Winter at Hot Water Beach

A few weeks ago, Justin and I took a trip to the Coromandel with our neighbors and friends, Peter and Rebecka.  We stayed in Hahei at Tatahi Lodge but the purpose of our trip was to visit Hot Water Beach in the winter.  Justin and I visited Hot Water Beach during the summer but did not take part in the hot tub digging and soaking.  Rebecka insisted it was worth the time and effort and would be even more fun with a slight chill in the air.

View on the drive to Coromandel Town

Tatahi Lodge

We drove down to the Coromandel on Saturday and took the scenic route through Coromandel Town since Justin and I had not visited that area before.  We had lunch at a cute cafe and Peter, Rebecka, and I all enjoyed the fresh Mussels. 

Coromandel Town

After lunch, we took a hike to New Chums Beach. New Chums is rated as one of the top beaches in New Zealand and it was beautiful.  However, the hike to the beach proved a bit of a challenge as the track was extremely  muddy in places and extremely rocky in other places.  Combine this with our lack of hiking shoes and the hike turned into an adventure!  Not to mention we incorporated some tree climbing and monkey sounds into our hike!

Did I forget to mention J's shoes were so unsuitable he had to hike barefoot?

Peter and Rebecka waiting on New Chum's beach

I promise we were really high in the tree!

We arrived in Hahei in time to take a quick walk along the beach before enjoying a fresh vegetarian dinner prepared by Rebecka.

We are laughing at Peter b/c this is about the 5th angle he took a photo of us from!

The next morning we set out fairly early for Hot Water Beach.  You need to arrive at the beach at least one hour before low tide in order to find a spot to dig a natural hot tub and then have time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.  We found a nice spot with plenty of hot water and dug a nice big tub.  We spent the next few hours lounging in our tub and running across the beach to cool off in the ocean.  We had to run as the area between our tub and the ocean was quite literally boiling in spots!

We got to hot water beach pretty early!

Justin and Rebecka did most of the digging.  Notice the steam!

Peter, Rebecka, and me enjoying the natural hot tub!

Panorama of Hot Water Beach.

View of our hot rub into the ocean

After our fun at Hot Water Beach, we drove back to Auckland and enjoyed a pizza dinner at That's Amore (half price pizza on Sundays). What a great weekend away from the city with friends!

Our Great New Zealand Adventure with S&M - The Conclusion

We topped off our tour of the Northland with a stop at Muriwai Beach at sunset.  We marveled at the black sand beach and the beautiful colors of the sunset through clouds.  We took group shots with an unrivaled back drop of the sea.  And then we watched the Westpac Rescue Helicopter transport a man off the beach below after a hang gliding accident. We learned the next day that the man survived the accident.  

Sunset over Muriwai

Now that's a good lookin' group!

Westpac Rescue Helicopter on the beach

Thank you to the proud sponsors of this amazing adventure with two of our best friends!  This fun filled trip was made possible with your support.

EY and Westpac representin'

We seriously laughed more this week than we have in years.  We loved exploring New Zealand with S&M but good company was only enhanced by the incomparable landscape and new experiences. 

Our Great New Zealand Adventure with S&M - Part Sheepworld

At some point during our trip, Sarah "sheepishly" admitted that she really wanted to go to Sheepworld on the way back to Auckland.  The remaining 3 of us begrudgingly agreed despite the hefty $27 price tag for entrance and a show.  Thank goodness for Sarah's humble admission as our Sheepworld experience turned out to be one of our favorite parts of the trip!  

Sheepworld!!

We started our Sheepworld experience with a light lunch followed by a tour through the petting zoo park.  We saw (and fed) cute little lambs,  rather gross cows, emus, and an aggressive little duck.  Our little ducky friend followed us around for the entire walk and gobbled food pellets out of our hands with his silly little bill. 

