual!  He also told us that the kiwi term "giving a brown eye" is mooning.  The swan butts in the air precipitated this joke.  Crazy old guy!

(We got carted around in Mics old car!  What a wild kiwi experience)

(Mic helped create this plaque after a family friend died of cancer who enjoyed birding.  Look at all the types of birds as well as the english and Maori names for many of them)

(Can't go anywhere without the needed selfie!)

(Even with the light rain this is such a pretty place)

(These are Oyster Catchers and we got a little close to a nest.  They were pretending to have "broken wing" to distract us)

(Can you spot the rare little brown bird that I forgot their name?  Apparently they are quite rare and were lucky to spot one)

(Lots of water birds)

(And ducks)

(There were hundreds of Shag nests!  They smelled lol)

(Cute bridge.  The guy leading is our guide, Mick)

(Goose nest!)

(the inter-species love story...)

(Henry's memorial.  Apparently 100 people showed up for the unveiling)

By the time we finished the tour it was around noon and Cec and I just chugged a protein shake and decided to hit another item off our list- a place called "Owlcatraz". We ended up coming out with a lukewarm feeling for the place. They had rare birds called weka but they arent all that exciting basically just little brown birds. What was exciting, was that there was a fantail nest next to the enclosure. I'm a little obsessed with fantails and I've never seen a fan told us it was adorable. After that we went to go into a gloworm cave but we would have had to leave our DSLR so we waited instead. Then we went to the Morepoke enclosure which is a little barn. Morepoke are small owls and are fluffy and adorable. No photography was allowed but that part was enjoyable. They showed us the eggs and one of the birds was even flying, silently of course, around. Lastly wee were taken around the lake to see the eels and then to the farm where we met Kune Kune, or the pig, which means "little fat one" in Maori. He was cute and apparently overweight. We also met some goats, donkeys, and an ostrich. Notably, we also got to see an ostrich egg. I thought it was a ceramic egg! Those things are tough but apprentice they can weigh up to 160kg (352 pounds) so they should be. That was about it. After that we ran home and did Crossfit. All in all quite a full but enjoyable day!

(yes, it really is called Owlcatraz)

(We did NOT take this photo, I pulled it off the internet but these are Morepork, the owls and the major draw of the place.  So cute)

(Real ostrich egg!  Good thing Cec didn't bite he'd break his teeth!)

(The 2 photos are some of my favs.  No, we did Not go to see fantails but they were super common.  Do you like A (top) or B (bottom).)

(This is a fantail nest.  Made of mud.  They sit on the eggs for only 15 days)

The last little bit are a couple of photos that I wanted to share with everyone.  We have been having lots of friends over.  The first pic is of a dinner we hosted and ended with a game of codenames.  The second are some egg white pancakes I made and the PURE HONEYCOMB we bought.  Can you say amazing!?

(In this picture is our motly crew from Vegas, Denver, England, Japan, and Emmerates.  I love the diversity!)

(The honey is amazing.  Pancakes don't even need maple syrup)

New Plymouth, Forgotten Highway, and the Forgotten Rail

Hey all
Cec had a few days off so we took an extended day trip! Started with a drive over to New Plymouth. We left late morning because Cec is doing an amazing job training for his FULL marathon at the beginning of November. Anyway, we ended up going to the isite which also has a beautiful museum inside of it. The museum is specific to the region and goes through the history and such. Lots of cool old clothes, items (like it's chairs and plows) and a lot of information about the dairy and farming industry! There was a video which chronicled the decline of the local population of  bird called the Kokako. They apparently caught a "purebred" (genetically speaking) from the area came because all the birds left were male (females are often killed while defending nests from predators like mice). His name was Tamanui, named by the local Maori, in hopes that one day his children could be restored to the area. Basically, his children are thriving in a couple sanctuaries now and tech locals are trying to clear a spot of land of pests so they can be reintroduced ASAP. I personally hope they succeed.

(cec and I saw a nice women waiting to pick up her kids from school WITH HER SHEEP!  Apparently they need to be fed every 2ish hours.)

