New Zealand 2009

The morning of Feb 19 was a relaxing one. I had the morning off as Sox had the kids with her at the library. I took the opportunity to do some shopping downtown. The downtown plaza was really nice to stroll through, and had lots of shops to browse.

I stopped in at Shadz again for another coffee (long black all the way), and I also tried their smoky bacon stack. This was an english muffin topped with a hash brown, roasted squash, cheese, and bacon, all drizzled with one of the best smoky barbecue sauces I've ever had. This snack was to die for.

In the afternoon the lot of us headed to the Spa pool for a swim. It was a nice relaxing time. Their warmest pool was almost too warm for me, but the rest of the pools were darn right cold in comparison. Beet had a great time splashing like always, but her brother stuck to the waterfall pool that felt almost ice cold.

That night for dinner we had home made pizza. The main one was ham and pineapple which all the kids devoured (the adults had a couple pieces too). The other pizza was delicious, but decidedly different. Take lots of caramalized onions, add on some fresh ripe pear, then top with a delicious brie, and bake.

We definitely enjoyed the cuisine while we were there.

Feb 20 was a very rainy day. We looked for something inside for the kids to do, and found a kindergym. It certainly wasn't the cleanest feeling place in the world, but Sprout had a fun time chasing after his older cousin. He also followed his cousin into a ball pit where a ball fight was going on. It was so cute to see the two of them hiding behind a large pillow while older kids were tossing balls their way. The two of them were looking at each other and laughing their heads off. Occasionally they would toss a ball in the direction of the older boys, then duck down again. Neither of them seemed to mind when they got beaned by a ball or two.

During Beet's afternoon nap Sox and I headed back downtown for some more shopping. I picked up a really nice long sleeve shirt. We also stopped in at Shadz where I had my final long black at that establishment.

Our trip was drawing to an end and this was getting a little sad.

I forgot to post some pictures from my walk with Beet on Feb 18.

I also happened across this strange boat contraption. It is an actual boat with wheels. The front wheels have a drive chain to turn them as well. I really wish I had been able to see this thing running.

I have been a little lax about getting my last few New Zealand posts up, but I am determined to finish them.

Way back on Feb 18 I started the day by going for a walk with Beet. We wandered around the waterfront in Napier stopping at a cafe. There I had a scrumptious bacon and brie muffin. Actually it was bacon, with melted brie, on an amazing corn meal muffin, and alongside I had a long black.

After catching up with everyone we decided to head over to Waipatiki beach again, with a stop along the way at Tangoio Falls. I wanted to get some pictures of the falls, and everyone indulged me in that.

At the parking lot for the falls, we hiked in the 20 minutes and discovered the falls. Quite pretty, but not spectacular. Some other people were there, but they were just packing up. Sox seemed quite tense to me, and after asking her, she relayed to me that the people had a gun sitting on the rock. As they left, one of the women asked the rest of their party "Who has the gun". That was an unusual experience to say the least.

The family left me behind to take pictures with the promise that I would meet up with them at Waipatiki Beach.

After spending a lot of time shooting the falls, and getting quite wet by standing in the water, I called the shoot finished. I shot a few pictures along the way back to the car too.

I made the short drive over to Waipatiki and rejoined the group on the beach. I strolled around there taking a few shots as wells. The water was way more rough this day than the precvious day. I had wanted to go in, but the waves seemed quite unpredictable. I was also feeling a little under the weather as I though I was coming down with a cold.

There is no denying that New Zealand is a beautiful country.

Feb 17 saw us visit the The National Aquarium of New Zealand, which is in Napier. This was a small aquarium with no large animals, but it was perfect for Sprout. He ran around with his cousin looking at fish and other animals. There was enough to keep me interested as well. The exhibits were excellent, and I liked that they had lots of local fish and animals. They also had some enormous eels which I though were cool.

On Feb 16 Sox and I got to check out the Napier Museum. It was an interesting little museum and I learned a lot about the big quake they had. Some of the stories told in the museum were haunting, and more than a little scary to think about since Victoria is overdue for an earthquake.

There were several different exhibits there, and one of the was called "Like: An Experiment In Interpretation".

LIKE is a curatorial experiment that explores interpretation and translation across different artistic fields and media. This project was the initiative of Nelson based artist and curator, Stella Chrysostomou and it is framed as a scientific experiment into the processes of making.

The experiment began with the selection of an object that was simple and geometric but ambiguous in shape and function. This object was then described in written form by leading New Zealand poet, Bill Manhire. This description was then sent to nine national and international jewellers - Fran Allison, Andrea Daly, Peter Deckers, Karl Fritsch, Caroline Gore, Gavin Hitchings, Erik Kuiper, Sean O’Connell, and Lisa Walker - who were asked to interpret and ‘decipher’ the object based on Manhire’s text. This exhibition presents the original object along with the resulting pieces made by the nine jewellers, and Bill Manhire’s text, in an intriguing display that encourages viewers to closely examine the creative process of object making.

Basically a poem was interpreted by some jewelry makers and turned into a physical object. The poem itself was interesting and complicated. It begged for interpretation, and the jewellers did an excellent job with their creations.

Since this was our last week in New Zealand our hosts were helping ensure that we got the most out of the week that we could. One thing we hadn't experience were fresh New Zealand mussels. Green Lipped mussels actually.

These were prepared in a white wine curry sauce that was to die for. Add in some fresh baked bread to sop up the sauce, and we were happy, happy, happy.

Later, after the kids were in bed, Sox and I went for a little drive to the bluff lookout to see the sun set. It was a gorgeous location and the sunset didn't disappoint. It was a little windy though, and I had left my tripod in the car since I was being lazy, and that definitely showed in my pictures. Many of them were thrown away.