Our ducky friend

You can tell my true feelings about the cow and his tongue being near me

Being a weekday in the middle of winter, the four of us made up the entire audience of the afternoon show.   The show started with a demonstration of sheep herding with a traditional "staring" sheep dog.  This type of dog doesn't bark but instead herds the sheep simply by staring them down.  We were then treated to a demonstration of a new dog in training.  The farmer was training a new different type of sheep dog that herds using the direction of it's barking.  Click here for a video of the new pup in training.

The new "barking" dog in training

After the herding demonstration, the sheep needed sorting and Sarah was the lucky volunteer for this job.  She sorted the sheep by the color painted on their head as the sheep ran through the chute.  Next up, a sheering demonstration.  Or in the case of only a 4 person audience, a hands on sheering workshop!  Sarah, Mark and I all got a turn at sheering the sheep with the help of the farmer.  Click here for a video of my sheering experience and the restless pup in training. 

Hands on sheering!

For the grand finale, 5 little white lambs (5 weeks old) were brought in for bottle feeding.  Each of us got to bottle feed a little cutie (I got to feed two at the same time) and they gobbled it down!  I think Sarah and I were in heaven at this point!

Serious cuteness!

Twins

The feeding line up...can this be any cuter?

Just as we were preparing to leave, the farmer brought in two tiny baby, brown lambs (not even a week old) that were ready for one of their first bottle feedings having just been separated from their mother.  We got to hold the lambs while feeding them a bottle.  They had the prettiest blue eyes and struggled a little with the feeding.  Sarah was a natural but I needed a little help to get my little one to eat. 

Little lamby

Samies!

That is one happy girl!

A Full Double Rainbow

At some point on our Jucy Adventure, we stopped at a gas station and spotted a full double rainbow just across the road.  That's right, a full double rainbow.  We could literally see the end of the rainbow in the field across the highway.  Many jokes ensued regarding the pot of gold, leprechauns, and of course the double rainbow YouTube video.  It is actually a very common occurrence to see really defined rainbows in the Auckland area which makes sense given the large amount of rain in short bursts followed by sunshine.   We often see one just outside our window in the office.  You can see the double rainbow in the picture below but our attempts to photograph both ends in one shot did not turn out. 

A Full Double Rainbow

Who guessed I would miss AT&T this much?

If you know me, you know that I love me some TV particularly sitcoms, reality, and teeny bopper dramas.   In New Zealand, there is one option, Sky TV.  To be fair you can get about 6 channels free with a digital antenna and I'm sure there are some satellite TV options.  But basically, you either have Sky TV or you have 6 channels.  After previewing Sky TV during our time in a corporate apartment when we first moved, we decided to go with the 6 channels.  We really only watched channel 4 and the sports channels anyway and Sky TV with the sports option is pretty pricey.  Also, New Zealand is a season or so behind in most programming.  So although you may get to watch Glee on network television, it is new to New Zealand but not to us.  Case in point....the Glee Christmas episode aired for the first time a few weeks ago. 

So each night we watch the channel 4 line up which varies each evening from cartoon night (Simpsons, Family Guy, etc) to Biggest Loser and America's Next Top Model to sitcom night (our favorite featuring How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang, etc).  Each night is a waiting game to see if Justin or I give in first.  Whoever "gives in" first, hooks their computer up to the TV and searches through our American TV options via Slingbox for something we can both agree on.  Hooking up to Slingbox means you cannot use your computer while we "sling" and you have to look through heaps of on demand shows checking for new episodes of  the few we deem worthy of our time.  "Slinging" also involves stringing a cord from our TV across the living room to the couch and plugging in speakers.  In all honesty though, despite my many frustrations with "slinging", it is great to be able to access our American TV shows and even catch some Texas sports every now and then.   We will definitely be subscribing to the deluxe cable package again upon returning home!  Some things we just don't want to live without!