(This was an integrated public library, museum and isite)

They also had an upstairs region about the local ecosystem and Maori people.  We didn't get a chance to explore that too much as we wanted to check into our hotel and get to the coastal walkway, which was the main reason for our trip. The place we were staying was kind enough to lend us bikes and pointed us down this nice biking/ waking path to to the coast. We biked about an hour, to the famous whale bone bridge and back. The weather was perfect. Sunny and not to warm. The only negative was mount taranaki was covered in clouds so we couldn't photograph him. We returned the bikes and headed back down to the walkway to catch sunset after grabbing a snack. Watching the surfers (great surf area apparently) and sunset was great although cold. Then we did a quick grocery run and used the grill at our hotel to make some burgers, haolumi cheese, and steamed veggies for dinner. Great day! By the way, the Lockwood Motel in New Plymouth was awesome!

(It was amazing to have this nice walkway to get to the coast vs. crappy sidewalks or bike lanes)

(Lillies grow everywhere along the banks.  Serene....)

(The walkway is about 12K total length, we only had time for a short part of it)

(We made the most of our time biking in NZ for the first time!)

(We couldn't resist going back at sunset either)

(The 'must see' feature is the "whalebone bridge".  If the clouds aren't covering taranaki you can see the mountain through the bridge.  Regrettably, the mountain was hiding today)

(I'm staying off the sand in all the driftwood)

(Cec loves beaches and sunsets)

(And it turned out to be a beautiful evening)

The next morning we checked out and headed back to the coastal walkway to a different section. The thing is long and we wanted to see both ends. We walked to the port and back then decided to pop into a couple of local shops and wait for a South Inidan restaurant to open at noon for Lunch called Kathakali. Cec devoured his "Indian hot" as the waiter asked how he wanted it/described Masala Dosha. I drank tea as we passed a placed called "bubble waffle". I knew what I wanted lol. I ended up having a savory bacon and egg waffle,which  was like a thick crepe. Apparently this is a common Korean street food, AKA egg waffle. Seriously, flaky and scrumptious perfect waffle. So good I fact Cec and I got a banana rolls as well, which was vanilla waffle, Nutella and banana. Worth every bite.

(Yes, you walk over active train lines, lol)

(We hit the other side of the walkway on a much sunnier day)

(Kerala style Masala Dosha!)

(Nutella Bubble wafffle also aweome!)

(I am SOOO happy in this picture)

After that we heads to the forgotten how at and drove to Tamaruni. Picturesque and old the name is an adequate description. Tons of one lane bridges, sheep, goats and cows. Some of those even got loose and were on the road! There were Tunnels with dirt sides and unsealed roads. We even had quite a bit of heavy rain and rainbows. 

(It starts....)

(Apparently farmers in the region let turkeys run wild to help control cricket populations)

(This is our "passport" from the Republic of Wangamomona, which technically has its own jurisdiction over a cessation in the 1800's.  The hotel also makes its own beer- which was quite tasty)

(This is a stop we managed to make before the rain started to POUR.  This is a grave of an explorer who died at the age of 35 in 1938.  BTW I am standing on the highway for this picture... You feel like you stepped into a backwards country)

(This is everything NZ, rainbows, hills and sheep)

The rain slower our trip and we ended up coming in a little after 7, and found our hotel closed! Booking.com had it listed until 9pm and there were a series of frantic phone calls to the hotel and booking.com. We ended up finishing somewhere else a little after 8pm, thank God, and our money hot refunded. Alls well I suppose but I was ticked. I know there are always travel bumps but still … by the time we got in after that fiasco we hit the hay hard! 

We decided not to dwell on it the next day and checked into our "5 Tunnel Tour".  Basically, they load you on to modified golf carts and you drive down the "Forgotten Railway".  VERY NZ, in that its rolling hills, cows and sheep with very old tunnels built in the 1900's.  I'm glad we decided on the motorized vs. peddle bikes (yes, that was an option) as it rained off and on but that didn't spoil the day at all.  Cec and I had brought a bluetooth speaker so we listened to an audiobook as we slowly went through the countryside.  We saw everything from wild turkey to loose sheep.  There were a couple stops were the guide told us about the railway.  We even stopped in the long one (its about 1.5km long) and turned off all the lights and it was totally dark.  Like I-can't-see-my-hand-in-front-of-me-dark.  Building those things in the 1900's was HARD work to btw.  Still standing strong.  We stopped after about 2 hours in a tiny, 5 building, town for some veggie soup and a bun then turned around and headed back.  After that, cec and I headed home just in time for the rain to seriously start coming down.  What a fun, not-average tour see a video HERE) 

(Railtour! Link HERE for video)

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(Warning: bridges old and cold!)