ANZAC Day

This week we have Wednesday off work.  It is ANZAC Day in New Zealand which as far as we can tell is almost like Memorial Day in the states.  ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.  The day commemorates April 25th, 1916, the day Allied soldiers landed on the peninsula of the Gallipoli Islands during the First World War.  The Gallipoli campaign was a costly failure to the Allies and New Zealand with over one third of the New Zealand soldiers participating in the campaign losing their lives.  The day is always celebrated on April 25th no matter the day of the week.  On the Friday before ANZAC Day, the RSA sells paper poppies to wear on your shirt as a reminder of sacrifices made both past and present.  Poppies were the first flower that grew on the battlefield in Belgium during World War One and are a symbol of remembrance and hope.  I made a donation for a poppy outside of my building on Friday and choose one to wear out of the hundreds decorating the little park in front of my office. 

Poppies sold by the RSU volunteers

Poppy field outside our office on Friday

Hot Cross Buns

Today at work we had a traditional Easter treat, hot cross buns. 

It is a New Zealand tradition, originally English, to eat hot cross buns for breakfast or morning tea on Good Friday.  Hot cross buns are a spicy, fruit bun marked with a cross in white icing on the top.  The cross on top symbolizes the crucifixion.  Baking the buns on Good Friday is said to bring amazing luck and the tradition goes that buns made on the holiest day never go mouldy and can be kept for up to a year.  Some people would hang the buns in the kitchen for a year in belief they would keep the house from catching fire and they are also said to have healing properties when ground up and added to soup or drink for the ill.  Most of us know the traditional rhyme:

"Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns!"

The original verses were first recorded in 1773 as:

"Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs
With one or two a penny hot cross buns,
Whose virtue is, if you believe what's said,
They'll not grow mouldy like the common bread."

So enjoy a hot cross bun this Good Friday!  There are a million recipes online or perhaps your local supermarket sells them.  They are everywhere here in New Zealand!

Wait, these are kilograms!

So can you tell by the frequency of my blog posts that I am working less and have far fewer even remotely watchable television shows to choose from?  No?  Well then you aren't paying attention! 

Justin and I started another round of P90X this evening and since our weights are at the other apartment, we went down to the workout room. We were both really struggling lifting the size of weights we normally use.  I even bumped down two pounds and was still definitely feeling the burn.  My thoughts were going crazy!  How did I get this out of shape!  I am never going to make it through the full 90 days if I can't even curl 5 lbs!  These 5 lbs weights feel so much heavier than last time I lifted!  Then out of the blue Justin said, "wait, these are kilograms aren't they"!  Of course they were!  And for those of you Americans out there, 1 kg = 2.2 lbs.  So when I thought I was lifting 5 lbs, I was actually lifting 5 kg which is 11 lbs!  I hate to admit it, but it took us (and when I say us, I mean Justin b/c I had to be told) almost the entire 45 minute workout to realize this.  At least running taught me the km to mile conversion before coming over, although that one could have worked in my favor (for the non-runners 3 miles = 5 km)!

Two things...ok maybe three

First, while in Devonport, I bought what seems to be the New Zealand equivalent of girl scout cookies.  The organization is called GirlGuiding here but it appears to be similar.  They sell different types of cookies for $3 a box.  What makes these cookies so fun?  I bought them from a little girl with a New Zealand accent sitting on the grass in a park on the beach! 

Second, I had lunch with three staff girls in the cafe (the breakroom) at work today.  I was glad to meet some more people at work even if they are quite a bit younger than me!  It is hard to judge what level and age people are and they were the only ones eating in the cafe when I walked in.  They were very nice.  In fact, Nicole was trying to plan a get-a-way camping trip with me and Natalie wanted me to borrow her car for the weekend so we could get out of the city.  All that in a 30 minute lunch! 

Third, I am loving getting to leave the windows/sliding doors open all the time!  The sunlight streaming in during the day is great and then the cool night air is so refreshing.  In our temporary housing, our view is of the sky tower which is great!  I am sure I will like our permanent view just as much!  We have been warned and read of the impending winter rainy season so I intend to soak up as much of this perfect weather as possible while it lasts.