(That steel is stamped "1957" and was made in Britain, still going strong)

(Soo cheesy fun)

(Pretty scenery)

(Even some wild sheep!)

Labor day & All Blacks Game!

This week was Labor day in the USA, which is very much NOT a thing in NZ.  However, something special and rare happened.  All the ED docs from the USA ended up having it off.  I cannot fully express the rarity of this event.  Its like an albino unicorn, you just don't see one ever day.  Luckily for us, Brenna decided that this was a great night for a dinner.  She made a yummy chicken and bacon dish and everyone brought something to share.  Most notably was Lina's apple pie ('Merica!) and Molly's Carrot cake.  It was an evening of laughs and good times.

(USA dinner!  Woot Woot!)

Only a few days after that funfest, cec and I drove up to the assuming town of Hamilton.  Why?  The AB's, or All Blacks Rugby Game.  If New Zealand had a religion it would be rugby and this is the national team.  They place against other countries both in and out of New Zealand. There are regional (minor league) teams, but it is a real honor to be chosen to play for the All Blacks. The name originates from 1893 when the local sports reporters would commonly refer to a team based on their colors that they wore. At that time, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union was playing in Syndey, and local reporters started calling them "All Blacks" because... they wore black shorts and black rugby jerseys. The local rugby fans are REALLY devoted too! The team that they played this was from Argentina, Los Pumas. If the game was at 7pm in Buenas Aires, there would absolutely be restaurants and bars open at 5am New Zealand time in order for fans to watch the game.   In our case, Argentina came to the town of Hamilton and we only had to drive 4 hours. This is a regular season game for the Rugby World Championship, the All Blacks play 6 games in the regular season.  We drove up the same day after a very pleasant crossfit and breakfast.  Anyway, we stopped at 30 degrees latitude, which seemed like a strange sign.  Apparently, Cecil also has his own store!  Who knew?

(We found 39 South!)

(Cec's store!)

Once we got to the hotel and checked in, it was a walk to the bus stop (to get the stadium).  Hamiltion Stadium was tiny, in fact it reminded me of a large high school stadium or a minor league ballpark.  The energy was intense though.  We had the cheap seats but the view were still pretty good.  The game only lasts 80 minutes, and play barely ever stops.  It was VERY strange compared to a football game.  Kickoff started at 7:30 sharp with the Argentina and New Zealand National Anthems.  It was very interesting when they sang the NZ Anthem in both Maori and English.  I recorded it HERE if you are interested in what  that sounded like.  Then was the famous all blacks haka,  Our seats were to far away fro good pictures and videos so if you want to see it here is a nice video off youtube.   which is chill-bump inducing.  The game stayed close through halftime, the first Try (touchdown) was even by Argentina, but the All Blacks seemed to just wear down the other team and by the end it was a crushing victory.  

Non game related things: We had a couple beers and I even had a fruit cup, yes they have a "healthy options" area in the food court and nothing else looked good.  At halftime, I though hell froze over.  The men's toilet line was double the women's!  Yes, for Real, no I don't know why.  We also were shocked to see the crowd throwing the rugby ball back when it went into the stands. YES! they threw the touchdown passes BACK to the players! I don't think I have ever seen that in a american football game! NZ people are so nice! 

(Excited selfie!)

(Haka!  Sorry its Blurry we were far away and the iphone just can't get there)

(Fruit salad FTW!)

(Women on the left and Men's OFF picture to the left.  So strange!)

The next day we stopped at the Hamilton Garden's.  It was a super interesting garden as they had all the sections showing different types of garden's through time.  We didn't see all of them but the one's we did had a very specific feeling and were quite well done.  Randomly, they also had a group of boat model makers there showing off their works.  Impressive stuff really.  Then we pretty much spent the day driving back down through the Para Para highway and cec did his long run of 18 miles that night.  Quick but nice weekend.

(Hamilton Gardens)

(An outline of the types of Gardens)

(Me in the chinese gardens)

(Italian!)

                                                               (Indian Gardens)

(Cec posing with the model boat!)